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Eeehhhhhhh.

[Jack joins his doppelganger and sets one of the glasses in front of him. It's not an easy question to answer. He doesn't talk about Angel. But...well, this is Jack Number Two. If he's gonna talk to anybody about the whole thing...]

It's not like she's never lashed out or talked back or whatever. That's...kids. They do that.

[He takes a long swallow of his own booze.]

We've had our problems. Who doesn't? It's...it was tough. Uh...her situation was tough. I'm not gonna lie, we got stuck with a pretty difficult situation. I mean, she's a friggin siren. Dunno how the hell happened. But it did. And it...it made things tough. That's why I never talked about her. Shit, can you imagine what woulda happened to her? Tassiter and those assholes, finding out there's an uncontrolled siren just running around one of their space stations?

[One that was responsible for at least one death, even as a little girl? They wouldn't have cared she was just a little girl. They wouldn't have cared about the fact she could have been useful. They just would've killed her. He keeps drinking - the bottle made its way over with the drinks themselves.]

So yeah. She had it rough. But she understood! I thought she did, anyway. I know she was going through some stuff when she...when...you know. But I didn't think it was this bad. I didn't think they screwed her up this much.

I dunno what to do.

[The worst part about sitting here, listening to all of this, is that it's almost easy to forget just who's talking. Maybe a part of that is just because Jack's not exactly the opening up type, making this so different from how he usually is. Still, Tim has to remind himself that this is Jack.

And Jack's good at making himself look better. Spinning things around, making himself seem more reasonable. Hell, it's not like he even has to try, he just really sees himself like that.

Still, the part about Tassiter... Well, if there's one thing they can agree on, it's that Tassiter is the worst. With Angel being a siren...]

Yeah, that... There's no way that would've gone well. Scum like those guys... Ugh, fucking Tassiter. Good riddance to that asshole...

[Agreeing with Jack without really agreeing is one hell of a fine line to walk. Talking shit about Tassiter is a pretty safe option here. It's sincere, at least, because holy shit fuck that guy.]

I mean what... what happened... [Maybe best to actually avoid mentioning the dying bit outright.] That's... a hell of a thing, I think that alone would screw anyone up a lot. Maybe she just needs... I don't know, some time or some space?

[Like all the time in the world and as much space between her and Jack as is physically possible.]

People can bitch and whine about me all they want, I'm still better than friggin Tassiter. He would've killed her. She was barely even ten years old for god's sake. I don't think she even really remembers....god, I hope she doesn't really remember.

[Jack's done what he can, to gloss over The Incident for her. He never talks about her mother. Tries to shut down any conversations about her, just to be on the safe side.]

[She doesn't need to remember that. Jack wishes he didn't have to remember it, but he can't forget. He'll never forget, no matter what he does or how hard he tries to bury it.]

I did what I had to. I covered the whole thing up, I hid her. I kept her hidden. What the hell else could I do? Now...christ, who even realizes I was married twice? Yeah. The one that took off, that wasn't even Angel's mom. That was my second wife. I dunno what ever happened to her. But you can see, maybe, why I am really not cool with my sheltered daughter just...wandering off in the wilderness alone. She can go through whatever she's going through here! With me. Where she belongs. She doesn't need time, she needs her father.

[Jack's already pouring himself another drink.]

We're all we've got left, Two.

[All this personal info. Extremely private personal info. It had seemed ridiculous before, how he hadn't been told so many details about Jack's life despite having to be the guy, but now he's starting to see why.

...He's... He's not sure how to feel about being the one Jack's telling all this stuff to. It's weird.]

Right... Yeah, that makes sense. I'd be worried sick too. [Maybe just imagine for a bit that Jack is just a concerned parent and this is reasonable and Angel shouldn't be kept as far away as possible. As much of a stretch as that is.] At least, um... Well, as far as wildernesses go, at least this is probably one of the tamer ones? Still not ideal, I know, but... that's at least something until... until all this gets sorted out, yeah?

It doesn't matter. You...really aren't grasping how sheltered she is. She's had literally every need taken care of for her. I don't think she's ever even made a friggin sandwich. She hasn't walked on her own in years. She's...she had medical stuff.

[An unexpected side effect to increasing her Siren abilities, and a shitty one, but he'd done what he could about it. And it wasn't even a problem here. This place fixes people up, Jack knows all about it. She doesn't have a Eridium dependency. She doesn't even have her powers! What's she so worried about?]

And I really don't know what the hell she thinks I'm gonna do to her. It's not like home. She's...not exactly some big secret. She's not sick. It's not like I did what I did because I wanted to. There wasn't any option. And now...it can be like it's supposed to be. I can give her the life she oughtta have. We get a friggin second chance, and she does this.

[He doesn't understand. He keeps going over it again and again in his mind and he just doesn't understand.]

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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