RP with charmandsmiles

[bit_impossible]

The moment the TARDIS had ceased shaking him about like a die in a tumbler, he scrambled to his feet, immediately checking his ship's systems. "Everything all right there, old girl?" he asked absently, his hands flicking and turning different switches and dials, his eyes glancing at the screen. Made him glad he waited to test the updated fast-return switch he'd just installed until after he'd left Harriet in Flydale North to visit her mum. A private trip there without all the media coverage would do her some good, he felt.

Now if he could only figure out what the hell went wrong with his TARDIS... The fast return switch, by all rights, should have brought him back to Sulinara! The original trip there hadn't been as bumpy, nor had any of the other trips he'd made using the old switch. Not that he recalled anyway.

He shrugged and sighed at the read-outs he was glancing over. The TARDIS would only tell him he was on Earth and nothing else. "Come on, not even a little clue?" he complained and frowned as he slipped the pair of glasses off his face and stowed them safely away. "I hope you're not acting like this on purpose. I'll have you know it wasn't my fault the switch didn't work!" A pause. "Well...it might have been," he conceded, running a hand through his hair. "Just a bit..."

Deciding it'd be best if he left the TARDIS to run a diagnostics on that particular section of her systems in peace, he quickly made his way to the door, shrugging his long brown coat on. "Just going out for a stroll," he said, hoping to get a response from his ship. He only received a stony silence in return; even the humming in the console room had become more subdued. "Right," he added, clicking his teeth together. "Back in a jiff."

Something told him, however, as he stepped out into a leafy forest on what like a beautiful summer day, that he might be a little longer than a 'jiff'. "What?"

Especially if what he saw before him was indeed another TARDIS, an exact copy of the one he'd just left. "What?!"

Comments

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stroked his console fondly, not bothering to even look at the screen to see where she'd taken him. He'd entered a random sequence anyway, and trusted her to make it interesting. She never never failed him on that count, especially since Rose had rejected his offer. It was almost as if the old girl was making up for his lack of a companion, and he appreciated it more than he could express properly. He was planning some special upgrades as a reward, but he'd work on those later. For now, he had exploring to do.

He didn't notice anything particularly unusual about the forest as he stepped out of the TARDIS. The trees were leafy and green, the sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing - and then he noticed the TARDIS, and the bloke standing out in front of it who could only be a future self.

"Oi! What're you doing here, idiot? This is my timestream, go find your own," he grumbled, crossing his arms.

[bit_impossible]

"Ohhhh, no," he groaned, seeing which version of himself was inside that TARDIS. "Not--hold on a mo', did you just call me an idiot?!"

He marched over to his past self, indignant and fuming that he'd been called an idiot by him of all of them. "And I'll have you know I was here first, so go on! Get! Shoo!"

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I did!" the Doctor huffed, poking a bit at Ten's hair. "No surprise, really, all this hair weighing down on your brain. And it's not like you can prove you were here first-- hang on," he paused, glancing around.

"Nothing's happening. That's a bit wrong."

[bit_impossible]

"Better than the little bit of hair you've got!" he countered, knocking the other Doctor's hand away. "I could say a fair few things about those ears of yours. Well, more than a few--well, we'd be here for a while once I really got going."

But he couldn't help himself a cocky little grin when heard that observation. "Oh, you're just realising? Blimey, I don't remember being so slow. Perhaps the fumes from the sealant you put on that jacket is getting to your senses?" Of course, he'd noticed the wrongness of situation inherent, but he was certain he'd felt it first--he being the oldest and wisest of the pair.

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Shut up about the ears, would you? And obviously you're the one with the foggy memories, old man. Sealant? Honestly."

He glanced at his self's TARDIS curiously though, wondering why nobody else had followed his self out of it. He hoped he would have a companion eventually, but maybe not...

[bit_impossible]

He shrugged indifferently at the comment about his memory; it was fine and dandy now that he wasn't in his eighth body, so he wasn't too concerned. "Hard to shut it when those ears are so...right there," he said motioning with his hands.

"So where are you now, eh?" he asked, shoving those hands into his pockets. "Travelling with Rose? Met the Slitheen?"

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The Doctor glared at his self when he mentioned travelling with Rose. There was being a jerk, and then there was being cruel...he'd just crossed the line. Without a single reply, he turned and went straight back into the TARDIS. He frowned, however, when the controls seemed to be a bit stuck.

[bit_impossible]

He watched his self walk away, his mouth hanging open. His encounter with the Slitheen hadn't been all that bad; sure, 10 Downing Street was blown up and the lone survivor came back for revenge later, but it went relatively well! And Rose...

No sooner had the doors had shut, he marched right over and started banging on them. "Oi! I hope you didn't go in there to brood! That won't help the situation we're in!"

But what that situation was, well, he wasn't so sure. It was still peaceful in the forest, barring the noise from his minor assault on his other self's TARDIS.

