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The Doctor (fromgallifrey) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-08-18 08:37:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 19, location: in town, open, sarah jane smith, the doctor (ten)

Who: The Doctor and OTA
What: Escape from the Gym!
Where: in Town, Elluding you
When: Day 19, 2PM
Rating: PG

Status: Active

Right, so there were other kids here, too?

Certain things are quite evident even from childhood - and in the case of one would-be Time Lord, the propensity for being accustomed to lonliness and an aversion to large groups was already evident. More importantly, for as much as little Sigma Theta might have fancied himself a great explorer one day and maybe even a scientist, right now he was just a boy who wanted to go home.

So, when he was sure nobody was paying him too much mnd, he'd slipped out the double doors at the front of the building and down the steps. He was going to find that TARDIS and he was going to find his way home because Gallifrey was still there, no matter what that mean old Time Lord said. No, Gallifrey would always be there! He was just mean like Remy had said.

Dragging his feet along the little Doctor took up a stick and started swinging it around he wasn't looking around to fight Rabon guards this time. No, he was keeping a very sharp eye out for a TARDIS. It could be anything at all. So, he started looking for something small with a door. He'd find it sooner or later. If the TARDIS was here, he'd find it, and he'd get to go home and get his book. All the while, the boy skipped, humming a quiet tune. Oh, he was so very sure he'd get to go home today!

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-18 02:58 pm UTC (link)

Sarah Jane had decided to stick around after bringing Sam to the gym, to keep an eye on the children. Her attention was really focused on one child in particular - the little boy with the pin-stripes and trainers. He didn't look like any face of the Doctor she'd seen, but that meant nothing, since she knew he'd regenerated before she'd first met him. But he was without doubt the Doctor.

When he slipped out, Sarah immediately set to following the young Time Lord. As an adult, he had a propensity for trouble, and she didn't want anything to happen to his six-year-old self. That would be disastrous. Her limited understanding of how the laws of time worked told her that much. So, she kept behind him a good few paces, keeping out of sight, for the most part. All that sneaking around when she'd been his companion still came in handy.

After a few minutes, however, she couldn't help but call out to him. He was doing something important, she was sure, and her instinct was to help him with whatever it was. "Hello!" she called brightly, making sure she didn't startle him by coming upon him too suddenly. "Didn't fancy staying in the gym?"

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-18 03:08 pm UTC (link)

There was an old trash can along the side of the road and with care, the little Gallifreyan walked around it, looking for a door. With no entry to be found he sighed, looking at his trainers. Putting on a brave face and stiff upper lip and all that he looked up again, just in time to hear a voice call a cheerful 'Hello!' behind him. He gasped, he'd been caught!

First instinct of the boy was to run, but he froze. Where would he go? He swallowed, hard.

"No," he said sort of quietly. He really had been caught, hadn't he? His chance to run had past. Now what was he to do? "I don't have to go back, do I? If I find the TARDIS I can go back to Gallifrey." This was more important than anything else his imagination could cook up. No, the littlest Time Lord was going to find his way home not fight with more Rabon Guards.

"But, I don't know what I'm looking for..." He sighed, taking another look at the trash can.

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-18 03:33 pm UTC (link)

He looked so upset it made Sarah Jane want to rush over and wrap him in her arms, they way he did to her when she felt useless. But the little Doctor didn't know her, and would probably not appreciate the gesture just now, so she held herself in check. "No, you don't have to go back right now," she said, walking up to him. "You should have an adult with you, just to be safe, however."

She looked down at the little Doctor. "Looking for a TARDIS to go back to Gallifrey?" she said, smiling at him. "You must be Sigma, then." She crouched down to his eye level. "I'm Sarah Jane. We wrote a bit over the journals this morning." She wondered if his older self had managed to take away the journal, since it seemed he'd written all morning.

She nodded as he sighed. "That's the trouble with TARDISes, isn't it? They can be anything." Well, she knew in theory they could be anything. His had always been a police box. But she'd read through some of UNIT's files when she was attached to them way back, and had read about the Master's TARDIS being many different shapes. She thought about her time in the TARDIS for a moment. "But, you know, there's always a bit of a hum near them, very faint, like its engine's running. That'll help us find it." Of course, there'd be nothing to find, but she didn't want to tell the young Doctor that. He wasn't ready for such things, and she hoped he wouldn't be here long enough to realize it.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-18 03:44 pm UTC (link)

When she said that he didn't have to go back, the boy smiled a little. He might have been caught, but he wasn't being forced back and that was half the battle. The other half was to be allowed to keep on looking for that TARDIS.

