All packed up, the White Rabbit seemed much less welcoming when it was truly empty. The neon signs turned off, the already scarily tall Kadeptian who sometimes also wore hooker boots not behind the bar- it was... melancholic. Like it was already sad about having to leave Legion.

The quiet groaning and wheezing of time engines broke apart the silence and the front door suddenly opened to someplace entirely different.

Huddled about ten feet away from it, Peter and Diego had been warned not to be outside, an instruction that was common enough on this hellhole of a planet and took no adjusting whatsoever to follow. Admittedly, while one of them had seen this sort of thing with an appearing ship, it hardly looked the same.

A woman stepped out- the one inviting them for a ride. Compared to them at least, she was very short, even to Peter, who had stopped growing at a fairly small size. Hardly underestimating her or being trusting though, he waved a furred hand, cautiously keeping his other over a small blaster, standing between her and Diego.

"Hey," he muttered.

"Hi-" she answered back, awkwardly. Shuffling back and forth, she was about to introduce herself to him, but got interrupted.

Jack lit up when she arrived, quite literally, an ear perking at her arrival driving him to step out from the back. His eyes burned brighter sometimes, and it was certainly more pronounced when he saw who it was that came through. Making long strides, he bent down and shook her hand as soon as she was in reach.

"Roda! Good to see you came back- was it our lovely faces?" He made a charming smile and discreetly took Peter's hand off the gun, getting him quite miffed.

Roda frowned. "It's because my job is apparently less thievery and more basically just doing whatever time-based errands Braxiatel is in the mood for. But you aren't so bad." She pointed through the doorway- it led to a room that honestly looked more like a small amber fairy forest than any ship.

"Come on, chop-chop!" Jack ushered, as if he wasn't the last one to be at the door. Though his confidence... blind recklessness or no- did seem to help the younger men get a grip on the idea of going in.

"That wasn't a jumping pun," Roda commented, raising an eyebrow at the obvious missed opportunity to say 'Hop in.' But she stepped out of the way nonetheless, waving towards the TARDIS door.

"I have my on and off days regarding punmanship- ...And I was bored that day. The call earlier is more or less how I normally speak, you may happen to notice," he laughed to himself.

Looking things over to make sure there wasn't any other staff or family she had to be playing taxi service for, she sighed and asked, "Anyone else? Anything else?"

Peter muttered something under his breath, but Jack shushed him and grabbed his arm with that unnaturally strong grip. He struggled, but not much as Jack slowly guided him inside. "Don't worry. That will be all. Peter isn't biting, so he'll cooperate."

"Biting...?" she wondered.

Nobody elaborated further.

Roda cocked her head one way, then slipped into the TARDIS just in case Jack was wrong about that. She'd dragged a few chairs into her console room, just in case someone wanted to sit down, but they were obviously not usually meant to be there. All tinted crimson and amber- it was natural, with organic-looking controls in the middle, formed out of wood more than metal, overgrown and making the machine look as alive as it really was, and as Roda always thought, warm. There was a weapons rack against a wall near the front door too, which didn't go unnoticed.

After being sure Diego had Peter the rest of the way inside, dramatically, Jack bowed. "I bid you adieu, my dear Rabbit."

He skipped inside, making a little whistle in response to the view, while Diego raised an eyebrow. Peter acted nonplussed, but he was secretly a little intrigued about how different it looked. They'd seen a lot in the past, but this was impressive.

"Not bad," Peter murmured.

"Hey, could you- uhh...?" Diego trailed off, a little nervous about everything. He never explained why, but he didn't like being on ships very much. This would be better, and short if the others were to be believed, but that didn't stop him from getting anxious. Accustomed to him not speaking much in front of strangers and knowing what he wanted, Peter took his hand reassuringly.

Meanwhile, Jack felt around, trying to take it all in. His eyes rested on the weapons rack. "This really is quite the ship. Like the swords- oh! Sharp." He shrugged after wincing, hardly even bothered about having stabbed himself. It didn't bleed, the sensation was just more of a jolt.

