Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 8, 2021 23:54:54 GMT -5
Orpheus noticed the way the Doctor and Crutchie seemed to drift away, and a small shred of gratitude ripped through him. He wanted to find something familiar. He wanted to see something – anything – that made sense, but… there wasn’t anything to see. This wasn’t his Thrace. Eventually, he was going to have to admit that. Sooner, rather than later. He tried to make himself breathe, tried to glance over at the Doctor and Crutchie and show them that he was okay, that everything was alright, but his chest felt unusually tight. He just wanted this to be okay. He wanted to go home and see the places he had grown up, if only to prove that they were still there. That he was still real.
Crutchie glanced up at the Doctor, half surprised that she was letting Orpheus have some time. He glanced at the young man, then shifted his gaze back to the Doctor once he realized that she was speaking to him.
“I do,” he admitted, hugging his free hand close to his chest. “I mean… I never imagined I’d ever actually be able to leave New York, but here we are, somewhere that nobody could visit without some sort of magic or… or science, I guess… I never imagined I would be lucky enough to see anything other than the world I grew up in. This is something special. Every part of it, even the mysteries.”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 10, 2021 2:17:56 GMT -5
"Well here you are," the Doctor said, waving her hand about to indicate the past. "In the past, once again." She considered nothing in particular for a second, than said, "Remind me to show you the future at some point."
His future, at any rate. Not necessarily something as linear as what was 'true' future.
The Doctor once again glanced in the direction of Orpheus. She wondered if she should be the one to rip the bandage off. To tell him that all of this wasn't his world, like he seemed to be avoiding.
But that seemed cruel right about now.
So she just nodded at the surrounding area and continued talking to Crutchie.
"And what about all of this? Have you liked what you've seen so far of the past? I must say that there is certainly a lot of it." There was a twitch of a smile on her face when she said this. Even if just a little.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 10, 2021 14:15:53 GMT -5
“The past is larger than I imagined,” Crutchie admitted, not letting his gaze drift towards Orpheus. “It all seemed so far away, like something completely inaccessible, but… I guess this is all proof that that’s not the case,” he said, glancing at the Doctor with a slight smile touching his features. “It’s easy to forget that people in the past are still… people. Do people in the future think that way about people when I’m from? That we’re not really people because we lived so long ago?” It was a slightly uncomfortable question, but one he wanted to know regardless. There were people in history that they knew about, people whose lives had been large enough that their memory had been passed down for centuries. For millennia, even. What happened to all of the people who were just… living? Was it possible they had all been forgotten? Crutchie knew one day he would be forgotten just like them.
“Sorry,” he murmured after a moment, blushing. “That… wasn’t your question. Yes. I like what I’ve seen of the past. It just makes it all feel so much more… real.”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 12, 2021 17:38:32 GMT -5
That was very much how the Doctor felt. The amazement. Only seeing it reflected in Crutchie's eyes made all the difference. It reminded her a bit of the feeling she was always chasing. That memory of first meetings.
"I think it depends," she said, "I know that some people view the past without ever understanding that it had people in it. I think, however, that there's a sort of relationship between the past and now and the future where people will always be people. And the world remembers."
There was a very brief pause to consider Crutchie directly. If people remembered him specifically.
"I don't know about individuals. Even great and important people get lost to time. And apparently 'unimportant' get remembered."
She looked after Orpheus then. Pausing and musing at what he must be thinking.
"I wonder," she murmured, "if he ..."
Then she cut herself off and shook her head. Tossing the idea aside.
"We should catch up. This had gone on for too long."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 12, 2021 18:47:59 GMT -5
“If he… what?” Crutchie asked, though he had the distinct feeling that the Doctor wasn’t going to answer him. She kept her thoughts to herself often enough, only sharing them when she deemed them important enough. Evidently, this thought wasn’t important enough to be considered. Crutchie sighed softly, picking up his speed as much as possible so they could catch up to Orpheus. He hadn’t wandered very far, but he looked… stressed. Crutchie knew that people in the future remembered Orpheus, but he couldn’t help wondering… did they remember this Orpheus, or a different one? The one that belonged to the version of his world that they were now in? Or was Orpheus even real? Had this Orpheus been fashioned after a myth? The thought made his head spin, and he elected to keep it to himself. He didn’t want the Doctor to laugh at him for having a silly thought (though he doubted she would do that. It seemed like she would give whatever he was thinking some thought before deciding whether or not it had any merit).
Orpheus looked over, a thin smile appearing on his lips. It was very obviously forced.
