How Take a Life 101

[Alec Harrison]

The time of 5:02, on a dreary September morning in the year of 2011. 

The sound of a Tardis making its presence known rang out in the suburban area. The small head of a creature not from that realm poked out of the door of the red "phone booth." The brownie's head disappeared back in.

"Ye've material'd in the great world of London again," he reported to Alec in that special way of speaking he had.

"Thank, Wember," he replied, not looking away from the console. 

What was he doing here again? The answer was quite simple. See, Alec liked tea from the 3000s and Wember quite desired muffins from the 1800s. Eventually, his Tardis nearly possessed the brownie to tell him what a strain it was. Nearly.

So they had chosen a place that served both.

Wember himself, being a member of a magical species, had a kind of perception filter, and now resembled  a child.

As Alec gaited down the street, he didn't bother to look around. All this he had seen. Wember however, was always fascinated by the world outside of the Tardis. 

Almost as soon as they could see the small restaurant, the ground shook and smoke rose. 
"Explosions..." the Timelord muttered, placing a hand on Wember's shoulder to keep the small creature from tumbling over.

[The Guitarist]

(Setting my plot up, hence length. Sorry!)
5:02am, September, 2011, early morning. The morning had never been loathed so much by a single soul.

The time lord was in the worst of moods. He sat in a small cafe, in a quieter part of London, sipping angrily on a Mocha Latte. He would have rather had a kick in the teeth. It was terrible.

He leaned on his hand, a strand of his long bleached blond hair that had fallen out the slick-back look waving in his eye. His crooked nose was red and his headache was powerful. He was sweating too. His blue bandanna wiped most of it up. He felt as sick as an old dog and every time he moved his wrist, it stung like a red hot burn. Like something was eating at it, eating through him.

And there she was, sitting across from him, looking about in amazement, a huge smile across her face. Her face bore the same expression as an un-experienced child in a candy store. She held her cup of earl gray tea tight, yammering away to him.
"You spoil me kind sir! I have never seen a place such as this, drank such lovely tea or worn clothes so pretty! Thank you!"
She spoke as if she was from the 1800's and, she was. He'd bought her the purple knitted jumper, sneakers and jeans, so she didn't look out of place. The maid ended up feeling like nobility, no-one ever bought her clothes.

He gave a grunt in reply, taking another sip of his latte. She was a sweet girl really, he just didn't have time to chat with her right now. He had to find the butler and Ami; get them back to the 1800's- somehow- before time ran out.

Technically, they had meant to land in Tennessee. The deep south of America. The best of the country music was there, in his opinion. Ami had just gone along with it, happy enough to see him happy. They'd meant to land in 1970 too. Of course, it never worked as was planned. For one, he could barely concentrate, he was that excited.

He'd waltzed around his center console, in his cowboy boots. He looked quite the part. Checkered shirt, tucked into blue denim jeans, a huge gold belt buckle and a blue bandanna wrapped around his neck. His black cowboy hat sat on his head, matching his black leather boots. He grinned from ear to ear.

She hadn't tried at all. Ami was still lounging about the center console in her usual wear- black tank top and black jeans. Odd socks and magenta converse, black laces of course. Her main accessories were her facial piercings and her tattoo's. She smiled as well, lying on her back and looking at him from upside down.

He'd landed his ship gracefully enough. The Guitarist had been so enthusiastic, he'd grabbed Ami and dragged her out immediately. Running outside he said to her,
"You're gonna love the deep south, baby, I know it!"
He tore out of the TARDIS... right into the black of night.

Both looked around, confused. They were standing in the middle of an intricate and well kept garden. In front of them, a huge house. A very wealthy house. They turned to each other. Ami frowned.
"We're not in the right place, are we."
He bit his lip, pausing.
"...we could be. I dunno. Let's go ask. Surely someone lives in that creepy house. Look. Light's on."
They wandered over to the door.

