trans_9 | My Doctor and I

Entry tags:

My Doctor and I

Who: Barbara Wright and the Eleventh Doctor [closed]
Where: Near the Daligig area
Summary: Backdated to just after this, where the Doctor tries to use words for important things, rather than babbling. Barbara is there to make sure he doesn't get into trouble. As is Barbara's job.
Warnings: None

Barbara left the Media Library with the Doctor as butterflies began to dance in her tummy. Although she hadn't met a Daligig before, she had reason enough to believe that they weren't terribly nice, and their guards were positively terrifying. Tall lizard-like beings with, what she had heard were lightening reflexes and amazing martial art skills. They were yet to see a guard at their post, but now Barbara half-expected one to jump out from some place and tear them both to pieces.

"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea after all," she said, sticking close to the Doctor, hand in hand.

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The Doctor, on the other hand, thought it was downright brilliant.

“If it was a good idea we wouldn’t be doing it,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “I don’t think I even need to point out how many things your species alone has accomplished from terribly dangerous, stupid ideas.”

It was his odd little way of trying to be comforting. Probably could go on in the same vein about humanity if you let him. He rewarded Barbara with another one of those “nothing at all can go wrong with a plan like this (or if it does, at least go wrong in an interesting direction” and set off to where he thought he’d seen one of those big skulking fellas. You’d think being that large would make a good skulk rather…difficult (especially with the low ceilings in some places), but they were surprisingly decent at it and it took them a bit to even track one of the guards down. Eventually they managed to locate one, the Doctor approaching and even giving the big alien a wave and a grin and not quite elbowing Barbara to do the same.

“Hello! Are you busy? You don’t look busy standing there like that. I’m the Doctor, this is Barbara,” the Doctor paused to give Big Fella a chance to introduce himself, half out of politeness, half because he needed to take a breath between words. “She’s one of those humans that hasn’t seen many aliens until now,” he added, almost in a stage-whisper.

He didn’t even miss a beat in fibbing. It came second-nature to him and he’d found that pretending to be a tourist and/or one of those starstruck pre-space travel humans could open up all sorts of doors.

Barbara silently copied the Doctor's waving and then waved again once she was introduced. The Kessek guard spared them a glance, just to make sure they weren't hostile, and then went back to staring at the wall.

She looked up at the floppy-haired Doctor, as if wondering what to do next but she thought that she might as well try some of her own words first.

"Uh, we're wondering if you could take the time to answer just a couple of our very simple questions?" the guard didn't show any signs of listening. "It won't take any time," Barbara added hopefully. The Kessek didn't even blink.

You were doing just fine, Barbara. The Doctor, satisfied that Barbara had done an excellent job waving her arm off, went on the offensive. He walked right up to the Kessek, ducks past that truly massive elbow, and pops up to stand right in front of him. He thought it was a him. Some -- actually, many -- aliens didn't have the same anatomical tells as humans and you'd be surprised at the little mixups that could happen if you went into this making Earth assumptions.

"No time at all!" The Doctor clasped his hands, wringing them in that unconscious fashion of his as he peered up into that monstrous face. So far no teeth bared. He took that as a good sign. "Have you ever killed anyone for the Daligig?"

The question came out of the blue. To his credit, the Doctor didn't sound accusing, only mildly curious, that smile just a tiny bit cold. He might as well have been asking if the Kessek would like to take up golf.

The Kessek was indeed male, not that gender mattered when the entire race were so fearsome and dominating. Just being recognised as a Kessek was honourable.

At the Doctor's lack of the concept of 'personal space', the Kessek's system of reflexes is tweaked. He's suddenly incredibly aware of the silly humanoid, where each of his limbs were and what it was he seemed to be doing. A thousand assumptions and scenarios played out in his mind in the blink of an eye, each one ending with the man's death or extreme discomfort. For the moment, however, he remained still.

Well, sort of.

