All Jacked Up [Closed]

[gentle_jim]

Who: Handsome Jack, Rich, Tannis, Devero, Entrapta, Murderbot.
Where: Spa car, though it may move if Jack makes a break for it.
When: Kazoo, Back-dated to after the ball but before the recent platform.
What: The body snatching party is coming to an end.
Warnings: Existential crisis, body-hijacking, forced removal, Jack being Jack.

If people noticed that Rich's behavior was strange during the mission, it appears to get significantly weirder over the next day or two afterwards. While everyone has been recovering, Rich has been running around having the time of his little life. Or rather...his body has.

At his controls is Handsome Jack, thanks to a little quantum computer integrated into Rich's brain - formally known as the SQUIP. She's tucked away safely now somewhere as a data packet for Jack to play with later and therefore he's got the run of the house. Or the body. Whatever.

And having a body again? Incredible. He'd spent the first few hours just touching things and experiencing temperature changes. When that finally got old, he'd set out to do the good shit. Eating food? Definitely better with non-synthetic taste buds. Getting drunk? Euphoric and dizzy and absolutely good for forgetting ones self is made up of 0's and 1's. Throwing up? ...Okay, that still sucked.

He's currently trying out swimming and holy shit, the feeling of being weightless and carried by the water (that he can properly feel the temperature of!) is stupidly enjoyable. It shouldn't be, but it is. And in the back of his head, he knows that this is his first time. He has memories of doing all these things, of course - but that's all they are. These are real experiences. Nice ones.

Everything he'd been through as a passenger in Rhys's head had been awful. Stuck on Pandora, trudging through deserts, being shot at and punched, being filled with panic and grief and terror. He'd spent as much of that as he could being either off-line or not in touch with the body.

This was paradise comparatively.

"Oh god, I don't even remember what being this young felt like," he murmurs, floating on his back in the pool.

Comments

[subcircuits]

Devero... missed Rich being weird during the mission, if for no other reason than being completely occupied with base camp outside the city's walls. But he hasn't missed that Rich has missed him-- that is, he'd been expecting the kid at the sign language classes he was starting to hold, but his young friend hasn't made it to one yet.

And hasn't missed that whenever he crosses paths with Rich around the train since they'd departed from Erda, the kid hasn't so much as waved hello.

After another sign language lesson where Rich hasn't shown, Devero's reached a tipping point. It's time to check in with the kid. So he's now prowling the length of the train on a mission, sticking his head into every room he passes. He's gone one way from the library and sent his drone the other, the both of them on the search for one (1) stocky punk teen.

[sciencegirl]

"Hi Devero." Entrapta says as he passes through the library. But then he seems like he's in a hurry, and that's enough to spark Entrapta's curiosity.

"Hey! Wait up!"

She first attempts to run after him, but her legs are short and his are much longer, so she hefts herself up on her hair and chases after that way, ducking through the door and into the next car without touching the ground with her body smoothly.

"What's going on?"

[subcircuits]

Devero's attention is so split between watching Sir Beepers' feed and looking at things with his own eyes that it's not until he's in the next car that he picks up on the fact that he's being followed.

"--Entrapta?"

He does pause long enough for her to catch up, though his gaze keeps flicking into the middle distance of his Interface display. He minimizes the drone feed and finally actually looks at her. "I'm looking for someone. Rich Goranski?"

[sciencegirl]

"I don't know him. But let me look him up on the roster and I'll tell you if I've seen him! If I haven't, I'll help you look."

She goes over to the ICP and starts rifling through names.

"Rich rich rich rich... Nope! Haven't seen him." But now she has a face to go with a name, and she moves to follow Devero again. "How long has he been missing?"

[subcircuits]

He follows her over, the easy and automatic way she jumps in to help bringing a touch of a smile to his lips. He's still worried, but-- he just appreciates her a lot.

He fills her in as they continue the length of the armory car. "He's not missing, exactly. I saw him in passing yesterday. He's just. Been acting strange. Told me he'd come to my GSL lessons, but he hasn't shown up yet for one. Doesn't seem like him to do that more than once without saying something to me, he seemed pretty eager to learn..."

