InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I step out of the ordinary."

Shannon Rutherford (ballerinadreams) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-05-05 13:28:00

Entry tags:

!dropped, day 06, jack harkness, location: gas station, shannon rutherford, the doctor (ten)

Day Six - Evening
Who: Jack Harkness, the Doctor, and Shannon Rutherford
What: Chance meeting with a healthy side of Weevils
When: Day Six, evening (after sun down)
Where: Gas Station/Convenience Store
Rating: TBA but probably at least PG-13
Status: Active

Karma was a real bitch. As well as the previous day had gone for Shannon, by the end of the evening, it had turned right back around and today was not much better. As if it wasn't bad enough not only waking up naked with a complete stranger, she'd compounded it by letting herself fall into the belief that he had been someone else entirely, only to turn around and insinuate that he was a rapist and a stalker. That whole situation had been beyond embarrassing and she didn't like to think about it. Way to start off on the wrong foot. Then the whole thing with Dean had gone downhill far faster than it had gotten to the top of the hill to begin with and that made her stomach unsettle with nerves when she thought of it, so that too was pushed away.

She'd gone to the gas station yesterday to stock up on water and breakfast bars, but she'd gotten interrupted pleasantly by getting sidetracked by the travel-sized toiletries and then by meeting up with Domeki again. She'd all but completely forgotten to finish stocking her backpack. Now, it was fucking cold outside and her stomach was rumbling with hunger, not to mention the fact that she was thirsty. So, Shannon layered the tank top she'd arrived in with a long-sleeved shirt she'd found at the thrift store as well as her own sweater and lastly the hoodie pulled down over the whole of it all. The hood was pulled up over her head and the strings drawn tightly to keep the cold off her head and ears when she walked the short trek alone to the gas station, with her chin tucked down and her arms around herself as she shivered.

As soon as she was inside, she untied and pushed back the hood, shuddering against the cold as the door closed behind her. Her eyes went briefly to the trash can she and Jay had lit a fire in a few days ago. It seemed like forever since then. Shannon wasn't terribly in love with the idea of going back out in the cold very soon, so actually, she didn't think that starting a new trash can fire was such a bad idea. She could hang out here for a little bit and warm up before going back. And one of these days, when the weather wasn't so shitty, maybe she'd actually remember to steal the trash can to make a fire back at the museum...

Crossing the convenience store, Shannon picked up a bottle of lighter fluid and a few packs of the car-wash towels she'd found before, making her way back to the trash can. She ripped open the packages of the towels and dropped half of them in before squirting them with lighter fluid and picking up a lighter from the counter. Striking it, she lit one end of one of the remaining towels and when it went up, she dropped it, too, into the trash can, the bottle of lighter fluid wrapped in it, and scrambled back in time to avoid being in the line of fire when the flames shot up into the air from inside the trash can. Once the flames had calmed a little, Shannon started picking up broken pieces left over from the stool that had been and dropped them into the fire. Standing in front of the trash can, rubbing her hands up and down her arms to keep warm, Shannon suddenly realized how very, very alone she was in this horrible place, no matter what Sam Winchester said to make her stop crying two nights previous, nor what Jay told her to keep her from starting to cry earlier that same day.

"God, I hate it here..." she mumbled to herself, dipping her head slightly to catch some of the fire's heat on her face.

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ballerinadreams
2009-05-09 12:22 am UTC (link)

Shannon opened her mouth to protest when the Doctor told him not to encourage Jack, because she really hadn't, but then Jack seemed to take her remark about how warm his coat looked as an invite she hadn't been giving. The attention was nice, but... "I'll be okay," she said gently, giving Jack a small, grateful smile before moving to extract herself from the hold. ...except she couldn't quite make herself actually move away from him because, dammit, he was really warm and she was still really cold. That wasn't to say, however, that she felt entirely comfortable there with Jack's arm draped around her, especially in the midst of all the boy trouble she'd inadvertently started as it was. She had enough on her plate without Captain Charm trying to make a move, if that was what he was up to.

Her eyes flitted back and forth between the two men as they talked about the creatures like they'd known them forever. It gave her the chills, if she was honest, and she may or may not have actually shivered at the thought, but she wouldn't have noticed if she had, given she'd grown so accustomed to shivering lately that it was practically second nature. She unwittingly started to move closer to Jack, since he was proving to be a pretty damn good source of warmth - gotta be the coat, she thought - but then he dropped his arm from her shoulders and backed away to walk through the aisles. "There's gotta be cleaning supplies..." she thought aloud, wrapping her arms around herself again in the absence of Jack's body heat. She furrowed her brow as she started back toward the disgusting bathroom, because it was the first place she could think of where cleaning supplies would be. Pressurized, though, Jack had said, and she didn't think that they'd end up having very good luck finding anything like that...

