TTR: Who'd Name A Companion After A Flower, Anyway? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So you're the new girl?" Rose asked. "Welcome aboard. You'll be fine as long as you don't drink the water and don't--" The new arrival shook her head. "I'm not her." "You look like her." Rose inspected the newcomer from all angles. "We all saw the pictures. Here." She held up a copy of /Doctor Who Magazine/, and looked around for support from the other occupants of the Round. "No, I'm really not. I'm Jasmine." "Who?" "She's the companion in the audition scripts," Mel said, hurrying over. "Jasmine is, I mean. And it says in the introduction the new companion isn't going to be called Jasmine, so I suppose she can't be the same person." "Hang on a minute." Rose sat down, and clutched her head. "Let me get this straight." Mel took Jasmine by the arm, and led her to a table, leaving Rose to her cogitation. "This is the Obscure Companions table," she said. "Hi, everyone, this is Jasmine. Jasmine, this is Antimony, and this is Grant, and this is Nik, and this is..." "Raine Creevy." A well-dressed young woman shook Jasmine's hand. "If you're ever at a loose end, ask Big Finish and they'll give you a series or something. But you might have to wait a few years for them to get round to you." "Or if that doesn't appeal, you can try this." Grant tossed the local newspaper onto the table. "Apparently the Corsair's looking for a new travelling companion. 'Lusty wenches preferred' -- well, that's me out." Sitting some way away, Rose reread page six of her magazine. "Right," she said. "Extra companion, sort of, just 'cos someone printed an audition script. And all we know is, she talks like Sally Sparrow and she looks like that girl off /Emmerdale/. As if we didn't have enough doubles in here already." "Something the matter?" the metacrisis Doctor asked, taking his seat opposite her. "Not really." Rose closed the magazine. "I just think people ought to watch what they put in these magazines. Or we'll be up to here in fake companions and fake Doctors and people who look exactly like us except they aren't, not properly." "Oh, definitely." He winked at her. "It'd be dreadful if something like that happened, wouldn't it?" { This Time Round was created by Tyler Dion, the Obscure Companions table by Douglas B. Killings. 'Doctor Who' characters belong to whichever branch of the franchise created (or, in the case of Nik, didn't create) them. } -- John Elliott Thinks: This is what a nice clean life leads to. Hmm, why did I ever lead one? -- Bluebottle, in the Goon Show