The Doctor and Rose find themselves in the Planet of Colors, but they don't expect to land right in the midst of the Festival of Nuptials! First try at writing Fanfiction, or any Fanfiction at all. Please R&R!
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. If I did, it wouldn't be as good as it was right now.
"Well, wasn't nice?" The Doctor smiled down at Rose, who refused to return her signature tongue-through-the-teeth grin. Instead, she scowled at him, her golden hair dripping with water and her wet clothes clinging to her skin. Rose was not happy.
"Nice?" Rose exasperatedly said," Nice? Doctor, I almost drowned in a test tube."
"I did tell you the Oskarians were fanatic scientists, didn't I?"
"Well, you could've mentioned the fact that they're the size of department stores! I almost drowned in a test tube!"
"Technically, it was a graduated cylinder," the Doctor corrected, not realizing the dam he'd just broken.
"I don't care if it was a bloody milk pail! I almost died!" Rose screeched, sounding a bit like her mother. The Doctor winced. He did feel a bit guilty about letting Rose fall into a giant cylinder of water the second they landed on Oskaria, but in his defense, he hadn't exactly perfected the parking of the Tardis.
"Sorry," the Doctor mumbled, before turning to the Tardis's control panel and fiddling with a few switches. Rose's face fell and she walked up to the Doctor, looping her arm around his.
"It's okay. I-I should've just been more careful, y'know?"
The Doctor gazed at Rose and smiled. Of all the humans in the world, she was the most extraordinary one he ever met. Their eyes lingered on each other's longer than any platonic relationship should have, and Rose quickly let her gaze drop.
"I'm going to go dry off," she said. The Doctor watched as Rose walked down the long corridor to her room.
The Doctor sighed and leaned against the Tardis wall. Of all the aliens in the universe, he had to fall in love with the young, upbeat one from 21st century London. Yes, the Doctor admitted it. To himself, at least. He was in love with Rose Marion Tyler. How could he not? He loved her beautiful golden hair, her flawless, smooth skin, and most of all, that wonderful smile of hers. It often took all of the Doctor's strength to stand his ground whenever Rose flashed him one of her gorgeous smiles.
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up even more. It seemed that no matter what he did to it, his hair would always look as if it were defying gravity.
"Ah, you're back," the Doctor said, straightening as Rose entered the room. She looked beautiful, as always. His hearts melted at the sight of Rose standing in front of him, her hair still damp.
"Doctor. You're staring." Rose tried to stop herself from laughing as the Doctor became red. He immediately averted his eyes from hers and itched the back of his neck. He always did that when he was embarrassed.
"Um, so where do you want to go next?" the Doctor asked, still keeping his eyes away from Rose's.
"Somewhere calm. Anyplace where we don't become a science experiment would be nice." Rose beamed at the Doctor, letting her tongue slip a bit out of her teeth.
"Ah-hah! I know the perfect place!" The Doctor eagerly turned a few knobs and pulled a lever. The Tardis began to whirr as the Doctor flicked a few switches and punched the coordinates into the computer screen above him.
"We are going to Heterica, best known as the Planet of Colors," the Doctor said excitedly. The Tardis landed with a thump and the Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "Wanna take a look?"
"What do you mean by the Planet of C- Oh!" As Rose stepped out of the Tardis's blue doors, she gasped. Everything was covered in bright, loud colors. The trees, which looked more like big hairy lollipops, were bright, lemony yellow. The grass was a waxy pink that had a slight jounce with each step Rose took. In the distance, a city of brightly colored skyscrapers rose up to touch the beautiful apricot-colored sky.
"It's beautiful," Rose said as she shielded her eyes.
"You like it?" the Doctor asked, beaming. It felt nice whenever Rose felt particularly happy about something, especially if he'd helped.
"I love it! It looks like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book!" Rose said breathlessly.
"Well, Miss Tyler." The Doctor held his hand out to Rose. "May I give you the pleasure of a tour of the Planet of Colors?"
"You may," Rose said with a very posh accident. She fit her hand perfectly into the Doctor's and the two sped off into the direction of the colorful city.
