Ficlet: Drizzle
Feb. 10th, 2025 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Drizzle
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Jack, OCs.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 979
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Ianto didn’t ask for this, but as was so often the case, he wasn’t exactly given a choice.
Written For: Weekend Challenge: Rainy Weekend at
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1_million_words.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“Why does this stuff always happen to me?” Ianto grumbled, scowling up at the sky. “It’s a beautiful, sunny day, and I’m not getting to enjoy any of it because of this stupid cloud getting in the way, sucking up all the sunshine!”
“It likes you, and at least this time it’s only one small cloud, not a whole weather system attuned to your moods. It just rains a little now and then. I think it’s refreshing.”
“You’re weird. If you like it so much, you can have it. I didn’t ask to be given a pet cloud!”
“You didn’t ask for a pet cat either,” Jack pointed out. “But you still got one.”
“Cat is NOT a pet, he’s… my housemate, I suppose, and he’s a lot better behaved than some people I’ve had to share a home with. Well, aside from having kleptomaniac tendencies, but nobody’s perfect; at least he’s stopped bringing home my neighbours’ underwear, so that’s progress. Sometimes I wonder if he used to be a human in a former life. Can’t say it would surprise me, he even uses the bathroom like a civilised person, and he always flushes.” He also preferred to drink from the garden pond rather than from his nice, clean water dish in Ianto’s kitchen, but that was another matter entirely.
“Fine, you weren’t looking for a housemate, but you still got one. Happy now?”
“Not really. The point is, I keep being given things I don’t want and don’t need, then I’m stuck with them. I’m never given any choice in the matter, it’s just ‘Here, have this,’ and now what am I supposed to do with a cloud? All it does is follow me around, blocking out the sun, and occasionally drizzling. I don’t even know how to look after it, clouds don’t come with instructions. Does it need feeding? What if those Vrithians come back someday and the cloud is gone because I didn’t take good enough care of it? I couldn’t refuse it in case I offended them, by their standards they were being generous, especially considering how much they value water, so what might they do to me if I accidentally kill the cloud they gave me? It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’s already grown a bit, and it seems quite happy, even if you’re not.”
“So I just get to go on with my life with my own personal raincloud following me around, drizzling on me? I can tell you right now, it’s not coming in the house and sleeping on my bed, if clouds even sleep. Cat would never put up with being dripped on in the night. Neither would I, for that matter.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that, I’m sure it’ll just hover over your house at night. It hasn’t tried to enter the Hub; it just settles above the water tower when you’re inside. That’s probably its favourite spot.”
Reaching the railings above Mermaid Quay, Ianto leaned on them, staring moodily out across Cardiff Bay, and Jack joined him, the two of them shoulder to shoulder. The cloud obligingly hung overhead, considerably lower than the few fluffy white wisps gracing the otherwise clear blue sky, and emitted a gentle drizzle, lightly moistening Ianto’s hair and shirtsleeves, taking the edge off the heat; he’d long since removed his jacket because of the higher-than-average temperatures, and had it draped over the railing in front of him.
“They couldn’t even have offered some advice when they gave it to me? Maybe a pamphlet or something, Cloud Care for Beginners: A Basic Guide to Caring for Your New Cloud?”
Jack hid a smile, knowing that was the root of Ianto’s problem with his new pet: he was concerned for its welfare. He’d researched cat care after the silver tabby had decided to move in with him, he’d studied Myfanwy’s behaviour and painstakingly worked out what she needed to thrive. He even lavished care on Janet, and the other cell residents, but his new pet was a complete mystery, and despite having researched clouds and weather, he still wasn’t sure what it needed from him.
“I don’t think clouds are really that difficult to look after,” Jack reassured him. “They just need to gather moisture from the air, and if there’s one thing Wales has plenty of, it’s water.”
“Yes, well, I’ve only had it a few hours, not long enough to cause it any harm.” Ianto glanced up at the cloud; Jack was right about one thing, it did look perfectly fine, for a cloud, and when he returned to the Hub a short while later, it floated obligingly after him, settling above the water tower as he and Jack descended on the invisible lift.
A month later, when the Vrithians returned to collect the cloud, they seemed perfectly satisfied with its development. It was fairly large by now, and although it drizzled quite heartily on Ianto at the prospect of being parted from him, it went with its masters willingly enough. Ianto found he was actually quite sorry to see it go; apparently it hadn’t been a permanent gift, he’d been more of a foster parent to it, nurturing it to adulthood.
