~ 1 ~ What?!

[im_the_doctor]

[There’s the hum of a transporter beam and a lone figure appears. He stands still for a moment, takes in a deep breath, opens his eyes, and frowns in confusion. This is not where he expected to materialize. Turning to his right he opens his mouth to speak, but before he can utter a sound he closes it again with a snap. There’s no one there.

Looking left and then right there are other people mulling about but not the person he’s looking for.]

Mr. Cooper? [His voice is a rough whisper. Trying not to draw attention to himself, at least not yet, but still attract the attention of his missing friend.

That’s when he sees her. Sitting across the lobby, waiting for him to come and find her. It doesn’t strike him odd that she’s inside, although perhaps it should. Instead he’s far too happy to see her.

Discretely he makes his way across the room. Casually looking over the people - looking for Mr. Cooper, and the decor – trying to figure out exactly where he might be. There are a few oddities in the room but he's not really focused on the going-on's of the people themselves. Once he reaches the TARDIS, he retrieves his key from his pocket and unlocks the door. It’s not until he opens the door does and sees inside that he fully realizes that things are not as he anticipated.]

What?!

[No longer attempting to go unnoticed, his voice squeaks in shock and slight indignation.]

WHAT?!

[This time even higher pitched and much louder than the last. The inside of the TARDIS is not his normal coral wallpaper. Instead it’s mostly white with large circles... That’s not... It’s not... But that’s...]

Impossible!



Note: The use of the Fifth Doctor’s TARDIS has been done with the mun’s permission.

Comments

[im_the_doctor]

Oh I see...

I've been to the centre of the universe once. Long while back. Well... maybe not that long ago. [The Doctor frowned slightly] Anyway, figured I needed to visit at least once. Whole expansion thing... everything drifts away. Thought it would be interesting to be right in the middle...

[lightbranded]

Goodness, that does sound interesting. I'd never traveled much, really. Not in space. [Time was an entirely different matter for him.]

Before I came here the furthest I'd ever been was to Wales.

[im_the_doctor]

Ah yes, Wales. Had a dispute with a werewolf there once. Managed to annoy the Queen at the same time.

[lightbranded]

Isn't annoying Queens something to be rather avoided?

[im_the_doctor]

Yes. [Tilts his head and pulls on his ear.] You would think so wouldn't you? Saved her life in the end, but she still banished me.

[lightbranded]

Oh dear, that does sound complicated.

[And rather more chaotic than Will's own travels through time tended to be. He'd been in many different times, of course. He had spoken to Arthur on the night before Badon Hill, attended a christmas party a hundred years before he had been born and watched the building of Caerleon. He had walked the Lost Land in the last days before the waters came and witnessed the coming of the Vikings.

But Will was the Watchman. He watched and he waited. And perhaps that was the difference.]

[im_the_doctor]

No. [The Doctor's voice is a pitch higher and he looks innocently around.] Par for the course really.

[Will will have to share his travels with the Doctor. Different than the Doctor's but wonderful stories none-the-less and the Doctor enjoys a good story, it's just usually his include a lot of running!}

[lightbranded]

You offend Queens often, then?

[im_the_doctor]

Not that I mean to really, it just sorta happens from time to time. I eventually almost always work my way around it... For the most part.

[lightbranded]

Oh dear. [That didn't sound pleasant to Will at all.]

You don't simply know what it is you must do?

[im_the_doctor]

Well, it's not that simple usually. What needs to be done changes each time. Depends on the problem really. Some of the Queens quite like me really... Just not all of them.

[lightbranded]

[Will answers slowly, as if this entire state of affairs was completely foreign to him.]

But how do you walk through time, if you do not know what it is that must be done?

[im_the_doctor]

[The Doctor tilts his head as he studies Will a moment.]

Is that how it is for you? You already know what it is you are to do before you do it?

[lightbranded]

Not before. [Will struggles to find a way to explain it.]

It is something I simply know. When to act. What to do. What words to say. It is the Will of the Light. We can hear it, sometimes.

[im_the_doctor]

So, you already know how our conversation is going to go? What will happen next?

I can see what moments in time are fixed, that can never or should never be changed or altered. My own actions though are unknown to me until usually the moment I'm doing them. Not really much of a planner.

[lightbranded]

Not anything so specific as that. It is more that... [He hesitates.] It is not every word of a conversation or everything that will happen. My master could see into the future in a way, but I have not learned that skill yet. It is more that... there is a moment where I simply know that that is the moment that something must be said or done. I will know where and when I am supposed to be.

[im_the_doctor]

What happens if you are not where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there?

[lightbranded]

I am always there. [Will says this as if he wasn't quite sure what the Doctor was getting at.]

For me it is only a matter of listening and waiting. Events will be arranged so that I am where and when I need to be.

[im_the_doctor]

So you can't decide not to be part of an event?