Day 55: Cafeteria

[mustbethesuit]

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[timedork]

For the first time in just over three weeks, the Doctor woke up in something other than a T-shirt.

That, however, wasn't what was foremost on his mind. The intercom had yet to go off when he awoke, so he sat up, taking in the new clothes and dog tags he'd found himself in-it all seemed very military, very UNIT-but using the time to think, instead, of last night, and of the words that were said before he'd found himself here, in the new clothes.

Fifty-four days. From the sound of things, that must have been how long 'Landel's Institute' had been in operation-currently, at least. It may have existed before then, too, but the old 'process' had been in place for fifty-four days. Landel's way must have been the one that had been in place previously, but there was a promise of changes in the new man's words. Changes that, apparently, were already taking effect.

At the thought, the Doctor lifted the dog tags around his neck to have a look:

John Smith
A Class
37946101M
The class and number were new

[mateswithnobody]

Whatever the heck this morning was supposed to be, Donna found herself not minding it so much at first. Gone were the extremely tacky gray tee and sweats she had hated so much. Now she had on something very military chic - a bit dull, but chic nonetheless. Nice pants, and a shirt that actually fit! She could even stand the flippy little beret as an accent to the ensemble if it meant never having to wear the previous outfit again.

Except there was one problem with the whole thing. A problem in the form of small pieces of silver that had the nerve not only to bare the name Jane McAvoy, but to be hanging around her neck as if they belonged to her

[timedork]

The Doctor could hear Donna storming over-he'd picked her voice out (not that it was difficult) when she'd been still on the other side of the room, snapping at one of the soldiers-but he didn't actually look up from the cleaning work until she'd stopped, and spoken. He gave a look at the dog tags first, and then Donna.

"The dog tags? Yes, I noticed them," he said, removing a hand from the mop to briefly lift the chain that hung around his own neck. "Mine say Smith, so I'm guessing yours say..." He paused, trying to recall the name she'd said she'd been addressed by. "McAvoy?"

He didn't bother mentioning the 'class' and number just yet. It was probably the name Donna was upset about, anyway; she hadn't responded positively to it before, after all.

[mateswithnobody]

Oh, he'd "noticed" them was all. Well "Smith" might not have been a bother to someone who utterly failed at creative aliases, but Donna's small print hit a bit more of a personal nerve.

She released the tags before him, letting them fall dramatically to her chest before huffing out a breath of frustration. "I do hope you understand that having not only a fake name, but a fake married name hanging around my neck like a collar is not a good thing?" she explained as she sent daggers glaring to the soldiers, "And that I might be flipping some berets for it later?"

Threaten violence and then he'd listen... better...

[timedork]

The Doctor didn't quite understand why Donna was so bothered by the alias. Sure, there was the 'married name' thing, but... Well, in any case, he disapproved of the implication she might get violent over it.

"You'd better not do," he warned, tone and expression both serious. He held his gaze on her for a long moment, and then relaxed, returning to his cleaning job. "Besides, it's not like we're the only ones in this whole place with aliases on their dog tags. Everyone has gone by them from the beginning, it seems."

He paused for a beat and then amended, "Well, almost everyone." There were odd cases like with him and with England where the wrong name was one they'd used frequently in the past.