Who: TARDIS and Tenth Doctor When: 4/12 ish Where: Disneyland! What: Adventure. Rating: Innocent Status: Complete
For someone who lived so close to Disneyland and who might enjoy theme parks more than any other 24 year old on the planet, Tara Smith could safely admit she’d never been. When John had asked if she’d wanted to go, the girl had jumped at the opportunity. She’d even booked the day off of work so they wouldn’t be mauled by the masses on the weekend and they could safely explore the park.
Having picked her best friend up early in the morning, Tara had planned to spend the entire day at Disneyland. What better way to explore a magical world than with someone you love, and love spending time with? NONE, that’s what.
Parking at Disneyland, Tara was grinning at John as she climbed out of the car. She looked like she was positively beaming at the thought of what the day could bring. Hurrying around the car, she might have been bouncing as she waited for John to get out.
DISNEY!
He’d never been either! Not to this one anyway. And this one HAD to be different and better than Euro - a place that he hadn’t been since he was really, really young (although he remembered liking it an awful lot). He got out quickly enough -- pleased to stretch his legs, even though the ride hadn’t really been all that long. Sometimes he just had an itch to run. Today was one of those days.
That said, it seemed only fair that once they were both out of the car, grins fixes to their faces, that he grab Tara’s hand and tug on it until they were near-jogging through the crowds toward the entrance of the place. It probably could go without saying (and it would, but not without noting), but life was so much better now that they were back to their normal selves.
It was not out of the ordinary at all for The Doctor to take his companions’ hands and run with them. Though Tara had never been able to do that as the TARDIS, she’d always seen it through others’ eyes. And now that she was able to do it, she was doubly excited to hold tight and enjoy the ride.
Coming to a stop just at the entrance, Tara tugged John to a stop before he could pull her arm out of the socket. She was grinning widely, looking as if the queue to enter was the greatest thing she’d ever seen. Really, she was just amazed at what was promised in the day.
She was totally going to get ice cream.
She looked at John with that same smile and gave his hand a squeeze. It was so good to be back to their normal, happy selves. Adventure was much more fun with a friend. “Where do we even start?”
The lines were long, but well managed and so it didn’t take too long to pay an obscene amount to get into the park and then taste all the freedom and space they’d just paid for. It was brilliant, really -- although possibly something that John might want to consider getting season passes for because wow what a wallet burn.
“Hmmm,” he said, putting a finger on his chin in a way that really showed he was thinking about it. But it wasn’t like he’d ever really been here before, so honestly there was a lot to think on. Finally, he just shrugged and grinned. “Wander until we find something good?”
“It’s never served us badly before!” she agreed happily, pulling John through the lines and into the park. Once on the other side, she didn’t even think to grab a map. She just continued walking, following his advice to wander until there was something good to be found. She was still holding tight to his hand, pointing and squeaking just a little whenever she saw something she thought was great. Which was really quite often.
It really was. To be fair, John was just as guilty of the excited pointing as Tara was and together they must have been a very funny couple to watch -- and to think, they weren’t even really tourists. “--Short lines first,” John was saying. “The longer ones will die down near the end of the day and we can speed through them. Just because we have all the time in the world doesn’t mean we should have to wait --ohh, ice cream!”
“Ice cream!” she repeated, turning toward John as she wrapped her free hand around the arm she already held. She was smiling up at him. Just, seriously, resist that smile, John. If you try, it might turn into a pout and then you are really in trouble. No need to bother, really. “There can’t be a lineup too long for that! Let’s start there!”
And then she was hurrying off toward the ice cream shop, leaning up against the glass as she studied the flavours. There wasn’t much point in looking them over, though. She always got the same thing. The most sugar-filled, teeth-rotting flavour: Bubblegum.
Eugch, that bubblegum ice cream. The kind that Tara would inevitably get too much of and make John finish off once it was melty and the actual gum bits were so obvious against mostly slosh. The Doctor was a chocolate man, himself -- sometimes he was lucky enough to find a place that actually had banana. Sometimes he mixed the two together because it was a bit like a married match in heaven.
