the first face this face ever met (in a village)

[bit_fairytale]

WHO: Amy Pond
WHERE: Outside the Fountain / The Woods
WHEN: January 4th
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Potential, incredibly likely yelling
STATUS: Open

---

(I)

In her last moments, she's not entirely sure what to expect. Will it hurt? Will she regret it? Will something happen that makes her take back her insistence that the Doctor blink for her? What if she doesn't end up in the same place as Rory, what if something goes wrong and she's stuck away from him and the Doctor forever? Then she doesn't have any time to think because when she opens her eyes, it turns out that the angel's sent her to the bottom of the bloody Hudson river. Thrashing her way up, Amy inhales air as deeply as she can, scrambling and hauling herself out of an icy fountain to find that not only has she been sent to the wrong place, but all her clothes are gone and they've gone and strapped something bulky on her back. Glancing at her surroundings to make sure no one's about to come out of the treeline with anything sharp, Amy takes her time shifting through the bag, peering at the long johns with a wrinkle of her nose.

"No thank you," she says, jamming them at the very bottom of her bag, shivering wildly as her hair starts to ice at the ends with the continued exposure to the cold, but that's in her periphery for her attention. She bundles up in her coat while scanning the area, wiping tears from her cheeks when she realizes that she's been crying since she got out of that stupid looking fountain. "Rory?" she tries, an echoing croak in a quiet space. Trust a weeping angel to muck everything up. Bundling herself a little tighter, Amy shoves everything back in her bag, glancing down to see a shade of green she doesn't even think she owns anything in, anymore, and hauls the bag over a shoulder as she sets out to find out where it is she's landed.

Apparently, judging from the buildings and the lack of anything like technology, there's a creeping fear that she's gone too far back. What did New York look like in the 1800's? The 1700's? Why isn't the Doctor here when she needs her? Why doesn't she know this sort of thing? Stubbornly readying herself, she starts in the direction of one of the paths, heart pounding wildly, as if she's going to turn around and there'll be an angel there, ready to take her life because it turns out she can't trust them after all and it's all just some elaborate, cruel trick. It's ten minutes before she sees someone, but when she does, she won't pretend that she doesn't flail and charge towards them.

"Hey!" she shouts, at the top of her lungs so that people in the neighbouring hemisphere would be just as likely to hear Amy as the person she's shouting at. "Stop right there and you tell me where Rory Williams is, or I swear to you, I will..." she presses her lips together and stares down at her boots, which are really tightly laced, so there goes taking that off and punting it at them. "I'll probably just shout some more, but I can be very cross. Because," she says, eyes blazing with determination, "I just lost my husband at least three times today and I am tired of tracking him down through time and space and I'm not leaving until I've got some answers!"

---

(II.)

The woods remind her of the forest on the ship, all those years ago when they were fleeing the angels. Those stupid weeping angels have been there for some of the worst parts of Amy's life, but she'd really thought that by making the choice to go back in time to find Rory had been the right one. The only trouble is that finding Rory is turning out to be more of a production than she'd expected.

She's been wandering around for hours now, with a quick stop in a few homes where someone had mentioned seeing someone that fit Rory's description, but with no idea where he might be. Once her hair had dried and she'd warmed up past the point of 'shivering her knickers off', Amy had gone for the woods. Maybe Rory's out here, trying to find a way out (trying to find a way to her). Maybe she'll find him and it'll have been barely a few seconds since he'd been stolen by the angel. Not likely, but whatever, sometimes miracles happen. After all, she helped reboot the universe with the Doctor in it, why shouldn't she be able to find Rory in a small little forest?

Out here, the snow is beautiful and untouched, but at the same time, that level of pristine nature also sends a chill down her spine. Hearing footsteps behind her, she tries to find something to defend herself, thinking that maybe she should have started with that, given that she ends up with a branch that looks more like a feather duster than a weapon, but it's something.

