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The Doctor (fromgallifrey) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-08-10 09:45:00

Entry tags:

!complete, day 18, location: in town, rose tyler, the doctor (ten)

Day 18: 9:32 AM

Who: John Smith and Rose Tyler
Where: In town, nearest landmark: the Theatre
When: Day 18: 9:32AM
What: Being obscure
Rating: G, PG perhaps

Status: Active

Well, wasn't that just something special. Really, that whole bit back there in the barn? That was something special. It was the sort of thing that left the Doctor fuming. He was furious. Couldn't rightfully say who he was so angry with; but, he was pretty darn mad. He'd been walking for a while now, trainer-clad steps nearly pounding on the pavement as he tried to pick a direction. Before he knew it, the Doctor was at the thrift store where he changed his clothes. Out of that suit and into a pair of denims and a sweatshirt. He was soaked to the bone, after all. The trenchcoat for all of it's virtues was far from waterproof. So, he'd found a backpack and put his wet clothes into it before heading out again. Even his hair was smushed down and out of it's rebellious state by the opressive rain.

Deciding a break might be in his best interest, the Doctor slid up under the maquis of the theater trying to duck out of the intermittant rain. He could hide under there for a few minutes and try and root out the cause of his frustration. He hadn't lied. He hadn't done the wrong thing; yet, there he was kicking himself. Most of it was because he should have nipped this entire thing in the bud. He should have ignored Remy LeBeau from day one - then he wouldn't be in this ridiculous predicament. Then there was the trouble with Nine and Jack. Oh, that was enough to make him groan out loud, and that he did, pressing palm to forehead. With the rain keeping everyone in their right mind indoors the Doctor wasn't so worried about being found in this moment of vulnerability and annoyance. This whole thing had gone south so quickly and there was nothing that this Doctor liked less than a situation he didn't have absolute and complete control over. Fantastic.

Sliding down the wall he pulled those knees up and those red Chucks up closer squinting off in the direction of that damned post office. Stupid thing. Plucking out his journal he found that damned survey and started filling it out. It was more important to get reconnected with his fellow captives than be spiteful toward the people in charge of this place.

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-12 02:47 am UTC (link)

Did she really not think the Doctor trusted her? Sometimes. He had sent her away. All she'd wanted was to be there for him, to die with him if needed, but he'd robbed her of that. Sent her back to Earth against her will. And now? Now he acted like she was a child, telling near strangers to watch over her and telling her to stick close to a sixteen year-old because he thought even Remus was better at taking care of them than she was.

She flicked her tongue over her lips, a heavy feeling settling in her chest. "I don't even know what I think anymore," she admitted. Why she admitted it, she had no idea, except this John Smith seemed to see her in ways no one else did. "I know he cares," she repeated. "But I'm not a little girl. I just want him to see that, s'all." Shrugging, Rose glanced over at John when he confessed to blocking the tunnels.

"Should you have told them? Jack and the Doctor, I mean?" And why those two specifically? "If there wasn't anything you could do..." She shook her head, as if to signify there wasn't really anything else he could do. "Blocking them would make the most sense. If they were getting to us from there, it was one way to try and keep them away." It hadn't worked, obviously, but it had made sense to at least try.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-12 03:09 am UTC (link)

"Just remember everything he does is to protect you, hasn't got anything to do with how old you are, Rose," it had to do with who you are and what you are. That's why they protected you. Sure, you'd wipe out the emperor of all Daleks one day; but, in between you were Rose Marion Tyler, the most important thing he had to take care of.

"Maybe," the Doctor continued to look away. "They seemed fairly upset when I finally did. I hadn't told anyone, actually." He sighed, listening as she continued, and she agreed with him. He needed someone to agree with him while it seemed the rest of the town faulted him. Turning his head John Smith offered a faint smile. "If only it had worked, yeah?"

Knees pulled back up his heels trying to push into the concrete beneath them. "Thank you," he said with a small smile, looking away from her again. She understood him like nobody else, didn't she?

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-12 03:18 am UTC (link)

He could argue that all he wanted, but she wasn't entirely sure she believed him. How could she? There was an awful lot stacked against his theory, honestly, and Rose wasn't able to see the future. She couldn't see the day in the not too distant future where she became one with his beloved TARDIS and saved him as well as the rest of the Earth and immortalized Jack in the process. She couldn't see him becoming this new face and her absorbing him in ways she hadn't thought possible. And she certainly couldn't see the day she told his image that she loved him on a windy beach in Norway.

So the Rose that lived in the present only gave a half smile, listening to him talk. "You tried, John," she said gently. "It's more than a lot of us were able to do. Surely they can see that." He hadn't told anyone but he'd just told her. He was a mystery, but she loved a good mystery. Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie would eat this bloke right up.

They were finding comfort there together in the rain, and it made her smile, mostly to herself. They were quite the pair, weren't they? Reaching out, she gently placed a hand over one of his. "This whole place seems to lean on you. You don't have to do it all, you know. Hate to break it to you, but you're not the only smart one here."

