Today's another adventure into the unknown, after death defying adventures weeks prior, today's a different tale, this one involved a museum.
Not just any museum, though.
A curious museum that bolstered having exhibits that no one in the world has to offer, nothing like it, where attending guests can interact with different exhibits within the massive building.
Everything from exhibits based on extinct species of animals to the tombs of ancient Egyptian kings, it's a sight to behold, and the only museum in the known worlds having such a setup like this.
Due to the nature of the museum, though, it commanded ticket prices exceedingly expensive and prohibitive to the common person, as the tickets offered amenities that regular museums don't have, nothing hedonistic like "West World" but something that can't be found in a museum in DC.
It's because of this, the museum won't see the casual tourists or the run-of-the-mill families, ever, as the curator for the museum didn't want the price drop watering down the experiences, so he says, that he wanted everyone who paid the price to enjoy the amenities offered, with no reduction in quality.
Tonight's the soft opening with the elite who paid the lion his share to have the chance of experiencing the museum firsthand before the others below them get their chances when the museum opens to the public next week.
Of course, for the aloof giant, there's no chance he'd spend that amount for tickets, his mum and o' dad would kill him for wasting his inheritance on something like this, but thankfully he didn't even need to use the psychic paper to get inside, he and Lila gotten tickets from an unknown benefactor who wanted them there.
It'd appear, there's concerns about the integrity of the museum, that they wanted a second opinion from the Doctor.
Well, it's a step up from being chased by Judoon the other week, so Theodore obliged his duties as the Doctor.
"Okay, hotels, I get, adult theme parks, I get, a museum of all places, though?" Lila found it curious how someone gotten the idea of making a museum only those with deep pockets and no inhibitions can go, which Theodore agreed with her synopsis, it didn't make sense to him.
However, they'll get their answers soon enough, with their tickets in hand, dressed to the nines, with Lila wearing something fancier that she dug out of a closet somewhere in the TARDIS.
Nothing too ritzy, just a black fitted dress that doesn't look like she's on the red carpet with more glitter than a glitter factory. Everything that needed covering's covered and probably the only time Lila's wearing a dress, awfully drafty!
Theodore wore a black suit and tie, he trimmed his hair a bit, made it less wild than before, everything that made less like a space hobo, complete with a cologne that even Lila found alluring.
"Hm, might have to keep a spray bottle on hand," Lila noted that the cologne might attract strays to their vicinity while going about their adventure, with the alcohol present, they won't recognize words if it hit them with signs.
His icy blue eyes on her, Theodore noted he might need the spray bottle for her, when she gets into fights with those strays, as she calls drunk women, who might paw at Theodore during the soft opening.
Pointing at him as she defended herself, Lila says that she's doing it for his sake, he doesn't want the liabilities if he fights off the strays, but Lila doesn't mind getting her hands dirty dealing with them when they can't take a hint.
Sighing, Theodore noted that while Lila's extreme in her ways, she means well, and said that he'll repay the favour if someone doesn't get the hint.
Their arms interlocked, Theodore led them into a line of people waiting for the ticket masters verifying their tickets as they went through the large marble entrance of the Argyle Museum of Modern Science and History.
Say that name a thousand times in a row!
Reaching the ticket masters, the two showed their tickets, and the ticket masters stamped them, before allowing them entrance into the museum.
Following the line of people, there's aroma of food wafting through the air, the sound of music playing, chattering among the guests.
Entering the large room, filled with tables, statues, marble everything down to the flooring, Theodore and Lila felt out of place due to the amount of expensive food left out on the serving tables.
From sturgeon caviar and up, Theodore hedged the food in total's worth more than their salaries combined with interest!
"I don't know what integrity we're talking about, but all that food, and they're going to toss it after everything's said and done, hell, Vegas feeds theirs to pigs!" Lila found it distasteful at the food waste, despite the illustrious caviar on ice, it's all tossed after a certain point being on the floor due to safety concerns.
At least Vegas sends their food waste to pig farms, they get the best Vegas has to offer for free, hand sorted and all, while Lila doubted the same went for the ritzy food, seeing waitstaff periodically toss out canisters of caviar that've been on the floor for too long, replacing them with new ones.
Wearing their best and looking like they're out of place, Theodore tried to blend them in with the crowds of people, while they waited for the curator to make his appearance.
Grabbing their plates, made their way through the lines, taking what they can from the serving trays, glasses of whatever they can pronounce, and gone to finding their seats.
