| Date: 26 December 2007
Characters: The Master, Jack Harkness Location: hotel dining room Link to IJ: thread #19416 |
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 "Oh yeah, I'm having a real blast," he growled, in an abrupt (or seemingly abrupt) shift of mood. |
 The Master gave him a wry smile. "All gets a bit much occasionally, doesn't it? Living forever." |
| He snorted, softly. "You cheat death. You're not immortal." |
| "I meant you." |
| "I know you meant me," he said, a little patronizingly. "I'm trying to figure out how you apparently know me well enough to know that I can't die, and you still find it 'exciting' before you hit 'sympathizing'." |
| The Master rolled his eyes. "I meant it made meeting yourself more fun. Always more fun when it's like looking in a mirror!"
Oh, the man was hard work. He'd never really tried to have a civil conversation with Jack before. |
| "How would you know, and why would you think that?"
He was having a good time, anyway. In a twisted and slightly sadistic and deliberately annoying way. |
| "What do you mean, how would I know? I'm a Time Lord. There have been occasions when I've run into myself. Not in this body, however - so that would be a new experience. I rather like this body." |
| "You've run into yourself close enough together in your timeline that you haven't regenerated? Sounds kind of annoying, actually." |
| "Why annoying? And it can be hundreds of years between regenerations, when things work out well." |
| "Do things ever work out that well, and if it is that long don't you age, and if you age do you really look the same?" |
| The Master took another sip of his drink, and regarded Jack lazily over his glass. "My, you're full of questions all of a sudden, aren't you?" |
| "Hey, I've been bored a lot, lately." |
| "You too, eh?" |
| "Yep. This is the most exciting thing that's happened in *decades*" |
| His eyebrows shot up again. "Decades? And I here I was thinking you led such an exciting life fighting aliens in Cardiff!" |
| "What do you know about what I'm doing in Cardiff, Harry?" |
| He gave Jack a deprecating look. "Oh, come on, Jack - like Torchwood's such a secretive, well-hidden organisation!
"And I don't remember telling you you could call me Harry." |
| He laughed. "I didn't say we were that hidden, especially from Time Lords. I just wanted to know what you knew. As for the rest." He shrugged. "You keep calling me Jack." |
| "Well, I did... look you up, so to speak, after I met you for the first time." He smiled, slowly. "You fascinated me, what with the not being able to stay dead. And, well, you yourself fascinated me too."
"And calling me Harry's fine. It just surprised me a little." Because it was what Lucy called him. And what he'd asked dear, sweet Susan to call him. But he couldn't really ask this Jack to call him Master, so Harry it would have to be. |
| "Oh, I'm less interested in what you know about me than what's been happening in Torchwood," he admitted.
He grinned. "That's good." Because he wasn't gonna stop. |
| "What's been happening in Torchwood? You mean, after you left?"
He smirked a bit. "Well, that depends on when you left, doesn't it?" |
| "Nope, I mean before you left, not after I left."
He paused and smirked, not even a bit just smirked. "Honestly, Harry. I've given you more than enough information tow ork out a time period . I'm not going to insult you by making it easier." |
| He was lost. "Look," he said impatiently, "I've got that you left before you met the Doctor again. But I don't see how you can expect me to work out exactly what point before that it was.
"I mean, it's not as if I saw you vanish! Apparently, people always return from here right back to the instant they left, so no-one notices them leave." |
| "You were not around on earth, running for Prime Minister, for long enough to be this confused." |
| The drums were back, drum-drum-drumming away in his head, because he didn't like being made to look a fool.
"About eighteen months." He did the deprecating look again. "Care to narrow it down for me, Captain? Or do you want me to just start recounting all your exploits until we find one you don't remember?" |
| There was something a little dangerous there. "Eighteen months," he repeated. And smiled and moved on. "That sounds like a plan, to me." |
| He sighed. "I told you I used a few short-cuts." If only he had Archangel working for him here, he was sure Jack wouldn't be nearly so difficult.
"And I'm not going back eighteen months before Election Day. We'll be here forever. I'll give you a year." He set his glass down, turned so he had his back to the bar and leaned his elbows against it, clasping his hands in front of him. Then he gazed into space and started to recite. Because after all, what harm could it do? "Gwen Cooper was already with you by then, and had got you all into a few scrapes. There was a machine that made people see ghosts of the past, or the future." He smiled internally. He'd had fun planting that one and watching the havoc it produced. "There was a rogue cyberwoman left over from Canary Wharf. An alien amulet that enabled the wearer to read people's thoughts. A gang of cannibals in the Brecon Beacons..." He turned his head to look at Jack. "Am I getting close yet, Captain?" |
| "Sounds mostly familiar," he agreed, still smiling. He took a sip of his water. "Keep going." |
| He sighed again. "All right. Revival of dead colleague, Ms Costello. A strange affair concerning your Miss Cooper - again - and a dead young man's ghost. Visitors from the 1950s. An incident with Weevils and young Mr Harper."
He paused again, and raised an eyebrow at Jack. It was starting to look as if the Captain was far nearer to his own time than he'd anticipated. |
| "Why are you calling Owen young?" He asked, like it was the only interesting thing out of all of it. "I mean him in particular." |
| The Master couldn't stop himself sneering, just a little. "Because he acts like a teenager? All big talk and no self-control, and randy as hell." |
| "Sounds about right. Of course, you've also just described just about every man I've met in the past century."
