The Doctor smiled as he pulled the TARDIS travel lever, causing the time rotor to begin moving up and down. The motion was accompanied by the familiar cyclic wheezing, groaning noise that always brightened the Doctor's day a little every time he heard it. After a brief delay, a faint thud indicated that the TARDIS had arrived at its destination. The Maitland residence, London, England. Tuesday, December 24, 2013. Christmas Eve. Most of the time, the Doctor picked up Clara on Wednesday. However, he had something special planned for them today.
"Have a nice night!" "Bye, Clara!" "Bye, Clara's boyfriend!" said Mr. Maitland, Angie, and Artie respectively.
"You know, Artie knows to call you 'Doctor'," said Clara as they walked away, "he just doesn't. God knows why."
"Who knows where he got 'Clara's boyfriend' from... 'Doctor' is easier to say anyway." the Doctor said disdainfully.
"Oh, come on. There you go again pretending like you don't like it when we're on the way to your snogbox," said Clara. "Down, boy!"
"For the last time, it is not a snogbox!" said the Doctor, his furrowed eyebrows in sharp contrast with the slight redness that had recently entered his cheeks. "Anyway, let's go. I've got a surprise for you today!" They practically ran to the back alley that the Doctor had parked the TARDIS in to avoid arousing suspicion. Flinging open the doors, the Doctor hopped excitedly to the TARDIS console.
"Where are you taking me this time, Captain?" she said.
As he flicked dials and turned knobs, he replied, "Somewhere wonderful. Somewhere amazing. Somewhere... Christmas-y!" A flick of the lever, and they dematerialised from London. They were on their way.
Clara peeked out of the TARDIS doors like an excited child seeing just what's under the wrapping paper on Christmas day. She wasn't disappointed. Stretching out for miles, as far as she could see, was snow. Hills blended into mountains in the background, and all of it, even the shining city in the distance, was covered in white.
"What do you think?" the Doctor said confidently.
"I think-" said Clara, squinting as the snow-covered landscape reflected the light of the planet's twin suns into her eyes. "I think I need a pair of sunglasses!"
"Well, no doubt we can find some in that city over there. Would you like to go?" he asked.
"Definitely," she said, "before I get a headache."
"Well then. Off we pop!" said the thousand-year old Time Lord, as if he was actually a hyper twelve-year-old.
Emerging from the TARDIS, the pair found themselves in a hustling, bustling marketplace. A few of the faces they saw were clearly from another planet like themselves, but most of the people were clearly humanoid, with a light-bluish, icy tint to their skin and silvery-white hair.
"So where are we, anyway, Doctor?" Clara asked quizzically.
"We're in the wonderful city of Islani, on a planet coincidentally named Barcelona. I've been here once before, with... someone else. It's pretty nice, don't you think?"
"It's great! A little chilly, but-" she stopped and began excitedly running forward, leaving the Doctor confused as to both the end of her sentence and her reason for running. When he caught up to her, he saw her petting a small animal similar to a dog, but without a nose.
"Isn't it so cute?" she asked, petting its back as it made a soft purring sound.
He clearly did not share her appreciation for the animal as he beckoned her to keep moving. She dejectedly followed him as they made their way into a shop tent filled with strange curios that made Clara's eyes go wide.
"Whoa, what's this?" she asked, gesturing towards a high-tech looking bracelet she saw sitting in a prominent place amidst the organized chaos.
"That," he said matter-of-factly, "is a vortex manipulator. Cheap and nasty time travel, but good in a pinch. Would you like me to show you how it works?"
She nodded her head in agreement, and he began to reach over to use it, when the shop's owner stopped them.
"If you want a go at that, you're going to have to buy it," she said.
The Doctor took a quick look at the price tag, and, not wanting to disappoint Clara, handed the lady a wad of the local currency that he had acquired somehow. She gestured toward the vortex manipulator, indicating that it was okay to take it, and the Doctor picked it up and put it on Clara's wrist, and began pressing buttons.
"Oi!" she exclaimed. "Where're you sending me?"
"Two minutes into the future, right outside the TARDIS," he said. "See you there." Before she could say a word, he gave the keypad a final tap and she was flying disorientedly through space and time. When she landed, she was exactly where the Doctor had promised, and he was leaning on the TARDIS door, obviously out-of-breath from his run back to the TARDIS.
"Pretty neat, eh?" he asked.
"I'll say. Like the TARDIS, but it fits on your wrist."
He was clearly very shocked and offended. "It is nothing like the TARDIS!" he said. "It's like falling through space and time instead of cruising, and it's bad for your health. Also, it's unpleasantly like being drunk."
"What's wrong with being drunk?" she asked.
He replied with a quick "Why don't you ask a glass of water?" and pocketed the vortex manipulator before taking off at a jog into the marketplace, obviously having recovered his breath. After having thought about that for a second, she caught up and followed close behind him. "Now," he said between strides, "let's see what we can do about those sunglasses."