Who: Amy Pond and Tara Smith (Tardis) What: Amy gets some coffee, and is bombarded with questions from the Blue Box. When: Mid-afternoon. Where: Starbucks. Rating: PG! Status: Complete
“You know what I miss?” Amy said to the barista behind the counter at the Starbucks. A thought had occurred to her suddenly, and she just had to tell someone. She’d left her phone in the car, so the only person she could see fit to tell was standing right in front of her, taking money for her coffee order.
“Arcades. Remember when you were a kid and you’d go play video games at an arcade? Quarters were like gold. Remember that? I miss that.” She said, thoughtfully, accepting a couple of quarters back in change from the woman at the register. Then she dumped them into the tip jar. “Not anymore, really.” She added, then turned to go wait for her drink at the second bar.
Tara already had her hot chocolate, cupped between two hands when Amy approached the pickup area. The redhead sounded like fun the moment she’d begun reminiscing. Tara was sure to like her. Though she hadn’t seen many arcades on the military bases growing up, she’d seen enough on television and had visited the ones still kicking around when she’d moved for college. She knew the appeal of the classic video game.
“You’ve just given her a horde of Arcade gold,” the brunette pointed out with a great big smile on her face. “There’s one just a ten minute drive from here. I would think you’ve quite made their day.”
“What? Really? Is there?” Amy said, breaking into a bright grin. “I think I know where my next stop is. Think she’ll notice if I go plundering for more gold in her tip jar?” She asked, glancing over. It seemed as if the jar was fairly well guarded, and Amy wasn’t really a thief.
“Ah, to be young and waste quarters on video games instead of laundromats.” She said with a playfully wistful sigh.
“You’re young,” she told Amy, still smiling. Tara was obviously a good opinion on youth, since she was basically one herself. Perhaps not in body, but certainly in mind. “You could always ask for a refund on your tip and get some play time in. You can get refunds for tips, right?”
Thinking on that, Tara took a sip of her hot chocolate and shrugged. “I’m sure you could find some quarters about, anyway. I have some if you’re in a rush to play.”
Thinking all of a sudden that she was probably being a bit rude (her mother didn’t raise no fool), Tara extended her right hands toward Amy for a shake. “I’m Tara. Tara Smith.” Grin.
Amy gave a little shrug. She was young, wasn’t she? The grin was plastered across her features, almost in a mischievous way, or the kind of grin one wore when one was sharing a secret. “I’m not really in a rush. I mean, I’ll go there next, probably. I’ve got the afternoon off. I suppose I could stop by the bank and buy a roll of quarters. That would make the most sense.” She had to do that for laundry.
Amy reached over and shook the woman’s hand. “Amy Pond.”
“Amy Pond,” she repeated, liking the sound of it. “A pleasure to meet you. Have you been living in California long?” Because the girl had an accent, she couldn’t hide it. Tara herself had a half-British accent, though it wasn’t strong enough to be noticed straight away. Her diction was often the better giveaway.
“A lot of people have asked me that question lately. Perhaps I should figure out how long it’s been.” Amy shook her head a little bit and gave a soft chuckle. “Less than a year, but more than six months, I think. Long enough for my life to turn upside down and inside out. How about you?”
“Five years!” She answered quickly, leaning a hip on the milk sidestand in the coffee shop. “It’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere. My dad was in the military, never spent more than a year anywhere else. Well, except England. Three years there. Why did your life turn upside down and inside out?” Tara was a very curious person. Who never seemed to stop talking. At least she had enough questions to let people get at least one word into her rambling.
“That’s very different than how I grew up. Always in the same place, always bored with my surroundings.” Amy confessed with a little shrug. “I can hear the England in your voice.” She added, smirking softly. “Oh, y’know... I started having these stranger than life dreams, fell in love with the boy next door slash man of my dreams, and got married all in the span of a couple months.” She said. It was still a whirlwind for her.
“I’m very different from a lot of people!” Tara exclaimed as if that was a mystery to literally anyone. Which it definitely wasn’t. She smiled proudly when Amy told her she sounded a bit British, nodding enthusiastically. She was proud of it, and often thought of England as home.
“Crazy dreams, man of your dreams, and marriage? Did you at least marry the man of your dreams?” she asked, intensely curious. She’d had dreams as well, and was excited to hear that she (and whoever she’d spoken to through the journals) wasn’t the only one. “Because that would be bloody fantastic.” She couldn’t help it. When she was talking to another ex-pat, the slang just slipped out.
