TLV - Warden/Inmate Pairings

[bargemods]

WARDEN/INMATE PAIRINGS

Post here if you are in need of either an Inmate or a Warden!

All pairings will occur on the 15th and 30th of each month, with temporary pairings going up on the 15th. By default, characters will only be eligible for a temporary pairing after their first full month in-game, though you may request an earlier pairing date if you wish. If you have preferences, speak to the player in question that you want to be paired with before posting a full request. Both players must approve of a pairing before we'll finalize it (a good way to do this is have one put "Attn: Mods" in the comment subject and list the pairing with full names and desired pairing date in the comment body, and then have the other person respond to it with "confirming"). Please fill out the pairing form here so we have your character's full name and information.

PAIRING FORM

<b>Character Name:</b> <b>Character Journal:</b> <b>Status:</b> Warden or Inmate <b>Pairing Information:</b>

Next Assignments: 4/30/26

Unpaired Wardens
Adamantea // adamantea
Aerith Gainsborough // planetdialup
Antryg Windrose // dogwizard
Ashton Carver // anashthetic
Carl // goddammitdonut
Chase Collins // fifthofthecovenant
Edward Teach // notsoblackbeard
Elim Rawne // major_rawne
Fitz Kreiner // everythinglost
Hanna Falk Cross // falkeditupagain
Hythlodaeus // modestpurpose
Gustave // superniceone
John Doe // greatoldjohn
The Knight // littlestghost
Kylar Stern // mercurialize
Lahabrea // abyssalflames
Lune // we_continue
Malcolm Bright // abrightboy
Oscar // unilaterallydisarming
Sameen Shaw // cactusy
Sha Gojyo // cigsandbeer
Thrawn // artistinexile
Ulla // neverwaitslong
Wiktor Szulski // flawmaturge

Unpaired Inmates
Angel Dust // harderdaddy
Armand // howheendures
Casper Darling // darlingcalling
Christina Brand // halfhappy
Christopher Chaos // methodofmadness
Germaryah Washington // astraymoon
Moon Knight // reflectedlight/de_nile/troubleontheway
Nokov // thereisnoif
Robert "Bob" Reynolds // makingitworse
Simon/The Convict // an_execution
Simon Torquill // twotruthstold
Spy // handsome_rouge
Valentino // imfromfuckinflorida
Verso // palissant

Current Temporary Warden and Inmate Assignments
(If you wish to opt out of temporary pairings, or opt out of being matched with specific characters, don't forget to post here)

Adamantea // adamantea and Valentino // imfromfuckinflorida
Chase Collins // fifthofthecovenant and Christopher Chaos // methodofmadness
Elim Rawne // major_rawne and Armand // howheendures
Fitz Kreiner // everythinglost and Angel Dust // harderdaddy
Hythlodaeus // modestpurpose and Simon Torquill // twotruthstold
The Knight // littlestghost and Casper Darling // darlingcalling
Kylar Stern // mercurialize and Spy // handsome_rouge
Lahabrea // abyssalflames and Nokov // thereisnoif
Hanna Falk Cross // falkeditupagain and Germaryah Washington // astraymoon
Oscar // unilaterallydisarming and Robert "Bob" Reynolds // makingitworse
Sameen Shaw // cactusy and Christina Brand // halfhappy
Sha Gojyo // cigsandbeer and Verso // palissant
Ulla // neverwaitslong and Moon Knight // reflectedlight/de_nile/troubleontheway
Wiktor Szulski // flawmaturge and Simon/The Convict // an_execution

Inmates Currently Without a Temporary or a Permanent Warden
(Inmates under the jurisdiction of the Monitors of Unpaired Inmates)

n/a

Current Permanent Warden and Inmate Assignments
(Alphabetical by Warden)

●	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	●
I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R
●	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z	●

#

A

→ Alexei // reargunner
  ↳ Jinu Saja // your_idol
→ Anduin Llane Wrynn // bythelight
  ↳ Faolan // reticence
→ Arthur Lester // lestercraft
  ↳ Abaurycy Niedzic // fuckingphoenix
→ Avalon // chaos_drifter
  ↳ Cheradenine Zakalwe // weaponuser

B

C
→ Cho Hakkai // reformedsinner
  ↳ Sebastian Michaelis // untiltheend

D
→ D'Vana Tendi // notthatkindoforion
  ↳ Stede Bonnet // the_gentleman_pyrate
→ Dennis Collins // onlyhearmusic
  ↳ Trevor Belmont // atowncalledtreffy
→ Doug Eiffel // littletonoidea
  ↳ Skye Riley // needanewbrain

E

F

G

H

I
→ Ilde // generosite
  ↳ Alucard // symphonyofthenight

J
→ James "Bucky" Barnes // worthallthis
  ↳ Yelena Belova // musicdied
→ Jedao Two // deuceoftears
  ↳ The Eleven // degeneratefreak

K

L
→ Lester Sheehan // heyboss
  ↳ Maelle // escapeartiste

M
→ Magdalene Grace Garcia // talesuntold
  ↳ Mad Sweeney // madaboutit

N
→ Norton Folgate // pharadyne
  ↳ Clement Varker // cameclosest

O

P
→ Princess Donut // queen_anne_chonk
  ↳ Qetzi'ah Morrison // rou_gui

Q

R

S
→ Saga Anderson // makethestory
  ↳ David Collins // hostileterritory
→ Sokie Undertown // weirdnecro
  ↳ The Ghoul/Cooper Howard // hollywoodghoul
→ Steve Rogers // punched_hitler
  ↳ Laura Moon // thedeadgirl
→ Sym // agardener
  ↳ Feldspar // gotfeldsparred

T

U

V
→ Vaggie // xangel
  ↳ Cloud Strife // nimbuster
→ Vincent Smith // monsterstoyou
  ↳ The Outsider // thegreatleviathan
→ Vincent Valentine // coffinturk
  ↳ Katie Slape // gulling

X
→ Wen Ning // verynormalturnipseller
  ↳ R // keephersafe
→ Will Graham // empathicfault
  ↳ Wu Xin/Ye Anshi // skybeyondsky

X

Y
→ Yellow // howtheyshine
  ↳ Madelyne Pryor // queenofechoes

Z
→ Zerxus Ilerez // withintenfeet
  ↳ Kahl // takestime
→ Zhao Yunlan // wildguardian
  ↳ Sephiroth // sefirot

Last Updated: 4/15/2026

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Comments

[neverwaitslong]

Character Name: Ulla
Character Journal: neverwaitslong
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Ulla is a graduated inmate, and the issues she's struggled with in her own life include trust, rage, betrayal, revenge, sometimes unhealthy levels of devotion or codependence, ambition, feeling like an outcast or outsider, and trying to earn acceptance from people who were never going to offer it.

These are some of the issues she's best equipped to address as a warden. Ulla won't do well with an entirely adversarial inmate relationship; conflict is completely fine, feel free to metaphorically hiss at her like an angry cat, but she'll do best with someone who she has a sense of kinship with. Who earns her deep and stubborn loyalty by having feelings she can relate to, because she is intensely supportive when that happens. Her trust isn't easy to gain, but it is complete, an unwavering faith in the people she chooses.

