oswinforthewin | ( impossible darkness ) noir nights.

DUE TO DELAYS THE 7:00PM BUS IS CANCELLED. PLEASE REROUTE.

Annabell sighed in irritation, looking at the watch on her wrist. For all the advancements The Conclave spoke of? Things were constantly breaking down. Still, they were led to believe this was life as normal. Only those from The Belly (as it was oh so affectionately called) knew different. She had been born in The Belly, and when she saw the world up above for the first time? She couldn't believe it. Now it made her skin crawl, but she had to keep the role up.

Even if she did miss teaching.

Her legs uncrossed and Annabell pushed herself up from the bench in the bus station. She straightened her dress and grabbed her coat. From the pockets she pulled out a small case of cigarettes and started to light it. It would be a long walk back to her apartment, so she might as well enjoy herself. Maybe she'd see some of the sights on her way back. It was a dream of hers as she chased the imaginary amber leaves that they said fell from real trees in the fall. A dream that soured and dried up when she finally got to the surface.

She almost regretted the decision to move upwards. Regrets, bitterness, and cheap wine was the life that Annabell lived, when she wasn't singing for the people she couldn't stand. They said she was a rising star in the music scene. Not that she cared. Her dark red lipstick stained the end of the cigarette as she shrugged on her coat. All she hoped for at the moment was that some fan wouldn't find her. Unless, of course, they wanted to offer her a ride home.

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Annabell held his gaze before looking away at another wall. That feeling of enjoyment and purpose was quickly fluttering away and she wasn't entirely sure why. Though she wanted to blame him for it, she knew it most like was the fact that she was returning to the Belly. She had spent so much of her life dreaming of traveling away from it. The only way to do that was to become an agent, and she gladly wanted to fight for the cause after certain events of a year ago. Except she felt a bit more like a ghost as she wandered the streets of the surface city.

Her hands curled around the bar that was attached to the wall. It might of looked like she wasn't listening, but she was keenly aware of every word he said. The events didn't bother her and he certainly didn't. If she were to be as honest as he were? Annabell didn't properly remember what it was like to be happy. She felt like those few things blew out of her hands like leaves on the wind and she was left to figure out how to put it all together.

In short, she felt rather lost and she hated feeling lost. It scared her.

"Needing my company and enjoying it are different." She said simply, that curt and quick tone filtering back into her voice despite her regular accent being present. "You don't make much sense. You hardly know this woman but you're willing to jump at a postcard she sent you with red writing scribbled on it. You insisted on following me despite me trying to shake you off. I'm not sure if I should be interested or think you're completely mad."

The Doctor watches her with interest as she spoke, and burst out laughing at the end, "Ah, but I am a touch mad!"

There's a quick tug to his earlobe as he paced, "This woman..." He pauses to run his tongue along the top of his teeth, "She helped me with something once, but I couldn't exactly help her in the end." He only managed to save her to a dataframe, but her physical presence is no more. "I owe it to her to meet her again." Mostly, he was curious to know who she was and what role did she play in his life. She obviously knew him, but he didn't know her. Not how she presented herself to him.

Giving her a side glance, "I'll do just about anything for my friends, Miss Nyghtngale." And silently, that includes you Clara.

"I'm definitely starting to notice that bit." Annabell said flatly at his laugh, determined not to look over at him even as he spoke about the mysterious Professor Song. Debts and owing people got people into just further debts. She figured he knew that and chose not to bring it up.

Her eyebrow went up at that. "She helped you once and now you're friends. Your definition of friends is pretty interesting." Maybe a bit too interesting.

The lift came to a stop and the doors slid open. Annabell looked up and exited, going straight to the information booth that found itself at the end of the long hallway. The windows on the right showed a foggy scene indeed. Annabell paid no mind to it as she went to the booth, raising a hand to knock on the glass. The man behind it suddenly looked up.

"Miss Oswine. You're early." He stated, glancing at the Doctor. "And you've brought back unscheduled company."

Annabell sighed and shook her head. "The company's business is why I'm so early. He calls himself The Doctor, Alonzo."

The man identified as Alonzo suddenly sat up. "The Doctor?"

The Doctor was currently staring out the window at the foggy scene of the belly. It was surreal - a complete city under a city. It wasn't something entirely unheard of, but it was certainly the most developed one he had seen in a while. Admittedly, he mouth hung open as he looked, when he heard his name mentioned.

"Yup," He pops the 'p' in reply, "That's me!" And he straightens up, fixes his jacket, and saunters up to where Annabell was standing. Placing an elbow on the counter, he looks to the man, "Hope it's not too much a bother."

"Not at all. We've been expecting you."

Annabell raised her eyebrow as she unwrapped her arm. Alonzo however was shifting around on the file wheel on his desk inside the booth. A glass panel slid down and Alonzo slipped a letter out, addressed to the Doctor. And well, as that happened, Annabell stuck her hand through the glass panel.

The Doctor was too caught up in his surprise of receiving a letter, that he doesn't notice Annabell shoving her arm back in to the man behind the glass, perhaps startling him.

He was about to ask who the letter was from, but there was a lingering scent of a perfume on the envelope, that certainly answered his question. Quickly tearing it open, he pulls out the rose-scented letter and began reading it.

Sweetie,

Your timing is terrible this time. Don't you know you shouldn't keep a woman waiting? I can't wait any longer, as I've been targeted as suspicious and for my safety I must leave, but there's some information I must part with. Go inside the city and find the Laughing Man. From there, you should know what to do.

XOXO,
R

Alonzo was unphased by the arm that suddenly came through the glass. It was all procedure. He professionally, and quietly, handed Annabell back the handkerchief and pulled out what looked like to be a simple pen. He poked the tip of the pen into the wound left by the mechanism upstairs, inspected the tip, and then gave a nod. His thumb tapped the back of the pen and a small thin laser was produced along the wound, sealing it and leaving no scar at all.

"Welcome back home, Miss Oswine." Alonzo said happily. He then pulled another envelope from the table and handed it to her. "You've got some letters yourself. One is a summons from The Nylan Conclave and the other is a personal message from Johnny."

"Johnny?" Annabell took the letters with a bit of a frown.

"Oh, you know him. Get a goal in his mind and he never stops perusing it." Alonzo said casually, but then nodded to her. "Enjoy your time back home, Miss Oswine. I mean that sincerely."

Annabell simply continued to frown as she turned and walked past the booth. Alonzo, however, had placed his attention back to the Doctor.

"Is there any transportation or arrangements I can call for you, Doctor?"

The Doctor was standing there with a blank expression on his face, rereading the letter over and over. (If asked, he was intoxicated by the strong perfume.) Breaking from his reverie, "Hm? Oh. Erm, I don't think so, no."

Folding the letter back up, he pockets it in an inner breast pocket and glances towards Annabell. "Right, ready?" He motions towards where he assumed the exit would be, perhaps another lift of some sort.

"If you are sure then, sir. Be sure not to draw attention to yourself. A recommendation from someone under contract of the Conclave is rare." Alonzo of course was referring to River Song.

Annabell looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, as she was already on her way to the exit. Technically they should of parted ways then and there, but she had the feeling he was about to follow her like a lost puppy. She wasn't used to that at all.

"Au revoir, Alzonzo." Annabell raised her hand in a small wave as she opened the door near the booth.

A set of marbel stairs greeted her and her companion. But, it was worth noting that the stairs had seen better days. Chunks were missing and the rails had been snapped off long ago. A thick layer of dust sat on them as well.

"I hope your letter has directions to your next stop." She said to the Doctor.

( impossible darkness ) noir nights.

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