Hermits United~ An RP of Pete's world awesomeness!

John had opened his mouth to agree, when he suddenly took pause, hesitating. "Yes... though we'll have to make absolutely sure it's not going to explode on us if we do beforehand," he said after a moment, his cheeks turning faintly pink. "If I were to nearly blow myself up after jumping in headfirst again - or, stars forbid, actually succeed in blowing everything up, including myself - Rose would find a way to bring me back to life just to kill me all over again." He gave a nervous giggle, rubbing the back of his neck once more and making his way back toward the room with the noisy object.

"well, you know, there's no real rush today," jack hedged. "I'm sure we can-" BEEEEEP "can- jeez, that's painful- we can handle it, if you need to get back home."

John paused just outside the lab doorway and hesitated yet again, flinching painfully at the beep, as well. On one hand, it would be nice to get back home - especially given he was still struggling with a hangover from the night before - but on the other, this felt... important, somehow. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he needed to give this situation his full attention. "No... it's alright," he replied after a couple of seconds, frowning, but decisive. "This whole situation feels... important. Possibly dangerous. As much as I'd like to go home, I think it's more important that I stay here, figure out what this thing is, and what its intentions are, if any."

it took several hours and dozens more painful BEEPs, but they finally cracked into the thing with john's only-somewhat-careful tinkering and managed to finally shut the thing up. but what was inside? well, it was very safe to say the thing wasn't deltridian. was it from any race he'd seen before? the only thing it seemed to remotely resemble was an older iteration of those creatures he'd dealt with when he'd met sarah jane in the native universe...

(I'm guessing you mean the Krillitanes, from School Reunion? Unless you mean when he first met Sarah Jane, in which case I have absolutely no idea what creatures that would be. xD)

(Also, "Only-somewhat-careful". Jooohhhn.... XD)

John wanted to give a sigh of relief once the thing was cracked open and finally, finally shut up, but what they found inside puzzled and concerned him too much to risk it.

"...Well? D'ya recognize it at all?" Jake asked hesitantly, peering down inside the object before glancing up at John, who was frowning deeply.

"...I'm not sure," John admitted, poking inside with the tool he held a little more, to no avail. "The only thing it possibly seems to even remotely resemble is the tech used by an old version of the Krillitanes, but they change so frequently and so drastically that I can't tell for certain."

(yeah, that's them, couldn't think of the name. been a while since I've gotten to watch any who, what with it being taken off the streaming services and I don't have cable DX)

(well of course only-somewhat-careful, this is john we're talking about)

"well, anything you even might know about them is definitely better than nothing, John," Jack pointed out. "I don't think I've ever heard of them, but hard to say if that's a good or a bad thing."

"blimey, is that the time?" asked another worker, looking at their watch at last. "boss it's well past sundown now."

(To be fair, I had to look up the episode to get the species name, so. xD Yeah, they took it off Netflix a while ago. Stupid Netflix. ;-; It is still on Amazon Prime Video, though. Or at least, it was a couple months ago when I last watched it.)

(The poor lad is trying his best. XD)

"Mm..." John grunted. "Probably a good thing, to be honest. They're... let's just say not the most amicable of species. They're a composite race. They conquer other races and then cherry-pick the bits of those races they like. Their physical appearance is constantly changing as a result." He looked up as the other worker spoke, his frown of concern changing to a look of surprise. "Blimey, I'm surprised Rose hasn't called. She must be worried..."

"well, she might be busy with three kids," pointed out another tech. "in any case, go home, and we'll see you tomorrow. it's not doing anything now so it should be safe."

rose was waiting for him, having just barely gotten the kids to bed. she had the phone up to her ear as he walked in the door. "there you are! what was it? how did it go?"

"True," John agreed with a small, concerned shrug, though personally he considered the fact that Rose could just send him a thought-message instead. But he brushed off the thought and nodded, his eyelids drooping a bit. "Alright. Keep it hooked up to the monitors overnight, just in case, and yeah, I'll see ya tomorrow. G'night, lads." And with that, he made his way down to the parking lot.

It wasn't until he started driving home that he realized just how exhausted he really was, but thankfully, he made it home safely, and walked in, apparently just as Rose was getting ready to call him. He gave her an apologetic look. "Well... It's hard to say for sure, but my best guess is that it's Krillitane, and probably some sort of probe," he replied, knowing she would recognize the name. "And that may pose a potential danger to Earth, given their habit of conquering and absorbing..."

her hand with the phone in it lowered slowly at the news of those awful bat-creatures she had faced with sarah jane and luke and mickey ages ago. "those things?!" she said, managing to pocket the mobile before it slipped from her fingers and stepping forward to embrace him. "the kids are asleep. how urgent do you think it is? could they already be here?"

John wrapped his arms tightly around her as she stepped forward, giving a helpless sigh. "I don't know. It's possible, though there's been no sign as of yet. If I had to guess, I'd say the probe-thing has just started sending out a signal today - hence the beeping - and therefore they probably haven't arrived... yet." He gave another sigh, burying his face in her shoulder. "It could be an hour, or it could be a month, or even two or three. Who knows how far away they are, or how much of a hurry they'll be in to get here? It's impossible to know what they want with Earth, but I doubt it's anything good..."

