roleplay for alainn_aislinn

[rude_not_ginger]

At least Byron wouldn't be on the ship long enough to try to shag Rose. Just the idea of that irritated the Doctor in new and interesting ways.

Why was this Byron fellow getting under his skin? Maybe because he was the sort of capable, charming type that could take Rose away from the Doctor if he tried hard enough. Maybe it was because the Doctor had more than a few of Byron's poetry books, and therefore couldn't call the man anything but a genius in the literary sense.

So frustrating.

Not as frustrating, of course, as the TARDIS was being. It kept registering a non-human lifeform within the console room. At first the Doctor figured it was reading Rose (after the Time Vortex incident, she never did show up as fully human according to the TARDIS scanners), but she'd been gone for a good fifteen minutes, now, and the scanner shouldn't have been continually reading her.

Unless...

He looked up and around the console room. Nothing was there...or was it?

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[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

She'd followed the girl a couple of times, out of vague curiosity about anything that caught Byron's attention. Easy enough to slip in behind her. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, or rather, she did, but she wouldn't understand that it was wrong if you told her. It was a good way to learn.

A lot of what they said didn't make sense, but the traveling sounded exciting enough that it bothered her. It was something Byron wanted that wasn't drugs or depravity, although, if it all was really just to visit some woman, she ought not be concerned. He had plenty of those. But the whole idea of it all didn't sit well.

It sounded like something that might inspire and while him being inspired was the absolute most perfect thing she could think of, if it wasn't by her then it didn't fix anything, did it? Her thoughts had gotten all muddled on that part. Stupid to feel jealous--and the boy had called her stupid, and silly and that had hurt--of a girl, just a girl, but if the girl could actually replace her...

It made her fret. So when the girl left, she stayed and watched the man who wasn't just a man anymore than she was just a girl. He seemed troubled about Byron and the girl, and the flickers of jealousy matched her own. Unreasonable, perhaps, but there nonetheless.

It was that as much as sheer curiosity that caused her to finally step fully into the mortal world, tilting her head and studying him.

"Hello."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He leapt about a foot in the air and let out a rather loud yelp, but if you asked him later, he would say he cooly confronted her on knowing that she was there and all that good rubbish.

Picking up his screwdriver from where he'd dropped it in surprise, he attempted to cover up his yelp with a short clearing of the throat.

"Uh, hello," he said, warily, "Uh...who are you? How did you get into my TARDIS?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

The yelp brought a brief but bright smile to her lips that settled into something softer.

"Is that what it's called? It's very lovely..." She'd been eavesdropping. That didn't necessarily mean paying close attention. It was hard to focus on words when there were so very many emotions flying about the place. She moved a little closer, brushing her fingers over the console lightly. "It loves you very much."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

So she was the non-human entity within the TARDIS. Made sense, of course, she didn't look human. Well, not totally. Stunningly beautiful (you know, probably), and eyes that didn't carry the same shade of green as any ordinary human's would. Alien, perhaps? The TARDIS recognized it--her as something similar to the Black or White Guardian, or Rose after the Time Vortex. Not human, but not alien, either. Interesting.

He took a protective step towards the console, "This is my TARDIS," he said in a tone not unlike how he would address Susan when she was a child, "What's your name?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

Aislinn smiled up at him, forgetting for the moment why she'd been hanging around. Curiosity bred curiosity, and since everyone seemed curious, she went with that.

"Aislinn. What's yours?" She touched the console again, lightly, avoiding buttons and levers, more of a gentle stroke or a pet than anything else. It had feelings and that made her smile with wonder. Something not plant or animal with feelings was new, and new was fascinating after so long.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'm the Doctor," his eyes watched her hand nervously. She seemed benign enough, and the TARDIS took her touch to be a friendly one---though he couldn't always trust the TARDIS's concept of friendship, she liked Mickey, after all.

"Aislinn, that's a pretty name," he said, "Where are you from, to get a pretty name like that?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

"Ireland," she said, letting some of the magic of the land, and of her, fill the word with music and rushing water and rolling hills all encompassed in the three syllables.

She looked up at him again, frowning just a little,and tried to be reassuring, slipping to the outermost layers of the worry and feeding him a small thread of calm, peace. "I won't hurt it." She'd paused the petting, but she went back to it a moment later.

"You're not human. Where are you from?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Ireland, lovely place," the Doctor replied, "Not around the teens, of course, had that potato famine to deal with and all that."

He felt the calm come to him, and his eyebrow raised slightly. Empathic, it appeared. Anne had done similar to him, before, and while the calm was easing some of his emotions, they were replaced a bit with concern. He wasn't the biggest fan of having his emotions shared.

"Ooooh, a bit of a ways out," he said, putting a hand to the TARDIS console, "Just like the TARDIS here, we're wanderers." He tilted his head a bit to the side, "What about you, Aislinn? How did you wander in here?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

"I followed the girl." The concern was concerning and she finally focused her attention on him, fingers flitting to brush his cheek in the same way she'd touched the TARDIS. "I'm sorry. I won't hurt you either..."

"Why did you come here?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor looked down at her in a bit of surprise at her touch. For all his friendliness and love of other people and species, physical contact wasn't common for him with anyone, really. She wasn't trying to hurt him, that was obvious. Perhaps her species, whatever she was, was more textile.

"Oooooh, this is where I live," he said, looking around the TARDIS, "Lived here for a good couple of centuries now, can't quite think to leave."

Followed the girl, followed Rose.

