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Tweak says, "bahahahahh"

so_impressive (so_impressive) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-08-02 20:12:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 17, jack harkness, location: in town, the doctor (nine), the doctor (ten)

Who: The Ninth Doctor, the Tenth Doctor, & Jack Harkness
What: Insight, mourning and questions.
Where: The town-- they'll be moving as they talk.
When: Day 17; About 8:25pm
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete

It was likely that Ten had wanted to be alone after the murder of his friends Ianto, Sarah Jane, Shannon, and Remy LeBeau.. In fact, Nine knew it would be so. And he, really, wanted to be alone too. He'd left Rose in the care of the werewolf child, which he knew Ten would hate, but he was sure she'd be safe there. The damage had been done for the day. And Nine had started out about the town, not to find time for himself.. but rather, to find himself. He wanted to discuss Sarah Jane. He'd known she was here, he'd talked with her over the journals. But he hadn't met with her. He'd known Jack was here, and he'd avoided him, too. He'd avoided them all. Less for his own sanity, and more for theirs. When this was all over, he was gone. It was done. Why get them all confused and tangled up about it? This regeneration was done. Best to let it die.

But he'd found that he simply couldn't, and he'd written that message to Jack, telling him to meet him at the clock tower around nine. He had half an hour to talk with himself, get things straight and settled, then go back for Jack. You had half an hour to get yourself together, Doctor, and help the people who needed you. You were lucky to even get that. If he knew himself, and he liked to think he knew himself well, he'd definitely be alone somewhere. Somewhere familiar.

The drawing had shown that ginger and Ten in the barn, so that was where the Time Lord headed, his mind still lingering on thoughts of Sarah Jane. His beautiful Sarah Jane.

He stepped into the barn a moment later, hands hanging limply at his sides. When had he gotten so in the habit of pushing his hands into his jacket pockets? He'd seen Ten do that nearly every time he'd spoken with him. Hm.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-10 12:16 am UTC (link)

Jack was putting on a show. One sideways glance from John Smith and he knew it for sure. He was putting on a show the same way Ten was - only Ten was more practiced at it. The Time Lord had lost so many over the years that losing another? Well, it was sort of old hat. He'd done it before and he knew how to keep those emotions in check around those who remained lest they get upset or exploit them.

Jack put those heavy arms up around his shoulder and he let them hang there a moment before veering off in his own direction. Hearing that last bit about a convenient shag and rubbing at his brow; he could hear the lie in that one, con man. "You don't have to lie about it, Captain," he'd tell his friend quietly, casting a look over his shoulder that held a certain understanding to it. Sure, Nine wouldn't be empathetic; but, Ten could be. Or, at least he'd try.

"Wasn't anything we could do for them. Any of them. I searched those tunnels with the Winchesters myself. We couldn't find anything. Locked doors, dead ends. Nothing." The Doctor swallowed, he hadn't told Jack about the tunnels until this very moment.

Great timing.

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so_impressive
2009-08-10 02:22 am UTC (link)

He was putting on a show.. but then again, all three of them were. Jack was just the worst out of all of them. Nine, of course, as a very close runner up, but he didn't seem to take the cake. And Ten? Well. Ten, by this time, had become very versed in hiding it all away, though he wasn't perfect by any means, sometimes it was obvious to tell something was eating at him. Like now.

And he might have gone on to say something more about Jack and his lying, except that the other Time Lord was mentioning the tunnels and.. oh. By the look on his older counterpart's face, he hadn't meant to say that. So there were tunnels running beneath this place? "Important information you could have made us aware of at an earlier time, Doctor." He chided himself none-too-gently. Nine really wasn't that gentle, loving sort. He didn't do domestics, and Jack and Ianto? Definitely domestics. Even the way that Ten seemed to be acting with Rose was.. well. He wasn't even going to get into that, because he'd been feeling the beginnings of that in his stomach for months now. Ten had only made it a reality for him.

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capt_harkness
2009-08-10 02:26 am UTC (link)

The problem was, Jack usually tried to keep from letting himself get in too deep with any of his lovers for this specific reason. One or three night stands didn't allow enough time to get attached. Ianto, however, had wound up staying with Jack for the better part of two years. Yes, he was going to be worse at hiding his true emotions. Then again, Jack was firmly convinced that had he been with anyone else he would have had a better shot at hiding his feelings.

He was just unlucky to be standing near the two men who knew him far too well. The two liviing men, correction.

At first, Jack didn't think he had heard correctly. But then Nine was confirming that simple fact about the tunnels. Jack stopped walking, his arm falling away from Nine as he looked at the Doctor.

