002 [The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time]

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

[For obvious reasons, Leela hasn’t seen the sign. She doesn’t realise that the keepers of the Plane are trying to treat her and she wouldn’t have appreciated the gesture even if she had.]

This ‘machine’ is broken. I can’t return to Gallifrey!

[She looks worried as well as furious. If she can’t get back to Gallifrey, she can’t get back to her place at Romana’s side.]

I knew I should not have returned to this place …

[Despite herself, she'd been curious, but the warrior would never forgive herself if something happened to Romana while she was gone.]

Comments

[oliverplus]

Leela, what do you mean? Where'd you go when you left the Plane?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

I do not know! [She is desperately, furiously frustrated.] I was sent to a place I do not recognise.

[oliverplus]

Okay, okay, calm down. Take a deep breath. What was it like, where you went?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

Quiet. Too quiet. I could hear the wind in the trees and I could hear bird song, but there were no people.

[And none of the sounds of war that she'd grown accustomed to hearing on Gallifrey.]

[oliverplus]

Okay, that's...weird. But if it's the Plane doing it, it's probably just temporary. Most things are.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

You haven't been affected, Oliver?

[oliverplus]

No. Well...not yet. I don't go home that often. Actually, just a mo'. [drops off the Plane, coming back almost immediately] Nope, still Gondovan for me.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

'Gondovan'?

[lovethepossum.livejournal.com]

But this place is nice! [Here, have a Cally with a rather curious looking possum on her shoulder - don't worry, she does it to everybody.]

...Where's Gallifrey?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

[She can't see Cally - or the possum, for that matter - but Leela turns when she hears the unfamiliar voice, both cautious and hostile.]

It is the planet I should be living on.

[lovethepossum.livejournal.com]

[Cally would feel very sorry about the blindness if she knew - not about not being able to see her, or the world, but about the possums! A life without possums is not worth living.]

Huh, that's odd... Is is a nice enough place? Y'know, with, like, deserts an' unicorns an' rainbows an' stuff?

[The unicorns are fairly important.]

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

[Leela is trying to decide if this girl is mad or dangerous or both.]

I don't know. I haven't looked for them.

[lovethepossum.livejournal.com]

[Oh, just mad - she revels in such a state.]

Well, you should when you have a free moment! But is it nice besides that?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

I ... I suppose so, yes.

[Which almost makes it worse.]

[collector]

So we're starting to see a pattern, then. Are you at all familiar with where you're going?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

No. It was like the planet I was born on, but it was different, somehow. And too quiet.

[collector]

Any people around you could ask? If not, I might be able to get something if you can find me a sample of the plant life.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

If there are, they are well hidden.

[collector]

There's no knowing how long you'll remain there. [and then a brief, slight smile] Though I think you're one of the people I'd worry the least about being left on her own in unknown territory.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

I do not fear a fight.

[But that wasn't the point.]

Will time pass on Gallifrey while I am trapped? It doesn't pass on the Plane.

[collector]

I don't know. I can look into it for you. See what I find.

[By that, he means he can have a word with one of his future selves and see if he has any record of Leela vanishing for a brief period. But even with his transgressions of the Laws revealed, he is not willing to speak of them easily. A little needless mysteriousness never hurt anyone.]

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

[concerned] If your reality has changed so drastically, perhaps it is safer for you to stay here for the time being.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

It is not my reality.

[And then she remembers that none of this is Damon's fault and softens accordingly.]

I am sorry, Damon. But that planet is not Gallifrey. It is not where I am supposed to be.

[That was the problem, not how dangerous it might or might not have been. In different circumstances, she'd probably have enjoyed the visit.]

[doctorsfanboy.livejournal.com]

[frowns] Realities can change, Leela. Like the computer room after my death, or like my merger with Jamie's universe. Apparently I can walk straight into the Doctor's console room from my closet.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

Then I will find another way to return.

'Merger'? What are these mergers?