I've been jumping from the tops of buildings for the thrill of the fall, ignoring sound advice...

[techniclybrill]

Tosh is in the lobby of the Kashtta, setting up... something electronic behind the reception desk. It's actually a switchboard for the panic button system - there'll be another one going up in the CCTV room, just so they can be certain of someone monitoring it more or less at all times. Mostly, it's just something to focus on, keep her busy, though

Comments

[crossindexing]

"Oh my fuzzy goodness it's a ferret."

Yes, that's Winny all right, particularly bright and bubbly today. Particularly bright and bubbly ever since a certain physicist gave her a certain necklace, in fact, she's just been so damn happy. It's the funniest thing.

She's wearing a suit at the moment and accompanied by Gail and Radcliff, one of whom looks curious and the other disdainful.

But then, he usually looks disdainful. Winny crouches down and holds her hand out to the Doctor. "He-llo you! You are just the cutest thing, aren't you? Yes you are!"

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor sits back on his hindquarters, front paws in the air.

Yes, hello... why yes, I am adorable, but could you maybe... open the lift for me? Please?

Look at the cute little ferret, Winny. Listen to the ferret... as if you can hear him at all. Still.

[crossindexing]

"Awww!" She scoops the Doctor up and cuddles him. "What are you doing out here all by yourself, little guuuy? Did someone lose you?"

"Winny." Gail looks over her shoulder, inspecting the ferret. Her wings are out now, and she has a faint smile on her face. "I believe you might be insulting this wanderer's dignity."

Winny blinks up at her. Radcliff snorts and walks past them both to swipe his card. "It's a ferret. I very much doubt it has any dignity left to lose."

"That's mean!" Winny covers the Doctor's ears with one hand, stepping into the elevator alongside her companions. "He's adorable. There's nothing wrong with being adorable, is there?" The last is, of course, directed at the Doctor.

Gail smothers a mile with one hand and joins Winny in stroking the Doctor's back.

Scritch scritch scritch.

Radcliff growls and rolls his eyes.

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor sighs, draping himself over Winny's arm, just looking pitiful and resigned. This is somewhat humiliating. Still, at least they're getting him downstairs, so that's... something. The scritches are nice too. After a moment of sulking, he arches up into them a little despite himself. Scritches make up for many, many things.

[ornobodywill]

Mac walks into the kitchen, happily sucking the last remains of strawberry yogurt (that she may or may not have stolen from the Kashtta's fridge and may or may not belong to Michael Westen) from a spoon and the minute she spots Nate smiling, she nearly swallows the spoon. She coughs, sputters, attempts to say something around the spoon and then finally pulls it out of her mouth to say, "Holy shit, it can actually smile."

Have a Mac TO THE FACE, Nate.

[reluctantxangel]

Nate immediately attempts to stop smiling. It doesn't quite work as well as he'd hoped; there's still that faint upward curve of his lips that he can't really shake right now.

"I have a name, you know," he says, attempting a little glare.

[ornobodywill]

Mac waves her spoon at him as she goes to the fridge to see if the secret stash of yogurt has any Boston creme pie-flavored. "Yeah, I know. Marty, right?" She only teases the ones she likes, Nate. Really.

She starts poking a few things in the fridge around with her spoon... Yes, he spoon. Mac eats things unfit for human consumption, do you think she minds germs or cares if other people do?

"So what's with the attitude adjustment, Nellie? I'm not hip to the office jive."

[reluctantxangel]

"It's Nate," he half-growls, though he doesn't sound as annoyed as he could. "And why d'you care anyway?" Yeah, he's not really seeing the point in talking to the crazy lady who calls him names and hit him that once. She's scary.

[thrillofthekill]

In one dark alley, there is a Vincent, standing over the remains of some sort of freakishly large... snakeish thing. The Rift sort of deformed it long before Vincent shot it all to fuck.

The treaty's been hard on everyone, really, but Vince was always the sort of archangel who made the best of a bad situation. As soon as he sees Julia, he gives her a polite nod, like this is a completely normal meeting on any average street and there isn't some dead monster between them.

"Hell of a night for it, huh?" He remarks.

[evengodsdo]

"So it would seem." Julia glances to the snakething, then back up to Vincent, and smiles wryly. "You couldn't have waited just five minutes for me?"

It may not be a demon, but a kill is a kill. She can't help nudging the thing with her foot after a moment. Riftthings, at least, are never boring...

[thrillofthekill]

"Didn't know you were out," Vincent shrugs, rolling his shoulders a bit. "These things are a dime a dozen out here though. Wait around awhile and the next Rift'll open up and dump something else out. They're like trains, Rifts. Some of 'em anyway. Been down to the park lately?"

That last question is totally relevant.

