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Characters: Oliver Day (

oliverplus) and OPEN
Location: Your reality!
Time: After Oliver's fairytale has ended, and during or after yours, as you prefer
Summary: Oliver goes on an involuntary reality-hopping tour of the multiverse~
Warnings: Oliver is a geek, and depending on your reality, he might just show it. Possibly a lot.

Tag in if you'd like Oliver to visit you! Prose-style or action tags are fine; just tag in the way you feel like playing.

"Samwise! Don't go under there!"

Oliver had learned a long time ago that "getting lost" and "going somewhere in the TARDIS" were basically synonymous, so he'd long since given up on getting annoyed when it happened. Instead, he usually just looked at it as another adventure to conquer--plus, you never knew what sort of cool things you might find in the meantime. And that was all well and good when he was alone, but this time he'd made the mistake of bringing one of his pets along. Watching a dwarf rabbit run off to be lost in the TARDIS was not the sort of adventure he'd had in mind for today.

He crouched down by the random large machine that was sitting by one of the walls of a room that otherwise appeared to be some sort of study. Aside from the hulking metal contraption, the room was lined with comfortable sofas and armchairs, the lighting coming from lamps on sidetables. Fancy rugs were scattered about on the polished wooden floor, although the area around the machine was bare aside from some telltale scuff marks. And while the space underneath the machine was large enough for a rabbit to fit, Oliver doubted he could even get one of his hands in there. "Come on, come out! I'll get you some nice greens?"

As he leaned down to look under the machine, he just caught sight of a furry ball shooting out and across the room. "Samwise!" He jumped to his feet, realising now that he'd been so intent on the rabbit that he hadn't even thought to close the door to the study when he came in. And, of course, he pet was making straight for it. Oliver ran after him, hoping to grab the door and shut it before Samwise could reach it and disappear into the corridor. It was going to be a close thing. He grabbed at the side of the door--

--and missed. Oliver skidded to a stop, almost falling over in his surprise. Because it was immediately apparent that he hadn't simply missed in his grab--the door wasn't there anymore. The study wasn't either, nor was the familiar hum of the TARDIS.

"What...?" Oliver breathed, looking around him in confusion. "Where am I?"

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The next location may have striken Oliver as familiar. The same white marble, the same salty air, and the same hot, white sun. Perhaps not quite the same place exactly, but not far.

Perhaps the only real difference between this place and Saga's reality, was that now? It was silent.

The temple before him was in some state of disrepair. Not so bad as to have been dangerous, but the debris around the threshold of the temple was enough to prompt someone to watch their steps. However, it certainly looked a fair deal cooler in the shade...

Oliver did recognise it right away. For a second, he thought he'd been sent back to Saga's reality, but it was quickly apparent that this was different. It was quieter--sadder. Beautiful, but clearly having suffered more wear and less recent care. But whose temple was this? There were a few Saints on the Plane that Oliver knew of.

He started carefully up toward the threshold, debating if he should call out or not. Saga had made it clear that outsiders weren't welcome here, and he had a feeling it would cause real trouble if someone who wasn't on the Plane found him first. So with that in mind, he stayed silent but watchful as he made his way toward the temple.

The guardian met him halfway, melting away from the shadows that cloaked the inside of the temple.

Mu, in his plainclothes, seemed somewhat surprised.

"Oliver?"

Oliver was also surprised, as he hadn't seen Mu coming, but he broke out in a smile when he did spot his friend. "Mu! So this is your temple, isn't it?"

He gestured around the general area, secretly glad that it belonged to this Saint out of all of them. He'd already visited Saga, and Saga and Mu were the only Saints he knew well. Half the excitement of going somewhere new was sharing it with a friend, after all.

Mu couldn't help but respond with a small smile of his own. "Yes, this is Aries, though it wouldn't really matter if you'd appeared elsewhere. At the moment, they're all my temples.

"But judging by your tone, I would assume you've visited Saga already, hm?"

"Ah, yeah..." Oliver frowned, glancing again at the clear wear-and-tear of the entryway. He remembered what Mu had told him about the situation in his world. If anything, it made him even more glad that he had arrived here. Mu shouldn't have to be alone.

"Well, this one's really yours, so can I see it?" Excitement slipped easily back into his tone, and he hoped that it would be infectious. Mu looked like he needed it. He was surprised at Mu's observation, though. "Yeah, actually. How'd you know?"

