Field Trip
Dinosaurs today.
Clara watched as her reflection shimmered. After a moment, the plain dress she was wearing changed into a cretaceous confection, replete with saurian appliques on a shocking pink background.
And triceratops shoes.
She looked down. Her feet were now encased in pumps shaped like triceratops heads.
She sighed with satisfaction. The portable perception filter had a telepathic interface, and mastering it had been tricky, but worth it. It was even more useful than the TARDIS chameleon circuits, which they had finally managed to fix after flying around in a diner for way too long.
Ashildr snorted from behind her. "Could you be any tackier."
Clara twirled in front of the mirror, admiring the way the pink clashed with the bright orange hair she'd chosen. "Jealous?"
Ashildr rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe," she said, for what was probably the thousandth time, "that of all the possibilities of time and space, you chose being a teacher to a bunch of ten-year-olds."
"Not just any teacher," Clara said, for what was probably the thousandth time, "the best damn teacher any of them has ever had or ever will have."
Early on, the two of them had decided on one rule: they got to take turns choosing what to do, and the other person was not allowed to argue. Not being allowed to argue, however, was not the same as not being allowed to complain.
"Well anyway," Ashildr said, with an air of longsuffering, "your American accent is coming along nicely."
"It ought to be," Clara said, experimenting with earrings, "after all that time you made us spend at NASA in the sixties."
"Astronauts are cute," Ashildr sighed, reminiscing.
Clara raised an eyebrow at her in the mirror. "And would probably have been more responsive had you not filtered yourself to look like a 40-year-old man." The fossil earrings she settled on were a full three inches long. She turned with a flourish. "Better get ready," she said. "It's almost time." By now her class would be gathered in the school parking lot, as per her instructions.
Ashildr hung her perception filter around her neck. "When it's my turn to choose," she said, as her whole body shimmered and shrunk, "you can be the lizard."
Clara smirked, kicked the TARDIS into gear, and came to a screeching halt in front of her students. She opened the doors with a flourish and announced, in the strident American she had perfected, "Seatbelts, everyone!"
From the back of the crowd of students, she heard one boy moan, "Please let this be a normal field trip…"