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Raine had heard enough of the shouting to doubt what Ace said.  "Didn't sound that way," she mumbled but left it at that.  "Who were they?"  It was unusual for Ace to bring up painful events from her past, so Raine wasn't particularly bothered that she had never heard the names before.  But she had volunteered the information, so it seemed like a somewhat safe topic.

"Nah, you were fine."  Really, there wasn’t any way it could have been worse than what it had been like before.  "I guess I just thought it would go better.  Sorry you had to see that."  She didn’t say a word for a few moments before abruptly saying, "Karra died not too far from here.  Midge too, but I wasn’t so fond of him." But still, death was death.  It seemed she’d decided to just give Raine the crash course in Perivale 101 now so it could be out of the way and she’d never have to think about it again.

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"No, you didn't," Raine said, but she didn't press any further.  If Ace wanted to tell her about it, she would volunteer more information.  Raine hugged her knees to her chest.  "I hope my being there didn't make things worse."

"Yeah.  ’M fine," Ace said, laying back to look up at the sky.  "Just thinking, is all."  She knew that wasn’t exactly what Raine meant when she asked if she was all right, but she was okay with pretending this trip hadn’t fazed her for just a while longer.  "Doc rode a motorbike on this hill once, you know."  It had been the last time she’d been here.  1989.  Almost twenty years ago, Earth time (not that it had been much shorter, her time).  Funny how time flies when you’re away.

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Raine followed Ace up the hill and sat on the ground by her, not trying to disturb her.  She wasn't really sure what to say - the fight she'd just witnessed had been worse than all of the ones she'd had with Daddy, and those had been hard enough on her.  After a while, she settled on a simple "Are you all right?"

Ace didn’t stop, or even slow down for that matter.  Not until she reached Horsenden Hill, and even then she headed right past her bike and right on up to the very top, flopping down onto the ground with an annoyed growl.

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#did someone say #Jamie McCrimmon

The classic who rp masterlist had a couple of Jamies, I think.  Are they not active?

When you want to RP with a character, but there aren't any blogs of that character:

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"Oh, I was just leaving," Raine shot back icily.  "I can't imagine why anyone would want to stick around here.  Ace was right to leave when she did."  She stalked off, walking briskly but not running, trying to remember the path back to the bike.  She saw Ace's retreating back ahead of her and sped up.  "Ace!"

Apparently, Ace’s idea of ‘right back’ was vastly different than the rest of the world’s, because the argument kept going and going and going.  At one point, Audrey stopped shouting, but she was evidently still talking because Ace kept shouting back.  Evidently, Raine’s name came up a few times, because Ace kept yelling to just leave her out of it, she was just a friend, Ace was allowed to have friends, wasn’t she? Finally, finally, the door was wrenched open and Ace stormed out, not even bothering to spare Raine a glance.  ”We’re leaving,” she snarled as she marched away, head held high… right up until she was sure she couldn’t be seen from the front door.  That’s when she ran. Stupid, stupidAce.  She’d thought this would go better.  She’d thought they could work things out. 

Audrey came to the door a moment later, looking Raine up and down with a disapproving stare.  She didn’t really need to raise her voice or glare or anything in order to get across the fact that she was upset. “Get off of my property,” she said in a surprisingly calm, level voice with just a hint of anger behind the words.

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"Ace!" Raine shouted, but the door had already slammed shut.  She could hear the brewing sounds of a fight.  Her first instinct was to charge in, but that would have probably only made the situation between Ace and her mother worse.  But waiting out here was just useless.  She sighed and leant back against the door, scowling.

Audrey very much disapproved of Raine.  That dress was too fancy for just accompanying Dorothy as a friend.  Audrey had wanted her daughter to marry a nice, rich man, have a couple of grandkids for her, and be able to take care of her in her old age.  Exactly none of that happened and, from the looks of things, her daughter was consorting with women.  But, more importantly… ”It’s been twenty years.”

"Mum, I—"

“I’m talking.  Twenty years, and not so much as a phone call or a letter.  I would have settled for ‘I didn’t die on a street corner somewhere’.”  She’d moved on years ago.  She’d assumed Dorothy had run off with some of her friends and either got herself knocked up or died.  With the way her daughter had been acting out before her disappearance, she was positive that’s how things would have turned out.

Ace hadn’t come here to Perivale to be berated by her mother, especially in front of Raine.  She clenched her jaw.  ”Sorry, Raine.  I’ll be right back out,” she said before storming through the door and yanking Audrey inside, kicking the door shut so hard that the windows rattled a little when it slammed shut.  At least Raine wouldn’t be completely out of the loop — Ace had started yelling as soon as the door was shut, and Audrey wasn’t going to take it laying down. The McShanes definitely had good sets of lungs. 

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"Hello," Raine said nervously, waving with one hand as she followed Ace up to the door.  Audrey's face was expressionless and gave off a sense of generalised disapproval.  Raine felt out of place and vaguely ridiculous in her too-fancy dress, but she fought to keep it from showing.

Ace exhaled slowly.  ”I guess you could call it that.”  Well, there wasn’t any point in stalling any longer.  She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and marched up to the door, knocking loudly.  ”Mum?  It’s me, A—”  Ace looked back at Raine and grimaced.  ”It’s me, Dorothy,” she called through the door, cringing a little.  ”I brought a friend.”  Finally, the door opened, and Ace reeled a little.  She’d known it had been a while.  She’d kept that thought in the back of her mind.  It just didn’t seem real until she saw how old her mum looked.  And there she was, looking practically the same.  

Ace hurried to point back at Raine as Audrey opened her mouth.  Ace wanted to cut off whatever she was about to say, because she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it.  ”This, this is Raine.”

