InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Denton, the home of happiness!"

DCI Gene Hunt (asgenehunt) wrote in mirage_rpg,
@ 2008-10-24 16:57:00

Entry tags:

arrival, complete, day 20, gene hunt, nymphadora tonks

Day 20
Who: Gene Hunt and OTA
When: Day 20, morning
What: Arriving
Where: Meadows
Rating: PG
Status: Complete

The London Metropolitan were notoriously amongst the most pragmatic police force in the world, and apart from a few moral issues on his part, he belonged there with the rest of them. Cynical was such an expressive turn of phrase and so useful for people such as him, that trusted nothing others said and only half of what they saw.

But the impossible had happened, and Gene was actually lost for words at where he had blinked and found himself.

Countless minutes had passed since he'd tried to rationalise the sight of the desert behind him, the buildings ahead, the faint sound of life in the distance, and the smell of something that was decidedly not the musty smell of London backstreets, nor the the patina-old warehouses or the continuous exhaust from the city's roads. It was clean air, and definitely not his stalking ground.

His dusty brow furrowed in an ever present frown, but at least all of that proved one thing. This wasn't any self-inflicted delusion, because he wouldn't have churned up a nightmare like this even on a blotter-load of Glenlivets. Besides, any half respective delusion that didn't involve Diana Dors wasn't worth the paper it was written on, in his opinion.

He tried to rationalise for a good two minutes - he was either dreaming, rat-arsed, drugged (and whoever had thought that was a smart idea was going to spend the next month picking leather out of his teeth once he found them out), or had been spending too much time with a certain dolly bird who seemed to have difficulty comprehending reality on a long-term basis.

Then he gave up. Because this was all too real, this was...

"Flamin' Nora," he muttered, and fear was rusty needles beginning to poke at his chest. With the sun shining down unhindered, he remembered in full what it was to be alone. The solitude was of a kind he had rarely experienced before. At least, not since joining the force. Lord help him, he'd even have preferred the alternative of what he could have been doing instead, rolling his eyes at Shaz being caught in Chris' tractor beam stare, having to listen to Ray cough all over the latest case notes, and interrogating a suspected dealer with a ridiculous shirt so loud that even Gene had trouble hearing over it. Still, at least he grown to feel at home with the irritating couple, the viral infection, and standing over Mr. Shirt, even if he would never, ever admit that.

Now, there was nothing for it but to start stalking his way towards the buildings in the light and the heat of the day, black coat oven-warm in the morning sun, wondering what had happened to a world he had thought he understood.

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tonks_please
2008-10-24 12:24 pm UTC (link)

It was becoming almost familar, really. She woke up, rolled out of bed, showered, and tried to decide if it was worth the small effort it would take to change her hair away from its natural color. After dressing casually, she decided that she wasn't quite at the point where she didn't care, and concentrated until her hair turned a dark red color that rather suited her mood. She left the room, and wandered. This was all becoming quite par for the course over the last few days. Being kidnapped had changed her, though probably not permanently. Nothing could really keep her down long, but for now, she was rather pensive about the whole thing.

Almost as familar was the blinking box on the desk of the lobby as she walked past. She did seem to end up greeting a fair number of people, and she knew the routine. She could leave it for someone else, of course, but the idea never really occured to her. It was distract her, she thought, to show someone around and all that. Also, if they were ever going to get home, she needed to scope out the new arrivals, see what they could offer.

Of course, she wasn't sure she did want to go home... but she didn't need to think about that. On autopilot, she continued what she had been doing before the kidnapping, and that was really all there was to that. So she collected the key and headed out, wishing that there was some sort of homing device on it so she could find it's new owner. Dark eyes scanned around as she walked, looking for someone who seemed confused, out of place.

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asgenehunt
2008-10-24 04:15 pm UTC (link)

Smoking was one of those habits Gene had briefly given up after his divorce, alongside trying to cut down on alcohol and eventually selling his Cortina (which was a mistake he'd never get over). He'd managed not to bother his wife again, but the drinking and cigarettes was a harder game to give up on, and it was at times like these that drove a man right into those vices' arms again.

