"Well if I start babbling or getting too technical, just tell me to stop. I'm used to it. The rest of our group don't really much care for all the fiddly details."
She figures it's pretty unlikely that Ginsberg's normal life path would lead him to Cardiff of all places, so if they stick close to home, they shouldn't have to worry about dealing with his present-day self. Jack would have her head if she let that happen anyway, and she doesn't think Ginsberg would handle it very well.
Her flat isn't a very long walk from the Plass -- it overlooks the harbor, and Tosh realizes that the water view is something she's really missed. Inside, the decor is clean and simple, contrasting dark and light colors and clean lines. "It's not huge but it's cozy. And the couch is pretty big so I think we could make you up a comfortable bed on it, until you get a place of your own, if that's all right."
He looks around, taking in the detail, trying to look at everything all at once, to wrap his brain around the fact that he's in the future and, unless something very unexpected happens, he's here to stay. It's a bizarre thought, and he's not sure what to do with it. Maybe it's better to think about something else, until it all becomes less overwhelming. When he steps into her apartment, he smiles a little.
"It's a nice place. The couch looks comfy, and believe me, I'm okay with sleeping on couches, as long as you're okay with having me stay with you."
There's a long pause while he's clearly weighing a question, and then...
"They still have ad agencies in the future, don't they? I mean, I don't know how to do anything else, and I'll need to get a job so I can get my own place, and..."
He looks very unsure, and very young, all of a sudden.
It feels strange to see her place just exactly the way she left it, as if she'd just walked out to run some errands. For a moment she just looks around, not so differently from Ginsberg and his study of the place, finding her bearings.
"I don't mind. Never had a flatmate before, maybe it'll be fun. And so long as you stay out of my personal things, you should make yourself at home. I've lots of books, and-"
A thought occurs to her as he makes his hesitant inquiry, and she grins delightedly. "You're going to love the telly. We've all kinds of channels now, and advertising is very different. Probably even more agencies now than back in your time, too."
"Maybe it will be fun. I mean, I know it's gonna be more fun than living with my dad. For one thing, there's more space, and for another thing, you're not trying to monitor my every movement. I think. I hope."
Her smile makes him smile in response -- he can't help it, it's just natural to smile when other people smile, especially when they look so pleased. Her answer is a good one, one that makes him feel more at home already.
"I'll have to learn futuristic advertising. Which I should probably start calling modern advertising, so it's not incredibly obvious that I'm a time traveling ad man. Which nobody would believe anyway, but hey. And I'll have to update my resume, I guess, so it doesn't show that my last worked day was in 1968, and..."
"More fun that living with my parents too. And don't worry, we only have cameras watching your every move at work." She tells it like it's teasing, but he'll find out eventually that it's very much not.
It's a relief to see him relax a little and show maybe a bit of optimism about the future. Tosh makes a mental note to get him a computer of his own, and some of whatever software people use to make graphics and videos for him to play with.
"I bet you'll be brilliant. Retro things are really popular, too, so don't worry too much about trying to change everything. I'll take care of setting you up with a birth certificate, driving license, things like that. We can always just make up some places for you to have worked and sort it out later if someone wants a reference."
These are things she's good at. Setting Ginsberg up so that on paper he fits into the current year will be the easiest part.
"Oh Jesus, don't give me a driver's license until I learn how to drive. I mean, a fake birth certificate is one thing, but a fake driver's license might make me to think I should actually be allowed on the road without knowing what I'm doing, and I really don't want to have come to the future just to run people over."
He can already tell he's going to be fascinated by a great deal about the future, but overwhelmed, too. The City had been one thing -- it had technically been the future, but because everyone had been from different places and time, it hadn't always felt that way. Here, though, he feels distinctly out of his time, and if it's noticeable in just the very brief time that he's been here... how much stranger is it going to get before he gets used to it?
The very thought makes him feel slightly nauseous, and he has to sit down on the couch.
"Can I have some water? Or some tea? Or something to stop the whole oh my god I'm in the future I'm going to die feeling?"
