Tobias Hardwick
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part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 9, 2021 18:32:50 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ Today was supposed to be a normal day. Tobias had been running low on cash as of late so he had taken to speaking to a few people he knew to get a good idea if there was any work he could do. It hadn't taken long until he had heard about someone who seemed to be new to the area who was looking for help with a job. It had admittedly sounded quite easy and the cyborg was always a bit more prone to do easy work over hard jobs, even if the money was likely to be less. However, he knew that he would have to talk to this person, in some sense of the word, before he had any idea of whether this job was a good idea.
Admittedly, that had turned out to be a really bad idea. He had quickly realized upon meeting the woman was just off. He had easily picked up signs of her not being from this time period. It lingered in the woman's words and he was able to pick up that she even had suspicious technology on her, such as a vortex manipulator and things he was fairly sure no one in the twenty-first century should have. He hadn't considered how wise it was to run but he had done it anyway.
Clearly, his notion of her potentially being dangerous had not been wrong as she had chosen to not leave him alone. Instead, he was being chased. It didn't take long for him to realize that he was likely dealing with someone who was probably used to situations like this as it distinctly felt like he wasn't losing her at all. The cyborg knew quite well that if this turned into a fight he would likely lose. After all, he was just as strong as any other human, lacking, as far as he knew, any advanced ability to fight. In fact, he was probably a bit worse considering how often he tended to glitch out.
As a weapon rung out, panic filled him and his mind could only go to one thing: the crumpled up paper he had chosen to keep. He had no idea how useful 'Ms. Smith' would be. In fact, he didn't really know what she even did or who she even was. However, that didn't stop him from immediately contacting her in that moment.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 11, 2021 4:14:44 GMT
The Neo-Baroque home at 13 Bannerman Road had grown quiet over these past months. Her gang had left her, one by one, to go pursue they're futures. Luke and Rani were off at their own colleges and were doing quite well, thank you, and just now Clyde was working and internship at Hotspur where he eventually hoped to be publishing his own comic book series. It was called "The Silver Bullet". It was a bit rough for her tastes, but she really was impressed with his artistic ability. Sarah Jane was up in the attic, rather enjoying being undisturbed as she tinkered with K-9. He stood still and quiet on her work table, one of his side panels down. Really, the only sound was her Sonic as she tried this and that to get her stupid robot dog working again. Without K-9 to bicker with, and apparently no strange readings coming about, even Mr.Smith had been quiet. It had been a solid two days since she'd had to do any alien wrangling, and the last muck up had been squared away quite peacefully. Just lost travelers were all they were, and Sarah Jane had quite an extensive map. Problem solved. She's just gotten a weak beep and a blink of light out of K-9 when her phone piped up. It was a number she did not recognize, which was interesting, but she still didn't want to loose focus on her task, so she answered and hit the speaker without looking away from K-9's wiry innards. "Hello?" Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 11, 2021 4:59:59 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ Tobias tried his best to keep the panic out of his voice as he began to speak; however, it was almost immediately clear to him that he was not entirely successful. Despite being a cyborg, emotions were not something he was bereft of and was not particularly good at hiding. Within this particular moment, he couldn't help but hate that fact just a bit. It would have probably paid just a bit to be a bit more logical than he was.
