InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Stars fading, but I linger on."

Sid Jenkins (emo_underdog) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-05-12 12:34:00

Entry tags:

!dropped, !incomplete, cheryl mason, day 07, location: theatre, sid jenkins

Day Seven - Late Morning
Who: Cheryl Mason and Sid Jenkins
What: Morning fix of nicotine
When: Late morning
Where: The theater
Rating: PG-13 or so, probably, for language
Status: Incomplete; dropped

It had seemed that Sid had perhaps been stepping on toes, having taken up residence in the petrol station. There were already people living there. In a continuing effort to keep his head down, Sid had simply gone to the next building with which he was somewhat familiar and let himself inside. It was an old theater, he came to find. Looked a bit like what he thought maybe West End might if it, too, had been abandoned. There were other people staying there, too, but it was big enough that he didn't feel too much like an intruder. He'd simply taken up one of the seats in the dark corner in the back, curled up, and gone to sleep.

When he woke up, he was disappointed but unsurprised to find that he was still there, rather than back in Times Square. He wanted very badly to believe that it was all a weird dream or a bad trip, but every passing day was making it harder and harder to do so. Fuck, he needed a fag.

Groaning as he stretched his stiff muscles and rolled his neck and shoulders, Sid got out of the chair and headed for the door. He'd just smoke inside like he had at the petrol station, except somehow it felt wrong in a theater. Plus, he'd thought he was alone in the petrol station. He wasn't sure how well the women milling around in here would like it if he just lit up a cigarette and had at it. But, when he got to the front door, he couldn't push it open. "Oh, come on," he said through gritted teeth, slamming his shoulder against the wood and only managing to hurt himself. "Fuck! Fucking fuck! Bollocks! Open, you fucker!" he shouted, kicking the door, next. Christ, was wanting to be a polite smoker so bloody much to ask?!

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emo_underdog
2009-05-15 06:19 pm UTC (link)

Laughing, Sid shook his head. "Nah, but if I was, are you saying you wouldn't know for sure and I might be able to get away with it?" he joked. He grinned at the way she tried to play off as though she was annoyed only managing to end up laughing. "Right, see? You should think of these things," he pointed out playfully, taking another drag off the cigarette, smoke exhaling along with his words. "If this snow doesn't stop, anyway..." his voice trailed off and he looked a little sullen, suddenly. "We'll both be damsels in distress."

"Headupasstopia? That's brilliant," he laughed, nearly choking on the inhale of smoke he'd just taken in as she'd said it. "Fucking safe!" She was hilarious; she reminded him of Chris and for the first time, he thought of Chris with a smile instead of immediately dropping out of his good mood to frown out of respect. Chris would've been flattered; Cheryl was really fit. Actually, Chris might've just felt bested and changed tack to try and fuck her for all Sid knew, but the idea still made him smile. A female Chris. He'd have to keep this one around. "Why the wallets?" Sid asked, furrowing his brow a bit as the cigarette bobbed up and down between his lips with his words again. He dragged and then took the cigarette from his mouth. "Can't see how credit cards and money would do any of us any bloody good, although I imagine a flashlight would be handy, thus they took it. Why the fuck were you carrying a flashlight around anyway?" he laughed. "I mean, unless it was one of those keychain ones, yeah?"

"Wonder what the going rate for fags is here..." Sid preteneded to ponder. "I reckon if we hold 'em long enough, we could get four, maybe five candy bars per pack, yeah?" he suggested, grinning widely.

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tufui_egoeris
2009-05-15 08:23 pm UTC (link)

"Let's put it this way: you can try to fool me but I get to punch you in the arm every time I catch on?" Cheryl proposed with a laugh. It seemed all the more amusing to her since she couldn't be entirely sure that she would catch on if he tried to play off an insult as a compliment, especially since she wasn't all that up on many of the more polite ways of putting someone down. "Oh, but if I thought of all those things myself I'd have no reason to keep you around and then I'd be out a good source of smokes," she kidded, even if she was rather enjoying her time with the kid. It was nice to have an excuse to fool around and to not think about everything. "Depending on how deep the snow gets, we could always play Rapunzel. Though I guess that depends on how you feel about growing your hair out."

