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Who: Ianto Jones, Rodney McKay, & John Sheppard
What: Rodney wakes up from stasis, Ianto offers him coffee, and has no idea how ridiculous things are about to get.
When: End of August
Where: Thesa
Warning(s): None so far, will edit as needed

((continued from here))

Ianto glances up at the ceiling himself at Rodney's addressing it, uncertain who or what he's talking to at first before glancing back at the man himself, assuming it has to be their 'helpful' friend.

"I'm not sure how much they told you, since you woke up. But they've got a habit of not saying a great deal at all so I suppose you've probably got a lot of questions, and I'll do my best to answer as many as I can. There were people who maintained the kitchen before," Ianto begins, wondering how much of this he should really explain before they find John. "They called themselves the Natha, and Darma was their leader. But something happened to her recently and since then it seems the rest of the Natha have disappeared as well. As for the something--"

He leads Rodney into the kitchen and towards the coffee machines on the counters beyond, unshouldering his backpack and moving to dig his bag of coffee out from within it. "That's a bit of a story," he continues, starting up the espresso machine and going about making Rodney the best Americano he can (when in doubt, he always goes for Americanos for these military types). "It might be more palatable if John helps me tell it, too. It probably sounds a little... Fanciful." What with the whole undead dragon involved and. Pretty much everything else, actually. Or maybe not. He's not sure what the daily life is like back on Atlantis, truth be told. Maybe this sort of thing really is as usual as John tries to make it sound.

Turning back to the other man as the drink brews, he frowns for a moment before suggesting, "Tell you what, we could bring these back to our room. Mine and John's, that is. He should be back soon, I'm sure. You'll have a lot of catching up to do, yeah?" He turns to finish assembling the drink once the espresso has finished, before holding it out to Rodney and quirking an eyebrow at him in silent question.

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"I dreamed some," Rodney says, waving a hand to dismiss the notion. Whatever. Tuesday in Pegasus. "But nothing since I woke up. All the information I've gotten is from the computers and that floating lemon with eyes." He shudders. "But the station's in some sort of energy saving mode, in case you were wondering."

Because of course he's dug into the computers as far as he can. The instant he was left alone.

He trails Ianto to the coffee machines and watches avidly as the man starts making espresso. He's mostly listening, but it's only when he's already reaching out for the coffee that Ianto (definitely Rodney's new favorite person) is offering that he realizes that he's been asked a question he should probably answer. "What? Yes, of course." He takes the coffee with reverence, almost afraid to drink it. "If he's not my John, we might as well all find out now before we get down to the surface and I have to find someplace to stay."

"An Americano," he adds in awe before taking a sip. Coffee. Coffee. He will savor it as long as humanly possible. Clutching it to his chest, he nods to Ianto. "I'm ready."

After being ejected from the VR for abysmally failing an entirely unfair scenario John had felt antsy. So he'd gone for a run, then a shower, and he's not been back in his room long honestly but he's finally starting to mellow out and get over it. The rooms on the station have, by nature, all got four single beds spread out along the edges. Two beds in this one have things scattered on or near them -- John's still has his guitar propped up beside it, some bits of his uniform and some changes of clothing that he'd been digging through. He's dressed in his black uniform pants and shrugging on pale blue button-down shirt when the door slides open, and John has his back to it so doesn't instantly clock that Ianto isn't alone. He's still trying to remember where he put his panda t-shirt, which one day everyone will stop ragging on him for. Did he leave it back down in Olympia?

"Hey," he says finally, since he did hear the door. "Have you seen my --"

Which is about the point he turns, halfway buttoned up, and realises Ianto isn't alone. His fingers freeze and his expression jumps through a few emotions. Surprise, confusion, amusement, something like irritation, then --

"So it was you! In the simulation! What the hell, Rodney, why didn't you say something?"

Why did you not psychically know that John was real and thought you were simulated?!

Ianto hadn't exactly known what John had been up to all day but he hadn't expected him to be back quite so soon. The entire way back through the corridors from the kitchen, the scenario had played out in his head. How he would get Rodney settled (maybe whilst fussing about the room tidying, even though it's already relatively tidy anyway). How he would send John a message to let him know that there's someone here he really needs for him to speak with or some rubbish like that, and then they'd wait for him to return and. Who knows what from there.