"I hope you're here to help," she warns as she turns, wielding out the branch, "or I'll...tickle you until it's really uncomfortable," she warns, and hopes that she can make that seem somehow frightening.

Comments

II

[thenewways]

Nerys is, much to her chagrin, fully aware she's not the most menacing person in the quadrant when it comes to appearance, or at least not at first glance--but even so, the young woman being on the defensive takes her aback for a second. Only a second, though, because she then realises she's never seen this face before (she'd remember that hair). Probably someone new.

Along with the brutality recently, there is something very unnervingly nasty about dumping people in a fountain in the middle of a cold winter, and Nerys kicks herself for not thinking of 'regular checks of the fountain' as something to mention at the village meeting back in the autumn. The young woman's been out here long enough that her hair's a tangled frozen mess, for a start, and the little inner voice Nerys has that sounds like Julian is making outraged comments about hypothermia.

"Uh, hello," she says, and sets down the axe--that might help--that she's using to cut up wood into carryable lengths. "I'd...really prefer not to be tickled, if that's okay? I swear I'm not here to harm you, I was just getting firewood." And now for the diplomatic part of trying to talk the woman into getting inside by a stove or a fireplace, which is really not her forte. "And I can help. Well, getting you inside and getting some food for you, anyway."

[bit_fairytale]

Amy relents slightly, because having someone reply to you in English and with a fair amount of kindness in her voice is a strange thing when she's expecting antagonistic angels or daleks or something generally a lot scarier than 'getting her inside' and offering her food. The trouble is that she's had an incredibly emotional day, she's tired, and the only thing she wants is to find Rory before her hair freezes off, turning each strange into an icy little mock-Medusa snake, only much more painful to her. "The only way you're going to really help me is by telling me where Rory Williams is," she says, her voice wavering given that she's had a very long day and had to say goodbye to two of the three dearest people in the world to her.

In order to find the third (the first, really), she'll do absolutely anything. "Take me to Rory, wherever he is," she begs, sniffling not just because she's tired and weary, but because it's cold as a frozen over hell out here. "Just, just take me to him, that's all I want."

[thenewways]

Nerys blinks, brow furrowed in confusion, and fortunately the look of sheer desperation that's come over the woman's face keeps her from blurting 'who?' and making the situation even worse. "I'm sorry," she says, heavily, biting her lip. "I don't know if he's here. We can look for him once we get you out of the cold, put some warmer clothes on you and get you something hot to drink, okay?"

Despite not being exactly rational (and if she's new, sure, she's had a hell of a shock), the woman seems somewhat okay with the logic of survival, if only because she's managed to change her own clothes and try to defend herself against the unknown of Nerys. "You don't want to get sick, that won't help, uh, Rory, at all. How about you take a few minutes to warm up, and me and the others here can help search for him. They're good people."

She levels her gaze at the woman and sets the wood she's carrying down (there's not much yet anyway) so she can extend her hand. "My name's Nerys, by the way. Did you come out of the fountain?"

[bit_fairytale]

Amy manages to stop the grieving sob in the depths of her throat from coming out, but it's a just barely sort of thing. What happens if Rory isn't here and the angels are just messing with her? Then she's given up her whole future and all the people dearest to her for nothing. When she started travelling with the Doctor, she always knew that this sort of loss was a possibility, but she'd always just imagined that she'd be the one whose life ended. Now, it's the polar (ice is on her brain, definitely) opposite.

She's meant to live, but what happens if it's living without Rory? What's the point? "Why do you know about the fountain?" Amy asks suspiciously, because asking that implies that there's some sort of precedent for that. "Does that happen often?"

[thenewways]

Nerys is, she's fairly certain, incredibly bad at this at the best of times, which is probably why she's run into this young woman in the first place. It's likely a laugh for the beings whose zoo they are all inside. Doesn't change the fact that there's clearly real sentient pain involved alongside the awkwardness.

