Starlight, Sunlight

Showtime

jaxontheroad;

Jackson felt embarrassed for not understanding a word the mechanic said and had assumed he was mentioned broken items. Nervously rubbing the back of his neck he smiled awkwardly, “I know…next to nothing about automotive, i’m sorry,” apologizing. Looking the man over he tilted his head, “Forgive me if this is intrusive but… you look very young. Does your family own a business and you’re sent out to do the leg work?” he asked trying to sound as polite as possible. He had a bad habit of coming off rude due to bluntly asking the first thing that came out of his mouth. The guy was also kind of cute… in a dirty, backwoods kind of way.

As soon as the guy started speaking again, Jackson’s head was in a swirl. He almost felt like bringing up Siri to try and translate what the guy was saying. It all sounded like gibberish. “Um… whatever you need… just bill our manager,” he told him, “An hour? Oh that’s great!” Sighing he relief he patted his shoulder, “You have no idea how hot it is being on a bus with a bunch of dudes. Complete and utter ball sack smell in this heat. You’re a life saver…Helios.” Jackson almost wanted to state his name again but thought that might seem odd. “That’s a pretty obscure name… I’ve never met a Helios before. Is there a backstory to it?”

His voice traveled a bit as he went to find the switch on the bus, realizing they were standing in only the street lights coming from outside. “Yeah I am. i’m technically they’re on the road photographer but their vocalist got pretty sick so I had to take over for back up vocals. It’s only for a few shows. It’s really nothing special,” he said nonchalantly as he looked around the small space. “Um… what does your phone look like?” he asked going in search of it while noise from outside started to increase. That meant the group was coming back to cram onto the bus. So much for some quality time alone.

Right, age. That did catch him a little, and he wobbled. But for that, at least, he could be mostly honest. He spoke a bit more quietly, looking away. "No. My father works for the military, my older brother is somewhat preoccupied with staying out of jail. I used to get bored on base and rewire the aircraft. It's just ... been a thing." The truth of the matter was probably a bit more involved than just 'rewire' and more along the lines of 'attempted hijacking and theft', but who really cared because one he was a juvenile when it occurred, and the other person hadn't really asked for that much specification.

"I promise you I wont break anything.” And I'm probably way overqualified actually, even if it is an accident, he added in his head. He might have to use a combination of a pocket set of screwdrivers, a multi-tool, and some masking tape and MacGyver the shit out of the situation, but he wouldn't in fact, break anything.

Though again with the touching. Did normal people actually do that? He knew he was a bit weird, and his family not the very kind, warm, fuzzy sort, but it seemed odd. He didn't mind it exactly, just puzzled.

"Do you know what the 'Colossus of Rhodes' is?" Helios asked, tentatively, looking up. "That's Helios. It's suppose to be impressive, but I think it kind of misses the effect on me." He was tall yes, he had a decent enough build maybe if he was naked, but his clothing hardly did him much favor in appearances. Nor his demeanor. Hardly awe-inspiring. "My middle name is Theodore if that's less weird. Probably for the president, but I'd rather it after the chipmunks." He did have a weird attachment to the colour green anyway.

"I can't sing." Helios admitted. Or well, he could sing in the shower because everyone could sing in the shower, but he'd heard Hunter sing and knew he'd never hit that bar so why bother trying with it? His family would just think it was more of a waist of his time, like nearly everything else he did.

"It's rectangular, has a blue-ish black case. I'm sure someone will step on it tomorrow or something if it's not found. It's not the end of the world as we know it or anything." But he really could use it. He'd like to text the people he'd come with and at least let them know he hadn't like, passed out in the bathroom or something.

Showtime

jaxontheroad;

The squealing fan in front had held up her phone to take a selfie with Jackson. She was credibly short and the amount of time she was wasting trying to position it was wearing his nerves. “Here…” he said politely taking it from her and snapping the picture. She thanked him and was about to ask a question when he felt another presence behind him. Before he could turn around the strange presence spoke causing Jackson to nearly jump out of his skin and whirl around.

“Uh…what? Who are you?” he asked quickly but then tried to process the long slew of words and explanation the strange guy was telling him. Something about an engine and compression…oh. This must’ve been the bus mechanic they hired for the trip. It had been so hot this summer that sometimes the air conditioning would go out or the engine would overheat.

Laughing, Jackson stretched out his arm and patted the man’s shoulder, “Oh my goodness, am I glad to see you!” turning to the fan he smiled at her, “Sorry sweetie, but I’ve got to get some things taken care of. It was nice meeting you!” Making his way on the bus, he pushed back the awkward man and closed the door behind them, “Thank you…” he nearly praised looking at him with a desperate look, “I had been looking for an out the minute she squealed. It’s been a long day and i’m so exhausted. I’m sorry… could you please explain to me again what needs to be fixed? I hope you start with the air conditioner first because it has been hot like the dickens in here.” He stated grabbing his arm and nearly dragging him over to the AC unit, “How long do you think it’ll take to fix? I don’t know where any of the bus mechanics are or even if it is fixable…um… oh shoot, i’m being rude. Name?”

