Rising from his spot in the rocking chair, the man stretched out his limbs, his coat flowing in the breeze as he fixed his sleeves, the man blinked, his emerald eyes glistening under the lights above, before they moved towards the pair staring back at him.
"Finally, I was beginning to think I'd never get out of here. Dull place, this," the man yawns as he casually went underneath the rope blocking off patrons from the display, his dress shoes clanking against the laminated floor.
Seeing the sight, Theodore remarked, "My word, we thought they didn't know who David Bowie was!"
Snorting, the man responded with a dry, "Oh, they know who he is, quite well, but his wax figure had a bit of a fall recently, and they haven't had the chance to reconstruct it, so it's been empty since."
Tilting her head as she studied the man, she goes, "You could've said something sooner, you know?"
He heard them talking and not once did he think to speak out, but the man tells her the reason, he fell asleep.
"With your eyes open?" Lila raised her brow as the man told them that he slept with his eyes open and only animated when they were about to leave.
Nodding as his tight curly blonde hair bobbed, the man affirmed that he slept with his eyes open, it's a trick of his, gets people every time.
Crossing his arms, Theodore asks him, "So if I was to ask if you sent us those tickets, would you deny?"
Shaking his head, the man tells him that he didn't send them the tickets, but he reckoned he knew what did, though, but seeing them here's a good thing for him, he had that going for him.
Remembering something, the man introduced himself as…
"The Doctor?" Lila raised her brow at the introduction as Theodore found it amusing, as the man affirms that he is the Doctor.
Turning her head to Theodore, Lila says to him privately, "That'd explain a few things."
As the Doctor studied them, he looked at Theodore with intrigue, going far as stepping closer to him, staring him in the eyes, before exclaiming, "Oh! It's you!"
Raising his brow, Theodore's confused until the Doctor informed him, he'd seen his wax figure coming in, didn't think he'd run into him here of all places.
Took his hands and shook them, thanking Theodore for giving him the inspiration he needed to do more with his life as a school teacher.
"Here I thought I'd be stuck grading papers all-day, but because of you, I've been having the time of my life!" the Doctor thanked Theodore as he shared looks with Lila as it appear the Doctor mistook him for his late father.
Unable to break the man's heart, Theodore decided to play the part, humbled, as the Doctor let his hand go, as he's excited at the chance of meeting the progenitor.
"How did you wind up in a place like this, anyway?" Lila asked the Doctor as he shoved his hands in his bright pockets.
Shrugging his shoulders, the Doctor says, "Same reason as you two, I was invited."
Seemed that they're in the same boat as him and he warned that if they tried to leave, they'll find the entrance barricaded, and there's no exit anywhere in the building, trust him, he looked.
The news of them trapped in the wax museum brought bad memories of watching a horror movie with similar plot, but it's only alleviated when Theodore subtly comforted her, before asking the Doctor, "Do you know what did this?"
Shrugging at him, the Doctor goes, "I haven't found a clue, no person, nothing until you two came along. Hence my suspicion. If I could get to my TARDIS, that'd be something, but it separated us, now I can't get back to it. And you, as it'd seems."
Furrowing his brow, Theodore remarked aloud that he would've known if another Doctor was in the vicinity, but the Doctor told him that he's certain that something sequestered the TARDIS from him.
Not disabled, it's tuned extensively, that even Daleks couldn't with old tricks that worked before, and believe the Doctor, they've been using old tricks hoping something stuck.
"Not the brightest bulbs," Lila shook her head, her head of chestnut hair wavered as the Doctor sighed while agreeing with her comment.
Stepping towards her, the Doctor says, "Believe me, I thought they were dangerous, still is, but I sometimes pity them. It's a miracle they don't cook themselves in their chassis with their hot heads."
All that hate and anger, somehow haven't cooked themselves alive from the heat generated, but here they were, annoyingly loud and shrill, it's a curse, and the pair agreed with him.
Theodore attempted to contact Al, seeing how he'll fair, and much like the Doctor's TARDIS, Al's sequestered from them, in a fashion that blocked all communications to and fro, but not disabled, either.
From the way it felt in the building, Theodore couldn't open rifts if he wanted, something blocking him, and it wasn't the universe, could be a device, could be a strong being, however, the adventure's young.
"And you haven't seen anyone here?" Theodore walked with Lila's arm interlocked with his as the Doctor walked beside them.
Affirming he didn't see anyone, the Doctor says that he looked top to bottom, but never found a trace of anyone here, that he'd almost suspect that the whole building's sentient.
"So, is it?" Lila wearily asked the Doctor if he found proof that the building's sentient before she's relieved when the Doctor replied that the building isn't.
