fic: fairy tale drabbles, and housekeeping
The Doctor’s been to a lot of museums, but the Delirium Archive is his favorite.
It’s even better after he knows what it is, after he’s battled at Demon’s Run and then gets to come back to it long after all traces of military aggression have been obliterated by informative little brass plaques and gift shops. It’s so much better when he gets to return in triumph to the last holdout of the Headless Monks, arm-in-arm with the fantastic woman they wanted to weaponize and then destroy.
He doesn’t like to gloat, usually, or savor the downfall of his enemies. But for River’s sake, he’ll make an exception.
“Oh! That one’s mine - and that one, and that one,” he says, spinning around the Nautilus chamber. “I only messed about a bit with that one, the plaid didn’t suit me, I told them, I said, just wait until bagpipes come along! And that one - oh, that’s just wrong, why even bother if you’re not going to mention the badger…”
River’s leaning on the doorframe, watching him with a faint smile. “You know, Doctor, I’ve never asked you,” she says after a moment. “This game, this keeping score - who’s on the other side?”
The Doctor doesn’t turn to answer her, but as he leans over a pair of incarnadine tablets, she hears him mutter a word in Gallifreyan.
He’s been teaching her their language, bit by bit, but she’s never heard this word before. It has components of death - but also history, and stillness, and something like entropy.
“Ah,” she says quietly. “I see.”
Prompt: 085. Who gives his own goods shall receive it back tenfold.
Author: melignomon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy and Rory alien-sit.
Word count: 341
The Doctor bounds out of the TARDIS into the Ponds’ front hall. “Supernova all sorted! How are we doing here, then? Everyone having a good time?”
His Ponds are waiting for him, looking as though they are having the opposite of a good time. On the other hand, the couple of dozen squirrel-sized purple aliens skittering around their feet look to be having the time of their lives.
“Four days!” Amy bursts out. “I can’t believe you left us alien-sitting for four days! You said two hours!”
“Oh, come on, Amy, they’re harmless! And they’re cute, look -” The Doctor bends down to pick up one of the creatures. It lifts a tentacle and squelches at him. “Well, harmless anyway,” he mutters, pulling his hand back.
“They ate our kitchen table!”
“Well that was very naughty of them!” The Doctor turns to the nearest clump of creatures. “That’s hardly the proper way for full-grown Graaxlfes to behave, is it?” To Amy’s amazement, the little creatures stop clambering over the walls and gather on the floor, hanging their eyestalks in shame. “No! It isn’t!” the Doctor says. “And you’re going to give the nice Ponds their table back right away, aren’t you?”
The creatures nod.
“Williamses,” Rory says automatically, but no one pays any mind. The creatures skitter out into the space between the humans and the Doctor, humming a high note. There’s a moment of shimmery strangeness, and a light so bright that Amy is forced to close her eyes, and when she opens them there’s a huge table blocking the hallway, made entirely of blue-white diamond.
“Very good!” the Doctor says, tickling the nearest creature. “Atomic matrix reconfiguration,” he says to Amy and Rory. He turns back to the TARDIS and flings the doors open, ushering all the Graaxlfes inside. “Goodbye, Ponds!” he shouts over his shoulder, and he’s gone.
The table is still there, still solid, still sparkling faintly in the morning light.
After a while Rory says “It’s a good thing we didn’t tell him about the car.”
Prompt: 097. The wishing ring.
Author: melignomon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy knows fairy tales.
Word count: 252
Before their wedding, it had always been Rory telling Amy to be careful with her engagement ring, Rory worrying about it getting lost or tarnished or left by the wayside somewhere because Amy had wanted to show it off. He was always afraid of her habit of running roughshod over the things she loved.
After the wedding (and her death and the Pandorica and the end of the universe), things were different.
Now Amy wears the plain wedding band with pride, but the engagement ring is shut in its little velvet box, never on her finger but never far away. She tells Rory that she doesn’t want to lose it, which is true; for their first two months in Leadworth she carries it with her constantly, as a charm against misfortune, and she takes it to America in the bottom of her knapsack. Rory, being preoccupied with other things, never bothers to ask her about it. So Amy never tells him about how that ring helped bring him back, kept him from slipping entirely out of her memory even when he hadn’t existed anymore, and it’s silly and superstitious but she can’t help believing that maybe someday it’ll help bring him back to her again, and she needs to guard it carefully until then.
She knows that Rory will come back to her always, with or without some silly ring. But she also knows fairy tales, and she knows that tokens of love are powerful things and not to be taken lightly.
