nysalogs | It doesn't have to make sense, it's sci-fi

Entry tags:

It doesn't have to make sense, it's sci-fi

Who: Jenny (

retrorsum)
What: River attempts to come clean (maybe) while Jenny succeeds in being clever, whether or not any of it works out.
When: Continuing from this inbox thread.
Where: The stasis pods
Warning(s): n/a

[To any average person, the pile of wires and metal that Jenny tumbles onto the ground would look like nothing more than scrap. The fact that River can make such quick sense of the small start she's made of it is delightfully telling. It's not often than Jenny finds someone who can keep up with her.

She huffs good-naturedly.]

That's an understatement! I haven't even managed to tweak this bit [she points at a metal thingamabob that has a proper name, but not one Jenny knows or cares about; it's what it does that's important] to calibrate properly with bio-data rather than... well, it's meant to scan text, actually. It should work once I upload my DNA sequence, but I haven't been able to find a way to actually do that. Adding any data not already converted to text form is beyond the silly thing. [it's a receipt scanner, Jenny, of course that's all it can do] Which means converting a specific part of my DNA to GATC and scanning it all at once, then using the tracker. [she points to another bit, equally unimpressive] Which... yes, the parameters are way off, but it still needs to be calibrated.

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I mean more specific.

( which, considering what they were working with even just converting her dna and getting it set to the tracker would be one thing, though with the both of them working on it (and a helpful sonic) it wouldn't be that much of a task.

though river's still reflecting on her words, trying to distract herself momentarily by looking from piece to piece, calculations working in the back of her mind )

If you scan for something similar it will lead back to you. A scanner like this won't filter that out. ( and depending on how well they could calibrate it it would also point to river ) You need to do more than two hearts.

( and yes, not the most helpful suggestion but she's still working on it )

Oh. Yes. I was just going to sort of set it to "all" and ignore the mark on the map that's obviously me.

[Thank goodness this isn't a marketable product.]

What would you suggest?

[Look, she knows she's being lazy about this.]

( oh, jenny. she's very glad that she's here to guide you. ask her later when she became the sensible one

it also takes her a moment to answer the question, partly because she didn't expect it and partly because she's still dancing around the topic )

I might be able to narrow it down to something closer to just him. ( she knows his biology very well ) It isn't just about filtering you out but also any other genetically similar individuals.

( other time lords basically. there was the other odd one scattered about the universe, never mind gallifrey hidden away

and herself. she's all but saying it now though that depends on how keen jenny's mind is )

[The look Jenny levels on River is equal parts amused and exasperated. Jenny's mind is more than keen, and River should really already know it. Dad gave River a sonic screwdriver. River knew Dad immediately by description, spoke as if she spent quite a bit of time around him, and didn't mention searching for her husband again, despite having told Jenny that's who she was initially looking for. That had been more than enough to give Jenny a very interesting suspicion, though it's beyond her why River doesn't just say something if that's the case.

And now River knows enough about Dad's specific biology to help narrow down genetic results, something she wants to do because she's concerned about pinging on genetically similar individuals?

Really, Jenny isn't one to push when someone likes keeping their private lives private, but this is getting a bit silly, isn't it?]

Right, so we filter out me and you. Might be useful to know if there are any other Time Lords out there though, even if it doesn't seem very likely.

( it's actually a little relieving to have had jenny figure it out herself. really what is a relief is that the girl knows even if she didn't technically manage to tell her but she can feel embarrassed about that later. for now they have work to do )

There could be.

( river knows of one other and some other interesting cases. which also means that she needs to clarify something )

I'm not really a Time Lord, at least not like you or the Doctor are. ( she isn't gallifreyan, as much as her dna helix would try to tell you otherwise. where does the line get drawn between how human she is and how time lord? )

It's-- Proto Time Lord. ( that's the word she's been using, what she told her sisters ) My parents were human.

( though the specifics of that were for another story. or never. she picks up one of the pieces, running her sonic over it before connecting it up, sonic in place to 'build' it )

[She knows some things, but she's still sniffing out the rest of it.]

Well if you ask Dad, I'm not really a Time Lord either. Apparently I'd have had to have some kind of training for that, and what with Gallifrey gone, good luck to me, yeah? But how did you manage the Gallifreyan DNA with two human parents?

[Because that's just a bit weird. Progenation machines at least just work with what they're given.

Jenny follows River's lead without even really thinking about it, connecting bits and bobs before handing it off to River and smacking something firmly against the ground to make it light up with a beep. Sometimes things just need a good kick.]

