Happy birthdays, Ianto and Gethin.

Please, don't do anything drastic to celebrate. And I mean that last part specifically for you, Gethin.


Enjoy, although I'm certain you will.

I'm not quite sure I agree with the results, to be honest.

2. You've just had one of the most grueling days of your life when you stumble upon a wishing well. While you don't typically believe in such things, you need a pick-me-up. So you toss a penny down the well and make a wish. Lo and behold, it comes true.

Sarah Jane didn’t think she could take it anymore. As much as she adored travelling with the Doctor, as much as she adored him, after the past week – after Sontaran mind experiments and never ending wars and poison and Cybermen – she couldn’t take it anymore. The Doctor promised them a reprise. The Brigadier needed them back on Earth. First, he said, they’d go to a very peaceful and very safe (“oh, I doubt that!”) planet that he often liked to visit. Show Harry the perks of being a travelling companion in the TARDIS.

Perhaps he was right about this place. On the whole, it reminded Sarah of some giant market out of Arabian Nights. There were men and women trying to sell her exotic goods at every turn. Animals she had never seen before. Peoples she had never seen before. It was enchanting. The wishing well she found in the center of town even more so.

She never believed much in wishes growing up. As a child, Sarah would wish on star after star for her parents to be alive. It never came true. She always woke up in her aunt’s house on Bannerman Road in Ealing, alone and orphaned. So, at some point, she had stopped believing in wishes and dreams coming true all together.

But after the week she had, after being tortured and enslaved and poisoned, Sarah Jane was almost tempted to be that naïve seven year old who had wanted her wish to come true. Wishes never came true. So it there would be no harm in acting foolish just for a few seconds.

She closed her eyes, fished a penny out from her trouser pocket and tossed it in. “I wish Mum and Dad never died.”

***

( It had been another night of strange dreams. )

[ooc: some scenarios mentioned roughly based upon role play games sj is in: milliways_bar, twood_hub, and relativespace.]

My bags drop on the cold stone tiles of the House as the door closes behind her. The trip to Cardiff has been more than successful. In fact, it has surpassed anything my wildest dreams can come up with. Visiting old friends has been a breath of fresh air, as has returning to the place where, in effect, this all had started for me.

But Scotland is home now. Or, more to the point, Ewan and our family are my home. I love them all more than words could ever describe, and, as much as I still despises cliches, there really is nothing like being home. I take a deep breath of the musty air and smile to myself. My smile turns brighter when the Lady floats by. She's officially the first to welcome me back.

Placing a hand on my stomach, I nod in confirmation to her unasked question. Yes, I'm pregnant. Yes, there will be another child within the House in eight months. Yes, this time the pregnancy will last. The Lady has been my sole secret keeper - occasionally spying on me during those awful mid-mornings spent throwing up in the bathroom or when the fatigue got to be too much. I don't know how the ghost knew I was pregnant. It's just easier to accept.

The ghostly woman floats away, leaving me alone in the foyer. No one expects me to be home tonight. I wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow morning, but I couldn't wait. I have to surprise Ewan with the news. The twins ought to be asleep by now; it's 9 pm and those blessed little ones always managed to wear themselves out by half past six. I'll check in on them after, preferably with their father in tow.

Beaming, I abandon my bag and the hockey sticks at the door and take off in the direction of the Smith-Harrow apartment. I have my leman to surprise, after all. And I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him the news.

226 - Name three things that you're looking forward to in the near future and why.

Didn’t eight hours of torture count as more than enough? Sarah Jane certainly thought so. After the initial disappointment of watching failure after failure of egg to sperm matchups, after carrying twins for ten months, after all the physical and emotional turmoil that came with her decision to give Ewan children, it came down to this. It came down to the past eight hours of pain and fears and hopes like she had never felt before.

( cut for not so graphic but still possibly uncomfortable for some people birth content )

[based on twood_hub and this thread.]

Apparently Gethin actually does agree with me about something:



He is, for all intents and purposes, quite better than a bus. So much so, that I decided this was a rather worthy topic to show off my progressing skills with this bloody device.

I am getting better, aren't I?



