Mission Impossible [Kianna]

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Evelyn had personally never really seen the wonder in the galleries of art. What good was a painting hanging on a wall when you could go and see it for yourself? The beauty of nature couldn't simply be contained in a canvas, at least that was Evelyn's reasoning. Still, if she was going to have to go out and find one of these blasted paintings she might as well educate herself first. The Tate Britain gallery nestled in the heart of artistic London was her first point of call. The many paintings quaintly depicting calm scenes of eighteenth and nineteenth century life littered the wall abundantly. They must have been worth a real fortune, but none could compare to the one she was being sent to recover.

The painting in question was made by an ancient and forgotten race who were said to be the best artists time had ever seen. Every brushstroke was said to have seemed to come alive with colour and vibrancy and the subjects had appeared to dance before your very eyes. But their time had ended such as everyone's must and their war torn planet had been left abandoned. Aside from being scarcely visited by scavengers and scrap dealers, the small, vivacious planet had been left to rot in the backwaters of the solar system that time forgot. None of this art could compare to the legacy of those that had passed, but some certainly deemed themselves worthy to try.

Evelyn had found herself in front of one particular picture, staring intently at the brushstrokes to look for the same magic that was said to have captivated the many. Instead, all she saw was a flat image and one of the many. The woman sighed, taking a step closer to scrutinise the image in microscopical detail, barely noticing the tap on her shoulder...

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At first Kianna, frankly, regretted her decision to come and see an art gallery, since some of her own paintings were in it. Victoria Loizer was many things for Kianna…her alter-ego, her adventurous side of mind…her secret artist identity. She’d forgotten all this…until she’d entered the gallery. But she was determined to look at all the other paintings, or at the very least some of them, before she left. After all, it would be rather silly if she just left without looking at anything. And anyway, the reason was pretty silly. Just because she knew some of her own paintings were in here didn’t mean she couldn’t look. Nobody would recognize her anyway, because of the name and the fact that nobody had ever seen Victoria before. Instantly, Kianna felt better upon thinking that. Nobody else knew but her. So why would it matter if she was in a gallery with her own paintings? Her spirit brightened, Kianna had begun to look around, and was easily distracted by the paintings. Being an artist herself, she understood the meaning of all the paintings, and often her imagination wandered to when the artist had been doing it. She imagined what they’d seen, what they’d been thinking, where they’d been painting. It definitely kept her occupied, anyway.

After quite a while, however, Kianna started wondering what she should do after this. Get a cup of tea and some scones, perhaps, or maybe some cake. She could treat herself, she knew that for sure. She stopped in front of yet another painting and she smoothed down her outfit before focusing on that particular painting. Her eyes lit up. It really was beautiful, just like most of the other paintings in here. She pulled her handbag properly onto her shoulder as she stared, transfixed, at the painting. Kianna didn’t know how long she’d been there, staring at it, but when she snapped out of it she took a step back, embarrassed. She turned and walked around, before she noticed someone carefully and closely examining a painting. It just so happened to be next to one of Victoria’s…AKA Kianna’s. Kianna drew in a sharp breath. She’d rather like to go and talk to this lady, but what if the lady didn’t want to talk? Or what if Kianna saw her own painting, and kept looking and tensing up? Nonetheless, life was nothing if people didn’t take risks, right? So, mustering up all of her courage, she casually walked over to the woman. She waited a few moments, still slightly chicken. Victoria, in her head, gave her a violent kick and Kianna tapped the woman’s shoulder.

”It’s a beautiful painting, isn’t it?” Kianna smiled brightly at the woman, her confidence already boosting. She was surprised that she was managing not to look at her own painting, especially since it was right next to this particular one, but Kianna wasn’t thinking about it. If she did, she’d start staring and frowning and acting weird. ”Do you come here often?” she asked curiously, tilting her head slightly. It wasn’t often that Kianna met many people who actually liked art properly, so she made a note to talk to more people in art galleries more often. She did need friends anyway, and this was the perfect way to make them! Kianna’s smile was gentle and genuine, and now all she had to do was hope that this woman was friendly…but then again, if she wasn’t, Kianna could be rather persuasive if she wanted to be…and persistent. If ever Kianna saw someone who was grouchy, she’d nine times out of ten try and make them laugh or smile. It gave her a happy, warm feeling as well as slight triumph, although she didn’t really admit the latter, not even to herself. It would seem…rude, in her opinion. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Kianna paid the woman full attention. That was the best thing to do in conversations, she’d been told once before.

