"River Song?" the Doctor asked incredulously, poking his head out of the TARDIS. "How did you get here?"
She shrugged with a coy smile. "A future version of you two picked me up and brought me here, saying I had something that needed to be done. And since you're here, I'm guessing it involves the two of you. Hello, by the way, Doctor."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows, stepping out of the TARDIS to stand by Lyssa, hands in his pocket. "Well, then, hello, River, I guess. Where are we at in our timeline?"
River smiled, pulling out her blue journal, flipping through the pages. "You tell me. Jim the Fish?"
He smiled and shook his head. "Crash of the Byzantium?" he tried.
She flipped to a particular page and stopped, reading it before smiling. "One of my more recent adventures. The Pandorica Opens?"
He nodded. "My most recent adventure with you was the Impossible Astronaut."
She laughed. "Oh, that one was tricky. Delightfully fun, but very difficult."
She turned to Lyssa. "And what about you, pixie? Where are we at?"
"Er, River," the Doctor tried to forestall her.
Lyssa smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, but, uh, I've never met you before."
River's face fell. "Oh," she whispered. "I was afraid this day would come."
Lyssa shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah. Sorry. If it's any consolation, this was my first time meeting him as well," she said, tilting her head towards the Doctor. "And apparently I do this a lot?"
River's eyes widened. "This is your very first adventure here, isn't it?" she breathed.
Lyssa bit her lip. "I guess? I mean, the last thing I did before this was survive a plane crash, so..."
River smiled. "Well, then. I know exactly what I'm supposed to do here." Reaching into the shoulder bag that matched her tan dress, she pulled out another TARDIS blue journal, similar to hers, and handed it to Lyssa. "The rules are simple. You write down what you know will happen in the back, and your personal adventures in the front. And you never let him, or me, read the book. Those are the rules you gave me when you told me that I was the one to give it to you."
"Oh." Lyssa took it, surprised, and started flipping through the pages. It was empty, and had white lined pages that were just waiting to be filled. "Thanks, I guess. And even though we both technically know who the other person is, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Lyssa Devons."
River Song smiled at her and shook her outstretched hand. "Doctor River Song, archaeologist. Pleasure to meet you."
Lyssa grinned. "Ha. Still can't quite believe that I'm really standing next to you. Actually, wait. Hold on. There's something that I forgot to do." Ignoring the Doctor and River, she went back to the TARDIS, peered inside, then circled the box from the outside, keeping one hand on the box the entire time. Finished with her circuit, she stepped inside the box, then back out, a look of marvel on her face. "It really, truly is bigger on the inside," she whispered.
The Doctor and River exchanged grins. "I love it when people say that," he remarked. "It's kind of funny to hear you say it now, though. You usually just say it as a joke."
Lyssa shrugged. "I guess, but this time it was my first time really seeing how big it really was on the inside, so it was sincere. Anyways," she focused on the picnic basket in the Doctor's hand. "You brought the food?"
He nodded, lifting up the lid and peeking inside. "And it looks like the TARDIS knew you were coming," he told River. "She packed food and dishes for you, too."
"I always knew she liked me," River smirked.
"So, you said we were on Asgard?" Lyssa asked. "Is this like, the Norwegian myths, Asgard? Or some other planet that just has the same name?"
"Well, technically it's part of the Metronus system, which has no relation whatsoever to earth mythology, but when the humans came here, the rings around the planet, which looked like rainbows, made them think of the rainbow bridge from Norwegian mythology. So they decided to call it Asgard," the Doctor explained.
"But the original colonists also wanted something to remind them of home, so they designed this part of the planet to look like Earth. That's why the sky looks blue, and the grass is green, and all that," he finished, indicating the grass. "But about a mile to the west, is where the real tourist section is. There, you have the markets, the vendors, the hotels, all the tourist attractions, etc."
"And is that where we're going?" Lyssa asked, looking up at him.
River smirked, setting out towards the east, where two red moons could be seen hanging in the sky. "Of course not. Everyone knows the best picnic spots are away from all the hustle and bustle of the city."
The Doctor chuckled, hanging the picnic basket in the crook of one arm and offering the other to Lyssa. "She is right about that. Even in the year four billion, you still get a lot of traffic jams. This is one of the last years where you can actually enjoy a day here in relative peace. Next year, the picnic grounds are taken down in order to make more room for the markets. And then the traffic gets even worse."
Accepting his arm, they started walking to the east. "So, what does the rest of the planet actually look like?" she asked curiously.
