Emergency Landing (Blue/Open to Torchwood)

[The Corsair]

TARDISes don't crash. Not if you know how to pilot them properly, anyway.

They do, however, make emergency landings while half their navigation circuits are on fire and therefore not responding. This was one of those times.

It was entirely possible that they could have materialised half-inside a wall... or worse, a person. That wouldn't have done much harm to the TARDIS or her passenger, but it would have been kind of hard to explain to the owner of said wall... or body. Especially if half the body in question was missing because the TARDIS' materialisation sequence disintegrated it.

But that wasn't very likely... and it really wasn't the problem, right now.

No, the biggest problems for this particular Time Lord were the mortal wound in his side, from which he was losing blood at an alarming rate, and the catastrophic damage that his TARDIS had taken during the fight. He had very little time left, and he was trying desperately to save his ship before he expired himself.

He just managed to seal the fuel cells with a few seconds left before they went critical.

"Well, anyone with scanners will have seen that..." he grumbled, his voice more of a hiss than anything else, in his current form.

Lizard hadn't been as good an idea as he'd thought at the time. Most human and Gallifreyan speech was a chore with these vocal chords, and blending in had been a right pain, even with the camouflage mechanism in his skin. Not to mention the entirely androgynous nature of the species he had chosen to mimic, which had led more than a few people to think he was female... although that part he really hadn't minded so much.

He slumped weakly against the console, reaching to flick one final switch that would add a universal-distress-beacon on top of the non-hazardous but very obvious radiation signature the engines had put out.

And then he finally gave in.

Instead of sliding down to the floor, as any other race would upon succumbing to death, he staggered backwards. Golden light began to shimmer over his body. He loved this moment, never sought it but still relished every second as the change began to take hold... after all, what greater adventure is there than death?

And then he let out a scream as the Regeneration energy surged and erupted from his arms, mouth and eyes, brilliant gold drowning out the dull red emergency-lighting of the control room.

[Blue]

There was not a time Blue looked forward to the most as he did the end of his shift.

He grabbed his coat silently, hurrying out of the bank before anybody could stop him. He had things to do - stopping by the grocery for more cupped ramen, buying cat food for the stray, and passing out on the living room sofa. He tightened his coat around his body, these three goals in his mind as he walked briskly down the street.

"Did you hear that?"

Blue froze mid-step, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "I didn't hear anything," he said curtly. He side-stepped past the old lady and was prepared to zone out when he did hear it. A noise that grated his ears and made shivers run down the Djinn's spine. It sounded like mechanical death. He glanced suspiciously at the woman and turned into an alley.

Taking the form of a cat, he followed the noise quickly. A harsh smell entered his nose. The cat's nose twitched as he entered the field where the noise had stopped. His eyes landed on the smoking contraption. He looked around to make sure there were no other bystands watching the display. Determining that there were none, he turned into his human form.

He waited for the dust to settle before moving closer to the... spaceship? Blue's head tilted to the side, a smile cracking at his lips. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, crossing his arms. This was either a movie shoot or the result of a clumsy alien. He walked within touching distance of the ship and looked around for a door. "Cardiff isn't a good place to touch down here, buddy. Lots of fanatics," Blue said, more to himself than actually believing anybody could hear him.

He had been tilted over the ship when he heard the screams. He took his hands of the ship, regarding it curiously.

ooc| ... I am very sorry that I made you wait that long for such a craptastic post. D:

[The Corsair]

She couldn't remember how she got here. Where she was, or even who she was.

She was definitely a woman, that much was clear upon sitting up slowly for the first time on the cold metal floor. It didn't seem particularly ordinary to her, but it was a fact, unlike any kind of memory right now.

She was, however, dressed like a man, in clothes designed for someone a few inches taller with much longer arms.

Instinct led her to reach for the wide-brimmed hat that was sitting next to her. She carefully picked it up to find a lot of interesting baubles attached to it. Useful-looking things, including bits of string and several jewelled brooches fastened around it... along with something flashing blue light, which she was quite sure was Very Important to her.

Hat important. Blue light-thing doubly so. Noted.

She rolled up the too-long sleeves of her white shirt, and tied them there with some of the string. Then after a moment's though pulled a particularly pretty ruby brooch from the hat, and used it to fasten the shirt- which while perfectly decent was a bit lower-cut than she liked- in a more modest place across her chest.

Further examination of her attire showed a knife in one of her boots, a small holdout laser in the other, and a flat rectangular device with steady blue and red lights fastened to her thick leather belt. The weapons, she disregarded as practical but not especially important. The item on her belt, she didn't care as much for it as the one in her hat, but it also felt valuable on some level.

