The Twelfth Doctor doesn't like hugs (againsthugging) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-28 13:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !partner thread, rose tyler, twelfth doctor |
Who: Duncan & Rose
What: Random Run In
When: Mid February
Where: Local cafe
Rating: Low
Status: Started in gdocs, to be completed in the comments!
It was good to be back home and Rose had spent much of it inside, with John when he wasn’t teaching. But when he was away at school, she found herself wandering the streets of Orange County, wondering if anything would be the same again. It didn’t seem as bad as before, she didn’t feel like she had to have her hand in her pocket, gripped tightly around the can of pepper spray she now had. No, there were more people out, even if there weren’t many shoppes open or open late.
After her failure in running in the park the other day (at least she got to see Anders), she decided to just walk around downtown, taking in the sights and looking through some new shoppes. She decided on a local cafe for lunch and stepped in, glancing up at the menu to see what she would have. She smiled at the barista when she walked up, knowing the poor girls pain. She ordered an ice chai with a ceasar salad, chicken, and yes, please with anchovies. When Rose had learned that the anchovies weren’t actually on the salad, just a different type of dressing, she had eagerly made the switch.
As she waited for her items to be called, she glanced around, taking in the many different faces that seemed to be inside today. She loved to people watch, even more so now because she rarely went out without recognizing someone from the network. Today was no different and she felt her heart jump in excitement. She thought she spied Duncan, John’s uncle sitting in the corner, a book open on the table. Her name was called and she glanced over to see if he recognized the name, but his posture remained the same. I should really go over and introduce myself at least. It would only be proper. She smiled and thanked the person behind the counter, taking her two items. Yeah, but he definitely seems the type that wouldn’t want any unwelcomed company at the moment. She glanced over again and thought about the few interactions they had over the network and the warnings the others had given her. Still, it would be impolite if ever it came up in conversation that she hadn’t gone over to at least introduce herself.
She hesitated for just a moment before walking over, clearing her throat when she stepped around so Duncan could actually see her. “Hi! Duncan? I’m Rose...Rose Tyler! I’m friends with Clara and her cousins. We’ve talked on the network before?” She set her salad down on the table so she could extend her hand to shake his.
Duncan was out of sorts for multiple reasons. First and foremost being the fact Clara was currently mad at him and not really talking to him. At least not about important things. He was respecting her choice and keeping his distance, but that only made him worry more. After all, she wasn’t handling Samuel’s death well at all, and even if she hadn’t thrown him out of the dinner they’d had the other week and wanted him to stay, he didn’t know what he could do to help. How does one fix death?
It had been easier when he’d found her in the closet crying when she was nine years old. A story and a hug had gone a long way for that little girl, though even that hadn’t fixed the fact her parents had died. But it had earned her a new home and a new father. And the grumpy member of the family had dumbfounded everyone when he’d adopted the little girl, but she’d helped him just as much as he’d helped her.
Though it still had very little effect on his overall grumpy mood. He had a reputation to maintain after all. Clara was the only one who actually saw his kinder, non-grumpy side. Well alright, so his nephews got snippets of seeing that side of himself as well, but it wasn’t the same, really.
So needing to take his mind off of worrying about Clara for a nanosecond, Duncan had gone to a cafe to do some reading and enjoy some tea. Naturally, he’d chosen a table in the back corner, the furthest from the door. It was also the least likely for people to come by and bother him. He felt relatively safe there as he enjoyed his tea and his book.
At least until he heard a voice say his name.
“Oh what now,” he muttered under his breath and looked up to see a blonde woman. Rose. Rose Tyler. Oh. Yes. That Rose Tyler. “Yes, the one who also doesn’t get why American football is called football. I remember.” And then she was setting her plate down and he looked at it momentarily. “Can I help you?”
At least his grumpiness could always be brushed off as him being both pushing 60 and being Scottish. Though the Scottish tended to carry the heavier weight there than the pushing 60 did. Despite the fact he already called himself old and grumpy.
“Yeah, that’s me!” She gave him a grin, trying not to be put off by his colder demeanor. You knew this about him. Don’t expect anything. What did she expect really? Just to get to know him, as she tried to get to know anyone from the network that she saw outside of their online world. Plus, he had an added bonus of his familiar relations with some of her friends.
“Oh, I just wanted to come over and say hello face to face. I know we were all talking about having a dinner, but I don’t know if I’ll actually be around to come. Didn’t think we would really meet each other in any other way, so saw an opportunity and took it!” She smiled again, her hands laying lightly on the table. She hesitated for a moment, before pointing at the paper he was reading. “Sorry, am I interrupting?”
And she was cheerful. That just made this all the worse in regards to timing. Though it needed to be said he clearly was somewhat attempting to be polite. Well, polite as far as he went anyway. He could’ve outright told her to go away or something to that effect. Though Duncan was going to reserve the right to say as much depending upon how irritated he became. He was operating on a shorter fuse than was typical of him.
“Ah yes, the family dinner. Somehow I doubt that will be happening any time soon.” If only because he was certain Clara still refused to be in the same place as he was currently. And he didn’t know how long it would be before Clara would want to be in the same place he was. “I was just reading. Not like the words won’t still be there on the page a few minutes from now.” Unless the thing went up in flames in his hands suddenly.
“Oh?” She hesitated, but couldn’t help but move forward in the conversation. “Why do you think that?” She still hadn’t taken a seat, not wanting to give him the idea that she was trying to butt into his time...even if that was actually what she was doing by keeping up a conversation with him. Still, in a rather roundabout way, he had said she wasn’t really bugging him. So it couldn’t be that bad, right?
And there was the expected question about why the family dinner wouldn’t happen. For this instance, he was actually putting a muzzle on himself because, well, it wasn’t exactly Rose’s business to know the reason for Clara’s current anger towards him. Yes he’d told Troy, John and Amy about Samuel, but he felt they wouldn’t outright confront Clara about it, which would only alienate her further from them and from him in particular for meddling in her life yet again. So, he was going to be diplomatic and give an answer that was probably more a half truth than anything else, but it was the best Rose would be getting from him on the subject.
“Clara’s currently angry with me, so it really is best she and I are not in the same place at the same time.” Alright so it was more truthful than he’d anticipated, but any further questions on the subject would be thwarted and shot down. Rose didn’t need more of an answer than that.