He thought a minute when she called him by his name before he smiled a little, remembering. "Hello," he smiled a little wider, waving his hand a little. "You said you know lots about TARDISes!" he smiled even wider, extra happy to have her around now. He'd been caught by just the person to help him afterall!

"I saw an old one at the museum, it was a type 22. Beta Gamma uses a type 37. What kind did the Doctor have?" There were all sorts of TARDISes, afterall. Battle TARDISes, even. "I never heard a hum, though. Could be cause it needed refueled?" He asked, scratching his head.

Something else was troubling the little Time Lord though. "How come nobody else is out looking for it?" They were all alone on the street, and he hadn't seen anybody else out all morning. Careful treading here, Sarah Jane, he was a smart little guy, after all!

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-18 03:59 pm UTC (link)

"Not lots by your standard, perhaps, but I know a bit," she said, smiling back at him. She couldn't steer one to save her life, but the Doctor had shown her some of the basic controls after all, and given her the grand tour. He loved boasting about the old girl, after all. However, hearing about the types the little Doctor - Sigma, she reminded herself; it would do too much harm to slip and call him Doctor - knew of, she wasn't sure quite how to answer. She didn't want to go mucking with his own time line.

"He says it's old," she said. "But it's marvelous." She put on a "thinking face" as he explained about a reason for the hum. "Perhaps," she said. They never really had stopped to refuel that she noticed. "Have you been round lots of working TARDISes yet, Sigma?" she asked.

And then, the observant child had to ask a question she couldn't just make up an easy answer for. "Some people are," she said carefully. "Rose and the Doctor, for starters. But Rose is helping the other children today. There's a lot of you come here all at once. And not everyone knows about TARDISes here, so not everyone realizes we have to find it just yet." That should be safe enough, she figured.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-18 04:12 pm UTC (link)

Not lots by his standards? She was funny, and that made his smile linger on as he took her hand and tugged her along. Remy might be fun; but, Sarah Jane knew TARDISes!

Working TARDISes? "I saw one that worked, but we weren't allowed to go inside," he'd said following a bit of a thoughtful pause. Well, he'd been around two. One his Dad took him to see after weeks of begging. The other was on show in the center of the Citadel. He wasn't allowed to go in either; but, he could see quite a bit through the door. He could see the Time Rotor, of course; and the main controls. He fancied he might have actually been able to see their last departure point, but that could have very well been his eyes playing tricks on him. Though, he told his Dad that the one in the museum had just come from coordinates 110345.09 by 35678.34 Galactic Center (yes, he'd memorized it because he planned to go there one day.)

"How come everybody isn't looking? Couldn't the TARDIS get everybody home?"

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-19 12:46 am UTC (link)

"Never been inside?" Sarah Jane said, surprised. She'd figured that Time Lords dealt with TARDISes from the time they were very small. It wasn't often she knew things the Doctor didn't, but today, she seemed to have one up on him. Which really, wasn't saying much, considering he was six years old. "Not even on a school trip?"

Ah well, there'd be time enough for that when he was older, she knew. She let Sigma lead her along where he wanted to go. Since there was no chance of actually finding a TARDIS, she felt it best to let him take the lead in the explorations. "It could, if we could find it, yes," Sarah Jane said, and this with absolute certainty. She'd never encountered a force field that could hold the TARDIS permanently. "But like I said, not everyone understands about Time Lords and TARDISes here. There are only a few of us here who do. Time travel isn't something lots of people believe is real just yet. They think of it like science-fiction, like H.G. Wells." And if only Sarah knew whence Wells had pulled his inspiration!

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-19 03:48 pm UTC (link)

"I'll get to do all kinds of things when I go to academy," he said hopefully, somehow being very much like his adult self and avoiding a very particular question that he didn't want to answer. He'd seen the inside of one, that counted, right?

"How come everybody doesn't?" Seemed a logical question to him. Afterall, the oldest, mightiest race in the universe ought to be pretty well known, right? "Science-fiction?" Theta Sigma blinked, pulling Sarah Jane along at a slow pace. He wasn't fiction! He didn't like the thought of that one bit. First an alien and now fiction it made his tiny brow furrow a little, because it all seemed to go back to the idea of Gallifrey being gone. People wouldn't know about it if it wasn't there, right? But, he'd just come from there!

