OKAY I'm honestly not keeping much of a schedule anymore since I'm done with finals at long last and my work days are all blending together with everything else. Typically what happens to me during Christmas. Funny that this chapter would be written and posted at such an appropriate time!
January is going to be some form of hell for me since I originally crammed in a bunch of important appointments and such in preparation for a move that just got pushed back cuz thank you school, you screwy thing you. Anyway, in a few chapters my posting schedule might become sporadic. Hopefully not, depending on how quickly I can shake this writers block but again we shall see.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays and whatever doesn't offend you folks. Stay safe and don't be an asshole on the road.
Even the doctor could use a breather in between bouts of running haphazardly across time and space, even though they were never long. Still, more importantly than him, he was sure Caligo wouldn't mind a short break either. After traveling with human companions for so long he'd finally learned that they did indeed need rest periods for all the energy and lust for adventure they seemed to have in them. He could be patient, at least for a little while, for her sake. "I'll bet she'd never been put into stasis and then had to pop out of it herself early in the span of maybe thirty minutes before," he mused practically to the consul room itself.
Speaking of which, he was still unbelievably curious as to how she managed that. More so on the things he'd learned just by being in a small part of her mind for that short span of time. Appearing in her dream? The Doctor had concluded that to be the result of the psionic control devices but they had been separated quite a ways away from each other during that time. Although, the memories were easily linked to one another which made it all the more likely they would share the same thought. The more he thought about it, however, the more he came to notice that their dream was by far more heavily influenced by her rather than him. Of course a room in the Tardis could easily equal a dreamscape Blackridge any day but he hadn't had the chance to explore that possibility considering the circumstances of their situation. He wondered what he might've found inside the endless halls of the dream Tardis.
A whirr of machinery broke the train of thought and the red drone, large and brutish looking thing, came crawling out from under the consul. The white circle on the front of its – Yuki, if he recalled the name correctly – faceplate flashed before it began its slow journey into the halls of the very real Tardis. The Doctor had a feeling that meant Caligo had called for it and he wondered what on Earth she would need it for onboard the ship. So, of course, he followed it. There was no need for running, seeing as Yuki moved little faster than a relaxed walking pace. It came to the library, oddly enough, and the Doctor was sure to open the door for it before it possibly broke it somehow.
In the historic section of the library Caligo sat on the floor propped up against the shelf and Wilhelm on the floor beside her, inactive for the moment. While the meeting with Amelia Earhart had been a brief one, there was a heavy significance behind it and she wanted to know what that was exactly while the encounter was still fresh in her mind. She could feel her thought processes had slowed when she had first awoken from the stasis sleep and there was nothing like a little bit of light reading to warm the machinery back up so to speak. The thick biography was perched against one knee, page held by her left hand and the right resting atop Wilhelm's casing while she read.
The Doctor couldn't help it if at first glance he saw the unfriendly blonde male that was her partner sitting on the floor beside her, perhaps napping with her hand resting on his leg. Perhaps she wasn't intentionally trying, but it seemed she had all the makings of a robot family by her side. He didn't bother to keep his footsteps quiet but he wasn't intentionally trying to disturb her either. Funny, for someone who claimed to be able to barely react to her emotions, he had the faintest impression that she was ignoring him purposefully when he was standing right there in front of her. Could just be him though. "Got a table around here somewhere. Maybe some chairs," he mumbled as if thinking aloud.
"At the end of this section, take a left," she answered in turn, not a hint of anything in her voice other than she was definitely not paying attention to him in the slightest.
"Floor just cozier then?"
"I couldn't wait," she said after finally finishing what she wanted to read. Caligo closed the book and returned it to its proper spot on the shelf before mentally preparing. She knew the onslaught of questions and the Doctor's curiosity were fast approaching. Best to answer him right away and perhaps she could sleep a while longer this time. "Did you need something Doctor?" It always ended up sounding more like a statement rather than an answer.
"You know me," he half joked, "can't sit still for long." Part of him was extremely wary that Wilhelm would suddenly spring to life and convey that same contempt for his presence as he had in Caligo's dream world but the drone didn't so much as light up.
Caligo noticed the way his gaze flickered over to Wilhelm almost every other second while they stood there. Of course that would merit some explaining. "Do you remember that data core I extracted from the hunting robot that attacked us at the very least two weeks ago?"
