ROLEPLAY HQ - test-of-time

8:18 PM

That familiar sound was at it again. A sound only few would recognize, but none would ever forget. How could anyone ever remove the memory of the Doctor’s police box from their mind? Those blue wooden walls on the outside with a cosmos on the inside. Anyone who had the opportunity to see the inner workings of the Tardis often found themselves craving one more adventure. Just another go at the danger the Doctor offered in exchange for a life-changing experience. His hands twist around the levers and knobs of the Tardis guiding the box deeper into time and space, passing by worlds never seen by the human eye, and universes that could take one’s breath away with a single glance - the places he traveled were not for the faint of heart, and yet, without someone by his side, it was almost as if all the creations around him, the glory, the wonder, the unforgettable expanse…was meaningless. It was no surprise when that sound, the one that brought many to tremble with excitement or fear, landed in New York City. Concealed with technology to blend into his surroundings, he easily slipped out the doors of the Tardis to walk along the streets as if he belonged there. Humans fascinated him because their life was short, and although not everyone cherished the time they were given, there were a few who did - and those were the types of people the Doctor loved the most. The strange part about his arrival on Earth wasn’t that he was lonely and looking for another companion, though having someone to explore with had been on his mind, it was that coincidentally there was an energy reading on his monitor that signaled him to return to Earth once more. The readings were off the chart. There was something on Earth creating a force so strong, it was throwing everything off millions of light years away. Who could resist such a mystery, especially on a planet he adored so much? The truth was he didn’t have much of a choice. This is where the Tardis wanted him to be, and so, this is

8:18 PM

where his next adventure began… His sonic screwdriver was positioned in front of him as if it were a flashlight in the dark, making sounds and noises that were distracting, but to him, told him all the information he needed to know. This device, shaped like a sturdy pen, led him straight into a museum of all places. Specifically a museum of “The Future”. He couldn’t help but laugh. It was fantastic! There were robots and gadgets that amused the Doctor to no end - but he needed to keep his focus. Where was the energy reading coming from? He traced the museum with his sonic as if scanning items to find their barcode. The clock said it was almost time for the museum to close, and as many headed for the exit, the Doctor stayed behind, looking for this elusive object that was causing waves within space and time to distort. Surely, he was not the only one who picked up these signals. That’s why it was imperative to find whatever it was before someone with harmful intentions got their hands on it first. A sudden buzz caught him off guard as his sonic vibrated rapidly. To his surprise, the item he was looking for wasn’t made from metal or plastic - it was a human. “What?” he said in disbelief. He shook the sonic to see if it was malfunctioning, but alas, the readings all came back the same. Not being one who was shy, the Doctor approached the woman to strike up a conversation. “Hello,” he said, noting she worked at the museum by the thin square name tag on her shirt. “Can you tell me what the purpose of this is?” he asked, pointing to a machine in a glass box on display. It looked like something one might find in a kitchen, but with what appeared to be lasers on the front. If he had to make a guess, it was some type of 3D printer, but the Doctor didn’t really care what it was, he was only interested in why this particular person had energy readings causing his Tardis to bring him to this exact point in time… @CieranSolarFields

Keira woke up that morning, and for all intents and purposes it was a morning like any other. She sat on the balcony of her studio, sipping her coffee and watching people mill about below like ants across a landscape. She quipped to her friends that her flat was the smallest in New York City, and she might have been right - the single room barely had room for her bed, with some small appliances and books piled haphazardly on shelves above. She considered the balcony the highlight of the apartment - barely a square foot in size, it was only room enough for the chair she sat in that morning - but it was worth it for the fresh air and the view, a feature that more expensive suites skipped over. Many residents of the city got home and wanted to close themselves off from the busy streets below, but Keira couldn't get enough of the city. Something about being in the center of so much energy, so many stories, filled her with eager anticipation. And, sometimes, with a bit of sorrow, though she could never figure out why. She finished her coffee and went back in, taking off her pajamas as she made her way to the front door. She reached the entrance and grabbed a plush white robe from the hook behind the door, her azure and turqoise locks spilling like ocean waves against the stark white garment. Walking down the hall to the shared bathroom, she glanced at her watch and said a silent prayer - she'd be late if she had to wait for any of her floormates to finish up. Fate smiled upon her that day - Michael, her floormate, was just finishing up. "Ay Keira, how you doin?", he asked cheerily with a thick New York accent. "Good Mike, gotta run though or I'm gonna be late!", she replied as she passed him and headed into the bathroom. Keira could hear a reply as she started the shower, but the solid door and sound of the splashing water drowned out Mike's reply.

