Singing in the Interplanetary Debris (A Who-verse musical) [Open, Donna]

The unidentified object hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 10:30pm on a Friday night; the heat and friction from its entry breaking it down into tiny pieces that rained down in a spectacular display of light and colour over the clear Cardiff sky.

The Doctor, out for an evening stroll, stopped and stared up at the sky in happy surprise, before peering across at his companion.

“Well, would you just look at that? You don’t see that every day now do you? Bits of interplanetary debris meeting up with the planet’s atmosphere and literally burning up.”

He grinned, walking out further into the clearing between buildings to better enjoy the show, before adding: “And we’re here to see it!”

It seemed as if almost the entire population of Cardiff stopped and stared up at the night sky, little “ooh” and “ahh” sounds escaping on a breath as one might expect at a fireworks display. And why not? It truly was a spectacular sight to see.

Of course, it wasn’t until Saturday morning that things turned a little strange…



Stepping outside TARDIS onto the white morning snow, The Doctor stretched his arms above his head, flexing his hands before bouncing on his toes and shaking out his wrists. Finally he cracked his neck, before intoning to no one in particular, "ahh, lovely!"

He took a deep fortifying breath in preparation to stroll... and then he heard it. A voice... no several voices... and they were singing. With a curious grin, The Doctor made his way to the end of the alley, where he was parked, and he peered around into the main street, his eyes widening from what he was seeing.

Singing! All up and down the street people were singing. Singing and dancing with happy abandon, as if it was absolutely normal. To his left, several council workers, complete with orange vests and yellow hard hats were doing the YMCA. To his right, ten or so office workers were doing a Russian dance, they're knees wet from the snow as they raised their hands for the big finish and shouted "hurrah," before they stood up with slightly dazed looks and quickly moved away.

The Doctor took out his glasses from his pocket, cleaned them carefully, put them on and looked again... but they were still there. It was still happening.

"Humans, gotta love 'em!" he commented. Heading back to the TARDIS to see if Donna had any thoughts as to what was going on.



OOC: I figured we should have a fun thread to start with where everyone can meet and interact. The Doctor’s companion in this thread is Donna, but any other character (TW or DW) is free to join in. All humans are affected by the musical malady. Have fun!

The morning sun reflecting off the snow outside the open TARDIS door roused Donna from a particularly uncomfortable sleep. Her neck ached from the awkward position in which she'd fallen into slumber and she groaned. "Shut it; it's cold," she muttered grumpily.

It wasn't often that Donna could manage a good night's sleep in the TARDIS and most of the time, it didn't much bother her, but her lack of sleep intermingling with the throb of her neck muscles was making her testy, at best. When the cool breeze didn't subside, Donna opened her eyes and glared in the direction of the Doctor. "Hello. It's cold, shut the door," she snapped, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.

That was when she noticed the grin on his face. Giving him a curious glance, Donna sat up fully and stretched, raising her eyebrows. "...what...?" she asked, eyes darting back and forth between his face and the nearly blinding glint of morning snow she could see through the still-open doorway in which he was standing.

She made her way toward him, looking suspicious. "What's all this?" she asked again, making a vague gesture toward his face and the amused expression that seemed to be pasted there.

"What's all this?"

As Donna made her way toward him, The Doctor stepped back, sweeping his arm out like the perfect gentleman to usher her outside.

"Cardiff is alive with the sound of music!" he stated gleefully. "And it's brilliant!"

With that, The Doctor swung the door shut, locked the TARDIS and bounced ahead of Donna like an excited puppy. "Come on!"

Looking around the streets and listening, Donna raised an eyebrow. There was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Taking one of The Doctor's hands in her own and spinning herself away from him, then spinning back to him, her body hitting his with such force from her excitement, she nearly bounced back with a bit of a stumble. "No, really..." she sang, drawing out the latter word with a gentle vibrato. "What's so amusing?" she sang on, dropping his hand.

Without waiting for a reply, she skipped off, making her way toward one of the PCs on the street who was bopping merrily about as he directed traffic around some street construction.

