bigapplesauce | [open x3] I'm not big enough to house this crowd

Current Location: Three different places
Current Music: January 12th, 2013

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[open x3] I'm not big enough to house this crowd

James is having a pretty regular day. They're planetside, on a lovely little world called Hedenex. He's taking an exploratory stroll, dressed in one of his three-pieces suits, walking through the complex cityscape they're visiting, enjoying the unfamiliar sky.

He's spent most of the day running around with Andrew, seeing sights, meeting people, testing the cuisine, and letting the dogs stretch their legs a bit too. But Andrew and the dogs only have so much energy, so James has left them to get some rest. James doesn't really need to worry about those things, so he's been getting some exploring done on his own. It's a very welcoming area.

He's just about to head back to ship, when he stumbles. This in itself is unusual, given how surefooted he normally is. But it only gets weirder from there. His systems go haywire, his vision and most of his senses cut out completely. There's a moment of panic, but he doesn't have long to dwell on it before he wakes up in an entirely different place. That is, places.

--

James, or rather the Ambrose part of him, comes to on a streetcorner on the Upper East Side, near Harlem. He's breathing, which is most unconventional. When did he start breathing? Up until a moment (or however long it's been) ago, he was completely robotic.

It's not the first time he's been put in a flesh body, however, so he manages to adjust fairly quickly, getting slowly to his feet. He doesn't much care for the cold, though. Perhaps this is just another Time Scoop, but it's usually less unpleasant.

But no... Because there's something missing. Great chunks of his mind are gone, and he feels strangely empty. Oh, not his memories. Those are still there. Not as organised and reliable now he's got a biological body, but there. His two imported personalities. The Doctor and the Master. They're gone. Yet somehow he can still sense them. As if they're here, but not part of him anymore. He's not sure what this means.

It doesn't occur to him how strange he must look, standing here in the cold, looking confused and lost.

--

Across town, the Doctor wakes up. He's in a café in the East Village, down on 10th street - though he himself doesn't know much more than that it's a café, and that he's currently slumped against the wall in a booth.

He goes through much the same thought process as Ambrose. They have the same memories of course, more or less the same mental capacities; the only difference is how they react to it. And the Doctor is worried. Deeply worried. If he's split free, that means the Master is probably also wandering around somewhere. He can feel that much. A presence in his mind, but far too distant and vague for him to pinpoint it.

First of all, where is he? His surroundings aren't much help. Back in his old body, he could've smelled it. He's not sure how reliable this new nose is, but he hasn't the memories to recall which place smells like what anymore in any case. It definitely doesn't look much like Hedenex, though.

He prods the shoulder of a random patron. "Pardon me, but could you tell me where I am?"

--

Meanwhile, approximately right between the two others, in the back of a dark McDonalds on 42nd street, right off Times Square, the Master version of James wakes up.

He, unlike the two others, is not quite so worried, once he's realised what's happened. In fact, he's rather delighted. His personality is often kept quite buried, at least compared to the other two. He's not so keen on finding them, though he feels that they're here somewhere, now he's finally got a body of his own.

He grins to himself, and pushes out the backdoor of the restaurant, out onto 41st street. It's not particularly crowded, but there are a few walking around. "You, human, where am I?" he asks one of them.

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The Master smiles - oh how he hopes this will go alright. He quite likes interacting with Andrew in this fashion.

The moment Andrew's out the door, however, the Master starts rummaging through his stuff, careful not to move things so much as to be noticable. There's not much of interest, but he does pocket a Swiss Army knife, just in case. He finishes searching before Andrew gets back.

Andrew hasn't been quite honest with James. He'll run, sure, leave the city -- but he's gone and sent a message to the rebel leaders about what's going on. Of course, he wasn't entirely honest with them, either; it'd hardly help their chances of getting out of Manhattan if he told them they intend to do so.

He returns a bit breathless, barging in and immediately holding a hand out to James. "Come on -- we'll take the subway, harder for them to screen rifties from commuters."

The Master gets up immediately, taking Andrew's hand. Well, he's glad Andrew hasn't been shuffling lazily about, at least, and that he's had a moment to collect himself. He's still trying to shield himself from being found, but his mind is tired and he's not sure how well it's working.

"I'll take your word for it," he answers as he follows Andrew's lead.

Andrew doesn't actually know that, but it stands to reason that it'll be harder to pick them out of a crowd. He steals a quick kiss, pausing only to grab one or two useful items (including the nifty communicator he picked up yesterday) and shove them in his pockets. Nothing here is really his, after all, so no loss leaving it behind.

"Can you tell if they're near?" he asks, hurrying James along.

"Not really," he answers, trying to focus on both the link between them and not running into walls at the same time. "I think they're shielding themselves from me too, now."

