smk_ooc | Character Meet and Greet

Despite any lack of psychic powers, or seeming magic, or seeming anything unusual about the human girl -- except an extreme amount of timedust, void 'stuff' and a subtle hint that she'd been through hell itself; apparently more than once -- she starts singing for him, as if she knows exactly what he's looking for.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of fears!" she cheerfully bops her head along to the song.
"It's a world of hope, and a world of tears,
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware--!" she doesn't finish though, just looks at him expectantly, like she thinks it'll come back to him and he'll know the next line.

And come back to him it does! He brightened instantly and beamed.

"That's it! That's the song!!"

Before... it dawned on him that it was the song and his smile curled into a disgusted frown.

"Why are you singing it?! No one should ever have to sing it... let alone have to listen to anyone singing it... That might even be worse than the Sound of Music."

A giggle snort in spite of herself. Although it did further prove, it wasn't the Doctor. Sounded like him, but he would have sung along and bounced about and tried to get even more of the song from Rose. Still, it was weird, wasn't it? She was pretty sure she was past the point of seeing his face and mannerisms in perfect strangers in sheer desperate want and need for him.

"My Mum bloody loved that movie, big Julie Andrews fan, she is --" although depending on the universe, that wasn't the main actress, but whatever, it doesn't stop Rose from starting that one up either with a trolling shit-eating grin, "Do a deer, a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun, Me a name I call myself, Fa a long long way to ruuuuuuuun!"

But she stopped and looked at him.

"Look, I know you're not my best mate I've been lookin' for, because you've got wings, and he doesn't splinter, and also, he whined for like five minutes solid about not bein' ginger, but you could be his older brother." She was itching to just grab the sunglasses and double check, but she shoved her fists in her pockets. "I promise no more singing, and can you tell me --" she faltered. In her head it was a perfect arrangement, but now that she had to directly ask the questions...

What could she say? He wasn't the Doctor, the Doctor didn't splinter, Timelords didn't grow wings... no wait, couldn't they? He said he might have two heads. Or no head. Or... she didn't know if it was true or not. In the fallen timelines, he just died, no regenerating. Even if the Doctor had siblings, and this was somehow a way to undo the Time War without pardox; or was indeed itself a paradox, it wasn't like the lives of siblings would look like each other. It was all so mad! Maybe that's where this was. Wonderland. Disney style.

"Who are you?"

He did groan as the third most annoying song in the universe was sung but it could have been worse, it could have been the second and the hills could have been alive with the sound of...

"Good thing your mom isn't here to overhear you butchering her favorite musical."

The demon flexed his wings as they were mentioned. It wasn't at all common to have humans actually see those things. Usually he kept them hidden from view much as he tried to do with his golden snake-like eyes. Thankfully he had at least been able to keep the shades.

"No idea what you are talking about. I've never seen anyone who looked like me and I certainly don't have a brother."

Not in the actual sense of the word.

"I'm Anthony J. Crowley."

A very human, very normal name... probably would have allowed him to fit right in with this world if it weren't for the wings.

"Who... did you say you were?"

Rose made a face at him.

"Keep it up and break the arrangement," she warned.

But her mirth faded.

She finally found allies in the fight, and yet she never felt so out of place. Looking for something familiar, anything to latch onto. Not even in hell had she been so far away from everything she'd ever known. And at least there she still had the Doctor. It was easy to talk about never seeing her Mum again if her best friend was with her and she had to be strong for his sake, having lost his TARDIS, the last remnant of his people aside from himself. Rose figured it must feel like this but even worse for him constantly.

"No one. Just a ghost," she started to walk away.

She was willing to fight, but what did she even bring to the table here? Knowledge? Experience? It was those very experiences that were the reason she had stopped trying to befriend everyone. Her name should be safe enough here, if anything, it seemed like her codename would be more troublesome, but what was the point? Rose Tyler was dead in one universe, and being an heiress with an inventor father didn't really make her a superhero -- at least, not without help. Well, she had that now, didn't she? Maybe not.

"Awfully noisy for a ghost!"

He called after her before giving into curiosity and seeing where the lady was walking off to by boldly following her. One couldn't exactly sneak or lurk after her with these huge wings. Stealth was out, they would give him away every time.

"This your world then? Ghost world, or something? I've heard there is a house here with 999 of your kind in it."

He wasn't fooled of course. Having lived among her kind for eons he knew a human when he saw one. A depressed human, or a lost one, really this was angel territory but there was no one else around. Crowley ventured into uncertain ground asking a question that just might have held a touch of concern.