That and the fact that the young woman looks as though she's going to (if Nerys is going to put it bluntly) lose her shit--and it's unclear whether that would consist of a nervous breakdown or a violent act or both. At this stage, judging by just how frozen her hair is, she's got to be close to hypothermia, though, and Nerys is all too aware of time passing.

"Often enough. This is going to sound crazy," she admits, "but everyone in this place arrives that way...look, there's a hell of a lot to explain. I swear on the Prophets that I'm not going to take you anywhere that's unsafe, but we really need to get you a blanket and a place by the stove, okay?"

Anywhere that's unsafe besides the general lack of safety in this entire damn place, she mentally amends to her statement.

[bit_fairytale]

It's her chattering teeth that decide for her. Amy would like nothing more than to keep being stubborn and refuse any help, but the way her teeth are shaking and she's starting to lose feeling in her toes and fingers means that no matter what her levels of trust are, she needs to do something in order to get herself heated up before she dies and has no chance of finding Rory at all. "Take me somewhere public," she says, because if they're going to move to a new location, she wants to go somewhere that she has an actual shot of finding Rory. "Somewhere that has more people, just in case someone else has seen him."

Still, she nods to give her permission to bring her along, rubbing frozen fingers up and down her arms to try and spark some heat into them, which is quickly seeming an impossible task.

[thenewways]

"Public," says Nerys, a bit of an echo. She inhales quickly, then exhales, mostly to keep herself from a sarcastic remark, because that won't do them much good right now. "Right, there's an inn, that's where I was going to take you anyhow--there should be plenty of people coming in, this time of day."

She's pretty sure, much as she would never admit this to the other woman, that this Rory person is not here, may never be here, but that just makes her feel sad, more than anything else.

"That's where the food is, and the extra clothes. I'm going to pick up my axe, just to put it in my belt, okay?" she adds, looking her in the eye as she bends down to sheathe the axe once more. Once it's secure, she takes off the cloak she's wearing, breath hissing at the cold of the air, and puts it around the woman's shoulders. "Come on, this way. What's your name?"

[bit_fairytale]

"Amy," she replies, trying not to think too much about whether Rory isn't here or whether the angels have done something to him that she just doesn't even want to begin to think about. What if he's hurt? What if he's dead and she's never going to get to see him again. Swallowing back that pain, she tries to focus on the here and now. She has to make sure she stays alive and this woman is trying to help her. "I'm Amy Pond," she says, thinking of a time when that used to mean something.

There's no more fairytale life for her. It's just the slow path, from here on out. "And you? What's your name?" she asks, eyeing the axe as it goes back in. "What are you, some sort of vintage lumberjack?" she quips.

[thenewways]

"Good to meet you, Amy. I'm Nerys," Nerys says again, because this time hopefully it'll make more sense to the young woman. Amy, a human name, not that there aren't lots of humans here to begin with. "Kira Nerys--Kira is my family name, you can just call me Nerys."

She lifts an eyebrow at the 'vintage' comment, then realizes Amy means 'old-fashioned', so likely she's from a time ahead of the village, of Kate, if everything looks familiar-but-old. "As for the woodcutting, well no, it's not exactly my dream job," she replies back with a smirk. "But around here that's mostly how we stay warm, and I'm strong enough to carry the wood at least. This place is...you've probably already guessed, it's pretty strange."

Nerys decides to maybe refrain from saying just exactly how strange it is, for now.

[bit_fairytale]

Amy's still a bit put off by how far back it is that she's been punted in time. True, the 30's weren't going to be a walk in the park, but at least they still had some form of electricity and entertainment and definitely more people, given how thriving New York had been. This seems like some of the podunk back-water planets that the Doctor would occasionally take them to as a side-trip (which was shorthand for him not wanting to admit they got lost).

"Strange how?" she asks, because she's seen a lot of strange in her life and it's skewed her barometre, slightly. "Because coming up through a fountain of water isn't the weirdest thing I've ever had to do." Losing gravity and jumping up to a ship would've been just as strange, some time ago, but now it just feels old hat. She's still shivering, wanting Rory more than anything, but she has to prioritize and be pragmatic. If she freezes to death, she'll never find him, will she?

