Tears of a Swan [Active/Open]

[swanbydawn]

Character(s): Odette, The Doctor (Eleventh), Seraph Lamington
Content: Princess Odette wakes up from a peaceful slumber and finds herself in Paixao.
Setting: Starts at Joutenheim Gate, ends up at Jogo da Crianca.
Time: Night, Week 26
Warnings: None.

Comments

[shout_geronimo]

The Doctor had been wandering around, whistling an Irish love ballad (he really should go there for a visit once he got out of this place; it had literally been ages since his previous visit). So far, this city was... well, frankly it was a combination of interesting and boring. Interesting because the people and places weren't quite right (and he'd always held a fondness for a good mystery), and boring because... well. Time passed incredibly slowly when it was going by in the normal, minute-by-minute way. The Time Lord sighed, hands in his pockets, as he walked through yet another part of town he hadn't been in before.

At first, he simply passed by the swan, not thinking anything of her - but wait. There had not been a single actual animal he'd lain his eyes on since arriving here; there were paintings of mystical creatures and the like, but nothing other than visitors and those unnervingly cookie-cutter humans (well, artificial humans, from the look of it - but no, that didn't work either) were here so far. The Doctor spun around

[swanbydawn]

Odette hadn't even noticed the man walking by, so caught up in her own despair and confusion as she was. But she couldn't help but notice as he stooped on the edge of the pool and leaned right into her face. She gasped and flapped her wings in surprise, fluttering backwards to the center of the pool, violet-blue eyes wide.

As she watched him, she found herself relaxing a little. She'd never seen such strange manner of dress (or such a haircut!) and his rapid-fire way of speaking only confused her more, but he seemed more curious than malevolent.

Tears momentarily forgotten, she paddled closer to the Doctor. After his introduction, she tilted her head. Did he expect her to talk? Oh, if only she could in this form. She sighed silently.

[shout_geronimo]

Hm. Judging by the streak of yellow on the swan's head and the color of her eyes, this wasn't an ordinary swan at all - but she didn't look quite like any of the subspecies the Doctor had seen on his travels. Perhaps she was a new one, pulled in from the future. Or a construct, perhaps. Or...

His thought train skidded unceremoniously to a halt as he noticed one very important thing. Oh, but he was thick. Why was he so thick? He sat on the ground, a gentle, concerned look taking over his face. "You've been crying," he noted. "And that means you're definitely not a swan." He gestured for her to come nearer, the better to figure out what was really going on here.

[swanbydawn]

She drew back her head in embarrassed surprise. She had forgotten all about her own tears! Odette turned her head away but moved towards the edge of the pool obediently. Something about this strange man seemed to brook no argument, and besides, she was in no position to argue anyway. The very fact that he had come to the conclusion she was no ordinary swan was a blessing in itself.

Slowly turning her head back towards him, she gazed up at the Doctor with very expressive, very human eyes, pleading and haunted.

[shout_geronimo]

The Doctor looked seriously at Odette, reaching out a hand towards her. "I'm going to have a look around," he told her, laying a hand on top of her head. "Don't worry, it won't hurt. I'm just going to see what happened to you. You don't have to do this, but it'll just be like showing me your memories." A pause, then: "also, we'll be able to communicate as long as I'm in contact with you and you're thinking. Thinking's very important."

With that, he looked back down at her and waited for the press of foreign thoughts in his mind to let him know what she decided.