come_sailaway | Rose Tyler you've won an all-expenses paid luxury cruise populated by ghosts COME ON DOWN

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Rose Tyler you've won an all-expenses paid luxury cruise populated by ghosts COME ON DOWN

Who: Rose Tyler and YOU + one closed prompt for her roommate: Magneto
What: New Ship, Wot's all this then?
Where: EVERYWHERE (+ locked to cabin)
When: Sept 22nd forward!
Warnings: Vague skinny dipping joke she'll probably chicken out from (unless reasons)

Locked to Magneto: Hello Roomie, there's been some mistake...

Rose Tyler stares dumbfounded at the man in her room. No no no no, there's clearly been some mistake.

She took a little while coming back from the drill, the really long way back, so she could get a taste of what's all on the ship (it's REALLY big! Not infinite TARDIS big, but bigger than the other two ghost-populated ships she'd been on!) and really only came back to get the Hello Kitty bag she'd left on her bed.

There's a man in her room.

A full grown man just casually reading and --

It's funny. After all the things she's done and seen, this wasn't ever one. She always took for granted that the Doctor made sure she mostly managed to stay within relative prim and proper British manners, and just let her test the boundaries (which she DID, thank you very much), but somehow she'd never had to share a bedroom with a strange man. Is she overthinking it?

"Hi. Hello. Um..." There's been a mistake! She can share rooms with women, she can share a bed with the Doctor -- not that he'd ever let her, he would stay up all night saying something about TimeLords don't sleep -- she would, actually not really be able to share a room with Jack, which they'd considered before, but Jack had a habit of picking up dates by breathing, so it would have gotten awkward really fast, but at least she knew and liked Jack enough that she wouldn't have freaked out and gone into a blue screen of death moment. "I - I'm Rose Tyler." She sounds like an idiot. You're in my room. Boundaries... Is he a threat? Is she in danger? Should she run away? "This is a bit awkward, innit?" Brilliant.

Spa Therapy:

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

After that awkward disaster, she just accosts any random stranger who doesn't look busy, and drags them along with her, not even bothering with introductions or the rest. "Couples massage, spa. I'm buying." It's a joke, because there's no money. Thank God. She has worked enough menial jobs to last a lifetime. But she needs to not be alone, and even if random stranger #2 is a MORE lethal danger than her roommate, at least it'll be good practice for handling everything. That's her excuse, and she's sticking to it.

Nails Workshop:

One time she accidentally got engaged to a caveman. This was because she needed to infiltrate the caveman's tribe and thought to do it via offering the oh-so-ever-useful skill of manicures to all the ladies. You'd think after that she might never want to do it again, but in Rose's mind it was rousing success. It's been awhile since she's bothered doing nails, because you never knew when your bungee jumping trip might require you to have hands at the ready, or you'd get sent to the Americas in the 19th century, and lacquered nails stood out a bit at odds and would draw too much unwanted attention, and an alien race might view ocean waves on nails as a declaration of war because you want to drown them or something. It's also kind of a dare. If the Doctor has something NOT HERE planned, he should come get her stat. Or something. Anyway, she's got stencils, stickers, the WORKS. "Can I tempt ya?" Man, woman, child, or non-human it matters not to her. This place is mental, go with the flow!

Adult Pool:

The one time she didn't wear her bathing suit underneath. She's long since made it a habit to do all her reading by lounging in the pool and resting the books safely in the library while she reads - because the pool was in the library.

Well, it's fine. She'll find something later. For now she just lounges, reading. Trying to read. Mostly she wants to do something but she's not really sure what. That's strange isn't it? When was the last time she really had free time and nothing to do with it?

"Think if I skinny dip anyone will mind?" It's a joke. She's probably not that brave yet. Probably.

Drinks:

Later that night she's at a bar. She forgets which. It might have been the Drunken Sailor where she demanded, "Where's the match?!" as if she actually cared about football (soccer) and just yay fish and chips even though she had dinner at the exactly assigned time just in case it mattered. Or maybe the Chatterbox, because yes, she WILL do karaoke, and sing and dance this early 2000s throwback thanks for asking. Or maybe it was at the fancy posh one to try their whiskey and pretend like she belonged in her jeans and hoodie, yes. Or maybe it was just John's, because it's kind of mental the random obsession it has with Billy Joel, but also it's not like it's that torturous for a haunted ship of the damned and whatever.