I

[notabirdcostume]

Sam is really sick of the cold and yet he can't just stay inside and avoid it all the time. He wished he could, but it just wasn't feasible. There were still things to do around the village, people to check on, exploring to happen, and things to cook. He'd just finished a shift of cooking at the inn actually, the smell of baked goods still clinging to his clothes. He'd head back to his house, clean up, and then maybe go walk the perimeter and see if anyone was about. He didn't expect to run into someone on his way to his house -- let alone an angry, wet someone.

He immediately stops, holding out his palms so the woman knows he means no harm. He'd encountered enough violent people and people with abilities to know that pissing them off further might be a bad idea, especially when they were demanding you stop. He studied her for a moment and then shook his head. "Sorry...who? And...wait you purposefully came here looking for him?"

Sam was confused, he didn't think that was even possible.

[bit_fairytale]

"I didn't come here looking for him, I followed him," she says, her patience hanging by the slightest, last thread. She's had one of the worst days of her life today (the only ones worse being when Rory keeps dying on her) and she's freezing and she just wants to find Rory so that all the sacrifices she's made today aren't for nothing at all. "Rory Williams," she says again, singularly fixated on one specific goal before she lets it out of her site. Her hands are balled up under the coat sleeves that hang over her hands and she stares at the man without blinking. "I know he's here somewhere, the angel would've sent him here and it got me too."

"You just have to tell me where he is," she pleads, trying to negotiate with him. "I won't hurt you or bother you, if you'll just tell me where Rory is." Not that she intends to do much hurting right now, but she can at least put up the bombastic display of a threat, just in case it actually works.

[notabirdcostume]

What she was saying was just not making sense based on what he understood about this place. You didn't follow people here, at least, not by choice. True some people came in close proximity of each other -- like the first arrivals -- or sometimes they arrived from the same time point back home, though it was months here. But purposefully showing up? Yeah, he wasn't sure if she actually knew what she was talking about.

"How?" It was the only thing he could think to ask, because otherwise it didn't make sense.

And as she continues he starts to realize that the woman really is confused. Angels? Sam's features soften as she starts pleading. He feels for her, he does, because he can tell Rory is important to this woman and she's very desperate to find him. He decides to be honest but also try to keep her from falling apart, "I haven't met anyone named Rory, but we've gotten a lot of new people lately that I haven't necessarily spoken to everyone. I'm...not sure about any angels sending you here though. That's not how any of the rest of us got here to my knowledge."

[bit_fairytale]

"Are you sure?" she demands, already getting aggressively questioning about what the man is saying. She knows it's not his fault, that he's being helpful, he's just not being the particular brand of helpful that Amy needs right now. "Back in time, somewhere that looks ripe for draining someone of their life energy while they live out their life in a particularly boring, inescapable place? It's no decrepit building in New York, but this is an MO, if I've ever seen one,' she says stubbornly, thinking of Rory in that awful bed, waiting out his life for her. Swallowing back the sick feeling of wondering whether she's a pawn without any power, she lets her eyes fall over the man.

"What's your name?" she asks, ready to demand that he take her to each of these new people that he's talking about, but maybe she ought to figure out who it is she's dealing with, first.

[notabirdcostume]

Sam raises an eyebrow, but he at least pauses long enough to think back on it. "Pretty sure," he responds. Whether she's asking if he's pretty sure about angels or about Rory confuses him a little, but either way it's a solid certainty that he hasn't come across anything resembling an angel nor a man calling himself Rory.

At least her next question is something he can answer without feeling quite as useless. "Name's Sam Wilson. If you want I can take you around and help you look for Rory. But it'd be nice to have your name first too."

