Paradigm Shift // OPEN

OOC: NOTE - My posts will not be this long the entire time. I'm just setting the scene. XD

It wasn't exactly common of Demory to take leaves to America, but someone had called her, asking her to please visit the Sumarian Hotel in San Francisco. Demory of course, could tell that the person's voice had been very stressed and in panic, so she decided to go with her gut and travel there to see what was going on. When she had arrived though, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She parked her TARDIS someway away  from the place and then headed over to the lobby to check in.

"Hello, my name is Demory Dickinson. I'm checking in for my weekend stay," she said as the woman smiled. "Ah hello Demory! Someone has already checked in for you. It is your roommate, Reagan. She is already upstairs in the Suite." A suite? And Reagan was the person whom she talked on the phone with. She simply nodded, taking her key as she then rode the elevator up to the top floor. The interior was huge. You had to use your key to get to this floor even, meaning that the entirety of it was just the room.

It was a large, marble floor with a giant glass window that even opened to see hear the outside world with a marvelous view of a beach. Couches were everywhere, a kitchen in the corner, and a bathroom with a Jacuzzi. There were two doors that lead to two separate bedrooms with king sized beds. It was absolutely marvelous. On one of the couches. a woman with brown hair, pale skin, and deep green eyes was lounging, reading a book. Hearing someone enter and seeing it was Demory, she got up quickly in relief.

"I was afraid you were not coming!" she said. She looked to the sunset sky through the large windows and closed her eyes. "You are in danger, Demory. Stay away from Europe. It is falling to the Steel Fleets." Steel fleets? Demory stared in silence for a moment, but before she could say anything, there was a violent shake that caused her to fall over. "Earthquake! Don't worry, that happens!" Reagan announced. Demory nodded, getting up to speak once more, when a loud, horn-like noise echoed in the distance.

That was not normal, and even Reagan recognized that. "We have to go. We have to get back to the TARDIS," Demory said. The two rushed to get out of the building and when they reached the first floor, they both ran out the door. "We have to take a car, it'll be too slow to go alone!" Reagan exasperated. The two entered Reagan's car, immediately driving away. What was going on? It happened so suddenly, Demory almost felt as though it was a set up. And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, traffic was backed up.

"Bloody hell, this is just brilliant!" Demory panicked. "We need to get back to the TARDIS now!" she banged her hand across the dashboard. At that moment, Reagan vanished... as well as the cars surrounding them. The windows fogged up, and it got icy cold, to the point where Demory could see her breath. Eyes wide, she got out of the car, looking around... no one in sight. It was completely dark, and she didn't hear a breath of life anywhere... and she looked ahead to where she parked her TARDIS and it was gone.

"No..." she ran as quickly as she could to the area, and when she got there, she saw no signs of it ever being in that spot. "No! No, no, no!" she got her scanner out, scanning the area. Everything was pointing to a paradigm shift... and she was stuck here, with her TARDIS on the other side of the shift, not existing. Demory fell to her knees, feeling dizzy, as she started to scream, not knowing if she'd ever be able to get out.

Rephaim was wandering the streets in San Francisco. He wasn't really in the mood to mess anything up, so he figured he'd go sightseeing, not that there was anything new to see. The truth of it was that he was bored. He didn't know what to do with himself. He'd gone to many places, looking for someone interesting to mess around with, but no such person could be found. So, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, he walked around aimlessly.

By the time anything happened, he'd been pretty much everywhere that had something interesting about it. So when he'd heard the big horns that were not at all human blaring in the distance, his answering grin was blinding. He ran towards the noise, unlike the people who were closer that were moving away, and searched desperately for the danger. If this turns out to be one of their stupid little publicity things, I'll kill them myself. he vowed as he wove through the crowd.

Suddenly, the air was frigid. Pulling his jacket closer to him, he frowned. Something was missing... He'd looked up into the sky for a second, and when he looked back at the street, it was empty. Like, literally empty. No cars, no people, just him. He turned around in a full circle, the smile on his face dying. If this was what he thought it was, someone was going to pay.

