HANDYSPLOSION [open to multiple]

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew is snooping, but he's not getting very far with it. The trouble with absurdly powerful, government-sanctioned entities is that getting inside the base of such an organization tends to be a bit more complicated than showing up with a forged Health and Safety ID card. Of course, he could probably get inside very easily if he simply went up to the front doors and announced himself, but somehow he doubts he'd be likely to come back out without making a grand production of escaping, and he doesn't want to be too late coming home and make James worry.

The other trouble with Romac is that they're too smart to have anything interesting going on outside. After quite a bit of loitering -- more loitering than is probably wise -- all Andrew's seen is fairly ordinary people going in and out of the building. Disgruntled at their failure to be even the least bit interesting, Andrew finally gives up in disgust and decides to walk to the rebel base in order to say hello to a few people and use their private library.

He makes it less than halfway to the park before disaster strikes. Later, Handrew will be mortally embarrassed that the crisis didn't come about because some Romac agent spotted him and decided to make trouble, or because he had to run to intercept an alien, or even because someone got it in their head to mug him. No, this disaster occurs simply because neither Andrew nor a certain speeding taxi driver happens to be looking in the right direction at the right time. As the meta-crisis steps out into the intersection of Lexington and 59th (against right of way, if he'd bothered to notice), there's a deafening screech, an impact, and Andrew quite unexpectedly shatters.

The reflex to use his power when surprised likely saves his life. Twelve tiny Andrews are scattered across the road a moment later, all of them stunned to one degree or another. As they recover and realize what's happened -- and hear the yells of a few people who saw -- they all take the same course of action:

Run.

Unfortunately, very few of them run in the same direction. There's no plan or pattern to it, and very quickly the Andrews scatter to the four winds -- or at least to the four corners of the intersection. There are a few shouts (even New Yorkers tend to notice when someone explodes next to them) and one person even stoops and tries to grab one of the four-inch-tall Andrews, but he has quite a bit of experience in running for cover.


[OOC: Let me know where you want to encounter one or more Andrews, and I will write up an explanation of how he got there. The accident occurred at E. 59th St. and Lexington Ave. (the game map might help you here), and the Andrews have gone in every direction. Some Andrews will take advantage of the nearby subway entrances; depending where he enters he could do as he intends and go northwest, or he could get on the wrong train and go northeast, which would take him past Romac housing. Really, anything is possible -- though he's trying to get to either the Rebels or the TARDIS, he could get lost in any direction, or stay stranded near the intersection. Just write a tag indicating where your character encounters an Andrew and I'll work it out (or you can PM me or ping me on AIM if you want to hammer it out together). He'll be staying in twelfths, since merging into sixths would make him a foot and a half high, meaning he'd be still too small to get around without trouble but too big to go unnoticed. There might be multiple Andrews traveling together, so let me know if you want two of them.]

UPDATE, November 14: Nine Andrews are accounted for so far. One Andrew each currently reserved for Lucy, Spike, and Topher, meaning no more Andrews are available.

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

Daine isn't feeling very placated. "Or I could have left you safe under a bush somewhere and looked myself - and had the People help, too. Odd's bobs, they've all had an hour's head start, now."

All right, she's willing to concede that the TARDIS might be faster than the People would be... but regardless of how quickly the TARDIS works, the other Andrews have doubtless scattered all over the place. It'll take ages to gather them all back up, even if they know exactly where each one is.

[alwaysalright]

"No.." the Doctor answers slowly. Even when he narrows the search to that side of the city, there's no trace. Or, more accurately, there's far too many traces to determine which might be Andrews and which might be other things entirely.

He looks away from the screen, down at the both of them. "Sorry, she's not exactly able to work at full capacity here, thanks to the rift. It might be possible, with some calibrations, but it'll take a while. I think it'd be a good idea for you to ask the People, Daine. You'll probably need to go outside."

The TARDIS does block off telepathic communication with the outside world, and they doesn't know enough about Daine's powers to give her an opening.

[bluesuit_handy]

"And they'll all be coming here --" starts Andrew, annoyed that she thinks he doesn't have a plan. Then what the Doctor's just said hits him and he falls silent, staring up at the Time Lord with wide eyes.

"No?" he repeats, gobsmacked and finally feeling a knot of worry in his gut. "But she knows me; she'll have isolated my biometric signal ages ago!"

[wildmage_daine]

Daine is silent for a few moments, then lets out a long-suffering sigh. Of course it couldn't be easy - where's the fun in that?

She nods at the Doctor's suggestion. She'd already figured on going outside, though not because she has any inkling of the TARDIS blocking her. It's just that if she sends her magic out inside the TARDIS, she suspects she'll end up reaching the library bats and the menagerie. But going outside means she's going to need cover. It's much easier to talk to everyone in her normal shape.