"You lost him? This guy who looks like me?"

"I wish," Rose laughed, silently relieved for company, even as it hurt. It wasn't his fault he looked like the Doctor. For all Rose knew, the Doctor looked like him because of... Bad Wolf???? That'd be weird.

"Well, I guess since you're not human, or the normal aliens I've run into before, you might not forget me out of dreams. Rose, I'm Rose Tyler." Safer than Bad Wolf still.

"My world isn't anywhere, yeah? That's why I'm a ghost. And yeah, I've been traveling to find him. A long time now." Deep breath. No crying. But god damn she missed him extra and just wanted to hug him and have him tell her everything would be all right --

Deep breath. "He's daft. He's an absolutely daft idiot." She was using the anger to buffer the pain, obviously. "Always getting himself into trouble, even literally dying without me." The seething helped a lot, though it was hard to resist hugging the stranger that looked like him. One heartbeat or not... maybe none, given where she was and how she half considered herself dead; right then she'd take it over the two years longing. "But he's the only person I could think of to solve the darkness. Then I get here and there's a plan, and everyone knows what to do." Except her.

And if she was being honest; maybe that's why she was frustrated. She was happy; she wasn't alone in her fight... and frustrated, because maybe that meant she had no excuse to get to the Doctor anymore. Maybe the universe she was born in had to stay sealed off from her so it wouldn't be undone by the darkness. Maybe, for the first time since she realized that Bad Wolf Bay was named that as a message for her to start looking for ways to get back to him -- maybe it wasn't true at all! Maybe she was just supposed to get here, and that was it! No happily ever after for the wicked.

Rose gave up fighting the temptation, half hoping this was all some mad dream, that despite her attempts to fast forward in the TARDIS to avoid sleep, she'd fallen asleep and this was just weird enough to be one, and Rose spun around and hugged Crowley, sobbing into his chest. "What if I never see him again? What if we fix the Darkness and they make me go back? All that hell, for what?"

So much sobbing. And sniffles. But when she calms down. "Not to be rude," says the girl hugging and crying on a total stranger, "But are you some sort of crow person? You said your name was Crowley, right? Anthony Crowley."

"Not anywhere? It has to be somewhere. World's don't just stop..."

He trailed off leaving the word, 'existing', hanging unsaid. They could stop existing, apparently on a whim... as some sort of stupid bloody ridiculous test! But he couldn't see the point. Why make humanity and then test it into extinction?

And maybe that was why he was here. The thought dawned on him like she had dumped a bucketful of Holy Water on him. Maybe his world had been destroyed and now like this Rose he was only a ghost, a remnant of a home he had grown to love, dropped off here because there was no where else to go.

Crowley was silent as Rose spoke on about her daft missing idiot. That too hit fairly hard. After all when he had first arrived he had been missing his daft idiot too, that brilliantly clever daft idiot With the beautifully untarnished white wings. There was a relief that he had found his missing angel.

Then she had turned and wrapped her arms around him...

"Oi! Hey, hey, hey, hey...!"

The surprised protest noises didn't prevent the hug. Crowley found himself trapped, his shirt growing slightly damp from the lady's tears, and he without a clue what to do about it. His hands hung over the girl, never landing on her shoulders, but hovering near as he tried to work out what the hell to do about this.
He was DEEP into angel territory now! The whole comfort and support thing was well out of his job description in fact if any of his people saw him cuddling a distressed human... well, it wouldn't turn out very happily for him. His lot weren't gentle with traitors. Out of habit he swept a quick look around to make sure no one was watching, and hopefully to spot a certain angel he could push Rose off on. Aziraphale! Where the hell are you? He was so much better at this sort of thing!

"Maybe he is here??"

The words were spoken uncertainly, the mark of a demon trying not to drown in unfamiliar waters.

"Trying to fight against the corruption? You seemed to think he would be... doing something... against darkness?"

It was a poor attempt, but it was an attempt. Bonus points for trying? Or did trying still count against him?

Her next question set him on much firmer ground. In trying not to be rude she actually had been. Crowley's face contorted into an unamused frown, not unlike one the Doctor would have worn at all!

"A crow?! I'm not some sort of giant bird..."

He was more a giant snake, totally different.

"I'm a demon!"

Still frowning, though one might notice he still hadn't pushed Rose away from him. Should have, he thought about it, but... she was missing her idiot.

"Humans aren't generally meant to know that... Makes it easier when I can hide these things," finger jab back at his wings, "You humans and much more trusting when you believe I'm one of you."

