flowerbox | Who's that knocking on my TARDIS?

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Who's that knocking on my TARDIS?

Through all of time and space, the TARDIS flew. On the outside; a blue police box, on the inside; a console room of wood and steel and candles, with buttons and glowing lights all coming together to make a kind of gothic steampunk fantasy.

For the Doctor, this was home.

"Well?" he said, almost absentmindedly fiddling with the switches and the controls on the console. "Where to next, hmm? The reign of Emperor Taizong? The fifth age of the New Savannah? Or maybe...Galsec Seven? What do you think?"

The console's central column pulsed slightly.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, old girl. You can't blame me for a moment of indecision, can you? Billions upon billions of worlds, an untold number of people and places and peculiarities to see...it's a wonder I ever manage to get anywhere at all, with so much to choose from!"

The glow of the TARDIS, quite possibly, took on a slightly pointed edge.

"Oh alright, alright, if you insist! Let's go...oh. Now that's not right."

[[ooc: Okay, the idea here is that any characters tagging in are suddenly arriving in the TARDIS. How they do is up do you: they could just walk in the door, they could just suddenly materialise with no added explanation, they could have been hiding in the swimming pool all this time and have only just decided to show themselves - whatever you like! You can keep it simple or make it some complicated conspiracy, whatever takes your fantasy.

Also, if you need some references - the inside of Eight's TARDIS basically looks like this, and Eight himself looks like this.]]

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Clara was in the middle of fearing for her life and whether or not the recently regenerated Doctor would be able to remember how to fly the TARDIS when something incredibly odd happened. With no real explanation as to how or why, she found herself standing right in the middle of a very different console room. Her eyes were already wide thanks to the shock the past several minutes had put her through, and this definitely wasn't helping matters any. Especially not when she saw a man she didn't recognize all that well standing at the console.

"Doctor?"

Who else could it be? Besides, she thinks his face is a bit familiar. Still, she couldn't help but ask his name cautiously, looking very close to a skittish animal that wanted nothing more than to run away.

"It is you, isn't it?"

Something certainly wasn't right. There was a girl, in his TARDIS. A girl who hadn't been there before, and more importantly, a girl who he'd never seen before in all his lives.

"Well, I should hope that I'm me. It would be rather inconvenient if I turned out to be someone else instead, wouldn't it?" The Doctor said softly, drumming his fingers on the edge of the console as he inspected the girl. Human, by the looks of her, and probably from sometime in early 21st Century. "Although much more important, I would think, is who are you, and what are you doing in my TARDIS? Do I know you?"

She stared, and then stared some more. And despite looking dangerously close to crying, she managed a laugh. "Oh, you're definitely you. Good to know." That little bit of laughter bubbled over into something louder and more relieved, because he's not the Doctor she knew, but at the same time he still was. Time Lords were weird like that, she supposed.

"Names, though. That ought to be a thing, you're right. I'm Clara, Clara Oswald. I travel with you when your face is a bit different, and it just so happens I was in his TARDIS before somehow ending up on this one."

There was a shrug of her shoulders, before she began to move in closer to the console, eyes looking things over. She couldn't really provide much of an explanation as to how she got here, because she had no idea herself. Just like she had no idea how to get back to her Doctor. In an effort to distract herself from that, she brushes a finger along the top of a glowing something or another. It might've been a button, for all she knew.

A very colorful--and probably very familiar--figure is standing in the middle of the room, his back to the Doctor. He has a few wires in one hand and another in his mouth, which he's slowly removing now; if the Doctor looks at them, he'll see the ends have been shorn off cleanly, like they've been cut by something.

After a moment of just staring at his surroundings, the younger Doctor mutters, "That shouldn't have happened... Evelyn, are you alri--" He turns as he speaks, getting a good look around the... cathedral he seems to have accidentally turned the console room into, and stops abruptly when he notices the other Doctor.

"...ah." That really shouldn't have happened.

