Doc's Favorite Boyband - Part Six
In the exact moment that Entertainment 2019 ended and the last of the white smoke depleted I crashed down to my knees panting heavily. I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted; but it was a good tired, the kind of worn out you get after visiting a theme park or something. You put all your energy into something you love, and then at the end of it all you almost feel content to be empty. I might've been sapped of energy, but it was all worth it in the end. A smile crept across my face as I propped myself against an elevated part of stage.
"Happy and hollow," I muttered, feeling incredibly drowsy all of a sudden. I crossed my arms on the raised up bit of stage and rested my head on them. A small power-nap couldn't hurt me too much, right?
Ten, maybe fifteen minutes and I'll be right as rain, I thought as my eyelids fluttered shut. I couldn't have had my eyes closed for more than five minutes, but somehow when I opened them again I'd been moved from the stage onto a couch with a blanket draped over me. Overhead lights shined brightly against my eyelids, and I could hear a heated exchange of words between Geoff and the Doctor over the sound of a Mariokart race.
"Oi, that's cheating!" the Doctor cried out.
"It's not cheating. It's called luck of the draw," Geoff replied, followed by the race-winning fanfare, "And that's called an easy victory."
"This is humiliating. First losing to Ginny last night and now this. I fear I'm losing my edge."
I opened my eyes at the mention of my name and sat up slowly, taking in the outlandish scene in front of me. Amy and Otto were sat at a small table playing a card game, Awsten (no longer possessed) was lounging in a chair looking at his phone, and on the couch across from mine Geoff and a very annoyed looking Doctor were getting another race started.
"I hope you've enjoyed your winning streak because it's about to come crashing down," the Time Lord instigated, running a hand through his navy blue hair.
Hang on, NAVY BLUE?!
"YOUR HAIR!" I shouted, pointing at the startled pair on the couch. Awsten laughed from his spot across from them.
"I told y'all they'd freak out," he said, then turned to face me, "Nice to meet you, by the way."
"It's nice to meet you too," I said, once again waving nervously before turning back to the Doctor, "Um, how long…?"
"Ooo, about an hour. Which is shocking given the energy you were able to release," he said, doing his best to divide his attention between me and the race, "I wasn't expecting you back with us for another several hours, but I have been wrong before."
"Energy…" I mused, furrowing my brow as small snippets came to my memory, "Do you mean that purple light?"
"That's exactly what I mean, Ginny." He paused the game and turned to me. "When you were up there on stage putting forward all of your joy to starve the psionovore you were able to funnel everyone's sentiments through you causing a tremendous power displacement."
"And what does that mean when it's at home?"
"You were a lightning rod for everyone's emotions and electrocuted a parasite," Amy clarified, looking up from her hand of cards.
"At least that's how he explained it to us. You should've heard him try to tell Awsten what happened to himself," Otto chimed in.
"True!" Awsten added, "He coulda just said, 'You were possessed,' and called it a day."
I laughed a bit while I tied my shoes, thankful that Awsten was appearing to cope well with what he'd been through. Even though he carried the brunt of everything that was going on with the psionovore, the frontman didn't seem too phased by it; unless of course he was just putting on a brave face for us, which I could empathize with as well.
"If you need to talk to any of us about that you're more than welcome to, by the way," I blurted out. Awsten looked up from his phone at me and smiled.
"I appreciate the offer, but it's not bothering me all that much to be honest," he said, "I know that sounds kinda weird but I really don't remember a lot of it anyways. It's kinda like… I dunno. Trying to remember a dream you had a few nights ago, if that makes sense."
"It does a bit." I looked up at the clock hanging over the dressing room door, reading that it was almost seven in the evening. "Hey uh, don't y'all have a show to put on or something?"
Awsten looked up at the clock for a moment then back to me. "Yeah, but we don't go on for another hour or so. If y'all wanna go get a spot in the crowd though go for it. Stand Atlantic are about to—"
I didn't stick around to hear him finish his sentence; instead making a mad dash back up to the pit in the hope of getting a good vantage point, and thankfully was able to find a spot not too far from the stage. I was fishing around in my pockets for my iPod when Amy and the Doctor finally caught up to me, only one of them looking surprisingly winded.
"How do you two still have so much energy?" Amy asked between breaths.
"How do you not?" the Doctor asked in response before handing us each a pair of earplugs, "Put those in. They'll reduce the volume but won't muffle the music."
"Thanks Doc," I said, pulling the Time Lord in for a long overdue hug. For some reason though he didn't immediately return it.
"Um, you're welcome?" he said, "I'm not sure why offering ear protection would warrant a hug but I'll take it!"
