Iago

A long time ago, I spoke on spiderwebs. How lies can branch out and become more and more complex until they are a web. A tangled mess. What good does it do to try and fight your way out of it? You have to wait. Time eventually will wear it down. Every time that someone is caught in it, the web breaks just a little more. Every time the wind blows too hard, small threads shatter and break.

Soon, holes appear and, while they seem small, they will eventually grow wider. You have two options. You can cover the holes with new lies, potentially weaker lies, or you can continue to wait. Wait until nothing stands there but a few strands of thread and a new start.

( Private to the Marquis )

AS OF MONDAY MORNING, THIS POST IS DELETED. THE COMMENTS STILL APPEAR, BUT THERE IS NOTHING BUT SILENCE HERE.

( Cut for the curious... )

[Iago's very, very calm as he sits at his desk, gently tapping his fingers against the wood. Anyone who knows him, though, might see that it's very, very fake.]

Edward Sexby. [A smirk.] Edward Sexby. It's a bit long to be holding a grudge, isn't it? Do you feel better? Hitting him in the face...I'm sure that was a beautiful feeling. Your hand colliding with his face or...did you use the metal one so you wouldn't dirty yourself with my warden's blood?

[Iago grins a bit wider, leaning forward.] Does it make you feel good, as a warden, to have relieved your violent tendencies? I could always take my revenge on the people...[Snicker] person...you care about. Just like you do.

Or maybe not.

Do I hold grudges like you? Or am I not allowed to be violent because of my status here?

And the rest of you wardens...let's see how long it takes the rest of you to lose your calm. It's a beautiful thing, that loss of control. Apparently this is your new way of solving issues. Even ones over a year old.

Tell me about loyalty, fellow passengers of the Barge. Tell me about your friendships, or whatever you wish to call them.

What would you do for a friend or ally? Or better yet...what have you done for a friend? Out of loyalty? Out of love? Out of mutual respect?

[Private to the Marquis]

Now see how many wardens respond that they have killed or harmed for a friend. And then think of how you judge me for doing the same thing.

It is not wrong.

( Private to the Marquis )

[Public - Video]

[The camera switches on to show Iago up on deck. He’s got fading bruises on his face, but they’re barely noticeable in the shadowy light. He sniffles once and then turns the camera around to face the stars.]

People once made pictures out of the stars. They used them to predict the future, too, but that’s not an issue here. Astrology isn’t exactly something you can follow when the stars aren’t the same from one night to the next.

I do wish we could predict it, though.

[Dramatic sigh.] I didn’t predict him returning. [Oh yes, he’s referring to the Master.] I didn’t want him returning. Yes, I spoke about…that place, but only because I was free there. Don’t fault me for wanting that freedom back.

[He sits up in his chair and then turns the camera around to show a copy of Othello. It’s the one the Master gave him right before leaving.] This is what he gave me. This is what he wanted me to remind him of. To be who I used to be. I don’t want it. [And he tosses it off screen, presumably off the edge of the Barge.]

Go to hell, Master. I want nothing to do with you.

[And the transmission cuts off...so he can retrieve his book without anyone noticing on camera....]

[Note slipped under the Master's door]

I would have made a great artist of the stage.

Well, I'm not a fox, a woman or pining after anyone. I suppose that's something that we can be happy about. Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it. 

How much do you wardens look after each other? I was under the impression that most of you were vaguely individualist and that you don't really seem to care for anyone, but surely someone is looking after the old men aboard this place. Take my warden, for example. Has anyone been in his room? I have.

I think....there might be people living there and we would never know it.

Someone stop him before he gets demoted and I get stuck with someone else.

[Private to Angelica]

For the first time, my warden cannot read my private posts. Only to you and Wichita, though. But, it is a start.

I never really realized the benefits of actually being drunk, as I rarely allow myself to indulge in such a vice as alcohol. But, as far as vices go, it seems relatively mild, as long as one stays away from the journals.

Not exactly the best way to spend your time, but I've had worse.

[Private to the Marquis]

I want my private posts back. Yes, I do realize the timing is off, but one unfortunate event shouldn't negate everything that I've done, or not done, over the months. And you did say you would consider it before.

[Note slipped under Prefect's door]

I hate

This place can be so stifling.

[Private to Sexby, added later.]

There's something you should see.

[Private to the Master]

What did you do to me? It's fading now but...what was it?

[Private to the Marquis]

I don't want to work in the kitchens. Will you transfer me to the library?

Consider those of innocent minds, this advice once given.

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

Dying. Not dead. Not alive. Dying. In the process of death. We can deviate from the rest of the poem to this one particular point that, admittedly, is quite off topic, but still interesting.

Even with more time, that same flower would still be dying, wouldn't it? A depressing image. No matter how many times you turn back the clock, no matter how many times you go back, you're always heading towards the same inevitable end.

So what does it matter? 

[Private to the Marquis]

Have you given any consideration to the request I made of you several weeks ago?

What is friendship? True, selfless friendship?

I thought I understood once. But I always knew it was wrong. I always knew I was wrong.

[Private to the Marquis]

I have reached the lowest point, I believe. I think there is really no way to go but up. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. I'm just tired of it all. Tired of being frustrated, tired of fighting against you. I am even tired of Harry, as you have probably surmised already. Being a child again did nothing save for remind me of what I am not. I want things to be as they were at home, where I knew what was going to happen. Where I had some kind of control.

I have no control here.

I am finished.