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

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

That helped. She didn't know how, but when Jack touched her arm she felt a little less cold.

"Where are you from?" she asked the unreal Cliff as directed. Presumably it's reason for showing her her home was to tell her something about its home. Perhaps it wanted to get back there.

The image around them changed to a view of a galaxy and then zoomed in further and further. Jo could tell it wasn't Earth, but beyond that she didn't know where that was. "Do you recognise that?" she asked Jack. "Is that where you want to go?" she asked the unreal Cliff.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Bretexia cluster," the Doctor said. He could feel his feet start to chill. This creature needed a lot of energy, but it didn't seem to be malevolent towards Jo. It probably didn't even realize it was draining her.

"Betexia's a galaxy of traditionally very psychic creatures, absorbing the energy of desires, wishes, needs, that sort of thing. They offer up the desires in return for a little psychic residue." He shook his head. "Ask it why it can't stay on Earth? Seems a harmless sort of place to end up."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"Maybe that depends on the psychic residue or the desires," Jo said, frowning. What she desired was far too complicated and required hard work anyway, if only to convince the people in power it's what they needed before the Earth became unliveable. But she turned back to the unreal Cliff anyway and said, "You can stay here if you like. If you're not doing any harm no one's going to hurt you."

In response the unreal Cliff looked a little green and he looked down at his stomach, which had grown very fat. And Jo realised what was going on. "Wishes and desires," she said to Jack. "It's Christmas and lots of people are wanting presents. He must have eaten too much. Can you send him home?" A thought occurred to her. "If I desire for him to go home can he make that happen?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"If he's so bloated from the desires of the season, he might not be able to move," the Doctor said. "Might be far too heavy under the weight."

If he'd been alone, he probably would've said that it served the creature right, stuffing itself on the needs of the human race, even if it wasn't hurting anyone. Didn't it know better?

But the Doctor's arm was on Jo, and she wouldn't want that. She just wanted to help.

"I can get him home," he said. "But I'll need you to help me."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, the poor thing." Jo looked at it sympathetically and laid a hand against its cheek. Although it leaned into her gesture her hand was so numb she couldn't tell if she was touching it or not - assuming there was anything to touch.

"How can I help?" she asked Jack, turning back to him.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

It was strange, but the Doctor felt a surge of envy run through him. He couldn't see what Jo could, all he saw was Donna, still looking so sad. But the gesture she made was gentle, and the Doctor could imagine she was holding its shoulder or cupping its cheek. Ridiculous thing to be envious of, perhaps, but it had been quite a long time since someone had shown that sort of sympathy towards him.

"You're going to need to lead it back with me. My ship isn't far, but she's a whirlwind of energy and if we can't contain it, it might burn out." He took half a step back, making sure to keep his hand steadily on Jo's.

"Just make sure it comes with you. It trusts you."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"You have a ship?" she asked with a frown. It would be useful to take whatever this creature was home, but she didn't know Torchwood had spaceships. She and Cliff were going to visit his family after Christmas, so perhaps they could stop off in Cardiff and have a look.

That wasn't important at the moment though. "We're going to take you home," she said to the creature and held out her hand for it to take. The image of her home in South America appeared around them again and Jo smiled. "Yes, but your home, not mine."

'Cliff' smiled back at her and took her hand - or at least appeared to. And when she took a step in Jack's direction, it did the same. "How far away is it?" she asked Jack.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Just around the corner," the Doctor said. He took another step back, and another, making sure to keep track of where he was walking. People around them stared at the young man walking backwards with the older woman, but, well, maybe they'd just chalk it up to it being Christmas and people being very strange.

"Also, I need to warn you, Jo, I may have lied about who I am."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo had long since learnt to ignore strange looks. "You may have lied?," she asked, looking at Jack suspiciously. "You mean you did and you don't really want to admit it." She looked back at the creature who still looked like Cliff, wondering if she should have trusted this man and just what it was he intended to do.

She stopped, keeping one hand on creature and keeping between it and Jack. "So who are you and what are you doing?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He looked back to Jo's arm, and then to the creature she was touching.

"I'm only trying to help," he said. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt either of you. We can get it home, get it somewhere safe, but you have to trust me."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo wasn't sure if she should trust him, given that he'd lied to her. But then he had admitted it at least and it wasn't as if she would be able to get the creature home herself. She could contact UNIT, but they didn't have any spaceships - at least not that she knew of.

"Alright," she said in the end. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you," she warned, and started walking again.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, I can understand that," the Doctor said. "Though, really, if you meet anyone named Jack from Torchwood, you should keep an eye on him. Never much of a fan of Torchwood, me. Jack's a good enough bloke, but a bit jeopardy-friendly."

He talked as he followed her lead, taking a few steps back and directing her around a corner. The TARDIS was nestled in the dark awning of a fire escape.

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo wasn't entirely sure about taking advice from someone who'd admitted he'd lied. And she was fairly sure she'd notice if someone was particularly jeopardy-friendly. But she also wasn't going to dismiss his advice out of hand. "I don't know..." she began, but drifted off as she saw something she wasn't expecting to.

She stopped walking when she saw it and looked over at 'Jack', her eyes wide. "Doctor?" she asked softly, thinking of all the people who could have a TARDIS that weren't the Doctor.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Jo," the Doctor said, quietly. As far as reunions went, this was a good deal more awkward than he'd expected. He hadn't anticipated running into her, much less finding an alien in need of help.

"Nearly there." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his key.

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

Jo stayed still not quite sure what to think. Once she'd have given anything to have seen the Doctor again, but that was thirty years ago and she'd long since given up hope. Now she was faced with him - and with him looking a lot younger than he did, not to mention younger than she was - she didn't quite know what to say to him.

"What...?" she began, but then there was a movement from behind her and she realised she'd forgotten about the creature they were trying to help. She turned to give it a reassuring smile and then started walking towards the TARDIS again.

"At least I can be sure of your intentions now." She stopped at the door while the Doctor opened it and turned back to the creature. "You'll be safe with the Doctor," she told it. "I promise," she added in response to the puppy dog eyes look it was giving her.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"You can never tell with Torchwood, can you?" the Doctor said. "But I know we can get this creature safe and home."

He mentally shushed the TARDIS, telling her to direct her energy flow into Jo, keeping her safe. Once the door was opened, he led her back inside.

"Not how I expected to spend Christmas," he said, "But, well, if you're going to land on a holiday, you ought to spend it with someone you care about."

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

There must have been something about the TARDIS because she felt warmer even before she stepped inside it. Inside it didn't even look like she remembered, but she couldn't think of anything else to explain it.

The creature seemed happy to drift inside and Jo let it go. But she looked at it, still looking like Cliff, as she nodded at the Doctor's definition of Christmas.

"I should go," she said. "Cliff will be waiting for me." But she stayed just inside the doorway. "You do have someone to spend Christmas with, don't you?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor looked over to the creature and gave Jo a nod and smile that wasn't at all genuine.

"Oh, I've got this bloke here. By the time we get back to his time, Christmas won't be Christmas anymore, will it? Well, hard to tell, with time travel. I'm sure we'll find out."

He didn't want to leave this time period, but somethings...things worked out that way. They had to. The cost of staying now would be this being's life.

[unit-girl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but then you'll miss it." Christmas was still Christmas wherever you were and whatever you were doing. Even if you were amongst people who didn't celebrate it.

"It won't take long to take him home, then you can just come back. I'm sure Cliff would love to see you again." She should just go, but she hated the thought of leaving the Doctor on his own. And besides, who knew if she'd ever get a chance to see him again.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Continued here: http://rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com/289433.html