"They do all the time whenever the darkness gets them..." A sniffle and she rubbed her eyes. "My parents are still safe, s'far as I know, but I haven't been back to their Earth in forever, and anyway, that's not even the Earth I was born on."

Rose shook her head, "Nuh-uh, he's not, I looked everywhere, that's why I came back to you for clues. I'm not really a study in school type..." A slight hiccup.

At the proclamation he was a demon, and indignation over being compared to a bird, she pulled back herself with a slight giggle and peered closer. "You don't look like one," she decided, though that might be because she was used to the Doctor. "Can you breathe fire? Does Satan exist in your universe? Not that all devils know each other, but he's pretty much their King in most universes I've been through."

A head shake to the last part, and though she was back to sad toned, at least she'd stopped crying, "Nah, the Doctor's not human either. That's my friend. Who looks like you. He could have wings, but then he wouldn't have the same face."

A beat.

Then a suspicious peer, "I know not all demons are the same, and objectives completely differ, but won't it be hard for you to fight the darkness when your job is to spread it?"

She rubbed her eyes again. "Do you think Satan could escape a black hole? He could, right?" She bit her bottom lip. "He said he was the darkness, so I shot him into a black hole, but now with the darkness eating everything..." She shivered and held her arms despite the warm summer air. Clearly, she didn't disbelieve Crowley despite what she said.

And the thoughts gave her a new hope.
Maybe the Doctor still could come, just late as always. He wouldn't be looking for ways out of the universe, but if the darkness spread enough, if the darkness truly was from Satan getting his revenge on Rose Tyler, and all the forces of light and creation in general, then she hadn't made the holes, Satan did, and he must have bore away out the seals on the Doctor's universe. Maybe.

"Multiple Earths?"

And they were ALL winking out one by one? He couldn't help himself. Crowley looked skyward, as if he still had the right to.

"Why make multiple Earths just to destroy them all... What in the hell are you playing at?"

There was no answer of course, there never was. Not even a rumble of thunder to let them know the words had been heard. If this was all part of some great plan it just seemed cruel.

In this case he was some what grateful that Rose carried on talking. It saved him from a moment as he lamented the loss of that many people. He was meant to be fighting for Armageddon, the great war to decide once and for all who was best angels or demons, but he rather favored humans. Why did the Earth have to be destroyed once let along dozens of times?!

"I don't look like one? How would you know? Seen many demons have you?"

As the snake was out of the bag, however that saying went, he lifted his shades showing off those golden elliptical pupaled eyes of his. Decidedly demon.

"Yea, fire... used to be good with fire. I'm not sure how that would do here."

Eyebrow slowly lifts, maybe she did know demons.

"King, also known as the Devil, the accuser, or the adversary... big, big guy, in Hell... the biggest. Doubt anything short of the bottomless pit would hold him. And that won't happen unless my side looses..."

Unless they had already. He didn't know if the war was over or not. This could be purgatory. Didn't feel like purgatory but then he didn't know what that would feel like. Crowley blinked and looked to Rose.

"I thought you were human? What is all this talk about aliens, and different Earths, blackholes, and... darkness and everything? Your lot don't know about all that stuff yet."

"Who are you asking?"

A defensive shrug about knowing demons, not really, but she was very attached to the idea of red bat wings and spiked tails and horns and pitchforks, for some reason.

"Mmmmm 'e said the forces of light trapped 'im there, in Krop Tor. Hell, but just a prison for 'im. So, I only met the one, but I was expectin' more red than black, yeah? And bat wings. Yours are --" she reached out in spite of herself to gently stroke them, "Nice." A beat, because that was probably a grave insult for a demon. "Not nice, very scary and intimidating, like a crow's." Gentle pets. "But yanno, they always draw you, demons, so ragged and torn up. Not handsome." She blamed the Doctor for the slip of the tongue there. And she'd take it out on him the second she found him.

Rose got miffed at the last question. "I am human!" a beat. "And a time traveler, and a dimension traveler." She suddenly felt protective of the Doctor, in case taking humans with him was against heaven and hell's rules or something, but luckily for her, she had a shortcut. "My Dad's an inventor. Sort of Steve Jobs of his universe. In the one I was born in, he died when I was a baby. But in a universe where I wasn't even born, he helped undermine a company building cybermen -- like cyborg zombies. So when they tunneled the void, Da' invented a way to follow them to the universe I was born in." She was specifically leaving out the parts for which the Doctor and her might be a little culpable. "He saved me from the monsters, re-married my Mum -- his universe version got turned into a cyberman -- and gave me a job helping stop the premature end of the world with his company Torchwood." Nod!! "Torchwood's the ones that went explorin' the black hole with Satan too. We get into all sorts of mischief," to say the least. "But we mean well!! Least me and Da' do."

