Fic: The Doldrums
Jul. 6th, 2007 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireYou might want to make a note of this. I almost never write fluff. Almost never. But the weather (amongst other things) has been really, really getting to me lately, and I know there's a few people on my flist having a much tougher time of it than me at the moment.
So this is for you. And me.
(will cross-post in the morning, so early apologies for spamming...)
Title: The Doldrums
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jadesfire2808
Words: ~1200
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating/spoilers: G/nope
Summary: Are we nearly there yet?
The Doldrums
Rose was bored. She'd plaited and unplaited her hair, read and reread the magazine her mum had slipped into her bag, and listened to everything she recognised from the TARDIS' music collection. Twice.
Tipping her head back against the wall, she groaned. "How much longer?"
"It's always the same." The Doctor's sounded muffled, what with his being inside the main console, but Rose could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Are we nearly there yet? No patience at all, you lot."
"Be fair, Doctor," Jack said from across the room. "It's been a while."
"I told you, it'll blow itself out." Emerging, the Doctor dropped a spanner back into the toolbox next to him on the grating and took out his sonic screwdriver. "There's nothing I can do about it until it does."
"But we haven't been out of here in nearly a week," Rose said, pulling herself to her feet and wandering towards the main console. "A week of doing nothing."
"Hardly nothing," the Doctor replied, sounding affronted. "I've recalibrated the ion sensor, Jack's rewired half the roundels that haven't worked in years and you made that cake."
Hearing Jack's muffled laughter from across the room, Rose glared at the Doctor. "There was nothing wrong with the cake."
"Of course not."
"Not my fault your oven's weird."
"Right. Not your fault at all."
"The strange lumpy bits, they might have been your fault." Jack ducked as Rose threw a spanner at him. It bounced harmlessly off the wall.
"Oi! Watch the ship." But there was no real annoyance in the Doctor's voice. Truth be told, Rose suspected he was as bored as she was.
"How much longer?" she asked again, ignoring the Doctor's exaggerated sigh.
"Look, it's like this." He pulled her round the console, standing her in front of the screen, which showed two swirling patterns, dancing and interweaving with each other. "We're stuck in a kind of dead space, temporally speaking. My people used to call it the Calming, but it's like the Doldrums." Seeing her blank look, the Doctor made an impatient sound and tried again. "The Doldrums are a convergence point on the equator, hot air and cold air meeting, swirling round, messing with the weather. Sometimes they make it rain, sometimes they make it dry. At sea, it used to cause dead patches, no wind, no nothing for days on end."
"So that's where we get the phrase from." Jack had come to stand behind them, one hand resting lightly on the Doctor's shoulder as he leaned in to look.
"All gone by your time," the Doctor told him. "Climate had completely changed. But it used to drive sailors mad, even killed some of them if it lasted long enough."
"But we're alright, aren't we?" asked Rose, a little worried. "I mean, we've got food and everything."
"We're fine. A lot better off than they were. There's the whole TARDIS to explore, plenty of food around the place, things to do and what do you two do? Sit around here and annoy me."
"How big is the TARDIS?" Jack asked, looking thoughtfully at the door to the rest of the ship.
"I lost track a while back." The Doctor sighed. "Then there was the time I had to jettison some rooms. I put some of them back, but I've never tried to count and I don't advise it. You'd run out of fingers."
"There's the wardrobe room and the kitchen and the bedrooms and bathrooms," Rose said. "Then there was that room all full of old books."
"That's my library," the Doctor protested.
"Old books, covered in dust. Big reader, are you?"
"With you two on board, getting yourselves into trouble, who's got the time?"
Sticking her tongue out at him, she went on, "Then I think there was a kind of living room, with sofas and stuff."
"Is that all you've seen?" Turning from the console, where he'd been doing something unfathomable with his screwdriver, the Doctor tilted his head. "Barely scraped the surface. Come on."
Jack slipped his hand into Rose's as they trailed through the TARDIS corridors.
"Any idea where we're going?" he asked.
"I don't even know where we are."
"Keep up!" the Doctor called over his shoulder, and Rose increased her pace, not wanting to lose him. She'd never find her way out again, and Jack looked as lost as she was. Grinning, she squeezed his hand, getting one of his brightest smiles in return, and she knew that he was as intrigued as she was.
