DAY FOUR (morning)

[judgejudy]

DAY 4 (morning) Complex Population: 32 It's 8AM, and rather than waking naturally, you awake to the sound of an odd tone ringing through the intercom. As you wake from that deep, dreamless sleep that enforces curfew as always, Judy's voice speaks up a few moments after. "A death has occurred. Safety Protocol 6227-A is now active." That ominous message might prompt you to leave your room more quickly. After all, the viewing stage is open. It seems that someone was busy during the night. — This post is for the second day as defined in the schedule. This post is for investigation and general mingling before the trial that takes place in the afternoon IC. ic rulebook character statuses character profiles private conversations graveyard

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[tearable]

[ When they're both seated, her innocence far too still.. in tact dive into what could be going off in Jack's mind. Elizabeth smiles a bit when he mentions trust and she wishes she could fully say the same. It's clear now that there's reasons to keep guard up. Whatever it's worth, she didn't mind his company, though. ]

Even if you didn't trust me, you'd be stupid to let this go untreated. [ Concern??? Annoyance??? Whatever she felt, that's what she expressed with her firm tone. Luckily for Jack, he gets the easy part first!

Her hand dips into the cleansing wipes that were long since dry, but lucky, she's wiping away very wet blood. ]

Just stay focused on me. [ In regards to her knees. ] I did that to myself in my fluster. That can wait.

[ They...hurt, but she's repeating: 'stay focused on me' to him softly, hushed as she begins to drag the wipe against his face. Following the line of his cut, she's close enough to her where he can hear every steady, cautious breath. She won't stop until she at least cleans the blood from his forehead, cheek, and nose to get a better look at the cut. ]

You're most likely going to need stitches. I can do this, but it probably won't be the best. Do you trust me on that?

[heroizes]

Well, yeah, but I'm known to do stupid things. Occassionally.

[ He cracks a grin, because even though Elizabeth hasn't exactly known him long, it's probably still pretty clear how blatantly untrue that statement is...

Of course, that cocky smirk is quickly wiped off his face when Elizabeth starts to tend to him. At first, it's just because the process doesn't exactly feel great, even if his pain tolerance is surprisingly high. For his personality, you'd probably expect him to be less tolerant to pain, but he'd sarcastically thank grandma for that one if asked. Still, his face twists up slightly as her hand follows the line of the cut, and his jaw tenses.

Though it's how she does it that really gets to him. Those soft words and how gentle she was in tending to the cut is. Something. New, maybe? He's not sure, but he's becoming more aware of that tone of voice each time she repeats the phrase. He closes his eyes, and it might seem like it's him focusing to ignore twinges of pain, but. No. No, Jack is honestly cursing himself that he finds her so attractive, but she is so young. There's definitely math being calculated in his head for the "well she's not half my age justification," quickly followed by "no, you're an idiot."

When she speaks to him again, he cracks open one eye, though it is with a partial grimace. ]

Ughhhhh, what the hell, seriously? That's- God, that's definitely going to leave a scar... [ Yeah, there's the whining that probably would have been more fitting for the pain. Apparently he's pretty concerned with his personal appearance. ]

Yeah, yeah, I do... Doesn't have to be the best, I'll just go get plastic surgery when I get back, I guess. Right after- After I paid for the friggin' body double too, godddddammit.

[tearable]

[ Elizabeth is firm when she needs to - to get against the curves of his face - and soft when she tenses up around the cut. Her breath is steady, close enough to add that tension that fucks us both up oocly. She pulls back, and begins prepping the next step, especially when he's talking about scars. ]

You know, ancient vikings adorned their scars with pride and joy. They said each scar told stories that honored their dead and scorned their enemies. It was a badge of honor and a terrifying warning.

[ Liz, please don't encourage him?? Either way, he can see the way her fingers take the crude sewing kit - sterilizing it with alcohol in the first aid kit. When she finally preps the needle and thread... ]

Uh - you have a ... body double? [ That's a uh... story. ] How did that happen?

