For oncoming_storms: Retell A Fairy Tale (Or you know, like, a few...)
[ooc: I promise this play will be over soon. Seriously.]
It had all started with an old woman and a single, red rose.
She had knocked on the door to the TARDIS and offered it to him in exchange for shelter from the bitter cold. When he politely pointed out that it was not exactly bitterly cold and more like slightly chilly, she had thrust the rose into the air, thrown off her black cloak and rather suddenly turned out to be a beautiful enchantress.
Which was not something he encountered every day.
So he had given her what he thought was the correct response and asked her to forgive him for correcting her vocabulary, but as is the way with beautiful enchantresses, she was not particularly swayed by it. Instead, she merely scoffed at him and pointed her finger and muttered something about a curse and true love and incorrect weather forecasts. He waited around patiently expecting to be suddenly transformed into some sort of anguishing, forlorn beast that could never hope to be anything but a monster. He was rather surprised, then, when it turned out he got to keep his current form and was no more forlorn and anguished than he already was.
He was, however, surprised to suddenly find himself sitting in a rowboat in the middle of a lake with a group of dancing, smiling frogs singing four part harmony with a swarm of fireflies.
He was equally surprised to find a twenty-something Sarah Jane Smith sitting opposite him.
“Hello Sarah,” he said brightly. She looked puzzled.
“Do I know you?”
He sighed, “I’m the Doctor. You’ve got a few years before you meet me, this me, at least, but it’s me, I promise.”
“You’ve regenerated on me again? You’ve really got to stop doing that, it’s…” she paused, looking around, “…where are we?”
“I have no idea, but I think we-“ A red crab suddenly leaped up onto the boat.
“There you see her, sitting there across the way…”
“What?”
“She don’t got a lot to say, but there’s something about her…”
Sarah raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”
“She has the most to say of anyone I’ve ever known,” said the Doctor, suddenly. Sarah glared at him from across the boat and before long he felt a swift kick hit his shin.
“And you don’t know why, but you’re dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl…”
“I want to what?”
“Sha-la-la-la-la, me-oh-my, look at the boy too shy, he ain’t gonna kiss the girl…”
“What?!”
“Sha-la-la-la-la, ain’t that sad, ain’t it a shame, too bad, you gonna miss the girl…”
“What?!”
He looked over at Sarah who was by that point laughing fairly hysterically given the current situation. She grinned at him, a bit mischievously.
“Any of that true, Doctor?”
“Ah…”
There was a crash, and Sarah, the lake, the frogs, and thankfully, the red crab all vanished as he suddenly found himself overlooking an Arabian landscape. He was somewhere high up, above some sort of big, colorful bazaar. He was sitting on what looked to be a small, floating, gold and purple carpet, swaying a bit in the breeze before what was, quite possibly, the greatest view of the Earth’s moon he had ever seen.
“Ok,” said a voice next to him, “this is weird.” Rose Tyler sat cross-legged next to him, both confused and, apparently, a bit frightened. She was looking down, her eyes fixed solidly on the ground below. He inched over a bit, and took her hand.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “we won’t fall.”
“How do you know?” she asked, eyes unmoving from the drop.
“Trust me,” he replied; trying to meet her eyes, “Do you trust me?”
She turned, “What?”
“Do you trust me?” There was a moment of pause as their eyes finally met.
“Yeah,” she said, finally, “I do.”
Somewhere fireworks went off, as the carpet began to move somewhat excitedly towards the city ahead of them. Rose gave a bit of a squeak and ended up falling into his arms as the rug picked up speed. Her eyes were wide, watching the stars whiz by around them.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. He grinned.
“Not exactly a whole new world or anything, but yes, it definitely is.”
There was a cool breeze and suddenly Rose disappeared from his arms. The Arabian night vanished to be replaced with the inside of a dark, imposing castle. Tall candles lined the walls, lighting the faint silhouettes of an entire court’s worth of bodies lying lifeless on the floor. Bending down to check the pulse of the man lying nearest him, he was stopped by a familiar hand.
“He’s alive,” said Martha, calmly, “they all are, from what I can tell. They’re just sleeping.”
“An entire court’s been put to sleep?” He took a few steps into the light and looked around. Every body was breathing, slouched over as if they’d suddenly dozed off in mid-action.
