nexus_crossings | Many happy? returns

Many happy? returns

It has been some time since the Doctor has been here. He was off facing yet another battlefield. It was meant to be his last. He has no idea how he ended up here, of all places.

He clothes are in a tattered mess and covered in soot. His body, is surprisingly unscathed. Well, now it is. 'State of grace'. It can happen with regeneration. When one is refusing or debating the entire process.

He turns to face the TARDIS. "Why have you brought me here?" When his beloved ship didn't answer him he sighs and starts to walk away from her. "Fine. But I'm not leaving. I'm staying and if this is where I die, so be it."

He walks along, not really wanting to sit. If he sits it might happen and he's not going to do that again. He's muttering to himself. "I can't keep on being somebody else. Why isn't it ever anybody else's turn? Why can't I just rest? Just once?"

[ooc: available in post-Doctor Falls and Twice Upon a Time flavours, depending if you want spoilers or not.]

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Harley thinks for a moment. "Maybe we need to use up some of your energy?"

"That could kill me itself..Regeneration is a tricky thing. And the energy it uses, even more so. It can heal or kill, depending on how it's used."

He's actually squirming at the thought. That makes him more uncomfortable than thinking about the decision he has to make.

"Oh..."

"Well, if you need a place to rest for a little, I have a Nexus apartment now."

A small smile breaks free at her offer. "Setting up permanent camp? Good. It sounds like things are better here anyway."

He swallows. "I wouldn't want to impose, though."

Which is so hard to say, because a part of him desperate wants someone else to take care of him for a bit.

"You would not be imposing." Harley insists. "At least stay for a few hours. See how it feels."

He looks at her hard, while he considers it.

"A proper rest would be nice. I've been in some sense of the regeneration process for two weeks now. Maybe a good kip will stabilise it a bit."

He pauses and looks at her again.

"Okay, one condition, though. If I tell you to get away from me, then do as I say. Who knows if the Nexus is powerful enough to hold the regeneration back or not. Being here might just make everything worse. And same applies if I tell you I have to go. Don't take it personally, I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"I can do that. And I won't take it personally." She is just happy that she is able to provide him a place to stay. Even if it is just for a little time.

He nods. "Okay, then. I might need your help getting there. I died just a bit ago, it catches up with you eventually."

He slowly stands. But seems to do so under his own power. Mostly if a flash of pain hits him, he doesn't want to fall on his face.

Harley moves to place an arm around him, once he does stand up. That way, if he needs the support, he can lean on her.

"I remember dying myself. Being changed. So I understand."

He looks down at her like she's lost a few screws. He hadn't heard this before.

"You what?"

"I never told you this?" Harley blinks for a moment.

She can tell the story as she leads him to her Nexus apartment.

"Remember how I told you about how sometimes I laugh uncontrollably? That condition was caused by something called Joker Toxin. Contact with Joker Toxic causes uncontrollable spasms of laughter, leading to a painful death."

"I met Joker in Arkham. It was my first psychiatrist gig. And I..." Harley frowns. "I fell hard for him. He knew all the right things to say. How to create a connection that wasn't real."

"I even helped him to form a jail break. And he took me to where a bunch of Joker Toxin was stored in vats. He held a gun to my head and asked if I would die for him. Then he asked if I would live for him."

"I jumped... fell into the toxin. I died. I lived. I changed."

"The toxin changed me. It changed my skin tone. It changed my personality."

The Doctor stops walking for a moment in shock. No, she hadn't told him.

"You had mentioned the Joker, but... Maybe you weren't ready to talk about that part yet. Which I don't blame you. Such transformations are painful enough to experience without rehashing every time you meet someone new."

Novel concept, he wishes it were that easy. He tucks her arm closer to him in an sort of hug, given their position. He starts to move again.

"Regeneration is similar, except it's been woven into my biology, so it's a little different, too. Time Lords can use it to escape death. Every cell in our bodies turns itself inside out and heals themselves. All at the same time. The result can be rather - explosive. But such a drastic overhaul means that everything about us is different. Personality, tastes in food, appearance. There's a lot of people out there who wouldn't recognise me just because I have a different face."

