He Took My Sonic
The Eleventh Doctor looked down at his cards, eyeing them seriously. He spotted a four, and looked up at the person opposite him, their face looking even more grumpy with only the overhead light brightening the space around them.
"Got any four's, Twelfth?" He asked his next regeneration.
The grey-haired man looked at his own cards then back at him. "Go Fish," he said in his Scottish voice.
Eleven hummed and took a card from the center of the round, green, cards table. The pile of cards was sat right next to a pile of vauable objects from each person, including a sonic screwdriver. The thirteen players had each bet something of their own that held some kind of value, and the winner of their game would this win all of it.
The next player, Twelve, turned to Thirteen who was across the table and in between Ten and Six. "Thirteen, have you got any two's?" He questioned, a bushy eyebrow raised in inquiry.
She looked down at her cards and pouted. She took one of the cards from her hand and tossed it across the table to him. He caught it with ease and added it to his hand.
As Thirteen had, had a two and given it to him, it was his turn again. He tried to rack his memory for what cards his other selves had previously asked for to see if any of them had asked for any twos.
His mind drew blank so he decided to just ask any of them. He turned to Nine, "any two's?"
"Go fish," Nine grinned smugly. Twelve frowned and picked up another card from the pile in front of them. His frown almost vanished when he was presented with the card he'd been asking for anyway, but he kept himself neutral so he wouldn't give himself away.
Now it was One's go. The older looking gentleman looked at his own cards and frowned. He could ask for any cards to go with his own as none of his current ones matched.
"Have you got any one's, Eight?" He asked his future regeneration with the curly brown hair.
"'Fraid not," he answered.
"You're supposed to say 'Go Fish'," Ten pointed out, turning his head a bit to look at Eight.
Eight leaned forward, "Go... Fish."
"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Ten smiled jokingly.
"I'm not a child, Ten," he reprimanded his future self.
"Maybe if you didn't act like one, I wouldn't treat you like one," Ten reorted.
"You're one to talk," Twelve muttered to himself, keeping his eyes on his cards, unbothered by the bickering.
"I'm not acting like a child," Eight denied, looking like it were the worst offense in the world.
Ten chuckled, "I've been you, I know when youre acting like a child."
One sighed. "If you two can't play nicely, then we shan't play at all," he said, loud enough to cut over whatever Eight had started to say.
"You just got told off," Thirteen snickered at them.
"So did you," Ten told her, causing her smile to drop into another pout.
"So, whose go was it?" Five asked.
"Mine, I believe," Two inputted.
An hour or so later and Seven had four books, Twelve had six, Thirteen had three, Ten also had four, One had two, Two had three, Eleven had five, Nine had five, Eight had two, Six had three, Four had two, Five had two, and Three had six just like Twelve. They'd gotten through a few packs of fancy looking cards and were close to having to use another.
Being the same person had its pros occasionally, but when playing cards... it got competetive. Currently, Thirteen and Eleven were arguing with each other over who would win the game. One had his cards held so close to his chest, the others were worried they would fuse with his clothes. Six was hungrily eyeing up the pile of valuables in the middle of the table and looked like he might pounce at at moment.
"Eleven, I do believe it is your turn again," One informed his older self, who was now glaring at Thirteen. Their female regeneration was glaring back.
The man in tweed looked away and straightened his bowtie with one hand. "Right, yes, of course," Eleven said. He held only three cards in his hands now. He purposely turned to Thirteen, "any sixes, Thirteen?"
The blonde looked at her cards in her hands and clenched her jaw. She forecfully picked a six of hearts from her hand and handed it over to Eleven without a word. Then, she slumped in her seat with an unimpressed expression while Eleven looked giddy.
Eleven turned to his cards again. He now had two sixes. He just needed two more to get another book and catch up with Twelve and Three. He cast his gaze to Twelve, "any sixes, Twelve?"
The grumpy man eyed his own cards then looked at Eleven. "Go Fish," he told him.
With a huff, Eleven reached forward and plucked a card from the pile in front of them all.
A couple more hours later and cards were scattered all over the table and the floor, a couple of chairs had been knocked back as the ones previously seated stood up, and the room's occupants were loudly arguing, all of them talking over each other.
It was madness.
Eleven was curled up under the table, avoiding the conflict and trying to find anything interesting to do instesd.
Thirteen was attempting to climb Twelve and retrieve her sonic screwdriver which the latter was mockingly holding out of her reach whilst mocking her height because she had accused him of cheating.
Eight and Ten were arguing in the corner, the former insulting Ten's hair and fashion sense. Ten, in response, was returning the insults with offense.
One, Two, Three, and Four some of the youngest, watched the scene unfold and gaped in disbelief when Nine bashed Five on the head with a banana for insulting his ears.
