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[spacepeterpan]

Hello, you've reached the Doctor, not at the TARDIS, well, maybe at the TARDIS, won't know until I answer, leave me a message after the TARDIS engine sound if you've got one, just a "please help" is fine although more details would probably be good, whatever you can manage, and I'll get back to you, and maybe save your planet, ta!

[Followed right after by about a second of the sound of TARDIS engines, followed by the thump of its landing.

Feel free to leave a message for the (eleventh) Doctor here!]

Comments

Re: Phone call | October 17th (night)

[borntolove]

Fix whut? Why are you handing me the phone? Who did you call? Rose what's going on?

[spacepeterpan]

Whot?

[Just a brief pause, and then a forlorn, slightly petulant groan.]

Right, yes, of course, what happened?

[Just the most exasperated ever tone of voice. Seriously are they going to start slap-fighting, next?]

[borntolove]

I don't know whut did happen?

[bigbadrose]

[AFTER FIVE MINUTES OF "WHOT?!"]

[Rose starts giggling.]

[The Werepanther cuddles from Jack also helped calm her down so she takes back her phone.]

[Deep breath.]

[HOW DOES SHE PHRASE THIS?!]

He said the thing.

[She needs a code.]

[She doesn't feel comfortable saying certain things over a phone but all right, thinking hard.]

[She switches to text additionally:]

I kissed him and he said I love you.

Before you [QUICKLY DELETES!!!] Before he lost his memories he gave me his - YOUR real name!!

[OUT LOUD:]

I don't know what is -- [CRISP AND YES A TOUCH BITTER:] acceptable here.

[MORE TEXT:]

Jack gave me his real name too, so don't think I'm taking it to mean you can't be married or have other lovers, I'm not an idiot.

At least not that much of 1.

And I think Jack gave him, your younger self, his real name too. Proving my point.

[Carefully carefully!!]

Do you know if that was retained?

[Out loud:]

Seriously, Doctor, what am I supposed to do? You know--

[GROWL.]

The problem with this.

[borntolove]

[As Rose takes the phone away from him, 11 will finally hear]

I'll tell you what. I just got snogged by Rose Taylor. Twice.

[Which he sounds like a school boy or how he reacted to Madame De Pompadour snog but even more and isn't paying attention to what is doing he's so happily dazed]

[bigbadrose]

[LAUGHS.]

[Aw.]

[That doesn't make her debate snogging him again...]

[Except where it does.]

[WELL MAYBE HE WILL BE DISTRACTED ENOUGH NOT TO CARE OR NOTICE THAT SHE DIDN'T RESPOND RIGHT TO HIM TELLING HER HE LOVED HER :V]

[spacepeterpan]

[...it takes the Doctor a moment to respond to all that, so the phone is securely back in Rose's hands by that point. Not only is it a firehose of topics, most of which he doesn't really feel any need to weigh in on, but one or two in particular are especially flabbergasting, although he responds most immediately to his younger self's interjection.]

Oh, brilliant, 'course he did, yeah, I know the problem, the problem's that he's an idiot. What're you lot, thirty?

[...okay so the age zing probably falls a bit flat with Rose, but he's on a roll and doesn't have time to stop and recalibrate for human lifespans.]

We can't give our name out like candy bracelets to everybody we fancy, and he knows better, but that's that face for you, he probably had a feeling. If you lost a hair ev'ry time he did something stupid 'cause he had a feeling you'd be bald before tomorrow morning, but you already know that, so if you're asking my advice, you do what you already know you should do, treat him like he's your friend, and he's sincere, because he is that, and he doesn't know how to stop, because he doesn't.

[He pauses a moment, collecting himself a little. He's still intensely peeved, but he's taking care not to take that out on Rose. ...really there's no one he can actually take it out on; the perpetrator's already a mess and mostly a victim of his circumstances.]



...it's dangerous.

[It's probably not obvious what he means, for a couple of seconds, before he clarifies. She hadn't actually asked, of course, not directly, but the question lurks under her anger at being left in the parallel universe, around the corner from her frustration that he didn't answer her directly on the beach, behind her upset at hearing those words she'd so long thought she wanted to hear.

Why does his younger self say it? Why didn't he say it? Why doesn't he say it?]

...never says enough, that word, and implies too much, too hard and too easy to say, at the same time. Just begging to make a mess.

Forget about that, better to say what you mean, and what I mean is that you're fantastic and beautiful and have a wonderful heart that burns brighter than you know what to do with, you're better than to need me to hold your hand through this sort of thing, but if you want someone to, Rose Tyler, I will, absolutely, because you are and will always be my friend.

[He pauses a tick, then raises a hand to wag an index finger at her (through his phone) didactically like an old fellow who doesn't approve of all this rock and roll music and also somehow got trapped in the body of the "innocent one" from a boy band. ...which of course she can't see since it's a phone call, but it's pretty obvious in his tone, and she's seen the faces this face makes.]

...also, try and ease off on the snogging.

[Nearly as bad as Jeff's internet usage habits. Really, how do you expect to end up on the "nice" list if you just spend all your time snogging?]

[bigbadrose]

I'm 23??? I think. Might be older. Hard ta tell in the fifth dimension...

[YOU TRIED DOCTOR.]

[DEEP BREATH. EYES CLOSED, BACK TO TEXTING:]

I know he's sincere. I know he's my friend, and I know he can't stop.

[Because well... Rose was all those things too.]

