melodiesoflife

Entry tags:

[Open]

Who: Jack, OPEN
What: Working at the lab, and shenanigans at home.
When: 4/14
Where: Jess- ... Er- Palitulu's Laboratory, and House B-03
Warning: None

[Lab]
Although Jack has moved on to a different project, he keeps peeking at whatever data he can get his hands on regarding the Custom Jobs. Most of it is locked up, personal to the heroes, themselves, but he has been trying to catch anyone coming in with questions about their Jobs. He's already pulled that trigger, and is progressing on what he called 'Time Agent.' A joke only he gets. But maybe he wants to see if things are going to plan for everyone else. What might his own future hold.

The data that he can see, for the moment, pertains to his currently crystallized former roommate, Val. He was always very concerned with making her feel comfortable around him, so he didn't pry into who- or what, she had been in her home world. Maybe he should have asked.

"Got a minute?" He'll stop coworker or any other Hero (or maybe that moogle who is great to talk to).

[Home]
Housemates and visitors alike should be afraid. Mogwen's got the front door propped open to let out the heat from the kitchen, because Jack is cooking.

Jack's singing voice floats out from the kitchen, behind the sound of something sizzling in the small pan he is pulling off the heat. The strong smell of roasting garlic overpowers nearly everything else. He is balancing his attention between that, a large pot of simmering sauce, and dry pasta ready to go eventually.

The door's open, partly because he's been expecting more people to ask about the video. Not that he has more answers than anyone else, but he can at least pretend that he does.

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Keiko has had a pretty good day, all things considered. Her students had worked hard today, and one had even achieved a perfect score on her math test, which she proudly displayed to Keiko. Her practice with White Magic was progressing better than she'd hoped as well, and she'd been making herself useful at the hospital.

Now it was time to go home, cook a hot meal for herself and whoever else happened to be home, and take in the...laundry...?

Blinking, she drew up short in surprise. Their front door was open, and someone was singing his heart out. On top of that, something smelled really good. She couldn't imagine her day getting much better, unless Yusuke rolled up to announce that he'd awakened from crystal stasis, but there were a few more hours yet before the day was over.

Stepping inside, Keiko followed the joyful song, and sure enough there was Jack. Keiko giggled against her fingertips, picking up the empty laundry basket and holding it against her hip. "I didn't know you could sing. You're fantastic!"

Jack grins and nods his head in a bow as Keiko comes in. "Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week!" He carefully shakes the pan of garlic, and turns off the stove underneath it. "Helps me keep time." A more informal way of checking how long it's been for the food to simmer, rather than keeping a clock.

"Speaking of, you've got perfect timing, c'mere," Jack waves her over. He stirs the sauce in the pan, and pulls out a spoonful. He breathes on it a few times to kill the heat, but holds out the spoon for Keiko to taste. Tomatoes, basil, the closest thing he could get to oregano, a bit of sugar, and more butter than should be legal.

"It's got the garlic yet to go, but you tell me. Shouldn't be too tart, I've got to leave it on there for a while after this..." Since the food is to share, Jack hopes that it'll be to everybody's taste.

Keiko chuckled. It was nice to come home to find others in high spirits too. And a homecooked meal, too! "Okay," she agreed, setting the basket down and approaching the stove. She took the spoon in hand and sampled the sauce.

It was surprisingly good! "Wow, that's not bad at all. I didn't know anyone else here knew how to cook!" Not only that, but he seemed to be a pretty good cook at that.

"I was just about to bring in the laundry, but after that, I can lend a hand here. Is there anything you need help with?"

Jack seems to smile even wider at the compliment. "Thanks. Been around long enough I've figured out a thing or two. Tonight I'm just duplicating an old recipe from somebody I knew back home. Old Moretti family secret, she said. I'm just copying the masters."

"Ummm, an extra set of eyes on the pasta would be a good thing, I won't put it in until you get back. But, come on, for the most part? You get to relax, no taking care of our butts for one night." Jack is pretty insistent on not being a lazy roommate when he's around. "Spent enough time living on my own, gotta remember how to work around other people."

Keiko grinned. That was very thoughtful of him, really. Keiko had no complaints to offer about either of her roommates, they seemed like nice people. And if they made a mess sometimes, it wasn't a big deal. "It's not as bad as all that," she said, hoisting the basket up into her arms. "We were on the run in the wilderness for seven months. Having a warm and comfortable home to take care of is something I'm not taking for granted! Neither of you are putting me out."

Cooking and cleaning might be strange hobbies for someone to have, but Keiko took pride in preparing a good meal and having a clean, well-kept place to live. It made her feel relaxed, and better organized in other areas of her life.

"I'll be back in about ten minutes. Thanks for taking care of dinner for us! I hope you'll sing some more, too," she smiled over her shoulder before nudging open the door to go take down the laundry.