"You don't know how to drive?" She shouldn't sound so gleeful, but finally, someone will have to let her do the driving. "We'll teach you and then just get you a license the proper way. Anyway, probably for the best, you know we drive on the left here."
He actually does look a little nauseated, and Tosh rushes to get him a glass of water before putting on the kettle for tea. She gave up on making coffee when Ianto started working at Torchwood. It never tasted right when she made it herself. Besides, she grew up too English not to see tea as a comfort beverage.
"I've never been to the future myself, but I've been into the past. So I know a little bit what you're feeling. But you'll be all right. You're smart and creative, and the world is a lot more accepting of people now. You don't have to care as much about fitting in and being what someone else thinks you ought to be."
When the kettle whistles, she pours two mugs and brings them to the couch, sitting down next to Ginsberg with her arm against his, like she did when they had their talk under the tree back in the City.
"Well, I mean, I never really had any reason to drive when I was back home. I just took the subway everywhere, and it wasn't like we could afford a car, anyway. I always meant to learn, but then I ended up in the City, and then I ended up here, and..."
He shrugs, and gives her a half-hearted little smile in thanks for the water. It helps steady him a little, lets him hold out long enough to wait for the tea and to listen to what she's saying about him being all right. He'd like to believe it. He's pretty sure she wouldn't deliberately mislead him. Maybe she knows something he doesn't.
"So everything you said about the future being more accepting was actually true, and not just some stuff you were telling me so that I didn't despair that the world would be shitty forever?"
Her presence here on the couch is comforting, and he knows the tea will be, too. This might not all be so bad.
"I can teach you. There are lots of places to practice, and cars these days practically drive themselves."
She takes a sip of her tea as a way of encouraging him to do the same, and nods, smiling. "Promise. It's not perfect, I mean there are plenty of problems still, and it's not like everyone loves and accepts everyone else. But on the whole, things have gotten a lot better. Not just about sexuality, but about gender equality and civil rights... There's always more improvement to be made, and there are ways that the world is still sort of shitty. But yeah. It's better."
He follows suit, taking a sip of the tea, and seeming to relax slightly more. He's nervous, and he can't help it -- new situations make him nervous in general (he'd been a wreck when he'd first arrived in the City) and new situations that're this big and this potentially life-changing are even scarier. Anxiety always manages to rear its ugly head, and he's grateful that he doesn't have to explain that to Tosh, because she's seen him in pretty bad mental states before, and never given him grief for it, not the way so many other people do.
"Well, there're problems everywhere you go, I guess. I'd just like to believe that this is the kind of place I can be myself. I mean, within reason. I was myself back home, too, and I guess I was myself in the City, but there're different kinds of ways of being yourself, if that makes any sense at all. Does that sound totally crazy? It might. I don't want to make a fool of myself here or anything, I'd just like to stop worrying so much about what people're going to think of me."
It's a fresh start, in a way. It's also yet another chance to get rejected by the world as a whole.
"Can't promise there won't be people who react poorly to you being yourself, but there are always people like that. This is a good time to be the creative sort, or the intellectual sort, though. And a good time to just be the kind of person who isn't like anyone else you'll meet."
All the reassurances in the world aren't going to convince him until he experiences it for himself, she knows, but she wants him to at least feel comfortable trying to make a go of it. (She also bets that a few days immersing himself in popular culture will prove that there are plenty of people out there bucking convention a lot harder than Ginsberg is likely to do.)
"You know, I haven't had a real vacation in ages. I think I deserve one, considering I just crammed months of time in an alternate dimension into what everyone here is going to think is an afternoon at the cinema. Think I'll take a few days, and give you the grand tour of Cardiff. Sound like fun? Could even pop iver to London if you wanted."
"Yeah, well, some people are just assholes, wherever you go. That's human nature, and it's weirdly reassuring to know that it never changes."
