[CT] 18.1 - Damage
Jun. 16th, 2008 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onlysayinghelloThe first time he dies in front of her she's not sure what's happening. To be fair, at the time he's not even sure who she is at all. She's still just another face out of focus in the back of his mind that pulls to the front in the midst of a dream he wishes he could remember better. Of course those dreams come more frequent, and draw in sharper over time, but still... he wouldn't have known her if she'd walked up to him that very day. It's Jack though, and of course he would have taken notice, but he doesn't know her... not the way she knows him.
Though who really knows Jack Harkness at all? He's just a borrowed name with a history that no one can explain away even if they tried. The people at his work don't understand him, they just know that he doesn't die. Even that secret he kept from them until he couldn't anymore. Being shot in the Hub sort of kills the suspense when you get back up again despite dying a few moments before.
She doesn't know that though, and as he's running through the back alley what she thinks isn't even something registering in his mind. The Jotthra that slipped through the rift that's liable to black out all of Cardiff if he sneezes? That's more front and center at the moment. So when he has it backed into the wall he's laughing, the snow falling around him and his weapon drawn pointed at the creature. He's not sure what a bullet would do really, but it had to do something. Of course when the Jotthra reaches out taking a hold of his neck and sends about a good couple thousand volts through him? He's not laughing anymore as the weapon drops a mere moment before his body.
Lying there on his side in the alley, hand still outstretched, his eyes roll back a bit as he sees the damn thing leap over the back wall. He knows Owen and Gwen are trying to cut it off, and at least the Jotthra has another two hours before it can discharge power like that again, so his team is safe. The thought of that doesn't come quick enough before he slips into the darkness.
The first time he dies in front of her all she sees is the damage done. The singed wool, the charred skin, the heavy acrid scent in the air of copper and burnt hair. The crunch of the snow beneath her feet, and the way his heated skin melts any snow that falls. This is what Reinette sees looking at Jack up close for the first time in a very long time. She sees the damage inflicted on him, the way that after so long all she has now is this painful sight and this burning feeling pressing in her nostrils.
Part of him would register the sting of her palm across his cheek, the cold press of snow that came with the movement. Part of him would allow the softness of her voice to drift into the darkness as he pulled himself back into the light. The pressure of her hand to his chest was the first feeling that he had that wasn't from his own pain as the breath started to pull into his lungs. When the feeling left instinct took over and he reached out to her. Clasping his hand to her wrist, his eyes alert once more and wanting to know this face that looked at him the way she was looking nearly into him. He held tight and as she resisted he fought to bring her down to him.
He was damaged still, waiting to live, waiting for something to happen to show him he was alive again, and even as her heart beat against his chest quicker from fear, it was life, and it felt less empty. The first sharp draw of air pulled in and outward against her still drawn down to him. This is always the hard part he's thinking to himself as his body stirs back to life, but it's a lie. The hard part is always the waiting. In the darkness wondering if maybe this time he's done, maybe this time he won't have to come back. Everything is the hard part.
His body struggles and she breaks free, and that contact... that feeling that isn't his own body reacting to life again is gone. Her voice echoes though, the words she says, the actual meaning she puts behind them... vibrates through him.
He knows those words, he knows those tones... and as his heart begins to push blood through his body once more he realizes he knows those eyes... somewhere locked away he is sure he knows who that woman was.
But he's still damaged, and his body has only been healing the things it knows are hurt.
[ooc: Written as Jack's Perspective on this piece written by Ambitious-Woman here. Based on the 'Two Years Gained' Verse with Reinette.]
Though who really knows Jack Harkness at all? He's just a borrowed name with a history that no one can explain away even if they tried. The people at his work don't understand him, they just know that he doesn't die. Even that secret he kept from them until he couldn't anymore. Being shot in the Hub sort of kills the suspense when you get back up again despite dying a few moments before.
She doesn't know that though, and as he's running through the back alley what she thinks isn't even something registering in his mind. The Jotthra that slipped through the rift that's liable to black out all of Cardiff if he sneezes? That's more front and center at the moment. So when he has it backed into the wall he's laughing, the snow falling around him and his weapon drawn pointed at the creature. He's not sure what a bullet would do really, but it had to do something. Of course when the Jotthra reaches out taking a hold of his neck and sends about a good couple thousand volts through him? He's not laughing anymore as the weapon drops a mere moment before his body.
Lying there on his side in the alley, hand still outstretched, his eyes roll back a bit as he sees the damn thing leap over the back wall. He knows Owen and Gwen are trying to cut it off, and at least the Jotthra has another two hours before it can discharge power like that again, so his team is safe. The thought of that doesn't come quick enough before he slips into the darkness.
The first time he dies in front of her all she sees is the damage done. The singed wool, the charred skin, the heavy acrid scent in the air of copper and burnt hair. The crunch of the snow beneath her feet, and the way his heated skin melts any snow that falls. This is what Reinette sees looking at Jack up close for the first time in a very long time. She sees the damage inflicted on him, the way that after so long all she has now is this painful sight and this burning feeling pressing in her nostrils.
Part of him would register the sting of her palm across his cheek, the cold press of snow that came with the movement. Part of him would allow the softness of her voice to drift into the darkness as he pulled himself back into the light. The pressure of her hand to his chest was the first feeling that he had that wasn't from his own pain as the breath started to pull into his lungs. When the feeling left instinct took over and he reached out to her. Clasping his hand to her wrist, his eyes alert once more and wanting to know this face that looked at him the way she was looking nearly into him. He held tight and as she resisted he fought to bring her down to him.
He was damaged still, waiting to live, waiting for something to happen to show him he was alive again, and even as her heart beat against his chest quicker from fear, it was life, and it felt less empty. The first sharp draw of air pulled in and outward against her still drawn down to him. This is always the hard part he's thinking to himself as his body stirs back to life, but it's a lie. The hard part is always the waiting. In the darkness wondering if maybe this time he's done, maybe this time he won't have to come back. Everything is the hard part.
His body struggles and she breaks free, and that contact... that feeling that isn't his own body reacting to life again is gone. Her voice echoes though, the words she says, the actual meaning she puts behind them... vibrates through him.
He knows those words, he knows those tones... and as his heart begins to push blood through his body once more he realizes he knows those eyes... somewhere locked away he is sure he knows who that woman was.
But he's still damaged, and his body has only been healing the things it knows are hurt.
[ooc: Written as Jack's Perspective on this piece written by Ambitious-Woman here. Based on the 'Two Years Gained' Verse with Reinette.]
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OOC
Date: 2008-06-16 11:02 pm (UTC)This section was especially beautiful. So VERY well done.
*Hugs*
PS I was so gonna do 'Damage; too. Quit stealing my prompt yo...