The trees thinned out as they neared the town, and Rose and the Doctor were passed by hover craft flying along the previously empty country lane. Rose watched one fly by, then looked at the Doctor.
"So what's the date?" she asked. "You said humans colonised Icotea in the twenty-eighth century, but what year is it now?"
"We're in the thirty-first century," the Doctor told her. "Thirty-seventeen, to be precise. So, just a bit more than a thousand years in your future."
"A thousand years and they finally have flying cars," Rose mused.
The Doctor laughed and swung their joined hands between them. "Those came along quite a while ago, but yes—your science fiction was always optimistic about the advance of human civilisation."
They reached the edge of town, and the country road they'd been following seemed to become the High Street going through the centre of town. Pennants on the lampposts fluttered in the wind, and as the street filled with a crowd of people, Rose sensed a festive buzz in the crisp autumn air.
She cast the Doctor a sidelong glance. "Seems we're not the only ones who made a special trip to Icotea today." She nudged him gently with her elbow.
The Doctor made a show of looking around at the busy street. "Well, what do you know? Maybe we should see if there's something special going on?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, all right…" Her sentence trailed off when she spotted a banner hanging across the street.
Welcome to Icotea's Harvest Fest and Masquerade!
Rose swung around to look at the Doctor, but instead of the smug, "I'm so impressive" look she expected, he was tugging at his ear and he wouldn't quite meet her gaze. "What do you think?" he asked, gesturing vaguely at the crowd. "Care to join me for an old fashioned harvest festival, followed by a masquerade ball tonight?"
The half-nervous, half-hopeful way he asked almost completely convinced Rose that he meant for this to be a date. Her heart pounded in her chest as she squeezed his hand. "I think I could be persuaded," she teased.
The Doctor's eyes sparkled. "What if I told you I'm taking you shopping so you can wear the traditional costume to the ball tonight?" He started walking again, and Rose had to jog to keep pace with his long stride. "And that I even reserved a place for you to change so you won't have to walk through the woods in your fancy dress." He stopped in front of a hotel and opened the door with a flourish.
For a long moment, Rose just looked at him, and the Doctor wondered if he'd made a mistake somehow. He'd planned it all out with far more care than he usually gave their adventures, but maybe somehow he'd accidentally blundered into something inappropriate for a human first date?
Then Rose smiled at him. "Sounds like you thought of everything," she said as she stepped into the lobby of the hotel.
The Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets. "Wellllll… I tried, at least," he said, attempting to sound a little modest. He was too pleased by her compliment to truly pull it off though.
Ten minutes later, they were walking out of the hotel with their room keys tucked away in their pockets. Rose stopped just outside the door, and the Doctor followed her line of sight to the park across the street. Workers were busy setting up the pavilion and decorating for the ball.
"Is that where the ball is?" Rose asked.
The Doctor nodded. "Yep!" he proclaimed. "They'll bring in heaters to keep the air warm, plus full length capes are a part of the traditional costume. Part of the festival is a celebration of nature and all she's given Icotea in the last year, so the ball has always been held in the open air."
"Sounds lovely." Rose's voice was soft, and she leaned into him slightly.
It only took a moment for the Doctor to give in to the urge to wrap his arm around her shoulders. Rose immediately snuggled into his side. They only stood like that for a moment before a crowd of tourists bumped into them, but even as he took her hand and led her to their next stop, his hearts were racing at the easy intimacy of the moment.
Three doors down from the hotel, he stopped in front of a busy shop. "And this is where I leave you for a bit." He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a credit stick. "This is the best place in town to buy a costume for tonight's ball. You can tell them to send it to the hotel, and it will be waiting for us when we get back from the festival this afternoon."
Three gowns were on display in the shop window, all in autumn shades of red, orange, and gold. The fabric shimmered slightly, even in the sunlight, and Rose pictured the way it would catch the flickering light from the lanterns she'd seen strung across the park.
Rose looked at the credit stick the Doctor was offering her. "You're not staying?" She'd had half a thought of modelling the various outfits for him—it would have been fun to watch his reactions.
The Doctor shook his head adamantly. "A masquerade is no fun if I know what your dress looks like ahead of time!"
He had a point, but… She rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose. "We're going together, so you'll see it tonight in the hotel room after I change."
To her surprise, a slow, seductive smile stretched across the Doctor's face. "Oh, no, Rose Tyler. We are going to do this masquerade bit properly. No peeking at outfits ahead of time." He leaned forward and lowered his voice, almost whispering the rest directly in her ear. "Imagine it for a moment—we arrive separately, each of us scanning the crowd until in a magical moment, we finally find each other."
Rose swallowed hard; she could easily picture the dramatic moment the Doctor described. Their eyes would lock, and somehow, even across a busy pavilion filled with strangers, they would recognise each other. "All right then," she said, plucking the credit stick from his fingers. "You go… do whatever you were planning to do, and meet me back here in an hour."
"One hour exactly," he promised. He jogged a few steps away from her, then turned around and waved before darting into the crowd, dodging groups of tourists wandering the town.
Rose shook her head fondly, then turned around and stepped into the shop. Apparently she had a romantic evening to prepare for.