Reflection [Open]

[makeherblue]

It doesn’t make sense. Or, rather, to be entirely truthful, it makes just enough to bother him and that basically amounts to the same thing.

The Doctor paces in front of the blast shield in the Observation Deck. Right now, he thinks he needs a good pace, something to help him think. No sign of Amy or Rory yet, which is surprising, in its own way. Amy has a habit of managing things all on her own, whether it’s saving him from that stint with the Time Vortex and the Entity or the whole of reality. Rory couldn’t be in better hands. If she is on the ship, he would have expected her to come dragging Rory after her by now. So no, it’s not really like Amy there. As for Rory…actually, the Doctor can see him getting lost here; between forgetting to check for gills, the plant-suits and meeting a load of aliens in a huge living ship, a human like Rory might feel slightly overwhelmed. Probably a bit distracting, yeah…

The howling nothing is still out there, the Doctor turning to look past the shield at it. It’s pretty, in the making-you-feel-slightly-nauseous kind of way.

Or maybe that’s just him.

Vaguely disturbing to look at or not, the Doctor glances out at the void outside of Stacy. It’s hardly the first time worlds, plural, have been destroyed or just generally threatened or in a peril-like sort of state. It's actually quite common. But there are signs or it’s meant to happen (history) except he knows as a fact that this isn’t one of those times. Amy and Rory's Earth has a very specific date of death and "death by Ohm" isn't right. This isn’t just a rogue black hole swallowing a dynasty’s system of planets or a quasar misbehaving. It’s…different. The Doctor turns away from the window, holding up the omnicomm in one hand. By now he’s stopped calling it a Thingie, even if it’s a much better name in his opinion. Useful thing, this omnicomm. Helps to keep in touch. He’s been trying to hack into it and get a direct line to Stacy but so far, no luck. Deadlocked, he supposes. Or maybe the new new sonic is still adjusting. Working out the bugs.

The sonic buzzes green in the Observation Deck as the Doctor continues to pace without looking before the blast shield. Occasionally he stops to twiddle around with the omnicomm, long fingers blurring, before he reads another setting on the sonic and then the cycle starts over. Every now and then he might make a full circle of the room, by some miracle not tripping over the fleshy seats, and might try listening to the walls or poking at where they meet the floor. Or what stands for a floor in a techno-organic ship.

[The Doctor is either poking around or looking serious business at the view, whatever works for you]

Comments

[nevergetscredit]

Unlike the Doctor, Merlin had been less quick to go exploring. For one thing, he had a secret houseguess stashed away in a bowl back in his room, and he'd had to deal with things like the momentary panic when he realised it was drying out and ended up having to fill the bowl with water. And the fact that people kept knowing about his magic had greatly unnerved Merlin, leaving him with the unsettling feeling that if he left his room he'd end up with a parade of people pointing their fingers at him and shouting 'wizard!'

Still, Merlin had never been the kind of person who liked being cut off from other people, so he'd eventually ventured out and started roaming around the ship.

Which was how he ended up coming upon the man he'd managed to crash into at the meet and greet trying to listen to the walls. Merlin stared, because he'd had plenty of practice at eavesdropping and the man wasn't going to hear anything through that wall. "What are you doing?" he said, eying the man.

[makeherblue]

The Doctor cracked open an eye, head still pressed against the living wall. "Listening. Was this your spot? I can move, here, don't mind me, there's a good -- "

And he was already moving out of the way, practically herding the other passenger to his "listening spot". The Doctor stood by, hands clasped together, leaning critically forward as if he wanted to see how his companion judged the acoustics of the wall. For being a wall of tissue and fatty bits, he thought they were rather decent in quality. Not enough that he could hear what was happening a level down but still. Surprisingly good, all things considered. The Doctor had tucked the omnicomm into his trouser's pockets. They weren't like his old ones, bigger on the inside and properly sized, and he could really only fit the omnicomm in there. Even that was a tight fit.

No wonder humans had so much trouble carrying things. Their pockets were far, far too small to be decent.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin was beginning to wonder if this man was completely mad.

"You're not going to hear any conversations through that wall, it's too thick," Merlin said. "Well, if you can hear anything through meat. Can you hear through meat? You know I'm not even sure if you'd want to, who knows what would end up all over your ears..."

[makeherblue]

The Doctor frowned at his skeptical friend. "How would you know until you give it a try? If it helps, I don't have anything on my ears."

