Log with Ianto: The Proof is in the Pudding

[parked]

Sulu knew that this was one of those Terrible, Horrible, Rotten, No Good ideas that he was occasionally prone to having. He was grounded, after all; inviting Ianto over to prove that he wasn't just making up the things he'd been talking about was kind of pointless if you couldn't get to the car to prove any of it.

Still, he'd heard his parents leave to visit his aunt in Bakersfield, so... why not? It wasn't like they'd notice - he was really good at hiding his tracks. So, he'd invited Ianto out to prove that his universe really was all he'd said it was. It was the least he could do to prove he was seriously as awesome as he made himself out to be, after all. So, he waited in his room for the inevitable worldhopping Ianto Jones, wondering if that was too specific a place but figuring that worldhopping itself was already pretty specific an art.

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[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto recognized that Sulu was joking with him, joking right back with the other boy. "Maybe we are. Doesn't mean you aren't, though," he said, with a shrug. "I mean. You've got flying cars. And...aliens. That's pretty weird. Not that that's a bad thing, but. Still pretty weird," he said, with another shrug, as he climbed into the passenger's seat of the hovercar once more.

"At least I know that you've got to drive up the hill this time, and won't be taking me on any sort of dropping coaster rides to get back to your house," Ianto said, with a grin as he fastened his seatbelt. At least, he was counting on the fact that they had to get back before Sulu's parents did that the other wouldn't take him on any sort of joyride or anything before heading back to his house.

[parked]

Sulu climbed into the driver's seat without a thought, flopping into it and buckling up even as he pressed a button on the remote to trigger the thrusters under the car to boot up. "Yeah, well, get used to the alien thing, man - who knows, your timeline might get to first contact faster than ours, and then you'll have aliens walking around your city too."

Pulling out of the parking spot and onto the street, Sulu gave Ianto a look. "I could probably find a way home that has plenty of hills, you know. This is San Francisco, after all - we're known for our hills." He wouldn't - they really did need to go back - but he didn't think the threat was amiss.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shook his head, laughing in wonder at even the idea of there being aliens walking around on the streets of Cardiff, clear as day. "That's mad, that is," he said, with a chuckle. "Absolutely mad."

At Sulu's look at him, Ianto shot an equally poignant look back at him, completely ruined for the fact that the other was driving and therefore couldn't actually notice his look at all. Whatever, the thought was there. "Well, I suppose that's not a bad thing to be known for. S'better than Newport. We're known for... I dunno. Being a dump? The Severn Bridge? Old abandoned steel mills?" He shrugged. "At least I couldn't terrorize you with any of that. Certainly not in a car, at least."

[parked]

There probably wasn't a lot for a place like Newport to be known for - Sulu certainly hadn't heard of it, except for the Newport down in Southern California - but he couldn't imagine that there wasn't something interesting that wasn't a bridge or a bunch of abandoned warehouses. He didn't say as much, since Ianto obviously knew his hometown better than he did, but that didn't change the fact that Sulu imagined there was at least something interesting there from a 20th century standpoint.

"Yeah, well." He shrugged, not really knowing how to respond to that. "When the aliens come, maybe they can make Newport into their San Francisco." He grinned briefly at Ianto as they breezed through a yellow light.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto raised an eyebrow and held back the comment that a yellow light generally meant that they should slow down, and that regardless of how soon they wanted to get back being pulled over when they were both sort of breaking the rules already anyway definitely wasn't the way to go about things. He held his tongue, though, and instead shook his head at the idea of Newport being the next intergalactic hub.

"No way," he said, firmly. "Not Newport it wouldn't be. If anywhere in Wales ever got to be anything like this, it'd probably be Cardiff. It's the most prominent city we have, and it's only about a half-hour away. Why they would pick Cardiff when London's just right across the border, there, though..." Ianto shrugged. "But I guess it's possible. It is a port city, after all, so at least the two've got something in common. Cardiff and San Francisco, that is."

