| Date: 26 December 2007
Characters: Rowan Tyler, Susan Foreman Location: random hallway Link to IJ: thread #19602 |
 Rowan was starting to freak a bit. It took a while, but he'd gotten around to it. So he started trying to surprise the doors into giving him an exit, opening it very fast then shutting it then again. |
 "Are you looking for something?" Susan asked vaguely from the end of the hall. She'd been watching this dance for a couple minutes in curious silence. She figured she might as well step up before he broke one of the doors accidentally. |
| "The way home," he said promptly, turning to look at her, "I"m Rowan." |
| "Susan," Susan said to Rowan as she stepped over in next to one of the doors, peering at it. "I don't think it works like that," She said, glancing up at him with a sympathetic smile. She probably understood the urge to go home better than anyone. |
| "Nothing's ever that easy, is it?" he sighed. "Nice to meet you, Susan." |
| "That's the way it seems to go with most things," Susan said with a soft smile at Rowan. "Is there anything I can do to take your mind off of it?" |
| "No." He summoned up a smile though, "Thanks for offering though." |
| Susan smiled as she crossed over and took his arm with hers, "If it's any consolation, you're not the only one here that's homesick," She said, peering up at him with a sympathetic gaze. |
| "Where are you from," he asked, accepting the arm taking and starting to lead her towards a table. |
| "Gallifrey," Susan said, smiling thoughtfully up at him. "I haven't been home in a long time. You?" |
| "Earth. I've heard of Gallifrey though. I don't suppose you know someone called the Doctor?" He didn't sound like he anticipated a yes. |
| Susan couldn't help but smile. Another lost soul connected to her Grandfather. What were the odds? "Of course I do," She said, giggling a bit. "Have all my life. It's very hard not to know one's own family." |
| "What?" he looked, honestly, confused. |
| Susan smiled up at Rowan, "He's my Grandfather," She said simply. |
| "..Really." he stared, just. "Wow." |
| "Really," Susan confirmed with a nod. "I suppose he mentioned me to you just as much as he mentioned me to Captain Harkness, then?" |
| "You've met Jack," he grinned, "He's not one to talk much about the past, surprisingly. Talk, yes. At length. About anything important? Nah." |
| "Sounds like Grandfather, all right," Susan said, chuckling softly. "Of course, it's a practically a Gallifreyan sport, talking for as long as possible about something that nobody else understands." |
| "He was a school champion, wasn't he?" Rowan teased. |
| Susan laughed, "In being a blathermouth and goofing off, yeah," She said, snickering. "Word of advice, though. If you want to feel safe in the TARDIS, never ask about his grades." |
| "...Now you have to tell me, you know," he grinned. |
| Susan grinned as she looked around slowly before lowering her voice, "He passed with a 51% on the second try," She said with a slight smirk. |
| "...Susan, if only for telling me that, I will love you forever," he grinned hugely at her. |
| Susan laughed at that statement, unable to hide her smile, "And he tries to pretend like he knows it all. You'd be surprised how many people fall for the act." |
| He held his hand up a bit. "He's your grandfather? Seriously?" |
| Susan grinned and nodded, "He's my mother's father," She said, chuckling a bit. "Which makes him my Grandfather, if I'm not mistaken." |
| "Traditionally," he smiled, "He's. You're so normal?" |
| Susan laughed again, "I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," She said, grinning at Rowan before nudging his shoulder. "I'm less normal than I seem." |
| "How?" he grinned at her. |
| "Ever met an eighteen year old with a certification in Quantum Mechanics and Molecular Genetics?" Susan asked, grinning back at him. |
| "Not a chance in hell," he said cheerfully. |
| "Well, now you have," Susan said with a laugh. "In addition to Thermodynamics, Quantum Theory, Temporal Mechanics, and a host of other things that humans consider to be upper level subjects, but that we learn while still in the crib." |
| "Holy -" Rowan just stared. "How?" |
| "Brain buffering," Susan said with a slight smile. "Basically, our minds are shaped and conditioned with information that is simplistic enough for our technology to teach to use via a form of radio wave. Things that would take you lot years to learn take us a matter of hours." |
