(no subject)

[bossily]

CHARACTERS: Clara Oswald & Open
LOCATION: Sunlight room + various
DATE: Post Mission
CONTENT: 1 open + closed starters for station downtime
WARNINGS: None yet! Will update as needed

[Clara takes to station downtime the same way she always does. Productively.

She tends to her garden and works in the kitchen, and tries to help go through and organize the supply drop. She stays busy so she doesn't have time to sit and think. Thinking for too long is when her thoughts start to wander, and she can't afford to be distracted. She has supply kits to restock, first aid kits to help with. And even though she's not entirely sure of where she stands after the most recent mission, it's not as if she's avoiding anyone.

She's just busy.

Up until everything's been done and then there's nothing left to be busy with. And it's then that Clara finally allows herself to rest. She does it a little differently this time, bringing a box of junk with her into the sunlight room. Using tools she's borrowed from the Doctor and her sonic device she sits out in the simulated grass and basks in the artificial sun. And she tinkers and builds, though it's never clear what she's trying to make. As focused on the task that she is, she'll pause in her work when she hears the sound of footsteps approaching.]

Careful. Come any closer, and I'll put you to work.

Comments

[legalcy]

[Minimus freezes in the entrance. His first thought is to wonder how gardening works in a simulation, but the pile of tools has him convinced otherwise.]

I'm sorry, I did not mean to intrude. [He shuffles an inch closer, just enough to lean forward and take a peak at this structure.] What are you making?

[bossily]

You're not.

[She quickly clarifies, not wanting him to think he's actually intruding or she minds the company. After finishing a quick scan with her sonic, she sets it aside and glances up and over at him.]

I'm making a gift for someone. It was supposed to be an amplifier for a guitar. But I don't think I'm quite as clever as I thought I was.

[Meaning, she's struggling. But she's trying, which is what counts.]

[legalcy]

I don't have the expertise to advise. [To the point, lest not to give Clara false hope. Minimus does give her space to work and leans back.] Would not the lab be a more suitable location to wire it?

[bossily]

Probably. [Her answer is quick and to the point, because the tip of her tongue is sticking out as she concentrates on attempting to snap some metal pieces together. It's likely apparently obvious that she's not much of a tinkerer and has no idea what she's doing.]

But the person I'm making this for always is in the lab. I'm trying to keep it a surprise.

[shumi]

( kakashi has been watching clara tinker with her little box of toys for almost an hour now as he reclines high above on a tree branch.

a book in hand, he briefly considers leaving the brunette to her own devices and resuming his reading, but in the end, his curiosity gets the better of him. hopping down from his perch, he lands silently, his movement unapologetically muted and swift.

it isn't until he is a few steps away from her that he deigns to make some noise, not wanting to scare her.

she wouldn't take too kindly to it, especially if he is the one to do it. )

I would only mess it up for you, Clara.

[bossily]

[A part of her is always waiting for him to sneak up on her. After how much time they spent together on the last mission, she knows some of his habits and routines by now. And maybe they're not the exact same habits and routines he has around the station. But she knows the sound of his footsteps well enough by now, and also is aware he makes sure he takes care that she hears them so he doesn't startle her.

In a way, it's actually really sweet. So she's smiling when she hears those footsteps, and glances up in time to catch him talking. But what he says only earns a smirk and a roll of her eyes. Like she believes him any.]

Seriously? Like you're capable of letting yourself mess up anything.

[shumi]

( he splays out both of his gloved hands with a shrug. )

I don't know what you could mean, Clara. ( a coquettish smile surfaces behind his masked face. ) I'm pretty careless. ( he stops next to her before he crouches down to take a closer look at what she's working on. ) Besides, ( he reaches out to pick up a random part. ) this isn't my area of expertise. You're better off asking Newt. ( he surely would be able to assist with whatever she's trying to build or put together. )

What is this anyway?

text ↪ un: 朱 (wildcard)

[blackfire]

Where are you?

（ he could find her within minutes, but he is being polite. as one does. ）

[bossily]

[She gives Itachi space after the mission. Everyone needs time to decompress after that. But when he reaches out, ever so thoughtful of not just popping up unannounced, she's grateful.]

Setting up something in the simroom. It's taking a bit more time than I thought it would.

[blackfire]

Would you care for assistance?

closed to the eleventh doctor

[bossily]

[They both have their routines they fall into back on the station. Like their time spent on the missions, they stay focused in their tasks. They have their friends to tend to, socialization to keep up. But when what passes as quiet hours falls over the station, they find their way together.

