#payday rust

When first joining the gang, Jacket wasn't exactly easy to work with. The tape recorder thing got confusing fast, and nobody could hold a casual conversation with him. In a world of crime, you need to know that you can count on your comrades, lest someone ends up dead. Dallas, being the head of the house, decides that team-bonding exercises are in order. This concludes in him sending everyone off one by one to hang out with Jacket and shoot the shit. But does it work?

Chains

"I gotta admit man, not a huge fan of the chicken thing." "Chickens are social animals with complex vocalizations and behaviors, and feature in folklore, religion, and literature across many societies. Their economic importance makes them a central component of global animal husbandry." "Run that by me again?"

They're both huge movie buffs

They watch old slasher and action movies together

Jacket plays fun facts and trivia on his tape recorder "Black and White horror films used chocolate syrup as blood, since the sweet treat shows up clearly on film, matching both thickness and color." "Ay, that's uh- that's pretty cool man!"

At first, Chains feels a little awkward about talking to himself in a way, but he adjusts quickly

Chains isn't afraid of Jacket in the slightest, having Wolf as a teammate has desensitized him to 'Creepy behavior'

He is very patient with Jacket and never tries to get him to 'speak'

Jacket thinks Chains is a chill and reliable guy

Being ex-military, these guys can use terms and make jokes that everyone else wouldn't really understand

Good pals and teammates

Hoxton

Hoxton is plenty used to knife-wielding drunk madmen back in England

That being said, Jacket still freaks him out

"Bloke's not of sound mind, how can you manage him?" "No, no, Wolf is a different kind of mad, the good kind"

Hoxton makes jokes about Jacket but that's just how Hoxton is

Hoxton spends the day trying to get Jacket to talk or laugh or do something expressive

His strategies include cracking jokes, telling stories, tripping Houston, and asking questions

It never works, Jacket just nods or replies with his tapes

Eventually Hoxton starts thinking that maybe he's not charismatic enough "Ah, not a chance, lad's just simple"

Little does he know, Jacket is genuinely entertained listening to Hoxton. It's like watching a literal clown

Grateful that Hoxton's an absolute loudmouth, the less talking Jacket needs to do, the better

Hoxton swears he managed to get Jacket to smirk a bit, nobody believes him (he actually did)

Jacket doesn't hate having Hoxton around, but when the talking gets too much, he'll just wander off before his patience drops to dangerous levels

They can work together well enough, but they're more friendly acquittances than anything

Houston

"Dallas are you fucking insane?! You're leaving me alone with that guy?!"

when first meeting, Houston was petrified

All he'd ever hear about Jacket was his violent nature

He's already bad enough with social interactions, but to be around a ticking timebomb? He's as good as dead

For about 5 minutes, they just stood there staring at each other until Jacket broke the ice

"Shall we proceed with the plan?" "Yeah... Sure..."

Neurodivergent to neurodivergent communication. The parallel play goes crazy

They don't talk much at all, Houston works on his van or cleans his guns while Jacket tinkers with his tape recorder or plays Tetris on his Gameboy

Sometimes Jacket will stare at whatever Houston is working on and he'll explain the process (mostly to distract himself from Jacket's stares)

Jacket doesn't understand much about the technicalities of vehicles, but he does love a fancy sports car

Houston's not a talkative guy so to have a friend he can just exist around quietly is a gift he's never had before

Not having someone to listen to is a different change of pace for Jacket. He enjoys the quiet

Their bond is closer than anyone could have expected. Hours spent in the same room? Dozens. Hours spoken? Close to none

On the rare chance that Jacket speaks, Houston has a very difficult time understanding him (autism) so to save everyone the headache, Jacket might text him or write a note

Jacket hates the thought of using words that are literally, specifically his own but it happens so rarely that he can put up with it for Houston

He made Houston swear up and down that he'd never share those messages with anyone or else they're gonna have problems

Jacket knows that Houston is still too afraid to cross him which is why he tolerates it at all

Their friendship is a little lackluster but it's good enough for the two of them

Joy

They bond like crazy over retro games and arcade cabinets.

