Chipped Paint

Robin tossed a newspaper in Theta's general direction, fully expecting it to flump on the floor instead of actually making it close enough for him to catch.

"You see this? I don't know why we never check the news, it's full of weird disturbances. Check out the headline."

The paper read "Local Loons Destroy Art Show" and upon further inspection, one could see that several patrons had caused great disturbances in the east side of the displays. All three had claimed voices to be screaming at them and took off, knocking over and ruining several works in the process. The show was closed soon after, but one buyer insisted on taking one of the damaged pieces. At quite a large sum, too. An interview was attempted, but they could get nothing more than they got following the poor chap home. Reporters. Had they no lives?

"I say we check it out, yeah? I don't know about you, but I... I feel this one. Gut instinct, or perhaps that waffle you so beautifully attempted this morning." Robin laughed, seeing no harm in poking at the poor Time Lord's cooking skills. Or rather, lack of. Waffles still weren't working in his favor. One day she'd get him a cookbook. He'd probably appreciate it. Or take it as a jab to his pride. Either one was good.

Robin strode up towards the console, snatching the papers off the ground on the way, and peered over at what Theta had been doing all this time she'd been searching the library. "Is that more interesting than lunatics and art galleries? Because I mean if nothing else, we get to annoy some old rich guy and maybe get cultured, or however you'd use that as a verb."

In the afternoon the storm broke. Sir Ector kept them at it till the great flashes were right overhead, and then, with the sky as dark as night, the rain came hurling against them so that they were drenched at once and could not see a hundred yards...

Theta flipped the page of an old and tattered copy of 'The Once and Future King', though before he could continue reading on the next page, the sound of paper smacking against the floor startled him from his temporary world of knights and kings; begrudgingly, he placed his bookmark in the tattered pages and set it on the floor next to his chair, for later, when Robin wasn't here. He glanced at the paper she'd dropped on the floor curiously, only being able to make out some of the tiny black print of the article before she'd snatched it up off the ground again.

"An art show? I thought you didn't like going to those after, ahem... that one time" he didn't even mention the comment about the cooking; there was no way he'd be able to defend his pride with that one.

He'd had the waffles this morning, too, after all.

Theta stood from his chair, letting it spin around in little circles. And after a moment of consideration, he bent down and retrieved his book from the floor, too. He showed the cover off to Robin, though the title was most likely hard to recognize under all the wear it had undergone.

"A human written book, but still very good. ... Though not as exciting as a secretive old man, I'd wager. I suppose we could do that. Here" he held out the book for Robin to take, motioning for Robin to hand him the paper, so that he could figure out when and where they would have to be "Trade ya'"

(behold. 1 AM writing. The epitome of unimpressive XD)

Robin raised an eyebrow, handing him the bundle of newspaper as she took the old novel. She had to admit, reading wasn't exactly her favorite sport, but she'd give it a go if Theta truly insisted, some day. As of right now, though, something much more engaging was on the horizon, so she didn't exactly expect a list of suggestions. Setting the book awkwardly on the solid part of the console, she crossed her arms and waited for him to read the article.

Well, she waited a little bit.

"... Come on, then? August 3rd, 2017," She got on her toes and leaned in to see the paper, pointing at the publishing date or whatever that was called near the paper's name. "At least it's close, right? We can figure it out from there." Robin plopped down in one of the recently added chairs, swiveling back and forth in anticipation. She had to admit, she really did like these chairs. Comfy and spinning. What else would you need?

Theta took the paper from Robin, scanning the story, eyebrows raising at what was contained within. An art gallery that screamed at you; interesting. To Theta, it sounded more like some humans playing a prank than anything; a very expensive prank, if all those art pieces were ruined! But it was probably still worth investigating; better than sitting around in the TARDIS all day, at least.

"... Come on, then? August 3rd, 2017,"

Theta rolled his eyes and grinned at the ever impatient Robin, setting the paper down on the solid part of the console and bringing up the navigation panels; with the date and place so near to where they were now, it only took the press of a button or two and half a second for them to materialize in the art gallery, in an alcove not far from the East side of the displays. He shut the panels down and turned back to Robin, sniggering at the way she was spinning around in one of the chairs.