Ulla built her whole life around one relationship, and was absolutely shattered when that broke. She caused a lot of destruction in the wake of that loss. She knows what it feels like to want nothing but revenge, and then to slowly claw her way back to hope and positive ambitions over the course of years. She knows how hard it is to trust anyone else after your life has been torn to pieces by the person you loved most.

So she also understands that trust is earned, and not to expect her inmate to offer it freely. Goodness knows she made her own warden work for hers. She waited patiently enough for revenge. She can wait for her inmate too.

She's had one inmate graduate so far. She comes as a two for one deal with her daemon, Hjerte (who she got in her deal with the Admiral.) Hjerte tends to be mildly more emotionally open and connected than Ulla since she was still a mountain of trust issues in the flood where they first met and he needed to balance that, but she manages a bit better without his help these days. She's had time to settle into herself, in terms of both her life without revenge and positive relationships with people.

[notsoblackbeard]

Character Name: Edward Teach
Character Journal: notsoblackbeard
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Ed's been through a lot since he came to the Barge, having first started out as a warden, disappeared and came back canon-updated to an inmate (which ICly he viewed as the Admiral cheating him out of his deal) and has spent the last year adjusting to the new developments in his canon life, accompanied by a major change in his attitude, which had become negative to an extreme extent.

He had needed to regain a more positive attitude and remember how unhappy he'd become with criminal/pirate life in general, and ultimately forgive Stede (his love interest) for rejecting him (not that Stede really did, at least not to the extent Ed perceived), which was corrected by Stede's appearance on the Barge, and although it took Ed a while to truly believe that, ultimately he did; he was able to let go of his anger and subsequently became a warden once again, albeit a fairly cynical one. He'd be a pretty good match for anyone with even remotely similar circumstances.

[makingitworse]

Character Name: Bob
Character Journal: makingitworse
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:
The biggest and most pressing issue is self-esteem. Bob has internalized the idea that he "makes it worse" whenever he's around, and "it" can be literally anything. At his worst, he believes everyone else feels the same heavy void of depression that he does, and his unbalanced superpowers will actively try to spread it to others. Most of the time, though, he just believes that no one can ever really care for him and want him around, so he'll be ready to disengage at the first sign of disapproval from the other person. He needs people willing and able to give him attention, affection, and effort, and experiences where he helps more than hurts to start building up the idea that he does in fact have worth. What helps him most in canon is a group hug and the assurance that he's not alone. A caring, patient, and curious warden will be best for him.

In addition, he'll need to tackle the problem of his powers, his inability to control them, and their two clear sides. He comes into the game only vaguely aware he even has powers, not quite sure he believes what happened wasn't entirely in his head, and he'll need to learn about them to understand the damage they can cause and how to mitigate that. His warden will have to be ready to deal with the cleanup on things once the Void first comes out on board, because it will have to be confronted before he'll be ready to really move forward. This will also involve dealing with his repressed memories.

Finally, he clearly has bipolar disorder, even if he doesn't know the name for it, describing massive mood swings between manic high periods and much more common depressed low periods. Even one of the characters describing him from his medical study files points it out. He self-medicated with illegal drugs, and though the serum cured the physical addiction, the mental reliance may intrude if and when he gets any access to the drugs he used to use. If possible, he'll need to get treatment and maybe even proper medication for his disorder from somebody on board to really balance him out.

[palissant]

Character Name: Verso
Character Journal: palissant
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information: He is around a hundred years old and treating him like a child or like someone whose desire for death is short-sighted or foolish will be the first way to ensure that he shuts someone out. Anybody trying to work with Verso from the angle of a warden will need to be very patient and be able to deal with his clear levels of bitterness and anger at being on the Barge. He will not be subtle about it and won’t pull any punches verbally when it comes to that topic of discussion.

Verso would need to be approached as a peer, not as someone who needs to be fixed, and while his more obvious problems may feel like the biggest red flags that need to be addressed they is really the last things that need to be focused on. Find out what interests him, be patient and slow in getting to know about him and his background (he would take a very dim view of a permanent warden reading his file without permission), and you’ll have a much better shot at him ‘working’ with you even if he isn’t doing it intentionally.

He does not need a parental figure - he’s had one of those and it didn’t turn out well. He needs a friend who will try to work with him, not a faux-authority figure or some kind of overseer/teacher-type to act like they know better than him.

It should be noted that although this is what he (ostensibly) 'needs', it is in no way what he wants. He is not interested in forming connections with others beyond surface level, if at all, and dislikes the fake/forced relationship that the pairing system seems to push. Even temps will have a hard time getting anything out of him other than a desire for them to just leave him alone.

[artistinexile]

Character Name: Thrawn
Character Journal: artistinexile
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Thrawn is a graduated inmate who is staying on to secure a deal on behalf of his ex-warden Florian.

Thrawn has been a military commander for around forty years and it shows. He wakes early, has a precise schedule, doesn't know the meaning of the word 'messy' and takes his job very, very seriously. His time as an inmate was basically "I want to force everyone to get in line before we all die" and while he's finally relaxed his grip, he still has occasional bouts of paranoia while being aboard a vessel full of maniacs.

He's doubtful about his own ability to get things right with an inmate because he's very socially and politically naive. Thrawn is getting better, but he will occasionally run ramshod over the choices of others and not even notice he's doing it. However, if called out, he will course-correct.

That being said, he's going to be one of the hardest-working, most intense wardens on this ship. He takes graduation seriously, and will endeavor to protect, guide, and trust his inmate as he himself was trusted and guided. While most people look at someone with his service record and think rigidity, Thrawn actually plays it pretty fast and loose with the rules. He encourages imagination, creativity, and weird out-of-pocket plans. He doesn't know much about magic but knows people who do, and thrives in a scientific or sci-fi sense of things. Put him together with someone who wants to cause chaos just as badly as he does and let the fireworks fly.

[dogwizard]

Character Name:
Character Journal:
Status: Warden or Inmate
Pairing Information:

As a warden, Antryg will see himself as a combination of teacher and companion. He has personal experience in getting free of bad situations and the marks they can leave on someone. He has a deep sense of duty as someone with great power, even as he knows how dangerous it is to use that power. He takes a passionate delight in every breath and has a hope in the future that has gotten him labeled as crazy by basically everyone who’s met him.

He wants to trust people and is perhaps too quick to do so, even as he has a hard time truly trusting that people care about him after growing up knowing the love and care he was shown was a manipulation. He rarely judges people but clearly sees both the good people do and the bad and looks for the reason for both.

As a warden, he likely wouldn’t be the best for people who don’t care at all about what they’ve done or who don’t care strongly in general as his strength of belief can be overwhelming. He has dealt with too much senseless cruelty to believe that he, personally, is a good fit for helping someone change in that respect. He wouldn’t help someone who needs a warden who seems serious or who knows how to deal with society, as that’s not something he’s managed himself.

Antryg would be a good warden for people who need the support of someone who believes they can change no matter what. He is constantly wrestling with various moral questions and is open about that and ready to discuss how complicated it can be to figure out what’s right or wrong on both a large scale and a personal one. He offers an example of being yourself after trying to force yourself to be someone else for the sake of others. He will try again and again, even when he fails. He also has a deep insight into people because he pays a lot of attention to who they are.

