Chapter 1: Meeting the People
The Doctor and Briazra took their seats towards the front of the tour vehicle. There weren't all that many other passengers, in all honesty. There was a know-it-all looking guy, a girl with him that seemed like his opposite, a business woman, and a family of three. The son of the family intrigued Briazra. Oh, and of course, there was their hostess of the vehicle. She came around, handing out earphones, some sort of games Bri thought she said, and lots of complimentary items. Briaz thanked her, though raised an eyebrow to the Doctor. That was a lot of items.
"I must warn you some of the products may contain nuts." The hostess warned, making her chuckle as the Doctor stated the obvious. "Enjoy you trip." She greeted, ready to continue her rounds. "Oh, I can't wait! Allons-y!" The Doctor exclaimed, just a little bit giddy to get going, hence his usual saying, which made the hostess turn back to him in confusion. "It means 'Let's Go'. He says that a lot... Apparently, it's French." Briazra clarified, around the time the Doctor was about to.
"They call it the 'Sapphire Waterfall,' but there's no such thing." The guy behind them started, but Briazra quickly tuned him out. Anything he had to say she could easily find out, and anyway, she just found him plain-out boring. Definitely, a know-it-all. She could probably get to like the girl with him, though, especially for sneakily grabbing earplugs. The Doctor, however, seemed intrigued, or maybe it was just people around them that were so interesting to him. It was possible. Briaz certainly wouldn't blame him, if so. However, the know-it-all quickly broke into her thoughts again, by introducing himself. Turning around, she took and shook his hand as he said his name.
"Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes." He said, very professionally. The Doctor grinned, rather idiotically. "I'm the Doctor. Hello." He smiled. "And, I'm Briazra Jazzlyn Sparks." Briaz added in. "It's my fourteenth time." Professor Hobbes continued, to which the Doctor responded by saying it was their first times. "And, I'm Dee Dee. Dee Dee Blasco." His assistant eagerly offered her own hand, to which the Doctor and Briazra managed to shake before Professor Hobbes annoyingly told her not to bother them.
"And who's to say she was bothering us? Who's to say you weren't bothering us?" Briazra hissed out, obviously more than a little annoyed by the professor's behavior. Dee Dee seemed surprised but a little grateful, and the much older man, deeply offended. The Doctor gave a somewhat bemused look at her, but otherwise inwardly agreed the man could have let Dee Dee speak to them as Hobbes had done.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome onboard the Crusader50. If you could fasten your seatbelts, we would be leaving any moment. Doors. Shields down." The Hostess called to them, then startled Briazra when she seemed to be uttering commands to the ship itself.
"I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder: Midnight had no air, so please do not touch the exterior door seals. Fire exits to the rear and, should we need to use it, you first." She offered as reassurances, giggling. "And, now, I shall hand you over to driver Joe." She told them, pressing some sort of button as a map showed unto a screen in front of them.
"Driver Joe, at the wheel. There's been a diamond fall at the Winter Witch Cavern, so we'll be taking a slight detour as you'll see on the map. The journey covers 500 kliks to the multi-faceted coast. Duration is estimated at 4 hours. Thank you for traveling with us and, as they used to say in the old days, 'wagons roll'!"
"Well, this is nice." Briazra muttered, honestly. She liked dark, she liked quiet, but somehow, she expected it wouldn't stay that way for very long. Something about this all just definitely felt ominous, and she wrapped her arms around the Doctor's waist to show she was still worried about something.
"Aww, Briaz, don't be like that. Nothing's going to go wrong. I promise you we'll be alright." He told her, patting her head to make her feel better. He already knew of her feelings for him, and somewhere deep inside, he felt similarly, but hid them like he did all those other times he developed small crushes on his female companions. Still, she probably knew about it, and that bugged him a little bit, since if she did, she didn't say anything.
"I know. I just wish I knew why I keep getting this feeling." She admitted, in a mutter, as the hostess began speaking. Yup. There went the darkness and quiet. "Yeah... Music, cartoons, and bright lights don't mix..." Briaz muttered softly to a somewhat disturbed Doctor, who also didn't seem to favor the noise level.
She smirked as he pulled out his usual sonic screwdriver and did something clever to knock all of the noisy entertainment out. Mouthing a 'Thank you' to him, she listened as the Hostess apologized for "a failure of the entertainment system." Briazra snickered as the mother from that family onboard asked what to do. God knew, the Doctor always had the answers. They would have to talk to each other.
"Well, then, let's go meet the people." Briazra smirked.