He himself had spent a long day amongst the stasis pods, attempting to keep the new arrivals from bleeding out of old wounds or ejecting any more of each other into space. He had expected John to be applying himself similarly, he'd expected needing to drag him away from his work. He'd expected the variety of emotions that had passed over the other man's face when he'd first spotted his friend. What he hadn't expected was...

"The simulation?" he asks, a bit surprised that John's response hadn't a bit more along the lines of good to see you buddy instead of what the hell, Rodney, considering how much he knows he's missed his friends. "So. Hold on. The pair of you knew you were both here already?"

He glances between the pair of them for a moment before trying to fill in John's earlier sentence and stepping forward to set down his coffee so that he can have both hands to rummage through a pile of clothes on his bed and produce a pair of socks, neatly folded and freshly washed and mended as well. John, he has learned, is just as hard on his clothing as he is on himself. "Here," he says, raising an eyebrow in question. Has he guessed right?

Rodney had been...uncharacteristically quiet in following Ianto back through the halls, nursing his coffee like it might be the last time he'd ever have a chance to taste it and feel the caffeine coursing through his veins. So by the time they're back at John and Ianto's room, he's only half done and has not, in fact, tried to fill the silence with complaints about the malfunctioning station. And maybe there is also a teeny tiny bit of nerves involved in his silence, considering Rodney had woken up and thought he was alone.

So. Door opens. Rodney spots John and lets out his breath. That would indeed be a John Sheppard in the the flesh. Relief is swiftly replaced by annoyance when reality hits him.

"There was no way I could have determined it was you," Rodney fires back in a blatant, blatant lie that he immediately revises. "I mean, there were some anomalies in your behavior that might have suggested...but no. No. It was my simulation, you were--"

He cuts off, horrified, clutching his coffee to his chest. "John." Ianto is holding darned socks and Rodney is beyond indignant. Roommate? He was supposed to consider that behavior roommately? "You have a live-in manservant?"

What? John looks down at the socks Ianto is handing him in confusion, then up again sharply at Rodney as he suggests --

"No!" he corrects quickly, "he's not my manservant, McKay!"

John shoves his socks back awkwardly at Ianto, as if giving them back will somehow negate the act of being handed them at all.

"Rodney was in a simulation with me -- and you could have asked me, any time! There were plenty of opportunities! Besides -- it wasn't just your simulation. If it was, the beast thing wouldn't have started turning into Ysverai."

So there. You don't get to claim it was yours!

Edited (typo) 2018-09-10 21:54 (UTC)

Ianto doesn't know what startles him more, the horrified sound of Rodney's voice as he accuses him of being a live-in manservant, or John suddenly shoving the pair of socks back at him as he replies. In his defense, he had explained that he was John's roommate. And those were perfectly good socks otherwise, they'd just needed a little mending. Ianto hadn't been able to take it, seeing him walking around with holes forming in them, so...?

He raises both eyebrows at John now, awkwardly clutching the socks himself now since John's shoved them back at him.

"I, ehm," Ianto struggles, glancing between the pair of them. "I hadn't gotten around to explaining Ysverai yet. Or much of anything yet, really. I wasn't sure..." Well, he'd thought they'd want to see each other and catch up before they launched into the whole dragon horror explanation, but. Maybe he'd been mistaken.

He glances down at the socks in his hands, gesturing at the other man with them before questioning, "So, I. Take it you don't want these then...?" What had he been asking after then? (...is he sure? Aren't his feet going to get cold? Ianto doesn't put the socks down just yet, just in case.)

"Roommates are messy, inconvenient, and they steal your clothes. They don't mend your socks," Rodney declares. Because nobody has ever mended his socks. He's just about clean forgotten that he wanted to make sure that this John is from his same universe what with inviting Ianto to room with him being both very John and very not John. "What am I supposed to think? A friendly British alien"--one out of three isn't bad?--"introduces himself, makes me coffee, and invites me back to your room to see you. That's textbook."

With a start, he recalls that he is holding said coffee and that Ianto is not the person he wants to piss off. "Look, I'm sure you're very nice," he tells Ianto. "But are you sure you're not drugged? Not that I'm accusing John of drugging you, but we have had an issue in the past with contaminated--wait just a minute." The implications of 'turned into Ysverai' hit him mid-sentence and he jumps track. "Wait. That thing was something you've actually seen?"