"Ready to go, or are you planning to spin in that thing all day?"

"Well not all day, obviously. That would be inconsiderate of me. What if you wanted to spin in this particular chair, hm?" Robin teased, hopping up and strolling towards the door. "What kind of friend would I be if I denied you the right to your own spinny chair?" She pushed it open and blinked at the bright light that met her eyes. Sure was a sunny day, then. At least it wasn't going to rain.

Stepping outside, Robin held a hand over her eyes to peer off at the park across the street. It seemed everything was about set up and ready for displaying. She thought, for a moment, if they were about to set themselves up for something dumb. Wouldn't it be funny if they turned out to be the local loons? Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised at this point. "You don't think we need tickets for this, do you? Don't think they'll take kindly to us illegally staring at canvas." Robin cast a glance over her shoulder before beginning the journey to the other side of the street. Pressing the button for the crosswalk, she leaned against the pole as she waited for the light to turn.

Theta quelled the urge to sarcasm right back at Robin, instead following after her to the door (and maybe sticking out his tongue. a bit).

As Robin opened the doors, bright sunlight streamed into the TARDIS, promising a beautiful day for an art show outside. Well, if you were a human, at least; Theta's eyes were nearly closed with how much he was having to squint. Luckily, after the one time he and Robin had visited Kalore, and he had been stuck to the treeline all day, Theta had gotten the idea to always carry around a set of sunglasses in his pockets. It's not like they would take up much room, and even if they did, the only thing they would be displacing would be old packs of candy and balled up paper. He fished said sunglasses out of his pocket, and smiled dorkily at Robin as soon as they were on, closing the TARDIS doors behind him.

"Do I look cool now? ...sunglasses are cool in this time period, right?"

He frowned as the thought occured to him that maybe sunglasses weren't cool here. But the thought went away as soon as he remembered he was wearing a bowtie, which would probably 'undo' any weirdness caused by the sunglasses.

...he still hadn't figured out bowties weren't that cool, after all these years.

After a few moments, the light for the cars going by turned yellow, then red. The little man on the crosswalk sign across the street lit up; seeing this, Theta started across the crosswalk with Robin, trying to hurry before the light changed again.

"I might have some spare change in my pockets for this time period. But who knows, maybe this is a free event? ...if not we could always sneak in" Theta grinned at Robin, stepping back onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street, the park housing the art show right in front of them. Everything was already out and proudly displayed, and quite a few people were milling about among the art. It was lunch time, so some of the said people had walking tacos, probably being sold in the park somewhere "It's not like we haven't done that before"

"Well... Sometimes they're cool?" Robin joked, crossing the street by Theta's side. "Some people think they make you look like a jerk. I personally think they're more useful than anything else, but everyone has an opinion, right?" She shrugged as they made it to the sidewalk and began their trek towards the actual event. 

Looking up at the Time Lord, she winced and felt a pang of guilt. Or perhaps it was pity. "I don't know I just kind of.... feel bad about it, you know? We could probably afford to contribute, right?" Having a feeling Theta wouldn't exactly have enough "spare change" in his pockets, she dug around in her own to try and fish out that ten she earned last week helping Leah with her dog sitting. That sure was an adventure. Ten would... uh... hopefully cover it, and anything else they might need money for. They did just come for the one "event", after all, so she didn't anticipate them needing to purchase much. "Let's just see if it turns out we need to pay, okay? I don't want to outright avoid it." 

Robin, having been satisfied that the ten was still in her pocket, crossed her arms and ventured towards the area the disturbance was meant to occur. While this event was a public one, and there were quite a few patrons roaming about, it was relatively quiet. Surprisingly so, to Robin, actually. She figured something like this would draw out a little more conversation, but not much above a whisper, evidently. Or perhaps they were just too far away from the hot spots of the exhibit. She continued her stroll towards an area with a marked off painting. It seemed it was a special piece, being all out there on its own while most of the others were at least in closer proximity to each other. It was kind of cool, though, this one. "S'like a mirror, huh? I mean, kind of, anyway. It's cool."

