[RL WITH SULU]

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto sat at his desk in the tourist office, idly flipping through a magazine that he'd read about fifty times already that day. Needless to say, things were particularly slow. Gwen had been given the day off to go spend time with Rhys, and Jack was god knows where, so Ianto'd sent a quick phone call out to Sulu, to see if the man was interested in

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[takeitoutofpark]

Using his extensive skills at life, Sulu had managed to procure a mysterious hop to Ianto's world. After taking full advantage of the fact that his civilian wear was actually clean and useful for once, he used said hop to get to the entrance of the tourist office.

Pausing for a second to admire the fact that he was both in the 21st century and in Europe, Sulu put a lid on his history nerding and headed inside, a passive grin on his face. (Secretly, there was the nagging, "Is that seriously fossil fuel I'm smelling in the air?" thought, but he shoved that back down too.)

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto raised his head from staring blankly at yet another picture of open green pastures and rolling green hills of Wales. "Sorry, we're--" he started, before recognizing the familiar face.

"Whoa, hallo there," he said, setting the magazine aside (back exactly where it was supposed to go) and standing up, coming around the desk. "This is a new look there. How often do these clothes get to see the light of day, then?" he asked, smiling and indicating Sulu's clothes.

[takeitoutofpark]

"You can't be closed if you're sitting in plain sight," Sulu said, grinning and shoving his hands into his pockets. "I couldn't exactly come down in my uniform, you know. It's not exactly in style right now - at least, from what I've heard." He found himself a little distracted by the new surroundings, unconsciously making way too many notes about a tourist office. "And the last time I got to wear a pair of jeans was before our contract started, so..." He laughed, "A while. How have you been?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

"I suppose," Ianto concluded, smirking at him. "Jeans is a good look for you. Not that the uniform isn't, but this is nice. Different." He shrugged. "Not that I should talk, really." Ianto glanced down at his own clothes--yet another black suit, this time with a fuchsia shirt and matching fuchsia and black tie.

"Well, welcome to the tourist office, then," Ianto said, motioning around. He stood beside the desk, on which sat various brochures and a really very outdated computer, to fit in with the rest of the shabby decour. There really was nothing about the place to suggest it was the front for a secret organization, which was the point of it, he supposed. To the side of the desk, there was a wooden-bead curtain separating the main area from a little cubby place that contained yet another desk and several small filing cabinets. "It's...a bit shit, actually, but luckily it's not my only job."

[takeitoutofpark]

"Suits are always fashionable," Sulu pointed out, still looking at everything like it wasn't just a shabby cover for a secret organization. It wasn't streamlined or entirely online like the Academy, which still kept its roots but this was... he thought "quaint" for a moment but that was kind of condescending.

"Honestly, I'm kind of amazed. Shit or not," he smirked. "But I don't think you want me to turn into the tourist here, trust me." ...Even now, he was already planning on taking a few of those brochures on his way out. "And just so I can get the lamest question out of the way first - what year was that thing made in?" He nodded at the computer - well, he supposed it was a computer. Theoretically.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto laughed when he followed Sulu's nod to the machine. "Honestly? I think it's a '98. Er, 1998, that is. The actual system is hooked up to the main frame downstairs, but."

He shrugged. "If the thing looked like the ones we have downstairs, we probably would get a lot more questions about it, so. This is just easier. It does add to the whole Retro feel of the place, in any case," he said, motioning to the bead curtain. "Whatever sort of feel that might be. I think it's mostly a 'Go away, we're pretty crap, you can find somewhere better to get your information' type of thing." There was no hint as to how one might get downstairs, though. Ianto enjoyed that sort of "secret agent" bit to the tourist office, the secret entrance.

[takeitoutofpark]

"No, no, that makes - sense, it's just. Wow." It was a box. He had a feeling that the gawking over outdated technology (even by Ianto's standards) wasn't the greatest thing he could be doing, so he bit his lip to keep from questioning it, looking back to Ianto in mild embarrassment. "And you were thinking you were bad. But, yeah, I can sort of see it. The 'go away' vibe, I mean. And by the way? Beaded curtains never go out of style." He grinned. "But I think you should lead me away from the vacation pamphlets before my curiosity gets the better of me."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto raised an eyebrow, smirking. "If you were to go vacationing in the 21st century, I doubt that you'd really want to do it in Wales. There's nothing much here but grass and sheep, and unless you're lacking in those..." He shrugs. "At any rate, I would be happy to continue the tour."