Forty years in the future or forty years in the past, he's pretty sure he'd run into a lot of people who didn't like him being himself. 'Himself' is pretty blunt, at the best of times, and downright abrasive and irritating at the worst of times. Frankly, he's amazed that Tosh has been able to put up with him for this long, and that niggling sense of doubt comes back into his mind once again -- now that they're here, maybe she'll realize that he's not worth the effort or the time, and leave him stranded in a place he doesn't know or understand.
Her next suggestion, though, has him smiling again, vacillating right back to happy and eager. "Yeah, I'd like that. That sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't gone on vacation in forever. Actually, maybe I haven't gone on vacation in ever, unless you count the City, which I don't really."
"Last holiday I tried to take wound up with me and Jack stuck in 1941. I'm sort of looking forward something a little more normal."
Now that they're in Wales again, Ginsberg isn't going to be able to avoid the residual weirdness that comes with being friends with a Torchwood employee. Especially one who has a hard time keeping those kinds of things to herself when there's a friendly ear around to share them with.
"Maybe we can hunt up some videos of older films too, so I can get a better sense of exactly how much I'm going to need to prepare you for. But at least you've already got a head start on the technology, being in the City, right?"
"Yeah, I'd kind of like to avoid time traveling again, so soon after all of this. Especially not to 1941. Especially not getting stuck there. No thanks."
He's pretty sure he's content to stay here in the future for awhile. Or, possibly, forever, since he's not sure Tosh and her team of apparently mad scientists (at least, that's what they sound like to him) can put him back where he belongs. And besides, he's here now, and he's going to make the most of it. This whole vacation thing even sounds like fun. Will wonders never cease?
"Sure, I learned some stuff about technology. I learned that if you drop your phone in the bathtub, sometimes it doesn't work anymore. And I learned that you don't put aluminum foil in the microwave because it lights the microwave on fire. And I learned that there's something called the internet and then I stopped listening."
"That's that, then. The only traveling we'll do is by car or train, and absolutely no going backward or forward in time."
Not that they could actually do anything to prevent it, but Tosh figures that the likelihood increases dramatically with proximity to Jack and/or the Rift. Keep Ginsberg away from both for a while, and they should be able to get in a few days of pretending the world is entirely dull and normal.
She shakes her head at the sketchy understanding he demonstrates of 'modern' tech. "If you drop your phone in water, just put it in a jar of rice. That'll pull the moisture right out. Assuming you didn't leave it at the bottom of the ocean for a month or something. And everyone puts foil in the microwave at one time or another. It's sort of beautiful how the sparks jump and arc." The mischievous expression on her face does nothing to indicate whether she's joking or serious about that part. "You're definitely going to want to learn to use the internet, though. But we'll take it all slow, I promise. Baby steps."
"Baby steps sound great. Necessary, in fact, unless you want my brain to explode."
He's only semi-joking, but of course, he's always had a very dramatic way of speaking. Why be subdued when he can make everything sound exciting? It's part of the reason he's always been so good at advertising. He really hopes he can keep doing that here, both because he truly loves it, and because it's the only thing he knows how to do. If he has to get an entirely new career on top of learning everything else... that thought is overwhelming, too. He takes another sip of tea.
"Okay, next time I drop my phone in water, I'll do that. Because I'm almost certainly going to. And I might just want to avoid the microwave in general, until I get a better handle on how it works. And I trust you to teach me to use the internet without, I don't know, falling into a black hole of modern technology and never coming out."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
She figures it's pretty unlikely that Ginsberg's normal life path would lead him to Cardiff of all places, so if they stick close to home, they shouldn't have to worry about dealing with his present-day self. Jack would have her head if she let that happen anyway, and she doesn't think Ginsberg would handle it very well.
Her flat isn't a very long walk from the Plass -- it overlooks the harbor, and Tosh realizes that the water view is something she's really missed. Inside, the decor is clean and simple, contrasting dark and light colors and clean lines. "It's not huge but it's cozy. And the couch is pretty big so I think we could make you up a comfortable bed on it, until you get a place of your own, if that's all right."