The Doctor grimaced. "How could I forget?" A thought crossed his mind like a bullet, making his eyes bug out. "He's not about to up and shoot me is he? Cuz I'd like a bit of warning." Caligo's stare made it obvious that she thought he was mad. The Doctor, arms crossed over his chest, pouted a little. "It's a completely reasonable request."
"That's probably why it struck me as strange. Regardless, he will not harm you. He may not like you but that, I can't change. My point, however," she continued, "is that Wilhelm interacted with you the way he did because he is an AI constructed from the Draugr implant module from his body which is similar to that data core. That is most likely how he would have reacted to you had he truly met you."
It took a second, but the Doctor caught on to the strangest part of the entire explanation. "You ripped his spine out," he blurted out suddenly. "Blimey! Don't wanna get into a row with you, do I?" He rubbed the back of his neck, imagining what that might be like before wising up and banishing the thought. As a well-known British monarch had once said, we are not amused and he definitely wasn't. "Suppose we know who wore the pants in that relationship then?"
Caligo knew he wouldn't understand what life after death meant to a Dragur. Refused to, actually, but that wasn't his fault. It wasn't really his problem either so why be so keen to know what he doesn't want to hear? "It's better than the alternative. Do you remember that wall around Pillar when I took you there?" The mirth drained from his expression instantly and it was unfortunate, she thought, that talking about herself always led things in such a dismal direction. The only person that was really affected by it was him. Why couldn't she simply refuse to give him answers that he wouldn't like? Perhaps not lie, because she knew he would see through that, but she could always simply not answer him. "Bodies of Draugr who die are interned within the walls surrounding Pillar. Yuki's body is currently interned in the southmost wall. In the event of an alien incursion of any sort those units are mobilized as the first line of defense. These implants are made to function long after our deaths."
"And Pillar's the only one out of the lot that uses this?"
"There is no one else Doctor. As I said, Earth is different from what you probably remember." She saw his frown deepen and half anticipated that hesitance due to his ire but he didn't move, didn't argue, didn't try to stop her from saying more.
He didn't have anything else to say other than, "Tell me what happened," because he wanted to know. Everything. How, why, when, what, who had caused humanity to go so awry. There was the embers of a fire burning in him but it wouldn't do anyone any good if he didn't have a good place to direct it toward. It probably wouldn't have done anyone any good either way because even if he knew what, when and how, he couldn't go back and change it. He'd already seen the future and that future was standing before him now. Caligo. Changing the past and succeeding might very well mean that she would never come into existence and who was he, the lonely Time Lord, to decide if her existence was worth sacrificing? Even if it was a miserable one.
Caligo hadn't been expecting that answer. It took her a moment, watching him lean back against the opposite shelf with his hands stuffed into his pockets and looking just a tad expectantly at her. The shift in mood roused that hesitance to speak and Wilhelm's warning not to trust the Doctor stuck in her mind, but other than their first argument, what was such a warning based on? More to the point, she may have unintentionally led the conversation in that direction and it would be rude to suddenly change the subject without an appropriate Segway. "Before I begin, I must confide to you that this is not specifically my firsthand knowledge of events, but purely from records and files I accessed during my time as an active unit." She brushed her thick bangs back just the slightest bit so that she had a clearer view of him and his physical cues.
"It could be defined as being quite recent. As little as two centuries worth of time when looking from the beginning to the present day where you and I met. The beginning would, in this case, mean the point in time when the inhabitants of Earth realized that much of our population had already been infiltrated by beings known as the Cybermen. Like puppets, as it was described, and many such puppets held influential positions in Earth's governments, communities and even military. The group known as UNIT was responsible for detecting the infiltration of the entire human race but despite their best efforts, the truth was subdued for a disturbingly long period of time and in that time, many people walked willingly and ignorantly into the trap, being converted as the Cybermen amassed their forces."
"What? Why didn't UNIT stop them?"
"They couldn't. By the time the full scale of the invasion had been realized they were severely lacking in manpower to combat what was at that time half the population of Earth. Records indicated a plan of action to call for reinforcements, believing adamantly that it could turn the tide of battle but UNIT had also been compromised. The director then, Dorian Grimm, was one of many puppets of the Cybermen and had been for a very long time. There is no accurate record of what happened, but it was assumed that members of UNIT were either converted or died as part of the resistance. After that, it was a mere matter of time. Nations fell one by one and humanity was pushed back to the single reinforced point known today as Pillar."