(Also: while that thing we found may look like a fox, it is, indeed no way a fox - except in Gethin's mind.)

Mad

Chasing Weevils was quickly becoming Sarah Jane’s least favourite duty as a member of Torchwood Cardiff. It wasn’t the danger that bothered her, or the work out she usually inadvertently obtained in running through the city streets. It was the result of the chase that bothered her most: bringing yet another stray Weevil back to the Hub, to lock it up with the rest, confined and trapped for the rest of its lifespan. She knew it was better than alternative. But it didn’t stop the bother any less.

Two hours earlier, Toshiko had intercepted a series of communications between a pair of coppers. As it turned out, a woman had been mauled right outside of Duke Street Arcade. Witnesses, specifically a couple of American teenagers there on holiday, had described the assailant as “some sort of freak that escaped from the circus” headed off towards Bute Park.

By now, it was closer to night than dusk. Two hours of fruitless searching were beginning to wear on her. Every new joke cracked by Owen, every newbie related comment, was beginning to grate on her last nerve. The Weevil seemed to have very well vanished into the night. Walking about with a torch in one hand and Weevil spray in other (Sarah Jane absolutely refused to fire at it unless given no other choice), she was starting to feel rather ridiculous.

“Here, Weevil, Weevil, Weevil,” Owen cooed into the night, earning yet another eye roll from Sarah. It was no wonder they had been receiving stares lately. “That’s a good Weevil. Come play with me and the newbie, won’t you?”

Oh! For the last time!

“Owen Harper,” Sarah interrupted in a shrill and angry voice, stopping dead in her tracks and whirling around to face him. The torch in her hand shone light into his eyes. Owen scowled, but Sarah ignored it. “You’re not taking this seriously at all! This poor, frightened Weevil is out there, somewhere-“

“And now I know you’re bloody mad. Listen’ to me, sweetcheeks. I know this is only your fourth Weevil run, but these things ain’t anything to pity. They’d rather take a bite out of you than talk sense.”

In the pale moonlight, Sarah could see his eyes look her body up and down. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. He knew better than to call her anything but her proper name by now and within the last few minutes, not only had he called her ‘newbie,’ but ‘sweetcheeks’ as well! It was getting late. She was positively exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home to her flat and ring Ewan. Instead, she was stuck in Brote Park on the coldest night of the summer with someone who had once again become her least favourite individual in Torchwood.

“Actually,” he decided a moment later, smug smirk on his face. “I reckon they have the right idea.”

It took a moment for Sarah Jane to comprehend the words. Her mouth fell open and her brown eyes widened as he arms dropped back to her side. “I… oh, I can’t believe you! I’m not mad, you see. I’m absolutely furious with you!”

Owen held his hands out in defense, taking a step backwards. He sighed, shaking his head. “Jeez, lighten’ up, will you? Thought we’d gotten over this whole ‘massively hating’ thing.”

“We did,” she answered sternly. Despite her rather lame assurance that she didn’t despise him, her eyes were still narrowed and her posture still screamed anger. “But it certainly doesn’t change the fact that you’re still very much an insufferable arse!”

He winked, smug grin returning. “Admit it – you fancy that arse, don’t you? Now that the Professor’s gone, you can’t wait to see what I’m capable of. Admit it, Smith.”

“Oh! You-”

Once again, Sarah Jane found herself interrupted. This time, however, it wasn’t with words. Before she had a chance to react, Owen pummeled her to the ground. The two landed with a loud thud on the damp grass, her knee accidentally connecting with his hip and his elbow narrowly missing her shoulder. Her back instantly hurt and she groaned. Her eyes met his: he was above her, staring down at her with lips parted. Sarah’s own mouth opened. Before she had a chance to tell Owen off, though, she heard and felt the reason for the sudden tackle.

The attacking Weevil roared as it tripped over their bodies. It ungracefully crashed into a tree as it attempted to catch its balance. Stunned, Owen used the opportunity to reach for Sarah’s sidearm and fire a few rounds into the alien. It roared again.

“C’mon you ugly beast,” Owen muttered as he finally crawled off of Sarah, grabbing the anti-Weevil spray as he did. Bindings dangled in his other hand. “Janet’s been wanting company.”

