Maggie took another sip of her drink, chuckling a little at some comment the girl next to her had made. It had been a good night, a good performance, her ankles were aching, and she was looking forward to a week off. She’d had just enough to drink at this point to make her feel a little warm and fuzzy and less uptight than she normally was. In fact, she was relaxed enough to laugh at the story her friend was telling the bartender. It involved their last dress rehearsal, the ill-tempered choreographer, and her dance partner’s personal space issues. Maggie quickly jumped in when the story started to involve her. She rested a hand on the girl’s shoulder and smiled. “Ella, hun, I think you’ve had a bit too much tonight. Why don’t you let Jack take you home?” Ella looked at her in deep thought for a moment, and then nodded solemnly. She got up, linked arms with her boyfriend of the week and waved goodbye. “See you in a week.” Maggie raised her glass in a goodbye salute as Ella giggled a little and stumbled out the door.

She rested her elbows on the bar, swirling the last few sips of her drink around in her glass. It was that time in the evening when there was no longer any reason to stay there and drink, but you weren’t quite ready to head back to your empty flat. Maggie sighed and finished her drink, then waved at the bartender to order another. One more wouldn’t hurt, she was walking home anyway.

Maggie was enjoying her drink in silence, alternating between picking up the conversations of those around her and humming a few bars of music. Then someone brushing past caught the edge of her bag and knocked it off the seat, sending it to the floor and its contents rolling off in various directions. “Hey! Watch it!” She called out after the stranger, but he was already gone, completely ignorant of his offense. Maggie got down on her knees and quickly started to gather up her things before they could get stepped on. She stood and grabbed her coat off of the back of her chair. That seemed like as good a cue as any for her to leave. She checked in her bag to make sure that she had retrieved everything first. Shoes, wallet, keys, everything was there…except for her wristband. Maggie crouched down again immediately, eyes searching for that worn bit of leather. Of everything in her bag that could have gone missing, it just had to be that.

Oh, could he have cried of overwhelming joy! Seth had almost lost every hope for this day to have ever truly arrived in his life. Because this jour, this very blissful jour, was the first of a whole week of nothing –absolutely nothing!- for him to do. It had been a while since he had been given that large amount of time off work. Although… you couldn’t say that this was entirely true: Seth did have holidays. It was just that every time Pete would grant him a small vacation, something unexpected was bound to come his way, meaning that Seth just had no other choice but to postpone his short break for another occasion. So far it had happened twice over the last few months, so this time Seth was resolved to make the most of this break while it was still solidly there.

He took another sip of his drink before resting his back somewhat comfortably in the booth. 'Have fun' Nikita had told him. there was no need to be told twice: he had already planned on doing just that. No exceptions –not this time, while he could help it.

His mind was hovering on these pleasant thoughts when he was suddenly distracted by a curious object that went rolling past him, stopping beside his left foot. With a slight trace of a frown in his features, Seth reached for the strangely familiar item. He held it in his hands, his vivid ocean eyes taking in every inch of detail, just to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming or anything of the sort - If he didn’t mouth a silent ‘what?!’ by the time he recognized the wristband, he certainly got pretty close to doing it.

‘Now, what was a Time Agent wristband like that doing all alone in a place like this?’ he wondered. As far as he could tell, this wasn’t one of the ordinary similar ones that could be easily bought in some not-too-far-away planets –and believe me, he should know, especially since he’d acquired one of these for his own personal use- and it just proved his point. It wasn’t the wristband in essence the one thing that preoccupied Seth; it was the possibility of having a Time Agent behind all this… and the man was certainly not in the mood to deal with Time Agents or anything of the sort at the moment. He just wanted some peace and calm, enjoy this small bit of holiday once and for all. Was that honestly too much to ask?

Perhaps the best thing he could do was to simply hide the wristband from whomever it belonged to; mainly, in an attempt to prevent its use. Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all: who knew what these people were capable of, especially if they belonged to the rouge side of the agency… After a while of meticulous meditation, Seth decided to place the wristband in a corner of his table, making it perfectly visible to everyone in the room. If a certain someone truly wanted his item back, he (or she) would have to be examined by Seth first. It was all a matter of precaution. If Earth was going to be blown up, then at least he wanted to get the chance of dying, during his holiday, while having the clear conscience of knowing who had done it.

