The Vortex itself felt different with only the Vortex Manipulator. It felt less like home, and more like a rush of traffic. It was short, though, subjectively speaking. She landed hard, but her body was still new, still shining with golden light, and her bruises mended over instantly. Still, she let herself collapse to her knees there, feeling the small tears in her body from the trip through the Time Vortex pulse and mend. She braced her mind against crying, although she felt like doing nothing else. It had been only a moment, but she missed her Doctor.
He would get up, the TARDIS nudging him awake. He would wonder how he ended up on the couch rather than in the bed…
No, nothing like that. He had never used the bed before she arrived. He told her that. He would wake, probably glad for sleep he never got. The Time War was so fresh for him now, because of the memories she had taken. She wished she could have left the distance, the acceptance, and even a bit of the forgiveness for his part in it, but it came part and parcel with memories of her. And those had to go, for the sake of his future.
She sat up and looked around. It was Earth, or some place eerily like Earth, and she glanced at her wrist in order to ascertain her position. Earth, 4236 AD, Brussels in the New European States. The world had reordered itself sometime during the galactic expansion it had undertaken, and Europe had developed in the New European States to stand equal with the Sub-Saharan Union's increasing dominance in interstellar trade. Brussels still headquartered a fair amount of the government, and she seemed to be located near the old Center City train station, though very few trains ran through it now.
She noticed the way that people on the street were looking at her, and decided to move along. Reminiscing about the Doctor would never stop, but for now she had to go. She had a lot of living to do before she could go back to him.
A man with a smirk caught up to her and kept her pace. His long blue coat trailed behind him in the almost-cold weather. She stepped quickly into an alley, and when he followed her, she spun on him. The first thing she grabbed, of course, was the sonic screwdriver she'd taken. What was she going to do, assemble a cabinet at him?
His smile broadened, and she could practically feel the charm rolling off him. "You got a license for that thing?" He nodded down at her hand, and she scowled at him.
"Since when do sonic devices need a license. I'm just trying to get home. Leave me be." She tried to push past him, but he grabbed her wrist just below the Vortex Manipulator.
"Sonic devices, sure. But this little beauty…" His finger tapped gently on the fastener. "This needs a license. Unless you're a Time Agent?"
"Of course I am. For goodness sake, what sort of fool do you think I am?"
He pulled out a scanner and swiped it over her wrist. "We'll just check. I'd hate for anyone to mistake you for a criminal."
Her mind raced. There had to be somewhere to get out of this. She scanned his outfit, looking for clues about him, something to distract him. She noticed at least four different perfumes on him, and two colognes. She softened her arm against him, letting his fingers slide down her arm. He looked abruptly up from his scanner screen. The results were loading now. She didn't have much time.
"Might not mind if it was someone like you." She smiled at him, and hoped her new body was attractive. She hadn't thought about it lately, since the Doctor wasn't exactly human, so she stopped comparing herself to other humans. But this man, well, she got the idea that he liked his partners hot. Was she hot? Was that even what they called it in the 41st Century?
She at least recognized the interest in his eyes. That hadn't changed since her version of the 21st Century. "Oh yeah? Well let's just check on that." He looked down at the screen readout. "Well then…" He peered at her. "Really, where'd you get that?"
"Happened upon it back home."
"And where, rather, when is home?" He wouldn't release her arm.
"Twenty-first century, United States." So much truth for such a small conversation. It felt odd, after all the psychic paper and subtle turnings with the Doctor. The Doctor, of course, did lie. Sometimes. It was his nature.
"You expect me to believe that? That's… that's ancient history."
She yanked back her hand. "I have been to times that make this moment look ancient. Look like specks of sand buried in time. But I started before any of it. That I promise you."
His hand was on a sonic device of his own - a gun. He was considering her now, weighing her truth against the reality he knew. "What's your name?"
"I…" She paused, catching her reflection in a passing vehicle. "I don't know that I have one." Her body was different, her mind was changing too fast for her to keep up.
"Well, mine's Jack."
He intended it to appease her, to offer her something to force her to return it. She still didn't know if she was Miranda. She felt new - like a new thing, not human, not anything else. "Eve." It sounded silly even as she said it, but the deed was done.
"Eve. That is an ancient name." He laughed. "I could do a DNA read to time date you."
"Wouldn't do much good. Don't know how human I am, after all the trips."
"You're awfully honest."
"Honest enough."
"But you're real name isn't Eve."
"And yours isn't Jack." She shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"Do you want to get dinner?" He leaned back against the wall, his hands in his jacket pockets. He was a striking figure.
She wanted to turn him down, but she wanted to wash the taste of poisoned apple from her mouth. The thought made her smile ruefully - Eve and her poisoned apple. Did that make the Doctor Adam? Then perhaps Jack here was the serpent, tempting her now.
"I'm starving, if you're buying. Don't have any current bills on me." She gave him what she hoped was a flirtatious smile. What did flirting feel like? Were this body's hormones different? She was lost already.
"Then dinner's on me." He offered her his arm in what would have already been an antique gesture when she was born. A genuine flutter rose in her stomach, and she took it.