Journal of the Marquis de Sade

The truth can be very entertaining, but better, my sweets, when it's given willingly.

[Private to Iago]

I doubt you are enjoying yourself as much as I am, so I have a proposal. Come to my cabin. We'll sit and talk -- or rather ask questions. I am affected -- I do not know if you are, but I have little reason to suppose you are not. So better to ride it out in a safe place, oui? And with all hope the flood shall have concluded by tomorrow.

Well, I can't say I didn't have fun. Most should have been entirely too busy with their explorations to take much displeasure from the venture. I'm actually quite glad of the opportunity. Some say that we can never know the motivations of other living creatures because their perceptions differ so much from ours.

It's quite the experience to see, hear, smell, and travel within a familiar environment in such an unfamiliar way.

Of course the experience will have me in mind of bridles and riding crops for an age, I'm sure.

Iago, how did you fare?

Admiral, please return Iago's bed and his books. Not that they'll be of much good to him right now -- I'll be keeping him in my chambers until this flood wears off.

Monsieur Sofer, I'll need to have a word with you about the kitchen shifts at a point in time when our Inmates are not collectively wetting themselves and fist fighting over toys.

(ooc: The Marquis found Iago when he went in to pick him up for 'work' that morning. There, he found someone much smaller. He has never really dealt a lot with kids since he was one. He was in jail for much of his childrens' lives.)

To my beloved readers: The worlds from which we come are imperfect. I need not tell you this. I believed myself to have seen the extent of human atrocity in my lifetime, and we come here encouraged to commit still more. To them that are newly come, this is your warning. You will be challenged. You will be abused. You will be tortured. All they want is for you to not be you. It's not just about ridding yourself of goodness. It's about a loss of integrity. It's about breaking the balance. Nature is equally infused with beings of good and evil and their similar acts.

You are what you are, and these people will endeavor to reverse that. They want your anger and your despair.

But remember that in our imperfect worlds -- worlds where suffering is very real and sometimes unimaginable -- there is also good. There are moments of deep pleasure, of warmth, of beauty, serenity, contentment -- I daresay even love. You, and your cabins, are the last vestments of those worlds. Your homes. Cherish them, and cherish yourselves, because that's what they want to take from you.

I bid you remember, and that you resist. Even a beautiful memory is worth fighting for.

Do not be afraid, my treasures. If you are not afraid, then they cannot win.

(ooc: The Marquis is an Inmate again -- and one who is almost always confined to his cell and targetted for abuse, because he's a rabble rouser. He encourages the other Inmates to keep their integrity and resist, to remember home fondly, to share their experiences. SOOO touchy feely compared to his old style, but it's about sticking it to the man, people.)

[A woman's voice, muttering] Strange devices, but I haven't got much choice but to use them, have I? [She clears her throat.] Hello? I don't know if I'm doing this right or nothin, but at least I think I know where I am. Not that the decor don't give it away.

I just don't want no one to be alarmed or anythin. My name's Madeleine LeClerc. I'm a friend of the Marquis. Has he got friends here? People to look after him?

(ooc: Since the Abbe is remaining unchanged I decided I'd go ahead and do the Marquis after all)

I'm not at all certain that I'm fond of that persona of mine.

[Private to Tony Foster]

Attempting to seduce your instructor for better grades. I hadn't expected that from a Warden.

Claire! I require wine!

A flood finally hits the Wardens instead of the Inmates, and lo, my Warden is nowhere to be found!

Given up already, Mister Wade? Or have you turned into something unpleasant? You're not that uppity little bitch in leather, are you?

This is not funny, Adrmial. Not. Funny. At. All.

If I had wanted to see my wife again, I would have asked about it around Christmas.

[Private to Vida]

Romana has come back.

(OOC: It's Midnight Where I live!)

I propose a conundrum, dear readers -- a discussion, perhaps, to reflect not upon this most recent of floods, but rather the charnel house many of you freshly returned from in the last port.

( TL;DR )