Cheryl couldn't help but laugh along with him, her amusement punctuated by gray smoke. It felt good to be able to make someone laugh like that and it was something that she had missed, being able to share a joke with someone. It almost seemed like it'd be a lifetime since she'd been able to joke with an easy conscience and she found herself a bit surprised that it came so easily. "Identification mostly, but that sounds pretty bleak, doesn't it? To think that they'd steal wallets just so we wouldn't have ID on us?" She frowned slightly and shook her head. "It was a little light I could keep in the pocket of this one jacket I had. I had it because I was brought here right after--" She caught herself short and decided to not mention where she had been shortly before waking up here. "I was someplace pretty dark. There wasn't much light or anything, so it came in really handy."

"Four or five at least," she agreed with a smirk. Tipping her head back, she jiggled her cigarette between her fingers as she pretending to think about it. "That's not even counting services we could trade for. Someone to cook, someone to clean up, all the dirty work we don't want to do."

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emo_underdog
2009-05-15 09:38 pm UTC (link)

Sid smirked. "Fair enough, I've taken enough blows to the face from girls, a punch in the arm wouldn't be so bad," he replied and distinctly remembered the feel of the punches, kicks, and slaps from the fucking chav girl army he'd tried to defend Michelle against. So Michelle had walked off leaving him there and after the chavs had finished with him, he'd been pissed on by a hobo while he laid on the ground to recover from the blows. Christ, that had been an awful day... "True," Sid replied, pointing at her with the cigarette between his fingers and a grin on his face. "I feel like a dealer. Oh, I'm so used," he sighed overdramatically. "Rapunzel was a bird, though, so it depends on how you feel about growing your hair out, yeah?" he pointed out with a cheeky grin.

Headupasstopia...Sid was going to store that in his memory bank for future reference because that was just too brilliant to let go at the end of the conversation with Cheryl. Too brilliant. "I didn't have my ID in my wallet," Sid said with a shrug. He'd never gotten the school ID back from the Mad Twatter and had managed to lose his official one somewhere between getting on the plane in England and getting off in New York. "Oh, right. Cool," he replied at the mention of a pocket light. Yeah, she was right, that would've definitely come in handy, seeing as how it seemed like they were for lack of electricity in this sodding nightmare of a place. "Sounds a bit like here, yeah?" he joked, failing to notice the way she'd stopped herself to continue the sentence in another way.

Sid watched as Cheryl pretended to consider his suggestion of payment and he snorted a laugh when she mentioned services. "Cooking, cleaning...yeah," he agreed. "Although when you said services, the first thing that came to mind was wanking," he admitted with a blush and a grin as he shrugged. "I can't believe I just said that out loud," he added, laughing.

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tufui_egoeris
2009-05-16 02:05 am UTC (link)

"You got beaten up by girls?" Cheryl asked, clearly rather surprised by this bit of information. She couldn't quite keep from laughing at the idea but that was mostly because it just seemed pretty ridiculous that a guy like Sid would have any reason to get beaten up. "I'm not sure I really believe that. I can maybe see some bullies picking on you or something but I don't know about girls punching your face in." She offered another smoky laugh to his comment about being so used and pointed a finger lightly at him. "Used, sure, but you have to admit that it's not so bad. How else could you get to hang out with someone like me?" She snorted at herself and rolled her eyes in a depreciating manner, clearly not meaning any of it. "Oh sure, just because I'm a girl I have to play Rapunzel. Whatever happened to gender equality, huh?" She snickered.

"Hm, I guess I can't really guess why they would take our wallets then. Like you said, money isn't doing anyone anything here since everything's up for the taking and silly photos of family and friends are nice but don't really reveal anything," she frowned a moment as she tried to puzzle this out but she soon came to the conclusion that whoever had taken them had simply intended them to come into this experiment entirely on their terms. To his latter question, she managed a faint laugh but there was really nothing behind it; after all, it was a bit hard to fake lightheartedness when one of your big fears had just been spoken. "Yea. Yea, something like that."

Cheryl raised an impressed eyebrow when Sid brought up the idea of wanking but she couldn't help but join him in the laughter. "Oh, I see where your mind is," she teased him with a grin. "The first thing you think of is wanking, huh?"

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emo_underdog
2009-05-16 10:37 am UTC (link)

Sid shifted his weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. How did you tell a fit, cool bird that you've had your arse kicked by a bunch of girls. On more than one occasion? And sometimes while not actually outnumbered? He didn't even have to say and she was laughing and, well, he would be, too, if Anwar or Chris had told him the same thing. "Oi, I was outnumbered," he pointed out easily omitting the instances in which Michelle and Cass had done numbers on him. "So...it wasn't really all that fair," he added as a smirk tugged at his lips, in spite of himself.

