Clara closed the door behind her and leant back against it, unable to contain a large grin as her body bubbled with excitement as she realised how much she had missed this feeling. She practically skipped to the dressing room and allowed her eyes to examine the contents, pondering what to wear, leafing through the clothes hung up on the hangers one by one.

"No," she said to herself, eyeing several short dresses, "no, you will not do well with the sand. Maybe next time."

After a few minutes she settled on an ensemble that would be perfect for the outing she had proposed, retrieving some washed out brown shorts, a white vest top, a cropped green cotton long sleeve shirt and a pair of brown suede walking boots. She threw the items onto a small turquoise fabric stool behind her one by one, before picking up the collection of items, smiling to herself and disappearing to get changed.

"Oh yeah," Clara said out loud as she emerged ten minutes later, admiring her reflection in a full-length mirror in between two rails of clothes. She rolled up her right sleeve three times, her left just twice, internally debating what looked better, eventually settling on the longer length with a satisfied nod. She styled her hair into a high ponytail, applied some basic makeup and then paused, putting a finger to her lips.

"I need... I need.." she began searching through a large box of accessories, fishing out a small grey canvas shoulder bag that suited her attire. "Aha! Gotcha."

Clara swept up the TARDIS keys and her mobile phone from a table in the lounge area, dropping them into the bag and walking excitedly out into the corridor.

Ashildr was nowhere to be seen, leaving the cold, white corridor deserted and silent.

Clara approached the grey metal door to Ashildr's room, it remained shut, not allowing her access.

"Me!" Clara said loudly directly at the door, "I'm ready whenever you are!" She sighed to herself, presuming Ashildr wanted to retain a modicum of privacy and pointed herself in the direction of the console room.

She threw her small bag onto the nearest white sofa to her left, wandering towards the whiteboard with the rules, picking up the pen with the intent of rewriting Ashildr's illegible scrawl. She collected the displaced eraser from the floor, stood up and was about to rub it out completely when she was momentarily distracted by a faint rustling noise in the background. After a brief visual inspection she ignored it as the unseen inner workings of the TARDIS and returned to neatening up the whiteboard. She was about when the tapping, rustling, scraping noise returned but much louder.

"What is that?" Clara said quietly, deciding to go in search of the source, initially inspecting the lower part of the central console. She tried to open a metal flat underneath unsuccessfully.

"Will this do?" Ashildr announced to Clara's back as she ascended the ramp.

"I'm sure whatever you're wearing is-" Clara started nonchalantly before she whirled around to look, feeling her face contort into an expression she hadn't been expecting.

Ashildr had shoulder-length hair, straightened to within an inch of its life with a severe fringe cut in, it also appeared to be a much darker shade than she had noticed previously, to the point of it being onyx black. There were several metallic beaded braids running through, which swung wildly as Ashildr flicked her hair. Her eyebrows were accented in the same shade as her hair, the makeup around her eyes was thickly applied and there was an exorbitant amount of blusher used. She was wearing several large flat round gold necklaces and an intricately embroidered, shimmering jewel encrusted knee length tabard which glinted like a kaleidoscope under the harsh lights of the TARDIS. A brown belt cinched in the material around Ashildr's waist, exposing a white dress underneath. She wore flat brown gladiator sandals on her feet. The ensemble rustled and clattered loudly as she moved around.

"What the hell have you come as?" Clara sniggered as she looked Ashildr up and down. Her snigger developed into a full-on belly laugh as she took in Ashildr's appearance. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she forced out between loud inhalations, supporting herself on the central console, her jaw hanging open as she tried to figure out an appropriate response. "It's just..." she faced away, stifling a wide grin, "I really was not expecting... this."

"What?" Ashildr said, glancing down her body, unable to see what was wrong. "I asked Holo-Clara what to wear if I was going to Tutankhamun's tomb and this is what she advised me."

