✧ 06 ✧

[bonnypiperlad]

[The snow falls in great flakes from the sky, covering the walkway that's sprung up out in the lake. The one that connects to what looks like some sort of tomb, with a stylized metal man of some sort on the wall outside the great, heavy doors. It has voices, as well, drifting out into the cold - a young girl and a man, both with English accents.]

You look very nice in that dress, Victoria.

Thank you. Don't you think it's a bit...?

A bit short? Oh I shouldn't worry about that, look at Jamie's.

[From the expression on Jamie's face, the girl's voice strikes some sort of cord deep inside - and his own reply is barely a murmur.]

Victoria...

[Some time passes before he notices the footprints, but once he does, he - like everyone else - starts to follow them, eventually making his way to the fire in the observation deck. As he's rubbing his hands to try and warm them, he looks up to see that question scrawled across the many screens in the area.]

Och, that can't be good.

(OOC: Feel free to run into Jamie at the Cyberman's tomb or on the way to the observation deck or at the deck itself. Just let me know which in your reply!)

Comments

[desertdaggers]

Yeah. [He drops his hand, pressing his lips together for a moment.] They found and brought me up, so… yes.

[bonnypiperlad]

Ah. I'll not say as I've heard of a whole guild of thieves before, but I suppose most people aren't supposed to know about such a thing.

[He doesn't seem terribly upset about the idea, just mildly curious - and maybe more concerned about this whole compulsion thing.]

Do ye still feel like ye need to talk about it any, now?

[desertdaggers]

It does make it trickier the more people know about you! The Guild's meant to work from the shadows, after all.

[It's fairly worrying, though at least it doesn't seem to be more than saying things. Hawk considers it for a moment, then shakes his head.]

No, I don't think so. Though… may I ask you to tell me something you've done, in turn?

[bonnypiperlad]

[He's willing to provide something in turn already, but he's still not expecting the compulsion that grips him and doesn't let go until he's said the three things.]

I nearly got the Doctor killed because I'd not said where he was.
I've never seen a unicorn.
I dressed up as a woman guard while we were in a prison in space, just so we could get our clothes back.

[Jamie grimaces after he's done.] I think I see what ye mean about being compelled.

[desertdaggers]

[He'd rather hoped the wording would throw the compulsion off, but apparently not, and Hawk meets Jamie's grimace with one of his own.]

Yeah. I hoped maybe that was different enough you wouldn't feel it, but…

[bonnypiperlad]

Apparently not. [He shivers, rubbing at his arms.]

It's bad enough that we've gone through that, and now we're forced to blurt out things we'd not wanted to say? This place just gets worse.

[desertdaggers]

It really has topped itself, hasn't it? [smiling bitterly, but it soon changes to a look of concern] Are you alright?

[bonnypiperlad]

[For a moment, he debates about if he wants to say anything, but decides to admit it anyway.]

Well, if you must know, I'm still a bit cold. That fire doesn't seem to be doing much. What's the point of having a fire when it won't warm ye up? Then again, I suppose ye could say the same thing about what just happened.

[desertdaggers]

Very true. [He frowns, looking between the fire and Jamie.] I wonder… if the question's there, and it makes you ask it…

[he drums his fingers against his side for a few moments] …did you really dress up as a guard to get your clothes back?

[bonnypiperlad]

[There is a very, very long pause before Jamie says anything, and the very observant might notice a certain translucency about his fingertips, although it's hard to see given he keeps trying to tuck his hands under his arms. Finally, though, he does open up his mouth again.]

...Yes. But it was the Doctor's idea, not mine.

[desertdaggers]

[…ah. Maybe that wasn't the best topic choice after all. Still, he'll go with it as much as he can- one statement doesn't appear to be making much of a difference, though he watches Jamie's hands. Hawk scratches behind one ear, and nods.]

Mm, I didn't actually imagine you would've. Or only as a last resort! [he tilts his head for a moment, thinking.] How long had you known him at that point?

[bonnypiperlad]

The Doctor? A couple of years by then, I'd say. It was when were were travelling with Zoe. And...well. It'd not have been the first time I've had to put on some sort of disguise.

[So far so good. He doesn't seem to be getting any worse, anyway.]

[desertdaggers]

[he nods] Zoe? What other kinds of occasions have called for disguises?

[Well… that's something, at least.]

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye. She joined us after Victoria had left. Tried to sneak aboard the TARDIS by hiding in a chest the Doctor used to have there. [He's not exaggerating at all. Zoe was a wee little thing.]

