Fic: Grand Ambition

[badly_knitted]

 


Title: Grand Ambition
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Tosh, Jack, Nosy.
Rating: G
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Tosh has taken on an ambitious project, but it’s paving the way for Nosy’s own grand ambition.
Word Count: 1167
Written For: Challenge 191: Ambitious at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
 


 
Ianto paused by Tosh’s workstation on his way to the Hub’s small kitchen area to make the team’s mid-morning coffee. “That’s a bit of an ambitious project, don’t you think?” He stuck his hands in his pockets, head cocked to one side, watching his friend and her student.
 

“Not really. Nosy’s got a good grasp of spelling, and we already know it can read what we write.”
 

They’d tested the Fluff a number of times with a game where they’d write down an instruction, something like ‘wiggle your tail’, ‘take the cushions off the sofa’, or ‘fetch Mickey’s screwdriver’, and Nosy would do as it was told. It had never got an instruction wrong, even though the last one had resulted in a tug of war between Mickey and Nosy over the screwdriver, since Mickey happened to be using it at the time.

 
“Still, there’s a world of difference between spelling words using blocks, or reading handwritten notes, and using a computer.”

 
“True, and Nosy does have some disadvantages to overcome, using the mouse buttons is a bit tricky so I’ll have to work on designing a Fluff-friendly version, but the oversized touch keyboard seems to be working well. Nosy’s probably never going to be a fast typist, it has to use a stylus to tap the letters because if it uses its snout it tends to hit several keys at once, but speed isn’t everything.” Tosh turned her attention to the Fluff. “Why don’t you show Ianto what you can do?”

 
Obediently, Nosy picked up the stylus, opened a word document on the screen she’d set at a suitable level for the Fluff, and painstakingly tapped out a short message.
 

HELLO IANTO. I AM LEARNING HOW TO TYPE.
 

“So I see.” Ianto smiled. “That’s very good, Nosy. Not a single spelling mistake.”
 

THANK YOU. I HAVE A DICTIONARY. IT HELPS A LOT. I HAVE LEARNED MANY WORDS BUT I STILL SPELL THINGS WRONG SMOETIMES.

 
Nosy backspaced and tried again.

 
SOMETIMES.
 

“We all do that,” Ianto admitted. “You should see some of Owen’s reports; they’re littered with typos, takes me forever to correct them. I think at least half are deliberate though. He enjoys annoying me, treats it like some kind of game.”

 
OWEN CAN BORROW MY DICTIONARY IF HE WANTS. IT MIGHT HELP HIM LEARN TO SPELL BETTER.
 

“That’s very generous of you, young Fluff.” Ianto knew how proud Nosy was of the dictionary it had been given. “I’m not sure how much it’ll help, but I’ll tell him.”

 
“Tell who what?” Jack said, coming over to join them.
 

“Tell Owen he can borrow Nosy’s dictionary if he likes, to improve his deplorable spelling.”
 

“I would’ve thought he’d use his computer spellchecker program. I always use mine.”
 

“I’ve noticed. Spellcheckers aren’t infallible, Jack. They can point out whether or not something is spelled correctly, but they don’t tell you when you use the wrong word. Which is probably why your report on that box from last week said the surface was covered in dumplings instead of dimples.”
 

“Oops.” Jack threw Ianto a sheepish look. “Maybe turning the autocorrect function on wasn’t such a good idea.”
 

“Ah.” Ianto nodded. “Autocorrect; I should’ve known. That would also explain your reference to the Eye of Horace in your report on the Egyptian urn you found yesterday. I wasn’t sure whether or not you were just messing about there, what with it being a fake from the twenty-ninth century.”
 

Jack pulled a face. “I wasn’t. Maybe I’d better turn off autocorrect when I get back to my office.”
 

“Yes, that might be a good idea. At this rate Nosy is going to be better at spelling than most of the team, and English isn’t even its native language.”

 
“It isn’t mine either,” Jack pointed out.

 
“Of course; how could I forget that? You’ve only been using it for a century or so,” Ianto teased.

 
“Exactly, and people keep changing the meaning of words and how they’re spelled, not to mention inventing new ones. How is anyone supposed to keep up?” Jack pouted piteously.

 
Ianto patted him on the shoulder. “Poor Jack. Maybe Nosy will let you borrow its dictionary too.”
 

I MIGHT, BUT ONLY IF JACK PROMISES NOT TO MAKE THE PAGES ALL STICKY.
 

Ianto laughed; he was used to sticky fingerprints and other splodges on Jack’s handwritten reports due to him doing his paperwork while eating, so he could understand Nosy not wanting to risk Jack make a mess of its precious dictionary.

 
“Maybe I should get Jack a dictionary of his own; a small one he can keep in his desk drawer.”
 

“I think I’ve already got one. Somewhere. So, not to change the subject, but how are Nosy’s computer lessons coming along?” Jack directed the question at Tosh.

 
“Very well. It can already use the word processor program and the internal IM system. Next I’m going teach it to use the Internet, so it can look things up, use the online thesaurus, and watch videos on youtube, things like that.”
 

I CAN PLAY GAMES TOO. I PLAY SOLLY
 

Nosy backspaced and had another attempt.
 

SOLTY
 

That didn’t look right either. Giving up, it tried an easier word for the card game Tosh had taught it.
 

PATIENCE.
 

Later on, it would look up the spelling of the other word in its dictionary.
 

ALSO CHUZZLES. I LIKE THAT ONE A LOT.
 

“Computer games?” Ianto raised an eyebrow at Tosh.
 

She blushed. “They’re a good way of leaning to use a mouse,” she said, a little defensively. “You know; click and drag.”

 
“What are Chuzzles?” Jack wanted to know.

 
Ianto rolled his eyes. “Now you’ve done it, Tosh. I’ll never get any work out of Jack if he gets his hands on another game to waste his time with!” Turning to Jack, he added, “Chuzzles is a game you are NEVER going to play, on pain of death. Understand?”
 

That triggered the return of the pout, but Ianto turned his back on his lover, focusing his attention on Nosy again.
 

“Well done, Nosy; you’re making excellent progress with your computing skills. Keep it up.”
 

THANK YOU IANTO. I WILL LEARN MORE. THEN I WILL WRITE A STORY.
 

“A story?”
 

TOSH SAYS PEOPLE WRITE STORIES FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO READ. WRITING STORIES WILL BE GOOD PRACTICE. ONE DAY I WOULD LIKE TO WRITE A BOOK.

 
“Now that’s a really ambitious goal,” Tosh said, smiling at the Fluff. “But you’re so clever and you’ve learned so much already I bet someday you’ll do it.”
 

“Wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Jack agreed. “Just one thing, Nosy; don’t give all of Torchwood’s secrets away. People aren’t supposed to know about us.”
 

I KNOW. I WILL NOT GIVE SECRETS AWAY. I PROMISE.
 

Jack smiled. “That’s good enough for me.” He turned away and headed up to his office, Ianto following. “Who knows, maybe someday Nosy will be a famous author.”

 
“You never know, it could happen,” Ianto agreed. “The publicity tours would certainly be interesting.”

 
 
The End