Doctor Who ficlet: Roadside Assistance | Donna, Shaun | PG
Title: Roadside Assistance
Author: rustydog
Characters: Donna, Shaun, dragon
Rating/warnings: PG; set after Series 4
Words: 1050
Notes: It's St. George's Day, and while it's perhaps not as seasonally appropriate as this article, I couldn't resist playing hooky to bring my dragon out to play. Unbeta'd, so please feel free to speak up if you notice problems.
Well, this was a fine mess.
"You call the AA," Donna commanded, handing Shaun a sheaf of papers she had retrieved from the glove box, "I'll have a look under the bonnet."
"But it's dangerous! Donna, look at that steam, it's like a smokestack. What can you do?"
"If I can make an FC120 copier talk to a state-of-the-art Canon CLC5151 and collate and staple and force both of them to cooperate with an obsolete model of toner drum? I don't think a car engine's gonna be a problem."
And that was that. While Shaun was dialing, the bonnet went up, and by the time he had navigated through the menu options with the breakdown service, the scary smoke had decreased to a thin stream. Then he heard Donna's voice, and it didn't sound happy.
"What? WHAT?"
Maybe he should get out and help.
"What do you think you're doing here?" he heard her demand.
Who? But there'd been no one along this country road for miles. Visions of irrationally angry farmers or pervy predators flashing through his mind, Shaun was out of the car like a shot and around the front - where he swore, stopped short and almost tripped over himself.
"Shaun. Get back in the car," Donna said without taking her eyes off of the thing in front of them.
"But-"
"I can handle this." She was narrowing her eyes at it. Shaun knew that look, and he almost felt sorry for her opponent -- but he wasn't going to leave her.
"Donna... it's a bleeding dragon."
Donna gave an irritated huff. "It's not a dragon, Shaun, it's a..." she waved her hand in the air dismissively, "something out of the the deep ocean that they haven't discovered yet. Anyway it was just leaving, weren't you?" She took a step toward it. Shaun leaned in Donna's direction but didn't quite take a step.
The creature, well, if it wasn't a dragon, all the illustrations he'd ever seen had done a hell of a job guessing. It was huge, long and scaly, with great clawed feet like a crocodile and a head something like a giant sea horse. The only difference was, it wasn't green, it was white and sort of a shimmery blue. He wasn't sure, but those purplish things might be wings folded along its sides. Its tail looked like an enormous snake, and its skin was giving off... smoke? steam? Probably so it could breathe fire.
Why were they just standing here again? "Really, Donna, come back in the car," he called.
She wasn't finished. "Did you follow us?" Why was she talking to it? "I saw you on our roof. And flying over the motorway."
"Wait, Donna, you said that noise on the roof was probably a cat. When I said it must be a tiger, then - you said I was wrong!"
"You were wrong, and I had seen it, I just wasn't sure. I don't usually see things like this, you know."
That was true. She'd once missed a meteor that crashed right into their neighbor's flat and started a fire on the rug in front of the telly.
The dragon took a lumbering step toward Donna. Shaun wanted to move, but his feet felt glued to the ground. With horror, he watched his wife raise her finger and shake it in the dragon's face.
"You get out of here right now, back to whatever cave or lagoon you wriggled out of, and STOP STALKING US. You don't belong here, you big ugly-"
Donna was interrupted by a puff of steam from the dragon's nostrils. The white cloud enveloped her face for a moment, then dissipated, leaving her eyebrows and fringe a strange, frosty white. She exhaled sharply with shock. "It's - cold!"
Finally Shaun found he could move, and he began to run toward Donna, crossing in front of the car. But before he could reach her, the dragon placed its nose right against her body and gave a firm nudge, moving her away from the car and away from Shaun. Now the dragon was blocking his path to Donna, and coming straight for him. Shaun threw himself out of the way and waited for the inevitable.
But when he turned back again to look, the dragon had passed him by and was positioning itself right in front of the car's engine... which was in flames. When had that happened? He'd been concentrating so hard on Donna and this beast, he hadn't even noticed the car.
Maybe it was attracted to fire. Maybe it thought the car was its child or something. Oh, god. He wondered if the AA ever sent its people out with elephant tranquilizers.
The dragon appeared to take a deep breath, and Shaun shouted at Donna to get away. He couldn't see her, he hoped she was all right. Shaun ducked his head, waiting for a blast of heat.
But what came out of the dragon's mouth and nostrils was not fire. It was white, soft and curling - a fog, almost. It settled over the engine with a hissss, and when it cleared, the fire was gone. The front of the car glistened as if it was covered with frost. Then the dragon grunted, backed away from the car, and began to turn itself.
It seemed to take ages for the great feet to re-position themselves and the yards of tail to curl and glide back around the body. Finally the dragon was facing the other direction, the purplish wings unfurled, and the beast, incredibly, was lifting off the ground.
As it moved away, Shaun ran over to Donna, who appeared mussed but unharmed. He hugged her, she told him not to fuss, and they turned to look at the dragon. It was high in the air now and three fields away.
"Would you look at that," Shaun exclaimed, and pointed to the ground in front of the car. Where the dragon had been standing, the ground was covered with frost, and a rain puddle to the side was turned to ice. Donna nodded and looked back to where the creature was disappearing over the horizon.
"It really wasn't ugly," she admitted.
Shaun chuckled and kissed her on the head. "No, I suppose it wasn't."
