[RL WITH SULU]

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto sat at his desk in the tourist office, idly flipping through a magazine that he'd read about fifty times already that day. Needless to say, things were particularly slow. Gwen had been given the day off to go spend time with Rhys, and Jack was god knows where, so Ianto'd sent a quick phone call out to Sulu, to see if the man was interested in taking him up on his offer of a tour of Torchwood, and was currently waiting for his response.

Comments

[parked]

Sulu didn't need Ianto to explain to him how awesome feeding a dinosaur was; he definitely knew. (He'd just had first-hand experience. Oh, yeah, Jim was going to be so jealous.)

He watched Ianto interact with Myfanwy with interest; it was strange to see her acting like any other domesticated animal, though it did give him a little hope for Audrey. He had to take his reassurances where he could get them.

When Ianto put his and on the pterodactyl's neck, he tensed briefly. When she didn't... well, try to throw him over the edge, though, he relaxed and beamed. "Oh, now you're just rubbing it in." He ran his hand experimentally along the neck, looking nothing short of impressed.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto grinned, shrugging and batting Myfanwy out of routing her way into his suit jacket. "Maybe so. Not a lot about my job is this cool, though. I mean, moving around dead bodies, cleaning up alien messes, doing paperwork, keeping Jack's temper in check..." He sighed. "The fact that Myfanwy is kind of one of the easier bits isn't really fair, really. She is pretty great, though." He reached out to stroke her crest, which earned him a happy-sounding chirruping noise.

[parked]

"Short of the bodies and Jack, there's really not a lot of difference between the usual Starfleet workweek. That, and our paperwork is all electronic." He laughed. "I think it's good that your pet isn't a huge potential risk to everyone around them. Better than mine," he added.

Part of him wanted to mention that it probably wasn't in Ianto's job description to keep his boss from getting too upset - or, if it was, it wasn't a very good job - but he refrained. The whole thing seemed messy to him; then again, his experiences with inter-office romance lay with Uhura and Spock, and they sort of made any couple look messy. "So," he said after a moment, "Is she really a pterodactyl, or is she alien life that happens to look like one?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shrugged. "She used to be a menace. You wouldn't believe the amount of time and effort I had to put into training her." He stroked her head and she chirruped some more. "It was worth it in the end, though. Have my own personal body guard, if other people start to do something against me that works her up."

"To answer your question, though," he said, continuing, "she really is a pterodactyl. I tracked her down using a rift activity detector. She's just a little bit outside of her time, is all. And possibly area as well. I'm not exactly sure whether there were pterodactyls native to this area of Europe back then or not."

[parked]

"Much better than an attack dog, I'd say," Sulu said, still fascinated by the whole thing - dinosaurs, aliens, rifts and all. "I'm seriously really impressed by this whole operation. You have an amazing job, Ianto." He wasn't really envious, but he was definitely excited by the operation of Torchwood in general.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled to himself. "Yeah, I suppose I do," he said, after a pause. Myfanwy, unable to find any more chocolate on his person, gave up and shuffled back into the cutout in the wall, towards her makeshift nest. "C'mon," Ianto said, motioning to the ladder. "I think we've lost our fun factor, she's had enough of us for now. Best not overstay our welcome."

He started down the ladder, once again not speaking until they'd reached the bottom of it all. "Well, there you are. This is Torchwood. Like you said, it's pretty amazing. Even if it's more trouble than it's worth, even if I knew it would kill me tomorrow, I wouldn't give it up for anything. Because to go back to not knowing about all of this..." he motioned around the Hub, indicating everything he'd shown Sulu, "it's not really a life, comparatively."

[parked]

Sulu watched how Myfanwy moved, a little enthralled by how she carried herself, before nodding to Ianto and following him down.

"I get that." He shoved his hands in his pockets, smiling. "I mean, I grew up with aliens, space, all that, so I really can't even comprehend what it'd be like not knowing about those kinds of things, but I don't think I'd ever want to understand that life. You're lucky, though - you don't take this kind of thing for granted." Sulu felt a little humbled, really, especially comparing how Ianto had acted on the Enterprise to here. He hadn't really expected much out of Torchwood, in all honesty, but it was more impressive than he could have guessed it would be.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shook his head. "No, there's no way I could take it for granted. It's changed my life so much since I've found out about it all, in bad ways as well as good ones. And even though things would be easier that way, they sure as anything wouldn't be better." He smiled. He never would have met Lisa, would never have met Jack or Gwen, or anyone through the community.

"Anyway, that's enough of me being emotional about my job. I hope you enjoyed my tour and weren't scared off too much by Jack," he said, with a blush. "I'll...make sure to inform him of the next time that you come to visit. If you do, sometime, that is. He won't be half as bad next time around." He sighed. "I guess I'll have to be telling him if I ever do get to make a trip off-world to the Enterprise for those lessons of yours."

[parked]

"Hardly." Sulu smirked. "I've dealt with worse meetings. Though, giving him a head's up before you come aboard the Enterprise might be a good idea." He smiled. "And I'd like to visit again. Though, I sort of want to play tourist around Cardiff, but I think I can do that on my own and not make you suffer through it."

He frowned thoughtfully. "Is he going to be all right with me giving you lessons, by the way?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Well, if you are interested in a tour sometime," Ianto said, with a smirk, "I do know the area. I work in a tourist office, after all, it wouldn't be a good cover if I didn't know what I was talking about. Although, like I said, half the people are in here because they got lost or because they can't get enough of the accent."

