general pre-game catchall

[refactor]

Who: Handsome Jack + You
Where: Various
When: Also various!
Summary: This is a general catch-all for pre-game activities — If you'd like to do something in particular, feel free to ask!
Restrictions/Warnings: There's a possibility of violence and morally questionable things since they come hand in hand with Jack, but nothing in particular for now.

i. panera breads i've been banned from (semi-OTA) (~3 years ago)

[ You might know Jack, or at least have heard of him. It's not every day a tech-oriented worker actually requests to go work at the Prisoner Intake Facility, so he's not quite as anonymous as he once was. That's especially true considering what had happened a few years prior, and that, if you have any kind of knowledge of the Company and their gossip, whether you're working for them yourself or just a nosy RAC agent is what had given Jack a bit more of a reputation. It's all rumors, and never anything really confirmed, but those rumors were juicy ones. Apparently a few years ago, Jack's boss had tried to get him killed. It had failed, but now? That boss has been missing ever since, and Jack is comfortably sitting in that spot.

So, definitely juicy gossip. Even the Nines would be proud of that kind of political intrigue.

Even so, it wasn't like Jack had escaped completely unscathed. Where most people would simply put their money into a good plastic surgeon, Jack had taken a very different, though unusual route. If you haven't seen him for a while, you're going to run into it today if you're taking a trip to Leith's bazaar. After all, there are a fair amount of people looking at the man wearing an odd, but what certainly seems to be flesh mask over his face. It might not get many glances on Westerley where body modifications are at least frequent enough, but here? It's a little more jarring to the locals.

Maybe Jack catches you staring or maybe he just speaks to you randomly, but either way, you'll be getting a smile that's almost sharp. ]

Man— [ He laughs out that first part, then shakes his head ] I mean, c'mon, I know I'm handsome, but seriously, the stares? Getting to be a liiiittle much. Dontcha think, pumpkin?

ii. get out of my office (for Killjoys) (~1 year ago)

[ If you're a RAC agent, you might have gotten a warrant with an unusual caveat to just how it's turned in. Warrants with caveats come up every once in a while, sure, but it's usually about the job itself. Instead, this one is about just how it's turned in. Instead of the standard processing, it requests that your person be handed off to a particular sector manager at the facility.

At least you don't have to sit in processing long before a man steps through the door with a bright smile. He's a very clearly strange-looking guy from his mismatched eyes to that odd mask that he's wearing, but at least he's friendly...? Maybe. ]

Ahhhh, there you are! Was wondering where you were, buddy. Would have been a shame to miss ya.

[ It might seem like Jack is talking to you at first, but he plops a hand down briefly on your target's shoulder before he takes a seat across the table. His feet are quickly propped up on the table casually, and he pulls the datapad from under his arm as he looks it over. ]

Soooo, Killjoy! What up. Have a good mission? Bust any heads? Nahhh, what am I saying, of course you did! That's what people pay you for.

[ Now he's talking to you apparently, but disarmingly casually as he looks over the records before intake. Is this really the man you were supposed to drop them off with...? ]

iii. wildcard

[ None of the above work? Make a prompt of your own! I'll happily roll with it, and if you have something specific in mind, you can always ask! ]

Comments

[refactor]

[ Jack's smile turns to a cocky smirk, and rather than respond to Kanda's question verbally, he just shoots some fingerguns at him playfully. That one is all for you, Kanda! And, look, your partner even seems to appreciate it. This proves to Jack that he is hilarious and that Kanda is just a stick in the mud. The latter may be true, but jury's out on the former.

He waits for both of their questions, but Lavi's gets him to genuinely laugh. Because it amuses him, that's of course the question he ends up responding to first. ]

Y'know, actually, since you ask? Yeah, she's a... Ehhh, I'll give her a 7 outta 10 here! So, yeah, pretty good! But, problem is, while I wish I could be saying "deliver this letter telling her to come over to my place pronto," she's also a scumbag criminal. Kinda loses points for that. So. To your other questions here.

[ He gestures broadly and a bit showily, but it's just because Jack speaks with his hands. It matches his animated personality, really. ]

What makes her special? Well. She murdered someone's kid. Who, doesn't matter, that's my problem, not yours. Because think of me as a middleman for the little guys. The RAC charges the kinda premimum for kill warrants that basically takes that option away from this part of the Quad. Which! Not saying that's a bad thing, don't get me wrong here, like, most of- Most of those kill warrants y'all pick up? Dangerous people. So I get it. Big money for big baddies. But the little ones? They slip through the cracks. So here I am here to cover those up those little gaps.