Knocking a few times, the two stood outside. They waited and soon enough, the door was opened by a butler. A red-haired, rather scarred butler. A green shirt and the classic tux. He hovered at the door.
"Can I help you...oh. Are you lost?"
The Guitarist turned to Ami, giving her a look as if to say, 'Run with it!'.
"Yeah, we're lost. Could you tell us where we are and.. when we are."
The butler opened his mouth to reply, only to hear a feminine voice pipe up behind him.
"Oh wow! You both look wonderful! I adore your hair miss- oh, excuse me. I shouldn't speak out of line. Nicholas, please, excuse me."
He turned to the girl behind him and smiled. He had no problem with her voicing her opinions. It was refreshing.
"It's alright, please stay and help me tend to the guests. As the lady says, I am Nicholas, head butler of this house. I will help you as much as I possibly can, as will Lily here, she's one of our maids. One of the better ones, to say honestly. Now can I invite-"
A shrill voice echoed through the hallway, the mistress of the house tearing down the stairs. Mrs. Winchester. The Guitarist's heart dropped when he saw her. Not only was she a tortured soul, she was demented as well, poor woman. He couldn't blame her.
She called out.
"NICHOLAS, IS THAT THE TWO SOOTHSAYERS THE SPIRITS PREDICTED? ARE THEY TRULY FROM REALITY OR JUST MY IMAGINATION?"
He shook his head and let her past. She wandered over to the door and looked The Guitarist in the eye. They stared into each others eyes, scanning for any information. She spoke.
"You look so old in your eyes. Much like my late husband. You know a lot. And you, the strange girl... you are welcome in also. I have been expecting you. You were both sent for the calling tonight. You are the last pieces of my puzzle. Come in- NICHOLAS! Show them upstairs."
He bowed. Taking a quick glance at the clock, he noticed it was almost midnight.

He lead them into the candle-lit room. The huge table, decorated as a large intricate Ouija board, sat pride of place in the center. Around it were five seats. The side tables were littered with books on the occult and the room was very Gothic in nature. There was even a few beads in the corner- Ami looked like she was right at home. She took in everything, she wasn't human, so this was interesting.

As a Thyrolian, they had different beliefs. Kamyrut, her god, was forgiving and to contact the souls in her care, there were little shrines. She found the table amusing. It was the same concept, at least, she thought so. Leave a message and wait for a reply.

They were shown to their seats and The Guitarist looked worried. He was not keen on the occult at all. He watched the Butler, who had the opposite expression on his face. He seemed to be alright with the situation. The maid, who'd quietly followed behind, shared the worry with The Guitarist. she looked upset.
Both hovered by the door. Nicholas looked as his mistress, in her chair, and asked.
"Is that all my lady?"
She was abrupt.
"No. Sit down. Both of you. You are needed for this."
Both were taken by shock. But they sat down, the same. They sat between their mistress and her guests.

They followed the mistresses orders, the Guitarist knew not to argue. The butler of the Winchester house was a fearsome opponent, skilled not only with the families rifles but in hand-to-hand combat. He could hear the serving girl whimpering. The poor girl was so frightened. The woman instructed them to hold hands, to gather the energy. The guitarist played along, but felt the energy was different.
They were not accessing the spirit world- it was something different. He sensed it was the 4th dimension. A place that the time-lords had used in the last war to throw their scum. This was far too dangerous, things from that dimension had no place in this one.

He was away to call a stop to the whole thing, but it was far too late. The lady had her wish, 'spirits' were summoned. Right from the table. A ghastly, transparent chimera came from the table. Everyone screamed in shock, shooting up from their seats. The lady looked at the chimera, eyes wide in shock. It bore the torso of a male human, the head of a man with ram horns, the wings of a vulture and the lower of snake. The group huddled to the corner, as far away from it. It let out a screech.
It was ear splitting.
The Guitarist came forward. He took his place. It was here for him. He tried to keep his nerve.
"Kartakanst, you answer to me. State your purpose or I'll send you back to where you came from."
The group looked frightened, The Guitarist feeling his knees weaken. These beasts were frightening.The Kartakanst were vile- each was a different jumble of body parts from defeated enemies. They loved to feed on time-lords too. It slithered over to him, each rib swaying. It came into his face, forked tongue flicking in his eye.
"Such silly time lords. You, trying to be so brave. I have seen so many of you fall so hard. My purpose? You summoned me. Let me feed."
Before he could move, the monster grabbed his wrist, digging it's claws into his wrist. He screamed in pain and felt something crawl into his wrist. The beast then grabbed the butler's wrist. It chanted.
"May your darkest fears eat you alive."
Both men screamed, tearing ears apart. He too felt something crawling under his skin. A parasite. A life sucking parasite. It was how the Kartakanst lived so long. They sucked life out of others, feeding on their fear.

The Guitarist & Nicholas yelled when the claws came out and the world got hazy. The Guitarist knew it was the parasite, sucking his energy out of him. Both men grabbed their respective other halves. The Kartakanst smiled slyly.
"Let's do the time warp again!"
With that, the parasite dug deeper and he felt a small hole in time open. They'd been thrown into the vortex.

And chucked out in London. The group had been separated. Lily had ended up with him, on one side of London and Ami had ended up with Nicholas on the other side.

Finishing his latte, he put the cup to his side, noticing red marks startling to curl around his wrists. There wasn't much time left. This parasite would suck out the last of his regenerations and finally kill him- it would kill Nicholas much quicker. He was only human, he had less life in him. Neither had much time left.

All he could do was spare Lily a smile and mutter that it was no problem to buy her those clothes. He couldn't have her sticking out of place, he hadn't the time. She seemed concerned, sipping her tea and reaching over to his wrist.