[bit_fairytale]

She's never heard of a Sam Wilson from back home or from any of her travels, which doesn't mean anything, but right now it means that she has to look not entirely crazy to a man she's just met after coming out of a fountain. "Amy Pond," she replies, already distracted by looking around to try and place their surroundings, thinking of that town they'd gone to, back in the Old West. Her, Rory, and the Doctor, and an alien hiding out and giving them helpful technology.

There's no tech here, but that's just as far as the eye can see. Maybe it's hiding? Or maybe she just really is back in time and stuck here, this time. "So you're absolutely sure this isn't New York? Or going to become New York one day?"

[notabirdcostume]

This is the first time he's had trouble pegging someone. Usually he's better at reading people, but this woman -- Amy -- is a little all over the place. One minute she's fierce and angry, determined to find out information and the next she seems distracted, processing everything around her and looking for answers. He's not sure how to explain it or her. So he stays cautious, still trying to figure her out as she continues to talk to him.

"Been to New York a few times, I live in DC so it's kind of unavoidable, so I'm pretty sure this isn't New York," he said, gesturing around them as he added, "There aren't any tall buildings for one -- and even a few 100 years ago there would have been tall buildings everywhere by now." The fact that she was asking if it was past New York was curious, but not too troubling considering all of the displaced in time people that came through here. It was nearly as normal as people from other worlds at this point.

"Now I suppose it could be upstate or one of the rural areas of New York, but that still wouldn't explain the weird occurrences, how people are arriving in a fountain, or the whole time traveling thing. As far as I know most of the weird stuff happens in the big city." There may have been rumors of a special school upstate, but Sam had other things to worry about.

[bit_fairytale]

It's not something she'd ever thought about, but maybe those stupid angels just don't have a proper GPS in those stone heads of theirs. Apparently, the image of an angel might just be really bad at directions and good at ruining her life in taking her away from her husband, the Doctor, and her daughter. She can't even be irritated because she's just so damn scared. She's scared that her sacrifice had been for nothing and now she's just stuck here.

"So, Sam Wilson," she echoes his name, forcibly shoving her brain off those thoughts. "Tell me about weird," she says critically, shivering even as she talks, because she should probably find some place to warm up, but she also feels like she's suffered worse and she'll get through it. She always does, right? (And why, why did she have to think that, because now all she hears is Rory in her head, saying 'I always do' on a rooftop in her arms).

[notabirdcostume]

"Well, are you asking about weird for here or weird for back home?" Sam shoots back. Because obviously this isn't a big city and his last statement had made him wonder if she was trying to find out more about what he meant. Of course, it would also make sense that she would want to know what 'weird' for this place actually meant. Sam had learned that people coming to this place had different definitions of "weird" and even his own definition had evolved over the past few years thanks to alien invasions and joining the Avengers.

He raised an eyebrow though when he picked up on the fact she was shivering. Right, she was new and he'd completely forgotten how cold it was since he was actually dressed for the weather. "We can walk and talk? It probably isn't a good idea for you to be just standing out here like that."

I

[ad_dicendum]

Gaius has been keeping mostly to the inn, a strange lodging place for a man of his status, but it is the one that seems most familiar to him. The houses are strange, their layout nothing like he's familiar with: no atrium for morning greetings or spaces for conducting business, no rainwater pool and no courtyards. For now, while everything is still strange, he is staying at the inn.

But he's never been a man to be content cooped up inside for too long. He's used to the daily bustle of greetings, of going down to the forum and its courts and meetings surrounded by a group of his friends, clients, and allies, to pleading his case to the people with his characteristic energy or visiting the men who will still tell him what passes in the Senate's proceedings before it becomes generally known. Here, he has none of that, none of the buzz and energy of that so characteristically Roman existence, and he has to make do with a poor substitute in regular long walks around the village, sometimes into the woods if he carries the large knife someone gave him for protection against the wolves he's heard howling there.

Today, though, as he's on his way back to the inn from one of his walks, he finds a different sort of howling: an angry shouting of a woman, her words again in the nearly-incomprehensible English, except for one thing: Rory Williams.

