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torchwood - toshiko sato

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[ It's evening, and Tosh is standing at the edge of the city square. The video feed from her network device pans across the rows of buildings opposite, then in a circle as she turns, until finally coming back around to show her face. ]

I see someone's been busy with the holiday decorations. A bit heavy on the greenery, though. I always thought mistletoe was supposed to be hung discretely where someone might get caught under it, not draped over every possible surface.

It is pretty, though. And it makes me wonder what winter holidays all of you would be celebrating, if you were home.

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[He sees the video she posts to the network, but it just so happens that he's close by, anyway, and so instead of answering her question via the network device, he waits until he walks across the city square and sees her in person, then responds.]

Hanukkah's the one I'd be celebrating, but that's already happened. The mistletoe...

[He looks around suspiciously, as though it might be following him.]

... is a particular favorite curse of the City's.

Not especially religious myself, but a lot of people who aren't celebrate Christmas anywhere, where I'm from.

[ She follows his gaze, now eyeing the mistletoe much more suspiciously. That stuff is everywhere, isn't it? ]

What do you mean, favorite curse? Please tell me it's not going to turn us into elves or something.

Sure, might as well take the excuse to have a holiday, regardless of whether you're religious.

[He glances up at the mistletoe, then back at her, looking oddly like he's hesitant to take a step closer to her.]

It doesn't do that, no. It does, however, involve kissing.

Cheerful decorations, exchanging gifts with your friend, a chance to eat and drink and enjoy yourself? I'll take that excuse.

[ She tilts her head at him, watching him curiously, and because she doesn't know any better she does take a step closer. ]

That is essentially the point to mistletoe, you know.

No, it's...

[But she's taken a step too close now, and they're both squarely underneath the mistletoe with no chance to warn her exactly what this curse does. And that probably explains exactly why now, instead of talking, he's tugging her in close for a surprisingly passionate kiss, from such a reserved individual.]

Oh-

[ Her arms are around his neck before she realizes it. Tosh wouldn't have minded even without the mistletoe, to be honest, but being cursed turns 'well that's not an awful idea' into 'this is the most fabulous idea ever'. ]

[There's a certain aggression in his kissing style, but not unpleasantly; it's simply that most people wouldn't expect him to be quite so intense when it comes to something like this. There's no telling how long these mistletoe-induced kisses last, either -- he'd mostly avoided them, that day, but the couple that he'd had had ranged from a few awkward seconds to nearly a minute of passionate grappling. In this case, he's not exactly hastening to break away. In fact, his hand's going to the back of her head to tangle in her hair and hold her close.]

[ The intensity isn't unwelcome -- it's nice to feel wanted, like maybe there's something about you that a person might lose a little control over. They fit nicely together, too. Meyer doesn't tower over her like Tommy did, she doesn't have to stand on her toes to reach him. She moves into him a little more when he puts his hand in her hair, and if it's up to her to wrap it up, then that's not likely to happen soon. ]

[There should be a part of him screaming that this is a horrible idea -- not because she's not enjoyable to kiss, not because she's not attractive, but because kissing someone can invariably do nothing but complicate a friendship or association further, even if it's due to a curse -- but at the moment, he's not particularly thinking about it. He's so used to kissing people who're taller than he is that it's nice not to have to tilt his head back and tug someone else down into it; she feels good, and warm, and suddenly this is becoming an open-mouthed kiss, and he's nibbling at her lower lip a little, and the desire to wrap things up still seems to be conspicuously absent.]

[ There is no objection coming from Tosh over dialing that kiss up just a notch; in fact the opposite of an objection, if one judges from brush of her tongue across his lip. She's leaning into him now, letting him do a little bit of the work of holding her up, because just the sensation of being held feels good. ]

[Holding her up just a little isn't at all difficult, so he does it, one arm still in her hair, one arm firmly wrapped around her waist, holding her close. He supposes he really should be putting a stop to this at some point, but the willpower to do so is surprisingly lacking -- all of the mistletoe-related kissing that's gone on today has made him feel slightly less awkward about the whole thing, and kissing Tosh isn't exactly unpleasant, either.

Should he be concerned that they're in public and that anyone could walk by? Maybe, and normally he would be. But everyone's cursed today, and people have their own kisses to worry about. He doesn't break away.]

[ On a normal day, Tosh would have come to her senses and decided a public street might be fine for a quick kiss, but not for a passionate embrace like this one. But then, on a normal day, she wouldn't be in this situation at all. The last time anyone kissed her in public at all was that bittersweet, interrupted moment with Tommy on the boardwalk. There's no underlying sadness here.

There's an inevitable moment when it simply becomes necessary to catch one's breath, but Tosh only takes the opportunity to breathe in deeply and murmur Mm-hm before she presses her lips to his a second time. ]

[He knows, logically, that there's a good chance that they're both going to be horribly embarrassed after this is over with (the mistletoe curse always does that, always seems to leave people stammering and uncertain of themselves, wondering how much had been the curse and how much had been natural inclination) but that knowledge doesn't seem to stop the momentum this kiss has built up.

When he does break away, it's only so that he can trail kisses from her lips to her ear to her neck, pulling her to him a little more firmly, and then... with something approaching reluctance, he stops, because the fact that they're in public has suddenly become very noticeable -- someone walking by yelling "Get a room!" -- and all of a sudden he realizes he has no idea how far this could go if he doesn't stop now.]

Sorry.

[It's only a partially genuine apology, but it's the polite thing to say.]