"Well, do you mean now, or the original planet?" the Doctor asked. "Because the original looked much different, and wasn't even habitable for humans before they added in an atmosphere, and all that jazz."
"Well, what does it look like now?" Lyssa clarified.
"Two moons, an artificial sun, and gravity, and the area where we're going is based off the planet Levnot 5. It's supposed to have the best vacation spots in the entire galaxy," River said, not looking back at them. "And we should be approaching it in about five minutes. You see where the grass changes color?" she asked, pointing towards the horizon, where the ground seemed to take on a darker tint.
"I think so," Lyssa said, peering towards it.
"That's where we'll be eating," she informed her. "And just a hint, run your fingers through the tree leaves when you get there."
"Okay?" Lyssa agreed, confused.
"Oh, you'll like it there," the Doctor said happily. "It's a lovely place."
Sure enough, five minutes later the grass had changed to a lovely lavender shade, and they could hear a faint musical melody in the background. "Oh, that's pretty," Lyssa said, looking around for the source of the sound. "Where's it coming from?"
"Why don't you try running your hands through the leaves, first?" River suggested. Lyssa looked at her quizzically, but did so. Walking over to a nearby tree, she slowly began to run her hand through the purple leaves. Her expression changed as, quiet at first, but then getting louder as her hand moved faster, a simple, pretty melody seemed to emanate from the tree.
Looking back at the Doctor and River in shock, she demanded, "What is this?"
The Doctor laughed. "It's one of the musical trees from Levnot 5. The leaves produce a musical note when touched. Do you know, there's one tree that they biologically engineered to play words along with the music? Of course, then there were the people who started complaining that it wasn't really a tree, anymore, because they'd changed its DNA, but it was still a lovely tree to listen to."
"Doctor, you're rambling," River pointed out gracefully.
"Eh? Oh, right then. How about we see what she's packed for us to eat?" the Doctor offered, setting the basket down and pulling out a large blanket for them to sit on. Wandering back over from the tree, Lyssa sat down besides River and began pulling out the plates.
"Why is there wine in here?" she wondered, pulling out a bottle, and one glass.
"That would be for me, dear," River smiled, taking the bottle and pouring herself a glass. "You don't like it, and he's such a picky eater that he won't drink it either. There's most likely milk in there for you in a thermos."
Digging into the basket, Lyssa pulled out a large thermos. Taking off the lid, she peered inside. Gasping, she declared, "This is all mine, sorry, Doctor. You'll have to drink something else. I'm keeping this."
"What is it?" the Doctor asked curiously.
Lyssa shook her head, clutching the thermos to her chest greedily. "I'm not telling you. You'll just have to get your own thermos."
Laughing, the Doctor grabbed another thermos from the basket. "I guess she planned for you to hoard the chocolate milk like you always do, too." Peering inside, he made a noncommittal gesture. "Water is good. I like water."
"Wait. Are you saying that the TARDIS always gives me chocolate milk?" Lyssa gasped.
River chuckled. "Of course, dear. We all know how much you love chocolate milk."
Lyssa's eyes widened. "I think I love the TARDIS even more now. I never got chocolate milk back home unless I hid it from Mom. She didn't like me having too much junk food or sweet stuff. Said it would make me fat." The Doctor's face hardened.
Something in River's face changed, but she kept her voice the same as she handed out the sandwiches. "Would you mind telling me about your life back home? I know some things, but you never talked much about it. And I still want to know how you ended up with a cast on your hand," she added, shooting a glare at the Doctor.
"It's not his fault," Lyssa interjected, wrinkling her nose. "And there's not much to talk about. I finished high school, worked as a nanny for a few years, then decided that I didn't want to live with my mother anymore, as I was done with being taken advantage of by her. So I ordered a plane ticket to England secretly, packed my bag, and took off. Of course, nothing in life is ever easy, so... a bad storm came up, and we had to make a crash landing, during which at some point my hand got broken. Then, while running for shelter, I got struck by lightning. And now, I'm either in a coma and vividly hallucinating, or I'm at a picnic with two people that I used to believe were completely fictional, on an alien planet."
"Well, I can assure you that you're not dreaming, dear," River promised. "If you were, it'd likely be much stranger."
Lyssa raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Stranger than finding out that I will be jumping around the timeline of a madman in a box, who has two hearts, and am currently on an alien planet?"
River raised her wine glass to her before taking a drink. "Fair point. But consider this. It's been widely believed that you can't read the same thing in dreams, and that clock times switch every time you look at them. Now, I know you're a massive bookworm, and I know that one of the first things the Doctor would have included on a tour is the library. Am I right?"