8:14 PM

Keira finished getting ready and headed back to her room, putting on a black dress with subtle vertical pleats. It was her favorite dress for work - it subtly hugged her figure, without seeming out of place for her job as curator of the Future Technologies wing of the New Museum. The art museum had been open for several years, and now they were looking to branch into history and sciences, which is where Keira came into the picture. She loved everything about the future - something about it called to her. Dreaming of the future filled her with excitement, and, just like sitting on her little balcony, a little sadness that she couldn't quite explain. It had always been that way, and when it came time to grow up and get to adulting, Keira pursued the interests she had always loved. She did her makeup - dark eyeliner that accentuated her pale white skin - and finished off her outfit with the necklace she always wore, a golden artifact filled with small gears, suspended by a thin black fabric choker. She'd had it for as long as she could remember, and hardly ever left the house without it draped upon her neck. She glanced at her watch - 15 minutes to 9, she hadn't been quite quick enough that morning - and started briskly walking towards the subway to catch the Q to the office.

8:15 PM

About 20 minutes later, Keira found herself outside the museum. It was a school holiday that day, so the venue was particularly busy, filled with adults and children shuffling through the halls. She deftly dodged sticky-fingered children and parents looking for docents, trying to blend in with the crowd so that no one would realize she was an employee and try to gain her attention. She made it to the end of the Future Technologies hall, where on the back wall was an inconspicuous doorway that led to the museum offices. Some of her coworkers were already busy at their desks, others had not arrived yet. She sat down and started her day's research into their new exhibit on robots. Time flew by for Keira, and before she knew it the crowds in the museum had thinned out and the sun was starting to go down over the city that never slept. She locked her system and headed out into the museum, taking in the product of her life's work and making sure everything was in place. Just when she thought she'd made it out of the office without a single customer interaction, she stopped for a moment at one of the manufacturing exhibits. "Hello", the voice said behind her. She let out the smallest of sighs, resigning to the fact that she would need to address this customer before she headed out the door. She hoped that it was an easy request, a quick answer and she'd be on her way. "Come on, Keira", she thought to herself, "it's a museum. If you didn't want to interact with people you could have just become a scientist."

8:15 PM

She turned around and her eyes met that of a well dressed man smiling at her. He was very attractive and this took Keira by surprise, her mouth staying open for a moment as she took him in. "Y-yes. You're partially correct, it is a 3D printer. This one uses lasers to heat layers of resin - it's cutting edge, but it will usher in a new era of at-home manufacturing." Her eyes shifted towards the object the man held in his hand, which looked like a strange pen that was emitting a strange buzzing noise, then back to him. He was young, her age or perhaps a bit older, but his eyes - something about them betrayed the rest of his appearance. They were not wrinkled, but they looked so much older than the man himself. Keira had been planning on giving a one word answer and shuffling out the door as quickly as possible, but something about the man caught her attention. Not to mention the object he was holding - she had no clue what it was but it looked like it would fit right in as a museum exhibit. A strange urge compelled her to continue the conversation. "Do you have an interest in manufacturing technologies? We have several other exhibits you might be interested in..." She glanced at the clock - 2 minutes to 5. "...although unfortunately, we're about to close." Normally that line would be followed up with a gentle usher out of the museum, but she lingered at the end of the sentence, waiting for his reply.