[parked]

"You never know," Sulu replied. "Everyone thought that it'd be New York, London or... something like them that became Federation headquarters, but instead it turned out to be San Fran." Of course, San Francisco was probably a bit bigger that Newport, so there was that. "But either way, who knows. You might get lucky."

He grinned, raising an eyebrow, "And what's the big deal between London and Cardiff? I mean, I dunno anything about Wales, so. I might be wrong, but isn't Cardiff a pretty big city on its own? There's a Cardiff in San Diego, after all, and we usually steal names from important British cities around here." Except for, apparently, Newport.

[torchwoodteaboy]

To be fair to Newport, it had at once been a major port city and steel milling town, before the Great Depression had hit. After that it was on a steady decline until around the 70's when it started to try and make its name on the map again. It definitely wasn't London, but. It was something.

"The difference between London and Cardiff is that one's in England, and the other one's in Wales. Which may not seem like such a difference, since Wales is just a little outcropping of England and all, but we aren't a part of England. There's a sort of... I don't know what you'd call it. A rivalry between the English and the Welsh, has been for a very long time. And well. I'll bet, judging by the fact that I'm pretty sure that you probably don't know anything about the original Cardiff, but at least know something about the original London, so. That tells you which one of them is more of a success than the other..."

[parked]

Sulu didn't really get it, and it was probably obvious from his expression, but he didn't really make an effort to figure it out. There were bits of friendly rivalry between countries (and states) even now, but he wasn't sure if Ianto's sort of rivalry was as passive as the ones he was familiar with.

"Good point," he said at the mention of knowing more about the history of London than Cardiff, "I guess I can see that. Still, man, it's all just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. San Francisco had it - maybe Cardiff will, too." He laughed, "Or Newport. Who knows!"

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto saw that Sulu didn't get it, but it honestly really wasn't something he could explain. The English and the Welsh were always butting heads--they shared the same island, after all, and Wales was much, much older culturally, but England was the bigger power. There wasn't really a way to explain that succinctly, though, so Ianto didn't even try.

"Who knows," Ianto echoed, laughing slightly, echoing Sulu's own laugh. "It could be either Cardiff or Newport. Could be both. Could be both and London, or any combination thereof. Honestly so long as it's nearby, I could care less about where exactly it is, just so that I'm a bit closer to it in my universe than I would be here. I mean, no offense," he said, with a shrug. "But California's pretty much on the other side of the world from me..."

[parked]

"It's not exactly that far, really," Sulu replied, unable to help it - he had a good sense of distance, which came in handy when you had to think about long distances. (Considering the fact that he spent his time daydreaming about being part of Starfleet, that was pretty much an everyday occurrence for him.) "But still, I get what you mean. There's a strong off-world presence in all the major cities, though, so hey. Even if they don't set up shop in the U.K., they'll visit so much you'll start getting sick of them. Tourists suck, no matter where they're from," he added with a grin, pulling short at a red light to keep from rushing through it. They were only maybe five minutes from his street, but he didn't want to take a chance and get a ticket by trying to rush home.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto felt his seatbelt tug a little tight as they stopped so abruptly for the light change, but it was better than running it as far as he was concerned, so he didn't speak up about this either. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean. It makes sense. I guess it's just the fact that we don't really know about aliens existing for a fact that makes me pretty skeptical about the whole thing. I mean... For all I know, there... There might not even be aliens, in my universe. Or well. Maybe there are, but maybe not in the sense that you have them. I don't know." Ianto shrugged, his combined teenage and Welsh pessimism showing. "It's all a bit up in the air, if you ask me."

[parked]

"Well, yeah, that's true," Sulu conceded, sounding a little put-off by the idea. It was a strange one, most definitely - the idea that there was a universe where there weren't planets and races he was familiar with, especially when it had an Earth, was definitely not one he really wanted to think about. How could the Federation ever form if there was no one out there to form it with?

