A redheaded return to the Ruby City - a voice testing PSL for Amy and Yuuta

[still_running]

Something eerily familiar about stepping off the train. Like something from a dream. And it had to be a dream, right. There were no trains like this in Germany in the 1940s, were there?

She stepped onto the platform, a little shell shocked. Okay, Amy, think. Okay, a second ago... Right. Sitting with the Doctor and Rory on the desk, her best friend who was also her daughter who was also her other best friend's wife had just been shot and was not babbling on about hair and clothing... And the pounding from the cupboard...

Her head hurt.

She leaned against a wall and crossed her arms. Something in the pocket of her denim jacket. She scowled and pulled it out. Then she frowned at the watch.

"I... I know this watch, don't I?" she asked herself, studying it, staring at it. Her timeline had been rewritten and erased and unmade and remade so many times she was no longer sure what she knew anymore, what she remembered beyond a few months ago. Anything before her wedding, really, was something of a blur. And then given how much of that time she hadn't even really been there for.... Yeah...

She knew this watch. There was something she was forgetting. Something big, something important. She had remembered her parents back into existence, and the Doctor. So whoever or whatever was connected to this watch, she would remember back. She would.

She would. Headache or no headache....

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[meitori]

Yuuta was concerned.

Strike that—he was two seconds away from biting all of his nails off and creating a ditch in his house due to all of his worrying and pacing. But there wasn’t much he could do when someone disappeared, could he? All he could do was try to keep a normal routine and hope that Amelia would return sooner or later. He hoped sooner.

When he heard that more people were coming off of the train, to get his mind off of things, he headed down there. Perhaps there would be someone he knew, or maybe someone who needed help. It would not be the first time someone needed assistance upon arrival.

Seeing her, Yuuta almost did not recognize her.

But that couldn’t be Amelia, could it? Maybe an older cousin from her world? She did mention an aunt, so that could be possible …

“Amelia?” he still tried, approaching.

[still_running]

She blinked and looked up.

Yuuta.

How could she have forgotten Yuuta? All at once it came rushing back to her, with about the same speed as she was using to rush towards him, sweeping him up into a hug. Yuuta! Wait, what was Yuuta doing in Germany? And how had he gotten to be... he was shorter than her, wasn't he? She'd have to take off her shoes and check! And where was Rory and the Doctor and Mels.... River? And there was no more pounding....

"Ruby City..." she said, stunned for a moment, still clinging to him. "I'm back? I'm in Ruby City?" she asked, pushing away enough to look at his face, but holding his shoulders. "But how am I back in Ruby City?" now she looked around, still not letting him go. "And how do I get you and me back where I was supposed to be?"

[meitori]

Yuuta almost fell backwards from the strength of her hug, but grasped onto her elbows to keep both of them steady. It was her—but she looked almost ten years older now, around his age. She was no longer the little girl he had known.

“I don’t think anyone has figured out any of that,” he said. “What happened? Are you all right?”

Whatever happened, whatever she had just been dragged from, to have that panicked look on her face and needing to get back right this instant, it had to be serious.

Spoilerific

[still_running]

"Am I alright?" she asked with a bit of a shaky half laugh. "Well, one of my two best friends just got shot by Hitler, who my husband sucker punched and shoved into a closet, while my other best friend's time machine is leaking lethal fumes... and my friend who was shot? She... just transformed into my other friend's husband, and by the way is my daughter. Why wouldn't I be alright?"

[meitori]

Yuuta stared at her for a long moment, trying to process all that. It looked like she was up to all sorts of trouble as an adult, just like when she was ten. But what she needed was to be able to catch her breath and process all of this too, and figure out what to do from here.

"Come on, let's get back in the city. We can talk about this over tea. It's only been a few weeks here since you left."

[still_running]

"A few weeks... I was ten. That wasn't a few weeks ago, that was fifteen years... oh God this must be what the Doctor feels like..." she made a face at that. "Don't ever tell him," she said simply. Then she winced, remembering how she had felt when the Doctor had done that to her.

"You okay?" she asked him, seriously. "I honestly didn't mean to leave at all. Not without you. You know that, right? I wasn't even trying to leave. One moment I was in my room painting, next I was back in Leadworth, no memories of this place. That keeps happening to me, the memories thing."

[meitori]

"It's okay," he said. "I'm just ... I worried about you. I knew that if something happened, like you were attacked or taken, I would have heard you or seen signs of a struggle. I'm glad you just went back home. Though it was for a long while on your end." The Doctor must definitely feel like this all the time. "I know you wouldn't have left without me if you had a choice."

[still_running]

She nodded and hugged him again, even though it stopped them moving. "You're one of my boys," she said, whispering fiercely. "You're family, you're mine. And this time when I leave, you're coming with me."

Then she moved to link her arm with his so they could walk again, and she smirked. "You can have the bunk bed."

[meitori]

He did not mind the hug and returned it. They had a lot of catching up to do and a lot more hugs to make up for in the years that she herself was gone. "Good. Family is important to me too, and you're my only sister." He blinked. "Bunk bed?"

[still_running]

"And you're my only brother. Well, you know, ever since I realized that Rory wasn't gay." And then she stopped walking again as realization of something caught up to her. "But she.... she.... Oooooohhhhhhh....." She looked like she was ready to ream someone out... then his other question caught up to her and she grinned a bit, walking again.

"Yeah, took us forever after the wedding to convince the Doctor to give us a proper room, that bunkbed were not, as a point of fact, cool. I'm sure he still has the bunkbed room somewhere."

