hewhoheldbackdeath
There it was, the familiar echo of the TARDIS outside of her apartment. A smile found itās way to Claraās features as she leaves the slightly burned soufflĆ© on the kitchen counter, putting on a warm jacket before heading out the door.
āDoctor!ā¦
Raising her brows her hand froze in a mid-knock position. This wasnāt her Doctor, but a past one. She remembered seeing this one when she was in the timeline.
He looked the same as when she saw him, and though she knew him he wouldnāt know her, of course.
Luckily she learned how to lie well thanks to the Doctor. She couldnāt give her real name; what if it messed up his time line?
"Just recognized the blue box; Iāmā¦Tris"
As he figured, her name was unfamiliar to him. He was certain this couldnāt be accredited to any annoying lapses in memory, as was becoming all the more common with this regeneration. It had been like that at the start, sure, but this body had been lived in for quite some time indeedā¦
He didnāt want to ponder the implications of all that at present though. So, he did what he did best and flashed a slightly worn but nonetheless gentlemanly smile and outstretched his hand politely.
āI see, I seeā¦well, pleasure to meet you, Tris, great pleasure indeedā¦I imagine you mustāve crossed paths with me in the future thenā¦or the past, perhaps, if my memoryās failing meā¦regardless, I donāt recall making your acquaintance with this particular faceā¦ā
āBut I seem to be rambling again. No matter. Anyway, rather unusual question I must ask, would you be so kind as to tell me the year?ā
"The year? Itās 2014" she states with a soft smile. So rambling was something the Doctor always did it would seem. Clara was curious as to which regeneration of the Doctor this was. Certainly wasnāt the tenth, so maybe the ninth or the eighth?
"So what are you doing in 2014, Doctor?"
It was a bit strange for his past self to be in the year 2014, and just so coincidently landed in front of her flat. It was only Sunday, so for him to be here something must either be wrong or heās here to visit Earth again
ā2014?ā He mused to himself. Curious. Very curious. A reasonably unremarkable year to his best knowledge. No colossal, universe-shattering events that he could recall...at least, none that he had any knowledge of yet, at any rate.
So why had the TARDIS taken him here? And who was this girl? She seemed to know more about him than she was letting on; was she a key player in the days to come of his long, arduous life?
Curiouser and curiouser...
His smile faltered slightly at her following inquiry. Whoever she was, however much she knew about him...he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth. The truth that, while he ran and fled, thousands upon thousands of Time Lords were being slaughtered every second in the Last Great Time War. The truth that, despite his best attempts to save whatever planets he could and help in his own way, billions upon billions of systems were being wiped out, powerless against the might of the Daleks. The truth that the Time Lords were becoming no better than the very monsters they were fighting and dying against. The truth that they lost their way.
The truth that he was afraid that he had lost his way as well.
So he lied as convincingly as he could.
āJust paying a friendly visit is all. Truth be told, it's my ship here who calls the shots most of the time, as it were. I'm more of a passenger, in a strange twist of fate. And if she decides I'm needed on Earth, year 2014, well then...here I am!ā
