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Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Oliver Day (

oliverplus) and Jamie McCrimmon (

bonnypiperlad)
Location: Skara Brae, as it is shared between Gondovan for Oliver and Earth for Jamie
Time: After the end of the deathmatches
Summary: Oliver and Jamie make an unexpected discovery off the Plane.
Warnings: None

Oliver had resigned himself quite a while ago to the fact that a lot of the people on Gondovan thought he was mad. After all, Gondolla, while literally the biggest city in the world, wasn't a terribly big city, and word about the Puppeteer and his and Sukhrit's hospitalisation had travelled fast. And the fact that he had spent those two months in hospital frequently waking up screaming from nightmares--screams that were overheard by nearby patients--hadn't helped his case. But he'd gotten a job, and he'd started to make a name for himself as himself--and not just that weird refugee bloke who lived with the sister of the mad bloke and had been mad himself for a while.

And then the Plane had come along. At first that hadn't been so bad. Most people hadn't noticed any change, and although Anna had worked out a long time ago that something was up with Oliver, she had been nice enough--probably too nice--to give him his space.

But now, however, the world seemed determined to convince Oliver himself that he was mad. Or that the whole planet was going mad. Or, if he was lucky, the Plane was just pulling some really strange trick that made no sense. He really hoped that was the case. He didn't want to be mad.

First, he'd come back after waking up in the Twins' lab, and he'd found the site of a particular exploded building in Selly Oak sitting just a few blocks from his flat. Naturally, none of the other people of Gondovan had recognised the rubble, but they could all see it. Most claimed the building there had somehow blown up and turned out looking like that, but anybody who took a good look at the level of technology knew better.

And now...well, now the city limits suddenly weren't the city limits anymore. The minute he'd heard the whispered rumours, Oliver had known he needed to see it for himself. And so here he was, standing in what used to be a patch of desert but was now anything but. Unlike the chunk of Selly Oak, he didn't recognise this place, but he knew enough to tell that it was ancient--far more ancient than any human settlements on Gondovan.

The area consisted of the ruins of a village. The dwellings were simple and small, containing a hearth and some nominal furniture. Amongst them, he could see pottery, jewelery of bone or ivory, simple tools... Wherever this was, it was very primitive. Technology had been much further along than this when Gondovan had first been colonised.

And most telling of all, this area had grass. He was walking on real, authentic, natural grass. He could even smell it! He bent down, running a hand over it, and broke off a blade so he could take a close look. "Wow..." It was definitely grass. Oliver shook his head, amazed, every minute feeling more and more like he had stepped onto some other planet. It was cooler here, more pleasant, grassy... It wasn't a thing like Gondovan's harsh desert!

"First Selly Oak and now this. What the hell is going on?" Shaking his head again, he straightened, still clutching the blade of grass, and started to walk toward the nearest of the stone dwellings--Neolithic stone dwellings, as best as he could guess. "Is the Plane taking the mickey out of me or what?" He stepped over to the outer wall of one of the dwellings, running a hand along the stone. It felt real enough, but how could it possibly be here? "And what's it for?"

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Jamie was both pleased and aggravated with himself. In an effort to try and distract the Doctor from noticing the still-healing scrapes on his hands, he had decided to see if he couldn't try and goad him into taking them somewhere specific like Scotland. It had been easier than he thought it would be. All he had needed to do was call the Doctor's ability at flying the TARDIS into question, and the next thing he knew they were actually there - or relatively close, anyway, as they had landed in Orkney.

It was close enough that Jamie had been thrilled when he stepped out of the TARDIS. As the day wore on, however, he became considerably less thrilled. While out exploring, they had come across the ruins of Skara Brae, and the Doctor just had to go take a closer look. He hadn't minded at first, but there was only so long he could listen to the Doctor ramble on about Neolithic ruins - whatever those were - and pretend to be interested in some old bits of pottery. Eventually, he had wandered off.

He wasn't paying much attention as he turned a rounded corner, and nearly walked straight into the man who was touching the wall.

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't..." The rest of the apology died out as he realized that the person he had nearly bumped into was rather familiar - and someone that shouldn't actually be here right now.

"Oliver?!"

