The Red Queen's off with her head...

[talkbackwards]

Ronnie Thorne isn't exactly at her happiest right now. Currently she's sprawled across a park bench on her stomach, smoking a cigarette and glowering at the passers-by, occasionally nudging their emotions this way and that if they bother to meet her eyes. It's not really all that effective, but it's enough to make a few businessmen on their way

Comments

[techniclybrill]

Tosh actually does know better than to leave the hotel on her own. She's heard all the things that have happened to people who have, and seen what happened to the Doctor, but...

Torchwood doesn't exactly train you to stay put and keep your head down. And she certainly would have brought Owen along, if she could only find him, but as he seems to have pulled one of the disappearing acts he's gotten very fond of lately...

Well, at least she's got a gun with her. And she's not far from the hotel, just wandering around the park with a... device of some sort in her hands, staring intently at it. The device looks, actually, a bit like it was cobbled together from a Walkman and various other electronic bits. (It was.) For the moment, she takes no notice of the girl sprawled on the bench, just another part of the scenery.

[talkbackwards]

Ronnie might have brushed her off on any other day- the nerdy types aren't exactly the easiest to nudge, considering they like their brain cells. However, today she's bored and she doesn't have to use drugs to play. She just prefers things that way.

"You late for the science fair or something?" She calls out to her to get to her attention, gesturing a little to the device in her hands.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh glances up sharply at the voice, somewhat startled at being addressed. People tend not to take notice of her, which is really the way she prefers it most of the time.

"Oh... no. I just needed to test this..." She gestures vaguely with her free hand at the Walkman, and the in-ear headphones attached to it - one of them is in her ear, the other dangling from the cord so she could keep an ear out for... Well. Any potential danger.

[talkbackwards]

Ronnie gets that from her emotions- the shyness, her preference for blending into the crowd. It's what holds her interest and gets her off the bench and striding over to her to get a closer look at the device.

"Well I admire your dedication to the classics." She hasn't seen anyone using a Walkman in years. "So what is it exactly? I'm going to assume it doesn't play music."

And as she's saying this, she gives a little mental nudge- an attempt to toy with her emotions just enough to convince her that she's not a threat at all and it's perfectly okay to tell her.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh knows she ought to fabricate a lie - when people asked her about alien technology in Cardiff, she always managed that just fine. But somehow, this time, nothing but the truth comes to mind, and she finds herself saying, "It detects... certain things about people. Heartrate and core body temperature, mostly."

...Damn it. Well, at least she didn't come out and say that it's for detecting demons. Could have been worse.

The device is still pointed away from Ronnie, so it's not giving off any warning at all - and Tosh doesn't think to point it at her, because she doesn't seem malicious, just curious.

[talkbackwards]

Ronnie makes a casual step just a little bit out of range of the the device, but she feels she's got enough of a hold on her emotions to keep her from finding that odd. I'm not a demon. I'm not a threat. Just a friendly face. Really. Don't suspect me. Don't fear me.

"Is that so?" She asks, fumbling with her cigarette for a second. Goddammit when did humans get so smart? "Now why would you need a thing like that?"

Oh she knows why. She's just wondering if she can get her to admit it.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh fiddles absently with a knob on the device, the soft white noise in her earpiece rising and falling as she does. It's just something to do with her hands. There's something nagging at the back of her mind, but every time she tries to figure it out, it dances just out of reach.

"Well, obviously it could have its uses in medicine," she says simply, because she's not that easy to slip up. "I have a friend who's a doctor."

[talkbackwards]

Of course, she isn't. Figures she'd decide to poke the smart mortal with a device that could prove to be very bad for her if she swings it this way.

"Well, you've got a point there," she chuckles, somehow managing to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She perks her ears up at the mention of a doctor, because while she doesn't run in most of the same circles as some of the demons that make their homes here, she's heard mention of at least two doctors, both of whom are quite interesting to her.

"Really? What sort of doctor? You know, I've been looking to make a switch. My current doctor's a bit overbearing."

And she pushes just a bit harder. It's just friendly conversation, really.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh fiddles with the dials a little more. The white noise turns to an almost deafening hiss in her ear, and then down to almost nothing.

"Oh, he's... he's not practicing here. He's a surgeon anyhow, and... if you're looking for not overbearing, I definitely wouldn't go to Owen."

