TEST DRIVE #15 - Holodeck and Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

001: Where were you a minute ago? Well, you aren't there anymore. Instead, you're standing in a very large, dark room lined with yellow. There are doors at either end of it.

Here's where things get a little choose your own adventure-y. You could:



1: Approach a console filled with buttons, located a few feet away. Press one, and it'll let you out of the room. Travel down a long hallway and you'll be in Ten Forward, the Enterprises' entertainment lounge. Have a drink, mingle and try to figure out why you're here.

OR

2: Maybe you just muttered some vague request under your breath. Maybe you wished aloud you were somewhere else. Or for help? If you did, might be in a fire station. Muttered something about killing whoever dumped you here? Surprise - you're in a slasher movie!

Though they're confusing, these visions feel about as real as they can be. And guess what - other people can experience those fantasies with you, as if they too were really there. How ever will you escape? Or do you want to?

[OOC: Welcome to the Holodeck! If you choose this option, whatever your character chooses to say out loud will cause a virtual reality program to load and play. While your character feels as if what they're experiencing and seeing is quite real, they're purely living through the latest and best in what he Enterprise has to offer in entertainment. Make sure to detail what your character's fantasy is, so that those threading with them will know how to react.

Open til next month's test drive!]

Comments

[of_totters_lane]

He nods, slowly.

"Not a choice at all, in the end. Which makes it all the worse, I know. For both of us."

He, at least, could move on. She had to bear it all in silence. A witness.

"But this..." he stops, looking at her. "This is worth celebrating. There will be time for tears. I am witnessing a miracle, and meeting the best friend and partner I'll ever have in my lives - I don't need to know the future to tell me that."

"Tell me," he asks, "did you choose this form, or was it chosen for you?"

[cridhe]

Her smile is still tinted with sadness. But once again, her Doctor was accepting of her in this form. Did she really need anything else? Besides. There would be unspeakable losses for both of them in the future. She simply wanted to acknowledge his current loss. If he wanted to move on, she certainly could.

She nearly blushes under his appraisal. Strange, she hadn't when she had been born into this form.

"I created myself. Though, I did have difficulty in deciding what form you would find most accepting."

The bi-pedal and humanoid parts were obvious. Cridhe couldn't remember a time when the Doctor had travelled with anyone who wasn't. But which species of Humanoid and her physical looks? Well.

"I suppose you could say I am an amalgamation."

Of some of his companions, after all, as individuals went, she knew them the best. Just not the ones who went back quite this far... Next time, she will have to improve on that.

[of_totters_lane]

He chuckled, nodding happily.

"Of course you did, and an amalgamation? Well, it worked rather well, I should think. Quite the aesthetic sense you have. I suspect I should leave all future decorating choices to you, hmm?"

He squeezed her just a little bit tighter, obviously letting the delight flow back in.

[cridhe]

She looks up at him. "And I would argue that you are the one who chose said companions to begin with."

They make a good team, in the end. And that's all that really matters. But that does leave some questions. And perhaps this Doctor, being closer to his school years than the rest, might be able to answer some questions.

"Doctor, in other universes are there species like Time Lords?"

[of_totters_lane]

"Hmph, it doesn't feel that way, sometimes. Like events choose me, not the other way around. Still, there was Susan."

He smiles, nostalgically.

"But it usually turns out for the best. Ian and Barbara did well enough, after all."

He considers her question, looking thoughtful.

"I would suppose there would have to be, logically. Each universe will have its most advanced species - Time Lords, of sorts. Granted, they might not share our characteristics, for better and worse."

[cridhe]

"I may not always take you where you want to go. But I promise to always take you where you are most needed."

It's about the only promise she can make. Although, what she saw on Trezalore, she supposes she can promise to be with him unto the end.

"The descriptions of this 'Q' I have heard... He sounds a lot like a Time Lord. Or at least what Time Lords would be if they, as a society, ignored their practice of not interfering."

[of_totters_lane]

He smiles, fondly, patting her arm.

"That is the greatest promise one can ever have. I am quite certain I can rely on you for that."

He listens, nodding, and then harumphing convincingly.

"Perhaps, but even if we - well, they - abandoned their indolence, they have too much respect for the timeline, or at least fear of punishment..."

He pauses.

"Or perhaps not." He was young...well, younger, once. Some defied the rules.

"But to draw beings here from multiple universes, and put them into one place, without immediate and irreparable damage to the fabric of time and space? That is far beyond even them."

And it is, frankly, worrisome. He's heard rumours of such beings. Stories. Guardians. If this is something on that scale...

[cridhe]

She nods but frowns. "You... think...? But, Doctor, there are no such thing as 'gods'."

Well, she can't really believe he would believe that. But this is him when they first met. It is difficult to remember what he believed so long ago. And it's been so long since the proper Guardians have been a part of her life - well, there was the Shadow Proclamation, but it really wasn't the same.

[of_totters_lane]

"I have heard of things close to Gods. Rumours of...Guardians. Things even the Time Lords couldn't understand, could not experience or quantify. And we are no longer even in that universe anymore. Who is to say what beings exist in this universe?"

