Who: Clara Oswald and The Doctor. When: Sunday, August 18. Forward-dated. Where: The park. What: Clara arrives in Madison Valley. Warnings: Likely low. Status: Closed | Started in GDoc, continued in comments.
Clara was not supposed to be here. She was fully aware of that. She had thought she was dead, but instead… she was here. In some small town in Indiana. Of all the places she’d traveled with the Doctor, Indiana had not been on their list of places to visit. No matter the time. Shocking, right? So why was she here? How was she here? These were questions she didn’t have an answer to. Even after the welcoming committee had greeted her, she still had questions.
She was seated on a bench, in a rather quaint park. Trying to get a grasp on things. That was when she saw him. The Doctor. She blinked, trying to make sure she was seeing things correctly. Because she recognized the Time Lord, but it wasn’t the one she had left back home. It was the Doctor’s previous form.
“Oh, bloody hell,” she murmured, softly. Then she looked in the direction she had seen him, to verify she wasn’t imagining things. “Oy!” she called out. “Doctor!” Maybe it was just someone who looked like the Doctor. ...that was possible, right?
***
After the whole pod person plant fiasco, things were quiet again. Quiet, schmiet. Boring schmoring. Horrible. They were horrible. He knew people being turned into pod plants wasn’t good. It wasn’t something to be excited about. But it had been something. Something was better than nothing.
And still no TARDIS.
A girl sitting nearby called out to him, by name. That was interesting. And why did she seem so familiar? He hadn’t seen her here before. “Hello!” He greeted cheerfully, stopping in front of her little bench. He was going to tell her he was the Doctor, then he remembered she’d said that.
“You must have just arrived. You have that upside downy look.”
***
She arched an eyebrow when the Doctor didn’t appear to really recognize her. Yes, he looked as though he recognized her, but couldn’t place her. Now that was weird. Not only was this the wrong Doctor, he seemingly had no idea of who she was. She leaned back against the bench for a moment, considering.
“You don’t know who I am,” she stated simply. That was alright, she supposed. At least she recognized him. It was nice to see a familiar face. Even one who didn’t seem to have the slightest clue as to who she was.
“I’m Clara Oswald,” she explained, after a moment. “I was with you before I was brought here. Well, maybe not you, but your next regeneration. And I knew you as you, too.” Now maybe that was a little confusing to anyone else. But not to Clara, and hopefully not to the Doctor. “Where am I?”
***
Oh. Oh. That made sense. And was also a lot of information in one hit. Where was Amy? He wanted to know. But he also didn't want to know. Unless she was at home, tucked up in bed with Rory. But not like that. Not on his TARDIS. Even if it was under their roof. Still counted.
"A pleasure to meet you again, Clara Oswald." What a fantastic name. Clara. Clara. Still familiar somehow. He'd have to think about that for a while. Somewhere in his head there was something telling him that he knew that name.
"You're in Madison Valley! Don't worry, you're perfectly safe here. Mostly. There were some plants cloning people. But they've been taken care of. Not to worry."
Wait. He'd regenerated. "Please tell me I'm finally ginger."
***
Clara laughed softly, "No, you're not finally ginger. You're old. And Scottish." The fact that he had been older this time had thrown Clara off at first. But she had adjusted, and had actually grown quite fond of the Doctor's new form. Not that she hadn't been fond of this Doctor, because she had been. But they were different from each other, and it had taken some adjustment to get used to the differences.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Doctor. Which is strange, because I've already met you..." Oh well. Things were going to be different here, she could tell that already. Not only was this not the Doctor she had left, not the Doctor she had sacrificed herself for, but she was in a town called Madison Valley.
Of course, she'd already known that much from the welcoming committee.
"Plants cloning people?" Surprisingly, that didn't phase her in the slightest. Or, maybe not so surprisingly. She had gone through a lot during her travels with the Doctor. It took a lot to phase Clara. "...how are you here, as... you?"