[cactusy]

Character Name: Sameen Shaw
Character Journal: cactusy
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:
Shaw will see the role of warden as that of a protector, an enforcer, and a guiding hand. She's much better at the first two than she is at the third, but she'll recognize the importance of all three, and will do her best to provide all of them. Being assigned people to look after is basically her job description at home, and she'll feel free to use similar tactics on the Barge, up to and including covert surveillance - so if your inmate needs someone who will monitor their activities closely, she could be a good pick! Buuuuuuuut if they need someone who will always be up front about how they're doing it, she definitely wouldn't be. UPDATE: After a couple years on the Barge, she has tempered this impulse somewhat (because the Barge isn't home, because the goals and expectations are different, because the dynamics are different), but only to a point; she won't necessarily attempt to surveil everything her inmate does the way that her team does with POIs, but she's still far more security-oriented than many wardens are.

When paired, Shaw's initial attitude will be very much "I'm here for a job, I'm not here to make friends"; while she has, at this point in her timeline, started to come around to the idea that personal bonds are something that she wants in her life, she still much prefers a small social circle, and she still usually takes a while to warm up to people. Even if she ends up growing close to her inmate eventually (not an inevitability, but also not outside the realm of possibility!), she'll always be comfortable with pulling rank when she thinks it's necessary. Blunt and direct to a fault, she'd flounder hard with inmates who would need to be handled with gentleness or sensitivity, but she'd do well with inmates who would need a firm hand and who wouldn't begrudge her some amount of professional distance, as well as with those who would benefit from a lot of hands-on learning. While needing to talk her inmate through some things is inevitable, Shaw is a very straightforward, concrete person who excels at action above all else, and her methods will reflect this: she'll rope her inmate into things like non-lethal self-defense training, useful service work on the Barge, and helping out during crises. All of this will be mandatory in her mind, with the logic that you can't pick up better behavior patterns without actually practicing them. UPDATE: After, again, a couple years onboard, she is now more open to the idea of forming friendships with her inmates instead of maintaining strict professional boundaries - but if she ever feels that the dual roles of friend and warden are in conflict, she will always prioritize what she considers to be her wardenly duties to her inmate, even when it means letting the friendship that she's built with them take a hit. She would still be a poor fit for an inmate who would require their warden to prioritize the personal aspect of their relationship over the professional one.

[littlestghost]

Character Name: The Knight
Character Journal: littlestghost
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: The Knight expressly understands that power comes in different forms, that respect matters, and that no one is under any obligation to take whatever shit they aren't fully willing to endure. Therefore it will not put up with any shit or disrespect from its inmate, and will stonewall them, intentionally or otherwise, until they act in a way that it accepts as sufficiently respectful or mindful.

While it's wildly bizarre to say who might work best for it as its inmate, it will likely be good for someone who's trying to delude themselves by buying into their own arguments and justifications, since the Knight will be an excellent sounding board for them to rubber duck code themselves out of their own bullshit. It'll be an excellent warden for anyone inclined towards violence, since while it's also a lethal combatant who can hold its own if so required, it also finds pleasure and peace in stillness and can encourage that in others (at nailpoint if it has to). It'll be bad for someone who needs extensive open communication, since it... can't, but excellent for someone who needs a warden that doesn't make any pretence of their motives, since what the Knight chooses to do is exactly what it wants and nothing more, often simply for the act itself being something inherently kind or noble; or even for someone who needs to be a teacher or guardian before they can improve, as the Knight will need a lot of teaching on how human norms and general communication skills work.

(That's not to say it's incapable of being a petty fucker or little gremlin, because it very much is. But again it makes no pretence of the fact it's being a shitheel.)

Communication might be tricky for other characters to deal with, especially in its early time on the Barge, since it can't speak and rarely if ever uses meaningful body language (though it is fully literate, and a moderately skilled artist); most other bugs talk to it normally, treating it like a particularly quiet normal person without it needing to reply, so part of its own journey will be learning how to actually communicate clearly, and make meaningful connections through its own smaller efforts, and not just running missions for people.

[superniceone]

Character Name: Gustave
Character Journal: superniceone
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Gustave will see his invitation to the Barge as a bit of a redemption opportunity for himself. He’s spent a large portion of his life preparing to confront the Paintress (the almost deific figure in his world who was widely believed to be the cause of society’s dwindling population), and then promptly failed in a pretty identity-shaking way. He is a stubborn idealist, and will approach his relationship with an inmate as an opportunity to improve some world, somewhere – which is an ideal that holds sincere merit for him.

He and his sister once adopted a young girl who was known for being a bit of an oddball and handful, who in her words ‘no one else wanted’; he afforded her the patience and grace to grow into her own. Gustave believes that people are inherently good, so largely he'll assume that anyone brought to the Barge is capable of redemption; he’ll do his best to afford them that same grace and understanding that he did his troublemaker little sister.

His wardening strengths would largely be 1) his ability to retain his composure in the face of the odd and the unusual, and 2) a mind that is both extremely scientifically analytical but also earnest and compassionate. His primary weaknesses would likely be 1) his high regard for human life might cause friction with inmates who exhibit obvious enough disregard for it, and 2) he’s never had the time to unpack the trauma of watching his team get massacred on the beach when their Expedition first landed. The way he froze up completely (and nearly took his own life following) has left him with a nagging sense of guilt and unease at his own powerlessness that could be easy to pick on.

Gustave would pair well especially well with inmates with academic or scientific backgrounds, because he’s a giant nerd and would find that an easy and authentic common ground to start establishing a relationship. He would find himself struggling if paired with someone prone to lashing out with physical violence, just because he wouldn’t know how to reconcile that with recovery.

[mercurialize]

Character Name: Kylar Stern
Character Journal: mercurialize
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Kylar is an honest liar. He’s manipulative and a control freak. He never shows what’s up his sleeve unless he knows he has full control of what’s seen and understood. He’s extremely good at reading people, yet terrible at acting on it. From his own training as a wetboy, he's extremely insightful and knows how to get into someone’s head and try to think as they do in an effort to predict their moves and actions. He’s not always amazing at it, but it’s saved his ass before. He has no problem lying to someone’s face or manipulating them if he thinks it’s for the best or their benefit in the long run. Regardless of tactic, he’s always going to try to do what’s “right” within that pesky moral compass of his. He is fine with breaking eggs to make the cake.

He’s also a fantastic stalker. He can go invisible both to mundane and magical sight (not both at the same time) and has a tendency to walk on ceilings and drop from them if they act as a decent hiding spot. He has the physical strength and magical ability to subdue some of the more violent types (but he’s no Hercules). He knows pressure points, he knows his poisons, he knows how much blood loss a body can withstand before it's too much and, naturally, how to knock someone out without killing them. He’s a capable healer (poisons and cures are two sides of one coin) and not the worst at talking his way out of trouble. On the outside, he just looks like a short kid with a slight build. He doesn’t look like he belongs in his profession and he knows how to use his appearance and the underestimation it brings to his advantage.

But he can be impatient. He rushes into things, he makes assumptions, yet simultaneously hesitates when decisions can’t wait. This could easily backfire if an Inmate acts out and he’s left deciding consequences.

Kylar would be a good fit for inmates that are trying to get out of impossible situations. A corrupt world that won’t leave them be, a family business they can’t escape from, a debt they have to pay with their life or someone else's. He’s from similar situations and one of the largest things holding him back during his own Inmate time was how to translate the “safety” of the Barge to the unsafe conditions of his homeworld (granted, that was literally 10 years ago, but minor details). Somehow, he figured it out. Hence, moral compass.

