Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a few months since the team got their first lessons in psychic shielding, and once again, the Hub is open to April's expertise. Though he knows they're having guests, Jack doesn't push anyone to clean up the clutter so it looks better. The Hub is still a work space, and a chaotically changing one at that. They're all used to it by now, and Jack knows April won't mind.

Ianto is manning the tourist information office upstairs, as usual, and he knows that April is coming.

Comments

[fractured_agent]

It's faint, but as Jack listens, he can definitely hear Big Band music coming from upstairs. It's clearly coming from the second floor, but it also sounds like it's miles away. It certainly brings back memories.

April will get a slight psychic impression, like an echo left behind after a sound, though she will also be able to hear it directly.

Jack looks back down at the two ladies. "You coming up?"

[slayers_desire]

April heads up the stairs behind Jac, following the music. "Strange. There is an echo behind the music..."

[fractured_agent]

The interior of the building is just as vandalized as the outside, although a few pieces of furniture remain, wrapped in plastic sheeting to protect them from dust. Upstairs the music is a little bit louder, but still distant somehow.

Jack smiles as he looks around the room, imagining how it must've looked inside back in the forties. "Wow, look at that chandelier. No neon lights back then." He rather likes the more 'antique' look, personally.

Tosh frowns at her scanner a bit, ignoring the music. "I'm not getting much of anything."

[slayers_desire]

"There must be something that is creating the music..." April wonders what it could be.

[fractured_agent]

"Could just be an echo through the Rift," Tosh decides. "It happens sometimes."

"Beautiful but harmless," Jack says with a happy sigh. "We don't get enough of those."

[slayers_desire]

"So nothing to worry about then..."

[fractured_agent]

"Doesn't look like it," Jack agrees. "Come on, nothing here but memories and dust." He begins to lead the way back down the stairs, not noticing how the banister is suddenly dust-free, or that the trash on the first floor has disappeared.

[slayers_desire]

April frowns softly, because she does notice there is no dust around, she just can't smell it anymore. "Did something change?"

[fractured_agent]

The sound increases suddenly, and it isn't just music anymore. There's a woman's voice singing along, and the sound of a crowd laughing and talking together.

Jack stops and turns around again, going back up the stairs. Gone is the derelict, gutted interior of an abandoned dance hall. Instead the walls are clean and shining, the chandelier is glowing brightly, and the room is packed with people. Ladies in evening dresses, men in old British navy and royal air force uniforms, a few men in suits manning the bar or tending to the guests.

"They look so real," Tosh says in amazement.

[slayers_desire]

"They are real..." She watches the people interact, a little amazed. "Did we just go back in time?"

[fractured_agent]

Jack is delighted by what they're seeing. Wartime was one of his favorite things about the twentieth century, and not for the part that included the actual war. It was this atmosphere, having a good time despite the enemy on the doorstep, that appealed to him on his first ever mission to the time period. "A simple temporal shift. And it's beautiful!"

Tosh is a bit more nervous about it. "We should get out."

[slayers_desire]

"Something brought us here..." April gently touches Jack's arm. She can tell that he is loving this, and rightly so since he lived through this decade.

"We should figure out what happened."

((bed time))

[fractured_agent]

"It's probably just this room," Jack says. He's not worried yet. "We'll just walk out the front door and back into the twenty-first century."

"I'll get better readings from outside," Tosh says, hurrying down the stairs. But downstairs is just as clean and maintained as upstairs.

There's an elderly man standing at the door, watching them with a hawklike gaze. He opens the door for them, everything in his actions seeming polite, but there's a greater darkness to him that April will sense. "Do call again."

"I would love to," Jack replies honestly.

[slayers_desire]

April waits until they are outside, before she gently touches Jack's arm again. "I sensed a great darkness in the doorman."

[fractured_agent]

"There's darkness in a lot of people from this time," Jack starts to say.

Tosh interrupts. "It's night time!" she exclaims, shocked and worried. "And where's the SUV? Has it been stolen?"

Jack's starting to realize that the temporal shift might not have been as simple and small as he thought, and he opens his wristcomp to take scans. But before he can do it, he notices the outside of the building. Gone is the graffiti and most of the paper ads. The only one remaining is fresh and new:

KISS THE BOYS
GOODBYE DANCE
SATURDAY
20th JANUARY
1941, 7:30 PM
AT THE RITZ

"No," he says. "We have."

[slayers_desire]

"We are back in time then... the 1940s?"

[fractured_agent]

Jack nods towards the sign on the wall. "January 20th of 1941, to be exact." And while he doesn't mind being here again, this presents all sorts of problems.

[slayers_desire]

"Is there something that might be an issue that we are not aware of?" She can sense his dilemma.

[fractured_agent]

"Plenty." He can't say in front of Tosh what his biggest problem is. As far as he's aware, there are at least two other versions of him in this timeline right now. One who hasn't met the Doctor yet, and another who is serving in the War as temporary leave from Torchwood. "The biggest is trying to find a way back. Let's head back inside. That's where we were when we crossed."

[slayers_desire]

April is suddenly glad that luck was with them, and at least both her and Tosh are wearing dresses. They won't stand out as much in the era.

You have lived in this timeline before? Haven't you? April asks psychically since Tosh is unaware of Jack's situation.

[fractured_agent]

This always was my favorite time period to visit, Jack confirms. Fortunately, he too is dressed for the times, though that's much less of a coincidence in his case. He's stuck to 40s fashion ever since it came back around, and his RAF greatcoat is one of his most prized possessions, the most important thing he kept from the War. We shouldn't run into another me tonight, but there's a risk we'll run into someone who knows me if we stay outside.

Tosh is fretting a bit as they re-enter the dance hall. "This really is 1941. What if we can't get back?"

Jack's a little worried, but he projects confidence. "Flotsam and jetsam slip through all the time. We'll get back."

[slayers_desire]

"We should find out how we got here, I am sure there is a way back." April knows Tosh is worried about the time.

[fractured_agent]

"If I had the Hub's computers, I'd be able to figure this out in a second," Tosh says, upset. "But I have half the equations here!"

Some people at the party are turning to look at what sounds to them like an argument. Jack notices immediately. "We need to blend in."

"Easy for you to say... you're not the only Asian here," Tosh says, but lowers her voice and slips her laptop into its shoulderbag.

[slayers_desire]

"If it helps the situation, I can influence their minds so they only see Caucasian skin on you." April mutters softly to Tosh.

[fractured_agent]

"I think they've already noticed," Tosh says, a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. Her identity is important to her and she doesn't like the idea of hiding it, although the thought of being noticed as the only Japanese in the room is also a bit frightening.

Jack continues to project confidence, both for his sake and for Tosh's. "Don't worry. You're with the captain." He plans to stick close to them both, but Tosh in particular.