The scream he'd heard snapped him out of his revenge plans. It was a girls voice. Feeling hope blossom in his chest, he sprinted to where she was yelling from. He saw her, on her knees, her back to him, looking completely devastated. Frowning, he leaned on the building next to him. [color"You should be screaming, you know. Waste of your time and breath. No one's going to hear you, well, other than me that is..."[/color] He cocked an eyebrow and smirked, already looking her over. Well, could be worse. he thought, searching for all the positive in the situation. There wasn't much to find... Could be stuck with some fat, ugly chick. At least now I won't be bored...

Always the optimist.

Hearing another person's voice made her gasp as she immediately turned to see who it was. A young man who looked quite dashing, but she didn't really think much of it because of her anxiousness. She slowly stood up, listening to what he was saying in silence, unsure of what to say. Something was different; she felt something as though it were a connection to him.

How was it that they were the only two here? What could have possibly sent them here in the first place, and where did it come from? How would they even get out All these questions were suddenly pointing to how he got there too. "You're a Time Lord, aren't you?" she asked, just watching to see how he would respond. "That psychic connection between them is still there, but it's faint."

Although she never really relied on her connections, she remembered how to use them correctly, and sometimes it proved to be useful when she had run ins with unfamiliar time lords, such as The Master. Oh man, he was definitely someone she hated having run ins with. "Who are you?" she finally spoke, narrowing her eyes. Oh god, she hoped he wasn't an incarnation of the Master.

The way the woman was just staring at him while he talked was kind of creeping him out. "Hey, um... You okay?" he asked warily, frowning in confusion. When she asked him if he was a Timelord, he grinned and bowed. "The Wanderer, at your service." Seeing as she had guessed he was from Gallifrey, he assumed that she was too.

"That psychic connection between them is still there, but it's faint." Her words had him frowning again. "Excuse me? I don't link myself with anyone..." he almost shuddered at the thought of connecting himself to someone that way. "And who might you be?" he raised an eyebrow, really hoping she wasn't one of those Timeladies that had gone mad. That would really suck...

Upon hearing the name of the Time Lord, she let out a sigh in relief, thanking Ressilon that it wasn't the Master. Being stuck in a parallel universe with him would be hell. When he had asked if she was okay, she shook her head quickly though. "I'm stuck here while my TARDIS is on the other side of the shift, and I doubt I have any way of contacting the Doctor," she sighed.

She quickly held her hand out to him though, a light smile appearing on her face. At least someone was with her, and she wasn't alone. She'd absolutely go insane if that were the case. "I'm The Pariah. It's nice to see that there are some more Time Lords that survived."

Rephaim wasn't surprised when the woman sighed in what he supposed was relief after hearing his name. There were some Timelords that were absolute horrible company. He silently noted that she didn't explain the link thing, but kept that question for later. She shook her head at when he asked if she was okay. He nodded, expecting the answer that followed. What he didn't expect, however, was her mention of the Doctor. Sure, he knew that the Timelord was quite popular, but he didn't remember Gallifreyans liking him very much. His brow puckered slightly, but he didn't comment on that. Yet.

Seeing her outstretched hand, he took it in his, and with his usual smirk, bent to kiss it lightly. "Pleasure to meet you, Pariah." As he straightened up and let go of her hand, he cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean survived? Why would we not be surviving?"

Oh no. A look of dread washed over Demory when the Time Lord had given such a bewildering answer to her about surviving. She pursed her lips for a moment, avoiding eye contact as she tried to think of how to explain it. This definitely was not the appropriate time to tell someone that their entire race of people has been eradicated.

"I don't think I'd be the fit person to tell you," she said in a hush tone. After all, it was a very sensitive subject. Still trying to unlock memories of her past ever since the Doctor had erased it after her regeneration, she only remembered brief parts of it - people screaming and running in the streets, her dad being sent to the front lines, and her mother being incredibly ill.

