The Doctor squinted at Merlin as he took a listening spot directly across from him. “It's a big name to live up to,” he said almost mildly. “How’re you doing with that, anyway? Living up to it, that sort of thing. Tell me you didn’t hear it right there!”
He shot Merlin a look that said he would be terribly disappointed if he hadn’t. Human hearing wasn’t that bad, was it? Hadn’t had any massive strings of evolutions for fun since he’d last seen them, had they? Merlin looked like a fairly normal human to him, so either he wasn’t listening hard enough or he was so busy asking all the wrong questions that he’d missed it. Again...which made it several missed chances he could have heard The Interesting Sound. The Doctor ran a hand over the wall, feeling a groove here, the give of Stacy’s flesh there, waiting several minutes.
Still nothing. The Doctor’s face scrunched up as he listened hard as he could.
“Wait,” he struck preemptively, before Merlin could ask the question that was no doubt coming.
He held up a hand, waving away the inevitable “are you sure you’re not hearing things?” humans had a habit of falling back on. The Doctor’s face lit up as finally he heard that odd sound again, pulling his head back away from the wall. He broke into a grin. See, that one was clear as day, if day was a flesh wall with surprisingly decent acoustic properties and a grumpy attitude. The Doctor suddenly pulled his entire body away with a kind of shimmying slither, dusting his hands off. All right, so maybe it wasn’t as slime-less as he’d told Merlin, the Doctor cheerfully wiping away a thin film off his cheek and hair. It’d wash right out and if it didn’t, it’d dry and then flake off, if it was anything like the pod slime. The Doctor spun away from the wall, leaving Merlin to keep their listening spot warm as he took a few steps away, pacing. Thinking.
Trying to think.
He counted on his fingers. Counted again. No, the timing wasn’t right either, the intervals all wrong. What was that sound? The Doctor stood half-turned away from Merlin, trying to run through his calculations and for the moment, he seemed to have forgotten his companion was there.
no subject
He shot Merlin a look that said he would be terribly disappointed if he hadn’t. Human hearing wasn’t that bad, was it? Hadn’t had any massive strings of evolutions for fun since he’d last seen them, had they? Merlin looked like a fairly normal human to him, so either he wasn’t listening hard enough or he was so busy asking all the wrong questions that he’d missed it. Again...which made it several missed chances he could have heard The Interesting Sound. The Doctor ran a hand over the wall, feeling a groove here, the give of Stacy’s flesh there, waiting several minutes.
Still nothing. The Doctor’s face scrunched up as he listened hard as he could.
“Wait,” he struck preemptively, before Merlin could ask the question that was no doubt coming.
He held up a hand, waving away the inevitable “are you sure you’re not hearing things?” humans had a habit of falling back on. The Doctor’s face lit up as finally he heard that odd sound again, pulling his head back away from the wall. He broke into a grin. See, that one was clear as day, if day was a flesh wall with surprisingly decent acoustic properties and a grumpy attitude. The Doctor suddenly pulled his entire body away with a kind of shimmying slither, dusting his hands off. All right, so maybe it wasn’t as slime-less as he’d told Merlin, the Doctor cheerfully wiping away a thin film off his cheek and hair. It’d wash right out and if it didn’t, it’d dry and then flake off, if it was anything like the pod slime. The Doctor spun away from the wall, leaving Merlin to keep their listening spot warm as he took a few steps away, pacing. Thinking.
Trying to think.
He counted on his fingers. Counted again. No, the timing wasn’t right either, the intervals all wrong. What was that sound? The Doctor stood half-turned away from Merlin, trying to run through his calculations and for the moment, he seemed to have forgotten his companion was there.