@Taking Back Luxday

And so it began, the interaction between the Doctor and this one-hearted blue-haired earthling. The conversation got really weird from that point forward, but it wasn’t Keira’s fault, it’s just how the Doctor liked to interact with humans in general. It was as if the Doctor were reading an excerpt out of an old encyclopedia with facts and trivia about the past that no one could verify if it were true or not. He referenced names of places in time that Keira would have no recollection of, and he wasn’t doing it to show off, it’s just the way his mind worked when a waterfall of words began tumbling out of his mouth at rapid speeds. There was too much inside his head after living for hundreds of years, so to him, this type of banter seemed normal. Now and then, he’d check to see if she was still listening or if his words had put her to sleep. The truth is, he was stalling since the large clock on the wall made it clear the museum was about to close, and he still hadn’t figured out what made this particular human so important... “...so you see, that’s why I rarely go to museums that claim they have the technology of the future - because more often than not, it’s a bunch of wibbly wobbly mumbo jumbo that is only meant to capture money from unsuspecting tourists!” He put the screwdriver in his jacket pocket, somewhere in the depths of the silky lining concealed near his chest. The Doctor continued to search the museum for other signs that seemed out of the ordinary, and that’s when he saw it - a big metal robot. And not just any robot. It was what the people from his world referred to as a Cyberman. At first, he was speechless, which if anyone knew him well enough would know was a bad sign. The Doctor tilted his head to one side in disbelief as if that would make things clear, like looking through a kaleidoscope to find new patterns - but it didn’t work. He walked towards the metal machine, its bulky body standing in a corner, seemingly unalive, and studied it l

11:21 AM

ike it were a dangerous piece of machinery for war. “Keira…where did you get this?” His voice was laced with deep concern, but there wasn’t time for the woman with blue hair to respond. How could there be when the eyes of the Cyberman suddenly sparked to life? “Mission complete. The Doctor has arrived to activate the artifact. You will be assimilated into the Nova Army.” The Cyberman’s voice was mechanical and void of emotion, something the Doctor was used to, but the words coming out of their mouth - that was something he hadn’t heard before. “The what?” Only the Doctor had to jump to the side to avoid the Cyberman’s grasp, missing by inches, and when failing to catch the Doctor, stomped its heavy metal feet on the museum’s shiny waxed floor heading straight for Keira…. @CieranSolarFields

She listed to the man with quiet amusement - he was nothing if not good at filling the silence, otherwise she would have simply interrupted him to close the museum. She studied him carefully as he spoke, trying to come up with a story in her mind about who this man was and why he was there that night, when suddenly she saw his gaze shift. Up until now, it was one of nonchalance, taking in the museum space and reveling in the artifacts that lay within. But when his eyes rested on the museum's newest artifact - a large, retro-looking metal robot in the corner, his face turned to one of concern. Hold on a minute, she thought to herself, that shouldn't even be in here - wasn't it on the loading dock this morn- The robot interrupted her thought as the man questioned her about the robot. However, before she even had time to answer, a cold buzzing sound came from the machine, as its eyes came to life with an ominous blue glow. It took a few steps towards them and its arm jerked out, trying to take the doctor but missing by a narrow margin. Keira's eyes grew wide with panic as the head of the robot spun to face her, analyzing her for a moment. "A COM-PAN-ION OF THE DOC-TOR", it blurted out with an inhuman, synthesized tone. "YOU WILL BE A HOS-TAGE TO FORCE HIS HAND." The rest of the robot's body spun to match its head, as it lunged for Keira. She ducked out of the way and sprinted for the corridor. The robot caught the hem of her dress, which tore at the edge with an unpleasant rip, a chunk of the material grasped inside its metal hands. Keira ran down the corridor towards the back offices, where she figured she had the best chance of hiding. Perhaps she could even make her way to the loading docks and escape the building. She no longer knew where the strange man was, she clearly had more pressing concerns like avoiding death by metal robot - but the thought of him lingered in the back of her mind. He knew about this...this being that was now hunting her. What w

