Characters: Caroline and Ryan Setting: The stocks, when Caroline gets there
Ryan shifted his weight from one side of his ass to the other, already able to tell where he'd be sore and stiff later tonight. Damn the screwed up administration here, anyway. If they left well enough alone, he wouldn't be in this mess, because he'd been careful. What was the use of being careful if people were going to go and try to play God on you?
He glanced at the woman who had been put into the stocks next to him after Wren moved away. "I can safely assume that you're Caroline," he said, lips curving up faintly. "I'd say it's a pleasure, but circumstances being what they are, it would be much more of one if we weren't both constrained in such a medieval fashion."
Caroline had been studiously ignoring everyone, until the moment that she was addressed directly. "Yes. I'm Caroline, which makes you Ryan, right? And the sentiment is mutual. I can think of better ways to spend my days." She hated the indignity of this. Sitting here, exposed, on display. She wanted out, she just knew that if and when she tried for it, she damn well better know that she was going to succeed, or she would just find her ass landed back here again.
"Yep, Ryan," he agreed. He couldn't be anyone else, he thought, for he couldn't think of anyone who would come out here and be put in these if they didn't have to be. "Oh trust me, I can think of other things I could be doing," he said dryly. And he would be doing at least one of them if he could when he got out. "Better to come voluntarily than be dragged though."
"Yes, I came to that conclusion as well," Caroline told him, looking him over, and then running her gaze up to the top of the courtyard, examining the roofline. "The end result seems to be the same - though from what I heard, there was something of a commotion down here earlier on. Do you know what that was about?" she asked him, not looking back over as she continued to take in their surroundings.
"There was, though I admit I wasn't paying much attention to it," Ryan admitted. "They seemed to be wanting to choose sides on whether they should do this thing or not--humanitarian stuff," shit, though if it applied to him he was behind it, "and punishment, I don't know. I think I heard something about not punishing without knowing the reasons, and such. I was more concerned with making sure no one was going to jump me while Wren calmed everyone down."
"Yes, well - there was a reason that I said I wasn't coming out until everyone got lost. I was not particularly fond of putting myself in the middle of a circus ring, to be fought over and gawked at." As for people not knowing what they did, she had absolutely no intention of telling - and it seemed that the administration here had no intention of doing so either. As for Ryan, well - she'd read his 'confession', and she'd done the math. No way was he getting longer in the stocks for doing less than she had. Something didn't sit right there, but it was really none of her business. Plus - she actually didn't want to know. If might turn out to be something dangerous and she was already inwardly freaked enough at being put in such a helpless position, without finding out there was a monster across from her.
"A good call on your part, though Wren managed to put them down with a few words," he said. He was impressed in his own fashion, honestly. She did have a backbone, though being the prophet would probably do that. She was used to being listened to, and she was right, it was his choice to come down. He knew if confronted with violence he would have reacted with violence, and that would not have ended well for any of them, to be honest. Enough people and he would go down, but not without hurting others first. "Better to be gawked at than drug out physically though." He noticed she didn't ask what he did, and he wasn't about to ask her, either. Don't ask, don't tell, that worked just fine with him, since he wanted to soothe people into a more secure feeling. "At least we have a sun shade now, though."
Caroline looked up at the shade above her head. "I suppose so. In the scheme of things, I'm not minded to be that grateful. 'Oh, look - we're going to shut you in these things, but never mind, we'll give you some cotton. Aren't we great?'," she mimicked, rolling her eyes. "Someone's great idea for making themselves feel better about things, I would imagine." She wasn't in a particularly charitable or forgiving mood right now, that was for sure.
"Well, I'd rather not get a sunburn," Ryan said. He would make a point, later, of talking to Carmel if he could. He'd watched her some since he came here, and though they'd lowered their voices some, he rather thought she didn't look well today. Though perhaps that was just disapproval of the situation that tightened the corners of her mouth. "Well, you could have chosen not to come. At least they left at your request, they could have stayed and caused more trouble." While it would have been nice if others had destroyed the stocks, it probably would have brought guards down on everyone. Though... maybe he could drop a word in someone's ear, somehow.
"Of course - you're going to be out here all day, aren't you?" she said, smiling sweetly, if there was a hint of bitch behind the statement. She wasn't 'sentenced' to so long. Thank heaven for that. She had her plans, but they were being amended right now. They would keep. It was more important that they succeed than that they happen quickly. She had to stay here, wait it out. Bide her time. "So, Ryan - what did life involve for you before you found yourself here?" she asked him. May as well pass the time in conversation.