"Kiki and Atla are out today, so please, come in." Mu shifted slightly to the side to allow Oliver past him, then fell into step beside, and led around the debris.

"As I said, your tone. You put emphasis on this being my temple, implying you'd visited another already," he replied with a ghost of a smile. It was nice to have the occasional visitor.

Oliver wasn't sure whether to be glad they weren't there to ask any awkward questions or sad that he wouldn't be meeting them. But he nodded with a grin, glad Mu was watching to dodge the debris. In his excitement to look around, he almost tripped several times--which he really didn't mind. It was much more fun to look at the scenery than his feet.

"Ohh." He hadn't thought of that. "Yeah, I did! But not on purpose." As much as he would have liked to; he was starting to wish he had that ability. "I guess the Plane is doing an experiment right now--I keep showing up in different places. But I can't go to the Plane or anything, so." He shrugged. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to do besides enjoy the places he was seeing--which was easy enough when he kept appearing with friends.

"You're not the first who's dropped in unexpectedly," Mu said in explanation. "It's becoming quite a trend, I'm finding."

Inside the temple itself was a few degrees cooler and much darker. It looked significantly less labyrinthine than Gemini, with an open main hall and a straight shot out the other side, which seemed to glow from the sunlight outside. Mu remained still awhile, letting his eyes adjust. "It's somewhat dark in here at this time of day. The sun is directly overhead, you see. But come, can I offer you anything?"

"What, really?" That was a surprise to hear. He wondered why he hadn't seen anyone yet, but then again, living on the TARDIS meant you didn't necessarily see everyone on it. He hoped no one from the Plane had ever appeared and been lost somewhere inside without anyone to help them, though. "Who else has come?"

Oliver couldn't wait for his eyes to adjust once he'd entered the temple. He started to look around eagerly right away, regardless of the fact that he couldn't see well yet. At Mu's question, he glanced at his friend with a grin. "How about a tour?"

"Jade and Morgana come to mind first and foremost," Mu answered, blinking as his eyes adjusted. "A tour I can certainly grant you, but there isn't much to see. The temple may look large, but much of it is for show. The living area is quite small indeed."

Nevertheless, he lead Oliver to the left. Behind the rows of pillars was a small hallway, lit only ambient. There were sconces on the wall for candles, but understandably, they were not lit.

There were a few doors off this hallway, but Mu ignored them, leading Oliver down a half-flight of stairs to the very end of the hall. He opened the door there, which led to what looked to be a large den, with books lining two of the walls, a fireplace, armchair, worktable and a fair deal of open floorspace. There was another door on the far end which remained closed.

"This is my workroom," Mu explained. "Also my study, sitting room and occasionally my bedroom"

"So they just...showed up?" he asked, frowning curiously. He thought he would have remembered if Morgana had mentioned something like that. Then again, there had been a lot of other things for him and Morgana to worry about lately. "And then disappeared later? That's what I've been doing, anyway."

When Mu offered a tour, Oliver kept grinning, despite Mu's claim that the temple was small. "That's okay. I mean, it's a temple!" he declared, which he thought summed up his feelings on the matter rather well.

He followed Mu inside the dark corridor, squinting to get as good of a look as he could do. He still wanted to take in everything and was more concerned about doing that than watching where he was going. When they reached the half-flight of stairs, he stumbled but quickly caught himself, hoping Mu hadn't noticed.

"Ohhh." Oliver followed Mu into the workroom, smiling at the warm atmosphere. "This is nice! Do the kids come in here?" He was struggling to remember how old Mu had said they were now. In any case, this definitely looked like a room suited more to Mu than someone younger. Oliver certainly had never had a study--or a bedroom--this neat.

"Something like that, yes." He watched Oliver's face with some degree of amusement. In some ways, Oliver was like a Trainee being summoned up to Aries for the first time - wide-eyed and awestruck. He hadn't missed the slip earlier, but chose not to comment.

"Very often, actually. As I said, it is my workroom, and I teach them much about the cloths here." He gestured to the table, which hosted some scattered tools, and then to three very heavy-looking stone jars next to the fireplace.

"The door on the far wall there used to be a supply closet, but I've since converted it into a bedroom of sorts. I work late into the night sometimes. You can have a closer look at this room, but be careful with the books. Many of them are very old."

