Sad. It's happy for deep people.

for: justprompts - "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

2008-10-13T12:04:37Z

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

“Excuse me?”

“Wagga wagga wagga wagga wu wu?”

“What?”

The Doctor made his way over, as Sally looked up at him in confusion.

“Oh, Sesame Street!”

“Pardon?”

“Aliens, when they came down and visited, on the show that is, that‘s what they‘d say. Although some did actually visit Earth around that time. Quite similar looking in fact. Blue and fuzzy and -”

“Doctor?“

“Yes?“

“Is this going anywhere?”

“Right. It’s American 20th century children’s television. I think it was brilliant. The other, Mary Poppins. You know Mary -”

“Yes! I know Mary Poppins, but why are they -”

“Mahna Mahna-”

“Oh Muppets. Brilliant I love the Muppets.”

“Doctor!”

“Yes, sorry, what?”

“I get it, well I don’t get it. References, I think I get, but why are they saying them?”

“Oh, Tsacmoc 12. Picked up Earth frequencies, sent out, about mid 20th century. Took much longer to reach them, obviously. Earth signals were a bit rubbish then."

The Doctor stopped speaking for a moment, smiling like that was supposed to mean something.

“I’m still not entirely clear on what that means.“

He beamed at her, then leaned in, whispering, “They‘re trying to speak English.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup. Quite kind of them. Reaching across the cultural divide and such.”

“Well can’t the TARDIS translate.”

“Nothing to translate, as far as you’re concerned. All these words are English. Well, not really English. But created using the English language, in some form.”

“Goo goo g’joob!”

“Quite right,” the Doctor said, addressing the creature.

“This is insane!”

“What is?”

“What are they even trying to say?”

“I would say it's pretty obvious, Sally.”

Sally rolled her eyes, quickly becoming frustrated with the entire situation. “Oh Lord. You and these nonsense people deserve each other. I think I’d much rather wait inside the TARDIS.”

The Doctor looked at her confused, “Really?”

“Absolutely.”

She turned around and didn’t wait for a response from the Doctor.

She made her way into the TARDIS, going to her room and switching on the telly. Hoping to find something to distract her from whatever that was outside.

The picture cleared and the sound came on.

“Mahna Mahna!”

Sally didn’t say a word as she threw the remote at the television, and fell backwards on her bed.

Not Amused

2008-10-13T10:24:08Z

At least someone found the entire ordeal amusing. Although I'm not entirely clear about that DVD boxset. Hardly surprising I suppose, considering the fact that I apparenly lack a proper amount of DVDs, according to certain people.

for quote_prompts: "Look at him working, darning his socks in the night..."

2008-10-06T05:11:57Z

“Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there”
Eleanor Rigby: The Beatles

It was odd. After all this time spent looking for the Doctor, looking for something more than a bookshop and the same boring day to day routine. She somehow found him. On a street corner. When she had finally given up. He told her she could come. She couldn’t even pretend to hesitate.

She was beginning to think she knew why he asked her to come so quickly. He was alone. He was lonely. He wanted someone else to fill the silence. She wasn’t sure if she was completely prepared for that task. He spoke sometimes, when he didn’t think she was there. And he would turn on his heels, waiting for a response that never came. She would give one if she knew what he was talking about, but she always seemed to appear too late. When the thought had gotten away and there was no way to know what he was talking about or what he wanted to hear.

He would look around himself, spin on his heels a little. His shoulders seemed to drop. Then he would find her standing there, and he would right himself. He would be cocky and confident and completely in control. But for a split second, before he had time to completely recover, she could see it in his eyes. The relief that it wasn’t just him wandering around in this tiny (large) blue box.

He would ramble again, and she would nod and smile, and try to think of something suitably clever to say. Sometimes the pressure was enormous. Wanting to say the right thing, to impress this man. This amazing man who seemed to have all of time and space at his fingertips. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was supposed to compare to that.

There were nights she couldn’t sleep. Sometimes it would be because of whatever adventure she had with the Doctor. Sometimes she would hear the TARDIS churning, like being asleep below decks on a ship. Sometimes she would roll over and come in contact with a wall. She could swear it had a pulse, and she remembered the Doctor telling her before. The TARDIS. It was alive. It amazed her sometimes, and other times it frightened her. The walls were alive and breathing and it shouldn’t be possible, but it was. She felt so insignificant.

Sometime she couldn’t sleep, and there wasn‘t any reason behind it..

