[ ota; mtw; the church crypt ] the woman loves a good tomb

[spoilersss]

Truth be told, River hadn't meant to keep a low profile during the time she'd been here. She detested the very idea, preferring to be in the thick of things where she felt comfortable. So instead of wandering unarmed into dangerous situations she'd busied herself with the one subject she'd found as a comfort in strange situations - archeology.

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[sparrowhillrose]

Rose has been... not doing much. Running around, poking her nose into things, climbing trees, avoiding certain people named Harry Dresden because he wants to quiz her on her existence. You know, normal stuff. She's grateful that her feet have decided to quickly build up callouses so running around barefoot isn't as painful as it was when she first arrived, and while her clothes are a little big and very rumpled, she's about as content with her lot as can be expected.

Which isn't much, but with so little information, she's not going to risk her neck, especially since she's apparently alive again. Who knows what would happen if she died again, here.

Today, she is apparently being nosy, because when she notices the woman with the curly hair heading into the ruined church, she follows quietly, poking her head in as the woman inspects the back wall with her flashlight.

"What is?" she asks, when the woman speaks aloud.

[spoilersss]

The flashlight twists around until it lands on Rose. As a quick look over determines that for the moment Rose doesn't pose any immediate threat to the current investigation, River turns back to the wall after a small smile towards the other.

"A closed, obviously secret door," she says in reply, fingers now running down the edges of the stone. "I've never been able to say no."

And finally her fingers catch on the groove of the handle. Giving Rose a wider grin, she pulls, watching the door swing towards them.

[sparrowhillrose]

Rose has, generally speaking, not been the most adventurous or brave person in the world. Mostly because most of her existence has been spent as a ghost, trying to not get caught by Bobby Cross, along with generally being wary of the living finding out her secrets. And she's seen her fair share of really nasty things over the years, which makes her even more wary of doing things like, say, opening a closed, secret door in a ruined church. So when River pulls the door open, she chokes down a yelp and ducks back behind the wall she'd been peeking around.

But then there are no horrible noises or blood-curdling screams, so she looks back in, scowling. "Why would you do that? You've got no idea what might be in there! It might've been something that would kill you."

Don't worry, River, she can be taught to be adventurous again! She was utterly fearless when she was alive (as long as there wasn't popular girls, her mother, or public speaking involved), and not all of that was simply the natural teenage belief in her own immortality

[spoilersss]

"A girl can dream," she jokes, shining her flashlight down into the stairwell. "But I'd like to think I'd kill it first." Unlikely, since she's been unarmed since arriving here. And that's what really grated on her - she liked having a gun at her side. Thinking oneself out of a problem was well and good but sometimes the best course of action was to shoot things up to hell and back.

"And you can't expect me to ignore something like this. A mysterious door in a ruined church? It's just asking for someone to open it." Turning back to get a better look at the girl, River can't help the amused smile at finding that she'd taken some sort of cover. "Coming with?"

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor never took much notice of the church in the barracks. It's crumbling and unused, and there are much more interesting things here to worry about. But the flicker of light somewhere back there in the darkness catches his attention as he walks by, and that's interesting enough that he abruptly changes direction and heads inside to investigate.

It's not until he's several steps inside the building that he can see clearly enough to tell who's holding the flashlight. Right. River's here. He'd been doing so well avoiding her, he'd sort of... forgotten he needed to avoid her.

The Doctor freezes for a second, and then eases one slow step backwards, toward the door. His trainers crunch slightly on bits of the fallen ceiling, and he winces but doesn't stop. If he can just get out the door before she notices him and turns around...

[spoilersss]

Unfortunately for the Doctor she does notice him. Not that River had been all that concerned with keeping tabs on him beyond the occasional check on the communicator. It's the Doctor, yes, and she'd give most anything to spend some linear time with him while she can, yes. But he isn't her Doctor and the level of recognition in his eyes is the smallest she's ever seen.

For now, however, she shoves that all down inside of her and turns, smirk growing across her face.

"Hello Sweetie," and with her grin she crosses her arms, leaning against the wall. "It's been a while." And no doubt he'd managed to get himself into no small amount of trouble since they saw each other last.

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor stops, fighting back a grimace. He could just turn and run anyway, but it would mean losing what little dignity he has left, and he's not ready to let go of that just yet. Instead, he sighs, and leans one shoulder against the doorframe across the room from her.

"I've been... busy."

It's not exactly difficult to guess what kind of 'busy' he's been, even without knowing the Doctor very well. He managed to talk Tempest into healing his broken nose, but she left the fading bruises around his nose and under his eyes, to his great annoyance. If he's lucky, the shadows in here will keep her from noticing, but... he hasn't been lucky very often lately.

"And you've been... Well, I'm not sure, but certainly a bit scarce. I was starting to think you'd gone to live with the pixies. Or that band of giant woodland creatures, possibly..."

[spoilersss]

"There's a band of giant woodland animals? By now you must be on incredibly good speaking terms with them or they've declared you to be the most dangerous thing to have ever run into them."

River carefully sidesteps answering his question of where, exactly, she's been. But lucky for him she doesn't catch the bruising on his face for the moment, yet that doesn't stop her from making a vague guess at what he's been doing. And while she'd love to continue the staring contest they seem to have started, the door behind her is of far more interest to her at that moment. She turns her back to him, moving to find the handle groove again.

