torchwoodteaboy | [RL WITH SULU]

Sulu thought something was coming through when he was removing the pendant, but luckily (probably for both of them), that was quickly ignored and forgotten as he took the thing off and handed it back to Ianto. Well, "forgotten," at least. "I can definitely see why you might not want this wandering out of your sight, though. Especially since mind-reading is kind of one of those things that everyone wants to do."

He sort of wanted to ask who Lisa was, but he had more sense than that. Curiosity, cats, etcetera. He shook his head, deciding to forget about it. "I'm a little amazed at all the psychic... stuff you guys have. I mean, I know there's merit to the whole idea, but we don't have any telepathic pendants or future-machines."

"Yeah," Ianto said, putting it back in the containment box. "It seems like a really good idea to a lot of people, but then you realize that there's no real picking and choosing what you get to hear really, and it doesn't seem to be so great anymore."

He looked around the Secure Archives. "I think that's all that I feel like talking about in here. Some of the things I've already mentioned, some of them I have no idea how they work or what they are exactly, and some of them have too much of a story behind them to even begin to get into, so." He turned to Sulu. "C'mon, I'll show you paperwork on the Daleks? Then we can go see if Myfanwy's up for visitors."

"Sure," Sulu grinned, waving Ianto on, "That sounds a lot better than reading your mind or potentially destroying all humanity." Not that it would happen, but still. Better safe than sorry.

"Oh, actually, end of the world reminds me." He smiled, "I talked to Jim - we've got permission for you to come aboard the Enterprise for fencing and-or martial arts lessons. And he hasn't mentioned anyone sitting in his chair, so I think we're safe there, too."

Ianto opened the door and lead them out into the main archives. "Official permission to come aboard from the Captain, then? Makes me feel rather important, that does. Don't think he'd be letting me on if he knew that I did that, though. Doubt you'd be free to be on leave to come visit here either," he said, with a smirk.

He walked through the aisles, expertly knowing exactly where the folder on the Daleks was. It was rather dark in the archives though, so he lead Sulu back to where his desk was, moving to sit on the table. "This is all we know on them," Ianto said, handing him a rather large file, compared to the rest of the others. He pulled out a photograph. "And this," he said, placing it on the top of the files, "is a Dalek."

"I probably wouldn't be alive if he found out," Sulu grinned, though in all honesty it was true. He knew Jim had a... thing for his captain's chair, after all. "And yeah, official permission. Well, as official as 'Do you mean fencing, or fencing' can get." He rolled his eyes.

He took the hefty file that Ianto gave him, raising an eyebrow at the image. "...So," he said, looking at the picture and flipping through the file, "Robots?"

Ianto laughed. "Well, you can assure your Captain that, as far as I know, my sword will stay in its scabbard on his ship, so he needn't worry about that."

"Not quite, though," he said, gently flipping through the files in Sulu's hands until he found another picture. "See, the Dalek you see on the outside is actually just the armor. This is what's actually controlling the whole thing, what a Dalek really looks like. Of course, generally they're not going to open up and show the real self off to things because, obviously," he said, motioning to the picture, "without their armor, they really are pretty fragile creatures. They aren't born, but created, mutated from other creatures, surgically bonded to the armor. Arguably, they're cyborgs."

((This is what I get for not proofreading before I post... /facepalm))

Edited 2010-03-28 02:08 (UTC)

"I just pointed out that I wouldn't be asking permission, if that was the plan," he grinned, watching Ianto flip through the file. "You have this thing memorized don't you? ...Huh." Sulu made a face when the other stopped at the picture, "Not exactly charming - I can see why they'd need the armor."

He flipped through the file relatively quickly, though he was obviously picking out parts to read and remember. "How often do you have to deal with these things? And how easy are they to take out? I mean, assuming you don't have weapons like those guns of yours just lying around."

Ianto shrugged at the memorizing comment. "I have a lot of time on my hands. Plus, I've had to face these things twice now, and it helps to be prepared against them. Supposedly we keep wiping them out completely, but then they always seem to come back because someone somewhere has made more. That's what's so irritating about them. That, and the armor is basically impenetrable. Regular guns do absolutely nothing--we need the Dalek-enhanced ones if we want to do anything right. One got into the Hub when we didn't have one upstairs, though, that's why we've moved one up to the armory."

Or at least that's what he would have said. He'd gotten up to the "regular guns do absolutely nothing" bit before the door to the archives started to make the sound of someone coding into the door. "Shit," Ianto said, emphatically, just in time for Jack to stride into the room.

"Ianto, we're going to need--..." he trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Sulu. He gave him a once over, before turning to his coworker. "Ianto, what have I told you about sneaking Asians into the Hub? Not that I mind," he said, with a smirk, "but last time it ended rather badly, if you remember."

Ianto didn't answer. Instead, he felt the need to dig himself a rather large ditch and bury himself in it at that moment. He did succeed, however, in turning a very attractive shade of crimson.