Jacket used to own an NES before his... new line of work started. He lost it while fleeing moving apartments and hadn't been able to play it since

Seeing Joy's collection of Nintendo consoles brought him emotions he hadn't felt in a long time

He was literally and figuratively speechless (which wasn't very noticeable)

They spent all day hopping from game to game, console to console playing whatever

Joy was ecstatic to have someone who cares for video games like she does, especially the old ones

Joy quizzes him on trivia questions and talks on and on about nerdy things. She's also a very vocal gamer (Jacket kinda tunes her out)

Every once in a while, they'll go to an arcade together

They're pretty competitive

Jacket doesn't really care for Joy as an individual, but she brings him a lot of nostalgia. So, they're pretty much friends

Wolf

A match made in hell <3

Wolf didn't have any doubts about Jacket from the very beginning, in fact he was excited to meet him

He was the very first person to interact with Jacket and show him around

Wolf got very attached right away, for good reason

Owning so many language-learning tapes, Jacket is a natural polyglot and lets Wolf speak to him in Swedish when English fails him (which he really appreciates and was a little emotional about)

They both understand ASL, but Jacket doesn't like to use it to replace his tape recorder. But it comes in handy during stealth heists when silence is an absolute must

Wolf is the only person allowed to touch Jacket's tape recorder but ONLY for maintenance

They help each other out in certain ways; Jacket can come to Wolf without being judged for his violent nature and Wolf can come to Jacket knowing that he understands that his mood swings aren't personal

Speaking of; the very first-time Wolf lashed out at Jacket in an inexplainable burst of emotion, Jacket couldn't really tell at first. He just thought Wolf wanted to throw things because he felt like it or something, and he was completely fine with it. It was only when Wolf started crying that he realized 'Oh. Right, he's upset'

When Wolf calms down, Jacket's there like nothing even happened (Wolf appreciates that Jacket never takes offense to things that he really didn't mean)

Unstoppable force meets unmovable object; intense, but they keep each other grounded, if that makes sense

For people who struggle socially, they have a pretty good relationship

Being the two most violent people in the gang, they have a lot in common

They're both happy about meeting someone who enjoys hurting people as much as they do

They discuss and test different methods of brutality.

When the gang needs information tortured out of someone, these two are on the job, they come in a pair

Wolf attempts to get Jacket to hit the dance floor with him but he just kinda stands there

As far as Wolf is concerned, these two are joined at the hip

Dallas

Unlike most of the crew, Dallas is a gentleman

But he also has a strange definition of the word 'fun'

And he's not very in touch with his emotions

He really thought having coffee with Jacket would be a pleasant experience for the both of them

He sat down and realized he didn't really think this through

Jacket and 'small talk' don't mix

They also didn't have anything in common

So, Dallas just talks about future heist ideas and the weather

Jacket is as stone-faced as ever

Dallas is internally panicking because he can't tell if Jacket is having a good time or not

He isn't, he's bored out of his mind, but he isn't gonna tell his boss that

So, Jacket just sits politely and listens

They go for a smoke break after finishing their coffees

They both like black coffee, so that's something at least

Dallas is a great co-worker; he never tries to push Jacket's buttons, accommodates for him when he can but is stern and quick to stop any bad habits (that he knows of)

With that being said, he is the lamest friend ever

Rust

Rust really doesn't give a rats-ass about Jacket

Jacket is oddly entranced by him, but he can't remember why

Jacket is especially interested in his bike, much to the annoyance of Rust

"Hey punk, you touch my bike, you're dead fuckin' meat." "Let's go for a drive!"

After some pestering, Rust agrees to go street-racing against Jacket in his Hellcat if they could make bets on it

Rust wins, barely. Jacket's faster but Rust's a better driver

Afterwards they have a beer and reminisce about the 1980's

"Alright kid, let's never do this again."

After all is said and done, the gang is finally comfortable enough to take their eyes off Jacket when he has a weapon. All that social interaction really tested his limits; he gets it all out on the next loud heist. would he hang out with everyone regularly? Maybe a few but mostly no. Has he figured out who is worth his time and who should be strictly coworkers/housemates? Absolutely. Dallas is happy, Bain is happy, and Jacket is ready for a nap.