I Don't Do Domestic: Burst My Bubble
Title: I Don't Do Domestic: Burst My Bubble
Author: wuhdemah
Characters: Ten and Rose (and the TARDIS)
Word Count: 1237
Rating: PG
Summary: "I don't do domestic." Or so he says. Of course, domestics for Time Lords tend to be a little out of the ordinary anyway. A series of disconnected stories featuring the Doctor, Rose, and their everyday shenanigans.
Warnings: No warnings, just a bit of a note because I'm not entirely sure it's as obvious to everyone else as it was to me when I was writing it. The continuous eruption of the bubbles around them is what's keeping them from sinking; it's how it sustains their weight. The TARDIS took it by surprise, which is why she leans.
Disclaimer: Don't own, just having a bit of a romp in this wonderful world. :)
Others in this series: The Waiting Game
The TARDIS tilted precariously, which wasn’t exactly a new experience for either Rose or the Doctor. Still, it rarely happened after the TARDIS had parked.
“What?” The Doctor blinked furiously as he looped his arm around a coral column to keep himself from sliding with the gentle tilt of his ship. He whipped out his glasses with his free hand and perched them at the edge of his nose, peering down at the display screen as Gallifreyan symbols danced across it. “Well, that’s different.”
“Doctor?”
He glanced up then, peering over the brim of his glasses to where Rose was pressing herself against the rail circling the console for support. She motioned dramatically with the hand that wasn’t desperately clutching onto the metal bars behind her. “I could use some help! Where are we?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” The Doctor moved carefully, gripping onto the console as he inched towards her. “Not quite sure where we are, actually. I told the TARDIS to choose a random location, and well... I guess she did.” He reached out, wiggling his fingers at her.
“What’d she do--” she cut herself off as she reached for his hand, grunting in frustration as their fingers merely brushed. “What’d she do, land on the ocean planet of Bora Bora or somethin’?”
“Oh, come on,” the Doctor rolled his eyes as he stretched himself a little further, grasping Rose by the wrist. He hoisted her up next to him, wrapping an arm around her waist to make sure she didn’t just go tumbling back again. “Just because I say there’s a planet called Barcelona doesn’t mean every famous Earth city is somewhere up in space. Besides, it’s not quite like water. It’s more solid -- we’re not sinking, just leaning. Maybe similar to... jelly? Or a slightly melted marshmallow? Oooh!” He looked at her excitedly, his eyebrows practically shooting up into his hair. “Imagine that, Rose! A planet made entirely of marshmallow! That would be brilliant!”
“Uh huh.” Her voice sounded bored, but she was still grinning up at him with that special, beaming Rose smile that the Doctor liked to think she saved specifically for him.
“Okay, fine,” he conceded, twisting himself around Rose to press a few buttons. “Maybe not that brilliant. We’d probably get stuck in it.” He flipped a switch, and the TARDIS doors opened. He beamed back at her, that sly and quick wit dancing through his eyes. “Well, only one way to find out.”
“What?” Rose widened her eyes at him, at the bright-yet-dull light filtering in from the mysterious, unknown world outside. She could practically hear the mathematical equations buzzing around his head. She laughed. “You’ve gone completely mad.”
“Oh, yes,” he agreed, his grin widening as he tightened his grip. “It’s a brave new world, Rose Tyler.”
“Geronimo,” she quipped in response, and, just like that, they jumped.
* * * *
When Rose dared to open her eyes, the world had exploded around them. Quite literally. She blinked at the rainbow-tinted, clear spheres floating above and around her head. On instinct she reached out to touch them -- only to find her arms pinned underneath the man who had, somehow, landed on top of her.
“Oi,” she pushed at him. “Gerroff.”
The Doctor rolled off to the side, laughing when more of the spheres floated up into the sky as he hit the ground. “Oh, of course! Typhoon! I should have known.”
“Typhoon?” Rose repeated, pushing herself into a sitting position. She watched in wonderment as more of the objects danced into the air. “What’re they?”
“They’re, well.... technically speaking, they’re--” The Doctor reached up, poking one with his pinky finger. It popped into a spray of colour before falling back to the ground, “--bubbles. Look at the ground you’re sitting on.”
Rose blinked, peering down. She stifled a gasp as she did, turning herself over to rest on her knees. “Oh my god--”
The bubbles kept erupting from the ground around them, a continuous, never-ending stream of spheres that swam with colours that Rose hadn’t even known existed. She followed them up with her eyes until they popped on their own accord, sending a sprinkling of otherworldly rainbows flittering back from where they had left to be reabsorbed.
