OOC: Milieux fic! Gemini (1/?)
[Disclaimer: None of these characters really belong to me. A few of them are the characters that I've played in RPGs. Most are characters others have played or are playing in RPGs. There's no money to be gained from this by anyone involved. Woo!
Author's note: I write this as a fic mainly because running it as an actual plot in Milieux would quite possibly break me.]
Late one Friday night, on the edge of the village of Milieux
". . . It's a swamp."
"So it would seem."
"Elvis do a lot of performances in swamps, then?"
"Well, I'm sure he must have done at least one,"
"You missed again, didn't you."
"Nonsense! I don't miss, I just get . . . occasionally side-tracked."
"You totally missed."
"Are you done?"
"Not in the least."
"Well, perhaps you'd like to take a look around before you start blaming me over-much for a simple case of being side-tracked."
"I suppose I COULD,"
"I would recommend it."
"Oh, would you really?"
"Looks like a nice enough little town, it does, might be good to get a bit of a break."
"You promised me Elvis. I think I deserve it, after getting my FACE eaten off,"
"Got your face now, haven't you?"
". . . Yes."
"Then do be quiet and go explore."
"And what are you going to do while I do that?"
"Oh, I'll think of something. Go on, then, get on with you,"
"Sir, yes, sir. . . ."
* * *
Walter sat out on the steps of the porch to the Servant's Quarters, taking advantage of the quiet of the last few days to enjoy a peaceful cigarette. They hadn't even had a squid rain in awhile, much to Pup's disappointment. It was almost enough to make him anxious; his time at Fandom and back home in World War II had made him suspicious of prolonged periods of peace.
Not to mention that it gave him far too much time to ponder the odd . . . arrangement he had reached with Nadia and Vlad, and when it might inevitably explode all over again.
Speak of . . . well, not the devil. Speak of the Argentine. Here came Nadia now. He exhaled a cloud of smoke and lifted one hand in greeting.
Nadia stopped in the middle of the street, her expression unreadable for a long moment, and he braced himself. What had happened now? Then her face lit up in that familiar way and she came over at a run.
She nearly bowled him right over, and his cigarette was lost into the bushes that bordered the porch. Really, as though they hadn't just seen each other a few hours earlier? The way her lips suddenly pressed against his, it seemed as though she'd forgotten.
In fact, he had the briefest flash of deja vu. This was remarkably similar to how she'd greeted him when he'd first arrived. Before everything had gotten a million times more complicated. His suspicious feelings of dread deepened.
And then were lost, because, dude. Lips.
And tongue.
And hands. . . .
My, she was feeling a bit frisky today, wasn't she.
He pulled back after far too short a moment, taking a few seconds to gasp for breath before commenting that maybe they should take this inside, rather than risk more splinters or comments about porch sex in the news broadcast when he spotted a familiar figure over Nadia's shoulder.
The figure being Nadia herself.
What the hell--?
"Dios," The other Nadia fell back a few steps, staring up at him with her eyes wide. Her hands clenched at her sides, and her expression darkened. "Asshole!"
And then she was running.
The Nadia in his arms, on the other hand, was blinking at him, confused. She glanced back over her shoulder at the retreating figure of . . . herself?
She muttered a familiar sounding Spanish curse. He brought his hands up to shove her roughly off.
"Who are you?"
Nadia--or not Nadia--or was the other Nadia not Nadia? Were neither of them Nadia?--Nadia stumbled back, then turned to face him, looking him up and down.
"Damn," She muttered, finally. "When he misses, he misses but good, doesn't he."
Walter just continued to stare.
"Well?" Nadia lifted her chin and her eyebrow, as if asking him to deny who she was, again. "We going to go after her, or what?"
Walter slowly pulled his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and took the time it took to light one to collect himself. "Will I be getting answers if I do?"
"Yes," Nadia was already starting down the road in the direction the other Nadia had taken. "I think maybe we all will."
Gemini
A Milieux/Fandom High RPG crossover fanfic thingermagig.
by Bella Temple
Nadia was striding quickly and confidently through the center of Yellow Brick Road, Walter close at her heels. "Right, I don't know this town, and I get the feeling that you and she--I--she do. Where would I--she . . . she go when she's this upset?"
