Back In London // Open

[The Queen of Hearts]

Opening the door and getting out of her TARDIS, Moxxi brushed down her skirt, adjusted her top-hat and looked around. London. How long had it been since she last was in this place? Two years? Three? She didn't bother to figure it out. Time wasn't linear. End of story. So why waste time trying to figure events out as a linear chain of events? No point, not really. Humans seemed to enjoy that, claiming that it made things easier. Moxxi begged to differ.

Locking the door to her TARDIS, she ran her hand over the paintwork. She loved her dear old machine to bits. She was the only true friend that the woman had left in this world. Everyone else, well, they were just acquaintances really. With quite a few acquaintances-with-benefits in the mix. Giving the car a loving pat, the Queen of Hearts smiled at it. "I'll be back before you know it, sugar," she told her, before sauntering down the street. While she was here she might as well get some components for her dear girl. There had been a tiny store that had been a life-saver during the time she'd been stuck here on Earth. Almost anything the Gallifreyan could have possibly wished for. Needless to say that she'd become a well-known regular there.

The brunette couldn't remember what street it was on, but she was sure that she'd find it soon enough. She wondered if the old gentleman that was running it was still alive. She hoped so; she'd grown rather fond of him. Though she'd learned that humans had a very short lifespan. Such a shame, really.

With a roll of her green eyes at the stares and gawks she was receiving, she haughtily brushed her fringe from her eyes before carrying on down the street. Weird beings, humans. As if they hadn't seen odder outfits. Spotting the greenery of a park, she decided to cut through there on her way to the store. If she remembered correctly, there was a vendor of frozen confectionery here daily. What was that stuff called again? Ice cream. That's it! Delicious stuff. Moxxi had to hand it to the Earthlings - their ice cream was amazing.

[The Tenth Doctor]

The Time Lord walked hastily around the console of his trusty TARDIS, hoping he wouldn't have a situation where one of the many switches or buttons broke off. He handled the controls as gingerly as he could....well, as much as he could while trying to avoid a black hole at least. He has already escaped, but he just wanted to be sure. He quickly ran over to the monitor.

"Whooo, that was close, eh?" He said to himself with a chuckle. This was just after he had faced an encounter with the Sontarans....pitiful creatures they are....a race of clones bent on conquering the galaxy.....and they had no idea why. That was the sad part. He was thinking of paying a visit to Planet Eden, a planet of endless grasslands and forests he had discovered, but he decided for something a little more...populated. Modern day London sounded good to him!

He hastily worked on the controls, checking the monitor every now and again to see if he was on the right course. He loved his TARDIS to death, the old girl, however, sometimes she had the nastiest habit of dropping the Doctor down at someplace he never heard of/didn't mean to go. Thankfully once his call box had touched down from the Time Vortex, he saw that he had landed right where he had intended too. A back alley in the London streets. He felt hungry for some Ice Cream....ah, humans! Such fascinating creatures...and they make the best pastries! He quickly threw on his trademark trench coat, and checked his pockets for his trusty sonic screwdriver. He didn't think there would be an issue, but hey, you never know. He Adjusted his tie, and stepped out into the London streets.

[Guest]

It was one of those beautiful Spring days, a day that reminded you that cities weren't seperate from nature. The sky was a cloud-streaked blue, like a dome of turquoise, and a gentle breeze drifted through the trees.

And on the reflecting pond, a naval battle was taking place. The Revenge, a three-decked galleon with forty-six guns, bore down on a helpless single masted schooner. From the wheel, the Corsair bellowed "Heave to, ye lubbers, an' prepare ta receive boarders!"

The schooner tacked into the wind, trying to outrun the massive galleon. But, by now, the Corsair was close enough to see the sheer terror on the face of the smaller boat's captain. "Run out the guns!" she roared.

Jinking, the smaller ship turned and tried to run with the wind. As it did, the Corsair smiled. "All hands... fire!" Forty cannon discharged with a bellow of thunder as the single-masted ship crossed the port broadside. It never stood a chance. And ten yards from where the Corsair stood on the shore, a ten-year-old girl stared in shock as her RC boat sank in pieces.

"Cheer up," the Corsair told her, handing over the remote for the 1:50 scale model galleon. "You can have mine. She's The Revenge, Anne Bonny's ship."

The girl stared at her in bemusement. "Who's Anne Bonny?" At the same time a woman - probably the girl's mother - started over. "Lily! Don't go talking to strangers."

"Avast there, madam," the Corsair said, looking at Lily's mom. "T'was me sank the girls boat, in a spot o' harmless fun. It's only right I replace it."

The mother was taken aback. "Uhm... uh..." she stammered.

"And, you got to admit, Anne Bonny's a better role-model than Barbie." She smiled her most charming smile. "Go on, let her have it."

"Uhm... all.. all right."

"That's the spirit, mum!"

"Miss?" the little girl asked.

"Corsair," the Corsair responded with a grin. "What c'n I do for you?"

"Who's Anne Bonny?"

"Irish lass, and one of the most wanted pirates of the Carribbean." She grinned, and punched Lily lightly on the shoulder. "Read up on her. She was a hoot."

Still smiling, she sang as she strolled away from the confused mother and the little girl who was eying the model galleon with a sudden renewed interest. "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" Although, honestly, an ice cream sounded better today. Or maybe an ice cream float. With rum.

"Drink and the devil had done for the rest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum."

With that thought, she made towards the small ice cream stand in the park.

"The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike
"The bosun brained with a marlinspike
"And cookey's throat was marked belike
"It had been gripped by fingers ten;
"And there they lay, all good dead men
"Like break o'day in a boozing ken
"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum."

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