secondhandsome | ic inbox

Geez... That is rough.

Uh, well. New people do seem to arrive mostly at the same time here, so... maybe she'll run into someone helpful. Someone who can take her to the next town, anyway?

[He's trying really hard to find a positive spin on this. Anything that'll maybe make Jack be a little more reasonable about this.

It probably won't help any, but it'd be nice if Angel got a little more breathing room.]

Kinda seems like she's acting on her feelings here and... well, those don't always make sense? Which sucks, but it happens. So... might've just been panic or something?

I don't know. I don't really know her, so uh... just guessing, really.

[Ugh, taking Jack's side on something, even if it's just a lie and even if he's trying to avoid agreeing too much, is seriously making him feel ill. He occupies himself with his drink for a bit. It's a great excuse to not be talking as much.]

Yeah, yeah, I know she's probably got help and stuff, but...kinda friggin kills me, that some stranger is taking care of my little girl and not me.

[Her first night on her own...how scary has that gotta be? And he knows she's on the road. Is she even gonna be able to sleep? What if she has bad dreams? Is some stranger gonna hold her and tell her it's okay?]

[Bullshit.]

She's normally the sweetest damn kid. I mean...before this, I woulda said she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. I'm telling ya, Two, she was just.... I mean lookit this.

[He fishes in his pocket for the photograph he keeps with him. He knows the other guy's probably seen it, but he doubts he's ever paid much attention.]

Look at that smile. That's my girl. I mean, like...a decade ago, but...that's my Angel.

[Tim is all too grateful for that drink distracting him now, because that's just... ugh. It's something any parent could say. A reasonable thing for any parent to say, in these circumstances. But it's always when Jack's so close to being normal that Tim feels most uncomfortable.

There's something about it that doesn't feel entirely right. Not when he knows what's really inside there.

And that photo... Yeah, he knows the photo, obviously. This is his first time looking at it knowing who it is, though, so he's looking at it all different now.]

...Yeah. She looks really cute. Sweet. [She looks different. Healthier. Happier.] I mean, ignoring all the weirdness going on right now, I bet she's really great.

[She was when he talked to her, anyway.]

Sweetest friggin' kid you'll ever meet. She can light up a whole room, ya know? I...I did not know how accurate her name was gonna turn out to be. And we've always been really close. Ever since she was tiny.

[Jack's not honestly paying much attention to his doppelganger. The other man's just a sounding board, really, someone Jack can talk at. It's just that this particular person is someone that he's a little more okay talking at about these kinds of things. To an extent.]

I used to read to her all the time. She loved it. She'd follow me around, she'd watch me working. Try and help. I miss that little girl, Two. I look at this woman who's making...hate speeches about me and I wonder when the hell that girl turned into this.

And it's not just the whole...not being dead on another planet thing. She, uh, she pulled some serious shit back home. Outta nowhere. Kind of...uh...let the Crimson Raiders in! She...she didn't think that one through.

[He wonders what, exactly, her end game was there. Did she even realize what she was facilitating? He can't imagine she did. She might be pissed off at him right now, but he can't for a second believe that Angel could ever want him dead.]

[Nor does he believe her claims that she wanted to die. She's his daughter, she's got his flair for the dramatic! And apparently some other traits, too. He'd always thought she took mostly after her mother, but now...]

[Tim doesn't mind being a sounding board one bit. The less attention paid to him, the better. Not that he's enjoying having to listen to what Jack's got to say, far from it. But he's clearly not expecting a lot in return here.

Good thing, too, 'cause all he wants to do is defend Angel. Doesn't matter that he's only had a single conversation with her, because it's ridiculously obvious who's in the right here.

Well. Obvious to anyone but Jack.]

Whoa, uh... seriously, she did that? Why? I mean, she must've had... some kind of reason, right?

[Asking simple questions seems like the best option to just keep the conversation going, but... well, he is kind of curious about all this, honestly.]

[Jack shakes his head.]

I dunno. A rebellious phase, temporary insanity, trying to get my attention...I dunno. I was pretty busy with this other Vault, it was a big whole thing. And those bastards were dogging me. I mean they...they wouldn't leave me alone. I put bounties out on every one of'em but the only assholes who took'em up were idiot bandits that just got slaughtered.

[Useless bandits. Why did anyone want to stop him from wiping them out?]

But, uh, yeah. Angel let'em in. Actually had'em kill one of my other body doubles to do it, you're one lucky bastard. And you know what they did? In return?

They killed her, Two. While I begged'em not to.

They...

[He goes quiet at that. And not just the type of uncomfortable kinda quiet he's been stuck in for most of the conversation here. Hearing more about how Angel died is... heavy. Even just this little extra context, even filtered through Jack's recollection of it, it's...

He doesn't know what went down. But he does know all of this is extremely messed up.]

Shit. I'm-- I'm sorry. [Really, what the hell else can he say to that?] That's... beyond fucked up.

[It helps that Angel is here and alive, because oh boy, Tim does not know how he'd deal with this conversation if she wasn't.]

Yeah. Those bastards just... and they say they're the good guys. Look, I know I coulda made some better choices a coupla times. Who the hell couldn't? But they...and it's not like it was...it wasn't uh.....it wasn't quick. It...it was a process.

[Jack scrubs a hand over his face, shaking slightly. He's relived that day again and again, awake and asleep,and it never gets any easier. Even now, knowing Angel's just a handful of towns away...]

Thanks. It...ah, I haven't been the same since. And there's that stupid little part of me that kept hoping, you know? Here, I mean. That maybe...just maybe... we'd get another chance.

But she'd rather be with complete strangers than me. I know I let her down, but...christ. I just want to...to hold my little girl again. Last time...well. You know.

[He'd held her dead body.]

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