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doctor who - the ninth doctor

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[voice/action]

[ The Doctor seems to be in some kind of busy public place, and you can hear people chatting all around him. The clink of glasses seems to indicate some kind of restaurant or bar. It is one of the City's many bars, and the Doctor hops up on the bar stool. There's a rustle of his jacket as he pulls a photograph free from an inner pocket, and he addresses the bartender. ]

A pint, please. And can you look -- just a second, really look. Have you seen this girl about anywhere? Average height, blonde. Name's Rose. Probably not using her last -- [ The bartender says something inaudible, sounding disbelieving. ] Yes, she looks like Rose Tyler because she is. Now have you seen her? Think hard.

[ The bartender answers in the negative. The Doctor (or Lieutenant John Tyler, as he currently believes himself to be), sighs. He drinks his pint. Third bar tonight with no luck. By the end of tonight, he's going to have found her, or gotten extremely drunk. Which seems to be more likely. ]

[ Rose, Rose, why did she run off to this City? He doesn't know. But he's determined to find her and get her out. ]

[voice; locked to Tosh;]

Any luck? Could really use a computer miracle about now.

[ ooc: Gothic Romance curse with the Who/TW cast. Open to action in any one of the City's various City bars if you'd like. ]

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Only some, ah, adult videos so far. I'm working on trying to track her down via the sites that they're on, but it's difficult to get information from dodgy places like that.

[Rose emerges from the bathroom, swiping at her nose and running her tongue across her teeth to get any lipstick off them. She galnces around the room as she sways between the tables toward the bar, leaning heavy on the edge of it.]

Dirty Martini. Be a love and put extra olives in it?

[ooc: Up to you what sort of attire she has on and what bar it's at. I'm good with most anything.]

Adult -- [ He huffs. Seriously? He's known a little bit of what she's been doing, but he'd hoped... That was a dangerous world she was getting herself into. He had to find her as soon as possible. ] I really, really appreciate it, your hard work. I doubt this is your usual kind of case.

[ His sister is wearing -- well, it's more about what she's not wearing, which was basically, "almost anything." He's flustered now; he hasn't seen her in this close to her all-togethers since she was small enough to escape their mother's grasp and go streaking down the hall, giggling. And here she is, flirting with the bartender and ordering a drink, and he has been gone in the service much, much, much too long. He crosses the room in wide, bounding strides and grabs her arm. ]

Rose, what are you doing?

Oh, well...[Tosh is a little flustered by the unexpected compliment from someone she's quite, well, fond of.] My usual cases just involve people cheating on their spouses and being too inept to hide their own trail. It's nice to do something good for once, you know?

She might not want to come back with me. [ A long thinking pause. ] Not going to report me for kidnapping, are you?

[His voice doesn't even register at first. He has been gone a very long time and she's tried so desperately to put her family and that life behind her. She's had to. The thing that she does register is some wanker is grabbing her arm. She turns with a scowl.]

All right, arsehole, wanna let go of me now 'fore I call security. Twenty bucks doesn't give you the right to--[And then she recognises him. her eyes go wide and her jaw drops a bit.]

John, what are you doin' here?

[ He is ridiculously hurt by her first reaction. Completely ridiculously, because it isn't like she's seen him in a couple of years, and she's hardly recognizable to him. The hurt look passes over his face for just a moment before he's all steel again. ]

I've been looking everywhere for you, what do you think? Came home and they told me you'd run away.

In my line of work, I prefer to avoid anything that might make the authorities notice me.

Be careful, though, John. You never know what kind of...friends she might have made.

[She sees that look of hurt and it wounds her. She softens a bit at it then shoves her hair behind her ear and takes a deep breath. She can't let him do this or she'll end up going back home for him. She doesn't belong there anymore and she doesn't want to.]

Did they bother tellin' you why or did they pretend to be surprised by the whole thing?

[Her voice drops a bit.]

I should have told you, but I was afraid you'd talk me into staying.

Friends, sure. [ The idea made me want to spit. ] Nothing a good punch or two won't solve. If someone's hurt her--

[ He bites back the words. Better not get too detailed and distracted. ]

Tell me what's going on. Please. And here--

[ He takes off his coat and hands it to her. ] Please.

[She takes the jacket a bit hesitantly. She knows the minute she puts it on, she'll want the safety, love and protection that came with her old life, but there are other things that came with her old life that she doesn't want. She squares her jaw, gives him one of those 'alright but we're not through here' look and slips the jacket on, closing her eyes as she takes a deep breath and just inhales the smell of the leather and him.]

All right. Hold on.

[She doesn't want to take him back to her flat. She'd rather he not see the way she lives. She runs a hand through her hair and leans on the bar, beckoning the bartender over. She whispers something to him, he leaves and returns with a key that she hands over.]

VIP room, come on.

[It's quite natural really to reach out and slide her hand into his. She swears it's only to guide him through the crowds. And yes, John, they will think she's taking you back there for more traditional reasons that don't involve talking.]

Much better. [ It's good to see her sheltered in his coat, even if that is a possessive way to think about it. She's the only person he'd trust to wear it besides him. She wouldn't care about the blood on it, metaphorical or no (stains wash out, truths remain). ]

[ When she mentions the VIP room, he says: ] Private, I hope.

