[01|accidental vid] what turns up in the dark

[kindly_done]

[Maybe the mansion has some kind of a thing about documenting new arrivals. Who knows, really? It's pretty obvious that the person who just appeared on camera didn't plan to be filming himself.

He probably didn't plan to be doing anything other than trying to stop the bleeding

Comments

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[Elaine's brief venture into the snowy gardens is interrupted by the beeping of her device- and she glances at the screen, does a double take, and stares, thoughts flooding into her quickly.]

[Where was he? What room was that? The Mirrors were on this side-! And although Elaine hadn't yet seen her Mirror, there was no way she'd let her copy near Jack in that state.]

[So, thoughts of conserving energy pushed aside, she finds him with her mind and teleports next to him in a flurry of movement, covered slightly with the cold sweat of exertion.]

[She reaches out to him, tentatively.] Jack?

[Action]

[kindly_done]

[His recent experiences with people who appear from nowhere has been less than pleasant, and he jerks backward and very nearly takes her head off with his wrench. Fortunately for both of them, he swings wild and mostly just winds up throwing himself off-balance. He winds up staring suspiciously at her as he laboriously rights himself again.]

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[He looked terrible- wrench. Instinctively she ducks, almost tripping over herself. She should have thought this out better. Hesitating, hands up in a peaceful gesture, she backs away.]

[But at least he was here. He looked... worse for wear, and obviously wary of people, but all those things could be dealt with.] W-wait, it's me, it's Elaine. [Of course he wouldn't remember.] We're friends. I'm a friend.

[Action]

[kindly_done]

[He's seen a lot of Splicers in his time, and they've said a lot of things , but very rarely directly to him, and never overtures of friendship. And she looks so young.

Very slowly, he unlocks the fingers of his left hand from around the wrench--they're stiff from holding it so tightly, so it's a bit of a maneuver--and lets it fall to his side.

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[Relief floods through her like a river. She takes one hesitating step forward, then another, then at last takes his hand in hers- the one that had dropped the wrench and was sparking- genlty.]

[She's never been a healer, but there are certain things she can do. Warmth spreads from her skin and up his arm. And she grins, warily.] You look like you've just been through hell.

[Action]

[kindly_done]

[He jerks in startlement, half-raises his wrench again. But the last person to reach for his hand was a little girl, and he can't help but be reminded. So he forces himself not to jerk out of her hold.

And what do you know, it feels kind of nice. He makes a little relieved noise.]

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[She glances up at him with a confused expression. He was too quiet. He'd always been quiet but this was too much.] You don't remember me, right? I'm Elaine. [Her glance inspects him, her eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of his throat wound, and the sparking hand that was sparking too little- as odd as that sounds.]

[Still, it was sparking, and she had to be careful now not to make him angry. She shakes her head.] I've never had any ADAM.

[Action]

[kindly_done]

[The first part, the introduction, is way too normal. Some part of him gets that her name is Elaine, and that she's somehow figured out that his name is Jack--and how strange that is, that people have suddenly begun addressing him by name--but he can't quite make sense of why she's telling him any of this.

The part about the ADAM, though, that makes it through. He looks her up and down, inspects her eyes: no yellow glow, no sign of deformity, no sound of madness in her voice. He lets out another of those strange little moans, and nods. Not a Sister, not a Splicer. Okay.]

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[She glances up at him as he moans, focusing again on the throat wound. A distant memory comes back to her: she remembers him mentioning a self-inflicted wound to his neck- she can't remember why he did it. But at least it tells her that this is a past Jack, from a time before the one she was used to. That would explain the injuries and the... mess.]

You can ask the closet for clothes. [She lets go of his hand and steps past him to open the closet, asking it for the clothes she remembers him wearing, in his size. She hands the bundle to him.] The bathroom's over there. [She points at the door, without taking her eyes off him.] You can wash up. I'll wait.

[Action]

[kindly_done]

[He takes the clothes, and without ever taking his eyes off her, backs slowly toward the bathroom, fumbles behind him for the knob, and ducks inside.

He'll be gone for a while; there's a lot of cleaning-up to do. But he does reappear, dressed in his fresh clothes, significantly cleaner, and with a fresh bandage wrapped neatly around his throat.

Awkwardly, he clears his throat--a normal, human-sounding noise--and taps his wrench lightly against the leg of his pants.]

[Action]

[demiurgos_girl]

[By the time he comes out, Elaine's staring out the window, looking rather bored. She turns to look at him when he catches her attention.]

[She opens her mouth as though she's about to say someting, then shrugs. After all that waiting and thinking, she still doesn't know how to make this any easier.] I don't think I can fix your wound. Not yet, anyway. [Healing isn't something she practices, and she's still feeling tired after her earlier exertion. The lack of exercise for her power was something she'd have to change.] Sorry.

[kindly_done]

[He shrugs a little. He knew what he was getting into.]