The Separation [Open!]

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel didn't know where-- let alone how-- the Yeerk had gone. But Tom was free of it, at least for now, and if she had her way? It would be kept that way. This time it wasn't some 'deal', this time it was a disappearance... so what if he stayed disappeared?

Maybe she was overboard, practically going door to door with her hunt, but she would not rest until she found him. She had no idea where he was, so she wasn't above checking everywhere, especially since she was doing this alone-- she kind of doubted the others would come out and sanction this. So it was up to her to do it. In the end, she was scouring the ship, occasionally as a human, occasionally as a wolf or bald eagle to try and track by sight or smell.

Unfortunately, it turned out that searching the entire ship for one small slug/alien wasn't an easy task.

((ooc: backdated to just after this. And you can run into her wherever you'd like, in morph or as herself!))

Comments

Running into her as herself?

[makeherblue]

It took a little bit longer than it should have for someone to answer the TARDIS doors. It might have to do with the Doctor having to run all the way back from the study (not The Study: the other one that's frankly not quite as nice. That one). Despite the TARDIS looking like a person couldn't even walk a step forward without running into a wall, there's the pounding of feet coming closer and closer, like someone’s running full tilt. The Doctor suddenly wrenches open the door, sticks his head out, and pants for breath, waving his hand as if to apologize for the lateness. The bowtie hangs off his neck crookedly, a collection of tattered books -– probably first editions, all of them –- nestled under his arm, the Doctor positively red in the face.

He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something.

On second thought, maybe he better get his breath back first. The Doctor gives an undignified wheeze. Warm light spills out over him as he tries to get out a “can I help you? Bit busy”, only it doesn’t come out anything close. If Rachel can pick out any of that, she’s got an incredibly good ear. The Doctor shuts the door behind him, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ragged handkerchief to mop his forehead, offering Rachel a winded grin as he motions that yes, he’s almost ready to speak like a person.

“Sorry,” the Doctor finally wheezes (mops again at his forehead, then his flushed cheeks). He leans up against the doorway of the TARDIS, “Forgot what a hike it was. Can I help you?”

[pretty_lethal]

To be honest, coming knocking at the doors of the police box had been more a whim than anything else-- she'd figured there was a chance that was something inside, and she hadn't been in morph at the time (so she couldn't just break it down to check)...

So a man who looked like he'd just run for his life wasn't what she'd expected. She rose an eyebrow sceptically at the oddly dressed man (a bow-tie? seriously?), hands on her hips while she waited for him to hurry up and get to the point. Seriously, what was up with this guy.

"Out of shape?" she asked flippantly, but moved on without really giving any pause: "Yeah. I'm looking for something."

[makeherblue]

Out of shape? Out of shape? He'd had centuries to -- okay, fair enough.

Maybe he was a little, tiny bit out of shape.

The Doctor squinted at her as he finished mopping at his face. "Anything specifically? 'Looking for something' is rather on the philosophical side, don't you think? The Doctor," he started to hold out his hand and remembered he was still using it to mop the sweat from his face. The Doctor balled up the handkerchief and tossed it over his shoulder. He almost looked like a real person now. The human girl didn't look too impressed with him, and yes, he'd seen her look at the bowtie.

Funny, it seemed to get that look a lot.

Human, girl, less than impressed with the bowtie, and looking for something.

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel's hands settled on her hips as she watched the odd man, eyebrow raised at him. "Trust me, it's not philosophical," she said. "But isn't calling yourself something like that kind of vague too?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Was that supposed to be a name, or something? Or a title?

Still, she wasn't really worried about that. She had her own things to do. "Maybe you could call me a hunter-- I'm hunting a slug."

((ooc: okay this tag is kind of lame. :|a Sorry.))

aah sorry for tense fail *edit* D:

[makeherblue]

The Doctor rewarded the girl a sort of amused smile, "And here I was thinking you were going with a classic like 'Doctor who?' or 'that's not a name'. Good on you for a little creativity!" He beamed at her. "Vague, maybe. One way of putting it."

The Doctor's expression flickered at the mention of a slug. It didn't take much guesswork to suppose she meant Yeerk slug, seeing as he hadn't heard of any other types of slugs onboard Stacy (unfortunate, that. There were plenty of perfectly friendly slugs out there, as he'd just finished telling Tom the Human With a Name That Desperately Needed Improving). The Doctor's expression was still politely interested but now his eyes were focused on the human girl, almost a little too intense, despite the bowtie and the tweed. The smile wasn't as friendly as before. It was slightly sad, unreadable.

"Slug? Parasite, bad take on humans, that sort of slug?" the Doctor asked. "The missing one, right? I'd like a talk with that one..."

Now did she mean "hunting" as in sniffing out or...hunting-hunting? Because he did want to have a bit of a chat, so...

[pretty_lethal]

"I take it you get confusion about the name a lot, then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. The other two things to say were too obvious, anyway. "Ever thought of just, I don't know, changing it, if it causes problems?" It seemed a simple enough answer.

