Swallowed by Time
London
Rose pushed her hands into the pockets of her jacket, slowing her pace to a stop on the pavement as she glanced around. It had been years since she’d ventured back to this city, and in fact had studiously avoided it for the most part since her unexpected return to this universe, just as she had avoided so many other things, drowning her sorrows in the adrenaline-inducing daily routine of a Torchwood agent.
But she was here to follow a lead, nothing more. There had been disappearances. Literal disappearances, people vanishing into thin air right in front of witnesses. It had been eerily similar to the Rift-related disappearances in Cardiff some time back.
She took note of her surroundings, the shopfronts with elegantly clothed mannequins posing ridiculously in the display windows, the colorful signs declaring sales in huge, beckoning letters, the charming little bakery with tempting scents wafting out into the street.
The domestic approach. Three people had disappeared right in this area, and somebody in these places of business may have seen something. Well, she may as well start at the bakery. And it would just be good manners to purchase something tasty in exchange for information, right?