Summer 10 - newcomer mingle

[kollomods]

[ It's late morning when the ferry comes around, landing on the jetty and letting off a small but valued group of new arrivals. Olivia is out there, greeting and handing out information packets.

Later in the afternoon, there's a small welcome party set up at the community center. The tables are laden with cinnamon buns, elderflower lemonade, fresh strawberries and an assortment of small cookies and other treats. There's also thirium lovingly set up to the side of the buffet, for the android population. Ingvar shows up a little later with his accordion, setting the mood with some traditional folk songs like he's wont to do. ]

Comments

[sparkandburn]

Maybe he is being told off a little bit. Spike's not stupid, he knows that no matter how good he and Ianto are on their own, Jack was part of all that and even more so, part of Ianto's life long before Spike came along. He knows how much Ianto misses him when he's not around.

"Maybe you should bring him along sometime. Have an lit'le adventure the two of you."

It's a casual suggestion, but he does have something... well. There's something to it. Something he should get into at some point but maybe not tonight, maybe not ever if he can play it right.

[forever_jack]

Yeah, and now that he's been gone a while and begun to realise what he's missed, he's starting to be a little more aware of that. Things might change for the better.

"Hey, I would love to. I've always wanted to take him out into the stars, show him other worlds; he just seems to want to stay on Earth with you!"

He cocks his head, thinking about it, how it might work. "And what would you be doing while I was off showing him the universe?"

[sparkandburn]

"Have you asked?" He responds with a cocked brow and a pointed glance. Jack doesn't always have the best grasp of the romantic, as was evident by how Ianto was so deprived of being swept off his feet when they first started fraternising. Chances are there's a lot of assumptions happening here and we all know what that does.

That line of conversation comes to a limping halt however as Jack gets to the heart of the matter, as he so often does. There's a pause, because of course it is, and a gulp of whiskey as if to brush off that there was a pause at all.

"I'm sure I can find something to occupy myself."

[forever_jack]

"Of course I have!" he says immediately, before going back to really think about it. He frowns. "I'm sure I have, just... perhaps not strongly enough. Perhaps I haven't really made it clear how much I'd like him to come with me."

And perhaps, even though he's imagined it quite a bit, he's also tended to imagine that Ianto would rather be on Earth with Spike. Perhaps there have been assumptions happening and doing their thing.

Which, really, was where his question about what Spike would do with himself if left on his own came from, because he really has found it hard to imagine the two of them wanting to be apart. But that response sounds simultaneously like it's coming from somewhere deep and that Spike is trying very hard to make it sound casual.

So he quirks an eyebrow, and asks - directly, so that he'll hopefully have no chance of misinterpreting the answer: "Do you want to talk about it? Or shall we pretend I never asked?" With an ironic twitch of his lips.

[sparkandburn]

Truth be told, he hadn't really thought about this neat solution before. Heck, he hasn't decided on whether he wants to go through with it yet, if at all, but the thought keeps buzzing in his head and that's the real reason why he's here. Sure, turning Ianto is a big deal and one that needs to be worked up to but honestly, he could go through with that any day. He'd just rather do it with his own business taken care of first.

"Not much to talk about." He shrugs, very much trying to play it up as casual when it's everything but. "Besides... I think you already know what I'm implying."

[forever_jack]

Well... it's only a neat solution if Ianto doesn't suss out what he's up to and insist on coming with him and, really, what are the chances of that?

And the longer Spike tries to play it casual, the surer Jack is what he's talking about here. He nods slowly, doing his best to think things through and not rush to conclusions or basically do anything stupid. But he still can't help asking, because it's the big thought that's ringing round inside his head: "You're talking about going back to Sunnydale? To die?"

[sparkandburn]

Pretty high, he'd wager. Maybe lower if he can get Jack to act as a distraction.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." He makes a face - dying isn't really part of the plan, if he can avoid it. "The future has already changed. I wasn't supposed to get the soul the way I did. I wasn't supposed to leave. Everything's different."

And he's banking on that making the difference, of it allowing him to get ahead of the game.

"Wouldn't you go, Jack? If you thought you had a chance of keeping the world from ending, at least for a bit longer?"