When she returned, the towels and linens she'd hung up to dry were neatly folded in her basket. She was more accustomed to using an electric washer and dryer, but there was something satisfying about doing it the old-fashioned way too. The clothes smelled good, and it was pleasant to fold them when they were still warm with sunshine. Placing the clothespins back into the bowl on the shelf, she set the basket aside in the living room so she could help with dinner. She filled a pot with water and set it on the stove to boil, then hustled into the dining room to start setting the table while they waited.

Sure. What's up?

[Chiaki glances over to the data Jack is looking at.]

...Do you want to know more about Valvalis?

Jack shoots Chiaki a small smile. "Hey. Well, Val's a good place to start. I was-" Jack shrugs. "Didn't talk to her about much deep thoughts while she was here. She seemed a little jumpy around me when she first showed up, I just wanted her to feel welcomed."

Jack taps the file. "Didn't have a clue about this."

She told me a little more, if you're curious.

Jack exaggeratedly nods, and puts the file down to turn his whole attention to Chiaki. "Whatever you know that, well, wouldn't be prying too much? I know you two were close." Were. Are? Tenses get more complicated when talking about their crystalized friends.

Well, she never made much of a secret of the fact that she was a monster. Or a fiend, to use the term from her world. I think that's why we felt a kinship early on, even before we found out about each others' histories. Neither of us were human before coming here. We were both something else.

Jack looks a little startled at the term. "Fiend? Not too nice a way to describe herself. But, she wasn't human," he taps the file, "this was her way to try to get back to what was normal for her?"

A curious comment, though. "I know you weren't human, but I'll argue you're more human than a lot of people that I know."

Pretty much, yeah.

[Chiaki nods.]

She missed the wind.

Jack frowns lightly and his eyes drift back down to the closed file, unsure of how to react to that. "I'm sorry. It's more than just losing- powers, or something extra she could do, it changed who she was."

There's a question that, with anyone else, Jack would be more careful about asking, but he knows he doesn't have to beat around the bush with Chiaki. "Coming here changed who you are, too. But- you're not lining up to get that identity back. Like you did in that vision?"

Yeah. She seemed a lot happier after she started getting her old powers back.

[Chiaki looks over at Jack at that last question, tilting her head thoughtfully for a moment.]

Not really. It was fine before because all my friends were in the Neo World Program too. But going back to that kind of existence here... it would be too big a tradeoff.

There's a very big and obvious relief on Jack's face when Chiaki says that. "Good," a little too quickly. "Well. I don't remember what your reasons were, from what we saw there. But I do remember just the feeling. That I missed you."

"I would. If you went back in."

There's a beat pause where maybe this conversation is going to get too serious, before Jack looks back up at Chiaki with a more sly look and a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. "And, apparently, somebody else would, too..." Jack, what do you think you know?

"So who's this Hinata guy?"

Yeah... you're not the first one to say that. And I'd miss everyone too.

[It also looks like he hit the nail on the head, as Chiaki actually blushes for a moment.]

He's, um...

Jack's kingdom for a camera right now. His eyebrows raise and that grin only grows bigger.

"It seems he respects you quite a lot." A crush, but is it unrequited or not...? "Does he know there's potentially something else going on there?"

Actually... he asked me to be his girlfriend.

[More blushing. And a soft little smile.]

...And I said yes.

Tazendra spent a great deal of time at the Lab, engrossed in unravelling the mysteries of this world's magic. As pastimes go, it was probably one of the least violent ones she had, and it meant she now had some income. She recognized Jack form seeing him around. "I have many minutes," Tazendra answered.

It was hard to tell if she was joking.

After living with Chiaki for a year? Jack is honestly starting to lose his ability to tell the difference. But, he smiles as if it is one anyway. "I've been looking over what I can find of the Custom Jobs." He thinks he's seen her name, but has to ask anyway. "Do you have one?"

"In fact, I do!" Tazendra said. "I cannot say I know how it works." And that it feels very weird, given how patchy it is.

Jack smiles widely, "Oh, good. I was one of the people who worked on the project, so I almost understand. We're tricking the system into making a blank template job, and then filling it with the closest we can get to, well, what we used to have back home."

"Have you equipped yours yet, gotten any levels in it?"

"I have! It hasn't been much at first. And it is... quite odd. I feel as if I have a link to the Imperial Orb, I can draw a small amount of power, but..." Tazendra frowned, trying to explain it. "I know it is a facsimile. And yet it feels so well done, that I only notice when I find things I would do without a second thought on my own world."

Okay, now that's interesting. "H-unh. Like you don't have your full power, but it's coming back a little at a time? I think that's what happening to me." Best way Jack can think to put it.

"What's this Imperial Orb, though? Something you were linked to for your power back in your home world?"