Maggie sighed in frustration. It wasn’t on the floor, it wasn’t in her bag. Someone must have picked it up, but who would pick up something like that without knowing what it was? Maggie stood and chewed nervously on her lower lip. She hadn’t run into anyone who had a wristband of their own yet. Who knew if they’d be friendly to the idea of some random woman in London using one? Either way, she was not leaving this bar without that wristband. From now on she’d either keep it attached to her wrist or leave it at home….probably she’d leave it at home. Maggie looked around, trying to spot the wristband and whoever had grabbed it.

She turned her head to look along the row of booths that took up the back wall, just in case the wristband rolled or was kicked in that direction. Her eyes caught a bit of brown and she sighed in relief. There it was, in plain sight on the edge of a table. She looked at the man who was occupying the booth a little hesitantly. He seemed to be watching for whoever came to claim the wristband. Maggie decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, there was a possibility he didn’t know what it was. He could have just picked it up out of curiosity and put it somewhere that its owner could spot it if they were looking for it, no ulterior motives. It was completely possible, right? Maggie pulled on her coat and made her way over to the table, trying to convince herself that it was entirely possible to pick up a wristband and put it in plain sight on the edge of your table to just be helpful.

“Excuse me.” She smiled and grabbed the wristband. “Thank-you for picking this up, it must have fallen out when I dropped my bag.” Maggie tried to keep any of the hesitance out of her features and her body language, putting on a very false mask of cool confidence. He definitely didn’t strike her as the innocent patron type. Something about him hinted at secrets, or maybe it was everything combined. The dark hair, the dark clothing, the long coat. Maggie looked up and made proper eye contact. His eyes were a vivid blue that made her feel just a tad unsettled for some reason. The thought briefly crossed her mind that she was just being paranoid, that on another night she would have seen him as a good-looking man in a bar in a decent part of town. However, she’d rather be a bit paranoid than end up in some sort of trouble because she was too trusting. Maggie had already been there and done that and would rather not experience it again.

Aha. Target found.

Seth watched with curious eyes the hand that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, grabbing the wristband with an eagerness that could be best described as suspicious. He forced himself to smile, though, leaning his back comfortably on his seat again. Seth’s eyes took in every inch of detail of the subject in question, and he found himself slightly taken aback at her sight –yes, her. A young and rather beautiful lady. Her first impression struck him as slightly odd, mainly because she looked so delicate that it was hard to imagine her travelling across the universe mending and breaking rules on a daily basis. On the other hand, though, he could tell she was involved in some kind of physical activity… it wasn’t that hard to guess.

Seth’s eyes lingered on those of hers as she spoke, waving a dismissive hand once she had finished. ”Oh, please don’t thank me for that… Yes, it just rolled past me; I’m glad to see you found it.” he said, casting a friendly smile. He was about to add something else, but this decision was pulled off for at least a couple of seconds during which Seth could not help but stare at the lady who was right then looking at him with confident eyes. He found himself admiring her for that. On the other hand though, there was something about her that made him feel uneasy: he could have sworn he’d seen a trace of doubt in her features… but it was gone so quickly that he barely had time to ascertain it.

Seth was resolved, however, to take out a tad more of any type of information out of her, even though he knew he would have to be very subtle with his following moves. He smiled again, this time driving his attention towards her wristwrap.”It’s an… interesting object” he added delicately, before looking back at her. Surely it wasn’t such an overt question: he item was not precisely what you’d call fashionable. Not even vintage lovers would dare to wear that on a daily basis, and that was saying something. However, it wasn’t just a matter of elegance –despite the fact that, let’s admit it, Seth was a bit picky on these matters- and more of the fact that it simply did not go well with her. The wristband’s old, simple and decadent style didn’t seem to fit her personality, and Seth was happy to use that obviousness to his advantage. ”Oh, do forgive me; I’m being rude, am I not?” he said quickly while standing up, the smile never leaving his face ”I’m Seth Ashbourne; pleased to meet you”

Maggie watched him study her for a moment, fighting the urge to squirm. She hated it when people did that, it reminded her of when she was with the ballet company and the directors would sit and analyze your every move. The slightest quiver or ounce of weight in the wrong place was enough to get you booted out of the company. Maggie studied him in return, although she didn’t glean much more information, she’d never been that good at reading people.

