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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"Supposedly we'll be stopped if we try to leave the island," Andrew agrees. "Bit curious now about what they would have actually done if we'd kept going."

He lets out a little sigh, thinking about where they'll go now. "I need more equipment before I can start working out how to get back," he notes. He's sort of assuming he can work it out, though it feels a bit less urgent now that he has James with him. "And we'll need money from somewhere."

"I can still talk to machines," James answers, remembering he hasn't mentioned this. "Made one give me a MetroCard quite easily, I'm sure I could do the same with an ATM."

It's not stealing if they take it from banks, right? Right? It can be like Robin Hooding, only they give to themselves.

"That could work." Clearly these two are the best ever at financial planning. Also, ethics. "Assuming we get loose of the rebels without any fuss -- they've got my name, but not really anything else."

He's starting to perk up, thinking of the subterfuge required.

Well technically they wouldn't really be stealing from anybody, because no one would lose anything. The only potential problem would be inflation, but it's not like they'd need that much. Also James is excellent at financial planning when it comes to budgeting and such, but neither of them are particularly keen on getting jobs just for the money.

"Well, you could change your name if completely necessary. But I would assume they wouldn't mind you living somewhere else," he answers.

"Pretty sure they want us to join their cause," Andrew points out. "We might want to, I don't know. They've got apartments and things."

But he'd rather fight injustice on his own terms, on his own time. Also, go back to exploring space with their dogs. That was pretty nice.

"As long as we don't work against them, I doubt they'll force us. I would think they have better things to do," he answers. Like, you know, fighting for their cause rather than fighting for people to fight for them.

Apart from that it might be more difficult to gain information, James thinks it would be easier to work by themselves.

"They wouldn't be very good rebels if they insisted on registering us like Romac," chuckles Andrew in agreement. He lets out a little sigh of contentment now that they've more or less settled it. "So we'll move out once we find a place and you get us some cash."

James nods in agreement. It'll have to wait until he feels less exhausted, of course.

"Next stop is ours," he points out, though he doesn't make a move to get up quite yet, even though they're about to pull into the station. He's pretty comfortable here, at least with the cuddling.

"Mmhm." Andrew's reluctant to remove himself from James's side, but as the train slows, he peels himself out of the seat and turns to offer a hand up. "I might have told someone there was a potential threat with your face," he admits. "Before we left the base."

James takes the hand and pulls himself up by it. He also puts his arm around his back to use him to lean on and steady himself. He feels extra wobbly after sitting for a while. Not enough to fall over without help, maybe, but he's definitely not running anywhere.

He frowns a little at the admittance - even though it was perfectly true, just that the threat wasn't the version of James he thought it would be. "Well, hopefully they'll believe you when you tell them it's sorted out."

Andrew's happy to be of assistance as he helps James off the train and onto the platform. "Considering I was the one to raise an alarm, I would hope they realize I know what I'm talking about. I'd hope they'd realize that anyway, actually."

"Well, then let's hope they're not the shoot first, ask questions later kind of people," he jokes, not quite realising he maybe shouldn't make that worrying jokes. But he hardly looks all that threatening at the moment. And who knows, he's got several Gallifreyan traits now. Maybe he'd regenerate?

A frown tugs at Andrew's mouth, and he unconsciously gives James a little back rub as if to reassure him that they won't. "I think they'd lose too many recruits that way," he jokes back. "They've got all sorts of aliens there, by the way."

Oh, he's not too worried.

"Really? Anyone or anything familiar?" he asks curiously. He hopes Andrew would've mentioned if they had friends here, but there's plenty recognisable aliens who'd be interesting to meet.

Ugh, stairs. He's going to need the combined help of Andrew and railings here. So many blocks of walking and running, on no food, and not used to physical exertions. The food thing hasn't occured to him yet. Funny how he can be so meticulous about it for Andrew, and not realise for himself.

"Lots of humans," shrugs Andrew, who counts humans as aliens. That wasn't what he meant when he said 'aliens' before, though, so he shakes his head. "No one we know. A few species I've seen before, but no one I've met. Supposedly it's very rare to run into anyone you know from before the rift."

He doesn't realize it, but his grip on James tightens just a little as he says that. He puts James between himself and the railing, not relishing the idea of hauling him up the stairs, but knowing it must be done. At least he's not so heavy anymore.

Humans aren't aliens to this planet though, which is kind of the definition they should be going for. They're the aliens here. Actually, he's not sure what he himself counts as. Andrew is definitely a Time Lord-human hybrid, but James seems to have something extra mixed in. Who knows? They're both pretty unique, biologically.

James smiles a bit. Perhaps they were just ridiculously lucky. Perhaps something in them both caused the rift to pull them through. Again, who knows?

And James is doing most of the hauling himself, trying not to lean too much on Andrew. He's largely there for moral support and stabilising, really. Between them, they manage it.

"Do you have bedspace for two?" he asks, not remembering. It frustrates him that he can't just rewind back through his memories and check.

Hopefully neither of them needs a doctor in the near future. Andrew remembers some of his medical needs from what they figured out at Torchwood, but James could be in trouble if he needs medicine.

"...No," he admits. "Well, maybe if we squeeze. I'll be alright, I'm not tired."

Thinking in the long term? Naahhh. Not even when the long term consists of a day or two.

Suppose it depends if James is a cuddler or a sprawler now he actually needs sleep. He already knows what Andrew is.

"I'm fairly sure I could sleep just about anywhere right now," he points out as they make their way through the station to the base entrance. "If you ask for some extra blankets, I could easily pass out on the floor."

James has not yet experienced the pain of sleeping badly, you see. He thinks it'll be easy.

"Or I could go find a cot to bring in, while you take a nap on the bed," Andrew points out. "You're sleeping on the bed, James." End of story. Look! He's taking care of James instead of himself (for once).

He'd rather cuddle, of course, but a twin bed isn't going to allow much of that.

"Alright, sir," James answers with a smile. It is nice to be taken care of, even if it doesn't happen that often. Or perhaps because it doesn't happen that often.

"Wish we had the dogs here, though," he says worriedly, as they approach the door.

"William's looking after them," says Andrew, his voice too light. He's been thinking about them, too. More about James, but the dogs have been in his thoughts as well.

He knocks on the door, bouncing on the balls of his feet and wondering if they'll be met by a more intimidating guard than Phil after the message he left.

The door cracks open to reveal the wary eyes of Phil...and the muzzle of an alien weapon, which he promptly points at James. "Andrew?" he asks, posing it as a general query.

James tenses at once. He might've joked earlier, but he preferably does not want to get shot on his first day in a new body.

"Hello..." he answers warily.

"Everything's fine," says Andrew, holding very still and keeping his eyes fixed on the weapon. "This is James -- the actual James. We took care of the copies -- I'll explain later, assuming you don't shoot either of us."

Phil squints at them a few moments longer, but doesn't object when Andrew tentatively pushes the door open further.

James smiles nervously at Phil, but he lets them pass. Probably notified some superiors about it, but at least he didn't put up much of a fuss.

The walk from the entrance to the base seems even longer this time, and James discovers the interesting experience of yawning.

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