"No, not so bad at all, actually," Sid agreed giving her a smile - if he'd thought about it for half a second before doing it, he'd have realized that it was a fond one and probably a bit more soft and goofy than he'd been going for. Though, it was short-lived, replaced by a far more full and amused one. "You can be an equal...equal to the fact that Rapunzel was a bird," he laughed. "You wouldn't wanna climb up my hair, anyway, I haven't showered and it's been under this cap for three days straight," he added with a lopsided grin. Four, if he counted today, because he was counting the day before he woke up here.

The more they talked about wallets, the more Sid thought of the photo of Cass. Had he checked every pocket? Because seeing her face right now would make him feel infinitely better. "Right, yeah..." he muttered distractedly, cigarette burning near down to the filter as it bobbed up and down with his words and he patted himself down.

Then he paused and patted at the back pockets of his jeans. "Safe!" he shouted suddenly and extracted the photo of Cass, holding it out for Cheryl. "Guess this slipped their radar. ...or maybe they just didn't wanna touch my bum," he laughed. "That's Cass," he added perhaps unnecessarily.

With a small smirk, he shrugged. "Can't help it; I'm a bloke. And 'sides, 's better when someone else does it for you, yeah?" he laughed.

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tufui_egoeris
2009-05-16 03:59 pm UTC (link)

Cheryl did have the good grace to look apologetic when Sid went on to confirm that he really had been beaten up by a group of girls and she offered him a bit of an awkward smile as she did her best to cover her damage. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't really laughing at you. I just couldn't imagine why a guy like you would get beaten up, that's all," she explained but she wasn't sure that she was actually doing any good at all. "I can understand completely, though; groups can be a real bitch to fight down."

"You'd better be careful, going around admitting that being used isn't so bad," she teased him with a grin and a slight wink. Her own expression seemed to reflect his, showing a bit more friendliness than was usual but she didn't mind; really, this kid was more than alright. "PFt. You're just being sexist, forcing the idea that all princesses have to be female," she spoke in mock-outrage but she hadn't quite managed to lose the grin. Her nose did wrinkle slightly at his admission that he hadn't showered. "Oh man, that's nasty!" She was teasing, for the most part. "You know, if you don't shower by the time the snow melts, I might have to frogmarch you over there myself."

Cheryl raised an eyebrow at him as Sid proceeded to pat himself down but she couldn't help a small laugh when he produced a photo and shouted suddenly. "Ah, the secret of keeping things next to your butt; why didn't I think of that?" She leaned in a bit so she could look at the photo and she found herself smiling; the girl was cute and she could definitely see what Sid would like about her. "She's really cute. You two must make an adorable couple."

"You have a good point," she laughed lightly and narrowed her eyes in thought. "Though I imagine that would take a few cigarettes to buy. High in demand and all, yea?"

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emo_underdog
2009-05-16 05:39 pm UTC (link)

Grinning sheepishly, Sid raised one hand and waved off her apology as he flicked the spent cigarette out the window with his other. "I stepped in when a bunch of bloody chavs were ganging up on Michelle. She walked off...and they pummeled me. Got a black eye and everything. Should've lied about it when my dad asked how I got it, but, you know...hindsight." Sid was loathe to mention that the black eye wasn't the worst of it and that the lowest blow hadn't even come from the chavs at all, but from the hobo.

"Maybe that can be our little secret, yeah?" he asked. The truth was, Sid actually didn't mind being used. Mainly because it was all he knew. There was a sick, morbid sort of comfort zone there and it was far less foreign to him than anything else here that he had encountered. Another smirk crossed Sid's lips. "All princesses do have to be female. 's why they have princes as male counterparts," he pointed out cheekily. Cheryl's retort to his having not showered was not surprising, but he was a bit quicker on the draw - the water was bloody cold from what he'd heard. "Well have you?" he prodded. "I'll go when it's not so fucking cold outside. Cold outside plus cold shower equals unhappy Sidney," he reasoned.

