(no subject)

[captainspain]

*sitting and sipping a drink* Hello.

Comments

Spoilers for all of Who okay - I'm caught up.

[not_the_question]

[Not the person the Doctor expected to encounter, but what can you do? Well, he'll start by not revealing himself right away. He gives a nod and a little gesture of his drink to show he heard. But while he now knows what his face means to him, he doesn't know what it might mean for Jack.]

Hello.

Yay, I love your Doctor by the way!

[captainspain]

[Jack glances over and for a second his face is full of emotions. Anger, sadness, grief it's all there. Then in another flash it's gone replaced with a smile full of charm and easy friendship.]

Wasn't expecting a drinking buddy tonight, but it's not an unwelcome development.

/blushes/ Sush! - I mean thank you.

[not_the_question]

[The Doctor catches the emotions, isn't sure of why they're there - Does Jack recognise him? And if so, why doesn't he just say? Well. Two can play at that game.]

That's convenient. I don't normally drink.

[It had been two days of hell for him. And he may have made the worst decision of his life - twice.]

[captainspain]

[Jack has a sense of who he might be talking to. He just needs to be sure before he reveals why the face before him is difficult to look at.]

Oh? That must mean you're looking for someone then? Anyone in particular?

[not_the_question]

[The Doctor's drink still sits there, untouched. Well, he's holding the tumbler and swirling the blue-tinted liquid a bit, but he's not drinking it. He offers a small sheepish smile.]

I don't look for people. People look for me. And occasionally, when we're both lucky, we find each other.

[That's how he chooses to remember how he's collected companions over his long life. Besides, in this body, it's not for lack of offers both to and from others.]

[captainspain]

[And that quote confirms for Jack that his hunch was right. He knows now who he's talking too and he's torn between a smile and not.]

Still picking up stays then Doctor? Or are you alone right now?

[not_the_question]

[He seems to startle a bit. He honestly hadn't looked when he sat down. And given what he had just done, he wasn't paying attention to his time sense. He smirks at himself.]

Of course it's you.

[The whole big wide universe and he ends up here.]

I'm thinking the TARDIS had something to do with this. How did you know it was me?

[He hadn't sought Jack out. But the TARDIS, well, she always knew best. He has to think about how to answer Jack's question.]

I've been turned down a few times. I've turned others down a few times. I have one companion right now, though it might be better to say she has me.

[captainspain]

[Jack chuckles. How could he not know? The TARDIS was a part of who he was and ever since Bad Wolf changed him he just knew when the Time Lord was around. Not to mention the look was pretty distinctive too.]

I just had a hunch...though the face was a bit of a shock. Not sure I like this new one.

[Another laugh.]

Got a spitfire this time huh?

[not_the_question]

I only just remembered why I recognised this face myself. But I don't know why you would know it. You've never been to Pompeii, have you?

[Because knowing about 456 and knowing specific details are two different things. And even mentioning that reminds him of Donna and what he did to her. Now, what he did to Ashildr was so much worse in some ways. And finally he does swallow some of his drink. Between thinking about Donna and thinking about Ashildr, well. A drink was in order. He drank about half the liquid in this one go.]

'Spitfire'? In some ways... I was more referring to the fact that she called me her 'hobby'.

[captainspain]

Once when I was still part of the Agency, but that's not what I was talking about. A man on 20th century Earth wore that face too. I...knew him.

[Jack takes a long sip of his own drink before speaking.]

His name was John Frobisher.

[not_the_question]

[He closes his eyes, trying to put the pieces together. But nope.]

There were a lot of men on 20th century Earth. Care to say why he's important to you?

[captainspain]

He was in charge when the 456 came back to get their due.

[Jack finishes his drink.]

I spoke to him the day before Ianto died, before the children were sent to die. Before my grandson died.

[not_the_question]

[The Doctor really hadn't come here for this. But he drinks the rest of his drink now.]

He wasn't Prime Minister. That was Brian Green. So what was he in charge of?

[captainspain]

He was Permanent Secretary to the Home Office and our main contact to the British government, a good man or so I was told.

[not_the_question]

So, he was operating under director orders of the Prime Minister? Possible he was a good man in an impossible situation...

[The Doctor shakes his head a little. And makes a gesture to have his tumblr refilled. This needs a bit more.]

Jack, after The Year... do you honestly expect anyone to ignore the orders of a PM?

[Sure, it had been a couple years in the meantime, but the Doctor decides to explain anyway.]

The Paradox rest. Sure. But, sometimes knowledge bleeds through. That fear, people remembered enough to invent the Osterhagen Project. I'm sure everyone who was a part of that project were good men too. They thought they were doing right by the planet.

Good men often think they're doing right....

[Even when they're very wrong. It's why he doesn't call himself a good man. Sets the bar entirely too high. And after that thought, he takes a sip. Much more sober than he wants to be right now.]

[captainspain]

That doesn't bring my grandson back. Or make my daughter hate me less for the choices I made.

[Jack gives in to a moment, just a moment of bitterness. It's a rare thing, because to give in means the centuries won and he wants to be better then that.]

It doesn't bring his family back either......

[not_the_question]

[The Doctor allows for the Bitterness. Jack never knew him in the early days following the end of the Time War. So he really didn't know how much Rose had changed him.]

No it doesn't change any of that.

[He tilts his head in thought.]

That's why I'm not a good man any more.

[captainspain]

No now you are a sliver fox....lucky you.

[And Jack is Jack again A bright smile for the alien refilling his drink.]

You are you Doctor new face or not.

[not_the_question]

Not drunk enough for that yet...

[He means the flirting. Challenge accepted, though so he takes a swallow. But he had a reason for mentioning he's not a good man. And it's time to bring it home.]

I've never been a good man, Jack. But that doesn't mean I'm a bad man. I saw Gwen's video. Where she said I must be so disappointed in all of you. I'm not, Jack. It'd be rather hypocritical of me if I were.

[captainspain]

[Jack sips his drink.]

She was angry at us Doctor. I wasn't. I saw darkness like that before many times. The whole reason the 456 came back was because I gave into them.

[not_the_question]

I don't know that I would have done things any different.

[He shrugs.]

May or may not have been your grandchild. But... given what I read about it, there really wasn't an alternative.