“I’m not real… am I?”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 19, 2021 6:25:26 GMT -5
It took what seemed like an age for the Doctor to respond. She was quiet. Listening to the wind, perhaps. She could have answered Crutchie's question, but it was just as easily going to be the exact same one she had to answer now.
"I don't know," she said eventually. Then, because even she knew that this answer wouldn't cut it, she said, "You're not from here though. Not from this time or place."
A beat. The Doctor had stopped walking.
"I can't say if you're real or not. I don't know what there is that's missing."
There. She'd said it. Now she waited, watching Orpheus' face. She found herself sympathizing. She wondered if that was more dangerous than inviting Orpheus into the TARDIS to begin with. But she found that she didn't much care. He seemed so lost. She didn't think that she could just ... lose this mystery to whatever disconcertment he would likely feel.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 19, 2021 13:09:08 GMT -5
Orpheus looked around at the world that wasn’t his. At the world that was probably real, even when he wasn’t. At the world that felt almost like a knife in Orpheus’ side. Would he continue to exist, even if it turned out the world he was from wasn’t real? Or would he fade with it when wherever he was from disappeared? Was there even the possibility of going back to his version of the world, or was it gone forever?
“My apologies,” he murmured, shaking his head just a little bit, “I don’t… I guess I have a lot of questions. And I have a feeling that you might not be able to answer most of them. I… would like to come with you if you decide to investigate, though. I want to know if I’m real or not. I want to figure out what that means… and I guess I want to know if there’s anywhere I can belong now that I know I’m not even real.” Orpheus hesitated for a long moment, then dipped his head. “If you’ll have me, I mean.”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 24, 2021 5:04:18 GMT -5
A possibly 'unreal' figure from mythology who was doubting his own existence? It seemed on par for what the Doctor usually took on. But it simply boded the question ... where had they been? And was there still a possibility that Orpheus was some sort of trap?
She didn't think that rejecting his proposal would get her her answer. And ... well ... she didn't think she could do it in good conscious either.
"I'll have you," she said quietly. Many even side-eyed Crutchie. After all, he seemed to b coming too. There seemed to be a lot of factors over that.
"Did you want to stay here?" she asked. "Look around? Or have you gotten your answers?"
The question could be for either of them.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 24, 2021 23:32:49 GMT -5
Orpheus glanced at the Doctor, then looked out at the world around him for a very long, pregnant moment. He could stay here. He could try to find a life here. He could try to become someone that existed in a world that was real, in a world that others could visit from different times, but… even if the Doctor would let him, Orpheus had never been a fan of lies. He preferred the truth. If the truth was unkind, he preferred to try to bargain with it. It didn’t always work, but sometimes was better than never.
“I don’t believe there are any answers for me to find here,” Orpheus admitted, turning to look at the Doctor. “If there are answers, then they’re likely hidden where I came from.”
Crutchie hesitated for a long moment, then shook his head. “I’m ready to see more. And…” he hesitated, making his voice low enough so as to be inaudible to Orpheus, “I think I want to help him.”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 30, 2021 0:46:41 GMT -5
It was an admirable suggestion from Crutchie. The Doctor wanted to help Orpheus too, if only because it seemed like it would be kinder than any assumptions she had originally made.
"Alright then," she said. She turned around, sweeping back along the path ahead of the other two. She had no idea where to go, other than Orpheus' vague statement about back where they'd been before. She already had a sense that this wouldn't have what they were looking for, however. It just seemed too unlikely that Orpheus' path would lead him back there.
But she pushed open the door of the TARDIS and walked inside, sweeping past the yellow pillars and to the console. It was when she was there that she turned, facing back toward the two followers she had.
"You aren't going to find the answers your looking for back where we came from," she told Orpheus. "Whatever dropped you here ... it disconnected from its hold on Earth. I'm not even sure I can track it. And if I could, it would take time. So where do you two want to go? Or see? Past, present, future ... another planet. There's options and it will give me time to try and help."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 30, 2021 2:17:33 GMT -5
“That’s the only place I can think to start looking for answers,” Orpheus admitted with a small shake of his head. He didn’t know where he was from. He barely understood where they were, other than that it was supposed to be home, but very clearly wasn’t. Something had happened and Orpheus wanted to get to the bottom of it. He had always understood his place in the world. Now, for the first time, he felt more lost than ever before.
It shouldn’t have surprised Orpheus that there were worlds beyond Earth, but that felt like something else to swallow that his brain didn’t really have room for. He didn’t know how to handle the idea of other worlds. He didn’t know what to make of the idea that he might be from one of those other worlds. Or he might not exist at all.
