InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "But I don't want to."

Ianto Jones (inloyalservice) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-07-23 02:41:00

Entry tags:

!@event, !closed, the master

WHO: Ianto Jones and Koschei.
WHAT: Drinks and discussions of the weirdness of Colligo.
WHEN: After this.
WHERE: A pub near the flats.
RATING: TBD. Doubt it will be very high.
STATUS: In progress.

It was amazing how this Jack could frustrate him to no end, and yet Ianto couldn't bring himself to be angry with his Jack. In his mind, the two were completely separate entities, and he just wanted his lover back. He wasn't quite sure how to process the new memories in his head, the knowledge that there was a reality where he was happy with Lisa and the horrors of Canary Wharf had never occurred. Where he was a father and his job didn't involve making coffee. Would he leave the life he had behind for another, hypothetical life? No...he loved Jack and Lisa was his past. But the knowledge that all that death could have been prevented was somewhat daunting.

He was glad for Koschei and the opportunity to talk to someone else who seemed just as baffled by all this as he was, even if the other man was a Time Lord. He, at least, seemed less manic than the Doctor. That was always a plus. He sat at a table in the corner of the pub, waiting for his companion and raising a hand in greeting when he saw him come in. He hadn't ordered a drink yet, preferring to wait.

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inloyalservice
2009-07-23 09:46 pm UTC (link)

Ianto smiled and nodded, happy that there was someone who understood the importance of normality. "I have to agree with you there," he said with a laugh. "People underestimate normality, but when you spend your days hunting weevils and monitoring a rift in space and time, waiting for the next alien invasion, you learn to appreciate a pint at the end of the day and a good rugby match, or just having dinner without it being interrupted by an emergency."

The waitress came by and he ordered a pint of bitter and letting the Time Lord order his own drink. "So," he said, "you're cleaarly from an alternate time line, possibly a parallel reality, since you know Jack...know him being the age he should be now...and he's never mentioned you. At least, that's my understanding of the situation. What's it like where you're from?"

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justasnoble
2009-07-23 10:30 pm UTC (link)

"Can't say I probably factored very much into the situation, to be honest," Koschei said, ordering himself a pint before turning back to Ianto. "Just a random friend of the Doctor's that he met once when both the Doctor and I decided to take a side trip to the Eye of Orion at the same time," He said, chuckling and shrugging slightly. "I only look him up every so often. Don't come around Earth much, really. Not as much as Thete, at least. Doesn't help that Lo doesn't care to much for him. Fixed point in time and space and all. TARDISes have a natural aversion to such anomalies since they usually mean something is malfunctioning. She gets real testy whenever he gets too close to her, locked the doors on me once when I tried to invite him inside."

Koschei just grinned at the question about what it was like where he was from, "You mean Gallifrey?" He supposed he couldn't blame the boy for being curious. Humans weren't anywhere close to intergalactic travel yet. At least nothing that would get them anywhere near Gallifrey. Hell, they hadn't even managed Mars yet.

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inloyalservice
2009-07-25 12:44 pm UTC (link)

"I guess not," Ianto said, "but in our reality, the Doctor is the only Time Lord left. The others are all gone." He shrugged and gave a small smile. "It's good though, that the Doctor has you around in yours. He shouldn't be alone." He tilted his head to the side and fought back a small surge of anger. This part, at least, was the same with all Time Lords it seemed. "Don't talk about Jack like he's something wrong, please," he said. "He isn't. Maybe he's not what you're used to, but he's not wrong."

Ianto nodded. "I've never had much of a chance to ask the Doctor about it," he said, "and I'm curious. Working for Torchwood, you see so much of the negative. It would be a nice change to hear about something good." And he had a feeling that Gallifrey was.

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justasnoble
2009-07-25 01:05 pm UTC (link)

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with him," Koschei said, intrigued by the defensiveness but understanding it at the same time. Being anywhere near him was almost like staring into that wide gapping Schism like that they to as children. It didn't surprise Koschei that Thete had wanted to run as far away from Jack as possible. "Just that Lo doesn't like it. We all have different reactions. I actually find it rather intriguing, myself. And it isn't as though what happened could have been avoided," Koschei said, looking away to smile briefly at the waitress as she set their drinks down on the table. "Give a human the power to manipulate reality, and you're bound to get results that come straight from the heart."

