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heroescutiesTitle: Once Upon a TARDIS
Fandom: Doctor Who
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,098
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: [Post-Series 4] A Christmas TARDIS trip goes a bit awry when the two arrive at Hotel Fantasia.
Notes: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
haro.
{Welcome to the Hotel Fantasia. You have been allotted the Fairytale Suite on floor three. Please enjoy your stay.}
They really should have known then, that things were not all that they seemed. But they remained happily oblivious, smiling and chatting as they took the key from the front desk's robot.
Taking the elevator down to the third floor, the Doctor rambled about the planet Bialya and its history.
"And that's when they entered the resort industry, planning to capitalize off their planet wide naturally white sand beaches and crystal blue waters. As you might have guessed from our room's name, it's a popular honeymoon destination for all of the Crevasse Galaxy and some neighboring galaxies."
Rose grinned, her tongue peaking out between her teeth. "So…for a Christmas gift you took me to a honeymoon locale? Should'a told mum that, she wouldnt'a been so fussed about us swanning off on Christmas Eve."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Wellll… it's not just for honeymoons."
"But it ain't no kid friendly place," Rose said, indicating a painting on the hallway wall of intertwined lovers. "Definitely a place for couples."
Standing to his full height and trying to look as serious and important as possible, the Doctor rounded on her. "If I was selecting honeymoon locations, Bialya would only be about ten on my list. The twin planets of Areis and Aphros, now that's where you'd take someone. We'll…have to go there sometime."
Smiling, Rose looped her arm through his. "I'll look forward to that."
The Doctor went back to rambling about technical developments in Bialya and Rose momentarily tuned him out. The whole morning had been a whirl of activity, starting when the Doctor nudged her awake and culminating in him taking her to their TARDIS and telling her he had somewhere he wanted to take her. Of course, Jackie hadn't taken it well, having gotten quite used to fussing over the Doctor and Rose on Christmas morning each year while their new TARDIS grew. Pete just wished them well and Tony begged the Doctor to bring him back something "cool and alien."
It would be their first Christmas adventure since their TARDIS finished growing to its working size over seven months earlier; the Doctor spending many of those first months testing it and getting the circuit broken back as a blue police box. He joked that it just felt wrong otherwise and Rose couldn't have agreed more.
This trip would also be their first test run of the psychic paper the Doctor had salvaged from an alien trunk that had popped out of the rift a few days earlier. The robots running the front desk didn't seem to find it suspicious at all when the Doctor used it as his form of payment, the paper earning them one of the hotel's deluxe suites without a second glance from the robotic staff.
But unbeknownst to either of them, their psychic paper had worked a bit too well…
-----------------------------------
When they reached the third floor, they were both perplexed to see only a wall with a single door in it.
"Guess the suite's pretty big, eh?"
"Deluxe suite, remember?" He replied, shaking his psychic paper at her. "Deluxe must mean we get an entire floor to ourselves. I was hoping it meant free room service, but we might rate that too. Oooh, do you think we'll have our own personal pool? I kind of miss my Olympic sized one in the TARDIS."
Rose giggled, prodding him in the arm. "You are just like a kid, you know that?"
The Doctor beamed. "Kid at Christmas, that's me. Go on now, this is your treat. You open the door."
Shouldering past him, Rose snorted. "Betcha just want to make sure you get the head start on running if there's something right ominous behind this."
"After that left hook you planted on the Gurlovian dictator last week…"
"He was getting a bit too friendly with me. That's all."
The Doctor reached down and clasped her hand. "It's odd, but you don't seem to mind me getting friendly with you."
She turned her head and pecked a kiss on his nose. "I only tolerate you. Remember that."
"Yes ma'am," he replied with a mock salute. Rose rolled her eyes.
"Oi, no saluting." He grinned even wider at that and her frown faded. "Right then, opening the door to either a quite nice suite or our imminent doom. Here goes."
The door swung open and the two just stared. The room seemed to be a vast open space that seemed far too large to fit inside the building they'd just entered, let alone able to be contained on a single floor of it. In the distance, they could see a large castle with a tall tower and near where they stood there was a forest. Before either of them could comment on their strange accommodations, a hunched over woman that was clearly supposed to be a witch appeared in front of them.
"Did she just…"
"Appear out of nowhere? Yeah, I think so."
