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]

"That's all right," the Doctor said, just catching his device before it tumbled into the snow. He really needed to invest in a utility belt of some sort, this was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Sorry, could you direct me to Queen street, I---"

Which was when he noticed the face of the woman he was speaking to. Jo Grant! Surely, it was Jo! He couldn't stop his wide grin.

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo frowned at the way he suddenly stopped and grinned, it was disconcerting. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure which one that is."

He had some sort of technology that, just for a moment, reminded her of the Doctor's lab back at UNIT all those years ago. She couldn't believe he wasn't cold, but there were some people who seemed quite happy wearing very little.

"Are you all right?" There was something up, she was sure of it.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Sorry, no! Yes! Perfectly all right," he said. "Just...excited for the season. Merry Christmas."

He couldn't possibly figure out a way to continue talking to her without looking like some sort of bizarre, frightening man. Maybe just saying hello, getting directions where he needed to go, and saying 'goodbye' would be enough.

Which was when the crystals in his hand started to get hot. Very hot. The Doctor let out a small cry of pain and dropped them, where they sizzled, bright red in the snow.

"Now, that wasn't supposed to happen."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo smiled. She could understand that. "Merry Christmas," she replied. She was thinking about where she could direct him to find out where Queen Street was when he cried out.

She bent down to whatever he'd dropped - she wasn't sure what he'd call them. Although it was clearly hot, given the way the snow melted around them, she reached out a hand to pick one of them up. So it singed her glove.

"What is that?" she asked, standing up. She rubbed at the end of her finger that was now visible. She hadn't hurt it, but it did feel a lot colder now.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Stellar isotopian crystals," the Doctor said automatically. He pulled out a lovely handkerchief with little bananas in Santa hats on it and used them to take the hot crystals. Small scorch marks appeared in the fabric, but he held onto them easily.

"High presence of psychic energy. Which, I'm guessing, probably isn't related to the Christmas spirit, which is what I was trying to find."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo only followed half of that, but she was used to dealing with only half the facts and making it sound like she knew what she was talking about when she wasn't sure. "The Christmas spirit isn't an actual ghost, is it?" It sounded unlikely but then you never know.

She shook her head because this was all starting to very feel familiar. "Who are you?" There were enough people that dealt with this sort of thing that just because she wanted him to be the Doctor didn't mean he was.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I'm---"

Should he tell her? It didn't hurt Sarah, knowing who he was. But Sarah didn't have a family anymore, and Jo had her husband (at least, the Doctor was pretty sure she still had her husband) and family to worry about. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her. And the people he cared about always got hurt.

"Jack Harkness," he said, slipping his hot chocolate in his elbow and offering her his hand. "Torchwood. Very nice to meet you."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

She smiled as she shook his hand. "Jo Jones," she replied, managing not to sound disappointed. "I've heard of Torchwood." She was glad she'd kept in touch with the Brigadier. He hadn't mentioned the names of anyone involved, perhaps because he didn't know, but she at least had an idea of what Torchwood were all about.

"Can I help?" Once she said it she realised that to Jack she was just an ordinary member of the public. "I used to work for UNIT," she added, in case that helped.


ooc: Sorry, wrong icon. It's such a pain having to remember to change it each time!

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jo! What a lovely name. It's so nice to meet you." The Doctor couldn't hide his enthusiasm. It had been too long since he'd seen Jo, and he'd often wished he could've parted with her on better terms, instead of wandering off, feeling heartsbroken.

And had she just offered to help? Oh, only on Christmas could something wonderful like this have happened.

"Miss Jones, I would love your help," he said with a grin.



OOC: No worries! =D!

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"It's good to met you too," she said, grinning at the compliment. "Mrs Jones," she corrected him. "But call me Jo, I'm not working now."

She had a few hours before she had to be anywhere, which was just as well because she had no intention of leaving someone who needed help in the lurch.

"What can I do?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Take---" he fumbled with the hot chocolate and crystals, and eventually handed over the controller. "This. Read me the light sensitivity radar on the upper corner. Should be a series of numbers in blue."

Meanwhile, he repositioned the crystals in his hand and took a sip of his hot chocolate. Very important, that!

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo took it from him, then turned it round so the numbers were the right way up. "One, seven, two, five." She frowned at it. "It doesn't say what scale it is." Presumably Jack knew what it meant, but it can't be a very well thought out piece of equipment.


ooc: I don't know how much of an idea you have about what you're doing, so let me know if you want me to make stuff up as I go along!

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No, no, that's all right, I know what it means," the Doctor said. He held the crystals up, and the center one glowed bright red, still searingly hot through the handkerchief.

"We need to go this way. Come on!"



OOC: I'm making it all up as I go! Please feel free to make anything up!