Koschei allowed himself to smile, moving his mind back over the sentiment before nodding, "It's not all bad. The dregs just seem to wash up on Earth unfortunately," He said, sipping the beer. "The planet's beautiful in its own right. Burnt orange skies, silver leafed trees, lakes that shine gold, red sand deserts enveloping an outcropping of green-gray mountains that frame the Capital Dome which is awe inspiring by itself even without the scenery. Of course, it was built that way. Nothing better to inspire godlike admiration," The last sentence was almost spat as he lifted his pint and took another drink. "But the bloody politics ruin the whole effect," He said, chuckling as he shook his head. "Gallifrey's still there as far as I'm concerned, lad. Everyone's still intact and annoying as ever."

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inloyalservice
2009-07-25 03:01 pm UTC (link)

"I'm sorry," Ianto said sheepishly. "I'm just used to the rather tactless things the Doctor says." He looked down at his hands and shrugged. "I love Jack, and the idea that anyone he holds in such esteem could hurt him so thoughtlessly makes me a bit angry." He smiled. "I've heard so much about TARDISes, but I've never seen one. Are they all so finnicky? I mean, they sound fascinating. I'd love to see one eventually. They're sentient, aren't they?" He considered Koschei's words and nodded in agreement. "Humans are like that. Even when it may be ill advised, we're far more prone to think with our hearts than our heads." He certainly did with Jack.

"No," Ianto agreed, "it really isn't all bad. Just...so much of it isn't meant for humans to meddle in. Perhaps if Ms. Hartman had realised that..." He trailed off, the mix of memories in his head making it harder to think about Canary Wharf with any sort of distance. Listening to the description of Gallifrey was a welcome distraction. "It sounds amazing," he said with an awed smile. "Knowing there's that sort of beauty in the universe...it reminds us why we do what we do." He sipped his drink and shrugged. "Personally, the planet itself sounds far more awe inspiring than the dome. Politics do tend to spoil things, it's true." He laughed. "All the bureaucracy, paperwork and red tape. But Gallifrey is really still there?"

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justasnoble
2009-07-25 05:34 pm UTC (link)

"It's all right. Trust me. I've been dealing with Thete since I was eight," Koschei said, grinning over his glass. "I know how frustrating he can be. You should have met his first incarnation. If you think he's arrogant now, that man was a nightmare," He said before allowing his smile to twist into a bit of a smirk. "Have you ever met a woman that wasn't finicky? They're sentient, yes. Annoyingly so in some circumstances. Honestly, a TARDIS is probably more like a human in personality than we are," He said, taking a long drink. "They have an intense level of affection, a sense of humor, their own little quirks and foibles that make them unique. Thete's TARDIS is almost as bad as he is. Always has been. I don't think Dad ever quite settled with her. I think it was why he figured it would be better to pass her on."

"Still there," Koschei said. "It's hard to believe that it isn't here. But, then again, Thete was apparently convinced that Traken was gone, too, so..." He sighed and shrugged, taking another drink. "It's amazing how much things can differ between universes. Even the smallest change can make a world of difference."

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inloyalservice
2009-07-26 05:25 am UTC (link)

"Literally eight or the Time Lord equivalent?" Ianto asked, not entirely sure how it worked. And it said a lot about the kind of work he did that he immediately asked for that sort of clarification. Having this opportunity to discuss things with a Time Lord who didn't compel him to hit things was a rare and fascinating opportunity. "The idea of the Doctor being more arrogant than he is now is somewhat terrifying, I'll have you know," he said with a grin, before focusing on the much more interesting subject of TARDISes. "Tosh was never finicky...but I get your point. But...a sentient vessel that can travel in time and space...duw...I bet she's brilliant. Somehow, though, I'm not surprised that the Doctor's TARDIS is as...unique as he is." He smiled. "Is yours here? I have to admit, I'd love to meet her."

