Comments | alwayscoward: On the value of proper TARDIS maintenance

alwayscoward

On the value of proper TARDIS maintenance

Aug 10, 2008 02:45

When the TARDIS finally comes to a stop, the Doctor thinks that maybe Jack had a point about the TARDIS needing a tune-up after sitting in Cardiff for three months. Stupid of her, not to listen when he was just trying to keep an eye out for her, but nooo, she's the Doctor, she knows what she's doing ( Read more... )

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dalekmade11 August 11 2008, 08:44:16 UTC

The Doctor has been staring at the TARDIS since it started to appear. It was luck (potentially the bad kind) really that he happened to be in the area. He'd left Ten on another planet, one the clone couldn't get into much trouble on (hopefully). They didn't often spend time apart, but occassionally they liked to have their individual adventures.

If Ten were here, he'd be doing his signature, "Wot? Wot?!" But he's not, so Eleven is filling in with his own version: the 'What the flying fuck' expression.

No words required, but the face speaks volumes.

And then someone steps out of the TARDIS. Not anyone he expects. Rose steps out, except she's not Rose at all. Timelady. No, no this makes absolutely no sense at all. He is the last of his kind. The Doctor walks toward the other TARDIS (his is parked within sight), approaching her.

"Why did you steal Rose's face?" There is a quiet fierceness in the question. Apparently, it is more important to ask that question than even Who are you or How/Why did you get a hold of the TARDIS?No, it ( ... )

alwayscoward August 11 2008, 14:20:46 UTC

The Doctor is not exactly feeling social today, just antsy. She honestly wouldn't have stopped, even if she'd thought he was talking to her, except for the fact that he mentioned Rose.

She stops and whirls around, wide-eyed, expecting, somehow, to see her previous body even though the voice registers are all wrong. And then she doesn't and she's not sure what to think about this. Her mind races down various possibilities, but... there aren't many. The possibility that her rough trip actually sent her tumbling through to a very close parallel universe and that this might be her... well, it doesn't occur to her, somehow.

So until she knows who this man is, she's going to play dumb. "I... I don't know what you're talking about," she says in Rose's voice. Her voice.

dalekmade11 August 11 2008, 20:34:33 UTC

And her voice. If he were more partial to giving into his fierce, subdued anger he might have said that immediately after she speaks, but it's petty so the words get stuck in his throat.

"Rose Tyler." The fierceness is most present in his voice when he says her name. "You're not her. But you sound and look exactly like her and you've got the TARDIS. Well. It must be from a parallel universe, because the TARDIS, mine... is right over there."

The Doctor turns his head and points behind him. The TARDIS is not that easy to see. It's just in the shadows of an empty alleyway, but if one's looking and knows what to look for it's quite obviously there.

"I am the only one left. The last Time Lord." (Of course, Ten is around, too, but he's a clone of himself so it doesn't quite count and it would seriously take away from his words if he said that)

Except now he's faced with another.

alwayscoward August 11 2008, 21:02:32 UTC

TARDIS. If she squints, she can see it, in all its phone box glory. He knows Rose. He's the "last of the Time Lords".

"Oh, bugger," she says, and turns around, fumbles with the key to unlock the TARDIS, and races to the console. The door's open, if the other Doctor would like to follow her.

Inside, she's flipping switches, pushing buttons, and staring at a screen. "Ooooh, no no no no no!"

dalekmade11 August 11 2008, 21:45:58 UTC

The Doctor does follow her. He fully intends to get to the bottom of this, whatever it is.

He stands just within the TARDIS' doorway, just standing there and watching her work the console for a minute, before he steps in further, looking around at the inside of it as he does.

Then he settles his gaze on her. Rose, but not to the point that it hurts to see Timelady and Rose in the same instance. So not her, but so her in every manner of appearance.

"Who are you?"

alwayscoward August 11 2008, 22:05:22 UTC

It's probably made worse, as the Doctor knows it does for Jack, by the fact that most of the time, she even moves like Rose. Talks like her.

"I've fallen into a parallel universe!" she says with a wince. "Jack told me to do at least a basic scan, some maintenance, but did I listen?"

Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit.

dalekmade11 August 11 2008, 22:53:47 UTC

Jack. And looks like Rose.

This is all starting to sink in, though he can't imagine why or what happened to...

Maybe the parallel universe is completely different. In every manner of the word.

It is made worse, but the Doctor doesn't look away. He walks closer to her and touches her arm, ignoring the twist of wrong and right that invades his every sense.

"Please."

alwayscoward August 11 2008, 23:06:26 UTC

She's not used to being touched. Not by anyone other than Jack, that is. She shies away even from the most casual contact from the Torchwood crew, and she trusts them with her life. Most of the time. But they know not to touch her.