The Doctor shrugged. "I guess they're taking the whole Fairytale Suite deal a bit literally. Hello there, I'm…"
"You there!" The witch pointed at Rose and a disembodied voice came from unseen speakers above. "I will not stand for maidens fairer than I. You will be punished for entering my kingdom."
The witch reached for what seemed to be a magic wand and the Doctor jumped in front of Rose. "Now hold it just a mo-"
But before he could finish, a spell shot out of the wand and both the Doctor and the witch disappeared. Rose looked behind her, out into the normal looking hotel hallway and then sighed.
"What've ya gotten us into this time, Doctor?"
The witch's voice, which Rose concluded was probably recorded and being played back, spoke again.
"Ha-ha-ha! I have taken your precious princess from you, noble knight. If you wish to see her again, you will have to fight against me. Come and rescue her at the tallest tower of my castle, if you dare."
Trailing off into yet another strain of cackling laughter, Rose noticed a white stallion appear in the forest to her right. Approaching it, she tentatively reached out to pet it.
When her hands met a solid horse, she smiled. "Then it's not all holograms. That or you're a very realistic one."
With a slight popping noise and a clatter, a pile of things dropped down next to the horse. Looking down at it, Rose could barely suppress a smirk. Clearly this whole suite was setup as a romantic roleplay for anyone who loved the stereotypical damsel-in-distress plot. And as Rose lifted up pieces of what was clearly shining armor, she burst out laughing.
"Oh this is just rich. That'll mean the Doctor is playing the damsel. Oooh, if he's dolled up in some sorta princess gown I am not letting him out of it 'till I get pictures on my cell phone." Fussing with the pieces of armor, she fitted on the chest plate and put the cloak on. Finally, she donned the plumed helmet and smiled up at the horse.
"I take it you're my white stallion for saving the damsel?"
Seeming to understand, the horse shook its head.
"Right. Then let's go rescue him."
----------------------------------------------
The Doctor's first stray thought was that finally there was some sort part of Bialya that seemed to be a bit Christmassy looking. (He by no means expected the far away planet to be decked with holly and Santas, but a little festive spirit wouldn't have hurt.) Problem being that he hadn't expected to be the one decked out in red and green.
Frowning down at the elaborate dress he'd been magicked into, he sighed, blowing up at his fringe of hair.
"Should've remembered that in the 4100s Bialya had that whole roleplay phase. Ah well. At least we didn't get the Love-Prison Suite; that would have been awkward." Shaking images of Rose in a Princess Leia Slave outfit out of his mind and figuring that with his current luck, he would have ended up in the outfit, the Doctor set about to figure out exactly what the situation was.
First, he glanced around at his surroundings; a circular room with a single window, all decorated with generic medieval furniture. On not being able to see much else from his seated position on the bed, he swung his legs over the edge and stood. As he moved to take a step forward, he stumbled on his petticoats and cursed.
"Oi, that's just not right!" He shouted down at his multilayered skirt. Holding it up away from his feet (which were thankfully still clad in his converse and not some pointed-toed, high-heeled monstrosity) he waddled over to the window.
"Hmm, any way down from here? Course not. This is all set up so the damsel just sits here and waits patiently for their prince to come." The Doctor smirked at that, "Oh I almost wish they'd gotten Rose now, she would have busted out of here so quickly and come storming down to me to ask what the hell I was thinking bringing us here."
A flicker of white caught his eye emerging from the faux forest and the Doctor had to grin.
"Rose in shining armor at twelve o'clock," he remarked, leaning out the window. "Rose! Over here!"
He could see her glance up at his voice and then he remembered the dress and turned to retreat into the room. But like before, he stumbled on his petticoats and went flailing down in a pile of red and green fabric.
Outside the window, the Doctor swore he heard Rose laughing.
--------------------------------
She couldn't help it. Really. As much as she'd thought how humorous it would be to see the Doctor in a princess gown, she hadn't really expected it to happen.
"Ooh I am so getting pictures of this," Rose murmured to her horse.
Jumping down from her noble steed, she shouted up at the window.
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your spiky hair."
"Ha ha." She could hear the Doctor sarcastically shoot back from inside.
"Or you know, anything else long and able to be climbed?"
"Rose…"
She sighed, knowing that tone of voice all too well. "What now?"
"They took my suit."