[ He's not even going to stop to think about why it would be private. His hand is in hers, and it's all muscle memory now; there are visions of childhood scrapes and pranks and giggling, shushing her with one finger and his other hand wrapped safely in his. He follows. ]

[And she likes the coat for those very reasons. It makes her feel like she belongs to someone, connected to someone. It also feels like he's letting her in and that makes her feel special because she knows there aren't many people he does let in.]

Yeah. Private. We've got it 'til closin'.

[No, he really probably doesn't. Holding his hand like this hurts because it is all muscle memory and it does remind her of a childhood spent running wild with him. That's an entirely different world now. She unlocks the door and nudges it open to reveal a small room with a couch, a TV and a stack of those sorts of DVDs. The music from the club is muted here, just a low, thudding bass line now. She leads him over to the couch and sits down. ]

What you want to know?

[ John is antsy. He picks up a DVD and looks at it, makes a face, and puts it back upside down. He drums his fingers on his knee. ]

Everything. I knew Mum wasn't telling the truth, but you know how she gets when things don't go her way. [ Jackie is difficult even in alternate universes. ] She said there'd been a boy.

[ He lifts his eyebrows, inviting her to tell the story. ]

[Rose bites her bottom lip. It's difficult talking about him even now. Maybe, especially now. She nods and pulls his jacket closer around her.]

His name's John too. [She smiles a bit at that.] Smith. John Smith and he...wasn't their sorta boy. Not good enough, not enough money. He was goin' to be an actor. Met him in school playin' Romeo and Juliet.

[This gets a different sort of smile, one that's only reserved for John Smith. That sort of first love smile. She loses it quickly, lips twisting bitterly]

I don't know what happened for sure. No one's sayin' but all the sudden he dropped out of school. Didn't say a word to me. He wouldn't do that to me, John. I know he wouldn't. He was goin' to stay with me and we were goin' to run 'way together after we finished school. Have all sorts of adventures.

[When she looks up at him, she's got tears in her eyes.] Dad paid him a load of money to leave me alone. He admitted it to me the last fight we had before I ran away. Said he threw the money at him and he jumped. I was happy and they didn't care because it wasn't their sorta happy.

Oh, Rose. [ He leans over to hug her for a long moment before speaking again. Now, he's not sure how he feels about this other John, to be honest, Rose is still very young to be running away with boys, but their parents should have known better than to try that kind of act. They hadn't known how to parent him through teenagehood either, though. When he'd gotten all violent and angry and twisted up in himself, they'd told him the military was his best choice. It had been a terrible idea. Someone wasn't winning parent of the year, for sure. ]

Look, Rose, come back with me, and we'll make this all right. I've got a private investigator I've been using -- she helped me find you. We'll locate your John and make sure Dad didn't get him locked up or something. Find the truth.

[ Personally, John isn't entirely sure that the kid hadn't gotten scared and ran, but they could address that at a future time. He didn't mind nursing her through another heartbreak. Goodness knows he'd done it before. Chips were the trick. ]

[She draws in a sharp breath. She should have known he would ask. It's tempting though, particularly the offer to look for her John. She shakes her head quickly, eyes still teary.]

I can't go back there. M'not their little girl anymore. I don't even know who I am anymore. Look at where I work! I can't go home and I don't want to. Not to them. They wouldn't...m'exactly the sorta person they don't approve of now.

[She toe heels the ridiculous stripper heels she's got on off and pulls her feet up on the couch, wrapping his jacket around her legs.]

And even if I did...what if we found him?

[Because she's certainly not the seventeen year old that John Smith loved.]

M'not Juliet anymore.

It doesn't matter what they'd think! [ His worry shows on his face. ] Whatever you've been doing doesn't matter. I just can't leave you here in this mess. I said I'd always protect you.

[ He casts around for some sort of compromise. ] We can get a little apartment -- the government does pay me, you know. And if that's not good enough for Mr. Smith, then to hell with him.

[ Also, John might punch him in the face. ]

[Tosh tries to sound reassuring] I'm sure she's fine. Well. Mostly fine. [God, why is her life so awkward? HOW DOES SHE TALK TO GUYS?]

[Oh, yeah, and there's the sound of typing in the background] Hold on, one of the blokes from these sites is promising me information if I pay. Yeah, that sounds totally likely.

[So Tosh turns up at the bar a few hours beforehand, to scope things out. She doesn't normally do this for her clients, but, well. She wants to impress him. A bribe to the bouncer got her pointed in the right direction; she sidles up to Rose, feeling incredibly awkward about all of this. She's really not good at bars. Or social interaction.]

You Rose?

[Shit. She hadn't meant to start off so direct. There's a reason why she does her work online, from a distance. She needs a cover story, too, or this will all fall apart rather quickly. Why did she decide this was a good idea again?]

[ She regards the picture with a blank look, before smiling briefing and shaking her head. ]

Pretty girl, but no, can't say I know her.

[ She could say she knows her, because she does. But she'd rather make eyes at whoever this is stalking Miss Tyler down. ]

She must mean very much to you.

Pay him. I'll reimburse you.

[ His parents don't know he's doing this, and they won't give him any money for it, but he doesn't care. He'll figure out funding somehow. Right now, he needed someone to help him track down leads, and Tosh was a real lifeline. He'd have to take her to dinner after all this was over to thank her. ]

[ He huffs in disappointment. He'd thought, he'd hoped, this might be a good lead... but nothing yet. ] She's my sister. Means the world to me.

[ He's not the sort of man who is terribly demonstrative about his affection. So when he says something like that, it has the weight of truth behind it. ]

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