That assessed, she then stared around the familiar room she couldn't identify. Very familiar. This felt like home and it felt like freedom.

The smoke in the air told her something was broken, but she couldn't remember what.

Then she coughed, and gold light shimmered in the air before her. She stared at this light. There was a word, on the tip of her tongue... re-something. Re-storation? Re-birth? Re... Regeneration! That was it!

She jumped up very suddenly at that realisation, and found herself stumbling a bit. Not for the boots- those still fit her rather dainty feet perfectly- no, it was something else.

Her legs felt wrong. Her hips moved differently.

Where's a mirror when you need one?

It took a few tries for her to get the hang of walking, and when she did it was with far more of a saunter than the swagger she was aiming for. Oh well, she would have to work on it.

More important things to figure out... like her name, where she was, and why she was here.

There was a particularly exotic swear-word in her native language, which she quite vehemently directed at amnesia. Then she looked at the circular console in the centre of the room.

TARDIS.

Okay, that was just ingrained, or something... as obvious as her knowledge of the word 'boot' or 'hat'. Or 'coat'. There was a coat hanging over a nearby railing, and she was quite certain it was hers.

With hat and coat now on, she gave one more look at the slightly-smoking console, an apologetic and sad expression, "Need spare parts." she said, directing her words to the console itself, "I'll just go see if I can find any outside." She turned to the door, adding to herself, "Or if the air's breathable, for that matter."

And with that she swung the doors open and didn't hesitate to check it was safe before striding out of her TARDIS.

---

((OOC: The blue-light-thing attached to her hat is her equivalent of a sonic/laser screwdriver/lipstick/whatever, the exact nature of which I'm still debating. The item on her belt is her Vortex Manipulator. Both of these are described so vaguely because she can't remember what they are right now, but I’m sure some people might recognise at least one of them ))

[Blue]

Blue had just about gathered his nerves when the doors to the spaceship flung open. Startled, he stumbled backwards to avoid being hit. He transformed into a cat, more out of habit than anything. He sat on the ground haughtily, glaring up at the woman who tried to bust his face open with a door.

And then the bizarre nature of this entire thing struck him.

A pirate woman strutting out of an UFO.

His tail flicked moodily. He could sense that she wasn't human; it wasn't anything too bizarre, especially not in Cardiff as of late. Aliens were a fact of life. This alien, however, was different. It wasn't one of the brutal things running through the sewers. It wasn't that annoying man in the blue box (although she did faintly smell like him; perhaps they were from the same place?). And she definitely did not remind him of the fat, baby-faced green things that sometimes wandered into the bank.

"You're going to draw more attention to yourself than it's worth with an outfit like that," he said lazily, stretching out languidly in front of her. "Fashion faux-pas aside, however, what are you?" the cat asked.

ooc| If you need me to make this post longer or whatever you can just tell me. XD I realize that you can't make something out of nothing, and this is 1/3 of nothing.

[/size]

[The Corsair]

The woman stopped and stared down at the source of the voice. And she continued to stare for half a second, before finally saying very bluntly. "Talking cat. Why am I less surprised?"

She frowned in mild confusion, and then slowly knelt down so that she was at a more comfortable level to talk to the cat.

"These are the only clothes I seem to have, although as I have little to no memory at all, I could be mistaken here." she said by way of both a retort to his remark on her attire, and an answer to the what-are-you query, as well. "Tell me, friend, is it entirely normal for felines to converse with humanoids on this planet?"

[Blue]

Talking cat. Why am I less surprised?

Blue shrugged the feline shoulders as best he could. "Probably because you've seen stranger things?" he suggested with a yawn. "You're a pirate coming out of a spaceship. I'm not the only strange thing in this situation."

His claws extended out of habit as she knelt closer. The fur on his back rose sligihtly and his tail waved back and forth. He rose to his feet and took a few steps backwards to avoid the woman if she decided to snatch his poor, defenseless little kitty body up. Not that that had happened before, but she gave him the distinct feeling that she wasn't all there.

These are the only clothes I seem to find, although as I have little to no memory at all, I could be mistaken.

"Are you okay?" he asked, glancing towards the ship she had come out of. "Did you hit your head when you crashed? Should you be going to the hospital?" he fretted. She didn't look too injured; besides the clothes she was wearing seemed.. a little worse for wear. But he wasn't a head-injury expert.

Tell me, friend, is it entirely normal for felines to converse with humanoids on this planet?

He chuckled. "You landed on Earth, if you didn't know," he informed her. "And no, cats don't usually speak. They are reknown for clawing and biting humans until they get what they want. I'm one of the more eloquent cats," he answered. "When I am a cat, that is."[/size]

[The Corsair]

The woman recognised the defensive behaviour, when the cat backed away, and didn't try to pursue or capture it. In fact, she became rather careful not to make any further sudden moves.

