Who: Tenth Doctor and TARDIS When: The start of Wonderland Weekend, Thursday February 21 Where: Orange County What: They’re in a new world. Obviously the Doctor and his TARDIS are out to investigate. Rating: PG Status: Complete.
Okay, so Tara knew that a lot of people thought she was a bit odd. But crazy? Not really. Maybe they’d used that word referring to her, but they’d never thought she was actually crazy. Just a bit weird.
In this moment? Tara was convinced she’d crossed over from weird to that level of crazy. She’d been walking to her car, having booked off the afternoon from work, when the world seemed to... Well, Orange County looked a bit like the stories she’d read as a child about Alice in Wonderland.
Stopping in her tracks, the brunette looked around. People were changing too, not just the landscape. Looking down, she noticed that her clothing had changed as well. A most curious design. It was kind of familiar. She felt something appear on the top of her head as well. Reaching up, she felt a small hat with a little veil -- she hadn’t noticed it until just then, but Tara was thinking she really liked the veil. Veils were cool.
A small blue bag had appeared at Tara’s wrist, replacing her big black one. Pulling her phone out of it, she rang the only number she could think of in that moment: John Smith’s. It was time for adventure.
John had been checking his email and the network only a moment before. There were so many strange comments about the scenery, that he had to take himself to a window in order to see what they were all on about.
“Oh,” he said, raising his eyebrows in an expression that was concerningly lacking wariness. And then his phone rang, and John couldn’t exactly explain why, but he sure as hell couldn’t hold back a grin now.
He answered. “Tara. Have you been outside today?”
“I’m outside right now,” she replied, watching as the world changed around her. “Where are you? Are you at home?”
As she came upon the parking lot where her car was usually parked, she was shocked to find that... Well, all the cars there weren’t really cars anymore. They’d been turned into, well, giant cabbages. Furrowing her brows, the brunette was just.... Okay, there was no word for it. Amazed? Confused? Perplexed? All of those.
“I hope you’re thinking what I’m thinking.” It was time for adventure, of course.
“Staring out the window as we speak,” said John, who really was literally leaning halfway out the window in wonder now. Brilliant. Everything was brilliant. Only in America, folks.
“Yes,” he went on with her next question though. “The only real question is this: what does one wear for an adventure of this sort?”
“Wear your best suit,” she said, grinning as she started walking toward John’s place. He didn’t live terribly far, and she didn’t know how to drive a cabbage, okay? “My outfit seems to have changed on its own. Are you still wearing the same thing?”
“Yeah,” said John. “Maybe you have to be outside in it for-- you know. Whatever.” he was already moving toward his closet to pull out his very favorite suit and a tie, because classiness was important. Trainers were going to have to do though, because he just wasn’t sure dress shoes would hold up against muck and mushrooms. “Give me five, yeah?”
“Sure!” she chimed into the phone, hanging up and putting it into her bag. Taking off in a run (it seemed she was wearing trainers as well!), she headed for John’s place, grinning the entire way. She only had to dodge a few giant mushrooms on the way there, and hop over a few new creatures that were wandering about.
Approaching John’s building about ten minutes later, Tara was puffing to regain her breath. She looked up at his opened window, calling out: “It’s beautiful out here!”
“Bloody right!” John said, leaning out of his window and looking down at her. Tara, he noted, looked amazing -- as if that outfit had been made just for her. He liked it. “Be right down,” he yelled out even as he shut his window and moved to jog toward the door.
Not a minute later, he was outside, gazing ‘round at everything with a sense of newfound wonder. It had all been lovely and mysterious from his window, but was so much more than that when he was actually standing in it.
He knew that they should be questioning how and why. But it just didn’t seem to matter all that much. It just was. And it was brilliant.
Tara had her arms stretched out as John came outside, watching him with that bright grin of hers. She giggled a little at his expression, bouncing up to her best friend as he looked around in wonder. It really was beautiful, and what better way to enjoy a brand new and beautiful world than with the one you love the most?
Putting her arms around his chest, Tara laid her head against John’s shoulder and smiled up at him. “Isn’t it just wonderful? I’ve just jogged here from the office, and it is so beautiful! Ready for adventure like no other!”
