Masquerade, paper faces on parade

[thegooddrjones]

Who: Martha, pretty much everyone else in Peaksville
What: The Masquerade Party
When: Day 53, "evening"
Warnings: Will change when applicable.
Notes: Everyone jump in, thread jack, start your own thread, all that stuff. For those who didn't get masks or who got crappy ones? The standard assortment of masks are on a table for you to grab one or

Comments

Sirius Black, Open

[suddenlysirius]

After his conversation with Martha Jones, Sirius was feeling more than a little off-kilter. He wasn't sure he wanted to try and consider the information presented about the future. He hadn't been lying to Martha; people were disappearing, and people were dying, and everyone - everyone - was afraid. He didn't want to hear anything else about how Snape was different. Sirius Black was trapped here while his friends back in the real world were facing whatever the future held for them, and Snape was one of the people causing that uncertainty and fear.

He wanted to find James, and he wanted to forget that he had just had that conversation.

When he was far enough away from her, he paused, finding that he was breathing heavily as though he had run a mile, when he had only come a few steps. It took him a moment to get himself under control, but when he did, he responded to the situation in the manner most familiar: optimism and defense mechanism humor. He was here, James was here, it was going to be okay.

He put his mask back on and turned, accidentally bumping in to someone.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there."

(Reply to this)

[smilesnbracers]

Jack hadn't done too much since arriving in Peaksville except watch and think. It had become apparent from his first night when Martha gave him and the Doctor a shakedown of what was going on, that there was definitely something weird going on. Not the weirdest thing he'd ever experienced, but still strange. He certainly didn't like the idea that he couldn't leave, but that really didn't mean it was permanent. Hell, the Doctor managed to take down the Master and reverse time, that had to be harder than getting them out of 1950's suburban America.

The most worrisome thing Jack had come across, really, was the presence of characters from the Harry Potter books. His grandson, Steven, had adored the series and Jack had read them all himself in an attempt to feel closer to his estranged family. Not only did seeing (or rather reading in journal entries) these characters bring back his guilt over Steven's death, but it had an equally awful conclusion: West wasn't joking about them all being fictional.

Of course, maybe they weren't and bringing in characters from popular books was just West's way of gaslighting them all.

Jack had been wandering the streets, trying to clear his mind and thing of possible reasons for all this when he'd come across what appeared to be a masquerade. Jack loved a good party and hey, what a better way to find out what's going on than by mingling.

He was wandering through the area, looking at all the decorations and food and people when he noticed Martha talking to someone else. He was about to walk over to her someone bumped into him.

Startled, Jack turned to see what he'd walked into (or rather, who had walked into him) only to find himself face to face with a very attractive young man. "Not a problem," Jack said smoothly, giving the man (boy?) one of his more charming smiles. "Any idea what's going on here? With the random party and all I mean. And how rude of me. I'm Jack, and you are?"

[suddenlysirius]

Sirius' conversation with Martha still had him somewhat flustered. His thoughts were still on her warning to him, and her declaration that Snape - Snape, of all people - had helped bring Voldemort down. That brush with his own future was so unsettling to him that when Jack struck up a conversation with him, he had to take a moment to make sense of what he was being asked. He eyed Jack's smile with the air of someone who senses competition rather than potential. He knew himself well enough to recognize some of his own qualities in others, and "be charming" was number seventy-five in the Sirius Black playbook.

He glanced around at the decorations, then replied, "Oh. This. Er - West made some announcement last night. People just..." How to explain that he'd felt a compulsion to put on a suit and mask and come here? It sounded like he'd been under the effects of the Imperius Curse, though he was pretty sure that wasn't the case. But apparently, he hadn't been the only one.

"I really don't know what's going on here," he admitted with an abashed smile. "I've only been here a day; this is all a bit weird to me. Sirius Black."

He held out a hand to the other man.

[smilesnbracers]

Jack's smile narrowed to a smirk, but his eyes showed his more thoughtful side. This kid was jumpy. Too jumpy for a party. Jack had obviously startled the guy despite being the one on the receiving end of the bump.

"So this is what West was on about," Jack said thoughtfully. He'd figured as much, but still, the whole place was just a little off and despite what the guy on the television said, he was starting to think that it was a better idea not to take anything West said at face value. That was usually a good rule of thumb with megalomaniacs.

Jack shook the man's hand when it was offered, though after he'd heard that name, his pleasant demeanor became frozen on his face. Another one? he thought. Well, he's still cute, though probably too young. He shrugged to himself. "Good to meet you Sirius," he said, sounding only slightly strained. He just needed to convince himself that this was no different than meeting any other alien, and keep his eye out to make sure he wasn't just one of West's spies.

[suddenlysirius]

"You, as well."

Sirius didn't miss the change in Jack's demeanor. He took a second to clear his head, and realized he had heard the other man's name already: he had met James. Jack knew who he was somehow. He shot a glance toward where he'd last seen Martha Jones, but she appeared to have wandered off.

At least four people here knew who he was, and Jack was one of them. If the man recognized his name, he might be able to explain what Martha was talking about - and how it was people recognized Sirius and James.

"I think James might have mentioned you," he ventured. "Said you knew a relative of his."

