trans_9 | So...Now What? [Closed]

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So...Now What? [Closed]

Jamie has been scarce as of late. Other than his shifts in Engineering and Ranger training, he's been coming up with all sorts of excuses to find himself in parts of the ship he doesn't normally go to. All his usual haunts? He's been steering clear of them. Oh, he's telling himself that it's because he wants to go exploring, or that he's just bored with visiting the same places over and over. Really, though, it comes down to the fact he's avoiding the Doctor.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk to the Time Lord - he knows he needs to, eventually - but he's not even sure where to start. It was easier to talk to Kaylee. Kaylee had only given him a few wee bumps and bruises. The Doctor, on the other hand...

For the fortieth or fiftieth time since the possession, Jamie shoves the thought aside, instead leaning back against the rather alien-looking tree he had found and turning his attention to watch the small herd of deer-like creatures grazing peacefully nearby.

He'd go talk to the Doctor, just as soon as he was ready. For right now, though, Hydroponics seems like a much better alternative than having an uncomfortable conversation.

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"Aye," Jamie admits. It helps that he's been here longer - it makes finding the places that much easier. The fact that he had taken to working odd shifts as well...well, that didn't hurt, either.

He doesn't make a move to sit down just yet, dropping his head to take up a study of his kilt instead. Maybe if he stays quiet, the Doctor will get distracted by something here and he won't have to...no, no, there's a question. Raising his head, he gives the Doctor a rather inscrutable look.

"How do ye think I feel?" The words come out a little more bitterly than Jamie had intended them to, but once they start, he finds he can't keep them in check. "Ye know as well as I do what happened to me on that mission, Doctor, how they played with our minds."

He's forgotten most of it by now, but there's still a few of the memories there, mostly of the fire and the Q. Not to mention what had happened with the Nightmare King, and what he thought was going to happen with the Time Lords way back when his universe was destroyed...all of it makes him angry, and some of that leaks into his tone. "That wasn't the even the first time, but it happened. And not two weeks later, ye go and get yourself possessed and it happens again."

Jamie can't even make heads or tails out of what's been shoved in there this go around, and he doesn't even know to begin to describe it. It's frustrating, and even though he doesn't say it, his body language makes that very clear. He rubs at his eyes for a moment, then drops his hand from his face. "I know it's not your fault, Doctor, but I'm a wee bit tired of everyone seeming to think they can go in and do things in my head."

The Doctor doesn’t try to defend himself. Instead, he gazes up at Jamie, not even blinking…simply just taking the human in. Waiting for him to finish. Of course Jamie’s right. On several good points, actually, even if he hasn’t gotten to the one where it’s really quite important he make a trip to the Med Bay.

“No, you’re perfectly right,” the Doctor says, when it seems like Jamie’s either getting a second wind or he’s said what he had to say. He barely avoids pointing out that everything that Jamie told him? Aside from him already being a mistake with the ex-dead man part? Might have been exactly why the Doctor/Darksoul had been so keen on him, specifically. He’d known Jamie was a vulnerable target. Maybe even more vulnerable than just a random human. He can’t take it back. Been around too much to believe that. There is, however, moving on. “I should have been able to resist something like that,” he says, “I’m sorry.”

But there’s something else. And Jamie hasn’t told him either what might be still banging around inside his head, so…Right. It does make a man wonder, though. Just what exactly Jamie can remember? There’s things the Doctor’s sure he shouldn’t know, even aside from the whole decidedly awkward You Should Be Dead part where he can’t help looking at Jamie and thinking that very thing, even when at the same time he’s glad to have him around. More glad these days than uneasy, but still. Not something he wants to share in intimate detail with his friend.

The Doctor stretches his legs out on the wonderfully alien grass. Not much used to just sitting in one place like this. He fidgets to get the blood going, eyes on Jamie and despite him being young again, the human looks more the age the Doctor expected him to.

He watches as another herd of those strange animals comes grazing past, then back to Jamie. “We can’t change what happened a few days ago. What we can do is get you some stronger defenses.” Oh, he knew Jamie was a capable fighter, even if the…shiny red spandex was completely new. Distractingly new. “I’d even go so far as to say that should be high priority.”

