The Price of a Stamp
Title: The Price of a Stamp
Characters: Toshiko, Suzie
Summary: Tosh could send her family postcards.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word Count: 350
Authors Note: This was written for the WIAD round 4.3. The prompt was a 'Reverse Fandom' for 'Sports Night'. For this story I picked the episode 'The Hungry and the Hunted'. The added element was an invertebrate. I didn't end up submitting this story as an entry, preferring Shoplifters will be Prosecuted
Suzie isn't quite sure what colour of animal Tosh is. She's the most senior employee, yet Jack named Suzie as his deputy. Torchwood is teaming in secrets and that alone speaks to something worth leveraging.
Suzie puts down her work and slips into Tosh's space, standing behind her unnoticed.
"Jack's sending you to Torchwood House then?" Tosh squeaks satisfyingly and jolts upright, looking faintly guilty. Suzie hungers to pursue that advantage, but you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
"Yes. I need a look at the satellite that crashed on the moon?"
"There are no closer observatories?" Suzie couches the query with quiet sympathy, and watches Tosh visibly relax.
"There's a perception filter that's cloaking it," Tosh explains, resizing a window in her browser.
Suzie tilts her head and spreads her palms in the calculated position of a supplicant, but Tosh isn't looking; she's gone back to working.
"There's something I'd like you to retrieve while you're there," Suzie probes, assiduously casual.
"I'll have them send it down," Tosh offers, but really it was a rejection.
"It's quite a long bus trip, isn't it?"A little more aggression is allowed to colour her voice as Suzie shifts tactics slightly.
"Yes." A small frown forms on Tosh's face and the note of confusion is perfect. Suzie slips Tosh's itinerary onto the desk, and taps a line.
"This 48 hour stop-over in London? Were there no tighter connections?" The honey's been cleared away, and there's nothing left but the bare jaws of the trap.
"I... thought... I.... " Tosh stumbles over her reply so Suzie pushes forward, tasting success.
"Might hand-deliver some postcards? Can I convince you to hand-deliver something else as well?"
Tosh freezes. Her eyes dart, involuntarily, over to Jack sitting idly in his office.
"You'll give it directly to me," Suzie assures her. "There's no reason to bother Jack." That only seems to scare Tosh further into uselessness. "I'm second in command," Suzie snaps sharply. Strangely that reminder is sufficient to stabilize Tosh, just enough and she's in a sweet state, calm but pliable, when she mumbles her answer, almost indistinctly.
"What do you need?"
Characters: Toshiko, Suzie
Summary: Tosh could send her family postcards.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word Count: 350
Authors Note: This was written for the WIAD round 4.3. The prompt was a 'Reverse Fandom' for 'Sports Night'. For this story I picked the episode 'The Hungry and the Hunted'. The added element was an invertebrate. I didn't end up submitting this story as an entry, preferring Shoplifters will be Prosecuted
Suzie isn't quite sure what colour of animal Tosh is. She's the most senior employee, yet Jack named Suzie as his deputy. Torchwood is teaming in secrets and that alone speaks to something worth leveraging.
Suzie puts down her work and slips into Tosh's space, standing behind her unnoticed.
"Jack's sending you to Torchwood House then?" Tosh squeaks satisfyingly and jolts upright, looking faintly guilty. Suzie hungers to pursue that advantage, but you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
"Yes. I need a look at the satellite that crashed on the moon?"
"There are no closer observatories?" Suzie couches the query with quiet sympathy, and watches Tosh visibly relax.
"There's a perception filter that's cloaking it," Tosh explains, resizing a window in her browser.
Suzie tilts her head and spreads her palms in the calculated position of a supplicant, but Tosh isn't looking; she's gone back to working.
"There's something I'd like you to retrieve while you're there," Suzie probes, assiduously casual.
"I'll have them send it down," Tosh offers, but really it was a rejection.
"It's quite a long bus trip, isn't it?"A little more aggression is allowed to colour her voice as Suzie shifts tactics slightly.
"Yes." A small frown forms on Tosh's face and the note of confusion is perfect. Suzie slips Tosh's itinerary onto the desk, and taps a line.
"This 48 hour stop-over in London? Were there no tighter connections?" The honey's been cleared away, and there's nothing left but the bare jaws of the trap.
"I... thought... I.... " Tosh stumbles over her reply so Suzie pushes forward, tasting success.
"Might hand-deliver some postcards? Can I convince you to hand-deliver something else as well?"
Tosh freezes. Her eyes dart, involuntarily, over to Jack sitting idly in his office.
"You'll give it directly to me," Suzie assures her. "There's no reason to bother Jack." That only seems to scare Tosh further into uselessness. "I'm second in command," Suzie snaps sharply. Strangely that reminder is sufficient to stabilize Tosh, just enough and she's in a sweet state, calm but pliable, when she mumbles her answer, almost indistinctly.
"What do you need?"