It took a couple of days and a delay to get her head together again. But after work, a good breath, some chores and a cleanup, Bernice finally swung open the doors to the White Rabbit, its neon-lit front glowing in the night.

She'd passed a group of students who'd come to campus early, and judging by the smell they were sharing a blunt of some drug she couldn't recognize. It seemed like a new one got developed or imported to become the big trend every year. Crackdowns never worked, so hopefully, it wouldn't result in too many visits to the university medical wing.

Inside, shoes clicking on the worn wooden floorboards, Benny reached the bar and took a seat on a stool. It seemed crowded, and everyone appeared impatient. That was odd. Nobody was in front tending to the bar, but there was a bell. She slid it over to herself and rang it a few times.

"Jack! Jack!?"

The Kadeptian peeked out from behind the back door, eyes darting left to right. He gave his unsettling toothy grin and strode out. "Benny!" But his jolly exterior faded briefly when he cupped a hand over his mouth and whispered to her. "...Please don't tell me Irving came with you for another date."

Luckily no, and Bernice shook her head at his concern. "Just me. And Roda will probably show up soon too. Girls' night. Trust me when I say that Brax and I will not be trying another romantic date here anytime soon."

His demeanour became slightly more upbeat and gossipy. "From the rather extraordinary levels of snark at that meeting, I rather got the impression you didn't like the lady Roda very much," he commented absentmindedly, sorting out the different liquors and looking for empty bottles to replace. "But at least I won't have to try and kick out half the customers on a night like this..."

"Well, I didn't. But it started with a vested interest in history. Curiosity. We aren't exactly close though, so I suggested this." Bernice ordered two cocktails, trying to remember what Roda had gotten a few nights ago. "...What do you mean on a night like this?"

Jack rolled his eyes as he started mixing the drinks. He looked exhausted. Or the closest to exhausted he ever let himself look, which was just letting it slip that he was a very disgruntled employee. "I've been soloing. Diego got that day off and Irving hasn't bothered with new staff or bar droids."

Benny sighed. Of course. He'd do a remodel and a grand opening, and then forget something like this. Braxiatel was far too good at not seeing the trees for the forest. She'd have to tell him. If she remembered any of tonight, which wasn't looking all too likely.

Agonizing minutes passed while she waited for Roda, and seeing the ice starting to melt, Bernice elected to have both of their drinks instead. A head start probably wasn't ideal if she was drinking with a Time Lord, but she'd live.

Finally, the stool next to her squeaked, and a familiar face sat down.

"Skaro- sorry I'm late."

"Ha- sorry I had to push it back two nights." Benny waved it off, idly tapping her fingers on the counter, then taking a gulp from one of her drinks and smiling.

"That's not supposed to be a problem, given I live in a time machine. Are you feeling okay though? Didn't seem so great when I left."

"Better. Loads better. Done some digging for things- (metaphorical, not literal,) had a few nice evenings in. The more pleasant side of things. And it's no trouble. Nice to have you along. I haven't properly hung out with anyone other than Brax or my son in a while. And considering how different things are here now, it's nice to be making new friends. Goddess- I haven't hung out with anyone other than Brax or my son..." she trailed off and stared off into the distance for a bit.

"That's... good? Jack, start a tab, will you?" Roda asked, but he didn't seem to notice.

Benny scoffed, waving off any troubles. "Oh, don't worry about it. I already did."

Then she rang the bell again, and Jack jumped at it, narrowly avoiding hitting his head into the ceiling and dropping a glass. "Goddammit... Sorry Benny, oh- Roda! It's a pleasure. I was hoping you'd show up."

Roda had been about to respond to Bernice about having already started things, but couldn't help but wince when she heard the twinkling sound of glass shattering on the hard floor.

Made mildly uncomfortable, Benny made it easy so that wouldn't have to happen again. "Jack... just add her to mine."

"Right-o!"

He nodded and skipped around the counter, getting his drink ingredients ready for whatever Roda could possibly dream of.

Having half sunk into the plush stool, Roda put her toes on the foot rail along the bottom of the bar and stood on it to peer at Jack, raising an eyebrow. "Are you okay over there? If you're not hurt, can I have uh... whatever you made last time? It was good."

