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• 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
Tags:
- exercise: open thread,
- featuring: alan jackson,
- featuring: alice carter,
- featuring: brigitta,
- featuring: captain james "jim" kirk,
- featuring: donna noble,
- featuring: dorothy gale,
- featuring: father christmas,
- featuring: gabriel gray/sylar,
- featuring: hiro nakumura,
- featuring: josephine "jo" grant,
- featuring: lucy saxon,
- featuring: martha jones,
- featuring: romanadvoratrelundar,
- featuring: rose tyler,
- featuring: the master,
- topic: silly human holidays,
- verse [active]: 00: open
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"Actually," he said. "You seem like a foot-oriented sort. Looking for the fastest way around to the other side of the Capitol without causing too much of a fuss. Barack and I have always got along, but the number of times Michelle's slapped me..."
But, then again, it was always the women, wasn't it?
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It sounded as if he was here on business, if what he claimed about the First Couple was true, however.
"And if it's business, why at this time of the year, if you don't mind my asking."
Normally, he wouldn't be prying into anyone's business (especially a stranger), but there was something comforting in spending a few minutes talking to someone from home. He even missed talking to Maria.
He'd probably be put in an asylum once she left for college.
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In either case, the Doctor wasn't having any luck on his own. And, well, it would be fairly nice to have someone who knew the area to help out. And terrible things always ended up happening when he spent Christmas alone.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way, nice to meet you."
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His eyebrows lifted at the unorthodox introduction. That, along with the lack of a name, settled it for Alan. It was just a pity Maria wasn't here when he just happened to run into Sarah Jane's famous Doctor.
"If you're looking for a specific research/development facility, the only UNIT facility I know of on this side of the continent is in New York City." The statement was as matter-of-fact, open, and honest as befitting Alan's normal state of being. "And forgive me if you've heard this before, but my daughter's a big fan."
He offered his hand. "Alan Jackson."
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The Doctor took Alan's hand enthusiastically. "Jackson. Like Maria Jackson, Sarah's friend?" He let out a laugh. "Oh, I've heard quite a bit about you two. Trouble on the planet, saving the universe from your kitchen and attic. That is brilliant."
He paused, and concern momentarily hit his face. "Odd, running into you without warning like this."
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It shouldn't have been that easy, all things considered.
"Maria is brilliant." The praise of his only child, especially coming from someone Sarah Jane held in such high regard, sent a shot of warm giddiness straight through his chest. "Mostly from Sarah Jane's attic, but Maria and I were together when we discovered Luke'd been nicked by Slitheen. Of course, I thought they were cannibals at first, and it was Chrissie's fault in the first place, but could've ended worse, I suppose."
The Sontaran affair, now, that was another matter entirely. He'd rather die than admit it to anyone, but after that, he had breathed a rather large (and silent) sigh of relief once they were on their flight to Washington.
"Well, not that odd." he remarked. "I'd think it'd be more unusual to land somewhere and not run into someone who didn't know who you are."
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It was strange. Sarah had spoken very highly of Maria, much in the way he imagined she might if she had a daughter of her own, and briefly glazed over Alan (now that the Doctor thought about it, it was sort of in the same way she glazed over talking about Harry with the Doctor while they traveled together---he'd have to ask her at some point about that). But the Jacksons were special, to the universe.
"Still! Got a wide-range psychic defluxuative recoil key that could certainly use a second hand," the Doctor said, offering over the crystals to Alan.
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The thought was disquieting. Alan had sworn to himself that he was done with it all, for Maria's sake and for his own sanity. Sure, he had had a laugh or two and when all's said and done, he wouldn't have had any of it not happen, but there'd always been a small, persistent niggling in the back of his mind, asking him what would have happened had he just happened to not be holding a strange little box at exactly the time he needed it?
Then an even more persistent thought always followed right behind. If Maria hadn't been there, hadn't been in the right place at the right time to push him into the wide, scary world of simple faith, what would have happened then? The thought that Maria had been directly responsible for saving the world two times (that he knew of) blew his mind no matter how often he'd thought of it since moving. And he'd loved the look on her face as she'd told him of all she had seen and done since moving to Bannerman Road.
Well, he'd been on the lookout for this infamous Doctor of Sarah Jane's. No denying it now. Maybe not for himself, but for Maria.
Clearing his throat, he looked at the crystals, a smile playing on his lips. "Someone told you exactly how to keep my attention, didn't you?" he asked, accepting the crystals. He could practically feel himself lighting up as he gave them a once-over. "According to Sarah Jane, you're not much for visiting. How about stepping out of the box and coming to my place for a bite and a talk? You can tell me how Sarah Jane is getting along and why you think it's so funny we ran into each other." He ran his finger along the edge of one of the crystals. "And everything you think I can handle about this."