He steps over the snake.. Beast... Thing. He'll have to call someone over to deal with that, but right now, he's still got an urge to hunt. One demon can sate that bloodlust. Monsters... Well, it takes a few of those to really work the urge out.

And, well, he hasn't spent that much time with Julia and kinda wants to... And it has nothing to do with her mother. Because that would be weird and creepy. And he's okay with the whole... Romana... Thing now. Really.

[evengodsdo]

"Not yet, no," Julia says with a hint of a smirk, inclining her head to the side. "Is that an invitation?" She usually hunts on her own, but she doesn't think she'd mind teaming up with Vincent. From everything she's heard, he's a good man to have on your side.

[superiorspectre]

And lo, there is a Suzie, who is... somewhat startled to find Tosh out in the lobby.

"Tosh. Hello." No, there is nothing awkward here. Move along. Though that does remind her that she'd picked up some things in the junk shop, before... everything went straight to hell.

"Look, I... I was going through junk shops the other day, combing them for anything interesting. Rift junk, scavengable tech. I found a few things you might be interested in... A few things we could use to put together a laser incisor, if you're interested."

Yes, this is the Suzie way of saying, I got you presents!

[techniclybrill]

Tosh looks up, startled, and jerks away from the switchboard without thinking. She's jumpy, being out in the lobby, more than she'd like to admit. She actually relaxes a little, seeing it's just Suzie.

"I- Of course I'm interested. Um... thank you, Suzie." No. No awkwardness here. At all.

[superiorspectre]

Of course not. Suzie and Tosh are never awkward.

There's a long pause before Suzie continues. "You should've seen what they had in stock, though. I found... do you remember those alien music players? The ones from the... Terpsivores, I think Jack called them. I found one in what looks like working condition, just with the internal battery drained. Grabbed everything I could find that looked promising, and there's a few bits that not even I know what they do. One of them's rattling inside, on a regular rhythm, but it's got no latches that I can see, just wires. I think it's meant to be opened electronically, and what I wouldn't give for all the kit we had in the Hub. It'll be a while before I get the right signals to it so it'll open... Might go faster if you had a try."

When in doubt, geek out over interesting bits of Rift-tech. It's served them well in the past, anyway.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh perks up a little, brightening visibly. She can either sustain awkwardness or geek out over tech things, and the latter is both more interesting and less painful.

"I'd love to. I could- I have a few things in my room, things I picked up at the Conrad... and the data scanning device from home. The lockpicking functions might do some good..."

[threetowonder]

There is, in fact, more than one Time Lord in the lobby of the Conrad. The Other's on his way down to the basement, when he happens to notice a tiny mammal that... Doesn't read as a tiny furry thing. It reads as a Time Lord.

He looks down, one eyebrow raised.

"Hello."

:: ?? ::

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor freezes. Oh, no. The Other is perhaps the person he least wants to run into now, short of the Vesmier. He eyes the man for a second, and then bolts for the nearest quiet and dark place - underneath one of the chairs in the lobby, as it happens.

He can find someone else to let him in the basement. He really does not want to explain to the Other just how he ended up like this.

[threetowonder]

The Other sighs and paces to a chair some distance away, settling down with the air of a man who is just far too tired and needs a rest.

...No, he's not entirely sure of his safety even in the lobby of the Conrad Hotel, why do you ask?

Besides, he is tired. Of nonsense like this. At least the fact that the Time Ferret bolted when it did gives him a relatively good idea of just who that is.

:: Now, STOP THAT. :: There's the slightest bit of mental compulsion accompanying those words -- directed, not at the part of the Doctor which is a Time Lord, but the part which is a rather nervous ferret. His goal isn't to thwart the Doctor's free will, but rather to give him room to exercise it free of animal instinct, so there's just the tiniest push at the ferretish parts of the Doctor's brain to please sit down, behave, and let the Time Lord deal with things.

And if the Doctor bolts again -- well, that'll tell him something, too.

:: For what I hope will be the last time: I am not going to smite you with secrets from the Old Time. I am not

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor doesn't move for a moment, and then emerges slowly, doing his best to look entirely dignified and not... well... like a twitchy ferret. He's fine. Really. And he did not just run and hide under a chair.

Sorry. I'm a bit... well... furry, and oh, I hope you can hear me, because otherwise this conversation is going to be even more unpleasant. Without being able to project anything, he's a bit unsure of all of that just no. And come to think of it, he'd rather not explain how that got stripped away, on top of the ferret thing.

He pauses a moment, and then moves a little closer to the Other in a few short, uncertain hops. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that. It's not... It's... Well.

By that, he mostly means the psychic interference. However harmless it is, only touching the ferretbrain... Between Ruvin being uncomfortably close to his mind so recently, and the Vesmier reaching in only to shut down his psychic abilities, he's more than a little sensitive about intrusive mental contact just now, well-intentioned or