“I suppose…” Orpheus managed, looking around one last time, “I would like to see the future. But this isn’t my journey. I don’t believe that my voice should be the deciding factor.” He was well aware that he was just a guest on the TARDIS. He didn’t want to be the one calling any of the shots.
Crutchie merely shrugged, looking from the Doctor to Orpheus. “The future sounds alright with me. We can explore a little bit while you try to figure out how to help!”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Sept 10, 2021 0:55:22 GMT -5
"Sounds like a plan," said the Doctor.
She spun around the console and briefly glanced at Orpheus then Crutchie. A lever went down and the doors of the TARDIS closed. "Hold on," she said. Her only warning before the sense of movement overwhelmed the time machine, sending them off into the unknown.
---
It took very little time for the sense of movement to cease and the TARDIS to land. It was only then that the windows in the doors of the TARDIS cast a different tone of light.
Daylight.
"Well ... after you," the Doctor said brightly, indicating the doors of the TARDIS. As if she was waiting for Crutchie and Orpheus to unveil a surprise.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Oct 7, 2021 7:34:25 GMT -5
bumping for my sanity.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Feb 23, 2022 23:39:06 GMT -5
"The future," the Doctor said. Then looked out, as if she wanted to check that this was, indeed, where they had ended up. Hey! She'd ended up in the wrong areas before. And anyway … this view was always changing. There were fixed things, but it was always amazing coming here to see the little shifts in humanity.
“Or did you want something more specific? Like the name of the city or country or world or something?” she wondered now.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Feb 25, 2022 22:47:14 GMT -5
“It’s still very difficult to believe travel like this exists for people who aren’t gods,” Orpheus said after a moment, eyes wide as he looked around. He couldn’t see outside the TARDIS, of course, but his imagination was providing him with its best approximation of what might be outside. What would the future look like.
“Unless… are you a god?” Orpheus asked, suddenly frozen in place. It should have occurred to him before, especially given how many gods had worked their way into his life before. He hadn’t allowed himself to consider that this strange woman might be one. “You’re… no god I’ve met, but… you remind me of Mr. Hermes.”
“Do you know the city?” Crutchie asked after a moment, giving Orpheus a suspicious look. The demigod seemed too nice to be real, especially given what they had learned of the ‘history’ they had fallen into. He shouldn’t exist. He was probably malevolent, or at least part of something malevolent. It was almost enough to quell his excitement about visiting the future.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Mar 24, 2022 12:23:56 GMT -5
“Far from it,” said the Doctor. The idea and the words made her uncomfortable. She was no god. She didn’t want to make any claims to it.
The Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind them as they exited the ship, looking around with great interest.
“Yes and no. I’ve been here before. But the trees were smaller.”
She was grinning as she said it.
“So, what …? Fifty or so years ago from when we are now. Not sure when I visited it, but it can't have been too long ago.”
She couldn’t exactly remember. Nor did she think it mattered - they could explore it now.
“Anywhere you’d like to go first?”
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Post by mintedstar/fur on May 7, 2022 0:27:21 GMT -5
The idea of a downtown did strike the Doctor as a good idea. At any rate, it might be a good way to explore the area.
"Smaller, yes," the Doctor said. Then pointed toward a couple that were growing from a roof-top. "And nearer to the ground. It's all rather nice though, right?"
Then she was off - only to realize she hadn't said anything. "This way to downtown."
And away she walked again. There was the distant 'wshh' sound of movement down a side-street, though what it was wasn't clear, but for the most part, people just walked. Completely ignoring the time travelers as well.
Downtown got quite a bit more busy. Semi-car-shaped ... vehicles moved around, though they notably didn't have any wheels. The Doctor looked at everything with fascination, though not the 'oh wow, I don't know what this is' fascination, but the 'humans are amazing' kind.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Aug 10, 2022 10:28:54 GMT -5
"Oh those?" the Doctor said, sounding delighted that Orpheus had asked. Only for her answer to be, "Haven't the foggiest. I mean, I have been here, sort of, but the future likes to shift around a bit. Unless it's a fixed moment. Then the details change. But either way, this ..." She waved happily at the vehicles. "... this is completely a puzzle. Probably not called cars anymore. Or maybe they are. I have no idea. Let's go ask someone!"
And off she was again, clearly intending to do just that.
Maybe Crutchie and Orpheus should put a leash on their Doctor, least she end up causing more harm than good. Or not. The chaotic energy was unlikely to get turned down at any point soon.
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Post by mintedstar/fur on Sept 29, 2022 20:52:42 GMT -5
(Bump.)
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