Hello, folks! Just wanted to post a short piece to keep your appetites whetted. Tooth and Claw will be up soon-ish. Hope everyone had a great New Year! Oh, and imaginary cookie to whomever gets the reference at the end of the chapter.
The Doctor found Barry in the TARDIS library, curled up with an autographed copy of the Return of the Jedi novelization.
"Hey," Barry looked up and smiled.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "Just…catching up on some downtime."
The Doctor nodded. "Good book. Had to get him to leave a couple bits out, though."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh yeah," the Doctor shrugged. "They're actually real. What a lot of people mistake as dreams are actually often telepathic fragments. Which get extrapolated into stories, sometimes well, sometimes…not so well."
"So, Star Wars is real. Actually, really, real."
"Oh yeah," the Time Lord told him cheerfully. "More or less. Mind you, Jar Jar is a lot more tolerable in person. And Filoni was way off the mark with all that stuff in Rebels. All that 'new expanded universe' gubbins. Completely made up."
Barry stared. "What."
"Yeah. Hey, got something for you. Late Christmas present."
"Aw, I didn't get you anything," Barry protested with a grin as the Doctor rummaged in his pockets.
"Here we are!"
"A ring? Doctor, you're a good friend and all…"
"Put it on," the Doctor told him, ignoring Barry's joking, and nodded as the speedster slipped it onto his middle finger, studying the lightning bolt insignia. "What's it do?"
"Run a bit of the Speed Force through it," the Doctor said, and Barry did so, watching in awe as the top ring opened up.
"Dimensionally transcendental storage space," the Doctor explained. "Like the TARDIS. You can put your suit in there."
"Nice!"
The Doctor popped on a pair of black-rimmed glasses and examined said suit of armor closely. "Kryptonian armorweave, hmm. Haven't seen any of this in ages!"
"Armorweave?"
"Exactly what it says on the tin," the Doctor told him. "Feels like fabric, acts like armor. Incredibly friction-resistant, which is good.
Otherwise, you'd burn off your clothes every time you run fast enough. Wouldn't want you to flash everyone," he added, seeming to find this hilarious for some reason. "Mind if I borrow it, add a couple of features?"
"Nah, go ahead," Barry smiled.
"Thanks," the Doctor jumped to his feet. "Have this ready in a flash."
Unseen by Barry, he smirked to himself as he turned away. When you can see the future, as an old enemy had once remarked, irony is
everywhere.
