Log - Catch-all for September/October - Open

[thedoctorsmate]

Who: Donna Noble thedoctorsmate & OTA
When: Throughout September/October
Where: Around the City
Summary: Happenings from the TDM and Donna snooping around town
Warnings: scopophobia; paranoia

I. Mired Way
"'Cha see that?" Donna whips her head to one side, searching the dark trees for whatever had caught on the edge of her vision. The sense of being watched is nearly overwhelming in a way she really doesn't like. The spotlight is all well and good, but only when you know where the rafters are and who's bloody well controlling the lights so you can yell at them to shut it off. "Over there! There it is!" She turns her head again.

"Oi! Whoever you are in the bushes, we came in here to get you, so maybe stop playing Where the Wild Things Are and come out on the path!" Annoyance. Better to project annoyance than the deep-seated fear that's gathering in her throat. She knows whatever that thing is, it's not who they came in looking for... but the way back seems unfamiliar and far more overgrown than it was a few seconds ago, and she doesn't know what else to do.

II. The Path More Traveled By
"This seems... nice." Too nice. Donna looks up through the break in the trees as she and her companion walk along. "I mean, if I'd hopped a fence to go dog-walking, I reckon this is the way I'd go mind you. It's not all creepy. Somehow, I thought it was gonna be creepier. Was the last time I was in here. Where even are we in the park? I dun' think my phone's GPS is working." It has them jittering around the entirety of Dogtown, as far as she can tell.

She glances over at the other person. "Well, don't look a gift horse, right? Maybe it'll be easy finding this bloke and telling him off, yeah?"

III. Girl Friday Around Town
Donna's a modern woman, and one who prefers to have a relatively active social life, even in Gloucester. Maybe especially in a place like Gloucester. It's why she can be found at the General's Store, scoping out some fancier trail mix options and hemming and hawing over that choice. There are a few other knickknacks she's also eyeballing as potential Christmas gifts. She hadn't had the connections or the money to do this last year, but by golly, she'll be starting early this time!

You might find her at one of the local cafes, sitting out on the patio and sipping an iced coffee while she scrolls her phone, taking in what's left of the summer while she still can.

Or maybe you'll find her at the library, sneaking around the shelves or tapping away at one of the terminals. She's clearly trying not to be noticed with mixed success. There are a few points where she straightens up and pretends at being a librarian when she spots someone moving toward her.

Or maybe you've been invited by Donna (or someone else) for an after work drink at one of the local bars. Donna has something fruity in-hand, and she's talking animatedly, either to you or someone nearby. "Have you seen the latest pictures from the new space telescope they've got? Bonkers what they're doing these days. I mean, I've seen a lot of that stuff from close up, and it's just... spot on, right there! Can you imagine how many people this is going to inspire? My granddad would be so happy. God, I hope he makes it all the way to now back in our world."

IV. Wilcard
Hit me up at switalia for specific scenarios you might want to play!

Comments

For Steve

[thedoctorsmate]

"Ugh! I thought this was a forest, not a swamp." The complaining comes just as Donna's foot is submerged to the ankle in cloying mud that's more liquid than solid. "Whoever it is they spotted coming in here, I say we leave them to get eaten by Swamp Thing. They'd deserve it."

They wouldn't. She's not going to actually try to turn around while there's someone potentially lost in this humid and buggy morass. But she will bloody well complain about having to be one of the ones who deals with it. This isn't her real department. She'd just volunteered for the potential chance to be paired with someone handsome. And she gets... the 80s man.

👏

[haircaring]

"Right? What about this place says 'hey, break in for a little hike'? At a certain point, it's natural selection!"

Dumb gross swamp. Dumb weirdos who think it's a great idea to stroll in like it's nothing. Dumb him, he guesses, because here he is showing up at the office and agreeing to walk in looking for the idiots who walked in.

But that's kinda the thing, though, right? He's used to getting dragged into stuff like this. How's he not gonna agree?

Steve offers Donna a hand to try to help her get her foot pulled out faster.

[thedoctorsmate]

She takes the proffered hand so she can yank herself free and try to find solid ground again. "Bet it was a teenager." A pause. "No offense." Is he a teenager? He's a young adult, at the very least, probably not too far away from being one. "They're just the sort who'd see a fence as a challenge. Bet a bunch of them are starting to look at Dogtown as some sort of 'test of courage' nonsense."

Had she participated in such things when she'd been younger? Yes. Had she been an idiot to do so? Also, yes.

