torchwoodteaboy | [LOG WITH SULU][forward-dated to valentine's day]

Sulu wasn't sure how to proceed, here. He didn't know the cause of Owen's death - all he knew was that whenever Ianto had spoken about him, it had been in the past tense, and he'd always been... sad. Not upset, just....

He took another sip and shook his head. "I don't think there's exactly a standard emotion for this situation, so. His... What happens to him isn't really like what happened to you?" He doesn't want to bring up Ianto's death, but there's no getting around it. "It's not something we can bring him back from?"

Ianto took another sip of his wine. Maybe he was drinking it a little faster than he should be, but. He couldn't help that, especially because he was about to tell Sulu exactly what it was that happened to Owen.

He fiddled with his wine glass. "I... Owen was shot. We were on the case of someone messing with alien biology to produce pharmaceuticals to cure all sorts of things, but. They were wrong. Torturing and imprisoning their experiments. We... We had to kill them all. And then... The man. The owner. He shot him, right in front of us. And Jack killed that man straight after, but. It was too late. Owen bled out right there, on the ground."

He sighed. "The problem with Owen is that...that's not where it ended. I..." He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. Explanations were hard, when you were tipsy. "Do you remember me telling you about the Resurrection Gauntlet, when I gave you the tour of the archives, that time?"

Sulu wasn't about to judge Ianto for drinking; he knew that things weren't as good as maybe he'd hoped they would be, and he knew that the party - well. It was a chance to see someone who'd died, and that was good and bad.

He paused at the question, though, honestly trying to remember. It had been a long time since they'd gone through the archives - he mentally reeled a little at just how long ago it seemed - and he had to think about it before he remembered. "Yeah, I remember you showing me that. It... brought people back after they'd died, but just for a few minutes, right?"

Ianto nodded. "Well. There were two of them. And the other one, it... It brought people back for good. But not the way the first glove did. The first one brought them back alive. This one..." Ianto shifted, moving a little closer still to Sulu. "This one brought him back dead. He. He was literally undead. He couldn't drink, he couldn't eat, couldn't sleep or heal or anything, and. We all remember that happening. We can't keep that from happening to him, when it's already done. The only thing..."

He trailed off and sighed, heavily, before continuing. "The only thing that I can think of to possibly save him would be. The second time. The time he died for good. He was shut into a nuclear power plant's lockdown. We never found a body, because, well. There was nothing to find. Everything inside the place dissolved. If we could somehow..."

But Ianto shook his head, stopping that train of thought. "Nevermind," he said. "It's. I should speak to Jack about it. See what he thinks about all of this. That'd be a whole lot more useful than sitting here, whining to you about it." He took another large sip of his wine.

Sulu couldn't help but feel a little bad for Owen, there, but more than that, he felt terrible for Ianto and Jack. They had to watch him die again - twice. He had no doubt the community would show them, either. It liked doing that sort of thing, he knew.

But still. If there was no body - who knew. Time was a strange thing when the community was involved - like a black hole, it could mess up any timeline and make things happen differently. He imagined that Ianto's fate would've been different, if he hadn't been on the community... and that made him chew his lip a little, fretting it as he thought about the implications of that. Shaking his head clear, he finally nodded at what Ianto was saying. "You're not whining, Ianto. Never think that, okay?" He reached out with his free hand and put it on Ianto's knee. "Don't worry about it. But... I think you might. I mean... You might have an idea there. it's something to consider, at least. For all you know, that's what ends up happening to him...'

Ianto raised his eyes to Sulu, looking at him questioningly, but. He nodded. The other man did have a point. He... He should go to Jack. Talk to him, see what Jack thought about the matter. See what he was thinking about it already, what he might already have brewing or in the works, or whether he might not have anything at all on the matter.

Ianto took his free hand and laid it over on top of Sulu's on his knee, moving to lace his fingers between the other man's. He sat leaning against his side, no even pretending that they weren't just sitting there, enjoying each other's presence and support.

He raised his glass in a bit of a toast. "I... I'll talk to Jack, then. In the meantime..." He smiled slightly. "Happy Valentine's Day, yeah?"

Sulu smiled and met Ianto's sort-of toast with one of his own. "Yeah, happy Valentine's day." He laughed a little, ducking his head as he let the previous conversation drop for the meantime, "I hope that I'm not embarrassing you too much with the roses and the wine or anything."

He took a sip of his wine, mostly because he could use the extra courage alcohol gave, but also because he really did enjoy Risan wine. It was just one of those things. He added after a moment, smile turning a bit sly, "Not that I don't mind embarrassing you so much, so long as we're not around anyone."

Ianto smiled at the other man, blushing on top of his alcohol-induced flush. "No, not embarrassing me too much," Ianto reassured him, sitting back on the sofa. "Embarrassing me too much would be... I don't know. I can't think of anything that you might do to embarrass me too much. Jack, I can see doing it. But not you. You're definitely much more considerate than that. Even if...I'm still not sure what to think of getting roses, exactly..."

