Thank you for the reviews: time-twilight, and person
Thank you for all the follows and favs! 3
Waking up the second day in the new universe was definitely frightening, it took a moment for me to realize where I was and what had happened the day prior; oddly I was grateful towards the duckling imprint. I don't think I could've gotten through yesterday without whatever sort of connection it made.
A nicer comfort was that Rose had gotten used to my company immediately, shaking me awake and showing her favorite cereal to me as Jackie made us breakfast. Of course Jackie was still trying to get my situation sorted out but it was a lovely morning and it felt like nothing was wrong.
Soon enough it was the afternoon and apparently Rose accepting responsibility for me meant she watched me like a hawk. I couldn't even try and wash my hands after eating without her explaining how I needed to do it after every meal. It was endearing but I really wanted to get away to search my menu, or figure out how to get my abilities working.
On top of that, when I had finally gotten some time to myself, I tested out my inventory on some dirt I found in a plant vase and seconds later Rose had taken the liberty of pulling me outside with her to meet the neighborhood kids as Jackie went to work. I quickly tried to match her faster steps.
The neighborhood kids ranged from Cynthia, a teenager who was making sure her younger brother Stephen didn't get in trouble; A pair of rowdy 8 year old twins named Michael and James; a familiar face named Mickey, and a turbulent little boy named Ralph.
"Who's this?"
"This is Ridley, He's staying with me and my mum for a while!"
Not accustomed to the new group I stayed a step behind Rose and I said my hello's. While I introduced myself briefly with a few words a face of confusion landed on Mickey, and- what I could only assume was constipation on Ralph's; However soon enough though after everyone had introduced themselves back to me it seemed to be going well as I kept mostly quiet, and lagged behind the group that started walking in a random direction playing with the only thing I could get working.
[ +1 Pebble added to Inventory]
[ +1 Pebble added to Inventory]
[ +1 Pebble added to Inventory]
This menial task I had been doing was a bit fun. I was grabbing all the rocks I found interesting on the ground and then simply vanishing them to my inventory with a thought like a real life superhero. Being ever the curious person I experimented a bit with how many I could take out and put in at once; It seemed to have no real limit. Soon enough I could also open my inventory above me which caused a line of pebbles to almost rain on my head. All in all a very good gathering of information as the gaggle of children in front of me chatted away.
It was peaceful. I looked towards the buildings and the old road in front of me, the sky was a bright blue and I could swear it was different somehow then all the blue skies I had ever seen but I couldn't put my finger on what was exactly different. With my eyes up to the clouds I smiled.
All good things must come to an end and my peaceful pebble gathering and sky gazing was no exception. I had noticed that the two boys who seemed keen on not welcoming with open arms were watching me ever so slightly. But being the children they were, the watching was very apparent and it was more like fully turning to face me, staring me down while looking like they sucked on a lemon and then going back to face the rest of the group. I had thought nothing of it, I myself hated big change when it came to friend groups.
The feeling of the group dynamic shifting for another person always gave me an uncomfortable feeling, like something wrong could happen at any moment because of the new person's presence. I kept my inventory ability hidden like a game of 'Green Light, Red Light.' It was absolutely amusing until the rougher of the two boys started to slow his pace and get closer towards my personal space; Ralph was a nuisance and this was only the beginning of his intimidation tactics he would try on various people throughout his life. Regretfully he chose an adult: who happened to look like an eight year old, who wasn't going to take the slightest push of childish authority standing down. He forcefully grabbed me by my new shirt and dragged me towards the alley next to the path we were taking.
"Stay away from Rose. She's my best friend not yours." he sneered oblivious of the booger on his face that made his threat about as serious as a cicada in June. I raised my eyebrow questioning and simply stated: "Rose isn't yours." He pushed me with all the might and being a smaller child was absolutely sucking for me at the moment.
[3 Damage taken]
3!? From a push to the ground? Last time I checked I only had 50 hp; This was absolutely not going the way I had expected. As the adrenaline from the first push blazed out of control in my body I saw he wasn't done threatening me he stood over me like he was about to kick a ball.
"Rose is my best friend." He repeated eyes wild with the righteousness of a 9 year old without any emotional control. My breathing started to go fast before I felt my lungs expand and a strange sense of urgent calmness washed over me: Wasn't I supposed to be a bit stronger because of my species? He's just a child.
"I get that! We don't have to fight."
Ralph frowned, his eyes scrutinizing my smaller frame and seemed to think for a moment.