[Reference picture!]
no subject
"It's a nice place. The couch looks comfy, and believe me, I'm okay with sleeping on couches, as long as you're okay with having me stay with you."
There's a long pause while he's clearly weighing a question, and then...
"They still have ad agencies in the future, don't they? I mean, I don't know how to do anything else, and I'll need to get a job so I can get my own place, and..."
He looks very unsure, and very young, all of a sudden.
no subject
"I don't mind. Never had a flatmate before, maybe it'll be fun. And so long as you stay out of my personal things, you should make yourself at home. I've lots of books, and-"
A thought occurs to her as he makes his hesitant inquiry, and she grins delightedly. "You're going to love the telly. We've all kinds of channels now, and advertising is very different. Probably even more agencies now than back in your time, too."
no subject
Her smile makes him smile in response -- he can't help it, it's just natural to smile when other people smile, especially when they look so pleased. Her answer is a good one, one that makes him feel more at home already.
"I'll have to learn futuristic advertising. Which I should probably start calling modern advertising, so it's not incredibly obvious that I'm a time traveling ad man. Which nobody would believe anyway, but hey. And I'll have to update my resume, I guess, so it doesn't show that my last worked day was in 1968, and..."
He takes a deep breath.
"Maybe I'll worry about all of that later."
no subject
It's a relief to see him relax a little and show maybe a bit of optimism about the future. Tosh makes a mental note to get him a computer of his own, and some of whatever software people use to make graphics and videos for him to play with.
"I bet you'll be brilliant. Retro things are really popular, too, so don't worry too much about trying to change everything. I'll take care of setting you up with a birth certificate, driving license, things like that. We can always just make up some places for you to have worked and sort it out later if someone wants a reference."
These are things she's good at. Setting Ginsberg up so that on paper he fits into the current year will be the easiest part.
no subject
He can already tell he's going to be fascinated by a great deal about the future, but overwhelmed, too. The City had been one thing -- it had technically been the future, but because everyone had been from different places and time, it hadn't always felt that way. Here, though, he feels distinctly out of his time, and if it's noticeable in just the very brief time that he's been here... how much stranger is it going to get before he gets used to it?
The very thought makes him feel slightly nauseous, and he has to sit down on the couch.
"Can I have some water? Or some tea? Or something to stop the whole oh my god I'm in the future I'm going to die feeling?"
no subject
He actually does look a little nauseated, and Tosh rushes to get him a glass of water before putting on the kettle for tea. She gave up on making coffee when Ianto started working at Torchwood. It never tasted right when she made it herself. Besides, she grew up too English not to see tea as a comfort beverage.
"I've never been to the future myself, but I've been into the past. So I know a little bit what you're feeling. But you'll be all right. You're smart and creative, and the world is a lot more accepting of people now. You don't have to care as much about fitting in and being what someone else thinks you ought to be."
When the kettle whistles, she pours two mugs and brings them to the couch, sitting down next to Ginsberg with her arm against his, like she did when they had their talk under the tree back in the City.
no subject
He shrugs, and gives her a half-hearted little smile in thanks for the water. It helps steady him a little, lets him hold out long enough to wait for the tea and to listen to what she's saying about him being all right. He'd like to believe it. He's pretty sure she wouldn't deliberately mislead him. Maybe she knows something he doesn't.
"So everything you said about the future being more accepting was actually true, and not just some stuff you were telling me so that I didn't despair that the world would be shitty forever?"
Her presence here on the couch is comforting, and he knows the tea will be, too. This might not all be so bad.
no subject
She takes a sip of her tea as a way of encouraging him to do the same, and nods, smiling. "Promise. It's not perfect, I mean there are plenty of problems still, and it's not like everyone loves and accepts everyone else. But on the whole, things have gotten a lot better. Not just about sexuality, but about gender equality and civil rights... There's always more improvement to be made, and there are ways that the world is still sort of shitty. But yeah. It's better."
no subject
"Well, there're problems everywhere you go, I guess. I'd just like to believe that this is the kind of place I can be myself. I mean, within reason. I was myself back home, too, and I guess I was myself in the City, but there're different kinds of ways of being yourself, if that makes any sense at all. Does that sound totally crazy? It might. I don't want to make a fool of myself here or anything, I'd just like to stop worrying so much about what people're going to think of me."