Sarah Jane watched as Owen ambushed the alien, giving it a good blast of the spray before locking its wrists together. An ache echoed through her mid back as she tried to stand. She winced. And winced again when she realized how helpless she currently felt. Owen had stolen her weapon and was making pretty quick work off the Weevil. And here she was, the bloody newbie, suffering from a bruised back.

Less than five minutes later, the Weevil had been sufficiently bounded and sedated enough to tote back to the vehicle. Sarah called into the Hub, trying to keep the pain out of her voice when she told Toshiko that the situation had been handled. That done, she put up a weak smile. She didn’t want Owen to know he had accidentally injured her, more so for her sake than his.

He saw through her façade instantly. “Might want me to take a look at that when we get back to the Hub. Didn’t mean to, but I could’ve been the cause of a couple bruised ribs. The fall was-”

“Anything but graceful,” Sarah said softly, trying not to laugh. “It would have been far worse if your elbow had actually gotten in the way.”

Owen ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. “Yeah, well… ain’t mad, are you?”

Her smile broadened a little more and she moved closer, careful to circumvent the Weevil. She looked up at him curiously: his face was scratched and there was certainly some grass in his hair. Sarah Jane could only imagine the sort of state she must be in right about now. A breeze ruffled the leaves and Sarah shivered. Surprisingly, he shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

“No,” Sarah finally decided before standing on her toes to place a light kiss on the corner of his lips. “Not mad. Grateful.”

[ooc: based upon twood_hub]

Travelling through space and time is quite the adventure. However, for the most part, it's the destination that matters more than the actual journey. I've travelled both conventionally in a proper space craft like those we have here on Earth and not so conventionally within the TARDIS. They make for quite the differing experience.

Travelling in the TARDIS depends very much on her mood. She's not alive, per say (although I'm certain the Doctor is convinced she is), but she certainly has personality. She's... well, I don't quite know how to describe the old girl. But when you're inside her, you're safe. There are never ending corridors to wander about and all these rooms to explore. The library is absolutely brilliant. The kitchen... well, the Doctor's taste in food leaves something to be desired. I adored my room aboard the TARDIS. It was home.

I believe that's a good enough explanation as any for travelling through the TARDIS. It's like being at home, with your best friend to keep you company, and winding up in a new location whenever you open the door to the outside world. Sometimes travel is instantaneous. Other times, we could be wandering for days. It all depends on urgency, I suppose, and just how fickle the TARDIS is being that day. There's no jetlag, there's no feel of movement. You're simply in one place one moment and another seconds later.

There also aren't any windows. But the Doctor has taken me to see nebulae and galaxies and all sorts of amazing sights within the galaxies. Space is increadible. There aren't any words to describe it.

As for the 'conventional' form of travel, I suppose that's more like flying in a plane. I haven't done it very often. In fact, the last time I did, the Doctor and I were trying to prevent the cybermen from crashing a ship in this asteroid made of gold. It's one of their weaknesses, you see. That? Well, that was certainly the whole darkness of space flying around you as the planet up ahead gets bigger and bigger and you nearly forget to breathe. Exhilarating and panic inducing all in one.

Then there are other forms of travel like transmat beams. That's very much like the "Beam me up, Scotty" bit of Star Trek. Absolutely instantaneous. You're in one place one moment and in another all together. Oh, there was also that time ring given to the Doctor by the Timelords when he had been sent back to prevent the creation of the Daleks. That was rather dizzying.

So I suppose, overall, it varies. It can be exciting and it can be boring and it's more than likely not anything you could initially imagine. But if I were given a chance to do it again, I most certainly would. I hope that answers your question, Gwen!

You! You tell me we ought to stop and then call me your sweetheart? I looked up that word all right - first thing I did this morning. Leman: it's Middle English - for lover or sweetheart.

How do you possibly expect us to stop this when you pull a bloody stunt like that? I have half a mind to corner you as soon as you arrive to the Hub this morning and give you a piece of my mind.

Leman, indeed!

But... I like it. I'm frightened as hell, but I don't think I want to stop. Not yet, at any rate.

Sarah.