one echo :: video

[generated_anomaly]

[One would think spending one second in a space ship and another in a zoo would rattle a person. However, when Jenny lands on the ground with a thump, she isn't necessarily rattled. No, she's excited.] Hello, what's this?

[She picks up the device next to her and studies it for a brief moment before looking up excitedly at the massive creature in front of her. An elephant, not that she knows that.] Oh hello, what are you? [Getting to her feet, she reaches out to gently pet the trunk of the beast.] Trapped here in a cage, like me? Doesn't seem fair.

[It takes her no time at all to work out the device in her hand, the video coming to life. She smiles excitedly into the screen. The elephants trunk can be seen inspecting her hair, her shoulder, her face. She doesn't seem to mind it one bit.] Excuse me. I found your cages. And while I understand the necessity of them given certain situations, I must insist that you allow the more harmless creatures their freedom. It doesn't seem ri- [The elephant's trunk pokes her in the side and she laughs and looks up to him in response.] Oh, that tickles!

Comments

[am_i_being_rude]

[Whoops. Normally, yes, he's quite against cages and such, but there are exceptions. Sometimes they aren't necessarily a bad thing.]

Well at least I know exactly where you are then. I'll be there in a bit. [She made friends quite fast. He's quite happy about that.] It's quite fun to say, isn't it? Elephant. Somehow it suits them, though it's hard to say precisely why.

[generated_anomaly]

[He's really going to have to explain to her why this seemingly peaceful giant of a creature belongs in a cage once he gets there. Poor Doctor.]

Elephant is very much an appropriate name for them. But perhaps that is their species name and this elephant has an actual name such as Jenny or Donna or Martha...

[Her look turns thoughtful and she looks back and down] Or maybe he's a boy elephant. Are you a Donna or a Don? [She's very interested in names since she has one herself.]

[am_i_being_rude]

[I think there are a lot of things he will cheerfully allow his other self(-ves) to assume the proper role and explain. Or he might get territorial. He's not decided yet.]

If you can get it to tell you its actual name then you've got quite a way with words. I don't think they normally go around having conversations like that.

[generated_anomaly]

My way with words is in a state of constant flux. I keep learning new things! I like learning new things.

[And now down to business.] Are you here to save these creatures from imprisonment? Or is there some greater threat? I know I could be of some help. You could take me with you like we had planned.

[am_i_being_rude]

Good! Day you stop learning, might as well stop everything. It's really just not worth it after that, I think.

[...About that.] I'm not totally su-- yeah, you could say there's a bigger issue at the moment. I'm here - well, there's two of me here, actually, which has been... fun. And Donna! You remember Donna - helped name you and all.

[generated_anomaly]

[The idea of the bigger issue, something she could help her dad out with, spikes her interest. Her eyes take on an excited light that quickly turns to an interested confusion when he mentions a duplicate of himself. Of course then she's side-tracked by Donna.]

Donna! I remember Donna. She's still traveling about with you fighting terrible creatures and saving things? I think that's fantastic. I liked her. And since she's here I suppose I like her as well.

[There's a pause for breath but because she can't help but ask...] There's another you here? Does that mean I have two dads?

[am_i_being_rude]

[The side-tracking was entirely the point so he's quite glad that worked. Young ones are a bit easier to distract, on the whole.] She's here, yeah. Few other people I suppose you'll get to meet as well. Actually some that I met when I got here.

[He absolutely makes a face at the 'two dads' thing. Still not sure how to feel about that.] Technically I suppose it does, yeah. Have to see how he feels about that.

[generated_anomaly]

[His plan worked! She attempts to push away the elephant trun that's now in her face. And she knows she probably shouldn't be so excited about being a part of his life, but he had made such an impression on her so quickly. She had modeled everything she wanted to be after him. She was excited.] I'll meet them all! All your friends who you keep about. You do tend to always have someone with you, don't you? Is Martha here? I remember her too.

[While it makes sense now to think that this copy of her dad might not want her to call him dad, she hadn't initially thought it would be a problem. So she turns thoughtful again.] Oh. Yes, I suppose that does make sense. Freedom to choose, right?

[am_i_being_rude]

[Oh man, he doesn't know that and there will be all the feels once he realises she imprinted so hxc on him so quickly.] Ah, no, Martha's out... Living her life again. Actually working for UNIT, freelance, doing a bit of what she did with us, saving people. But people you haven't met who have travelled with me as well are here. Amy, Rose - oh... There's a thing about the TARDIS as well I probably ought to say. [That stops there for a moment as he's just made it to the zoo and is going over to the elephants.]

Yeah. Best leave him the option. Didn't ask to be a father. Well, I suppose I didn't either, but I've clearly fallen head over for it already. Give him a chance to choose the same. [Sonicking the cage open. Like, the little human sized door in the cage.] There you are!

[generated_anomaly]

Amy, Rose, TARDIS... everything has a name! Such lovely names. And good for Martha. She clearly wants to do what you do. I'm sure lots of people do.

[She's going to bounce excitedly on her toes just a few times when she sees him, take a step forward, hesitate, another step, hesitate. She wants to hug him. They've hugged before. But she isn't sure how he feels about her right now. Maybe she was still just an echo to him. Maybe not. Sometimes she felt like an echo. Finally, she just does it and gives him a quick, awkward hug before pulling back again.] Hi, Dad. Here I am.

[She gestures to the large creature, slowly lumbering toward her since she had moved away from it and closer to him.] And this is the elephant that needs rescuing.

