OTA

[jeopardyfriendly]

Who: Rose Tyler (AU) and Open
Where: Various (kitchen, garden, spa, wildcard)
When: Jelly 16-30
What: Generally settling in, with free food in the kitchen prompt.
Warnings: Nope



Downstairs Kitchen, Night

Maybe it's not normal to cook in the middle of the night, but she's got a craving and Rose isn't sure if she’ll be stepping on any toes with red team on kitchen duty.

Whenever she’s uprooted, she wants comfort food, and even after three centuries that still means one thing: chips. Delicious pieces of potato deep-fried until their nutritional value is in the negatives, preferably from one of those little shops where everything is fried.

Sadly, she can’t just pop out to pick up an order--her usual MO--because she's been effectively shanghaied by this train. At least all of the necessary ingredients are in stock and she can make a respectable version herself. It takes time but eventually she produces a plate piled high with steaming hot chips.

She looks down, considering the portion. Earlier, it had seemed like a waste to go through all the trouble of cooking from scratch to make just enough for herself, but maybe she'd overcompensated? It seems unlikely that there'll be many hungry passersby to share this with at this time of night.

"That might be a problem."

Garden

Rose doesn’t like the garden carriage and not just because it’s basically an enormous window to the headache-inducing void.

She can see how others would find it peaceful and beautiful, but whenever she passes through, she can’t help the shiver that runs down her spine. Still, her unease won’t stop her from learning the layouts of each car and today was the day she’d chosen for this one.

She deliberately paces her way along the pathways, noting potential obstacles and changing textures underfoot. During one of her circuits, she pauses to stare at one of the statues. Her expression is complicated, more so than a simple stone figure should warrant.

Spa

Rose is reading, though not in the most expected of places. Wearing a purple swimsuit (not her color of choice, but if the powers-that-be want them color-coded for their convenience, she’ll play along for now) and with her blonde curls piled on top of her head, she’s lounging in the heated pool with a book from the Merry Little Voidtrain series.

It’s one of several, the rest stacked neatly outside of the potential splash zone. It looks like she raided the library for information on the void, though there are some more non-fiction in the mix as well.

It looks like she'll be here for a while.

Wildcard

It’s her first two weeks on board so she’s still learning where everything is and the general rhythms of train life. Find her cleaning up as part of her purple duties, training, and generally poking around.

Comments

garden

[flatteries]

Inigo easily recognizes the girl as their new roommate ever since the last platform stop. And he may not have spoken much to her yet - probably mostly out of sheer shyness when it comes to girls, really, even if he may not show it as much on the outside - but this seems as good of a time as any to actually talk to her a bit more than just the standard introductions they shared.

Especially since the way she's looking at the statue gives him something to start with.

"Hey!" He says, moving up next to her with a big smile on his face. "Are you alright? Is.. something wrong with the statue?" Nothing looks different than the usual to him.

[jeopardyfriendly]

Rose has never been much of a morning person unless some sort of life-threatening emergency warranted it (and then only grudgingly so), which is one of many reasons why she usually keeps a bedroom to herself. The whole roomies thing is new to her and she feels a bit bad that most of her time spent in their shared cabin has been as a monosyllabic zombie with terrible bedhead in the mornings, but unless someone sets up a source of caffeine in 6:C, that's not going to change.

His approach pulls her out of her reverie and she offers him a smile in return. "Inigo, hi."

She's briefly distracted by the Princess Bride quote running through her head. "What? Oh, no, I'm good." She pokes the statue as if to demonstrate that it's still stone. "See; it's fine. It just reminded me of that time I was turned into a statue." That she utters that last statement as if it's perfectly normal is probably telling. "Always makes me wonder..."

[flatteries]

".. You were turned into a statue?!"

Look, Inigo may be used to magic. So the idea of someone being turned into a statue isn't entirely impossible to him - that's not exactly the angle of all of this that he's freaking out about. No, it's got much more to do with the personal side of it. The shock is mostly born from knowing it happened to her, and that she can mention it so casually now.

