#i remembered that jay was an actor and that the ninja have used disguises before so like

[piningpebbles]

okay so we all know the "cole, is that you?" line but. angsty proposition for the "why are you dressed like a pirate?" line.

jay had been tortured ruthlessly by nadakhan and his crew. not only had he lost half of his vision but he was clearly incredibly disoriented when cole showed up.

one of his first proper escape attempts was just a set-up by the crew to destroy his feeling of security (what little of it he had at least) that just ends up in him getting beaten again. but i doubt it was the last time that he tried to escape. and all the same, with how much they laughed, i doubt it was the last time they pulled something similar.

did he ever find a forged response letter saying his friends were coming for him and cared just for the pirates to laugh at his pathetic tears when he's told it's a fake?

did he ever hear their voices, only for it to lead him straight to the scrap and tap ring?

his trust is broken off piece by piece, not just for the crew of course (that shattered right away), but also for his friends as the crew begins to convince him that they don't care about him. that they hate him. nadakhan read jay so easily and saw through his mask he'd been wearing for years as if his face was bare, so why wouldn't he believe the pirates couldn't be right about other things, too? even if he didn't want to admit it.

that they hated him for what he'd done and left him for dead.

as each day passes by and each glimmer of hope ends up just another ruse for the pirates to laugh at before they slam his head against the wooden floor, the more it'd set in. bit by bit.

what are the chances that in the moment he sees cole, in that pirate uniform, his first thought wasn't genuine confusion or relief, but fear?

fear because pirates don't fight fair,

his friends are dressed like pirates,

and his friends hate him.

#jay walker #skybound #cole brookstone #ninjago #can't help it. skybound thoughts again #i remembered that jay was an actor and that the ninja have used disguises before so like #'you'd think that'd be like the first thought he'd have for why cole would be dressed like that. it makes the most sense #and i understand he's a bit out of it in the scene - clearly having most likely just come back from scrap n tap again #(he's literally ON THE FLOOR.) #or he could just be deflecting cause he doesn't want to talk #but i think it's interesting (and by interesting i mean really sad) to think that he might've been worried #- that the pirate outfit wasn't just a disguise. but that they hated him so much they wanted to hurt him just like they had. #rambling rocks #pebble post #// #mentioned: #violence #manipulation #torture