356. might be a little early for this, but...

[want_to_jog]

KISS or TELL
1. There's mistletoe everywhere. Everywhere. Your character is underneath it now.

2. Once underneath it with someone else (a replier) they are stuck in
place until they do one of two things: kiss or tell someone a secret
about themselves.

3. It doesn't matter who tells their secret, initiates the kiss, etc.
Whenever it happens they're 'free

Comments

[but_worth_it]

He stared at the device in his hand. "Right, now---we're going to have to keep navigating this corridor...I wonder why there aren't any traps, though."

[but_worth_it]

He scrunched his face up. Right, so he couldn't make anymore secrets about how he was a delinquent child in school. Well, that took the easy right out of all of this.

He rolled his eyes up at the mistletoe, and let out a sigh. Right, something good for this one. Something good, but not too good, because there were a lot of secrets that needed to come out of this hallway.

"I used to wear a rainbow-colored jacket when I was younger," he said. The light didn't go out. "Okay, so I didn't make much of a secret of it then. I hate pears. No? Okay. I...am partially responsible for the Great Fire of London."

That worked. The light went out and he stepped forward. "Getting tougher, these."

[huffpuffblonde]

He thought it was bad? Childhood delinquency was really all she had to go on without making things awkward or spoiling his future.

The fact that he used to wear a rainbow-colored jacket was mildly amusing, and she bit back a snort, easily contained considering the light wasn't going out. To be fair, she'd already known he hated pears.

"Really? That was you? Gonna have to hear that story one day," She murmured, amused, and stepped into the next area. She puffed out a sigh, rolling her head back as she thought.

"Mmm... it wouldn't be so difficult if I could just come up with something. I used to vandalize the walls of the estate with spray-paint, until mum caught me and scared me straight." The light stayed on. "Well, fair enough, I suppose I've told people that before."

She paused.

"First time I ever had my heart broken was when I caught Jimmy Stone cheating on me in a camper van with a woman named Noosh."

[but_worth_it]

The Doctor glanced over at Rose. It was strange, but he'd never thought of her having her heart broken. And not once, but more than once, because she'd said it was the first time. She was too young, too kind. Who the hell would be that cruel?

Jimmy Stone. The Doctor would remember that name. Just in case it was ever important.

"What sort of a name is Noosh?" he said, making a face as the light went out and he stepped forward. "Sounds more like a Gazackian cuisine."

[huffpuffblonde]

She screwed up her face and crossed with him, nodding enthusiastically. "I know, that's what I said. The lost moon of Noosh. People go out and get Nooshed. And in a camper van."

She shook her head. To be fair, she wasn't as young as she looked, even if she'd managed to put a bit more muscle on these legs with the recent running.

The dome descended again, and she tilted her head, waiting for his secret.

[but_worth_it]

"Right, so I've talked about going to school, talked about an adventure, talked about my childhood..."

He had no idea what he wanted to offer up. He could tell her he wasn't really 900 years old, that he'd long, long since passed that delicate age, but that seemed a bit embarrassing, and a little trivial considering her last secret.

He wrung his hands, then tried a new secret. "I stole the TARDIS."

Seemed good enough for the machine, and it opened up for them.

[huffpuffblonde]

Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been that. "You stole--"

She raised her eyebrows. Now didn't seem like the time to tease him about his questionable driving skills. In fact, this game was rapidly losing it's fun. As much as she wanted to learn about his past, she'd rather do it with him voluntarily telling her, not by squeezing information out of him like he was an orange in a juicer.

They stepped into the next level.

"Blimey."

She was running out of secrets. "I haven't got too many more before I start ruining the future."

She gazed up at the mistletoe, frowning in concern, staring at it contemplatively.

"I'm afraid the longer I stay like this, the more tempted I'm gonna be to change the way things happen."

[but_worth_it]

He was afraid of that. Afraid, and just a bit curious. He couldn't help it. What did he know about Rose already? What did she know about him? What had they done together? How much---

Her last secret caught him by surprise. He looked over at her, gave her a small smile, and stepped forward into the next area.

"I know exactly what you mean," he said, his voice quiet but serious. The light immediately went off, and the door opened up. He didn't want to give Rose up. He had been alone for so long, he'd forgotten what it was like to enjoy the company of people. And Rose...even without all that knowledge she had in her head about him, she seemed to understand him. She got it, where so many people didn't.