Walter could easily have caught up and strode beside the not!Nadia, but he was still wary of who or what she might be, and felt it best to keep an eye on her from behind. Also . . . well. He was a teenaged boy, even if he was a butler, and this not!Nadia thing had replicated Nadia rather well, and that was, to put it plainly, a rather nice behind to be keeping an eye on.
"Not sure. The park, possibly, or Aziraphale's shop . . . it's late enough, she might have gone to All Souls. Or back to her room." Dammit, she didn't have a regular pattern here, not like back in Fandom, where when things were crazy she was either in her room or on the roof. He turned his face toward the sky for the moment, as though the answer would be in the cloud shrouded moon, and thus nearly ran into not!Nadia when she stopped dead.
She turned toward him, her face lit up once again in a smile, and he stepped back to avoid getting another tackle-kiss.
"Aziraphale's here, too? Really? Who else? I mean, Fandom couldn't have changed this much since I left. . . ."
Walter narrowed his eyes. "Aziraphale's here," he confirmed. He could go on, but he still wasn't sure of this woman's intentions. "What do you know of Fandom?"
Nadia shot him a scathing look. "I lived there for a year and a half. I know a damned lot about it. I know a damned lot about you, too." She shook her head, her defensive pose dissolving. "Okay, we've done this before, let's do it again. Or would you rather I tried knocking your skull in a time or two with my mallet?"
Walter shook his head. "I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you."
"Right." Nadia turned and started walking again. "Let's see. First, no, I haven't been hit over the head recently. I have no idea if she has, though. I'm Nadia Santos, I'm from Buenos Aires, you're Walter cum Dornez, from London circa 1945. . . ." She turned to look him over. "Or possibly later, you look a little bit older than I remember. The first time we really met, I tried to kick you in the crotch, and you've never let me forget it."
"Lots of people know those things. And about the mallet."
"Right, right, how about Bailey?"
Walter stopped. "You know Bailey?"
She kept walking a few paces before she noticed that he wasn't right behind her any more. She turned. "Well, yeah, she's our daughter from the future. We met her in Fandom, just before you left. You know, little girl, about seven--sorry, seven and a half years old, perpetually covered in mud? She helped me do the radio."
Walter studied her again for a long moment, taking a few drags on his cigarette. She looked the same, just as much the same as the other Nadia did. She'd felt the same, soft in all the right places, when she'd tackled him on the porch. She'd smelled . . . well, now that he thought about it, her smell was slightly different, overlaid with something . . . otherworldly, but underneath, still the same distinct, Nadia-scent. She knew Bailey, or claimed to. She knew more about Bailey than the Nadia here did. ". . . A lot of people could have known that, too."
"How many people knew about the other thing that happened just before you left?"
"The other. . . ."
"Me, stuck in a pit in the preserve by that bastard who looked like you, while you took care of a degu he'd convinced you was me?"
Walter winced. "I explained--"
Her expression softened. "I know. And I'm not blaming you. Walter, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm me. I swear. I'm the Nadia you knew, back in Fandom."
Walter didn't move, forward or back. "The girl we're following is the Nadia I knew back in Fandom." Except that she remembered a different chain of events than he did. Than this Nadia did. "How did you get here?"
Nadia shrugged. "The TARDIS. My grand summer vacation, remember? The Doctor is showing me the universe."
Walter's eyebrows shot up. That . . . might explain rather a bit. "The Doctor's here?"
"Parked right outside the swamp."
". . . The Doctor's idea of showing you the universe was taking you to Louisiana?"
Nadia laughed. "We're supposed to be watching Elvis in 1950 something. He missed. Again." She seemed about to go on when her face brightened again, almost as much as it had when she'd first spotted him. "Dios, Pippi!"
And she was off, running right past him. He heard a muffled "oomph" and turned to see Nadia tackle-hugging his best friend.
"Pippi! Dios, I've missed you so much,"
"Nadia!" Pippi returned the hug with as much force as she ever would for Nadia, while shooting a confused glance at Walter. ". . . Have you gotten knocked on the head again?"
Nadia just started laughing, while Walter shrugged. "It seems to be a Fandom thing."
"We're in Milieux, though," Pippi pointed out.
