Nic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trillianastra) wrote2009-01-01 01:04 am
trillianastra) wrote2009-01-01 01:04 am
Obscure crossover time!
Title: Electricity
Fandom: Torchwood/StormWatch (WildStorm Universe)
Characters: Jack Harkness, Jenny Sparks
Rating: PG-13, for swearing.
Spoilers: Nothing, actually. For either fandom.
Disclaimer: Jack is RTD's, Jenny belongs to Garth Ennis. I just like to play in the sandbox occasionally.
NOTE: The Wolf's Head does appear in an actual StormWatch comic - that'd be where I got the idea! The comic is "Lightning Strikes", if anyone's interested.
In an otherwise quiet and unassuming part of London, on a back street where no-one would ever expect anything strange to happen, there is a pub frequented by the city’s more… unusual residents.
It’s not the kind of place where you would just pop in for a quick pint. The Wolf’s Head doesn’t look like much from the outside – which may or may not be a deliberate move by the landlord, to keep tourists away – but to those who know it, it can be a welcome place to unwind.
Jack found out about the Wolf’s Head back in the fifties. He’d been in London on assignment, an organisation calling itself the British Space Group had just been set up and Torchwood wanted it checked out. As the resident freelancer, he got the job. It had been an interesting time… lots of guys in military uniform, mostly, a few scientists… oh, and then there was Jenny Sparks.
They’d hit it off, so to speak, right away. The Space Group conference was mostly meetings and people talking over the same subjects endlessly. Having decided that the group posed no threat to Torchwood, he spent the rest of the time in the company of Jenny Sparks. She was like no-one he’d met. After all, it wasn’t every day you met a pretty blonde who cursed like a sailor and could electrocute you with a touch. He could tell there was something else about her, though, something different. She may have looked twenty, but she seemed older than that to him.
He found out, eventually. It was the just a few years later, she was in Cardiff, and she asked him to help out with something… when he went to meet her, she looked exactly the same as she had when they first met years earlier. Later that night, standing on a windy rooftop next to him, she’d told him the truth. He found he had no difficulty believing it – a girl who’s the Spirit of the Twentieth Century? He’d seen stranger things.
Jenny, though, found his easy acceptance of her nature strange. He’d forgotten that she was the 20th-century girl, and had been treating her almost like a fellow time-traveller. She pushed, wondering why he, too, hadn’t aged since their first meeting. Then he explained it to her. He didn’t tell her everything, of course – just that he couldn’t die, and that he’d been on Earth since 1869.
He’d been a little dismayed when she just frowned a little, before saying “Bloody hell”, and laughing.
“What’s so funny?” He’d asked.
“Nothing, really. Just… we make a right pair, don’t we? Never aging. Living through a whole bleedin’ century together, but not changing with it.”
“I guess. It’s surprising it took us this long to meet.”
That was the night she told him about the Wolf’s Head. A place for… unusual people to unwind. He told her it sounded like a great place, and promised that they’d go there when he was in London next.
She held him to that promise, too. He’d been sent to London to visit Torchwood One for what they called “administrative purposes”, which meant he had to deliver a stack of reports on behalf of his boss, and other similarly boring tasks.
She was waiting for him outside the Torchwood One building. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged, taking a drag on her cigarette. “Waiting for you, what’d you think?”
“And how exactly did you know where I’d be?”
“I followed you. You’re not exactly hard to follow, in that outfit. A bit outdated for the eighties, don’t you think?”
“I like it, actually. So did you want anything else, or did you just want to pass on fashion tips?”
“Do you remember me telling you about that pub? I thought we’d go there.”
“Uh… great. Sure. I’m done here, why not?”
“Excellent attitude to have, Captain.”
He followed her down several streets, until they stood outside a quiet-looking little pub. The sign over the door read “The Wolf’s Head”, so Jack guessed it was the place she’d told him about. Inside, it looked pretty much as he’d expected it to – tables and chairs, some occupied, a bar. There were some other patrons, most of whom kept to themselves, though Jenny obviously knew the small group in the… interesting outfits seated at the bar.