A little awkwardly, he looked away, up ahead of them. "So, the secrets are going to get more serious, now," he said. "But that might be the point of this place. Information. Obtaining it and making it seem like a game."

[huffpuffblonde]

She looked at him, then. Really, really looked at him. The way he'd said it, the fact that the light switched off... he understood. That was good. Quietly, she stepped into the next area. Did that count as his turn? She supposed it did.

She followed his eyes down the distant corridor. Still so many left to go, and she was already turning out to be a tapped well. What could she tell him? Some things were just too personal. Even for him. Especially for him.

"Dunno what the point would be. Most of this information is useless to anybody but us. It's not exactly as though they could use it in Cash Cab. They're not life-changing secrets, they're just... secrets." She shook her head, and stared at the ground, concentrating.

It was getting harder.

"I dunno if I can say anything else that doesn't cause some sort of paradox. Nothing serious."

[but_worth_it]

"But the deeper you go, the more secrets you have to unearth, and the more dangerous they are," the Doctor said. "Just look at us, here. We're struggling for something that won't rip open time itself. The only secrets I have left are other peoples' secrets, or some of my own, deeper ones. It's a dangerous sort of game."

He knew so many secrets about so many people. He wondered what ones would open up these little games.

"Childhood, school, what the hell else do I have?" He turned back to Rose. "What would you want to know?"

[huffpuffblonde]

She shook her head. "Makes sense, I suppose. Then again, how often do they get people like us through here? We're brilliant, me and you. The normal riffraff'd be going on about scarves or something."

She looked a bit surprised.

"What, you're just opening the door for questions? Unusual, that." Normally, he didn't open up if you went at him with a crowbar, not that she ever did. If he was giving her permission to ask, though... "What about your family? You mentioned you were a dad once. I didn't ask."

[but_worth_it]

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but when Rose said that he'd mentioned he was a dad, the light above them went out and the door opened.

"Secrets, Rose," the Doctor said, stepping past her and forward. "And not just anybody would come through this way. The ones looking for the Geraxian Crystal. Or a good snog. One or the other. If it's the former, that's going to be someone who has more than just a little information that this place might want them to part with. If it's the latter, well, they might get a show out of it."

He stepped up to the next bit of mistletoe. "I was, a long time ago. I'd tell you that it was when the War happened, but---it was before that."

The light went out.

[huffpuffblonde]

"Sorry. I didn't mean to give that away- this is gonna be really difficult." She shook her head, stepping through to the next area. She was giving away secrets without even realizing it. She braced a hand against the barrier.

"What is it with the entertainment industry in the future? Why does somebody always have to die or get snogged to be good television? I'll never understand it." She shook her head. Just thinking back on Game Station made her screw up her face into a frown. Funny how asking about his life was a secret in itself, it'd take ages to get any sort of answer.

"Been traveling with you for years, and there's still so much I don't know," She shook her head. "I've never said, but I wish you'd tell me a bit more about it from time to time."

The light flicked off. Well, it was something she kept secret from him, and it was important to her, especially considering how lightly she tread on the ground when it came to his past.

[but_worth_it]

He continued walking. It was strange, but at the rate they were sharing secrets, it was almost like they were taking a strange, awkwardly open walk together, and the lights were only a minor nuisance as they strolled.

"what about? About the War?"

[huffpuffblonde]

She stopped at the next barrier without even really realizing it, so wrapped up was she in the conversation. It was flowing relatively well again, now that they were on the subject.

"No, not the war specifically. I dunno, just everything in general. Your past and stuff." She shrugged, staring off down the corridor as they walked, her thumbs hooked through her pockets. "Me, I'm an open book. Twenty-six years and most of it on Earth, doing boring things. You've got loads of history, though. It's just... interesting, is all, finding out about the stuff that makes you... you."

[but_worth_it]

"Not all of my life is interesting," the Doctor says. "I once spent 600 years on a planet being a doctor to jellyfish. I think the boringness of some of my past could astound you."

The light above them went out again. He tried to peer around the corner and figure out just how many mistletoe bunches they had left of this.