Circumstances

Pandora stirred. The ground beneath her suddenly did not feel like the blue beaches of Rallaria anymore. It was hard, like...stone? Without opening her eyes, she patted the ground with her hand, hoping that this was just a lucid dream and that when she did open her eyes, the blue sand and the two suns would still be there. She gingerly lifted one eyelid slowly. Alas, Pandora was not in Rallaria anymore.

She opened her eyes properly and sat up fast, which was definitely not a good idea, as the blood rushed to her head and she felt incredibly dizzy. After a brief moment to regain herself, Pandora stood up, ready to survey her surroundings. She seemed to have been lying in the middle of a street filled with seemingly empty houses. She wandered over to the closest building and looked through the window into a bare room. Where are all the people who live here? Pandora thought to herself. She grinned and moved back to the middle of the street, stretching her arms out and then placing her hands behind her head.

Starting to walk slowly down the street, she began to wonder if she could find anyone, Maybe they could tell me what this place is and where it is? She paused, and smiled. Ah well, at least this is new! She thought to herself.

Kass began to walk down the main street from the fountain, her eyes darting around each building as if she were evaluating each one of them. Passing a few of the houses, something stopped Kass in her tracks, her nose itched with the scent of someone. Someone she thought died, long ago.

She shook her head, thinking she must be being stupid until she heard footsteps further down the street. Startled, she froze and stood in confusion as she tried to make out the person up ahead, who was slowly coming into her line of sight's focus as she came closer. The scent grew stronger and stronger by the second. This wasn't right, it couldn't be! They were dead! They were all dead! She knew it! She saw it, the Time Lock, locking the battle in a bubble like seal, unable to be touched, but still she smelt her, The Pandora yet her mind told her it couldn't be, her nose was telling a different story so she just stood in the middle of the road, continueing to watch and sniffing. At this moment in time, she looked rather strange to any possible onlookers but her mind was elsewhere.

Pandora's attention wandered as she surveyed the buildings that she was passing and the strangeness of it all confused her, which she found exhilarating. She took in a large breath of air through her nose and stopped. Although she did not have as good a sense of smell as the others on Gallifrey, it was still enough to smell that scent. The scent of a Time Lord. She did not have the skills to distinguish them from one another, but she knew the collective smell.

She shook her head, waving off the glimmer of hope that another had escaped the Time War, albeit she had only done so by accident, but she wondered if there was anyone else out there. Pandora then looked up down the street and saw a figure, humanoid from what she could make out. She sped up towards them, hoping to gain some information from this being. Waving her hands, she shouted over, "Hey! Sorry to bother you, but where is this exactly?" Grinning whilst she did so.

Kass stood in awe, not really realising that the figure was actually coming closer to her, and was snapped out of her phase when the female shouted at her. Flinching, she came back to her senses from spacing out for a moment. Everything flooded back to her as she stared at her, the scent was definately coming from her, she agreed with herself, taking another sniff before realising she was being asked a question. "Uh..." She stammered, swallowing before answering, "I'm not quite sure but just don't jump off the edges" She warned, a serious yet playful expression on her face as she did so.

Pandora continued walking closer to the person, "Hmm, guessing you're not from here either then." She looked confused for a second, "What do you mean about jumping off the edge?" She laughed, "I wasn't planning on doing that anyway". Pandora slapped her forehead, "OH, of course! I haven't introduced myself yet. Sorry about just asking you a question out of the blue. I'm Pandora!"

She stopped a distance from the female, so as not to threaten her in anyway. She'd experience that before and had learnt from it. "So, what's your name stranger?" Pandora asked politely, shifting her weight from heel to toe and swinging her arms slightly.

Kass's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped as she spoke her name. "It is you! And i'm no stranger!" She exclaimed, widening her arms and smiling like a Chesire Cat. Hopping forwards on one foot she lunged at her in a hugging fashion, twirling her around whilst doing so. "I thought I was alone but you're here, and that's good and that means i'm not alone anymore and that means yay!" She squeeled, voice twice it's normal speed and at a higher tone.

Pandora opened her mouth to reply, and was hugged in the process. "Ermm, sorry, but do I know you? I mean, I don't mean to be impolite but, I don't remember meeting you." She said, locked in the twirling hug. "Do you mean that there's no one else on this island? Or something else?" She laughed nervously, "Suffice to say, I'm kinda confused".

