entrancelogs | [open] Variety is the spice of life

Entry tags:

[open] Variety is the spice of life

Who: The Tenth Doctor and open.
Where: The kitchens.
When: 7/30, morning.
Rating: PG.
Summary: The Doctor's puttering around the kitchen, looking for something to do.
The Story:

It's no secret that the Doctor's often shied away from the domestic life, because that sort of life implies having the ability to settle down and live day after day, hour after hour, but for him, time moves differently.

At least it does when he's not in Wonderland. Being here might not be exactly limiting, but it's not on the same level of freedom that he's used to. Of course there's adventures to be dreamed up and chased after, but what about in the times in between?

He might not be used to having downtime, but that's exactly what he's got. So this morning, he can be found bustling back and forth in the kitchen, opening cupboards to see what's inside and looking for all the world like someone who's overly curious about everything.

But once he's seen the insides of each cupboard, he decides to try his hand at brewing tea. It's not exactly rocket science, and believe it or not, he's done it before on the TARDIS, but also there's the bit about it does seem a bit difficult to mess up.

Anyone passing by might spot the Doctor hovering in front of the stove, watching a kettle of water that's just starting to give off steam. It's only a kettle of water, but it might as well be a fascinating piece of tech, given the way he's watching it. Who knows, maybe the Doctor will turn out to be a surprise connoisseur of the art of making tea.

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Billy had been passing by the kitchen when he saw The Doctor standing there, staring at the kettle. He paused, debating on whether to go in or not. On one hand it was The Doctor, and not just any Doctor, it was his favorite, on the other he didn't like people to know how big of a fanboy he was, especially not here, because that got very awkward.

"Haven't you ever heard that a watched pot never boils?" He asked, walking in before he could stop himself.

Alright, maybe it was stupid watching the kettle boiling, but the kitchen was empty and quiet, and he didn't have anything else to look at just yet. Ransacking the cabinets had been interesting, but that only lasted a few minutes.

But when Billy walked in, the Doctor turned away from the kettle, and his face lit up with a grin. "Oh, hello, and yes, I've heard that, but, well... There's not a lot else to look at in this room."

At least, nothing he hadn't already thoroughly examined.

Billy couldn't help but grin back, watching on TV really didn't do justice to seeing The Doctor in person and really he never in a million alternate realities expected any of this to happen.

"I could make it boil faster, if you were in a rush, or something." He offered hopping up and sitting on one of the counters.

"Not really in a rush, but how do you mean, you could make it boil faster?" Now his curiosity's been piqued, so if Billy's willing to do it, the Doctor would love nothing more than to see a demonstration of that.

"Short of turning up the heat, I can't imagine how, so if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity, I'd like to see that."

"Sure," Billy said, pleased that The Doctor asked. It wasn't everyday someone asked him to show them what he could do, and usually Billy preferred that, he'd been used enough for his powers, mistrusted enough. He would rather keep most of them to himself, but the days were long here in Wonderland, and there wasn't much to do. He was bored.

He reached over and turned the stove off, letting the kettle cool for a moment before concentrating. IwantthewatertoboilnowIwantthewatertoboilnow He chanted, imagining just that. His eyes began to glow blue along with a blue aura in his hands reaching out to the kettle until it started to whistle, steam pouring out the top.

Well, that was one thing Billy wouldn't have to worry about receiving from the Doctor. He never really could understand why anyone would treat someone badly because they were different. Well, actually, he could, because humans and aliens both could be a bit closed-minded when it came to certain things, which was partially why he tried to be as open as he could when it came to other people and their abilities.

He watched as Billy did whatever he was doing, appearing to concentrate intently on the kettle, and in just a few moments, said kettle started sounding off, indicating that its contents were boiling.

"That's impressive, that is. How did you do that?"

"I can control chaos magic," Billy explained, "almost like bending reality. Though its quite tricky to use. I try not to use it for things more complicated than boiling water, if I can help it." He didn't always like going into detail about it with people he just met, but The Doctor came off as trustworthy.

