InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "goo goo ga joob"

Ianto Jones (notjusta_teaboy) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-09-24 02:09:00

Entry tags:

ianto jones, jack harkness, rose tyler

Backdated prior to September 24th.

Who: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler
What: Arrival in the library
Where: In the library and outside it, then Rose's house
When: Prior to September 24th
Status: In progress

Ianto woke up lying on a cold marble floor. He could feel the stiffness in his muscles as he pushed himself into a sitting position; he must have been here awhile. He got to his feet, patting his pockets. Wallet, cell phone, keys...He pulled out his phone. No reception. Well, that wasn't surprising, he could be anywhere, in any time. The Rift wasn't picky. It did seem to have an unnatural attraction to him, though. At least he had his memory this time, as far as he could tell.

The room he was in was cool and silent, with shelves built into the walls. Shelves full of books. A library, then, and a very nice one from the looks of it. He spied a door on the other side of the room and started towards it, and something skittered across the floor as his foot connected with it. He bent down to pick it up. Some kind of PDA, apparently, although the design was slightly unfamiliar. It appeared to have power, which was more than his phone did at the moment. He briefly considered that it might be a bomb or a tracking device or something else he didn't want to pick up and carry around. But it wasn't like he had been kidnapped; the Rift acted at random. No one was trying to hurt him. He slipped it into his pocket.

He walked through the library, every sense alert for a sign of danger. Or even another person. Libraries were supposed to be quiet, he knew, but this was bordering on eerie. There were no signs that he could see, either, in any language. He went over to one of the shelves and pulled down one of the books, flipping through the pages. Blank. He pulled down the next one to find it the exact same way. And the next. The next. As many as he cared to check. Now this was really starting to worry him.

He made his way to what appeared to be some kind of central rotunda, decorated with suits of armour on plinths. Even here, the place seemed deserted. Suddenly, a soft scraping sound broke the silence. He turned, his heart leaping into his throat as two of the suits of armour stepped down from their plinths and made their way toward him. Not menacingly, and they didn't have weapons, but they were deliberate and looked heavy. “Hello?” he tried. Nothing.

He took a few steps backwards, then to the side. They followed him, not changing their pace. He was sure he could outrun them, but what purpose would that serve? He could tell the place was huge, and he could just end up wandering aimlessly. The things stopped a few feet from him. One pointed towards the door he had entered the rotunda through, and both started walking again. After a few steps, they stopped, and turned to look at him. He took a step closer. They continued.

Well, they certainly weren't threatening, although they were disturbing. Still, he followed, even more on edge than before, if possible. The clank of metal armour on the marble floor echoed loudly in the stillness.

After walking for what seemed like miles, because, he knew, it probably was, they arrived at a huge set of double doors, easily four times his height, although they opened without a whisper at his slightest touch. He could see the sunlight beyond, eager to be out of this place. It could be more dangerous out there, but a person trying to hurt him might also be a person not trying to hurt him and there were clearly no people inside. He made his way through the door and down the steps, on to the street. The doors shut behind him as silently as they had opened.

He found himself in what appeared to be a fairly sizable city. Unfortunately, he didn't know nearly enough about architecture to try and learn anything from the buildings around him. The air was warm and definitely breathable, and the sky was blue, which was reassuring if not significant.

There was no one in the street, at least not as far as he could see, but the city did not feel empty in the way the library had. Information was what he needed, though, and he had just left one of the most likely places to find it. That meant people.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

notjusta_teaboy
2011-09-25 05:19 am UTC (link)

"Has anyone tried to find out? Aren't there trucks, or trains, or something?" This was sounding far too much like the human zoo episode of Twilight Zone.

"We're assigned to live somewhere? How do we find out?" He nodded. "That is one of the nice things about the TARDIS, there's always room. Was your stuff still there?" He smiled. "Glad you get to spend more time with her. But...Do you think she'd let me stay, too? Or should we look somewhere else?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-25 05:45 am UTC (link)

"No idea. Some people have been here years, though, so hopefully one of them thought to look into it. If not... something to do! If this guy wanted to observe people from other realities, couldn't he just make, I don't know, Spacebook?"

He picked up the grocery bags and his PDA from the ground, and showed the PDA to Ianto. "One of these, you got yours? Everyone gets one. Creepily preprogrammed to be owned by us, with network accounts and everything. There's a bit of other data in here already, where we've got a room waiting, bank account, that sort of thing. Oh, the TARDIS is totally different, too! It's like-- he regenerated and redecorated! They both look way different now. Her outsides, even, looks like a fresh paintjob and some more subtle changes. And, get this-- the TARDIS's consciousness got pulled out of the TARDIS and put into a human body, and she's here like that."

