| Date: 10 January 2008
Characters: Koschei, The Tenth Doctor Location: outside, a TARDIS Link to IJ: thread #29382 |
 The sounds of a TARDIS materalizing where unmistakable. But unlike the other TARDISes that were hanging about this place, as it landed, the appearance shifted to blend into the landscape, taking on the appearance of a lightpost outside of one of the shops. Despite the unfamiliarity of the TARDIS, the man that stepped out of it would have been a well known face to many of those in these parts.
That was, if he wasn't wearing a leather jacket and a shirt that looked like a reject from a 70s thrift store. And if the smile on his face hadn't been quite so sincere. Taking a deep breath, he spun, taking in the town from every angle before giving a slight laugh and petting the lightpost, "Getting a little off, are we, my dear? This doesn't look like Traken at all." |
 Having wandered outside after talking with Mickey, the Doctor watched the TARDIS materialize, and blend in. "That's how it's supposed to work, if the bloody thing has a working chamelion circuit. Hello, I'm the Doctor, and you are?" She could recognize him as a Time Lord, but she couldn't quite place who he was. Quite an awful lot about this place felt just slightly off, like she didn't quite belong here. "And I don't think Traken is at all reachable from here. Though I don't know, my TARDIS isn't exactly being the most helpful at the moment." |
| Koschei blinked for a moment at the woman in front of him before an amused expression flickered across his face, "Decided to shoot yourself in the head for a change, my boy? Well, girl now," Koschei asked, the teasing lilt clear in his tone as he stepped forward and clapped his hand on the Doctor's shoulder and leaned back, taking in the new form with a raised eyebrow.
"Not that I'm really complaining." Oh, bother. And that wasn't supposed to sound as lecherous as it came out. |
| "Um, I've always been a girl. Woman. Female." The Doctor blinked a moment, before beaming at the other Time Lord. "Got myself rather misplaced, I think, but it's not my fault. Have a rather unbalanced friend - well, enemy sometimes, but not always - who managed to get to the TARDIS before I could, and she's done something with it. Don't think this was where she intended to go, but it's a lot more interesting, I'm sure. She always does like the most boring places when she's trying to take me somewhere." |
| "Huh. Well," Koschei said, lifting an eyebrow slightly. Apparently he'd gone a bit more off course than he'd expected to be. "I don't remember setting the controls for a jump across universes," He said, glancing back at the lightpost-TARDIS, giving it a bit of a poke.
"Are you playing games with me, my dear? You know that there really is a time and a place for those things," He said, addressing the vehicle before turning back to this female Doctor and extending his hand with a grin. "Do forgive me. I have to say, I'm a bit flabbergasted as to how this could have happened. I'm Koschei." |
| "Koschei?" The Doctor ignored the hand, staring a moment before taking a swift step forward to give him a hug. "Oh, this is brilliant!" She stepped back, eyes bright with what she adamantly refused to admit could even remotely be tears.
"It's been so long since... well, since my friend called herself that. She's always on and on about using the name she chose, and really, I don't like calling her that, and it doesn't matter, does it?" She all but bounced on her toes, a bright smile on her face. |
| Stunned and confused, but he returned the hug happily, laughing, the tone slightly nervous before he stepped back to take in this Doctor with a curious glance, "Ah, so. All right, I think I'm getting this. Things are flipped on their head here? Male is female, female is male? Am I close?" He asked with a slight grin.
And he'd (no, wait, she'd) taken a title? That was off putting. Koschei had always thought titles were unnecessary. Pompous and something that one only did when they thought they had made themselves too good to be acknowledged by their true name (or, in the Doctor's case, the situation had become just a bit too complicated to deal with). He'd never even seriously considered taking one himself. Though, apparently, at least one of him had. |
| "Well, I don't know that it is for you, but it is for me. Ran into a companion's girlfriend in the hotel, only not the girlfriend. He's the boyfriend, and the companion is a girl." The Doctor ran a hand through her hair, grimacing.
"It's a bit confusing, and with the TARDIS telling me she can't pinpoint our location in time or space, it's all a bit disturbing as well. I don't suppose you have any better a clue where or when we are, do you?" |
| "I just got here, but we can take a look at my instruments," Koschei said, pushing open the door to the TARDIS and gesturing for this female Doctor to enter. "I know what kind of shape you tend to keep yours in. Or at least, my universe's counter-part of you." |
| "Well, I haven't exactly had a wealth of opportunities to take it back to Gallifrey for repairs. First the whole arguement with the rest of the Time Lords, then getting exiled, and then..." She stopped speaking abruptly, shaking her head.