At least she wasn't crying anymore.

"Some one who never listens..."

A glare at the air which remained just as silent as ever which was why he never saw that hand reaching out to stroke his wing. It was a common misconception that demon wings were as horrible as demons tended to be. Actually they were just like angel wings only black and maybe a touch better groomed. The wings were soft under Rose's touch, with an even softer downy fluff hidden just underneath the glossy fight feathers. He was momentarily stunned that this human had reached out to touch them but even if she had called him handsome, his wing twitched once and drew away. In fact he took a physical step away himself, favoring a quick pace around in front of the girl as he snarled.

"I'm not nice! There is not one thing about me that is nice! And I am nothing like a crow!"

Nevermind that he had seemed slightly concerned for her or had allowed her to cry on him, he was not nice! He was only helping out an MIA angel... who he was rather glad hadn't been around to see that now. Crowley never would have lived that down.

But at least he and Rose could be miffed together.

Now whether or not the lady's lifestyle was against any rules he couldn't have cared less. He was a demon, encouraging people to break rules was his thing. He had just been surprised she was so well traveled. The most humans had done on his Earth was make it to the moon and shoot off a long range satellites or two. They couldn't dimension hop... or meet faux Satans on distant prison worlds... or fight cyborg zombies... OK! Come on!

"Cyborg zombies? You've been watching way too much scifi..."

Just in case she wasn't crazy though he did have to ask.

"Did you dimension hop your way here? Could you say... hop away from this world again too?"

Rose laughed in spite of herself. Not the right reaction, but she couldn't help it. "Not nice," she agreed, "Very rude and ginger. You must be the reason they say gingers have no soul." An atrocious joke, and she's not even apologetic about it.

"I can't," she shook her head. "My mission is to stop the darkness spreading and find allies. I don't know that the Doctor would actually know anything, like I said, he can be really daft. So I can't just..." She closed her eyes, but it didn't stop the grimace of extreme pain, "Risk the collapse of two or more universes just because I lo-- miss him."

That might have been a joke but he just shrugged at it. Maybe he was. Having been on Earth from the beginning there were vast amounts of things he had created and things that had been created around him, so it was possible.

"You don't really need one."

A soul. A bit overrated those... Or so he said with a bit of a sneer. Hoping perhaps to startle, but if that outburst of his hadn't then it was likely the more sedate look wouldn't have either. Also he tried not to wince at the near mention of the word 'love', that still being deep in angel territory.

"What are you going to do then, hang around here and fight the corruption? You will never find this guy if you do."

Yeah, no, she wasn't fazed.

She just hangs her head morosely. It kills her all over again.

"My mission wasn't to find him. It was to find help to stop the darkness. He was the only one I thought who even could know anything about it, but now I know better. My mission was to stop the darkness... so yeah. If I didn't... If I don't..." a hiccup and she starts crying again. Deep breath. "If I don't do that... if I don't fight the darkness, if I just ignore it, to keep looking for him... even if I did find him again, I couldn't look him in the eye, he wouldn't be proud of me, he'd probably be really disappointed and angry...."

She looked up at the sky. "And might not forgive me, even if there was anything left to go back to."

Rose was really mixed up. Half of her wanted to crumple into a ball and cry her heart out. Back to the day she realized she was stuck in Pete's Universe. "I thought Bad Wolf meant I could get back to him, but maybe it's just where I'm supposed to be. Some things are bigger than just... who you're with." A bitter laugh through the tears she wiped off with one hand. "I do not relish my Mum's bloody 'I told you so.' She'll be relieved, and that's even worse, yeah?" A bitter hiccup. "I'm not useless without him. I'm not. I saved my world fine on my own. Saved him without him knowing it. And it's fine, I don't need reward or recognition, I just--"

She grinds her teeth and growls, "It'd be nice to know he won't be bloody dead, and pathetic, and hurting and lonely and--" she completely breaks down into sobbing anyway, the anger not quite enough to power over it.

Edited 2019-07-01 17:00 (UTC)

She was crying again. Crowley took a defensive step back not from fear or any desire to avoid her lunging at him again but because he found himself right back in that awkward place he had been in earlier. He could try to comfort her, it is what an angel might do if they were paying attention, or walk away, which he was very much tempted to do as all this was her problem did it really have to be his? Or he could offer a little demonic advice, spread a little discord.

