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Post by jokester on May 2, 2011 23:00:20 GMT
The potato is now simultaneously in the box and out of the box. As a direct result of this, it turns into a cat and gasses itself with neurotoxin... while simultaneously not gassing itself with neurotoxin. Joanna glances at it.
"Ooh, look at that. Quantum."
She wires the viewer up to the TARDIS, the sim card and the rucksack. Then she concentrates, cracks her fingers like a pianist, and hovers them over the Skittles. She frowns in concentration and effort, shifting her fingers gradually every so often. Then, all at once, a shower of sparks bursts from her hands and the skittles begin to glow a pretty blue colour, which spreads through the wires until the entire console-crystal-rucksack mash-up is glowing dimly.
The Doctor shrugs appreciatively and hits another lever. The TARDIS begins to take off.
...and then it seems to get stuck after a bit, the rising-falling-dirge-noise jammed as just one long, supremely-irritating wail.
"Doctor, what's happening?" the redhead asks.
"What did you do?" Dr Song sighs.
"It's not my fault!" the Doctor objects, only half-convincingly, moving around the console and flicking controls apparently at random. "Someone's trying to stop the TARDIS landing. Unfortunately for them, the TARDIS is clever, so she's almost worked out a way round it. Unfortunately for us, she didn't make it all the way. So we're now kind of not-quite-landed, not-quite-not-landed. Neither or both. And I can't seem to..."
He stops, as he realises Joanna is staring at him. He raises a quizzical eyebrow at her expression, and then something clicks. His head rotates slowly until his gaze falls on the box in Xylia's hands.
"Xylia!" he demands. "Give me that box!"
"Um... okay, but... why?"
"I need to reverse the polarity of the lepton flow! Man, I've been wanting to say that ever since I met Schrodinger, and never got the chance before..."
He snatches up the box while Xylia is busy being confused, shoves some sort of sensor thing from the console that may or may not have been there before into the hole in the top of the box, and sonics it a couple of times. The entire room goes wavy for a bit, and then the TARDIS resumes landing as normal.
Joanna goes to thrown open the doors, but the Doctor pulls her back firmly and opens them himself, with a needless flourish.
"Hello!" he announces cheerily to whatever may be beyond. "Not interrupting anything, am I?"
He is met with a click, and a blue glow from the doorway.
The Doctor steps outside, curiously, with the others following.
The TARDIS has landed in a tastefully-furnished business lobby, smack in front of a reception desk. The overall décor seems to have been inspired by a combination of the Greek Parthenon and the 2001 Monolith, with a lot of black marble and columns and other such bland expense. It has currently been surrounded by a shimmery blue forcefield bubble. Behind the reception desk, there's a displeased-looking woman in a business suit. Not one of the receptionists Xylia recognises, so probably someone new.
"Excuse me," she begins, acidly, "but do you have an appointment?"
"Uh... appointment? No," the Doctor admits. "Actually, I'm an inspector. From the Department of... Transdimensional... Trading... Standards. And Dental. Transdimensional Trading Standards and Dental. Surprise inspection. Open wide."
"What?" the woman replies, dully.
"Ah, yes," the Doctor nods, patting himself down. "Credentials, credentials, cred - ah! Got it." He produces a small black wallet and shows the woman a slip of paper within.
The woman eyes him suspiciously, and presses a button under her desk. The force field powers down.
"Ok, I'm ringing you through, but I'm also calling your employer," she says. The Doctor flashes her a smile and heads towards the elevator in the wall beside her which opens at her command.
"Run," the Doctor urges, quickening his pace.
"Why?" Rory asks, glancing around puzzledly.
"Because I don't know what the Psychic Paper told her my manager's number is, but I'm guessing there's going to be some awkward questions if anyone answers."
As a group, you all step into the expansive elevator and it begins ascending.
"Now," the Doctor mutters, "when those doors open we're probably going to be faced with someone a little less susceptible to psychic suggestion, so... any ideas?"
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Post by Snowfire on May 3, 2011 0:02:19 GMT
"Well, we coul-" I cut off as a pocket of my bag explodes and a ball of brightly coloured gold scales comes flying out of it, crashing into the floor. I blink and then crouch down to examine the ball before jumping back slightly as it uncurls into a small dragon-like creature. It's about the size of a housecat - ignoring the wings and tail - and it looks up at me with the curiosity of an intelligent being in its eyes.
