Ficlet: Snuggled
Title: Snuggled
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Snuggles, Jack.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto is discovering that semi-sentient fabric can be very useful.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 266: Cloth at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
The archives, even more than the rest of the Hub, were Ianto’s second home. He loved spending time down there, sorting, organising, researching, cataloguing, or simply reading old mission reports, familiarising himself with events from decades before he weas born. In their own small way, the Torchwood archives were like a time machine, or at the very least, a window on the past.
Much as he enjoyed his explorations, however, there were times when the rooms and passageways below the main Hub were more than a little chilly. When he was moving around, shifting crates, arranging newly catalogued items on shelves, or cleaning the already sorted areas it wasn’t too bad; he could keep himself warm through physical activity. But when he was sitting at his computer, digitising files and so forth, even wrapped in his overcoat he soon started to feel the cold.
Then, a few months back, he and Jack had gone out on a retrieval one evening and returned to the Hub with a most unusual… How exactly should one categorise a semi-sentient piece of cloth? Should it be classed as a creature, an artefact, or perhaps both?
When discovered, Snuggles, as Ianto had named it, had been in the form of a fuzzy blanket, perhaps in an effort to comfort itself or to stay warm in temperatures dipping towards freezing. Ianto had soon learned, however, that the slightly neurotic fabric could take any shape it chose, from a tiny pocket handkerchief to a duvet. Suddenly, getting cold in the archives became a thing of the past.
Snuggles was quickly learning to suit its form to whatever Ianto happened to be working on. If he was sitting down for long periods, the blanket would transform itself into fleece-lined coveralls, leaving only his fingers and face exposed to the chilly air. If he was moving around occasionally, it might be a cosy hoody, or a thick sweater. Sometimes, to leave his arms unencumbered, it would shape itself into a woolly hat with attached scarf. It was really quite intuitive.
Today was a hoody day, the hood snug around his face and the cuffs fitting closely around his wrists, not riding up even when he needed to reach for an item on a higher shelf. Semi-sentient clothing was a lot more flexible than the regular kind. The bottom of the hoody even came down far enough to cover his arse without being baggy or in the way. In Ianto’s opinion, whatever form it took, Snuggles was the most efficient, not to mention comfortable, item of clothing he’d ever worn.
He was happily rearranging artefacts on a shelf in order to make room for something similar that had arrived through the Rift a couple of weeks ago when Jack appeared around the end of the stack.
“Ah, there you are.” Jack paused, grinning. “Loving the new look, hot pink definitely suits you. Not sure about the bunny ears though.”
Ianto blushed. “I suspect Snuggles has a warped sense of humour.”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Snuggles, Jack.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto is discovering that semi-sentient fabric can be very useful.
Word Count: 500
Written For: Prompt 266: Cloth at anythingdrabble.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
The archives, even more than the rest of the Hub, were Ianto’s second home. He loved spending time down there, sorting, organising, researching, cataloguing, or simply reading old mission reports, familiarising himself with events from decades before he weas born. In their own small way, the Torchwood archives were like a time machine, or at the very least, a window on the past.
Much as he enjoyed his explorations, however, there were times when the rooms and passageways below the main Hub were more than a little chilly. When he was moving around, shifting crates, arranging newly catalogued items on shelves, or cleaning the already sorted areas it wasn’t too bad; he could keep himself warm through physical activity. But when he was sitting at his computer, digitising files and so forth, even wrapped in his overcoat he soon started to feel the cold.
Then, a few months back, he and Jack had gone out on a retrieval one evening and returned to the Hub with a most unusual… How exactly should one categorise a semi-sentient piece of cloth? Should it be classed as a creature, an artefact, or perhaps both?
When discovered, Snuggles, as Ianto had named it, had been in the form of a fuzzy blanket, perhaps in an effort to comfort itself or to stay warm in temperatures dipping towards freezing. Ianto had soon learned, however, that the slightly neurotic fabric could take any shape it chose, from a tiny pocket handkerchief to a duvet. Suddenly, getting cold in the archives became a thing of the past.
Snuggles was quickly learning to suit its form to whatever Ianto happened to be working on. If he was sitting down for long periods, the blanket would transform itself into fleece-lined coveralls, leaving only his fingers and face exposed to the chilly air. If he was moving around occasionally, it might be a cosy hoody, or a thick sweater. Sometimes, to leave his arms unencumbered, it would shape itself into a woolly hat with attached scarf. It was really quite intuitive.
Today was a hoody day, the hood snug around his face and the cuffs fitting closely around his wrists, not riding up even when he needed to reach for an item on a higher shelf. Semi-sentient clothing was a lot more flexible than the regular kind. The bottom of the hoody even came down far enough to cover his arse without being baggy or in the way. In Ianto’s opinion, whatever form it took, Snuggles was the most efficient, not to mention comfortable, item of clothing he’d ever worn.
He was happily rearranging artefacts on a shelf in order to make room for something similar that had arrived through the Rift a couple of weeks ago when Jack appeared around the end of the stack.
“Ah, there you are.” Jack paused, grinning. “Loving the new look, hot pink definitely suits you. Not sure about the bunny ears though.”
Ianto blushed. “I suspect Snuggles has a warped sense of humour.”
The End