He paused, looking at her curiously, as if to gauge her expression to see if she was about to get in his way or rather, join him in his gleefulness.

"May I?" she sang, oblivious to how ridiculous she must look and not really caring as he held out a hand to her, grinning excitedly at the prospect of a partner with whom to dance in the street on such a glorious winter morning.

"Ah, Donna? Donna?" The Doctor watched his companion, one hand coming up to scratch his head thoughtfully, before following along behind her.

The singing and dancing continued all around them, now with Donna apparently oblivious to it all as well.

Obviously this was a bit more of a problem that it had initially seemed. He certainly didn't ever recall a musical episode of human history. Peering into a nearby shop window, where a TV was playing the local news, he watched as the reporter sang the whether, complete with a short umbrella dance, before passing back to the the anchor-man. "Huh."

Eventually, The Doctor stepped up to the smiling PC with Donna, politely tapping the man on the shoulder and offering his hand to his companion. "May I have this dance?" he asked.

After exchanging looks with the PC to make sure she wasn't being offensive by leaving him alone again, she nodded and took the Doctor's hand with a grin.

There was music everywhere, glorious, melodious, and sweet and Donna didn't think she'd ever felt as uplifted in her life as she did that morning, dancing with the Doctor in the street. It felt as though nothing could ever feel bad again and she ever didn't want to stop moving or listening to the beautiful music around her.

"Are you planning on sharing your amusement? You did wake me up, after all," she sang at him, the notes now coming out in a minor key as if in substitute for the snappish attitude with which she'd regarded him while still inside the TARDIS.

As they danced down the street, blending in nicely with the singing, dancing Cardiff morning crowds, The Doctor marvelled at how Donna could sound waspish even while singing. It really was a marvelous talent. Her questions really caused him confusion though. He raised an eyebrow at her, gradually slowing down their spinning dance steps until they came to a complete stop.

Frowning, he took Donna by the shoulders and peered right into her eyes before speaking again.

"Donna, everyone - including you - is singing and dancing. Doesn't that strike you as just the tiniest bit strange?"

The Doctor pulled out his trusty sonic screwdriver, sampling the air, before flashing it in Donna's eyes and waving it around in her general vicinity, concentrating on it with avid interest.

Furrowing her brow, her mood slightly dampened for the first time since stepping out of the TARDIS, Donna frowned at the Doctor and swatted at his hand. "Oi, quit bleeping me," she snapped.

She paused, blinked a few times rapidly while looking confused, shook her head and smiled at him. "I don't think it's strange at all!" she sang excitedly. "Can't you feel it?"

Her momentary relapse into reality forgotten, Donna could practically feel the music running through her veins as well as hear it sounding like a gorgeous choir of angels, despite the fact that, in reality, it was much more like a cacophony of voices singing mismatched lyrics and melodies.

Ignoring Donna's protests, The Doctor continued to wave the screwdriver around about the place. He paused to consider gripped his hair and ruffling his it around while, muttering "think, think, think!"

"Could be signal of some sort, a frequency that affects the human brain, or maybe something biological..."

His ramblings thought processes were temporarily derailed, however, as he was forced to duck; an old woman passed by, waving her cane dangerously close to his head as she danced about with the PC from earlier.

"Nimble old thing aren't you?," he muttered to her back. "Now, where was I?" He turned back to look for Donna.

Donna watched him curiously for a moment, wondering at the way he could shut out the entire world completely simply to think. He always seemed to couple thinking with tousling his own hair in some way and that, in all honesty, was rather amusing to witness each and every time, even if Donna would never actually admit to it.

He was babbling on about frequencies and something biological when an elderly woman passed by, merrily waving her cane around and quite nearly knocking his head off. That, too, was pretty funny and Donna couldn't stop herself from giggling.

"Why can't you just enjoy it, Doctor?" she sang at him, snatching away his sonic screwdriver and shoving it into one of her pockets, putting her hand in his to replace its absence. She tugged on him gleefully, almost childlike in her excitement. "Let it get inside of you," she went on singing, "it's beautiful..."

"Let it get inside of you. It's beautiful..."

