week 13 - probably monday

[refactor]

[ So at some point on Monday, Jason and Luke both will be getting a chat request from Jack. This is probably unsurprising in itself, but when the video flickers on (since I'm assuming they have video by now sweats), the bright, pleased smile on his face may not be a surprise, but the pride in his expression just might be. He's still without his mask, and behind him is a rather quaint looking cottage, but. Enough about that. ]

Ohhh my god, you guys did great!

[ That's nothing short of glowing praise from Jack, who doesn't actually give it that easily, but. He does add on after a moment: ]

Right, uh. How ya feeling, guys? Getting stabbed kinda. Yeah, it pretty much sucks. But.

Comments

[jackhole]

[ elizabeth kicks him and he hisses, eyes darting to where her hand lands on jack's shoulder and there's a weird, dropping motion in his stomach -- especially when he jack seems so damn satisfied about it. his hands curl tighter into jack's shirt for a moment before he immediately just. lets go.

he takes a step back, hands running through his hair as he tries to focus on what the four of them are talking about -- plans and facts and some sort of drive to figure out what's going on but holy shit, he does not care. nothing about this matters to him and instead it's a bunch of people he barely likes talking about things he doesn't care about and he -- he can't handle this. he thought he could but it turns out, he can't and he just sort of wants to be alone with jack again because jack makes shit less terrible but fucking elizabeth is here and she takes jack away from him and wait no, that's weird. don't think that, rhys. it's fine, it's fine, it's --

it's not fine. a kind of quiet gutted noise comes from rhys, low under the murmur of conversation here and he's just going to mumble here -- ]

I... have to go. Immediately? Far away. Ke-keep talking, it's fiiiiiine. Fine. Totally fine.

[ and then he sort of... very hurriedly rushes for the door of the stupid cottage, tripping over his feet in the meantime before dashing right out the door.

probably still in his freggin socks. ]

[refactor]

[ Jack is pretty deep in thought here as his mind quickly starts to racing about possibilities for how they could turn this to their advantage, what he could teach them through this stupid app, truly everything he can grasp all at once. Jack's quick thinking is what had led him to his success, but. Whatever he might have given, those thoughts are also quickly broken as Rhys steps away. Jack looks confused for a moment, since he doesn't quite catch the majority of the mumbling, but. There he goes. ]

Woah, woah, woah—

[ The datapad or whatever they're using gets shoved into Elizabeth's hands, and he gives her an encouraging pat on the shoulder before Jack just books it right after Rhys. He's pretty quickly out of frame, but they'll still here his charming, handsome voice yelling: ]

Where do you think you're going, asshole!?

[ leave room for jesus, liz ]

[baptizer]

[ Oh my god, this was a thing that's happening? Liz, being completely innocent, has no clue what just happened except for possibly the kick hurting too much? Or him not appreciating it...?

She fumbles with the datapad or whatever and is looking awkwardly off in the distance as both of them. Luke and Jason can definitely see how Elizabeth looks concerned and instead, she just... sits back down alone and uncomfortable. ]

Um... that certainly... happened...

[ An awkward 'sorry' follows. ]

What were we.. um.. even talking about...?

[antagonize]

[That. Sure happened. There isn't anything to do from this side of the murder game fence, so that's exactly what he will do. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not that he wants to do something to help, anyway. Rhys and Jack can have their, uh. Relationship drama elsewhere. It's really not his problem.

So he gives Elizabeth a one armed shrug from his side of things. He's not even going to offer commentary on that little scene.]

Death. Dying. Being dead. Packing our bags and becoming full time Furry Crossing players once the queen comes for our blood, or the ship runs out of juice and we asphyxiate to death. [Waves... his non-injured hand dismissively.] Something about the Nuwa finishing their game already, too. But I don't care about the Nuwa.

[chiseler]

[Honestly if he weren't so exhausted from existing and everything about this dumb game he'd offer his own commentary on Rhys and Jack. As it stands, he watches them go before giving Elizabeth a half-hearted smile but it's quickly squashed when Jason continues.]

Yeah, well, some of us actually care about the Nuwa a lot. So I'd like to figure out what's going on there too and I'm not asking your permission. I need to find out what happened to them and where they're going next. [...] Also I think Rhys's guess is more likely. We never turned the ship around, did we? Maybe we really are flying right into the sun so we'll just burn to death instead.

