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[koishi_komeiji]

^{Art by: Gorakujin}

Mary? Is that you? Just leave a message for now, okay?

*BEEP*

(OOC: Do specify which game, if any, the call is from)

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Genessia! // May 22nd near midnight // ACTION!!!

[bigbadrose]

[After inviting Koishi over to the TARDIS for a sleeping bag blanket fort mini-party, Rose is toasting teeny tiny baby marshmallows... to put in hot cocoa. It counts, right? There are also sticks for Koishi's hot dogs, even though a library fireplace is not the usual place for this sort of thing.]

This is the story of the day I died.

[Because Koishi is a youkai and has eaten people and Rose figures she can handle not getting depressed or freaked out too much by that statement. Hopefully.]

For the first 19 years of my life, nothing happened, nothing at all. Then I met a wonderful man called the Doctor and nothing was ever going to be the same again. I thought it would never end.

We traveled all around the universe, and even through time itself. He showed me many wonderful things and taught me to be better than I ever knew I could be. He even died once too, though that's a different story, and so is how we met Jack.

Instead, I promised him forever. I would always be by his side. Because he said the most important thing in traveling all of time and space? Was having a hand to hold onto.

The devil himself said I would die in battle, and the Doctor promised me that he lied. But as we watched the fireworks from the 2012 London Olympics, I said nothing in all the universe could ever split us apart. But he said never say never, he felt a storm coming. Something dark and dangerous, like him. You wouldn't know this about him, but in the language of a supposed to be extinct species called the daleks, they called him, the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm. His anger was slow to mount, but when it gathered it was dangerous and electric, and terrifying. The most lethal thing in all the universe.

Except me.

We didn't know it then, but we were both right. Nothing in the universe could have split up me and the Doctor. But I'd forgotten that there were things even beyond the universe. The void, the parrallel worlds, and even though the void is so impossibly infinitely vast, there were monsters lurking inside of it.

We returned to my Mum's home flat, but his ship: the TARDIS has a mind of her own and she returns us when we need to be there, not when we think it'd be best. That's how I went missing a year and my Mum slapped the Doctor. This time, we were really surprised, because she kissed him instead! She was in a good mood, I guess.

She said we were just in time to see the ghosts.

Now, I've seen ghosts before. Well, others might call them ghosts, but they weren't really. Gelth were gaseous creatures who lost their home planet in the Time War. But these phantoms, or phantasms, were something else altogether. Mum thought her Dad, my granddad, was coming back from the dead. But the Doctor and I knew that wasn't it. Something more sinister was going on.

There was this secret organization called Torchwood, yup, just like my company now. It's funny how they caused my death, yet now I'm the leader of it, right? Least, I think so.

A long long time ago, the Doctor and I saved the Queen of England from being eaten by a werewolf. We were both knighted for it, but then she exiled us for goofin' around too much. Very improper, us. So she made an organization right there on the spot, called Torchwood, to defend against aliens and other threats to the empire. Even when England stopped bein' an Empire.

Funny thing about humans, they get too clever for their own good. Maybe that's all peoples, but it's most obvious with humans.

That's what happened with Torchwood. They discovered some alien tech, and as a general rule, Torchwood declares anything that lands where they can reach it, becomes theirs, no matter what other aliens think, maybe they shouldn't'a tried to use Earth as a garbage heap, yeah?

They even tried to confiscate the Doctor's TARDIS, but he wasn't worried, because he had the secret weapon, me inside. And if she doesn't want idiots in, she won't let them in. Sometimes she even keeps HIM out when he's being daft, but don't let any o' him or his friends know I told you that, okay, yeah?

Torchwood London found a way to bring the ghosts over. They didn't know what the ghosts were, but they did their best to convince everyone it was safe and normal, yeah? So everyone let themselves get used to it.

The Doctor and I tracked the ghosts to Torchwood, and accidentally, my Mum even came along for the ride.

While snooping around, I came across a void ship.

TARDIS aren't created, they're grown. There's only one species in all the universe who knew how to do that, and they were all killed in the Time War. All except one, the Doctor.

The TimeWar destroyed the daleks, and the Doctor's people, the TimeLords. The daleks never could figure out TARDIS, but they did something we didn't count on. [Even now, Koishi can hear the fear and tremor and anger in Rose's voice.] They made a void ship to escape and exist outside of the Time War, outside of the whole of the universe.

And Torchwood? Brought it right on in!

