apocalypsehowcomm | Log - Catch-all for September/October

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Log - Catch-all for September/October - Open

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
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"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.

"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.

"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.

"Sleepaway Camp. Most people aren't born in the forest and live amongst the trees when I'm from." She does take a look, though, frowning at the bootprint. "Wait. Is that...?" Donna looks down at her own boot, and then presses it into the ground beside the first print. To her eyes, it looks like a match when she pulls her foot away. In the size and the grooves of the sole.

"Oh, bloody hell! Are we going 'round in circles? Or is- I mean, I was in here earlier this week, but that was- Callisto. I think... think maybe we should move away from this area. If we're near one of the swamps somehow, there's something in there."

"I'm not going in circles; I don't know what you're doing," Callisto says, with a mighty roll of her eyes. "And whatever you think you saw, I still haven't--"

Hold up.

Suddenly cutting herself off, Callisto whirls around, trying to track the movement she could have sworn she saw out of the corner of her eye.

"There," she says, pointing in the exact direction that Donna doesn't want to go.

"Considering we've been together, and you're the tracker, little Ms. Iron Will..." Donna clicks her tongue in annoyance right back. But her irritation doesn't last long.

"What's there? I literally just said that's the way the swamp creature thing was. I'm not going in there." She might go in there is Callisto goes. It would be worse leaving the other woman to die stupidly on her own, and Donna's aware she can't physically stop Callisto. It had been easier in the flat. There had been the one window she was going for.

"You want to give up on our mission?"

Callisto spins around, directing her hard, unyielding glare at Donna.

"We haven't documented anything. What would ADI think, hmmm?"

Sure, they aren't actually supposed to enter the park; sure they're just supposed to record what they can from the outskirts and then call in ADI to bring in the big guns. Whatever. As far as Callisto is concerned, she is one of the big guns.

"Okay, so, this was about saving someone who jumped in here, not documenting things, last I checked." It's also sort of about documenting things, but Donna doesn't care about that near enough to put herself in danger. Not without someone like the Doctor to tag along after. She doesn't trust Callisto to have quite his... she's not going to call it sense, but maybe his ability to come up with quick plans when dealing with things he's never encountered before. Maybe she's should, but Callisto's so wild sometimes, it really doesn't seem likely.

"I don't want to abandon whoever is here, but we need a little communication. What did you see over that way? Or what's in your head? I can't help you if I don't know what the plan is."

"Oh, you want to work as a team, do you--"

Yes, Callisto. That is literally why you were both sent out here together.

She sighs dramatically and rolls her eyes, running a harried hand through her hair, and very seriously considers just running off and handling this on her own. There's really no reason not to... except, maybe, the possibility that Donna would tear after her, screaming her head off.

Sigh.

"There," she says, pointing insistently. "In that direction, there was movement, just out of the corner of my eye. And it-- there it is again. It's a person; didn't you see? They're not answering you, but they're there."

Donna frowns as she looks in the direction Callisto is pointing. It seems about like her mystery person. But what else is there to do apart from turn back on a path where they're already retreading old ground for her.

"Fine. We're following after that way for 15 minutes. If we can't find anything by that point, my vote goes to trying to find our way out of here to fetch back-up. Or at least something we can get for marking the path. I didn't think to bring... I dunno. The bright orange flagging they've got."

"Whoever it is, they don't trust us," Callisto comments, slowing only slightly as the ground gets mushier and the footing gets more precarious. "They're close enough to hear us calling, but they don't answer; they're watching us... they don't want to be rescued."

Which makes her more curious, really. A person who needs help is whatever. A person who needs to be hunted is something else entirely.

"Or they're seeing us as a threat for some reason and are scared." Probably Donna shouting at them hadn't helped. "This place twists all sorts of things around. I'm sure you've been through them: hallucinations that make you think you're trapped or someone's trying to hurt you when they aren't. Could be we look like monsters to them.

"And- hey, could we slow down a little bit? It's starting to get really sticky." Harder to pick out safe places to step. The bog off to the right, up ahead of Callisto gurgles.

"Hey!" Callisto shouts suddenly, loud enough to startle - if not Donna, then certainly whoever they're following. "We're not hallucinations, we're trying to help you, so stop running and come out!"

She stalks forward a few more paces, and then stops to listen, sinking up to her ankles in the bog.

Donna jumps near out of her skin and staggers a few paces back from Callisto. "Bloody hell!" she snaps. "Warn a person, Calli-"

She breaks off because there is something moving in that bog as the other woman sinks. "Callisto, come here. Back onto the path. Quickly. Now. Please."

"Oh, fine," she says, rolling her eyes as she turns her torso with the intention of heading back. "I--"

She abruptly cuts herself off, frowning down at her feet. Tries again to walk. Finds herself stuck fast, the mud sucking her in inch by slow inch.

"Really?" she says, mildly exasperated rather than afraid. "Again?"

"God, I knew this was going to happen! You just had to go stomping off with your big... stompy feet." Donna's growling even as she's looking around and sees a dead branch nearby that she plucks up and holds out to Callisto. "Here, grab this. I'll help pull you out. And what d'you mean 'again?' Did this happen to you before, too?"

The branch may be just a little brittle, but Donna's hoping it might hold.

"Oh, of course," Callisto says, grabbing onto the branch. In the short time it took for Donna to realize her predicament and come to her aid, the sucking mud had already pulled Callisto down another inch, and she grits her teeth against it, nails digging into the wood as she tries to haul herself out. "I was with someone then, too. She stood by and watched me die."

Okay, so this is a grievance from home, not someone just letting her die here. Donna braces herself, grabbing a nearby tree with one hand and the branch with the other as she also lends her strength to pulling Callisto.

"Well, she sounds horrible. I'm not gonna let you die. Who would I argue with about tracking mud through the flat then?"

Callisto's fingers slip on the branch, and she snarls, grabbing onto it with her other hand, too.

"You'd love to see me gone," she says, in a voice that sounds like a challenge. "You're just too squeamish to want to see it happen in front of you."

Edited 2022-11-30 03:35 (UTC)

"If I wanted you gone, I'd've let you jump out that flipping window into the snow to freeze to death," Donna snaps. Honestly. "Is it really so hard to imagine I don't like you, but I still care. About. You!"

She gives a big heave, trying to pull Callisto close enough that she can grab the woman directly, rather than using the branch.

"God, your life at home must've been miserable!"

"You're just noticing that now?"

Callisto's fingertips claw at Donna's arm, very likely leaving little nail indents in the fabric of her jacket. But she manages to pull herself out - something she most certainly wouldn't have been able to do without Donna's help.

"And yes, actually, I do think it's ridiculous of you to care for me."

Edited 2022-12-04 14:38 (UTC)

Donna breathes a sigh of relief when she feels Callisto pop free of the muck, and moves to pull her just a little further onto firm ground. "Yeah, well, that's me. Ridiculous all over. And personally, I'm for leaving at this point. Or trying to as best we can. Whoever's been lost isn't going to be found just by us. We need help. Or, I dunno, at least better ways to track where we've been and where we're going. Tech and whatever skills you've got. This place is messing with them."

"Fine," Callisto says, irritably brushing mud from her boots and legs. It's going to take forever to properly clean and treat the leather after this. "Lead the way, roomie."

Donna feels something in herself relax. They're not out of the woods, yet. Literally or metaphorically. But the tightness gripping her chest has settled and she feels like she has a better sense of which way to go. The forest looks a little brighter off to one side. "Sure, mate. Let's go."

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Log - Catch-all for September/October - Open

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think we can ftb here!