torchwoodinstitute | Well Hello There

Charles could vaguely remember seeing someone like this when he first arrived in England for his university studies, but other than being a handsome chap, he hadn't really had the time to pay attention. Usually time found him deep in his studies, trying to track down people to speak to, lecturing, or more likely than not, over in one of the local pubs skillfully winning bar bets or picking up women.

So when the other comes up to him when he's tucked up in a bar, just having ordered a pint, he grins easily back and takes the hand, immediately scanning over the other's mind without a second thought. "Nice to meet you," with that soft accent that makes him sound right at home, "Charles Xavier."

It very likely was not nice to meet Jack Harkness. Death tended to render one’s thoughts impossible to reach and though Jack had been given new life through a series of horrible but well intentioned events, his thoughts remained cold, hard and dead. That wasn’t to say that he couldn’t think -- Jack was a smart cookie in every sense of the phrase -- but Charles was going to be sorely mistaken if he hoped to get anything from the dimpled, blue eyed man with the massive bear paw hands currently engulfing his own.

“Oh, I know who you are. I don’t think anyone here can say that they don’t.” Charles was friendly, charismatic… Handsome. All things that worked to his advantage without the telepathy coming into place.

This wasn’t quite Jack’s favorite time period, not because he had anything against the seventies, but because he knew he was buried twice under the soil not so far away. Oh, time travel had it’s fun little quirks. And Jack had bad luck with soil.

“Do you have time to talk?”

Charles had yet to ever feel a mind that was closed off to his, so he blinks when, as he tries to scan Jack's thoughts for anything, he feels nothing at all except a blank wall, cold and strong as steel, he can't hide the surprise that crosses his face. Still, he forces that feeling down as quickly as he could, shaking his head before bringing the smile back to his face. Jack's comment about everyone knowing him makes him laugh despite his faint unease, leaning forward on the bar.

"Well, this is one of my favorite pubs. Close to campus and all of that," he returns, studying the other man and trying to figure out what that strange mental wall could be.

Oh? Is this bloke trying to pick him up? That's a touch unusual. Men usually don't do it for him, though occasionally there has been one or two that caught his interest. The easy manner remains, brows going up. "Oh? What about, then?"

Jack couldn’t get away with being a student. This wasn’t the right era for people his apparent age to return to school. He hadn’t bothered to affect an accent either, so he firmly sounded American. Oxford tended to be a little more discriminatory as to whom it accepted as students or allowed to teach.

It never bothered Jack to stretch the truth. He was a fantastic con man…despite not remembering a good two years of that con man life. He had stopped bothering to look for it. There were too many times, too many dimensions, and his current job took up too much of his honestly infinite time.

“Your research. Your interests. I have an opportunity for you.” Jack went straight to recruitment. “I promise, I’m not being cheeky. Yet.”

Ah! Charles' smile went from a bit smarmy to actually interested, those eyes bright as he leaned forward with it. He was always happy to discuss his research with other people, in particular someone who might have an opportunity. He was still in classes, trying to finish out his double masters here, but things outside of that would never be outside of his scope.

"Oh, what kind of opportunity?" His grin increased as he added, "not that you couldn't be cheeky with me." Followed by a laugh, a natural charmer, making it all sound so easy.

“Not here.” Jack wondered if it was driving Charles crazy not to know his intentions immediately. That he would make him wait until tomorrow night would probably drive the curiousty right up through the roof. That was the point. Bait and hook, reel them in. Jemma had taken a lot of convincing. Gabriel was much easier. Jim and Kaylee hadn’t had a choice. Jack liked the easy catches…not that he wasn’t up for a challenge, of course, but he had been visiting Charles for a long time…and not linearly either.

Being around him as a child and as a bitter cripple? He preferred Charles here and now. And that’s why he finally decided to make his move.

Normally, Jack would slide a slick, glossy blue card with white writing to his potential recruit. Today he used a napkin to write down an address not too far away, but not too close either.

“Tomorrow night. Come with an open mind. And fully dressed. It’s not that kind of meeting.”

