tampered | Log: Complete

"That's very particular," Charming remarked. He could empathize, to some extent. Fabletown existed in Manhattan of all places, and not one mundy knew. Those that did were dealt with swiftly. Fabletown had envoys in Europe and the Middle East as well. The similarities were there despite the different motives of their organizations. He raised his wine once more, sipping with a look to Tosh out the corner of his blue eye. There was a slight gleam to it.

"And you called it alien hunting," he smiled.

"It's a unique arrangement," Tosh agreed, with a soft laugh. "Definitely not what I thought I'd be doing when I finished university."

She considered Charming for a moment, turning over possibilities in her mind as to why he was interested in her 'alien hunting' stories, and deciding that there was no conceivable threat to Torchwood that she could imagine. So maybe, just maybe, he actually was simple interested.

"That's an oversimplification, really," she explained, after a sip of her wine. "It's more of a combination of guarding the Rift, managing harmless aliens who just happen by, and tracking down and dealing with the less harmless ones. Or sometimes cleaning up after the damage they do, investigating sightings or deaths, confiscating alien technology, and all of it ultimately to protect Earth from enemy alien incursion."

[ooc: Oh Tosh, so easily manipulated. XD]

"It's a little exciting too, not being born into a position," like a prince, he grinned.

He wouldn't dare admit it, especially not to Blue, but part of Charming's resentment over not being made king subsided when he became one of the leaders of Fabletown. He found excitement in climbing to the top and forcing the path towards reclaiming their homes. In other words, he was in it for the fame, fortune, and glory, to make something of his empty royalty.

As for Tosh's elaboration on Torchwood... well a little information never hurt anybody. She walked and talked like a mundy, and seemed to have no affiliation with Empire. That was good enough for Charming.

"I'm sure somewhere there's a world where the superheroes guard the multiverse, and they have to police the other superheroes at the same time," said Charming.

[ooc: PC says who me?]

"Well, there was a family tradition of military service, but I think my parents got past most of their disappointment. And they think I work for British Intelligence anyway, now."

One of the lies that had been necessary when Tosh was recruited by Torchwood, but an easy one, because in a way she felt that it made them safer than if they'd known the truth.

"But yeah, it is an exciting job. It's terrifying sometimes, and...you don't ever leave a job like this one. But it's worth it. To know we're helping. I have to say, though, that I'm glad mine isn't one of those places where we have to deal with aliens and other 'superheroes'. The aliens are plenty of work, thank you."

"In mine as well," nodded Charming. He was a prince after all, and quite the campaigner in his day.

He waved his hand with a laugh. "I'm joking, Toshiko. That sort's the stuff of comic books," Charming grinned, regarding superheroes and aliens. But not fables, never fables, they just hid in plain sight that well. "Mm, comic books and the City," he amended before pleasantly finishing his wine. He was picking up that check, no doubt about it.

"I suppose that makes sense," Tosh agreed, grinning back. "Except that until I came here, I was certain that stories of vampires and demons were just superstitious rationalizations to explain alien activity. And I met a woman today who believes Metropolis is a real place. So, I'm not convinced anymore that aren't places where superheroes live alongside aliens. Outside of the City."

This was definitely, she decided, one of her better decisions. She hadn't enjoyed an evening out like this in a long time.

"I don't doubt that there are scientific ways to explain such phenomena. The melding of magic and technology, really."

Charming fully supported that. He was planning to bring mundy artillery to their war. Magicians couldn't do very much with their limbs decimated, but that wasn't polite dinner conversation. Neither was mentioning how his inspiration came from a man who hooked an IV to a fairy to keep her alive and drain her magic. Not polite at all. With the bill paid for he turned his blue gaze to her.

"Why don't we walk through the gardens," he suggested.

"It's definitely a thought that bears investigation," Tosh agreed. Although one that she approached from a slightly different angle, from the view of explaining the mystical through a more advanced understanding of science.

But she'd have also agreed with the idea that experimental science and warcraft weren't really appropriate dinner topics.

With a bright smile, she agreed to Charming's suggestion, retrieving her bag from under her chair. "I'd like that."

"Wonderful. Join me."