9:52 PM

as going on? Her fingers were cold and numb with fear, but a small - very small - part of her felt at home in the chaos, alive with the events that unfolded within the last 30 seconds. @Taking Back Luxday

The Cyberman clamored down the hallway in search of Keira, busting open doors, punching holes in walls, and flipping over desks in search of the Doctor’s so-called companion. “Hey Tinhead! Wouldn’t it be easier to take me to this Nova Army versus capturing a meaningless human to complete some master plan you’ve conjured up? Something tells me you’re a few circuits short of properly functioning correctly.” The Doctor pulled out the screwdriver from his jacket pocket and aimed it at the Cyberman, igniting a buzzing sound from the device which turned the tip a cosmic blue. Sparks suddenly flew from the Cyberman as they began to internally combust from whatever the sonic screwdriver was doing to them. The metal robot faltered and crashed into one of the walls, which allowed The Doctor to jolt past them. He flung the door open to the room Keira was hiding in, grabbed her by the hand, and started running with her. “You need to trust me!” he called over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the Cyberman getting to its feet. There was an exit door not far from where they were that led to the back of the museum. He threw himself at the door, purposely causing it to burst open, and guided Keira to stand behind him now that they were out. At that very moment, a plan struck him the way it always did in times of crisis. “Stay here,” he told Keira, knowing full well she could run off and disappear. He went to the security box on the back door and ripped off the front panel to expose the wiring. The Doctor began rearranging the cords, then used his sonic screwdriver to finalize whatever it was he’d done. He raced from the back door and there couldn’t have been better timing. As soon as he’d finished the Cyberman barreled out the backdoor and instantly froze, seemingly electrocuted right before The Doctor’s very eyes. Somehow the wiring had disabled the Cyberman with an electric forcefield, causing them to crumple to the ground in a pile of smoke. @CieranSolarFields

Keira gasped as the door suddenly flung open - but it was not the robot that she'd been expecting. The man - this impossible man - stood at the door, hand outstretched, the bright spotlights of the museum lighting his silhouette. He asked her to trust him as he grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the room, his pace breaking into a run as he ran to the back of the museum. Trust him? She didn't even know his real name, who he was, why he was at the museum after closing - but as she heard the crashing of metal echoing down the hall, she realized she didn't have much of a choice. The doctor barreled into the back door, throwing it open with a crash, and told Keira to stay where she was before he ran back into the antechamber of the loading dock. Keira looked at him running to the alarm system, then turned her head to look out at the alleyway leading out of the museum. She felt it - this was one of those moments where she could turn and run, or wait for him, and her whole life would change based on the decision she made. She had always been curious - that was why she was in this job, after all - and she had just stumbled upon the most curious series of events she'd ever experienced in her life. She had to know more. Keira stayed put as she watched the Cyberman fall into the Doctor's trap and fall to the ground, sizzling and sparking. She approached the Doctor and the robot, grabbing the doctor's arm as she bent down to inspect the cold steel machinery. "Is it..dead? What was that energy field?" Only after she uttered these questions did she realize that her interest had taken precedence over a much more important one: "And can you tell me what the HELL is going on now?" @Taking Back Luxday

Bits of vibrant electricity sparked through the smoke swirling off the metal tin crumpled at the Doctor’s feet. There was a beeping that sounded like a timer was about to go off, along with the gut feeling that something was counting down, as if the popcorn in the microwave were done and if it weren’t taken out immediately it might burst into flames and start a fire. He ran to Keira and grabbed her by the hand once more - the feeling of her palm in his already becoming all too familiar, and when the robot exploded and metal parts and springs went flying into the air, it was easy to excuse why he’d guided her away from the scene the way one does when there’s an avalanche of snow barreling down the mountain. Now there was an audience. People from the street started to gather from here and there wondering what all the commotion was about, so naturally, the Doctor kept running, and this time…he wasn’t alone. That mysterious blue box appeared around the corner and as the doors opened up like the gates to heaven he flung himself and her into its depths. Darkness and ambient orange lighting were suddenly all around them as the doors closed. The Doctor let go of Keira’s hand to fuss around with the control panel, flipping levers and pressing buttons so that infamous sound the Tardis made, the one all his former companions knew it by, the sound that caused excitement, and fear, and exhilaration, would start to grow in volume. “I don’t have the answers you’re looking for, Keira - and because of that, I’ve got no choice but to take you with me. They’ve marked you as my companion, which means they’ve most likely sent digital photos of your image across all space and time to their home base. To put it simply, that Cyberman made you a target to all my enemies across the Universe.” After he’d put the Tardis into motion he returned to Keira and stood in front of her, rather close, looking down into her eyes as if that would tell him what he wanted to know, “The real questi

