001 [Good morning Baltimore]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Claudius doesn’t quite know what he was expecting, but he certainly wasn’t expecting this.]

Well… Well.

[He stands, hands shoved in his threadbare coat, and surveys the Plane – eyes narrowed in deep thought… He doesn’t seem very scared, simply quiet and very, very tired.]

[He’s been running for a long time]

How strange, how new… I must confess; I simply expected the Dragon when I wandered into that shop – or, failing that, an actual shop. But no, that’d be far too conventional for my sort of life.

[He laughs, even if it sounds like a mockery of a laugh, and falls to regarding the Plane again.]

It’s quite terribly bright here; but not from sunlight, curious…

[He tilts his head up to regard the stars and smiles; again, it’s a very dark sort of smile]

“But in this black Receptacle
Can be no Bode of Dawn”

[A brief pause, as he keeps studying, and then his face falls]

No… No, that only makes me think of him and I must break myself of that habit; I want to die happy not-

[A deep breath and then he calms himself, lowers his head to regard the Plane again with a return of that twisted smile]

Good day to anybody else that’s been dragged here, my name is Claudia- [He pauses for a second, his face twitching, and then quickly corrects himself,] –Claudius and I must admit to finding myself mildly confused by my surroundings. Can anybody tell me where I am?

[Another pause, as he considers that, and then his face brightens to a almost shining level.]

Is this death?

[He’s so very hopeful]

Comments

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River is eying him dubiously because whut. Dude, you have some seriously morbid tastes.] Didn't stop for Death.

[SHE CAN QUOTE EMILY DICKINSON RIGHT BACK AT YOU SIR.]

You're on a plane. There's pamphlets. [And she finds one for him and holds it out with her look like she's addressing the slow class. IT'S OKAY CLAUDIUS SHE'LL WARM UP TO YOU. She's just a brat and tends to meet a lot of people this way.]

[oliverplus]

[looks a little startled by that question--or just at how excited Claudius looks about the possibility] Whoa, nope, you're not dead! Welcome to the Astral Plane, Claudius. [waves as he walks over to him]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Claudius gives her a faintly surprised look for a few seconds, for in his experience most teenage girls know squat about Emily Dickinson (it's fun holding limited views), and then smirks slightly,] One of my favourites.

[He means to make a sarcastic comment on that, he really does... But then there's a pamphlet in his hand and, he is sorry, but he's a little busy blinking at the moment.]

...There are pamphlets?

[THEY'RE SUCH LOVELY PEOPLE~]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

A pity. [And he means it too, optimism is reaching new heights with Claudius!]

[He gives Oliver a brief look over as he approaches, tilts his head thoughtfully for a moment and then manages a slight smile. Don't worry, Oliver, it's not you - it's just that Claudius can be a rather miserable git these days,] The astral plane? Such a pretty name, is it common for people to randomly arrive here?

[oliverplus]

You'd rather be dead? [he can't help it; he looks Claudius in the eyes, in some degree of disbelief that he could be serious and wanting to check--if he can]

Yep! Happened to all of us at one time or another. But you can still go back home, too--if you want to. [and if Claudius really would rather be dead, Oliver wonders if he'd want to]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River makes one of her patented brat faces at him. YES OF COURSE SHE KNOWS EMILY DICKINSON. And she's about to surprise him a little more, maybe.]

Wěi​. (http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=yes)

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Claudius simply gives a little smirk and a shrug in response; closed off emotions, woo!]

Well, at least for once I'm not alone - it's rather a novelty, I must admit. How many people are here? [Yep, he'll just be neatly sidestepping the going home statement.]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Chinese! Why on earth did he never learn Chinese? Now he's trying to cover dismay, and succeeding for the most part.]

My, aren't you a accomplished little dear?

[Sarcasm helps with everything~]

[oliverplus]

[ooc: Just checking for clarity--Oliver can't read anything of Claudius' emotions, right?]

Really? [frowns. that sounds terribly sad...] You definitely won't be alone here! There are...maybe 50-60 people that I know of.

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Oh, sorry! Um, probably not - Claudius is forcing himself to have control currently <<]

[That frown touches him, just a little, but he shoves the feeling down quite forcefully - being touched won't help!] 50-60 people? My word, you'd think it'd be rather crowded here what with everybody in one place.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River is far too intuitive about such things, sadly, and she offers him a fairly unimpressed stare.] Read your pamphlet.

[oliverplus]

[ooc: Thanks!]

Oh, we're not all here at once! Like I said, you can go home.

[pauses before he asks this question, not sure about it, but he can't feel anything from Claudius, and he's getting used to that from Time Lords. Not to mention Claudius' appearance, and the fact that he knows people can come to the Plane who have lived different lives...]

Hey, uh...this might be a bit of a weird question, but you don't happen to know the Doctor, do you?

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Claudius shall jsut be returning her stare, HE HAS PRACTICE YOU KNOW~] Will it actually help?

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

Ah, of course - but if everybody were trapped at once there might be terrible confusion.

[Claudius pauses, and then slowly tilts his head to consider all the doctors he's met and, occasionally, eaten... But none of them have been quite worth that level of emphasis.]

I'm rather used to weird questions by this point. I'm afraid I haven't met him, no, may I ask why?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

It's faster than asking questions.

[OH, BURN~]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

That doesn't make it better than asking questions.

[WELL, SOMEBODY IS STUBBORN TONIGHT!]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

Don't have to answer.

[THAT'S OKAY, THEY'LL BE BRAT BIFFLES.]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

Now, dear, since when did being a brat get anything done?

[HE CAN TALK. And that sounds adorable, so must happen!]

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

I don't need anything done.

[SO THERE.]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

Yet another delusional person, I wonder if I have a magnet for them.

[HAH!]

[collector]

You know, there are a handful of people who might be able to answer that. Are you sure your surroundings are the only things confusing you?

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

The question about death? I'm not looking for a philosophical treatise, at least not today.

Oh, I'm confused about everything - but I prefer to focus my confusion occasionally; it gives me such a sense of power.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Her eyes narrows, because oh no. Oh no you did not.

And then she raises her foot to deliberately stomp it down on his. SHE DOES NOT APPRECIATE BEING CALLED DELUSIONAL >|]

[gavesomuch.livejournal.com]

[Luckily Claudius is a vampire and so he does not scream or anything so undignified. He does, however, yelp quite loudly. THAT WAS A UNEXPECTED AMOUNT OF FORCE.]

Oh, you've obviously won prizes for your maturity.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[THAT IS BECAUSE RIVER IS TEN POUNDS OF CRAZY IN A FIVE POUND BAG.

And she does not look at all sorry about that. Flatly:] They called me Little Mouse.