ximilialog | If you've got forever

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If you've got forever

CHARACTERS: Captain Jack Harkness and YOU
LOCATION: Around the station
DATE: Catch-all for June
CONTENT: Arrival for Jack and adjustment to the ship and the situation!
WARNINGS: NSFW for sex marked below.

ARRIVAL

This is not even close to the strangest place Jack has woken up in, and also not the worst situation he has found himself in. It's time for another adventure, he thinks, as his eyes snap open and he sits up quickly, glancing around the room curiously. It's just him in the room so he springs out of bed and cracks his neck, patting down his clothes and relieved to see his vortex manipulator is intact. Not to worry about now, but good to know for later. Looks like his gun wasn't on him at the time, that's fine, he always finds one eventually.

Jack immediately steps out of the room after noting nothing in there is going to help him and starts wandering the corridors. He needs to get a lay of the land before making a plan, or you know, settling in and seeing where this one takes him. Jack's gait is quick but also he seems to come off as confident and comfortable, not in any alarm as he wanders the ship. He does not stop though, on a mission to get a look at everything.

Jack can be found wandering all over the ship including the living areas, the training room, simulation room, labs, pretty much every location that might be of importance to him later. If he spots you on his journey he'll smile warmly and toss a wink, acting like he very much belongs here.

TIME TO PARTY

After a little bit of time getting used to the place, Jack starts to visit locations on the ship solely to hang out and relax. He knows there's only a limited amout of time before the next adventure, he's gathered that much, so he might as well kick up his heels and enjoy the luxury of this place. Which it is, because recently he'd been in jail for almost two decades, and it wasn't a fun one. (Yes there are fun ones. Ask him about it sometime.)

Jack's favorite stop when settling in a place is of course the kitchen and mess hall. Jack loves a good meal and a cup of coffee, but he likes the opportunity to check out the other people there and make some connections. While he has been an island before, it's never his preference. If someone is sitting alone, congratulations, he slides into the seat across from you with a cheerful smile, whether it's with food of his own or only a drink. Or maybe you see him looking for a good place to sit and he catches your eye, jerking his head toward a table to indicate you should go together.

He can be found in the armory poking around and seeming to have little trouble adjusting to this new machine in front of him. It might be different from what he's used to, but he has a lot of knowledge in his noggin of futuristic tech. The problem is deciding what type of gun he wants. There are any number of Earth guns that he's always favored, and the first thing he does is create a Mark IV Webley Revolver. As soon as it appears Jack gasps in delight slides it into his belt where he had a gun holster without one. But! There are other options he's curious to explore, tapping a finger against his jaw as he thinks about it.

Jack can be found occasionally in the sunlight room, usually with a drink in hand, to just take in the fake atmosphere and pretend he's getting some sun. It's been awhile since he got to be in even a fake green environment so it's nice. He sometimes has his jacket folded nearby so it's him in a collared blue shirt with the buttons mostly undone over a white t-shirt and comfortable trousers.

WILDCARD

[ooc: feel free to respond to this with literally anything you feel like doing, I'm all good with it. Or message me on waftingcurtains!]

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At some point Jack was bound to wander into the kitchen while Zhao was there cooking. It was inevitable. The Chinese man liked cooking more than he admitted and here on Ximilia station he had little else to do besides cooking and practicing his martial arts. And pretending he wasn't just waiting for the next mission like everyone else here.

There was a high flame the second after the door to the kitchen opened up but Zhao didn't react to the door as he concentrated. He was used to working in a restaurant so the constant traffic didn't bother him in the least. The flame settled as Zhao reset the wok down on the burner but he was almost constantly in motion as he continued to cook the rice dish.

Elsewhere, another dish was mostly finished and awaiting Zhao to get back to it. Going after it may or may not get his attention enough to look up and notice the newcomer. Linger long enough for the second dish to finish and the Chinese man would probably shove food at Jack on the simple principle of feeding anyone that wanted a decent meal while stuck here.

Jack is still getting the lay of the land and frankly, anything is better than jail food, which he just suffered through for nineteen years waiting for a special someone. So he is happy to have the freedom of this place and everything seems pretty well set up to keep people on the ship content. He'll take it. Despite his long, long life he's never succeeded at learning how to cook, much more inclined to get delivery or pick up wherever he went.

So he is delighted to find out that when he heads into the kitchen to see what is available there, a handsome cook is there working on something and he does indeed linger, curious and generally hungry. Jack watches him without interruption, sometimes he does know how to shut up, mostly to avoid messing with the flow of cooking. But once Zhao shoves food at him, he takes that as a good time to cut in, his smile bright.

