Jumped and sat fast...

[iamthebadwolf]

[She remembers desperation and the spark of hope she’d never been able to kill. She remembers the feel of her gun in her hands and the buzz of the Command Centre in her ear through the com. She remembers the feel of her body leaving the universe she’d made into her home and being pulled to another dimension altogether. And she remembers why she went – to save the world but also to find him again and never let go.]

[And now she’s opening her eyes to silver that’s wrapped all around her. Instinct kicks in and it takes a few moments to realize she’s disarmed and de-wired. It takes a few moments longer to notice the necklace and pamphlet. She reads it cautiously. And then again. And again. And then Rose leaps up, things clutched in her hands, and she marches down the walkway, refusing to be deterred by how beautiful the bay is around her.]

Hello? Hello? Is there anybody there?

[She finds the magazine with the wizard – wizard? Probably some alien or some crackpot who picked up the name. There was astounding science but no such thing as magic. Or was there, in this universe? Her head was aching – and after she reads the words and the pamphlets again she lets herself cry. Because she’s stranded. Because her mum and dad and Tony and Mickey and Jake are unreachable and she’s never fully let herself think about what living without them will actually feel like.]

Command centre? This is the lieutenant?

[The phone just gives her a noise and Rose has to admit defeat. Wiping her eyes she clutches at her key and follows the path to the city. She’ll settle down as much as she can and wait until the others find her or she finds a way out. It isn’t the end of the world. That happened on a beach in Norway three years ago.]

[Four days later and she’s found an apartment and a job but no way out. She’s working in a shop again and she honestly wants to scream because she swore she’d never go back. It’s just for now… It’s just temporary… ]

Good afternoon. Anything I can help you with?
[She tries very hard not to sound as bored as she is]
.

Comments

[celestial_wizard]

[ In contrast to Rose's bored mood (seriously if you'd been here two days earlier ..!), Lucy was pretty perky. At least on the outside. Fayren didn't have a lot of the food she'd missed out on when she was in Exsilium, and it seemed to be in abundance here. But first, she had to poke around a new shop like this one. ]

I'm just looking right now. [ She smiled as she walked into the shop. ] What sort of merchandise do you sell here?

[iamthebadwolf]

[There was always something about somebody else being cheerful that dragged Rose out of being... well. Not-cheerful. She managed a smile and a small shrug.]

To be honest I haven't actually hunted. Everything? S'all second hand stuff people bring in, I hear. One man's treasure and all that.

[celestial_wizard]

[ OOc: Meep! I didn't get the alert on this because you replied to your post and not to my tag XD /assumes you clickied wrong reply link :D ]

You haven't hunted? [ Lucy blinked, but she wasn't thrown from her beat much. She chuckled instead. ] You must be new right? Do you think the owners will mind if I window shop? I just arrived a few days ago myself, so I'm not really sure what my friends and I are going to need quite yet.

[iamthebadwolf]

[OOC: I'm so, so, so terribly sorry. I'd just finished reading The Fault in Our Stars and I was not functioning 100% correctly. If it helps I also took a cold shower, thinking the hot water was out, only to discover I hadn't turned on the hot tap.]

Yeah, hunted around through these... piles. Piles seems too... organised-sounding. These are just...

[Rose shook her head and gestured to the sprawling things that littered the everywhere around her.]

Is it that obvious? [Rose grinned a little wider.] I'm usually a little better at blending in. Oh, no, go ahead. This is the place for scratching.

[celestial_wizard]

[ OOC: oooh, what's that about? :D /ffth and patpats! Noworries! ]

[ Lucy glanced around the... piles, grinning sheepishly. ] Let's just hope they don't gain sentience. [ Junk piles, JUNK PILES EVERYWHERE. She eyed one of the piles cautiously, before turning back to Rose with a grin. ]

I think everyone is a little disoriented at first. I know I would have been if this had been the first time for me. Ah, I'm Lucy.

[iamthebadwolf]

[OOC: A girl who has cancer meets a boy who had cancer. All their friends have cancer. I think you can tell where this is going :P]

[Rose felt herself begin to warm to Lucy, despite her previous moping.] I dunno. I think I saw something moving, already. Good thing there are probably weapons around in one of these piles.

[Her joking grin slipped at the next words.] This isn't your first time? How did you... how did you get away? What brought you back? [If she could find a way out... find a way to the Doctor...]

[celestial_wizard]

[ OOc: Fffh yah XD; ]

[ Lucy has that effect on people. Most people. She laugheda t the joke about something moving but...just in case she edged away from the pile she'd been poking at, glancing at Rose again for her question. ]

Ah... well we kind of didn't. I mean, at least not under our own power. [ Something that annoyed her really. ] It was a machine that was created by this faction to help them in a war. Something that was supposed to change their timelines.

[ A frown at that because she didn't like mucking about with time, now more than ever. ]

Only it didn't function very well. Sometimes it'd send us back home, for good, and other times it'd send us back home and bring us back only a little while later. Just recently it sent my friends and I home, but then we just wound up here as well. Somehow. There's a way to open a gate way back home, but it's not really "real". Just a fabrication from your memories.