John nodded his agreement, not being able to help himself when he pressed an excited kiss to her forehead. Jesus, her little hat was so cute. He had to touch it. The veil was a nice touch.
“No yellow brick road to follow,” said The Doctor John. “I suppose we’ll just have to make our own path.” He offered her his arm so that they could set out. He wanted to get away from his apartment, until everything started looking unfamiliar. Then the fun could really begin.
She laughed at the kiss and his investigation of her veil. He seemed quite taken with the outfit she’d found herself in. It really was nice, and such a great blue. If she could, she was definitely intending to keep it!
Pulling away from him, she took his arm and nodded. Pointing in a random direction, she looked that way and then back up at The Doctor John. That suit was really familiar. “That way!” she exclaimed, though she’d let him lead. He was her gentleman in this new world, after all.
It was a good suit. It was sharp, and dependable, but not at all ordinary. It was how John liked things, really. He gave a nod, leading them on even as they stepped over this and that (and was that a frog? Or what?).
It wasn’t until there were a few blocks away that everything seemed really odd. Well. More odd. Odder. John stopped, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy and looked around them.
Tara let go of John’s arm when she saw the mushrooms sprouting from the ground. Climbing onto the shortest one, she managed to stand fully on top of it. Putting a hand over her eyes, she looked around. Not high enough, she decided. So she began climbing the others closest to her.
Once she’d climbed up to the tallest one, the girl in blue peered around the area. Everything was right out of the fairytale of Alice in Wonderland. She gasped in wonder, looking down at John, still steady on the ground. “Everything’s changed!” she called down, turning in a circle as she looked around. “It’s... It’s a whole new world!” And she was so ready to explore.
A whole new world? But wasn’t that Aladdin? Shut up, he liked Disney.
John watched her climbing for a moment, and then gave a little nod to himself before he went mushroom to mushroom until he was standing on the (oddly sturdy) cap of the ‘shroom next to her. He squinted out at the distance -- pulling his glasses from his pocket and sliding them on his nose to see more clearly.
There was a castle in the middle of it all, and so many more oddities before it. “Where to even start?” he asked his companion friend.
The glasses. Those glasses. If she was going to be completely honest, Tara loved those glasses. They were so John. She watched as he put them on, just smiling. This whole look, the suit with the glasses, it was just so... right.
Turning away to take in the world around them some more, Tara pointed at a very large Labyrinth that looked to be made of shrubbery. Turning to John, she just raised an eyebrow at him as she pointed in that direction. It would be fun to play hide and seek in a giant labyrinth!
Eyes following her finger until he spotted the labyrinth as well. John rose his eyebrows and then smiled brightly, as if nothing could make him happier than this one idea that was sitting on the front of his brain.
“Yes,” he agreed, speaking her thoughts aloud. “That looks like a perfect spot to get lost in.”
Without pause, Tara began hopping down the mushroom caps, landing on the ground with a squishy thud. Looking down, she frowned at her now-muddy trainers.
Well, there’s no adventure that’s worth it without a little bit of laundry at the end!
She put out a hand and waited for John at the bottom, just grinning like the loon that she was. This place was just perfect for them. Danger, puzzles, and fun new things to discover. The TARDIS girl could not help but be excited for the possibilities.
----
The way to the labyrinth proved to be challenging but fun. There were weird creatures all around (probably, that used to be local wildlife), and if Tara and John had thought ducks were bad before, they were nothing now that they now had knives for teeth. There had been a good deal of running. Which, of course, the two of them had not minded at all.
Some people might have been scared. Others wary. But these two (The Doctor, and his TARDIS -- even if they weren’t completely aware of it) laughed in the face of danger, and if nothing else became more vibrant.
“Here,” John said as they finally slowed down their paces to a normal walk, “This must be the entrance.” True to his word, before them was a large entryway made up of sculpted shrubbery.
“Think we can find our way to the middle?” she asked, looking up to him with excitement written all over her. She might have been bouncing a bit. Perhaps most people might have been a bit scared by the world that had popped up around them, but not Tara. She just wanted to see more. And this labyrinth would prove to be an amazing adventure, indeed.
