how soon is now (open)

[martha]

“Hold on, that's Dad, call you back -”

Martha grinned slightly to herself, the whirlwind that was her family nothing more than comfortably predictable. It’d be lucky if they even managed to celebrate Leo’s birthday tonight with all the fuss they were putting up. And Martha wouldn’t have it any other way. The phone emitted a low pitched beep in her ear and she frowned, taking it away from her ear to find it dead. Well that was weird, she’d charged it before she left. All of a sudden the hair stood up on the back of her neck and she froze, her gaze slowly rising from her phone. Her stomach flopped uneasily and she let out a choked breath, swallowing hard. This wasn’t the street she was on - in fact it wasn’t any street - there were no people around her, the pressing crowd suddenly absent. Martha realized after a moment of blank staring that she was in a grocery, only not one she’d ever seen before. Her mouth went dry and she dropped her phone, her hands going boneless. It didn’t look like any twenty-first century market either, something that might be seen in a history textbook, all quaint and low tech. A low buzz of panic started in the back of her mind but she pushed it away, swallowing against the sharp metallic taste of fear. Was it a hallucination of some sort? Had she been knocked down and hit her head? She tried to take her pulse but her hand was shaking. Anyway, it wouldn’t have done any good if she were hallucinating.

She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. When she opened them she’d be back in London, on the street or maybe in the hospital. Steeling herself, she cracked her eyes open and let out a breathless cry. Still in this…well wherever she was. Maybe it was aliens, alien abduction? These days she really wasn’t ready to discount any theory. Shaking herself, she moved forward carefully, among the rows of vegetables, forgetting her phone lying on the ground. Dark eyes moved cautiously about, her body poised to run. She didn’t see anyone and the place was dreadfully silent. In fact, it was dark in here, not dark as in night, but probably early evening. Instead of letting the fear swell up and take over, she forced herself to be calm, although her heart hammered uncomfortably in her ears. This was way worse than her first time interacting with actual patients, or the time she’d watched a patient die.

And yet, there was a hint of curiosity niggling at her. It was a strange place to end up, or hallucinate or whatever she was doing. Focused gaze swept over the vegetables and she warily picked one up. A nice potato, the brown sort of spuds her mother used to use to make mashed potatoes. So presumably not on an alien world, although she couldn’t be sure. It felt real, not like she was dreaming or unconscious, and the panic certainly felt real. Much more real than dream panic. She could smell the varied scents of produce and the sharp clean scent of outdoors. That pure clean smell like the time she’d gone camping with her father (one of his attempts to bond with his children) and they’d gone into the wilderness. It hadn’t been a nice trip, but all the same, that’s what this reminded her of. Blinking herself out of the memory, she set the potato down and continued forward. She wondered if this place was closed or just abandoned. She wandered over toward the carrots and picked one up. She held it up to her nose and took a sniff. It smelled normal, for what that was worth. Without thinking she took a small bite. Tasted real too. What was that about not having sense of taste in your dreams? Did that mean she wasn’t dreaming. Distractedly, she put the carrot back, forgetting that she’d taken a bite. There were much bigger things to worry about.

[THE DOCTOR]

The Doctor took a deep, resigned breath before heading out for the day. Things hadn't gotten any more interesting around here in the past day, granted they also hadn't gotten any less interesting, but there was only so many times he could wander round the area trying to distract himself before he went off the deep end. It was infuriating, this place, even if it was aesthetically pleasing and a wonder even unto him. That was the distressing part, and the reason he was wandering around the area at present. He couldn't seem to find a way off this place, no matter how hard he looked and thought, and that just wasn't a possibility for him. He was The Doctor, finding his way out of strange and potentially dangerous situations is what he did and rather well he might add, even if it was often out of necessity.

