reversedpolarity | [ddd; log; Jack]

Entry tags:

*ddd,
jack harkness

[ddd; log; Jack]

Scotty hadn't yet had time that day to check the community; he'd been busy, which wasn't an unusual thing for him, and between one thing and another he'd not only managed to go nearly a whole day without checking up on the community, he'd also managed to go nearly a whole day without remembering to eat. The end of his shift found him tired, hungry, and once again covered in grease; the other day it had been helm relays and piston shafts, today it had been plasma conduits. Cleaning the things was a dull, tedious task, usually delegated to the rookies or anyone who'd been in a bit of trouble, but every now and then Scotty liked to make an example by doing those sorts of jobs himself.

After the plasma conduits it had been an on-going series of other small, menial tasks, but it was a welcome break from paperwork. Now, however, Scotty was off duty and on his way down to the mess hall to grab something to eat before heading back to his quarters. He'd almost made it to his destination when he happened to pass by someone who was both strangely familiar and not wearing a Starfleet uniform. He paused, and turned, and then it hit him. After the few video chats they'd had, he'd recognize that coat anywhere. "Captain?"

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"I think," Scotty said slowly, "That it's a good thing that doesn't exist here." He wasn't going to comment on Jack's last comment. Not at all. And he certainly wasn't blushing. Not at all. Just a bit red from alcohol consumption, of course.

It said something about Jack's mood at that moment that he didn't even notice or mention Scotty's blushing at all. "It is a bit of a distraction, I will say that much," he said, shaking his head and swirling his brandy around in his glass. "Probably the best, that you all can't stop by a place like that. You might never leave again, if you do."

"I can think of a few people we'd never see again, that's for sure." Not himself, of course. He didn't have time for that sort of thing, and his sense of duty far outweighed any tendency he might have had for pleasure-seeking. If he were going to be completely honest with himself, he might enjoy stopping by for a little while - no, strike that. He'd definitely enjoy stopping by a little while, but it wouldn't be the sort of place he'd want to stay.

Jack nodded. "So can I. It's... It's a nice place. But definitely somewhere only to visit, and only occasionally. Like a treat, or something. It really is possible to have too much of a good thing, believe me, and it's...well, seventeen times more possible with that place, as it is."

"I can only imagine." Well. To be honest, he couldn't really imagine it, but that was alright by him. He wasn't sure he wanted to try imagining it. "Not for the weak o' heart," he added, shaking his head as he repeated Jack's words. "Hell of a way tae go."

Jack chuckled. "Don't you know it," he said, shaking his head at the idea of it. "I knew a few people that enjoyed themselves a little too much there, and. Hoo, boy. Let's just say that there's only one Lotus Nebula for a reason, and I'm glad that there's only one. And that humans don't discover it until they're ready for it."

"Aye, it... it seems like something else, that's for sure." He shook his head again, and took a long sip of his drink, before adding, "An' here I thought maybe I'd have a couple o' impressive stories tae tell. Not sure I can match anything like the Lotus Nebula."

Jack shook his head. "Oh no, Mr. Scott, you're not going to get out of story-telling that easily. You start talking about impressive stories, now you have to follow that up. So go on, spit it out. What sort of impressive, space-traveling have you gotten up to, then?"

"Nothin' near so interestin' as this Lotus Nebula o' yours, I'm afraid," he replied, grinning. "But... Ah, let's see. There was a planet we stopped off on for shore leave, way back when I was a cadet. Served aboard the Deidre before I went tae the Academy proper, see. Anyhow. So we stop off on this planet for shore leave, an' when we get down tae the surface, it looks alright an' more or less normal, an' since we're dry-docked we get tae spend a few days on-planet. Well. Someone'd forgotten tae mention tae the captain that the people on this planet customarily went nude - an' that they expected visitors tae do the same."