"Yeah," Walter smiled slightly, taking another drag on the cigarette. "It's sounding like it's a bit of a long story. . . ."
* * *
Nadia was well on her way to a good, solid drunk when the man strode into All Souls. He spotted her immediately and made his way over, even as she tossed back the rest of her very-heavy-on-the-rum and coke. "Ah, there you are. I think I've worked out what went wrong. We'd best be off, Elvis won't wait forever."
Nadia stared. The man didn't seem to notice quite yet.
"Well, actually, he will, sort of, but I know you're in a bit of a hurry what with the whole 'face eaten off' thing, so pay up, and let's get on our way."
Nadia frowned. "You look very familiar."
"I should hope so, we've been traveling together for quite some time--oh." The man tilted his head up, looking down his rather pointed nose at her for a moment, before he dropped his chin again. "You . . . are Nadia Santos, aren't you?"
"Yeeeees," Nadia studied him again. "I really think I've seen you somewhere before . . . but I also think I'd remember having gone traveling with you."
The man pulled a pair of thick-rimmed glasses from his pocket and slipped them on, studying Nadia further. "Right, right, naturally you would. . . . Strange, I think I would have remembered crossing over a dimensional rift. . . . I'm not even really supposed to be able to do it, not any more, and yet . . . you are Nadia Santos."
"Yes, we've established that."
"But you're not the Nadia Santos who's spent the summer traveling with me."
"No."
"But I have spent the summer traveling with a Nadia Santos. She looks just like you, in fact. Right down to--that--that . . . eyebrow-y lifty thingy you're doing there. Fascinating."
Nadia lowered the eyebrow and scowled. "Look, I've just seen my boyfriend kissing the hell out of another girl, so if you don't mind, I'd really rather not have any sort of brain breaking experience tonight. I'd like to be able to drink my rum and meet the Rum Chinchilla in peace."
The man slipped his glasses back off. "Right, right, I understand completely . . . I'm just afraid you probably don't have any choice in the matter. You see, you are Nadia Santos--"
"We've established that--"
"--and I've been traveling with Nadia Santos--"
"--so you say--"
"--I say, are you going to let me finish? . . . That's a good girl, I've been traveling with Nadia Santos since we both left Fandom together at the end of the spring semester, 2007. Now, I've already established that this is the summer of 2007, so I'm rather certain you are not, say, a Nadia Santos from a bit further down the future, or earlier in the past, not that that could have happened in any case, since it would result in two-thirds of the universe being destroyed. And yet . . . and yet you are Nadia Santos."
"For the last time, yes, I am. Who the hell are you?"
"Well, I'm the Doctor."
Nadia's eyes went wide. That's where she recognized this man from. ". . . Oh. . . ."
"Yesssss, I see you've heard of me?"
"I took classes with you!"
"I see. So did Nadia Santos."
"I am Nadia Santos!"
"So it would seem."
"You're not my doctor."
"Oh good grief, do I have to go through this whole thing again? Look, shortly after myself and Nadia Santos--the other Nadia Santos--left Fandom, we ran into a rather . . . sticky situation and I regenerated. I am still the same Doctor, though I may look and sound a bit different to you, and I'll have you know the other Nadia Santos accepted my change with rather a lot of good grace."
"Bully for her."
"Indeed. Now . . . you wouldn't happen to know where I could find that other Nadia Santos, would you? Only, I sent her exploring for a bit while I checked over the systems on the TARDIS and I'm rather hoping she hasn't gotten herself into any trouble."
Nadia opened her mouth to answer, though she'd be the first to admit that she had no idea what her answer might have been, when an odd thunking sound and a scream resounded from outside. She jumped up from her bar stool, and immediately swayed into the bar. Perhaps getting smashed hadn't been the best idea in the world.
The Doctor turned to look at the door, his mouth hanging open for just a moment. "Well. That explains how we managed to get side-tracked again. If you'll excuse me, Nadia Santos, it's been a real pleasure meeting you, but I must be going." And he started back to the door.
Nadia leaned against the bar for support, her own mouth hanging open, and then slowly turned back to the bartender. "I'm either going to need a lot more booze, or a lot of water and some coffee, please."