The Kessek's hand raised up enough to brush the Doctor away, back out of close range. "I am a protector of the Daligig. If there is ever a threat toward them, I put my own life down before their lives can be touched."

Barbara caught the Doctor, so that he didn't fall back into the wall. Although, not so much as 'caught', as put herself behind. She thought that the Kessek sounded rather melodramatic.

The Doctor stumbled back with an "oof!" and then a "sorry, thank you, Barbara!" and instantly was back on his feet as if he made it a personal habit to be bowled over by aliens that could sit on him.

"Ah! Yes, I thought so! Very dedicated to your job. Very extremely." The Doctor exchanged looks with Barbara, the woman having one of those looks on her face that he'd called the Teacher Look. She and Ian were always particular good at them. He never really appreciated the full force until he'd gotten past viewing them as Those Irritating Humans and more as just his friends that happened to be humans. "The thing is, we're both concerned about the Daligig and you seem the exact sort of fella who would be concerned about your Masters too. Where they're going and what will happen, that sort of thing."

He paused to let Barbara have a word in, trusting her to raise one of those good points she had a habit of making.

The Kessek snorted, seeing the humanoid for what he was; a pest.

"You will let us know if there is any way we can help the Daligig? We are ever so keen," Barbara added, "and it isn't as if they talk about anything they're doing and give us any kind of options in helping."

"There is nothing those outside of the Daligig on board, which can help in any of their projects," the Kessek said proudly, "you'd need a lot more intellect than either of you have combined."

Barbara suppressed an interesting look toward the Doctor, and kept her eyes on the guard just incase he caught on to what they were doing.

The Doctor had a momentarily offended look, the one he tended to get when he was used to literally being the most brilliant person in the room only to have a big alien blundering in -- well, not so much blundering as just standing there being boring -- saying he needed loads more intellect.

It was probably a good thing Barbara was there before the Doctor rolled up his sleeves and did something dangerous, like some excessive Showing Off with a touch of Showboating; whatever you wanted to call it, basically.

"Ah, but that does imply they do need help. Assistance, if that's a better word for it. Good ring to it." The Doctor reached out to clap Barbara on her shoulder, giving her a little squeeze and a proud smile that said he wasn't just fibbing on the spot. "Like she said, we're very keen to help. Super keen. So keen that we probably could've been Kessek in another life. And you," the Doctor's voice lowered into a stage whisper, "Look like just the person to help us be productive."

So far the Doctor seemed to be behaving himself, although one more poke at his ~~utterly amazing~~ intellect might fix that. The Doctor continued to fix the Kessek with a friendly smile. Thankfully he hadn't started winking yet.

"You could not handle the secrets of the Daligig," the Kessek smirked, "the parts would be too heavy for spindly arms like yours." There was a moment where the Kessek looked a little proud at that insult before a look crossed his face. That may not have been the wisest thing to say.

"What parts?" Barbara asked, taking a curious step forward.

Ah, so much for the big brilliant alien. The Doctor was glad to see that Barbara instantly caught on, already pressing for questions. The Kessek shifted his big alien feet and big alien eyes (well, big compared to them, not so much his own size), and like he'd probably said something he shouldn't have. The Doctor nodded, looking earnest and, well, as keen to help as he could. Spindly arms and all.

"We're very good at team-work. Excellent with carrying parts. Like ants, I suppose. Not that I expect you to be familiar with ants."

The Kessek played at childish and refused to answer. But Barbara had dealt with childish in her past.

"Come on, Doctor," she said loudly, taking her Doctor's arm with her own. "Clearly our minds are far too brilliant. We wouldn't be of any use, being far too clever for anything the Daligig or Kessek could be up to."

The Doctor was more than willing to have Barbara link her arm in his, giving her hand a pat even as he fixed the Kessek with a look and a frown and was that a slight furrow of the alien’s eye ridges he saw? The alien shifted his big feet from side to side, starting to get that idea that maybe, just maybe, he had something to say.

