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?

[sciencegirl]

And Entrapta waves from behind Devero.

"Hi, Rich! I'm Entrapta. Devero was looking for you." You know, all the obvious things that need to be said out loud.

[subcircuits]

Thanks, Entrapta. Devero can't help but grin at his friend's enthusiasm, though his expression sobers as he turns back to Rich-- Rich, who's placed himself as far from them as it's possible to be while still in the pool. And-- private party?

"If you don't want us to hang around, that's fine. I just wanted to see if you were okay, especially after that mission. I've been missing you at my GSL lessons?"

[firewalled]

From his nearly sealed off place in the back of his mind, Rich struggles to focus on who is in front of his body now. Usually, now that he's been stuck without control for days on end, he lets the interactions Jack has as himself pass him by, but he has a feeling this time... a feeling that he needs to fight.

He tries to focus his blurry vision, and though the girl in front of him isn't familiar, the man certainly is. Devero. He hadn't forgotten about his promise to attend the sign lessons, but he had hoped maybe the older man had. Clearly, he had no such luck here.

He strains to open his mouth, but Jack is on edge enough to make overcoming his control even more difficult. The most he can do right now is hope Devero can see the slightly desperate look behind his eyes.

[gentle_jim]

Oh no... it is Entrapta. Can he really be shitty to Entrapta? It wouldn't be him of course, it would be Rich, but still... He has a feeling if he doesn't push her away quickly, she'll twig onto his whole scheme here. Hell, he's kind of surprised she hasn't yet. He's probably just lucky the mission was such a huge distraction.

Speaking of distraction, he can feel Rich trying to swim to the surface of their shared mind, apparently bent on getting Dev's attention.

No you don't, he thinks, gritting their teeth.

"Yeah, okay. I don't care," he says to Entrapta, ignoring the little sting that causes. And to Dev: "I'm totally fine. Don't need you to do the concerned parent thing, mmkay? Also - super not interested in your 'Garbage Shit Loser' lessons. So you might as well stop expecting me and move along, Muscles."

[subcircuits]

Whoa, what? Rich's attitude takes Devero aback visibly-- he recoils a step, hurt replacing the concern in his eyes. 'Garbage Shit Lessons'?

"Rich--" he starts, eyes searching the kid's face for any sign of what might have caused this abrupt reversal of their camaraderie, riiiight up until--

"--What did you just call me?"

[sciencegirl]

Entrapta doesn't really care because, well, some people don't. And she almost says her usual, "Okay!" and just gives him space. But there's something about Devero's reaction that draws her attention to him instead.

"...Is he okay?" She asks about Rich. Because that look says maybe Rich isn't okay.

[firewalled]

Something's different. Rich can't quite make out everything that's being said, his consciousness waning as he struggles to stay aware, but he knows he's insulted Devero and this other girl. That normally would be enough to get him to sink back in shame, but then...

But then Devero speaks up. He asks a question. Does he maybe realize that something is off? There's no way, but Rich is hopeful enough to try to make a push for control.

One of his eyes twitches. His mouth tries to form words. At least just one to let Devero know... where the real him is.

"Dad...?" Not quite what he meant, but maybe it's something. He tries to follow up with a plea for help, but he can feel his air flow being cut off again.

[gentle_jim]

Oh, hell Jack thinks, because he's let his mouth run again and it looks like unfortunately Dev's smart enough to pick up on it. He's preoccupied with trying to figure out how to spin it, when control is ever so slightly wrested from him and the next word out of his mouth is not at all something he meant to say.

Jack yanks the vocal cords back into his court, sending Rich a dirty thought for screwing him over like this. This might call for some more extreme measures, depending on what Dev and Entrapta do next. He sends a ping to his back-up just in case, considering the length of the damn train and how long it might take for it to arrive.

His eyes flick to the exit, before starting to subtly drift in that direction. "I'm fine except apparently for some repressed Daddy issues. Seriously, leave me alone right now or I'm gonna do something you won't like."

[subcircuits]

Did-- did he just say--? That single strained word sounds completely different from the derisive voice that had just called him Muscles, and Devero's expression sets.

"No, he's not," Devero says to Entrapta, direct refutation of Rich's own fresh set of snotty assertions. "Something's wrong."

He stalks to the edge of the pool and crouches, his lips curling with disgust that he doesn't bother to hide. "Like what?" he says in brazen challenge.

[sciencegirl]

Okay, she doesn't know this person, but she thinks it's more than a little weird that they're threatening people for saying 'hello'.

Entrapta's getting a little worried.

She actually gets into the water, then, both because Devero looks like he's about to get really angry and because this person is being so aggressive, and edges her way closer. "Hey, Devero was really worried about you, okay? Maybe we should check with the medical car to see if they have something that might help you feel better."

There's something oddly Hordak-y in the way Rich is acting, she notes. Which is. Strange.

[securityconsultant]

There's a lot of noise on the train. Far more than Murderbot is used to- but occasionally, it catches something semi-coherent.

And occasionally, that catches its full attention.

When it picks up a transmission for backup - in so many words, with so many specifics - it's immediately on alert. And no, it's not its place to be security on here, but- this is different. This is something all organic parts of it are bristling at, and as for the synthetic? Well...

Suffice it to say it's making its way towards the source, ending up in the doorframe of the gym car and assessing the situation in a moment before sending a message to Devero's implant-

Incoming hostile. There's a nanosecond of pause, then- The signal came from Rich's computer.

Belatedly, it wonders if Devero knew about Rich having one in his head.

[gentle_jim]

Rich's brows draw down as he looks up at Dev, his mouth twisted up in an ugly snarl. "Like bashing this kid's head on the concrete here - or maybe I'll just breathe in a whole bunch of water? Bite my tongue? I'll do it. Back up, or it's happening," he threatens, very aware that someone Dev's size and bulk could easily overpower this body.

Drifting backwards just a bit, he bumps into something that startles him into nearly carrying out one of those threats in a panic -- until he realizes it's Entrapta. What the hell was she doing in the water?

"What? No- I'm not going anywhere-" He shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose, still keeping an eye on Dev. "It's me, okay? Jack. Tell Muscles to back off- I'm just having some fun. This is gonna go south real fast if you don't-"

He's interrupted again by the arrival of yet another person in the spa car. Could this get any worse? It's some guy he doesn't recognize, looking weirdly hurried for someone who just burst into the room and said absolutely nothing.