Christmas Open Thread

[rude_not_ginger]

•deck•the•halls•

• THE DOCTOR LEARNS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS •

~•~


Christmas Eve. 2009.

The Doctor loved Christmas! Back when he was a wee Time Lord, the first place he ever landed was London on Christmas Eve. He promised himself he'd never miss another Christmas ever, but that promise went into the same pile as "Lose weight" and "Regenerate a better hairline" and "Stop leaving companions in other universes". But the Doctor had never quite gotten the hang of New Years'. (He once spent several hours commiserating on the similarity between the confusing nature of New Years and Thursdays with one Arthur Dent, who will sadly not be appearing in this piece of narrative. -editor)

But! Through all his travels in space and time, he still hadn't quite figured out what Christmas was for exactly. Except as a yearly excuse for turkey, too much wine, and plum pudding (all of which the Doctor approved of). This year, though, as he strode the streets on this wonderful Christmas Eve, the Doctor decided he would figure out exactly what Christmas was all about.

This may or may not have included use of a intergalactic manipulative detector and a full pack of radio stellar isotopian crystals. Oh, and a cup of hot chocolate. In a festively-coloured cup.

There was a lovely light snow, and the Doctor grinned madly at the stars. Christmas. This year, he was going to figure out what it was all about.


~•~

OOC: Open thread, feel free to tag in as if your character is a passerby or as if your character is a long-standing companion! I'll be working on this thread up until the New Year, most likely! Everyone from any verse (or no verse!) is welcome, just let me know if you'd prefer it from a community or specific universe! And, for this thread, threadhopping is totally welcome!

Happy Holidays, everyone! &hearts

Comments

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Snow," Jack said, warming his hands on the paper cup between his fingers.

He took a sip before going on. "There's never snow here, not at Christmas. Not like this. But this," he pointed at the falling white dots as though the Doctor needed directing to what he was talking about, "this is nice. Picturesque. Like one of those old post cards."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"It's not bad," the Doctor said, more interested in the screen in his hands than the pretty world outside. "Snow. Snow's part of Christmas, isn't it? Figured I'd land us somewhere where there was definitely snow, definitely working lights, definitely no alien attacks."

A pause.

"Well, I'm pretty sure on the last, at least."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Well, in theory, I guess. You always get those news reports betting on the likelihood of a 'white Christmas'. Rarely happens though and oh really you should know better than to say something like that."

He took another sip and looked over at the Doctor and his contraption. He motioned his cup out towards him.

"What are you doing with that thing anyway?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I am in a similar situation. After all, not being Christian, I suppose the whole 'true' meaning of Christmas is lost on me. New Year's, on the other hand, is very simple."

He blows a bit on the hot chocolate. He always has lots of little marshmallows in his.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but I just look for weather reports on the 26th. There are plenty of inauthentic snowfalls after the discovery of atmospheric excitation, but I wanted something authentic. A real Christmas."

He looked at the screen and snorted. "Psychic excitation."

Which was a very technical way of saying 'not a whole lot'. He had no idea what to look for, exactly, to fit the meaning of Christmas. Such a silly thing to try to find, but he'd looked for stranger over the years.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Don't even have Christianity on my planet."

The Doctor absolutely approves of the excessive marshmallows. He has plenty in his, too. Unfortunately, juggling the crystals, detector, and chocolate has become a bit of a struggle.

"Well, New Years' is important to any time traveler like you and I," the Doctor said, gently nudging Hiro with his shoulder. "But little holidays for people like you and me, that's difficult."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Right," Jack nodded and took a decisive step over to the Doctor.

Standing in front of him he reached out and took the device from his hands.

"You want Christmas? You're not going to find it on this thing." He waved the cobbled together piece of technology in the Doctor's face and promptly deposited it away in his pocket.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I suppose the best one can do is to make their own meaning for it? My people just like the general fun and games of it - giving presents, having a family dinner. I suppose what I like is the general hopeful feeling of the season."