"What is that?" Rose asked in wonder, pointing to a cart overflowing with vibrant fruits and vegetables.
"Oh, this?" The Doctor reached out and pulled a spherical fruit from the pile. It looked like any ordinary orange or peach, except for the fact that it was covered with tie-dyed colors.
"Is it… naturally colored?" Rose took the fruit from the Doctor's hand and examined it.
"Of course! It's called an Amborg. You know it's ripe when the patterns on its skin become different colors. Amborgs usually start out all blue and gray, but they slowly ripen and ripen until…" The Doctor gestured at the Amborg with a flourish of his hands and declared a very loud "Voila!"
"Can I… taste it?" Rose asked unsurely.
"Go ahead." The Doctor reached over the cart and handed the pea green alien some change found in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets.
"It tastes just like a watermelon!" Rose cried. She took another bite of the juicy fruit, small trickles of the sticky liquid already staining her fingers a bright green. She finished the Amborg in a few seconds and sucked her fingers dry.
"Shall we continue?" the Doctor asked, grinning. Rose merely nodded, still working at her left thumb. The Doctor slung his arm over Rose's shoulder and walked down the alien marketplace. The Hetericans shouted out their wares, urging customers to buy their products.
"Oh my goodness!" Rose suddenly said, pulling away from the Doctor and rushing to a nearby stall. The Doctor felt a sensation of emptiness in the spot where Rose had just been, but he shook it off and hurried after Rose.
"Oh, that?" the Doctor asked, not as curious as Rose was, "That's a Dromidoe."
"It looks like a giant, glowing, sea turtle!"
"The Dromidoe's biology is similar to a sea turtle's," the Doctor said, but Rose didn't seem to hear him. Instead, she reached over and felt the smooth back of the Dromidoe's shell. It was, in fact, much like a sea turtle, if you decided to leave out the fact that it was dark, Tardis blue and had rows of small, fluorescent spots going down its neck. Its shell was also covered in small, miniature volcanoes.
"Where did it get those?" Rose asked, pointing at the glowing dots. The Dromidoe raised a spotted head and lazily turned to Rose.
"Dromidoe shepherds let their animals graze in special seaweed beds. The underwater plant gives them those glowing dots on its neck," the Doctor explained.
"Is it some kind of farm animal?" Rose asked again, curious as ever. The Doctor smiled. He liked it when Rose asked him questions.
"It's a bit like a Heterican cow."
"It-it gives milk?" Rose asked incredulously.
"'Course not! Just watch." The Doctor rested his chin on Rose's soft, blonde hair. It smelled of lilac and blossoms. Rose didn't seem to care. Her entire focus was on the Heterican, who reached under her and took out a glass jar. She took a fruit from a small basket beside her and began squeezing its juices into the jar. Hetericans were born with very muscular fingers, so within a minute, her pink hands had emptied the fruit's liquid into the jar. Then, the alien tossed the fruit carcass into a wooden box beside her. The Heterian spooned a bit of brown cream into the jar, slipped its cap on, and began shaking the container furiously. After a minute or so, the alien took the jar's cap off with a resounding pop and poured its contents into one of the many craters on the Dromidoe's shell.
"What's she doing?" Rose asked.
"Wait and see."
As if on cue, the Dromidoe hiccupped and a three-foot tall geyser of liquid spewed from the Dromidoe's volcanoes. The Heterian whipped out a jug and artfully caught the spewing liquid into the container. Not a single drop of juice fell to the ground. The Doctor and Rose applauded as the Heterian blushed bright purple and handed two small cups of the liquid to the Doctor and Rose for them to sample.
"It tastes wonderful," Rose said happily. She downed the rest of the cup with one swing of her head. The Doctor, however, took a tiny sip and gave the rest to Rose.
"Tastes like blueberries. I hate blueberries," he said. Rose smiled and gulped the Doctor's sample quickly.
"You two! You two!" The Doctor and Rose whirled around to find a bright red florist waving at them. Liked other Hetericans, he looked pretty humanoid, so it was assumed that it was a 'he'. The Doctor and Rose walked up to the Heterican and his stall. He was selling flowers, and not just normal flowers. Flowers that opened and closed, flowers that glowed and sparkled, and even a few species that sang when tickled.