They turned a corner only to nearly run into the Doctor standing outside a door that looked just the same as all the others they'd passed.
"Here we are then."
"Where's that, exactly?" Jack asked, glancing from Rose to the Doctor and back again.
"Observatory." Flinging open the door, the Doctor held out a hand. Rose took it, and let him lead her inside, followed by Jack. She heard him whistle in surprise, but only vaguely. Most of her attention was taken by the scene in front of her.
There were no walls to the room. No ceiling, no walls and, when she looked down, no floor either. It was like standing on Jack's invisible ship again, except instead of being in the middle of London, next to Big Ben, she was standing in space. They were surrounded by stars, bright against the pure black. Above her, sparks and lights burst into colour, dying almost as soon as she could see them. Ribbons of red, purple and blue danced above her, spreading wide like sails in the wind, glittering and glowing.
"It's the edge of the Calming," the Doctor said softly. "Right at the convergence point."
"It's beautiful." Jack sounded as awestruck as Rose. He was gripping her hand so tightly that it almost hurt, but she didn't care. Instead, she tugged a little, drawing him with her she moved closer to the Doctor's side.
"I'm not going to understand how it does that, am I?" she asked. When he didn't say anything, she tore her gaze away from the light-show to look at him. He was smiling at her with a kind of amused fondness, almost laughing a little to himself. Letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arm round her shoulders, hugging her close.
"No, you're really not. Pretty though, isn't it?"
"It's beautiful." She wasn't even aware that Jack had let go of her hand until she felt him grip her other shoulder, his arm resting just under the Doctor's. When she looked up at his face, it was full of wonder and joy, his eyes wide like a child's.
"How long does it last?" he asked, almost whispering, as though his voice would disturb the intricate pattern.
"As long as the Calming," the Doctor replied, looking from one to the other of them. "I can't make it go away, but we can at least make it bearable. Right?"
"I'll say." Jack sounded breathless with happiness, making Rose laugh.
"Definitely." Slipping her arms round both their waists, she leant back, letting them take her weight as she gazed up.
Above them, the Calming soared and shone, colour meeting colour, merging, weaving and interlacing in a never ending, never repeated dance.
So this is for you. And me.
(will cross-post in the morning, so early apologies for spamming...)
Title: The Doldrums
Author:
jadesfire2808Words: ~1200
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating/spoilers: G/nope
Summary: Are we nearly there yet?
The Doldrums
Rose was bored. She'd plaited and unplaited her hair, read and reread the magazine her mum had slipped into her bag, and listened to everything she recognised from the TARDIS' music collection. Twice.
Tipping her head back against the wall, she groaned. "How much longer?"
"It's always the same." The Doctor's sounded muffled, what with his being inside the main console, but Rose could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Are we nearly there yet? No patience at all, you lot."
"Be fair, Doctor," Jack said from across the room. "It's been a while."
"I told you, it'll blow itself out." Emerging, the Doctor dropped a spanner back into the toolbox next to him on the grating and took out his sonic screwdriver. "There's nothing I can do about it until it does."
"But we haven't been out of here in nearly a week," Rose said, pulling herself to her feet and wandering towards the main console. "A week of doing nothing."
"Hardly nothing," the Doctor replied, sounding affronted. "I've recalibrated the ion sensor, Jack's rewired half the roundels that haven't worked in years and you made that cake."
Hearing Jack's muffled laughter from across the room, Rose glared at the Doctor. "There was nothing wrong with the cake."
"Of course not."
"Not my fault your oven's weird."
"Right. Not your fault at all."
"The strange lumpy bits, they might have been your fault." Jack ducked as Rose threw a spanner at him. It bounced harmlessly off the wall.
"Oi! Watch the ship." But there was no real annoyance in the Doctor's voice. Truth be told, Rose suspected he was as bored as she was.
"How much longer?" she asked again, ignoring the Doctor's exaggerated sigh.
"Look, it's like this." He pulled her round the console, standing her in front of the screen, which showed two swirling patterns, dancing and interweaving with each other. "We're stuck in a kind of dead space, temporally speaking. My people used to call it the Calming, but it's like the Doldrums." Seeing her blank look, the Doctor made an impatient sound and tried again. "The Doldrums are a convergence point on the equator, hot air and cold air meeting, swirling round, messing with the weather. Sometimes they make it rain, sometimes they make it dry. At sea, it used to cause dead patches, no wind, no nothing for days on end."
