(no subject)

[ladyoftime]

"Fantastic!"
The Doctor grabbed for Lucy's hand and lead her, laughing, to where she last parked the TARDIS. "That's her," she announced, pointing, and unlocked the door for Lucy to enter and inspect the interior. "The TARDIS."
Lucy should be used to bigger-on-the-inside things.

Comments

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy had seen plenty of police boxes, in London and elsewhere, (she'd even talked Edmund out of using one to make a prank fire alarm) but something about this one felt different, even before she saw the inside. But inside, she was astonished, and delighted, turning around and around, drinking in the strangeness with an open-eyed expression.

"It's... beautiful," she said at last, though she had never seen anything like it, in Narnia or anywhere else. Something about this strange ship felt good to her, though she was not quite sure she felt safe. Well, she didn't think the Doctor would take her anywhere dangerous. "Tell me about it," she added, moving cautiously around to see it better.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

The Doctor had on that proud grin she always got when she was showing off her TARDIS to new people. (At least Lucy didn't go through 'it's bigger on the inside'.)

"Isn't she?" she agreed, fondly running a hand over one of the supports. The old girl never ceased to amaze. "TARDISes were grown and cultivated by my people. They're capable of traveling through the Time Vortex. She's sentient, and a bit pyschic. She'll translate other languages for you, makes it easier for me. Learning every language in the universe would be a bit boring."

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"...why does she look like a police box?" Lucy asked after a moment. The idea of a living thing that had been grown but looked like another thing didn't bother her; she was thinking of dryads, now, imagining the TARDIS as some kind of tree. That could travel through the Time Vortex. However that worked. "You would never know she's so..." Well, the sentient ship had let her on board, so Lucy thought a bit of flatter would be appropriate. "...breathtaking."

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Her chamelion circuit- that hides her, makes her blend in with her surroundings so people don't notice her- broke a long time ago. She's had the police box shape since, and I've grown quite fond of it." (Which was completely the reason the Doctor never got around to fixing the circuit, and not because she'd tried and failed. Right.) "Outward appearance can be decieving," the Doctor agreed. From the look on her face, one would think Lucy was flattering the Doctor directly.

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"I think it's charming," Lucy decided. She decided she liked the TARDIS. She had already decided she liked the Doctor. "You said she can translate, does that mean she speaks?" Which was really a veiled question of 'if I say hello TARDIS, will I get a hello back?'.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Not in the traditional manner. I usually know what sort of mood she's in, but there's a bond between a Time Lord and their TARDIS that helps communication. I suppose someone with psychic ability would be capable of... tuning in, but she doesn't actually talk."

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy considered this a moment. "So it's like how Dryads understand trees and meremaids understand fish but I'm at a total loss," she decided at last. Very well. "Will you, er, tell TARDIS hello for me? And that I am very happy she has allowed me to come aboard and look around." Well, it never hurt, Lucy figured. Like thanking a talking horse, right? Right, Lucy. Just like that. (Only not.)

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

She laughed, just a bit. Not at Lucy, of course, but she couldn't help a little laughter. "Don't worry. It's difficult to understand if you don't have first-hand experience. She's very pleased to have you on board." And so was the Doctor.

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy laughed too, relieved that nobody seemed to be offended. "...just how big is she?" she asked at last, when she had relaxed a little. All these concepts were a little hard to keep up with, to be sure. But she liked the Doctor, and the TARDIS, and she hadn't had so much fun since the last time she was in Narnia.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Even I get lost in her sometimes, she's that big," the Doctor answered. "So I wouldn't go wandering off for exploring without a way to get back." Her tone grew thoughtful. "She used to be even bigger than she is now. I had to jetison one fourth of her rooms." She had a time and a half of it then.
"Big, anyway. Bigger than some planets."

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"...that's very big," Lucy said, in a tone that was most certainly awed. "I don't know much about how big planets are, but I know a lot about the size of countries..." She looked around her with new appreciation of the TARDIS. "...and of course a planet is even bigger." It would have been hard to imagine, a little police box, containing a whole world of sorts, if Lucy hadn't believed that magic could explain quite a lot of unlikely things. "It sounds to me like you and her have had had some adventures," she added, after a moment.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Yes, yes, it is. Quite a lot bigger, usually, unless the planet is controlled by one government." She patted the support again. "More than you could imagine. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't do 'boring' well."

