[closed]

[tellmeiamreal]

Who: Luke and the Doctor (open to Asch)
What: The Doctor has an idea for controlling Luke's hyperresonance
Where: The Fountain
When: Now

Comments

[it_was_the_best]

It was the wet that bothered the Doctor, not the cold. He could tolerate a lot more cold. As it was, by the time he came up to the fountain, the rain was soaking through his tweet jacket, and making his bowtie droop. Not cool. At his side trotted a spotted cat, looking even more unhappy to be damp.

The Doctor smiled when he saw the young man, though, sitting by the fountain. He'd liked Luke and best to keep a friendly face on anyway, if this wasn't Luke.

"Luke or Asch?" he called out.

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke jumped to his feet eagerly.

"I'm Luke! Are you the Doctor?"

It hadn't occurred to him that someone might have difficulty telling him and Asch apart. Oops. It was probably a good thing Asch wasn't here. He tended to be over-sensitive about these things.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. Luke showed him the screen of his communicator, with the red creeping towards their location. "I'm not feeling anything yet, but..."

His stomach was fluttering. What if the Doctor couldn't help? What if he lost control again? What if he hurt people?

Don't think about that now! he told himself.

[it_was_the_best]

The Doctor has been reasonably sure that this was Luke, but checked in case Asch was sensitive it. Once he saw them both, he probably wouldn't have any trouble.

He grinned at Luke. "Yes, I'm the Doctor. Hello, Luke."

He glanced down at the communicator. "We're running out of safer spots, it seems."

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke swallowed nervously. He wasn't quite sure just how the Doctor's treatment would work, but he had a feeling that he would have to actually be in a hyperresonant state for it to be successful. Else how would he know the frequency?

He clenched his hands by his side into fists. He knew what he had to do.

"There's a red spot nearby," he said determinedly. "If I move over there and start a hyperresonance, do you think you could neutralise it when it starts?," he asked.

[it_was_the_best]

The Doctor slipped a hand in his pocket and pulled a metal device out about six inches long. He did a neat, precise flip with it, and when it was firmly back in his hand, the end of it glowed green.

"Yes. Sonic screwdriver. Should be able to pick up your frequency, modulate it, bounce it back to you, and bam! Cancellation."

The tricky part, he thought, was finding the right setting before the resonance built to danger levels. Without stumbling across one that amplified the hyperresonance, either. Nevertheless, outwardly he radiated absolute confidence. Following his intuition and acting quickly and decisively rarely let him down.

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke took a deep breath and shuffled over to the other side of the court, where the nearest red zone was.

"Don't...don't try and help me if I fall over," he warned over his shoulder. "It hurts, but I'll be fine."

He stood for a moment, and waited.

A short high-pitched ringing sound was his only warning. Luke cried out sharply, clutching his head in pain as his body started to glow with golden light. A fierce buzzing hum filled the air and Luke dropped to his knees, panting in agony.

[it_was_the_best]

The Doctor held up his screwdriver, taking readings as soon as Luke started moving away from him.

That looked peculiarly like the glow that was part of regeneration and it painful throws, the Doctor noted, while he flipped through wave lengths and amplitudes. His screwdriver whined louder and louder and the air shuddered, hard enough to nearly make someone stagger.

"I see. Just a little...out of phase," he muttered. He flicked his wrist and then it was like the inversion of a boom.

Silence.

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke blinked, staying perfectly still, almost afraid to breathe. One moment ago his whole existence had been a full-body scream, and now there was...

...nothing.

He flexed his fingers and toes experimentally. They still worked. Groaning, he carefully rose to his feet.

"Did it work?"

[it_was_the_best]

The Doctor hurried over to Luke.

"It definitely arrested the hyperresonance. Yes. I suspect it will take a while - or a a lot of stress - for your body to build up to producing those levels again." He got close and peered at Luke's face, checking to see how bad a shape the young man was actually in. "I am almost certain it will, eventually. But safe for now. Let's move a little away from the red zone."

He held out a hand, offering to support Luke as they moved.

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke took the Doctor's hand. He was still a bit wobbly, but he could quickly feel his strength returning. He was tempted to force himself to stand up straight, to prove he wasn't weak, but it seemed rude to refuse an genuine offer of help.

"Wow..." he said, after he'd regained his bearings. "That was amazing. You managed to stop my hyperresonance with one little tool?"

[it_was_the_best]

The Doctor wrapped a cooler than human hand around Luke's, firmly, until he was sure Luke was steady on his feet.

"I happened to have the right tool. Although I've spent some time making into a tool with a lot of uses," he admitted. "I might be able to build you something that you can carry around that emit the counter wave, for the future. It depends on what exactly I can find around here."

[tellmeiamreal]

His eyes widened. "Do you really think you could do that? I wouldn't be able to thank you enough."

Luke rubbed his hands on his coat absent-mindedly. His hyperesonance had made him feel uncomfortably hot, but now his body was rapidly getting cold again. And the Doctor must be even colder, judging by how his hand had felt.

He tucked his arms under this coat for warmth. "Do you think we should maybe find some shelter? I can contact Asch..."

He trailed off. Something was bothering him. Had he forgotten something? Something the Doctor had said earlier? Something about--

not being human

No, he told himself, it couldn't be true.

[it_was_the_best]

At the word 'shelter' the cat that had been following the Doctor around let out a pitiful sounding mew from where it had huddled up by the fountain.

The Doctor let out a snort and went over crouch by the cat. "I would get one with Opinions, wouldn't I? Ever the way. What am I going to do if you get bigger, hmm?" He picked her up, large armful though she was, stood, and turned back to Luke.

"Shelter before too long seems like a good idea."

[tellmeiamreal]

He hunched down to eye level with the cat. "It's cute. Is that your familiar?" He'd had one -- a cheegle -- last time he'd been here, but he hadn't seen it lately. Then again, he'd just gotten back here, and he'd been constantly moving. If it was here, in the city, it would find him. It always seemed to.

Luke bit his lip. He kind of wanted to ask this "not human" stuff but he couldn't think of a polite way to ask. Maybe it really had been just a joke? If it was, and he asked, Luke would be making a fool of himself.

[it_was_the_best]

"Hmm. Gestalt? Familiar? She looks like a sort of cat that lived in the mountains back home." He smiled, but it was sad and wistful. "I suppose the form fits the role."

He sighs. "They weren't really pets, but sometimes they'd take a liking to someone. The smell of the person, or how their minds felt, maybe. One would come curl up at the feet of an old teacher of mine. That one was much bigger than this. I think. I was just a kid and it's been centuries..."

He eyes unfocus a little, but then the car nuzzled his at his face and he shook himself out it.

[tellmeiamreal]

Luke smiled. "I think I've heard them referred to as "Gesalts" as well. Apparently they're parasites that feed on our excess energy or something."

He reached over to give the cat a slight pet on the head.

"So...what world are you from?," he asked. Now was as good a time as any to broach the subject, he figured.