[haircaring]

Steve barks out a laugh.

"No, you got me there. A couple years ago, I would've been all over it. High school, right? Look good, get a cool story, impress some girls," and yes he does throw in a wink with that, just because he can. "All that end of the world social life stuff."

Man. Simpler times. He wouldn't wanna go back to being a total asshole, but it was nice having a couple of years where he thought he understood basically anything that was going on ever?

He gestures to their surroundings, just generally. A little handwave.

"Now you and me are out here all over it for like, actual end of the world stuff, and we're not even gonna get a cool rep. So maybe we drew the short straw."

[thedoctorsmate]

"We could still get a cool rep if something 'horrible' found us, but we chased it off." She puts on an affected expression of fear, lifting a hand to her lips for dramatic effect. "Oh, I was so scared. There were these giant dragonflies, but they were, like, actually dragons. Breathing fire. I thought they were gonna roast me, but then-" A pause. "What was your name again, love?"

She doesn't mind playing the damsel here for a good story.

Mired Way

[failedpromise]

Cortana hadn't been planning on going into the most dangerous area in this entire city and possibly also this entire world, but she sure as Hell wasn't letting Donna go in here alone.

She doesn't need Donna to point out movement to her-she's already on edge watching for any sort of potential danger-what's that over there!

"Donna..." She reaches out and touches the other women's arm. "I don't think that's who we're looking for..." Anxiety raises the pitch of her voice like a shepard's tone.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Well, it's them or some kid having a laugh to themselves about all this." Don't be scared. Do not act scared. Donna glances over at Cortana, some of the fear bleeding through, anyway. As soon as she does, she can see whatever it is at the corner of her vision again, moving in ways that distract and catch her peripheral vision.

"It's just someone else, right?" Pretend hard enough, and maybe the monsters won't be able to get you.

[failedpromise]

"Whoever it is, I don't think they're going to come with us." Cortana isn't really much of one for showing fear either, even if she's clearly on edge. (And very afraid. Why is she here again? Why did Donna go in after this person instead of calling for help?)

"Lets keep walking." She'll attempt to tug on her arm. Standing here and staring is not going to protect them. They can walk and keep watch for any possible attacks.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Yeah... and if you want to join us," she shouts at the bushes, "come over here and stop being silly!" There. Just one last yell to prove she's not scared. She's just... annoyed! Annoyed is not scared.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder. Watch for anything that looks swampy. Got stuck in the mud with someone a little while ago. Inconvenient to say the least." They can treat this like some sort of stroll and believe the terror away that way.

[failedpromise]

Cortana is just-provided Donna lets her-gonna keep a good strong grip on her wrist as they start walking again. Wouldn't do to get separated in a place like this, would it?

"Got it. Anything else to watch out for?" A stroll through, again, the most dangerous place in the city and possibly this entire world. Sure. That's fine. Everything is just fine.

III In the Library

[the_archivist]

Jon has extended his research to the local library recently, especially after the strange computer program from a few months ago. He doesn't trust everything ADI says, and he has no idea if they're censoring information.

And the library doesn't leave him feeling like someone might be tracking what he looks at.

He heads over to a shelf to collect another book on local history, and pauses when he sees that person... the one who had harassed him over things she knew nothing about.

"What on earth are you doing?"

[thedoctorsmate]

Donna has several books out and is closely examining one of the shelves, looking for potential switches or anything else off. A familiar, and unfriendly, voice addressing her has her turning sharply to look at Jon, though. "Not sneaking up on a body," she hisses.

"It's a library. I'm reading." Clearly.

[the_archivist]

"I was hardly sneaking." He isn't a particularly stealthy person. Walking up to someone openly is not sneaking.

"And you aren't reading. Reading generally suggests looking at the books, not examining the shelves."

[thedoctorsmate]

"Ooo, aren't you a smartypants? Could be reading something on the shelves. People leave notes." She's temped at a library. She knows people are awful about that sort of thing sometimes. At least it provides some plausible deniability. "What're you doing here, then? Apart from interrogating other patrons."

[the_archivist]

"I am actually," Jon replies blithely. Why deny it? it's the one thing he has going for him.

"And I am researching," Jon says, holding up some of the books that he's been looking through.

I

[myfavoritemurder]

"Oh, I see all of it," Callisto says unconcernedly, her boot sinking a few inches into a mucky patch of ground. "It's all so nostalgic."