The Doctor was a little put out when Donna grabbed his sonic screwdriver, letting out a little "Hey!" of protest, but before he could say any more, Donna had him by the hand and he was drawn into a large circle of random people doing the Hokey Pokey.

The Doctor never could resist the Hokey Pokey. Right foot in, right foot out... There was just something so hypnotising about the whole thing. It was one of the many crazy rituals that humans the world over seemed to have built into their DNA... sort of like conga lines at weddings or animal cracker soup.

Of course a good round of Hokey Pokey could go on for a very long time... it was a while before he got back to the problem at hand.

Ianto came to the "Travel Agency" window just in time to see a large number of people doing the Hokey Pokey near the Millenium Centre.
Broadening his gaze as he put a hand to his forehead and against the glass in order to see it better, Ianto didn't want to believe his eyes, but he had to.

He used his bluetooth device and told the others "There's people in the street doing the Hokey Pokey, and I think there's something wrong with the world." before walking out through the door, and beginning to feel rather strange.

His toes were wiggling, and his head was wobbling. He was dancing. Good Lord, he was dancing. "I need backup" he sang through the bluetooth device. Now, he was also singing. Ianto's world was crumbling.

Gwen was late for work again, for whatever reason her alarm had gone off half an hour late blasting the Macarena through the room. She knew Jack wouldn't mind, they'd been working a case pretty late the night before, and with Rhys at the office there was no one to chastise her at home for sleeping in a bit. So she decided to languish in bed for ten more minutes, and watch the news.
BBC Cardiff seemed to be having a disco; she never did like local news, all puppies up tree's and old ladies running marathons. She turned to News 24, where she'd find out what was going on, before being stuck finding out just what was happening in Cardiff, the wider world be damned.

Given the circumstances, the fact that Jack waited for Gwen to be an entire forty-five minutes late before he called her was a kindness. But at forty-five minutes past the hour exactly, her phone would ring, and Jack - with a degree of impatience, to be honest - would wait for the ringing to stop and his employee to pick up.

"Gwen? Something's going on, we need you here. Ianto's requesting backup, by the travel agency," or fake travel agency, whatever, "so if you don't mind?" His tone almost approached teasing, but that was normal for him. He didn't stay on the line long, hanging up once he'd gotten her confirmation that she was getting there.

"so if you don't mind?"

She was pulling on her boots when he called, jumping around wildly trying to get them on and sound at least a tiny bit apologetic.
"Yeah sure Jack, from the news the traffic seems to be non-existent, I'll be there in 15"
She gave her hair a quick brush, slapped on some mascara and was ready.
Out the door, down the stairs, through the entrance; to find old Mrs Figgerty doing what she could only guess was the Birdie song dance.
Right.
Ignore the dancing people, and get to work, as soon as possible.

The Doctor leaned forward, hands on knees and back pressed to the wall. Dear god, the hokey pokey was exhausting! He heaved in a few more deep breaths, pulled a hanky from some pocket or other and and wiped the sweat from his face. Yep, exhausting.

Straightening himself back up, The Doctor noticed a rather distressed man dance past. He seemed aware he was dancing anyway as he sang into a bluetooth device about needing back up. That was different.

He reached over and grabbed Donna by the wrist. "Alright, enough fun. hand it over," he said, employing his serious tone of voice. He needed his screwdriver if he was going to figure this thing out any time soon.

Donna looked back at the Doctor and paused before speaking. If he was going to keep on prodding at her with the thing, she had no intention of giving it back. She was having too good a time to have the Doctor ruining it by turning her into some sort of experiment.

He'd already pulled her from the Hokey Pokey, so clearly he was fine with interrupting her fun. The notes came out minor again when she sang back in response, "only if you promise to stop bleeping me..."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, holding it just out of his reach and looking at him sternly.

Ianto, who was now walking down the street John Travolta-like, twirling around on the sidewalk, and making pistol-fingers at random people, had nearly visible tears in his eyes. Not that he was so squared to the point of not liking to dance, - he danced! - but on the street, uncontrollably, while everyone else did it too was just out of his sphere of understanding.

