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Jul. 22nd, 2007 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyoftimei.
A sweet, heavy scent filled the TARDIS the moment the Doctor opened the door. Outside, flowers grew wherever there was room; the bushes, the trees, and the ground were covered in them, creating a rainbow patchwork that went as far as the eye could see.
The Doctor strode into them and turned for a moment to simply take it in. “What do you notice?”
Diane followed her out. Something akin to a red carnation brushed her leg. “The sky is purple.”
“Yes, it is. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The Doctor agreed and stuck her hands into her trouser pockets. “It’s spring here. Come winter the planet packs up its colours and even the sky goes grey, but now, now is the best time.”
“All right.” Diane tugged her silk scarf away from her face as the wind blew it astray. “What are we here for?”
The Doctor rolled her sleeves up past the elbow and used her customary scarf to tie her hair back. “Gardening!”
“Gardening,” Diane repeated calmly, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“The TARDIS’s esfodelia-“ The Doctor nodded to a patch of peculiar flowers surrounding a small pond of water, “-that’s these- have hit a nasty patch. When they die, I want others ready to replace them.” From somewhere in the endless recesses of her jacket, she produced two pairs of gloves made of a clear, cool felt material, and a few gardening tools of alien origin. “As I said: gardening!”
ii.
“I can’t believe your TARDIS still runs on plants,” the Rani said with disdain from her position on the ground, digging around the roots of an esfodelia with painstaking care.
“I happen to think there’s a certain elegance to the dependency of my TARDIS on the plantlife inside her,” the Doctor returned. “If you don’t like it, you can find your own TARDIS.”
“You hid my TARDIS.”
“Yes, I did, didn’t I?” The Doctor thoughtfully sat back and observed the other Time Lady. “And then I offered you a room in my TARDIS so you can have a place to stay, and I can keep an eye on you. That was amazingly clever of me.”
“It was incredibly idiotic,” the Rani snapped. “You gave me access to all the technology you have. You’ve given me everything I need to escape.”
“Yes, perhaps. But then, there’s a rather brilliant Earth saying-“
“Not another one.” The Rani pulled at a plant with more force than intended and tore the stem from the roots.
“-Earth saying,” the Doctor continued as if she’d never been interrupted, “’Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” She grinned an almost manic grin and adjusted the straw hat perched on the Rani’s ginger head. “I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, really.”
iii.
“Do you really want me working with flowers?”
The Doctor glanced up at Donna. “Not a flowerpot in sight. I think I’m safe.” To her surprise, when the Doctor had announced they were going to be gardening, Donna had jumped at the opportunity.
“I used to keep window boxes on Earth.” Donna searched through the pile of tools lying on the ground until she found a familiar one.
“Green thumb, ginger hair,” the Doctor said. “It’s a fetching combination on you. Remind me to put you to work in the TARDIS’s conservatory sometime. I didn’t regenerate much of a green thumb.” She tugged at the roots of an orange bloom and added ruefully, “I’ve had to replace the esfodelia a few times already.”
Donna picked a healthy-looking flower for transplantation. “There’s something very… peaceful about this place.”
“It’s the scent,” the Doctor explained without looking up. “Some of the best relaxants in the universe have these flowers somewhere in their list of ingredients.”
“No, it’s more than that.” Donna eyed the field. “It’s just different.”
The Doctor spared a moment to look at her surroundings. Flowers of all colours, including a few off the human colour scale that were hers alone to cherish, provided contrast to the purple sky and clouds of a pink so light they were almost white. “Yes. I know what you mean.”
iv.
“I don’t see why we have to pick flowers!” Dennis complained. He had grown bored of the activity about five minutes after they’d arrived on the planet.
“The TARDIS needs these flowers for proper balance of the eco-temporal link,” the Doctor explained patiently for what felt like the hundredth time. Dennis had many good qualities, but he had almost no attention span.
“I cold use a spell! We’d have it done in a minute!” The Doctor glanced up sharply with a ‘no’ ready on her lips, but it was too late.
The field was barren of any plant life. The Doctor took a deep breath and slowly pulled open the TARDIS doors. Vegetation of all sizes completely filled the Console Room. A limp stem fell on her right foot, showering it with the few petals that had still been attached.
