Witty PSL post title here!

[never_stopped]

This here? This is a PSL catch all post. Boring? Yeeeaaah, but it gets the job done. Kind of like a banana. Well. No. Bananas aren't boring forget I said that. Boring like some big boring thing. Oh you get it.

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The Doctor and Me - A PSL that is what it says on the tin

[memories_of_me]

The Tardis would have alerted him to something rather odd. But in usual Tardis fashion wouldn't have given him much more than that that was concrete. the readouts almost seemed like it was another Tardis, but not quite. But getting there... there was nothing that looked at all like a Tardis. Just a small plateau in the mountains of an Earth like planet with, of all things an Earth Diner, American retro, sitting at the edge of sparse woodlands. The energy was coming from the building, and the woods themselves. And from the young looking woman with the bow in one hand and quiver on her shoulder who took one look at him and stopped smiling. She had been, the moment before she saw him.

Her hair was in a super tight french braid from which not a strand escaped, that ended in a blue and gold scrunchie. She wore a black silk blouse with golden buttons that were etched in Gallifreyan writing, a palindromic phrase from top to bottom or bottom to top that was extremely rude against someone named Rose. Not hard to guess which person named Rose given the language. The blouse was tucked into a short black skirt that was pleated, with gold showing in the pleats. Her leggings under the skirt were jet black, save for the silver points of light that were, on close examination, the constellations that could be seen from Gallifrey. One at a time, slowly, a star faded out. In the exact order she watched them die.

Her sneakers were black with gold rubber and silver laces, the tops covered by gold and silver scrunchie socks.

The Bow vanished as she crossed her arms. "If you are not alone, you had best leave. No, strike that, even if you are alone, leave. You are not welcome here, Doctor. Not welcome and not wanted. So you and your sneakers and your Rose can just fly off and leave. You are rather good at that, after all."

[never_stopped]

Ten was exceedingly curious about why the TARDIS had brought him there. There had to be a reason. There always was. He whirled around the controls like a dervish, pulling levers and flipping switches and desperately trying to figure out the significance of that place and time. Confounded, he looked up at the time rotor. "Why..." Not getting an answer, he sighed, scruffed his hair, and shrugged. "Well then there's only one way to find out."

He raced to the door, snatching up his coat as he flew past. Once outside, he shrugged it on and took a look around. "Odd place for a diner." Odd enough to pique his interest and be set off for it. Oh look, a person! He'd been mid-way through a cheery wave when he was so rudely addressed. "Well a simple 'hello' would have done but that's just me. Have we met? I have a bad habit of meeting people out of order."

[memories_of_me]

She stopped at that, and considered, studying him. The small smile that grew slowly on her face was not exactly nice.

"You really don't know who I am, Doctor?"

She... could work with that. She might hate this one of his faces now, but if he didn't remember her... could she work things out to keep him from Nautilus, and more to keep him from falling into the trap? Could she change things?

Sorry, River. But she was never going to keep spoilers out of the conversation. Protecting her only remaining friend was more important than preserving the timeline and River's sensibilities.

[never_stopped]

Well now... that look combined with that statement could either mean she was a teasing friend... or someone not to be trusted. Until he knew which one, he decided to play blissfully ignorant.

Shaking his head, he frowned, "Noooo, can't say I do." The frown disappeared into a smirk as he shrugged. "But there's an easy way to fix that. Who are you?"

[memories_of_me]

"I'm Me," she said simply. She pulled the bow string so that she could rest the bow across her back, the strong over her chest holding it in place. "Once I brought you a warning, you refused to heed it, and she died," she said to him, flatly. "You are not the only one who has never forgiven you for her death." She was going to a variant of the plan she first had on Nautilus. Convince him it was Clara she was trying to save. He would always try harder to save someone else than he would to save himself.

[never_stopped]

"Short and to the point. I like it." He watched her carefully, looking for any hints that might tell her where she came from or who she really was. She knew him, that much she'd said... but was it good or bad.

"Ah, well, I suppose I must have had a good reason. Or a big distraction. Or both. That tends to happen when you're me. Of course, I can't say which since I haven't lived it just yet."

[memories_of_me]

"You were over confident," she said, bluntly. "You wasted time on your own brilliance and ego, and then in your own anger. You were smart enough to know that you were in a trap, and then stupid enough to let it kill her."

Is this why you never came back for us? Because you already had?

