Finally getting a little bit of Charls' species stuff into the open. I hope it's not too complex to follow but I'm having fun with it.
It felt like they'd been in the library for days. In actuality it'd only been a few hours, but it was worth it because the Doctor and Martha had found about 45 books about species that shouldn't exist. All of them glowed a bright yellow, it hurt your eyes if you looked at them too long.
"I suppose that's all of them." The Doctor dusted off the last book and added it to the pile.
"Now what?" Martha asked.
"Well," the Doctor thought for a minute, "now we get some snacks and start reading."
"Snacks?" Martha huffed, "Have you got a snack bar?"
The Doctor laughed, "No! I have a cupboard."
He walked over to the computer and pressed a little button on the side of it. A little click echoed and the wooden panel next to the computer opened slightly. The Doctor opened it fully and inside were a basket of chips, a couple of bananas and three cups of tea. The Doctor smiled and carefully handed Martha a cup and walked the chips and another cup over to Charls. They'd moved in the last few hours and had fallen asleep in a pile of beanbags. The Doctor smiled, he understood that a body change was exhausting so he'd let Charls sleep. He placed the tea and chips next to the notebook and walked away, as quietly as he could.
"Tea, chips, and bananas?" Martha questioned.
"Bananas are good." The Doctor smiled and grabbed his tea, shutting the cupboard.
They sat down for another few hours, reading through the 45 books. It was a quicker process thanks to Doctor. While Martha could only skim through a couple books in a few hours, the Doctor read the rest with lightning speed. At one point, Charls woke up and ate the chips and drank a little of the tea. They then proceeded to walk out of the library without a second thought. Martha almost got up and followed them but the Doctor held out an arm.
"You don't need to go after them." He shook his head.
Martha didn't understand, "Shouldn't we keep an eye on them? They don't know anything right now."
"It's fine." The Doctor reassured, "If it helps, think of Charls like a delivery pigeon. They're just going out for a bit and they'll come right back."
"That doesn't really help." Martha sighed.
"Really?" The Doctor frowned, "Well, besides that I've found some things that might be useful."
The Doctor layed out 3 books between them. The first book wasn't really a book, it was a folder with papers and old documents spilling out of it. The second book was an old book with engravings of feathers on the cover. The last book was a book that seemed to disappear if you didn't look at it in the right way.
The Doctor pointed at the folder, "This one seems to be some old documents for some sort of corporation or gang that used to sell knowledge. One of their information holders sounds an awful like what we're looking for."
He pointed at the engraved book, "This one mentions types of species with long life spans. It's a theory book about descendants of any long life spanned or immortal beings and creatures. Very good read and tons of brilliant ideas. A couple of the species talked about in here sound like what we're looking for and so do some of the theories."
The Doctor pointed at the last book, the one that seemed to disappear, "This last one is very strange. Took a very long time to read, at least at my pace. If you don't concentrate and acknowledge the book then it seems to disappear. You can't get too caught up in the words otherwise it'll disappear and you can't focus too much on the physicality of it or you won't be able to remember what the book is about." He tried to pick it up and it fazed through his hand, "It seems to be a journal about a pocket in the universe, completely invisible and cut off from everything, but there were people and creatures who lived there. This book was very carefully made so that no ordinary thing can just pick it up and learn about the secret pocket. It's incredible."
Martha looked at the books, "So, we've got clues. We just go to get the final answer."
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.
Footsteps echoed in the library, Charls had wandered their way back into the library.
"Doctor?" Charls' voice echoed through the library. It had changed, previously their voice had been a lighter version of Doctor's voice. Now it was more like a combination with the old Charls' voice and the lighter Doctor voice. It was...different.
"Charls!" The Doctor waved them over, "Just the person I was thinking of. I need to borrow your mind for a quick second."
"What?" They asked as they walked towards Doctor. Charls sat in front of Doctor and tilted their head, "What do you need me for?"
