trans_9 | The Change [open]

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The Change [open]

Neither Rachel nor Marco had any real trust in the medical situation they'd both been forced into. It seemed like they had been tricked and betrayed; and it meant that there were instantly a few more people crossed off their list of who they should trust when they escaped. In fact-- it left them at each other, it seemed, when they did escape from medical, two cockroaches slipping out of sight while medical was distracted from them.

Of course, this was compounded by the fact that several communications posts went up shortly after-- one announcing a Quarantine (thankfully they'd gotten out in time for that) and one announcing their abilities to the crew to warn them. And then things got worse-- Marco's morphing began to get weird, and Rachel... literally split into two.

This wasn't going well.

((ooc: As Blue's OOC post said, we need to make sure that only the people signed up for taking the two 'groups' (Nice Rachel and Marco in one corner, just Mean Rachel in the other) to Quarantine are the ones who actually do that. Other than that, feel free to try and do it! Tag under the header for whoever you want to thread with and feel free set the scene, and ours will enter in. :) ))

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Jamie hadn't been looking for either Marco or Rachel deliberately, but he was keeping Kang's message in mind as he headed through Stacy's corridors. If he sees any odd beasties, he'll be ready.

Of course, that doesn't help him one bit when he rounds a corner and nearly runs into the rather human Marco and Rachel, but he's quick enough to shift gears. They probably don't want to actually go back to Medbay, and likely would fight someone who tried - at least at first. If he plays dumb, though, maybe he can calm them down enough so they'd be willing to listen to reason.

"There ye are. Look, what's going on? Kang's sent out some daft-sounding message about the two of ye."

Marco had all been ready to try and flee again, just like he had with everyone else - except unlike the others, Jamie didn't seem to be trying to get them back in the Med Bay.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to try, though. Marco's eyes darted around for a moment, looking around to try and see if he could spot anyone trying to back Jamie up. Damn, he really missed the ability to morph properly right now...

"Kang's full of shit," he said to Jamie, watching him warily now.

Of course, Rachel could still morph-- but convincing her to do it was kind of another matter.

Still, that wasn't really on her mind when she saw Jamie round the corner and begin talking to them. He actually seemed to believe in them! Did he not think that there was something wrong with them, like everyone else?

"Jamie!" she shouted, voice bright. "It's, like, totally awful! Kang is saying all kinds of mean things about us," she said, starting to tear up. "But you don't believe it right?" Jamie was so much nicer than that! He was so sweet. She almost moved to give him a hug-- but that would be totally rude, right?

Any thoughts of trying to convince the two of them to go to the med bay in a subtle sort of manner go clear out of Jamie's head as Rachel tears up. Automatically, he moves over to her, meaning to slip an arm around her side so he can rub her arm comfortingly. If she chooses to pull away, it's her decision, but he certainly won't stop her if she decides to hug him instead. "Och, lass, there's no need to greet so."

He regards Marco then, his expression solemn. "Kang'd not say something bad about ye on purpose, I don't think. There's got to be something he's gotten mixed up, that's all."

"That is never going to stop being freaky," Marco commented, eying Rachel's tears. There was just something wrong about Rachel crying.

Not to mention there was something wrong about Rachel going up and hugging people that weren't Cassie or Tobias.

"Oh, so he just accidentally acted like a complete bastard. Well, that makes everything different," Marco said, sarcastic.

The otter was onto something, he was sure of it. This time, he had a really good feeling about it, more than a human's idea of a niggling feeling. The niggle by now had evolved into a full blown hunch. This time he wouldn't get dragged through the caverns and places he probably didn't want to go into, the Doctor covered from head to toe in muck and grime and dried slime, and other...bits he wasn't going to mention if the otter wasn't. He was about two seconds from pointing out how absolutely terrible his otter friend smelled when the otter suddenly went wild.

The biggest clue was how the little fella began to strain at the leash, paws scrabbling against the floor, the long body suddenly stiff as a bolt. The Doctor had to fight to keep from getting dragged after him. The otter took off. They rounded the corner --

Oh! See, he knew the otter would come in handy!

What he didn't expect was Marco to have friends with him. The Doctor's eyes went from Marco to Rachel to Jamie, who for some reason had an arm around the human girl's shoulder. It was then he saw the tears. So very Jamie there. The Scot never could resist comforting all the girls, it seemed like. That and he'd always had been the huggy-sort. The Doctor tried to loop the leash around his arm, straining to keep the otter at bay -- denied for now, the otter settled for its best beady otter death glare at Marco, the Doctor giving a wave with his free hand, all smiles through a mask of mud. Pardon the smell, humans.

"Hello! Jamie, I see you have this under control, well done! How's everyone?"