He gave Aislinn a curious look, "Why were you following the girl?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

She kept her fingers light on his cheek until he asked the question, at which point she flitted away with a shrug, wandering and touching things lightly here and there, familiarizing herself with the TARDIS, and slightly hypnotized by all the colors.

"She's different." It was an answer, if not the full one. "She doesn't belong here." Which was a completely wild guess based solely on the girl's British accent and the Doctor's commentary of being from far away and snippets of conversation. But it was better than the truth, which she couldn't have quite expressed anyway. And it was truth, in its own right as well as she felt the flare of jealousy again. She didn't belong with him.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor nodded again, "No, I suppose she doesn't. Bit of a wanderer, like me. Neither of us belong anywhere, not exactly, anyway."

He had a feeling he should've recognized her by now. She had the graceful bird-like movements of Nyssa, mixed with the youth of someone like Dodo or Vicki...but the TARDIS would've recognized her if she was Traken, and that entire race was gone, now. Like the Timelords, in that way.

"How did you see her, Rose? The girl, that is. Where did you start following her?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

Another little shrug, turning back to look at him, studying him intently.

"At his hotel." She thought. She'd hovered there a while, trying to get the courage to tell him she was glad he was alive. Days, maybe. Her sense of time was all off.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"His hotel?" the Doctor thought for a moment, "Oh, Byron's...oh. Oh."

Something very like jealousy resurfaced just below the Doctor's skin. It was one thing, teasing Rose about snogging Byron or whatever they might've been doing, it was another having some sort of confirmation as to it.

"Well, uh, she is, uh, well," he turned to the console (very like how a toddler would turn to a security blanket), flipping a few switches, "You know Byron, then? The man she was visiting? It was Byron, wasn't it?"

He rather hoped she wasn't snogging someone else besides.

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

His jealousy triggered hers and her eyes filled with tears.

"I knew him. Before." Before they fought. Before he died. Whichever. Even she couldn't say for sure.

She wrapped her arms tight around herself, radiating her own distress, feeding off his. She didn't have a security blanket to hold on to, and gave every impression of being a very lost child.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor took a tentative step towards the girl, his jealousy replaced with concern, "Are you all right?" he asked.

She looked so very young, not unlike Rose herself in youth. Perhaps something had happened? The Doctor knew a bit about Byron's documented proclivities in the past, he could only hope they hadn't dribbled over into the modern day.

"Did he hurt you in some way?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

Her lower lip trembled, just a bit and she fought to keep from giving in to the tears. He had hurt her. He'd shut her out and wouldn't listen and took the poison and got lost and when you loved someone, that hurt.

She gave a little nod.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor took another step forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, "What did he do? What happened?"

Perhaps he should ask the more important question of Where is his hotel? so he could find Rose and get her out of there fast before he hurt her, too.

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

He'd do as a security blanket in a pinch. Solid and warm and male and she slid her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.

"He made me disappear." It was as close as she could get without going through it from the beginning.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Well, the Doctor hadn't exactly intended on this, but it worked, he supposed. Slightly awkwardly, he put his arms around her, trying his best to be comforting. Wasn't that often that a beautiful (probably) woman had her arms around him and her head on his chest. He'd only just gotten used to Rose doing that!

"Disappear?" he asked, gently. Was that some kind of a metaphor for something? Psychology was never really his strong point, not in this incarnation, at any rate.

"What do you mean, 'disappear', Aislinn?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

She frowned, even as she cried a little, and looked up at him. Her fingers rested over his--one of his hearts. That was different enough to distract her for a minute and she flitted fingers between them, listening to the different beats for a moment.

"Oh..." It was a delighted little sound of discovery, the tears drying up.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Goodness, she was frustrating. On a normal day, he might've appreciated that a) she was interested in his anatomy, he always did like talking about himself, or b) that she was not crying. As it was, it was not a normal day, it was a day where the most important person in his world was at a hotel with someone who could make this being 'disappear', whatever that meant.

"Aislinn," he repeated, a little more firmly, "Aislinn, how did he make you disappear?"

Perhaps he'd taken away the length of her attention span.

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

She blinked at the firmness in his voice. People weren't very often firm with her.

"Oh." She frowned a little, trying to explain. "He took poison. He always...just a little, but then they turned on him again and so he took more and then he could only see the girl...me, the girl...but not me the real me. And he said I had abandoned him and he called me horrible names and nothing...he just..." She was crying again. "There was more and more poison and so much anger and bitterness and he hated himself so much. He always did, but then it was...they hurt him and I didn't mean to go away and leave, but he couldn't see me and I couldn't be just a girl."

She was really crying by the end, fingers curling in his shirt.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

That made...so little sense. Poison he could only interpret to be the man's drug addiction, and seeing the girl versus the real her...well, perhaps she'd been part of that drug scene he was in.

They hurt him, and in turn he somehow hurt her. This was going to be the most confusing conversation.

He stroked her hair gently, letting her cling to him, "Shhh...it's all right, it's all right, no one's going to hurt you in here." A pause. "Who were 'they', the ones that hurt him?"

[alainn-aislinn.livejournal.com]

She clung tighter, trying to stifle the tears so that she could explain better.

The one question at a time helped, but she was trembling, remembering it all.

"His fans. The press. The public. They loved him, and then they hated him and they tried to put him in prison..." Not that they'd all loved him, ever, but the ones that did, to turn. "He tried to give them the heavens and they just...they threw it back and so he died and was no one and he didn't know...He tried again. I was there. I helped, but he'd said things and he was...was sliding so far away...and then I was gone."

It made sense in her head?