theauthorlives - Tumblr blog

[theauthorlives]

A small detail on this blog is that when I talk about the work Yancy does in the prison, it isn't always the same thing. He is part of the "unskilled labour" force, similar to what Mark and the Viewer were when they were trying to suck up to the guards.

What this simply means is that he isn't assigned to one place that requires long-term training. Examples of this would be food preparation, skill in using certain laundry machines, or working in the 'store' that returns laundry to the inmates.

Yancy doesn't mind too much, as it helps break the repetition of the days. He tends to be rotated between places on a weekly or fortnightly basis. The common locations are:

Mopping/sweeping the floors of common spaces

Washing dishes

Folding laundry (he does not like this)

Washing internal windows (such as those on office doors or in the med bay), and the inside of external windows. External windows need proper equipment and safety training when being cleaned outside due to the prison having more than one floor)

Unofficially, he's given advice when guards are having car problems.

There are some jobs that go outside the prison. Road cleaning, farm work, and hedge trimming are examples of this. There's a firefighting course that is extremely popular as it can lead to a secure employment when parole comes around. However, Yancy isn't too keen on these in settings where he's not ready to look for parole. He'd rather forget about the outside world as a whole.

[theauthorlives]

OOC:

So I may be using a cinema event as an excuse to do some research...

[theauthorlives]

OOC:

Hey.

Apologies for basically vanishing off the face of the earth. After being away to visit my brother, I came home to the start of a very difficult week for myself and my family. It's only really today that I'm starting to get to a point of actually wanting to use my laptop for writing rather than playing games as a distraction - and even at that it's fairly late at night and I might not get a lot done immediately.

Things might still be somewhat slow for the next little while between that and trying to figure out what I can do around these blogs but I will be doing what I can.

[theauthorlives]

OOC: Apologies for radio silence across the board. I was out of town until yesterday, and this week is going to be a doozy with a very personal thing that I want to try and be present for, though full details have yet to be determined.

I'm working in the city tomorrow so it's not likely I'll be able to get stuff done here just yet. I appreciate the patience in the meantime while things are day to day.

[theauthorlives]

"Oh... That's a good idea. I hope the other prisoners like your plan." Frank had always said that books were a great way to spend the time when you had to stay inside but wanted to go somewhere. The imagination was a great thing. Her reaction to Home made him smile. "Yes. Home is, well, Home. It's my friend. I like to try and involve it in whatever I do every day if I can."

"I see. You must be very talented if you can work as anything you want." The reference for why she could do this shot straight over his head. Maybe it was for the best not to confuse him when there was a lot going on today.

"I don't think I'd be very good as a guard. I'm not good at playing evil characters in my friend's shows. Sally says I can read the script, but I can't 'get the character'. But that's okay. I like when my friends take part in shows and I can watch. They did a version of the Three Little Pigs where instead of pigs they were a star, a rainbow monster, and a mailman."

(Well... At least it didn't sound like the 'productions' others had to endure...)

"It gets boring during lock down hours so I try to give everyone some books that they haven't read yet." She hums and laughed gently. "Oh so it's a living house then? How curious..." Hopefully Home wasn't creepy and possessed by anything horrible like the entities of Marks Manor.

She put a finger to her bottom lip, smiling sweetly. "Oh little ol me is able to get anything she wants. I wanted to work as a librarian so I was put down as one. Nobody thinks it's strange at all."

Yancy had once asked long ago why she wasn't a guard. Kitty had said something similar. She was just hidden in the shadows basically for this area. Sometimes appearing just to give the inmates someone else to speak to besides themselves or the guards. Plus she had nothing else to do anyhow.

[theauthorlives]

@starywisteria - Continued from here

-

Black eyes were on the small stack of books. Was he in the cell of someone clever? He couldn't help but think about Frank and how he might be friends with Yancy if they both liked books.

(He'd never guess that was further from the truth.)