Rose snorted, imagining his sulky face as he realized he couldn't take off the dress unless he wanted to run around starkers, and the Doctor snapped.
"Oi! Watch it Earthgirl! My sonic screwdriver was in that suit. I just got setting 354 to work on it too; now I'll have to start all over on building it. And I'd worn that suit just for this trip! Felt silly going traveling in a shirt and jeans…"
"Doctor, I doubt this crazy hotel is gonna steal your clothes and never give 'em back. S'probably something that'll reappear when you're finished with the roleplay."
"Ah, so you figured that out?"
"That this is some mental roleplay for people who really need to get out more often? Yeah, that was pretty obvious when shining armor and a white stallion popped into existence next to me. So the sooner you throw something outta that window I can climb up, the faster you get your suit back."
The Doctor glanced around the room. "I've got sheets. But…"
"But what?" Rose asked, hands on her hips in a perfect Jackie Tyler impression.
"Err…I was considering the sheets to my current attire…"
Rose walked closer to the base of the tower, her armor clanking as she did so. "I've already seen ya in your pretty dress, so just fork over the sheets."
The silence went on for a few moments and Rose really wished she could see the mortified look on his face on realizing she'd seen him in a dress.
Finally, a tied rope fashioned out of sheets and curtains started creeping out the window ledge.
"That's a nice Don Quixote hat you've got, by the way."
Rose blinked, pulling off the plumed helmet and regarding it. "What?"
"Helmet of Mambrino, actually a barber's bowl with a chip outta it?"
Putting the now obviously bowl shaped hat back on her head, Rose frowned up at him. "Oh hush up, Marie Antoinette, and start climbing down."
The Doctor grimaced. "Can you, I don't know, look the other way or something?"
"'fraid I'm gonna look up your skirt?"
As the two glared at each other, a loud pop resounded from the base of the tower revealing the old witch again.
"I see you are attempting to rescue your princess, brave knight. But as I forewarned you, you will have to get through me first."
With copious amounts of smoke and lighting effects, the holographic witch morphed into a large black dragon. The Doctor, who was now perched on the ledge of the window, called out.
"Rose, I'm going to try and jump on it. Just stay back."
"I'm the knight here, princess poofy dress. Just sit there in your tower and let me handle it. Remember, mean left hook? And well, would you look at this?" She said, pulling out the sword that had just appeared hilted to her side, "They've even given me a sword."
"Now I'm worried for all our safety."
"Oi, I've seen you with a sword and you aren't no master. Just hush up and try to get more sheets or curtains or something, because your rope is rather short."
Seeing that Rose was indeed right about the length of the rope only reaching about half-way down the tower, the Doctor looked around the room for more cloth. Down below, Rose drew her sword and faced off against the dragon.
"Come on flame-breath; let's see what you've got!"
With a roar, the dragon twisted its slender body protectively around the tower. Twisting its long neck towards Rose, it belched out flame right at her. But Rose was used to this sort of adventure and quickly acted, pulling her cape up in front of her face and then tearing it away as it started to burn.
"You know this would really suck if I wasn't used to facing off against monsters every other day of the week. Is this thing on advanced mode or something?"
"It probably has a bio-emote detector," the Doctor explained, adding another sheet to his rope. "The dragon is equipped with a sensor to detect the fear and adrenaline of the person it is facing off against. And since, well, it got you. It's on the highest mode it'll go to."
As Rose used her sword to deflect the dragon's clawed hand that had come crashing down at her, she cursed. "So you're telling me if I was some wussy guy, this thing would go easy on me; but since I have some guts, it's out to fry me?"
The Doctor grinned, lounging as best he could in his dress on the window sill. "Well…I could help, but I'm supposed to sit here and wait patiently for my knight in shining armor to rescue me. Too bad really, because a well-aimed kick to this thing's head might do it in."
A determined glint flickered in her eyes as she stared down the dragon. "Okay big boy, get down here and face me."
As the dragon lunged for her, Rose took a running leap for her horse. Gripping the saddle, she cleared it as if it was a pummel horse in gymnastics; launching her feet right towards the dragon's head.
A swift kick to the head, as it turned out, only succeeded in angering the dragon further.
"What were you saying about a kick doing it in?" She asked, running quickly away from the scorching flames.
"It was worth a try."
