Authors notes: This one is a bit of a mystery style story for the pair of them.
This actually started out as a fan fiction for the 13th Doctor, but I was having trouble writing for the Doctor and her companions. But while writing it I found it would actually work and fit better into this ever growing series of adventures for Raven and the 8th Doctor.
BOOK 5
Death in the Family.
Raven has her first Christmas experience, up in the mountains in a strange house with seven very strange people. Time is frozen and they are under attack by a collection of shadowy creatures, each one determined to kill them all. Everything seems to revolve around the seventh member of this family. A tramp of a man who doesn't even know how he got there.
Chapter 28
A Curious Reunion.
"OUCH!" came a voice from an up-turned Police Box.
"What happened?" said Raven's voice from within the box.
"I've just walked into a wall." the Doctors voice said.
"I think that's a floor." Raven said.
"Hmm, I'm glad I have you around to set me straight." The Doctors voice said sarcastically. "A little help?"
The Police Box was suddenly shrouded in blackness and was forced back up onto its base, the Doctor tumbling out of the front doors. Once the box was set down again Raven exited, back in her usual leotard attire. She liked the other clothes but she preferred this attire. If push came to shove she could just cast another one of her masking spell on herself.
Before they left the Doctor had flipped a switch which righted the TARDIS interior dimensions, back to the way they were before, and Raven had picked up everything that had piled up in front of the doors with her powers and gently set them all back down where they came from. The Doctor had looked at the strange message on the controls in thought, pondering their meaning.
Without a word he'd gone straight to the doors when they were clear and stepped out, and planted face first into the stone floor, forgetting the TARDIS exterior was still flipped up onto its front.
The Doctor got up and dusted himself down. "Oh, the coat is gathering dust, the velvet will ruin." The floor was very dusty.
"Have you ever thought of changing? Maybe into something more practical?" Raven asked.
"Have you?" The Doctor said back instantly, and Raven looked down at her own leotard and cloak attire.
"Smart ass." Raven commented under her breath.
"I heard that." The Doctor said as he looked around, or rather felt around because they were in pitch darkness, except for a little moon light which seemed to be coming in from broad, short windows dotted around the top of this room like a dotted line.
She could see the edges of dark, box like structures and by the feel of them they were made of wood. She felt her way around and found what felt like a wall and began fishing around.
"I've got some torches back in the TARDIS." The Doctor said and moved back towards the Police Box, the sign above the doors glowing white.
"Won't that cause a fire?" Raven asked, thinking he meant a burning torch.
"Very funny, you're getting the hang of humour already!" The Doctor said rather drily but with humour. Raven didn't understand for a moment until she realised he meant 'torch' as in 'flash-light.' Him and his stupid Englishisms. "Be right back." The Doctor said.
"Or..." Raven said loudly enough to catch his attention as she felt a switch and flipped it, and it clicked. Suddenly the room was illuminated. "...we could just turn the lights on."
Boxes and crates lined the walls. There was furniture sprawled here and there, most of it covered in sheets or clean-film to protect it from dust, packed away in storage. "We're in a basement," the Doctor commented, "I can tell from the barometric pressure."
"I'm amazed at your deductions." Raven said flatly. It was obvious they were in some kind of basement, or underground structure. She didn't need to be a Time Lord to work that out.
"You didn't tell me what the console meant by 'Death', 'The End', 'Help me', 'Please'" Raven said. When the Doctor looked at the controls he just looked at them with an ominous look.
"I honestly don't know. The TARDIS is not meant to do that." The Doctor said, peaking under a sheet cover to see what was under it. "But I guess something here is calling out for help. It must be a powerful telepath to reach the TARDIS telepathic circuits."
"Midnight on the seventh day of 'help me'." Raven commented. That's as much as they knew but beyond that they had no clues.
The Doctor pulled off a sheet on a large table in the middle that looked like it had an odd structure underneath it to reveal... a model train set.
Raven approached and looked down upon it. She'd never seen a train set before and she honestly didn't understand the point of it. All that effort just to watch electric motors dressed up like trains run around and around in circles for hours. She'd get more enjoyment watching paint dry. But as always the Doctor was so excited and he saw fun where she saw boredom.
