misaffection (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
misaffection) wrote2006-01-24 07:58 pm
misaffection) wrote2006-01-24 07:58 pm
I do this for fun
Highly enjoying my time over at UKS. Ooh a place I actually spend more time at than LJ. But it's cool and I'm meeting really great and nice people. I'm looking forward to receiving some stuff from a girl there (RAK) and there's also an order from Modern Scrapbooking on its way. Hurrah.
And then, because I've spent at least some of today really actually working - a lil bit of
Jack Harkness, ex-conman and one-time captain of the Time Agents, stood at the controls of the TARDIS and checked the readings again. Yes they were definitely picking up an odd signal. It waxed and waned, indistinct and hard to track. Well, beyond Jack's ability to track anyway, but the TARDIS might just be being pedantic.
Jack smirked at that thought and shifted his gaze to the pulsing central column. Once he would have thought anyone thinking this ship had a mind of its own was mad; now he'd think that if they didn't. Things... moved. Often he found controls he could work one day would be unresponsive the next. It was possible that the signal could be traced, but that the TARDIS deemed it necessary for the Doctor to do it.
Frowning in the blue light, Jack pursed his lips and wondered whether he ought to wake the Doctor. The Time Lord had been increasingly cranky over the last few days, a product he admitted was him doing too much after regenerating. Jack had finally gotten tired of being snapped at and sent him to bed.
The fact Rose was also in bed would probably lead to interesting conversations later.
Jack had been told about the psychic link they shared, although they had both been incredibly cagey about exactly how it had occurred. He frowned again; something had destroyed the Daleks. He suspected it had to do with Rose somehow – after all the Doctor had sent her and the TARDIS away, yet it had returned. He didn't doubt that Rose had somehow managed that, though how he had no idea.
And then there was the fact the Doctor had regenerated. Jack himself had few memories beyond being faced by three Daleks and them firing. He woken to find them gone and the TARDIS fading from sight. When it came back, Rose looked older somehow and the Doctor... The Doctor had looked utterly different.
Whatever had happened, neither of them felt comfortable discussing it with him. He felt a little hurt at the exclusion, but he remembered the last time he'd asked Rose about it. It had been late and they'd been sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate. She'd frozen and gone pale. Then she'd looked at him with a deep pain in her large brown eyes and told him she couldn't say what had happened on the Games Station and begged him not to push the issue.
Jack sighed at the recollection and turned his attention back to the display. The signal they were picking up was getting stronger. He wasn't ready to assume the Doctor was okay with him making a call yet, so he trudged through the TARDIS' corridors to the Doctor's room.
He pounded on the door.
“Doctor?”
There was a pause, followed by a muffled bang and then the door was opened. The Doctor was wearing a grey t-shirt and Bermuda shorts and he blinked at Jack blearily.
“What?” he asked in some irritation.
“Ah... the TARDIS has been picking up an odd signal. It's started to get stronger and I wondered what you wanted to do. Should we go and have a look?”
“What? Oh yeah, sure.” The Doctor rubbed at his eyes. “You can land the TARDIS can't you? Go do that and I'll get dressed and attempt to wake Rose up.”
Jack nodded and started back to the control room, then stopped. He looked back at the Doctor.
“How were things last night?” he asked warily. “Should I be hiding sharp implements?”
The Doctor frowned, then rolled his eyes as he realised what Jack was getting at.
“No, it's fine,” he said, dismissing the whole idea with a vague wave of one hand. Then a thoughtful look settled on his face. “Although I did have a rather strange dream about being naked during an exam.”
“Oh really?” Jack was intrigued.
“Yes. Odd but enlightening – I've always wondered what I'd look like with breasts.”
Rose was dreaming. Or rather, as it consisted of scraps of memories jumbled together, it was closer to a nightmare. Images flashed through her mind; the dark basement of Henrick's and shop dummies to come life all the way; the Earth exploding then a undertakers doing the same. The Slitheen chased her through an alien museum; there was Harriet Jones only she had an opening in her head; Adam as he was when she first met him, then fading out like a worn tape and screaming as he did so. Blue light flaring from the top of the TARDIS and pouring out of the doors as the world shattered about it. Daleks with teeth.