Including the Doctor, now that he thought about it, and take two of those three and Harry, here, would find himself included in that assessment. |
| The Master raised a lazy eyebrow. "You don't include yourself in that assessment?" |
| "Nope," he said, simply. |
| He tipped his head back briefly, grinning widely, then looked at Jack. "Sure of yourself, aren't you?" he murmured. |
| "Yep." He drank his water. |
| The Master chuckled. Something about smugness Jack was displaying felt very familiar.
"Just how much time did you spend with the Doctor?" |
| He lifted his eyebrow and thought about it at the same time. "A while." He couldn't be more precise, even if he wanted to. He didn't know. |
| "I was just wondering if his qualities start to rub off on his companions after a while. Qualities like his infuriating smugness."
He said it with a smile, because he found it quite endearing. Why else would he keep coming back for more? |
| Jack burst out laughing, loud and warm and sudden. "Yeah, I'd imagine they do." |
| He hadn't heard Jack laugh much, not like this anyway, and it took him by surprise. It was beautiful.
He turned back towards Jack and studied him, trying to work out just when he'd started thinking about Jack in the same way he thought about the Doctor. |
| Jack stopped laughing, and looked confused. "What?" |
| "Sorry. Just - "
Oh, the hell with it. The man was beautiful and he'd been standing here all evening, so close yet unable to touch. He'd probably get punched or something, but... He leaned in, placed one gentle hand against Jack's jaw, and kissed him. |
| Jack didn't punch him.
He did make a low, surprised sound and stayed still for a half second. Then he got a hand up around the Master's neck and kissed him back. Not particularly "hot", but gentle and warm and steady. |
| The Master had his own moment of surprise when he didn't get punched and did get kissed back.
He also groaned, just a little. And wondered why he'd never kissed Jack before. He knew what that mouth could do, yet he'd never thought to try this. It was bloody well going to be on the agenda when he got back, though. |
| Jack pulled back, very slowly. "Well that was a surprise." |
| "Yeah." He exhaled slowly, drew back a little and finally let his hand fall.
"I've been wanting to do that all evening." |
| "Yeah, I get that a lot." He was actually not smug about that, just quietly and gently amused. "You all right?" |
| "Yeah." He shook his head slightly to clear it. "Just a little surprised."
He tilted his head, eyes very bright on Jack's face. "Anyone ever tell you you've got the time vortex inside you, Jack Harkness?" |
| Both his eyebrows went up.
"Not in as many words. Usually people just ask my sign." |
| "It's... rather a wonderful sensation, for a Time Lord." |
| "Nope, haven't heard that. I did hear that it takes some getting used to and it's 'wrong', though." |
| His lips twitched. "That'd be the Doctor, then. Poor fool doesn't realise just what he's got, in you." |
| Jack choked again, just a little. "Was that pun intentional?" |
| He thought back, and grinned. "No. But it's what I meant." |
| He laughed, soft and low. "Well, that's good." |
| There was that laugh again. It was kind of addictive.
Hell, maybe it would be a good thing if he didn't remember this place when he got back to the Valiant, if he was going to go soft over Jack. His brow crinkled a bit. "It is?" |
| "Sure. Saying what you mean's always better than saying what you don't." |
| "Oh, quite. Though it's an interesting sentiment to find expressed by someone who does his very best not to say anything most of the time."
He was tickled, and showed it in his amused smile and the twinkle in his eyes. |
| "And I mean to say nothing most of the time," he smirked, and then let the smirk turn into a smile. |
| "I got that. Bloody infuriating." He grinned. |
| "Yeah, you look infuriated," Jack snarked. |
| "Oh, I quite enjoy being infuriated. Why else do you think I keep coming back to the Doctor?" |
| "Because he's hot, and he's the only one left." |
| "There's that too," he admitted, lips twitching again. He was enjoying himself immensely. "But I kept coming back long before he was the only one left. There's just something about him. Can't leave him alone." He picked up his glass again and sipped. "Just like you can't." |
| "I'm not doing too bad, thanks." He was lying, but he was lying well. |
| The Master pursed his lips, one eyebrow gently lifted.
"Oh, come on, Jack. It's been - what? - over a hundred years, for you. And there you are, sitting tight in Cardiff, his hand in a jar, just waiting for him." His tone was almost fond. He could understand. |
| "It's been a hundred years," he agreed. "I can't die, I don't know why I can't die. Presumably he did. You know what I did when I met him here? I hit him. I may hit him again, because he is a cowardly, conniving, annoying, obnoxious, son of a bitch. Thanks, but no." |
| He laughed. "Oh, that would've been fun to see - you hitting him!"
He paused, glancing down at his glass and then back up at Jack's face. "Would you like to know why you can't die?" |
| He'd heard, in an indirect way. Not that he was going to admit that.
"Yes." |
| The Master settled back against the bar again, but his eyes were still on Jack's. "Well, I told you you'd got the time vortex inside you. Part of it anyway. That's what's bringing you back every time you die. Because the vortex is a constant. Always there. Imposible to destroy. And therefore, so are you." |
| "Any idea how it got there?" he asked, curiously. The curiosity was real. He wanted confirmation - or not. |
| "Not really." He was telling the truth there. "I haven't managed to wheedle that out of the Doctor, yet."
Hadn't actually thought of trying, really. Too busy enjoying the effects. Very remiss of him. "But it came from the TARDIS. Must have done." |
| "Why?" he asked, drank his water, and prodded. |
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