☞ 016. (video)

[wouldnotkindly]

[The video starts with some serious jostling around, but it soon straightens out and Jack's face comes into view.]

Is this... This is the City, right?

[He looks disoriented, perhaps more so than could normally be expected from those freshly returned to the City, but that's hardly the most notable thing about his appearance. There's a massive bruise on the left side of his face that stretches from his jaw to the corner of his lip, which itself is split, swollen, and bloodied; there are other spots and spatters of blood on his face, but from the lack of any other visible wounds, there's no telling if it's his own. He also looks as though he hasn't slept in far too long, but the bags under his eyes are nothing compared to the rest of his face.]

This place is really what I think it is? Not just... [He swallows, glances down for a moment, and his expression hardens.] This isn't just Fontaine fucking with me again, putting more shit in my head? Or... [His eyes squeeze shut.] I don't know. I don't remember. I can't remember.

[After a pause, he opens his eyes again, trying not to look too distressed.]

Does anyone know where I live?

Comments

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[rudeandginger]

Jack? What the hell happened to you?

audio;

[wouldnotkindly]

[There's a familiar voice, even if it takes a moment for it to sink in.]

I went home. [The word home comes out automatically, giving his stomach a bit of a lurch once he realizes it.] Back to Rapture.

audio;

[rudeandginger]

Let me hazard a guess and say this wasn't a triumphant return home.

Where are you?

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[wouldnotkindly]

[Jack almost laughs at that. Almost.

Anyway, it takes another moment for him to regain enough of his bearings to answer.]

The fountain.

audio;

[rudeandginger]

Alright, don't go anywhere. Do you honestly not remember where you live?

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[wouldnotkindly]

I don't.

[He could say that, at least from what he's heard of this place, it's normal for people to leave and come back with temporary holes in their memory. But it's less that and more that he's returned with little reason to trust his memory in the first place.]

action-

[rudeandginger]

[He makes it down pretty quickly, his jacket disguarded at home so he's just in his shirtsleeves and tie.]

Jack?

[signatures]

It's the City, yes.

[ And Eames does know where he lives... ]

[wouldnotkindly]

That's... That's good.

[Though he doesn't sound entirely convinced by it. He doesn't know yet what it might take to believe that this isn't something done by Fontaine — or, hell, maybe even Tenenbaum — but he does know he's not nearly there yet.]

[signatures]

Mister Jack?

[wouldnotkindly]

What? [He sounds almost startled; he doesn't ever expect to be called mister, so it unsettles him a bit more than it should.]

[signatures]

Where were you, exactly?

[wouldnotkindly]

[He shouldn't be surprised by the question, and he isn't. He shouldn't be reluctant to answer it, either, but...]

I... I went home. [He drags a hand over his face, wincing when he hits his lip.] To Rapture.

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[boutant]

Jack? Are you... [ Pause. ] Is any of that yours?

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[wouldnotkindly]

[He looks down at himself, then shakes his head.]

No. I don't think so. [Not much of it, at least.]

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[boutant]

Well, that's good, at least.

[ Another pause. ]

... Did you go back?

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[wouldnotkindly]

[He swallows before nodding.]

Yeah... Yeah. I did.

[Ariadne, of all people in this City, doesn't need to know about what happened to him — any of it. Even if she asks, he's not sure if he could tell her the truth.]

video;

[boutant]

Have you found a way out yet?

[ Because she knows how much he wants to get out, to go back to the surface. ]

video;

[wouldnotkindly]

No. [He pauses.] Not yet.

[But something in his tone suggests that he isn't entirely certain if that yet will ever come.]

sorry for the backtag >.>

[likeboudica]

Jack? Are you all right?

no worries!

[wouldnotkindly]

I don't know.

[It's the most honest answer he can give her right now. He is better now than he would have been if he were still in Rapture...but is that really saying much? Is it really better at all, being out of the only place he could honestly call home?]

[likeboudica]

Did you go home?

[wouldnotkindly]

[He gives her a slow nod.] Yeah. Yeah, I... I did.

[At least that much is a totally honest answer. But he isn't sure whether he can even begin to express just how bad a thing that really is.]

[likeboudica]

Are you— [ No, she already asked that and he clearly isn't. ] Do you need help, can I do anything?

[wouldnotkindly]

[Jack starts to shake his head, but then he remembers who he's talking to. She's seen his powers firsthand, hasn't she? If anyone could even begin to have a chance of understanding just what he's gone through...]

You, uh... Do you remember where I live?