Edited (Gnrgh. Typo.) 2018-09-11 01:38 (UTC)

John had almost forgotten the impressive speed at which Rodney talks. Or, perhaps the truth is he hadn't forgotten -- he's just out of practice when it comes to dealing with it. His face scrunches up a little as he calls on stores of patience, taking a minute to process it all before he holds up his hands to indicate everyone pause for a second. Then he gestures to Ianto --

"He's Welsh and he's not an alien, nor is he drugged. Though I'm sure he appreciates your concern." The sideways look he shoots Ianto is barely containing a roll of his eyes. "Look, why don't we start again?"

Look, a topic diversion so we don't have to talk about Ysverai! Nothing like resetting a conversation before it gets dangerous. John claps his hands together and tries for a forced air of rallying cheer. Adopt, adapt and improve -- rescue the situation before Rodney latches on and drags it all out of them in the first few minutes.

"Did you just get out of stasis today?" John prompts, and looks to Ianto questioningly in case he can fill in too. "Just found him? See, I bet the Natha knew we could use his help!"

Come on, Ianto, assist in the topic reset! Evasive manoeuvres!

Edited (Belated typo correction ) 2018-09-11 12:53 (UTC)

Ianto turns to make a face at the other man in turn. He's from Cardiff, for crying out loud. (Well, Newport technically, but still.) And anyway, what's wrong with making coffee and fixing holes when there are holes to be fixed? If it's really that offensive then he won't even mention the part about how he's actually done John's laundry for him, some of which is also laying folded on his bed behind him just now (including the missing panda tshirt).

Drugged? he mouths at John before he turns to glance back between the pair of them. Recognizing that dodge of the topic of the dragon for what it is and taking pity on the other man as he rolls with it, though he still has questions of his own. (Is it really so hard to believe he's not an alien? He just really likes tidying up...)

"Just a little while ago," Ianto confirms, with a look to John to indicate the rest of it will be filed away for later. "In the mess hall. He was assigned there for repairs, from what I understand." He glances to Rodney for confirmation of this fact. "I met him there and offered him a coffee." He doesn't make just anyone a coffee, especially when the rations are low. He was trying to be nice to your friend, John, and now look what's happened. Live-in manservant indeed.

"Right. Welsh. From Earth." They had just had that conversation, hadn't they. And this isn't Pegasus or Atlantis. Strange humans could be from Earth. That's...going to take some getting used to, especially if they're going down to the planet soon. Rodney's only nonplussed for a moment, though, long enough for Ianto explain the coffee situation, a topic with which Rodney is justifiably enthusiastic--enough so that he's suitably distracted from the Ysverai topic for the moment.

"An Americano," Rodney tells John, emphasizing that it wasn't just a coffee, thank you very much. "Even if he's not a manservant, I can see why you've adopted him."

"But no, I've been awake and rattling around alone in this giant tin can for...days." He blinks then, not actually sure how long he's been awake. He's slept? Look, the computers were interesting and the whole place is a puzzle seemingly built specifically for Rodney. With dignity, he takes a sip of his coffee. Then remembers he hasn't told Ianto, "Oh. Thank you. For the coffee. It's very good."

Days?!

John didn't think he could be surprised twice in the same conversation, but there you go. His expression smooths out as he takes this in, blinks a moment then frowns again in irritation --

"You've been here days and you didn't think about looking for me once?"

What the hell, McKay?! The first thing he'd done had been looking for everyone else! He looks over at Ianto, as if for support in this moment where his own insignificance is seemingly rubbed in, then lets out a sigh of resignation.

"Well, it's good to see you anyway."

John does not sound strictly convinced of this, as he says it, because listen. He's still sore. At least pretend to care!

For days. Days? Ianto gets the feeling that neither of them is very certain of that passage of time. Though it's certainly been at least enough time that he might have at least attempted looking for John, in the other man's defense. He seems the sort of person to have been distracted by all the rest of it that the prospect of searching out his friends and companions might have slipped his mind though. Considering how Ianto had found him, after all. Taking apart his mobile and peering at the pieces. As though there were some grander mystery to be solved there. He's rather getting the feeling that Rodney McKay is not the best with people, all things considered. Though at least he thanked him for the coffee, now. And complimented it too. He even seems impressed. Which is something, at any rate. (It's not everyone that can make coffee like he can, after all.)

