Pishalver (26th Jump, 5th – 9th)
"I'm not drunk!" Ivy protested loudly, swaying in place. She grasped the edge of the console to stay upright and realized the empty white Tardis had been replaced with a busier, orange-tinted one. This one was waving and gyrating strangely to Ivy instead of just sleepily rotating like the other Tardis.
"Oh sure, and Mylkel doesn't have the same effects as alcohol at all," said in a Northern accent. The Doctor was standing on the other side of the console with his arms crossed imperiously.
"You didn't tell me it would do anything to me. Other you. With the hat." She waved vaguely at her head, but he rolled his eyes. He knew exactly which regeneration she was talking about because when she popped away arguing with him he'd remembered thinking that this would be a headache for a future self. The headache had arrived a few centuries later.
"Come on, to bed with you." He tucked an arm around her waist and guided her down the corridor. She was still a little wet with the oils turning into a sludgy brown from the trip to the Frethian planet. "And I did tell you not to drink what they were drinking. Doesn't anyone listen?"
"How could I hear you over those castanet clapper things?" she asked, before attempting to redirect him. "It's the second left."
"This is the first left we've reached, and I don't trust you to count anyway in your state. And the castanet has a proud history, totally unrelated to the Frethian—"
"Is that Ivy?" Rose asked, appearing from the doorway to her room with her toothbrush stuck in her mouth and her pajamas on.
"Yep," the Doctor confirmed.
"Are you Melanie? No wait, blonde… Rose?" Ivy asked, looking at Rose. "How do you keep track, Doctor? I should keep a chart of all your companions."
"I'm Rose. You don't remember?" Rose frowned, taking in Ivy's tie-dyed state and heavy leaning on the Doctor. "Are you drunk?"
"Yes, she is," the Doctor said smartly. "And don't mind if she forgets you, I've had a lot of repeat first meetings with her," he chuckled.
"How come she's drunk and painted?" Rose asked, looking concerned.
"Frethian wedding," the Doctor called over his shoulder.
"You should have seen his white suit, Rose. That silly umbrella didn't protect him much. Not sure how you're gonna clean that," Ivy giggled, before squinting and correcting herself. "How did you clean it, actually?"
"They also drink Mylkel at celebrations," the Doctor continued on to Rose, ignoring Ivy's interruption. " 'Cept on humans it's got this effect. She's gonna have a bad nose bleed tomorrow."
"When did you go to a Frethian wedding?" Rose asked, sounding a bit hurt. "I didn't even feel the Tardis move."
"Couple regenerations back," he called, turning the corner. Rose followed them a ways until a door materialized in the wall with a stylized Ivy vine on it.
Inside was a room full of trinkets, many whizzing or blinking at their entrance. The bed had a thick gold duvet on it and a lava lamp on the bedside table, but nearly everything else was alien. There were photos of strange planets and people, bobbing rocks and glowing knickknacks. It was an eclectic collection that somehow represented just how many strange places the Doctor went.
"This is Ivy's room?" Rose asked curiously, looking at all the strange little things she's collected.
"Yes, it's my room!" Ivy said, half falling on the bed when the Doctor let her drop the last few inches. "I don't remember getting that though," she said, looking curiously down at a fuzzy blanket at the foot of the bed that was humming.
"Don't think I recognize that either," the Doctor said, glancing at it too.
"Probably a future me got it, accidentally brought it back to a past you, and left it here without you noticing," Ivy commented casually. Rose had to pause a second to work out what she'd meant.
The Doctor sighed. "Nevermind that, you're gonna want this. You'll only have a nosebleed tomorrow if you do."
"I don't want a nosebleed," Ivy complained, but she took the vial the Doctor held out.
"Bet you don't want the feeling of ants crawling all over you or your eyebrows falling off, now do you? So drink that and you'll be fine tomorrow." He watched her as she drank the whole thing, tipping it back like a shot.
"Wow," Ivy said, blinking like there was a bright light. "I already feel less giggly." She glanced around and saw Rose again. "Oh, I'm sorry for not recognizing you immediately," she said. "It's hard enough when I'm not accidentally drinking."
"It's okay," Rose replied.
"I just meet so many people I never see again that it's hard to remember," Ivy admitted, looking down. She put down the medicine glass shakily and squeezed her hands together.
"Enough of that. You," the Doctor interrupted, pointing at Rose, "go wash up or whatever. I don't want Jackie at my throat about holes in human teeth or whatever sweets do to you. And you," he said, switching his finger to Ivy, "need to wash off and finish your drink."
"You were more fun when you had the Mylkel," Ivy complained.
"Mylkel doesn't affect me like it does you," the Doctor retorted, and got up to leave rather quickly. Ivy stumbled to her feet immediately.
"I didn't mean it like that. You're great fun! Why, when I last saw this you…" She paused for a moment and checked his face. "Wait, have you been to that place where it's illegal to wear matching camo pattern, and yet everything is camo?"
"Marakish III?"
"No, the other one."
"Nope, but I guess I'll be there."
"Yeah and you'll see me then. Don't know about between now and then though," Ivy continued, thinking back. "I just meet so many of you and we always go somewhere weird. Like that place that put ketchup on fish and chips."
"That was America."
"Weird places," Ivy mused, sitting back down on the bed. As the Doctor closed the door on Ivy's room, Rose saw her slip off the smeared brown shawl around her shoulders and hang it on a new hook by her bed. Another souvenir, it seemed.
"You sure she doesn't need some water, or something?" Rose asked as the Doctor and her walked back to the console room.
"Nah, she'll be fine. Mylkel's less dangerous than your alcohol. Gonna have to go somewhere slower paced next though."
"Well you did promise that beach planet," Rose suggested, eyebrows going up. She could desperately use a tan, and surely Ivy could use a day off after partying so hard the night before, or whatever the equivalent in time was.
The Doctor gave Rose a knowing look, but he plugged in the coordinates nonetheless. "Go get some rest and I'll wake you when we're there."