Awe, this DR looks lonely!

[justthedoctor]

Who: The Doctor and Miss Evie and open! GET IN HUR! /o/
What: THIS IS NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED!
Where: Random room in a random corridor. But oh my, this hotel looks dreadfully familiar...!
When: It's a little hard to tell without any external doors or windows, even for a Time Lord. He'll just say half-past a freckle and be done with it.
Why: Because we has a shiny new DR to play with, LET'S PLAY! 8D

The Doctor didn't need sleep very often, an interesting difference between Time Lord and Human biology. He certainly didn't get so tired that he simply blanked out completely and woke up after the next few hours completely unable to recall having laid down in bed and put his head to pillow.

So when he found himself waking up in just that particular way, his face just half-buried beneath a pile of blankets and pillows and feeling somewhat stifled from the heat of his breath, he was more then a little confused. He sat bolt upright in bed, glancing around himself through bleary, sleep-fuzzy eyes, and began to take stock of the situation even before his brain had caught up with him.

New room. Not on the TARDIS, that's for sure. Miss Evelyn is in bed next to him, right, good. Wearing her cute little nighty, oh, she's so lovely in that. Oh, he seemed to have gotten half-undressed as well sometime during the night. Are those his shirt and pants folded up on the chair nearby? That's new. He certainly should have remembered going to bed with Miss Evie and doing anythi-Wait.

He scrambled out of the bed in a tangle of limbs and blankets when his mind finally achieved full consciousness, the familiarity of the room striking an instant, dreaded chord in his hearts. Then he scrambled to his feet, looked down just long enough to see that yes, he was in fact wearing his shorts - and a pair of socks unusually enough - and then dashed to the door and threw it open, glancing both ways down the long corridor.

He slammed it shut before taking one more look, as if to be sure he wasn't imagining things, and then slammed it shut again and ran to grab his clothes and reach down and shake Evie awake all in the same motion.

"Evie, Evie get up, we need to get up and out right now, something's happened and it's very not good."

Comments

Morning, sunshine

[cosmo_gyral]

Something’s happened and it’s not very good.

Well, that was nothing new. Frankly, it was novel when something went entirely right. She was sure if she tried; she could count the number of times on her hand, both if she were thinking really hard. Which she wasn’t, she was trying to sleep.

It wasn’t the commotion in the room that jarred her; sleeping on the TARDIS was a tricky thing, and more exhausting still – sleeping near the Doctor. It wasn’t the first time he had bolted out of bed, dragging the covers with him, ranting and raving. After awhile, you adjusted or never rested, and she was if anything, adaptable.

Quit slamming the door.

It was an afterthought, as he shook her awake. His voice was strained and that was alarming in its own right, but it was the door that she was trying to wrap her mind, heavy with sleep, around. The TARDIS was not much in the way of convention, doors included. She couldn't keep track of them all, or count them all, but she knew one simple truth - the door to that room wasn't hinged. The horrible noise she was hearing was unmistakably hinged, and old.

Sharply, she lifted her head from the bedding, and gave the room a cursory glance. Evie was instantly aware of its foreignness, but surprised to find it looked incredibly… mundane. Still, she was learning, commonplace didn’t necessary mean safe. She pushed herself out of bed, and though there was hardly time for noticing – she did. Shorts and socks, cute… Nighty…? Also cute. She should remember, well, anything leading up to ending up here.

Another glance told her something just as harrowing. Where was her neatly folded pile of clothes?

“You've got to be kidding me...”

Mrrrh, morning baaaad!

[justthedoctor]

He barely paid her protests any mind as he scrambled into his clothes, and even before he had his coat on, the sonic screwdriver was out of the pocket and scanning everything around them. Scan-flick-read-close. Scan-flick-read-close. Scan-flick-read...Yup, same as before alright, but that didn't make any sense! He tried to trigger the room's camoflauge functions with the screwdriver, to drop the hotel facade so that he could get to the control console he remembered from before, but it failed to respond, and he shook the sonic in a small venting of frustration.

"No, no, no, come on, why are you doing this now??? The minotaur is dead, You don't have a reason to do this any longer, I turned you off last time! The ship was completely automated, there was no one here to reactivate you and besides, when he started to die, you recognized it and allowed the facade to drop! Which means-...

Oh no. No no no no, you have another prisoner, don't you??? Let's hope it's not another minotaur! Evie!" He spun in place, his ramble finally coming to a rest now that his brain had puzzled together his thoughts, and for a moment, he simply stared at her. "Why aren't you dressed yet? Come on, Evie, we have to go, get your clothes on!"

For someone who noticed every single little detail, you'd think things like this would be more obvious to him when they presented themselves. Either way, he was already bending down and pulling on his boots, and then standing back up and putting his bowtie on before realizing halfway through that he might have missed something after all.

"Wait. Why did it take my clothes off in the first place???"

[cosmo_gyral]

Evie dug around the room in the vague hope that the alien that had put them here had some misconceptions about where clothing went. After all, they had overlooked the fact that people didn’t like to wake up in strange places. This was, in her experience, a rather universal truth. It wasn’t the first time she’d come to in unfamiliar territory, but never before had someone been able to take the TARDIS right out from underneath them. She didn't think it possible. Considering the Doctors visible frustration and bewilderment, she was guessing it was new to him as well. For better or for worse, he seemed to recognize the place they were in.

“Minotaurs? Prisoner? Where are w-- Doctor?”

She returned the stare, gesturing at herself, then around the room in a sweeping motion, but it was lost on him. He was on the move again, but she remained still, looking at him – waiting for him to notice. He didn't.

“Doctor!”

Finally, he halted, dressed and ready for investigation, and she expected he finally realized what she couldn’t get a word in edgewise to say. Oh, for the love of- Putting her hands on her hips, she gave him a look – the reproachful sort. “I don’t think it did,” If you catch my drift, “Really though, where are my clothes?”

