Singapore -- Open

[whoneverwas]

Wherever you were a moment before, your next step finds you in the midst of a well-manicured garden that descends in wide terraces down towards the sea. Though the darkened sky suggests it's well into the evening, the climate is tropical and warm, even into the earliest hours of the morning. Fortunately, ocean breezes prevent the heat from being

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[poeticnpedantic]

'Charley!'

In his encompassing relief to see her, the Doctor entirely forgets about his mulish refusal to call her by her preferred sobriquet, and in a flurry of patchwork coattails and hastily applied disapproval, he's striding across the courtyard to the rail where she's stationed.

'Days!' he's muttering under his breath, 'Days I've been looking for you, you wayward, foolhardy girl. And I suppose you've been adventuring all over the place in my absence- this is the Land of Fiction, you know, the rules you're accustomed to simply don't apply here! Do you even know? Do you have the slightest notion where you are? How dangerous it is? I have been here before, and my companions and I barely managed to escape; divide and conquer, that's how this place works

[whoneverwas]

By the time she'd found this place, Charley had rather given up on hope of being found by anyone. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been left behind and she was just starting to come to grips with the idea... or trying to, at any rate. But then there's that voice -- that unmistakable voice -- calling her name.

She doesn't waste any time dashing to close the distance between them and throwing her arms around him. He's saying things, of course, and probably rather important things (at least to him), but she's entirely too overjoyed to see him to do anything else.

But some of his tirade has registered, at least, because once he's wound down she responds, voice soft, tears unbidden streaking down her cheeks.

"I just... I just was suddenly here. You and the TARDIS were nowhere to be found. I looked and looked--"

She cuts off abruptly, pulling away from him, a wary look on her face.

"How do I know that you're not some fiction, like everything else here? Just what I want to see?"

[poeticnpedantic]

Charlotte throws herself at him, and, taken aback, the Doctor just manages to catch her, wrapping her in his strong arms, squeezing enough to lift her off her feet for a moment. Well. She certainly seems pleased to see him.

Or, at least, that's the impression he gets until she pulls back, cheeks shining with tear tracks and expression untrusting. He's actually injured for a moment that she could think someone like him could ever be replicated by mere fiction (it's that, of course, and not the fact that she doesn't trust him; he doesn't trust her, after all), and he blinks at her for a moment, at a loss.

'Charley...' His voice is soft, the second syllable of her name drawn out in a descending murmur, the injured, sympathetic tone of someone who doesn't quite know how to do comfort correctly. 'As if I could ever be-' he laughs a little lamely, 'Of course I'm real! I- do you think they could really recreate me as fiction? If you don't believe me... ah, do you have anything sharp on you? A brooch, a pin?'

[whoneverwas]

"I've seen more than a few things, since I met you, that I would hardly have thought possible before..."

She trails off, still wary, but there's something in his voice that's far too genuine to be a fairy tale. She fingers the brooch at her throat nervously, but says nothing more.

[raggedydoctor]

In the excitement of his recent arrival, the Doctor had all but forgotten that Land of Fiction meant he could be exposed to some less than pleasant fictions; he didn't, however, for a moment think he would come here and be haunted. And yet there is Charley, in an elegant repose, her profile lit occasionally in brilliant alternating colour by the fireworks display. Almost just as he remembered her. He had always infinitely preferred it when she smiled.

His contemplation is brief; whether she is a creation of the Land or has somehow found herself stranded here, he can't possibly bring himself to leave without at least a hello. How appropriate that it should be here, of all places, that he finds her again. He strolls up to the terrace, hands tucked behind his back. His eyes are trained on the fireworks, though it is her he watches in the corner of his field of vision.

"Hello, Charley." His smile is small and wistful, nearly melancholic, and his voice is only loud enough to be heard by her over the din of the crowd.

[whoneverwas]

She hadn't recognized anyone nearby until he'd spoken up, and she starts at the interruption, turning to look at this newcomer.

"Hello," she says, her voice just as soft as his. She gives him a small shadow of her usual smile. "This is usually the point at which I'd introduce myself, but I seem to be behind on this conversation. Have we met?"

[raggedydoctor]

The Doctor smiles, looking slightly abashed; he had forgotten for a moment that she wouldn't recognize him as he is now. Funny how the sight of her made him feel several incarnations younger.

"Unless I've horribly miscalculated - and I wouldn't put it past me to overlook something as silly as timelines - we have. Charley, it's me - the Doctor."

He leans in to her, looking suddenly rather worried as a thought strikes him: if she's a fabrication of the Land of Fiction... "Or perhaps you don't know me at all. Now there's a shame - I'd hate to have to go through the formalities of introductions again."

[whoneverwas]

Charley's smile grows, just a bit -- meeting the Doctor since they had parted seems more than a bit perilous and she can't help but be a bit wary. She reaches out, tentatively, to press her palm to his chest, feeling for the familiar beat of his hearts. When she does, her eyes dart up to meet his.

"Doctor!"

Her voice is still little more than a whisper, but there's delight dancing around the edges now, her smile bright, despite her worries.

"I shouldn't think any formalities are required."