"Few things I love more than a man who knows his way around a kitchen." It saves him the effort, and if they look good while doing it, all the better. "Thanks for the food, you sure seem to know your way around the place."

His eyes alight in amusement the instant Jack speaks up, from the tone or the compliment itself is debatable, but it seems the Chinese man finds it endearing immediately. A small smirk plays on his lips as he answers.

"I practically grew up in a kitchen. My family owned and operated a restaurant." He gestured idly with one hand. "And as far as this place goes... I've been here long enough to get the vibe. I ask Viv-chan for extra ingredients so I can cook proper meals around here."

And take some of the spices and ingredients that he can with him on missions after a few of them proved there wouldn't always be easy (or tasty) meals to be had. But that was a story for another time.

"Hope you like Chinese food because that's my specialty."

After assuring that Jack had a plate ready to go, he grabbed one for himself and led the way without hesitation out to the mess hall tables. He didn't look back to see if Jack followed but a slight head tilt indicated, perhaps, that he was listening to see if the man did.

Jack likes people who warm up easily and are quick to chat, it makes his job of pulling out personalities so much easier. Zhao instead seems to be as open and friendly as Jack himself, which only makes his smile wider.

"You grew up in a kitchen and here you are cooking in space, on a multiverse adventure. That's quite a leap." Although who knows, for some people it could be a walk in the park, if they grew up in a kitchen in space or at the end of the universe. He shouldn't assume anything at this point.

Of course Jack follows him! He is a step or so behind, eager to keep the conversation going. It is always smart to make friends with a cook, okay? And if he's one thing, it is very smart. He waits to see where Zhao sits and slides across the table, blue eyes curious and direct as they search his face.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack says with a grin.

"Zhao."

He gave his name with a return smile. His eyes darted over what still remained visible of Jack after they've sat down and he doesn't say anything but he gives the impression he's not displeased by what he sees. As for the conversation...

"It is quite a leap. I'd practically never left Yokohama before this. Ever been to Japan before, Captain Harkness?" Followed a few seconds later by, "Captain of what exactly while we're on the topic."

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it never harmed a tiger. And this one was curious about the man before him.

Jack usually gives people a once-over so he knows it when he sees it and grins. He assumes he likes what he sees, most people do. Jack's confidence usually walks the line of arrogance, but the fact he can laugh at himself and his own ridiculousness helps make it less obnoxious.

"Oh, you'll find I've been almost everywhere on Earth, Zhao. I'm rather fond of it, I'm technically from one of their colonies on another planet." There were a lot of them by the 51st century and that's where he started out, the poster child for his particular world even at a young age. "But I'm a space traveler so I've been around." Such an understatement.

As for the question, it's a hilarious one, in retrospect. "Name it and I've been it. Captain of soldiers, spaceships, a few cruise ships for fun." The reason it's funny is because it's not even his real name or title, originally, he stole it from someone else and never looked back, but he's telling the truth about the rest.

"A space colony, huh?" That sounded interesting. His thoughts immediately jumped to old anime shows he watched as a kid--when he had the time and permission to get a few in. He tried not to equate it to that but, well, it was easy to imagine crazy adventures in space happening as hilariously glorious as they were depicted in stories. At least it made for entertaining thoughts.

It took him a moment, but he had to remind himself that he was in space. Right here and now. And... it was boring. Until it wasn't. Until they ended up on a mission and the shit it the fan. Not all of them, but most so far.

"How is it? Traveling through space? I mean, we're in space right now but it's just a station here. When we travel it's just those teleporters. Is it just as boring or is being on a ship more exciting?"

He hadn't forgotten about the question of Jack's Captain status. The answer was curious. As if the man didn't really care about the title and that it meant very little. After all, he lumped them altogether simply and amiably. But not necessarily with pride or honor about any of it. Not in the manner that Zhao was searching for anyway.

It certainly made Jack interesting. And the amiability made him easy to chat with. So he wasn't complaining about the observation, just making it. If the title was throwaway then that left Zhao to play his usual name games. And that made him perfectly happy.

"Yep, it was called the Boeshane Peninsula. I was born there in the 51st century." So many, many, many, many centuries after Earth's modern period, where he actually just was with the Doctor not too long ago. But he's always been fond of the 21st century, he's wandered around it quite a lot. Some of his favorite humans were born during that time.

"Eh, depends on the ship." Jack shrugs, glancing around their current location. Not the most exciting he's seen, no, but not the least exciting either. It really all depends on the definition. Some days he wants explosions and adrenaline, some days he wants blessed quiet. Even Jack Harkness wants a break here and there. "Or what you're doing. What we're doing is interesting. I just spent nineteen years in a space jail, now that is a lot less interesting."