Charles' expression fell, just slightly, but perhaps not for the reason Jack was expecting. This felt off, and not just because the man standing beside him gave off nothing that he could read. This wasn't a pick up, but it was very much on the far side of becoming awkward. So maybe it wouldn't have been such a surprise that mentally, he reached out and sent a mental message to his sister, showing her an image of the man standing with him.

Not such a surprise either that Raven sighed and told him that he would be an idiot to even think about going. What if this guy was a murderer, or a psychopath, or crazy? What if it was a set up to get robbed or worse? He couldn't exactly disagree with her...

But just as Jack predicted, his curiosity was running higher than his good sense, so he took the napkin and folded it with a flick of fingers, tucking the napkin away after glancing over the address. Then his eyes lifted and he gave a flash of that normally bright smile that always won people over. "I'll see you tomorrow night, but I can't promise anything about having my knickers on." If Jack was going to play it up, so would he.

The following evening, Jack was waiting where he'd said he'd be. He had on the same clothes as the day before, brown trousers and greatcoat from the RAF from just a few decades before. His hands were not in his pockets. His stance was not alarming. In fact, Jack was not at all the alarming party here.

No, if anything, the gold and violet flickering vortex would have been the culprit that clued Charles in on this whole thing not being quite right.

"It's all right that you told your sister," Jack said quietly as Charles approached. Or even if he had stopped dead upon moving around the corner. "But I can't take her with us. Her future doesn't belong with Torchwood, Charles. I want you to know that right up front."

Every inch of Charles was now on high alert, between hearing that and seeing that in front of him. Raven wasn't far behind, and he snapped in her mind to stop, stay there, because what had been an unknown was now somewhere off the charts into the weird and strange. He didn't want her hurt, despite her protests, and the very fact this man knew about her sent him into a defensive mode.

Charles' eyes narrowed with distrust, flickering between the vortex and the man beside it, not liking a bit of this. "I don't know what game you're trying to play here, but I'm not terribly keen on playing it, either." Torchwood. Future. The words get tucked away, remembering, but they were less important than the immediacy of that swirling energy.

It didn't matter what he told Charles now. He had retcon with him and it would be easy to go back and erase himself and everything from this evening from his mind. And Raven's mind. He was already making plans to slip it in her tea tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt her at all. Jack wasn't always in the business of hurting people.

Even ones that would come to hurt a great deal of people themselves.

"This isn't the first time you've seen this. Or me." Think Charles. "I use to visit to read you bedtime stories before your sister came along. I helped you home after a few benders. I even sent you a birthday card last year."

He understood Charles' dismay but there was a reason he planted himself in Charles' life growing up. He wanted to be a distant memory.

"My name is Jack Harkness. I'm from the Torchwood Institute. We're a time traveling research agency, Charles. And we want you."

Jack couldn't so the Uncle Sam impersonation quite right. Oh well.

Bedtime stories? But- His gaze dropped, ever so slightly, as he tried to search his memories. At first, it seemed completely insane, because he had been so utterly alone as a child until Raven had come so wonderfully into his life. Memories tried to conflict but settled when he did, vaguely, remember someone with a soothing tone that would do all of the different voices when he was read a book, something that his parents would never do. 'After a few benders', a very American term, but those he didn't quite remember so well (no surprise there), but the mention of a birthday card did catch his attention as well.

That mysterious card he hadn't been able to place, that he and Raven had laughed off as she teased him about an admirer.

His eyes came back to Jack's, focusing on what he was continuing about. Eyes that went wider and wider as the mention of time traveling came out of the other's mouth - went back to the vortex, then returned to Jack - before it was clear he didn't believe it.

Whatever that thing was, even this whole thing, couldn't be real. This was a big difference than his study on evolution and the mutation of genes like in himself and his sister.

He leaned back, straightening, arms crossing over his chest in an unconsciously defensive position as he studied Jack for several long moments before asking bluntly, "you come into my life, threatening my future with my sister I might add, and what, just expect me to go off with you into some great unknown? ...Why?"