First thing he checked, because he didn't want a repeat of a previous adventure where he was in fact trapped in a sentient castle that tried to keep him locked within it's tombs for eons, hadn't he cleverly escaped.
"Someone has to maintain these wax figures, surely, what else have you found?" Theodore inquired what else the Doctor tried to do in his attempts at escaping the usual wax museum as they walked through another area, seeing they've come across a section dedicated to UK history.
The Doctor went through his assessment of the situation when he realized he'd been trapped within the building.
Got rightly fed up enough that he tore apart some of the wax figures just to illicit a respond from someone, something, anything, but no one ever came out of hiding.
Hence, what became of the wax figure depicting David Bowie.
"I'd destroy every one of them if I had the mind to, but the action of destroying them all's a bit tedious. Besides that, melted wax would ruin my clothes," the Doctor tells them as he showed areas where he destroyed the wax figures, different ones, just to see what'd illicit response, but nothing happened, and the Doctor hesitated the thought of continuing the destruction, not wanting to waste his strength and time.
Worse, the chances of the melted wax getting on his clothes and ruining them, it wasn't like he could steal the clothes off the wax figures if he wanted to, they're all sculpted wax, too!
"How long have you been here?" Theodore asks the Doctor how long he stayed in the museum and heard from the Doctor as he went over towards his work done on a few wax figures, destroyed into a clump of wax stuck to the carpeted ground they stood on.
The Doctor muttered to himself before saying that he'd been here for a least a few hours, he'd remember that, because just before he gotten here, he picked up something to eat.
"Howard Johnson has a station out here, can you believe it?" the Doctor mocked what he considered mediocre food served by the station.
Burnt coffee, tea that steeped too long or too little, the food's subpar, the pancakes too sweet to be considered breakfast food, and everything else.
Leaving Lila to respond with, "It's a beacon for most travelers."
Sighing, the Doctor lamented he wished the Diner would expand from the edge of the universe, they had the best food for a decent price, excellent service, too!
Agreeing with him, Theodore added, "Ah, their dinners were to die for. Believe me, I tried convincing them, psychic paper and all, they're stubborn about expanding."
When he and Lila had layovers, they'd sometimes go to the Diner, always prompt service, everything they've ordered from the Diner's perfect, filling, oh, it's their go-to whenever they needed something to eat after an arduous adventure.
One would think with a name like that, they would've gotten bored with the menu by now considering all their adventuring, but the Diner boasted a menu with over a hundred thousand items and counting!
"Oh believe me, I could steal the whole lot if I could move an inch from my seat," the Doctor commented how he yearned to steal half the menu for his snacking, but by that point, he's lucky to move his legs after the long period he sat gorging on his dinner after surviving his latest adventure.
The talk of food wasn't helping in their situation, but it gave the Doctor the boost he needed, that once he gets out of here, he's taking a trip over to the Diner, and he offered Theodore and Lila a chance to come with.
"Well, I wouldn't mind grabbing a few things to take home," Theodore pondered the offer before Lila interjected with, "Which means, fifteen to-go orders."
Theodore retorted that Lila wasn't any better, they squabble before the Doctor silenced them, reminding them of what's important here.
Scouring every corner they could, the trio couldn't find an access door, any kind of door that they could theoretically use, that it drove them to look into unconventional means of finding their answers.
With work, they began tearing up the displays, from the carpet to the background, with Theodore's strength, it came apart effortlessly, to the point that there's piles of torn off backgrounds in a corner while Theodore and the Doctor searched for some sort of hidden door.
Someone had to come in and display the wax figures, build the displays, everything under the sun, so somehow they're getting in, and if one head of wild hair couldn't figure out, why not two?
Looked like children gotten their hands on the displays by the time they're done with the destruction, but no doors, and like the Doctor said, they couldn't spend hours taking apart the whole museum.
"What about the wax figure?" Lila got an idea on what they could try, something that the Doctor didn't think of, and when she elaborated, the bulb above Theodore's head went off, as he turned his head to the Doctor.
Shaking his head, the Doctor says it never crossed his mind, but the more he thought about it, of all the wax figures, the wax figure bearing the striking resemblance to Theodore stood out chiefly among them.
Retracing their steps, the trio sought the wax figure, and as they're walking, something became apparent.
Maybe it's just Lila's imagination, but the lighting in the museum started to dim, some areas darker than others, and the closer they got, already confirmed what type of adventure they're on.
"Gone?" Theodore's surprised as he noticed the wax figure of his father's gone.
He even went over the golden rope, went up on the platform, scoured for it, but it wasn't there.
Raising his brow at the sight, the Doctor responds, "That's never happened before!"