Chipped Paint

"Because I don't belong here" Theta watched Mr. Borrower circle around him warily, making a random comparison between the old man and a shark. He glanced back over to the old couple by the pond; the old man quickly looked away in embarrassment, but the old lady with the burn on her face felt familiar enough with him to wave.

Theta turned back around to Mr. Borrower with a contemplative frown. They did seem nice. But that didn't mean that he could just stay, since Robin was still... somewhere, not here. Maybe if he knew what this place was, and Robin was with him, he could stay. But not now. He glanced over to the fake Robin with a wound in her abdomen.

Scratch that, not ever. He could go a lifetime without having to relive that memory, again.

At first, when the fake Robin grabbed him, Theta made to struggle. But then he realized, where would he go? So he let the girl lead him inside after Mr. Borrower without any struggle, though his expression was certainly sour, at being restrained in this way.

The house was just as extravagant on the inside as it was on the outside; there was a small hall from the door, which opened up into a large domed sitting area, plush chairs and couches in a circle in the middle of the room, underneath a chandelier made with what seemed like thousands of tiny crystal shards. The outer walls of the room had a few bookshelves, but mainly paintings hung, moving paintings at that, of various scenes. There was one of a busy city block, another one of a Victorian-styled lady reading a book. Somehow, there was even a picture of the old couple by the pond. Even though common sense said that it was probably just a recording, Theta was fairly creeped out by that one. Shrugging off the fake Robin's grip, he sat down in one of the chairs.

"You know, you never did tell me where this place is"

Mr. Borrower, while not pleased that the Time Lord would not cooperate, took a seat on a sofa and motioned for Robin to fetch the tea. "My sincerest apologies. I suppose the best way to describe it is... Creativity. You are standing inside of living creativity. I do believe some of the locals call it The Borrower?" He shrugged, leaning back and resting his cane on the cushion next to him. "It's funny, you know. People have all sorts of stigmas about what's right and what's wrong. Tell me, what is actually at fault here, hm? I give you a beautiful world. I give you an escape. From death itself, even. Here you will not be harmed. Although," Borrower nodded in acknowledgement as Robin returned and began to pour the tea. "I do see you are rather fond of this one. She could join you here, you know. Just as easily as you've joined me. Would you like that?" He smirked, sitting up to take a sip.

"How rude of me, I haven't even asked your name."

Theta crossed his arms and leaned back into the soft cushion, watching Robin's retreating back then returning his gaze back to Mr. Borrower.

"Sure, you can decorate a prison up very nicely, treat the inmates well, but in the end it would still be a prison. I can see the other people enjoy it here, but as I said before, I don't belong here" Theta barely kept himself from thanking fake Robin for the tea as she returned with it; she wasn't Robin, not really, and he couldn't treat her like she was his friend, otherwise he might start believing it.

He looked back at the old man as he began talking again. And as soon as Mr. Borrower had mentioned Robin, threatened her in a way, fury boiled up inside him, evaporating any thoughts that Mr. Borrower might be a nice guy, for the moment. He kept from doing anything rash, however, instead just clutching at the arms of the chair with white knuckles and sending a death glare at the man.

"I swear. If you even think of touching her, you'll regret it. Leave her out of this" he leaned back into his chair, still looking as if he wanted to kill the old man with his eyes alone "It's Theta, by the way"

"Oh, well... I'm sorry, Mister... Theta. But it doesn't seem to be up to you, does it?" Mr. Borrower nearly laughed, taking another sip of his tea before setting it on the table between them. "I had honestly hoped to show you the good here, but it seems you won't be having it. But I will not be letting you out." Standing, Borrower grabbed his cane and strolled off towards a spiral staircase in the back of the room. Stopping on the first step, he turned over his shoulder at Theta. "You can stay here for the night, if you wish. Until you get settled. I promise you..." He grinned, begging to climb the flight of stairs.

"It's a nice prison."

The Robin clone, now with very little purpose, simply seated herself in one of the chairs, staring blankly forward. 

Actual Robin, though, was having much less of a swell time.

