and i've been dreaming of revenge to make you love me more

[smithnjones]

But I don't want to play God either. I can't do that. I don't want to pick and choose.

But you have before.

Martha Jones is seated at a cafe, pouring over notes that her wedding planner gave her. There are choices she has to make even she told the woman that it doesn't particularly matter to her as long as she marries her fiance, as long as the

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[callyourselfa]

With a flap of wings and a smug sense of superiority, a magpie alights in Elizabeth's tree.

"You know," he says, without preamble, "humans don't belong in trees, and I imagine angels wouldn't either, except that you folks are supposed to have wings. Ever thought of using them?"

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth blinks at the bird...the bird that's talking. She grabs hold of the tree limb tightly to keep from falling to the ground underneath her.

"Are you- A talking bird." She blows the curl that falls in front of her eyes out of her face. "Just when I thought I'd seen the weirdest wanderer ever, the Rift throws a talking bird at me." She smiles. "That's kind of really cool though. I think all animals should talk."

She grips tighter to the tree limb and stares at him.

"My wings aren't really big enough to do much. Do you think- It wouldn't give me better balance would it? I kind of thought they'd get caught in the branches and like totally screw me over."

[callyourselfa]

One For Sorrow makes an indignant noise. It'd have a lot more effect if one didn't get the impression that One For Sorrow takes umbrage at things for fun. "Maybe all animals do talk," he says. "And you're too careless to hear them."

He hops to a lower branch, fluttering his wings to control his descent.

"There," he says. "See what I did there? These wings," and he displays his proudly, "turn falling into flying. Granted, you're a big old heavy human-ish thing, so in your case maaaaaybe it'd be gliding, but even parachuting would be better than going bump-bump-bump like a kitten all the way down."

[pplrunincircles]

"You're probably right," Elizabeth admits, examining the branches that lie under her still. "I can be kind of careless. Not on purpose usually, but it happens. I'll have to listen to animals more carefully. Next time I run into one

[gotbottle]

Rachel stands silently outside Rusty's door for several minutes, trying to work up the nerve to knock. The lack of nerve has nothing to do with the man inside the apartment.

It's just... The things that happened have torn through enough peoples' lives. It's not that she doesn't want to turn to Rusty, find comfort in his presence.

She feels like she's just here to dump more shit into his life and count on him to put up with it. And it's all she's ever done, it feels like, and it's not fair. Can't she spare him this? Can't she just leave him alone?

In the end, she rallies herself enough to raise a hand, and rap on the door.

[trivialsublime0]

Oh, Rachel. If she said any of that out loud, he'd give her all the reasons that's not true and how his life wasn't much of a life at all until her. She brought meaning to it.

Rusty had not been seated. He'd been pacing, forcing away any need for heroin that might hit him. Fuck if he's gonna let himself be high for this... whatever this is. He tenses at the knock and walks over to his door, opening it up for her... at a complete loss as to what to say or how to act.

[gotbottle]

Just the sight of Rusty is nearly enough to break her. Just like with Adrian, she hadn't dared spare a thought for Rusty during the whole ordeal with Den. She could focus on Wes because she could see him, and because focusing on how they both suffered focused her anger and her will to live.

She couldn't even pause to think about Rusty. She loved him too much. And the thought that she might not see him again if she didn't survive would have shattered her on the spot. She'd had to put all of that aside in order to pull through.

But she did pull through, and now here he is in front of her, and it's all she can do not to break down right here in his doorway.

It takes every last ounce of self-control she has to hold herself together. To muster the tiniest of smiles. To speak,

"...Hi. Can I come in?"

[trivialsublime0]

"You don't even have to ask," Rusty insists. His voice is quiet. Just a mumble that might not even be heard if it wasn't so silent in his apartment.

The way that she's asking him is on a certain level of terrifying on its own. His chest clenches up in a painfully worried way as he looks at her. Something's horribly wrong. Something happened. He feels it in every inch of himself.

He reaches for her shoulder to guide her in. As if she needs the guidance to get through the doorway. Hell, maybe he does. As soon as she gets inside, he shuts the door behind her but he can't quite take that hand off of her shoulder.

[torchwoodsheart]

Gwen was not going out for coffee. Ianto gets offended when she does that. She just happened to be out, running a few errands, and noticed Martha as she passed by. Ianto cannot get offended if the coffee just sort of happened. (Or maybe he can, but he doesn't have to know.)

It's been a while since she spoke to Martha anyway, longer since she saw her, and it's nice to see that she... survived. Everything.

Gwen slides into the chair across from her without invitation, smiling gently. "You look... distracted." Stressed too, but that's Chicago standard.

[smithnjones]

Martha looks up when Gwen enters the cafe. She's quite glad to see her. Similar thoughts are running through her head at the sight of her. It's nice to see that she survived. In the past, she might purposefully seek out everyone she cares about. Lately she's found that it's better to not ask, that she'll find out eventually one way or another.

"I am," she says, making a face as she sets her pen down. "I'm afraid wedding planning is one of those rare things that I'm not all that good at. I swear when I was little I had it all planned out in my head, but..."

Martha smiles, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "Things change, I suppose. Hello to you too, by the way. It's been... awhile. How are you?"

