Listen! Question: Why do we talk out loud when we know we're alone? Conjecture: because we know we are not. Evolution perfects survival skills. There are perfect hunters. There is perfect defense. Question: Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding? Answer: How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed? It could be with us every second and we would never know. How would you detect it? Even sense it? Except in those moments when, for no clear reason, you choose to speak aloud. What would such a creature want? What would it do? Well?! [yelling] What would you do?
“Listen”
In this episode: Twelfth Doctor (3), Clara Oswald (2)
[to Rupert] Are you scared? The thing on the bed, whatever it is… Look at it, does it scare you?
RRupert
Yes.
Well, that's good. Want to know why that's good?
RRupert
Why?
Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard -- I can feel it through your hands! There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a super power! It's your super power! There is danger in this room, and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it? [Rupert nods. The Doctor nods at the creature on the bed] Think he feels it? Do you think he's scared? [Rupert shakes his head] [mockingly] Nah. Loser.
What's that in the mirror? Or the corner of your eye?
What's that footstep following, but never passing by?
Perhaps they're all just waiting, perhaps when we're all dead,
Out they'll come a-slithering from underneath the bed.
[Clara steps out of the TARDIS. She's in a barn. On a raised platform in the corner is a straw bed. A boy is crying under a blanket. Clara approaches the end of the bed]
Rupert?
[She climbs the stairs]
[stands next to the bed] Orson?
[boy doesn't respond, just keeps crying.]
[A man and a woman enter the barn]
GMGallifreyan Man
Why does he have to sleep out here?
GWGallifreyan Woman
He doesn't want the others to hear him crying.
GMGallifreyan Man
Why does he have to cry all the time?
[Clara hides under the bed]
GWGallifreyan Woman
You know why.
GMGallifreyan Man
There'll be no crying in the army.
GWGallifreyan Woman
Hush.
[They approach the bed. the boy is still crying]
GMGallifreyan Man
Don't pretend you're not awake, we're not idiots.
GWGallifreyan Woman
Come and sleep in the house. You don't have to be alone. If you can hear me, you're very welcome in the house, with the other boys. I'll leave the door on the latch. Come in any time.
GMGallifreyan Man
He can't just run away crying all the time if he wants to join the army!
GWGallifreyan Woman
He doesn't want to join the army, I keep telling you!
GMGallifreyan Man
Well, he's not going to the Academy, is he, that boy? He'll never make a Time Lord!
[comforting the young Doctor] This is just a dream. But very clever people can hear dreams. So, please, just listen. I know you're afraid, but being afraid is all right. Because didn't anybody ever tell you? Fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. And one day, you're going to come back to this barn. And on that day you're going to be very afraid indeed. But that's okay. Because if you're very wise and very strong, fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed or in the dark, so long as you know it's okay to be afraid of it. You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's okay, because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. I'm going to leave you something, just so you'll always remember. Fear makes companions of us all.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Doctor Who pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.