Ficlet: Hatchling
Title: Hatchling
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Nosy.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The Rift delivers another egg, much to Ianto’s dismay.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 247: Egg at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“Oh no!” Ianto groaned when he saw what Jack was cradling carefully as he entered the Hub. “Not another egg!” All he could think about were the countless other egg-related arrivals he’d had to deal with over the years, from the chocolate eggs that had hatched living chocolate bunnies, to the silverlings that now lived happily down in the archives, the pink balls that had turned out to be Space Turtle eggs, and even the duck eggs Nosy had successfully hatched back in the spring.
“Hey, don’t blame me for this!” Jack scowled at his lover. “It’s not like I get to personally choose what the Rift sends us, and if I could, I wouldn’t ask for eggs.”
“No, you’re right, it’s not your fault.” Ianto gave a weary sigh. “It’s just… We don’t have any idea what’s going to hatch from that, it could be a ravenous man-eating monster for all we know, but we can’t simply destroy it because it might be something intelligent, or rare, so now I’ll have to find some way of incubating it…” He trailed off miserably, already thinking of all the extra work he’d be stuck with.
Jack smiled sympathetically. “Sorry. I’d suggest putting it in Myfanwy’s nest, but it’s too small and fragile.” The egg was a little more than three times the size of a large hen’s egg, the shell the soft green of new leaves in spring, speckled and spotted with darker green.
“You’d better hold onto it, keep it warm, while I get an incubator set up.” Ianto turned away, heading for the storage room where such equipment was kept.
“Why don’t we just give it to Nosy?” Jack suggested? “It did okay with raising the ducklings.”
Ianto spun back to face his lover. “Are you crazy? It was one thing letting Nosy hatch duck eggs, but what if the thing in this egg is dangerous? It could be venomous, or something that kills and eats the parent!”
Aware of the commotion, Nosy came to investigate, raising its front end off the ground to goggle at the egg in Jack’s hands. Jack crouched down so Nosy could sniff it.
“Hmmmmmmm,” Nosy crooned to the egg, which shifted in Jack’s hands. There was a faint trill from inside.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Ianto muttered as Nosy took the egg. The Fluff just hummed calmly in response, its empathic senses telling it there was no danger here. Slithering under the sofa, it curled around the egg and settled in to wait.
The egg hatched two days later. When Ianto served everyone their mid-morning coffee, Nosy emerged from under the sofa with a small, fuzzy creature nestled in its fur, trilling happily. It looked something like a cross between an owl and a frog, with tiny hands.
Ianto smiled. “Hello there.”
“Helloooo!” it trilled back. Either it was a mimic, or it was sentient; judging by the hands, Ianto suspected the latter.
This was going to be interesting…
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Nosy.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: The Rift delivers another egg, much to Ianto’s dismay.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 247: Egg at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“Oh no!” Ianto groaned when he saw what Jack was cradling carefully as he entered the Hub. “Not another egg!” All he could think about were the countless other egg-related arrivals he’d had to deal with over the years, from the chocolate eggs that had hatched living chocolate bunnies, to the silverlings that now lived happily down in the archives, the pink balls that had turned out to be Space Turtle eggs, and even the duck eggs Nosy had successfully hatched back in the spring.
“Hey, don’t blame me for this!” Jack scowled at his lover. “It’s not like I get to personally choose what the Rift sends us, and if I could, I wouldn’t ask for eggs.”
“No, you’re right, it’s not your fault.” Ianto gave a weary sigh. “It’s just… We don’t have any idea what’s going to hatch from that, it could be a ravenous man-eating monster for all we know, but we can’t simply destroy it because it might be something intelligent, or rare, so now I’ll have to find some way of incubating it…” He trailed off miserably, already thinking of all the extra work he’d be stuck with.
Jack smiled sympathetically. “Sorry. I’d suggest putting it in Myfanwy’s nest, but it’s too small and fragile.” The egg was a little more than three times the size of a large hen’s egg, the shell the soft green of new leaves in spring, speckled and spotted with darker green.
“You’d better hold onto it, keep it warm, while I get an incubator set up.” Ianto turned away, heading for the storage room where such equipment was kept.
“Why don’t we just give it to Nosy?” Jack suggested? “It did okay with raising the ducklings.”
Ianto spun back to face his lover. “Are you crazy? It was one thing letting Nosy hatch duck eggs, but what if the thing in this egg is dangerous? It could be venomous, or something that kills and eats the parent!”
Aware of the commotion, Nosy came to investigate, raising its front end off the ground to goggle at the egg in Jack’s hands. Jack crouched down so Nosy could sniff it.
“Hmmmmmmm,” Nosy crooned to the egg, which shifted in Jack’s hands. There was a faint trill from inside.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Ianto muttered as Nosy took the egg. The Fluff just hummed calmly in response, its empathic senses telling it there was no danger here. Slithering under the sofa, it curled around the egg and settled in to wait.
The egg hatched two days later. When Ianto served everyone their mid-morning coffee, Nosy emerged from under the sofa with a small, fuzzy creature nestled in its fur, trilling happily. It looked something like a cross between an owl and a frog, with tiny hands.
Ianto smiled. “Hello there.”
“Helloooo!” it trilled back. Either it was a mimic, or it was sentient; judging by the hands, Ianto suspected the latter.
This was going to be interesting…
The End