[im_with_stupid]

It was a good five years for the Ponds since they'd last seen the Doctor. Well, perhaps not a good five years. Adapting to the precellphone age had not been easy. And Amy found New York a harder place to get modeling work at her age than she'd have liked. And all her information for travel guides was out of date. They could have played lotto, but why would either of them have ever memorized old American lotto numbers? British, sure, in case they ever went back just a bit and Amy could slip off between end of adventure and one more trip.

So it had been rough making a start with no job, no home, no ID. And Rory's car of course, hadn't even been built yet. Poor Rory.

But they had each other. Each other and the faith that any moment the Doctor would pop back and pick them up. Any time now. Yep. Any day.

He hadn't even said five minutes this time. This was nearing on late, even by his standards.

They finally found a small flat, Rory had to go back to nursing school which had been expensive, and Amy finally figured out that they could turn her part time waitressing money into the stock market. There were a few false starts, but finally they found the ones they knew they needed. And had a book where they worked to try and remember when big companies first became big. Google couldn't come fast enough. But they were getting by enough for Amy to start working on the novels she knew she had to write. And once Rory sped through medical school at a record pace and got a job things started to get better. The got a slightly larger apartment. There was a deadman's letter all ready for when they vanished. As soon as the Doctor came to get them....

It was the early 60s when the Doctor wound up landing the Tardis on a cargo ship in port. The calendar he spotted was wrong. So he didn't have three days before the ship left port. It was leaving today. Something he wouldn't have found out until after he came back to get in the Tardis and it was gone. Bound for America. Guess he'll have to get there himself to meet it....

Rory, meanwhile, had been trying to surprise Amy with a special gift, so was saving up by working part time as on call first aid down that the warehouses for the docks. He spotted the Tardis and of course he knew what it was. He called Amy to tell her something came up, don't wait dinner; and pulled some strings to stay on deck. As long as it took. He stayed outside the Tardis (though he did knock and try to let himself in when no one else was looking...)

But when the Doctor finally found his Tardis, there would be a man who was starting to look like a vagabond he'd been there so long, sleeping with his back to the door, arms over his down vest, shivering in his sleep.

[never_stopped]

Three days... Three lousy days. Of all the times for his calculations to go awry. The TARDIS was off and he had to go retrieve it. That took longer than he'd hoped (He got distracted by the sudden appearance of a Doraxian weavel) but he finally made it to the port where his beloved ship was being held.

Beaming like a madman, he rushed up to the beautiful blue box, pressing his palms against her surface. "Aaahhh hello, you! Thought you'd run off on me, aye?" lovingly patting the side he unlocked the door and pushed it open..... Without noticing the rumpled man leaning against it.

[im_with_stupid]

Rory fell inside when the door opened in. He woke up fast., though he had started to stir when the Doctor rushed up.

"Whoa, wait, hold on there," he said rolling to his feet inside the control room. "You can't be in here. I mean, obviously you can since you somehow got in, but you need to leave now."

He stood as tall as he could, crossing his arms, trying to look menacing. He would be one of the first to admit that Amy did that better than he did. Amy would have been the absolute first, of course. But he was trying.

[never_stopped]

A voice? Ten whirled around, his coat swishing about his legs. "Oh do I, now?"

Clearly the man knew some version of him. Obviously he'd be shocked by the inside of the TARDIS (really, that was the best part). And apparently he was not the version of him he was expecting. Well, that was hardly his fault, was it?

He seemed to ponder that statement for a moment, nodding. "Hmmm. Can't I? I do have a key, after all." He pulled the TARDIS key out of his pocket with a magician's flourish.

[im_with_stupid]

The logical answer to his having the Key would be that this was actually the Doctor. Rory DID know about Regeneration, after all, However, that wasn't where Rory's mind went. He blinked, startled, as he saw it. "River? Did River give that to you?" If she had why hadn't she come herself? What part of the timeline was she, and thus this man from?

Also, while he was here after dealing with this guy and before going home he made a mental note to go to their room, Amy would kill him if he didn't grab her phone charger at the least.

[never_stopped]

There was a quick flash of emotion behind Ten's eyes. River. He still didn't know everything about her. He knew he'd find out eventually... but he did know her importance, and still mourned her death. Swallowing, he shook his head. "No, I think you've probably got that backwards. I haven't given her the key, but I probably will at some point."

Rocking back on his heels, he looked Rory over. "Now then. Who are you? I usually like to know who's cross with me."

