this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

[quiettotheend]

She feels so small. Tabitha makes her way up to Elashte's office. She's covered in a cold sweat and her eyes are red from crying. She really doesn't know how to handle this. Luke's death hurt her. Tay's death scares her

Comments

[elashte]

It's hard, listening to the psychic landscape today. The Gauche wasn't left untouched by the Rift upset, and the pain is running deep among many. Elashte can't possibly care for them all, much as his instinct goads him to.

But this one young Poludnica... well. If nothing else, he can do his best for her.

He opens the door, brushing over her mind to see what she might need most - refreshment, possibly, even if it's just a glass of water. Contact, a hand on the shoulder, a hug. Reassurance. Diversion.

"Tabitha," he says gently.

[quiettotheend]

Tabitha is still shaking when he opens the door. She reaches up, wiping away tears.

"Sorry," she says softly. She knows he has more important things to do right now -- he's an important person after all, and Chicago's been through a lot in the last two days. To be honest, she's not even sure that's what she's apologizing for.

Really, she just wants someone to cry on. She wants a hug. She wants to know she's still alive. Right now, she couldn't care less about the state of her body. Probably not the best idea, but well, priorities.

[elashte]

"It's all right," Elashte says. He reaches out to draw her into an embrace - it's a strange sensation. He's never had that much interaction with people her age, and what he did have was, by and large, with Tay or patients. "I'm so sorry this has happened."

For her, For Tay. For himself. For Chicago as a whole, when the Barnams come, as they surely will.

[quiettotheend]

Before coming up to his office, Tabitha had done such a good job of stopping the tears. But the moment he pulls her into a hug, they start all over again. It's embarrassing, to be crying on him, but she doesn't know how else to handle this.

She feels like such a child.

Such a child.

For now, she'll cling to him, struggling to stop the tears and the pain. She'd even take one of the two.

[hey_capn_jack]

It's not long after their conversation that Jack - and he won't get used to that for a while, to the name fitting like a garment he hasn't worn in too, too long, to the entire role and posture feeling more like playacting than being - wanders in, taking in the woman with the pixellated name. He knocks on the doorframe with one knuckle, clearing his throat.

"So, should I introduce myself?" he asks. "Or does my reputation precede me?"

[playingtetris]

"We've actually met," Sailor Mercury says, putting her mini computer down and standing. "As odd as that may seem. I did a reboot of your system when a Maldros superbug managed to make its home in your hub. Alex, I believe was running Torchwood Three at that point?"

Pressing her skirt down, she gives him a smile and holds out a hand -- western customs of course today -- to shake. "Sailor Mercury," she says. "It's certainly a pleasure to remeet you, Captain Harkness."

[hey_capn_jack]

Jack shrugs with one hand before accepting hers. "Different universes," he says. "Apparently I come from the odd one out. It's a pleasure to meet you. Should I call you Mercury?"

...there's something a bit... perfectly Chicagoan about the fact that he doesn't have to bat an eyelid at that.

He worked with a Jedi. He turns into a dog. One functions best in Chicago when one abandons one's notions of the absurd.

[playingtetris]

"I would appreciate that," Mercury says, turning to look at the monitor again, as something flashes up. "And don't be too hard on yourself."

She pauses, picking up her mini computer and rapidly enters some data, obviously assuming he'll wait for her to finish while she's working. It's not like she's going to be able to hear him if he says anything; the data feed is taking up all of her attention and her earpiece is going haywire.

"According to the information I've accessed from Ms. Sato's records, she wasn't even aware of a Rift in Japan, which leads me to believe that you are not the one out at all. It's actually quite more probable, when you look at the mathematics that none of us share universes; instead, they're just so similar we can't tell the difference." She pauses again, putting down her computer on the desk again. "I should have finished cracking the security system in the next couple of hours, and I'll be able to reprogram it."