OPEN RP FOR ANYBODY (RP topic from oncoming_storms)

[rude_not_ginger]

You have picked up a distress signal, and followed it to a hotel in London. All you are able to determine is that it is coming from someplace inside the hotel, and is not terrestrial in origin. What will you do? What will you find at the other end of the signal?

"But I've found a...oh, nevermind."

The receptionist was exceptionally unhelpful, so the Doctor darted down the hallways of the hotel, knocking on doors. One of them would be the person who sent the distress signal.





OOC: Open to all. Any universe, any time. If you want to have your pup be in this hotel and answer the door, just go for it! I won't be up toooooooo much later this evening, but I won't leave anybody hanging, I'll catch you asap tomorrow afternoon!

Comments

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Her smile was wide as she nodded. Swallowing his words a bit, she said, "Well, I can help you! I've been doing this kind of thing all the time lately, seems like. Two heads better than one and that sort of thing."

In fact, she was beginning to wonder if she was somewhat addicted to the thrill of adventure.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor all but bounced towards the door of the room. Six months---or thereabouts, never could really tell on the TARDIS---since Martha left, he was beginning to doubt his ability with people. At least the people Sarah made friends with were fantastic.

"Right, you knock on that side, I'll knock on this. We should check storage closets, too."

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria nodded, quickly following his instructions. She proceeded to knock on several doors, easily getting away with disturbing people by just smiling and laying on her teenage charm. Well, it seemed to work, anyway.

As she neared the last door, however, no one opened it. It could've meant the occupant wasn't there, or possibly sleeping. But if there was someone in distress about...that could very well mean they were incapable of answering the door. Well, she'd see what the Doctor thought.

"Doctor," she called out. "No one's answering here, should I leave it?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor had fared no better on his side, everyone rather annoyed by the lanky, wide-grinning man at the other end of the door. When Maria called him over, he darted away from an older woman in some form of pink negligee that was asking him to help her with her "distress".

"Well, they could be sleeping," he said, "But then again..."

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"Think we should have a backup excuse if they are in there?"

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

She thought for a moment. Her mind tended to go for the detailed excuse.

"I'm your niece and we're on holiday and we think we dropped our camera, have you seen it? You have to throw in the niece bit, they'll be more...sympathetic. Unless it's a grumpy old man who hates little children and puppies."

She paused. "Or we could just tell them to have a fantastic day, but they might think us odd. That's not unusual for me."

She smiled to herself a bit.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

She was quick. The Doctor had a plan involving costumes and a song and dance routine, and she went off and made it easy. Brilliant!

"Right! Here we go..."

He gave the lock a quick swipe with the screwdriver, then opened the door to the room. Empty? Like Maria's hotel room and every other hotel room he'd stepped into, this one was a ticker-tape replica of the plushness of every other one before it. Couches and a small table near the kitchen, with the door to the bedroom closed.

"You check the kitchen, I'll take a look in the bedroom."

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria nodded, wandering into the kitchen. At first glance, nothing seemed peculiar, but she looked more closely at the table, then the counter. When she opened one of the bottom cabinets, a strange, lime green substance leaked onto the floor. Immediately, she stepped back. It seemed almost like acid as it spread slowly, eroding the floor.

"Doctor, you'd better come look!"

She wondered if he'd found anything in the bedroom, because obviously something was not right here. She also wondered if the green substance was about to be the least of their problems.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The least of their problems indeed. The Doctor's eyes widened as he opened the door to the bedroom. The source of the distress signal, a small mechanical device, attached to what appeared to be a timed device. What it did, the Doctor didn't know. 2:20, it blinked at him. 2:19. 2:18

He darted from the room to the kitchen.

"Eroding acidic mucuses...coupled with the device I just found in the bedroom...I'd say this wasn't a distress signal, but a trap."

The door to the hotel room slammed shut.

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria quickly started to back away from the substance, out of the kitchen. She turned to the Doctor, trying to keep the alarm from her eyes and voice as she heard the door slam shut.

"A trap?!"

She looked towards the bedroom, then back at the substance.

"Well, what--what are we going to do? We can't jump out, we're on one of the top floors! We can...wait, a device? Like a bomb? You can disable it, yeah?"

Oh, she might have known. Even a so-called holiday into the city wasn't free of danger. But somehow, like whenever she was with Sarah, she wasn't irrationally afraid. Still, it was hairier than she would have preferred. Especially if he couldn't disable the device.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"It's a gas-emitting time bomb," the Doctor said, "It'll fill these two rooms, kill us, and evaporate into nothing, looks like we just had a heart attack. I imagine then whoever is behind this will arrive, clean up any evidence to the contrary."