Edited 2010-07-27 06:23 (UTC)

Oliver jumped, feeling like he was being caught red-handed somewhere he shouldn't be. He couldn't place the voice at first, mostly because it just didn't enter into his mind that it could possibly be Jamie, though in retrospect the accent should have been a dead giveaway from the first word. As it was, he started talking as he turned. "I was just-"

And then he saw who was behind him, and his jaw dropped. It took a moment of gaping before he could make himself speak again.

"J-Jamie? What are you doing here!?"

That particular question is actually quite close to the one in Jamie's mind at the moment, and he nearly blurts it out right then and there. However, since it seems Oliver has beaten him to asking, he decides to answer first and then figure things out after. "Oh, the Doctor wanted to take a wee peek at the ruins."

He waves a hand vaguely in the direction that he had recently come from. Whether or not the Doctor is actually over there still is up for interpretation, but since Jamie's fairly certain he can find the Time Lord again when he needs to, he's not too worried about it. He's much more interested in figuring out how Oliver wound up on Earth anyway - as he was under the impression that Oliver was currently living somewhere completely different.

"How did ye get here, anyway?" he asks, sounding rather puzzled. "Did ye start traveling with the Doctor again?"

Edited 2010-07-27 23:03 (UTC)

"The Doctor's here?" The question was out of his mouth before he thought about it, and he could feel himself wearing the usual deer-in-headlights expression. For some reason he was suddenly very, very nervous. Seeing the Doctor on the Plane was one thing, but running into him again out here? He wasn't sure how that was different, but it was. It was more final somehow--like he would have to face another now-or-never chance, maybe. He looked nervously in the direction in which Jamie was waving, but wherever the Doctor was, he wasn't readily visible.

Before Oliver could ask anything further, however, he was brought up short by Jamie's next question. "No," he replied, confused. "This place just sorta...appeared. Outside Gondolla." This was getting stranger by the minute. Why would Jamie think he was travelling with the Doctor when he was still on Gondovan? Then again, why did this place not look like Gondovan at all? "Jamie," he asked, frowning suspiciously, "Where do you think we are?"

"Aye, of course," Jamie says slowly, a bit baffled by that deer-in-headlights expression that Oliver is suddenly wearing. Why is he nervous about that?

Oh! Maybe it's because he doesn't want his Doctor to meet up with Jamie's Doctor. That could be a little bit problematic, considering everything Jamie's had to go through to try and prevent his Doctor from finding out about the Plane. "It's not like he lets me fly the TARDIS, aye?" he says dryly, thinking maybe if he can work a little humor into things it might put Oliver a little be more at ease.

He's about to make a crack about it being lucky he got here in one piece, but what Oliver says then brings him up short. "Gondolla? Where's that?" Jamie stares disbelievingly at the question, wondering if maybe his friend's gone a bit daft. "We're in Scotland. Orkney, I think. The Doctor muttered something about that before he got caught up in poking about."

Oliver couldn't help but crack a smile at that. "No, he never lets anyone."

But Jamie's answer confirmed his suspicions. Oliver couldn't help it. For a moment, he just gaped at Jamie. "Scotland!? You're really on Earth?" He shook his head disbelievingly, looking around again. "It does look like Earth," he mumbled, half to himself, before he turned back to Jamie. "No, I'm on Gondovan! Or, at least, I was."

That thought was equal parts exciting and unnerving. What if he'd actually gone to Earth somehow? Then again, other people from Gondolla had seen these ruins--had probably even walked into them--and had come right back. Nobody had disappeared. Just what was going on here?

"Gondolla's the city where I live, and these ruins just sorta...appeared...outside of it," he explained. "And now you're here." He frowned, trying to put the pieces together. "I guess the Plane's done something..." After all, what else could it be?

"But that's..." Jamie breaks off. He's about to say 'impossible', but if Oliver's right and the Plane's done something, maybe it's not so impossible after all.

"How could the Plane have done this, though? We're not there at the moment." He shakes his head, not yet willing to accept the idea. It's not like he sees anyone here other than Oliver. Wouldn't there be some of his people looking around if an ancient village appeared in their home overnight?

"Maybe there's some wee device somewhere that opened up some sort of passage. Like one of the Dalek transport devices, aye? And it just...och, I don't know. Recreated the area around it so we think the place is still here."