At this point, she was panicking. It was clear he wasn't dead - she'd felt for his heart beat - hearts beat? It seemed fairly steady. He was just out cold. The TARDIS was too far for her to drag him without help, though. The most she could do right now is ask some kind patron to help lift him onto the bench instead of leaning him uncomfortably against it, and hoping they wouldn't ask questions. Robin remained sitting next to his sleeping form, leaning him against her side so he wouldn't topple over. "Come on, Theta. Wake up..." She murmured, her voice strained with worry. Her eyes remained locked on The Borrower, a very uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach at the collapsed form of her friend in the picture. Whatever was going on, she had a feeling it had to do with that. And it wasn't a pleasant one.

Theta sat there for a few minutes, staring at the tea in front of him, watching as it grew cold. Okay, so fact number 1; he was in a painting, apparently. Fact number 2; he didn't know where the 'exit' door was. Fact number 3; Robin was by herself back at the park, probably freaking out... well, the real Robin, anyways.

He glanced up at the fake Robin, more than a little creeped out by her, not just by the dribbling hole in her stomach (that was bad enough, alone), but by the blank stare she was giving the wall, as he wasn't there, as if she wasn't even there.

"Ugh, I can't take this"

Theta stood from his seat, watching the fake Robin to see if she would stop him. She didn't; he didn't have any way to get out of this place, after all. Regardless, Theta just was not comfortable sitting in the same house as the man that had trapped him here. He went over to the door, and opening it quietly so Mr. Borrower wouldn't hear and come back downstairs, he slipped out.

Even though it was afternoon when he'd last been in the park, it was already nearing sunset, now; at first Theta was startled at how much time had passed, before realizing time must flow differently in the painting. He sighed in relief at the thought. Still, the sight of the setting sun on the horizon made it feel like he was here longer than he had been. Shoving his hands into his pockets grumpily, Theta made his way across the street, the little man on the pedestrian sign perpetually on 'walk'.

The park was nearly empty, as with last time, but the couple was still there. They looked to be packing up, actually, putting what looked like the remains of their lunch and bread into a picnic basket. Theta neared them, suddenly very awkward. What did you say to a dead person? To his (relief?), the old lady started talking before the silence grew too long.

"Oh, hello dear, so nice to see you again! I see you talked with Mr. Borrower" she swung the picnic basket up onto her arm, not seeming to have any trouble with it like an old lady might "Does this mean you'll be staying?"

Theta gave the pair a strained smile, not really knowing the answer, himself.

"Perhaps"

The two smiled widely at this, and bidding him a fond farewell, headed off to their car. Theta sighed, watching them leave. How could they live like this, trapped forever in a fake world, and be so... cheerful? He sat on the bench, and after a moment, decided to trade his position for laying down. It wasn't the most comfortable spot, but it beat staying in the same house as that whacko. He supposed, being dead, this place must seem like a blessing. Like heaven. He placed his arms behind his head, breathing in the cool air of the almost night. How would they react if he told them he wasn't dead? ...Probably not well.

Now. How was he supposed to get out of here? Usually he'd be able to think up a solution, but this time, Theta was stumped. He knew next to little about how he was trapped here, other than Mr. Borrower held the key to getting in and out of the painting, and that everyone here (aside from Mr. Borrower himself) had died to get here. Well... except him. Which threw out the idea that he simply had to 'un-die' to get out of here. Which... would be pretty impossible without regenerating. That'd be more like dying than un-dying, anyways.

"Ugh... I hate this" Theta pounded a fist on the bench he was laying on, only to clutch at it as it started to throb. His frustration still stood, however.

Mr. Borrow sat back in his study, peering out a window that showed his little world. Actually, it showed quite the opposite. He stared with a smirk at Robin, leaning half asleep against her friend, her cheeks tearstained. It seemed she was getting exhausted out there. As much as he hated breaking his moral code, Theta was a true treasure. It would be a shame to let him leave. Of course, he didn't seem too intent on staying, so perhaps he'd give him some... persuasion. Leaning forward in his chair, Borrower put his hands to his temples and whispered.

Beautiful


Robin looked up, glancing around in a sort of panic for the voice. Who said that? There weren't exactly a ton of people around anymore. The sun was beginning to set and Theta was still out cold. Everyone else was going home, now. 

