Clara
The Torchwood Institute
Clara was surprised to say the least about where the quintet were when they stepped out of the TARDIS. Yes, she knew that the Pete's World Torchwood was situated within Canary Wharf still (rather than buried under Cardiff), but she didn't know that there was a large space of it being used as residency for the members of the institution. Including one designated to the Tylers. She also, when the door was knocked on and Jackie and Pete Tyler emerged to greet Rose and Tentoo with hugs, couldn't shake the feeling that she was intruding. She, Eleven and Luke were all not-really supposed to be there (Clara was thinking that even the ghostly company of her sister would relieve the awkwardness). Although, in fairness, they weren't supposed to be there. But Clara thought that maybe it was a good thing she'd gone with Luke and the Eleventh Doctor in place of Oswin, because if Oswin had gone on her own, who knew what marvellous ways she could have found to offend people?
She was also having to keep a tight grip on her husband's arm at this point though, to stop him from attempting to hug Jackie or Pete, since at that point they didn't know what he looked like or who he was. Just a tweed-wearing weirdo skulking around behind Rose dragging a short girl around.
"Don't hug them they don't know you," she hissed at him through gritted teeth. He looked at her, still smiling, but she could see his eyes were glaring. She smiled politely back, which annoyed him so much that he rolled his eyes and looked away.
"Who are they?" Jackie then asked rudely. But, Clara thought, that was what Londoners were like. Rude. And if she picked her up on it, she'd get into a fight she would have to run away from because she would lose.
"That's Clara, that's the Eleventh Doctor, and that's Luke Smith," Rose indicated each of them in turn.
"Hello," Luke said brightly and politely, holding out a hand to shake, "I think you might've met my mum a few years ago?"
"Did I..?" Jackie asked unsurely.
"Sarah-Jane, during the Dalek Invasion in… 2009, I think," he said.
"Oh, yeah!" Jackie beamed, "How is she?" Luke's smile faltered and turned a little sad.
"She passed away," he said.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Jackie apologised, looking upset with herself.
"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Luke assured her, keeping his smile until he dropped her hand and then passed between Jackie and Pete to follow Rose and Tentoo into the flat (though Rose was loitering right by the doorframe, checking nobody said anything stupid, no doubt).
"Hi, I'm Clara," said Clara, "I think you've spoken to my sister over the phone before..?" she asked.
"You're the annoying one?" Jackie asked.
"I…" Clara kept smiling, "Rose, why..?" she didn't ask the full question.
"Sorry, that's just how I know you," Jackie apologised. Why was she the annoying one!?
"I'm sorry, but you are!" Rose tried to defuse the situation by insulting Clara further.
"Well, at this rate I should've just sent my sister along to look at this cannon," Clara grumbled.
"Why isn't she here? Isn't she the clever one?" Jackie asked.
And then Clara said, "We're both clever!" at the exact same time both Eleven and Rose just answered, "Yes," and she scowled. Clara continued, "Just be happy she's not here."
"But I thought she was a genius?"
"She is, definitely the smartest person I've ever met. Nobody even compares. Nobody," Clara firmly reiterated the word 'nobody' to annoy the Doctor, who, two months ago, had definitely been the smartest person she'd ever met. And now he was second-best to a clone of his own wife – it was amusing.
"Anyway! Jackie Tyler! Haven't seen you for centuries!" Eleven beamed and instantly tried to hug her, which was clearly very awkward on Jackie's part, though he didn't seem to notice, "I'm the Doctor – well, you know that, Rose said. The Eleventh Doctor. So, the next one. Good thing I'm not the Twelfth Doctor though, eh? Wouldn't wanna meet him, he's a right old… Anyway," he cleared his throat right after Clara thought he might curse. Jackie just nodded oddly, and then left to go inside, telling Eleven to close the door behind him.
Clara, however, took his arm and pulled him back while they had a few moments.