Well, now this was awkward. The Doctor coughed politely, since she was really taking her time to stare at him, really. He wondered just why she looked so upset. Surely his appearance wasn't that horrible to look at?

"Names are a thing, yes," the Doctor said, with a quick laugh. "Well then, Miss Clara Osward, my pleasure to meet you. Although I'm afraid that your appearance in my TARDIS is rather worrying. If you are a companion of my future self, then...well, I'm afraid you just simply shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be crossing over into my timeline, not like this, not unless something has gone very, very wrong. Now, do you remem...stop that!"

The Doctor darted over, shooing her fingers away from the controls. "No no no, don't touch, don't touch!"

With a slight scowl, she swatted at his hands, not liking being told what to do. But his upset at her touching things was so familiar, that she couldn't help but smile. She ducked her head though, not wanting him to see it. It left her grateful that bangs and hair fall down over her eyes, she was provided with a shield of sorts to casually peek through and try and catch better glimpses of him now that he's in close.

"'Fraid I make it a habit of being impossible. Crossing over into timelines is one of my specialties."

There was a pause, and her head tipped off to the side, hair falling away from her face so she could look up at him better. "Bit of a question. Where're we headed to...exactly?"

She hoped he liked how easily she slipped in that we. If he's the Doctor, and she was his future self's companion, obviously it was her job to escort him on an adventure or two.

"Oh dear," said the older Doctor, in the understatement of the day. Especially since he had really hoped to never see that particular coat again. Really, what had he been thinking in that particular incarnation?

"Well, this is an unexpected surprise," he said, sighing. "Hello, Doctor. I don't suppose you happen to know how you have managed to end up in my TARDIS and not yours, do you?"

The Doctor inspected the button closely, just to make certain that she hadn't pressed it. With Time acting as strange as it is, sending companions out of the times they were supposed to be in, now was definitely not the time for random button-pressing.

Well, not the time for random button-pressing by anyone who wasn't him, that is.

"Oh, a specialty, is it? Care to tell me how this specialty of yours works? Really, I would love to know how you've managed it," the Doctor said, in a pleasant conversation tone that also quite clearly suggested that he hadn't quite decided what to make of Clara just yet. "As for where we are headed...well, I haven't decided yet. Your arrival interrupted me."

And odd, wasn't it, that even though he wasn't quite sure of her yet he'd still ended up using that "we" as well.

Off to one side, over in the vicinity of the the floor, there was a thump, something that sounded quite a bit like something running into the nearby table. Or someone, in this case, because a split second after the thump came a groan, followed by a bit of noise which could fairly easily be explained as the someone in question moving out from underneath the table they'd wound up under.

Said someone happened to look rather remarkably like a companion who'd spent time in the TARDIS many years ago, right down to the kilt he was wearing, the rather cranky expression on his face, and the unmistakable signs of his having gone and hit his head - again. As Jamie managed to finally get to a point where he could sit up properly, he brought a hand up to rub at the back of his scalp, wincing a little.

"Ooh, my head."

"Interrupted for a few seconds, maybe. You're free to press all the buttons you like," she points out with a scoff, gesturing with a wide sweep to the console. "And I can't tell you how anything I've done works, because spoilers. Future you would flail to death if he knew I told you anything."

Except future him is now a brand new future him, and she has no idea if that Doctor was into being weird and flail-y. Saddened by the realization, she bit at her lip and forced a smile.

"Anyway, where we're going now is more important than where I've been."

The Doctor whirled around, ready to start demanding to know what whoever it was was doing in his TARDIS, or start running for his life - whatever turned out to be most appropriate - only to find something, or rather someone, that he wasn't expecting at all.

"J...Jamie?" he said, incredulous. "You are Jamie, aren't you? You are!" And just like that, a delighted laugh escaped from the Doctor's mouth, and he was running over to help Jamie up and grin in his face. "Jamie! It's good to see you! Well, not good that you're here, of course, because that doesn't make sense at all and probably means that something somewhere is going horribly wrong. But you - you - you are good to see! How are you? Are you well?"

