Just Prompts
The Escapist - Nightwish
For as long as Jenny had been alive, she had never been one to ignore a signal for help. It might not have been saying much; after all, she had only known life for four months now. But to Jenny, it meant something. It was a part of who she was, a part of who her father was: not human, like so many she encountered of same anatomical structure. Different. Other.
A Timelady.
A title and a species that meant the universe to her because it was the only thing she really knew aside from her inheritance. And even then, there was so little that Jenny felt she actually knew about her father's people. If it bothered her to no end, and of course it did, she never let it show. But there were some things Jenny was certain of. Being a Timelady meant having two hearts. It meant having a better lung capacity than most people. It meant living even when she had died and it meant knowing things that others didn't sometimes.
And it meant saving any and all individuals in trouble. It’s what Dad did, after all.
The mauve signal had first caught her attention two weeks earlier, as she was spending time soaking up the lively and pleasant atmosphere of a Florana resort town. She had found a man willing to give her a room in exchange for help with his kelp farm. Jenny had taken to the task happily. It wasn't the same as rescuing people, but she figured that if she stuck around long enough (or until wanderlust kicked in), she'd find someone to help. And it was nice here, pleasant even.
Her third day on planet was the day she heard the signal. Jenny had been spending time with a pair of visiting Raxacoricofallapatorians (well, spying on them to be more exact). They had with them computers she had never seen before and were talking about things Jenny had never known existed. Like profit and deficits and money and companies and slavery of a nearby planet.
It was for that latter reason that Jenny had continued to watch them, once she figured out what they had meant by slavery. Taking innocents against their will and forcing them to work for others had to be against some sort of accordance or something. So, clearly, she had to put a stop to their plans. She had been busy contemplating how to intercept the ship that would take the Faerans from their home planet to a market not too far from Raxacoricofallapatorius when it happened.
The computer screen suddenly flashed mauve and the skinnier Raxacoricofallapatorian exclaimed excitedly. She caught snippets of the conversation, but all of the rest of the conversation dulled around her when she caught wind of one word.
TARDIS.
Her hearts began beating faster and faster. Was it really that? An actual TARDIS? Possibly her Dad’s? Possibly one she could own for her very own? Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Oh, absolutely fantastic either way!
Excitement coursed through her veins as she jumped down from her perch on top of a fruit stand, grabbing the computer out of the green alien’s hand and tumbling to a landing. She rose quickly and turned to look at the stunned aliens. Jenny waved and flashed them a grin. “Thanks, boys!”
And off she ran, the escapist heading toward the paradise she had dreamed of since the day she was born.
For the following week, the mauve signal grew in intensity. Jenny had managed to hook the stolen computer up to her shuttle, constantly running the ever shifting coordinates through a series of calculations that adhered to her ship’s system. It was difficult, but she was absolutely determined. Either Dad or a TARDIS of her very own waited on the other end of the signal. She had to find it.
She had left a word with the Shadow Proclamation regarding the Raxacoricofallapatorian slave ring, thinking her dad would do just that. It wasn’t as helpful a pit stop as she had hoped. They had no information regarding an endangered TARDIS, but Jenny didn’t care. The Raxacoricofallapatorians had no reason to lie. Oh, wouldn’t he be surprised when she caught up to him? Because either way, whichever result her adventure ended in, she’d find him again.
It would be brilliant.
Jenny continued to hop from planet to planet, stopping to refuel gas or pick up supplies at a much faster rate than normal. She had no time to hang about mingling, to find new adventures or meet new species or hear new opinions. For once in her short life, Jenny was single minded, goal oriented like she had never been. Dad, a TARDIS: that’s what it meant to be a Timelady. That common set of memories and experiences, wasn’t it? If she could just find one…
Oh, how she wanted to.
So when the second week came about and the signal started to fade, sadness overtook Jenny like one she had never felt before. Suddenly she felt more in despair, lonelier, and more lost than she even had when she was dying. There was no one holding her tightly this time, no words of comfort as tears brimmed her eyes. Jenny cried out but no one answered. The signal on the computer seemed to flicker and die.
“No!” Jenny began ramming at the buttons furiously, ignoring the way she drifted in space. “Oh! No! You can’t go! You just can’t!”
Her adventure wasn’t over yet. She hadn’t reached her destination! Jenny slammed on the shuttle dashboard, biting her lip and praying to whatever gods - whatever non-gods - were out there to bring the signal back. Minutes later, slowly and surely, something flickered to life on the monitor. The mauve signal began to pulse again, far too faintly but there nonetheless.
Without hesitation, she renewed her search more frantically than before. She had a journey home to complete.