He's beautiful


Robin blinked her eyes, finding the sound to be coming from somewhere in front of her. She glanced back at the painting, her heart speeding at the sight of a silhouette near the unconscious form of her friend. This could not be good. They needed to get back to-

Be beautiful

Robin winced, putting a hand to her forehead as her vision started to dance. The words continued, and the painting seemed to be gaining clarity as she lost hers. Louder, louder, and louder. She grunted and hunched up on herself, cradling her head in her arms as she found herself blacking out. Well who was going to look after Theta now? Robin leaned him against her, and her against him, figuring if they could pass out on each other, no one'd topple down and hit their head. Just in time, too.

Next thing she knew, she was face up towards the sky, sprawled on the ground, completely disoriented. She blinked slowly.

Despite possible solutions to the predicament being far and few between, Theta remained lying on the bench, thinking on ways to get out. At some point, he'd noticed the replica painting and gotten up to inspect it, but to his disappointment, it was merely a mirror, reflecting what was going on in the painting and not what was happening outside it. And when he'd remembered Mr. Borrower's house, with all the moving paintings inside it (including the old couple that had just left), Theta didn't hesitate in hefting the heavy painting off it's stand and laying it in the grass; he didn't want Mr. Borrower spying on him, after all, even if it solved nothing in the end. With nothing to do after that, he'd returned to the bench to continue problem solving.

It seemed to be a little more than half an hour since he'd exited Mr. Borrower's house, though he had to keep reminding himself that he ought to judge time by his own sense and not by the movement of the sky, since the sky here seemed to move much faster than usual. As of now, the sky was no longer gold and orange; instead, the stars were starting to peek out of the receding purple glow of the 'sun', twinkling brightly in a way real stars really ought to not twinkle.

"I wonder, are those actual stars he's created in here? Or is it a dome... if it's a dome I wonder what would happen if you tried to pass past it..." so caught up in his thoughts of escape, Theta didn't notice a figure slowly fading into view near the face-down 'Borrower' till they were completely into view. It was a shock, then, when he glanced in that general direction and saw Robin, laying sprawled on the grass!

"Robin??"

In his surprise, Theta literally rolled off the bench, flailing as he traded the wooded surface for dirt and cobblestone. He scrambled to his feet immediately afterwords, coughing up the dust he'd accidentally inhaled, and also a slight bit of regeneration energy.

Theta inched towards the girl cautiously, not daring to get his hopes up just yet. Not that it'd be a good thing if she was really here; it would be a very very bad thing, in fact.

"Is... that actually you? You're not going to ask me to see Mr. Borrower or stare blankly at a wall, are you?"

Robin blinked at the face coming into her view. "Oh, hi Theta." She figured if he was above her and so was the sky, she probably needed to rotate her head. In some direction. Looking to her left, she found grass. Oh okay, the ground. Got it. All she needed to do was stand up. A+ problem solving. Pushing herself slowly to her feet, she took in her surroundings the best she could. It was night out, for one. Only sunset last she checked. Then again, maybe she was just unconscious for a long time. That was certainly a possibility. But as much as she wanted to believe the both of them just kind of woke up and everything was rad, she had a feeling something else was going on.

"Hm? Sorry? Think you asked me a question," Robin noted, turning towards Theta and finally giving him the attention he probably deserved. She yawned, stretching her arms over her head for a moment before doing just that. "Something about borrowing and blank walls. Which of course are completely relevant." For all she knew, they might be. "Alright, shutting up now. What was the question?"

Theta got a haunted look on his face as he realized, yes, this was actually Robin. And she was in the painting. Where just about everyone had died to get here. Panic gripped his hearts the instant the thought came to mind; he hadn't died to get here, but what was saying that the same was true for Robin?? She certainly didn't look harmed in any way, but he just... wanted to make sure. Needed to make sure.

"Robin" deep breath (oops, there goes more of that regeneration energy), serious face "I need you to tell me exactly how you got here. Did you just black out, or did you...?" he really didn't want to say that last word, so he just let the end of the sentence hang there, for Robin to pick up as she would.

Robin, finally getting her wits about her, decided to take in the situation for real. One, Theta was alive. Which was great and she wanted to cheer about for ages. Two, Theta was covered in golden dust. Which she completely did not expect. There was someone who did that before, right? All goldy and uh... dusty... Her mind was nagging her that this was an important fact. Her heart skipped a beat when she finally came around to remembering.

Regeneration energy.