He’d be fine with murderers and violent types and he’s used to fighting opponents far stronger and skilled than himself with every day being life or death. He also enjoys his usual work of murder and violence. He revels in it! It’s enjoyable to him and he knows he’s good at it. So he will absolutely enjoy the spontaneity from the mundane that a violent inmate could provide! That all said, he would also never start a fight if he can help it. He'll never offer to spar unless he truly trusts the other and he'll generally keep anything about himself and his abilities hidden. He, too, has a lot of trust issues, especially regarding the safety of the ka'kari and his bond with it.

He’s also dealt and dealing with his own chasm of self-loathing, guilt and self-destruction. Ending it all is constantly on his mind with each of his failures. He’s been there, he is there. He gets it. No tactic he knows of is gonna help get out of that chasm, but he’s here for you, Inmate buddy. Or at least when his own self-loathing isn’t busy crushing him.

Lastly, Kylar does not do well with betrayals. He is fiercely loyal once that loyalty is earned and the Inmate will have to earn it just like he has to earn his Inmate’s trust (but will consistently argue he shouldn’t be trusted). But betrayals? Betrayals are paid with blood and it’s not a logic he’s ever shaken. An Inmate who lies to him is fine, an Inmate who betrays him or puts loved ones in danger is going to put him in a moral conundrum neither will likely walk away from unscathed.

He won’t mind if an Inmate insists they are a terrible person because he is too, but he will absolutely mind if they try to act out just for the sake of proving it. He won’t be able to handle those outbursts without potentially taking it too far.

In short, he's definitely a more laid back 'fuck around and find out' kind of warden but in a slightly threatening 'find out' kind of way... ♥

[handsome_rouge]

Character Name: Spy
Character Journal: handsome_rouge
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information: Spy is a very private man and already feels judged just by the simple fact that he’s here, forced to redeem himself or perish and accept what happens after that. This is bound to cause some tension for whoever ends up with him.

He does not open up easily. He won’t want to. His whole life was built off of masks and lies and he doesn’t trust anyone on this boat enough to stop now.
He will question every step of the way, wondering what makes his warden better than him that they get to tell him how to change.
They will need to prove themselves to him in one way or several. He won’t trust easy.

Milestones:
1) Gaining his trust. He doesn’t trust anyone on this boat and bristles at the fact that someone else could have an effect on his eternal fate. Getting him to trust you is essential for any breakthroughs we hope to have with him.
He won’t let them help if they aren’t someone he’s comfortable with.
2) Crack his shell. He won’t open up to his warden right away.
His main issue is stubbornness, his pride and the fact that he doesn’t believe he can truly be better than what he’s always been: a back-stabbing snake who hides behind his mask.
Getting past his shell is the hard part. It only gets worst from there.

3)Baggage. Underneath that hardened shell is a man carrying guilt from past mistakes, self-hatred for putting himself in positions that left him with no other choice but his work killing people for other people.
He doesn’t believe he deserves redemption either, nevermind if it’s even possible for him.


A warden would have to be patient but not a push over. Spy needs someone to make him face things. Not necessarily aggressive but someone who won’t back down if he snaps at them. He’s going to be an ass.
Don’t make him feel trapped. He will buck back harder. Don’t make him regret trusting you either because once the trust is broken with him, there are no second chances.

[abyssalflames]

Character Name: Lahabrea
Character Journal: abyssalflames
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Though he has eased up slightly on the Barge, Lahabrea will always come across as faintly stern at best. He is also both patient and stubborn, and is unlikely to be a good match for those who need readily expressed kindness. He is not cruel (far from it!) but neither is he really good at showing... any sort of emotion really, though he does have them.

That said, he will also stick by his inmates through thick and thin - he is not one to give up on something that he considers his duty, no matter how difficult might it seem to be. He is also perfectly fine with not being liked and will not, in fact, ask that his inmate do so. Other than that, he's good at handling most anything that isn't emotional (mostly for lack of practice) and is old enough that there is not a lot that is genuinely new.

[howheendures]

Character Name: Armand
Character Journal: howheendures
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

Perhaps the most important milestone is creating connections with other people. Armand considers humans as prey, but he also doesn’t really connect with other vampires (except the ones he falls in love with). The path to treating people better in general is to learn how to care for people at all. That giving up total control isn’t necessarily love, even if that was what he did, and work on a sense of self.

Armand has to admit that he has more agency in his life than he frequently believes, and that a lot of what he claims is ‘out of his control’ isn’t. It’s possible for things to change without manipulating someone into destroying everything. This is also tied to admitting to the ways he’s actually hurt people, instead of simply pretending (and frequently lying about what ‘crime’ he’s atoning for).

A good warden for Armand would probably have to tread a narrow line, given his long history with power dynamics. He plays up sympathy and vulnerability but doesn’t really have a way to cope with a genuine response to the fact that he has been extremely fucked up by stuff outside of his control, and it’s not just pretense to manipulate people. He has his pride (even if his self-respect can be questionable). He’s set in specific patterns, and he doesn’t have a map of how to escape them.

Armand’s not against the concept of redemption, even as he doesn’t want to confront what he’s actually done wrong, so there are ways to appeal to that even if it starts as a way to get a second chance at forgiveness instead of changing. He lies, manipulates, and blames other people for stuff like revealing he’s been lying instead of considering that the problem might be the lying. He’s also deeply unhappy, and the concept of not being that holds power.

[goddammitdonut]

Character Name: Carl
Character Journal: goddammitdonut
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Carl is the world's most regular guy. He believes it and it'd be polite if you acted like you believed it. He hates drama, has very limited patience for pettiness, and is a real dipshit if you want to get shit past him on an interpersonal level. He's quiet and prefers to withdraw.

And he can pretty much punch a tank in half. Carl's world has ended a few times, now, the second time being the one that stuck. A regime-toppling, horrifyingly powerful murder machine crouches behind the eyes of a man who looks ready to explain how long it's gonna take to fix your suspension. He's fought gods on several occasions, and once in a while he won. So magic bullshit won't surprise him, but you acting like a selfish dickhead? That gets you the disapproval.

Carl's sympathies lie more on the axis of choice than depravity. He's a fucking war criminal these days, he doesn't care who you murdered. He cares why. He'll get more upset about jaywalking if you just did it to be a dick. Anyone trapped in a way they had no good exit can probably win him over, anyone who opted into their own selfishness is gonna struggle.

[everythinglost]

Character Name: Fitz Kreiner
Character Journal: everythinglost
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Fitz's heart is in the right place, even he sometimes wishes it weren't (and can bend a bit with the people he loves). He's cast in the role of a hero in a fairy tale, but not exactly by choice. He's a decent person, who would do anything to help if he thought it was for the best. He's dependable, brave, and a good friend. Apart from the last one, he'd prefer for people not to comment too much on those qualities. He's not a good role model, but he's grown a long way from the cynical bastard he once was, and has opened himself to other people.

He's also not someone who can be thrown by basically any sort of weirdness. He's seen it all and occasional gotten the t-shirt. Whatever he hears sounds about right, no matter how weird. In its way, that helps him cut directly to the heart of what people do - and he can be very forgiving of that. People just try their best to live. But he is very ready and willing to simply disengage from people he doesn't like, and there are certain things (being in a cult, hurting kids, hurting people for entertainment when you're in power) that tend to start on a negative foot.