"And when were you planning on telling me about those?" Jack asked flatly.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-10 02:31 am UTC (link)

Right. See Time Lord. See Time Lord take off his Chuck. See Time Lord take off Chuck and put it in his mouth. Good job, Time Lord.

"Ehrm.." He started, scratching the top of his head. He'd already had this conversation once today and that time he was able to sort of ignore the brothers Winchester and play down the fact that he hadn't told anyone about the tunnels.

"I hadn't told anyone because I didn't want mass panic. To tell people there are tunnels under our feet? Just what we needed another reason for people to be terrified. So, I closed them up." Well, he'd thought he'd closed them up. As best he could tell, he had. Fat lot of good that had dome them, eh?

"I'm sorry," he said to both of them, looking from one pair of blue eyes to the other. Really what he was apologizing for was failing; but, that was beside the point. Any momentary pause in his pace had been forgotten and Ten was back to walking, following the road as it wound around town.

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so_impressive
2009-08-10 02:41 am UTC (link)

Oh, Time Lord. See younger Time Lord? See him angry. See him vengeful. Was it possible to be vengeful against yourself? Maybe. It wouldn't be smart, of course.. and that was what Nine's brain was telling him, so he did his best to heed the warning. But why in the world had he kept such information from himself? As if he were going to panic and be terrified and come out with his pitchfork and bible and demand justice. No, that was ridiculous to think!

So, mind made up, the other Time Lord opened his mouth. And inserted foot. "I bet you told your new companion, didn't you? Bet he knew all about it, hm?" The younger, angrier Doctor pressed. "Did you tell Remy LeBeau, Doctor? Who exactly is Remy LeBeau, anyway?" The hundred dollar question, wasn't it? If you weren't sorry before, Ten, you certainly would be shortly. And when the Doctor didn't answer instantly, Nine was turning to look at Jack. "How about you, Jack? Remy LeBeau?" This time, though, his question came with a smile instead of that serious look. "Did he know about the tunnels?" Where exactly was he going with this? Oh. It'd come to you both, soon enough.

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capt_harkness
2009-08-10 02:56 am UTC (link)

About to open his mouth to say something, Jack snapped his lips shut the moment Nine began to talk. Why say what was in his mind when Nine was doing a wonderful job of doing it himself? "Set off mass panic?" Jack asked, turning to look at Ten. "And when have you ever known me to panic about a damn thing? The one who willingly ran off into hell to give you a bit more time." Jack didn't care about spoilers or what Nine did or didn't know. He was pissed.

Jack, however, froze the moment Remy's name was mentioned. He swallowed hard, looking at the Doctor. "He's a Cajun, that's all I know," Jack replied, his gaze not leaving Ten even as he answered Nine's question. "Outside of not being as suave when it comes to flirting as me, that's all I know." Jack drew in a breath, taking steps towards Ten, his hand reaching out to catch the other man by the shoulder.

"Did he, Doctor?" When exactly did I lose your trust? He couldn't bring himself to ask that question. Yet.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-10 03:12 am UTC (link)

Way to put John Smith on the defensive, boys.

The Doctor was looking off at a marvelous tree as the Time Lord and the Con Man spoke. Nine was probing about Remy, Jack was probing about Remy and the tunnels. He was upset, and had every right to be. For the moment he ignored Nine, because Jack would come first out of the two of them there.

It was time to come clean. Nothing left to really protect, was there?

"Yes," he started, not losing Jack's eyes. No, he was going to be sure you knew that you had his attention, Captain. "Gambit found them, after the quake. He'd found them and we looked around in them a bit, not really finding anything. Just some food wrappers. The Insider, she'd been living down there, I'm not sure for how long." The Doctor wasn't even thinking about walking any longer he was pinned there with the con man. "I'd closed them up because I didn't want people to worry about them. If they were a way out of here, I'm sure Jenny would have left ages ago. So, I blocked them up."

The Doctor circled back around to that stining bit that Jack had hurled his way. "Of course you wouldn't panic, Jack. But Ianto? And even if Ianto didn't, what about Shannon? Or how about L? Or how about Tonks? Or any of them?" What he was saying, Jack, was that he knew you would have told your lover and he didn't trust your lover any more than the rest of Torchwood - he was old Torchwood.

Notice how he ignored your question, Nine?

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so_impressive
2009-08-10 03:20 am UTC (link)

Oh, he'd noticed. But he also understood why the other Time Lord hadn't told Jack. Nine wouldn't have, either.. but he was an entirely different sort of man. He wasn't Ten's sort. But there had been absolutely no reason for him not to tell his younger self. No reason at all, and Nine wasn't done with you yet, Ten. Not at all.

