126.0

[encryptedlock]

[Backdated to late in the day yesterday.

York had been surprised, to say the least, when a bird had shown up in his room with the TARDIS's signature VWORP VWORP noise, but he'd quickly remembered the parrot that the Eleventh Doctor had kept - brought back from the pirate land, he thought. So he'd filtered to the Doctor asking if that was intentional, and if not that he could return the bird to him no problem.

He hadn't answered for a while, but this was the Doctor; he could get easily distracted.

After a day, though, York had been worried. Tardy the bird was a little larger than the conure Delta had turned into a number of times, but he found that the same sort of training and gestures applied. So he wandered down to the Doctor's room with the bird on his shoulder, occasionally making squaks or informing York "I'mtheDoctorbytheway".

His panic triples when he sees the nameplate empty. But that could just mean he moved, so York does an entire patrol of the castle, and then one more when he's done to make sure that's right. And yeah. Yeah, it is.

When he dictates to the journal, he sounds both upset and tired.]

The Doctor's gone back to his own world. I--I know he'll like it better that way. Freedom was always the one thing he wanted here and couldn't have.

[But York would certainly miss him, and he knew there would be a lot of other people who would as well. In his three and a half years here, they'd never been without a Doctor.]

Comments

York

[youfallback]

[Well that makes things that much more complicated, not only in terms of York's life going straight to hell in a handbasket, but in terms of the Castle-wide need for a TARDIS in the case of an emergency. Somberly,] We're going to the hot springs. I'll meet you up at your room.

Carolina

[encryptedlock]

I--

[He's about to say that he doesn't want to, not now, but Delta points out to him that she is just repaying a favor. How many times has he tried to calm her down when she's been stressed or upset? Accept it, York.]

Okay. Okay. But I gotta--I don't know, make a room for the bird first so it won't get into my electronics. I can't leave it out in the halls.

York

[youfallback]

[There's a silent nod from her, glad that he's not protesting her attempt to calm him down. Not now at least.]

I'll help. Be at your room in ten.

Carolina/action

[encryptedlock]

Yeah. Yeah, okay.

[He's there in five, though it's clear from his posture that he doesn't have that spring in his step or the perk in his posture. He's tired. He's sad. And the large blue bird is sensing this and trying to rub up against York's faceplate in what he hopes is a reassuring gesture.]

Hey.

Dictated forever

[onlyanapple]

[Well. That was that, then. Crowley had wondered why the celery had shown up, now here was his answer. The demon couldn't remember a time the castle had been Doctor-less, either. He's silent for a long time, mostly trying to find a way to vocalise the news, but also in part because...well, this was York and it was THAT time of year again and he tended to avoid the guy as a general rule]

Yeah. He'd be happier running around the universe. Making people annoyed.

[Right up until he dies and regenerates. And at some point he'd become his Ninth, which to Crowley is another can of emotional worms altogether]

...Still. Won't be the same.

[encryptedlock]

[It just doesn't feel right without a Doctor. York had been upset when Five had temporarily lost his memories, but that had actually helped him accept that if he ever left and come back that they could still be friends. Once a Companion, always a Companion...unless there was no Doctor at all. And then what were they?]

It won't. I liked it when he was here, annoying us.

[onlyanapple]

[They were Lost. That's what they were]

Exactly. [There's a pause as something dawns on him] ...The TARDIS, is she still here?

Dictated forever

[whichwayyoulean]

[And once again, someone he trusts inevitably leaves him. It's just the way the universe works. Of course, it wasn't the Doctor's choice, not really. But he's gone all the same. Just like everyone else. His tone isn't even sad, just a hallow sort of acceptance]

...Figures.

[encryptedlock]

You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

[Because everybody leaves, sooner or later. Even the ones who seem immune to it, like the Doctor. Everybody leaves and York gets left behind.]

[whichwayyoulean]

[The Once-ler and York clearly need to have an 'everyone and everything I ever care about leaves me' party]

That's the thing, you never really get used to it because you start kidding yourself that maybe this time they won't go. And then, big shocker, they do.

