drifting away, i'm one with the sunsets

[suninhades]

Who: Integra Hellsing with Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, and Mabel Albans respectively.
What: Job interviews!
Where: Hellsing Guild Hall.
When: This afternoon and the next morning.
Notes: Different threads! Go nuts. Also YES MABEL GOT ADDED IN HERE because stuff would have happened about on the same day and... we're lazy about making new log posts.
Warnings: Does Jack need a warning label?

Perhaps it's for the best that they won't be coming together - the questions Integra has for Jack are strikingly different than for Ianto, after a point. I's strange to think that she'll have no history with Ianto, but they were never particularly close; perhaps it's only strange that Owen isn't alongside him. But that's not something she has time to reflect upon in anything besides a strategic manner - she writes out her notes for what she needs to ask, then puts away the paper, committing everything to memory easily with the exercise.

... And then it's all paperwork and managing bumping cases as she waits. By the time Jack is scheduled to arrive, she's actually in the process of walking back up from the basement, but the attendant in the lobby will be able to ping her easily enough regardless.

Comments

[51stcentury]

Jack makes his way to the Hellsing Guild Hall, following the directions that Integra had sent him in their short conversation over the CiD. He wonders if walking up and knocking is too casual, but then they know that he's coming anyway, so. That's exactly what he does. Walks up and knocks, roughly around the time he's scheduled to be there (slightly later, because that's just how Jack works), and is let in by the attendant in the lobby. He waits somewhat patiently while the attendant phones up to the boss to tell her that he'd gotten there, looking around at the surroundings as he does.

[suninhades]

She's prompt enough to appear in the lobby - tall, wearing a black suit only barely tailored to her form, with long blonde hair and features just a bit too off from the norm to peg her as a perfectly normal Englishperson. She's more striking than good-looking; she'd probably have better look if she wore makeup or put on something less utilitarian, but from the serious way she carries herself, it's apparent that is not a priority.

"Captain Harkness." She greets him and extends one gloved hand to shake in a firm grip. "Sir Integra Hellsing. Thank you for coming. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, I know we're a bit off the railway out here."

[51stcentury]

Jack turns to look at her, taking in her image, quite obviously giving her a visual once-over for a moment. "Oh wow," he says. "Didn't know what I was expecting in a Sir Hellsing, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, but you're definitely a welcome surprise."

He reaches out to take her hand and shake it. "Captain Jack Harkness, as you know, I guess. Ianto told me that he was sending out our resumes, but I wasn't sure that anything was going to come out of it. Up until your announcement, there, everyone's been pretty tight-lipped about everything about this organization except for the name."

[suninhades]

For a moment, Integra just gives Jack a bit of a blank look - not disarmed, really, but it's clear something just happened that she isn't quite computing. The look and the... compliment...? contrasted with him being familiar with her formal titles is unlike anything she's run into before. But it's not something she clings to, and that blank look is gone in a heartbeat.

"It hasn't been deliberate evasion," she tells him. "We don't have a terribly active PR department, as it were, and the sudden influx of arrivals has made us all a bit busy." But she did indeed notice Jack's keen interest from the get-go; it had made her wary, at first, but by now she feels fairly confident that this man is not the one she shared a city with in months past. "My office is this way-" she begins walking, gesturing for him to come with her. It's up a staircase and down a hallway, stone-lined and far less comfortable than the lobby but very functional. Such is life in a medieval structure - at least her office is well furnished. Once they're both seated, she begins again.

"I feel it would be unnecessarily obscure of me to not tell you immediately that I am somewhat familiar with Torchwood; that familiarity lead me to take your application seriously without further inquiry."

[51stcentury]

"Influx of arrivals meaning...?" Jack trails off, with a smile that was equal parts charming and equal parts serious interrogation right there, as he walks along with her towards her office. "Exactly how long has this organization been in the city, anyway? I was under the impression that most of the people I'd heard mentioning Hellsing arrived with this so-called 'cohort' of ours..."

Jack likes her office. It isn't really his style, but he thinks it suits her. He's about to open his mouth and say about as much when she beats him to talking and mentions being familiar with Torchwood. He's automatically slightly wary. "...and how exactly would you be familiar with Torchwood then, Sir Hellsing?" he asks.