Caligo watched the Doctor's reaction carefully thus far. He stood there in somber silence, listening, watching her too even. Their eyes caught each other easily enough and she could see in them something she had seen the most of in her short lifetime – guilt. The Doctor was undoubtedly fond of Earth and surely its near demise would hurt him to some degree, but what reason would he have to feel responsible?
"The human race faced annihilation at one point, but a researcher managed to come up with an overwhelmingly effective solution. Cassia Strauss created what is essentially a computer virus coded into DNA so that it could be transmitted via a host human when converted. It shut down the Cybermen's emotion dampening circuitry and essentially, they short circuited."
The Doctor's eyes lit up a little in surprise. A virus to stop the Cybermen. "That's brilliant~ But," he hesitated, the surprise and even that small bit of happiness from that news gave way to a bitter revelation. "How was it introduced to the Cybermen's hive mind? They would've just… wiped them out if they detected the anomaly."
"The virus was translated specifically to each individual's DNA so that it wouldn't be detected. Thirty-seven individuals volunteered for what was essentially a suicide mission. This count included doctor Strauss herself. The plan worked, but no one had anticipated that there would be survivors. Of the original thirty-seven volunteers twenty-three returned. Six were shot down in friendly fire because they retained their Cyberman appearance. Among the group was a cyberneticist, Cisco Von Clise, who designed android bodies for the use of survivors to reintegrate into the surviving population. It's unfortunate to say that it didn't end well. People were still scared knowing that, although the virus would prevent the response to any sort of orders of Cyberman origin, the components were still there."
The Doctor could feel the anger simmering in his belly. Fear, the awful thing, was like a double edged sword. Could keep you alive in a pinch but it quickly made people into monsters. "In the end, then, they still lost everything, didn't they?" It was more of a statement than a question however. "Doesn't explain how you lot, the Draugr, came into play though."
Caligo sighed as if she had been almost dreading that part of the history lesson. Still, they'd come this far and all it was were facts after all. "This emotion inhibiting function was, as I said before, a mercy of sorts. The original creation had all the good intentions of giving peace of mind to those who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from the entire ordeal but of course there was a great amount of ethical debate. Those who accepted it were more often than not the battle worn, barely survived and could hardly bring themselves to carry on and those who opposed were, perhaps, simply of stronger spirit. Humans break, Doctor, and in some of the most unfixable ways. While the surviving population was busy fighting amongst themselves on the issue and the survivors of doctor Strauss' platoon more or less in hiding from the social backlash they faced, Earth was unprepared for the second incursion that came nearly twenty years later. Are you familiar with the race known as the Tzar Kuree?"
His lips pursed in thought for a moment before nodding. "Big carnivorous reptilians, animalistic behavior but clever enough to commandeer most of the alien technology they find when the original owners have all been eaten. Tend to go around looking for food on any sort of planet, anything with meat on the bones and I'm liking the direction you're steering this in even less now."
"That's an appropriate reaction, because this is what made the Draugr necessary. The population still hadn't really recovered from near genocide by the time they invaded and an extremely unpopular decision was made. Doctor Von Clise modified and used the emotion inhibiting technology to turn the dead into soldiers that were in very much need. The dead vastly outnumbered the living after all, and even the fallen Tzar Kuree warriors were converted by means of this. They didn't stand a chance. Unfortunately, the assisting technician had been narrow minded in programming the inhibitors because the Draugr didn't stop until every last Tzar Kuree still on planet had been slain. The somewhat accidental borderline genocide put the surviving twenty-three from the Cyberman war in a bad situation, being treated so poorly before surely made them fearful and so they fled Earth. Most of them. Doctor Strauss and two others were apprehended just as the last functioning Tzar Kuree ship left orbit, stolen. Supposedly they were charged with treason, war crimes and promptly executed. The bodies were destroyed but the remaining Draugr, as the living ones came to be known, were not. They were kept under the pretense that they were obligated to be contributing members of society, which made the work of rebuilding easier. About two years after, the researchers in Central noticed that the average age of civilians had dropped from just a little over a hundred years to perhaps twenty to twenty-five years. This was attributed to a rise in crime, as the population was still stabilizing after the Tzar Kuree invasion and the Draugr were deployed by Central as a form of police. Those who were responsible for the most heinous of crimes were to serve as Draugr themselves as opposed to the traditional death penalty."
