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

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

It was lights and mistletoe, apparently, and just that. At least, in the Doctor's world, and he had a tendency to import people.

Not that she wasn't halfway there already. She was returning the grin before she'd even realized it. "Can your detector give us a direction the psychic cheer's going?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"In fact, it can."

He offered her his hand. He liked Jim. She had the same sense of adventure that he did, the same need to go out and explore. He liked having her around.

"Shall we?"

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

She accepted it, letting her grin widen a little unchecked. The Doctor had a tendency towards the touchy-feely, and it privately amused her, if only because that didn't usually come up in Starfleet (with the exception of those culturally conditioned to it).

"Lead the way, Doctor."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor's race wasn't inclined to be touchy-feely in the slightest, but the Doctor's favorite thing was to rebel against them, and that often included the occasional hug or hand-hold.

He led the way, following the siphoned psychic energy as it trickled away on his screen.

"Trying to take away my chance at discovering Christmas's secret, eh? Not on my watch!"

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

"I doubt whoever's doing this is just trying to thwart you, Doctor," Jim pointed out, in the interests of being factual.

Or maybe Spock's just rubbed off on her more than she thought. (Probably.) Damn.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, maybe not, but I'd rather have them stopped anyway. I've got too much to do to worry about psychic drainage." He gestured with the device to the city around him.

"Everything's different. People don't understand why, but they feel different. Less in the Christmas mood."

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

There was something that bothered her about this - well, everything about this did. But still. The tactician in Jim was analyzing the facts, and she wasn't coming up with much.

"What would be the point? As an assault, it doesn't really do much." She readjusted her somewhat precarious grip on her cup. "Can something be feeding off the energy?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"That might be it," the Doctor agreed with a nod. "Powering up something faster. Or, maybe a very patient creature working to slowly drain away happiness from the whole planet."

He made a face. "I've seen stranger. But! I think the best thing to do would be to ask him. Or her."

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

"Probably," Jim said. The Doctor had a habit of going into things half-cocked that she could empathize with, but usually she had a back-up in the form of some kind of weapon or another, whereas the Doctor had made it very clear he didn't approve of them.

Somehow it worked for him most of the time, but that didn't stop her from having a phaser tucked in her jacket just in case.

"Do you have any idea how close we are?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Very nearly on top of it," the Doctor said, looking down at the scanner. "It seems the closer we get, the bigger it gets. Bit like looking at a star from a long way away even though you know it's really quite large."

Which made the Doctor very nervous. Something this large couldn't just be hiding in London without anyone seeing it.

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

"What should we be looking for?"

Because she hadn't the faintest clue what something that would be sucking up psychic energy would look like, which makes the Doctor automatic expert, even if he's pulling things out his-

Imagination.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No idea," the Doctor said. "Something very large. Very large, and probably very visible."

Which was, when he thought about it, not the most helpful description in the world.

"Organic. Wide, like a receptor."

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

Not the most helpful, no. Not even in the top thousand. But she'd take it, if that was all he had to offer.

Besides. Extremely important pointing time. "Something like that?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Like what?"

The Doctor turned, looking to the wide skating rink and the huge tree in the center, sparkling in the light.

He turned back to Jim.

"What?"

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

She let out a puff of breath, trying not to sound a little annoyed or impatient. "The tree, Doctor. Large, very visible, and organic."

For a genius, he could be really dense sometimes.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor turned back around and grinned.

"Ah."

Without hesitation, he grinned back to Jim, and then started towards the rink at a run. He hopped onto the the ice and slid towards it.

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

Jim took off at a sensibly more sedate pace, and still managed to fall spectacularly a few meters from the edge of the rink.

This was what she got for not having skated since she was a kid.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor slid to a stop, and then slid his way back to Jim, offering her his hand.

"It's easy, once you get the hang of it," he said. Just push out with one foot, out with the other."

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

"I used to be really good at this," Jim said as she accepted his hand. "But there wasn't much call for skating in Starfleet."

Tentatively, she slid one foot out on the ice again, and then the other, with slightly better results.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Bit like riding a bike," the Doctor said. He paused. Wrong vernacular for her time. "Bit like retransmitting a subspacial conductor. It'll come back to you once you start."

He slid backwards easily, having never really lost his ability to skate (except embarrassingly briefly during his sixth incarnation while he was trying to show off for Evelyn).

"You can do it."

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

"That's easy for you to say," she said. She was starting to gain some speed now, only stumbling a couple dozen times and feeling ridiculous for it.

Still, at keast they were getting closer to the tree, even if it was slow-going.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Actually it is. Talking's a bit like that, too. You can go ages and ages without it but the moment thoughts come to your mind, words come out of your mouth. Well, if you want to, that is."

He looked back to the tree, and then skated a little closer to Jim. He didn't know what, exactly, would be hidden within that tree, or if it was what was dangerous, but the last thing he wanted was to put her in danger.

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

She didn't notice that, being too focused on not falling again, but she would have been amused if she had (or maybe annoyed - it's a toss-up). She was too good at getting into and out of trouble in one piece on her own (or mostly, as Bones had often bemoaned).

"When did you do all your skating, anyway?"

As far she knew, there wasn't an ice rink in the TARDIS. ...As far as she knew.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"The 1700's." Because that was, obviously, a reasonable answer to her question. "No better time for frozen lakes and slippery slopes.

Speaking of, the Doctor felt his foot hit a wet patch, and he slipped, tumbling backwards onto the ice without any grace whatsoever.

[kirk-it.livejournal.com]

Which would have been funny if it didn't completely mess up Jim's balance, too, which made for a very interesting and messy tangle of Time Lord and Captain.

At least he was fallible, even if he did have to bring her down with him to prove it. "Maybe you should have practiced in the 1700s some more."