"Oh, I love train sets!" the Doctor said excitedly, "I have one in the TARDIS somewhere. A larger one than this. I'll show you, later!"
"I can hardly contain my excitement." Raven said flatly as the Doctor dived under the table, and seemed to activate some switches. A lamp above came on, illuminating the train set, and small lights came on in the houses. The trains began moving, all producing an electric clattering noise as they all pulled their carriages.
"Doctor!" Raven said urgently through gritted teeth, "This isn't our house, and that isn't your toy!"
"Neither am I yours, yet you still played." Raven felt herself going red in the cheeks after remembering that whole, embarrassing episode. To hide it she pulled her hood up over her face so her cheeks were cast in dark shadows. "Anyway I just want to have a look." He said happily. Raven closed her eyes and sighed, he was going to get them into trouble again.
With the light on they could see the whole thing. The Doctor excitedly pointed out the shunting yards and turn tables in the middle, on the outer edges were the villages and train stations. Around the table there were the simple controls that operated the tracks and turn tables. The Doctor knelt down and rested his chin on the edge of the table and watched the trains just go around and around in circles. How can one so intelligent find entertainment in something so mundane?
"You know, I was once on board one before." The Doctor said nostalgically.
"A train?" Raven asked.
"No, a small model train like this. Me and Nyssa were once inside a carriage and I had to work out how to stop the train. One of my enemies tried to trap me inside a model train set, you see." Raven was tempted to do just that, but... no she couldn't, she couldn't. Not because it was beyond her abilities, but because she didn't want to waste her weekly treat so soon. Her one, 'irritate the Doctor with a spell' treat she promised herself. It was only Monday, so she'd save it for later.
Raven was about to switch the power off herself when the thing inexplicably died on its own.
"That wasn't me." Raven said before the Doctor could accuse her. He went back under the table and flipped the switch again, and again. But the trains remained still.
"Fuse must've blown." He said standing back up.
"Does any of this answer the question of why we're here?" Raven asked, "Because otherwise its a fruitless exercise."
"You know, I can't help feeling there is something familiar about this set." The Doctor said, and shushed her when she was about to be antagonistic to his fascination with it. "The lay out of the villages, the ponds, the bridges. It reminds me of something, a place I've been too before." The Doctor gently knocked on his own head. "Maybe in my first or second incarnations. You know I'm sure the Time Lords erased more then they were supposed to."
"Erased?" Raven asked.
"I was exiled to Earth in my third incarnation. Don't ask me why, it's rather dull." Raven wanted to make a smart ass comment but refrained. She also knew why the Doctor was exiled, but didn't want to speak in case he worked out she'd once intruded into his own mind-space. "But when I was. The Time Lords erased portions of Time Travel theory from my brain. But I'm sure someone in the department was a little too happy with it. I forgot I'd ever seen the Muppet movie, or been to Wales, or read the whole Twilight Saga. Though having read it over again having them erased was probably more a relief." Raven gently smacked him sharply over the head and the Doctor went "Ow."
"You're going off on a tangent again." Raven said.
"That's a relief," the Doctor said "I thought for a second you liked the Twilight Saga."
"Couldn't get past the first chapter before I fed it into the waste disposal." Raven said. The Doctor looked horrified.
"Raven, that was the last ever printing! I've been saving books to donate to a library at the end of the universe when I eventually retire." The Doctor said indignant. "I know they were... odd, but they deserved to be preserved, if not for their oddity." Raven disagreed, the books made her brain feel like it was turning to mush. If she was saving the peoples of the next universe from that fate then she felt good about destroying the books. But she decided not to voice her opinion, the Doctor would only argue. But she made a mental note to keep an eye out in case he got another copy, so she could burn it, and if he bought another one she would burn that too.
"Doctor, turn that brain of yours to our predicament, any ideas?" Raven asked, and the Doctors mood changed again.
