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[iwasherefirst]

[Rose is lying in the hammock sulking. There is no other word for it. She's swinging slightly in the hammock, a pout firmly fixed on her face. Over the last several months in the City, she's slowly forgotten what the meaning of personal space is. The City has seen fit to remind her today and she's not taking it well. At all.]

Rubbish curse. How're we s'posed to cope with curses and all the other sortsa things the City tosses at us if we can't even hold someone's hand?

Comments

[am_i_being_rude]

[He pauses his rummaging long enough to point down at her.] If you start jumping up and down and knock me off this bubble I'll be very cross with you. And probably a little winded.

Here, bombs away. [Have the little toy mouse.]

[iwasherefirst]

I wouldn't do that to you. without warnin'. [She so would, if she were certain that he'd fall on something soft. She catches the toy mouse, winds it up and lets it run in little circles around her.]

Use this often, Doctor?

[am_i_being_rude]

[Yeah, he knows she would, it's why he said that. And to be honest he's sort of expecting it. Might be slightly disappointed if she doesn't. I'm assuming if she stands up suddenly or jumps off of something, he'd bounce right off the thing. And make a really funny face.]

Sometimes. Good distraction if you haven't got any 'feminine wiles' lying about the place. And it's adorable, with the little squeaking, c'monnn.

[iwasherefirst]

[She's sitting up now, watching the mouse but she looks up at him, face turned all the way up. She raises one eyebrow.]

Feminine wiles? Doctor, what sorta things have you been doin' without me?

[It's said teasingly though. Once the mouse runs down, she picks it up and tosses it straight up, back at him.]

[am_i_being_rude]

[He grins.]

Oh, you know, the usual. Thwarting world takeovers. Became a bit human. Had a dau-- [Oh.] You know. Stuff. You've meet Donna.

[Catching it is difficult because he can't reach down into the bubble, which means she actually has to throw it up out completely of the range of the bubble and then he can catch it. But throwing it up that high with him on top of the bubble runs a high risk of hitting him. So all in all, it's sort of a miracle he caught the thing.]




[ooc: i think this was after that... If jenny was still here by then, then assume he said the full thing with normal intonation.]

[iwasherefirst]

[it still hurts, mentioning Jenny. She presses her lips together into a line then forces another grin.]

'm guessin' Donna had the feminine wiles. Could've been you. You were awfully feminine when Cassandra jumped into you.

[ooc: clearly I'm going with yes.]

[am_i_being_rude]

[You are getting a look, Rose Tyler. A look with narrowed eyes and a thin mouth because it's trying not to smile, and doing a bad job.]

Yes, the wiles belonged to Donna. In part. And the other part was not me! That totally didn't count! That wasn't feminine, that was literally a woman, in my body. And she was very annoying about it too.

[iwasherefirst]

[Oh see, she recognises that look. She likes that look a lot. Her eyes are twinkling with unexpressed laughter.]

She was awfully fond of you though.

[am_i_being_rude]

[Rose he's going to drop something else on you.]

I don't know if I'd like to think about that.

[iwasherefirst]

[She's half expecting it and has gone back to lying on her back looking up at him. She's still giggling a bit.]

Oh I don't know. Managed to get a fantastic kiss outta you.

[am_i_being_rude]

[He tries to point at her and just rams his finger into the barrier. Ow.]

That's because I thought it was you ow! [Have a thing that looks like a hackeysack tossed at you.]

[iwasherefirst]

[She knows she ought not to laugh at the ow part of things but she can't help it and then a huge smile that has nothing to do with laughing.]

Oooooh good answer, Doctor. Hardly regenerated and already wantin' to kiss me like that. [Proud of herself? Why yes. In fact proud enough that the doesn't really catch the hackeysack thing, just sort of bats it to the side to keep it from hitting her in the face. She picks it up and tosses it up (not high enough for him to catch) and catches it in her hands.]

