Dayshift 31: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

[uruz_vii]

"Games are a perfect way to meet new friends, Akihiro!" Sousuke's nurse gushed after dragging him away from Hinasaki and into the Game Room. He didn't quite understand her fascination with making him do these ridiculous activities that seemingly had no point, but for now he'd follow her lead. He didn't want to be sedated again, not when he had a

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[killing_suzie]

Captain Jack was in a good mood, as always, after lunch. He liked being around nice people that liked talking and had interesting things to share. Though he admittedly also liked grumpy bastards, because they were fun to tease. Really, he liked anyone as long as they weren't boring.

He thought about bugging Sousuke, he of the cute butt, but decided not to interrupt the conversation he was having with the other cutie quite yet. Smiling to himself, he acquired a deck of cards and started shuffling them. It never hurt to keep the fingers limber.

[blurred_divide]

Angel would've preferred some time spent alone--he didn't think he'd ever gone a full twenty-four hours continuously interacting with various strangers before and he had so much on his mind right now on top of that--but his nurse seemed to have other ideas and steered him directly towards another patient.

Resigned, he sat down and gave the man a brief polite smile.

[killing_suzie]

Jack would have preferred a willing conversation partner, but no need to be picky. And who knew, interesting things could start from such meetings if one played the cards right.

He flipped the deck over one hand and shuffled it again, hands moving smoothly as he spoke. "Guess she thought we were both lonely," he said, offering the man a shining smile. "So hopefully you play well with others? I'm guessing you're fairly new, since I don't remember seeing you around. I'm Captain Jack Harkness. What's your name?"

[blurred_divide]

The man was overwhelmingly friendly compared to some of the others. It was admittedly a nice change, really, and hard not to respond to. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to see if he could find out more information.

"Angel," he replied, holding out his hand. He paused. "Captain. Can I ask what of?"

[killing_suzie]

"Angel," Jack said, as if savoring the name. "Is that descriptive or proscriptive?" He grinned and winked at the man. He was awful cute.

"I'm a Captain in the Royal Air Force. As you might guess from the accent, I'm a loaner, not a native." He grinned. "But they've got some nice planes, so I'm not complaining. What do you do?"

[blurred_divide]

Angel blinked once, not quite having expected the wink. He hesitated. "You choose," he replied finally, for lack of a better response.

Jack's next question posed even more of a problem. I help the helpless probably wasn't the best answer to give. For a second or two, he mentally fumbled for something appropriate.

"I'm, um, I-do some investigative work."

That was...close enough. It was better than the last time he'd told Kate he was a veterinarian, at least.

[killing_suzie]

Jack grinned. "Proscriptive, then," he said. "Means there's a chance you're not all halos and hallelujahs, right?"

An investigator. That was interesting. Jack rested his elbows on the table, still fiddling around with the deck of cards. "What kind? Like PI stuff, or police force? I... moonlight as a government spook, myself."

[blurred_divide]

"Something like that," Angel said wryly. The irony of the name he'd taken on for himself had never escaped him.

He glanced down briefly before looking up again. "More of a PI."

Any connection he'd had to the police force were likely up in smoke at this point. Not that he'd take it back. There were some things he didn't regret.

"You mentioned you're with the RAF. Was that where you were before here? The area you were stationed, I mean."

[killing_suzie]

Well, that was good. Jack decided to not make a comment about naughty angels quite yet; he had some subtlety even if he didn't often choose to exercise it.

"PI work must be fun," he said. "Out there, doing your own thing, living dangerously..." He laughed softly. "I was stationed in Cardiff before I got whisked away here. I miss the little pizza shop down the road, but I have to say, this is the nicest prison I've ever been held captive in." One eyebrow perked up. "What about yourself? Wheres your beat?"

[blurred_divide]

"Well, it's not exactly...I guess you do see some-interesting things." To put it mildly.

Cardiff. Angel gave a slight nod in recognition. "I've passed through there before." Of course, it'd been a much smaller town back then, but adding that detail would probably just lead to questions.

"L.A.," he replied. "At the moment."

[killing_suzie]

"Ah, LA. Lovely town, haven't been there in a while," Jack said. "Though you have to wonder about people who build their cities on active fault zones, huh?" Not that it was any worse, really, than a city built on an active rift in time. Both had their own unique little troubles. "Do you know if they still have that great dim sum place near Calvary Cemetary?" It'd been a couple of decades, but you never knew. Good restaurants sometimes stuck around if they didn't poison too many of their customers.

"What'd you think of Cardiff while you were there?" Jack asked. "Other than the whole being full of Welsh people thing. That can't really be helped." He grinned.

[blurred_divide]

Angel looked up, somehow not expecting a question about Chinese food. "It's-I don't really know. I don't...eat out a lot. But I know the cemetery's still there."

While he'd been in Cardiff, he'd been more focused on the people. For obvious reasons. Though he could honestly say the Welsh didn't taste much different from the English.

"It's nice," he replied, opting to give the most generic answer possible. "It's been some time since I was there. I wouldn't mind visiting again, though."

[killing_suzie]

"Just busy and you don't get out much?" Jack offered. He didn't mind giving people an escape hatch. It was always quite enlightening if they took it. "Hang around the cemetary much? It's a lovely place."

He had a fond, almost proprietary smile when he thought about Cardiff. "You'll have to look me up when you stop by. Assuming, of course, the timing works out. I know all the interesting places. Clubs, bars, and the steam tunnels. All the most fun stuff's down there."

[blurred_divide]

"A little," Angel said. But he did get out sometimes. On occasion. And was it really as terrible as Cordelia made it sound for him to prefer staying in?

"Oh." He raised his eyebrows, for the first time realizing his comment might've given an odd impression. "Oh, well, no, it's not that, I've just had-my work takes me there sometimes."

Which wasn't too far from the truth, although compared to Sunnydale, he ended up at the cemetery significantly less. Demons in L.A. seemed to prefer the streets more.

"I think I might have to work out how to get out of here first before I start planning any other trips."

[killing_suzie]

"Well as long as the work is interesting, don't worry about lectures from me on working too hard," Jack said, winking again. "I can be a bit of a workaholic, myself."

He filed Angel's reaction to the cemetery comment away for further consideration. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," he said, smiling. "But it is rather peaceful, isn't it? Fascinating old tombstones. What in the work takes you there?"

He chuckled, shaking his head. "It never hurts to think ahead, my friend. Things will shake out and we'll be out eventually. No reason to be all grim about it."

[blurred_divide]

Angel smiled faintly. "That's good to know."

He really needed to work out a better plan to have conversations that wouldn't keep hitting on the subject of his job. It was true he had the option of outright lying, but maintaining something like that would be more trouble than it was worth.

"It's kind of hard to explain." He knew his evasiveness was obvious, but he preferred it to the alternative. There wasn't exactly any way to phrase, I hunt demons, and have it sound anything less than absurd.

He folded his fingers together. "I'm not worried about me. This...actually isn't the first time I've seen something similar." He'd already admitted as much to Light, and in this place, he was discovering that there was no avoiding giving up a few things about himself if he wanted to learn more. "But I have people here with me."