“Yes, I’d hate to lose it. Uhm, family heirloom, sort of.” She tried to explain, tripping over her words a little. Interesting was a good word to describe it. “Gift from an absentee father who was probably dead” also fit the bill quite nicely, but that was something he couldn’t possibly know and it was definitely not something she was just going to tell a stranger. Maggie ran her fingers over the surface of the wristband a little self-consciously. It was in awfully rough condition, she should probably read up on restoring the leather and making it more presentable.

He stood quite suddenly and it startled Maggie into taking an involuntary step backwards. She tried to control her reaction, but her smile faded just a little and her eyes widened before she could think about it. “Oh, no, you’re not rude at all. I’m Maggie Wilkins.” She offered Mr. Ashbourne her hand for a handshake and smiled again. Hopefully he would see her step back as her politely giving him room to stand rather than her being paranoid. “Well, I should probably be heading out. Thank you very much, Mr. Ashbourne.” She had the wristband back in her posession, now it was time to get back to her flat and figure out somewhere safe to store it. Maggie nodded her head to Mr. Ashbourne in a polite farewell then turned on her heel and headed for the door. As she walked, she secured the wristband onto her left wrist to keep it safe as it seemed to be the best place for it at the moment.

It took a great deal of self-control to keep from glancing over her shoulder every few seconds to see if she was being followed by Mr. Ashbourne. Granted, he had been polite and helpful, but it could be maddeningly hard for her to tell when people were being sincere or not.

Okay, that was it: she was leaving, end of story. Well… it wasn’t as if there was something else to expect from her, was it? Maggie –as she had introduced herself- would have probably refused his invitation for another drink, mainly because –and judging by the look on her face- she hadn’t seemed too keen on trusting him too much. This, however, didn’t trouble the man too much; Seth was sure that she was treating him just as equally as any other person she might encounter along the way. From what he had observed, Maggie seemed to be the kind of person who would never rely on someone too freely. And he couldn’t deny it: no doubt, it was a clever thing to do. But there was also… something more about this girl; a vague feeling was also telling him that she was, in fact, very likely to be nowhere near a time agent… meaning that she truly didn’t know how dangerous this object was.

Seth pondered his options as briefly as he could while he watched her march towards the main door of the pub. He could, of course, just stick to the easiest option: just let her go, and ignore all that concerned both her and the time agent wristband. Then again, leaving someone like her –Time Agent or not- all on her own with such a potential gadget in her hands, without her knowing what the item could to, or -even worse- not knowing how it worked… come on, let’s face it: it was like placing a two-year old human inside a small cell with an immensely big red button in front of his own eyes, and God knew what that red button was capable of after being squashed!

Hmm, maybe, but this was not precisely the case: Maggie was not a child, was she? She was a clever, young lady. A young clever lady who probably lacked information on how to-

Oh dear.

Without further hesitation, Seth practically ran after Maggie, rushing past the customers and crossing the door in barely seconds, dreading the possibility of having lost track of her for good. Luckily, though, he spotted her not too far away, and so he sped up until he was almost beside her and at arm’s reach. ”Oh, you’re heading this way? What a coincidence!” he blurted out, with a doubtless odd smile on his face, while he cautiously eyed the wristband out of the corner of his eye. "My destination just happens to be along the way". Seth tried to shake out –unsuccessfully- the sensation of feeling extremely idiotic just then, and forced himself to believe that it was all done for the cause of good.

Heck, and it couldn’t be done in any other possible way.

(Notes: Gabriel's starter will be up asap :))

Maggie pushed open the door and stepped onto the street with a deep sigh of relief. Crisis averted. She turned right and quickly crossed the street, heading in the general direction of home. The familiar voice suddenly rang out beside her and Maggie stopped in her tracks, eyes widened in surprise. Mr. Ashbourne was standing just a step away from her, grinning very oddly. She quickly composed herself, replacing her look of surprise with one of skepticism. “Oh, yes. Real coincidence.” It’s not like the idea was completely farfetched. He really could be staying somewhere near her.

