'The Purpose of a Rubber Duck'
Kat was on the train to work when a messy-haired young man walked in and sat in the seat across from her. He pulled a sizeable bundle of yellow plastic from his pocket (she wasn't sure how it had fit), closed his mouth around a protruding tube and started blowing into it.
She stared as the plastic blob slowly grew into an absurdly large inflatable rubber duck. The man smiled at the fruits of his labour and pushed it to the middle of the floor. Kat raised an eyebrow at him over its back.
"Keeps politicians away. They're terrified of bath toys." He offered by way of explanation. Kat smiled.
"I'll have to get one then."
"Don't ever get stuck in an elevator with one," The man advised.
"An enormous rubber duck, or a politician?"
"Either."
"I'll keep that in mind," She nodded solemnly in reply.
"Will you?" He seemed surprised. "Good. I hate it when people don't listen to perfectly sound advice. Especially my perfectly sound advice. I'm the Doctor, by the way."
"Kat. What doctor?"
"The Doctor. That's what they call me. Probably because I tell them to, but you never really know."
"…I suppose you can't really be certain of things like that," She acquiesced. "What type of doctor are you?"
She began to regret asking as soon as he drew a deep breath to speak.
"Well, I have less dark moments than first last two regenerations, and my taste in food and clothing, is, as always, different. I'm not ginger, which is honestly a bit of a disappointment. I thought I was a girl at first, which was weird, but then I found a mirror and a little girl to tell me what was what, and I found my favourite food and a crack in the Universe at the same time so I'm not sure whether that counts as a good day or not. I did technically die that day, but I was born too, and I made a friend, which is always good! Of course, about five minutes later -it was twelve years too- she hit me in the face with a cricket bat, but I kept the clothes and got a new screwdriver, which I rather like!"
"Right."
Several minutes of silence passed between them, Kat staring awkwardly out the window and the Doctor fiddling with what look like a teapot. Again, pulled from his pocket.
"Where are you going?"
The Doctor glanced up at her, pausing in his current activity. Which was super-gluing strips of leather to the sides of the teapot.
"Not sure. I didn't actually check where this train goes before boarding, didn't seem important…" He trailed off, frowning slightly.
"I couldn't tell you. I catch this train to work, but I actively try not to remember the official names for the stops. The station you boarded from, I call Steve. I'm going to Carrie. The next stop is Max."
"Why do you try not to remember?"
"I forget."