This was very serious thinking, so serious that he wasn't entirely looking around. He could have walked right past the TARDIS and he would have missed it entirely he was so caught up. "Have you ever been to Gallifrey, Sarah Jane?"

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-19 09:07 pm UTC (link)

No wonder the Doctor was so good at avoiding questions, Sarah Jane thought, allowing a hint of smile to show on her face. He'd been doing it for nearly 700 years by the time she'd met him! "I'd imagine so," she said. "That's the good thing about schooling; opens up all sorts of possibilities."

Uh-oh. Sarah really hoped she hadn't offended him with the sci-fi comment. "Not every society is as advanced as the Time Lords," she said. "And since they don't like interfering with species, there are many planets that don't know about them."

She was caught off guard as he asked her about Gallifrey. She paused in her walking and smiled sadly at him. "I wasn't allowed to go," she said. "Aliens aren't allowed on Gallifrey, and especially not in the Time Lord citadel, by order of the High Council." She remembered the conversation as if it had been only yesterday. It was such a rushed good-bye, even though she'd been considering leaving. It wasn't the way either of them had wanted to say good-bye. But the Doctor couldn't ignore a summons from the High Council. She'd understood that. "I'd wanted to, but we couldn't break that particular rule."

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-20 01:21 am UTC (link)

Sarah Jane sounded very smart indeed and it made him look up with a grin, glasses and all. "They should have let you, Sarah Jane," he said plainly. "I think you would have fit in just fine," he nodded to emphasize. She knew about Time Lords and TARDISes and everything else that was important, why couldn't she come to Gallifrey? See the Citadel? "It's awesome to see the Citadel when both suns are shining on it!" He remarked, thinking again of home.

His mind came to a curious conclusion, though as he thought of home and that mean old Time Lord. He pulled Sarah Jane to a stop, looking up rather seriously. "Is Gallifrey gone for the Doctor?" He'd been working at it. Time Lords had ethics and codes and that meant that a Time Lord shouldn't lie. So, maybe that Doctor wasn't lying. Gallifrey could be gone where he came from but not for Theta Sigma, right?

"Because Gamma Beta always says that Time Lords shouldn't lie and that they have responsibilities and a duty to the universe..." He clearly wasn't upset about the concept at the moment, he just didn't want to accept that the only other Time Lord around would lie about something so important and be so very different from his hero.

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-22 12:14 am UTC (link)

Even as a small child, or perhaps especially as a small child, his enthusiasm was catching, and Sarah Jane could almost see the Citadel and the two suns in her mind's eye. "I don't know about that," she said, referring to his comment of fitting in fine, "but I'd have loved to see it. Of course, I'd probably get whisked into one of your classes and used as a prop for a lecture on Earth, like some sort of scientific specimen." She chuckled at the thought. "And then your teachers would get an earful, and it wouldn't work out well at all."

She was surprised when he stopped suddenly, and more surprised by his question, and the matter-of-fact way in which he asked it. How in the world to answer this? Little Sigma Theta couldn't know about the future, not like this, not at age 6. "Gamma Beta is absolutely right in what he says," Sarah Jane began, biting her lip. "Time Lords do have responsibilities and duties to the universe. There are important laws that have to be followed by people who travel in time." She took a deep breath, almost certain he wouldn't take her next words at face value, but she felt a duty to his older self to at least try to shield his younger self from such things. "One of those laws talks about not interfering with time, correct? If I tell you, one way or the other, it could affect you, Sigma, and how you grow up. If I say yes, that Gallifrey is gone, you have to live with the fact that your planet ceases to exist in the future, and that's quite a burden to bear. If I say no, it's still there, then I've called into question the character of a fellow Time Lord, and proven Gallifrey exists in the future. Either way, you're not meant to know that, are you?" She hoped that he would take it as a philosophical dilemma and not as an avoidance tactic. Really, it was both. Sarah Jane just hoped that he would lean toward the former as its intent.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-23 03:35 pm UTC (link)

He laughed when she said she'd be turned into some sort of specimen hands coming up to cover his mouth. She was funny and oh so very smart, the little Time Lord was beginning to adore her.

