Evie's TARDIS Diary: The Day We Joined the Circus

Age: 19

Location: England, Earth

Date: July 19th 1791

Evie and Amy were sitting on the floor of the console room watching a hologram image of a film on the opposite wall. The Doctor and Rory were doing their best to pretend they weren't interested in Pride and Prejudice – the fifth film adaptation of the novel – although both kept getting distracted from their task of replacing the filters on the console.

"Wouldn't it be amazing to hear her doing a reading of one of her novels?" Amy said with a sigh as the credits rolled, turning to Evie with a dreamy expression on her face. "I mean… she's just so…"

"I know." The teenager agreed, not needing to hear the end of her friend's sentence. "Doctor?"

Feigning surprise that he was being addressed, the Time Lord turned to face them. Both females were well aware that the men had been watching the film as well, although they tactfully said nothing.

"Can we go and listen to a reading?" Evie continued, blinking at him and smiling innocently. He sighed, as though it would be a great hardship.

"I suppose so, we've got nothing better to do apart from changing the filters." He agreed.

"Doctor?" I called, lifting a newspaper off a stand as we walked along the street. "We're too early."

He furrowed his eyebrows and moved quickly to my side, taking the paper out of my hand and examining it. The date on the top read July 19th 1791.

"Jane Austen didn't publish her first novel until 1811… we're way too soon."

Amy groaned and shook her head, muttering about how the Doctor needed to sort out his life and stop getting them to the wrong times and places. I smirked slightly at her words, but was incredibly disappointed at the same time. I'd been looking forward to meeting the author. After finding myself inside one of her novels with the Tenth Doctor and a couple of Slitheen not that long ago, meeting her would have been fantastic.

"Since we're here we might as well have a look around though, right?" The Doctor suggested, glancing along the street. "I mean… the TARDIS has a habit of taking us to places where we need to be. Perhaps there's something interesting going on?"

"You really think that there's an alien running around in eighteenth century Hampshire?" Rory asked incredulously.

"My dear Rory the Roman…" The Doctor started, apparently about to give him a lecture on the fact that 'aliens' don't always make sense.

"Hang on…" Amy said, stopping him abruptly. She was still clutching the newspaper, having had her attention caught by one of the stories. "Look at this… it's a little strange, don't you think?"

"Early last Tuesday morning the body of a man was found on the edge of the river bank, apparently having been partially eaten by some kind of wild animal." The Doctor paraphrased, glancing over the article. "Witnesses, however, say that several large shapes were seen crawling away. They looked like maggots; massive, people eating maggots."

He looked far too overexcited by the news. I raised an eyebrow questioningly as he began chattering about the possibilities. Apparently there was a species of Lutvian Caterpillar which had mutated due to contact with a rift and now ate flesh. There was also, according to the Doctor, a shape shifting species on the Planet Fup who took whichever form it thought would help them avoid detection easiest. I couldn't see how disguising themselves as giant maggots would be particularly helpful in this case, but said nothing.

"Maybe the witnesses were just drunk?" Rory suggested, voicing a thought that had not long entered my own mind.

The Doctor snorted and didn't dignify his suggestion with an answer. "Come on… to the river!"

We headed after him, Amy and I exchanging an exasperated yet amused look. Once the Doctor gets an idea in his head that's it. The ground was muddy, despite the fact that it was supposedly the summer. Then again, it was England, I told myself with a sigh.

Along a small lane, we passed a pair of teenage girls who shot us curious looks, their eyes following us as we went.

"Cassandra! Look at their clothes! The women are wearing trousers!" The younger looking girl said, barely lowering her voice. Her sister shushed her.

"Jane!" She admonished. I grinned slightly, but then something stirred in my mind. Their names seemed familiar. Then again, I decided, they weren't exactly uncommon.

x-x

The Doctor hadn't found anything interesting at the river bank. We felt a little smug, seeing as he'd been so adamant that going there would help him explain everything. There was no trace of anything and the sonic screwdriver hadn't picked up any residue energy or anything. Rory was still convinced that the 'witnesses' must have still been suffering from the effects of the night before.

"So… what do we do?" Amy asked as we wandered through the town. It was small with shops on either side of one cobbled road. "Do we hang around here on the odd chance that something's going on or do we leave?"