"Uh, hello," he said, his voice hushed. He was just a bit glad that she had answered the phone. "This is the guy from the fireworks...with the card." He paused before reluctantly adding. "The cyborg." His gaze flickered about, seeking to make sure he was somewhat alone as he carefully moved along the wall. He'd rather not get snuck up on. He doubted that whoever was seeking him out would actually hurt him...much, but that didn't bring him much comfort. "Right. Forget that. I'm kind of in a pickle. Like a 'some weirdo who clearly isn't from this time' type of pickle. And you seem to care about that. And help would be appreciated. You know, before I turn into a toaster or something." He didn't really know what suspicious people from the future with lasers really did with innocent cyborgs like himself and he wasn't keen to find out, if he was honest.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 11, 2021 7:56:58 GMT
Instantly, he had her attention. Sarah Jane poked off the speaker, put down her sonic, and scooped up her phone to her ear. The young man from Guy Falk's day. What was his name? She'd impressed a mnemonic in her memory. What was it? Oh yes, 'to be or not to be'. "Tobias. The boy with a basket full of books." Well, he wasn't really a boy, but when you'd been running around for over six decades, anyone under 30 seemed impossibly young. She was in drawing a breath to ask him why he called when he spilled it all on his own. The fear in his voice sent a stab of worry through her. "I want you to get somewhere as safe as you can find as quick as you can, even if that means you stay on the move." Her voice was both business like and imploring, sounding something like a military man giving orders. "Tell me where you are, and which way you're going. I'll be there as fast as I can." Sarah Jane was already stamping her way back into her boots and grabbing for her jump bag. Usually just her purse would do, but the black duffle she kept handy had a better variety of gadgets and the like. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 11, 2021 17:07:00 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ "Yes," he said, not particularly seeing why his name mattered much in this situation. Grimly, he supposed it might matter if things went sour. However, he somewhat doubted that anyone would bother with him if it did. He would presumably be in another timeline, out of anyone's reach and stuck to whatever fate this person likely had in mind.
He bit back a few choice comments. He was fairly sure pointing out that he wasn't a boy or how it would be difficult to get somewhere safe wouldn't be appreciated at the moment considering the tone she had taken on. "Right." Quickly beginning to move, he decided to make his way for the river Thames. It would probably put him a bit more out in the open and thus make whatever his pursuer wanted to do harder.
"Uh, Peckham," he said reluctantly, knowing he might be giving away something about himself by admitting to being in such a terrible part of London. He hadn't told Ms. Smith much about himself after all. "In London. And I'm heading towards the Thames." He jolted at a rather loud sound, unsure if that was the woman chasing him or something else entirely.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 11, 2021 20:08:38 GMT
"Good choice, kid. Once you get there, just find some shadows to hunker down in." She'd gotten her second boot on. "I will be there in 20 minutes. Put your phone on vibrate, but call me if the plan changes. Hang in there okay? I'm coming." Sarah Jane was already headed out the attic, and half flying down the stairs. On a lazy day, it would take 30 minutes to get to the Thames from Ealing, but she was confident that with her driving style and her Nissan Figaro, she'd make it in the time promised. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 11, 2021 23:22:30 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ Tobias nodded only to belatedly recall that she couldn't see what he was doing. "Okay." He wasn't entirely sure how good this advice was. It would have definitely been good against someone from the twenty-first century. However, he was quite sure that this woman was. The technology he had been able to spot was too advanced and if, by some odd chance, she was from this time then that was just all the more worrisome. Why did she have any of that on her? Why was she in this part of time looking for someone to do a job? Moreover, he was highly skeptical that she knew how most of that worked and he was probably in more danger as a result.
Twenty minutes? That sounded like a long time, though he supposed it was enough for him to get to the Thames on foot from where he was, provided he wasn't caught. "Twenty minutes, phone on vibrates, and call if anything changes. Got it." He somewhat doubted the last would happen since anything changing would mean he would be in a worse situation that might not allow for calls.