Six and Seven eventually decided to join Eleven under the table to keep out of the firing line.
"This is not fair! Give my sonic back!" Thirteen whined at Twelve when he passed the sonic to his other hand, but kept it out of reach.
"Admit you were wrong. I wasn't cheating," Twelve said.
"No! Youwerecheating!" Thirteen told him with clarity, trying to pull his arm down so she could grab her sonic.
"You do know what this looks like, don't you?" Twelve asked her, looking up at the sonic in his raised hand and twirling it around to get a better look.
"No, I don't," Thirteen answered honestly. "What does it look like?"
"A-"
Whatever he had been about to say was cut off as the honey-coloured doors to the room were pushed open and threee people stepped into the dimly lit room. One of them reached for the lightswitch and turned it on.
The Doctor's winced at the sudden invasion of light after so long of sitting in the room with only a small bulb above the cards table to light it up.
"What on Earth is goin' on?" One of the people, Yasmin Khan, asked the Doctor's. "We could hear you lot aguin' from all the way in the kitchen."
"He took my sonic!" Thirteen told her, pointing accusingly at Twelve who still hadn't lowered his hand.
"He hit me with a banana," Five gestured at Nine.
"He insulted my hair," Ten and Eight petulantly said at the same time.
"Hello," Eleven's head peeked out from under the table, followed by Six and Seven appearing, too.
"Right," Graham said slowly, confused beyond belief yet not wanting to ask for an explanation.
The three humans looked between their Doctor and all of the others.
Eventually, Ryan looked to Thirteen again. "Who are all these people, Doctor? When did they even get here?" He asked. Neither he, his granddad, or Yaz had even heard anyone else get on board. So, to hear loud arguing coming from somewhere near the kitchen, it was concerning. That's why they had immediately gone to check it out, but maybe they shouldn't have.
"They're me," Thirteen told him with a grin as if it were the simplest explanation in the world.
"What? How can they be you?" Yaz questioned.
"Remember when I told you I used to be a white-haired Scotsman?" The companions nodded slowly. "I wasn't kiddin'," Thirteen pointed to Twelve who still held the sonic screwdriver in the air. "And I also used to be these other men. This is my first time being a woman," she explained, gesturing to her other selves.
"Wait," Graham said, "if they're you, then how comes they're here with you? How is that possible?"
"Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey," Ten sort of explained, his hands now in his pocket.
"Wibbly what?" Graham responded.
"Nevermind that," Yaz said. "Why were you all arguing?" She addressed Thirteen.
Despite her obviouslt addressing Thirteen, the several Doctor's that had been arguing (including Thirteen) all started talking at once, trying to explain themselves. Graham, Ryan, and Yaz were shocked at the sudden talking and stayed quiet.
"Will you lot be quiet?!" One yelled over the noise, having had enough of his other selves arguing. The other Doctor's immediately shut up and looked at him with surprise.
One turned to the Thirteenth Doctor's companions. "Wehadbeen playing our annual game of cards. This time we had decided to play Go Fish, but it all got a bit out of hand very quickly," he cast a disapproving look at his future regenerations. They all had the decency to at least look guilty.
"Annual game of cards?" Ryan repeated. "You do this every year?"
"Indeed. Every year we get togethet and play cards. It nearly always ends in disaster. We're quite competetive. I'm not sure why we continue to play, but here we are," One said.
With that said, he turned his sights to his other selves. First he addressed Twelve, "now, you give her back her sonic device and quit mocking her height. You're going to regenerate into her soon, so you'd best get used to it." Twelve grumbled and berugdingly brought down the sonic screwdriver before reluctantly handing it to Thirteen.
"And you, Nine, put that banana away. It is a fruit, not a weapon," One reprimanded Nine who obediently put the yellow fruit in his innercoat pocket. "Ten and Eight, you both have ridiculous hair and clothes, so you may as well quit insulting each other."
Finally, he turned to Six, Seven, and Eleven under the table, "and you three, get out from under there." Eleven grumbled as if he didn't want to, but found himself climbing out anyway along with Six and Seven.
"Now that, that's done, I suppose it's time we were off," One said to his other selves. He turned to Thirteen's companions. "It has been lovely meeting you. I shall look forward to many adventures in the future, even if none of us will remember this." He nodded at them one final time and exited the room, then the TARDIS to get inside his own past version of the wonderful ship.
With that, one by one, all of the Doctor's except Thirteen left the TARDIS, leaving her alone with her companions.
Her gaze stayed glued to her legs with disappointment rather than the confused gazes of her fam.
"Iknewthese legs used to be longer," she said to herself, looking up to her friends, "and I can't believe he tried to take my sonic!"