Especially since he had a go at him. Jamie might not like it, but between the Doctor’s attack and this Q, he’s presenting a tempting target to any other psychic lifeforms out there. Probably be too tempting to pass up, unless he gets some better defenses.

With a sigh, Jamie abruptly sinks down onto the grass, automatically adjusting his kilt as he does so. The morphers are still on his wrists, a tangible reminder of how things have changed...but he ignores them for now, even though he knows that he'll have to tell the Doctor more about that sooner or later.

Instead, he sticks his arms behind him so he can prop himself up and still manage somewhat of a sprawl at the same time. "I thought if anyone could resist that sort of thing, it would be you, Doctor."

It's not an accusation, just a statement. He's not even angry anymore. It's hard for him to stay mad at the Doctor for any length of time anyway, and he knows that this was something that none of the crew had any control over. "But it's no more your fault than it was Kaylee's. I don't blame ye for any of it."

He's already started to forgive his friend. The trust that they've built up is a hard thing to shake, even after all that's happened. Still - it does bring up a good point. Billy gave Jamie the morphers to protect him, but what good would they do if someone could get into his head as easily as the Doctor did?

"How do ye do that, though? I..." He drops his eyes, not willing to look at the Doctor's face, then admits, "I don't even know what parts of my head are me at the moment. How am I supposed to try and figure out how to protect myself?"

The Doctor finally looks away from Jamie, gazing out at the rest of hydroponics. "I thought so too. I'd been convinced I'd won. Although by that time, it was too late: had a bit of a different definition of 'winning' by then."

It's a stroke of luck that the TARDIS hadn't been flight or time-worthy when he got possessed. There wasn't any excuse for attacking the humans or invading Jamie's head like that, but in the grand scheme of things, it could have been much, much worse. What if the Doctor/Darksoul had been able to work the TARDIS, get it functioning again? What he did to Jamie would've seemed like an affectionate tap to what the Doctor/Darksoul thought he'd had in store for him. Jamie wouldn't have any chance of escape. Not even brain-death would save him, not if the TARDIS had been functioning. Neither would Earth or the rest of the civilizations out there: especially not if he eventually got bored. Again, these are all probably things that won't help Jamie with his current problem. The Doctor shows some tact for once.

Well, if you can call tact simply keeping the worst case scenario to yourself, then yes.

And this news about Kaylee. So. She'd been taken too. The Doctor thinks he should have gotten that from the Darksoul, but the spirit had been...busy. He'll have to talk to her.

The Doctor turns back to Jamie, just in time for the human to drop his eyes. "All good questions. Very good. And here I'd been wondering if you would be displaying side effects. What a relief!" The Doctor picks at some of the grass, more for something to do than because he absolutely needs to have a closer look. "Right. Those defenses, yeah. Several ways you can go about it. The best way is to train with anyone with psychic abilities. Preferably one who knows what they're doing. Or maybe the Med Bay might have something but..."

From the face the Doctor makes, he doesn't seem to much like that idea.

There're probably drugs or something, but augmentation? Bad idea waiting to happen. What Jamie needs is someone with those abilities. Someone he can trust. The Doctor unfortunately can't say at the moment if he's one of those people. Still, Jamie's been onboard Stacy for quite awhile now: the Doctor thinks he surely must have other friends who can help build those defenses.

Edited 2011-02-01 03:14 (UTC)

"Oh, no. Not the Med Bay," Jamie replies, quite firmly. He's had quite enough of that place, thank you. "I'll not go back there anytime soon."

He's made his mind up, and it'll take more than some confused thoughts to get him to willingly go back. If the Doctor thinks he can talk him into it, he's got another think coming.

Sitting back up properly, he folds his arms against his chest briefly - but judging from the Doctor's expression, he doesn't seem to care for that idea either. So he lets his arms fall back to his side, but he's still studying the Time Lord's face...and thinking.

There might be a few people aboard that could help Jamie build his defenses, true. Jono likely could. Possibly even Billy, even though he doesn't have the same abilities as Jono. He has had a little experience with making shields, though, and Jamie knows it. But there isn't anyone quite as qualified to teach him that he trusts as much as the Doctor. He turns slightly, so he's facing his friend - and so the Doctor can see in his eyes that he's serious about the question he's about to ask.

