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| Echoes in the Wires; Tosh and Martha | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 14 2009, 09:44 AM (1,013 Views) | |
| Toshiko Sato | Sep 14 2009, 09:44 AM Post #1 |
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Time Lord
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Continued from the Boardroom. Tosh didn't have any proof that Martha was particularly good with tech, but she did know that the other woman was bright. If the Valiant hadn't been enough to persuade her of that, then what came afterwards would have been enough on its own: Tosh hadn't said anything, but she'd been quietly impressed at the way Martha had come in and taken things in hand in the wake of the Owen-Andy fiasco. Not only was Martha bright, brave and beautiful, she also had the tact necessary to come in and get things straight without stepping on too many toes. In light of that, teaching her the ropes of the CCTV system should be a piece of cake, and Tosh was looking forward to the chance just to chat around the work. Tosh pulled over the chair from Andy's workstation and beckoned Martha into it before sitting down in her own. She cast a quick glance around for Ianto--where was the coffee when you needed it?--before giving up for the time being and reaching for her keyboard. "So I'll just show you how to access and navigate the CCTV system. It's easy as anything, really--none of this footage is in important areas, so a simple wipe is probably enough for most of it. Just get rid of the Hraxxon." She looked sideways at Martha over her shoulder with a smile. "Nowhere near as difficult as dealing with the physical aftermath at least. I'd much rather deal with code than alien tissue." Edited by Toshiko Sato, Sep 14 2009, 09:49 AM.
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| Martha Jones | Sep 14 2009, 01:45 PM Post #2 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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Martha followed Tosh over to her workstation and took Andy's chair from her, lowering the seat and then moving closer to the work surface. She took a biro from her pocket and grabbed a piece of paper to take notes with. She usually didn't have much trouble learning new procedures or equipment, but it always helped to be able to write down the details while they were still fresh in her mind. "Ready when you are," she said, watching Tosh settle in at her keyboard. "So I'll just show you how to access and navigate the CCTV system. It's easy as anything, really--none of this footage is in important areas, so a simple wipe is probably enough for most of it. Just get rid of the Hraxxon." Martha nodded. "Makes sense," she replied. "It's a good thing the Hraxxon is--well, was--a decent mimic, actually. There may not be as much to wipe as there would be with something like a Judoon." Tosh looked over her shoulder at Martha and smiled. "Nowhere near as difficult as dealing with the physical aftermath at least. I'd much rather deal with code than alien tissue." "Yeah, it does get rather nasty sometimes," she said, returning Tosh's smile. "And there are stringent protocols about cleaning and disposal that have to be followed. But it's fascinating how different biological functions have developed on other worlds. It's worth dealing with the mess to see that up close, to know that it really exists, and to have the chance to study it first-hand..." Martha stopped, reining herself in. She was here to help with the CCTV footage, not ramble on about her fascination with alien biology. She sat back in the chair, took a deep breath, and looked at the computer display in front of her. "But you don't want to hear about all that. Show me how to do the editing before I bore you to tears and lose my professional dignity any further." |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 15 2009, 01:39 AM Post #3 |
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Time Lord
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"Yeah, it does get rather nasty sometimes," Martha replied, returning Tosh's smile with a new animation. "And there are stringent protocols about cleaning and disposal that have to be followed. But it's fascinating how different biological functions have developed on other worlds. It's worth dealing with the mess to see that up close, to know that it really exists, and to have the chance to study it first-hand..." She caught herself, sitting back and taking a deep breath. "But you don't want to hear about all that. Show me how to do the editing before I bore you to tears and lose my professional dignity any further." "You weren't boring me at all," Tosh said, entirely honest. For a moment there it had seemed like Martha was transformed, lit up by her passion for what she did. It was nice to see someone else who seemed to feel the same curiosity and thrill that Tosh did; she'd even moaned to Adam once or twice that no one else seemed to see it like her. Here, apparently, was someone who did. Work, though: Tosh reluctantly looked back to the screen herself, talking Martha through the system's functions briefly. It wasn't hard--Mainframe was intelligent enough to play more than a passive role in the corrections--and Tosh didn't think there was any need for erasures which would stand up to practised scrutiny. No governmental agencies were likely to go looking for the real details of this particular case. It was good that it was simple, Tosh thought: Mainframe had been acting up over the last few hours, and if she had someone to delegate the CCTV work to then she could settle down to fix it. Finished with her explanation Tosh turned to Martha properly. "I think that's about it. Do you think that's enough to go on for now? You can access it from your workstation, I've given you access. It should be easier than working with Owen and Andy, at least." She smiled, but it was only brief, her voice lowering as she added: "do you think that they--I mean, that they'll get better? Honestly." Edited by Toshiko Sato, Sep 15 2009, 01:50 AM.