He lost track of the Rose question for a moment, going off about the TARDIS. "I'm glad, too. That was like... I even told her, her being here, that was like the one spot of good news, getting to see her and spend time with her right away. First place I went when I got here was out drinking with her, so I could focus on her instead of, y'know..." Moping, wallowing, or otherwise being a dull Jack boy. "She might want us to stay with her, so she won't be by herself. It's so new for her, the thought of living alone. We'll see. Might be a little awkward!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjusta_teaboy
2011-09-25 06:41 pm UTC (link)

He laughed with that. "Spacebook? That's a new one. But yeah, you can study animals in the wild, you don't have to capture them in a zoo."

He took the PDA out of his pocket. "Is that what this is? I found it next to me. I didn't think anyone was trying to hurt me, but at the same time, picking up random alien tech and just starting to button mash usually ends badly." He turned it over in his hands. "So, does it have internet access, or how does it work? What does it do?" He sighed when he heard about the regeneration. "What, again? He's getting almost as careless as you." He blinked at the last sentence. "What? Wouldn't that be like...ripping someone's soul out of their body? How is she still alive?"

He saw the groceries and figured that Jack would be going back to wherever he was staying with Rose. "So there's nothing going on between you two, then?" He knew how Jack felt about Rose. Or at least had felt, at one point. Not that he minded if there was. He laughed. "Yeah, we've gotten past the point of being quiet, haven't we. Just too used to having the house to ourselves." He shifted a bit on his feet, as though almost nervous. "Can I come with you? To her house? If you don't think she'd mind?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-25 07:14 pm UTC (link)

"It could happen! Probably will happen at some point-- oooo, we should jump on trademarking that early... What is with us and zoos?"

He nodded. "Yeah, no model I'm familiar with. Asaphberry? I've-been-kidnapped-Phone?" For a moment, he just remembered the troubles Torchwood'd had with button-mashing like that; the 'ghost machine', for instance, was a perfect example of button-mashing gone wrong. "It does. There's basically a copy of Earth's internet contents on it, and there's a small social network for we kidnappees to communicate, and some others that the local city folks use. But since there's nobody else in the world, there isn't a real world wide web going. So, you'll see LOLcats, but there won't be fresh new trolling comments on them."

Of course, he just had to laugh over the Doctor. "Yeah, it's really careless! He didn't give me many details of what happened to him. From what he said, though, we could already figure he's not from our timeline. Hell of a Christmas. Hmmm... zoos for us, Christmases for the Doctor... Yeah, it's a mystery how she's surviving. It's like the dying is on hold somehow while she's here, because she SHOULD just burn out the human body and leave her real body an empty shell. Yet here she is, call her 'Idris', and the TARDIS still travels around. It just can't LEAVE the planet. He's been exploring the planet itself, though." He smirked. "With a hot friend in tow."

"Between... oh!" He laughed again and gave Ianto a playful shoulder bump. "No, no, nothing going on. Years ago, when we met, ohhh yeah I bet there would've been. But we've-- mellowed, matured, something like that, into best friends without benefits." He grinned widely; Ianto and Jack were very much past that point, indeed. And that was one of the reasons that Jack could easily tell there were divergent timelines. He slung his arm around Ianto's shoulders for a squeeze. "Of course you can, cariad. She'll probably tease at the idea of us making lots of noise."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjusta_teaboy
2011-09-25 11:08 pm UTC (link)

"Not necessarily trademarking, but R&D? No one else has the access and technology that we do."

"But it works pretty much like that, though? The model isn't important?" He looked down at the PDA, then back to Jack. "So I'm basically sending a message to everyone in the city, even if I don't know them and they don't know me? That sounds awkward."

"Poor Doctor. He does so much, and gets so little in return." In spite of the seriousness, he couldn't help but laugh. "So she's a Welsh TARDIS, then? With a man's name?"

"Well, with you, I can never tell. Especially how you've talked about her No problem if there is." He sighed happily and snuggled in more. "We're not always noisy."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-25 11:09 pm UTC (link)

"Whatever could make us some money off the idea."

"Yep. And no jealousy over the latest gadgets, because we've all got the same one anyway." He thought about that, then shrugged. "All the other people kidnapped, yeah. Not the 'locals', as they get called. You can do private messaging and stuff, too, though." Ianto's job, out of necessity, made him familiar with various internet communications. He scoured blogs for people talking about genuine alien activity, for instance, and discredited or deleted material when appropriate.

He laughed harder at that; he hadn't even thought about what kind of name 'Idris' was. "Wow, uh, good question!"