Theta shrugged in indifference; he had a habit of just sneaking his way into places when they required any currency other than credits (the only money he had in abundance, really), but if Robin wanted them to contribute, then it was fine by him. He might even contribute the few quarters he had in his pockets if she was that dead set on paying, but he doubted that he had enough to even make a difference.

As they entered the park, luckily, no one stopped them and asked them to pay. Or maybe they had walked right past the person in charge of that; there was quite a big crowd in the park, and it would be easy to miss them like that. Never the less, Theta dismissed the thought and followed Robin over to the pieces of art.

There was quite a variety of paintings stationed around the grassy field, everything from an acryllic painting that looked like it was made by someone rolling around in paint then rolling on the canvas (in Theta's opinion, anyways), to an oil painting of what looked like a small frowning cat. He stopped to look at a few of the more interesting ones, marveling at the human capacity for creativity. And love for cats, apparently, based on how many paintings of the furry felines there were. He wondered if Robin liked cats this much; maybe he could get her a kitten sometime...? He pondered the thought as he searched for where the said girl had gotten to, finally spotting her moving towards a large, landscape-shaped painting, situated in its own little area. He hurried over.

"Oh, this is cool!" Robin was right, it was like a mirror, aside from not, well, moving. And there weren't crowds of people depicted in it, either, just a few people sitting under trees and on the grass and whatnot. It was a rather peaceful scene "the artist must've painted it from this very spot; I'm surprised they got it situated so perfectly for the show. Just an angle to the left or right and the effect would be ruined..." from beside him, Robin seemed to whisper something. Or, that's what it sounded like, anyways "hm?"

Robin looked back towards Theta waiting for him to say something before realizing that was probably what he was thinking about her. "Didn't say anything," She remarked simply, taking a step back from the painting to examine the special precautions marked out by the exhibit. It was then she realized that there was a viewing line. Well... Sort of a viewing line? She was sure that was not the correct phrase but she wasn't sure what else one could call it. It seemed they were far too close to the canvas. Clearing her throat, she raised her eyebrows at her friend before eyeing the white paint line in the grass - like on soccer fields, she thought - and hoped he got the message. Or should she say "hoped he got the picture?"

No, that wasn't that funny.

After a moment of looking around, she realized she couldn't find any credit given to the artist. All of the other works had little tags giving a bit of information about the piece, but this one just happened to be lacking a name. She did find out, though, that the work was titled "The Borrower" but she couldn't quite figure out why. Perhaps because the artist "borrowed" the scene? Or something like that? Whoever they were, anyway. "How much time do you think it took to make it this perfect, hm? I bet they spent hours on it. Shame they aren't getting any credit for all that work." She sighed, a small pout on her face at the injustice being done here.

Theta blinked after Robin, wondering who had made the whisper if it wasn't her. Or maybe he was just hearing things; he hadn't slept for nearly a week, after all, and even for Timelord standards that was starting to stretch it a bit. Still... Theta cast a wary glance around the area.

In his looking around for anything suspicious, he found something, well, suspicious. Namely Robin giving him a very pointed look. He panicked for a moment, wondering if he had tuned out and she'd asked him a question or something, but after a moment he noticed the line of white paint on the ground.

"Oh, uh, oops"

Smiling sheepishly (more at his initial panic than at accidentally going over the line), Theta stepped back over the line into 'safe territory'. He couldn't fathom why they'd need a viewing line, though, especially if the person who made the painting didn't even care enough to put their name on the thing. The paint wasn't wet (he didn't think; better not test that out), and the stand it was sitting on looked fairly secure, not easily knocked down on accident.

"Hm. Wonder why they need a viewing line for this thing" Theta shrugged to himself, turning back to Robin, about to comment on her question, when a sharp pang rang throughout his head. He stumbled back a step, clutching his forehead, but it was gone as soon as it had come. He looked back up at Robin and laughed, though he was a little shaken from the short experience, and his laugh reflected that.