When she took on a much more serious tone he quieted watching and listening and nodding in agreement. She knew all about Time Lords, see? That made his grin reappear, at least until she started mentioning about not interfering. Theta Sigma looked at his shoes, thinking. Sharp as he was, he didn't quite know how to argue with that whole bit. He didn't know how to tell her that it was important to know if Gallifrey was gone or not. Though, he did hit a bit of a stumbling block. "The future?" He looked back up again, wheels turning albeit slowly. "Does that mean I'm from the past? How do you know?" Innocent questions from the boy as he tugged her along once more.

Walking up to a mailbox he tugged on the big, rusty handle. No dice.

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got2haveasmith
2009-08-25 08:52 pm UTC (link)

Sarah Jane let herself be pulled along as Sigma continued in silence. She could see from the changes in his expression that he was thinking over what she'd said. Hopefully, he would take it at face value for the time being. But really, Sarah Jane, you should have known better. This was the Doctor, albeit a very young Doctor, and he was never one to just accept things as they were.

"Well," she said, brain racing to think of how to get herself out of what could be a very tricky sequence of questions. She could mention the other Doctor, and use him as a relative point in time, but that might bring up more questions. "At home, for you, Gallifrey exists. That's the present, for you. Obviously it couldn't have been destroyed before you grew up there, or you wouldn't have done it. So, if it were to be destroyed, it would be in your future. And if you knew one way or the other that it had at some point been destroyed, you would know your future." That seemed more or less logical, and still didn't give anything away. She'd have a field day explaining this to the Doctor when he returned to normal again. If he did. No, when. The experiments hadn't lasted more than a day so far, at least, not that she knew of.

"No luck?" she asked as he tugged on the mailbox handle. She knew there wouldn't be, but she was "helping" Sigma, so she had to go along with the game. If by some miracle they did manage to open a cupboard and find the TARDIS, she'd cry. But that was not at all likely to happen.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-29 11:18 pm UTC (link)

The boy shook his head as she asked if he'd any luck with the mailbox.

He'd swallowed hard when she'd tried to explain to him the answer to his question; yet, it didn't mean he had to like it. He walked up back beside her, kicking his feet around in the way that boys with too much energy tend to. He was looking about trying to figure which way they ought to go next settling eventually on left. He liked left, even if he so often confused it with right.

"Remy let me drive before," he said offhandedly, looking up with a bright grin. "My parents'd never let me do that at home." Picture it, Sarah Jane, this little boy behind the wheel of some behemoth of an automobile. His feet could hardly even reach the pedals and he could just barely see over the dash!

"Look, the Impala's right there!" He pointed down the road excitedly. "Can I do it again? Maybe we could go to another part of town and look there for the Doctor's TARDIS?"

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got2haveasmith
2009-09-01 09:31 pm UTC (link)

Sarah Jane smiled at him when she noticed the sullen look on his face as he shook his head, and patted him on the shoulder. "Not to worry," she said. "We just need to keep looking." Optimistic for his sake, just as he so often had been optimistic for hers. A thought flitted through her brain, and she wondered if he sometimes had thought of her, of most humans, as if they were children. Honestly, she knew about as much of the universe as a Gallifreyan child. Less than a Gallifreyan child did, really. It wouldn't surprise her if he'd compared the two in moments of frustration.

"Remy let you what?" Sarah Jane exclaimed, Sigma's off-hand remark pulling her from her thoughts. She looked down at his grinning face, forcibly reminded of several older faces that used to sport that same grin. She froze for a moment, a flash of anger surging through her that Remy would be so reckless as to let a child of any sort drive a car. If anything had happened to him.... But that wasn't fair to Sigma, to get upset in front of him over it. "I'm not surprised your parents haven't let you," she said, forcing herself to sound a little more calm than she actually felt. "Driving is one of those things that looks easy, but can be very dangerous if you haven't had proper lessons."

Oh and he was asking to do it again! Doctor or no Doctor, six year olds did not drive cars. She wouldn't even let Luke sit behind the wheel of her her little Figaro. "I don't think so," she said, trying to sound kind as she dashed his hopes. "We can walk to another part of town, and keep looking as we go. Driving, we might miss something. And besides, that isn't our car. We can't just go nicking it." Ironic, since that's essentially what he'd do when he was older, only to a TARDIS.

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