"Supposed to be, yes," he said, his dry tone showing how much he didn't really care for that without edging into unacceptable bitterness. He rather thought the punishment wasn't fitting with the crime, unless they were punishing him for Meg, and honestly, he wouldn't get convicted in a court of law, so he rather thought it was heavy handed of them. He'd taken advantage of her but not really more. The fact that she hadn't been out to throw a fit at him proved to him that she had no memory of it as of yet at least. "You mean prison in general?" he asked, eyebrows rising slightly. "Before that, I helped run my father's construction company." Foreman of a good crew, even if he didn't always like the job it hadn't been that bad either.
"Did you enjoy the work?" Caroline asked. It wasn't anything she knew anything about. She had never held down a 'job' in her life, though she would consider that she had had herself a career.
"It wasn't bad," he said after a moment of thought. "I didn't like early mornings, to be honest, but the job wasn't bad. Heading up crews and all, and it was pretty straightforward work." He tilted his head at her. "What about you? What did you do?"
"I was a trader," Caroline told him, stretching the truth but not exactly lying. "Antiquities, mostly, but it depended on the market. It allowed me to travel. I do love to travel." She looked down at her constraints. "I'll travel again, one day."
"That must have been interesting," Ryan said as he looked at her. "I didn't get to travel a lot, but I did get around a little." Mostly just Texas and some of the other states, but he'd never felt the urge to go overseas, really. "What kinds of places?" He asked, figuring it couldn't hurt to get to know her a little better.
"Rome, Paris, London. Lots of places in between," she suggested. "I liked Europe. I spent a lot of time there," she told him. There had been more interesting places too, but not ones that sat well with any kind of air of legitimacy.
"That sounds interesting," he said. "I've never been to Europe. To Canada once and Mexico, but never all the way across the ocean." Well traveled, she was, he thought. "Bet there were plenty of interesting things to find and sell."
"Oh, it's interesting - and very different to over here in places. I like old things, so Europe always appealed. They have so much more history to choose from over there," she explained. There had been times where she had felt like a kid in a candy store. "Of course, the languages can be a barrier, but most places seem to speak at least osm English, so I could always get by."
"That's true, yes. There's hundreds of years more history over there than here, just because we weren't colonized for so long." History class had always been boring, but he knew that much. But if you liked old things, hey, no place better, he thought. "Yeah, the languages would keep me from it, I think, unless there were enough people who spoke English. I have a bit of Spanish and nothing else." He'd had to work with Hispanic workers more than once over the years, so it was in his interest to know a little.
"You pick up languages, if you spend enough time over there. I have some Spanish, but since I spent more time in France and Italy, those became my main others," she told him. Her eyes drifted to the roofline once again as she examined the walls. They were smooth, almost faultless. Clearly, climbing out was not meant to be an option, but the idea of it wouldn't let her go. The sky seemed so near - only that one story away. Taunting her. Freedom from this hell.
"I suppose so. I only picked up the Spanish because a lot of the construction people in Texas are Hispanic, legal or illegal," Ryan said, shrugging slightly. Using illegal workers had never bothered him, though because his father disapproved they'd always been careful about trying to hire legal workers. Otherwise he'd have had no problem doing so provided they did the work he wanted them to do. He watched her quietly as she looked around. "Thinking of a way out?" he guessed quietly.
She looked back at him as he asked the question. "There is no way out," she told him, levelly. The answer was, in fact, 'yes,, but she was overly aware of the cameras which were bound to be watching them. She needed every advantage that she could get if she stood any chance at all. She sighed a little and shifted in her bonds. "It feels like we come from very different worlds."
Ryan nodded. "Unless you count being a good little boy or girl to get us out of here," he added. So far he'd found nothing, though he hadn't really been looking for an escape so much as a diversion. Though the other's night's diversion had apparently landed him in these stupid things, at least in part. "We probably do. There seems to be people of all sorts here," he replied.
That had been Caroline's original plan. To behave. To do what they told her to do. To be a model 'citizen', or whatever they called it. But six days in and Caroline was almost literally climbing the walls. And she was now actually considering physically climbing the walls. It would be nigh on impossible, but almost impossible wasn't actually impossible. And sitting here, having nothing else to do but make small talk with a stranger and stare at the walls had her planning routes. Maybe she could make it. Maybe.
Ryan looked out as well. He couldn't quite tell what was on her mind, other than he suspected she wanted out. Well, she might be good to keep an eye on, see if she managed it, or if she were punished for trying to get away. Wouldn't hurt to keep getting to know her, he thought as he made some small talk. See where it might lead...