tara diana smith (tardiss) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-03-07 22:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, tardis, tenth doctor |
Who: TARDIS and Tenth Doctor
When: Monday March 4
Where: Gwen and John’s place
What: John made an amazing discovery about his best friend. He has to tell her, obviously.
Rating: PG!
Status: Complete
It had been a long day at work. Most days, Tara didn’t really have to worry about much apart from keeping the employees in her company happy. But with the continued rapid growth of the company, lately she’d had to write what she felt was thousands of Job Descriptions. It was a tiring process, creating jobs in a small company. But someone had to do it!
Tired from the day, the young woman had decided to stop by John and Gwen’s apartment on her way home. She’d gotten into the habit of showing up there unannounced most days, as she was almost always found one of them at home. She spent almost more time at their apartment than her little townhouse, now.
Knocking on the door, Tara stood and waited outside of their place with a smile on her face. And as much as she loved Gwen, she was hoping that John would come to the door. He always brightened up her days.
Ask and you shall receive! John opened up the door, and it wouldn’t be very surprising, of course, but he hugged Tara as soon as he saw her. They did this a lot -- hugging for no reason other than the day was ending in a “y”. But this time it was tighter, longer. He didn’t quite want to let go.
“Hi!” Tara greeted, giggling while he hugged her. She moved to pull away, but he wasn’t letting go. So she just grinned and snuggled into his chest for a little longer. “How are you?” she mumbled into him, nuzzling a bit. “Did you have a good day?” She suspected he had.
“I did,” said the Doctor, finally backing up a little and letting Tara into the house. He was nearly vibrating with energy, as if he had something he wanted to say, or just do -- hard to tell. Well. No. He knew exactly what he wanted to say and do tonight. With Tara.
“I made you a sandwich. Want a sandwich?”
Walking into the apartment, Tara looked at John curiously. Was it just her or did he resemble a Jack Russell a bit at the moment? He was buzzing with energy. She grabbed his hand and smiled up at her best friend. She knew him well enough that she could tell he had something on his mind. But she’d wait. “You made me a sandwich?” she asked, a bit surprised on that one. “How’d you know I was coming over?” It was a legitimate question.
John just grinned and gave a shrug. “I had a feeling. Hey? Do you like mayo? It’s ham and cheese, but I could add it.” He was a bit like a happy puppy right now. He was ushering Tara around, making her sit down and coddling her like she was --er. His owner? No. That wasn’t right. Anyway.
“Uh, yeah, sure I like mayo. Don’t worry about adding it if it’s already made though!” she said, being ushered around and pushed into a seat by John. He was acting a bit weird. Well, he was acting like John. But he was especially acting like John, if you know what I mean. “Why’d you make sandwiches?” she asked, genuinely curious. Sure, John liked taking care of her. But this was kind of new.
Well, if she didn’t want it then fine. He set it down in front of her at their little kitchen table, and pulled out the fixings to make a new one for himself, too. “I-- well. I figured I’d see you today,” he said, eyes bright and wild. He couldn’t help himself, honestly. He was just bursting with excitement. “I have something to tell you.” Even as he said so, he was turning around to fumble through the fridge again -- pulling out their box of wine and some bananas too. Options were important.
Tara wasn’t going to start eating until John joined her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t picking at the meat and cheese and nibbling on it. Because that’s totally fine. She turned in her seat as he spoke, curious. She draped an arm over the top of the chair, chin settling on top. “What’s that?” she asked, smiling at him as he busied about the kitchen.
Wine poured and his own sandwich made, John settled a glass down in front of his BFF. “You know how our dreams are kind of the same?” Because they talked about that stuff a lot, even if you, dear reader, do not always get to see it.
Straightening out on her chair, Tara grinned up at John in thanks for the glass of wine. “Yeah,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “But mine are all weird and yours all make sense,” she added. And she never got to see herself. It was like she wasn’t really in the dreams, it was like she was looking through someone else’s eyes.
“Right,” said John, who took a bite of his sandwich and looked amazingly smug for a moment. When he’d chewed and swallowed, he smiled again and it was a positively toothy look for him. “I’ve figured it out.”
Okay, yes, he’d had a tiny bit of help but that was beside the point, and kind of a spoiler or something. Not that this whole conversation wasn’t going to be a spoiler. Whatever he liked sharing information.
Tara had started on her sandwich, and nearly choked on the bit she’d been chewing on when John spoke. Taking a moment, she cleared her throat and swallowed, narrowly missing death just before she was going to learn her true nature.
Wouldn’t that have blown?
“What! How? What does it mean?” she asked, eyes wide and staring straight at his. “Did you have another dream? Did you see me this time?” Because he’d never seen her before and it made her SAD.
“I’ve seen you every time,” he told her, more serious now, although he still had that cheerful glow about him. Because he couldn’t help it. “I stole you. And you take me on great adventures.”
Tara’s eyebrows drew together. Sandwich on the plate and forgotten, she was silent for just a moment, trying to think back to her dreams. “I don’t think I understand,” she admitted after a long pause. “How do you steal someone?” It was a legitimate question.
“I didn’t. I stole you,” he said, and honestly had to take a moment to realize that maybe that was weird. But beautiful, too. “My blue box.”
John was being incredibly vague while revealing this to Tara. The pieces weren’t quite fitting together, and he wasn’t helping all that much. In fact, this was probably making it a bit worse.