"Bending reality, you say?" That sounded like it has the potential to be a bit dangerous if used improperly, but the Doctor didn't like jumping to conclusions, when he didn't know all the facts. "Say that you were to use it for something more complicated than boiling water. What would that something be?"

He was only asking out of curiosity, but he wouldn't blame Billy if he decided this wasn't a conversation he wanted to have.

Edited 2014-08-18 16:31 (UTC)

This wasn't Billy's favorite topic but he could chose an example that didn't involve changing the entire world. "My mother has the same power, she wanted children but she was married to an android." Really it's better not to ask questions. "So she created my twin brother and I by sheer force of will."

"Really, she was able to do that?" Well, that's something of an eye-opener. "Your mother must be very powerful." Or her ability is, but the Doctor doesn't see much of a difference between those things. Force of will implies having strength to start with, so he's imagining that Billy's mother is quite the formidable woman.

"She is," Billy said with a little bit of a prideful smile. Even before he knew she was his mother, the Scarlet Witch was his favorite Avenger. "Some think too powerful."

"Well, anyone could say that about any person ever who has powers or abilities, but as long as those things are used wisely, I really don't see a problem with it."

Never mind the fact that there are those out there whose own personal gauge of "too far" has been muddled a bit, but still, there's always exceptions to things.

Ianto's coffee-maker project has been stashed in a corner cabinet in the kitchen; he's pieced it together, but it hasn't yet been tested, and today was going to be the day. He starts as he steps into the kitchen and spots a shock of hair he recognizes from their conversation over the network; for a moment, he almost considers sneaking back out, but no. It'd gone tolerably well, hadn't it? He isn't going to avoid the Doctor. He's just going to feel very awkward as he gives up the idea of sneaking and heads for his commandeered cupboard.

"Good morning," he offers, and crouches to pull open the cupboard.

The Doctor's just about had enough of watching the kettle boiling, or starting to boil, so he's only just turned away from it right as Ianto walks inside. At first, he just raises his eyebrows, but then he nods and smiles at the other man.

It's not that he's uncomfortable around him, because that would be silly; but he's still working out how to place him and what his thoughts are regarding him, in light of everything that came out during their first conversation.

"Good morning. Really nice out there today, isn't it?"

Blimey, of all the things he could be talking about, and he's chosen the weather.

The weather? That isn't making it any less awkward, Ianto thinks petulantly. The Doctor could've tried harder. Or maybe they'd have an easier time coming up with small talk if they'd introduced themselves normally, instead of talking about all kinds of things that just shouldn't come up in a casual conversation (or ever, in fact, at all.)

"Is it," he says, "I actually haven't been out yet today," and eases his coffeemaker out. It's ugly, blocky and generally looks like it's been bolted together out of junkyard odds and ends, but aesthetics aside he's fairly sure this isn't going to lose pressure, leak steam or fall apart on him. And if it does, he has everything he needs to fix it.

Slightly embarrassed to be lugging around his kludged-up project, considering the company, he adds hastily, "Sorry, don't mind me. You were making tea?"

Perhaps they could discuss alien tech instead, although is that really a better conversation piece? It might be, but then, it's hard to say until it actually becomes one. Maybe when they've grown tired of discussing the weather, it can be something they speak about.

"Do you usually go out every day?" He does, whenever he has time or remembers to do so. But then the Doctor's attentions are momentarily distracted by that coffeemaker. "Now that's an interesting sort of coffeemaker," he says, keeping his tone relatively neutral. Someone might say it was an eyesore to look at, but not the Doctor, who has seen some real eyesores in his time.

"Oh, I don't mind one bit. And yes, that's what I was doing. Or at least, trying to."

Sometimes, he wonders how humans manage. But then again, he supposes they can't all have a TARDIS to do things for them. Either way, there's no better time to learn than right now.

