Bright Spark
Oct. 31st, 2008 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laliginFandom: Torchwood (shock horror!)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 585
Summary: Jack and Ianto have been caught up by the Rift and dropped way, way back when...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #14, When Are We?
Bright Spark
Ianto opened his eyes, then worked on focusing. He was lying on rocky ground, covered by Jack’s greatcoat, and there were hundreds of stars above him. His left side was a little chilly, and he sat up, blinking, to find Jack crouched by a merry little campfire to his right.
There was a rustle from the bushes nearby, and he tried to speak, but merely croaked.
Jack looked round quickly.
“Oh,” he said, “that’s what scared them. You okay? Here, drink this.”
He shuffled over, kneeling by Ianto, and pressed a freshly hewn wooden bowl into his hands. Ianto obediently took a sip, and found himself drinking some kind of herbal soup – hot water flavoured with a few different plants.
“No Starbucks?” he asked when his throat felt up to it, and Jack grinned.
“Not yet,” he said, with a glance at the bushes. “We’re still on Earth, by the way. We just slipped a bit. The temporal shift knocked you out. Don’t blame you, to be honest – this much of a jump would give you a knock even under controlled conditions. It’s to blame for your dehydration, too.”
“Shame it didn’t improve your cooking,” Ianto told him, raising an eyebrow when Jack tried to look offended.
“Sorry,” he said, “but all my specialities were with dinosaurs, and we’re well past that era now.”
Ianto’s other eyebrow went up as well, and Jack nodded towards the bushes.
“I think the Rift spat us out sometime in the really early Neolithic. Maybe a bit before that. Difficult to pinpoint, but judging by this lot –” and as he was speaking, a few humanoid figures shuffled to the edges of the bushes, staring at the two of them with intent fascination “– we’re pre-language, pre-technology, pre-pretty much everything. I made the bowl myself.”
He sounded proud of that. But Ianto found himself wondering where the hairdressers were, then if Jack had brought Scrabble with him, then he cursed Douglas Adams half a dozen times and shook himself.
“And how are we going to get back?”
Jack lifted his arm and wrist strap, saying, “The hole in the Rift is still active, but it’s too small to harness at the moment. If this is right it’ll surge in a couple of hours, though, just before it closes, and we should be able to catch a lift back. Not a problem. Home in time for dinner.”
“Great,” Ianto sighed, shuffling closer to the fire and holding both hands out to soak up as much warmth as possible. “So as long as we don’t step on any butterflies or otherwise interfere to the point of destroying the space-time continuum, we’ll be fine.”
Jack looked sheepish.
The pre-humans edged closer, still fascinated, and Ianto glanced between them and the Captain.
“Oh, God, what did you do?”
“Why do you assume I’ve done anything?” Jack asked, clasping Ianto’s hand and trying his best innocent look. Ianto rolled his eyes.
“Because you normally have. Tell me you haven’t kickstarted their evolution, please. I don’t know if I can handle the mess it would make of the timeline if you’re an eventual product of your own genes.”
Jack managed to look affronted.
“I know better than that,” he protested. “And besides, why would I even look twice anybody else when I’ve got you with me?”
“So what have you done?” Ianto pressed him, and Jack scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Well,” he said slowly, “I may have invented fire...”
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 585
Summary: Jack and Ianto have been caught up by the Rift and dropped way, way back when...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #14, When Are We?
Bright Spark
Ianto opened his eyes, then worked on focusing. He was lying on rocky ground, covered by Jack’s greatcoat, and there were hundreds of stars above him. His left side was a little chilly, and he sat up, blinking, to find Jack crouched by a merry little campfire to his right.
There was a rustle from the bushes nearby, and he tried to speak, but merely croaked.
Jack looked round quickly.
“Oh,” he said, “that’s what scared them. You okay? Here, drink this.”
He shuffled over, kneeling by Ianto, and pressed a freshly hewn wooden bowl into his hands. Ianto obediently took a sip, and found himself drinking some kind of herbal soup – hot water flavoured with a few different plants.
“No Starbucks?” he asked when his throat felt up to it, and Jack grinned.
“Not yet,” he said, with a glance at the bushes. “We’re still on Earth, by the way. We just slipped a bit. The temporal shift knocked you out. Don’t blame you, to be honest – this much of a jump would give you a knock even under controlled conditions. It’s to blame for your dehydration, too.”
“Shame it didn’t improve your cooking,” Ianto told him, raising an eyebrow when Jack tried to look offended.
“Sorry,” he said, “but all my specialities were with dinosaurs, and we’re well past that era now.”
Ianto’s other eyebrow went up as well, and Jack nodded towards the bushes.
“I think the Rift spat us out sometime in the really early Neolithic. Maybe a bit before that. Difficult to pinpoint, but judging by this lot –” and as he was speaking, a few humanoid figures shuffled to the edges of the bushes, staring at the two of them with intent fascination “– we’re pre-language, pre-technology, pre-pretty much everything. I made the bowl myself.”
He sounded proud of that. But Ianto found himself wondering where the hairdressers were, then if Jack had brought Scrabble with him, then he cursed Douglas Adams half a dozen times and shook himself.
“And how are we going to get back?”
Jack lifted his arm and wrist strap, saying, “The hole in the Rift is still active, but it’s too small to harness at the moment. If this is right it’ll surge in a couple of hours, though, just before it closes, and we should be able to catch a lift back. Not a problem. Home in time for dinner.”
“Great,” Ianto sighed, shuffling closer to the fire and holding both hands out to soak up as much warmth as possible. “So as long as we don’t step on any butterflies or otherwise interfere to the point of destroying the space-time continuum, we’ll be fine.”
Jack looked sheepish.
The pre-humans edged closer, still fascinated, and Ianto glanced between them and the Captain.
“Oh, God, what did you do?”
“Why do you assume I’ve done anything?” Jack asked, clasping Ianto’s hand and trying his best innocent look. Ianto rolled his eyes.
“Because you normally have. Tell me you haven’t kickstarted their evolution, please. I don’t know if I can handle the mess it would make of the timeline if you’re an eventual product of your own genes.”
Jack managed to look affronted.
“I know better than that,” he protested. “And besides, why would I even look twice anybody else when I’ve got you with me?”
“So what have you done?” Ianto pressed him, and Jack scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Well,” he said slowly, “I may have invented fire...”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-10-31 11:25 pm (UTC)Exit Jack and Ianto (pursued by a bear) and then *woorp woorp* Enter Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian from the first Doctor Who episode. Ever. :-)
*hums the it's a small world tune*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 11:22 am (UTC)Enjoyable enough though.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:27 pm (UTC)Glad you like, though, thanke kindly. ;)
(And "pursued by a bear" is quite possibly the best stage direction ever written.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:38 pm (UTC)Jack's accidentally "invented" a few things along the way, if you ask me. He gets his dates mixed up and interferes without meaning to... ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:50 am (UTC)(as was the whole fic!)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 12:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 08:12 am (UTC)Very amusing little piece. They probably started a religion then and there as well - worship of the Firebringer and the Impeccable Dresser :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 09:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:12 pm (UTC)Aheh. Thanke kindly, very glad you liked it! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 01:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:13 pm (UTC)^_^ Thanke!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 05:33 pm (UTC)Hahahahahahaha oh, Jack! Love it!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:13 pm (UTC)Hee. Thanke very kindly - glad you liked it!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-01 05:59 pm (UTC)o, jack
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 06:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-02 01:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-03 07:32 pm (UTC)Still, thanke for reading anyway, and glad it got a giggle in any case! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-05 06:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-06 05:11 pm (UTC)