Jack's grin warmed but never changed otherwise. He looked like a statue. Like a photo of himself. "I'm not threatening you, Charles. It's just part of the job. You'll have to leave all of this behind. I can't even promise that you'll be able to visit. The reason why is as complicated at the stability equation of the vortex behind me and as much I love a good chat about physics, the concept is literally alien and neither the Time Lords nor the Daleks were very good with being precise. Sort of a wonder how they managed for as long as they did," he mused.

Jack even scratched the corner of his chin, head tilting ever so slightly.

"There's a whole series and sets of universes for you out there, Charles, where the weirdest thing you'll find isn't that you can read minds and your sister can shape shift. Everything is constantly in danger. The balance is constantly off. I kind of think you'd be a good guy to hang out with too. You're cute."

"You're asking me to give up my life and my family for some possibly foolish notion of adventure of danger." His brow remained up, refusing to acknowledge either of the comments about himself or his sister while inside, completely on edge that this man who seemed a stranger-yet-not knew about their greatest secrets. "If you know me, you know I can't just leave my sister alone." He had promised Raven that she would never be alone again there in the kitchen where he had caught her trying to steal food to live.

But somewhere in him, the mere notion of being able to do something like this, to experience the world beyond, universes beyond... was that not the sort of thing he spoke about in his lectures? The beyond? What was to come?

Jack hadn't been there for every single moment of Charles' life. He did have a life of his own after all and watching people all day, every day, is boring. He wasn't going to tell Charles that, however. He just kept smiling. It was probably horribly knowing.

But Jack didn't play around.

"Yes. I am asking you to give up your family to put yourself in mortal danger on a near constant basis. And I am asking you this because I do know you. Raven will be fine. And you can visit. Sometimes. These aren't exactly as accurate as we would like all the time."

"You're not any bloody good at sounding convincing right now, you know," Charles pointed out, his lips thinning as he relayed this to his sister. Yet his eyes wandered back to the vortex, wondering if he dared. He wanted to study this, understand it, but he didn't feel like it was safe to relay just how curious he was, even if Jack seemed to know everything about him.

But there was enough adventurer in him to meet part way in this strange talk, with Raven shocked in his mind and trying immediately to talk him out of it. "Prove it. You show me, then you bring me back here. If I find it worth it, and I can convince Raven to let me stay on... then we'll talk longer term."

Hooked.

Charles wasn't going to be completely pleased when he got back to find out that Raven had had tonight erased from her memory, but they tried the Torchwood semi-public approach before and it didn't work. Jack kept his secrets to himself. Especially in this manner.

"Oh good. I actually have a mission for you. Well. For us. Have you ever been to Mars? No, stupid question, definitely not. Don't worry. You'll like it." He held his hand out for Charles to take. Yeah, he took that from a doctor he knew once. The smile was all his own. "Take my hand. Don't hold your breath. And try not to throw up on me."

No, Charles would be downright protective big brother pissed off when he found out about their messing with his sister, but for right now, he knew Raven had to be coming towards him. Charles looked at the hand offered to him, bigger than his own, and knew he had to take it now or Raven would find him and everything would go sour.

He took a breath, knowing he very well could be doing something hugely foolish, before he took the hand and stepped forward towards Jack, his eyes full of curiosity but at the same time, his gaze said that Jack better not be full of it.

Well well well. Wasn't Charles in for a little treat? One moment they were making their way through the diaphanous purple and gold vortex, and the next-- Well Charles would probably puke his guts out. The vortex was not kind to the inner ear at all, likely because it was sling shotting travelers through time and space in a matter of moments.

Should he throw up, he would be doing it on pinkish concrete, bright red grass lining the road. Mars did like to live up to its name as being The Red Planet. And as a tourist destination, it was certainly prone to making tourists happy.

Above them stretched a mile high dome, random panels of which flashed advertisements. There were shops settled back from the main street and further ahead were tall dome-scrapers.

Charles ended up on his knees, gagging as his whole head swam violently from the travel through the vortex. He barely managed to keep everything his stomach but it took all of his concentration for several minutes, eyes squeezed shut as he breathed hard. When, finally he had himself under control, his eyes blinked rapidly against the light as he lifted his head.

Oh...

He breathed out slowly as his motion-sickness became only a think at the back of his mind, staring upwards in utter awe then swept across the land he found himself on. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, like something out of a movie. Impossibly colored, foreign, and far too high tech.

