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!"

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“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!"

“Do you mean that the more the people of this world despair, the longer it continues its countdown? If that is true, then I shall do my best to maintain the smile on my face and keep in good spirits, no matter what. I’ve no intention of enabling a clock for anything but time-telling. As it is, in an Eden like this, I feel it quite impossible to be anything but contented.”

Reinette began to laugh, leaning closer to the Doctor. “How quickly this conversation has turned to darker subjects. Let us speak of happier things. Some of the ‘amazing things’ one could do here.”

"You might wake up one day to find yourself in the old west," the Doctor suggested before scrunching up his face in though. "Although for you I suppose it would be the new west. Ohhh, one curse I was some sort of barbarian warrior. Ran around with a giant sword and my shirt off and everything."

Reinette looked shocked. “How indecent of you, Doctor, running around half-clothed, offending ladies' delicate sensibilities.” She tried hard to maintain her offended air, but a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

“I am sorry to have missed it.”

The Doctor arched an eyebrow. He hadn't recalled Reinette being a lady whose sensibilities were easily offended. "Well it's not so hard to take my shirt off and find a sword to strap to my back if that's the case. I was a gorilla once too, but that wasn't nearly as fun."

“If you feel so inclined, Doctor, then by all means. I will not try and stop you. Encourage you, perhaps,” she said, laughing. “But stop you, no. Though, it is much more amusing to imagine you as a beast than a warrior. A gorilla might not have been the best fit for you, but it is amusing, nonetheless.”

"Well, the gorilla might have been due just a bit to karma," he said, looking bashful for just a moment. While he generally agreed with the stupid ape comment every time he made it, it might be a bit harsh. "Sort of the City's sense of humor."

“I wonder what I would have been. A swan, or something equally as beautiful would have been my choice. I fear, though, I would end up as something unfortunate, such as a fish. 'What is in a name?'” she mused.

Edited 2008-09-30 07:37 (UTC)

"Would a fish be all that bad?" he asked, glancing over at her. "I mean, you get to swim in the sea and think of all the brilliant, beautiful things that are down there that you would get to explore."

“From that perspective, no, it would not be so bad. I could swim anywhere I please, provided I could avoid the sharks, of course.”

Reinette slowed to a stop and slipped her arm out of the Doctor’s. “Oh, Doctor, this tree. It is magnificent,” she said, taking a step closer to the tree, pink blossoms falling around her. “What is it called?”

The Doctor looked up at the tree that she was talking about, glad that it was one that he was familiar with. It really was a magnificent tree, one that existed in her world, even if it was doubtful that she would ever see one.

"That's called a Sakura, it's a Japanese tree," he explained. "They're beautiful when they're all in bloom."

“Sakura,” she repeated. She held out a hand, letting some of the soft, pink blossoms float into her palm. “I have never seen a tree like it, so brightly coloured. It’s beautiful.”

"They're very beautiful," he said, reaching up to brush his fingers along the trees. As far as the Doctor was concerned though, no flora could match that of Gallifrey.

"On Gallifrey there were entire forest of trees with silver leaves," he said, his expression getting a far away look in his eyes. "When the sun rose or set it was the most beautiful sight..."

“Gallifrey... That is where you are from, Doctor,” Reinette said softly; a statement, rather than a question. She could tell by the look in his eyes, tone of his voice, the fondness with which he spoke of the silver-leaved trees. She’d seen them herself once before, a quick glimpse, in the memories of his childhood. My lonely Doctor.... “It sounds like a lovely world.”

"Oh it was, Reinette, it was. Absolutely beautiful. It was the Shining World of the Seven Systems," he said, his voice just barely more than a whisper. Even though he had left the world a long time ago, he still loved it.

"And I de-" the Doctor stopped, unable to bring himself to say the words. Instead he just shook his head. "And now it's gone."

Reinette moved back to his side, taking one of his hands in both of hers. A sore subject, and still-fresh wounds she hadn’t meant to rub salt in. Lonely then and lonelier now, she had said, and oh, how her heart broke for this lonely boy.

“But you are not,” she said softly.

Her hand taking his brought the Doctor back to reality and to the fact that not all good things had been lost with Gallifrey. And that sometimes good things you thought were gone came back.

"No I'm not," he said, squeezing her hand and turning back to face her. "And there are so many good things here."

“And I am accompanied by one of the better things,” Reinette replied, smiling.

“Now then,” she said, threading her arm through his once more. “The sky is growing darker, and as much as I would love to, I very much doubt we will be able to view the rest of the gardens before nightfall. As it is, you still have yet to introduce me to your favourite lady.”