nysalogs | [ FINISHED/CLOSED ]

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[ FINISHED/CLOSED ]

Who: John Sheppard & Ianto Jones
What: I Held My Tongue For Like 30 Minutes What More Do You Want?
When: Backdated to the, 24th/25th of May?
Where: Leaving main Wyver for Khalo
Warning(s): Weird Tension, fyrra use

John's best lead for the whole thing is going to be Khalo, but they can at least meander through the main hub first so Ianto can get a drink before he collapses on the floor. He can explain it once Ianto is a little more alert. John is benevolent enough to suggest this without letting on it's mostly for Ianto's sake, even though they both know it is. It's fine, though, he knows the theoretical timeline they're working on -- and since the the whole altar thing was a bust (probably he should mention that, too) this is more firefighting than anything.

He waves off another kid trying to get suspiciously close to him and his bag, mouths scram as he waits for Ianto to get his drink (which, no doubt, he won't enjoy as much as his own fancy coffee) and skims his phone again. It's heating up enough that his jacket is stowed in his bag, and he eyes Ianto idly wondering if he's put on any sunblock. His own arms are getting browner every minute, and he probably has tan lines.

"So," he says, stowing his phone and squinting up at the sky thoughtfully. Clear so far, it's only going to get hotter then. "Your boyfriend seemed in a good mood."

Ultra smooth. Nailed it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

John's face scrunches up in confusion, because why would he leave him? They're going to Khalo together, right? Unless something changed?

"No," he confirms, "I'm not going anywhere."

Other than Khalo, together. Right? That's what they're talking about, right?

"C'mon," he manages, and tugs at one of Ianto's hands -- tries to pull him closer again so he can swing an arm back around his shoulders and continue on through the forest.

The forest is deep, and the foliage gets thicker and rougher, but John is just about aware enough of his surroundings to tread carefully. Every so often he sees something he thinks he should be concerned about, some enormous plant half digesting some strange creature, but he can't really focus on it. His body feels heavy and yet light, like he might just drop to the ground in exhaustion or somehow lose all gravity. His weight sways into Ianto every so often, and he mumbles things: Ianto has very blue eyes, the moons are so close, did he tell Ianto that New Lantea had five moons? The forest is so colourful, nature is amazing. Isn't it strange how similar so many planets are? They're the same, yet they're not. Like fingerprints. Fingers look the same, but they're not. Ianto's fingers are different. He holds an intense, several minute session scrutinising Ianto's fingers before stumbling onward -- then the forest thins out again and finally they're in Khalo village.

It's beautiful, but John is barely awake by now. The tree guardians mesmerise him, the buildings, the water and the Khali flitting around. It's all so ethereal, so awe inducing that he just gapes for a long moment before wobbling onward into the village with Ianto.

Edited 2018-06-13 21:25 (UTC)

Ianto stumbles along with John through the fungi forest (fungest, he can't help but thinking to himself here and there), observing the scenery and doing more listening than talking, in all honesty. He's content to listen though. John says a lot of interesting things. Five moons on New Lantea, that's right. He remembers something about a telescope, but the details are fuzzy. Ianto looks up at the sky and tries to imagine it. Five moons. Even just the two is fascinating.

Speaking of fascinating, John seems to be pretty fascinated with his eyes, and his hands. Ianto doesn't mind that either, really. He likes looking at John, holding hands with John. And he likes John's hands. He endures the several minutes' study of his fingers John puts him through, pointing out the differences in John's as well, before he curls his fingers in the other man's and the pair of them set forward again.

The village itself is beyond words, though Ianto doesn't really have the capacity to process it in full. They've built everything in the trees. The tree guardians are frankly more than a little intimidating but also amazing. All of it is amazing, even despite the fact that he feels a little ill making the way up to the mid-level of the trees where the guest accommodations are. He has just enough common sense left in him to be able to negotiate a room for himself and John, the other man obviously flagging and Ianto starting to feel warm and floaty again as he pulls some of the money he’s saved out of his bag to settle the pay. He even manages not to call any of the Khali fairies to their faces as he and John are shown to their room.

Tinkerbell, he thinks to himself, as he watches her — her? — fly away before turning back to dump his bag on the floor and finally, finally strip off his shoes and overshirt. There’s a sound behind him as John collapses onto the bed, having done much the same with his shoes and tactical vest himself and Ianto stands back, taking one look at him before deciding that he looks comfortable and that separate beds is lonely, and John makes him feel safe and wanted. Crossing the room, he drops to curl up beside the other man, who makes vague noises about how hot it is but throws an arm around him in return, curling against Ianto’s back and sticking to him like a limpet. And Ianto holds onto that arm around him as though it’s the only thing keeping him grounded. As though his touch is the only thing keeping John there as well, which is perhaps the most important part, as he slowly dozes off, feeling the other man’s breathing slow and heavy at his back as he does the same.