"Haven't the foggiest. Isn't it exciting?" He jumped for joy like a boy. How did he find so much joy in the unknown? That was a trait that actually made Raven kind of like the Doctor, but only a little. The unknown didn't scare him, it excited him, it made him happy. He seemed to love being in the dark and having to feel his way around both metaphorically and literally. She guessed that's what made her start to trust the Doctor. She considered herself dark and unknown, everyone else she'd known feared the darkness and the unknown, but the Doctor just loved it.
"Come on. What are you waiting for? We're not going to get anywhere chin-wagging down here." And he went up the stairs. Raven ignored the Doctors flippant remark and followed him up the stairs by simply gliding up on the air.
The Doctor gingerly opened a door and he stepped out into a kitchen area. It was large, and decorated in polished wood. Silver appliances were littered everywhere and what appeared to be a half prepared meal was on the stove. There was also an oven with what looked like a chicken being cooked within.
"Hello?" The Doctor called.
"We're in someones house." Raven hissed at him. "Calling 'hello' is only going to get us thrown out!"
"Would you rather trust some people in your house who called out 'hello', or people in your house who stayed silent and crept up on you?" The Doctor asked as if this is a question she should take seriously.
"I wouldn't trust either, if they were in my home." Raven said, "I don't trust you most of the time, and you fly my home."
"Charming." The Doctor commented.
Suddenly a man walked into the kitchen. A man with long, black, slicked back hair that went to the back of his neck, with a large pair of mutton chops down his cheeks. He wore a white shirt with black waistcoat and around his waist was some kind of apron. He looked like a kind of Victorian gentleman, if it wasn't for the apron.
The man approached a cooking pot, raised the lid and began stirring the mixture. Then adjusted the heat on the stove.
"Hello." the Doctor asked.
"They're all in there!" The man said not looking at either of them. He sounded English and quite dismissive, and arrogant as if he had better things to do. No change there then, Raven thought glancing at the Doctor.
"Excuse me, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said holding his hand out to the man. The man turned. His face was elderly, maybe in his late fifties. "Doctor? Doctor Who?"
"In a turn of phrase." The Doctor said. "Who are you?"
"I am Master Tribus." the man said, turning back to his stew.
"A funny kind of master, one who cooks his own food?" The Doctor asked. "And food for several others by the look of it."
"If you want a job done right, you do it yourself!" Tribus said.
"Words to live by." The Doctor said. "Listen, could you tell us where exactly we are?"
Tribus looked at them as if he'd only just noticed them for the first time. "You're in our home." He said, mysteriously as if this should answer all questions.
The Doctor broke away and appeared to be inspecting the other pots, Tribus looking at him like he'd like nothing but to force this man from his kitchen. Then Tribus suddenly spotted Raven and looked at her up and down. She thought he was looking at her attire until she realised her cloak was closed.
"What?" She asked sharply. Tribus then turned to the Doctor and looked at him again.
"You're not one of us." He said suddenly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Shall we leave?" The Doctor said, and motioned out the back door.
"Oh no, no. I can't send you out there now. Not into that storm!" Tribus said.
Wait, what storm? There wasn't a... but Raven looked out the french windows and indeed there was a snow storm blowing out there, and a rather nasty one.
"You're welcome to join us at dinner." Tribus said a little more brightly, but only a little, "I hope neither of you are vegetarians."
"Not for a couple of hundred years." The Doctor said, "Got bored of just vegetables after two days." Raven didn't say anything, she just examined this man, Tribus. His face was thin and pale and he spoke with a similar inflection to her own voice and she could swear he was mocking her.
"Then you are most welcome. It would be difficult to have Christmas dinner without Turkey." Tribus said.
"It's Christmas?" The Doctor asked excitedly.
"Yes, hard to believe. Winter comes around so fast, every single year." Tribus said. "And some wish it comes even faster." He said disapprovingly to the thought as he tasted the broth he was cooking and decided to add a dash of something to add flavour. "You'll find the others in there." He motioned over his shoulder to the door behind him. "Go introduce yourselves. I'm going to be rather busy in the kitchen."
The Doctor said his thanks and joined Raven as he ushered her out the door.