Helios had to fight a reaction to jump, from being touched so unexpectedly, and he was sure his face looked rather strange. He just sort of ... went with what was happening. This person looked positively more crazy than he did. Man, the power of stage lighting. But they apparently though he was a really meant to be here. Maybe Helios should have taken up acting... then again, looking briefly at himself and his boots with old, once-dark jeans with light oil and paint on them, and a somewhat messy arrangement of shirts, he probably didn't look too far off of one.

"Er, I actually listed things that didn't need to be fixed." Real things, real parts of buses, sure, but clearly the door hinges were working. But he did want to laugh a little at the weather comment. "Yeah, welcome to summer. Busy time of year."

He felt nervous really, but he had enough sense of mechanics that he hoped he could fully bullshit his way out of this with hardly getting in trouble. Hunter would just sneer at him, but he was fairly certain their father would kill him for having a police report filed for falsification or trespassing or whatever.

He gave a deep heartfelt sigh, but not in regards to the bus.

"Well if I have to completely gut and reinstall the thing, you're looking at eight hours, assuming none of the parts are special order. But fixing it?" How long did it normally take to fix an air conditioner? He made a vague humming sound... and a brief concern about being trapped on this bus and having to actually fix it crossed his mind, but. Otherwise it was kind of breaking and entering wasn't it? Which he was fine with really, he'd done worse. Better though if people didn't think he was crazy. Or crazier than most of the people he knew already did. "Depends, if it's part of the interconnecting electrical system, or the electromagnetic clutch, you have to take panels of the wall out and it'll be longer, but if it's like a condenser coil... like a hour? Maybe?"

He tapped the wall just to give his hands something to do, watching the other flit about like a tiny golden, puppy. "Honestly though it's probably the filter drier, those things break all the time. No one cleans them out." If he could help, really why not. As long as he didn't actually have to pay for parts himself. “I think I dropped my phone over by one of the emergency exit windows though if you want to turn the lights up and let me grab it real fast? I'm Helios by the way, I guess you're like in the band or whatever?”

Showtime

#jaxontheroad #para #para001 #I didn't see the reply until this morning

jaxontheroad;

Jackson felt a small victory that he had made it across the packing lot unnoticed. Then again, he was only a back up vocalist placed to fill in for a permanent member. He’d be irrelevant after a few shows once Paul was no longer ill. “Hey Jax,” he heard from the dark coming to the left of him. He looked around nervous only to realize the voice belonged to one of their crew. “Hey,” he said with a slight yawn before heading towards the bus.

A shower and sleep

Those were the priorities Jackson had in order. It was too much to hope for that the other’s wouldn’t be in a partying mood. Prying the door open to the bus, he was about to step inside when he heard a small squeal and an anxious fan rushing up to him blabbering about how she enjoyed him being in the band.

Great, he was trapped. Just what he needed at the moment.

Helios froze dead – of course the door was opened. The show was nearly over, but he was still hidden behind something, couldn’t get a good line of sight to the door, unless he moved. But he wasn't sure he wanted to do that yet, give away his position. Wasn't very good strategy.

It sounded however, like one of the band members must have returned because the chatter seemed to be about the performance itself. He thought about it a minute... maybe if he played it right, he could get the chatty fans to go away, and get the random band person to find his damn phone for him. Or at least tell him where the light switch was. Did buses have light switches? He felt like a tour bus should.

He'd design one with a light switch anyway.

He's was gonna do it. He was... going to pretend something. Something cool. Or whatever he could come up with in about ten seconds without throwing up on anybody from panic.

Oh wait. He could bullshit mechanics.

"Hey so,” Helios started, come up suddenly behind the guy near the door, looking briefly at the lady, before talking at no one really specifically, and just rolling, “I was looking at that pneumatic deferential engine issue, and the pistons and helical compression springs from the controller aren't damaged or anything, but I might need to look at the baseplate though if you know... you want to move in one direction or other from the door."

And he waited. And he blinked.

“It's kind of, you know, attached to the door?”

Hopefully that was enough jargon to at least get someone to move.

Showtime

jaxontheroad;

The fans had wanted an encore after the finale and always eager to please, Jeff encouraged everyone to play the song again. While the smile was plastered on Jackson’s face, internally he was cringing from having to stand under these lights for another minute.

Anything to please the fans

“Oh man, that crowd was a blast. They weren’t as stiff as the last show we did,” Jeff said to them as they entered the backstage area. Jackson had nodded in agreement as he went to grab his towel to wipe off the sweat that running down his face. Even though he didn’t move around a lot, the stage lights were always hectic to be under for so long. He felt like he was melting. “I’m going to head off and take a shower…” he announced, grabbing a water bottle and heading out towards the corridor. If he took the side entrance he could make it to the bus without being stopped by any fans. The longer he remained sweaty, the worse he felt.