Across the room, the Doctor leant against the wall, watching Rose shift in her sleep in the faint light of the open door. She was murmuring, mostly incoherant words, but he caught “Dalek” and flinched. Tendrils of her nightmare brushed the back of his mind and he pushed them away. She rolled onto her back and her blonde hair glinted in the dim light, evoking a dozen memories that were not strictly his own.
Fighting down a myriad of emotions, he schooled his face into a blank mask.
“Rose,” he said loudly, his voice flat and expressionless.
Rose jerked awake, stifling a small cry. She looked round the room with wide eyes, then her gaze settled on the Doctor.
“What?” she managed, her voice hoarse from dryness. “What's the matter?”
“The TARDIS has picked up a strange reading,” he told her in the same flat voice. “Jack's tracing it now.”
“Trouble?” Rose asked.
Suddenly in her mind was a white-walled room and a dark-skinned girl with a hole in her head, then a monster of mammoth proportions. She blinked and it was gone, leaving her unsure as to whether the recollection had been hers or his. She stared at the Doctor, but his expression remained neutral, although that itself was no further indication.
“Possibly,” he said. He seemed to brighten at the prospect. “Actually, more than likely. So wear sensible shoes, and nothing with trailing parts.”
Rose folded her arms at the order, one eyebrow lifting imperiously.
“Excuse me, but I have done this before,” she reminded him. “What are you? My mother? Should I bring a clean pair of knickers?”
The Doctor hadn't been prepared for the mention of underwear and he blinked at her, startled, as he flushed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“If it makes you happy,” he mumbled, his obvious embarrassment making Rose giggle. “Just be in the control room when we land or you'll get left behind.” He disappeared out of the door, shutting it behind him.
Rose stared at the shut door for a moment, then threw a pillow in pure frustration. It hit the spot where he'd been stood before falling to the floor. She sighed heavily, squeezing her eyes closed. The very last thing she'd needed was to awaken to find the Doctor watching her. He'd done that before, but then he was... was, well her Doctor. This new one wasn't hers and to find him in her room was... unsettling. It made her question her nightmare, the confusion of memories. Thinking over her state of mind she realised she'd been vaguely aware of his presence before he'd woken her.
Muttering darkly to herself, Rose clambered out of bed and retrieved her pillow, tossing it onto her bed. She shrugged off her pyjamas and got dressed, matching a pale pink t-shirt with black jeans and a black jacket with pink stripes down the arms. However getting dressed didn't stop her thinking about the psychic link.
It was getting stronger, there was no doubt about it. That scared her. What also scared her was the fact she couldn't control it. The Doctor could probably teach her how, if he wanted to. She wasn't sure he would want to, even if the whole thing made him as uneasy as it did her. But he wouldn't pass up on a possible advantage.
Rose snorted. He had that much in common with her Doctor. Neither of them would pass on an opportunity to have the upper hand. Still this wasn't something he'd experienced before. He hadn't done this, the TARDIS had. And that was even more unnerving.
Leaving her room, Rose went to the control room. The Doctor and Jack stood over one screen, both their faces intent. As she crossed over, Jack lend forward.
“It's almost the same patternation as those used by the Time Agents,” he said.
“Almost,” the Doctor agreed. “But not quite, huh?”
“It's a trap,” said Jack, standing to look at the older man.
“Definitely.”
“So should we really be following it then?” Rose asked.
Jack smiled at her and held his arms out. She went to him and was caught in a tight bear hug.
“Morning Gorgeous,” he said. “You look fabulous as always.”
“That's not an answer,” she retorted primly.
“We should,” the Doctor said. “Because it is a trap. I want to know what they want to catch. And since we know it is a trap, I think we should be able to avoid getting caught in it ourselves.”
“Really?” Rose asked, her voice full of disbelief. The Doctor looked at her. “Well we do have this amazing ability to end up right in the middle of things,” she explained.
“She's right,” Jack said with a chuckle.
“Well if we set off the trap, we'll get to meet the setters even sooner,” the Doctor replied airily.
“Doctor, that is precisely why I like you so much,” said Jack, “absolutely brilliant planning.”
The Doctor's hard glare went from Rose's expression of innocent to Jack's cheeky grin.
“Hmfph,” he huffed. He turned back to the screen, ignoring the smirk that Jack and Rose shared. “We're nearly there,” he announced.
As if to confirm this, the TARDIS began to shake and the whine of its engine grew louder. There was a shudder and then a bang, the lights flickered and then everything went still.
