Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails [Open]

[bonnypiperlad]

Living in the TARDIS isn't all it's cracked up to be. Everyone there is busy a lot, it seems, and there's only so many questions Jamie can ask before he finds himself shooed away or set to doing something to help. He doesn't mind that once in awhile, but there's only so much 'helping' he can do, and only so many places they'll let him go in the TARDIS alone.

Today he's not in the mood to sit around there and do nothing, so as soon as the opportunity presents itself, he takes off, wandering through the hangar a bit and looking at all the strange ships before eventually making his way through to the other parts of the ship just to try and find something to do.

He's got a few things with him to keep him company, though. One is a small sack that he's put some important things in - some snacks, a nice rock from his room, and the morphers. They're too big for his wrists now, and he doesn't remember what they are any more, just that it's important he has them with him. Since his super sporran is with his adult clothing, the bag is the only other reasonable place for them to be. The other item he has with him in one of those horseless carriages he's been told about, a wee one he found somewhere and decided to keep. He likes the way the wheels spin, and it moves pretty nicely even without the horses - or one of those engine-things. That toy he's been keeping out so he can play with it when the mood takes him. Of course, sometimes the mood takes him so he sends it careening down one of Stacy's hallways, but that shouldn't be a problem, should it?

((OOC: Bendytime to fall in between the Oryan mission and the crew negotiating with the Time Dragons. Feel free to run into him anywhere - just mention in the subject line where it is.))

Comments

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

The Chancellor, carrying another batch of ice cream down a hallway, manages to keep his long, long legs from stumbling over the small vehicle.

"Good afternoon."

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie starts chasing after the car, but then spots the Chancellor and stops dead. Not currently being able to remember their previous conversation, Jamie reacts as if he hasn't seen him before, and winds up staring up at the very tall beastie with very wide eyes.

"H'lo."

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"Hello. And how are you, young man?"

[bonnypiperlad]

Well, it's a very polite beastie, it seems. Swallowing for a moment, he opens his mouth. Nothing comes out, so he tries again. "'M fine." After a second, he manages to be a least a little polite back. "Thank ye for asking."

As he continues to crane his head almost as far back as he can go, he notices the ice-cream that the Chancellor's carrying, and gives it a curious look before pointing in its general direction.

"What's that?"

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"Ice cream. Like they made in Damascus during the crusades, except we put strawberry juice in some."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Dama...what?" Even as an adult, Jamie's been fairly bad with his geography, although he would have at least heard about the crusades. As a wee lad, with a limited knowledge of the world around him, all that does is confuse him.

Strawberry juice he understands quite well, however. He likes fruit quite a lot, and he's had strawberries before, so there's a visible perking up from the boy. "Does the iced-cream you have there have strawberry juice in it?"

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"Damascus. Never mind." The Chancellor had simply been repeating the Emperor's initial assessment of ice cream. "And yes. Would you like some?" He fixes Jamie a serving of the strawberry.

[morphitudinous]

Today is not Billy's day. Finally healed and cleaned, he'd received the bad news: another rash of regressions is in progress, moving so quickly that not much time remains for either group.

He's on his way back to work when something slides under his foot, sending him careening to the ground again. Oh, that's great news for his still-healing back. Ouch.

One look at the offending object leaves him puzzled. A toy car? They're not usually seen around the ship, so that must mean a child is nearby. Best to tread carefully...be kind, be patient, and don't let on the problems, right? He rehearses each step in his head before looking for the guilty child.

"...There are better places to play with a toy car," he points out to start, hoping the kid will show themselves.

[bonnypiperlad]

A small boy, maybe eight years old, pokes his head out from around a corner. "Sorry," he says, in a somewhat subdued voice. "I'd not thought anyone was in the hall."

He steps out into full view then, looking at the much older person with a mix of guilt and wariness. Jamie doesn't know who this person is, but they must be upset about falling down. He wraps his fingers around the hem of his new, smaller kilt and twists a small piece of it a little nervously. "I didn't hurt ye, did I?"

[morphitudinous]

No one else spoke that way. No one else wore a kilt, either. Billy looked up at what had to be his younger friend, shock and worry immediately apparent. Just how many people was he going to lose to this blasted clock?

