[Junk XIII] Shift Change (K 1-5, S 1-5)

Rich

Kiddo,

How do you know when to wake up to take over for Rinso, by the way? Do you have a chronometer, or does Rinso wake you up when the moons are at the right height?

Anyways, you're up, got a few hours of sleep. Did you sleep on a truck bed or in a sleeping bag at the camp? Also, did you say anything about Hump and Topps building their little box fort in the back of Truck Caroline? If not, they're snuggled in there. KellyTires didn't seem to notice. Or care?

Rinso's there, alert, munching on some nuts quietly. It's not pitch black tonight with both moons up. A fire at the camp for a little more light. Oh, Bank and Union must be done with Betty, the work-lights are off, truck hood shut.

What do you do?

Adam

Rinso'll have to wake me... I've got a pretty finely tuned inner clock, and I don't nap well. Thankfully I'm always a light sleeper on the road. I told him to wake me at the fourth transit of the smaller moon, but it'll probably be closer to the third knowing him.

I didn't say anything 'bout Topps 'n Hump's little fort — I dunno when they're gunna see each other next, but it might be a while. You gotta take the good times when they come, yeah? I'm sure KellyTires feels the same way... Most folks here in the Flats do. I just ain't goin' over there unless I have to, yeah? I don't wanna know what they're up to... So long as she doesn't end up with a kid, Hump can do whatever he wants.

I sit next to Rinso while he munches, 'n look out onto the horizon with him. "Hey Rinny... How you doin'?"

Rich

Rinso tried to let you sleep over, but you woke up on time, of course.

You come over, sit by him. You swear you hear a muffled girlish giggle from over by Caroline. Then you ask Rinso how he's doing. He offers you a handful of nuts.

He thinks on an answer for a second, using the mouthful of nuts as an excuse. He washes it down with some water, sucks his teeth quietly, then says, not making eye contact, "Kiddo, I'm not so great. I keep thinking about all the drek I've messed up lately. I'm off my game, you know? Sneaking out to scavenge the ship, it just sounded like a good deal. You know, easy jingle. I thought it'd make you happy, provide for us all. And then, you know, Hump getting frakked up. And then, the thing on your bed with Venger... it's like, I've been taking a huge dump on your whole life. And I feel frakkin terrible."

He takes another swig of water.

Adam

I sigh loudly — but not annoyed or nothing, just to stall a while as I think. "Well," I finally answer, getting comfortable, "we all have our days, Rinny... I know you mean well, even if your head was a little foggy, but we can fix this, yeah?"

OOC: Read incoming.

Adam

OOC: Reading Rinso. Roll+Sharp.
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 6, 3. Total: 10)

Adam

OOC: Hold 1/3: Is Rinso telling the truth about feeling bad?

Rich

Rinso nods, "Alright..." Then he shakes his head ruefully, "You know, I think I was just all pent up, you know? I mean... bein around you and Vee all the time, it's just. Drek, it gets to a guy after a while. And then, well, Venger is all over me and it got to me. I guess I was thinkin with the wrong head, Kiddo."

Rinso is absolutely telling the truth. He feels like a real shitheel, like he's been selfish, that he let his dick do the thinking about Svenja, that he's really frakked things up and hurt your trust in him.

Adam

I look back at him, a bit confused, "Whadya mean, 'it gets to a guy'? You sayin' you can't control yourself 'cause I kiss Vee sometimes? C'mon, Rinny... I don't think you're that bad. You know how you can get me to trust you again? Talk to me. Talk to Vee. Talk about how you feel, and what you want, and ... Frak, I dunno, how you need to be felt if it really bugs you that much."

I nudge him playfully, for a minute before dropping this next part... "You broke Vee's heart Rinso. I think she was really sweet on you, before all this. I mean, I think you're hot and all that, but Vee was really hurt when she found out. You gotta make that right Rinny — and I know you can. You don't have to love her or nothing — that ship may have sailed — but take responsibility for what you did, and don't do that shit again, and we'll forgive you."

Yeah, I said we. I'll forgive him too.

Rich

Rinso snorts a laugh, "You an Vee playin around is just the top of the pile. Drek, Kiddo, the two of you are the most beautiful, caring, important people in the world to me. I love both of you. In different ways, yeah, but I just never made a move because I didn't want to frak up our friendship."

