Pitstop at Cardiff Rift

[Iris Wildthyme]

Mid-May 2008 - Long before Tosh, Owen and Ianto met Death; about five months after the DW episode: The Runaway Bride.

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A big, red London double decker bus - specifically the Number 22 to Putney Common - appeared out of nowhere, smack dab in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass, and it parallel parked alongside the fountain. If anyone here in Cardiff saw the bus, it would raise a number of questions - mostly, ‘What is a London double decker bus doing in the middle of a pedestrian-only plaza in Cardiff?’

So, Iris Wildthyme’s TARDIS chose to make itself invisible for the time being.

“You be a good girl, and I’ll be back soon,” its quirky operator said fondly before making her exit into the world outside.

Iris needed to refuel her TARDIS, and its sensors had indicated that right here in Cardiff Bay was a Space-Time rift that emitted a large amount of artron energy, which she thought would be just perfect for what she was looking for...

And, all Iris had to do was park the TARDIS-bus and leave it alone while it worked on soaking up artron energy like a sponge.

But, while her TARDIS worked on recharging its batteries, so to speak, Iris would have to find something to do to occupy herself with.

Iris slunk out of her TARDIS, locked its outside door and strode into the mostly empty plaza, her mind adrift on countless thoughts - one of which she spoke aloud, muttering, “Cardiff...? Really...? The perfect petrol station for my baby girl just had to be in as dull and inconvenient a place as Whales...? Not fair... Why couldn’t this Rift be in a big city, like London or Amsterdam? And, what am I going to do to while I wait for Time to pass the slow way?”

With a heavy, bored sigh, Iris plopped herself down and took a casual seat on the curb of the sidewalk - on the square of concrete that was located right next to the hidden entrance that raised and lowered people into and out of Torchwood 3’s underground HQ. Iris lit a cigarette - mostly out of boredom - and took a good look at her drab surroundings. The only thing that really stood out as ‘cool’ to the eccentric, renegade Time Lady was the impressive water tower behind her, whose facade was obscured by water running down its length... It was a giant water fountain, and it gave off a lovely white noise, which Iris sat and contemplated in silence for a few moments. Then she stirred slightly from her reverie at the thought of finding a pub where she could get a gin and tonic... or two, or three...

Iris was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a perception-filtered block of concrete beside her, and she consciously made the decision to go out in search of a decent pub as soon as she had finished with her smoke - unless something, or someone(s) else pops up first...

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PICS:
Outfit
Trenchcoat
Shoes

[Ianto Jones]

As the Welshman was sipping his hot coffee a red double decker came out of thin air. He knew it wasn’t the rift. It was terrible strange this bus just appeared out of thin air. It had to be the hot coffee from Starbucks. He should have stayed away from that hellish place. Knowing that they poisoned their coffee with addictions and whatnot, but what stuff did they put in his coffee? He looked down at cup in his right hand. He took the lid off the cup, sniffed the coffee and his blue eyes peeked over the rim. So, it wasn’t the coffee. It was good he was alone because Jack would roll his eyes at Ianto thinking it was his coffee. He tipped the cup over to spill the coffee. It was awful anyways.

The double decker vanished. Stunned as he witness what he had seen. Should he contact Jack? No, he was capable to investigate on his own. Jack was not his babysitter.

Standing near a light post where a mail box was, Ianto saw a lady appear out of nowhere. It was the area where the Doctor’s box appeared. It was near the HUB too. This was serious, she did not belong here.

As she was sitting on the curb, the female started to smoke and did not seem to notice the tea boy. She was very close to the entrance. It could be one of those things that just happen. Like when they work underground to fight Weevils. Right, this was not an ordinary lady.

It looked like she was about to discover the HUB but she moved off. The man decided to proceed to investigate. Rubbing his right ear, he counted and waited. As he was counting he was imaging her going in the pub, go up to the bar keep, get the man’s attention, and get herself a drink. Or someone seen her and orders her a drink. So, he fixed his tie and slowly walking to the pub. By now she would have a few sips of her drink.

As he got to the pub, he gave it another few minutes. He sneaked a peek in the window pretending he was seeing he can check the place out.

So here he goes he walks in, smiles as he saw the crowd. The smell of the smoke was not one his things to smell. He does not understand how Owen can hang out of these smelly establishments.

“Hi,” he said to her as he walked up to her side. “I like your coat.” It was a start. He waited to see what she would say.