Despite that, once they had their drinks – a pint for Jenny, but just water for Jack, as usual – they sat at a table tucked away in the corner. It was a good spot – you could see almost the whole pub from there. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Jack sipped his water, then looked around. “It’s a nice place. Do you… come here a lot?”
“I’m in here a fair bit, yeah.”
“With your friends, the ones at the bar?”
“Yeah. They’re more colleagues, though, not really friends.”
“Oh. That StormWatch thing. I heard about that.”
“That’s right.” She hesitated. That unnerves him – ‘hesitant’ isn’t a word that could ordinarily describe Jenny Sparks. He touches her shoulder. “Is everything all right?”
“ ‘Course.” She takes out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long draw before speaking again. “Just… the night I told you about this place… we were talking about ourselves, remember?”
He laughs softly. “It’s not the kind of conversation you forget.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you. I don’t age… I’m pretty damn hard to kill… but only while it’s the 20th century. I’m a 20th-century girl, and I always will be.”
He frowns. “What exactly are you telling me here?”
She looks into his eyes. “That on the stroke of midnight, on the last day of this century, I’ll die. And then… another girl will be born. Only she’ll be the spirit of the 21st century.”
He sits back in his chair, not quite knowing what to say. “Is there… anything else?”
“I don’t think I want to die.”
He sighs. “I don’t know what you expect me to say. Do you… want to know what it feels like?”
“No!” She snaps. “No, I really bloody don’t, Harkness, and if that’s the best you can offer….”
“I… there’s only one thing I can say, really…”
“Go on.” She looks at him expectantly.
“People like us… people with, you know, longer lifespans than usual… sometimes we forget that ordinary people aren’t around for as long. So when they talk about living for the moment… we think it doesn’t apply to us. It does, though…”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Okay, so you know, exactly, how much longer you’re going to live. What I’m trying to say is… don’t worry about it. Live every moment like it’s your last.”
She gives him the strangest look for a second, before stubbing out her cigarette in an ashtray, pulling him closer and kissing him soundly.
Fandom: Torchwood/StormWatch (WildStorm Universe)
Characters: Jack Harkness, Jenny Sparks
Rating: PG-13, for swearing.
Spoilers: Nothing, actually. For either fandom.
Disclaimer: Jack is RTD's, Jenny belongs to Garth Ennis. I just like to play in the sandbox occasionally.
NOTE: The Wolf's Head does appear in an actual StormWatch comic - that'd be where I got the idea! The comic is "Lightning Strikes", if anyone's interested.
In an otherwise quiet and unassuming part of London, on a back street where no-one would ever expect anything strange to happen, there is a pub frequented by the city’s more… unusual residents.
It’s not the kind of place where you would just pop in for a quick pint. The Wolf’s Head doesn’t look like much from the outside – which may or may not be a deliberate move by the landlord, to keep tourists away – but to those who know it, it can be a welcome place to unwind.
Jack found out about the Wolf’s Head back in the fifties. He’d been in London on assignment, an organisation calling itself the British Space Group had just been set up and Torchwood wanted it checked out. As the resident freelancer, he got the job. It had been an interesting time… lots of guys in military uniform, mostly, a few scientists… oh, and then there was Jenny Sparks.
They’d hit it off, so to speak, right away. The Space Group conference was mostly meetings and people talking over the same subjects endlessly. Having decided that the group posed no threat to Torchwood, he spent the rest of the time in the company of Jenny Sparks. She was like no-one he’d met. After all, it wasn’t every day you met a pretty blonde who cursed like a sailor and could electrocute you with a touch. He could tell there was something else about her, though, something different. She may have looked twenty, but she seemed older than that to him.
He found out, eventually. It was the just a few years later, she was in Cardiff, and she asked him to help out with something… when he went to meet her, she looked exactly the same as she had when they first met years earlier. Later that night, standing on a windy rooftop next to him, she’d told him the truth. He found he had no difficulty believing it – a girl who’s the Spirit of the Twentieth Century? He’d seen stranger things.
