All or Nothing at All

[championoftime]

Hello, I'm the Doctor.

[He pops off his hat in greeting to the camera, eyebrows shooting up with the gesture and then replaces it.]

Yes, another one, I know. But we're really not all the same are we? We have our own ticks and habits above similarities. Sometimes I think we're all squabbling siblings vying for the same body rather than an individual. Something that I occasionally reflect on. [He rolls the "R" in "reflect" thickly.]

Anyway, the Admiral informed me that more of me might be meandering about here, so I'll assume that most of you are at least vaguely acquainted with who I am. Whether you believe me to be an "old geezer" I've gotten that one a few times or the one with the scarf, it is still me. But all of you I haven't had the pleasure of making acquaintances with.

So, introduce yourselves! No time likes to give presents.

Comments

[championoftime]

Hello, me! What am I doing here, by the by? Same deal, I hope.

[championoftime]

I've been with more of me. Never more than five, though. I expect we should cap out at that number, if any more come in. Never fear, you won't be swarmed.

[Private]

[championoftime]

I was shot.

[His tone becomes very serious, almost even dark.] I abhor guns, they sicken me. Violence, needless death. It all melds into a useless cesspool of destruction.

I won't go into the details for obvious reasons, but I was shot in drive-by, and the hospital's attempts to save my life are what ruined me. My regeneration was starting.

No good would come of it. No lessons taught. No people protected. Just me. Alone. In a hospital morgue. Becoming someone else.





Here I at least have the chance to remedy that. If not the chance to travel again, the chance to go out on a worthwhile note.

[requiresssacrifice]

[He's thinking: YES, NUMBERS ARE BEST RESERVED FOR MINIONS, but that's probably not the best thing to articular right now, so you get a thoughtful "Hmm" at that bit.] They are rather impersonal, I suppose. Although, for a time, we did have two people named after numberswhose names were simply numbers.

Dr. Rex Lewis, by the way. Formerly known as the Doctor.

[championoftime]

Oh! You like the title, too? I enjoy it. Makes tinkering with things seem a bit more special. [Oh, the naive benefit of the doubt...] I'll go for Dr. John Smith if the others haven't claimed it. My granddaughter rather liked a singer who used that as his moniker.

[peektuttut]

Is there some multiversal limit to how many of a single person can be in one place?

[championoftime]

I hope they've adequately demonstrated how much a personality can vary regeneration from regeneration?

[greatlightother.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, very much.

[championoftime]

Sometimes not even two people can exist in the same spot. In the same timeline, contact with yourself can open temporal rifts and dangerous anomalies. Conditions here differ, however.

I'm certain all thirteen of us could gather together in a spot. But it would get a bit psychically cramped.

[peektuttut]

[He checked out some of the other conversations.] If you're the seventh, how do you know there's thirteen?

[bob-fraser-snr.livejournal.com]

And yours. If there's anything you need.

[championoftime]

There can only be thirteen of us. That's as high as it goes... usually. Certain disreputable parties have found ways to cheat the system.

[peektuttut]

What system?

[requiresssacrifice]

Oh, yes, I absolutely agree. Not to mention, it commands quite the air of authority. Here, however, it led others to mistake me for, well, you.

I'm not familiar with that singer, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor.

[championoftime]

I'll hold you to that. Just because I already happen to be here doesn't mean that I know much about where I am.

[championoftime]

At least they've not kept you bored, then.

[bob-fraser-snr.livejournal.com]

Of course, anytime.

[championoftime]

And not any one version of me, either. So what sort of Doctoring is it that you do, Dr. Lewis? The sort with bodies, the sort with machines, or the sort with heads.

[championoftime]

The proverbial one that dictates we only have thirteen regenerations. It's all very complicated and involves secret organs, biometric energy, viruses written into your DNA, and finding suitable pants that fit afterwards.

[peektuttut]

I hope those organs aren't secret to you guys.

[championoftime]

They're not secret at all, but it's fun to say something is just to see how someone reacts. Usually people don't even ask.

[peektuttut]

How does someone hear 'secret' and not ask?

[championoftime]

About the regenerations. [Sounds amused.] Fortunately it had already been explained by now, which makes it considerably easier on me. Plenty ask me about secrets. [He doesn't always answer them, though.]

[greatlightother.livejournal.com]

Never. Not with either Doctor. They are who I go to when I need cheering.

[peektuttut]

Don't see why people wouldn't ask about that, either. Martha's told me some about you already, though. Or...the version she knows, at least.