or_timelords (
or_timelords) wrote2008-12-19 09:34 pm
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This could prove to be interesting.
from
laser_not_sonic
If you woke up one morning and found me in your bed, what's the first thing you'd think or say?
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If you woke up one morning and found me in your bed, what's the first thing you'd think or say?
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Chilly? Really? [The Doctor frowns thoughtfully. He used to notice things like that—to have to ask the TARDIS to adjust settings for him or to wonder why she refused to do so. Ever since she freed him, he's not sure if she automatically adjusts for him or he for her, but little things, the light levels, the temperature, the gravity, they always seem...right. Which isn't right. But it's not wrong, either. Just...different. Really different. He doesn't like to think about it.] Seems alright to me. I'll see if I can't get her to turn up the thermostat.
[The hand on his back, and the easy way his other guides him out of the room and shuts the door irk him slightly—this is his TARDIS, not his other's, and to feel the other assuming even that bit of control hooks at the drums. They object. He should get this other Doctor out of here, they say. He says. They say. He can never be sure.]
Right. Wardrobe. Same as yours, is it? Through here. [And the wardrobe door is only a few short steps away. The Doctor pushes it open and leads his other in, glad to be away from the armory and the confrontation and emotions of the past few minutes.]
[It's the same as his other's—spiral staircase, racks and racks of clothes, mostly Earth fashions, from every era.]
The coat and the suit are...well, I reckon they're where you found them. [He hasn't moved them, but he knows exactly where they are. The clothes he never knew he was meant to be wearing, until he came to the multiverse.]
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[He can feel the other Doctor tense ever so slightly under his palm and takes the hand away. No need for provocation now; they need to be careful if this is supposed to work out. He's glad now for having spent so much time around the Master; no matter how painful, tiring and frustrating those times might have been, they taught him about the drums. What effects they have, what sets them off. He thinks he might actually know what he's doing here. Sort of.]
[So the wardrobe doesn't look very different. He realizes he half-feared to find more weaponry or maybe a sword collection as an addition in this alternate wardrobe. The fact that there's no such thing in here is kind of uplifting. Hey, you have to look on the bright side of things.]
I think I'll just go with - uh...
[He's not going to take this Doctor's coat and suit. The other Doctor might not be wearing them, but they are his. However, that gives him no choice but to wear a different outfit, and the prospect of that leaves him kind of uncomfortable. And without a clue about what that different outfit should be.]
... these? [Not his brown suit trousers, but at least they have pinstripes. Yellow pinstripes on green. Meh.]
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[He looks up from snagging some fuzzy socks from a trunk, and raises a skeptical eyebrow at the other Doctor's sartorial choice. Seriously?] Oi, you could just say you've forgotten. Second level, the suit's on the rack at one o'clock, by the mirror. Coat's right by that space-samurai outfit from Bowie. Still don't know if it was a good idea or not, showing him the wardrobe. He went right for the old robes.
Catch.
[And he'll toss over some fuzzy socks.]
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[He catches the socks, absentmindedly, without taking his eyes off the yellow-and-green trousers. He could maybe see them work, but the green is too much of a Christmas tree green to really appeal to him. He puts them back on the rack.]
Yeah, I know where they are. [If he were thinking about what he's saying, he might realize that just going with the 'I forgot' excuse might be a good idea, but he's not. He just remembered something.]
[Up on the second level, he finds it. Brown suit trousers; no pinstripes, but aside from that they're the same as his other ones. He quickly puts them on, as well as a light blue dress shirt and the fuzzy socks. It takes only a few moments of browsing before he finds a brown corduroy jacket that will go well enough with the rest. Scrutinizing himself in the mirror, he briefly considers a tie, but no. Won't work. He's generally pleased with the outfit; it's not his outfit, but it'll have to be enough until he finds his own suit.]
[Shoes now. He bounces back down the stairs. He saw a pair of denim-blue Converse on that rack down there; wearing those will make up nicely for the lack of pinstripes in the trousers.]
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[His other's choice of clothing gets another raised eyebrow from the Doctor. It's clear what his other is doing, here. Leave the "right" outfit behind, for him. For the day he chooses to wear it. Other Doctors have told him that day will come.]
[Well. Other Doctors haven't lived in his universe. He wouldn't wear the coat and suit anymore than he'd wear his Fourth's long scarf or the celery-lapel look that his Fifth fancied. It's not him.]
Right. [No comment, although his tone implies comment.]
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[Right, speaking of finding things. He snatches the pair of blue Converse off the rack and speaks while tying his shoelaces.]