"Any flower of your choosing for only one Hetang," the Heterican proudly announced as Rose and the Doctor pored over the wonderful flowers. Their sweet aroma permeated the air.
"Oh, what's this one?" Rose asked, picking a flower that closely resembled a rose. The only difference was that when Rose stroked its petals, it turned from a peachy pink to a violent shade of crimson.
"That, m'lady, is the Treesap flower. Grown deep in the forests in the northern region. It's perfect for the concert tonight."
"The concert?"
The alien looked surprised at Rose's confusion. "Are you two not here for the Festival of Nuptials?"
"Oh, no we're just dropping by for a visit," the Doctor said dismissively.
"What's the Festival of Nuptials?" Rose asked, curious, as always.
"Oh, it comes every two years," the shopkeeper explained, "The Festival of Nuptials celebrates love. Foreigners from every part of the universe and beyond come as couples."
"So you get married here?"
"Oh no. In the ancient times, it was like that, but now, you can come as a couple to get married or just on a date. Why, four years ago, a man proposed to a woman at the festival!"
"You mentioned a concert earlier," the Doctor observed, "We love music. Perhaps you can tell us how to get tickets."
"Oh the concert is free," the shopkeeper said, waving his hand, "It's there in the town square. It's the biggest attraction at the festival. You won't miss it."
"Thank you so much… uh…"
"Ar'kedaninia. You may call me Arked."
"Thank you, Arked!" Rose gave the shopkeeper a handshake and scurried off in the direction of the square. The Doctor, however, lingered at the stall, taking flowers in his hands and scrutinizing them.
"Sir, you would like to buy a flower for your lady friend?" Arked asked.
"No, no," the Doctor hurriedly replied. He slipped a light blue tulip back into its container and took a step back. "I don't… no… it's alright. I better be catching up to her now."
"But sir," the shopkeeper said, "you cannot go to the concert without giving your love a flower, can you? It seems most gentlemanly of ways."
"You think so?" the Doctor asked, stepping forward once more. He trailed his fingers over the Treesap flower and watched its petals become blood red.
"Yes, sir. How about this? You do not need to pay me for the Treesap flower." Arked began wrapping the flower up, ignoring the Doctor's protests. "But, I do ask you of a favor."
"What?"
"Give this to that lady friend of yours," Arked said, winking, "I am sure she will love it."
The Doctor hesitated for a bit, but then, with a quick swipe of his hand, he snatched the flower from the Arked's hands, thanked the shopkeeper profusely, and ran away in the direction of the town square.
"There you are!" Rose said as the Doctor caught up to her retreating form, "I was beginning to think you'd gone back to the Tardis and forgotten me."
"Rose Tyler, you know I'd never do that," the Doctor said, feeling offended.
"Of course not," she said, but the Doctor couldn't help but give him small reprimands in his head as he and Rose neared the crowd of concertgoers. She's remembering that time you left her on the abandoned spaceship, he thought angrily, Now look what you've done.
"Here's a good seat," Rose said. She sat down on the grass and pulled a few pink blades of grass from the ground to examine. The whole time, the Doctor kept his eyes on her. The Treesap flower was inside his coat pocket, waiting to be given to Rose. It weighed him down. He intended on fulfilling the Heterican florist's request, but at the sight of Rose actually sitting next to him, he faltered and fluttered his hands around his pockets.
"Doctor, it's beginning," Rose urged, grasping the Doctor's upper arm and pulling him out of his pondering. He smiled at her excitement. He smiled at a lot of Rose-related quirks.
As the musicians took the enormous stage, the crowd of aliens hushed until only the soft murmur of the wind could be heard. The orchestra was mostly made up of earthly instruments. The conductor muttered a few words of encouragement to his ensemble and then, with a flick of his baton, the concert began.
