genessia | Video

Hey so, bit of a weird question. Anyone here ever heard of Torchwood, and could maybe point me how to get back to contacting the local branch? That'd be really handy, yeah?

Year and star system coordinates would also be fantastic, but I'm not holdin' my breath waitin'.

[Bites her bottom lip in thought.]

[She doesn't even know which universe this is. Much less how she got here without a dimension cannon or where everyone she was with went. Maybe they're here. But then maybe even saying their name depending on the universe is dangerous. Luckily, she's had 5+ years (give or take for literal dimension rewinds and time in the vortex) of experience in learning how to do codes.]

Here's a fairytale you've probably never heard before.

Once upon a time there was a big bad wolf. She wandered a city of metal filled with metal men. [Too dangerous to even say the world cyberman until she learned more!] She thought she was on a mission to hunt down her lost prince. But she was actually on a mission to find home. Bit like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz if you know it. And one day she met a man who wasn't a prince at all. He was a very brainy professor. There was even another man who started off as a mouse but turned into a lion full of courage, saving worlds he never even knew existed. And a really flirty captain who was probably too pretty for his own good. They weren't off to find a wizard. Just a blue box.

The big bad wolf ran away from home and her pack over and over and over again, but no matter how many times she ran, and how many new friends she made or which universe she fell into, something was always calling her back. 'Pparently you can't escape your family that easily. That or the Big Bad Wolf's mum was seriously terrifying and would fight a werewolf for diamonds and totally win.

Thanks for listening, Ta!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's fine. It's nice to meet you Bad Wolf.

[Belle doesn't it find it so odd.]

I don't think we can leave this world though I don't know very much about world hoping. There are others here who know more.

You too Belle!

[Hums quietly.] I don't know if that's reassuring or not, to be honest. I've only known a few other world hoppers, and [Laughs.] We all seem to be a bit a cagey bunch. I didn't used to know why when I first started. Took me a couple years and some really bad missteps.

Helped that my boss knew my Mum even better'n me and knew how to get her to tell me off if I went too far though. My Mum is not someone you anger twice.

Not without bein' really really brave, or rereally really stupid. I might be both, but even then, I tried my best, yeah?

[Belle smiles at the screen.]

I think that sometimes bravery and stupidity go hand and hand. For better or worse we all need a little bit of both.

Maybe.

Daft enough to try anythin' no matter how crazy though. That runs in my family. Got it from my Dad, and it's the same quality my boss has. He says all inventors gotta be like that. Ever hear of Thomas Edison?

I don't think I have.

[The American colonies were only just beginning in Belle's time.]

He invented the electric light. He tried over two thousand combinations before he got it right!

My Dad was an inventor too. Always makin' weird gadgets and half-finished junk he left around the house to drive my Mum crazy. [She would say "When he died," but then it would be a problem to explain later on.]

Always tinkerin'. I could never get enough of hangin' around car shops and mechanics after that. My best friend, the D-- Professor [A small hesitation, it feels weird to codename him and not the other two, but Mickey and Jack are common enough names, and if anything, codenames might be more suspicious.] and Mickey and Jack were like that too. Always had to be playing with some machines or other. But the fun part for me was just gettin' to test it out afterwards and hope the explosion didn't take off my eyebrows. Especially when it didn't do what it was supposed to.

My father was also an inventor.

[Belle smiles affectionately.]

Though nothing as fantastic as light. He made toys and things were gears and springs. [Belle is a bit of an inventor herself but she's still learning.]

Yeah?

[Laughs.] My Dad too! [Duh Rose, you just said that...] When my little brother was born, he made tons o' weirdness for 'im to play with. He was so excited to have a kid finally.

I um, grew up without him. Didn't meet him until I was in my twenties anyway.

[Belle's smile softens into a fond grin.]

That sounds like it was fun. [Not the fact that her father isn't there but the toys.] I never got to know my mother except threw stories my father told me. We've always been close because of it.

Yeah! That's how it was with me and my Mum at first.

She was really glad to get him back. Of course. Thanks to my best friend.

I'm glad to hear it.

[Belle doesn't know what happened to her mother.]