Jerome's face still displayed the remnants of the exhilaration the light-hearted conversation with Oliver had painted across it when they were leaving the kitchen, both packed to the brim with the food they had prepared and were about to eat under a humid summer sun that seemed to have come from nowhere, like so many things inside his new living environment, sending a new shudder down his spine when they were finally exiting the building and entering the summery garden, and the joy on his face faded, making place for a sceptical frown as he let his gaze wander around, now actually feeling the summer sun directly on his skin, which made him remember the last summer with his kids even more colourfully now.
He took a deep breath in a short battle with feelings that wanted to surface, feelings he wasn't ready to allow himself to take over in any way, feelings ready to be shoved away again for the time being, keeping himself together. This wouldn't end like the breakfast a few days ago, which, when he was thinking back, evoked memories of shame, not giving himself the lenience he would give any other person who had shown huge emotional reactions in that kind of situation. He still felt bad for his, from his point of view, horrible behaviour he had treated Edwin with, and didn't want to turn this situation in anything even slightly similar.
He silently followed Oliver to a tree a little further away from the actual house which looked not less... fancy than the mansion he had spent his last five days in, complimented by a large pool and a really quiet faint of music, and for a moment, he wondered if he was merely hearing things in his head. Hadn't he just said that luckily, at least here wasn't any music? Not that this music was particularly annoying, as it was really quiet, and still, it made him feel oddly uncomfortable, just adding to the feeling that the people in charge were teasing the hell out of them.
Given all that effort, he couldn't imagine that they were anywhere where there was even the slightest possibility to be found and rescued, making him wonder if any of that was even real, or if they were stuck in some virtual reality or a facility big enough to simulate actual weather and climate conditions. Abra was right with the fact that it was odd there weren't even planes. This couldn't just be some random place They used to play their little sick games.
Even though he hadn't planned on musing about the How of their situation any further today, actually being outside basically forced him to, and he sighed slightly annoyed when taking his seat next to Oliver under the shady tree, not really able to get into the mood of just enjoying the weather he normally would enjoy the hell out of. The food was placed directly in front of them, and absent-mindedly, he took a sip from his iced coffee, still taking in the surroundings with a sceptical and slightly worried frown.
There really was no danger of him getting too comfortable here.
He needed approximately five seconds before even processing that Oliver had said something, and he turned his face, needing another three seconds to formulate an answer.
"Probably not." It still didn't feel right for Jerome to seek enjoyment in this place, and he'd rather do something more useful for the rest of the day, whatever that could be. He still wasn't over the sentiment of feeling guilty when trying to do something solely for his enjoyment, especially not here at this new house they had been apparently put in just to give them a wrong sense of peace before shit would start hitting the fan. It felt way too off.
"It feels way too off.", he formulated his exact thoughts after some musing if he should say it or not. But again, sharing at least the top of his feelings felt oddly satisfying for a change.
"I'm not really inclined to play Their little game of putting us into a presumably peaceful place just to fuck it up afterwards. I'd rather do something useful instead.", he said soberly, thinking of fleeing inside the kitchen again when he and Oliver would go their seperate ways again.