Today's been a special day, though. She had invited him to join her for dinner, which they ate in the mess hall and enjoyed casual flirtation over Clara's attempt at cooking a vegetarian meal. That flirtation quickly turned to canoodling, and canoodling into snogging in a dark corner of the station as they attempted to make their way back to their room.

They're giggling as they hurry inside, and it's later, when they're a mess of limbs curled up together in her small bed that she finds herself finally able to think back on the mission with a clear head. Her fingers are playing with his as they lay there quietly, and she's almost reluctant to be serious after the lovely night they've had together. But she thinks it's important that these things are discussed, that they say certain things to one another.]

Doctor? Can I ask you something?

[lateness]

[ All things considered, the return back to the station after a too-long mission is a welcome one. They'd bungled their infiltration into the mayor's penthouse, and then proceeded to blunder their time in the labour camps (which went from terrible to worse), and eventually were quite rightfully told to leave. The quiet of the station engines' hum alongside the familiarity of everything around them is suddenly something he can appreciate, the same way returning to the TARDIS has always felt like a satisfying reprieve.

After that, it's the familiar Ximilia routine: checking in on the others, back to the labs, a visit to the sun room, a session in the kitchens. And all of it ends with a magnificently normal time with Clara, uninterrupted by anything or anyone, a lot of it reflecting what he'd observed when traveling with Amy and Rory. There is, in fact, quite a bit of kissing. (And the Doctor might even admit now that he rather likes it.)

Maybe the Doctor's fallen into humany habits — that would be new, wouldn't it?

He's watching the way she plays with their hands, fingers laced together in a loose hold. And he's feeling quite blissfully lazy and relaxed (also new!) too, but it does occur to him that she's asked him a question. ]

Mm. Yes — what is it?

[bossily]

Do you feel like we could've done better on that mission? Done more, maybe?

[It's a bit heavy for some people's pillow talk, but given the things they've seen and done in their time together, it doesn't feel like it weighs down the contentment of the moment. Their limbs are still tangled, his fingers don't pull away from hers. And if there's a moment she can feel even a bit of tension in his body, she'll do her best to kiss it better.

While she isn't exactly sure what they could've done to do anything more, given it's a team effort, she knows that she isn't satisfied with the way things ended up going. But that's the way it goes when you work on a large team. Though sometimes she misses it being just the two of them in the TARDIS, hopping from planet to planet and saving the day peacefully.

They've had a year to adjust to the way things are here, but it hardly feels like enough time. And even though she doesn't struggle as much to find her place among the others here, she's definitely taken to trying to examine her place among them in terms of figuring out who she can trust.]

closed to Xichen

[bossily]

[It takes her a few days to make plans with him, but Clara figures he needs the space for a little while. It's only after she's mostly done with her initial chores for the day that she arranges for him to meet her in the sunlight room. She guesses they could both use the artificial light, and the summery atmosphere in the room is a mood booster too.

She's got a tea service set up on a small fold out table, and is reading a book while she waits for him. His tea is already prepared exactly how she knows he likes it, and she's taken the liberty of preparing hers the same way. She doesn't sip at hers yet though. Not until he gets there.]

[calmness]

[ xichen has needed some time since the mission, since it dragged out too long and showed sides of all members of their team he had not been keen to see.

the truth is not always pleasant though. he's aware.

he walks into the sunlit room dressed in robes, looking more regal lord than the politician he'd been dressed at in e-23b. more himself. he finds clara quickly, offers a greeting of a smile and bow before he sits across from her. ] What are you reading today? [ they have been talking about their reading choices lately, after all. ]

[bossily]

[His formality still pulls a smile out of her. It's hard not to find it charming.]

Oh, just some Dickens. [She's not completely absorbed in it though, so the book is folded shut and set aside. He'll see that the title of the book is Great Expectations. But she makes no further comment on it, instead choosing to look over his way.]

You seem more relaxed than you have in a while.

[It's a polite way of asking how he's doing without directly asking and drawing attention to the fact she's shifting the conversation entirely onto him.]

[unclesam]

Bold of you to assume I'd complain.

[ Sam's been withdrawn too. Locked himself away in the sim room for a good long time, booked in unnecessary hours at the infirmary, hit the training room a little too hard. Inventory, some meal prep, some busywork around the station. Idle hands and all that.

