[004].

[bonnypiperlad]

[Sure seems like the forest is getting a lot of foot traffic recently, doesn't it? This time, there's rather a lot of noise echoing out from it - almost like someone is blundering around and crashing into things. And there is a perhaps familiar Scottish voice that drifts out to any passersby.]

Try to murder a McCrimmon, will ye? CREAG AN TUIRE!

[More crashing and then...silence. For a short while, anyway. After a bit, Jamie comes stumbling into view, rubbing at his eyes with his hand. It's hard to see his face because of it.]

Ungh. What happened?

[He decides to drop the hand to take a look around, and it might be evident that something's off, for Jamie now looks to be about forty or so.]

Where is everyone? Doctor? Zoe?

((OOC: Starting Jamie's experiment! If you're not one of the Doctors, and haven't decided on a character, check here and please list your choice in the subject line? Otherwise it will be randomly picked. Thanks!))

Comments

[collector]

Oh, they're physically there, yes, or at least to an interactive capacity, I'm not really sure. But there are those who exist but lack a mind for imagination, ingenuity. You surely know some. The English, for example. It simply isn't them to do it. So the case may be that the fictions created cannot themselves create fiction.

[bonnypiperlad]

[Brax has a point about the English, in Jamie's opinion, and he nods in acknowledgment.] So if they can't create fiction, they don't have what's needed to run the land. And...ye won't live forever.

[firmly] But it's still not right to force the Doctor to take over for ye.

[collector]

No, I suppose it isn't. Might I enlist your help in finding an alternative?

[bonnypiperlad]

[That doesn't sound so bad - as long as he's not the one that has to take over.] Well...maybe. What would ye need me to do?

[collector]

I'll need to do a survey of possible candidates. And we mustn't look over my creations. They may well indeed be capable of creating stories. I've never really looked into it. Obviously we'll need to find a consenting candidate - abducting people is so much more trouble than it's worth - but that shouldn't be impossible.

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye, they might. Er...how long do ye think it would take? [He'd much rather get out of here sooner rather than later, and this all sounds like he might be at it for quite a bit.]

[collector]

It could be a while. Though, there's a way to make it shorter.

[bonnypiperlad]

Oh? And what would that be, then?

[collector]

There's a trick I could do to let you scan the longevity of whomever you happen to be speaking with. You can narrow down the subjects that way if you only speak to people who will live for two hundred years or longer.

[It is, of course, a blatant lie, but Braxiatel usually doesn't concern himself about those. What he's really interested in is lowering Jamie's guard enough to let him get a good look around and see if anything has been changed - and, furthermore, to see if Braxiatel himself can fix it.]

[bonnypiperlad]

A trick? [Even thought Jamie isn't entirely sure he can trust Brax at the moment, he considers the idea. Sure, the Master sent his creations after the Doctor, Zoe and himself, and they have gone through a lot of bother since they came here. But - at the same time, the Master is an old man. If something happened before they could find a replacement, they'd be stuck in the Land of Fiction forever.]

Aye, I'll do it. W...Will it hurt?

[collector]

Not at all. I just put my fingers to your temples and it's done.

[bonnypiperlad]

[He's a little skeptical that having fingers put to his temples is actually going to wind up giving him the ability to do that scanning thing, but it definitely doesn't sound painful. He shrugs.] If ye say so. Go ahead, then.

[collector]

[Braxiatel puts his fingers to Jamie's temples and starts hunting for anything that might have changed Jamie around.]

[bonnypiperlad]

[Braxiatel, after a bit of probing, should be able to find some patterns that would be consistent with someone who has recently undergone hypnosis and had a post-hypnotic suggestion implanted.

As the face-changing is surgical in nature, that likely wouldn't register unless for some reason Brax can determine if someone has also been unconscious for a period of time.]

[collector]

Ahh, I see. Mr McCrimmon, it seems your mind is a little more complicated to work with than that of a fictional construct. Not a surprise, really. But it will take a moment longer. Is that all right with you?

[And hopefully in that moment, he'll be able to unhook the suggestion and break Jamie out of this.]

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye, that's fi... [Jamie trails off as the suggestion is unhooked, his scrambled mind returning to normal. He grimaces, squeezing his eyes shut briefly, then rubs at them with a free hand. They pop back open and he looks at Brax rather confusedly.]

Wha...what's going on?

[collector]

[Braxiatel draws his hands away] Hello, Jamie. Do you remember who I am?

[bonnypiperlad]

[Jamie looks at Brax like he's quite possibly gone a bit daft.] Aye, of course I do. You're Irving Braxiatel. Why would I not remember that?

[collector]

A moment ago, you seemed to be under the impression that I was someone else entirely. [A slight frown marrs Braxiatel's expression of detached amusement as he glances over Jamie's face.] I suspect you have been the victim of someone's amusement. You wouldn't happen to carry a mirror on you, would you? I don't, though I really ought to.

[bonnypiperlad]

Amusement? [Annnd up go Jamie's eyebrows.] What, do ye think I'm some lassie who carries one around in her purse? No, I've not got a mirror on me. Why do ye ask?

[collector]

Not to alarm you, but we will be in need of a reconstructive surgeon.

[bonnypiperlad]

A what surgeon? [This time, it's not that he's confused by the word - he understands what it means. It's more of a question on why he would need a surgeon at all, let alone one of that type.]

Why?

[collector]

Let me get you a mirror. I usually have one around. [Braxiatel disappears and returns a bit later with a small hand mirror. He is wary of showing Jamie what he looks like, but then, one has to trust in another's good sense, and Jamie has travelled through a lot. Braxiatel offers the hand mirror to Jamie.]

[bonnypiperlad]

[Jamie takes the mirror, and his eyes widen a bit as he sees the reflection. He starts poking at his face, as if really making sure the wrinkles and lines are there, then hands the mirror back with a resigned sigh.] Aye, I see what ye mean. At least I look more like myself this time.

[collector]

This happens to you frequently?