Jack laughed out loud, glad that he hadn't had his glass anywhere near his mouth as Scotty had said that, imagining the shade of scarlet that the other man would've turned in response to a realization like that. "Oh man," he said, shaking his head, "that's too good. Far be it from you to go against the customs of the planet." He chuckled, taking a sip of brandy, waiting until he had swallowed it fully before asking, "So. What'd you do about that, then?" with a small, wicked smile.

"Captain wanted tae beam back up tae the ship an' just stay there, but shore leave is shore leave an' nude or not I think the crew would've mutinied if he'd made 'em all spend leave on the ship. So I'm stuck on this planet with the rest o' the crew, without a stitch o' clothin' tae my name, which wouldn't've been that much o' a problem except for one tiny little detail." He paused to take a gulp of his brandy, because this sort of story required a bit of liquid courage. "The Chief Engineer was takin' shore leave too. An' you know, there's just some people you never want tae see naked, or tae see you naked. So I ended up stayin' in my room most o' that week."

Jack laughed loudly at that, the alcohol in his system muting the worry and anxiety that he had over what was going on on his world and making it so that he was able to at least enjoy his conversation with the other man, there. "The Chief Engineer, huh? Isn't that your job title?" he asked, with a smile. "So. Having been promoted to that position yourself, now, d'you think that you have underlings who'd think the same of you, then? Or was this Chief Engineer of yours a real bear?" he asked, grinning at Scotty, unable to help himself.

"It's my title now. You have tae understand, this was about.... oh, eighteen, twenty years ago. I don't doubt I've got underlings who'd think the same o' me, but as for the Chief back then..." He shook his head, and took a moment to refill his glass, before continuing, "Nothin' against the woman, but... Well. Thing is, I always thought she looked rather a bit like my mum."

Jack laughed loudly and fully, shaking his head. "Oh god," he said, grinning. "Yeah, that would definitely be a reason not to want to be naked around her. I mean, I loved my mum a lot, and I really didn't have anything against nudity, but. I'd rather not be running around in the nude in front of my mum if I could help it at all, so. Surprisingly, I don't actually blame you, there."

"So I spent a week in this room, right, this tiny little thing, absolutely terrified o' goin' out, because I just kept thinkin', y'know, what if I run intae her? I think I'd've died o' embarrassment if that'd happened." He laughed then, and took a drink, then added, "If ship rumor was anything tae go by, though, she had a good time. Had tae take a few days medical leave afterward, I heard, because she'd managed tae get herself sunburned from head tae toe."

Jack shook his head again, chuckling. "Oh god, I can imagine. It's half the reason I listen to Ianto every time he tries to tell me that taking him to somewhere tropical is a pretty bad idea, because of the sunburn." He took another swallow of his brandy. "You Europeans and your sensitive complexions. I take it that that's another reason why you didn't venture out too much, while you were on that shore leave, huh? The unfortunate sunburn and all."

"Aye, an' not only am I genetically wired tae burn up in the sun, I spend all my time indoors. So not only would I have ended up with an unfortunate sunburn, I'd probably have blinded half the planet just by steppin' outside. I did end up sneakin' out once or twice late at night, though. It was..." He paused, considering. "A bit weird. At first. But none o' the natives made any big deal about bein' nude, an' I was generally out an' about when everyone else from the ship had long gone tae bed."

Jack smiled as he tried to imagine it. "Ah, yes, the late night nude adventures of young Mr. Scott, I can see it now," he said, chuckling. "It's best that you were out then, though, especially if you burn in the sun. Ianto's lucky that it's very rarely ever sunny in Wales, because otherwise, he's got the exact problem as you. Well, maybe not the nude bit," he said, with a grin, "although I'm trying to work on that one as well. It's a shame that you people are still so hung up on embarrassment about your body." Then again, Jack didn't really know when that started to become less of a problem. It wasn't in his part of the universe, at least, although there was so much sand everywhere, clothes were kind of a necessity, most of the time.