Jenny, though, found his easy acceptance of her nature strange. He’d forgotten that she was the 20th-century girl, and had been treating her almost like a fellow time-traveller. She pushed, wondering why he, too, hadn’t aged since their first meeting. Then he explained it to her. He didn’t tell her everything, of course – just that he couldn’t die, and that he’d been on Earth since 1869.
He’d been a little dismayed when she just frowned a little, before saying “Bloody hell”, and laughing.
“What’s so funny?” He’d asked.
“Nothing, really. Just… we make a right pair, don’t we? Never aging. Living through a whole bleedin’ century together, but not changing with it.”
“I guess. It’s surprising it took us this long to meet.”
That was the night she told him about the Wolf’s Head. A place for… unusual people to unwind. He told her it sounded like a great place, and promised that they’d go there when he was in London next.
She held him to that promise, too. He’d been sent to London to visit Torchwood One for what they called “administrative purposes”, which meant he had to deliver a stack of reports on behalf of his boss, and other similarly boring tasks.
She was waiting for him outside the Torchwood One building. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged, taking a drag on her cigarette. “Waiting for you, what’d you think?”
“And how exactly did you know where I’d be?”
“I followed you. You’re not exactly hard to follow, in that outfit. A bit outdated for the eighties, don’t you think?”
“I like it, actually. So did you want anything else, or did you just want to pass on fashion tips?”
“Do you remember me telling you about that pub? I thought we’d go there.”
“Uh… great. Sure. I’m done here, why not?”
“Excellent attitude to have, Captain.”
He followed her down several streets, until they stood outside a quiet-looking little pub. The sign over the door read “The Wolf’s Head”, so Jack guessed it was the place she’d told him about. Inside, it looked pretty much as he’d expected it to – tables and chairs, some occupied, a bar. There were some other patrons, most of whom kept to themselves, though Jenny obviously knew the small group in the… interesting outfits seated at the bar.
Despite that, once they had their drinks – a pint for Jenny, but just water for Jack, as usual – they sat at a table tucked away in the corner. It was a good spot – you could see almost the whole pub from there. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Jack sipped his water, then looked around. “It’s a nice place. Do you… come here a lot?”
“I’m in here a fair bit, yeah.”
“With your friends, the ones at the bar?”
“Yeah. They’re more colleagues, though, not really friends.”
“Oh. That StormWatch thing. I heard about that.”
“That’s right.” She hesitated. That unnerves him – ‘hesitant’ isn’t a word that could ordinarily describe Jenny Sparks. He touches her shoulder. “Is everything all right?”
“ ‘Course.” She takes out a cigarette, lights it, and takes a long draw before speaking again. “Just… the night I told you about this place… we were talking about ourselves, remember?”
He laughs softly. “It’s not the kind of conversation you forget.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you. I don’t age… I’m pretty damn hard to kill… but only while it’s the 20th century. I’m a 20th-century girl, and I always will be.”
He frowns. “What exactly are you telling me here?”
She looks into his eyes. “That on the stroke of midnight, on the last day of this century, I’ll die. And then… another girl will be born. Only she’ll be the spirit of the 21st century.”
He sits back in his chair, not quite knowing what to say. “Is there… anything else?”
“I don’t think I want to die.”
He sighs. “I don’t know what you expect me to say. Do you… want to know what it feels like?”
“No!” She snaps. “No, I really bloody don’t, Harkness, and if that’s the best you can offer….”
“I… there’s only one thing I can say, really…”
“Go on.” She looks at him expectantly.
“People like us… people with, you know, longer lifespans than usual… sometimes we forget that ordinary people aren’t around for as long. So when they talk about living for the moment… we think it doesn’t apply to us. It does, though…”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Okay, so you know, exactly, how much longer you’re going to live. What I’m trying to say is… don’t worry about it. Live every moment like it’s your last.”
She gives him the strangest look for a second, before stubbing out her cigarette in an ashtray, pulling him closer and kissing him soundly.