[torchwoodsheart]

Gwen laughs softly, glancing down to the portfolio Martha's been fiddling with. "I know how you feel." Back when Rhys proposed, a lifetime ago, she was doing all she could to hold Cardiff together singlehanded. If she'd ever had time to stop and think about it back then, it would have seemed strange, and sad, that she couldn't spare a few moments of attention for the wedding she'd dreamed about for so long. It's still sad, thinking about it now.

She shakes her head a little at Martha's question and smiles a little. "I'm alright. Things have been quiet since the plagues. Everyone's sort of... recovering." And Sam's on an unofficial break unless something pressing comes up. It's the best she can do for him. "Are you alright? I didn't get the chance to ask, after Flagg..."

[smithnjones]

"It's a pain, and I've hired a wedding planner so I've only got to decide this flower or this flower. This color or this color." Martha sighs, pressing her hand to her forehead. "I'm about to simply choose every answer on the right. It'll be a surprise anyway even if nothing actually fits

[tempered_scars]

It's late. It's late and he should be going home but Wes is not going home. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be back here.

Wes hears the rustling of leaves as he walks past and his shoulders tense up immediately. They only relax a fraction when he finds the cause of the shaking. Cue lineface.

"Girl, if yer trying to break curfew you might just be breakin' yer neck instead."

[pplrunincircles]

"No, I'm not trying to break curfew. I'm trying to run away," Elizabeth says before she even sees who's talking to her which probably isn't the smartest idea. It could be a policeman down there saying that to her, and she'll have to run from him and it'll all be awkward and weird.

She drops down to a lower branch, making a lot of embarrassing noises as she tries to straddle it. Elizabeth looks down at the stranger on the sidewalk. It's an angel! Hey, she likes talking to a fellow angel! Well. She likes talking to practically anyone so there's... that's a thing that... she has. Right.

"Hi," Elizabeth says slowly, and then gives him a suspicious look from her high branch. "You're not going to want to... I don't know... take me back or something, are you? Cause if that's the case, I'll climb back into my window and wait until you leave." Because that's totally something that's do-able.

[tempered_scars]

"... Because running away is so much better."

Couldn't just leave it the hell alone, could ya, Gannon? Wes sighs inwardly, keeping watch of her as she drops down to the lower branch. Wes is ready to catch her should she fall.

Sighing inwardly, he crosses his arms over his chest. "Hi there. I ain't gonna force ya to do nothing. Your life, your business. That ain't my style. I do want you to think about what yer doing. The people yer gonna leave behind will be awfully worried about ya. Not to mention, running away? Never solves a damn thing."

And doesn't this make you the biggest hypocrite of the year, Wesley?

[pplrunincircles]

"Yes, it is better, because running away is a decision that I've made after a lot of careful thinking and breaking curfew is like I don't know sneaking out to get crunk and stuff. But I'm not. I've been moved out for over a month, but I made the mistake of coming home to visit my grandma for Christmas. Only to find my dad there instead. Usually he's... always away on business," Elizabeth explains as much as she'd rather not, she's not just some kid running from her home with no though. She's an adult and someone will see her that way! DAMN IT

[homoraptor]

There is a BEACH in the PARK and oh, with the exception of that one time he got some hunk of a shapeshifter to buy him pizza and beer and then take him home for two days, this is the best day ever.

Malek makes a dive into JD's little imaginary beach, rolls into the sand, sheds his trenchcoat, and rolls onto his back next to JD before really recognizing him. He was just focusing on getting into the weird pocket rift or whatever before it disappeared. Old friends are just a bonus.

He grins.

"Allo. Lovely weather, ja? Do love the city sometimes."

[sensi_doctor]

The solidity of the illusion lessens when Malek starts to speak to him. It may not be noticeable but the heat lessens and the sand becomes smooth.

"Oh! Hi! It's you!" There's a lot running through his head at the sight of Malek. It's not like he hasn't seen him since... since that first time. Just... yes. His mind will always bounce back. "Yes. The..." JD blinks. "City."

How the heck did he get on this beach anyway?

"We're still in the city?"

[homoraptor]

Malek feels the waning of his precious heat, and looks up on instinct to see if a cloud is passing over the sun. That's... weird. Just weird. But so long as this place isn't going to vanish on him...

He shrugs. "Dunno. Just dove inn, ja? Thought't could be a Rift, sommat... crazy stuff. Chicago's like that. Who's y'friend?"

He rolls onto his elbow, waving at !Nate.

"Love t'sun, ja?"

[sensi_doctor]

JD is doing all he can mentally to make this beach not vanish because if it vanishes, it means he's doing it again. He's making stuff up without realizing it and forcing it on the world and thinking that it's all real. It would terrify him more but he's convinced himself that he has it under control and he isn't losing his mind. He knows what's real and what isn't.

This beach? It's real. Nate? He's real. Malek is, also, real. See?

"I guess I shouldn't complain then. Just enjoy it when the Rift brings us something crazy and nice like a beach, right?" JD glances over at Nate who smiles. "That's Nate. My boyfriend."

The effort it takes to make Nate respond with a hello and a wave back at Malek is making the edges of this illusion a little more unstable and rough around the edges. His head is hurting again.