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@hjack69; private voice

[youarethebandits]

...Angel? Is that-

[No, that's a stupid question. Obviously it is her. Or it's someone pretending to be her, in which case they will die a slow and incredibly painful death, but it doesn't seem likely.]

Where are you.

private until further notice!

[phaseshifter]

Da-- I? Mmmh.

[ Oh. Oh, okay. All that stuff about Angel being happy to be here and generally being like seconds away from rolling around on the bed kicking her legs in the air like a child?

Fuck Fudge that. Fudge it all to heckie. Her face falls immediately - is this not real, then? If her dad Jack is here, then. Perhaps he copied her brain or something? Is she a real AI in a simulation now? That would be awful. More of a prison than ever. ]

I don't know.

[ Her eyes flick to the window to make sure there are no landmarks or anything visible out there. Nope. Only darkness.

Good. ]

[youarethebandits]

Okay.

[He takes a deep breath. Okay. Of course she doesn't know, she doesn't know anything about the town. He just has to find her, and it'll be okay. Even if there's no bunkers to hold her in here. He'll figure something else out.]

Stay where you are for the night. In the morning, you're gonna look for any landmarks. Once we figure out where you are, I'll come find you.

[phaseshifter]

Don't - you can't tell me what to do here.

[ It comes out less convincingly than she'd like, but. Still. ]

There isn't anything around here, anyway. I've been walking all day, and all I saw was snow.

[ Definitely no huge walls or anything, no sir. Barren wasteland. Snow snow snow. Flat snow. LEGIT. ]

[youarethebandits]

Of course I can, I'm your father.

[He might have lost all other authority, but he still has that, right?]

And there are huge fricking snow walls surrounding the town on every side, Angel. Shouldn't exactly be hard to find.

[phaseshifter]

[ How is she even supposed to argue with that? Or with Jack in general?

God, this has just. Ruined her entire day. She stares flatly at the stripy pony keychain as though it's somehow responsible for this. She was supposed to be free. ]

Well, I didn't see any. So I suppose I have to be somewhere in the middle of town, don't I.

[youarethebandits]

[Oh, great. She's in one of her moods. Which is understandable since she's just come back from the dead and is probably feeling all kinds of scared and sad about being separated from her dad, but still.]

Then you'll find some other landmark, like one of the parks or the lake. I know you can figure something out.

[That would have sounded like some great encouragement if it weren't for the tone of annoyed impatience. He's a great dad.]

[phaseshifter]

Right. I'm smart. I get it from you. I know.

[ U g h. ]

It's just a little more difficult to navigate without the satellite network, and - and no way of hacking into whatever system they're using here. Since my powers are gone.

[ She wishes she could see his face to get a better bead on his reaction to that. Presumably they're gone because she's, you know. Dead. Does he even know? ]

[youarethebandits]

[Of course he knows. He's just trying not to get all emotional here, god.

The loss of her powers is not a surprise, since he already knows it's happened to other people, but it's still a disappointment. She's going to be a lot less useful like this.]

I know. That's just something we'll have to deal with. But... it's gonna be okay, sweetie. I promise.

[The reassurance comes out actually sounding genuine, and he really does mean it. He's not going to let anyone hurt her ever again.]

[phaseshifter]

[ Oh god, now she's uncomfortable again. She hates when he does that. It makes it too easy to think about when times were good. Or better, at least. It isn't like it keeps her from thinking he's a piece of crap poop, but.

It makes things complicated, okay. ]

I know, I'm not scared. I'm doing just fine so far.

[ She FOUND A KEYCHAIN gosh it's like Jack thinks she's helpless!!! ]

[youarethebandits]

Right, I saw, you- you found a keychain. That's great, really. Very impressive.

[Annnnd the tenderness is gone like it was never there.