"Oh, I have something for you," Clara said, pausing and searching through one of the pockets of her only transdimensional coat (she thought she should probably get her sister to make all of her pockets transdimensional some point – even the stupid fake ones that served no purpose). Out from it, she fished –
"My sonic screwdriver!?" he exclaimed, snatching it without as much as a thank you, "You did steal it! You liar! Why didn't you give me it back yesterday!?"
"I was busy!" Clara defended herself from him, as he stared at her like she'd done far worse than steal a gizmo she thought she'd needed more than him anyway.
"Busy doing what!?" he demanded. She gawped at him for a moment or two.
"Doing you, you idiot! Don't you remember?" she challenged, and almost instantly his anger was replaced by a dirty smirk.
"No. I suppose we'll just have to do it all again, won't we?" he said, doing his 'thoughtful' voice he did whenever he was trying to convince people that his solution was the only logical one (and she was ashamed to say that it still worked on her, and had done as recently as yesterday).
"Nice try, Chin. I'm not that easy," she said, and then she herded him in and shut the door before he could make a remark about her definitely being 'that easy.'
'Oswin! Rose Tyler's mother knows me as "the annoying one"!' Clara instantly resorted to complaining about this to her sister in her own head. 'You ARE the annoying one out of both of us,' Oswin answered, and Clara never thought she'd be so glad to hear her sister insult her. 'Not out of us two. Out of everyone on the TARDIS.' 'Oh. Jenny's way more annoying. Rose would know that if she had that little sex-pest skulking around.' Clara managed not to laugh aloud.
"Oswin says that Jenny's more annoying than me," Clara muttered quietly to Rose on her way past, but Rose didn't look amused.
"Shut up, you're here as a walking projector for her and that's it," Rose said coolly, and before Clara could exaggerate exactly how insulted she was, Rose had gone to follow Tentoo and fawn over her half-brother. Was he a half-brother? Clara didn't know.
"Well, you know, I think we'd better slip out of the way for a moment while they have their reunion," Eleven advised, and it took her a moment of eyeing him carefully to gauge if he was being dirty or not. "…What?" he asked her.
"Oh, nothing," she said.
"What is all this about dimensions, anyway?" Luke Smith then asked, "Heard something about you having another boyfriend?"
"Has my sister been telling you about Danny Pink?" Clara asked him, and he nodded, crossing his arms and looking genuinely interested in the alternate version of herself, "Ugh, basically, there's this other universe where the TARDIS dimension stabilisers never malfunctioned after Trenzalore, and I kept travelling with just him," she pointed to Eleven with her thumb, "Until he died and regenerated into the Twelfth Doctor. At which point Other Me decided to go actually get a job as an English teacher or something and literally get with the first guy she saw, which was a maths teacher called Danny Pink. And he's a complete dick."
"He punched me in the face," said Eleven, "And he punched Adam Mitchell in the face."
"Who can blame him?" Luke joked, and Eleven frowned, "I mean, not you, Adam Mitchell." Clara snorted.
"What's Adam Mitchell done to you?" she asked, interested now.
"Just his attitude," Luke said, and Clara laughed.
"I'll have to tell Oswin you said that about her boyfriend."
"Does she even like him that much? They never act like it," Luke said, "It's like, she went out with him out of pity."
"No, she likes to pretend she goes out with him out of pity. She's into Adam almost as much as I'm into him," again, she pointed at the Eleventh Doctor.
"Usually I'm the one into you," Eleven said, and then Clara blushed angrily and stood on his foot, which he pretended had hurt, "Ow!"
"Shut up! He's like, young, he doesn't need to hear someone he idolises making creepy sex jokes, does he? How old are you?" she asked Luke.
"I'm twenty-two," he said, and Clara was dumbstruck. He was only two years younger than her!? But the conversation got cut short then.
"We're going to see the cannon now, then you lot can all leave," Rose said, and Clara couldn't blame her for wanting family time without her 'other' family. Clara had suffered through people acting awkward around her father too many times to count, and now she just didn't mention him unless she was in the mood for a roast, in which case she declared she was going home for tea so that her dad would cook one for her.
