Fic: Weird Weather
Title: Weird Weather
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Tosh, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: A few minutes earlier, the weather had been glorious, and Ianto had been enjoying a pleasant stroll back to the Hub, but now…
Word Count: 1734
Written For: Prompt 095 - Unexpected Weather at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Approaching the Plas, Ianto abruptly stopped dead and sighed. Seemed the Rift was messing about with Cardiff’s weather again, as it did on occasion, usually completely without warning. The day had dawned gloriously, with blue skies and sunshine, and the local weather forecast had predicted a perfect summer’s day despite the fact that they were barely into June yet.
He’d had a delightful drive into work, as had the rest of the team, and had cheerfully set out on foot twenty minutes ago to pick up lunch for everyone. All he could think right now was that it was fortunate no one had asked for anything hot, because in the current weather conditions, by the time he found his way back to the Hub, anything that had been hot to start with would be stone bonking cold.
Thankfully, Ianto had an excellent sense of direction and knew more or less where he was, which meant that as long as he was careful, he should be able to locate the tourist office entrance and get inside without either getting lost or falling into the bay. If he’d been up in the Brecon Beacons, the sudden change in the weather would have been unpleasant, and certainly a matter for concern, but still well within the realms of what was considered normal. At lunchtime in the middle of Cardiff, however, it was anything but.
A few minutes ago, the day had been clear and bright, the sunshine bathing him in warmth, but then between one stride and the next, Ianto had found himself enveloped in an unpleasantly cold, clammy embrace.
Fog, and not just delicate wisps of mist, such as might be seen early on a summer morning when the sun was newly risen, and its warm rays were just beginning to burn off the dew from the night before. This was a thick, heavy, wet blanket that muffled sounds and reduced visibility to a scant few inches. It was a physical thing, tangible and cloying, with a texture a bit like the ghost of wet cottonwool, if such a thing could exist. Which, come to think of it, wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility, considering some of the things Torchwood had encountered.
Ianto took a deep breath in through his nose, reoriented himself, and then bravely began to advance across ground he couldn’t actually see, cautiously feeling his way with his toes on each step and holding his arms out in front of him, so he wouldn’t trip on anything or bump into anyone. There could be people within two feet of him and he wouldn’t be able to see them, the fog was so dense. Probably wouldn’t hear them either, since he most likely had fog in his ears thick enough to be used as soundproofing. Anyone else in the vicinity would most likely be in the same boat, so Ianto determined to round up anyone he came across and herd them into the tourist office for safekeeping until the unnatural weather could be dealt with. It would be safer than leaving them blundering around out here.
Despite its thickness, the fog wasn’t hampering his breathing, and it neither tasted nor smelled of anything in particular. On the bright side it didn’t appear to be poisonous since he wasn’t suffering any noticeable discomfort, but he couldn’t say it was pleasant to be swathed in either; it would be a relief to get out of its damply clinging embrace. The moisture was already starting to soak into his clothing so that it stuck to his skin, and it was making him cold.
It didn’t take him long to start collecting people; within a few moments of the fog descending, he all but tripped over a bewildered woman who looked to be around his sister’s age. She was clinging tightly to her young daughter’s hand as if she feared something might reach out of the fog and snatch the little girl away.
“Oops, sorry; didn’t see you there. Can’t see much of anything in this.” He tried to look as benign and harmless as possible, not wanting to alarm the woman further.
“Oh, thank goodness!” she exclaimed. “I was starting to think everyone else had vanished! I’ve never seen fog this thick before. Is it often like this here?”
“We do get fog occasionally, being on the coast, but it’s not usually this heavy. Bit unexpected, isn’t it? Don’t worry though, there’s a tourist office just off the Plas, you can shelter there until it clears. Better than standing around out here in the cold.”
“Thank you, that’s good to know, but how are we supposed to find it in this? I can’t hardly see more than a few inches.”
Ianto smiled reassuringly. “I’ve been working there so long I could probably find it blindfolded.” He offered his hand. “Ianto Jones, Welsh Tourist Board. Welcome to Cardiff; my apologies for the weather. Now, if you’d just follow me…”
By the time he reached the ramp leading down to the tourist office entrance, Ianto had collected seventeen assorted tourists and locals, all of them holding on to each other’s hands, or arms, or shoulders to avoid getting lost again.