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Raine was beginning to suspect the reason for Ace's nervousness.  "This is Perivale, isn't it?"  She didn't know much about the place, but she could remember that Ace got a dark look whenever she talked about it.  She didn't think Ace had visited the other times she'd stopped by to see Raine.  "Why did you bring me here?  For moral support?"

Ace didn’t even need to look up at the houses.  She knew exactly where to go.  She’d walked through here all through her childhood.  Her pace finally slowed as she neared the dreaded house, until she stopped in the middle of the street and just turned to look at it.  You know, it still wasn’t too late to turn back…

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Raine hopped off and followed Ace.  It seemed to be a perfectly ordinary residential neighbourhood, if a little run down.  She wondered why Ace had brought her here.

Raine could feel Ace tensing up next to her, which made her somewhat nervous as to where they were headed.  When Ace stopped the bike, she waited for the engine to be turned off before releasing Ace and glancing around.  “Nice view,” she said hesitantly after a long pause, for lack of anything better to say.  “Is this where you wanted to take me?”

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Raine could feel Ace tensing up next to her, which made her somewhat nervous as to where they were headed.  When Ace stopped the bike, she waited for the engine to be turned off before releasing Ace and glancing around.  "Nice view," she said hesitantly after a long pause, for lack of anything better to say.  "Is this where you wanted to take me?"

From the way Ace was acting, it was almost as if Raine wasn’t there.  No friendly chatter, no real acknowledgement of her presence, nothing.  She wasn’t in the mood.  As they drew closer and closer to Perivale, Ace was tensing up more and more, really regretting this decision.  She’d made it this far.  She just needed to suck it up and deal with it.  She ended up pulling up near Horsenden Hill and stopping the bike, turning off the engine and just sitting there on the bike. 

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Raine hooked her arms around Ace's waist and held on tightly as she sped off.  Turning her head to one side, she glanced at the streets as they passed by.  It wasn't a route she was familiar with, though she thought they seemed to be heading northwest.

"Well, excuse me,” Ace muttered with a sour look on her face.  She climbed onto the bike in front of Raine, took a deep breath, and started the engine.  She briefly considered driving just as recklessly as she had on the way to Raine’s place, but decided against it.  She didn’t want to be responsible for breaking Raine.  Besides, showing up at their destination in one piece was the ultimate goal.  Luckily, she’d looked up how to get to Perivale from Raine’s place earlier that day, so all she had to do was drive.

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"I have ridden a motorbike before, you know," Raine couldn't help saying as she put on the helmet.  She perched on the back edge of the seat, pulling the skirt of her dress down as best she could manage, and waited for Ace to get on.

Raine hadn’t seen the bike before, and her eyes widened appreciatively as she took it in.  Her questions about Ace’s odd behaviour abandoned for the moment, she asked, “Is that new?”

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Raine hadn't seen the bike before, and her eyes widened appreciatively as she took it in.  Her questions about Ace's odd behaviour abandoned for the moment, she asked, "Is that new?"

"You’ll see when we get there."  Ace started to reach out for Raine’s hand, but hesitated and pulled it away at the last second, shoving her hands into her pockets instead.  She began leading the way to her bike, dragging her feet a little.  She wanted to just get the whole thing over with, but she also wanted to stall for as long as she could.

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[Seconded, though I will probably move threads into text posts after the first reblog to save the repetition of the ask/reply on top]

PSA

[Since asks are rebloggable now I figured I’d go on the record as saying I have absolutely no problem with people reblogging my asks. If you want to turn an ask into a full thread, go right ahead. Whatever makes it easiest for you. After all, I’m here to entertain you just as much as I’m here to entertain myself. I want you to be happy, even if my character is making yours miserable. :D]

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Something was rather off about Ace's whole demeanor, though Raine couldn't put a finger on what.  She seemed distracted - no, guilty.  Raine didn't press her too much, just slipped on a jacket and grabbed her back before stepping out the door and locking it behind them.

"Thanks," she said.  "It's nice to have the excuse to wear it."  After another minute or two of uncomfortable silence, she asked, "So where are we going?"

Ace took a step forward, but didn’t even head inside.  ”You ready to go?”  She tried not to look horribly uncomfortable.  It wasn’t because of her nice clothes—which, admittedly, were normal clothes to anyone else; her standards of ‘nice’ had changed so much since Spacefleet.  Really, a clean pair of jeans and a shirt that both fit and wasn’t splattered with alien innards was a good day for her. No, the discomfort was because of where they were going.  

"C’mon, I parked just down the street."  Ace was a bit preoccupied, so she didn’t immediately notice the outfit.  It took her a few minutes to realize, but when she did, she tried to smile.  "You, uh, you look nice, by the way." Ace just hoped things went well today.  She also hoped the person they were going to see wasn’t going to give Raine crap about the dress.

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[text] Put on something nice. I'm picking you up in ten minutes.

[text] Why?

Raine didn’t particularly expect a reply.  When Ace sent her these messages, they generally just served as a warning that Ace would be appearing on her doorstep.  But this was unusual.  When Ace showed up, she usually came to crash at Raine’s place, and occasionally to drag her into one of the wild adventures that always had seemed to follow both Ace and the Doctor like a whirlwind.  But this sounded like a date.  Ace didn’t do dates.

Raine however, did, and she also welcomed the opportunity to wear something nice.  She went upstairs to the bedroom and deliberated for a moment before pulling a purple party frock out of her wardrobe.  The Doctor had given her a disapproving frown when he saw she had nicked it from the museum they’d stopped by, but Raine had been too pleased to care.  She could remember wanting it when it had been in the fashion magazines.

A knock at the door heralded Ace’s arrival.  Raine slipped on shoes and hurried down the stairs to let Ace in.

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Necklace

1880

Sotheby’s