Kass let go of her, stepping back a bit away from her. "You never were the best smeller" She laughed, wiping a tear from her eye, the whole situation being overwhelming for her, she wasn't alone! "It's me, Bandit" She explained, a large grin upon her face, her eyes glazed with tears she was fighting back.

Pandora's face was a picture. Her mouth was open in shock, and her eyes popped out of her head. "Bandit?!" She slowly smiled, opening her arms and hugging Bandit herself this time. "How have you been? What have you been doing?" She questioned, letting go of her. Her expression changed to a disdainful look, "THEY told us that you had died!" She scoffed, and then felt guilty, knowing that they were locked in time, all gone, and that she shouldn't be speaking badly of them.

"What happened to you? You went to Earth and never came back. And from what I've seen, Earth isn't that dangerous a place on its own." She asked, walking over to the nearest building and sitting against the wall on the grass.

Kass rubbed the back of her head, bombarded with all the questions asked by Pandora. "Hey.." She muttered, holding her hand out to pull her back up. "Maybe this will answer your question" She said, a regretful expression on her face. "I'm going to regret this aren't I.." She muttered, before headbutting her. Jolting back from the hit, she hit the floor on her bum and continued to sit there, thoughts swirling through her head as images of Pandora's past flashed at her in sequence. When it was over, a throbbing pain replaced the flashes, causing her to groan and hold her head.

Pandora's expression went completely blank when Bandit headbutted her, her mind absorbing Bandit's memories in a flash, and passing over her own as well. She fell back, clutching her head in pain, her fingernails digging into her head, to distract her from her now sore head. Pandora sat for over a minute with her head in her hands, before tossing her head back and looking over at Bandit, now Kass as she was known.

"Err..." Pandora started, unsure of what to say to her long lost friend. "So...do I call you Kass or Bandit now?" She finished lamely, unsure of how to breach the other subject. She smiled a painful smile, whispering, "I guess you now know what happened with me on Gallifrey too."

"Call me what you like-" Kass coughed, leaning forwards to look up at Pandora. Sympathy flooded her expression as she moored over the circumstances Pandora had been through. "You did love him- you lied to me" She muttered, shooting a smirk at her to show her playfulness, referring to the Master then largely regretting it after noting he went to fight in the Time War.

"I'm..uh..sorry" She apologized, looking downwards away from her in shame. "At least you weren't there though-" She said finally, after a pause. Leaning onto her knees, she pushed herself up slowly, wobbling a bit before standing.

Pandora opened her mouth to retort, but then emotions rushed over her, coming from actively not thinking about...him. She turned her head, blinking her eyes quickly to dissipate the tears that formed. "Well, I don't actually know what happened to him and everyone else." She said finally, after a long silence. "I...He must have known that something bad was going to happen, and sent me on some non-existent mission." She clenched her fists, "He may have saved me, but I had no idea what to do after I realised everyone had gone."

Her fingers gently brushed against the blades of grass, as she pulled her knees up and lay one arm over them. She stayed in this position for a couple of minutes, reminiscing over lost time, and watching the wind push small chips of rock slowly down the street. Eventually, Pandora stretched her limbs out and pushed herself up off the ground. She brushed her memories away with effort, and smiled. "Well. At least we've found each other, right?" She asked, making her way back to the middle of the street. "So, Bandit, what do we do now?" She said, trying, but failing to use her new name. "It's a whole world to explore, with possibly tons of mysteries and opportunities waiting to be discovered!" Pandora exclaimed with renewed excitement.

Kass grinned, compelled by Pandora's adventurous spirit, opening her mouth to reply before she was cut off. A voice echoed around her mind like a psychic message, whirling around as she listening, her body frozen as she did so, simply staring off into space. Once it'd finished, she tilted her head to one side, holding her head before standing up straight to face Pandora. "You heard that right? A psychic message...you're right about the mysteries then" She said, muttering to herself as she tried to construct what was going on, in her mind.

"I've met two others whilst here, both non-hostile, and friendly. One went off, and the other stayed by the lake I ended up...near.." She mumbled, looking off to the side nervously as she let a nervous smile show, thinking back to how she'd fell into the lake, maybe falling off wasn't such a clever idea.