video; un: hide-and-seek

[makemeasong]

[ Clara's sitting as privately as it's going to get in the Mouse House, still a little breathless. Not from exertion, but from realizing she might've heard something she shouldn't. She can't know for sure, but her gut tells her it's important. Her first instinct is to find the Doctor and tell him, but she'd done the first thing he'd asked her not to and wandered off. As always.

In need of semi-fresh air, she'd waited until he was busy talking to someone else before quickly excusing herself, walking away before the Doctor could protest. She'd walked a few blocks toward the ports when she'd overheard a small group talking about a person named Cain. The way the apparent co-workers tensed and glared at her when spotted, made her feel as if the complaining hadn't been meant to be heard by anyone, not just her. Back inside, she's decided to share what she overheard when she doesn't spot the Doctor right away. Whipping out her new device she takes a minute or two to understand how it works before her face pops up on the screen. ]

Hullo, I'm Clara. Met some of you during the [ Her free hand waves around vaguely. ] events. I'm not sure what is and isn't important here, but a talking fox told me I needed to make tea to get out of a murder house, so who am I to decide what everyone should or shouldn't know?

[ Either someone tells her not to worry about it, or she's given out something everyone needs to know. She should really wait for the Doctor, but there's no going back now that she's announced it. ]

Went outside and overheard two people talking about someone named Cain do..brick? [ She can't quite remember how it was pronounced, but hopefully, she's close enough. ] They've done something to make an employer angry enough to hit an employee after getting off the phone with Cain. Something about an offer involving parts and grease for Minaras and Eidris. There was more, but I'm not sure if this means anything or not. The people talking about it got pretty upset when they saw me, so I thought it might be worth mentioning.

[ There's a pause as she decides to wrap things up. ]

In case none of this matters, quick question. If you've met the Doctor, what was your first impression, please? [ There's a quick, cheeky and teasing smile that suggests knowing him before the video ends. ]

Comments

[kahl_175]

Kahl heard that name Cain. People say army mostly use his dragons, not many. No make new ones from worker dragon. [That kind of talking makes Kahl suspicious, for how it thinks about the dragons. Sounds like old Grineer, or how he thinks people would have talked about them, back during the Orokin Empire. He's going to have to find one and see if they're people.]

And Kahl met Doctor. Gives good hugs. Helpful.

[But Clara had seemed tense when the video started, and Kahl's not going to ignore that.] Clara okay?

[makemeasong]

[ Clara smiles, glad to see a familiar and friendly face, though his insight about the dragons causes the smile to dip a little while thinking, reflecting further on what she overheard. ]

No one said anything about dragons before I was told to sod off. There was something about what Cain expects in return for all he's giving. No matter what, it sounds like shady dealings.

[ Kahl's mention of the Doctor makes Clara laugh softly, the brighter smile back. ]

He is both of those things. [ She's already getting better at not wondering about his regeneration. As long as she's here, in this place, everything is as it should be and she can put home out of her mind. When Kahl asks after her, she considers there's so much about this world to go on about; there are all sorts of reasons for her to stay alert and ready to move quickly. ] I'm better because the Doctor's here, but I don't know enough about this place to feel okay. Seems like anything could happen at any time.

[ Her expression shifts into one of mutual concern. ]

What about you? Are you okay?

@mansbane | audio

[bravelyrunsaway]

The man you mention is the leading star of the dragonriders, and his family related to parts production. Which neither half of the city has enough of, or the grease, which comes out of here love, down in the Mouse House. Tracked a few sources down, me and the Doctor, not long after we arrived.

( He's not sure what else to say in that context. Things are continuing to degenerate, he guesses. It's getting uglier, and will get uglier still. )

You asked about first impressions? Delightfully kissable.

( Mostly because of the crazy enthusiasm that bounces around between this and that as if the man (well, alien) didn't need even the mere concept of air. )

Bit lacking in the practicals, driven, curious, he's of your world then?

[makemeasong]

[ Clara's happy to switch to audio, it means she can lean back against the wall and close her eyes as she listens, replaying the conversation in her head. ]

The people talking, they said their boss tried to get Cain to pay double and he refused. The 'terms' weren't fair or something. [ There's a pause. ] I'm really not surprised that's one of the first things the Doctor did.