He shook his head. "Well, I mean, you've probably got a slightly different universe from mine, but hopefully it's not that different. I don't think the Earth would be as great as it is now if we never made first contact." He shrugged. "But, I doubt it. Universes are way too big for just one race." He grinned over at Ianto and floored it through the now green light, "You'll get your aliens, I'm sure of it."

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto couldn't help but grip the handle on the door as Sulu floored the accelerator and they shot forward again. "Oi," he said, as a warning, but that's as far as he went. Sulu knew enough not to try to get in trouble at a time like this, after all, he could only hope that he knew enough not to attract trouble to him, even if he wasn't trying.

He grinned back at the aliens comment, though. "I...hope we will. Get our aliens, that is. In my lifetime, preferably. Not that it wouldn't be a cool idea in other times, but. To be able to see things with my own eyes, people and cultures from other planets, how different all the things are, well. It's all a bit fascinating, isn't it?" He shrugged, trying to take away from the fact that he was being rather a huge geek about all of this. Again.

[parked]

Sulu had no problem with Ianto's geekiness, really, and so he didn't point it out or anything like that. "I think so, yeah." At least, he could imagine how it would be fascinating from Ianto's point of view. Maybe he was too jaded to it to notice, but he could at least appreciate it from the other boy. "I hope you guys do end up following our timeline at least a little - the Federation sort of does wonders for everything, and it wouldn't be here if we didn't have other planets to band together with."

The hill home was nothing in the hovercar, and Sulu took them cruising up it without a thought. He moved to open the garage door at the same time as he topped the hill, his house coming into view.

[torchwoodteaboy]

As much as Ianto wasn't going to be laughed at, geeking out about aliens, he figured it was time to change the conversation topic anyway. As they approached Sulu's house on the top of the hill, he said the first thing that came to his mind, which might not have been the most tactful thing to say, but it was the first thing to come to mind.

"You've got a pretty nice house," he said. "Big. Definitely a lot nicer than the estate that I live on..."

[parked]

Sulu hadn't really thought about how his house must have looked to Ianto, but now that he was, he didn't really see any reason to be awkward about it. "It is a bit bigger than what you usually see, but really, the main house isn't much bigger than any other place you'd find. Other than like... apartments and stuff, but that's more because of building arrangements."

He nodded towards the garage, "That's what makes it look so much bigger than it really is. But, we have a lot of ships and stuff, so we need the space." Speaking of space - they were pulling into the garage now, and Sulu realized he'd be saying goodbye to Ianto soon. Which wasn't really bad - he'd see him on the community - but he did feel a little bad for it. It had been fun, after all.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto shrugged, nodding. "Guess so. Most people where I live don't really have garages, after all, let alone garages with ships and hovercars and the likes," he said, with a bit of a smirk.

Ianto was fast coming to the conclusion that he'd be shipping off soon, too. That he just needed to use Sulu's computer to shoot the worldhopper a message and then he'd be gone and back to where he was supposed to be a matter of minutes from then. Ianto was quickly finding that he really didn't want to go. At all. He knew he had to, but he was starting to proverbially shuffle his feet and stall, being slow to unbuckle his belt as Sulu brought them into the garage and started to power down the car.

[parked]

"I think I got that, yeah," Sulu replied to the fact that their garages wouldn't have ships or hovercars or anything. He had a feeling that the other was as anxious to leave as Sulu was to let him go, even if Sulu's reasoning was mostly that Ianto just happened to be more interesting than the people he normally hung out with. Still, if Ianto didn't get back, his dad would get pissed, and that was the last thing either of them wanted to happen.

