Challenge Entry: Unlikely Places (Buffy/Doctor Who)
Unlikely Places
Summary: The TARDIS lands in Sunnydale. They have their thoughts about each other.
Set: Post-Runaway Bride and about BtVS season 7.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Russell T. Davies, Spongebob Squarepants. All folks who aren’t me.
(first impressions)
Warmth is her first thought. The desert sands are not far off, and the sun is glittering down on her hull. There is warmth here. There is also something more. There is warmth from fire. Something is stirring below. She shivers. From beneath you it devours. She does not want to stay here long.
Blue is her first thought. It appears on her grounds from out of the thin air, bold and beautiful. She can feel the power thrumming in the heart of the machine. It has seen so much, so many worlds. She has only seen roads and houses, businesses and towers, good and evil. The monotonous cycle. There’s something of the Wolf about this one. She’s seen what wolves can do, and wants the blue contraption gone.
(life)
As she waits, alone and empty in a small park, small children run and play around her. She listens to their high-pitched screams (feeling the fire burn underneath) and feels the joy in their simple play (the fear as they run from sharp teeth.) There was such a balance here. She knows it is waiting to be upset.
She is never alone. Over the years, she has learned to drown out the noises. The chattering of the children is the humming of the cars is the screams of the dying is the growling stomach of the hungry. Some days, it is too much for her. She misses the days when this was nothing but land. Soon. She can feel it. They are all going to leave her.
(appearances)
The town has two lives, she thinks. An upper bursting with life and activity, and a lower lying in wait. Or perhaps a diurnal bustle of everyday life, and a nocturnal hunt for the darker shadows. She would never think of this as safe. She reaches out to find her Doctor. This place has holes you can never climb out of. She thinks of her own rooms that lead to nowhere - scars from the battles. She is wary.
The visitor has two faces, she sees. An outer shell of wood and paint which she both sees and doesn’t, and an inner sanctum that is larger than her own. Much larger. She has learned to be wary of deceivers. She moves the ground just slightly, enough to keep the children at bay. Do not go near. The vessel is a maze you don’t return from quite the same. She thinks of her own labyrinth lurking beneath - what they ripped from her. She is angry.
(losses)
Rose Tyler. Jackie Tyler. Mickey Smith. Sarah Jane Smith. Her mind stretches further back A Doctor. A Captain. A young boy who took hold of too much. An entire planet: her home. (She dare not think of any more names.)
Jonathan Levinson. Warren Mears, Tara McClay. How many young students has she lost? Buffy Summers. Joyce Summers. Jenny Calendar. Buffy Summers (again.) Jesse McNally. (She never thought of how young they were before.)
(death)
The Oncoming Storm, he’s been called. The Wandering Traveler. The Lonely God. He’s worn so many faces, and there are still more he can bear. For all that she has seen, for all that they have done together, she knows. He believes himself to be death.
Slayer, she is called. The Chosen One. “One” is misleading. There are two, now, but there have been so many. All ages. All faces. All places. Her gift is death, this Slayer has been told. Her gift. Her curse. Her life. It is death.
(research)
A small child watches an Indian girl walk into a blue box.
A smoking teen catches a glimpse of an older woman sneaking into the school.
(gains)
They come and they go. Smiling with wide eyes. Narrowly escaping death. Sneaking aboard and never leaving. They are hers, the ones she must care for. She gives them what they need. Their choices are their own.
They come and they go. In their little cars. By bus. By train. Motorcycles. Through the sewers. They are her people, the ones she cares for. She nurtures them on (and within) her soil. Their choices are their own.
(understanding)
Adventure. That had always been her promise. To see the stars. To fly through space. To live. To learn. To love. She has always been a home, This place, too, is a home, with as many stories to tell as she. As long as she waiting, she may as well listen.
Clean, family living. That’s what it said on her brochures. If she even had brochures. She only knew that people kept coming, with promises of getting rich, of getting an education, of settling down and raising a family. This contraption, as well, made promises, created legends. She’s tired of her own bumps in the night. She would like to hear a fresh tale.
(friendship)
Unnoticed underneath an elm tree, a red-headed woman in a distinct blue suit is speaking quietly with a dark-haired Navajo girl who is neither young nor old.