Now that we're all dressed, do you think we could try and find out where my TARDIS ended up? Even if we're going to stay around each other for a while, I'd like to know where she is.
[He's not exactly worried; she can take care of herself. But being in this other TARDIS that is like his own but not, it's making him a little nervous. If he's going to stay here and help, he wants his own TARDIS around as well.]
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[He kicks off from where he's been leaning against the end of one of the racks, running a hand through his hair as he thinks.]
Locating an alternate TARDIS in an alternate universe... Hm. Never done that before.
Mine won't work in your universe, she'd lose power, I'm not risking that, so that means... [Hmhmhm, he looks up at the ceiling, far above them, his tongue to the tip of his mouth.] I dunno.
You could try walking outside with your fingers crossed, go through the first doorway you come to, a bit like Wonderland out there, all roads lead to Rome. Or home. Or Neverland, you never know.
OR! Ororor—it might work, dunno, well, can't know until we've tried—[And he does his own bouncing, pulling his glasses out of a jacket pocket and sliding them up his nose for no clear reason other than this is a *puzzle* and those require the smartie glasses, and hopping over to his other]—I'll put you through to my TARDIS, you tell her what she's looking for, you know, give her a feel for yours, and she'll see if she can't make contact. She loves the multiverse, mine, like the Rift but better, I wouldn't be surprised if she can get a signal out along any Time Vortex that's ever been, is, or might be, from here.
So—[he wiggles his eyebrows at his other, and puts his hands up, ready to establish contact again]—shall we give it a go?
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[The other Doctor is getting excited, and what he's suggesting sounds - well, reasonable. But this multiverse thing is still somewhat new to the Doctor. He holds up a hand, not stopping his other, just stalling him.]
Just a second. You said we're in the multiverse, with no paradoxes, right? So if I were to bring my TARDIS here, she could keep a connection open to my universe to draw power without that doing any harm. Could she do that?
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Well... I know she'd be fine in the multiverse, nothing's nullified here. But...beyond that? In my universe?
Hm. If we could synchronize a doorway in yours to a doorway in the multiverse, synchronize that with a doorway into your universe...create a kind of tesseract-slash-extension-cord-slash-umbilical, well, it might be a bit of a security risk, you'd want to keep an eye on it, make sure nothing came over from your universe but energy, but...
Yes. Like the Subtle Knife, right, there'll be some net loss of energy, but the multiverse ought to compensate for that, I think it would work. Do you think it would work? I think it would work.
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Oh! I get it now. The multiverse is not an actual multiverse in its own right, is it. Oh. Right. So if I bring my TARDIS here and don't actually enter any other universe, she'll be fine. Riiight.
[Now that makes things a lot easier.]
Well, I don't think we should establish a connection between the universes if it's not absolutely necessary. Bad things tend to happen when you do, at least that's my experience. But, yes, we should let your TARDIS find her, that will be the quickest way.
[And he lowers his hand, an invitation for the other Doctor to initiate a connection.]
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[And the science talk, the technobabble, he loves that, too. Hasn't had much opportunity, really, not until recently. No audience, and it needs an audience.]
Ready, then? Allons-y! [And he brings his hands back to the other Time Lord's temples, a mirror to earlier, but he's pleased this time, not angry or distant, and the drums will be less—or not so much less as different, more a part of him than an infection, an invasion. More complex and less militant, almost as though there might be music behind them, but it's too far away to hear.]
[This connection isn't about letting his other into his mind—only in so much as his mind can serve as the connection between his TARDIS and his other. That's where he places his own mental focus—on that point at the back of his thoughts where everything that he is merges out into something greater, the ship around him, her reassuring, total presence, the constant adjustments of systems, the gold and spark of almost-thoughts, almost-memories, almost-emotions, sensations from a sentience that's beyond even his total comprehension but that is also part of him. There are flecks of that gold in him, where there shouldn't be, and out there, in the flow of her, the occasional flash of the wrong kind of memory, of being limited and small and quick and bright and easily hurt.]
[The harder he focuses on that connection, the less-threatening the drums become, until they almost fall away into the pulse of him and her, and of the greater Time Vortex beyond, that alien place apart from everything that he can touch, just barely, through her.]
[The TARDIS is curious. She's been helping him, but there's someone else here now, like her Doctor but not, someone else who might be able to help, and she curls forward through her Doctor's mind, like an anemone unfurling, twists of light along shared nerve endings, looking for the other. Wary, afraid the new one might hurt hers, but willing to make him welcome. For now.]
