multiversallogs | A day at the market!

Entry tags:

A day at the market! :: OPEN

Who: OPEN, NPCs if needed.
What: A guided trip to the Aspic Bazaar
Where: Aspic
When: Coardi ~~Wednesday~~ Morning
Notes: OOC post here.

It's spring in Baedal and the Bazaar in Aspic is full of life. The sun shines on colourful buildings, bleaching tentweaves draped over market stalls. The air is full of shouts and animal noises, customers haggling with merchants and tradesmen striking deals. Children of different species rush back and forth, unattended in the crowd.

There are a lot of things on display in the market. Local produce and wares sit next to strange and exotic bleed-through goods, all of which the sellers are quick to guarantee the genuineness and legality of. Less honest characters also visit the market, it is generally known as an official stomping ground for one of the city's more notorious criminal enterprises. The city is aware of this, of course, and while Militia presence here is not as keenly felt in other place, it may be noticeable in the cares some people take.

It's still considered a safe place, or as a safe a place full of haves and havenots in a strange city can be. It's certainly considered a safe enough place to send newcomers for quick introduction to local sights and economics.

The (more recent) residents of the Valhalla Inn and anyone on the CeidaryBlue523 Node have been encouraged to visit the place. They have also been encouraged to not go alone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sebastian examines his purchase and since he's unable to split the fruit like he would with an apple, it's quick work to slice it in half with his little pocketknife. It's clear that he's comfortable with using the knife and is able to do so with just one hand.

"Care for half? I'm still getting used to anything beyond tinned pears," he says while offering a piece to Jack. With the knowledge that he'll probably have at least a little work with Hellsing to help him settle in, Sebastian is comfortable being generous enough to share his food.

"Thanks," he says, taking it from the other man with a smile. "And ouch, really? I've done the whole canned fruit, canned food diet, and let me tell you. Once you are used to having things fresh, you're never going to want to look back."

He waits until Sebastian's put away his knife again before putting out a hand to the other man. "Captain Jack Harkness," he says, with a grin. "Thanks for the fruit, by the way. Just what sort of a flavor should I be expecting out of this thing, anyway?"

Edited 2011-05-11 17:14 (UTC)

It's been years since Sebastian got to really branch out and try new foods, but he still retains the old pleasure he'd get from trying unusual things.

"Sebastian LetMat and it's a bit like custard-but-not. The vendor said you shouldn't eat the pips." Switching his half of the 'heart' to his other hand, Sebastian accepts the handshake and hopes Jack isn't put off by the missing joints on his right hand.

"And this is Velcro," he says, gesturing to where his very patient, very well behaved dog is sitting. For his part, Velcro can shake a paw, but he's wearing his 'work' vest which advises passers by not to pet or fuss over him.

Jack accepts the handshake firmly without even so much as a second glance at Sebastian's hand. He's been through wars, he's seen far worse. He's starting to wonder if maybe that's what happened to this man too, though. With the hand and the carriage and still that something about him that clued Jack in that this man was a survivor.

Jack smiles down at the dog, taking in the vest as well. "Velcro, huh? Nice name. Nice dog." He pauses for a moment, but Jack's not really one to beat around the bush, so then he's out with it. "Service dog. If you don't mind me asking, what for?"

"Post-war," he says without shame but also without elaborating on exactly what sort of service function Velcro provides. Although, if he's reasonably bright, Jack ought to be able to figure out that Sebastian's limp isn't really pronounced enough to require mobile assistance. "I'd tell you he's brilliant, but if he's smart enough to understand that he'll get smug."

Jack does recognize that here's something that Sebastian isn't telling him there, but he lets it go for the moment. They have just met after all, and while Jack doesn't really go out of his way to be polite, he tries not to purposely annoy anyone either. "Well. We can't have that, now can we..." he says, grinning at Velcro once more before eying the fruit in his hand.

"...so," he says. "How do I eat it, then?" He hadn't really been paying attention to the other man's actions earlier, when he was people watching--more paying attention to Sebastian himself then instead.

Sebastian appreciates the change in subject matter. While he's overly embarrassed about needing Velcro's help, his mental health is not something he'd prefer to discuss during a first meeting or in a public place.

"A bit like olives, I think." Each pit is wrapped in soft, pale flesh, a little like a creamy version of a lychee. "Eat the fruit and spit the seeds into the rind."

Jack looks at the fruit dubiously for a moment more, before picking his head up and smiling at Sebastian again. "Alright. Here goes. I blame you if I look ridiculous eating this, though..."

He takes a bite of the slice that he was handed, and finds that it's actually pretty good. Sweet. Sort of like a pear if it was infused with condensed milk. Interesting. "Well, I can definitely see why you like it," he says, chuckling slightly.

"My shoulders should be able to support the weight of your fruit disapproval," he replies, working one of the not-olives free and popping it in his mouth before turning away to spit the seed back into the skin. Sebastian motions that they can continue walking through the market, if Jack's interested.

"What are you captain of, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jack's there to socialize, and he's found someone to talk to now. Of course Jack's interested in coming with. He takes a step and moves to walk alongside Sebastian. "The Royal Air Force, among other things," Jack answers, which is probably a bit of a surprise, considering his American accent. "Moved on since then but they let me keep the title. Guess they figure that I've more than earned it," he says, with a shrug.

