(Untitled)

[notjustastory]

[OOI: Before.]

There's a man standing in the middle of the lobby, staring at his pocketwatch as if it holds the secret of existence. (Which it doesn't.)

(Well, not anymore, that is.)

Comments

[impossible_thng]

What Mr. Smith needs is probably not a rather attractive man wearing a World War I uniform, who blinks at him as he stares at the pocketwatch and then asks, "Doctor?"

But whether or not he needs it, it's what he's getting just now.

[notjustastory]

He jumps, the watch falling from his hand.

"I'm not... I...."

"It didn't work. Why didn't it work?"

The voice is wrong; accent too proper, tone too panicked.

[impossible_thng]

Jack's quick to catch on. He's been a Time Agent. He's travelled with the Doctor. He's worked with Torchwood, off and on, essentially since it started.

And he's not stupid.

He can tell that if this is the Doctor, there's something happened to him, something changed him... so he'll go with it.

Jack gets to his feet and walks over to the... not-Doctor, with a friendly, comforting smile. He rests one hand on the man's shoulder and asks gently, "What didn't work?"

Between the uniform and the calm, even tone, he is clearly Someone in Charge. Or at least, he gives off that vibe. It makes it very easy to trust him.

[notjustastory]

"The watch... it... I was supposed to-"

die

"-change back. Stop them."

[theresme]

Rose hasn't been travelling with the new Doctor long, but she knows that if this is the Doctor, something has gone very wrong. The Doctor never looks as... uncertain and... proper.

Plus the outfit's all wrong.

She frowns, pursing her lips a little. "Doctor?"

[notjustastory]

He looks up-

He knows that face.

Has dreamed of her, repeatedly.

In my dream she keeps walking away.

The only face in his journal to actually have a name, and....

"You're real."

[theresme]

She blinks.

Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't... that.

"Um... last time I checked, yeah," she says with a slightly awkward smile, absently twisting a bit of her hair around her finger, in a nervous gesture she always denies she still does.

[notjustastory]

"Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just... I know you, and I shouldn't, and I'm here, and I shouldn't be, and everything I thought i knew has been completely turned upside down, and-"

The voice may not be right, but the babble is pretty much the same, yeah?

[smithnjones]

Martha had been on her way out really.

Of course, it's hard to leave when she sees who's there.

She blinks rapidly and swallows, unsure of how to react to this right now.

"Mister Smith?" It's habit really.

[notjustastory]

"Martha?"

Finally, someone who recognizes him instead of the Doctor.

"Joan... the village. Is... did he-?"

[smithnjones]

"They're fine. They're all just fine." Martha pauses, and then she approaches slowly. "Because of you."

She takes in a shaky breath and looks up at him, memories of those months still vibrant with pain and emotion in her mind. "Thank you."

[notjustastory]

Thank God.

He nearly slumps in relief at the news.

And then he blinks, because of all the things he'd expected to hear from this woman-

(his would be executioner)

-'thank you' is not one of them.

[allthroughtime]

Here, have a certain someone who's going to look very familiar.

The Doctor is just staring. He had been doing something else, getting ready to leave, actually, but it seems he's gotten a bit sidetracked what with his doppleganger standing there.

Oh, the Inn had a sick sense of humour, it does.

[notjustastory]

Truly evil.

Now the question is which one of them is going to manage to say something first.

[allthroughtime]

Oh, don't you worry, the Doctor won't be silent for too much longer.

He's on his feet a few moments latter, noting the fob watch and then smiles. "Well," he starts. "It's better than dying, isn't it?"

[notjustastory]

"Is it?" Rough voiced.

"Can I leave this place, then? Go back to my life, my job-"

(Joan)

"-or am I to be locked away for the rest of my existence, like a bird in a cage?"

[smithnjones]

((OOC: WHO ARE YOU?))