"That's really nice of you to bring him the books. I think he would like that an awful lot, Kitty." She had said she was a nice person, and Wally believed her. People were always honest about these things!

"I hope he's having a nice day. Home would be confused, I think, but it can be friendly to anyone it meets. Just like how everyone here has been nice to me. I'm glad I'm not in trouble, ha ha ha." The pencil was put down so he could put both hands on the chair and turn himself around to properly face Kitty by sitting sideways on the chair.

"Do you work here? I thought it was only guards that had jobs here."

[theauthorlives]

Clicking of heels stopped at the cell door. "Yan--" Wait a moment, that wasn't Yancy at all. Who was this small cutie pie? Great what the heck did Mark do this time to the script!? The red haired woman was going to need to have a chat with him, she was part of this mess too, why keep her out of things?

Kitty bent down a bit, she wasn't dressed in prison stuff at all, just a casual dress and a little name tag that had her name plus under it read "Librarian". Probably didn't want to be casted as an extra inmate. Besides some jails did have small libraries in them.

"Well hey there buddy, what's your name?"

@starywisteria

(Previously...)

-

Following breakfast and another round of tidying the mess hall with Bam-Bam, Wally had what the others called 'rec time', which sounded like another name for a break time. However, everyone else was working and it was suggested that he stayed in the cell to avoid meeting anything mean. The group had rallied together and, upon hearing that Wally was an artist, found scraps of paper and a pencil that he could use for drawing.

He was sitting at the small table, swinging his legs as he wrote a letter to Yancy when he heard the sound of someone approaching. He thought it was going to be a guard, but instead it was a lady with red hair dressed in a very formal outfit.

"Hi. I'm Wally." Stranger danger? Who was that? "I think I'm only here for today. If you're looking for Yancy, you should come back tomorrow." That sounded like it had been rehearsed, as it was followed by him tilting his head. "I don't know where he went. Maybe he's at Home since I am here..."

[theauthorlives]

Previously...

-

After a somewhat awkward "round-up", Wally was told that he had to sweep one of the halls. It didn't matter that the painter was clueless about what to do, the order was given and the guard stormed off.

"Hey, squirt." A young woman with a deadpan expression approached Wally. Her brown hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and her prison outfit consisted of a striped shirt and matching trousers.

"My name isn't Squirt. I'm Wally."

"Wally, yeah? I'm Tiny. Happened to notice you're here but Yancy isn't. Something happen?" When Wally didn't answer, Tiny continued, "He looks a bit like you. A little taller, but he also styles his hair kinda like that. Lives in the cell you came out of."

"Oh! Oh… It was just me there today. I don't know where your friend is. I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't sweat it. You'll need to take his place and do his chores. We're gonna do dome sweeping, and then we'll go get breakfast."

Wally looked worried. "You don't mind having to stay with me?" In response, Tiny broke her neutral expression with a small smile and shook her head.

"Beats being stuck with Yancy and his long tales. If he were here, he'd wanna keep an eye on you too. Me and the others will keep you safe. You don't look like you'd survive the day alone in prison."

"In prison?" Wally repeated the location softly to himself. "Am I in trouble?"

"You? Nah. You're a good, uh, person. C'mon, let's get to work."

-

Once Wally knew he was going to be okay, he got to work helping Tiny. With company there, the early morning went by very fast. It felt like mere minutes before he was taking his breakfast to a table of ruffians of all shapes and sizes. The face of the largest man, a bulky man with a bald head and a spider web tattoo, lit up the moment he saw Wally.

"Yancy! You shrunk!" He cackled, feeling very clever.

"I'm not Yancy, I'm Wally," corrected the painter. 

"Even better. About time we got rid of that asshat." He let out a bellow of a laugh, only to be interrupted by an elbow to the side.

"Not cool, Jimmy," scolded a man with auburn hair and glasses. 