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-12 03:30 am UTC (link)

"Oh, they want to map them, find out what the locked doors have behind them. They think they can use them somehow, I suppose," he said distractedly. He was thinking of Sam now. Sam who'd been so very angry following everything. The Doctor had been angry, too; but anger wasn't foreign to him; he knew how to handle that emotion quite well, actually.

She was smiling, setting a hand on his own and the Doctor relished that touch; it was something he hadn't ever thought he'd feel again - it was impossible for him not to just melt there. His smile was there, radiant though a bit sad in the eyes. Like looking at an old photograph, really, all those accompanying feelings of sadness and regret and happiness and excitement all rolled into one. Only this photograph talked and smiled and touched. Only this wasn't just an image in the TARDIS, no she was real.

"You sound like Gambit," he remarked shaking his head. "Thank you."

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-12 03:36 am UTC (link)

Damn him for ruining a good thing.

"I could think of a thousand people I'd rather sound like right now." If she hadn't been so angry, she might've made the association. She might have added one to one and reached two. Gambit, who was so obsessed with the Doctor from a time after her, and this man, who was so close to the red-eyed man.

But Rose wasn't exactly in her right mind that morning. She was tired of arguing and fighting and she was tired physically. One didn't get a great night's sleep on a floor with a restless teen werewolf beside them. So the puzzle pieces remained unlinked and swimming in her mind.

Still. He was close to the man. And he'd said he was loyal. So she breathed in and smiled, giving the hand beneath hers a light squeeze. "But I mean it. You're not the only one with the power to get us out of here. Do you even get any sleep?" Though the words were teasing, the concern in her tone wasn't.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-12 03:49 am UTC (link)

"He's not all bad, trust me," the Doctor looked back at his lap. Would this Rose trust him? Had he just been an ordinary bloke in London, would she have given him the time of day? Would she have taken his hand and ran? What if he hadn't the TARDIS, then what? It was a slippery slope to wander down that one - he stopped the thought train in the station.

"Sleep?" The incognito Time Lord looked at her like she'd just said a foreign word. "Oh, I get some from time to time. Last night wasn't the best, I'm afraid."

His hand turned in her own, pressing the pair of them palm to palm and giving a squeeze. "Don't worry about me, there's time to sleep when we're out of here, after all."

His head turned against the wall his temple against stucco as he smiled at her a bit more. "You don't look so awake yourself, Rose Tyler." There was something else behind those eyes, Rose. Maybe if you knew him longer you'd know how to read it. A subtle warmth there in those soulful browns and a smile that said so much more than just 'thank you,' it said everything he'd never had a chance to.

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-12 04:09 am UTC (link)

"Maybe not to you," she remarked bitterly. Yes, she was still angry. Not at the man at her side. He was just the unfortunate first to run into her. But Remy had made her more than a bit uncomfortable with his words, and she was honestly a little afraid of him at the moment. Not that she'd tell John Smith that. And she wouldn't tell the Doctor, either, for fear of facing his wrath. No, she had to deal with this on her own.

Damn.

Rose liked the feel of her hand in his. The Doctor held her hand all the time. It was becoming 'their' thing, in a way, only he didn't seem to do it so much unless they were in mortal danger. And maybe they were here, too, but it was John Smith's touch she found comfort in just then. "You're not the only one who had a long night," she reminded him. "I'm glad they're alright, don't get me wrong. But...it was hard." Lying there awake, knowing how alone Jack had to feel. Knowing that, not far from her, the Doctor was mourning his friend.

And knowing she'd been worried for one Remy LeBeau. Damn that, too. Perhaps he hadn't deserved her worries at all. Perhaps she should have kept her watch over Ianto or Shannon. Shannon, who hadn't returned with the others. Damn damn damn.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-12 07:31 pm UTC (link)

The Doctor shrugged; he'd learned that sometimes you just didn't win an argument with Rose Tyler - even if you were right. If she didn't want to let you win, you wouldn't; at least until she figured it out on her own anyway.

There was a fair amount of muscle memory involved in holding Rose's hand. He knew the way her hand felt in his and he could think of so many times when that hand hold was for running or teaming up or just because. Let's go together,</i> that hand hold said. He'd really like to go with you again, Rose, anywhere at all.

"I know," he said quietly; though, he supposed Rose really didn't know the depth of his evening. With the argument with Sam and Jack and Nine; then losing Sarah Jane, Shannon, and Remy; being left to wonder if he'd done the right thing at all when it came to those tunnels. Oh, it was impossible to even think that perhaps he might get a decent night's rest!

"Well, I'm hoping none of us will have to go through any of that ever again." Well, wasn't that simple and to the point.

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-13 01:07 am UTC (link)

His words were optimistic, but something about his tone wasn't. That, in turn, made her give the hand in hers a gentle squeeze. Absently, her fingers laced through his, as if she'd done it a thousand times before. Two confused people in a world they couldn't get out of. Seemed worthy of a handhold to her.

