fire_punk | video for Stephanie and spam

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.]

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: Chicago World's Fair

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

fire_punk

You mean like during that flood?

From:

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.

From:

fire_punk

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

From:

yeahscience

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

From:

fire_punk

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

From:

yeahscience

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

Edited Date: 2013-12-09 03:08 am (UTC)

From:

fire_punk

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

From:

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!

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

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.]

From:

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.]

From:

fire_punk

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

From:

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...