[licenseartistic] March 2008 - Fantastic
Title: "Leftovers"
Prompt: Fantastic
Character: The Tenth Doctor
Warnings: None
Pairings: None
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word count: 446
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The Doctor and all other mentioned characters are property of the BBC, and are used without permission.
"What did you say?"
Rose was looking at me with an expression that somehow managed to mix excitement, confusion, regret and disappointment all in one, and let me tell you that it wasn't her very best "look". I'd been in the middle of fiddling with this or that under the TARDIS' console, trying to get the blasted thing to work just the way I wanted, as usual. Just avoiding a complete meltdown, the thing was finally making exactly the right kind of whooshing sound. When I came out from under the console, there was Rose, looking at me like I'd grown another hand. Again.
"I dunno," I answered her, "what did I say?"
She looked hard at me, almost squinting. "You said 'fantastic'. You fixed that transmogrifying-dimensionaliser-whatsit--"
"That's transintegrating-dimensionaliser-whatsit," I corrected her.
"Whatever," Rose said impatiently. "You fixed it, then you said 'fantastic'."
I shrugged. "I did? I suppose I did. And... I suppose I said it because I was happy that I fixed it." I looked back at Rose, now just as confused. "Was it not good that I fixed it?"
Her face fell. "You sounded just like him. You. You know..."
By the way Rose's voice trailed off, I did know. It'd only been three days since the Sycorax invasion, four days since she'd seen me regenerate into this new, slimmer and much more nattily-dressed form. My memories from Nine-- and that's what we called each other, other than "Doctor", because you can imagine how confusing that could get-- were pretty clear on the subject of just how fond of miss Rose Tyler he'd gotten and just how fond of him she had gotten. So when I came 'round, there was no escaping the fact that she'd been hoping to get the big ears and boring jumpers back.
"I'm not totally new, Rose," I said, softening my voice to the 'need to explain to the Companion again' tone. "Like I told you, all the memories and experiences are still there. I'm different in a lot of ways, but I'm still the man I was. Some things will show up unexpectedly, it's... well, it's to be expected, I suppose."
She sniffed. "So you saying 'fantastic', just like that, it was some kind of... leftover?"
"Exactly!" I answered brightly. "That's exactly it. You might see me eating jelly babies, or wearing vegetables, and I might even appear in black and white. But that version," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "is done. Time to move on."
Rose nodded. "You need yourself a catchphrase, then."
"Well..." I said, giving it a thought. "Let's take care of that later. For now, off we go. Allons-y!"
Prompt: Fantastic
Character: The Tenth Doctor
Warnings: None
Pairings: None
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word count: 446
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The Doctor and all other mentioned characters are property of the BBC, and are used without permission.
"What did you say?"
Rose was looking at me with an expression that somehow managed to mix excitement, confusion, regret and disappointment all in one, and let me tell you that it wasn't her very best "look". I'd been in the middle of fiddling with this or that under the TARDIS' console, trying to get the blasted thing to work just the way I wanted, as usual. Just avoiding a complete meltdown, the thing was finally making exactly the right kind of whooshing sound. When I came out from under the console, there was Rose, looking at me like I'd grown another hand. Again.
"I dunno," I answered her, "what did I say?"
She looked hard at me, almost squinting. "You said 'fantastic'. You fixed that transmogrifying-dimensionaliser-whatsit--"
"That's transintegrating-dimensionaliser-whatsit," I corrected her.
"Whatever," Rose said impatiently. "You fixed it, then you said 'fantastic'."
I shrugged. "I did? I suppose I did. And... I suppose I said it because I was happy that I fixed it." I looked back at Rose, now just as confused. "Was it not good that I fixed it?"
Her face fell. "You sounded just like him. You. You know..."
By the way Rose's voice trailed off, I did know. It'd only been three days since the Sycorax invasion, four days since she'd seen me regenerate into this new, slimmer and much more nattily-dressed form. My memories from Nine-- and that's what we called each other, other than "Doctor", because you can imagine how confusing that could get-- were pretty clear on the subject of just how fond of miss Rose Tyler he'd gotten and just how fond of him she had gotten. So when I came 'round, there was no escaping the fact that she'd been hoping to get the big ears and boring jumpers back.
"I'm not totally new, Rose," I said, softening my voice to the 'need to explain to the Companion again' tone. "Like I told you, all the memories and experiences are still there. I'm different in a lot of ways, but I'm still the man I was. Some things will show up unexpectedly, it's... well, it's to be expected, I suppose."
She sniffed. "So you saying 'fantastic', just like that, it was some kind of... leftover?"
"Exactly!" I answered brightly. "That's exactly it. You might see me eating jelly babies, or wearing vegetables, and I might even appear in black and white. But that version," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "is done. Time to move on."
Rose nodded. "You need yourself a catchphrase, then."
"Well..." I said, giving it a thought. "Let's take care of that later. For now, off we go. Allons-y!"