Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-01-17 20:53:00 |
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To say this place was fascinating would be an understatement. Clara didn’t remember much about what happened after the Doctor asked if she would come with him should he save the world. But here she was in a place that didn’t quite make sense, out of the Victorian era, but also no Doctor to be found. There was something that buzzed in the back of her mind though, a forgotten memory or something she should know. Clara assumed that it had something to do with why when she looked at the mirror she couldn’t quite make out her face. Why it had seemed hazy.
No matter though. Clara wasn’t exactly one to just sit back and wait. No, while she wasn’t sure what or when she was, it was clear the Doctor was behind this - him and his blue box that was smaller on the outside. Which meant? Going to find him. And if she couldn’t find him, perhaps she would find one of his associates. Either way, there were going to be words.
Going into the dresser of the room she’d woken up in, Clara was both intrigued and maybe slightly scandalized by the clothing options but not enough to change her mind and not leave. So she grabbed a red shirt and black skirt, got her hair done up (more waitress at the Rose & Crown and less Victorian Governess) and it was out into the wild modern world she went. Somehow, despite the vast shock of it all, she managed to subconsciously know what to avoid, when to cross and all of that until she found her way to a park.
Right then. Time to see if she couldn’t find the Doctor. Or just got caught up in some adventure without him. It’d serve him right after all.
Something was definitely up with Clara. After the heads up from Bucky, Jim had gotten, well, concerned. But he didn’t exactly know where to start looking to help; he wasn’t exactly a psychologist, though he did know one.
Harley had suggested getting her something nice and maybe doing a friend date might help, so Jim decided to swing by and offer up an adventure. But hey, there was Clara, so so far?This was turning out pretty easy.
“Clara!”
Oh, Clara had always gone to Anatoly when needed, even after he left the network. And he had dealt with the echoes before. Of course, she hadn’t really told him about feeling off on the days she at least knew who she was for the most part. She’d been busy and doing things of each echo and not so much with what she would otherwise do.
Or she could be stopped by someone who knew her.
“Hello.” Turning over, she gave the man a once over. Not bad, not bad at all. “Do I know you?” At least she wasn’t Oswin so she’d at least respond to the name of Clara though.
Both of Jim's eyebrows disappeared into his hair line, and he tilted his head curiously. Was she goofing off or was this something serious? Kirk's gut told him it was probably the latter so instead of saying 'intimately' he said, "Pretty well, considering. You don't recognize me at all, do you."
Interesting reaction and one that Clara was intrigued by. Clearly this man knew who she was even though the comment answered why he seemed shocked. Of course, she had no idea on who he was despite it all and it wasn’t like she would have let the Doctor use the memory wipe slug on her. So instead she just placed a hand on her hip and quirked a brow in vague amusement.
“I don’t know. Pretty sure I’d remember someone like you if that were the case.”
"Is it the chin?" Jim said, tapping his chin and grinning. "Or the jaw. I get that a lot about my jaw."
He'd always been comfortable around her, and things had never gotten awkward between them even after the Bucky thing, which had been a relief. Jim and his lady friends were generally a roll of the dice how things turned out.
And Clara was in science-buddy territory, mostly.
“I mean you won’t poke someone’s eye out with your chin, though it is rather impressive.”
In some ways it was frustrating, this feeling in the far reaches of her memory that she was missing something. She just figured if she found the Doctor, she could get some answers. Oh he had been annoyed at first but then he had invited her to travel with him. Which meant…
“Odd question, but you wouldn’t happen to know anyone who goes by the Doctor, would you?”
It had worked before. Okay, so there had been jumping in the air calling for him and then Jenny had found her and brought her to Vastra but still. If he knew who she was, it stood to reason that perhaps this man knew the Doctor.
“Your dad?”Jim asked, though he was well aware of the Doctor as much as he was aware of William Shatner and Chris Pine. “He’s the only one I’ve met, anyway.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Yeah, this man was definitely not right in the head if he thought her dad was the Doctor. One, the man was dead. And two? She definitely would not have kissed him. “No. Tall lanky fellow, wears a bow tie, lives on a cloud?”
Which yes, sounded completely mental herself. But still.
“A different Doctor then.” Jim tried to remember which one this was but most of them were tall and lanky, though the bowtie was kind of a give-away. “There are a few, can be easily mixed up. Do uh, you remember your boyfriend?”