"Did I black out? I might have blacked out, haha," Robin started carefully, her laughing oozing with worry, "Might have died, I don't know. You might have died, heheh... Sure looks like you died, and uh.." Robin began to back away, her hands in front of her defensively, "I just... Think there's something over this direction that needs tending to, don't you?" She rushed out her words just as quickly as she rushed away, running for what she truly thought was her life until she just couldn't anymore. The entire frigging place was just grass, where was she supposed to hide? Wherever she ended up going, it had to be quick and before he could find her again. Because one thing was for sure.

She was not going to just stand by and watch him become a monster.

"Wait, Robin!"

Theta jogged a few steps after the girl, but didn't go any further, just watching her with worry and confusion as she sprinted across the park with a speed that only terror could cause. Running after her wouldn't do any good; she was obviously spooked, though about what, he had no clue.

"Robin? What's wrong? Robin?" Theta checked around him for the source of Robin's terror, but he saw nothing. Absolutely nothing (unless you counted the zombie ducks, though they weren't that scary, just shocking). Which... meant it must be him she was scared of.

The thought left Theta reeling with confusion and sadness. What had he done? It had to have been something bad, if she ran away like that. He started down the path, glancing at the trees dotting the park and wondering if she had gone and run behind them, or perhaps climbed one (she defiantly looked spooked enough to do such a thing). He really hoped she hadn't flown away, or run so far that she was out of the park. He was pretty sure Robin had no idea the circumstances of where they were; he had to let her know before she came across Mr. Borrower, or a painting resident. ...or maybe, Theta thought with dread, the fake Robin. There would be no explanation for that.

Robin cringed, back to a tree trunk, peering over her shoulder. He was wandering around but was he looking for her? She felt a twinge of guilt, but she knew it wouldn't be him much longer. As soon as that energy ripped through him, anyone around here was in really big danger. Across the street, she spotted a sort of... small mansion-like building. Well that certainly wasn't there before. Something was really off here, and what did he mean about blacking out and... dying? Right now she didn't have the time to think about it. 

Making her way across the street as quickly as she could - which was fairly fast, considering the lack of cars - she knocked on the door desperately. "H-Hello? Anyone home? C-Could you let me in? Please?" Robin's eyes remained locked on the glowing form she was trying to hard to avoid, and before she knew it the door had opened behind her. 

"Oh, hello, Robin. Theta's told me oh so much about you. Please, come in," Borrower grinned slyly.

Theta frowned, continuing to look about. He was going in the wrong direction, admittedly, but he had no way to know that; Robin had disappeared not too long after she'd dashed away, after all. He continued talking to the air, just in case his companion was hiding behind a tree and could hear him; he really hoped she could.

"Robin? I promise I won't hurt you... please, at least tell me what I did?"

He waited for a moment, then sighed with defeat, leaning against an old willow on the left side of the path, grey-green branches reaching out to brush the murky surface of the pond.

"I... you don't have to come out. Just. This place is dangerous. We can't stay here" no response, not even a rustle of a leaf. Theta was forced to admit that Robin was just not here. He pushed off from the rough bark of the willow and continued walking, this time on a path that led out of the park and onto a surrounding sidewalk. He probably shouldn't stray far from the park, just in case she came back... he really hoped she hadn't gone too far.

Robin turned around, completely ignoring whatever it was he may have said, much more concerned with having shelter from whatever Theta's future intentions may be. She rushed inside, not too careful about manners right now, and took a look around for a moment to get a hold on the situation. Kind of a fancy place, she had to admit. Did it have a basement?

"S-Sorry to intrude, sir, but we've got a bit of a predicament on our hands. We're probably going to want some good shelter and-" She stopped talking, as upon her inspection of the room, she found... herself. But.. This self was definitely not her. This self was a zombie - just staring. There.. was nothing in there. Also, she didn't exactly recall being stabbed in the abdomen. "W-What... is that..." She murmured, arms covering her own torso in sympathetic pain. 

Mr. Borrower laughed, strolling forward with his cane. "It seems you've not been listening, poor girl. Our dearest Theta won't be what you're worried about...." Robin's face paled - things were beginning to look quite sinister. "It'll be me." With that, he swung his cane towards her head. Her shriek managed to send quite a few birds fluttering out of the nearby trees.

A shriek.

Theta felt all the blood drain from his face, terror clutching his hearts. Robin had just screamed... and judging by the direction...