"Trying to?" Ianto says dubiously. It's just tea. There are refinements, but it's not as though skipping the refinements means you won't have tea. You'll just have bad tea. "Have you done it before?"

The coffeemaker, besides being blocky and ugly, is also very heavy, and Ianto sets it carefully down on the countertop near an outlet before his arms start to get tired. The kettle's steaming gently on the stove, considering breaking into a real boil sooner or later.

"It's not much to look at," he adds, and pats the side of the heavy boiler that makes up most of its volume with an air of fondness. "I didn't get along with the espresso machine I talked the closet into, so I thought I'd make my own. I'm almost sure it won't explode."

The Doctor doesn't sputter, not quite, but it's close, and that's definitely an indignant look on his face. "Of course I've made tea before. Who do you think I am?" Of course, he's not going to be saying how successful or unsuccessful his previous attempts have been, because that would be telling.

He peers closer at Ianto's contraption and nods approvingly. Mind you, it's a bit lacking in finesse, in terms of design, but anyone who can strike out on their own and build something from scratch is at least deserving of a little respect. This makes him wonder what else Ianto might be able to build, aside from kitchen gadgets.

"No, it isn't, but if it works, that's the main point, yeah?" And judging from Ianto's words, it does work. "I rather hope it doesn't explode, but I'm almost positive it wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened."

"Well," Ianto says, smiling, "I wasn't sure if aliens bothered with tea." Considering that the Doctor manages an utterly convincing replica of humanity (right down to the accent) otherwise, he isn't surprised, but, well... he did say 'trying.'

He ducks into the cupboard again and emerges with a jug of bottled water, which he pours into the boiler before plugging the machine in.

"I haven't blown anything up in quite a while, thank you," he adds with humour in his tone. Partly because Toshiko handles any really complicated projects and Owen's the one most likely to play with the sorts of devices that cause other things to explode, of course. There's always enough to do that isn't tinkering, and not having any of that to do... well, he's got to keep busy somehow. This was fun.

He rummages for the coffee-grinder he knew he'd seen in the upper cabinet just yesterday.

That momentary surge of indignation passes rather quickly, replaced by an easygoing smile. "Well, of course we do. Or at least, of course I do. I'm a bit fond of a good cup of tea every now and again." Anyway, he's not really put out. That sort of exaggerated reaction just comes naturally to him, most times.

"But that means you have blown things up before, doesn't it?" His lips twitch into a wider smile. "There's nothing wrong with that, I'll have you know, especially since I've blown up more than a few things in my time." He even managed to blow up a building, although to be fair, that did happen when he wore a different face.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was the last thing you blew up?" If they're not careful, this conversation could easily turn into them attempting to one-up the other.

Ianto pulls down the grinder (he'd known it was up there somewhere) and extracts a paper bag full of beans from his pants pocket before tossing the Doctor a downright boyish grin.

"Well, if you want to know the truth, it was a public toilet with a firework when I was fourteen, which I did not know would turn out quite as impressive as it did. Ever since it's just been an electrical fire from time to time."

He touches the edge of the lid with a finger, and yanks it away with a hiss -- yes, definitely heating up right on schedule.

All right, that gets a real laugh out of the Doctor. The figure Ianto presents is one of someone who's serious, down to earth, and not really much of a practical joker. But evidently, there's more to the young man than meets the eye.

"I have to say, that's brilliant. Definitely impressive, well done." It might just be something silly, something a young boy would do, but on some level, it appeals to that part of the Doctor that's still in there somewhere, even though his younger years are really quite far behind him now.

"It must have caused quite a fuss," he says as he watches Ianto doing whatever he needs to in order to make coffee.

"Fuss? Just a bit," Ianto chuckles, brightening. Luckily he hadn't been caught. It had been silly, and ill-planned, and he's a little surprised the Doctor finds it that amusing.

Bonding over explosions. Who knew?

"I think your kettle's boiling," he adds, pointing at the kettle as its lid starts rattling vigorously side to side. "So, er. What's the last thing you blew up, Doctor?"