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| Martha Jones | Sep 15 2009, 02:26 PM Post #4 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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Martha felt relieved when Tosh said she hadn't bored her. She genuinely liked Tosh, and it was nice to have someone at work who she felt could be a real friend, besides Jack. She smiled at the other woman and then turned her attention to the screen and followed Tosh's instructions. She watched carefully as Tosh walked her through the procedure, taking a few notes as she observed. It seemed pretty easy, especially since Mainframe was able to assist in locating candidate footage and suggest actions based on previous commands. Once she finished with the explanation and demonstration, Tosh turned and faced Martha. "I think that's about it. Do you think that's enough to go on for now? You can access it from your workstation, I've given you access. It should be easier than working with Owen and Andy, at least." Martha nodded and was about to reply when Tosh continued, her voice lower. "Do you think that they--I mean, that they'll get better? Honestly." "I think there's still a chance, although it's unlikely that they'll revert on their own," she replied. "There's nothing like this recorded in the Medical database, and Ianto hasn't found anything useful in the Archives, but I haven't given up hope. The surviving Torchwood One records are spotty, but Jack says they worked extensively with psychic phenomena there, so there might be some information from London that would help if we can get access to it. I'm still looking into it--when I can spare the time, anyway." She sighed deeply. "It's a shame, really. They're trying their best, but they're... well, hobbled when they're together and crippled when they're apart. It must be terrible for them." |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 16 2009, 12:42 PM Post #5 |
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Time Lord
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It wasn't only them it was terrible for, Tosh thought to herself, but she didn't say it aloud: she wished they didn't bother her so much, but there it was. She knew it was horrible for them, and she did feel sorry--but they also just set her on edge. Torchwood wasn't entirely normal, but even for the range of their work what had happened to Owen and Andy wasn't natural. "Well, we do sometimes get miracles down here," Tosh replied after a pause, finding her smile again. "I guess we'll just all have to cross our fingers..." She looked away to enter some commands into her system before nodding towards Martha's desk. "Right, there you go--all ready. I'm going to have a look at Mainframe, if you think you can manage on your own: it's been playing up." From the frown on Tosh's face that was significantly less than a frequent occurrence, but she didn't dwell on it. "I'll be here if there's anything you need help with. Don't hesitate to ask." |
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| Martha Jones | Sep 16 2009, 07:26 PM Post #6 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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"Thanks Tosh, I'll definitely let you know if I need any help," Martha replied as she rose from Andy's chair and walked over to settle into her own workstation. She unlocked her terminal and called up the CCTV feed, quickly finding the target area with Mainframe's help. She identified five cameras within the area that the Hraxxon had managed to cover before it met its untimely end, and she displayed their feeds on her terminal screen. Martha started to scan through the feeds using Mainframe's help to identify movement and non-human figures in each feed and coordinating the feeds with overlapping views. The first few targets were clearly not the Hraxxon, but eventually it lumbered into view in the westernmost feed. She tagged it for Mainframe and scanned ahead, looking for the point at which it disappeared from view. She saved a copy of the footage for her own records on the Hraxxon before deleting it from the CCTV feed. Fortunately, the Hraxxon was the only thing in the camera's view except for a squirrel (which it quickly grabbed and absorbed), so it was easy to wipe it from the footage without needing to do any further editing. And she was glad to have more video documentation of the Hraxxon's behaviour for later analysis. Once she'd wiped the Hraxxon from first feed, she searched the other feeds during the same time frame for other views of the same sighting. She found them easily with Mainframe's help, archived them, and then deleted them from the feeds. Martha smiled as she worked. This was a fairly easy task that wouldn't take too long or involve too much effort. She really had needed a break from Medbay, and this was the perfect respite. This work was interesting enough to keep her mind engaged, and different enough from her usual work that it was refreshing. And with the additional benefit of providing more useful information for Torchwood's alien database. |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 17 2009, 01:39 AM Post #7 |
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Time Lord
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Tosh looked to Martha once or twice, but she soon stopped: the other woman seemed to be doing just fine on her own. If Jack was going to insist on hiring, Tosh wouldn't mind if all the new recruits were this competent. It certainly made her own life easier; without having to handle the CCTV herself she could focus on the far more worrying question of why Mainframe was behaving so strangely. The errors weren't a serious threat to the system, and each was unique, but Tosh couldn't see so many processing glitches without being concerned. Something just felt wrong, and she couldn't work out what. As she set to work, Tosh reflected that she was glad she had Adam there to relax her later. At least some things were exactly as they should be. |
