☞ 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

video;

[boutant]

[ Oh. Ariadne frowns. ]

... Did something happen?

video;

[wouldnotkindly]

[There's something of a long silence before Jack responds. Too much happened, too much for him to easily recount. Too much for him to want to recount to Ariadne, at least for now.

He only nods, making no verbal response. He seems even more guarded now than he did before.]

video;

[boutant]

[ :xxx ]

If you need anything, just let me know, okay?

video;

[wouldnotkindly]

[He's not sure just what it is that he needs right now, much less if it's something Ariadne could provide for him. Can he even trust her right now? He remembers well that he did, that they were at least something like friends, but then — he'd thought he and Atlas were something like friends, hadn't he?

But that thought isn't something he knows if he can bear right now. Right now he wants to be able to trust someone, at least one person too much to think too deeply on it, no matter how much he knows he probably should, no matter how much he's afraid of what might happen.]

Thank you, Ariadne.

video;

[boutant]

Yeah, of course.

[ She doesn't know about Jack's doubts, would feel guilty if she did, but as it is, she's just worried -- and that's genuine. ]