Day 7
Sorry, future companion, for missing days 5 and 6. The Doctor and I both agreed that we simply had to take the Barcelona trip early. It was rather spontaneous, if truth be told.
I was just slathering a large amount of grape jelly (we ran out of raspberry, much to the dismay of taste buds) onto a piece of toast when the Doctor floated into the room.
Yes, floated. Unlike before, he does not bounce when he walks- he seems to glide... almost floating about. He moves very fluidly. It is quite hard not to watch his every move, wondering how he could possibly be so graceful. It sort of makes me jealous. I wish I could be so graceful. I'm lucky if I get past breakfast without spilling something.
Anyhow, he floated into the kitchen, smiling. Really, I like his new, softer grin. It's much more relaxed. Like warm sunshine rather than a solar flare. He greeted me with a casual "morning, Molly" and joined me in a slice of toast.
'What fascinating and strange experience does today have in store for us?' I inquired with a light giggle.
He shrugged. (Again, I wish either he'd stop doing that or I'd feel less uncomfortable when he does shrug.) 'I don't know.' He thought for a moment before saying, 'What do you say to Barcelona?'
I felt completely blindsided. Where on earth- sorry, in the universe- did that come from?! 'Um...' I faltered. 'I suppose... but is there any particular reason?' I inquired, noting that I'd accidentally spilled grape jelly on my khaki pants. Irritated with myself, I grabbed a napkin and began to wipe furiously at the purple stain.
'Not... really?' He looked confused. 'Is that supposed to be a trick question?'
I bit my lip, ceasing my furious attempt at stain removal, and slowly looked up at him. 'No, it wasn't intended to be a trick question,' I told him calmly.
He gave a small half-shrug. (I am really starting to hate that gesture!) 'I just thought it would be a nice interlude,' he confessed.
So we decided to spend two days on my favorite planet. Well, second favorite, I suppose, but second only to Earth (though I've seen it in the year 3102 and it's not exactly the prettiest sight I've ever seen). (Earth, I mean. Ha, not Barcelona!)
To tell the absolute truth, this trip wasn't exactly the bonding experience one would think it could be. It felt horribly awkward. Well, the first day was, anyway. Whenever I saw a familiar sight, I got this tight, twisting feeling in my stomach, and I remembered things. Like how his old self preferred the noseless Saint Bernards to the noseless Yorkies. (And how he had to fish me out of a literal dog pile. I knew I shouldn't have brought that many biscuits.) And we ended up eating lunch at the same café we always did before. And it made me feel like a traitor to the old Doctor. I mean, I was already warming up to his new self, only... let me count... eight days, if you count the day before I started this log. How pathetic is that? Of course I miss my old Doctor. Oh, pardon me; Rose's old Doctor. Stupid whore. I felt like, instead of getting into this routine, I should be clinging to my old memories of the old routine.
Naturally, I drew back into my shell. My responses to the Doctor's questions became shorter, and I can only presume that my smiles became shakier.
But instead of either backing off or trying to fill up the awkward silences by chatting my ear off (like he would have done before), he pretty much bent over backwards to ask me things that would get me talking. It was like he could sense my pulling away and was trying to reel me back in. He was asking questions he'd never asked before.
For example, as we were waiting for our bill at the café, he sighed and said, 'I wonder what kind of people end up working at cafes for their whole lives.'
Wondering how random he could possibly be, I made a slight noise in the back of my throat and scooped an ice cube (dyed blue to compliment my green soda-like drink) out of my glass with a spoon and transferring it to my mouth.
'Not many kids I know would say to their mothers, "mommy, I want to work at a café!". No, they'd probably say "daddy, I'm going to be an astronaut someday!"'
I smiled, remembering my old friend Jack, who had been the one kid in my first grade class who wanted to be a cook. 'You never know, do you?' I muttered, sucking my ice cube.
'What did you want to be as a kid?' he asked, leaning back in his chair.
I stared at him, thinking. What on earth was he playing at, anyway? 'I don't know. My ambitions changed a lot.' I remembered something, though. 'When all the other little girls I knew wanted to be ballerinas and princesses, I wanted to be a pirate.' I smiled, remembering my childhood dreams and plans. 'I wanted to be free, sailing the ocean blue.'
A soft grin lit the Doctor's face. 'You know, I can see that. You seem like a fighter,' he said as the plump, motherly matron gave him the check.
'What about you?' I inquired, shoving one more ice cube into my mouth before we got up to leave.
He shrugged. 'Didn't really have much of a choice, you know.' His usually pleasant face suddenly looked pensive and sad, so I decided to let it lie.
Well, I suppose the trip wasn't a total waste. While strolling down the street, I occupied myself with window shopping. I found a cute, cute, cute red top and a new pair of converse (in a color I'd never seen on a shoe before; a green rather like the color of the leaves of Sherwood Forest in the height of the summer). (And yes, I know this from experience. Such a gorgeous color- I've never seen Sherwood's equal for beauty!)
Oh, and that was only the first day. The Doctor and I stayed in a hotel in a quiet part of town (in separate rooms, of course, for propriety's sake). (Yes, I do live my life in a pseudo-Jane Austen world.) My room was comfortable, with a view of the city sprawling out in front of me. I managed to remember my iPod when we left the TARDIS, but not this notebook, which made me sad. So I almost dozed off to hippie songs, staring at one of my favorite cities in the universe. Ha, I caught myself this time! I didn't say world...