[ And now the process begins! Elizabeth is pressed close, cautiously clutching a pair of tweezers with one hand and the needle with the other. It's a dull pain on the top of the cut, the wound far more painful towards the center. Inward she goes, piercing the sub-dermal layer of the skin to begin the sutures snuggly. ]

Tell me about yourself. What were you doing before you woke up here?

[ She tries to get him to focus on something other than pain as she begins to weave the needle in and out of the cut line. ]

[heroizes]

[ Yeah, and so do bandits, Jack thinks, and he nearly says as much, though watching her prepare the needle gets him to decide that maybe sarcasm isn't the right approach at the moment. She's already going to be jamming a needle into his face, so he probably should give her any reason to be less than gentle. Still, he breathes out: ]

Ohhh boy.

[ That part is pretty dry, but otherwise, he'll try to keep his reactions to a minimum. Emphasis on "try," since no promises there. She leans close, and Jack briefly meets her eyes as he starts to laugh at the first question, though the laugh stops quickly when the needle is pressed to his skin. It's really not much compared to the throb of the wound itself, but there's something about the anticipation but also the trust in letting someone do this that gets his breath to catch.

As such, he's thankful for her distracting question. ]

Yeah, luckily, the two- The two are kinda related. [ A pause, and then: ] Well, uh. More or less. The body double, that's- That's because my boss is trying to assassinate me? Which, eh, normal office politi—

[ His cavalier attitude about Hyperion is cut off as the needle hits a spot that gets him to seize up a bit more, but as he tries his best not to move, his response is a bit odd. He smiles, cracking a grin, though it doesn't seem very genuine. ]

Unrelated to question number two, though, minus the fact that the body double is kinda helping. Before here? I was saving the moon. Aaand the space station I work on, but, uh, moon has way more innocent people. It's- Well, getting murdered is just a workplace hazard at Hyperion. This crazy bitch with a stupid name took over Helios and is trying to destroy the moon, so, y'know, gotta stop that.

[ He pauses in his story thoughtfully, though that's also covered up by a partial wince as she heads towards the middle of the wound. ]

So... gotta get outta here quick as we can. Otherwise there won't be a moon left to save.

[tearable]

You need to stop getting yourself into trouble then. [ Elizabeth says with a sternness that was more akin to the kind you'd hear out of concerned. She has no context of what he did - what he meant when it comes to his job, but it all sounded fascinating, at least. The skin was tied tightly together, the blood barely dripping from the wound on the top of his face. It was not as "pretty" but it was definitely secured. ] Going to bite you in the hide some day.

[ Reckless men, why does Liz have to take care of you? The sudden jab hits a sweet spot and she stops, immediately blowing air on it with a hushed 'shhhhh' shortly after. ]

Sorry.

[ She apologizes, stopping to give him an honest, but awkward look. He continues on, so she'll resume. He seems to have a characteristic that... well, she hadn't much encountered. She would have considered him a silver-tongued grifter if he didn't come off like a weenie immediately. Ah, it's alright, the time difference was worse than the age difference. ]

So you were higher than the atmosphere of whichever planet you were from? Actually in space? How was the view? [ She's not too impressed, sorry. Elizabeth was from a floating fucking city. However, she cares less about the murder and more about the view - typical girl. ] I'm sure we can get you back to where you need to be.

[ In and out, she has only a few more inches left.

Stitching his wound not sexy stuff, ya friggin perv. ]

[heroizes]

Heh, probably will, not gonna deny that. But- Maybe at least I'll go in a blaze of glory surrounded by beautiful women, right?

[ He cracks a joke casually, though of course, it's a bit more true than he knows. When he dies, it'll certainly be with fire and with at least one beautiful women hanging around. Of course, she's the one to kill him if you choose that option, but. His jokes aren't quite that prophetic.