"You're right," Lyssa admitted. "And I read the backs of the books, and they all made sense, and were what I was expecting. It's just still hard to believe sometimes."
"Sometimes things don't make sense, and we just have to accept them," the Doctor said cheerily, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Lyssa snorted. "Easy for you to say. With the life you lead, there's probably a dozen things that don't make sense on a daily basis."
"Oh, more than that, easily," River said, finishing her sandwich. "And I'm one of them, aren't I?" she asked the Doctor with a twinkle in her eye.
He snorted. "River, you alone probably make up a third of them. Lyssa makes up half, and the rest are just as yet unexplained issues."
Lyssa shrugged, taking the last bite and washing it down with a large drink of chocolate milk. "Well, this is my first time meeting you, so, I don't know about any of that yet."
"Ah, yes!" the Doctor exclaimed, getting to his feet. "That reminds me. How would you like to see the rest of the planet, maybe go shopping a bit at the market?"
"But we don't have any money!" Lyssa objected, sipping from her chocolate milk.
He shrugged, digging his hand into his pocket, almost to the elbow. "I'm sure I've got some credit sticks in here somewhere... Aha!" he shouted, pulling out three small, metal sticks triumphantly. "I knew I had some left over!" He offered them to the women.
Lyssa took one and examined it curiously. "It looks like the credit sticks they used on Satellite 5."
The Doctor looked startled. "So that's where it came from," he said softly.
"What?" River asked, grabbing another sandwich.
"Well, back when I was 'ol Big Ears, I took Rose and Lyssa here to Satellite Five. And before you say 'spoilers,' she already knew what was going to happen, " he added, pointing a finger at River before continuing. "I was going to give them a credit stick to get some food, but Lyssa just pulled one out of her pocket and said she had it covered. Said she got it from me."
"Does that mean that I don't have to give it back, then?" Lyssa asked with a smirk, taking a cookie from a bag River pulled out of the picnic basket.
The Doctor sighed. "Might as well keep it, I suppose. It'll probably come in handy, and I can always get more if need be."
"Great!" Lyssa said excitedly, bouncing up and down. "Now, these cookies look really good, so could you actually hand me another one, River, please?" she begged. River smiled, handing her the whole bag.
xXx
Half an hour later, all the food had been eaten, and the dishes packed away. Lyssa turned impatiently to the others. "Now, can I go see my possibly hallucinated alien market?"
"Why not?" River declared, folding the blanket and placing it on top of the dishes in the basket before shutting the lid. "It would be nice to find some new things to decorate my cell at Stormcage. I do so love seeing them get all worked up wondering where it came from," she said with a mischievous smile.
The Doctor shook his head. "Oh, River. Whatever am I to do with you?"
"Take us shopping, of course!" Lyssa interjected. "I want to see my alien planet." The Doctor hid a smile, but agreed. Grabbing the picnic basket, they set off for the city, making a brief stop to return the picnic basket to the TARDIS before continuing on.
"So this is what an alien marketplace looks like," Lyssa commented, looking around at all the people rushing about. Some looked like humans with just a few minor differences, others were only vaguely humanoid shaped, while being different colors, such as blue or red, and still others looked nothing like a human at all. And all over the place were the vendors, looking just as alien as the shoppers, hanging out their wares and trying to attract customers.
"Alright, Doctor, why don't you go grab some parts for the TARDIS, and Lyssa and I can get a little girl time," River suggested, placing her arm around Lyssa's shoulders.
"I do need a few Laspkitters," the Doctor agreed. "Let's meet by the food court in an hour or two," he suggested, pointing to a large clear area filled with tables over by their left.
"All right. We'll see you in two hours, Doctor," River called over her shoulder, leading Lyssa further down the row of vendors.
"Don't be late!" he ordered, before immediately getting distracted by a shiny globe offered by one vendor.
"I swear, that man acts like a child," River said, rolling her eyes and picking up a small crystal from a booth. "Now, what do you think of this gem? It supposedly will change color to match your outfit, but I'm not so sure about it."
Lyssa shrugged uncertainly. "I don't really know about this sort of thing, but I don't think that it's really your style."
River examined the small gem for a moment. "No, I don't think it is either. Let's keep looking." Placing the gem back in its case, they wandered on for a few more minutes before River spoke up again. "Now that we're away from the Doctor and his eavesdropping ears, tell me. How do you really feel about all of this?"