“Nothing to worry about,” he assured his hangers-on yet again, this time for the benefit of the latest couple to join the end of the line. “Just some fog rolling in off the sea. Watch your step here; the ramp slopes downwards but it’s not steep. We’ll soon be inside and then you can relax with a cup of coffee while I contact the local weather services and see what I can find out.” If necessary, he could Retcon them, but considering how many other people were probably out there still lost in the fog, he’d rather he didn’t have to.
As soon as he unlocked the door, everyone hustled quickly past him into the small office, carrying a few wisps of fog in with them, although it quickly dissipated. Ianto followed, closing the door firmly behind them and turning to smile reassuringly at the bewildered group.
“Well, here we are, that’s better, isn’t it? Let me just turn the heating on. Don’t usually need it at this time of year, but I think we could all do with drying out.” He wended his way through his flock of lost sheep and disappeared behind the counter, reappearing again a moment later. “There we go. It might take a little while to warm up in here, so who would like coffee? I’m afraid it will have to be in paper cups; I don’t have anywhere near enough mugs to go around. There are teabags as well, for anyone who prefers. Might even have some biscuits.” It was a good thing he’d only restocked his supplies the previous day.
Fifteen minutes later, the mis-matched group were happily sipping their drinks, exclaiming over the quality of the coffee, and getting to know each other. Ianto left them to it, slipping behind the counter and into the back room, where he put a call through to Jack, downstairs in the Hub.
“Ianto, there you are! I was wondering where you’d got to with lunch. Was there a queue?”
“Ah, not exactly. Haven’t you seen the weather?”
“’Course I have, isn’t it glorious? I was thinking maybe we could have our lunch outside.”
“Obviously you haven’t been watching the CCTV recently.” Jack sometimes liked to sit at his desk and watch the people up on the Plas. “It’s thick fog out there; I was almost back to the Plas when it rolled in out of nowhere.”
“Fog? Are you sure?”
Even though Jack couldn’t see him, Ianto rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the question. “Well it’s not my imagination playing tricks on me; I was just out in it! Visibility is down to less than a foot. Whatever you do, don’t try to use the invisible lift; you don’t want the Hub filling up with it, wouldn’t be able to see your hand in front of your face, never mind the computer screens. Can you ask Tosh to do some investigating, see what her sensors are picking up? If she can figure out the cause, there might be some way of getting rid of it. I don’t know how far it extends but if it’s covering the main roads it’s going to cause accidents.”
“Wonderful,” Jack muttered sarcastically. “That’s just what we need. The first really good weather we’ve had this year and we lose it to mystery fog. Stupid Rift!”
“My sentiments exactly. Got to go; I’ve got a bunch of people sheltering in the tourist office.”
“Is that wise?”
“I couldn’t just leave them out in the fog, Jack. Maybe I should go back out and see if I can find any more.”
“If you’re going to do that, be careful. If visibility’s that poor, anything could be out there.”
“All the more reason to not leave people out in it. I’ll be careful; I’ve got my stun gun, and I’ll tie a rope to the railings so I don’t get lost.” Hanging up, Ianto went to find a rope and continue his rescue mission.
Meanwhile, down in the Hub, Jack got Tosh investigating the fog’s origins while Owen nipped out the garage entrance and collected samples for analysis.
Luckily, Owen soon came to the same conclusion Ianto had; the fog was harmless, just particularly dense water vapour, and should have been dispersing already, except that something out there seemed to be creating more.
It took Tosh half an hour and a lot of ingenuity to locate the source, a piece of alien tech designed to super-saturate air molecules, at which point she and Jack ventured out into the billowing vapour, eventually locating the innocuous little device in one of the flower beds. All that was left to do then was to switch it off.
Gradually the fog began to melt away, and thanking him for his hospitality, Ianto’s temporary guests, including the nine he’d collected on his second excursion, headed back out into the sunshine, smiling and chatting with their new friends. Locking the door behind them, Ianto made his way down to the Hub with the team’s rather overdue lunch.
“Well, no one can say Cardiff is boring,” he said cheerfully as he distributed the sandwiches and salads.