[smilesnbracers]

It only took a second for Jack to school his features again, but he knew the other man had noticed that something was up. They always did, thing was, this guy wasn't Gwen or Tosh or Owen or... or Ianto, who knew when not to push. Or at least were people he didn't mind pushing.

"James, yes. Didn't meet him formally, just talked through the journal. And I know of a relative of his. It's hard to explain. Spoilers, you know."

[suddenlysirius]

"Spoilers?" Sirius reached up and pulled his mask off once more and turned his attention back to Jack.

"Listen, you're not the first person who's recognized James, and I've had two people recognize me," he said, gesturing with the mask. In a half-amused, half-exasperated tone, he continued, "We're just trying to figure out how it is you all know us, mate."

[smilesnbracers]

"Spoilers," Jack said, a-matter-of-factly giving no more details other than that.

Jack debated for a second, trying to figure out how much he could tell the guy. West had already told them all they were fictional, would it hurt to tell him about the medium? Jack doubted as much. As long as he didn't give any details about what specifically happened, there was no real risk, at least not as far as Jack could tell.

"Well, let's just say you guys are somewhat famous. Books have been written about you and your friends and family, and movies made about those books, though really the books are far better."

[suddenlysirius]

"Movies and books?" he asked, grinning. For a moment, Sirius felt far more pleased about the situation now that he knew that he had been right about the films. His feelings of unease and fright were quickly forgotten in light of this new information. "We must really be brilliant down the road."

Of course he wouldn't ask what it was that earned them the notoriety; he didn't expect Jack would tell him. 'Spoilers' seemed to be his explanation for being intentionally vague. Besides, Martha had almost told him until Snape stopped her; he could just coax her back over to Team Sirius and pry the information out of her.

He clapped the other man on the shoulder jovially. "Cheers, Jack. It's been driving us mental. We thought Snape was spreading rumours about us."

[smilesnbracers]

"Movies and books," Jack agreed, glad that his vague explanation seemed to be enough for him. The hardest part had always been, when he'd been a Time Agent and when he was travelling with the Doctor, was not telling people about horrible things that were going to happen to them in the future. He wondered if that was why the Doctor was always on top of deactivating his vortex manipulator.

Jack laughed then. "No, Snape wasn't just spreading rumours. Though that doesn't really seem like his style to me anyway, at least not from what I know of him. You know him better, I'm sure."

[suddenlysirius]

"He's a git," he replied quickly, waving his free hand dismissively. He didn't want to talk about Snape. He'd had enough talking about Snape to last ten lifetimes. He wanted to hear how famous he was.

"So James's relative. It's got to be the baby, right? His wife's pregnant, you know. Lily, that's her name. We talked about it last night; his parents are a good lot, but they're not exactly making any efforts to make the grueling climb to fame. We think - well, I think, any roads - it's his son." His eyes were practically glittering with excitement. If he could pump information out of Jack regarding his future godson (or goddaughter, all right), he was going to try.

"It's his son, isn't it? Becomes a world-famous Quidditch player like his father?"

[smilesnbracers]

Jack just shrugged. From what he'd read about Snape in the books, and seen in the movies, Sirius was right, Snape was a git. There was just a lot that Sirius didn't yet know about the adult Snape and hell, when he does find out, he still won't be a big fan.

"I'm sorry, I really can't give you details," Jack said, looking a bit more serious. "I realize that this place may change the rules, but I'm not willing to risk it. Things can go seriously wrong if you know too much. I'm sure one of your professors must have told you about that sort of thing."

Jack couldn't help but think that this was the easiest time he'd ever had not telling someone about their future. After all, who wanted to be the bearer of bad news?

[suddenlysirius]

"Sure, mucking about with the past and whatnot," he conceded, though he couldn't help but feel a bit crestfallen. He supposed he would find out soon enough, anyhow, when Lily's child was born, but that didn't stop him from being somewhat impatient about the whole business.

"How long have you been here, anyhow?" he asked, changing the subject. There were other people he could push to answer his questions.

[smilesnbracers]

Jack raised his eyebrow and nodded. Something gave him the feeling that Sirius wasn't really going to let this drop there and there were plenty of people around this place that must be familiar with Harry Potter and not familiar with the damage that could be done with knowing your own future. He wanted to warn him that he may not like what he finds out, but thought it would only lead to more curiosity. There was just only so much Jack could do.

"Not long. I just arrived the day before last so I'm still trying to figure everything out myself. So far, I can say I've definitely been in worse situations."

[suddenlysirius]

"There are worse situations than being told you're a figment of some demented old nutter's imagination?" he asked with a laugh.

It hadn't completely gotten through Sirius' skull that he was trapped here; he and James fully intended to find a way out by the following evening. The reality of the situation would eventually hit home, but for now he was perfectly calm about the whole business.

"I've been in worse scrapes, but this one's definitely got to be one of the weirdest."

[smilesnbracers]

"There are much worse situations," Jack replied with certainty. West wasn't the first person to try something this grandiose, and so far he was a lot more comfortable than the year that never happened.

Jack nodded and looked thoughtful. "I agree, this is pretty weird. Oddly, it's a little boring too." Jack looked around, contemplating the whole set up. "Well, what do you say to a drink? Looks like West pulled out all the stops. Might as well take some advantage, right?" Jack clapped the younger man on the shoulder and started to walk towards the food and drink.