[He suspects that there were tears when Angel pulls away, but she had gotten kind of mad when he'd brought it up in the library, so Tim is totally fine with just letting it go. Nothing to see here, no tears, everyone is completely emotionally fine right now. This Is Fine.]
[Tim smiles at her; beams, really, because it's been such a long time since he's had a real friend.]
I am, too. I'm glad that I met you.
[Since he never got the chance to, back home.]
And, uh... [The smile fades into something more sheepish.] Sorry for the things I said when I met you? I don't think I said sorry for that. It was probably really... weird. For you.
[ Well, if there was anything Tim could have said to instantly sober the mood and shift it out of "awkward, but touching" to "awkward, and really awkward" it...would be that... ]
Oh, um...thank you? It's- you had no reason to think I was related to Jack. It is not as though I was public knowledge.
[Look, he feels like he should apologize for asking if she was having sex with her dad. Like, that's a thing you should probably apologize for. He'd just intended to be kind of rude when he'd asked, not brain-destroyingly horrifying.]
Great, then I'd like to propose that we never speak of it again. Ever.
[ Har har. Though remembering Tim's...unfortunate presumptions has her remembering some things she needs to apologize for herself. Idly she reaches out to give Noodle a pat on the head, kitty purrs really do calm nerves. ]
And...I'm sorry too. For lying to you about who I was, but more so for referring to you as one point oh. You are...you are your own person, Timothy. You always were.
[Okay, so that was dealt with. What she says afterwards, though, makes him go still. He considers it, probably more than most people have to.]
I guess so. For what good it does me.
[Jack told him that the surgeries were permanent, and Tim believes him. He doesn't doubt that Jack would tell the truth so long as it hurts. Tim will never be rid of Jack, because he'll see him every day in the mirror.]
Too many to count...I remember more the times I was asked to seek and organize new recruits then I was cataloging casualties. Their deaths were not given much fanfare.
[ Jack treated them as expendable and so did she, in the end. When faces with Timothy now, that fact is a lot harder to stomach. ]
You were the only one to defect and, as far as I am aware, survive.
[There's no shortage of desperate people in the galaxy, so he's not... surprised, exactly. Saddened, yes, by the suffering of people that he'll never meet, but not surprised. Jack used these people and then discarded them like broken toys, and he would've done the same with Tim. He doesn't think that there would have been any sentimentality reserved for him just because he was the first.]
As far as you know. [Tim laughs, rueful and dry.] I'm probably not gonna have a really great life expectancy on Pandora with this face.
[If Jack's half the monster everyone says he is, there won't be a single person on Pandora that doesn't want him to eat a few bullets. Tim'll have a target on his back from the second he makes landfall.]
I can't say for certain, but does it really matter? Pandora and our galaxy are gone in every aspect. You may wear his face, but here you don't share his history.
...Even among those here from our world, with time they'll be able to make the distinction.
I don't know. Maybe it does? It's just... weird to think that there's an alternate universe me or whatever that's...
[Dead, probably, as far as he can tell. He's gotten pretty good at the whole vault hunting and surviving thing, but he's just one man and there's a lot of things on Pandora that would want to kill him.]
[He looks down at Noodle and rubs under his little kitty chin. It makes him feel a little better.]
I hope you're right. [About people not just thinking of him as an extension of Jack.] It'd be kind of nice to not have to keep looking over my shoulder.
At least you don't have the mask, that alone makes it easy to tell who is who, it is just a matter of the others getting used to it.
[ Which is way easier said than done, especially coming from her. But she wants to give Tim some optimism here. After all, he's the one who inspired her to begin to let her past go, if only a little. The least she can do is encourage the same in him. ]
If the Vault Hunters can forgive me, they should have little reason to hold things against you.
I'd be surprised if they ever held anything against you, Angel.
[Especially with how Krieg reacted when Tim told him that he wouldn't let any of them hurt Angel. He had kind of thought that the psycho was going to make good on his previous promises to peel off his face.]
I don't know if they'll ever get over the face thing, and it's probably not fair for me to ask them to. I'd take them not wanting to kill me on sight, though.
What Jack had me do...few people would let something of that nature slide, regardless of my circumstance or my attempts to make amends. Lots of innocent people died because of me, Tim.
