Happy Halloween! (^o^)

[clockwork_doc]

Halloween! It is here. It is awesome. And awesome holidays deserve some truly awesome parties! As per usual, the Inkwell is all decked out and ready to go – black and orange streamers, paper bats hanging from the ceiling, fake blood on the window, and a jack-o-lantern sitting by the front door outside – one that is carved with a pie shape and what looks like a razor on it. There is a reason for this – this year’s theme for most of the residents is Sweeney Todd. You can thank Lucy for the idea – she herself is dressed up as Mrs. Lovett. Simon has taken on the role of Beadle Bamford, putting on his best shifty-eyed look. DG-Victor has of course become Sweeney himself, with Alice serving as his long-lost Lucy. (Yes, there was an element of amusement about Alice dressing herself up as a Lucy.) Doc is serving as the evil Judge Turpin, and Marty as lesser antagonist Adolfo Pirelli (the “piss and ink” guy). Dee is crossdressing as the unfortunate Toby, and Steve & Gary are dressed up in their puppy forms as pies with arms and legs sticking out of them (and having probably way too much fun as such).

There are two hold-outs on the theme – the two Victors who main haunt these days is tumblr. Butterfly Boy has run with the mun’s old idea for an Avengers AU based on her primary two crossover universes and is dressed up as a steampunk Iron Man. And Forgotten Vows has taken to heart a crossover idea Vic’s friend Reenie had over there and dressed up as Nathan Wallace, aka the Repo Man, from Repo!: The Genetic Opera. There’s been a few nervous looks their way as nobody can tell if the weaponry they’re carrying is real or not. (Not that they would ever turn such on their friends, but – accidents happen.)

At any rate, there’s plenty of good food, good tunes, and good fun to be had, so go ahead and drop by! Happy Halloween!

Comments

[forgotten_vows]

Moonlight whirrs, snuggling into Forgotten's neck. "He likes flying too, but he thinks that he if he can get a ride. . ."

Doc chuckles. "Oh dear. Yes, probably a very good thing you have a whole large planet to play with." He listens to AL's explanation, nodding thoughtfully. "I see. Well, I wish her luck in thinking up and organizing all the information, then. Vic's just not the sort to keep that all to herself."

"Yes -- I'm honestly shocked she stopped at fifty for me," Forgotten adds, looking rather disturbed by the part about Jackson Lake. "Er -- you did help that poor man remember who he truly was, right? I mean, I'm sure you wouldn't let him run around thinking he was the Doctor, but he did get himself back, correct?"

[alienlisa]

AL laughs. "Well, 'never walk when you can ride and never stand when you can sit'. That's cowboy wisdom." She chuckles.

She nods quickly. "Oh, yes, of course we did. Unfortunately his wife had been killed by the Cybermen and his son was kidnapped, but we got his kid back and stopped the Cybermen. And he talked the Doctor into doing something he never does...we accepted Jackson's invitation to Christmas dinner. That whole fiasco was on Christmas Eve, see." She peers to see if Ten is watching or listening in, and when she sees he isn't, she says quietly, "By his own admission, the Doctor said that if anyone had to be the Doctor, he's glad it was him. And, truth be told, I actually wouldn't've minded if he had been a future incarnation. I'm happy with what I got and what I will have as long as Moffatt doesn't screw it up but Jackson was a very courageous man during our adventure."

"And thanks," she adds to Doc. "We'll see what she's finally come up with on November 23rd."

[forgotten_vows]

Moonlight nods approvingly, eliciting a snicker from Forgotten. "Right. We don't have many cowboys in England, so. . ."

He bites his lip as AL explains the whole situation. "Oh dear. . .I'm terribly sorry about his wife, but I'm glad you were able to save his son and him. And that all happened on Christmas Eve?"

"I'm pretty sure the Doctor is known for Christmas disasters," Doc says, running his fingers through his hair. "And he usually doesn't get dinner after them. I'm glad it all worked out for the best, though. He sounds like he would have made a great companion."

"He and Donna could have some stories to swap," Butterfly Boy suddenly puts in with a faint chuckle. "If only. . ." The mirth drains out of his face. "Well."

[alienlisa]

AL shrugs. "Still applies."

"Yeah, Christmastime has been a hotspot for aliens for the past few years. Dunno..." AL scraches the back of her head, knocking the hat down over her eyes. She quickly fixes it. "Even the people of London have gotten it into their heads that maybe it's a good idea to get out of town for the holidays."