Dodging another attempt by the dragon to bite off her ankles, Rose swiveled around and brought her sword down on its neck. This seemed to be the trick to turn the dragon off and the hologram flickered out of existence. From the tower above, Rose heard applause.
"Good show. Glad I put my money on the knight," the Doctor quipped.
Grinning up at him, Rose threw down her helmet near the smoldering remains of her cape. "You better have put it on the knight."
"Oh and Rose?"
"Hmm?"
"This is the longest I can get it. I'm guessing that the holographics are making the tower look taller than it is, so I'm just gonna climb down what I can and then jump."
Looking at the rope made of curtains, towels and sheets that only reached about ¾ of the way down, Rose warily replied. "I'm not sure Doctor..."
But before she could voice her opinion on the fact that holographics were probably supposed to make the damsel's hair grow out ala Rapunzel instead of the sheets being used, the Doctor had already started his descent.
As he reached the end of his rope, he glanced down around his billowing skirts. "Okay, jumping now!"
About mid-fall, both he and Rose seemed to realize that the tower was indeed as tall as it seemed. Hoping that between his many petticoats and her chest plate of armor that it wouldn't hurt too much, Rose rushed under him and held out her arms to catch him.
"Rose, get out of the way!"
"N'uh. Your skinny bum can't be that heavy."
"But the velocity of my fall, combined with the weight of this damned dress…" He never finished, his sentence being cut off as he hit with a 'ooof' into Rose's waiting arms.
Rose toppled under his weight, the two falling to the ground in a swirl of petticoats and displaced holographic grass.
"Nice catch," the Doctor remarked, pushing aside his skirts to find Rose's face.
"Nice boxers," she quipped, obviously getting a bit of a view under his petticoats.
"Hey now!"
The two mock glared at each other, finally caving and both breaking into peals of laughter.
"You look so ridiculous in that dress," Rose stammered between giggles.
"And you with the bowl on your head," the Doctor retorted.
Struggling a bit around the vast amount of fabric that seemed to make up the dress, Rose managed to sit up with the Doctor seated in her lap. "You see now why I won't just sit still and wait for you to do something?"
He leaned his forehead in to rest against hers. "Yeah. Bit of a bore actually, that sitting and waiting business."
"And honestly, this dress must weight a ton because you sure as hell don't."
"Oi. Part-Time Lord metabolism. Not my fault."
Leaning her face in closer, Rose whispered, "So fair princess, do I get a reward for my daring rescue of you?"
The Doctor snorted. "Welllll, I think I can manage something."
And closing the remaining distance between them, he kissed her tenderly; Rose reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair as they deepened the kiss. Around them, the holographic world disappeared; leaving them in their normal clothes in a nice but very normal hotel room. But at that moment, they were a bit too preoccupied to care.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Doctor was, of course, pleased to find himself back in his suit; the sonic screwdriver safely in his pocket. Rose, on the other hand, was a bit miffed that she'd not managed to snag a picture of the Doctor in his dress.
Trying to distract Rose from the fact she hadn't gotten such a picture, the Doctor went over to the wall and pointed out the dial that was embedded there.
"Rose, look at this."
Above the dial read 'Bedroom Décor' and there was five different options you could turn the dial to. The current reading was for 'standard,' but the other four were definitely carrying through on the room's theme.
"Hmm, so what should we go for? Forest Cottage?"
"Sounds too full of dwarves."
"Slumbering Castle?"
"After fighting that dragon, I'm not keen on dealing with any more castles."
"A Thousand and One Dreams?"
"Doesn't the bloke wanna kill the girl in that until she distracts him?"
"Ah yeah, might get a bit messy. And the last one is: Mermaid Grotto."
His eyes seemed to light up with a childlike excitement at this one and Rose sighed in resignation. "Fine, but if we end up underwater I am not forgiving you."
Twisting the dial around, and getting quick glimpses of the options they'd vetoed as they did so, they arrived on the Mermaid Grotto. The whole room settled; the walls now painted an ocean blue and the décor definitely reflecting an under-the-sea feel.
"Rose, the bed!"
He was halfway to it by the time she looked, noticing the elaborate waterbed in the center of the room.
"It's got real fish in it!"
Shaking her head at his exuberance, Rose yawned. "Okay, this knight needs her beauty sleep. Did we bring anything to change into?"