[justthedoctor]

No, no, having the TARDIS yanked out from underneath him had to be one of the most unexpected things to happen to him as of late. And let's be honest. The Doctor's life was nothing if not unusual.

That still didn't explain the lack of Evie's clothing.

Her questions - even the one left unfinished in her irritation - only spurred his rambles on as he began stalking around the room, now, opening the closet, inspecting it as if there were some nook or cranny for something to jump out at them, racing to the bathroom and poking his head in the door before stepping inside and shoving the shower curtain aside in the rattle of metal-rings-on-bar, coming back out once he was satisfied it was safe and sticking his head under the bed. No, no scary things in there, either.

"Well, not really a Minotaur, at least not from Greece, it was an alien that had been imprisoned here for a very long time. And this is a prison ship that was set on an automated system and set out to drift through space. The Ponds and I were dragged here in the TARDIS against our will when the ship caught our signal and pulled us in to serve as supper for the Minotaur, but I was able to stop it and let it die. Sad creature, really, he'd been alive for far too long and didn't have any way of escaping it all until I came along."

His ramble seemed to pull up a sad thought and he slowed for only a moment, wilting ever so gently at the memory. It had not been a pleasant day. But then he threw off the emotion as quickly as it had come when she exclaimed his name, spinning yet again to give her a confused look.

And that was about the point the little gears in his brain started to visibly turn in his head, and for a moment, he turned a slight shade of red and gave a surprised, aroused look of dawning realization. "Oh, oh yes, well-..." But no! He had no time for that, he had to find the TARDIS and get them off this ship and stop it from doing what it was doing. Perhaps not in that order but definitely involving the getting off and with the TARDIS bit.

Which meant going out into the hall. With Miss Reed in naught but her nighty. He finally noticed what she'd said and spun again, looking around for a moment in a frantic search for her clothes before stopping once more facing her and staring at her for a brief moment in bewilderment.

"I suppose they're still on the TARDIS. Wherever that is. Here. Wear this." He shuffled out of his tweed jacket, stuffing his sonic screwdriver in his pants pocket, and held it out for her to slip into. He could handle walking around in his dress shirt and bracers. Even if he did feel a little naked without the coat.

[cosmo_gyral]

“So… another Minotaur, er, space Minotaur. Or perhaps something else started it up?” Then, “I mean, how are we here otherwise? No sign of the TARDIS, no memory of, well, losing the TARDIS…” She followed after him as he rushed around the room, peering in from the door frame as he investigated the bathroom, “Must be a creature with a sense of humor, dragging us here looking like this…” Makes you think, or at least, it made her think; she tried to pin point the last thing she remembered, dawdling around the control room, changing–

She was drawn out of her head as he stood abruptly and looked her over, and oh how quickly that glum look of confusion became enlightened. Nodding with him as he stammered over his words, with that silly, knowing grin on his face, she couldn’t stifle a chuckle.

Evie whistled playfully at him as he shrugged out of his jacket; after all of this time, it still caught her eye to see him without it. He was spotted out of it but rarely, aside from before bed – still, he looked nice. A little ruffled, but, that was to be expected. Her exasperation melted, looking at the bewilderment on his face as he held his tweed out for her, and she flashed him a small, charmed smile as she stepped into it.

“What a gentleman, y’are. What do you think,” She spun around and struck a pose, pouting her lips, “New look?” The awkward way that the sleeves hung well over her hands was answer enough, and she flapped them, trying to pushing them up to her elbows. “Blimey, your arms are long…” She commented as she reached up, straightening his bow tie, and smoothing out his shirt, “What do you say we chivvy along and sort this out, huh?”

[justthedoctor]

He shook his head, unsure and worried more-so for it. He simply didn't know yet, and that was the problem. I f he knew what was going on, he could try and stop it. If it were something new, then he would have to go through the entire process over again, and that hadn't ended very well for anyone the last time he was here.

He didn't voice the concerns, though, simply stewed over them uneasily, his face pulling into a bit of a frown. Even when Evie's delicious teasing brought the slightest tingle to him at the memory, it wasn't enough to push the worry out of his mind. His expression as he smiled at her when she posed in his jacket was tense, tight and pensive. He tried to keep up appearances, but it was hard. "I dunno, I think I like the sleeves where they are on you. Looks sexy." He whispered the last conspiratorily, unconsciously leaning into her touches as she smoothed his tie and straightened his shirt, feeding off of the love she gave for a moment.

And then she was suggesting they leave the relative safety of the room. And her sweet attention to his needs and his worry suddenly crashed into one another in the most horrible ways. Safety was in these rooms. For the time being. Even if it was a Minotaur outside...this one would most likely be younger then the last. Stronger and healthier. And...

And feeding off of her faith in him.

His face pulled into a pained grimace in the instant before he was wrapping her up in his arms, holding her tight and burying his face in her hair. And the entire time, he remembered what he'd had to lose for He and Amy and Rory to survive the last time. What he'd had to give up and who he had to hurt to do it. He hated the thought of doing it again, but he knew he could. Even to Evie.

Especially to Evie.

Because that was what would save her life. And the conflict of emotions inside of him drew a timid whimper from his lips.

"Evie, I can't-...I don't...if I have to..." He huffed in frustration, squeezing her gently in his arms as if he didn't want to ever let her go. Knowing him, it was the truth. "I don't want to hurt you, Evie...! People died last time...People, Amy..."

He whined again, burying his face deeper into her hair, nuzzling his nose against the crook of her neck.

"I can't save you from a Minotaur, Evie...! They feed on faith and it will kill you! Your faith in me will mean you'll die! I can't save you from that!"