So... yeah, he gets it.

And so he takes a seat in the grass, too. ]

What am I doing?

[bossily]

Not sure yet.

[Her answer comes on quick, accompanied by a shrug. But she does pick up a little rectangle sheet of metal and toss it over to him.]

I'm trying to build an amplifier for Newt's guitar. Only problem is, I have no idea how to. And at this point, I'm just creating some sort of metallic monstrosity.

[Nose scrunching up, she looks down at her creation with disdain. She's definitely not some kind of technical genius like Newt, that's for sure.]

[unclesam]

[ Sam whistles. Not exactly a small order as a from-scratch project. He scoots a little closer, sets the rectangle aside for now - useful, but he starts peering into the box with her. ]

I'm no Newt or Tony, but I'm not terrible with electronics.

[ That might be underselling it a little bit, given that he works on Redwing regularly and fix a boat, so there's a wide spread of engineering know how in there somewhere. He can't say he's ever built an amp though. ]

Don't suppose we have a convenient 'how to build your first amp' book lying around storage, huh?

wildcard (sorta).

[attackbrows]

[ After the dust had settled and the crew returned to the station, the Doctor can sense that same heaviness in the air. Another orb has been acquired, but not without its fair share of consequences. The wound on his right shoulder is still healing. Droplets of blood continue to seep out into his bandages. But he doesn’t whine or complain about the pain— just another flesh wound to weather out.

But the Doctor makes it a concerted effort to walk alongside Clara, following her in one of her numerous daily tasks. Hydroponics seems to offer the most tranquillity. The oranges looked especially bright this morning, with how their porous skin reflected off of the artificial sunlight. He reached up and curled his hand around the plump fruit, twisting it and breaking it off the branch. ]

You haven’t said a word about it. [ He points out. The mission, that is. ] Is there something I should be concerned about?

[bossily]

[She's intentionally been refraining from discussing the mission with him. Not because she doesn't want to talk about it, but because she's afraid of him seeing the part of her that's beginning to lose faith in others. She shies away from letting him see imperfections, terrified he might not want to stay here for her sake any longer.

Because the more months that pass, the more convinced she is that he's only staying here because she's essentially asked him to do so. And she can't dishonor that by making it seem like she's doubting the other people here.]

I'm not sure which part I should talk about. [She softly points out, seeming calm and in her element as she works at pruning her little garden. ]

The part where I'm bothered that we thought we were in the position to be forcing help onto people who could've done just as well, if not better, all by themselves? Or the part where it feels more and more like we're one clown away from being an actual circus?

[She knows that nothing that happened really has any blame. It's no one's fault. But it feels like they're less and less organized every time they go out on a mission now. And the growing divide that's developing among them when it comes to moral issues or how to best solve problems isn't lost on her. In fact, it's making her quite anxious.]

[attackbrows]

[ The sentiment isn’t completely lost on the Doctor. There is a clear pattern with the crew’s actions etched into each and every mission. They wander onto a planet, become too attached, and make a tumultuous situation worse than before. So the bittersweetness carried on by Clara’s tone is something he is all too familiar with. ]

This isn’t one of your Parent-Teacher conferences, Clara. [ You’re much clever than that, Clara. ] You don’t have to sugarcoat the details.

[ Regret can be a funny little thing. They can either eat away at our souls or control us. But regrets can also be channelled into something transcendent. One that can transform us. Either for good or bad. That’s for the individual to decide. ]

This is the ugly result of breaking the invisible contract of travelling through time and space: the arrogance of knowing any better.

[romancekiller]

[being back on the station after the mission is always a strange experience for clarke even after a year of this. she is still not used to having any downtime, that she tends to fill her time by keeping busy and helping out where she could. she eventually makes her way through the sunlight room only to come to a stop, hearing clara's warning when she approaches] Put me to work?

Well if it's something I can help with then I don't mind.

[bossily]

I'm building a hat rack.

[She smiles and motions for Clarke to come in closer, so she can gesture to her poorly made rack.]

It's supposed to hang on the wall so the Doctor can put all of his hats on it. Our room is so cluttered, it's getting hard to think when I'm in there.

[romancekiller]

[clarke heads over and settles down beside clara looking over the hat rack she's trying to build] Yeah, that makes sense— so that it's all in one place especially if he has a lot of them. [or at least she assumes as much given the need for this in the first place]

I can't say I've ever needed to make something like that before, but I can definitely try.