Edited (ianto jones never forgets) 2018-06-14 11:32 (UTC)

It's far too warm, but John sleeps anyway. He feels tired and a little spinny, and he can't really stay upright anymore. Ianto crowds him and that's too hot but he hasn't the energy to push him away, and besides which if Ianto is Wendy then he should stay close anyway in case the fairies get jealous. There some logic in there, somewhere.

He's not exactly sure how long he sleeps for, but when he wakes up he feels clammy and has a foggy, low level headache. Which is plausibly because when he was traipsing through the mushroom forest (fungi jungle? Fungle, his memory suggests?) he spent too long debating who was Peter Pan and not enough time drinking water. He shifts, and becomes vaguely aware of Ianto beside him. Ah, right. Wendy. Wincing slightly John eases off and flops over onto his back, rubbing at his eyes and forehead to try and lessen the ache a little. There's some water and painkillers in his bag, he knows. He packed them in case of Ianto's head still hurting. Maybe just water first, though, before breaking out the painkillers. Sitting up John rests a hand on Ianto's arm to get his attention, assuming he's probably some degree of awake already from the movement, then digs in his bag for the water he packed.

"Hey buddy," he says, in a soft voice that distinctly smacks of 'handling a potentially delicate person' tone. "How you feeling?"

Ianto's head had actually recovered from the knock he'd received, which is why he's confused that the aching is back when he wakes. He's confused about a lot of things, really. Why he's so warm, why he's so disoriented, why he feels like he's got a mouth full of cotton. And why there's someone in bed with him. He supposes that's why he's woken up, them moving around. Them being John, of course. He knows it the second the other man's hand comes to rest on his arm, even before he speaks. Though he's not sure whether that makes it better or worse.

Curling himself up tight, Ianto moves to throw his arms over his face and groans softly. Bits and pieces of their journey are coming back to him, and he's not sure he wants to process any of it just now. Waking up next to John makes ignoring it completely slightly difficult though.

"Yeah," John replies, "you're not wrong."

He feels like groaning too. Uncapping the bottle he takes a long pull of the water before re-capping it and leaning over Ianto to set it near his hands.

"Drink some of this," he encourages, since no doubt he feels somewhat the same. "You're probably as dehydrated as I feel."

Giving Ianto's arm a last reassuring squeeze he tugs his bag closer again, begins digging through for something simple to eat. There's a little bread left, at least, along with some crackers. Khalo probably has food shops but he doesn't... quite feel up to going outside their room just yet.

Ianto may want to crawl under a rock and hide but John's chatter does help. Reluctantly, he uncurls himself, reaching for the water bottle John set by him before moving to sit up and taking a few tentative sips. Glancing around the room and trying to re-orient himself as he does. They'd made it to Khalo, at least. And managed to find a room before they'd crashed, well done on their part. There are two beds in the room, though Ianto vaguely remembers preferring to stick close and the thought of it heats his cheeks a little. He takes another sip of water.

“What time is it?” he asks at last. His voice rough with sleep as he tries to take stock of himself and their situation. How long had it been since they collapsed into bed together? It’s difficult to tell, underneath the leafy shade of the canopy above them out the window. Everything is cool and dark and blissfully shady.

Good question. John glances down at his watch, then squints around them at the light levels.

"Eight PM, though I'm a little fuzzy on how we got here so I have no idea how long we slept. Or how we picked this room, for that matter. I'm hoping we paid for it."

He moves some bread and crackers to be within Ianto's reach, scanning the room again and tries to think of a neutral way to inch into discussions of what happened.

"Did I dream that this place has giant tree people?"

There we go, that's a safe topic.

Ianto lets out a huff of laughter in response to the other man's question, reaching forward to snag some of the crackers as he does.

"Unless you and I had the same dream, they were real," he answers. "Are real. I suppose they're still out there, somewhere." He makes something of a face at that thought. They're a bit terrifying to really think about, truth be told.

Taking another sip of the water to fortify himself, he continues to clarify, "Don't worry about the room. I took care of it. I'm not quite sure how long we have it for but I didn't pay that much so it's probably the next day or two." He shrugs slightly. "We can clear it up with them tomorrow. Oh."

If John doesn't remember how they got there then it's important to specify. "Unless you really can fly, be careful walking about out there. We're halfway up to the canopy -- it's a miracle we managed to get up here in the first place as it is."