Looking around the peculiar landscape as he approached the outskirts of buildings and patted his coat - so habitual was the performance that before he knew what he was doing, he'd flipped out a filter tip and cradled it between his fingers - he came to the conclusion that he'd probably fallen short of the booze vow too and he was actually unconscious in a skip somewhere, like so many of the worst nights in his life had turned out. If only it hadn't been for the fact that he felt very much awake and conscious.

He paused in his search with his free hand hovering at his side, when he remembered that his lighter was back on his desk next to the IBM. Two seconds later he was glaring skywards at whatever mischievous force was lounging around that day with nothing better to do than to irritate the hell out of him. "It's working," he informed it.

When he dipped his head down again, scratching the back of his neck in discomfort, he saw the woman perambulating nearby. Good, at least he wasn't the only one around here. For a moment there, he'd started to wonder. He openly stared at the vibrant flow of hair which didn't seem to be a shade found in nature; unaccustomed to it as he was, it reassured him that he wasn't too far removed from the thriving disco club scene London had taken on in recent years.

Unwilling to let her out of his sight, he strode over, lifting his hand in an attempt to get her attention. He wanted to know exactly where he was, but he wasn't going to just come out and say that, because there was no way a question of that magnitude could be asked without instantly sounding like a basket case. So instead, he directed to her:

"Oy, a head's up would appreciated, sweetheart. What's going on around here?"

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tonks_please
2008-10-24 06:01 pm UTC (link)

"Oh!" The witch tossed her red hair back and smiled brightly. "There you are, I was wondering." She waved enthusiastically at him, glad to lose herself in this task of helping someone out. That seemed like more fun than being all depressed, at least for the moment.

"Wotcher!" She turned to walk over to him, tripped over a tiny rock, and fell on her face. In seconds, she was up again, acting like nothing at all had happened. It wasn't a new experience for her to fall down, that much was clear. "I'm Tonks."

She laughed at his attempts to be subtle and shook her head at him. "S'okay, I won't think you're a nutter if you tell me that you don't have the slightest idea where you are. You've been kidnapped. It wasn't by me, though, so don't get all upset at the messanger."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So, here's the deal. You've been snatched by a lonely planet that wants us to amuse itself at our expense. If you aren't thrilled about this, you're not the only one." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. "This is your room key, the number of the room is on the top and..." She snapped her fingers, knowing she was forgetting something. "Right! And the plaque. Follow me!"

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asgenehunt
2008-10-26 05:39 am UTC (link)

Gene took the key wordlessly, sending a sceptical look over it at the girl who called herself Tonks. The key was wildly less bizarre than the story she span, something about kidnapping and lonely planets. For one, he had experience when it came to being kidnapped: it was an art he'd unwittingly perfected, and this was, by far, the least conventional he'd ever been part of. And two, it seemed to him that the only planet this bird seemed to be inhabiting was the one belonging to the Clangers.

It all sounded like a scenario out of the shows he constantly caught Chris watching. If this was a joke of ridiculous proportions, then none of the guys from the old school had the imagination, not to mention the balls, to pull off something like this. Personally, he would have pinned his suspicions on a certain gorgeous doll for who this was probably a completely everyday experience. Payback for ribbing her about the cutesy world she seemed to have her head stuck in half the time, he decided, immediately curling the corner of his thin lips with his concurrence of that reassuring explanation.

Or, not so reassuring. He couldn't really muster the belief deep down that she'd be a part of anything like that, not of her. The one thing that made sense to him, and he was clinging to it stubbornly, was the kidnapping part. He certainly hadn't come here of his own free will, and it was possible his team were there too.

He was thinking too hard; thoughts blurred into the next before the first ones had the chance to be finished - which was why he didn't tend to do it often. Slipping the key into his pocket, he finally decided that he was going to go along with this and see where it took him, hoping it was towards people, and possibly his team. It was a method that had a better track record of success. What other options did he have anyway. Not many, by his reckoning.