Rachel was watching him pretty carefully, but she wasn't really too concerned about what he thought, or anything. What surprised her, though, was that he seemed to know exactly what she was talking about-- he'd probably talked to Tom, seen his communications post, or something. Which meant Tom was getting more people to keep an eye out, it seemed.

"Yeah, basically," she said, her own stare narrowing a little. He wanted to talk to it? Yeah, right. "It was a... friend's. I decided I'd help him look for it."

[makeherblue]

The Doctor gave her a look and a little frown. "Thought of it. Rubbish idea. I like the name."

Ah, so it was sounding increasingly like it was Tom's lost slug. The one that he insisted he had a deal with that wasn't a deal and more of just a threat parading around as a deal. That one, right? The Doctor clapped his hands, and casually invited himself along right there on the spot. Not so much casually but how he usually did it: like he had every right to suddenly tag along with yet another human and they probably should get to business instead of questions. Usually worked.

"Now then," the Doctor said, stepping away from the TARDIS and glancing around, "Where did we want to start searching? Two eyes are better than one, that sort of thing. Big ship to search for one tiny little slug."

He seemed to be oblivious to that little narrow stare of Rachel's. Oblivious or just ignoring it, giving her instead a friendly, utterly helpful smile.

[pretty_lethal]

"Fair enough," she said, shrugging. Though she could appreciate it-- at least he was sticking to his weird decision. Better than backing off because some people thought it was stupid.

She rose her eyebrow as he seemed to just sort of join in on the search. Maybe he could be useful, anyway. Though also probably irritating. "Uh, sure you can come," she said, pointing out her displeasure. "But that's the problem. There's too many places to look.

"If someone took him, where would be the best place to hide him? Crew quarters?" Was anyone that stupid? She wasn't so much asking for his opinion as she was thinking aloud, for his benefit.

Wolf morph, in the hallways!

[livestoannoy]

Normally, if Marco saw a wolf running around the ship he'd keep well out of the way of it. But this wolf looked familiar. Very familiar. In fact, the wolf looked exactly like his wolf morph.

Not Jake then - he'd morphed a different wolf. Which left either Rachel or Cassie. He could guess what they were doing - searching for the Yeerk - but the why would be very different depending on which one of them it was.

"Planning to huff and puff and blow some houses in?" Marco said, making a guess as to who was more likely to try and go Yeerk-hunting.

[psychicbear]

If a wolf could roll its eyes, Rachel's would have just then-- instead, she paused in her skulking, turning to face Marco. At least he was less likely to get on her case about what she was doing. She snarled, at first, before she replied.

< Gotta find the little pig, first. >

[livestoannoy]

"Iniss?" Marco said casually, already starting to focus on his own wolf morph.

[psychicbear]

< Yeah, > she said, her wolf eyes watching him closely. He was morphing-- so he was planning on actually helping? < Two big bad wolves? Kind of stacking the odds a bit. > But the tone told it all-- she didn't mind that one bit.

Whoo, matching wolf icons! :P

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

Marco finished up the morph, and trotted up besides Rachel. <I bet my nose is better than yours> he said, knowing that that was completely ludicrous, what with them acquiring the same wolf and all. <And I won't tell Jake if you won't.>

Heck yeah! :P

[psychicbear]

< Getting used to sniffing around for garbage? > she asked innocently. She felt the wolf's curiosity at seeing its proverbial twin, but it was ignored completely. < And deal. Neither of us breathes a word of this. >

It's like a wolf icon conga line!

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

<So that's the smell that was coming from your room,> Marco shot back.

<What's there to breathe a word of?> Marco said, all 'innocence'. <We're just going out for a nice friendly little stroll. With fur.>

cha cha cha

[psychicbear]

< So you're desperate enough to go sniffing around my room? > she asked, a threat implicit in her 'voice'. Because that was a good idea.

< Oh, of course. No one really appreciates talking walks as wolves, > she said. < Nothing weird about this. >

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

<Why would I need to be in your room when it's scent is wafting around in the hallway?> Marco shot back.

<Weird? No, there's no reason whatsoever for a pair of wolves running around on a giant tentacle ship to be weird.> Marco said, amused. <Compared to everything else here, we're practically normal.>

[smegging-hell.livejournal.com]

Today, Lister can be heard before he's seen.

"Our love, I tried to kindle!"

You see, he's rather happy. And that happiness would have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had just been via the tavern. Nope, nothing at all.

At least, he was happy until he spotted the two wolves casually walking down the hallway. He stares at them for a long moment.

[psychicbear]

< You're sure you're not mistaking that for the smell coming from you? > Rachel barked back.

< There're more out of place things, > she started to say but she paused when her sharp canine eyes picked up something moving down the hall. < Someone just ahead, > she said, taking extra care for the thought to be private to Marco. < You know him? >

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

Any fantastically witty comebacks Marco could have come back were also cut off by the arrival of someone else. Marco peered at the newcomer.