"Could ye not do it, Doctor?"

So Jamie doesn't seem to care for the Med Bay either. Whether it's because he doesn't trust the technology or he has a bad, specific experience remains to be seen. It sounds more like the latter though.

The Doctor meets Jamie's eyes. Oh. Now he couldn't be serious -- yes. Yes he is.

"Do it? Easily. You're not exactly Fort Knox, Jamie. Not that you know what Fort Knox is, I'll have to take you sometime. Or at least I'm sure I didn't take you before, in which case, we should go again," the Doctor's rambling a little but those few words are asking for so much. And Jamie is being rather extraordinary right this minute, in this quiet corner of a living flesh-ship called Stacy. The Doctor might even be feeling humbled right now.

The Doctor twirls a bit of plucked grass in his fingers, feeling Jamie's eyes on him. Just when humans frustrate him to no end with their ignorance, intolerance and he could probably go down the I's alone, they do something surprising. Jamie already willing to go back to a psychic, nevermind the one who invaded him like that? Yes, he'd almost go as far as to say he really was feeling a bit humbled.

"But it would take time," the Doctor says, eyes on his friend. Concentrating on Jamie, his blink-rate is inhumanly slow right now. It's a very intense stare when he wants it to be, "We'll do it right. Slowly, that sort of thing. We can get you started with meditation and work from there."

Humbling or not, the Doctor is starting to brighten. He's always felt so much better when they have a plan and if this one works, Jamie should be better off.

"Hey?" Not really surprising, that slightly baffled reaction. The Doctor's right - Jamie has no clue what Fort Knox is. Usually when they wind up on Earth, it's somewhere in England. At least, it always seems to be that way.

Even with the moment of confusion aside, Jamie doesn't realize he's being extraordinary right now. He's simply this mess of jumbled thoughts trying to find something familiar he can hang on to. Despite the fact the Doctor's the most immediate cause of some of those thoughts, he's not the entire reason that Jamie is the way he currently is. As the Doctor's already figured out, Jamie is unusually vulnerable to being meddled with mentally - or has become so, more recently. However, he doesn't usually like to admit he's having a problem, and in fact can get downright stubborn about it.

With the Doctor, though, it's always been easier to admit he needs help. Much easier, and that hasn't changed. Jamie meets that slow, seemingly unblinking gaze without flinching. He's willing to give the time needed, if that's what it takes - that's not the problem. The mention of meditation...well, he's a wee bit more skeptical there, and his eyebrows go up for a moment.

"Aye, well. I'll give it a go. I'll have ye know, though, I've tried that before, during that whole business with the Nightmare King." And, judging by Jamie's tone, it didn't go so well. Unless you count having a nap as a good thing, that is. He still seems willing to try at least, and that's something.

That does it. As soon as this is all cleared up and once he's possibly dropped off Billy for an early Y2K, he's taking Jamie to see Fort Knox.

How it never occurred to him is beyond him. Then again, bit busy and he's got so much "amazing" and "incredible" in the TARDIS that it's hard not to loose track every now and then.

The Doctor's surprised to find Jamie has already taken matters into his own hands. Well, unsuccessfully, judging from the sound of his voice, but yes. Still. Very proactive, despite what sounds like failure. It makes his bravery back in the TARDIS even more impressive. The Doctor reminds himself to ask about the Nightmare King another time, wanting to focus on the present and future (any relation to the Nightmare Child? He hopes not). The Doctor adjusts his weight on the grass, fidgets a bit more because it's shockingly peaceful in hydroponics. Rory would like this place, he thinks, even with the weird alien not-wild life. The Time Lord regards at Jamie, thoughtful.

"You just need a better teacher." The Doctor sounds utterly certain of himself. Surely it can't be that difficult to train a human. He's got literally centuries of experience behind him and Jamie's not an idiot. This should be doable. Right? Right. "We'll get you started back on meditation in a bit. Give you a chance to rest up, eh?"

Sounds like a good plan to him. They'll get past the "tried that" stage with Jamie and move onto the part where meditation would be second nature. Of course, there's always the other school, the one where he could throw him into it headfirst, let him struggle his way out. Keep coming at him psychically until he builds up defenses, like a survival mechanism. The Doctor doesn't much like that idea. Even if Jamie hadn't been particularly psychically vulnerable at this point in time, it's not a school he much likes.