Though of course, as she leans closer to soothe the sting of the rough stitching, he's again reminded of the beautiful woman right here, though. It does help that she can't contour quite as well as that first day, which he is. Honestly thankful for. Good lord. But it's still a lot, especially with that more honest look. Sometimes, she really does remind him of Mox, because for all that sexy bad girl thing she has going on (well, both of them), it's these moments he likes more.

Which, dammit, he's not supposed to think about her like that. Stupid sexy Elizabeth. ]

Yeah, uh. That's right. I was leading one of the teams to build a space station in geosync with Pandora, but kinda looks like it's orbiting with the moon. The view... That's...

[ He considers it for a moment, since objectively, he knows that view is supposed to be beautiful, but every time he looks at Pandora, he just sees his vision of how much more beautiful it could be. Utopia will come to that planet just as soon as he wipes out the garbage on it. But. Step one there is getting back Helios, since no station, no utopia. ]

I mean, your choices for view are the lava-filled moon, so when it's a dark cycle, whole moon's covered in cracks where you can see the lava lighting it up. Last people that came to this corner messed it up, Crackening happened, et cetera, does look pretty cool, though. And then Pandora, it's... Ehhh. I mean, it's got a big crack of its own, but it's more like an ass crack. Not really as pretty. Also farting out Eridium. If you like purple, it's pretty sweet, but that stuff will super mess you up.

[tearable]

You're morbid, mister. Even if you twist it with humor, your universe seems snarky.

[ He cracks and joke and then she does. It seems like there's a steady, smooth transition. She keeps herself well-mannered, especially when she's stitching his skin with little resistance. Patching up Booker's bullet wounds came in handy for sewing part of his face back together? Who knew.

He may be sprung on some girl on the moon, but Elizabeth has moments where she just shows that she's doing her best. She's really doing her best. He can scorn under his breath and apologize, but there's important things - like his face - that carry precedence.

She's nearing completion and anticipating this gorgeous, poetic explanation of the view. She's picturing deep oceans, bright lights, maybe even talking about the different terrains but - no. He talks about farts and ass cracks. Elizabeth pulls back once she finishes the end of the stitching. It's a tight job - it'll just need to be cleaned thoroughly. ]

Admittedly, that was one of the most gross things I've ever heard but. Alright, I suppose it does paint a visual... just... not the one I was expecting.

[ Elizabeth upturns her nose when she begins giving one last clean to him before letting both hands settle on her lap. ]

If it's not pretty ... and you don't speak fondly of it, why are you there? Do you have the capability to go elsewhere in your universe?

[heroizes]

[ When Elizabeth pulls back, Jack does too, since any distance between them seems like a good idea. He reaches up to touch his fingertips to the wound gently, and he's very careful with feeling it out. His gaze flickers to her as she disapproves of his description, but it comes with a laugh. ]

What, expecting poetry? [ He's teasing and unknowingly speaking to what she'd expected to hear, but he shakes his head. ] Pandora and Elpis both aren't exactly places that are very poetic. I could rattle off numbers about the orbits, the climates, atmosphere composition, yadda yadda, but—

[ He draws his hand away with a half showy wave of his hand, but his expression is dismissive. ]

It's one of the border worlds, Liz. They're, uh-- Not exactly hospitable. Hell, Pandora's a recent colonization effort, relatively speaking. Too bad it's a miserable wasteland full of horrible people. The place is crawling with people that went cuckoo, to put it super nicely. Bandits. You get caught by a bandit, you'll be lucky if you just get a sweet scar out of it. They'll skin you alive and make stew out of your trimmings. That's way grosser, and that's the kinda place I'm trying to work on.

[ Jack starts to stand, though he winces lightly with effort as he does so. Again, he holds out his hand to help her up too. ]

Could've gone anywhere, sure. But I've gotta make money to take care of my kid, and following a hunch about Pandora was just part of the job. So. Even though I am less than thrilled about it, Pandora-slash-Elpis it is.