AL sighs at the mention of Donna. "Yeah...we're plucking her out of the timeline before that whole thing so she can come to the 50th anniversary party. It's only right she'd be there. She was the best. Well, after me." She giggles, needing some humor.

[butterflyboy]

"Dramatically interesting," Doc says with a shrug. "At least the people in that world are learning to avoid the worst of it. Anything that cuts down on random destruction."

Butterfly Boy nods. "Oh yes. What happened to her. . .it wasn't fair at all." He smiles faintly. "I know it may seem a little odd for me to be so invested, but my Alice on tumblr is friends with a Donna, so I've gotten to know her a bit. She's a lovely woman -- if, ah, a bit scary at times," he qualifies, remembering the "matron of honor" business.

[alienlisa]

AL nods. "Yeah, exactly."

She grins at Butterfly Boy. "Oh, that's okay. I liked her, too." She glances up. "Add that to the list!" (It's # 40...at least for now) Then she laughs. "Yeah, she's very...intense. She doesn't take any cra - " She's suddenly aware of little-kid-ears. "Uh, she's very outspoken and determined to do what's right and she lets you know it. Loudly." She chuckles.

[dee_lorean81]

Dee gives AL a bit of a flat look. "So, basically, she doesn't take any crap and isn't afraid to dish it out if she needs to."

"Dee!" Doc protests.

"What?! Marty says 'holy shit' all the time! And I've heard worse from you!"

Doc facepalms. "I know, I know, but in the interest of your presumed age, could you be a little less foul-mouthed?"

[alienlisa]

AL can't help it. She laughs. "Yes, that's exactly Donna. She told off a member of the military just because she didn't like their methods. And asked for a salute." She waits a beat. "He saluted her."

[butterflyboy]

Butterfly Boy snickers. "I'm not surprised. She has a personality that will not be contained. I learned that the moment I met her. I made the mistake of referring to her as Alice's potential matron of honor, you see."

[alienlisa]

AL grimaces. "Ooh, boy. Did she give you a tongue-lashing?"

[butterflyboy]

"Alice stopped the worst of it, but I made very sure to apologize. A lot," Butterfly Boy confesses, fidgeting with his tie. "I haven't had too much interaction with her since, but she made a lovely maid of honor, and she seems nice when you don't accidentally upset her, so. . ."

[alienlisa]

AL laughs again, able to picture it. "I'd've paid money to see that." She snickers. "Sorry, but I can so see it." With an attempt to calm herself, she says, "She really is. Like I said, she'll be at my party and you guys are invited, so you'll see her. Well, from my part of the universe. I'm gonna give everyone a rundown of who you guys are before the party so they won't wonder what a bunch of random duplicates are doing there."

[clockwork_doc]

"Well, if you're willing to poke through my tumblr a bit. . ." Butterfly Boy says with a weak smile and a shrug.

"Good," Doc says with a nod. "Wouldn't want anyone to think that we were on the edge of ending the universe and all that."

Marty frowns. "I thought it was just our canon that went crazy about selves meeting?"

"Well, I believe the Doctors have some sort of 'don't cross your own timeline' rule. . ." Doc glances at AL and the Doctors for confirmation.

[alienlisa]

AL just smiles at Butterfly Boy. "We'll see."

"We have...had...have the First Law of Time," states Five, "which specifically prohibits a Time Lord from meeting their former selves."

"Yeah, we all see how well that worked out," quips AL and you'd practically have to mop the sarcasm off the floor.

The Doctors glare at her, but really only for the sake of glaring because she's kind of right. Five clears his throat. "Living with Lisa notwithstanding, I've personally met my other selves...er - "

"Five times," states AL. She ticks off on her fingers, "In order: Three met One and Two, Five met One through Three and would've met Four as well if he hadn't been caught in a time eddy, Six met Two, Ten met Five and Eleven will meet Ten and whomever John Hurt is playing in the anniversary special." She pauses a minute. "And if we're to count the one audio that the alter ego has, Five, Six and Seven also met. So that'd be six times. But it's usually either happened by accident or it was the Time Lords' fault."

"It's really only to happen in the gravest of emergencies," adds Eight.

AL nods. "Exactly. The first time it was the Time Lords because they couldn't handle the threat. The second time was one specific Time Lord that wanted the Doctor to do his dirty work for him. The third time..." She makes a face, thinking of Six's encounter with Two. "Hm...I guess you could call it a lucky accident because if Six hadn't wound up in the same place as Two, he might not be around as we know him anymore. It's a long story that involves kidnapping and genetic altering..." She clears her throat. "The fourth was an accident."