“We're heeere,” the Doctor said in a sing-song voice.
“I hope that's not an omen,” Jack muttered sourly.
Rose shook her head. “Seriously that's the last time I let you two stay up watching scary movies.”
And then, because I've spent at least some of today really actually working - a lil bit of
Jack Harkness, ex-conman and one-time captain of the Time Agents, stood at the controls of the TARDIS and checked the readings again. Yes they were definitely picking up an odd signal. It waxed and waned, indistinct and hard to track. Well, beyond Jack's ability to track anyway, but the TARDIS might just be being pedantic.
Jack smirked at that thought and shifted his gaze to the pulsing central column. Once he would have thought anyone thinking this ship had a mind of its own was mad; now he'd think that if they didn't. Things... moved. Often he found controls he could work one day would be unresponsive the next. It was possible that the signal could be traced, but that the TARDIS deemed it necessary for the Doctor to do it.
Frowning in the blue light, Jack pursed his lips and wondered whether he ought to wake the Doctor. The Time Lord had been increasingly cranky over the last few days, a product he admitted was him doing too much after regenerating. Jack had finally gotten tired of being snapped at and sent him to bed.
The fact Rose was also in bed would probably lead to interesting conversations later.
Jack had been told about the psychic link they shared, although they had both been incredibly cagey about exactly how it had occurred. He frowned again; something had destroyed the Daleks. He suspected it had to do with Rose somehow – after all the Doctor had sent her and the TARDIS away, yet it had returned. He didn't doubt that Rose had somehow managed that, though how he had no idea.
And then there was the fact the Doctor had regenerated. Jack himself had few memories beyond being faced by three Daleks and them firing. He woken to find them gone and the TARDIS fading from sight. When it came back, Rose looked older somehow and the Doctor... The Doctor had looked utterly different.
Whatever had happened, neither of them felt comfortable discussing it with him. He felt a little hurt at the exclusion, but he remembered the last time he'd asked Rose about it. It had been late and they'd been sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate. She'd frozen and gone pale. Then she'd looked at him with a deep pain in her large brown eyes and told him she couldn't say what had happened on the Games Station and begged him not to push the issue.
Jack sighed at the recollection and turned his attention back to the display. The signal they were picking up was getting stronger. He wasn't ready to assume the Doctor was okay with him making a call yet, so he trudged through the TARDIS' corridors to the Doctor's room.
He pounded on the door.
“Doctor?”
There was a pause, followed by a muffled bang and then the door was opened. The Doctor was wearing a grey t-shirt and Bermuda shorts and he blinked at Jack blearily.
“What?” he asked in some irritation.
“Ah... the TARDIS has been picking up an odd signal. It's started to get stronger and I wondered what you wanted to do. Should we go and have a look?”
“What? Oh yeah, sure.” The Doctor rubbed at his eyes. “You can land the TARDIS can't you? Go do that and I'll get dressed and attempt to wake Rose up.”
Jack nodded and started back to the control room, then stopped. He looked back at the Doctor.
“How were things last night?” he asked warily. “Should I be hiding sharp implements?”
The Doctor frowned, then rolled his eyes as he realised what Jack was getting at.
“No, it's fine,” he said, dismissing the whole idea with a vague wave of one hand. Then a thoughtful look settled on his face. “Although I did have a rather strange dream about being naked during an exam.”
“Oh really?” Jack was intrigued.
“Yes. Odd but enlightening – I've always wondered what I'd look like with breasts.”
Rose was dreaming. Or rather, as it consisted of scraps of memories jumbled together, it was closer to a nightmare. Images flashed through her mind; the dark basement of Henrick's and shop dummies to come life all the way; the Earth exploding then a undertakers doing the same. The Slitheen chased her through an alien museum; there was Harriet Jones only she had an opening in her head; Adam as he was when she first met him, then fading out like a worn tape and screaming as he did so. Blue light flaring from the top of the TARDIS and pouring out of the doors as the world shattered about it. Daleks with teeth.
Across the room, the Doctor leant against the wall, watching Rose shift in her sleep in the faint light of the open door. She was murmuring, mostly incoherant words, but he caught “Dalek” and flinched. Tendrils of her nightmare brushed the back of his mind and he pushed them away. She rolled onto her back and her blonde hair glinted in the dim light, evoking a dozen memories that were not strictly his own.
