support group one: no one left behind

[hearnospeakno]

When: Friday 6:00 p.m.
Where: Attic Observatory
What: Community Support Group

As Nick promised on his open advertisements, there are chairs and coffee in the Attic Observatory. There's even a table laden with what food products Nick and co could round up.

The process of setting up for a group meeting felt enough like Boulder that Nick took a short break to lean, palms first, against a wall. It was a short, easily displaced moment, and he has no intention of lingering on it.

This is about everyone, one way or another. For all the people stuck here, and everyone new, and all those in-between. Nick left the purpose of the group intentionally vague. In the future, he assumes it'll have to be narrowed down and split up for the sake of different needs, but for this first coming together of the displaced in any non-official capacity he wants it to be open for everyone. It wouldn't be right, otherwise.

So all newcomers will find Nick by the attic observatory door, nursing a cup of black coffee next to a clearly printed sign:

Hi, I'm Nick. Welcome to the first Nexus Hotel Support Group. Whatever your problem, we'll listen. Help yourself to coffee and food.

Underneath the words, Nick has drawn and crossed out a mouth and ear, leaving an arrow pointed at himself. His pad of paper and pen are obvious on his lap.

Comments

[hearnospeakno]

Yeah. That's our problem. I might have to ask someone to shop for us. Nick tugs at his own wrinkled clothes, the same he greeted Will in the first time. He doesn't actually mind wearing the same thing for days or weeks on end--he can wash it whenever he wants here, which is nice--but it's not ideal, either.

He sips his coffee and squints down at the cup, then decides to be honest, pinning it between his knees and writing: I was hoping I'd see you. No offense. Even if you've had worse.

He does refrain from asking what that worse is, exactly, because he thinks that's sort of missing the point of an open discussion.

[vampire_shield]

"That's what I was thinking." Bella beamed a smile back at him when she saw what he'd written, then nodded her agreement. "Of course, please have a seat. Have you been here long?"

[digyourman]

This was not Larry's jam. The whole little-room, folding-chairs, coffee-and-donuts schtick reminded him too much of AA with its 12 steps and emphasis on contrition. At least with Nick at the helm, he could be sure nobody was going to tell him he needed to find Jesus.

The thing was, bullshit excuses aside, Larry didn't know how in the hell he was supposed to find any relief from standing up in front of a bunch of strangers and telling them his problem wasn't with his destination, it was with the trip. Because yeah, what a long and strange trip it had been, and there wasn't a single person he was convinced would understand where he was coming from aside from Nick.

Nick, who Larry owed enough to that he was here despite all that, even if he was sitting toward the back and keeping his mouth shut.

[legendthatwas]

"For me it was completely by accident," Martha said. "I'd have to do it a few more times to see if there's a pattern." Though correlation didn't always imply causation, of course, of course--it was still a fairly good indicator in the real world outside science.

"A lot of animals?" she echoed, brow furrowing in thought. "That's a little weird, unless you needed to commune with nature or something and this place was giving you what you needed..."

[vampire_shield]

"Or something," Bella agreed with a nod. Her hand went up to her throat when she felt the burn flare to life at the memory of hunting that day. With effort, she pushed it to a far corner of her mind and locked it away. She was doing okay here, dwelling on her thirst wouldn't help anything.

"I guess you could say I have some very peculiar dietary restrictions," she offered with a sheepish smile.

[themadmanwithabox]

He preens with delight, thinking to himself that clearly, it took a real medical professional to account for taste and the fact that someone knew that bowties were, indeed, cool. That falls away when she asks for a hug and he surges forward to embrace her tightly. "I thought you'd never ask!" he crows, delighted. "You know, the TARDIS dropped me in front of a door and off I popped with a stern whirr of the engines because I don't think she'd let me back in even if I tried, not with a snap of my fingers, not with a key, not with anything. Which," he says, easing back with a scratch of the side of his head, "could be for the best anyhow. She was a bit feisty after the last round of repairs when I might have accidentally partially put one of her couplings into the wrong output. I say it tickled, but she wasn't best pleased."

[legendthatwas]

"I see," said Martha, who didn't, really, but something about the smile told her it was better not to ask. Not exactly a small-talk conversation. Besides, she was rather pleased at the verification of her theory. "Providing you what you need, then. That's really interesting...maybe that's how this place works."