But after a moment, the bell caught Roda's eye and she got a proper look at it, a little surprised by its addition herself. "Oh, that's new. I've always just waited for Jack, he's always, y'know," Roda rubbed the back of her neck, not believing she was about to make another pun. "...Jumping around the place. He seems busy. But you sure you don't mind paying? Soon as Braxiatel gives me some work, I'll be on a payroll, you know." Pausing, she blinked for a second. "On a payroll. Not a strange feeling at all..."

Benny rolled her eyes as Jack went about getting a broom to clean the glass. "Oh- don't worry about the costs. I'm hardly short on money. And while head of archaeology is rather lucrative already, I haven't exactly checked my pay- but have the sneaking suspicion that Brax may or may not have given me a rather drastic pay raise in the past few weeks... I'll have to get around to talking to him about how I feel about that while being his girlfriend-" She trailed off. Girlfriend. Every time, it didn't work at all. Ugh.

To Roda, it seemed like the best idea to change the subject of employment, so she jumped back to the first thing Benny had said. "Oh. Well, uh..."

"You don't need to hide it. I know you were a thief for a long time. That's easy enough to figure out. You carry yourself like Bev did. Except- well. A lot less antagonistic of pretty much everyone," Bernice remarked offhandedly. There was a combination of bitterness and melancholy. The sort that came from people who really rather hated how much they missed someone. "I'm not a fan of thievery, by the way. Can't stand when objects of importance are stolen from who they're supposed to belong to. That, however, doesn't mean I can't stand the people. Just depends on the context. How it was with her was... completely unrelated."

What Roda had been sure of was that, aside from Jack, people tolerated her at best. Given her history, criminal record, a habit of not staying in places for a particularly long time, and that faint sense of, 'This is all you can ever be,' she hadn't really let it bother her. Much.

She really wanted a home somewhere, but doubted she'd get it.

So when Benny seemed glad to offer an olive branch, it was a little odd. She seemed to miss whoever this Bev was, but it was quite clear already that this wasn't some unfortunate way to replace her, not like the cheap knock-off Braxiatel seemed to consider her at any rate.

Stirring things up, both figuratively and literally, Roda mixed the ice in her glass and added on, "Well, I tend to drink alone. Hopefully, that didn't sound as pathetic as I think it did."

Bernice got lost in thought, reality blurring. Back to six weeks ago, where it all started. Alcohol was the catalyst, and it seemed her drunken ramblings had started a good chunk of all this. She wasn't alone now, and could thank so many people for that. Summing up her thoughts without openly admitting how sad it got, she said, "No, you're not pathetic for usually drinking alone. Or if you are... I'm just as guilty."

"I'm told that's not good for you. Far be it for me to blame you, though. And, you invited me. So I think you have the alcoholic high ground, tonight." Roda's lip curled upward as she offered a small grin.

An interruption came in the form of more alcohol.

"Here you are, ladies..." Jack cocked his head and flashed a grin, then started making Roda another cocktail and topping up Benny's glass. He was trying to stay out of it- it was their night, after all, but still suppressing the urge to butt in, especially considering the amount of work that would be a break from.

"Thanks, Jack." Roda started stirring her new drink with the little straw, making a soupy mess of the bands of colour Jack must've worked tirelessly to layer just right. But aside from how expensive this probably was, her thoughts weren't so much on the drink as who was paying for them, and what exactly she was supposed to say to her boss' girlfriend. She might've done some of the things Bernice hated in particular, after all. Hopefully not. Probably not. Maybe.

...Perhaps that was better left unsaid.

Best not start things off on the wrong foot again.

"Not on the straight and narrow enough to deserve you paying for this, probably," Roda laughed awkwardly, enjoying her drink regardless. After all, she was paid to steal things now, in a sense something even more criminal than stealing things for the reasons she had before. "...But I appreciate it anyway. Never had much credits on me- usually end up trading favours for what I need."

Benny could get that look- it was one wouldn't normally make unless it was about something incredibly specific, and it was too familiar to ignore. Thinking about it for a second and chuckling, she answered, "It's still Brax who hired you. Can't in good faith expect anything here to be wholly above-board. If you don't end up his new second-in-command- I'll... keep out of your dirty business. Make of that what you will."

"Oh, trust me." Roda laughed genuinely, taking a long drink. "I have no desire to be second-in-command of anything, let alone a museum. I think what you're doing here is good, even with the retroaction stuff- but, well..." She shrugged. "I think after the staff meeting, Braxiatel either thinks I'm insane or a pathological liar."

