Re: Hayden and Jae
"Sort of." Jae said. "Got a job, it turned out to be for people that none of us were on board with, right?" she said, not getting into details, but giving him a better scenario. "So we weren't going to follow through, decided to turn on them. And shit got...y'know. Intense." And I lost people, and it fucking sucks and yeah. But let's not get into my depressing issues.
“Okay, I think I’ve got it,” Hayden said, though he realized there was probably a lot in there that he didn’t get at all. It was definitely a bigger deal than his little robbery. No one had died in that mess. “So does anyone know if our sentence might be shortened by going through this program? Or how we got picked for it?”
"You didn't read the manual, huh." Jae said. "It isn't getting a shortened sentence. It's graduating the program. When you do that, you get shipped out, get a new identity, life, whatever, and I guess means to get started. Ain't got shit to do with shortening your sentence. As for how we were picked...no clue, there, honestly. I mean, I guess some people seem like they'd be 'rehabilitated' pretty easy, but others? I can't see it." She shrugged.
“Yeah, I guess I should go back and re-read that,” Hayden said. He’d been meaning to, but he kept getting distracted. He’d just scanned it the first time around. “I guess what I mean is, if someone’s got a life sentence, can they still be rehabilitated and shipped out? Set free, if that’s what it is? That basically means their sentence is cut short for good behavior, right? Unless there’s more to being rehabilitated than I realize.”
"...yeah." Jae said. "Sweetie, do you need to be hit with the logic stick?" she asked. "The deal is pretty simple. If you're here, that's what you get, if you satisfy the almighty gods of this place or whatever. As far as I know there isn't any other rehabilitation, and one chick did graduate already. Didn't seem like it was a thing where she needed to go elsewhere afterwards."
“It seems too simple,” Hayden said, and that’s what stuck out at him. Maybe he was sounding like an idiot who hadn’t read all the paperwork, but this kind of place seemed too good to be true. How hard could it be to be rehabilitated? Especially for someone like him? Someone like Hunter? All they had to do was play along, play nice, and they’d get to go... well, maybe not home, but somewhere that wasn’t prison. “I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
"More like it's impossible to at the moment." Jae said. "Look you aren't the only one who's suspicious here. Just--what exactly are you going to do about it? They tell us what they want us to know, and that's pretty much that. We can't leave, there isn't any staff to talk to, you can message them, but again--they're going to tell you what they want you to know. So, I wouldn't spin my wheels too hard on it. Because you ain't gettin shit for answers til you're out of here." She paused. “Though I might ask them whether or not you and your brother are getting shipped out into the world separately and without that ‘brotherly’ connection anymore. I’d be curious on that.”
Hayden paled as he considered that option. At the moment, Hunter would probably be all for it, but Hayden couldn’t imagine a world in that he didn’t have a twin brother. Even in separate prisons, he’d known his brother was out there and hoped that he might see him again. The idea of losing him for good made his stomach knot up. It was worse than being sentenced to prison. “That would be a good thing to ask,” he agreed, taking another sip of his drink. He wondered if Hunter was even there. “Guess I really do need to spend some time with that manual,” he sighed.