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day 0 | jack
[ okay, there's only so much sulking around, covered in blood and dirt and your own tears you can do before maaaybe, probably, going to go take a shower. it's late by the time rhys arrives to the bathrooms -- the place being pretty much empty at first glance. he's glad because he's pushing the curfew boundaries here and he really just wants to take a moment to think.
there's a thought that's been tugging at the back of his head since he first arrived. an agreement he might have made that he can't seem to remember the particulars of and he's been too freaked out to really sit and think about it, try and figure out what's bugging him so much about this. he kind of wants to ask judy about it but he's still a little frosty on her and isn't quite so keen on the idea of engaging again just yet -- plus, what if someone happens to read his conversation? he can't risk that.
so, he needs some peace and quiet to really think -- clear his thoughts and figure out what's bugging him so badly. it can't be the jack thing, he thinks, he's been over it for long enough and he told the jack here to leave him alone so... so, he should be fine, right? right.
when rhys gets to the bathroom, he's holding a towel and a bar of soap in one hand and a pair of asymmetrical pajama bottoms and an old hyperion sweater of his in the other. he's pretty relieved to have his normal pajamas here, at least. it's a small comfort for the strange circumstances. he's frowning to himself, thoughts swirling when he hears a noise, looks up, and --
oh, it's jack. ]
Aren't you supposed to be in your room? It's almost curfew.
there's a thought that's been tugging at the back of his head since he first arrived. an agreement he might have made that he can't seem to remember the particulars of and he's been too freaked out to really sit and think about it, try and figure out what's bugging him so much about this. he kind of wants to ask judy about it but he's still a little frosty on her and isn't quite so keen on the idea of engaging again just yet -- plus, what if someone happens to read his conversation? he can't risk that.
so, he needs some peace and quiet to really think -- clear his thoughts and figure out what's bugging him so badly. it can't be the jack thing, he thinks, he's been over it for long enough and he told the jack here to leave him alone so... so, he should be fine, right? right.
when rhys gets to the bathroom, he's holding a towel and a bar of soap in one hand and a pair of asymmetrical pajama bottoms and an old hyperion sweater of his in the other. he's pretty relieved to have his normal pajamas here, at least. it's a small comfort for the strange circumstances. he's frowning to himself, thoughts swirling when he hears a noise, looks up, and --
oh, it's jack. ]
Aren't you supposed to be in your room? It's almost curfew.
no subject
Wait, mask? You—
[ Jack starts to interrupt as Rhys explains, because when he mentions a mask, that definitely catches Jack's attention. There had been a really strange one waiting in his room when he got there. It had been disconcerting to say the very least, but Jack had also kept that discovery to himself. It gave him lots of questions, sure, but he couldn't think of a subtle way to ask about a creepy flesh mask of his own face. Because that was the weirdest thing about it, honestly. It was definitely his face. It'd been tempting to put it on, but doing so also felt like it would prompt something out of a weird horror movie, so he'd decided against it.
He's still very curious about the mask, since Rhys mentioning it might be a hint to where it came from, and so he'll return to that. But mentioning the body double program throws him more off guard, since that was still a new thing, for one, and two, noooot many people actually knew about "Jack." Part of him wants to deny it completely, since what's the point of having a body double if people know about him? Especially, you know. Crazyass dudes like this. But the way Rhys phrases it catches his attention a bit more. ]
Another? You, what, you think I have more than one? I mean. If I did. Theoretically. Goddammit.
[ Smooth, Jack. He curses into his towel again as he mulls it over in a brief silence, but... There's one possibility that comes to mind that's more born from that "weird horror movie" tangent he'd mentally gone on. His brow knits together, because even thinking of considering this, he feels like an idiot. It's stupid to consider it, but at the same time, there are things Rhys has mentioned offhandedly like they're fact that don't make sense. Athena getting married, Hyperion being no more, even talk of a mask and body doubles. ]
I- Hey, weird question, but. What year is it? Before, uh. You came here. Were brought here? Whatever.
no subject
Okay, first of all. Let me see your nose, I can probably reset it. I'm so, so sorry, bro. Please don't kill me.
