8
COMPANION TRAINING HOUSE
And here she is, moving back and down, her eyes half closed in passion. She settles on a cluster of brocaded pillows, and we see another head lowering in for a kiss... Come around to see it's another lovely young woman – and that there is a group of ten others watching intently, all in saris, on their knees. Two handsome young men with shaved heads in the back, also on their knees.
Rose stops before the kiss, smiling and coming back up. She speaks to the girls (We hear only soft music) as she repositions the one she's with, lowering again; showing her the motion of surrender as if it were a dance step.
"They love you." A voice shakes Rose from her reverie as she stares out the window, still trying to relax from the session.
Rose looks out at the mountains. The space she's in resembles a Tibetan monastery, if slightly more opulent. She is with Carys, a somewhat older Companion, the woman whose voice we heard. She hands Rose a drink.
"The girls. They've learned more from you these last months than the rest of us could show them in two years." Carys points out.
"They're very sweet. But they're not Companions." Rose smiles.
"You've no hope for them? Junk the lot, start anew?"Carys kids and Rose snorts.
"On London 12 we started training at twelve. Years of discipline and preparation before the physical act of pleasure was even mentioned. Most of these girls…" Rose explains.
"They're all of good family, the highest academic standards…" Carys defends her girls.
"Control. Was the first lesson." Rose cuts her off, "And the last and these worlds are not like the Central Planets. There is barbarism dressed up in the most civil weeds. Men of the highest rank who don't know the difference between a Companion and a common whore. It's unsafe."
"All the more reason the girls look to you. You came out here alone, before the Agency ever thought to establish a House this remote." Carys leans forward, "You've seen so much. You're a figure of great romance to them."
"Great romance has nothing to do with being a Companion, Carys. You should know better."
"I'm not the one who had a torrid affair with a pirate." Carys laughs as Rose nearly spills her drink.
"A who? With a what?" Rose sputters.
"It's the talk of the House. The girls all trade stories in the dorms at night." Carys whispers.
"I didn't... have a pirate..." Rose is scandalised.
"In one of the stories you make love in a burning temple. I think that's my favourite."
"This is unbearable. Captain Harkness is no pirate; he's apetty thief. And he never laid a finger on me. All he ever did was rent me a shuttle and be very annoying." Rose finally says.
"A year on his shuttle and he never laid a finger on you. No wonder you left." Carys giggles.
"I left because - go away. We're no longer friends. You're a stranger to me now."Rose bristles with anger.
"I do love to watch you boil. Don't worry. The stories will fade. And your Captain Harkness has probably gotten himself blown up by this time." Carys assures her.
"Yes. That would be just like him." She says out loud as she silently thinks of the true reason why she left.
Ianto.
.
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Torchwood touches down on the crowded atoll amidst a number of other, equally disreputable ships. The place is filled with every kind of immigrant culture and shop imaginable.
The ramp is open and everyone is filing out, ready to hit the town. Toshiko is talking to Owen, who has Ianto in hand.
"Don't talk to the barkers – only the captains." Toshiko was trying to give Owen advice as she scuttled alongside him, desperately wishing he would just back down. "You look the captain in the eye, know who you're dealing with."
"I wish there was..." Owen paused since he doesn't know what to say.
She rattles on "You shouldn't aughta be so clean. It's a dead giveaway you don't belong, you always gotta be tidy. Don't pay anybody in advance. And don't ride in anything with a Capissen 38 engine, they fall right out of the sky."
"Toshiko." Owen says softly but she turns and heads off. Owen starts in the other direction, but Ianto looks after her and the others.
"Ianto... do you want to stay with them?" Owen asks softly.
"It's not safe."
"No, I fear it's not safe anymore." Owen agrees. He's heading off and doesn't hear Ianto's final words on the matter.
"For them."
.
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.
.
.
Jax and Toshiko are heading down into the bar. They head down two stories straight down as they go, to a close group of dark tables and booths and a second screen playing in the corner.
"It's not my fault the Doc's got no stomach for Rim living" Jax complains at her sour mood.
"It is entirely and for all your fault! If you'd given Owen a moment, just a moment where he didn't think you were gonna throw them off or turn them in, he might've…" Toshiko surmises but Jax cuts her off.
"What? Swept you into his cleanly arms? Made tidy love to you?" Jax teases with a grind of his crotch at her and her eyes widen with rage.
They have reached the guncheck, where Rhys and Mickey have already checked their guns. It works like a lunch automat. Jax sticks his gun in a drawer, pulls out a chit – the drawer closes and rotates, revealing another empty one. A large bouncer with a shockrod watches impassively.
"Don't you dare joke! You know how much I pined on Owen." Toshiko snarls as they continue into the inner sanctum of the bar "And him fair sweet on me, I well believe, but he's so worried about being found out…"
"Captain didn't make 'em fugitives." Martha defends her Captain as she sees Toshiko is going to continue this all bloody night.
"But he coulda made 'em family! Steada driving them off. Steada keeping Owen from seein' I was there, when I carried such a torch and we coulda - goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!" Toshiko splutters and they all freeze for a beat, then continue to walk. All wear looks of horror.
"Oh god! I can't know that!"Jax finally speaks in a hushed tone like he is totally scandalised.
"I could stand to hear a little more..." Rhys pokes at her.
"If you had a care for anybody's heart you woulda…" Toshiko is on the verge of tears.
"ENOUGH!" Jax snarls as he seizes her arm and shakes her into silence, "You knew he was gonna leave. We never been but a way station to those two. And how do you know what he feels? He's got Ianto to worry on but he still coulda shown you... if I truly wanted someone in my world bad enough, wouldn't be a thing in the 'verse could stop me from going to him."
"Tell that to Rose." She spits and for a moment, Jax is too shocked to react.
Toshiko storms out.