(no subject)

[victormakesart]

The doctor-- a proper doctor, not the Doctor-doctor-- just called Victor on the phone with the results and she told him not to say another word because she has to get Jack and so she cradles the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she texts Jack on her PINpoint: GET OVER HERE.

Comments

[fractured_agent]

Jack needs to do nothing to prepare, since he is always at his most fabulous, and offers his arm to his very dear friend. And, of course, since it's Jack doing it, he holds no expectations that she somehow needs his support to get around, it's just for the sheer human comfort factor of being with another person and going out together. Touching is his drug of choice.

[victormakesart]

Victor doesn't usually need to do much preparation other than grab her backpack o' everything but going off, unmasked, onto her world is terrifying, and she needs all the protection she can get.

She likes contact, too, and she gives his shoulder a little kiss, and leads the way out of the apartment.

[fractured_agent]

Jack's looking around everywhere as they go, like a tourist, and in some ways he really is. Every world is different, and so is every time, and he wants to be familiar with hers. After all, he'll be spending a good deal of time here over the next few months. "You seem nervous."

[victormakesart]

"I'm usually masked and costumed when I go out on this world. I rarely go outside here," she says, leaning up a little bit to make sure she answers extra quietly.

[fractured_agent]

"Is it dangerous?" he asks, casting a more critical eye around their surroundings. He's gotten into trouble more times than he can count when a seemingly harmless planet had a big dirty secret out in the open.

[victormakesart]

"No more dangerous than any other world. It's not... quite safe to be a metahuman, but if... ah--" She urges him into an alley, checks for cameras and people who might have followed, murmurs into his ear, "If people knew that I'm Doc, knew what kind of technology I have access to, it wouldn't be safe for me."

[fractured_agent]

"Why would they know that?" he asks.

[victormakesart]

"They could piece it together from the way I walk, the way I talk, the way I move-- the way I interact with people. If there's one thing I've learned, it's never underestimate the deductive power of the average person."

[fractured_agent]

"I might have to teach you a few tricks about misdirection," he says, thinking. "Time Agents usually only get made if they want to be."

[victormakesart]

"I think I'm pretty good, but I could use some extra training that I didn't get from being paranoid."

[fractured_agent]

"I think we can do lesson one now," he says with a grin. "Relax. People can see if you're tense and they'll wonder more about why that is. Just have fun."

[victormakesart]

She takes a deep breath that, in spite of herself, she ends up letting out shaky. "I don't seem relaxed?" she asks, with a wobbly half-laugh that shows that she's very, very aware of the fact that she doesn't.

[fractured_agent]

He puts an arm around her in a partial hug, warm and very Jack. "Don't worry. You're with the captain."

[victormakesart]

Victor does something she rarely ever does, in that moment. She lets someone else have control of the situation. She's with Jack. It'll all be fine. She leans into the hug and finally, for the first time in much longer than she'd like to admit, she relaxes.

[fractured_agent]

He gives her a squeeze, then begins leading her back out onto the sidewalk, keeping his arm around her. The warmth of his closeness is like a security blanket, and he oozes confidence, enough for the both of them.

[victormakesart]

Slowly but surely, her pounding heart stops being the only thing she can hear. The sounds of the city filter in... not just her sharp-for-danger listening, but real listening. She feels her face, hot and flushed, begin to cool down. She walks with him.

[fractured_agent]

"Now, which way to 'fro-yo'?" he asks with a grin, saying it like it's some sort of exotic foodstuff, and to him it might as well be. Having a destination will also help take her mind off the people around them.

[victormakesart]

She gives a twittery giggle at his tone, and says, "Straight a few blocks, then a right turn at the light."

[fractured_agent]

He recalls those terms from his lessons on 20th century life, even though 'blocks' are really squares and the 'lights' are meant for motorized traffic, not pedestrians. "It's kinda weird to me how cities in this century are so quiet." Even though there's the noise of traffic and people, and folks of her century wouldn't call it quiet by any means.

[victormakesart]

"Quiet?" she asks, giving him a kiss on the shoulder, as she does sometimes, a gentle expression of her strangeness-- her odd affection. "How loud is it in your century? The Doctor's never taken me near there."

[fractured_agent]

"Well combustion engines are pretty noisy, but at least automobiles stick to the streets. If you're near a spaceport, you've got ships flying overhead all the time, and not all of them are in tip-top condition. And I can really only hear one language being spoken here... in my time, there's two main trade languages, but people still stick to their native tongues too so there's a lot of different kinds of chatter." He's moving confidently down the sidewalk even though he's never been here, walking like every step is one he's walked thousands of times before.

[victormakesart]

"That's kinda awesome," she says, imagining the clutter of the streets, the humming buzz of vehicles all around. Truly the future. Sales for soundproof headphones must be through the roof. "Scary, though. I'd hate for a sky-car to lose an engine part!"

[fractured_agent]

"That doesn't happen too often," Jack says with a chuckle. "Most decent ports have a kind of force field between ground level and the above-lanes, kind of like a safety net."

[victormakesart]

"That's cool! I wouldn't've thought of that, but it makes perfect sense, to segment the different layers with a field."

[fractured_agent]

"Yeah, even in the future, sometimes accidents happen. You wouldn't want a kid with a learner's permit to crash into the local shops or anything."