Treasures of Lost Gallifrey: Chapter 2
Title: Treasures of Lost Gallifrey
Rating: This chapter, G; later almost certainly PG or R
Characters: Nine, Jack, Rose (later, possibly Nine/Jack with lots of angst)
Spoilers: None, really
Chapter: 2/?
Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to the Beeb. I make no claim to them. I’m just here to have fun.
Summary: The Doctor, Jack, and Rose stop in a trade and resort town. During a shopping expedition, the Doctor finds something extraordinary, something rare, something that makes him very, very angry....
Comments: I'd hoped to move our heroes further along than I have here, but I find I'm trying to plot carefully. We'll see how it goes. In the meanwhile.... --Comments are love. Enjoy!
Chapter One: The Merchant's Wares
Chapter Two: Movement
"He's making money off of the ashes of my people, off the ashes of Gallifrey."
"We've got to find him," Rose said.
The Doctor turned his gaze to Rose. "We will."
They arrived three hours before dawn. There was no precision with the TARDIS, or very little, and rarely when it was wanted. So they had to wait.
The Doctor stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe, looking out over Palla City. Jack leaned against the console, watching the Doctor.
Rose had succumbed to sleep on the jump seat only an hour before. Jack smiled, remembering her trying valiantly not to nod off. When her breathing became deep and even, Jack had lifted her gently and taken her to her room so she could sleep properly. Then he'd come back. He'd been watching the Doctor ever since.
The man hadn't moved. Hadn't said a word.
Jack couldn't remember ever seeing the Doctor resort to violence. He never lifted a hand to someone else, never used a gun, always found a way to deal with a situation with his head, not his fists. The fact that the Doctor had overturned the merchant's table was a telltale sign of just how serious the situation was. This was unprecedented, at least in Jack's experience.
The Doctor's stillness now was such a contrast. Jack could see the tension in him, how square and hard his shoulders were.
"It rises eventually," Jack finally said.
No response.
"The sun. You know: the planet turns, the light spreads..."
"I know." The Doctor turned his head just enough so that Jack could see his profile. Not for the first time did he find himself thinking of the faces of ancient sculptures and Roman coins. The man was beautiful; did he have any idea?
Jack walked to the Doctor, giving the Doctor ample notice of his approach. Jack put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Then relax. You can't make the planet move any faster." And because he couldn't keep himself from doing it, he put one hand on the Doctor's neck and kissed his cheek. The Doctor didn't move. He didn't respond. His eyes glittered. This was killing him, the waiting, the not knowing, the wondering about who was perpetrating such a crime. Jack stroked the Doctor's stubble-roughened cheek with his thumb.
"How about some tea?" he said. "A watched sun never rises."
The Doctor's mouth quirked at that. He looked out the doorway again, and then back at Jack.
"None of that artificial sweetener, though," he said. "Burns me mouth."
###
Once the market opened, Jack stationed himself in the stall opposite the collectible seller's. The green merchant seemed to have recovered from the Doctor's outburst pretty well, his shop fully stocked as though nothing had happened. Jack saw no trace of vortex channels among his wares. That was a start, at least.
The Doctor stood casually in the stall perusing its wares like just another customer. Rose was stationed on the other side of the stall. The green-skinned merchant stood in the corner wringing his hands.
People came and went. But when a tall, thin, red-haired woman walking with a cane and wearing a sort of backpack entered the stall, there was a change in the merchant's body language, a tension. The Doctor and Rose, each in turn, glanced at Jack. He nodded, noting that the other day, the merchant had referred to this person as a "he." Interesting. A disguise? A metamorph of some kind?
Rose stepped out of the stall to one side. Jack strolled over, put his arm around Rose's waist, and said, "Find anything interesting, honey?"
The woman went directly to the merchant and swung her pack off of her shoulder onto a chair. The green man looked around nervously, then said, "And what have you for me today, Mischa?"
As Rose pointed out a brightly painted plate, Jack tried to listen to the murmured conversation at the back of the stall. They were whispering and apparently haggling over unseen items inside the pack, but Jack couldn't make out discrete words.
The woman, Mischa, was there 15 minutes or so, perhaps a little longer. When she and the merchant came to an agreement on price, they shook hands, then she emptied her bag into a basket he held out for her. Jack saw the telltale glitter of what looked like vortex channels, several by the sound of their cascading into the basket. He glanced at the Doctor, who had a better vantage point, and the Doctor nodded.
When Mischo was done, she hoisted her pack over her shoulder and turned to go. They let the woman pass between them, through the stall and out into the crowd. Jack, Rose and the Doctor followed.