"First off, how much do you remember?" the Doctor questioned, "Do you know me? Martha? Your time on Earth?"
They hummed, "Well I know the basics about me. I think I'm getting a bit used to being in a different body."
"Ah! So you remember changing!" The Doctor grinned.
"So you're back to being the same person we knew before?" Martha asked.
They examined the books laid out on the floor and then at Martha, "I know who I used to be. I can feel that those memories are mine, that was me but I don't think that I'm that person anymore. Sorry."
"It's fine, Charls," Martha mustered up a smile, "you don't need to apologize."
"But it just feels like the previous me had stuff left to do. And now you're stuck with me." Charls hung their head.
Doctor rested their hand on Charls' shoulder, "You're not stuck. You're still Charlie Grey. So if you don't mind. I just need to check something."
Charls nodded and let the Doctor enter their mind again. This time it was a quick stop to see some memories then back to reality. It lasted less than a minute.
The Doctor straightened up, "So from what I know, Charls' species is unnamed. Your species have brains similar to - if not better than - the Time Lords. The reason that you have a horrible, extremely bad memory is because it's something that they've evolved to do. They somehow evolved so that they could trigger memories with certain words or images. Until those images or words were seen or heard, those memories would stay in the far reaches of the brain. Like they've been forgotten. It's honestly a brilliant way to have such a brain and yet avoid overload and secrets being spilled. It was written that some could even store their memories in physical forms or electricity." The Doctor looked at Charls and let them process some of this information.
"There's no name?" Martha repeated.
"None." The Doctor sighed, "Not even a nickname. It looks like they were capable of doing many things. The memory thing was one. They also have a little precognitive abilities. Meaning they can see the future. But not well, apparently. Records show that they couldn't tell the difference between futures that would happen and wouldn't happen. Kind of a hit or miss ability."
"I can see the future?" Charls exclaimed.
"Not exactly," the Doctor told them, "You can see bits of the future but you can't really tell if it's the future that's going to happen."
"So that means I know stuff that shouldn't exist." Charls thought.
"Exactly!" The Doctor grinned, "Wow, you really are a brilliant species. Even with some human blood thrown in."
"Excuse me!" Martha acted offended.
The Doctor laughed, "So there's also some things that weren't recorded in full detail. There's small margin notes about replication, so maybe you'll be able to make bananas out of nothing."
"Bananas?" Charls raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! Bananas are good." The Doctor argued.
"So where'd they come from." Martha interjected, "They had to have come from somewhere."
"That's the confusing part." The Doctor wagged a finger, "In the book with the carvings, the author speculates that this species descended from Phoenixes, shapeshifters or even Time Lords. Probably these species because of the memory abilities, time abilities and the shapeshifting abilities. Maybe you have a long life span, too."
"How long?" Charls asked.
"I'd say about 900 or 1,000 years. It depends - what do you eat for lunch?" The Doctor ran a few numbers through his head, "It seems like most of your species die at a very early age. Historically, they were used as information holders. Very valuable. Therefore most went into hiding in tiny pockets of the universe that no one knew about. They hid so long that people forgot they existed." The Doctor seemed to be looking at something that didn't exist.
"So what am I?" Charls demanded, "I must be something, right?"
"We could always name your species." Martha suggested.
"No," the Doctor sighed, "we can't. There's a reason why a species is forgotten. There's always a reason. Most times, forgotten things should stay forgotten."
"So I'm going to stay 66.68% unidentifiable? Forever?" Charls sighed with disbelief.
The Doctor looked up at Charls, "I'm sorry, Charls."
"We could always just make one up and keep it to ourselves." Martha proposed.
"I suppose we could." The Doctor tilted his head, weighing the options.
Charls smiled, "So what should I be?" They stood out and spread their arms, twirling in a display, "I am a blank canvas. Brand new."