There's a moment where Sebastian has to rack his memory before he recalls what he knows about the RAF. While he's improved his knowledge of history a great deal from his Hogwarts days, modern British history and warcraft has never really been his strong suit.

"I've never been in a plane," he says with a smile and what could be a fondness for the concept of flying.

Jack laughs at Sebastian's comment about flying there. "Never?" he asks, with a grin, side-eying the man as he walked along beside him. "Where have you been, then? Flying's great." He shakes his head. "Wish I had a plane here, to give you a little taste of what it's like. A plane, a spacecraft, anything that I could get my hands on, really..." Maybe then he can find a way to get the hell out of this place, after all.

When Jack speaks of finding a plane to fly, Sebastian's expression is part wistful and part amused. There was a time when he could fly and fly as well or better than any machine.

"No. I'd never left Britain until a couple months ago," he says a bit sheepishly. Right or wrong, Sebastian suspects that nearly everyone is more worldly than he.

"Never left Britain?" Jack asks, raising an eyebrow at the other man. "Oh, lord. You're worse than Ianto, and he's Welsh," he says, emphasizing the Welsh bit. "Please tell me that you've at least been to another country aside from England. It'd be a crying shame to not at least get a little traveling done, even if it isn't that far." This coming from a man who'd traveled through space and time in a little blue box. Of course he's advocating going out to seek all the adventure that you can.

He is, of course, just taking the piss, and it's obvious to tell that for all of his shock and awe at Sebastian not having traveled, there are no negative feelings associated with the fact that perhaps the other has stayed right where he grew up. Everyone has their reasons, and Jack recognizes that.

Sebastian makes a makes a small, non-committal noise before checking out what a spice merchant has to offer. That he hasn't had the opportunity to travel bothers him and he needs to extra time to process what he wants to say before actually speaking.

"It is a shame, and when I get back, I think I'd like to do something about it," he says picking up a small dish of something that looks like peppercorns. "I was in Italy when this city took me."

"You should," Jack agrees, watching the other man picking up random things from the merchant. He has absolutely no idea what the other man is looking for, if he's looking for anything. Jack himself is more there to socialize than anything else, after all.

"What were you doing in Italy, if I may ask?" Jack says, rocking on his feet some as he looks out over the rest of the crowd.

The truthful answer is that he and a pair Malfoys had left Britain for Italy, under fake papers, in order to hide and see if it would be at all possible to return the couple back to their native timeline.

"I'd wanted to see Florence for a very long time, but never had the opportunity to get away." Sebastian returns the bowl of peppercorns and picks up another of something that might be cloves. "Have you been?"

Jack keeps his eyes far away, although he chuckles slightly. "To Florence? Oh yeah. Beautiful country, the whole thing. It was during the war, though," he says, with a shrug. "I'm afraid I didn't have much time to go out exploring or anything like that. What I did see was pretty great, though."

When he mentions the war, Sebastian revises his estimate of Jack's original timeline and moves him considerably further ahead than he'd originally guessed -- mentions of a war in Italy and spaceships probably put him well out of the 21^st century. Maybe even further afield, if it's somewhere like Novo Novo Space Florence.

While haggling with the spice merchant over a packet of incense, Sebastian reorders his thoughts and decides that he ought to be bold, if not entirely polite. Faints hearts, fair ladies, and all that. "What year is it, where you're from, I mean?"

Jack looks back to Sebastian once he's done haggling and shrugs. "It depends on what you mean by when I'm from," he says. "Originally, the 51st century. Before I came here, 21st. But I've been a lot of whens before that." He smiles, making a bit of a face to say that it's not that big of a deal, when obviously it is.

"...time travel? That's brilliant," he says earnestly and with real enthusiasm. "I mean, provided you'd planned to go there or then and not like the sort of travel that pulls you to strange cities."

"What's the 51^st century like? I...it's really good to know we make it that far."

Jack chuckles. "No, time travel that you can control. Of course, not everyone's allowed to do it, but. I was in an Agency. One of the privileged few who could. And the 51st century... It's like any other century, really. I grew up in a colony on a planet, I went off and joined the Agency, met some fabulous people, traveled through time and space, settled down and then got pulled here from the 21st century."

"Humans, though," he says, "humans are amazing. I've been to the end of the universe. The last day it existed, and y'know what? Humans were still there, fighting to survive. Granted, not pure-blood. The gene pool's been mixed up since before even I was born, but. We're pretty resourceful, us monkeys from Earth," he says, with a wink.

'Any other century', indeed. Sebastian only has the one to compare to, but he'll take Jack's word that humans are humans as only humans can be. (Sometimes, they can be repetitive.)

He might be lying about the end of the universe. He probably is lying, but it's still a heartening thought to know that humanity survives. "After that long, with that much evolution, we're bound to be at least a little different. I don't mind."

Jack isn't lying about the end of the universe. At some times, he wishes that he didn't know at all, that he would not have ever gotten that far, never met Professor Yana and consequentially the Master as well, never had to experience the Year That Never Was. And yet, without that year, he isn't sure that he'd ever appreciate Torchwood and the home that he'd created there as much as he does. Go figure.

"We're not all that different," he says with a smile. "I mean. I don't look all that different to you, do I?"

Before agreeing with him, Sebastian pauses again, standing back to give Jack a proper, rather thorough looking over. It seems that he's the sort of man who wants to consider his words before offering his opinion.

"No, you don't."

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