What a beautiful home it turned out to be. As her shuttle finally reached the Medusa Cascade, Jenny stared with wide blue eyes, nearly breathless at one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. She floated slowly within a nebula, blue and greens and yellows and oranges of galactic gasses surrounding her. Somewhere in the distance, stars sparkled. It was breathtaking to behold, the awesome power of the cosmos in this one spot. It almost made her feel uncomfortable. Something wasn’t quite right with it. The hairs on the back of her neck tickled and she almost wanted to run away. The words space-time rift seemed to echo in her head from some part of her that Jenny hadn’t fully delved into before.
Whatever it was, it was quickly dismissed as the signal suddenly revved up in power. She was here. This had to be it! As if to prove it, something floated in to view. Jenny blinked, rubbing at her eyes as she tried to clarify what she saw with, well, what she saw. Could it really be? A wardrobe floating about in the middle of space?
Then she laughed, full of delight and joy. Of course it was a wardrobe! It was more than that! It had to be her TARDIS. A TARDIS of her very own! Jenny didn’t know why it looked like a wardrobe, nor did she care. She had found it! Found it before any of the Raxacoricofallapatorians, before the signal completely disappeared. Jenny laughed again and sped forward.
The seconds seemed to pass by too slowly. When, in reality, it only took a few minutes to move her shuttle adjacent to the floating wardrobe in the Cascade, it felt more like eons to the girl. Carefully, she docked to the TARDIS. Not so carefully, Jenny scrambled out of her seat, took a deep breath, and opened the hatch. The doors to the wardrobe stood open as she pushed herself from space shuttle to time ship quickly enough that passing through space barely harmed her.
Once inside, Jenny could hardly contain herself. This had to be it. It was much bigger on the inside than a wardrobe had any right to be. She found herself standing in some organic looking console room, as if it had been grown on a planet long away, a long time ago. The broken columns and loose wires were ignored for the sheer fascination and excitement of just being there. She whooped in delight, racing around the room as if she belonged there. The TARDIS seemed to give no objection. If anything, his faint glow seemed to brighten at Jenny’s enthusiasm.
“Hello boy,” she greeted him, finally coming to a stop before the console. Although Jenny wasn’t sure of his gender, it just seemed right. “I’m so glad I’ve finally found you! We’re going to have lots of adventures, you and I. First we’ll find Dad and tell him I’m still alive and then we’ll go… oh, we’ll go all over the place. Wherever you want to go! Lots of running through time and space and I bet you that you’ll love it as much as I do!”
Her hands flew over the controls on the console quickly, almost as if working by some unknown instinct. So eager to begin her new adventure, Jenny didn’t even notice the imprinting take place. She acknowledged the new voice in her mind as if it had always been there, just as happy and just as delighted as she was that this quest was completed. Jenny loved him, her very own TARDIS, instantly.
It wasn’t until she began to input coordinates for Earth (if Dad was anywhere, he had to be there) that she noticed something was wrong. As eager as her TARDIS seemed to be for this adventure, he seemed oddly frantic. As if he had to get to Earth now. As if he didn’t have all the time in the universe to make this trip when they really, honestly did.
The realization hit her suddenly. Jenny pulled her hands away from the console controls as if she had been burned. He was dying. Her TARDIS, her new home was dying.
It had, after all, been a distress signal the Raxacoricofallapatorians had interrupted.
Jenny gnawed on her lower lip, wishing the pain would stop the tears in her eyes. Her hearts felt heavier and that grief that had overwhelmed her when the signal died a week ago, that grief she felt at dying, seemed like nothing now. Somehow, this TARDIS survived the war Dad had talked about. Survived, it appeared, only to die in Jenny’s hands.
Tears streamed down her face as she stroked the nearest TARDIS bits to her hand. She inhaled a shattered and shaky breath as she shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, boy. This isn’t right. It’s not supposed to be like this. We were going to go places! We were going to have a home together! We were going to run together, all over the known universe and beyond! Please? Please?”
Her voice cracked. Jenny tried to send the TARDIS happy images. She sent him images of them exploring all sorts of exotic planets, images of spending years travelling and saving people and maybe even taking companions of their own one day. Didn’t he see he had to hang in there? He couldn’t die on her. Not this soon.
“Just… oh, just hold in there. I’ll get you to Dad! He’ll make you better again. You’ll see. He’s the Doctor and what good is a Doctor if he can’t fix people?” Grief gave way to anger and she banged her fist against some strange rectangular monitor. “You have to hang in there. You… you have to.”
But it wasn’t meant to be. As Jenny hugged the center of the console so tightly to keep its song from fading into the cosmos, the wardrobe shaped TARDIS that had seen and lived through so much died. The second his song left her head, she fell to her knees. Jenny squeezed her eyes shut as she sobbed, knowing all too well that she’d have to be leaving again far too soon.
For the second time in her life, death had rendered Jenny completely alone.