That earned yet another blush from Scotty, because he just knew that Jack was trying to picture that, and yes, he was very much still hung on up embarrassment about his body, even if the alcohol had made him bold enough to at least share that particular story. "Aye, well. I'm rather fond o' clothes," he said eventually. "I mean. Especially considerin' my line o' work. I don't want tae think about the sort o' accidents that could happen if clothes weren't a cultural requirement." He pushed his sleeves back a bit, so Jack could see his wrists and forearms, which were covered in a spattering of scar tissue. "Arc welder. Now just imagine what'd happen if I used it without wearin' anything."

Jack nodded appreciatively, not only of the scars backing up his story, but also of the way they looked. Jack always did like a working man. Half the reason Wales was so enjoyable a place to've ended up, with all of those poor, deprived miners around... But the Master was trying to take over the world, and so even flirting was a bit beyond Jack in that moment. "Nice," Jack said, smiling at the other man.

He moved to pull up his own sleeves, rolling them up to the elbow, so Scotty could see them. "I would show you my battle wounds as well, but. Technology in the 51st century's pretty far out there. People don't generally get scars unless something pretty awful happened." And then all of the really awful things hadn't happened to Jack until after the Doctor, and so. He'd never scar again, as it was. "Needless to say, though, I hear you about the fondness for clothes. At least when you're working with powertools."

Edited 2011-01-04 17:03 (UTC)

Scotty shrugged, pushing his sleeves back down. Twenty-third century medical technique was good enough to not leave scarring - if the injured party sought medical attention soon enough. "Aye, our medical technology is pretty ace," he told Jack, before adding a bit sheepishly, "It wouldn't've scarred if I'd gone tae Medical, but it didn't seem that important at the time." In fact, Scotty had several scars that he'd managed to keep because of his habit of putting off going to Medical unless it was something life-threatening. After all, keeping the engine running smoothly was far more important than a few scratches or burns. "An' then, with one thing an' another, I.... Well, I sort o' forgot tae go."

Jack shook his head at the other man once again, chuckling. "Oh, Scotty," he said, fondly. "Why am I really not too surprised that you'd answer something like that? I'm not reprimanding you, mind. I just... I can see something like that happening all too easily." He shot a grin at the other man. "Still, I'd hope you would go to Medical a bit more often, if clothes were more of an option. I'd hate to have any sort of accidents in that way, y'know?"

Scotty laughed, at that. "Well. Even without clothes bein' optional, I had a bit of a scare back when I was a cadet. Ah." He must be tipsier than he thought, he realized, if he was sharing this particular story. "So I'm on this freighter, right, doin' a bit more field work in conjunction with bein' at the Academy, an' I'm seein' this girl. Brilliant engineer, she was." Right. He needed more alcohol if he really was going to finish this story. He held up a hand as he paused to take a long swig of brandy, clearing his throat when he was finished. "Alright, so I'm with this girl, an' she convinces me tae, ah, dance with her up in one o' the Jefferies tubes, right. Only I lose my footing an' slip. Sprained my ankle an' cut my leg open. Had fun tryin' tae explain that tae the CMO."

In fact, he'd been so embarrassed by the whole thing that he'd ended up just getting the ankle fixed, without bothering to mention that he'd somehow managed to cut up the inside of his thigh when he'd fallen.

Jack found himself wondering just what exactly a Jefferies tube was, and when he could try one out himself, but quickly shook himself of those thoughts. He supposed he'd just have to find out later, he thought to himself. Instead, he listened to Scotty's story, and by the end of it, was chuckling along with the other man. "Ouch," he said, sympathetically. "Guess you're gonna have to find a better way of doing it, next time. Assuming you haven't already. It's been a while since you were a cadet, after all," he said, with a grin.

If Jack had asked, Scotty would have gladly given him a basic overview of what the Jefferies tubes were - service shafts, most of them, although a few of them connected decks together, and a few others led to the service tunnels hidden out of sight of the corridors. Some, like the one he'd fallen out of, were vertical, and others, horizontal or even on a slight sloping incline. "Well, truth be told, after that I left the Jefferies tubes alone a while." And considering the fact that after the Academy, he'd been too busy to have time for any kind of relationship, he'd been single for years and therefore without any reason to find a better way.

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