Clicking the phone shut, he switched it to vibrated and put it away. Continuing, he headed on, trying to hurry his pace at every single sound.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 13, 2021 3:50:48 GMT
"Perfect." She said regarding his summation. Then she hung up, put down her phone, and started driving like a bat out of hell. Well, all but one frustratingly endless klick that she'd had to drive at the speed limit to keep from getting caught. Even as she drove aggressively enough to get honked at numbers times, she was still in the back of her mind going over everything Tobias had told her. She believed him when he had told her that he'd never been outside of London. She had deduced that he was from the future. Escaped from the future, perhaps. Once too much flesh and blood had been exchanged for robotics, something human was lost. But Tobias had seemed human in the ways that were important. Things that gave him away like a too-perfect face and those rare moments where he seemed to freeze up for a tiny fraction of a second, weren't anything she was worried about. That time she'd left him at the square to watch the last of the distant fireworks without her pestering him, she'd been won over by the books in his picnic basket, and his almost polite petulance of a complexity she'd never heard from a machine before. That and that he had friends. All that in mind, she was guessing that this trouble with time was from the future, and from Earth as well. Tobias had said 'some weirdo who clearly isn't from this time', nothing about aliens. The fact that he suspected mechanical Alchemy and was afraid of it didn't add up to foolery from the past. It also sounded like a focused attack, not any sort of general invasion. Anyone who had read all those books he had could tell the difference. That was all just a bit of background noise though. She'd been an investigative journalist for so long that such simple deductions didn't intrude on the task at hand and the more complex questions of the day. All this while she'd also been talking her road map into triangulating the time of the call with Peckham and the Thames, with the third leg of the triangle being time. Eventually she managed to get a running count down going in tandem with directions. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 14, 2021 6:19:21 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ Tobias had reason to be afraid of the future. There was a reason he had made no active attempts to return to his own time outside of a general enjoyment of the time he was currently within. His memories of the future were a bit muddled- no doubt a side effect of nearly dying and then being constructed into what some humans might have considered a great feat of science that had clearly saved his life- but the last of what he could recall was not at all pleasant. There was some understanding in him that his parents were dead and that some time after that he had not only been turned into a cyborg by people he did not know but had also been casually thrown away when he'd lashed out at them.
Anyone willing to find him from the future wasn't going to be pleasant. He doubted there were any family members out there seeking him out, let alone ones capable of doing so. Anyone who would desire to do so would want to get him involved in things he would object to. Things related to whatever reason had been used to turn him into what he was now.
Of course, Tobias was also an unfinished product and one that happened to malfunction a lot. Perhaps it was only natural that a chase would prove to be the worst situation for him. While he managed to place some distance between him and his pursuer, he eventually found himself coming to a halt, something in whatever caused him to run seemed to cause an effective lag. His brain might have been demanding certain things but the command wasn't being received.
Silently, he began to panic, a feeling that was not helped by the fact that he temporarily could not check if the stranger was closer anymore.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 14, 2021 6:40:12 GMT
She was angry. As far as she could tell, Tobias had been minding his own business. Now this sudden threat. When she heard the young cyborg talk about being made into a toaster, Sarah Jane knew damn well that what he was afraid of was losing his humanity. The protection of humanity had always been her greatest priority. As she drove in a frenzy, she was realizing how deeply important it was that she help preserve the humanity of this human cyborg from the future. It didn't actually help her state of mind to be empathizing with Tobias, but it did make her drive faster. The navigational computer could barely keep up, but this close to the Thames Sarah Jane knew her way. When she reached the point of triangulation, she parked her car at a scofflaw angle and popped out of her vehicle, jump bag over her shoulder. She was flipping open her Detector Watch and calling Tobias at the same time on the phone. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 14, 2021 15:49:33 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ A gentle buzz alerted Tobias to the fact that he was receiving a call. Briefly, he found himself quite glad that he had been told to keep it on silent since this would have been the worst time for it to go off. Though, he wasn't entirely sure if its activity wasn't giving him away. Did the person chasing him have technology that could track things like this? He'd admittedly never paid too much attention in his youth to the finer things in life, particularly because he'd been someone who had just always felt a bit tired by everything. Tobias had never had the energy for much of ruckus humans made about aliens, or particularly daleks, in his time. Vigilance was supposed to be key. However, he'd never been wired that way, lacking in much ambition to do any of the things his parents had or even what those around him desired to. It was probably why the twenty-first century appealed to him. A more peaceful time period mean a more relaxed one.