"our scanning network is up to date, right? you helped improve our satellite tech when you first came here a few years ago. it should catch any ship big enough to cause any sort of threat, right?" Rose fretted in his arms, squeezing gently and holding him close to her. she rubbed the back of his head a little, laying her chin on his bony shoulder as best she could

"Yeah," John nodded affirmatively, his voice soft but sure. "If anything so much as enters this sector of the galaxy, we'll know it." He squeezed her a bit tighter for a moment, then leaned back just far enough to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Try not to worry too much, love," he told her affectionately. "Like I said, they could be months away yet, and regardless, we know about them now, which means we can prepare for when - or even if - they do come." At least, prepare as much as we're able...

she nodded mutely, understandingly. it was so different than it had been a few years ago. when it was just her, or even just her and tony and pete and her mum, it wasn't so scary. they were tough, they'd survived a lot and they knew how. but now...now they had little ones of their own, asleep in the next room. they didn't need to face this. she wanted to protect them, so much...

John could sense her protective need, and gave a sigh, resting his chin over her head and closing his eyes. "I know," he murmured, feeling the same way, "but we'll keep them safe. It'll be alright..." He dearly hoped so, with every fiber of his being. He would fight for them tooth and nail if it came to it, in a heartbeat, and knew she would, too. He just hoped it didn't come to that. Oh, how he wished that things like this would just... stop happening... that the Earth could be safe for once...

"it makes sense that aliens always want to come here. there's no life on any planet around us. earth is like the shining jewel of the seven systems or something like that," rose hummed, leaning back from him a little. she couldn't remember where she'd heard the phrase, but it was too specific to not be from him, really. or maybe jack? nah, probably john. "come on, love, let's go to bed, you must be exhausted."

John's eyes flew open at the phrase, and he looked down at her with puzzlement for a moment before giggling a little. "'Shining jewel of the seven systems', eh? Well, I think perhaps comparing Earth to the likes of Gallifrey is a bit of a stretch, but..." Another giggle was broken by a wide yawn, which he covered with one hand. "Well... can't say I disagree with that," he admitted. "I'm so worn out I'm not even hungry-- uh-oh..." His drooping eyes widened with faint alarm at that thought. "What did you wind up doing for dinner? Did you figure something out alright?" He'd been so busy at work he hadn't even thought about what Rose would feed herself and the kids without him there to cook!

"yeah, the one thing I can't really mess up is oatmeal, and while I don't think I really did you justice, everyone ate it without complaint and maggie even asked for more," she soothed him, patting his upper arm. "did you eat, though? I reckon you didn't have time. I could make you a quick sandwich?" she offered, concerned

Despite his guilt, John's eyes lit up with a flicker of amusement at the thought of them all eating oatmeal for dinner. He relaxed a little after that, reassured, though he frowned at her offer. "Ohh... I don't want you to have to bother... but I suppose I probably should eat something..." he sighed resignedly. "Not to mention drink some water... I think I'm still dehydrated after last night. I didn't really get a chance to stop and drink anything at work..." He reached up to rub his forehead tiredly, slogging into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"you need to take better care of yourself, mistah," she scolded him gently as she followed him into the kitchen. "I think sometimes you forget how much harder it is to be human instead of time lord, doncha?" she meant it as a gentle tease and maybe a bit of a rebuke. she hated when he would push himself too far because he was used to being able to, when humans just couldn't do that.

There was a few moments of silence before the reluctant mumble came. "... Maybe... but it's who I am, Rose. I was a full Time Lord for over 900 years before the Metacrisis. Four years living as a human can't change that." He sighed, rubbing his head a little, then chose a glass and filled it, draining half of it immediately before he spoke again. "And besides, this business with the probe was important. Very important. In fact, I'm definitely going to have to go back tomorrow... and quite possibly the next few days at least, as well..." He deflated a little at the thought.

"well then you're not leaving in the morning before you pack yourself a good lunch, ya hear? and take a water bottle or something. I don't need you getting sick." she stepped up to him, patted and kissed his cheek, then stepped back. "I'm headed to bed. make sure you eat something good for you, yeah?"

(Gee, Rose, offer to make him a sandwich and then abandon him in the kitchen? Ruuuude. XD)

John gave her a sheepish smile, leaning down a little so she could kiss him. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured with amusement. "No biscuits for dinner tonight. ...Though really, I can't say oatmeal is a whole lot better."

After fixing himself a small sandwich and eating it at the counter (he figured there wasn't much point bothering to sit down), he headed into the master bath to brush his teeth and put on his pajamas. By that point, he was growing very sleepy, and picked his way drowsily to bed, slithering under the covers and snuggling up next to Rose. "G'night," he murmured softly, already half asleep.

(I don't want you to have to bother" she took as a no XD)

rose rolled over when he slid under the covers and snuggled up to him with a kiss for his forehead, resting one of her gently curled hands on his chest.

by morning, there were two little feet digging into john's stomach, as maggie had woken quite early, left the nursery, and come to wake them up before deciding she was actually still sleepy and just settling between them

(...For God's sake, Rose. XD)

John, surprisingly (but at the same time perhaps not so, due to his exhaustion), had not woken when Maggie had come in and climbed into bed. When he did, finally, begin to wake, he slowly pried open his eyes... then he gave a grunt of surprise and they widened at the realization of something small digging into his stomach. His gaze darted downwards... only to relax again as he saw it was just Maggie, curled up between him and Rose. He gave a soft smile, wriggling a hand out from under the covers and gently stroking her hair.