Mr. Borrower had something to do with it.

Not wasting any time, the Timelord began to sprint in the direction of the Borrower house, though he wasn't going nearly fast enough; he'd wandered in the wrong direction, after all, so there was more sidewalk to burn than before. Eventually, he got to the house, but it had been far too many seconds after her scream for him to be comfortable. He leaped up the steps, grabbing at the door handle and shoving at the door with his momentum. The door flew inwards, and so did he.

The first thing he saw, was Mr. Borrower, holding his cane. Then he saw Robin, laying limp on the floor. He also noticed the fake Robin, but she was only an afterthought, as soon as he'd caught sight of the first two things. He flew over to Robin, standing between her and Mr. Borrower, cold fury on his face. He'd learned from... that one time, that he shouldn't attack blindly without keeping an eye on his companion. Which he certainly was doing, now. Though he definitely fighting hard to restrain the urge to strangle the man to death right here and now. Literally.

"This is going too far"

"Is it? I hadn't noticed," Mr. Borrower laughed, dropping the bloodied cane to the floor. "I don't know what you've done to frighten the poor girl. That's no way to treat your friend, now is it?" He began to strut off towards a cupboard under the stairs, rummaging around a bit. "I truly apologize, but she'll heal in due time. Perhaps I have a bandaid to spare..." After a moment of searching, he huffed in defeat. "Seems I don't. Do you? All the same, she'll be fine. Bet she's got a nasty concussion, should we wake her?" Borrower strolled back, crouching with his eyes locked on Theta's, hands up in surrender. "Is it alright if I take a look? Or would you rather take the reigns on this one?" It honestly didn't matter, in his opinion. This little predicament would be sure to keep the pair tied up here a bit longer.

As much as he'd like to have Mr. Borrower on the other side of the planet, not crouching right in front of him, Theta had to grudgingly admit he didn't know how to check for concussions. Eyes not straying from the old man, blazing with warning, Theta cautiously stepped back, though only enough so that the man could see Robin. He wasn't taking any chances, here.

"How is she" his question was interlaced with many undertones; worry, gruffness, anger, and a 'she better be okay'.

Borrower smiled - a nearly genuine smile. And to those who didn't know any better, they may have believed it. But it didn't quite reach his eyes. "One moment, let me just..." He stood and hurried back to the cabinet, pulling out the small torch he'd nearly forgotten about a moment ago. Bringing it towards Robin's face, he carefully pulled one of her eyes open. He moved the light on and off of her pupil, but it made very little difference. Repeating the process to the other eye with the same result, he came to a conclusion. "A rather nasty concussion, I'm afraid. I think we should wake her up."

Mr. Borrower got to his feet, tucking the tiny torch into his pocket. "Just in case, you know. Wouldn't want any... Comas... around here." In all honesty, he wasn't quite that up to date on his human biology. Last he'd heard, comas were a true threat from concussions, although he'd been mixed up in medical myths, before.

A concussion? Chance of coma? Neither of those sounded good to Theta, not at all. He motioned for Mr. Borrower to step back, then shook Robin's shoulder, to try to rouse the girl. He also nudged her mind very lightly, though he didn't dare go any further than that, because shoving at a concussion probably wouldn't end well.

"Robin, wake up. It's..." his eyes flitted over Mr. Borrower and back "Kind of important"

Robin's eyes moved under her eyelids, and she grimaced as she finally came to. Holding a hand up to shield her eyes, she tried to open them slowly, figuring that was probably the first step to waking up. The sight that greeted her wasn't exactly pleasant. She was still in that horrid mansion, with that horrid man, most likely. She could even see her injured self, sitting blankly in the distance. Or perhaps it was closer than she thought. A whisp of gold from the corner of her vision set her back into panic mode.

Scrambling to get to her feet the best she could, Robin ended up tripping over herself several times. "No no no, got to get out," She whined to herself, terribly frightened at the torturous future sure to be in store if she didn't get a move on. Oh, but her head absolutely ached. Stumbling, Robin was barely able to take a step before she was back on the floor, resorting to cowering away than actually making any distance.

Theta sat back on his heels in his own little surprise, watching as Robin, again, scrambled to get away from him. The timelord was incredibly confused and hurt by the gesture, especially when she began to cower, which he'd never seen her do. Not to him, at least.