No, they'll take it a bit slower. It's just a matter of when's good for Jamie.

Edited 2011-02-02 23:59 (UTC)

It never occurred to Jamie either, but he was understandably a bit distracted by the whole living in a spaceship that could travel through time as well part of things. Not to mention fighting all the beasties and such they came across in their travels...and, well, the whole 'doesn't know what Fort Knox is' thing. That one does make things a wee bit difficult.

"Aye, Doctor," Jamie says, agreeably enough. Oh, he'll be willing to give the meditation a try soon, but he doesn't mind the chance to rest up. Then again, he never did. The Doctor might just have to remind him about it at some point.

For a moment, Jamie thinks the Doctor is going to ask about the Nightmare King - but the Time Lord doesn't. Maybe it's for the best. He'd wind up talking about Billy's nightmare, and the fight between the two of them, and things would get strained again.

Besides, there's other, more recent things that bear mentioning. Like, oh, the fact that he has this new habit of occasionally wearing spandex - or whatever it is that the Rangers uniform is made out of. Bringing his hand up, he glances at the morpher on it for a moment before lifting his eyes back up to meet the Doctor's.

"I suppose we can talk about something else in the meantime, aye?"

Edited 2011-02-03 08:51 (UTC)

“I suppose we can,” the Doctor says. And yes, that’s a very interesting “something else”, too. He’s never quite seen Jamie so…shiny, he supposes is the only way to put it. Shiny and red. Extremely red. So red it’s a distraction hazard if you happen to be driving medium-to-large sized vehicles and Jamie does That Thing. Probably cause some spectacular accidents that way. Red does suit him though. “So what is that?”

It’s said casually but his interest is sparked. Maybe he might’ve been intent on frying Jamie’s brain only a few days ago, but even back then, he’d been also wanting some answers. Curious, despite Darksoul. It just hadn’t exactly been a high priority to interrogate Jamie (interrogate in all senses of the word) at the time when he had much bigger plans. The Doctor reaches over, taking Jamie’s wrist and pulling it over for a close inspection, cocking his head slightly to the side. “Interesting” doesn’t do the device on Jamie’s arm justice. All right, so “interesting” is no good. Fascinating, though, seems perfectly applicable.

The Doctor taps on the top of the device with a finger, listening to the faint sound (he can’t pin down the material or the make), and then traces the metal edges of it. So that flash of light he saw, way back when only a few days ago? Did this have something to do with it? Because other than this, Jamie seems to be about average for a human; humans from his time didn’t just start sprouting the ability to flash big lights into people’s faces and grow an unhealthy amount of spandex. Nevermind the helmet. Not that Doctor’s going to complain about that. That helmet ended up saving Jamie, after all. Unexplained or not.

Realizing Jamie might want his wrist back, the Doctor lets go.

Edited 2011-02-03 23:59 (UTC)

Jamie had thought the Doctor would want to take a closer look at the morpher, and barring him taking off the device, having his wrist pulled over is only to be expected. Knowing this means he doesn't try and yank his wrist back, although he doesn't quite fully relax either. "It's called a morpher," he explains while the inspection's going on.

That's about it, until his wrist is let go. It's easier if he waits until then before he starts getting into it more. Less distracting for the Doctor - and it gives him a chance to gather his own thoughts.

"Billy gave it to me," he says then. Jamie knows that he's going to have to go into things a little more, though, in order to satisfy the Doctor's curiosity. Hopefully his friend will forgive him for it. "Back in his world, there's these...I suppose ye could call them superheroes. A team of them, that fight evil, and called themselves the Power Rangers."

He runs a finger back and forth over the surface of the morpher almost idly as he continues. "Ye must have seen some of the buildings in the City by now." Jamie can't imagine the Doctor hasn't gone down there yet - especially if the Time Lord thought Jamie may have been down there as well.

"Stacy doesn't just take people. She takes places, too. One of the places was the command center for the group, and Billy found the plans and the parts for these morphers there. Most of them he had to give out at random when there was a wee problem with a virus and the crew. This one he wanted me to have, specifically."

Edited 2011-02-04 08:50 (UTC)

“A world full of superheroes?”