"By 'busy' you mean getting yourself into trouble," she states back at him. The door and the possible unknown might outweigh him for the moment, but it doesn't mean he isn't deserving of a small part of her attention.

[noheatnikki]

Kate had been curious about the church ever since she'd noticed it a few days after her arrival, but as she hadn't actually gotten to know much of anyone in her time in the wood, she didn't really relish having to call a stranger for help if she got stuck somewhere.

But if the stranger was with her, that was different. The woman seemed rather harmless, just curious, as Kate was, so Kate followed her into the church and called after her.

"Mind a tag along? I've been wanting to check this place out."

[spoilersss]

Not expecting any other, River quickly turns and flashes the light at the woman only to lower it upon deciding that she doesn't seem like much of a threat.

"Can you run?" It's a prerequisite, for even if the stranger was unarmed or unable to fight back running was something River couldn't overlook. Preventable death on her hands... well it wasn't something she wanted to think about.

late tag is late, sorry!

[noheatnikki]

Kate couldn't help but grin at the question. She gestured down to her three inch stilettos, then looked back at the woman.

"I can run down a suspect in these with no problem. I'm Kate Beckett."

It's quite alright, I'm rather late myself.

[spoilersss]

River grins, and holds out her hand for the other woman to shake once she got near enough.

"Wonderful, though we'll probably be running away from whatever it is, should we come across something. Doctor River Song, Archeologist." She's more than willing to have capable company, after being denied it for so long.

[merlinianblood]

Dave has what some would call a really bad habit of exploring. Under normal circumstances, this curiosity would not be such a bad thing. Here? It's gotten him into trouble a few times.

Boy just doesn't learn.

When he sees that someone's already in the church, and that the someone has a flashlight, he automatically assumes that it's Safe To Go Inside. Crazy weirdos don't carry flashlights, right?

(His logic may be slightly off. At least he has his magic for protection?)

He clears his throat to catch River's attention, standing awkwardly in church's back the doorway. "Um. Excuse me, whoever? Mind if I come in? Or will you try to kill me?"

[spoilersss]

"Only if you're not going to kill me first," is her response. And maybe not the wisest one at the time being but to her credit she's not lying. She's got her fists if it came down to it and as long as he was human, it shouldn't be that hard to try and deck him if he tried. Fingers grabbing the handle she finally turns to the direction that the voice is coming from.

Well at least he looked human, not as if that meant much in the first place.

"Doctor River Song, if you're asking." And without waiting for him to come closer she starts pulling the stone door towards her.

[merlinianblood]

That earns her a lot of blinking. Dave doesn't think he looks capable of killing anything, but he supposes one can never be too careful, here.

"David Stutler," he replies, hurriedly walking in her direction. "Usually just 'Dave,' though." Once close enough for comfort, he peers over River's shoulder, eyes fixed on the door.

Should River look back, she may notice little tendrils of white light swirling at Dave's fingertips.

It's a precautionary measure, really. He wants to be ready if something creepy jumps out at them.

[spoilersss]

She doesn't look behind her, though if she did she'd most likely decide that he either wasn't human or had some sort of tech. That'd come later though - for now she's more interested in getting that door fully open.

And when it does, she's slightly disappointed that nothing does jump out at them. Not that she expected such but it would have been a nice, familiar thing.

"So, Dave, coming with?," River says, finally turning around and catching a good look at him at last - eyebrows raising slightly as she notices the white around his fingertips.

[beyondimagining]

Will was in search of a distraction. These last few days had been difficult. As glad as he was to be fully himself again, it had been challenging to reconcile his human memories of this place with the greaer knowledge he now carried. A part of his mind felt that strange urgency to return to his quest in his Wales, while a greater part knew that the only thing he could do was wait for the proper moment.

He was limited, here. Will wasn't sure yet how much had been taken. At the very least he had become rooted in time. Held within the track of time as he had never been since his awakening. It was odd, getting used to thinking of time as something that only ran in one direction again.

And so he had gone exploring, trying his best to understand the odd feelings that constantly pressed against his mind in this place. He's found the church not long after, and watched with mild curiosity as the woman approached.

"Its marvelous, isn't it?"

[spoilersss]

Not to her credit when she turns the light towards the voice she doesn't think to look down until she sees Will on the edge of it. Still, she smiles at him now that she's realized the speaker and nods.

"Very much so. I've never been able to turn down any sort of ruin." From where she stood, River gave him what she hoped would be a quick enough once over for him not to be alarmed. For someone so young to have been here and not be injured -- she had her suspicions. But for now, she'd keep them to herself. After all, it was nice to be able to share an appreciation for places such as this.

[beyondimagining]

"I've always been rather fond of old things. We didn't have many ruins, but our church at home was built by the Saxons. And some of the other buildings around were marvelously old. And of course, I did get to send some time in Cornwall last summer."

He steps forward into the light and smiles pleasantly at her. "My name is Will Stanton."

[spoilersss]

"Doctor River Song," she replies, holding out a hand for him to shake, also smiling. "There's a lot one can learn from studying them in the present rather than the past." And while the dig is subtle and may go over his head she makes it all the same.

"England has always had its fair share of old things."