Anyhow, the next day was a bright sunny one with puffy, cotton ball-like clouds floating gently in a sky of brightest egg-shell blue. It was such a pretty sight that the Doctor and I couldn't justify spending the day in the metropolis. So we took a walk in the countryside. Such lovely scenery! Oh, how to describe it...? Ah, yes. Well, I suppose I would say it's a mix between the Mediterranean on the lakeshore (yes, a big lake right outside the city), the Scottish highlands, and the west coast of America on the high bluffs. Wow, right?
We found a nice dry spot in a big field and began cloud-gazing, just talking. Mostly stupid stuff, like how nice the weather was on this trip compared to our last one (it rained all three days; it was absolutely atrocious weather!). Occasionally, we'd point out some shape or another in the clouds. About twenty minutes into this, a song came to mind, so I started singing. 'Goes and floes of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air, and feathered canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way...'
The Doctor laughed. 'Have I ever taken you to Ogle-TR-56b?' he inquired, looking at me.
I shook my head, also laughing. 'Why would anyone call a planet that?' I asked, closing me eyes and picturing aliens with big eyes. (Ha, get it? "Ogle"? Oh, never mind.)
'The natives don't call it that!' he exclaimed. 'That's just the name your Earth scientists have given it. The natives call it "Himnaríki", actually.'
'Really?' I sighed, enjoying the feel of the laughter I'd just shared with him. 'What's so special about Himnaríki?' I asked.
'The clouds are so thick you can actually stand on them.'
I gasped, sitting up quickly. 'Seriously?!' I exclaimed. 'Are you pulling my leg?'
And you'll never guess what he did... well, maybe you might, since it's such a Doctor-ish thing to do. Anyway, he grabbed my ankle and gently pulled. 'Now I am,' he said, grinning foolishly.
Glaring playfully at him, I tugged my ankle back. 'But seriously! Can you really stand on them?'
The Doctor held up two fingers. 'Scout's honor,' he swore.
I didn't quite get it. 'S-sorry?'
'It's the Boy Scouts of America,' he explained.
'Oh,' I murmured. Lying back down, the wispy clouds caught my eye, and I tried to imagine people standing on them. 'How do you know this, exactly?' I asked, guessing the answer.
He smiled ruefully. 'I accidentally landed on one once,' he confessed.
'Let me guess,' I drawled, meeting his eyes. 'You did a bit of unexpected cloud-diving?'
He laughed. 'That's certainly one way of putting it.' Sighing, he smiled at me. 'Someday I'll have to take you there.'
I nodded. 'I'd like that.'
And with that, we went back to the hotel and now here we are, back on the TARDIS. Not a total loss, but I wonder... why on earth... crap, I said it again. I meant why in the universe was he being so strange?
I'll have to figure this out.
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Day 10
I'm sorry I haven't written in a few days. I've been sick.
I woke up the morning after the morning after we got back from Barcelona with a congested with a congested sinus, a bad cough, a splitting headache, and alternating fever and chills. For an hour, I didn't even have the energy to get out of bed. When I finally did get out of bed, I put on my sweatshirt over my pajamas, walked into the control room, and collapsed onto the couch.
The Doctor was (maddeningly) awake and chipper. He glided out of the kitchen and smiled. 'Molly! I thought I head you. I-' He caught sight of me, collapsed miserably on the couch, and his face fell. 'Oh. You don't look well,' he said.
It took all my energy to let out a rueful laugh. 'Well-spotted, Mr. Holmes,' I muttered.
And so we began two days of drifting (well... three if you count today...) so I could recover my health.
Let me tell you, future companion, it's almost worth being sick just to have the amusement of seeing the Doctor play nursemaid!
He insisted I stay on the couch, covered in so many blankets that I was absolutely sweltering. (He took the blankets from my bed, and t took him 20 minutes to dig a couple more out of a tiny closet in the far reaches of the sprawling TARDIS.) (Don't worry about getting lost, future companion; everyone gets lost every once in a while. Trust me- even after 3 years, I STILL get lost on rare occasions! If the TARDIS likes you [and you'd better hope she does!] she'll lead you back to the control room. Or you may already know that...) Next to me the Doctor set up a box of Kleenex and a glass of orange juice (which tasted as though it had been in the fridge for too long.
I fell asleep for a while- I'm not sure how long- and woke up in a huge coughing fit. Lord, I HATE being sick! After I managed to keep my lungs in their proper place, the Doctor made a pot of tea.
Mix on high. Add water. Knead until smooth. Repeat.
And now here I am- 10 days into this log. I read through this notebook while I was under the weather (I've officially crossed the Brontë sisters off my reading list!). Only 10 days have passed, yet it feels like a lifetime. I don't feel perfectly at ease- even I am not so optimistic as to claim total comfort. Still, I feel like I am getting to know the Doctor again. I'm feeling... safer. More stable.
This must be somewhat like how the Doctor feels when he takes on a new companion. Strange... I've never thought about it that way before...
A/N: Now, Himnariki isn't actually a planet, but Ogle-TR-56b is. I don't remember what galaxy it's in, though. (And just for reference, "himnaríki" means paradise in Icelandic.) (Not that I actually speak Icelandic.)
The sick nurse thing just kind of hit me, and I felt like putting the Doctor into a role we don't usually see him in. (And a role that suits his name better!)