The ghosts weren't ghosts at all. They were cybermen from my father's universe. Even though the Doctor and I left Mickey with my father Peter Tyler, to help clean up after the cyberman, Mickey came to rescue me at just the right time! I thought it was impossible. Even the Doctor couldn't travel the void, and the TimeLords sealed up the universes in the war. Ohhhh but my father, Pete is super clever. And even cleverer than a TimeLord. He created devices for his universe's Torchwood to track and follow the cyberman as they pulled themselves through the void, using the wake of the dalek ship, and with a lot of help from Torchwood -- cybermen are smart too, they were infiltrating London Torchwood and converting people to their side all along.

So there we were, cyberman army from my Da's universe, but everything was about to get so much worse.

Inside the void ship were three daleks. With names. Daleks don't usually have names. Their Emperor doesn't allow it. They're soldiers without purpose beyond destroying everything that is not dalek.

But they wanted me and Micks' to touch their pod.

See, daleks are little mutants crammed and trapped inside of tanks. They can't touch.

And the pod was a TimeLord prison, a remnant they'd rescued from the Time War. But that meant the TimeLords thought ahead, and the only way to open it was with touch, something daleks can't do.

So these 3 daleks, they were called the Cult of Skaro. Even the Doctor, their Oncoming Storm, thought it was just a myth. Their job was to be creative, to do what no other daleks could, to always try to think of new ways to save the dalek race, even if all else failed -- which it had! That's why they were supposed to be extinct, after all.

But they were clever too. They saved a prison. Such a small little thing...

But that's the TimeLord specialty. Bigger on the inside. That one pod actually held a million daleks.

So they we were, runnin' around Torchwood Tower like mad, daleks on one side, cybermen on the other. Our only saving grace was that they didn't get along either, but it wasn't like humans could team up with either side, cyberman consider humans like... well un-evolved. Themselves are the "upgrade" so to speak, yeah? And like I said about daleks; they seek to kill all that is not dalek.

My Mum met Pete from the other universe, and even though they weren't the versions who met and got married to each other, it was like kismet, and they were back together again even though his version got turned into a cyberman, and my Mum's version died when I was a baby.

So then the Doctor came up with a clever plan. He always does! Every time you travel through the void, you get void stuff on ya. Highly technical term, innit? It clings to you and it's harmless. And he let me borrow his specs to see it. Everyone had it, because we'd all been through the void, except my Mum.

So he took the hoppers my Dad made, and said everyone would be safe in my Dad, Pete's Universe. But where Torchwood had been pulling in the void ship and then the cybermen, he was gonna use that to create a vaccuum effect, having all the void stuff suck up and vaccuum all the other void stuff clingin' to the monsters, the cybermen and daleks. Which was all the people had to be safe in Pete's universe where they wouldn't get sucked in.

I refused to go. I said goodbye to my Mum but I said, I couldn't leave him, not the Doctor, not when I promised him forever. And I was really happy for her, she had Pete now, but the Doctor only had me.

The Doctor put one of Pete's hoppers on me anyway and pushed me through.

And I came right back.

I told him, I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never ever gonna leave him.

Finally he gave in and let me help.

Torchwood stole these baggage clamps from aliens, yeah? They're used to pick up anything really heavy and it turns it super light and easy to carry! So we stuck them to the wall of Torchwood, and boom! Perfect clamps, so long as we held onto them, we wouldn't get sucked into the void.

Last step: the levers. There was two. That's how humans always do things. Nuclear doomsday devices always have two people who have to turn the key at the same time. Stuff like that. I guess it's so that you gotta be in agreement on it, and one lone maniac can't just accidentally press a big red shiny button, yeah? Although that's how the Doctor would want it, I just know it. I don't know how he thought he could have done it without me anyway, but we grabbed the levers, and held onto the clamps with everything.

And WHOOSH!! Out went the daleks! Out went the cybermen!! Right into the nothingness of the void!! It was really exciting and scary, and kind of secretly fun to watch!

But then my lever slipped. It slowed everything down and started gummin' up the works.

I knew I had to pull it back into place. I did my best, but I couldn't reach it with just one hand, so I had to use both. I got it back up, and everything was working again, but the lever wasn't as good as the clamp. I tried my hardest to hold on...

[SUCH A LONG PAUSE....]

But I slipped.

My grip wasn't enough.

I thought this is it, I'm going to be sucked into the void forever, and not even the Doctor can save me there, but I'm still glad it was me, not him. I never saw him look so scared in all my life.

[WIPES HER EYES, it's not terribly audible, but still.]

[Swallows.] My Dad caught me. I was so surprised! Why had he come back, how did he know? But we couldn't stay or we'd get sucked into the void. So all I could do was look at the Doctor, I couldn't even say goodbye, and then I was trapped in Pete's Universe.

