Friday 3 May 2013

Jack

A man in a long coat wearing fingerless gloves.

I drew him up a plastic seat on one side of a metal operating table, the best I could do under these circumstances. Honestly, I was not expecting to see him here, exactly, and said so.

Meeting him was an... experience. He can be infuriating like no one else, and has a particular fondness for half answers. After a while I became sure he was simply needling at my curiosity for the fun of it, so I kept on calling him 'fairy boy'.

After the exchange of pleasantries we got down to business, negotiating and haggling back and forth. Anything I could give was theoretically on the table, up to, and including, my life. I'm not sure how long this went on: it could have been hours but it felt like days, and scraps of balled up paper began to surround the table. Eventually I carefully went through the written contract for the last time, methodically locating and excising any remaining ambiguities of language I could find; I'm aware the bargain needn't have taken this form but I was determined to do this properly.

"Let's do this one last time," I said, picking it up. "If the terms of this contract are breached by one of its signing individuals, full and permanent ownership of all items of collateral is to be transferred to the nonbreaching signing individual."

"Yes." The grin hadn't left his face this entire time.

"If the first recipient dies or rejects the bought protection either verbally or in writing, that protection is removed from them. If the second recipient voluntarily disbands by majority vote or there are no longer any living members, that protection is removed from them. If both recipients meet one or more of their respective conditions written above, the contract is then considered inactive and the items of collateral will be returned to their rightful owners. If I, the buyer, should die, then protection is removed from both recipients regardless of their condition and the items of collateral transfer into your full and permanent ownership, with the exception of if my death is a direct or indirect result of any attempts or plans on your part to bring about my death while this contract is active. These attempts or plans will then be considered a breach of contract, with the aforementioned results."

"Yes." If anything, it had gotten wider.

There were other clauses. Precise definitions of the terms used, closing of loopholes, certain specialised confidentiality agreements. Finally, we both signed on the dotted lines. I gave him the original and kept the carbon copy. He was more amused by it then anything else. We shook hands.

"Thank you for your time," he said cheerfully. "I haven't had this much fun in years."

And then he left, and I wondered if perhaps I'd made the wrong decision.

In other news, I no longer have an eye.

25 comments:

  1. No longer have a eye? Oh boy....

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    1. On the other hand, I have lots and lots of painkillers!

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    2. Eye see your point. See what I did there? Oh wait no, I don't think you can see it so clearly. joking,joking. But seriously you gave up a eye, I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

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    3. If its any consolation it was the one with the slightly worse sight.
      I did say anything was on the table. I think it was worth it; wouldn't have signed the contract if I didn't.

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  2. I would start practicing fighting and aiming with one eye; it means you will lack depth perception. And I would check that you aren't missing any other organs. Specifically marketable ones like kidneys.

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    1. I don't *feel* like any of my organs are missing, although short of opening myself up to check I can't be sure. I already know a few tricks for dealing with monocular vision: using movement, focal depth, that sort of thing, from when I had a cut cornea and needed an eyepatch. I biked home no handed for a few days like that.

      That said, you're right in that I need practice. For now, I'm working on running at speed without slamming into walls, which is warming me up wonderfully.

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  3. Interesting, so the "Future" you must have denied the deal.

    Or maybe you're not really out of the loop, maybe you're still in it, you just don't see it, what if the eye he took, was the eye with which you could truly see where you were. But I'm just being poetic here.

    In any case, you just changed one prison, to another, good job, this will come back and bite you in the ass, and I will enjoy it.

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    1. It can get in line with all the other things which will bite me in the ass. And as far as I can tell I'm still in the loop; he didn't take me out of it.

      'Future' me had one eye firmly closed and blood all over her face. Jury's still out on whether she took the deal or not.

      As for the eye he took having properties other than being an eye and removing my binocular vision... maybe. He did accept it, and I have no idea what he's going to do with it.

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    2. That's what happens when you read in a hurry, you misread things. Completely my fault.

      SO then you did follow the loops rules, because so far everything is adding up with the "Future", wonder what would happen if you denied the deal, maybe a different outcome?

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    3. Perhaps. There's no way of knowing, currently.

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  4. An eye? You traded an eye? And he had fun...Med, I hope you know what you just did.

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    1. Something incredibly terrible, most likely. On the other hand, what's done can't be undone, so if it's a mistake I'm stuck with it and will just have to deal with it.

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    2. A mistake? No, it wasn't, for me at least. It's a nice eye that you've given up. It would be very inconvenient for you if the eye were to go blind.--Jack

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    3. None at all? Just pointing out a small flaw in our little deal. Well, it's more than small for you, I guess. After all, the human eye can go blind pretty easily, and you have only one left!--Jack

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    4. Sure an eye can go blind. An arm can also be severed, or a leg mutilated. That's a bridge that can be prepared for, but will be crossed when it's come to, *if* it's come to.
      Unless you're saying you may blind it, in which case I will hunt you down by smell alone and eat your heart.

      Just kidding! :D

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  5. That was probably a really fucking stupid thing you just did. I hope it's worth it, but deals like that usually aren't.

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  6. Med, k is gone. I think she might have went after Jared.

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    1. Oh no. Does she have a phone with her? Is she answering it? I recommend that if you have any incendiary or sharp items in your or her house like blowtorches, check to see if any are missing and hide the rest. Maybe keep one for self defense. Get whatever first aid supplies you have on hand out and ready for use.

      If you have any idea as to where she might have gone, and are confident in your ability to handle trouble, then go after her. If not, I think waiting and keeping on trying to contact her is the best thing to do.

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    2. She took her phone, but it keeps going to voice mail when I call. Her knife, and lighters are missing from her room, and there is a rope missing from the garage.There was a note saying she would get back Monday at the latest. I think I know where she went because Jared was going to be waiting at a park nearby for my answer to joining him, but carter told me not to try finding her.

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    3. If you're confident enough in your abilities. Try to find her, but be careful. I can't tell why, but I know that something bad is about to happen. Whatever you do, stay safe and be smart.

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    4. Ok I'll go to that park with my bat, and hopefully dont find her horribly mutilating him with a knife. I hate him too, but I think shes going a bit far.

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  7. Jack? Like the Jack of All?

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    1. Where have you been for these past few weeks?

      He's been around since last MONTH.

      And, this may be bragging but...

      Well, I found out first.

      -Rose

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    2. What are you talking about steve?

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