The Doctor frowned, then jumped up off the bed and raced over to the drawers. Opening them up, he exclaimed. "Aha, thought so! Deluxe suites usually provide."
Handing over a white nightie to her that was adorned with seashells; the Doctor took the pyjamas covered in little fish for himself. Setting aside her clothes and pulling it on, Rose crawled onto the waterbed and stretched.
"Next time you take me somewhere as a Christmas gift, let me know ahead of time if there's a chance of dragons."
The bed sank down as the Doctor's weight was added to it, his arms sliding around her waist and pulling her close.
"Aw, but it was a bit fun. Much safer than our usual adventures. Sort of like the Land of Fiction, but without the crazy guy and master brain manipulating everything."
Snuggling up against him, Rose smiled. "Land of Fiction?"
She could feel him smile against her temple, "Oh yes. Went there ages ago back during my second incarnation. Met Rapunzel there, ironically."
And as the Doctor told her of his adventure, Rose rested her head against his chest and drifted off to a peaceful sleep. It had been a wonderful Christmas Eve, dragons and all.
-----------------------------------------------------
Rose awoke the next morning to a curt knock on their room's door. Figuring it was breakfast, she nudged the Doctor awake beside her. When he just shifted and went back to snoozing, she leaned over him and kissed him.
"Oi, sleeping beauty. Wake up."
Blearily squinting up at her, he frowned. "Enough with the princess jokes, please."
"No way. You are never living that down. I'm gonna get the room service at the door, so get up 'kay?"
Sliding off the bed, she padded across to the door and opened it. Sure enough, a robot with a rolling tray of breakfast food was standing there.
"Good morning, Miss. By your designation as an Earth visitor, I am required to wish you a Happy Christmas."
Rose smiled. "Thanks."
"Also, this is a memento of your stay. You may purchase more at the front desk when you checkout, but this one is complementary as part of the deluxe package."
The robot handed over a large envelope to Rose then and with a nod, rolled off towards the elevators. Curious as to what it was, she opened it up and had to repress a laugh.
It was similar to those novelty photos they gave you at amusement parks, those flattering images of you right as the roller coaster started its drop and the camera caught you screaming like an idiot. Except this one was something Rose knew she would cherish the rest of her life.
It was clearly snapped by a hidden camera when they were in the roleplay room, right at the moment they had kissed. This of course meant that Rose was still in her singed knight attire while the Doctor, in his princess finery, sat in her lap. The cardboard frame around it read "Dreams Do Come True" in fancy font.
"Dreams come true indeed," she murmured to herself, already plotting to purchase several more copies at checkout just incase the Doctor tried to destroy this one.
Sliding it back into the envelope just in time, Rose turned to see the Doctor bounding over to inspect their breakfast. After popping a strawberry into his mouth, he leaned over the tray and pecked a kiss on her lips.
"Happy Christmas, Rose," he said with a grin.
Grinning back, she daubed a bit of the whipped cream from the waffles onto his nose. "Happy Christmas to you too, Doctor."
Fandom: Doctor Who
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 4,098
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: [Post-Series 4] A Christmas TARDIS trip goes a bit awry when the two arrive at Hotel Fantasia.
Notes: For
haro.{Welcome to the Hotel Fantasia. You have been allotted the Fairytale Suite on floor three. Please enjoy your stay.}
They really should have known then, that things were not all that they seemed. But they remained happily oblivious, smiling and chatting as they took the key from the front desk's robot.
Taking the elevator down to the third floor, the Doctor rambled about the planet Bialya and its history.
"And that's when they entered the resort industry, planning to capitalize off their planet wide naturally white sand beaches and crystal blue waters. As you might have guessed from our room's name, it's a popular honeymoon destination for all of the Crevasse Galaxy and some neighboring galaxies."
Rose grinned, her tongue peaking out between her teeth. "So…for a Christmas gift you took me to a honeymoon locale? Should'a told mum that, she wouldnt'a been so fussed about us swanning off on Christmas Eve."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Wellll… it's not just for honeymoons."
"But it ain't no kid friendly place," Rose said, indicating a painting on the hallway wall of intertwined lovers. "Definitely a place for couples."
Standing to his full height and trying to look as serious and important as possible, the Doctor rounded on her. "If I was selecting honeymoon locations, Bialya would only be about ten on my list. The twin planets of Areis and Aphros, now that's where you'd take someone. We'll…have to go there sometime."
