Rose tried her best to glare at Adam, though the tight grip on her arm caused her glare to falter, and soon crumble into a pained gasp. She roughly jerked her arm away, massaging the new bruise that would surely form in a couple of days. She understood his threat however, and understood it perfectly clear.
Hesitantly, Rose nodded.
When Adam walked away, she let out a shaky, almost teary breath, before she composed herself and quickly pulled her sleeve down and entered the room, smiling weakly at Clara.
“Sorry ‘bout him,” Rose apologised, handing the promised snacks to her. “He’s one of the unfortunate jerks here.” She sat back down on the bed. “Wha’ did he say to you? You can tell me if it was somethin’ unpleasant.”
Clara flinched when Jimmy took a step closer to her, but didn’t back down, holding his gaze. He smelled of stale beer and cheap liqour, and it set her teeth on edge. She was properly scared, and she felt like she should be, but she held it back, tightening her jaw.
Her eyes widened when she heard Rose speak, and she shot her a warning glance. She had to deal with this enough already, she didn’t need to be provoking his wrath further. She was brave, she could handle him, one way or another.
“You think you’re so great because you think you have power.” She accused, although she was scared out of her wits. She was either extremely brave, or an idiot.
“Just leave her alone, you bloody coward.”
Rose's eyes also widened when Clara spoke, but she didn't speak up this time. That warning glance the woman gave her... well, it wasn't like she was going to listen before but now? Now that she'd said those things to Jimmy, now that Rose could see him tensing up- no. Rose would simply wait and be ready to do something should something need done, and she had a feeling something would definitely need done.
Jimmy snorted out a laugh, but his stance tensed up, his hands clenched into fists at his sides and he lifted both eyebrows as though he had expected this Clara to actually behave herself. Now he had even more of a reason to teach this stranger in his home a lesson. "Well look who has me all sorted out. A coward? Seems t'me I'm not the one scared shitless right now, Clarabelle."
He stepped closer, coming within a few centimeters of the girl and staring down at her with cold, dead eyes, the scent of alcohol so overwhelming it was clear that he wouldn't remember this in the morning. "Maybe you want to be taught a lesson, Clarabelle, is that it? You like playing rough?"
Rose swallowed thickly and looked around behind her for something, anything that might help if Jimmy decided to hurt Clara. Something to hit him with, something to even out the situation. The only thing she could see was an umbrella perched against the wall- a big, golf umbrella. She sidled backward slowly so Jimmy wouldn't notice, putting that umbrella within reach, just in case.
"Let's find out how much fire you got, yeah? See how long it takes ta put it out." Jimmy hissed, and reached out to grab Clara by the hair.
“ that’s because -- ” a yawn cut off his sentence, so he seized the opportunity to stretch for a moment and rested his own arm over clara’s. “ -- i should’ve been back at work about twelve hours ago. five more minutes on top of that isn’t going to make too much of a difference. ”
Rose was beginning to lose hope that she would ever find the TARDIS and her proper universe. Though, she was fairly sure from the vector readings on her Void walker that she had finally found the latter. Trouble was, she had no idea where she was. The Void was long and aimless and she had been lucky enough thus far to find planets that had environments amenable to a human’s -- or near human -- biochemistry.
Still, apart from the fact that there was breathable air and no apparent radiation or toxins, Rose Tyler had no clue where she was. Letting out a deep sigh, she shoved her sonic pen as deep into her pocket as she could and then started shuffling off toward what looked like a bustling marketplace. She could do with a hot meal, and possibly a wash and some decent sleep. After a glance around to confirm that the shopkeepers here did, in fact, accept credit sticks, Rose pulled out her sonic again along with a spare empty credit stick that she kept handy and filled it up at a nearby port.
As she was meandering around, trying to determine what would be safest and most... comforting to eat, she felt a tickle along the edges of her mind. Suddenly alert, Rose raised her mental shields, her eyes flicking around to see who the telepath might be. In her travels she hadn’t met many, and only a few had been hostile, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Seeing nobody who was paying undue attention to her, she narrowed her eyes and pushed her hands deep into her pockets again, keeping her head down as she bustled along with everyone else.
A few moments later she felt the contact again, more pronounced this time. It felt... somehow familiar. Glancing up again, she looked around, this time probing outward with her own mind to try to seek out the source of the unfamiliar-yet-familiar presence. Her telepathy was rather weak -- but growing stronger everyday -- and was much better suited to physical contact. But even still, she was able to discern the direction the contact had come from. Turning down a row of stalls to her right, she tracked through the marketplace, the feeling growing stronger and stronger until finally she realized what it was with a low gasp.
The TARDIS!