"Well, what should we name a brilliant minded, Phoenix-shapeshifter-Time Lord descendant, precognitive species that hid in a pocket of the universe for billions of years?" The Doctor thought aloud with a smile. New things always caught his attention, the wonders of the undiscovered.
"How about something like the Hidden?" Martha thought for a minute, "So that we add a little mystery in there."
"Something that sounds like a normal word so that people don't think we're talking about a species." Charls propped their chin on their hand.
"Fog?" The Doctor raised then lowered his head, "No that's silly. Shade. No that's even sillier."
Charls jumped up, "I've got it!"
"What? What?" The Doctor jumped up too, "What is it?"
"Gray!" Charls shouted, "Like the gray area - something that's not confirmed or existing within the rules!"
"That's brilliant!" Martha stood up, "It's also a funny coincidence that your name is Charlie Grey."
"Well, my name Grey is spelled with an e. I was imagining this Gray spelled with an a." Charls shrugged but continued to smile.
"Charlie Grey. 33.32% human and 66.68% Gray." The Doctor announced proudly.
"That's me!" Charls grinned wider.
Martha smiled and then paused, "Wait! I've been meaning to ask you something."
Charls faced her, "Yes?"
"Is it just me, or do you look and sound a little bit like Doctor?" Martha asked slowly.
Charls face dropped a bit, "Do I?"
"I guess you do sound a little like me." The Doctor examined Charls closer.
"Do you happen to have a mirror?" Charls asked him.
The Doctor nodded, "Yeah. In the closet I've got a mirror."
"Could you lead the way?" Martha asked.
"Can do!" The Doctor walked out of the library, leaving the books they'd gathered on the floor. The two smiled and followed.
"That's me?" Charls looked in the mirror, turning sideways, then looked at the front, then the back, then stepped really close and examined their face. "I've got green eyes! And fluffy hair! Could do with a stronger jawline..."
"Is that really what I sound like after a regeneration?" The Doctor muttered under his breath.
Charls stepped back and looked at themselves again, "What the hell am I wearing?"
"A purple waistcoat and a black shirt with white squares and jeans." Martha described.
"Why purple? Why a waistcoat even? Do I like waistcoats? And jeans don't even go well with waistcoats!" Charls whirled around and faced Martha and Doctor.
"It's your body!" the Doctor cried out, "You picked it!"
Charls looked in the mirror again, "Did I? Took 48 hours to decide on a body? I must be indecisive. And by the way, suit and sandshoes - not a good move. Worse than waistcoat and jeans."
"They are not sandshoes!" The Doctor defended and then snapped his fingers, "Oh! That must've been you! The buzzing!"
"That was Charls?" Martha echoed.
"Yes!" the Doctor smiled, finally understanding, "I guess when your soul burned you turned into a floating consciousness and just followed around the nearest living creature. Me! But it's supposed to be impossible for the soul to just disappear, the soul is the container for a person - their life source. If your soul burned then you shouldn't have been able to get a new body without a soul for it to form around. And it shouldn't even be possible to just be a consciousness floating around in the air."
"That might be the Phoenix bit." Martha inputted, "There's this legend on Earth that when phoenixes die they're reborn from their own ashes."
Charls thought about it for a minute, "Maybe, when my soul burnt up it turned to tiny ashes and when my consciousness returned from New York the two joined and created a body?"
"I suppose so," The Doctor rubbed his face, "I still wonder how your consciousness was just able to exist. I'll need to think about that one."
"So I was just following you around for 48 hours, without a body?" Charls asked.
The Doctor leaned on a railing, "Well, yeah, you were just collecting data for your new body. Little bit of me, little bit of Martha, little bit of Tallulah and Lazarus. You must've had thousands of options, we did walk around New York for quite a long time."
"Does that mean they could have looked like Dalek Sec? With funny worm things on the head?" Martha huffed a laugh, that was a funny image.
"I suppose so…" The Doctor replied quietly.
"Is that why I sound like you?" Charls picked up a random hat off the floor, "Because I heard your voice first?"