The eye candy was wearing a navy blue suit, pink tie and a white shirt under neath the blazer.

ooc hey let you know I play Owen too. Good to see Iris here. =) Let the chaos hit Cardiff

[Iris Wildthyme]

Iris set her gin and tonic down on the wooden surface of the bar and turned to face the gentleman who had complimented her coat. She smiled invitingly and said, "Why, thank you," while at the same time she took in his features. The man who had spoken to her had the most adorable brown eyes, and he looked absolutely delish in his three piece suit - a well put together man.

Perhaps Cardiff wasn't as dull as she'd dreaded...

"I like your tie," Iris said, returning the compliment. She wondered if it was silk. "By the way, I'm Iris... Iris Wildthyme," she continued, offering him another smile and her hand to shake, as she well knew was customary in most of the developed cultures here on Earth.

[Romanadvoratrelundar]

Travelling was tiring. Though the UK was only about two-three hours behind Eastern Time, she was exhausted, and all she wanted was a drink. An alcoholic beverage to be precise. Her clothes had been rather simple. A pair of black leggings, a white and black horizontal striped sweater-dress, and a black double-breasted peacoat. The last piece of her outfit, was a pair of black heeled boots that went up to her knees.

A pub was the first place she went after getting checked into a local Cardiff hostel and storing her belongings. Just some pounds, exchanged from the litas she normally used, she entered a pub near Cardiff Bay, and noticed an attractive young man, as well as a woman with a bright red coat.

She glanced about, taking in details that if it hadn't been for her own training amongst Torchwood, Cecilė would have missed. Nothing caught her immidiate attention, and yet she knew that she couldn't have done too much more. Not many knew of Lithuania's Torchwood, seeing as they kept undercover to the point that their own government knew little of their existence.

Stepping up to a counter, Cecilė ordered a cider. She keenly walked over to the two that had caught her attentio when she entered, and kept a neutral expression, which had been a common thing to do where she was from. "Hello. Madam, you have a lovely coat, and you sir. Nice suit. Well put together, I'd say." Though her words were tainted with an obviously foreign accent, the way she worded herself was nearly as any other English speaker would.

(( Thank you for letting me join, Iris. c: ))

[Iris Wildthyme]

"Why, thank you!" Iris said, turning to face the pretty blonde woman, absolutely delighted to have received another compliment. She was totally going to have to wear this coat again!

"And, what a beautiful accent!" Iris went on, returning the compliment. "Sounds Eastern European," she rambled on, showing off how well she could place an accent. "A bit Baltic, perhaps?"

"Oh! Sorry, I don't mean to get too personal," Iris said, "At least, not before we know each other a bit better - I'm Iris," she said, extending her hand for the woman to shake. "Iris Wildthyme. I'm not from around here, either," she confessed.

"And, this is...?" Iris said, trailing off and leaving an opening for the good looking gentleman to introduce himself, too.

Once introductions had been made, Iris was back to her questions. "So, are you here for business, or pleasure?" Iris asked the two people with her, trying to make conversation.

"It's a bit of both for me... I'm here in Cardiff on a pit stop of sorts," she explained. "Got to refuel, you know? And while I'm here, I thought, why not take in the local culture?" Iris was speaking very generically... very vaguely. She needed to know that these two were on the up and up, and that it would be OK to talk about strange timey-wimey things with them - a lot of people can't handle that kind of thing, and Iris wasn't sure that her TARDIS had enough 'juice' for an emergency get-a-way just yet.

[Owen Harper]

occ I post soon. Don't be afraid to nag me. Go over me if you wish.

[Ianto Jones]

The eye candy looked to the blonde woman who had an interesting accent. “Thank you. She is right, you do have a nice accent,” he replied, looking at her. “Nice pea-coat.” He had a liking for jackets. He was listening to Iris make her introduction. Ianto gave them a warm smile. “Ianto Jones,” he said, offering his hand for exchange of handshakes.

The Welshman heard Iris mention she made a pit stop. Was that what she was doing? He remembered the trouble when the Doctor parked his Tardis in London and Cardiff. “I am local. I am actually out doing some shopping,” he turned his attention to Iris. “Yes, visitors do come from all over the place. All kinds of people, they seem like alien. They slip in and slip out,” he said as he was talking about the Doctor and his Tardis. That was him hinting her that he was onto her.

He raised his right hand to get the bartender’s attention. The rugged man came over. “I will be paying,” he told me the man as Ianto looked at the two females.

[Iris Wildthyme]

When Iris heard Ianto say the word 'alien', she perked up a bit. "Sounds like a ninja..." she stated, trailing off a little bit lost in thought. Then she grinned and went continued on with a bit of a giggle in her voice, saying, "Couldn't you just imagine? Ninja aliens?" Her eyes went wide with wonder for just a moment, when she spoke the word 'imagine'.