[am_i_being_rude]

[Oh he is absolutely all for hugging, and he holds her to him for all that the awkward hug will allow and then lets her go, similarly bouncy and all because it's his daughter and look she's totally not dead.] Oh I should say! Here you are! Brilliant!

[...Aaaand the elephant. Crap.] Th-... Right. Actually, Jenny, the elephant is where it needs to be.

OH! And the TARDIS. Meant to tell you. The TARDIS is a woman now! Would you believe that?

[generated_anomaly]

The TARDIS is a woman? [This is said with all of the surprise that comes with such a statement. And The Doctor has once again distracted her rather well from the fact that she can't save the elephant because now she's trying to wrap her mind around the TARDIS being a woman.]

Did the TARDIS go through a machine like a progenation machine that makes people? Does the TARDIS have DNA?

[am_i_being_rude]

I know! Surprised the hell outta me. Went to work, came back home, home was gone. I mean, she's drifted off before but this was toooootally different. Have to live in a flat now.

I think it happened to her outside here, actually. Given that she's the same as the ship it's likely the ship disappeared for a bit and then she returned a short period later transformed, but as for how it took place I'm not actually entirely certain.

[He's just sort of casually walking back to the flat now.]

[generated_anomaly]

[Jenny is absentmindedly following him as she listens to his explanation about the TARDIS.]

So... the TARDIS went away and now you live in a flat and no longer travel about saving people and seeing amazing places and all that Donna said?

[She's not disappointed, just surprised. And she doesn't understand the nature of this City yet.]

[am_i_being_rude]

Yup-ah, that's about the state of things. It's still... fun, this place. New things happen here all the time, keep it from getting boring, you'll see in a couple of days. [He's not sure whether he's glad she missed the Sex Talk curse or not... Not having to do it himself versus having EVERYONE else do it... Rock and a hard place.]

[generated_anomaly]

[But it's so much more fun to make him do it! Jenny tilts her head curiously, still full of questions about pretty much everything.]

Can the TARDIS, as a woman, not take you anywhere new?

[am_i_being_rude]

Not at the moment no. Actually, even when she was a box here we were still a bit... stuck. No time-jumping, and could only geographically hop to other places within the pocket. Bit annoying, really.

[generated_anomaly]

If I had actually landed my spaceship I could have taken us all from here.

[This is where she actually notices she's been moving and stops, looking back toward the zoo. She'd left that poor elephant behind and that made her sad. But more importantly, how had she gotten here in the first place.]

I didn't land my spaceship! I was in it. Then I wasn't! Some sort of transportation, is it?

[am_i_being_rude]

[Poor thing. No you couldn't have. Thanks for the thought though.

He nods a bit.] Some sort of transportation indeed. People randomly show up, day and night, in different parts of the City - be happy you didn't land in the fountain; lots of people do for some reason - and just as randomly they can vanish for no apparent reason. Toys in someone's little personal universe. Fun notion, isn't it?

[generated_anomaly]

I've never had toys so I'm certain I wouldn't know. But it does sound interesting. I'm going to meet so many different people! I love meeting new people.

[She's genuinely excited about this. She's always excited about new things, actually. But this place sounds like it's going to be chock full of new things. Plus her dad is here. Definitely icing on the new things cake.]

Are there civilizations to rescue here? Wars to stop? Amazing places to see? What do you do?

[am_i_being_rude]

[That is almost the most depressing thought ever. She's getting some toys.

And not only because all her excitement is making him definitely feel like he's about to disappoint her. 'I go to work and snog Rose' really doesn't hold up to stopping wars or rescuing civilizations, he thinks.]

Not... precisely. Well, amazing things if not places, per se. And you'll definitely meet a bunch of new people. Neverending rotunda of new people, really. But I'm a bit... Sedentary? Which might have been indicated by the TARDIS being a woman rather than a ship, even though I can obviously overcome obstacles like that. And without actually being sedentary, look at me, but... yeah.

[generated_anomaly]

[She isn't so much disappointed yet as still trying to understand everything.]

So you're trapped here? You and the TARDIS and Donna and all those people you talked about? [Trapped is trapped, no matter how you spin it.] Am I trapped here too? And the elephant?

[am_i_being_rude]

[He makes a face as he tries to figure out a less annoying way to say 'yeah, trapped' and gradually realises there isn't one.] Basically? Everybody who is here is trapped here. Even the elephant.

[generated_anomaly]

[She looks a bit skeptical but then slowly begins to walk with him again. This is nothing that she could have seen coming, nothing she would have expected. As much as she had wanted to see him again, she hadn't thought she would what with his traveling through time and all. And yet, here she was and here he was. It made her happy. But the fact that her father the time traveler was stuck here countered that happiness. Her father should never be stuck. Maybe he was the one that needed saving.]

Have you met the ones in charge, then? What world is this? Is there a leadership of some sort that we can speak to? I'd like that, speaking to the leader and learning all about this place... mechanics and all.

[am_i_being_rude]

Actually, for a pandimentional nexus built of people across time and space and realities occasionally bursting with a cursing here and there, it seems to run inordinately smoothly. There's a handful of people styling themselves as leaders, but for the most part I tend to let them. [He 'lets' them. He leaves them alone because he doesn't like the idea of them. He did note the skepticism - he was looking for disappointment, after all, and that's really just the stuff turned toward optimism - so a few paces later his hand seeks hers out while they walk.] It's called the City, which just about everybody agrees is a rubbish name, but then again when the city is the world, it's a bit overkill to name it anything else, I suppose. Bit like Main Street in a one-street town.