"And it spiraled from there," the Doctor murmured. The frown on his features had grown, he was sure because he could definitely feel it and Caligo had since stopped making eye contact or even looking in his general direction after explaining doctor Strauss' execution to him. "Doesn't sit right with you, does it?" For one reason or another, not likely because it seemed unfair that all this history amounted to the circumstances of her life.
"If you mean to say that I am unconvinced by the accounting of such things or that Wilhelm, Yuki and I are Draugr as a result of some sort of unspeakable crime we've committed, you are correct. But this is also another thing I'm physically unable to dwell on." Caligo gestures to the metal protrusion hidden behind her long, wavy locks, not really needing to explain much further. "To speak for myself, my earliest memories are of my training with Yuki. Up until a certain point, I had no designated last name and they had suddenly started calling me by Valgus the day that Yuki died."
It was like they had just replaced Yuki with Caligo, but that stood to reason when everyone's mindset was that these people weren't people, but interchangeable and replaceable tools. Not on his Tardis though. Not with him. "What made you so sure Wilhelm wasn't a kleptomaniac who stole the crown jewels then," he asked, attempting to lighten the mood and steer her away from what might very well have been another inhibitor triggering disaster.
Caligo glanced down at the steel blue drone for a moment, all those years together coming back slowly but fresh as the morning snowfall on Blackridge. "I had a lot of time to get to know him," she finally says, and again, it's something that merits an explanation. "A Draugr is highly unaware of their emotions and individual thoughts. I should say a typical Draugr with an emotional inhibitor functioning at the range of eighty-seven to ninety-two percent. However, because of odd genetic anomalies, certain traits have appeared in more recent series of Draugr, our series to be precise. Wilhelm's genetic anomaly caused him to be telepathic and highly sensitive to the psionic field of other individuals. Our implants were paired so that I would act as a buffer to keep him from becoming overwhelmed by this and to keep my emotional spikes from causing excessive damage to myself. It was no concern to them just how far our two minds would intertwine and eventually we simply began acting as a single unit."
The Doctor's gaze softened. Wilhelm's death left an impact on her, he knew, and he knew what it was like to lose such a deep seated bond. It left a hole in you in more ways than one and you can never quite fill that. There's no replacing that individual who once dwelled within both your mind and hearts and you can never let go so easily. But as much as she might try, he knows, she can't recreate him and she will never replace him whether it's because she failed to do so or simply that she won't. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as she stared down at the drones sitting on the floor. "It's not easy, but it'll get better."
"It has to," she murmured. As she turned, Caligo glanced down at the hand on her shoulder but didn't brush it away. There was that strange sensation again, the unease that came with being in such close proximity of another individual. Odd, that physical contact with the Doctor was more concerning than physical contact with someone like Patricia. Both, while she wouldn't wish to dream of it, she was sure would be easy to incapacitate if ever they were found in a situation requiring it. She forced the thoughts aside, however. If such situations ever did arise, Caligo knew what needed to be done. "I'm sorry Doctor. Perhaps this conversation could have waited for another day. It seems to have spoiled the mood."
"Cal." Gently, the Doctor turned her to face him and held both of her shoulders, feeling the cool leather dip ever so slightly beneath his fingers. "Never think that you talk too much. I'll always be happy to listen."
"That is a strange guarantee to make," she stated almost coldly despite his friendly gesture. Her mind flashed back almost unwillingly to the argument they had the first time he'd returned her to Blackridge. The fury she had seen in his eyes and, oh, the disappointment. Caligo understood, maybe at some level, but how the fire in his eyes made something burn uncomfortably within her chest when he looked at her too closely as he did now.
The Doctor half rolled his eyes and smiled. "Nothing strange about it. Imagine. With a gob like mine it wouldn't be fair if over half the time it was all me that talked. Like you said before, talking but not really saying much eh? I'll bet you've got things to say and you say 'em whether I'm listening or not, which I probably should 'cause that's rude otherwise. I get told that a lot you know-"
"Doctor. You're doing it again."
"Right. Sorry. What about you?"
Caligo quirked a brow, unsure of how to answer.
The Doctor almost rolled his eyes again, baffled that she hadn't been paying attention to her own words. "You said your 'series'," he explained, making sure to use his fingers for air quotes around 'series' just for the sake of displaying how annoyed he was with the way she constantly generally referred to herself, "has genetic anomalies that lead to funny traits like being telepathic. Are you saying you're telepathic and you haven't told me?" He suddenly lifted his hands away from her shoulders and fixed her with a suspicious yet playful look.
