[#076] Curious Fluff (Torchwood)

[badly_knitted]

Theme Prompt: #76 – Closed Doors
Title: Curious Fluff
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: G / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Nosy is still getting to know its new environment and is endlessly curious about what’s behind all the doors it’s not allowed through.



Nosy the Fluff was learning about doors. They were things that blocked off parts of the Hub it wasn’t allowed into because they weren’t safe for a Fluff who still had a lot to learn about human places. Back on the world it had come from, there were no buildings and no machines, just trees and bushes, grass and flowers, rocks, rivers, and Fluffs. There were other creatures too, but they weren’t as smart as Fluffs.

This world was very different, and the humans were even smarter than Fluffs. They had to be because they made all these buildings and machines that did clever things. They made lights that could be turned on and off, and things that blew out warm air, and things that water came out of when you turned the top bit. It really was amazing all the things humans had thought of and made happen, and that included doors.

Doors had things called ‘handles’ for opening and closing them, and things called ‘latches’ to keep them closed, and other things called ‘locks’ so they couldn’t be opened at all unless you had the funny shaped little thing called the ‘key’ to poke in the little hole. It was ingenious. The doors did get in the way a bit when it came to exploring though. There were so many places a Fluff wasn’t allowed to go, or at least not by itself.

Ianto had shown Nosy what was in some of the rooms that had closed doors. It had seen the garage when it had arrived, and had been in Jack’s office because the door to that was mostly left open. It had even been down into the room Jack and Ianto shared beneath the office. It was allowed into the bathroom and the locker room, both of which had doors that could just be pushed open although Nosy had to slither very fast to get all its very long body inside before the door shut on it. The first time, the door had caught Nosy’s tail end and that had been very unpleasant.

It had seen where Ianto kept his cleaning supplies and been told very firmly not to touch anything in there because some of it was dangerous. Just yesterday, it had been shown the inside of the stationery cupboard and that was very interesting indeed. There were all sorts of fascinating things stored in there until they were needed, but Ianto hadn’t told it not to go in there so it must be safe.

Jack had taken it down to the vaults to see the creatures kept down there, wrinkled, sharp-toothed things called Weevils that were a bit like humans because they walked on two legs and had two arms, and then there was a lumpy thing Jack had called Yuk. Nobody seemed to know exactly what it was but they fed it and cared for it anyway. Humans were nice like that, and Nosy’s empathic sense told it Yuk was comfortable. Some of the Weevils weren’t too happy about being shut in cells, but the one called Janet gave off an aura of contentment.

Owen had shown Nosy the morgue, which was cold and full of drawers. It was a sad place though, not somewhere Nosy would want to spend much time.

Right now, nobody was about. Most of the team had gone out to deal with a troublesome Weevil. Mickey had stayed behind to keep Nosy company, but he’d got very dirty working in the garage and had gone to the locker room to get clean. Unlike Fluffs, humans were waterproof.

Nosy was in its play area when the big door rolled open and a female human it had never seen before came in. She called Nosy’s friends’ names, then went to one of the doors that was always kept shut and went through, calling for Ianto. Coming back a few minutes later, she went out the big rolling door again, leaving the other door slightly open.

Curiosity took over and Nosy slithered to the open door. There were stairs beyond, but they were no problem for a Fluff. This was its chance to see where Ianto disappeared to so often!

Unfortunately for Nosy, as it slithered through, swinging the door open a little harder than it should have, the heavy slab of wood hit the wall and rebounded, slamming behind it. Oops! Nosy had only intended to have a quick peek, then shut the door behind it as it came out again, but now it was trapped. Ianto and Jack would not be pleased when they came back.

Still, Nosy was here now so it might as well continue its explorations. It would just have to be very careful not to touch anything. That would be safe enough, wouldn’t it?

Slinking its way down the stairs, Nosy began to explore. Down here were dozens of passages and rooms, rows of tall shelves filled with all manner of strange objects, neatly laid out. Yes, this was very much the sort of place Ianto would like, nice and tidy, although the further Nosy ventured into the maze of rooms the less tidy they became. That must be why Ianto spent so much time down there; he was sorting out the mess.

Eventually deciding it had seen enough, Nosy slunk back up the stairs to the top, where the door was still shut. It could sense the team had returned and were worried about something, and it rattled the door, trying to get the handle to work. Someone opened it from the other side; Ianto.

“Nosy! How on earth did you get in there? I know I shut the door!”

“hum,” Nosy said in a small, apologetic voice.

“Just look at the state you’re in! You’re covered in dust and cobwebs!”

Perhaps slithering under the shelves hadn’t been one of Nosy’s better ideas; it had been quite dirty.

“I don’t think brushing will help; you need a bath.”

Nosy slumped. It hated getting wet!


The End



 

Comments

[nothfan23]

Oh my goodness, that was the cutest and most adorable story I’ve read in a long time. Amazing and I’d love to read more adventures of nosy 🤣

[badly_knitted]

*grins* Thank you! Nosy has been quite a hit since its first adventure back in 2010. If you want more, check out the Nosy-Verse Master List here:

https://badly-knitted.dreamwidth.org/1102195.html

There are also Nosy drabbles, but I don't have a master list for those on dreamwidth. There's a Nosy-Verse tag though.

[nothfan23]

Aww that’s great I’ll check those out 👍

Thank you

[badly_knitted]

I should warn you there are quite a lot and some aren't quite in the right order... *grins* They were written in random order and trying to put them in chronological order has not been entirely successful.

[polarissruler]

This was so funny and so adorable! Nosy's name clearly fits. I loved reading about it.

[badly_knitted]

Thank you!

There's lots more Nosy on my journal. There's a link in one of the other comments.