[suninhades]

That's a whole host of questions, and she doesn't answer immediately, instead waiting for him to finish and - yes, that; she isn't surprised that he's not thrilled she's familiar with his super-secret alien combat organization. She doesn't begrudge him the reaction.

"Hellsing has been operational for approximately three months; the guild doing a similar line of work that predates us had been inactive for many years. Prior to that, both myself and my field commander were in another multidimensional trap disguised as a city, where I'd set up and run this organization there, too. The ease of our establishment here is largely thanks to having done it before not so long ago - learning process, and so on. The reason why I am familiar with Torchwood is because, in that other city, one of my primary collaborators on founding and managing Hellsing was a fellow abductee; one Doctor Owen Harper."

There was Ianto too, of course, and there's still the matter of 'arrivals' to explain, but she feels that's enough to process - and she doesn't feel like going off on some ridiculous expositional speech, anyhow. The conversation will get them there. (She's watching him, and closely, but whether it's because she's searching for something specific or because she's just like that is hard to tell. It's not unkind.)

[51stcentury]

Three months. That predates his and Ianto's arrival in the city, that much is certain. Mention of another multidimensional trap disguised as a city peaks his interest as well, although it's the mention of Owen that is what really causes Jack to pause in his communication with the other for a moment there.

"...Owen?" he asks, his voice sounding a bit odd to his ears because damn it, Owen had just died for him. Just died the second time and this time it was so much worse, because there was no saving him. Not any more. "...you mean to tell me that you met Owen Harper, and that he helped you establish a semi-secret organization centered on dealing with the supernatural?" It takes him a moment to adjust to the idea.

[suninhades]

"Yes." ... Well. "It wasn't secret in Bete Noire, actually, due to the makeup of the general population, but that's about the gist of it."

She starts picking through a few file folders to pull out various middle-ground information about Hellsing's departments for Jack to look over - or just fuss with aimlessly, if he's still too hung up about her mentioning Owen, whatever works. "Bit of an arse, really." (He super glued a nursery light-switch into her office.) "But I considered him a friend."

From the way she says it, picking the words carefully not out of caution but with a sort of unfamiliar deliberation, it's clear that Integra is not used to saying that about many people. Of all the things she's presented so far, that may be the least surprising, given her demeanor. She falls quiet for a while after that, not sure what to do with the strange, briefly melancholy feeling that settles in her stomach; she doesn't know how to miss people. It's been dizzying, all these acquaintances returning, and she's not naive enough to do anything as ridiculous as hope or wonder, but she did really rather like Owen.

"The influx of arrivals," she begins again, shaking herself out of it as if nothing had ever passed and handing Jack the papers she was going through, "Refers to the group that arrived within the span of the same few days, prompting the social at the Valhalla. Prior to that, I've not seen more than a single person come through the arrival room at random, and I'm told there wasn't many before myself and my subordinate for some months. It's been a steady stream of newcomers since then."

[51stcentury]

Jack doesn't miss that she was obviously close to Owen. He chuckles at the insult she shoots him. "Yeah, yeah... He was. Is, I guess. Nice to know that he is out there somewhere, I guess, making trouble for himself and others." It's obvious from his tone that he's pretty fond of the man in question.

He takes the files from her, flipping them open and glancing at the contents. "So you've been here for longer than the majority of us. Setting up this place, like you had in other places before this..." He looks up at her, putting the papers down for the moment. "Ianto sent you our resumes, he said, but I want to know. What do you know about me, exactly? And Torchwood?"

[suninhades]

"I know that Torchwood is a secret government agency dedicated to dealing with extra-terrestrial activity, that your headquarters in Cardiff was centered around a 'rift'. I've been made to understand that you have a condition that renders you incapable of dying, regardless of trauma inflicted upon your person."

Integra holds her pen a bit like a cigarette; she puts it down. "And you personally have no memory of a city called Bete Noire, is that correct? You've never heard of it before coming here to Baedal?"

[51stcentury]

Jack nods. "Established by the Crown to defend the Earth against the threat of alien attack, yes. And we monitored a rift in space of time running through the center of Cardiff. And...that's right," he says, affirming her knowledge of his own special 'talent', going a bit more serious. "I'm not. Capable of dying. Well, no. I'm not capable of staying dead. I've died any number of times, by now."