Of course, Iris hadn't mentioned the fact that in the early 1980s she had once picked up Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird for an adventure that had taken them to one of several planets out there that had human-like animals as the dominant species of life - 'furries', if you will - and they had the most amazing pizza party with a small family of turtle-people who had a talking pet rat. It had been a good trip - and, apparently, quite profitable for her one-time companions.

THAT is why she was grinning so hard. Bit of an inside joke with herself about having inadvertently inspired the creation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles upon returning Eastman and Laird to their timeline; however, mutants were not necessarily the same thing as "aliens" - but still, the Time Lady's brain connected these things together and had been vastly amused as the result.

What Ianto ought to find most interesting, though, was that Iris did not at all freak out or react like a 'normal' person might when aliens were brought up in conversation. In fact, she hadn't even lifted an eyebrow in query or otherwise looked at Ianto oddly. Iris seemed to be quite candid and casual as they shifted gears from complimenting each other, to aliens and the bar tab - despite the potential for weirdness.

Iris had nothing to hide, per se - at least, not from Jack's Torchwood. The old Torchwood, perhaps... But, it's just that she didn't want to jump up and down and announce to the world who she was and see if anyone else wanted to join her for a little jaunt around the cosmos.

She was trying to stay on the 'DL'. (OOC: 'Down Low' - to keep a low profile)

"Thank you, Ianto," Iris said gracefully when Ianto had gallantly volunteered to cover the tab.

"Say... Is there anything exciting going on in Cardiff?" Iris asked her two new friends, and she clearly meant something other than standing around in a pub, drinking. Though... Iris was very fond of booze.

[Romanadvoratrelundar]

Being complimented on her accent was typically unusual. Most people either assumed she was Russian, or Polish, or some odd mix of the two. It was pleasant to see that she was not being categorized as either due to the history that her country had with the two neighboring nations.

When the male agreed with the woman, she could only bring herself to smile slightly, a gesture that would have been considered alien, in this case, meaning foreign, had she been in her homeland.

"That is correct ma'am." She said and then grasped the woman's hand. She kept a mental note of Iris, and associated it with the red coat.

"My name is Cecilė Jonaitė. As you said, it is indeed Baltic. I am from Lithuania." She stated calmly as she shook Iris's hand and then extended her hand to Ianto. She also made a mental note of Ianto, quite an odd name, which she had repeat once or twice to pronounce properly.

"As with you, it is a little of both for me as well. I am in Cardiff on a business trip. Although at the moment this is my leisure time before I begin my search tomorrow." She stated and listened intently to the woman's tone, and the words. Though it was very commonly worded, she wondered if there was subliminal messaging underneath.

She vaguely listened to Ianto's comments about aliens, wondering if he was Torchwood, or of something similar. UNIT perhaps.

Upon hearing that the male would be paying, she merely raised an eyebrow at his actions and then met his eye-contact.

"That is not necessary mister Jones." She said and shook her head slowly. "I will be paying for myself." She corrected as she glanced over to the bartender.

She noticed one thing about Iris when Ianto had previously mentioned aliens. She seemed to pick up on the word, much like a university student, when their professor had mentioned anything about being on an exam.

The rest of the conversation, she had stayed quiet, until the final question.

"Is anything exciting going on?" Cecilė repeated. "Of course there is. Cardiff is a large city. What large city doesn't have excitement? It could even be right under our noses, or our feet, and we wouldn't know." She began, as her expression went back to her calm neutral one.

"There are always things that most people do not catch, that if you look out of the corner of your eye you may see, but not notice. Odd things that don't quite belong."

[Iris Wildthyme]

Iris liked this young woman, Cecilė, and she admired her independence.

"So... What are you searching for, Cecilė? Something odd that doesn't quite belong?" Iris asked with an intrigued smile. "Because, if you are... I think I may be able to help," Iris volunteered. "I sort of... specialize in that sort of thing," she said with a bit of a Mona Lisa smile.

"Anyone care to join me for a nightcap?" Iris invited. Something told her that it would be alright to invite them into her TARDIS for a cup of tea, or something a bit stronger. Something told her that these people would understand and appreciate what she could show them.

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(OOC: Owen/Ianto's player is taking some time off, as seen HERE, and hopes to be back with us by the New Year. What do you want to do with this thread in the meantime? We could start a new thread, if you'd like? Maybe put this one on "pause" until Ianto's back? *HUGS*)

[Romanadvoratrelundar]

((OOC: Ah, let us pause.I'd be pleased with a new thread however. ))