He swallows, then says, "You think I'm... I'm hot, Kiddo?"

Adam

Oh frak... Open your big mouth why don't you, Kiddo? I roll my eyes and lean into him. "Rinny, compared to most guys I hook up with? You're pretty frakkin' hot. You're just too frakkin' quiet! If you don't wanna frak, that's your business — but if you do wanna frak someone, even if it's just Svenja," I emphasize her name a bit, "then I can live with that. Sex is just sex, after all — what we got now has nothing to do with it, yeah? Loving and caring about you? I do that anyway."

I grab his leg and rub it gingerly, "what do you want, Rinny?"

OOC: Hold 2: What is Rinso really feeling?

Rich

Rinso looks down at your hand on his leg for a little too long, but then he looks up to see the firelight dance in your eyes, "I don't want to lose you. Or Vee. I'll do what I gotta do to make it right." He offers a tight smile, "I like Venger. But she's not you. Or VB."

Right now, Rinso is worried about this little crew, and his role in it. And yeah, he's totally hot for you, Kiddo. But he's not going to do it with you out here on the road, in front of people. That's not what he wants.

Adam

I shake my head, "I've heard that before, Rinny... Yesterday, actually." If he's going to sit there and promise me the same shit from yesterday, I'm going to have to give him a taste of what he could have. I move up his thigh, "I need more than a promise. I need you to want this." I look him in the eye, "I want you to be more than happy with what you've got Rinny."

I lean in and give him a gentle kiss on the lips again, then I whisper, "tell me what you want, Rinso."

Rich

Rinso's frozen by your advances, Kiddo. He'd be panting if he wasn't holding his breath. He's like a captured animal. You ask him what he wants, but you know. You already know.

He swallows, says in a hushed tone, his voice urgent with need, "You, Kiddo. You know. You know I want you."

The hesitancy evaporates when you kiss him. His hands come up to cup your face and he returns the kiss with fervor. Then he's moving forward, pressing his muscled chest against you, and if you don't stop him, he's going to urge you backwards, he's going to lay you down and whether he wanted this to be the first time or not, he's going to take you right here and now, the night and the road and the world be damned.

What do you do?

Rich

Stitch,

Don't forget that at any point in this scene, you could have overheard this conversation. And at any point from here forward, feel free to take an action, like "waking up" or whatever you wish.

Adam

I pause, placing a finger on his lips, "you're on watch."

I stare deep into his eyes — not with spite, or any bullshit like that — just so he knows I'm serious, then I give him another kiss, and push him away. "Keep your head in the game. If we make it out of this alive, I'm yours."

Rich

Kiddo, Rinso is there, so close. But you deny him, after stoking a fire he was trying to keep low. He's shocked when you push him away. A little hurt, but not angry, but confused. Frustrated.

Then you make you little tempting promise, and that soothes his ego a bit. He seems like maybe he'd have some quip, but it's late, he's mixed up now, all charged up with nowhere to go. So he just stands up. Oddly, you know, to hide certain bodily functions that result from such heated "conversation", "I'm going to walk around the perimeter... for a bit."

Adam

"Good," I answer with a nod, "I'm not going anywhere Rinny... Don't think I'd be that cruel to you."

As he leaves, I take one last bearing on him...

Hold 3/3: What does Rinso intend to do? (wrt keeping his head in the game preferably.)

Rich

Rinso intends on bucking up and falling in line. No more thinking with his dick. He's going to stop making any decisions for a few days, just follow along, follow orders. His self-confidence is shaken.

And he's not frakkin Svenja again. Not when it will hurt VB's feelings. Or ruin any chance he has with you.

Adam

Well, that's a bit extreme, but I'll take it. I guess if that's what it takes to keep his head on straight, then that's what it takes... I look over to Stitch — who's been sleeping... Fantastic — and give her a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

"You awake doc?"

Genevieve

I woke up and kept still long enough to hear the gist of that conversation. Is that why Svenja was so concerned about Rinso? I don't want to interrupt them, though, so I pretend to sleep.

I roll over at Kiddo's nudge. "Mmh? I fell asleep?"

Adam

I chuckle, "No shit. Seems like we spooked off the Mesas, so it's not that big a deal." I get comfortable, sitting with my back against a big wooden crate of frak knows what. "How you holding up?"

