ADIUTRIX | DOCTOR WHO

↳ christmas at the manor #2

"There's something wrong here." The Doctor looked around, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was.

Everything seemed to scream suspicion at him, from every waitress dressed exactly the same to how family members looked weirdly at ease except for one man.

"Space boy, I know this look, the 'I'm about to look for trouble' you always have."Donna turned back to him after getting a champagne flute from a waitress. There's something wrong was how most of their adventures started. "Don't you dare ruin this."

"Well, I've got a headache." He snapped back, as if it were an answer. "And I never get headaches without a good reason."

"It's probably the effort to not be a prick." Even muffled by some finger foods, her voice still contained every bit of it's usual sass. "Or these lights."

Every chandelier seemed to have a million lights, each of them reflecting off fake snow and glass decorations, making for a throughly illuminated room. His eyes had been trying on find anything hidden when the brains finally caught up to her answer.

"Oi, I'm not a prick."

"Keep telling yourself that." With her arm in his (just for appearances sake, that seemed to be what everyone else did), they found a secluded table. "Just let me have this one night without any aliens, yourself included, causing trouble."

The time lord had already vanished when she finished touching up her lipstick. Even if this party had barely started, a man scanning thin air with a glowing stick was the least of their worries. Parties were designed to keep everyone entertained, sort of trapped in a small bubble of reality, he realized even the windows showed a fake scenery. It was definitely nighttime when they'd entered this house but his eyes saw a wintery sunset through that glass. HighRes Holographic Pannels, his sonic showed. People kept on arriving so no one thought to keep an eye on a very curious time lord.

While he looked behinds curtains, under tables and even behind fake windows; his future version looked confused while entering the same ambient.

"Haven't we done this before?" Twelve asked Bill.

They'd just crossed the threshold into a finely decorated ball room when an overwhelming amount of energy hit him, like walking outside during summer after spending hours in pleasantly cool rooms. It made him nearly dizzy, fogging up each of his three brain stems.

"I don't think so." The male ditched Bill by a table in favor of having a stroll around the room, giving people judgmental once overs; she looked rather amused at his antics, going out of the way to apologize to waitresses who nearly fell over. It was a miracle Bill's legs managed to keep up with his strides in heels and a rather tight dress, but one could never enjoy British night life without learning a trick or two.

"If only one of my brains would function properly, I could understand what's going on." A few heads turned at his quote.

Try as he might, he couldn't find much wrong in the ball room other than a very weird looking old lady. Both sat down on soft chairs, the human reveling in how they smelled just like Christmas.

"It's just some Déjà Vu, old man." She offered after a few silent minutes, trying to diffuse his frustration. "I'm sure you've been to plenty of parties during your very long life, at least one must've been similar to this."

People with very expressive faces were often easy to read, they usually had a tell that gave away their thoughts, the Doctor's were his eyebrows. When pensive, both furrowed to a point where his eyes were barely seeable. In addition, the time lord kept on trying to find whatever was wrong with this place.

"Do you know where that expression comes from?" Bill had long since grown used to his Scottish accent throwing around questions.

"It's French, isn't it?" Food forgotten, she went into a mindset reserved for their lessons.

"Exactly." The Doctor turned to her. "When we get this feeling, it is because something is triggering our memory. It's like a reminder of a place we've already been to or an act we've done similarly in the past."

"So our brains go like: haven't we done this before??" The young woman had a way of simplifying things.

"Exactly." He decided to keep his silence for a few more minutes, observing the people in charge of this party. Sitting in an elevated platform, as if they were royalty offering a banquet, were whom he assumed to be members of the Canassis family. One of them, a tall woman with long hair (so blonde that it was almost white) looked a little more nervous than the others. "In this case, I'm fairly certain we've already done this."

"What do you mean?" Confusion seeped into her mind. If the Doctor was worried, then something definitely wasn't right.

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Uniforms came with a sense of anonymity perfect for going undercover. For this event, staff members had been given burgundy ensembles made of a tunic and tight fitting pants, with golden accessories. Handmaiden 51 was responsible for Coraline, she made sure to have a perfect appearance before approaching said woman.

"Ma'am, your speech starts in five minutes." Be discreet and don't mess up, the chief of staff had said to all before the party began.

"Thank you." As this family's heir, Cora became a priority, every need solved before it barely existed as a thought. Being in charge of her was an honor given to senior staff members only. Fifty-one had been in service for longer than most people in this ball room were alive and there'd be hell to pay if she'd let tonight end according to plan.

"Let me know that if anything else is needed."

F-One, for short, had a lot more control than people knew (specially considering H-Seven, their chief, had become incredibly sloppy over the past decade). She had overseen every invitation sent, adding a couple more to people who'd surely put a stop to this madness. Number one went to a younger Donna Noble, who'd been a known associate of the Doctor; He had received extra invitation number two.

"There he is."

Not much time was needed for him to be found, even among the multitude of living beings roaming around. His grey hair turned in slow motion once he felt someone staring holes into him.

There she is.

"Bill, stay here."

These walls were equipped with concealed cameras and microphones, nothing would go unnoticed if they talked here, so F-One hurriedly walked into a service passageway. The Doctor chased her with as much discreetness as possible, only calling out when no one was around.

"Wait!"

She stopped, mind briefly wondering about his strange accent, before turning around.

"We don't have much time."

The desperation he heard was enough to trigger compassion.

"Time for what?"

Silence stretched for seconds that felt like an eternity, an unknown ticking noise adding tension, he tried to remember when it started.

"Come find me."

Whatever answer that could be given died on his lips for the strangest thing happened. In a split second the Doctor found Bill back at his side, both of them frozen in place until impatient people pushed past into the ballroom.

"Bill, there is something very very wrong with this place."

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updates should be coming each 3-4 days until we get to the actual series, then it should be 2-3 days. I am so excited to get to Thirteen though.