(Untitled)

[isaysimplewords]

Cal's neighborhood has quite a few dog owners. Seeing them out and about has reminded him of his plans to get a dog once he'd moved. He's been meaning to take care of some other things first, but - it's all been bewildering, a little (or a lot), and he feels like he's going in circles just trying to find a place to start

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[othercaptjack]

Well, it may not be ideal, but one of Jack's key qualities has always been being distracting.

He was striding past, coat aswirl, but pauses when he sees Cal.

"Hey," he says," half-smiling. "It was Cal, right? Figure I should remember my double, but something about that day was muddling."

[isaysimplewords]

. . . oh, he has got to be kidding with that shit. Cal knows perfectly well that his name came up when Bela met Jack. "Forgetting" someone's name is an old trick.

Cal's expression, marshalled instantly into pleasant neutrality the second he heard Jack's voice, reflects none of this.

"Yeah," he says lightly, "Cal Chandler. Nice to see you again, John." His tone indicates that he is clearly teasing. Clearly.

[othercaptjack]

Jack raises an eyebrow at him.

Weirded out by similarity or not, the guy is odd.

"Well, the Chandler I knew, but my god there are a lot of variations on names beginning with C in some places. Good to know I had half, at least."

[isaysimplewords]

Yes, Cal understands that it is very difficult to keep track of all those C-names belonging to the millions of doppelgangers they've got running around.

His skepticism continues not to show on his face.

"Close enough for government work," he says. "I would know."

[othercaptjack]

Jack shrugs.

Then, "Hey, that's right. I didn't get around at asking what you did exactly, last time we met," He was distracted, after all. "Some kinda politics?"

[isaysimplewords]

"Yeah," Cal says. "Career politician. I was Governor when I died. I was planni -"

Wait, wait. Cal's expression changes for a moment, becoming more relaxed and natural as something occurs to him.

"When are you from?" he asks. "Uh, back home? Are you synced up with Ianto, because if you are, I'm a little ahead of you."

And thus should probably save the and then your fake PM killed our President and made it a whole lot harder for anyone else with a fabricated background to start a political career for at least the next decade story for later.

[othercaptjack]

"Ah," Jack's expression twists.

"Yeah, good call. I'm a little behind Ianto, assuming my personal timeline has stalled. It's all a bit metaphysical out there."

Literally, in fact.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal nods.

"Right. Good to know."

If there are any major time paradoxes scheduled, Cal is determined not to be the one to cause them.

"You know, I really didn't think time would get more confusing once I moved out of here."

Mostly, Cal's learned not to worry about the quirks of time Milliways causes, but this is something he has to be on top of.

[othercaptjack]

Jack laughs.

"Time is like that, I'm afraid," he says with entirely too much knowledge for someone ostensibly from a fixed point in time.

"How are you settling in, anyway? I'm kind of cut off, in here."

[isaysimplewords]

"Oh, it's going fine," Cal says, turning a bit circumspect again. "I'm in a nice little neighborhood in Manhattan, just working on catching up with -"

Everything that has ever happened, which is not as easy as it sounds.

"- things. I'm originally from 1997, so the time gap is interesting."

It's actually the least problematic aspect of switching worlds, which is something else Cal would not have expected. But he can make small-talk-that-sounds-important with the best of them. And he will, because all other issues aside, Jack is important to Sam and Ianto, and it is for their sakes that Cal will be mindful of his manners.

[othercaptjack]

Jack winces. "Ooh yeah, that's quite a gap."

Ten-off years is a very long time, in politics.

"At least you have something to keep you occupied?"

[isaysimplewords]

And that's without getting into the differences in culture and social opinion, both subtle and not-so-subtle, that will crop up on different worlds.

Cal's wry chuckle is genuine.

"To say the least," he says. He doesn't say that he's completely lost about where to start. He does say,

"I've decided to start small," and tap the dogtraining book on the table.

[othercaptjack]

Jack cranes his neck to look at the title, then smiles.

"That makes sense," he says. "You can work your way up from wherever suits you."

[isaysimplewords]

"My thoughts exactly," Cal says. It's one of those useful meaningless phrases. "Always wanted a dog, never had a chance. We had guard dogs, it would not have ended well."

Plus, Mother would not hear about keeping a pet in the house, and Cal didn't leave the family home until he died. It was a Chandler thing.

[othercaptjack]

Jack shudders discreetly.

Death #658.

"Fair enough to go for it now, then," he says with a shrug. "Got a preference for breed?"

[isaysimplewords]

"Not yet," Cal says. "It has to be something small, I'm in an apartment." He'd wanted something bigger, but he's coming to terms with this.

"And friendly."

Cal did not like the guard dogs. They were evil.