"Yes, of course, the web of time..." the Doctor mused. "Tricky, very tricky. You can't tell me how you got here without damaging the very fabric of time itself, and I can't tell if it would be safe to fly the TARDIS without knowing how, exactly, you did get here."

And right now, even if Clara did tell him, he had no intention of flying the TARDIS anywhere. Not yet.

"Actually, there's another question. One that's much more important than where we're going. Clara, why are you so upset?" the Doctor said gently.

Edited 2014-01-10 09:32 (UTC)

"Right before I ended up here, I realized something. All things end, and goodbye isn't always what you want it to be." It was cryptic with enough hint as to what she might be talking about due to the emotion behind it. But that was all she said about her situation back on her Doctor's TARDIS, before she began to walk in a circle around the console.

When she had walked around one complete time, she headed off toward the hallway, attempting to peek around and see if things were still the same further inside as well. She wondered if the pool was in the same place, anyway.

Cryptic enough to refer to a few different things, in fact. Perhaps she was leaving the TARDIS, walking away from him, for some unknown reason that made her unhappy. Perhaps he had died and regenerated. Perhaps he had died truly died, with no more lives left. He didn't know, and couldn't know.

He followed her, silently, as she started her way down the hallway, standing close (much too close, he always tended to stand much too close to people). But before she could get anywhere, he spoke.

"Yes. Everything ends, Clara. Everything changes, and decays, and wears down. There are no contants, not in this universe. And that's painful, I know, believe me, I know. But isn't it beautiful, too? Isn't it an amazing, wonderful thing? If nothing can change, if nothing can end, then there can be nothing that is new, nothing that is different, nothing than can grow. You may not be able to see it yet, but perhaps from this...this end, whatever it is, there will come something new, and precious."

Jamie was finding things a bit unexpected as well, especially given the last thing actually remembered was the Doctor (his Doctor) warning him away from some button or other. Naturally he hadn't listened, but how that had gotten him here, he had no idea.

And add to that the fact the man apparently recognized him...well, he was more than a bit confused. The man's grin was met with a look of bafflement, his brows knitting together as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Hey? How do ye mean that doesn't makes sense. And how do ye know who I am?"

Edited 2014-01-10 10:22 (UTC)

"Oh yes, of course, of course! New face! A few new faces, actually...but that's beside the point, the point is, I'm the Doctor. Same Doctor, new face, you see?" The Doctor turned his head from side to side, as if to demonstrate that yes, this was a face, and it was indeed a different face from the one he had before.

"It's something that my people do. We cheat death, you see. When we die, we change, and then we live on in a new body. I am the Doctor, but not the Doctor of your time."

The only warning before he appeared was a sudden crackling of energy, a brief static of time and vortex, and a bit of seeming lightening that zinged around the the shape of a tall form. Then there was a man standing near the console, hunched slightly over, eyes focused on the leather strap on his wrist before he straightened and cast his gaze around him. Confusion was writ in his eyes, then a touch of recognition as he caught sight of the console, and then amusement as he turned to find the man standing beside it. Well then. This definitely wasn't where he'd been aiming for.

"Doctor." Jack tilted his head with a bit of a grin, looking over the other man carefully. "Sorry, I seem to have landed in the wrong timezone, didn't mean to interrupt."

Well, this is most certainly not a console room he recognizes. It's not a bad console room, but it's not his either, and that means something has gone very wrong. This, in turn, means that it's probably time to go poking around in the various inner bits of the TARDIS console again.

On the other hand, even he knows that's not terribly advisable when in flight, so instead he sets about poking around at the various odds and ends that are all over the console room.

It was late at night. Really late. John had lost track, but it was definitely the wee hours of the morning. A quiet street corner.

Or, at least, it should have been quiet.