"Don't...don't worry about it," Billy answers quietly, carefully inspecting the toy for any scuff marks. "It's nothing compared to the last few days."

It's probably better that Jamie doesn't know him, Billy thinks. In a way, the innocence of the friends that remember him implicitly trusting him to fix everything makes it harder. That sad thought in mind, he passes the toy car over.

"It's a fine car," he whispers. "But wouldn't you rather have a smoother surface, or a track? It can go even further."

[bonnypiperlad]

The man looks awfully shocked for some reason, but since he's saying not to worry about it, it can't be from the fall. Maybe it's the kilt, Jamie thinks. He hasn't seen anyone one else on the strange ship that wears one, except for Kang.

While Billy is looking over the car - which is a bit scuffed, since Jamie hasn't been particularly careful about what he's been running it into - he looks up, wondering at the rest of the statement. Before he realizes it, he opens his mouth to ask a question. "Did something bad happen?"

There's a faint confusion for a moment at that - as he hadn't quite meant to ask that out loud. He had wondered, but was planning on keeping the through for himself. For some reason, though, it had just come out of his mouth without him intending to. He covers it by taking the car back and clutching it possessively to his chest.

A smoother surface would be nice, though, and he nods a little. "Aye." There's a pause, and then he asks another question - on purpose, this time. This way, Billy doesn't have to answer the other one if he doesn't want to.

"What's a track?"

[morphitudinous]

How much could Billy tell the boy? He always trusted Jamie...his best friend, the one he confided in about nearly everything, but that Jamie wasn't here at the moment. Would he ever be again?

"Let's just say that I got into a fight with a rope and lost," Billy shakes his head, glancing down as his wrists for evidence of rope burn. There doesn't seem to be too much, actually.

Answering questions, huh? Billy can do that much, just as he always has. "A track is like a road," he starts to explain. "It's smoother than the pulsating plant surface here, it's narrow with rails to keep the car moving along the line, and it slopes down so the car can pick up speed."

[bonnypiperlad]

Considering this, Jamie nods again, accepting the explanations. Ropes are tricky things, after all. He's just been learning to tie knots himself, and he's not very good at it. He's going to get better, though. Someday he'll tie knots that not even the King of the Beasties will get out of.

And what the man says sense - although Jamie isn't sure what pulsating means exactly. It actually sounds pretty good. When the horseless carriage - well, car, but he's still thinking of it as a horseless carriage - gets going, it's pretty fast but even he can tell the hallways are slowing it down some.

"Is there a track somewhere here that we could use so we could try it?" There's a pause, and then he turns an expectant look up at the friend he doesn't remember he has. "Please?"

TARDIS - Zero Room maybe?

[makeherblue]

Coming back to a TARDIS full of children isn't quite what the Doctor was expecting.

But in a way he finds he rather enjoys it, despite the imminent life-or-non-death situation looming over the infected's heads. It's all so suddenly noisy in the TARDIS, and he hasn't heard so many feet running up and down the corridors in literally centuries. The Doctor didn't quite realize up until now how much he's missed it.

Still, he can't imagine Jamie being entirely okay with so many visitors aboard the TARDIS (possibly going through his stuff. That boy back there looked like the nose picking sort) and this wasn't how he expected the Scot to be taking care of her, come to think of it. The Doctor squeezes past another kid dashing down the corridor before he can stop him and ask if he's seen a man in a skirt around. Skirt, kilt: either way, Jamie's always keeping it in good shape and fussing with it when he doesn't think the Doctor's looking, so that sort of thing would stand out. Left to search for Jamie himself, the Doctor thinks maybe he ought to make a Jamie Locater out of the ex-Otter Locater.

"Jamie?" The Doctor tries calling. Still no sign of the Scot. He's not quite concerned yet. "Jamie, where are you? I think you left the door open, I've got children!"

He turns with his hand on the wall, cocking his head and listening.

[bonnypiperlad]

There's noises coming from inside the Zero room, a couple of little thumps followed by a larger thump and an "Och, no!" The accent is Jamie's, but the voice sounds off. Higher-pitched somehow. Not that Jamie's voice is terribly deep normally anyway, but it's still different. Perhaps it's a trick of the Zero room, sound-distorting bubbles or something similar?

