Ashes to ashes...

[pawnoffenric]

Asleep on the couch. That would be her excuse on how she didn't see them appear, how the hat appeared on her head, the question-mark umbrella by her side.

She didn't hear the crackling news broadcasts that took place in the pouring rain, the sound of the Doctor - her Doctor's raised over the thrum of air car. Ace was dreaming of the TARDIS, of

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[coffee_sir]

Ianto had noticed Ace alseep on the couch when he had walked past the rec room door. He didn't want to wake her, even though it looked as if she wasn't sleeping all that peacefully, and had directed Banon not to do so. But as he had gone into the kitchen to brew another pot of coffee and fix something to eat, the dog had sat down in the breezeway of the door connecting kitchen and rec room, watching Ace attentively.

When Ace jerked away, Banon bounded to her side. Or, close. She took the umbrella to be some kind of mortal enemy, and skittered back and forth, wanting to help Ace but not knowing how to deal with the foe.

"Hush, fach," Ianto called, walking into the room with two cups of coffee, one for himself and one for Ace, just the way she liked it. "You alright?" he asked.

[pawnoffenric]

"Bad dreams," she half croaked, wincing because her voice was rough with sleep. "Woke up, and there was all of this." She resettled the hat on her head, the umbrella leaning on one shoulder as she held out her hands for the coffeecup.

"They're his," she said a few moments later, her brows knitted before she sipped the coffee, still blinking blurrily, skipping from one subject to the next. "It's perfect, thanks."

The radio still blared, something about the Archangel Gabriel and the recording of Ace's voice mixed with that of the Doctor. Ace wasn't listening to it, not yet- she was trying to get used to being awake, first.

[coffee_sir]

Ianto seated himself beside her, taking a sip of his own coffee and snapping his fingers at Banon, who quieted but continued to give the umbrella dirty looks. As much as she could.

He recognized the umbrella -- it was rather distinctive -- but didn't mention it. "Interesting taste, your Doctor had," he remarked.

[pawnoffenric]

Ace didn't look at the umbrella cradled in her lap, or at Banon, either. "He took me with him, so, yeah. Interesting." She paused, and took another sip.

"I've never gotten anything from home. Everyone else has, but I haven't. Nothing from the time when I traveled with him, in..." Her brows rose. "Two years. I've been here two years. ... Huh."

She shook her head, the straw hat a bit too large so it slid backwards.

[jamesmadrox]

I'm not sure who's been avoiding who. What I am sure of is that I haven't seen Ace in a week. Hopefully that's been long enough to make this not entirely awkward.

"Looks like the Island left you a present," remarked Jamie casually from where he was standing by the bookshelf.

[pawnoffenric]

Ace leaned the umbrella on her shoulder, and looked up at Jamie from under the oversized straw hat. "Yeah. Looks like. First ever." She was rubbing the hard plastic with her thumb, not even thinking about it.

"How're you?" She could hear herself talking in the background, could hear those rich tones that the Doctor - her Doctor had used.

[jamesmadrox]

I ignore the jukebox on principle but I'm making an extra point to do so now.

"As fine as I can be," he said, flipping through the book he'd pulled from the bookshelf. "You?"

[pawnoffenric]

"... Bad dreams." Not that it mattered. They were just dreams, after all.

And was that- Yeah, that was her.

Screaming.

"So. Uh." She was ignoring it the best she could, hugging the umbrella closer. "... Do you want to get out of here? I mean, you're reading, but-"

The Jukebox was... distracting, at best.

[lifeisunlimited]

Hearing the loud exclamation with a friend's name, Fiyero ducked his head into the door of the common room to make sure everything was alright. "Ace?" He asked as he came forward into the room, puzzled when he saw no one else besides her. "Are you alright?"

[pawnoffenric]

Ace blinked up at him, her brows rising. "Fiyero? I... er. I'm fine." She smiled, forced at best, utterly fake at worst. She was hugging the umbrella to her without even realising she was doing it.

"How're you? How's..." She trailed off, the way she always did when she thought of Elphaba. She wasn't particularly proud of the way she'd reacted, even if she'd only been four years old. "How's Elphaba?"

[lifeisunlimited]

He cocked his head curiously as he walked further into the room but if she didn't want to offer, he wasn't going to push.

"Elphaba and I are fine. We've been busy with Kalm, our little lion cub." Fiyero couldn't hide the pride in his voice for his odd little family.

[pawnoffenric]

"You've got a lion cub? That's right brilliant." Ace smiled, and tilted her head back to look up at Fiyero, the straw hat slipping back on her head.

[captainjack]

Jack was in the kitchen when he caught the movement out the corner of his eye. The hat was something he'd seen on a reel and as he walked in, he recognized the umbrella, too.

"Ace?" he asked, sauntering over. "Clothes box messing with you?"

[pawnoffenric]

"Not hardly," she said quietly, the umbrella leaning against her shoulder as she almost hugged it. "Got my thing, I guess. Everyone else got theirs, and it's the right time for it, I suppose." She shrugged, and shifted the hat back on her head so she could look up at him.

She could hear herself talking in the background, still. From the jukebox. Agitated. Music.

Then screaming. She swallowed hard, and then lifted her chin, ignoring it.

[captainjack]

Jack spared a glance at the jukebox as he joined her on the sofa. "I got mine last month. Are you all right? I mean, no. The point is kind of to mess you up..."

[pawnoffenric]

"They're his." That seemed to be enough of a clue, enough of a hint.

They're his.

There was only one 'his', the one who's tones were even now ringing through the jukebox.

"Hadn't even thought of it, til now."

[toshiko_san]

"Ace?" Tosh had heard Ace's voice as she passed by the rec room, poking her head in to see that it wasn't actually her friend speaking, but the jukebox. "Are you alright?"

[pawnoffenric]

"I'm alright." She blurted the words without thinking, even as she hugged the umbrella close to her. "I..." She trailed off, looking back at the jukebox as she heard herself talking as it faded into techno music.

"... How're you?" Lame question, but it was something to say.

[toshiko_san]

It wasn't hard to see that Ace was disconcerted. Something bothered her, but Tosh wasn't about to push. "Well enough. Spending some time in the lab today," crossing the room, she perched on a chair not far from Ace, the umbrella earning an odd glance. "Nice to be working again."

[pawnoffenric]

"What're you doing? Greg's gone, isn't he?" She didn't mention the umbrella, just hugging it closer. "I don't really know a lot of the other lab people, but... I mean, I know everyone works hard. I'm sure they're glad you're helping."