"Who cares if he would be disappointed in you! You ought to be disappointed in him, leaving you behind, making you chase though dimensions just on the off chance this idiot will actually have a plan. Screw him!"

Demonic advice tended to be a little less forgiving than angelic advice.

"You don't need his forgiveness. Forgiveness for what, looking for him? Trying to save a world? This guy sounds like a real prick. You're better off without him."

She hiccupped, blinked at him owlishly, and then nodded fiercely. "Y-Yeah!!" A fist punch in the air. She didn't need him, he needed her!! "All the worlds!!" A wolf growl of determination, casting the Doctor out of her head for now, reverting to her classic anger whenever he did let himself die, which let her push on and ignore (however briefly) the anguish.

"And I've done just bloody fine on my own!!! Which is way more than he can say!!"

A deep bad wolf huff and she smiled softly, giving him a very quick hug again, hoping it didn't cause actual pain on him or anything. "Thank you. That was perfect, Anthony."

And it was!!! Even if the Doctor showed up in front of her right that very second, she'd kick his shins for making her cry with worry again, and dying in timelines she had to prevent from becoming reality, and making her doubt everything, including whether he was even worth it (because he was, of course he was, but he still sucked too).

Hugs weren't physically painful, he reacted as if they were, but that was only him being dramatic. This time was no different. Quick though it was he stiffened in her hug and tried to wriggle free like a snake being held against it's will in the arms of it's keeper.

"Don't thank me! I'm not supposed to be helping you lot no matter what Merlin or that Hades says. There are rules against that in Hell."

"I KNEW IT!" she declared loudly and pointed a finger at him. "Remember? I asked you that and everything!"

There was a finger pointed almost directly at his nose. A finger asking him to remember something that just happened. He almost wanted to bite it, didn't, but the thought did flash to mind.

"You say that like it's a great Revelation. Demons are meant to tempt humans, not help them, it's written down and everything."

To be fair... Rose might bite a finger pointed in her face too, so would the Doctor. And it wouldn't make her like him any less.

"Yeah, but why can't you just do what you want? Do you need me to kick Satan's ass again?" she says, like it's just that easy.

And she scrunches her face. She has no idea what even qualifies as temptation for her anymore, honestly. Honestly. She's been living completely on the full cusp of doing whatever she wants -- bar that one destroying two universes because yanno, that'd be bad. "I mean, what good is it telling everyone else to do what they want and hang the consequences, if you can't?" Is Rose Tyler trying to tempt the demon of temptation? Yes, yes she is. Rose Tyler though.

"He would kill you."

Crowley pointed out without a second thought. Human versus the ultimate evil, human looses every time.

"And I do what I want most of the time but even demons have rules. You do have to appear to be following them."

Just give yourself a good cover story and do whatever you like! That was his motto. If it wasn't he wouldn't have an arrangement with an Angel. But one did have to be careful of spies.

"Nah," Rose beamed calmly, "Killing is too good for me. Killing would get me out of his range. He sent me on a mission where I got to see the Doctor dead in hundreds of ways instead. Revenge for the black hole I shot Satan into, I'm sure."

A snort. "Why? Break them." A shrug. "I guess I get it. God doesn't smite, the devil does, that sort of thing. But what about here? The only other demon isn't from your neck of the woods, and the only reason he's not willing fighting the darkness is he thinks the people who want us to fight are the ones that stole his D-Hopper. If they paid him, he'd be down for it." Nod nod, "Proper demon." Not that you're not demonic enough for her.... but you aren't.

"I don't think he would really pay you much mind at all, not right now. He is a little preoccupied with the whole ending the world thing. Bringing about Armageddon and rallying thousands of demons to take part in the final battle, I think, would rank higher than tormenting one lady."

Crowley was the most approachable demon one would ever meet. He might even fight for this cause now and then, when it suited him, for no pay... ~~Or when a certain angel needed a hand.~~

"But don't believe for a moment God doesn't smite people. Remember the Flood? Just because she hasn't done anything like that recently doesn't mean she wouldn't quite happily test the humans of Earth right to their destruction."

Which funnily enough she was doing!

"You'd think that, but I keep thwarting his ends of the Earth. Defender of Earth, and other dimensions me, so I guess messin' with my head is just bonus."

Rose chewed her bottom lip in thought about the rest. "God sounds like a bitch. I won't let her either." Yeah. Yeah, she just said that.

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