"Christmas! I love Christmas!" The Doctor beamed.
"The Christian Holiday?" Raven questioned.
"Don't tell me you've never celebrated Christmas?!" The Doctor said, incredulous. Raven just shrugged.
"Never been big on religion, and considering what 'I am' wouldn't it be insulting?" Raven asked.
"Oh no, no, no, no. Christmas is much more a commercial venture nowadays anyway than it is a religious one." Oh no, Raven rolled her eyes, lecture mode engaged. "It used to be a pagan festival to celebrate the passing of the year. But in the modern day it's come to celebrate friends, family. The season of good will and peace on earth."
"Not really my things." Raven said shrugging again. Except maybe some peace, she'd gladly take some peace, but she got the feeling she wasn't going to get any here. Why did she agree to be the Doctors bodyguard again?
"Come on, lets introduce ourselves." the Doctor said and led Raven into the main area, a type of living room.
Clat, clat clat! And both froze at the sight on the other side of the door.
Two people appeared to be fighting with some kind of specialised sword like sticks. Clat, clat, clat, they went as they danced around each other, the wooden swords impacting. The two figures appeared to be men, one who appeared to have much broader shoulders than the other. Both wore protective face gear, like a fencing mask. One had short, blond hair, he's the one with broad shoulders.; The other was slightly shorter had a balled head and his body was slightly shorter, but muscular.
The balled one jumped up onto the couch to get some height. But blond man knelt down, grabbed the chair from under and tipped it up. Balled man fell back and blond man was on top of him in an instant.
"You don't practice often enough anymore!" Blond man said, and the smaller man rose up and redoubled his efforts in a sequence of strikes that made it look like the blond man was on the ropes. But it was no competition, because with a few simple swipes the smaller man was kicked off his feet, and onto his back. The blond one stood over him, victorious. His wooden blade pointed at the mans heart. "You get far too stressed too easily, my friend."
The blond man stepped off him and offered to help him up. But the balled man did not look happy in his body language as he refused the hand and got up himself. He stamped across the room, throwing his sword and helmet into the corner. Fed up.
"Come back, Sechi!" He called after him happily as if he'd put him in his place. Clearly this was the resolution of some kind of argument between the two.
Blond man removed his mask, he had an oval face with a small goatee kind of beard. He looked down at a chair where another, a man sat reading, spread on the couch like a cat. "You know, if you both kept practising you'd be better than me at this."
"I'm a pacifist now." The other man said, "I've devoted my life to science."
"You could still devote your life to science, and still practice martial arts." the blond man said.
"I'll pass." the man said, turning a page. "I prefer a slower life now with my experiments."
"Yes, and what gruesome experiments they are, Franky." He laughed, and suddenly the blond man spotted the Doctor and Raven.
"Ah! The Doctor and Raven!" The man said excitedly. Both the Doctors and Ravens brows dropped at this.
"You knew we were coming?" The Doctor asked. Raven looked at him with suspicion.
"Why, of course!" The man seemed genuinely happy, he acted and sounded like a Shakespearean actor. He even bowed as if to an audience. "We're setting an extra place for both of you at the table to join us. "Come say hello to our guests, Franky." He said moving over to the Doctor and Raven, and he took both of their hands in his and shook them vigorously with both of his own hands. "I'm Dosrian."
"Dosrian?" Raven asked raising an eyebrow, it sounded made up.
"Is that a common name here?" The Doctor asked.
"As common as I'm sure 'Doctor' and 'Raven' are where you're from." Dosrian said. A look past between the Doctor and Raven which basically said 'no'.
"Franky, come here!" Dosrian said to the man who sat up from the couch having swung his legs down. He stood up, he was maybe twenty years old with a thin face, a mop of slightly wavy hair and a pair of round, rimmed spectacles across his nose. He was wearing a white shirt and waistcoat similar to Tribus back in the kitchens, but his waistcoat had a purple, checked pattern on it, and unlike Tribus he was wearing a tie with his shirt. Frank could be Tribus' son and he was clearly dressed for dinner. He looked at both of them with disinterest, but Raven got a sense the man was looking directly at her specifically. Like he was examining her. She checked to make sure her cloak was closed and she tried to make her own head disappear further under her hood. She felt safe while under her cloak.