“I can fix it!” Dennis said, but this time the Doctor clamped a hand over his mouth before any more damage could be done.
“No, Dennis, I think we’ll do this without magic this time.”
v.
“Where are we?” Mike asked. The sky was grey, the ground was black and flat, and the light was so faint he had to strain his eyes to see anything. The air was dead freezing on his skin, and no sounds met his ears, save those of himself and the Doctor. “This is nothing like you described.”
“Something must have gone wrong.” The Doctor sighed and headed back into the TARDIS. “It’s winter, not spring.”
“Wait.” Mike pointed to the only splash of colour left in the field. “What’s that?” One lone esfodelia partially hidden by a rock clung to life long after winter had set in and its fellows had died away.
The Doctor paused, and gently nudged the flower from its place in the hard soil. “This will do,” she announced, and it did.
i.
“There we are!” The Doctor bounced from a sitting position to standing in a moment and surveyed her work with a wide grin. “Nothing like a nice few hours’ work for a good cause!”
Diane stepped carefully around the newly transplanted flowers and rubbed her back. “I hope you don’t expect me to do this every day.”
“Just once every three days from nine to five.” The Doctor caught Diane’s glare. “I’m not serious.”
“You have an awful sense of humour.”
“Sorry.” The Doctor led the way through the TARDIS to the Console Room and absently stroked the console. “Tell you what, I’ll make it up to you. How does the First Antigravity Olympics sound?”
Community:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
oncoming_storms
Prompt: 1.12 - time and tide wait for no man
Word Count: 1,114
Author's Note: Firstly: Dennis Creevey (the guest star in the fourth segment) is respectfully borrowed from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kingcreevey, where I expect he will return after readings. Give the lad a hand, folks, and please throw in a few sickles to buy him chocolate frogs. Thank you.
Secondly, to clear up any confusion: The Rani who appears in this fic is the-Rani-as-portrayed-by-Suzie-Plakson, who has shown up in a few other Eleven!fics, and notrenegadeinexile. She's prettier and not ginger.
A sweet, heavy scent filled the TARDIS the moment the Doctor opened the door. Outside, flowers grew wherever there was room; the bushes, the trees, and the ground were covered in them, creating a rainbow patchwork that went as far as the eye could see.
The Doctor strode into them and turned for a moment to simply take it in. “What do you notice?”
Diane followed her out. Something akin to a red carnation brushed her leg. “The sky is purple.”
“Yes, it is. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” The Doctor agreed and stuck her hands into her trouser pockets. “It’s spring here. Come winter the planet packs up its colours and even the sky goes grey, but now, now is the best time.”
“All right.” Diane tugged her silk scarf away from her face as the wind blew it astray. “What are we here for?”
The Doctor rolled her sleeves up past the elbow and used her customary scarf to tie her hair back. “Gardening!”
“Gardening,” Diane repeated calmly, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“The TARDIS’s esfodelia-“ The Doctor nodded to a patch of peculiar flowers surrounding a small pond of water, “-that’s these- have hit a nasty patch. When they die, I want others ready to replace them.” From somewhere in the endless recesses of her jacket, she produced two pairs of gloves made of a clear, cool felt material, and a few gardening tools of alien origin. “As I said: gardening!”
ii.
“I can’t believe your TARDIS still runs on plants,” the Rani said with disdain from her position on the ground, digging around the roots of an esfodelia with painstaking care.
“I happen to think there’s a certain elegance to the dependency of my TARDIS on the plantlife inside her,” the Doctor returned. “If you don’t like it, you can find your own TARDIS.”
“You hid my TARDIS.”
“Yes, I did, didn’t I?” The Doctor thoughtfully sat back and observed the other Time Lady. “And then I offered you a room in my TARDIS so you can have a place to stay, and I can keep an eye on you. That was amazingly clever of me.”
“It was incredibly idiotic,” the Rani snapped. “You gave me access to all the technology you have. You’ve given me everything I need to escape.”
“Yes, perhaps. But then, there’s a rather brilliant Earth saying-“
“Not another one.” The Rani pulled at a plant with more force than intended and tore the stem from the roots.
