River Song (spoilers_) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-01-14 19:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, doctor (12), river song |
Who: River Song, the Doctor (12)
What: River and the Doctor ring in the New Year in London, Great Gatsby style
Where: Great Gatsby New Year's Eve, Sky Garden, London
When: December 31, 2017
Rating: None
Status: Complete in Gdocs
When the Doctor promised River a private dinner in London, she was a bit surprised. Not that such grand, romantic gestures were unheard of. On the contrary, the Doctor had upped his romance game considerably over the years. But their more intimate dates usually did not fall so quickly on the heels of one another, and their excursions typically fell more along the playful and adventurous side of the spectrum. When he greeted her in the console room looking as if he had stepped out of a fashion plate from the 1920s, she knew she was in for a little more than a simple candlelit dinner. Eyes narrowed, nose scrunched, she smiled playfully at the Doctor. "What have you got planned?" Before he could reply, she held up a hand. "Hold that thought," she interrupted, then turned around and walked out the way she had come. Not for the first time, the Doctor was forced to wait while she slipped into something more appropriate for their apparent destination. She reemerged from the depths of the TARDIS a few moments later, channeling Bebe Daniels in a floor length sequined dress beneath a white fur coat with a black collar. "Now," she said dramatically, offering a gloved hand to the Doctor, "What do you have in store for us, old chap?"
"I think what you mean to say is ‘old sport,'" the Doctor cheerfully replied, referring to the line that was said by the title character of Fitzgerald's popular book. He was far too excited to notice, much less appreciate how amazing his wife looked in her new outfit. He rushed around to the other side of the console, flipping switches along the way. "I told you we were going to celebrate New Year's first in London, but I haven't told you where."
The lever was thrown back with dramatic flourish, starting the TARDIS' engine running, whisking them away from Tumbleweed.
"While here, I can't travel through time, but I can give you the next best thing!"
The Doctor returned the lever to the upright position with a similar dramatic flourish and a proud, beaming smile. He strode over to River and held out his arm for her to take. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the door.
River winked at the Doctor after he corrected her. "Just wanted to see if you were paying attention." In his excitement, he neglected to take her outstretched hand, and so she followed him over to the console, watching amusedly as he worked the switches and levers. "I think I have a hunch," she replied, adjusting the large collar of her coat and fluffing up the curls on the side of her hair that had not been pulled back in a jeweled hair comb.
She took his arm, smiling up at him as if she were basking in the warmth of the sun. "Lead the way." And they stepped out onto a garden terrace that might not have seemed all that extraordinary, were it not for the fact that it was encased in glass, thirty-seven stories above the streets of London. The terrace was populated with a crowd of revelers, some wearing contemporary dress, but many were decked out in the unmistakable party apparel of the 1920s. A live band was playing modern music with a jazzy twist. River nodded her head in approval. "I could do with a bit of nostalgia."
"There ain't no party like a Great Gatsby party!" the Doctor declared, causing people who were close by to turn their heads suddenly in confusion. "Because a Great Gatsby party don't stop until two people are dead and everyone is disillusioned with the Jazz Age as a whole." Thinking himself clever, he strutted away from the TARDIS - somehow even though they were in the middle of London where you'd think a TARDIS would be most recognized, nobody paid it any mind - the same way locals in Tumbleweed often overlooked the unusual happenings in their town. "Oh, look, see?" he pointed toward the enormous plate glass windows and the skyline of London (including the Eye) on the other side. "We'll have a perfect view of the fireworks!" He was feeling - and acting - as giddy as a child.
River laughed musically at his antics, indifferent to any strange looks that were being thrown their way. "We'll make sure to bow out before all that," she joked, following alongside him as he walked toward the glass walls separating them from the chill of the London night. It was a magnificent sight, even without the fireworks, which from that height, would look absolutely spectacular. She nudged his hip playfully with her own and tightened her grasp on his arm. "I love it," she smiled up at him before turning away from the windows and taking in the rest of the venue. There was a manned bar nearby with tables scattered around the garden, and there appeared to be a restaurant on an upper level. "So what's next? Food? Drink? Dancing?" she asked, her eyes seeming to sparkle at the last suggestion. There was still some time until midnight.
"Bow out? Why that's when fun really starts. The murder part, that is, not necessarily the disillusionment." The Doctor was teasing. Mostly. Maybe not so much. The Doctor was a bit antsy for some excitement, and. "A good murder could be just what we need to get the party really going. Hopefully there would be an evil plot to uncover and some invading aliens to defeat. But in the meantime…" He extended his hand out to River, "...would you join me in a dance?"