The Doctor's voice came out in a grunt as he had to pull back on the leash yet again. If the otter seemed rather fond of Daniel Jackson, it apparently felt the complete and utter opposite for Marco here. He would've said maybe it didn't much care for his morphing ability, but it ignored Rachel entirely, so that ruled that out. No, no, it was clear now.

The otter just didn't like the look of Marco's face, in all his forms. At least poor crying Rachel wasn't being targeted by the otter.

Edited 2011-04-28 12:30 (UTC)

When Jamie put an arm around her to comfort her, Rachel decided to go against her better judgement and hug onto him afterall. He didn't seem to mind and Tobias totally wouldn't mind if he were here, right?

She didn't offer any comment to Kang-- he'd been totally mean!-- but was promptly distracted by the appearance of The Doctor (who was totally gross right now) and an adorable otter. Sniffing, she answered him: "Everyone's, like, totally not listening to us!" she said. "And saying awful things."

"There, lass, it's all right," Jamie says soothingly before looking up at the Doctor. "She's a wee bit upset, Doctor," he points out - knowing full well it's fairly obvious anyway. It's a little strange, actually, seeing her like this. The Rachel he's seen doesn't quite mesh with this one, but maybe it's something to do with the memory loss. "It's that message of Kang's that's done it.

He looks down at the otter, which seems none the worse for its travels - unlike the Doctor, who has enough of a pong about him that even the Scot, with his 18th century sensibilities about bathing, has noticed.

"Phwoar. Where was that beastie, anyway? Ye smell worse than the wasteland did back when we were up against the Krotons."

"What the hell are you doing that thing?!" Marco said, watching that otter warily and possibly backing away from it. Just a little. Not because he was worried, mind you, he just really didn't feel like having it try to bite off a few of his limbs. Also it smelled, so clearly Marco had to move away to protect his nose.

Yeah. That was totally it.

He glanced up at the Doctor, eyes narrowing a little. "Why are you even here?" he asked, suspicious.

"Down!" The Doctor tried to tug on the leash again. The otter circled around his ankles in agitation, weaving its body about his feet over and over and over, the Doctor trying to step over an animal dragging its leash and talk to his three humans. "You don't want to know, Jamie. I wish I didn't either, but here we are. Safe and sound and so are you three."

He peered at Rachel and Marco. Marco wisely showed a sense of self-preservation by covering his nose, so the Doctor decided there was no point in pointing out that Marco, your nose would probably be the first thing this otter would like to take a bite out of, in case it did get loose. Not that the Doctor can blame him. Marco had an extremely nice nose, as noses went, and he supposed if an otter took a disliking for someone, he'd go biting for his best feature. Rachel, on the other hand, looked like she could use a two-way cling with Jamie. Jamie certainly didn't seem to mind. Besides, Rachel seemed to be harnessing her inner clinger, so that was that.

"Looking for you two!" The Doctor smiled. Had a bit of a good crawl, climb and slime swim while he'd been at it, too. "Maybe you could use a sit. Or Rachel could use a sit, you should probably...keep doing what you're doing."

In other words, backed up and with nose protected.

Edited 2011-04-30 13:46 (UTC)

Rachel sniffed, the tears finally slowing again. She didn't want to be too much trouble, not when Jamie and the Doctor were being so much nicer than everyone else had been! Still, she held onto Jamie anyway-- he didn't seem to mind, at least.

"Poor otter," she mumbled instead. She didn't get why Marco seemed so bothered by it! It was totally cute, it had just obviously been through some rough stuff. Though she wasn't entirely sure if it seemed friendly...

Nice Rachel looked at the Doctor, and asked, tentatively, "Were you, like, looking for us to take us to medical?" she asked. She still didn't want to go.

Fishing in the pockets of his sheepskin vest for a moment, Jamie pulls out a handkerchief with his free hand and offers it to her, not letting go with the other. Rachel's efforts to try and change his wardrobe haven't had any long term effects for the most part, but one might notice that rather than Jamie's usual large square of linen, the handkerchief is rather more modern looking, with machine-stitched hems and an embroidered thistle in one corner. "Here. Look, why don't we do as the Doctor says and sit down for a wee bit. The otter will be perfectly fine."

Backed up and nose protected sounds like a really good idea to him, for at least as long as it took the Doctor to convince the rest of the group of his intentions. "Don't worry," he adds, directing the comment to Marco. "The Doctor will explain everything."

If Marco was suspicious before, now he was downright paranoid. "Explain everything?" he hissed. "You mean you'll explain how you want to go and lock us up like everyone else wants to, is that it?"

If there was one thing Marco had learned by now, it was that Kang hadn't just protected the Visser. He'd turned the whole ship against them. It was just like back on Earth, where they'd never been able to trust anyone, ever.