"Ah. I see," Caligo murmured, inwardly relieved that he had distanced himself a little now. "No, I'm not a telepath like Wilhelm. I suppose it could be said that I am among the strangest however. They call me a technopath." Something about the look of fascination and curiosity so blatantly displayed on his features made her almost hyperaware of their proximity to one another but the burning feeling in her chest was little more than a simmer at the moment. Caligo retrieved the PDA like device from her tool belt and removed the glove on her right hand. The moment her flesh came into contact with the casing, the device turned itself on and very specific data of her glider project was pulled up. "Coming into direct contact with technology gives me the ability to access and manipulate information on it and anything else I can connect myself to through it. Of course, certain materials and alloys prevent my access and a complex enough system can keep me at bay but I have a significant amount of control over this function. Keeping my hands covered eases the burden of directing effort into controlling it. I try not to intrude where I'm not wanted unless orders or the situation dictates otherwise."
"And that's how you changed the commands on the stasis pods and knew Amelia was alive," the Doctor murmured as he attempted to take a glance at the data on her PDA, but to no avail. Still, his new companion was surprising him a little more every day. "That's brilliant~ Oh! Right! Durellis' control device. Hurt like the dickens when you took mine off by the way-"
"I warned you."
"But I never checked to see if you were okay. Really gotta watch that. Getting to be a bit rude even to you now." The Doctor glanced at her chest almost immediately where he remembered the device had once been perched before directing them up to her face when he realized his mistake. "How's that looking?"
Caligo pulled the collar of her jacket and blouse back about an inch to reveal two of the prong marks, the skin looking stiff and just the slightest bit discolored but without any real harm done. "The looks of it may alarm you, but my skin is extremely resilient, at least in comparison to a human. Like living metal. It heals slowly but that only becomes a cause for concern if I've been injured in the first place." Her jacket and blouse collars were properly replaced in an instant and Caligo put her PDA away. "I feel that it goes without saying that water and electrical currents are not exactly my elements," she muttered.
"Oh absolutely. None of that dangerous sort of thing on the Tardis." The Doctor couldn't help but notice the way she kept her eyes on other things rather than him, seeing as she usually gave the utmost attention to whomever she was conversing with. She was still only human, despite the genetic anomalies and being a Draugr and blah blah blah. "Well, off to bed then yeah? Stasis is no sort of substitute for good ol' fashion sleep."
"I don't believe that I'm tired, nor has that process taken a particular toll on me. But if you need the rest then I will go."
Now he felt like that was a challenge. Him? Needing sleep? Clearly she, like many of his companions, needed a crash course in Time Lord physiology because if she thought she could outlast him she had another thing coming entirely. "Me? Nah. Thing about Time Lords is we don't sleep much. Don't need it really so if you're ready to go then allons-y~"
"It would probably be better if we avoided anything exploding or being kidnapped again. Someplace with less seafood as well perhaps." It wasn't one of her more favored foods but it was nice to know what it was exactly that she was eating.
The Doctor was about to make a jab at her about her dislike for seafood and what exactly the fish and chips they've had a couple times already were when he remembered something. "I owe you Christmas!"
"What?"
"Christmas! A right proper one at that. Lights, a Christmas tree, presents," he started, striding toward the door like he couldn't wait to program the coordinates and really, he couldn't. "Imagine you're a hard person to shop for."
Caligo stared at him for a long moment. What was she supposed to say to him? She had absolutely no idea what Christmas was but there wasn't much of an argument that would stop the Doctor when he was this excited. Caligo sighed quietly and followed him back to the consul room, Wilhelm and Yuki already having orders to return to her room now when she wasn't with them. "A proper meal would be a more than suitable gift Doctor. Where are we going?"
"Earth," he chirped as he threw the leaver up. "2013 to be precise." He gave her a wink to ease what was surely a great amount of apprehension in her eyes the moment he mentioned Earth. He wasn't so daft that he'd take her back to Blackridge to celebrate the holiday after the last fiasco. "Normally I'd say we could go to Antiope but you don't even know what a normal Christmas is like, so!" The Tardis landed and the Doctor met the lieutenant over at the door. He couldn't help the brewing grin and opened the doors for her. "How's Christmas in Paris for a start?"