[forever_jack]

"Well, yeah!" he says emphatically to the first part, because none of them want Spike to die!

He nods slowly, working it all out and allowing that yes, enough changes might just have been made to let him get away with it.

He grins. "Well, yes, immortal or not, of course I would." After all, he still died to give his blood to the Blessing, even thinking he wouldn't come back from it. It's what they do.

"But if you're planning on emphasizing the differences anyway, why don't we both come back and help you anyway? It is kind of the thing we do, after all!"

[sparkandburn]

He gives that a moment of genuine thought and then shakes his head. "No."

Maybe they could help in the periphery, like the Slayerettes, but he's not sure it'd make that big of a difference in the long run. This is his battle to fight, his redemption to find. It's about more than the Hellmouth itself.

"Besides..." he starts, hesitant now. "...if it goes pear shaped? Someone needs to take care of him. No one better than you, for that."

[forever_jack]

He studies Spike for a long moment, and then nods. It's what he expected. "Fair enough. I get that it's something you need to do."

He leans an elbow on the table, serious now. "But if and when you do go back there, even if you don't want us with you... You need to tell him where you're going. It's not fair to him to just sneak away without giving him a chance to say goodbye."

The compliment about him being able to take care of Ianto has not gone unnoticed, but there are more important issues at stake here (pun not intended).

[sparkandburn]

Spike makes a noise at that, a frustrated groan — yes, Jack's right. He knows that already, is kind of working up the courage to do just that by being here. Can't argue with any of this.

"I know, I know... and I'm going to. Eventually." He fakes a sigh, grips the whiskey bottle tighter. "Enough of that. This is a party, isn't it?"

[forever_jack]

"All right." He gives Spike a wry, gentle smile, and lets it go.

"Yeah, I guess so!" He picks up his bottle and reaches across to clink it against Spike's before taking a big swig from it, gasping as it burns.

"So," he drawls, searching for a lighter topic of conversation. "Met anyone interesting here?"

[sparkandburn]

He takes a swig of his own, surprisingly relieved at how easily Jack let go of the topic. This wasn't his intention with coming here tonight — it wasn't going to be about him. Whatever. It's a nice night and there'll be more like it.

"A couple." he muses, glancing over at Jack with a mischievous look. "But I feel like you'd have more to say about that than me. Met anyone yet?"

[forever_jack]

Well, not pushing on the sensitive issues goes both ways. They both have things they don't want to go too deep into yet.

His eyebrows go up at that look. "What, because you've been too busy staying home shagging Ianto to get out and meet people?" he asks amused, and shrugs. "I've met quite a few folks here. The only one I've really got to know well so far, though, is my housemate, Hanako. She's ever so young and she's pretty badly damaged - in more ways than one - so I've kind of taken her under my wing, you know? She's a really sweet girl."

[sparkandburn]

"Like most people here, I'd wager."

He takes a swig of whiskey to swallow down that casual observation. They're all here for similar reasons - time, escape, freedom. Most people are damaged in some way and he has to wonder if it's good or bad that Jack's taken on this girl. Sounds like a good way to not take on himself.

"And if you recall, I was never one for all this socialising."

[forever_jack]

"Yeah," he agrees, without really acknowledging that he himself is just as damaged as the next man, and a darned sight more than many. He's always been short-sighted in that respect. He'll lay down his life to help a stranger, but he's still pretty terrible at taking the time and making the effort to sort his own life out.

He chuckles. "Good of you to come along tonight, then! And very good of you to bring the whisky. This isn't bad stuff!" Emphasising that opinion by taking another long swig from his bottle. He's beginning to feel a very pleasant little buzz.

[sparkandburn]

"Had to find some way to survive tonight."

And alcohol seems to be the best social lubricant no matter what decade you're in. He gives Jack a nod and tips the bottle back for another swig.

((ooc: wrap up here?))

[forever_jack]

((OOC: Yeah, sure - I don't think there's anything else to include and it would be nice to get them up to date! New thread tomorrow for the new week?))

[sparkandburn]

((ooc: sure thing! They have a lot to catch up on! ))

[forever_jack]

((They do!))