"Like hell I'm going to sit down," he said, staring challengingly at the Doctor.

The Doctor blinked at Marco. "It would be a very bad idea for you of all people to sit down. I thought I just said that."

Very extremely bad idea for Marco to sit down. The Doctor glanced down at the otter. The animal by now had paused in its weaving about his feet to glare with those calculating beady otter eyes at Marco. He assumed calculating otter thoughts were clicking around up there: possibly working out the best plan of attack, or finding the weakest tension point in the leash (that was what the Doctor would do, if he ever found himself as an otter cross with Marco's face). Oh yes, the otter definitely wanted Marco down and with his hands away from his nose.

A much much much easier target.

Nudging the otter back with his boot and trying to put himself between it and Marco -- but trying not to look like he was forming a Time Lord shield -- the Doctor exchanged looks with Jamie. Jamie, of course, had it in his head to do the sensible thing and offer Rachel a handkerchief.

The otter sniffed, whiskers twitching, as Rachel commented on it. If there was a way for an otter to look slightly placated, apparently Rachel calling it a "poor otter" was the way to go about it. The Doctor cleared his throat, rather used to being asked to explain things, even what (he thought) were the most simple things that didn't need it.

"Anyway, as I was going to say, I certainly wasn't planning to lock you up. Talk and possibly try to find out what's wrong, yes. Unless you wanted to be locked up?"

The Doctor peered at Marco and then at Rachel. Morphing powers or not, they looked human and peaceful...ish, so he'd rather sort this out quietly. It was a lot easier when the rescuees were willing. What would help was if they could get them to a nice, quiet place and he could talk with them in private, maybe scan them with the sonic screwdriver and see what it thought. But the important thing was making sure they didn't hurt anyone. So far, so good?

Rachel nods to Jamie. Okay, she can do the sitting down thing. Maybe it would help. He was so nice, too, so it wasn't like he'd do something to hurt her, right? She nodded to him, and smiled just a little bit-- she noticed the nicer handkerchief. He was starting to learn more, so she was proud! She took the handkerchief and rubbed at her eyes, moving to sit down with him.

And at least the Doctor was being kind of nice. He seemed like he meant it when he said that he didn't want to lock them up. "I, like, don't want to go get put in Quarantine or anything," she spoke up.

"No, that's not what I...och." Anything Jamie says to Marco at this point would likely make things worse, so he does the best thing he can think of to do, sitting down and shutting up for now. The Doctor will be much better at talking the both of them into actually going to Quarantine anyway, he reckons.

One Rachel's settled, he does remove his arm from her shoulder, although if it looks like she needs the comfort again, he can easily put it back. She seems a little calmer, though, if that smile was anything to go by, and he gives her a small encouraging smile of his own to try and tell her everything will be okay.

"There's nothing wrong with us," Marco said, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Except he couldn't keep running from the fact that something was. Rachel had gone and split into two again, and he couldn't morph. He didn't even know why he couldn't morph. He'd been able to morph perfectly fine just a few days ago.

But if they went into Quarantine, they wouldn't be able to save his mother.

"Maybe instead of talking, you and that psycho otter of yours should be having a shower," he said, still eying that otter. "Seriously, man. They can probably smell you from three floors away."

The Doctor sniffed at his sopping wet sleeve and then his wrist.

"Probably. Good defense mechanism, smell. Helps to keep prying eyes away." He tapped the side of his nose like he was a fellow conspirator and not someone trying to get them to come peacefully to Quarantine and anyway, that was all incidental, really.

Rachel and Marco both didn't seem to want to go. Not that the Doctor could argue with that; "quarantine" was such an ugly sounding word, full of -tines and necessary Q's and easily one too many A's for its own good. If their places were switched, he probably wouldn't want to go himself, just on sheer principle of the matter. The Doctor blocked the otter again with his boot.

"Right! As I was saying, I'm sure you're both aware there's something funny about you two. Temporally funny, not tickle-me funny," the Doctor added, as if it needed clarification. He didn't quite see the point being too gentle about it. "I suppose without any help you could bleed out of Time in a few weeks on your own, if not less."

That part was more to himself but maybe he should've thought to say it under his breath instead of laying it out like that.

Rachel didn't want there to be something 'funny' about her. Only she did know there was-- she had a second her off probably being terrible somewhere! But she knew what that was from, and it wasn't her being sick or anything. "But, like, I'm not contagious or anything," she promised the Doctor.

Of course, then his explanation about 'bleeding out' of time sunk in. She didn't want that to happen! It sounded awful and gross and painful. What would happen to them? Tearing up again, she voiced this, "I don't want that to happen!" she protested, voice high. "That sounds totally awful!" Oh no, oh no-- this was bad-- and even poor Marco was going to have it happen to him, too? Maybe they were better off listening after all. "It won't really happen, will it?" she asked, sniffling, and looking at Jamie for reassurance again.

