Rec: Downtime
Story: Downtime
Author: cryptile
Rating: None given
Word Count: 4418
Author's Summary: So much for leaving at Christmas . . .
Characters/Pairings: Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler, The Doctor (10th), The TARDIS
Warnings: None given
Recced because: No second chances? A masterful story, at turns touching, chilling, and humorous. Set between "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth," it deals with a newly-regenerated Ten fixing the TARDIS while Earth-bound with the Tyler family. There's a beautiful through-line about change and the development of the new Tenth Doctor.
He's on the roof again.
She's here, too. Usually that makes the business of staring down the face that much harder, but today is a good day to be him and a bad day to be paint.
"So I read up about phoenixes."
[...]
"So, I knew they were supposed to be birds, or fire birds or whatever, but no one told me about them burnin' themselves like that."
"Pyromaniac birds must have a horrible time with nest-building."
"Bet they don't have to fly south for winter, though."
He's burned his home and he flies everywhere. "And?"
"An' I kind of get what you were tryin' to say."
He almost falters, barely avoids awarding yet another victory to that smug blue mug. Luckily for him, he spent extra time on the expressionless stare this morning. He's always had a good run with that one. Empires have crumbled thanks to that look.
"About how it's still . . . you in there, just all . . different."
Hell. He had to look over. "Bad different?"
She bites her lower lip. "Different like . . . like German German versus Austrian German. Same basic idea, but, you know . . "
"Nuances."
"Yeah, I guess."
"But nothing really gets lost in translation."
She smiles. "No."
Author: cryptile
Rating: None given
Word Count: 4418
Author's Summary: So much for leaving at Christmas . . .
Characters/Pairings: Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith, Rose Tyler, The Doctor (10th), The TARDIS
Warnings: None given
Recced because: No second chances? A masterful story, at turns touching, chilling, and humorous. Set between "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth," it deals with a newly-regenerated Ten fixing the TARDIS while Earth-bound with the Tyler family. There's a beautiful through-line about change and the development of the new Tenth Doctor.
He's on the roof again.
She's here, too. Usually that makes the business of staring down the face that much harder, but today is a good day to be him and a bad day to be paint.
"So I read up about phoenixes."
[...]
"So, I knew they were supposed to be birds, or fire birds or whatever, but no one told me about them burnin' themselves like that."
"Pyromaniac birds must have a horrible time with nest-building."
"Bet they don't have to fly south for winter, though."
He's burned his home and he flies everywhere. "And?"
"An' I kind of get what you were tryin' to say."
He almost falters, barely avoids awarding yet another victory to that smug blue mug. Luckily for him, he spent extra time on the expressionless stare this morning. He's always had a good run with that one. Empires have crumbled thanks to that look.
"About how it's still . . . you in there, just all . . different."
Hell. He had to look over. "Bad different?"
She bites her lower lip. "Different like . . . like German German versus Austrian German. Same basic idea, but, you know . . "
"Nuances."
"Yeah, I guess."
"But nothing really gets lost in translation."
She smiles. "No."