The human here gave Rory a run for his money on the sensibility front. The Doctor was currently giving him one of those looks that was almost challenging him to prove him wrong and also, if he wasn't going to use the spot for listening, then he should move so the Doctor could go back to what he was doing. He'd been possibly almost maybe on the verge of hearing something -- a vibration, a shiver, something helpful -- until he'd been interrupted.

[alwaysamoirail.livejournal.com]

Kanaya had yet to really settle in comfortably on the ship, so like so many new podlings, she was still engaged in poking around. While there was more space on Stacy than she really knew what to do with, somehow she'd found herself drawn back to the Observation Deck. The room was very different without the crowds of the Meat 'n' Greet, and the dead quasi-sky outside the blast shield didn't help the feeling of emptiness it held.

Seeing the human (well, as far as she knew) she'd met in the podroom standing there, Kanaya began to approach. "Hello. Doctor, wasn't it?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor lowered his sonic, the omnicomm giving an irritated kind of mix between a beep and a squelch in his hands. "Yes?"

He turned and it was...Kanaya Maryam, the little gray alien with the horns he was slightly envious of. The Doctor had stopped in his pacing at her approach, moving to pocket the sonic screwdriver as he turned toward her.

"Looking for your unicorn friend?"

[alwaysamoirail.livejournal.com]

"Just looking around," said Kanaya, although she had to admit that she hadn't seen the hoofbeast since podpop. She hoped it was all right; this ship was complicated enough for the bipedal races it was designed to serve, and she didn't envy a quadruped in it.

"I'm still getting my bearings, I suppose," she continued. "How are you in that regard?"

[makeherblue]

"About the same. Loved Engineering; you should have a look! This business about Violations and Punishment is rubbish though," he said with the dismissive air of someone trying to act like they were more above it than they truly were. The Punishment, after all, was more than excessively cruel. "I haven't worked my way through the entire ship just yet. Still in progress on that one."

The Doctor waved at one of the fleshy couches, silently asking if they could sit down. Seats. Not every society used couches. Fleshy bouncy things. Well, they looked bouncy. It was terribly tempting to bounce on it just from looks alone and he was going to be disappointed if it was hard as a rock. Possibly bruised, but mostly disappointed.

[static-shock68.livejournal.com]

"Quite a view, isn't it?" Static said, leaning up against a wall as the Doctor poked around. He'd done much the same thing when he first arrived; poke and prod at everything you could, before finally giving in to the situation and reaching an 'agreement' with the ship. In Static's case, that agreement had been to try and fix whatever Stacy would let him, so that they could get the journey over with as safely as possible.

But there was something very intriguing about this guy. A presence like he knew what he was doing, or at least had an idea, at all times. Except now. This ship had a bad habit of doing that to people.

"Nice bowtie."

[makeherblue]

"It's co -- I'm sorry?"

The Doctor had reached up, adjusted the bowtie a little defensively and then sputtered to a stop, exactly in that order. It was the same reaction you got when you were going slightly too fast and you ran into a dip in the road or a speed-bump you probably would have seen coming if you were paying more attention. And going slower. And paying attention to that boring sign a few seconds ago. The Doctor floundered for a moment, immediately on the wrong foot. Turning, he was faced with another podling, a young man who was probably human but could very well be one of the close relatives, for all he knew.

"You think so?" The Doctor straightened the bowtie a final time. Oh yes, he liked this human already. Common sense with this one. "Right, the view. One way of putting it, yeah..."

The Doctor glanced out at it again. Swirls of some color but for him, the most noticeable thing was just that feel of nothing a person could get simply looking at it. The Doctor turned away from the blast shield, lowering his sonic and omnicomm. The good bit of pacing he'd already gotten under his belt -- not that he had a belt, but he could use one -- had helped clear his head, so he supposed he could take a break.

"Has anyone taken a reading from out there? Or a sample? I'd love to get a sample. Or samples. I'm the Doctor," he suddenly added, reaching out to shake the human's hand. "Did I mention? Aside from just right now."

[static-shock68.livejournal.com]

Wow. And they called Bart scatter-brained. "Nothing wrong with a bowtie. Classy, dignified, formal and out of the way."

He gripped the Doctor's hand and shook. "Static. My name, not out there. As far as I know, no one's gotten any readings, but I can tell you one thing; no EM presence. It's not natural. Science team'd know more, I'm engineering."

