001 ✥ VIDEO

[pandoricas]

[Hello residents of turtleland, have one (1) Rory Willams looking at you through these console things. He's looking decisively uncertain about this, possibly wondering if making this post is even a good idea in the first place, considering one name he saw on the list...

But well, he's already started the recording, so stopping it now is kind of redundant. Rory gives another unsure look through the screen for a moment more before he pointedly clears his throat and starts to speak.]

Uh... hello, I guess. My name's Rory, I used to be a nurse from Leadworth, and I'm... married.

[Yeah, good job there Rory. Real smooth. Can you see how out of his depth he feels right now?]

So, um. From what I understand, we're not-dead... and on a giant turtle. [Quiet mutter at this point.] Why a giant turtle? Space whales are one thing, but... [Trailing off here for a moment now, as if lost in some other thought entirely, but Rory quickly shakes himself off it and focuses back on the video again.] I guess not being dead is good. I mean, it's not fun being dead. I don't like being dead.

[Rory, you're not making things better for yourself.]

Anyway--hello, I guess? Looks like I'm going to be stuck here no matter what, so I suppose its nice to meet the rest of you who are stuck here too. [Beat.] Here's to being stuck together? Or something like that.

Comments

[video]

[parallels]

Nina.

[The name spills out of her mouth before she can even contain herself. The memories are in her head of being another girl; trapped in a shipwreck and speaking through a computer to this man. He'd been the first person she'd spoken to in quite awhile.

But... he doesn't know her. Not really. If he even remembers the incident, he knew a girl named Oswin. So instead she clears her throat.]

Not a fan of being dead either.

[video]

[pandoricas]

[Nina? That name certainly was familiar. Rory blinks, both confused and perplexed with that. He does remember where it comes from, of course, but--

He looks at Clara strangely, trying to figure out what is going on.]

I--guess you would know that too, wouldn't you?

[What was her name again--]

Carmen? [Wait, no.] Oswin, right?

[parallels]

Clara.

[She replies quickly but then realizes that might be confusing.]

It was Oswin in the Asylum. But it's Clara now.

And yeah, I get exactly what you mean. In a sense.

[Well this is going swimmingly isn't it...]

[pandoricas]

[Frowning a little. Clara now, is it? That's... okay, he can work with that.

But yes, this is going very well.]

Well, er--nice to finally meet you. [Pause.] I guess.

[parallels]

Yeah. Nice.

Least it's not the Asylum again?

[Its a weak offer and she knows it so she ends with a shrug. She fiddles with some of her hair and presses it forward to cover up the bruising in the left side of her face.]

[pandoricas]

Anything is better than the Asylum.

[Almost anything. But the Asylum is really a bad place.

He's about to say something else, but being a nurse means Rory spots injuries easily and when Clara tries to cover it up, he instantly notices.]

You-- [Gesturing to the injury now] --what happened?

[parallels]

Won't argue there.

[when he mentions her injury, she frowns. Especially when he brings it up as "now". Then again, he'd only ever known her as a sad girl in a shipwreck,]

It's nothing. There were problems with the turtle, he was ill, so we went to infiltrate a cult that was harming him. Things just didn't go as planned.

[pandoricas]

I heard about the turtle getting sick. The cult thing not as much though. [See, this is his worried face. Clara is something he knows now, after all.] You didn't get too injured besides that, I hope?

[Was the Doctor with you, he wants to ask, but doesn't really know how to do that without being awkward.]

[parallels]

It sort of happened under the radar. Covert mission and all that.

[she does her best to give him a grin. She always liked Rory because he seemed kind. It's probably why she (or Oswin the distinction was fuzzy) had taken to him so quickly.]

It's really fine though. Just some bruising and a broken wrist.

[pandoricas]

[Covert mission, right. Okay. Totally not what the Doctor would do, so he supposes that means they weren't together.

Maybe.

But aside from that, there are more important things now. Like Clara's injuries.]

