Ianto and Sam, Cardiff

[likesthecoat]

The Hub is a bit dark, with the blue lights from the computers playing off the walls, and a soft glow from the greenhouse above the central area. Ianto flicks on a few more lights so they don't trip over the steps and their own feet, and calls, "It's just me, I brought a friend, we're going to look for things to fight demons!" in a tone that suggests he doesn't expect anyone to answer.

The others must have left for the day already, and Jack is probably on a roof somewhere.

"Let me get a notebook and we can get started," he tells Sam.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

"... boy, you're just all kinds of reassuring."

Dust couldn't be drier.

He crumples the wrapper up and shoves it in a pocket, then holds the chocolate bar in his left hand and eyes the pterodactyl.

[likesthecoat]

Ianto chuckles and moves closer to the dinosaur, speaking to her in soothing tones. "Hello, girl, it's just me and my friend Sam. Sam's going to give you chocolate because you're such a good girl."

[gavemea_45]

Myfanwy makes a inquisitive clacking sound, and tilts her head to the side in order to give them a beady-eyed look.

Sam takes a breath, then steps closer and holds out the chocolate.

[likesthecoat]

"Don't be afraid," says Ianto softly, to both of them.

[gavemea_45]

"Nothing to worry about," Sam assures him. Whether that's true or not, who can say?

He keeps his eyes on the pterodactyl, though, even as he takes another step forward, bringing the chocolate closer.

"Uh, Myfanwy? ... sorry about, er, almost shooting you."

[likesthecoat]

Her beak darts out and nips at the chocolate bar.

Ianto is visibly trying not to laugh. It's a bad idea to startle a dinosaur.

(Probably also to startle a nervous Winchester.)

[gavemea_45]

Ianto is a very wise man.

Sam jerks back a little, and the chocolate bar snaps in two, leaving half in his hand and half in her beak.

[likesthecoat]

Myfanwy swallows the chocolate like a duck eats bread crumbs, and then clicks her beak, eying Sam.

"Leave it in her trough if you don't want to get closer," Ianto advises.

[gavemea_45]

"As long as she doesn't take my hand off--"

Still, they say discretion is the better part of valor, or something like that. Sam makes a quick decision, and tosses the other half of the bar into the pterodactyl's tray, then half-turns to Ianto.

"Just how exactly did you guys figure out she liked chocolate?"

[likesthecoat]

"I had some on me, when I first saw her," says Ianto as he leads Sam back down to the main level of the Hub. "My favorite's dark too."

[gavemea_45]

"... so you have something in common with a pterodactyl," Sam observes, dryly.

"I guess that's good to know, right?"

[likesthecoat]

"If we had no commonalities at all we'd never be able to communicate and interact," Ianto remarks. "No matter how alien a creature may seem, there's always something to connect us."

[gavemea_45]

He darts a sideways look at Ianto.

("Not all of us want the same thing ... I want to help you.)

"... you really believe that?"

For a seemingly-light question, it seems to have some weight lying beneath it.

[likesthecoat]

"It's not just a belief. Toshiko's got the research to back it up."

He opens the door to the archives and sweeps in his arm. "And if we had no way of connecting, we'd only have even a harder time with all this."

[gavemea_45]

"Good point," he says, after a moment. Sam's looking at the archives with extreme interest.

[likesthecoat]

"You'd be surprised how often an artifact turns out to be nothing more than a hair dryer or a musical instrument. But sometimes something turns out to be amazing."

He leads Sam through the maze of file cabinets and locked storage cabinets to one in particular.

[gavemea_45]

"What kind of amazing?"

Real curiosity is evident.

[likesthecoat]

"Beautiful things like letters home, or terrifying things that a glove that brings a dead person back to life, or pendants that make you able to read people's minds."

He unlocks a cabinet and takes out a round piece of brass with switches down one side.

"This tells you the weather on any day, past or present or future, on the planet you're standing on."

He takes out a narrow locked box. "In here is an instrument that will reveal strong emotional moments of the room where you are. One side does the past and one side does the future.

"And this..." He rummages, then brings out a black piece of ... something shiny. "This, we have no idea. Jack thinks it's an intergalactic garage-door opener. I like to think it's an actual copy of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, only there's no 'don't panic' on it."

[gavemea_45]

"Panicking never really helps," Sam says, dryly.

The place reminds him a little of their dad's storage room, which makes him think to ask,

"Do you have any wards set up around any of this stuff?"

[likesthecoat]

"No, it doesn't, but it's still hard to avoid at times."

He looks puzzled. "Wards? I'm not sure what you mean. We have several redundant security systems, including one that alerts us to unknown alien technology."

[gavemea_45]

"... probably the same thing, or close enough," he says, a little doubtfully.

"Sigils, salt circles, anything like that to contain forces?"

[likesthecoat]

Ianto looks thoughtful. "Sounds like folk magic," he remarks. "We have a containment disk..." He rummages and finds it. It looks like a coaster. "You toss this down on the floor and it'll contain any life form within its radius. But salt and things, they don't help us with the creatures we face.

"Most of our enemies, we can kill with a gun." He pauses. "Sometimes a very big gun."

[gavemea_45]

"Don't knock it until you've tried it."

Dry as dust.

"But yeah, there's no question that a gun's generally a good thing to have, no matter what."

[likesthecoat]

"I've picked up a few things lately," says Ianto mildly. "They just don't come in handy often."

[gavemea_45]

"Yeah."

Sam gives the 'coaster' a curious look.

"Does it work on, er, nonliving forms?"