[makeherblue]

Not a bad hand-shake there, not limp or noodly or too hard like he was trying to prove something. The Doctor shook back, pumping Static's hand as he smiled warmly.

And yes, he did like that name. Very unique. He liked unique. Unique and short, more importantly, especially in any possible emergencies.

"And a wonderful workplace you have," the Doctor was gracious. More than gracious, because he wasn't pretending to be polite, either. The Doctor jerked his thumb over at the blast shield, "Of course it won't have an EM presence with it being between dimensions. Really should make those readings a priority, you know."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

"Kind of... scary, isn't it."

Hello, Doctor. Here's another troll, one who's rocking huge honkin' bull horns and a wheelchair. After a moment he stops contemplating the void and glances up at the man.

"You probably shouldn't, uh, stare at it, too long. It sometimes makes people feel, really sick."

[makeherblue]

Turning away from the window, he was confronted by another one of those gray aliens again: this fellow, however, had a truly massive set of horns and were those pointy teeth? He didn't mind pointy teeth when they weren't trying to take a bite out of him. Did tend to make things awkward when that happened. The male alien didn't look particularly hungry and if he was, obviously Time Lords weren't on the menu. Worked for him. The Doctor broke out into one of those smiles:

"Is there a name they're calling it here? Big scary void, I would've thought they'd have to name it." Or the humans might. They were big on naming things. He politely moved over to give the alien space to join him by the blast shield.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros moves closer, more out of polite acceptance than any interest in being closer to that void. The Doctor is correct in assuming Tavros wouldn't take a bite out of him; he's sort of a pacifist misfit among his kind.

"I think, they just refer to it as space," he responds mildly. "You can't really, uh, name space, after all. That'd be kind of, ridiculous."

[makeherblue]

That would probably be helpful to know, since it'd be rather awkward to talk to others of Tavro's kind when they had their mouths full of...well, him. Awkward and no doubt excruciatingly painful with teeth like those.

"Ridiculous and boring," the Doctor sighed. "Although I was more interested in this void between worlds and dimensions than just space. Space you can get anywhere. Probably in a few choice flavors depending where you go."

Not that he knew if they were still accessible with the Ohm on the loose.

[echoofaperson.livejournal.com]

Tom wasn't really paying attention to anything on the inside of the ship, attention focused completely into deep space and the whirl of stars.

He felt almost guilty, to be standing here under his own power. It wasn't a privilege he had earned. It wasn't something he had won.

It was just something that had happened.

And yet here he was, rather than seeking out young not-wizards and requesting Iniss back, he was standing at the view port. He'd made a deal. Jake had made a deal. Dani had made a deal. He should keep it, he should go above and beyond and try his best, shouldn't he?

But right now, all he felt was a tiny bit selfish as he gazed at the stars locked in their mad dance. He didn't want Iniss back. He didn't want the renewed suspicion, the knowledge that everyone who looked at him always held onto a kernel of doubt, even if he was in control, as to who they were speaking too.

Yeerks were fantastic actors, after all. Sometimes he thought Iniss played a better him than he was, no one could know for sure who controlled his body so long as they shared it.

He chewed on his lip, staring into the stars, trying to shed the guilt. If he didn't take the Yeerk back, would anyone make him? Would Sam give him a disappointed look, would Jake lose a little more faith in him? The ability to choose his own way had been so long lost to him, that it felt more unnerving than standing with his feet on the deck of an alien spaceship staring into space.

[makeherblue]

Making another loop around the Observation Deck, the Doctor was about five feet away from running into the human.

The only thing that saved him was the Doctor happening to look up and notice that yes, there was a human there he was sure hadn't been there before. Or maybe he'd been there the whole time and hadn't moved, which was just as likely. From the way he was looking out at the howling void outside, it was entirely possible he was rooted to the spot in fascination or pure, old-fashioned fear. If he was standing scared, the Doctor thought he was doing a surprisingly good job hiding it: no shaking or trying to climb over things, like some lifeforms.

Or maybe he was just that frozen solid.