“Another bizarre problem solved,” Jack agreed. “It’s what we do.”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Tosh, OCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: A few minutes earlier, the weather had been glorious, and Ianto had been enjoying a pleasant stroll back to the Hub, but now…
Word Count: 1734
Written For: Prompt 095 - Unexpected Weather at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
Approaching the Plas, Ianto abruptly stopped dead and sighed. Seemed the Rift was messing about with Cardiff’s weather again, as it did on occasion, usually completely without warning. The day had dawned gloriously, with blue skies and sunshine, and the local weather forecast had predicted a perfect summer’s day despite the fact that they were barely into June yet.
He’d had a delightful drive into work, as had the rest of the team, and had cheerfully set out on foot twenty minutes ago to pick up lunch for everyone. All he could think right now was that it was fortunate no one had asked for anything hot, because in the current weather conditions, by the time he found his way back to the Hub, anything that had been hot to start with would be stone bonking cold.
Thankfully, Ianto had an excellent sense of direction and knew more or less where he was, which meant that as long as he was careful, he should be able to locate the tourist office entrance and get inside without either getting lost or falling into the bay. If he’d been up in the Brecon Beacons, the sudden change in the weather would have been unpleasant, and certainly a matter for concern, but still well within the realms of what was considered normal. At lunchtime in the middle of Cardiff, however, it was anything but.
A few minutes ago, the day had been clear and bright, the sunshine bathing him in warmth, but then between one stride and the next, Ianto had found himself enveloped in an unpleasantly cold, clammy embrace.
Fog, and not just delicate wisps of mist, such as might be seen early on a summer morning when the sun was newly risen, and its warm rays were just beginning to burn off the dew from the night before. This was a thick, heavy, wet blanket that muffled sounds and reduced visibility to a scant few inches. It was a physical thing, tangible and cloying, with a texture a bit like the ghost of wet cottonwool, if such a thing could exist. Which, come to think of it, wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility, considering some of the things Torchwood had encountered.
Ianto took a deep breath in through his nose, reoriented himself, and then bravely began to advance across ground he couldn’t actually see, cautiously feeling his way with his toes on each step and holding his arms out in front of him, so he wouldn’t trip on anything or bump into anyone. There could be people within two feet of him and he wouldn’t be able to see them, the fog was so dense. Probably wouldn’t hear them either, since he most likely had fog in his ears thick enough to be used as soundproofing. Anyone else in the vicinity would most likely be in the same boat, so Ianto determined to round up anyone he came across and herd them into the tourist office for safekeeping until the unnatural weather could be dealt with. It would be safer than leaving them blundering around out here.
Despite its thickness, the fog wasn’t hampering his breathing, and it neither tasted nor smelled of anything in particular. On the bright side it didn’t appear to be poisonous since he wasn’t suffering any noticeable discomfort, but he couldn’t say it was pleasant to be swathed in either; it would be a relief to get out of its damply clinging embrace. The moisture was already starting to soak into his clothing so that it stuck to his skin, and it was making him cold.
It didn’t take him long to start collecting people; within a few moments of the fog descending, he all but tripped over a bewildered woman who looked to be around his sister’s age. She was clinging tightly to her young daughter’s hand as if she feared something might reach out of the fog and snatch the little girl away.
“Oops, sorry; didn’t see you there. Can’t see much of anything in this.” He tried to look as benign and harmless as possible, not wanting to alarm the woman further.
“Oh, thank goodness!” she exclaimed. “I was starting to think everyone else had vanished! I’ve never seen fog this thick before. Is it often like this here?”
“We do get fog occasionally, being on the coast, but it’s not usually this heavy. Bit unexpected, isn’t it? Don’t worry though, there’s a tourist office just off the Plas, you can shelter there until it clears. Better than standing around out here in the cold.”
“Thank you, that’s good to know, but how are we supposed to find it in this? I can’t hardly see more than a few inches.”
Ianto smiled reassuringly. “I’ve been working there so long I could probably find it blindfolded.” He offered his hand. “Ianto Jones, Welsh Tourist Board. Welcome to Cardiff; my apologies for the weather. Now, if you’d just follow me…”
By the time he reached the ramp leading down to the tourist office entrance, Ianto had collected seventeen assorted tourists and locals, all of them holding on to each other’s hands, or arms, or shoulders to avoid getting lost again.