The dark, the gloom, the constant presence of lurking lost souls... it's not exactly like Tartarus, but it's reminiscent. She hadn't actually seen what Donna had, though, so she stops and gives the overgrowth a second look, peering in the direction that Donna is shouting.

"How big did it seem?"

[thedoctorsmate]

"I dunno... person-sized?" Callisto isn't her favorite person, but there is one thing she can appreciate about the other woman, and that's that she's a fighter, one who's probably on her side. At least for the moment. "It's not an animal, if that's what you're asking. I don't... think it's an animal." Although, now she's said it aloud, she's less sure.

"Can you do, like, tracking things? Survival stuff. Maybe we can find whatever trail this person wandered off on. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can get out of here if that isn't them."

[myfavoritemurder]

"Of course," Callisto says, as if the answer should be obvious. She wouldn't have gotten very far in life if she was awful at surviving, both in the wilderness and on her own. "Can you?"

She takes a few steps in the direction in question, more careful and deliberate in her movements than she usually is. After a few paces, she kneels, unbothered by the muck as she examines something on the ground.

[thedoctorsmate]

"Do I look like I did sleep away camp? My idea of 'roughing it' is a hotel near the woods. I can do navigation by the stars. Grandad taught me some of that. But seeing as we've got the trees." A gesture above to the rather dense and looming canopy. "Don't expect it'll come in much use."

Donna lets Callisto kneel in the muck, turning her gaze to the world around them. And there again, that thing at the corner of her eye. She looks sharply toward it, and it's gone. "What d'you think the odds are, I can bean something out there in the woods with a rock?" Stay angry. Stay frustrated. Don't be scared.

[myfavoritemurder]

"Sleepaway camp," Callisto sneers derisively, then gestures Donna over. "Come, look at this."

She points at the imprint of a boot in the ground, moving to stand.

"This is a track, but it's not what we're after. See how the edges are muddy, and you can barely make out the pattern that was on the sole? It's been here for a few days. Look for prints that are clearer."

Wilderness lessons with Auntie Callisto.

Mired Way

[clavesregni]

Caitlyn's nose is buried in her notebook as she attempts to trace out the path they've been walking, though her thoughts continually stray back to the map tacked to her bedroom wall, and the photograph she's brought of it, with the lines she's become more and more convinced form a massive eye, its gaze fixed on Dogtown.

At Donna's words, she looks up sharply. It's a matter of seconds before her torch is out and pointed at the bushes, but she's still too slow to catch anything.

She hopes it was only the wind. But she knows better than to truly believe that.

"We should keep moving." There's a distinct uncertainty in her voice, but it's better to focus on finding the person they're looking for than on worrying about what might be looking for them.

[thedoctorsmate]

"But if that's them we need to get them to come out." Donna's not convinced it is them, but if she tells herself that enough times, it might become true. Sort of. "I want to at least... I dunno, leave some sort of marker for them." She keeps getting caught out trying to help people who wander in here. A quick check of her purse comes up with a tube of lipstick.

"I hate wasting this, but... you haven't got anything else we could mark the trees with?"

[clavesregni]

Caitlyn rather uselessly holds up her pen, which is the only thing she's got and not at all likely to be good for marking trees.

"If that's them, wouldn't they have shown themselves?" Marking the trees is a good idea - she's as eager to help the lost visitors who wander into this place as she is to get answers - but logically whatever Donna saw wasn't anyone they're looking for.

Still, it's worth investigating. It's possible someone could be injured. She takes a breath before moving, a bit hesitantly, towards the bushes. "If you need help," she calls, her voice barely wavering at all, "try to call out or make some noise." The hairs on the back of her neck are standing up.

Suddenly something crosses through the beam of her torch, human-shaped, but the eyes...

She only glimpses them for a fleeting moment, wide white things staring right at her. And then it's gone. She stumbles backwards with a shocked cry, sweeping the torch around, desperately looking. But there's nothing there.

[thedoctorsmate]

Donna's marking a nearby tree with an arrow to indicate direction when she hears Caitlyn's shout. Out whips a bottle of pepper spray. "What's wrong? What did you see? Caitlyn, are you all right?"

She moves over to the young woman quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder and holding the bottle out in the same direction Caitlyn's flashlight had been pointing.

[clavesregni]

"I'm not sure what it was. I only saw its eyes." Caitlyn takes a breath that is certainly not at all nervous or shaky, before frowning a determined frown and taking a step closer to the bushes, once again sweeping her flashlight carefully over the area.

"It wasn't human. I don't know what it was." And she really doesn't like the not knowing.