Arrival [Open]// Come and show me another city with lifted head singing

It's not a good time to be arriving in Chicago. And it's certainly not a good time to be advertising that you aren't from around here. So when the question is posed to her, Helen glances around before answering.

"Chicago, but do keep your voice down." She looks nervous. Being away from the Sanctuary isn't something she enjoys these days. She's partially afraid for her own well being, but more concerned that someone might see her out and about and think it a good time to attack the building with all the residents left to defend themselves.

"I take it you've just arrived? Come with me." And she doesn't plan on taking no for an answers, so you may just want to follow, Doctor.

"Arrived. Is this a Thing, people arriving?" the Doctor asks, dropping his voice, but his expression was alert and curious. "Then, yes, I just arrived."

"I'll go with you, if you explain where we're going, and why you're so rattled." It seems the quickest way to getting information. He's followed all sorts of strange and possible dangerous people in order to figure out what's going on.

"A safe place. My home. I'll explain everything there, I promise" You'll just have to go with it, Doctor, because she's quite serious about this.

"I'm Helen, by the way. Dr. Helen Magnus. And you?" Pleasantries aren't exactly on the top of her list of priorities, but Helen hasn't completely forgotten her manners.

"The Doctor." He expects she'll question that as a name. Other doctors often did. But he's interested in the just how she might do that. For one thing, it tell him what kind of doctor she is.

"How do you know I'm safe?"

"Well, I'm a doctor, certainly." She just sort of misses the part where that was intended to be his name. There's too many other important things to discuss, so that confusion can be cleared up later.

"There's no way to be certain, but in the interest of not turning my back on someone potentially in need of assistance? I'll take my chances that any lack of safety you might present can be easily diffused." She arches an eyebrow. "Shall we?"

Amy has gotten used to life without the Doctor. Well, maybe not used to but she's accepted it's going to stay like that for a while. Well... Amy is ignoring the fact that she is currently sans Doctor. It makes her grumpy so she just pretends it hasn't happened. It's probably not the best way to go about things, but it's how she's coping. And she is coping. So that's good.

She's on her way back to the Tower from the shops when she spots him out of the corner of her eye. She's sleepy, having been up far too late reading in the library, so at first she simply blinks and shakes her head.

The rift has given her a power and dinosaurs and sent cartoon birds to annoy her, so she wouldn't put it past the rift to kick her in the soul with visions of the Doctor when he is clearly not there.

Except. Well. She doesn't care. Even if it's just a vision or a mirage or some weirdo that thinks bow ties are cool and isn't the Doctor. She doesn't care. The chance that it might actually be him is far too great to pass by.

"Doctor!" And she's off, running at top speed towards her very best friend. "Doctor!" Prepare for a hug to end all hugs.

The Doctor is very much there. He's just as unsure that she's not an apparition, when he spots her. He'd been so certain he'd never see Amelia Pond, ever again.

He can't help but hug her when she barrels into him, whether she's real or not. "Amy. Amy. Amelia." He sounds as stunned as he feels. Then he leans back enough to see her face, without letting her go.

"If you're here. How can you be here? No, better question. When's the last time you saw me?" His eyes search her face, looking for any sign that this isn't really her.

Oh that hug had been too short. Amy feels like she'd been waiting for the Doctor for ages, when in reality it's only been something more like a month and a half. She's used to waiting much longer than that, but in this place with nothing familiar, a month and a half feels so much longer than twelve years.

"A month ago." No, Amelia, don't be flippant. "You and Brian were just having tea on the TARDIS. We got a postcard from Siluria, which, by the way, how did you even post that? Do they have inter-universal post or something?"

This is not important and part of Amy knows she missed something important that the Doctor just said, but she's so happy that he's there, right in front of her, she doesn't care. Stupid bow tie and all, her Doctor. Then it clicks and her smile falters a little. "You look older."

The Doctor makes an indignant face, scrunching up his nose. "I look older? How do I look older? You make it sound like I've got grey hair and wrinkles and that is most definitely not true."

She's right, though. He is older. Worse, he's sadder. River has asked him not to travel alone, and yet he still misses the Ponds too much to bear to seriously ask anyone else along. Except for River, of course, but she's a Pond as well. One he hasn't lost yet. He changes his mind, day to day, whether already knowing how and why he'll lose her is a comfort or that much worse.

Amy gives him the most bland look. He is her very best friend in all the universe, in multiple universes, in each and every universe, the Doctor is Amelia Pond's best friend and he's hiding something from her, she knows that now. Because that face, that reaction is so familiar to her.

He knows something she doesn't want to know, like the picnic at Lake Silencio, like when he left her and Rory back on Earth and took off without them. She doesn't want to know whatever he's hiding, but not knowing is worse. It always is.

She frowns at him, her eyes searching his face, looking for clues in those old eyes and that ridiculous bow tie.

"How old are you?"

"1276," he answers breezily.

Well, it sounds good. Subtract 900 from that you might get something close to how it's been for him since he first sealed that Time Lock to keep Gallifrey from unraveling the rest of the universe. Maybe. He's not sure.