[legendthatwas]

"It's best not to argue with the TARDIS," Martha said, a little bit squished from the massive hug (he was marginally less skinny than he used to be, though slightly shorter, and regardless still strong as an ox). "Particularly if you've put her through a tough time, Doctor, you really shouldn't..."

She eased back from the hug finally, giving him a cheeky smile. "But you don't need me to tell you that. There's so much that's strange about here, maybe you can sort it out."

Maybe, maybe, now that he wasn't him anymore, they could at least meet on more level ground. Less about feeling second.

[vampire_shield]

"As long as it keeps working the way it did when I needed it to, I'm not thinking about that part too much." She also wasn't thinking about what would happen if it didn't, though guy she'd met had agreed to help if that ever happened.

"When you said you'd been home, was that to England? Or do you just have a British accent but live somewhere else?"

[legendthatwas]

"Yeah, to London," Martha said in response to the first question, then laughed a little at the second, more at herself than anything else. "I'm London born and bred, though I seem to get around travel-wise more than I anticipated doing, growing up. Always seem to get back to London, though. Are you from the US? Or are you a Canadian?" she added, with an apologetic wince.

[vampire_shield]

"My mom and I traveled when I was younger. We'd take a trip every summer to see weird stuff, like the world's largest rubber band ball or two headed lobsters, stuff like that, but I only ever went out of the country once." Bella's fingers absently turned her engagement ring around her finger. "I'm American, yeah. I've never even been to Canada, but we live near the border."

[themadmanwithabox]

"I'll have you know she's the one putting me through my paces, now," he says, affronted at the very idea that... "Oh! Oh! Martha Jones," he says excitedly, grabbing hold of the hand not occupied with a cup of coffee. "I hope you don't have much to do right now because I've just recalled. I've redecorated," he says proudly. "Although," he admits, furrowing his brow, "I didn't have much to do with it. And she stores all the backups, clever girl, keeps them tucked and hidden away. Come along," he summons, giving a light tug as he's on his way. "A quick hop in the TARDIS, for old time's sake and I'll have you back in time for crumpets," he promises.

[legendthatwas]

Martha was faintly relieved by this. She'd made the mistake a couple of times and had lived to regret them. "It's still travelling, the US is so big that it's like a dozen countries," she said, and found herself smiling a little wistfully. "Sometimes the weirdest stuff is the best stuff. I've seen plenty of it in my time, though I've been trying to settle down."

[legendthatwas]

"I'm certain she is," said Martha, who was feeling rather protective on the TARDIS' behalf. The Doctor had already got a hold of her hand, though (so familiar, oh yes, run away with the faeries, Martha Jones), and maybe it was the oh-so-liminal nature of this place, or maybe she was no longer giving a damn and trying to be good, but she let him.

"I've heard that one before," she pointed out as they went. "And I'm supposed to help Nick clean up, so you better."

[legendthatwas]

The entire observatory consisted of people looking vaguely uncomfortable, which led Martha to muse about the idea of a support group for people who were vaguely uncomfortable in vaguely awkward and strange social situations, then to muse about the fact that that was Doctor-level metacommentary on existence and what that meant about her. Clearly she was starting to lose the plot, or she'd had too much coffee.

Enough coffee that talking to the cute guy who was looking dubious but stoic about this whole venture (unlike monkey pajama guy, who just looked paranoid) seemed like a good idea. "Mind if I sit?" she asked. "You can tell me to piss off, I won't be offended."

[vampire_shield]

"I was hoping to do a little more traveling with my husband," Bella said, wistful and clearly missing him. "We went through some...well, some really hard family stuff right after we got married and our honeymoon was cut short."

Which was a really boring way to sum up her death and change into a vampire, the birth of their daughter, and a gathering of the ruling vampires looking to eradicate her whole family under a false pretense. Since it was still the truth, Bella figured she wouldn't look like she was lying.

"Things had just settled down and I ended up here."

[themadmanwithabox]

He opens his mouth and declines to mention the whole mess with Amelia Pond and the twelve years and the two years because he did manage to get back in time to save the universe, so he does suppose that counts for something. Eagerly, he fishes out the new key from his pocket and tugs her gently with him as he hops and skips, clicking his heels together as he takes a left turn, spins, and then corrects so that he takes a right.

"Here we are, then," he says, opening a door that leads down the hall to the first floor guestrooms. And, temporarily, the TARDIS. He unlocks the door, but doesn't open it yet.