"Rory Williams?" he repeats, to make certain that was what she'd said. "Hominem novi."

Rory Williams was the man he'd met in the main room of the inn that day, the one who'd been able to speak to him, and who'd spoken of service in a legion he'd never heard of. Yes, he certainly knows Rory Williams.

[bit_fairytale]

The first brief awful moment that hits her is the realization that the TARDIS can't translate for her anymore because she's left that behind. Why would it provide anything for her when she's the one who decided to leave? If nothing else, the TARDIS has probably taken that from her if only because River is upset and if River is upset, then the TARDIS is, weird third parent that it is. She masks that hurt with a tensing of her jaw, eyeing the man and trying to place that language.

Lucky for her, she's written a number of reports on Hot Italians, which this one definitely falls into the category of. "I don't know what you're saying, but I know that's Latin," she latches on, a lump in her throat as she surges towards the man. "Rory, yes, Rory Williams," she says. "You know him. Were you one of his soldiers?" she asks, despite the fact that none of this makes sense.

[ad_dicendum]

He knows so little of English that he's still confused, still can't understand most of the words she's saying. But yes he's learned, and yes with the man's name -- such a strange, alien name to Roman ears -- repeated, and the eagerness o the woman's response is unmistakeable. She's not wearing the stola, just the same trousers and strange short tunics as everyone else here, but he thinks she must be Rory Williams' wife, if she speaks about him like that. Yet she doesn't seem to speak Latin; this place seems stranger and stranger, and so do the people he meets. Not a single other Roman here.

"Rory, son of Brian, Williams," he agrees, but there's little more he can say that she might understand, if she doesn't know Latin.

She knows enough to know the name of the language, at least.

He gestures in the direction of the inn, his arm making a wide sweep towards it. "I met him in the inn," he says, but he says it in Latin, because he doesn't know the words in Rory's language. He hopes, though, that the gesture will be enough help that she understands what he's trying to say.

[bit_fairytale]

Her eyes light up with such relief when the man not only says Rory's name, but also her father-in-law's, because it means it's him and there's no chance that it might not be him. It's him, he's here, and she could almost jump this man and hug him, but she doesn't. It's a near thing, though, and it doesn't mean he escapes her sharp fingers as she reaches forward and grabs hold of him. She doesn't really understand anything he's saying, but he knows Rory.

"I don't know what any of that means," she informs him, "but you need to take me to him. You, me," she says, gesturing between them fervently. "Take me to Rory." She's already pushing him, a little too forward, but it's her husband and she's had a very trying day. She can be excused for a lot of her behaviour.

[ad_dicendum]

He still can't understand her, but he can see the look on her face. The look of utter relief, even joy, says that he'd understood something right, at least. She's looking for Rory Williams, the same man whom Gaius himself had met. The somehow-centurion of a legion Gaius had never even heard of. Strange as that had been, Gaius had liked the man. He'd been helpful, friendly, kind, and he'd spoken Latin.

She even does one of the things he's found that helps: breaking down what she says into short sentences, and gesturing. He gives an exaggerated nod of understanding, and gestures.

"I don't know if he's there, but come with me."

He doesn't expect her to understand what he's saying, but he thinks she'll understand when he starts a brisk walk towards the Inn.

[bit_fairytale]

Amy squints at him because he's spitting a whole lot of confusing things at her and then he's just walking away, so either he's being a completely rude arse or he's taking her to him. Either way, Amy refuses to just let him stalk off like that. "Hey! Wait for me!" she insists, taking off at a brisk run so that she can get to his side, practically plastering herself there so he doesn't think he's going to get away without a redheaded shadow.

"So, what, you don't speak any English at all?" She's probably talking to herself at this point, but at least it will fill the space. "Does everyone else here speak Latin? Is it a Latin place? Well, not totally, not if Rory is here," she reasons. "Do I sound like the Doctor right now?" she asks, half disgusted and mostly wary. "I should stop." And, as opposed to other rambling aliens, actually sort of does.