Broken to a point

The hard stop

Stranger are just friends you haven't met yet

'Gods' Jaune thought bitterly 'He's like I was, young and bright eyed.'

Jaune's cold blue eyes softened a bit as he looked over to David "Thanks" he finally said, a bit awkwardly "For, y'know, helping me out."

A bright smile came to David's face, one that caused a pang of nostalgia to hit Jaune "No problem, I'm sure you would've done the same." He didn't seem to register the complete change in Jaune's tone, or he didn't care.

Jaune winced at his words before changing the subject "Any idea where we are?" He gestured to the featureless metal room "Besides some kind of metal box."

David chuckled at his dry joke before speaking "Definitely some Atlas complex, that's all I can tell from the collar at least." He tapped the offending ring of metal "Besides that, who knows?"

"Ever seen a uniform like this?" Jaune tugged at his tight garments, the material slick in his fingers "Feels like some sort of rubber, nothing like the usual Atlas getups."

David shook his head, his own hands feeling the material of his outfit. He tried to pull it, but it wouldn't stretch far. "Definitely feels rubbery." He agreed "Though it's tougher than any rubber I've ever seen, I can barely even pull it off my skin."

Jaune tried to the same thing, achieving the same result. Whatever these uniform were made of it was strong stuff. 'Not to mention weirdly comfortable' Jaune thought to himself as he shifted around in his bodysuit. 'Like a second pair of skin'

"You're right though." David said, still inspecting the stretchability of his own bodysuit "This is nothing like a usual Atlas prison suit. They wouldn't hesitate to plaster something related to their kingdom over every inch of this thing," David's voice grew harsh as he spoke about the icy kingdom, and Jaune let the matter of Atlas lie.

No point in working up his cellmate. 

"There's also the matter of how we even got here." Jaune added, moving on from the touchy subject of Atlas "Last I remember, I was sitting in the back of a transport truck. Then I woke up here, I don't even remember falling asleep."

David blinked at his words "A transport truck? Like a prison one?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed at him "Yeah, you know another kind?"

David chuckled sheepishly "I just wanted to make sure." He glanced back up at Jaune "The same thing happened to me too, I was being transported to a different prison and then everything went dark."

Jaune raised an eyebrow "You? A criminal?"

David rubbed the back of his neck and gave a small grin "I'm no big timer, just a thief. Was pretty good at it too till they sent some huntsmen after me." He shuddered "didn't last too long after that."

Jaune chuckled lightly "You must've been pretty good to get huntsman sent after you."

"Ah stop..." David looked away and waved away his praise.

Jaune stopped.

"Wait no keep going!"

They both shared a laugh, and it felt good for Jaune to really laugh for the first time in awhile. No crushing guilt and no plans for the future to scheme. Just laughter that lifted the painful feeling in his chest for a moment, Gods Jaune had missed laughing.

"What'd they lock you up for?" There went all those good feelings, and the world came crashing back down onto Jaune.

It was an innocent enough question at a glance. They had just spoken and laughed about David's criminality and time in prison, so why not expand it to Jaune's? It was a natural progression of topics, one that shouldn't have caused the reaction it did from Jaune.