tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When: Friday night, 9/26
Rating: PG?
Characters: The Doctor

fireplacegirl
Summary: After thinking he'd never see her again, Reinette appears in the City and the Doctor is thrilled.
Log:

The Doctor ran. He had run for a lot of reasons in the past. Running away from something that was scary and running to something because it was urgent to be somewhere were the two most frequent reasons and he loved it. But he enjoyed running the most when it was too someone he wanted to see. And the Doctor wanted to see Reinette, the girl he thought he'd never see again was here in the City.

He rounded the corner the fountain came into view and she was standing there. Ohhh, but she was beautiful and radiant and so full of life even from a distance. He stopped running about halfway to her, stopping a moment to smooth his hair and his suit. You did not meet Jean-Antoinette Poisson looking like you had just run a marathon.

With a smile that refused to leave his face the Doctor approached her and spread his arms wide.

"Ohhh, Reinette," he said. "It's good to see you!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Is that what you think? Would I do something like that?" he asked, giving her the most innocent expression that he could. In all honesty, it was hard not to flatter Reinette. Maybe that was the excitement of seeing her again or he was that infatuated with her. Either way it was hard to help himself.

"Maybe they'll just start saying Nine and Ten, I don't really know," he said with a shrug. "It was never much of a problem before. It is very strange here though. In an amazing way. I'll have to take you to see the clock some time. Counts down to the end of everything."

“You are an unpredictable man, Doctor, smashing through mirrors, coming through fireplaces... I really would not put flattery past you, sir,” she said, smiling. “Though, I do hope you will not mind me calling you ‘Doctor.’ ‘Ten’ doesn’t quite suit you. Doctor, on the other hand, fits you perfectly.

“And as for this clock... First, clockwork monsters force their way into my world, in order to murder me, and now you wish to take me to see a clock that is counting down until the end of everything.” She looked up at the Doctor, affecting a look of disbelief, and then breaking into a smile. “I think I would like to see it.”

"Well you'll just have to be on your guard against flattery then," he said with a reassuring nod. Of course, Reinette seemed entirely capable of it herself, managing to make the Doctor as if he were someone special. Considering his already large ego, that was certainly saying something.

"Ohh, that's my girl, I thought you would like to see it. And the force field around it, you'll love that. Best part of the clock. But first, to the garden."

“On the subject of gardens, did you know, Doctor, that there is a stone bench in the middle of the gardens at Versailles? It’s very simple; it isn’t very large, nor is it intricately decorated, but in the early hours of the morning, just after the sun has risen and dew still weighs heavily on the flower petals, it is the most beautiful place in the world. Oh Doctor, I could sit for hours on that in that garden, surrounded by the roses, lilies, and hyacinths... They were always my favourite, the hyacinths.” Reinette smiled at the memory. “Do you think there will be any hyacinths in this garden, this Xanadu?” she said the name slowly, trying to pronounce it as the Doctor had.

"I didn't know that," he confessed, although it sounded like a very beautiful place. He could imagine her sitting there too, fitting in perfectly amongst all the other beautiful things. He would definitely have to get some hyacinths for the garden in the TARDIS if it didn't already have one.

"I'm sure there will be," the Doctor reassured here. "There's nearly every flower you can imagine. If you take a deep breath you can already smell it."

Reinette closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She could smell the garden already, and oh how lovely that smell was. She could pick out the individual scents of some of the flowers – sweet honeysuckle, strongly fragrant rose, and there, just there, a light touch of hyacinth.

“Careful, Doctor,” she said, laughing. “Introduce me to this garden and I may never want to leave.”

"That wouldn't do," the Doctor objected. "Because then I'd never want to leave the garden either and that wouldn't be nearly as fun as exploring with you. I'd have to tempt you with the offer to visit the garden aboard the TARDIS then."

While it couldn't quite compete with Xanadu for the alternate dimensional selection of flowers he did have quite a few from different worlds.

“Aboard the TARDIS? Is that a ship?” Reinette laughed softly. “Well, if there is a garden aboard, you may certainly count me in for a visit. I can’t say I’ve been aboard many ships. Small ones, on the lake, but none larger.

“Is that it there, in the distance? Even from afar, it looks magnificent.” If the rest of this world was as beautiful, she thought, then the phrase ‘trapped in this world’ was going to lose its malevolence.

"It's my ship," he said. "My ship, my home, my friend, she's been with me through a lot. Several hundreds years worth of a lot, actually. She's a little banged up from it but still in magnificent shape. She'd love to meet you."

As far as the Doctor was concerned, the TARDIS was in perfect shape. It was... quirky sometimes but that just gave her more personality.

"And that's the gardens in the distance. One of the mainstays of the place. A carnival just recently appeared though. Ohhh, we have to go to the carnival sometime."

“Several hundred years,” she mused. “Several hundred years and not a wrinkle, nor a grey hair. How the women of the world must be jealous.” Reinette beamed up at the Doctor. “But I would love to meet her, the TARDIS. Any woman who has held your attention for so long must be, among other things, very patient,” she said, laughing.

“Carnivals, gardens, fountains, buildings as high as the eye can see; this place is truly wondrous. It seems one could be here for weeks, months, years, even, and still not know all of its marvels.”

"Welll, some of my regenerations had wrinkles and gray hairs," the Doctor admitted. His first several had them, in fact. It wasn't until lately that he seemed to be appear as staying on the young side of forty Earth years.

"Maybe I can hunt you up some pictures of them if you as me really, really nicely," he added. "Ohhh, and I should probably warn you about the other Time Lords that are here."

