JELLY BELLIES
"TAXI! GOD-FUCKING-DAMMIT! TAXI!" Rose blinked and looked at the girl as she stood, one foot in the white, ceramic-like street and the other on the smooth, concrete-like sidewalk. Through a rather fast series of events, the Doctor had gotten separated from Rose, and by separated, meaning that she had been grabbed by robots and dragged off before this strange girl had jumped out of a window, shooting at the metallic creatures with what Rose could only assume was something along the lines of an energy pistol.
"ROSE! COME ON!" The girl shouted, Rose's head snapped up. The city around her was futuristic in a bizarre and very, well, shiny way. With the buildings all the white ceramic material and most other things silver. And hover cabs. Rose slowly walked to the hovering pod-shaped vehicle, painted an obnoxious blaze orange with TAXI printed in bold, black letters on the side. The girl promptly reached out and pulled her in.
"The Lemony Banana, driver!" She snapped, keeping Rose's arm in an iron grip. She was a willowy, lithe girl with a small, pouting mouth but a loud voice. One eye was apparently dyed a brilliant violet, while the other was a golden-yellow, and her hair was striped with the rainbow and then some, kept up in feathery pigtails. Her pale skin was a sharp contrast against the black clothing she wore, and Rose felt very out-of-place near her.
"So…where are we going?" The girl looked at Rose with a raised eyebrow.
"The Lemony Banana. Nice club, good music, great food and drinks, but most importantly somewhere where we can find your friend." The girl coughed lightly. "Plus, we need to get you a disguise, if you go walking about the city like that, you'll find yourself dragged off again." She reached out and ran a hand across Rose's cheek and jaw line. Rose pulled back, shocked by the sudden contact. "Oh, hold still, one of them nicked you here." She prodded a small, barely noticeable cut on the side of her face.
"I don't feel anything…"
"Their claws are cauterizing. The nerves around the wounds they inflict are shut down, it'll start hurting in a few hours. Call me Jelly, by the way."
"Jelly? What sort of name is that?"
"A nickname." She answered simply. The hover cab screeched to a halt and Jelly handed the driver a card, which he quickly swiped through a slot and handed back to her.
"Have a nice day, miss."
"You too. Now beat it." She shoved Rose out of the car rather violently and grabbed her as soon as she hit the ground. "Come on! It's getting darker out, and the 'bots are a lot more likely to nab you under the cover of night." Rose followed her as she hurried down a staircase into a grimy little door. This part of the city was much more dirty and unkempt than the former section, and the club was altogether to dark to tell, even with the blinding strobe lights and music that left a constant ringing in her ears.
"Jelly!" The noise shut out as a door slid shut behind them. They were in a well-lit, white hallway. "Come on then, dearie! Oh, who's this poor girl you've found?" A middle-aged, well-rounded woman bustled out. Dressed in a rather old-fashioned dress and apron, she hurriedly led Jelly and Rose down the hallway.
"Jelywherethehelhaveyoubenwevebenlokingforyou!" The fast, rapid chatter was English, but much to fast for Rose to understand. A tall, skinny man with black, glittering eyes and reddish, tanned skin hopped out in front of them, dressed similarly to Jelly, with similar hair as well, except his was kept in a messy braid in back.
"HeyIjustfoundthisgirlwanderingandshenedstofindherfreindshealsogotatackedbythebotssoweshouldhurybeforetheyfindherguysomewhereoutthere." She answered in the same, rapid chatter. The two zipped away down the corridors, leaving Rose standing with the middle-aged woman as the unnaturally fast duo veered into a doorway, chatting.
"…Don't mind them, they're both Pandorans." The woman said, draping an arm about Rose's shoulder in leading her into a rather…oddly normal-looking living room. "Have a seat, dear. Just call me Auntie, by the way." The woman spoke with an American accents, as did Jelly, who could still be heard chattering down the hall. "You don't seem to be from around here, what's your name?"
"Rose…Rose Tyler." Auntie got up and bustled about a countertop nearby, mixing something together as she spoke.
"Rose, how beautiful! One of my daughter's was named Rose." She pointed at her hair, which was a definite bright red despite the streaks of gray and white through it. Her kindly, deep brown eyes glistened with maternal care as she stirred something in a mug. "Of course, she strayed quite a bit. It was sad…but inevitable." Rose blinked, this woman hardly seemed at all fazed, talking about what she assumed was the death of her daughter.
"What…uhm…what happened?"
"Oh, it's a common story. Went to a black-alley clinic for this new biomod. Nobody really knows what happened, but her body just couldn't handle it. Her hearts exploded." Rose stared at her as she set a steaming mug on the table before her.
"Er…pardon me, hearts?"
"Oh, yes. She had an auxiliary heart installed years ago, back when she was working on the station." She shrugged and motioned to the mug in front of Rose. "It's rose-hip tea, it seemed appropriate. Plus, we're all out of other flavors." Jelly zipped back in, noticeably having to force herself to slow down.
"Rose! Come on, we've got all the records of where you got attacked up, we should be able to follow your friend through the city now." She grabbed Rose's arm and zipped away with her before she could say anything. Auntie sighed and rolled her eyes.
"That's a Pandoran for you…straight from impulse to doing."
"Here, this is when you got attacked." She pointed at a flow of data going across the screen. Rose blinked.
"How can you tell? It's just a bunch of numbers…"
"It's code, easier and faster to send than straight visual data. Here, here's your friend right…here." She tapped a series of number on the screen. "Now, we can trace him…" She placed her hands on the holographic circled that floated in front of her. The room was composed entirely of screens and holographic keyboards, controls, and circles. Rose looked around as the man from earlier was working on another screen nearby and a few other figures observed more screens.
"So…what is this place?"
"Doesn't have a real name, really. It's Lunar colony 815APHRODITE, one of only two that feature true artificial gravity."
"What?" Rose narrowed her eyes, Jelly winced as the holographic display changed to a keyboard under her fingers, which were soon just blurs as she input information.
"Not a good time to explainrightnowyourfreindnedssomehelp." Her voice got quicker once again and she was suddenly standing by the door, loading glowing, blue cartridges into a strange, very violent-looking pistol. "MartytakecareofthegirlhernameisRoseandkeepherhere!" She barked out, the boy from before nodded and stood next to Rose as Jelly disappeared.
"Name's Marty." He said, extending a gloved hand. Rose cautiously took it. "So…you're not from around here, are you?"