"Well, yeah." The Doctor nodded, "Also, be careful with that. It's special."
"Everything here is special, Doctor." Charls tossed aside the hat and grabbed a purple tie that was hanging on the mirror. "Do you think I'd look good with a tie?" They held it against their neck and put it back on the mirror, "Nah. Maybe a beanie?" They scurried away to find clothes.
"What a funny person," Martha laughed as Charls nearly fell on their face after slipping on the hat they'd tossed away.
"We've got to be careful, Martha." The Doctor said quietly, "Anything we say could influence Charls' future and the decisions they make. It's like raising a child but only the brain part."
Martha looked at him, "Are you serious? Don't they already have a personality. I mean, just look at them. If they've been following us around for 48 hours there's probably tons of things that have already influenced them."
"I just don't want to influence them too much. They've got to be their own person." The Doctor ran his hand through his hair.
Charls ran back into the area, laughing their ass off. "Doctor! Martha! I found the stupidest looking jacket ever! Bright red that thing was. Also, Doctor, did you go through a question mark obsession? There's a whole rack of things with question mark patterns. Anyways, I don't think that hats are my thing but I did find this very fun bracelet." They showed off an object on their wrist with a smile. "I don't quite understand what's written on it but I think it's pretty cool." They walked up to Martha and the Doctor to show them the bracelet. It wasn't really a bracelet, it was a watch.
The Doctor smiled fondly and ran his finger along the rim of the miniature clock. It told the time like any other watch but in different ways. It could show the time of different planets but it could also show the time of different galaxies and even the universal time. Of course, the Doctor had used it to show Earth time and broken it so it was stuck. All the time he'd owned that watch, the Doctor probably only wore it once.
"It's a watch." The Doctor told Charls. "Tells the time of any planet, any city, or any galaxy you want it to show."
Martha looked closer, "What time is that for?"
"Earth." The Doctor sighed. "I broke it and it got stuck on Earth time. Specifically London."
"Do you like London?" Charls asked suddenly.
The Doctor half smiled, "Yes. Yes, I do."
"Can you fix it?" Martha fiddled with the side button that would normally change the time.
"Sure I can." The Doctor scoffed, "I'm a genius, aren't I?"
Charls laughed and slipped off the watch. They rubbed their fingers along the notches of the band and handed it to Doctor. He fiddled with it for a bit, muttering small things about watch parts under his breath. At one point he used his sonic screwdriver to fix a more electrical part of the watch.
"Done!" The Doctor smiled and handed back the watch, "Just switch the dial and it'll change the time to what you're thinking of. Or not, it really does whatever it wants."
Charls fastened the watch on their wrist so that the clock was on the inside of their wrist, "Honestly, I might keep it at Earth time."
"But how will you know what planet it's displaying?" Martha pointed out, "There's no label or anything."
The Doctor hopped up, "Yes, right. Well, the funny circle and line things are actually Circular Gallifreyan, they change and spin and stuff to show what planet."
"Circular Gallifreyan?" Charls asked as they watched the circles spin around, shifting into different words.
The Doctor stepped closer, "Yes, right now it says Earth, London. It's read counter clockwise. But the numbers are regular numbers, easier to read on a watch."
Martha scoffed, "So how are we going to know what it says? We don't know Circular Gallifreyan."
The Doctor shrugged, "Well, it's not an important subject for humans to know. It's not like it's an alphabet written outside Gallifreyan things." He watched their faces for a moment, "But there are books in the library - if you'd like to try and learn it."
Charls smirked and walked off, "I'll be in the library."
"You sure you can find your way back?" Martha called after them.
"I'll figure it out." Their voice echoed from down the hall.
The Doctor cupped his hands around his mouth, "You can always ask the TARDIS for help if you get lost!"
There wasn't a reply.
The Doctor strolled towards the door, "We'd better be getting you home then."
Martha hid a frown, "Right. Home."