What a shame we all became such fragile broken things...

[torchwoodsheart]

It's still early when Gwen arrives at the Conrad, though she looks worn, rumpled clothes and dark circles under her eyes like she hasn't slept all night. She's also moving with a certain tension she can't quite shake, though she'd like to be able to act as if she's calm, as if she doesn't feel like a dog with its hackles raised and teeth bared

Comments

[nowinprint]

It's not as though Dmitri hasn't been up all night turning over The Question - to testify in court or to testify in writing? - in her mind. It's not as though she's got anywhere with it. It's not as though she hasn't been scatterminded ten ways, reading everything she can while keeping an eye on everything else, and it's not as though she can't recognize the funk she's working herself into.

And, goddamnit, that's letting the bastards (whoever those bastards might be) win.

She is dragging a half-finished, pieced-together trans-stellar transmitter in through the doors of the Kashtta, and she will buy herself at least a solid half-hour of clearing her mind out with engineering. With or without Tosh's help.

"So I found this thing..." she starts, as soon as the door swings shut.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh drops the wristband onto the desk with a clatter as the door swings open, and looks from Dmitri to the bit of cobbled-together technology she's dragging with her. She expected Dmitri back sooner or later. She did not expect her back with shiny tech, and under better circumstances, Tosh would be thrilled about that.

"Do you need help with that?" Carrying it, if nothing else. Distracting yourself with shiny technology only works if you can focus enough to be distracted, and Tosh isn't holding high hopes for that possibility.

[nowinprint]

"It's more unweildy than - yeah, I could probably use some," Dmitri says, trying to keep something that may or may not be a lever from flopping out and making her job more difficult. "Mostly I don't want to break anything; I'm not sure where I'd get replacement parts."

This is one of those times where she's glad she's pretty much given up on greetings. Asking How are you? would just not end well.

"Eager to figure out what you think it might be," she says.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh slides out from behind the desk and moves to grab the other side of it, one hand on the lever that's giving Dmitri trouble. "I'm not-" She stops, and smiles tightly. "I suppose I could have a look at it."

LOLshadow crouches down on the stairs, peering through the railing at Dmitri with her head on her paws. "U has a sad?" she says in a tiny voice. Everybody has a sad today. LOLshadow disapproves.

[riversodeep]

As it turns out, Andy pre-empts the possibility of unpleasantness entirely and just up and comes to find Sam.

The entire world has gone insane, the air is so taut that if you pulled a violin bow across it it'd make sound, and there's no work waiting for her at the Kashtta. Tracking down her ward seems like the thing to do in this situation.

She draws up to him at a trot, slowing down to walk beside him with a fleeting smile to say, no, it didn't feel like he was in danger, she just wanted to come out. "Have time for lunch?" she asks. "There's a decent Mediterranean place a couple L stops down."

Also, she can feel that stressknot in the middle of your chest, and having you out of sight makes her a bit twitchy right now.

[definitivestep]

Sam glances over at her, just long enough to take note of the fact that she does not look like an alarmed guardian coming to protect him from some danger he was unaware of. So that's something. He smiles vaguely, nods a little.

"I have... plenty of time." And not a lot to do with it. He doesn't mind at all being abducted for lunch.

[riversodeep]

Good. Andy will feed her ward, she will indulge in some souvlaki and baklava, and any particular iteration of the Tyler Curse which wants to make today more problematic than it already is will have to go through her to do so.

"I ever talk to you about getting transit cards?" she asks. "Granted, we've got the SUVs, but the CTA is a lot more convenient in some cases. Parking anywhere downtown..." She makes a disparaging noise. "And I always did enjoy riding the Ls. Fascinated by trains, as a child."

Maybe if she disguises smalltalk as business she can get him to actually... you know. Say things.

[definitivestep]

Sam smiles a little more and shrugs. "I'll consider it. Mention it to Gwen. You do have a point about the parking." He eyes her for a moment, and then asks, "Trains?" For some reason, that surprises him - then, he doesn't know his guardian angel very well, so maybe it's not so surprising.

[nothingsodivine]

And from the front door of the Casa, the warbling notes of Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt's 'I Don't Know Much' can be heard, followed by a familiar Des-sounding voice going, "Oh my God. Seriously?"

And then suddenly there's a Des behind the couch.

"We kinda need to talk about how I'm an idiot."

Granted, the Doctor is also an idiot, but Des is willing to sacrifice his pride, because the Doctor is having kind of a shitty existence.

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor stops talking at the sound of music from the door, and looks up at Des with raised eyebrows. He doesn't remember exactly what Des said to him, before he stormed off before. His recollection of actual words then is annoyingly fuzzy. He does remember Des yelling at a ferret, which... well, that says about all that needs to be said.

"I was... talking to Melissa," he says after a moment, with a vague gesture at the naphil. Melissa is very obviously fast asleep, so it's not clear exactly what sort of a point he's trying to make right now.