"These are the unfriendliest most un-Caspar-y ghosts I've met." Yes, she's met more ghosts before. Normal.

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Erik looks up when the woman walks in. When he returned to a weird cartoon kitten bag sitting in the room, he had a feeling something was up. So he took out the book tucked under his arm and camped out on his bed with it.

It wasn’t long before this woman arrived.

He just studies her for a moment while she stammers her greeting. Is he a threat? That will depend largely on her. His gaze is cool and appraising.

“Perhaps they like it that way. They only pretend to be interested in our comfort.”

He sets the book aside and stands, six lanky feet looming over her.

“Erik Lehnsherr. Charmed, I’m sure,” he adds dryly. “You’ve arrived today?”

A small laugh, and now that he's talking, he's good looking, and she calms down... some. A nod! "Yeah, most uh kidnapping places aren't usually too big on comfort, right? Just making it look good."

She offers a handshake, if he'll take it. "Gotta say though, they really pulled out the works to make it look good. I've seen real cruises less posh." The London accent is thick with this one. For all Charles could have an accent, Rose's is clearly chav, and the other end of it. The big hoop earrings scream of it too, even if the hoodie didn't do a good enough job. "The no-money thing is convenient, since no tellin' who all is carrying what."

He’s lived in Britain. Even sort of adopted their manner of speech, though there is something not quite… authentic about it. He does shake her hand; he’s not uncivilized.

“The pretend money thing. Yes. It’s… interesting. Like we’re in a play that we can’t get off stage of.”

"I didn't think of it like that," there's a beat as she is definitely thinking about it now. It's not like it's unheard of either. The reality tv shows all across the universe had some pretty strange plots, and big brother, the great race, they were all kind of like that, weren't they? "Well, then let's give them the best show they'll never forget, yeah?" Without going along with it, like the Weakest Link, sort of going along with it, but not completely. How much of that is even safe to say?

She bites a finger in thought. "So how much Truman Show are we talking here, you think?" She's not sure he'll get the reference, but worth asking.

His eyebrows lift faintly.

“Whose show?” He didn’t mean it so literally. “I’m told our actual purpose here is to feed the captain.”

"Truman show. It's a movie. With like... cameras everywhere, super stalking this one guy, who doesn't know what's going on. Reality tv is like that too..." Nah, he's definitely from before all that stuff. Never mind!

"And by feed the captain?" That sounds really really bad. Like the ghost fishies ship, after all. Feed the captain. Join the feast... Dang, she really thought she'd stop thinking about that sort of thing. Maybe there was some lingering effects after all. Though she hoped she wasn't accidentally astral projecting her ghost to lure in others again. Though, it would get the Doctor here faster, and then save everyone. Probably.

He looks at her a little oddly as she explains ‘reality tv’, but turns to perch on the edge of his bed at her question.

“Somehow, our emotions and experiences feed the Captain. He wants power to rule the universe or something.”

If he had a nickel for every being trying to capture the power to rule the universe he came across… well, he’d have three nickels, but considering the qualifications, that’s a lot.

“But as prisons go, it’s the most comfortable and least claustrophobic I’ve ever been held in,” he admits. “With rather a better equipped library.”

She laughs in spite of herself, "What an idiot." The universe is a lot to rule over!

"Ah! Really?" She's setting herself up to be disappointed. She's used to the best library ever, one with a pool inside it, no less. Still, yay books! "At least he's sharing!"

Wait. Is the captain the Doctor gone completely off the wall mad? Nah. He'd never choose a nautical theme over space.

"Does good emotions count too then?" A head tilt. That's kind of weird, not gonna lie.

"I don't actually know," Erik admits, watching her carefully. She's not as weirded out by all this as one might expect of someone so young and so... unsophisticated. Maybe she's more than she looks. "But some people here have... powers. Abilities."

