Student Housing, London, Friday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

The portals were booked: Jack and Sebastien were scheduled to go to 1901 Boston early the next day. Kevin had been informed he'd need a new flatmate for the spring, and the university had been told Jack was taking a leave of absence. (Neither, it must be said, seemed exactly broken up to see him go.) Jack had made excuses to his London friends, something about a sick relative that was deliberately dull enough to discourage further questioning.

All that was left were the calls to people from Fandom.

Sebastien, being a wise man, had taken himself elsewhere to handle some paperwork, so Jack had privacy as he started dialing.

It was possible he was calling in ascending order of difficulty.

[OOC: NFB due to distance, but open for calls and the like.]

Comments

[vanillajello]

"Hi, Jack," she replied, a little more subdued. "Yeah, sorry 'bout freaking you out or whatever. Multiversal time hijinks. It seems I've missed like two weeks of Fandom time."

[bitten_notshy]

"If you had to miss two weeks, they were good ones to miss," Jack informed her, still quite relieved. "We ended up camped under toadstools in special collections. And then there was a luck dragon."

It wasn't why he called, but it seemed worth filling her in on the background.

[vanillajello]

"... Right. Just another basic Fandom adventure."

She couldn't say she was terribly sad to have missed it, no.

"Everyone pulled through okay in the end though, I gather?"

[bitten_notshy]

"After we remembered the world back into existing," Jack nodded. "So yes. Usual Fandom fare, I'm afraid, just a bit more frightening than usual."

He wouldn't have minded missing it, come to that.

[vanillajello]

"I gathered." You know, as people and universes disappearing tended to be. Kate paused for a bit, then asked, "So, uh, what's this about you going back into ye olden times?"

[bitten_notshy]

"It's not ye olden." That was kneejerk.

Jack ran a hand over the scruff of his neck as he contemplated how to phrase the rest of what he had to say. "Anyhow, er, there's a war starting, and I'd have a hard time sitting it out a hundred and ten years away. I'm going to go back and see if I can do any good."

[vanillajello]

"Uh, no." That... may have been another kneejerk reaction. "Why do you have to go back?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I don't have to," Jack answered, easily. "But I already know my side wins. If I can help them do that, how can I not go?"

Even winning sides in wars lost people. But that was beside the point.

[vanillajello]

"Quite easily, you just don't book a portal to where there's a war going on!" Kate exclaimed, like he was being stupid. Which she thought he was. War was kind of a specific kind of sore spot for her.

She hadn't protested Luke going off to his, but this was different.

"Come on, Jack."

[bitten_notshy]

"What?" Jack asked. "Look, I know it's" -- stupid -- "hard to understand, but I need to do this. I'll come back, promise."

Never mind that wasn't precisely up to him.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah because no one who's willingly gone to a warzone has ever gotten himself killed," Kate drawled darkly. Yup, she thought it was stupid. Definitely. Reining som of her annoyance in, she rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "I refuse to cry for you if that happens to you, by the way."

Not that that was really up to her, either.

[bitten_notshy]

"I won't exactly be in a position to notice if you cry or not," Jack said. "I'll do my best not to get killed. I can portal out if I have to."

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it," Kate replied, though a little more mildly. "Just don't act stupid."

[bitten_notshy]

"I promise to do my best," Jack said. "And I'll write to make sure you know I'm not dead."

[vanillajello]

"Okay." Sigh. "Guess that's good enough."

She was such a fountain of positivity.

[bitten_notshy]

"Sorry it's not more?" Jack said, as if he wasn't sure whether he was in fact sorry or not.

he was sorry he was worrying people. Not at all sorry for what he was doing.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah." It was a pretty flat 'yeah'. This was almost making her wish she'd gone to Japan after all, somehow. "I'll miss you."

[bitten_notshy]

"Miss you too," Jack said honestly. "I'll write, and come to the island if I can. I'm not falling off the face of the planet."

Just maybe getting killed.

[vanillajello]

"You better not," Kate admonished, a bit glumly even though she was trying to inject some hint of humor into her tone. "I would find you. And then I would smack you."

[bitten_notshy]

"And I don't want to make you put on a corset just to find me and smack me," Jack said, trying for a light tone as well. "So I'll avoid that."

[vanillajello]

"Good." A beat. "Though I would totally rock a corset."

[bitten_notshy]

"Actually, I don't doubt that you would," Jack said. "Even with a dress over it."

[vanillajello]

"Well duh, I look good in anything." Even bear dresses. True story. "But I don't want to test that theory, so take care of yourself, okay?"