"Welcome to the Gang, Wally." An older man leaned across the table to shake the painter's hand. He wore thick glasses and a white cap. "The kids here call me Shithole Hank, but 'Hank' is just fine. The loud man is Jimmy the Pickle, the man who elbowed him is Bam-Bam, and the man with the bright wrist bangles is Sparkles McGee."

Wally smiled at the group. "Hi Hank. Hi Jimmy the Pickle. Hi Bam-Bam. Hi Sparkles McGee. Hi again Tiny."

Jimmy snorted. "I like this kid."

[theauthorlives]

@starywisteria commented here:

Wally would try to be very friendly and talk about how he has some friends who are cats. He'd be curious about what she's interested in too!

[theauthorlives]

The world seems to have shifted slightly...

-

Wally had a GREAT sleep. He vaguely recalled repeating his ‘I am sleeping’ mantra, and suddenly everything felt comfortable and light, as though he was outside. There was no pressure holding him down, just the warmth of a blanket and the security of a bed. The realm of the waking was miles away.

It was only the sound of something hitting a door and the shout of “YANCY. GET UP!” that reluctantly pulled him from the world of sleep. It was a shame too. Wally didn’t remember the last time he slept so well. He grabbed the pillow to hug as he turned to step out of the bed with bleary eyes.

The floor was not where it was supposed to be, and Wally was lying face-down on the concrete floor before he knew where he was. 

“... Ah.” At least the pillow had softened the landing! “Why is the floor so low? Did I turn into a little bug like in one of Sally’s scary story?” One hand brushed his hair out of his face to look up at the bed.

…

That was not his bed.

Instead of his large single bed, he was sitting beside a plain, metal bunk bed. The bottom bunk had the blanket and pillow arranged to pad out one corner like a makeshift cozy corner. The top bunk, however, had part of the blanket falling over the edge. If he woke up on the top bunk, then the confusion on the distance between the bed and the floor made a lot of sense.

“Where am I…?” The room was smaller than his bedroom, and it lacked colour too. Everything was either grey or white, leaving Wally in his bold coloured, striped pyjamas sticking out like a sore thumb. The shape of the room was narrow and L-shaped. It would feel cramped if the occupant was taller than Wally. The window was small and positioned too high for Wally to even consider climbing up to, while the door behind him looked too heavy to move, and maybe was made of metal. Compared to his own bedroom, Wally couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t a very welcoming place… Yet he had slept so soundly here. How strange.

Another series of bangs startled Wally from his thoughts. 

“HEY. YANCY. MOVE IT.”

“Yancy…? But my name is Wally…” Even with the confusion, the weird voice was right. He couldn’t stay in this room all day. Who knows what time it was! He turned to the lower bunk while deciding what to do, and spotted a small bundle of neatly folded clothes with a pair of shoes waiting for him.

“These are the right size for me!” With how large everything else was, Wally was relieved to find clothes that would fit him, and dedicated the time to change. Like with everything else in the room, the outfit was simple and lacked proper colour. The white t-shirt was soft to the touch; and he only needed to roll the bottom of the black-and-white striped trousers once so he wouldn’t trip on them. Finally, the black shoes were simple, but easy to wear. He felt underdressed, but it would have to do for now. 

Next, he climbed onto the flimsy chair to use the small mirror on the table to help fix his hair. To his surprise, there was a comb and hair gel. Whoever ‘Yancy’ was, it was someone who also took care of their hair. What luck!

At last, he was ready to go!

[theauthorlives]

@xshatteredreflectionsx

[theauthorlives]

There was a fire alarm blaring from the direction of the kitchens of the Invincible. This was already strange, but it was worse when one considered that all the catering staff would be off-duty at this point in the day.

The culprit was still on the scene, swearing up a storm as he batted smoke away from the oven. When he realised he had been spotted, Yancy jumped in fright.