Cocking his eyebrows thoughtfully as he adjusted his glasses, Sid shrugged. "Don't reckon that would work for the girls," he said. "Well, er, I guess that's me being sexist again, sorry, heh," he backpedalled. When Cheryl said that Cass was cute and that they must make an adorable couple, Sid smiled a little and looked down at the picture. "She's beautiful. She's..." he sighed, the smile fading just slightly. "Cass is a bit of an enigma. I never really know what's going on in her head. Think that's part of the reason I love her so much," he replied. "She keeps me on my toes." After a moment - and after running a thumb against the outline of the photo Cass's face, he tucked the picture back into his jeans pocket.

"Yes, well, I was thinking maybe candy bars for individual fags and wanking for the whole pack, y'see," he joked.

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tufui_egoeris
2009-05-16 07:13 pm UTC (link)

"I have heard that hindsight is twenty-twenty," Cheryl agreed with a slight nod. Even with her fleeting knowledge of Brit slang, she wasn't entirely sure that she followed the meaning of 'chav' but, even so, she could piece what he was saying together. A small, slightly impressed, smile touched her lips as she quirked an eyebrow at him. "Still, there's nothing wrong with admitting that you fought off a gang for the honor of a friend, huh? I mean, I can see how admitting that they were girls could be embarrassing but a group is still a group and you were still outnumbered."

"Our little secret, sure, but I don't know how long I can keep using you," she joked. "I mean, eventually, you're going to get your sense back about you and I'll be out in the cold as far as smokes go." She sighed as if this bothered her but what would really bother Cheryl was if Sid really did allow her to use him in any true sense. "You do have a good point. Maybe we could update it for modern times, make it Prince Rapunzel instead?" She raised her eyebrows and grinned at him. "I did shower the other day but I wouldn't recommend it," she confided in him with a slight shiver. "The water was ice cold and, in weather like this, you'd just be begging to get sick. Besides, I don't know if I'd want to witness unhappy Sidney."

"Sexist, maybe, but you're probably right," she laughed easily. Her expression turned to something torn between touched and a bit envious as she watched how he looked and touched the photo but she managed to hold her smile all the same. "You really are pretty caught up in her, huh? That's really sweet." She laughed again when he mentioned the reasons why he loved Cass so much. "Is that all it takes? I guess there really is something to be said for the mysterious femme fatal, huh?"

"Hey, good thinking," she snickered. "It sounds like you have this whole bartering system all worked out."

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emo_underdog
2009-05-16 09:03 pm UTC (link)

Sid shrugged and looked down, lighting another cigarette and once again offering her the pack. Might as well chain smoke now and save himself the effort of coming back up here for another later, he supposed. "'cept everyone made fun of me for it," he replied casually. He wasn't hurt over it anymore and he hadn't been surprised at the time, so now it was nothing more than fact. For whatever reason, Sid had no shame when it came to admitting that he was a fuck up; he'd grown so accustomed to everyone thinking so that it really bother him if anyone else tacked themselves onto the tally.

Taking a drag from the cigarette, Sid leaned back against the wall and gave Cheryl a sidelong glance. "Nah, mate, I'm enjoying your company. I've got my senses about me," he said with a small smile. Sid pretended to consider the proposition of turning the fairytale so that he'd be Rapunzel. After a moment - and another drag and slow exhale of smoke - Sid shook his head. "No...no, I don't think we can do that," he said apologetically. "'s blasphemy or something." Then he turned his head to look at her and smirked. "Unhappy Sidney is a very unpleasant sight, yeah, best we keep him at bay," he added.

"Yeah," he answered, a dumb smile plastered on his face. "I'm glad I finally saw it, even if it took a few hurt feelings and broken friendships to get there. It was always there...I'm just too crap to have seen it on my own," he said, rolling his eyes and pulling down the beanie again, moving his fingers to make sure his bangs were still tucked into it. "Guess so...for me, anyway," he replied to Cheryl's question about what it took for him to fall for Cass.

With a cock of his brows, Sid took yet another drag on his cigarette. "I've had a lot of time to consider how things would work in my own little fantasy world," he admitted with a playful grin. "'m just tweaking it, now, to fit the situation."

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tufui_egoeris
2009-05-16 10:35 pm UTC (link)

Cheryl played with the thought that it would be rude to take yet another of his cigarettes when they were known to be in short supply but her remembered addiction outweighed any sense of decency; she reached to tease another from the pack with a murmur of thanks and placed it between her lips. "I hate to say it but I can see why they'd make fun of you," she snickered slightly but did offer him an apologetic grin. "Anyway, it does make you sort of a hero, risking life and limb to help a female friend."

