[shifted_prompts] - real
Green grass had never been so intimidating.
The Grey Lady stood in her doorway, watching the outside world warily. A bird -- she thought it a bird, but could not honestly say it was one, being still within the divergent universe as she was -- a type of avian creature flitted by, its glittering wings catching the light from the sun overhead and reflecting back images of the surrounding tundra. Somewhere nearby, a small creature rustled through the brush. By all accounts, it was a beautiful day.
The TARDIS had never been so terrified.
She was alone, of course, the Doctor having taken Charlotte and C'rizz out into this new world all ready -- a thrill went through her at the very thought. New world. No amount of fear could dilute that ecstasy, of being able to fly again and explore the cosmos, even this foreign, often frightful one.
Unfortunately, she was not flying now and so had no welcome distraction from her fear. She didn't even have Miss Pollard to poke and annoy. It was simply her and the wide open expanses of this new divergent world.
Behind her, the particle excitation modifier whirred quietly beneath her console where the Doctor had attached it. She kept it cloaked when her Doctor was around, not quite willing, yet, for him to see the slip-shod device his later regeneration had given her. She could have, certainly, but she'd decided instead to keep the knowledge to herself until she'd achieved the goal with which the machine was to assist her.
A goal she was currently staring in its non-existant face.
Tentatively, the TARDIS stretched one hand out toward the doors, brushing against the panelling. Her other hand remained at her side, picking at the red fabric of the dress the Doctor had given her. She twisted the cloth almost painfully as the fingers of her other hand moved beyond the threshold of her entrance and into the cool air beyond.
After seventeen tries, she'd finally been able to properly harnass the effects of the modifier. Oh, she'd done it once before, right after the Doctor had installed it, stepped out into the unknown before being snapped back to her interior, but now, this time, she was able to keep her hand outside, phased into the range of her external scanners.
She spent the next three hours practicing stepping outside her doors, familiarising herself with the sensation of existing outside herself, bouyed by the scanners and the Doctor's trinket. By the end of the third hour, she had worked up enough courage to step fully out into the world, unaffected by the elements, a steady shadow in the wind-whipped grass.
Perhaps someday she'd be able to feel the breeze, or the coolness of the dew on her bare feet without the aid of her scanners, could filter the information through direct touch, but she'd yet to figure out exactly how to reroute those receptors.
'Who's there? What are you doing by my TARDIS?'
The TARDIS turned her head to face the man approaching, a bounce to his step but an unreadable expression on his face. He stopped about a foot from where she stood in the grass, the wind catching his own curls and scattering them about his face and head.
Doctor, she said softly, uncertain. She hadn't meant for him to see her yet. Not until she could surprise him by going with him on one of his adventures.
His expression didn't change, but he did raise a hand to run through her own dark curls, cascading in thick ringlets down her back. His hand passed through, leaving a brief sensation of touch without ever making contact. 'Well isn't that clever,' he mused. 'This isn't the agitated protoplasm from before, then.'
No, she answered simply. I cannot sustain that otuside my interior. I am piggy-backing on my scanners in order to see the outside. She paused then, expression sombre, before looking away. I am sorry.
The Doctor raised a brow. 'Whatever for? This is brilliant, old girl! Just look at you, all walking and talking and very grey -- that is terribly dull, isn't it? Can't you add any colour? Well, besides the dress. Lovely, by the way. Very Thirteenth Century. Where did you get it?'
His ship turned back to stare at him, blinking dark eyes, the ghostly grey of her 'flesh' pinkening, pigmenting, until her complexion matched his. There was a certain redness to her cheeks she could not quite mask.
You are alone? she asked, opting to avoid his question. Where are Charlotte and C'rizz?
'Charley,' he corrected immediately. 'And they're about. Hanging about, I mean. Well, literally -- I came to grab some shears to cut them down. But you! This is certainly something. How'd you do it?'
She pointed back toward her console and the machine there attached. The Doctor clapped his hands together and scurried inside to look at it, crawling under the console to see.
'Well, isn't that clever,' he said, voice ringing hollow as she followed him back in, crouching beside him to watch. 'How did I not notice this before?'
I hid it from you, she murmured, head bowed. The Doctor poked his head back out, surprised, and she would not look at him. I did not want you to know until I could properly harnass it. I am sorry.
He mad an 'ohhh,' sound, her earlier apology beginning to make sense. 'How long have you had it?'
Since before leaving the last world. I have been practicing when you and the others leave.
'And why? For what purpose?'