He nodded. "In our reality, it was apparently destroyed," he said. "I'm afraid I don't know much beyond that. Jack's always been a bit closed-lipped when it comes to the Doctor." He looked down at his drink. "While I was...different, I guess you could say, the reality the other me was from...Canary Wharf never happened. Lisa...she was my girlfriend...never got converted and all those people never died. The Doctor never lost Rose...none of it went the way it did. And I wonder if that's somehow a better world...but Torchwood One never learned its lessons, and I never knew Jack...so I can't say I would choose the other over this life."

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justasnoble
2009-07-27 09:35 pm UTC (link)

"Literally eight," Koschei said, chuckling. "Wee little things, night and day. Mentally, intellectually, Gallifreyan children as insanely more developed than any other children in the galaxy. We do Quantum Physics in kindergarten. But emotionally... There's not really much difference," Koschei said, taking another sip of his beer. "Any Gallifreyan with the potential to become a Time Lord is taken from their family at eight, stuck into the Academy with no attachments, no support, nothing and no one to rely on. Each of us copes with it in our own way. Some of us harden. Some of us become flippant and dismissive. Some of us don't react at all. Thete and I just ended up clinging to each other," Koschei said with a shrug, running his finger around the lip of the mug idly.

"Just count yourself lucky that you didn't have to deal with any of his previous incarnation. Granted, I liked the second one quite a bit. And the fifth. The eighth was good, too, other than his tendency to just up and suddenly forget who he was. And the ninth... Bitter old bastard, but he was great fun when he actually let himself loosen up. Which wasn't often mind you considering the slightest thing could make his temper snap like a brittle twig. But he was a hell of a lot better than the sixth. All of them were a lot better than the sixth, even mister old stuff fancy pants three was better than psycho six," Koschei had to roll his eyes. "I suppose you can't blame him. But Five sacrificed his life to make sure Peri survived, the regeneration goes wrong, and the first thing Six tries to do is strangle the poor girl. Seems counter productive to me."

Koschei cleared his throat after a moment, realizing that he had veered rather drastically off topic, "Where were we, exactly? TARDISes? Well, TTCs if you want to get technical. TARDIS is basically what you'd refer to as a colloquialism. And I'm sure Lo's around here somewhere. She would hardly leave me stranded in a place like this on my own. The only problem with a TARDIS that has a working chameleon circuit is, though, if you don't remember where you left her, it's next to impossible to find her again. But she'd find a way to stand out if we got separated, I'm sure."

Taking another sip of his beer, Koschei shook his head, "See, that's where most people get stuck on parallel worlds. There's a give and take pattern in all things. For every event, several other options fall until we're left with a string of choices that is practically indiscernible from anything else that we might know. It's not necessarily better. It's just different."

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inloyalservice
2009-07-30 06:25 pm UTC (link)

"I see," Ianto said, fascinated by the differences between Time Lords and humans. "So, mentally, eight year old Gallifreyans are like adult geniuses, but emotionally and physically...at least in terms of rate of growth, they're just like human children?" He tilted his head to the side, considering. "When does it change?" he asked. "When does the rate of ageing slow. Because Time Lords live for centuries...millennia even...and if they kept to a normal ageing rate, they'd never last that long, even with thirteen regenerations." He took a drink of his pint and paused for a moment before saying anything else. "So, how do they know who has the potential to become a Time Lord?" He didn't agree with the idea of taking children and separating them from any support, forcing them to grow up so quickly, but he supposed Gallifreyan society was different. "It's good that you and the Doctor had one another."

"It's strange, to think of someone changing so fundamentally with each regeneration, but still being the same person," he mused. "Do regenerations often go wrong? Or is it a matter of circumstances? Are more violent deaths more likely to cause a regenerative crisis? And do you think the manner in which the regeneration is triggered affects the personality of the next regeneration...or possibly there's some subconscious element to it...or both...circumstances and state of mind in conjunction? The ninth incarnation's personality was so temperamental, as you've said...was he angry about the circumstances of his regeneration? What have your regenerations been like...which are you on, anyway?" He paused and looked down at his drink, flushing slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm asking far too many questions...it's just...fascinating, really."