Forever.

I tried to break open the seal. I begged the universe the hopper, Pete's device to work and take me back. Nothing worked. I punched and pounded on the mirror wall.

And then I could feel him, my Doctor... [Oh no, Rose is crying again, just remembering...] on the other side. Missing me like I was missing him. I wanted so desperately to press through that wall to him! [Bawls!] But I couldn't. And he just walked away and I cried and I cried.

Back in the Earth I was born in, I was officially dead. Me, Mum, and Mickey. All died in the incident at Canary Wharf, as it was called. A lot o' people, mostly all of Torchwood died, so we were just more casualties to it.

So that is my ghost story. The story of the day I died.

Re: Genessia! // May 22nd near midnight // ACTION!!!

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi showed up in a timely manner, instantly elated at how the TARDIS was bigger on the inside. It took quite awhile for Rose to wave the little youkai down, each new room creating new and exciting places to explore. It was quite the chore to drag her over to the fireplace and get her to settle down. And even then she was still bouncing in her seat.

Eventually she did cool off and sit still enough to get a hot dog on a stick, starting to roast it as she watched rose with wide eyes. "Thank you for sharing your comfort human. Do you have a story for me?" It sounded almost rehersed, if a little clunky in english.

'This is the story of the day I died.'

Her eyebrows raised subtly and she stopped chewing. She shifted forward some, clearly at attention. Her third eye opened a sliver, drifting to one side and watching Rose closely.

---

Koishi had listened to the tale in silence. She didn't ask questions. She didn't voice her thoughts. She simply gave Rose all of her attention, her gaze breaking only to pull the hot dog from the fire and take a few bites. At one point the glow in her left eye went out, the sclera of both darkening. Her jaw shifted as did her hands and body. She wasn't bothering to try and appear (mostly) human anymore. She was well and truly holding to every one of Rose's words.

And when it ended, Koishi shifted slightly in her seat. "Thank you for sharing your mind and your tale." Again, it sounded almost rehersed. A tradition carried over from her storytelling hundreds of years ago.

She didn't judge Rose. Nor did she reach out to comfort her though she did scoot a little closer. The youkai let the silence hang for a short while, her eye dimming in thought before focusing again on her.

"You have shared with me a tale of your burden, human. And it is not one I've heard. In return I would like to share one of mine." The reply was almost automatic. Much like her words before. But there was some force behind them too, the impact and emotion of the tale stirring... something.

Re: Genessia! // May 22nd near midnight // ACTION!!!

[bigbadrose]

Rose laughed softly, smiled, and nodded, waiting for Koishi to begin.

She couldn't completely resist tugging the little youkai closer in a one-armed hug first though. Tradition or not, Rose was never good at formalities -- it's how she got exiled, after all.

[koishi_komeiji]

A deep breath, Koishi closing her left eye. She didn't start speaking right away, tapping her heels on the floor in rhythm. Her lips moved subtly to an inaudible song or poem. She removed her hat, setting it down next to her, the white of her scar visible in the firelight.

She took a deep breath, the rhythm of her speech coupling with the little youkai's mental presence seizing Rose's mind and warming it with emotion.

"It was many centuries ago, in the mountains far from the coast, a pair of flesh eaters grew conscious. The siblings were violent; strong beyond measure in mind and body, lingering sense of war and blood from years before had soaked deep in the earth. It sharpened their fangs and claws and senses. For many years they hunted and killed as they saw fit, satiating their hungers for both meat and suffering, but as the land forgot their roaming slowed, allowing them to become more than they once were. Called 'enlightened' by the humans who met them, they settled in the dip between two giants of stone where the sun was late to rise and early to set, hiding their faces behind masks of shell, bone, and skin. They learned to feed on sorrow, joy, and shame... And stories."

"Over the seasons, food grew scarce. Inventions brought by seafarers, weapons of fire and thunder, made the hunt difficult and dangerous. Natural hazards were eliminated as trees were cut and beasts were hunted down. Both animal and spirit. But the land was still a paradise. There would always be food available for those who looked. And so, hunger drove the flesh eaters to hunt further and further from their home, braving new and unexplored areas for the smallest scraps of meat. And now it was the elder's turn to bring home human flesh from populated areas while the younger sought the meat of deer and birds."

"A day before the older's return, the younger found a boy returning home through the mountain. Snow-blind and freezing, his distress was rousing hungry spirits and monsters. Claws already soaked in the blood of a serow, the younger approached the boy and asked if he was afraid. The boy, in return, showed great relief and gratitude. The beast was puzzled, its interest piqued. To the boy, her monstrous nature meant nothing. He only cared that he had been found."