And then there's the Doctor, and Martha, but she doesn't know how to explain them.

Yet somehow, she finds herself trying anyway, like she just can't stop the words from spilling out.

"Martha does a little bit of everything - I think she used to work in A&E - but she's a... private doctor. For a hotel. And the other one... I don't think he actually has a medical degree."

She needs to shut up now. She knows that. And yet...

[talkbackwards]

She frowns a little, because that wasn't the name she was expecting to hear. Well, there's a lot of people in Chicago and it's silly to think that the first person she meets who randomly mentions a doctor could be talking about those doctors.

And then she goes on and her eyes light up, because... BINGO. Martha Jones and the Doctor without a name. Has to be. She doesn't have anything special planned for them- she knows better than to screw with a Neqa'el's prey, but she would love to meet them if only just to thank them for giving Calisto what she deserved- her getting shot by a human was the best news Ronnie'd heard in months.

Playing will come later, if she so desires... Maybe when Calisto's dead.

"Too bad," she tsks, not allowing any of those thoughts to show on her face. "I'm sure they're wonderful."

Wonderful in a lot of ways as far as she's concerned, really.

[techniclybrill]

"Well, I'm rather fond of them," Tosh says with a bit of a smile, shifting the demon detector to her other hand. She really ought to just switch it off as long as she's just talking, but then again, it might pick something up... And it's not like she couldn't just go back to the hotel and pick up some more batteries if it died.

That was the nice thing about working with Earth technology. Maybe it wasn't as advanced as anything that fell through the Rift - either of them - but at least it was easy to recharge.

"Though I've only ever really seen Owen doing anything medical. The other two are just... friends."

[talkbackwards]

Ronnie has a moment of trouble tearing her eyes away from that thing. Best to walk away before something happens, but she's in her head now and she likes what she's feeling- most of it she can do without, but there's a lot of interesting emotions that spike whenever she mentions Owen and she's intrigued by them.

Obviously, a drug dealer wouldn't know how to say no when they find themselves faced with an addictive substance. Humans have no idea how addictive their emotions can be to demons like her.

"And what's Owen? Just another friend who you've just so happened to see in action or is he more than that?"

Nudge. Push. She's a fucking surgeon, herself, when it comes to this sort of thing, but even she can push too hard and her target can catch on if she's not careful.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh feels her face heating and looks down automatically, letting her hair fall into her face a little in an attempt to hide it.

"We're... friends. Sort of. We work together, and... it's the kind of job where you spend a lot of time together. Get to know people."

Except in reality, she knows so little about the rest of the team, and they know even less about her. It's just the surface details they get to know, and the rest they all keep secret, guarded. Safe. At least in theory.

[talkbackwards]

She doesn't have to see her face to know her embarrassment- it's pretty clear from her emotions.

And there is so much more to it than that- she can feel it. It's one of the few moments where she actually wishes she could hear the thoughts... Then again, if you can get them to say the thoughts out loud, it's even more delicious.

"Is that all?" She pouts a little. "I know there's that whole thing about dating co-workers being a faux pas, but... Still. You've never thought or wished that there were sparks? Between him and you that is. A little office romance."

She's being too forward and all the while playing with her emotions to convince her that she's not. It's difficult, but she's having too much fun to stop now.

[techniclybrill]

"Oh, I..." She shakes her head a little. "No. Well, yes. What I mean is that Owen wouldn't. Not... with me. I'm not exactly his type."

No, that's Gwen and Suzie and every other girl in a bar who comes along. Random girls he meets on the internet. The occasional girl they've had to put in the cells for some reason.

No, she's not jealous. Well, maybe a little. Well. Maybe more than a little.

[talkbackwards]

Maybe more than a little, indeed. She really does tend to avoid the smart ones, because they keep their emotions locked up tighter than Fort Knox... That or they just don't feel the best kind of emotions. Either way, not as fun.

But jealously. That's a fun one.

"Well he's a stupid boy, isn't he?" She rolls her eyes a little, continuing the charade. "If he had any sense, you'd be his type."

The ideas she has in her head are painfully cruel, because you can do so much with jealousy and inadequacy especially with girls like her, but she restrains herself, which is odd for her. If she can keep an eye out for Becky Trapper, she can keep an eye out for her too... Perhaps find her when she's not holding something that can blow her cover.

And then have a little fun with her