Supertemp!

“Looks like it,” he says, joining Donna at the wall and shining his torch down on the casing. “And as much as a bit of light would make this place a tad less… spooky, given that we’re not even sure who’s after us- if anyone is- I’m not sure I want to give them any sort of advantage in finding us so I don’t think I’ll be turning them on. But if we can find the switch, then there’ll probably be a door fairly nearby. Usually is in my experience. Allons-y, then.”

Walking on, he stays as close to the wall as the collected and assorted rubbish and abandoned items allow, flicking his light back down every so often to check the casing was still there. Something else was off, though. He just couldn’t quite place it. Not yet, anyways…

She starts down the tunnel with the air of someone who really does not want to find out what’s hiding at the end but is going anyway. Her torch remains trained on the ground so she can avoid tripping over things or stepping on anything... crawly. She’s seen a couple of things with too many legs for her taste down here already and she really, really hopes there’s nothing bigger.

The corridor is long and winding, taking them around sharp bends and seemingly wrapping around itself several times, but her sense of direction underground, in the dark is a little skewed. The air is getting staler, which she at least knows meant they’re getting deeper. It’s along while before she sees the endless line of stuff shoved up against the wall taper off and then-- a door. Finally!

“Look! Just ahead, maybe we can actually get out of here!”

“If you hit something with your foot, that’s probably it!” He shouts last minute, unable to see or guide her while stuck under the gratings. If there’s a counterweight to this regeneration’s lack of body build, it’s having thinner, longer hands, which he is using and abusing for all their worth while trying to fix the circuits in the pitch dark. It’s also a good thing he’s so familiar with the innards of his ship that he can actually do something without his sense of sight. He’s burnt his fingers for the upteenth time when a light comes on—but not the one he was expecting. Forcing himself to find a way out for his head to pop over the shadows of the gratings, the Doctor grunts up to discover that the light was not, in fact, from a torch. Well, not in the british sense of the word. Disbelief takes over his features and voice, face all scrunched and pitch high.

“You lit up a flare?!”

#thexthdoctor #i meant signal wand like they use on airstrips #the electric kind #but that works too

“I found a lantern, are you complaining?” she snaps back, shoving the bright lantern towards him to illuminate his workspace-- she can see his fingers are all burned and blistered and she’ll clean them up and bandage them for him later, when they’re not dead in the water. Priorities, she thinks to herself-- she’s not sure the Doctor’s ever really had his straight.

She comes to sit next to him, pushing the lantern right up to the circuitry he’s been working on so he can really see what he’s doing.The small light throws long black shadows from the wiring and their figures across the walls and flooring. The flare, still burning where she’s set it down in the middle of the grate safely away from walls and dangling wires, sends a red cast over everything. The effect is slightly creepy, but she’s used to slightly creepy and more now.

“No one’s good for anything during a blackout, Donna—except Anglerites, now there’s a handy biology in the dark. There’s a couple’ torches in the tool box, you’ll find the normal one if you’re lucky.”

#thexthdoctor #what a bro

“Right, toolbox-- I’m sure I’ll find it by kicking it in the dark and breaking my foot,” she chuckles and squints to try and make out something in the near-darkness. The only light came from the Doctor’s tools, and she stretched her hands out in what she thought was the general direction of where she’d seen the toolbox last, trying not to run face-first into anything. She does manage to get her hands around it, though, and rummages for a long while before she wraps a hand around what she’s eighty percent sure is a torch. Flicking it on proves it not a torch but a bright red signal wand, and that at least provides enough glow that she can identify a proper electric lantern.

“This should make things easier,” she says as she clicks it on.

“Business as usual, then,” the Doctor replied, producing a torch for himself out of another pocket. He flicked the beam up, his theory that this tunnel was rather large (based on the echoes, of course) confirmed. “Right, try looking for wires or small metal tubing running along the walls that might contain wires- any sort of energy feed at all. At the very least it might mean finding a light switch, but hopefully it might lead us somewhere useful. You can’t have a memory suppressor without a colossal amount of energy. Not in this vector, anyways.”

Donna wades through the boxes along the edge of the wall nearest her and peers down at the base, mostly blocked from view. There’s what looks like retrofitted wiring there, protected by a long, thin cable cover. It doesn’t look like it’s even close capable of carrying the amount of energy for... whatever sort of device that can suppress memories. The Doctor’s first guess was probably spot on-- there are lighting units on the roof that she’d spotted when he’d flicked the beam of his torch upwards

“Down here-- think it’s only for lights, though.”