3:58 PM

ons are, what was the Cyberman doing in the museum, what is the Nova Army, and what makes you so special….?” and with those words, his screwdriver with a blue light was out again scanning her up and down, glowing in her face, giving him the same incredible readings as before. The energy signature rupturing the fabric of reality was pulsing off this one human being, and he needed to know why.

3:58 PM

@CieranSolarFields

Before the Doctor could even start to answer Keira's question, a low pitched beep began to sound from the seemingly disabled robot, becoming faster and higher pitched as it continued. Keira didn't even have time to process this new development as the doctor grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out into the street outside the museum. When he grabbed her wrist, it was like for a moment time had slowed down. Their contact produced an odd buzzing sensation, like the feeling when you touch a metal laptop that's not plugged into a grounded outlet. Barely tangible but you can sense something different. The doctor's hand was warm and cool at the same time - how was that even possible? And why didn't she hesitate to run with him? Keira was ripped out of her slow-time-bubble by the exploding robot. Considering the size of the creature, the explosion was much larger than anyone would have predicted, a shockwave shattering the glass-cladded facade of the museum and a fireball igniting everything inside. All of her hard work, destroyed in the most unusual night of her life, and yet just in the past minutes Keira sensed that her research and the museum wasn't even the tip of the iceberg as to what was out there. She ran with the doctor, into a doorway, she wasn't even really processing where they were going - but suddenly her surroundings changed completely. The doors closed behind them and Keira was in an otherworldy environment, a cavernous room covered in corrugated metal and strange lights. In the center the doctor had turned from her to activate controls and the room started to tremble and shriek. He turned to her and pointed a buzzing device in her face, it looked like a pen with a glowing tip. Keira looked at the device probing her as she listened to his explanation. "Cyberman? Companion? did he say 'Across the UNIVERSE', she thought? Then a thought came to her - for the first time since their conversation in the museum, it appeared that they were safe in this place, for the time being. Time for some answers. She fought off the part of her brain that was having the time of her life and with a swift flick of her palm, knocked the device the doctor was holding out of his hand, rolling onto the floor. She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, tugging him in slightly to get his attention. "We're not going anywhere until you tell me who you are and what's happening." Keira resisted the urge to curl her lips into a grin, trying to put on her most serious concerned face.

10:10 PM

@Taking Back Luxday

“Hey!” he said with a look of astonishment as the screwdriver went tumbling across the shiny reflective floor. With Keira’s delicate hands gripping his clean shirt, posing no real threat, he placed his own rather large hands on top of hers and guided her backward. Step by step they walked until she was finally pressed against the double doors they’d only just barreled through moments ago in order to escape that rickety old cyberman that had been hunting them down. Without warning, he let go of her hands, allowing her to still hold onto his shirt if she wished, and opened the Tardis’s doors with one palm so all five fingers stretched out like a star against the blue wooden grains. When he did this, instead of the city she’d left being there to greet her with loud cars and noisy traffic, Keira was now exposed to scenery never before seen by another human being. Scenery that was unthinkable. Scenery that was…impossible. Naturally, they were still able to breathe, but the view could certainly take one’s breath away. An endless canvas of stars was now painted before them. A cosmos unfolding right before their very eyes twinkled, and the Doctor didn’t seem phased by their surroundings at all. “What’s odd is you weren’t even surprised by the Tardis!” This clearly disappointed him. With little effort, he glanced sideways to admire the unexplored universe beyond the Tardis’s opened doors. They were floating now. Drifting even. And there was something peaceful about the silence they found themselves in. “Everyone always says the same thing…” Yes, he was still going on about her not being amused by the size of his magic box. He continued to mutter under his breath, having mentioned something about being bigger on the inside. Their running from the cyberman had done a disservice to his hair, too. The wind was no friend to someone like the Doctor, who had perfect hair all the time, which is why he ran his fingers through those wild locks just to mess it up the way he li