"Hello?" I ask. It chirps at me, spreading its wings carefully before meeting my eyes. And then the world goes funny. Images, thoughts and emotions flood through my mind, pictures of a planet called Pern, a great threat known as the Thread that was vanquished by humans and...dragons? But I don't have time to focus on that part. I see more, humans clustered around advanced pieces of technology, point out parts of pictures of blobs linked together by coloured lines of light. Apprehension and excitement fill the link as the pictures move outside, to a picture of dozens of differently coloured dragons; bronze, blue, green, brown and two white, sitting in the middle of the field surrounded by creatures like this o- fire lizards. The fire lizard moves quickly over to the white dragons and sits beside them, humming as humans start moving out to their dragons.
More images flood through me, riding along my telepathic abilities. A speech from a man about something that fire lizard doesn't remember, then the man climbing onto the white dra-Ruth- and the entire group of dragons taking to the skies, followed by swarms of fire lizards, this one among them. Then everything goes strange. Cold-Blind-Nothingness, it somehow translates into Between. And then the fire lizard is here. And I have a name for her at last.
Menolly.
I rock back on my heels, colliding with back of the lift as I do so and blinking quickly before looking up at the Doctor.
"Ok, I have no idea how that just happened."
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Post by jokester on May 3, 2011 19:33:43 GMT
The elevator suddenly halts, with distinctly unbusinesslike abruptness. The light goes red. A polite but urgent siren begins.
"Y'know, I think someone doesn't like us," Joanna notes.
"It might not be us," the Doctor replies, hopefully.
The elevator fills with lasers, angled so as to only just miss everyone and everything in there, rendering you all pretty-much completely incapable of movement.
"It's us," Dr Song sighs.
"An unexplained intrusion has been detected in your area," a calm voice from somewhere announces. "Please remain perfectly still and try not to breathe too deeply. A Pest Control operative will be with you shortly."
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Post by Snowfire on May 3, 2011 19:46:42 GMT
Menolly, stay perfectly still. I'm going to see if I can help. I send to the fire lizard.
"Sorry, probably this things fault." I say, moving carefully to pat my bag before allowing one of its flaps to fall open. Several dozen shards of crystal mirror fall from the bag and I catch each of them with my magic before moving them out perpendicular to the laser beams between me and Menolly, attempting to reflect them back on their receptors and creating a corridor of clear space between my bag and the fire lizard that could allow her to get into the major extra-dimensional space my bag has. Which is easily big enough for a creature her size.
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Post by jokester on May 3, 2011 20:17:08 GMT
Menolly dashes over and hops into the bag. The crystals catch fire moments later, and explode. Tiny shards of exploding crystal hurtle throughout the lift. As they do so, they temporarily reflect more of the lasers in random directions. One hits Dr Song in the chest, setting fire to her coat. Another catches Xylia herself in the arm and, her being currently unillusioned, refracts through said arm and spears the redhead in the shoulder. A third hits Joanna straight between the eyes, and she collapses, falling through several more lasers on her way, her labcoat catching aflame.
"Okay, that could have gone better," the Doctor babbles urgently. "Does this elevator have a call button or anything? I'm distinctly not comfortable with this?"
"On the plus side," River replies, attempting to blow out the fire on her coat between winces, "we know these things aren't fatal."
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Post by Snowfire on May 3, 2011 21:31:04 GMT
I reach into my bag, grabbing a large handful of Skittles - mainly green ones - and slowly removing them from the bag.
"Ok, I really hope this works." Light arcs across my hand, beginning as white before turning green as the power within the Skittles is released. It burns me that power, exploding out of the Skittles through me in a rippling surge of emerald lightning and my magic only just manages to keep me stable enough to stop me falling unconscious and likely dying. But I manage. Just.
The green lightning fades into a smooth aura of viridian light that soaks into me, restoring my life and my magic. But it isn't all used up doing that. Tendrils of the same light reach out through the red lasers around me. One washes down over Dr Song's jacket, dousing the flames before they spread further. Another two play out over Amy's shoulder, healing what the refracted laser had inflicted. And the rest of the aura, it twirls around the other lasers and sinks down around Joanna, extinguishing her lab coat and vanishing into her skin, healing her as best it can. There probably isn't enough there to heal her completely, but there should be enough to restore her to consciousness.
