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Tweak says, "PLUS ULTRA!!!"

Samuel T. Anders (cbuck) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-04-27 21:03:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 05, location: gas station, sam anders, sid jenkins

Day 5: Paradise in Hell
Who: Samuel T. Anders & Sid Jenkins
What: Anders meets up with Sid and gets food
When: Day 5, morning
Where: Gas Station
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

Shoes felt amazing. No matter how many extreme situations Sam had been through, he had never been shoeless.

The thrift store was a bit of a tough walk from the church without a shirt, jacket or shoes. After picking through the oddly-scented collection of clothes, Anders found a greenish t-shirt, a used pair of trainers, a gray sweatshirt with some strange logo on it and a military jacket, much like the one he'd been missing all morning.

Now that he was dressed, it was time to go eat.

Following the map in his journal, Sam wandered along the road towards the gas station. This kid Sid made this place sound like paradise, at least to someone who's been in the fleet for the past few months and has done nothing but choke down processed algae and recycled water. Also, he could really use a cigarette.

"Sid," Anders called out to see if the kid was there.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 01:31 am UTC (link)

"I don't know." Sam casually shrugged. War games, he had gotten good at. Mind games, he was still new to. This whole being a Cylon business really did a number on his reasoning skills. If he was wrong about how he was all this time, what else could he be wrong about?

He couldn't help but think about the tattoo on his arm. Kara once told him that if she found out he was a Cylon, she'd put a bullet in his brain. She trusted him when she married him. How could he have been telling her the truth then and lying now about what he is?

All of this rushed through while he devoured the last few chips. "So, are you an 'American' then?" he asked, also making small talk.

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 01:36 am UTC (link)

Nearly choking on the beer as he took another sip, Sid shook his head. "Christ, no," he laughed. Sid being American. That thought was hilarious coming from someone who sounded like an American, so far as Sid could tell. "I'm English. I'm from Bristol," he clarified.

Then, he took another drink and furrowed his brow contemplatively. "Where exactly is Picon, anyhow? Is that...I dunno...Asian?" he ventured. Asia was one of the continents he knew very little about. "Or maybe South American?" he tried, although as soon as he said it, he realized how stupid it would sound to the other man if he didn't even know North America.

...and why was only one country in North America called America? That was a bit presumptuous wasn't it? Though, Americans tended, in Sid's mind, to be just that, what with changing the English language to fit their whims and completely disregarding the fact that the only reason they were there was because Sid's country had discovered theirs.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 01:47 am UTC (link)

That put a smile on Sam's face. "Sorry." All these strange places. He knew it came with coming to a new world, but he hadn't heard of so many new places since elementary school when they were first learning the geography of the other colonies. "English. Bristol. Got it."

Another deep drink of the beer. It tasted so good. On a ship, they could made a damn lot of moonshine and some other crappy hard liqueur, but he was yet to find someone who could brew beer. Everything about this tasted incredible.

"Picon, well Picon is a planet. I lived there as a kid." All these other strange places were going to take some getting used to. "Asian, South America... no idea where those are." Now he was laughing because he really felt stupid.

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 01:54 am UTC (link)

"Oi, you don't know England, either, mate?" Sid asked, a bit confused. If he didn't know the Americas, Asia, or Europe, what did he know? Fuck's sake, he spoke English, so he had to be from somewhere that did...maybe Australia? The accent didn't sound right, though...

...oh. Right, a planet, of course. Sid closed his eyes and shook his head briefly as he tried to process that and then reopened his eyes to look back at Anders. "Planet? No, no, mate...maybe you meant Pluto?" Although, even that was weird to think about...Pluto was so far from the sun it would have to be inhabitable, wouldn't it? "See, there's...Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Yeah? Ringing a bell, mate?" he asked with a small smirk.

Sid dropped the spent cigarette onto the floor and stubbed it out with the toe of his sneaker before finishing off his beer and reaching around Anders for another bag of crisps. The other man was making them sound much better, having enjoyed them as thoroughly as he had, and all.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 02:01 am UTC (link)

The candy bar was the next thing. Anders grabbed a chocolate bar and peeled it open. As the kid listed off what he seemed to think were planets, Anders only chuckled more. "I know those ones, but I think you're the confused one. Those are the gods."

Everything about this place was like being in a fun house. Things were so similar, but so very very different. "Picon, Caprica, Tauron, Aerlon. Those are planets, at least where I'm from."

Much like the chips, when Sam bit into that chocolate bar, he thought he'd found a little piece of paradise. The last time he'd eaten chocolate, he wasn't sure if it was more chalk than chocolate.