It sounded amazing, that's what. Not that he hasn't run into plenty of selfless, beautiful lifeforms bent on saving other people, but a world of superheroes sounds quite frankly astonishing. "Power Rangers"? He tries it out. Has a bit of a ring to it, doesn't it? Probably why they used the name.

And yes, he has seen the buildings. Some of them, at any rate. Incredible, really, the blend of the familiar and the downright mundane (he thought he saw an actual barn tossed in there). Most of it he assumed was saving what Stacy or the Daligig considered "precious" but obviously there were differing views on what was defined as precious these days. Barns, the Vatican, possibly a section of the Great Wall of China. The Doctor nods, listening to Jamie's explanation. He has no idea how long, exactly, he was in those pods, but it sounds like he missed quite a bit. Virus? This Nightmare King? Nevermind that mission and the Q Jamie told him about his first day awake and gaining his slime legs.

"So you helped," the Doctor remarks. It's not terribly difficult to put together. Command center for the Power Rangers, plans and parts for the morphers, Billy being a heroic human from a heroic world. Makes sense he'd try to build some kind of team. Humans can be quite social. "And this changes you into one of those Power Rangers? Seemed stronger than I remembered."

And it wasn't just putting on the years, he realizes. Jamie had been noticeably stronger when he'd been all shiny and...red. Power Rangery. Whatever you wanted to call it.

Edited 2011-02-04 20:31 (UTC)

"Aye, well, I don't think Billy's world is full of them, at least not from the time he's from." Jamie knows there were more teams, eventually, but has no real idea how many. Maybe he'll ask Dustin sometime, since he's from a later time period. "Some of the other people here have worlds like that, though."

At least, that was the impression he had gotten, but he does also tend to generalize things quite a lot so he can understand them - so he wound putting everyone with powers into one large group and labeling it 'superhero'. Tends to skew the numbers just a bit.

Jamie nods in agreement. "And aye, I did. We need anything we can get to fight the Ohm, Doctor. I think...I think it helped Billy as well, knowing I was a wee bit safer." At least, physically. "You'd be right, though. Morphing makes ye stronger, and a wee bit faster. Better able to take hits. And ye heal faster as well."

Which might explain why, despite having been in two separate fights with the Darksoul, he'd hadn't been paste afterward. "Ye can call different weapons up as well, when ye need them. And there's a...what do ye call those big robots ye can ride in, again? Mech-hands or something. We have those as well, but they're called Zords."

Fascinating worlds, then. Certainly interesting.

The Doctor listened to the story Jamie tells him about how he came to get hold one that morpher. Desperate times, yeah. Big kick, desperate times. He'd say he was surprised what desperate times could produce, but he's not. Usually not. "So basically, you're Highlander 2.0, better than ever?"

Or at least hardier, which is just adding to what's already there, it seems. Jamie's already a fighter and at least he knows for certain Jamie is one of the good humans: the morpher is in good hands, he thinks. Jamie's not exactly one of the first names that comes to mind of People Most Likely To Go Power Mad that the Doctor could think of. Actually, he's not even on the list, which is precisely why the Doctor likes him so much, despite the ex-corpse status he has currently. Not that people like that couldn't make interesting companions, but call it a guess that they weren't usually the sorts to stick around for the long-term. Or could be trusted around the TARDIS.

So the Doctor thinks that's the end of that, that he's ended up with a super Jamie McCrimmon and that's interesting...and then Jamie owns up to having a giant robot. And that he can call on different weapons. The Doctor blinks, and yes, Jamie McCrimmon, you have succeeded in actually stunning him.

Don't gloat about it too much.

"Are they right here?" The Doctor turns on the grass as if expecting them here, "Don't be ridiculous," he corrects himself, turning back to Jamie. "The hanger, I take it?"

Unless they came from seemingly nowhere like the spandex and weapons. But the size and matter difference between some spandex and a giant robot was considerably larger, so...

"Hey? Aye, well, I suppose ye could think about it like that if ye wanted." Jamie still feels like the same old Jamie, though - a little more muddled in the head currently, but basically still him. There's a few differences, however. Like that Zord.