He seems very casual about the number because years mean very little to him now. And it all worked out in the end, he has immense patience, something people will learn about him the longer they know him. Jack always seems like he has enough time. He lacks desperation. "I also travel throughout time, which can be more exciting. I've gone to the end of the universe, back to the age of dinosaurs." And they were thrilling and fascinating experiences!

Zhao's eyebrows shoot skyward as he hears the place and, more importantly, the time that Jack was from. That was the most futuristic time period he had heard so far. Of course, he was aware that time, worlds, and possibly dimensions were all possible here aboard the Ximilia. It was crazy to think about so mostly...he didn't.

"That's ...interesting. It's still hard to wrap the head around the idea that everyone's from a different world sometimes, but the difference in time adds another layer. So you're from a place with an Earth which, presumably, is similar to what I know except that it's much farther along in time than what I would be familiar with."

He shook his head. Crazy shit.

It was much easier to get into the rest of the conversation. He smiled or rather smirked his usual lopsided smirk in response to the middle part. "Makes sense. I bet there's just as many boring ships as exciting ones. At least tell me you got to spend time on a less boring one once." A two second beat as he considered the second half of that and then a nod. "I know plenty of people who have been to jail and none of them describe it as 'exciting' so... welcome back to real living."

However, the last part went back into disbelieving territory once more. Although perhaps it was less believable these days so much as hard to take in still. It was a lot to consider. It left a lot of questions to the imagination as well. Zhao bit his tongue to keep from prattling off too many at once. Eventually, he settled on his response.

"Seriously? I can't outright disbelieve you on account of this place and what I've seen here. But... damn. All right. Say I believe you; how does that work? ...Do you ever change history? Isn't that...bad?"

"At least we'll probably never get bored of each other's stories, being from vastly different places a lot of the time. But I'm used to jumping around so it's normal to me at this point, I've been doing it since I was a fresh-faced cadet." So Jack is very old hat at all of this. There is nothing people can say to him here that would surprise him. There could be a world that is a cartoon, one where certain events never happened, one apparently full of robots, etc. He does get that it is overwhelming for anyone else though, so he sympathizes.

Jack shrugs about the jail part. "It wasn't my first or my last time, probably, it could've been a lot worse. I was in there trying to get to a friend to break them out, but they were in another part of the prison, so it was mostly time spent moving positions." Which was not easy! There were a lot of moving parts to figure that out, and he had to move a few floors before he managed to get to the same one as the Doctor. It was all worth it when she smiled at him and they were on a new adventure together.

"Good question. One that all time travelers try to be aware of." Jack has never been good at exactly describing this part, but he thinks that he's better than the Doctor. Who goes with Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey. "Okay so ... time doesn't work the way people think, as in linear and that it is already written and will always happen in a straight line. You can absolutely go back in time and change the future, and some time travelers have attempted to do exactly that." You know, like Jack hopes to do with his one regret.

"The problem is unintended consequences, obviously. You kill the wrong person, all of history changes, you save a couple, the children one of them was supposed to have with someone else will cease existing. And there are situations in which the time traveler is essential to the way the world turns out, that we are supposed to be there and always have been." So it's very confusing! It makes sense to people who are doing it, or at least the very old ones who have. "The general rule of thumb is to do as little as possible and never bother with fixed points in time. That's something that no one is capable of changing, it will always happen."

Jack himself is a fixed point in time and space, but that's a whole other story.

Zhao nodded in understanding. He could imagine a scenario where someone went to prison on purpose to get close to someone they held important. Escaping seemed a harder part to facilitate but not entirely improbable. A good plan could go a long way, and he'd heard more far-fetched stories than jailbreak. "Yeah, learning the lay of the land and getting things set up just right... I understand. Still, couldn't have been fun."

He'd prefer if he never went to prison. He couldn't say he'd never been thrown in the local jail overnight but he'd avoid it preferably, too. He got caught doing something these days and he'd more likely find himself somewhere it wouldn't be an easy way out. But that was besides the point.

"I've seen multiple theories," he responded, shifting slightly as he got into the story Jack told him of how time (travel) worked. Of course, he didn't mention that most of these theories came from movies.

"So, do people remember time changing or does it just...create a whole new timeline of events?" In the cases where things did change, that is. It was confusing on a certain level but Zhao was mostly just curious. It was more like discussing one of those movies to him than actual reality though. If the Orb's deal with them worked that might be the closest thing to this time travel changing theoretical craziness that Zhao would know. And the missions. Time worked strange for those sometimes, too.

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If you've got forever

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