That's the trigger word Jerry came up with for them back home to act as a shit's about to hit the fan warning. He spent a week shouting Casper Van Dien and pelting tennis balls at Jack, until he started ducking by sheer reflex before the ball even left his hand. It grew and evolved to incorporate anything immediately threatening and dangerous, ducking not necessarily required. Eventually, Jack started going into a mode when threatened — he calls it hyper-defense mode.
The place he goes now is beyond hyper-defense mode. At least he stays aware when that hits, it's just that his reflex is to grab a weapon and prepare to swing immediately. Here, now, with his paranoia at peak and the manifestation of his trauma whispering in him, he goes someplace more rare.
It happens in a blink — one moment his eyes go wide, wild, alarmed, threatened — in the next, they glaze over. His expression goes blank, detached, vacant.
From nowhere, from nothing, there's a boxcutter in his hand.
Unlike Kyle, Jack doesn't stop himself in the nick of time. He doesn't hesitate, question, or second-guess. He's cold and emotionless as he thrusts a hand out and plunges the blade into the first open space on Kyle's body that he can manage. )
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That's the trigger word Jerry came up with for them back home to act as a shit's about to hit the fan warning. He spent a week shouting Casper Van Dien and pelting tennis balls at Jack, until he started ducking by sheer reflex before the ball even left his hand. It grew and evolved to incorporate anything immediately threatening and dangerous, ducking not necessarily required. Eventually, Jack started going into a mode when threatened — he calls it hyper-defense mode.
The place he goes now is beyond hyper-defense mode. At least he stays aware when that hits, it's just that his reflex is to grab a weapon and prepare to swing immediately. Here, now, with his paranoia at peak and the manifestation of his trauma whispering in him, he goes someplace more rare.
It happens in a blink — one moment his eyes go wide, wild, alarmed, threatened — in the next, they glaze over. His expression goes blank, detached, vacant.
From nowhere, from nothing, there's a boxcutter in his hand.
Unlike Kyle, Jack doesn't stop himself in the nick of time. He doesn't hesitate, question, or second-guess. He's cold and emotionless as he thrusts a hand out and plunges the blade into the first open space on Kyle's body that he can manage. )