Fam Away From Home: Chapter 38
Masterlist
Emotions were high around now. They likely always would be, Astra reflected. She knew how this worked, knew all the mechanics. She helped Ric run a school for supernaturals, for heaven's sake. She'd seen the mood swings from the newbie vampires, even an untriggered werewolf one time. She knew her body was made to be irrational. To lash out.
But this... impossible, insane, unpredictable blonde looked at her... and everything stood still. It was like every atom in Astra's body was tuned in to the Doctor. It was terrifying.
Her body was designed to prevent apathy from developing. Her emotions were always on high to keep her from wishing for death simply for living so long. The biggest motivator in the world, Hell, the universe; love. And as brown eyes lifted to watch the absent-minded blonde, Astra felt that particular emotion racing toward her like the Doctor was oxygen. It bonded her to the alien in a million ways. It drew her eyes to notice the smallest facets of the alien's personality.
Astra hadn't realized how the Doctor ducked personal questions. She moved around so much and had so much energy, but it was really because she was scared of the moments in between the excitement and distraction. She didn't like to be trapped alone with her head. Something the two of them had in common.
But she wasn't supposed to be thinking about that right now. She was supposed to be focusing on her telepathic connection with the TARDIS. This was one such problem. The blonde distracted her immortal companion without even being in the room. The TARDIS wasn't pleased about her distraction from the ship either and she made that clear by letting Astra walk herself around in circles until she was well and truly lost. The brunette had wandered quite far inside the ship's depths but this must have been a side location she had yet to discover. One door opened into an old room with dark, near-rust colored metal surrounding a center console, bars all around the platform as railings. A large bit of blank wall hovered above the console and she ducked back out, sure this way would leave nothing but confusion. Astra continued down her hall and found another door that automatically opened when she walked near it. Inside was a large room with a white console in the center. A glass case lined the wall by the door and a typewriter looking machine sat inside a clear column. The entire room was black and white.
The witch left the room and followed down the hall again, trying to find a corridor she recognized.
Hunger clawed at her insides after hours of wandering. Astra was beginning to feel wary, worrying how she'd react if she found the Doctor before she found some bloodbags. She'd barely had time to start that train of thought when the blonde came racing down the halls.
"Astra!" she cried in relief. One such bloodbag rested in her hand. The brunette grimaced down at it, knowing she'd have to finish it before risking a hug. She took the food from her friend's hand and backed away to chug it without her elder seeing. She retreated from the shadows and Astra's arms circled the blonde, holding her tight.
The Doctor laughed from where she'd been placed and spoke calmly. "Astra, I'm sturdier than the Team, Time Lord and all, but you can't hug them this tight," she warned.
"Oh!" She loosened, pulling back. "Sorry," came the mumble.
The Doctor's hands followed her departure, pawing pleadingly. "No, no. Come back." She brought her back into the hug, comfortable with the open affection. It was just the two of them anyway. "They wanna see you. They miss you."
Astra buried her face in the Doctor's coat.
*~*
It was Ryan's 20th and he insisted on sharing it with the Team. His plan involved alien drinks and a crowded building. The Doctor offered to skip them a little around to give her more time, but Astra insisted she could handle it. The look in her eyes made the Doctor doubt it, but she hadn't failed them yet.
They were on a beach. It was a lovely start to the evening. Astra was pulled along by the Doctor, her head fallen back to look at a new night sky. Smiling at the young witch, the blonde led the Team into a large building with strange music, some sounding like Earth's, but others sounding like a series of random sounds and chirps. A long island made up the side wall.
Ryan instantly made a bee-line for it, recognizing a bar. He picked up a holographic menu, showing it to his friends guys excitedly. They all smiled fondly at him and his energy.
The Doctor got close enough to read the menu and explained it to the group. "There are groups made for humans and there are groups of drinks for high resistance drinkers."
Ryan instantly pointed at the highest level alcoholic drink and the font went bold for a moment before one such drink slid down the bar to them.
The Doctor snatched it up, downing it as she pressed a lower level drink. When it rolled down the bar, she glared at him. "That's the highest you're allowed to go." She was clearly not asking and very not pleased with his reckless decision to order outside his comfort level.
Ryan gulped and cowered under the heat of her gaze. He nodded obediently and the night returned to its jovial mood. Ryan's limitations didn't slow his party, or calm his insanity for the rest of the evening.
"At least they won't ID me," Astra cheered internally, outwardly very calm. She reached forward and tapped on a basic drink to start out the night. She figured she'd work her way up. Flinching at the thought, she turned to the Doctor. "How are we paying for this? How does their currency work?" she asked, looking around for any sort of sign.
The blonde stepped up behind her, touching gently and smirking at her enhanced reaction.
*
"How was I supposed to know this was the first day of their 8th revolution?!" the Doctor shouted in her defense. "It's a busy year for 'em!"
The brunette shouted when a scorch mark followed a flash of light landing on the tree by her head. "Doctor!" she shouted in scolding. She held her hand out to throw a massive trunk, but the bark shredded from the tree, basically skinning it. The bark flew at their followers, the wood mixing with a few hunks of metal. Interesting for a planet with no metal on it. Oh, that was Yaz's baton. And Ryan cell. And Graham's flask. Also random wheels and screws and bits from the Doctor's strange pockets.
"Astra!" Yaz shouted in a scold.
"Sorry!" Astra screeched as she stumbled to the side, ducking a laser blast. "New planet, new powers, big boost." She laughed boisterously, knocking into the blonde. The coat-clad arms wrapped around her, yanking her toward the impossible blue box. They ducked inside the inside-open doors and Astra got a mindful of scolding. She didn't care if the doors were supposed to open out. Still, it made her laugh. She was allowed to fall to the ground, rolling with her fellow drunks, men!, as the ship took off and Yaz stared disapprovingly.
*~*
The Doctor wasn't used to Astra being pliant. Especially recently. She'd been hard and strong. She was kind at times, but she never came off as weak or unable to handle herself. In this moment, she couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. The blonde escorted her down the halls after the humans were put to bed. She herded the immortal closely and had her in her bed soon enough. Despite her bleary state, her grip was unbreakable and the alien soon found herself trapped with Astra.
The older being reasoned it was best to stay with the brunette, who'd drank the rest of the bar under the table. After a certain point, their tab was picked up by all the other consumers just to see how far the witch could go. And she could go far. She could've closed them out, but Ryan had a weak stomach and they'd had to focus on him so her limit hadn't been reached. Not that Astra really wanted it to.
The blonde found a way to change into less clothes to slide in behind Astra, pressing up against her all the way. "Did you enjoy your own experiments?" she asked lowly in the witch's ear. She felt a smug pull at her ego when Astra shivered.
"Mmm," she mumbled from between her dry lips. "I don't think I much like alcohol."
"Neither do I," the Doctor agreed, kissing the dark hair along her crown.
"Still wanna try new things."
The blonde laughed, earning another shake. "Course," she mumbled against your ear.
Another unexpected development, Astra dreamed when drunk. The Doctor discovered this during that night. Her recently gained telepathic ability made keeping their thoughts separate a challenge. It was too difficult a challenge that night, with both of their minds in a stew of alcohol and pheromones. It was an accident, their minds overlapping, but Astra shared her first allowed dream on accident. It wasn't anything special, just her and her mother on a beach, long before Ric had entered their lives. But it was something special to the brunette. So it was everything to the blonde.
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