Second floor common room: Friday evening

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack, in his rather pleasant new body, had been for a

handwavy

run around the island, and now he was was sprawled on the couch in the common room, shirtless. Seeing as he'd promised Karal he'd behave, he was avoiding temptation by staying away from Cedric, at least for the moment.

Flipping through the channels on the TV, he couldn't settle on anything, but he had the remote, so, "Channel surfing it is."

[ooc: *cough* Ignore that brief timeslip that temporarily hurled the common room forward one day. It's been fixed now.]

Comments

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"Hey Karal," Gavin said when he caught sight of his friend. "You're not wearing a shirt."

[At work so will be sloooooooow for several hours but I had to.]

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"And hello back at you." Jack sat up straight, giving the newcomer a good look over. "I'm not, and I think you should join me."

[Slow is fine! Yay for sending him!]

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"You want me to take off my shirt?" Gavin asked, confused. "Uh."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack swallowed his smile, and tried to mimic Karal's wide eyed earnestness, probably not very well. "Yeah, it turns out shirtlessness is actually very comfortable. You should try it."

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

He frowned. "Are you teasing me?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"More than you know." Jack snickered and abandoned pretence. "I'm not actually Karal."

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"What?" Gavin frowned, confused again. "Who...are you?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Jack Harkness, at your service." He sat up enough to offer his hand. "Temporarily in a different body, but that's never stopped me."

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

The name was familiar but he couldn't quite remember.

"Gavin," he said, shaking the offered hand. "Darklighter. What're you doing in Karal's body?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Pleasure to meet you, Gavin." He lifted Gavin's hand and kissed it, smirking at him. Hey, he'd promised he wouldn't play with this body; he had to get his fun where he could. "Not as much as I'd like to."

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

He stared at the hand that had just been kissed. "What do you mean not as much as you'd like to?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack laughed and put his head down on the back of the couch, smiling innocently. "I'm not sure you want to know."

[sixstandingby.livejournal.com]

"Give Karal his body back," Gavin said.

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

On her way back from Cheer camp River noticed that the TV was on in the fourth floor common room, and she peeked inside. She saw Karal on the couch, but her mind told her something else, and she frowned, approaching quietly.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack didn't notice, distracted by the plethora of pretty people on the TV screen.

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

The thoughts. She couldn't read Karal's, and the mind she sensed was too familiar, and the subject on his mind was a giveaway too.

"Jack?"

Still, it confused her. She didn't like it when her mind contradicted her eyes.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

It surprised him, and he turned to look at her. "River." No point in pretending, and he smiled gently at her. "Yeah, it's me. Fandom weirdness strikes again, and some kid named Karal has my body at the moment. And I bet he's not even doing anything fun with it."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River had a feeling that Karal and Jack did not share the same definition of 'fun'. "In his own way, perhaps," she said, sitting down at the edge of the couch. This was worse than when Ronan had visited her in a strange body, as she knew Karal, if not well. Trying to get an idea of why and how this had happened from his mind, River fell silent, frowning.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack slid closer, frowning, trying to think of warmth and comfort. "You okay?" he asked, touching her arm.

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

No one could quite comfort her with thoughts the way Jack did and it made her smile. She looked down. It was clear that Jack didn't know what had caused this or what to do about it. "Just waiting to see what happens?" she asked ignoring his question.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Yup. Fandom weirdness always sorts itself out when it's ready." He nudged her shoulder. "You didn't answer my question."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"It seemed to be both a general and specific question," River replied, looking up and blinking when she met Karal's eyes and not Jack's. "Are you?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Apart from being a little frustrated," not being able to touch Cedric was going to drive him nuts if it went on for too long, "I'm good. It's interesting getting to know another body, even if I promised to behave."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River raised an eyebrow, both at his words and at his thoughts. She poked his shoulder. "Testing the limits of good behaviour?" she asked, the tone of her voice a mix of amusement and irritation.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Jack sighed and looked very sad. "Yeah, somehow I ended up promising I'd be good," he told her, his tone aggrieved, but he was actually quite amused. "The kid was just so earnest, he got me before I could argue. So no touchy."