InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Our last best hope for victory"

Shannon Rutherford (ballerinadreams) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-03-28 17:47:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 02, jay, location: gas station, shannon rutherford

Day Two - Afternoon
Who: Shannon Rutherford and Jay
What: Chance meeting
When: mid-afternoon
Where: at the gas station
Rating: probably R for language
Status: Complete

Groaning in discomfort, Shannon rolled onto her back and opened her eyes staring up at the never endingly high ceiling. She had a kink in her neck and her hip was throbbing. Well, sleeping on her side on the floor was a bad idea; good to know for future reference.

Shannon got to her feet and stretched her arms over her head, yawning. She was filthy and felt grimy, covered in dust and debris from the floor she'd fallen asleep on the night before. Her stomach was growling, but mainly her mouth was dry; she'd finished the bottle of water from her kit just before falling asleep and now she was parched.

The journal she'd left on the front desk caught her eye and she walked over to it, ripping a piece of paper out of it and picking up the pen. In bubbly, impossibly neat handwriting - comical in its vast contrast to the words she'd written - Shannon wrote a message and reached over the desk for the box of rusty tacks she'd found while looking for something useful.

She walked out of the building and tacked the journal page to the door. It loudly proclaimed:

NO VACANCY
Fuck Off :)

Pleased that it should keep her shelter hers, Shannon headed off down the road, pulling her hair into a ponytail and using a small, thin piece she'd purposefully left out to tie it, wrapping the piece around the ponytail and tucking it under; a trick she'd learned on the Island to keep her hair out of her eyes. Up ahead, she could see the gas station and decided she might as well check there. Most gas stations had wall-fridges with sodas and beer; why not water?

The door was thankfully unlocked and there were muddy tracks all over the floor; someone had been here before, it seemed. Someones, she thought, noting the two separate pairs of tracks. Shrugging it off and looking around, she tentatively called out, "hello?" before making a beeline toward the refrigerators. "Awesome," she breathed, yanking the door open and snatching a few bottles from the open case on the shelf.

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_snoogans_
2009-03-30 12:01 am UTC (link)

Jay looked around him, at himself, and then at Shannon. "What matches?" He usually had matches, or a lighter, but not right now. Everything he usually had on him had disappeared, apparently.

"Oh, fuck, don't tell me we've got nothing to light this shit with!" Jay almost pouted, and turned around to look at the shelves. At a normal convenience store they sold Bic lighters, at least.

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	ballerinadreams 2009-03-30 12:07 am UTC (link)
	"'What matches?!'" Shannon repeated, deflating completely. "Jay, I can't light a fire without matches!" She raised a hand to her forehead and then dropped down to sit on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arm around them. So much for that, then... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_snoogans_ 2009-03-30 01:06 am UTC (link)
	Jay shrugged, but then he remembered the soggy ones. "Ooooh, right." He pulled them from the box and handed them to her. "They're still wet. Sorry." It was kind of funny that she seemed ready to give up and pout away in the cold. Spoiled bitches, he thought, shaking his head - though Shannon wasn't even one of the worst, so far. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ballerinadreams 2009-03-30 01:15 am UTC (link)
	Pouting, Shannon sighed as she took the soggy matches from Jay. "They won't ignite until they dry out...I wasted like six matches trying last night," she said with a frown. "God, what the fuck, who gives out wet matches anyway?!" she grumped. "A lighter would've been fuckin' nice, you know? Stupid survival kits are a joke." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_snoogans_ 2009-03-30 01:19 am UTC (link)
	Jay sighed and sat by Shannon's side. "This is some fucked up shit right here. It's like whoever put us here, is doing it to fuck with us. I don't think they want us to survive." He took one match from Shannon's hand and started blowing it dry. Maybe this would work, just...In a while. "Fucking bullshit..." He muttered between blows. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ballerinadreams
2009-03-30 01:27 am UTC (link)

Shannon glanced over at Jay when he sat down and then she rested her chin on her knees before realizing that maybe it was a better idea that she didn't sit like that in a skirt. She straightened her legs and leaned back, hands on the floor just behind herself. "I...hate that I agree with you," she admitted defeatedly. "I don't think you're wrong. I think, in fact, you're probably right on the money..."

