Another In-a, With-a While-a challenge.
Title: Time Traveller
Serena trailed her hand through the pond, giggling as the carp inhabiting it chased after her fingers, nibbling at them gently. At least they were having a good time.
"Oh dear."
The blonde looked up, her eyes focusing on the strange girl standing before her. The girl was wearing a Victorian style gown with a bustle, and a large hat covered in flowers and ribbons. Her coffee-coloured hair was arranged in artful curls, and she frowned at the watch in her hand.
"Oh poo, it's fast." She tapped the glass pensively. Her face lit up when she spotted Serena. "Excuse me miss, but you wouldn't happen to know the date, would you? I'm horribly late for an appointment, you see." Her gloved hands twisted anxiously around the handle of an umbrella.
"Um...it's the sixth of June..why?" Serena asked, bemused.
"The year, too, if you would, dearie." Her English was horribly out of place, almost as odd as her choice of clothing.
"2007...."
"Bother! Oh drat, how could I get it so wrong?!" She shook the ancient fob watch angrily. "That's what I get for buying second hand. Quality over quantity, my mother always said. And now I'll have to wait until...oh, I say! Does that usually happen?" She pointed.
Serena followed the finger, blue eyes widening at the sight of a little dinosaur skeleton tottering off of its pillar. The entire park was full of such monuments, things like Alice with Dina, dinosaur eggs surrounded by skeleton parents, and even a fish holding an umbrella in its mouth.
"No..." she answered, feeling a bit out of sorts. This was indeed a strange day.
"Blast, I must have disrupted the temporal field when I came into this timeline. Oh darn and darn again! How can one complete an accurate time jump and visit one's ancestors, if one has to deal with all these bloody nitpicky problems. I'm gonna kill that bloody eejit this time, I swear."
Serena listened, amused, as the strange girl's voice went from undeniably posh all the way down the spectrum until she sounded a bit like gutter trash, albeit gutter trash that knew the letter 'h' was sometimes pronounced.
"- I'll rip out his spine and wear it as a tiara. I'm gonna use his intestines as stockings at Christmas...and...and...I'll cut his hair!"
Serena laughed. "I'm Serena Bentley," she introduced herself, holding out her hand.
"Celia Bentley-Smythe...say...is your mother Christina Saunders? And is your father Arthur Bentley, the dentist?" Her blue eyes lit up.
"Yes...why..." Now Serena was on her guard. What did this girl want?
"Excellent! I may be in the wrong time, but I can still meet my ancestors!" She clapped her hands. "But plenty of time for the technicals, later. Why don't you give me a tour around your fine playground, Serena? Is that what you 21st century folk call a sand pit? Why is it called that?" She looped her arm through Serena's.
"Uh...because it's a pit full of sand?" Serena suggested with a smile, noting that the skeleton was trailing along behind them. This had to be a dream, so she might as well enjoy it. "Um...the dino's following us."
"Nevermind, she'll become a statue again when I leave. Now, perhaps you can answer The Question that has plagued my time for years. What, exactly, is a Water Closet?"
And with that, the strange trio made their way around the park, a very amused blonde explaining the principles behind English plumbing as they did so.