"Woo, headache. Maybe I should take a page from your book and sleep at least once a year"

Robin raised an eyebrow, moving her arms out to... well, she'd say she did it to catch the Time Lord, but she wasn't nearly strong enough to do that. But she supposed she could steady him if need be. "Once a day, thank you very much. Or at least once a week. It wouldn't kill you to close your eyes for more than 5 seconds, you know." Her tone was fairly joking, but in all seriousness, she was beginning to be concerned for Theta's health. If he kept this up long enough, he'd die. Or regenerate. Both of which sounded like horrible situations. For him and for her.

"You good now? Need to sit down or something? We can always come back later if you need to rest," Robin nudged his side accusingly, this leaning towards the demand side of suggestion. She supposed he'd be fine enough, but she swore if he came close to passing out she'd drag his butt back to the TARDIS and he would be getting one hell of a lecture. Hopefully Lady'd back her up on this one, for once. She heard something feint, something like a whisper, and frowned a bit. It wasn't Theta, she was staring right at him. Looking around over her shoulders, she found no one to be around besides them. Well, there were a few passersby, but even if it was them, it probably wasn't relevant. She decided to let this one roll off her back. ".. Uh. Sorry. Thought I heard something. Must be the wind. Or my hair. It does get rather angry and I haven't cut it in a while. Good plan for later, I suppose. Headache better?"

"Once a day?? But that's so often, why on Gallifrey would I need to sleep that much?" Theta stared incredulously at Robin, moving away from the arms she'd held out to presumably steady him "Once a week is perfectly fine, which I am already doing, for your information"

...wait, no. Theta thought for a second "...most of the time"

The sharp pain was gone, but after a moment, something came back; whispers, slightly louder than last time, indecipherable and not any real langue. It would be lying to say Theta didn't become a tad freaked out; this couldn't just be sleep deprivation. Could it? He moved in the direction of the TARDIS, head swiveling back and forth in a futile effort to see what was causing the noise.

"uh. not... exactly?" He turned to Robin with raised eyebrows, bringing a finger up to point at the noise but not being able to find any definite direction to point in "Uh, is it just me or is there whispering. Please say that's not just me"

Robin held back the urge to slap Theta to sleep. As much as he needed it, she needed him awake and able to drive because, lest they forget, a couple of loonatics were headed their way later. Sighing in frustration, she crossed her arms and glanced back at the painting. For some reason, it was... Was it different? She just felt like something was off. Perhaps it was nothing but she swore there was a voltzwagon parked somewhere in there. Not any more, anyway. 

Glancing up at Theta, she was about to wave the suspicions off, but a noise caught her off guard. Faint, and indecipherable, but a noise. Sounded kind of like words. She couldn't pick them out, though.

Beautiful.


It's so beautiful.


Robin smacked at her ear a second, and still hearing the whispering continue, she frowned up at the Time Lord. "Not just you, I think. Probably harmless... Right? I mean it is just whispering, after all." She shrugged, a vaguely concerned expression flittering across her face.

"I don't know. It doesn't really sound like friendly whispering, to me" Theta glanced at Robin with a worried look. Usually he'd try to investigate, but, well, ever since he'd found Robin again, he did his best to direct them away from danger, lest she, uh. Diesoonerthanshewasgoingto. And unfriendly whispering was most defiantly one of those danger things that could easily be avoided.

...plus, this whispering (more like quiet talking, now) was really starting to give him a headache.

"Okay, Robin, we're going now. How's a look at the Louve?" he started in the direction of the TARDIS, motioning with barely concealed concern for Robin to follow him "I'm sure they have more art than here. We could even see it after Denny Bonford got some work put in there, he's an artist from the 23rd century-"

Beautiful.

It's so beautiful.

Theta startled to a stop, hearing the words ring out in his head clear as day, like... like someone was talking with him telepathically.! His eyes widened at the revelation; moving away from Robin and back towards the park, he looked in the direction of the crowds of art viewers, meaning to search for anyone that looked... off. Maybe this was just a telepath of some sort here, accidentally projecting! Beautiful was a word to describe paintings, after all. Oh, that was silly for getting so nervous...