There was a time where we were in England, during the reign of King James the First. We had to dress up as laundry maids to sneak into the King's quarters, and Zoe thought it'd be better if she did it, since she was a lassie and all. But the Doctor would have none of it, so it was the two of us instead. We looked like a couple of auld fishwives.

[He pulls a face, but some color is returning to his hands.]

[desertdaggers]

[he whistles] And it worked, I take it? How many people have you and the Doctor travelled with?

England… is that the country you were fighting against? [he can't help a snicker, imagining that.] Sounds as though it worked quite well, then! What did you need to be in there for?

[that's good, and a sign that his thought about the two things was probably right. Hawk offers a quick smile.] Feeling warmer now?

[bonnypiperlad]

Ah, four. Ben and Polly at first, then Victoria, and Zoe after her.

[His brow arches at the snicker, but he nods anyway.] Aye, well, I was, but not at the time. It's...ah, complicated. But the reason we were there then was because we had to kidnap the king. We bundled him right into the basket of linens and took him out. The guards even helped us, if ye can believe that.

[As Hawk's question, he blinks in surprise. He hadn't really been thinking about it, but he does feel less cold now.] Say, I do feel warmer. Maybe that fire's starting to help after all.

[desertdaggers]

[he nods] Did you get along with them well?

You what? [eyebrows raising, and the incredulity doesn't stop there] They did? Why?

[another nod, and he glances briefly at the fire] That's good. I think… this seems as though it's to get us talking.

[bonnypiperlad]

[Oh, that's just great. His mouth pulls off to one side in disgust.]

Aye, well, they could've done with a better way of doing so than trying to freeze us to death.

[But as long as he's started talking, he might as well go on with it, right?] Well, then...do ye want to hear about how I got long with everyone or why we kidnapped the king?

[desertdaggers]

Mm… I wouldn't say it's exactly the most obvious solution. And what if we didn't talk? [he considers it for a moment, then dismisses it with a quick hand movement, fingers flat] Well, we've worked it out now. And hopefully it's not too much of a hardship for anyone.

Why you kidnapped the king, if you please! [he grins brightly]

[bonnypiperlad]

[Somehow, Jamie's not surprised - but his mouth pulls off to one side anyway.]

Och, I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that. All right, if ye must know, the reason for it was because he was supposed to flee the country, It was history, something that'd happened already in my time. It happened, so it always should've happened.

[The vaguely disgruntled expression he'd adopted turns rather more rueful then.] Only I'd managed to talk him out of it.

[desertdaggers]

[well, it does sound a bit more interesting.]

Ah… so that's why you weren't fighting them at the time. [His eyebrows raise.] How? Why was he fleeing the country? Discontent citizens?

[bonnypiperlad]

No, not because of the citizens. He was their king, and much beloved by many of of the people. It was other men in power who wanted him gone, people with religious views different than the King's.

And these other men gathered an army, but the King'd not wished to fight them, at least not before I'd arrived. So when that changed, history changed. Mine along with it.

[desertdaggers]

Ah. [He nods, understanding, and that raises his esteem of this King. Someone beloved by many people probably isn't as bad as others.] …different religious views? How so? [This is a strange concept for Hawk- there's minor variances in how people worship the Goddess, but not enough to start a war over.]

How did it change?

[bonnypiperlad]

I'm no so sure I can explain it fully, not being a man of God, but the King believed in a freedom of religion that the others'd not cared for so much. They wanted things to stay the way they were.

[He hopes Hawk can understand that much, at least. He's no theologian, and trying to explain the differences between Roman Catholics and the Church of England is a bit more than he can manage. The rest...well. That's even harder to explain, but he'll try.]

When the King fled the country originally, he'd not given up. He tried to get back what was his by right of birth, and his son tried as well, and then his grandson. During his grandson's time, there was a great battle near Culloden, and after that was the first time I'd seen the Doctor.

But since the King never fled, he never had to try and win back his crown, and the battle never happened...so I'd never met the Doctor in the first place. And because of that, I couldn't be back in England nearly sixty years earlier.

[desertdaggers]

I see. [He's still a little puzzled by the religion part, but people not wanting change… that definitely makes sense.]

[okay somehow time travel makes a bit more sense. Hawk nods, listening.]

So essentially, you wouldn't have been able to come back to change the King's mind in that case. And then… it loops, doesn't it?