"Snapshot! Fuck. Shit. Youse ain't 'sposed to see this. Or this." At first he gestured to the oven, then to the smoke overhead. "I wanted to surprise you. Remember how we's was talking 'bout cakes an' shit - ohfuckwaitholdon." The mere word was enough to remind him that he hadn't actually finished stopping the smoke from erupting out of the oven. A charred, flaked mess was yanked out of the oven and thrown toward the nearest sink. "I might have decided I wanted to bake youse a cake for youse's birthday, but I might have fucking put the cake on the wrong shelf thing and the heat bar-thing on top make the fucking thing catch fire."

He slumped against the sink, forlornly looking at the overcooked disaster before him. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to give youse a good birthday. It's 'sposed to be chocolate but... It's okay if you just wanna toss it." (theauthorlives)

"... You were my new dream."

"And you were mine."

It didn't matter that Morgan had seen this movie at least twenty times, this ending scene still got to them. Laying in bed, teary eyed as Eugene and Rapunzel said their Not-Final words to each other, Morgan was almost glad Yancy wasn't there. But on the other hand, this was the greatest animated movie ever made and he was missing it.

The fire alarm shrieked across the ship just as Morgan had started to blow their nose. With all the grace of a drunken newborn deer, they tumbled off the side of the bed. The Ship AI dryly noted that there was a fire in the galley, and Morgan scrambled to their feet, assuring everyone who had poked their heads out in concern and curiosity that they would handle it. It was probably quite the sight. Their fearless captain, wearing pajama bottoms with pink mustaches on them and a T-shirt that read: "Not Now, Sweety, Mommy is Cyberbullying the Mayor" marching down the hall like they were going into battle.

The culprit was their betrothed. He scrambled to explain himself, barely pausing to take a breath before he all but doing himself at the oven and ripped out a smoking thing. Morgan slapped their hand against the nearest control pad to shut off the fire alarm as Yancy slumped against the sink, defeated. Morgan crept over to look at the smoking mass that was probably perfectly good cake dough at one point.

(Anything was better than the... Abomination Morgan had tried to make for the Anniversary of the Invincible II's voyage. It had traumatized the Section Leads so much they shot it out of the airlock and vowed to never speak of it again. Morgan swore she saw Burt shed a few tears.)

"Fire Suppression Systems Activating." The Ship AI droaned, a good five minutes after the fact. If anything, the water made the mess in the cake pan look even sorrier. Morgan clicked their tongue and tapped Yancy's cheek to get his attention.

"I appreciate the thought, but I am having a good birthday, because I get to spend it with you." They signed. Reaching up to brush back a few stray curls away from Yancy's forehead. His hair would fluff out in the way Morgan adored once it dried. They planted a quick kiss on Yancy's lips as the sprinklers sputtered out. "Let's hurry and get rid of the evidence before the cook finds out." They added, looking at the cake pan. (They swore, they knew him from somewhere. Happy Trails? They didn't spend enough time in the kitchen to know for sure. But regardless, he took his kitchen very seriously, and who knew what would happen if he found out about this?)

[theauthorlives]

A date with Chibi Yancy 🌹🖤

[theauthorlives]

Any holiday plans for the prisoners here in Happy Trails Yancy? :D

@selfshippinglover

-

"Eh... This time of year ain't normally one I pay attention. It's, uh... Kinda touchy for me."

Yancy looked uncomfortable as he tried to answer, but it was clear that he was making an effort to explain himself rather than simply dismissing it. A moment is taken as he tries to brace himself.

"See, it wasn't something my family could fully, uh, 'get into' 'cause they wasn't exactly the most well-off. And, well, let's just say I lost one meaning of Christmas way younger than other kids. So youse take a kid who lost the magic, forced into a family setting he didn't wanna be in where he was being shamed and... Yeah. My parents fucking hated me, even before I started lashing out, let's be honest."

There was a nervous chuckle as his hand rubbed the back of his neck a second time.