Jamie frowns a little at that idea, however. "Although that doesn't tell us if we're on Gondovan or Earth." Glancing over in the direction of where he thought the Doctor was, the frown grows deeper. "Where did the Doctor get off to, anyway? He could figure it out."

"No," Oliver agreed. They would know if there were on the Plane. "But has anybody told you about mergers before?" Granted, he didn't know much about them himself, but he'd at least heard them mentioned, and nothing shouted "our universes are crossing over each other" like this situation. Earth and Gondovan at the same time! It didn't make any sense.

"Or maybe it's a transmat or something," he said uncertainly. He frowned, thinking about that. Wouldn't you know if you'd been transported somewhere? And that didn't explain why this place was readily visible when you left town. "Hang on," he said, a realisation striking him. "People in town have been talking about this place--that's why I came here--so I'm not the only one who can see it. This spot definitely isn't Gondovan, though." He took a few steps in place, feeling the soft grass beneath his feet. Definitely definitely not Gondovan.

But Jamie started looking for the Doctor then, and Oliver reacted before he could think, feeling a bit frantic. "N-no, that's all right! We can figure this out!"

"Mergers?" Even before the question is out of Jamie's mouth, there's a vaguely perplexed look on his face. Clearly he's not been told about the mergers, and the shaking of his head that follows pretty much confirms it.

"No, I've not heard of those. It wasn't in that wee brochure, was it?" He doesn't think so, but he still hasn't gotten around to reading the whole thing. A transmat makes sense to him. It's entirely possible to be transported and not know it, he thinks. Granted, he wasn't exactly conscious the time it happened to him, but it's still a possibility.

If other people can see this place, though, even Jamie has to admit that it's not likely it's a transmat - and he reluctantly lets go of the idea. "I suppose it's not that, then. I still think the D..."

He breaks off as Oliver visibly spooks at the idea of getting the Doctor, and holds up his hands in a placating gesture. They've got a light wrapping of gauze around the palms, mostly covering up some abrasions - at least, judging by the skin on his fingers just above the bandages. "Aye, all right! Forget I said anything!"

"Uh...it might've been," Oliver replied uncertainly. It had been a while since he'd read the brochure, and it was hard to remember exactly what was in it and what he'd just heard from other people. "I guess it's when parts of two people's worlds come together. I think that's what this must be." He looked around him again at the green scenery. A little snippet of Earth come to Gondovan... It made him a bit apprehensive, and he felt a familiar sorrow inside as he couldn't help thinking about what he'd left behind. But he was also glad. It really was good to see Earth again.

He winced at Jamie's attempts to placate him, however, embarrassed. "I just haven't seen the Doctor," he started sheepishly, "I mean, you know, not one of the Doctors on the Plane, but the Doctor, since--" But he paused, another thought striking him. "Hang on a mo', which number was your Doctor again?" he asked. And, frowning at Jamie's hands added, "And what happened?"

Jamie is looking about as uncertain as Oliver sounds. "How could that happen?" He's seen a lot of odd things since starting to travel with the Doctor, but never anything like that. He glances around at the ruins with a faint frown. Even though it looks like Scotland, and feels like Scotland, the thought of it being on some other planet makes it all seem a bit unreal to him.

He rubs at the back of his neck, forgetting that his hand's bandaged. The sensation of the bandage rubbing against the still-healing skin reminds him rather quickly, though, and he drops it again. "It's like it's some sort of strange dream," he muses, half to himself.

Oliver's words distract him from trying to make sense of this merger-thing as he belatedly remembers the conversation they had while Oliver was under the effects of the experiment. "Hey, that's right, ye said that the Doctor...left." Realizing that's probably not a great subject to bring up, he hurriedly adds, "Er. Anyway, mine's the second one. I think. So he wouldn't have gone through any of that with ye and..."

Right. Maybe getting off the subject altogether before he completely puts his foot in his mouth might be a good idea. Catching the frown, he looks down at his hands as if only just occurred to him they were injured. "Oh. Ah...I may have borrowed a wee sonic device from the TARDIS to use to help bring down the barrier."

"I guess it happens when you get close to people," Oliver said, thinking of how he'd felt when he'd realised Jamie wanted to play his pipes in his honour. Maybe it wasn't so strange to think that there was a merger between them after all.