Dictated

[wilder]

...Oh.

[A pause. he didn't expect this]

That's too bad. I'd hoped to get to know him better....oh well.

[He really needs to work on this bad procrastination habit he has going on]

[....]

[Eh, later.]

[encryptedlock]

[That's the problem with people leaving. You never really expect it, even when you think you're used to life in this place.]

He was a good guy. But even if you only ever met him once or twice, you know him. He loves travel. He loves adventure. He loves solving mysteries.

But most of all he loves people, and he'll always believe that in the end we'll make the right choice. Even though he's seen some of the most terrible things we've done in our history, he'll always have faith in people.

If you can remember that, you'll know him as well as anyone ever did.

[wilder]

[Zelos gives pause to that. 'Always have faith in people', huh? Was that really true, or just some very loving view of a close friend? Not having the exposure that Zelos needed to foster a sense of trust...he's inclined to believe the latter. People loved to claim they always have faith in people in general, but putting it into practice was a whole another thing. So very few he have seen have ever manage it]

[Unless of course, the people were back home were right and he simply didn't count among "people". Who knows.]

Hm...

Sounds like a pretty big loss for us then.

[There were definitely questions he was left with now unanswered, even if he didn't share York's outlook. Important questions...but oh well. Not a whole lot he could do about that. ]

[save_the_souls]

[This is a sad note to see. A doctor has always been in Paradisa, almost for as long as Allen can remember, in one form or another. To think of him gone...]

...Thank you for letting us know.

Even if he's happier out there, he will be missed.

[encryptedlock]

Yeah. It's--I don't even know what to think about it.

[Except that it hurts.]

[save_the_souls]

Sometimes...there isn't a right or wrong way to think about it. I mean...it's good to be happy that he's free if that's what he desired, but...

If it hurts, it hurts. It's okay to feel that too.

Dictated

[wizard_redfive]

[Hear that? That's the sound of Dairine running off to check the Doctor's room herself. 'No way. He only went to the Dead Zone. He can't have...' It's only after she sees the empty nameplate that she believes it.

He was gone. Her Doctor was gone.]

Oh. I-- [Her voice stops, but those few syllables are filled with enough emotion to get the point across. It hurts, it hurts so bad, and her defenses are crumbling fast.]

[encryptedlock]

[York really can't blame her. It's the first and second reaction he had.]

...Yeah. Wish it wasn't, but.

[wizard_redfive]

[Once Dairine manages to find her voice again, she quietly mutters the first thought that comes to mind.]

It's not fair.

York (how did I miss this)

[inafadingcrown]

[Her voice is quiet and subdued- even more than usual. The Doctor had been among the first to greet her when she arrived, one of the few who understood what it is to see time pass as she does. He had offered her comfort when she was in need of it and... he was, no is, a dear friend. Still, none of them belong here. She keeps reminding herself of that.]

You have my thanks, Master York. [A little pause] He will be greatly missed. [Read: "I will miss him."]

Lady Galadriel (<3)

[encryptedlock]

Yeah. Yeah, he will. [The Doctor is probably happier out there exploring, having aventures, not being trapped here with the limits of this world. But that didn't mean he wouldn't be missed by all the lives he'd touched while he was here.]

I'm glad we got to know him when we did.

[...and yeah, he's very broken up by the departure.]

York forever

[inafadingcrown]

As do I. [She tries to lighten her tone a little.] I suppose it would be selfish of us to keep him to ourselves. He has much good to do.

dictated sfdskl late is fun

[psych0p0mps]

[oh......... no wonder she hadn't seen him lately. the news doesn't hit as hard as it did the first time he left, but it still stings.]

again?
so theres none of him left now

[encryptedlock]

Well, yeah. Again. [Hurts to say it like that, doesn't it?]

It's--I've never been here without at least one of him. It's not right, somehow.

[psych0p0mps]

how long have you known him