Really, they should have a sign here. Something along the lines of DON’T STARE AT VOID FOR LONGER THAN TWO MINUTES; DANGEROUS FOR HEALTH (too long!) or HAVE RESPONSIBLE CHAPERONE (too vague!). There was always simply keeping the blast shields closed at all times, but he knew sooner or later they’d have to go up. Either Stacy would have a reason for them needing to be up or someone would figure out a way to open the DO NOT OPEN shields and they would be right back where they started. He’d seen it time and time again. That kind of curiosity wasn’t restricted to humans. Lifeforms of all sizes and shapes simply couldn’t resist. Not something like that. So the Doctor couldn’t say he was surprised to see a human transfixed by the sight of a terrible swirling expanse of nothing. It was just he’d been so well-behaved and quiet and –

“ -- Maybe it’s time you looked away,” the Doctor seemed to materialize next to his new companion’s spot. “Friendly word of advice. Don’t mind me, was having a little stroll.”

The omnicomm in the Doctor’s hand gave a subdued beep. It didn’t seem to agree to being soniced all hours of the non-existent day, even if it was entirely for its own good. Mostly for its good. Partially. All right, so he couldn’t make any promises. Maybe the omnicomm knew it too, that beep sounding almost disgruntled.

[echoofaperson.livejournal.com]

Tom had been so lost in his thoughts and the view in front of him that he hadn't even noticed that someone else had entered the room. He was used to being small and unnoticed and avoid drawing attention to himself. Both as a host and the training both his masters had subjected his body to.

He still startled a little, half turning his head to look at the man suddenly standing next to him. "...I'm sorry? Why?"

He loved the view from the windows, loved the mad swirl of stars and the view of far away places. As small as it made him feel, the far away view of stars still gave him the smallest glimpse of the potential of the universe. As close as he could ever come to grasping that potential with his fingertips.

He glanced at the device in the other human's hand. "Message? Should you take that?"

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

The obs deck tended to serve as Alex's cafeteria. He lurked around the walls until someone did something and a shadow showed up. Usually it was something like stub a toe, or forget something in their room. He liked those. Those were easier to eat.

Seeing the Doctor fiddle with the Omnicomm, on the other hand, was not as common of a sight. He wandered closer, until he could ask without shouting, "H-having t-trouble?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor looked up. “Ah, Alex! Not so much trouble per say, just casual interest. Very handy thing, this omnicomm.” And also very deadlocked. After the first five minutes, he should have easily gotten past at least two levels of security protocols set in it, but…well, he was still locked out of being able to fallback and get a direct line to Stacy. Obviously it needed more jiggery-pokery.

A lot more jiggery-pokery.

The Doctor lowered his sonic, for now putting Mission Jiggery Pokery on hold. “So, what can I do for you? How’s Alice?”

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alice peeked her head out from behind Alex at the sound of her name and climbed up to sit on Alex's shoulder. "Sh-she's good. Me too. I g-guess I was just c-curious. Wh-what is that?"

[re-engineer.livejournal.com]

Angie wasn't working, for once. Billy had suggested she take a day off, so she actually was. Surprise, surprise.

So she wasn't armored up when she entered the Obs deck, just simple denim overalls and a t-shirt with her hair tied back by a bandanna. And came across someone looking out at the Bleed.

"It's kind of beautiful out there." Angie walked up behind him, not minding that he had at least half a foot on her. A little more since she was currently barefoot. She tucked her hands into her pockets, head tilted slightly as she watched as well.

Assuming she's human looking right now and not metal-ish?

[makeherblue]

The Doctor half-turned, glancing down at the other passenger. Girl, human, brown hair, casual dress; probably more indecently sized pockets. Too many of those around, even if they were still well-made pockets. He liked the bandanna though. The Doctor's smile was a little unreadable as he followed her gaze out the blast shield. Yeah, "kind of beautiful" did work here, in the same way those Earth men-of-war jelly fish were "kind of pretty", at least until they stung you.

Actually, they were probably still pretty even then. He hadn't made it a habit to start throwing himself head first into any jellyfish. Funny how things worked out.

"And she travels through this most of the time? Stacy, I mean. What about refueling?"

Yep! Completely human, no metal showing at the moment.

[re-engineer.livejournal.com]

She was completely good with watching the Bleed while the guy got his head around...well, whatever he was thinking about. Silence was absolutely no issue for her.

Angie tilted her head toward him, giving it some thought. "I've never seen her refuel. Which doesn't mean that she doesn't. She's massive, after all, and we can't see all of her.

"On the other hand, the only other ships I've seen that travel the Bleed? Were fueled by baby universes." It wasn't pretty, but she had no idea who had even created the Carriers. "And yes, she does seem to travel through the Bleed most of the time. She only drops out into a universe if there's a specific reason."