[network/open] WTF???

[thedoctorsmate]

Who: Donna Noble
Username: supertemp
Warnings: Discussion of teeth, serial killers

Right.
Donna Noble.
New arrival.
Question:
What the flip is going on with the teeth?
Why are there bags of teeth in the park?
Who does that?
Whose teeth are they?
Isn't that like what a serial killer does?
I saw a program on Ted Bundy once.
Mad stuff.

Comments

[abrightboy]

Okay. There’s a coffee shop just up the street from ADI. I can meet you there in half an hour.

[thedoctorsmate]

Up the street in which direction?
And has it got a name?
What should I be calling you?
And what do you even look like?

[abrightboy]

1. North
2. Any Beans Necessary
3. Malcolm Bright
[He snaps a selfie as he heads out of the elevator.]
4.

That's me.

>action

[thedoctorsmate]

[...]

Cute. I like the beard and touch of gray.
Makes you look dignified.
I'll be around soon.

[And so she will be! Donna heads to the cafe, looking around for her new companion.]

Malcolm, right? How's the lattes here?

[abrightboy]

I'm drinking a mocha, but I'm told they're good. Everything here is vastly superior to the cafeteria at ADI, so you can't go wrong with that part.

[He's left the chair across from him slightly pulled out, so she can sit easily once she's ordered her drink.]

What sort of things are you looking to find out?

[thedoctorsmate]

[She takes a look at the menu briefly.]

Dunno. Depends on what you're willing to tell me, I guess? What would you tell a new person just arrived from another universe?

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm considers her, turning his cup around absently between his hands.]

You know... you talk about 'another universe' like someone not running up against the concept for the very first time.

[thedoctorsmate]

I've got this friend I've been traveling with. And he's got a friend who was trapped in another universe. [Her smile is tight.] Didn't think I'd get stuck, too. Bit worried what that might do to his psyche, if I'm being honest. He's a good man... but he's better when he's got someone with him.

[abrightboy]

Magic or aliens? [Some of her questions on her network post slanted kind of aliens. This place seemed to pull in a lot of magic. It's hard to tell which without asking.]

[thedoctorsmate]

Aliens. Not sure magic's really a... thing? Not where I'm from. Even had a weird spaceman explanation for seers when we met them once. Couldn't tell you everything. He gets going, and I tune out half of it.

[abrightboy]

Magic is a Thing here. It’s kind of annoying, if I’m honest. I know some people that have it and using it is going to kill them. There are beings that feed on it.

[thedoctorsmate]

Okay, so people keep saying that, but there are aliens who feed on emotion. Or are... attracted to it? My friend met one on the planet we were on just before I came through here. Not saying anyone's lying, but I'm wondering if treating it more like that and less like... 'Woooooo... Ghosts!' Might help?

[She wiggles her fingers to illustrate said ghosts.]

[abrightboy]

[He's not sure he's seen anyone take it as lightly as 'wooo' but she has a point.]

I think you should try it. I don't believe anyone has. Just. Be prepared to deal with things that you don't understand. That's the best advice I can give.

[thedoctorsmate]

Another Tuesday for me, then. [She offers a wry smile.] Loads of things I don't understand. But never stop trying, right?

[abrightboy]

I guess. [He pauses, then leans forward a little.] Sometimes it gets inside your head.

[thedoctorsmate]

[The smile turns a bit sadder.]

Wouldn't be the first time for that, either. Mostly, I'm just sorry you lot got me. If my friend were here... he'd be able to help so much better with... all of this.

[abrightboy]

I’m sure you’ll do just as well as anyone else. You actually seem more well prepared than most of us are when we arrive.

[thedoctorsmate]

Running around with a madman prepares you for a lot, I guess. [Donna huffs quietly.] I hope he'll find me soon. From everything they told me during their 'orientation,' this isn't the best version of Earth to be stuck on.

[abrightboy]

Does he have a way to find you even here?

[thedoctorsmate]

[How about we don't bring up one of her Big Fears.]

No. I mean... maybe? It was a lucky thing I found him a second time. But if he's looking for me, I have to believe he'd figure something out. He's clever. He is so clever. I mean, he's a right thick-headed tit, too, sometimes, but when he's not being that... he's all smarts, that one.

[abrightboy]

Do you think, if he finds you, that he'll just pick you up and take off or will he be... curious?

[thedoctorsmate]

Oh, he'll want to know what's going on here. And he'll want to help. That's what he does. What I've been helping him do. We go places with problems, and he does whatever he can to try to make it right.

[abrightboy]

What kinds of problems? What kinds of places?

cw: mention of slavery

[thedoctorsmate]

All sorts, really. Big problems a lot of the time, but little things, too. He's a time traveler with a space ship. We can go... anywhere. Any when. He's saved Earth a few times from invasions. It's how we met. There were spider aliens. It's complicated. But... yeah. He stopped them. He helped stop a war that had gone on for generations, but had lasted only a week. He saved thousands of people who were trapped in a computer program. He helped free an entire race of people from slavery... And he managed to save one family when Mount Vesuvius erupted. It wasn't much. It isn't always. Some days? Feels like you've barely won at all. But it was something.

[abrightboy]

I understand that. Um. Time travel, huh? That makes the places he'll have to look for you multiply across all of time, doesn't it?