( that's one secret she's going to sit on -- gallifrey. it's just rumours, a scrap of information that she's not entirely certain about but it isn't gone. at least not how it's believed to be )

It's a long story. ( and whilst usually river would just leave it there she gives jenny something more ) My parents were friends of his, travelling with him when my mother became pregnant.

( that time vortex. it's no wonder she's the tardis' favourite. what river doesn't tell her is what came after, the experiments by kovarian to bring out as much of that dna as possible, to try and make her fully time lord.

river kept working whilst sharing. jenny being able to work with her with little discussion reminds her of working with the doctor, though usually he questions what she plans and eventually realises that she's right. they're starting to get somewhere )

[That explains everything and nothing at the exact same time. Traveling with the Doctor while pregnant shouldn't create a Time Lord baby, but who's to say it couldn't under the right circumstances?]

That's a story you're really going to have to tell me later.

[Later, because the fiddling they've been doing together is amounting to something much more quickly than Jenny had been managing on her own. It's actually forming something cohesive and they're already getting to the thick of it.]

This bit there? [She holds a piece and points at what she knows to be the right spot to put it, but she doesn't want to interfere in River's work if she had a different configuration in mind. Specific, she'd said.]

( river isn't certain if she will tell it, at least not the full version. she'll find a modified version that she's comfortable explaining, though that's a problem for another day )

No. Here.

( jenny was right to check. if river wasn't modifying it then that piece would have gone where she'd thought. instead she indicates where to put it, already looking for the piece after.

she lets the conversation drop, just momentarily as they work to finish the device. this is the easier part and it doesn't take much longer before the scanner is complete )

Okay. We're halfway there.

( now to actually program what they need )

Aha! [Yes, that makes sense. It's so nice, being in sync with someone like this. Jenny can see where River is going with this and it's clever and will work perfectly, even if it's not what Jenny would have done. Unlike her father, Jenny can admit she doesn't know everything and learn gracefully from people who might have had a bit more experience.]

Suppose you know how to narrow down what we're looking for in my DNA, yeah? That ought to make this bit a tad simpler.

I've known him for a long time.

( which given the naturally extended lifespan of a time lord really didn't say much. but it wasn't how long she'd known him that was important but how well. they were married after all.

river fiddles with the sonic, changing settings before scanning it over jenny and then pressing it to the scanner )

It'll be quicker to modify what we're looking for this way.

( which, whilst river was working on doing so, gave jenny the perfect time to slide in any other questions she had )

[Jenny holds still while River scans her, though it's probably not necessary. She watches the process silently for a few moments as River works, absorbing everything that's happening even as another part of her mind is working on other things - namely, her curiosity about River's vague relationship with her father.

Well, it's not like River's the forthcoming sort, might as well just ask.]

So you're married, right? He's the husband you were looking for?

[How she manages to absently ask that sort of loaded question while looking more invested in the doodad they've created is anyone's guess.]

( river almost expects it this time. she expects a question at the least, something personal but not this exact one.

her words come moments later, river wanting to finish one train of thought of her modifications before responding )

He is.

( now that she's already started being honest it's easier to )

It's why I know he'll be here.

[She'd expected the confirmation so it's no surprise, even if she's not sure why River's been so evasive about it. Maybe being married to someone's dad is a big deal to Time Lords or proto-Time Lords? It doesn't seem like such a big deal to Jenny though, as long as they make each other happy. That's what counts. And River's certainly dedicated to finding the Doctor, which she wouldn't be if he didn't make her happy.

The second part of what River says doesn't fully compute though, and Jenny looks at her curiously.]

What do you mean? Like you can sense him?

Something like that.

( something exactly like that. river just knew, she always knew. it's why she often managed to turn up at exactly the right time. she knew whether he was in danger, whether he needed her.

currently she needed him, even just the confirmation of him but at least stasis meant safety. for now )

I think-- ( she falls quiet again, focusing for a few moments before handing the device back to jenny ) Try that.

( it was her device. she should have the honour )

[She wants to ask if that's a Time Lord thing, or any number of other questions now that this pandora's box is open, but she's easily distracted by the now functioning piece of tech that River hands back to her.

It gleams in her hands and looks much more polished than it would if she'd been left to her own devices, and she knows before she powers it up and sets it to search that it will work.

The screen lights up and lets out a ding.

She throws River a bright grin.]

This way!