"Nice to meet you." Frank said and he turned and left without saying another word. He clearly wasn't interested in either of them. In fact his body language betrayed an air of sadness about him.
"Now you know how people feel when they talk to you." The Doctor murmured in her ear.
"I can still turn your skin inside out, you know." Raven fired back at him.
"He's rather shy" Dosrian said, "You'll have to excuse the reunion. It's always difficult around Christmas time."
"Do you have any plumb pudding?" The Doctor asked excitedly, "I always love plumb pudding at Christmas!"
"I don't believe we've ever had any." the Doctors face fell at that. "But I'll ask Tribus to make some up."
"Doctor, a word." Raven said, pulling the Doctor away from this 'fascinating' conversation and out of ear shot of the guy. "Doctor, this place doesn't feel right."
"I know," the Doctor said, "No plumb pudding at Christmas? Preposterous!" Raven just groaned.
"No, I mean the place 'feels' wrong on so many levels." Raven said looking around, wary in case this was a trap. Dosrian had picked up the mask and wooden stick his opponent had discarded and walked out, leaving them.
A lot of stuff didn't make sense, like why the TARDIS said it was the 7th day, but Christmas was on December 25th. Who was calling for help in a place that apparently looked this peaceful?
"Curiouser and curiouser." The Doctor said, scratching at his chin.
"Hey Mr. Hey Miss!" Came a voice closer to the ground. It was as if it had just appeared from nowhere.
A spritely young character stood next to them. He must be at least ten years old, with very unkempt brown hair, loose fitting clothes, red shoes, and appeared to be bouncing on the balls of his feet like he was a ball of energy about to go off.
"I've not seen you here before!" He said brightly. "Are you members too?"
"Members?" Raven questioned.
"I like your cloak." Raven instantly grabbed the edge and held onto it tightly in case this terror somehow tried to take it from her. "I like your coat." He said to the Doctor.
"Well, you have good taste, my little friend."
"They call me Fiver." He said, his head bouncing up and down.
"Oh, that's interesting." The Doctor said, "Why?"
"Because I can't pay attention for five seconds, so they say. But I think that's rubbish, I'm paying attention right now." This kid was utterly hyper and moved like he'd had too many candies.
Don't offer him any Jelly Babies, Raven told the Doctor telepathically, he might spontaneously combust.
"You're a very pretty lass." Raven was caught off guard, both by being called pretty, but about being called a 'lass' again.
"Say, thank you." The Doctor prompted.
"Thank you." Raven instantly said, but it came out so quickly it nearly squeaked.
"I like you." The boy said, "You're funny. Want to play?"
Raven shrank away from the boy. She found this little critter intimidating though he seemed harmless enough. Yet strangely he was also adorable, but not in a way that made her want to hang out with it... him.
"I promise I don't bite!" The boy said, "You look creepy! I like creepy things, creepy things are fun."
"May... maybe later." Raven said, preparing to push him away with her power if he so much as laid a finger on her.
The boy turned to the Doctor. "Want to play? We have a train set down stairs!" The Doctor declined, saying they'd just arrived.
The boy slowly stopped bouncing and his happy expression faded and became sad and haunted.
"You're... from outside!" He said in realisation. Before they could ask what he meant within the blink of an eye he was gone. Zoom! Leaving a whirl wind behind.
"Huh?" The Doctor said, "There goes a little Sonic the Hedgehog." He said. A what? Raven didn't understand, nor did she want to. She just looked to the Doctor.
"Doctor, what the hell is going on?" But the Doctor looked clueless, even he didn't know what the hell was going on.
Now left alone the two had looked around the house. It was depressingly large, with big panoramic windows that offered a view of nothing but the night and the storm outside. The view must be fantastic if the windows were built so wide, once the storm cleared.
