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

[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.

[thatoldthatkind]

That's what I said. Is there an echo? Or are you just not hearing me right? [ He reaches over and flicks her ear with a grin. ]

Yes, well, you're going to be traveling all of space and time with me, Ami. You'd best get used to things that boggle that mind of yours.

[waterfell]

[There's really only one question left, and it's such an important question that she'll overlook his teasing her.]

How does it work?

[thatoldthatkind]

You've already made the connection. It happens whenever you walk inside the TARDIS. Even if it is a dream.

[waterfell]

[She stiffens. Should she walk out? She doesn't want someone to dig too deeply, even at the same time she wants to be understood.]

So you use it to take people unawares. [And learn their secrets, their weaknesses, their fears and their hopes.]

[thatoldthatkind]

I don't use it. She does! She gets to know you that way. It's how she makes rooms for all of you when you come aboard.

[waterfell]

[Rooms? She was in danger of echoing him again, for a moment.]

If she makes rooms for us, I want to see it. [She knows she shouldn't look for herself in how others see her - but she's curious what reflection she'd find in what the TARDIS thinks would suit her.]

[thatoldthatkind]

You sure? You might like it a bit too much.

[waterfell]

How rude! You make it sound like you're afraid you won't get me to leave.

[The teasing drops, but only a little, to true interest.]

Let me see it.

[thatoldthatkind]

More like I don't want you complaining if you don't want to leave. [ Tap on the nose. ]

Just this way. Don't go wandering off!