| Date: 10 December 2007
Characters: Ianto Jones, Lane Williams Location: restaurant Link to IJ: thread #1625 |
 He'd woken up and dressed to go into the hub proper to make coffee and try to look less shagged out than he was feeling before the others arrived. Unfortunately he was only half-awake and hadn't noticed that he was opening a door about two feet to the left of the one he meant to be opening. The one he meant to open led to the kitchen of the hub. The one he actually opened led to a busy restaurant kitchen.
"Bugger." he mumbled under his breath, grabbing a cup of coffee and pretending like he belonged there, wandering out into a lobby with a cup of coffee. "...Very lost then. Right. |
 A barefoot man in track pants and a t-shirt that read "entropy happens" stood scratching his head, glaring at a potted tree. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and quite confused as to which side he'd ended up on.
He caught Ianto's eye and gestured toward his coffee. "Hey, suit. Is there more of that coffee back there? I really think I need some." |
| "Yes," Ianto smiled warmly without it ever meeting his eyes, "Give me a moment and I'll get you a cup."
He turned and headed back into the kitchen, returning in a moment with a cup of coffee and a muffin, handing both to the other man. |
| Now he looked even more confused, staring down at the coffee and muffin in his hands. "Oookay, shit. That really worked." He looked up at the suit and flashed a grin. "Oh, and um, thanks. I was kinda thinking it would just appear out of thin air or something."
He took a sip of the coffee and flinched as it burned. "And hot. Tell me something..." he leaned close, lowering his voice. "Am I standing in a lobby in my pajamas?" |
| "You're awake," Ianto informed him, bemused, "Or at least, you're not dreaming." |
| The color seemed to leech from the man's face before he smiled. "Alrighty then. Not a dream. Looks like I've... got a muffin to eat. Thanks again." He turned to go and wavered for a moment before deciding on a direction. |
| "Are you all right?" Ianto asked, solicitously. |
| "I'll be fine," the man said, taking a drink of his coffee and obviously trying not to lose his shit. "As soon as I figure out what the fuck is going on." He turned back and forced a smile, relaxing his grip that was successfully mangling the muffin still in his hand. "Ever had one of those days where you wake up on the wrong side of bed? I think this is like that. Only... never mind. And now I'm sounding like a mental patient because I'm babbling to a complete stranger and I'm in my pajamas." He quirked an eyebrow, gesturing with his coffee cup at the other man's suit. "Yet you're acting like you do this type of thing all the time. Or you've already called security and they're on their way, which means I have about 45 seconds to get the hell out of here, wherever here is." |
| "The former more than the latter," he admitted. "I haven't called anyone and I'm used to people who find themselves displaced. I don't know where I am anymore." |
| "Man, I'm really hoping you don't mean that in a metaphorical-" he tried to do air quotes and mostly failed due to the coffee and muffin-"'why are we here' sense." |
| "I'm not much for metaphors," Ianto said with a tiny smile, "I mean literally I have no idea where we are." |
| "So when I got up to take a leak and thought I was walking into my hotel room's bathroom, I really did go somewhere else. This somewhere else. The same somewhere you ended up. Only you're you know... wearing shoes." He looked down. "Nice shoes, by the way." |
| "Thank you," he said wryly, "I was just finishing work. What was the last thing you remember?" |
| "Hotel room, asscrack of dawn. Opened a door to what I thought was the bathroom and ended up here. Which, by the way, you're Welsh, right?" |
| "Were you in Wales?" he said, presuming that was where it was going. Which made sense. Wales, Cardiff, Rift. |
| He nodded. "Cardiff. Do we even know if there's a Cardiff here? 'Cause last time... well, first things first. Assessment."
He looked out at the lobby, muttering to himself. "What is the protocol for this sort of thing anyway?" He looked at the Suit again, slightly uneasy that they guy seemed perfectly composed despite having been taken for some sort of dimensional loop. "Did you notice anything strange? Big white light? A ring and wavy blue water-stuff? Giant sucking noise?" |
| Ianto smiled very, very calmly, "Let's try this again. Hello, my name is Ianto Jones. I'm from Cardiff." |
| Lane felt a flicker of fear and shoved it away, instead focusing on the now empty coffee cup in his hand and whether it was heavy enough to do damage if he had to use it.
"Hello, Ianto Jones. And what was the last thing you remember? Leaving work?" He made sure a polite smile was firm on his face. |
| "I'm pretty sure this is the part where you share your own name, actually," he said pleasantly. |
| "You show me yours and I show you mine?" he grinned. "I'm really not that kind of guy, Ianto. At least not until we've have dinner." |
| "Are you hungry?" Ianto asked blandly. |
| "I do have a muffin," Lane offered, still smiling. "I think my priorities lie more in shoes, pants, and figuring out where the hell I am. Have any ideas on how to acquire any of the above?" |
| "There's a store, they're not charging for the food or rooms so presumably I can acquire you clothing if you wish. "
Ianto was mostly nosey. |
| "Not charging? At least they're generous. I appreciate your offer, but I can probably find something. And my name's Lane." |
| "It's nice to meet you, Lance," Ianto loosened up enough to actually smile, "I'll leave you to that then." |
| Lane smirked. "Yeah. And thanks again for the coffee and muffin. Maybe next time, dinner?" |
| "It's a date," Ianto smirked back, "Good luck, Lane." |