The song began with a lone, wooden flute. The musician was a female Heterican in a black tunic. She swayed to her solo, and suddenly, liquid began to spill out of her instrument. The Heterican did not hesitate, but her eyes sparkled at the audience's sharp intake of breath. The liquid, instead of spilling upon the floor, lazily drifted up to the air like dish soap in water. It was silver, quite like the outside of a helicopter. As the liquid drifted up to the sky, it began to fizzle into dust that disappeared into the night sky before meeting the awed faces of the audience. The Heterican finished her solo and was awarded with appreciative applause.
At once, the lower brass instruments began their turn. Unlike the flutists, their instruments released golden glob-like shapes. Their speed matched the music's urgency and the shapes shot into the sky at the speed of rockets, bursting at their height and raining golden dust into the air.
After one or two minutes of the lower brass playing, the woodwinds began. The clarinets threw bright yellow strings into the air that quickly shredded and became confetti. The lone oboe player sent green crescents into the sky that separated until they disappeared completely. The flute players, now a team, launched their silver liquid into the sky. A piccolo player let twinkling blue bubbles fly out the end of his instrument. The sky was ablaze with colors. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.
The conductor let his baton hover in the air for a second, before languidly moving his pointer through the air. The trumpets and saxophones took on their cues, swinging to the same motion of their conductor. The trumpets spewed muted orange liquid that lazily licked its way into the air before softly falling down. The audience tilted their heads to catch a glimpse of the falling liquid, but the droplets had disappeared before they reached the people's impressed faces. The saxophones sent peach colored spheres over the audience's heads and into the distance. Nobody knew where they went.
The trumpets and saxophones carefully brought their part of the music to a close, but before the audience could applaud, the percussionists began their own portion of the song. The marimbas tapped their mallets against the keys of their instrument. Each time a mallet head met with a bar, a spiral of purple was sent spinning up into the air. Before long, the sky was filled with pasta-like shapes disappearing into the stars. The snare drum began tapping his drumsticks upon his drum. With each rat-a-tat-tat, a firework show of red and blue flew from the end of his sticks and into the air. The bass drum beat his mallet against the drum to the beat, showering the heads of the audience with chestnut colored dots. A young Heterican tapped his beater against a large assortment of triangles. As the instrument dinged, a shower of silver stars flew into the sky and melded with the snare drummer's fireworks. The audience oohed and aahed.
Then, the dings and booms quieted and the conductor turned to the first flute, who again, began her solo. More silver liquid drifted from the end of her instrument and into the sky, where it lingered for a moment before disappearing into a hazy fuzz. When the flutist set her instrument down, the audience was silent for a moment. Then, a large whoop from the back sent the crowd into a frenzy. The orchestra received a standing ovation and a large sum of whistles and praise.
"It's over?" Rose asked, sounding disappointed.
"You didn't like it?"
"No, no! I just wish it could've lasted longer." Rose gazed longingly at the stage. "It was beautiful. I thought it'd last the whole night."
"Oh, child. I'm afraid the musicians won't be able to last so long," an elderly alien said to Rose. She definitely was not from Heterica, but she was very elderly and clutched to the arm of another alien, who tipped his hat to Rose and the Doctor.
"Will there be another concert?" Rose asked eagerly.
"Of course. There will be one every night for the rest of the week."
"It has to be tomorrow night?" Rose asked, pouting.
"Are you not staying? You must! The festival lasts for the whole week, and it won't do to have such a lovely couple leave right when the festivities are beginning."
"Oh, w-we aren't… together," the Doctor quickly said, shaking his head. Rose stared at the Doctor for a moment before adding her agreement.
"My apologies," the alien said, "I simply assumed that… Yes, my mistake. Well, I do hope you stay. My name is Krishna. This is my husband, Krishdee. We're from the planet Krandaskilan. We'll be staying in the Hotel Camridian if you need us. Take care." With a slow wave, Krishna and her husband hobbled toward the city.
"I do wish we could stay," Rose sighed, watching the elderly couple walk away. The Doctor watched Rose's face and realized how much she wanted to remain here in Heterica. The Treesap flower in his pocket seemed to weigh him down a bit more. He'd have to give the flower to her some day.
"We could stay. I have all the time we need."
"You sure?" Rose asked hopefully.
"Of course."
"C'mon! Let's find somewhere to sleep." Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and fled into the bustling city.