At least Jay didn't seem to be giving up on the matches, drying to blow on one to dry it. She had to give him credit for that, at least; it was more than she was doing by sitting there moping.

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_snoogans_
2009-03-30 01:38 am UTC (link)

After what felt like forever of blowing the match dry, he handed it to Shannon, emotionless.

"Try this one." He asked her, as he felt his eyes kind of heavy. He hadn't slept for shit the previous night, and unless he could find some blankets, he wouldn't tonight either. "Hey, by the way, do you have anything that could work for a bed, like blankets, sheets, pillows? Any of that shit?"

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ballerinadreams
2009-03-30 01:41 am UTC (link)

Shannon took the match back and struck it. To her relief and surprise, it ignited and she stood. "Back up, just in case," she said, taking a deep breath and hoping for the best as she tossed it into the trash bin. For a second, nothing happened and her heart sank, but then, with a whoosh, flames licked the air around the rim of the trashcan. "Thank God," she breathed.

Looking over her shoulder at Jay, she shook her head. "Nada," she said apologetically. "I don't. I just slept in this and curled up close to my torch. Kept me warmish."

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	_snoogans_ 2009-03-30 01:56 am UTC (link)
	Jay grinned at the flames, sighing. It was almost like he was already warmer. Now, this was looking a little more like a place to stay in. Maybe Jay would live here until he went home. He smiled at Shannon. "Don't worry about it. Just thought I'd ask." He didn't expect very good news, to be honest. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ballerinadreams 2009-03-30 02:02 am UTC (link)
	Shannon rubbed her hands over her arms to create friction warmth and sighed, looking outside. "God, does it ever stop raining here...?" she asked with a frown. Eventually she'd have to go out in it, it was looking like, if she ever wanted to get back to her own shelter. "Yeah, sorry. I wish, though," she mused. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	_snoogans_ 2009-03-30 07:04 am UTC (link)
	Jay followed Shannon's gaze outside and sighed himself. "Don't look it." He shrugged and pushed some of his hair behind his back. "You could always sleep here, we'd keep each other warm. I hear body heat is the best and fastest way to warm yourself up..." His mischievous smirk was there again, but this time what Jay said had some plausibility to it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ballerinadreams
2009-03-30 10:43 am UTC (link)

Without looking away from the door, Shannon gave Jay a dubious sidelong glance. "Yeah, I'm not really a people person," she replied. "So that's not really my thing."

She very nearly went on to give the excuse that the shelter she'd already set up for herself had warmed considerably in comparison to this place because she'd closed it all up to trap the heat from the torch, but then he'd probably want to follow her back and Shannon would prefer to keep her own form of housing a secret for the time being.

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_snoogans_
2009-04-01 10:33 am UTC (link)

Jay shrugged. He wasn't going to insist if she was so fucking hellbent on leaving. That could be considered assault. Looking around, he wondered how the hell he was going to make something to sleep on, but he decided not to go back to the church now he'd found some familiarity. After all, he'd nearly grown up in front of one of these stores.

"Well if you ever need company, I'm right here." He told Shannon, in any case.

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ballerinadreams
2009-04-01 11:40 am UTC (link)

"Thanks," Shannon replied even more sincerely than she thought was actually possible for her. She looked over at him and gave him a small smile before turning back to the fire and rubbing her hands together.

The few minutes of silence after that dragged on for what seemed like hours and finally Shannon thought maybe she was warm enough that it wouldn't suck so bad to go back out in the rain. She needed to get back to her shelter at some point and get back to work on the census. Or maybe meet up with Cheryl to work on the map. Something more useful than standing around in front of a fire talking or not talking to Jay. She might've been useless on Craphole Island, but she wasn't going to let these people see that same thing, even if she was pretty sure it was true. At least she could fake it, here. New people, new chances.

Sighing, she looked back at Jay. "I'm gonna get back," she told him, walking away to pick up the water bottles she'd put down. "I'll see you 'round, Jay." Once again, she gave him a small smile and then headed toward the door, taking a deep breath as if to brace herself for the cold and wet weather before actually stepping out into it.

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