[Surging to her feet, she practically drags River up with her.]

( river doesn't need telling twice. she's quick on her feet, keeping the sonic to hand as she follows jenny's quick lead.

a thought occurs to her, given how wibbly wobbly time is (particularly surrounding him) -- which regeneration will they find?

but until they get to the pod river tries to brush that thought away )

[Jenny directs them unerringly through the maze of pods, glancing up only occasionally as she keeps her eyes fixed on the little screen. Sometimes she'll pause to reorient, then take off like a shot. She has no doubts that River is keeping up.]

Almost there!

( running happens to be her speciality, amongst other things. add her fantastic sense of direction and river is absolutely almost in step with her. river stops only when jenny does, eyes darting to the pod--

it makes her hearts stop momentarily. rather than the faces that she'd been expecting to see, perhaps sandshoes, or her wonderful magician, they're greeted with an older (younger) face )

Oh, sweetie.

( she steps closer, resting her hand on the pod. it's been a long time since she's seen this face, not that he'd know it )

[Jenny is grateful when River approaches the pod, greeting the figure inside tenderly, giving Jenny a moment to tackle the jumble of emotion/intuition/confusion that overwhelms her for a few seconds. There are suddenly so many things at war in her head that need the time to settle.

On one hand, this is not a face her logical brain recognizes, something she'd been prepared for thanks to River's explanation. On the other, there is a very deeply ingrained instinct she hadn't previously been aware of that hits her full force -- the inexplicable and undeniable recognition of her father. It makes sense, she supposes, if Time Lords regenerate more or less consistently throughout their lives. How else would people recognize one another, if their physical appearance wasn't so much lesser than their presence?

Under other circumstances, would she even have noticed right away that her father had literally changed bodies? Had they stumbled into one another on the street, Jenny suspects she might have stupidly asked if he had changed his hair or something equally benign, before recognizing the regeneration for what it was.

And at the same time, there is a tickle of something inside her that tells her this is her father before Jenny was born, like some kind of paradox warning alarm. Does it matter here, if they are, as Jenny suspects, somewhere outside of normal time?]

He won't know me if he wakes up. He's too young.

[Outside of the disappointment and sad longing that takes her a little off guard, Jenny wonders if she ought to be afraid that she knows that information without having to ask. She's not.]

( river is giving more away non-verbally than she would ever say, though she can't bring herself to try and hide it. she knew that this day was coming, the day when they would meet and he wouldn't know who she was but--

it breaks her hearts. river has met them all before, brief, meaningless glimpses, some in timelines that don't exist, but nothing lengthy. nothing like this, though river could never have expected this to occur.

her brain registers that jenny has said something but she doesn't respond, attention fixed on him, on his appearance, on the brief memory she has of him... on that silly scarf that truthfully she likes. her expression is sad, eyes closing for a few seconds before she pulls herself away from him, finally answering jenny )

He won't know me either.

( but, if they wanted to think of a plus side, at least they could console each other on that? )

[Jenny reaches out and takes River's hand, squeezing gently. She doesn't say anything for a minute, just looking at her father who isn't yet her father, but then the device in her hand beeps again, prompting her to examine it again. She tilts her head very slightly, curious at what it's showing her.]

There's something else. Come on Mum, let's go see.

[She tugs on the hand she's holding, already walking, still looking intently at the screen. River had in fact given away all that Jenny needed to know, without saying a word.]

( there's an instinct in river to pull away, the part of her that has never known how to be comforted, has never since let anyone try. she doesn't, fighting that instinct, keeping jenny's hand in her own. it isn't just her that'll get hurt by this but the girl too -- the girl that hadn't gotten to know her father and perhaps wouldn't. not with him, anyway.

if she weren't in the moment, letting her emotions claw their way through her hearts, river would have realised one important thing, the thing that the device is now telling them. his different lives. the doctor may all be the same man but these people had plucked them out of their timestreams -- why take him from this point when he'd lived a longer life (and lives)?

she lets jenny lead again, her brain slowly starting to catch up, starting to hope that perhaps the husband she knows is in another pod somewhere. river almost doesn't want to, not wanting to get hurt by the same disappointment twice, but wouldn't it be wonderful? )

[Jenny leads them onward, not yet suspecting what River suspects. She thinks that they're walking toward an entirely different Time Lord, someone related to herself and her father. It would make sense, considering how River had insisted they program the device. It's not only because Jenny has much less experience to seeing different iterations of the same person -- although the concept is not at all foreign to her -- but because...

