Jack, after not speaking during the walk back to the village, goes to take a bath, and is immediately followed by Orev. This time, Orev does doing some staring at those shoulders, looking for the mark and not? Seeing? A mark?
Jack (yep he’s in the tub): “See something you like?”
Orev casts Detect Thoughts and receives: ‘This is typical. Why doesn’t he just do something? I am so tired. I can’t believe he used the chain on someone else.’ Knows Jack is thinking about the feather pretty much every time he looks in the direction of his hat. ‘Never gonna be clean, all this blood.’ A lot of confusion about why Orev is following him and staring. A question about why Orev keeps creating opportunities and not using them. Also kind of thinking about who the other Puppy was, and how many others were there?
Orev catches on this reference to other… Puppies? And okay one, concludes that Jack was his ‘Puppy.’ Two, he has no idea who any other ‘Puppy’ woulD be.
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: ‘Who did he like better, and why wasn’t I good enough?’ Lots of feeling sorry for himself. And: He misses him so much. Orev can tell that that missing is always there, and that’s probably what Jack’s hiding whenever he tries to reject Detect Thoughts.
Orev crouches by the tub, puts his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: ‘Has he forgotten everything? How to deal with people? What’s he doing? Is he fucking with me?’
Orev (speaking without planning to): “I’m not fucking with you.” And: “Where is it?” Jack (his thoughts showing confusion): “What do you mean, where is it?” Orev: “You must have had a mark. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t. Everything I’ve seen. Everything I’ve read— I would have. You would have the mark.” Jack: “If I’d had a mark, it would’ve been gone when you sent me away.”
Note that to Orev’s knowledge, he is in fact able to take the mark away if he wants to. He has no sense of whether he did or would have done any such thing to Jack. (But. Yes. Draža did remove Gideon’s mark after leaving for the last time. Gideon was given no warning and no reason why.)
Orev: “I don’t know why I would have done that.” Jack (leaning back, staring at the ceiling): “You would have done it because you were done with me. Hypothetically.”
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: Going through the memory of that last night in little bursts. A lot of Jack thinking it’s his own fault for saying what he did, thinking it was so stupid. There are images Orev’s glimpsed before. There’s also Orev saying, ‘There’s something missing in you. You’re not enough.’
And Orev immediately drops Detect Thoughts.
Orev: “I wish I could remember. It might be a mercy that I don’t.”
Orev reaches over and brushes back a bit of Jack’s hair. In response, Jack does something that registers as very familiar: He makes a ‘tch’ sound and pulls away, the vibe of which is very ‘don’t do that right now.’
Orev: “I don’t understand or know why this feels so familiar. We should talk about it. Sometime.” Jack: “Did now seem like the most apt time to you?” Orev: “It’s beginning to occur to me that it might not be. But I’m not sure there is a good time.” Jack: “You’re really bad at interacting with people, aren’t you?” Orev: “What gave that away? If you knew me before, you must have known this.” Jack (trying to decide if he wants to play the ‘I don’t know you’ game): “I doubt I would have seen you interact with people much.” Orev: “I suppose that sounds right.”
Jack exhales, rolls his eyes a little bit.
Jack: “Our interactions were probably more of the midnight variety. If we had them. I don’t think I’m the type you would introduce to your friends.” Orev: “I’m not sure there would have been friends to introduce you to.”
He gets a little laugh! From Jack!
Orev: “But I think I see your meaning. Maybe. No, that doesn’t… Something doesn’t add up.” And eventually, looking away, “What I’ve remembered has felt very warm and very deep.” Jack: “I thought they were.”
Orev, very quiet and still not looking at Jack, nods.
Jack: “But you found someone else.” Orev (looking right quickly at Jack): “What?” Jack: “Suppose of all the things I could have told, I didn’t have to tell you that.” And. “I wouldn’t want somebody who doesn’t want mean.” Orev: “What do you mean. What makes you say that.” Jack (lifts his shoulder): “Read your journal.”
Orev goes quiet again. He’s not really surprised, and looks like he wants to be upset, but isn’t.
Orev: “I suppose I ought to thank you for returning it.” Jack: “You would have noticed if I hadn’t.” Orev: “Even so. You might have burned it.” And. “I called you. My Puppy?”