“It could be high levels of carbon monoxide,” suggested Martha, “but it’s a bit too drafty for that. Poison, maybe?”
“Somehow I don’t think so.”
Just then, a light flashed from somewhere outside the castle as a tremendous roar echoed through the main hall. Martha rushed to a window and pointed, wide-eyed, at a giant black and purple creature surrounded in black and green smoke. Fire shot out of its mouth, as it’s devil-red eyes glared triumphantly at the smoldering forest of weeds and thorns that seemed to surround the walls of the castle. Before he could even begin to try and decipher the species of the monster, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Excuse me,” said a young, masculine voice, “Could I…er, get up the stairs?”
He turned. A young brown haired man with a sword and medieval shield stood impatiently in front of him, motioning to the set of stairs he now realized he was standing in front of.
“That’ll be the prince, right?” asked Martha.
“I think so,” he said, moving to the side to let the young man through, “Sorry about that.” The prince gave him a somewhat annoyed look, but continued to run triumphantly up the staircase, slashing at thorn-laden vines that seemed to only appear the closer he got to the top.
“I’m guessing he’s gone to save the princess,” said Martha, annoyed, “typical.”
“Which would make this-“ Just then the castle, Martha, the creature, and the apparently sexist prince vanished as he once again found himself in a completely different environment.
Namely, sitting on the edge of a rock surrounded in flowers somewhere in the Sahara desert with the one and only Donna Noble.
“About time you got here,” she said, somewhat bitterly, “A talking meerkat just tried to feed me slugs.”
“Did he say hakuna matata, by any chance?”
“Yeah,” she replied, suddenly puzzled, “How’d you know?”
“Haven’t you ever seen The Lion King, Donna?”
“I was never into animal movies.”
“Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings.”
“Oi, what?”
“The world for once, in perfect harmony. With all its living things.”
“Oh, not again,” said the Doctor, rolling his eyes, “Honestly, isn’t once enough?”
“Does this happen a lot, then?”
“You have no idea.”
“Can you feel the love tonight? You needn’t look far.”
“Who’s actually singing?” asked Donna, suddenly, looking somewhat frantically around her.
“I’m not entirely sure,” he answered, “I think it’s just off-screen voices, though…the last time it was a swarm of fireflies and a crab, so, you never know, I suppose.”
“Stealing through the night’s uncertainties. Love is where they are.”
“Seriously,” said Donna, “This is really starting to get annoying.”
“This has to come to an end at some point,” he replied, thinking, “this has been going on way too long, there’s got to be a way out of this…”
“Out of what?” asked Donna over the sound of continued singing, “What’s been going on way too long?”
“This,” he said, motioning around him, “the singing, the bizarre landscape, the friend who’s gone. I’ve been thrown from one movie to the next, over and over, ever since that woman showed up with…the rose. Hold on,” he said, suddenly, looking around, “That’s it! Donna, that’s it! The rose!”
“The rose?”
“The rose! That woman who came to the door, she wanted shelter or food, or a meteorologist or something, she offered up a rose, that must be how she’s doing it, the rose must be some sort of teleportation device or something, which means it has to be around…here.”
It was then that he spotted the large, glowing red rose hidden amongst the lush, African foliage. The moment he touched it, the sky began to glow. Streams of color fell to the ground like rain, as even the wind began to sparkle.
Really, it was all somewhat sickeningly clichéd.
“Wait!” said Donna, suddenly, as he started to disappear once again, “don’t go!”
“Relax,” he replied, “everything’s going to be fine, it’s just going back to normal.”
“But…why would you want that?”
“What?”
Before she could answer, she vanished, to be replaced with the familiar, cavernous console room. A few quick scans proved he was exactly where he had been before the old woman had shown up, everything looked and felt as if nothing happened. The woman was gone, the rose was gone, the constant un-announced teleportation appeared to be gone. The curse had been lifted.
So it appeared.
He wandered around the large room, flicking switches and pulling levers. He remembered the places they had stood, the specific parts they had played in the movement of the TARDIS, the sounds of their voices. He sighed, and pushed another button. Another destination, another place, another time, another adventure.
Somewhere behind him, the rose lay quietly on the grated floor, unnoticed, and untouched. As the ship dematerialized, the flower began to glow, and a small petal fell through the grating.
