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]

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?

[yeahscience]

Worse. [It is. Drew Sharp, that was worse. He would have taken killing his own dad over that. He shakes his head, self-conscious.]

And I dunno, like... the stuff I do on the Barge, furniture and whatnot. Shop class stuff. That's my point, I don't even... I barely finished high school, I dropped out of college, I don't exactly got a lot on my curriculum vitae, you know? You still got a chance.

[fire_punk]

What do you think I should do? [Because he has absolutely no idea what he wants to do if he ever leaves the Barge. He doesn't even know what he can do.]

[yeahscience]

That's... what you gotta figure out, that's what the school stuff is for, right? There's stuff out there. Decent work. Honest work. Shit that good people do.

Just... a lot less if you fuck up like I did. A lot less. I mean, I tried, you know... I've been trying. [He shifts his gaze to the paintings, and for a long second, he just looks sort of lost and tired. He's not actually that much older than Kevin -- he'd come to the Barge at the age of 25 and he hasn't actually aged, not physically, since then. At times like this, though, he feels about a thousand.]

[fire_punk]

Yeah? [He's getting curious. He's never thought about this before.] Like what?

[yeahscience]

Like... [And now he's younger again and more uncertain. He bites his lip.] Like the shop stuff. Art stuff. Graphic design, tattoos, stuff like that. Or stuff you can do with your hands, you know, um... those dudes down in the engines and in maintenance, they make mad bank out in the real world. And just about anything to do with sciencey stuff...

[fire_punk]

Shop stuff? Like making shit? Really?

[yeahscience]

Yeah. [He looks over, brow furrowing.] Why not?

[fire_punk]

You can earn money with it?

[yeahscience]

I mean... some. [He looks uncertain. His standards for money-making are skewed now, and he knows it.]

[fire_punk]

Wow.

What about the sciency stuff?

[yeahscience]

Well... [He puffs out his cheeks, lets out a slow breath.] I mean, yeah, even the chemicals are pricey, so...

[fire_punk]

No, I meant what kind of sciencey stuff could I do?

[yeahscience]

Um... [And here's another problem: he genuinely has no idea, beyond the basics.] Like you could work in a lab, or...

[What the hell had he used to do with Narvin, back when he was an inmate?] Like, some people do, like... experiments. Research. And other people... help them. But that sucks, don't do that.

[fire_punk]

[Experiments he knows. They'd been fun in school. But...] What is research?

[yeahscience]

You know... research. Experiments and shit. Learning.

[fire_punk]

Why do they have more than one word for learning? If that's what they mean, why don't they say that?

[yeahscience]

[He doesn't have an answer for that; he remembers being young and confused, but not this confused. He shrugs and folds his arms, unsure.]

Is there anything you do like learning about?

[fire_punk]

[He nods emphatically. He's mostly gotten past the whole "school is stupid" thing. Now it's just confusing.] Yeah. It's just all confusing.