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| Martha Jones | Sep 21 2009, 03:05 PM Post #8 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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After the first set of edits on the CCTV feed, the rest were easy. The Hraxxon made a few more appearances in the set of cameras later that day, and briefly showed up on another camera farther away that Mainframe suggested she review based on the direction the Hraxxon was heading in the last set of views she called up. It was sort of fun, to be honest, to spy on the unsuspecting alien, observe its behaviour covertly, and then erase it from the footage as if it was never there. Martha scanned back and ahead through the CCTV feeds to make sure she hadn't missed any sightings of the Hraxxon in the area. She was reviewing her edits to ensure that they'd pass a basic visual inspection when the feed skipped suddenly, flashing quickly through random views from other CCTV cameras around Cardiff. "Tosh, something's happening with the CCTV feeds," she called out. "I've been kicked out of the Roath Park cameras, and Mainframe's bouncing me around the city now." She tried to get Mainframe to settle on one feed again, even if it wasn't the one she wanted. After a bit of fighting with the controls, she was able to display two interior views of the Hub while the other three windows still scrolled through a random selection of cameras around the city. "Okay, I've got a couple of stable views of the Hub now, but the other windows are still skipping around Cardiff. I'm going to see if I can get back to the feeds I was working on earlier," she said. "I'll let you know if they go all wonky again." She minimised the other windows to keep from being distracted by the constant flickering of images, and focused on the Hub camera views. One camera was mounted on the upper catwalk near Jack's office, offering a wide-angle view of the main floor of the Hub, and the other looked into the Medbay. Both windows were showing recorded footage, based on the fact that neither she nor Tosh were visible from the catwalk camera as they would be if it was a live image, and there was someone in the Medbay footage although the place was empty and dimly lit now. She watched the Medbay camera with more interest because it showed Owen working on an autopsy--a Weevil, from the look of it--and she hadn't really seen Owen at work before. Curious, she paused the feed and looked at the timestamp. This footage was fairly recent, recorded not long after Owen, Andy, Jack, and Ianto had returned from 1925. She widened the view on the feed to look for Andy, who must be hovering nearby if Owen was working so effectively. But he wasn't in sight of the camera. Perhaps this was one of the times when Jack had forcibly separated the two men. Oddly, Owen didn't seem distracted or anxious, as he generally did when Andy wasn't nearby. She watched with interest as Owen went through the autopsy procedure with a practiced efficiency. Suddenly, Andy appeared on the railing above Medbay, looking down at Owen. He must've been just out of camera range all that time, then. Andy looked on while Owen worked, finishing up with the dead Weevil. Owen didn't seem to notice him at all, though, or pay any attention to him, which was strange. And they were standing so far apart from each other, apparently comfortable with the distance between them. Now they were talking together. Martha couldn't see Andy's face but she could see Owen's, and he clearly wasn't in a good mood. Andy's body was tense as well. They continued their conversation for a while, and then Andy started to walk down the steps into the Medbay. Now that she could see Andy's face in profile, she could tell he was in a bad mood as well. She couldn't hear their conversation, but she could see from their body language that it was getting more heated. Owen's face reddened as he practically snarled at Andy, and Andy yelled at Owen. Martha's eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Owen and Andy were having an argument, and a nasty one at that. It was inconceivable! They'd been so close, so emotionally attached to each other since the accident with the Axemalin, there was no way either man would even raise his voice to the other. What was going on here? Her jaw dropped when she saw Owen launch himself at Andy and take a swing at him, landing a punch squarely on his jaw. "I can't believe it! Tosh, come look at this!" she called out, pausing the footage again and rewinding it to the point where the argument started so Toshiko could see it too. |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 24 2009, 04:57 AM Post #9 |
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Time Lord
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"Tosh, something's happening with the CCTV feeds," she called out. "I've been kicked out of the Roath Park cameras, and Mainframe's bouncing me around the city now." Tosh swore under her breath, entering a quick command before looking up. "There's something wrong with Mainframe. I'm working on it, but if you can manage for now..." There was a pause as Martha struggled with the feeds before she spoke again. "Okay, I've got a couple of stable views of the Hub now, but the other windows are still skipping around Cardiff. I'm going to see if I can get back to the feeds I was working on earlier. I'll let you know if they go all wonky again." "Great. Just keep me posted." Settling back into her chair, Tosh reached for the nearest biro, tapping the tip against her lower lip quickly. An error on the CCTV feeds, just as she was sitting and watching the inner workings of the Mainframe--or the nearest representation of them which her screen could manage--run into the same error over and over again. It wasn't even anything important, but Tosh couldn't stop herself tensing slightly. Something was wrong with her computer, and that always made her feel vulnerable. Tosh was so wound up that when Martha did shout for her she jumped halfway out of her skin, knocking over her chair as she hurried over. Her brain ran helterskelter over all of the horrible possibilities of what Martha could have seen, what threats could even now be coming-- On the screen Owen was standing in the medbay, and Andy was facing him, back to the camera. Tosh let out a breath, sounding both annoyed and relieved. "What? I don't see what you mean." She checked the timestamp. The date was strange, but she supposed... |