Summary: The TARDIS lands in Sunnydale. They have their thoughts about each other.
Set: Post-Runaway Bride and about BtVS season 7.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon, Russell T. Davies, Spongebob Squarepants. All folks who aren’t me.
(first impressions)
Warmth is her first thought. The desert sands are not far off, and the sun is glittering down on her hull. There is warmth here. There is also something more. There is warmth from fire. Something is stirring below. She shivers. From beneath you it devours. She does not want to stay here long.
Blue is her first thought. It appears on her grounds from out of the thin air, bold and beautiful. She can feel the power thrumming in the heart of the machine. It has seen so much, so many worlds. She has only seen roads and houses, businesses and towers, good and evil. The monotonous cycle. There’s something of the Wolf about this one. She’s seen what wolves can do, and wants the blue contraption gone.
(life)
As she waits, alone and empty in a small park, small children run and play around her. She listens to their high-pitched screams (feeling the fire burn underneath) and feels the joy in their simple play (the fear as they run from sharp teeth.) There was such a balance here. She knows it is waiting to be upset.
She is never alone. Over the years, she has learned to drown out the noises. The chattering of the children is the humming of the cars is the screams of the dying is the growling stomach of the hungry. Some days, it is too much for her. She misses the days when this was nothing but land. Soon. She can feel it. They are all going to leave her.
(appearances)
The town has two lives, she thinks. An upper bursting with life and activity, and a lower lying in wait. Or perhaps a diurnal bustle of everyday life, and a nocturnal hunt for the darker shadows. She would never think of this as safe. She reaches out to find her Doctor. This place has holes you can never climb out of. She thinks of her own rooms that lead to nowhere - scars from the battles. She is wary.
The visitor has two faces, she sees. An outer shell of wood and paint which she both sees and doesn’t, and an inner sanctum that is larger than her own. Much larger. She has learned to be wary of deceivers. She moves the ground just slightly, enough to keep the children at bay. Do not go near. The vessel is a maze you don’t return from quite the same. She thinks of her own labyrinth lurking beneath - what they ripped from her. She is angry.
(losses)
Rose Tyler. Jackie Tyler. Mickey Smith. Sarah Jane Smith. Her mind stretches further back A Doctor. A Captain. A young boy who took hold of too much. An entire planet: her home. (She dare not think of any more names.)
Jonathan Levinson. Warren Mears, Tara McClay. How many young students has she lost? Buffy Summers. Joyce Summers. Jenny Calendar. Buffy Summers (again.) Jesse McNally. (She never thought of how young they were before.)
(death)
The Oncoming Storm, he’s been called. The Wandering Traveler. The Lonely God. He’s worn so many faces, and there are still more he can bear. For all that she has seen, for all that they have done together, she knows. He believes himself to be death.
Slayer, she is called. The Chosen One. “One” is misleading. There are two, now, but there have been so many. All ages. All faces. All places. Her gift is death, this Slayer has been told. Her gift. Her curse. Her life. It is death.
(research)
A small child watches an Indian girl walk into a blue box.
A smoking teen catches a glimpse of an older woman sneaking into the school.
(gains)
They come and they go. Smiling with wide eyes. Narrowly escaping death. Sneaking aboard and never leaving. They are hers, the ones she must care for. She gives them what they need. Their choices are their own.
They come and they go. In their little cars. By bus. By train. Motorcycles. Through the sewers. They are her people, the ones she cares for. She nurtures them on (and within) her soil. Their choices are their own.
(understanding)
Adventure. That had always been her promise. To see the stars. To fly through space. To live. To learn. To love. She has always been a home, This place, too, is a home, with as many stories to tell as she. As long as she waiting, she may as well listen.
Clean, family living. That’s what it said on her brochures. If she even had brochures. She only knew that people kept coming, with promises of getting rich, of getting an education, of settling down and raising a family. This contraption, as well, made promises, created legends. She’s tired of her own bumps in the night. She would like to hear a fresh tale.
(friendship)
Unnoticed underneath an elm tree, a red-headed woman in a distinct blue suit is speaking quietly with a dark-haired Navajo girl who is neither young nor old.