He pauses at the end of the bank of lockers, leaning around to the other side to make sure his quarry's not in the other half of the car. "I'm worried," he admits, opening the door at the end of the car and holding it for Entrapta.

[sciencegirl]

She squirrels her way through and lifts herself to hover over the door, waiting for Dev to pass under her before moving again.

"Where does he usually hang out? Do you think he might be depressed after the last mission? A lot of people were hurt and die. I think a lot of people came out of it feeling stressed or at the very least, stressed about their performance."

It's only been a little bit. Maybe he's tired.

[subcircuits]

Entrapta that's kind of weird--! But then, she's kind of weird. Devero ducks his head politely as he passes under her, through the gap, and then into the corridor bypassing the spa in this carriage, again holding the door.

"He spends a lot of time in the music car and the gym car-- when he's not eating like crazy in dining, anyway." Said with absolute fondness; Devero remembers being Rich's age and also eating like crazy. "...Last mission was rough, though. Can't say I'd blame him if he needs time to process.

"I can't help wanting to check in with him, though, you know?" Especially since he'd starting acting strange before the mission...

die = died up there, past me is shaming current me

[sciencegirl]

"If he's a young adult that makes sense. Teenagers and people in their early twenties need a lot of nutrition for that transitional phase of their lives, more than they're usually acknowledged as needing."

She continues to follow agreeably.

"No, I think you're being a good friend. I think you should check up on him, but he might be in places where he can relax. Places that are relaxing are not the same for most people as they are for me, so I don't know if my recommendations would be valid. Unless he's slept in something like a dryer."

Like a big metal womb.

[subcircuits]

"You should have seen how many calories I packed away in a day when I was his age," Devero said. "I was still growing, filling out all this height, wrestling and weight-training and playing hockey in Prospérité's junior league, going out to dances--" He shakes his head, smiling indulgently as he remembers it. "The kitchen staff would make me take extra food if they thought I didn't have enough on my plate."

He pauses with his hand on the spa door, looking over his shoulder at Entrapa with his brow furrowed. "A dryer?" he asks with a laugh. He's still mostly looking at her when he pokes his head into the spa; he doesn't actually expect to find their quarry in here, but he's got to check as they pass.

BIG METAL WOMB WOW THATS A PHRASE I JUST READ

[gentle_jim]

There's something lulling about the sound of water when one's ears are beneath it - a unique sensation that has Jack nearly dozing while floating aimlessly in the pool. He's sure it has to do with some weird shit like remembering being in the womb or something, but whatever the reason Jack is pretty happy with the result. It's certainly better than any knock-out pill he's forced down at 3 in the morning to get back to bed.

Speaking of knock-out, he opens his eyes just in time to see the upside-down image of Devero poking his head into the spa car.

"Oh hell," he grumbles, righting himself and quickly ducking underwater, even though he's pretty sure he's been spotted.

We've entirely ruined this serious thread with that word

[sciencegirl]

"Yeah! They're comfortable. Especially when they have a few warm towels or a blanket that's still warm. I have to leave a pigtail hanging out so that one of my robots doesn't run me through, though. Who is that person?"

Entrapta sees someone duck down under the water, squinting to see if that's Rich or not as she's passing through. Wobbly water vision makes things hard to decipher, to be honest.

[subcircuits]

Sorry, Entrapta, Devero's distracted from this fascinating revelation about you by the body that just ducked under the water. As familiar as he is with Rich, he recognizes the kid instantly-- if nothing else, the burn scars are a dead giveaway.

"Hey, Rich!" he calls, too late. The kid's underwater. Surprise and relief are evident on his face as he glances back at Entrapta and then enters the spa.

[gentle_jim]

Jack waits a few seconds to see if Dev missed him and moved on.

...No dice. He makes a face when he resurfaces, actively trying to keep on the side of the pool farthest away from Dev -- and wait, is that Entrapta?