He looks determined, nevertheless.

"Metaphorically or not, however, Gods have been known to fall."

Because the first and always thing with him is the challenging of unwarranted power.

[cridhe]

"Guardians. I have not heard from them in a long time."

A very long time. So long, she had nearly forgotten them.

"Indeed they have."

And none farther than the Doctor. No matter how much he says he's not a god he sometimes is. And she has witnessed him rise and fall so very many times.

"The question is: How much of a push do we give him?"

[of_totters_lane]

He harumphs, then shares a secret smile, the sort he only ever had when he was alone in the TARDIS. A justifiable pride in what they did.

"However much it needs."

[cridhe]

She returns the smile, her cheeks turning a little bit rosy at the effort.

"Very well. We need to find him first. Or make him appear here. Whichever is more attainable."

Because, well, she's never known anyone who could control Guardians or gods or devils.

[of_totters_lane]

"Yes, first things first. Now. Aside from the aspect of power, what precisely do we know?"

Did he lean into her just a little bit? Clearly because he was old and tired, oh yes. Not at all because he was comfortable and felt, well, a little bit invincible in her presence.

[cridhe]

She would protect him until she died. Having seen Trenzalore, she can pretty much promise him that. So if he wants to feel invincible, she will have no problems encouraging him. As long as the TimeLines remain properly intact.

"Not as much as I should like. Q is from an extradimensional plane. The Humans here belive him to be immortal, omniscient and omnipotent. Obviously, he possessed the ability to teleport himself and others. As well as the ability to time travel even across universes."

[of_totters_lane]

"I'll wager a regeneration or two that his limitations are greater than he lets on - it seems the higher one goes up the ladder of power, the greater the role of theatrical exaggeration."

Certainly the case of the Time Lords. Those ridiculous, ostentatious robes! All there to give an air of ancient authority. One reason he'd rarely be caught dead in them.

"But teleporting across dimensions and time is a difficult process. Certainly not an organic being then. The power would consume him, come the end."

[cridhe]

"It is difficult to say. For as much as these humans seem to be on a scientific mission of exploration, they do not collect much in the way of scientific data on the entities they encounter."

Which is about as much information as she can give him at the moment.

"Perhaps you will be able to access more information than I can. I do not understand their symbols."

She means she can't read. To be fair she can't read at all, not just information in this universe.

[of_totters_lane]

He chuckled at that.

"Ah, such an accurate summation of humanity. They do try, though, and we must help them strive, when we can."

He nods at that last, which makes sense. In another universe, even her vaunted powers of translation would carry only limited weight, at best. Even then it would be extrapolation from similar languages.

"Well, we shall see, certainly. My dear, direct me to the nearest console, hmm?"

[cridhe]

She offers a smug smile. Then she shows him the PADD.

"It is voice activated, therefore I did not need to worry about the strange symbols."

She offers it to him.

"It will tell you many things. Not everything, but a lot of information is loaded into it."

The strange symbols are mostly English. She should know them, shouldn't she?

[of_totters_lane]

His smile is one filled with pride.

"Ah, very clever indeed. Excellent." He puts on his spectacles - not that he ever needed them, even in this incarnation - and frowns in concentration.

"Well, the language sounds like our English, but in written form it appears to be more a of a pastiche. What year is it supposed to be here?"

[cridhe]

"It is like our English, near as I can tell. Also French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, along with all the other major world languages and many cultural dialects as well."

It doesn't mean she can read.

"It is the twenty-fourth century."

[of_totters_lane]

"A fascinating blend - and in such a relatively short time. Well, it appears language continued its evolution at the standard rate, then!"

He smiled, tapping away.

"And it seems to me that a people who would incorporate languages would incorporate people."

It was half question, really. How did these people seem? He knew full well she'd understand, too. She always did.

[cridhe]

Of course he would ask. He always did. "We are their guests and aside from a medical evaluation, they treat us as such. Providing us with lodging, education, and support. It also means that access to areas of the ship that would contain information useful to our kinds is rather limited."

She doesn't bother mentioning that these people are fictional in their universe, because given when this Doctor travelled to Earth, he wouldn't know that anyway.

[of_totters_lane]

She'd have garnered more than an inkling if they were up to anything else, the oft-hidden price of such 'aid'. He visibly relaxed a little, becoming a little less stiff in his bearing.

"Ah, excellent. Excellent indeed. Though I would imagine such limitations are particularly frustrating to you. Which leads me to the next necessity - how are you feeling, incarnated?"

She is clearly here, functional and stable - but how she maintains that state is still unknown.

[cridhe]

She offers a soft, small giggle. "Incarnated? I think I like the sound of that! Though your future self and I decided using "Cridhe" as the colloquial would be appropriate."

As to her feelings... "Do you mean how I am feeling physically or emotionally?"

[of_totters_lane]

"Cridhe. Very well, if you wish."

"And both, I suppose. I did not think such power could be contained in any body of flesh and blood...I am supremely impressed, on that score."