[ The response to a first impression? That's unexpected, and Clara opens her eyes in surprised amusement. For all he's said about how disgusting kissing is, she's never seen him actually mind it. And now here he is in a new place, apparently going around giving hugs and kissing people. It's him — but in a surprising way that makes her smile. ]

He never stops talking, so I assume if you've actually kissed him, it wasn't a very long kiss. [ 'Bit lacking in practicals' makes her exhale through her nose in a quiet laugh that's picked up on the audio. ]

We're not from the same world. The Doctor saved me from something, and when he asked me to travel with him it was hard to say no. [ She'd told him to ask again the next day after that first time they met. He'd saved her, and she made him wait for an answer even though she'd known then the answer was yes. ]

video; un: pretty-pretty butterfly

[littlemimic]

[ Oh good, her Victorian girl made it to the finals. Lila takes in the important bits of the information being given out, but also doesn't know if it means anything or not. ]

You ever need a hand beating some guys up for being angry you overheard something, give me a ring. I'll come help.

[ Grinning widely. ]

The most interesting librarian I've ever met. [ That's for her question about the Doctor. ]

[makemeasong]

[ Seeing Lila again makes Clara smile broadly, and so does the offer. ]

First person I'll call. [ She might mean that, they were a pretty good team in the cave, or hole, or whatever it was. ]

I'm pretty sure he actually is a librarian somewhere in the universe. He loves books, and facts, and literally shushing people with his own finger, he'd be brilliant at it.

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

[ Huh. ]

Cain d’Ubiq.

[ Just so she can see it written down, since nobody else has done that. ]

Dragon rider, as mentioned, his family runs factories. Was he buying parts or selling them?

[ Additionally: ]

The Doctor is your friend, I assume? He is... enthusiastic.

[makemeasong]

Thank you for spelling it, never would've gotten that on my own.

[ Maybe the information will prove useful after all? To be determined. ]

The 'boss' was doubling his price for supplies, whatever those are. The parts and grease? Cain definitely said no.

[ The three dots of 'text in progress' appear and then disappear once. ]

The Doctor has the energy of a four-year-old that has the energy of a two-year-old, you can say it.

un: absterge | A VERY RARE VIDEO

[downswing]

( And 'lo, once-in-a-lifetime footage, so that she might perhaps recognise him: )

You survived to awakening.

( ......................is that awe — )

Clara is HONORED

[makemeasong]

Please, try to sound more like you thought I was gonna die.

[ Clara rolls her eyes, but there's a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. ]

Glad to see you too, but then, your hair is too perfect to die.

un: headless ragdoll (written/text)

[matermali]

[ While the bit about Cain is interesting, Vanessa has nothing to say about it that others haven't already offered, and she'd rather just lurk on that front. Especially given that this Clara girl is asking a more curious question, at least to Vanessa's standards. ]

Why so curious about the Doctor's relations, might I ask?

[makemeasong]

Mostly so I can figure out if I need to apologize to anyone.

[ Clara's joking, sort of. Does the Doctor have someone looking out for him here? Is she going to have to start paying hazard pay out of her own, non-existent hazard pay? ]

He's got a few weeks of being here under his belt. That's long enough for him to get into so much.

un: slothbaby

[cosplayqueen]

yeah that seems important. thanks for sharing! :)

Uh so we haven't met in-person, but he seems really cool online. Why???

[makemeasong]

He's a friend! From home, and he likes to get into trouble when I'm not around.

I can promise he's definitely cool, even if he is messy.

un: nah | video

[growlies]

( Red's first impression of the Doctor was from his aura: cozy blanket with this cold, dark ancientness seeping through the holes. But that's a lot to put in a message and would involve explaining she can see auras, but the Doctor's one of the people's she's closest to around here so she wants to answer. It seems like this woman may know her even better than anyone here from her responses. )

Well, really good at bullshitting, witty, quick on his feet, wants to help people, perceptive, smart, kind. Can talk a lot but also like knows a lot.

We arrived at the same time. I asked for his help pretending to be necromancers, and he jumped right in with a really excellent idea, and then we managed to convince this guy to give us a whole lot of passports so the rest of the group could get in.

Re: un: nah | video

[makemeasong]

[ The more she talks, the more Clara smiles, until she's grinning. She likes knowing he's made a good impression - not that he doesn't pretty much everywhere they go. ...Eventually. Now that he's regenerated, she isn't sure of him anymore; knowing that here he's still the same old Doctor she lost is comforting. ]

If you know him that well, he must really like you. [ Which must mean she's a good person, at least in his book. The rest is a lot to unpack and Clara tries to keep up. ]

You had to pretend to be necromancers? For passports?

[ She isn't sure why she's even questioning it, considering she was attacked by a plant after watching two animals getting high not that long ago. ]

un : deft hand of little deaths (voice)

[scrapgege]

I met someone who called himself the Doctor. He's nice.

[And guess what, Clara, he made a friend who also an almost-millenium-old not-quite-human.]

We had tea.

