femme!reader x Laughing Jack : arc 2 Paranoia (English)

Chapter 7

          This night, I found myself in the main marquee of the monochromatic, back turned to the exit. I wasn't keen on jumping into the lion's den, I rushed for towards it but, when I first laid a step outside, I nearly impaled myself on Jack's nose.
Surprised, I backed up quickly and tumbled on my very back. Right after, he let himself falling from the tent : his arms still clinging to the marquee's frame. Laying on the floor in shock, I somehow managed to prop myself on my elbows.

-"Ahh~ What' up love? Did ya miss me? Six days now that we haven't seen each other..." he singsonged. 'Wait up! Six days? I'm pretty sure that he was forgetting everything about Monday and all the other ones, that he turned into living nightmares. "So, now that ya fully refreshed, what about a little game to make up for our lost t-"

-"You sure got nerves!" I shouted after rising up. " 'Six days now that we haven't seen each other...' Who d'you think you're fooling?! Well, since those so called 'days off', those fucking hallucinations haven't left me a single time! You say you gave me some vacations but, do you know that your nightmares were freaky as hell?!! To be honest, I don't even know who's the craziest h-" I didn't get to finish, he was right before me, his nose brushing against mine, his eyes never faltering.

-"I should be the one blaming ya, sweetheart... I don't have the habit of putting my toys back together, let alone have the patience to let the glue dry... AND SURELY NOT FOR A WHOLE WEEK!!!" at that moment, he grabbed me by the jaw and lifted me up and, looking him in the eye, I saw that the fierce look he had in them had faded a bit. He put me down but didn't necessarily let go of me.

Indeed, his grip on my arm had 'softened' yet, it wasn't tinged with tenderness... or at least, not the one I had heard of. I would have struggled out of to escape, but even if I had managed to take back my hand, I would have tripped over every single things that were laying on the floor. After a moment, I heard a door creaking and, after I stumbled on what seemed to be a step, I collided with Jack's back; he had halted. I didn't get the time to say a thing, he put his taloned hands around my waist and left me and then put me on a wooden furniture.

-"I wouldn't jump if I were ya, I have the nasty habit of letting my tools laying around randomly.... It would be a real shame to harm ya" he giggled. Doubtful and, still in complete darkness, I decided to stay put... for now.
I heard him curse in ancient English while he searched through his belongings."AHA!" he exclaimed victoriously... what for? I hadn't wanted to know.
Right after, I heard footsteps coming towards me ; he was close. "Keep ya eyes close until I tell you to open 'em up... otherwise Y'll join them" he said as a clawed finger traced my jaw line. I wasn't really wanting to know who 'they' were so, playing the pleasant and well-mannered captive, I nodded, not knowing if he could see me in such darkness. "Good" he exclaimed as he clapped in his hands.

His glee really started to worry me and, as I prepared myself for the worst to come, I suddenly saw his features being lit by the fire of a match of sulfure, which smell filled my nostrils. He then moved it away from his face and, after it died, I saw a new light defining some odd and creepy-looking features. Fully concentrated on watching those shadows taking form, I couldn't help a little gasp of surprise as the furniture creaked and bent under the weight of a new onlooker. With such poor lighting, I did manage to see some of Jack's movements ; I had never seen him so excited!

He couldn't just hold still; his hands were shaking and almost clapping against one another, his legs waving in the air... he reminded me of a child who just wanted to pounce and open up his Christmas gift. And, I had never thought I'd say that, but I found this behavior rather cute!

I then looked back at the 'show', and everything that could be qualified as 'adorable' or 'cute' evaporated as fast as a drop of water under the Sahara's sun.

A dozen a Jack-o-lanterns were nailed to the ceiling but it seemed that those looked a lot like human face's. Suddenly, I felt feathers brushing against my shoulder. I decided to stray away some more from my host but, a clawed hand closed itself on my left shoulder and brought me even closer from him.
Well, dimmed lights ; very good point there. He made them ; even better... but even though it works on a date, I must admit, that the dubious origin of this lanterns' materials as well as the moody temper of my host wasn't doing anything to bring me in the mood...'

-"Pretty eh?" he asked after resting his head on mine.

-" Hum... well.... it's hum, artsy and..... unique..." I said as I struggled a bit to get away from him.

-"Four hours of work! First I had to chop 'eir head off, except for the one ya had prepared for me. Then I had to empty 'em from all the substances that were likely to rot-" At that instant, I couldn't hear a thing anymore. ' That I had prepared for- Oh no... the opera's puppet...!' All those heads, they were those of the monsters I had killed off four years ago.... a chill crept up my spine.

He brought one of his legs up, picked me up and placed me on his laps ; and by God if the only thing unpleasant here was to sit on some sharp bones, the fact, that he was almost crushing me in a hug, consciously or not, could really be described as the worse.

-"Hey! Could you just let go a bit ; I'm chocking here!" I said between two breaths. His embrace loosened a bit and finally, I could breath anew.
Nevertheless, the space I was in, wasn't big enough to permit me to move from his bony laps so, seating without making that much contact, I resumed staring at the lanterns. And, after some time, they seemed to become more and more blurry... to the point were I couldn't see them anymore.