It’s even better after he knows what it is, after he’s battled at Demon’s Run and then gets to come back to it long after all traces of military aggression have been obliterated by informative little brass plaques and gift shops. It’s so much better when he gets to return in triumph to the last holdout of the Headless Monks, arm-in-arm with the fantastic woman they wanted to weaponize and then destroy.
He doesn’t like to gloat, usually, or savor the downfall of his enemies. But for River’s sake, he’ll make an exception.
“Oh! That one’s mine - and that one, and that one,” he says, spinning around the Nautilus chamber. “I only messed about a bit with that one, the plaid didn’t suit me, I told them, I said, just wait until bagpipes come along! And that one - oh, that’s just wrong, why even bother if you’re not going to mention the badger…”
River’s leaning on the doorframe, watching him with a faint smile. “You know, Doctor, I’ve never asked you,” she says after a moment. “This game, this keeping score - who’s on the other side?”
The Doctor doesn’t turn to answer her, but as he leans over a pair of incarnadine tablets, she hears him mutter a word in Gallifreyan.
He’s been teaching her their language, bit by bit, but she’s never heard this word before. It has components of death - but also history, and stillness, and something like entropy.
“Ah,” she says quietly. “I see.”
Prompt: 085. Who gives his own goods shall receive it back tenfold.
Author: melignomon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy and Rory alien-sit.
Word count: 341
The Doctor bounds out of the TARDIS into the Ponds’ front hall. “Supernova all sorted! How are we doing here, then? Everyone having a good time?”
His Ponds are waiting for him, looking as though they are having the opposite of a good time. On the other hand, the couple of dozen squirrel-sized purple aliens skittering around their feet look to be having the time of their lives.
“Four days!” Amy bursts out. “I can’t believe you left us alien-sitting for four days! You said two hours!”
“Oh, come on, Amy, they’re harmless! And they’re cute, look -” The Doctor bends down to pick up one of the creatures. It lifts a tentacle and squelches at him. “Well, harmless anyway,” he mutters, pulling his hand back.
“They ate our kitchen table!”
“Well that was very naughty of them!” The Doctor turns to the nearest clump of creatures. “That’s hardly the proper way for full-grown Graaxlfes to behave, is it?” To Amy’s amazement, the little creatures stop clambering over the walls and gather on the floor, hanging their eyestalks in shame. “No! It isn’t!” the Doctor says. “And you’re going to give the nice Ponds their table back right away, aren’t you?”
The creatures nod.
“Williamses,” Rory says automatically, but no one pays any mind. The creatures skitter out into the space between the humans and the Doctor, humming a high note. There’s a moment of shimmery strangeness, and a light so bright that Amy is forced to close her eyes, and when she opens them there’s a huge table blocking the hallway, made entirely of blue-white diamond.
“Very good!” the Doctor says, tickling the nearest creature. “Atomic matrix reconfiguration,” he says to Amy and Rory. He turns back to the TARDIS and flings the doors open, ushering all the Graaxlfes inside. “Goodbye, Ponds!” he shouts over his shoulder, and he’s gone.
The table is still there, still solid, still sparkling faintly in the morning light.
After a while Rory says “It’s a good thing we didn’t tell him about the car.”
Prompt: 097. The wishing ring.
Author: melignomon
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Amy knows fairy tales.
Word count: 252
Before their wedding, it had always been Rory telling Amy to be careful with her engagement ring, Rory worrying about it getting lost or tarnished or left by the wayside somewhere because Amy had wanted to show it off. He was always afraid of her habit of running roughshod over the things she loved.
After the wedding (and her death and the Pandorica and the end of the universe), things were different.
Now Amy wears the plain wedding band with pride, but the engagement ring is shut in its little velvet box, never on her finger but never far away. She tells Rory that she doesn’t want to lose it, which is true; for their first two months in Leadworth she carries it with her constantly, as a charm against misfortune, and she takes it to America in the bottom of her knapsack. Rory, being preoccupied with other things, never bothers to ask her about it. So Amy never tells him about how that ring helped bring him back, kept him from slipping entirely out of her memory even when he hadn’t existed anymore, and it’s silly and superstitious but she can’t help believing that maybe someday it’ll help bring him back to her again, and she needs to guard it carefully until then.
She knows that Rory will come back to her always, with or without some silly ring. But she also knows fairy tales, and she knows that tokens of love are powerful things and not to be taken lightly.