Jack takes a sharp breath. Slowly lets it out, and there’s a very long silence. Then—
Jack: “I gather you called a lot of people your Puppy.” Orev (taking this as confirmation): “It wasn’t a term particularly prevalent in my journal.” Jack: “Maybe you crossed it out.” Orev: “Perhaps. I don’t know what those other instances of redaction would have had anything to do with… A. Puppy (?).” Jack: “You’ve never been very sane. I don’t know what to tell you; who knows what goes through your head.” Orev: “No, I gathered as much.”
Little laugh from Jack! Who also dips his fingers in the water and flicks them at Orev.
Orev (with a small, soft smile): “You little shit.”
Orev spends a few moments simply feeling Like This. Jack isn’t in any hurry to move the moment along, himself. He’s enjoying this a lot more than maybe he should be. Jack eventually suggests Orev pull the other tub closer and take his own bath, since birdman is still covered in blood. After thinking about it, Orev does this thing.
For a while, they simply talk. Jack speaks of Calamus and asks Orev about Walt. Orev doesn’t in fact know much about Orev, and admits he’s not certain why Walter is following him at all. (Secrets that we know: Walt stumbled across Orev and realized This Man Needs Protecting. And as Walt was trying to find a new existence for himself outside the land of fight fight fight die fight die fight, life as a bodyguard seemed like an all right plan!)
Eventually, the water’s grown cold, and Jack readies himself to dry off and head out (gambling time babeeeey). Orev tells Jack that if he needs somewhere to sleep, he can come to Orev’s room. And Orev can sleep in a chair or on the floor, nbd.
Jack: “I’ll find somewhere to sleep tonight.”
Orev looks like he’s been slapped in the face. There’s no sign of anger; only sadness. And he reiterates his offer. Reiterates that yes, Jack can come to the room, and yes, he’ll have whatever space he likes to sleep, unharried.
Orev: “Do you doubt me?” Jack (tone more joking than anything): “Infinitely.”
And Jack departs for the gambling table, leaving Orev to watch the door, to eventually sleep.
(And. To eventually wake to Jack’s unexpected return.)
no subject
Jack (yep he’s in the tub): “See something you like?”
Orev casts Detect Thoughts and receives: ‘This is typical. Why doesn’t he just do something? I am so tired. I can’t believe he used the chain on someone else.’ Knows Jack is thinking about the feather pretty much every time he looks in the direction of his hat. ‘Never gonna be clean, all this blood.’ A lot of confusion about why Orev is following him and staring. A question about why Orev keeps creating opportunities and not using them. Also kind of thinking about who the other Puppy was, and how many others were there?
Orev catches on this reference to other… Puppies? And okay one, concludes that Jack was his ‘Puppy.’ Two, he has no idea who any other ‘Puppy’ woulD be.
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: ‘Who did he like better, and why wasn’t I good enough?’ Lots of feeling sorry for himself. And: He misses him so much. Orev can tell that that missing is always there, and that’s probably what Jack’s hiding whenever he tries to reject Detect Thoughts.
Orev crouches by the tub, puts his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: ‘Has he forgotten everything? How to deal with people? What’s he doing? Is he fucking with me?’
Orev (speaking without planning to): “I’m not fucking with you.” And: “Where is it?”
Jack (his thoughts showing confusion): “What do you mean, where is it?”
Orev: “You must have had a mark. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t. Everything I’ve seen. Everything I’ve read— I would have. You would have the mark.”
Jack: “If I’d had a mark, it would’ve been gone when you sent me away.”
Note that to Orev’s knowledge, he is in fact able to take the mark away if he wants to. He has no sense of whether he did or would have done any such thing to Jack. (But. Yes. Draža did remove Gideon’s mark after leaving for the last time. Gideon was given no warning and no reason why.)
Orev: “I don’t know why I would have done that.”
Jack (leaning back, staring at the ceiling): “You would have done it because you were done with me. Hypothetically.”
Jack’s thoughts, cont’d: Going through the memory of that last night in little bursts. A lot of Jack thinking it’s his own fault for saying what he did, thinking it was so stupid. There are images Orev’s glimpsed before. There’s also Orev saying, ‘There’s something missing in you. You’re not enough.’