Or perhaps not, as a few moments later out comes a very young version of Jamie, one that looks about eight or so - but could possibly be a year or two older and just small for his age. It's still recognizably Jamie, with his sticky-out ears that he only grew into a little better once he got older, and wearing a small version of his kilt. Although it looks more like a proper great kilt, since it appears to be folded out of a single piece of tartan that looks suspiciously like the blanket he normally keeps on his bed. It's not quite the McCrimmon tartan, but the young boy doesn't appear to have realized it - or doesn't mind, for whatever reason.

He looks up at the very tall, gangly stranger in front of him with a complete lack of recognition. "Aye? I'm here. What is it you're wanting?"

[makeherblue]

That "och, no!" could only be Jamie McCrimmon. But...it doesn't sound quite like him, either, and the Doctor has about a brief second to cultivate a sinking feeling before he finds out just why.

Jamie's gone and lost a good decade while the Doctor was out, if not more. The Doctor stares, flabbergasted, as Jamie showcases ears that are far too big for his head (a regeneration or two ago and they could've had a contest) and a sudden growth spurt in the entirely wrong direction. Growth de-spurt? Growth un-spurt? Either way, it wasn't hard to work out exactly what happened, even if it was a hell of a surprise to actually see it in person. Jamie McCrimmon, eight. Possibly eight and a half or eight and three quarters. He's literally half the Scot he was before. The Doctor blinks as Jamie looks at him with those great big eyes -- who knew he was so cute as a kid? -- before it hits him that really, Jamie McCrimmon hasn't even known him that long. Even go back a few years and Jamie wouldn't have recognized him, much less at eight and three quarters.

"I was going to say I told you to watch the TARDIS," the Doctor's at a loss. He recovers quickly, bending over slightly so he isn't towering over Jamie. "Not that you'd remember that. The Doctor, by the way."

He sticks out his hand. May as well get the introductions out of the way as he sorts out how to deal with this. Kids. As a rule, he generally likes kids. But Jamie's a kid with a paradox and he's not entirely sure what would happen if he blipped out of existence. It's not like being dead dead.

[bonnypiperlad]

Right on cue, there's a rather baffled look from Jamie. Why would this person tell him to watch the TARDIS? That sounds like a job for one of the adults. Rory or Amy, or maybe that woman with all the curly hair. He shakes his head. "No, you've not said something like that to me before. I'm sure of it."

He'd remember someone like this man, this Doctor, he thinks. How could you forget someone like that? Although...the man doesn't look like any physician Jamie's seen. They tend to be dressed like anyone else around back home. Certainly not in a jacket and some sort of cloth around his neck that he doesn't quite recognize. Maybe the man's French, though. That would explain a wee bit.

The young Scot reaches up to shake the man's hand, but there's a curious question attached to it. Even this young, he has a few. "Doctor who?"

[makeherblue]

“Perfectly reasonable question for another time. Just ‘The Doctor’,” The Doctor’s smile barely falters as he shakes Jamie’s suddenly tiny, much less callused hand. This is Jamie much earlier before the Battle of Culloden; shorter, less hardened and ignoring those big ears…

He’s very very very adorable.

And also much closer to blinking out of existence then ever before. So much for hoping his paradox might not be a problem: even the Zero Room couldn’t protect him and the Doctor has to wonder just how long Jamie has. Chewing the corner of his lip, the Doctor drops to his knees in a crouch and brings himself eye level with Jamie. Jamie has great big eyes and ears, both of which he would’ve grown into if he wasn’t so busy jumping back through his own personal timeline. The Doctor doesn’t let Jamie on to that, instead his smile growing wider as he reaches out and ruffles the human’s hair. It’s the same humany brown. Short, but that’s another thing he’s supposed to grow into.

“Are you busy, McCrimmon? You don’t look too busy for a good sneaking around: I’d say you’re even big enough for a lurk,” the Doctor says, like he’s a fellow conspirator. He consults his wrist watch and then turns his attention back to Jamie. “Have you seen the Med Bay yet? You ought to, it’s full of blinky lights and googly things!”