[im_with_stupid]

"Haven't given her the...." he stopped and just stared for a long moment, then groaned. "You're him, aren't you? You're the Doctor?" He rubbed his face. "This is just great. This is a new one, first time you've ever showed up two years too late and too early at the same time."

Amy was going to have a fit.

"Alright, since River's not here to ask, guess I have to. What's the last you remember?"

Lonely Island of a Time Lord

[never_stopped]

Ten had been rattling around the TARDIS by himself for far too long. He'd lost track of how long. Well... No he hadn't. But he'd been trying very hard not to think about it.

No companion. No company. No plans for where to go next. If was an aimless way to live. And he liked it that way. Or so he told himself. He'd just left a planet where the primary source of entertainment was nose whistling. Having no plans on where to go next, he decided to take the long way to... Wherever, and putter around the ship for a bit. He hummed softly to himself as he tugged off his suit coat and tossed it on the pilot's seat. He crouched down and poked at one of the panels beneath the console. "Still got a bit of loose wiring here? Let's see what we can do about that."

Re: Lonely Island of a Time Lord

[witch_child]

The figure appeared while he was under the console and was watching when he finally came out. It was hard to tell gender, age, or even species because the figure was buried under a huge black cloak that pooled around either someone very very small or someone sitting. Or someone small sitting. There was just a ton of bunched black velvet. But there was one bit that was clearly a hood and it was pointed towards him.

The figure inside, that he could not see, was watching him, unsure. Coming here was odder than any time she'd come to a new friend before. But he needed a friend, she could feel it. Still, adult male made her nervous, but the calls in the darkness never took her to people who would hurt her. At least they hadn't yet. And sometimes adults could be just as lonely as kids. She'd met a few already, and remembering them made her brave enough to stay.


(Her icons are for her when she's older, don;'t have any for her at this age, about 11 years old.)

I didn't forget about you, I swear! /sobs

[never_stopped]

As focused as he was on the tangle of wires beneath the console (seriously, who's bright idea was it to link the sonic transducer power coupling to the lights in the pool hall?), he didn't notice the figure. He continued humming away, muttering to himself as he worked. Eventually, he found himself in need of a tool (the sonic couldn't do everything after all, and he straightened.

Turning around, he spotted the pool of black fabric straight away. There were several key concerns there, not the least of which was how someone managed to get onto the TARDIS, let alone when she was in flight. He frowned a little, leaning to the side and tilting his head to try to get a peek under that hood.

"Hullo... what do we have here?"

It is fine! I know you didn't.

[witch_child]

"Hello," the voice came from under the cloak. The voice was female but it was hard to place an age. It all but echoed, like she spoke in a much larger space than the console room. Larger and emptier. It didn't sound human, which given he hadn't yet seen her probably wasn't surprising yet. It was haunting and there was a sound almost like a damp finger over metal in it, and a sensation of velvet in the depths of the voice. All in that one word.

Unseen under the hood, blue eyes had become sapphire screens over the darkness of the abyss. A normally human-child looking face looked haunted and ancient and powerful as she studied him from the shadows of her hood.

[never_stopped]

Well now, that's not ominous at all. Considering how she appeared, he definitely didn't think she was human. He still wasn't sure what she was at all. On that note, he whipped out his sonic and did a quick scan of her. While he looked over the results, he smiled and leaned casually on the console.

"Not a big talker, eh? That's fine. I've known a lot of good people who aren't big talkers. Lot of bad people, too. Some in between. So, tell me, where do you fall? Figure I'd just ask you now and save myself the trouble of finding out later."

[witch_child]

She had flinched back when he aimed the sonic at her, like she was afraid she'd be struck. That knocked the hood aside, showing a pale face. The Sapphire was gone so she just looked like an underfed scrawny little kid who might be beautiful some day, but whose face was too angular and sharp for a child. There were dark shadows under her pale blue eyes, as though she had not slept in weeks, or slept little and fitfully, for longer. Her blond hair was long and limp, in a poor attempt at sausage curls that might have had a chance if she hadn't been so clearly malnourished.

As for the readings. Human. Ish. But her psychic energy? Off the charts. There were whole worlds that didn't come close to the amount of psychic energy in that underfed little kid.

"I can leave," she whispered. The voice was now a normal little kid's voice. Well, normal if one accepted that a child could or should ever sound that terrified.