Harley was never very good at defining themself on the spot. They really hated those introduction games people always used to break the ice when strangers end up in groups. There was always that massive amount of pressure to find the perfect random fact about yourself, and heaven forbid someone else uses the same random fact before it gets to your turn. Perhaps that's why when the Doctor asked who Harley was they shrugged, which was apparently a terrible idea.

"You don't know who you are? Hmm total amnesia then? No, no, no. You remembered your name, you already told me that. I'm the Doctor by the way, probably should have mentioned that before, hello…" Harley opened their mouth but the Doctor didn't seem to take any notice, he was off in his own world, waving his arms to emphasise his words. "But never mind who you are. How are you here? Twenty first century girls don't just pop up in 1889 on a daily basis, not unless I take them anyway…

"Oh My God! Do you ever shut up?" Harley shouted, bursting through the Doctor's rant. "Jesus, you could talk the hind legs off a dog."

"Why would I do that? I like dogs, dogs are nice." The Doctor muttered to himself, his forehead creasing with concern.

Harley pinched the bridge of their nose and let out a long sigh. I love this doctor to bits, but I swear I'm going to have to up my caffeine intake to cope with him. They thought, wondering how one got coffee in the late nineteenth century. Harley hadn't had any for a few hours and was feeling the beginnings of a craving.

"So, what is a twenty first century girl doing in 1889 anyway? In her pyjamas no less." The Doctor asked, bringing Harley back to the present situation.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't seen any twenty first century girls around."

"Right, not a girl. Boy?"

"Keep guessing you'll get there eventually." Harley muttered, "have you got anything I can wipe my glasses with?"

The Doctor reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a piece of cloth.

"Thanks." Harley said, taking it.

"So how did you get here?"

"My cat needed me." They said, wiping the water from their glasses before sliding them back onto their face. They smiled at the Doctor's look of bemusement and decided to take pity on him. "I was in bed reading and I heard my cat meow." Harley continued, running their hands through the wet blonde curls that were beginning to form on the top of her head. "Then I went looking for her and there was a weird blue light that kept pulsing and it pulled me here."

"Humans, they see a big pulsing blue light and they have to go poke it." The doctor said, shaking his head. He then span around and bounded over to his monitor.

"I didn't go poking at it, it literally dragged me here." Harley grumbled. "Anyway, back onto the shadow that's missing its human. How does that happen?"

"Uhhh, I'm not entirely sure actually, I was just passing by and then there was a weird blip on the monitor and I thought I'd investigate." He grinned at Harley, "that must have been you."

"Right… So you have no idea what's going on?"

"Nope." The doctor grinned, "it's not often I can say that."

And once again he started fiddling with his machinery. Harley decided that they wouldn't be much use to the doctor when it came to his technology, so they took a moment to properly take in the TARDIS.

Harley had always found this version of the TARDIS control room more appealing than the newer model. They liked the clamoured look of the console and the sort of rustic aesthetic of the wall, of course that was probably because that's the sort of lifestyle they led. Clamoured, messy and a little bit worn was practically Harley's personal motto. They paused a moment as they passed by one of the foam covered sections of the platform rails, poking at it. Yep, soft and squishy. Perfect for a crash landing. They thought grinning to themself.

"So Doctor, do you crash often?" Harley asked, leaning casually against the cushioned rail.

He sniffed, clearly taking offense at the question. "No!"

"Right, just a lot of rough landings then." Harley said cheerfully, patting the yellow padding. The Doctor scowled, still fiddling around with his scanners, probably trying to pick up some kind of information on the humanless shadow. Then he suddenly turned, a mildly confused look on his face.

"You didn't say it?" He questioned. "Why didn't you say it?"

"Why didn't I say what? I'm not a mind reader you know." Harley responded, suddenly remembering their stowed away iPhone. They hurriedly pulled the phone from their pocket, realising that, though their jacket was water proof on the outside, it certainly wasn't on the inside. "Who makes a water proof jacket without water proof pockets?"

"Isn't my ship a little odd?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it. What's with all those corally looking support beams?" Harley asked, trying to dry their phone off.

"Seriously?" The Doctor asked incredulously.

"What?"

"You ran into a little tiny police box, which I've got to say is unusual, most people at least pause and consider the fact that perhaps I'm just mad, and you find all of this…" The Doctor said, waving his arms around to indicate the whole of the TARDIS. "And you're asking about my taste in décor?"

"Yeah so?" Harley said, frowning at the phone. They couldn't get any sound to come out of it.

"No, 'it's bigger on the inside.'?" The Doctor exclaimed, clearly frustrated.

Harley turned and smirked at him, phone still in hand.

"Well, I thought that was kind of obvious." They said

"Do you want me to take a look at that?" The Doctor asked, pointing at their phone

"Nah, she'll be right. The speakers have finally died." Harley said, throwing the phone up high in the air. "Dropped it in the bath one too many times."

"You're Australian." He said grinning.

"Yes," Harley sighed, clearly the Doctor had completely forgotten what he was supposed to be doing. "So, learnt anything about the shadow yet? Why it's here, how it got detached from its body?"

"Right!" He exclaimed, getting back on track. "Well, to answer your questions; nothing new, nope and nope."

"Hold on, what did you already know?"

"The shadow is completely solid, he's got a mean right hook too…" The Doctor rubbed his jaw, pouting slightly.

"You have the attention span of a puppy, you know that right?"

"Yeah." The Doctor grinned at Harley, who just raised their eyebrow expectantly. "Anyway, the shadow is composed of an organic material called, fregrat, it's sort of like silk but with microscopic spikes on it…"

"So nothing like silk." Harley muttered.

"I also know that the shadow belongs to Jack the Ripper." The doctor said, turning back to the monitor he had been searching through.

Harley watched for a moment as the Doctor searched through pages and pages of information, to quickly for even them to read. Then shaking themself from the trance, Harley opened their mouth and said something very stupid.

"Didn't he get eaten in 1888?" They said, remembering Madame Vastra's claim.

The Doctor stopped searching through, what Harley assumed to be, the TARDIS archive and gave them a concerned look. Once again Harley had completely baffled the alien.

"Why would he have been eaten?" He asked.

Why would I say that? Harley thought, realising that he hadn't met Madame Vastra yet, and even if he had, they shouldn't know about her.

"I don't really know, one of my teachers told me I suppose. Don't mind me, I talk before I think sometimes." They said, flashing a charming smile at the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head before pushing the screen back up and racing over to the TARDIS doors, clearly having decided the best way to get information was to go and investigate.

"Wait a minute." Harley shouted, just before he opened the doors. The Doctor turned back around to face them. "Maybe I should get changed into something else?" They waved at their almost completely bare legs. "Shoes might be nice too, I like my toes."

The Doctor conceded that Harley should get dressed and, after trying to explain the directions to the wardrobe five times, led them there to find some more appropriate clothing. Harley decided to wear some black skinny jeans and a plain t-shirt, which could be reasonably well covered with a long over coat. They also chose some plain black running shoes and, though they did cringe a bit at the idea of wearing second hand socks, they pulled a pair of those on too.

Finally ready to leave the TARDIS and properly start their first adventure with the Doctor, Harley couldn't help but feel like they were forgetting about something. They eventually decided it was their lack of fear, since they had just been sucked into another time and universe… apparently.


Second Chapter is up, apologies for how much dialogue is here. I am shamed.