Open to anybody

[man_outof_time]

When: After he posts the list
Where: The clinic

Jack Harkness was on the hunt. The Doctor had told him that the other, real doctors were grouping together in order to get out. As a part of his search for information, he decided it was time to see if he could grab one of them for a talk. To that end, he was loitering around the clinic, lost in

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[l_cuddy_md]

The knock on the door startled Cuddy so much she nearly hit her head on the damn cabinet door as she jerked upright. The clinic was one place she could usually depend on being alone. House didn't want anything to do with it and Wilson was still licking his wounds: mental, physical, emotional. So she came down here and puttered around pretending she actually had something useful to do.

She pushed the cabinet door shut and crossed to open the door to the hall. She didn't really expect to see a new face, but damned if every time she thought she'd met everyone, someone new showed up.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Cuddy." She held out her hand, professional smile in place. "Can I help you?"

[man_outof_time]

"Captain Jack Harkness." His eyes took her in quickly, discreetly, as he offered his hand. "Nice to meet you in person, Dr. Cuddy from New Jersey. Do you have a moment?"

[l_cuddy_md]

She frowned a little, puzzled, as she grasped his hand. She knew she hadn't met him before--she tended to remember the good looking ones--so how did he know she was from New Jersey?

"Ah...you're the one who posted the notice," she said, remembering. "Good idea. And sure, I've got a moment. Come on in."

[man_outof_time]

Jack smiled, stepping in. "Yeah, that's me. And thank you." He looked around the room. "Don't imagine you've got a lot of work here, unless somebody I haven't met yet is really accident-prone." As long as nothing around the Hotel was attacking people, at least. He wondered how he should address his purpose, then decided to plunge right in.

"The Doctor- capital D, no actual degree that I know of- told me you and a few others were getting organized to get outta here. I want to help. I need to know- well, everything that's happened since you've come here would be good, actually. I know it's a lot to ask, and a bit sudden, but we all want out., right?"

[l_cuddy_md]

"I've needed the clinic a couple of times, but no, it's not exactly busy. Which is good, really."

Cuddy leaned back against the exam table as Jack spoke, nodding slowly. "The Doctor's right, I was trying to get organized but it's not going quite as quickly as I would've liked." Not that she could really complain. Some people--like House--had been less than helpful but she'd allowed herself to be diverted from her self-appointed task as well.

"I'll be happy to share what I've been able to learn about some of the others. As for myself...well, it all started when I was driving down a road in Princeton, New Jersey and somehow ended up driving right to this hotel."

[man_outof_time]

Jack raised an eyebrow. "How do people manage to hurt themselves, here? Falling down the stairs?" He was very curious about whether anybody'd been driven to suicide, but that was an even more sensitive topic to address.

"Anyway, I'd like to help, like I said. I've had some...experience, getting out of this kind of tangle. With more technology, I'll admit, but there're at least four of us here now who have that kind of experience, one way or another, and nobody I've talked to yet said anything about wanting to stay here. Tell me," He changed the topic quickly, "Were you here when everyone was sent home?"

[l_cuddy_md]

"I haven't seen any injuries since I've been here, but there's at least one person who has a chronic medical condition. The clinic provides the drugs that he needs." Really it was best that no one had needed serious medical attention but some days she'd sell her soul for a case of the flu or a sprained ankle--anything that allow her to use her skills. Especially since her skills and knowledge seemed useless when it came to escaping this place.

She grimaced at the reminder of her trip home. What a depressing day that had been. "Yes, I was one of the 'lucky' ones. The only good thing about that day was that it proved it is possible to leave the Hotel. I mean...assuming our day out wasn't some kind of illusion created by the Hotel."

[man_outof_time]

"It does?" Alright, that was an interesting point. "Drugs just appear when they're needed? Where from? Have you ever seen any staff around here?" The drugs were like the food, probably, materializing as needed. Just another mystery he yearned to take apart- literally if he had to.

"Hmm....Looks like you didn't much enjoy the experience either. I wonder why- so far, you're the third person who didn't like it. Maybe the Hotel was projecting your worse expectations, trying to convince everyone that they're better off staying here?" He pursed his lips, "I hate interactive traps. Ok, what else do you know? What have you tried?"

[l_cuddy_md]

"No, no staff. It's just like everything else around here. Things are supplied when and as needed."