Different Doctor? What was he talking about? Unless he thought she meant a regular doctor and not the man who lived on a cloud. Which okay, might make sense. Still didn’t explain why he would have thought it was her dad, when this was clearly not 1892 and there was no way he could have known the man.
“Right….”
Maybe she should just leave. This conversation was clearly going nowhere and as attractive as the man was? Well, she had things to figure out and it was looking like he wasn’t going to be much help after all.
Or he could ask about a boyfriend. Which, again, not a thing. Still, she did quirk a brow and placed a hand on her hip.
“I don’t have a...boyfriend as you put it. Why? Is this where you tell me that it’s you?”
There were simply some things that no matter which Clara she was would always be the same.
“We were close, but not romantically,” he assured her. “Clearly you don’t remember a thing. Or you’re remembering a different...” Jim rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers, “Alternate timeline...Where exactly did you come from? Now that I think about it you looked a little lost.”
Maybe if he had the Enterprise scan for chroniton or tachyon particles…
Alternate timeline should sound completely mental. But Clara had already found herself in a place that clearly wasn’t London in a time that clearly was not her own. Magic men in boxes and one word tests and psychic snow and angry ice governesses and falling and surviving (as far as she was aware, she was here after all) basically meant that she would go with the strange man’s comment even if she was quite convinced that there was nothing alternative of her life.
“London.”
At least she didn’t have to deal with a proper accent that she used while pretending to be Miss Montague for when she was as Captain Latimer’s home as governess.
“London is a bit far from here by normal twenty-first century travel methods,” Kirk said with all the air of a man who wasn't actually from the twenty-first century. He hazarded a guess, “Telephone box? Blue, bigger on the inside?”
And that answered the when they were. It had been clear that she was in a different time period (which okay, that took a bit more getting used to no matter how much she had been able to piece together) but it was also good to have one nailed down.
“That’s the one.” After all, smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside? It meant the same thing in the end so if that’s how Kirk wanted to describe it, who was she to judge?
“Haven’t seen it. There’s the diner but somehow I don’t think that’s the one you’re looking for.” Jim looked thoughtful, and wondered if that might be something that would be more of a problem than not. Clara was clearly not her normal self.
And Kirk was just speaking words that made nose sense. Diner? And was he really trying to say that there was more than one of the TARDIS? Because well….that was pushing it. Then again, she was getting worried by the lack of the Doctor.
“Right….”
“This part of the world is kind of a place where different times and realities collide.” He decided to just go with the truth. “You have your own version of the TARDIS.”
The truth was usually a good thing but at this point? It was getting to be just a bit much. She enjoyed a good conversation with attractive men, but there was that frustration at the back of her mind that she was missing something. And usually that meant that whomever she was dealing with just saw her as sweet little Clara at the Rose & Crown. Pulling a lark on her. Well she wasn’t sweet and she certainly wasn’t little.
“I see. Well if that’s the case, guess I’ll just have to explore this place for myself then as you don’t seem to know the Doctor.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jim asked, eyeing her with genuine worry. “Because you’re not acting like yourself, and you don’t remember me, Bucky, or your diner.” It was like dealing with two different people, or something, and he didn’t much like it.
Clara was pretty much the only person in this timeline that got him so this was disconcerting.
In many ways, it was two different people. Parts and echoes of the Clara who had dove into the time stream were there. Same recipe. But circumstance and life just meant she was different. So while the spitfire nature and flirtatiousness was there, there was also none of the connection with Jim. Instead she was slightly suspicious of his motives because she could take a lot but it was going on for too long, which meant she wasn’t as nice.
She could see the worry though and sighed.
“I’m perfectly fine and acting quite like myself, thank you very much. I’m sorry I’m not whomever it is you seem to think I am,” strangeness of having the same name and all, “But I’m not her. Hopefully you’ll find her though.”
Because at this point it had to be a case of mistaken identity if he was being genuine.
He briefly considered beaming her up, but that would require getting closer or having an open line of some sort. Without vital signs, the Enterprise otherwise couldn’t lock on. Besides, that was technically kidnapping.
“Just be careful and watch your back. This timeline is complicated.”
Kidnapping would definitely end poorly for Kirk. No matter which Echo was at the front, there were still enough similarities between each that it should be obvious. Luckily he decided better.
"Don't worry about me, I can look after myself. But duly noted."
With a mock salute and wink, Clara then continued on her way.