She would wander out of her room, making sure to note her twists and turns. The idea of being lost inside this ship was terrifying. She would wander until she found herself inside the console room.

She never said a word, and she was certain the Doctor wasn’t aware of her presence. She liked to watch him. It helped to make her feel more real. It helped to make this place more real and their adventures more real. He felt more real.

Finding things to busy himself. Crawling below the grates and sticking his head underneath the controls. Finding any way to occupy the time. The time when she should be sleeping and the TARDIS should be resting, and he had nothing to do with himself. Finding ways to occupy himself, he seemed so real in those moments. Real and small and lonely.

Alone in his ship. The hum of the TARDIS the only thing keeping him company as he fiddled around with this and that, trying to keep his mind occupied with busy work.

She wondered if moments like these, were a Time Lord’s version of the same boring day to day routine. She wondered if one day excitement would get old, and new worlds were just gaps between busy work and sneaking out of bed for lack of sleep.

She wondered how much longer until the next adventure so she could forget about boredom and loneliness and the in-between realities of time and space.

As she snuck back into her room, she could swear sometimes he noticed her. Perhaps she herself was just another in-between. A gap holder between this adventure and whatever came next. A way to fill the monotony.

Everyone finds ways to fill the boredom. If she served for a short time as that type of filler, it felt perfectly natural to her.

It seemed more than a fair bargain.

Muse: Sally Sparrow
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 715
Role play (y/n): doesn't matter

for justprompts: Curiosity Quote

2008-09-20T00:23:06Z

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. -Dorothy Parker

Blink and you miss it. Him. Blink and you miss him. Bad choice of words. Blink. But it’s true.

Watching the President of America, announcing a new era. Aliens and outer space and it would have all seemed so immensely huge months ago.

Now it’s all too real.

The camera pans out, showing the entire room. The Prime Minister and his wife and advisors and aids and security personnel. She wonders where he is. She’s been seeing him all over the news. They are calling him a terrorist.

Where are you? You have to be there, she thinks.

Like magic she suddenly sees him, sweeping across the back of the room. As if the desire to see him has made him suddenly visible on the screen.

“Larry! Look!”

“Hmm?”

“Did you see him?”

“See who?”

“The Doctor. Right there…”

When she looks back, the camera has already zoomed back towards the President.

The rest of the telecast is a strange blur. As if something happened in between moments that was completely missed. The President is murdered. The Prime Minister is murdered. She could swear to seeing his wife in a red dress somewhere in the background.

What happened to beige?

More importantly what happened to the Doctor?

Working at the book shop has become incredibly dull. She thinks of the angels and the Doctor. Sometimes she imagines it all depends on her again.

So much adventure out there. When the entire ordeal was happening, she thought all she wanted was for it to be over.

But it all seems so achingly dull now. Adventures and worlds and monsters all around, and little Sally Sparrow is stuck working in a book shop. It’s all so safe and boring and beige.

She can’t take it anymore.

There isn’t even a catalyst. One day she’s getting ready. Socks and shoes and trousers and coat and hair and make up.

She looks over at Larry following basically the same routine. Socks and shoes and trousers and a quick mirror inspection.

He’s so nice. Nice and normal and she is just so bored.

That night she packs her things. She tells him she’s sorry and she leaves. She thinks she might try to find the Doctor. Try and see what’s out there. Because living statues are only the beginning, she’s sure.

Christmas Eve and London is abandoned. She decides to stay in the city. See if the Doctor shows up. It is alarming how quiet the city is. Christmas Eve and London is a ghost town. It seems so unnatural.

She walks the streets for a short while. Looking for anyone or anything.   She finds a man working at the press stand. She buys a paper and talks to him for a short while. He talks about aliens and if the Queen can stay in London so can he.

It’s a nice chat and she tells him she completely agrees.

She looks around and decides to go back to her flat. Nothing is happening here tonight.

“Sally, do you see this?”

“I’m standing right in the middle of it.”

“Of course you are.”

She stands behind the police barricade outside Adipose Industries, talking to Larry on the mobile. They still speak. It’s nice.

Larry begins to say something else, but she doesn’t hear him.

There’s movement behind the police tape. A man and a woman. He throws something in the trash bin.   Another woman is tied to a chair. But she’s not important.

There‘s a man. In a brown suit. And it’s him.   It’s absolutely him.

“I have to go.   I’ll talk to you later.”

She doesn’t wait for his answer before hanging up the phone. She looks up in time to catch a glimpse of him being dragged away.