Ianto shoots John a helpless glance in return, wanting to be supportive in this moment even if he's not entirely certain of how to go about doing so. "It was my pleasure," he replies in return to Rodney's compliment. To John however he continues, "I would have messaged you that we'd met up sooner but I wasn't sure where you'd be. We could have had you join us." He glances aside at Rodney, before back at John. "For a coffee perhaps. It makes it a change, from the chips this time."

Is he normally like this? the look he shoots at the other man seems to question. At least he'd guessed right about the choice of beverage, if nothing else. Though perhaps giving him caffeine had been a mistake, in hindsight.

"Are you kidding?" Rodney asks, aghast. He's done the 'try and survive ridiculous space situations' without John and it always went bad to worse. He wasn't an idiot.

"The very first thing I did after I woke up and found something to eat was get to a console and try and dig through"--he waves a hand at the ceiling--"whatever passes for a database in this place to see if you were asleep. Or if you'd been jettisoned and someone would have to retrieve you." Based on the eminently reasonable assumption that he would have awoken first, thank you very much. "All I found were malfunctions and maybe half the names I searched for after yours. If that."

"I was still exhausting avenues. I would have found you eventually." Honestly, when the solution was 'you need to walk around and talk to people,' that was going to have been pretty low on Rodney's list of avenues, which means Ianto probably saved all of them a lot of grief. He grimaces at Ianto, then lifts his chin and says awkwardly, "Ianto...helped. And--I'm glad that not finding your name in the computer was a glitch."

John wants to say I'm in the stupid app the Natha made -- but would Rodney have even launched an app that looked like social media? Probably not, especially if it made him answer profile questions. He wants to say why didn't you just ask someone? But John doesn't know everyone, and Rodney doesn't always... navigate conversations gracefully, and honestly as ridiculous as it is the longer he thinks about it the more he can fully believe Rodney could manage to be in a room next to him and plausibly not find him because for some reason he only considered the most complicated plan possible instead of walking around or knocking on a door.

"Well," he manages diplomatically. "Next time try calling me."

He digs out his phone, hold it up and waves it slightly before lofting his eyebrows. "There's a little app on it, looks like space eHarmony but if you let it set you up a profile it'll let you call anyone else on this station. If the call bounces they're in stasis."

Pocketing it again, he tilts his head toward Ianto.

"You could use it to call Ianto and ask about his manservant rates."

Space eHarmony. Well, that's one way of putting it, he supposes. He's just about to have his own helpful commentary of his own when John tilts his head toward him, and out comes the comment about his manservant rates. Now Ianto's resisting the urge to roll his eyes himself.

"Very funny. You're welcome to add me to your contacts," Ianto replies. "But don't let him give you any ideas." He shoots a glance aside at John. Good to know you're so ready to sell his services. "I'm not for hire. No matter what he says. Though I'm happy to make you another coffee, if you like. When you like. And I'm happy to take requests, when they might be appreciated."

You know. Unlike apparently him having fixed these socks for nothing, apparently. The socks that he's still awkwardly clutching in his hands for that matter. He quirks an eyebrow at the other man, one last attempt himself to hand them off.

"Space eHarmony, really?" Rodney says with derision. A beat later he hurries to dig his phone out of his pocket and starts jabbing at it one-handed. And there...it is. An app he hadn't deigned to open because really. "Oh."

He looks between the two of them, his face working through several variations of annoyed (and/or annoyed embarrassment that he'd prefer to never admit to) as he reboots his expectations of the situation. Significantly less dire than anticipated. Which is deeply, deeply strange and he's not actually sure he likes it, but it means he's just going to neglect to mention that he'd gone straight to taking his phone apart to see if it he could use something he learned to help fix the computer glitches.

"It would be that easy," he settles on with a grumble, eyeing Ianto protesting that he's not a manservant in the same breath as he offers both coffee and to fill requests. As such, Rodney sounds mildly suspicious when he says, "I would like coffee. I'll add you both." He pauses, then says in exasperation, "Oh, just take the socks."

Fine, fine. John takes the socks with a slight sneer of irritation and begins to pull them on, because he doesn't have to be happy about it and this is awkward. Also

"I can't believe you've been here for days!"

What is letting go? John Sheppard has no idea.