"Yeah?" Not weirded out by that either, since the Doctor. Just intrigued. A little cautious. Like a mouse that knows it's in the same room with a cat, but is too used to Tom & Jerry cartoons, so thinks it's safe to get that cheese, because it will just rely on cunning to escape! "Like turning into a whole new person abilities?" Gee, wonder why that came to mind. "Or more like 'Used to teleporting out of anything,' and now they can't?"

"All kinds. Back home, I actually knew someone who could look like anyone," he tells her. "And someone who could read minds. And someone who could run so fast, you couldn't see him." He watches her carefully.

"Wait really?" Rose lights up with excitement in spite of herself. "That's so cool!" Run so fast he couldn't be seen... how useful! Ahhhhh. "Ah, I don't know anyone like that specifically," she bites a nail uncertainly. She has to protect the Doctor and make sure no one does anything crazy like try to dissect him. "But I've partied with the Face of Boe." Some big hand gestures. "Big face in a jar, very old, very kind, knows a lot." A nod! And the rest of the crazy things she's seen and done... The werewolf's warning that she burned like the light of the sun. Best not reveal that. "And I knew some gaseous people, that needed bodies to possess. Do you know if any of the ghosts around here are doing things like that?"

So cautious.

It's obvious he has some kind of power himself, but what it is, Rose is definitely not sure about asking yet. "Are the powered people here all right?" A pause, and her eyes flick up, realizing that could be taken another way. "I mean, it's sometimes harder to adjust to captivity when you're used to being able to get out of it." Like Rose herself. "And it can be really upsetting when you're used to getting your own way on your own terms."

"Do you mean 'are they all right' as in 'are they good people' or do you mean it as in 'are they mentally well'?" Erik asks, raising an eyebrow slightly.

That's an interesting question. "Um, well. Holding up. Mentally, yeah. Like I said, sometimes that's hard to do, the stronger you are."

Rose just tilts her head, "Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't think I've ever met a bad person. Just people struggling with a lot of pain, yeah?" Even Cassandra. Well, Cassandra wasn't a good person. You couldn't be willing to kill an entire space station of CEOs and government officials for personal gain, and possess someone's body and be good. But was she bad, or suffering? Maybe both? Like the dalek too? Okay, but they both just-- "Maybe they've got wrong ways of going about it? Revenge. But no I meant... the more confident you are. Like my best friend, he's used to being able to solve anything so when he can't..." she chews her bottom lip in thought. "He'd go a bit starkers. You seem all right though." Looks can be deceiving, however.

As she talks, his expression goes from humouring her to genuinely charmed amusement.

"I assure you, there are bad people out there." He tilts his head in concession. "I haven't run into any of them here yet, though." A beat. "Not that I've had the opportunity to speak with the captain to date."

"Okay!" giant beam. No telling if Erik counted as all right, or if he was holding up well, but Rose decided he must be both. "So what have you learned about this place so far?"

"Quite a bit, but whether it's worth telling depends on what you want. Are you trying to leave?" Erik asks.

"I mean... eventually, yeah. But not right away. I always try to fix things first," like a hero. But more just a traveler passing through and getting into trouble, she thinks.

His expression changes. Sobers. He watches her with a new wariness.

"Fix things. We're the forced guests of a being powerful enough to force us here. What's to fix? Are you going to get us all out of here before we turn into ghosts?"

Interesting.

"Yes!" A firm nod. "That's the plan. Pretty much exactly." But she huffs, and frowns. "I've kind of... failed it though. In the past. I've been converted to a ghost once, and I uh... lost my Mom to a being a cyberman... which is like a ghost, because it's kind of like... she's still my mom in another timeline, but I failed that version of her."

She just facepalms! "Sorry, I know that's not making a lot of sense."

"Well. I'll keep my bag packed, shall I?" Erik says, amused and unconvinced, but not unkindly.

A face scrunch. "Not to say you haven't tried. How long have you been here?"

“Not long. A few weeks. Mostly gathering intelligence.” A beat. “Intelligence that suggests that anyone who leaves didn’t choose to and may not have made it home.”

It’s pure happenstance that the Doctor finds himself in the hallway at the exact moment that Rose came barrelling into him. She was a flash of blonde energy and he had been minding his own business heading for the library to sift through the selection of fiction books that he must have leafed through at least once by now.