Smiling, Rose looped her arm through his. "I'll look forward to that."
The Doctor went back to rambling about technical developments in Bialya and Rose momentarily tuned him out. The whole morning had been a whirl of activity, starting when the Doctor nudged her awake and culminating in him taking her to their TARDIS and telling her he had somewhere he wanted to take her. Of course, Jackie hadn't taken it well, having gotten quite used to fussing over the Doctor and Rose on Christmas morning each year while their new TARDIS grew. Pete just wished them well and Tony begged the Doctor to bring him back something "cool and alien."
It would be their first Christmas adventure since their TARDIS finished growing to its working size over seven months earlier; the Doctor spending many of those first months testing it and getting the circuit broken back as a blue police box. He joked that it just felt wrong otherwise and Rose couldn't have agreed more.
This trip would also be their first test run of the psychic paper the Doctor had salvaged from an alien trunk that had popped out of the rift a few days earlier. The robots running the front desk didn't seem to find it suspicious at all when the Doctor used it as his form of payment, the paper earning them one of the hotel's deluxe suites without a second glance from the robotic staff.
But unbeknownst to either of them, their psychic paper had worked a bit too well…
-----------------------------------
When they reached the third floor, they were both perplexed to see only a wall with a single door in it.
"Guess the suite's pretty big, eh?"
"Deluxe suite, remember?" He replied, shaking his psychic paper at her. "Deluxe must mean we get an entire floor to ourselves. I was hoping it meant free room service, but we might rate that too. Oooh, do you think we'll have our own personal pool? I kind of miss my Olympic sized one in the TARDIS."
Rose giggled, prodding him in the arm. "You are just like a kid, you know that?"
The Doctor beamed. "Kid at Christmas, that's me. Go on now, this is your treat. You open the door."
Shouldering past him, Rose snorted. "Betcha just want to make sure you get the head start on running if there's something right ominous behind this."
"After that left hook you planted on the Gurlovian dictator last week…"
"He was getting a bit too friendly with me. That's all."
The Doctor reached down and clasped her hand. "It's odd, but you don't seem to mind me getting friendly with you."
She turned her head and pecked a kiss on his nose. "I only tolerate you. Remember that."
"Yes ma'am," he replied with a mock salute. Rose rolled her eyes.
"Oi, no saluting." He grinned even wider at that and her frown faded. "Right then, opening the door to either a quite nice suite or our imminent doom. Here goes."
The door swung open and the two just stared. The room seemed to be a vast open space that seemed far too large to fit inside the building they'd just entered, let alone able to be contained on a single floor of it. In the distance, they could see a large castle with a tall tower and near where they stood there was a forest. Before either of them could comment on their strange accommodations, a hunched over woman that was clearly supposed to be a witch appeared in front of them.
"Did she just…"
"Appear out of nowhere? Yeah, I think so."
The Doctor shrugged. "I guess they're taking the whole Fairytale Suite deal a bit literally. Hello there, I'm…"
"You there!" The witch pointed at Rose and a disembodied voice came from unseen speakers above. "I will not stand for maidens fairer than I. You will be punished for entering my kingdom."
The witch reached for what seemed to be a magic wand and the Doctor jumped in front of Rose. "Now hold it just a mo-"
But before he could finish, a spell shot out of the wand and both the Doctor and the witch disappeared. Rose looked behind her, out into the normal looking hotel hallway and then sighed.
"What've ya gotten us into this time, Doctor?"
The witch's voice, which Rose concluded was probably recorded and being played back, spoke again.
"Ha-ha-ha! I have taken your precious princess from you, noble knight. If you wish to see her again, you will have to fight against me. Come and rescue her at the tallest tower of my castle, if you dare."
Trailing off into yet another strain of cackling laughter, Rose noticed a white stallion appear in the forest to her right. Approaching it, she tentatively reached out to pet it.
When her hands met a solid horse, she smiled. "Then it's not all holograms. That or you're a very realistic one."
With a slight popping noise and a clatter, a pile of things dropped down next to the horse. Looking down at it, Rose could barely suppress a smirk. Clearly this whole suite was setup as a romantic roleplay for anyone who loved the stereotypical damsel-in-distress plot. And as Rose lifted up pieces of what was clearly shining armor, she burst out laughing.