“If you know something, you are obligated to tell me,” he rumbled. “If the Daligig are compromised, you are compromised.”

“Stunning logic,” the Doctor said. “Very difficult to argue against!”

So maybe they did have the Kessek's attention after all.

"But Doctor," she protested, "we can't tell the Kessek anything!" because giving up so easily would cause him to loose interest again.

The guard stood a little taller (if that was indeed possible) and took a firmer grip upon his weapon (once again, as if that was indeed possible) and stepped a little closer to the time travelers.

"I'm not offering, I'm ordering," said the guard with a dangerous growl to his tone.

“Oh, well then.” The Doctor came up short as the Kessek blocked their way with his body (plus scary-looking weapon, but really, the Kessek was so wide that the weapon wasn’t even needed at this point other than to be obnoxiously impressive in sheer size). He exchanged looks with Barbara, then motioned for the Kessek to lean a little closer. “See, the thing is, that all depends. You can order us all you like, but really, it’d be easier if we three worked together. We can’t help if we’ve got our heads bashed in, you know! Frail like that unfortunately.”

He beamed at Barbara and this alien, as if they were already friends here and he was only seconds away from kidnapping him for an adventure. Apologies, Barbara. She knew what he meant. Smart human like that.

The Kessek’s great big face pulled into what the Doctor assumed was some sort of intrigued-but-didn’t-want-to-look-it expression. That or it was some sort of threat display that he was grossly underestimating.

“And why wouldn’t the Daligig be aware of this? They could check Stacy’s memory banks.” The Kessek asked.

"They could but why would then?" Barbara quickly added, "it's such a long and bothersome task. And besides, we're right here! We can take any information needed to help the Daligig, rather than troubling them with meetings and the like."

The Kessek guard seemed to come off as confused. Or something. "But you need permission! Only the Daligig can give permission."

"I'd say you're as good as a Daligig. Better, even! Less stuffy," the Doctor added. Barbara, you were being rather magnificent right now, so magnificent that you were almost as distracting as the big huge alien. "The thing is, we've all been pulled to Stacy for a reason and it's time we helped out. Pulled our weight, I suppose."

He beamed his most winning smile. He was rather good at it, and with Barbara at his side, he felt they were off to a good start. She was about as dependable as Jamie, after all. Probably better at figuring out things like phones and teleports, but yes.

"There are ways for the crew to help," the Kessek growled, "and you'll be made aware of them as they become available."

"But lifting big heavy things must surely be a cumbersome and arduous task for the Daligig? We should be able to help somehow," added Barbara in her most helpful tone. The Kessek merely grunted.

“Well, that’s no good at all!” The Doctor brought himself up, like an owl fluffing its feathers. “Barbara, of course, is right. (She’s very good at being right. Something to take note of). Which brings us to looking to the future. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’re a bit out in the middle of Nowhere.”

The Kessek’s grunt this time was agreeable. He didn’t look too impressed with where they were. In fact, he didn’t look too impressed with the crew, either, and perhaps he was still trying to figure out why this crew – why not proper warriors? The big alien adjusted his hold on his weapon, his armor creaking.

“I’m sure that’s the plan,” the Kessek rumbled, although there was the tiniest, most miniscule thread of doubt in his voice.

"Well then, tell us where you want us and we'll start lifting!" Barbara said enthusiastically, a hand squeezing the Doctor's arm gently in excitement at being so close.

"It is in restricted areas," the Kessek replied after a long, hesitant pause.

"'It'? What do you mean 'it'?" she pressed. "We'll need to know what needs lifting if we're to do the job properly."

The Kessek’s big face scrunched up. “It’s far too heavy for you two…aliens,” his face scrunched up even further, impressively enough. Clearly he wasn’t quite sure how to classify a pair of pink squishy things that looked like they could get underfoot. They were far too small to be anything useful aside from labor…and you would need loads of them to make it even worthwhile. “Even assuming I recommended you to lifting duties.”