[ the plea kind of stumbles off naturally, without thinking because well -- that's just what he'd be saying to jack right now. offering his apologies and begging for his forgiveness. even if the jack he knew was an AI, the fact that this jack is physically here is enough to warrant any kind of humility he should probably have. at least, that's what rhys is thinking, even if he's not consciously aware of it.
he'll answer jack's questions too, feeling his own confusion in response to jack's. nothing he's said is out of the ordinary, personally, but now this conversation is taking a turn for the weird again and his eyebrows furrow, eyes narrowing slightly at jack. ]
Uh, yeah? You scattered them around for like, moral support or whatever. I think mmmmost of them are dead now? I don't know, it's been a while since I've spotted one in the wild.
[ he says it so casually like it's just part of daily life for him which, granted, it is. body doubles pop up around helios and other hyperion owned places a lot. most of them disappeared after jack's death but they were definitely a feature beforehand. sometimes it made it so you could never tell if the real jack was around either. kind of clever, rhys thought. ]
... The year? 2870, dude. How do you not know this?
[ seriously, weird question to ask unless -- did this jack think rhys was from the future? no, that's not possible. this has to just be some other planet, off of the borderworlds. something like that, right? ]
no subject
Uh. Probably. You just said probably reset it. Also, what the hell, you're the one that broke it?
[ It's not a "no," since Jack doesn't know how to do it himself, that's for sure. But he's also not super keen on letting the guy that just broke it come put it back in place. There are a lot of problems with that idea, chief amongst them being that this guy is clearly crazy. It's at least becoming a more manageable crazy, though Jack's expression continues to just show open confusion as Rhys talks about body doubles how he does. There's a flicker again of that slight anger, since, yeah. They probably are all dead if you sent them into the planet, Rhys. But the fact that they exist at all apparently is at least enough to prevent Jack from getting angry again, since that's far more confusing than anything else.
Though of course, far more perplexing than that is the date that Rhys gives.
IS IT FIVE YEARS is it ten years like makes more sense??? it's a mystery and I'm not deciding, since either way, Jack's expression turns to surprise as he pulls the towel away from his nose. It's still bleeding, of course, but he's so surprised to hear the year that he's dropping the towel more to make sure his words aren't muffled. ]
Well. Because that's not what year it is? That's... [ He trails off, because even in his head, this sounds stupid. Even so, he says it, though it's reluctantly. ] That's kinda a few years ahead of me?
no subject
then jack is questioning him about being able to reset his nose and that just throws him off completely and he lets out a strangled noise of... offense? and when he talks, it's clipped and harried and probably the completely opposite of what jack expects. ]
That's -- that's because I'm not a very secure person, Jack! And maybe I'm just offering because I feel bad about breaking your nose, huh? So, so -- so fuck you, if you're going to turn down my attempt to make this better because I just wanted to fix it because you have a really nice face and I don't want to be the one that fucked it up!
[ and he's so flustered by this little explosion of his that he turns a beet red and scrubs both of his hands through his hair while he fidgets in place for a bit. if jack's not going to let him fix his nose then, okay. fine. whatever!! he didn't even do anything wrong!
(he did so many things wrong today.)
then there's the confirmation that jack is... from the past? probably? oh god, oh man oh god oh man. that just messes rhys up a bit more and he flaps his hands a bit before speaking in a louder than necessary voice -- ]
Okay, fine! You're from the past then! You're -- you're Jack from before he went crazy and that. I don't know what that means. I don't know! It's a little overwhelming. So, I guess you wouldn't stab me in the back then, huh? You -- you're all. Nice and stuff now. A real hero. And you probably would strangle me less. And maybe we could be friends and not... whatever it was that we were because that went SO well the last time and I'm going to take a freggin' shower now, holy crap. This is too much to deal with.