He chuckled slightly, ducking his head, slightly flustered. "You just like to make me blush," he said. "It's not hard to do so, I'll have you know, when I'm already as sloshed as I am. Not that I'm condoning you getting me sloshed just for that. Although..." he took another sip. "The wine is nice. What did you say it was again? I mean, I know it was a gift, but. Whatever it was, it didn't sound like anything I've ever had. Doesn't taste like anything I've had before either." Then again, Ianto wasn't a connoisseur of wines, or anything, but. There was definitely something different about it.

Sulu grinned. "Seriously? You should've expected those at least! I'm always giving you plants, somehow." Which was the truth, and he'd hesitated on bringing Ianto flowers to begin with, but Claire had insisted they were proper, so... He laughed and shook his head. "And don't worry, I'm not going to try and get you drunk just to make you blush. You do it plenty sober."

He looked at the bottle of wine briefly, before looking back to Ianto. "As for the wine, it's from Risa - it's sort of like a vacation planet. It's got all of the usual tourist trappings, and they make really good wine. I... really don't know too much about it; I've never been. But I hear it's nice." Maybe sometime he could go, and take Ianto with him. Of course, that was a long way down the line... but hey. Ianto was going to be around then, right?

Ianto snorted into his wine glass at Sulu's comment about him blushing sober as well as drunk. "Yes, well. Sorry. Habit. Apparently you enjoy it though, so. I guess it's not too bad. Still don't know about the roses, though. I mean. Yeah," he said, gesturing widely because yes, alright, he was a bit tipsy, "you gave me those plants that sing to begin with. And then you gave me the ones that glow. But those...those are still plants. They. They're in a pot and you water them and they grow. But the roses..." He blushed harder. "Those are. I dunno, a statement, I guess. I've. I've never gotten flowers before... Not like that." Alright no, that was a lie. Jack'd bought him flowers the few times he'd been hospitalized. But they'd never been roses.

He tried to remember where Sulu had gone after his flower rant there. Oh yes. "...there are vacation planets?" he asked, cocking his head to the side, genuinely curious.

Edited 2011-02-15 16:45 (UTC)

Sulu wasn't sure whether or not Ianto really liked the fact that he'd decided to give him roses - after all, like Ianto said, they... well, they were a statement. Admittedly, it was the kind of statement Sulu wanted to make, even if he couldn't physically say it aloud, but he didn't know how Ianto felt about it. So, he just ducked his head, drank down some of his wine quicker than before, and laughed a little. "Well, if you want, I'll make sure to only get you potted plants from now on."

He shrugged at the question, though, looking back up to Ianto, "Yeah... well, sort of. Risa is pretty much the only real planet meant to be a resort, but people sometimes go to other Federation planets for vacations. Or the moon. But it's not like taking a week off to go to Florida, or something, you have to plan for it and you're usually gone for more than a week. Risa's really just a giant resort, with beaches and that sort of thing."

Ianto shook his head quickly. "Oh, no," he said. "No, it's... It's fine, really. They're. They're lovely. I like them. I've just..." He blushed harder. "I. I've never gotten roses before. I'm not even sure if I've given roses before, really. It's... Well, it's all sort of new, for me. This whole Valentine's business."

At the topic of the resort planet, though, he quickly perked his ears up, intrigued by the idea of it. "Has it always been that way?" Ianto asked, intrigued. "I mean. Were there natives to it?" That sounded like an all-too familiar situation, after all. Kicking out the natives and building a resort planet on their home soil.

"It's new for me too. I'm working off of movies, here," Sulu said, a little flushed from his embarrassment and from the wine, even though he'd need another glass before he'd be anywhere near tipsy.

"As for Risa, though - the Risians actually run the planet, so it's not as though we took over or anything. They're part of the Federation, and all. We don't do hostile takeovers - the closest you'll ever see to us commandeering a planet is when there's no life on it and we can use it for resources. Otherwise, the Federation tries not to interfere with non-Federation planets." He knew what Ianto was getting at - it was a human legacy, taking over places at the expense of the people who already lived there. But the Federation didn't do things like that, and even though Sulu sometimes had to wonder if it was because of the other races and not because the human race had evolved past that need for warfare, he knew that they were just better than that.

Ianto smiled at Sulu's comment about the movies, tipping back his wine as he noted Sulu's flushing as well. God, but. Sometimes it was nice to see that the other man could get flustered as well, so Ianto didn't feel like such a complete ninny when he did himself. "Working off of movies, huh?" he said. "Well. You're doing a pretty good job of it, then, I have to say."

He had to wonder at the description of Risa, though. The fact that it was a vacation planet and yet it had a species that ran it, that had a culture and wines and foods and the likes was definitely boggling to the mind, at least for Ianto. He couldn't figure out whether they were always a vacation planet for other people, or whether someone had come by and commercialized them. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know, though, didn't want to get carried away on that topic, so he settled for, "well. It's good, this."

"It is pretty good, I think," Sulu agreed, not even considering that maybe Ianto had more questions. It wasn't that Sulu knew all about Risa and its inhabitants - he just knew enough that if Ianto ever asked, he'd be able to explain away any of his anxieties. Still, he was fine with the change in conversation, finishing off his wine and smiling at Ianto. "At any rate, it was the only thing I had. I have a bottle of vodka in my botany lab, but I'm pretty sure a half-drunk bottle of liquor isn't really romantic."