The sun outside was bright and glorious and Caligo stepped out cautiously onto the snow covered metal structure they were perched on – onto the Eiffel tower if she'd known enough to recognize it. The city was bustling with life below them, rooftops covered by a blanket of snow, people trudging through the streets and cars that looked so much more archaic than what one might see in Pillar. But this was four hundred years before her time and there was something about it… "How are we going to get down there?"
"Stairs of course," the Doctor told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But he couldn't blame her for missing it though. How could Caligo ignore a view like this? "It's Christmas eve, Cal. There's food and eggnog and parties and let me tell you, Miss Valgus," the Doctor declared with all the enthusiasm of the season, "the French know how to party~"
The Doctor offered his elbow for her to take, as he always did, despite the fact that she had only ever taken hold of it once. Caligo felt a tingling sensation in her chest, the precursor to that of internally combusting under his gaze and did her best to push it to the back of her mind. She made sure that her gloves were comfortably in place, as there would surely be some sort of retribution if anyone from this time period were to see a false limb such as this, before tentatively curling her hand around the crook of his elbow. She wanted to return the smile at least for the sake of conveying that she was grateful for the gesture but she couldn't. He'd see through her false emotions the way she could see through most of his reassurances that he was okay. "Doctor, what exactly is eggnog?"
"Well if we can find a nice pub you can try it for yourself! Maybe this time we'll even get to finish our chips eh?" It was slow but steady progress with the lieutenant. Everything was but that was fine, what with having all the time in the universe to get to know her. Wouldn't dare go off and make that same mistake twice… She didn't ask questions about whether or not the people were actually speaking the native language – somehow she couldn't guess what the national language of France was – or how it was they were able to understand it – apparently the Tardis had told her "not to worry about that" – but if they sounded like they were speaking French to the locals. "It's a big, complicated psychic thing that comes with a ship like the Tardis," he told her in the end.
"Is that supposed to deter me from asking what that means?"
"Well, no. You're welcomed to try but-"
"I'll spare you the trouble if you'll stop at the café here," she sighed, gesturing to a small café at the corner of the block they were on, as if the walk were taking its toll on her.
The Doctor looked at her, definitely confused. "Hardly gotten started and you need a break?"
"Doctor, you've just walked us past several eating establishments already and I'm very hungry." Caligo almost didn't stop walking until the Doctor did and watched as he looked between the café at the corner and down the row of bakeries, eateries and perhaps even a grocery store. He looked, simply put, baffled to see that she was correct. Clearly his mind had been somewhere other than Paris but that wasn't exactly a strange occurrence. Caligo waited quietly for him to, first off, get over it and second, decide if he did indeed want to go to the café at the corner or try one of the places they'd passed and he'd blatantly ignored along the way. It was still early morning from the looks of it. They had time.
The Doctor cleared his throat and lightly scratched at the back of his neck. Oh come on Doctor. Pay a little more attention than that would you? He kicked himself mentally as he picked out a nice looking restaurant for them to try out. "Right. Sorry. Food. Food and eggnog," he declared and practically dragged her along to the restaurant. "That's another thing. Really great food here~ Bet you five quid you'll love it."
"I don't know what that is," she murmured as they entered the small dining establishment, "but I will take your recommendation." Two things immediately stood out to Caligo. First, the dining area was packed, people taking up almost every square foot of available space on the floor and second, everyone was thoroughly engrossed in their food and conversations. Perhaps one or two people glanced up briefly but no one's eyes lingered for more than a second. Caligo was suddenly aware of how strange and relieving that revelation was. Her presence in a room anywhere back in Pillar certainly drew the attention of any and all patrons, but not here. Was it because it was this city? Or was it the time period?
"Table for two, sir," the waitress asked and proceeded to chat the Doctor up whilst taking them to an open table. The conversation didn't last long, however, because he'd almost immediately gone back to talking about the food, the culture and the sites they should see while they were there, any manner of things that came to mind.
Their meals were simple but Caligo was grateful to have proper food in her stomach at last, though how it was exactly they would pay for the bill that surely still came at the end was beyond her. She had money, but was fairly certain that Pillar's form of currency wouldn't be accepted here. While the Doctor assured her that it wouldn't be a problem, it would've been easier to enjoy her panini and coffee if she knew exactly what he had up his sleeve. A small chocolate mousse was split between them – along with the Doctor's insistence to remember to brush her teeth when they got back to the Tardis – and Caligo was definitely overly suspicious when he not only paid the bill but left a seemingly generous tip for the waitress whom she believed was clearly interested in him in an intimate context.