The Doctor perked up at the words “heavy” and “restricted areas” – some of his favorite phrases! Well, not so much “heavy”. Heavy he could skip. But “restricted area” downright wonderful! The Doctor struggled not to look too tempted to run off right this very moment.

“We could still give it a good go. It’s either that or we wander aimlessly and I get the impression your other Kessek friends might not like that. Maybe we ought to know where not to wander.”

The Kessek glanced at a sign on the wall with a grunt. "Go through here, down the set of stairs to the Daligig's dock where you'll find a long crate. If you can't lift it with your puny arms, you'll have -"

An approaching Kessek guard cut him off. The guard by Barbara and the Doctor saluted, standing straight in attention until saluted by his work mate. Barbara watched with a slight fascination, noticing how their change of the guard had elements of the guard changes in varying Earth cultures.

The Doctor looked cross for a nanosecond at being interrupted, before his face split into another grin.

“Well! I think that’s enough to go by, don’t you think, Barbara?” The Doctor rubbed his hands together, then reached out, and, amazingly had the nerve to pat the Kessek’s elbow (he had to stretch just a bit to even reach). “And thank you for the advice, Big Fella. I imagine we’ll work twice as hard.”

The Doctor exchanged looks and beamed at Barbara. The Kessek gave a stiff nod, turning to follow them as the Doctor barely managed to avoid jogging right for the exit. Once he was out of view, his strides lengthened. It was another one of those things that had changed since he’d been old and young at the same time with Barbara and Ian. Loads more hair and the height to go with it.

Barbara stood to wonder just what the Doctor was on about for a moment, until she realised he'd wandered off, and the replacement Kessek was giving her a rather menacing stare. Even more menacing than usual which was an accomplishment.

She had to trot to catch up with the Doctor, and even when she was level with him, she still had to walk quite fast.

"What are you thinking?" she asked once they were out of ear shot.

The Doctor was positively speed-walking. “Stuff. Which is incidentally what you do when you have a halfway decent think, Barbara Wright!”

He waited until they could duck behind one of the fleshy protrusions on Stacy, big enough to dwarf a house and lined with glowing pink pustules that dimmed as they got close enough to brush up against it. The Doctor glanced both ways, checking for any Kessek wandering around, and then wheeled on Barbara, his face lighting up with that strange glow of excitement that hadn’t changed despite all his different faces.

“Now. The question is do we snoop now or later?”

If Barbara had only just met the Doctor, or hardly knew who he was, she'd be positively terrified. The mix of suddenly ducking out of the way of general sight, and his manic grin which made his eyes twinkle with potentially dangerous mischief, was a little unnerving.

But she knew the Doctor well enough to know that nothing terrible was going to happen.

Yet.

"Well," she began, a hand resting on his arm as she peered over his angular shoulder for anyone who might be listening in, "everything is fresh in out minds..." of course, Ian wouldn't be terribly happy that she was throwing herself into danger. But the Kessek had hinted at something potentially valuable. "And I might forget the finer details in a couple of hours."

Yet was always the thing, wasn’t it? It wouldn’t be much fun if there wasn’t a sneaky little yet waiting just around the corner.

“Exactly! Your species’ short attention span borders on legendary,” the Doctor completely agreed with Barbara’s assessment of the situation. Clearly they needed to investigate this now instead of waiting for silly things like backups or a second opinion when she put it like that. “There’s simply no way around it. We’ll have to go right this very instant.”

The Doctor flashed a private sort of grin at Barbara, pleased that centuries apart and she was still the same woman he’d known before. Really, she and Ian had set the bar for the other companions, in a way. He supposed it was possible there were bits and pieces of Ians and Barbaras in all his other friends that he invited along…and those times he didn’t necessarily need to kidnap them, either.

"But," she added, stopping the Doctor in his tracks, "you have to promise me that you're not going to do anything stupid and get yourself hurt, do you understand?"

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My Doctor and I

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