It's a fresh start, in a way. It's also yet another chance to get rejected by the world as a whole.
no subject
All the reassurances in the world aren't going to convince him until he experiences it for himself, she knows, but she wants him to at least feel comfortable trying to make a go of it. (She also bets that a few days immersing himself in popular culture will prove that there are plenty of people out there bucking convention a lot harder than Ginsberg is likely to do.)
"You know, I haven't had a real vacation in ages. I think I deserve one, considering I just crammed months of time in an alternate dimension into what everyone here is going to think is an afternoon at the cinema. Think I'll take a few days, and give you the grand tour of Cardiff. Sound like fun? Could even pop iver to London if you wanted."
no subject
Forty years in the future or forty years in the past, he's pretty sure he'd run into a lot of people who didn't like him being himself. 'Himself' is pretty blunt, at the best of times, and downright abrasive and irritating at the worst of times. Frankly, he's amazed that Tosh has been able to put up with him for this long, and that niggling sense of doubt comes back into his mind once again -- now that they're here, maybe she'll realize that he's not worth the effort or the time, and leave him stranded in a place he doesn't know or understand.
Her next suggestion, though, has him smiling again, vacillating right back to happy and eager. "Yeah, I'd like that. That sounds like a lot of fun. I haven't gone on vacation in forever. Actually, maybe I haven't gone on vacation in ever, unless you count the City, which I don't really."
no subject
Now that they're in Wales again, Ginsberg isn't going to be able to avoid the residual weirdness that comes with being friends with a Torchwood employee. Especially one who has a hard time keeping those kinds of things to herself when there's a friendly ear around to share them with.
"Maybe we can hunt up some videos of older films too, so I can get a better sense of exactly how much I'm going to need to prepare you for. But at least you've already got a head start on the technology, being in the City, right?"
no subject
He's pretty sure he's content to stay here in the future for awhile. Or, possibly, forever, since he's not sure Tosh and her team of apparently mad scientists (at least, that's what they sound like to him) can put him back where he belongs. And besides, he's here now, and he's going to make the most of it. This whole vacation thing even sounds like fun. Will wonders never cease?
"Sure, I learned some stuff about technology. I learned that if you drop your phone in the bathtub, sometimes it doesn't work anymore. And I learned that you don't put aluminum foil in the microwave because it lights the microwave on fire. And I learned that there's something called the internet and then I stopped listening."
no subject
Not that they could actually do anything to prevent it, but Tosh figures that the likelihood increases dramatically with proximity to Jack and/or the Rift. Keep Ginsberg away from both for a while, and they should be able to get in a few days of pretending the world is entirely dull and normal.
She shakes her head at the sketchy understanding he demonstrates of 'modern' tech. "If you drop your phone in water, just put it in a jar of rice. That'll pull the moisture right out. Assuming you didn't leave it at the bottom of the ocean for a month or something. And everyone puts foil in the microwave at one time or another. It's sort of beautiful how the sparks jump and arc." The mischievous expression on her face does nothing to indicate whether she's joking or serious about that part. "You're definitely going to want to learn to use the internet, though. But we'll take it all slow, I promise. Baby steps."
no subject
He's only semi-joking, but of course, he's always had a very dramatic way of speaking. Why be subdued when he can make everything sound exciting? It's part of the reason he's always been so good at advertising. He really hopes he can keep doing that here, both because he truly loves it, and because it's the only thing he knows how to do. If he has to get an entirely new career on top of learning everything else... that thought is overwhelming, too. He takes another sip of tea.
"Okay, next time I drop my phone in water, I'll do that. Because I'm almost certainly going to. And I might just want to avoid the microwave in general, until I get a better handle on how it works. And I trust you to teach me to use the internet without, I don't know, falling into a black hole of modern technology and never coming out."