She gave a one shouldered shrug. She didn't know anyone who'd enjoyed their trip home and she had no idea what the Hotel might have been trying to prove but.... "If the Hotel was trying to convince us that this is better, it failed. I don't care how depressing home seemed, it's still better than this."

She considered telling him that the one thing she hadn't yet tried was searching the Bellboy's office, but she kept silent. She was tired of being told to be careful, to wait. She'd do it when she felt the time was right.

"I honestly don't know much. I've been trying to learn two things. First, who here has special skills or knowledge that might help us escape? And second, how did everyone get here? This may sound silly, but my thought is that if there's a way in there must be a way out. And if we can figure how we got in, maybe we can reverse it."

[man_outof_time]

"Good to know it didn't turn you off trying to leave." Jack nodded, pleased that if the mysterious PTB of the Hotel had been trying mindgames, they'd failed.

"Well, we do have a few people, yes." He answered her first item. "Like said, four people at least, myself included, with time/space travel experience. Technical know-how, military knowledge, some at least. I'll warn ya though, the Doctor's been here six months, he says, and he hasn't figured out a way to leave yet." And if the Doctor couldn't, it meant they all had to start thinking outside the blue box. "And as far as I can tell, we all drove in. I've tried walking and driving out, no go."

[l_cuddy_md]

"At least the Doctor hasn't given up yet. If shear persistance is the answer, he'll find a way."

She began to pace a little as she thought. "You're almost right. We didn't all drive in, but we'd all been traveling, moving. The Doctor was traveling in his time machine thingy, and Alice was just walking down a hall but that's still moving."

She stopped pacing and turned to face the Captain. "I thought that was a useful clue. I thought maybe it was important that we were all moving, in a state of transition if you will, at the time we were caught. But that was before I met John. John was dead at the time he was brought to the Hotel, and to my knowledge, the dead don't do a lot of traveling."

[man_outof_time]

Again, Jack nodded. "I was just pointing it out. He's not going to stop trying, and neither am I."

The rest of it put a new spin on things. "Wait, he was fully, gone-and-buried, several years dead? For how long before he came here? And what does he remember?" Jack stopped and shook his head slightly. "Sorry, I should be asking him this, not you."

(OOC: I'm going to be afk for the next 36-48 hours, will try to find net access but it's unlikely. Sorry)

[l_cuddy_md]

"I don't really know the details. I was doing well to deal with the newly undead thing in general."

Maybe she should've asked more questions. Maybe there was some vital clue in John's experience, even if it wasn't readily apparent to her. Then again, John hadn't really warmed to her so who's to say whether he would've answered any more questions.

"Apparently he was really, truly dead though. His son, Dean, confirmed that much." She wrapped her arms around her, glancing around the room as if afraid the Hotel would throw some other weirdness at her right there in the clinic. "It's scary enough that this place is able to pull us from different places and times, but to pull someone back from death? How? And why?"

(ooc: no problem. catch you on the flipside)

[man_outof_time]

"No idea." Jack replied after taking it all in. "But we can try to find out. Actually..." No, bringing in two incarnations of the Doctor wasn't really ressurection. "The real question is what happens when we leave here. Does he go back to being dead?" That sounded truly cruel. He shook his head.

"I'll see if I can talk to him. Meanwhile, well- we're working on it. I think we have a bigger chance of success if we stand united, don't you?"

[l_cuddy_md]

"I wondered about that myself. I hope that being alive now means he would stay among the living." But what if that weren't true? What would that do to his sons, and to Alice? Would they choose to stay here with him if it came to that? Cuddy shook her head--the choice was too sadistic to consider.

"Absolutely," she said with a firm nod. It was pretty obvious to her that no one man, or woman, had the answer. They would have to work together. "It's just...I feel useless. I don't have any special skills or knowledge. I'm just...here, doing nothing."

[man_outof_time]

"You're trying." Jack said firmly. "All the skills and knowledge in the world are useless if they aren\'t used. Just by wanting to help, you're helping." He gave her his very best reassuring smile. "We'll get out of here, trust me." The worst thing they coulsd do was give up.

"I'm thinking we might get a little planning meeting going soon. I'll let you know when." He added. "And if you have anything useful, or might need a hand...I'm in room 209, leave a message if I'm out. I wish cell phones worked here." With a touch of frustration. He felt naked without his phone and 'net connection, and not in a good way.