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The Doctor (fromgallifrey) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-10-11 13:41:00

Entry tags:

!active, day 26, location: carnival, the doctor (nine), the doctor (ten)

Day 26: 9:30AM, the Carnival
Who: The Doctors (Nine and Ten)
Where: The Carnival, near the bumper cars
What: Well, Nine wanted to clean...
When: Day 26. 9:30AM
Rating: PG / S (S for snarky)

Cannibalized bumper cars. Everywhere.

The slicked surface of the bumper car rink was shiny in the bits that could be seen; but, mostly it was covered in discarded bits of metal and tubes and useless bits of rubber. Somebody could probably build an entirely new bumper car out of the bits that had been left just lying around. In the middle of his mess, sitting in a bright yellow car was the Doctor, looking up where he'd tacked the sign from the top of the TARDIS and day dreaming. Nine said he'd wanted to meet here, so Ten just had to come; didn't he?

John Smith was quite comfortable in the middle of his impressive mess, ignoring the smell of burnt rubber and leaking oil that made the space smell less like part of the carnival and more like the middle of a garage. No, it was his mess, a victorious mess. It was this mess that would get them all out of here. Or so he liked to hope. Always that flicker of hope that the bad guys had underestimated the lanky man in the wrinkly suit and that again he'd get to be the hero and save the day. Or, he'd just get everyone out and they'd get to go back to their lives. They'd get to avoid whatever those letters on their limbs were supposed to be about.

If nothing else, this Doctor still had hope.

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 06:17 pm UTC (link)

With the comment about Cardiff, Nine only returned a cheeky smile and came around the side of that bumper car, to lower into a seat next to him there, the two men just barely fitting in-- lucky they were both thin.

"Rose and I will be safe." He assured him shortly. "I've already planned that out." Which meant, of course, that he'd be winging it, like he always did. Like you always did, Time Lord. "I've invited Selene along to the Library because she's a clever girl, we'll need someone to help us think outside of our box. Plus, she's got a physical power here none of us can top, and if we're going to need someone for brute strength, she's the best we've got, unless Ginger's good at knocking things around?" He lifted his eyebrows some. He didn't doubt the Cajun had strength, but to stand up to a vampire? Selene, of course, was the better choice. But of course he assumed you were bringing your pseudo-Companion, Ten. He followed after you like a puppy.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 06:26 pm UTC (link)

He shifted a little to give a bit more space to the slightly bulkier man. Maybe it was the jacket.

Either way, the displeasure on the older Time Lord's face was evident as the Doctor tried to hell him he'd planned it all out. "We don't plan." He interrupted sharply. He might have had something more to say but he was caught off guard by the invitation of Selene. He had assumed that the fact he hadn't responded when the suggestion was made carried with it the connotation that he did not approve. Apparently, this Doctor was ignoring that and going to do what he wanted anyway. Typical, the brown eyed Doctor knew he should have expected that.

"Rose and you are both getting out of here." He said firmly again. "As soon as we find your TARDIS not a moment later." It wasn't just Rose he worried about, this was a question of self preservation.

"Have to figure out a way to get that sign back down.." Somebody had stolen the ladder and now it was much too high for him to reach without climbing on top of something to get him about five feet more of reach.

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 06:44 pm UTC (link)

Nine tilted his head back to look up at the sign as well, just staring at it for a few moments in silence with the older Doctor. It was this change of subject, and this moment of silence that would clear the slate (mostly). It was clear that Nine had no more to say about leaving with Rose, and it was clear that Ten had no more to say about Selene, or his would-be companion.

But when had silence ever kept the Doctor from pushing and pressing to get what he wanted?

"Why is it that you ignore anything I say that has to do with him?" Finally, he was turning his head to look at the other brunette again, eyebrows lifting up and a smile spreading over his face. "Are there things I shouldn't know? Or is it just that you don't want me to know anything about him? It's almost like he doesn't exist."

But even after he said it, he was leaning forward to reach out and swipe up that amplifier. "I don't think it'll take much to attach it."

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 07:21 pm UTC (link)

The silence was actually quite loud in the older Time Lord's side. He was too busy trying to figure out why Nine (who was just as good at being quiet as he was) wasn't making a snarky comment about Ten just needing to keep his nose out of the entire situation involving Rose. That had been what he'd expected, anyway.

A million and one responses came to mind when the other Time Lord posed that rather barbed question to him. "Maybe you should try asking him all those wonderful questions yourself? 'Have you got super strength, Gambit?' 'How about flying, can you do that?' 'Have you ever tried to lift an entire car all by yourself?'" His voice was mocking. Perhaps that happy little mask he'd put on so snugly was starting to get a bit ill fitting.

Reaching out and plucking the surveyor he looked over the wiring, looked just like something he would do. "I think you forgot the redundancy circuit..." He suggested, tracing over a wire carefully. "Should be about there, shouldn't it?"

