Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-10-29 19:29:00 |
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Clara was finding it more and more difficult to want to keep going through the daily grind, to stay grounded when there really was nothing to hold her to this planet. She went through the motions, went to work to teach students, but with no heartbeat, no need to breathe and a TARDIS so a universe to explore, what was really holding her here? Which was why she had tended to work on grading papers and assignments in her classroom. It meant that it would actually get done instead of lost in the pile of books and writings she had at home. Or lost in the TARDIS. No. This job was sometimes the one last thing that was really keeping her grounded and focused and so here she was on a Saturday night, grading assignments instead of doing... well, anything really. Exploring which admittedly sounded like such a better option.
But right. She had responsibilities she needed to hold onto without letting it get to a point where she started to forget who she was.
As tended to happen when she was reading, Clara had lost track of time in the midst of her grading. All she knew was that it was getting dark outside. That was until she heard a knock at her door. Looking up, the eternally 26 year old placed her pen on the stack of papers as she noticed the vice principle.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Can you help chaperone the dance? We're down a few."
Oh right. The school was having a dance for Halloween. Something about giving the students somewhere to go that would be safer than any potential parties where there might be drugs or drinking involved. Made sense. Even if she still felt that American high schools tended to have way too many dances. Oh well, really not her place to comment, she just worked here. And it would probably be a good idea to take a break so that words didn't get all jumbled and her grading falter. It wasn't like she needed these done by Monday or anything.
"Sure."
"You're a life saver."
Well, that was a bit on the nose, however the poor soul had no idea how much it was and so Clara let it go before heading down to the gymnasium. It was a typical high school dance from what she could tell. Lots of flashing lights, students dancing, teachers milling about to ensure students behaved themselves. A table to one side with punch and snacks. As the night ticked on though, something was definitely peculiar. It was almost as if the students were leaving but it wasn't near closing time, nor had she noticed anyone heading towards the doors. Plus, there was flickering on the power that had been going on throughout the dance, even before when she'd been grading assignments upstairs.
"Odd...."
And like that, her interest . While she didn't have a Sonic Screwdriver, Clara did have the Sonic Sunglasses with her, and the TARDIS was parked on the roof of the school, invisible. While she hadn't planned on it being necessary, Clara was beginning to think it might be. Especially as the punch and snack table had seemed to vanish. Eyes narrowing, Clara scanned the dark room only to hear a comment behind her.
"When did they have time to graffiti on the wall?"
Graffiti on the wall?
"Let me see that."
Thankfully the teachers were used to Clara's... peculiarities, she came through when things got weird at any rate. So the petite brunette pulled out the torch on her keyring and looked at the now graffitied was.
Wait a minute. She had seen this before.
The boneless. All it took was looking around the wall to not only notice a very intricate 'graffiti' of the human blood system, but also of different students and the missing teacher. Right. Okay. This should be interesting. Rigsy wasn't here to make a fake door to mess with them but Clara remembered how the Bloodless had been defeated before and it was clearly evident that she had made the right call in bringing her TARDIS with her today so that she didn't need to waste time calling her dad. She was Clara Oswald, she had this all under control.
With the Sonic Sunglasses, Clara amplified the energy from the TARDIS above to both pull the students and teacher from the two-dimensional world they had been taken to as well as sending the Bloodless back to their own world and locking them there. This world was protected, which was good because that could have gotten really ugly really fast if she hadn't been able to keep the Bloodless contained.
"Miss Oswald?"
Oh. Right. Students. Turning, she blinked.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for...whatever you did."
"Anytime."
So the students were definitely confused at what had just happened. But she also knew human nature, she had seen it play out both here and the dreams. Something like alien invasions or being pulled into a different dimension with no explanation? It was easier to just ignore it. She'd heard the Doctor comment on it a number of times. Sometimes it was the amazing resilience of humans, other times it was because they were stupid and didn't see what was right in front of them. Clara was going to go with the amazing resilience mindset tonight.
It was also one of the first times she had really felt like herself or that she had a purpose in a long time. Helping people, saving the world. Teaching was only doing so much, but she had felt something real while she'd been dealing with the potential threat. Almost like the times when she'd been needed to help with the Agency.
So what did it mean? That perhaps teaching was no longer a fit for her. Perhaps in trying to remain grounded by something, she was actually just losing herself and that it was time to look at something else. She had an unlimited amount of time (or at least until she dreamt of Trap Street again) ahead of her with a TARDIS, Sonic Sunglasses and an inability to die. There really was so much more she could be doing that would make her feel alive again.