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

Much to his annoyance, the TARDIS opened the door all on her own. "Ignore her, you can't come in," the Doctor muttered stubbornly. "Not if you're going to make cracks like that about Rose." Really, his self ought to know better.

[bit_impossible]

He still stepped in anyway--like he ever listened to himself to begin with--and strode right up the ramp. "Cracks about Rose?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "Why the hell would I do that?"

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

"Yep, definitely a foggy memory, if you can't even remember what you said five seconds ago. Never thought I'd regenerate into a goldfish. Even our Eighth wasn't as bad as you."

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets, and proceeded to mimic his self's accent. "Travelling with Rose? Met the Slitheen?"

[bit_impossible]

"That wasn't a crack! I was asking nicely!" he retorted, wagging a finger in his other self's face. "And that was a rubbish impression of me, I'll have you know."

But it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps they didn't share the same memories. Had the other Doctor reacted differently--hadn't mentioned or seemed so damned offended by the mention of Rose--then he simply could've chocked this up to this version existing before he met Rose.

"Hold on a mo'," he said a split second later, folding his arms across his chest. "I remember being quite fond of Rose--well, I grew to be fond of her; took a while. Actually, it took a trip to the Platform one in the year 5.5/Apple/26. But she was so fond of you. Very fond, in fact. She couldn't believe I was the same man when I regenerated and forced me to bring her home.

"But that isn't the case for you, is it? What did a simple human girl do to you?"

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stared at his self like he'd grown a second head...he remembered Platform One, but Rose hadn't been there. "Rose? Fond? Of me? What sort of alternate dimension are you..." the Doctor trailed off, realising that was exactly where his self was from. It had to be.

"Ah."

[bit_impossible]

"Yeah. 'Ah'," he repeated, but this time without a hint of smugness. "Go on, you still haven't answered my question. We can deal with alternate dimensions and universes in a moment. It's not like we're going anywhere or else you would've escaped in your TARDIS long before now."

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

He was quiet for a few long moments, before he finally decided to answer. He might not've if his self had been smug about it. "I've never travelled with Rose Tyler. She rejected my offer after that bit with the Autons. Decided she'd rather stay with her mum and her boyfriend." His tone was bitter, but he couldn't help it. He'd been alone for too long.

[bit_impossible]

"Did she really?" he asked quietly, uncrossing his arms. "Well, there was always that possibility. Always is when it comes to asking people to join in our travels. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry it didn't work out favourably for you."

He tried to imagine how it must have been to travel without her coming into his life at the moment she had. Knowing himself as he did, he never would have healed--and most likely would have killed the Dalek stored away in van Statten's underground museum. Would've saved himself from travelling with Adam, in the very least.

"Doctor...have you found anybody else?" he asked, his eyebrows raised in concern. "Please tell me you have."

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The Doctor gestured around his console room. "Does it look like I've found anyone else?"

Well, that wasn't entirely the case. But he didn't like talking about Adam, so it took him a moment.

"There was one bloke, but he didn't last long," he muttered darkly. "Stupid ape only lasted one trip out before I dumped him back home."

[bit_impossible]

He turned away, rubbing the back of his neck to hide the amused smile he felt growing on his face when he heard that. "Only the one trip, eh?" he asked nonchalantly. He coughed softly, controlling his facial features, as he turned back. "Did he happen to have, say, an extra hole in his head?"

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

The question was instantly met with a snap of the Doctor's fingers. "Yep. Take it you had an Adam too?" That sparked his curiosity...maybe their universes weren't so different, even with Rose's absence.

[bit_impossible]

"For about as long it seems," he replied with a grin. The common ground did reassure him slightly that things hadn't been all too bad for this version of his past self.

"Go on," he said eagerly, rocking from side to side. His trainers made the metal grating creak with each movement. "What else have you done? Oh! Have you meet Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North?" No sooner had he said it, he stopped moving and added, "Blimey, she's got me doing it now..."

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

"After the Autons? Platform One, the Gelth, the Slitheen, and...picking up Adam." He couldn't bring himself to mention what he'd done to the Dalek. "Just dumped him back home not too long ago."

He raised an eyebrow at the Doctor's question. "'Course I have. You've run into her again?"

[bit_impossible]

He nodded at each item his other self listed off. Somehow, he wasn't surprised that he didn't mention the Dalek--he had a feeling he knew what happened--but he wouldn't mention that either. It's not exactly something to write on a postcard.

"Ohhhh, you can say that," he beamed. He leaned back against the railing while he carried on. "Not too long ago, actually. Christmas Day! Met the Sycorax--awful bunch. Used blood control to hold a third of the Earth's population hostage, but I sent them packing. Oh yeah, did I mention? She's Prime Minister now!

"Well..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, "I say that but she's really taking a short holiday with me right now. I figured I owed her as much for--" He stopped himself before he mentioned his regeneration and her helping him through it. "Well, for what she did before I arrived to help with the Sycorax situation."