"My dreams are normally a little less tame than this."

Nobody was in danger, nobody died, there wasn't even any sex. Overall, it would make for a disappointing dream in John's opinion. He reaches across to snag the bottle of water back from Ianto, frowns at the exit from the room in thought as he uncaps it and takes a sip.

"The Khali are basically fairies, right?" He squints sideways at Ianto, turning over the thought. "Think they can pixie dust us? So we can fly too, at least for a bit?"

He really, really hopes so -- in a quietly intense sort of way. John would dearly loved to have what he deems a much cooler superpower, a real superpower. ATA gene doesn't feel like a real superpower to him, even if it now seemingly works on other things.

Ianto vaguely recalls a similar conversation in the forest before, and a moment of spinning, John's arms around him and thinking that even if they couldn't, this might be the next best thing. He shoves a cracker in his mouth, chewing methodically before he offers anything in the way of a response.

"It's possible," he offers. "Maybe not pixie dust in the traditional sense, but. They might have something. We could ask around?" Or look. They hadn't had much of a chance to do that, when they first arrived, tired and disoriented as they were. "At least they have the vines set up, I suppose. God knows how they'd expect us to handle this otherwise."

He visibly brightens at that, takes another sip of the water before re-capping it and handing it back to Ianto.

"Should we find you a blue dress?"

You know, so he can be Wendy -- although the playful twitch of John's lips suggests he might not be entirely serious about this question. Ianto didn't like jokes about him being feminine before, so he probably shouldn't push this one too far either.

He takes the water back from John, watching the quirk of a smile on the other man's face, his mind continuing to play back to bits and pieces of conversations between them from earlier in the day. He has to keep reminding himself it was only just a few hours ago.

Ianto meets the other man's gaze, quirking something of an eyebrow at the suggestion before shrugging a shoulder at him in turn. "I suppose that we could," he allows the other man, watching him from over the edge of the water bottle as he raises it to his lips. Calmly taking a sip from it as he adds, "It would bring out my eyes."

Two can play at this game, John.

"It would!" John agrees, because he'd been loosely thinking that too. "And maybe your calves would see a little more sunshine, too."

Since Ianto is not regularly a shorts sort of person, and either John doesn't remember that Wendy's dress is distinctly floor length or he doesn't care and is imagining the replacement one to be less conservative.

Ianto makes something of a face at the other man, because he does remember the dress -- nightgown, he supposes it is, really -- that Wendy wears in Peter Pan, and it most certainly does not show off any part of her legs at all.

"Look, I'm not sure I'm really sure that I'd be able to pull it off, in the end," he hedges. John's rather stuck on the idea of this and he's not certain whether he's just joking about or -- what, really. "I've got the wrong shoulders for dresses, it wouldn't exactly be a flattering look."

"Well I don't know about your shoulders," John admits, "but the suits are a better look on you. Not that I've seen the dress in person, but --"

He shrugs, breaks up a piece of cracker to eat. The suits are a good look to begin with, and he's not really into the cross-dressing thing so he can imagine that it's overall a better look. That's close enough, right?

Ianto regards the other man carefully, taking another sip of the water as he studies him. A better look than what? The dress? Or in general? Had that been an attempt at a compliment? Should he take it as such?

He reaches for another cracker, playing with it between his fingers as he thinks. It's not as though he had been fishing for compliments, after all. But after all the talk on the walk over about his eyes and his hands, it does leave him wondering. The walk over leaves him wondering about a lot of things, truth be told. The top of the list being whether he should really take anything he’s saying here seriously at all. Then again, why shouldn’t he? It’s all rather confusing, for as fuzzy as he feels.

"More's the pity that it's been so damned hot lately, then," he replies at last. "Just the thought of suiting up in this weather is enough to make me sweat. You may just get your wish yet." You know, to see more of his skin and all. Or was it his legs specifically he was after? He holds the water bottle out to John again, in case he wants it back. "At least we don’t have to worry about the sun under all these trees."

"You can still burn in the shade, the question is how much sunlight actually makes it through the canopy."

They should really take a proper look outside soon. He takes back the water bottle, uncaps it again and takes another sip.

"How you holding up?"

His initial reply hadn't really told John anything much, so he's hoping the water and food are helping. You know, and that Ianto isn't secretly still feeling spinny or nauseous or something. He seems fine, though, maybe a little slowed down still? Mostly fine. Good enough to make jokes, which is a hopeful sign.