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Things were always easier when he was running. Less of a chance to gather moss.
Fortunately, he didn't have to politely decline from Alan's offer, as a sudden blip on the machine in his hands signaled the Doctor's favorite thing: disaster.
"We'll see, Mr. Jackson," the Doctor said. "But first, we've got to follow this signal! Allons-y!"
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Of course, his own decision-making had gotten rather dodgy of late. Which was why he allowed himself to be pulled along to follow whatever signal the Doctor had picked up.
"Do you know what sort of signal it is?" he asked, following closely behind the Doctor.
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And besides, Alan was wearing the right sort of shoes for the Doctor's life.
"Best way to find out is to follow it to the source, which looks like it would be..." He pointed towards the opposite end of the Mall.
"This way!"
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Realizing he didn't have much of a choice, he took off after the Doctor, shaking his head.
This was as far as he was going, though. If he saw the little blue box Maria had told him about, he was staying safely outside. On his own planet and in his own time. No trips.
"Hey, slow down!" he shouted. "I don't know what sort of stamina you Time Lords have, but we humans would like to breathe normally every once in a while!"
The request turned out to be unnecessary, for he soon found himself matching the thinner man stride for side.
"This signal, it's not leaking anything dangerous, right? Like fumes or radiation?"
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"What exactly has Sarah told you about me?" His tone was just shy of accusatory. After all, he was supposed to be a secret, though he knew that he was featured in a few of her books as 'the Stranger' or by other romantic titles.
Also, by turning the question back on Alan, it gave him time to look down at his device and try to figure out if the object they were looking for was leaking fumes or radiation. That was terribly clever, and the Doctor hadn't even thought to check.
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And he'd always had the feeling she wasn't all that fond of it at first, until she needed his help to combat the alien supercomputer known as Mr. Smith.
"Trust me," he added, seeing the Doctor wasn't convinced, "if it were up to Sarah Jane, I wouldn't know anything."
Or maybe he just wasn't paying attention anymore. "Do you have any idea what sort of device is making that signal? It doesn't have the look of anything I'm familiar with."
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Now, if only he could've managed to have a parent for his companions like Alan, rather than Jackie, Francine, and Sylvia. Well, Francine wasn't so bad, once you got to know her. Sylvia still had claws and fangs.
"Isotropic energy conversion stabilization utilizer," the Doctor explained. "The energy signal is caught by the psychic waves in the crystal, and converted to power source output registrations here."
Beat.
"And there's no radiation or fumes, so far as I can tell."
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"You're being very kind, but the truth is, I just haven't got around to saying no to Maria yet."
It went without saying that he also found it difficult to say no to Sarah Jane, who had never asked him for much anyway.
He had considered many times that perhaps he had an allergic reaction to the word.
"Isotropic energy conversion stabilization utilizer," he repeated slowly, his head swimming. Latching onto what was familiar to him, he stepped in for another look at the device. "I've never seen anything that could convert psychic waves into energy output. And I'm familiar with the concept of conversion. I suppose anything's possible in theory, but actually seeing it in action... it's amazing!"
Knowing instinctively it would never happen, he nonetheless allowed himself a brief moment of glee at the idea of giving the device all his attention in an extended period of study.
"Are you saying whatever's using this device is sending out psychic waves, Doctor?" he asked suddenly.
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He gestured back to the device, just in time for it to beep loudly once again. Oh, not good.
"Sending out and taking back in," the Doctor said, his voice worried once again. "Draining the whole area of psychic energy. Not good. On a grand enough scale it could render the human race of their consciousness."
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He blinked several times. Psychic energy was where he was about to start lagging behind somewhat.
"But... but that's practically criminal!" he yelped. "You telling me that if that thing beeps enough times, everyone's going to just keel over unconscious? What about people who are driving cars or buses? Or the airline pilots? People could get killed! Oh, God, Maria."
He pulled out his mobile and instantly started dialing Maria. If she and Chrissie were off driving somewhere back home...
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He took a breath and nodded. "We haven't got a lot of time, but we've got the right tools, and just a bit of genius----I am here, after all---so we should be all right. But we can't wait."
He pointed down the path towards the UN building. "This way," he said. "Ready to run, Mr. Jackson?"
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Then it came to him. "Give me half a minute!" he exclaimed, sending the automatic text message he and Maria had come up with together, adding a quick command to stay indoors and read a book until she heard from him again.
Having done what he could to secure his daughter's safety, he turned to the Doctor. "Let's go."
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