Fic: Full Of Questions
Title: Full Of Questions
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Darlene Reynolds, Jack, Tosh, Gwen, Owen, Ianto.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1690
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It’s Darlene Reynolds’ first day at her new job in a new city, and she can already tell Cardiff is very different from Chicago.
Written For: Challenge 446: Full at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
Anxious to make a good impression on her first day in her new job, Darlene Reynolds had decided the best way to go about it was to arrive early, so that she could get the lay of the land, so to speak, before her workday started. Technically, it wasn’t so much the job that was new, as everything else. She’d be doing pretty much what she’d been doing for the past eight years, at the same international company, just in a different city, practically the other side of the world from Chicago, where she’d worked up until now.
After her divorce, she’d thought a change of scenery might do her good. She needed a fresh start, or at least a new challenge, something she could put all her energies into now they weren’t being used to shore up a crumbling marriage. So, when she’d been offered a promotion along with a position at the company’s new branch in Cardiff, she’d jumped at the chance. She’d only arrived in the Welsh capital a few days ago, barely long enough to get settled into the apartment the company had arranged for her, but she already liked the quaint little British city that was to be her new home, and there was a spring in her step as she left her apartment block and made her way to the bus stop.
Everything was so different from Chicago. For one thing, instead of her daily commute being over an hour long, the majority of it spent in a packed subway car where most days it was standing room only, here she could be at work within fifteen minutes, travelling on a bus that was hardly more than half-full. Not that there wasn’t still a lot of traffic about, even at barely seven in the morning, but the drivers seemed less impatient to get wherever they were going, there was a complete lack of horns blaring, and despite the inevitable traffic fumes, there was a fresh, salty tang to the breeze, reminding her that Cardiff was a coastal city.
The buildings weren’t as tall as those in Chicago, so more sunlight reached the streets, even though the sun had only been up for an hour or so. Here in Cardiff, her company had the twelfth floor of a fifteen-storey office block in the city’s business district, where before, the office she’d worked in had been on the forty-seventh floor.
Back in Chicago, going out on her lunch break had hardly been worthwhile, what with having to wait for an elevator with enough room to squeeze one more person in. By the time she got out of the building, twenty minutes of her lunch hour would usually be gone, and then she would still have to queue up at the elevators to get back to forty-seven, so usually she’d take the emergency stairs down to the cafeteria on the floor below and eat there. It would be different now. She’d already taken note of several places within walking distance of the office where she could get lunch, and she might even have time to do a bit of window-shopping after eating.
Her head full of happy thoughts, she hopped off the bus at her stop, walked half a block, entered the building, and headed for the elevators. Unlike in Chicago, where there’d been a dozen, here there were only four; the building really wasn’t big enough to need more than that, but all of them were currently on other floors. She was just about to press the call button on the nearest one when she noticed the next one along was on its way down. That somehow made her feel even better about her first day. She was the only person waiting, and the building didn’t have a basement, so it felt almost as if someone somehow knew she was here and had sent one of the elevators to get her.
Smiling, she watched the numbers counting down, but when it arrived on what the British called the ground floor, and the doors opened with a comfortingly familiar ping, all she could do was blink at the sight before her. The elevator was full, and the people inside were the most extraordinarily mismatched bunch she’d ever seen. For someone who’d spent most of her life in Chicago, that was saying something.
At the front was a dashingly handsome man, wearing what was either a genuine period military greatcoat, or a very good reproduction. To his left stood a pretty Asian woman in a purple coat, calf-length skirt, and high heels, juggling a laptop and some other devices in one arm while trying to push her hair out of her eyes with her other hand. At his other side, another woman, in tight black jeans and a black leather biker jacket over a low-cut green top, was carrying some sort of equipment case. Behind them, a sour-faced man in faded denims, sneakers, and a battered leather jacket over a baggy t-shirt, had what looked like an old-fashioned medical bag in one hand, and beside him, another, taller man in a tailored three-piece suit, red shirt, and expensive looking tie, was carrying a large plastic box full of something pinkish-grey and squirmy.