Ianto shook his head, smiling. "Not really, no," he said. "Wine is definitely more of a romantic statement than hard liquor. More refined. You're lucky you had the bottle around, then..." He took another sip of it, swirling the liquid in his glass before he spoke up again.

"...you didn't have to, though, you know. I mean. I... I wasn't sure whether I should get anything for you, or not. You've sort of one-upped me, not only with roses but also the wine. I. I would've been happy with just you coming by for a visit, yeah?" Ianto said, with a smile that indicated that he liked the gifts too, even though he was telling Sulu that they were unnecessary.

Edited 2011-02-18 04:16 (UTC)

Maybe Sulu didn't need to do anything, but. Well, he wasn't used to being able to do anything for Valentine's day, and so the novelty was too good to pass up. Besides...

"I wanted to," he said, shrugging and moving to pour himself one more glass of wine, "I mean. ...You're here. So I wanted to make it worthwhile." Because it really wasn't so long ago that he would've only dreamed about being able to do something romantic and, yeah, sappy like this with Ianto. And now that Ianto was alive and in good health, it would have seemed ridiculous to pass it up.

Ianto wasn't really sure how to react to statements like that one yet. Even after over a month or so of being back in full health, sometimes Ianto didn't even believe it himself. "...I am here," he said. "And it is worthwhile. Just. Well. Just about every day is worthwhile, all things considered, but." He smiled, ducking his head and blushing a little. "...romantic gestures like this one. They never hurt... I. I only wish that I could pay you back in return, somehow." He definitely hadn't gone out of his way for Sulu, after all, and he was feeling a little guilty for that.

Sulu shook his head. "Don't worry about it." As far as he was concerned, Ianto just accepting the roses and drinking the wine with him was enough of a romantic gesture for the evening. After all, it wasn't as though he had been expecting anything, that was for sure.

Still, he couldn't help but lean in a bit, grin turning a little sly as he said, "Though, I'm pretty sure you've got some tricks up your sleeves when it comes to this whole romantic thing." Which wasn't exactly as smooth or as well-phrased as Jack might've said it, but Sulu wasn't trying to be particularly smooth.

Ianto had to school his features to keep from quirking an eyebrow or laughing at the other man's delivery of that line, instead leaning in a bit as well himself and remarking back to Sulu slyly, "Well, yes. I suppose that I do have some tricks up my sleeve. I suppose that that means that you'd like for us to try some of them out tonight, then, now wouldn't you?" Just to prove that he could deliver the line and not make a fool of himself while doing so, Ianto took a pointed sip of his wine and managed not to choke or spill or anything like that. Points for him, if he did say so himself, which he did.

Sulu was suitably impressed, and the part of him that wanted to laugh at the situation was drowned out by the part of him that sort of wanted to jump Ianto right then and there.

He'd have to wait until Ianto put down his glass, though. He wasn't about to go spilling their drinks everywhere, that was for sure. "I wouldn't be against it," he replied, leaning back again and taking a sip of his own wine, nearly laughing at the fact that they were both sort of trying to out-suave each other. That was just ridiculous. But, he'd hold it together. He could do that.

Ianto was witty and cunning and he could see where this conversation was going. And while he was all in favor for Sulu jumping him right then and there, he did have an excellent glass of wine to finish. Besides, he liked games like this one. Because usually...he won.

"No," said Ianto, settling back as well and turning to look at Sulu, raising an eyebrow in challenge as he looked at the other man from over the rim of his wineglass, "I don't suppose you would be. People generally aren't against such things..."

Sulu grinned and shrugged, settling into the arm of the couch, going so far as to bring his feet up on the cushion between them, as though he had no cares in the world. "Especially not when they involve you, I imagine," he said, unable to keep from ducking his head a bit in slight embarrassment. He didn't do this sort of thing often, that was for sure - usually, Ianto and him... well. They skipped the formalities. But this was Valentine's day, and they were both drinking, and why not play around a bit?

Ianto might have flushed a little more from the compliment there, but it was hard to tell, considering that the buzz he had going from the alcohol in his system already had him flushed even before Sulu had started it up with this battle of words anyway. Or whatever it was that they were doing. Other than flirting. That bit was pretty much obvious.

"I wouldn't know," Ianto said, pulling out all the stops to make sure he didn't crack. "Said tricks aren't really anything that I might be able to perform on myself, unfortunately..." He trailed off, being intentionally pretty vague, there.

Sulu knew he was way out of his depth with this; Ianto was better with words than he could ever hope to be, and he didn't think he'd be able to keep up for too long. But all the same, he figured Ianto wouldn't really mind if Sulu couldn't quite keep up - so long as he tried.

So, that's exactly what he did - even though his mind was suddenly wondering just what kinds of tricks Ianto might have, and maybe if he could do them himself... yeah. He could focus on something other than his imagination for a minute. "Yeah...?" ...Okay, maybe not. He chewed his lip briefly, not realizing that a clear glass wasn't going to hide that move really, and then added, "Well. That's okay - I'd be glad to help you show off, in that case."

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