"As for Jack, though," he said, sighing again. He wasn't looking forward to apologizing to Jack, especially when he technically hadn't done anything wrong, but it was better to bow down to Jack sometimes than to suffer his emotions. "Yeah, he will be. After I talk to him about it. Not looking forward to it, but it needs to be done, so."

[parked]

"I'm really actually interested. The 21st century is - you know, no offense, but this is like living history for me." And it'd be a good learning experience. That sounded silly to Sulu, but he wasn't about to deny it. "And again, I really am sorry that I'm causing you trouble."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto nodded. "It's settled, then. Just call me when you feel like a trip into 'living history' as you put it; I'll arrange something. I mean, it's not a very big city, it won't take that long to see everything. Mostly it's good for pubs and such. Not really for the food, but more for the drinks and company."

[parked]

Grinning, Sulu shrugged. "The company I've been keeping so far seems all right, I guess," he ribbed, adding after a moment, "And non-recycled air is a welcome change, even if the fossil fuel aroma is a little disorienting. Plus, civilian life. Like a shoreleave away from shoreleave." He laughed and tilted his head, "You should probably walk me out, though, so I don't somehow make a wrong turn and end up dismembered by a Weevil." Or Jack. He'd just let that be implied.

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Oh, cheers," he said, with a wink. "As for a way out, well..." he started forward, leading Sulu to the middle of the Hub to what looked like a big slab of pavement slightly elevated to the side of the Rift Manipulator. "I was thinking that we'd take the more showy way out this time. If you didn't mind, that is. It's quicker, and it's the last bit of impressive I have up my sleeve. Not horribly exciting, but I shouldn't think that you've encountered that many invisible lifts in your time."

[parked]

Sulu raised an eyebrow, looking amused. "I'm always up for more impressiveness. Bring on the invisible lift - though, is this going to make me feel like we're going to die like the other one?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto stepped up onto the slab, jerking his head to motion that Sulu should follow him. He pulled what looked like a remote out of his pocket. "Well, maybe a little. I'd recommend staying close to the center of the slab, and not leaning over the sides at all, if possible."

[parked]

Sulu followed, taking the advice to heart. "I think I can handle that. Just don't kill me, I have to be on the bridge later."

[torchwoodteaboy]

"I'll try my best not to." Ianto reached out a hand, holding Sulu steady as he started the lift, and the lift made its initial jerk as it started rising upward. The word lift was used sort of lightly, because it really just was a 3 foot by 3 foot slab of stone that rose up to the ceiling of the Hub. A mechanism started, and uncovered where it was that the lift was going to rise up into. Ianto always liked this part, the being able to look down at everything in the Hub bit, feeling as if he was getting Myfanwy's view of the place.

As the lift finally rose through the whole in the ground, the block settled in front of the fountain in the middle of the Plass. Passers-by didn't even so much as bat an eyelash in their direction, even ones passing by directly in front of them.

[parked]

Sulu staggered a little when they started to move; thankfully, it wasn't that jarring, thanks to Ianto's hand on him. The view was pretty spectacular, as heights usually made things, but the best part was when nobody seemed to notice anything as they reach the top.

He paused, then looked at Ianto. "...They're not really this blind, right?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shook his head. "Nope. They're not. There's...a complicated explanation to it all, but I don't really understand it myself, so here's the shortened version. There's some sort of a perception filter on this spot. It makes it so that even if people notice us, they don't really notice us. We could be doing whatever we liked on this spot, yelling, being obtuse, whatever, and they'd all be none the wiser. Only on this one slab, though." He smiles. "Invisible Lift, I named it. I think it has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

[parked]

"Huh. So, almost like a cloaking device. That's handy." He looked at the passersby with a smirk; something about being "invisible" when you actually wanted to be was pretty pleasing. "How much of Torchwood didn't you name, is what I'm wondering."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled, blushing. "Well, I just happen to make catchy names up, is all. And the boss happens to agree with me, so. Life Knife, Invisible Lift, Risen Mitten, Myfanwy... When you have enough time to think to yourself, you can come up with these things."

[parked]

Sulu laughed. "Just make sure to put some kind of copyright somewhere, so everyone knows you're the genius behind it. So," he looked from Ianto to the Plass, considering the people around them. "What happens when you leave the social-invisibility shield this thing has? Does anyone ever stop to say 'I didn't notice you there a second ago,' or is it just a matter of everyone keeping to themselves?" He knew that in San Fransisco, at least in his time, you'd get stopped pretty fast by someone. Probably a cadet on the physics track.

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Nothing, really," Ianto says, shrugging. "I mean, they can technically see us here. We're not invisible. But they just aren't perceiving us here. Once you step off the block, they they are free to pay attention to you as they see fit, but while you're standing on here, you're kind of just like a shadow in the corner of a person's eye. That's why it's called a perception filter. I just think Invisible Lift sounds better, is all. We've got another one just like this on Myfanwy so we can let her out to fly around. She'd be a right terror, if we kept her cooped up in the Hub all the time."

[parked]

Sulu scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it does. I'm just wondering if anyone could fall down the giant hole it creates when it opens up topside." He laughed. "That's some of the most useful tech you could have, then. I can only imagine how this city would like having a pterodactyl swooping around overhead."