Hard choices leave you with nothing [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a while since Jack needed a stiff drink, and he usually abstains in case the Doctor picks that moment to return. But after a day like today... sometimes he can justify letting himself slip a bit.

The rest of his team is sent home, and the Hub is empty, save for Jack and the pterodactyl roosting in her eyrie. Leaving him alone with only a drink and his memories for company.

He looks down at his wristcomp. Very few times has he been able to call anyone for help, since his time at Torchwood began. And it still doesn't quite work... but he's spent too much time with only his thoughts for company. He's terribly lonely, in the way that only the immortal truly know, and right now his heart is aching for the loss of Estelle.

He calls up April's number, before he can talk himself out of it.

Comments

[fractured_agent]

"Just follow my lead." There's an area in the center that isn't as crowded as the areas with the desks, where wire catwalks pass over the moat around the sculpture. Jack leads April over there and breaks off a large piece of chocolate, then whistles upwards. "Hey, girl. Got a treat for you."

There's an answering skraaaw from above, and the dark shape flies out of the eyrie in the upper wall. She circles the sculpture once, head turned sideways as she looks down at them, then swoops down to land heavily on the catwalk. She's as tall as Jack, though her wings make her look much larger before she folds them up.

Jack tosses the chunk of chocolate onto the catwalk in front of her. Her little eyes follow its movement, and her long beak lowers to snap at it.

[slayers_desire]

"Wow. She is impressive." April stands back, respectively of the creature.

[fractured_agent]

The pterodactyl tilts her head back, letting the chocolate fall into her mouth easily. Then she looks at the two of them again, head tilted like a bird's.

"Ever since Ianto found out she likes chocolate, we use that as a way of introducing her to Torchwood personnel," Jack says, although it hasn't been long since she's become a part of the Hub team. "It helps her identify who's not a stranger." He nods towards the rest of the chocolate in April's hand. "Now, you."

[slayers_desire]

April takes the chocolate from Jack, and smiles softly at the pterodactyl in front of her. Then throws the chocolate onto the catwalk, mimicing what Jack had done previously.

[fractured_agent]

Myfanwy's birdlike gaze follows that down too, and she snaps it up too. Jack takes a few steps forward with his arm outstretched, moving slowly so the pterodactyl can see what he's doing. She makes a grumbling noise, but allows him to touch her neck. "She pretends she doesn't like to be petted," Jack says over his shoulder to April. "But it's mostly a show."

[slayers_desire]

April takes a few steps forward, moving slowly too. "Will she let me pet her?"

[fractured_agent]

"So long as she doesn't feel crowded in. She's never attacked one of us after we got her trained."

[slayers_desire]

April makes sure to stay on the same side as Jack is, so that the pterodactyl doesn't feel crowded. And slowly reaches out her hand towards the creature.

[fractured_agent]

Myfanwy's sense of smell isn't great, so she doesn't sniff at the newcomer. But she does tilt her head so she can see April better, studying her up close, almost like she's memorizing her face.

Her skin feels almost like suede, leathery but soft, with a fine coating of fur on most of her body.

"She came through the Rift several months ago," Jack says, stepping back a little bit so April has more room to interact with the team pet. "Ianto brought her to my attention and we caught her together. That was kind of his job interview, actually."

[slayers_desire]

"She must have felt so lost. I am glad she found a home."

[fractured_agent]

"Yeah, now she's got this old dinosaur to keep her company too," Jack says with a wry look. "We can't send her back, and we can't let her fly free or all the sheep in the countryside are going to go AWOL. I think she likes it here though."

[slayers_desire]

"I think she enjoys the company here."

[fractured_agent]

"It's just too bad she didn't come through with a mate to keep her company of her own kind," Jack says. Not all beings need someone of their own species to feel at home, but a pterodactyl isn't advanced enough to think about that sort of thing. "Then again, maybe we'd be drowning in babysaurs if we did that."

[slayers_desire]

"Cute when they are small, but dangerous when they grow up."

[fractured_agent]

"Exactly. And introducing new lives that weren't in the timeline before can be dangerous." And unavoidable, sometimes. Jack's broken that rule of time travel a few times himself. "But either way, I'm going to miss her too when she's gone."

[slayers_desire]

April knows that he is talking about death. She doesn't think about death often, but knows it weighs heavily on Jack.

"You should enjoy her presence while it is here."

[fractured_agent]

Jack thinks about it all the time. It's hard for him not to, since he knows that by all rights he should have died years ago, if only from old age. He gives Myfanwy another pat on the neck before the pterodactyl decides she's had enough, and flaps her wings to take off again, slowly circling the sculpture as she gains enough altitude to reach her nest.

"Believe me, I do. Most nights it's just me and her anyway."

[slayers_desire]

April watches Myfanway fly back to her nest. "This is your home, as well as your office?"

[fractured_agent]

"Yeah. I don't sleep much these days, but I have a bed under my office. There's a manhole behind the desk."

[slayers_desire]

"Well you know if you ever need a place to sleep, where you are surrounded by people who care about you, that we do have a place for our friends."

[fractured_agent]

He smiles faintly. "Thanks, but somebody has to stay and monitor the Rift. Might as well be me." He will keep that in mind, though. He's not sure what will happen once he catches up with the Doctor. And even Torchwood can't last forever.

[slayers_desire]

"Well the offer stands." She will always try to be there for him.

[fractured_agent]

"I appreciate that." He's an independent kind of guy, but he also is very lonely. Friendships are very important to him, and April's has been one of the longest lasting he's had in his long lifetime.

[slayers_desire]

April gives him a hug again. She knows that her friendship is important to him. And hopes that she won't be going anywhere on him... for a long time.

And she hugs him again.

[fractured_agent]

Jack hopes so too. And maybe one day, that's a conversation they'll be able to have. But for now, he just accepts and returns the hug, glad to have friends like her.