Her dressing gown belted tightly about her and hair braided down her back Reinette stood in the sitting room that adjoined her own bedchamber to the one Jack used the evening before for several moments determining her course of action.
For all their teasing the previous night there was still something very intimate and exposed about sleep. He had seemed especially vulnerable when she left him the before. And for all her curiosity and questions, she found herself feeling unexpectedly protective towards the man. It was sudden, and somewhat confusing. Reinette was accustomed to being a master of her own emotions.
But if she was not the one to enter, one of her countless staff would soon enough. Lord protect the first scullery maid that presented herself to Jack.
Decision made, Reinette moved to knock on the door briskly before entering his room.
She smiled up at him, the brim of her hat shading her eyes from the early morning sun.
"I am certain that you do. Just as I am even more certain that you hit your mark."
Reinette considered Jack's physical presence and the playful if competitive sense of companionship that seemed to be developing between them. They would have to spend an afternoon devoted to archery. It seemed a promising idea.
The thought made her pause, and very nearly misstep on the gravel path. She was planning on his presence. And that was not at all wise. Experience taught her that.
His words seemed to echo her thoughts.
"Do you care so much then?" Her voice was deceptively light. "Of timelines?"
"I do," he said with a nod and a slight squint of his face. "Never used to, but then you learn what you should be looking after. The things that matter. If I didn't care about timelines then I'd--" he stalled, trailed. "Well I'd be off somewhere doing a lot of things I shouldn't, lets put it that way."
He had considered it before, damaging timelines just to see people he wanted to see. To be utterly selfish once his vortex manipulator had been finally fixed and to visit people he loved. To go and intrude on times in his own life where there had been people he loved. They'd never have to know the difference. But he would.
"Lets just say I'm coasting," he said with a half smile. "Sure, I shouldn't be doing this, but I could be doing a lot worse. Small mercies, and all that."
"Coasting," Reinette repeated, taking in a general understanding of the word. She liked the way in which is sat in her mouth. "As long as you are not hiding behind trees, I suppose I must approve."
From across her shoulder she considered his profile, still walking.
"I shall tempt your worst out some you some time later."
If only because it was that much more telling of a person.
Reaching the stables Reinette moved over to her groomsmen and accepted several small sugar cubes. Her team was perfectly matched, a pair of dappled grey mares that had been a gift from Louis very early in their relationship. Offering them each the sugar in turn Reinette leaned in to murmur a soft greeting.
She very nearly accepted the assistance of one of the grooms into the curricle before another thought came. Her eyebrow arched softly to Jack in question.
"Oh you know," he said with a flippant shake of his shoulders, "there's the odd tree here or there, but that's just punctuation."
He smiled at her, an honest smile, but it faded along with her next statement. His face fell, crestfallen, and for a moment it was as though a very dark veil had been pulled over him.
"You don't want to see my worst," he said, voice low, glancing down at his feet as they walked.
He stayed a step or two back then, watching at a distance as she greeted her horses. It was briefly as though he sat under an unpleasant cloud, though the rest of the world had nothing but sunshine.
It was her look though, that drew him out of it, and as his head lifted so did the cloud, gone, at least for now as he stepped forward, hand reached out for hers.
"If I may," he said with a smile all too quick and easy after the apparent sorrow before. Oh he was far too good at painting his own emotions, he often forgot which ones were real.
He assisted her easily into the curricle. But as Reinette settled her skirts over the bench she twisted to reclaim one of her hands within her own. She grasped it firmly, as of daring him to even consider breaking the connection between them
( ... )
Jack was startled by her suddenness. By the way she held his hand and the way her stare demanded that he listen. It reminded him in many ways of how Gwen often spoke to him. She's have her say, and by God she'd make sure he knew it.
His hand stiffened as she held it, and when she released it was pulled away swiftly.
"And who are you to tell me what's real and what's make believe, hmm?" he snapped, harsher than even he perhaps intended. "You don't know me, Jeanne Antoinette, and one evening and half a morning gives you no authority to tell me what you should and shouldn't see. Because you trust me when I tell you, you don't want to see it. I don't care about the actions of some King or even what the Doctor did, because I'm not them, I'm not any of them. I show what I want to show, and quite honestly you're lucky to have seen what you have. Now don't you dare tell me what I should do ever again, you hear me?"
Reinette paled slightly at his sudden and abrasive speech. Not for the tone, per sea. She had certainly heard and been dealt worse. No, it was what it said.
She did trust him. Or was well on her way to it. That was perhaps not all together wise
( ... )
Jack bubbled with anger. How dare this woman speak with such an air of authority. Speak as though her words held utter certainty. The fact that some of them may was hardly the point, Jack was not one to be spoken down to, nor was he one to listen, often even when listening would be much better for him.
"And you think I hold your opinion of me high enough to care, do you?" he scoffed, as though the very idea was ridiculous.
"Well whether you want to listen or not, you hear me now and you hear me good; I don't care. I don't care for a moment what you think of me because you're just another person. Just another person out to make their own opinion and think that it matters for something and well guess what, it doesn't. You think my staying here is some sort of gift?" he laughed again, what a joke. "I could go anywhere. I could go anywhen and see -anything-. And that's my life. Something you and your dresses and your court and your kings could never understand. So don't you presume to tell me what suits me and what doesn't, because you
( ... )
"And do you think I have a singe care what you think of me," Reinette argued swiftly, her hands moving to punctuate each angry word. "I have had food thrown at my carriage, rumors started about my daughter, and foul poetry written about my person. The women of court will not look at me and their husbands think that because I am no longer under Louis' protection I dream of their inappropriate hands and being taken roughly in hallways by their person. What you think of me hardly matters."