No. Wait... Not the TARDIS, but a TARDIS. She cocked her head to the side as she continued to follow the feeling of the timeship. It was reaching out to her, almost as if in greeting. She smiled and returned the sentiment, getting a warm gold glow of happiness in response.
As Rose walked down the row of shops, she finally felt the tickle of a perception filter as her gaze passed over the object of her search. Concentrating slightly, she convinced her mind to look where it was told not to, and saw that right in front of her sat an unassuming stall, looking almost like the shops all around, except, of course, unoccupied.
Taking a few slow steps closer, she reached out and brushed a hand along the side, smiling as she heard the responding song of the TARDIS. Now touching, she was able to actually properly telepathically interface with the ship. She had had some practice, but she was still fairly new with this sort of telepathic contact.
Well hello, you beauty. How are you here? I thought.... I thought all the TARDISes were gone...
Hello sister Wolf, the TARDIS practically sang back at her. Okay, so apparently the TARDIS recognized Bad Wolf inside her. That made sense, seeing as the power of Bad Wolf had come from the heart of a TARDIS. My pilot stole me. Stole me away to travel.
Rose sighed softly and nodded, patting the ship. Seemed she wouldn’t be getting a properly clear answer out of the ship. Besides, interfacing like this was making her head hurt a little.
Pilot, huh? Well it certainly sounded like the Doctor, but this TARDIS was not his. She knew the feel of the Doctor’s TARDIS, though she couldn’t quite explain how, seeing as her telepathy had developed long after he had left her. Perhaps it was similar to how this TARDIS had recognized her and called her as ‘sister’. Would that make the Doctor’s TARDIS her mother? Sister? Cousin? Oh, that was making her head hurt even worse, so she shut down that train of thought.
Taking a step back from the TARDIS and letting her hand drop, she slowly circled around the outside of the ship, her brow furrowed faintly. Maybe she should knock? It would be more prudent to gather more information before simply presenting herself to a potentially threatening individual. Then again... She had learned from the Doctor, and he had never been one to take such precautions. Her lips twitched up in a smile as she came back around to the front and raised her hand to rap lightly a few times against the side.
From the happy knowing hum the TARDIS gave in response, that had been the right choice to make. She was fairly certain the TARDIS wouldn’t have led her to harm. Not that she had any way to explain her reasons for her faith in a sentient ship that she had never met, nor any reason to question the fact that the ship’s loyalty to her pilot would or would not supersede her potential friendship with a strange ‘Wolf’.
This monster was something so new and unfamiliar that Castiel had found himself incredibly frustrated -- mostly at his own confusion. So there he stood, staring at the thing, angel blade hanging idly from his hand. He had tried stabbing it -- that had done absolutely nothing. He had tried talking to it (that had been before the stabbing), absolutely nothing. Was it even alive?
Cas took a confused step closer, narrowing his already narrowed eyes even further. “Is someone messing with me?”
Because it looked like a statue of an angel. He wouldn’t have looked at it twice if it wasn’t for the fact that it had moved, more than once. Granted, he had not actually seen it move -- but it had changed its position, expression, even. Was he losing his mind here? It was made of stone! It wasn’t haunted. And he was able to sense... something, as if the statue itself had been alive. But that was a very absurd thought. Maybe he just... wasn’t built for this, actual hunting. But what else was there for him now? Dean, Sam, they were... arrested and no one knew where they were being held. He couldn’t help them directly so the least he could do was to try to... hunt. But he was no hunter, he was an angel. He kept failing. Maybe it was time to contact Mary... but he didn’t want to bother her, either. She had her own thing going on, and she was actually good at her job.
Cas turned to glance around him. Not a soul in sight. He turned back towards the----
Hastily, Castiel took a startled step backwards, nearly stumbling, blue eyes now wide, instinctively raising the angel blade upwards again. The statue -- it had moved again. Towards him.
It was smiling.
“Whatever you are, back off.” He took a few more steps backwards from the being. What was he supposed to do? He was talking to a lump of stone. That seemed to have a mind of its own.
Clara panted, her cheeks heated, her back flush against the wall. She was pinned, unable to move, The Professor’s hands at her wrists, tight, but not too tight. It was perfect, in a way. She was sure there was a purpling mark on her neck where he had bit her. She would have to cover that up for work.
“With the way you’re goin’ at it, can you blame me for gettin’ all bothered?”
The Professor looked over at her. He let his gaze take her in. She looked so beautiful. Her brown eyes. Her brown hair. Her smooth skin. Moving a hand to her neck, he began to stroke over the mark he left. “Well, not really,” he told her. “You just look so beautiful. So sexy. I wanted to show it.”