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 02:08 am UTC (link)

"Gods?" Sid asked, raising his eyebrows. "Nah, mate, those are the planets in our solar system. Gods are like...y'know. God..." he said awkwardly. "Oh, er...you know, like Artemis and, er, Zeus...that lot. I never liked mythology, so I can't remember many of the Greek or Roman ones," he laughed, looking a little sheepish as he admitted it.

Cocking his head to the side like a confused puppy, Sid's brow furrowed again. "I've never heard of those. Although, Caprica and Tauron sound a bit like Capricorn and Taurus, so you're close, but those are constellations and star signs and all that new age shit," he replied. Although, Sid could definitely see how clusters of stars could be confused as planets, especially if Anders was still feeling a little woozy in the head from the drugs. Well, Logan had been the one to suggest they'd been drugged, but it sounded like it made enough sense, considering the lightheaded discomfort Sid had felt when he'd first woken up in the woods.

And, quite honestly, Anders was devouring half of the petrol station's supply in one sitting - or standing, maybe? - so maybe the drugs were taking longer to wear off the poor sod since he was clearly starving.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 02:16 am UTC (link)

Well into his third bite, Sam chewed and talked at the same time. "No, no, no. Those are the gods. Artemis, Diana, Zeus, Hera, Apollo," Anders insisted. If Earth had forgotten its gods, perhaps the thirteenth tribe had more problems than they'd expected. Just because the gods were supposed to be up high didn't mean that they were planets.

"And don't go spewing that crap about 'the one true god' or whatever." The last thing he wanted to think about was the Cylon god.

The tangle of information was a lot to process, especially so early in the morning. "Capricorn and Taurus... those are the ancient names. No one's called them that for ages."

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 02:27 am UTC (link)

Sid pulled the pack of cigarettes out again and retracted another. This was going to be a long conversation, he could already tell. Lighting another and once again offering Anders the pack, just out of reflex in spite of the fact that he was still eating. "Right, yeah, them," Sid agreed. "And about a bloody million others I can't remember, but those aren't the gods anymore. That's Greek or Roman mythology, mate. No one prays to them anymore. They're just stories in history books and the lot, now," Sid replied. "Yeah?" He took a drag from the cigarette. It had been a while since he'd chain smoked. Since he'd seen Cass on the webcam with that bloke in Scotland when she hadn't realized he could see.

Once again, Sid shook his head. "One true God is all bollocks, if you ask me. Every religion has their own; too bloody many with different beliefs to all be the same one, yeah?" Sid didn't really believe in God, although he didn't disbelieve, either, he supposed. Mainly, he just believed that if there was a God, He must really have it in for Sid, what with the shit hand he'd been dealt in life. "Christians have theirs, Hindus have theirs, Muslims..." his voice trailed off. He didn't really know how Anwar's religion worked. Mostly because he hadn't ever given enough of a shit to ask.

Sid's brow furrowed with confusion as he took another drag from the cigarette. "It's 2008 and we still use them, are you having me on, mate? You're really funny, yeah? It's too early in the morning, you're making my head hurt," he joked. "You know, Capricorn, Taurus...Virgo, Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, Pisces, Sagittarius..." his voice trailed off and he left the cigarette dangling between his lips as he reached up to scratch the back of his head. He was missing one... Then it came to him. "And Libra. But, like I said...those are just star signs," he replied. He had to bite back a reflexive 'what's your sign?' because he didn't need this bloke thinking he played for Maxxie's team or anything.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 02:42 am UTC (link)

"You've got all these people and places I've never even heard of. Where are the Christains from?"

Poor mixed up kid. Either Earth really frakked up with their history, or this kid was really out of it. "Look, you're from Bristol, right? I'm from Caprica City. Its a frakkin long ways away, destroyed now anyways."

This time he took a cigarette. He only had a few more bites left of the chocolate anyway. "The thirteenth tribe, which is you, came to Earth. The other twelve settled in the colonies. Caprica, Tauron, Virgon, Picon, Aquarion, Aerilon, Sagittaron, Canceron, Gemenon, Scorpia, Leonis, and Lebrin. Don't they teach you this crap in school? What was it called? A levels?"

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 02:48 am UTC (link)

"Christians are from all over. It's just a religion, yeah? Not a race or anything," Sid replied.

