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Passengers: Theo Crawford and inmates old and new
Location: All over the Peregrine
Date: Ongoing, during the month of April
Summary: Part two of speaking with inmates about his escape plan
Warnings: Theo's dirty mouth, who knows what else.

[Theo was still working on his escape plan, but a wrench has been thrown into the works thanks to Silco's departure. No other inmates really expressed interest in joining Theo, though some had volunteered to help, or at the very least, not let the secret out. But with still no one on his side, Theo's anxiety over the plan was only getting worse. He'd be more than glad to do it on his own, if he thought he could, but there were a lot of wardens and only one of him.

The Peregrine has had a few new faces arrive over the last few weeks, which meant it was time to get to those inmates while they were alone, or no more than in pairs, and out of the earshot of any wardens. Theo will be approaching inmates he hasn't spoken to yet in places like the mess hell, waving them into the Chapel as they pass the hall, or if they were alone in places like the dorms or the observatory. A paranoid person to begin with, Theo will be doing a lot of double checking and looking over his shoulder as he approaches any inmate.]

Hey. I need to talk to you real quick. Keep your voice down.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Jerry spends a decent amount of time in the dorms, mostly because there's less warden activity here, and he doesn't mind the company. He's slept in more cramped places with even more people.

When he's approached he's not doing much — in fact, he's just sitting and staring at a wall, contemplating testing how long he could sleep before someone forcefully tried to wake him up.

He gets bored.

He squints at Theo in confusion — at least that's what it looks like when Jerry squints, and he complies and lowers his voice to an obnoxiously hoarse whisper. ]

Uh, okay. I don't have any drugs. I mean, I think maybe one of my shirts has some of that red flower powder stuff on it, which is awful, but I hallucinated for like a whole day. But other than that I got nothin'.

[That was not a response Theo was expecting. He goes to say something, stops, thinks for a second, before finally forming a sentence.]

I would honestly be shocked if you did have any, since we have nowhere to get drugs in the first place. [A beat.] Kinda.

[He looks around again, one last check to make sure there was truly no one else around.]

Look. I think I can get use a way out of here. Or a chance to. It won't be easy but I think it can be done. You hear about the port stop we made a couple of weeks back?

Kay, we're comin' back to that "kinda".

[ Just putting a very important mental pin in that. The only thing more important than the procurement of drugs right now is escape, so his interest is immediately piqued. ]

Yeah. We were helping the ship that's way more decorated and cooler than ours. Thought about catching a ride on it but that plan went down the pooper when I realized it was another ship like this one.

[Theo nods at that idea. It crossed his mind, too.] That ship was huge, though. Probably woulda taken them awhile to catch you if you were sneaky enough. But I guess it doesn't matter now.

That "kinda" is what I want to talk about. It's part of the plan I'm tryin' to make. I work in the greenhouse, and there's a plant in there that can knock a person out just by touching it. Oil on the leaves, right? Depending on how much you use, it'd work for a few minutes to a few hours. I found this out the hard way.

[Theo had a nice nap on his work table in there, thanks to this.]

No shit?

[ Jerry didn't think to consider the greenhouse. ]

Didn't think the greenhouse would have something like that. Seems awfully convenient. Suspiciously convenient, even. [ His face cracks into a wide grin. ] My favorite kind!

[ Oh right, low voices. Ahem. ]

You experience any side effects after you woke up? Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea? I'm all for getting the fuckarooni outta here but...

[ He doesn't want it to be dangerous for the Wardens, is what he doesn't say, but kinda totally says. ]

[Theo's normally pretty paranoid, but he hadn't considered the plant being put there as some sort of tempting trap. He considers it for a moment, but shakes his head.]

I think it's an ingredient in those sleeping pills they got available in the infirmary. You ever take one? They work, but the dreams they give you don't make it worth it. In a small dose, I didn't have that anyway. I was only out about 15 minutes, I think. Groggy as shit for awhile, but otherwise fine.

[Shockingly, Theo isn't out to kill any wardens. He doesn't know why. He never used to be so careful with others' lives.]

We might have to up the dose for some of 'em. People who aren't human, who are strong, y'know? I'm not the greatest test sample. [Theo is 5'8" and literally around 110 pounds. Which is up from when he first got here.] But at worst they take a long fuckin' nap.

15 minute knockout from a small dose is one thing, but if we're gonna use it to escape that's a whole other story, bro. That's going to be various different types of doses for different wardens, which might get fugly.

[ Jerry isn't a superhuman or anything, but... ]

I'll test it. I may not have fancy super strength or whatever but if anyone knows how to take a drug like a champ it's yours truly. We should work on a dose for the smaller peeps, the medium and bigger peeps, and then...non-human stronk peeps might be a little harder to test for but we can work that out with a little bit of experimentation, I think.

[ He rubs his hands together with a gleam in his eyes. ]

I'm in like a thong up a buttcrack, dude.

[No time to comment on that delightful simile (though it does get a raised eyebrow), Theo looks a little torn.]

"Doses" is going to be hard to calculate. I agree, but it's not like I have equipment here to make potions or anything. All I can do is cultivate the plants so that we get enough to hand out to inmates. You're just going to have to catch a warden unaware and hit them with it. An arm, the back of the neck... [He shrugs.] All I need is a way for the inmates to handle the clippings without knocking ourselves out first.

[Testing, though, is probably not the worst idea. As he said, he's not a good test sample as it is, and just testing it on himself would be some bad science anyway.]

I can definitely test it on you. Take track of how long it works for, if you feel anything else. We're definitely going to have to adjust doses for some of 'em. Loki. Lucifer. [The latter is the most troubling.]