"I know what you mean," he agreed with a weak smile. "I mean...Earth..." He trailed off, not sure how to describe what he was feeling. Really, he wasn't even sure what he was feeling. It was good to see Earth, but it was also strange--and sad, since he knew he wasn't really there. Or, maybe he was, but...it was Scotland only. It wasn't home.

Oliver cringed as Jamie brought up those old memories, though it wasn't as if this situation hadn't brought them close to the surface on its own. When Jamie mentioned his Doctor being the second one, however, Oliver focused his mind on that. "Oh!" He couldn't help feeling a bit relieved. He had an excuse. "Then he's not supposed to 've met me yet. I'd better not meet him. It could...you know, mess something up." He waved vaguely, sure Jamie would have heard speeches about the web of time from the Doctor before, too.

He frowned skeptically at Jamie's hands. "A sonic device!? What did you do to your hands with it?"

"Ohhh." Jamie, too, is thinking about how he felt when he had found out that Oliver was involved in the deathmatches, and what he planned to do. Playing the bagpipes was the least he could do for him. Taking that into consideration, the merger makes some sort of sense.

Yes, there's been those sorts of speeches. And...maybe it's better if he doesn't go and try to find the Doctor after all. It would bring up a lot of questions that Jamie doesn't have the answers for - not good answers, anyway. It's bad enough that the Time Lord's already trying to figure out the Twins' shop, to his mind. Oliver's suggestion is a fairly good one to avoid the issue, and Jamie'll go with it.

"Aye, I suppose you're right. I'd not want to be the cause of something like that."

That being settled, he can turn his attention to the matter of the sonic device. Although he doesn't look all too happy about having to answer that question, either, because...well, he's realized it wasn't one of his better ideas. His lips press together for a moment before he sighs resignedly.

"Put it on my sword. I...look, it fit on there and I thought it would help bring down the barrier faster. I didn't realize it would make the whole thing vibrate like it did!"

He's sounding a bit defensive, as he's getting a little bit tired of having to explain his hands to everyone he runs into. It's not Oliver's fault, though, and he gives him an apologetic look.

"Sorry."

"Yeah... Who knows what'd happen the first time I meet him if he already knows me," Oliver agreed. He made a bit of a face at how odd that had sounded, but he was sure Jamie knew what he meant. He glanced again in the direction Jamie had indicated that the Doctor had gone. Part of him did want to see him--meet him, find out what he was like. But he was more afraid of seeing him again than eager to do so.

Oliver frowned, but he had to admit that he could easily have done the same thing Jamie had. Instead of chiding him further--he got the distinct impression Jamie had gotten plenty of that already--he just reached a tentative hand out toward Jamie's bandaged ones. "Is it bad? I could get you something for it."

"No, I'm fine, really. They're only itching a wee bit. Nothing I can't handle."

Which wasn't strictly true. They were starting to itch more noticeably than before as some of the deeper abrasions begin to heal. Jamie, however, is determined to stubborn things out for the moment. If it gets really bad, well...

"Mu said he'd help if I wanted it." Jamie hopes that will help with the worry. It's bad enough he upset Three, and he's hiding his hands from Two as best he can. He knows Oliver means well, but doesn't really want people to fuss over such a minor thing - minor to Jamie, anyway. He blinks a little as an idea comes to him for a way Oliver can lend a hand - so to speak.

"Hey, I know! Why don't ye tell me about Gondovan, since I seem to be here now." That should distract him from any itching, he hopes. Just thinking about it seems to have caused it to flare up a little. Unconsciously, he rubs one of his hands against his kilt to try and get it to stop.

Oliver could feel Jamie's desire to evade his concern. It was something he understood well, and it meant Jamie's hands were probably worse than he was claiming. But, he reasoned, if Mu was already offering help and Jamie spent most of his time with the Doctor, there was probably nothing to worry about--nothing worth annoying Jamie further by being too insistent, anyway. So he let him change the subject.