"Exactly so. It permitted sorcery to be cast in a far safer manner than without the link. Among many other things." Because it was the symbol of Dragaeran rulership, stored the memories of all past emperors, could see truth and falsehood, and was a major part of the planet's defense about extra-dimensional incursion. "Here... I cannot cast sorcery, our sort of sorcery, without the link. Only it is not the true link, because the Orb is not here, nor is the Great Sea which powers sorcery."

Jack snaps his fingers as if reacting to something that she said. "The core thing that makes your powers work isn't here, but we're getting a version of it anyway. And your sort of- sorcery," copying her word to make sure he gets the concept right, "is different than the magic here? Not just, fire and water and healing?"

"It is more versatile than the magic here," Tazendra agreed. "With proper study, one could adapt sorcerous energy to many problems. I do not know if this Job would permit me learning anything new."

Not that she doesn't have a set of useful abilities. But Tazendra likes to experiment.

"See, now that's what I was thinking." Jack moves a hand back and forth through the air. "You think about magic, and what you imagine is something more- free-form. Maybe it used to be this way here, even, before the spells were developed, and things got codified into Jobs. Dangerous, playing with magic like that, but with so much more- potential."

Jack is choosing his words carefully. He's seen forces that can shape reality, and they aren't usually constrained in the ways that magic here seems to be. But he looks at Tazendra as if hoping she'll confirm or refute what he's saying.

"Exactly so. Even drawing energy through the Orb is exchanging some measure of safety for versatility, as it ensures only the energy of the spell can create a backlash, not the link to the Great Sea of Amorphia."

Yugi stopped for a moment glancing over, Hikaru his companion moogle was by his side, for once not running off every which way like she use to.

"I have free time right now, what is it?" He had to admit he was a tiny bit curious to say the least.

Jack's been meaning to catch up with the kid, at some point. One of the obviously younger people who works here, (who isn't Chiaki, and she sort of doesn't count) but who seems to know what he's doing.

"Ah, Jack Harkness," he extends a hand, can't remember if he's introduced himself before. "Did you work on the Custom Jobs project? I'm trying to find more information on how it's going for people, now that a few of them are activated."

"Yugi. Yugi Mutou." he held out his hand to shake the others for a moment before pausing. He was pretty sure the customs jobs was not something he himself had been a part of. But he had his reasons for not wanting to.

"I was not apart of that project. I had been doing something else at the time." He had let go of the others hand at the point, placing them back at his side.

"Nice to meet you, Yugi Mutou," Jack nods. Hmm. He tilts his head to the side and looks at Yugi appraisingly. "I'm starting to figure out not to underestimate anybody here, no matter how young they look. But, what is bringing you to work here? Plenty of ways you could be helping out, why this?" Set the files aside for a second. Something more interesting is in front of Jack.

"What? Well... I guess I just want to help without having to always be on the front lines, I guess you could say." While he knew fighting had to be something that had to be done, if he could avoid it, he would. Or maybe find another way.

"I felt like this was the best way to do that."

There is a heavy pause as Jade slowly looks up from his work. Not hostile, not cold, but with the awkward knowledge that he has probably killed the man in front of him once. Probably.

Truthfully, he can't actually remember anything past the moment of using the Black Crystal in the alternate future. His mind seems to rebel anytime he attempts to recall it, and he gave up trying quite quickly. Even without the memory, though, Jade can make an educated guess at what happened.

Somehow he's managed to avoid getting caught by any of his "enemies" in private until now. Well, his luck had to run out sooner or later...

"Can I help you?" Jade is calm, if a little wary, as he sets Palitutu's reports aside for the moment.

Jack has the unique position of usually not holding people killing him against them. Usually. But, he is still trying to figure out what to make of Jade, especially now. Use a Black Crystal, become a God. Was what Kalki was describing in the video what Jade was attempting to do in that vision? Maybe they'll never know.

Still, he's by far one of the smartest people working in the lab, so Jack will ask him for his perspective. "You're one of the people with a Custom Job, right?" Jack puts down Val's file. "There's only so much I can figure out from data. How's it going for you, so far?"

This is a safe enough topic that Jade allows his guard to lower a bit. If Jack isn't demanding answers, that's perfectly fine by him.

"That is correct. Though I haven't had any use for it yet, funnily enough." He gives a small shrug. "Even having nearly all my old powers back, there's no denying normal Jobs have more versatility."

He gives the file a curious glance, but will leave it for Jack to elaborate on if he wants to.

Jack slowly nods, but he tilts his head to the side curiously. "I'd almost argue the opposite, but maybe that's because the Jobs here fit better into the...rules of this world."

Hmm. "Maybe it has more to do with what the Jobs can do. I-" Focus. "My initial question, do you have a lot of levels in the Custom Job? I'm noticing something weird about mine, and I wanna know if there's a chance this is true for everybody." Put a few of his cards on the table, so that Jade will know he's not just prying.

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[Lab]

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