"So Remy found them, after the quake, and he led you right to them? And how long ago was the quake? He told me he'd only been here a week, you've been here two? Why is it that he found them before you did? You're trusting him when you shouldn't. He found them, maybe he's a part of this." Did he mean that? Yes, of course. There was always a possibility of it, of betrayal, of lying, of sabotage. But he had really hoped it wouldn't be occurring here.. still, there was a chance of it. "Even if he's not, he's the same as all of the others, he's just as human, just as prone to panic." Even though he wasn't human at all, and the Doctor knew it.. he just didn't know what he was or what he was capable of. No one did, aside from the Doctor and Jenny, now. It was a dangerous place to be, if you were wrong about him, Time Lord. He was a dangerous creature.

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capt_harkness
2009-08-10 03:36 am UTC (link)

Yes, Doctor, Jack was going to put you on the defensive. Because he didn't know what to make of all of this, outside of that nagging feeling that he was being replaced yet again. Gambit... Remy... whatever. The man wasn't the only one with two names, so who really cared anymore? Besides, Jack had a name that neither Doctor knew and that was how things were going to stay.

Jack was glad Ten kept his gaze as long as he had -- it did wonders for calming Jack's already fried nerves. Only problem was that, had Jack not just watched Ianto's death, he may not have been so hurt over all this. But as it was, he wasn't reacting like he normally would and the two Doctors were just going to have to deal with an out-of-sorts Jack.

He let Nine rant, getting everything out of his system. Jack nodded along with Nine, adding grunts of agreement where appropriate. "We've just met him, Doctor," Jack said, a bit of steel edging his voice. "We have no fucking clue who or what he is. No more than he has of you. And yet, you just told him all of this? Went into the tunnels with him and explored but never asked me to come?"

First the greatcoat and now the Doctor. What else was Remy trying to take from Jack?

"Ianto wouldn't have panicked," Jack replied curtly. "The man had been through enough to know when not to panic and how to keep things in perspective." He drew his lips into a thin line, hand still clapped on Ten's shoulder not letting the other man pull away. Not in the slightest. "What else have you been holding back, Doctor?" Jack asked. "So you closed them up, so you took the Winchesters down there to hunt and look. What else is there?"

Why yes, Jack was just this side of being exceedingly arse-hurt.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-10 03:49 am UTC (link)

The Doctor knew something about names that weren't used or even widely known. He had a name he didn't use; a name he'd only tell under a very particular set of circumstances. That name was not Sigma Theta. Nope, it was a much more personal name; sorry, Jack, you didn't qualify.

Nine and Jack aligned against him; saying how they shouldn't and couldn't trust Gambit. How they didn't know him. The Doctor knew him. He knew him to be the most fiercely loyal creature he had ever encountered. He'd known him to be a liar to everyone but him. He knew he was a thief and a con man, just like you Jack Harkness. "Yes, he found them," he spat a Nine. "And yes, I trust him," he hurled at Jack. "I think I've a pretty good read of character," he was talking about you now, Con Man.

That hand on his shoulder was infuriating and it showed in the look he was giving Jack now. "Of course I didn't ask you to come down into the tunnels; Ianto had been hurt, or have you forgotten the quake already?" So many people had been hurt that day. So many had died.

"I don't owe you anything in the way of explanations," he said coldly to the Time Agent, still quite pointedly ignoring Nine. Think about it, Jack; he never explained. Never. Not once. He'd give you cryptic quips and bits of information; but, he never explained. Sometimes he might apologize, but what for?

"Or you, either," he said over Jack's shoulder to the Time Lord just over there.

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so_impressive
2009-08-10 03:56 am UTC (link)

"You owe me plenty of explanations." The Time Lord insisted. "Jack's right. We don't know who he is, where he's from, not from this world, anyway. We don't know anything about him. We don't even know what he is. Unless you know that too, and you're holding out? He could be dangerous. Have you even considered that?" He knew that the other Doctor had, of course. There was no way he couldn't have considered that. He would know if he was dangerous or not. He would know what he was capable of. If he was human. If he wasn't. If he was defending him so fiercely, then he certainly knew more about him than he was letting on.

"Why do you trust him? And why should we?" Because you trusted him, Doctor? Sadly, that wasn't good enough right now. It might have been, twenty minutes ago. But after learning what he had? Nine wasn't quite sure what he wanted to trust and what he didn't.. there had been no reason not to tell him about those tunnels, so why had Ten hidden it from him? The red-eyed man must have told him to. But would he have really listened? Maybe if he had a good enough argument. Maybe.

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