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"I don't do boring very well either," Lucy said, her bright expression fading somewhat, to an almost glum tone. "And school is very boring." It was hard to explain to her classmates she'd rather be outside, walking through a wood, or running around with Edmund (far away at another school all year long), or swimming or having long conversations or... well, doing anything, other than sitting in class. "In Narnia I had a tutor, and that wasn't so bad. We weren't forced to learn silly things; we were told about history and the other countries we had to make alliances with, and their monarchs and their histories, and their social customs... and not a single arithmetic problem." She looked at the doctor a long moment. "...were you ever in school?"

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

(ooc: continuing the thread here for readability!)

"Well," Lucy reasoned, "that's as good a way to pick as any. With so many worlds I don't know how else you'd choose, except what seems best at the moment." She settled further into her seat and grasped the edge of the chair with her fingers, wondering what exactly 'bumpy' meant in the present circumstances.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

The Doctor took a moment to note to herself that she should really just put seatbelts in the TARDIS, make trips a lot easier, before sending the TARDIS ripping into the Vortex. She herself was quite good at bouncing around the console, pushing buttons and managing to stay balanced, but she spared a moment every now and then to glance at Lucy.
It only took a minute or so before the TARDIS rematerialised. "Here we are!"

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy had been rattled, jostled, and shaken up on many different occasions; on carriage rides, in trains, in a few automobiles, on horseback, at sea (but not on the back of a lion -- Aslan's paws were smooth as gliding), but nothing had quite prepared her for this experience. She gripped the edge of the seat as she was jostled around, managing ot to come loose, before flopping exhaustedly back against the seat when all was still.

"Does that happen every time?" She asked exhaustedly, feeling as if she had been rattled out of her bones.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"More or less," the Doctor admitted. "The old girl was never very good at smooth rides. Are you all right?"

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"Oh I'm fine," Lucy said, now that she had caught her breath. "I can't imagine how you stayed balanced during that! You must travel that way a lot." She got up again, looking around, wondering what the silver-lit world outside the TARDIS would be like.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"All the time," she answered and bounced (only word for it) to the door to throw it open and reveal a glade that looked just as the Doctor had described. The three moons in the sky lit the planet up almost as much as a sun would, but with a shining, silvery light rather than golden.

The Doctor took a step out of the TARDIS and bounced again, this time from the gravity rather than conscious effort. She turned back to face the TARDIS and Lucy and beamed.

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy made a soft sound of surprise and delight at the sight of the luminous white-lit world. She bound from her seat at once to join the doctor. Her foot had barely touched the ground outside the ship before she moved upwards, coming down again lightly.

"Oh, oh!" Lucy cried joyously, moving up and down with surprise and awe, "oh, Doctor, it's wonderful!"

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Isn't it?" She hopped lightly from foot to foot, effortlessly rising a few feet, then down again. "I think I've got a jumprope in here somewhere," she said, digging through her jacket until she came up with one. She laughed and skipped with it a couple times, remembering an old rhyme- Mother, mother, I feel sick, send for the doctor, quick, quick, quick- before coming to a halt when she nearly got tangled in a bush.

"I could set up a game of hopscotch," she said mischievously, eyeing the ground. Hadn't been trod on for a while; this part of the planet wasn't inhabited (yet).

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

Lucy was laughing as she moved around, springing into the air as lightly as if she were a bird, and coming down again with almost as much ease. "That would be amazing!" She said, drinking in the light, her own lightness, and the happiness of the doctor all with a wide, amazed grin. "Oh thank you for bringing me here! Thank you so much!"

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

The Doctor laughed with Lucy, and dug into her jacket again for her atmospheric stylograph. Once she had it in her hand, she busied herself drawing out a hopscotch board, a 3-D hopscotch board that hung in the air, not really there, just a trick of the light and the stylograph. "We'll have to be especially careful not to jump on the lines, or they'll erase," she warned.

[valiant-lady.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Lucy cried, delighted by the trick. She had never seen anything like it before. "Oh, that's wonderful! What is that?" She was so delighted, she could barely take it in. It all felt like a dream on a winter's night, cool and silvery and wonderful.

Then she was at it, trying to leap inside the image of the squares of the hopscotch board. She sprung up into the air so high she cried out in surprise, and came down again inside another square, laughing as she hadn't laughed in a very long time. It was wonderful! "You try it!" She cried to the Doctor, her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

[eleventh-doctor.livejournal.com]

"Simple light manipulation. Comes in different colours, too, see?" And she drew a little pink diamond in the air. The light from the moons augmented it, made it shimmer a bit.

The Doctor grinned and followed Lucy into the squares and hexagons and circles. "I'm sure I've got something we could use as markers somewhere." She produced a bag of jelly babies and offered them to Lucy, both for use as markers and to eat.