InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "DON'T BLINK. DON'T EVEN BLINK"

Andy Gallagher is not the droid you're looking for (brain_ninja) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-07-18 01:33:00

Entry tags:

!complete, andy gallagher, day 16, illyana rasputin, location: carnival

Day Sixteen - Morning
Who: Andy Gallagher and OTA
What: Andy finds his van
Where: In the carnival
When: Day 16; 10am or so
Rating: PG-13 (language maybe)
Status: Complete

After the day he'd had yesterday, Andy slept like a log. His body was tired, his mind was tired, and he was completely and totally drained. He'd awoken that morning with Elliot in his arms and a mouthful of her hair - well, not really, but it was the principal of it; a stiff neck, an aching back, and something jabbing into his side as he rolled away from Elliot to stretch. With an angry, half-awake mutterance, he'd reached underneath himself and extracted the culprit before sitting up. It had felt like a set of keys...because it had been. His keys. Andy's face had fallen into that of a kicked puppy expression; they were messing with him again. Sighing, he'd tucked Elliot's hair behind her ear to get it out of her face and woke her just enough to let her know he was going to head up to the gas station to grab them breakfast and he'd be right back.

The hoodie he'd been wearing was slung over his shoulder as Andy headed up the road toward the carnival that he'd cut through to go the shorter way to the gas station. It was hot as hell, not that he was complaining. It just hadn't registered until he'd gotten out under the cloudless sky where the sun was shining brightly. So brightly, even, that he extracted from the pocket the aviators Sam had given him the morning they'd found the body hanging from the clock tower. Slipping them on, he made his way into the carnival, almost enjoying the feel of his car keys jabbing into his leg from inside his jeans pocket. Almost...because they were still only the keys and that was just mean, he thought.

Just as Andy came around from behind the tea cups ride to cross the street and nab some munchies, he stopped dead in his tracks. No fucking way! "Ohhh! Oh, baby!" he cooed loudly, making a break for it and all but slamming himself up against the warrior princess painted on the side of his van. "Oh shit, Maggie, I missed the hell out of you!"

For a few moments, Andy just stood there, leaned against the van, only barely refraining from actually kissing Maggie, Queen of the Polar Bears (as he'd dubbed her) painted on the side. Finally, realizing all over again that he had the keys, Andy pulled them out of his pocket and moved over, jamming them into the keyhole. Taking a deep breath and thinking to himself, Please God..., he turned the key. The lock popped up with a low thunk and Andy's eyes widened. "Are you serious?! Oh fuck yeah! YES!" he shouted, extracting the keys and pulling the door open, hopping in to settle into the driver's seat and putting the keys into the ignition to try his luck again.

The engine roared to life and Andy's lips parted as he let out a sigh of relief. "...I think I just came," he laughed to himself, running his hands lovingly over the steering wheel and dashboard. The radio was silent and Andy looked over at the display, confused. The current track was over and the two-second silence at the beginning of the next song was counting back. -0:02, -0:01, 0:00---

"Before you slip into unconsciousness,
I'd like to have another kiss.
Another flashing chance at bliss,
Another kiss, another kiss..."

"Shit, I missed you, Jim," Andy said quietly, leaning over the passenger seat and feeling around for his stash. Hell yeah, right where he left it. Suddenly, Andy's eyes grew wide and he threw the door open again, jumping back out and heading around to the back of the van to open that door. The disco ball still hung, the books and blankets and pillows were strewn haphazardly around on the mattress...and then his eyes fell on Moby Dick, still filled appropriately with water. "Nope. Now I just came," he said to himself, snatching up the massive bong and slamming the door shut behind himself again as he made his way back to the driver's seat.

The Doors blared from his speakers as Andy turned back the key to keep from wasting the half tank of gas he still had left in the tank. And Andy?

Smoke filled the van, pouring out the driver's side window he'd rolled down as the telltale sound of bubbles and suction in the base of the bong filled his ears. Shit, he had missed that more than he'd really realized until he heard it again. Between the first couple of hits, he'd scribbled a note in his journal. Fuck the church and fuck those pews. Andy was sleepin' right where he wanted to be. In his own bed, in his own home; in the back of the motherfucking van. Because, the way Andy figured it, he deserved to after yesterday. Hell yeah he did.

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brain_ninja
2009-08-23 06:01 pm UTC (link)

It didn't really make sense to Andy why people wouldn't want Illyana and her friends to help, but then again, it didn't make sense to Andy why Tracy couldn't just see past the fact that he'd controlled her mind and consider the fact that he'd done it to save her life. A lot of things, really, didn't make sense to Andy, but he didn't really see any point in trying to make her explain even more when there was probably nothing more to explain. "Blue and fuzzy with a tail? That's kinda conspicuous, yeah," Andy replied with a small smirk he couldn't hide, even when he tried to. Her analogy, though, Andy felt was off. "Nah, that's two different things. You don't have a license, so it's not an even playing field. More accurately it'd be like saying I was better because I have the mind thing and I do something with my power that you don't with yours," he pointed out. "In either case, you're still the better person. You use your power to help people...I use mine to get out of paying bills and to force assholes to watch gay porn all hours of the day," he said with a shrug.