[ooc: much, much thanks to rude_not_ginger, eleventh_doctor, and clever_wanderer for the various help in putting together this response]
For as long as Jenny had been alive, she had never been one to ignore a signal for help. It might not have been saying much; after all, she had only known life for four months now. But to Jenny, it meant something. It was a part of who she was, a part of who her father was: not human, like so many she encountered of same anatomical structure. Different. Other.
A Timelady.
A title and a species that meant the universe to her because it was the only thing she really knew aside from her inheritance. And even then, there was so little that Jenny felt she actually knew about her father's people. If it bothered her to no end, and of course it did, she never let it show. But there were some things Jenny was certain of. Being a Timelady meant having two hearts. It meant having a better lung capacity than most people. It meant living even when she had died and it meant knowing things that others didn't sometimes.
And it meant saving any and all individuals in trouble. It’s what Dad did, after all.
The mauve signal had first caught her attention two weeks earlier, as she was spending time soaking up the lively and pleasant atmosphere of a Florana resort town. She had found a man willing to give her a room in exchange for help with his kelp farm. Jenny had taken to the task happily. It wasn't the same as rescuing people, but she figured that if she stuck around long enough (or until wanderlust kicked in), she'd find someone to help. And it was nice here, pleasant even.
Her third day on planet was the day she heard the signal. Jenny had been spending time with a pair of visiting Raxacoricofallapatorians (well, spying on them to be more exact). They had with them computers she had never seen before and were talking about things Jenny had never known existed. Like profit and deficits and money and companies and slavery of a nearby planet.
It was for that latter reason that Jenny had continued to watch them, once she figured out what they had meant by slavery. Taking innocents against their will and forcing them to work for others had to be against some sort of accordance or something. So, clearly, she had to put a stop to their plans. She had been busy contemplating how to intercept the ship that would take the Faerans from their home planet to a market not too far from Raxacoricofallapatorius when it happened.
The computer screen suddenly flashed mauve and the skinnier Raxacoricofallapatorian exclaimed excitedly. She caught snippets of the conversation, but all of the rest of the conversation dulled around her when she caught wind of one word.
TARDIS.
Her hearts began beating faster and faster. Was it really that? An actual TARDIS? Possibly her Dad’s? Possibly one she could own for her very own? Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Oh, absolutely fantastic either way!
Excitement coursed through her veins as she jumped down from her perch on top of a fruit stand, grabbing the computer out of the green alien’s hand and tumbling to a landing. She rose quickly and turned to look at the stunned aliens. Jenny waved and flashed them a grin. “Thanks, boys!”
And off she ran, the escapist heading toward the paradise she had dreamed of since the day she was born.
For the following week, the mauve signal grew in intensity. Jenny had managed to hook the stolen computer up to her shuttle, constantly running the ever shifting coordinates through a series of calculations that adhered to her ship’s system. It was difficult, but she was absolutely determined. Either Dad or a TARDIS of her very own waited on the other end of the signal. She had to find it.
She had left a word with the Shadow Proclamation regarding the Raxacoricofallapatorian slave ring, thinking her dad would do just that. It wasn’t as helpful a pit stop as she had hoped. They had no information regarding an endangered TARDIS, but Jenny didn’t care. The Raxacoricofallapatorians had no reason to lie. Oh, wouldn’t he be surprised when she caught up to him? Because either way, whichever result her adventure ended in, she’d find him again.
It would be brilliant.
Jenny continued to hop from planet to planet, stopping to refuel gas or pick up supplies at a much faster rate than normal. She had no time to hang about mingling, to find new adventures or meet new species or hear new opinions. For once in her short life, Jenny was single minded, goal oriented like she had never been. Dad, a TARDIS: that’s what it meant to be a Timelady. That common set of memories and experiences, wasn’t it? If she could just find one…
Oh, how she wanted to.
So when the second week came about and the signal started to fade, sadness overtook Jenny like one she had never felt before. Suddenly she felt more in despair, lonelier, and more lost than she even had when she was dying. There was no one holding her tightly this time, no words of comfort as tears brimmed her eyes. Jenny cried out but no one answered. The signal on the computer seemed to flicker and die.
“No!” Jenny began ramming at the buttons furiously, ignoring the way she drifted in space. “Oh! No! You can’t go! You just can’t!”
Her adventure wasn’t over yet. She hadn’t reached her destination! Jenny slammed on the shuttle dashboard, biting her lip and praying to whatever gods - whatever non-gods - were out there to bring the signal back. Minutes later, slowly and surely, something flickered to life on the monitor. The mauve signal began to pulse again, far too faintly but there nonetheless.
Without hesitation, she renewed her search more frantically than before. She had a journey home to complete.