He thinks he can maybe count the times on one hand where he's seen the Doctor genuinely stunned by something he's said. It's very, very rare, and something he never expects. So when it happens, he blinks, a rather surprised look on his face. It takes him a few seconds to recover enough to answer the question.

"Well, of course they're in the hangar. All the Zords for my team are there." Really, where else would they be? Well, maybe somewhere hidden in the depths of Stacy.

"Have ye seen that great red dragon that's in there?" The Doctor might not have. It's a big place, and the Zord is stored in such a way so that it fits. But, Jamie thinks, if there's anything the Doctor's going to notice, a giant red dragon would be fairly high up on the list.

Edited 2011-02-07 18:01 (UTC)

He might have seen something dragon-like. Well, dragonlike as in vaguely resembling the Regular's dragon-ships, except with far more visible joints and in...racer red. Rather hard to miss.

But when you have a whole hanger of new robots and ships, all waiting for a good look, it's also hard to decide which one to go for first. Still, now that Jamie's mentioned it he does think he has seen at least a glimpse of his Zord. Dragon Zord.

"Might have. Yes, I think I have. Still, I'd like to have a better look,” the Doctor admits. It’s more of an invitation than anything else: there’s having a look and there’s wanting Jamie to be the one to show him around. It’s still surprising, this thing with Jamie. First him being here at all, then those new abilities and now a Zord. Jamie's certainly been busy this year or so he's been on Stacy, the Doctor thinks, and he really shouldn't find that as surprising as he does. Jamie was capable, even if he wasn't ever going to win any awards in rudimentary nuclear physics.

Even if Zoe had helped him.

The Doctor sees the change in Jamie's face when he talks about these Zords. His team. They're probably good for Jamie, especially with him being human. Social mammals and Jamie's no different. He picked a good lot to run with, from the sound of it.

He brushes off some of the alien grass from his knees, shifting his weight. Another one of those strange herds comes past, this time quite close, as if they're used to having visitors. The Doctor turns, head swiveling to track them.

"Have you piloted it? The Zord, I mean," the Doctor says suddenly. To put it kindly, Jamie isn't exactly the most technically-minded human, even if he does have a rather good reason for it. Of course Kaylee is there to help, and so is Billy. But trying to picture Jamie piloting a dragon-ship is a bit like trying to imagine a badger trying on hats for size.

He doesn't answer immediately, his brow furrowing a little as he tries to figure out how, exactly, to do that. Hopefully the Doctor doesn't take that for reluctance on Jamie's part. While Jamie wouldn't mind showing the Doctor his Zord at all, he's really not sure how to do so. Unless the Doctor has amazing leaping powers that he's currently unaware of, actually getting the Doctor into the cockpit is going to be a wee bit tricky.

"I'll have to ask Billy how to get ye up there, but I think I could manage that once we figure that out," Jamie finally says. "Usually ye have to jump up into it."

Which does answer the Doctor's question, at least in part, but he nods anyway. "Aye, I have. Not in a real battle, but there's the training...and there was the one simulated exercise the Lensmen set up for us when they were here."

He knows full well, though, what the Time Lord's getting at, and he doesn't blame him. Jamie, in fact, wondered if he would be able to pilot the Zord when Billy first spoke to him about becoming a Ranger.

"It's the morphers," he says, tapping his wrist briefly. "There's something in them that helps ye when once you've changed. If you're not such a good fighter, it can make it so ye can fight, and if you're not so good with other things, it tells ye how to make them work."

The knowledge seems to be put right in your head, which could explain in part why Jamie seems to be not quite as affected as he could have been by the Darksoul's attack. He's not completely unused to having a lot of information downloaded into his brain. It simply boils down to a matter of degree.

Edited 2011-02-13 08:37 (UTC)

So it makes them the perfect superhero. Or soldier. The Doctor can see it easily getting into the wrong hands, the Doctor frowning slightly as he nods at Jamie's explanation.

"So something like the fast track?" The Doctor prompts gently. Not that there isn't a time and place for that sort of thing but having an ability to know, instantly, how to fight and pilot giant robots? "What happens if someone takes the morpher from you? What then?"