For a second there, Sulu had assumed that something very awful and possibly life-threatening was going to happen, from Ianto's reaction. Then, it sort of all fell into place when he realized who this new guy must've been. He gave Ianto a look, feeling a bit bad for him since he looked absolutely mortified - but, it was kind of impossible to resist making his life more miserable. Chalk it up to life with Jim Kirk.

"I thought you said I was the only one?" he asked with a vaguely scandalized expression, casually closing the file on the Daleks. "I never should have trusted a European."

Ianto shut his eyes. Shit. This was really happening, wasn't it? He'd specifically planned this so that he didn't have to introduce Jack, but obviously that plan had backfired on him. He knew exactly the Asian that Jack was mentioning; Dr. Tanizaki, brought in to help Lisa, an unfortunate casualty to the cyberman she had become. Trust Jack to throw an insult and a flirt out at him at the same time.

"Not that I don't like surprises," Jack said, with a wolf's grin, "but I really don't like surprises. So. Hey there. I'm Captain Jack Harkness. You are in the archives of my secret base with my archivist. Unless I forgot, Ianto, I didn't hear you ask my permission to have this man down here."

"Unless I've forgotten," Ianto ground out, "we don't have a protocol for off-world friends, and therefore as far as I know, I don't need permission to have a friend down in my archives. Sir," he added, with a tone.

Sulu wondered if he should conveniently have left a replicator on aboard the ship, with the level of tension he was single-handedly helping to generate. But, there was no beam-up waiting for him at the moment, and he could really just casually shuffle out of Torchwood and into 21st century Wales until his hop showed up, so. He'd have to try not to let Jim's influence seep in any more than it already had.

He smiled calmly at Jack, deciding - for the moment - that Ianto could probably wait. "I apologize, I probably shouldn't have been making wisecracks," he said, voice slipping into a completely calm, professional tone, like the kind he'd use with Jim when trying to negate the fact that he'd done something kind of stupid. "It's a habit my own captain's given me - I'm Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Enterprise." He knew better than to try and defend Ianto's having him down in the secret base, so he refrained from coming up with any sort of excuse. Better to let the guy who actually knew Jack do all the major talking.

Jack took in the situation for a few more seconds. Yes, Ianto seemed like he wanted to be anywhere other than this, and this Sulu guy seemed to have noticed that he had slipped up making a quip and was being professional about this. Jack would at least try not to bite his head off because of that.

"Never heard of you, Lieutenant," Jack said, "which is a pity. Ianto obviously needs to learn how to share a little better with these things."

"Yes, alright, Jack," Ianto said, exasperated. "Fine. I didn't ask your permission, I'm sorry. It's because I knew you were going to be like this even if I did ask." He sighed. "Jack, this is Sulu, a friend from the community. Try not to scare him off. I would like to actually have friends, if I can help it. And Sulu, this is Jack. He's...well, being a bit of an ass right now." He shot Jack a look. "Normally he's a perfectly reasonable man." Okay, maybe that was a lie. But more reasonable than he is right now.

Sulu was starting to feel like he'd seen this kind of conversation before. All he could tell was that it was the kind he really hated getting in the middle of. "It's all right," he said, before smiling at Jack. "I really didn't mean to cause any problems. It's nice to meet you, though - I'm really impressed with your organization." Now, to hope that Jack really was like Jim. Flattering the occupation usually did the trick with his captain...

Luckily for both of them, Jack was susceptible to flattery. "Well, it's not that big, but it's the quality of the work that really matters in the end, I suppose," Jack said, still somehow making the statement sounds like an innuendo.

Ianto stepped up there. He wasn't sure he could handle Jack flirting with Sulu at the moment. "Listen. I was just going to show him Myfanwy, and then we'll be out of the Hub. Do I have permission to do that at least?" Jack shrugged, and that was all the incentive Ianto needed to grab the folder out of Sulu's hands, toss it on the desk, grab Sulu by the arm and drag him toward the door. He had to stop after a second though.

"Jack," he said, "please. Please, would you just, I don't know, go do some actual paperwork or something. There's a form on my desk for the PM that you promised you'd finish a lon time ago."

Jack was bemused with the situation. "Fine. But you owe me. An explanation of all of this if nothing else." Clearly, Jack wanted something else.

"Yes, fine. I'll...see you later," Ianto shot after him, before he all but threw the door open and tugged Sulu out after him, shutting the door firmly behind him. He stopped outside, moving to bring his hands up to his face, groaning.

Sulu showed polite (dis)interest right up until Ianto was dragging him out, which allowed him to give Jack a polite wave and a quick, "It was nice meeting you," before being safely secured beyond the shut door.

Immediately after they stopped, though, he adopted a much more apologetic expression. "I'm sorry - that went really badly." Super awkward, he meant, but he was still in professionalism mode.

