life is trying me

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Did you hear that? Sebastian, who had been content to zone out while reading an interesting biography about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and his influence on and relationship with Mozart, jerked his head up at her voice. He couldn’t hear anything unusual — just the chattering of people below them from their spot perched on the roof of the Museum of Science and Industry’s Air and Space Hall and the train rattling their building. “The train?” he asked curiously, putting his books back inside his back and cocking his head to listen. “We’re right by the tracks.” No, underneath the train’s noise. He didn’t know how she could manage to hear anything besides the train — he could barely hear her. He shook his head, and accepted Nina reaching for his body’s controls as she aided him in getting off the roof. There were many things he’d never thought his body capable of doing until Nina was in charge — for example, not getting light-headed when performing in front of strangers, not getting sweaty palms when cute people his age talked to him, and performing acrobatic feats like scrambling up buildings and subsequently getting down them. There! There it is! She jerked his head to a spot across the street, and he frowned, looking back to his bag where his abandoned books were. They were a lot more interesting than Nina’s stubborn hallucinations. Are you seriously ignoring it? A big box that goes vworp vworp appearing out of nowhere? Sebastian looked up again, blinking and trying to focus. “Are you having me on?” he muttered, trying to avoid the looks he nearly always got for having a one-sided conversation with himself. It’d be a lot easier if Nina could get into his thoughts as easily as he could get into hers, but when he thought more about that he decided he was probably safer and happier with Nina remaining a comfortable distance from his thoughts. “That’s been there.” Or at least, it’d make sense for it to have been there, because no one else seemed to think the box was weird. He could feel Nina’s exasperation, and she pushed his legs forward and he stumbled to make the rest of his body comply with the sudden walking. We literally just watched it come into existence. I did, anyway. Maybe it’s your ugly human brain. Oh— sorry, your brain isn’t ugly, just weird, don’t look so sad. He shrugged off the apology. “I think it’s part of the museum. Now we’ve just got those Help Point sirens.” That didn’t explain her theory of it magically appearing, but Sebastian wasn’t really concerned about that. His body was inhabited by a demonic entity that would wreak havoc on human civilization if she weren’t confined to a human prison that served as her very own Jiminy Cricket. So what if a police box decided to magically appear outside the museum? “Can we go now? Your fixation is kind of freaking me ou—” KNOCK ON IT! Sebastian, whose back was littered in burn scars from the times he ignored requests spoken in that tone of voice, knocked immediately, loudly, and without hesitation. “Nina, this is weird, and I knocked, and can we go? What if someone was actually in there?” That’s why we knocked instead of trying the door, salad brain. It’s polite.

@faith - KNOCK KNOCK

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The TARDIS door opened to reveal a swirl of smoke and a silver haired man who looked first at his own eye level, then slightly down.

"Not a bird," he mused to himself, as he studied the boy in front of him. The TARDIS had been fairly insistent about needing to be in this where and when (goodness if he knew why. He was supposed to be bringing Clara coffee!) This wasn't one of her students, was it? "What is it?"

If the boy knocked, it was surely for a reason. The Doctor was just a bit impatient as to find out what that reason was.

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“Not a bird,” Sebastian parroted back to the tall man, regretting immensely every minuscule decision that brought him in front of this man. He blinked owlishly at the next question, distressed because Nina apparently thought now was a good time to clam up. Sebastian chuckled sheepishly, taking an awkward step back as he thought desperately of an excuse to run off (appendix surgery? overdue rabies vaccine? avian flu?). “Um, uh, actually, I was just—” His stammering was thankfully shortlived as a familiar electric tingle took over his legs and he shot forward, gracefully sliding by the man’s body. “Sorry! Not — not my legs,” Sebastian stuttered, putting his hand out to catch himself on the wall opposite, except there wasn’t a wall and Sebastian fell rather ungracefully on his back. He stared up at the high ceiling, the wide room, the weird console thing, and the general bizarre vastness of the tiny box. “Woah.” Pretty cool! “Pretty cool?” Sebastian repeated in disbelief, getting to his feet. A weird futuristic non-Euclidean box thing, and all she gave it was a pretty cool? He spun around to the man, suddenly remembering that Nina had barged their way inside without allowing him to explain. “My friend saw your box suddenly exist, so she had to get a closer look, so we knocked, and then we’re— inside, and—not outside—” I think he’s caught up. “—so, um, now you… are caught up.” Very smooth. Oral inhale, nasal exhale. “It’s nasal inhale, oral exhale— but that’s— not really the point right now because I’m not having an anxiety attack,” Sebastian muttered to her. It’s not my fault humans have to have weird breathing mottos when they get nervous. “It’s not a human— it’s not even a nervous thing, it’s an anxiety thing, and—not a motto, either, it’s a—” Sebastian tripped over his words, trying simultaneously to argue down Nina and not seem like a totally strange kid that broke into a stranger’s magic box, because he was fairly certain breaking into magic boxes were how children turned up missing on the backs of milk cartons. “—pretty cool, uh, setup you got here. Very, um, surprisingly spacious. An… an open floor plan, very nice.”