I laughed before pulling away. "No not for the earplugs, but those are definitely appreciated. I mean thank you for today. Even if things kinda went haywire I've had a really good time overall, and I really appreciate you bringing me here."
The Doctor's gaze softened but as he opened his mouth to say something, the house lights began to dim and the crowd around us erupted into a cheer. I quickly turned my attention from him to the stage as Stand Atlantic walked up to start their set. Sentiments could wait; in the meantime, there was a concert to watch.
By the end of the night I'd managed to get the Doctor to crowd-surf, join Amy in a mosh pit, and I ended up claiming one of Waterparks's setlists. Overall I counted it as a total success except for the fact that my whole body ached, especially my feet; and when I found out that the Tardis was parked all the way in the back with the tour busses I was extremely bummed out.
"Why couldn't you park her closer?" I grumbled, taking pained steps down a hallway backstage.
"Because that's where I was told to park her, Ginny. Now come on! Amy's waiting for us," the Doctor responded, taking my hand in his and trying to get me to match his pace. I wriggled loose from his grip and continued on at my pace, which by now could've matched a snail's. For some reason though the Doctor didn't slow down, and when I called for him to wait on me he looked down at his hand then back to me. With a huff he turned on his heel, made his way back to me and wordlessly scooped me into his arms. Being caught off guard I let out a small squawk of surprise, but was overall thankful my feet were getting a well-deserved break.
"You must carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain…" I quoted with a chuckle as we approached a set of stairs and began our ascent to the back exit. The crisp night air outside made me thankful for my jacket as we made our way back to the Tardis, which coincidentally was parked right in front of Waterparks's tour bus; and waiting just outside the doors was none other than God's Favorite Boyband themselves waving over to us.
"About time y'all showed up! We've got something for you," Awsten called out, holding up an open cardboard box. As I was set back on my own two feet I peered into the box I found all kinds of merchandise inside; everything from t-shirts to CDs and even the bright blue hoodie I saw when we first landed.
"Oh, and I'm sure it goes without saying but y'all basically have guestlist for life. Any show y'all wanna come to, consider it done," Geoff said.
"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed, giving him a high-five, "Hey, so I know it's a bit of an ask because I'm sure y'all are probably just as tired as I am, but could we all take a picture real quick?"
"Dude, you exorcised a psychic parasite today. I think we can swing a photo," Otto said as he opened the tour bus door, "Come on, there's better lighting inside anyways."
"Actually, I think we might have better lighting in here," the Doctor said with a cheeky grin, unlocking the Tardis and gesturing for us to come inside. Geoff and Otto quickly followed, but Awsten hesitated a bit.
"How does he expect the five of us to fit in there?" he asked me. I smiled and took his hand, guiding him onboard for the very first time.
The moment Awsten passed the threshold into the control room, he took one good look around, darted back outside, took a lap around the exterior, then ran back inside with a quick,
"What the fuck?!"
"Oi! No swearing on my ship!" the Doctor called down from the console.
"Sorry, sorry. I think I'm okay now. After everything that's happened I didn't think there'd be much to surprise me but here we are," the frontman took a few hesitant steps up to the console and continued to look around in bewilderment, "You were right about the lighting though. This is nice!"
I quickly tossed the Doctor my iPod and joined the guys against one of the guardrails. We ended up taking a few photos before the cloister bell began to chime. The Doctor hurried to check the monitor, making sure it was nothing too serious then breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed it wasn't.
"Just running low on fuel is all," he said, "Should probably fly into Cardiff to top her off, then back to the adventuring and such!"
"I think that's his polite way of saying, 'It's time to go,'" I stage-whispered, walking the trio back to the Tardis doors, "Tonight was awesome, by the way. Thank you so much!"
"Hey if anyone should be thanking anyone, we should be thanking you," Awsten said, "I don't even wanna think about what might've happened if y'all didn't show up."
"Me neither. Oh, and before I forget. That medley we played today; don't release it until this November. Gotta keep the timeline right, y'know?"
"Gotcha," Otto said, firing a set of finger guns at me before heading out the doors followed quickly by Geoff and Awsten. As they walked back to their bus Geoff turned around quickly to wave me goodbye.
"See ya around, Ginny!" he called out.
I waved back to them and smiled. "See you in the future!" I called back, and as I shut the Tardis doors I realized the connection I made.
See You In the Future. Heh, like the Waterparks song.
And that brings my first attempt at a full-length original adventure to a close! What did y'all think? This one came from a really personal place because Waterparks are my favorite band, and I really wanted to combine my two special interests in some way so I thought this would be a good creative outlet for that. Feel free to leave a review if you've been enjoying the fic! Up next it's Vincent and the Doctor!