Tara took a moment to rearrange, pulling one leg up onto the chair and folding it under the other. She leaned on the table, chin in her hand as she went into her own version of the thinking man pose. She was making one of her patented ‘I am considering your words but they don’t really make sense’ faces she’d created when she met John.
“I... Am a blue box? Like a recycling box?”
Crestfallen. Do you know this face, Tara? Well, now you really do. “You’re the blue box,” he said, trying to explain harder. “The TARDIS -- the part of it that makes it alive.” He was so excited. Why couldn’t she be? Well. He supposed he knew she would be eventually, judging from earlier today. But still.
She knew the word TARDIS. Her eyes lit up at that and she lifted her head, pointing at him. “TARDIS. I know that word! But how can I be a TARDIS? Isn’t that the ship that you travel in in our dreams?” Looking down for a moment she confirmed that yes, she was still human and was certainly not a blue police box that traveled through time and space. “The TARDIS isn’t a person,” not in the strictest sense of the word, anyway.
“No,” the Doctor agreed, gently. “But it is alive. And it does have a soul.”
He had basically just told Tara that she was the soul of a time machine. She looked away from him, brows still drawn together. She had a million thoughts going through her mind, all of them needing answers. But she supposed he wouldn’t know much more than she did. They had both only dreamed a small part of their lives so far. As nearly immortal beings, it was a tiny fraction.
It really did make sense, though. The dreams were starting to come together. The fact that she was always observing, not acting in them. That she never saw her face. That she was so very important, but never got to speak to anyone.
Yes, it made sense. And John wouldn’t lie to her.
“How can I be here? Like this?” she asked all of a sudden, pointing at her head. She obviously didn’t mean here in the apartment.
John rose his eyebrows at that, as if it were something that he’d never really even thought to consider. Oddly enough, he hadn’t. “How were we walking around in Wonderland last week?” he countered, because that made just as much sense, didn’t it? It was circular logic at best, but it was logic nonetheless.
Tara was frowning as she put two hands on her head, Macaulay Culkin style (minus the scream of course). “Oh, this is big. Big big big big big,” she said, shutting her eyes so she could take it all in. She leaned back in her chair as she went through it all.
The implication that she wasn’t a real person was at the forefront. What did that mean? Who was she? It was not in her character to be silent, but while she processed everything, it was almost required. Tara had a strong urge to get up and get out. She was feeling a bit exposed.
But she trusted John, didn’t she? And he was telling her this, and she loved him so much, so she couldn’t just get up and go. She had to hold onto this, understand it, be herself. Attach to her heart, not just her soul and logic. “What does this mean,” she began, finally opening her eyes to regard him. “For us?” That was what mattered the most to her.
Her question was a little unexpected, he had to admit. He hadn’t thought about it as such. Because -- well. Why should he have? Sometimes the Doctor forgot things like basic human emotions, which was funny because here in Orange County (in this whole life really) he was human. He was John Smith. And yet, with all those dreams he just forgot sometimes. It was a very strange error to have forgotten.
He gave pause, her words sticking in his skull and repeating themselves there. “Well,” he said a little helplessly. He’d expected her to be happy. To just laugh and grin like she always did. But he knew he was wrong in that regard now. Because she had a very valid point. “You’re human here,” he said finally, a little simply. “But -- you’ll have -- well -- powers, I guess is a good way to put it.”
She watched him silently a little while, though she wasn’t really watching. Tara was thinking. Her eyes drifted down as she went through his words again. She knew that Tara was human, but what was TARDIS?
She supposed she’d just have to wait to find out.
Suddenly she was grinning as she met his eyes again. “Imagine all of the adventures we can go on!” Tara. That is all.
YES. That’s what John thought -- and he nearly fist pumped the air in excitement. Because that was how he’d felt all night -- he was nearly buzzing with joy.
His grin was bright again, as if it had never left or been interrupted at all. “It’ll be amazing,” he said, “because you’re amazing, Tara.”
Tara smiled and picked at her sandwich for a moment. She looked back up at John -- no, the Doctor -- and looked a bit like she was uncomfortable with the compliment. Because she was! “The human Tara or the TARDIS Tara?” she asked, wondering if he just thought she was amazing now that they knew who she was.
John only sipped at his wine, and then rose an eyebrow at her, as if he had no idea where that particular question had come from. She certainly could be silly sometimes, couldn’t she?
“Isn’t that the same thing?” He asked, almost tenderly. It was just like he was both Smith and Doctor. Except she was a cute girl and a time machine at the same time. No harm in that, right?
“Is it?” she asked. Because really, she had no clue. He was the one who knew who she really was! She chewed on a piece of deli meat as she watched him, eyes wide and curious.
“Of course,” he said it as if it were simple. As if his best friend in the entire world were not a spaceship that traveled through time and space and was bigger on the inside in their other lives. As if she and him both were not just oddly impossible beings.
Or maybe just in spite of it. “You’re always amazing, no matter what. Mini putt or time travel. Just you. Brilliant. Fantastic, even.”
Tara was smiling with all of her teeth now. She looked at John with the happiest expression.
And then rose from her seat, and basically launched herself at her best friend. Tara was nothing if not impulsive. She basically ended up in his lap, grinning as she gave him a squeeze. “Well I suppose we’re a perfect pair, then.” Because she thought John was pretty amazing too.