All five looked tired and dishevelled, their clothing, hair, and faces splattered and streaked with something yellow and sticky. They stood there, blinking back at her, appearing as surprised as Darlene was, obviously not expecting anyone to be there, waiting for the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close again, the man in the coat stuck his hand out to stop them. Then whatever was in the box suddenly started thrashing about. The suited man glared into the writhing tangles.
“Stop that!”
It subsided, but not before Darlene had seen several tentacles reach out of the box, one of them winding itself sinuously around the man’s left wrist, and another sliding up his chest and inside his shirt.
“Hi there!” the man in the coat said, dragging her attention away from whatever was in the box and flashing her a wide, white smile. His voice served to snap her out of her stunned stupor; the last thing she’d been expecting to hear was an American accent. “Sorry about this. If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be out of your way in just a moment.”
The people began to file past Darlene, first the two women, offering her apologetic smiles, then the sour-faced man, who simply scowled at her, and then the one in the suit with his curious burden. He gave her a wry smile.
“The gulls drop their catch in the oddest places sometimes,” he told her in a delectable and very Welsh accent. “Whatever caught this one must have decided it was too big a mouthful. Not keen on Calamari myself. It’s a bit on the rubbery side.”
A tentacle abruptly flailed out at Darlene, and she took a hasty step back.
“Oi, no touching!” the suited man gave the container a shake and the tentacle snapped back below the rim. “Sorry, bit of a handful, this one. No manners.” He nodded to Darlene. “Well, nice meeting you. Have a good day.”
“Uh, thanks. You too.”
The man in the coat’s smile widened on hearing her accent. “New to our fair city, are you?”
“Yes.” God, he was gorgeous, like a Hollywood star.
“Thought so. I can always tell.”
The guy in the suit was cute too, and he paused, looking back over his shoulder.
“Jack, will you hurry it up? Our friend here is getting heavy, and you’ve got the car keys.”
“Be right there!” The man, Jack, turned back to Darlene briefly. “You’re gonna love Cardiff, a surprise around every corner! But a word to the wise, stay out of the alleyways after dark.” Then he spun on his heel and was gone, jogging across the foyer to catch up with the others. “Need a hand with that?” she heard him ask. Taking the heavy box from the other man’s arms, he planted a kiss on his cheek.
She saw the younger man roll his eyes, but he was smiling as he said something too quietly for her to overhear. Whatever it was, it drew laughter from Jack as they passed through the main doors out onto the street, disappearing down the sidewalk, and leaving Darlene alone again in the deserted foyer.
Her head full of questions, and no one around to ask, Darlene stepped quickly into the elevator before the doors could close, avoiding a few splashes of yellow gunk on the floor, and punched the button for the twelfth floor. Leaning back against the rear wall, she went over the strange encounter in her head, trying and failing to make sense of it.
Who were those people? Why had they been in the building so early? Did they have offices there? If they did, maybe she’d see them again, but it seemed unlikely. And what about the thing with tentacles in the box? What was it? Just some bird’s unfortunate would-be meal? Only, it had looked a bit too big for that. On the other hand, seagulls could be pretty big birds. Would she have to worry about having squid and octopus randomly dropped on her from above? That was a disturbing thought.
Maybe when her new co-workers got in, she could ask them about it, see if any of them knew who the people might be, or whether falling squid were a common hazard on the streets and rooftops of Cardiff.
On second thoughts, maybe she’d be better off keeping the whole thing to herself, at least for now. She wouldn’t want her colleagues to think she was weird, that wasn’t the kind of first impression she’d been going for by coming in early. But she’d keep her eyes open, just in case. What was it Jack had said? A surprise around every corner, but stay out of the alleys after dark? Well, in her experience it was best to avoid alleys anyway, day or night, but still… Maybe there was more to Cardiff than met the eye.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Darlene Reynolds, Jack, Tosh, Gwen, Owen, Ianto.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1690
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: It’s Darlene Reynolds’ first day at her new job in a new city, and she can already tell Cardiff is very different from Chicago.
