| Date: 15 December 2007
Characters: Rowan Tyler, Jack Harkness Location: a club, outside Link to IJ: thread #7291 |
| Previous |
 Jack might have been bad at reading people he worked with, but he wasn't obtuse enough to miss that frown, and Rowan was enough like Rose to know those reactions. "No," Jack corrected quietly, holding out a hand. "Together." |
 Rowan took his hand, relaxing a bit as they headed towards the bar, "Together. Thank you." |
| "My pleasure." Jack fell into step beside Rowan, aiming for the lit building along the street. It seemed a promising place to start. "Look, I...d'you have any clue how long it's been since I last danced with Rose Tyler?" |
| He shook his head, "Not a one. How long?" |
| "Longer than you've been alive," Jack said seriously. And that was as much as he was going to say. Immortality was fucking difficult to explain, so unless he had to, he wouldn't. No point freaking out the humans. At least, no more than was fun. "So forgive me if I find this pretty freaky for a while." |
| "...What? How? That can't be, you aren't that old." |
| "Well, technically, I'm three thousand years younger than you." |
| "Only linearly." |
| "So what's a century or two between friends?" |
| "...You hold it well." |
| "Thanks." And Jack was perfectly happy for that to be the end of that discussion. "But anyway, yeah. A long time, so, y'know, it's gonna be weird for a little while." He paused, holding the door open. "Okay. Not so weird now. You?" |
| "Pretty weird, but I'm working with it," he smiled. |
| "Good for me," Jack grinned, and headed through to the bar. "And since you're older, you can get the drinks." |
| He snorted, but went to the bar and got two beers, oddly comfortable. |
| Jack headed over to a free table, drawing up a stool and tucking his coat under him to stop it dragging on the floor. He wouldn't usually drink beer, but he'd been yanked out of Cardiff - and Earth, and the 21st century - and figured he'd earned at least one. |
| Rowan sat across from him, pushing one of the drinks over to Jack, "Tell me something you should tell me." |
| Taking a sip of his pint, Jack pondered that one for a moment. "The Doctor isn't human. Don't ever expect him to react like one, just because he looks like one." Whatever he does look like. Torchwood records varied, and rarely coincided with Jack's memories. |
| He frowned, "Are you warning me about something or was that more general?" |
| "Oh, general." He leaned forwards, mischief twinkling in his eyes. "If I was going for specifics, I'd warn you not to invite him to a game of strip poker." |
| "He cheats?" |
| "He doesn't need to cheat. Shit, I've never known a guy wear so many clothes." |
| Rowan laughed. "Three piece suits and a tee shirt underneath, yeah." |
| He couldn't help his eyebrows raising a little at that. "You dance with him, too?" |
| "I like dancing." |
| Well. That was definitely one to file away and remember. "I can tell." And evidently Rowan's Doctor did, too, though Jack couldn't remember his Doctor ever wearing any kind of suit. "Tell me about your reality, Rowan Tyler. You have a regular dance partner?" |
| He shook his head, "Nah, nothing like regular." He didn't ask if Jack did. |
| Sounded like something that would make it easier for Rowan to get stranded here - wherever here was - for an indefinite amount of time. Jack wasn't entirely sure why he was so bothered about how Rowan was coping, except for the part where Rowan was pretty cute, bright, and some version of Rose. Maybe he didn't need more reason than that.
"And that's all I get?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and took a swallow of beer. |
| "My ex-girlfriend started dating girls," Rowan said, genuinely amused, "But I guess I started dancing with guys so it's only fair." |
| "Nothing wrong with dating girls, I've dated a few myself." Jack grinned, open, trust-me smile across the table. "I was kinda hoping for more on your world, but hey, if you'd rather discuss your sex life, that's fine by me." |
| "You brought it up!" He flushed, then said "The one I was born in or the one I was living in lately?" |
| "Maybe I did," Jack allowed, steady gaze fixed on Rowan. "Either. Both. You shifted?" |
| "I shifted," he nodded, "During the fall of Torchwood Tower. In the world I was born in, my father died and I met the Doctor when I was 19. In this other universe I was never born, my father didn't die, there were never Time Lords, there were Zepplins, and the Cybermen were created." |
| "A rift in time and space." Well, it wasn't the first, and probably wouldn't be the last, given the temporal nature of reality, but anything between parallel universes would tear it apart if maintained. "It got closed?"
He briefly wondered if the Time Agency even existed in a plane without Time Lords. It was an oddly appealing idea. |
| "Sealed by the Doctor- it was ripping both universes apart." |
| "It would be." And that was something worth drinking to. "D'you...have you seen him recently?" |
| "Not for a year." |
| A year. Hell, a single year.
Jack simply nodded, not passing comment. |
| "What?" Rowan looked confused. |
| "Nothing." |
| "Nothing?" |
| "Nothing," Jack confirmed. "A year, huh?" |
| "In a month yeah." |
| "Long time." |