[baptizer]

[ It's pretty obvious she's worried about Rhys, back and forth - from the door to the viewfinder, she finally settles down. There's nothing she can do and she needs to accept that... ]

Those are all very much real possibilities, but -

[ Elizabeth's going to get serious. ]

You both need to stop focusing on that. We've come so far and what? Will everything be worth nothing? I hate to break it to you Jason, but I gave up a lot to assist you on this trial. I gave up - ... Nevermind, it's stupid.

[ She shrugs her own shrug. Guess what, Jason? She can use both arms to do so. ]

I haven't heard anything about the Nuwa that we haven't relayed to you. We broke through the barrier of communication but Perkins - we haven't heard anything else.

[antagonize]

If we hit the sun, it'll be less of a fire and more of an explosion. Any recommendations on how to ride that one out, Luke?

[Ah. There he goes, being a complete asshole about things. There is also a lot of hypocrisy, of course. It's too bad he simply doesn't give a hoot. Though he backs down slightly as Elizabeth begins to scold them, raising both eyebrows when she mentions giving something up. He wants to press it. He does. But he'll save it for later. Might as well retain some tact.]

Great. We're sitting ducks. You say we need to stop focusing on our deaths. But what else are we supposed to do? We're stuck in a broken ship, waiting for someone to find us. So unless we're able to find a way to avoid dying at the hands of mommy dearest and fast, we might as well be ready for the worst.

[chiseler]

[His expression tightens just a bit but ultimately he ignores it. He's ready to pick a fight but Elizabeth does a much better job defusing the situation and so he falls quiet. A hand comes up to idly pick at the bandaging on his shoulder, eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

He'd had a conversation the day before that had changed a lot of things. That was before the reminder that the Queen was still out there and now...Jason's right. He also wants to ask Elizabeth what she gave up, press more about the Nuwa, but in the end he shuts up because he's thinking of something more specific.]

...if the ship's broken, why can't we figure out how to fix it ourselves? Isn't that kinda what happened with the AI program? There's gotta be a way we can put failsafes or something so she can't come back or...I don't know. Something. What do you think?

[baptizer]

Boys, the point is...

[ It's hard to be inspirational. It's hard to give them what they need to hear when she... has nothing to say. Lie? Will she lie to them to ease the situation..? No. ]

...Moping around isn't going to do any good. The only connection we have is with the Nuwa AI. Perkins shows... at random intervals, I'm afraid.

[ But, she gives a half smile, looking down. ]

I'll keep my ears open and you'll be the first to know.

[ Elizabeth shows some assertiveness to both boys: ]

You need to rest. You can deal with burnt bridges later - your wounds first and foremost. If you haven't stitched the wound, you need to. No amount of space medicine can assure fighting against an infection.

[antagonize]

We broke the fuel reserve. I'd like to think it's not impossible to fix that, but it would require having the necessary tools and knowledge. And the time. Which, uh, we don't have a lot of right now.

[He'll give optimism a try when he's not emotionally and physically drained, but Elizabeth's right. There's no use in moping around. Not even if the future is uncertain at best.]

You do that. We'll see what can be done from this side, too.

[Which, admittedly, won't be much until they come up with a game plan. He very, very purposely keeps his face expressionless when she brings up all the bridges they burnt, and nods. Alright, team mom. Alright.]

Sutured them after last night's shit show. Would have already bled ourselves to death if we hadn't, y'know. We're reckless, but not that reckless.

[chiseler]

We didn't just break it, we lit it on fire and obliterated it. Even if we worked around the clock it might take a few days. But Sunny said we have a week. You'd be surprised what can happen in a week, I almost destroyed Manhattan and Olympus in a day. [Shut the fuck up, Luke.]

Our wounds are fine. This is more about getting everything else fixed than that and if the stitching busts we'll fix that, too. I don't think we have a rest option right now. Or at least I don't...how often are you in contact with Sunny anyway?

[baptizer]

If we can get the fuel reserve back, we can surely discuss the coordinates of the other ship...? I doubt it'll be easy - impossible, most likely but... it's better than nothing.

[ She's thoughtful, thinking of the alternatives and what that means to the living... they need to get their resolution taken care of before the power goes out - definitely. ]

...Luke, I - ... I'll ask later...

[ Or never, god damn it. ]

I trust you both, despite my harping, you know. But - no, I haven't had conversations with Sunny. It's almost always Perkins when she shows up. Even then, it's mostly been following her orders... last time I did that I ended up dead in the Pygmalion again. My luck, hm?