Move! he thought, only to be both annoyed and panicked as his arm refused to budge from the position he was stuck in. It was made all the worse when the sound of footsteps caught his attention, clearly close enough that he was likely in danger. He echoed the former thought before, finally, being able to continue in the sprint again, just barely avoiding a stray laser shot that would do who knows what.
As curious as he was to look behind, he pressed forward. He needed to get to the Thames and quick. Considering that he had missed whatever call he had gotten, there was a real chance he would be getting there second. That was how these things worked, right?
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 14, 2021 23:43:51 GMT
He wasn't answering. Immediately she was certain that Tobias was in trouble. Damn it. Detector watch at the fore, she ran do down the stairs to the level of the Thames. North. South. Yes, the slightest indication to the South. What was she reading though? Tobias or the life form after him? At this distance, she wasn't sure. Sarah Jane began to run. Even into her 60's, she ran almost like a teenager. She'd run all her life. Down she went by the water. The stink of it was in her nostrils. Every 10 meters or so she stopped to check her Watch again. Shadows she had hoped for, and such she looked into hoping to find the Cyberboy. "Tobias!" she shouted out. "Tobias!" Even if she was calling the the troubling time traveler out, it was worth trying to bring Tobias to her. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 15, 2021 2:28:24 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ It felt like he wasn't creating any distance between them, footsteps still thudding behind himself. For better or worse, his pursuer hadn't sent off anymore shots from whatever weapon she had. Perhaps she was confident she could just catch him? That seemed entirely likely. Chances were that if he glitched out once more he'd be done for and there was no telling if that would happen again. He desperately hoped it wouldn't.
Thankfully, a ray of hope seemed to shine through as he caught sound of Ms. Smith's voice calling him. He didn't know if it had attracted the attention of the person chasing him, but he wasn't about to waste time finding out. "Over here!" he called out loudly.
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sarah jane smith
•
the doctor's best friend
" On the Run Again "
human ✧
Posts: 185
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 25, give or take
Occupation: Keeping the Doctor in one piece
In Love W/: The Doctor
Written By: calamity
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Post by sarah jane smith on Jul 15, 2021 6:01:26 GMT
Laser shot. She knew it well. Any myths she might have thought Tobias was playing with went out the window. The metal man was in serious trouble. Sarah Jane felt a wave of angst. He seemed like such a tender young fellow. It seemed unfair that someone was after him. Clearly though, someone who had technology well beyond projectiles was looking for the same person she was. Damn, this was going to be tricky. So what did she know and what could she do? These questions raced through her mind, answering themselves just about as soon as she asked them of herself. Whomever was seeking Tobias was most likely made of flesh and blood. Since they'd missed and all. And Tobias could likely see in the dark. Why? Because who wouldn't add that to their robot? A guess, admittedly, but her speculation wasn't key to her next move. Having run under the overpass, spurred by a voice hailing back, Sarah Jane first went high, making certain to show her silhouette against the outside light, then ducking low and dashing hard against the wall. She wanted to see where the shooter was at. 15 meters up and off to the other side. This was going to be close. "Can you see in the dark?" Her voice was projected just enough to reach Tobias and no one else. Tobias Hardwick
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Tobias Hardwick
•
part human, part machine
" "
hybrid ✧
Posts: 74
Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 33
Occupation: Unemployed
In Love W/: No One
Written By: Momo
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Post by Tobias Hardwick on Jul 16, 2021 2:14:09 GMT
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧ Tobias had definitely not been made to focus on so much so quickly. It was a fact he knew from experience since it normally caused him to freeze up. While he could certainly take it a bit more than humans, trying to do so quickly never ended well. Naturally, that made this current situation of trying to fixate on Sarah Jane, getting out into the open, and speaking a bit difficult. It should all be possible and perhaps it would be, but he didn't want to tempt fate by actually adding things to that list.
Confusion filled him at the question. "Yes," he said, his voice not nearly as careful in its projection. He didn't really get why it mattered that he was capable of seeing in the dark. Was Ms. Smith planning something?
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