puppets on strings all dance and sing

[cibosity]

Pulling off a good con required the ability to care or dismiss about things at will. For about five minutes, Sawyer had managed to forget that Richard Alpert was a man who had not aged a day in the span of approximately fifty years, that the Others had significantly more knowledge of the land than he did, that there was still no explanation to be

Comments

[cibosity]

The question was so utterly unhelpful, one that Sawyer immediately believed was intended to mock him and his predicament, given the man's sarcastic tone of voice. Plain too, however, in a way that made Sawyer wonder if he was from the Linus family tree, or at the very least one of the many that the crazy Frenchwoman called the 'Others.' Or, as apparently was all the rage in the seventies, one of the 'Hostiles.' Same difference.

"If you ain't careful, I might just add you to the list, carrot-top," Sawyer muttered under his breath, wondering if he had underestimated Alpert and misread the startled look in his lined eyes and how even a man who could pull a Rip van Winkle unscathed could manage a stunt like this one. He hadn't seen this particular redhead standing among those back at a camp, but given that they were thorough enough even to send some of their number deep down into the depths of the ocean, Sawyer didn't think much of it. Until the man started to eye the entirety of the cage like it baffled him as much as it had Sawyer, the first time around.

Huh. Might as well take advantage of a man caught in the throes of utter confusion.

"Well, whatcha waitin' for, Hamlet? Plannin' on helpin' me out sometime this century, I'm hoping," he chanced, raising an eyebrow as he walked up to the side of the cage, directly across from the newcomer.

[once_invisible]

"I'm waiting on Ophelia to join me," Skinner replied, nothing if not wry. "And I'm due to deliver a soliloquy in the next hour or so. Big on the nicknames, aren't you, skipper?" Pet names were a habit with him, but not to the extent that he could be called any different from those in his social class in his own time period. Anyone who'd been around him more than once could attest to that.

Stepping up to the bars, he cocked his head to one side, eyes fixing on the lock that Sawyer had previously been trying to break. He'd broken out of worse before, that was for certain, although that thing did look mighty rusty.

"As for helping you out, I think that might depend on what you're in for."

[cibosity]

Either the man was playing dumb, or he wasn't even close to what Sawyer suspected, but worse yet was the fact that Sawyer couldn't figure out for the life of him which he would have preferred. A sense of humor, though, that he could appreciate, even if the situation seemed anything but comical to him from inside the cage itself.

"You ain't got a problem with that, right? Think of it as a term of endearment, if you wanna," Sawyer volleyed back, still keeping a close eye on the man as he eyed the lock, looking as though he really was considering helping Sawyer out. While the blond was pretty sure that he could worm his own way out with time and a patient hand, time was valuable, and he'd prefer to waste as little of it as possible. "As for doin' sudden time, you'd know as well as I what it's for. I'm pretty sure that doin' so much as sneezin' the wrong way on the island can land you in a cage."

[once_invisible]

"So long as conversation doesn't devolve into fisticuffs, I won't complain about much," Rodney said pleasantly, glancing up at Sawyer once before returning his attention to the lock.

At Sawyer's next statement, however, Rodney laughed. So far, he'd been unable to really get a grip on whether or not the man in the cage was new or not, but now his estimation tended towards the latter. "I don't know about incarceration, but this place does work in mysterious ways," he agreed, starting to check his pockets to see if he'd brought anything useful with him. He wasn't yet sure of whether or not he was going to offer his help to any really useful degree, but he didn't have any reason to turn back yet.

"Got a name?"

[cibosity]

Three names that he could have given, three names that Sawyer had used on the island to meaningful extents. And, unfortunately, only one of them could be used regardless of what time he had managed to plop down with this shift- using LaFleur wouldn't have worked for the present, but Ford would have exposed his lies in the good old seventies. Even if Sawyer no longer wanted to be that man, the modern-day Tom Sawyer, and believed himself as finished as he could ever be with that sordid part of his past, still it clung to him as though pulled by static, leaping across his fingers. He grinned nonetheless, trying not to expose how antsy he still was and would continue to be until the very moment that the lock was sprung.

"All bets are off if you start anythin', but otherwise," Sawyer shrugged in lieu of finishing his sentence, eyes still following the man, checking for how often he made eye contact. "Call me Sawyer."