[nothingsodivine]

Des's mouth sets in a firm line as he looks down at Melissa. "And you put her to sleep. Good job. Donna will thank you for it. Kitchen. Now."

He turns on his heels and walks towards the kitchen, expecting the Doctor to follow him. If he doesn't, he's going to march back out and look very put out until he does follow him.

[thatsortofaman]

The Doctor doesn't move for a second. Now he really doesn't know what this conversation is supposed to be about - "let's talk about how I'm an idiot" and the way Des is acting right now don't exactly seem to coincide, to the Doctor, but...

Maybe the Doctor should stop trying to work out human behaviour at all. It doesn't go well for him, in general. He's always alright up until actual people get involved in the problems he's trying to solve...

He sighs and slides off the couch, following Des to the kitchen, stopping just inside the doorway and just... standing there. More than anything right now, he just looks tired, and old, and incredibly worn down. If Des would like to shout at him, this would be the time. The Doctor's unlikely to argue at the moment.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall's the sort of person who believes in doing the right thing and has he has suffered nothing but by-proxy trauma from the whole affair and there's so many people who likely won't (and with good reason) testify, so... Yeah, he's planning on testifying. That doesn't mean he's not flailing about the whole thing.

Mostly because of Tosh, because Tosh, and while it would be rather hypocritical of him to treat her like something that could break at any second, he still feels horrible for her

[techniclybrill]

Tosh just blinks at the jar for a moment, and then sets the wriststrap down on the table and turns to look at Marshall with a somewhat baffled frown. Swedish fish, in her experience, are not a standard response to Torchwood-induced trauma. Then again, Marshall and standard responses don't exactly go together in the first place.

"...thank you," she says quietly, after a moment. LOLshadow, for her part, purrs like a motorboat and rubs her head against him. She appreciates your concern, Marshall.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall ducks his head and focuses on scritching the shadow-kitty, who, at least, isn't kind of terrifying him right now in that... Very special way he tends to get terrified when people are unhappy around him and he can't do anything about it.

"You're welcome. I mean, if you don't want to eat them... You can... Stare at the jar. It's a very nice jar and all the little fishies are just kinda.. There. Bein' fish. Of course, not actual fish, because they're just gummy-flavored candy- which you know. Of course, you know that, because you're brilliant. And, ah..."

And here we have Marshall at a loss. He bites his lip and scritches LOLShadow a bit more and then sort of vaguely gestures to the stairs. "I'm, uh... Just gonna go now. Leave you to do your... Um."

Right. Walking away now. The last thing Marshall wants to do is exacerbate the problem by being... Himself. He has done what he can. And he will even put LOLShadow back down on the stairs as he goes.

[techniclybrill]

He's gone before Tosh can even work out what to say to him. She looks up the stairs after him, and then over at LOLshadow. LOLshadow is still sitting on the stairs, purring. Apparently Marshall's offering pleases kitteh.

Tosh shakes her head, and swivels her chair around, back toward her laptop. "Well, I'm glad someone's happy," she mutters to the cat. Even if it is about... Swedish fish, and Tosh can't help smiling just a little as she glances at the jar.

[wagglingfingers]

Alex knows that something big's been going down - she'd have to be daft not to - and she's getting tired of living in a place where everybody knows what's going on but her. So she's headed out of the Kashtta, purse slung over her shoulder, to go chill by the lakefront for a few hours.

She pauses for a moment, frowning slightly - was that a cat on the stairs, or is she just seeing things? Except she hasn't seen anything since she got here, and that's a bit worrying, too.

"Is there-" she starts to ask Tosh, but then decides against sounding mad, and changes it to "Are you all right?" Because, uh, she's sitting there and staring.

[techniclybrill]

Tosh looks up sharply, sets the wriststrap down on the desk almost guiltily, and attempts to look as if she has no idea why anyone would ask that question. ...Tosh is not the best at playing innocent under this much emotional strain.

"Fine. I'm fine." She is so very glad Sam's not around at the moment. "Just keeping an eye on the door." Logically, she knows there's no reason for it. Jack is locked away somewhere at the moment, and not likely to come waltzing through that door. Logic isn't helping her with the jumpiness or the gnawing dread or that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

[wagglingfingers]

Right. There's definitely not a cat on the stairs, Alex, you're just crazy.

Which is not a terribly comforting thought.

"You just look...tired, that's all." Alex glances down at the wriststrap. Normal people probably wouldn't pry, but normal people aren't Alex. "What's that, then?"

[techniclybrill]

Oh, Alex. There is a cat on the stairs. Tosh just likes to pretend her subconscious doesn't hang out where people can see it and demand cuddles and cheeseburgers.

Tosh rubs at her face with one hand, and then forces a smile. "I am tired. It's just been... sort of a long few days." She looks down at the wriststrap and sighs. "It's a teleport. Only partially functional at the moment."