Written For: Challenge 446: Full at fan_flashworks.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
Anxious to make a good impression on her first day in her new job, Darlene Reynolds had decided the best way to go about it was to arrive early, so that she could get the lay of the land, so to speak, before her workday started. Technically, it wasn’t so much the job that was new, as everything else. She’d be doing pretty much what she’d been doing for the past eight years, at the same international company, just in a different city, practically the other side of the world from Chicago, where she’d worked up until now.
After her divorce, she’d thought a change of scenery might do her good. She needed a fresh start, or at least a new challenge, something she could put all her energies into now they weren’t being used to shore up a crumbling marriage. So, when she’d been offered a promotion along with a position at the company’s new branch in Cardiff, she’d jumped at the chance. She’d only arrived in the Welsh capital a few days ago, barely long enough to get settled into the apartment the company had arranged for her, but she already liked the quaint little British city that was to be her new home, and there was a spring in her step as she left her apartment block and made her way to the bus stop.
Everything was so different from Chicago. For one thing, instead of her daily commute being over an hour long, the majority of it spent in a packed subway car where most days it was standing room only, here she could be at work within fifteen minutes, travelling on a bus that was hardly more than half-full. Not that there wasn’t still a lot of traffic about, even at barely seven in the morning, but the drivers seemed less impatient to get wherever they were going, there was a complete lack of horns blaring, and despite the inevitable traffic fumes, there was a fresh, salty tang to the breeze, reminding her that Cardiff was a coastal city.
The buildings weren’t as tall as those in Chicago, so more sunlight reached the streets, even though the sun had only been up for an hour or so. Here in Cardiff, her company had the twelfth floor of a fifteen-storey office block in the city’s business district, where before, the office she’d worked in had been on the forty-seventh floor.
Back in Chicago, going out on her lunch break had hardly been worthwhile, what with having to wait for an elevator with enough room to squeeze one more person in. By the time she got out of the building, twenty minutes of her lunch hour would usually be gone, and then she would still have to queue up at the elevators to get back to forty-seven, so usually she’d take the emergency stairs down to the cafeteria on the floor below and eat there. It would be different now. She’d already taken note of several places within walking distance of the office where she could get lunch, and she might even have time to do a bit of window-shopping after eating.
Her head full of happy thoughts, she hopped off the bus at her stop, walked half a block, entered the building, and headed for the elevators. Unlike in Chicago, where there’d been a dozen, here there were only four; the building really wasn’t big enough to need more than that, but all of them were currently on other floors. She was just about to press the call button on the nearest one when she noticed the next one along was on its way down. That somehow made her feel even better about her first day. She was the only person waiting, and the building didn’t have a basement, so it felt almost as if someone somehow knew she was here and had sent one of the elevators to get her.
Smiling, she watched the numbers counting down, but when it arrived on what the British called the ground floor, and the doors opened with a comfortingly familiar ping, all she could do was blink at the sight before her. The elevator was full, and the people inside were the most extraordinarily mismatched bunch she’d ever seen. For someone who’d spent most of her life in Chicago, that was saying something.
At the front was a dashingly handsome man, wearing what was either a genuine period military greatcoat, or a very good reproduction. To his left stood a pretty Asian woman in a purple coat, calf-length skirt, and high heels, juggling a laptop and some other devices in one arm while trying to push her hair out of her eyes with her other hand. At his other side, another woman, in tight black jeans and a black leather biker jacket over a low-cut green top, was carrying some sort of equipment case. Behind them, a sour-faced man in faded denims, sneakers, and a battered leather jacket over a baggy t-shirt, had what looked like an old-fashioned medical bag in one hand, and beside him, another, taller man in a tailored three-piece suit, red shirt, and expensive looking tie, was carrying a large plastic box full of something pinkish-grey and squirmy.