She also remembered being sent away on a TARDIS by the Doctor, who at the time, was a complete stranger to her. She had no idea what she was getting herself into when she had laid eyes on that man for the very first time, nor did she know how those events would play out for her future. It still, in her mind, was a very traumatizing experience... especially when she watched her entire planet vanish right before her very eyes.

"Later. I'll tell you later, let's forget about that for now though, we have bigger issues!" she said quickly as she paced around. "We need to get back to the proper dimension. We're in a world without a TARDIS and that could cause for trouble."

Okay, so her reaction was kind of scaring him. Had something happened to Gallifrey? Frowning, he tried to remember how long he'd been gone. With all the time traveling, it was hard to keep track. He hadn't left Earth much, so he was probably late on some news.

When she said she'd explain later, he took it as a bad sign. Frowning, he nodded his assent. Looking around, he wondered aloud "So, have you been in this situation before?" His ice blue eyes traveled up and down the foggy street. Sighing, he saw his breath billow out in a vapor cloud. Looking back at Pariah, he realized she didn't have the warmest clothes on.

"Oh, crap, sorry. Are you cold?" he asked while taking off his leather jacket and holding it open for her. That left him a a tight fitting t-shirt, not exactly the warmest, but he didn't mind that much.

She knew that he was suspicious of something, but she couldn't tell him. It wasn't her job to tell him these things, he'd have to find out either from the Doctor, or on his own. She frowned, not knowing exactly what to say as she sighed against the concrete.

He then asked her if she had ever been through something like this before and she blinked at him, thinking. "No... nothing like this before. I've been in parallel universes before, but I went there with intentions to go and had my TARDIS. Whatever happened just now is completely new to me."

She felt a shiver down her spin as she looked around. It really was very cold in this universe, despite being in California of all places. The man had opened his jacket for her as she blinked lightly, but gave a faint smile. "Thank you," she moved in, letting him put the jacket over her.

Great. They were both stuck in this weird shift in space, with no Tardis, and no one to miss them while they were gone. Well, he didn't know about Pariah, but he sure as hell knew that no one would be looking for him anytime soon. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, sitting down on the sidewalk.

"Alright, ok... We just have to get someone to know we're here." he thought out loud. Tapping his hand on his leg, he looked up and pointed at her suddenly. "You said you know the Doctor. Did you mean that as in personally? 'Cause I doubt he'd go out of his way and risk being sucked into this world for a couple of Timelords.", he looked her up and down once more and grinned, "Despite how hot they might be."

The silence between them made Demory a bit more anxious as she looked around the area for any clues. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, she then heard the the man speak of if she knew the Doctor. Hearing his next words had curled her lips into a smile as she gave as light chuckle.

"Oh, I know him quite personally," she smirked. "I mean, the man's only in love with me," she shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he'd come in a heartbeat if he knew I was here, but... I don't know how we'd even get in touch with him," she sighed, looking around. "With my TARDIS gone..."

"Oooh, the man does have a love life then..." he smirked "Wonder what that's like..." he winked, chuckling. "Anyways, back to all seriousness, do you think you could remember his phone number? I mean, I've got my phone here, and I've programmed it to work anywhere..."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a blackberry. Checking the signal, he smiled, "Yup, see, still works in this freaky little dimension of ours." Holding out the phone to her, he looked up and down the street, suddenly feeling a little bit nervous. "Here, call him and ask him to come pick you up. Hopefully he'll be feeling benevolent and let me hitch a ride as well."

"He'd definitely help you if I asked him too. I don't see why not... he's kind of desperate to help out Time Lords anyways," she frowned at the thought. He always wants to be forgiven, doesn't he? Shaking the thoughts off, she immediately dialed the TARDIS call phone... and then she remembered that it could call any one of his regenerations. "Oh, bloody hell..." 

