[audio // @jackwynand56] third transmission. [locked to everyone but angel]

[belowthesea]

Uhhh.

[Why can't he ever sound natural on the network. He clears his throat, and speaks in that deep, authoritative voice with the tone of a frightened child.]

How do you... mm.

[You can do it, Jack. You already went through the trouble of learning how to filter posts.]

I wanna... ask. A girl. Something. How do I... do that.

Comments

@justaaron

[dadenergy]

[Sometimes it's easy to forget Jack's not had much real life experience. You can hear the smile in his voice.]

If you want to ask her what I think you want to, just be yourself. If she likes you, then she likes you. Do you know anything she likes to do?

[belowthesea]

[His face is turning red. Aaron's tone has him thinking back to how Pa Wynand spoke, the first time he'd talked about bringing a girl home. Except warmer... more genuine.]

Flowers, and... tea. [He chews his lip.] Don't suppose she'd want to go to the gardens, though. After... y'know.

[There's no hiding who this is about. He'd been so aggressively set on finding Angel when she disappeared, he hadn't eaten or slept until he found her. He'd nearly attacked anyone that got too close. And now that she's back, he's back to being a bumbling puppy.]

[dadenergy]

What about the park dome? It's nice there. You can get somebody to pack you a picnic lunch, iced tea's always nice, and you can have a nice meal together, and just talk?

[belowthesea]

Yeah... that sounds good. Although...

[He hesitates.]

I can't talk much. It hurts my head. Suppose it's... boring, to sit around. With me.

[She's stayed the night with you, Jack, this is not an issue.]

[dadenergy]

You don't have to talk much to enjoy one another's company, Jack, and if she likes you, then she already knows you don't talk much, and she's okay with that.

[belowthesea]

Gee...

[He lets out a quiet sigh.]

...You remind me of someone. It's sorta... nice.

[dadenergy]

I'm going to take that as a compliment.

But really, Jack. Just be you. That's the only person you really can be. If she likes you, then that's great! Don't forget to accept if she doesn't, though.

[belowthesea]

It is. You're like.. my dad. The.. fake one. He was nice.

[He lets out a nervous huff of laughter.]

I'm just... she's the first real friend I've ever had. I don't wanna mess it up.

[dadenergy]

You know, I don't know how to take sounding like a fake dad, but...thanks.

[He chuckles slightly himself.]

Don't worry about it too much. Besides, sometimes, even when things seem screwed up, they might not be.

[He pauses for a moment.]

Okay, so. When Eric and I were just starting to date, I got this idea that I wanted to cook him some dinner. I got a cookbook, had this huge, elaborate plan, and I completely burned it. Totally inedible. We ended up ordering take out. That was over 10 years ago and he's still around. Just be you. It'll work out, I promise.

[belowthesea]

It's... better than being like my real dad.

[He's a little bemused by the anecdote - both because the stakes don't seem as high in his opinion, and because he didn't know Aaron was dating anyone.

...]

You don't paint, right?

[Jack.... Jack.]

[dadenergy]

Good to know.

[He chuckles.]

No. All my hobbies are a lot less creative. Trust me, you don't even want to see my stick figures.

[belowthesea]

That's good. I don't like painters.

[You've met one and he happened to contract you to kill four people... jeez, Jack.]

[dadenergy]

That's...why?

[He tried not to pry, but that's a really weird prejudice.]

[belowthesea]

....It's complicated.

[dadenergy]

It's probably not as complicated as you think.