The bartender only nodded. When one tended bar in a village like Milieux, one learned very quickly not to ask too many questions.
To be continued
Author's note: I write this as a fic mainly because running it as an actual plot in Milieux would quite possibly break me.]
Late one Friday night, on the edge of the village of Milieux
". . . It's a swamp."
"So it would seem."
"Elvis do a lot of performances in swamps, then?"
"Well, I'm sure he must have done at least one,"
"You missed again, didn't you."
"Nonsense! I don't miss, I just get . . . occasionally side-tracked."
"You totally missed."
"Are you done?"
"Not in the least."
"Well, perhaps you'd like to take a look around before you start blaming me over-much for a simple case of being side-tracked."
"I suppose I COULD,"
"I would recommend it."
"Oh, would you really?"
"Looks like a nice enough little town, it does, might be good to get a bit of a break."
"You promised me Elvis. I think I deserve it, after getting my FACE eaten off,"
"Got your face now, haven't you?"
". . . Yes."
"Then do be quiet and go explore."
"And what are you going to do while I do that?"
"Oh, I'll think of something. Go on, then, get on with you,"
"Sir, yes, sir. . . ."
* * *
Walter sat out on the steps of the porch to the Servant's Quarters, taking advantage of the quiet of the last few days to enjoy a peaceful cigarette. They hadn't even had a squid rain in awhile, much to Pup's disappointment. It was almost enough to make him anxious; his time at Fandom and back home in World War II had made him suspicious of prolonged periods of peace.
Not to mention that it gave him far too much time to ponder the odd . . . arrangement he had reached with Nadia and Vlad, and when it might inevitably explode all over again.
Speak of . . . well, not the devil. Speak of the Argentine. Here came Nadia now. He exhaled a cloud of smoke and lifted one hand in greeting.
Nadia stopped in the middle of the street, her expression unreadable for a long moment, and he braced himself. What had happened now? Then her face lit up in that familiar way and she came over at a run.
She nearly bowled him right over, and his cigarette was lost into the bushes that bordered the porch. Really, as though they hadn't just seen each other a few hours earlier? The way her lips suddenly pressed against his, it seemed as though she'd forgotten.
In fact, he had the briefest flash of deja vu. This was remarkably similar to how she'd greeted him when he'd first arrived. Before everything had gotten a million times more complicated. His suspicious feelings of dread deepened.
And then were lost, because, dude. Lips.
And tongue.
And hands. . . .
My, she was feeling a bit frisky today, wasn't she.
He pulled back after far too short a moment, taking a few seconds to gasp for breath before commenting that maybe they should take this inside, rather than risk more splinters or comments about porch sex in the news broadcast when he spotted a familiar figure over Nadia's shoulder.
The figure being Nadia herself.
What the hell--?
"Dios," The other Nadia fell back a few steps, staring up at him with her eyes wide. Her hands clenched at her sides, and her expression darkened. "Asshole!"
And then she was running.
The Nadia in his arms, on the other hand, was blinking at him, confused. She glanced back over her shoulder at the retreating figure of . . . herself?
She muttered a familiar sounding Spanish curse. He brought his hands up to shove her roughly off.
"Who are you?"
Nadia--or not Nadia--or was the other Nadia not Nadia? Were neither of them Nadia?--Nadia stumbled back, then turned to face him, looking him up and down.
"Damn," She muttered, finally. "When he misses, he misses but good, doesn't he."
Walter just continued to stare.
"Well?" Nadia lifted her chin and her eyebrow, as if asking him to deny who she was, again. "We going to go after her, or what?"
Walter slowly pulled his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and took the time it took to light one to collect himself. "Will I be getting answers if I do?"
"Yes," Nadia was already starting down the road in the direction the other Nadia had taken. "I think maybe we all will."
Gemini
A Milieux/Fandom High RPG crossover fanfic thingermagig.
by Bella Temple
Nadia was striding quickly and confidently through the center of Yellow Brick Road, Walter close at her heels. "Right, I don't know this town, and I get the feeling that you and she--I--she do. Where would I--she . . . she go when she's this upset?"