[iamthebadwolf]

[Rose's shoulders slumped in dejection. For one moment she had thought... She took a deep breath and told herself that at least there was a way out. There was a way Torchwood could reach her. Or a way she'd be able to get out, even if it was just long enough to warn them and tell them to send somebody else to find the Doctor.]

[She tried to be Lieutenant Tyler, saviour of the Earth and not Rose, the girl who would have given up everything to prove his 'you can't' wrong.]

Right. Timey-wimey spacey stuff, then. [Rose forced a smile.] Sorry for jumping on you like that. I just... I was kinda in the middle of something. And being here isn't helping matters. At all.

[celestial_wizard]

[ Lucy waved a hand dismissively. ]

It's okay. [ She's..never heard the term 'timey wimey spacey' before, but it's amusing to her. ]

And I know how you feel. My friends and I were in the middle of something pretty big too - but thing is, being here, time kind of stops back home for you. I'm really not sure how that works, so maybe the best description really is 'timey wimey'..!

[iamthebadwolf]

[Rose grinned back, a little subdued but glad to have made a friend, anyway.] Really? Does it? Oh, that's a relief. [Rose laughed shakily, glad her universe wasn't about to implode while she was around minding a shop.] Thanks for the help, yeah?

[celestial_wizard]

[ Lucy nodded with a bright smile. ]

Sure thing! If you need any other help just say the word. My name is Lucy.

[iamthebadwolf]

[Rose grinned back]

Thanks, Lucy. My name's Rose. And I dunno what help I can be but... likewise.

[sonicvelvet]

"Not particularly," the Doctor told her without even sparing her a glance.

His opera cape had seen better days, it appeared, and his velvet smoking jacket had a few minor tears. It appeared that he'd have to search for clothes once again. If only he had his TARDIS, he wouldn't be in such a mess! And why should he have his TARDIS? He'd only just got the old girl back in working order once more.

"Unless you can find me a nice glass of scotch or brandy. There's a good girl."

[iamthebadwolf]

Rose blinked in surprise at this strange man, one eyebrow raised at his getup. A small smile twitched at her lips.

"'Kay. Just say if you-"

The smile disappeared and Rose straightened. "Don't have any alcohol here," she muttered. "And I'm nobody's 'good girl'."

[sonicvelvet]

"If you're not good, what are you?" He glanced at her briefly. Such strange eyes she had. The Doctor busied himself with another rack nearby. "Are you cool? I doubt this is the setting to use words such as courageous, genious or patient...then again, I have heard stories about retail and the people who shop. Maybe you are courageous after all. Maybe brilliant. I don't know you to say, really."

[iamthebadwolf]

Rose contemplated, for a wild moment, telling him the two words that she both remembered and did not. But she swallowed her tongue, knowing from experience that saying the wrong thing in the wrong place could muck up a lot of things.

"I just don't like being treated like I'm nine. Or like I'm a dog. Every time somebody uses 'there's a good girl' on me all I can think of is servants of the old days being treated like they're unimportant by their masters."

Her mouth twitched briefly upwards. "I dunno about cool. Or the other things. I guess I was called brilliant once but..." Something stuck in her throat and she swallowed it down forcefully. No need to get soppy. "Shoppers can be mad, yeah. But so far, so quiet. What about you?" She teased. "Are you one of the mad sort?"

[sonicvelvet]

The range of expressions before she answered. How fascinating...

"I've been called many things, and 'mad' is certainly one of them, but I often ignore the Brigadier so it hardly counts." He turned to look at her properly then, the young woman who still looked as though she was deciding just who she was and just what she wanted; bored with life or whatever it was that she had going on. "As far as shopping goes, one might refer to me as an 'occasional interest'. It isn't something I do often because I believe there are many, many more exciting things to do."

[betel_geuse]

"Naw, babes, I don't have any money. Seems this place doesn't have much need for bio-exorcists," Betelgeuse said, shrugging. "I'm just browsing, thanks. Unless you want to give me work? Got anyone you want scared?"

[iamthebadwolf]

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Bio-whatsits? Are you serious?" A second later, she realized she was probably being rude. But he'd said exorcist and the last encounter she'd had with that sort of thing... "Uh... No.... I... Don't know anybody here?" she offered as a way out. "Thanks?"

[betel_geuse]

"WHuuuut??" he groans. "What's wrong with being a bio-exorcist? You living types think it's okay, when a ghost gets exorcised and that's much, much, MUCH WORSE! Seriously yourself, babes, do you know what happens to ghosts that get exorcised?"

[iamthebadwolf]

"What the bloody hell is a bio-exorcist?" Rose replies, and can't help but laugh. "No, I don't know. I've never met a real-life ghost. Only alien thingies that look to us like ghosts. And they had to be exorcised 'cause they were tryna take over the world."

Rose grins at him, slightly taken by this strange new face. "What happens when a ghost - a real one - gets exorcised? And what's a bio-exorcist do?"

[betel_geuse]

"You have now, babes," Betelgeuse corrected, waggling his eyebrows at her. "Bio-exorcist means I get living people out of ghost's houses, generally by scaring 'em, but, y'know, whatever it takes. I mean, after all, they die, they become ghosts. A living person exorcises a ghost...the ghost dies. Meaning, they end up in the lost souls room. They lose the ability to interact with anything or anyone, living or dead. As close to Hell as I've ever seen."