Pockets

[meddow]

I’m not sure what I feel about this. But it always seems to be the odd and slightly fluffy plot bunnies that refuse to die until you write them.

Pockets
Author: Meddow
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: ~375
Characters: Donna
Summary: While travelling in the TARDIS, Donna develops a hobby.

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The most interesting thing about a Time Lord, Donna had decided, was his pockets.

It all arose from one day noticing his discarded coat and wondering just how big they were on the inside. It was when on her first try she found a goldfish – still alive – in a plastic bag like they handed out at the fairs that rummaging through the Doctor’s pockets became something of a hobby. After all, more goldfish may be in need of liberation, and she very much doubted the Doctor would ever get around to doing it.

From then on, when in need of a quiet moment, she would lock herself away in his wardrobe with the excuse of trying on clothes. It was in there that the Doctor had hundreds of pockets - coat pockets, trouser pockets, waistcoat pockets, shirt pockets – all worthy of investigation.

Their contents provided a strange tangled narrative of a life. She found newspaper clippings and jelly babies, strange pieces of technology and broken sonic screwdrivers, sands (still wet) and snowballs (still frozen), ballpoint pens emblazoned with company logos and planet codes in the phone numbers and polaroid photos of aliens and humans grinning at the camera.

Once she found a shoe. Just one, she never found the other. Another time she found a necklace of hers that she had hastily handed to him weeks ago after it inconveniently broke while they were running for their lives. Despite it being hers, she didn’t take it back. If the Doctor’s life was a book, that was her chapter.

And just like her necklace, everything went back into the pockets where they seemed to belong. Except for the goldfish of course which was given a bowl and a home in on a shelf in the third kitchen. If the Doctor noticed the extra passenger, he didn’t say a word.

She sometimes considered asking him for the tales behind the thing she found. But she always decided against it, afraid that somewhere in his inevitable evasion of the answer he would discover where her questions came from, and Donna did not want to risk what candid little insights into him her hobby granted her.

Besides, the Doctor was not the only one who liked his secrets.

Comments

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

Oh, Donna, you are made of so much awesome.

Lovely little story - spot on, and makes me want Season 4 NOW.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I know what you mean about season four - the anticipation's killing me.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I love Donna. This was brilliant :D

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D

[nonelvis]

I do love stories that can elegantly make their point in as few words as possible. And I wouldn't be surprised in the least if the Doctor really did have a goldfish or two in those pockets.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's great to know you liked it.

[ponderous77.livejournal.com]

This is so charming! I love the range of things Donna finds in those pockets, especially the pen with the planet code in the phone number, so fab! And the last line is perfect for Donna.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'd like to think cheap company ballpoints are universal, which is how it got in there.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's so lovely.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[amaresu]

That's brilliant.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks :D

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

This is one of the most perfectly wonderful Donna-ly things I've ever read. I love this so so so much.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's great to know you enjoyed it. And I love your icon.

[oursoliloquies.livejournal.com]

Wonderful fic- such an interesting idea and you executed it so well.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[wanderlustlover]

That was beautifully fantastic!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Very nice story - It may interest you to know that the Timelord Doctor Who RPG at one time published by Virgin (and still available on line though in slightly different form as a free download) has a skill called Resourceful Pockets:

Resourceful Pockets [Awareness]
Resourceful Pockets is a character’s ability to find useful objects in his pockets. The item need not be recorded
on the character sheet: it is assumed that the character habitually carries an assortment of junk in his pockets. In
The Ark in Space, the Doctor produces a cricket ball for Harry Sullivan to throw at a panel; more routinely it might
be used to produce a small bag of jelly babies as required.

You can find the game in PDF form here
http://www.torsononline.com/hobbies/timelord/main.htm
warning - there's a VERY loud Tardis noise on the main page

Various extras are also on line there, and I have an adventure I wrote for a couple of magazines in the nineties on my own site
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/forgottenfutures/album/conqueror.htm
Curse of the Conqueror, a cheery story of global armageddon

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Now that's an ability I wouldn't mind in real life. Very glad to know you liked the fic. Thanks!

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

This is what I like about Donna, she was supposed to be a one note character as a vehicle for Catherine Tate and ended up being so much more

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's a great character. She appears to be rather shallow, but there's a lot going on beneath the surface, and she even displays a great deal of wisdom in the final scene of TRB

[elisi]

I adore this. I have a real weakness for fic where something seemingly mundane can throw light on something obscure and fantastical. Especially loved:

sands (still wet) and snowballs (still frozen)

Thank you for a real treat!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's great to know you enjoyed it :D

[lizvogel.livejournal.com]

Here via selenak. That was lovely. Especially the shoe.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And it's really great to know somebody picked up on the shoe :D

[lizvogel.livejournal.com]

The shoe was brilliant.

[reserve.livejournal.com]

I like to think that each companion takes something of the Doctor away with her. If Donna takes a goldfish I will be so pleased. Also: POCKETS!

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I really like that thought. In fact you gave me an idea for a sequel (http://meddow.livejournal.com/105420.html). Thanks!

[ibishtar.livejournal.com]

This was lovely! Loved Donna's characterisation and the odd selection of things from the Doctor's pockets, especially the ballpoint pen and Donna's necklace. I'm off to check out that sequel now :)

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I had a great time trying to think those items up, so I'm very glad you enjoyed.