Muse: The Doctor (Ten)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 1,642
It had all started with an old woman and a single, red rose.
She had knocked on the door to the TARDIS and offered it to him in exchange for shelter from the bitter cold. When he politely pointed out that it was not exactly bitterly cold and more like slightly chilly, she had thrust the rose into the air, thrown off her black cloak and rather suddenly turned out to be a beautiful enchantress.
Which was not something he encountered every day.
So he had given her what he thought was the correct response and asked her to forgive him for correcting her vocabulary, but as is the way with beautiful enchantresses, she was not particularly swayed by it. Instead, she merely scoffed at him and pointed her finger and muttered something about a curse and true love and incorrect weather forecasts. He waited around patiently expecting to be suddenly transformed into some sort of anguishing, forlorn beast that could never hope to be anything but a monster. He was rather surprised, then, when it turned out he got to keep his current form and was no more forlorn and anguished than he already was.
He was, however, surprised to suddenly find himself sitting in a rowboat in the middle of a lake with a group of dancing, smiling frogs singing four part harmony with a swarm of fireflies.
He was equally surprised to find a twenty-something Sarah Jane Smith sitting opposite him.
“Hello Sarah,” he said brightly. She looked puzzled.
“Do I know you?”
He sighed, “I’m the Doctor. You’ve got a few years before you meet me, this me, at least, but it’s me, I promise.”
“You’ve regenerated on me again? You’ve really got to stop doing that, it’s…” she paused, looking around, “…where are we?”
“I have no idea, but I think we-“ A red crab suddenly leaped up onto the boat.
“There you see her, sitting there across the way…”
“What?”
“She don’t got a lot to say, but there’s something about her…”
Sarah raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”
“She has the most to say of anyone I’ve ever known,” said the Doctor, suddenly. Sarah glared at him from across the boat and before long he felt a swift kick hit his shin.
“And you don’t know why, but you’re dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl…”
“I want to what?”
“Sha-la-la-la-la, me-oh-my, look at the boy too shy, he ain’t gonna kiss the girl…”
“What?!”
“Sha-la-la-la-la, ain’t that sad, ain’t it a shame, too bad, you gonna miss the girl…”
“What?!”
He looked over at Sarah who was by that point laughing fairly hysterically given the current situation. She grinned at him, a bit mischievously.
“Any of that true, Doctor?”
“Ah…”
There was a crash, and Sarah, the lake, the frogs, and thankfully, the red crab all vanished as he suddenly found himself overlooking an Arabian landscape. He was somewhere high up, above some sort of big, colorful bazaar. He was sitting on what looked to be a small, floating, gold and purple carpet, swaying a bit in the breeze before what was, quite possibly, the greatest view of the Earth’s moon he had ever seen.
“Ok,” said a voice next to him, “this is weird.” Rose Tyler sat cross-legged next to him, both confused and, apparently, a bit frightened. She was looking down, her eyes fixed solidly on the ground below. He inched over a bit, and took her hand.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “we won’t fall.”
“How do you know?” she asked, eyes unmoving from the drop.
“Trust me,” he replied; trying to meet her eyes, “Do you trust me?”
She turned, “What?”
“Do you trust me?” There was a moment of pause as their eyes finally met.
“Yeah,” she said, finally, “I do.”
Somewhere fireworks went off, as the carpet began to move somewhat excitedly towards the city ahead of them. Rose gave a bit of a squeak and ended up falling into his arms as the rug picked up speed. Her eyes were wide, watching the stars whiz by around them.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. He grinned.
“Not exactly a whole new world or anything, but yes, it definitely is.”
There was a cool breeze and suddenly Rose disappeared from his arms. The Arabian night vanished to be replaced with the inside of a dark, imposing castle. Tall candles lined the walls, lighting the faint silhouettes of an entire court’s worth of bodies lying lifeless on the floor. Bending down to check the pulse of the man lying nearest him, he was stopped by a familiar hand.
“He’s alive,” said Martha, calmly, “they all are, from what I can tell. They’re just sleeping.”
“An entire court’s been put to sleep?” He took a few steps into the light and looked around. Every body was breathing, slouched over as if they’d suddenly dozed off in mid-action.
“It could be high levels of carbon monoxide,” suggested Martha, “but it’s a bit too drafty for that. Poison, maybe?”