[am_i_being_rude]

[He's trying to ~soothe his finger when she says that and then he rapidly switches tactics and tries to force down the slight reddening that's happening.] Well... You know... some, bodies, are more... Libidinous. Than others.

[iwasherefirst]

When the barrier goes 'way I'll kiss it better. [Because that'll work. It might. In a 'no longer thinking about his finger' sort of way. Oh that gets a smirk from her.] Right and this one is? Think I like that 'bout this regeneration. Took you long enough though.

[am_i_being_rude]

[He was already red and you've started adding more subtext.]

It might do. Don't know what you're talking about, taking long enough. A Time Lord always gets things done precisely when he means to.

[iwasherefirst]

[She likes seeing him blush.]

Yeah? Just knew we'd end up bein' here and it'd be the perfect sorta opportunity to snog me?

[am_i_being_rude]

[Another look. Which probably looks hilarious with the slowly fading blush.]

Yes, I foresaw being trapped in a large city with curses and such and decided it would be the perfect opportunity to seduce the person I'd just been spending copious amounts of time together with in a little box so I could have the relationship I'd always wanted.

[iwasherefirst]

[It is amusing.

Oh! Oh. One part of that sentence deserves a bit smile and it gets one.]

Always wanted? [And some smirkyness] Think I found a flaw in your plan, Doctor.

[am_i_being_rude]

[Did he say that? He hadn't been paying attention.]

What flaw?

[iwasherefirst]

[Shhh he's getting points for discussing his feelings.]

You're in your TARDIS, travelin' 'bout with your brilliant companion, whom you've always wanted a relationship with, but you're bidin' your time 'cause you know there's goin' to be a point in the future that's you'll be able to have this relationship, but you never saw the City comin'.

Flaw, Doctor. You were scared.

[She says it teasing enough that there's no bite to it but quietly enough that she knows it's true. The next is said ever more quietly]

S'all right. I was too. It's a lot to lose, what you and I had without any guarantee this would be better.

[am_i_being_rude]

[Oh, right. That flaw. Well. She's totally right about all of that and explained it so well that he doesn't really have anything substantial to say in response. Which is, from in, a response itself, sadly. He could attempt to debate the 'scared' thing with a deluge of reasonings and how he was just waiting and rational things at the time, and &c. But really.]

Yeah. Odd we had to lose that to find out anyway.

[iwasherefirst]

[She takes a deep breath, aching to touch him more right now than she has for several minutes. She curls her hands into fists and pulls them up to rest on her chest. She closes her eyes tight and nods. They will spend at least twenty four hours after this just touching: hands, shoulders, hugs, holding and so on.]

We needed to know what life was like without each other to figger out we didn't want that and then, just mates was never gonna be enough again. Not for me.

[am_i_being_rude]

['And these are our fancy dress cuffs. ... No, sorry, not cufflinks, handcuffs! ... Yes, they're all the rage in touch-starved portions of the populous.']

Yeah.

[He's turned his head but there's not really anything he can do like he typically does, avoidance-wise, given that he's on top of an invisible bubble with her looking up at him.]

Yeah, that- that makes sense.

[iwasherefirst]

['Nope! Lost the key. S'all right though. Who needs a key when you work together as well as we do!'

She's not entirely sure anyone who's watched them more than five minutes over the last six months would believe they're touch-starved. Of course, that just shows how little they know. It's like everyone else today that's telling her 'it's all right! It'll be over by midnight'. That does not make it all right in her mind, not in the least.]

Don't ever have to do that again though. Learned our lesson, yeah?

[am_i_being_rude]

[Touch-starved is, like so many other kinds of states one can be in, entirely relative depending upon those who are being categorised. Which is funny, because 'touch' is quite a concrete black and white, and 'starved' similarly requires certain conditions. Maybe they're like numbers - a literal and a literal make a relative.]

We are... We are - we are not allowed to do that again. I'm quite finished with school and lessons now, thanks. Prefer to be an autodidact. Always have.