It sounds like possibly dangerous technology to him. Not that this is a first. Loads of things are dangerous. Brushing your teeth can be dangerous, given the right conditions. Or just pure, dumb luck and a serious case of wrong place, wrong time. Still, this does explain how Jamie was so resilient back during the attack, both physically and mentally. Well, mentally considering because he'd still been able to worm his way inside easily. The recovery, though. That probably wouldn't have happened if Jamie hadn't had that morpher on him, the Doctor thinks, glancing down at it, frowning.

Luck, it seems, was on Jamie's side. Billy could have easily given it to another human.

The Doctor reaches out again to turn Jamie's wrist over, this time more slowly than before. He'd gotten a pretty good, thorough look before but another one can't hurt.

"Aye," Jamie replies, after a moment or two to consider it. The fast track...well, that sounds about right to him. "Something like that."

Overall, he hasn't considered what would happen if someone actually physically took the morpher. It does bear thinking about. "If someone did, well, then, it'd be like it was before."

He knows perfectly well he'd still be able to fight as well as he could before - he'd just be less protected against some of the things that threaten them. Although, he reckons, he has some other options to help there, now. "I'd get one of those other plantsuits - the new ones, that are thicker." The thorn armor ones. "I'd not know how to use the Zord, though."

The Scot's also aware that the morphers can be given to other people, thanks to past conversations with Billy, but he's still a little unclear on how the Power would be transferred. It seems very much like a part of him now, so maybe he'd have to willingly give the it up in order for anything to happen. When the Doctor reaches for his wrist this time, he doesn't even flinch. If the Time Lord wants to look at it again, he can.

"I suppose if someone could figure out how it worked, they could use it somehow, but..." He shakes his head. "I don't know enough about that to say if they could or not. Billy did mention they could be de-powered by a strong enough attack."

Jamie falls silent for a moment. There was something else that Billy had mentioned, that is relevant to the conversation. More relevant, now, than he thought it would have been before. He adds, rather quietly, "He said that enemies could try and turn us against each other by controlling our minds, too."

Edited 2011-02-21 09:04 (UTC)

"Well, yeah," The Doctor's stung. It's in the past, though, so whatever he feels about it, he thinks he should focus on trying to correct this. It's much more important to get Jamie protected and prepared. "As we've just seen. Granted, I...it back then wasn't so much trying to control you, but I imagine trying those methods wouldn't have been much different."

No, they/the Darksoul had been rather occupied with just hitting Jamie with anything at all, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. He supposes it was possible to go in like a surgeon and have controlled Jamie instead: Jamie's recovery had been incredibly fast, thanks to his armor, but the actual act of forcing his way into the human's mind hadn't been terribly difficult. So yes. Bit of a problem. More than a bit: he'd say a big one. And not just with Jamie, it seems. Anyone else with those morphers. The Doctor leans back on the grass, wriggling his fingers in it as he thinks furiously.

It was so peaceful here that thinking furiously isn't as easy as it looks.

The Doctor swivels around to Jamie, "Best not to rely on the armor, then. If anything, you and the others should get the mental training without it."

The Darksoul may have possibly touched that part of Jamie's mind about the morphers but if it had, it hadn't cared. It was much more interested in the prospects of Earth and all of time and space than anything else, at least from what he remembered of the possession. What he really remembers, aside from forcing his way into Jamie's mind, was feeling Jamie fading under his touch. The Doctor's expression tightens, drawn. For a moment his mouth draws into a thin line as he regards Jamie with that same stare as before: a little too long, as if he's looking hard at the paradox of Jamie McCrimmon, not quite looking Jamie in the face. The Doctor gives himself a little mental shake, his eyes focusing back on Jamie.

Those morphers sound amazing (they really do) but they're not some miracle weapon. And those holes in the defenses are great, big, gaping holes. Big, gaping, and very very dangerous. And yes, maybe they have better things to be doing, such as fixing the TARDIS, but he doesn't like the idea of leaving Jamie open to another attack if he can help it.

The Doctor reaches over, clapping his hand on Jamie's knee as he starts to push himself up to his feet. It's ungainly, like watching a lawn chair unfolding itself. The Doctor brushes off the alien grass from his trousers, slapping at his thighs and back.

"Talk to Billy and the others. I'd bring up those mental defense lessons if I were you, it's very important," the Doctor says and flicks off a piece of strangely shaped leaf from his shoulder. "Billy's absolutely right."