The Doctor noticed some odd design choices if this building came upon cold weather an strong winds this often, like the lack of double glazing to keep heat in, yet the heat was being kept in rather well. There were others structural anomalies too but Raven just filed it all away under, 'the building is weird' rather than listen to it. It was all complicated and involved a great deal of maths. Raven wasn't even sure if the Doctor wasn't just making half of it up.
There was a large dining hall that looked like it could seat at least a dozen people and places were set for everyone. Including Raven and the Doctor apparently as pieces of paper with their names on it were stuck to their chairs. The room was dimly lit by the light from a burning fire place. Stockings were even hung over the mantelpiece. One for Fiver, one for Frank, one for Dosrian. There wasn't one for Tribus nor the balled one, Sechi.
"I wonder when dinner time is?" The Doctor asked, and Raven turned to look at a grandfather clock in the corner. But that couldn't be the right time! Could it? Raven approached the clock. Yes, she was seeing it, but the clock must be wrong. It said midnight.
"Doctor." Raven said, calling the Doctor to her side and pointing it out.
"Odd, like the clock in the TARDIS." The Doctor commented. Experimentally he opened the clocks hatch with his Sonic Screwdriver and looked at the mechanism. He said it was all working perfectly. Or at least it looked like it, until the Doctor pointed at the pendulum and said, "watch it very, very closely, and listen."
Tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc. Went the clock. But... the tics and tocs seemed to be closer together than the tocs and tics, which given the nature and physics of pengulums was not right, according to the Doctor at least. As she focused on it she noticed it, as the pendulum swung fine to the right, but when it swings back to the left, it didn't come to a total stop. Instead it practically jumped right back down into its arc again. Like how a badly edited film will suddenly jump where a few frames were missing.
"Weird clock." Raven commented
"It's not just the clock." The Doctor said, looking at his pocket watch. The minute hand of it too was frozen just before it struck midnight. "We're in some kind of Time Loop. Looping through the final moments of Christmas."
"Why?" Raven asked, then regretted it as the Doctor gave a flippant response, she's got to stop doing that.
"Well, who'd want Christmas day to ever end?" He'd said, Raven groaned at that a little as she thought.
"So someones trapped us in a Time Loop?" Raven asked, "The Time Lords? They did threaten to seal me in a Time Loop."
"That's a rather nasty possibility." The Doctor scratched his chin. "I hope it isn't, because if that's the case we'll never get out of it."
"There is always an 'out'!" Came a voice. Raven and the Doctor spun at the voice. Raven hadn't sensed this person coming.
It was an old man, really old. Liver spots, white hair, a white moustache. He looked frail and about to crumble to dust. He held onto his walking stick tightly as he walked, shaking. He also had that very clear musk of an old man smell that Raven found she hated.
"Who exactly are you two?" He asked. "You don't 'belong' here." He said mysteriously.
"I'm the Doctor, this is my friend Raven." The Doctor introduced them.
"Ah." The man said as if he understood. "You are welcome Doctor, as are you young lady. It has been so long since we've had visitors."
"How long?" The Doctor asked.
"So long..." The old man said.
"Yes, but 'how' long?" the Doctor prompted.
"So very long..." He sounded like he couldn't remember. "Oh, but where are my manners?!" The old man said, holding out his hand. "My name is Kaster."
"You mean like a wizard?" The Doctor said shaking the old mans hand. "You have a look of Dumbledore about you."
"Oh, he was an interesting fellow. You know he used to be an utter cheat at strip poker. It's the only way he could win, hands down, every time." He chuckled.
Raven and the Doctor looked at each other as they'd had the same thought. But the Doctor voiced it first.
"You do realise Albus Dumbledore is fictional?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh, was he?" The old man looked confused, "I'm sorry to hear that. He was such a lovely man."
Raven got the sense that Kaster didn't look like he was fully here. Like parts of him were missing. The curse of getting old. But his eyes burnt with a wonder, such a spirit for life, but hindered by his old body. He honestly didn't look long for this world.
"Dosrian, my son!" The man said walking past them. "Set two more places for our guests, Raven and the Doctor."
"I've already done it, Dad!" came Tribus's moody voice from the kitchens. So Tribus and Dosrian were his sons. But that was odd.