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"Um, Jack," Jo called to him before he could go too far. She'd looked up and had a suspicion she'd found the psychic energy he'd mentioned earlier. "Does psychic energy ever look like..." she paused because her next words would be 'someone I subconsciously want to see' and that wasn't quite something she wanted to reveal to Jack. So instead she said, "A person." Although it looked the Doctor and he looked just the way she remembered, he was see-through and she knew it wasn't him.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"What?"

The Doctor spun around, running back to Jo and looking where she did. He saw nothing at all where she was looking.

"It might," he said, his voice concerned. "Might be trying to lure you away. What does it look like?"

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "I know he's not really there." So she wasn't going to let it lure her away. Besides, he wasn't doing anything, just standing there and looking at her.

"He looks like someone I used to know," she replied. "What does it look like to you?" Maybe knowing that would tell her something, although she wasn't sure what.

She took a step closer to him, reaching a hand out, wandering, if she touched him, whether her hand would go straight through him.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor put a hand on Jo's arm.

"Nothing," he said. "It's not there for me, it's---"

The moment he looked back, though, he saw Donna. Standing there, in a silly holiday hat, looking sad. She was transparent, obviously unreal, but something about the way she stood there made it almost irresistible to go towards her.

"I can see it," he said. "Looks like an old friend of mine. You have to fight it. We can do it."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo hadn't thought there was anything wrong with wanting to touch the spirit, or whatever it was. But Jack clearly did and it made her think that maybe she was acting on impulse and not thinking it through.

"But what if it needs our help?" she asked and the unreal Doctor smiled at her. "What are you trying to tell us?" Presumably if it could talk then it would. "Is it something about old friends?" She frowned. "Or the crystals that got hot. Are you too hot? Too cold?" The unreal Doctor didn't react to any of her questions, which suggested they were all wrong, but she couldn't be sure about that.


ooc: just had a crazy idea - what if it's something that grants wishes and is trapped/overloaded/something along those lines by everyone wishing for stuff for Christmas?

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Clever as ever," the Doctor said under his breath, smiling at Jo. Always thinking on her feet, trying to figure out what was hidden in the different meanings of things.

He shook his head. "Wherever it is, we need to find it first, and then ask it face to face."

Donna still looked sad, but she reached out an arm for him. The Doctor took half a step back. He didn't want to to be pulled in, and he didn't have the faith in this being like Jo did.


OOC: Sounds fantastic! Feeding harmlessly on energy before as it tried to get out of its situation, now gorged and sick it needs to get out asap?

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"Being able to talk to it would be such a big help." There was just the question of how to do that. Jo didn't believe it would hurt them - if that was what it wanted it surely would have already done that. Or done a better job at luring them closer.

"We can help you," she told it, "but you have to help us. Is there any way you can talk?" The unreal Doctor shook his head, which was an answer at least. Then he reached out a hand to her, inviting her to take it.

She looked over at Jack. She didn't know whether he had a reason for her not to touch it or whether it was just being curious. "It wants me to take its hand," she told him. "Do you know any reason why I shouldn't?"


ooc: Ooh, yes, I like the sound of that

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Because it's what you want, right? And if there's anything I've learned, it's you don't trust things that want to give you exactly what you want," the Doctor said.

After a moment, he added, "From...working at Torchwood. I learned this there."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo shook her head. "It isn't what I want. Not really." Maybe for a moment she'd wanted to see the Doctor again, but she hadn't meant it literally.

When she turned back to look at the unreal Doctor she called out, "Cliff!" Because now it looked like her husband, only he was doubled over and in pain. And that image was something she couldn't resist helping, so before Jack could stop her she rushed over and put a hand on 'Cliff''s shoulder.


ooc: I have a vague idea that maybe it can communicate in some way if she's touching it - but feel free to make up whatever the Doctor's seeing once she's touched it

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jo, don't!"

It was too late, though, and her hand went to the apparition. As she touched it, it changed from Donna to Jo's husband (only older, now, and the Doctor could smugly state that he had not aged as well as the Doctor had).

But it was more than that. He saw beams of light where the apparition pulled from Jo. Life energy? Psychic reserves? Whatever it was, it fueled the apparition to make it stronger.


OOC: Sounds good to me!

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

When she touched the unreal Cliff's shoulder he looked up at her and smiled. He looked better already, he thought, smiling back at him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

He didn't say anything in return and she wondered if he couldn't. But he raised an arm and put a hand on her cheek. It felt different from when Cliff did that, though, because this Cliff's hand made her cheek feel very cold - colder than the air made it.

"What can I do to help?" she asked. Around them a transparent image of Jo's home in South America appeared. She could still see the London street behind it.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jo, be careful!"

He took a step towards her and placed his hand on Jo's arm, trying to pour his energy through her. If whatever it was fueled itself through energy, maybe the Doctor could keep her from being drained while the creature communicated.

"Ask it where it's from," the Doctor offered.