Luckily, they didn't have to look far, finding empty seats near the back wall, full view of the people coming and going, mingling among themselves wearing the most expensive clothing and jewelry that money could buy this side of the universe.
"A hundred dollars, at most, and I don't even begin to feel fancy," Lila winced as she glimpsed to the dress she found stowed away in the TARDIS.
There's women wearing dresses worth forty times that and that's not including their fancy jewelry with stones bigger than Lila's chest!
She felt a nudge beside her and turned her head, Theodore gave her an acknowledging look before comforting her, saying, "It's not always about the money, Lee. You look fine to me."
With his fork, he grabbed a few slices of waygu steak, shoving them into his mouth, before a swig of wine paired with it.
Looking down at her sparse plate of food, mostly cuts of meat and vegetables that she knows, Lila shrugs as she sampled the expensive plate of food she'll ever have to her name.
Maybe it's her upbringing, but to Lila, none of it really tasted all that different than what she can find at the store and cook up.
In fact, outside the steak that's heavily marbled, it's not all that impressive, and even the drinks, well, Lila wasn't a wine drinker by a long shot, but none of it really tasted like it came from bleeding gold.
"Hm," Theodore showed displeasure the more he drank his wine and ate the steak, that Lila asks him what's on his mind, and he informed her that he doesn't think this steak's waygu.
A quick swig of the wine, Theodore noted that it doesn't taste like something from 1930.
"You eat MREs for dinner, how'd you know the difference between wine from 1930 and from the store?" Lila pointed out that Theodore's taste is suspect, considering that the aloof giant casually ate MREs without a mere thought, sometimes for dinner.
An impish smile appeared on Theodore's face as he tells Lila how he knew the difference: he stole a bottle from his dear older brother.
Shocked, Lila stared at him as she sputtered, "You fool! You have any idea what he'll do to you when he finds out?"
If there's one thing about Hammond that stands out, stealing his precious bottles of wine's guaranteed getting him in a foul mood with the willingness to bash people over the head with his umbrellas like he's the Penguin.
"Now, now, dear Lee, I'll explain it to you why I stole it," Theodore wagged his finger like he's Mr. Rogers before explaining to Lila his reasoning for stealing dear older brother's favourite wine.
It was a bet.
Hammond bet Theodore that he couldn't steal a 1945 Pinot without him finding out, with the caveat that Theodore couldn't use his abilities of opening tears nor use the TARDIS.
"One, that's not 1930, two, how did you steal it without him knowing?" Lila pointed out the inconsistencies in what Theodore's telling her, only for him to gently silent her with a piece of beef from his fork.
He explained, he used K9 to take it.
Dear older brother never said he couldn't use his beloved robotic dog to fetch the bottle for him.
Slowly chewing the piece of beef, feeling it barely melt in her mouth, Lila noted that if what Theodore's said is true, Hammond didn't explicitly say anything against using K9 in stealing his 1930 Pinot.
"Still dirty," Lila swallowed the chewed beef before finishing her glass of wine.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore says that it wasn't against the rules, thus he knows the differences.
"One bottle doesn't make you a wine connoisseur, Theo," Lila warns him it doesn't mean he knows his wine, but the aloof giant gently taped her nose as he says that he knows the difference.
This wasn't from 1930, 50s at best.
There's a faint taste that only exists in wine made after the 40s, after the bombs dropped and the activity in Bikini Bottom, to professionals, they'll know what it is, but for those with Time Lord heritage, it tastes vaguely like the candy Lila sometimes gets from import stores, the pop rocks. Popping on the tip of his tongue, as it were, with faint bubbly fizzes.
"Whatever you say, man," Lila shrugged as she couldn't argue against Theodore's point, as she didn't have the genes to concoct experiments of her own whether he's lying or not.
Easier to take his word for it and box his ears when Hammond tells the truth if he's lying.
Theodore assures her that he's telling the truth and as he drank from his cup, he noticed the crowds of people near the tables, excitedly talking to a man in the centre.
Overhearing the conversations, the man in the centre's the curator for the museum.
Samuels Argyle.
Curious, Theodore tells Lila he's going to get up and close, see what the man's about, and Lila watched him get up from the table, heading over to the commotion.
As he neared the commotion, he heard the guests asking Samuels multitudes of questions, and the gentleman answering them as he can, they're all pertaining about the museum, and like Lila asked prior, what made the museum different from the standard museums people know.
"Oh, don't you worry, I'll show you," Samuels Argyle gave a toothy grin as he stated he'll show the guests what made his museum different and worth the money compared to the alternatives.