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]

"Might be," the Doctor said, stepping in the slushy puddle as well. It soaked through his trainers instantly, but he focused on the blinking light on his machine. "Or, it might be an alien hellbent on taking over the world. Not like we haven't dealt with that on Christmas before."

He gave her a wide, excited grin. "But! It happens to be in that department store over there. I think."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"See, like I said. Tradition." She smiled anyway after she gave her foot a good shake. Walking would help fend off the cold and--.

"Did you say 'department store'?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. Then she narrowed her eyes, reading the sign of said department store--and her shoulders sagged. She'd hoped it would be a Selfridges but they were in the wrong part of the city for it. "Huh, don't think I've ever been to that one."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I think Rose used to work here," the Doctor said with a small sniff. It was the sort of place Jackie would shop all of the time. He gave Donna's outfit a quick look over and then shrugged, before heading off towards the main door.

He never could understand human fashion.

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"Oh? Did--oi, what was that look for?! I'm dressed well enough to go into this place, thank you!" And she was about to say something nice to distract him from thinking about Rose too.

She frowned and threw the door open, not waiting for him to go first--but she didn't get far. The store seemed to spread at least into the two-storeys and he had the psychic whatever device. Reluctantly she waited, her brief anger gone, and held her hand out slightly to retake his.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He took her hand naturally. Being her friend was a lot like breathing. In certain situations, it wasn't easy. But, in general, once he got back into the groove, he did it without thinking.

"Downstairs," he said. He took a glance at the large map before them. "Not accessible to patrons, it appears. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, I think."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

She'd say the same thing about him and their friendship. She put up with a lot of his spaceman nonsense, but being in his world thrilled her--and she couldn't be happier seeing all that stuff and nonsense with him.

"For you? If it was, I'd have to wonder if your hot chocolate was spiked with something," she commented, eyeing the map thoughtfully. "Shouldn't be too hard though, not with everybody doing their last-minute shopping."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Fantastic."

He headed immediately for the nearest stairwell, pausing only long enough to grab a map, should he be stopped and asked where he was going.

"Right, it looks like we've got to go downstairs, about to the middle of the shop. Shouldn't be too hard. He stepped towards the door blocking the stairs downstairs and opened them easily with the sonic.

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"And what then?" she asked, following him into the stairwell. Her voice and footsteps echoed all around them. "This alien threat doesn't seem all that threatening yet. You sure that thing isn't picking up on some kind of disgruntled employee in an elf costume?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"No, too big for that," the Doctor said. He flipped the machine to audio as they went down the stairwell. A quiet beeping noise grew the closer they got to the alien threat.

"Well, it might not be threatening, but it's always best to check. With a level this high, it could end up extremely dangerous."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

Donna frowned. The combination of a large alien plus a high psychic level really wasn't one she exactly fancied, but she steeled herself for anything.

"Doctor, there are a lot of people up there," she said just loud enough over the din of the beeping device, worry knitted into her brow.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"And if it's dangerous, we'll get them out," the Doctor said, looking over to her. "We won't let them get hurt, Donna, I promise. But we can't start a panic, either."

He soniced open another door. A large blast of psychic energy hit him as he opened it. He winced and rubbed his head. "Blimey, can't you feel that?"

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

She gave his hand a squeeze, more to reassure herself than anything, and nodded. "I know. Last thing I'd want is to start a panic over something that wasn't a last-minute sale."

But when that door opened, she barely felt a thing. "Feel what?" she asked, giving him a concerned look. "What's wrong, Doctor?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Psychic interference in there," he said, rubbing his temples in an effort to soothe out the pounding. "Heavy. Like something's dumping out all the bad noise it's taking in."

He kept hold of Donna's hand, but walked a little slower as he stepped through the door.

"If something goes wrong," he said. "You need to get up there, toss a fire alarm, and get back to the TARDIS."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"I'll toss that fire alarm, but I'm not heading anywhere without you," she said defiantly. "Not when you're getting hurt like this."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Don't be stupid, Donna, we don't even know what's down here."

There wasn't time to argue, of course. And Donna was just difficult enough to make sure she'd get her own way.

He sighed, but opened the next door. The psychic energy dissipated as he stepped through.

"Wait." He turned back around. "Why put a door there, if there's nothing but a hallway?"

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," she replied firmly, pretending she hadn't just been called stupid. It'd take a hell of a lot more to stop her from leaving his side.

"Fire door, perhaps?" she added with a shrug. "There's another down the hall a ways. Why, are you feeling okay now?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

It would be a very cold day on Venus before the Doctor ever truly thought Donna was stupid, of course. But some habits died hard, including that one where he was rude to everyone within a five-foot radius.

"Maybe," the Doctor said with a nod. "But yeah, a bit better."

He stepped back through the door and put a hand to his head. The throbbing was especially loud here. He reached out a hand to touch the wall.

"The psychic energy dissipates once we walk out the door, which could mean---" His fingertips went through the wall, like an opening was there, but cloaked.

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

Donna frowned thoughtfully as she watched his fingers slip through the wall. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure what it could mean, with the exception of possible danger to the pair of them.

...Or perhaps whatever was sending out that energy was using the fake wall to hide. "Where's that map you grabbed earlier?" she asked suddenly, wanting to know if there was a specific room the alien was in. "And why is the energy just in this area? Does it feel menacing or anything?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Feels overwhelming, like a fog or a constant buzz. Ow." He continued to rub his temple, and then fished out the map, which he handed over immediately.

He shone the sonic out, like a torch, but the light seemed to get absorbed by the darkness in the room, making it go dimmer and dimmer.

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

She wished she knew what she could do to help him, but she figured it was like it was on the Ood Sphere and how he couldn't simply turn off their sorrowful song. Not that it comforted her any knowing she was still just as useless as she was then to do anything for her best mate...

Her brow furrowed more and more as she looked on into the darkness of the room and compared it to what should have been an assistant manager's office. "So, it's psychic and a light absorber," she whispered, folding the map up and tucking it into her pocket. Lightly, she touched his arm, more to give him an encouraging squeeze than anything. "Wouldn't happen to have an infra-red setting on that screwdriver, would you?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Nope," the Doctor said. He fished in his pocket and produced two 3-D glasses.

"But I have got these. And any light-refracting subparticle displacer will show up on the blue side of these lenses.

He sniffed, and then grinned. "Basic light streaming."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"3-D glasses?" she asked incredulously and took the other pair from him. Only part of her still wondered why he had something like them in his pockets, but she knew better than to ask.

Still, she couldn't help a small smile at his antics and put on her own pair. "Light streaming eh?" She closed one eye, peering through the blue side just as the Doctor said. "So, what exactly would this displacer look like?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"A great big hole in the wall," the Doctor said. He put a hand to Donna's shoulder and gestured ahead.

In the wall, where a moment earlier there'd been no door, there was suddenly a dark, twisted gap where light seemed to stream in, like water down a gutter of road.

"A fraction behind us on the light spectrum," he said. "It's why we couldn't see it."

[forever-noble.livejournal.com]

"Oh my god," she exclaimed, amazed by what she saw. "I had no idea these things could do anything like this!" Nor had she thought such a flimsy child's toy was capable of it either.

"So the creature's through there, is it? I wonder why it's here of all days..."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, it just proves whoever's from here doesn't realize that either," the Doctor said. He gave Donna a smile. "You ever hear little kids saying they can see things through these? Well, they can. They just don't know it."

He reached down to take Donna's hand.

"Let's find out, shall we?"