Walter could easily have caught up and strode beside the not!Nadia, but he was still wary of who or what she might be, and felt it best to keep an eye on her from behind. Also . . . well. He was a teenaged boy, even if he was a butler, and this not!Nadia thing had replicated Nadia rather well, and that was, to put it plainly, a rather nice behind to be keeping an eye on.
"Not sure. The park, possibly, or Aziraphale's shop . . . it's late enough, she might have gone to All Souls. Or back to her room." Dammit, she didn't have a regular pattern here, not like back in Fandom, where when things were crazy she was either in her room or on the roof. He turned his face toward the sky for the moment, as though the answer would be in the cloud shrouded moon, and thus nearly ran into not!Nadia when she stopped dead.
She turned toward him, her face lit up once again in a smile, and he stepped back to avoid getting another tackle-kiss.
"Aziraphale's here, too? Really? Who else? I mean, Fandom couldn't have changed this much since I left. . . ."
Walter narrowed his eyes. "Aziraphale's here," he confirmed. He could go on, but he still wasn't sure of this woman's intentions. "What do you know of Fandom?"
Nadia shot him a scathing look. "I lived there for a year and a half. I know a damned lot about it. I know a damned lot about you, too." She shook her head, her defensive pose dissolving. "Okay, we've done this before, let's do it again. Or would you rather I tried knocking your skull in a time or two with my mallet?"
Walter shook his head. "I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you."
"Right." Nadia turned and started walking again. "Let's see. First, no, I haven't been hit over the head recently. I have no idea if she has, though. I'm Nadia Santos, I'm from Buenos Aires, you're Walter cum Dornez, from London circa 1945. . . ." She turned to look him over. "Or possibly later, you look a little bit older than I remember. The first time we really met, I tried to kick you in the crotch, and you've never let me forget it."
"Lots of people know those things. And about the mallet."
"Right, right, how about Bailey?"
Walter stopped. "You know Bailey?"
She kept walking a few paces before she noticed that he wasn't right behind her any more. She turned. "Well, yeah, she's our daughter from the future. We met her in Fandom, just before you left. You know, little girl, about seven--sorry, seven and a half years old, perpetually covered in mud? She helped me do the radio."
Walter studied her again for a long moment, taking a few drags on his cigarette. She looked the same, just as much the same as the other Nadia did. She'd felt the same, soft in all the right places, when she'd tackled him on the porch. She'd smelled . . . well, now that he thought about it, her smell was slightly different, overlaid with something . . . otherworldly, but underneath, still the same distinct, Nadia-scent. She knew Bailey, or claimed to. She knew more about Bailey than the Nadia here did. ". . . A lot of people could have known that, too."
"How many people knew about the other thing that happened just before you left?"
"The other. . . ."
"Me, stuck in a pit in the preserve by that bastard who looked like you, while you took care of a degu he'd convinced you was me?"
Walter winced. "I explained--"
Her expression softened. "I know. And I'm not blaming you. Walter, I don't know what's going on here, but I'm me. I swear. I'm the Nadia you knew, back in Fandom."
Walter didn't move, forward or back. "The girl we're following is the Nadia I knew back in Fandom." Except that she remembered a different chain of events than he did. Than this Nadia did. "How did you get here?"
Nadia shrugged. "The TARDIS. My grand summer vacation, remember? The Doctor is showing me the universe."
Walter's eyebrows shot up. That . . . might explain rather a bit. "The Doctor's here?"
"Parked right outside the swamp."
". . . The Doctor's idea of showing you the universe was taking you to Louisiana?"
Nadia laughed. "We're supposed to be watching Elvis in 1950 something. He missed. Again." She seemed about to go on when her face brightened again, almost as much as it had when she'd first spotted him. "Dios, Pippi!"
And she was off, running right past him. He heard a muffled "oomph" and turned to see Nadia tackle-hugging his best friend.
"Pippi! Dios, I've missed you so much,"
"Nadia!" Pippi returned the hug with as much force as she ever would for Nadia, while shooting a confused glance at Walter. ". . . Have you gotten knocked on the head again?"
Nadia just started laughing, while Walter shrugged. "It seems to be a Fandom thing."
"We're in Milieux, though," Pippi pointed out.
"Yeah," Walter smiled slightly, taking another drag on the cigarette. "It's sounding like it's a bit of a long story. . . ."