Koishi shifted where she sat, putting another hot dog on the skewer and holding it over the fire.

"Succumbing to its vice, the beast picked up the serow and guided the boy out of the failing light and into its home but this hospitality was not free. It wanted him to tell a story. Using a salve given by a river child, the younger soothed the snow-burned flesh around his eyes. It offered him boiled meat cut from the flank of its earlier prey, and settled down to listen. The boy had much to tell. He spoke at length of his home and his family; of his work and his life. His ambitions; his loves, and the essence of humanity poured from him."

"The younger one feasted on his words without truly listening. The boy had earned his keep, the younger making a false promise to guide the boy home come morning, intending to kill him for his meat. As the sun rose, the last embers died, and so did the boy, succumbing to the elements before claw or fang ever reached him. The older returned to find the younger kneeling by his body, emboldened and nourished and haunted by the clarity its dreams had brought to his words. The younger defied its nature, dressed in white, and kept its promise to guide the boy back to his home."

"The village was small and easily frightened. Even with its forehead pressed to the ground they refused to approach the groveling beast till the sun rose high and the beast began to shiver. But when they saw his lips blue with cold and and his body without wound, they accepted the beast's claim that it did not harm him, and took the body to be buried. Wrapped in sticky sweet emotion and gifted a bag of rice, the younger chose to carry them both home, the spoils of the experience warming and strengthening the siblings through the worst of the season. Be it blessing or curse, this act of kindness bound the younger to the grieving family as they would soon find out."

"Through sorrow of lost life became gratitude and love for the beast. But they praised it for its good deed and built shrines shrines and offered gifts in selflessness. The siblings felt this and both were afraid. No good would come if the word spread. The more humans worshiped, the more distant the siblings grew until the younger began to shine."

"The older grew increasingly distressed and began to terrorize the village. As it could harm to those who worked and lived on the mountain in their own homes it attacked the animals. Those used for meat and fur, though there were so few to chase. Finally it turned to pleading with them."

"'Please, stop your worship. Burn your shrines.'"

"The older's plea was earnest and daily and many of the humans listened. But some did not. They were greedy and held the little one by their side for protection. But the beast struggled against them and remained out of sight, finding limited success in scarcity. Even still it was bound to hear the ceaseless whines and pleas of unsatisfied mortals who took pleasure trying to force it to act as a kami would."

"But humans are as fickle as a youkai is stubborn, and the grip slowed and stopped with time. Save for one. Sibling to the dead boy, she prayed daily without a shrine, not for reward, but for companionship. She prayed with compassion, teaching the little one more of human nature and never asking for anything in return. Thus the beast chose only to protect this one. For it was the only one worth protecting. It would follow in her shadow, its presence fending off dumb beasts and other spirits, keeping companionship until the end of her days, just out of sight."

By the end there was no mistaking Koishi's appearance. She was a monster with claws and fangs. The nerve damage around her left eye and the scar were visible and the eye itself was completely out. She flinched and closed it once more, reaching up to rub her eyelid with her wrist. Likewise the grip on Rose's mind lessened and vanished entirely.

"Sorry. I haven't' told a story properly in a long time."

[bigbadrose]

The story was a bit terrifying, even for Rose who adored Koishi completely and without question, but by the end of it as the terrifying grip was released, Rose just tugged Koishi close and hugged her, closing her eyes.

"I'll tell you the stories of daleks later. I promise. But I'm glad you shared your story with me, Koishi. Thank you. Stay while I sleep? Do youkai sleep???"

[koishi_komeiji]

"If that's what you would like I will stay." Koishi nibbled on another hot dog. "It's good to sleep after a story. It reminds me of home."

She scooted closer to Rose, patting the blanket she was wrapped in and smiling. She still looked like a monster. And those sharp teeth weren't really helping her case...

"I sleep. But not every day. Only sometimes. You can sleep. I might sleep too. But I'll for sure stay, okay?"

[bigbadrose]

"Good!" Rose beamed. The teeth didn't scare her though. The Doctor was more terrifying when he looked completely calm. No second chances.

She pulled Koishi close like a stuffed toy, despite the monstrous youkai mode. She remembered Margaret the Slitheen, Blon Fel-Fotch, but this was inside the TARDIS. And even when the world ended around her, Rose was always safe in the TARDIS. And she truted Koishi, even if that was reckless. "Promise~" And she snuggled up to sleep.