He offered his arm just like he did at the beginning of the evening and led Tosh towards the garden entrance at the back of the restaurant. It was quieter here, a little darker, complete with the lush foliage Xanadu had to offer. She lived with Jack Harkness didn't she? The man with the 51st Century pheromones. Had Toshiko become used to, and thus immune, to them? Because Charming had particularly sweet pheromones too, though he'd always denied their existence.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Tosh once again took Charming's arm and let him lead the way. And if she walked a little bit closer to him than she had at the beginning of the evening, it was probably partly due to pheromones and partly due to her companion's, well, charm.

"I had no idea this was here," she murmured, taking in the green lushness of the garden. "I told Ianto we should get some plants for the flat, and I'm definitely going to nag him about that now."

[ooc: Ohhhh, he's gonna break her heart.]

"You haven't toured the gardens? Well, you can't possibly cover them within a day, I admit," Charming tilted his head slightly.

Ianto Ianto... coffee man Ianto? It wasn't as if he'd done his research on her entire team, but the position he'd had in his homeworld lent a little profession into habit. No different from hers. Taking a few specimens from the garden for the home however wasn't out of the question. The deities had never said so anyway.

"Spring's a good season for cultivation," remarked the prince before he turned to tip Toshiko's chin in a kiss.

[ooc: I'm sorry Toshiko, just... think of your canon... ;-;?]

"I've been in a half-dozen shops Underground, but the only green space I've visited is an afternoon at the park," she admitted ruefully. "It's pitiful, really. But I intend to fix that."

Tosh probably would have been surprised if Charming didn't know a bit about her team, if only because she had the idea that sooner or later, everyone ran into Jack. He was just that sort of personality.

"I suppose-" The kiss probably shouldn't have caught her off-guard, and really in the back of her mind, Tosh had been expecting something of the sort, but she was just a little startled nonetheless. Not unwilling, however, and after an initial soft gasp of surprise, she tilted her head and leaned into his touch.

[ooc: Oh yes, canon has definitely gotten Tosh used to that sort of thing. It won't really come as a surprise to her. ;D]

To be completely honest, the only time Jack had ever spoken to him was to warn Charming and recommend safe sex! But he needn't tell Toshiko that. He knew of Jack through Blue.

At the sound of her faint gasp of surprise Charming leaned further, to take her in his arms as only a prince of fable lore could. His hands settled at the small of her back, lower and almost on her hips. It was a long silent moment before Prince Charming finally broke the kiss. He leaned back just enough for their lips to part and allow speech. He sounded mild satisfaction.

"Mm... will you come with me tonight?"

No pretenses, and certainly no lack of innuendo.

Tosh's eyes had closed, and remained that way for just a moment longer before she opened them to answer. It had, after all, been quite a kiss. And Charming had been clever in putting her into a situation that carried more than just a hint of the sort of silly romantic fantasies she'd been discussing with Rose just that morning.

"Yes," she said, her eyes crinkling a little as she smiled up at him, the innuendo not lost on her.

That was always his way, to woo women of mundy and fable origin alike with his legend. It wasn't fair not by a long shot, but a part of Charming... a part he'd locked up since the end of his first marriage, believed that eventually everyone would come to learn romance was just that; pure fantasy. Another part of him genuinely enjoyed Toshiko's company, and she was beautiful and smart to boot. What was one casual night? Except Charming failed to declare the 'casual' part in his proposition. Perhaps he was expecting Tosh to have heeded those warnings and understood that was how Charming worked.

"Follow me," he offered another brilliant smile, arm in arm, and towards Xanadu's main gate.

For the most part, Tosh had come into the evening with a clear understanding of what she ought to expect, both because of Blue's warning and the benefit of past experience. But she was maybe too much of a true romantic at heart to be completely unswayed by Charming's gentlemanly manner.

And there was at least one being who, had she not been sent to her death by Torchwood's captain, could have told advised Charming that perhaps the fastest way to Tosh's heart was simply to listen to her, and to show interest in what she had to say.

She returned his smile, and willingly walked alongside him, silent until curiosity got the best of her and she had to ask, "Do you live close by?"

And he did show interest in what she had to say, perhaps just not for the right reasons... But who was to designate right and wrong towards unvoiced reasons? For all he knew Toshiko was agreeing so she could see his place, and bug it. That sounded like something Cindy, Bigby, or Mowgli would do. At her question he nodded.

"I live in an apartment that overlooks the edge of the park," Charming said. It was a holdover from his Wardenship days. The job did have some of its perks. "That one," he gestured to a building blocks down. It wasn't as tall as the main Apartment Buildings, but it had far more spacious quarters. Fit for a prince.