What a beautiful home it turned out to be. As her shuttle finally reached the Medusa Cascade, Jenny stared with wide blue eyes, nearly breathless at one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. She floated slowly within a nebula, blue and greens and yellows and oranges of galactic gasses surrounding her. Somewhere in the distance, stars sparkled. It was breathtaking to behold, the awesome power of the cosmos in this one spot. It almost made her feel uncomfortable. Something wasn’t quite right with it. The hairs on the back of her neck tickled and she almost wanted to run away. The words space-time rift seemed to echo in her head from some part of her that Jenny hadn’t fully delved into before.
Whatever it was, it was quickly dismissed as the signal suddenly revved up in power. She was here. This had to be it! As if to prove it, something floated in to view. Jenny blinked, rubbing at her eyes as she tried to clarify what she saw with, well, what she saw. Could it really be? A wardrobe floating about in the middle of space?
Then she laughed, full of delight and joy. Of course it was a wardrobe! It was more than that! It had to be her TARDIS. A TARDIS of her very own! Jenny didn’t know why it looked like a wardrobe, nor did she care. She had found it! Found it before any of the Raxacoricofallapatorians, before the signal completely disappeared. Jenny laughed again and sped forward.
The seconds seemed to pass by too slowly. When, in reality, it only took a few minutes to move her shuttle adjacent to the floating wardrobe in the Cascade, it felt more like eons to the girl. Carefully, she docked to the TARDIS. Not so carefully, Jenny scrambled out of her seat, took a deep breath, and opened the hatch. The doors to the wardrobe stood open as she pushed herself from space shuttle to time ship quickly enough that passing through space barely harmed her.
Once inside, Jenny could hardly contain herself. This had to be it. It was much bigger on the inside than a wardrobe had any right to be. She found herself standing in some organic looking console room, as if it had been grown on a planet long away, a long time ago. The broken columns and loose wires were ignored for the sheer fascination and excitement of just being there. She whooped in delight, racing around the room as if she belonged there. The TARDIS seemed to give no objection. If anything, his faint glow seemed to brighten at Jenny’s enthusiasm.
“Hello boy,” she greeted him, finally coming to a stop before the console. Although Jenny wasn’t sure of his gender, it just seemed right. “I’m so glad I’ve finally found you! We’re going to have lots of adventures, you and I. First we’ll find Dad and tell him I’m still alive and then we’ll go… oh, we’ll go all over the place. Wherever you want to go! Lots of running through time and space and I bet you that you’ll love it as much as I do!”
Her hands flew over the controls on the console quickly, almost as if working by some unknown instinct. So eager to begin her new adventure, Jenny didn’t even notice the imprinting take place. She acknowledged the new voice in her mind as if it had always been there, just as happy and just as delighted as she was that this quest was completed. Jenny loved him, her very own TARDIS, instantly.
It wasn’t until she began to input coordinates for Earth (if Dad was anywhere, he had to be there) that she noticed something was wrong. As eager as her TARDIS seemed to be for this adventure, he seemed oddly frantic. As if he had to get to Earth now. As if he didn’t have all the time in the universe to make this trip when they really, honestly did.
The realization hit her suddenly. Jenny pulled her hands away from the console controls as if she had been burned. He was dying. Her TARDIS, her new home was dying.
It had, after all, been a distress signal the Raxacoricofallapatorians had interrupted.
Jenny gnawed on her lower lip, wishing the pain would stop the tears in her eyes. Her hearts felt heavier and that grief that had overwhelmed her when the signal died a week ago, that grief she felt at dying, seemed like nothing now. Somehow, this TARDIS survived the war Dad had talked about. Survived, it appeared, only to die in Jenny’s hands.
Tears streamed down her face as she stroked the nearest TARDIS bits to her hand. She inhaled a shattered and shaky breath as she shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, boy. This isn’t right. It’s not supposed to be like this. We were going to go places! We were going to have a home together! We were going to run together, all over the known universe and beyond! Please? Please?”
Her voice cracked. Jenny tried to send the TARDIS happy images. She sent him images of them exploring all sorts of exotic planets, images of spending years travelling and saving people and maybe even taking companions of their own one day. Didn’t he see he had to hang in there? He couldn’t die on her. Not this soon.
“Just… oh, just hold in there. I’ll get you to Dad! He’ll make you better again. You’ll see. He’s the Doctor and what good is a Doctor if he can’t fix people?” Grief gave way to anger and she banged her fist against some strange rectangular monitor. “You have to hang in there. You… you have to.”
But it wasn’t meant to be. As Jenny hugged the center of the console so tightly to keep its song from fading into the cosmos, the wardrobe shaped TARDIS that had seen and lived through so much died. The second his song left her head, she fell to her knees. Jenny squeezed her eyes shut as she sobbed, knowing all too well that she’d have to be leaving again far too soon.
For the second time in her life, death had rendered Jenny completely alone.
[ooc: much, much thanks to rude_not_ginger, eleventh_doctor, and clever_wanderer for the various help in putting together this response]