Ianto really wants to argue that he's not this delicate flower that John seems to think he is, but he does burn as easily in the sun as the other man is implying, and he really has been having a difficult time of it the past few days staying up on his hydration and his blood sugar. That on top of the knock on the head it's probably only through John's fussing and sheer force of will alone that he didn't accidentally pass out on the other man at some point or another. But still. It's embarrassing, and under normal circumstances he should be able to hold his own.

"I'm fine," he mumbles, glancing aside at the other man and knowing won't be enough for him before forcing himself to elaborate. "It's too hot, and I. Could really use a shower by now. But I'll be fine. Water is helping." He reaches up to run a hand through his hair, massaging the back of his neck before he suggests, "We might want more than bread and crackers to get us through the night. If you feel like taking a look around? Sounds like the village is still up and about." When do fairies sleep, he wonders to himself, and puts the thought aside for now.

"I think I remember there being a big pool thing, maybe you can have a swim to cool off. They don't seem like the complex plumbing type."

More than rainwater collection type, with some minimal piping to funnel it. He re-caps the bottle, holds it back towards Ianto and considers his shoes thoughtfully where he dropped them on the floor.

"Swimming does sound nice, actually."

Since John feels clammy too. Maybe they should both take a swim. He drops his eyes further down to his own t-shirt with frown, plucks at the front of it and sniffs thoughtfully. Yeah. Probably he should take a swim and... maybe rinse his t-shirt out? It'd probably dry out on its own, eventually.

He takes the bottle back from him and takes another sip from it, contemplating the idea of it as he watches John subtly sniff at himself. His lips quirking slightly at the frown on his face as he does.

"No, I don't suppose that they are," he agrees. He vaguely remembers the pool, but he's never been very fond of large bodies of water, and he has to wonder just how big it is. How deep. Swimming...

"You'd come too then, yeah?" he asks. Hoping he doesn't sound too apprehensive about the idea. He hadn't really remembered the pool until John mentioned it. He still doesn't, really. It's all a bit of a blur.

"Seems like a good idea unless there are showers after all. I could probably do with getting clean too."

He snags another cracker and eases himself off the bed finally, holding it in his mouth and stretching out a little before biting off a section. Carefully manoeuvring toward the exit he peers out the room and down at the village below.

"Huh," he says softly, because it... still does look amazing. The whole village feels like it belongs in some wild fantasy movie, giant tree people and all. He takes another bite of cracker and tries to stop his heart racing in both excitement and nerves as he watches the Khali flit around.

Edited (wrong icon) 2018-06-16 14:20 (UTC)

"Given they've built their living spaces in the trees themselves, somehow I doubt that," Ianto says. Watching John for a moment as he stands and stretches before bending to fetch his shoes and lace them on again.

"Do you think they'd let me soak these boots in their pool?" he asks, glancing up at the other man after a moment of thought. "That is what you said I'm supposed to do with them, isn't it?"

Pushing himself up once he's done with his laces, he grabs the water bottle again and moves to stand beside the other man by the doorway. He carefully takes a step out to glance out and around, down and up and side to side to orient himself in their place in the city. It's mad, he remembers thinking, and it's still mad even now. He shakes his head as another of the little green Khali people soars by the entrance to their room, and takes a step back into the room. "Neverland indeed," he murmurs, the height honestly making him feel a little queasy at first. It had been much easier getting up there when he hadn't had the capacity to worry about how high up they really were.

"You can always ask."

He backs away from the edge and packs up his bag (he could probably leave it but... well, you never know in a strange place) then moves out into the tiny entryway and tests a vine. It... seems solid enough.

"Well, if I go first then I can break your fall if you misjudge. How's that?"

It's not that far down, it's just... the vines. You know. Ladders are better. He shoots Ianto a sardonic smile and reaches out to grab the vine, takes a last look down before beginning to carefully climb down it.

Break his fall. Right. At least John hadn't offered to catch him, Ianto thinks to himself as he watches the other man start down the vine. Knowing himself, there's no way he'll be able to make this graceful. But at least he's going to do his damnedest not to fall.

He stays where he is, watching John climb until he's sure he's made it to the bottom before crossing to grab his bag, sticking the water bottle in it as he tries to mentally fortify himself for the climb as well. It doesn't work, of course. Once he's back at the ledge, he reaches out to touch the vine before looking apprehensively down at the man below.

"I don't suppose you have any words of advice," he calls out.

John squints up at him in thought a long moment.

"Don't fall?" He settles on, followed by: "It isn't far enough to kill you. Just take it easy and don't rush."

There, good enough?

Edited (Tense) 2018-06-16 17:01 (UTC)

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