(Untitled)

[othercaptjack]

[OOC: A little while after this.]

"--So that's four for chinese, one for pizza because he's difficult and- wow."

Jack stops short as the door swings open, taking in the warmth and noise of the bar. That's new, that's...

Perhaps not entirely unexpected.

"...Or I could bring something back from here," he continues to himself, holding the door

Comments

[isaysimplewords]

Here's someone who has no comment whatsoever on Jack's recent extended absence. Cal dislikes Jack for completely different reasons! Which are similarly not Jack's actual fault.

He's pulling on his jacket in preparation to go home when he spots Jack, and offers a polite nod. His previous determination to be flawlessly polite in all his dealings with his doppelganger has in no way diminished.

[othercaptjack]

Oh hey, randomly pissy and emotionally distant twin!

Jack blinks at him - wow, yeah that's still weird - then grins.

"Hey there, Cal," he says brightly.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal doesn't miss a beat in mirroring (so to speak) the brightness right back. Sometimes he doesn't realize he's taking conversational cues from another, and sometimes it's a very deliberate approach.

"Hi, Jack," he smiles. "How've you been?"

[othercaptjack]

He shrugs amiably.

"Oh, you know," he says. "Canon. Running around Cardiff, getting shot at a lot. You?"

[isaysimplewords]

Cal can identify with problematic canon. Or he would, if this were a fourth-wall-breaking kind of atmosphere.

"Manhattan," Cal says. "Not getting shot at." He tilts his head slightly, with an air of consideration. "Of course, if I was in the Bronx, that'd be a whole different story."

[othercaptjack]

Jack makes a face.

"I feel you. Sometimes I think it would be nice, but... then I think I'd get paranoid without it. It's lose-lose."

[isaysimplewords]

"I got shot at once. That was plenty."

Not least because Gliardi didn't miss.

[othercaptjack]

Jack winces.

"Yeah? Not something I'd wish on anyone."

Well, maybe a couple of people.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal glances away briefly, remembering.

You know you're having a bad day when your own murder is the least painful part of it.

"I got better," he says, looking back at Jack. "Thanks to Milliways."

[othercaptjack]

Jack watches him a little too sharply.

"It's good that way," he says finally, voice softer than before.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal smiles a bit, far more genuine than before.

"It's done me a lot of favors," he says. "Good thing it doesn't expect anything in return, I'd never live long enough to pay it back."

The tab is the easy part. That's just stuff.

[othercaptjack]

Jack half smiles.

"Doubt if anyone could," he says easily, ignoring the fact that he probably will, all things considered.

[isaysimplewords]

"I keep trying to tell it to new people, but they never believe me."

It's a dryly self-deprecating confession - he knows how he sounds when he gets on the subject of his gratitude to Milliways.

[othercaptjack]

Jack laughs.

"Yeah, I think you have to be here awhile before you can really appreciate it."

[isaysimplewords]

"I tell them that, too."

It tends to go over about as well as the other point. Some people just have a hard time with the idea of a restaurant at the end of the universe.

". . . when are you at, by the way?" he asks. "I've got Christmas in a few days." It's good to sort these things out when you get the chance.