* * *
Nadia was well on her way to a good, solid drunk when the man strode into All Souls. He spotted her immediately and made his way over, even as she tossed back the rest of her very-heavy-on-the-rum and coke. "Ah, there you are. I think I've worked out what went wrong. We'd best be off, Elvis won't wait forever."
Nadia stared. The man didn't seem to notice quite yet.
"Well, actually, he will, sort of, but I know you're in a bit of a hurry what with the whole 'face eaten off' thing, so pay up, and let's get on our way."
Nadia frowned. "You look very familiar."
"I should hope so, we've been traveling together for quite some time--oh." The man tilted his head up, looking down his rather pointed nose at her for a moment, before he dropped his chin again. "You . . . are Nadia Santos, aren't you?"
"Yeeeees," Nadia studied him again. "I really think I've seen you somewhere before . . . but I also think I'd remember having gone traveling with you."
The man pulled a pair of thick-rimmed glasses from his pocket and slipped them on, studying Nadia further. "Right, right, naturally you would. . . . Strange, I think I would have remembered crossing over a dimensional rift. . . . I'm not even really supposed to be able to do it, not any more, and yet . . . you are Nadia Santos."
"Yes, we've established that."
"But you're not the Nadia Santos who's spent the summer traveling with me."
"No."
"But I have spent the summer traveling with a Nadia Santos. She looks just like you, in fact. Right down to--that--that . . . eyebrow-y lifty thingy you're doing there. Fascinating."
Nadia lowered the eyebrow and scowled. "Look, I've just seen my boyfriend kissing the hell out of another girl, so if you don't mind, I'd really rather not have any sort of brain breaking experience tonight. I'd like to be able to drink my rum and meet the Rum Chinchilla in peace."
The man slipped his glasses back off. "Right, right, I understand completely . . . I'm just afraid you probably don't have any choice in the matter. You see, you are Nadia Santos--"
"We've established that--"
"--and I've been traveling with Nadia Santos--"
"--so you say--"
"--I say, are you going to let me finish? . . . That's a good girl, I've been traveling with Nadia Santos since we both left Fandom together at the end of the spring semester, 2007. Now, I've already established that this is the summer of 2007, so I'm rather certain you are not, say, a Nadia Santos from a bit further down the future, or earlier in the past, not that that could have happened in any case, since it would result in two-thirds of the universe being destroyed. And yet . . . and yet you are Nadia Santos."
"For the last time, yes, I am. Who the hell are you?"
"Well, I'm the Doctor."
Nadia's eyes went wide. That's where she recognized this man from. ". . . Oh. . . ."
"Yesssss, I see you've heard of me?"
"I took classes with you!"
"I see. So did Nadia Santos."
"I am Nadia Santos!"
"So it would seem."
"You're not my doctor."
"Oh good grief, do I have to go through this whole thing again? Look, shortly after myself and Nadia Santos--the other Nadia Santos--left Fandom, we ran into a rather . . . sticky situation and I regenerated. I am still the same Doctor, though I may look and sound a bit different to you, and I'll have you know the other Nadia Santos accepted my change with rather a lot of good grace."
"Bully for her."
"Indeed. Now . . . you wouldn't happen to know where I could find that other Nadia Santos, would you? Only, I sent her exploring for a bit while I checked over the systems on the TARDIS and I'm rather hoping she hasn't gotten herself into any trouble."
Nadia opened her mouth to answer, though she'd be the first to admit that she had no idea what her answer might have been, when an odd thunking sound and a scream resounded from outside. She jumped up from her bar stool, and immediately swayed into the bar. Perhaps getting smashed hadn't been the best idea in the world.
The Doctor turned to look at the door, his mouth hanging open for just a moment. "Well. That explains how we managed to get side-tracked again. If you'll excuse me, Nadia Santos, it's been a real pleasure meeting you, but I must be going." And he started back to the door.
Nadia leaned against the bar for support, her own mouth hanging open, and then slowly turned back to the bartender. "I'm either going to need a lot more booze, or a lot of water and some coffee, please."
The bartender only nodded. When one tended bar in a village like Milieux, one learned very quickly not to ask too many questions.
To be continued