The Needle and the Haystack
"I think you need to do a little spring cleaning, Professor," Ace commented dryly as they trudged up a staircase. The trio had been through dozens of rooms, each more bizarrely decorated than the last. However, no matter how hard they looked or what pile of clothes they looked under there was no sign of Rose's Doctor.
"I'll be sure to mention that to me," the Seventh Doctor said as he eyed the landing, "I'm sure I'm somewhere around here. It's not like me to misplace myself."
Rose looked a little confused and Ace took pity on her, "Don't mind him. He's a little, you know, eccentric."
"I'll have you know that I am not eccentric," he protested.
"No? What are you then?"
"Unique."
"Like there's a difference," Ace rolled her eyes.
"If you and the Professor, there, are aspects of the Doctor's mind does that mean you're talking to yourself?" Rose asked, finally voicing the question that had been plaguing her since they had entered the room dominated by an impossibly multi-colored jacket.
Ace stopped walking and turned towards Rose, her eyes dancing with mirth, "I believe the Professor once said 'I've always believed that talking to oneself is the first sign of sanity.'"
"Enough chitchat," the Doctor chided them both as he stepped onto the landing and looked up and down the hallway, "Ah, yes, I remember this place."
"Know exactly where we are, do you?" Ace asked.
"Yes."
"And where are we?"
"In my mind."
Ace sighed, "I was asking for that, wasn't I?"
The Doctor grinned at her. Rose fought back the urge to groan.
"Ah, yes, this way," the Seventh Doctor turned right and walked past the hat stand that held a hat identical to the one he was wearing and a long multi-colored scarf. As they walked, Rose could not help but notice that the hallway seemed to be getting less crowded as they went on. While the previous floors and rooms had been cluttered with dozens of objects ('I have a rather cluttered mind,' Ace's Professor had explained), this one seemed to be more of a work in progress if that was the phrase for it.
"Um...Doctor," Rose said, feeling rather strange about addressing the man in front of her by the Doctor's name, "Where's all the stuff?"
"The stuff?" he asked.
"You know - the clutter. Everywhere else we've been there's been something underfoot or overhead or on the walls. This place seems a little...unfinished," Rose finished lamely.
"Ah, that's a good sign then. Or a bad one, if you think about it," he replied.
"Why do you say that, Professor?" Ace asked as she stepped around a dog-like robot.
"It's good because it means we're getting close. It's bad because it means that I, or rather the other me, is starting to give up," the Seventh Doctor replied, "Pick up the pace, Ace, Rose! I'm around here somewhere."
Rose was definitely getting a headache but she obediently picked up the pace. She had to find the Doctor, and quickly, before Ace and her Professor drove her mad or the Doctor willed himself out of existence.