I know it's dangerous, and I'm not aski--

[But before she can finish he goes on, and she hits send, just sitting down on the ground, with her back to a wall, because that's a lot. And she does want his hand. And friendship. And...]

[She doesn't know what else.]

[Adventures.]

[Always.]

[Although the last part, THOUGH SHE GRINS TO HERSELF, she nearly yelled out loud at him again, and he can hear the laugh and "Tsk."]

U R Married!

U don't get 2 talk!!! About snogging anyway. :P

[Although he was probably right and she knew it, and she couldn't keep saying she needed space and then just... yeah.]

[But he slept with Jack and Martha and...]

[Everything's a mess.]

[Such a mess.]

Kidding aside, I don't know what to say.

R U sure Snogging is not the solution? B/c I think it'd distract him!

Hahaha... I am just kidding. Mostly. I hope.

I guess I could throw Jack at him and run? =\


I don't want to hurt him. I cannot lie. This is why I wound up having to explain about Meta Crisis b4, because I thought at least... well I guess it didn't help, so whatever. But now I don't know what. If that didn't work--

[Then what? Try anything? It was Rose, after all. She was good at changing things out and just continuously throwing things at walls until they stuck, or broke it down.]

[But this wasn't a wall, and she didn't want to break him.]

Look, don't worry about U & me, Sunglasses Guitarist already covered all that for you. Told me he/u can't be as strong as MetaCrisis. It's fine.

Before you [Delete delete.] When Fluffy still had his memories, I agreed not to push him towards Martha and Jack, because it was part of what was upsetting him from me. Only, I don't even know what he remembers of that now?

Obviously... he doesn't remember telling me the love you part, probably b/c of exactly how I handled it last time.

I'm not angry at you or Sunglasses. Idk if you got my letter, but like I said, in it, I can't really stay mad that you chose how you did. And it's been covered.

For everyone BUT HIM. He hasn't lived it! And it's like the part of him that's still MetaCrisis is in him.

And I want to tear my hair out.

Which is a worse idea than snogging b/c a stone scalp would look extra awful.

I don't

Whatever I do is risky. I cannot say the same or I hurt Martha and Jack. And h8 myself.

If he acts like it is so easy to say here because the risks are removed, it undermines everything, and makes me want to cry. Haha.

If I give him back the phone, will you find the right words for me, please? Or is this something I need to do myself?

[spacepeterpan]

[She still has so many ideas of varying degrees of accuracy, some just churning through her head as though she's texting aloud to herself, others that he really doesn't want to invest the time and/or heartsache in correcting; so instead, he's going to stick to his policy up to this point, listening and cherrypicking the most important and least hurtful ones to address. Although he does have to envy his older self's matter-of-fact, do-the-thing-and-move-on quality, just a little bit. After four-hundred years, he still can't just bring himself to not get invested, even when he tells himself he's keeping out of it.

Since she's texting, though, he replies in kind--texting like he talks, quickly.]

Can't really tell you what he's thinking or what he knows, at this point, we're too far out of sync, well, not unless I looked in his head, but if you want to know what the Doctor remembers, I'd say you can find out a bit more directly than asking ME.

I got your letter, of course I did, not sure what I can say to help, there's a lot there, and I suppose the real answer's that you'll have to work out what you actually want, what's most important to you, those questions I can't really answer for you. You're talking about your friends; none of them wants to hurt you any more than you want to hurt them, not a doubt in my hearts you can find a way to sort it all out, IF you're committed to that, and I think you know that, as well.

And you also know I can't just say a magic word and make everything better, I'm not in his head, blimey, I couldn't even do that back when it was MY head. I can have a chat with him at some point, probably best to hold off a tick, if I just stroll into the middle of things, it'll seem a trap, but I'm absolutely certain you can handle it, Rose.

Here's a suggestion, though, call it a crash course in rhetoric, if you like. If it's not been working so well to do things the usual way, try something unusual, maybe some calm, a bit of perspective, if you've got to discuss something awkward, try to couch it in something else that's more soothing. Nobody likes to hear they've hurt you, well, nobody you'd call a friend, but it comes across a lot nicer if you say it's your own failing. Always takes two to make a fight, but it's more important to minimize the damage than to lay every single feeling out to be seen, something I had to learn from you lot.

We do the best we can with what we've got.

I'll be here, if you need me.

[bigbadrose]

[Cheater. Cheater cheater cheater coward -- okay all these things are just because she's feeling them about herself, and she doesn't know why she thought there would be a way to cheat code her way through this one, it's not like there was for anything else, but...]

[Maybe she's wrong. Maybe he did just ... what exactly? Bump his head and selectively remove very specific portions of his memories?]

[No.]

I'm not going to tell him he hurt me!

And OF COURSE I'm committed to making things better for my friends!

[Just scared to death of failing. She was already far from living up to expectations. Make him better? She seemed to be making him worse. Or was it just timing?]

[But she's not about to lay that on him at this point.]

I'm not trying to fight with him!

[Rassilon's eyes, what did he think of her?!]

I just hoped you could tell me

[What is she thinking? Is she really trying to take relationship advice from the Doctor? EVEN FOR HIMSELF, he clearly hasn't the faintest idea.]

Never mind. Thank you Doctor, I'll do my best.

[By running away!!!!]

[borntolove]

[Give him a moment he never expected to get a snog much less two and he may wag his tail off and finds himself laughing with her and maybe because he's so lost in this happening he thinks Rose did reply :X]