Room 234/236: Late Wednesday evening

[mparkerceo]

After visiting the Second Floor Common Room, terrifying a few newbies, finding a few to like, Parker decided to come back and inflict real trauma, after calling Jack and getting a certain phone number.

*ring*

"C'mon, Captain Jack. Wakey wakey. It's only 5 a.m. in Cardiff...."

[ooc: details of conversation NFB, please, although Parker calling

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[torchwood_jack]

The phone was ringing.

The phone ringing at five in the morning was never good. Hauling himself off the couch with a groan, he fumbled around until he found it. "Captain Jack Harkness."

[mparkerceo]

"Parker. Hellooooo, Cap'n Jack. Sleep well? I hope not."

[torchwood_jack]

"Parker." Name and voice triggered a cascade of memories not his own. He ran his hand through his hair and sat back down. "I don't sleep, well or otherwise. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"

[mparkerceo]

"You don't sleep? At all?" Parker was momentarily diverted by that, but brushed it aside in favor of her grievance. "What the hell did those Time Agency bozos do to Jack? And how the hell did your 'old business' track him down? I thought you said he was safe here!"

[torchwood_jack]

"Which do you want answered first?" he asked, smirking vaguely at her tone. No one spoke to him like that, and he was finding it surprisingly endearing. Of course, he could probably blame that on Jack's memories.

[mparkerceo]

"Time Agency," Parker said firmly. "Since that's ongoing. Then the old business. Then you tell me if Jack is going to stop sleeping too, damnit."

It was always a little weird to yell at Captain Jack. She kept having to shove down her affection for her Jack. But she kept reminding herself, he wasn't the same guy, no matter how much he looked, sounded, acted... was like him.

[torchwood_jack]

He didn't answer for a long while, thinking it over. "There's things I can tell you," he finally said. "About what they did to Jack, and why. Someone should know the first, and I'm prepared to tell you the second. I'm not going to make it conditional that you don't tell him, but I am going to ask you not to."

[mparkerceo]

Parker grumbled and strode around the room, kicking Glitter over to Esme, thinking, then reluctantly said, "Agreed. Okay. Yes. Please," she added through gritted teeth.

[torchwood_jack]

"Sit down and relax, Parker, you sound like you're going to break something." He tried for soothing, pitching his voice as close to Jack's as he could manage. "This could take awhile."

[mparkerceo]

Parker rolled her eyes, and flopped down on her bed. "I'm relaxed. I'm relaxing. I'm relaxation. Seriously." She took a huge breath, worried about what she was about to hear. And trying to fight that damn it's-Jack reaction again.

[torchwood_jack]

He settled back down on the couch, making himself comfortable. "I can tell." She wouldn't be able to see the grin, but chances are she could hear it. "Why is pretty simple if you stop and think about it, but I don't know if Jack will bother. In a weird sort of way he's going to take my place at the Agency, going to do what I've already done. Doing it again, but for the first time. And he's not who I was. The Agency needed to make sure he can be what I was, even with that handicap."

[mparkerceo]

Parker frowned, listening, and tapped her fingers on the phone. "It's not a handicap. He's learned a lot here, necessary things--" Then she stopped to think about that. "Oh. Of course. They want time to happen *exactly* as it happened before. And if he changed too much...."

[torchwood_jack]

"Whatever it is, it means things can't happen exactly the same as they did, but they need to be close. Which means they had to know. So they had to...study what's different. And what's different, is you. Not just you. All of you, all of his," he had to pause, searching for the right word, and he found it in the new memories, "his people."

[mparkerceo]

"Soooo. Scenarios. Based around us." Parker stared at the ceiling, thinking, then sat up, growling. "What did they do? What did they make him *think* happened to us?"

[torchwood_jack]

He wouldn't give her specifics, but he'd tell her enough. "What do you think?"

[mparkerceo]

"Sonuvabitch." Parker got up to pace, hissing through her teeth. "How the hell do they justify this? Seriously? How freakin' important is it that you turn out to be you, or whatever the hell it is, that justifies torturing their own future agents?"