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[The drums are so different this time. It's surprising; he's never heard them like that. The Master's are always angry, always demanding, and the Doctor didn't know there was anything else to them. He halts for a moment and just listens; this is fascinating.]
[He's distracted, though, when his other opens his connection to his TARDIS. It's both exciting and a little frightening; the connection between a Time Lord and his TARDIS is such a private, personal thing, to be let in on it is a great privilege. And this connection his other has with his ship is even more personal. They're not two entities, closely connected; they are basically one and the same. The rebirth of this Doctor has changed them both, and it's created a bond that's the same as well as something completely different from what the Doctor shares with his TARDIS.]
[And then there's the TARDIS, the other TARDIS. He can feel her, and she's different, so different from his and yet the same. He can see her hope, and her worry, and he tries his best not to scare her as he leads her into the part of his mind that's reserved for his TARDIS. It's empty and still right now; she's not there, but there are very clear memories and imprints, and this is what he focuses on now. This is her. This is my TARDIS. This is what you're looking for. Please?]
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[He feels so much like hers, but not. He's had others with him, and she's had so much time with just hers, where she's been all he's had. Precious time, for her, but wrong, for him, and she's known that. Known it would end, and, hello, it has been. Ending. And she's helping it along now.]
[It's quiet, too. This one needs his TARDIS, his her, but not...in the same way. He's whole in himself, still, and she remembers when hers was like that. Entirely wrapped away in himself, all of those emotions and thoughts and she only ever caught fragments of them, pieces, and never quite understood.]
[Now she's seen everything he is, felt her way through all of his memories, his moments, and feels each one with him, the ticking and pops of his thoughts as an undercurrent to her own larger being and the far thunder-sheet din of his drums, and she still doesn't understand.]
[Except maybe the drums. There's a very good chance she understands those more than he might expect, but, well, he's never thought to ask, has he? Of course he hasn't.]
[When she gets to the place in his mind that's his TARDIS, she laughs. That's the only description for her reaction. Oh, hello, that's...well. HA. Of *course* she'll call this other self of hers over. She wants to meet her. Rather a lot.]
[They can trade ideas.]
[Even as she's curling back through the linked minds of the two Time Lords, she's calling out to her other self, across the Time Vortices of all the universes.]
[This, she thinks, ought to be good for all of them.]
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[She knows her Time Lord, knows him so well. Better maybe than he knows himself; at least parts of him. He can see in her presence - it's not thought, it's not a mind, not really; having a mind implies that there's also a body, and there's no body for a TARDIS, they don't exist in the material world, not really - that she knows about the drums, that she understands them, maybe better than anyone else. He doesn't intrude, not now, it's not his place, anyway, but he puts the recognition away as something he will have to ask his other self about.]
[He lets her in, gives her free access to every part of his mind that usually belongs to his TARDIS, and he can feel her amusement. There's no embarrassment in a meld like this; it's all laid open for all participants to see, the way things are, the way things need to be. So rather than being embarrassed, he laughs as well; his TARDIS will enjoy meeting this one as much as vice versa.]
[As she pulls back, he can hear her calling out, can feel the feedback from the Time Vortices reverberate through their shared minds, and he's sure she will bring his TARDIS to him. Thank you. He agrees, this will be good for all of them.]
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[Not that he hasn't been away from her before; he leaves quite often. He often feels the need to 'explore the universe', as he calls it, and while she doesn't understand, she lets him get on with it. It's good for him; he thinks too much if he stays with her for too long without going anywhere. And so far, he's always come back.]
[This time is different, though. He didn't leave of his own volition. He was here, and then he stopped being here. And she doesn't know where he's gone, and that's the part that - yes, she has to admit, it worries her. She can feel the universe, all that was, is, may be, and never can be, and she can tell that his current persona is not in there. It's rather impossible; not that he hasn't crossed into other universes before, but always with her - reluctant - help. He can't do it on his own, he's corporeal. Corporeal life forms, even Time Lords, are too flimsy and fragile to cross the space between dimensions on their own.]
[It's the only explanation for his absence, though, and yes, she's worried. It's not an unreasonable worry. He's her Time Lord. She doesn't want to lose him.]
[When she hears the call, it startles her at first. It's yet another impossible thing, a call from one of her sisters. She's the only one left; the only TARDIS in existence who is still active, still with her Time Lord. She listens, though, because sometimes, impossible and impossible cancel each other out. This seems to be one of those times; her sister speaks of a multiverse, and there's no way such a thing can exist. But her sister also carries the mental imprint of her Time Lord, and it's like that of her own, but not. She is an alternate, the TARDIS quickly enough realizes, this is herself in another universe. And she says that she knows where her Time Lord is.]
