| Date: 18 January 2008
Characters: The Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble Location: outside Link to IJ: thread #39921 |
 The Doctor sauntered down a side-street lined with market stalls. He bent over one stall selling fudge and chocolate. He was rather partial to fudge. He picked out a big box, opened it and popped two pieces in his mouth.Then he stepped back, intending to move on to the next stall, only to find there was someone right behind him. They met with a big bump. "Ooop! Sorry!" the Doctor mumbled, though his mouthful of fudge, turning to see who it was. |
 Donna bopped the back of his head, "Don't you watch where you're going?" |
| "Almost never," the Doctor mumbled cheerfully, chewing fast and swallowing to clear his mouth. "Sorry again!" He held out the box in his hand. "Fudge?" |
| She shook her head, "What have you been up to?" |
| "Not a lot. Wandering around, talking, sleeping, chilling out." He frowned, belatedly realising that wasn't the normal sort of question he got from people he didn't know. "Er - I'm getting the impression you know me?" |
| "...Yeah, don't you then?" she tilted her head at him, eyebrows coming together in confusion. |
| "Nope, sorry. But I've only just regenerated into this body, so if you recognise it - and you didn't know me in my previous body - there's a good chance I don't know you yet." |
| "What?" she asked, confused. |
| He waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. It's not important. Basically, out there in the real world, I haven't met you yet. How do I meet you?" |
| "You kidnap me." |
| "Do I? Well, that's different! Why would I do that?" |
| "How am I supposed to know why you do anything?" she asked, crossing her arms. |
| "Well, you're the one who remembers it! There must have been a reason!" |
| "Something about chemicals or power or something," she shook her head. "You talk...really fast." |
| The Doctor beamed. "That's because I'm really, really clever! What did I do with you after I'd kidnapped you?" |
| "Or really really hiding that you don't know!" She argued, smiling a bit, "Saved the world." |
| He was really, really good at selective hearing too so he ignored the first part of that and just grinned. "Did we? What happened this time?" |
| "Giant spider." |
| The Doctor looked impressed. "Well, that is different!" He was about to ask what happened after that when he remembered he probably didn't want to know too much about his future. Instead, he gestured round at the market stalls. "So what were you looking for here? Anything in particular, or just having a nose about?" |
| "Just wandering. What about you?" |
| "Oh, I've already found what I was looking for!" he grinned, holding up his box of fudge. "There was a stall with some very pretty jewellry just back there, though, bangles and things, if you want to take a look," he added hopefully. He really didn't have a clue what to talk about with this woman he'd never met but had apparently saved the world with. She didn't really - well, she didn't really seem to be his type. |
| She raised an eyebrow at him, confused, "...Right?" |
| The Doctor looked embarrassed. "I just thought - you looked like you might like pretty things?" |
| "..Good eyes," she patted his shoulder, "Off I go then." |
| "Oh! I didn't mean you should - I wasn't brushing you off!" he exclaimed hurriedly, even more embarrassed. "I thought we could go and look together! Maybe I could find you something nice to apologise for kidnapping you?" |
| "You already apologized for the kidnapping!" |
| "Oh. Good. I didn't know that." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling rather desperate. "What would you like to do, then, Miss - er - I don't think you told me your name?" |
| "Donna." She shook her head, "Are you okay? You look peaky." |
| "I'm fine. I'm just a little - this place is so confusing. I've met versions of people I knew in the past, past versions of people I knew in the past, versions of people who are the opposite sex from the ones I knew, heard that a very old friend - er, enemy - is here somewhere, and now I'm with someone I haven't even met yet." He blinked hard, and gave Donna his best smile. "I'm sorry. It's just messing with my head a bit." |
| "Maybe you should take a nap." |
| "Maybe I should." He shook his head as if to clear it, frowning. "Huh, perhaps it's the regeneration, taking time to settle into this new body." |
| "A what?" |
| "Regeneration? Didn't I just mention that? I regenerated, oh, a few days ago, and it does tend to play havoc with my head for a bit. Sorry." |
| "That explains why you're more babbly than usual." |
| "Am I? You mean I do end up babbling a bit less? Because yes, I have noticed I'm tending to talk even more than I used to in my old body. I used to go on for hours, with this massive grin on my face - I think I used to bore poor Rose to death sometimes - and I was sort of hoping I might stop talking quite so much when I regenerated, but that doesn't seem to have happened, does it?" |
| She shook her head, "You do start to talk less nonsense though, if that helps." |
| "Oh, good! How long is it till I meet you - no, don't suppose you've got any way of know that, have you? Hmmm. Well." He screwed up his face. "You know. I do think that idea of yours might be a good one. I think I might go and lie down for a bit. If you'll be all right without me?" |
| "Have a good nap, Doctor," she said, shaking her head at him. |
| "Yeah." He yawned suddenly. "Well. It was nice to meet you, Donna, and I look forward to whenever it is that I meet you again!" He gave her a brilliant smile, put a hand briefly on her shoulder, and walked off back to the hotel and bed. |