“You will have me beg for a portrait of you, Doctor? Heaven forbid I ask you for a proper favour; who knows what you would have me do.” Reinette smiled.

“So many of your kind in this world. It is hard to believe my lonely Doctor could be lonely here. But why the need for warning? ”

"Asking nicely is hardly begging," he protested, a look of mock indignation on his face. "And what sort of proper favor do you want? Maybe we can work something out."

As if the Doctor could refuse her anything. And she probably had a good idea what he was willing to do for her.

"All the Time Lords that are here are dead in my time," he said, a look of sadness flashing across his face. "The Rani is here. She's... well she's an ex, it's complicated. We tried to kill each other a few times but it's not so bad now. The Master, or Harold Saxon... he's evil. He's done horrible, horrible things. A man of pure evil who breeds chaos and destruction for no end but it's own."

“No particular favour comes immediately to mind, Doctor, but I am sure I will think of one, and I am sure we will work something out.” Reinette smiled up at him playfully.

“As for the other matter... I consider myself warned and shall be careful should I encounter either of them.” She was silent for a moment. How awful it must be, the only others of one’s kind, and both are enemies. “I am sorry to hear that matters between the three of you are the way they are, Doctor,” she said softly.

"Well just let me know if you think of something," he reassured her, patting her hand with his own and not bothering to move it.

At the mention of how sad it was that the other Time Lords here were his enemies, a somewhat sad expression crossed his face. It was sad, but it was his cross to bear, so to speak.

"The Rani isn't so bad," he said with a bit of a shrug. "She said she's trying to change. And Romana was here for a while. She's a friend..."

He trailed off for a bit before his face brightened with a smile. "But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you're here and I'm here and we're going to the garden."

Reinette watched the Doctor’s face as it cycled through emotions. The pained expression on his face pained her as well. Best not to further explore the subject, she decided; it would be impolite to dredge up such sentiments, and if he wanted to talk about it, he would.

She put on her brightest smile. “Yes, we are. Tell me, Doctor. What is your favourite flower, and why?”

"Ooooh, that's a tough question," he Doctor said, his face scrunching up in thought. There were a lot of choices, but really only two that could be contenders for his favorite.

"Schlenk Blossom is my favorite smell in the entire universe," he admitted. "Well, it used to be, not really sure with this body but I can't imagine not liking it. Madevinia aridosa is amazing too. Grows out in the desert and has such a short lifespan but is absolutely brilliant and beautiful during that time."

“They would be flowers I have never heard of,” Reinette said, laughing. “How exotic your taste and how simple mine. But I don’t doubt your taste, Doctor, and I am sure they are both lovely in appearance and fragrance. Do they grow in Xanadu? Or in the garden aboard the TARDIS, perhaps?

“Ah- We have arrived, it seems.”

"It's not all that exotic if you come from my home planet," the Doctor protested. "To someone from Raxicoricofallipatorius your favorite flowers would be exotic."

Looking up he noticed that they had arrived at the gardens. Leaning against Reinette he headed into the gardens, keeping close watch on her face to watch her reactions.

Reinette gaped. The gardens stretched further than she could see in every direction. Flora of every type and colour, some whose names she knew by heart, and some she had never seen before. The effect of the colour was magnificent, the ground a fluctuating rainbow seeming to extend all the way to the horizon. There were colours she couldn’t even name. Even the entranceway was incredible. She watched a blanket of butterflies on a nearby bush in fascination. “It’s beautiful. More beautiful than I ever could have imagined,” she said breathlessly.

"I thought you might feel that way," the Doctor replied, looking out over the gardens. Really, they were absolutely gorgeous. Whoever had arranged the grounds had done an amazing job. The Doctor would have to find out just who was responsible for all of this and thank them for it.

"The City has a lot of bad things but it has a lot of beautiful things too," he said.

“I do hope the amount of beautiful things outweighs that of the bad. I can not even bring myself to wander upon malicious thoughts, not when I am surrounded by such beautiful things, and not in your company, Doctor.” She thought back to some of the things the voices in her little box had said. “How could anyone in a world so magnificent think to liken it to Hell?”

"I think that they do outweigh those things," he said. Glancing over at her, he gave her a knowing smile. "And if they didn't before then they certainly do now."

He paused a moment to think on the concept of the City as a Hell. It felt like that to him, sometimes, with the fact that you couldn't just up and leave when you wanted to. For now he could busy himself enough with all the newness of it but how long would that last?

"Sometimes the deities, the beings who control the City, force us to have different personalities. You know, the chaste become unchaste, or the humane become monsters. Enough of that and you begin to hate this place."

“To force a person to be something they are not... The question, then, is not how someone could do that, but why, Doctor? To turn someone into a monster, change who they are, is that considered sport in this world?” Reinette was silent for a moment. She had seen monsters, been their victim. But to be a monster, to be forced in to doing anything against one’s will... “Before I met you, Doctor, I never would have believed in the ability to travel between worlds, nor the ability to walk among another’s memories and thoughts, nor even monsters. Nothing seems impossible anymore.”

"The theory is that the clock that counts down to the end of everything runs off the angst of the City," the Doctor explained. "And even if that's not true the universe is full of people who would be cruel for the sake of cruelty."

The Doctor was inclined to believe the first scenario more than the second. He had seen beings who were cruel merely because they could be and the deities didn't seem like that type.

"And anything is possible," he told her, a sly smile spreading across his face. "That's the brilliant thing. Think of all the amazing things that you never thought could happen that now can!"