Instead, he stands with his back to the door, brimming with the boyish excitement of a child eager to show off his brand new toy. "Geronimo," he whispers, giving the door a kick with his heel and tumbling inwards to his beautiful, sexy girl.

[legendthatwas]

"He's not here with you? Oh god, I'm sorry," Martha said, brow furrowing in dismay. True, she missed her family, but it wasn't as if she saw them constantly back in London. They knew she had a busy schedule, and so did all of them, if she were being perfectly honest. "Not to mention if you'd just got things sorted. I...had something like that with my family, took us months to get back on the right track."

[legendthatwas]

The heel clicking was new, and Martha watched this version of the Doctor, trying to learn his movements, his behaviour. As if she could in five minutes--she'd not figured him out in what had been months of subjective time, plus the year--

Not thinking about that, she decided. Happy to see an old friend. And she was.

She waited for him to open the door, maybe looking faintly sceptical, because the TARDIS still looked the same on the outside, lovely and blue and box and definitely bigger on the inside. Bigger and...more angular, less womb-like, brighter somehow. She smiled at the Doctor, looking around with big eyes. It rather suited him, to be honest. "She's lovely as always," she said. "A bit steampunk, this style, isn't it?"

[hearnospeakno]

No. Just a few weeks.

She makes his heart pound, no matter what he tells himself--and isn't that strange, in a way? It might be. Nick just wants to keep watching her talk, in a dreamy, gentle way. Sitting down next to her feels like a privilege.

[hearnospeakno]

Nick can tell how Martha is considering her words before she speaks. Not making a thing out of it, not expecting Nick to notice, just doing it because it's a kind, respectful thing to do. It shouldn't stick up between his ribs the way it does, really.

But the world is generally not a nice place, and Martha makes it better, so Nick smiles into his coffee a shade broader than simple courtesy dictates and then shines it on Martha like a lantern.

It's great. Nick thinks he'd laugh, if he knew how, for a lot of reasons. Is everything OK? I'd protect your honor.

Nick just...lets that joke stand, because look at him, he couldn't fight a particularly stiff breeze.

[hearnospeakno]

Nick shares more of Larry's misgivings than most people would ever be able to tell.

It's simple: Larry can speak, and his voice will say so much more than his words. Nick can write, and as long as he keeps his face still, it doesn't matter what he feels. So the way that Nick is eating himself alive can go mostly unnoticed, because Nick is good at being still and quiet and unremarkable.

But for someone who knows him like Larry does, it's obvious from the way Nick sits next to him with a tight jaw and wide eyes that Nick is not sure of this--Nick, of all people, who is usually so sure of everything.

(And he's sorry in ways he doesn't know how to explain; sorry for not being enough, for not knowing what to be anymore.)

He nods his hello, and writes: Could you talk for me, at this thing?

Nick doesn't think of Ralph. More correctly, he tries not to, as he looks away and drums his fingers on his knee for the tactical response and not the sound.

[vampire_shield]

"That makes you a veteran compared to me," Bella laughed. "I haven't been here a week and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and that's saying something considering I've been told before that I'm very good with weird."

She tried not to frown but it was hard not to when she heard his pulse rate change and get a little faster. Unfortunately, it was making the scent of his blood more acute and soon she was going to need to start holding her breath.

[legendthatwas]

Nick's smile made Martha smile back, because there was nothing like a real smile, in her book. It reminded her a bit of the Doctor's, though without quite the overwhelming history behind it.

Martha licked her lips, reading his response, then laughed, gently, because the joke was at his expense even if he'd made it. She was overwhelmed with a curiosity about his story, wondering how he'd made it so far and kept a sense of humour, but figured that could wait; besides, the process was the actual fun.

"Thank you, but everything's okay," she said, "though we...we have a lot of past, him and me, so things could maybe end up being weird. Not unsafe, but weird. Stuff changes quickly, in his world."

[themadmanwithabox]

"She's sexy, she is," the Doctor murmurs, enraptured with running his hand over the railing as he vaults up the stairs and begins to wheel his way around the controls, pressing the button for ketchup (not mustard, of course), reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, and lean all his weight on the parking brake. "Where would you like to go, Doctor Jones?" he asks, whipping his hair out of his eyes so he can focus his attention purely on her. "All of time and space. You know the drill."