And then an idea occurred to her when she came up empty for what she'd been looking for. Coming back out of the bathroom, she cleared her throat. "Uh, how skittish are they?" she asked. "I mean...would something loud scare them off, you think? If they didn't see where it came from?" She paused and then gave an impish grin. "It's just..." she pointed to the scorch marks on the ceiling. "I heard in the journals that somebody set off fireworks in here and that's what that's from...that'd be really fucking loud, right? If we set one off outside?" It was worth a shot. Wouldn't hurt the ugly, creepy ass things, so the Doctor would be happy, and maybe Jack, as well, for all she knew. She couldn't quite get a read on where he stood on the things. She, personally, did not like the idea of tangling with them ever again. And she wanted to get home. Well..."home" anyway. So not staying here with these guys; Sam will flip a shit worrying...I'd be so pissed if the tables were turned, she thought, because it wasn't like she had her journal with her to leave him a note if she got held up with Jack and the Doctor and ended up having to stay.

It dawned on her, then, that Jack's first offered plan was to distract them long enough for she and the Doctor to escape. "Uh, okay, actually...I have a quick question," she said, looking pointedly at Jack as she approached the trash bin fire again. "You're telling everybody how nasty those Weevil things are but you just offered to play decoy. What's that about? Something special about you make them hold still or what?" she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

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capt_harkness
2009-05-11 12:11 am UTC (link)

"I'm innocent!" Jack protested, attempting to give the Doctor his best look of feigned innocence, complete with matching halo and wings. How successful he was, however, remained to be seen. Maybe, perhaps, standing with h is arm around Shannon wasn't doing much by way of proving the whole innocence thing. Jack, wisely, ignored the Doctor's look, smiling in response. 'Yes, I am this adorable' his non-verbal response seemed to say.

Jack nodded in agreement with the Doctor. "That's why I decided to join them. It's one thing to kill them if it's to get away. It's another to hunt them for sport. It's seeming like, lately, the latter is what's happening." Jack tightened his grip on Shannon when she moved closer to him and he was, honestly, using his body heat to keep her warm. If it had the added bonus of pulling a cute girl in against himself, well then, so much the better for him.

"Doctor..." Jack sighed, shaking his head. "I promise you. My Torchwood is not the one you know. I had pulled away from the Institute a long before Canary Wharf." He knew this wouldn't make any sense to Shannon and was, perhaps, a conversation for another time. "Nevermind. Later," He muttered, shoving his free hand into his trouser pocket.

Jack wandered through the rows of the store, listening to both of them speak. "It's hard to say. If they were pulled here like the rest of us were, it stands to reason they're skittish. There's times when they'll attack and others... when they won't. They're smarter than we give them credit for. Owen knew the most about them." And all that knowledge died with him, that little bit that hadn't been included in the archives. Though, not like archives were going to be helping him much either.

"Well, well, she realised what I had said," Jack teased lightly. "Yes, I said I'd play decoy and yes I know I said they were dangerous creatures." Well, he could either sugar coat it or...

"I can't die. Simple as that."

Or not.

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fromgallifrey
2009-05-11 08:52 am UTC (link)

Certainly not oblivious, just playing ignorant, the Doctor pulled up a seat on top of the counter. Checking out the ingredients in the cleaning supplies he'd salvaged. Lots of bleach in these little bottles - he hoped that time hadn't rendered it too basic, or worse inactive.

Swinging his feet like a kid at the playground, he just listened to Jack, letting his mind work in quiet, yet furious fashion as he tried to plan. He didn't plan all that often, to it was kind of a rarity to get in a comfortable spot and actually be able to let his brain work for a moment. It wasn't like he had Daleks chasing him or Cybermen threatening the whole of London with thier upgrade tactics.

Taking his moment in the sun to undercut Jack for his dashing explanation of the TARDIS, the Doctor swooped in, "He had a side effect from an encounter with the Time Vortex - rendered him unable to die," yet,the Doctor mentally inserted. Face of Boe, the thought alone left a rather knowing smirk on the Doctor's face. Knowing all that has been, will be, and must not come to pass had it's advantages - one of which knowing your friend would wind up being a head in a jar one day and known as the oldest living creature in the universe.

"Just because you can't die, Jack, doesn't mean we ought to send you out there like cannon fodder while we have other viable options," Leaning back to peek over the counter again, the Doctor spied a few more firecrackers. Nearly laying on his side he flailed a moment before grasping them and setting them on the counter beside his questionable cleaning agents. He smiled cheekily at Shannon, who's idea it had actually been to use them

"Light the fireworks and run. I really enjoy running." He really did. Really, realy did.