4:44 PM

ked it. Without turning to face her, with his eyes on the passing nebulas and scattered planets, he answered her question as if he’d forgotten she’d asked it at all. “Oh right...I’m the Doctor!” Once that was out of the way, he turned to face her the way one does when they’ve just won a game. He grinned. It was such a cheeky smile, too. As if he knew he was the best thing since sliced bread. “...and I’m going to take you to places you’ve never been before. Welcome to the Tardis, Keira!” The Doctor didn’t have time to stand there staring at a beautiful view, which for him was his new soon-to-be companion with blue hair, that is, if she didn’t barf or faint from this new wibbly wobbly reality. He jogged back to the control panels, picking up his screwdriver along the way, and started pressing buttons until a screen swiveled out in front of his face. From there he began talking to himself, asking questions that Keira wouldn’t know, but ultimately giving her the time she needed to process being in a spaceship that was seemingly coasting through outer space.

4:44 PM

@CieranSolarFields

Keira was taken aback, but not for the reasons one might assume. As she stared out onto starry nebulas and iridescent clouds of gas, then turned back to look at the TARDIS, everything was strangely...familiar. As if she had expected exactly what he was showing her. But how could that be? She'd never been to space before, never been kidnapped by an alien with unusually good hair. Back to reality, she thought to herself as she focused back on the Doctor's face. "Alright, so you're the doctor and you have a...is this a ship? A ship, that exists out of the normal dimensions of reality." Keira let out a guffaw in reaction to how absurd that last sentence sounded. "And now what, we're just going off into the cosmos? What about that robot? What about New York??? Is it safe back there? You sound awfully nonchalant for someone who just blew up a museum." Keira couldn't help but crack a smile at this last sentence as she walked over to the controls. The Doctor looked like a mad scientist in his laboratory, pressing buttons and pulling levers, causing the room to shudder and groan. Keira went to rest her hands on the console of the machine, and suddenly the calm blue lighting faded to shades of red and orange. The groaning sounds immediately ceased, the only sound cutting through the silence being what sounded like an old church bell. Her eyes grew wide as her head whipped back to The Doctor. "I didn't touch anything, I swear!" @Taking Back Luxday

“No…NO NO NO NO!” The Doctor ran around the console pressing buttons and pulling levers but it was too late - that classic doom sound echoing throughout the room was a noise he never wanted to hear and only happened when something terrible was in progress. BONG. BONG. BONG. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was wrong, with all those flashy lights going off and an alarm repeating like the end of the world was only moments away. He whipped out his screwdriver and started scanning Keira again, shining the blue light in her face as if she were at some sort of rave, only to get the same readings as before - astronomically impossible. With all of her questions about the Tardis, space, the robot, and New York…he could have answered any of those, yet all the Doctor said in response was, “There’s something very wrong with you…” And then he went flying across the room, and so did Keira. Both of them were suspended in mid-air for a brief moment until they hit the ground with a hard thud as the Tardis made a sudden ungraceful landing. The Doctor groaned, pulling himself to his feet so he could grab ahold of the screen that showed him what was beyond the Tardis doors. There was nothing. He tapped the screen, but again, nothing. “Are you alright?” he asked Kiera, now at her side and helping her to both feet. He waved a hand in front of his face to clear out some of the smoke in the room. Sparks went flying from broken circuits. And with the Tardis seemingly shutting down, now felt like the right time to answer some of her questions. “You are on a spaceship that travels through time. We could be anywhere, at any moment, and I have no idea what’s beyond those doors - only that we’re supposed to be here and my gut is telling me it has something to do with you. You’ve got energy readings that are going off the chart, and I suspect that’s why the robot was stationed at the museum, to keep an eye on you.” Also, oddly, Keira would notice the Doctor, for s

3:54 PM

ome unknown reason, had changed in his physical appearance. No longer with brown hair he now had dusty blond, and his eyes were no longer green, they were now a piercing sky blue.