And whilst the majority of the aura is working on healing my companions, a tiny piece of it flies across the elevator and hovers in front of the call button. "Doctor, should I?"
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Post by jokester on May 3, 2011 22:29:13 GMT
Without warning, the entire elevator goes dark and cold. The lasers are off, but no-one really notices because for one thing they're almost freezing to death here and for another their brains seem to have stopped working properly.
The intense cold hits Xylia worst of all - possibly there are trace amounts of iron in here, or possibly it's just so cold it doesn't need iron.
"An unexplained energy spike has been detected in your area," slurs a voice, the same one as before but seemingly slowed and lowered. "If any of you are allergic to energy dampening effects, please leave immediately."
"Oh for pity's sake," the Doctor mutters, drowsily.
The elevator is filled with thumps as, one by one, its inhabitants fall to the ground, too tired to be bothered getting up again. Joanna spasms her hands defiantly, conjuring little orbs of light with every spasm... which just immediately fade to nothing. Eventually she just collapses forwards onto her front, with a soft 'ugh' of irritation. The Doctor is the second-last standing, descending to his knees as he slurs to the sky:
"I demand to see someone's manager! This can not comply with health and safety regulations."
Temporis, oddly, finds himself pretty-much ok. A little heavy-headed, sure, and his reflexes don't seem to be what they once were, but hey, this isn't exactly absolute zero.
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Post by timesting on May 3, 2011 22:53:07 GMT
i remove the hats from my head and tap the top of the fez, this act reveals a light from the opening of the fez lighting the room.
'let their be light, quoting god there, don't know if you got that.'
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Post by jokester on May 3, 2011 23:04:25 GMT
The light begins to fade as soon as Temporis creates it, but he is able to bolster it enough with his magic to keep it going long enough to see.
The Doctor is muttering, as if in his sleep, something about suspicions and Fiddler's Green and useless, useless bureaucracy.
On the wall to the side of him, Rory and Amy are slumped against each other, motionless. To the other side, Xylia is curled up in a vaguely foetal position, her still-open bag abandoned on the floor beside her. In front of her and off to the other side, Joanna is lying almost comically flat-out on her front. Behind Xylia, Dr Song is still clutching her gun, leaning unconsciously against the wall. Behind her, Blondy has disappeared under a vast pile of sprawled hair.
Next to the lift doors at the other end, there is a small metal panel with a vast series of floor buttons and a single big green one labelled 'call'. And, below that, a single big red one labelled 'response'.
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Post by timesting on May 3, 2011 23:26:30 GMT
As the light goes out my shell causes me to shiver slightly, then I remember that my exoskeleton absorbs energy that energy dampening fields. i place the two hats back together and put them on my head. with the thought of my exoskeleton I look into my memory and find the clearest spot on the floor. when I remember where that spot is, I slide over to it.
I again remove the two hats from my head, I pull the fez out of the Stetson, from the fez I pull out a deep magenta flat cap. I flick my wrist out and throw the fez and the Stetson towards the rest of the group as they land they expand into two black blankets and land on the group in the elevator.
I hold the flat hat and smirk, 'Thank you Ikea.'
I turn the flat hat upside down and with a deep breath flick it inside out. in the darkness a loud thud could be herd. in my hands was no more a hat but the sensation of a large metallic object. the doors swing open and suck the group on the floor inside.
I give a small laugh, 'always pack for the unexpected, even if its not yours to pack.'
I give the metallic object as much energy as possible from the room and try to push myself inside. {This is where you come in do I get in}
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Post by jokester on May 4, 2011 0:13:41 GMT
The entire group hits the floor of the TARDIS roughly, and the doors slam behind them. The Doctor raises his head and shakes it roughly from side to side.
"Right!" he announces. "I suppose we should have anticipated at least some of that. However, now that we've got the old girl back, we can see if we can't get to the head office without having to go through any more elevators."
"Doctor," Amy says nervously, looking up blearily.
"Whoever these people are - they might be very nice people - but I don't much like their security measures, so! I say we see if we can't bypass the entire lot of them!"
"Doctor," Rory insists, rubbing his head.
"Why Diversity?" the Doctor asks himself, crossing to the console. "These people have their own universe here. They're big people, big people. OK, they wouldn't be the first big-shots to take an interest in lesser universes, fair enough, but why Diversity specifically? I mean, Diversity was walled off, so they must have really wanted to get in, unless they put the walls there in which case they must have really wanted other people to not get in - in or out, one of the two -"
"Doctor!" Dr Song shouts irritably, scrambling to her feet. The Doctor turns and looks in the direction she's staring.
