a traveler from an antique land

You are standing on a beach.

There are seagulls swooping and looping through the air, chasing and racing each other for potential food sources, floating in the water then suddenly taking off for better vistas, all the while squawking at each other noisily. For a minute, you are content to just watch their antics, taste the cold salt air on your tongue, and listen to the ocean rush against the shore.

A scattering of pebbles hitting the water catches your attention, and you trace their origin to a figure wearing a familiar bomber jacket adorned with pins balancing on a cropping of rocks. “Ace?” you call.

“Yeah. Who else would I be?” she answers, picking her way to you. “Are we ready to go, Professor?”

( 'Go?' you echo, perplexed. 'Go where?' )




Community: theatrical_muse
Prompt: 209 - What are you afraid of?
Word Count: 945
Note: With special thanks to Hilary and Megs for betaing and being generally awesome.

The Doctor sipped an exceptional banana daiquiri and surveyed the crowd of upper-class individuals getting sloshed and gossiping about the latest scandal to rock their lives. Diane had easily integrated herself into a group discussing the latest aeroplanes to hit the air, and having a good time at it from the look of it. It hadn’t taken the two of them much to get into the one of the most exclusive club on New Earth, just the psychic paper and a quick raid on the TARDIS’s Wardrobe.

And it didn’t take the Doctor long to spot her quarry, a familiar ginger-haired Time Lady wearing a black dress and talking to the Duchess of Los Angeles. Anyone’s guess what the Rani was doing there, but it stood to reason it wouldn’t be good.

The Doctor made it halfway through her second daiquiri before the Rani slipped out of the crowd and through a hardly noticeable side door. The Doctor discreetly caught Diane’s attention before excusing herself from the conversation of a hopeful but boring business investor. The two tailed the Rani through several corridors until, finally, they reached a room with only one door. No Rani in sight.

Diane was the first to speak. “Where did she go?”

The Doctor ran her fingers over the walls, searching for a hidden door or even a disguised TARDIS. “No idea. Hang on a moment, I’ve got the sonic screwdriver. Should be able to use it to sniff out a door.” To her companion’s bemusement, the Doctor reached down her cleavage and came up with the screwdriver.

“Do you often keep things there?”

“Not often.” The Doctor slowly circled the room, screwdriver giving off a soft hum as she searched. “Only when there’s nowhere else to put anything.” She involuntarily glanced down at her dress, which contained no pockets. Bad design. “Aha! Secret passageway, just like in the movies!” A section of wall swung in with a soft click, revealing a dark corridor. The Doctor casually retrieved two small torches from her bra and tossed one to Diane. “Are you coming?”

“Yes.” Diane caught the torch and turned it around slowly. “Doctor, how did you fit these in?”

“Gallifreyan technology. Bigger on the inside.”



Community: oncoming_storms
Prompt: 1.7 - my fashion statement
Word Count: 370