Emergency Landing (Blue/Open to Torchwood)

[The Corsair]

"You said your name was Blue." she said, evidently confused by the suggestion that she name him like a pet. "And do you have to take a single form?" she added, smiling wryly, "I like your human form just fine, but both the cat I saw before and your suggestion of a bird could be useful." The way she said that didn't really imply she meant useful only to herself. "A more innocuous colour, though? Perhaps black? It tends to work well for birds."

[Blue]

You said your name was Blue.

"Well, not technically. My parents didn't name me," Blue said, landing on her shoulder. He ruffled his feathers. "I don't know if names were important to them. Djinn are abandoned by their parents very early in their life, so perhaps we feel that naming is a silly thing you do for things you care for," he told her softly, an edge of bitterness behind his voice. "I called myself Blue because I was sad," he laughed.

Maybe he still got a little... well, blue, but that didn't matter anymore.

Do you have to take a single form? I like your human form just fine, but both the cat I saw before and your suggestion of a bird could be useful. A more innocuous colour, though? Perhaps black? It tends to work well for birds.

The parrot flapped its wings, the feathers turning black. "I don't need to take a single form. I can change as the situation calls for it. I meant.. preferred form, instead of permanent," Blue said.[/size]

[The Corsair]

She smiled, a genuinely warm smile, at the bird, "I prefer human, then." she said simply, "It makes it easier to talk when you're on the same level as me. As for a name, though, I'm afraid I'm still struggling with my own." she shrugged, looking back to her TARDIS.

Still cleverly disguised as a... rather unusual tree. The more she thought about it, the less clever it seemed, really.

"I guess I should fix this..." she sighed, "I wish-"

((OOC: Cue Jack interrupting before she finished that sentence!))

[gylfie2]

Ooc; Good luck reading it all. Haha! It's quite
long. Of course, you could just skip to the
last few paragraphs. That would always
work too.

It was midday when Jack first heard the unmistakable sounds of a TARDIS crash-landing. From the lack of screeching breaks, Jack knew this wouldn't be the time machine he longed to see, big and blue and magnificent, but any Time Lord was worth pestering. Besides, finding alien lifeforms was his job. He couldn't just let this one saunter off through the city.

As his feet pounded the asphalt, a million thoughts flew through his mind. He couldn't just burst in on an unsuspecting alien and hope it would understand why it couldn't park in an undesignated spot. Well, he could, and his morals weren't exactly holding him back, but there were more exciting ways to go about this. His bright blue eyes scanned his general surroundings quickly, looking for an alternative plan.

Changing his route, the navy-clad captain entered an apartment building, making his way to the roof and gliding to the edge. There, in the middle of a paddock, lay a ship and what appeared to be a woman talking to a cat.

five minutes later

This tale just got stranger and stranger. Jack had expected a Time Lord, which was a bonus in itself, but had received a dashing Time Lady instead. He had expected either plenty or no witnesses, but had been greeted by the sight of a lone cat, and had soon received a shapeshifter instead. Were they in an alliance? Was the presumed alliance friendly or anything but?

Jack watched intently as the woman entered the TARDIS once more and activated the chameleon circuit, disguising the ship as a sickly tree. The machine was injured, but functioning properly - a very good sign, for both Jack and the Gallifreyan.

fifteen minutes later

Not suspiciously at all, Jack sat next to the sandwich store, crouched beside the large glass front. He was eavesdropping on his newest victims, listening as the shapeshifter tried to help the woman remember who she was. It was easy for Jack to figure out what had happened - the Time Lady had recently regenerated, probably due to her crashing TARDIS. Of course, there was also the chance that he was having a psychedelic trip that had spun quickly into the abnormal... but he hadn't had one of those in years.

Hoping they couldn't see him, he shuffled closer and peered into the store, gazing on the beautiful pair. As one would expect, they were eating sandwiches.

Unable to stop it, Jack's stomach growled. He had been chasing Weevils all morning with Owen and Toshiko. If only Ianto had turned up to work this morning. The captain would have had the pleasure of fresh coffee and several varieties of pastry. Now, here he was, sitting outside a sandwich store like a bum, watching two strangers picking at their lunch.

thirty minutes later

Ducking through back streets, the captain had followed his two victims to an apartment building. Jack took note of its name and address - it was fairly close to the location he had first heard the emergency alarms of the crashing TARDIS. That was definitely good. It meant that he would find this place easier. It also meant that he wasn't stalking the wrong pair.

Following at a safe distance, Jack walked into the building, greeting the receptionist in the foyer as though he was an old friend. The man glared in return.

Armed with all sorts of alien technology, Jack found the room easily. He stood at the door, waiting for some sort of divine power to tell him what to do. Instead, he gazed at his feet, only to see what appeared to be a ham and lettuce sandwich. Happily, he picked it up and began eating it, wandering back to the street and waiting.

one hour later

Coincidentally, the Time Lady had swung gracefully past Jack on her way back to her injured ship, their long coats brushing delicately. Jack looked up from his vortex manipulator and grinned - the chase was still on.