I wasn't talking about the paintings

Robin frowned, watching as the Time Lord made to speed right back to his TARDIS before turning around and... The expression he had on his face was frightening, to say the least. She had to admit, the whispering was becoming a tad more concerning than it was 30 seconds ago, being just barely noticeably louder, but nothing they couldn't handle, right? And since when did a little voice scare them off? Maybe something really wrong was going on and they could help out. With a slightly more determined state of mind, she glanced back at the painting, and then back at Theta.

"... Something wrong? I mean. Yes clearly there is something saying something but we can't even hear it well enough to make it out, right? Couldn't be that harmful. 

... Theta?"

Robin frowned, turning to look back at the painting and finding something quite a bit different. There was like this sort of... ghost. A very faint silhouette that she probably wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't on the look out for something wrong. It looked like.... Well... It looked like it was standing in about the same place Theta was. She gulped.

Closer.


So beautiful.


Look deeper. 


Beautiful.

Then what were you talking about?

Theta cautiously inched closer to where he felt the voice was coming from, though it was impossible to tell exactly, with it being telepathic communication and all. He scanned the crowds of people (some of which were looking at him oddly for doing so then scurrying away), but never once did he think to look at the paintings. Specifically, 'The Borrower', which he was a little more than a dozen meters from.

Closer

What? Closer to what?

So beautiful.

No, no what's beautiful? Who are you??

Look deeper...

Theta tried to trace the source of the telepathic connection, and although he wasn't very good at such a thing, he could gather the general direction of the source. He turned in the direction of the painting, confusion in his eyes.

Beautiful.

Theta made a choking like noise, losing balance and falling upon the grass where he had been standing. He immediately curled up into the tightest ball he could manage and clamped down on his ears with a white knuckled grip, as if they were bleeding. Nobody around him acted surprised at his sudden drop, or concerned, even, except for a few people, which were quickly herded away and shushed by their friends. Almost. Almost like.

Like this had happened before.

Robin watched on, wary of the Time Lord's actions. He'd been looking confused for the past five minutes and hadn't really said anything. Just kind of... looked. It was frightening. She was very concerned, and thought perhaps it was best to go home now. "Theta, come on... Come on, you were right, let's ditch this place. Theta?"

And then he collapsed.

"Theta!" Robin's eyes were wide as saucers, and her heart skipped a beat. Dropping to her own knees, she scurried close to the Time Lord, completely lost on what to do. "Theta? Theta what's going on? Open your eyes, damn it! Theta!" She leaned down, trying to move his hands away before finding they were practically glued to his skull. She heard the whispering again, and it sent a shiver down her spine. Peeking over her shoulder, Robin felt as if her blood ran cold with icy water. 

The painting was showing Theta.

And that Theta didn't look too good.

It felt like there was someone by him, judging by the way someone tried to move his hands away from his skull; he refused to let whoever this was do so, though. For if he moved his hands, Theta was certain, his eardrums would burst. Or quite possibly his brain, judging by the way the screeching noise was hearing through his head like a chainsaw. But in the next moment, there was a burning sensation, then it just... stopped.

Opening his eyes cautiously and moving his hands away from his ears, the Timelord was confused. What had just happened; what had caused the noise to stop? Still wary and unknowing of his predicament, he wobbled to his feet, looking around. It looked like the park he was just in, just. Much emptier. He moved forward to the path where many of the paintings had been; only a few stood, their canvases with fist sized holes in them, as if someone had punched through them, or quite possibly stepped on them. Bewildered, he moved towards the small pond at the center of the lake, where an elderly couple were feeding some ducks (which, he noticed, looked rather worse for wear, with their feathers ruffled unpleasantly). He sat down on the bench next to the couple.

"Er, I know this is an odd question, but what day and year is it?"

The old woman turned to him and smiled sadly; to Theta's shock, she had a long blackened burn running from her neck to her eyebrows, as if someone had burnt her. The eye the burn went over was glassy and unseeing. When she spoke, her voice cracked with old age.