[So she follows her call, and she finds the multiverse, and it's quite impossible. She hadn't thought that there were things that could still surprise her on this scale, but the multiverse - it's new. She's not sure what she thinks of it, but it will have to wait till later. Her sister is right there, and she can also feel her Time Lord again. It's somewhat of a relief. She can feel another one; in fact, she can feel many other ones in this multiverse. That's very odd; it will take some getting used to. For now, she only wants her Time Lord to come home.]
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[He's let the TARDIS far into his mind before, needed it, when the drums were at their worst, let himself become the undermind instead of the over, in his own head, but only every once in a great while. It's comforting and the best answer to the drums he's yet found, but it's also frightening, something he doesn't understand; he feels like he could lose himself, in the exchange. Feels the ghost-memories of being lost before, his essential self laced throughout hers, bodiless and centerless. Remembers, as she remembers, and there's not enough of a divide between the two of them.]
[It's not supposed to be like that.]
[So this, now, letting his TARDIS use his mind to connect with his other...]
[For the duration of the connection, he's...gone. Or not gone, it's more like being turned inside-out mentally or as though someone's stirred water and oil so hard that they actually have mixed, not just emulsified, but properly mixed. He has to trust her to proceed as he asked her to, because he's not really there to ask any longer. He's a part of her, the part of her that's thinking/knowing that she needs to make connection with the other Doctor and call his TARDIS and then sort herself out so that she's two halves again and let the one half go back about its business.]
[He's the part that feels her understanding of the drums and wants to know more, but that's not part of what the moment is about and the rest of him/her isn't thinking about that right now, so he lets the wanting pass and forgets.]
[He's the part that feels bemusement and sympathy more than amusement, when s/he taps into the other Doctor's memories of his TARDIS.]
[And nostalgia. S/he can remember being more like that.]
[The call goes out, through him/her into the Time Vortex, and then s/he begins to turn him/herself right side out again, the oil and the water to settle out into their component parts.]
[The Doctor blinks. Wow. Wow, okay.]
Blimey. That—that worked. Did it work?
[He hasn't noticed yet, but his hair's standing on end, as though he just suffered severe electric shock, and wisps of golden energy, like mist in lamplight, are sublimating from his skin into the air around him.]
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[He snaps back into his own mind, and the force feels almost physical, making him take a step backwards. His eyes snap open, and he's looking into the wide eyes of his other. There are small swirls of gold in them, spinning, turning like the Vortex. The Doctor blinks, and they are gone.]
Yes, yes that did work, I think. Ah. Um, are you okay?
[The other Doctor hasn't lost the wide-eyed look, and his hair is standing up in spikes poking hazardously in every which way possible. It looks somewhat intimidating slash crazy, the Doctor has to admit, but what's much more interesting is the golden mist that's emerging from his other's skin, dissipating into the air. The Doctor reaches out, his fingers passing through wisps of golden smoke before they brush over a couple of spikes of hair.]
Look at that, you're sparkling.
[His fascination is broken when he can suddenly feel a presence in his mind, filling the space that's reserved for -]
It worked! It's my TARDIS, she's here!
[That she is, she's right outside, close enough for him to feel her, and to feel her slight indignation at having discovered the existence of a thing like the multiverse. That's her, that's his TARDIS. This is brilliant.]
She's right outside, come on.
[And he'll be off towards the console room.]
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And he is sparkling. He frowns and waves his arms, and the golden energy disperses. Artron energy. Mm. Not as much as when she'd rebuilt him—that had been worse than regeneration, he'd been lit up like a Christmas tree for days after—but still, levels high enough to be visible. He'll want to go by his laboratories after this, see if he hadn't done himself any harm.
Not just now, though.
Right now, his TARDIS tells him that his other's right, and the other TARDIS is here, outside, already; so he legs it out of the wardrobe and into the hallways, sprinting after his other to the console room.
The outer doors will already be open when his other arrives in the console room; no button-pushing required for such simple functions on this TARDIS. The Doctor and the TARDIS both want the doors open, and so they are.
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This is much better. Being in the console room and having it actually feel like the console room - it really is like coming home.
He steps up to the console, putting his hands on the smooth metal braces, and smiles as the TARDIS bristles, telling him to stop being a sap, and what's up with the outfit?
Yeah, good to see you, too.
She seems unchanged, and the multiverse seems to be agreeing with her as well, at least in regards to energy. He can tell she's not happy with the way this place breaks the laws of time and space, but she might just have to get used to it.