Despite the way he often overlooked details or forgot something pretty basic, the Doctor could be quite observant when he set his mind to it. And he couldn't help but notice that certain sparkle in his wife's eyes when she mentioned dancing, so he could take the hint. He took her hand and led her to the dancefloor, where people were already moving to a fast paced song played by the live orchestra, something that sounded like it came straight from the 1920's.
River eagerly took his hand and allowed herself to be led to the dance floor, but not before taking off her coat and tossing it thoughtlessly into the lap of a man sitting in a nearby chair. It had been awhile since she had danced, and even longer since she had danced with the Doctor. Not since their time on Darillium. "One Christmas without an invasion, and suddenly you're willing murder upon poor, hapless humans," she chided facetiously as she guided his right hand to her waist and took his left one in her own. She did not bother to ask if he knew the flat Charleston, simply assuming that it was very likely to be swirling around in that head of is. And even if it wasn't, she knew very well that he would convincingly fake it. She led for a brief moment so that he would know what she had in mind, then handed the dancing reigns over to him, to do whatever he pleased.
"I'm not willing!" the Doctor defended himself with mirth ringing in the tone of his voice. "I'm just saying it would be make things more interesting if it just so happened. Would it be better if the people murdered weren't really murdered at all, but were instead just frozen in a status field, but could be revived after the evil plot was stopped?" There were very few whom the Doctor would want to actually be killed, and he knew he shouldn't make light of such a thing.
The Doctor allowed himself to be led, and once he recognized the steps River was dancing, he naturally joined along. Of course he knew the Charleston! He'd been to the 1920's on Earth enough times! However, he was a bit rusty at first, messing up his footwork, but within a matter of minutes, he was breezing across the floor with River like a regular Fred Astaire. Many of the other guests at the party appreciated as they watched them go.
As it happens, River had spent quite a bit of time in the 1920s. Most recently, she had taken up a post at a university in Britain, intent on pouring herself into her research, but of course, eventually found herself swept up in an another cosmic adventure. She was like that Doctor in that way. Trouble always seemed to find her, even when she wasn't actively seeking it out. "I'm afraid all the interesting occurrences in this universe seem relegated to the area around Tumbleweed," she replied as they danced circles around the other partygoers. "Looks like we'll have to create our own excitement." She pulled back from him momentarily, undertaking a flashy Charleston move that others may have deemed odd for a woman her age in a dress like that.
"Show off." Oh, but the Doctor loved it. Grinning like a maniac at River, and not to be outdone, the Doctor took her by the hand, twirled her around in a circle, then began dancing with her, matching River step for step as if they'd rehearsed.
After dancing, came dinner. The Doctor was amused that it was catered by a restaurant called the Darwin Brasserie. He had the lamb and ordered a bottle of their most expensive champagne.
"Do you miss being among the stars?" he asked as he poured their third glass.
When they had tired of the dance floor, River retrieved her coat from the human coat rack where she had discarded it. The man seemed grateful to be relieved of it.
The food was delicious and their waiter annoyingly attentive. It made River wonder what had shown up on the psychic paper the Doctor had shown him that allowed them to get a table. At the Doctor's question, she looked out the window over his shoulder into the night's sky. Despite the clear night, the lights from the city made stargazing impossible. She looked back at the Doctor with a wistful expression. "Of course," she replied, "Just as I know you do, too." She took a drink from her refilled glass, then added, "Though if the choice is between traveling among the stars or spending my borrowed time with you, I would gladly never see the stars again." It was, perhaps, a bit overly sentimental, the kind of thing she saved for her diary. But after the month they had had, she could be forgiven a little romanticism.
The Doctor didn't need to see the stars - he could feel them, just as plainly as he could rotation of this planet, along with its trajectory through space as it rotated around the sun. "I really shouldn't be complaining," he said, introspectively. "I was exiled to Earth for five years, lived on Darillium with you for 24, and voluntarily stuck around for fifty while a university professor. This is nothing. It's just…" his eyes glazed over as he stared out the window, letting his sentence dangle - it was clear that he wanted to explore this universe to see what interesting new worlds it had to offer.
River's bout of sentimentality brought the Doctor back to the here and now. This time, he gazed into the stars of her eyes, enraptured by the sight. Then, with a loving smile, he lifted his glass for a toast. "Happy New Year, River Song."