Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-03-09 17:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, clara oswald, james kirk |
Who: Clara and Jim
What: Dinner and Stargazing
When: Late February/Early March
Where: Clara’s TARDIS
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
That TARDIS really was handy. Kirk thought it was really clever, pretending to be a diner. And he hadn’t been lying about craving hash browns. He wasn’t sure why, but he just knew he really wanted diner hash browns.
He was a little worried about Clara. Nothing he could do about it, but it didn’t hurt to spend some time with her again. Jim enjoyed her company.
The TARDIS would be even more handy if the chameleon circuit wasn’t broken so that it could change appearance depending on where and when they were. However, not much Clara could do about that. She was still going through the manual but it wasn’t doing much good.
Besides, it was definitely handy when stargazing was a thing. They could go to the actual stars and the field around it so they could open the door and look out at the stars and planets. Right now though, it was typical diner food for dinner.
“Tell me this thing serves hash browns,” Jim said, leaning over the counter to peer at Clara. Actual, real stars? Okay so he might have had that thought and hope too. Jim was easy to please.
“Of course it serves hash browns.” Mostly because if she told it to, she could get it to serve hash browns. Either way! It was useful and made choices like this much easier. “The question is what do you want with them.”
“Well, I’m thinking a cute pretend-waitress,” Jim said. He plunked himself on a stool. “Any suggestions? I haven’t had British food in years.” But the hash browns were non-negotiable.
Clara quirked a brow then shook her head in amusement, “Cheeky. But all right…” Leaning against the the wall, Clara contemplated options. Most of typical pub grub didn’t go with hash browns. “Curry’s always good, replace the chips with hash browns.” Fish and chips just didn’t have the proper feel to it when it wasn’t with chips. “Or bangers and mash and just replace the mashed potatoes with hash browns.”
“Let’s try the curry,” Jim decided, his grin about as cheeky as it could get. He didn’t mind the spice and it sounded better than bangers did right now. Probably didn’t much go with hashbrowns either but he didn’t really care.
No, usually curry went with rice or chips or both, but whatever. It wasn’t like there was anyone there.
“Curry it is.” Heading back to the kitchen on the TARDIS, Clara put in the ‘order’ before coming out with the two plates before getting beer for the two of them. What? It was totally proper, what of it?
“So once we finish this, any particular want for where to see stars, or just see what happens?” Knowing the two of them, it would be see what happens, but at least she could ask.
He grinned at her, taking the beer first to taste it. Magical timey-wimey beer was actually pretty good. “Lets just see what happens. Doesn’t this thing kind of act of it’s own free will at times? That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, pretty much. I mean, my dad’s does that more so but the TARDIS is basically sentient no matter the make. So yeah. We can see where it decides to take us.” Taking a sip of her beer, Clara debated if she should set the coordinates for stargazing roulette before eating or after. Well. It wasn’t like it would take long to get there if they waited. Time machine and all.
“Is it actually a different one, or some kind of time paradox where it exists in the same time at once. Or all of time at the same time.” Time travel was always an interesting thing, and the TARDIS seemed a lot easier than slingshots, warp core overloads or gateways.
“Actually a different one. Complicated story,” Which admittedly was the norm for her dreams. “Cliff notes version is when running away from the Time Lords, we stole this TARDIS from the workshop to get away. Since I’m technically taking it back to Galifrey the long way around, it’s currently mine.”
“Aren’t they always complicated?” The TARDIS made a damn good hashbrown, he had to admit. The curry was fantastic too, and he could still taste after having some! “So you’re returning it. Eventually. Some day. Sounds fair. Technically you could return it two seconds after you stole it.”
“Well yes, this is also true.” It was always important to be able to still taste things. And Clara was finding that her senses weren’t so dull from her state of non-being with it. Not that she really ate much normally anymore but no matter. “Exactly. They won’t realize it and I get to have some adventures before I return it.” And then go back to Trap Street to set the timeline right since her death was a fixed point.
“Hopefully a few more adventures at least,” Jim said, toasting her with his beer. And it might give him some time to figure out how to help. Or if that applied to this world as well as the other. He’d already lost someone he cared about to preserve a timeline.
“The joy of time travel. A few more adventures.” Raising her beer in toast, she took a sip. She was pretty much at peace with how it would end. True, she had no idea how it would cross over here, she had her theory of course. But that wasn’t anything definitive. Even so, she was at peace with it. So finishing up the curry, Clara went to the control room to set course before returning to the diner portion of the TARDIS. “So what about you. How goes life?”
Clara might be at peace about it, but Jim wasn’t willing to lose a kindred spirit. Maybe that was his fatal flaw, wanting to find a way to win any situation.
“Boring enough that I’m expecting some other shoe to drop.” He’d settled things with Anne, mostly. Knowing where they stood and that she understood that was a bit of a weight off his shoulder.
Similar to the Doctor. He went into things and just assumed he’d win, never had a plan, just did it. It was how he got through impossible situations. And Clara could do that as well. Mostly. She was good, real good at that but it didn’t always end well, what with Trap Street and all. Not that she regretting her decision for a second. No. She had saved Rigsy’s life. “Isn’t that always the way of it?” Because that was life. Things were boring then the other shoe dropped.
“Like is 90% waiting and 10% excitement,” he agreed. A grin flashed across his face. “That’s why sometimes you have to go searching for that 10%. Find a way to make life exciting. Just that exciting wasn’t always what one expected.
“So, where do you think we’re headed.”
“Makes sense to me.” Then again, Clara was reckless. Not always a bad thing, not always a good thing. It was just who she was. Then the question which was met with a shrug.
“Wherever the TARDIS decides.”
And then they seemed to come to a halt.
“Which I think we might be there, let me just go check that everything is working.” If they were to open the door and were in space, it was important the shield around the TARDIS that would allow them to breathe was in place. Heading to the back, Clara did just that, grinned and then raced out to the diner area again to the door and opening it.
Space. Surrounded by stars and even a galaxy to be seen.
Being exposed to vacuum would not be at all fun. Jim knew from experience. He grinned, eyes alight a the view. Like he was home. And he couldn’t think of anyone else on the waking Earth he wanted to see this with. He glanced at her and winked. “...Beautiful. The view too. Are we even in the Milky Way?”
Clara rolled her eyes at the comment but was a bit more distracted by the view. As she sometimes had a tendency to do, she just sat on the ground, legs dangling in space as she looked at the view.
“I don’t think so.” Probably not. That was too predictable. Stargazing Roulette was fun like that.
That would normally be alarming, but Jim wasn’t easily alarmed. He sat down next to her, carefully dangling his feet out. Spock would be happy to see this, he thought. Well, as happy as a Vulcan could express. Probably in the form of a lot of questions. “I think it picked a very nice spot. We’re adrift in a sea of stars.”
He thought he saw a quasar. To quote his friend, fascinating.
“It did. Best place to stargaze, really.”
It felt like they were sitting on the edge of the universe, looking out into infinity. There was that old quote about looking into the abyss, but this wasn’t an abyss. This was wonder. He was glad to see it with Clara. “Yeah. It really is.”