Fighting down a myriad of emotions, he schooled his face into a blank mask.
“Rose,” he said loudly, his voice flat and expressionless.
Rose jerked awake, stifling a small cry. She looked round the room with wide eyes, then her gaze settled on the Doctor.
“What?” she managed, her voice hoarse from dryness. “What's the matter?”
“The TARDIS has picked up a strange reading,” he told her in the same flat voice. “Jack's tracing it now.”
“Trouble?” Rose asked.
Suddenly in her mind was a white-walled room and a dark-skinned girl with a hole in her head, then a monster of mammoth proportions. She blinked and it was gone, leaving her unsure as to whether the recollection had been hers or his. She stared at the Doctor, but his expression remained neutral, although that itself was no further indication.
“Possibly,” he said. He seemed to brighten at the prospect. “Actually, more than likely. So wear sensible shoes, and nothing with trailing parts.”
Rose folded her arms at the order, one eyebrow lifting imperiously.
“Excuse me, but I have done this before,” she reminded him. “What are you? My mother? Should I bring a clean pair of knickers?”
The Doctor hadn't been prepared for the mention of underwear and he blinked at her, startled, as he flushed and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“If it makes you happy,” he mumbled, his obvious embarrassment making Rose giggle. “Just be in the control room when we land or you'll get left behind.” He disappeared out of the door, shutting it behind him.
Rose stared at the shut door for a moment, then threw a pillow in pure frustration. It hit the spot where he'd been stood before falling to the floor. She sighed heavily, squeezing her eyes closed. The very last thing she'd needed was to awaken to find the Doctor watching her. He'd done that before, but then he was... was, well her Doctor. This new one wasn't hers and to find him in her room was... unsettling. It made her question her nightmare, the confusion of memories. Thinking over her state of mind she realised she'd been vaguely aware of his presence before he'd woken her.
Muttering darkly to herself, Rose clambered out of bed and retrieved her pillow, tossing it onto her bed. She shrugged off her pyjamas and got dressed, matching a pale pink t-shirt with black jeans and a black jacket with pink stripes down the arms. However getting dressed didn't stop her thinking about the psychic link.
It was getting stronger, there was no doubt about it. That scared her. What also scared her was the fact she couldn't control it. The Doctor could probably teach her how, if he wanted to. She wasn't sure he would want to, even if the whole thing made him as uneasy as it did her. But he wouldn't pass up on a possible advantage.
Rose snorted. He had that much in common with her Doctor. Neither of them would pass on an opportunity to have the upper hand. Still this wasn't something he'd experienced before. He hadn't done this, the TARDIS had. And that was even more unnerving.
Leaving her room, Rose went to the control room. The Doctor and Jack stood over one screen, both their faces intent. As she crossed over, Jack lend forward.
“It's almost the same patternation as those used by the Time Agents,” he said.
“Almost,” the Doctor agreed. “But not quite, huh?”
“It's a trap,” said Jack, standing to look at the older man.
“Definitely.”
“So should we really be following it then?” Rose asked.
Jack smiled at her and held his arms out. She went to him and was caught in a tight bear hug.
“Morning Gorgeous,” he said. “You look fabulous as always.”
“That's not an answer,” she retorted primly.
“We should,” the Doctor said. “Because it is a trap. I want to know what they want to catch. And since we know it is a trap, I think we should be able to avoid getting caught in it ourselves.”
“Really?” Rose asked, her voice full of disbelief. The Doctor looked at her. “Well we do have this amazing ability to end up right in the middle of things,” she explained.
“She's right,” Jack said with a chuckle.
“Well if we set off the trap, we'll get to meet the setters even sooner,” the Doctor replied airily.
“Doctor, that is precisely why I like you so much,” said Jack, “absolutely brilliant planning.”
The Doctor's hard glare went from Rose's expression of innocent to Jack's cheeky grin.
“Hmfph,” he huffed. He turned back to the screen, ignoring the smirk that Jack and Rose shared. “We're nearly there,” he announced.
As if to confirm this, the TARDIS began to shake and the whine of its engine grew louder. There was a shudder and then a bang, the lights flickered and then everything went still.
“We're heeere,” the Doctor said in a sing-song voice.
“I hope that's not an omen,” Jack muttered sourly.
Rose shook her head. “Seriously that's the last time I let you two stay up watching scary movies.”