"You know, I'm not sure you're not still on Earth," Oliver said, looking around again. "I don't really get how mergers work, but Gondovan's a desert. I've never seen grass there. I think this is more like me being on Earth..." Curiously, he stepped around the building, looking back the way he'd come. He was a bit disappointed when he realised that he could still see the desert outside of the ruins, with the city of Gondolla rising up in the distance. "Can you see the city?" he asked, gesturing in the direction of it. He had a feeling Jamie wouldn't be able to, but it was worth asking. "That's Gondolla. It's the biggest city on the planet, but that's not saying much. Most of Gondovan isn't inhabited. And the sky's pink..." He frowned. Standing here, all he could see was blue skies all around. How was that even possible?

"Pink? It looks like Earth's sky, to me." He supposes it's possible that Gondovan's sky could be that color - he's certainly seen enough strange planets at this point that he can believe it. It's just hard to imagine the sky being pink when it's rather blue at the moment. Not even covered by clouds today, he thinks...but Oliver had asked him a question, and he pulls himself out of his thoughts.

"The city?" Obligingly, Jamie follows Oliver around the side of the building, then turns slightly in the general direction indicated by the gesture. All he sees, however, are those same blue skies. "I don't see anything. Are ye sure you've got the right way?"

Even as he asks the question, he gets a feeling that he already knows the answer's going to be 'Yes'. Which means that maybe Jamie is still on Earth and Oliver isn't? But he said other people can see the ruins, so...

The whole thing isn't making sense, and it's not something he can find an analogy to. It looks like he'll just have to accept it as it is - at least for now.

"You said you 'guessed' that it was a merger. That means it's not happened to you before, then. But...you must know people it has happened to who mentioned it to ye. Maybe they can tell us more about how it works."

"I see blue skies here, too. It's not like Gondovan at all. But it was, right until I stepped into the ruins." Oliver looked around again, letting his gaze travel from the ruins and the blue sky and the grass to the distant view of the city. The more he thought about this, the less sense it made. However, he was becoming disappointingly convinced that he was on Gondovan and Jamie was really on Earth.

Jamie's answer clinched it, and Oliver frowned, disappointed. "Yeah, I've got the right way." He looked out at the familiar city of Gondolla, wishing for a moment that it weren't still there. But it couldn't be that easy to return to Earth. He should have known that.

He distracted himself with Jamie's next question, turning back to his friend. "Have you met Irving Braxiatel?" he asked, "He wrote this brochure to let everybody know about the Plane, and it talked about mergers. Oh! And Sebastian told me he got singing fish at home that came from the planet of a bloke named Straxus. But that's about all I know about them. But I get the impression a lot of people on the Plane have them, so we could probably ask just about anybody."

Jamie pulls a bit of a face. Figures. He knew he should have finished reading the brochure. "I thought it might have been in there," he mutters to himself for a moment, then nods.

"Aye, I've met..." Pausing for a moment, he tries to figure out the best way to refer to Brax. Irving? Mr. Braxiatel? Cardinal Braxiatel? None of those quite sound right to Jamie. "Him."

With a small sigh, he finally admits out loud, "I've not read the whole thing still. I keep meaning to, but..." Oliver likely knows how it is. You get distracted by fighting strange beasties or running away from them or deathmatches happen or something, and then the next thing you know you're standing talking to your friend in some strange merged place and regretting a little you never got back to it. "Maybe I'll ask the next time I'm on the Plane."

He doesn't want to go just yet. Even as odd as it is, he can't deny it's kind of nice to see Oliver here. "Hey, did ye need to get back? I could show ye around a bit or..." Jamie nods down towards a satchel he's got slung across his body. "Oh! I know. I have some sandwiches in here, if you're hungry."

Edited 2010-08-04 03:44 (UTC)

"He'd probably be able to explain this," Oliver said, not noticing Jamie's uncertainty about Braxiatel's name. It wasn't something Oliver typically worried too much about.

He couldn't help smiling a little at Jamie's comment about the brochure. He definitely knew how it was. In fact, he missed the days when his life was busy enough to keep him from doing something as simple as reading a brochure. He spent far too much time doing paperwork for his liking, these days.

Jamie's offer, however, caught him completely by surprise. He shook his head quickly, grinning now. "Nope, I haven't got anywhere to be! You think we could do both?"

Jamie doesn't really see why not, but feels he should be honest with Oliver about one thing before they get started. "Aye, we could. Although, I'll warn ye, I'm not much of a tour guide."