"Oh," he says, just a little uneasily. "Hello. How did you get in here?"
Just behind the console platform, there is a line of seven business-suited individuals stood, hands behind their backs, watching.
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Post by Snowfire on May 4, 2011 13:31:40 GMT
I reestablish my illusions, picking the one I had had up previous to shattering them. I pull myself up slowly, grabbing my bag and wrapping it over my shoulder again, looking down to check on Menolly. Hey, you ok? I ask gently before looking at the suited men.
"Well. Isn't this a lovely." I say brightly. "Now. Care to tell my friend why you're here?"
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Post by jokester on May 5, 2011 1:06:56 GMT
Menolly gives Xylia nothing in response but a vague sense of displeasure.
"Perhaps," replies one of the suited men. "Or perhaps one of you would prefer to explain why you have forced entry to our building, unlawfully impersonated an inspector, and released an anauthorised pest and energy spike within our property?"
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Post by Snowfire on May 5, 2011 3:03:38 GMT
Out of character here: I think this answer is on the Doctor.
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Post by timesting on May 5, 2011 13:57:58 GMT
'Oh your heads look bare wait a second I can sort that.' I reach into my Stetson and remove a bag of top hats. 'please put one on each they will make you look so much more professionally.'
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Post by jokester on May 5, 2011 16:01:59 GMT
One of the besuitted men produces a stylus through slight of hand and taps a couple of points on his own palm. The bag of top hats blackens, shrivels, disintegrates and vanishes.
"For deniability purposes, I am obliged to inform you that under standard regulations we can and will reserve the right to similarly castigate any other unauthorised material within our property," he says, nodding slightly.
"We are also advised to inform you that unauthorised sentient flesh is still counted as unauthorised material."
"...right," the Doctor says, blinking. "Well... here's the thing..."
One of the men produces another stylus.
"No no no," the Doctor gabbles, "the reason we're unauthorised is because we're actually... uh... mystery shoppers?"
The man regards him briefly.
"We're not selling today," he says, and taps a point on his palm.
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Post by Snowfire on May 5, 2011 18:58:46 GMT
"Doctor, shut up." I grab the Psychic Paper out of the Time Lord's hands, sliding my authorization card into one of the sheets of reactive paper. "I apologise for my compatriots." I say smoothly. "I didn't manage to give them all the regs before we got here." I flip up a section on my card and a hologram - a real hologram - springs into being between me and the security. "You know this authorization." I say coolly. "And whilst I sincerely apologise for this intrusion," I tap another section of the card and a section of text appears beside the holographic pass-code, "clause 23, paragraph 2, section C of my contractual agreement with this company allows me a meeting - without appointment - with the board of directors twice a century. I have not requested one of those meetings since I joined." I smile slightly. "And I am allowed any number of advisers at those meetings, as long as either they or myself can explain why they're present."
"So in order people." I smile, gesturing for the people with me to speak. "Or do I need to remember what each of you does again?"
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Post by jokester on May 5, 2011 23:00:26 GMT
"The Doctor, Advisor in Charge of Terrible Lies," the Doctor introduces himself. "In case she feels the need to lie terribly during the meeting. Or identify a terrible lie on someone else's part. As you can see, I've been practising since arrival."
"Amy Pond," says the redhead, "Advisor in Charge of Translating Difficult Accents. I've gotten pretty good at it by now."
"Doctor River Song, Advisor in Charge of Shooting Things that Interrupt the Meeting," Dr Song sighs, brandishing her gun and raising her eyes to the heavens as if to say 'can this adventure get any more stupid'.
"Er, Rory... um, Pond," Rory says, glancing at the Doctor. "Advisor in Charge of... um... h-hesitation. Advisor in Charge of Hesitation. Because... um... because we're all paid by the hour."
"That's a good one," the Doctor notes. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Joanna sighs loudly and sarcastically. "Professor Commissioner Joanna Hojo-Be-Damned Whatyoulike, bunchofstupidlettersthatgoesonforlikeapage. Chancellor of the Bursary."
There is silence and confused stares.
"In case the meeting involves a Bursary that needs Chancelling," she explains, in sarcastic, isn't-it-obvious tones.