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 07:27 pm UTC (link)

"It's perfectly fine the way it is." He returned, snatching it back with a light touch, and leaning to place it back where it came from. "And I'm not interested in asking him those questions, I'm interested in you telling me who he is and where he's come from. I want to know why he's so close to you and what he's done to earn your trust. My trust." Since they were one in the same. "I want to have a reason why I," And by 'I', he meant himself as well as you, Time Lord, "Should care a thing about him. Why he's anything more than another stupid ape."

Don't mind him much, Ten, he was still a little upset about the fact that you no longer had Rose, and now had a Cajun in her place.. even if he already knew the reason. Even if he knew that you hadn't had a choice in the matter.. even if he knew you loved her, and wouldn't have given her up.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 07:34 pm UTC (link)

"You'll only get three fifths the power you could without it..." He returned quietly, letting the little mechanism leave his hands and be replaced back on the yellow paint where, he supposed, it belonged. "I'm not quite you, you know," The Doctor gave the big-eared man a speculative tone and a quirk of his brow. "Not quite, anyway. Got your memories, some of your thoughts, a hint of that same wit... But, I'm not quite you. So, he's earned my trust and I suppose he'll have to earn yours. We're not quite a package deal, are we?" He shrugged a little. He didn't feel he had to justify his trust in Gambit to you, Doctor - just like you wouldn't have to justify this ridiculous trust in a Vampire to him.

Skinny man shifted a little, looking back up at that sign. It appeared he wasn't in too big a rush to go running anywhere. At least not until 11. Then he needed to find Rose, just so he could get a few things off his chest. So, maybe, he could give this ornery version of himself just a little bit of happiness before.. well..

"How long you think it's going to take to repair all the universes they punched holes in?"

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 07:48 pm UTC (link)

"Not quite." He agreed. They weren't quite a package deal, and while they were the same person, they weren't. They felt differently about many things, though most stayed the same. Bananas, he'd always liked them. He'd always disliked guns. And apparently, he'd always love Rose Tyler. But there were many other differences.. like the way they handled themselves, the thoughts they had, the way they worked things out.

And was Ten a bit more clever than Nine? As he looked over the little gadget, he thought that perhaps he was. He was only now noticing that the Doctor was indeed right. Why hadn't he noticed that before? Every time he regenerated, he just got better. Just as he'd been more brilliant than Eight.. Ten was taking his thunder. The 'Better' Doctor. The older you got, the wiser you were, was that it? Well, it seemed to hold true in this case.

"A long time. You'll have to take care of that all on your own." Because he wouldn't be around to help, though he'd love to. "Rose can help." It'd have to be one of the first things you did after turning into yourself, to keep everything safe and sound.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 07:59 pm UTC (link)

It was like the thirty-year-old version of a man talking to himself at the age of twenty. All those "If I had only known then..." conversations people said in jest when they thought back on the truly stupid things they'd done. He didn't really have any of that sort of lecture for himself - rather, he just had a few helpful hints (ones he knew the Doctor wouldn't listen to anyway.) So, similarities or not, the two Doctors were just going to have to be clever and brilliant and accept that certain things between them would have to be accepted. Such as their mutual love for Rose Tyler.

Ten wasn't more clever, just another set of eyes. Nine hadn't been critiquing his own work, and this Doctor had - he'd been looking for little flaws and things he might overlook. It had nothing to do with being wiser and everything to do with not having stared at the same bits for hours. After a while it all started looking like the same bit of wire over and over again; sort of like the experiments in this place: once you realized you probably weren't going to be killed they lost a little something.

"Got nothing but time, really..." The Time Lord shrugged, pushing out of the go cart and walking over to stand beneath the sign. "You mind giving me a boost?"

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 08:12 pm UTC (link)

"Planning on taking it with you?" He questioned with a look up to that sign, studying the letters there. It was like home. It was a nice feeling. But even as he was shifting to steady himself and linking his hands together to make a step up for the thinner Doctor, his mind was trailing back to one of the things he'd meant to talk to this other Time Lord about.

"Three years before the last Great Time War, that's where they sent me. There was no preparing for war, there was no running around, no troops preparing battle plans. It was just a regular day. The house was clean, that was sort of a surprise." He thought it best to point that out. Eight hadn't been a particularly clean sort, though he certainly had liked his sock drawers organized.. strange man, that one. When he could remember who he was, of course.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 08:25 pm UTC (link)

"Can't just leave it here for them to have, can I? I like that sign.." He'd hook his instep into those hands and push up, feeling the other Time Lord boost him up so that the tips of his fingers knocked the sign. With some squirming he jostled it enough so that it would fall to the ground with a clatter.

As he'd hung up there he listened to what the Time Lord had to say. About home. About Eight. About the lack of a Time War. How could that have been?

When he stepped back out of that boost he nodded, reaching over to take up that sign and put it back under his arm. "Sounds like they like you," was the best he could manage. Instead of Gallifrey, this Doctor wound up in the bottom of a Satan Pit. Apparently for 'them' Time Locks did not apply.