She stops dead in front of a pod holding a very different version of the exact same Time Lord. She chokes on a breath, her hand tightening around River's.

...because it shouldn't be. This is dangerous, two of the same person from different points in time existing in the same point in time and potentially interacting. Something about it makes Jenny angry, even as she has completely different reasons to be upset about it.]

They shouldn't be able to do this...

Edited 2018-11-27 20:20 (UTC)

( river keeps jenny close to her, letting the girl take whatever comfort she needs. this time river doesn't approach the pod, trying to steel her hearts away from the pain.

jenny's right, they shouldn't be able to do this but at the same time-- )

He's crossed his own time stream before. ( encountered himself. river knew that he'd not been able to remember those events in clarity, it prevented the timeline from becoming altered, but at the same time... it had happened.

but that doesn't make this any better. it makes river angry too, the fire bursting through her shakes her sadness away. but then again... if they've seen two of him-- )

We need to boost the signal.

( she takes the scanner from her, using the sonic to try and refine what they're getting. this time multiple signals ping up at once )

[Jenny shoots a brief, vaguely incredulous look at River, her words both comforting and not comforting at all. Dad really shouldn't be making a habit of that sort of thing, but then again, Jenny's all too familiar with the way things can, uh, get away from a person on occasion...

...Sometimes...

...Every other Tuesday.

Plus, she can think of a few ways right off the top of her head to deal with crossing her own timestream safely. Well, relatively safely. For some definition of "safe." And to be fair, she doesn't know the circumstances around any of her father's little timeline indiscretions, and she really does trust he probably knows a thing or two more about it than she does anyway.

Shaking it off, she concentrates on being rather seriously pissed off that it may be something they all have to deal with again, and not because one of them miscalculated with a vortex manipulator. This is just blatant, irresponsible interference by a third party.

She watches intently as River works, her hearts sinking when the screen lights up with half a dozen more dots.

She looks up and meets River's eyes with an uncharacteristic seriousness.]

( she knows what all of those pings mean. he's had thirteen different faces, twelve doctors and one soldier. her gaze dips down, looking down at the locations of the pings, trying to map them in her head. there are a few that are close by but how many times are they going to investigate?

river squeezes jenny's hand, trying to offer some comfort to the girl, even if it is weak )

I had it scan for your DNA. Outside of you the only person it would be picking up would be him. ( and apparently every version of him that they'd gotten their hands on. river knew that she'd come back later, perhaps working on the scanner more to isolate some more of his signs to a specific version, but she wasn't going to drag jenny into that now. the girl didn't need it.

slowly river hands the scanner back to her, letting go of her hand to reach into her jacket. from it she removes her diary, something that really shouldn't fit into her inner jacket pocket but somehow has.

wordlessly she starts opening the pages, stopping at one before turning it around to jenny, pulling out a line of photographs )

This is your father -- every face that he's ever had.

( his past, the one that jenny knows, and the ones that river married )

[Jenny is resilient. While this is not great news, there is already some comfort to be had in the fact that her father is here at all, and meeting her stepmother is not an insignificant thing to her. She has family here, awake or otherwise, and Jenny is an optimist at heart. As much reason as she has to be angry and upset, she also has reason to be relieved and joyful.

She will, as always, make the most of it and seize fate by the throat.

Jenny looks at the photographs with some reverence, examining each one carefully. She knows that this must be a precious keepsake to River. But as Jenny looks at them, memorizing their features, she's struck by how unfamiliar they seem.]

It's weird. In these photographs, I only recognize Dad as I know him-- [she points to the picture of her father in his tenth regeneration] --but not any of the others. But when I look at him in person...

[She looks up at the pod, at a version of her father she's never met but knows perfectly well.]

I know it's him. It's like there's no difference at all, even though my rational mind knows there's a physical change. It's more obvious in the photos, somehow.

You wouldn't notice.

( whilst river is normally incredibly secretive about her diary, and won't let jenny actually read it, she leaves the pictures out longer than she usually would, letting jenny familiarise herself with them, to learn something more about her father.

and herself. river had had to work incredibly hard in her later years to prevent her husband from being able to realise who she was -- that he knew her (when he was younger), that she was part-time lord. though it had ended up backfiring on her -- somehow she hadn't recognised him. deep down river had, something about him had been so familiar but she hadn't believed that he could have another face. that belief, and perhaps the limitations of her psionic abilities, made that failing )

It's an intuitive sense. Your telepathic abilities allow you to be able to recognise him no matter how he looks.