"Gene Hunt, DCI," he offered as he began to follow her, still watching her suspiciously as though she might break out into ballet-dancing or something equally barmy at any moment. "Supposing I humour you for a second with this notion of yours about a planet, where's everyone else?"

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tonks_please
2008-10-27 07:42 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't like Tonks wasn't used to people being skeptical about this. She'd talked to more than enough people, welcomed them to Mirage, than to expect anything else. At least he wasn't talking about being dead or anything. She really had had all sorts of experiences as far as that went, and at least he was restraining himself to skeptical looks.

She mostly left him to his own thoughts, knowing that he would have a hard time believing anything else she said until he believed that he really had been kidnapped by a sentient planet. So she just led the way toward the main building, the one with the plaque in it. Typically, she tripped about every foot or so, but this was clearly not a cause of alarm for her. She quickly recovered each time, and continued on only to stumble once more.

Finally, she reached the building and turned to him. "Wotcher, Gene! I'm Tonks, like I already said. What does DCI mean?" She couldn't control her motormouth anymore. Being silent for even as long as she had was a triumph of epic proportions, really. "Is it your job, or some other title? Or just part of your name?"

She waited for an answer, her fingers finding a strand of her dark red hair and twirling it around idly. She couldn't help but be curious, really. It was a part of her nature. Part of what made her a good Auror. Besides, it still made sense to sort of feel him out, see if he was interested in getting off the Planet as well. She and Marcus could use the help.

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asgenehunt
2008-11-16 01:32 pm UTC (link)

As they walked, Gene buttoned his lip to stop himself from pointing out his new companion's unhealthy level of trips and stumbles.

'Scuse me miss, do you realise you keep tripping over yerself?

No. Gene just couldn't bring himself to ask it. Surely the girl had to know that already, didn't she. It wasn't the kind of thing you didn't notice, almost falling over so much. He considered advising her to find a doctor at some point in the very near future, or failing that, a decent crutch. Instead, he tried not to stare and made better use of the walk by looking around and gaining a better scope of his surroundings, until she turned back to him at the base of a building.

Normally, the presence of such exuberance in conversation would be cause for some banter on his part; though the antagonism that typically existed between him and the rest of the world had, for now, been stilled. At the moment, he simply didn't have it in him.

So instead of responding, "So you mentioned," or "I caught that part," to being reaffirmed of her name, he nodded begrudgingly, not to particularly approve of it, but rather to acknowledge it.

He definitely wasn't going to be forgetting her for a long time.

"Detective Chief Inspector," he answered, glad that at least something still made sense to him. "With the London police," he bluntly added, because it occurred to him if she hadn't known the job title already, it was likely she wouldn't have worked out that part either.

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tonks_please
2008-11-16 08:47 pm UTC (link)

It didn't occur to Tonks anymore that others might find her unusual level of clumsiness noteworthy. It was no much a part of her, had been since she could walk, that she didn't even think much about it. A natural part of her, just as much as her ability to change her physical appearance. Nothing to mention, so she didn't. She pushed open the door to the building with the plaque in it, and gestured for him to go in first.

"Detective Chief Inspector..." She grinned and him, delighted by this revelation. "That must be one of those muggle coppers, brilliant!" She waited for him to enter the building as she thought the new information over. "So you and me, we're kinda in the same business, yeah? I'm an Auror, I hunt dark wizards. So we're the same!"

She smiled as she thought about it more. "And you're from London, great! Me too, though 'course my job takes me all over... but it keeps it from getting boring. Only you must be from muggle London, I don't go there much." In fact, she avoided it like the plague when she could, but thought it wouldn't be polite to mention that.

"So, anyway, if you wanna go home, there's other people who are planning the same thing, you know?" She raised an enquiring eyebrow at him, asking his opinion. Who knew, maybe he liked being snatched or something? "A group of us are trying to get home. It's nice here and all but we have stuff to do. It was kind of rude, really, for the Planet to just take us without checking these things..."

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