"Long story short, makes me not too keen to do a lot with the Gang. I'm lucky that the others don't care too much - some of 'em don't celebrate for religious reasons so it ain't like I'm a loner on that. Plus, I'm the only one who don't have no connections outside, so I'm broke as shit and can't buy anything in commissary." He paused with a shrug. "So to answer youse's question: I didn't have plans beyond sitting with some of the Gang while they did their things in the chow hall. Some of them also had a special extra visitation day last week, so everyone was in high spirits all week."

"Me? Well... I'm just glad it's all over now. Good to spend time with the Gang when they's is celebrating important shit, but... I'm sorta sick of being reminded about things out there. It'll be good to have it where youse's only updates of the outside world is when Shithole Hank gets letters from Mrs Shithole."

[theauthorlives]

Here's a question for you folks: have you ever considered that for all the Christmas traditions and expectations around the setting, there are people who have never had a 'white' one?

I was - I was talking to someone earlier today and you know what they told me? They said that they're more used to grey Christmases and cannot remember a proper white one like in the movies. A grey Christmas is, er, that's where there's rain instead of snow, so it looks duller compared to a snowfall. And you know, it makes sense when you think about it. This world is so vast and varied that we don't all have the same local climate. I mean, that's a pretty ridiculous concept when you think about it. If everywhere was the same, then there wouldn't be places people would travel for skiing, or-or go to the beach on summer vacations.

And that's not even considering those in the south who celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer. It'd be impossible to have a white Christmas there.

Well, when I told this to my friend Orville, he said that they could have a 'white' Christmas if the beach counted. I said to him, I said, "Orville, most beaches aren't white. They're normally a pale gold-yellow colour."

And Orville said, "That depends on the light from the sun."

To which I said, "Everything changes under different lights. That's like saying you're a blue elephant because we're in a certain part of the Pizzaplex."

A blue elephant....? Where was I going with this...?

O-oh, I remember.

No matter how you might celebrate the holiday season, and no matter what your beliefs or traditions are, I hope you have a good time over the next few days. A-and be sure to take social breaks. There's nothing wrong with having to take time out to charge those batteries.

(Especially if you're like me and have to carry a battery around.)

[theauthorlives]

Are you open to non mutuals rping w you?

OOC:

By definition, yes, but I'm not exactly the most reliable partner if you're a fast writer. I'm fairly busy irl, and I've not got a consistent reply pattern that you might get with other partners. Plus, I'm at least five hours ahead of the majority of people, which some can find a nuisance.

I keep my mutual circle small for personal reasons, but I'm open to try writing with others if they have a rules and bio that can be used as a starting point.

[theauthorlives]

Here's a question for you folks: have you ever considered that for all the Christmas traditions and expectations around the setting, there are people who have never had a 'white' one?

I was - I was talking to someone earlier today and you know what they told me? They said that they're more used to grey Christmases and cannot remember a proper white one like in the movies. A grey Christmas is, er, that's where there's rain instead of snow, so it looks duller compared to a snowfall. And you know, it makes sense when you think about it. This world is so vast and varied that we don't all have the same local climate. I mean, that's a pretty ridiculous concept when you think about it. If everywhere was the same, then there wouldn't be places people would travel for skiing, or-or go to the beach on summer vacations.

And that's not even considering those in the south who celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer. It'd be impossible to have a white Christmas there.

Well, when I told this to my friend Orville, he said that they could have a 'white' Christmas if the beach counted. I said to him, I said, "Orville, most beaches aren't white. They're normally a pale gold-yellow colour."

And Orville said, "That depends on the light from the sun."

To which I said, "Everything changes under different lights. That's like saying you're a blue elephant because we're in a certain part of the Pizzaplex."

A blue elephant....? Where was I going with this...?

O-oh, I remember.

No matter how you might celebrate the holiday season, and no matter what your beliefs or traditions are, I hope you have a good time over the next few days. A-and be sure to take social breaks. There's nothing wrong with having to take time out to charge those batteries.

(Especially if you're like me and have to carry a battery around.)