And it's much more difficult for him (and the Doctor) to really use the link as much as Ambrose can.

That's okay; Andrew can direct him once he realizes James is having issues. If he realizes James is having issues, which he might if James runs into a wall.

"One of the entrances is linked to a subway station," he says reassuringly. "We'll be there in a moment."

And actually, he's doing rather well at navigating the place. They'll just have to blow past Phil on the way out.

The Master manages, helped quite a bit that they're holding hands while they run, and he can just let himself be led as they make their way into the subway station and try to find a train that will take them somewhere.

They're not the only ones who've arrived, though, as the Doctor and Ambrose are stepping off the B train, tracing the Master as best they can. He's at almost the same level as them, which means he's likely in the subway station as well. Which probably means he's going somewhere, so they speed up, running up the stairs to find the other tracks.

Andrew pulls James over to the first map he spots, forehead creasing as his eyes rove over the lines and markings. "That one," he suggests, pointing at one of the colorful lines on the map. He can see that James is struggling, and does his best to steady his lover as they go to the platform.

"They're close," he says, leaning heavily on Andrew as they descend the stairs onto the platform, where there's thankfully a train waiting for them.

"Andrew!" The shout comes from behind them at the top of the stairs, from one of the copies.

The Master spins around, abandoning his telepathic blocks, and jumps inside the closest train car, pulling Andrew along with him. He knows he won't be able to outrun them in this state, but if the doors close, they might still make it...

They don't.

The other two Jameses dodge inside the car just before the doors close. Which means the Master and Andrew can't get out either.

Andrew's frozen for a moment, staring at the two other Jameses -- they look so perfectly alike that he has to question for a moment --

He staggers as he's yanked inside the car, not getting a chance to recover before the doors shut and he realizes they're trapped inside with the doppelgangers. Bracing himself on the nearest pole, he grips James's hand as reassuringly as he can. "Stay back," he warns the others, though he's already scrutinizing them as he waits to see what they'll do -- there must be some detail, something they've got wrong.

Edited 2013-02-07 06:02 (UTC)

The Master is a lot more steady now he doesn't need to focus so much, but he's still terrified. This is unlikely to end well.

Ambrose and the Doctor don't move besides gripping onto poles as the train starts to move. They have no intention of attacking unless it becomes necessary, and they clearly look worried rather than aggressive.

"Andrew, be careful," Ambrose warns tensely. "He's got the Master's personality. I'm James, and he's got the Doctor's personality," he says, talking loudly over the din of the train and gesturing at the James next to him.

"...What?" Andrew's brow furrows as he looks at the two at the other end of the car -- and then turns to look at the one beside him. He doesn't let go of James's (the Master's?) hand, but that seed of doubt that was planted when he first saw the other two is starting to sprout.

He turns to his James -- that is, the one beside him -- and asks in a voice too low to carry, "What are they? Can you tell?"

"I don't know, but they're lying," the Master answers quietly, reaching subtly into his pocket. There's only a matter of time before this falls through.

The other two aren't moving, though they're wearing on the Master telepathically.

:You can't trust him. We're all James, but he's the part that came from the Master,: the Doctor tells Andrew telepathically.

Andrew starts, his grip on James's hand loosening for a moment. He wishes that he could just ask them to prove it and know one way or the other, but whatever they are, he already knows they have James's memories.

:I can't be sure of that,: he replies tersely, not sure if the other being will actually be able to hear him.

The Master feels the grip loosening, and he takes that as a sign that he's already lost. Before any of them he can react, he grabs Andrew by the neck and slams him back against the doors, and puts the knife to his throat to make sure he doesn't move.

"Get off at the next stop," he tells Ambrose and the Doctor. Neither of them have moved, though they both jumped, as they wanted to run at the Master but resisted.

To say that he wasn't expecting the attack would be a massive understatement. It sort of answers the question of who's lying, but it's not the answer Andrew was hoping for.

"James!" he chokes out, though it's still the Master he's looking at, now with a wide-eyed, betrayed expression. His hands come up to grip the Master's forearms, trying to pull the knife away from his throat, feeling it press against the skin as his adam's apple bobs. He doesn't struggle or squirm, all too aware of the blade.

"Only sort of, but don't worry," the Master answers Andrew, both hands on his throat, not tight enough to cut off his air, but certainly hard enough to be more than a little comfortable. He's trying to ignore Andrew's expression, watching the other two.

Ambrose and the Doctor are both paralysed as the train pulls into the next station and comes to a halt, the doors opposite of the ones where The Master's got Andrew pinned opening.

"Get. Out." The Master tells them, using his hand with the knife to point at the door, still holding Andrew with the other hand.

