・。・゜★

Bash’s day had been gratefully relaxed. He didn’t have work until after dinner, he had caught up with his sisters for lunch and now he had a good few hours of spare time. Which would’ve been great if Bash wasn’t bored out of his mind. So. after watching the first fifteen minutes of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, getting bored, then watching the first ten minutes of The Addams Family, getting bored if it yet again, Bash had decided to stretch his legs. And had decided to take Franny with him. His turtle.

Franny loved to get some sun, and Bash was happy to oblige. So, with the turtle happily pattering away next to him, Bash made his way slowly around the block. An emphasis on ‘slowly’, as the pace was literally being dictated by a turtle. However, Bash wasn’t in any rush. 

As Bash made his way past the fire house, he looked down at his feet only to notice a visible lack of turtles around him. Ah, shit. Eyes darting around the surrounding area, Bash located Franny around a puddle and quickly ran over to her side. “Franny, nope, we don’t even know if that’s water,” he mumbled, picking her up. Bash felt a lightbulb go off, and headed up past the fire trucks and muddled around until he ran into a firefighter. 

“Hi, sorry, I hope you’re not doing anything important,” Bash started, attempting to get this guys attention. He was on the young side, certainly a few years younger than Bash himself although Bash knew he had been cursed with chronic baby face. “I’m Bash, and I was just in the area with my turtle here,” he held up Franny for emphasis, “- and was wondering if I could borrow some water? You can honesty just splash some on the ground, I’m not picky, she just wants to go for a swim.”

…

honestly, he was surprised that the hot spot was open considering most of the town was at the solstice party. but he supposed someone had to keep the place running for people like him who ran out of smokes while knocking back lukewarm beers all day. which is exactly what he was doing as he hear someone call out for help. “hmm?” he hummed, looking around the empty sidewalk, expecting someone to be out in the open but found no one at first. following his voice, alec found the guy at the side of the coal camp, looking like he was trying to break in to the building. walking over to where he was standing, alec looked from the guy to the window. he shoved the new pack of cigarettes safely in the front pocket of his jeans before full assessing what was going on here. “uhhh,” he said with a dumb, confused look on his face. “do i want to know why you’re trying to break in? i don’t mind helping but i need to know if i should worry about cops banging on my door later because something is missing.” he tacked on a chuckle to his words. 

*

it was a blessing that there was anyone even around this part of time right now, especially with the solstice going on, so it was like a breath of fresh air when calling out to someone actually paid off. “it’s nothing illegal, i promise!” he all-but shouted. bash’s reassurance skills needed some tweaking, but he hoped it didn’t sound any more incriminating than his current situation appeared. nervously readjusting the zipper on his windbreaker, bash  “i’m a diabetic, i need my insulin,” he explained, awkwardly resting his hand over the section of his stomach where his pancreas lay - as if that meant anything to anyone but himself. most people didn’t even know what the fuck diabetes was. realising that, bash decided he should probably slip into reassurance mode yet again. “i mean, not right now, i’m fine right now...i locked myself out and i kinda want to go and, ya’know, party...”

-

Riggs could have taken this time to nap, and honestly, he should have. But instead, he found himself at a distance from the Solstice taking a long drag from a cigarette on his break. It seemed getting his nic fix was far more important than getting that sweet bit of rest. But he was no stranger to cause and effect, consequence for your actions and whatnot. He brought along a can of Josta and a small coffee to knock back while he was out here, to give him energy and keep him alert enough to work until the end of his shift. You could say a lot of things about Riggs but you couldn’t say he didn’t know how to make his dumb decisions work for him.

On his way back to the park, Riggs came across an amusing sight. Ain’t nothing funnier than someone trying to get to something they couldn’t reach. Bash Evergreen was springin’ and jumpin’ with all of his might. What the hell was this chucklehead tryna do? Riggs was going to find out that was for sure. He offered a simple nod in response to Bash’s distressed greeting, taking a final drag from his cigarette before putting it out under the toe of his boot.