Lyssa hesitated. "Is it all right to say that I don't know? Because on the one hand, part of me is ridiculously excited about the fact that I'm now going to be living with one of my favorite characters ever, and that he's real. But on the other hand, I'm in a completely different universe, and I can't ever go home. And virtually everything that I thought was set in stone has now been completely turned on its head. I mean, there were no aliens back in my universe. None."
River regarded her curiously. "None? Really?"
Lyssa nodded, flipping through a rack of what looked like tunics. "Our universe was just humans. No Avengers, no super heroes, no aliens of any kind, just us humans. Then I come here, and aliens are definitely real, along with time travel, and fictional characters." She sighed. "Things were less complicated in high school algebra."
River chuckled and held a dark blue tunic up to herself. "Cheer up, sweetheart. You'll get a hang of things real soon. Oh, no, that doesn't look quite right. Let's try something else." She pulled her down to another vendor, who was offering different types of jewelry. She immediately picked out a small, thin necklace made out of a silvery material up to Lyssa's neck.
"Oh, this suits you perfectly!" she gasped. "How much is it?" she asked the vendor.
"That will be 4,000 credits, Ma'am," the vendor said, putting two of its arms behind its head.
"Oh, River that's too much!" Lyssa exclaimed.
River ignored her. "I'll take it," she declared, handing the vendor her credit stick. Getting her credit stick back, she ordered Lyssa to turn around.
"River, that was a lot of money! Why did you do that?" Lyssa demanded.
"Just turn around, I'll explain in a minute," River said, forcibly but gently moving Lyssa. "Could you move your hair, dear?" Lyssa sighed, pulling her hair around to the front of her body as River gently placed the necklace around her neck and fastened it. "There. Now let me see." Dropping her hair and rolling her eyes, Lyssa turned back around.
River stood there for a minute, just studying her. "There. Now you look a bit more like yourself. Just take that frown off your face. You look gorgeous, and consider it a welcoming gift from me to you, pixie. It's made of an extremely durable material, so it won't be easily broken."
Lyssa looked down at the necklace. "It is kind of pretty," she admitted. "But shouldn't it have some sort of jewelry on it? And why do you keep calling me that?"
"Of course it is, darling. I have excellent taste in jewelry," River teased her. "And this necklace will have jewelry on it soon enough. As for the rest... well, spoilers," she grinned. "Now, let's keep looking. We've still got a good hour and a half left, and I want to find something suitably outrageous for my cell."
Lyssa smiled uncomfortably as they continued on. River stopped and pulled her aside. "Lyssa, you know why I'm in Stormcage, don't you?" she asked bluntly.
Lyssa avoided her eyes for a minute before muttering, "Because you were forced to kill someone."
River nodded, satisfied, still keeping her face serious. "It's best that you know this now, before everything starts. No spoilers, but not everything is the same as it was in your videos. Most of the major timeline events will be the same, but things will change, even just by the nature of you being here."
"Wh-what do you mean?" Lyssa asked nervously.
"I mean," River said seriously, "That don't be alarmed if things don't happen the way you think they will. Most of the time, the change is for the better. You can save the life of a person here or there, maybe." She sighed. "But you cannot always change major events, even if it's with the intention of helping someone." She looked Lyssa intently in the eyes. "Sometimes it's worse if you try to change something that shouldn't be changed."
"But, but what about -"
River cut her off. "Some things can be changed without causing ripple effects. Other events cannot be changed, no matter how much they hurt. You'll start to figure it out as you go along, don't worry. I'm just telling you now, so that you know ahead of time. There's no need to look so alarmed, most of the time things will work themselves out."
Lyssa blinked, trying to wrap her head around all the new information she had just received over the last few days. River placed an arm around her shoulders and led her over to another booth. "All right, now, dear, let's just forget about that and keep looking. Here, what do you think about this?" she asked, holding up a box of what appeared to be assorted dyes.
Lyssa squinted at it. "Is it hair dye, or what?"
River beamed at her. "It can be whatever you'd like it to be. Body dye, hair dye, clothes dye, the works! I wonder what the guards would think if I showed up with purple hair," she mused.
Lyssa's eyes widened. "No, don't do that! Your curls are gorgeous the way they are!" she exclaimed, holding up her hands in an attempt to stop her.
River looked amused and put the box back. "Oh, don't get in such a fret, I wasn't really planning on doing it. And I know you would never dye your hair either."
Lyssa shook her head stubbornly. "That's right. It's kind of like my own personal act of rebellion."
"What do you mean?" River asked, picking up an orb and studying it.
"Well, Mom always wanted me to dye my hair," Lyssa explained. "To red, or black, or anything but that 'horrid shade of brown,'" she mocked. "So I decided that I would never do it. Partially to spite her, and partially because I like my hair the way it is."