Tugging on John’s hand, Tara was stepping forward into the maze of shrubbery. Onward and upward, as they say.
Or forward and sideward? Is that something they say? Is that a thing? John hoped so. Stepping forward so that he was shoulder to shoulder with the girl, he reached over just enough to grip her hand as they walked. Hey, just because he wasn’t scared didn’t mean he wasn’t cautious. Hand-holding in these kinds of situations was always a good idea because you never knew when you were going to need to run. (How he really knew that, was a little beyond him.)
With his free hand, he adjusted his glasses and then reached out to touch the shrubbery beside him. The bushes and vines rustled slightly, but seemed relatively harmless all on their own.
Tara’s eyes were alight with wonder. As they walked through the labyrinth, coming to dead ends more often than not, she was just full of mirth and not upset by the challenges of fighting through the maze.
It was starting to get dark by the time the pair had finally found their way to the middle. The afternoon had been full of laughter and excitement, but the day had been long. Coming into the middle area still holding tight to John’s hand, Tara let out a squeal of excitement before she let go and ran to the raised up area in the middle.
“We’ve found it!” she called out, taking in the area around them. There was one of those (creepy-looking) statues, a (creepy-looking as well) water fountain, and plenty of mushrooms around. Let’s just be honest, the entire world had turned a bit creepy. But Tara didn’t mind in any way. New things just made her more excited!
John had found himself a bit sluggish (for him, which might have been normal person speed for everyone else) by the time they made it to the middle. He observed everything with a keen eye (it was all a bit creepy, but he was used to it by now) and then gave a wide grin.
“Is it everything you expected?” he asked the girl, with raised eyebrows. It kind of was, though. And that little grouping of mushrooms made it all look like a nice little tent. Nearly good enough for a nap.
“More!” she said, turning back to him with her hands clasped together at her chest. Coming back to stand in front of him, Tara smiled up at John. She was starting to feel a bit tired after the long day of adventure, which was understandable. Most would have probably collapsed by now. Tara was still moving, but everyone gets tired eventually. Even those as excitable as Tara Diana Smith.
“It’s getting dark out. Should we head back?” As if they could really find their way out quickly enough to get home before dark. Looking at the mushrooms, she agreed with John’s thoughts that they looked a bit like a natural tent. She looked back to him, tipping her head to the side. Was it a night for camping in this weird new world?
“Maybe,” said John, although he didn’t really sound like he was positive about it. He was still glancing around them, as if devising a plan. “It’ll probably take a long time.” And it would -- because the way in had been hours upon hours in the first place. Funny how they’d never considered that they were really lost.
He glanced at her, and grinned a toothy, almost too proud sort of smile. “We could always nap first,” he suggested. “And then make our way back in the dark.” Because that seemed like a good adventure too. Everything was different in the darkness.
Tara returned the toothy smile, hers ending up looking a little goofy rather than proud. “Yes! Okay! Over in those mushrooms?” She hadn’t even considered how unsafe this plan of sleeping in the wilderness could be, let alone in this creepy Wonderland world. “They look comfortable.”
“Don’t they just?” John agreed, easily, wandering over to the group of them and then flopping down on one of the ones that was quite low to the ground. It was a bit spongy, like, well, a sponge. Or one of those weird mattresses they sold in the stores that were meant to be quite good for your back. It’d certainly do.
“C’mon,” he said, holding out his hand.
Tara hurried over when she saw his hand extended, taking it as she flopped down on the mushroom beside him. She kicked her feet a bit, staring up at the sky with a big grin on her face. “Did you ever read Alice in Wonderland?” she asked, turning her head to look at John. “Think we’ll find a cheshire cat, or a caterpillar with a hookah next?”
John was silent for a long moment as they got comfortable on their mushroom bed -- arranging themselves until Tara’s head was on John’s shoulder and his hands were resting behind his own head. He crossed his feet at his ankles and smiled into the slowly darkening sky. “I certainly hope so,” he responded finally, although it hardly mattered since Tara seemed to have already fallen asleep.