3:54 PM

@CieranSolarFields

Keira stood up from the crash, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yes, yes I think I'm fine. Might need to have a look at the power steering, Doctor", she said with a smirk. Keira was always friendly to people, but it usually took her quite some time to really warm up and be comfortable around someone, and she was acutely aware that there was something about this Doctor that made her feel like she had known him in another life. Through time. That's what this strange man said to her, that this room they were in was actually a ship that traveled through time, as he waved his blinky pen in her face. Suddenly her little life in New York seemed an eternity away, and any apprehension she'd had about this Doctor had disappeared as the possibilities of space and time exploded within her head. "So your room here - sorry, your machine. Your spaceship? Whatever you said this was called. Your thing can travel through time. Can't we just go back in time to the museum and see why that robot was there in the first place? Can we un-blow up the museum and the city block that came with it?" She looked around, starting to get her bearings in the strange looking room. Looking behind her, she spotted a pair of old looking doors, seemingly out of place in the futuristic setting. It must have been the doors she came in from. "So you're telling me when we open those doors, it won't be New York anymore? It'll be...somewhere? You don't even know where?" Keira raised an eyebrow as she gestured towards the doors. "...sooooo, we gonna go see?" @Taking Back Luxday

“You can’t just go back in time and change things. Not always. Some moments are permanently fixed in place - they’re locked. We could guess when the robot showed up at your museum, but something tells me we’d have little luck figuring out why they were stationed there…only that they showed up and have been watching you ever since. My guess is they want to know your hair routine. How you keep it looking so blue. Blue is cool. Robots want to be cool. Robots want hair, hair like mine - I have cool hair…” The Doctor wasn’t lying. He did have majestic hair that always seemed to be showing off. He did a twirl sort of thing as he passed her, turning on his heel and sliding down a railing until he was at those double doors she’d mentioned. With a tilt of his head, which made that notorious hair move out of the way, the Doctor pressed a hand on the doors once more and smiled at Keira. It was a smile that held too much excitement, one that was honest, genuine, and utterly attractive. “The last time I opened these doors for you, there was a universe to see. I have no idea what we’re going to find now. Based on the readings, it’s somewhere I’ve never been. You should know, there’s a sincere possibility you could die, so if you want to stay in here while I scope things out I won’t blame you.” And with those words the Doctor opened the Tardis doors, making it so a wave of humid air pushed inside the Tardis. That hot air brushed back his hair in a gust. “Sheesh…I’m going to need shorts, aren’t I? Oh, this is brilliant!” Now he was standing outside bathing in a downpour of yellow sunlight, and bugs. Both arms stretched out as he turned around looking at everything - it was nothing short of a jungle, and they were very high up, perched on the edge of a cliff with a view showcasing endless palm trees, mountains, and waterfalls.