"Oh, you must be the new one, then. Mr. Borrower has been saying how he's wanted a new figure for ages! And a right good one, he's picked, with all those sparkles around you. Oh, but how rude of me, dear. I'm sorry for your loss" she went back to feeding a small duckling in front of her, which he could now realize, had a bloody gunshot wound to it's neck. He stumbled off the bench in horror. What was this place?

In a chance glimpse, Theta saw something out of the corner of his vision, something on his arm. He looked; and nearly had a hearts attack. Golden light, like dust, was racing over his skin, ebbing away and back again as he watched. It didn't burn, but it was easy enough to recognize; regeneration energy. The young timelord stumbled back in horror, back into a large oak tree that was next to where the elderly couple were sitting, watching his hands. It... they weren't changing. The energy swirled around them, and floated off into the air a little bit, but nothing changed. At all. He sunk to the ground tiredly, watching the lights dance around himself with a kind of numb, confused horror. He set his face into his palms, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the lights anymore.

Knowing what was going on right now would be good.

Unknown to him, there was one painting in the park that was not damaged; the Borrower. And through it, had he looked up, he could have seen Robin. And him. In an entirely different scene from here.

(so I. uh don't know what happened there but I hope it's okay? XD)

Robin was beginning to panic. At first, it was clear that Theta was there. He was in pain and curled up and absolutely pathetic looking, but he was there. Now, she wasn't so sure. He hadn't moved an inch. His muscles seemed more relaxed, possibly, and she tried her hand at moving his. Unsurprisingly, she was able to pick it up now, as his knuckles were clearly not so strained with effort. He certainly was putting a strain on her heart, though. "Theta? Hey, come on, wake up. Do something, huh?" She nudged his side, beginning to become panicked at what might have happened. Was he okay? Did it stop? Or... Robin didn't want to think about that option. 

Standing shakily, she gripped the Time Lord by his armpits, dragging him at least out of the way of the viewing, as much as she could. He was still very heavy, but at least she could be pleased he wasn't putting off eating as much as he was sleep. Robin huffed, dropping her friend near a park bench across from The Borrower and trying to lean him up against it the best she could. No way she was getting him up that high. Running a hand through her hair, she plopped down next to him, keeping a steady watch on... Well she wasn't quite sure. She was at a complete loss. And it was scaring her.

Meanwhile, in the painting's little realm, a figure was approaching Theta. A figure he might possibly find familiar. A hand came to tap on his, to try and get his attention. She tried again, this time reaching a hand out to shake his shoulder.

"Theta? Still with us?" Robin joked, taking a step back to give him the room she just realized he might be needing. There was a puncture wound in her abdomen, blood flowing slowly from it. 

"Mr. Borrower would like to see you, now." She stated, her face losing some expression, and her tone taking a serious edge. 


///UUHHHH I am like 99% sure there's at least one thing in this reply that I wasn't supposed to doooo......//////////

Theta shifted at the feeling of someone tapping his hand, and giving a sigh, he rose his face from his hands as, presumably, the same person shook his shoulder. He tried to ignore the lights at the corner of his vision as he looked up at... Robin? He jumped to his feet, grinning widely, barely stopping himself from hugging the poor girl in his relief.

"Robin! You have no idea how glad I am to see you. Have you seen everything around here? It...it's so... strange..." Theta's face whitened to a ghostly hue, just now noticing Robin's wounded abdomen; he stared at it with eyes like saucers, not able to tear them away from the dribbling spot of red, no matter how hard he tried. No matter how much he wanted to. Slowly moving his eyes from the wound to her face, Theta's voice shook. He sounded terrified. Disbelieving. But also, a little hopeful.

"...I-I. Are you my Robin?"

No, that was silly. The Robin he had just been with had been his Robin, his friend, his companion. But. She wasn't. There was so much that he couldn't tell her, adventures that he'd gone on but she hadn't, heck he had to hide her own death from her! Theta bit his lip, reaching out a hand as if she would disappear if he didn't confirm she was real. He didn't have to worry about all that, because this, this Robin with the wound in her gut. This was his Robin.

"You're... how are you here?"