( which is why it doesn't work with a photograph )

[She nods, River once again confirming something she already knows, just putting it into words she didn't yet have. In so many regards, her instincts guide her in ways other people lack. She can't miss Gallifrey like her father does, having never known it, but with every new thing she learns about herself, the more keenly she feels that she's nearly unique in the universe. She's never lonely, but there's a sense of absence, of having lost something without ever having had it in the first place. Like nostalgia for a place she's never been and will never go.

But River fills that hole rather neatly, to Jenny's delight. She wonders if it's at all the same for her father, but suspects her father's grief for his home is a much different beast.]

Makes sense. So much sense.

Now what? I don't see there's any use in tracking down every one of his regenerations.

[She looks at the screen, shaking her head.]

It looks like they probably have one of each, at a minimum.

( there's one respect in which jenny and river are alike: neither of them has known, nor can really miss gallifrey. and that is where, to river, the comparison ends. though they're both unique in themselves, making them alone in the universe, river feels alone for so many other reasons. she's never had a home, never found something like that to connect to. whatever hole she didn't realise was there ended up being filled by the doctor. it's something that she recognises now, feeling his absence keenly when they're apart (more so now when he's so close and yet not here) but at least she knows that he's safe.

river nods at jenny's assessment, believing her right that there's likely each of his regenerations here. there isn't use in tracking them down but river knows that she will -- to make sure she knows where he is, that he is always, always safe, and on the occasional time for sentimentality. just to see him, to hope. to remember herself )

But we know that he's here. ( just not which version of him that they may meet if and when he woke up.

she folds the pictures away, closing her diary but not yet putting it away. she wants to do something for jenny, something that river hopes will help. so far she's told her more about herself, about what being gallifreyan and time lord is, but there's something else that river keenly knows )

I could tell you about him. It won't be much, not like having him here, but it doesn't seem like you got to know him before.

[Jenny graces River with a bright smile for the suggestion. She knows River will probably come back later and find every iteration of the Doctor. In truth, Jenny probably will too, in her own time, but they have very different reasons for doing so.

Jenny has been on her own more or less from the get-go, and requires little from her father aside from, eventually, an enthusiastic hello I'm not dead and a happy exchange of adventures. A way to keep in touch. Maybe defeating an evil creature together. Familial love at its most basic and uncomplicated. She believes that he'd be proud of her so far and has never relied on his presence for that kind of reassurance. Although she's grown, she still mostly trusts in the broadest aspects of life as children do, with unwavering faith in their innate simplicity.

She trusts River to keep her father safe, because River loves him. Any baggage either of them might have is inconsequential in the face of that obvious devotion.

So Jenny won't come by to make sure her father's safe, or for sentimentality. She'll come by because she's curious, and because she's beginning to get the sense that his evolving fashion choices are pretty interesting. She definitely wants a better look at that scarf.]

Sounds brilliant. Want to go somewhere else we could pull up a chair?

I know a good place.

( river would have taken them to the sort-of cafe that morrison had taken her, to eat and get a drink but this isn't a conversation that river wants to have in public. it isn't a secret, even if the finer details of her life are something that she'd rather keep private, but she can't help the almost secretive nature to herself, the urge to keep this conversation just between them.

old habits are hard to break. it's why, as river starts to lead them back towards the transport, that she decides to take jenny to the place that she'd been given. she doesn't particularly call it home, even her home on luna has taken effort for river to consider it that, but it's somewhere. it's private and mostly comfortable )

And perhaps you can tell me what happened to you after you left him.

( less the details of the adventure and more an effort to get to know the girl. for now river was all that jenny had and regardless of that this girl was someone in her life, someone that was (scarily) quickly feeling important. she needed to know her and later river would realise that she also had the need to make sure she was protected )

[Jenny is always happy to regale people with the tales of her adventures. She's an open book, this one.]

Love to! I can tell you all about how I met Noah too, even if that was a fairly recent development. Funny story, though. There was this toad person named Garundel-- insisted he was a salamander person, but he looked like a toad to me. A Urodelian. Anyway, I ran into him literally, as I was trying to avoid crashing into this moon--

[And she's off, well before they've even gotten to their destination. There's plenty enough to tell though, and plenty enough for River to talk about in return, and between them they can easily make a day of it. And then some.]

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It doesn't have to make sense, it's sci-fi

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