"Seriously," His voice sang through the Bluetooth, to whoever was listening on the other side. "I need your help, someone, please!"

And that is all he could sing before he stopped in his tracks and did the rest of John Travolta's dance steps on Saturday Night Fever right in front of a random chip shop.

Toshiko was already out and about at the bakery getting herself a croissant for her early morning carbs. Sipping some of her fruit smoothie, she walked out of the bakery, noticing something wrong. People were dancing and singing along the streets, shops and everywhere else. She was twirled by some man and in a sandwich with two other. Finally breaking free from the dance without choking on her pastry, she heard Ianto call in on her headset.

"Seriously, I need your help, someone, please!"

Upon hearing his fairly decent baritone voice, it was almost enough to make Tosh start to laugh or cry. "Ianto, I'm on my way!" What started out in a run, slowly became a jog, which then evolved into a skip. "Oh no!" Toshiko could feel herself lose control of her own body, which wasn't the best feeling ever, and started in singing "Following the Leader" whilst linking arms and circling with every person down the line of the sidewalk.

There was a carpark up ahead and Tosh knew she was in even bigger trouble...

"only if you promise to stop bleeping me..."

Donna was holding the sonic screwdriver just out of reach and giving him one of those stern looks.

"I'll be good." The Doctor pressed his hands together and tilted his head innocently, before reaching for the screwdriver. After all, there were plenty of other people to analyse.

Hope came in the form of Toshiko's voice for Ianto, because it seemed he was going through every dance style chronologically, and he was now getting to break-dance. Ianto couldn't break dance, ever, but somehow, he was managing to do it without smashing his head against the pavement or dislocating his shoulders.

As Tosh said she was on her way, Ianto musically sighed in relief. However, she was taking mighty long now, not at all like she was really on her way. "Tosh?" He sang. "Toshiko, where are you, don't tell me you're dancing as weeeeeeeeeell?"

Was this how life would be like from then on?

Gwen decided driving to work was probably not going to be the best idea. Walking the relatively short journey along the bay she every witnessed bad dance in history from "The Hand Jive" to that stupid rave dance about different size boxes.
She decided running would be better, maybe the hub was safe, and hopefully everyone had got to work early enough to be unaffected.
She held on to that thought while skipping along to the music in her head, that was until something interrupted the music. Ianto singing for help.
"Iantoooooooo! I'm coming!"

It was spreading. Now it was Gwen - singing mildly horribly in his ear. Was this a virus? Was it fatal?

Ianto feared for his life but it didn't seem that way when one looked at him, dancing just like Fred Astaire from the moment he picked up an abandoned umbrella on the street.

"Hurry up Gwen; I think i might collapse sooooon!"

He was sobbing, by now.

The Doctor reached for the screwdriver and Donna suddenly felt very, very tired. It was if all the energy from the song and dance had simply drained her. She felt as though she might collapse from her sudden onslaught of fatigue. Handing the Doctor his sonic screwdriver, even, took far more effort than it should have. "Doctor..." she breathed, her eyelids going droopy as she found herself skipping in place. "I'm so tired..." she sang listlessly.

"Oh dear," The Doctor mumbled.

He grabbed the sonic screwdriver with one hand and slid a shoulder under Donna's arm, somehow maneuvering her around, so they had switched positions; Donna's back now resting against the wall. He lifted her chin and gave her a concerned once-over, before turning to take in the rest of the crowd.

It was clear now that the general atmosphere of frivolity that the people of Cardiff had awoken to was beginning to wear off. Some of those who were less-inclined to dance seemed stressed almost to tears, a few of the less fit dancers were calling out for help as their bodies rebelled against the physical activity. Obviously, the dancing was getting out of their control... if it had ever been in their control in the first place.

Fiddling with the settings on the screwdriver, The Doctor sampled the air again, and then several people passing by in Congo line, until it emitted a small squeak of higher pitched static.

"Uh huh! There's definitely a signal here, but I can't pin-point a source. Where are you coming from? Some sort of high level psychic field. But why? Why make everyone dance and sing. That's just... well it's brilliant, but I can't see the point of it."