The Vrithians showered him with gifts of the non-living, non-raining kind, grateful to him for the fresh water supply, and when, some months later, a small cloud sidled above him and settled there, Ianto merely smiled; it was quite flattering in a way, to be trusted with something so important to the Vrithians. So what if it meant missing out on a bit of sunshine for a month or so? There were worse things in life than having a pet cloud following him around, and if this one grew to be as big and healthy as the last one, it would be a job well done.
The End
“It likes you, and at least this time it’s only one small cloud, not a whole weather system attuned to your moods. It just rains a little now and then. I think it’s refreshing.”
“You’re weird. If you like it so much, you can have it. I didn’t ask to be given a pet cloud!”
“You didn’t ask for a pet cat either,” Jack pointed out. “But you still got one.”
“Cat is NOT a pet, he’s… my housemate, I suppose, and he’s a lot better behaved than some people I’ve had to share a home with. Well, aside from having kleptomaniac tendencies, but nobody’s perfect; at least he’s stopped bringing home my neighbours’ underwear, so that’s progress. Sometimes I wonder if he used to be a human in a former life. Can’t say it would surprise me, he even uses the bathroom like a civilised person, and he always flushes.” He also preferred to drink from the garden pond rather than from his nice, clean water dish in Ianto’s kitchen, but that was another matter entirely.
“Fine, you weren’t looking for a housemate, but you still got one. Happy now?”
“Not really. The point is, I keep being given things I don’t want and don’t need, then I’m stuck with them. I’m never given any choice in the matter, it’s just ‘Here, have this,’ and now what am I supposed to do with a cloud? All it does is follow me around, blocking out the sun, and occasionally drizzling. I don’t even know how to look after it, clouds don’t come with instructions. Does it need feeding? What if those Vrithians come back someday and the cloud is gone because I didn’t take good enough care of it? I couldn’t refuse it in case I offended them, by their standards they were being generous, especially considering how much they value water, so what might they do to me if I accidentally kill the cloud they gave me? It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’s already grown a bit, and it seems quite happy, even if you’re not.”
“So I just get to go on with my life with my own personal raincloud following me around, drizzling on me? I can tell you right now, it’s not coming in the house and sleeping on my bed, if clouds even sleep. Cat would never put up with being dripped on in the night. Neither would I, for that matter.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that, I’m sure it’ll just hover over your house at night. It hasn’t tried to enter the Hub; it just settles above the water tower when you’re inside. That’s probably its favourite spot.”
Reaching the railings above Mermaid Quay, Ianto leaned on them, staring moodily out across Cardiff Bay, and Jack joined him, the two of them shoulder to shoulder. The cloud obligingly hung overhead, considerably lower than the few fluffy white wisps gracing the otherwise clear blue sky, and emitted a gentle drizzle, lightly moistening Ianto’s hair and shirtsleeves, taking the edge off the heat; he’d long since removed his jacket because of the higher-than-average temperatures, and had it draped over the railing in front of him.
“They couldn’t even have offered some advice when they gave it to me? Maybe a pamphlet or something, Cloud Care for Beginners: A Basic Guide to Caring for Your New Cloud?”
Jack hid a smile, knowing that was the root of Ianto’s problem with his new pet: he was concerned for its welfare. He’d researched cat care after the silver tabby had decided to move in with him, he’d studied Myfanwy’s behaviour and painstakingly worked out what she needed to thrive. He even lavished care on Janet, and the other cell residents, but his new pet was a complete mystery, and despite having researched clouds and weather, he still wasn’t sure what it needed from him.
“I don’t think clouds are really that difficult to look after,” Jack reassured him. “They just need to gather moisture from the air, and if there’s one thing Wales has plenty of, it’s water.”
“Yes, well, I’ve only had it a few hours, not long enough to cause it any harm.” Ianto glanced up at the cloud; Jack was right about one thing, it did look perfectly fine, for a cloud, and when he returned to the Hub a short while later, it floated obligingly after him, settling above the water tower as he and Jack descended on the invisible lift.
A month later, when the Vrithians returned to collect the cloud, they seemed perfectly satisfied with its development. It was fairly large by now, and although it drizzled quite heartily on Ianto at the prospect of being parted from him, it went with its masters willingly enough. Ianto found he was actually quite sorry to see it go; apparently it hadn’t been a permanent gift, he’d been more of a foster parent to it, nurturing it to adulthood.
The Vrithians showered him with gifts of the non-living, non-raining kind, grateful to him for the fresh water supply, and when, some months later, a small cloud sidled above him and settled there, Ianto merely smiled; it was quite flattering in a way, to be trusted with something so important to the Vrithians. So what if it meant missing out on a bit of sunshine for a month or so? There were worse things in life than having a pet cloud following him around, and if this one grew to be as big and healthy as the last one, it would be a job well done.
The End
