milliways_bar | (no subject)

Someone is looking with extreme longing at the specials.

Someone is also pregnant, though, so she says, in a slight monotone, "Does that include decaf?"

Decaf is not real coffee, but it is what she's letting herself have, so.

Normally decaf is like an offense to Ianto's gods, but he'll give a pass under special circumstances such as this.

"We can do decaf."

"Can you do decaf that tastes like actual coffee?"

Well, it is a magic bar, it's worth asking.

"Ma'am," Ianto says, "I'm Ianto Jones. I can do anything with coffee."

He sets about proving himself right.

"Can I take you home and keep you?" she asks earnestly.

Ianto laughs. "I'd have to come back to my world eventually. I have some people who really like my coffee there, too."

"Hey, we get aliens regularly dropping in. Or did," and she grimaces slightly at the memory of what shape the Shi'ar are currently in. "We're used to people visiting from other words. Or dimensions. Or timelines. Or time periods. Or--I should introduce myself before rambling more, huh? Kate Pryde," and she offers her hand a little sheepishly.

But, man. She has coffee. For the first time in way, way too long. The babble is unavoidable.

"Pleased to meet you," he says, shaking her hand. "Ianto.

"Your world sounds remarkably like mine, really."

"...You have my sympathies, then," she says, simply, and it's both rueful and meant. "No wonder people there need their coffee too. Ever run into another version of yourself?"

"Not yet," Ianto says cautiously, because that seems like the sort of thing that's bound to happen eventually. (And wouldn't Jack have a field day with that...)

"Does that happen a lot, where you come from?"

She shrugs one shoulder idly. "It did a lot when I lived in Scotland, actually. That was a headache and a half. It's very unnerving to see what might have been actually, well, being. It happens less so now that I'm back in the States, but it does still happen."

Mmmm, coffee. Such good coffee.

"Though at the moment," and she gestures slightly towards her stomach, "my boyfriend's made much happier if I stay a bit away from that, so I'm on early maternity leave. I'm not sure it actually changes the likelihood of weird shit happening to me, but it makes him feel better. And for being six foot six and being able to turn into steel, he's kinda a worrying marshmallow."

Because yes. Yes, he is, a giant, Russian marshmallow.

"If your world is anything like mine, the proximity of Scotland to a certain event horizon might explain the weirdness.

"Nothing wrong with being a worrying, six-foot-six steel-plated marshmallow."

He's been called a gentle giant, himself.

"Well, apparently the island we lived on was a nexus that opened up a link to all realities. Something like that, anyway. I got to meet Merlin."

The deadpan could be serious, or could be joking.

(It's serious.)

"Er, not steel-plated. Bio-organic steel, through and through. Sometimes," she hastens to add. "Mutation."

Ianto actually notes that down. Hey, he likes it when something like the Rift shows up in other worlds. You never know.

"He comes here, you know." He points to the tab board. "Merlin, I mean."

Her next statement makes him blink a bit. "Bio-organic...steel. Huh."

"Yeah, no, different Merlin. Ours was a lot...'wacky' isn't really right, but I'm blanking on an adjective. Questionably sane by the standard definition, let's go with that for now," she decides, bemusedly remembering.

And blinks right back. "Yeah. Which," and that's rueful, "makes the height difference worse, when he metals up." Kate's only about 5'4"; Piotr, when in metal form, hits seven feet easily.

"Mutation, like I said." Her eyes say, Is that a problem? but her voice is just as pleasant as ever. "That's his."

It's not a problem. It's just new.

"In your world, does everybody have a mutation like that? Like some sort of special superpower?"

"No." And then, a little more quietly, "No, we're--some people have powers from other things. But when it comes to mutants, we're...very few. Very few. Most people are baseline humans, and many of them...aren't really happy with mutants being around, let's say. Which is part of why we're few."

And the other part is named "Wanda" but that's a long, long story.

She shakes her head slightly. "Anyway. No, most people are normal, and not all the people who do have a power are mutants. We're just born this way. Why, are people like that in your world?"

"Not that I know of," Ianto says. "Differences tend to come from other planets, not from humanity itself. According to people in the know, that will change as the centuries pass.

"Humanity's always evolving and changing."

"You'd be surprised," softly, "at how hard it is for people to accept that when evolution takes place in front of you." And then her smile's crooked. "I'd give an example, but I'm actually not able to while pregnant--or, rather, it's not safe. Normally, I'm the next best thing to a ghost you'll find."

"No, I'd not be surprised at all. People find a lot of things hard to accept. It's part of my job to help them not have to.

"I'll take your word on it. No need to endanger your baby just to convince me.

"What sort of ghost?"

He has encountered several different kinds.

"I phase." She shrugs a little again. "Intangibility. That's the general answer. The specifics are where it's most interesting. I disrupt electrical fields, among other things, when phased. It's actually my natural state."

Pregnancy, for Kate, takes a lot out of her, for that very reason.

"Lets me pop locks, walk on the air--couple other things. It's...useful, I guess you'd say."

"Sounds it, depending on one's profession. I assume you're not a systems admin, for instance."

Her lips twitch at that, for some reason. "Well, technically, I am, but it's not the job title. I'm not really sure what you'd say my job title is these days. I'm a teacher. And...well, I tend to risk life and limb for people who generally couldn't care less about me. Not exactly what I thought I'd be when I grew up. You?"

Ianto smiles wryly. "Protector of the Earth. I risk life and limb for people who are completely oblivious to the dangers that come along."

"Do they try and kill you for what you are, too?" she asks curiously.

"Well," Ianto says, "once someone wanted to eat me because I'd be tender as veal."

"...That sounds just wrong somehow," she muses. "Only once, though? Lucky you. But otherwise, it sounds...very like my job."

"Just once. Once was enough.

"Our worlds seem rather similar, even to if the origins of the troubles. There might even be mutants, still basically unknown to the general population."

"Mmm." She looks into her cup, thoughtfully, for a moment. "We hid best we could for a long time. It was safer. But...it wears at you."

Ianto nods in understanding. "I get that. Secrecy's hard to sustain."