In spite of their obvious butting of heads in terms of the wheres and whats of their respective homes, Sid found himself frowning slightly when Anders said that his hometown had been destroyed. "That's bollocks; sorry to hear it," he said sympathetically. "Terrorists?" he ventured. "Natural disaster...?"

When Sam took a cigarette, Sid stowed the pack back in his pocket and held out the lighter for the other man. "Tribe? O...kay..." Sid replied awkwardly, scratching his head again. "A levels, yeah, look...I think we're on different wavelengths. Those aren't colonies where I come from. And Earth is a planet, yeah, but those aren't the other planets in our solar system; I said those already," he reminded the other man.

After another drag on his cigarette, Sid shrugged. "Fuck it," he laughed. "Agree to disagree, yeah? Tell me about Pyramid; I'm curious," he said, deciding the change the subject, as it seemed that they'd just be going round in circles if they kept up the current discussion.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 02:58 am UTC (link)

"Bombs," he said outright. "All the colonies..." There was a haunting emptiness in his words. Behind his bright blue eyes, he saw those mushroom clouds rising high above the treeline from all around. The sound of that radio static and the screaming. He took a deep swig of his beer.

At the suggestion of agreeing to disagree, he started to nod. "Yeah, that, uh, sounds like a plan."

Finished with the chocolate, Sam wadded up the wrapper. He then took the offered lighter and lit up the cigarette. A few short puffs later and he handed it back. "Thanks."

After a long drag, he spoke, letting the smoke fall from his lips as he did. "Pyramid. Right. You play with a ball, about, this big," he mimed with one hand like he was holding a small melon in it.

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 03:04 am UTC (link)

"Heavy," Sid said quietly, looking down. He hadn't meant to make the guy feel bad or anything. Useless and crap, Sid. Useless and crap, he thought.

But Anders seemed fine with moving off the previous topic, which was good, because Sid had a feeling they'd be going back and forth all day. He took the lighter back from the other man and nodded, a small smile sent in Anders' direction as he pocketed the lighter again. "Cheers, mate," he said.

Sid listened as Anders started to explain the sport. Nodding his understanding, Sid took another drag of his cigarette and then finished off the beer. "Right, got it," he said. He couldn't personally think of a sport that had a ball that size, but then again, Sid wasn't much for sports at all. "You said, er...goals, yeah? How many to a team? How do you keep score?"

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cbuck
2009-04-28 03:14 am UTC (link)

For further explanation, Sam flipped open his journal back to the doodle he did before coming over here. "This," he said, pointing to the point on the triangle with the little circle draw on it, "is the top of the court. That's where the goal is, and its a little bigger than the ball so you've gotta have good aim."

He took a nice long drag again. Just having a cigarette for no other reason than they had them was nice. He'd been rationing his. All of this was extra funny because before the attack, he hadn't touched one since he was Sid's age.

"When the ball is in play, which is any time its not in one of these zones," he instructed, pointing to the triangle in the center and the blocked off areas at the points, "you can only take three steps before throwing it. That doesn't mean you can't rebound off of one of these and get it right back. You could also shoot or pass."

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emo_underdog
2009-04-28 03:22 am UTC (link)

Sid leaned just a bit closer - minding the other man's personal space because, again, he didn't need the guy thinking he was a...well, apparently, fag - and looked back down at the journal and the drawing Anders had done to show him the court before. When the other man explained that the goal was only a bit larger than the ball, Sid nodded. Basketball was similar. So far, he was following.

When Anders took a drag, Sid did, too, finishing off his own and once again dropping it to the floor to snuff out with his sneaker. He opened the bag of crisps he'd taken and popped a few into his mouth, trying to chew quietly so that he could hear Anders go on. "Three steps...more than that would be a bit like traveling in basketball, yeah?" he asked, although it was more of a musing than an actual question. "In basketball, you only get one step, although you can dribble - er, bounce the ball, that is," he said. "So everyone is going for the same goal, then?" he asked. That part was a bit confusing to him; Sid only knew of games that had a separate goal for each team, so again, Sid wasn't sure he understood how score was kept in Pyramid. He didn't ask, though; he sort of figured Anders wasn't quite done explaining. If he was done, then Sid would ask.

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cbuck
2009-04-28 03:28 am UTC (link)

"You keep track by who makes it in. With a five v five, it gets a bit hairy, but other than that, its not so hard." This wasn't so different from the way things used to be. They paid the team to help teach at camps and schools about Pyramid. Everything was so different back then, when the most important thing was what time his photo call was or where they were flying to next.

"Oh, and bodies are fair game so long as the ball is in play. If you're down, you've gotta throw."

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