Ianto went back behind the desk and pressed a fairly hidden button in the wood. The door that Sulu had entered through shut and locked itself, and the concrete wall behind him swung open to reveal a concrete brick passage-way lit only here and there by small, fairly cobwebby lights up near the ceiling. One end of said passageway was just a wall, while the other end had a door. "Welcome to Torchwood," Ianto said, feeling fairly secret agent about the hidden passageway. "Shall we?"

[takeitoutofpark]

"I've lived in a city my whole life," Sulu laughed, "The only sheep I ever saw were in petting zoos."

When the wall opened up, revealing an honest-to-God secret passageway, Sulu's eyebrows rose and he stared for a minute, taking a few steps forward before grinning and looking at Ianto. "Oh, yeah. You're definitely secret agent material." He had a feeling that he was seriously going to be putting Ianto's gawking to shame today.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto chuckled at that. It was hard to believe that anyone ever had to go to a petting zoo to see sheep, but then again, he'd never been to America, let alone to 23rd century America, so he really didn't know.

At the secret agent comment, he smirked, quirking an eyebrow. He was completely fine with being able to show off this time around--so much of his job sucked that to be able to be proud of it felt really rather nice. "I'm always happy to not disappoint," he said. He moved to the passageway. "Well, if you'll just come this way, then, we can go down into the Hub." He led Sulu down the hall, hitting a button on the wall next to the door, which slid open to reveal a lift that fit in with the whole "out of date, sewer-chic" that the place had going on. And yes, the lift really would take ages to get to the bottom this time.

[takeitoutofpark]

Sulu followed dutifully, though he looked a bit apprehensive about the lift. It was one thing when the outdated look belonged to bead curtains and ancient computers, but something that was actually expected to transport you safely who knew how many floors?

Oh, what the hell. "If this thing kills us, I'm going to be pretty upset."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled at Sulu politely as he ushered him into the lift, and pushed the button for the main floor of the Hub. "Don't worry too much," he said, trying to be reassuring, as the doors slid shut behind them. "I get the thing inspected at least once a month. It's my life that's on the line too, y'know. We just don't have enough people to be able to stay here and watch all the workers replace it and keep track of the Rift monitor as well, should something go wrong."

The lift got brighter and darker as they passed various illuminations in the lift passageway as the machine started its way down. "If it ever breaks down, I suppose we could always use the stairs, though, but they're a right pain to climb up. This thing is more flash, anyway."

[takeitoutofpark]

"That's if it breaks down without you on it." He laughed, reassured by the fact that it was at least maintained well. He shoved his hands back in his pockets, watching the lights. "So, how far down does it go, exactly? The way I've been imagining Torchwood as pretty expansive, which, going by the stability of the buildings on the surface, you're probably not just under the street..."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto smiled and shook his head. "Nope, not just under the street." He leaned against the wall of the lift. "Torchwood Three, that this place, was created to the be outpost for Torchwood to manage this Rift we have here. Originally, all of them were up and running at the same time, and, well, it was the late 19th, early 20th centuries. The train was all the rage. So they created a train tunnel system to connect all of the Torchwood branches together, to transport back and forth as necessary."

He shrugged. "Naturally they had to put the tunneling systems pretty far below ground, so as to not raise suspicions, but yeah. At least in theory, we have a tunnel connecting us from here to London, so yeah. It's a pretty big place."

[takeitoutofpark]

Sulu whistled. "That's definitely big. Especially if it was started when trains were the most reliable source of transportation. But..." He frowned, trying to recall something, before shrugging. If he didn't remember, it was something he needed explained again. "I understand that you monitor the Rift here in Cardiff, right? Does that mean that the other centers were near other rifts, or... what did they do?"

[torchwoodteaboy]

"Not rifts, exactly, no," Ianto said. "The original Torchwood was set up by Queen Victoria in Scotland at a place called Torchwood Manor, hence the name of the organization. Basically, she established it so that there would be some sort of line of defense against aliens and everything weird and unable to be explained. Torchwood Manor was actually housing one of the biggest pieces of alien technology that they had at the time. Since then, the Manor has been largely just a museum, but