RP for banished_dame: Truth-telling exploits of doom!

[rude_not_ginger]

The planet of Zelmenox.

Lovely place. Streets were lined with rubies, literally. It seemed like the right sort of place to take Rose Tyler for a trip. Land somewhere within the principal city of Vertias, have some lunch and wander around a bit.

Really, though, now that the Doctor thinks about it, he should've taken at least a brief glance at the books he had on Zelmenoxian law before landing there. Not twenty minutes after they started wandering, they were approached by one of the half-horse aliens (a police officer, in fact) and asked if they'd taken the Vertian Supplement, required of all citizens and visitors.

The correct answer was "no" and the Doctor was regretting saying that. Now, they sat in a Vertian cafe, looking over some of the custom guides to figure out exactly what they'd been injected with.

"It's a truth-telling serum," the Doctor announced, looking over the edge of his glasses at his companion. "To try to sort out the 'primary question of the universe'. Whatever that could be."

Comments

[banished_dame]

Leave it to their luck to end up in a place where Rose hadn't gotten all her shots. Now she had her one arm pressed against the pages of the local guidebook holding it open for her to read. Her other hand was currently busy rubbing the spot on her arm where they'd opted to inoculate her with what the Doctor was now telling her was truth-serum. Which really wasn't what she'd wanted in her at all.

Flipping the page carefully so that the book didn't fold up against her hand closing the binding that really needed to be cracked nearly in half just to get it to lie flat on the table, Rose raised her eyebrow.

"Primary question? Like this?" Rose cleared her throat and put on her best Proper Librarian voice and read aloud from Zelmenox Laws and Guides for a Truthful Visit, "Who would win in a fight a..." Rose paused trying to get the pronunciation down right, "a... Causmag'Naught," shaking her head she tried to get the feeling of all her phlegm from staying where it belonged... not in her words, "or a Magnuinus K'Ro?"

Furrowing her brows she stopped rubbing at her arm and picked up the book reading the statement over again, then picking out part of it, "When two sides could not determine who was lying about the success of the superior race everyone within the confines of the planet was deemed a liar, and until one side prevails no one can lie about the other?"

Which sounded crazy.

"I'm sorry but that's crazy."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Appears the whole world is in a sort of civil war, then? Over a question about who would win at a fight?" the Doctor sighed. "I'm sorry, Rose. I had hoped for a significantly quieter lunch break for us both."

And, before he could stop himself, he added: "You know, with the fun sort of adventures we usually tend to find where I can look amazingly brilliant and not have to pay for overpriced food."

He expression on his face went from irritated but calm to completely embarrassed.

"Well, at least we know the stuff works."

[banished_dame]

The truth was a funny thing. From personal experience she knew that telling her mother the truth about just what the Doctor does and who he is impacted her life more than she'd ever imagined. But it was also hard to take and even more hard to trust. Even being truthful had it's disadvantages, but here was a planet where the truth was the status quo, and really Rose wasn't sure how this could work on a global scale.

The truth hurt. It bound. It wasn't at all as easy as just saying something, and yet here was the Doctor saying exactly what was on his mind and in all honesty as well.

The truth was amusing at least.

"So what exactly is a Magni... a Magna whatever it was and why does anyone even care? I mean why make the whole planet do something for a question?" She tried to flip through her book to get some sort of answer, but figured the Doctor should know.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I couldn't tell you," the Doctor replied, shrugging a little. "Mythical beast? Maybe a rival sub-race? Sounds a bit like that old astronauts versus cavemen question. Ever heard that one? Astronauts would win, of course. Superior intellect usually beats out brute force no matter the situation."

He stirred the strange tea that he'd been given and took a sip. It tasted like seaweed. Oh, well. At least it wasn't pears.

"Perhaps they're used to dealing with lies. People shifting their opinion to the given situation so no one felt they could trust anyone else. If nothing else, I imagine it makes political races more interesting.

[banished_dame]

Rose mused for a moment over the thought and figured if the Doctor said that Astronauts would win then clearly that mean they'd win. After all he had the truth telling serum in him, so he couldn't be lying. Of course... One good slag to the head from the club of a caveman and their space suit would be shattered.

"Really? Astronauts would win?" Shaking her head lightly she wondered if that was all it took why all the civil chaos. Why even bother with the truth serum if one person said it then that'd be that.

"Cavemen would win." Just like that. Truth from Rose's mouth to the Doctor's ears and it completely contradicted what the Doctor said.

"Ohh... that's bad yeah?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"That's opinion," the Doctor said, nodding. "And your opinion is your truth. Even if you're wrong, which you are. Not your fault, Rose. Human intellect only really goes so far."

Oh, the pain of pure honesty.

"Besides, I've dealt with cavemen and astronauts. The harder ones are the learned ones. Have you tried this tea yet? It's revolting."

[banished_dame]

Narrowing her eyes at him a bit she wasn't at all amused by that bit of truth. Though maybe that was opinion. Though she hadn't had an opinion on the whole caveman astronaut thing either until just then. It was sort of a bit of confusing at the moment.

"Yeah? Maybe that's all your opinion too. Just cause you're handsome and wear the glasses that make you look smart doesn't mean you know everything," Rose stopped herself there because it felt right and also now she was wondering just how much of that was the truth... because really... this could get complicated.

"Wait, so... there is the truth like the sky is beige... then there is opinion like Cavemen would win, so why even bother with the truth serum at all?"

Rose glanced to the tea, "It smells like Mum's casserole. I won't have that at all."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, my species has ten thousand years of intellectual power, I think I earned a little of that." Which was less opinion and more fact, in his mind. "Not that I think your species is unintelligent, you all are very exciting and creative. And surprising. Just...not nearly as intelligent as mine was."

Was being the operative word.

He grinned at her comment, though. Not that he was insecure with his appearance, it was just nice to know that Rose thought the same thing. "You think I'm handsome, hmmm?"