Genevieve

"I'm fine." I reply. I'm not really sure how I am after waking up to her conversation with Rinso, but I'm also not the one who got shot yesterday, so I keep my mouth shut. Speaking of... "I should check on Svenja." I get up to do so.

My thoughts are a tangle. Why am I jealous of Kiddo? I know I have a bit of a dumb crush on Rinso, but that's just because he's hot and he helped me out at Remy's. It's not even like I want to get into something right now. Right? That would be dumb. I may not even be on this fucking planet next week. I hadn't counted on the loneliness, though. I grasped at it desperately before, running away to be alone any chance I could, but now... I sigh.

Rich

Stitch,

Svenja is blissed out, lying on the back of Betty. You set her up in a sleeping bag. While you're checking on her, Rinso comes up. You hear his feet scuff, it's not like he's sneaking up on you. He asks quietly from a meter behind you, "Hey... how is she doing?"

Genevieve

I peak under the dressing and check Svenja for a fever, but I try not to disturb her.

"She's ok. No fever yet. I'm pretty sure I got all of the bullet out of her, so it's infection that's the real danger now." I say softly, walking us away from Svenja after I'm done checking on her.

Adam

I stare blankly at Stitch – like a plaguedog caught in the headlights – while she gets up and walks away. What the frak was that about? I shift uncomfortably, pulling my shotgun out, and checking it.

Rich

Rinso follows you, "I'm glad you came along, Stitch." It's dim tonight, but with two moons, you can see his face. He's peering at you. "Are you alright?"

Genevieve

I chuckle a bit at that. "Tell Svenja that when she's up, yeah? She didn't want me on this one."

I stare at the two moons- so alien, so different. "I was running, when I joined the program. Spent so much time running away that now I don't know what to do." I say softly, more to myself than to him.

Rich

Rinso doesn't seem to get that you aren't talking to him. He puts a hand on your shoulder (you two are side by side, right?), "You should stick with us. Kiddo's crew, we're a family. I mean... you know, close. Most groups are pretty cutthroat, but I've know Vee and Kiddo since we were little." He looks up at the sky with you.

"What's in the sky where you came from, Stitch?"

Genevieve

I flinch just the tiniest bit when he puts his hand on my shoulder, but I don't move away.

"I lived in the stacks in a lunar colony, so instead of two moons I saw Earth." I tell him.

I'd had a modest childhood- my parents had menial jobs that paid well enough to put me into medical school. They didn't love each other, but they didn't hate each other, either, so that's something. They always joked about having been matched by the government, but that wasn't really a thing that happened, was it?

After I got out of medical school I got transferred to a richer city- Imbria. That's were I met Ethan...

I shake my head, not wanting to go there. My face tightens. I swallow hard.

Rich

"Earth?" Rinso says it like its a dragon. Or Shangri-la. "I've seen pics from Fox's magazines of that place. So that means... you lived on a moon," He points up to the sky at the bigger moon, "Like that one?"

"Why did you leave?"

Genevieve

"Yeah." I say, staring at the moons.

When he asks why I left, I clench my jaw, trying to hold back a stream of memories. "I... I don't want to talk about it. Had an opportunity fall in my lap- good cash- so I took it. Wasn't supposed to end up here, though."

Rich

Rinos nods, looking at you now, not the sky. "Alright, Stitch, that's alright with me. If you wanna talk, I'm a decent enough listener. If not, well, I'm glad you're around." He pats your shoulder again, then says, "You oughta get some more sleep. Gonna be a long day tomorrow. I'm finishing up my shift, you have enough, you know, blankets and stuff?"

Genevieve

I nod at his offer, not looking him in the eye.

Sleep is a good idea. I learned in my residency that you gotta take as much as you can, when you can get it, otherwise you'll be sorry. More than anything right now, though, I want closeness. I want to curl up with another person and just be near them as I fall asleep. Caesar filled that role back at Boomtown, but I'm on my own now. I sigh.

"I'm fine, thanks." I reply.

Rich

Rinso watches you slink back to your... what are you sleeping in? I assume you get some fitful rest, right?

Kiddo, after a bit, Rinso heads to catch some sleep, leaving you alone.

Well, mostly alone. You hear a girlish giggle every once in a while, and recognize Humps chuckle. Evidently they're busy doing whatever until late late. But you let them have their fun, don't you? Young love, or whatever, aint it grand?

--END SCENE--