IC Contact - Snowblind

[phaseshifter]

This is Angel. Leave a message.

Comments

[devoutish]

Somebody must have told you that you'd died, yeah? Do you wish they'd kept it a secret?

cw suicide mention cries

[phaseshifter]

Um, it - no. That isn't... mmmh.

[ AWKWARDNESS POWERS, ACTIVATE ]

I remember dying, it was - er. It was my choice, I kinda had to. So. Doesn't really apply.

[devoutish]

Something to do with Jack?

[phaseshifter]

How'd you guess. It's a long story, but he was using me to do something terrible. The only way to stop him for sure was to die, so. Worth it.

[ Except she's since learned she died for nothing but NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT ]

[devoutish]

Mm. I'm not a good man, but if I was a bad dad, I'd be fucking ashamed of myself.

[Jack sucks.]

[phaseshifter]

He was a good dad once! Things just got kinda hecked up. You know how good intentions sometimes go way awry?

Um, not excusing him, though. Sorry. Bad habit. You can see why Rhys' situation resonates, right?

[devoutish]

He's your father, your family, and you can think of him how you like.

[phaseshifter]

Nuh-uh. Jack was my dad. Handsome Jack was just an asshole and I really have to stop defending him when he doesn't deserve it.

[devoutish]

What was he like, before he was Handsome Jack?

[phaseshifter]

Err. Well, when I was little he was the best. My hero. A little overprotective, but it was justified? Because - you know. The siren thing, my tattoos - they had to be hidden? But he was really good about that so I was never scared or anything.

Things got harder after mom died. We were still pretty cool until he got the mask, though. He was a narcissistic jerk even before then, but he never killed anyone. He wanted to be everybody's hero! Not just mine.

[devoutish]

Got the mask. What mask?

I don't know much about him. We spoke once, twice.

[phaseshifter]

Oh! Er - his face was horribly scarred a few years ago. He's very sensitive about it. Think, like - a giant brand across his face. Very deep. Instead of dealing with it or risking surgery to minimise it, he had a mask clamped to his face instead.

A. Mask of his old face. A really advanced one - it moved with him and even restored the appearance of his burnt-out eye. If the AI uses video again, take a close look - he has the mask, it's just harder to notice with him being a freaking hologram.

[devoutish]

[You people and your metal body parts, he swears to god.]

He got worse in increments, then. Getting himself used to it by degrees. Telling himself it was all right each step of the way.

That's fucking dangerous, that is.

[phaseshifter]

Yeah, well, so was he. Fu-- freaking dangerous, I mean. The terrible thing he was trying to do? Wake up a huge effing monster and use it to eradicate the entire bandit population of Pandora.

And, you know, everybody else. Pandorans and bandits were basically the same thing to him.

[devoutish]

I've heard.

[He talks to Fiona about this.]

[phaseshifter]

Oh. From Fiona? Or Rhys? Fiona, right.

[devoutish]

Fiona, yeah. Mostly Fiona. But I'm sure he would have told me himself, eventually.

[phaseshifter]

I'm not so sure. The thing is, Rhys lived on Helios. Big space station, up in the sky. As far as I know, he never saw any of the destruction on Pandora firsthand? You hear about how Handsome Jack is civilising the borderlands and mining for eridium. It all sounds very clean and reasonable, right? And you hear about how he's clearing out the bandits, and that sounds fine too.

Then down on Pandora it's a little more obvious that the planet is being ravaged by earthquakes caused by the mining process. That Jack is shooting unarmed civilians, children included. That he's taking people and experimenting on them with slag to further Hyperion's weapons technology. And even if you learn the truth later, it's hard to grasp. Something that large and that different to your own knowledge of a situation - it doesn't sink in without considerable time and effort, you know?

Sorry, I'm rambling again. I'm just saying that I don't think Rhys would talk about it because it's not his story, I guess? I'm probably just making him sound like an uncaring jerk, but he's not.

[devoutish]

No, no - I meant Jack. He'd have seen me as a bandit, yeah? I'm guessing he wouldn't have hidden his hatred of them, once he found that out.

[But he goes quiet as he listens to the rest of her story, only letting out a mumbled Mm at the end of it.]

[phaseshifter]

Oh, I - mmm.

[ And now she's embarrassed again. NoOOoOooooooooo. ]

Yes. I don't doubt for a moment that he'd be open about his contempt. I expect the AI makes dumb pouty faces every time Rhys speaks to you, on that note. I'm sure you're devastated.

[devoutish]

I did try contacting him, when I was new. He was on the list of criminals, and I was curious.

[phaseshifter]

Oh. Oh geez. Um, did... you say anything, uh. Banditesque?

[devoutish]

Honestly, I can't remember. I introduced myself. He seemed confused about why I would contact him at all.

[phaseshifter]

Yyyyeah, that makes sense. He's no used to being contacted by bandits unless they want to turn in a bounty or something. Pllllus he was kinda in denial about the whole criminal thing.

[devoutish]

It's just as well. If we had made an alliance, it wouldn't have lasted long.