"True, I'm me! And the changes in our relationship don't change that she's still hot and hilarious and Rose. But the undercurrent is different now. We flirt and know we aren't actually going to do anything about it, just fun. Okay, not always, but a lot of the time! We'd have to consciously keep it down."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjusta_teaboy
2011-09-25 11:25 pm UTC (link)

"Or benefit people. That's good too."

"So no upgrades here, then?" He looked askance at the device. "But I'm still just sending messages to everyone? Why would they care who I am? They don't know me, any more than I know them."

"Apparently."

"Well, you know, if you ever did want to do anything about it..." He nodded. "We would. But it seems like we could manage that, for ahwile at least."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-26 01:36 am UTC (link)

"What, be all altruistic? I guess we could do that!"

"Hrmm, actually, I haven't been here long enough to see if there's ever some city-wide upgrade done, or if there's a store where people do trade-ins or whatever. I just know all of us non-local kidnappees got identical devices." Jack could go on about how sure he is that people do care who Ianto is, because he's so interesting, but Ianto wasn't the type of person to think that of himself. "We're all in it together, so it's good to get to know your fellow inmates?"

"Good to know, even if we never put it in practice. Thank you. Rose is going through a rough patch, so I think she'll be glad for the company. If we can stay close to her after moving out, though, that'd be great, too."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 02:18 am UTC (link)
	"Certainly not a bad thing." "Well, I guess if it was just a software change, they could do it automatically. Since they've got it all programmed already." He nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." "Yeah, I understand. It helps to have people around." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-26 02:28 am UTC (link)

"Right, easy to send along firmware updates and the like, harder to send entirely new PDAs. Then again, with bringing us here and sending us away, maybe it's actually simple to physically replace things. What a cheerful thought. Anyway. A lot of friendly people online with these things, and the occasional not-so-friendly. There's this kid Damian who's, and I quote someone else, a 'tiny jackass'. But he actually kind of amuses me."

He nodded to that. "Yep, support her through it. And after that, we'll see?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 02:52 am UTC (link)
	He blinked a few times. "Please don't mention that again. I really don't want to consider that right now." He laughed. "As opposed to the regular kind? Does that help, or make it worse, like being savaged by a chihuahua?" "Sounds good to me. Just gotta stick together, yeah?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 03:07 am UTC (link)
	"I think it's gotta be worse. Imagine getting your ass kicked by a ten-year old." He hoisted his groceries up as he pointed ahead. "The apartment building we're in is thataway. The TARDIS is parked somewhere else." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 03:19 am UTC (link)
	"Oh god. That sounds terrible." "All right. Do you need help carrying things?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 03:22 am UTC (link)
	"I don't personally know anyone whose ass he's kicked, but that's what he does. A little bastard superhero." "Sure. You take a bag, I take a bag." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 03:37 am UTC (link)
	"If he's a hero, shouldn't he only kick bad guys' asses?" "No problem." He took one of the bags from Jack. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

timeaftertime
2011-09-26 04:02 am UTC (link)

"I hope he limits it to bad guys!"

If it weren't for fridge items, he might have invited Ianto to dawdle in the park, take this place in-- but they needed to get the groceries put away. Very good thing Jack went shopping, then, since otherwise, Rose and Jack would've have had much food to offer. "I wonder if 'Asaph' was doing a test run with Margate, or if he knows what was behind that."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 04:11 am UTC (link)
	"That's pretty much what you're supposed to do." He followed Jack down the street. "I don't know. Can we message him and ask?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 04:19 am UTC (link)
	"Unless you're an anti-hero!" "No idea if there's a way to contact him. But if there is one, and we find out, we should!" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 04:36 am UTC (link)
	"Right, good point." "Right. I'll look into that, too. At some point." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 04:40 am UTC (link)
	"But he's a bit too short to be a Byronic guy, right?" He meant to look over to Ianto as they talked, but ended up impulsively hugging him instead. The groceries made things a bit awkward, but it was worth it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 04:48 am UTC (link)
	"I didn't know there was a limit." He hugged Jack back as well, trusting there were no eggs or anything in the bags. He understood how Jack felt. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 04:53 am UTC (link)
	"Generally, they aren't kids, right?" He pressed his face into Ianto's shoulder and just breathed for awhile. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 05:00 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, an actual kid. I thought you just meant a young person. Yeah, you have to have enough life experience to brood in order to be Byronic." "It's all right. I'm here now." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	timeaftertime 2011-09-26 05:01 am UTC (link)
	"Moodily gazing off towards the horizon..." He nodded and hugged a little tighter. "I'll probably be randomly hugging you for awhile." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjusta_teaboy 2011-09-26 05:07 am UTC (link)
	"Tall towers, forbidden knowledge..." "I certainly don't mind. Always love your hugs." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)