"Robin..."

He glanced up at Mr. Borrower, raising his eyebrows in a kind of question, like 'what'd I do?', or quite possibly 'what'd you do?'. Knowing Robin would just remain terrified if he stayed where he was, he got up and moved back a few long steps, till he was almost in the corner of the room. Theta stared down determinedly at his sneakers. "I don't know what I did, but... I. I'm sorry, I suppose?"

He...

He truly didn't know, did he? He had absolutely no idea. Robin peeked out from behind her arms, wide eyes surveying the scene. Her heart broke to see him so... Put down. And she was probably doing the same with all this running. But what choice did she have? He was dangerous, now. Theta could promise her nearly anything, but it wouldn't matter. He was going to be a monster. 

Mr. Borrower sighed, strolling towards Robin and offering a hand. She flinched away, untrusting of any person in this room. It seemed this was quickly becoming a relapse of that frightful period nearly a year ago. Would all of her Time Lord friends betray her, someday? Oh, she wanted to be home so badly, but home wasn't... home. Home was Theta, and the TARDIS, and all their crazy alien antics. Robin had no safety. "S-Stay away. The both of you," She found her voice, being the only thing she had left. Flying away would be no easy task and she dreaded to think that she might have to. 

Mr. Borrower shook his head. "Come now, darling, don't shun your friend like this. What's he done, hm?" His plan was going to fall apart if he didn't get her up.

".... H-He's dying."

Theta looked up, eyes the slightest bit watery at Robin's actions. He frowned as he registered what she said.

"No no, you've got it wrong, I'm not dying, I'm..." Theta glanced down at his hands, swirling with golden energy, turning them over and back again. It did... look like he was dying, admittedly. But he wasn't. Was he? This whole place was just an illusion after all.

...Right?

Another question occurred to Theta. Even if he had been regenerating... why would that make Robin so scared? Perhaps she didn't know what was going on? But no, she knew what regeneration was, he could tell by her 'he's dying' comment. So... what? Perhaps she had a bad experience with regeneration, or just thought it was worse than it was?

"...Robin, I'm not dying. Okay? I'm still me, I'm not going to" a slight chuckle, though at this point it was very watery. He could take this from someone else, but from Robin? No way "Explode, or anything"

Robin's heart was shattering, and she couldn't take hearing him so sad. It looked like this was really hurting him, but.... She couldn't shake the thought of how he might be hurting her, very soon.

"H-How do you know? You're r-regenerating, I-I..." She tightened her curl on herself, her horrid, broken memories of Sonya and her destruction not painting a very pretty picture for her. 

Mr. Borrower wasn't very pleased by all this sappy stuff. Not at all, in fact, if it meant his plan for keeping his Time Lord was failing. Then again, if they were arguing, or hiding, or whatever it was that was going on, they weren't escaping. He couldn't quite decide if this was good or bad.

Although, if he did get them to make up, he'd be playing on Theta's side....

He considered it, and figured he could take a slightly passive stance on the matter. "... Shall we have tea? Perhaps discuss this matter civilly, instead of standing on opposite ends of the room and blubbering?" He flicked his hand in the puppet's direction, the deceased Robin standing again to fetch more of the beverage. Seemed all she was good for, if he was being honest.

Theta glanced up at Mr. Borrower as he offered his suggestion, then over at Robin, still curled up and terrified. If he moved towards the chairs and table (where fake Robin was bringing the tea, most likely), he'd be moving closer to Robin, and that might scare her off; he certainly didn't want that, not after the whole 'scouring the park to find her' fiasco.

"...Let's not"

He actually stepped back more, until he was literally in the corner. Then he sat, supposing that, even if Robin was to calm down ('she should calm down once she sees I'm not actually regenerating', he thought) it might be a while. He frowned up at Mr. Borrower when the old man wasn't looking, wondering if they should really be in this house. The man was no longer violent, and looked to be trying to help things, but Theta still didn't trust him, not completely, not after knocking Robin over the head. Not to mention trapping them in the painting; he still had to find a way to get them out, he reminded himself. Though the Robin issue was a much more pressing issue.

...which might take a while to resolve itself, actually.

Perhaps thinking of ways to escape was the best course of action, while he waited to Robin to calm down? If she calmed down, that is. Theta didn't like to think about the other option, though.