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ballerinadreams
2009-05-11 11:42 pm UTC (link)

Shannon furrowed her brow as she listened to Jack's response about the Weevils and their level of aggression. "Of course they were pulled in like we were...how the hell else would they get here? Unless... You don't think they're indigenous do you...?" she asked. Shaking her head as if to push that away and concentrate on what was going on right then and there, Shannon spoke again. "Fickle creatures..." she remarked. "Do they only really attack when provoked? Because then we just...you know, don't provoke them, right?" It seemed logical enough.

Jack's answer to the point she'd made received a blink in response. Can't die. Yeah fucking right. In fact, she'd opened her mouth to spout off her doubt when the Doctor actually backed up the claim. Shannon raised her eyebrows, looking back and forth between the two of them. Her eyes finally settled on Jack. "So, like, theoretically, those things could rip you to shreds and you'd just, what? Be a walking corpse or something? That's really creepy you know..." she pointed out, minding her tone so that it was equally as playful as it was incredulous.

When the Doctor spoke again, Shannon looked back at him. Other viable options? She wasn't so sure the cleaning stuff would work, because Jack had said that they'd need to be pressurized and Shannon didn't see anything in aerosol cans. But then the Doctor took out the fireworks and grinned at her. She was inclined to smile until he mentioned running.

"I really don't enjoy running," she said to him with a significant look. It wasn't a very far distance, but it'd be enough, she thought, with the air outside as cold as it was, to set off the asthma and while it was easily remedied with the inhaler, she was fairly certain she'd made it clear to the Doctor that she didn't like people knowing about it. If she had an attack and had to beeline for the inhaler stash when she got inside, not only would Jack probably see, but Sam might, too. Call her vain, but she was already trying to think of a compromise. She could hear Boone's voice in her head, already.

Since when is breathing not cool, Shan? She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, lest the two men she was actually with think she was rolling her eyes at either of them when that wouldn't have been the case.

"What if we rig them to go off in succession?" she suggested. "Buy us more time?" she asked the Doctor hopefully. "So, you know, we run out of here but then maybe..." she let her voice trail off. It sounded a lot better in her head before she'd vocalized it. She'd have to suck it up...unless she wanted to test the theory that Jack was somehow invincible. Letting out a heavy sigh, she gave the Doctor a wan smile and shook her head. "Never mind. Whatever we have to do. I'll live. I don't want to stay here with you guys tonight." She looked over at Jack and gave him an apologetic look. "No offense, of course," she said quickly, smirking in an attempt to lighten the potential blow to his ego.

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capt_harkness
2009-05-14 12:01 am UTC (link)

This was one of the rare cases when Jack wished he had more answers than he did. Hell, even having Owen around right now would have been a boon, Jack could have used a bit of his 'local' knowledge. "We don't know why they act the way they do. I call what they're doing 'mourning', but it's dangerous to anthropomorphise a creature that isn't human. It may seem like mourning, but it could be something else entirely. We don't even really know where they come from. They could be further evolved humans or another species entirely." Or what happens to us when whoever brought us here are done with the experiments. That, however, Jack wasn't about to voice.

Just because turn about was fair play didn't mean the Doctor could undercut Jack in such a manner. He had his whole 'thing' worked out as to how he'd explain his inability to die and why that consequently made him the perfect cannon fodder to get them out of the convenience store and safely. Furthermore, had Jack known what the Doctor was thinking, he would have been a decidedly unhappy camper. Particularly when one looked at how his life was going to end up. For a man as vain as he was, life inside a jar wasn't the way to go.

Imagine the wrinkles from being encased in water (or whatever it was the Face of Boe was held in stasis with).

"It is a viable option," Jack protested. "Hell, there's a chance one of 'em could be Janet." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "We had one captive to study and we named it Janet. Better than calling it 'Weevil' or 'It' all the time." He looked at Shannon and nodded. "They could rip me to shreds and I'd mend. It's not quite a walking corpse as I do die. Heartbeat stops and everything. Just... don't quite stay that way."

Laughing, Jack crossed to where the Doctor was standing with the firecrackers. "Better chance with these than with the cleaning supplies. God knows how long they've been sitting here. Might be as effective as water for all we know. But the firecrackers... toss them in their general direction and they should scatter and buy us time to get out. It'll either spook them enough to get us away, or it'll only be enough to run like hell." Jack sidled up next to Shannon, once more dropping an arm around her shoulder. "No offence taken," he replied. "Though I'm sure you'll change your mind later." He gave her a gallant bow, ignoring the look he was sure to get from the Doctor. "But if running's an issue, I'll carry you if you'd like."

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