Andy's smile widened and he laughed along with her as she went on in a deeper voice, as if to mock herself along with her friends. He leaned back against the side of the van as she shifted. Illyana said she was exploring to get a feel for the layout of the land. He nodded his understanding. "If it's any help, this chick Cheryl made a map a few days into the first chunk of us waking up here. It's in the beginning of the journal if you flip way back. It's actually pretty damn accurate, so it might be of use while you explore, I'd think," he offered. Andy wasn't really in the mood to go with her so it took a little will power to bite back the reflexive urge to ask if she wanted company. If he was honest, he was ready to get back to Moby Dick and Jim Morrison, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-08-25 10:15 pm UTC (link)

"That's justice," Illyana said, referring to the comments about making assholes watch porn all day. "Society won't punish them for being jerks, so you get to do it. It's just a more local scale than what I do." She smirked. "And even if I could do that, I'd never get away with it. Magneto would have my hide." She could just see his face, red and trembling with barely controlled anger. It was enough to set her giggling again.

"A map? Awesome," she said, flipping through the new book. It was only a few pages in, and it looked pretty accurate to what she'd seen so far. "Thanks," she said, grinning at Andy. She stretched as best she could in a van, and leaned forward. "I'm gonna continue my explorations, if that's okay," she said, offering up her hand for him to shake. "I want to see what this prison has to offer. I'll see you later?" She wondered if he'd offer to walk with her. Part of her, if she was honest, sort of wanted to be by herself, so she could make sure she had herself under control again before she ran into anyone else. The last thing she needed was to freak out at something and have her fellow inmates find out about her horns and tail and lack of soul.

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brain_ninja
2009-08-25 10:59 pm UTC (link)

"Justice," he repeated more than asked with a snort of amusement. "Yeah, okay, maybe..." he agreed reluctantly. Maybe watching gay porn was a fair punishment for being a dick. He could've done worse, but he hadn't. Getting to laugh at the look on the guy's face had been plenty good enough for Andy. He didn't want to think about what he'd have done had he been more like Webber, so he simply didn't think about it. "Guess that's one advantage of learning my shit by myself; nobody to tell me no," he added. Though, again, if they'd had someone to teach them, maybe Webber wouldn't have been so fucked up and focused on killing people just because they'd separated he and Andy at birth or because he'd seen them as a threat to his awkward, barely-there relationship with Andy.

With a nod, Andy smiled. "Yeah, she asked around for help and stuff, and I think that Shannon girl who writes on practically every other page helped her put it together; corrected what was wrong and what not - you can kinda see the changes if you look hard enough. So yeah it's pretty accurate, definitely," he replied. "And no problem. Just spread the word and pay it forward," he added with a small smile.

He gave a bit of a bitter laugh when she said she wanted to see what the prison had to offer and he reached out to take her hand, giving it a firm shake. "Not much, I can assure you, but have a blast. I'll definitely see you 'round. This is where I'll be. If the van moves, I'm movin' with it, is all," he explained. "Plus," he said, tapping one finger on her book. "You know where to find me otherwise if you need anything or just wanna hang out with a fellow freak of nature," he offered.

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ex_darkchyld899
2009-09-02 02:19 am UTC (link)

Illyana squinted at the page with the map and sure enough, she could see faint marks where lines had been previously. She nodded, satisfied that the map was at least as accurate as she was likely to get in this place. She tucked her book into her pocket as she shook Andy's hand, grinning at him.

"It's good to meet you, really," she said. "If I've gotta be stuck here, at least there's someone here who understands certain things as well." She slid out of the van, then turned back to Andy. "And I'll definitely come and hang out again. Thank you." Not just for the offer of friendship, but for not freaking out at the panic attack of half an hour earlier. With a wave and a smirk, Illyana turned back toward the town. There were some buildings on the map that she hadn't seen at the other end of the town....

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brain_ninja
2009-09-02 09:25 pm UTC (link)

Taking Illyana's hand and shaking it firmly, Andy nodded and smiled. "Good to meet you too, peaches," he replied. "Really. I'm totally with you on that," he said, immediately thinking of Sam and the way it felt knowing that there was another someone just like him here who understood what it was like to be a freak. Now, it seemed, there would be two people who understood. One was good, but two would be better.

He watched as she slid out of the van and turned back to him, telling him that she'd come back and hang out. He smiled again and nodded. "Awesome. You know where to find me," he replied. He waved back at her in return and then she turned to walk away and Andy waited until she was out of sight before climbing out of the back of the van himself, moving back to the front seat, and lighting up the bong again. Finally, something better than a joint. This day was going to be awesome.

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