All eyes turn to Blondy. She glances at everyone in turn, hesitantly.
"Uh... I... My name's Rapunzel," she begins. Amy Pond smiles at her encouragingly. "I'm here to... uh..." she glances down at the frying pan, which she hasn't stopped clutching for some time now. "...fry things?" she suggests.
"Makes sense," the Doctor nods. "These meetings can go on for hours. It's always good to have a snack break half way through."
He turns to Temporis. "That just leaves you, Mr Manxome. Go on, introduce yourself."
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Post by timesting on May 5, 2011 23:20:30 GMT
'Temporis," I nod, "Hatter," I remove my hat and bow slightly, "I design and make hats."
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Post by jokester on May 5, 2011 23:23:22 GMT
That one actually gets a little applause from the rest of the 'Advisors'. The security remain impassive.
"What about the pest you are still harbouring?"
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Post by Snowfire on May 5, 2011 23:54:10 GMT
"Clause 17, paragraph 5, section H." I respond, shifting the section of displayed text. "Regarding pets and familiars. Although there's nothing saying that she can't come into the meeting, if she can't then she can stay here whilst we meet the board."
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Post by jokester on May 6, 2011 0:21:15 GMT
"Very well. You may leave the pest and other unauthorised items in our care until the meeting is over. Come this way."
One of the security men indicates for Xylia to place the bag containing the lizard on the floor of the TARDIS. They then escort her and her 'Advisors' out of the door. For no apparent reason, they find themselves in a cloakroom when they step outside. One of the security men opens the cloakroom door, and outside there is a corridor leading to a single dark wooden door labelled 'J.W. Braun & Co. Director's Board'.
The door opens. Inside, seated around a mahogany table, are eight people, particularly nondescript as if they couldn't be bothered assuming physical form any more than they had to. At the head of the table is a woman presumed to be J.W. Braun.
"Xylia J'Seelie, Merchant, Client, Occasional Victim et cetera et cetera," the man to Braun's left intones formally. "With advisors."
"I understand you just called this impromptu meeting, Miss J'Seelie," the man to Braun's right notes. "You therefore have the floor. Begin."
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Post by Snowfire on May 6, 2011 0:30:31 GMT
I take a breath, nodding once at the Doctor before beginning. "I have called this meeting in accordance with my current contract to discuss a certain situation that has come to the attention of myself and one of my advisors." I indicate the Doctor. "Doctor, if you would care to outline your suspicions on the matter we discussed before entering this dimension?"
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Post by jokester on May 6, 2011 2:12:18 GMT
"Thank you Xylia, I would enjoy that very much, talking to people happens to be one of my strong points, got a lot of practice at it, along with running, saving people and getting into trouble. So, Miss Braun, is it? Or should I call you Mrs Braun? Is there a Mr Braun anywhere - well, I assume there would be it's a common name; either way it doesn't really matter since I'm pretty sure you're only female due to a stylistic choice, the equivalent of choosing a particular wallpaper. Never had much time for wallpaper myself; rarely do I spend my time in places with proper walls."
He realises he has strayed pretty far from the issue and looks back to the board, straightening his back slightly.
"Anyway. My point is this: Xylia there is a pretty exceptional fairy. I mean, obviously you people know that, but her exceptionality is a little bit confusing to me at the moment. She's a fairy, as I said, from a world where fairies as a species seem from what I've heard to have evolved for maximum unpleasantness and minimum ethical conscience which, to be fair, is actually not all that uncommon even in my universe, although usually they have a tendency to die out faster over there. Only now, as I understand it, are fairies starting to make that evolutionary step that most of us made shortly after developing basic social skills, that is, the ability to actually be nice to one another. Xylia, however, was a different breed right from the start. Now, ok, I'm not saying she's a messiah - far from it, she's technically doomed her entire world but I'll get to that later and it doesn't matter too much because we've got me around to fix it. Nonetheless, Xylia here contained something closer to a sense of morality than any other fairy before her. And at the same time, she was the one and only member of her species to get out of her universe, meet me, and then eventually get me in here with you people. Bit of a coincidence, don't you think? The Man Who Sorts Out Evil Races Every Other Day and the One Good Member of an evil race happen to meet, across time space and dimensionality itself. She tells me, or she did when I basically gave her a run-down on pretty-much everything I just said, that her ability to escape her universe and get to mine was all down to you people, which makes the coincidence all tied up to you. So I want to know: why Xylia? Of all the people from all the races on all the planets in all the universes you have access to, you happen to grant the boon of dimension-hopping...ness... to a girl that was already exceptional by the standards of her race and world and, to be honest, pretty-much just in general. Why was that?"