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 08:30 pm UTC (link)

No, apparently they didn't. And could you see where he was going with this, Doctor? "Like me or not, they sent me back to Gallifrey. To before the Time War. They can do that, they have that power." He let that idea linger a moment before pressing on. "We can take it from them." Whatever it was, whatever they were using to break the Time Lord, whatever it was that allowed them to transport people back to impossible places.

They could take it. They could steal it. They could liberate it, like they had with the TARDIS. It was a way home, Doctor. A way back, not permanently, and not so anything could be changed but just.. just so they could go home. See it again. See everyone again. Whenever they liked.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 08:35 pm UTC (link)

The Older Doctor barely listened beyond the phrase 'they have that power.' He didn't like the sound of this at all. He knew that tone, knew something was cooking in that big head of Nine's. Something that he didn't like.

"There are rules. Those rules are there for a reason. That lock is there for a reason. We go back? What's to stop us from trying to change things? To keep us from ripping apart time? You can't cross your own time line. We can't keep all of them from dying or we'll destroy the entire universe. You want to be responsible for blinking everything we have out of existence?" He'd shake his head. He wouldn't be talking about it any more. That power was dangerous, and it was something that neither of them needed to have their hands on. It was bad enough that they could go back in so many other parts of time - but there had been a reason he'd allowed the Time Lock to be set - because if he hadn't he'd have brought Gallifrey back a very, very long time ago.

And blinked out all the stars for it.

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so_impressive
2009-10-11 08:39 pm UTC (link)

The selfish, angry Time Lord wasn't quite as willing to give up the subject. He knew about the rules, he knew about the consequences. He'd been the one to destroy everything-- he'd been the one to slaughter all those Daleks, to blink his home out of existence. And he'd been the one to allow that Time Lock to be set, you didn't have to remind him, Doctor.

But you did have to temper him. "We won't try to change things, we'll just visit, when we're sure we're not there. While we're away saving other planets, we can sneak in. Just for a bit. Just for a while." The homesickness would set in then (as it clearly had for Nine, who'd had that brief time.. and now he wanted more) it was almost better to not go at all. No, it was definitely better to not go at all. Perhaps the management had known what they were doing after all.. to give such a gift, then so cruely take it away.

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-11 08:46 pm UTC (link)

"We will." He said quietly, looking up from his shoes to familiar blue eyes. "Maybe not at first; but, one day Aileen will look up with that smile of hers and we'll wonder how we could ever dream to let that blink out of existence. Or we'll see a painting in the gallery and realize that nobody else in the universe will ever be able to make the same one. We'll look at the stars and know that putting the TARDIS in the exact same spot just isn't the same as seeing them from that spot on Gallifrey. And then we'll want to stop it. We'll want to keep it from happening. We can't risk that, Doctor."

The spikey haired man knew it, he knew it because he could see that end. He'd puzzled it out a long time ago, that if he ever found a way to go back it would mean the end of Time itself. Because sooner or later he wouldn't be able to stop himself from trying to stop the Time War. From trying to win the Time War.

"We can't, Doctor."

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so_impressive
2009-10-13 12:09 am UTC (link)

Nine was quietly listening, standing there, waiting. He heard those words, he understood them, he knew that Ten was right, he knew that they couldn't keep going back, that they'd snuff out all of Time and Space if they did.. but it didn't stop him from wanting it. It didn't stop him from entertaining the idea.

"We can't, Doctor." He agreed quietly, blue eyes lingering on the sign the other Time Lord was holding onto. It took a few long moments before he spoke up again. "You're right." He already knew he was right, Doctor.

"Rose and I are back on good terms." He finally changed the subject, this time with a smile settled onto his face. "She stole my jacket, you remember she's always had a thing for my jacket. Wouldn't let her get those grabby hands on that coat of yours, you might never see it again."

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fromgallifrey
2009-10-17 01:15 am UTC (link)

The Doctor watched as that quiet agreement came, settled, and retreated like a wave against sand. It was soaked up and put away. You knew he was right, Doctor. Perhaps it was because he'd had longer to think of ways of getting home - and why getting home could be so disastrous.

"Oh, I doubt she wants my coat anyway." Speaking of Rose Tyler, the tenth Doctor looked at his watch, making a face. "I'm sorry, got an appointment in ten minutes," he sighed, though any discomfort was rapidly replaced by a cheeky grin. "See you at Noon," he waggled his brow. "And I'm hoping when I get back this mess will be cleared up." He was talking about the bits of metal and junk. He was teasing you, Time Lord.

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so_impressive
2009-10-18 01:23 pm UTC (link)

"See you at noon." Nine remarked easily, lifting a hand some. "And don't forget to remind Rose, noon at the library. Drag her along if you have to, we don't want her showing up late." Which she would anyway, but at least they could try, right? And with that, Ten was gone, and Nine was left alone in that carnival. In the bumper car, wondering what was going to happen to all this mess.

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