Ianto snorted at that ~~under~~statement. It was either laugh or cry about it. He definitely wasn't looking forward to explaining himself to Jack afterwards. Jack, who was acting suspiciously jealous for a man who insisted that he didn't care much about anything really. "Yeah, I'd say that it rather did."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. He really was supposed to be out for the day. I though he said he was going to visit some old friends. That usually takes him the whole day at least. I don't know why he's back so soon..." He trailed off, feeling really quite awkward about the whole thing, and fought back the urge to groan again.

"Hey, I honestly don't really mind." He shrugged, "It's kind of disorienting to run into a stranger in a secure area. It could have been worse," he added, "He could have shot me."

Which... honestly, wasn't beyond the realm of "things Sulu would rather deal with than awkward situations." But, hey. He smiled reassuringly. "Do you think it'd be better if I left? I don't really want to stress you out more."

Ianto shook his head. "Even if he'd've shot you, it wouldn't be to kill. He enjoys annoying information out of people a little too much." He sighed again. "No, I'm sorry. Jack's a good man. That was just one of the worst ways to meet him. He doesn't like being surprised by things."

He shook his head again now at Sulu's statement. "Unless you want to let him win. He'll be checking the CCTV we have in here; he'll see that he's scared you off, and it'll make him even worse. Best actually do what we said we were going to. Then at least I'm not lying to him too much. And Myfanwy really is pretty fantastic." He shrugged. "Unless...you'd rather leave now instead. Either way, I'm just putting off a conversation I kind of really don't want to have."

Sulu could honestly understand - being surprised by a random guy in your secret base with your... boyfriend? (He still wasn't sure.) It wasn't the best way to get acquainted with someone."

Sulu grinned and nodded. "No, let's go see your pet dinosaur. I'm completely okay with helping you put off anything that's going to be a less than stellar experience." He winked, "You should have given me a heads up, though - maybe I could have stopped at a Chinese delivery place first. Then we would have had an actual alibi. I can do great broken English."

"Thanks, but..." Ianto laughed a little, shaking his head. He was still a little stressed from the previous encounter, but he was getting better. He motioned for Sulu to follow him as he started down the hall. "As much as I'd love to have heard that, he'd have known I was lying, and then he'd be even more pissed off about it. At least we got of this way with only back-handed jabs disguised in the usual flirting."

"Good point." He followed along patiently, still feeling no small amount of unease from the encounter but, as was customary for him, he was unwilling to show it. "I'm sorry that I'm going to cause an argument." Then again, he felt even more sorry that he'd gone with his mood and made a catty remark, instead of sticking to what usually worked. He wasn't Jim - he really couldn't pull off witty quips as an introduction, if at all, really. Not that he'd say a thing about it, but it was definitely going to be sitting with him for the rest of the day.

"So," he sighed, briefly letting his ruffled status show through as he scratched the back of his head, "I completely butchered that meeting, but with any luck, it won't lead to me being eaten by your... pterodactyl, right?"

Seeing that Sulu was as uncomfortable with that situation put Ianto a little more at ease. He didn't want to be the only one who was sweating the fact that that could've gone a lot better, and he was happy to see that Sulu felt the same way.

"No," he said, shaking his head, smiling and relaxing a little, "Myfanwy's a lot easier to understand. Just bring her a treat and she'll be happy, really. So long as you don't do something to get her to dislike you, you're in the clear. We keep her in the Hub, after all. I had to train her not to attack any of us that work here, as well as not to eat the computers, so. She's kind of just like a big, well, lizard. That happens to be able to fly."

Sulu shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded. "All right, don't make the flying lizard irritated with me. Should be easy." He gave Ianto that "this situation could be disastrous" grin. "How big is big, though? Some people would say Audrey's big, but compared to its mother..." He shrugged. "I just don't want to wander in and feel the instinctual desire to run away. Aliens, Weevils and the like, they're more or less the usual for me. Dinosaurs? Not so much."

Ianto chuckled a little. He recognized that look on Sulu's face. "You watch yourself. You're going to need all your fingers and hands to pilot your spaceship, don't do anything stupid to upset the pterodactyl." He continued to lead Sulu back out of the passages up to the main Hub.

At the question, though, Ianto cocked his head, thinking about it. He'd never really had to explain her to anyone before. "Well, she's about this tall," he said, motioning to around breastbone height on him, around 5 feet off the ground, considering he was 6 feet tall. "Her wingspan is a bit more impressive, but she should be tired right now. Hopefully she won't be doing any flying or the sort and just keep them tucked away."

"I solemnly swear not to do anything that would offend your pet dinosaur," Sulu laughed. Truthfully, he wouldn't really mind seeing her airborne, but that was most likely due to the fact that it was a real, live dinosaur. He guessed it would be only a matter of time before he gloated about seeing one in person to Jim, who would probably be completely envious.

He paused, briefly. "What, exactly, upsets a pterodactyl?"

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