Ten blushes. "I was repairing the TARDIS and forgot to put the shields back up, so his TARDIS - " He points at Five. " - and my TARDIS kind of..." He makes a motion with his hands to indicate a crash. "No harm done in the end, though."

"As for Eleven meeting Ten and...whomever..." says AL, "ask me after the 23rd because whatever synopses are out are very vague. And the audio encounter happened because a species of 'time-eaters', they feed on distortions in the timeline, basically wanted the Doctor dead because of all the good he's done in the universe and this legendary Time Beast called the Temperon brought the three incarnations together in order to save...well, everything."

That dealt with the Doctor crossing his own timeline.

"The companions almost never crossed their own timeline," continues AL. "Rose did that one time and she nearly got everyone killed because she went back in time to the day her dad died so he wouldn't be alone when he did, but she chickened out the first time and asked to try again. Being there twice weakened the timeline further. She wound up preventing his death and time basically got really mad at her and all hell broke loose until her dad realized that he wasn't supposed to be alive and sacrificed himself to save everyone."

"Now," AL concludes, "one could say that I cross my timeline all the time with all the traveling I do, however, I do my best not to interfere with my already established events. I may have lived through, say, 1993 at least twice or three times. But I was with Doc and Marty in Hill Valley in one instance, with Tommy in Angel Grove in another and with Jesse in Malibu in yet another. All of those cities may be in California, but separated by x-amount of miles. I don't really think of what I have done when that happens...I'm more interested in what I'm going to be doing." She shrugs. "Being in love helps me forget I've already been in that time." She smiles at Tommy and Jesse, who smile back.

[museicalmarty]

"Right, right -- the whole thing with Rose and the time-eating lizard things we knew about," Marty confirms. "And the one where Ten and Five met and kind of merged the TARDISes together and the world was going to be destroyed by something the size of Belgium. The other stuff. . .well, I guess if one Doctor's good for saving the universe, two or three have got to be even better, eh? And saving yourself from shit is something canon me knows a little about from Part II." Although in that case Marty-II had to save Marty-I from a situation Marty-II had caused. "Universe hasn't ended yet, so I think we're all good."

Doc is looking thoughtful himself. "I wonder then if what you do technically counts as crossing your timeline," he remarks to Lisa. "You almost never bump into your other selves, do you? You just happen to be in different cities all at the same time. Which, granted, is temporally significant, but about the safest way TO live through the same year over and over."

[alienlisa]

"Except when all they do is fight," says AL.

"Oh, come, now," says Five. "We don't always fight."

"No," AL admits, "not always. But often. The meetings generally start as a fight, then they mellow out. Too much greatness in one room, I guess."

The Doctors puff up with pride as AL rolls her eyes at them.

"You guys are just lucky I love you."

"Like I said," AL answers Doc, "I try not to. Unless there's a plot that needs to be done. There are only two specific instances I can think of where I met myself. One was when me and Ten and Martha wound up in Hill Valley and met me and Doc and Marty." AL glances at V. "I think the alter ego blames that story on you. That was back when you had the plot-bunny about Doc being the Doctor's father. Anyways, and then there was the time when me and Doc and Marty were bouncing around alternate universes and wound up meeting the two VampDocs and OckDoc and the Doc from 'Boy Genius' - haven't heard about that one in a while, eh? - and the alter ego added another universe so my other self could contact a couple Alnilam unicorns to get us home." She thinks a minute, then nods. "Yeah, I think that was it. I guess from the Doctors meeting himself all the time, I rather subconsciously avoid myself." She shrugs.

[8docs_n_1victor]

"They're just trying to establish who's naturally dominant," Butterfly Boy jokes. "I suppose it's whoever has the most knowledge of what's actually going on at the moment."

Doc shakes his head at the Doctor puffing, then nods as AL talks about the few times she's met herself. "Ah yes, I remember both of those! That was a very strange idea you had once, Vic."

"What can I say -- that pocket-watch idea intrigued me," Vic says with a shrug. "I dunno if that second one really counts given our topic, though. That wasn't time travel, that was dimensional travel. Less chance of destroying everything -- er, maybe."