Edited 2011-02-21 21:17 (UTC)

Jamie hadn't looked away when he mentioned the last bit to the Doctor, so he catches that small change in the Time Lord's expression - and immediately regrets saying what he did. He hadn't meant the Doctor specifically, because the Doctor's not an enemy. Not now, not ever.

When the Time Lord scrambles to his feet, Jamie does as well, reaching out to grasp the Doctor's arm rather urgently. "Look, Doctor, I'd not meant you. But all those other times - with the Q and the Nightmare King. Those were enemies."

Well, okay, the one Q seemed alright, but the other was outright trying to get them to kill themselves, so he's certainly no friend to Jamie. "I'd not thought it through before, but it is a problem, and I will talk to Billy about it for the others. Do ye understand, though, I don't think of what happened with us as being the same thing?"

While the Doctor is focusing on the future, Jamie is focusing on the present, and trying to get his point across to the Time Lord. He may not have said it much, but the Doctor is very important to him, and he wants him to know that. He'll say it out loud if he needs to, but maybe he can get his friend to see what he means by through that touch, and the look on his face. "Will ye still help me, Doctor? Please?"

Edited 2011-02-21 22:46 (UTC)

The Doctor looks down at the hand on his elbow, the urgent squeeze. Oh, Jamie.

"Of course I'll help you." He smiles, the smile a little hollow. Even with a young body like this, he feels that weight sometimes. It's not just joints aching (they shouldn't be) or forgetting things. Something else, something even he can't put words to. It's not all the time, but sometimes it's there in full, like right now. "But what happened is the same thing. I was able to just walk right in, no fuss. I should've thought to give you lessons in this all those centuries ago."

For that he's sorry he hadn't had the foresight. But he'd been young and he'd been rather busy traveling with his friends, and there's no changing that. He'll just have to make up for it now. Make sure Jamie and his friends are psychically protected, and that's that. Simple. In theory. Working with humans does tend to factor in some complications here and there, more often than not.

And that's being nice about it.

The Doctor pats Jamie's hand on his elbow, cupping it. "All right, so we'll start with meditations, then work our way up. Bring your friends if they have the time."

He's brisk about it. Feels much, much better to be planning what to do instead of wallowing. Not that he hasn't had some good -- or not so good -- wallows but wallowing won't get Jamie started on learning how to help himself. Jamie thinks he'll help him, but the way the Doctor sees it, it's not quite like that. He can show him. In the end, though, the majority of this will be on Jamie's shoulders. Despite his ex-corpse status, his paradox, the Doctor believes Jamie can live up to the challenge...after all, he's done it so many times in the past.

The Doctor pats Jamie's hand again, almost absently, still looking far away as he tries to figure out the best way to approach the lessons. This would be different if Jamie was one of those humans who displayed any sort of psychic aptitude, like some of his species, but...

Edited 2011-02-22 00:23 (UTC)

There's no way the Doctor could have known that this type of situation would have happened, to Jamie's mind. Thanks to luck and a little ingenuity on the Doctor's part, most of the creatures that could have affected him mentally had been defeated, and the last time the Time Lord had seen him, he was about to be sent back to his own time. The likelihood of something of this nature happening to Jamie there would have been nearly nil.

Even if he knew about Space Station Chimera and his own death, he wouldn't think that it would have been something that needed to be taken care of. But then the Ohm came, and changed everything.

He's not expecting the Doctor to simply go in and take care of things, as easy as that would be. For all Jamie may not have the best grasp of some things thanks to the time he's from, he's intelligent enough to know that, he's going to have to do some work here. When he's asking the Doctor to help him, it's more to help show him how to get started. He's still not entirely certain that meditation will work, but he's willing to give it a go.

The absent patting of his hand helps to reassure him some on that front - even though he can tell the Doctor's thoughts have wandered far away. It may take some time, but things will get better.

Jamie lets go of the Doctor's arm, finally, but only to reach up and tap the Time Lord on his shoulder. "Doctor?" Once he's sure he's gotten other man's attention, he gives him a small smile. "Thank you."

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So...Now What? [Closed]

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Oops, I didn't realize Jamie and Billy had different ones

Hey, it worked out fine anyway. :)

:3

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