There is a brief silence following the Time Lord's motor-mouthed soliloquy.
"That wasn't a bad lie at all," one of the board notes suspiciously.
The man to the right of Braun looks to her. She gestures slightly to him. He turns to the Doctor.
"We have a lot of contacts, Doctor," he says. "Hundreds of them; thousands if you include the less direct ones. They form a web that covers huge sections of the Space-Time-Fiction matrix. We have a near-monopoly on most investments in this area on a Superdimensional level. We were statistically likely to acquire one or two unusual specimens."
"So Xylia wasn't chosen specifically? You didn't plan for the One Good Fairy to be out and about in the big wide multiverse, meeting interesting and useful people?"
"No," the man replies. The Doctor frowns.
"Ok. Let's say I believe you. Actually, no, let's NOT say I believe you, because I don't. But let's just imagine, hypothetically that I believe you. If you didn't plan any of this that most likely means someone out there is playing you. So why did you first take on Xylia? How did you meet? I can't imagine you have a PR office open on fairyland that people like her just waltz on into."
"Perkins. Records," Braun nods. The man to her left taps a stylus on his hand. "Isolating universe... identifying... contact list... J'Seelie, Xylia. We went to her. The universe was drawn to our attention. She came recommended."
"Recommended by who?" the Doctor insists, drawing closer and placing his hands on the tabletop. "Who drew it to your attention?"
More stylus-tapping.
"We received a letter of recommendation, with co-ordinates. It appeared in an inbox. Signed simply as 'Cobweb'. We failed to establish how it came to be there, but we deemed it worthy of looking into. And, once we found several things about the planet, it turned out to be very profitable that we did. It led to many benefits to the company, either directly or indirectly. We therefore deemed it better to simply be thankful and ignore the anomaly."
The eyes Xylia doesn't even seem to have suddenly widen. Amy notices and shifts towards her.
"What's up?" she hisses in Xylia's ear.
Images flash through Xylia's memory. A dark-haired young male fairy, nodding a curt greeting to her as she walks into a room for the first time. Occasional days where she arrives home to him scribbling away in the diary he never showed anyone, or pacing through the tree-home she lived in.The occasional exchanged word, usually concerning the fact one of them would be leaving on business, or else arguing over who had left the stove on, and why they even had a stove. His sleeping form in a hammock next door to her apartment, as she inexplicably steps into his room from the Neutral Territory.
"Cobweb," she whispers, "was my flatmate."
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Post by Snowfire on May 6, 2011 22:14:40 GMT
The entire room looks at me. "What? Just because we're Faeries doesn't mean we don't have flats!" I shake my head. "But..Cobweb? He was always a weird one - although I can't really say I'm not. And now that I think about it, we had very similar patterns. He would vanish for long periods of time, like me, but would always have his rent every year - even if he wasn't there. We were both like that..." I smile slightly. "We argued over my stove sometimes..." I shake my head again quickly.
"May I see this letter?"
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Post by jokester on May 7, 2011 0:21:39 GMT
Braun nods. The man to her left taps his palm with his stylus a couple of times. A sheet of yellowing paper, folded into thirds, appears in front of Xylia. It is hand-written in old-school calligraphy
"For the attention of J.W. Braun & Co. Consider this a letter of recommendation for employment. While you have no branches yet open in the relevant universe, I'm sure you will find the recommended sufficiently versatile and resourceful to warrant further attention. Xylia Islane J'Seelie 07734-9-z&4-6`42-@//2.7-Pi-##084 (Diversity, SS&S)
I advise a liberal approach to your regulations in regards to this one. Trust me.
I mean, yeah, you don't know me. But, still. Trust me. - Cobweb"
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Post by Snowfire on May 7, 2011 0:56:46 GMT
A section of the display on my veil, hidden beneath my illusions, flashes up a message as I read through the letter, allowing me to conceal my shock at what it says in surprise at the letter's text. And even if that message hadn't appeared, I probably would have been at this level of shock anyway. The steadily flashing 'INITIATION SEQUENCE COMPLETE. ACTIVATING' in the bottom right of my field of vision was rather disconcerting. Especially as I wasn't quite sure exactly what Hex was about to do.