The Doctor enjoys a good joke as much as the next person, however surprising that may or may not be. Explosions usually come along with chaos, a bit of panic, and excitement, and, well, the Doctor all but lives off excitement.

"Oh, so it is, thank you." He turns briefly away from Ianto to lower the heat and remove the kettle from the stove.

"Well, let's see. The last thing I blew up... I think it might've been a gravity field that was holding a planet in place." He fiddles with the kettle for a bit while trying to recall the details of that whole affair. "Yes, I think that's the most recent explosion I can think of, if that even counts as an explosion."

At least, said gravity field was destroyed, sending a planet and a monstrous demon hurting into a black hole.

"Or there's the time before that, when I blew up a department store in London, although it feels like that was quite awhile ago now."

Either way, the Doctor's had some experience with blowing things up, and on a slightly bigger scale than a toilet with a firework. Although it is worth pointing out that he's not that interested in one-upping Ianto.

Ianto's eyebrows soar. It's not so much that he's been one-upped (he knew the Doctor would have better stories than fireworks in a toilet tank. No question whatsoever.) It's more that destroying gravity fields that are keeping planets in place sounds precisely like the sort of thing Ianto would expect, but...

"...Whatever did the department store do?"

He scrounges up a scoop and taps a carefully measured quantity of coffee onto the filter, checking the temperature gauge. It's certainly all going well so far.

"Well, nothing, really, but the problem was, there was an alien from another planet hiding beneath London, and this alien was making everything that was made of plastic come to life." He glances at Ianto as if waiting to see how he'll react, but then he just goes on with his explanation.

"Imagine if you can shop window dummies coming to life and killing. Only, I didn't quite know they'd do that at the time, but they were a bit dangerous, so they had to be stopped. The only way to do that was take out the building they were in."

Hence the blowing up of the department store.

"Everything is plastic," Ianto says, mildly horrified. How had they not happened across that one? Well, London, he supposed, first of all; it might not have made it onto their radar in Three. Second of all, he hasn't the least idea when it might have happened from his perspective.

Time-travel is much too confusing.

"Lucky you just had to blow up the one store then," he says, shaking his head. "Did everyone get out?"

"Exactly. That's what made the whole thing so problematic. Well, actually, there was a lot that was problematic, but I'd say that was definitely a main thing." It was all dealt with in the end, but naturally, there were some close calls along the way.

And maybe it would've been interesting to see how Torchwood would have handled it. There'd probably have been a great deal less explosions, at least.

"Luckily, it was after-hours, so it was empty, otherwise I'm not sure if I'd have risked it." He does consider that a relief, because trying to convince a crowd of people to evacuate a building filled with living shop window dummies seems like quite the task. "Can you imagine trying to explain that to a store filled with shoppers?"

"I wouldn't even try," Ianto says promptly. "Announce a bomb threat, don't bother explaining the living plastics problem or they'll all stick around to sight-see."

He pulls down a cup, slides it under the spigot, and carefully engages the handle. The coffee pours into the cup, steaming, and Ianto beams at it. No leaking, no steam escapes, and nothing in fact exploded at all, which he'll take as a success. There's even a nice swirl of foam forming across the top.

"Right, exactly. People are great, and I'm always a bit fascinated by them, but sometimes, and I don't mean any offense, they can be a bit thick." So can others coming from different planets, though; it's not as though that trait is restricted only to humans.

Then, the Doctor glances at the machine and notes Ianto's rather expert handling of the thing, including that foam swirl at the top. "I take it you've done that before."

"People have noticed," Ianto says, deadpan, and offers the Doctor the cup. "Would you like to try it? It ought to be perfectly safe.

"Right, so long as it doesn't explode the second I take a sip, I'll try anything once," he replies as he accepts the cup. "Thanks."

A second later, he takes a sip of it and his face breaks into a smile. "Not bad at all, Ianto."

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[open] Variety is the spice of life

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