All five looked tired and dishevelled, their clothing, hair, and faces splattered and streaked with something yellow and sticky. They stood there, blinking back at her, appearing as surprised as Darlene was, obviously not expecting anyone to be there, waiting for the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close again, the man in the coat stuck his hand out to stop them. Then whatever was in the box suddenly started thrashing about. The suited man glared into the writhing tangles.
“Stop that!”
It subsided, but not before Darlene had seen several tentacles reach out of the box, one of them winding itself sinuously around the man’s left wrist, and another sliding up his chest and inside his shirt.
“Hi there!” the man in the coat said, dragging her attention away from whatever was in the box and flashing her a wide, white smile. His voice served to snap her out of her stunned stupor; the last thing she’d been expecting to hear was an American accent. “Sorry about this. If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be out of your way in just a moment.”
The people began to file past Darlene, first the two women, offering her apologetic smiles, then the sour-faced man, who simply scowled at her, and then the one in the suit with his curious burden. He gave her a wry smile.
“The gulls drop their catch in the oddest places sometimes,” he told her in a delectable and very Welsh accent. “Whatever caught this one must have decided it was too big a mouthful. Not keen on Calamari myself. It’s a bit on the rubbery side.”
A tentacle abruptly flailed out at Darlene, and she took a hasty step back.
“Oi, no touching!” the suited man gave the container a shake and the tentacle snapped back below the rim. “Sorry, bit of a handful, this one. No manners.” He nodded to Darlene. “Well, nice meeting you. Have a good day.”
“Uh, thanks. You too.”
The man in the coat’s smile widened on hearing her accent. “New to our fair city, are you?”
“Yes.” God, he was gorgeous, like a Hollywood star.
“Thought so. I can always tell.”
The guy in the suit was cute too, and he paused, looking back over his shoulder.
“Jack, will you hurry it up? Our friend here is getting heavy, and you’ve got the car keys.”
“Be right there!” The man, Jack, turned back to Darlene briefly. “You’re gonna love Cardiff, a surprise around every corner! But a word to the wise, stay out of the alleyways after dark.” Then he spun on his heel and was gone, jogging across the foyer to catch up with the others. “Need a hand with that?” she heard him ask. Taking the heavy box from the other man’s arms, he planted a kiss on his cheek.
She saw the younger man roll his eyes, but he was smiling as he said something too quietly for her to overhear. Whatever it was, it drew laughter from Jack as they passed through the main doors out onto the street, disappearing down the sidewalk, and leaving Darlene alone again in the deserted foyer.
Her head full of questions, and no one around to ask, Darlene stepped quickly into the elevator before the doors could close, avoiding a few splashes of yellow gunk on the floor, and punched the button for the twelfth floor. Leaning back against the rear wall, she went over the strange encounter in her head, trying and failing to make sense of it.
Who were those people? Why had they been in the building so early? Did they have offices there? If they did, maybe she’d see them again, but it seemed unlikely. And what about the thing with tentacles in the box? What was it? Just some bird’s unfortunate would-be meal? Only, it had looked a bit too big for that. On the other hand, seagulls could be pretty big birds. Would she have to worry about having squid and octopus randomly dropped on her from above? That was a disturbing thought.
Maybe when her new co-workers got in, she could ask them about it, see if any of them knew who the people might be, or whether falling squid were a common hazard on the streets and rooftops of Cardiff.
On second thoughts, maybe she’d be better off keeping the whole thing to herself, at least for now. She wouldn’t want her colleagues to think she was weird, that wasn’t the kind of first impression she’d been going for by coming in early. But she’d keep her eyes open, just in case. What was it Jack had said? A surprise around every corner, but stay out of the alleys after dark? Well, in her experience it was best to avoid alleys anyway, day or night, but still… Maybe there was more to Cardiff than met the eye.
The End