"What have you been doing? Oh --"

As quickly as it had come, John's irritation vanishes in favour of childlike exuberance over his subject: dangerous things.

"Did you see the gundams?"

Giant robot suit things, Rodney. They exist! John wants one. They have exciting, dangerous features. He sits down on the edge of the nearest bed and fishes around under it for shoes. His shoes, they're here somewhere? Probably.

"I think they picked up some of our puddlejumpers too but they won't give one back to me until I demonstrate good behaviour, which is sorely unfair -- I've been on my best behaviour!"

For a given value of best.

For the love of god, John, they're just socks! They keep your feet warm, these ones are actually quite nice, that's why Ianto had fixed them instead of just throwing them away once he'd discovered you'd been wearing holes through them. Don't complain, just be warm.

Ianto throws Rodney a look at John's statement that suggests exactly what John's best behavior has been like. If Rodney really does know John as well as it has been implied, then he will definitely know how well John has been behaving. Even if they haven't told him about the dragon yet.

"He's upset because there's a teenager out there who's got one of those flying suits and he's still grounded," Ianto explains. Doing his best not to help the other man locate his shoes this time. Even if he's pretty sure he knows exactly where they are. "They won't even let him near the thing, last I checked."

"I might have not been days," Rodney finally admits. "Just"--he waves his phone at the ceiling before returning to prodding it--"Trying to fix ovens. Getting into the computer systems. That stupid simulation..."

But John has said the magic words. "Gundams?" he echoes. He looks to Ianto for help and is rewarded with context. Really, there's only one thing that 'gundam' could possibly describe. He's cautiously delighted about the prospect of giant robot suits, teenager-driven or not.

"Of course they wouldn't let him near it." There's a scoff in the comment, but it's a fond-ish scoff of only mild antagonism. "Of course. Best behavior. Ha! You weren't there," he tells Ianto, "But if the simulation this morning was any indication, he's gotten even more reckless since--"

At this he pauses, however, previous conversation dropping into place. "Six months? How long have you been here?"

More reckless? John is sorely tempted to take a pot shot about Rodney's own behaviour when he suddenly grinds to a halt mid-sentence and redirects. Six months? When did anyone say that? What is Rodney even referring to? John looks hesitantly at Ianto, assuming -- maybe this is something they were talking about?

"Something like that?" he replies, trying to think back. "It's probably close to six, maybe a little under --but not much."

There was the whole tutorial-level style thing on the ship before they beamed down, then the trip into Olympia, then the fancy free drinks party. It's kind of a blur. He finally spots the pair of shoes he wants and gets up to fish them out from under the other bed, sitting on the edge to pull them on and begin lacing them up.

"It's not like I wanted to wake up on my own. I told them they should wake you up! Even if they'd probably lock you out too."

Like they do him, so he can't do anything. John's not bitter about that, it's just that he's bitter about it.

More reckless since...? There's a part of Ianto hanging on to the end of that sentence, wishing that Rodney might have continued his thought. There's a part of Ianto hanging onto every piece of information about John that the other man might drop in this conversation that the other man might not have shared with him himself, truth be told.

He tries not to make it as obvious as he feels, though. Nodding slightly in response to the look that John gives him. Yes, this is something he'd mentioned before, giving a rough estimate of how much time he'd spent as the other man's roommate. Trying to prove that he really did know the man they that he'd claimed to have in common with McKay, so that he wasn't some odd stranger who randomly recognized him despite the fact they really weren't in Kansas anymore.

"John and I woke up about the same time, about six months ago," Ianto fills in. And they've been roommates pretty much the whole time, Rodney will be able to gather, from what he's said before. "I've done my best to keep him out of trouble, but--"

Wait, back up a minute. Ianto trails off, Rodney's words finally processing as he does, flicking his eyes at John before glancing back to Rodney and asking, "What happened in the simulation?"

Edited 2018-09-21 20:58 (UTC)

"Of course they should have woken me up," Rodney says, indignant. "I can't believe you're even still alive." Without me goes unsaid, if strongly implied. He finally pockets his phone, giving up on it for now, and he chugs the remainder of his now lukewarm coffee before it gets too disgusting to nurse. "They could try to lock me out. But I take it that isn't relevant anymore?" He plops the mug down on the nearest surface.