"And that's correct," he says, to the questioning about Baedal. "I don't have any memory of that city. As far as I'm concerned, I was out Weevil hunting and then suddenly I was here. No stops in between. Same with Ianto." Jack raises an eyebrow, suspiciously. "Did Owen really tell you all of that? Especially the part about me?"

[suninhades]

Perhaps curiously, Integra doesn't seem to find Jack's immortality strange in the slightest. She wonders, sometimes, if his condition is anything like Anderson's, but it's something she knows better than to pry about. It doesn't particularly matter how he functions, in a work context, so long as he does.

For now, there's something else to address, and she gives him a look that's a bit more calculated. Observant. When she speaks, it's clear she's not exactly thrilled to be relating this to him. Honesty, as virtuous as it might be, is not always polite nor comfortable. "There was an incident," she says. "Though I had not met you, I was aware of you. This awareness included a standing obligation to break your jaw should we meet, in Bete Noire. Seeing as you are on good terms with Mr. Jones, I am confident you are not the same man." Or there's some significant time between their lives, at any rate - Integra was never given a host of specific details, but she and Owen spoke often, and the combination of his flippancy and Integra's ability to logic out puzzles quite easily has given her a fairly clear idea of what had gone on.

[51stcentury]

Jack's eyes narrow as soon as Ianto's name is brought into question, especially in regards to him and breaking his jaw. "Just what exactly was it that you were aware of?" he asks, his tone going deadly serious. He doesn't think he likes what sorts of conclusions his mind is making from the little information that he's been presented with already. "Just what the hell do you mean by that, 'seeing as you are on good terms with Mr. Jones'? I know that Ianto was in the city with you. He told me he met someone here who told him that. But what the hell does my relationship with Ianto have to do with any of this?"

His eyes are narrowed, his jaw tight. It's obvious to anyone that he is fiercely protective of his tea boy. Especially now, in this city, where they're out of their element and away from all of their equipment and everything that Jack associates with being safe and protected.

[suninhades]

"I do not know the exact details, but you tried to harm him in some fashion," she says, because dancing around it isn't going to help anyone. "Mr. Jones never spoke of it to me personally, but Dr. Harper was-" a beat, there, in which she decides against saying livid, "quite bothered. It was my understanding that the two of them were engaging you in an attempt to sort out the situation, but I don't believe it ever went very well, as you were never alleviated of your persona non grata status amongst Hellsing while I was there. He said that you didn't recognize them anymore, that something had happened and you'd forgotten, and it made you notably unpleasant, and somewhat dangerous."

There is an echo of something like personal understanding, or at least personal sympathy, resonating in the way she presents this, but it's hard to pin down; fleeting. Integra isn't the most expressive person. "What I heard more starkly was talk of the man they knew you as."

[51stcentury]

"And what sort of a man did they know me as, then?" Jack asked, seriously. What the hell was he supposed to think about this, forgetting and not even recognizing his team? He would never do that. Just who the hell was it in this other city, exactly? Because it definitely wasn't him. Couldn't have been him. Could it? No. He'd never just abandon them like that. Not if he had any say in the matter.

[suninhades]

"One who works passionately," she says, "And cares very much for his people." And isn't at all like the man present elsewhere.

Integra realizes she's starting to faux-idly fuss with her pen again, stops. "I haven't brought this to you with any spirit of maliciousness. It seemed uncharitable to withhold it."

[51stcentury]

Jack nods, not really noticing much about the pen thing. The whole concept of different dimensions and of people knowing him from them, or knowing about him from them, is still pretty new to him. "I'm glad you brought it to my attention," he says. "That you did know my coworkers, and of me through them." He laughs slightly. "It sounds like they presented me in a good light, though. The real me, not... You know. Whoever that was in the city with you."

"You and me, though. We'll start from scratch," he says, shifting in his seat. "Since this is an interview to be hired by you, have at me," he says, spreading his hands in front of him. "What is it about me that you want to know?" He'll try to tell her honestly. He's not going to remain without his secrets, though.

