(Untitled)

[tln_theshifter]

WHO: The Shifter & You. Yes, you.
WHEN: An ambiguous time that feels like a few hours but will, in fact, be the 24-ish hours 'til plot's end.
WHERE: [See NOTES]
WHAT: The house chases The Shifter.
WARNINGS: Language, violence, disturbing images, etc.

Comments

DOWNSTAIRS thread, edited to incorporate just a bit of Amy. :)

[iwantyousafe]

One moment, Rose had been in the Armory, grabbing as much firepower as she could with the Duke and the Commodore. The plan had been clear- meet the group in the Common Room. Bring the weapons. Easy-peasy. So easy, she'd even been laughing, practicing the witty threats she'd throw the next time they saw their tormentor.

Then, a change.

Rose suddenly found herself alone on the stairs. She stood there for a moment, in between the first floor and the second. Strange. She didn't remember leaving the Armory. She certainly hadn't gathered all she'd wanted. Exhaling, Rose took a quick inventory of herself- a shotgun was on her back, held there by a rope strap she'd constructed with Leo. She remembered doing that. Okay. She could feel the weight of the small Bulldog revolver in her coat. Good. The Enfield was safely in her hand. The majority of the Armory, however, was unaccounted for. Her friends were missing, too. Rose shook her head, dizzy. The room felt dreary, or heavy, or... something.

Still not quite comprehending the wrongness of it all, the blonde began walking up the stairs. Only after a good 30 seconds of climbing, though, did she realize she wasn't actually moving. It was like being stuck on a treadmill. Rose couldn't get up to the second floor rendezvous.

Then, she heard it- the sound of steel. A chorus of stomping, robotic feet was echoing from beneath her, pursuing her brain. Her eyes went wide. This was the fear she'd named. Nothing she was holding could stop a Cyberman. Hoping, praying that she was still on the real staircase, Rose broke into an upward run. She cried out as she climbed, "'ello? 'ello?! Is anybody above me?!?"

Up, up, up went her legs. Her muscles burned, but Rose got nowhere. The stairs regenerated endlessly from an abyss above, spilling into an identical one below. The lonely companion was beginning to tire. Breathing hard, she stopped for just a moment to look back. Clanging in the dark was the unified, metallic march. Rose couldn't see them yet, but the Cybermen grew closer. Cybermen knew no fatigue. Having no solutions, she screamed, hoping the second floor could hear.

"Commodore! Duke! Can ya 'ear me? I'm trapped!!"

At her feet, springing up through cracks in the stairs, were little tufts of grass.

"SAM! DOCTOR!!!!!"

hope you don't mind me jumping in here?

[longagotomorrow]

Amy sprinted down the spiral staircase, not stopping until she got to the second floor landing. Behind her, the staircase had become a tree and grass was slowly spreading out across the landing.

On the stairs in front of her, Rose was running, and the sound of marching was much louder here. Amy grabbed hold of the banister and reached her hand out as far onto the staircase towards Rose as she could.

"Can you grab my hand?" she called urgently.

Not at all! CHICK RESCUE~

[iwantyousafe]

The stairs below her began to crack. Tiny saplings were breaking the structure, pushing upward, and threatening the ground itself. Rose looked around in a panic. Foliage above, metal below- this couldn't be real!

Before she could scream again, Rose heard Amy's voice. It felt like waking up. Was she awake now? Had she fallen asleep? The other girl's hand was there, reaching for her. Rose tried to grab it, but the stairs had other plans. Just as before, they moved beneath her feet, locking the blonde in place.

She hesitated for just a moment more. Rose could hear the Cybermen clearly. They had to be just a few stairs below. Coming to her senses, she hoisted the shotgun from her back and extended it toward Amy.

"Grab this an' don' let go! I'll 'oist m'self up!"

FTW

[longagotomorrow]

Amy took hold of the shotgun and braced herself to help pull Rose up. Those stomping feet were louder, closer, and even though Amy didn't know what it meant, the sound was starting to freak her out.

"Come on, hurry!"

There was a burst of static, and Amy glanced sideways to see one of the clerics' communicators lying in the grass. There was a voice coming out of it.

Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. It was the Doctor's voice. Not her Doctor, the other Doctor. The one in the trainers. You can't kill a stone. 'Course, a stone can't kill you either, but then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh yes it can.

Amy gulped. She really didn't want to think about what that meant. Right now, she just had to focus on getting Rose off the staircase before whatever was marching towards them arrived.

[iwantyousafe]

Thankfully, it was Rose's legs that had grown tired, not her arms. Amy's presence grounded her, and she was able to pull herself off the stairs.

The pair stood on solid floor, surrounded by plants. In about half a second, Rose gave Amy a look of thanks, then confusion, then urgency. The older girl tried to catch her breath. She wanted to ask where the forest had all come from, but there was no time. "We 'ave t' run!" Rose exclaimed. "Wha's comin' will kill us both."

It was then that she registered the voice in the grass. She looked toward the communicator with awe. For a moment, the Cybermen, the trees, the stairs- none of it mattered. Rose's voice quivered. She turned to Amy with a grave stare. It was time to ask the question she'd been keeping to herself all week.

"The Doctor. Where is 'e? Why 'aven't we seen 'im through all this?" Unintentionally, her voice came across as demanding, almost blaming. Rose returned the shotgun to her back. The instant she got an answer, they had to sprint for their lives.

[tln_theshifter]

Somewhere in the trees, a shadow stirred.

"The Doctor's gone," whispered a voice inside the girls' minds. "It's only me and you now."

Barely lighter than the shadows cast by the foliage around it, the figure flitted across their eyelines.

"And them."

It came into plain view, then, still just a shadow but easily identifiable as the shape of a person. The sound of the Cybermen grew louder, and deep in the trees, light shone off the wings of stone angels.

"Catch me if you can."

[longagotomorrow]

"What is it?" Amy demanded, catching Rose by the shoulder. "What's coming?"

She shook her head when Rose asked about the Doctor. She didn't have an answer for that. The Doctor just... left. That's what he did.

And then the thing appeared, whatever it was. Amy's eyes widened as she stared at it.

"What are you?" she shouted at it. "Why're you doing this?"

[iwantyousafe]

Rose tried desperately to think, her mind clouded with steel, stone, and anger. Nothing about this was fair. Death was coming at them from all angles, and all the blonde wanted to do was fill the figure before them with bullets. He was winning.

She stepped backwards, feeling herself bump into the Atrium railing. They were cornered. Rose exhaled. She looked behind herself, down to the first floor, before reaching into her jacket. If she'd learned one thing from The Doctor, it was that running didn't mean cowardice. It simply meant one was clever enough to see a trap. She turned to Amy.

"Listen." She pulled the tiny Bulldog revolver from her pocket, "I think I'm startin' t' figure this ou'." Rose was analyzing the incident on the staircase. It had been nightmarish, impossible- just as impossible as a forest bursting from the floor, in fact. This entire thing was a dream. It had to be. Rose Tyler was going to take advantage of it.

She handed the gun to the ginger Companion, and hopped up to sit on the railing. Her eyes looked toward the shadow man ahead with disgust, then back to Amy. "I'm abou' t'do somethin' daft. If ya wanna follow me, well," she winked, "Tha's Amy's choice."

Saying no more, Rose leaned back. Her body dropped off the second floor and into the Atrium. Under normal circumstances, the fall could kill a woman. This, however, wasn't a particularly normal day. Instead of hitting the ground on the first floor, Rose plummeted into darkness. Hopefully, she'd dream up something less one-sided.

[OOC: Transitions into Leo/Sam's thread below.]