Distractions
Prologue: Decisions
Rose watched from the jumpseat as the Doctor leapt around the console, tweaking here, twisting there and just adjusting in general. It was a familiar scene that she always enjoyed watching, his manner of inelegant grace making it almost a dance. She smiled to herself. The Doctor was dancing.
He looked up then, eyeing her suspiciously. "What? I don't like it when you grin like that. Means you're up to mischief."
She pretended to look shocked. "Me? Mischief? Please. Doctor you know me better than that."
They grinned at each other over the familiar banter. She followed through on her part, asking the obligatory question. "So, where we off to?"
He grinned, whirling around the console again. "Well, we've got a few choice selections. We could go to the Singla Equinox on Rosenef. They throw a huge weeklong festival and everything. And when I say huge, I mean hugey-huge. Like, as large as…oh, say England huge. There's no way to see it all, even though it lasts a week.
"Then, of course, there's the Centennial Roxival Meteor Shower. The meteors have just the right mixture of sofalophines and feradon to make them explode when they hit the atmosphere, rather than burning up, so it's more like a fireworks show than a meteor shower. Complete with color.
"Or," he cried, giving a little extra bounce as he ran to the other side of the console, "we could go to the Fluttering Hatching on Scarinton. It's gorgeous, it is. All of these butterfly creatures mentally linked so that they all bust out of their chrysalises at the same time in a vibrant cloud of color. Ooh, I like that word. Vibrant." He rolled the word around in his mouth, elongating the vowels and playing with the sound until it was almost unrecognizable.
Rose snapped her fingers in his general direction, bringing his attention back to her. "Right then. Sorry. So, which do you want to go see?"
Rose gave a little pout. "You mean I have to choose? They all sound lovely."
"Weeelll, that's one of the wonderful advantages of having a time and space machine. It's not a matter of choosing which you want to go see, but which you want to go see first!" He gave the console a sharp pat for emphasis.
The TARDIS gave a rude sounding hum in reply, making the Doctor rub the spot he had just hit and apologize profusely. Rose chuckled and gave the railing behind the jumpseat a short rub. "He didn't mean it, girl."
The TARDIS' pleased hum reverberated in her hand.
"So anyway," she chimed, back to the original topic. "I'm thinking the butterfly thing. That sounds really cool. Then we can do the Festival and top off with the meteor-fireworks. That sound good?"
"Brilliant!" He whirled around the console again, doing yet some more adjusting. "Brace yourself, Rose Tyler. You are about to see the most stunning Fluttering Hatching in recorded history." He paused, looking pensive. "Well, technically it's in your future. So it would be recorded future. But that just sounds weird, doesn't it? Like some bogus fortuneteller made some hogwash prophesy and wrote it all down so that it was recorded…"
"Doctor?"
"Yep?"
"Get on with it."
"Right! You, Rose Tyler, are about to see the most stunning Fluttering Hatching in my recoded history." He paused. "No, that doesn't work either. It sounds like I recorded it, doesn't it? When I didn't. It was really the Grand Historian of Scarinton that did that. At that time it must have still been Josaphondia Reflaporta Furltonish. Ah, good ol' Jo. He was a bit dry when he was sober, but get a few gershla shots in him and he was quite the party animal."
"Doctor?"
"Right, sorry. Rose Tyler, you are about to see the most vibrant Fluttering Hatching ever recorded." He dramatically threw the last lever — how do you dramatically throw a lever? Rose wondered — that sent them hurtling through the time vortex.