"Now, where's the bloody breakdown service?"
Author: rustydog
Characters: Donna, Shaun, dragon
Rating/warnings: PG; set after Series 4
Words: 1050
Notes: It's St. George's Day, and while it's perhaps not as seasonally appropriate as this article, I couldn't resist playing hooky to bring my dragon out to play. Unbeta'd, so please feel free to speak up if you notice problems.
Well, this was a fine mess.
"You call the AA," Donna commanded, handing Shaun a sheaf of papers she had retrieved from the glove box, "I'll have a look under the bonnet."
"But it's dangerous! Donna, look at that steam, it's like a smokestack. What can you do?"
"If I can make an FC120 copier talk to a state-of-the-art Canon CLC5151 and collate and staple and force both of them to cooperate with an obsolete model of toner drum? I don't think a car engine's gonna be a problem."
And that was that. While Shaun was dialing, the bonnet went up, and by the time he had navigated through the menu options with the breakdown service, the scary smoke had decreased to a thin stream. Then he heard Donna's voice, and it didn't sound happy.
"What? WHAT?"
Maybe he should get out and help.
"What do you think you're doing here?" he heard her demand.
Who? But there'd been no one along this country road for miles. Visions of irrationally angry farmers or pervy predators flashing through his mind, Shaun was out of the car like a shot and around the front - where he swore, stopped short and almost tripped over himself.
"Shaun. Get back in the car," Donna said without taking her eyes off of the thing in front of them.
"But-"
"I can handle this." She was narrowing her eyes at it. Shaun knew that look, and he almost felt sorry for her opponent -- but he wasn't going to leave her.
"Donna... it's a bleeding dragon."
Donna gave an irritated huff. "It's not a dragon, Shaun, it's a..." she waved her hand in the air dismissively, "something out of the the deep ocean that they haven't discovered yet. Anyway it was just leaving, weren't you?" She took a step toward it. Shaun leaned in Donna's direction but didn't quite take a step.
The creature, well, if it wasn't a dragon, all the illustrations he'd ever seen had done a hell of a job guessing. It was huge, long and scaly, with great clawed feet like a crocodile and a head something like a giant sea horse. The only difference was, it wasn't green, it was white and sort of a shimmery blue. He wasn't sure, but those purplish things might be wings folded along its sides. Its tail looked like an enormous snake, and its skin was giving off... smoke? steam? Probably so it could breathe fire.
Why were they just standing here again? "Really, Donna, come back in the car," he called.
She wasn't finished. "Did you follow us?" Why was she talking to it? "I saw you on our roof. And flying over the motorway."
"Wait, Donna, you said that noise on the roof was probably a cat. When I said it must be a tiger, then - you said I was wrong!"
"You were wrong, and I had seen it, I just wasn't sure. I don't usually see things like this, you know."
That was true. She'd once missed a meteor that crashed right into their neighbor's flat and started a fire on the rug in front of the telly.
The dragon took a lumbering step toward Donna. Shaun wanted to move, but his feet felt glued to the ground. With horror, he watched his wife raise her finger and shake it in the dragon's face.
"You get out of here right now, back to whatever cave or lagoon you wriggled out of, and STOP STALKING US. You don't belong here, you big ugly-"
Donna was interrupted by a puff of steam from the dragon's nostrils. The white cloud enveloped her face for a moment, then dissipated, leaving her eyebrows and fringe a strange, frosty white. She exhaled sharply with shock. "It's - cold!"
Finally Shaun found he could move, and he began to run toward Donna, crossing in front of the car. But before he could reach her, the dragon placed its nose right against her body and gave a firm nudge, moving her away from the car and away from Shaun. Now the dragon was blocking his path to Donna, and coming straight for him. Shaun threw himself out of the way and waited for the inevitable.
But when he turned back again to look, the dragon had passed him by and was positioning itself right in front of the car's engine... which was in flames. When had that happened? He'd been concentrating so hard on Donna and this beast, he hadn't even noticed the car.
Maybe it was attracted to fire. Maybe it thought the car was its child or something. Oh, god. He wondered if the AA ever sent its people out with elephant tranquilizers.
The dragon appeared to take a deep breath, and Shaun shouted at Donna to get away. He couldn't see her, he hoped she was all right. Shaun ducked his head, waiting for a blast of heat.
But what came out of the dragon's mouth and nostrils was not fire. It was white, soft and curling - a fog, almost. It settled over the engine with a hissss, and when it cleared, the fire was gone. The front of the car glistened as if it was covered with frost. Then the dragon grunted, backed away from the car, and began to turn itself.
It seemed to take ages for the great feet to re-position themselves and the yards of tail to curl and glide back around the body. Finally the dragon was facing the other direction, the purplish wings unfurled, and the beast, incredibly, was lifting off the ground.
As it moved away, Shaun ran over to Donna, who appeared mussed but unharmed. He hugged her, she told him not to fuss, and they turned to look at the dragon. It was high in the air now and three fields away.
"Would you look at that," Shaun exclaimed, and pointed to the ground in front of the car. Where the dragon had been standing, the ground was covered with frost, and a rain puddle to the side was turned to ice. Donna nodded and looked back to where the creature was disappearing over the horizon.
"It really wasn't ugly," she admitted.
Shaun chuckled and kissed her on the head. "No, I suppose it wasn't."
"Now, where's the bloody breakdown service?"