Did you get it checked? If not, I can go to you and see what I can do.

[Worrywart Rory forever, even after being kidnapped onto a giant turtle.]

[parallels]

Already done. Went to the clinic and got an obscene about of pain medicine. So it's been a few days of nothing but sleeping and waking up for the occasional cuppa. Which means I am definitely fine.

[she swallows and then asks the question hanging in the air.]

Is the Doctor with you?

[pandoricas]

[Okay, good. That's very good. Rory is glad you do sensible things, Clara. Last thing he wants is somebody who doesn't pay attention to sensible things and attempts something way over their heads.

He nods, clearly agreeable to the answer--annnnnd there's the awkward pause after that as Clara asks The Question.]

He--

[And for once Rory looks sad and apologetic, expression becoming something so much more sorrowful.]

--no, he isn't. Not anymore.

[parallels]

Oh.

[Well of course not. The Doctor lost Rory and his wife and that's why she found him in Victorian London, alone and depressed. And now that she knows its after that time for Rory she winces.]

I'm sorry.

[pandoricas]

[It does hurt, yes, but perhaps what hurts more is Amy's reaction. In the end she chose him over her imaginary friend, a decision that speaks volumes but Rory always knows that a part of her wishes she still could be with the Doctor - and it's a feeling Rory can understand. This was never how they wanted this to end, and to be wrenched away so suddenly... its never good.

He attempts a weak smile, more for Clara's benefit than his, because Rory knows he will move on eventually. That's what he does, after all.]

It's fine. We all have to leave eventually, right? [He's not that disillusioned, after all - one way or another, both he and Amy do have to leave the Doctor eventually. The Doctor may be forever, but he and Amy were not.]

[parallels]

Yeah. Nothing lasts forever.

[there had never been any delusions about her time with the Doctor. But it was more that she missed him here. She'd just torn herself apart to save him and then he'd found her. But her memories are hazy and she can barely remember being with him. She has to make sure he's okay.]

But maybe he'll end up here. Trouble is his calling.

[pandoricas]

[There's a wry smile from Rory here, because yeah, that's pretty true. Where there's trouble, the Doctor is usually sure to follow.]

Isn't he here already? I saw the list...

[Clearly there was 'The Doctor' there, unless it was somehow somebody not the Doctor. Although Rory can't think of somebody who would actually call themselves that.]

[parallels]

It's him. But a different face. Before the one with a bowtie.

[so he's basically a stranger. But she keeps that to herself.]

[pandoricas]

[Clara might not say it, but Rory can certainly guess. The Doctor had mentioned regeneration before, yes, but he had never really thought about it before - and the consequences.

Who had the Doctor been before?]

Well, I guess that makes the both of us in the same boat. [Attempts a comforting smile.] ...how is he?

[parallels]

He's kind of... Normal. It's weird.

But somehow he's still the Doctor in someways.

[she shrugs a bit, she's still getting to know that Doctor herself.]

[pandoricas]

[...yeah, Rory can't really imagine the Doctor as 'normal' in anyway.]

I guess I'll just have to see it for myself.

[parallels]

I'm sure you'll run into him eventually. Jack and Rose too. They're his... us. Traveling companions.

[pandoricas]

[--ah, well, that certainly explained a few things.]

I've met them. I think.

[Pause.]

Not quite what I expected.

[parallels]

They're friendly enough.

Rose and I get on.

[It's mostly just filler. She figures he probably doesn't actually care if she and Rose are friends or not.]

[pandoricas]

[What no he does care!! He just... needs to know Rose better, that's all. This is all kind of awkward, meeting other people who have travelled with the Doctor before - it had always been just him and Amy.]

How is she--I don't know, does she know you're with the Doctor?

[Should they actually say anything?? Would that cause some kind of weird space-time breakdown or something...]

[parallels]

She knows. Sort of hard not to bring up, I think. I mean, he sort of takes over your life.

[ssh Rory, Clara is just a bit guarded with people first and assumes more distance than there actually is.