And now she was angry as well. Angry at countless things and countless people she had not allowed herself to fully feel in years. And Jack was facing the full force of it.
Her path might be slow, but she would not allow him to mock her for it
( ... )
Jack laughed again. A full laugh, loud and obvious and so very very false. It seemed to shatter like glass, barely even a veneer over the wealth of emotion underneath the surface, aching and bursting to break forth
( ... )
Jack stood. He stood like a hollow example of what could be a man. He didn't feel like a man, he felt empty, and it was an emptiness that hurt, as though it scraped away at anything that was left of him that was human. How could anything human remain within
( ... )
Jack looked away and threw his hands in the air a little. Oh it was ridiculous, it was, to get emotional and admit such personal things to a complete stranger. He shouldn't. He should stop, he should leave, he should run.
But he stood. Half laughing, a pent up little breath, not amused.
"Sometimes," he admitted, despite himself. "Yeah sometimes I do."
For all their teasing the previous night there was still something very intimate and exposed about sleep. He had seemed especially vulnerable when she left him the before. And for all her curiosity and questions, she found herself feeling unexpectedly protective towards the man. It was sudden, and somewhat confusing. Reinette was accustomed to being a master of her own emotions.
But if she was not the one to enter, one of her countless staff would soon enough. Lord protect the first scullery maid that presented herself to Jack.
Decision made, Reinette moved to knock on the door briskly before entering his room.
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"I am certain that you do. Just as I am even more certain that you hit your mark."
Reinette considered Jack's physical presence and the playful if competitive sense of companionship that seemed to be developing between them. They would have to spend an afternoon devoted to archery. It seemed a promising idea.
The thought made her pause, and very nearly misstep on the gravel path. She was planning on his presence. And that was not at all wise. Experience taught her that.
His words seemed to echo her thoughts.
"Do you care so much then?" Her voice was deceptively light. "Of timelines?"
Reply
He had considered it before, damaging timelines just to see people he wanted to see. To be utterly selfish once his vortex manipulator had been finally fixed and to visit people he loved. To go and intrude on times in his own life where there had been people he loved. They'd never have to know the difference. But he would.
"Lets just say I'm coasting," he said with a half smile. "Sure, I shouldn't be doing this, but I could be doing a lot worse. Small mercies, and all that."
Reply
From across her shoulder she considered his profile, still walking.
"I shall tempt your worst out some you some time later."
If only because it was that much more telling of a person.
Reaching the stables Reinette moved over to her groomsmen and accepted several small sugar cubes. Her team was perfectly matched, a pair of dappled grey mares that had been a gift from Louis very early in their relationship. Offering them each the sugar in turn Reinette leaned in to murmur a soft greeting.
She very nearly accepted the assistance of one of the grooms into the curricle before another thought came. Her eyebrow arched softly to Jack in question.
Reply
He smiled at her, an honest smile, but it faded along with her next statement. His face fell, crestfallen, and for a moment it was as though a very dark veil had been pulled over him.
"You don't want to see my worst," he said, voice low, glancing down at his feet as they walked.
He stayed a step or two back then, watching at a distance as she greeted her horses. It was briefly as though he sat under an unpleasant cloud, though the rest of the world had nothing but sunshine.
It was her look though, that drew him out of it, and as his head lifted so did the cloud, gone, at least for now as he stepped forward, hand reached out for hers.
"If I may," he said with a smile all too quick and easy after the apparent sorrow before. Oh he was far too good at painting his own emotions, he often forgot which ones were real.
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His hand stiffened as she held it, and when she released it was pulled away swiftly.
"And who are you to tell me what's real and what's make believe, hmm?" he snapped, harsher than even he perhaps intended. "You don't know me, Jeanne Antoinette, and one evening and half a morning gives you no authority to tell me what you should and shouldn't see. Because you trust me when I tell you, you don't want to see it. I don't care about the actions of some King or even what the Doctor did, because I'm not them, I'm not any of them. I show what I want to show, and quite honestly you're lucky to have seen what you have. Now don't you dare tell me what I should do ever again, you hear me?"
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She did trust him. Or was well on her way to it. That was perhaps not all together wise ( ... )
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"And you think I hold your opinion of me high enough to care, do you?" he scoffed, as though the very idea was ridiculous.
"Well whether you want to listen or not, you hear me now and you hear me good; I don't care. I don't care for a moment what you think of me because you're just another person. Just another person out to make their own opinion and think that it matters for something and well guess what, it doesn't. You think my staying here is some sort of gift?" he laughed again, what a joke. "I could go anywhere. I could go anywhen and see -anything-. And that's my life. Something you and your dresses and your court and your kings could never understand. So don't you presume to tell me what suits me and what doesn't, because you ( ... )
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And now she was angry as well. Angry at countless things and countless people she had not allowed herself to fully feel in years. And Jack was facing the full force of it.
Her path might be slow, but she would not allow him to mock her for it ( ... )
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Though, of course, she was not one of the women or men he had lied to.
She kept the space between them neat and precisely maintained. Her gaze remained trained on his form.
"Do you wish to?"
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But he stood. Half laughing, a pent up little breath, not amused.
"Sometimes," he admitted, despite himself. "Yeah sometimes I do."
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It hurt.
And she was very nearly in a mood to blame him for it.
"Sometimes I do as well."
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