[reflectedlight]

Character Names: Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and Jake Lockley
Character Journals: reflectedlight & de_nile
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information: Out of character, the Moon Knight system's backstory involves content warnings for child abuse, child death, alcohol abuse, attempted suicide, and disassociation.

Marc and Steven are two of the canon's POV characters, Jake is not. Jake has very very little canon information. Most of the attention here is going to be Marc and Steven focused!

Marc, Steven, and Jake need, first and foremost, a trauma-informed warden that is acceptant of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The three of them are all identities or “alters” that share a mind, body, and developmental history. This is not a magical split personality situation and shouldn't be handwaved away with magic solutions. This is also not a system that would be helped with by an end goal of integration/fusion. They each know who they are, they are sentient, and they have self-worth and do not want to stop existing. The Marc alter is not more or less real than the Steven or Jake alters, even though he happens to be the one that still uses their body's wallet name. They also used to love each other very much, even though they won't act like it at first. They're each the reason the others survived what happened to them. They couldn't do it alone, so, hand in hand, they did it together.

And then they grew up. Steven forgot what they did. Marc retreated from him, not wanting to damage him. Jake hid himself so the other two didn't know he existed. They became fucked up, lonely adults.

The system's end goal is to accept each other, learn to work together, and to stop treating each other and their loved ones poorly out of shame and fear. Marc has to stop lying to and gaslighting Steven so he can use Steven as a form of escapism. Steven has to learn about Marc and then give him a fucking break and treat him like a human being, not a delusion or a monster. Jake has to be willing to be discovered at all, and then the other two have to not spiral in a panic about him existing.

More than that, though, is that the cruelties they inflict on each other are also ones they inflict on others. Marc has to stop lying to and manipulating everyone he thinks he has a right to protect. Taking away someone's information so you can control their choices is a fucked up way to show you care, even if the reason you're doing it is because you're ashamed and afraid to be rejected.

Steven needs to stop denying and repressing that anything is wrong, has ever been wrong, or will ever be wrong with him. Steven shows most strongly the system's preference towards avoidance, denial, repression, and internalizing the horrible shit their abuser said to them. Not all of this is his fault, because Marc's been messing with his perception of reality, but Steven is also, in a backwards way, a Marc problem. Marc becomes Steven when he wants to avoid his life, and Marc uses Steven to punish himself and reinforce the system's self-loathing.

The entire system needs to find Jake and talk Jake into not hiding from them and using the body to be a hit man for a bloodthirsty moon god. At least when Marc's a hit man for a bloodthirsty moon god, he's doing it as a form of self-flagellation. Jake seems to be into it. I'm against the speculation that Jake is an "evil" alter, it is more likely he's got the same kind of problems that Marc and Steven do: denial and over-protectiveness and self-loathing.

For more details, I recommend my application, because the Moon Knight system is pretty complicated. It's also easier to show than explain. If none of this makes sense, play with one of them a little, you'll get the gist.

Chase Collins

[fifthofthecovenant]

Character Name: Chase Collins
Character Journal: fifthofthecovenant
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Chase is a graduated inmate with one inmate graduated behind him, himself, and he still only kind of knows what he's doing. He's not a social person-- he's something of a misanthrope in general, and a dramatic kind of nineteen to book-- but the important thing is he's trying. He's well aware that the things he has to offer to an inmate are a bit limited. Mostly right now, they sum up to his experiences as an inmate, wanting to die out of guilt and fear but learning to accept love anyway, issues with magic, and now a kind of aimlessness as his biggest goal has been achieved and he doesn't know where his life is going next.

As he is going to be continuing to work on himself to make himself a better person, though, he will be able to work alongside an inmate to help them with similar issues to the ones he has. He'll generally work best with inmates who aren't going to disrespect him because he's young, who have an interest in magic, and who either don't mind that he's still a bit of a jerk sometimes, or can be a jerk right back in the spirit that it's meant, rather than over-reacting. (He's maybe hoping for another teenage witch to fall out of the sky and be perfect for him.)

[we_continue]

Character Name: Lune
Character Journal: we_continue
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: From Lune's app:

Lune is direct and logical to a fault; her inclination when someone is being difficult is to hone in on the clearest solution and say "do this"; frequently she insists on following "protocol" rather than adapting to the situation at hand. When she feels she has a responsibility to fulfill, her tendency is to treat relationships and fun things as "distractions", but the truth is that she craves connection and loves beauty and art, and occasionally needs reminding of that.

Being on the Barge may well help her learn some flexibility in her approach, but at least to begin with, she's going to be very blunt with pretty much everyone. But she is also curious and eager to learn, which gives her another way of possibly connecting with an inmate. Inmates who challenge her analytical mindset would be difficult at first, but probably good for her in the long run. Intellectual or argumentative inmates might be interesting as well, although there's a good possibility that they could argue one another in circles.

[imfromfuckinflorida]

Character Name: Valentino
Character Journal: imfromfuckinflorida
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

Valentino is charismatic, domineering, and deeply control-driven. He masks his insecurity with glamour, charm, and intimidation, thriving on power dynamics in which he holds leverage over others. Affection, in his worldview, is transactional—something to be bought, manipulated, or coerced rather than freely given. Beneath the theatrical confidence is someone who equates control with safety, reacting to vulnerability with aggression, manipulation, or emotional retaliation.

At his best, Valentino can be charming, strategic, and surprisingly resourceful—able to negotiate, lead, or protect when it benefits others without causing harm. He can show wit, cleverness, and efficiency, especially when motivated by goals beyond selfish gain.

At his worst, he becomes manipulative, cruel, and self-serving, using charm and intimidation to dominate or exploit others. He lashes out when challenged, refuses accountability, and prioritises control above all else, often leaving emotional or material harm in his wake.

A Warden match would need to be carefully chosen. He requires someone calm, perceptive, and unwavering—an authority figure who enforces boundaries consistently and cannot be seduced, intimidated, flattered, or emotionally baited. The ideal warden would neither be cruel nor indulgent; heavy-handed control would only reinforce his belief that power must dominate, while excessive softness would invite manipulation.

At the outset, Valentino would likely respond with hostility wrapped in charm. He’d test limits subtly, probe for weaknesses, and attempt to exploit any inconsistency. Public correction might trigger theatrical defiance, while private settings would be used to gather leverage. The early dynamic would be a quiet psychological power struggle, with him attempting to reassert control in any way available.

Progress would hinge on steady, neutral accountability. Immediate consequences tied directly to manipulative behaviour, paired with structured opportunities to earn privileges, would gradually blunt his tactics. Over time, if his strategies stop yielding reactions, he may shift toward reluctant compliance—and eventually a cautious form of respect. Any lapse in consistency, however, would invite swift regression.

[thereisnoif]

Character Name: Nokov
Character Journal: thereisnoif
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

Nokov’s done a lot of terrible things, but he channeled his anger and pain into at least the idea that he’s trying to make things better. He thinks he has the right to change the world because he was hurt, not that having the power to do so gives him the right. He has the potential to heal and become someone who can actually help.

To do so, Nokov needs help dealing with his issues, admitting to the effect of his trauma instead of believing he can externalize and defeat them by destroying the universe and starting over so it all never happened. He’s shown that he still has the capability to trust people, and that’s vital, though his warden will likely have to be very patient in order to gain any measure of it. Having people he can trust who aren’t under his power and making friends is deeply important. It won’t be easy, but he needs not to be alone.