It's not that he wants to mock her cute little keychain - though his pony is totally cooler just sayin - it's just so pathetic how she thinks she can take care of herself. Like she doesn't need him to take control every single part of her life for her. It's cute and also sad.

jesus christ jack is a horrible person]

[phaseshifter]

[ Oh, okay. Angel bristles at that, even though she's sort of pleased that he's making this easier. THANKS DAD. ]

I didn't just find a keychain! I walked outside. In the snow. By myself. I went exploring.

[ She may not have gone very far, but Jack doesn't need to know that. It's still a big thing, anyway! She's not used to walking places. Or walking at all. ]

[youarethebandits]

Well, don't try to explore too much. You're not exactly prepared for this kind of climate, and it's dangerous out there.

[She shouldn't have to do things like that. She should be somewhere safe where he can keep an eye on her.]

Just stay inside as much as you can, and grab anything warm you can find.

[phaseshifter]

How am I going to find landmarks if I can't explore?

[ There's more than a little challenge in her tone. Gonna explore so many places. Gonna do it barefoot in the snow. TRY AND STOP HER. ]

I have a coat. I'll be fine.

[youarethebandits]

Don't take that tone with me, missy. Obviously you're gonna have to explore a little.

[Why do children have to be so rebellious. God.]

And I'm sure the coat's going to feel real nice and warm while your feet are coming off. You've seen what frostbite can do.

[phaseshifter]

Sorry, sir. Assuming I can get frostbite, being dead.

[ She folds her arms. Questioning her competence now gets countered with HELLO I AM DEAD reminders. THAT'S A THING. ]

[youarethebandits]

[OUCH. There's a long moment of silence from Jack's end.]

...I'm sorry, Angel.

[Welp that's something he's pretty much never ever said before.]

[phaseshifter]

What? I mean - crud - excuse me?

[ Goddammit she was just getting confidence with this low-key rebellion thing and now she's been thrown for a loop and GOD THIS IS RUDE AS HELL ]

No, I mean - I mean good.

[ THERE. RECOVERING. SHE'S GOT THIS. ]

[youarethebandits]

I was supposed to protect you, but...

[He trails off sadly. It's obviously not his fault she died or anything, but he does feel bad about it. Which makes those no-good child-murdering Vault Hunters even worse!!]

And I didn't even get revenge in the end.

[phaseshifter]

Revenge? For what? They - the Vault Hunters freed me--

[ Wait. Waity wait wait wait. ]

...You're dead too. They stopped you.

[ Just as she'd asked them to. She doesn't feel happy or triumphant about it, though. Not even satisfied, exactly. It's a weird feeling.

She's definitely not sad either, though. Jack being dead is undeniably a Good Thing. ]

[youarethebandits]

Took you this long to figure that one out, huh? Yeah, they stopped me.

[So much for invincible Vault monsters. Huff.]

So, yeah. The bad guys win. Pandora remains a rancid pile of shit forever. Heartwarming ending, am I right?

[phaseshifter]

It's your ending. Not Pandora's.

[ She's neither gloating nor trying to comfort him. Her tone is perfectly neutral, slightly aloof. Her guiding the Vault Hunters voice. ]

Maybe the next person who wants to be the hero will learn from your mistakes.

[ There are certainly plenty of them. ]

[youarethebandits]

[Okay but clearly his ending is what matters? Because he's the hero???

He is also not happy about her taking that tone with him. He's not a fucking bandit don't you treat him like one.]

My mistake was thinking that planet was worth saving in the first place! I should've nuked it to oblivion years ago.

[phaseshifter]

Right. Since you're volunteering yourself as hero again, is that what you're going to do to this place when things don't go your way? Just destroy it any way you can?

[ SORRY POPS, THE REBELLION CAN'T BE TAAAAAAAMED

She's also super tempted to de-private her end of this and hope he doesn't notice, but she's pretty sure that'd be going a step too far. ]

[youarethebandits]

[WHY YOU LITTLE]

Well, so far this place doesn't look like it's frickin' crawling with bandits and psychopaths, so you know. Might not need to get quite as drastic.