"I mean, there's only so much anybody can really do," Rodney tells Ianto, apparently serious. He sighs, folding his arms. "But the simulation was pulling out every sort of monster it could find in my head and filling the halls of Atlantis with them. Wraith, Klingons, Asuran, Daleks, a few nasties of the human variety and I think I heard the call of something that I don't know if we'd ever actually named beyond 'those giant pterodactyl things on M5S-823...'"

He trails off, blinks at Ianto, and adds, "Right. But this shadow monster tried to eat us, and I thought it was one of mine, but--"

Rodney furrows his brow, turning to John. "I don't think it was mine."

Oh, look! They're back on the topic he didn't really want to talk about. Thanks for that, Rodney. John narrows his eyes at him in irritation, as much for I can't believe you're still alive as for the shadow-monster topic.

"Can we remember that I'm in the room when discussing how much trouble I am?"

No? No, okay. Fine. Just carry on discussing how it's amazing he hasn't gotten himself killed when, oops, okay, actually he has. John feels a wave of unease as he finishes lacing his shoes and stands up.

"We were both in the simulation so it was a mix of both our memories. Hence the weird monster."

We're not talking about the dragon! Totally dodging talking about the dragon. He's half mentioned it once, so Ianto knows what it is he's dodging and you know what he doesn't care.

It takes Ianto a moment to realize that Rodney had even mentioned Daleks. Or rather, that he mentioned them like he knows what they are, jumbled into the list of terrors with a few that even Ianto doesn't know how to identify.

He glances between the other two men, opening his mouth and closing it again. Where does he even begin... He had been questioning them about John's reckless behavior, up until this bomb had dropped. He had thought that he and John had lived in different universes from each other. But Rodney--

"I'm sorry," Ianto says, after a visible pause. "Can we just -- back up a few moments. Did you say... There were Daleks?" He glances between John and Rodney again, before asking again, "You've gone up against the Daleks?"

"Oh, please," Rodney tells John. "We all know exactly what you're like. Six months"--a gesture at Ianto--"is plenty of time." To learn that a certain someone is self-sacrificingly heroic on an epic scale and probably the only person alive that can hold even the worst of untenable situations together, obviously. What else could he possibly be talking about? "Especially to see some sort of weird monster that I don't remember. Please tell me it was from a movie and not something you saw--"

He means to finish with something you saw here, because that seems like very important information: that their new planet is full of terrifying unkillable monsters. Except, he's interrupted by an outburst from Ianto that startles him straight out of even that train of thought.

"No? Why would we have...?" He's baffled by the question. He scrunches his face in looks to John for help with this one. "You are from Earth-Earth right? Not another planet you call Earth?"

John scrunches his face right back at Rodney in defiance. What do you mean plenty of time? Stop waving your hands at him like that.

"Yes, Rodney, he's from Earth-Earth. We're even from the same year, he knows what In-N-Out and Deadpool are, he's fine -- and no," John adds to Ianto. "We didn't fight Daleks, there was just one in the simulation. Daleks aren't scary, anyway, they can't go up stairs."

So there. Problem solved! Since John is assuming Ianto's confusion is over fighting a Dalek when Daleks aren't real. Which means his reassurance that one just appeared in the simulation will calm every down, right? No imminent Dalek threat.

What does that question even mean, Earth-Earth? Hasn't he told Rodney nearly four times now that he's from Wales? Cardiff? How many other Earth planets could possibly have a Cardiff, never mind the rest of it. He appreciates John's defending him, but his comments about the Daleks only puzzle him further. He glances between the other two men, frowning slightly before he speaks up to question them further.

"I don't know what gave you that impression, but they're certainly doing it now," he counters. "Or they were able to at Canary Wharf, at any rate." He flicks his eyes to John. That might not mean much to Rodney, but it should to him. He has to have mentioned it before. The Battle. Lisa. Hadn't he mentioned the Daleks?

"Canary Wharf?" Rodney asks, because he'd never heard of that. Well, maybe as a place. "Sort of an odd name." Maybe for one of the episodes?

But more pressing than new episodes of old scifi: "Wait. The same year?" Rodney asks right on the heels of his prior comment, running half-over any thought of reply. "You say that like you're implying that he could be from anywhere but the same year. The Storm swallowed Earth the same time for all of us. If you're from Earth-Earth--" Rodney redirects to Ianto. "Which we've apparently established. Which means you could have been from an alternate Earth."