He shook his head to distract himself from his thoughts, running a hand through his ever-untidy hair. He double checked to make sure his sonic screwdriver was tucked away in the pocket of a now blue with maroon pinstripes suit jacket: paired off with red trainers instead of white. He'd realized the impracticality of having only one suit after his second day in Terra. He'd gone to wash his suit only to realize that meant a trip outside nearly starkers, and he wasn't having any of that. He'd found the Tailor in town and had a second suit made up as well as some sleep wear. The Tailor had been even less helpful than that madman at the pub the day before. The Doctor had asked him a few questions, but he was more adept at avoiding answering than he himself was.

So wrapped up was he in his thoughts, it was some time before he realized he was looking at a familiar figure up ahead. His wandering had taken him to the grocer's and the young woman before him was both a welcome sight and a bothersome one: it meant that she had gotten stuck here as well. "Martha Jones, have I taught you nothing?" he asked in mock offense after watching her pick up a carrot and take a bite. "What's the first rule of time/space traveling? Well second --well, technically fourth. Right the number's not important. 'We don't ingest any strange food until certain it won't turn us into a monster or try to eat us back'." He grinned, walking around to her front to get a better look at her. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he asked. He knew she had left him only a short while ago, by her standards anyway for him it had been almost two years ago, but they hadn't left as enemies and he was certainly glad to see a familiar face in all this mess.

[martha]

[/b]she frowned in frustration, suddenly annoyed at herself for not being able to articulate correctly. “Who are you?” she finally managed to make herself say. She was hovering somewhere between believing it was a hallucination and the awful idea that this was actually happening, in reality. “And how do you know my name?” She was a bit impressed with herself, managing to speak with something resembling a firmness that she definitely wasn’t feeling.

[/ul]

[THE DOCTOR]

Had he been somewhat less enthusiastic to see Miss Martha Jones, he might have taken notice of the little hints she was giving him about her mindset: the slightly clenched fists and the way she didn't immediately return his greeting. As it was, it took the step backwards to set off his warning bells that something might be amiss in the situation. Unless of course, Martha was only playing with him. He listened as she attempted to form a sentence. “I’m - I…” she began. "Delighted beyond words to see me?" he supplied helpfully. "It's all right, I understand. Coming here's a bit of shock and then seeing me on top of it. . .but I can honestly say it wasn't my doing this time." Perhaps that was it: the shock of coming here was what had invoked her uncharacteristic reaction to him. That was certainly a much more appealing idea.

The smile he almost perpetually wore slipped from his face as she managed to ask a question. He arched an eyebrow at her, his mouth somewhat agape and his eyes squinted as he observed her. "Who am I?" he repeated skeptically. A year or so of traveling around the universe together wasn't the sort of thing you just forgot. "Martha, your sense of humour's taken a plunge towards the non existent." At the next question his lips turned down into a frown. How did he know her. . .? Well, if this was a joke, she was certainly getting into her role, and it wasn't overly funny- and he could appreciate several levels of funny.

No, if this was a joke, it would have ended after 'Who are you?' if it had happened at all. He scratched at his head as things began to click into place in his, sometimes too complex to apparently cotton on the obvious, mind. "Oh," he said softly, then again. "Ooooh of course." He spun on his heal to pivot in place. It was so obvious now that he thought about it. "If they've traveled from a different dimension, what's to stop time travel as well?" he murmured more to himself, gesturing slightly towards the town. "Oh they're good, they're very good, but the question is why?" He frowned looking back up at Martha. Perhaps it would be best to confirm his theory before suiting his facts to fit it. "Martha, what time was it before you were brought here, I mean what was the date?" he asked quickly.

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[martha]

There was something wrong here (obviously) this man was talking to her as if he expected her to know him - and as more than a casual acquaintance. It was confusing enough blinking and ending up somewhere that you weren’t standing a second before, but then to have some bloke practically overjoyed to see you, well…it wasn’t helping at all. If anything, it just made the whole situation a bit more weird, how that was possible she wasn’t sure. Her brows furrowed, her expression completely and utterly puzzled. What was he talking about? It wasn’t his fault ’this time’? Did he end up in situations like these quite often? And if so, he seemed to imply that she had been getting into them right along with him. She swallowed, eyeing him warily. At least he wasn’t dangerous - she assumed, because usually people who were about to kill you didn’t act all excited to see you. Or maybe they did, honestly Martha had never had her life threatened before so that was out of her range of experience.

