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.

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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."

"I tell you what, though," he says, with a grin, "I'll bet you that I smell different than normal humans. That's part of the mixed blood, and all." He's not going to tell Sebastian to step closer and sniff him, but if the other man so felt the need, he would catch a whiff of his 51st century pheromones, that adapted to smell like everyone's favorite cologne or aftershave.

Another look, first to Jack and then down to Velcro -- after all, the dog has a far better sense of smell than Sebastian does.

"How so? You'll have to forgive me, I know I'm a bit too curious, and I'm not really sure where and what the taboos are." He's half-tempted to lean in and sniff, but he has no way of knowing if there's some sort of strange, future-human smell-based defense mechanism involved or just what sort of 'different' it could be. (Before you laugh, consider how bizarre their respective canons are and then tell me that there's no world where humans haven't developed just that thing.)

Jack shakes his head. "Not too curious. Not sure that's even a possibility with me. Like I said, 51st century." He grins. "Different social norms. But no, I'll stop being mysterious about it. I've got pheromones. Nothing too strong, and nothing that'd do any sort of mind control or anything if that's what you're worried about. Here..."

He steps closer to Sebastian, so that the other man would be exactly within wind of the smell, putting his hand down for Velcro to smell as well. "See? Just one of the perks. You guys have no idea..."

Cautiously, Sebastian leans in a little before smiling and looking somewhere between pleasantly surprised and outright confused. Why would humanity evolve in that direction?

"Clearly. Can you tell me about it? Or would that break some space-time rule?" He's tempted to ask if there are wizards in Jack's world, but for now, he'd rather learn than speak.

"Well, that depends on what you'd want me to tell you about," Jack says, with a smile, sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking on his feet. "And I guess we should figure out if we're from the same universe before I go about spoiling you for what could be your future or anything like that."

"Anything? Everything?" Immediately, Sebastian can think of several small reasons to hide his past, but none of them are really strong enough to count as a legitimate objection.

"And, ah, in your world, was there a terrible disaster in Newcastle in the early 2000s that took out close to a tenth of the population?"

Jack narrows his eyes, for a moment, trying to remember if there was (sometimes, things that weren't important were sort of fuzzy thanks to being buried alive for all of those years), but no. Nothing that took out a tenth of the population, if there was something to happen then, he would have remembered that.

Jack shakes his head. "Nope, not that I can recall. Were there any mass sightings of strange things flying over London that the government passed off as hallucinogenics in the water?"

"Variously as modern outbreaks of ergot, St Vitus', and terrorist attacks, but that was all over Britain and not just London," he says plainly with the tone of a man who knows (and may have helped create) the cover story.

"For you, was it homegrown warfare or external?"

"Well, we've managed to stay away from all-out warfare, for the most part. All threats have been mostly external, though," Jack says, with a shrug. "Sometimes there are things that popped up having spent a lot of time preparing for the attack, sometimes they just came on a whim and decided that Earth looked like a good place to invade. Regardless, there was a lot of stuff going on. More than one tiny organization should really be capable of handling, but we do well enough."

"Then it's not the same world," he says looking satisfied and thereby implying that in his world, it was a civil war that he fought in. Moreover, Jack didn't seem like a wizard, but there were a limited number of muggles working with the Ministry of Magic.

Jack shakes his head. "Doesn't sound like it is, no," he says, with a smile. "Alright, then. Go ahead. What would you like to know about my world?" Not that he'd answer any question posed, mind. Jack is definitely reserving the right to pick and choose. He's definitely not going to let Sebastian know more than Ianto would, for example.

Without any concrete idea of what the future might be like, Sebastian knows he needs to narrow down the field before he's able to get any really useful information.

"If we could go there right now, or if we could go anywhere, anywhen, where would we go? Where have you been that's special or where do you still want to visit?"

If Jack were to answer that question honestly, he'd give it a lot more thought. He wants to go back to when he came from, make sure that Gwen's alright and they're not just leaving her all by herself there. But there's more explanation in that than he feels comfortable saying, so instead he says.

"Resort planet," he says. "Definitely a resort planet. There are tons of them out there, each one with their own special twist. Don't think I could narrow it down to just one."

"No?" Sebastian shrugs and seems content enough with Jack's reply; after all, he'd just sprung the question on the man. While visiting a resort isn't anything that Sebastian would've chosen for himself, he knows that he shouldn't judge.

"Well. If I was going there with anyone, than no. I wouldn't be able to narrow it down. Too many exciting things to do and see. Of course. I've never really stayed put for very long. Not in space." Not until he didn't have the option any more. Now he really rather likes where he got planted. Well. Cardiff, anyway. He's not so sure about this place yet, though.

"What about you?" he asks. "What sort of a place would you want to visit, if you could go anywhere in space? Or time, if you'd rather. At one point, I did have the means to travel through that, after all."

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A day at the market! :: OPEN

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