She continued forward, walking at a slightly faster pace than before, glancing over at Seth every so often. It didn’t take more than a few glances to note that his interest was focused on the wristband. This was in no way a coincidence, he was following her, and it was all because of the wristband. One way or another, she needed to make him go away. A plan formed in her mind, a lousy and ridiculous plan, but it was the only thing she could think of. It’s not like she had experience in getting rid of strange men interesting in her even stranger technology.

Maggie took a few quick steps to pull ahead of Seth and turned around, blocking his path. Her right hand was in her bag, holding something that was aimed in his direction. “Mr Ashbourne, I don’t know what you want, but it would be in your very best interests to turn around and walk away.” Maybe, just maybe, it looked enough like she had a gun aimed at him from the inside of her bag. Just so long as it got him to leave her alone.

The truth of the matter was that she was holding her pointe shoe. Her gun was in her bag, somewhere. It was what she had been reaching for initially, but her hand found the shoe first and she decided to just go with it. Maggie kept her voice low and even, hoping it sounded threatening enough. This was one of those times when a few extra inches of height would be ever so helpful. It was hard to look at someone intimidatingly when they were a good six inches taller than you.

He didn’t really know why he was doing it. I mean, why would he care about a bloody Time Agent wristband, falling in the hands of someone whom he hadn’t seen before in his life? It was completely absurd. Then again, Seth had surprisingly found himself going after the lady, against all sense of reason.

’Soft’

The word came into his mind. Reminiscence of all the times his father would address him with the word. But it was plain stupid. Seth was not soft –he, just, couldn’t be. Moreover, the man didn’t really think his current job would allow him to actually be such a thing; Torchwood 24 was not precisely for the faint of heart, after all.

Then again, there he was, chasing a girl in his spare time just because of that wristband, and feeling terribly… feeling like a… well, like a pursuer. Okay, so perhaps he wasn’t quite feeling like one in essence, but he was sure this was the effect he was giving her just now, which was perhaps the main cause of his disturbance. The best of it all? Well, it could be easily laughed at: that it was just because the world was stupid and clueless and didn’t even know when -and how- to leave aside an object that didn’t belong to them.

Blasted society. When will they ever learn?

“Mr Ashbourne, I don’t know what you want, but it would be in your very best interests to turn around and walk away.” she had said, and Seth could not help but stare at Maggie with a clearly blank expression neatly drawn all over his features. What was she talking about? A skinny little girl, against any of his muscles? Not that he considered himself to be specially muscled, if Seth were to be completely honest with himself, but those last unanticipated field trips had lately done him good, he had to admit. It was only then when he realized that she was actually doing something strange with her bag. And Seth had no idea what that on earth she was doing.

Then it quickly came to him, that maybe he was wrong. Maybe he’d failed to see that she was, in fact, a Time Agent that was up to something wicked. It was the only possible explanation, since she was aiming something at him that he failed to recognize- and that was obviously not an earthling gun. For starters, it was too rounded on the edges, and that was just one of the most obvious things that Seth was able to discern. Guns were pretty much the kind of thing he’d resort to for his missions; as Government Liaison, it was required (and expected) of him to do so.

”Time Agent!” Seth cried, barely seconds before he (literally!) threw himself at her, in a way that was not unlike the one of a wrestler who was prepared to attack his rival –only much more graceful, refined and cautious on Seth’s side, evidently. Luckily, he managed to grab her by the waist with one hand while the other one was victoriously near her wristband. But it was all a matter of fortune. Should she struggle more and longer, his finger might touch a button that was better off untouched, instead of being able to get the wristband off her wrist.



Notes: omg, this is a miracle! [X_x]

“What?” Time agent? Her? What on earth was he talking about? Maggie didn’t have much time to ponder the question before Mr. Ashbourne lunged forward to grab her. Apparently he saw her as a threat, which was absurd. Threatening him appeared to be a terrible idea after all. Now she honestly had no idea what to do, and it made her start to panic. If she could just get away and run, she might be able to lose him. Or at least find people, get some help.

The feeling of his arm around her waist propelled her even further into panic mode. Maggie quickly pulled her free hand out of her bag, still clutching the shoe. She hit the first part of him that she could reach, which because of the height difference and position he had grabbed her was somewhere between the shoulder blades.

All of this was because of that wristband, that’s what he appeared to really be grabbing for. Maggie tried to pull her arm away from him, using some half remembered bit of advice about twisting your wrist to break the attackers grip. “Let go of me!” She tried to push him away and jerked her wrist away from him as hard as she possibly could.