"And I'm still around," TeenDoc speaks up. "I just don't think she's that much interested in the universe anymore. Blame the teenage me from the Telltale game." Actually, it's probably more Butterfly Boy's fault, but he's hardly going to blame his friend and fellow scientist.

[alienlisa]

"You'd think so," says AL, "except when One is around, they respect him the most. Relatively speaking, he'd be the youngest and most inexperienced of all of them. Yet when he's around, it's him they listen to." She eyes her Time Lords. "Why is that?"

The five Doctors glance around at each other, scratch their heads, mutter and generally look uncomfortable. Five finally clears his throat. "We greatly value his advice. His opinion isn't skewed by experiences out in the universe...and he's more level-headed than we are." He eyes his other selves and they nod as if to say, 'Yeah, sure, that sounds good'.

"I dunno," AL says to V. "By dimension-hopping, one now has other dimensions that can be tampered with instead of just one. We'd gone back in time seven years as well as changing dimensions, so we could've accidentally tampered with their timelines. We didn't, but it was still a possibility."

"Yeah," says AL, drawing the word out for a second. "Whose idea was it to make his hair brown?" She shakes her head. "I mean the games are great but a couple things just leave me going, 'Huh?'."

[crossover_chick]

"Did you just admit to one of your regenerations being more level-headed?" Vic says with a snicker. "I guess his take on things as the relatively 'clean slate' would be useful, though. Plus he's got the 'old wise professor' look going for him."

Vic bites her lip. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. . .could have blown up multiple universes instead of just one. Good thing we're not usually the types to mess with that sort of thing. Too often, anyway."

"Actually, according to some dialogue from Marty, he's supposed to be a redhead," Vic says, looking just as confused. "I don't get it either."

"Well, let's face facts -- they also made me what, six years older than I should have been?" Teen Doc points out. "You made a joke out of the fact that our age is completely inconsistent between various parts of the franchise this year on our birthday."

"True enough," Vic chuckles. "In case you're wondering, AL -- the script and novelization for the first movie has Doc at 65 in 1985; the TAS has him be 63, I believe, thanks to the episode 'Gone Fishin'" making him four in 1926; and The Game has him be 71, what with him being 17 in 1931."

[alienlisa]

The Doctors blush. "What we mean is that his perceptions aren't skewed by running around the universe encountering Daleks and Cybermen and all manner of nasty folks." Five says quietly.

AL pats his arm. "From what I remember, One was pretty critical of those he thought were primitive or naive compared to his intellect. Kind of suspicious and very crotchety. Susan had to talk you into helping me on Alnilam during the war, remember?"

"She also talked me into bringing you along after you'd recovered from the crash," adds Five, putting an arm around her. "Yes, I remember."

AL smiles. "The 'old, wise professor' look worked for him."

And she blinks at V's explanation of Doc's age and the hair. "Redhead? I must've missed that part of the dialogue. And seriously? Gee, and I thought your age was hard to pin down." She looks at the Doctors while she says the last bit. "Though it doesn't help you've been lying about your age for hundreds of years."

"Oh, you should talk!" says Ten. "You've been traveling through time for so long, I sincerely doubt you can remember your exact age, either." He folds his arms across his chest, challenging her to contradict that statement.

AL opens her mouth to answer, then stops herself, thinks, and laughs. "You know, he's right. I've no idea how old I am anymore."

"Exactly!" says Eleven. "It's easier to...what's the word? guesstimate?...than try to keep track of things."

She shrugs. "He has a point, actually. As for Doc, though...I suppose it'd be mean to just suggest they should've done better research, but I dunno..."

[clockwork_doc]

"Yeah, basically what I said -- 'clean slate,'" Vic nods, though she frowns a little as the conversation continues. "Seems like you learned a little more compassion -- or at least getting your nose back in joint -- over the years, though."

"Yeah, it was basically one quick line to Trixie telling her how to recognize Emmett when they were pulling off their 'get Edna to break up with him' plan," Vic says. "I can't blame you for missing it. And tell me about it -- the really weird thing is that Bob G. was involved with ALL of those things, so you think HE would have caught some of these problems!" Funny that a man who wrote a time travel movie would be so prone to continuity errors.

Doc nods, smirking in a rather tired way. "I don't know how old I am anymore either -- I assume I'm in my late 60s, possibly early 70s, but -- well, time in Arcadia doesn't move the same way time on Earth does, and we have to account for me spending time in an alternate dimension and in a pocket dimension that temporarily suffered from a rather mixed-up timestream."