"I rather doubt a hospital would help, and I'm quite sure I would have a headache if injury were the cause of my amnesia." she told him, quite casually really. A moment's thought, and she added, "Besides, I seem to have an aversion to medical facilities in general."

An odd memory crossed her mind, flashes of steel, a lot of blood, and men shouting. Someone else using the word 'pirate' in a much more derogatory tone. She looked down at her own right forearm, hastily pulling up the sleeve... she was quite sure she had once been branded there. Branded a pirate, and how she loathed that word... but she also felt very wrong to see pale unmarred skin. The brand wasn't the point. There was something else missing, as well.

She frowned, looking back to the cat, "Earth? That sounds somewhat familiar... and I find I don't much like the word 'pirate'. It seems so... uncivilised."

She seemed to totally overlook his remark that he wasn't always a cat. Either it seemed entirely reasonable to her, or she had just been too distracted to notice.

[Blue]

"I rather doubt a hospital would help, and I'm quite sure I would have a headache if injury were the cause of my amnesia...besides, I seem to have an aversion to medical facilities in general."

"You're right about the injury," he agreed with a shake of his head. "The aversion to hospitals is understandable, especially if you're not quite human. They don't seem to enjoy when one's anatomy doesn't quite match up to what they are used to," Blue mused.

He tilted his head as she spoke about her disdain for the word pirate. "I beg your pardon," he said politely, "I meant no offense. Shall I use swashbuckling adventurer instead?" he teased. "As for this planet sounding familiar, Earth is a very popular planet for some strange inexplicable reason. It's quite possible you've been here before."

"Pi--" he stopped himself midsyllable and looked at her apologetically. "Swashbuckling adventurers of the high seas often came to Earth. Particularly from Europe in the early days. The British, French, Spanish, and the Portuguease. Later on the New World and, most notably or at least the one I think off the top of my head, Blackbeard." He licked his paw elegantly.

"One of my previous owners worked for a Spanish ship. As for myself, I never did enjoy the stench of water." He had rather disliked that owner. The man had laughed at him when he got seasick - which happened quite often to Blue. He had found the Djinn's lamp quite back accident; the drunken sailor had mistaken his Lamp for a bottle of rum. It was a very awkward experience Blue would be loathe to repeat. "You probably know more about it than me. When you get your memories back, at least."

Deciding that the form of a cat was getting old - he couldn't help but get restless as a feline, they were creatures with such a short attention span - Blue transformed quickly to his human form. "You'll have to forgive my earlier remark," he apologized. "I get a little... catty, if you'll have the pun."

All right, so humor wasn't his forte. Nothing out of the ordinary; who's ever heard of a Djinn bankteller having a secret fountain of hilarity at their fingertips?

He stood off the ground and swiped the grass off his bank uniform and coat. "Do you remember your name?" he asked curiously. "Or is that something else you've forgotten?"

ooc| ... my pirate knowledge is limited to the brief coverage in my history classes. :'D

[/font]

[The Corsair]

The woman smiled approvingly at the choice of the words 'swashbuckling adventurer', and she listened carefully, with a kind of distant patience that gave the strong impression she was just waiting for the right word to spark a memory.

Sure enough, Blackbeard was one of those words, but it seemed to be another bad one. It gave her a distinct emotion of 'run away' to the point where even mentioned in a historical context she tensed up at the name. Not that she could remember why, though.

When the former-cat-now-a-man stood, she also rose from her kneeling position with an entirely natural but still melodramatic swish of her coat, "I don't quite recall my name, at the moment." she answered him, "But I'm sure it will come back to me soon. Seemed on the tip of my tongue only a moment ago, but I'm afraid I lost it again." She hesitated for a moment, regarding him with curiosity, "I'm sorry, but you mentioned an 'owner' in the past?" Her tone implied discomfort with the mere concept of owning another sentient being... but her choice of words was purposefully neutral in that regard.

[Blue]

I don't quite recall my name, at the moment.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay. I would have been surprised if you had remembered," he smiled. "You can call me Blue," he told her. He stuck his hands in his pocket and glanced around them. There still seemed to be nobody around them.

You mentioned an 'owner' in the past?

Blue paused, going over his own sentence in his mind. He had said owner, hadn't he? He frowned, taking in the way she said it. "I did mention one of my owners," he said quietly. "Nothing dreadfully interesting though. It'd bore you to death," he laughed, brushing off the subject with a wave of his hand.

"As interesting as conversation is next to a smoking spaceship," Blue nodded towards the vehicle, "I do have to visit the grocery. You are certainly welcome, and most encouraged, to come with me." He grinned at her, making a conscious effort to seem friendly instead of his usual unfriendly.

