θ 3

[bit_impossible]

[currently, the Doctor is crawling on the floor in the entrance of the ballroom, occasionally stopping to look and feel under the couches for something. he doesn't show it, but he's been rather shaken up--and he certainly is not happy]

Come on out! I know you're here somewhere. You've got to be! I felt you before you--[he pauses, his hand

Comments

[bonnypiperlad]

[There is a tremendously loud BANG as the door slams open and hits the wall, and Jamie runs through it into the room. He quickly shuts it and turns around, only to see the Doctor crawling about on the floor. What is he doing?]

...Doctor?

[bit_impossible]

[he narrowly misses hitting his head on a table before sitting up] Jamie! I thought you might have been one of those hands running out of ballroom.

Hold on a mo'... What do I look like to you?

[bonnypiperlad]

Hands? I've not seen any of those, just that corpse outside. [There's a snort, then.] Ye look too tall. I don't like ye being so tall, Doctor.

[That...wasn't what he was going to say, and Jamie blinks, looking a bit puzzled.]

[bit_impossible]

Yeah, I saw one as--wait, what do you mean you don't like be being this tall? It's not like I consciously made the decision to be. I was almost this tall when I ran into you on Space Station Chimera! Did you have a problem then?

[bonnypiperlad]

Space Station Shimmery? [Jamie is somewhat confused by the unfamiliar-sounding place, having not been there yet in his time-line.] I thought the place we met Zoe at was called the Wheel.

[bit_impossible]

...Ah. [he realises this now and smiles to dismiss his slip] You're right, we did! But you still didn't answer my question. Why don't you like me being this tall?

[bonnypiperlad]

Sorry, Doctor. Ye just said one of those words I don't know, and ye confused me. [That's weird. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He frowns for a moment, then sighs.]

I don't like it because it reminds me too much that ye aren't my Doctor anymore. That ye are going to change at some point.

[bit_impossible]

Nah, don't think anything of it. [claps Jamie on the shoulder] Really.

[but hearing that makes him frown.] I'm still him even if I look different than I did back then. I still consider you my friend.

[bonnypiperlad]

[Jamie drops his eyes and stares down at the floor unhappily.] Aye, ye say that, but I do that all the time. I must seem stupid to ye.

[He flicks a glance back up to Ten, his face having gone rather unreadable.] Am I?

[bit_impossible]

What? Don't be ridiculous! I've never thought you were stupid. [actually, he always quite enjoyed the misheard words]

[he smiles warmly] Of course you are. Always have been. Time doesn't ever change that.

[bonnypiperlad]

I'm glad to know that. [Jamie smiles back, then realizes something's odd here.]

Hey! I'd not meant to say that out loud, but I did. Doctor, what's going on?

[bit_impossible]

No...I can bet you didn't. [a pause] Jamie, I had to make a choice recently--very recently, in fact--and I'm fairly certain what's happening is a result.

[bonnypiperlad]

So this choice you made...is it making everyone say what they wouldn't normally say, or is it just me?

[bit_impossible]

No, it wasn't like that. I had the choice between the truth and the lies, and I chose truth. Well, if people wouldn't normally tell the truth, then I suppose you are right.

You haven't had to make a choice recently, have you Jamie?

[bonnypiperlad]

No. Are ye sure it's working right? I'd not wanted to say some of the things that I said, but it felt like I had to.

[He frowns briefly.] And before ye ask, it's not that I wanted to lie to ye. I just wanted to keep some of my thoughts to myself.

[bit_impossible]

No, no, I get that; I know I do as well. But you've got to understand that this isn't something I can check with my sonic screwdriver. I can't turn it off or on, either. [and the thought of having an on/off switch is a bit weird to him]

But I'm glad you haven't had to make a choice yet, even if it is just something like this. You could be asked to choose between any number of things. Maybe even life and death itself.