He holds his hand out to take whatever the Doctor needs to hand him to prevent him from dropping anything.

"Quite true. When you see so many spectacles and festivals, everything else seems to get lost."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Then where?" the Doctor demanded, petulantly attempting to cross his arms, and then failing when he realized he still had his cup of chocolate.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Oh come on. Too busy sightseeing, that's you're problem. You need to get your hands dirty! Do what I do. You want to experience humanity, Doctor? Then join in. You're in London on Christmas Eve, Doctor. And you know what they say, when in Rome."

He beamed and pulled his coat sleeve back to look at his watch, then looked back over his shoulder.

"This way," follow me.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'm not so much a fan of a family dinner," the Doctor admitted. "But yes, the feeling of the season, the way everything seems to buzz with a sort of energy."

He glanced back down at the machine in his That's what I want to figure out. What is it that makes this season different from every other season.

[marthajonesmd.livejournal.com]

Martha ran to catch up with the Doctor - she'd invited him home to dinner with her family, but he had, perhaps wisely, declined, so she'd told him she'd meet back up with him later. And, well, it was later, and here she was, cheeks flushed with happiness (and perhaps some wine, followed by spiked eggnog), and sporting a festive Santa hat perched at a jaunty angle on her head.

She also had a present for him from her mum - two presents, actually, because Francine had also been full of the Christmas spirit (more spiked eggnog). Which, all right, didn't really qualify as much of a benefit, but Martha was chalking it up in that category anyway.

"You ever go Christmas carolling?" she asked him as she caught up with him, her breath making little white puffs in the air.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Join in?"

This seemed like a terrible idea to the Doctor. What was Jack planning? Going out and having a Christmas dinner, like he did with Jackie and Rose? Caroling?

Well, so long as he got to drink his chocolate, he was all right with that. He followed, though. If there was anyone who knew humanity, it was Jack.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Christmas caroling?" the Doctor cringed at the very idea.

He did feel pretty relaxed from the number of glasses of eggnog and rum he'd let intoxicate him while he was building the bits of technology he had in his hands. But the very idea of caroling?

"Have you heard me sing in this incarnation?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Yep. Join in."

Jack walked along, looking back at the Doctor. Around them were houses. Some lit from the outside with tasteful christmas lights, some tackily decorated with huge plastic lit up Father Christmas and flashing lights covering every inch of the house. Some houses dark. Different people. Different shades of humanity.

At the end of the street was a building with sound coming from it. A pub. The door opened as a woman stepped out to make a mobile phone call, and laughter and the sound of 'Wizard' singing 'I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day' poured out into the street.

"Doctor," he beamed, "you and me are going to the pub."

He tapped the Doctor on his forearm and beamed at him before jogging over to the other side of the street and heading into the pub.

[marthajonesmd.livejournal.com]

She rolled her eyes as she tried to tug the hat down to cover her ears. "I'm not going to make you carol - and, no, I haven't heard you sing, actually - it was just a simple question. My family used to do it every Christmas Eve, with some of my mum's family. Except then one Christmas, Mum found out about Annelise, so she spent the entire time I was home on break trying to chuck things at Dad's head. Haven't done it since." Martha shrugged it off. "C'mon, caroling. Singing songs in the snow, hot cocoa, that sort of thing. Haven't you had a festive incarnation, Doctor?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"A pub on Christmas?" his voice was disbelieving if anything. A pub? Could he really find information about the meaning of Christmas there? It didn't seem like a logical place to look.

Of course, if he was looking for a widespread abundance of the Christmas spirit, the best place to look might be elsewhere, but small, concentrated doses would probably be somewhere like a pub.

"Right!" He followed Jack at a jog, finishing up the last of his chocolate and tossing it into a bin as they neared the door.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"You know, there's an easier way to go about finding out the true meaning of Christmas, my dear Doctor. It may terrify you though, it involves conversation," the Master began, leaning closer as he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Something you do with actual people."

