Title: Tish's Years.
Chapter 04: About Travelling with Jack
Character, pairing: Jack Harkness, Tish Jones.
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who Universe.
Summary: Jack rescued Tish who, after falling through the rift, had found herself on an abandoned planet centuries in the future.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Beta: Orion Lyonesse on ffnet or koram_dancer on LJ
...
She was standing in the middle of a mist of bubbles. Large and iridescent bubbles,they escaped from the opalescent liquid in which they were bathing up to the navel.
It was sort of magical!
Jack, at her side, wore nothing but a triumphant smile. He'd talked about Turkish baths, of Hammam, but the Kadac˝t'am to which he'd taken her was far beyond anything she'd ever imagined.
The pool in which they stood was about thirty feet in diameter and surrounded by five rows of large and welcoming bleachers where strange creatures were lazing in nude simplicity. The stands were interrupted six times to provide access to other poolrooms.
*At eighto'clock: theKa't˝am, whichcouldbelikened to the antique frigidarium, even if its temperatureis rather comfortable, not cold, butits textureisnaturallyrefreshing, somewhatlike mint, verytoned, veryrefreshing...andslightlycarbonated, somewhatlikea soda. It maytickle a little,* and Jack shuddered just thinking about it.
It made her giggle and the bubbles around her just got crazy out of it.
*I'll try it laterperhaps. I really like theT'am here. It's warm and so sweet, it smellsgood andthenalltheses bubbles; I've never seensuch big ones.*
*No problem, we canstayaslongasyouwant. But just staywellconnected...Oh! Andtheroomat twelve o'clock, it's the Dat'fuq andis definitely notfor us.Fantasticforsomereptiliansandinsectoidsbutdefinitely notforHumans.*
*Jack, where are you going like this?*
*At eleven o'clock, there is a Kagtur who seems interested and interesting. I'll see if we can find common ground.*
Jack laid back in the water and swam quietly away from her, his shaft darting among the plumes hanging at the surface of the liquid like some sort of funny telescope; this guy was really incredible.
Tish tried to make out the Kagtur he'd talked about but without success. She was surrounded by a bunch of weird creatures, and to her eyes very few of them were anything like Humans, even those Jack referred as humanoids, and the place was attended by more than 43 different species.
A couple with beautiful blue and pink scales was looking at her with interest. Jar's, better to avoid, Jack had warned her before they'd docked at the moon base. "It's not that we aren't sexually compatible, but they'd rather have us cooked."
"Are you saying we might run into creatures who could want to eat us, while there?" she'd asked him.
"You'd better get used to the fact that most of the time and place around here, Humans are not at the top of the food chain."
"Great! Martha forgot to mention that."
"Your sister has knocked around less than I did, and, as far as I know, nearly got herself eaten once or twice."
"But if this place runs on tourism, don't they do anything to prevent this? Like, some kind of behaviour policy?" she asked. "I bet it's not very good for business if their customers get to eat each other, right?"
"That's pretty much it, behaviour policy: eating your neighbour is rude," Jack replied with a grin. "And trust me, you don't need to go back to Earth to find rude people; that's pretty common around here too."
Therefore Jack had given her a screed on species not to get too close to, and the Jar's were definitely among those.
The weight of the Jar's' looks finally make her nervous and Tish decided to get a look at the Ka't˝am Jack had extolled. This meant leaving the protection of the semi-opaque liquid to pass through the other room while naked in front of hundreds of eyes watching her with curiosity...
Just don't think about it, you are as surprising to them as they are for you, she told herself.
In the Ka't˝am, the temperature was still pleasant, but the liquid was slightly thicker, slightly heavier, and was giving a feeling of invigorating freshness. The delightfully effervescent effect was kind of amazing.
She was not alone...of course.
But then, a creature whose gender was difficult to determine despite the nudity, but still one of those Jack would qualify as humanoid, watched her with interest tinged with shy curiosity.
Her face was rather Human-like. An androgynous body was surmounted by a face without nose, but with large emerald green eyes which contrasted with her purple skin, her thin mouth drew up in a gentle and engaging smile...
"Human?" the stranger asked in Common with a singing clear voice.
"Yes, and you?" Tish stuttered awkwardly putting into practice for the first time the three weeks of however very intensive courses she had taken with Jack.
"Fengeldubbitomîode'n."
"Oh!" Tish replied; that name wasn't on Jack's purple list, the one listing potentially dangerous aliens. She couldn't remember Jack mentioning that species either on his green list of friendly species they were likely to encounter in this region of space.
"May I?" Tish asked, holding out her hand toward the Fengeldubbitomîode'n's forearm; her skin was intriguing, kind of gritty and as if it was moving!
"As much as I may," the creature replied, mimicking her gesture.
"Uh! Yes ...! Of course!"
With her fingertips, Tish touched the strange skin, and the grits retracted slightly at her contact, which led to a delighted and surprised smile on the face of her strange but gracious new friend.
When the creature gently answered her stroke, Tish replied with a mischievous smile; this was getting very interesting!
"Tish, my name is Tish," she said.
"TebiniCaluman'chen."
"Eh…Teb…?" She tried to repeat the strange sounds.
"Cal, shorter, Cal," Cal giggled gently at her new friend uneasiness.
Cal and Tish continued their exploration of each other with amused curiosity... Cal's grits were surprisingly mobile and reminded Tish of shrinking papillae and they were delightfully ticklish...
*That's because she's a water flower,* Jack explained.
*Where are you, you rascal? Are you spying on me?*
*Nope, just keeping in touch, making sure you're not getting into trouble. Have fun!*
Cal led Tish in a strange aquatic ballet, coiling herself against her, and turning slowly but surely, expanding, blossoming, making herself more and more enveloping, her grits stretching into so many and so ticklish tentacles. Tish felt as if she was a clownfish playing with a sea anemone because Cal was now nothing like Human; a water flower, Jack had said. Great!
After her strange encounter was over, Tish joined with Jack in the megka't˝am, a sort of wet sand bath. It was one weird thing more; anyway everything was strange to her now, except Jack. Jack was still the same old Jack.
*So?*
*You're very curious, mister,* she teased him. *It was kind of interesting, as you might say.*
He threw her a mischievous look, the kind to damn a saint...
*And you?* she asked.
*Same!* he replied with a new grin. *We should probably not stay in here too long.*
*Why's that?*
*Too irritating for our tender skins,* he explained. *What about shopping?*
*Shopping? That sounds fun.*
Traveling with Jack was really something astonishing, and had nothing to do with what her sister had told her about her travels with the Doctor. Nope, nothing at all.
To be continued…