He also has to work on understanding other people’s motivations and internal lives and caring about them. He puts his own pain ahead of others, and it's part of the self-absorption (also manifested in not understanding that the people who hurt him were reacting to their own histories) he has to deal with, if he’s going to grow in more productive ways.

[falkeditupagain]

Character Name: Hanna Falk Cross
Character Journal: falkeditupagain
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Hanna is a graduated inmate with one graduation under his belt.

While Hanna seems all over the place, unserious and disorganized, which he can be, he can prove he is entirely capable of being focused when given a case to solve. Though to Hanna, a case is more assisting his client to the best of his ability, even if he is a bit of a snoop and likes asking questions. Yes, he is going to read a file, but he isn't going to judge you for the contents of it.

If anyone does, he'd happily remind them that his first assigned pairing was a magical demi-god cat who literally burned his witch-ass at the stake and he still helped him. Hanna has a unique perspective in that he plays the role of mediator between the normal world and the paranormal. He might be a dumbass sometimes, but he's got an overwhelming belief in anyone's ability to succeed and endless energy to back that up.

[planetdialup]

Character Name: Aerith Gainsborough
Character Journal: planetdialup
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Aerith tries to be there for every person of the Barge, in listening, being empathic, and helping people when they need a friend. For her inmate, that means that there will be that much more focus of positive energy on them.

Not that it will be just positivity (especially to the point of toxicity). Instead, it's more of a firm belief that yes, change is possible, yes, they can get through this- and she will be with them the entire way through. Even if it's difficult and hard to do. She is here to offer patience, understanding, and be firm when needed.

[unilaterallydisarming]

Character Name: Oscar
Character Journal: unilaterallydisarming
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Oscar is a warden with a graduated inmate under his belt. And he could not be prouder of her inmate for doing so.

Oscar is a man that comes across as a sweetheart, soft, and empathic. And it is true. But, he is also someone who will go to extremes for someone, whether they are strangers or not. He tries to follow the purpose of being there for people, doing the right thing, and he will do try to show by example.

This also means that he can be very stubborn, fierce about it even. There's a lot that he is trying to learn- he is, after all, a priest from the 1930s- but he is willing. So there may be a lot of questions. But it comes from a good place.

[flawmaturge]

Character Name: Wiktor Szulski
Character Journal: flawmaturge
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Wiktor is an asshole.

He's clever, caustic, no-nonsense (except when he is All Nonsense), and he's both emotionally and physically very rough and tumble for someone with a squishy human body and as many Daddy issues as he has packed in there.

In his app, I described Wiktor as 'the one who'd bail you out if he wasn't in the jail cell with you' type. Wiktor is not going to 'lead' anyone into moral reformation. What he's going to do is find out what's fucking your life up and making you stupid and destructive and try to help you out with it. And he'll do it by risking his life and limb if necessary and being a son of a bitch about it when he needs to and sitting beside you, broken and drunk and tired right along with you and Not Judging Shit when you're aching down to the soul.

While not for the faint of heart, Wiktor is not much of a hard ass; he's allergic to authority, especially being it, so you'll find a fucked up friend in him more than any kind of 'sage' guide. But he's here with you to the end, here to offer what he's learned and the stupid fuck ups he's made so that you don't have to make them or so that you don't make them again or hurt yourself.

Good for: my parents are absentee/dead/shitty, weird social issues around powers, I grew up weird because of powers, fellow twins, 'privileged' people, people who've lived under authoritarian rule and/or complicated political situations, so much passion not enough thought, my personality issues are now your problem types.

Bad for: dispassionate types, 'I just decided to be a dickhead because why not' sorts, dictators, 'logical' folks, 'I did it because of family tradition' types.

Also please note, he's got a lot of means of detection for emotional upset, secrets, and fuckery identification, so if you want to get away with a lot of sneaky shit, Wiktor is not your dude. Crimes of passion? More his jam. But plotted stuff, nu-uh.

[abrightboy]

Character Name: Malcolm Bright
Character Journal: abrightboy
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Malcolm cares immensely about helping his inmate graduate, but he's not a micromanager. He doesn't track his inmate on his warden item unless there's a reason he needs to find them (ie a shipwide emergency etc), he doesn't trust the inmate ledger as a source of reliable information (he refers to it as the big book of gossip) and he doesn't read their file without their explicit permission. He prefers to get to know them by having conversations, and he WILL ask uncomfortable questions, though he will also back off if asked to. He will be honest that this work is hard and that there are no shortcuts.

In regards to an inmate doing something that requires consequences (he believes in reasonable consequences, not punishments), he went into law enforcement out of a strong sense of justice. He will be fair and sometimes creative in determining what those should be, which he works on with the victim(s).

[methodofmadness]

Character Name: Christopher Chaos
Character Journal: methodofmadness
Status: inmate
Pairing Information: Christopher is a child who is struggling to balance his heart with the weight of knowledge while believing that he is some kind of chosen one who will bring Monsters into a new era without prejudice. How he will achieve that he doesn't know, especially when Adam Frankenstein has kept him in the dark about who he is his entire life. He is an unreliable narrator about most anything he might talk about at home, is bitter and dismissive about Adam's concerns about him enjoying his childhood over saving Monsterkind.

He takes barriers and boundaries as offensive in most situations, though not all, and wrangling him is at times harder than herding a mess of cats. Extreme patience is required for positive interaction, though even that with Christopher's moods might prove cause for a divorce depending on the subject.

Moving too fast doesn't work with him as he struggles to incorporate anything without puzzling through it himself, sometimes taking multiple swings to come up with the morally right conclusion; but moving too slow can also cause problems as he gets easily bored and frustrated with stagnation. Be prepared for invasive questions, rude dismissals, but also glimpses of a sweet kid who wants to see people like him not suffer any more just for existing.

Christopher is Chaos, but a destructive mess can become organized chaos if you work hard enough at it.

[greatoldjohn]

Please pair these two on whatever pairing date is *after* the next one (so please don't pair them 4/15, but whenever is next after that.

[methodofmadness]

Seconded!

[bargemods]

Are you guys looking for a temp pair or a permapair?

[greatoldjohn]

Perm pair, please!

[an_execution]

Character Name: The Convict/Simon
Character Journal: an_executiom
Status: Inmate

Pairing Information: The first thing Simon's going to need to do is realise that he is safe on the Barge. You know, relatively. Which is going to be difficult for him to accept at all; even before his time in the SM-13 fractured his sanity almost completely, he came from a space station where survival was completely conditional, and spent his whole life spurred by the desperate need to be the one who stays alive. That if he wasn't alive and useful enough, then a way would be found for him to be more useful dead. After that, it will be that he does have agency in his own life, and that the choices he made for his own survival were still choices.

It will be difficult for Simon to trust any promises, given how pretty much every deal he has ever made in his life resulted in people's deaths, or was crossed by someone else in power to entrap and exploit him. Helping him to understand that promises are supposed to matter and be upheld, not used to fuck him over, will be a significant milestone in getting him to trust someone in a position of authority. And he's honestly going to have a lot of difficult trusting wardens as a collective in general, due to his incredibly loaded history of authority figures manipulating him. He will be obedient in the short term, while he expects his warden/s to be unreasonable turnabouts, but it will take a while for him to be comfortable standing up to any wardens sincerely.