But, just as she got close, the restaurant across the road exploded. Both turned to stare at the smoking mass, the glass scattered all across the road. He went to grab her arm as the maid got up, gasping in shock.
"Don't move, save your energy."
She turned back and nodded, watching the few people in street either run from it or run to it.
It said a lot about you if you ran to it.

[Alec Harrison]

Wember looked up at the Dark Lord, tilting his head.
"Arr' we goin' ta run? Hide?"

Alec grinned.
"We are going to find it!" he exclaimed happily.

The brownie looked at his feet.
"O' course we arr."

"You can drop the glamour, there is enough chaos that I don't think anyone will notice." he ordered.

Wember nodded, joyously releasing the strain of his limited energy and returning to his natural appearance. As soon as this was done, Alec gripped his arm and slung him across his shoulders. Without Wember slowing him, he could get to the explosion faster.

Was a man carrying a strange, small being over his shoulders in the middle of a crowd a little attention-grabbing? Maybe so, but Alec wasn't worried. He had an explosion to find.

[The Guitarist]

A small crowd had gathered around the explosion site. They cluttered around debris, covering the ground in chalk-like footprints, spreading the dust of the building everywhere. They spoke in high voices, some screaming and some simply standing around, watching in terror. Typical human behavior.

Then, out of the corner, the Time-Lord caught sight of a man carrying a strange little guy on his shoulders. Only the trained eye might notice him and The Guitarist could only guess it was a Brownie. He'd been read a lot of informative storybook's when he was little... he pulled an odd face. He was happy to see other alien life yet, he was worried to see it. he expected this meant that explosion was more than it appeared.

It took all her energy not to turn around and not to be scared when she saw his face. She was a skittish girl, jumping at every single thing she deemed scary, dreaming only of a simple life- her version of paradise. A happy, comfortable life with the lost butler. She reached out her hand it placed it on top of his.
"Sir... Mr. Christopher, sir, what is wrong? Should I be worried?"
His hearts leaped out of his throat and his blue eyes turned an icy shade, as they shot up from the table. The sound of that name- his view of her had changed. Her appearance had morphed. Literally. A younger version of her, in the other chapters robes, sat in her place, smiling over at him. A beautiful teenage lover. His first love- the first girl he'd really felt for. They looked so similar, her image could melt his cold eyes in an instant and her lips used to taste like honey. He'd told her the name he'd been born with. As had she.

He threw her hand off, her appearance flickering back. He was completely caught off guard and shot up from the table. Eyes wide with shock, his wrist burned like hot coals had been taped to it. This parasite was digging into his blood, it had already found some memory cells. It was starting to find out what made him tick and what ticked him off. He let out a groan of a pain, so he bit quickly into his lip and drew blood. The maid stood up and reached over again- he snapped.
"You're stubborn! Drop it and don't touch me."
Their eyes met and The Guitarist felt sick. The voice of the butler played back in his head... this girl's name was Lily.
He spat out a phrase.
"Why the hell d'ya call me Christopher anyway!?"
She backed away. She was frightened again, her voice breaking and shivering as she followed an order.
"... I do not know sir... you never gave us a name...and I feel you look like a Christopher, that is all sir! I am so sorry. I seem to have upset you and offended you, I am terribly terribly sorry!"
Her knees started to go as well, her hand going to something in her pocket.

The Guitarist payed no attention to the thing in her pocket. he felt his latte come back on him.This human had some luck or it was just coincidence that she... his stomach churned as he remembered. There is no such thing a coincidence.
Noticing the man with the brownie on his shoulders disappear into the crowd, The Guitarist turned back to the girl. He noticed the tears coming from her. His hearts softened again. He knew now he'd frightened her. But they had to follow that brownie carrier.
He wandered over to her and gave an appropriate response, flicking the gentleman switch back on. he gave a bow and took her hand.
"my lady, please don't apologize. It's my fault. I am sorry I upset you. Please don't let tears spoil that pretty face."
Taking off his blue bandanna, he gave it to her and pointed at the explosion.
"There's something I want to see, may I have the ladies company?"

Wiping up her tears, she simply nodded. She didn't really have many words for what had just happened. He took her hand and led her outside the cafe, wandering up to the explosion.
His eyes scanned the place and the minute he found the brownie, he dove in, dodging through people and debris toward it.

[Alec Harrison]

With a yelp, Wember tumbled from Alec's shoulders. The Timelord himself crashed into a pile of debris. He spotted another being and an attractive young lady standing out. Why did they stand out? They were coming towards him. He thought he remembered that face from somewhere...

Alec groaned and rose to his feet.
"What do you want from me?" he asked, wiping blood from his forehead.

Wember scrambled up to him, ready to "protect" the Timelord.