<Woah, he's still around?> Marco said in private thought-speak back, surprised. <I was sure that guy had been sent back to the pods or something. Dunno his name, but he thinks dreadlocks are sexy and that somehow I might be his great-great-grandfather. Although apart from the fact that he's clearly nuts, he's cool.>

Human form, because he's had enough wolf-related shock!

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

One weary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, finding himself quite unable to sleep properly of late, had taken to walking the halls of the ship, or really rather pacing, as if striving to wear himself into a state of slumber.

When a woman stalked through with clear purpose, however, he broke free from his introspections long enough to look curiously at her.

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel paused when she saw someone else in the halls, who didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular. She paused, and glared at him for the look he gave her, but she approached him anyway.

"I'm looking for something," she said, plainly. Maybe someone else knew something, and subtlety wasn't an option.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

He smiled, folding his hands behind his back -- not one to be offput by hostility, as he had received more than his fair share of it in time, and if he had earned it thus far in his time on the ship it was because of who he was, not what.

"If I can be of assistance, I shall."

[pretty_lethal]

The fact that he didn't seem bothered by her attitude was a plus, in some ways. She didn't really need to be trying to intimidate anyone right now, anyway.

"Uh, I'm looking for... a slug, basically." She said. "Pretty small, grey and gross. Trying to track it down."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"A slug? Well, I haven't seen one," he said, "but perhaps it could be located." But he was no fool; he sensed her mood probably meant nothing good for the creature on its receiving end, and thus added, as he drew his wand (without hostility), "What is the story, if I may ask?"

[pretty_lethal]

"Yeah, maybe," Rachel replied, as her eyes narrowed on him drawing the wand out-- he obviously wasn't threatening with it, but that didn't mean she'd trust someone pulling out something that could even possibly be a weapon. She'd be ready to defend herself. "It... was a friend's," she said, shrugging. "I wanted to find it for him."

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

He wasn't certain he quite believed her stated motivations were everything to her story -- how many times had he had an angry student say he was just 'looking for someone' in his year at Hogwarts, after all? Still, helping her seemed the better route than simply dismissing her.

He turned slightly so that when he lifted the wand she wouldn't have cause to interpret it as a threat. "By chance, does the creature have a name?"

[pretty_lethal]

Good, he wasn't making too much trouble-- and it seemed like he might have something useful to offer, based on his actions if nothing else. Still, she wasn't sure she liked the wand. Watching him carefully, she replied, "Uh, yeah," though she'd spent a long time just thinking of him as 'Tom's Yeerk' or whatever. "Iniss. And some numbers, I guess." It's not like she'd ever bothered to keep track of his exact name.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"Hmm." He incanted a spell nonverbally as he made a complicated gesture with his wand, then let it sweep across perhaps a quarter of a circle before he let it fall.

The smile he offered was apologetic. "Either I have failed, or the creature is outside of the range of the spell. It was designed originally for a much smaller space than this ship, as funny as it is now to think of it as small."

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel watched him very closely. She wasn't sure she trusted this 'magic'. Not immediately threatening, but it could turn pretty quickly, probably.

She nodded, "It's fine I guess," she said shortly. It was better than nothing. If it meant he was too far away... "This place is pretty huge. Which is kind of the problem."

((ooc: This is a derp tag sorry ;; ))

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"Immensely so," he said, looking distantly off at no particular thing. "I often feel that all of England would simply rattle in a corner, if it were put in here."

He looked back to her. "Have you tried your -- I forget the name, but the gadgets that let you send messages? Perhaps someone else has seen it and can advise you."

[pretty_lethal]

"Yeah, I guess. There's way too much room here. I haven't even seen like half the explored city yet." She rolled her eyes somewhat at the exaggerated size of the ship. It was kind of a pain.

"The comms? Uh, sort of," she said, shrugging. "The... friend already posted about it, so I think some people are looking." And she hadn't exactly told him that she was 'helping' either.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"I have barely even seen the City," he confessed. "It is intimidating in its size. Not so much how much of it there is, but how much is contained within something even bigger."

He himself did not follow the activity on the omnicomms too much, and so had not seen this post. He nodded. "Well, someone in one of the departments might know how to search better than I do. There must be a way to locate wayward people or creatures aboard this ship."

[pretty_lethal]

Rachel was hardly intimidated by the size of the city, but it was huge. "A bunch of people live around the city, so I've been there a few times." No mention of herself, of course, but that was another matter. "But the ship still has a lot," she confessed.

Frowning, she added, "I guess. I was just hoping to do him the favour myself, or something." It was stubbornness-- but also that she wanted to get her hands on Iniss for her own reasons, and that was something that she couldn't really share with anyone.

[myboggartismoon.livejournal.com]

"Very much so..." He thought on this matter, then began to smile. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help, but you have given me some help instead, so I am grateful. Thank you."

[pretty_lethal]

"Uh, you're welcome?" Rachel said, giving him a look. She definitely didn't know what she had helped him with but power to him, or something. "And whatever. I'll find him eventually."