“Doctor!” she yells. But it’s too late. He’s gone.

She finally manages to force her way through the crowd. She gets to the bin and right there on top is a pen. She examines it.

Why would he toss this away?

Why would he have it to toss away to begin with?

She’s holed up in the book shop with Larry. As soon as the cars started going mad, Larry had pulled her into the shop. She wanted to go investigate. He wouldn’t let her.

So she sits in the shop, looking outside.

All she can think about is what is happening out there.   More importantly, why it’s happening, and how to stop it.

She is pulled away from her thoughts, as the shop is filled with a strange light. The sky is on fire.

“Larry, quick.”

He runs over, and they both go outside, hand in hand and look up at the sky.

They shield their eyes as the fire becomes brighter. She can feel the heat bearing down on her. It’s intense and brilliant.

“I bet you he had something to do with this.”

“I’m sure,” Larry says, and lets her hand slip away as he heads back into the shop.

Sally stays outside, staring up at the sky. Hoping he made it out of the fire.

She hides in a shed in a garden. The sky is wrong. Darkness where the day should be. Planets where the clouds belong.

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

She can’t stop shaking.

Lining people up. Killing some, taking others. How could anything in the world depend on her? She was stupid to think she would find him. Stupid to think she could be a part of saving the world. Statues were nothing compared to these things.

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

She tries to stop shaking. Tries to stay as quiet as possible. But they were coming closer. Their shrieks became louder and closer and more terrifying with every passing breath.

She absently plays with the pen in her pocket. Suddenly it lights up. Bright blue light pouring out. She tries to stop it, make it go dark again. They would see her now for sure.

The more she tried to turn it off, the brighter the light became.

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

She slams it against the ground, and a high pitch wail booms out of the pen. She drops it, covering her ears. She squeezes her eyes tight, her arms covering her head.

Waiting for them. For death or captivity or whatever else they might bring.

After what feels like an eternity, the noise dies down. She cautiously peaks her head up, ready to be eye to eye stalk with one of those creatures.

Except they are still where they were when the noise began. Disoriented. Off balance. Floating in place, rotating a bit, until they finally turn away.

She’s not sure what that noise was, but she knows well enough that it saved her life.

She picks the pen back up as she watches them float away. Holding in the relieved sigh that wants to come out. Not ready to push her luck.

Instead she sits and waits and shakes. Waiting for the Doctor to fix the world and take them home.

She’s certain she’ll never see him again. It doesn’t matter though. She still keeps looking. Not so much for him. She looks just to look.

It may be terrifying and dangerous but it’s wonderful and exciting and anything but boring.

So she looks for adventures, and vaguely thinks that it would be nice to find the Doctor again.

It’s strange the way world shattering things always occur on the most ordinary of days.

Out running errands. First the bank, then doctor’s appointment.

As she turns the corner, she nearly passes it by. Nearly misses it. But there it is.

Blue and wooden and perfect.

She stops and stares for a moment. Waiting for the alarm clock to buzz. Waiting to realize she’s just dreaming.

But the door opens, and there stands a man. In his own world. Barely notices anything or anyone around him. Especially her.

There he is.

“Doctor!”

He looks up at her, and it’s him. It’s really, honestly, absolutely him. He studies her for a moment, his face a question mark.

“Sally Sparrow?”

Her legs feel strangely wobbly. Wibbly wobbly legs. So she laughs, because it’s all so ridiculous.

Him and his blue box with the entire world inside, and he remembers her. All this time, and there he is. And here she is.

“Hello, Doctor.”

for justprompts: Ten Times You Were Disappointed

2008-08-29T08:16:55Z

One

Your thirteenth birthday.

Dad’s supposed to be here. Driving down from Lancashire. From his new family. Just like he was supposed to do last year and the year before.

You sit, and refuse to look out the window. You read a book and pretend you don’t care.

Mum asks if you’re okay.

“Absolutely. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She doesn’t say anything, and walks away. You keep reading.

You refuse to look at the clock. You refuse to let your expression change. You can’t be disappointed without expectations. But when you go to bed that night, and you stare at the shadows, and watch the clock tick past the day you let yourself admit in those twilight moments between sleep that you will always expect and that you will always be disappointed.

Two

You and Tommy Burton

You sit together under the bleachers. You like him quite a bit. You think you might maybe love him a little. You dismiss the thought as stupid the second you think it. People do not know what love is at sixteen. It’s infatuation at best.