The Master is stronger than him, that much is obvious, but Andrew was never much of one for accepting it when he knows he's beaten. He's frightened for himself, of course; while something tells him the Master doesn't want to kill him, it's hard to say what level of injury the Time Lord would deem acceptable.

Seeing the Master distracted -- and more importantly, feeling the knife leave his throat -- Andrew twists his entire hard to one side as he shoves on the Master's arm, trying to break the Master's grip and make a run for it. He strains against the Master's hold, and then --

Andrew slips from the Master's grip, stumbling for the doors. Meanwhile, Andrew's struggles rattle the doors as he continues to fight the Master's hold on him.

The Master steps back in shock, letting go of Andrew - one of the Andrews. The Doctor is paralysed, but Ambrose takes his chance, running forward and tackling the Master, the knife clattering to the floor.

For a moment it looks like there's only one James rolling on the floor, but then they split apart. For a moment it was like they were both half-solid, flickering, partly phasing through one another, but still knocking against each other.

The Andrew with his back against the doors falls to the floor, not knowing for a moment why he's been dropped. His confusion is interrupted by a very familiar voice coming from a few feet away.

"What?!" asks the standing Andrew, staring at his double. He's interrupted in his train of ~~thought~~ confusion when the Jameses (or is it just one James??) practically bowl into him. Meanwhile, the other Andrew has recovered his wits enough to dart forward and grab the knife away from where the Master might get it again. Deciding he can figure out what's going on after James has stopped fighting himself, the Andrew without the knife dives in, trying to grab the Master and hold him down. He doesn't realize until he's in the fray that a.) he's no longer sure which one's which and b.) the reason he's been feeling oddly low to the ground for the past few seconds is that he's quite a bit smaller than he was when he got on the train.

The Master and Ambrose are no less confused about the Andrew situation. The Doctor thankfully has been paying attention, and can tell the other two apart, so he manages to grab the Master and pin him to the floor, while one of the now rather short Andrews wrestles with Ambrose. As soon as he realises the Master is caught, however, he stops struggling - even though it would be quite easy for him to win against this miniature version of Andrew.

The Andrew with the knife stands up, rubbing his neck a little with his free hand and trying to make sense of the scene before him. All the Jameses have scrambled their positions while he was looking away -- he can make a guess according to which one's doing what, but there's a more direct way of dealing with this. "Which one of you is the Doctor?" he demands. He could have asked which one was James, but apparently they're all James -- just one moreso than the other two.

"Drop the knife!" says the other Andrew suddenly, looking up from where he has Ambrose 'pinned' by his wrists. The two give each other matching wild-eyed looks, thinking rather dark thoughts about who the other Andrew must be, and the knife remains decidedly un-dropped.

"I am," the Doctor answers from atop of the Master, who's too tired to fight and has decided to bide his time, hoping for a chance to break free.

"He's telling the truth," Ambrose says, remaining limp, trying to calm down the situation, despite the confusion and tenseness of everyone involved. The train has started moving again.

"We can sense who's who. Both me and the Doctor are trying to catch the Master, so if the two of us are in agreement, we must be telling the truth," he explains logically. "Andrew, please lower the knife so no one gets hurt. Andrew, may I please get up?"

None of the three understand what's going on with the Andrews, but at the moment it's easier to treat them as if they're both Andrew and just try to de-escelate things.

"Oh -- oh, right," says Andrew, embarrassed. He scrambles off of Ambrose, but stays the other side of the remaining two Jameses rather than go any nearer to his own double. "I can't," he says tersely, still looking at the other Andrew. "Tell who he is," he clarifies. Then he demands of the other him, "What are you?"

The Andrew with the knife relaxes a little despite the ongoing hostility from Andrew, lowering the blade now that he knows the Master has been subdued. He backs away a step or two, though, not trusting the being with his face not to do something rash and upsetting. "Oi, I could ask you the same thing!" he objects. "Is this something you did?" he asks the Master, gaze flicking down to the Time Lord on the floor.

The Master snorts derisively, while Ambrose gets to his feet.

"Clearly this is something else," Ambrose answers, dusting himself off. "You've shrunk. So I'm going to assume you're both Andrew, and I'm going to be very upset with both of you if either of you do anything foolish." He gives them both a stern look that they should already be fairly familiar with, though perhaps not from this different angle.

"But first," he says, turning to the Doctor and helping him pick the Master up from the floor, each holding onto an arm to stop him escaping. "I really hope this works."

And then the three of them step into each other. It looks almost like a double exposure of film, phasing through one another, until they align and become one single, solid James. He staggers for a bit, but thankfully there's a pole for him to catch himself on while he regains his composure. That was more than a little unpleasant, and his head kind of hurts now that all the memories are coming together, particularly the three different viewpoints of the past minutes. He groans, rubbing his forehead.

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