trans_9 | Reflection [Open]

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Reflection [Open]

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]

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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.

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.

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..."

Edited 2011-01-15 12:09 (UTC)

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.

Edited 2011-01-15 12:18 (UTC)

"Not yet. For all you know Stacy will decide that she doesn't like people listening to her walls and decide to eat you," Merlin said. "And for your information, I've actually had a lot of practice of listening through walls, and that one is definitely too thick to hear anything from the next room."

Well, if you were listening for something in the next room. The idea that someone might actually want to listen to the walls themselves was not something that had occurred to Merlin.

"Who are you, anyway?" Merlin said. This was the second time he'd met the man, and Merlin was still completely baffled.

The Doctor had started to shoulder the other passenger out of the listening spot with an "pardon me" as he was talking, maneuvering the human out of the way as if he was a piece of moving, talking furniture. By the time he was finished talking, they'd somehow swapped places, the Doctor right back where he started with his ear pressed up against the flesh wall. It was like they'd never moved in the first place.

He suddenly stuck out his hand to the human, not tearing his head away from his listening spot, "The Doctor. Sorry, I thought we'd shook hands already and...yes, well, I'm not trying to just eavesdrop. Not that you can't learn anything with a harmless bit of eavesdropping. Another perfectly useful skill, I'll have you know."

The Doctor didn't give his friend a chance to talk, suddenly blurting:

"There it is! Come here and have a listen. Tell me you didn't hear that."

Merlin blinked as he somehow found himself in the middle of some strange and bizarre three way dance involving him, the Doctor, and a wall made out of meat. And then suddenly it was all over, and he had the Doctor's hand in his face. "Um, Merlin?" he said, trying to shake the hand back except before he could the Doctor was demanding that he listen to the wall.

He wondered if this was like all those times when he said 'Maybe this isn't a good idea, Arthur', and then Arthur ignored him and did it anyway. "I didn't hear anything," Merlin said. Well, the fact that his ears weren't currently stuck to the wall might have had something to do with it. "What are you even listening for?"

Edited 2011-01-15 12:55 (UTC)

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?"

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?"

“Anything interesting, what’s it look like?” the Doctor shrugged, still pressed up against the wall. “And of course you didn’t, you were busy telling me you were Merlin. As in the Merlin.”

Strange name, Merlin. And something about that face certainly looked familiar. Probably met an ancestor of his. Or a descendent. Hard to tell when he kept popping around as he did. The Doctor motioned for Merlin to stop being so stubborn and join him on the wall, waving his hand at him. There was a brief second when his eyes strayed from the wall and he stared for a second too long to be casual at Merlin, as if checking to see if he was either another renegade Time Lord, possibly a future him (oh, that would be awkwardly exciting, although mostly awkward), or this wasn’t the Merlin he was thinking about. It wasn’t that far of a stretch when he’d been told Stacy could jump between universes, parallel and everything in between. Anyway, he was more interested in making sure Merlin heard the same thing he had just then –- there it was again! The Doctor beckoned him madly over.

He, in the meanwhile, kept his ear firmly plastered to the wall, fingers splayed on the living tissue. The Doctor's face twisted in concentration. Was it Stacy? It wasn't engine vibrations or a converter making that thump thump thump when someone forgot to change out the bolts. Even if it wasn't Stacy specifically, it was still an interesting sound to him.

Edited 2011-01-15 14:05 (UTC)

"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."

"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."

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.

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.

"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."

Edited 2011-01-15 22:08 (UTC)

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."

Merlin choose not to say that it looked like the Doctor was being completely mad.

But right now, he was more worried about the way he'd said 'the Merlin'. As if apparently there was no doubt that there could only ever be one Merlin and the Doctor already knew exactly who this Merlin was, as well as everything about him. And Merlin had the sinking suspicion that this 'the Merlin'...was him.

And if the Doctor knew about Merlin...what if he knew about his magic as well?!

"No, I'm not that Merlin. Definitely not," Merlin said quickly. "My mother just...really liked the name. So what is it that you're hearing, exactly?"

Suddenly Merlin was a lot more eager to wonder over and possibly stick his ear next to potentially dangerous and squishy meat walls if it meant possibly distracting someone from the fact that he was a sorcerer.

"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?"

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.

Edited 2011-01-16 16:20 (UTC)

"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.

Edited 2011-01-16 10:05 (UTC)

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."

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?"

"Well, that's the kicker. I've been between dimensions before, and every time, the bleed still had em fields in it. This isn't the same, which worries me." He hiked his thumb back towards the void. "It isn't just the space between dimensions. It's something new. Something I would love to have readings on, but no one listens to a seventeen year old, no matter how many times he's saved the world."

Well, it hadn't been that many times, but even Batman had given him some credit for his work against the pirates, forming the outsiders, and fixing the ship's sensors. No one knew more about those than him, but that was back before the new captain.

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?”

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.

Edited 2011-01-16 19:19 (UTC)

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Reflection [Open]

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