Video: When Props Attack

[timesbureaucrat]

[The communicator comes on with the sound of a hard crack, like the buttons are being smacked instead of pushed. The communicator bounces with the force of the blow.

On the screen, Narvin is looking wild-eyed and hair askew. He swears in Gallifreyan and runs a frustrated hand over his head.

Well, now that the communicator is on, he might as well explain.]

One of those vile pests has got into my room. If there's an exterminator around, I would pay good emeralds to see the blasted thing put out of my misery. I last saw it disguising itself as a communicator, but where or what it is now...

[He scans the room, sees something moving out of the corner of his eye.]

No don't--! [And runs off chasing after the Prop, communicator still on, but left on the table.]

Comments

[frontier_doktor]

[Even if he rather wishes they were.] Alright, I'll be there. [And he heads out, swearing up ad down at himself at the possibilities that he might have gotten himself into.]

[timesbureaucrat]

Make sure you don't let it out when you arrive. [The last thing Narvin wants is for his underwear to go tearing off down the hallway.]

Shall we be unsuccessful so Narvin can have a comedy of errors with someone else, too?

[frontier_doktor]

[Visscher isn't exactly a trained animal trapper, so he hasn't thought this through. But he suspects the box he's chosen can hold most of the things it can potentially change into.]

Hallo. [He calls as he raps lightly on the door.]

Sounds good to me!

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin crab walks backwards to the door, keeping his eyes on the pair of underwear that's currently lying still and innocent-looking on the floor. If it hadn't been choking him just a few minutes ago, he might have thought it was a real pair of underwear.]

It's not moving, so I'm going to open the door a crack. As soon as you're through, I'll slam it closed.

[Narvin reaching up behind him, takes his gaze off the Prop for just a moment to find the doorknob and opens the door with a creak.

As if startled by the sound, his underwear takes off like a flash, through the cracked open door. Narvin slams his hand on the floor as it passes, trying to pin it, but it's too fast for him.]

Visscher, get it!

[frontier_doktor]

No no nonono NEIN! [And Visscher is chasing after the pair of underwear down the hall, box abandoned for the moment.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin just barely keeps himself from shouting out "Stop that underwear!" but his mental filter realizes just in time how it would come across. So instead he just joins the chase next to Visscher, pursuing the pants that are galloping swiftly down the corridor.]

[frontier_doktor]

[Visscher is good at running away from things, but not after them. As he's just about to close in on them a room door opens and he manages to fumble right into the Andorian man that comes out- after the underwear ramps off of him to fly delicately through the air, of course.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin tries to skid to a stop to avoid running into the tangle of German and Andorian, but momentum is not on his side and he slams into them both.]

[frontier_doktor]

[Said Andorean is the quickest to get up, and he looks fit to chase them the other way.]

Your room. Let the underwear go- [Visscher does not want to face the wrath of this angry man.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin scrambles to his feet. He's loath to let his underwear go wandering free, but the Andorian does look very angry, and Narvin doesn't want to get into a fist fight that he'd most certainly lose.]

Discretion is the better part of--

[He doesn't finish the sentence because he's too busy running back to his room.]

[frontier_doktor]

[Visscher presses his back against the wall by the door and closes his eyes]. Well that's unpleasant. [He says, shaking it off a surge of fear even though really, the big warrior had only looked angry. He hadn't come after them (but to him it wasn't worth the risk).]

I apologize for that.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin is breathing heavily from the double sprint up and then back down the hallway. He waves aside the apology.]

Not your fault the blasted thing chose the most humiliating of all possible options to mimic.

...

Well, perhaps not the most humiliating, but certainly high on the list.

[frontier_doktor]

At least they know you're respectably modest? [Visscher gives him a bright one-sided smile.] They could have been a thong.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin's eye twitches at the idea of ever wearing a thong.]

Thank Rassilon for small favours, I suppose.

[And at least it's not mimicking something potentially incriminating, like his mind wipe.]

[frontier_doktor]

[Visscher melts down the wall to sit on the floor.]

If it goes into another room it will have to change into something less conspicuous. Your unmentionables should go without mention, except for their brief appearance on the network.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin runs both hands down his face.]

I hope so. I'd hate to think what sorts of misunderstandings might arise should a stranger's underclothes turn up in another person's room.

...

Do you think my underwear is too large? [He asks, thinking of Niko's befuddlement.]

[frontier_doktor]

It's large compared to a human's, yes. Most humans. [Western culture, in comparison, only that fad comparatively briefly in the grand scheme of things.]

But you're not one, so I suppose it doesn't matter. Or maybe it did if you were concerned about other people seeing it.

[timesbureaucrat]

[He sniffs in self-deprecating amusement.]

Before today I would have thought the chances of other people seeing it highly unlikely. But it seems causality had other ideas.

[frontier_doktor]

At least you didn't wear them.




You didn't, did you?

[If that was the case he was going to be considerably more sympathetic.]

[timesbureaucrat]

[He clears his throat.]



...



.......



No comment.

[Quick, a new topic!]

Have you encountered shape shifters before?

[frontier_doktor]

[He stares off to the side for a moment, and discretely says-] oh [-before he continues.]

I've encountered a few varieties, yes. The ones who developed my gloves are shifters and there are some viral diseases where I'm from that make people shift into people that other people knew. Their imprint as they were in the person's memory, not a true replica.

Physically easy to cure but it can ruin interpersonal relationships.

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin is fascinated and a little bit perturbed by this virus.]

Does it alter the infected person's memory as well as their appearance? So they believe that they are this other person, when in fact there's merely an...echo?

[Shifting faces is perfectly fine, but altering memories is a frightening thing for a Time Lord since memories are all they have to maintain a consistent identity throughout their many lives. And Narvin, for all his privately-acknowledged faults, would like to keep his own identity.

He's glad to hear that's it's curable at least.]

[frontier_doktor]

Yes, briefly they think they are someone else. Briefly. The spells are short, only about an hour or so before they're done and then they have to wait patiently should another come on.

[He sighs heavily.]

I'm sorry, it's a dark subject, medicine. At least these are just pests.

[timesbureaucrat]

Has anyone ever tried to control the virus, to...use it? [Because Narvin's first thought is that it would be handy for infiltration if you could either control or accurately predict how long the effects would last and when they would come on again. And guide who a person would turn into. The perfect cover, better than a Chameleon Arch.]

[frontier_doktor]

Why would anyone want to? [He asks with legitimate innocence.] I can understand the desire to be unlike yourself. [He gestures to the paralyzed side of his face.] But you could hurt yourself or someone else. Sometimes the way people think of other people isn't always pleasant.