...Que.

[talktothehandsy]

Handy (or the Doctor, or John, or whotever people decide to call him, though he prefers the last), is here to ramble about his impending death.

"So um. Right! I'm a spin-off of the Doc, yeah? Some think I'm him, some think I'm just myself. Guess the jury's still out on all that, but...

See, I've got a problem. A big, random-repeating-of-words

Comments

[sarah_branigan]

A young woman in an old-fashioned nursing uniform pauses at the question.

"There isn't any way to save your body?" She asks. "Is it because it's designed not to age?" She frowns. "A fever can cause brain trauma but that usually means there's an infection somewhere."

[talktothehandsy]

Oh lovely. A normal human who had no idea what he was talking about. How delightfully helpful! He doesn't voice any of his thoughts aloud, though, only slumping a little and giving her a nod.

"I don't actually have a fever; I feel fine far as that goes. My skin's too hot, though. ...Doesn't burn anyone or anything, I'm just unnaturally warm to the touch. Anyway I'll be talking and it'll start-" and 'start' was repeated about six times, too quick, repetitive, almost robotic, like a computer when it's frozen. "...erm, it'll do that."

He blushes to the tips of his ears, embarrassed. He hated when it did that around people.

"You got a name, love?"

[sarah_branigan]

She blinks at the word repetition. That's not something she's witnessed often. She smiles gently, trying to ease his embarrassment. "How long has that been happening?"

She offers a hand. "Sarah Branigan. And... I'm sorry, I'm trying to understand things here. You're the Doctor but you're also not? I know a Doctor who looks just like you, but he definitely isn't human."

[talktothehandsy]

Even lovelier, someone who knew the Doctor. But she's nice, so he clamps down on his Donna-induced rudeness and gives her a bright, big, toothy grin.

"Hullo, Sarah! Lovely to meet you. It's been going on for a few months now, on and off, though it's startin' to get more frequent, when it used to be kind of rare. Anddd - that would be me, yep. The 'also not' part. I'm a clone of him, but I'm - not him, y'know? Too different. You can call me John, if you want. Or Johnny. Whichever. He's not human, no - technically I'm half-human, half-what he is."

Belatedly he realizes she's offered a hand, so he takes it, giving it a shake.

[witfrommytongue]

Well now, that's a lot of words for not a lot being said, and Ziggy, lounging nearby, arches an eyebrow. He's no doctor (nor Doctor, for that matter), but neither is he human, and these things do happen. What's this one's story, he wonders? Wonders enough, in fact, that he unfolds himself from his chair to ambulate over with the lazy curiosity of the not entirely sober.

In his platforms, he's about equal to Handy/the Doctor/John's height, but the way he leans back on his hips as he watches him makes him look shorter. Thin lips curl in a wry, tolerant smile.

'Repeat yourself in fewer words, babe? Corporeality is complex enough already without running away with your tongue.'

[talktothehandsy]

He whirls his head around to look at him, noticing the man's hair first (and being absolutely delighted with it) then noticing the man's general output second. There's enough Timelord to know this isn't really a human, which serves him better, really - when he'd started thinking in terms of what 'served him best' when it came to people, he wasn't sure. Ah, well. 'Least he recognized him.

He frowns when he's asked to repeat himself. What kind of idiot couldn't catch the jist of that with all the explaining he'd done and-oh, right. Fewer words.

Blankly, "I'm dying." It takes all the power within his person not to add a long diatribe about the how of it, or the time he dyed his hair red once, how that hadn't worked out and how the 'not working out' portion involved both looking horrible and going blind for a week.

He does, however, add, "Because my brain isn't big enough for everything I know."

[witfrommytongue]

Ziggy nods.

That's all; no awkwardness, no gushing sympathy, just a nod, because that's interesting. If Ziggy was going to die- and he will eventually, he suspects; mortality shoulders its way into one's awareness more often than usual, on this planet- dying of having too much in his head would be a good way to go. Poetic. Symbolic.

Still, it's not like he can't sympathise with the man. Humans don't usually have to think about the fact that they're dying; they like to put it off. This one's facing it straight on, and it's little wonder he doesn't like what he sees. Not that Ziggy makes the mistake of thinking he's quite human, but it would take a better eye than his to tell what exactly he is

[talktothehandsy]

It's a relief, the matter-of-fact way in which he's taking it in and going on about it - he really doesn't want sympathy, or pity. Even if he's royally pissed that the short human life he'd been given was being cut even shorter

[chanyestho]

Yeah, this? This'll just be Chantho internally freaking the hell out. "Chan -- dying -- tho?"

[talktothehandsy]

He nearly falls over with glee. He hasn't seen her since she - you know - died, and he's happy to.

"Yeah, dying. How're you, Blue?"

[chanyestho]

She's gotten a lot better at being able to recognize when people are alternates and such; living here for over a year would do that to anybody. And she's vaguely familiar with metacrisis half-Doctors. She knows one fairly well, in fact, and though his problems manifest in a different way than how this one is describing, she's still able to recognize enough similarities between the two to both guess at what's going on, and be scared for this pseudo-acquaintance.

"Chan -- that is terrible though! Surely you could find ... find some sort of help around here -- tho. Chan -- you shouldn't give up and accept that that is happening to you -- tho."

[talktothehandsy]

He shoves his hands in his pockets, rocking back on the heels of his feet.

"I haven't given up, love. S'why I'm here, after all. Looking for help, advice," he waves a hand dismissively, "What have you."