"No, not important. Let's just say there really isn't a chance to get it to the shop." |
| "And you were never very good at temporal mechanics," Koschei said, stepping over to his TARDIS's console and pulling up the destination log before requesting the current coordinates. He blinked a few times when they console just flashed blankly like a VCR that hadn't been set.
"What? No, that certainly can't be right," Koschei said, frowning as he readjusted a few of the settings before making the request again. "That's...not possible. Apparently, according to this, we are both no-where and no-when." |
| The Doctor blinked. "But that's not possible." She knew she was repeating what Koschei had just said, but she wasn't sure if she could believe it.
Well, actually, she could believe, she just wasn't sure she wanted to. Or maybe she did want to believe, but her knowledge was screaming it was impossible. Either way.... "If we're no-where, and no-when, how do we get back to where we belong?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Oh, I'm so going to lock her into a closet when I get my hands on her again. Lock her in a closet and conveniently forget where I put the key. It was bad enough she got us lost, but she just had to get us lost outside of time and space! I never was that bad..." She trailed off, chewing on her lip, thinking about how she'd first encountered the universe where she'd had to leave Roland in the end. "Ok, maybe I've gotten almost as badly lost, but I still could get home!" At a price, and in the end, a higher price than she'd wanted to pay. |
| "I can't believe it. Well, I almost can't. I mean, it's not like I haven't had things this strange happen, but she's always known where we were before. Even when I didn't," Koschei said, patting the console fondly. "I doubt she'd lie to me now. You must be very confused, my dear."
Koschei sighed softly as he turned to the Doctor, frowning softly, "I would appreciate it if you not talk about locking another version of me in the closet, no matter how much she may deserve it. It's...off putting." |
| The Doctor gave him an apologetic grin, shrugging one shoulder uncomfortably. "Sorry. I just... Oh, I don't know. I just haven't seen her in far too long, and I thought she was dead, and, well, it's just not the best reunion she and I have had, really. I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to bother you," she babbled, pausing only to barely draw breath, pacing in a small circle, unable to keep still. |
| Koschei couldn't help but laugh, grinning and nodding, "Yes, definitely the same Theta," He said, as he clapped the Doctor on the shoulder with an understanding smile. "Don't worry about it. Really. I mean, I can't say I really understand what's going on here, but I could understand what it has to be like, finding out she wasn't dead after thinking she was." |
| The Doctor grinned slightly. "Been a while since someone called me that. It's all 'Doctor' and 'The Oncoming Storm' and 'Destroyer of Worlds' anymore." She looked wistful for a moment, relaxing a bit. "It's nice to hear someone call me that. Even if you really don't look like Koschei, not as I know her. Which would make sense, as you're a he, and she's a she."
She deliberately focused on the first part of what Koschei said, preferring to avoid the memories of why she thought the other version was dead... Why she was so certain all of them were dead. All that blood on her hands, and she shivered a moment, forcing the thought back. She wasn't going to think about that. Did enough brooding last regeneration. "Well, what now? It's all rather strange here, and I haven't met a whole lot of people, but it's the most fascinating place. The hotel bar serves you any kind of alcoholic beverage imaginable. They have this one, bananas and mangos and rum, I think. Absolutely smashing!" |
| "Destroyer of Worlds. Damn, can't say I ever envied the type of names that you, well, he ended up making for himself," Koschei said with a soft smile at this Doctor as he offered his arm to her.
"What do we do now? Well, explore, of course, my dear lady! What else can one do when presented with a place that technically doesn't exist?" |
| The Doctor laughed, resting one hand on his arm, a bright grin staying on her face. "Adventure is always the best!" She peered out at the world again. "Well, adventure and shops. Always interesting to see what sorts of bits of technology people come up with that I can use to keep the TARDIS functioning." |
| "Ah, still rigging things with whatever spare bits you can come across, then?" Koschei asked, shaking his head in disappointment. "Sometimes I do worry that you're going to have her stall out in you in the middle of the Vortex. What would you do, then, huh?" |
| "What else am I going to do? I mean, there's no getting her to the shop, so I have to make do with whatever I find. And if I stall out in the Vortex, I have bits and pieces stored away somewhere. I can fix just about anything." She shrugged. "And if I can't, well.... I don't know, actually. I'll worry about that if it happens." |