"Oh this is just rich. That'll mean the Doctor is playing the damsel. Oooh, if he's dolled up in some sorta princess gown I am not letting him out of it 'till I get pictures on my cell phone." Fussing with the pieces of armor, she fitted on the chest plate and put the cloak on. Finally, she donned the plumed helmet and smiled up at the horse.
"I take it you're my white stallion for saving the damsel?"
Seeming to understand, the horse shook its head.
"Right. Then let's go rescue him."
----------------------------------------------
The Doctor's first stray thought was that finally there was some sort part of Bialya that seemed to be a bit Christmassy looking. (He by no means expected the far away planet to be decked with holly and Santas, but a little festive spirit wouldn't have hurt.) Problem being that he hadn't expected to be the one decked out in red and green.
Frowning down at the elaborate dress he'd been magicked into, he sighed, blowing up at his fringe of hair.
"Should've remembered that in the 4100s Bialya had that whole roleplay phase. Ah well. At least we didn't get the Love-Prison Suite; that would have been awkward." Shaking images of Rose in a Princess Leia Slave outfit out of his mind and figuring that with his current luck, he would have ended up in the outfit, the Doctor set about to figure out exactly what the situation was.
First, he glanced around at his surroundings; a circular room with a single window, all decorated with generic medieval furniture. On not being able to see much else from his seated position on the bed, he swung his legs over the edge and stood. As he moved to take a step forward, he stumbled on his petticoats and cursed.
"Oi, that's just not right!" He shouted down at his multilayered skirt. Holding it up away from his feet (which were thankfully still clad in his converse and not some pointed-toed, high-heeled monstrosity) he waddled over to the window.
"Hmm, any way down from here? Course not. This is all set up so the damsel just sits here and waits patiently for their prince to come." The Doctor smirked at that, "Oh I almost wish they'd gotten Rose now, she would have busted out of here so quickly and come storming down to me to ask what the hell I was thinking bringing us here."
A flicker of white caught his eye emerging from the faux forest and the Doctor had to grin.
"Rose in shining armor at twelve o'clock," he remarked, leaning out the window. "Rose! Over here!"
He could see her glance up at his voice and then he remembered the dress and turned to retreat into the room. But like before, he stumbled on his petticoats and went flailing down in a pile of red and green fabric.
Outside the window, the Doctor swore he heard Rose laughing.
--------------------------------
She couldn't help it. Really. As much as she'd thought how humorous it would be to see the Doctor in a princess gown, she hadn't really expected it to happen.
"Ooh I am so getting pictures of this," Rose murmured to her horse.
Jumping down from her noble steed, she shouted up at the window.
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your spiky hair."
"Ha ha." She could hear the Doctor sarcastically shoot back from inside.
"Or you know, anything else long and able to be climbed?"
"Rose…"
She sighed, knowing that tone of voice all too well. "What now?"
"They took my suit."
Rose snorted, imagining his sulky face as he realized he couldn't take off the dress unless he wanted to run around starkers, and the Doctor snapped.
"Oi! Watch it Earthgirl! My sonic screwdriver was in that suit. I just got setting 354 to work on it too; now I'll have to start all over on building it. And I'd worn that suit just for this trip! Felt silly going traveling in a shirt and jeans…"
"Doctor, I doubt this crazy hotel is gonna steal your clothes and never give 'em back. S'probably something that'll reappear when you're finished with the roleplay."
"Ah, so you figured that out?"
"That this is some mental roleplay for people who really need to get out more often? Yeah, that was pretty obvious when shining armor and a white stallion popped into existence next to me. So the sooner you throw something outta that window I can climb up, the faster you get your suit back."
The Doctor glanced around the room. "I've got sheets. But…"
"But what?" Rose asked, hands on her hips in a perfect Jackie Tyler impression.
"Err…I was considering the sheets to my current attire…"
Rose walked closer to the base of the tower, her armor clanking as she did so. "I've already seen ya in your pretty dress, so just fork over the sheets."
The silence went on for a few moments and Rose really wished she could see the mortified look on his face on realizing she'd seen him in a dress.
Finally, a tied rope fashioned out of sheets and curtains started creeping out the window ledge.
"That's a nice Don Quixote hat you've got, by the way."
Rose blinked, pulling off the plumed helmet and regarding it. "What?"