"It's a sword!" Roda raised an eyebrow, shaking her head in disbelief. "Of course it's sharp!"

Alongside more medieval-style weapons there were more modern things- Time Lord tools, not all for fighting, and a revolver. In the middle was an unstrung bow, a quiver of arrows sitting beside it. All kept in pristine condition, cared for with deep love. "Don't touch. Especially not if you're not used to flying in a TARDIS. In fact," she gestured to the chairs. "-Maybe you'd be safer over there?"

He shrugged. "On Legion, it's all blasters and the Irverfield wasn't exactly the most... luxurious. I won't touch anything else. But I'd prefer to stand, if it's all the same to you. It's easier to adjust to gravitational changes. ...Sensitive legs."

"Didn't seem to be too different in that department from Legion, but I believe it. Suit yourself. Just don't get hurt, please," she shrugged amicably, waiting for the others, watching Diego and Peter trying multiple positions on the different seats, moving them around, switching places, and trying to squeeze onto one, which they eventually managed. Keeping each other calm, the couple remained silent the whole time.

After a moment she sighed and added, "I don't mind you touching anything. The controls are all isomorphic. Just don't want to have to explain to Braxiatel how you lost a finger."

Jack dismissed her concerns. "Oh, dear, dear Roda. It's quite difficult for a couple of scrapes to hurt me. And if you haven't noticed already, I have lost a finger." He showed his left hand, giving her a closer look than she'd previously gotten. It was roughly the same size as the right, but all metal, clawed and the base of it fused into the skin. There were a few scratches on it, but he kept it shiny and polished to the best of his ability.

Getting bothered they weren't getting this over with and trying to distract himself from the fact he was on a ship, Diego muttered, "Not that story again..."

Curiosity grabbed her and shook away her manners, and Roda took hold of his hand before he could stop her. "So it is a prosthetic. Huh. That happen on Legion?"

He waved her off with his good arm. "No, not at all, actually. It was originally a glove I made. But the lovely folks over at the Epoch kept rewriting and resetting the timelines so much that I lost my original hand and this replaced it. There's a spot here..."

"Told you..." Diego whispered.

Jack pulled something on it- a tiny catch under the segmented plates, and most of it detached in Roda's hand. Despite her impressive poker face and making no obvious outward expression, this was genuinely startling and she let out a quiet squeak before tentatively giving it back and moving to the controls.

Watching Jack fit the hand back on its base near the beginning of the forearm, Diego groaned.

"I can't believe you deal with him every single day," Peter whispered, kissing his husband softly on the cheek.

"I can't either. But I can't believe you could go out every day and deal with... them." he shivered.

"Not anymore. We'll be safer."

Roda made the last call. "Everyone present and accounted for?"

There were three nods from the group.

"...Anyone get travel sick?"

While nobody was absolutely certain, the collective gaze shifted to Diego, but he protested. "Uh... I don't think so."

Jack looked back as his hand turned itself on again, smirking. "Neat party trick though, isn't it?"

Both of his friends said the same thing:

"...No."

With everything seemingly done with and the pre-flight checks complete, Roda tapped in the coordinates for the Collection, pulled a lever, and they took off. The engines pulsed beneath their feet in a soft, slow rhythm as the time rotor rose and fell. For the man terrified of ships, this calmness was a bit of a surprise.

"This really isn't too bad."

"Of course it isn't! You'll hurt her feelings."

"...Sorry for being well- anxious. Haven't been on any spaceship for a very long time. Not since..." he trailed off into his thoughts as dread and fear filled his eyes again, but Peter stroked his hair to calm him and he came back to reality before it got serious.

"Before you decide to ask questions about it, don't," Peter ordered, glaring at the so far still unfamiliar woman.

Getting the picture, she set that aside. "I wasn't! But does it help if I tell you this is technically a time capsule? " Roda pet the dashboard as it navigated through the vortex, one eye on the passengers and the other on the readouts for what would probably at least be a short journey. "And I maintain her myself."