Boy does Rodney hate alternate Earth timelines. Just on principle.

They're doing it now? Doing what, going up stairs? Listen, he's a few years behind on his Doctor Who honestly so maybe they changed it but last he saw they were plunger-dustbins and not very agile. Forgive him for thinking they're not scary. Still --

"I think the Storm hits places at different points in different realities. There are definitely people here from what we'd consider the past, although why they bring us all forward to the same fixed point I don't know. Maybe so we can all have group therapy over the problem together."

It hurts his head a little to think about. What if a different version of himself was saved and brought here? What if a different version of himself... from his past? That's really the last thing he needs.

"Maybe the Natha have a purpose for us all that they just haven't revealed yet," Ianto points out, ever the 'optimist'. "I still don't think they're doing this all out of the goodness of their hearts. Saving us from our dying worlds simply because we'd be dead otherwise. Maybe our existence powers this place for them, maybe or being here is what keeps them around, I don't know."

He glances around nervously. He probably shouldn't be sharing these thoughts on the station where they might be able to hear him. And there's still the matter of the rest of this anyway.

"Canary Wharf is the name of the area I worked in London," Ianto supplies, since John hadn't. "There was an attack. On the tower I worked in specifically." He glances aside at John, wondering how much he should tell Rodney about Torchwood here. "We called it the Battle of Canary Wharf after the fact. The Battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen, it was. A massacre."

What the hell do you mean they're not scary, John. They kill people.

"I'd say it's pretty likely that we are from different realities, at least in some ways," he continues. "I've never heard of a Stargate, and I'm pretty sure I would have by now at least through UNIT radios. America isn't that good at keeping secrets."

Rodney make a noise of disgust over John's 'group therapy' comment, registering his opinion on that. "Great, just what we need, a higher purpose." He has zero compunctions about insulting the Natha to their face, if it comes to that. He just hasn't found any yet. "I sincerely doubt they have hearts, regardless of whether or not there's any goodness in them. But--"

Just a moment. Ianto was saying. That Daleks. Attacked London. And fought the Cybermen. At Canary Wharf. "Are you seriously telling me that you're from a reality where Daleks are real?" Rodney has Opinions about the multiverse. They are many. To John, equally as incredulously, "Did you even ask if he was from the same reality?"

This is the point where John's whole grip on reality feels like it's starting to slip.

"I mean," John says, somewhat awkwardly -- "It sounded like we were. He -- knows about normal things! I mean he works in a secret underground place but, so do we!"

Work in a secret place. Not exactly underground, other than Cheyenne Mountain kinda, but occasionally underwater and mostly in a different galaxy? That's still weird.

He didn't think Ianto literally thought Daleks were real. He thought he just had nightmares about them because they're weird and creepy!

Ianto's eyes trail between the pair of them uneasily.

"Of course they're real," he answers, uncertain as to why this is even a question. John and Rodney have obviously heard about them after all.

"I mean," he amends. "I know that they aren't supposed to be around anymore, but that's. Rather a long story. Torchwood..." He glances aside at Rodney to explain, "That's the, ehm. Secret underground place that I work for. We've gathered as much information as we could, and we were good, but. Our research can only get us so far."

Edited (repetition) 2018-10-06 15:58 (UTC)

I mean technically they were originally based out of a secret underground place, so Rodney does follow the logic. And it would make sense that other countries also had secret alien-fighting things happening, because there were a lot of aliens out there and he's not so arrogant as to assume that all close encounters just-so-happen to take place under Stargate jurisdiction. However, Rodney was pretty sure he'd have noticed Daleks.

"They're fiction," Rodney tells Ianto bluntly. "In our reality they're fiction." That's not to say he's not sympathetic. "But you're right. You would have known by now if your reality has Stargates." At the very least Carter would have figured out about Torchwood. That's how these things worked. John and Rodney had been in another galaxy, so it's not like it mattered much, but they'd still gotten news even if nothing had affected them.

They're fiction, Rodney protests, and something occurs to John suddenly. He hesitates, face scrunching up in indecision as he looks between them, then he tilts his head in half-acceptance.

"Technically," he begins, "there's a TV show about the Stargate program. So... we're fictional too."