"Hey, wow okay -- this is kind of a private party here so..." he protests lamely. Why did this kid have to have so many friends?

post-fight, backdated to hell and back because I can keep track of time

[firewalled]

Rich is... exhausted. He expected to be, really, though he still always found it strange. He'd spent the last few weeks barely half-awake, only occasionally trying to climb back up into wakefulness and proper control of his own body.

Maybe the exhaustion came from suddenly having complete control again, after so long drifting along in his own misery. Maybe it had something to do with his own mental struggle on whether or not he should be happy to be in control again.

He opens his eyes, squeezes them shut against the harsh light, and then opens them again. His vision is blurring thanks to his pounding headache, but he can still recognize his surroundings as the medical car. Someone must have dragged him here after they forced Jack out of his brain. He winces softly and turns his head, only for his eyes to go wide as he sees someone involved in that whole mess. Someone he... really, really had screwed up with.

"...Dev?" He remembers what he called him last time he'd been in control, and his eyes dart away in shame.

[subcircuits]

Devero's-- well, the only appropriate word for what he's doing over here in this chair is brooding. He's hunched over, hands clasped between his knees, thumbs twiddling in a nervous tic of a gesture.

His head jerks up when he hears a voice, and he's so relieved he doesn't even notice the way Rich looks away again immediately. "Rich! Oh thank the virtues, you're awake!"

[firewalled]

"Yeah... I'm awake." He answers, half surprised, with a tinge of frustration in his tone that he tries his best to quell. "What happened...?"

He remembers most of what occurred, but the details are all a little fuzzy with the way he was locked away in his own head, and with the commotion of so many people surrounding him and Jack.

[subcircuits]

"We got that bastard out of your head," Devero tells him, sounding-- oh, a little savage. He seems to relize as much and tries to throttle it down, saying more evenlym "His wireless privileges have been revoked for the indefinite future."

He squeezes his clasped hands so tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. "He won't be able to hurt you like that again."

[firewalled]

"Shit... at least he's out," he mutters, though he can't help the worried look he shoots Devero when he hears the vitriol in his tone. Jack was a bastard, to be sure, but... what would he think of Rich when he found out he kind of agreed to that mess?

"It's okay. I-I'm not hurt. I don't think he did any permanent damage. Besides, ugh, I think this is a hangover..." He puts a hand up to his head to rub at his temple.

[subcircuits]

"Do you need anything?" Devero asks him immediately, seeing him rub his head like that. He leans forward. "Water, painkillers? I can get a-- a healer?"

[firewalled]

"Water, please," Rich rasps with a quiet little laugh shortly after. "Who would get a healer for a hangover? Not like..."

He trails off, biting his lip. "After the mess I made, I'm surprised you even want to get me one."

[subcircuits]

Devero rocks back in his chair like Rich has just smacked him. "Rich, the hell is that supposed to mean?"

[firewalled]

Rich is shocked by Devero's own poor reaction, finding himself recoiling as well. "I-I... never mind. You're a better person than me, that's all."

Devero wouldn't dare punish someone for being foolish. He's kind and gentle and doesn't at all deserve to be tangled up in the poor decisions Rich makes.

[subcircuits]

"Rich..." Devero says uncertainly. He reaches out, but retracts his hand again almost immediately, unsure if Rich would welcome the touch. "You don't-- you don't blame yourself for what he did to you, do you?"

[firewalled]

Rich doesn't notice Devero reaching out, just suddenly very interested in his hands, studying them and the swirling burn scars leading from them up to his arms. He should have known better, activating the one thing that had caused him to hurt himself like this again.

"I mean. We had made a deal. I should have known better than to trust him. Of course he took advantage of it. I was being an idiot."

As per usual, he was to blame. He wasn't thinking things through or taking it seriously, and so he just fucked things up for everyone around him. Spending any amount of time around him is just holding a piece of paper to a spark.

[subcircuits]

Devero digests that for a moment, mostly so he doesn't blurt out his horror as he realizes that Rich thought he'd agreed to what Jack did to him. He interlaces his fingers and squeezes his hands together tightly, and finally says pointedly, "He took advantage of you. No matter what deal you might have made. You're still a kid and he's a grown fucking man-- AI-- whatever."