She still would not look at him, hiding her face with her hair. I want to see the world with you, she whispered. I want to share in your adventures as your companions always do. I thought that I might surprise you by joining you one day. I thought that I might please you. Forgive me.
'Oh, TARDIS,' he murmured, taking her hand in his and petting it fondly. 'Ah, I see you're back to protoplasm. Anyway. You've no reason to apologise for that. None at all. What you did was absolutely brilliant. How could I be mad at you for that?'
She blinked. You do not mind that I hid it from you?
The Doctor laughed. 'Mind? Of course not! I love surprises, or have you forgotten? Okay, well, not all surprises. I'd rather not have another scare like when we arrived in this universe, or when Charley became a giant slug -- nasty business, that, though I'm sure you'll disagree. But this! I love this!'
The TARDIS smiled and ducked her head, both embarrassed and proud at the compliment. She was strangely pleased to hear the truth of it, of how happy he was to know she wanted to be with him, at how willing he was to accommodate her whims.
The moment was broken, however, when the Doctor suddenly shot to his feet. 'Shears!' he cried, scurrying about her console room and into his study area, searching frantically through drawers and cupboards. 'I know I've got a pair in here somewhere. Blast it all, where are they?'
Without speaking, the TARDIS waved him toward the other end of his study, a cupboard opening slowly to reveal a pair of pruning shears and an assortment of gardening tools. The Doctor grinned and grabbed them, making his way back to his ship's main entrance. He made sure to grab her hand on the way, dragging her along with him.
Doctor? she asked, confused, as he pulled her through the threshold. It was too sudden a shift and she disappeared immediately, flickering back into existence the other side of the door; the Doctor turned toward her, impatient.
'Well, are you coming or not? We've not got all day.'
You want me to?
He laughed. 'I can't think of anything else I'd want.'
She didn't answer at first, uncertain, then nodded and, ever so carefully, stepped through her doorway.
'We'll have to work on that ghost thing, though,' the Doctor noted, taking off toward a copse of trees lining the base of a nearby rocky hillside. 'Can't have a proper adventure if you can't feel anything, now can you? Just ask Charley and C'rizz, they'll tell you.'
She decided to refrain from telling him she could sense everything all ready, opting instead to think of the possiblity of one day being able to hold his hand as they ran across a field toward friends and danger alike.
Character: The TARDIS
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: ~1,269
The Grey Lady stood in her doorway, watching the outside world warily. A bird -- she thought it a bird, but could not honestly say it was one, being still within the divergent universe as she was -- a type of avian creature flitted by, its glittering wings catching the light from the sun overhead and reflecting back images of the surrounding tundra. Somewhere nearby, a small creature rustled through the brush. By all accounts, it was a beautiful day.
The TARDIS had never been so terrified.
She was alone, of course, the Doctor having taken Charlotte and C'rizz out into this new world all ready -- a thrill went through her at the very thought. New world. No amount of fear could dilute that ecstasy, of being able to fly again and explore the cosmos, even this foreign, often frightful one.
Unfortunately, she was not flying now and so had no welcome distraction from her fear. She didn't even have Miss Pollard to poke and annoy. It was simply her and the wide open expanses of this new divergent world.
Behind her, the particle excitation modifier whirred quietly beneath her console where the Doctor had attached it. She kept it cloaked when her Doctor was around, not quite willing, yet, for him to see the slip-shod device his later regeneration had given her. She could have, certainly, but she'd decided instead to keep the knowledge to herself until she'd achieved the goal with which the machine was to assist her.
A goal she was currently staring in its non-existant face.
Tentatively, the TARDIS stretched one hand out toward the doors, brushing against the panelling. Her other hand remained at her side, picking at the red fabric of the dress the Doctor had given her. She twisted the cloth almost painfully as the fingers of her other hand moved beyond the threshold of her entrance and into the cool air beyond.
After seventeen tries, she'd finally been able to properly harnass the effects of the modifier. Oh, she'd done it once before, right after the Doctor had installed it, stepped out into the unknown before being snapped back to her interior, but now, this time, she was able to keep her hand outside, phased into the range of her external scanners.
She spent the next three hours practicing stepping outside her doors, familiarising herself with the sensation of existing outside herself, bouyed by the scanners and the Doctor's trinket. By the end of the third hour, she had worked up enough courage to step fully out into the world, unaffected by the elements, a steady shadow in the wind-whipped grass.
Perhaps someday she'd be able to feel the breeze, or the coolness of the dew on her bare feet without the aid of her scanners, could filter the information through direct touch, but she'd yet to figure out exactly how to reroute those receptors.