“Well, of course. You don’t learn much from going where you’ve already been, generally. Hang on.” Sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth in concentration, the Doctor rummaged around in his coat pockets for a few brief moments. “Good thing it wasn’t black tie. Here’s your torch,” he said, handing it over to Donna.

“Brilliant,” she says, taking it and clicking it on, using the beam to penetrate the shadows at the end of the tunnel. It illuminates a few pieces of furniture beneath dust covers, and miscellany that one might find in an ordinary basement-- it seem that this tunnel sees some use after all, if only for storage. She’d suddenly very glad it wasn’t black tie and she’s wearing long sleeves and sensible shoes. Alien cobwebs and basement-dust? No thank you. “Into the creepy dark tunnel we go then.”

“Well, I could hold a flashlight with my mouth, but the last time I didn’t answer one of your questions, you pulled at my hair.”

twoheartsandmanytales-blog

“You know you could just ask me to hold the torch for you, it’s not like I’m good for much else here other than passing things and hair-pulling.”

#thexthdoctor

A rather smug grin lightened his face and he sighed dramatically. “I am afraid we have no invitation to anything. Oh…?”. He reached into his coat pocket and produced a worn leather wallet which he opened with a flick of hid wrist. “Oh wait we do.” He wiggled it triumphantly and went to read it. “A ticket for two. For the world famous Opera Garnier. Willhelm Tell I think.” He flipped it close and tucked it in again.

“No one should tell me I neglect culture. Now. I think you should change. Do you remember where the wardrobe is? The TARDIS will help you choose.” He nodded excitedly and waved. “Chop chop off you go!”.

She laughed delightedly and wrapped her arms around him for a quick squeeze before dashing back into the TARDIS to pick something appropriately glamorous. She’d been in the wardrobe more than once, and she’d always wanted an excuse to try on a few of the more elegant pieces. She opened the doors and was immediately presented with a rack of truly lovely dresses-- the TARDIS knew how much she disliked rummaging to try to find something.

“Thanks, love,” she said to the ship with an affectionate pat to the wall before she dove into the glittering dresses. She chose a deep plum ensemble that did wonders for her waistline and pinned her curls up properly. She discovered with some surprise that she looked very much like a lady of the time, and not ridiculous at all. It wasn’t long before she rejoined the Doctor with a beaming smile.

“Well? What do you think?”

#twoheartsandmanytales

“I mean at a very basic level we are still on the planet Nivolia and… possibly still in that house that that party was at but given the complex web of tunnels and an apparent memory block I’m not quite sure of that. So we just keep going, I suppose.”

“Right-- let’s at least find a torch or something, it looks dark up ahead. Ad who knows what’s creeping about down there? I assume we’re going that way, you never do pick the sensible path and head back the way we came.”

“Dont rush to conclusions, Donna. Just—give me the benefit of the doubt, at least?”

“Hand me the—the long, white thing with the—red buttons on the side.”

#i know i haven't been on much but it's like a week and a half left before finals and im sO BUSY #so once i get my school year finished up i'll be able to be online

“What, this thing? Here. How can you even see what you’re doing down there, isn’t it dark?”

#thexthdoctor

finally done with school so I’ll be back on this blog as soon as I get all my icons onto my new laptop c:

boxesofpepe

get to know me: favorite brOTPs → tenth doctor x donna noble (doctor who)

#oimatchstickman

flipse-deactivated20210915

twoheartsandmanytales-blog

“Hah! Somewhere you are going to love!”. He shot her a wink and a wide smile, as he sped around the console, flicking switches and levers until the time ship took off with a familiar tremor. Their latest escapades had been filled with running and a good amount of not good, so the Doctor had set coordinates for somewhere special. He jumped away from the console and towards Donna, eyes sparkling with enthusiastic energy.

“Oh I thought we ought to go and sightsee a bit. It will be brilliant!”. He stumbled as the TARDIS had landed with another jolt. “Here we are then!”. A moment later, the Doctor was by the wooden door, putting on his long, brown coat. He pushed one door open and revealed sight to a busy street, where horse-drawn carriages drove to and fro. And just behind the Doctor’s shoulders, cranes stood in the distance around the beginning of a quite familiar building.

“Donna Noble. I present to you, Paris! La Cité d'Amour!”.