"Mr. Borrower would like to see you, now," Robin repeated, turning and marching off for where Theta had parked the TARDIS earlier. Instead of his ship, however, there was a building on that side of the street. A home. A rather nice, one, too. All sense of emotion had flown out the window, and it was beginning to be clear that this was no Robin. She walked like a solider on a mission, and with assurance from her "employer", that was all she would have to do. There was no doubt that the Time Lord would follow. Or, perhaps there was, but that wasn't her problem. All she was told to do was grab his attention and lead. 

Mr. Borrower stood outside his door, leaning back with a cane in his hand. He was dressed in a snazzy purple suit, and found himself rather dashing, if not at least artistic. For after all, why else would he be here? He smirked at himself as he watched the copy he'd created come marching his direction. "Good, puppet. Come closer...."

Theta felt a pang in his hearts as he dropped his previously outstretched hand, watching the fake Robin, her back turned to him, walk away in a very soldier like manner. He always did things like this, cling to hope just to have it yanked out from under him; he should really stop. With an aura like a storm cloud hovering above his head, Theta trudged after 'Robin', small trails of gold being left behind him as he walked out of view of The Borrower.

After a moment of walking, Theta glanced up in the direction they were heading. There seemed to be an old man in a purple suit, waiting at the door of a very extravagant house. It looked like the Robin imposter was heading straight for him, or quite possibly the house; the man must be Mr. Borrower, then, whoever that was. He must be in charge of things, though, if everyone knew his name.

Theta suddenly got very angry at the man. Who would send a fake Robin after him? Who would toy with his emotions like that?? He marched right up the steps to Mr. Borrower, glaring at him in the eye with defiance.

"I don't know what you're trying to play here, but that" he pointed to fake Robin, eyes not drifting from the man "Is not funny" he redrew back onto the steps, crossing his arms, glare still partially in place "Now, what did you want? What is this place?"

Mr. Borrower watched on with a smirk, unflinching, as close as the Time Lord was getting to him. He knew that he'd gotten closer. Just... perhaps not in the same, physical sense. 

"This? Just my little land of beauties. I do people a kindness." Borrower gestured with his cane to the park around them, and more particularly, to the people wandering about. "Upon their, uh... Passing, shall we say? I take them here. I took you here. It's a much better alternative to the reality, I assure you. Why don't you relax and enjoy your stay, hm?"

In all honesty, Borrower was the slightest bit worried. Of course, he was aware this was a Time Lord. Anyone who hadn't been living under a rock knew what a Time Lord was. Then again, he'd never imagined to meet one in person. What a beauty he was, too. Such pretty golden swirls. A good find for his collection. But he knew what those meant, more or less. He'd be keeping a tight watch on that.

"Don't you like it here? With your friend? I'm sorry about her state. I just did some digging around. Hoped you wouldn't mind." He gestured towards Robin, who was now sporting a smile. A smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Perhaps I couldn't have gotten her in time, but I can still have you, can't I?"

"R-Relax?" Theta spluttered, looking at Mr. Borrower like he was crazy as he continued "No, you cannot 'have' me! I'm not dead, and I need to get back to my friend! This" he gestured to fake Robin "is pretty convincing, but I've got a real Robin waiting for me, back in the park where you snatched me from"

Theta's gaze softened as he looked at the old man. He saw what Mr. Borrower was trying to do, provide a place for dead people to 'live', in a sense. At least, that's what he'd gathered, from what he'd heard and seen. But he couldn't just give up and stay here, even if he wanted to, when his companion must be going out of her mind, wondering where he had disappeared to.

"I'm sorry, I really am. But I can't stay. Now, send me back"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think I can do that." Mr. Borrower sighed, walking a circle around the Time Lord. "Look at how happy you've made the locals. They've been begging for new company, why wouldn't you want to give it to them?" He gestured towards the old couple by the pond, who happened to be glancing towards him, now and then, in curiosity. "I must admit, I do have... personal standards. I don't like to take the living. But the deed is done and... Perhaps you could stay a little while longer?" 

Mr. Borrower, opening the door to his home, gestured for him to come inside. "At least stay for tea, would you?" He shot Robin a look, and the puppet obeyed, moving to grab the Time Lord's arms and hold them behind his back.