User:Epsilon the Eternal/Sandbox Two

Panda, an erudite art critic, was commonly identified as a ten-inch-tall, fuzzy stuffed panda; mention of this, however, would cause Panda a great deal of offense, often driving Panda to resort to violence in retaliation.

Panda spent many of his later years travelling with the garish transtemporal adventuress known as Iris Wildthyme, in the Celestial Omnibus - a time machine of conflicting origin, but one thing that did remain consistent was its appearance: a red double decker bus, the 22 to Putney Common.

Though he was Iris' best friend, they often had rows and barneys, but they did it knowing that none of it really mattered. They simply argued for the sheer fun of it. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)

Early life
According to one account, Panda was in fact Steven Taylor's toy mascot, HiFi. He had been inadvertently left inside the TARDIS after Steven's departure, and when the Second Doctor was put on trial, Panda finally left the TARDIS, whereupon he stumbled into Iris Wildthyme in a pub in the under-city of Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Runaway HiFi)

An alternative, and more commonly accepted origin, was that Panda had many adventures prior to his time living with Thomas Daley (a previous companion of Iris) in the late 1990s.

Almost ten years later, sometime in the late 2000s, Panda was contemplating writing his memoirs, but this fell through when Iris returned to Thomas. (AUDIO: Wildthyme at Large)

Travels with Iris and Tom
When Iris returned to Tom, she entrusted him with the Memory Crystal from the Mines of Marlion. Feeling guilty about the novels he wrote about Iris, Tom took Panda with him when he went to his publisher to relieve him of his contractual obligation to write more books. The publisher refused, getting livid with Tom, so he and Panda attempted to escape, but this was futile as they were soon captured.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Iris Wildthyme arrived in her bus, being controlled by the Head. The Head almost succeeded in taking the Memory Crystal from Tom, but Panda grabbed it, throwing it down hard onto the ground, shattering it, allowing Iris to save the day, and getting her memories back. (AUDIO: Wildthyme at Large)

The truth of Iris' origins
Panda remained on the Celestial Omnibus when Iris investigated strange happenings in the Darlington, knowing how the locals would react to his appearance. Still, he made himself useful by relaying information to Iris from the Omnibus.

Iris would return to the Omnibus with her new friend, Simon, and the three of them used the Omnibus to travel to the Begins at Home, the source of the strange happenings. Returning to Darlington, they discover Anthony Marvelle's scheme to reach the Obverse. They leave with Simon's friend Kelly, and they travel to an alternate Paris in 1894, on the brink of the Martian invasion.

They quickly leave Paris, and they drop Kelly off back in Darlington after she found she couldn't handle the stress of time travel. Barbra, a Servo-furnishing, stowed away with them when they travelled to Valcea. On their journey to the City of Glass, Panda and Simon discover a tear in the the Very Fabric, left by Marvelle inside the Omnibus, and they go though it, finding themselves at a Vince Cosmos concert in 1973, and they save Vince from an assassination attempt by Martian Time Agents.

At the after party, a future version of Iris arrived to tell them to get back to the Omnibus. Panda and Simon return to the Omnibus, and they finally reach the City of Glass. They're immediately captured by the Wardrobes, who torture Panda for information. He escaped with Simon and Iris after a bomb that had been secretly placed inside Barbra begins to explode, and Iris pilots the Omnibus to Hyspero, following Marvelle. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)