Frienemy?

[Bryan Wilkeson]

((In what way does he look alien? I went out of my way to make him look as human as possible with only a few tip-offs.))

[Gylfie Murdoch]

Ooc; I read through Bryan's character profile and
began to find his sleek and pristine appearance to
be a bit unnerving (and definitely not human). I
mean, he's obviously young, yet his hair is white.
That's nothing to go by, but Gylfie's a smart and
observant chicken. She'd be able to catch his body
language, his attitude, the age in his eyes, the way
he speaks about certain things.

I look at your avatar each time before I reply to
ensure I understand what Gylfie's seeing. Bryan
just doesn't look human.

I actually had a better argument for why she knew,
but I can't find Bryan's character profile to refresh
my memory and it's almost 3AM. c; I'm totally brain-
dead. Ack.

[Bryan Wilkeson]

Bryan shrugged. "Working for Torchwood doesn't help much either. Here you are trained to have no real tolerance of alien life. I'm surprised I got a job here in the first place." He put the papers where he remembered them being, preparing an explanation to Tosh if she found something out of order. He looked up at Gylfie and smiled softly. "I suppose you have a better eye than most people. I've usually been able to get away with the excuse of dying my hair and having a thing about touching my palms on things so that I can wear the gloves." He watched her a moment before saying. "Would you want to see what my hands look like without the gloves? It's nothing too special. They're just webbed."

[Gylfie Murdoch]

Gylfie's back remained tight against the wall as Bryan spoke. She was still roiling with emotion, but a new one had taken over - curiosity. He seemed to have a wealth of knowledge about humans.

His mother must have explained human life to him. Was he born here? I can't remember if he mentioned that. Her eyes followed his hands as he placed the papers on Toshiko's desk. Well, he seems at home.

Outlandish ideas were whipping through her head when he offered to show her his hands. Her self-preservation took over once more. Although the idea of seeing an alien's webbed hands intrigued her, she just couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead, she just nodded, smiling weakly.

Weird... I want to know everything about him, without having him anywhere near me. Jack and the others wouldn't be too happy if I tried to kill him anyway.

Ooc; It's bad, I know. I've written so much today
that my writing fountain is running dry and my
fingers feel raw. I got very little sleep last night.
I'm sorry.

[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Bryan Wilkeson]

Bryan watched her and sighed. "Maybe another time, after you've calmed down a bit. You look very tense." He put his hands in his pockets. "Coffee? Won't be as good as Ianto's but..." He shrugged.

[Gylfie Murdoch]

Ooc; Ianto died. They gave him one of the
most boring deaths I've ever seen!

"A coffee would be lovely," she said quietly, taking a deep breath in and releasing it slowly. Her heart had been racing since she'd entered the Hub.

As she waited for Bryan to make his way to the coffee machine, she examined some of the papers that had been returned to Tosh's desk. They outlined the usual procedures, recent rift activity, alien life out in the countryside. Same old, same old. Gylfie had half expected to arrive and be swept into yet another dangerous mission, but things seemed to have calmed down since her last visit.

Nothing new, except... She turned to focus her gaze on Bryan. An alien working for Torchwood. Ha.

"Are you enjoying your time working here?" The words came out softly. Gylfie had never been good at starting small talk, but the silence was awkward and left her wringing her hands nervously.

[Bryan Wilkeson]

Bryan nodded and headed over to the coffee machine. He glanced up when he heard her speak. He shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, it's a job where I don't really have to hide anything. Mostly doing desk work, however, is a bit dull. Sometimes I can have a bit of fun with the alibis and cover stories, you know. Mostly keep an eye on the Rift. The people are nice enough. Still get a few wary glares from time to time. Takes a while for people to get used to actually working with an alien as well as against them." He looked up at her again. "What do you want in yours?"

[Gylfie Murdoch]

"Milk and two sugars, please," she said, moving to sit down in Toshiko's computer chair again.

Although she still felt cautious, Gylfie had calmed down considerably. Her heart was beating at it's normal pace, her blood no longer rumbling in her ears. Looking at Bryan, she felt a strange sense of sadness, as though he were a kitten stuck in a tree. She was watching, but there was very little she could do. Worse yet, she felt as if she had placed that kitten there. She'd acted unreasonably. She wouldn't yell at a human because of their origin or appearance, so why should an alien be different?

"I do the same work as you. Paperwork, filing - all the important stuff." She smiled and watched his hands work on the machine. "I'm lucky that we only have about seven people looking after one massive country. I get sent on these business trips quite a lot. No one else can afford to leave."