"Then why are you so close to her?"
Christ kid it's not like I'm attached to the hip with her; I only stayed behind her during the introductions because I quite frankly didn't know you all, I've been by myself at the back most of the walk! I stood back up and took a step back. I still needed to calm this little boy down.
"Her mum said for her to look out for me, She's just listening to her mum." You got that kid?
Pausing Ralph tilted his head probably processing what I had said and then smiled like he just got told he was getting a puppy for Christmas.
"So she's just seeing you like a little baby." He laughed and pointed like a cartoon character with no depth. "Little baby Ridley, That's how it is?" I smiled slightly at the absurdity of the situation but shrugged it off and walked towards him.
"Yeah. Can we go back to the others now?"
"Mmm okay!"
I walked a slight distance away from Ralph making a gap so I was behind him; That kid was very.. different? Maybe I just don't know how children act. The only children I've interacted with were baby animals or family members, and I'd take the baby animals any day.
Walking back towards the group I fought the urge to skip the pebbles from my inventory to alleviate some stress. My thoughts tended to wander and I wondered if any of my presence here was messing up the story I know. If a butterfly could cause a tsunami then what was I doing? Or was this a different timeline in which my actions don't cause any repercussions because I'm meant to be here and all my knowledge is now warped from the real deal. Can I just live a life here without anything bad happening?
As my gallivanting mind sped past; my gallivanting body collided with Rose who was looking at me with concern and then a rapid change of confusion.
"Why is your hair blue?" My hair was what? My hand clumsily went to reach my hair and pulled in front of my eyes. Bright neon blue attacked my eyesight as my eyebrows fought their way to get off my forehead. This had to be part of the Metamorphmagus power. Why now though? I hadn't even done anything; All I did was tell a child that I wasn't taking away his friend and then questioned my presence here.
I panicked as Rose looked at my face with a worried expression; my heart raced as fast as the magic that had made my wonderfully ginger locks into what can only be described as cyberpunk nightmare blue. I didn't want blue hair, I wanted my own, my thoughts repeating the mantra praying that the action would change my hair back.
During my short lived panic, Mickey was the second to arrive and he was not as nonchalant as Rose when it came to my hair. He pointed with wide eyes and exclaimed before rushing right into my personal space, scaring me more than anything. Like the universe itself was trying to give me a hard time; before either of them could bombard me with questions Ralph was already tracking back with the twins and opting to bombard Rose and Mickey with a yell of greeting from afar.
While that nice distraction happened, I got up and slipped away from the group. I had no idea how to change my hair back and it was scary, what would happen? It's really hard to explain how I changed my hair when I don't even know what caused it to change in the first place. Maybe it was accidental magic? I'd heard of that happening in fanfiction somewhere.
One particular thought passing through my mind was of the children's book where the girl gets a bad case of rainbow stripes. It really was similar in the sense that neither me nor the main character of that book knew why this was happening.
I looked down at my hands as I caught my breath behind a playground slide, there in bright colors were rainbow stripes across my fingers and forearms. I leaned against the back of the slide and started to do a breathing exercise I had learned after my first panic attack at my old work. Apparently blaring music, bright lights and the sounds of people talking did nightmares on my state of self and I learned quickly how to soothe myself forcefully. I held my breath until I could feel the strain on my lungs and then gulped air like a fish out of water counting in my head before repeating the process about three times until my mind cleared and I could actually think properly.
My brain racked ways that could help; how did shapeshifting even work? I had thought about the stripes and they appeared but earlier it was just spontaneous color changing. It's not like I read enough fanfiction with Metamorphmagus powers in it to have an inkling of an idea. The only lead I had was thinking about change with high emotions.
So I did the most logical thing to get myself emotional… I slapped myself.
[1 Damage Taken]
Hot tears pricked in my eyes and I started to imagine myself in the mirror back at Tyler's flat. No stripes, No blue hair. Just a cute kid with some wavey orange curls and skin pale like vanilla ice cream. The thought of getting a little more sunlight for health reasons passed my head before I went back onto my image. Minutes passed by as I held my eyes tightly shut and dared not open them, the fear of being caught stuck like this hitting like a train.
It was quiet, the only sounds I could hear were the wind and distant chatter; It smelled lovely outside, like flowers in bloom and freshly cut grass intertwined on one note. After a while I heard small footsteps and hushed whispers. Rose and Mickey had finally found me. I opened my eyes ready to face the music and what looked back was just two curious children, one looking at me with sincere worry. They both waited until I seemed ready and then unloaded the questions that had swirled around their imaginations while trying to find me.