Her heart was doing some sort of odd jig in her chest, she could practically feel it thumping against her rib cage. Logically, she knew it wasn’t - otherwise she’d be in a whole other world of trouble, but all the classic signs of panic were there. Sweaty palms, increased heart rate, scattered thoughts. Honestly, Martha didn’t know how she could have possibly been expected to handle this - whatever it was - without at least a little bit of panic. Dark eyes watched as his smile faded and she found that instead of feeling better that he wasn’t grinning like a maniac for no reason, it only served to make her feel even more uneasy. He genuinely expected her to know him. Martha knew sometimes people mistook other people for someone they knew but this was different.

She watched as it all apparently clicked into place for him, completely and utterly baffled. Martha was used to having everything under control, being the one who knew everything in a hairy situation. She wanted to close her eyes and click her heels together to see if it would magically get her home - but of course that was only fanciful childish thinking and instead she could only watch as this man blathered on and on about…knowing things and dimensions and time travel. But behind that bewilderment, there was a hint of curiosity. Just who was this man? She was startled to suddenly find his attention back on her and she stared at him for a moment uncomprehending before she realized she’d been spoken to. “April - April 28th. I was on my way to the hospital,” she paused, “where I work and then I blinked and I was here. What is this?” He seemed to know something and she figured the best way to find out what happened was to ask him. “Some sort of alien abduction or something?” She might have sounded crazy but the way things were the past few years, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

(I have no idea what date Smith and Jones took place on so I ball parked? xD)

[THE DOCTOR]

The Doctor frowned as the realization that she really didn't recognize him at all, that she wasn't playing an overly elaborate practical joke on him really sank in for him. She didn't laugh at anything he'd said; which wasn't exactly a first, but he'd been trying and still nothing. She hadn't even scolded him, all in good fun of course, after all this time it really, honestly hadn't been his fault that they had ended up stranded on an unknown place without a clue how to get back home. . .well Earth at any rate. Either he was losing her touch or something was rotten in the state of Den-- Terra. He seriously hoped it was the latter.

The Doctor's eyes widened in recognition at the date she told him. "28th of April?" he parroted back, thinking back to the day they'd met. "On your way to. . ." She hadn't just been taken before they'd met. She'd been taken hours, minutes, perhaps even just moments before they'd met. "Oh this is no good," he murmured to himself. "Spoilers." He turned to look at Martha again, his mouth turned down into a frown once more. "I hate spoilers," he informed her. It wasn't just the spoilers either. Saying anything to Martha about their interactions might create a domino effect that could change any number of things about their future, the world's future. Then again, he'd already called her by her name, not exactly the sort of thing a complete stranger did, now was it? But then what was the worst that could happen? A paradox would be formed, destroying time and space as he knew it. Nothing too serious then.

"What is this? Some sort of alien abduction or something?” He smiled despite himself at her comment. She hadn't a clue that she'd only just avoided an alien abduction back on Earth. Thinking back he wasn't sure if her preferred being stuck with a blood sucking Plasmavore on the moon or being stranded here. At least then there had been some thrill, even if he did very nearly die, but he couldn't have everything. It had all worked out for the best in the end anyway, that was the important thing. "Close," he told her, glancing up at the sky subconsciously. "I wouldn't rule out the possibility, but this strikes me as more complex than a simple alien abduction."

He had thought of that possibility himself when he'd first arrived, but something about that didn't sit right with him. If this was an alien abductions, where were the aliens for starters? And what was the point of it all? Surely if it was for something simple like food they would have noticed a few people missing by now, and if was for labor or retribution this was certainly a strange mixing of people. Not to mention no one had been forced to do much of anything besides show up on the planet yet. "Whatever it is, it's brought everyone to this little place," he mused, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Welcome to Terra Miss Jones."