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| Martha Jones | Sep 24 2009, 06:09 AM Post #10 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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Martha startled when Tosh knocked over her chair in her haste to see what was on the CCTV feed. She rushed over to Martha's workstation and leaned in, looking at the display. A moment later, she let out an exasperated breath. "What? I don't see what you mean," Tosh said, frowning. "Wait a moment," Martha replied. "I'm replaying the footage, you'll see it shortly." They both watched as Owen and Andy began to speak to each other, tense and moody. "Here's where it really starts," she explained as Andy began to descend into the Medbay. |
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| Adam Smith | Sep 24 2009, 07:34 AM Post #11 |
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Weevil Bait
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Coming up from the lower levels, Adam could see both Martha and Tosh crowded around Martha's station, intent on something. Their posture was tense, confusion crowding into their features. "Find something interesting?" he asked casually, hand wrapping around Tosh's upper arm. He smiled, but it froze, partially formed and unnatural as the footage cleared. His hand squeezed around Tosh. "Oh, I remember that. Poor sods, the whole period after they got back was so -- difficult." His knuckles whitened. That damn computer. He reached out for Martha. "You remember?" |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 24 2009, 07:57 AM Post #12 |
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Time Lord
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There was definitely something odd about the way Andy and Owen were looking at each other, now that Martha mentioned it: Tosh leaned closer over the back of Martha's chair, putting her biro down on the table. If she didn't know better then she'd think they were angry, and that certainly didn't make any sense. At the sound of Adam's voice Tosh straightened and half-turned, looking back to him. Maybe he'd know; he'd always been so good with people. "Oh, I remember that," Adam said, without even needing to be asked. He reached out to touch her, the grip of his fingers so tight that for a second it hurt. "Poor sods, the whole period after they got back was so -- difficult." Of course; how could she have been so forgetful? Tosh looked back to Martha with a reassuring smile. "He's right. I think looking at them now it's just easy for us to forget how tetchy they were back in the beginning." "You remember?" Adam asked Martha, letting go of Tosh's arm to reach for her, and Tosh rubbed the spot where he'd gripped. Obviously he felt bad about the fights--he always cared so much for everyone, and took far too much responsibility for them all--but even she was surprised to find out how much the evidence unsettled him. He was so compassionate, Adam. |
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| Martha Jones | Sep 24 2009, 12:02 PM Post #13 |
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Torchwood's Finest
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Martha was so absorbed in the CCTV footage that she didn't hear Adam approach her workstation. "Find something interesting?" he asked. She snapped her head towards him, slightly startled by his sudden and unannounced presence. Adam had wrapped his hand around Tosh's arm as they both looked at the display, and he had a strange expression on his face, although his voice was calm. "Oh, I remember that," he explained. "Poor sods, the whole period after they got back was so -- difficult." "He's right. I think looking at them now it's just easy for us to forget how tetchy they were back in the beginning," Tosh said, smiling at her reassuringly, the worried frown that was on her face a moment earlier entirely gone. Well, that was an unexpected response. "You remember?" Adam asked her then, reaching out to touch her. Martha shifted away from him, discomfited by the sudden change in Tosh's expression and by her and Adam's explanation of the odd events shown in the footage. It was plausible, and the fight had happened before she hired on with Torchwood, so how would she know? But Adam seemed to think she should remember that, how odd. He knew she wasn't here then--after all, he was the one who gave her the grand tour of the place and showed her the ropes when she first started. Something was definitely wrong. She quickly forced herself to relax and smile back at them, to play along and see what happened next. "Oh, yeah, of course," she said with a little laugh, as if she'd just recalled the facts and felt embarrassed to have forgotten. "Sorry to have alarmed you, Tosh. I'll let you get back to your project, and I'll try to finish up with that cleanup job. I think I'm almost done." |
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| Gwen Cooper | Sep 25 2009, 07:02 AM Post #14 |
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Field Agent
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ooc: continued from Home Again (to be finished but I figured I'd get the ball rolling here) Gwen walked into the Hub, the sound of the doors rolling back behind her loud in the apparent silence. "Hello?" she called out. "Jack? Anyone home?" It took her a moment before she spotted three figures up at Tosh's work station - Tosh, Martha and Andy, it looked like. She raced up the stairs, then came to a halt a little way away from Tosh's workstation. The man she'd seen wasn't Andy, he was a stranger. A stranger who seemed very comfortable in the Hub, and very close to both Tosh and Martha. Gwen felt an instant sense of discomfort - she was sure there was some reason why they had a last minute visitor she hadn't been informed of, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "I'm back," Gwen said loudly, aiming for jovial. "What's going on, have you replaced me already?" Edited by Gwen Cooper, Sep 25 2009, 07:03 AM.