“-Earth saying,” the Doctor continued as if she’d never been interrupted, “’Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” She grinned an almost manic grin and adjusted the straw hat perched on the Rani’s ginger head. “I don’t know why I didn’t do this before, really.”
iii.
“Do you really want me working with flowers?”
The Doctor glanced up at Donna. “Not a flowerpot in sight. I think I’m safe.” To her surprise, when the Doctor had announced they were going to be gardening, Donna had jumped at the opportunity.
“I used to keep window boxes on Earth.” Donna searched through the pile of tools lying on the ground until she found a familiar one.
“Green thumb, ginger hair,” the Doctor said. “It’s a fetching combination on you. Remind me to put you to work in the TARDIS’s conservatory sometime. I didn’t regenerate much of a green thumb.” She tugged at the roots of an orange bloom and added ruefully, “I’ve had to replace the esfodelia a few times already.”
Donna picked a healthy-looking flower for transplantation. “There’s something very… peaceful about this place.”
“It’s the scent,” the Doctor explained without looking up. “Some of the best relaxants in the universe have these flowers somewhere in their list of ingredients.”
“No, it’s more than that.” Donna eyed the field. “It’s just different.”
The Doctor spared a moment to look at her surroundings. Flowers of all colours, including a few off the human colour scale that were hers alone to cherish, provided contrast to the purple sky and clouds of a pink so light they were almost white. “Yes. I know what you mean.”
iv.
“I don’t see why we have to pick flowers!” Dennis complained. He had grown bored of the activity about five minutes after they’d arrived on the planet.
“The TARDIS needs these flowers for proper balance of the eco-temporal link,” the Doctor explained patiently for what felt like the hundredth time. Dennis had many good qualities, but he had almost no attention span.
“I cold use a spell! We’d have it done in a minute!” The Doctor glanced up sharply with a ‘no’ ready on her lips, but it was too late.
The field was barren of any plant life. The Doctor took a deep breath and slowly pulled open the TARDIS doors. Vegetation of all sizes completely filled the Console Room. A limp stem fell on her right foot, showering it with the few petals that had still been attached.
“I can fix it!” Dennis said, but this time the Doctor clamped a hand over his mouth before any more damage could be done.
“No, Dennis, I think we’ll do this without magic this time.”
v.
“Where are we?” Mike asked. The sky was grey, the ground was black and flat, and the light was so faint he had to strain his eyes to see anything. The air was dead freezing on his skin, and no sounds met his ears, save those of himself and the Doctor. “This is nothing like you described.”
“Something must have gone wrong.” The Doctor sighed and headed back into the TARDIS. “It’s winter, not spring.”
“Wait.” Mike pointed to the only splash of colour left in the field. “What’s that?” One lone esfodelia partially hidden by a rock clung to life long after winter had set in and its fellows had died away.
The Doctor paused, and gently nudged the flower from its place in the hard soil. “This will do,” she announced, and it did.
i.
“There we are!” The Doctor bounced from a sitting position to standing in a moment and surveyed her work with a wide grin. “Nothing like a nice few hours’ work for a good cause!”
Diane stepped carefully around the newly transplanted flowers and rubbed her back. “I hope you don’t expect me to do this every day.”
“Just once every three days from nine to five.” The Doctor caught Diane’s glare. “I’m not serious.”
“You have an awful sense of humour.”
“Sorry.” The Doctor led the way through the TARDIS to the Console Room and absently stroked the console. “Tell you what, I’ll make it up to you. How does the First Antigravity Olympics sound?”
Community:
oncoming_stormsPrompt: 1.12 - time and tide wait for no man
Word Count: 1,114
Author's Note: Firstly: Dennis Creevey (the guest star in the fourth segment) is respectfully borrowed from
kingcreevey, where I expect he will return after readings. Give the lad a hand, folks, and please throw in a few sickles to buy him chocolate frogs. Thank you.Secondly, to clear up any confusion: The Rani who appears in this fic is the-Rani-as-portrayed-by-Suzie-Plakson, who has shown up in a few other Eleven!fics, and not
renegadeinexile. She's prettier and not ginger.