[ For just a moment, she thinks he's apologizing for stopping, and she's set to assure him that he shouldn't pay the gawkers any mind, she's not so embarrassed and besides, there's mistletoe so it's sort of expected, isn't it?

But the mental acknowledgment of mistletoe is like a cool little splash of sense, and she squeezes her eyes shut and yep, there's the embarrassment. ]

Right. Mistletoe curse. It's...completely my fault, you warned me. I'm so sorry.

[ She'll remember she's still holding onto him in a minute. ]

I'm not exactly upset about it.

[Although there is a distinctly pink tinge to his cheeks that wasn't there before. That could be embarrassment, or just the chilly air around them, it's hard to tell.]

It's either neither of our faults, or both of our faults. It can't just be one of us.

[Really, it's the mistletoe's fault. But then, it's also kind of their faults for not breaking away sooner, isn't it? He realizes she's still holding onto him, of course, but it's not like he's about to shake her off, regardless of how embarrassed they both are.]

Oh good. I mean, neither am I. It was nice.

[ It was very nice, and he's not freaking out at her, so he can't only be saying that to be polite. He hasn't pushed her away and tried to escape yet either, so that's also a good sign. ]

Maybe, but I should have known better. It's not actually the first time I've run into something that made people want to snog, I just didn't put it together with the idea of a curse.

This is a particular favorite curse of the City's, I understand. It occurs every year, from what I've been told.

[And it can lead to some very uncomfortable situations. This, luckily, wasn't one of them.]

Could be worse. I mean, you never know, people might make some new friends this way, right? At least it's not a curse that makes you want to punch everyone you meet.

[ It is surprisingly less humiliating than it has the potential for. Perhaps if it had been someone other than Meyer, Tosh might feel differently about the curse. ]

You'd have definitely come out on top with that one.

[ What? He has muscles, she can tell. ]

[The smile that he gives at that comment could almost be considered insidious if he wasn't smiling at someone he actually liked.]

I get the sense that if there were a curse that involved punching everyone, I'd get punched a fair bit, being an apparently easy target, and all. But yes, you're right, it could be worse.

I'm certain they'd try.

[ Tosh has known people who came off as easy targets but turned out to be far more difficult to take down than they appeared. To be honest, she'd be counted among that group herself. She knows for sure that she wouldn't throw a punch at Meyer unless the circumstances were very unusual. ]

I think there's also a very good chance that if we keep standing this close to each other, I'm going to kiss you again.

Is that a warning? A threat, maybe?

[It's probably meant to concern him into moving out of the range of the mistletoe, but he doesn't take a step back. Maybe that's a bad decision, but she's a better alternative to kiss than many of the people he's run into today, and he's resigned to the fact that, whether he likes it or not, the mistletoe strewn all over the City is going to keep him making less-than-logical choices.]

Definitely a warning, I'm not sure if I'd call it a threat or not. I suppose that depends on how horrid the idea of kissing me sounds.

[ She might be offended by the possibility if she wasn't already pretty certain he's joking with her. And if the mistletoe wasn't making her feel a bit cheekier than usual. ]

So if being kissed on a public street by a nerdy woman who thinks Goldstone's theorem is better than art worries you, maybe you want to get scarce, Mr Lansky.

Edited 2013-12-19 03:57 (UTC)

It doesn't worry me.

[A shrug.]

There're things in the world I'm afraid of, but being kissed by a nerdy woman isn't among them.

[ Well she did warn him, twice even. Getting dragged into another mistletoe-fueled kiss is now entirely Meyer's fault.

And Tosh is absolutely going to blame it on the mistletoe. ]

[If asked, he'd place the blame squarely on the mistletoe. This curse makes people do ridiculous things, after all. It's not like they would have done this had they not been influenced by the mistletoe, would they?

On the other hand, it'd be hard to deny that he's not doing his damnedest to make the kiss memorable, so maybe that part's his fault. He'll accept any and all blame for that.]

[Jesse, ever the skeptic, shuffles away from where he sees mistletoe, which is unfortunately everywhere. He tightens his hands around the straps of his backpack and scowls at the plant life around him. They're not supposed to be here. Go away.

When he runs into Tosh, Jesse is as in the middle of the road as he can muster.]

Isn't this shit supposed to be poisonous?

[He points with his eyes, still clutching the pack.]

Only if you eat it.

[ After the retort, Tosh looks to see who she's actually talking to.

...Maybe cursed mistletoe also makes you want to do terrible mischief? Yes, that's the excuse she's going to use. ]

Mr Funyun! [ You're getting an armful of small Japanese woman and a big hug, Jesse. ]

[An adult running into his arms is much different than a child running toward him in the respect that he did not see this one coming. Welp, when in the City.

It's after he catches the woman that it clicks who the young girl was. And he's not embarrassed at all, mostly relieved that he wasn't an inadvertent dick.]

Guess you won't be needing that sweater anymore.

[ Strange things are always going on in the City, thus Al doesn't pay the influx of mistletoe much mind. The holiday spirit should be cheery and he's more focused on finishing up some shopping and making the last of his collections for the year. It's while he's weaving through the square that he spots a familiar face.

Trish. No. Tosh. Right. The girl who's good with security: best in the business supposedly. Whatever she's recording, her profiling strikes him as amusing. ]

Hey. Is this your idea of surveylance work?

[ She turns at the voice and smiles, shaking her head. Please, if she was doing surveillance, she'd be hacking into someone else's cameras. ]

Just sharing my unsolicited observations. How are you this evening, Mr Capone?

Real good. Lots of green stuff out, that's good for us, right? Oxygen and all that.

[ He can carry on intelligent conversation too, you know. ]

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