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?

[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?

[collector]

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

[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.

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

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

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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]

'Gondovan'?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

If there are, they are well hidden.

[oliverplus]

Yeah, that's the planet where I live. It's still where I go when I leave the Plane.

[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.

[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]

Can you tell me of Gondovan?

[It wasn't the best attempt at nonchalance, but at least the question was motivated by curiosity as well as a need to distract herself.]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

[oliverplus]

Uh...sure, if you'd like. It's 2618 there, and Gondovan's a little desert planet on the Rim of the Earth Empire. Not much of it is colonised. I live in the only big city--Gondolla. Since we're on the Rim, we're close to the War there, but just far enough out of reach that Gondovan's a popular place for refugees to settle. That's basically what it is, really. A refugee society. I help refugees get resettled there.

Is...that basically what you wanted to know?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

Then I will find another way to return.

'Merger'? What are these mergers?

[anoblesavage.livejournal.com]

It is more than enough. [And enough to make her smile, too.] You fight in this war, then, even if you are not a warrior. You look after those that have been pushed out by the battle.

[oliverplus]

[scratches his head, embarrassed] Yeah, you could say that. I like to help people as much as I can.

You said you're a bodyguard for Romana, right? That's gotta be a busy job.