patheticvillain | forty-eight ➢ spam + private + video

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forty-eight ➢ spam + private + video

spam } open

[Cassel starts the new year off hungover. He rises late after karaoke, but he does rise, his limbs feeling heavy and leaden as he heads to the gym.]

[It's weird; he's got the craziest feeling that time is pressing down on him, that if he doesn't start off this year right he'll be letting everybody down. That everyone he passes is looking at him, too. Paranoia left over from seeing his family, probably, but it feels real. He smiles at everyone who comes in as he's cleaning and tidying, doing the work he didn't do over the past few days, but he feels hemmed in, overwhelmed, pushed against by anything and everything.]

[Those who know him well might notice he's frowning more and smiling wider when he smiles at all. His masks aren't as good as they should be. He complains loudly and with good cheer about the food at lunch in the dining hall, sits down with near-strangers, touches the people he loves on the back as he passes their tables.]

private } chris

Hey, so. What the hell is Mickey's deal anyway?

private } wichita

You and me, we've got a date. You ready?

filter } inmates

Yo, so anybody who uses the gym on a regular basis might have noticed it's kind of trashed at the moment. That's my bad, I'm sorry about it. I haven't figured out how to clone myself, so for the time being it's just me working in there.

I need a magician's assistant. Anybody interested? Perks include me liking you, your theoretical warden getting off your ass a little bit, not being bored to death, and karma points.

( ooc; cassel is still emotion-worked! as detailed in these posts. pp for more details if desired! )

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No, but you don't get it. It's that plus this place - being stuck here. You can't get out, like, ever. Maybe it's closer to Stockholm syndrome than anything, but it's like, if you don't learn to make your home here, you go crazy.

And if you don't change here, you go crazy. Are you gonna go crazy on me, Wichita?

[It's teasing, but. Also not really. He also kind of totally wants to know. She doesn't seem like the type, but you never can tell sometimes.]

[ she sniffs at "make your home here", and she decides after that it was intentional, that it wasn't a subconscious sort of thing, because she's in control of her homesicksness, she is. it's under lock, for sure. ]

There's only one thing that could make me go crazy, and I'm pretty sure that [ she jabs her finger towards the file ] makes it abundantly clear what that thing is. Her name's probably all over it.

Not her real name.

[If that helps. He's not sure why, except that maybe the total invasion of privacy is reserved for inmates only. And Little Rock isn't an inmate. Although by the look of this file, that might not last long.]

Are you thinking, what, I'm gonna use her against you somehow?

No. [ it comes out quick, her brow furrowing up. all very "you fool" ] I'm saying you have nothing to worry about, because as long as she's safe - which apparently she will be as long as I'm here - then we're fine. You won't see me freaking out in any way.

[ she'll even flick her bangs out of her eyes and tilts her head to give him a very charming smile, well practiced ]

[He raises his eyebrows. He meant emotionally - there are ways, he has ways - but if she wants him to think he's got no chance, well, he'll humor her. For now.]

I totally don't believe you about the not freaking out. This place can get to anybody.

But as long as you believe it, I guess.

I'll admit, that other Barge wasn't the greatest. It didn't get to me the same as it got to Needy, but eh. Almost.

[ needy who like, bombed the gym. right. not that he was there for that, but. well. she graduated, so obviously the incident wasn't that much of a tarnish against her. she doesn't question when someone slides her a drink without having to even ask what she wants ( does she really make her way here that often? woops ) just reaches for it and takes a big sip ]

I dunno. I've watched my world burn and get eaten alive, literally. I don't think there's anything this place could throw at me that could fuck me up worse than that did.

[ because she's not about to pretend it didn't fuck her up in some ways. it turned her conning and stealing into an actual matter of survival, not just a fun way to stay on the road and never go back home with her sister. it changed her, sure ]

[Well, at least she's honest about what her home did to her. At least she's not trying to pretend that she's some saint. At least she's not delusional, in other words. He was when he got here, so he isn't going to say he doesn't appreciate the fact that she can see herself clearly.]

[It's just that it's also obvious she doesn't want to change, and that's a roadblock, too.]

So what are you gonna do here, then? Just hang out forever? [What about Little Rock, he doesn't ask, and feels a twinge of guilt for a moment, because wouldn't it be better and safer for the both of them if they could both be here?]

No, I have to graduate.

[ said like a kid that's talking about having to do a bunch of math homework they have zero interest in ]

People who graduate get to pick where they go after, right? And who comes with them? So I graduate, grab Little Rock, and head to Fiji. Or wherever. Somewhere without zombies. [ she huffs ] That's the plan, at least.

Uh-huh.

[He takes a sip of his drink, struggling not to grin. Her tone is just. Fucking hilarious.]

So you have any idea how you're gonna do that? Or are you like me? Just planning to wing it?

[He wonders how mad she'll be when she realizes that she's stuck with an idiot. Or maybe she already has realized. A short-term-thinking, bad-decisions-making, barely-graduated-by-the-skin-of-his-teeth asshole.]

I thought you were supposed to have that answer.

[ she does have some idea that he's, y'know, still just winging it, but it's also a suspicion in that she's sure he's just trying to come off that way so she keeps her expectations low. it could go either way, she's still trying to decide. ]

What do you think my method should be here, oh mentor-mine? Guide me.

Nuh-uh, wardens aren't quite the same as mentors. I mean, that can be part of what we do, but I've never been particularly good at it. Shit, did I look like I knew what I was doing with Needy? Don't answer that. I know I totally didn't.

[A hint of insecurity slips into his tone here, something weirdly juvenile, even younger than his years. It could be a way to trip her up, but it sounds so careless - careless enough to be genuine.]

Anyway. My first piece of advice, if you want it, is to quit being such a hermit. There are good people and terrible people here, and you're gonna have to learn to trust at least a couple of them if you want to graduate, I bet.

I do want your advice, but only because you graduated. You must've gotten something right.

[ which sounds defensive, so she huffs a breath, pushes a hand through her hair ]

Look, I'd do- anything to get Little Rock out of Z-Land. Literally anything. If I have to shoot the shit with some people here to convince the Admiral or whoever that I'm not a complete asshole, fine I'll do it.

Seriously?

[That was easier than he expected.]

Fine, then. We'll get you a job. That's a good place to start. Anything in particular you're interested in doing? Conning people out of rides isn't actually a job on the Barge, before you ask.

[ she shakes her head ] I'm already a part of the breakfast crew. Sometimes.

[ and she'll just assume that the next question here is either "what?" "since when?" or "why?" so ]

The guy with no eyes was like "you should help out here" and I mean I'm not living the dream or anything, but it meant having first dibs on fresh pancakes, so.

Oh man, you know Marsh?

[Cassel grins way harder than "the guy with no eyes" should logically prompt from anybody.]

Marsh is the greatest. I made him a teapot once. He's such a cool guy once you get past the fact that he's totally one hundred percent impaled with spikes. Plus he makes great pancakes.

Yeah, he seems super into the whole breakfast thing. He asked me to join up out of nowhere, but I'm glad he did. Seriously, this place gets boring when you can't- do the things you got so used to doing. And I don't mean shooting zombies.

[ she means running cons, yeah. fighting to survive might've been horrifying sometimes, but she misses that energy, for sure. having a good reason to fight, that's- not something she's found yet here ]

This place just doesn't give me the same adrenaline rush I used to get back home. Or any kind of rush. Most of the time it seems like it's trying to literally stomp out any rushes, actually. [ ssiiiip ] Is that what this place is? A big boat where exciting people go to die, or worse, because really boring?

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forty-eight ➢ spam + private + video

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