Log;Open

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

When; April 13
Rating; PG-13 (Juust in case)
Characters; Jack Harkness(sometimes_boe ) and everyone!
Summary; Who is this gorgeous man wandering City streets?
Log;

Waking up in an unknown city was usually the sign of a good night, however, this time, Jack knows it's not a good sign, especially when his night hadn't been anything special enough to land him in a place he didn't know.

He looked around, trying to see if he recognized anything, but nothing stood out. Except for the carousel and fountain and not because they were familiar, but because, honestly, who kept carousels in town anymore, unless you were in a mall?

Jack pressed the blue-tooth set at his ear and checked his vortex manipulator for readings of the area.

"Gwen, Ianto, are you there?"

Of course, no response, that'd be too easy.

"Where the Hell am I?"

Comments

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

He knew he was giving her a funny look but he really couldn't help it. He'd been here before? Was this in his future or some form of alternate reality him? Either way, he shouldn't be rude.

"It's nice to meet you, Mercy...or, well, re-meet you. Clearly you know who I am."

He'd built a house here? It wasn't that he'd been able to, that wasn't what confused him, but building a house was such a personal thing, something you put all your effort into. He couldn't see himself doing something like that unless he had an excellent reason to. Building a house was just too...permanent.

"Could you tell me a little more about this house?"

Like why on Earth he would have built it?

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

Mercy smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. The City's pretty crazy as you'll find out soon enough. You're not the first person to either not remember their time here or to have had a, well, an alternate you here before instead."

She hesitated a little about the house. "Well, as I understand it, a lot of your team was here in the City at the time. You guys built the house as sort of a headquarters. There's 8 or 9 bedrooms - for the team and some friends - and a whole lot of technical stuff in the basement that I've just closed off since I didn't want anyone messing with it. A lab and medical stuff for Owen and cells and, heaven only knows what all. But eventually everyone ended up going home and, well... it's just me there now. It's beautiful - right on the beach with a hot tub and a fire pit for bonfires and a little pond where Ianto had ducks and -"

Oh, Mercy... She didn't know where he was from in his time and she sure wasn't going to ask, but she remembered now that the last time Ianto had come back to the City he'd been dead in his timeline.

"Anyway, it's great. And I haven't touched anything in the main bedrooms, so you probably still even have clothes and stuff there - and, of course, you're welcome to come back and live there, I mean, it's yours. Or was yours. Or belonged to another you."

She could explain about the dog doors everywhere another time.

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

The whole team? Even Owen and Tosh? How? Could this city bring in the dead too? The thought that they were all living together, just like old times, without the threat of the rift...he could see now why he, or the other him, would have built a house here. That was worth the permanence.

He shook the odd feeling of longing mixed with envy, and offered a smile.

"That explains it then, thank you. It sounds perfect, although, pretty lonely now, I'm surprised you stayed."

He didn't know if he would have. However, now he needed a plan, if he was stuck here, even for a little while, he supposed he'd need a home and something to do...

"I don't want to impose my company on you, however, I suppose I will need a place to stay...if it's not too much trouble?"

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

Sometimes she was surprised she was still there.

"I'm... kind of stubborn. I made it my home here and I won't easily give it up. And I... have my own other reasons for not wanting to be in the middle of the City with all those people around," Mercy said with a wry smile.

She wasn't sure about when the right time might be to tell him she changed into a coyote from time to time. Still, the other Jack had taken it in stride so...

"You're more than welcome. I just rattle around in there - me and my cat, Medea. I had a couple of roommates, but they left, and frankly, I wouldn't mind the company."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

He nodded, accepting the answer. He wasn't going to press, if she wanted to, she'd tell him in her own time.

"Well, Mercy, I'd be happy to join you and Medea in the house I've already built. Thank you."

He smirked, appreciating the irony of this whole thing, and he had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last time he would end up following in his own footsteps.

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

"Great," she said with a smile and then, couldn't resist when the old children's rhyme came to mind. "We'll all live in the house that Jack built."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

"Of course." He offered her his arm. "Would you like to be the maiden? Or perhaps the cat?"

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

Mercy hesitated for a moment before taking his arm. No man had offered her their arm since, well, probably ever. Female mechanics just didn't seem to inspire that much.

"Dog would probably be a little more accurate," she said with some amusement. "And, uh, that said, there's probably something you should know about me. I can't talk about it back home, but here it's pretty much an open secret."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

Jack offered her an encouraging smile. "Shoot, trust me, there's very little I haven't heard."

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

"Well, when you get to the house you'll notice all the main doors have dog doors on them. The other Jack put them in for me when I moved in."

She shook her head with a fond smile, thinking that there could have been nothing else that would have let her know so clearly that she was welcome at the house.

"I'm a Walker - I change into a coyote. I don't have to, I'm not like a werewolf who has to change at least once a month when the moon's full. I can shift whenever I want or not at all."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

"Oh, ok then."

He smiled and shrugged, barely phased. If anything, he found it interesting.

"Good thing those dog doors are already in place."

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

The other Jack had been equally accepting and rather curious himself.

"Well," she said with a laugh. "If they hadn't been it would have given you something to do as you adjusted to the City. Have people filled you in about it?"

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

"True, guess I'll have to find something else. As for the city, basically, there's a barrier around it keeping us in and something out. People randomly showing up is normal, and there's no way to actively escape."

The whole not being able to leave thing still didn't sit well with him.

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

Mercy nodded. "And there are random curses - a couple a week, though you won't always be affected by them. On the plus side, though, it seems that when you return home, you go back to the moment you left, so no one back there is worried about you or anything."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

Well that was a relief. At least he wouldn't need to worry about how Gwen and Yan were doing back at the hub.

"Curses, huh? That ought to be fun..."

He didn't really believe in curses, but Mercy really didn't have a reason to lie to him, so he was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure most people here would say they're fun - except in the sarcastic sense," Mercy said with a smile. "But they certainly are varied. People change genders or turn into animals, wake up handcuffed to random strangers, find themselves bursting into song or making lists of everything. It's quite odd."

[sometimes-boe.livejournal.com]

Jack gave her a sly grin.

"Gender change and waking up hand-cuffed? Now that does sound like a good time. You know, Ianto changed genders once, a while ago, that was fun too."

[coyote-walking.livejournal.com]

Mercy couldn't help but laugh. "Should have known you'd find those enjoyable. I've only done the gender change once, thank heavens, and that's the way I'd prefer it."

They'd made their way out of the City proper now and she nodded at the big house up ahead. "That's it."