video ✭ new bark town ✭ january 27

[secondhandsome]

[Well, hey, here's a familiar face! ...Right? Well, it looks like Jack, mostly. Outfit's a little different, his hair's a mess, and, geez, is that a crack in his mask? Someone must've had a rough night or something.]

You know, I'm not super big on this weather, but compared to getting a cryo-blast in the face it's really not so bad! Guess that messes with your standards a little. It's also just better than space, in general? Let me tell you, I am... so tired of space! There's an actual natural atmosphere here, do-- do you know how amazing that is? To just stand outside and breathe and know the oxygen hasn't been filtered for god knows how long and...

...and I had an actual thing to talk about that I'm forgetting. Shit, I'm out of practice.

[Did he used to ramble so much before? Honestly, he can't even remember.]

Someone wanna do me a solid and get me back to Ecruteak, 'cause that's where I was and I was uh... in the middle of... something.

Kinda important, you know, so. That's be great.

Comments

[secondhandsome]

Guess I've got bad timing, huh?

[yeah the weather is not ideal]

[a_sin_for_him]

We've always had poor timing, my darling. We're simply remaining true to established themes.

I'll bring you your winter coat and gloves.

[secondhandsome]

Hah... guess so.

You're the best, you know that?

[a_sin_for_him]

You're still terribly biased.

[And as promised, Lust does indeed arrive before the sun's gone down. She's looking worn out and a bit green around the gills - all that warping so quickly - but she's made it. Astride the back of her shiny Meganium, bundled up against the cold, her hair a great deal shorter than it had been two years ago.]

[New Bark is a very small place, and Timothy isn't difficult to find. Lust turns Midas toward him, approaching slowly.]

Welcome home. Again.

[secondhandsome]

[He's biased but he's also RIGHT, okay.

And honestly he's smiling as soon as she arrives, because. Listen. Listen she's beautiful and he loves her, a lot, and the new haircut is cute and just. Oh. Oh right yes, this is what it felt like to be here.]

Thanks. Glad to be here.

[a_sin_for_him]

Glad, but cold.

[Lust swings down off of Midas and opens her pack, pulling out a thick winter overcoat and a pair of gloves. They are, indeed, the very same that Tim left behind. She hadn't thought she'd ever be returning them to him.]

Here. These should help.

[Though her eyes do flick down to his right hand, mildly curious as to whether or not it feels the cold.]

[secondhandsome]

A small sacrifice to make, really.

[That's not to say he doesn't gratefully accept his coat and gloves. Just gonna put those on. Yes, good, thank you, now he's more dressed for the weather.]

Hah, thanks. It's not quite space cold here, but, y'know. Still nicer to be warm.

[a_sin_for_him]

If it were as cold as space we'd all have a very large problem.

[But it's cold enough. Of course she's always found something strangely romantic about the snow, much as she prefers the warmer months. But it doesn't matter, the apartment in Ecruteak is waiting and warm and with a mount it won't take them long.]

[Lust lifts her hand, reaching to press it against the side of Timothy's face as she'd done so many times before. This time there's a slight twitch of her fingers, a small instinctive recoiling at the slightly unnatural feel of his mask. She can't help it. Her hand draws back just a fraction before settling along the line of Timothy's jaw and cheek.]

[It was one thing to ignore and pretend didn't exist over the weekend, something to put up with in exchange for his visit, but now... it's going to take some time to adjust to how he looks, his mask, his hand...]

[secondhandsome]

[He... notices that. He might not have, if he hadn't been very focused on her right now.]

...Everything okay?

[a_sin_for_him]

Just getting used to...the differences time has wrought.

[Which is the most polite way Lust can think to phrase that the mask bothers her. Not just the sight of it, but the feel of it - not quite actual skin, just slightly different enough to be noticeable. And of course there's what it stands for.]

[And the fact he no longer simply looks similar to another man, but the exact mirror image. Of course it's still Timothy, and he doesn't look different, exactly, only older...but it still isn't the face she thinks of when she thinks of the man she loves.]

[secondhandsome]

Oh.

[Oh.

Of course. Right, yeah, no, there it is. Obviously. He doesn't blame her, obviously, he's not... a fan. Doesn't mean it doesn't sting, a little, even if he knows it's not his fault and she doesn't mean it badly.]

'Cause I wasn't wearing the mask before.

...I wasn't, right? I-I'm not 100% sure, but I'm guessing no.

[a_sin_for_him]

No. You weren't. Here the mask has always been a facet tied only to your old master.

