Re: Michelle and The Doctor (Ten)
Michelle's bullshit meter was redlined. "'Buried the needle,'" she muttered to herself, quoting Ray Stanz in Ghostbusters. The thing was, it might be bullshit. It might all be true. Madison Valley was full of wonders, each more fantastic than the last. So it might all be true.
Or it might all be bullshit. Or partly bullshit. That was the problem with Surprise Fatigue (tm). Once you stopped blinking at the fifth impossible thing in the last twenty minutes, you were ripe to be conned by the next fast-talking confidence man to come along.
There were so many things she could ask him. Wanted to ask him. Who was The Doctor? How were she and he both The Doctor? Why was she female if she was another "regeneration" and what did that mean, anyhow? Michelle imaged him getting sliced in half and both halves growing a complete Doctor. And what the hell were Time Lords?
But nobody could answer a question with so many tidbits that only invited more questions by accident. Either he was in love with the sound of his own voice, or he wanted her to ask those questions. Either way, she suspected his answers to additional questions would be just as maddeningly opaque. So she asked the only question that was really important to her.
"Wait--Jack Harkness is an alien?"
He'd given her a tour of Combat Therapy early in her stay here. He was very handsome, and extremely charming. So much so that she'd been reminded of one of Amanda's aphorisms: Charm is not something you have, charm is something you do. No one got that good at it without a purpose. Sometimes the purpose was relatively innocuous, like seducing young women. Or men. Or building a network of friends and acquaintances to aid you in your career in business or in politics.
Sometimes it was because you were a serial killer needing to lure victims to their deaths. Michelle didn't get a serial killer vibe from him, but then, if he were really good at charm, he might fool her. If that were the case, she'd be deeply disappointed. But maybe he was just an alien, and he'd gotten "How to Win Friends and Influence People" training before he came to earth. Yeah. Let's go with that.