Not that it's entirely accurate or anything, but... it's not entirely inaccurate. Which means it is... possible for something to be both fictional as a concept and... also real. It's possible they think Daleks are fictional, but they aren't.

Fiction. As in -- no, he doesn't really want to ask or know, truth be told. Though he can imagine, judging by John's follow up comment about television programs. Ianto raises his hands to run over his face and through his hair, taking a moment to step back and process this as best he can. Different realities is one thing. Being fictional in one of them is another. No, it's fine. Everything is fine. It doesn't make his life, the things he'd experienced in it, any less real. He just has to keep reminding himself of that, every time he starts thinking about it a little too hard.

"Look," he says, after gathering himself away from the edge of losing it entirely. "I don't -- it doesn't matter." He looks to Rodney before back at John. "Whatever realities we might have come from, we're sharing the same one now. As far as I can tell, Earth was pretty much the same. It's just -- the other parts where it starts to get weird. But everyone here is a living, breathing, real human being, yeah? So let's just. Leave it at that, yeah?"

"Yes, yes, of course, we are too," Rodney says to John's point, waving it away. "And that's even in our universe to begin with. The point is that it's an alternate universe. There's always leakage between different realities. If the closer ones already contain us in some configuration, it would make sense that further-separated ones would express the same...shadows. Ripples. The bigger the impact, the deeper the imprint."

What he's trying to say is that it doesn't matter, regardless of—oh, well. He's sort of agreeing with Ianto, actually.

"Of course it doesn't matter. Breathing and all that." He pauses then, looking between the two of them with some consternation. John had sounded a teeny bit like he did when he was trying to cover for something Rodney said that may not have been the most diplomatic. Rodney is not the best judge of expression, though. Frowning at Ianto after a glance at John, he asks, "Is something wrong?"

Is something wrong?

John squints incredulously at Rodney, and weighs up a few possible things to say. Snippy sarcasm feels appealing but probably won't help Ianto feel better about all this. He needs to try and keep it calm.

"You want a drink?" he prompts of Ianto instead, eyes flicking between him and Rodney. Even if it's coffee, John feels like he probably wants something. Maybe also to just. Sit down. Probably also to stop talking about this.

It's probably for the best that John breaks them out of this cycle. Ianto will only grow more and more incredulous at the line of conversation -- is something wrong?, honestly. No, nothing's wrong at all, why would he be upset about arguing this point at all? It's not as though it's the concept of his entire reality being called into question or anything.

But John seems to be able to read him pretty well, or maybe it's just the situation as a whole. Regardless Ianto lets out an audible sigh and nods in response to the offer of a drink.

"Please," he breathes, gratefully. "A drink sounds pretty good right about now." Coffee. Alcohol. Whatever he can get his hands on, truth be told. Anything to stop talking about different realities and focus back into this one.

"Oh, I could go for something." Rodney perks up. The question may not have been directed at him, but he's not going to turn down spending more time with John (and apparently Ianto) now that he's finally tracked him down. Or, well, was escorted by a nice man with surprisingly good posture to John.

Probably just as well that Ianto didn't actually answer the question, because Rodney would just keep trying to reassure him re: alternate universes and, well, Rodney being reassuring is not necessarily actually reassuring.

"It's strange what they have and done have up here. I'm not sure how anyone is expected to spend any amount of time on the station, considering."

"Right," John says, in a mild sort of way that isn't actually an agreement or disagreement. "Well, why don't we start with getting a drink up here then we can work out where we're going from there. Obviously there's a bit of catching up to do."

You know, on topics that are anything other than Ianto and Daleks and whatever other Doctor Who references he may or may not have in his life.

John gestures back to the doorway and offers them both his brightest smile.

"Shall we?"

The correct answer is yes, everyone is leaving and then drinking something and there will be no protests or topic changes.

Ianto glances warily between the pair of them. John, with that smile, and Rodney, who for all Ianto knows may have just deemed him his next science project. But John's doing his best to keep the peace between the pair of them, Ianto can see that from here. And he appreciates it more than he'll be able to admit.

So after a moment's hesitation, he nods towards the door.

"Lead on, then," he replies, indicating the door and the hallway beyond. Bending to retrieve his backpack where he'd set it down and strapping it back in place. "Just because the Natha have up and disappeared doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to find something, even if we will have to pour it for ourselves."

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