Tosh smiled at that detail about the view. "Back home, I've got a flat that looks out on the bay. A little pricey for the size, but you can't beat the view."

For just a moment, she felt an unexpected pang of homesickness, although it passed quickly enough, when she reminded herself that everyone who meant anything to her was here in the City anyway.

If she could have read Charming's mind, she'd have pointed out that she only built and monitored the bugs, planting them would have been someone else's job. If Torchwood were the sort of organization that did those things.

"So you enjoy the water," he asked Toshiko with another smile.

It was a conclusion he drew from her home overlooking the bar. Charming liked his place because it had style and status. It was no Fabletown penthouse though. He could get by without it... with effort. It didn't take them long to reach the front of the building with its glass doors and coded access.

"I do, yes. I grew up in Osaka, which is a bay city as well, so I guess that sort of view reminds me a little of my childhood home. But it's peaceful, too, which can be important with a job like mine."

Little bits of unrequested personal information, which were a clue to how comfortable Tosh was beginning to feel around Charming.

She couldn't help but be impressed, and a little intimidated, by the posh interior that the entryway suggested, feeling a little bit as though she probably wouldn't have been given the time of day by anyone inside if she hadn't been arm in arm with Prince Charming.

"I've never been to Japan," he admitted with a shake of his head, "but it sounds like a place I should put on my list of locations to visit."

Charming had heard tale of the women there too, ahem. Stories of the Eastern Fable courts were also prevalent in the Homelands. As for the poshness of it all, it was upscale but Charming bringing ladies to his apartment had become somewhat of a norm for the lobby. No one batted an eye anymore. He was fortunate to not live in the Torchwood building.

The elevators were equally polished, taking them to the seventh floor.

"It's really a beautiful country. Although I think I'm probably really a Londoner at heart. Japan is my parents' homeland, but the UK is mine. I could give you a few suggestions on places you should be sure not to miss, though, if you did manage a visit."

Tosh had to admit that the lack of reaction was appreciated, as was the fact that there were no protective friends lying in wait to commence with interrogation upon their arrival. And considering the seemingly constant comings and goings of residents and guests of apartment 32/33, the Torchwood building was probably developing a rather interesting reputation of its own.

Seventh floor meant the view over the park promised to be a nice one indeed, although Tosh was feeling equally appreciative of the interior charms of the building as well.

"London, now there's a place I know," Charming nodded, "from Islington to Brixton." He smiled again, "I'd certainly appreciate it, Toshiko."

He knew the city rather well, though he'd never admit that the upper class women in the Smoke rarely ever fell for his charms. Royalty was old hat to them, much like the under appreciation he felt in America. Really, the prince exaggerated the highs and lows of his conquests. He would take care not to... brag about this one in a crass manner.

"Here we are," he led her to a door with a gold monogram nailed to the front. Yes, his monogram, P.C. Some things about Charming could never change.

He punched his code into the panel then opened the door for her. The interior reflected the modern chic design of the rest of the building. If Toshiko was observant too, she might have also noticed that it barely looked lived in, even for a bachelor. His rapiers were in a floor standing sword rack on the other side of the living room.

Tosh couldn't help a grin at the monogram on the door. It didn't surprise her a bit, but it was a conceited touch that was in a way almost endearing. She gazed around as they entered with the eyes of someone who both appreciated the fashionable beauty, and who was accustomed to evaluating her surroundings for visible threats. Not that any were expected, but by now it was instinctive.

"It's beautiful," she stated. Then spying the sword rack, and of course that too made sense, added,"You fence."

She wondered if what she was seeing was meant for show, or if Charming simply spent so little time there that it hadn't acquired a lived-in feeling.

He was the best swordsman in all of the Homelands! Well, with a rapier anyway. His handling of fencing blades was legendary and his handle on broadswords and the like wasn't something to scoff at either. He always led cavalry charges with a sabre.

Ahem, to put it shortly, Charming nodded, "I do. Since boyhood."

The mark of a prince. The lack of a lived-in feeling was most definitely owed to his spending little time there. Like during his position as Mayor, half the time Charming spent his nights in the office. Due to that there were no other real threats in the apartment. The sword rack was likely the most accessible weaponry, second to the revolver at his back which he smoothly slipped out from his waistband, holstered. He set the leather holster on the counter separating the kitchen and dining area from the living room.

"Would you like another drink," he asked.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject