ten_fwd | Operation: Amy Pond's Blind Dating Service is a go!

The redhead has been sitting at a table for a while now.

She hasn't made a fuss or otherwise stood out too much, but the keen eye will know she's been looking more gutted as the minutes tick on. Not so long ago, her husband left the ship* — all fine and well, he's gone off to find the Doctor and their way back home, though why Amy couldn't go with him is still beyond her. She's actually hoping that Q character shows up so she can punch him in the nose.

He doesn't, though. But you know what does start happening? Happy, smiling faces. People falling in love (like really in love, what's that about?). Romance, dinners. Is it Valentine's Day?

"Oh, bollocks," she mutters, because now she misses Stupid Face even more.

She can't be the only one, though. Lots of people here have been taken far from home, lots more even who don't have anyone they know by their side. For a moment she takes some comfort in that, but then it gets her thinking. What about that lot? What are we supposed to do when all these people are mooning over each other in plain view?

She looks to the left. She looks to the right. And then Mrs. Amelia Jessica Pond-Williams climbs up on her chair and stands on the table and shouts so the whole room can hear her.

"All right, everyone! Listen up! Lots of us spent Christmas on this boat away from home, so I say if we're gonna be stuck here for another holiday while everyone's spoutin' love at each other, maybe we should get to know each other better. Those of us who're here alone or separated from our loved ones, that is. Well, anyone! Point is, Amy Pond's Dating Service is now open! If you want to meet someone, today's your lucky day," she says, with a grand sweep of her hand.

She dismounts and strides over to the bar to see if she can get some serviettes to write on. Oh, right. Paper isn't much of a thing here, is it? To the replicator it is.

A few minutes later, there's a sign sitting on her table in colourful reds and pinks, and she's holding a clipboard in her hands.

~*BLIND DATING SIGN-UPS*~

[ *There will be a PL posted soon with more info about that! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oi, it's a fully-baked scheme, I'll have you know," she fires right back, swatting away his finger.

She's left to assume you're interested, Shout-aro. Why else would you step up?

"And you better watch your mouth or I'll set you up with someone horrid," she says.

He looked at her, aghast. "You're not setting me up with anyone! Matchmaking isn't for detectives." He swept his fingers along his hat. "This life is far too dangerous for just any dame..."

She tries to hold it in, she really does... except she isn't trying very hard. She laughs, making a soft "pah!" sound.

"Yeah, all right," she snickers, rolling her eyes.

"Some detective you are. You can't even find your own love-life."

He leaned in her face. "I can find it just fine! There's plenty of beautiful women waiting for me at home! I don't need something like this during one of the biggest cases of my life. It's just a distraction." He really ought to lie better for being a detective.

"Just a distraction?" she repeats. "Oi, where have you been for the last couple of months? You don't call fancy dress parties, magical mistletoe, or piglets runnin' through the halls 'just a distraction'?"

It's mad where he draws his lines.

(And completely unconvincing. You'd think for a detective he'd be harder to figure out.)

"I think maybe you just don't want anyone distractin' you from your partner," she adds.

"H-how could something distract me from my partner? We've been through worse things than this!" Like an actually-dead partner? And nearly dying himself more than once. And maybe his volume was coming up more than a little.

Strangely, Amy's voice doesn't rise at all. Not like her eyebrow does, anyway.

"You are, by far, the most thick-headed man I've ever met," she says, shaking her head softly.

Uncrossing her arms, she leans in a bit.

"An' that's saying somethin'!"

"Who the hell are you calling thick, you meddlesome woman!" Now he was just getting mad on principle.

"What's the matter, can't hear me through that big block on your neck?" she yells back.

Proving her point, Shoutaro.

"Or are you just afraid?"

Oh-ho, she went there all right.

He shouted indignantly. "What could there possibly be to be afraid of?"

"Findin' out there's someone out there you want to be with in more ways than just business!" she volleys right back.

(And she doesn't just mean a blind date, but rather admitting the reason he doesn't want to might have something to do with only wanting to spend time with Philip.)

"Or worryin' you won't be good enough, maybe," she adds, crossing her arms; "scared you can't spend five minutes with someone new if it doesn't have anything to do with a case!"

Okay that got under his skin. He damn well was good enough. "I meet with people all the time when it doesn't have to do with a case. There's a couple of my information brokers back home I would do karaoke with all the time! I don't need you to help with my social life!" Okay maybe he did need help.

"Really?" she counters, eyebrows arched; "so where's that boy, then?"

She's not heard about his karaoke-ing before, and whenever he's caught in a fancy dress party here he seems too focused on figuring it out rather than just having some fun.

(All right, it was kind of annoying to be taken by surprise in fancy dress, but her point still stands.)

"They're girls! And they're still at home. Come to think of it I haven't had a good karaoke session since we got here..." Okay maybe he did need to relax some. He huffed in annoyance but a lot of the heat was out of his general bluster.

"I meant you, you dummy!" she shouts.

Honestly, this is what she has to work with. But he's losing the attitude, which means Amy relaxes, too. She was never angry to begin with, they just always end up shouting for some reason.

(That reason being he's the little brother she never had.)

"That's my point, Shotaro," she sighs, waving her arms in the general direction of her sign and clipboard; "when's the last time any of us went for karaoke, or dancin', or just to meet someone new when it didn't have anything to do with what they might know about Q or the ship or how to get us home?"

He rested his hands at his belt line and still looked sour about it. "None of that means you get to drag me into something like this!"

She smiles at him, and bats at his arm.

"No, my wit and superior good looks, and the fact that you're my flatmate and you like me, do," she quips.

Welcome to the new world where you have a second best friend, Shotaro.

This world is new and scary and he doesn't like it. "Who said anything about me liking you, huh? Do you strongarm all your friends into stuff like this?"

Somehow that's what he takes issue with.

"Don't try to deny it," she says, half-scolding and half-teasing.

She knows you secretly like her. There's no going back now.

"I'm not strong-arming you into anything. Yet," she points out. "Who knows, maybe you're on the list, and maybe you're not."

If he's going to be a brat, then so will she.

"I don't believe for a second you're not putting me on that list. You'll probably think it's funny to match me with Philip since you seem to think I'm in love with him or something!" Which is totally not a thing that's true.

Eyebrows go up.

"Does that mean you want me to match you with Philip?" she asks.

Honestly, who said anything about Philip? She's blameless this time!

Operation: Amy Pond's Blind Dating Service is a go!

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