So the contact is unexpected, and she jumps, pulls back. "I... I'm... the Doctor," she says, a bit apologetically. She's sorry for who she is, and not just because he's her. She's always like this.

dalekmade11 August 11 2008, 23:16:07 UTC

Time for the what the flying fuck? expression to make another appearance, even if he had started to suspect it. It's possible that this is a future regeneration, but he can't imagine why- or how it is that he's come to look exactly like her.

"You're... me." His voice is quiet, an empty sort of surprise. He may have suspected it, but he'd hoped he was wrong.

It's not as if he hasn't been wrong before.

"Of course, you are," he says quietly. There aren't other Time Lords anymore unless they're him. Versions of him, whatever, but always him. "But not in my past and you didn't recognize me..." Which can only mean one thing.

They're one and the same regeneration.

The realization hits him. It explains the jumping away she did when he touched her. Something horrible happened in her universe. He's almost afraid to ask, but he will anyway or the question will haunt him.

"What happened?"

alwayscoward August 11 2008, 23:32:22 UTC

What happened? It's a long and complicated story, and she doesn't want to tell it, so she'll summarize. She turns back to the controls, not looking at him, her face hard.

"They died," she says flatly. "Everyone but Jack." Sarah Jane, Martha, Donna, all when she couldn't save them, didn't know they were even in danger. Rose, right in front of her. "It was just me, left. Me and Jack."

dalekmade11 August 12 2008, 00:52:47 UTC

Horrible. His worst fears realized, after he'd thought that it couldn't be worse. Not in this universe, no, but that doesn't seem to matter. There are universes where it is the truth and it hurts more than seeing Rose, but not. It fills him with rage.

Everyone dead. He doesn't even have to know specifics, as they've known so many people, he knows himself well enough to know that the term 'everyone' would not be used so lightly. Everyone. Even one would be too much if the deaths were violent, angry.

"That's why..." the regeneration looks exactly like her. That's why she pulled away from his touch.

alwayscoward August 12 2008, 01:30:57 UTC

"Yeah," she says. Not like the tenth time around. Or the ninth. Like Rose. She hates it.

"Anyway, I'm sorry to have gotten in your way, be out of here in a tic."

The TARDIS whirs and then winds down. The Doctor doesn't even bother protesting or denying it. No banging on the console or frantic switch flipping. She just sighs and leans forward to rest on the console, her head hanging down and hair hanging in her face.

She still only puts it back when Jack gets worried she'll get it caught in something and braids it for her.

"This... would happen."

dalekmade11 August 12 2008, 01:48:21 UTC

"Not in my way. Just was having a little detour before I went to pick up Ten..."

The Doctor looks around the TARDIS as it whirs and winds down. This really is a time for Ten to be here. He turns toward the console to take a look at it himself. He doesn't do the banging, but he does do the quick flip switching. Without the frantic.

"What seems to be the trouble?"

Two Doctors are better than one or so Eleven has found, time and time, again.

alwayscoward August 12 2008, 02:15:40 UTC

She steps back and gestures a bit helplessly. "I don't know. I hadn't used her in months, and I didn't run a diagnostic or do any maintenance. I should've..." She shakes her head. "I don't... know how to do this anymore."

She lets out a short laugh. "God, I sound like a teenaged girl."

Uh, honey? That's because a lot of the hormones in your head this time around are that of a teenaged girl.

dalekmade11 August 12 2008, 04:11:42 UTC

The Doctor nods and has a look at the TARDIS. He can fix much of it, but he thinks it'd probably be better for the other version of himself to remember how to do it herself.

"Sounds like this trip might have been good for you then. Nothing like hanging out with former versions of yourself to jump start the memory of how to... do this. ... Not me, obviously, but Ten. He's well, us before the regeneration."

Not that he looks forward to explaining all of this, again, to Ten, but... This version of himself makes him very sad. For multiple reasons. If anything can help, well, maybe it'd be more painful to hang out with a former version of herself...themselves. But the idea of THREE Doctors in one TARDIS is mind boggling. Hasn't happened in ages. Bollox.

The Doctor smiles just slightly at her. "The fact that you are now... female might have a bit to do with that."

He leans against the console, presses a few other switches, and works on some basic maintenance.

"Take a day or so to get her up and running, again. Course with three of ( ... )

alwayscoward August 12 2008, 04:23:38 UTC

"Oi, shut up, you," she says, with a bit of a smile. Just a hint. A tiny one. But it's there.

And then she frowns, then tilts her head a little. This is starting to get a bit more confusing than she can follow.

"Wait... you're saying you travel with a previous regeneration? How do you manage to avoid a paradox?" It's almost intriguing enough to make her forget that she's miserable.

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