[ He pulls a datapad out of his pocket and fiddles with it until a profile comes up, which he hands to whichever of them wants to take it. It's just a simple profile on the woman they're going to catch, so it seems like Jack has already done the homework portion. ]

Alive. And when you bring her in, ask intake to call me. I'll be putting her in my sector.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Shooting them both in a non-fatal spot sounds vastly appealing to Kanda just then. He even spends the next few minutes picturing the best place and method possible to accomplish this oh-so-satisfying task as the two idiots rate the woman's apparent 'hotness'.

He'll take more time with Lavi, though, just for encouraging the old man's apparent sense of humor.

It's almost gratifying, just imagining it, until the real details are threaded into the conversation. So this woman was a kid-killer? To be brought straight to Jack's personal care?

...sounds like the Company was getting back into the torture or experimentation game, again. (If the bastards ever even left).

Stepping forward, Kanda takes the datapad, glances it over seemingly carelessly, and then wordlessly hands it off to Lavi. Jack, however, gets a narrow-eyed glare. ]

You can't just go to Utopia. That place is invite only, old man. Cover stories that get us in there are going to cost you extra.

[inksplashes]

[ He's just going to pretend he didn't hear a Company official imply that this was a delayed execution order, more or less.

It doesn't really matter to him if it is, anyway. It's out of their hands once they complete the warrant, whether or not that person deserves it--that's for someone else to decide.

(Not, he absently thinks, for a manager at Intake, but the role of a bookman isn't to intervene unnecessarily. Only to observe. He makes a mental note to investigate the mortality rate of prisoners later, should time permit.)

Accepting the datapad, Lavi's face lights up like a kid on a pagan holiday, excitement visibly bubbling up in him. Utopia? The Utopia? He hasn't been there since he was nineteen, and oh man, the girls-- ]

We'll do it.

[ Sorry, Kanda. Hormones. ]

I mean--

[ He pauses, considering how likely Yu is to string him up, calculates the risk, then solidifies his decision. ]

Yeah, we'll do it. [ Have you seen what the women there wear? Yu already likes to wear black, it'll be great. ]

[refactor]

[ Jack's expression stays level at Kanda's point, but it turns into more of a self-satisfied when Lavi is the one to accept without much question. Did Jack know about the dynamic between the two here and request them for that reason? It's a mystery that will forever go unanswered, because with at least half of a go ahead, that's more than enough for Jack. ]

Perfect, I'm- I mean, I knew ya would! This is easy money. Why would you turn it down, right?

[ He sits back comfortably as he snickers, but he shrugs as his amusement fades just a touch for the sake of getting to business. ]

But, yeah, I know. I was gonna try and have this not go through you guys, buuuut that wasn't gonna pan out. So. Cover stories it is. How much more extra are we talkin', just for ref here?

[lotusmesenpai]

[Kanda is liking this job less and less - primarily because 'easy money' usually translates into 'forgot to give killjoys critical information and expensive damages ensues' as a result.

So if that's the case - and since Lavi's already accepted for them - Kanda shoot's his partner a glare and then immediately steps on Lavi's foot warningly as he transfers the look to Jack and rest his hands on his weapons, fingers tapping lightly on the hilt of his dagger.]

Five-hundred joy.

[Gotta start somewhere, and they're going to have to pull some strings to get into Utopia.]

[inksplashes]

Ow!

[ Look, Kanda. Cultural excursion and babes. How could Lavi not immediately jump at this opportunity? His Bookman cred demands it, and there's all sorts of social implications to accepting this job offer.

(But most importantly, there are women in tight, short leather dresses.

Look, he's twenty-one. Scholar or not, he's twenty-one.)

Fortunately, he's not so dazzled by the prospect of said women that he fails to miss the negotiating aspect of the meeting, and passing the datapad back to Jack, he adds lightly-- ]

Per. Utopia has some of the best forgers in the galaxy. You need top notch work for them.

[ Sure, he already has the credentials for it, but those are bookman related, and slipping into another persona is harder work than you'd think. Plus, if he's going to inadvertently let Jack play judge and jury, he wants some shinier toys out of it that come with a higher payoff. ]

[refactor]

Done.

