Characters: Ianto, Jack, Owen, Tosh, Gwen, OCs.
Summary: Rain in Cardiff is normal, but this rain is a bit different.
Written For: My own prompt 'Torchwood, Team, Multicoloured rain,' at fic_promptly.
Another Wednesday in Cardiff, and it was raining. Typical. Ianto pulled up in the supermarket car park and reached for the umbrella he kept handy under the passenger seat. Being a native, he knew only too well what to expect of the Welsh weather, and while it didn't rain every day, it had a bad habit of doing so whenever he had errands to run. Today he needed to pick up the dry cleaning, collect a pair of Jack's boots from the old-fashioned cobbler's tucked down a side street, where they regularly went to be re-heeled, get a fresh supply of premium coffee beans, and do some other shopping. They were getting low on a few things at the Hub.
He blinked at the car windscreen and the grass green droplet that was slithering slowly down it, leaving a meandering green streak behind. What the heck was that? A pink drop hit the car bonnet, followed by several in different shades of blue and purple. Staring out across the car park, he saw orange, yellow, red, white, magenta, vermilion, turquoise, emerald, copper, silver, and even beige raindrops, pattering down, making colourful puddles on the black tarmac, and turning the cars into abstract paintings. It was really rather pretty, or would have been if it wasn't so bizarrely unnatural. Looked like his errands might have to wait.
Digging in his pocket, Ianto pulled out his phone and called Jack.
"Ianto, what's up? Please tell me you're not calling to say my coat isn't ready." Jack really hated being without his coat, but it did need a good thorough clean from time to time.
"Is that a trick question?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Stay put, we're on our way. ETA, five minutes," Jack told him.
"Fine, I'll keep within the speed limit," Jack grumbled, knowing that Ianto would be able to tell if he didn't.
"Okay, see you in a bit then." Ianto hung up, sat back in his seat, and resumed watching the coloured rain as it made kaleidoscopic patterns on the car windows. Amazingly, although the different coloured drops swirled together on surfaces, they didn't mix, retaining their colours rather than blending into a murky brown.
Jack pulled into the car park some twelve minutes later. Ianto had been right about the visibility problems and he'd been forced to drive much slower than usual. Finding Ianto's car proved difficult too, because all the parked cars were splattered with so many different colours and shades that they blended into each other. It wasn't until one flashed its headlights that Jack was able to home in, pulling the multicoloured SUV up beside Ianto's almost unrecognisable Audi and rolling down his window as Ianto did the same.
"Right, I'd better leave my car here and go with you," Ianto said. "Shove up a bit." Jack obligingly pulled the SUV forward so Ianto could slip out of his car and into the back of the SUV with minimum exposure to the peculiar rain, but he was still left with bright spots of colour on his suit. He hoped they wouldn't stain.
"Then I'd imagine that's where we need to be. Good work, Tosh." Jack put the SUV in gear and headed back out onto Leckwith Road, turning right.
Jubilee Rec was a triangular expanse of grass, bordered by trees. Parking as close to one of the entrances as they could manage, the team climbed out of the SUV, put up umbrellas, and made their way through the gates, looking for the source of the bizarre phenomenon. It didn't take them very long at all to locate the cause of the multicoloured rain; as they passed through the trees and out into the open, they immediately spotted the band of colourful aliens who were frolicking happily on the equally multicoloured grass. To be honest, it would've been difficult to miss them; they weren't exactly inconspicuous, and the only reason no one else had spotted them yet was because the surrounding trees blocked them from view and the heavy rain meant nobody was using the park at present.
The aliens were about seven feet tall, slender and delicate, barefoot, and dressed in gauzy, calf-length gowns that drifted around them like gossamer despite the rain. They looked like nothing so much as mythical nymphs, naiads or dryads perhaps, except they came in a wide range of rainbow colours, their skin and hair contrasting artfully. Their beauty and elegance as they danced in the rain were mesmerising. Jack had seen their kind before, and although he was as captivated by the sight as the rest of the team were, he wasted no time in leaving the shelter of Ianto's big umbrella and marching up to them, getting streaked with colour in the process. Hands on hips, he stared up at the Polychromites' leader and demanded they stop what they were doing.
It took him over an hour, but Jack eventually managed to persuade the Polychromites to return the rain to normal, before sending them on their way.
"I suppose you're right," Gwen agreed with a sigh.
Even Jack shuddered at that thought!
It it wasn't for the problems it causes with visibility!
I love rainbows, but I wouldn't want everything to be rainbow coloured. Rainbows wouldn't be so special then.