| Date: 16 January 2008
Characters: , Location: hotel dining room and kitchen Link to IJ: thread #38535 |
 Ianto had found the Doctor and then gone and gotten a good night's sleep. He was awake and in a fresh suit the next morning, preparing coffee for the pot in the lobby before absently offering a fresh cup to the man next to him, "Good morning." |
 He took the cup with a quick grin. "Thanks. Nice suit." |
| "Thank you," he said reflexively, before looking at Brant and tilting his head slightly to the side, studying him and trying to reconcile. |
| "You're welcome. It suit-" He stopped, mid-pun. "What?" |
| "You look like someone I know," he shook his head, smiling, "And please don't make the pun. He makes it too often." He shifted to offer Brant his hand, "Ianto Jones." |
| He grinned and took the hand that was offered. "Brant Hysmith. Can I say I'm pleased to meet you, or have you heard that too often, too?" |
| "I think I'll take that," he looked please, "Hello, Brant. Where are you from?" |
| "That's a relief. Not sure I could come up with anything that didn't just sound worse." He grinned and took his hand back. "I'm from the Boshane pennisula. You?" |
| "Cardiff. Earth, if you know it." |
| "It seems like there are a lot of people from there around here. Kind of weird." |
| "Cardiff specifically or Earth?" |
| "Cardiff, actually." |
| "There's a rift there," he said automatically before asking, "Or has someone told you that?" |
| "A rift?" he asked, and shook his head in answer to Ianto's question. |
| "In time and space," Ianto nodded, "I...don't think I know enough about it to explain it." |
| "Sounds like it might explain why so many people end up here, though?" |
| "At a guess," Ianto nodded, "The rift's like that." |
| "Like what?" |
| "Taking things and putting them back. |
| "It sounds like a kid with an attention problem?" |
| "...That's not untrue," he agreed. |
| "Huh. Sounds kind of interesting. It must make Cardiff a frustrating place to live." |
| "It's interesting though. You'll have to visit soon. Get Jack to bring you." |
| "...I don't think it works that way," he said, a little. Wistfully, actually. |
| "Maybe not from here, but." Ianto shrugged. He figured Brant was related to Jack. |
| What Brant figured was. A complicated mix of denial and understanding and assumption. He wasn't even sure where he ended up. "Yeah. Might be worth looking into, I guess. I mean maybe. Who knows, right?" |
| "Anything can happen." |
| "Can it?" he callenged, one eyebrow lifted up into a delicate arch. |
| "I work for Torchwood. My sense of the impossible is completely gone." |
| "What's Torchwood?" |
| "We investigate aliens." |
| "Investigate aliens? In Cardiff?" |
| "Everything comes through the rift." |
| "Everything?" He leaned a little and looked really engaged and bright and alive. "What kind of everything? I mean aliens, sure, but what kind of aliens?" |
| "I've met Weevils, Butterfly people, ...mostly machines though, bits and debris." |
| "Butterfly people? Machines? What kind of machines?" |
| "All sorts of machines." |
| "What do you do with them?" |
| "Catalog them." |
| "For what?" |
| "Use." he shrugged, "Or to make sure no one who can hurt themselves with it uses it." |
| "Use for what?" Yeah, he could do this all day. |
| "Safety of the planet." |
| "So you're protecting the world?" |
| Ianto shrugged, "That's the idea.' |
| "That's incredible.." He looked star-struck. |
| Ianto blinked, "Not really." |
| "Why not?" |
| "It's just. What we do." |
| "But waht you do is incredible." |
| "They don't have Torchwood where you're from?" |
| He shook his head. "I've never heard of it." |
| He frowned for a moment, then shrugged, "Odd." |
| "Why?" |
| "Mostly that I thought you would." |
| "Well." This was awkward. "When were you?" |
| "2007." He smiled suddenly, "I just thought Jack would have told his family." |
| He shook his head, a little. "I'd imagine Jack's family knows what year it is without him telling them?" |
| "No, I mean about Torchwood." |
| "Maybe he has?" |
| He blinked, tilting his head at Brant. "I'm putting my foot in it, aren't I?" |
| "I think so? I can't really tell, though." |
| "I'll stop then. When are you from, Brant?" |
| "I'm mostly just confused," he admitted. "I'm from a few thousand years in your future. Give or take a couple of hundred for differences in the length of days and years." |
| "Wow," he blinked slowly, "That's odd." |
| "What is?" he asked, carefully. |
| "That you look so much like Jack but. Time difference." |
| "Maybe he's really virile?" He offered, grinning quickly. "Besides, he can't die and I really don't look that much like him." |
| "With Jack? Probably." |
| "Oh. Yeah." He grinned. |
| Ianto nodded, grinning back because he couldn't not. |
| He laughed, because he couldn't not, either. "This conversation's about to go somewhere with potential for trouble isn't it?" |
| "I think we should nip it in the bud. Do you like coffee?" |
| "Love coffee." |
| "Flavors?" |
| Next |