[suninhades]

It's a subject that doesn't sit entirely well with her; it makes her think of Alucard, eons after she's died, and what he might do. Does she think herself important enough to have that kind of hold over him? Integra isn't sure. But the thought of him, damaged somehow... he's already so fragile, sometimes, when he isn't being a nightmare creature.

"What sort of work you're used to doing - specifically. Field work here is very intense." If one of her questions was going to be Can you compartmentalize like a motherfucker? It helps, at least she knows the answer now. (It wasn't going to be, but it's nice to know.) Starting anew is just fine with her.

[51stcentury]

Jack shrugs. "I'm used to things being pretty intense. I was hired by Torchwood with my commanding officers already knowing that I couldn't die, no matter what. It got me sent into a lot of interesting situations. Had me on the front lines for a couple of wars, kidnapped, tortured, experimented on. Pretty much anything you can imagine, it happened to me. And then I ended up in charge, and well. I'm pretty sure that you're familiar with the sort of things that that entails, now aren't you?" he asks, with a bit of a smirk.

[suninhades]

"Quite." She doesn't bother clarifying that she was a part of a shadow government, as... that's just not something one brings up, in polite company. (Even if she suspects Jack might not qualify as polite company, somehow.) "High-risk work, then. Did you do must investigation?"

She thinks she'll make Jack a senior agent, and stick him in charge of a few of the general investigators. It's difficult to find people used to being in leadership positions who also have immediate field work experience.

[51stcentury]

Jack nodded. "I was a field agent. For about...a century. Give or take a little while here and there, when they put me on special assignments." He shrugged. "Torchwood sort of owned my soul. It was either work for them or let them experiment on me to try to find out what made me tick, and well. I didn't really like how that second option sounded, y'know?" To put it mildly, that is.

[suninhades]

She wonders a bit, at that flippancy, and is again reminded of Alucard, and why she never really pulls on the chain that exists between them. (Sometimes, when things are very quiet, she remembers the feeling of horror that overwhelmed her as a girl when she first found that beast in the dungeon beneath her home, and realized what her forefathers had done.)

God, she hopes this man never does anything to his head.

"I'm hardly interested in your soul, Captain Harkness. Your leadership and fieldwork experience, however - I don't have many section chiefs, as it were, and if you'd be willing to handle a variety of calls for a while until we sort out where you're the most suited to, I think I can put you to work overseeing a few people, and getting out there and annoying some monsters."

[51stcentury]

Jack nods. "I'm used to running a small team and annoying monsters with it," he says with a grin. "Torchwood Cardiff was made up of 5 of us, including me. I'd like to think that I knew what I was doing there, but I guess time will tell to see if I'm gonna be any good at this job, now won't it."

He sits back in his chair. "I'm gonna assume that because you're talking about putting me as a section chief, that I guess I nailed this interview, then, huh?" he asks, with a wide grin.

[suninhades]

"I don't have time to make any more of a fuss about it," she admits. "My policy thus far has been to take people at their word and just fire them or forgo a funeral if it turns out they were lying." Which sounds so ludicrously harsh that it might be a joke, from someone else, but considering the utterly insane world they're trapped in, it makes a kind of sense. (And she isn't kidding.)

Do you know what time it is now, Jack? It's more paperwork time. "Of course all our work here is confidential within the organization," she tells him as she produces things for him to fill out. "Politicians tend to hate us, and we stay as clear from the Militia as possible. I employ several non-humans, one of which has a tendency to sneak up on people for kicks, so don't take that exceptionally personally."

[51stcentury]

Jack shrugs. "I think you'll find that it's really pretty hard to sneak up on me at all, so I doubt that that'll be a problem," he says. "When you've lived for as long as I have, you're not so easily duped." He says it like he's an old man, which goes against the way that he looks, all charming and handsome and young. Immortality definitely has its perks, after all.

"As for the rest of it, I'm used to politicians not giving a hoot about us, and I've no idea what the Militia here is like, but if it's anything close to UNIT then good riddance, as far as I'm concerned. As for non-humans, I've been traveling all over time and space. I'm pretty used to all different sorts." He shoots her a smile, walking a fine line between professional and flirty as he speaks.