I hand the letter to the Doctor, quashing my shock with the - albeit fractured - ease of over a millennium of experience. "If I can ask, how - if at all - has the section regarding 'a liberal approach to regulations in regards to this one' affected my working for you?" I ask carefully.
If you have anything else to add, feel free to jump in. I send to the Doctor as he appears to finish reading the letter.
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Post by jokester on May 7, 2011 2:00:54 GMT
Braun motions to the man to her right.
"We have allowed you more... freedom. More independence. You have been left to your own devices in more situations than would ordinarily be expected. Less tabs have been kept on you and so forth. On reflection, it may have been an inadvisable decision."
"Probably," agrees the Doctor, flicking the letter towards Joanna over his shoulder. "The obvious question, of course, which no doubt all you people have completely failed to look into sufficiently, is how in the world does this hand-written letter get from the writing desk of a simple fairy on Diversity to an inbox inside a universe it takes the TARDIS several minutes of technological trickery to get into? But as I said, you probably can't answer that for me yet, can you?"
The board stares, politely but blankly.
"Of course," the Doctor sighs. "So... here's a different but related question: what else was it you found on Diversity that made this whole venture worth it? I mean, getting through the defenses around the universe - or putting them up yourself, I still haven't worked that one out yet - and then actually setting up some sort of not-always-there link to the place -"
"Temporary blue strand," Joanna comments. "This place is a Parasite Universe. Nasty things those, usually. Although there are theories that some of them are more like Service Stations."
"- ok, so you set up a method for generating temporary blue strands between this Parasite Universe of yours and that place - all for this one girl? You didn't need to do that. And you said yourself you found out some interesting things about the place. What else are you getting out of it?"
"That is protected information," Braun states - and yes, for once she actually speaks herself. Her voice is cold and clipped, like she hasn't used it enough to develop emotional sounds. "We have an agreement concerning one of the area's resources."
"'The area'?" Joanna repeats, lowering the letter she'd been reading. "Not the universe itself, but the area?"
"You lack necessary authorisation to have this conversation," Braun insists.
"You know, there are only three other universes you can access from the fairy girl's," Joanna continues bluntly. "So it has to be one of them. I don't know what resources people like you need, but the fact you're being defensive about it means you want it kept secret, and that's suspicious. I do hope what you're doing here is legal and above-board..."
"Why don't you go and find a Bursary to Chancel?" one of the directors around the table suggests, almost acidly.
"Everything we do is legal and above-board," one of the others states. "We make the rules in what we do. There is no relevant authority higher than us. None that ever seem to want to inspect us anyway."
Joanna looks at the Doctor. The Doctor looks to River. River raises and eyebrow and turns her head to Amy. Amy glances at the Doctor, and then to Rory. Rory looks hesitantly back at her, glances side to side awkwardly, then looks back at the Doctor himself. The Doctor shoots a glance at Xylia, Temporis and Rapunzel, then nods to Joanna.
"I just hope we don't find we have to become one," Joanna finishes, and tosses the letter back to the Doctor.
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Post by Snowfire on May 7, 2011 2:29:46 GMT
The text on my display changes, starting at 1/1000 and beginning to increase swiftly.
"Considering what I've been able to do for you compared to other employees of similar level, I'd think it would be a rather resounding seal of approval for similar protocols." I say, replying initially to the first response. "But it doesn't matter." I shake my head before turning to Joanna. "You've got this universe's address, right?"
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Post by jokester on May 7, 2011 2:39:55 GMT
"Ah," smiles Joanna. "Well, the thing about universes like this, is that they don't want just anyone turning up, so they try and disguise their address - even from people who're already in it. But... well, there are ways."
She shrugs, and her handheld computer floats out from the back pocket of her jeans and over her shoulder. Buttons are pressing on it at lightning speed, without apparent reason.
"It takes a heck of a lot out of you, using unfamiliar magic from a completely different universe," she admits, "but I've always been into those sorts of risks. When I was about three, I poured my soul into a phoenix. It only aged me by two years."
She collapses onto a startled Rory and Amy, who manage to hold her up as the computer drops in front of her and she manages to lash out a hand and grab it. She angles her neck to look down at the screen.
"Got it," she replies, hoarsely.
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