The Doctor couldn't help wincing when he watched Caligo drink hot beverages. Even for him, swallowing ten ounces of fresh, scalding hot coffee didn't sound like much of a party and he really was tempted to scold her for doing it this time, right in front of an equally stunned waitress. He had to admit though, that it was beyond hilarious to see her eyes bug out. "Well come on," he urged, jumping to his feet, "If you wanna look around we ought to do it quick before everything closes up. Christmas eve and all that. There's a nice little shop couple blocks down I really do like. Little knickknacks and stuff. Kind of reminds you of Patricia's shop only more organized and newer."
Patricia. I still owe her another visit, Caligo thought almost ruefully. It was probably well past Christmas back in Pillar, December 29th if she remembered correctly. She would surely be upset at her for putting it off for so long since it wasn't as if that were a reason to not visit. "That sounds perfect. Please lead the way." She had hardly any time at all to get the sentence out of her mouth before the Doctor was off, hopefully headed in the direction of the shop, as if he couldn't have been more excited that she had agreed to this. Then again he probably would've gone off anyway. It didn't matter, since the Doctor's destination was her own at the end of the day, and made sure to stay close in the busy Paris streets.
The shop was near a park and did in fact have a rustic welcoming feel about its atmosphere when they entered. The shopkeeper was a middle aged man with an amber colored receding hair line and a slight crook in his nose that made his happy expression just a little awkward. There were quite a few wooden shelves lined in rows and filled with books, music, movies and all manner of bits and bobs that, altogether, wouldn't normally be found in the same store.
Caligo paced through the shelves slowly while the Doctor amused himself with all sorts of things on the shelves before she found herself by a shelf filled with movies. A small Sony portable DVD player – as the tag on the corner read – was nestled against the back of the shelf playing what she guessed from the box sitting on top of it to be Wreck-it Ralph. It seemed like such a silly movie in the beginning. Definitely aimed at children, the bright colors and such. But as the movie progressed any thoughts belittling the film were forgotten and before Caligo had realized, she'd stood there in the shop and watched it from beginning to end.
The villain who wanted to be more than what he was designed to be, to love and be loved in return. The hero who came to realize the worst day of his life was every day of his villain's life. The acceptance that at the end of the day, they would play the roles they were programmed to play and that was okay. That didn't mean they were good or bad people for it. "I'm bad, and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad," Ralph said as he plummeted into and shattered the cap of the candy volcano to save his friends, "There's no one I'd rather be than me…"
"Cal?" The Doctor was concerned to find his companion having been staring at a shelf for nearly two hours straight now, not to mention the shopkeeper was giving them funny looks. When Caligo didn't answer him he placed and gentle hand on her shoulder and broke her out of her stupor. She seemed startled by the not-so-sudden contact and stared at him, wide eyed with damp streaks running down her cheeks. "Cal, what's wrong," he asked, even more worried now. As unusual as it already was, he'd never seen her look so sad before, or anything else except for annoyed for that matter. "What's the matter?"
Caligo finally seemed to have snapped out of her daze and ran a hand over her cheeks, startled to find that they were quite damp and her eyes stung and blurred for some reason.
"What're you crying for," the Doctor asked gently.
"I don't know," she murmured, "I didn't know that I could." Caligo sniffled, another action she found to be quite odd, and quickly turned her attention anywhere other than the Doctor or the shopkeeper. On a shelf nearby she spotted a snow globe with a red base and containing a miniature of the Eiffel Tower on which they had landed, decorated with fake Christmas lights and some odd green trimming on its edges. "I want to get this for Patricia," she told him in as strong a voice as she could muster. She was sorely hoping to distract him from whatever was happening to her at this very moment but worry was written all over his face.
"Course we can get it. Gonna be okay," he asked, just a little hesitant. He didn't like the way she only nodded at him, refusing to make eye contact. Was she surprised that she was able to cry or that she was even doing it at all and why hadn't the inhibitor kicked in? The damn thing was usually so reliable. Mentally kicking himself for that last bit, he went to pay for the little snow globe.
"The lady alright," the shopkeeper asked, tilting his head toward Caligo who seemed to be fiddling with her gloves at the moment.
"Yeah, fine. Just fine. Probably just the movie huh?"
"It's a kid's film, but I understand. Some things just hit home hard." The shopkeeper waved his hand away and smiled. "Go on, take it. It's Christmas after all. Take care of the lady."