"C'mon. We better get you a hop out of here before my parents come back," he said, sounding a little reluctant as the car shut down and he took off his seatbelt.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto was pretty sure that from the moment that he'd set foot on this planet and disappeared from his room and normal hiding spots, his father was going to be pissed at him, but he wasn't really about to say that out loud to the boy. It was more than a little bit of a downer after all, the guarantee that he was pretty much going to be in trouble when he got back. It...kind of really sucked that he had to go back at all. But he knew he had to, and running away from home, while tempting, was a really dumb choice on his part, so.

"Yeah," he said, trying not to sound as put-off as he was at the fact that they were about to ship him off back home. "Guess we should. I'm going to need to get access to the community, then. They told me to find them that way, rather than arranging for a specific time or anything like that."

[parked]

Climbing out of the car, Sulu nodded towards the door leading into the rest of the house. "That's cool, you can use my computer. It's pretty intuitive and all, so it should be easy for you to use." Then again, if it wasn't, Sulu would be around to help out. He moved to the door, it sliding open as he approached, and he gestured for Ianto to follow him.

If he'd known Ianto was going to be in big trouble for this, he would've tried to come up with something to help him out with his dad, but he really didn't know much about Ianto's life and he didn't want to pry, so he just let it drop.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto made a bit of a face at the thought of him struggling to use the computer while the other boy sat behind him and watched him fail at it. "...maybe... Maybe it's better if you help me out on that," he said, tentatively. "The one that I'm used to is pretty ancient, even by my standards. I'm not... I'm not sure that I'd really know what I was doing, there."

"Not," he said, trying to save face, "that I need help typing or anything like that. It's just...getting the right window open. I. Might need you to help me out on that sort of thing."

[parked]

Sulu shrugged and nodded; he figured it would be sort of hard for Ianto to get used to the interface, but he'd connect it to the community and let him go from there. It was weird, but the community always showed up as a really old, 21st century sort of website. It worked fine for him, and he didn't have to wait for anything to load at all, but it was still bizarre. At least, though, it meant Ianto probably wouldn't have trouble navigating it from his computer.

He led Ianto through the house, listening for sounds of other people but not hearing anything. He knew they were back too early for his parents to be home, but that didn't mean he couldn't be cautious, right? Leading Ianto into his room, he closed the door and went over to the computer on his desk, leaning over the chair to open up the browser and access the site. "Does it look like this to you?" he asked as he leaned back.

[torchwoodteaboy]

Ianto stepped forward to look at the community's main page over Sulu's shoulder and the back of the chair as well. "Yeah, it does," he said. "S' a bit weird, though, isn't it? I mean. The whole idea of the community and all. I mean. I know it's real. I'm not questioning it. I've made a worldhop over here and all. I'm just saying...it's odd. The idea of it. That something like it would exist."

He leaned over the chair and started to flick through, trying to find the journal of the person that had helped him get over there in the first place, not really rushing to do so. "I never really understood what the hell it had to do with ducks of any sort, though," he said, after a moment. "I mean. It doesn't really make that much sense, as a name for the place, does it?"

[parked]

"I never could figure it out either," Sulu replied, "It's a mystery. Probably just some kind of joke or something. If... you know, the community can do jokes or whatever." Sulu waved a hand. "Either way, it's pretty cool, so I'll let the name go. Like, it shouldn't exist, there's no real way for it to do that, but it does. So it's cool." He shrugged and watched Ianto navigate the community. "What weirds me out is the viruses. That stuff is just completely impossible and stuff, but... you know. You have to deal with it if you want to be there. ...And it's not like you can really say no when it invites you."

[torchwoodteaboy]

"That's what gets me," Ianto said, as he tried to find the exact entry he'd made to get the world hop over here in the first place (he could go directly to the post, but that would be too easy and wouldn't take any time at all, and he really didn't want to leave). "I mean. The fact that there are a lot of things on here that the community doesn't really give us a choice in the matter of. Like...the thing showing up in the first place. I mean..." He turned to Sulu, stalling because he knew the entry was just right there, if he scrolled down a bit more. "If you had the choice, would you give it up? This place, I mean?"