"You are older!" Amy says it like she's won something. Slowly, the age difference settles into her head and her heart sinks a little. How can she be there, that was what he had asked. Which meant he didn't realize she was gone or she hadn't been with him when he'd appeared in Chicago or something.

"Doctor." She sounds calm, which is the most common indicator that she is most definitely not. She hasn't even begun to delve into her lack of calm because she hasn't asked about Rory yet. Mostly because she wants to remain in denial for a while longer. "When was the last time you saw me?"

"Might be best not to say. You know." hewaves a hand away from himself, vaguely. "Spoilers." It had been infuriating the first time River had used that line on him, but it really was terribly useful for dodging all sorts of things.

The Doctor looks around. "Is Rory about?" Amy can't be here because the Weeping Angel had tossed her somewhere Rory wasn't, he reminds himself. He'd read Amy's afterword to him. They'd been together. They'd been happy.

Although - a creeping sense of dread rises. Anyone could have written those pages. River could have. An extravagant lie to make him feel better. But it had felt like Amy's words.

Spoilers. Really, Amy is going to have to have a talk with River about that, the Doctor shouldn't be able to use it on her. She is about to tell him where exactly he can put his spoilers when she hears his next question.

She has been dealing... badly. Denial is not dealing and Amy has been firmly ensconcing in her little river of denial. It's a nice place to be really. pretending everything is fine. The only time she stopped was writing in her journal and when Martha and Charlie had told her that she was stuck, indefinitely, without Rory. It always ends in tears and that isn't how Amy rolls.

"He's..." She takes a breath, shaky, and looks down, inspecting her shoes so the Doctor won't be able to look her in the eye. "He's not here."

"Oh, Pond."

The Doctor tugs her gently towards him, intent on hugging some more. Amy without Rory was Wrong with a capital W. It was River who's seen that clearly, when he'd selfishly tried to hold onto Amy, in New York.

"You said...you did say I'd dropped you off at home, right? How long have you been here?"

Oh Amy can do with some hugs, specifically Doctor shaped hugs. She needs her Doctor shaped hugs, her raggedy man, her best friend. Even just a hug, coming from him, is enough to ground her, to keep her from thinking that everything was just a dream. A really fabulous, incredibly, unimaginable dream.

At the same time, it's another reminder that Rory isn't there. She just can't win.

"A month and a fortnight." 44 days. She isn't keeping track, per se, it just happens that she numbers the pages she writes in her journal and she was most recently at 43. "Timelines are a bit skewed, aren't they?"

"Something's a bit off, yes."

He keeps hold of this time, partly so she can't see his face while he tries to think things through more. Also, because even if this is somehow not-Amy, a dream, a replica, or some possibility he hasn't thought of yet, he has to treat her the same. He simply has to, to be the same person she'd once said was that twice the man she'd thought he was.

Amy is too... consumed, with happiness, sorrow, worry, to even contemplate that the Doctor isn't the Doctor. But she had actually learned from the Gangers and from the Autons -- if he is a Ganger Doctor or a dream Doctor or some plastic replica of the Doctor made from her memories, he is still her Doctor.

"Raggedy man, I missed you."

Hearing someone's voice made Ziva turn around to face the person who is speaking to her. Or at least someone who needs some sort of direction or help, no matter who happened to be the first person that passed him.

"Yes? You are new here too?" Ziva looks at him curiously. Thank god she isn't the only one to have found herself recently here -- at least it's reassuring to know it isn't just her in the same situation. She's still trying to figure things out about her new environment here.

"I believe we are in Chicago, USA. It looks to be, anyway, so I am assuming that is correct. How did you ... arrive here ... if I may ask? I only recently got here myself, and I cannot honestly say I remember how exactly that happened, so to see someone else as a new arrival is somewhat reassuring to me. I had started to think I was losing my mind," Which, maybe she is. Still, she'd rather not think that she is.

"Might look like Chicago, but it's...not quite right." The Doctor wrinkles his nose.

"I'm not quite sure how I got here, either. Or, if, as you alluded to, if there's a physical here to be." He waves a hand about 6 inches from his face, checking for any tale-tale signs of a holograph environment.

"No odd sounds when you found yourself here? Vertigo? Taste of ozone?"

"No, it is not, I agree," Ziva replies. She hadn't thought anything was quite right about her arrival.

"I was just not here, and then I was here. Whatever the process was to get here, it was quick ... or, I think it was, anyway. Specifics, if there were ever any to begin with, have been lost on me now. Which might not be helpful to you in figuring this out, I know," Ziva replies.

"Although, while we are here -- my name is Ziva, by the way,"

"Pleased to you, Ziva." The Doctor beams at her, like she really is amazing, just for standing there.

"I'm the Doctor. I imagine you can tell me at least one thing that might be helpful. Where were you before you found yourself here? And when?"

"Likewise, Doctor," She says, smiling back.

"Well, I was working on a case with my team. Well, not my team, but the team I was assigned to. My boss's team, technically. Then I wasn't with them anymore, and found myself here. Somehow I lost my berry mango madness drink in the process too, but that is just a minor detail in the long run, I suppose," She sighs, still terribly confused about this.