This must have been the type of person that caused her father to include a gun in his little package which meant that she couldn’t let him get a hold of the wristband, and that he must be more dangerous than Maggie had originally guessed. It was a bad situation all around. She pulled her arm away again, twisting her wrist in another attempt to break his grip. It worked, slightly. Maggie felt his grip move farther up her wrist, catching on the wristband and pressing a certain button. There was a flash of blue light and an intense feeling of vertigo. Something was wrong, Maggie could feel it, she just wasn’t sure what it was yet.

((Sorry it's a bit short.))

The last thing he was able to remember, was holding on to someone’s grip as if his life had truly depended on it. And then… then came a potent ray of deep blue radiance. Or something closely similar to a light. He couldn’t tell. Hell, it could have even come from a Disco, for all he was able to recall.

Except that this was hardly a Disco. Judging from the vast amount of… emptiness that was just then surrounding the man.

Where was he, exactly? Well, obviously in a desert. And some kind of a desert, this happened to be: almost too dangerously plain for his taste. Actually, he was pretty much convinced that a faraway –really, really, really faraway- castle could have been very easily spotted, were it not for the lack of something that wasn’t… well, sand, as far as Seth’s standard earthling view would allow him to go. Which wasn’t precisely what you’d call comforting. Not one bit.

And just then, it all just came to him: every little detail that led to how he ended up in here. Maggie. The pub. The bracelet…

…His holidays.

”No… no, no, no…” he blurted out, suddenly getting up from where he’d violently landed on, despair neatly drawn on his usually controlled features as his eyes started to scan the place, frantically, in search of something that could be soothing to his disturbed ocean orbs. ”Damn job … this was definitely not in my contract last time I checked!” he voiced out to no one in particular. Not that he hoped sand to actually answer him back –which was much better off that way; Seth wasn’t especially fond of fastidious comebacks when found in such a mood.

”Maggie?”

The word erupted barely a second after his mind had reminded him that he wasn't alone in this. Well, because he wasn't... was he? 'Where was this young female now?' he wondered, his features growing with concern as he failed to find an answer.

Climbing up the nearest sand mountain, Seth took the opportunity to see from a much higher perspective what was displayed on the other side of the desert. ”Maggie, are you there… are you alright?” he called out loud.

---

((OOC: S'alright... sorry for my very belated reply! D8))

When the blue light started to dissapate, Maggie felt Seth let go and she fell forward, but instead of the hard landing on the pavement that she was expecting, she landed on something rather soft. Maggie laid there for a moment, a little stunned. The blue light was gone and everything felt solid again. She was still holding her shoe quite tightly and she could feel her bag underneath her. At least she hadn’t dropped those. Finally she sat up and looked at whatever had provided her a slightly softer landing. Sand? What the hell? Why was there sand?

Maggie jumped to her feet and looked around her. There was sand everywhere. She could see Seth standing on top of another massive mound of sand calling her name. “I’m here, I’m fine.” She looked down at herself for a moment. No, she wasn’t hurt but she’d probably have a few bruises tomorrow. Maggie brushed herself off and picked up her bag before marching up the hill to meet him. “What the hell is going on?” Her voice was tight and controlled, trying to suppress her anger and that little bit of panic. “What did you do?” She stopped a few feet away from him, out of arms reach.

Something felt very off about this place and it had nothing to do that she had suddenly found herself in the middle of a desert. Maggie was reasonably sure this wasn’t some sort of dream, not only did Mr Ashbourne looks just as worried and confused as she did but usually her dreams were of a much more pleasant nature.

What did he do? What. did. he. do?

"Excuse me- what did I do?" Seth blurted out; her question being very evidently not doing much for the betterment of the situation. It was a good thing that Seth didn't have a mirror to look at within reach (or... anywhere, for that matter) to witness that rather comical change of colours in his face. Because he himself felt anything but comical at that moment. And only because grumbling and grumbling all the way was among the things he was best at, the man felt resolved enough to do just that.

Grumble.

"Well, DO forgive me in that case for trying to stop something like this" Seth carried on, in an agitated tone of voice, waving his hands rather dramatically to add more emphasis to the matter. "But if it weren't for your persistence in keeping that wristband from me, then maybe, only maybe, we might still be bearing our wits in England" said he.