3:01 PM

@CieranSolarFields

The doctor swung the doors open, and a golden ray of heat burst into the room, falling on Keira's pale skin as her eyes became wide at the scene in front of her. First she felt the heat of the sun's rays - was it even the sun, or some other star?, she thought to herself. Was it even a star at all? Before she had the chance to continue pondering that question, the air hit her - it was warm and, and - puffy, if air could be puffy. Like breathing in a pillowy cloud. The doctor was already outside, taking in the scene. Keira stepped out and it was now for the first time that she got a good view of the exterior of the doctor's ship - in New York, it blended in to the urban surroundings, but now the blue phone box stuck out of the mountainous jungle terrain like a sore thumb. "It really is bigger inside, isn't it?". Keira backed up from the TARDIS, the red soil damp against her shoes, then turned to face The Doctor at the edge of the cliff. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead as she turned to face him. "You're not kidding about those shorts. Don't happen to have a closet in that box of yours, do you?" Keira took in the scene in front of her. They were on the edge of a sheer drop, with nothing but lush green forest in front of them. Cutting through the forest was a calm river filled with impossibly blue liquid - Keira wasn't even sure if it was water or not, because she'd never seen water colored like this on Earth, such a deep blue that it was nearly purple. Suddenly, something caught the corner of her eye - a reflection? A light? She turned in the direction of the flicker, far down in the jungle, but there was nothing there except more green. "Did you see?....Never mind, must have been a trick of the light." Keira realized there was a buzzing sound in her ears. Assuming it was a mosquito or some other alien insect, she attempted to bat it away only to realize the sound was not coming from nearby. It was somewhere in the terrain, coming from - behind t

3:50 PM

hem? It was hard to pinpoint a direction, it sounded like it was coming from all around them. In front of them was the sheer cliff face, so Keira turned around and began to wander into the jungle behind them, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. "You can hear that, right?" @Taking Back Luxday

“No, I don’t hear anything,” said the Doctor. He was standing in front of a very large tree. The top of the tree had glistening purple and blue leaves shivering in the wind, which for the time being had caught his attention. His index finger went to the bark of the tree and tapped three times to test its solidity. Upon doing this, the bark rippled with his touch as if it were the surface of water. “This is incredible!” He circled the tree to get a better look at how it was made, and for a minute, he even tried to climb it - but shortly thereafter it was clear that would be impossible. The tree’s texture wasn’t like anything one might find on Earth. It was slippery and cold, oddly enough, given that the temperature around them was very warm. When he heard the crunching of dead leaves he leaned to the side and watched Keira wander into the jungle. There would be no time to analyze this environment, at least not in the way he wanted. The Doctor followed in the direction of Keira, partially mesmerized by their surroundings. It was a stunning place, yet he knew well enough they were there for a reason. The Tardis picked this specific spot, and he needed to figure out why. Now walking alongside of her he jokingly asked, “Are you sure you aren’t hearing things? The only sound I recognize is the bugs that seem to be swarming over there...” And sure enough, a big heap of bugs danced in the air, zig-zagging in and out to create a cluster near an opening in the foliage.

10:13 AM

@CieranSolarFields

Keira was so focused on the noise that she barely noticed the doctor trying - and failing - to mount of of the iridescent trees. On a regular day, she would have been gobsmacked - it looked like bark, but upon touch rippled as if they were made of mercury. However, this was not a regular day, and the buzzing sound was persistent and nagging, distracting her from anything else. She was headed towards the bugs the Doctor had pointed out, not to observe them but because the buzzing did appear to be emanating from that direction. "Yes, I see them, but its not the bugs..." she parted the leaves - like the trees, they were made of the same curious liquid and did not part so much as ripple against her hands - and continued to follow the sound, noting that the insects were becoming greater in number along with the buzzing. It was at this point that she identified the flicker she'd seen - the insects had the ability to blink, like fireflies, except instead of a warm glow they flashed bright neon colors, as if there was an LED in their tail. Kiera parted to reveal a small pond - but this pond was not the same blue-purple shade that she had seen in the forest when they'd arrived. Instead, this pond almost looked metallic, as if it were made of the same liquid as the trees. At first, the pond looked completely still, but Kiera was certain the buzzing originated from it and bent down to observe it more closely. When she did, she let out a small gasp and backed up a step. The pond was vibrating. Not rippling, it looked like water upon a speaker, a consistent vibrating hum upon its surface. The liquid was more opaque then water, but when Kiera looked down she could make out small creatures - insects, fish? - swimming through the water, occasionally blinking in the same way as the bugs in the air. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" she asked the doctor. "Or is this just your average Tuesday." Her hand moved towards the surface of the water cautiously.

7:11 PM

7:12 PM

@Taking Back Luxday