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

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"Oh, we had a bit of a shopping spree actually. We went to Rome, I hadn't been there in ages," said the Master, with a wide, happy grin. He continued.

"But really, the best part was when we were still in London. We brought in some of the kids from the local orphanages and had Christmas. Not much of a fan of children, me, but it was interesting. As far as publicity stunts go, it was a slam dunk."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor was surprised, but as far as the Master's actions, it was, no doubt, entirely a publicity stunt. Why else would he go out and help children? No reason the Doctor could think of.

"Haven't been to Rome since the fire," the Doctor said. "Should really go back, take in the sights." Also, not jealous.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"We had a man dressed as Santa and little elves. Even reindeer! Little atmospheric excitation with some slight of hand and it was a ball," said the Master, extremely pleased with himself. "The voters were eating out of my palm."

He pursed his lips in thought a moment. "A Roman holiday? I don't plan on taking you on any shopping sprees. Except to possibly get you in something other than those ridiculous trainers of yours. Really, Doctor, they don't go with everything."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I like them," the Doctor said with a pout. "And they go with my outfit better than those overly shiny ones go with yours. And in this weather yours'll just end up scuffed up. Now are you going to help me or not?"

He nodded to the device in his hands, which was beeping out a line of psychic wavelengths. The Doctor refused to believe Christmas was only about atmospheric excitation and a few well placed Reindeer.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"You are such a child sometimes," the Master stated with a sigh. "Criticizing my taste in clothing now, are we? I'm the only one of us that has ever had any sense in that respect."

He favored him with a pointed look. "No, I'm going to stand here and watch you flail about like an idiot."

Actually that didn't sound like such a terrible idea. "Which way, Rudolph."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"You started it," the Doctor said, not at all improving his maturity level.

He held up the detector, and then pointed down an alleyway, the bright red light at the end of the device shining through the dark. "This way, Santa."

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master rewarded him with yet another roll of his eyes.

"I'm woefully unprepared for that role. Santa has a whip to keep the reindeer in line. You know that Rudolph has to be trouble with an ego like that after saving Christmas."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor turned back to the Master. "Look, just because I took away your reindeer toys doesn't mean you have to bring it up. We've got something a bit more serious to deal with than---"

Beep.

The screen on the device flickered, and then went out. The Doctor gave it a slight smack, but it remained dead.

"That's not good. Something's psychically blocked the connection, keeping the device from finding its center."

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"But you have an annoying habit of taking them all away. There should be some sort of rule against that around Christmas. Serious? This is serious, us trudging through the snowy streets of London on a quest to find the true meaning of Chris-," the Master stopped as the device died.

"And that isn't suspicious at all."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Fine, I'll give you back the telly," the Doctor said, grumpily. "But you can't watch children's shows all day. You need some sort of intellectual stimulation---Oh, no. I sound like professor Borusa."

He sighed before pulling out the sonic and giving the small device a few prods.

"Like some sort of a shield over this area," he said. "Blocking out view of psychic phenomenon." The Doctor had a feeling this had very little to do with his desire to find the true meaning of Christmas.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master grinned triumphantly when he said he'd give the television back to him, though it turned into a slight sneer at mentioning watching something other than the shows he enjoyed. "Always a stipulation with you and yes, you do, congratulations."

He watched him a moment before trailing away from him to look around. Was it something that sensed someone searching or did it know someone had a device capable of finding it and purposely shut it off?

"You really can't have a normal Christmas can you?"

[ooc: sorry for lateness!]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No, no, I can't, apparently."

He gestured towards a building with a series of sattelite dishes on the roof. "Might be a good place to start, I think. Somewhere that can detect what I'm doing and try to stop it, yeah?"



[ooc: No worries!]

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"Well I can at least get my hopes up, you do manage an awful lot of carnage on the holidays. I wouldn't mind seeing another bout of genocide as my present," the Master announced with a rather smug, knowing grin.

Still grinning, he nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good place to start, hope it isn't any kiddies just goofing off, they have no idea who they're dealing with."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Stop it," the Doctor snapped. He wouldn't hurt anyone here. He wouldn't let it become one of those Christmases he'd started getting used to.

And he wouldn't let the Master get under his skin.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master ignored that as he gave a soft chuckle. "The fire gave such a lovely contrast, made you larger than life, I thought. The kind of stuff you'd read about in legends and children's tales to keep the little brats in line."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Take these," the Doctor said, handing over the warmed crystals to the Master roughly. "And keep an eye on their excessive heat index."

He couldn't argue with the Master's baiting. Yes, he was a legend, larger than life, and he'd committed genocide a dozen times over. But he couldn't worry about that now.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master's lips curled in distaste as he took the crystals, barely keeping his footing on the slick ground and scowled. "Shall I do anything else for you? Hold your coat, perhaps?"

He rolled his eyes at him. "You are far too easy to wind up."

[ooc: GUESS WHAT I GOT FIXED!!!]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No, it's actually cold enough for me to wear it, but thank you for the offer," the Doctor said, his voice as patronizing as he could manage.

He sighed, and twisted a few dials on the machine. "I'm not wound up. Now shut up, I've got a signal."