Oliver was very much like a Trainee, particularly in the ways Mu was thinking of. He had already started to wander the room, poking at the books and other items in it. It struck him as rather like visiting ancient Greece--a concept which could keep him awestruck for nearly forever. He opened one of the books gently, coughing from the dust. "What are you--" He cut off, coughing again. "--working on?"

"Nothing at the moment," Mu said quietly, fanning some of the dust away from his face. It was a half truth - he was writing out some information for Jade, but that was hardly important right now.

"You may linger and look, but there is still much to see and little time in which to see it."

"Oh," Oliver replied, rather disappointed. But when Mu pointed out how much else there was to see, he hurriedly closed the book--in a rather impressive shower of dust that had him coughing for a moment--and then hurried to the doorway. "Yeah! What's next?"

"All I have left to show you are bedrooms, the bathing room, a kitchen and a sitting room. I wasn't fibbing when I said the living space in this temple was limited."

"Oh, okay." That was rather disappointing, too, but Oliver was curious why Mu kept referring to the living area. "What about the rest of the Temple?" he asked as he followed Mu out of the room. "I mean, there's more, right? Not just the part where you live?"

"There is," Mu said, leading Oliver back up the hall they came from and into the main area. Here he stopped and gestured around. "But very little. This temple is designed for me to fight in, after all, and it would not do to have sacred relics or something of the like in here, where they are likely to be ruined."

"Ah, yeah. I guess so." Oliver frowned, not quite understanding despite his assent. "But where do they keep those if they're not in the Temples?"

He followed Mu, glancing around at the other directions they could take from the main area. Small or not, he was still eager to see whatever was in the Temple. After all, it wasn't every day he had the opportunity to see a place like this!

"The Holy Father's temple has most of the relics, as that is about the safest place in Sanctuary."

He looked at Oliver's wandering gaze and smiled. "Pick a direction."

"Oh." Oliver supposed he should have worked that one out, but really he'd been hoping for a different answer. He was sure the chances of his being able to see that Temple were basically none. Still, there was more of this one to explore, and that was exciting enough on its own.

"Well, um..." He walked around in a slow circle, looking around them, before pointing randomly into one of the rooms. "That one first!"

Mu pushed the door open a crack, smiling. The room beyond was not messy, but there was some level of disarray - a few things were out of place and the room itself looked very well lived in. Against the wall was a large-ish bed under the room's only window, with two chests at the foot, one of which was open, showing them to contain clothing.

"This is Kiki and Atla's room. They have a washing room on the other side..." he pointed to a door on the wall opposite the bed, "which is shared with the other bedroom on this side. There is nobody there at the moment, however."

Mu pulled the door closed, and led Oliver to the other side of the main hallway, voice and footsteps echoing slightly. "There are four bedrooms in this temple that are not mine. Times when the Sainthood is very small, like now, a full Saint cannot afford to have only one or two students. This temple would be full, were the current trainees not already so well established on the grounds below."

On the other side of the temple, the small hallway Mu led Oliver down branched in two. "To the left of us is the kitchen and sitting room, to the right are the other bedrooms, including mine, and the bathing room. Which way would you like to go?"

"Ohhh." Oliver peeked around the door, but he didn't move any closer since Mu obviously wanted to respect his students' privacy. "How many other trainees have you got?" he asked curiously. He realised he really didn't know anything about them, beyond the fact that they gave Mu headaches. "And what do you mean, on the grounds below? They aren't living outside, are they?"

As they continued down the corridor, he considered Mu's options for their next destination. "Ah...let's go left!" he decided, feeling like he would be less of an invader in rooms like that. He even started forward in that direction, but...all of a sudden, he started to see double. It was an odd sensation; it wasn't simple double vision. Rather, it was as though he could see the floor of the Temple before him, but also another floor. Or ground? As Oliver watched, it slowly came into clearer focus, and he realised he was looking at grass. A park, maybe? "Mu?" He turned quickly to his friend, knowing he didn't have much time. "Hey, Mu, I think I'm going somewhere else now. We'll have to finish the tour another day. But thanks! This's been great!"

"There is housing for them, don't worry. I train most of them, but Kiki and Atla are the only ones who are 'mine.' There's one other living with me at the moment, but that is because he took some fairly serious injury not long ago...and before you ask, yes, he's quite alright."

He would have continued but for Oliver's exclamation. "Ah. In that case, safe travels, Oliver. You are welcome under my roof any time."

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oliverplus - 2011-08-09 03:17 (UTC) - Expand

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