He hasn't actually been here before, but isn't worried about it. As long as Oliver doesn't mind extremely vague descriptions about the area, it'll be fine. Jamie figures having the sandwiches to offer will make up for the lack of information.

Accordingly, he opens the flap of his satchel, revealing a large mass of cloth inside and the sandwiches - which are actually in a smaller pocket just in front of the vaguely egg-shaped mass. The mass is, in fact, his egg, mummified quite effectively by the cloth. Barring actually sitting on the thing, he guesses that's the next best way to keep it warm - and this way, if any unforeseen running comes up he knows he won't have to leave the egg behind.

Getting the sandwiches out isn't too difficult, even with bandaged hands, and they're only slightly squished from sharing room with the egg. Jamie offers both out to Oliver to look over. "Do ye want cheese and onion or ham and mustard?"

Oliver could have cared less how much information Jamie could give him. Well, actually, maybe that wasn't strictly true--he was too much of a fan of history for that--but for the moment, it was such a relief to see Earth that the details were far from the biggest thing on his mind. "No problem! Just looking around 'd be enough for me," he replied cheerfully.

He looked into the bag, curious, as Jamie retrieved the sandwiches. He was about to ask what that strange lump was, but then he realised the obvious answer. "You got one of those eggs from the twins, too, huh?" he asked. He reached into the pocket of his jacket--a jacket that had been much too hot until he'd come into these ruins--and withdrew a small egg that was sky blue with silver sparkles.

But then Jamie pulled out the sandwiches, and Oliver tucked the egg away. "Cheese! From Earth!" he declared, excited. "Ohhh, it's been a while. That one for sure!" He reached out to take the sandwich eagerly. Cheese, he'd found, just wasn't the same anywhere else in the universe.

"I'd not get too excited," Jamie replied a touch cynically as he handed it over. "It's from the TARDIS kitchens. Ye never know what the Doctor'll come up with to put in there."

It's entirely possible, however, that it is cheese from Earth. Jamie really has no idea. He just was told to make a couple of sandwiches, so he threw them together from whatever he could find. It might explain why Oliver's is made out of two different types of bread.

He eyes the ham sandwich for a moment, wondering if he should save the second one for the Doctor, then shrugs and starts eating it anyway. He'll just figure out something to tell the Doctor later - if the Doctor even notices the sandwich is gone.

In between bites, he goes back to the subject of the egg. "Aye, I did. It's...did ye want to see it? I should check it anyway, to see if it's started to hatch."

"Oh." Oliver couldn't quite hide his disappointment, but he followed it up quickly with his usual optimism. "About like the kitchen on the Plane, then. Still, it looks like real cheese!"

And that statement naturally required that he test that theory, so Oliver took a large bite of the sandwich. "Hah!" he declared, mouth full. "Rear cheef!" He grinned widely as he chewed the sandwich. He hadn't even noticed the different breads yet. As far as he was concerned, this was just another touch of Earth, and he couldn't have been happier about it.

But he did, at least, have the manners to swallow the bite before he continued the conversation. "Sure!" he declared, leaning forward to see could get a better look at the bundle in Jamie's bag. He offered his own egg out in case Jamie wanted to look at it more closely. too.

Jamie sets the half-eaten sandwich aside and wipes his hands on his kilt just in case. Not that he thinks he's actually gotten any mustard on them, but he figures it can't hurt.

He cranes forward slightly to get a better look at Oliver's egg. "Yours looks like it's got stars on it," he says thoughtfully. Idly, he wonders if they would rub off, and he goes so far as to lick his finger to give it a try before he restrains himself. Instead, he uses the slightly damp finger to start prying back the cloth swaddling his egg. It's a light brown in color, and is speckled. The speckles are a very vivid blue, and almost seem to glow for a moment while the egg is still partially wrapped in the cloth.

When Jamie pulls it out into the sunlight, however, the glow fades rather noticeably. He carefully turns it over, checking to see if there's any sign of it hatching, and looks disappointed when he can't find it.

"Och, I was hoping it'd be ready by now." Since Oliver was willing to offer his egg out for inspection, Jamie does the same. While he does that, he takes another look at Oliver's egg. There's a faint 'hrm' noise before he asks, "What do you think you'll get, anyway?"

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