[Bryan Wilkeson]

"Oh. That's very interesting. Where all have you been?" Bryan asked as he carefully measured out the milk and sugar for her coffee. "I've only been to London and Cardiff. Well, when it comes to Earth." He started to make himself a cup of coffee.

[Gylfie Murdoch]

"Well, I've traveled Europe and North America for work, but I've also visited Italy for a school excursion. That was fun..." She watched as Bryan tended to her coffee and moved on to his own. "As you can imagine, I've never left Earth."

She giggled and twisted her fingers in the hem of her red jacket. Leaving Earth had never appealed to her, though she knew it was highly possible. It would be an interesting experience, yes, but why would she want to leave the confines of her imperfect planet? This was home.

"Where have you been outside of Earth?" She asked, curious about what else was out there besides the evil creatures she had met. "What was Kritterla like?" She blushed, realizing she had forgotten where he was from. She'd definitely pronounced it wrong.

[Bryan Wilkeson]

"Kyrilia. Yeah," Bryan said as he gave Gylfie her coffee. "It's really interesting. There's just where continent that takes up about the third of the planet. Basically the same elemental content as Earth. On the continent, in the several years before I was born, human settlers had come and settled, with some suspicion of the Kriterians. They made treaties and agreements so that humans wouldn't mistreat the planet, especially since most of the native species chose to live in their underwater cities." He grinned a bit in memory. "They really were spectacular. I wish you could have seen them. Imagine coral skyscrapers sitting on underwater cliffs, miles below the surface, glowing with blue and yellow orbs of light outlining each structure. And the sounds! Oh, I wish there were Earth equivalents. Even whale song can't compare." As he came to that, he started to slowly become a bit melancholy. He shook his head and pushed the feelings down as he took a sip of his coffee.

[Gylfie Murdoch]

Gylfie received her coffee, careful to avoid touching Bryan's gloved hands. Although she was sure he was part of Torchwood, she didn't want to trust him completely. There had been moments where Torchwood had been infiltrated in the past.

She sat back and sipped on her coffee as Bryan continued talking. The coffee was decent, but she wasn't really paying attention to it. In her mind, she was viewing the lost city of Atlantis, but instead of mermaids, there were little blue sea-monkeys. She'd never seen a Kriterian before, but from the description of their home and song, she knew they were beautiful.

The room became silent as Bryan's voice trailed off. A sadness washed over his face and she momentarily felt guilty for asking about Kyrilia. She continued to sip on her coffee nervously, wondering how to restart the conversation.

"It sounds marvelous," she said quietly. "I wish Earth was half as decent."

[Bryan Wilkeson]

Bryan shrugged. "It wasn't perfect, believe me..." He sat down at one of the desks. "Not everyone in the underwater cities agreed with letting the humans live in peace there. After a few years, some anti-human rebel groups formed, some were violent, most weren't. In retaliation, anti-Kriterian groups formed among the humans. People like my dad and mom weren't taken kindly to by either side." He sipped at his coffee. "One of the groups decided on terroristic tactics, destroying one of the ambassadorial buildings... My dad was one of the people in there..."

[Gylfie Murdoch]

Forbidden love, Gylfie thought as she continued drinking her coffee. The creamy liquid burnt her tongue, but its warmth was a welcome relief after the cold of the outdoors. She was toasty now, the adrenaline and coffee having heated her up sufficiently.

She was listening intently, soaking up the information Bryan was giving her. There was a high chance that she would forget it all later, but she was still willing to learn in the meantime.

"... destroying one of the ambassadorial buildings... my Dad was one of the people in there..."

Hot coffee squirted from her mouth, back into the mug. Her lips were red and her eyes were moist, but not because of the burns. She couldn't believe humans were the cause for Bryan's father's death. Humans - forever ruining people's lives.

I guess he has the right to come here. Let him kill as many people as he wants! She thought sourly, placing her mug beside her on the desk.

"I'm really sorry about your father..." Her voice wavered slightly as she apologized. Her own emotion ran thick in the words. "I never knew my father. My Mum says he was... ah... foreign, too. I am sorry though."

[Bryan Wilkeson]

"Yeah. No one ever found out whether it was the human or Kriterian terrorists," Bryan said as he sipped at his coffee. "And we couldn't exactly stay on a planet that would kill their own people. Mom's home was Earth, not Kyrilia. If I had my choice, I would have stayed, but I was a foolish child that didn't understand then. It was my home, I didn't want to leave. I thought that Mom wanted to erase everything about my father, trying to turn me human by putting me in human schools."