"Well, that's usually his first assumption if anything seems... suspect. Paranoid for a reason, but he's still paranoid." Sipping on her cocktail and idly poking it with her straw, Bernice gave a resigned sigh, starting to slur a bit as the fuzz of drunkenness started to roll in, ever so slowly. "Good. That's settled. You got someone who believes you though. Good at picking out lies and I think that might be odder than the truth. Somehow." She then proceeded to down a shot of... something.

"Bev? That's... not de Souza, right?" Roda tipped her head to one side, but then gave Benny what actually passed for a somewhat vulnerable smile. "But... I appreciate that. I did try to talk more to Braxiatel... y'know, if he's been as deep into Gallifrey's shit as he says he has, I figured he might... understand. But then I said something I didn't mean to and he just poured me more scotch. So... that was fun."

"Bev Tarrant? No. Never met d'Souza. She's in-famous though. Almost as much as the Cat's Paw. Not a fan." Benny shook her head and sighed again. "...Joseph is gonna have a very long diary entry tonight." That was, assuming she'd be awake and coherent enough to make one. Or even enough to call Joseph and record something. Vague drunken rambling or no.

Thinking it best, Roda changed the subject a little. "Joseph. The round robot I left that stuff with a while back. How'd he come about a name like that? There a story?"

Bernice shrugged. "Mmm- personal... stuff. There was this friend, and the university. Then the People thing, and Brax rebuilt him." She gesticulated, flailing her arms around. "Was mine. Now he's... got a bigger job to do. Share him on a schedule. In charge of... organizing stuff." Benny seemed a little bitter about that. Joseph was one of the few things she could call her own for a very long time. Then things started happening, and there were more porters, and they put him in charge... If nothing else, in this relationship she got more of that shared ownership back, she didn't feel like every time she called Joseph over to help out she was just borrowing him.

Roda got about a quarter of that. "...People?"

"The People." Benny leaned nonchalantly. "Got bits of the Collecsion's systems in there. And my diary."

"So he's a computer? ...Doesn't that make your diary part of the Collection?"

Picking up a large beer as opposed to a shot or cocktail, Bernice laughed at the idea a bit, before considering it as a genuine question. "Nah. Part of him's locked off, doesn't connect." Brax could access them if he bothered, but she was fairly sure he hadn't actually rooted around in Joseph for even basic maintenance for years. When she checked, she could see that the solder marks and burns on the metal from when she last sleep-repaired him were still there.

That was a minor relief to Roda, knowing Braxiatel wasn't stowing away personal secrets. Even if it was his partner. She tried not to think too badly about the alternative, her having the luxury of privacy while nobody else did. She'd read and re-read that contract hoping she'd never find that.

But again, Roda shifted the topic. "So... how did you end up here? As opposed to, well... anywhere else?" She couldn't do small talk.

Well, neither of them could- at least not very well.

Once the subject rolled around though, Bernice's tone was practically acidic. "Dellah blew up. Sorta. Broke. Fell into a rift. Gods... stuff." It was so long ago, but every time Benny thought about it, it stung straight in the heart. That was personal. On the upside, it resulted in her current life. On the downside... it resulted in her current life.

"Dellah. The planet, right? Oh- those People." Trying not to think too hard about Gallifrey's own fate, Roda prodded a little further. "So... one thing to another?"

"Taught at St Osscar's, lost the planet, 'ventually lost Jason when wee were makin' it work. Brax asked... a few times before, but offerd a home. And it... wasn't a great day." Bernice slammed one of her glasses on the table. Not harshly enough to break it or anything, but enough to produce a loud thump. She slumped over a little again.

Gripping the empty cocktail glass so hard that she thought she might break the stalk, Roda nodded. "It just takes one not great day. Believe me, I know."

There was something lurking. How much of the timelines had been changed, and by whom? Which people meddled with her life the most- when did she have free will, when was it predetermined? "S-still wonder a lil if tha old Brax had somethiN to do wiph it..." Benny looked down, averting her eyes from Roda. She wasn't tearing up yet, but was getting close. She'd forced that on her other self in a way too. To a lesser extent, surely. But the more she considered it, the more she understood why that Bernice Summerfield would want to leave. She slammed the table again and shouted for Jack. "Somethin' else, Jack! More beer!"

