[holo] - Not so much helping, are we.

May 13, 2009 22:50

The Doctor perches his tablet on the edge of the TARDIS' console, staring bleakly down at the information gathered for him by Ianto. He'd run the data through his head at least  ten dozen times, run it through the TARDIS' computer, and then, just for good measure, had run it through every single piece of stinkingly obsolete technology he had ( Read more... )

{ the doctor (tenth au), { river song, { ianto jones

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[visual] songofspoilers May 14 2009, 05:14:21 UTC
"Nice to see you're staying positive about it, at least." Have the patented look of River sarcasm, all smiles and smugness, Doctor.

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[visual] who_never_would May 14 2009, 05:32:43 UTC
The smile on the Doctor's face drains off. It's replaced by a snide smirk that doesn't quite fit on the man's face, almost as if he'd learned the expression in self-defense at one point and had never gotten its vagaries completely memorized.

"Well, we can't all be gigantic balls of mope in the face of failure, now can we?"

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 05:42:21 UTC
"So that's it, is it? No way out, thank you very much, good evening and good night?" The look of incredulity that he's even using the word failure not hidden on her face.

"I hope that wasn't a dig at me, by the way." Knowing full well that she doesn't accept her own failure well at all, not until she's shouted at it, sulked about it and finally beaten it. All points he's more than aware of.

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who_never_would May 14 2009, 05:52:00 UTC
"Sorry, what were you expecting? That I'd just swing in with my pretty time-traveling ship and be all Mighty Mouse, 'HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAAAAAY?' and make everything better and perfect for everyone?" The Doctor cannot sing, but he belts out the Mighty Mouse theme with purity of conviction he's rather famous for. All of the manic energy vanishes, and the Doctor's shoulders slump a bit.

"It's not a dig at anyone, River, it's just a statement. Always was very like you to assume that everything revolved around your little universe and your short little life." There is an edge of cruelty on his tone of voice that is, again, foreign.

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 06:09:23 UTC
"Well not quite, no," she vaguely wonders if mentioning what the reaction to that kind of arrival would be, is witty or misjudged. She decides misjudged, and puts the amused wry smile away as quickly as it arrived.

Yes it's foreign and it also touches on a very raw nerve. "My short life as you put it, was shortened in lieu of yours. Or have you forgotten that minor detail in all your years of brooding and self pity?" Yes she's upset now, but she's letting the anger use the hard set of her jaw, instead. It's an effective tool at biting back emotion.

"You know what, forget I replied at all." And with that she cuts the transmission, she can't deal with this.

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who_never_would May 14 2009, 06:22:29 UTC
"Brooding and self-pity?" snaps the Doctor in the middle of River's sentence, unveiling irritation and hurt. He's been good about not interrupting recently, he really has been, but this woman has a way of setting him off like no one in the entire cosmos. "I spend a thousand years defending the future of humanity making sure ungrateful gits like you didn't make yourselves extinct before you were supposed to, and you accuse me of being self-pitying. I could have left you and the lot of you stinking apes to die centuries ago, trust me it would have been easier ( ... )

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 06:41:56 UTC
She can't reconnect, the tablet is staying firmly closed. She really wishes she wasn't right now, and if she could stop herself she would, but she's crying. And there's no way in hell she's letting him see that he's reduced her to tears, she hates herself for it. She even knows he doesn't mean half of what he said, it's just a reflex reaction. At least she hopes it is. God she hopes he hasn't become that bitter.

Momentarily she considers opening the tablet again, but instead she flings it off the desk in a battle of conflicted emotion. The tear stained River storms out of her office determined to beat this and not give in to her emotions. Her own stubbornness her own worst enemy.

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[Location: River's Beachside Villa] who_never_would May 14 2009, 07:38:01 UTC
The Doctor bites down fiercely on his lower lip, and then looks at River's dot on his tablet. No one hangs up on him. He hangs up on other people. He *always* hangs up on other people, and damn the cheek of that woman, he will not have her hanging up on him. Pulling up River's coordinates, the Doctor plugs them into the TARDIS and trusts that his ship has good enough sense not to materialize right on top of the archaeologist.

When the TARDIS is finished with her vwoorp vwoorping about, the Doctor throws open the door, puts on his best, bravest, angry face, and bellows, "Oi! No one hangs up on me! Not you, not anyone!"