"No, of course not," Jamie says, as reassuringly as he can. He's not trying to counter what the the Doctor has been saying, however. The Doctor may have been rather blunt about it, but maybe that's what's needed to get the two of them to see sense. "Not if ye let the ones who are trying to fix this help."

Maybe if Rachel can be convinced of this, that in turn would convince Marco, he thinks. Although, with that otter around...Jamie flicks a glance down at it. It still seems very determined to get at Marco, from what he can tell, and he has no idea if that is going to make a difference in what the lad's reaction will be. Still, it was worth a try.

"Could ye not at least consider letting them do so?"

"Bleed out of time? Seriously? You expect us to buy that?" Marco said, dubious. Not to mention, how the hell could that explain his morphing going nuts? If he really was loosing time he might have lost a few morphs, but it sure as hell wouldn't cause it to go completely crazy. And that didn't explain...

Rachel.

His eyes flicked over to her, frowning a little. He'd thought that she must have just morphed starfish again, because...well, anything else would be completely insane. The idea of losing time was insane. So when she'd claimed that she'd only morphed the starfish once, Marco had just dismissed it as just Rachel getting mixed up or confused.

But while Marco didn't want to admit it - their lives had already been completely insane for a while...

Not contagious, Rachel said? Well, they didn’t quite know that for certain, in the Doctor’s opinion, and with Jamie’s paradox sitting right next to Rachel, he had to say it was going to be a bit of a problem, big magnet like that. He’d rather get them to go to quarantine, put Jamie someplace nice and safe, and then they could argue the semantics of what counted as “contagious” all Rachel wanted.

“Can’t say if it will, but I’d lean toward ‘yeah’ for now.” He glanced at Jamie as Jamie chimed in. Jamie was being quite helpful right now, the Doctor pleased to have this sort of backup.

Of course Marco had to be the anti-Jamie, the Doctor wheeling around to peer again at Marco. With a poor attitude like that, no wonder the otter wasn’t too keen on this particular human. Surely they had to have noticed things off about them, people reacting to their memories as if they were…different. But he supposed it was one part of human nature to want to cling to the tried and true “it can’t possibly happen to me” mentality.

“Of course you could always wait longer and find out once you’re gone through puberty backwards,” the Doctor remarked. He held up a finger. “Or, and this is probably the better alternative (at least I think so), you can come with me and we can try to get you sorted before that happens. Trust me, puberty backwards isn’t fun. And think of all those baby teeth popping back in reverse!”

The Doctor shivered.

Edited 2011-05-25 13:20 (UTC)

Rachel nodded to Jamie. He was being so nice to her, as usual! She really liked him, he didn't want to upset her or anything-- he just wanted to help them, right? That was really nice of him. Because she wanted to be helped, too, if she was going to bleed out of time-- 'cause the Doctor seemed pretty set on that.

Plus, the stuff that the Doctor was describing also seemed really awful and gross! She really didn't want any of those things to happen to her.

"Okay," she said, looking over to Marco apologetically. She really hoped he wasn't going to be mad at her. "I, like, don't want anything bad to happen."

Jamie reaches out to give Rachel's hand a comforting squeeze, and murmurs, "Aye, there ye go. It'll be fine, Rachel. You'll see."

He may seem completely wrapped up in reassuring her, but he's still paying attention to the Doctor and Marco's conversation. He's just not commenting directly there. Better to let the Doctor handle things on that end.

Edited 2011-06-01 06:49 (UTC)

The Doctor needed to get his eyes checked, because it was Rachel that he had been watching warily, not Jamie.

"We can't just go and sit in Quarantine," he argued, gritting his teeth trying to hold back the antsy jitters he was getting. He didn't want to tell them about his mother. He never wanted to tell anyone about his mother. He'd already gotten enough of that from her being dead. Except he didn't really have a choice otherwise, did he? "There's a slug in my mother's head, and we've got no chance of getting it out of her if we're in Quarantine. You really think that nothing 'bad' will happen with Visser One out there, huh?"

He glared at Rachel, before crossing his arms and looking away. He didn't want to think about this. Didn't want to think about anything other than finding Visser One. But he still didn't know the answer to that question, and he knew he needed an answer. For one, long moment, he didn't say anything. Then with the decision made, he looked back at Rachel, his voice quiet now. "How many times did you morph the starfish?"

Edited 2011-06-01 08:42 (UTC)

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The Change [open]

Re: Marco + Nice Rachel

Re: Marco + Nice Rachel

Re: Marco + Nice Rachel

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