"I gotta admit that I'm glad to hear that, since I'd feel pretty foolish if I was the only one enjoying myself," she offered him another grin and then stuck out her tongue when Sid decided that Rapunzel couldn't possibly be a male. "Now you're telling me that you're against blasphemy? Besides, you'd make an amazing Rapunzel." She nodded to his comment about Unhappy Sidney and grinned. "I don't know if I'd want to meet him, so I'll do anything necessary to keep him from coming around."

"I heard it said that everyone's sort of crap when it comes to things having to do with romance so you probably shouldn't feel too bad about it," Cheryl assured him with a small laugh. "It's good that you had it, though, even if it took you a while to get your head out of your ass and realize that there was something there."

"Your own little fantasy world, hm?" She smirked and raised her eyebrows at him. "This is how you put it together or are we just seeing a beta version right now?"

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emo_underdog
2009-05-16 10:58 pm UTC (link)

Letting out a huff in the form of laughter, Sid nodded. "Yeah, if it was Anwar or someone instead of me, I'd be laughing myself stupid," he agreed. "And, I dunno about life and limb, but dignity and pride, yeah," he added. Life and limb, not so much; enduring being urinated on by a hobo while lying beaten on the street after a load of stupid girls had at him...he would've almost preferred life and limb. He sure as hell wasn't telling Cheryl that bit. He'd only ever told his mum and dad and only because his dad had smelled the piss and asked before Sid could get up to the shower. That bit was going with him to the bloody grave, it was.

Sid laughed out loud when Cheryl stuck her tongue out at him and professed he'd make an amazing Rapunzel. "Think we might have to agree to disagree on that one, Cheryl," he told her. "After all, I think of the two of us, you'd definitely fit the beautiful princess role better than myself, and honestly...growing my hair out that long would make me look even more ridiculous than my mum says I already do," he pointed out with a smirk.

The fact that she'd said she was enjoying herself in his presence as well was not lost on him, but he chose not to comment on it. He still couldn't understand why the people here were so keen on spending time with him; it was weird. Not in a bad way, but strange, none the less, to feel like he was wanted rather than put up with in a social situation. Maybe he'd never get over it. It'd be his bloody luck that Tony or Anwar would show up next and cut him back down to size, though...it was probably just a matter of time.

He gave Cheryl a mockingly serious expression and nodded solemnly. "He throws things," he told her, before cracking a grin in spite of himself. Christ, he'd been stupid. He'd thought Cass was cheating and he'd actually failed to give her enough credit, thinking that she'd be stupid enough to leave the webcam on for him to see it. The laptop had suffered the wrath and he'd still been stepping on tiny pieces of metal and plastic for a couple of days after the fact. The fact that he'd called her a ditzy cow to himself was another thing he'd be taking to the grave.

Laughing again as Cheryl pointed out in so many words that he really had had his head up his arse, Sid shook his head. "Funny story?" he asked, taking a drag off the cigarette and looking back at her with raised eyebrows. The smoke was exhaled along with his words. "The first time I thought I had it figured out, I ended up being locked in a bloody padded room, because I'd been in such a hurry to get to the clinic and tell her that I looked a mess and the staff thought I was a patient who'd wandered off.

"The second time...it was after Tony yanked Michelle and I out of the toilets, pants around my ankles and skirt up over her hips to tell us that we were wrong and that I loved Cass. Would you believe it? Mid-fuck he pulled us out of the stall and just like that Michelle dumped me and it hit me that he was right and Chelle wasn't the one I really wanted." He shook his head and laughed again at the memory, cocking his eyebrows and taking another drag. Blowing out the smoke, Sid reached out the window and flicked the ashes off the butt end of the cigarette. "So y'see...I really am crap with that stuff. Right in front of my face and I can't see it sometimes."

When Cheryl asked about his own fantasy world, Sid gave her a lecherous smirk. "Beta version, obviously. My fantasy world would definitely not have this much bloody snow." Nor would it have any blokes, for that matter, especially ones that looked like Anders or Logan. And the girls would all look, smell, taste, and feel like Cass. ...all right and maybe one or two like Michelle and Jal, but no one had to know that but Sid.

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