"So that's where we get the phrase from." Jack had come to stand behind them, one hand resting lightly on the Doctor's shoulder as he leaned in to look.
"All gone by your time," the Doctor told him. "Climate had completely changed. But it used to drive sailors mad, even killed some of them if it lasted long enough."
"But we're alright, aren't we?" asked Rose, a little worried. "I mean, we've got food and everything."
"We're fine. A lot better off than they were. There's the whole TARDIS to explore, plenty of food around the place, things to do and what do you two do? Sit around here and annoy me."
"How big is the TARDIS?" Jack asked, looking thoughtfully at the door to the rest of the ship.
"I lost track a while back." The Doctor sighed. "Then there was the time I had to jettison some rooms. I put some of them back, but I've never tried to count and I don't advise it. You'd run out of fingers."
"There's the wardrobe room and the kitchen and the bedrooms and bathrooms," Rose said. "Then there was that room all full of old books."
"That's my library," the Doctor protested.
"Old books, covered in dust. Big reader, are you?"
"With you two on board, getting yourselves into trouble, who's got the time?"
Sticking her tongue out at him, she went on, "Then I think there was a kind of living room, with sofas and stuff."
"Is that all you've seen?" Turning from the console, where he'd been doing something unfathomable with his screwdriver, the Doctor tilted his head. "Barely scraped the surface. Come on."
Jack slipped his hand into Rose's as they trailed through the TARDIS corridors.
"Any idea where we're going?" he asked.
"I don't even know where we are."
"Keep up!" the Doctor called over his shoulder, and Rose increased her pace, not wanting to lose him. She'd never find her way out again, and Jack looked as lost as she was. Grinning, she squeezed his hand, getting one of his brightest smiles in return, and she knew that he was as intrigued as she was.
They turned a corner only to nearly run into the Doctor standing outside a door that looked just the same as all the others they'd passed.
"Here we are then."
"Where's that, exactly?" Jack asked, glancing from Rose to the Doctor and back again.
"Observatory." Flinging open the door, the Doctor held out a hand. Rose took it, and let him lead her inside, followed by Jack. She heard him whistle in surprise, but only vaguely. Most of her attention was taken by the scene in front of her.
There were no walls to the room. No ceiling, no walls and, when she looked down, no floor either. It was like standing on Jack's invisible ship again, except instead of being in the middle of London, next to Big Ben, she was standing in space. They were surrounded by stars, bright against the pure black. Above her, sparks and lights burst into colour, dying almost as soon as she could see them. Ribbons of red, purple and blue danced above her, spreading wide like sails in the wind, glittering and glowing.
"It's the edge of the Calming," the Doctor said softly. "Right at the convergence point."
"It's beautiful." Jack sounded as awestruck as Rose. He was gripping her hand so tightly that it almost hurt, but she didn't care. Instead, she tugged a little, drawing him with her she moved closer to the Doctor's side.
"I'm not going to understand how it does that, am I?" she asked. When he didn't say anything, she tore her gaze away from the light-show to look at him. He was smiling at her with a kind of amused fondness, almost laughing a little to himself. Letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arm round her shoulders, hugging her close.
"No, you're really not. Pretty though, isn't it?"
"It's beautiful." She wasn't even aware that Jack had let go of her hand until she felt him grip her other shoulder, his arm resting just under the Doctor's. When she looked up at his face, it was full of wonder and joy, his eyes wide like a child's.
"How long does it last?" he asked, almost whispering, as though his voice would disturb the intricate pattern.
"As long as the Calming," the Doctor replied, looking from one to the other of them. "I can't make it go away, but we can at least make it bearable. Right?"
"I'll say." Jack sounded breathless with happiness, making Rose laugh.
"Definitely." Slipping her arms round both their waists, she leant back, letting them take her weight as she gazed up.
Above them, the Calming soared and shone, colour meeting colour, merging, weaving and interlacing in a never ending, never repeated dance.
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Date: 2007-07-07 03:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2007-07-08 10:18 pm (UTC)I was pointed over here by
I absolutely intend to read lots of it when it's not late at night and I have to work tomorrow!
Alright if I friend you?
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Date: 2007-07-09 06:35 am (UTC)All my stuff is over at