"It can be hard to reflect on... and not trigger a psychosis." Harley frowns. There are few people in the Nexus who truly know all the bad things that the Joker did to her.

When he tucks her arm closer to him, Harley leans her head on his shoulder.

"So you are still in that overhaul process."

He looks down at her from the corner of his eye. For some reason, she reminds him of Susan. How he had longed to see her with these eyes.

"Regeneration. Yes. You can't see it, but I can feel it pulsing through me."

Harley soon reaches her Nexus apartment. She unlocks and opens the door for him. The apartment is a two-story style, with a bedroom loft. There is an aerial mount with several gymnastic equipment now attached to the ceiling.

"Home sweet home." She leads him to the couch, where they can sit together.

"Does it hurt? The regeneration process?"

"Cozy."

He flops into rather than sitting on the couch. It's a nice change. And he's forgotten how his clothes are covered in soot, sorry.

He huffs again at her question, but it's more amused than annoyed. "Every cell in your body tearing themselves inside out all at the same time? Yeah, it hurts."

Harley just smiles at him. She grabs a blanket from a credenza, and tucks it around him. "I will make you some soup."

"Are you allergic to anything?" She heads to the kitchen to start pulling out some ingredients.

He allows her to, which might give her indication at just how hard he's trying this idea of hers.

"Aspirin." He pauses in thought. "I think that's it in this body. At least for things that are ingestible."

"I will make a sweet potato soup." Harley pulls out everything she needs. All of her vegetables were purchased from a Farmer's Market, where they were homegrown. Ivy's influence still evident in how she eats.

"And then I will make some hot cocoa." These are comfort foods for her.

"Don't think I've ever had sweet potato soup."

Should be interesting. He likes trying new things.

"Hot cocoa sounds good."

He doesn't normally drink such things, but it actually has been a long time since he's really let himself indulge in such things. Besides, he's not used to letting people doctor him. So, it takes a bit of effort on his part.

"It has a sweet taste to it, which is why I love it." Harley eats tons of sweets to keep her metabolism going. "I often have it with cucumber sandwiches."

She peels the sweat potatoes and purees them. Then she brings the puree to a simmer. She adds in a few other things, like salt and pepper and coconut oil.

As it cooks, she prepares a separate pot to start boiling some cocoa.

"Do you like little marshmellows?" Because she has a huge bag of them.

"Vegetarian, then?"

Because it sounds vegetarian to him. A small flicker at the mention of the marshmallows.

"Oh yes. Almost as good as cubes of sugar. Though, sugar cubes would be over-kill in cocoa."

"Yes. When I lived with Red, my best friend back in my world, she was Vegan. And taught me all sort of things about the benefits of vegetables." Harley smiles, thinking of her friend.

"Plus... after what I dealt with in the Nightmare Realm, I don't even want to think about meat right now."

She gets out two bowls and two mugs as both the soup and cocoa get ready to be served. Soon she has hot soup in the bowls and cocoa and little marshmellows in the mugs. She brings everything to a little food tray that she can move close to the couch, where he sits.

"Here we go!"

"Such adventures do tend to force a change of eating habits."

He's speaking from adventures of his own. He had sworn off soup after his last trip to Gallifrey, but he's going to make an exception, because it would be bad to insult his host.

"My what service. Don't think I've had such in a very long time."

Nardole tried. But well, coffee in tea, is all he'd need to say about that. He sits himself up, if only so that he doesn't get soup or cocoa everywhere. He moves the bowl to him first and takes a moment to inhale. More about the steam and the heat than the smell. It is oddly comforting.

Finally he takes a spoonful.

"Oh that is rather good."

Better than he expected, anyway.

Harley smiles. Glad that he likes it. The compliment means a lot to her.

"Well, consider tonight a time to be spoiled a little."

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