Evangeline Sablier is not broken, but please (handlewithcare) wrote in rooms,
Re: Looking for Jack: Evie/Wren/Luke + Jack
[Evie didn't know Jack's life story, she didn't like to pry - or ask other people. And while she could get the main idea of it all from overheard conversations and other comments it didn't leave her with much more knowledge than a pit in her stomach at what she was seeing now.
She didn't have to know the details to understand the gist of the situation and while she knew they had to get him out of here - she felt guilty about it. It was obviously the right thing to do - but stepping into someone else's delusions when they might have been preferable to the real thing was surprisingly difficult for her. She didn't think she'd have been moved for anything.
She wasn't being very helpful, but she was short on words, and they were short on time. Keeping the delusion going seemed like it was working, but she had to wonder what it would turn into once they left the relative safety of the church. Anything could contribute to an outburst and while she was certainly worried she couldn't say it out loud - she didn't want Jack to hear, and she didn't have any better ideas.
When it seemed like they had agreement and would start moving Jack actually let out a laugh and with her back turned to the group she closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath. They just really needed to get out of here, and she was at a complete loss on what to say or do to make that happen. Luke had it handled, Wren was doing what she could, and Evie was convinced if this was going to go south it would be because she said the wrong thing. She didn't have enough information, she didn't have enough context, and she felt like if there was a weak link here it was absolutely her. She couldn't buy into a delusion she didn't understand, she couldn't add to it because she didn't know what would make it worse or better. With her luck she'd probably look and say hello in the wrong direction and things would go badly and she'd have screwed it up.
It wasn't that she wanted Jack to stay in his toxin created dream world, quite the opposite. But it felt awful pulling him out of it when things were already such a mess and were only going to get worse once they stepped outside the door. Evie was trying to tell herself that all she had to do was get everyone into the car and then to the quarantine zone, and then everything would be fine. They could get the help they needed, and Jack would get better, and they wouldn't get sick. Or if they did maybe she'd get delusional and be somewhere better than here for a few days. She supposed it could also be worse - but her brain was everywhere.
She wanted to help, that's what she was supposed to be - a helper. She always offered to help and now all she could do was wish for fifteen minutes of calm while they tried to get this sorted. But she gathered herself, turned around, and with her smile bright] Lets do introductions on the way, we'll all have more time to talk that way. [It was the best she could do with what she had, and while it wasn't much it was better than not trying. She hoped.]