“Somehow I don’t think so.”
Just then, a light flashed from somewhere outside the castle as a tremendous roar echoed through the main hall. Martha rushed to a window and pointed, wide-eyed, at a giant black and purple creature surrounded in black and green smoke. Fire shot out of its mouth, as it’s devil-red eyes glared triumphantly at the smoldering forest of weeds and thorns that seemed to surround the walls of the castle. Before he could even begin to try and decipher the species of the monster, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Excuse me,” said a young, masculine voice, “Could I…er, get up the stairs?”
He turned. A young brown haired man with a sword and medieval shield stood impatiently in front of him, motioning to the set of stairs he now realized he was standing in front of.
“That’ll be the prince, right?” asked Martha.
“I think so,” he said, moving to the side to let the young man through, “Sorry about that.” The prince gave him a somewhat annoyed look, but continued to run triumphantly up the staircase, slashing at thorn-laden vines that seemed to only appear the closer he got to the top.
“I’m guessing he’s gone to save the princess,” said Martha, annoyed, “typical.”
“Which would make this-“ Just then the castle, Martha, the creature, and the apparently sexist prince vanished as he once again found himself in a completely different environment.
Namely, sitting on the edge of a rock surrounded in flowers somewhere in the Sahara desert with the one and only Donna Noble.
“About time you got here,” she said, somewhat bitterly, “A talking meerkat just tried to feed me slugs.”
“Did he say hakuna matata, by any chance?”
“Yeah,” she replied, suddenly puzzled, “How’d you know?”
“Haven’t you ever seen The Lion King, Donna?”
“I was never into animal movies.”
“Can you feel the love tonight? The peace the evening brings.”
“Oi, what?”
“The world for once, in perfect harmony. With all its living things.”
“Oh, not again,” said the Doctor, rolling his eyes, “Honestly, isn’t once enough?”
“Does this happen a lot, then?”
“You have no idea.”
“Can you feel the love tonight? You needn’t look far.”
“Who’s actually singing?” asked Donna, suddenly, looking somewhat frantically around her.
“I’m not entirely sure,” he answered, “I think it’s just off-screen voices, though…the last time it was a swarm of fireflies and a crab, so, you never know, I suppose.”
“Stealing through the night’s uncertainties. Love is where they are.”
“Seriously,” said Donna, “This is really starting to get annoying.”
“This has to come to an end at some point,” he replied, thinking, “this has been going on way too long, there’s got to be a way out of this…”
“Out of what?” asked Donna over the sound of continued singing, “What’s been going on way too long?”
“This,” he said, motioning around him, “the singing, the bizarre landscape, the friend who’s gone. I’ve been thrown from one movie to the next, over and over, ever since that woman showed up with…the rose. Hold on,” he said, suddenly, looking around, “That’s it! Donna, that’s it! The rose!”
“The rose?”
“The rose! That woman who came to the door, she wanted shelter or food, or a meteorologist or something, she offered up a rose, that must be how she’s doing it, the rose must be some sort of teleportation device or something, which means it has to be around…here.”
It was then that he spotted the large, glowing red rose hidden amongst the lush, African foliage. The moment he touched it, the sky began to glow. Streams of color fell to the ground like rain, as even the wind began to sparkle.
Really, it was all somewhat sickeningly clichéd.
“Wait!” said Donna, suddenly, as he started to disappear once again, “don’t go!”
“Relax,” he replied, “everything’s going to be fine, it’s just going back to normal.”
“But…why would you want that?”
“What?”
Before she could answer, she vanished, to be replaced with the familiar, cavernous console room. A few quick scans proved he was exactly where he had been before the old woman had shown up, everything looked and felt as if nothing happened. The woman was gone, the rose was gone, the constant un-announced teleportation appeared to be gone. The curse had been lifted.
So it appeared.
He wandered around the large room, flicking switches and pulling levers. He remembered the places they had stood, the specific parts they had played in the movement of the TARDIS, the sounds of their voices. He sighed, and pushed another button. Another destination, another place, another time, another adventure.
Somewhere behind him, the rose lay quietly on the grated floor, unnoticed, and untouched. As the ship dematerialized, the flower began to glow, and a small petal fell through the grating.
Muse: The Doctor (Ten)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 1,642