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Of course Evelyn wasn't expecting company; in her line of work you barely ever did. Though Evelyn herself didn't register the tap as quickly as she probably should have had her senses not been otherwise occupied, the android body most certainly did and turned herself around before Evelyn had time to think. So that's how she found herself staring face to face with a sprightly looking young girl and with absolutely nothing to say. Instead, she just nodded, the small optics in her eyes still zoomed in from the painting and making her mind feel rather disorientated. As her pupils and consequently her vision adjusted itself as quickly as she could blink, she found her face creasing into what most would call a smile.

"It does the job, I guess." Was all she said, the corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly, figuring that the painting wasn't exactly that beautiful but still trying to make some sort of effort in conversation. "Not really no, I'm not one to frequent the galleries of art. No; I'm doing some research actually... for a job." Evelyn fielded the question rather defensively, scrutinising the girl now instead of the painting. There was nothing unusual about her as she could see, but something definitely was different. Or perhaps that was the android body, not that Evelyn knew about that at this time of course, looking too closely at the small facts and forgetting about the bigger picture.

"Dr. Lawrence." Evelyn said, trying to keep the tone easy and relaxed lest the tension grow. "Evelyn if you must. Now... you are?" She made a motion for the girl to walk with her that she hoped was friendly and moved on to the next painting in the line and repeated the process; the optics in her eye zooming in considerably in one blink to look at it all in extremely close-up detail. The scientists attire was more 'earthy' than for her last visit. For now she was sitting comfortably in a pair of black jeans, a skull and crossbones top and a studded leather jacket. Her fedora, this time black, was scrunched under her arm and a black messengers back was slung across her body, hiding the tools of her trade carefully under a small perception filter.

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'Does the job'? Kianna wasn't sure exactly what this lady meant by that, but she wasn't. She just smiled and nodded and didn't say anything. She grinned at what the woman said next. "I have to say, art galleries are great and all, but sometimes they aren't the most brilliant and interesting places to be in...at least, some people see it like that." of course, Kianna loved art galleries since she herself was an artist, but she wasn't exactly alowed to say that, now was she? Well, she was allowed to say it but she chose not to, since she liked the mysterious air that Victoria held around her. Besides, she wasn't ready for the world to know who she really was...not yet. With time, perhaps, but for now she wanted it to be kept secret. There was also another reason...secretly, Kianna liked the way that when people looked at her art, they wondered who the mysterious Victoria was, where she lived, if she had a family...Kianna liked the way that for a while, people would just have to keep on wondering. She shook herself out of her thoughts and offered the woman another smile as she introduced herself...and then began looking at Victoria's painting, which just had to be next to the one Evelyn was previously studying. Wow...just try not to look at it too much, Kianna, she told herself, as she smiled at Evelyn...or Dr. Lawrence. Whatever it was.

"It's lovely to meet you, Evelyn. I'm Kianna Valentine." she said, grinning in a friendly way. Some people may have seen it as odd that they were meeting in an art gallery, but Kianna was pretty impressed by it. Making friends over art was a good thing, sure, but if she was perfectly honest, it had never really happened to her before. "If you don't mind my asking, and you don't have to answer if you don't want...but are you looking for a painting in particular? Just, the way you're acting gives me the impression that there's something in particular you're seeking. Sorry, that's probably me being nosy, forget it." she said quickly. She didn't want to give off a weird impression. What kind of impression that might be, Kianna wasn't sure. She just didn't want to seem rude and nosy, okay? At least she wasn't flustering, though. That could have been seen as really weird, when in reality she just hated the idea of being rude.

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Evelyn surpassed a chuckle and instead her face etched into some sort of a smile and her body shook gently with amusement. "I prefer to observe my art in a more... natural form." She said in a kind tone leaning back from the painting and scrutinising the girl instead. The scientist nodded, distractedly in thought and spoke with a hint of out-of-touch formalness. "It's interesting to meet you too Kianna Valentine. You could be useful yet." Evelyn smiled, though it seemed forced and turned back to the painting, leaning in a bit too close than most would be comfortable with to it. Though blunt in her speech, it was able to be told that she did in fact mean well, just that she wasn't very good at expressing it. Oops.

"I suppose that's one way of painting it. I'm looking for a very special painting or series actually, not like Earth has ever seen. Sadly, I'm on the retrieving end of this mess. The planet isn't exactly the most hospitable to carbon based life forms." The scientist intoned, rubbing her forehead with her clenched fist and retreating away from the painting to sit on one of the benches in the middle. It didn't occur to the scientist that talking about your 'other' adventures wasn't the done thing on Earth, for she hadn't exactly been on the planet long enough to know about the curiosity of humans or parts. "You seem to know a lot about art, Miss Valentine." Evelyn nodded, trying to make sense of what she was insinuating. It wasn't exactly part of the deal to bring an amateur along, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Evelyn probably would have a hard time telling one end of a paintbrush from the other without help. She was a woman of the sciences, not the arts. What was anyone to expect?

