008 | walter reed |

[thatoldthatkind]

[ The Doctor is at the console of the TARDIS this evening, flicking lightly at one of the switches on it. His cowboy hat is firmly on his head and his eyes are on the blinking lights. He eyes the phone on the console before looking back at the lights. He always knows where to go, what to do. What left he can see in the universe before the ... well, end.

Maybe it's time he stopped running. But, he doesn't want to stop. There's so many people he has to meet and to help still. Maybe the universe would be better without the Doctor. River said that the whole of everything would turn against him if he kept carrying on like he does. Maybe it is time for him to stop.

He reaches up and tilts his cowboy hat down, unaware of his company. Maybe the dreamer is new to his dreams, or a frequent visitor. Either way? The Doctor has lost a bit of jump to his step. ]

Comments

[waterfell]

[But she has the best fashion sense and taste in hair right now!

Actually, she's wondering what gave him the impression that bow ties are cool.]

I don't want a funny chin!

[thatoldthatkind]

It's a good thing that you don't have one!

[waterfell]

Maybe you should try it. The teletia-S. [She's now imagining him in a dress. Excuse her.]

[thatoldthatkind]

Teletia-S. What sort of name is that?

[waterfell]

The name of the device that gave me this appearance. [La la la, flippant as always.]

[thatoldthatkind]

...Oh. Well. It's nice. Sort of.

[waterfell]

[Oh, it's very handy.]

It's better than nice! 'Sort of' nice. [But she's enjoying herself too much to do more than tease. She's grinning.]

When I took your shape, I also became able to pilot this TARDIS for the time being. I understand how it's done.

[It's a pity that when the disguise wears off, so will that knowledge.]

[thatoldthatkind]

It's an odd name. Strange. That makes it 'sort of' nice. [ He reaches over and pokes her in the nose. ]

Except I doubt that. Nothing can replicate the telepathic bond between a TARDIS and her Time Lord.

[waterfell]

[Stop poking her!

Except not. She's gotten used to it. Maybe she even sees it as a friendly gesture. Maybe she wants that.

He's right, of course, which makes her petulant behind the good mood. She can know what to do when, the right dials and knobs and sequences, but it lacks that bond.]

Is that really so important to it?

[thatoldthatkind]

[ Yeah, he'll never stop poking her. It's his little way of showing affection. ]

It is. It is the bond that connects us. She is a living, breathing machine.

[waterfell]

She's also still a machine. She'll do as she's ordered.

[Ami, clearly, does not know the TARDIS well yet.]

[thatoldthatkind]

Not always. Temperamental, that one.

[waterfell]

[Heh. She herself has been described exactly that way by Kunzite: capricious. Mercurial.]

Maybe we'd get along after all.

[thatoldthatkind]

I doubt that. She's old. And temperamental--[ And the console sparks. ]

[waterfell]

Like Doctor, like Tardis. [It had to come. At least it seems to come without bite or ill-will.]

[thatoldthatkind]

Oi!

[waterfell]

[Smile, smile.] Did I say something wrong?

[thatoldthatkind]

I am not temperamental!

[waterfell]

Why don't we ask the Tardis if you are?

[thatoldthatkind]

It's not like she talks like you and I.

[waterfell]

She was pretty vocal just a moment ago. [Eyyyyyeing the last of the sparks dying away.]

[thatoldthatkind]

That? Nah. That's normal. Besides, that isn't words. Just sparks. Very bright and noticeable sparks! [ He whacks the console. ] Behave!

[waterfell]

She seems to have a mind of her own. [Not that Ami would know anything about that...]

[thatoldthatkind]

She does, but that doesn't mean that its words like you and I speak. The TARDIS has her own unique way of speaking. Thoughts, feels. She's a telepathic creature.

[waterfell]

Telepathic? [She glances back to the buttons dials and the console. It's hard for her to imagine; she's lost a lot of that spark that led her to combine her love of technology with her heart to understand this.]

I've only experienced very primitive forms of telepathy before this.