"Are you magic?"
"Are you alien?"
Huh. I wanted to laugh and cry, of course they wouldn't be mad at me for being different; my emotions and thoughts seemed more affected by being a child again then I had imagined. Both of them were just curious children who wanted to know about what had happened and why I could do that with my hair, so I replied truthfully.
"Yes."
Mickey scrunched his baby face in contemplation, "To which one?"
"Both." I replied with a small smile.
That seemed to have made them happy and they looked at me in a new light, Rose helped me up and Mickey started an onslaught of more questions like which planet I was from? Could I eat after midnight? Why do I look human? All of which were great questions and I answered briefly each one of them, and It turned out my breathing exercise had worked because after he was done with questioning me Rose picked up where he ended, starting with could I teach her the magic to change hair color. She mostly wanted to freak her mum out and brag to her school friends but I simply told her I didn't know how to do it on purpose.
Which was now partially true. Plus the fact those children would most definitely tell their parents and at least one of them would take their child seriously. As we made our way back towards the group of neighborhood children I felt lighter knowing that at least two people that I had looked up to before in my past life were going to be my friends.
—-
After that adventure the three of us became more like a trio; Jackie hadn't so much as mentioned the police station or taking me someplace so I quickly became another member of the family.
Rose helped me with my shapeshifting: grabbing books from the library and testing things with me. She had swore up and down that a book called "The Winter Of Enchantment" could help since it had magic in it. We quickly found out it was more of a belief system than anything else. If I believed and imagined hard enough I would become what I had imagined. It took a lot of trial and error but when I got the hang of it I took to it like a fish to water.
Switching my gender In front of Rose for the first time was a bit anxiety raising, but she took it all in stride proclaiming she now had a little sister and brother in one.
I definitely didn't cry about how happy that made me and you can fight me on that.
Mickey on the other hand had me over looking at maps of constellations he had set up in his room; He thought that if I could pick out a familiar star it could be where I was from. When that didn't work he began to ask his friend Stephen since he had lots of knowledge of the movie "Alien" that his sister let him watch when his parents were out one night. During these times his grandma Rita-Anne was an absolute legend, she made fresh baked cookies and my favorite mac and cheese: I shook with excitement the first time she had made it for me. I could tell why a lot of people loved this woman, she was tough as nails; made sweet sweet desserts, and was always thinking about others.
A month passed by quickly and I had a better grasp on a few things; I could pull up the menu at any time, and my shapeshifting was phenomenal. It did have its limits, I couldn't shapeshift into everything yet. I was having trouble shifting into an adult.. I was still working on it though. Enough practice and I could probably get confident enough to try to shift into animals or at least cat ears.
The sad part was that the summer holiday was ending soon and I would be home alone or at a neighbors house soon enough with Rose being busy with school and Jackie with work.
Everything was looking brighter though. My inventory was full of stuff that I had picked up; pencils, a bear plushie with a second head that Rose had gotten me from the local antique shop and lots more miscellaneous items. That bear was one that I was looking at everytime we wandered near the shop window and when I found it with a bow and crudely crayon written note I was almost moved to tears- not that a lot couldn't bring me to tears these days. The most important thing I needed to do now was to finally finish my tutorial. It had been giving me menial tasks like brushing my teeth or making the bed for the past few weeks but the last task stared back at me with words I was afraid of.
[Quest: End Tutorial]
[Details: You have to figure out your abilities. Without the jump button how could someone get through a game? (Discover 'Spatial Travel')
Reward: 10 Prize Points]
Time Limit: 24 Hours
Punishment: ?
That was fucked. Absolutely indubitably fucked. I was okay with learning my inventory; my shapeshifting, and maybe I hadn't learnt escalation but that was fine with me. This though? Traveling in between a dimension I was barely accustomed to with the capability set at an 8 year olds level? Sure when I messed up with shapeshifting it was surreal and scary. Like when I accidentally got my hand stuck with two pinkies for a while. But that's way different than if I mess up spatial travel. I was scared; do I get spaghettified like one does when ending up in a black hole? What are the parameters of the travel? Will it mess up my menu?
I couldn't just not finish the tutorial, the stars know I would love to wait forever and safely grow up with Rose Tyler then go along with the story from there. But I wanted to. No, I needed to finish this.
I started out by writing a note and packing some of my essentials into my inventory.