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| Adam Smith | Sep 25 2009, 07:57 AM Post #15 |
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Weevil Bait
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Adam's fingers brushed the edge of Martha's jacket, then he turned. Gwen. Her smile was bright, but there was tension in her posture, brilliant colors fighting around her. "Welcome back," he said. He had to move fast. "How was your trip?" He grinned, imitating her, and moved forward. |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 25 2009, 09:31 AM Post #16 |
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Time Lord
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If there was anything slightly off in Martha's sudden change, Tosh didn't notice it. Distracted by Gwen's voice she turned to meet the other woman, already smiling wide. It was good to see her: Tosh had always liked Gwen, and she was one of Adam's best friends at work. "Welcome back," he said, stepping forward. "How was your trip?" "I bet it was fantastic," Tosh said brightly, moving back towards her desk. "Try not to make us too jealous! If it took a year for Jack to let you have a holiday, imagine how long it'll be before he lets two of us go." Her look to Adam was brief, but had an easy familiarity to it. As it should--it'd been years, after all. Edited by Toshiko Sato, Sep 25 2009, 09:35 AM.
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| Gwen Cooper | Sep 25 2009, 10:21 AM Post #17 |
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Field Agent
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Gwen blinked at the man's easy familiarity with Martha. "Welcome back," he said, moving towards her. Gwen took an almost subconscious half-step back. "How was your trip?" "Who the hell are you?" Gwen retorted. Then Tosh was talking as though there was nothing out of the ordinary here, as though -- wait, as if she knew this bloke, and offering no explanation or introduction. Looking at her, Tosh seemed off in a way Gwen couldn't quite quantify, and now Gwen was on a mental red alert. |
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| Adam Smith | Sep 25 2009, 10:32 AM Post #18 |
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Weevil Bait
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Dammit, now she was backing away, flares of alarmed red washing out any relaxation. "Who the hell are you?" Adam laughed, but he didn't quite have the hang of it. "Funny, Gwen. C'mere." He opened his arms, as if for a hug. She was too far for him to reach, but if he moved this way, she couldn't reach the door. |
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| Gwen Cooper | Sep 25 2009, 10:50 AM Post #19 |
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Field Agent
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The man was circling, blocking the way out. Gwen took a slow breath as she kept her distance. "Tosh? Martha? Could one of you please tell me who this is and what he's doing here?" she said as lightly as she could. The Hub had an intruder, and Gwen was the only one who seemed to have noticed. She thought longingly of her gun, tucked inside her handbag and not quite within easy reach. |
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| Toshiko Sato | Sep 25 2009, 11:18 AM Post #20 |
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Time Lord
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Adam's laugh sounded slightly pained, and Tosh wasn't surprised: beyond the fact that Gwen's blank look must have been hurtful, it was also deeply worrying. She'd been away for days, anything could have happened to her memory. Given Gwen's day job, an innocent explanation seemed unlikely. "Tosh? Martha? Could one of you please tell me who this is and what he's doing here?" Tosh took a few steps towards them, looking with confusion between the three others. "He's Adam," she said, trying to keep her voice steady beyond the confusion. "You've been friends since you arrived. He's been here longer than any of us." She looked to Adam, thinking he might have an answer to this, but he didn't look as if he did. |
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