"And so you should. Your hair is lovely the way it is," River informed her. "Now come on. I've got my eye on those Barzillian Corfs, and I want to get one before they all sell out. They're hard to get, but well worth the trouble."
Two hours later, Lyssa had a small bag with a few small souvenirs she had picked up, such as a small gadget that could display the local star systems on the ceiling, and a green crystal that could glow in the dark, in addition to her necklace. River, on the other hand, had a large bag filled with all sorts of items, including bobby pins that could double as knives if she unfolded them.
"I suppose it's time to get back to the Doctor, he'll probably be getting impatient," River said at last, checking her wrist.
"Okay, do you know how to find that eating place?" Lyssa asked, looking around. "Because I don't know where we are."
"Oh, it's just back here," River said dismissively, cutting through a line of shoppers.
"Oh!" Lyssa exclaimed, looking around as they suddenly entered a large, paved area with tables all over, filled with people eating all sorts of things. "Do you see the Doctor anywhere?" she asked, looking around the courtyard.
"No," River frowned. "But he is the Doctor, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was late. Let's just get ourselves something, and we can wait at one of the tables for him."
"Alright," Lyssa agreed. "But, um... Do you know of anything that would be good to eat? Because I don't have a clue what's good to eat or not."
"Here. You find us a seat, and I'll get us some good, old-fashioned ice cream," River assured her. "They sell all sorts of food here, including Earth favorites. There. That's a good spot," she said, pointing.
Squinting, Lyssa tried to see where she was pointing to. "Where?" She turned around to ask, but River had already disappeared into the crowd. "River?"
"Lyssa! There you are!" The Doctor came running up and grabbed her shoulders, making her jump. "Where's River?"
"I, I don't - she went to go get us some food," Lyssa stuttered. "Why?"
"I may have upset one of the Alrkans when I pointed out that he was using an illegal form of Vesperin Oil. And uh, he had a few friends," the Doctor admitted.
"What did you do now?" River asked exasperatedly, showing up out of nowhere, another bag in her hands.
"I think I may have angered a few of the natives," he explained briefly. "And they weren't very happy about losing a profit."
"Is that them?" River asked, looking over the Doctor's shoulders, where a large group of tall, angry, three-armed purple aliens had just entered the courtyard.
He risked a glance. "Yep. Aaaand, we should go. Now would be good," he added as one of said aliens spotted him and let out a roar, pointing him out to his companions.
"Right. You two, this way," River said firmly, grabbing their hands and pulling them behind one of the stalls. "I'll distract them. Doctor, you get Lyssa back to the TARDIS, and keep her safe," she emphasized, pulling out a few small orbs from her bag.
The Doctor nodded. "Meet us at the TARDIS when you're done," he insisted.
"Oh, I'll be fine. Just go!" She shouted, pushing them further away and darting back out into the courtyard.
Running and ducking through crowds of people, Lyssa and the Doctor had made it almost to the edge of the market when a loud explosion echoed through the marketplace. "What was that?" Lyssa cried, clutching his hand tighter to avoid losing him in the now panicking crowd.
"River," the Doctor panted, not stopping. "The orbs she had were Tyranian fire works. Lots of light and smoke, but no damage."
"Then why are we still running?!" Lyssa demanded, almost out of breath.
"The problem with Alrkans is that they tend not to give up when they get angry," the Doctor shouted over his shoulder. "They're rather like bulls when they get mad, and that happens fairly easily, and gets messy very quickly."
He stopped suddenly, making Lyssa bump into him. "What was that for?" she complained, rubbing her now sore nose. He ignored her, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the air, before examining the results with a frown.
"What's wrong?"
He turned around to face her, gripping her shoulders gently. "One thing I forgot about the Alrkans is that they have the ability to camouflage themselves," he said in a low voice.
"Camouflage?" Lyssa asked, wrinkling her brow.
He nodded. "And uh, the sonic just detected the presence of several of them. Running towards us. Very fast."
"So what do we do?" Lyssa asked, frightened.
He looked her in the eyes and grabbed her uninjured hand again. "We run."
A/N: Still not British, still not Brit-picked. Sorry. :(
But... oh my gosh, you guys. 10 favorites and 18 follows after only two chapters?! Wow! Thank you all so much, and I hope you continue to like it!
Also, shout-out to yellowroseofthenw and Miriam Who for reviewing!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :)
General Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or BBC yet, but hopefully I will be a kinder ruler of my world than Moffatt is...