[modestpurpose]

Character Name: Hythlodaeus
Character Journal: modestpurpose
Status: Warden

Pairing Information:

He will first approach his given role with curiosity and will reach out to each inmate that he is temporarily paired with in order to try to get an idea of what they might be expecting out of their time on the Barge and how they anticipate their path moving forward, as well as how he may be able to connect to them on a personal level if they would wish it. With a permanent inmate, he will be open to listening to their views and concerns and be kind but determined in a potentially infuriatingly dogged way when it comes to their welfare, emotional or otherwise. He would not be aiming to rush or push an inmate to graduate but rather trying to find out what their personal goals are and how can help them to be achieved (within reason, since he can’t simply magic somebody off the Barge entirely).

Hythlodaeus would be best fit with an inmate who does actively want to graduate on some level, or at least is open to not shutting him out. He isn’t above being sassy and spicy towards those who give him attitude and he’s accustomed to working with difficult, stubborn, and colourful personalities, but if someone is determined to stonewall him forever there’s not really much he can do about that! As such he wouldn’t be a good match for somebody who was going to permanently, aggressively reject the idea of being helped in any way.

Notable strength for him as a warden would be, first and foremost, his desire to help those that he cares for or who fall under his care. While in life he was someone who had a tendency towards laziness and avoiding work if he could help it, when the need arose he was always somebody who would step up to the plate and give his all. He would fiercely defend any inmate put under his care (even temporarily) should they need it and be there to assist them any time they ask.

In terms of weakness, there is the point of his tending towards avoiding work. He will not be very keen on the idea of having authority in terms of exerting it over others and would likely find doing so to be slightly uncomfortable (though he would do it if it became necessary), and that could definitely be exploited as a weak point by somebody who managed to get under his skin. They’d have to work hard to do it though, since Hythlodaeus is a fairly unflappable person for the most part.

[adamantea]

Character Name: Adamantea / Poppy Keo / our lady of gardens
Character Journal: adamantea
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: "We get to change you, and then you choose what to do with it."
Adamantea has the power of a reality-warping god combined with the overall demeanor of a Disney Princess. The latter part is 50% on purpose and 50% genuinely Just How She Is: she was(?) a mortal(?) girl once who grew up on Disney movies, and it formed the foundation for some of her worldview. Think of her like a magical girl anime protagonist; she will power-of-friendship this, or at least she'll give it a good college go. Being a decent person might not fix anything! But it won't hurt!
She tries to keep to a consistent standard of ethics and morals because she's well aware of exactly how terrifying she could be to everyone else if she didn't; even so she accepts she needs to earn anyone's trust instead of being owed it, especially her inmate's. People on the Barge are kinda tetchy about the mindreading, and also all the other mind stuff she can do, so. She gets it? She doesn't have to enjoy it.

Given her power, she tends towards being reactive instead of proactive: she could just do psychic surgery to make you into a better person, it'd be very easy, but that would be A) unethical and B) unearned. Inmates who’d pair well with her are likely ones who want to improve but are stymied by themselves somehow, or ones who fundamentally believe they can’t improve.

She knows you have the capacity to do better! This was never in question. She Knows Things, and she earnestly and genuinely wants to help you. She knows the hearts and minds of people: and she knows no heart is as black and cold as its owner thinks it is, given enough time. Yes, people can fall! They can do terrible things! But if they fall, that means they can also rise.

She has also seen some deeply weird shit. Ten thousand years of Mage-ery will do this to a girl.

[astraymoon]

Character Name: Germaryah Washington
Character Journal: astraymoon
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information: Ger, as he is sometimes called, is going to need a balance of a firm boundaries and kindness. He comes in with addiction issues streaming from pain management and depression (which is very dangerous for him), and is still currently in denial on being a werewolf, as in his mind, they're not supposed to exist. And, well, his transformation, though once managed, will at least resolve a lot of the background pain for him will also confirm one thing he dreads most of all- that he is a monster. An unneeded, unwanted monster at that.

He's gone through a lot of trauma of not being wanted, and while there is going to be a lot of moody teenager stuff, because he is seventeen, he is desperate in being wanted and needed. This is going to take awhile for him to relax and to calm down, and to just not have to work himself to the bone to ensure he's "earned" his place.

He will also be prone to violence as a heads up. While he has been nerfed to human strength and speed, he's used to using it for both getting his own way, and also to intimidate people- as well as violent moodswings that can be triggered by ignoring his needed biweekly transformations.

So he's a bit of a long term project.

[twotruthstold]

Character Name: Simon Torquill
Character Journal: twotruthstold
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

Simon is always going to be someone who prioritizes the people he cares about over a greater cause, but that doesn’t mean being someone who accepts hurting others as an acceptable cost. He needs to grow into the person he could be when freed from others’ control.

He has to deal with the trauma of what he’s been through once he gave up most of his agency and safety or he’ll have a hard time avoiding simply spiraling into only seeing the worst of himself and believing that he can never be better. He doesn’t want to be seen as less than put together and probably won’t deal well with events that strip away those sorts of defenses. He’s likely to get very attached to people he was close to in breaches, and not know how to deal with that. He has to look at how sacrificing everything for the people he loves can hurt them.

He’s spent a lot of time playing chameleon, surviving the various roles he plays by becoming someone else. He can be someone who remembers how to care or someone who’ll shut out any part of him willing to explain. He needs to remember how to be himself, and what that can look like in the future.

He already understands his crimes and he doesn’t need a warden who will point them out, but rather someone who can help him be more constructive. He needs someone who will point out when he’s lying to himself, but not harshly. It’s been a long time since he’s been offered kindness, and it’s all the more important because he believes it’s undeserved.

[harderdaddy]

Character Name: Angel Dust
Character Journal: harderdaddy
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

Having been here before, Angel will adapt much easier than before, especially being reunited with his friends/support network, and with the growth he's experienced back home as well. He's learned to open up and show more of his real self, and to take joy in being part of a self made family. He's much closer on his path to redemption, having stood up to Valentino, and let himself risk the hurt that comes from caring for others. This will allow him to hopefully do the same here, reigniting relationships and being more open to exploring what it is that landed him in Hell in the first place- the final piece in his journey.

He is currently in the midst of a relapse, which may hamper things at first, but this should ultimate force some important conversations and changes. But a Warden who knows about or is familiar with addiction may have extra success with him.

[major_rawne]

Character Name: Elim Rawne
Character Journal: major_rawne
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Rawne, if he's paired, will do his best to help his inmate become the best person they can be. He's good for reluctant inmates, as he was one when he first arrived. He's willing to take a certain amount of verbal abuse and will tolerate some yelling, if it helps them work things out.

His understanding only goes so far, though. He'll try his best to keep his inmate from being violent, especially against other people. He's tired of murder sprees and likes to keep them to a minimum.

[darlingcalling]

Character Name: Dr. Casper Darling
Character Journal: darlingcalling
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information: You gotta learn how to trust people, my man.

So much of Control could have been avoided if Darling actually talked to people, actually explained what he was doing, actually explained the dangers that were looming over the horizon. Instead, he dove right into an ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality. And that ‘I can fix it myself’ mentality did mitigate some problems with the Hiss’s invasion—but it didn’t fix everything. And things could have gone a lot more smoothly had Darling actually talked to people and warned them directly of the potential problems.