[ There's no argument, no questioning of the amount at all. Jack just smoothly gives the asked price without complaint as casually as if the money doesn't matter to him. It's half true, since most of that fee was coming out of the Company's pockets more than his, but the other half knew that if things didn't go well, the Company would definitely want that Joy back. Luckily, Jack has confidence here. It's not strictly in them so much as it's confidence in his own judgement, but it's enough for him to take the datapad with a smile. ]

But, at least come up with something juicy, alright? I'm gonna be a little pissed if I'm passing out all this money and I don't even get a good story coming back.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Kanda’s twenty-one, too, oh mighty scholar, and you don’t see him acting a fool over women in tight clothes now do you?

This thought is clear in the exasperated look he shoots Lavi before turning that look on Jack. A thousand extra joy, and this guy doesn’t even bat a lash? The Company has some really messed up people in high places, doesn’t it?

It’s almost enough to make him feel sorry for the woman. Almost, but not quite because even knowing that Jack’s probably going to do something despicable like torture - or, hell, hire their target, he doesn’t really care about the Company. He hates them just as much for being an extension of the Nine as he hates the military for playing god, trying to break the human code at the behest of those same Nine.

Hell, they do this enough, and eventually one of these targets is going to make the Company burn and won’t that be an interesting day?

For now, however, he just sneers at Jack and steps back to give Lavi room to stand. ]

Send it up front, old man, and we’ll get started. Storytime isn’t part of the warrant, though, so make your own shit up.

[inksplashes]

[ "Some of us aren't broken inside, Kanda. Some of us still have hope."

If Lavi were capable of actual telepathy with his partner, that thought would be the return to the exasperated look, but as it is, he just offers a mild kanye shrug. The redhead has his own reasons for indifference to the details of the warrant, and though they're decidedly less emotional than Yu's, they're no less cold.

So he doesn't bat an eyelash, either, when Jack doesn't haggle or protest. If anything, he only regrets that they didn't ask for a higher payoff when there might have been more wriggle room. Lessons for a later time, perhaps.

Rising to his feet, he chuckles softly to his partner's quick reply, waving a hand over his shoulder. ]

Buy me a drink sometime and I'll tell you stories wilder than you can imagine. But he's right.

[ One arm slung around Kanda's shoulders to not so gently encourage him to leave and resist the urge to argue with their current client, Lavi adds with a suggestive grin: ]

We're paid not to kiss and tell, not the other way around.

[refactor]

You got it. Let me just...

[ Jack trails off as he focuses his attention more on his datapad to transfer the necessary funds. It seems like they might be blissfully free of conversation for a few moments, since he falls into a silence of concentration, but no, of course they're not that lucky. After he gets past confirming his credentials, there's less concentration required, so he snickers. ]

Fair enough about the not sharing thing, but, hey, if you do a good job and you're serious? Sure. I'm always down for wild stories, buddy. I'd invite your partner but he doesn't seem the drinking type.

[ a pause, and then he adds: ]

Okay, no, take that back, he might be. But, like, the brooding alone over whiskey kind. Not the fun social kind.

[lotusmesenpai]

[Not only does Kanda drink, but his ability to heal so quickly actually makes getting drunk pretty difficult.

He's been able to drink full grown adults under the table since he was fifteen.

Not that he's going to tell Jack that. As a matter of fact, he starts to look back, between his shoulder and where Lavi's currently hanging off him, with a fierce glare at the older man.]

Fu--mmph!

[Barely does the first hint of the phrase leave his lips before he feels Lavi's gloved hand smother the words quite firmly. He's just going to transfer that glare to his partner now.

'Fuck you, go die' should be a legitimate phrase to an annoying warrant holder. Especially after they'd already accepted the job and the bastard kept talking shit.]

/end

[inksplashes]

[ There's something to be said about a well-worn partnership--when you know the person you work with so well that you don't have to consciously think about preventing them from telling someone to fuck off. As soon as he feels Kanda start to turn, he brings a hand up, trapping that vulgar mouth and painting the usual smile on his.

Laughing over the grumbled sounds of Kanda's muffled cursing, Lavi bows his head slightly to Jack, waving lightly. ]

Definitely the brooding type. We'll send confirmation when we're done.

[ One sharp look to meet the glare being sent his way and they turn, exiting stage left. There's probably a cacophony of not so muffled curses not so long after that.

(Lavi really needs to look into a new line of work. Maybe he can open a book shop somewhere. A nice, quiet book shop.) ]