Waiting for an answer, she nervously leaned against the wall just hoping that she would even get an answer. "If he's away from his TARDIS I swear..." she sighed. "And hopefully I get a hold of the right one... getting one of his previous regenerations would be tricky, considering they're kind of cranky sometimes," she laughed nervously.

Desperate to help out Timelords? He frowned, wondering why in the world someone would feel that way. Then he thought back to what the Pariah had said, and a horrible suspicion whispered it's way into his head. Looking at her with wide eyes, he waited for her to stop talking. In a quiet voice, he asked "What happened to Gallifrey?"

Rephaim felt his breathing speed up, and his hearts beat a tad faster. Fear, his mind identified the feeling as fear. He hadn't felt scared in a long time. He never had a reason to, until now.

"No, no, please answer..." she felt her hearts race in anxiety as the phone continued to ring. She had so much on her mind, and she found herself zoning out for a moment as the dial tone continued to ring on for a few second. Then his voice mail came on. "Doctor, please, I need your help," her voice was shaky. "We're trapped. It's me, Demory... there's another Time Lord with me. We're trapped in a parallel universe..."

and suddenly she heard the man speak behind her and she felt her hearts pick up again as she slowly hung up the phone turning around and giving him a look of dread at his words. "...It's complicated," she murmured. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you..." she looked away quickly, trying to call The Doctor's phone box once more.

The way she just avoided answering the question only made his fear worse. He watched silently as she tried to get a hold of the Doctor again. Running a hand through his hair, he started walking down the street, going to the main road. He tried to get his breathing to normalize. Why was he freaking out? He wasn't supposed to be the one to freak out, he was supposed to be calm all the time. Not normal.

Well, this flipping situation is normal, now is it?, he argued with himself. He dragged a hand over his face, sighing. Leaning on the building next to him, he kept thinking over what little the Pariah had told him about Gallifrey. Clear something had happened to it. Or someone. She'd told him that the Doctor was desperate to help Timelords. That could only mean he felt guilty. Of what, he didn't know exactly, but he had a feeling it had to do with their home.

Upon not receiving any answer on the other line, Demory's hand shakily passed the phone back to him as she started to pace around, unsure what she should do now. She felt her eyes well up with tears and her hands rubbed against her face as she let out a few sharp breaths simply from being anxious. "What are we going to do..."

Suddenly, she stopped though, upon hearing a whisper in the distance. It was harsh, low, and almost sounded evil. Taking a few steps back, she noticed that the shadows in the area were suddenly starting to misshape a bit, growing larger and heading toward them. Her eyes widened, and without any further hesitation, she grabbed the Wanderer's hand. "Run."

He stayed silent as she paced and desperately searched for some idea to get them out of this mess, pushing his phone back into his pocket. He played with the gravel on the side of the sidewalk, tracing circular gallifreyan words in it. Sighing quietly out of his nose, Rephaim looked up and saw her freeze, watching something in the shadows.

"Miss Pariah? You alri-" He was cut off when she suddenly grabbed his hand and dragged him off. He took the hint and assumed there was some kind of danger. He matched her pace easily, and looked back, searching for what she'd seen. There was a mangled looking shadow. He needed no further incentive. Holding onto her hand tightly, he ran with her. "Ideas of species?", he puffed out.

As the two began to run, she noticed that whatever this thing was, it was manipulating the shadows around them. Vashta Nerada? No, it couldn't be, it wouldn't be making itself so noticeable like this. It also wouldn't give off such a frightful aura, despite the fact that the times she's dealt with them, they've been quite terrifying.

"I have no idea and I don't want to find out right now until we've found a proper place to escape!" she said quickly as she pulled on his hand and turned the corner. Looking around for a proper safe haven, she noticed a church up ahead. Although it was usually just a myth that churches were considered thresholds for monsters, she decided to take the risk. Running inside with him, she quickly bolted to shut the door, locking it behind her as she panted.