"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.
(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.
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!"
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.
"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.
"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.
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!"
"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).
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!"
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.
"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.
"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.
Lucy giggled with delight, and popped a jelly baby in her mouth before dropping one in the proper square. It bounced slightly into the air before settling. "Oh," she said happily, "I haven't had this much fun in ages." She did, in many ways, mean ages; it seemed like the last time she'd been so joyously happy without reserve or something to spoil it later, it had been the golden age. "Do you always have so much fun, Doctor?"
"Always," the Doctor assured her. "Sometimes different kinds of fun, and sometimes it takes a little while to get to the fun, but if you look hard enough, it's there." Even when running for her life. She tossed her jelly baby and hopped and skipped to the proper square.
Lucy laughed joyfully and took it up again, skipping upwards and landing properly in a new place. "You must have the most fun of anyone in the whole world," she decided after a moment. "You get to see new things, things nobody on Earth has ever seen before! Or at least, never seen and talked about. That sounds to me like the best life imaginable."
It was rare, in Lucy's experience, for grownups to appreciate just how good laughter, play, and wonder could be. She felt as if she had found a kindred spirit, of sorts, a true friend, someone who didn't think her absurd because she loved to be light of heart.
The Doctor, too, tossed her jelly baby and skipped to her next place. "In the whole universe!" She corrected and laughed. "And it's best when other people come along to see it with me."
"Do you often take people with you?" Lucy asked, grinning as she tried to spin backwards in the air and land facing the doctor. She stumbled a little coming down, but made it into her next square. "If you've gone so many places as it seems you must have taken lots and lots of people with you."
"As often as I can. It makes it more fun to have company." The Doctor actually fumbled on her next jump, accidentally landing on a line and erasing part of it. She busied herself with redrawing it. "Yes," she said somewhat guardedly. Talk of past companions tended to make current companions jealous, but she didn't think Lucy would be.
"Were they from where you're from?" Lucy asked, openly curious. To be jealous had not really occured to her; she, after all, was having a marvellous time, and watched the Doctor redraw the square with interest. Then she glanced behind her, and tried this time to make the jump backwards. She tripped a little on land, and fell, but landed so lightly that she was laughing and completely unhurt. "Oh," she said, giggling as she stood up, "oh dear."
The Doctor restarted her game, tossing her jelly baby onto the appropriate geometrical square and hop-skip-jumping to it. "Mostly I seem to end up with humans- they're my favourite species- but a few of them were my people. Most didn't appreciate the universe like they should have."
"...so what exactly are you?" Lucy asked, pausing her game to eat one of the doctor's jelly babies. "And really I mean, what do your people call themselves?" She always felt odd asking this question, but didn't know really how else to say it.
Lucy stopped jumping too, hesitating a moment as she looked at the Doctor. She wondered if she'd done something wrong. She wasn't exactly sure what to say next. "...did I ask the wrong question?" Lucy asked quietly, hoping she hadn't offended the doctor, or brought up bad memories.
The Doctor glanced at Lucy. "Of course not. You didn't ask me, say, if my face always looked like this or did I get into a fight with a Dalek, or was I born colour-blind, or anything like that."
Lucy was somewhat confused by this, not knowing what a Dalek was, and not seeing anything wrong with the Doctor's face. (She thought it was a nice face, actually, very pretty.) "...why would somebody say those things?" She asked, repressing the urge to ask the doctor if she was colourblind, because it was clearly a sore spot.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-08-11 01:54 am (UTC)"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.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-11 08:01 pm (UTC)It only took a minute or so before the TARDIS rematerialised. "Here we are!"
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Date: 2007-08-11 08:29 pm (UTC)"Does that happen every time?" She asked exhaustedly, feeling as if she had been rattled out of her bones.
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Date: 2007-08-11 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-11 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-11 09:22 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2007-08-11 09:34 pm (UTC)"Oh, oh!" Lucy cried joyously, moving up and down with surprise and awe, "oh, Doctor, it's wonderful!"
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Date: 2007-08-11 11:52 pm (UTC)"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).
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Date: 2007-08-12 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 01:11 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2007-08-12 01:24 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2007-08-12 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 01:50 am (UTC)It was rare, in Lucy's experience, for grownups to appreciate just how good laughter, play, and wonder could be. She felt as if she had found a kindred spirit, of sorts, a true friend, someone who didn't think her absurd because she loved to be light of heart.
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Date: 2007-08-12 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2007-08-14 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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