Ficlet: The Number Game

[badly_knitted]

 

Title: The Number Game

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Owen, Nosy, Ianto

Rating: G

Spoilers: Nada.

Summary: Owen decides it’s time a certain Fluff learned its numbers.

Word Count: 175

Written For: Challenge #110: Arithmetic at fan_flashworks

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters, except for Nosy.

A/N: Short and silly. I might try to do another silly one if I get time, but I wanted to at least get something posted despite life being less than kind right now.

“Okay,” Owen said to Nosy one day, dumping a pile of small objects in front of the Fluff. “Uncle Owen is going to teach you to count.” Picking up one object from the pile, he held it up. “This is one.” Nosy stared intently as Owen placed it to one side and picked up two more. “This is two…”

He carried on until there were ten groups of small, green ovals, neatly arranged on the coffee table.

“There, you see? One, two, three, four, five, s… Hey, stop that!”

“What’re you doing, Owen?”Ianto sounded baffled.

“Trying to teach Nosy to count,” Owen sighed.

“Not going very well?”

“How did you guess?” Owen replied sarcastically, staring gloomily at the Fluff.

“Word of advice, Owen; those probably weren’t the best choice of teaching aids.”

“I’m getting that. I just thought Nosy would concentrate better on something it liked.”

”Oh, it’s concentrating alright,” Ianto agreed as they watched Nosy eat the last of Owen’s counters. “Why do you think I keep the grapes locked in a cupboard?”

The End

Comments

[caz251]

Love it :)

Of course he has to use something to keep nosy's attention, but he might have been better off with some of the balls from the ball pit than the grapes.

Hope you are holding up, life can be crap and loss is just hell, but concentrating on the good memories helps. *hugs*

[badly_knitted]

Anything pretty, brightly-coloured and non-edible would have worked better than Nosy's favourite grapes!

I'm sort of okay. It's hard to get my head around the fact that mum's not coming home this time, and days are easier to deal with than nights, but I'm coping. I'll get used to living alone eventually. I might even come to like it. I promised mum I would be okay, so I will be, it's just going to take a while. *hugs back* Thank you.

[mrs_sweetpeach]

LOL! Silly Owen, I think Nosy outsmarted him. I wouldn't be surprised if Nosy already knows how to count even if it doesn't do so in English.

[badly_knitted]

I think Fluffs on their homeworld are more One, Another One, A few, Several, Lots... Mostly because they've never really needed a system of numbers. They're easily smart enough to learn though, even if Nosy would rather eat the counters.

Thank you!