Visions of burned meals - the normal dinnertime at Blue's humble abode - drifted through the Djinn's mind. "To save you and myself from cooking, we can order takeout. The men on this planet are known for their lousy cooking skill and I am, unfortunately, not an exception."

"Does this sound agreeable to you, my adventurous swashbuckling friend?"[/size]

[The Corsair]

She laughed quite happily at the words 'my adventurous swashbuckling friend'. Sure, those words had all been used so far, but the particular order they were now used in seemed quite funny to her. "Yes, I think I'd like that. Even if I could remember the last time I ate, I'm quite sure it would be some very long time ago." She nodded to him, but then turned back to her ship, with a frown, "Just give me one moment here..."

She quickly stepped back inside- entirely neglecting to close the doors behind her- and proceeded to search under the console for something. It was, once more, entirely instinctive. she didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew she would know when she saw it. And sure enough, she did find a switch hidden behind several wires, which, when she flicked it, the exterior of the ship shimmered and turned from smoking-wreck-of-a-spaceship into tree-shedding its leaves. It still looked sickly, but at least now it blended in.

[Blue]

Maybe he did have a future as a comedian after all. He'd have to try it in a few centuries.

"Okay," he agreed, watching her disappear into the ship. He stepped closer, humming quietly under his breath as he waited for her to come out. Maybe she was grabbing her toothbrush? An overnight bag? He had just opened his mouth to tell her that it wasn't neccessary to worry herself too much; he did, after all, have spare toothbrushes.

And then the smoking hunk of metal turned into a tree. He shut his mouth promptly, still staring inside. It had looked a little surreal when it was a spaceship - but he had figured maybe he was looking at it from an angle and maybe she had cleverly placed some mirrors to make it seem larger - but the inside didn't change despite the smaller outward appearance.

The Djinn rubbed his forehead. She must have done this plenty of times before, or the woman wouldn't have been able to do it now. That was logical, right? His mind raced to place such a contraption with a specific race, but in all his of his years (and he was edging towards a million come next week) he couldn't think of anything. Except for a few human legends, but those didn't count.

"Well..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "I suppose now somebody isn't going to mess with your spaceship... err, tree. Uh.." he floundered off and sighed, rubbing his jaw sheepishly. "My friend, you are just one mystery after another."[/size]

[The Corsair]

"It's called a TARDIS." she answered him, quite cheerfully, "And I know it stands for something, but I must not have ever cared enough for acronyms for it to stick."

The door in the TARDIS sealed shut, leaving no evidence there even was a door in the tree-trunk that was only slightly too thin for that door to have worked by normal logic at the best of times.

She held out her hand to him, smiling in that way most of her race have of making people feel both scared of them, and at ease at the same time, "Now I believe you offered to take the lady to dinner?"

((OOC: Sorry for short post... but if it's any consolation, she would probably have talked for half an hour about the different little places to eat in some obscure galaxy he's never heard of, if she didn't have amnesia.))

[Blue]

It's called a TARDIS... and I know it stands for something, but I must not have cared enough for acronyms for it to stick.

Blue offered her a weak smile. "Things Are Really Different In Space?" he offered helpfully. He stared at the tree, his brain trying to catch up with him. Bigger on the inside. It was nothing unusual, Blue. He rubbed at his temples, feeling the beginnings of a migraine creeping up on him. "I'm sure you'll remember soon. Maybe you just need rest."

"I have work in the morning, but..." he trailed off and scratched the back of his neck. "If you don't have your memories back I won't go. Who knows what trouble my swashbuckling buddy would get into without me?" he shook his head and sighed. Yeah, he was looking for an excuse to not go into work, but she didn't need to know that.

Now I believe you offered to take the lady to dinner?

He took her hand, grinning at her. "Of course, m'lady," he said solemnly. "Have anything particular in mind?" he asked, leading her out of the field by her hand. "But after dinner, I have to buy some cat food. Not for me, although sometimes I do eat the stuff when I forget to buy food for myself..." he rambled. He wasn't used to company; particularly not the company of amnesiac alien women.[/size]

[The Corsair]

"Well as I'm not up to date on the local cuisine, I'll leave that decision to you." she said, smiling brightly.

She had about her an air of one looking forward to enjoying whatever strange new thing she was about to do. Like she ALWAYS sought out the strange new things, and the amnesia just made that a whole lot easier.

She hesitated at the cat food remark, "You know... I want to say I've seen cats eat better than humans in some places, but I'm not sure if that's really true." She gave him a vaguely confused look, but then shrugged as if it didn't matter.