Granted, he was getting a bit too carried away, but having seen she was okay, Seth felt the need to vent his thoughts away -much like always. Never one to really keep his sincere opinions to himself, he honestly couldn't just do that in the midst of such an irremediable event. "Now, what, exactly do you suggest that we do, my dear Maggie? Because I don't quite know how to function your wristband correctly, and -really, no offence, but it doesn't even take half a brain to guess by those looks of yours that you're no Time Agent to know how to work this one out" Marvellous. "I mean -do you even know what I'm talking about?"

Boy, was this trip going to be fun.

This man was absolutely unbelievable and completely infuriating.

How on earth was this even remotely her fault? "Oh, so this is my fault? That makes so much sense. It's my fault for trying to keep my personal belongings away from some madman in a bar. My fault for attempting to defend myself when said madman followed me out of the bar and down the street. Let's not forget when this madman also attacked me." Maggie could feel the heat creeping up to her cheeks. "You want some sort of apology from me? Absolutely ridiculous." By this time she was shouting again and her hands were clenched into tight little fists and she was seriously considering moving closer to him in order to use them to some effect.

She forced herself to take a deep breath and uncurl her fists. "No, I don't know how to work the wristband." She'd tried to read the manual but it wasn't very helpful. "All I know is that an absentee father decided to send it to me without any sort of explanation."Maggie was getting close to shouting again, and she buried her face in her hands, forcing herself to take another deep breath. Regrettably, shouting wasn't going to help the situation. It did make her feel a little better though.

"Is there any way to tell where we are?" Maggie looked in vain at the wristband. It looked fine to her, although she had no idea what it would look like if it was broken unless it started smoking or shooting sparks.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that arguing with a woman has almost the same effect as talking to a wall. Except for a few differences here and there. Like the fact that walls don’t really bounce back at you with ferocity. No, they’re more of the type to stand still, keep quiet… wait a minute, let Seth refute that at once. Arguing with women is thus much worse than talking to a wall. And where were the bleeding walls when you really needed them, anyway?

She kept on talking, on and on, placing all the blame on him (no news there, he seemed to have a knack for that) as if there wasn’t anything better to do than to just vent it all out in the open. Which there wasn’t, as Seth had had the time to inwardly admit. But that wasn’t even the point of it all.

Point was, they were lost.

And by the looks of it, in outer space. Well, wasn’t that brilliant? Maybe then Seth could collect this story as one more thrilling event in his life to remember. As if he really wanted one. What was it that he had signed in the contract? Anything but field trips. No rough adventures for him. Just paperwork, people to deal with… not jolly adventures.

That was twice a disagreement between him and his fate in a row –in the same month. How could this happen to him? During his holidays? Oh, he knew this day had been too perfect to end up well.

”Oh, God. Could you just... stop it, please?” Seth cried back. ”What is it with you women, do you never get tired of hearing your own voice?” he waved dramatically. ”I can’t. Think!” and he bleeding needed it to get the hell out of this place.

Then it seemed that both of them relaxed. That was when she explained that her absentee father had decided to send her the wristband without any kind of explanation. ”Well that’s very… not helpful” Seth concluded with a frown. And at her next question his frown deepened as he shrugged shoulders ”Haven’t the foggiest.” he muttered. ”I only have a replica, myself. I, of course, could try to push some buttons, but God knows what could happen after that.”

Since leaving the Doctor and Sexy and their companions on the Eye of Orion, Pat had spent her time exploring her newly regenerated self. Every room, every corridor, every panel. In the center of her console room, her console shone with a soft blue light. The panels were touchscreen, similar to those handheld communication devices she'd found while scavenging technology to repair herself with. Now that she was fully repaired, she should probably return to Gallifrey. Maybe she didn't have to though? All her life she had served the Time Lords. To them she was nothing but a machine they could own and use, to be thrown away when they found a better model or no longer had any use of her. The last product of an abandoned project. A failed experiment.