[She still - and forever will - equates Handsome Jack to Dante, as much Timothy's master as Dante had been hers. It had always been the quickest way to tell them apart, before Timothy's face was marked.]

It feels...funny. I'm just not used to it, that's all. Does it hurt?

[Her fingertips drift hesitantly to one of the clasps, the metal feeling far too cold. Is it forged directly to his flesh?]

[secondhandsome]

I mean, you know, not that I really notice... anymore. [hhhhahh his life is garbage sorry] It's a little uncomfortable in the cold, 'cause... the clasps, you know?

[Metal + skin contact + cold = bad.]

It's been a while, though, so I'm used to it.

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust makes a small noise that's difficult to discern and drops her hand from his face.]

I think getting you someplace warm should be our first priority. We have to go by foot to Cherrygrove, there's no other option. I don't have a flight capable mount....

[It's the dead of winter, he's going to end up frostbitten on the trip to Cherrygrove. An idea occurs to her.]

One of those hats! The winter ones with the flaps that cover the ears and the side of the face. That should keep the cold off the metal parts.

[And they were bound to be available at the little shop right here in New Bark, at least this time of year!]

[secondhandsome]

Oh... Oh, yeah, I know the ones you mean, one of those could definitely work. That'll keep the metal warm enough, yeah.

[Lust, you're a genius.]

Really just an awful idea, implanting metal directly into the face, I mean... Jack's a dumbass, I swear.

I hope he's getting frostbite every winter.

[a_sin_for_him]

[That answers one of Lust's questions. It is forged directly to him, like something out of a macabre tale from the gothic era. The Man in the Asshole Mask.]

We'll see what we can do to make it more comfortable.

[She knows the technology of this world isn't as advanced as his, there's nothing that could be done here to fix this.]

[But priorities. Lust heads to the little general store, focused and on a mission. There's a whole little rack of winter hats, and she paws through until she finds something that seems warm enough]

You're going to look like a lumberman, but I don't think you have any complaints about that.

[secondhandsome]

Oh, yeah, no. No complaints. Warm's warm.

[Also Jack definitely wouldn't wear it and that's a maaaaajor plus.]

[a_sin_for_him]

Good. And I promise you won't be cold on the long winter nights, even though we have to camp.

[She smooths the flaps of the hat down, a slight frown still creasing her lips. If there's one thing she's learned from her time with Timothy is that communication was important. Sitting on things only made it worse, and she'd promised to always be honest with him.]

But it's going to take me some time to adjust to the changes, and I apologize now for any recoiling or thoughtless comments that might come. It never occurred to me that you could return different in so many ways.

[secondhandsome]

Yeah, it's... [He glances off to the side a little, nervously.] It's kind of a lot, huh? Hah...

[It's... not really funny so there's not much humor in that laugh but he made an attempt.]

I mean, I'm sure not gonna judge. I try to avoid mirrors for a reason, y'know, so. Totally get it.

[oh god the words are out of his mouth and immediately it's just. bad. you're trying to lift the mood up, Tim, not drag it down further.]

[a_sin_for_him]

It is. And I won't say that I don't care, I care very much what's happened to you, but it doesn't change how I feel for you. I have never stopped feeling for you, Timothy, and I don't think I ever will. Mask or not.

[It's one thing she can be clear on. She doesn't like this face he's come back with, but it's not his fault. She still loves him, it was never his face she cared about.]

[And of course it pains him, too. At least she still looks roughly like herself, her face wasn't entirely changed to someone else's.
She can't imagine the pain that must cause him.]

We can always just paint on freckles and color your hair.

1/2

[secondhandsome]

Oh. [That's... encouraging. That helps, honestly, a lot. It makes him feel... seen, or something. It's just him, right now. No Jack here, at all.

It's good.] That's... good to know.

And I mean, you know, same here obviously. Feelings wise.

[He feelings you too.]

2/2

[secondhandsome]

[And then there's just... a brief beat.

And.]

...

My what?

[Oh.]

[a_sin_for_him]

I just meant...it might make you feel a bit better to look a little more like yourself and a little less like him.

[Lust's brow furrows curiously, not quite understanding what it is Timothy's questioning.]

[secondhandsome]

No-- No, I-I got that. Just, uh.

I had freckles?

[He doesn't really... remember.]

[a_sin_for_him]

...Yes. You did. And green eyes and hair the color of October leaves. I saw, once, in a half memory, half dream.

[Had it really been so long that he doesn't remember his own face? It had always been a stark difference between them, Timothy remembering his former life and self clearly. Apparently not anymore.]