[ And from that she attempts to shift the subject, jarring as it is, with a bad joke. ]
Have you considered a mask of your own? We could make a paper bag look pretty fashionable, I bet.
[Tim laughs, because the sudden switch from Jack ruining people's lives yet again to Tim walking around with a goddamn paper bag over his head is both jarring and kind of hilarious. God, he'd almost consider it if he wasn't so terribly self-conscious.]
Only if you put a kitty face on it. Then Noodle and I can match.
[ Hey it's no less weird then putting your face over your face. ]
Of course, how else would you see others reactions to your artistic work?
[ She leans down then, collecting the basket she brought Noddle in and tucking in the blanket, clear that she's getting ready to go. She needs to stash it away before checking in on Jack. ]
Then she thinks better of it and holds it out to Tim instead.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[Tim smiles at her; beams, really, because it's been such a long time since he's had a real friend.]
I am, too. I'm glad that I met you.
[Since he never got the chance to, back home.]
And, uh... [The smile fades into something more sheepish.] Sorry for the things I said when I met you? I don't think I said sorry for that. It was probably really... weird. For you.
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Oh, um...thank you? It's- you had no reason to think I was related to Jack. It is not as though I was public knowledge.
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Great, then I'd like to propose that we never speak of it again. Ever.
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[ Har har. Though remembering Tim's...unfortunate presumptions has her remembering some things she needs to apologize for herself. Idly she reaches out to give Noodle a pat on the head, kitty purrs really do calm nerves. ]
And...I'm sorry too. For lying to you about who I was, but more so for referring to you as one point oh. You are...you are your own person, Timothy. You always were.
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[Okay, so that was dealt with. What she says afterwards, though, makes him go still. He considers it, probably more than most people have to.]
I guess so. For what good it does me.
[Jack told him that the surgeries were permanent, and Tim believes him. He doesn't doubt that Jack would tell the truth so long as it hurts. Tim will never be rid of Jack, because he'll see him every day in the mirror.]
How many does he end up making that are like me?
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[ Jack treated them as expendable and so did she, in the end. When faces with Timothy now, that fact is a lot harder to stomach. ]
You were the only one to defect and, as far as I am aware, survive.
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As far as you know. [Tim laughs, rueful and dry.] I'm probably not gonna have a really great life expectancy on Pandora with this face.
[If Jack's half the monster everyone says he is, there won't be a single person on Pandora that doesn't want him to eat a few bullets. Tim'll have a target on his back from the second he makes landfall.]
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...Even among those here from our world, with time they'll be able to make the distinction.
[ Hopefully. ]
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[Dead, probably, as far as he can tell. He's gotten pretty good at the whole vault hunting and surviving thing, but he's just one man and there's a lot of things on Pandora that would want to kill him.]
[He looks down at Noodle and rubs under his little kitty chin. It makes him feel a little better.]
I hope you're right. [About people not just thinking of him as an extension of Jack.] It'd be kind of nice to not have to keep looking over my shoulder.
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[ Which is way easier said than done, especially coming from her. But she wants to give Tim some optimism here. After all, he's the one who inspired her to begin to let her past go, if only a little. The least she can do is encourage the same in him. ]
If the Vault Hunters can forgive me, they should have little reason to hold things against you.
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[Especially with how Krieg reacted when Tim told him that he wouldn't let any of them hurt Angel. He had kind of thought that the psycho was going to make good on his previous promises to peel off his face.]
I don't know if they'll ever get over the face thing, and it's probably not fair for me to ask them to. I'd take them not wanting to kill me on sight, though.
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[ And from that she attempts to shift the subject, jarring as it is, with a bad joke. ]
Have you considered a mask of your own? We could make a paper bag look pretty fashionable, I bet.
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Only if you put a kitty face on it. Then Noodle and I can match.
And I get eye holes, right?
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Of course, how else would you see others reactions to your artistic work?
[ She leans down then, collecting the basket she brought Noddle in and tucking in the blanket, clear that she's getting ready to go. She needs to stash it away before checking in on Jack. ]
Then she thinks better of it and holds it out to Tim instead.
He'll need somewhere to rest, right?