"Do you have a blanket I could borrow?" she asks the Doctor. That'll do for now; she won't be in her human shape for long at the rate things are going.

[alwaysalright]

"I think you're too small," he answers. If Andrew wasn't actually inside the TARDIS, it probably would've been hard to get a proper read on him even if he was relatively close. Not that they haven't searched for smaller, but there's a lot of rift interference, particularly with his power involved.

"Why'd you need a bl-- Ohh," he answers, realising that Daine intends to turn back. He doubts she'd have much use of a blanket in cat form, anyhow. "Just a mo'," he answers, heading up some stairs, and digging into a chest. Of course the TARDIS provides, and the Doctor returns with not a blanket, but a robe and some slippers. It's not snowy anymore, but it's still cold. "Are you, uhh.." He trails off, not sure what he's asking. He's unsure how this works.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew stands up, anticipating that Daine will need to move away and not wanting to get knocked over in the process. He's troubled, to say the least; he was absolutely confident in the TARDIS's ability to help him piece himself back together, and the news that she can't makes him feel suddenly helpless. It's daft; he was already relying on the help of others, but it still feels like he's failed to save himself.

"I think they'll all come here," he says to himself, perturbed.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's a bit surprised by the robe and slippers, which look to be in her size. It's a nice gesture, though she can't help but think a blanket would have been more straightforward. You can duck under a blanket, after all, which makes shifting back a bit less awkward. And public.

Well, needs must. "Just throw the robe on top of me, please," she says, hopping off of the chair to give herself more room to work with. "And turn around."

[alwaysalright]

The Doctor drapes the robe over her the right way, so it'll be as easy for her to slip into it as possible, and turns away, fiddling with the console. "There are other places you might think to go. I'll send James a message, tell him what's happened, so he can look out for you. If you couldn't come here, where else would you have gone?" he asks, so they can narrow down their search a lot. Hopefully the other Andrews haven't gotten themselves into trouble. He wonders morbidly for a second what would happen if one of them got themselves killed. Maybe Andrew would just stay smaller than normal.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew looks away as well when it occurs to him to do so a moment later. His breath catches at the mention of James -- of course James should know, and he'll want to help, but he feels suddenly rather more aware that his husband boyfriend partner will not only worry, but probably have good reason to do so.

Mulling it over, he tries to think what Plan B would have been. "The rebel base, perhaps," he replies, sneaking a glance to see how Daine's doing in the transformation department, then quickly looking away again in case she's gone naked and hairless. "Home's too far. I could take the subway, but I'd want to keep it short."

[wildmage_daine]

She briefly considers trying to hold onto the fur until very last to save some dignity if the robe should slip, but rejects the idea with no small amount of irritation. Thanks to Andrew's dawdling, saving her strength has become too important for her to expend extra magic on anything that isn't needful. At least the Doctor managed to drape the robe over her in such a way that it ought to stay put.

The shift back to human isn't as quick as it would have been if she'd been a bit fresher, but it's still over in a matter of moments, leaving her crouched on the floor with the robe still mercifully draped over her shoulders. Huzzah. She shrugs her arms into the sleeves and straightens, swiftly tying the belt around her waist. Then, she turns to face Andrew and the Doctor, tugging her hair out from beneath her collar.

"Thanks," she says, both for the Doctor's and TARDIS's benefit. "I'll ask the People to keep a lookout, and then I'll take a shape and go searching, myself." Frowning at Andrew, she adds, "I can only ask them to keep half an eye out for you, mind. They can't just drop everything to help me; it's spring." Hopefully, Andrew and the Doctor will understand. Plenty of folk have just assumed that since she can talk to animals - or even boss them, if she must - that they're all at her beck and call.

[alwaysalright]

"Good luck," the Doctor wishes her on her way out. And yeah, they can't very well mobilise the entire animal kingdom to help them.

"Anyone at the rebel base it would be alright to contact to keep a look-out, or shall we just assume if any Andrews find their way there, they'll call us?" he asks, frowning at the screen. There's something off with Andrew, but he can't quite tell what. It's not calibrated for his size, but more importantly the compression field creates too much disturbance to get a good read. But he seems healthy, so maybe it's just an effect of his power or something.

[bluesuit_handy]

"Well, Daine already knows..." muses Andrew, thinking of whom he actually knows who's likely to spend any significant amount of time around the base. Frowning, he says, "I'd call, or insist they'd call -- but that's assuming I can even get past the front door. Their doorman needs to know."

[wildmage_daine]

"I'll tell Aly to tell Phil," Daine offers over her shoulder. Because yes, she's calling Aly. At least her niece knows what Andrew looks like, and she can bring Sarge and Molly - and their noses - into the mix.

As for how she's going to tell Aly anything with no cell phone on her, well, let them wonder. She can let Aly handle the darking explanations later.