And the ground itself -- well, it was barely even a ground. What Rose had thought had been a sort of spongy surface upon impact was actually more of -- as the Doctor had suggested aboard the TARDIS -- a jelly substance, not quite sticky, but molding to her touch. What amazed her, however, was not the fact that the earth wasn’t even earth, but that the ground was transparent.
She could see right through it, at the space that surrounded it. It almost seemed as though there wasn’t an atmosphere at all, but there was a gentle shimmer in the air around them that indicated something was keeping it breathable. The rainbows that were in the smaller bubbles paled in comparison to the massive sphere they came from; it seemed to catch every infinitesimal speck of light and intensify it into something grand and beautiful.
Rose let out a slow breath, letting the sight wash over her.
“Rose Tyler,” the Doctor grinned as he hauled himself to his feet, holding his hand out for her to grasp. She took it gratefully, pulling herself up alongside him. “Welcome to Typhoon, the greatest achievement that humankind will ever make, whether they know it or not.” Rose glanced at him.
“What do you mean, make? This isn’t a planet?”
“Well, traditionally, no,” he said, reaching out and poking a bubble floating in front of his face. “It wasn’t born like most planets are. It was an experiment your lot did around the 70s of the 48th century. You tried to make a planet out of nothing, and this is what you got. An orb of complex molecular structures that came out looking like a giant soap bubble.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rose commented in a whisper, and the Doctor turned his gaze towards her wonderingly.
“I’m glad you think so,” he told her, smiling sadly. “The people who created this place considered it a failure because they couldn’t get it to cultivate actual earth. They abandoned it to rot, and never even realized what they had created.” The Doctor poked another bubble, and they both watched as the remnants drifted back to the ground. “They made something that constantly replenished what it had on its own. No prompting, no programming...” He held out his hand, catching a bubble deftly in his palm. “And they just left it. So much potential.”
“Hey.” Rose squeezed the hand she was still holding, catching his attention again. “It’s not wasted while we’re here, right? So long as people like us can still enjoy it, then it’s okay.”
Rose reached up quickly to pop a bubble directly in front of his face, and the Doctor blinked in surprise as the colours splashed across his nose.
“Now you’ve got multi-coloured freckles,” she grinned cheekily at him, and he grinned back before doing the exact same thing to a sphere beside her ear. Rose let out a short yelp, stumbling backwards. The bubbles erupted around them, and through them she met the Doctor’s challenging look with one of her own. “Oh, you are on.”
He pounced, she ran, the sky filled with rainbows, and the TARDIS hummed contently through it all.
Author: wuhdemah
Characters: Ten and Rose (and the TARDIS)
Word Count: 1237
Rating: PG
Summary: "I don't do domestic." Or so he says. Of course, domestics for Time Lords tend to be a little out of the ordinary anyway. A series of disconnected stories featuring the Doctor, Rose, and their everyday shenanigans.
Warnings: No warnings, just a bit of a note because I'm not entirely sure it's as obvious to everyone else as it was to me when I was writing it. The continuous eruption of the bubbles around them is what's keeping them from sinking; it's how it sustains their weight. The TARDIS took it by surprise, which is why she leans.
Disclaimer: Don't own, just having a bit of a romp in this wonderful world. :)
Others in this series: The Waiting Game
The TARDIS tilted precariously, which wasn’t exactly a new experience for either Rose or the Doctor. Still, it rarely happened after the TARDIS had parked.
“What?” The Doctor blinked furiously as he looped his arm around a coral column to keep himself from sliding with the gentle tilt of his ship. He whipped out his glasses with his free hand and perched them at the edge of his nose, peering down at the display screen as Gallifreyan symbols danced across it. “Well, that’s different.”
“Doctor?”
He glanced up then, peering over the brim of his glasses to where Rose was pressing herself against the rail circling the console for support. She motioned dramatically with the hand that wasn’t desperately clutching onto the metal bars behind her. “I could use some help! Where are we?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” The Doctor moved carefully, gripping onto the console as he inched towards her. “Not quite sure where we are, actually. I told the TARDIS to choose a random location, and well... I guess she did.” He reached out, wiggling his fingers at her.
“What’d she do--” she cut herself off as she reached for his hand, grunting in frustration as their fingers merely brushed. “What’d she do, land on the ocean planet of Bora Bora or somethin’?”
“Oh, come on,” the Doctor rolled his eyes as he stretched himself a little further, grasping Rose by the wrist. He hoisted her up next to him, wrapping an arm around her waist to make sure she didn’t just go tumbling back again. “Just because I say there’s a planet called Barcelona doesn’t mean every famous Earth city is somewhere up in space. Besides, it’s not quite like water. It’s more solid -- we’re not sinking, just leaning. Maybe similar to... jelly? Or a slightly melted marshmallow? Oooh!” He looked at her excitedly, his eyebrows practically shooting up into his hair. “Imagine that, Rose! A planet made entirely of marshmallow! That would be brilliant!”