"There must be a reason for us to be here!" He almost whined, trying to convince us. None of us were, though and we walked in silence for a moment, the four of us striding along the eighteenth century street in a line. I smirked slightly, wondering whether we looked as though we were on some kind of mission. Maybe with a little slow-mo added in we could pass as being in a movie.

"Look… scan the entire area if you have to." I told him with a sigh. "Before we're burnt as witches or something."

"She's got a point, Doctor." Rory said, glancing around. We were receiving a lot of glares from the people who were gathering in small clumps to stare at us.

"But…" He started, pouting slightly as we bundled him along. He was alarmingly attempting to stop walking. "If there's something here…"

"We'll find out when you check in the TARDIS." I assured him, glancing over my shoulder. I'd heard a small clatter and my heart dropped as I noticed he'd dropped the sonic screwdriver. Growling, I let go of his arm. "Amy, Rory, get him in the TARDIS… I'll catch you up."

Jogging back to scoop up the device, I straightened up and found myself staring into the face of the teenage girl who had pointed out our odd clothing to her companion earlier. Her head was tilted slightly to one side as she scrutinised me closely. I stepped backwards quickly alarmed by her proximity. She could move quickly.

"Alright?" I said, saying the first thing that came into my mind. Then I pulled a face, realising that this probably wasn't the appropriate way to greet people around here.

"Who are you? People are saying you're some kind of demon, but you don't look like a demon to me. I'd always imagined them to be inhuman looking, but you're definitely human, aren't you? And a rather pretty one at that." She said.

My eyebrows almost vanished into my hair as I contemplated what she'd said. "Thanks… I think. And no, I'm not a demon. Yes, I'm human. Are you?" She laughed musically at my words, not taking the question seriously. "What's your name?"

"I'm Jane, Jane Austen."

"NO WAY!" I exclaimed, laughing in my surprise. "I wondered when I heard you speaking to your sister… this is too cool! How old are you?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in slight concern at my reaction. "Fifteen, Miss…?"

"Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet." I said, hiding the smirk that was battling to cross my face.

"A good name." She told me, thoughtfully.

"You can have it if you want." I said with a shrug. "I've heard you write stories."

"How did you hear that?" She asked defensively.

"I'd better go." I said quickly, avoiding the question and glancing around at the sea of suspicious faces. "My family will be waiting."

"Your family?" She asked, apparently forgetting she'd asked a question and I hadn't answered it. "Why are you dressed so peculiarly?"

"You've heard of the circus?" I said, struck by sudden inspiration. "That's us."

"Really?" She exclaimed, her hand on my arm preventing me from escaping as I had intended. Her face shone with excitement. "What parts do you play?"

"Err… I'm a tightrope walker?" I said, slightly unsure about what kind of circus performers they had in 1791. Then I thought before I spoke again. Telling her that Amy and Rory were my Grandparents would totally confuse the girl. "My… sister… is a contortionist and her husband is a lion tamer. My brother, the odd looking one with floppy hair and the bowtie, is a ventriloquist."

"A what?" Jane asked intrigued. I sighed, really wanting to escape from her questioning before I said something that got us into trouble.

"He does funny voices and talks through puppets. Without his mouth moving. It makes a change actually…" I added, going off on a completely separate train of thought. Shaking my head slightly I smiled at her. "But I really need to go… good luck with the writing… I'm sure you'll do brilliantly."

Then I was off in the direction we'd left the TARDIS, the sonic screwdriver clutched tightly in my hand as I ran. I laughed loudly, realising how surreal the conversation I'd just had was.

"Wait…" Amy said, holding up her hands and staring at the dark-haired teenager with a disbelieving grin on her face. "You told Jane Austen… THE Jane Austen… that your name was Elizabeth Bennet and she could use it if she wanted?"

Evie nodded, grinning.

"And you said I was a ventriloquist?" The Doctor demanded, focusing on that and not appearing as impressed as his companion. "Why did Rory get to be the lion tamer? That's brave and exciting… you told her I talk to puppets?"

She grinned again, laughing. "So, did you find anything anomalous? Or did the TARDIS just bring us here so that I could embarrass you in front of a literary genius?"

The Doctor turned away from the teenager, growling. Then he swung the landing lever up and pressed several buttons, deliberately not turning the stabilisers on so that his three companions were sent flying around the console room. Even this wasn't enough to wipe the beaming smiles from their faces as they clung onto whatever they could to stop themselves flying around dangerously.