Hence why the guy looks a little baffled before he manages to continue a moment or two later, still looking confused.

"W.. Wasn't that terrible?" He can only imagine it must have been!

[jeopardyfriendly]

Okay, he is taking this a lot harder than she is. She has half a mind to sit him down with a cup of tea and whatever snuggly fluffball is available and willing.

"It was just for a couple of days when I was a teenager. It didn't hurt and I don't actually remember anything from being a giant garden ornament, so, you know..." She shrugs. "I've had worse."

Honestly, it'd been the days leading up to and after her stint as a stone Minerva that had been fraught with terror and despair, but she is one hundred percent not mentioning that to Inigo considering his reaction to the least traumatic part of that adventure.

[flatteries]

It's true that her words don't seem to reassure him a terrible amount. Mostly since he's still kind of freaking out about the whole thought, really - even if the situation must have ended up okay, since Rose very much isn't a statue anymore right now. Or a teenager, for that matter.

But her saying she's had worse, and that it's the reason why she can look at this so calmly, is what doesn't make it better. It just makes him feel even more sorry for her. Did she already have to go through that many awful things?

"S-Still, I'm.. sorry to hear it regardless." Inigo shakes his head. He still looks a little freaked out, but he's trying to pull himself back together enough to speak at least somewhat coherently. "You didn't deserve to go through that. Or through worse. No one deserves that."

[jeopardyfriendly]

Flippancy is how she chooses to deal with the painful parts of her past, at least in public, but Rose recognizes that it's not for everyone. For sweet, maybe too caring Inigo, she'll get serious; it looks like he could use some reassurance, and making light of things doesn't seem to be the right approach for that.

She keeps her expression easy and open, hoping that her sincerity shows. "Do you often apologize for things that aren't your fault?" She asks with a gentle smile.

She's genuinely touched by his concern; he's one of only a handful to express that sentiment. "No, I didn't. Nor did any of the others that were petrified. But I would go through all that again in a heartbeat if it meant helping them again."

She tilts her head, considering him. "You're a fighter, yeah? With a sword, if I'm not mistaken." It may seem like a bit of a non sequitur, but the deliberate way she asks promises that it's going somewhere.

[flatteries]

.. ah. Rightfully called out on the apologizing thing. It makes his gaze snap up to meet hers, though the boy's cheeks are definitely colouring a bright red at the same time, a little ashamed of having it stated so clearly, like she's seeing right through him.

It leaves him speechless for a few moments, unable to do much more than listen to her, take in the information she's providing. It's only by the time she asks that question that he briefly nods.

"Um, yes." He isn't too sure where this is going, but it's something he'd readily admit to under any circumstances. "I am. Have been for a long while now."

[jeopardyfriendly]

Rose has to remind herself that teenagers don't generally appreciate it when you call them cute, especially when you mean like a puppy, so she's just going to think it and refrain from patting him on the head like a child.

Her smile turns a little crooked. "It's good that you care, but keep that up and you'll give yourself an ulcer."

"There are certainly safer jobs. You probably have scars from it. Or calluses, at least." She holds out a hand, palm up, to show off the constellation of calluses there. "I treat those experiences the same way."

[flatteries]

Inigo raises a hand similarly - as if he'd feel too guilty hiding his own when she's showing it to openly. And when he turns it, showing his palm, there's definitely a similar amount of them there, despite his age. (Honestly, he's more just glad that he can show it off this way, considering how nervous he is about showing off scars instead.)

His gaze lingers on her hand for a moment, but then moves up to her face.

"But.. I don't know. Fighting is one thing."

Maybe he's saying it a bit too casual, considering the topic.

"After a while, it almost goes automatic, right? But experiencing things like being stuck as a statue.. That's got to be way worse. Terrifying, even. Especially since you most likely wouldn't realise whether there's even a way out." His hand curls back up to a fist as he draws it back, holding it to his chest. "That's why I can't help but feel bad for you going through something that hard. No battle I've ever fought could compare to that."