The open palm of desire wants everything, it wants everything...

[techniclybrill]

Shilo is curled up in the common room of the Conrad, flipping through a history book written in the looping handwriting of some angel of knowledge or other. She's doing her best to think about the book, instead of how much she misses home, or her dad, or even her stupid room. Because she doesn't. Really.

Martin is at the coffee shop, staring at

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[findaconstant]

"I knew it!"

Here, Tosh. Have a Daniel.

He's not far from where she is and it's really only coincidence that he's spotted her; while he normally walks through this area anyway, he doesn't usually pay conscious attention to his surroundings. He's always watching around him with that power of his, though, on an unconscious level - just to be safe - and that's how he usually finds people.

He recognizes her from their quick meeting a few weeks ago and knows what she has in her hand, so he takes that as something of a green light to go ahead and talk to her.

"I was just asking Doc about whether or not people monitor the Rift's energy! Um." Maybe he should have said hello, first. "Hi. It's... Toshiko, right?"

[techniclybrill]

Tosh jumps a little, spinning to face Daniel, and then smiles quickly when she sees it's Daniel. "Daniel! Yes, it's Toshiko. Um... Tosh, if you'd rather." She spent so long with him back in the Conrad, helping the Doctor put together the Rift machine, this sort of distance seems strange. Then, Tosh is used to strange - this isn't so bad, as her life goes.

She holds up the device in her hand. "I was... I had this on me when I came through. It still works for Rift energy on this side, so I thought I'd see if I can work out some patterns. I almost had a Rift predictor program worked out, before I ended up here. I'd have to rebuild it completely, but I think I still remember enough of it to manage..."

Normally, it's a struggle getting Tosh to talk this much. Daniel, though, has the benefit of being familiar to her, and someone who might actually care about the things she tends to ramble about. (And not as thoroughly confusing as Dmitri, or as difficult to be around as Suzie.) Lucky him!

[findaconstant]

"Tosh. Right. I knew that." He returns her smile, fingers twitching absently at his side.

"Ah... you should try to rebuild it. If you remember that much, I mean. It'd probably be really useful, and then we can be here when people fall through, and that - that is what you meant, right? By 'Rift predictor'?"

Dan isn't exactly the most social butterfly in the world, even with people he knows - or sort-of knows - but talking is always easier when there's science involved. Second language, and all that.

[techniclybrill]

"Sort of?" she says, with a tiny smile. "In Cardiff we didn't actually have many people falling through. Mostly... technology. And aliens. Lots of aliens. But with enough data, I might be able to work out how to predict when people are coming through. Have a welcoming committee there for them or something. At the very least, I should be able to get it to tell us when and where a Rift will be opening, if not exactly what might come through."

[findaconstant]

"Ah, right. Cardiff." Dan nods, listening. "I... get that. Sort of. I mean, it's still kind of weird to think about aliens, but, heh, after all this, you'd think nothing would surprise me, huh?"

He's rambling. He should stop that.

"That's great, though. I hope it works."

[techniclybrill]

"You get used to it. Not that you have to, here. More angels and demons, hardly any aliens at all." And the few aliens they have... well. There's the Doctor. He's different.

Tosh pauses a moment. "I can... show you, if you want, when I've started work on it. I mean..." She shrugs a little, glancing down at her handheld Rift monitor. "I knew you - Daniel... before. We helped the Doctor build that machine in the Conrad basement, I don't know if you... knew."

[findaconstant]

"Still... weird," Dan says, mostly in a mutter to himself.

What Tosh says next really catches his attention and his eyes widen, just a little. "Right! Right. I've been meaning to ask someone about that - I... um. That's one thing I didn't... you know, see. I could go back, I guess, and look, but I'm trying to not use my... power, except when Torchwood needs it. So... the machine. What does it do?"

[techniclybrill]

Tosh actually grins at that. She enjoys explaining things, even if this isn't particularly complicated - at least, until you get into the specifics (and unlike Jack, she tends to refrain from technobabble).

"It reverses the Rift. Allows you to walk in the opposite direction, back to the world you came from. Theoretically, anyway. We finished it, almost got it working again, but something came through the Rift at the wrong time, and the machine malfunctioned. Well, exploded. And we don't exactly have the replacement parts, so..."

So they all gave up on it. And now none of them from that original group in the basement are really sure they want to go back.

[findaconstant]

"Oh."

It's a quiet little oh, something that says he's trying to remember - the explosion part seems familiar; he might've seen it in one of his "dreams" during his first few weeks here - but nothing really registers.

"Murphy's Law, huh? ...was everyone okay?"

[techniclybrill]

"Scrapes and bruises mostly. I broke my arm, and the angel who was with us was in a coma for a few days, but she's fine now." Only in a life that consists mostly of Torchwood could broken bones and a coma qualify as no big deal, but for Tosh... well, it kind of is. No permanent damage was done, except to the Rift room, and possibly to the Doctor's ego.

[findaconstant]

"Ah."

He nods. Hey, if it's no big deal to Tosh, and everyone's okay now, he sees no reason to get all wide-eyed over it.

"Well, that's good. Are you sure you don't have replacement parts? I mean, I found something pretty unexpected in one of the junk shops. And that explosion was a while ago, right? Maybe not that long, but... might be worth checking again. Maybe."

[techniclybrill]

"I suppose there could be," Tosh says, glancing down at her handheld Rift monitor and frowning a little. "It's just... well, no one's really tried. Even if we manage it... we don't really know that there'll be much to go home to."

It's not like the thought hasn't crossed her mind. Cardiff, without Torchwood to look over it... Well, the world would have ended several times over just in the time Tosh has been working there, if it weren't for them.

[findaconstant]

"I... yeah. I know how that feels."

He's pretty sure he can't go home - not that he'd ever want to. Still, there's something undeniably depressing about not being able to go back to your own world.

He shrugs a shoulder, dismissing the topic.

"If you ever need any help, I've got some free time. I know how to work all the non-alien equipment Torchwood has, I think. So..."