"But yes," Ianto said with a smile, "we were talking about TAR...TTCs, I guess. I take it not all TARDISes look like phoneboxes then? I had wondered about that. It seemed strange that a race from another planet would make their ships resemble something from Earth." He smiled. "So, you're saying that if you want to find Lo, you need to look for something really very out of place, in a city where all sorts of odd modes of transportation from people's home realities are showing up? Yes...that won't be difficult at all." Yes, he could still manage sarcasm. "She sounds amazing though."

He took another sip from his pint and nodded. "People get caught up on wanting to change things...fix them...without realising how difficult it is and how much damage they can do.Go back a few centuries, or even a few decades or a few years, say the wrong thing to one person, and you could set off a chain of events that changes everything. Like they say about butterflies and tornadoes. Stepping on the butterfly my stop the tornado, but who is to decide that the resulting situation would be any better. The smallest thing could change everything, and too many people get caught up in their own life and what they want to fix to realise that it's so much bigger than them." He shrugged and finished off his beer. "Life happens the way it does and it's arrogant to try and change it to suit one's purposes."

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justasnoble
2009-07-30 08:48 pm UTC (link)

"It all levels out around the time we hit twenty," Koschei said as he took another sip of his beer and settled the glass down in front of him, idly pushing at the handle and making the glass spin as he talked. "We're kids until we hit two hundred or so, in the eyes of the elders, and we don't really start to age visibly again until we reach 300 or so. From there, it's a very rapid process until our first regeneration which tends to happen somewhere between 500 to 800 years of age. And those that regenerate in the latter half of those years tend to very much look their age before they get a new body. From there, it's typical that each regenerate grows progressively younger. There are exceptions, of course. Especially in the circumstances that someone elects to regenerate rather than is forced to by an accident or old age. Then, they're allowed to choose their face and form. Typically, without incident, each regenerative form can last up to a thousand years. For Renegades, the figure tends to be far less," He said with a slightly bitter smile before glancing back up at Ianto and shaking his head.

"We take our entrance exams to the Academy as toddlers," Koschei said. "If we're shown to have the mental fortitude and capabilities, then we're selected. But even out of those that are selected, though, very few ever actually make it past 7th grade. Thete was lucky he graduated at all. If he hadn't managed a 51% in Temporal Engineering the second time through, he would have been done. Not that I was completely surprised. He never really did care about how things worked, just that they did. I can only imagine what state his TARDIS is in without a proper mechanic to look her over what with his tendency to jerry-rig things."

The words were said with amusement, though, as he turned his attention to Ianto's next set of question, a vague smile spreading across his face as the other man apologized, "Never be sorry for being curious. Probably the best trait you humans have," He said, grinning as he turned the questions over in his head. "Usually it's a matter of circumstance, and considering that Thete's your example, the circumstances that you know aren't exactly typical. That man has a tendency to throw himself into supernovas for a laugh. As it is, the worse the damage to the body, the more likely the regeneration is going to go wrong. It becomes even more likely if you're dealing with things that may mess with the body's own internal chemistry. Like radiation or outside energy. And you've actually got a good grip on the rest of it. The way that the regeneration is triggered often does have an effect on the personality of the next. The guilts that the previous incarnation carried do at times as well. Thete's Four to Five. Four was exceedingly reckless in almost all situations, thoughtless, charged directly into the heat of things and nearly got or did get a lot of people killed on each occasion. Transversely, Five became much more cautious, abhorrent to violence, and preferred to talk his way out of situations rather than fight. As far as his Ninth goes... I know this Eighth had a lot of unresolved issues and a lot of guilt that dealt with his companions. I never got all of the facts. He preferred not to talk about it, and I wasn't there when he regenerated. So all I could do would be speculate."

Laughing with a slight shrug, Koschei smiled, "As far as my regenerations go, it's hard to say this without confusing someone, but I'm on my...15th, I think. It's a very, very long story that starts with an accident in a blackhole and ends with stopping the galaxy from collapsing due to heat entropy. The Council decided that I deserved a second set since I'd only really been able to use three of my regular regenerations."

"And I'm sure I'll find here, eventually. I'll let you know when I do," Koschei said, grinning. "She's only had me for company for quite a long time. I don't think she'd mind a new face."

Pausing to take another sip of his beer, Koschei listened to Ianto's last few statements before nodding, a very slight smile on his face, "Wise words. And one of the many reasons that we have so many rules."

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