[meitori]

Well, it looked like some things never changed! He should have known that Amy would have developed more of a stubborn streak and a temper. However, it looked like it was just part of her personality and nothing to worry about. "So, I take it you married Rory, after figuring out that he always had a crush on you?" He would have liked to seen that, if just to tease Rory like a proper older brother should.

[still_running]

"..... was it obvious to everyone but me then?" she asked, huffing a bit, but it was mostly good natured. Mostly. She shook her head. "Whole time I knew him, never once caught him staring at a girl, always figured that meant he wasn't interested."

She considered, then sighed. "While I was waiting for the Doctor, he was waiting for me. Learned that now." She held up her hand to show off her ring.

[meitori]

"I don't really know, seeing as he was not around and I have limited information," he said with a smile. "But, I am glad you realized he was waiting for you. Maybe he was looking at you all that time, and that is why he never appeared to be looking at anyone else." It was a human tendency to be blind in some ways. As for that ring! "Congratulations! Do you have a picture of him? I'd like to know who swept my little sister off her feet."

[still_running]

"Yeah, yeah, That's what Mels said. Rubbed my face in it before the wedding for a week. Well, except for all the time I was gone the night before," she said with a grin. She fished out her cellphone from her pocket.

"If we can find a charger, yeah. But we wound up back decades before they're going to be invented."

[meitori]

"Maybe someone here has one, and we can plug it into batteries or something. There are a few people who are good with technology around here." Ah well, it was worth a shot. But, if this Rory was willing to wait for her for apparently all their lives, then he must be half ways decent.

[still_running]

"Hopefully, then. I'm not as good at drawing as I used to think I was. But Rory... Rory is pretty amazing. Hey, when we get back, want to help me yank his chain a bit?" she asked, an impish twinkle in her eyes.

[meitori]

"If you are asking me to do my big brotherly duties, then of course I will," he replied. Ah, he missed seeing that twinkle in her eye. "Everyone is going to be surprised to see you so much older," he added. "They won't know what to think."

[still_running]

She grinned at him and kissed his cheek. "Knew I could count on you. Okay, then!" Her mind was already spinning with ways to torment Rory. Oh, this would be fun!

"They," she said simply, "Are going to think I'm gorgeous. Guys lined up ten deep to dance with me. Even if there isn't a dance."

[meitori]

Ah, some things never changed! But this was some mischief that he could get behind. Her comment made him laugh. "You said it, so just watch: someone will now throw a party out of the blue!"

[still_running]

"out of the... Tardis Blue?" she asked with a grin. "Hey! The Tardis that was here, think it still is? Think my Key will work? We could totally move in. Nothing brings the Doctor running faster than someone messing with his box. Oh, you should have seen him when someone put her in a human body. Of course, Rory and I thought that he had just wished really really hard..." she said with a laugh.

"But a party sounds like some fun. We just don't need to tell Rory how many cute guys try to kiss me. Ever since he got a gun and a sword, he likes to go all Centurian on me when he gets jealous. On second thought, let's totally tell him. We can even add a few."

[meitori]

"Tardis Blue," he repeated. "But you are going to have to explain more of all this to me, at length. The blue police box is still here, but I don't know if your key will work or not. It has apparently been here for some time, and if time travel is involved ... who knows?" He certainly did not, but it might be worth a try. "Guns and sword? Really? Perhaps I should make up dance cards like the olden days and make sure his name is on every slot."

[still_running]

"Nah, put him on the first and the last, and let's put movie stars for all the middle ones," she teased about the dance card. "But yeah, happy to explain everything to you." She said with a grin. "Time travel is very involved, so you have to tell me where you want me to start."

[meitori]

"Okay," he started, pausing to think. "When you were younger, you said that he left. I figured out that something happened to his time machine, resulting in him not returning like he said he would. How did you two meet again?"

[still_running]

"Okay, so the Doctor came when I was a kid, promised me five minutes, vanished. Showed up again more than ten years later, broke into my house, looking for me. I hit him with a cricket bat. Told him I was a cop. Wasn't sure it was him, and if it was, I was ticked. If it wasn't...well... he was a nutter breaking into my house. So... of course while I have him cuffed to the radiator, I do what he told me not to do, get myself attacked by an alien." skipping the kiss-o-gram bit? Yes. Yes she is.

Long story short, him, me, Rory, one of my other friends, we get the Atraxi to take back their prisoner, and the loon calls the Atraxi back, after they've left, to yell at them. Then he goes to phase the engines or whatever... and is gone another two years... Came back the night before my wedding."

[meitori]

Ah, good! He wouldn't understand what a kiss-o-gram was anyways or why someone would want one.

At the end of her story, Yuuta hummed, discontent.

"It sounds like there is something wrong with his time machine, if it keeps jumping like that. Why has he not gone back in time so he does not disappear for so long? Or is he unable to?"

[still_running]

"Something about the universe exploding again or something. I stop listening after a while. He likes the sound of his own voice and manages to forget the rest of us aren't space aliens with IQs of a bazillion." She rolled her eyes.

"And you try telling him something is wrong with the Tardis. I swear some days he loves that thing more than his wife."

[meitori]

"The universe exploding??" He would make sure to listen to that, even if he didn't quite understand it! "I would still make an argument to find out if something is wrong! The TARDIS, if it's as powerful as I think it is, cannot be left unrepaired or fraying!"

[still_running]

Amy shrugged a little bit. "I guess we were too busy having adventures and flying about to think much about it. Well, except for the time it lost all power and we were freezing to death in the depth of space, but since that one didn't actually happen, wnas was just a malfunction of the air filtration system or something... Never really thought to ask much. I was half afraid he'd answer, and then we'd never get to a beach. By the way, we should totally get you to visit Space Florida one time."