InsaneJournal

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.