“Nothing to worry about,” he assured his hangers-on yet again, this time for the benefit of the latest couple to join the end of the line. “Just some fog rolling in off the sea. Watch your step here; the ramp slopes downwards but it’s not steep. We’ll soon be inside and then you can relax with a cup of coffee while I contact the local weather services and see what I can find out.” If necessary, he could Retcon them, but considering how many other people were probably out there still lost in the fog, he’d rather he didn’t have to.
As soon as he unlocked the door, everyone hustled quickly past him into the small office, carrying a few wisps of fog in with them, although it quickly dissipated. Ianto followed, closing the door firmly behind them and turning to smile reassuringly at the bewildered group.
“Well, here we are, that’s better, isn’t it? Let me just turn the heating on. Don’t usually need it at this time of year, but I think we could all do with drying out.” He wended his way through his flock of lost sheep and disappeared behind the counter, reappearing again a moment later. “There we go. It might take a little while to warm up in here, so who would like coffee? I’m afraid it will have to be in paper cups; I don’t have anywhere near enough mugs to go around. There are teabags as well, for anyone who prefers. Might even have some biscuits.” It was a good thing he’d only restocked his supplies the previous day.
Fifteen minutes later, the mis-matched group were happily sipping their drinks, exclaiming over the quality of the coffee, and getting to know each other. Ianto left them to it, slipping behind the counter and into the back room, where he put a call through to Jack, downstairs in the Hub.
“Ianto, there you are! I was wondering where you’d got to with lunch. Was there a queue?”
“Ah, not exactly. Haven’t you seen the weather?”
“’Course I have, isn’t it glorious? I was thinking maybe we could have our lunch outside.”
“Obviously you haven’t been watching the CCTV recently.” Jack sometimes liked to sit at his desk and watch the people up on the Plas. “It’s thick fog out there; I was almost back to the Plas when it rolled in out of nowhere.”
“Fog? Are you sure?”
Even though Jack couldn’t see him, Ianto rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the question. “Well it’s not my imagination playing tricks on me; I was just out in it! Visibility is down to less than a foot. Whatever you do, don’t try to use the invisible lift; you don’t want the Hub filling up with it, wouldn’t be able to see your hand in front of your face, never mind the computer screens. Can you ask Tosh to do some investigating, see what her sensors are picking up? If she can figure out the cause, there might be some way of getting rid of it. I don’t know how far it extends but if it’s covering the main roads it’s going to cause accidents.”
“Wonderful,” Jack muttered sarcastically. “That’s just what we need. The first really good weather we’ve had this year and we lose it to mystery fog. Stupid Rift!”
“My sentiments exactly. Got to go; I’ve got a bunch of people sheltering in the tourist office.”
“Is that wise?”
“I couldn’t just leave them out in the fog, Jack. Maybe I should go back out and see if I can find any more.”
“If you’re going to do that, be careful. If visibility’s that poor, anything could be out there.”
“All the more reason to not leave people out in it. I’ll be careful; I’ve got my stun gun, and I’ll tie a rope to the railings so I don’t get lost.” Hanging up, Ianto went to find a rope and continue his rescue mission.
Meanwhile, down in the Hub, Jack got Tosh investigating the fog’s origins while Owen nipped out the garage entrance and collected samples for analysis.
Luckily, Owen soon came to the same conclusion Ianto had; the fog was harmless, just particularly dense water vapour, and should have been dispersing already, except that something out there seemed to be creating more.
It took Tosh half an hour and a lot of ingenuity to locate the source, a piece of alien tech designed to super-saturate air molecules, at which point she and Jack ventured out into the billowing vapour, eventually locating the innocuous little device in one of the flower beds. All that was left to do then was to switch it off.
Gradually the fog began to melt away, and thanking him for his hospitality, Ianto’s temporary guests, including the nine he’d collected on his second excursion, headed back out into the sunshine, smiling and chatting with their new friends. Locking the door behind them, Ianto made his way down to the Hub with the team’s rather overdue lunch.
“Well, no one can say Cardiff is boring,” he said cheerfully as he distributed the sandwiches and salads.
“Another bizarre problem solved,” Jack agreed. “It’s what we do.”
The End