Summer 1 - Greetings and Welcome - Action

[kollomods]

[ It's a mild sunny day when the first group of guests make land at Norrhamn. A gentle breeze rustle the birch trees and tangle in the bunting that's hung across the buildings in celebration of this very special occasion. Aina has been busy gathering up guests over the last few hours and now the ferry is approaching the port, waves breaking gently against the bow.

Olivia is waiting on the jetty, clipboard hugged close to her body. She's excited and nervous all at once, anxious to get to meet these people that she's read so much about, the faces behind the pleading letters. This is the first day her new job becomes hands on. Hopefully she'll be good at it.

As the ferry lands and lets the guests off, Olivia raises a hand in a cheerful greeting. ]

Hello! Welcome to Norrhamn!

Comments

[forever_jack]

[Unfortunately, smugness is a trait Jack displays rather frequently. Hard not to be smug when you're this handsome and accomplished, and when you've lived so long and done so much!

On the other hand, the smugness is soon replaced by an easy grin.] Yeah, different worlds - or universes - might well be coming into it! Never heard of a fal'Cie before, although I have had some experience with sentient AIs. They didn't actually try to kill us, but they did imprison a lot of people to experiment with for their own fun and games.

[oracledriven]

[Noel's eyebrows lift at that -- sounds like sentient AIs are almost universal.] Sounds like a similar idea to what ours was trying. Funny how they seem to come up with the same ideas, even in different worlds.

[forever_jack]

Yeah, I guess some things are universal - or multi-universal!

[He cocks his head, curious.]

So, what time period are you from originally? Was the time travel from your own period or did that come from some other time?

[oracledriven]

Multi-universal. I like it.

[He grins, but the expression fades a little bit with that question. Dammit, Jack, that's complicated.]

I started in my own time period. Putting it generously, you could call it "the future." It wasn't much of a future, though. I was traveling to the past to try and change that. To fix it.

[forever_jack]

Right. [And it's a very, very long time since he was a Time Agent but he learned even more about the dangers of mucking around with time from the Doctor too and he can't help asking:] Was the reason there wasn't much of a future for you because someone had already gone back and tampered with it?

[He spreads his hands disarmingly.] Sorry. Can't help worrying you might have messed up more than you fixed if you weren't very careful!

[oracledriven]

That's exactly it. I guess this isn't the first time you've had to deal with that?

[... Now there's an idea. It's almost funny, in a way. He shakes his head.] All we were doing was correcting paradoxes someone else left behind. We corrected the timeline. Put time right back how it was supposed to be, followed all the little breadcrumbs.

[Right into a different kind of trap. He pauses there for a moment, debating whether to continue. But he has a feeling Jack's going to ask either way, so he shrugs and continues, voice lowering a bit.]

We fixed the timeline, but the person responsible had a different agenda all along. He created a situation where we ended up killing the goddess who controlled time. We were careful. We were so careful. And then it didn't matter anyway.

[forever_jack]

Not the first by a long chalk. [Lips pursed, a little grim. But he's relieved by Noel's explanation - at least until the end part.]

The goddess who controlled time? That really doesn't sound good! What happened?

[oracledriven]

[That response makes Noel wonder if some of Jack's encounters might have ended in a similarly grim fashion. It's inevitable, he supposes -- messing with time is just not a good idea. It doesn't often end well.

He offers a bit of a flat chuckle at the observation.]

Not good, no. Time...stopped, I guess is the best way to put it. People kept going, but they didn't age anymore. No more births, no more natural deaths. The process of life and death stopped entirely, and things began to decay.

[He shakes his head, shrugging a bit.]

Turns out that killing gods isn't always a great idea.

[forever_jack]

[Messing with time is almost never a good idea. It's the reason why the Time Agency existed - after the disappearance of the Time Lords who'd done the job before them (and whose disappearance, it would turn out, was also kind of a result of someone messing with time)!

He makes a sympathetic face at Noel's description of the results.]

Mmm, definitely not a good idea in that case! How did you manage to sort things out?

[oracledriven]

[Noel is starting to think the same thing, generally; Caius was meant to be the guardian of time. It was his job to keep it safe. But clearly, it proved too much for one man, the way things had gone. Maybe it's just too much for one person.

Anyway. Interesting question, there, Jack. Noel shrugs, offering a wry smile.]

Unclear. I'll report back once that happens.

[forever_jack]

[Ah. Right.]

I see. [He lifts an eyebrow.] So you came here to give yourself some time to try and figure out a solution?