I never was good at keeping my thoughts steady before and this was no different, a year I've had to adjust. I've made friends and had actual fun; experienced euphoric joy faced with childlike curiosity of all the things I could do now. But it all went back to square one of being afraid no matter what, I could not shake the feeling as I crept past the kitchen. It was the fear of stepping out and not knowing what could happen. Luckily the tv was loud enough to mask my footsteps and the creaking of the old front door. Jackie wouldn't have let me leave this late in the day, and I couldn't have said no.
Cold wind whipped at my face and I grasped at my scarf. The old lady at the end of the block had given me this scarf, it was bright yellow with blue specks meddled in like sprinkles on a cupcake. It smelled like Jackie's favorite go to detergent and it had a softness to it that helped my crawling skin when everything became too much. I put the scarf to my face and closed my eyes for a second while composing myself.
Truth was I could never stay knowingly ignorant forever, that wasn't something I could live with. Sure there were fanfics where the characters go into another story and help the main characters by lying their ass off and saving people.
I never wanted all that truthfully. I just wanted to belong somewhere. I had just dreamt of going out of my old apartment and never looking back, to find peace in the unknown and have the time I never felt was enough. If I was changing the timeline it would be like a ripple across the pond. I definitely could cause more harm than good. I had already changed things, and who knows what my presence has caused. But if it wasn't then what was my purpose? Why was I given another chance that so many people would kill for?
I would try my luck at spatial travel and if I succeed I'll live my life the way I've been accustomed too. I'll stand on the side and if I think I can help people I'll do so without thinking. I'm going to do this and then I'm going to figure out the rest. Maybe I could find someone who isn't involved with anything and live with them for a bit after I grow up a tad. Then get a good job like one at Torchwood. Well maybe not Torchwood, they were a bit shit right now weren't they. Also I'm more than certain after Rose leaves with the Doctor Jackie won't let me five inches out of her sight; most definitely not getting a secret government job under her watch.
I want to help, I do. But what if I failed. These are real people, not characters and the more I woke up and saw their faces and talked with them the more this felt really real. I can't lose that. I kept talking to Mickey about the importance of carpets for the past few weeks for the stars' sake, it might not even help but I thought since he hung on to my every response because I'm not human I might as well cause some good. But that didn't guarantee anything.
I was back to the place where I started, and I had never felt so conflicted before. I knew I wasn't a hero, but every part of me screamed back that I had to be good. I had to do something and if I messed up figuring out how to do this then I would do it all again.
[Game Saved..]
…All I could do was breathe deeply and take a jump of faith.
[Spatial Travel Activated]
[Tutorial Finished]
[Loading Rewards..]
…
What was this?
I was back in the void I woke up in the first place a few weeks ago. The text lit up the dark expanse that surrounded me like a blanket. As I focused I could see tiny light particles floating around in obscure patterns like a dance of matter scooting across the inbetween; I could feel my hot breath and my heartbeat that tapped like a comforting drum beat.
[+10 Prize Points]
[Additional Tutorial Gift Added]
[Title Gained: The Gamer (You have completed the tutorial congratulations! Gives user permission to look at others stats)]
Okay. Cool, cool cool cool. Cool. That didn't fix whatever was happening right now but it was always nice to finish a tutorial. Before I did anything hastily, I pulled up my menu.
[Main Menu]
[ ] Quest log
[ ] Stats
[ ] Inventory
[ ] Shop
[ ] Prizes [Spins Available]
[ ] Relationships
[ ] Load Save
Oh great! A prize spin was available!
A bubble of laughter reached my throat and I finally sat down onto the nothingness laughing at the absurdity that was my life. No yeah I deserved a spin at the wheel of fortune after all the fucking stress I was under. With best of luck I wished I would get a therapist to unload whatever was happening.
I was becoming more accustomed to being more of a sensitive person when it came to emotions, it was most definitely because of the system; the fact I was in a small body with such complex and intense feelings paired with everything else made me more susceptible to crying. It wasn't that hard for me now to get weepy eyed even at the sight of a slightly sad looking dog.
I sat down and breathed in the darkness between dimensions and I felt like I was truly alone. The realizations I had compiled into myself were wavering when met with an environment free of any judgment or distractions. It was nice being in an environment where there was just you and you alone. The emptiness around me stretched infinitely out; the only sound to accompany me was a small hum and my own heartbeat. Soon enough I did what any healthy person does and stacked all that shit of acute awareness right back into the compartment in my brain for a future version of myself to deal with a therapist.