Another thing he needs is to have his faith in the Bureau challenged. There are a lot of aspects where the Bureau isn’t that great! And Darling is in a position where he could change those aspects! His faith and belief in the Federal Bureau of Control probably won’t be outright shattered, but he needs to learn to actually take initiative, step up, and change things for the better instead of going along with Trench’s morally dubious flow. Darling needs to acknowledge the flaws of the FBC, acknowledge that he helped perpetuate those flaws, and acknowledge that he was in the position to change them, he just chose not to. Again: he works for an organization that kidnaps kids. And he sees nothing wrong with the fact that a kid got kidnapped in the first place.

Obviously a warden with a scientific bend would be great for Darling. He’s a big ol’nerd who loves to talk shop and having someone to yammer about theories and run weird experiments with is automatically a point in their favor. But the best sort of warden for him would be someone who pushes him, someone who isn’t content to let things sit at face value. Because again, Darling’s a fun guy. But he needs someone to look past those bowties, wide smiles, and goofy jokes to actually poke at the real problems. And until he gets a permanent warden or someone who is willing to look past that goofy demeanor, there is zero percent chance of Darling actually improving. Why would he focus on something weird like ‘work on yourself’ when there are new things to learn! He’s gonna figure out how the Barge works, baby! No need for personal growth here!

[anashthetic]

Character Name: Ashton Carver
Character Journal: anashthetic
Status: Warden
Pairing Information: Ashton thought for a long, long time that she was fundamentally evil and broken and wrong, and it didn't take a whole lot to groom her into becoming someone-something who spread atrocity and horror wherever she went starting at the ripe old age of 21. She had something she had to become strong enough to kill at any cost, and her future was that, or her future was nothing.

The Barge fixed that. Well, his warden fixed that; he's still an asshole with a deep talent for cruelty, it's just much more deliberately deployed these days, and he doesn't hate himself anymore or think he needs to die. He's a big proponent of the idea that graduation is not about "redemption", that's moronic, he's still a bad person -- it is about rehabilitation and figuring yourself out. Are there parts of you that no longer suit you, now you're freed from your old situation? Leave them behind if you please. They had their purpose, and you don't need them anymore. Your homeworld sucks? Literally just leave, you don't owe it anything. Your life is yours, and your body is yours, and if that involves fucking it up? Fuck it up! The Barge gives a lot of room for mistakes!

Ash tends to be pushy, possessive, and controlling if she thinks she knows what's best for you, though telling her to knock it off works as long as she likes you. She wants to help, genuinely, she just gets way too caught up in her own ego at first; once you get that out of the way she does want to figure out the halfway point between 'want' and 'need'. Any permanent inmate would need to be have some bite to them or at least give her pushback, but she wants to be unquestionably there for you no matter what the way her own warden was for her: be as much of a monster as you want. She's done worse. She's not going to look away or leave you, and she'll be there to wipe the blood off in the aftermath and then call you a dumbass.

He's not secretive about the fact he was a monster, and he'll give a permanent inmate a copy of his own file first thing if they want it; if a warden can manage to get him to go from I love warcrimes!! Fuck you!! Explode!! to I will think, carefully, before I do warcrimes, and I will check with others, and probably opt to do something else, anything can happen! Reading their file depends on them, and if they want him to hear it from their mouth first.

(He's also a vampire, so he's only awake at night, no exceptions.)

Inmates who might work well with Ash: immortals, people who need to learn at least a smidgen of 'maybe less warcrimes?', self-destructive people, people who are desperate for agency, people who crave physical violence, people who need to learn to rely on others, people who need someone who is unquestionably and always there for them
Inmates who probably won't work well with Ash: inmates with very mundane problems, inmates who won't push back, inmates who are not cool with the fact their warden has mind control powers (that she's not using, but still)

[halfhappy]

Character Name: Christina Brand
Character Journal: halfhappy
Status: Inmate
Pairing Information:

She's a career cop, so this system makes some kind of sense to her. It's the platonic ideal of a corrections system, you know? Help people get better so they can reenter society. Minus the being dead at the time part. And being in space. And-- you know what, the theory is solid.

The thing is that she both gets and doesn't get why she's here. As far as she's concerned, she righted her wrongs and was satisfied to live out the rest of her life settling for half happiness. Even if someone were to tell her plainly that she has to learn to look within for happiness, it wouldn't really click. Pop psychology and the ✨wellness industry✨ saturate everyday life back home, so like, yeah ok sure, she's heard this.

Christina needs someone she connects with and feels safe around. She's going to be in professional and social mode unless she's alone. He world is so normal and vanilla that it she'll certainly be curious about powers and the horrors, which could be a way in past her shields. Alternatively, even the most vanilla of characters can get through just by being sincere. She's so wound up that she'll find that disarming, but not outright terrifying.

The core of her issues are emotional and mostly universal: loving oneself, and caring enough about others not to bring them down because you can't face your own wounds and work on healing them. A visible sign of progress on this direction will be when she stops wearing her wedding band. Her marriage has been about presenting socially as expected for someone her age, so being able to let go and just be, regardless of what people think, is a step in the right direction. Ultimately, she has to face what happened with Jasper and really truly actually deal with it. So whoever her warden is needs to be comfortable with delicate emotional subjects and sensitive to the layers in this particular relationship. Jasper was physically and verbally abused by his alcoholic father, and as a result, he developed a host of coping mechanisms and disorders that actively impede forming relationships. Christina went into their relationship and later engagement fully aware of this and ready to support him through it all. So to be left because he thought he'd make her unhappy was visceral, so no she's not over it and don't let her make herself believe she is.

She doesn't need a therapist for a warden, to be clear. She just needs to feel respected and trusted and safe. She's liable to do unhinged things as time goes on, and she'll be stubborn and cranky, but at heart she just wants to feel safe and at peace. Anyone could fit the bill.

OOCly, I'm around a lot, so we can make it interesting and fun for both her and her warden for as long as we're into it.

[cigsandbeer]

Character Name: Sha Gojyo
Character Journal: cigsandbeer
Status: Warden
Pairing Information:

Gojyo, after an abusive early childhood, grew up on the streets as a juvenile delinquent: he knows from painful personal experience how circumstances beyond your control can end up shaping your life and leading you down bad paths, and he has a high tolerance for what he considers worthy of a second (or third, or fifth...) chance.

Gojyo greatest strength as a warden will be just being there for his inmate; drinking, playing cards, fighting, teaching them how to fight if they need it. He's very emotionally loyal: once he considers you His People there's very little you can do that will make him give up on you. He tends to be especially protective of younger, more vulnerable people, but he's also used to ultra-violence, and a violent inmate won't faze him. He will not drag an inmate kicking and screaming towards their graduation, and thus would be a bad fit for inmates who need that kind of pushing. He'd likely also do poorly with an inmate with a history of abandoning others; his own abandonment issues would get in the way.

Good for: inmates who need a reliable friend and/or protector, inmates who need to see that you don't have to turn into a perfect person in order to graduate.

Bad for: inmates who need a warden with a high degree of professionalism, inmates who need a lot of intellectual debate, and probably the kind of inmate that look like a little kid but is actually a hundred-of-years-old monster.