"I guess we're invited for dinner." The Doctor turned to Raven, "Your first, Christmas dinner."
"I can have a moment later, once we get out of here." Raven insisted. She didn't like this place, it just felt 'wrong' still.
"Why does Kaster call Tribus and Dosrian, his sons?" Raven asked, "They look nothing like Kaster, nor do they look like each other."
"Maybe they're adopted." The Doctor commented shrugging like it wasn't important, "They say anyone can be a father, it takes someone special to be a daddy."
Ravens intense face fell for a second before she caught it and set it back.
"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked, catching her.
"Nothing." Raven insisted, and thought. Just a sad, stupid thought. One I'll instantly crush if I think it again.
To take her mind off it Raven cast her mind out further towards the people in the dining room and let her mind lap against theirs. But that couldn't be right either.
"Doctor!" Raven said realising "these people are 'empty,' all of them." The Doctor asked her to clarify, so she did. "Their minds. There's no 'spark' to them." Raven took a step back away from them, she was unaware she'd done it. "It's like what I felt from the minds of the Cybermen. They're all 'hollow'." Hollow was the only word she could used to describe their minds.
"Try my mind." The Doctor said.
"I know yours is hollow." Raven smiled a little. Her hood hiding her snigger from the Doctor.
"Leave the rebel teen attitude at the door for a second, please Raven." and sighing she reached out and felt the Doctors mind in that head of his.
"You're 'normal'" she confirmed, "By your standards."
"So it's nothing to do with this place." The Doctor concluded, "But those people."
"Christmas Dinner isn't going to involve eating 'us' does it?" Raven asked morbidly since they both had a 'spark' or a 'soul' the others lacked.
"Not unless the Turkey, and Turkish delight is made of actual Turkish people." The Doctor said flippantly. Raven didn't bother to groan, the joke was bad. But it made her feel a little better knowing the Doctor dismissed such a disturbing idea.
Raven walked through the hall back into the living room where Dosrian and Seschi had played their fencing game. She left the Doctor in the dining room to try to talk to the family of men.
That was something she didn't understand. If this was a family, why wasn't there any girls? Maybe that was why Frank looked at her like that. He wasn't expecting a girl. Somehow she doubted the reason was any form of misogyny since they were all too happy to welcome and accommodate her, as well as the Doctor. But for what reason there were no girls, she didn't understand.
As she stared out into the night she tried to make out what little there was around them.
She looked up and could faintly see what looked like a big wind turbine that was spinning in the gale, obviously supplying this house with power. She could just see the massive blades spinning as they dipped down and swung back up and vanished. There was also a barn and a small shed like structure. She reached out to all of them in case there was something weird. But no, they all felt mundane and normal. The shed had tools in it, and the barn was empty.
Over the howl of the wind Raven could now hear a noise from outside. A low, loud, penetrating noise like an engine, and it was coming closer and closer, and closer.
Through the snow storm headlights appeared. Two round ones that bounced around as the car tried to make its way through the snow. It was covered entirely in white and its windscreen wipers struggled to push the snow aside so its driver could see. He rubbed his hand on the windscreen to stop it steaming up.
The car parked up just outside, and the lights went out. The door on the right hand side opened and a figure stepped out, dressed in a big coat, a wide brimmed hat, a scarf was wrapped around his neck and tucked into the coat, and he wore thick gloves. He slammed the door of his car, and walked towards the house. He stopped, turned around, opened his car again and pulled out a case of some kind. Then closed the door and made his way towards the house.
He hammered on the door wanting to be let in. But no one came to the door. He tried the bell. No one came to the door.
Raven knew she shouldn't. She didn't know who this person was, nor if the rest of them knew who he was. But clearly he was in need of shelter and his car didn't look like it was very warm.
She decided to take on the responsibility. Surely if this person caused trouble she could just as easily eject him back out with her powers.
She opened the door, it was still on a chain so it didn't open fully.
"Ah, hello. Sorry I'm late." He said. "Come on, come on! I'm freezing my boots off out here!"