“I’ve been having dreams, myself. Very odd ones.” She really liked Amy, so found no fault in rambling her ear off about her own experiences. “Not sure if the man in mine is the man of my dreams, I’ve only had two! But you never know!”
Amy gave a little laugh. This woman was pretty awesome. “Yes, I married the man of my dreams. Not necessarily the man in my dreams. I found both my husband and my best friend from my dreams in this world.” She said, nodding.
“It’s entirely possible! You never know!” Amy said, the grin on her face brightening. “You would have married him, too, if you had the dreams I had. I hope that maybe yours will come as true as mine have.”
“Hmm,” Tara wondered, tapping her lip thoughtfully with her hot chocolate. She took a sip and then shook her head. “Don’t think so. My dreams are very weird! It’s like I don’t even have a body. Very very weird. Don’t think you can marry the man of your dreams without a body!”
She lifted her shoulders in a very dramatic shrug. “I’m not concerned, though! The adventures I’ve gone on in my dreams are enough! Darting about through time and space -- fun, danger and adventure all in one!”
“You don’t have a body?” Amy asked. “Really? Are you just... floating in space? Oooh, maybe you’re the narrator of your dreams. Always a part of the dream, but never actually participating?” She suggested, excitedly.
“Wait, did you say about time and space?” She asked. “You wouldn’t... by any chance... move through time and space in a TARDIS, would you?” Amy felt her pulse quicken. Did this woman know the Doctor?
Tara tapped her lip again with her cup. “TARDIS. That soundsvery familiar,” she hummed on that one, but she was unable to put it into words. “Yes, that sounds very familiar, indeed. Maybe I did travel in this TARDIS, as you said! I don’t know why I would remember such an odd word unless I had!”
Amy gasped. “Then you must be one of us!” She said, excitedly. “One of us! One of us!” Amy said, then felt like a complete nerd. “I mean...” she cleared her throat. “There are a bunch of us who dream about the giant, blue box. And the madman who rides in it.”
“One of ‘us’?” Tara asked, curious. She’d heard that others had had similar dreams as well, but hadn’t thought Amy would be one of them. “How many are there? It seems there are a lot of... us. Are you on the valarnet?” Because that’s the only place where she’d heard talk of these dreams.
“It’s weird, though... Like I said, I never see myself. But it’s like, people are still aware I’m there in my dreams. The Doctor... He speaks to me a lot...” she drifted off on that, trying her best to remember. But she just hadn’t had enough dreams, probably.
“Yeah, we’re uh... Team TARDIS.” Amy said, giving a grin. “I didn’t name it, myself.” She added. “But there are quite a few of us who dream about the Doctor and travels through time and space. It feels like there’s another world out there that we can only access from our dreams.” She nodded about being on Valarnet.
“Yeah, the Doctor’s my best friend in my dreams.” Amy said, grinning. “He brought my husband and me along on his travels.”
“TARDIS,” she tried out the word, deciding she liked it. “That’s a great name for a team. I like it.” Tara was smiling at that, because she very much wanted to be a part of this team that Amy had been talking about. Traveling with the Doctor through space and time -- it sounded fantastic.
“This Doctor sounds like a great man,” she said, musing on that for a moment. “I wonder if I know him. In these dreams, I mean. Mine have been a bit... Confusing, to be quite honest. Perhaps we know each other as well?”
“Oh, good! Well, then welcome to team TARDIS. If you’re dreaming about it, then you’re one of us.” Amy said. She fought back the instinct to chant it again.
“I’d like that.” Amy said, quite honestly. “I bet you know him. Many people do. He is a very good man. A great man, even. I’m sure you’d love him if you met him.” She was beaming with pride. Her Raggedy Doctor was a fantastic man, to be certain. Almost as good as her husband was.
“I’m sure that I would!” Tara agreed, and then took a glance at her watch. Ugh, she was going to be late if she didn’t go now. She was supposed to meet someone for a job interview. She hated those. “Well, I must be off!” she told Amy, smiling widely at her again. “I’m running a bit late. We should talk more again sometime! I want to hear more about this team TARDIS!”
Probably quite unexpectedly for Amy, Tara suddenly reached forward and pulled the girl into a tight hug. “It was wonderful to meet you, Amy,” and then, after flashing her another smile, she turned to leave. She was quite curious about this team.
Amy was completely surprised at the hug, and only after a moment of confusion returned it with one arm. Then Tara pulled away from her and rushed out. Amy gave a little laugh, and turned to wave. “It was great to meet you, too. Talk to you soon!”