Rating: This chapter, G; later almost certainly PG or R
Characters: Nine, Jack, Rose (later, possibly Nine/Jack with lots of angst)
Spoilers: None, really
Chapter: 2/?
Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to the Beeb. I make no claim to them. I’m just here to have fun.
Summary: The Doctor, Jack, and Rose stop in a trade and resort town. During a shopping expedition, the Doctor finds something extraordinary, something rare, something that makes him very, very angry....
Comments: I'd hoped to move our heroes further along than I have here, but I find I'm trying to plot carefully. We'll see how it goes. In the meanwhile.... --Comments are love. Enjoy!
Chapter One: The Merchant's Wares
Chapter Two: Movement
"He's making money off of the ashes of my people, off the ashes of Gallifrey."
"We've got to find him," Rose said.
The Doctor turned his gaze to Rose. "We will."
They arrived three hours before dawn. There was no precision with the TARDIS, or very little, and rarely when it was wanted. So they had to wait.
The Doctor stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe, looking out over Palla City. Jack leaned against the console, watching the Doctor.
Rose had succumbed to sleep on the jump seat only an hour before. Jack smiled, remembering her trying valiantly not to nod off. When her breathing became deep and even, Jack had lifted her gently and taken her to her room so she could sleep properly. Then he'd come back. He'd been watching the Doctor ever since.
The man hadn't moved. Hadn't said a word.
Jack couldn't remember ever seeing the Doctor resort to violence. He never lifted a hand to someone else, never used a gun, always found a way to deal with a situation with his head, not his fists. The fact that the Doctor had overturned the merchant's table was a telltale sign of just how serious the situation was. This was unprecedented, at least in Jack's experience.
The Doctor's stillness now was such a contrast. Jack could see the tension in him, how square and hard his shoulders were.
"It rises eventually," Jack finally said.
No response.
"The sun. You know: the planet turns, the light spreads..."
"I know." The Doctor turned his head just enough so that Jack could see his profile. Not for the first time did he find himself thinking of the faces of ancient sculptures and Roman coins. The man was beautiful; did he have any idea?
Jack walked to the Doctor, giving the Doctor ample notice of his approach. Jack put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Then relax. You can't make the planet move any faster." And because he couldn't keep himself from doing it, he put one hand on the Doctor's neck and kissed his cheek. The Doctor didn't move. He didn't respond. His eyes glittered. This was killing him, the waiting, the not knowing, the wondering about who was perpetrating such a crime. Jack stroked the Doctor's stubble-roughened cheek with his thumb.
"How about some tea?" he said. "A watched sun never rises."
The Doctor's mouth quirked at that. He looked out the doorway again, and then back at Jack.
"None of that artificial sweetener, though," he said. "Burns me mouth."
###
Once the market opened, Jack stationed himself in the stall opposite the collectible seller's. The green merchant seemed to have recovered from the Doctor's outburst pretty well, his shop fully stocked as though nothing had happened. Jack saw no trace of vortex channels among his wares. That was a start, at least.
The Doctor stood casually in the stall perusing its wares like just another customer. Rose was stationed on the other side of the stall. The green-skinned merchant stood in the corner wringing his hands.
People came and went. But when a tall, thin, red-haired woman walking with a cane and wearing a sort of backpack entered the stall, there was a change in the merchant's body language, a tension. The Doctor and Rose, each in turn, glanced at Jack. He nodded, noting that the other day, the merchant had referred to this person as a "he." Interesting. A disguise? A metamorph of some kind?
Rose stepped out of the stall to one side. Jack strolled over, put his arm around Rose's waist, and said, "Find anything interesting, honey?"
The woman went directly to the merchant and swung her pack off of her shoulder onto a chair. The green man looked around nervously, then said, "And what have you for me today, Mischa?"
As Rose pointed out a brightly painted plate, Jack tried to listen to the murmured conversation at the back of the stall. They were whispering and apparently haggling over unseen items inside the pack, but Jack couldn't make out discrete words.
The woman, Mischa, was there 15 minutes or so, perhaps a little longer. When she and the merchant came to an agreement on price, they shook hands, then she emptied her bag into a basket he held out for her. Jack saw the telltale glitter of what looked like vortex channels, several by the sound of their cascading into the basket. He glanced at the Doctor, who had a better vantage point, and the Doctor nodded.
When Mischo was done, she hoisted her pack over her shoulder and turned to go. They let the woman pass between them, through the stall and out into the crowd. Jack, Rose and the Doctor followed.