[bonnypiperlad]

"Er..." Jamie's glance flicks back towards the Zero room door and the small mess that was currently inside. Blowing bubbles from that wee bottle had seemed like a good idea at the time - and he hadn't meant to knock the bottle over. But what was done was done. It was just soap anyway, so it wouldn't hurt anything. Right?

"I'm not busy, no," the young Scot replies, a touch too hurriedly. However, he was hoping this Doctor wouldn't catch on to that slip, and he could get out of here without a hiding. And, well, if he has to admit it, a sneaking around or a lurk does sound a bit fun.

"No Med Bay, though," he adds, quite firmly, going so far as to cross his arms over his chest. He definitely doesn't want to go there, if he can help it, and he's prepared to settle in and be stubborn about the situation if he has to.

"I don't like it there. Could we not go sneak around somewhere else instead, Doctor?"

The City, near the beystadium work for you?

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

What better way to let go of some stress than practice tricks on a motorcycle? They weren't anything too flashy or complex, though, since Hoshi knew those would take quite a bit of experience to go before she could even think of attempting them.

However, she did a small pop wheelie once she saw the toy to avoid it before placing the bike back the way it was supposed to be.

"Wonder who this belongs to," she said, kicking the kickstand down before walking over to pick it up. "Hey, if you've lost a toy, I've got it!"

[bonnypiperlad]

The City was big - so big that Jamie was thinking he might have gone and gotten himself lost without realizing it. Still, the wee horseless carriage worked pretty well here, so he continues to play with it, figuring he'll worry about getting back later.

This last one seems to have gone quite a long way, and he's chasing after it when he sees the lassie on the strange horse. Skidding to a stop, he looks at her with eyes that feel to be the size of saucers. They're not, of course, but he is currently one impressed little boy.

After a few seconds, he manages to find his voice and call over to the lassie who has his carriage. "It's mine!" He trots over to her, still fascinated by what she was riding. When he gets closer, he sees that it's got wheels. Not a horse, then, and not like his toy. He looks up at Hoshi, then points at the motorcycle.

"What's that?"

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

Hoshi turned around and then smiled. She walked over and knelt down, giving Jamie back his carriage. "There we are. You may never know when you're gonna lose your toys, okay?" she said in a gentle way, definitely not scolding him.

Then, her head turned to the HardBoiler and she thought aboout it for a minute. Why not have fun with this while she could?

"It's the ride of a totally awesome superhero!" she stated, posing in a rather silly way with her hands on her hips, her chest stuck out and wearing a rather too big smile. "It's called the HardBoiler."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Super...hero?" Jamie responds, rather blankly, having come from a time well before there was that particular concept. And Hoshi's pose doesn't help matters any at all, but at least he's polite enough not to ask why she's standing that way.

At least he understands the idea behind calling it 'the Hardboiler', even if the name itself doesn't make much sense. They name ships in his day, after all, so he nods. He eyes the wheels on the motorcycle, then looks down at the car he's holding, and a light seems to dawn.

"Hey, does it work like one of these horseless carriages do? The real ones, I mean." Not the toy, obviously. "With one those engine-things and everything?"

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

A thought dawned on Hoshi. Perhaps Jamie wasn't from a time when superheroes weren't all that common yet. "A person who saves the day from bad guys and evildoers is what a superhero does. They can be as normal as you and me, even," she explained. When she was younger, she definitely considered her father a superhero with the line of work he led.

"And, yeah, it does! Wanna see it in action?" asked Hoshi, a grin plastered on her face. Oh, the anticipation was just nipping at her heels to provide the same fun she had with Philip on her first ride and show it to Jamie.

[bonnypiperlad]

"Oh! Aye, I see." That part of things is easy enough to understand. Even in Jamie's time there's people who do bad things, although at this age he's had next to no personal experience with them. He knows they exist, however, and the explanation works.

A sidelong glance is given to the motorcycle at her question, and while there's a little trepidation on the young Scot's part, there's still a rather large curiosity about how this HardBoiler thing works. After a few seconds hesitation, he nods.

"Aye, I do."