[ halfway through that second rant there, rhys starts unbuckling his pants which means by the time he's finished, he's got them down his legs and is hopping up and down on one foot to tug off his sock. he's not looking at jack because he's still pretty damn flustered and on the very precipice of running away to not deal with this problem because rhys is a mature adult who handles his problems well. he's able to get off one of the socks at least and he'll just stand there for a moment in front of jack, clad in his underwear and one sock, hand holding the other and --
ah, yes. he's tearing up again. ]
no subject
Okay, you're not wrong there. You did mess up my gorgeous face, which, rude, but. More was saying you broke it, so, y'know, letting you break it more to unbreak it is a trust exercise to the extreme that I'm not really feelin' right now. Nnnno offense?
[ Though even so, Jack is halfway considering accepting. It's probably good that he doesn't get the chance, because Rhys starts rambling again and also stripping. This was already weird, but it's just getting weirder. Jack holds up a hand and closes his eyes as he looks away, though it's not really out of modesty so much as incredulous that this is happening in the first place. ]
What- What is up with today? Cripes!
[ Though after just kind of speaking over Rhys for a moment there, Jack ends up making a more frustrated, pained noise right after, because, yeah, thanks for the confirmation, self. Still broken, still hurts. He opens his eyes again after cursing a few things under his breath, but he ends up just looking exasperated when he opens his eyes to see Rhys crying. Again. ]
Agh-- Seriously? Again? You. What. Just, seriously, what the hell. [ He really can't get a read on Rhys at all with how quickly his moods keep changing. That's really frustrating, honestly, because Jack has more or less made a living off of doing just that. It would be the same for Rhys, since that was the way of Hyperion, but these shifting, extreme emotions when combined with all of this information is overwhelming, even for a quick thinker like Jack. ]
Stop... crying? Please? I don't know why I'm the one saying this, considering you're the one starting shit, but. Y'know. Okay. Okay, so... There is kinda a lot to talk about here, uh, that's pretty obvious. But you're taking off your clothes now and making an already weird thing weirder, so, suggestion. Can we talk about this, I dunno, tomorrow? Or something?
[ He's half trying to escape this conversation and half genuinely just trying to deal with it. He knows that neither of them would be having a productive conversation right now, albeit for very different reasons. Rhys is naked and afraid, and Jack's nose needs to be tended to by someone, even if it's not Rhys. ]
no subject
Fuck. Fuck! Sorry, I can't turn it off once it starts but that -- that's a good idea. Tomorrow, we can talk and I'll answer your questions or whatever and it'll give me time to, uh. Get it together.
[ he takes a shaky breath in, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks down to the tile. this really is too much for him to deal with and his heart hurts and he just feels like if he could explain to jack, maybe he'd understand? rhys can't be sure and now really isn't the time to explain but in a last ditch effort, he does say one thing. ]
... Just, it's been a while since I last saw you and I. Uh. I never really got to talk about it with anyone so, you gotta understand, it's a bit overwhelming! Ah... hahaha...
[ he laughs and it's weak and sad and he looks at jack for a long moment before shaking his head and moving to head into the stall. his shoulders are slumped and he's just so damn tired, tonight's been a wreck. from the stall, rhys'll call out rather weakly to jack -- ]
... Uhm. Please get your nose checked out when you can. If not me, anyone who you, uh, could trust or something. I still feel pretty bad about that.
no subject
Y'think? Overwhelming is kinda...
[ Jack waves his hand vaguely, but he doesn't actually want to get into this right now. He heads to his shower stall to grab the clothes off of it, since there's really no point in showering now. He's probably just about to bleed more if he'll get this taken care of, so he just tugs his clothes into one arm, and the towel comes back up to his face to catch whatever blood may still be dripping out. He winces at the contact, but starts to walk away to leave, since he's essentially planning to leave it at just that.
Though when Rhys calls out to him, Jack glances back with a raised eyebrow before he scoffs. ]
That's the plan, ki— [ Jack catches himself, then sighs ] ...Sir. So, y'know, later.
[ He shakes his head, since he's truly not sure how to take that weak, guilty sort of concern. So he's fairly dismissive of it. If he had a hand free, he might raise it as a goodbye, but as is, his hands are full and he's not really feeling like giving Rhys that courtesy anyways. So without saying anything else, Jack leaves to go track someone down to help him out. ]