"I think... she was having a laugh," Clara grinned widely, approaching Ashildr and picking up a flap on of heavy gold fabric from the shoulder of the tunic in her hands. It felt three times the weight it looked, the sparkling jewels almost temporarily blinding her. "Maybe she is more like me than I give her credit for. I was thinking more 1920s explorer," she pointed at herself, "not," she sniggered to herself, letting go of the material and letting it drop towards the floor, "Tutankhamun's actual wife. If we were going to a fancy dress party you'd win top marks for effort because it's very convincing, but..." Clara smirked, "wow."

"Well, I like it," Ashildr said triumphantly, settling a copious amount of solid metal bangles on her left wrist with a metallic clank.

"Well, I am not going out with you dressed like that," Clara said out loud, "what use is that going to be if we need to run or be stealthy? I could hear you approaching a hundred metres away!"

"At least I'll fit in," Ashildr replied, "and I don't look like some sort of..." she paused trying to find the right word, "umm..."

"Archaeologist?" Clara interjected.

"No," Ashildr replied curtly. "More of a-"

"Sexy professor?" Clara allowed a smirk to pass her lips. "Thank you."

"Eurgh, no," Ashildr shook her head. "Definitely not that."

"Let a girl down gently why don't you?" Clara said deadpan. "An hour ago we were planning a mini-break, just saying-"

"I was thinking-"

"An extra from 'The Mummy'?" Clara offered. "I've always wanted to look like Rachel Weisz." She flicked her hair slightly, "her and Brendan Fraser in the desert on that camel," she sighed wistfully, "so romantic."

"What? Who?" Ashildr said quickly, "I don't understand any of those words. I want to say..."

"Amazing?"

"No."

"Badass?" Clara's eyes glinted.

"Badass? What does that even mean?" Ashildr creased her eyebrows.

"Angelina Jolie?" Clara offered. "Do I look like Angelina Jolie to you?"

"Again, I have no idea who that is. I can't think... is there a word that describes," Ashildr interrupted impatiently, waving her hand in Clara's direction, "a lot of bare flesh being on display?"

Clara blushed, taken off-guard. "What?"

"Harlot?" Ashildr said, "I'm sure that is a word. Is that appropriate?"

"A harlot?" Clara repeated at twice the volume, putting her hands on her hips.

"Is that not the right word?" Ashildr tilted her head with a slight smile. "Doesn't that mean-"

"I know exactly what it means," Clara snapped loudly in retaliation, pointing at herself, "English teacher. And, no," she paused, feeling a wave of anger possess her, "that is not the right word. We are going somewhere hot, minimal clothing helps to keep you cool and also increases the chances of getting a tan, but," she paused for breath, distracting herself with some of the controls on the TARDIS, "if you are OK with continuing to look positively anaemic then, by all means, cover yourself up."

Ashildr stood with her arms folded, saying nothing for at least ten seconds, eventually raising both her eyebrows an inch in frustration.

"Trust me, I really think you need to get changed," Clara said. "Use what I am wearing as a frame of reference. Slightly sexy, hot weather, tomb raiding badass."

"Got it," Ashildr nodded to herself, adding sarcastically under her breath, "dress like a harlot."

Clara inhaled loudly to herself, wanting to pick up something and throw it at Ashildr but not having anything to hand. "Go," she paced over and shoved Ashildr in the direction of the ramp.

Ashildr caved in, realising, but not willing to vocalise, that Clara was, in fact, correct when her tunic got caught on the metal rail enclosing the ramp as she walked past. She desperately hoped Clara hadn't noticed she had almost been strangled by her own clothing as she unhooked herself.

Clara hummed the chorus of 'Walk Like An Eygptian' to herself as Ashildr disappeared. She began researching when exactly Tutankhamun's tomb had been sealed, singing out loud without thinking, "oh eh oh," and then mumbling through the rest as she didn't know the actual words.

"Did you say something?" Ashildr turned around with a loud clatter as she retraced her steps back to the doorway.

"Nope," Clara said, facing away, a wide grin on her face. "It was the Bangles."

"Oh yes, probably," Ashildr creased her eyebrows inspecting her wrists, swooshing off noisily along the corridor to her room.