The species scanner in her pocket chose that moment to breech the perception filter and start to beep quietly, with the probe pointing in the direction of Kianna. Odd. "Hmmm." Evelyn mused but dismissed it, instead covering up the sound with her voice and pushing the device back inside the perception filter where the beeping stopped. "How would you like to see the lost artists, Kianna? I could do with the company; it's going to be a long, long road." Evelyn asked, her eyes twinkling and her mouth forming her first real smile of the day. This was the part that she always loved.

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For a few moments, Kianna pondered on what exactly 'in a more natural form' meant, but she dismissed it and raised an eyebrow slightly when Evelyn said she could be useful yet. Right. Kianna wasn't judging, of course, but that was rather a...strange sentence to start an acquainting conversation on. Still, who was she to say anything? Kianna quickly smiled and nodded simply, not saying anything in reply to that sentence. Why would she? It could make things awkward and making conversations awkward was not something the artist enjoyed doing. Kianna listened to what the woman was saying carefully. Not something that Earth had ever seen? So...aliens? That was, at least, the first thing that came to Kianna's mind. What else could it possibly be, though? Her mind started battling it out, but her concentration was fully on the woman...well, that was what you did in conversations, right? It had actually been quite a while since Kianna had properly talked to anyone. Hmm. How had I not realized that until now? Kianna wondered to herself. She firmly pushed all thoughts about anything else but having a normal conversation out of her mind. This was important, in Kianna's opinion, and she was determined to keep herself from being distracted.  "It isn't?" Kianna asked, blinking slightly. Then, she quickly covered herself, since again she really didn't want to make things awkward in this conversation. "I mean, uh, yes, I know, it's not that hospitable to those kind of life forms." of course, Kianna had no idea what Evelyn Lawrence was getting at, but she didn't want to show that otherwise their talk could take a turn for the worse, and it was getting rather interesting.

She could hear a slight beeping noise, and it sounded like it was coming from Evelyn's pocket, but so as not to be too pushy and/or nosy, Kianna politely dismissed it. Evelyn then spoke, maybe trying to cover the noise, and Kianna (catching onto this) smiled and pretended she hadn't heard a thing. Upon hearing the woman's words, Kianna thought about her offer, chewing her lip. They had only just met...but it had been so long since she'd had an adventure...and why not? It could be fun, and right now, Kianna needed that in her life. So, after thinking for no more than 10 seconds, she nodded, a huge and sweet smile appearing across her features. "Well, that does sound like an interesting offer for adventure. Alright, miss Lawrence, I'd be delighted to come along with you on this...long journey you speak of." oh good lord, where had this posh talk suddenly come from? It sounded weirdly foreign coming from Kianna's lips. She rarely ever spoke formally, and she had no clue why she was doing it now, but she dismissed this thought, determined to make herself look normal...well, as normal as a half Time Lord could be. No, sorry, as much as this particular half Time Lord could look.

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Evelyn just nodded, a wry smile creeping onto her face. "Great, we'd best be off and quickly at that. I can't pinpoint exactly how long this rotation will last before it passes." The doctor continued with a flourish and set off out of the art gallery trusting that her new-found stranger-friend was in tow. Whilst Verxali was prone to rapid season changes; where the weather could go from warm to snowing in a matter of minutes, something else was on the scientists mind. Evelyn charged dramatically through the hoards of people crowding up for entrance fees and practically ran down the steps towards the square and out to the waters edge. "This way." She said with a firm tone to her voice and ducked away from the waterfront buildings and down a cobblestone alleyway, down a set of metal spiral stairs and jogging on a thin path underneath a bridge.

It seemed they were jogging right into the bowels of London, but there was a reason for the hastiness. What the valiant doctor hasn't mentioned was the missiles designed to destroy the planet to keep that particular universe 'tidy', not necessarily something Evelyn agreed with. Eve would rather not live on this job with the threat of being blown into atoms but she had taken it to save the relics and frankly that was all worth it in the end.

At last, pod. Evelyn jumped down the final set of stairs and flicked a button on the ageing brick wall of the subterranean alleyway and smiled fondly as pod appeared. The ship was rather small, about the width of the alley and had a distinct other-worldly and futuristic look about it. There was the odd dent and scratch that Evelyn hadn't bothered to have repaired and it was leaning on the dirty side of things; but it was home. The ramp at the back of the ship opened down to allow access and Evelyn sauntered confidently aboard, settling herself into the pilots seat and swivelling around to face Kianna. "Kianna, meet pod." She said gesturing around the ship and a few green lights flickered in response.

"Now, how familiar are you with space travel?" Evelyn asked, realising that she had never really asked the girl whether she was okay with all of this, but figured it was rather too late now to bother. Still, she'd rather not have a panic attack or worse on her hands.