Sexy had told her of adventures and of seeing new worlds. Perhaps she too could travel the stars, on her own? She'd always wanted to see more of the universe but had never been given the chance, having been sent into war as soon as she was fully grown. Setting the coordinates to random she launched herself through the vortex, materialising to find herself surrounded by... sand. Lots and lots of sand. That was kind of disappointing. No signs of any civilisation within a thousand miles in every direction. She detected two Gallifreyanoids though, near-Gallifreyans even, not too far from where she'd landed. A male and a female. She'd need a new outfit first. High heels really weren't practical in sand. Besides, she was starting to get bored of her current one. A change could be nice.

Taking the form of a young near-Gallifreyan male, he finished materialising and looked around for the two Gallifreyanoids he'd detected, easily spotting them in the endless desert. Anything that wasn't sand stuck out like a sore thumb and they hadn't really moved in the nanosecond or so it had taken him to analyse his surroundings, do a twelve-dimensional mapping of everything around him, choose a form and materialise. Their voices were raised, clearly arguing in what sounded like different dialects of Earth English. Using one hand to shield his eyes from the sun, he started walking towards them, a soft Irish lilt in his voice as he spoke. "You two okay?"

He couldn't think? HE couldn't think? "And what is it with men never being able to admit a fault?" Maggie snapped back at Seth, then turned away. Maggie turned her back to Seth for several reasons. First, it was easier to keep from hitting him if she wasn't looking at him. Secondly, she could feel the terrible blush on her cheeks that always flared up when she was being yelled at. It was really unfortunate as it always seemed to make people take her less seriously.

This was all his fault, even if he wasn't willing to take the blame. Just like a man.

"There is no way I'm letting you touch it again!" Maggie held the wristband closer to herself protectively. She was sure letting him toy with it would only make things worse. His was only a reproduction anyway.

Maggie's shoulders drooped and she raised her hands to massage her temples. This was terrible. She was tired and so very sore. She just wanted to go home and soak her feet. Why did this have to happen to her? "Who are you anyway?" How did he know about all this stuff like Time Agents and even what the wristband did?

A new voice caught her interest and Maggie looked up to see someone coming towards them across the sand. Sweet Lord above, Maggie had never been so happy in her life to hear and see an Irishman. An Irishman who seemed friendly, and helpful. Unlike Seth.

"Um, no. Actually we're a bit lost. Could you tell us where we are? Or when we are?" She gave the man a weak smile and took a few steps towards him. Part of her was just hoping they were somewhere strange but still on Earth. Not some alien planet that was home all manner of creatures that probably wanted to eat them.

She was turning her back to him? Well, good. She could turn her back on him the many times she wanted to, she could yell at him as loud as she wanted... if there was the smallest possibility of finding their way back home by doing such tihngs, then Seth would not have minded it one bit. But the very truth was that this was going nowhere. That they wouldn't be able to fix their 'little' problem by placing the blame on each other's hands. That he needed, he oh so desperately needed to get back home (preferably alive and in one piece) to get the piece and calm that he needed.

And all that wasn't going to happen unless they cooperated together.

A fact that was, ironically enough, not going to happen anytime soon if Seth were to truly decide upon that, for he was very enraged himself, and far too annoyed with the entirety of the situation to simply to follow Maggie's steps and try to calm things down between them.

So as was demanded by his logical reasoning, Seth chose to remain where he was, left hand upraised at the level of his forehead to try and spot something remotely useful to the cause, while his right hand curled up in a very tight fist.

Who was he, she had asked. A simple question, that somehow managed to take Seth aback. He didn't inmediately turn his head back to her, but two or three seconds later, he jerked his head slowly her direction. "Does it really matter, now?" was his response, articulated with a very weary tone. Seth stood in that position a little longer than he intended, and with a sigh, he turned his gaze (and head) back to the inmensity of sand that was before him.

Until, of couse, he heard a voice that he registered as not Maggie's. What the Hell?! Was he having allucinations, at so soon a time?

Apparently not, for when he turned round, he spotted Maggie talking to him -a seemingly amiable Irishman right next to where she was.

"And who the Hell are you?" Seth demanded, walking towards the pair, talking in a rather commanding tone. As soon as he reached the pair, he placed himself in front of Maggie, and with a furrowed brow, he scrutinized the Irishman with his gaze. "I assure you, dare to even think of harming me or this lady over there" said he, his index finger pointing in Maggie's direction "and you'll see for yourself how very high my level of dangerous being can be"