video for Stephanie and spam

[fire_punk]

Private to Stephanie

[Kevin can't help his grin as he turns on the camera. He's already dressed to leave the ship and is fidgeting with the cuffs and collar of his suit. It's definitely not anything he's used to wearing.] Hey, Stephanie! You said you didn't want to stay here and we're at a port. It's not permanent but... It'd be some time off the Barge. It'll be fun.

Spam

[Kevin's been exploring as much of the fair as he can get to. He definitely needs spending money and he doesn't want to have to keep asking Jesse for more. The obvious solution is to hang out in the carnival area a bit and play with fire and paper. Everyone should just assume he's doing some kind of a trick, not magic, right? Besides, it's fun showing off what he can do. If he can make enough money, he'll buy one of those naked paintings over in that art building. If he makes more than that... Maybe he'll stay at a hotel instead of going back to the Barge overnight.]

[OOC: Feel free to run into Kevin anywhere in the fair. Just specify in the header.]

Comments

[fire_punk]

She looks... [He sighs, searching for a word, any word that might come close.] Good.

[yeahscience]

[He laughs.] Yeah, okay. That's one way of putting it too, I guess.

[fire_punk]

No, Jesse. [This is really getting frustrating. That's not what he's talking about, Jesse!] Not good like she's hot. Good like... like you.

[yeahscience]

[He's openly caught off-guard by that. That's an understatement, really. He blinks, smile fading in sheer surprise.]

That's...

[Wrong, he wants to say, but for once he keeps his mouth shut. Someday, he'll let Kevin get a look at his file, maybe, tell him about the operation and Gale and Drew... Today, for once, he swallows it back and lets Kevin look up to him. That's what he's wanted, right? He smiles wanly.]

Thanks, man. Thank you.

[He takes a deep breath and lets it out, looking to the painting.] How are you doing, lately?

[fire_punk]

[Even if Kevin knew about that, he'd still say Jesse's good. Now, anyway.]

Good, I guess. School's weird.

[yeahscience]

Yeah. [It's such an obvious truth to him that he doesn't think to say anything else at first, but then he realizes he should probably ask:] Weird like how?

[fire_punk]

Nothing makes sense. [He's so far from being high school level. He never even went to middle school. It's frustrating.] Except shop.

[yeahscience]

Oh. Yeah. [He hesitates, not sure how to respond. He did go to middle school, but it's not like that had helped him when he'd gotten to high school and still hadn't understood a fucking thing. Kevin's situation there is pretty much identical to his... but all he can think of is how he responded, and how stupid that had been in retrospect.]

Stick with it, though, right? I mean, maybe you can ask someone to like... tutor or whatever. School's important.

[fire_punk]

But... why? Why does it matter if I know all that stuff? [He hates always feeling left out like he does when people talk about things he's never heard of and just assume he should know them. But he's so tired of not understanding a thing in class.]

[yeahscience]

[He shifts uncomfortably.] You just... you do, right? Like we talked about. Open doors and all. [He rubs the back of his neck.] It's important.

[fire_punk]

Why do people care if I know what's in salt? [At least that part wasn't too terribly confusing. But it was the only thing in that lesson he'd understood.]

[yeahscience]

[Salt. Does he know what's in salt? He tries to think back and comes up blank, and it makes him laugh, because he can talk about lithium and magnesium and phosphate now, but not salt.

The laugh becomes something of a groan and he rubs a hand over his face, moves closer to Kevin, lowers his voice to a near-whisper. This isn't really the place he wanted to have this talk, but it's the only thing he can think to say.]

What would you say if I told you I was one of the best chemists in the country back home? I mean, definitely in the southwest, but as far as I know it pretty much anywhere. Except that I got no idea what's in salt. I don't... know much about anything, except how to make this one thing.

[Off Kevin's look, he drops his head, but forces himself to keep his eyes up.] Poison. Drugs.

[fire_punk]

You mean like during that flood?

[yeahscience]

No. [He says it immediately, vehemently, because nothing could ever make him want to be like that. Not like that.] Not like that asshole.

[Except yes, actually, very much like that asshole. He falters, and now his eyes do fall. He wipes a hand across his mouth, picks anxiously at a fingernail.] But the, uh, job, that was the same, yeah. Cooking, selling.

[fire_punk]

Oh. [It's okay, Jesse. He gets it.] That's a big thing where you're from?

[yeahscience]

Yeah. Enough to keep us in mad cheddar for a while.

[fire_punk]

So you're saying I should learn to do that?

[yeahscience]

What? [Holy fucking heart attack.] No, Jesus, what the hell?

[fire_punk]

Oh. [Jesse, why are you being so confusing?!] Then what did you mean?

[yeahscience]

I meant you should do, like, literally anything else, yo! [He's still keeping his voice down, but it comes out in a panicked hiss, eyes wide and alarmed.] Like what the hell do you think got me doing my time on the Barge? How do you think I graduated? Quitting that shit!

[fire_punk]

Okay. Okay, I will. [His eyes are wide, scared. He's still young enough to get scared when he picks up on a mentor's own fear.] I didn't know.

[yeahscience]

Oh my God. [He can see that he's freaking Kevin out, but honestly, good. He rubs his hands together agitatedly and glances around -- no one's looking yet. That's good, too. Still, he moves closer, drops down to a whisper.]

I didn't mean it to sound like I was proud of any of that, because I'm not. The money, all that, it wasn't worth it. Not for what I went through. Not for the damage I did. My deals, you know -- they're all about undoing some of this shit. And I... [He rubs at his mouth again, tries to calm down.] I just want better for you, man, because me, I only stuck with it so long 'cause it felt like I had no choice. Like there wasn't nothing else I could do. Okay?

[fire_punk]

Oh. [His voice sounds small. He sounds younger than he really is for the moment.] Like when Yvette made me help her?

Then what else would you do now?

[yeahscience]

No. Not like that. [He almost wishes -- it would be easier, in a way.] You didn't choose like I did. I mean, you did, but... I had mad chances to get out and I kept going back. I guess I kept thinking it couldn't be that bad, or it couldn't get much worse...

[He trails off, the message clear; it could. It did. He frowns down at his hands.]

And now I dunno. The art thing, I guess, when I'm done here. Building. There's not a lot else I even know how to do.

[fire_punk]

I meant the same kind of bad shit.

Like this? [But Jesse's drawings are a totally different style. He's not sure if that'll work.] Building?