“Uh huh.” Her voice sounded bored, but she was still grinning up at him with that special, beaming Rose smile that the Doctor liked to think she saved specifically for him.
“Okay, fine,” he conceded, twisting himself around Rose to press a few buttons. “Maybe not that brilliant. We’d probably get stuck in it.” He flipped a switch, and the TARDIS doors opened. He beamed back at her, that sly and quick wit dancing through his eyes. “Well, only one way to find out.”
“What?” Rose widened her eyes at him, at the bright-yet-dull light filtering in from the mysterious, unknown world outside. She could practically hear the mathematical equations buzzing around his head. She laughed. “You’ve gone completely mad.”
“Oh, yes,” he agreed, his grin widening as he tightened his grip. “It’s a brave new world, Rose Tyler.”
“Geronimo,” she quipped in response, and, just like that, they jumped.
* * * *
When Rose dared to open her eyes, the world had exploded around them. Quite literally. She blinked at the rainbow-tinted, clear spheres floating above and around her head. On instinct she reached out to touch them -- only to find her arms pinned underneath the man who had, somehow, landed on top of her.
“Oi,” she pushed at him. “Gerroff.”
The Doctor rolled off to the side, laughing when more of the spheres floated up into the sky as he hit the ground. “Oh, of course! Typhoon! I should have known.”
“Typhoon?” Rose repeated, pushing herself into a sitting position. She watched in wonderment as more of the objects danced into the air. “What’re they?”
“They’re, well.... technically speaking, they’re--” The Doctor reached up, poking one with his pinky finger. It popped into a spray of colour before falling back to the ground, “--bubbles. Look at the ground you’re sitting on.”
Rose blinked, peering down. She stifled a gasp as she did, turning herself over to rest on her knees. “Oh my god--”
The bubbles kept erupting from the ground around them, a continuous, never-ending stream of spheres that swam with colours that Rose hadn’t even known existed. She followed them up with her eyes until they popped on their own accord, sending a sprinkling of otherworldly rainbows flittering back from where they had left to be reabsorbed.
And the ground itself -- well, it was barely even a ground. What Rose had thought had been a sort of spongy surface upon impact was actually more of -- as the Doctor had suggested aboard the TARDIS -- a jelly substance, not quite sticky, but molding to her touch. What amazed her, however, was not the fact that the earth wasn’t even earth, but that the ground was transparent.
She could see right through it, at the space that surrounded it. It almost seemed as though there wasn’t an atmosphere at all, but there was a gentle shimmer in the air around them that indicated something was keeping it breathable. The rainbows that were in the smaller bubbles paled in comparison to the massive sphere they came from; it seemed to catch every infinitesimal speck of light and intensify it into something grand and beautiful.
Rose let out a slow breath, letting the sight wash over her.
“Rose Tyler,” the Doctor grinned as he hauled himself to his feet, holding his hand out for her to grasp. She took it gratefully, pulling herself up alongside him. “Welcome to Typhoon, the greatest achievement that humankind will ever make, whether they know it or not.” Rose glanced at him.
“What do you mean, make? This isn’t a planet?”
“Well, traditionally, no,” he said, reaching out and poking a bubble floating in front of his face. “It wasn’t born like most planets are. It was an experiment your lot did around the 70s of the 48th century. You tried to make a planet out of nothing, and this is what you got. An orb of complex molecular structures that came out looking like a giant soap bubble.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rose commented in a whisper, and the Doctor turned his gaze towards her wonderingly.
“I’m glad you think so,” he told her, smiling sadly. “The people who created this place considered it a failure because they couldn’t get it to cultivate actual earth. They abandoned it to rot, and never even realized what they had created.” The Doctor poked another bubble, and they both watched as the remnants drifted back to the ground. “They made something that constantly replenished what it had on its own. No prompting, no programming...” He held out his hand, catching a bubble deftly in his palm. “And they just left it. So much potential.”
“Hey.” Rose squeezed the hand she was still holding, catching his attention again. “It’s not wasted while we’re here, right? So long as people like us can still enjoy it, then it’s okay.”
Rose reached up quickly to pop a bubble directly in front of his face, and the Doctor blinked in surprise as the colours splashed across his nose.
“Now you’ve got multi-coloured freckles,” she grinned cheekily at him, and he grinned back before doing the exact same thing to a sphere beside her ear. Rose let out a short yelp, stumbling backwards. The bubbles erupted around them, and through them she met the Doctor’s challenging look with one of her own. “Oh, you are on.”
He pounced, she ran, the sky filled with rainbows, and the TARDIS hummed contently through it all.