The noise was so quiet at first that John thought he had to be imagining. Then it just got louder and eventually he stopped, out of annoyance, and turned around to try and figure out what it was. Only to see a blue box materialise out of thin air.

First proof he had of him actually being mad.

"What."

"Oh, no no no no no!" The Doctor said, darting over to stand inbetween the man an the console. "No Time Agents appearing whenever they want to in my TARDIS!"

It was bad enough when Time Lords did it, now he had to put up with Time Agents as well? Was it too much to ask that people use the door? Or at least say when they were coming, instead of just popping up, unannounced?

"Of course, you shouldn't even be able to materialise in here at all, not with Time Agent technology. So how, exactly, did you get in here?"

Even more wrong than his previous incarnation realised, because that was his previous self wondering around, making himself practically at home.

"Oh, no no no," the Doctor muttered, looking over at himself in the scarf. "This is not good, this is really not good...Doctor!" Calling out, he dashed over, running out in front of the other Doctor. "Doctor, would you mind telling me how you got here?"

Right. Past regeneration then. With a friendly laugh, Jack held both hands up, as if in surrender, and rocked back a step from the console, the message of peace clear. He'd had to be careful, if their timelines were out of sync: his first Doctor certainly hadn't known him before Jack had met him, and even if he had, Jack was a little different now than he'd been back then. The thought made him hide a grimace, a reminder of his second Doctor's reaction to seeing him, the Master's reaction, and the reaction that was sure to come from this Doctor as well, once he got a good look at him that wasn't quite as panicked about the stranger who'd appeared in his TARDIS.

"Not a clue, honestly. My manipulator's been-" Disabled by a future version of the very man standing in front of him? Nope, not a good way to begin an introduction. "Damaged for awhile. This was supposed to just be a field test of some repair work. I was aiming for Cardiff, Wales, on Earth, circa 2009; must'a bounced off the Rift."

That, or the Doctor had left him a 'present,' in case he ever managed to get it working again. One that had gone wrong.

Edited 2014-01-10 22:02 (UTC)

"That's not right, that's not right...why have we landed, old girl? Hey? We shouldn't have landed yet, so why have you brought me here?"

Still muttering to himself, he pulled round the scanners. "Earth, early 21st century, London...why here, old girl? What have you brought me for? Didn't you want to see Galsec Seven?"

The TARDIS, of course, didn't respond. Oh well, nothing else for it - time to head outside, and see what it was that his ship wanted him to see. He marched over to the door, opened it, and found himself face-to-face with a man staring right at him.

"Oh, hello there," he said. "Sorry to startle you, she's being a bit funny about where she lands, and...actually, you wouldn't happen to have seen anything odd around here, would you? Any strange occurrences, things out of the ordinary?"

"But that's not right, even a working manipulator couldn't get inside the TARDIS, a damaged one wouldn't even have a hope of...oh no." The Doctor stopped, staring at the man like he was only just seeing him. Really seeing him, for what he truly was.

And the Doctor didn't like what he saw.

The man wasn't just a Time Agent, he was a fixed point, a fact, and that was wrong, so very wrong. "It's not just the fact that you're here that's not right is it? It's you, you're not right." And with that the Doctor was grabbing the man by the arm (but oh, that felt so wrong too, didn't it), and pulling him over towards the TARDIS door. "Come on then, out you go, time for you to leave."

If there was anything that didn't fit with a late Cretaceous landscape, it was this... box thing, Janine wanted to say it was a phone booth but that wasn't right. It felt strongly like something that hadn't gotten to this time naturally, but she didn't need her weird sense for those things to see that.

She circled it several times from some feet away, and with a mental shrug picked up a fist-sized rock in the tip of her beak and swung that against the door, knocking.

Janine was herself a time traveler, but it was the inconvenient sort of time travel that involved losing her body, acquiring mild psychic powers, and accidentally possessing a flying reptile the size of a small giraffe. These things happened.

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Who's that knocking on my TARDIS?

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