He pulled his gloves out of one pocket, taking his time and fixing them on snugly.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'm festive!" the Doctor protested. He gestured to his form. "I regenerated on Christmas this time around. I think that's about as festive as you can get. Sort of like sharing a birthday with a religious figure on your planet."

Not that he was being impossibly egotistical or anything.

"Religious at all, your family? I've never asked."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Wasn't aware that was a specialty of yours," the Doctor said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. He looked back down at his gadgets, figuring they'd be a bit more bish-bosh at finding the things he needed to than any conversation might.

"Besides, people around this time are busy being with their families. Conversation's not the first thing on their minds. Probably not even the twenty-fifth thing on their minds."

*USES THIS ICON FOREVER*

[marthajonesmd.livejournal.com]

"Oh, God," Martha groaned. "Is there no end to your ego? Anyway, Jesus wasn't born on Christmas, you ought to know that. Christians co-opting a pagan holiday for their own means, and all that." He had probably been there - she certainly wouldn't put it past him.

"Nah, typical Christmas and Easter sort of thing, you know the deal. 's just that Christmas has always been a family sort of time for us." Which, in the past, had involved far less bickering than, say, the Doctor had ever seen from the Joneses.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"That's right," Jack said with a smile and a raise of both eyebrows.

As he reached the door he held it open and waited for the Doctor, filling the few seconds by winking at the girl on the phone, causing her to grin back and blush a little.

They stepped inside, and almost immediately were greeted by people laughing and shouting. The song had changed and it was now 'War is Over' by John Lennon. A table of people in the corner of the room who had evidently been there since lunchtime given their level of apparent inebriation, were singing along at the top of their lungs.

"You want Christmas in the 21st Century, Doctor?" Jack called above the din around them. "Then this is it. People talking, people having fun."

He looked around and pointed to a pair in the corner, "here, look," he said, motioning over to them, and then others. "By midnight I guarantee that pair will have argued gone home separately, and then made back up again --and really, the making up is the best part-- . And those lot there? One beer too many and someone will be throwing up in the gutter outside."

He beamed. "Now, Doctor, something to drink?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Probably not," the Doctor replied, casually. He liked his ego, and while he liked the idea of a historical messiah in human history, occasionally the idea became so absurd he had no choice but to talk in jest about Him when He was brought up.

"Seems like it would be hard, your family being so busy during the year. But! At least you've got Christmas. Couldn't even get my family together during Otherstide, and that didn't even happen every year."

[alicecarter.livejournal.com]

Alice hated Christmas. She always had, really. All of those adverts about families and togetherness just rubbed her the wrong way, and her mum was lapsed Catholic anyway, and no one hated Christmas more than lapsed Catholics. They'd done the Christmas thing, but it always seemed like the two of them were faking it.

For Stephen, Alice had done her best to fake it. And she'd been mostly succesful. This year, she didn't have to try.

...which didn't at all explain why it was that Alice was standing on a street corner next to a red bucket, waving a bell and wearing a Santa cap.

"Donate today," she said, doing her best not to sound put out. "Feed the homeless."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

She was busy blowing into her own cup of cocoa as she carefully made her way over to him, the heat from the cup warming her chilled fingers. It figured she'd leave her mittens in her other winter coat, though it did make ringing up home a great deal easier. Never could manage to press the right numbers while wearing those things. Couldn't help smiling though; she was in good company and, if the first sip was anything to judge, she had a good drink to top it all off. Now if she could only think of a gift for him.

"Glad to see you're grinning," she said, lightly bumping her shoulder against his. "D'you realise we could have a right and proper Christmas this time? No robot Santas or chases in taxis, and no particle things pulling me into the TARDIS? Not that Mum will have us round for dinner. Doesn't exactly trust you still, or so Gramps--" She cut herself off, finally noticing the device.

"Doctor," she said a little pointedly as her enthusiasm started to wane. "We are going to have a proper Christmas? Aren't we?"