Jack cocked an eyebrow, while Diego sat firmly rooted to Peter and the chair. "Is she now? A lovely time capsule and a lovely lad- Redjay. Splendid. Truly splendid." He stepped around without a care in the world, subtly shaking himself about as to adjust. For a second it looked like he was about to run into something, but delicately sidestepped it just in time.

Roda still cautiously watched Jack out of the corner of one eye, unfazed by any lurches the ship made. Casually leaning on the console in such a way as to flaunt her millennia of experience, the only indication that she was focused on anything was when they departed the vortex again. Catching a beeping noise, she suddenly bolted around to the other side to deal with it. Getting it swiftly under control, she brought them to a mostly smooth landing, then popped her head up sheepishly from the other side. "Sorry. Gear change leaving the vortex, needs oil." She glanced at a ticking box, which printed off a sheet of faded brown paper. She needed new ticker tape too. Just something else for the shopping list, really.

She clapped her hands together to gather their attention. "However. That's us there. Thank you for flying Air Redjay."

None of them got the joke at all, but stepped out anyway as the doors opened, thinking it was just some sort of quirk- which it was. Behind them, the tree-shaped TARDIS disappeared to whence it came, leaving not a trace of itself beyond the familiar grinding of the engines.

Seeing a pair of familiar faces waiting outside on the green, Jack's eyes lit up, yet again. "We're here! Irving, Benny- come and give your best friend Jack a hug!"

Braxiatel brushed him off. "...I don't do hugs."

"And Brax is my best friend..." Bernice added. "It's great seeing you, actually, but we've got a couple other things. Give us some space?"

"Of course, of course, I'll give you all a little space. Just gotta go make sure she isn't hurt during the relocation..." Jack remarked as he skipped away, nobody quite sure where he was going off to. But he did seem sure of himself about it.

Her eyes drifted to her son. Darting over to him, she took him in a warm embrace, voice soft and sweet. "Peter- I'm so sorry it's been this long... I missed you so much- are you really staying?"

"Mum!" He pretended not to like it as much as he did, but that facade started slipping. "I- I think so. If it doesn't... well. That stuff doesn't happen again. If this place is still around and not on fire... Your plan thing worked then?"

She looked deep into his dark eyes, tears welling up inside her own as she was overcome with waves of joy. "It did, yes. It did. There's some weird things, it's not perfect... but better. Hope you'll agree. Goddess, you're really here!"

Peter stole a glance over her shoulder and caught Diego trying to disappear, then broke things apart so he could offer some support at the sudden change.

Bernice watched the two of them, all grown up. With a helping hand, Diego approached Braxiatel for a greeting. His expression was contemplative, puzzled. Like there was something that really didn't make sense.

"So... you're Irving?"

The other man politely offered a hand to shake. "I am Irving, yes."

"I- uh... well. I thought you would be taller. I think Jack exaggerated a bit."

That only made Brax confused. He blinked, then almost shouted, "... I'm 6'1," how tall did he say I was?"

Diego's hand drifted just under a foot over the top of Irving's head, and the resulting confused noise from him made Bernice laugh. Judging how tall that would actually be, Diego shrugged. "A 'veritable giant' who's a head taller by Jack standards is... uh- big. Think he was being metaphorical..."

Braxiatel straightened himself out and rolled his eyes. "Well, it seems Jack has been telling tall tales. ...If you'll pardon the pun." Benny snorted again.

Diego frowned, then nodded. "...Yeah."

In an effort to direct attention away from him being obviously shorter than his employee and an apparent disappointment in some regard, Brax suggested, "You'll probably want to get settled in. I've set aside a flat for you and Peter in the staff block. Benny, could you show them the way? It's four doors down from yours, number 205."

She nodded, after a tiny kiss that Peter made an effort to look away from. "Key?"

"In my top pocket."

With the information given, Bernice rummaged in it and plucked out a keycard, then beckoned them away, leaving Braxiatel alone, in silence. He sighed. Not fitting with the people he cared for, again. Maybe he'd find that family that formed around him again. But evidently, not quite yet.

Maybe he was just tired.