"We're here," she reminded him, a sardonic smile on her face as she glanced over at him. "We never know what we'll go through next." And that was, unfortunately, the truth. "But you're going to get us out of here. That's why you look like you haven't slept all week."

That wasn't entirely true, but he did look tired. Poor bloke. He was really too good to the people here. Trying to play hero, being everyone's go to man. Something the Doctor would do, really. Or even, in some ways, herself. She found she liked that about him, even if it was a little annoying. Hero complexes always made her a little twitchy. "I mean it, John. You're not alone in this. There's plenty of people here willing to help."

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-13 04:37 pm UTC (link)

John Smith, for better or worse was an optimist. He'd always have hope and always see a way out of the box. What sometimes bogged him down were the people involved. He knew intimately that he couldn't save everyone; but, that didn't make the previous day any easier. Couple that with the difficult arguments and even more hard decisions and it was easy to see why his confidence might come off as a bit shaken. Rest assured, Rose Tyler, he still knew he'd get you all out of here.

He smiled as she spoke, feeling again like old times. "There's the Rose Tyler I know," As he said it the Doctor knew he'd let something slip he shouldn't. Still he tried not to look too guilty about it. The girlt ravelled through time; was it so hard to believe for her that she might meet someone here she hadn't met yet. Timey Wimey stuff, Rose Tyler, if you ask you'll get an earful about it and none of it would involve calling him Doctor, either.

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-13 05:58 pm UTC (link)

He was doing it again. Acting as if he knew her, and knew her intimately. Her mind was starting to follow the same as his. If Remy knew the Doctor from a time she hadn't yet visited, what were the odds that she knew John Smith from some other time? Maybe, in a future time period, she'd met him. During a time where he remembered but she didn't because it hadn't happened yet.

God, time travel gave her a headache.

"What year are you from?" she questioned, glancing sideways at him. "If you don't mind me asking. I know we're not all from the same but you seem... I don't know. I can't pinpoint you like I can some of the others." His dress was the same, but some of the things he said or did? Definitely weren't. And, admittedly, she was nosy. Maybe she could figure out a bit about this mysterious stranger who didn't seem so strange at the end of the day.

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fromgallifrey
2009-08-13 06:43 pm UTC (link)

He did know you, Rose Tyler and intimately. You and he? You'd been to the end of the world together and back again. You'd survived Daleks and Cybermen and cheated death and the devil, too. He knew what kind of stuff you were made out of, Rose and he loved every bit of it.

"2008," he responded to her question, it was true enough. The last time he'd seen was 2008 in Chiswick. He wasn't exactly lying, you know. He'd stepped out of the TARDIS with Donna and stepped back in only to wake up here. Little do you know about the coming darkness and the 27 planets, Rose Tyler. Little did the Doctor even know, yet.

"There's something classic about a suit, yeah?" The Doctor grinned. "Better than a pair of pajamas or a crazy scarf, I'd say." John Smith plucked his glasses out of his pocket and popped those on, too just for the effect. "And of course there's my specs," he waggled his brow, playfully. She hadn't asked if he'd known her. If she had, he'd have told her, it would have maybe erased some of that quizzical look off her features. It would have helped things make sense, yeah?

Oh, just say something, Time Lord.

"Now, I know this sounds a bit odd... ehrm..." Brow scruneched a little before he spoke again. "I know you. Not quite from 2008, mind you; but around then. Time, it's complicated, yeah?" Well, it wasn't complicated for him; but, for you? Well, he'd make it sound complicated, just this once. Too complicated for John Smith to explain. He breathed another beat, looking away. "Sort of been wondering if just telling you would rip the universe apart or something equally as spectacular, actually."

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jeopardysfriend
2009-08-13 07:12 pm UTC (link)

If he was expecting some sort of outburst, the Time Lord was denied. Instead of blurting out a response, the normally impulsive girl stayed quiet for a moment, looking at him carefully. More head-on, now, turned halfway to really take him in. She'd suspected it, sure, but it was different getting confirmation.

Slowly, a smile crossed her face. It wasn't quite the answer she'd been looking for, honestly. Knowing him and knowing him were two different things. While his explanation explained how he seemed to know her, it didn't explain why holding his hand and leaning on his shoulder felt...well, right.

But it did put another piece of the puzzle into place. She was so close to the picture coming together in the middle that it burned. "The specs are a nice touch," she teased lightly, considering her next course of action carefully. "Complete the suit, sort of. The chucks, though..." Her smile quirked a bit and she stretched her legs out in front of her.

"I sort of thought you might," she confessed, easing her hand from his and folding hers together in her lap. "I was thinking about it. Wondering. I know it's happened to other people, meeting someone they know but from a different time. I just wasn't sure if we... Well, if you were one of them." That didn't explain Tonks calling him Spaceman. The name she said she called the Doctor. It didn't explain a lot of things, actually.

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	kicking left. <----------- fromgallifrey 2009-08-13 09:53 pm UTC (link)
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