Hidden Away [OTA Tag Rose]

[beta_five]

"So, you want me to come out now," Gary Seven responded incredulously. The problem with having an Aegis cat was when that cat was so protective she wouldn't let him go out when he could have been of help

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[comingwith]

Now that the epidemic was over, Rose wanted to explore where she was. She was still concerned about the people that would ignore them and no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn't talk to her. She'd decided that she would go to the promenade and see if, from there, she could watch their interactions and maybe get an idea of the why.

She noticed a familiar sight as she glanced through the crowd, a sight that she hadn't seen in a while and a welcomed one. Rose hastily made her way to intercept their path and smiled brightly at Gary and Isis. "I should have known that I'd probably run into you here."

[beta_five]

Isis was ready to hop off Mr. Seven's shoulders even before Rose spoke, and went hastily over to the young woman's side. She reared up on her hind legs, mewling and demanding attention happily.

And Mr. Seven? After a look of surprise greeted Rose with a genuine grin.

"Well, you seem to get a little bit of everywhere, don't you?" It sounded like that could have been a compliment more than an observation. There wasn't many humans he was actually genuinely happy to see anymore, and a bit of him dreaded that feeling wearing off.

[comingwith]

Rose bent down and picked up Isis, holding her in her arms. "Hey. It's so good to see you again." She scratched underneath the cat's chin then tuned her attention to Gary. "You, too. Have you been here long or are you like me and just arrived?"

[beta_five]

"I got here not long ago, but it took me a while to heal. I took some fire from the Borg Queen. Unfortunately, while I'm temporally displaced like Jack Harkness, I don't heal quite as quickly from my injuries. The temporal displacement only kicks in if I die..."

And he wasn't fond of the idea of becoming a crazy immortal like Flint. 6,000 Years old and insane for every year.

"So how did everything turn out? I never found out. I was sort of forced into an early exit."

[comingwith]

There was a bittersweet look to Rose as she brought up the memories.

"I found him." She smiled at that. "We stopped the Reality Bomb and the Daleks, brought the Earth home." Those were all the good things. "Didn't get to stay in that reality." There was a touch of sadness to that. "It all worked out though. Donna saved the universe and that's what matters."

[beta_five]

Despite himself, or possibly intentionally but not quite meaning to, Gary Seven usually had a hard-eyed stare that was magnified by the icy color of his eyes. But it softened slightly at the look of loss in her face. The look that he always hated to see in someone wounded

[comingwith]

Rose laughed at that, really laughed and shook her head. "Oh mum would have loved you. If she weren't with dad I might have set you two up." She could have been teasing or she could have been serious. It was hard to tell but Rose would give nothing away.

"It actually makes me feel good to know how far I've come. When you were helping find the way and the different realities I went to, I was always careful not to let a version of me see me, if I was there." Not many people could have followed that sentence but a time traveler would have known what she meant.

"There was one, not the one I eventually found Donna in, but another one. That I almost ran into myself." Rose petted Isis, her mind traveling back to that time. "I was still working in Henricks, the Doctor hadn't been there. I was so bored. I wanted to shake her and tell her that you can find adventure if you just look for it."

[beta_five]

"There is no mercy in your heart, is there?" He could only imagine what Jackie Tyler would have thought of him, though he was less inclined to take young girls with him on his missions. Roberta Lincoln had been a happy accident, as had her later assistant Rain.

"I've avoided myself before, but you can meet yourself in another causal nexus. It won't create a temporal disruption. It's a completely different timeline... though the last thing you need me do is focus your hindsight." He briefly wondered if she was still with Mickey, or if she was fretting over the economy and keeping her job...

Isis mewled softly against Rose's fingers. You couldn't help every version of yourself, but there was always one or two that made a difference. Though all she could do to impart this at the moment was to purr rhythmically.

[comingwith]

Rose bent her head down to nuzzle against Isis' head and shake the pang of melancholy. She raised her gaze once more to Gary's, with a grin. "Seriously? I could meet myself and not destroy universes? What about traveling with myself?" She was teasing him because she'd never do that. "Think of it. A bunch of Roses off to save the universes. Mind you, we'd probably spend most of our time arguing about what we were going to do."

[beta_five]

"You absolutely could. The problem is if someone recognized you. What would you do when someone shouted, 'Rose, look out'?"

He normally didn't have the best sense of humor, but he did appreciate that some regular humans could still make him amused. "And you're right... There's nothing more tedious than an argument with yourself."

[comingwith]

Rose snickered. "About the same as when I shout 'Doctor look out', in a medical facility." She was so pleased to see him again and like with the Doctor, it felt as if they'd never been apart. "How've you both been? Saving worlds? Helping people to go in the right direction?"

[beta_five]

"Mostly. Though now I just want to figure out what's happening here. I feel like I should have been more help when everyone was sick, but someone, and I'm not naming names, locked me in my room..."

Isis mewled at Rose, as if arguing her case. And Rose probably knew enough to realize that she actually was justifying herself. Like any good tool of a time traveller, she had to do what she could to keep said time traveller from getting sick.

[comingwith]

Rose gave Isis an extra scratch beneath the chin in support. She would have tried to do the same thing with the Doctor. "I was out in it and I felt like I should have done more." She turned to look at Gary. "Only held a few hands and tried to give comfort where I could while Dr. McCoy was working on them."

Rose glanced to the people surrounding them, going about their business but ignoring those that were brought to the station. "I'm concerned about them. Notice they don't talk to us? Reckon they're being forced not to? Like whoever is behind his is making sure we don't learn anything?"

[beta_five]

"I had the Beta Five check for technological patches or mind-control already. It was suspicious but... nothing that I can see. There's a rumor going around that we're out of phase, but they can see us and touch us and talk to us when it's not important..."

Of course he'd jumped on the mystery as soon as it had presented itself. Like any self-respecting meddlesome time traveler. He motioned for Rose to follow him, and he started back for the far end of the station.

"If it's not brainwashing, then then I suspect they just don't care for us or would rather not care for us. And if that's the case they would still need a reason to do that or a way to tell the difference between us and everyone else.

[comingwith]

Rose followed Gary and listened to what he'd so far discovered. It made sense and she really hoped that it wasn't mind control, slavery, or anything else bad.

"I hadn't thought about that actually. They do have to tell us apart somehow. I mean we look like them or every humanoid alien so how can they tell we're here through a rift or whatever it was that brought us here?"

[beta_five]

He gave one of the passing station denizens a skeptical look. "Doesn't seem like they're conditioned, or they're fighting it. They just... do it."

He pulled his servo out of his pocket and stared at it. "The Beta Five is refusing to teleport me off the station. I've tried. But under certain circumstances the station will let you leave. I think I'm going to try and see what I can manage and see if there are any populated planets where the people will speak to us. And there are populated planets down there..."

Raising an eyebrow incredulously, as if he already knew the answer, he gave her a careful look over. "Coming with me?"