He looked at her with concern, but gave another fresh off the tap regardless. His expression said to Roda that he was far too used to this, and that it was just one of those days. She had her face in her hands at this point. Of course keeping the conversation off of herself would only make things worse. She mouthed to Jack to ask if she was okay, but the eye roll suggested he didn't bother with that sort of thing anymore, and this was probably just how she could get. Gesturing for beer herself, the man obliged, clearly incredibly tired and running on empty.

Remembering the first thing about the professor that popped into her head, and a book she'd read quite a long time ago she finally remembered the author of- she raised the question, "So... tell me about Ice Warriors. And Mars?"

Jack was about to pat Benny on the head in an ever so slightly condescending way when she violently shot up in her seat and made him recoil. Her eyes were alight at the mention of one of her favourite species and planets. Knowing it would be a very long ramble, he backed away slowly, collecting up some of their used glasses along the way.

"iCE WarriOrs!? Mars... Those were a speshilty o' mine! My favourite civilizzzations lived there..."

Oh no.

But she was clearly distracted further by wandering thoughts and the alcohol. She smiled longingly. "Last colony wazz on Beetle juice four- And... Brax gave me a rose an date..." She was smiling now, at least, but her emotions were mixed further than her next cocktail. A sigh, followed by a chuckle, followed by a deep welling of sadness. She missed Mars. Well, when it wasn't in the centre of a warzone. Or a paradox. Or somehow playing host to her own tomb.

Roda chuckled. "I've never actually been to Mars, you know? What interested you in it?"

"Ice Warryers, obfsly." But then Bernice leaned in to Roda conspiratorially. "At firsst." She alluded further. "Y'know there's pyWAMids? On Marzzz?"

"Ice pyramids? What, Martians built those?" That wasn't in the book.

"Nah." Benny waved her hands, as if that was just ridiculous. "Nah- a corse not. 'mains from Ejypftian gOds. " She answered as if it was the obvious first conclusion.

"Sorry," Roda held up a shaky hand, beginning to get a buzz too. "Ancient Sol-3 deities went to Mars, and... built pyramids?"

"Yeah? Well, OssSIrans. Godlike. came to Earth, warshhhippt, almoss wiped out by SOOtek, then they sealed 'im on Marzz." Bernice was enjoying recounting this story. The Osirans were the centre of the last big adventure she had with her own Doctor, and regardless of seeing Earth get destroyed in the far future, it was one of her most interesting stories in a long time. Interesting having more than one meaning.

"Oh." Roda blinked, then rolled her eyes. "Aliens calling themselves gods. Course." She paused, and then instead of bothering Jack again, she made a choice. Stepping up off her stool, she turned and climbed up onto the bar, before shuffling over it and swinging her legs over the other side. Dropping down, she looked for where Jack kept the glasses, and then helped herself to another beer straight from the tap. Or at least it was probably beer- she was getting too groggy to think to check before pulling the handle, but it was definitely alcohol. "So how did they get back to Mars?" she asked, leaning on the wrong side of the bar.

Bernice only laughed, then slammed down another shot. "wern't from Mars, silLy. FiestaH OsssSIRriss. And...weeeell... They dIN 't. Got sortta non-cOrporrrral mind, CHange bodees when too old- bit like you. but make neuw bodies wiff like... clone vat thing. And uh... Suteckh reeeeally sorta... fudged that. Almost exxxtinct now. 'Cept for Isis." She almost forgot something she wanted to add., "-Oh, and e's god of kAoss and deEsstrUCktion. Ulsoo- 'ccording to Hat...sheput I'm goddess of knowedge an' beer," sort of attempting a boast.

"That why ya say 'Oh goddess' sometimes?"

"Thass my rel'gon. Or closessT thing. Of luv an' peass-sh."

Roda asked a few more things, and they started laughing together as Benny told more of her stories, sometimes adding some tidbit of her own, like how she knew and learned archery from Robin Hood, and joking about how gods could be.

Some time passed, and both considerably farther into adventure stories than she expected, and also considerably more drunk, Bernice barely coherently finished off with, "...And then in tha vaoLt, tol' Acce 'run like hELL.'" She laughed along at Roda's jokes, and choked on her drink laughing by the end of a tale involving walking mummies and a bank heist. It probably wasn't actually funny, but in this state, if Benny wasn't drowning her sorrows, or mad, or just tired of everything, she was cackling. And the latter was obviously better.