And Orev immediately drops Detect Thoughts.
Orev: “I wish I could remember. It might be a mercy that I don’t.”
Orev reaches over and brushes back a bit of Jack’s hair. In response, Jack does something that registers as very familiar: He makes a ‘tch’ sound and pulls away, the vibe of which is very ‘don’t do that right now.’
Orev: “I don’t understand or know why this feels so familiar. We should talk about it. Sometime.”
Jack: “Did now seem like the most apt time to you?”
Orev: “It’s beginning to occur to me that it might not be. But I’m not sure there is a good time.”
Jack: “You’re really bad at interacting with people, aren’t you?”
Orev: “What gave that away? If you knew me before, you must have known this.”
Jack (trying to decide if he wants to play the ‘I don’t know you’ game): “I doubt I would have seen you interact with people much.”
Orev: “I suppose that sounds right.”
Jack exhales, rolls his eyes a little bit.
Jack: “Our interactions were probably more of the midnight variety. If we had them. I don’t think I’m the type you would introduce to your friends.”
Orev: “I’m not sure there would have been friends to introduce you to.”
He gets a little laugh! From Jack!
Orev: “But I think I see your meaning. Maybe. No, that doesn’t… Something doesn’t add up.” And eventually, looking away, “What I’ve remembered has felt very warm and very deep.”
Jack: “I thought they were.”
Orev, very quiet and still not looking at Jack, nods.
Jack: “But you found someone else.”
Orev (looking right quickly at Jack): “What?”
Jack: “Suppose of all the things I could have told, I didn’t have to tell you that.” And. “I wouldn’t want somebody who doesn’t want mean.”
Orev: “What do you mean. What makes you say that.”
Jack (lifts his shoulder): “Read your journal.”
Orev goes quiet again. He’s not really surprised, and looks like he wants to be upset, but isn’t.
Orev: “I suppose I ought to thank you for returning it.”
Jack: “You would have noticed if I hadn’t.”
Orev: “Even so. You might have burned it.” And. “I called you. My Puppy?”
Jack takes a sharp breath. Slowly lets it out, and there’s a very long silence. Then—
Jack: “I gather you called a lot of people your Puppy.”
Orev (taking this as confirmation): “It wasn’t a term particularly prevalent in my journal.”
Jack: “Maybe you crossed it out.”
Orev: “Perhaps. I don’t know what those other instances of redaction would have had anything to do with… A. Puppy (?).”
Jack: “You’ve never been very sane. I don’t know what to tell you; who knows what goes through your head.”
Orev: “No, I gathered as much.”
Little laugh from Jack! Who also dips his fingers in the water and flicks them at Orev.
Orev (with a small, soft smile): “You little shit.”
Orev spends a few moments simply feeling Like This. Jack isn’t in any hurry to move the moment along, himself. He’s enjoying this a lot more than maybe he should be. Jack eventually suggests Orev pull the other tub closer and take his own bath, since birdman is still covered in blood. After thinking about it, Orev does this thing.
For a while, they simply talk. Jack speaks of Calamus and asks Orev about Walt. Orev doesn’t in fact know much about Orev, and admits he’s not certain why Walter is following him at all. (Secrets that we know: Walt stumbled across Orev and realized This Man Needs Protecting. And as Walt was trying to find a new existence for himself outside the land of fight fight fight die fight die fight, life as a bodyguard seemed like an all right plan!)
Eventually, the water’s grown cold, and Jack readies himself to dry off and head out (gambling time babeeeey). Orev tells Jack that if he needs somewhere to sleep, he can come to Orev’s room. And Orev can sleep in a chair or on the floor, nbd.
Jack: “I’ll find somewhere to sleep tonight.”
Orev looks like he’s been slapped in the face. There’s no sign of anger; only sadness. And he reiterates his offer. Reiterates that yes, Jack can come to the room, and yes, he’ll have whatever space he likes to sleep, unharried.
Orev: “Do you doubt me?”
Jack (tone more joking than anything): “Infinitely.”
And Jack departs for the gambling table, leaving Orev to watch the door, to eventually sleep.
(And. To eventually wake to Jack’s unexpected return.)