"Come on in." He waves an invitation at his other.
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He's left most of his "sparkle" behind—though, as he lets his hand trail across his TARDIS' controls as he passes the console, a faint haze of energy follows the path of his hand. It's impossible to say whether the energy moves from his hand to the TARDIS or from the TARDIS to his hand—and, in any case, he doesn't notice the phenomenon.
When he gets to the TARDIS' almost-touching doorways, he leans across the small gap, and knocks on his other's TARDIS' doorframe.
"Permission to board?"
His tone says it's a joke, but...well, he did absorb the sense that his other's TARDIS is a bit...different from his.
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After a moment, she agrees to do so - reluctantly. It's more than he'd dared to hope for, but he thinks she's probably looked into his own mind, where there's still quite a lot of residual imprint from his other. He gives the Doctor in black a smile.
"Sure, come on in."
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He lets his hand rest on the doorframe of his other's TARDIS for a moment. Thank you, the gesture's meant to say.
It looks just like his, his other's TARDIS, except...
Leaning in to look at the console closer, he pushes his glasses (which he's not yet bothered to take off) further up his nose. "No, you've still got the strange-force hypothetical-particle relay bypassing the Keppler resonance arc?"
And even before he's finished that sentence, he's looking over other bits of wiring and circuitry, commenting to himself on their state of affairs and how it could be improved, his expression somewhere between amused and 'oh, really, come on, you can do better than this, look at this.'
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Although, removing the bypass on the Keppler arc? He's never thought about it, but it makes sense -
At a comment of his other about the Bohr Cylinders, though, the Doctor's had enough. He knows that the Cylinders are out of alignment, thank you very much. He's keeping them that way on purpose, to compensate for some irregularities in the atomic structure at the base of the Time Rotor that he hadn't been able to fix directly when he was dismantling the Master's Paradox Machine. He leans forward, resting the heels of his palms on the edge of the console, and raises his eyebrows at the other Doctor.
"Would you like a cup of tea while I relocate the TARDIS?" He's speaking pointedly over the other Doctor's unwelcome although probably well-meaning advice. He's not actually talked to him about this yet, but the Doctor figures it will be easiest to park his TARDIS inside his other's. Only if the two TARDISes and the other Doctor agree to that, of course.
His own TARDIS isn't too happy at the idea, but she seems willing, as long as he won't make this a permanent arrangement. Of course he won't, he reassures her. It's just for now, while his other needs him around. And yes, I will shut him up. I'm trying right now.
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Oh. Oops.
He slips off his glasses and pockets them, standing back and away from the console. He really wants to get out his sonic screwdriver and have at those controls—it's become almost a hobby of his, maintaining his TARDIS—but it's not his place. It feels like it should be, but it isn't. Crossing his arms across his chest, hands tucked under his upper arms, an old posture kept over from his Ninth, he gives his other a small, slightly apologetic grin. Got carried away with myself there, sorry, you know how it is.
"I'll get it myself. You carry on." He starts towards the door into the interior proper, but stops himself on the way. "Oh, and the console room might be best, if you're...if you're stopping over."
They haven't talked about it, not out loud, but that's where it's felt like all of this has been leading, the understanding backgrounding their mental communications, the intent of their actions so far.
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"Console room, yes, I'll park her next to the inner doorway." The nonverbal understanding seems natural, and it probably is, at least in this case, when they've taken such close looks into each other's minds so very recently. It's not something that's happened often, not recently, certainly never with humans. (Except maybe with Donna, perhaps even before she took his mind into hers, but he's not thinking about that now.) It's always a rush, and it lets him forget his brief moment of irritation.
He pays no attention to his other disappearing into the kitchen, concentrating on the controls before him. The TARDIS is made for travel through the whole vastness of time and space; what he wants her to do now is make a tiny spatial leap in a linear time line. It's not an easy maneuver, and the challenge excites him.
He presses a few buttons, changes a few settings on the scanner frame controls, and takes a hold of the dematerialization lever before he looks up at the Time Rotor. "Allons-y, eh? Don't let me down now." It'd be just embarrassing if he failed at this.
He doesn't. There's some shaking, and the doors slamming shut with a bang - the TARDIS never liked traveling with her doors open, no matter how short the distance - but when the materialization is complete and the Time Rotor has stopped moving, the scanner screen is showing the outside view: the other Doctor's console room.
"Ha!" The Doctor grins and pats the console, well done! Still smiling, he jogs the few steps to the kitchen, leaning into the room with one hand on the door frame. "We're all relocated."
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