“My my, Bash Evergreen, you takin’ to robbing your workplace now? I know rewindin’ tapes ain’t all that but to bite the hand that feeds ya? Tsk tsk.” Riggs gave a shake of his head before sauntering over with a crooked smile. Once by the open window, he gave it a curious gander then turned to Bash, eying whatever get-up he decided to don today. Evergreen always reminded him a bit of Collier – bit adventurous with their fashion choices. Honestly, Riggs never understood it but then again he wore nearly the same thing every damn day. After eyeing Bash for a long moment, Riggs finally broke his silence and asked, “What’s in it for me?” The only question one needed to be asking when someone required a bit of your assistance. 

*

Bash bounced up & down on his toes as Riggs made his way over. A familiar face. But as Riggs kept talking, Bash couldn’t help but let out a small, indignant scoff. “I’m not robbing anyone! I left something of mine in there, I swear!” The last thing Bash wanted was for a series of misunderstandings getting him fired. Not sure how else to really prove he wasn’t doing anything illegal, Bash just awkwardly shoved his hands into the pockets of his high-waisted shorts and gave a nod that was meant to be stern, but just looked terrified.

Bash’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of any kind of ultimatum to come out of this. “Well, uh...I could maybe make some calls to a friend of mine....,” Bash mumbled, scratching the back of his neck, “And maybe she could send me some tapes. So if you had any new release movies you wanted to see before they hit the big screen...I could make that happen.” Bash was aware of how strange it might have sounded, the way he was talking about a pirated VHS the same way one would talk about a drug deal, but he worked at a video store - film integrity was important!

.

Taru didn’t know what his plans were—never really did. He knew he’d show up to the damn party, make sure Jazz didn’t get distracted by something risky on her way over, and help Koda set their stuff up for work. But beyond that? Who the hell knew. He hated the music. The people said the dumbest shit. The food was fine, but there was only so much he could put up with for a free hamburger. At some point, he needed a break. So he took a walk. He kicked at a rock as he went and watched it fly ahead and ding the front bumper of a shitty station wagon. A small, savage half-grin pulled at the corner of his mouth, but then quickly dropped when he heard a voice call out.

“The fuck?” he started, mostly to himself. His brows furrowed dangerously as he turned to the source of the noise. He looked to the lanky guy, and then the window above his head, and then back to the guy again. A beat passed where Taru gave no reply. And then, surprisingly, the grin came back. “Well, shit. Breakin’ and enterin’ in broad daylight? Now that’s ballsy.” He stepped closer and glanced back up at the window just out of reach. “How do you know I’m not a cop?”

Bash was glad that the person passing by seemed to be at least some what cool. More likely to be able to actually, ya’know, boost him up. Bash may have been small, but his legs were long and boney and he didn’t want hurt someone. Saying that, the heavy pause that fell between the two after Bash had called out didn’t seem like a good sign...

Don’t get him wrong, Bash was grateful to have the day off work. However, it wasn’t helpful that it just happened to be on the same night that he had accidently left his insulin in the fridge at the back of the break room. Bash wasn’t completely incompetent, he had his fair share of vials at home - but leaving extremely expensive medicine in the dingy & untrustworthy work fridge did not bode well. 

He’d broken away from the party the moment he’d realised and quickly hoofed it back to Coal Camp, in hopes that the door would be left open, to no avail. Stupid responsible boss! With a huff, Bash located an open window at a height that was just out of reach because of course it was. Being 5″7 had no perks. He attempted to get himself up to the ledge via trash can, and even some ambitious jumping but with no results. “Lord Jesus, if you’re real, please help me out. If not, I’ll make sure I’m buried in a Jewish cemetery when I die just to spite you,” Bash muttered, eyes shut and hands clasped together.

It seemed the threat was leverage enough though, as moments after Bash notice a figure out of the corner of his eye. Whipping around, the man gave an enthusiastic and desperate wave. “Hello, hi! I need some help, please!” He called out, pointing up at the window. “Can I get a boost?”

/* just as a water lily - A PLAYLIST FOR BASH EVERGREEN

[ SEBASTIAN ‘BASH’ EVERGREEN, HE/HIM, CIS MAN, FIONN O’SHEA ] is a TWENTY SIX year old TAPE REWINDER AT COAL CAMP from PROSPER, WV. They are GENEROUS and UNDERSTANDING but also RESERVED and NAIVE.