But you like the kissing and the touching and the way he finds all these spots you never knew existed. Sometimes you’ll sit and daydream. You’ll quickly shake it away. You refuse to be one of those girls.

But you like Tommy quite a bit.

So when he takes your hand and says that he thinks you should break up, you feel yourself waver for a moment. A voice inside your head wants to know why, what you have done, what you can change and fix so he’ll stay. But you push that voice down. That voice isn’t you.

He tells you things just aren’t clicking.

“Evidently.” That is your response. Cold and brief and refusing to waver.

He tells you he has been seeing Shelly Tanner. You nod.

“Well then. Glad we have that over with.” You say it lightly and airy and with such a carefree attitude you fool yourself for a moment.

He gets up and asks if you want a drive home. You don’t want to drive with him. You’d rather pay for the cab or the tube. But that would betray the fact that you care. So you say yes.

The ride is longer than you remember. You fill it with mindless chatter.

But then you go home. And you lock the door and crawl into bed and don’t even bother to get changed. You don’t cry, because you’re not that girl. But you let yourself admit you are a bit disappointed.

Three

After graduation you and your mate Linda had planned to travel the world. See what there is to see. Get out of this country and explore.

You were excited and you let it show.

Linda meets a boy. She thinks she’s in love. She wants to marry him. She can’t bare the thought of months away. She cancels the trip.

She apologizes and you don’t listen.

“Right. I suppose you want me to understand. Well I don’t.”

So you say things you wish you hadn’t. And now you lose a friend. You refuse to lose the world.

You board the train to Spain disappointed. But you let the feeling subside because the world is waiting to be seen.

Four

You’re working in a shop. You like it because its simple enough and you never take it home and in your off time you can write.

One day a boy comes in, and he is handsome and funny and smart. And he can never stop looking at what is waiting for him when he’s done with you. You can see it in his eyes. You know the look.

He asks you out to lunch and you say yes.

You convince yourself you might change him. You know you won’t.

So when you see him out with another girl, you can’t say it was completely unexpected. Nonetheless you are still disappointed.

Five

You apply for an internship at the Times.

You pretend it doesn’t matter.

You get a rejection letter, and you shrug it off.

When you get that Sunday’s edition you can’t focus on the print. You throw the paper away immediately and cancel your subscription.

Six

Mum has found a new husband. She says she’s in love.

Three years later they get divorced.

She swears she’s done with men.

Seven

You’re waiting for a letter from a publisher.

You look through your mail. A letter that looks like it’s been through the ringer more times than you can imagine is nestled in with the mail. With the letter from the publisher.

You’re avoiding that envelope out of fear, so you open the other envelope. Something about Wester Drumlins House.

You give it one last look before you open the letter from the publisher.

It’s more of the same. Thank you but we’re sorry. You roll your eyes and act like you don’t care.

You pick up the other letter again and read it over one more time. You figure you might as well head over to Wester Drumlins. What else have you got to do today?

Eight

You meet a man named Billy.

He is smiles and charm and he calls you a gorgeous girl.

You slip up. You flee. You’re thrilled.

He’s going to call you tonight.

And he calls you back right away.

Only now he’s not the Billy you just left.

Now he’s dying and he’s led such a full life. And he seems to be such a good man. And he’s been thinking of you this entire time. Working to help you save the world.

And when the machines finally tell you he’s gone, you wonder what would have happened if you were Sally Shipton.

Nine

There are so many questions.

You can’t stop thinking about it. You can’t stop going on the internet. You’ve grown quite accustomed to the forums.

You don’t know how you suddenly run a shop with Larry.

You find bits and pieces about a man called the Doctor and his blue box.

A man named Elton emails you. He knows the Doctor. You stop emailing him rather quickly.

You keep searching for clues. How the Doctor knew. Who told him.

It’s all dead ends. You’ll never find him again. You’ll never know.

Billy was wrong. You’re never going to find out why this happened. You’ll just be that person, talking on the internet, trading theories.

Ten

You thought you could be happy with Larry. He was everything you should want. He was kind to you, and he loved you.

The fact was you did not love him.

You tried to, you really did. If you could will yourself to love him, you would. But you can’t. And you’re bored and restless. And you feel like there is something more you should be doing.

You feel the need to fly away.

So you tell him you’re leaving. And he asks all those questions you always refused to ask anyone.

He is a good man. Just not the one for you. If you could love him you would, and you’ve tried. And you can’t.