This... was Mars? He looked to Jack with all of the awe and wonder of child, completely mystified.

Jack didn't help him up. It was better to let people get their bears in their own and that included tottering around on deer legs. "I'd like to tell you it gets easier...but I think you really just get use to it." He did, however, give Charles a nice pat on the back before he slipped his hands into his pockets and headed towards the largest building in the center of the dome. Yes, at a mile high, it was easily the tallest thing Charles had ever seen and seemed to be holding up the dome. "Are you hungry? Oh! How about the aquarium ride? Just keep your mouth shut on it. Sometimes people explode if they swallow anything."

It was impossible to tell if he was joking or not. Besides, there were other people around them, all sorts of people in all sorts of shapes...most of whom were not at all human. They were looking at Charles as if he was mad.

And lord help him if he tried to read their minds...

That might be a culture shock!

It was all too much, too fast. Charles was struggling to keep up with even the basics as he dusted off his knees, vaguely listening to Jack but more intent on trying to look at everything at once. Aliens. He was looking at aliens (who were staring at him, or he thought they were)! His fingers shook enough that he ended up gripping them at his sides, only then taking his first proper steps on alien soil.

Thankfully, he didn't immediately try to read any minds, but that was mostly due to trying to absorb everything else through his other senses, first. What he was witnessing through the main five was more than enough to keep his mind occupied for the moment, that childish wonder still on his face as he tried to take it in.

"What.. what year is this?" he asked quietly as he came up from behind on Jack, trying to imagine Earth having any technology like this. Was this what was on Mars? It hadn't been long since they had been to the moon!

"3153 or maybe fifty-four?" Acting nonchalant was actual a tactic to keep people calm. He didn't bring up Charles' distress. He didn't want him to continue to feel it! There was no need for that at all when there was so much wonder to explore instead. "If the botanical center is open, it's fifty-four. Want to see that instead? I've heard that they make really fantastic frozen Lima bean jam-cicles but I never had a chance to try it. Not sure I'll care for Lima bean jam, frozen or otherwise, but it never hurts to try new things. Unless you're on that aquarium ride."

Because of the possible explosions? Keep up, Charles!

Jack slowed so that the other man could keep up with him. Not everyone had his stride.

"Three... thousand and... fifty-four..." Charles breathed out before it left him in a laugh, looking up to the dome above them with those bright eyes. Yes, there was distress, a great deal of it, but it was small in face of pure, good old human raw curiosity. It was clear he had no idea what Jack was actually talking about but what did it matter? He bent to brush his fingers through grass like no grass on Earth, plucking a single piece of it and twirling it between his fingers.

"What is this? Other... than Mars. A city? Have people lived here long, or have we just not discovered this?" He wasn't a particularly tall man- okay, Charles was rather on the shorter side of things- but he did work to keep up while trying to take it in.

“This of it a bit like Disney-- Never mind. That’s just a little ahead of you… Uh, okay, this is a resort dome. An amusement park. Most of the people that live here or around here work here. The northern hemisphere has condominiums and malls and things like that. But no one wants to visit residential domes. They’re a little boring.”

A girl, perhaps ten or so, ran passed them wearing a ‘I survived the Aquarium!” t-shrt in holographic colors that changed three times before she was out of sight.

“You shouldn’t pick the grass. It’s actually part of a native insect colony that shares a hive mind and a shared nervous system.”

"Disney, as in the animator?" Charles questioned, brow up in some surprise, but he pushed the thought aside in favor of the here and now. His eyes followed the child, blinking at the rainbow of color, until Jack mentioned the grass.

Then they went wide and he dropped the grass, looking almost terrified before he briskly brushed his hand on his pants. "Oh, fantastic, I will end up making a world-sized insect colony angry with me because I had no idea." He didn't quite sound afraid, but it was certain fear mixed with joy and excitement, still. The kind of emotions that could completely tip into fear at any moment.

"...There are real aliens here," he murmured, just for Jack, but much like Jack himself, his curiosity will get him in trouble as he cautiously opens his mind up to those around him.

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