"I'll call you back later, Bryan," he said into the small device attached to his wrist. "I have business to attend to."

Without waiting for a response, he closed the cover and jogged after the woman, hiding in the shadows as she got to the paddock. This dull idling was the part he hated the most. He'd already waited for this Time Lady for two hours now and, although her handsome friend was gone, Jack didn't mi... no, wait, the man was back.

Curious, Jack inched closer. He half-hid behind the not-quite-real tree, hoping that the other two were preoccupied with their conversation. They were, and what an interesting conversation it seemed to be.

five minutes later

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jack said, holding his hands up and stepping out from behind the broad trunk. "Let me get this straight." He pointed a finger at the woman. "You're a crashed Time Lady who can't remember who she is, and you -" he turned slightly to point at the bird "- are a genie."

Jack was used to the weird, the wonderful and the unexplainable, but this was just beyond anything he had experienced before. Well, not quite. It was definitely in his top ten "what the heck is going on here" moments.

Ooc; Okay, so I've been writing that for about an
hour now. I'm sorry it sucks so much. I couldn't
put as much detail into it because it was so long
and covered such a huge time span.

[The Corsair]

She stopped both mid-step and mid-sentence, turning to face Jack. She had half-ducked to draw her weapons, when she realised he was unarmed and she straightened up again, watching him with a frown.

"Time Lady?" she asked, "Doesn't sound right at all." she added in a mutter, glancing at Blue briefly, before returning her full attention to Jack, "Seems you know more than is reasonable about us... mind sharing who you are?"

((OOC: It's the 'Lady' part that's throwing her off there, lol.))

[Blue]

Blue let out a rather ungraceful squawk and fell off the woman's shoulder, turning human mid-fall. He scrambled away from the Time Lady and that human. His heart pounded against his chest and he took a deep breath, shutting his eyes. He hated being scared, and what's more was that he hated being scared by humans.

Little kittens that jumped on him and startled him were adorable; humans that appeared out of nowhere and scared him were far from adorable.

"Actually," he said, lifting himself up and brushing the dirt and grass from himself for the second time that night, "I'm not a Genie. I'm a full Djinn." It was a fact that was null at this point - and that the human didn't care about - but he felt it was his public duty to say something along those lines.

Seems you know more than is reasonable about us... mind sharing who you are?

Blue stood behind his owner sheepishly and silently. If that human knew that she had lost her memories - and that she was a Time Lady - that would have meant that it had been following them?[/font]

[gylfie2]

Jack raised his head and looked down his nose at them sullenly, his typical assessment stance. From what he could see, these two were no threat. What did he have to be afraid of? The Time Lady with no recollection of who she was or the sensitive genie? He chuckled lightly, dropping his gaze and pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his coat.

He turned to answer the woman, giving no heed to the young man. The boy seemed to be submissive, probably weak of mind and body.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said passionately, flashing his signature grin. "I'm the leader of Torchwood 3. We deal in the strange, the unusual... the alien."

He said the last part strongly, accenting it heavily. If they eventually caught his drift, he could explain what was happening here. Their blank faces and confused expressions bothered him deeply.

[The Corsair]

The woman took on a more defensive stance, at Jack's words, almost like a skittish animal that suddenly realised it was facing a predator instead of something harmless. She began to fidget with one of the feathers on her hat, pulling it down and twirling it harmlessly enough. It was rather close to the flashy blue device that was also attached to said hat, though.

"When you say 'deal in'..." she asked coldly, frowning at him. Not sure he'd even give her a proper answer if she did ask more directly.

((OOC: It's not a proper weapon, the thing in the hat, but it would be unidentified to Torchwood... also, reminder for Jack, she's got a Vortex Manipulator attached to her belt.))

[Blue]

We deal in the strange, the unusual… the alien.

Blue growled, his body morphing into that of a large bear. ”If you hurt my mistress,” he snarled, ”I’ll rip your entrails out and feed them to my cat.” He flexed the large claws at the end of his large paws experimentally. The man had seemed harmless enough – albeit slightly rude – but part of a Djinn’s was to protect its owner. It was against Blue’s code to kill anything – he was a vegetarian for crying out loud – but he wasn’t against cracking a few ribs and inflicting bodily harm.

He sat down beside his swashbuckling friend, placing a paw between her and Jack protectively. After his initial bravado, Blue wasn’t sure where else to go with himself. ”Entrails aside,” he said softly, ”you can call me Blue.” He glanced anxiously at the woman. She hadn’t given him explicit orders to introduce himself. Unlike some of his previous owners, however, he didn’t take her as a punishing type.

He watched as she took a feather out of her hat. ”When you say ‘deal in’…” she trailed off, and Blue looked from her to Jack. He had heard of Torchwood before – not enough to know what it was. But he had often heard of the team taking over crime scenes and asking strange questions around town.

”Can you help her?” he asked anxiously. The bear lowered its head, the shoulders relaxing slightly from their tensed state. ”Do you know who she is, Captain Harkness?” the Djinn returned to his human form, sitting cross-legged by her side.