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 07:54:34 UTC
The vwoorp vwoorping gives her enough time to splash her face with cold water thankfully, and shake this stupid emotional outburst she's allowed herself. Not to mention disguise the fact she'd been crying, even though he would probably be able to tell, if he bothered looking, that is ( ... )

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who_never_would May 14 2009, 08:15:08 UTC
The Doctor shudders at the state of River's office, making sure he doesn't break anything as he storms out to follow the sound of her voice. This is an argument that's taken place before, shouted across the house - flickers of that memory flash into head for a second, and he struggles to clear them away. He knows where she's standing, just by virtue of his sensitive hearing, and from the acoustics of her home. "No," he shouts back, "I am not normal people, and I am not a stupid. Stinking. Ape!" He slams the door to River's office so he doesn't have to look back at the mess. The rest of her home is fine. Most of the time, at least. He hopes it is today, because blimey, he doesn't have any of the resilience he used to against that sort of visual chaos. "And you will not ignore me!" he bellows, taking the stairs two at a time to come face to face with River on the upper floor landing. He manages not to trip up the stairs, or fall back down them for that matter, which he has a tendency to do when he's in a hurry ( ... )

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 09:11:45 UTC
Once he's leapt his way up the stairs, her jaw is set so firmly and her lips smashed together so tightly in a melange of fury and resolute intent not to show even the slightest hint of weakness, she's a little taken aback by his pause and she swallows in return, almost mimicking his action.

She wasn't expecting him to concede to her point so readily and it leaves her speechless momentarily, a stinging in her eyes that she somehow manages to dissolve by sheer willpower alone and a concerted effort not to blink.

And then he proves to her exactly why she wasn't expecting it, because it was all just to prove a point.

"The idea of the door, is a concept developed centuries ago, used as a way of keeping uninvited guests out. I probably have a book on it somewhere if you'd like to gen up on it, it's a basic social skill you might find useful." She bites back.

"And actually. Yes. I do. If I want to!"

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who_never_would May 14 2009, 09:12:06 UTC
Clambering back up the stairs, the Doctor catches one of his feet on the underside of one of the steps, nearly falls flat on his face - manages not to, and then returns to the landing, standing with his hands in his pockets. His dark eyes drop to his black Converses, his white dress-shirt in mild disarray from all the movement. He lacks his suit-coat at the moment ( ... )

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songofspoilers May 14 2009, 09:51:37 UTC
"That's not..." true, she was going to say, and she actually shuts up as he continues. Him standing before her, looking like he needs her more then he ever did before as she semi guides the book back to the shelf with him, neither taking it nor refusing it. Her hand touches his, resting on top of of his fingers for a second, a subtle offer of comfort before she withdraws just as tentatively ( ... )

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who_never_would May 14 2009, 23:05:43 UTC
Long fingers grip the banister tightly as the Doctor stops in his tracks, staring at the front door with cold eyes. "Why?" and his own voice cracks, becoming half-whisper and half snarl. Cold rage rises up in his chest, and he's back up the stairs and shouting five inches from River's face before he can really pause to think. "Why?" his hands dart out with that inhuman quickness to grab at her shoulders. "So you can keep on shouting at me when there's no one else to shout at? So you can seal yourself up in this house and ignore me when it's emotionally inconvenient for you to engage? Marriage isn't about who wins, River, it's not about winning or losing or proving a point! It's about loving someone so much that you can't imagine a world without them, and ( ... )

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songofspoilers May 15 2009, 15:52:08 UTC
"Don't even think about calling me on that," she says coldly, disconnecting herself as much as she can, but it's hard when he's so close and he feels so real. The first real thing she's felt since the Library, his hands are grabbing her shoulders forcefully, but they're solid hands, hands she never thought she'd feel again. It reminds her of being pinched to prove something isn't a dream, a rude awakening -- this is real and she's alive, and they're the first hands she would have hoped for, even in their anger.

"I'm not the one that left forever to avoid this. I might immerse myself in my work, but I've always been there for you. Always a shoulder to cry on, always there to listen and not pass judgement ( ... )

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who_never_would May 15 2009, 21:22:36 UTC
Mouth agape, he withdraws, shock horribly apparent in his eyes. And when she tells him that he's free to go, that's when the Doctor's grip goes from forceful to desperate, dropping from her shoulders just long enough to wrap his skinny arms around her. He presses his nose into the crook of her neck and outright sobs into her collarbone, the entirety of his thin frame shaking. It's like he shrinks, suddenly fragile and small, collapsing in on himself bit by bit. The control he had, his own emotional distance, all of that disintegrates as he clings to her, ancient rage, bitterness all defeated by the simple gesture of touch. Breath ragged in his throat, he digs his fingers into the fabric at her back, hardly able to speak ( ... )

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