| "You have information in your head from radio waves?" |
| "Well, I suppose if you have to put it that way," Susan said, looking up at him with a smile. "It's a bit more complicated than that." |
| "THat'swhat it sounded like to me," he grinned. |
| Susan smiled and nodded with a chuckle, "I suppose that's what I made it sound like. But no matter," She said, grinning up at him. "So, how do you know Grandfather?" |
| "We travelled for a while." |
| "Ah, of course," Susan said, giggling a bit. "It's good to see that he's gotten used to humans." |
| "Gotten used to us?" |
| "Oh, he didn't care for them much when we first left Gallifrey," Susan said with a soft smile. "Something about them being primitive, irrational, and emotional." |
| "He did call me an ape a lot." |
| "Ah, yes. That sounds right," Susan said with a giggle as she settled her other hand on Rowan's arm. "I am sorry about that. But you have to understand, he's an old man, set in his ways, even if those ways are overtly prejudice." |
| Rowan smiled at her, wide and warm because she was sweet. "He's not that old." |
| Susan chuckled softly, "For a Gallifreyan, no. But I think that for a human, he's well beyond being ancient," She said, grinning. "Not that it shows." |
| "He regenerates young." |
| "That's usually how it works," Susan said with a grin. "You should have seen him before any regenerations. He actually looked him age for a change." |
| "Except he didn't like humans then." |
| "Not especially, no," Susan said, smiling softly at him. "He preferred to avoid them whenever possible." |
| "Then I think I'm glad I missed it," he said a bit sheepish. |
| "I can't say I blame you," Susan said with a giggle. "He seems much more pleasant now, to be honest. Though, seeing Grandfather in leather is certainly an adjustment." |
| "What's he wear before then?" |
| "Suits, mostly," Susan said with a soft smile. "I think he wore a golfing outfit once when I was really little just to get a laugh out of Mum." |
| "Did it work?" |
| Susan grinned and nodded happily, "It's hard not to laugh at plaid pastel pants," She said with a giggle. |
| "No!" Rowan looked delighted. |
| "I wish I had a picture of it," Susan said, giggling. "It was absolutely priceless." Of course, there were a lot of things that she wished she had pictures of. |
| "Maybe one day..." he teased. |
| "I'm sure he's probably still got them," Susan said with a laugh. "He's really such a clothes horse. Have you seen the wardrobe room in the TARDIS?" |
| "With a certain amount of horror," he admitted. |
| Susan grinned and nodded, "I can only imagine what kind of disrepair that he's let it get into in the past couple of centuries." |
| "Messy and overwhelming. And he never changes." |
| Susan giggled and nodded happily, "He's far too busy to change. How often did he sleep when you were there? He bet even less now, being younger and able to get away with it." |
| "Almost never! It was terrible. And then sometimes he'd have coffee and..." Rowan faked a shudder, grinning. |
| "Everything would go into overdrive?" Susan asked with the smile of someone who understood all too well. |
| "Oh man yes," Rowan grinned, "He's always been like that?" |
| "Always," Susan said, giggling. "It's rather endearing once you get used to it, isn't it? Well, at least, when you're not sleepy yourself, and he decides that waking you up in the middle of the night to help with one of his experiments is a good idea." |
| "How did you ever sleep?" |
| "It helps that Gallifreyans only need one hour for every eight that a human needs," Susan said with a grin. "So little catnaps here and there when he was too busy to notice helped a lot." |
| "..I'm jealous." |
| Susan chuckled softly, "Don't be. You'd have something to keep him at bay. I'm too tired was never a legitimate excuse for me as far as he was concerned." |
| "But you never missed out!" |
| "Sometimes missing out isn't such a bad thing. Especially when not missing out means getting thrust into the middle of a life or death situation," Susan said, chuckling softly. "Which seems to happen a lot with Grandfather." |
| "He has a knack for finding those." |
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