Just as he predicted there was a crowd starting to form at the back door waiting for the band to exit out of. Quietly, he pulled his hoodie up over his head and tried to stick to the shadows until he could reach their bus. A little piece and quiet would be nice before the band came on and created their inevitable noise.

As Helios was fiddling around on the bus, semi-blindly from the light that was at least coming in from the windows, he got the sense that something was happening outside. There were a lot more voice than there was just a bit ago – wasn't there?

Wiggling over to the edge of one of the seats, he popped his head up just enough over a window to look out, but not enough that someone might look over at see a person in the vehicle. At least so obviously. And he was in fact, greeted with the sight of a small flock of people forming a bit off closer to the building – which caused his heart to jump into his throat a bit, and immediately trigger a nervous reaction to duck down into the floor and try and collect himself. Was he going to be stuck on the bus now? Possible.

He kind of wanted to tweet about it, but again, missing phone, and he groaned, rolling slightly to the side and picking up his mission of trying to find the object in the dark without alerting attention to his presence.

Unless the door opened, of course.

Showtime

Jackson swayed off to the side singing the backed up vocals from the band Blink Or You Miss. He hadn’t imagined himself being on road as a vocalist for a decently known band. In fact, his original plans were to open his own studio and establish his brand. With money being a little short and this gig falling into his lap, he couldn’t quite say no. Originally he had started out as the band’s social media photographer, updating their whereabouts and hashtagging most of his nights away until one day, Jeff their vocalist, became ill.

He couldn’t for the life of him remember what city they were in but crowd seemed to love them regardless. It seemed like every person in the audience knew the words to the song and if they didn’t, they knew them now. It was the end of the set for the evening, which meant the mandatory bowing and thank yous to the audience.

Helios was not specifically sure how he ended up at this specific concert – like yes, he went to a lot of concerts, and snuck around wonderful into places he really ought not be in, but this one he very clearly remembered not being his decision. Though he'd gotten separated from the people'd he'd come with at some point during the crowd shifting and dancing.

So separated in fact, he was currently outside.

He could still hear the music of course, it was winding down even, but poking around in parking lots was always an adventure at these kinds of venues because there was always something bound to be going on.

What caught his attention though wasn't the echo of silences compared to the noise hardly far away, or the lack of people or sticky-ness from being crushed between a hoard of people, but a bus. Buses were cool, and he never got to fiddle around with them much, so of course he felt the need to go investigate it. Wasn't even that hard to get into really, the door was kind of loose.

Creepy. But oh so cool.

The inside of the bus seemed pretty nice, but hard to see around in the dark, but pulling out his phone to use as a flash light just resulted in him dropping the thing and having to scuttle around after it...

– Where did it go ?

#indie glee rp #whats an ooc;;

Good morning / afternoon !! To various things that may or may not still follow this account. I will be re-using Helios here for 1x1 / indie use. He’s basically just an OC with a familiar last name. But if you want to annoy him and or follow for adventures with Jackson, feel free.

@photogevans: @htclar why in the hell would I even have that game? Who do I look like to you??

@photogevans: @htclar No, Brittany's actual cat is named that.

@photogevans: @htclar ay, i won't harm any cats. No, don't make me think of them! I miss them :(

@htclar: ... a person who owns a smart phone? and maybe likes cats on occasion?

@htclar: when it's warmer maybe I can get them to leave the house more often? I don't like taking them out in the rain...

#photogevans #text

balboaporter;

Luper…what?

All important holidays came from some terrifying ritual or another. They just didn’t have malls to make it commercial.

Lupercalia. Lup, like Wolf. Partly it was for the birth of Rome, because the brothers who founded the city were raised by a wolf, and there was a whole ordeal that if you got hit by a goat you’d be lucky in marriage or something something. Kinda a lot more messy than trading cards.

#balboaporter #chat

@captclarington: @htclar What about the ones where it isn't frowned upon? I can't eat that forever, Helios..

@htclar: you don't get to move, @captclarington.

@htclar: yeah but being sick dehydrates you AND depletes you of minerals, like salt. chicken broth has both. you can have applesauce I guess if you wont throw up...

#balboaclarington #text

@photogevans: @htclar the what now? It's a real sandwich Helios :( Brittany's mean fat cat steals my food when i'm not looking.

@photogevans: @htclar i'm plotting revenge as we speak.

@htclar: neko something. It's japanese, and you collect cats on your phone with it I guess?

@htclar: one of the cats you can get is named Tubbs

@htclar: please don't harm any actually cats, think of ze woozles.

#photogevans #text

@photogevans: This is the second sandwich I lost this week to this cat :(

@photogevans: I can't find it and there's no more lunch meat. #ThanksTubbs

@htclar: are you playing that phone cat game? Or is it a for real sandwich @photogevans?

#photogevans #text

adfectusdeperditus

All you sappy assholes are celebrating Valentine’s Day, I’ll be over here with my bros Washington and Lincoln, who give us an actual day off school. I don’t get Valentine’s anyway, it’s the memorial of a fucking massacre. People died. Don’t know why that translates into gross candy and stupid displays of fake affection.