He darted towards the window, "As for disabling it, that will take more than two minutes, which happens to be what we've got until it goes off. Well, more like a minute thirty."

"There's a ledge outside the window, help me get it open. If we can get out for the next few minutes, we'll be safe!" He struggled with the lever, "They've sealed this, too!"

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that worried her. A lot.

"Poison gas?! That's not--it's--"

Oh, bugger, she cursed in her head. There's really no time to talk about it out loud. When the Doctor had trouble with the lever, Maria quickly looked around the room, picking up a sturdy lamp and running back to the window.

"We could break it open!"

Of course, it wouldn't be the cleanest break, they'd likely get scraped up, but they'd be alive. And that was the important thing.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Excellent idea."

The Doctor took a step back from the window and peeked into the bedroom. :59. :58.

"Quickly, Maria!"

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

She nodded, taking the lamp and hurling it into the window, being careful not to drop it until she'd made a hole suitable enough to crawl through. Well, that would have to do. She tossed the lamp down, then turned to the Doctor.

She was a bit fearful of heights, but it was better than staying in here.

"You first?" At least then she would know it was safe.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor pulled off his jacket and knocked out the rest of the glass, then hopped through. He wasn't too terribly unstable with heights, and the ledge seemed firm enough, at least. He hopped once, holding onto the ledge.

:23. :22.

"Right, it's safe. Maria, take my hand and come out."

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria swallowed hard, then nodded, grabbing the Doctor's hand tightly to steady herself as she stepped out quickly. As soon as she was on the ledge, she took a deep breath, leaning against the wall, and trying to remain as still as possible.

"Doctor, you haven't got the ability to fly by any chance, have you?"

It was either that or, trying to get into someone else's hotel room, she supposed. Not that they'd be very welcoming to two strangers on the ledge outside.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Not in this incarnation," he said, taking a breath. He opened his mouth to share the story of how he fell off a ledge in his fourth incarnation to turn into his fifth, but decided that was probably not going to be very helpful.

He inched towards the next window.

:02, :01

"Take a deep breath." Just in case.

There was a loud bang in the room, and a fine green mist seeped out of the windows.

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Right. Toxic gas. Stuck on a ledge. Someone trying to kill them. Ordinary day. Maria took a deep breath, as he'd instructed, turning away from the mist as best she could. Noticing the Doctor inching towards a window, she followed him.

They might have better luck if a young girl was knocking on the window, rather than an endearingly manic Doctor.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He inched towards the window slowly, but kept his eyes on the mist. It spilled out and after only a few seconds, evaporated. Well, at least he wasn't wrong about that guess.

"Right, Maria. We're going to move towards the next window, all right? You ready? Keep your head up and don't look down."

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

"Piece of cake," she murmured, trying to be light about it, even as she took another deep breath.

Then she nodded, heeding his words. It was a little difficult, but anytime someone in a movie looked down, it made things worse. Best not to. She couldn't help clutching onto him a bit.

As they neared the window, Maria anxiously peered inside. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lamp with them this time to break inside, should the occupants not be there. But she tried knocking, hoping that would prove successful.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Here..."

He reached into his pocket and reproduced the sonic screwdriver. He waved it over the lock, and the window popped open.

"Think we should go for having lost our camera again?"

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

She laughed a bit, nodding.

"Yeah, because...who could miss this view?"

Seemed as logical as anything else they could come up with. The poor uncle and his niece had lost their camera. And they rarely got into the city, after all.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"It's a brilliant idea, I think," the Doctor said with a nod, pulling open the window, "After you."

Not because he wanted her to go into the room first, but because he wanted her to be off the ledge first. Sarah Jane was going to kill him when she found out. Oh, well. At least he could say first hand that he knew she'd do all right in world-saving situations!

"Right, now, we need to find out who was staying in that room."

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria was more than pleased to be off the ledge, and didn't bother hiding that pleasure. For good measure, she took a quick, deep breath.

"Not too shabby, Doctor, yeah?" She smiled a bit. Despite everything...well, it was still thrilling.

The room they were currently in also seemed deserted. So far. But it was more important they find out who was in the room they'd nearly been killed in.

"Front desk wouldn't just give that information out, would they?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No, they wouldn't," the Doctor replied, "But, if you can distract them at the front desk, then I can get around and get what we need out of the computer. What do you think?"

He grinned madly at her (as if the near-death experience was nothing, of course!) "Up for a little espionage?"

[not-on-her-own.livejournal.com]

Maria nodded, rubbing her hands together with the anticipation of excitement. Her grin back at him was nearly as mad.

"Always," she responded, almost gleeful. Well, who wouldn't be up for espionage?

"Leave the distracting to me, Doctor."

And then she mock-saluted him.