[makemeasong]

He is pretty nice. I've never known him any other way. [ Except when he's absolutely angry. But that's been rare in her time with him. It's reassuring to hear the Doctor's seemed to enjoy so many people's company; knowing helps Clara relax a little and realize the other's stuck with them are (for the most part) lovely (enough), it's the place that's garbage. ]

He does love a good cuppa, never known him to turn one down. Let me guess: loads of something sweet with it?

text | un: dollhouse

[thedreamer]

[ He's read all the responses and they are alternately intriguing and an unnecessary boost to his ego, which outwardly is quite big and inwardly is fairly non-existent. He's curious why she wants to know what others think of him, while he works through still trying to puzzle her out. If she is perhaps sent by an as yet unknown entity to do him harm, it's all the more reason she would have followed him here. It's also entirely possibly - and likely - that she doesn't know she's being used against him, if she is at all.

And yet, his nature being what it is, he cares for her, of course; worries about her, especially here. He lost Clara Oswald twice and he's not going to let that happen again. ]

Doctor who?

[ He is, of course, delighted by his own cheeky joke. A moment they'd shared between them when they'd met again for the first time (from her perspective). ]

[makemeasong]

[ Clara remembers that day she shut the front door in his face. He'd had her say that so many times and she'd thought he was a lunatic, to be quite honest. But now she only smiles, laughing softly under her breath. ]

Sorry, could you text that again for me?

[ She adjusts for texting rather than saying it aloud, but she can't remember how many times he asked her to repeat it before she finally closed the door. ]

un: daozhang | voice;

[binghua]

I believe in this place, gathering any bit of odd information is not a bad idea. I do not know of this Cain or what your overheard conversation means, but thank you for telling us. It may yet prove useful.

This one is called Xiao Xingchen. We are sure to meet in person soon enough, I hope. As for your other question, I believe I met a man who called himself a doctor nearly a year ago. Maybe not that long. He was very reassuring to me in a moment when I needed it and said he would try to find a way of reading for those who are blind...I cannot remember the word he used for it. I never spoke to him again after that, unfortunately. I assume he had managed to escape this world.

[Nevermind the fact that it was an entirely different incarnation of Clara's Doctor, but Xingchen doesn't know that. Oops.]

[makemeasong]

[ Switching back to voice is a bit of a reprieve after all of the video, and she sighs softly. ]

If I'd kept it to myself and it wound up being important, I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself very easily. [ What if not saying anything resulted in a catastrophe? Better to spill. When the person continues, suddenly Clara finds herself confused, brow furrowing. The Doctor lies, but not to her, so what happened? ]

A year ago? [ There's a significant delay after getting lost in her thoughts. But she does continue, not wanting to end the conversation abruptly. ] Sorry, he's here now, but I thought he'd only been here a few weeks.

[ It isn't Xingchen's responsibility to fill her in, so she continues on, already planning to ask The Doctor about this, see if he remembers. ]

In any case, if you're visually impaired, I think he might've been talking to you about braille. It's a series of raised dots in place of written letters. I get the feeling in a place like this, it might be hard to find books and someone to learn from. [ Maybe the Doctor could make something; if he speaks baby and horse, surely he can figure out a way to make braille happen. She'll ask about that, too. ]

voice ► un: girl on top

[unas]

A very kind man.

( she's paused, thinking about the rest )

There's a significant lacking of parts in Minaras.

[makemeasong]

[ Clara smiles when she hears the message. ]

The Doctor is that. The kindest I've ever met. [ Will he still be when she leaves this place? It's better to focus on what she heard. ]

If Minaras is lacking parts, then this smuggler must not be doing a very good job, or must not be agreeing with his rate of pay and delivering in equal. Or a third option where Cain is sitting on everything.

un: song | voice

[spoilers]

[ Everyone is short on supplies. That's not a new state of affairs. With tempers starting to flare, River can only assume things are getting worse. Possibly their influence. Possibly the natural ending of a cycle already long in motion.

Worth making note, but she doesn't care to speculate further. She does...feel for Cain, though, and hopes her instincts aren't wrong, that he doesn't have a hand in what's happening here.

On the subject of the Doctor, however, ] Oh, I tried to kill him.

I mean, you've met him, sweetie. You know how he can be.

[makemeasong]

[ Clara actually laughs out loud, and it feels good. She's relieved River's here, and now that she's had time to calm down from the intense arrival and the shock of seeing the Doctor again pre-Trenzelore (pre-so much), it's occurred to her that she's always wanted to know more about her. ]

Yes, yes I have met him.

[ Now that she and River aren't running for it every hour for ten minutes, Clara can say what she'd wanted to then. ]

It's really good to see you again. Weird as hell planet aside.