The me now had a fucking wheel to spin.
[Prize Wheel Activated]
[Choose Your Wheel..]
[Random Item: 10 Prize Points]
[Weapon: 20 Prize Points]
[Armor: 30 Prize Points]
[Magic Item Guaranteed: 1200 Prize Points]
Random item it is! Come on mama wants something to distract themself with..
[Random Item Chosen]
[21 Remaining Prize Points]
[Wheel Loading…]
A bright colorful wheel appeared and I simply sat back and watched as it devolved into chaos; the shaking of blurring item names buzzing past in a circular motion calmed me like a baby with keys.
Was this the start of my gambling addiction? Who knows.
[Sherlock Holmes's Disguise Kit]
Oh so it literally meant random items, what is an 8 year old going to do with a 1890's disguise kit? Probably crime. No yeah I was definitely going to do crimes. Like getting two free samples from Sainsbury's by putting on a mustache that I could've shapeshifted on myself; a pair of shoddily made stilts, and a trench coat. Actually I did do that with Rose and Mickey last week, we left behind a very baffled employee when they tried to take my mustache off.
I retrieved the kit from my inventory, fiddling with the case for a while. As the novelty of opening and closing the disguise kit in the void wore thin I thought checking my stats and the store before trying to get out of this in between wouldn't go amiss.
[Age: 8 Years]
[Name: Ridley Harlow]
[Title: The Gamer]
[Family: Unknown]
[HP:50]
[SP:30]
[STR:6]
[WIS:10]
[DEX:8]
[INT:10]
[CON:6]
[CHA:10]
(All stats have been modified to reflect age)
New title? I wonder what that does. I pondered about possible ideas before reaching out for the shop button.
Instead of just simple white text a website looking screen unfurled itself like an old scroll. It looked oddly familiar, like if Amazon and Walmart combined into a single entity for the sole purpose of making a mega shopping web store. The title of the store was "Essentially Living" and it seemed to have only the most mundane items. Stationary paper; 10 types of pencils, some miscellaneous books and for some reason a sled. All of which were priced fairly low.
The most interesting and important information I found from the page was that as I progressed through quests I would unlock more parts of the store, and secondly that I could trade in prize points for currency to spend at the shop. Right now I only had the barest part of the store and even then some items were grayed out in the list I was given.
I clicked onto the coin icon in the corner and saw as my current points lit up and a pop up notification asked if I would like to trade 21 prize points for 210 credits. I thought about it for a second before only exchanging half of my points.
Looking at my small selection once again I looked for the cheapest item: Mug 10 coins. Nodding to myself I reached out and clicked it.
[Item Purchased: Would you like to add to inventory or to summon now?]
I tilted my head thinking for a moment before thinking about the mechanics of this.
"Summon please." My soft voice carried into the void sharply. Before I could try out how sound worked in my new void as curiosity was aching to be let free; a white static sparkle emanated in front of me until a small blue mug materialized about one inch from the inky dark ground, it clinked as it hit and the floor seemed to take the weight of the mug like a giant gel mattress before setting back into the rigid shape it was before.
Soon enough I closed the shop and went to my inventory to test out the possibilities. I stood up and held out my hand summoning my faithful radio Janet who had resided there for a while. She shined and then fell rapidly when she suddenly met gravity; nonetheless after I figured out the nitty gritty details with my army of pebbles I proclaimed to myself that I was a professional.
After a while I grew bored and thought that I was done for now, it was time for me to go back to the alley. Despite a concert of anxiety filled thought's playing through my head I closed my eyes and stepped forward once more putting my faith in the game system. I felt a pulling sensation and burning behind my eyes.
[ErRor]
[Ability Needs Recalibrated. Accounting For Age…]
I'm having a blast writing this and I find myself jotting down ideas in my notes app everyday. A more in detail for the imprint for those who are curious; Ridley cannot imprint on anyone else other than the first person of authority they held eye contact with (Aka Jackie)
The imprint is a one time thing that simply gives a certain bond between Jackie and Ridley kind of like the Doctor and the Tardis. The biggest difference is Ridley has to listen and obey to whatever Jackie tells them to do. The disadvantage of the duckling imprint wouldn't work quite as well in my head if it could simply be passed on.
The next chapter may take a while longer to get out. The reason? Drumroll please! ... You guys are deciding where Ridley ends up! Remember to vote which classic Doctor you'd like to see the most and I'll write up the next chapter.
The link to the poll is in my profile!