Tribus was suddenly by Ravens side and he ushered her away so he could look through the door.
"Oh, it's 'him.'" he said and he unbolted the door and opened it fully.
The man stumbled inside, carrying flakes of snow in with him. He put his case on the floor as Tribus shut the door.
"Blimey, it's cold outside!" He said as he turned to Tribus.
"Hello, Kasey." Tribus said coldly.
"Sorry, do I know you?!" The new comer asked.
"Uncle Kasey!" Came the voice of Fiver as he bounded down the stairs and leapt into the persons arms and hugged him around the neck, the figure was clearly fazed by this, but decided to hug the kid back.
"Okay, okay, you can stop now. You're choking me!" He said, playfully pretending to gag. He put Fiver down on the floor and took off his scarf and coat and hung them on the wall behind him where several other coats hung from.
It was another man. Quite short, maybe the same height as she was, Raven thought. He had short, cut hair that looked brown, though in certain lights it looked ginger. He had big staring eyes, his face also had deep laughter lines. He also had a style of beard Raven knew of as 'design stubble,' a very thin beard. He was dressed pretty much in rags and torn clothes as if he practically lived in the clothes he wore. He also kept his hat on, it looked like the kind of hat you'd maybe see in those Australian films, only without the corks around them.
The guy looked like a complete and total tramp.
"Sorry I'm late, the car got stuck half way up the trail." He grinned. Was he on something? He looked a little too happy. "Rear wheel drive, not good for snow. But Old Reliable got me here eventually."
"I guess we can't have everything." Tribus looked like he didn't much care for this 'Kasey' character, and neither did Raven. But he seemed harmless and friendly enough. But then, most truly nasty people hid themselves behind a pleasant mask.
Tribus turned and walked away saying, "I'll set an extra place." Clearly he didn't want this person to show up.
"Did you bring Jessica?!" Fiver asked, bouncing up and down again. Again, the man look surprised and looked at Fiver as if he was something he'd never encountered before.
"Sure... sure I have. I'll bring her out after dinner." He said, leaning over and patting Fiver on the head. "Go get ready for dinner." Then suddenly Fiver ran off again. He really was a big ball of energy. "What on Earth is going on?" Kasey said scratching his head.
He then turned to Raven, his mouth still lit up in a smile. "Hello there!" he cried. That smile unnerved her. It didn't look natural and she suspected it was not real either.
"Take one more step closer towards me and you'll be wearing that hat around your neck!" She threatened. His smile faltered but his positive 'energy' just remained. Weird, he looked like a tramp, but he didn't smell like one. A little stink of oil and fuel may be, but he actually looked clean and well groomed.
"Charming." The man said, like all of them he sounded English, was there no one in the universe who sounded like her? "I'm Kasey, with a K. Nice to meet you."
"I am Raven" She just said. "You know 'them'?" she asked nodding at Tribus and Fiver.
"Never met them before in my life." He looked around the place. "You live here?"
"No." Raven said simply, watching this character who was acting more like he'd stepped out from a cartoon.
"This night is crazy." He commented and walked into the dining area.
"Crazy is the right word." Raven mouthed.
Trying to get a better sense of this person Raven realised that Kasey felt like he had plenty of toxins running through his body. Probably alcohol or something like that. But feeling his aura made Raven realise something. The Doctor, her and now Kasey had something in common.
Not only did they all have no idea what was going on, but they were the only people at this party who actually felt like they were 'real'. They actually had a 'spark', a 'soul'.
"What the hell is going on?" Raven asked of the air.
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: [Edits 16/12/18] Switched a word around because I found out I didn't actually know what Haunches were and it made the sentence sound awkward. XD
I didn't realise until after I'd written this chapter that I've started effectively with a Halloween-ish story, and now Christmas themed story.
I've put a lot of thought into this mystery, so I hope it doesn't disappoint.
I think I've unintentionally taken some small inspiration from the 8th Doctor Audio, 'The Chimes of Midnight'. But only a little inspiration in terms of a couple of elements, I swear. ;)
Cheers
-TimeLordParadox