“What -,” He doesn’t like being manhandled on a good day and his brows immediately furrow as he lets a rather angry noise of out of his mouth. His brain doesn’t even really have time to process that it’s Rose, too busy trying to extract himself from her grasp as she all but drags him towards the spa. “I don’t want to get a massage.”

She doesn't even look at him, despite still trying to drag him along.

"I'm really really sorry," she apologizes, and she is, all contrite, and a little embarrassed, and completely out of sorts. "But I don't want to be alone right now, and I'll make it up to you, I promise. Besides, aren't you a grumpy sort?" All the teasing of strangers, this is how she gets into danger clearly. "It might help~!"

His brows furrow at the grumpy sort comment because this blonde woman doesn't know who he is. She's not Clara or Bill of even Nardole for that matter. "Aren't couple massages for people that like getting them together? If one of the parties doesn't want to be touched they probably aren't going to get a massage."

And then he realizes that his earlier thought was right. Sort of. She knows him, she just doesn't know this face or this voice. There's a recognition in his eyes and he stops in his tracks. The first face Sandshoes had seen. The face that helped soothe Ears' soul when he had still been running from the War Doctor. "Rose Tyler?"

Edited 2022-09-23 16:42 (UTC)

"It's automated, like those massage chairs at malls--"

He knows her name. He clearly recognizes her. She stops to look up at him. A head tilt. Scottish? Does she glomp him? She's a million kinds of terse, because what if it's not the Doctor? What if she just wants it to be? She almost said even to others she didn't know what face he would have when he found her, but she knew he would. He always did. What happened? Why did he regenerate? How long did he have to wait or look for her?

She's a lot more innocent than the last time the Doctor saw her. Well before the daleks' void ship and thus even more before Bad Wolf Bay and seeing the end of the world or the Doctor's death several hundred times.

Still... there's something about the way he says her name, that she thinks no one else in the universe, the multiverse could ever do. So she glomps him anyway. But quickly drops it, just in case he can't deal with it, because she really has no idea how long it's been. How many faces. And the discussion outside the school still rings in her head. "You've gone Scottish?" even more relevant than the grey hair and eyebrows. She wants to cry and she doesn't know why. Relief, maybe? That's silly. What is there to fear? Just another adventure, right? She stubbornly holds his hand in hers, and he's going to have to pry it back from her now.

"How... How are you?" She bites her bottom lip. Those eyes have seen things more than the face. And they can't have all been good, and there's no way she lived long enough... probably. Almost definitely. "Um." A deep breath. "I don't need spa day. Just knowing you're here... helps." A wry grin, like her offer to see extra sunsets with him. Better with two.

Her arms being thrown around him bring a wave of nostalgia - but this body of his is so different from Sandshoes and even at the end of it all, it tends to stiffen awkwardly when confronted with hugs. His arms flail slightly but thankfully Rose lets go and moves to hold his hand instead. His body still reacts slightly but his mind begs him to hold on at least for a little longer.

The surprise is palpable on his face that she recognizes him as quickly as she does. He doesn’t even wear Bowtie’s face which was younger but still held more similarities than this one does.

But he’s not going to question a gift on this ship.

“Yes, finally.” Or again, rather, but that was a time before she had known him. “And well that’s a bit of a question, isn’t it?” He doesn’t know where to start. “I’m here and in one piece.” Mostly. But he needs to know something else because the last he had seen her was on the beaches of Bad Wolf Bay when he had said goodbye for the last time. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

"Finally?"

She face scrunches and giggles... and sighs. She really wants to lie to him. But it's so thoroughly pointless, isn't it?

If she tells him the truth, he'll keep secrets from her -- more than even USUAL, and if she lies, he'll know right away. Couldn't she just ask more questions??? No?

SIGH.

She can't even just glomp him and act like she hasn't seen him in forever. Damn it.

A face palm. "Just got back from Pete's universe after leaving Micks there." Grrrr. He's going to get all distant and act like she's the past's problem, and --

Whatever. It's fine. She'll deal. "Guess I better get used to not getting what I want." She'll let go of his hand in a little bit. Maybe. Maybe.

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Rose Tyler you've won an all-expenses paid luxury cruise populated by ghosts COME ON DOWN

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spa therapy

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