"Bank heist? Ever broke onto a bank on a ship? I have," Roda laughed too, almost dropping her glass as she made wide gestures with it. "S'... it's a bank hoist. Hoist the sailss? Y'know?"

Bernice shook her head. No, not quite. She did have a few interesting heist stories of her own. "Y'arrr. Can't say I'have. one times wazz wit' a bunnnnnnch of Braxxes." Vague foggy memories of a very strange day bobbed up and down from the surface. Any number of strange days, really. One thought drifted to another, none of them fully coherent.

"A buncha Braxes?" Roda's eyes widened in probably mock-horror. "Sounds confusing."

Benny simply nodded, not really know what to say about it. Some details came closer like... the painting. "...Yeah."

"Don't- don't wanna see more 'an one me," Roda said sagely, held up by the bar. If Jack was around, he'd probably stop her, but she didn't care anymore. "Messed with my head. Razz- Razz'lon. Don't need more'v'that. Not gonna talk to other mes."

She was oddly serious, though her words were making little sense. Putting down the empty mug of beer, she moved under the bar to look for a bottle of something stronger before she could think too much about Rassilon.

Emerging from under the bar with a bottle of something eventually- something that to anyone else was clearly ginger beer, and forgetting that she was on someone else's tab, she left a credit chip behind, like a strange tooth fairy. Then she poured some into her mug, raising it in a toast.

"Razz'lon's dead though. An'- an' he'll fuck off again when time's better," she started ranting.

The ranting was mutual, and Bernice was registering things more and more slowly. "Clones. cloone bRax... bluddY hate cloness now. Jusss- whyyYY? It stoopid is wat it iZzz," she could hardly speak at all anymore, and had totally forgotten her surroundings. "Oh- Rass'loOnn? FUck 'im too."

Rod nodded in agreement, slamming the bar with her fist. "Yeah. Fuck Razz'lon!" she shouted. And then in a whisper, leaned in and said, "guy snores. SO loouud."

Benny snorted, spitting beer out, and she couldn't stop giggling. In response, she whispered her own secret, "brAxx snorezzz bit too- like purrin," then laughed again. "An' he's sorrta clinnGyy." She smiled fondly. "L-like a cAT! Izz cUtet." She swung around on her stool, face flushed.

"Yeah, yeah..." Roda tapped the counter with one hand. "Razz used... used to shake th' walls. Used to sneak off an' stay with Enl'n. No sssnoring. S'long as Raz dinnin'n know."

Absentmindedly, Jack stepped back over to the bar again from duties elsewhere, having been rushing about to get a late-night dinner for a group of philosophers who'd ordered the ever so useful 'something that runs, but does not walk, that which once could think but has never thought, the body of a man in a briny sea.' ...It was chicken stew. With extra salt. Why couldn't philosophers at least pretend to be normal people?

But when Jack caught a glimpse of the state things were in, he was taken aback. Between the spills, and the mess, and the smell, he barely regained composure.

He grinned uncomfortably. "Ladies- Benny, dear, dear Roda- I do think you may have had a teeny, tiny bit too much. Darlings, I think I'm going to be calling Irving. You two don't look like you'll be able to get home in this state. And I don't fancy carrying you to the bedrooms... Terrible with dragging limp bodies up stairs, you know." ...That sounded a lot creepier than intended.

Benny leant over, lying on the bar. "But I'm fine... izz fiiiiiiiine. 'M aLll good." But, without a doubt, she most definitely was not.

Jack raised an eyebrow and slid the beer mug away from her barely moving body. She slumped over, trying to reach for it and chase it down, but to no avail.

Roda somehow proved worse, her stiff confidence making it even harder. "I can walk!" she declared, demonstrating a terrible attempt to get up and limp forward as she all but leant on Jack. "See? 'Ll just... sleep t'off in my TARDIZ."

He groaned and put a hand to his face as he carefully pushed her off of him and back onto a stool. "Now, now. I won't have it. Not in my bar."

Jack snuck back a little and pulled out a communicator, entering the first number on his speed dial- wait, no- his second. He'd just put Robin up first. Hearing it click and the line open up, he called down to the other end, attempting to seem merry and not at all disgruntled about this situation so this would actually work.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other end sounded mildly irritated.

"Oh, Irving!" His eyes flickered as he rolled them, glancing at the two women currently babbling incoherently.

A desperate plea, he begged.

"...Please do come down to the Rabbit, will you?"