THISAVROU: INBOX

[mylawn]

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[sleepdarts]

And she will know if something is different .
I will let you know what she says.

[mylawn]

Keep me posted.

part 2 electric boogaloo

[sleepdarts]

It isn't contamination.

( On her way back )

[mylawn]

What is it? Are you feeling okay?

[sleepdarts]

I'm feeling fine. Better than I've ever felt.

[mylawn]

Angela didn't find anything wrong?

[sleepdarts]

It may be a better conversation to have when I return.
It is nothing something to worry about.

[mylawn]

[Okay but now he's NERVOUS and waiting in the kitchen for her to get back. That's where she's gonna find him. In the kitchen. Being NERVOUS.]

[sleepdarts]

( Jack, she said not to....

Oh, who's she kidding?

Nevertheless she's making some tea first )

I'm not dying.

( Just gonna put that out there, to make this start calmer )

[mylawn]

Okay, good.

[Because he really, really doesn't want to deal with Ana dying for real. That's probably the thing he wants least out of all things. He probably should have started some tea to get right down to business, and looks a little antsy as she goes about filling the kettle.

Still, he'll try to get right down to business.]

What's going on, Ana?

[sleepdarts]

Angela found a marker in my blood.

( Though her tone is still level it's... Ana doesn't know what to think about this, never mind knowing how it had happened

She moves from the kettle to pulling down a cup and a tea bag )

Something similar to your blood.

[mylawn]

[Without knowing much about what's really going on, Jack's first thought is that prolonged contact with him has done something to Ana. Genetics don't work like that, of course, but given how radical and mostly untested it all had been, Jack wouldn't at all be surprised to find unexpected side effects thirty years down the road.

It's doubly unexpected that it's Ana . He's still not sure what's wrong, exactly.]

Are you...experiencing anything?

[sleepdarts]

The only things Angela could note were responses to her tests.

( And he should know the tests -- basic strength exercises, vitals responses. Nothing is bad, far better than it had ever been, and somehow... it was wrong.

And, as if on cue, the cup that Ana had been placing down breaks )

Apparently my reactions exceed anything she's measured before.

[mylawn]

[As soon as he hears the telltale shatter of the teacup, he understands what's going on--Jack used to do the exact same thing. He'd been very young at the time, but he still remembers what it was like, to accidentally break most everything he touched.

He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it when he realizes he's too bewildered to actually say anything. It takes him another minute to find words.]

Are you breaking a lot of cups? Today?

[Or. Other things.]

[sleepdarts]

Mostly cups.

( Thankfully the rest hadn't actually broken but there'd been a close call with a door.

Or two )

I don't know what to do, Jack.

( Or how to not do it, really )

[mylawn]

[He is already imagining the potential destruction, if only because he lived it. How do you describe to someone else how it feels, when he's had more than thirty years to get used to it? When he's never had to instruct another person how to cope with abilities like his?]

Angela will figure something out.

[She's got to, though he says it more to assure himself than anything else. Hopefully this is only temporary.

After a moment of consideration, he stands, moving behind her to reach around and take the broken pieces of the cup out of her hands.]

Here. You've just gotta be gentle.

[sleepdarts]

That is what I thought I was doing.

( It had felt, at first at least, as if her motions were the same -- the same gentle ease that she always gave.

Apparently her old kind of gentle was no longer enough.

Ana sighs as Jack takes the pieces from her, head dipping slightly )

How did you get used to it?

[mylawn]

Gentler. Careful as you can.

[Extra gentle, like handling tissue paper, at least to start. His eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, like he's trying to remember exactly what this feels like. He's been living with his enhancements for longer than he's been without them, so it's difficult to recall.]

I broke a lot of things, the first few months.

[Implying that he didn't get used to it easily either.]

[sleepdarts]

I'm not certain this place can take a few months of it.

( Or she can't. It would have been one thing if she'd been younger, or even expecting it, but not now. She's too old )

It took me a long time to adjust to losing my eye. I didn't think to expect anything again.

[mylawn]

Hopefully it's temporary.

[Like a lot of other things they've experienced both on the Moira and on Thisavrou. That's all he can really hope for. Now that he's removed the pieces of the cup from her grasp, he moves to take her hans in his.]

I can try to help.

[sleepdarts]

( She starts to move her hands from him, worried that if she broke a cup so easily--

But it's Jack and that gets her to stop, almost relax a little. He's never hurt her, and she's known him long enough. Light touches, a grip of her shoulder, pulling her from danger. He'd figured it out )

You'd be the best for it.

( Her head tips back up, eye settling on him and she smiles a little )

Did you know going in how much would change?

[mylawn]

[That had, at one point, been one of Jack’s greatest fears—that he’d accidentally hurt someone by underestimating his own strength. In earlier years, he’d been very strict about who he spars with and when, and always held himself back accordingly. He can feel her flinch underneath his hands and he tries to run a reassuring thumb over her knuckles letting her know that it’s all right. She won’t hurt him.]

No.

[And she’s lucky that she just has the abilities, now, and didn’t have to go through what he did to get them. He’s since compartmentalized the experience, but he does remember sweaty, painful nights in the medical bay, the ache of everything changing too fast, being overwhelmed by heightened senses and raw power, feeling like his body didn’t belong to him until he finally started to settle into it.]

I don’t think they did, either.

[The goal had been stronger, faster, sharper, more durable. Something that could stand a chance against the Omnics. When faced with human extinction, unintended side effects are something of an afterthought. He's not even sure how long he's supposed to live.]

[sleepdarts]

( There's a nod, an understanding of his intentions. It will be alright, and if he thinks it would be temporary then Ana may even hope for that. If not she would learn and adjust. She could, somehow )

They just got what they wanted.

( He'd been a success, and Gabriel too. They'd stood against the Omnics, had brought hope and peace. That was all that they'd cared about, but not what Ana did. She wanted to know the rest -- the things only he could know )

What did you expect would happen?

[mylawn]

We didn’t exactly have the luxury of time.

[So they got what they wanted, sure, but not without human cost. Jack was one of the lucky (and alive) ones. Even if they made it through the program, graduates got mowed down by Omnics just the same. Overwatch had been the only way to win that war.

And now here he is, thirty years later, trying to make sense of it all. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.]

I don’t know what I expected. They wanted to make us better soldiers, and I wasn’t going to say no, not given what we were up against.

[When the alternative was extinction.]

It’s not all bad.

[sleepdarts]

I'd like to know something good.

( And if it was more than what she'd seen in the field, something other than saving a life, then it might feel different.

Jack had gone through this before she'd ever met him, and then it had just been a fact -- accepted without these personal questions. Some she'd later asked, found out more, but nothing this deep )