"And what was your pre-and-post arrival experiences? Similar?" She's sort of assuming that people are having at least somewhat similar experiences relating to this ... world.

"Somewhat. Nothing so obvious as a transmat, so I'm not sure...wait. Your drink. It was in your hand?"

"Yeah, I must have dropped it before officially arriving here. I am assuming that is what happened, although strange. Unless I am not the only one who loses things on the way? Other than that, I am intact,"

Turning to face the Doctor is a familiar face. At least, it would be one way. The other, not so much. Wearing a suit, and apparently armed if he ended up getting screwdriver scanned, Ianto seemed relatively unchanged in this new environment.

"Chicago. And... Let me guess, you turned up here quite suddenly?"

For Ianto it had been a step through a doorframe. One minute he's walking into the Thames Building and the next, into a crowded ball room filled with rift refugees.

He waits for an answer before going further. You know. Just in case this odd fellow is CLF.

The Doctor tilts his head slightly, a little startled by a face he knows.

"Ah. Yes. Not precisely unusual for me, and it doesn't sound like for you, either. Well, no, it wouldn't be, would it? Happens around rifts, but this isn't Cardiff. Actually." He lifts a finger to punctuate the pause. "Let me back up. You're Ianto Jones, aren't you?"

Okay so he should be calm but it's unsettling to have someone know his name. He shifts a little in stance, going stiff.

"...You know about the rift in Cardiff?" Tentatively. "And yes, I am. And you are...?"

After a pause, he adds.

"I'm wondering if the Cardiff rift spread somehow. I was pulled from all the way in London."

"Doubt it. I wasn't even anywhere on Earth. Probably a whole other thing."

Then his brain catches up with Ianto's question. "Oh! Right. Different face since the last time I saw you. I'm the Doctor."

Confirmation that the Cardiff rift wasn't actively responsible was new information and it's pretty clear Ianto is appreciative.

"I was beginning to come to that conclusion but you're the first person I've confirmed wasn't on Earth fir-- ....Doctor? Oh Doctor you have no idea what a relief it is to see you!"

Oh man his face lights up then. There's a grin, a pause, and then a clear 'fuckit' look and he's pulling the man into a hug.

Oh, well, hugs. The Doctor will gladly take hugs, even if he's a touch confused by them, and hug warmly back. Ianto was, after all, one of Jack's team, and helped the Doctor save the multi-verse once.

"Good? Um. That is....any particular reason why you're so happy to see me, Mr. Jones? Aside from general me-ness. Not Dalek level trouble around, is there?"

"Well no, not exactly. But there's a multitude of rift nonsense and there's only one other person I've felt confident working with." Wait for it. "Martha Jones is here."

Also, he's weirded out by the rift changes. Also, also, sorry Doctor, but he and Amy never discussed you so he doesn't think to mention the cute ginger girl.

The Doctor's eyes go wide. "Martha's here?"

After a second he grins widely, partly to cover that he's not quite sure how he feels about that. Ianto is familiar, but Martha knows the Doctor far better, and what a mess he is sometimes. Worse, he'd been sort of awful to her, in the throws of grief for other people he's lost. She doesn't need to be around him so soon after Amy and Rory disappearing out of his life for good. Or is that partly because he doesn't want her calling him out, if he's a prat again? He ignores that stray thought.

"That's great! Good old dependable Martha. What's going on that's got the two of you - two Joneses working together no less - worried?"

Ianto nods enthusiastically, apparently missing that moment of something else in the Doctor's face. The more people he's found that he knows, the easier adjusting proves be. He wasn't a seasoned traveler like the companions and Time Lord so new places take him a bit. Ianto has to know a place before he can settle.

"Getting home seems to be near impossible. Nothing anyone has tried works, including just trying to keep it from taking more. Add to that, the locals of Chicago have started a rather violent movement against the riftees... the wanderers as they're called."

"You mean it's a large enough group of people who have come through the Rift to be a visible community?" The Doctor shakes his head, grimacing. "And this is a big city. Knee jerk reactions outsiders, ok, happens, which it didn't - but is there something specific that kicked off the violence?"

"Visible? They're united and even have a generalized term. We make up the 'wanderers' contingent."

A pause. Leave it to the Doctor to be so damned bright that it's not five minutes and he's getting a handle on the situation. Ianto will answer, fused with his own cynical interpretation of events.

"Yes. Right around the time I arrived, a native's parents were slaughtered. The blame fell on the wanderers, though to be honest? I would just as likely believe that it was a member of the native CLF that did it to spark ill tensions."

"And who's the CLF when they're at home?" the Doctor asks, sounding annoyed. Not at Ianto specifically, more the universe at large.

"They're the Chicago Liberation Front. I'll let you use your imagination as to their less than civil tactics."

Rose had been from another reality entirely the last time they'd all met. Ianto can't help but hope that the experience the Doctor's gained since will inevitably lead to their being returned home. Well, those who wanted to go. For him, nothing waited on the other side.

Arrival [Open]// Come and show me another city with lifted head singing

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OMG that icon. ILU. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVELY.

The latest thank you ever.

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