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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

"Christmas spirit in a pub," the Doctor repeated, still sounding a little flabbergasted by the idea. "You know, I was thinking more of trees and presents, but I'll have a mulled wine, I think. Something festive."

He fiddled about with the psychic crystals, but they were very faded and fuzzy and terribly confused by the different vibrations in the pub. Well, only to be expected, considering how swiftly emotions could change during intoxication.

"Think it's the alcohol or the season that'll be bringing those two together later?" he asked Jack as he slipped into a chair.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"And plenty of spirit behind the bar too!" Jack added with a grin, before waving a hand around the room. "Well you've got all that here!" he said, "Tree, presents... everything." he motioned to a table of women in another corner. The table covered in torn off wrapping paper.

He took a step to the bar and nodded at the barmaid, quickly obtaining two glasses of mulled wine and somehow managing not to hand over any money for them.

Stepping back over to the Doctor he handed one over to him, and sat down in a chair opposite.

"Oh bit of both," he said with a grin. "A little too much beer and a little too much cheer"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"You know, of all the planetary seasons, I've always loved this season the best," the Doctor said, taking the wine and having a sip. "Definitely better than Sunseason on the Gamma Quadrant. The smell of pine and mulled wine far beats out sunscreen and charcoal."

Such a strange season. But, well, it was the Gamma Quandrant. He couldn't have expected much less.

"I figured it would be some sort of psychic wavelength running across the planet during this season."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You know what you need to do," Jack suggested. "Stop acting like an alien and start thinking human. Sure, there might be psychic wavelengths, but that's got nothing to do with it! You'll never understand it if you try and analyse it like that."

Jack leaned his arms forward against the table, and turned his drink around in his fingers.

"Christmas is commercial. If you were cynical minded you might say that's all it is. But I prefer to look at this sort of stuff. The people. I mean come on, Doctor, just look at them! Laughing, fighting, singing, drinking. Getting together with people you know. That's Christmas."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Yes, but why?" the Doctor asked, popping a peanut from the bowl into his mouth. "Of all the seasons out there, of all the holidays out there, this one affects humans the most. Commercial or not, presents or not, there's a general feeling of good that permeates everything."

He shook his head. "Why don't other worlds have quite the same level of cheer? It's just this season, this planet."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Because it's tradition," Jack said as though that explained it all. "And it's hardly as rosy as you made it sound. I think you've been reading too many greetings cards. You know more people commit suicide at Christmas than any other time of the year. Sure it can be cheery, but it's only what you make of it. But it's something everyone gets involved in. I mean look around you. All these people, they're making the most of it, and that's what it's about, Doctor. Just making the most of it."

He reached a hand over and batted the Doctor's fingers away from the nuts. "Do you have any idea how many people have had their hand in that thing?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor looked down at the bowl, and back at Jack pitifully. He liked those! Oh, well.

"Isn't that what life is, though?" the Doctor asked. "All over the universe. Just people making the most of it, no matter what, exactly, it is."