The Doctor smiled at the man and threw down some cash anyway. "Merry Christmas then. Cal!"
"Doctor you don't have to-"
The Doctor jumped, hearing her voice just behind him and spun around to stare at her. "Should get you a nice bell for Christmas so I can hear you coming," he groaned with a roll of his eyes. "Eggnog then. Warm you up a bit, yeah?" He couldn't help smiling when he caught the slightest upturn of her lips and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the shop. "I promised you a party too, didn't I?" The smile dropped almost instantly at the mention of a party. That's right, she didn't get on well with people. But people in this time period were different. "I can promise you too that people in this era are different and you are safe with me." He remembered Wilhelm's warning to Caligo. You ought not to trust him as much as you do, he recalled the drone telling her, and if she'd simply up and flown off with him in his Tardis, how much could she possibly trust him? Some alien she hardly knew. An alien who had managed to have her abducted at least twice since they ventured off into space together. Almost surely forgot all about her the first time around…
Caligo could see the frown forming on his face but from what, she couldn't rightfully tell. She gave the gentlest squeeze to the hand that held hers and quietly urged him to come back to the world they were in at this moment. "A party sounds interesting Doctor. Perhaps then we could go and visit Patricia after." She did her best to smile, a real meaningful one, even if the feeling wasn't actually there. Just to put him at ease. Just to see him smile as if he were truly happy in that moment because for some reason, seeing him so troubled when they were together troubled her. Wilhelm used to look like that so often. She thought about asking what worried him, what had him looking so scared sometimes but in some astounding ways, they were similar. They didn't much like talking about themselves.
"Right! Patricia," he suddenly blurted out. "Remind me to tell her to stop calling me a kid. Doesn't rightly know what she's talking about, her."
It was like flipping a switch and suddenly the Doctor was back on planet Earth in the year 2013, dragging a Draugr from the future to little shops, nativities in parks and pubs for parties as if this were normal. After all, what did time mean when you were having a good time with a friend? It was still only early evening when they found themselves back on top of the Eiffel Tower, sitting with their feet dangling off the edge of the platform and going through a box shaped like a Christmas tree filled with chocolates in little slots with numbers of days on them. The Doctor and Caligo were probably on number twenty and eight respectively at the moment.
"Not bad for a first Christmas, right?" The Doctor glanced over at Caligo, a crème filled sleigh shaped chocolate in his hand just waiting to be eaten. For him, it was nice to finally spend a Christmas with someone again and no one dying or ships crashing, etc. Sure, there were plenty of companions whom he was sure wouldn't mind him popping in for Christmas dinner with the family, but for him? Days like today were probably about as domestic as it got. But it had still been a good day, because, yes, he still counted their trip to Atlantis as part of today, and you ought to have happy holidays like Christmas on good days.
Caligo glanced over to the Doctor who clearly looked very proud of himself and nodded, her mouth full of a chewy, caramel filled chocolate. She didn't bother to help the exasperated look on her face when he'd begun to laugh, realizing why she couldn't speak. Caligo sorely hoped that, at least for now, he had forgotten about the incident at the shop after breakfast. Her eyes slowly scanned the rooftops and the now strangely quiet city. The streets were empty and most everyone was at home now, doing whatever it was they did on Christmas eve. "I appreciate this Doctor. It's a beautiful sight. It's a little strange to think that people used to be so different but I believe you are right."
"You'll have to be more specific than that," he teased.
Caligo hummed softly and finished her gob impairing treat before laying back against the metal platform, feet still dangling off the edge. She briefly heard the Doctor chide her for suddenly deciding to be tired while training her gaze across the night sky. Even the stars looked different here. "What happens on Christmas day?"
The Doctor shrugged out of habit even though he knew she wasn't even so much as watching him in her peripherals. "Open presents, have dinner with family, things like that." He took another bite of his crème filled chocolate. "Shops 're all closed. Nothing for us to do 'cept go and see Patricia. Y'know we don't have to-" The Doctor stopped short when he saw that his companion was laying back against the cold metal, a familiar and absolutely ridiculous looking scarf he'd found in the wardrobe for her bunched up around her neck and behind her head and eyes definitely shut. He smiled just a little, knowing the day – probably more than a day in reality – had been a long one and murmured, "Guess I'll tell you when the sun's up. Merry Christmas Cal."
"Merry Christmas Doctor…"