'Who's there? What are you doing by my TARDIS?'
The TARDIS turned her head to face the man approaching, a bounce to his step but an unreadable expression on his face. He stopped about a foot from where she stood in the grass, the wind catching his own curls and scattering them about his face and head.
Doctor, she said softly, uncertain. She hadn't meant for him to see her yet. Not until she could surprise him by going with him on one of his adventures.
His expression didn't change, but he did raise a hand to run through her own dark curls, cascading in thick ringlets down her back. His hand passed through, leaving a brief sensation of touch without ever making contact. 'Well isn't that clever,' he mused. 'This isn't the agitated protoplasm from before, then.'
No, she answered simply. I cannot sustain that otuside my interior. I am piggy-backing on my scanners in order to see the outside. She paused then, expression sombre, before looking away. I am sorry.
The Doctor raised a brow. 'Whatever for? This is brilliant, old girl! Just look at you, all walking and talking and very grey -- that is terribly dull, isn't it? Can't you add any colour? Well, besides the dress. Lovely, by the way. Very Thirteenth Century. Where did you get it?'
His ship turned back to stare at him, blinking dark eyes, the ghostly grey of her 'flesh' pinkening, pigmenting, until her complexion matched his. There was a certain redness to her cheeks she could not quite mask.
You are alone? she asked, opting to avoid his question. Where are Charlotte and C'rizz?
'Charley,' he corrected immediately. 'And they're about. Hanging about, I mean. Well, literally -- I came to grab some shears to cut them down. But you! This is certainly something. How'd you do it?'
She pointed back toward her console and the machine there attached. The Doctor clapped his hands together and scurried inside to look at it, crawling under the console to see.
'Well, isn't that clever,' he said, voice ringing hollow as she followed him back in, crouching beside him to watch. 'How did I not notice this before?'
I hid it from you, she murmured, head bowed. The Doctor poked his head back out, surprised, and she would not look at him. I did not want you to know until I could properly harnass it. I am sorry.
He mad an 'ohhh,' sound, her earlier apology beginning to make sense. 'How long have you had it?'
Since before leaving the last world. I have been practicing when you and the others leave.
'And why? For what purpose?'
She still would not look at him, hiding her face with her hair. I want to see the world with you, she whispered. I want to share in your adventures as your companions always do. I thought that I might surprise you by joining you one day. I thought that I might please you. Forgive me.
'Oh, TARDIS,' he murmured, taking her hand in his and petting it fondly. 'Ah, I see you're back to protoplasm. Anyway. You've no reason to apologise for that. None at all. What you did was absolutely brilliant. How could I be mad at you for that?'
She blinked. You do not mind that I hid it from you?
The Doctor laughed. 'Mind? Of course not! I love surprises, or have you forgotten? Okay, well, not all surprises. I'd rather not have another scare like when we arrived in this universe, or when Charley became a giant slug -- nasty business, that, though I'm sure you'll disagree. But this! I love this!'
The TARDIS smiled and ducked her head, both embarrassed and proud at the compliment. She was strangely pleased to hear the truth of it, of how happy he was to know she wanted to be with him, at how willing he was to accommodate her whims.
The moment was broken, however, when the Doctor suddenly shot to his feet. 'Shears!' he cried, scurrying about her console room and into his study area, searching frantically through drawers and cupboards. 'I know I've got a pair in here somewhere. Blast it all, where are they?'
Without speaking, the TARDIS waved him toward the other end of his study, a cupboard opening slowly to reveal a pair of pruning shears and an assortment of gardening tools. The Doctor grinned and grabbed them, making his way back to his ship's main entrance. He made sure to grab her hand on the way, dragging her along with him.
Doctor? she asked, confused, as he pulled her through the threshold. It was too sudden a shift and she disappeared immediately, flickering back into existence the other side of the door; the Doctor turned toward her, impatient.
'Well, are you coming or not? We've not got all day.'
You want me to?
He laughed. 'I can't think of anything else I'd want.'
She didn't answer at first, uncertain, then nodded and, ever so carefully, stepped through her doorway.
'We'll have to work on that ghost thing, though,' the Doctor noted, taking off toward a copse of trees lining the base of a nearby rocky hillside. 'Can't have a proper adventure if you can't feel anything, now can you? Just ask Charley and C'rizz, they'll tell you.'
She decided to refrain from telling him she could sense everything all ready, opting instead to think of the possiblity of one day being able to hold his hand as they ran across a field toward friends and danger alike.
Character: The TARDIS
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: ~1,269