They got their ice cream -- John paid -- and then hand in hand they walked out again, roaming up the street a bit to stare at cartoon princess signing autographs for young girls in costume dresses. “This is nice,” he said, after a time, when his tongue was too cold to make any further work of his ice cream for a while.
Tara had been watching the princesses, wondering if it was a bit weird if she asked for an autograph as an (sort of) adult. She supposed it might be just a bit. Though of all people, her date for the day wasn’t the type to judge. Turning to said date -- looking a bit distracted -- she smiled brightly when she’d pieced together what he’d said and nodded. “I can’t believe I’ve never been before,” she agreed.
“Though,” she took a bite of her ice cream, swallowing before continuing because that’s important and shit. “I don’t think it would be nearly as fun without you.” Because not only her ice cream rotted teeth.
He really wouldn’t judge her for that. Hell, he loved Disney movies. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be an lion princes around for him to bug an autograph out of. That’d be a little weird, anyway. Obviously lions couldn’t hold pens.
“The happiest place on Earth wouldn’t be nearly as happy without a best friend,” he agreed, with a half smile.
“Or a former blue box,” she said, turning away and spotting a bench. She hurried over to it, pulling him along as she sat to finish her cone (as much as she could) and watch the interaction between princesses and children. It was interesting to look at the world now that she knew more from her dreams. She was no longer just Tara Smith the normal, human girl. She was a TARDIS and therefore Time Lord, two things that were decidedly non-human.
“John,” she said after a long moment, tearing her eyes away from the scene happening in front of them. She had given up on her ice cream, just holding it above her lap. She’d make John finish it off soon enough. “Do you think we’ll be alright?” It was a general question. She didn’t really know if she was asking if they were going to be alright in regards to becoming more Time Lord, their friendship, or for what was coming. But it was a question that she needed to ask, at least once.
John regarded that question with a tilted head and a his teeth in his bottom lip. It was obvious that it was a vague question -- that kind of bridged over everything all at once. He could have asked for more details -- for more reasoning behind what and why she was asking. But he didn’t really need to. His answer wouldn’t have changed either way. “We will be alright,” he responded finally. Because usually they were. And John was better than anyone at saying it until he believed it himself, too.
Tara knew that John was promising her that. He was just the type to be able to pull it off. She squeezed his hand, enjoying the warm moment as she watched him silently for a long moment. And then she lifted her ice cream toward him and the moment was ruined. “I’m done,” she told him matter-of-factly. He was meant to finish it.
Her timing was so wrong and so right all at the same time. It was like she’d waited until just a second after he’d finished off his own cone (which he’d done in a dignified, friendly silence as they both contemplated friendship and the universe, thanks).
“Really?” he asked, sounding a bit pained about it, but took the rest of it from her anyway. Duty called; it was now his burden, heavy as it might have been.
“Mmhmm,” she mumbled, nodding. Everyone knew you couldn’t just waste ice cream. It was John’s duty to finish it, for the good of mankind. And Tara’s pending stomach ache. “Thank you!” she added after a moment, flashing him that bright, toothy smile of hers.
“Oh sure,” John said, because he supposed he liked her more than well enough to take the stomach ache instead of her. But really, did she have to pick the worst ice cream? There were bits of gum in it. Gum, Tara. “S’what I’m here for.” A pause. “We need to find the tea cup ride, next.”
It was her favourite! John should have learned to trick the staff into giving her smaller amounts. There were ways around eating the stuff, of course. Sleight of hand, accidentally knocking a scoop off -- you know, science, physics, whatthefuckever. “Oh! And the swings! The ones on the chains that spin around! Do they have one of those?”
Right. Because knocking a scoop off wouldn’t result in the saddest pout and the biggest wibble of the bottom lip John had ever seen. Of course not. It was best to just suck it up. Literally. Because it was ice cream.
“I dunno!” John said, finishing off the cone of poison and licking the sticky from his fingers. “Guess we’ll have to find out!”