"Helmet of Mambrino, actually a barber's bowl with a chip outta it?"
Putting the now obviously bowl shaped hat back on her head, Rose frowned up at him. "Oh hush up, Marie Antoinette, and start climbing down."
The Doctor grimaced. "Can you, I don't know, look the other way or something?"
"'fraid I'm gonna look up your skirt?"
As the two glared at each other, a loud pop resounded from the base of the tower revealing the old witch again.
"I see you are attempting to rescue your princess, brave knight. But as I forewarned you, you will have to get through me first."
With copious amounts of smoke and lighting effects, the holographic witch morphed into a large black dragon. The Doctor, who was now perched on the ledge of the window, called out.
"Rose, I'm going to try and jump on it. Just stay back."
"I'm the knight here, princess poofy dress. Just sit there in your tower and let me handle it. Remember, mean left hook? And well, would you look at this?" She said, pulling out the sword that had just appeared hilted to her side, "They've even given me a sword."
"Now I'm worried for all our safety."
"Oi, I've seen you with a sword and you aren't no master. Just hush up and try to get more sheets or curtains or something, because your rope is rather short."
Seeing that Rose was indeed right about the length of the rope only reaching about half-way down the tower, the Doctor looked around the room for more cloth. Down below, Rose drew her sword and faced off against the dragon.
"Come on flame-breath; let's see what you've got!"
With a roar, the dragon twisted its slender body protectively around the tower. Twisting its long neck towards Rose, it belched out flame right at her. But Rose was used to this sort of adventure and quickly acted, pulling her cape up in front of her face and then tearing it away as it started to burn.
"You know this would really suck if I wasn't used to facing off against monsters every other day of the week. Is this thing on advanced mode or something?"
"It probably has a bio-emote detector," the Doctor explained, adding another sheet to his rope. "The dragon is equipped with a sensor to detect the fear and adrenaline of the person it is facing off against. And since, well, it got you. It's on the highest mode it'll go to."
As Rose used her sword to deflect the dragon's clawed hand that had come crashing down at her, she cursed. "So you're telling me if I was some wussy guy, this thing would go easy on me; but since I have some guts, it's out to fry me?"
The Doctor grinned, lounging as best he could in his dress on the window sill. "Well…I could help, but I'm supposed to sit here and wait patiently for my knight in shining armor to rescue me. Too bad really, because a well-aimed kick to this thing's head might do it in."
A determined glint flickered in her eyes as she stared down the dragon. "Okay big boy, get down here and face me."
As the dragon lunged for her, Rose took a running leap for her horse. Gripping the saddle, she cleared it as if it was a pummel horse in gymnastics; launching her feet right towards the dragon's head.
A swift kick to the head, as it turned out, only succeeded in angering the dragon further.
"What were you saying about a kick doing it in?" She asked, running quickly away from the scorching flames.
"It was worth a try."
Dodging another attempt by the dragon to bite off her ankles, Rose swiveled around and brought her sword down on its neck. This seemed to be the trick to turn the dragon off and the hologram flickered out of existence. From the tower above, Rose heard applause.
"Good show. Glad I put my money on the knight," the Doctor quipped.
Grinning up at him, Rose threw down her helmet near the smoldering remains of her cape. "You better have put it on the knight."
"Oh and Rose?"
"Hmm?"
"This is the longest I can get it. I'm guessing that the holographics are making the tower look taller than it is, so I'm just gonna climb down what I can and then jump."
Looking at the rope made of curtains, towels and sheets that only reached about ¾ of the way down, Rose warily replied. "I'm not sure Doctor..."
But before she could voice her opinion on the fact that holographics were probably supposed to make the damsel's hair grow out ala Rapunzel instead of the sheets being used, the Doctor had already started his descent.
As he reached the end of his rope, he glanced down around his billowing skirts. "Okay, jumping now!"
About mid-fall, both he and Rose seemed to realize that the tower was indeed as tall as it seemed. Hoping that between his many petticoats and her chest plate of armor that it wouldn't hurt too much, Rose rushed under him and held out her arms to catch him.
"Rose, get out of the way!"
"N'uh. Your skinny bum can't be that heavy."
"But the velocity of my fall, combined with the weight of this damned dress…" He never finished, his sentence being cut off as he hit with a 'ooof' into Rose's waiting arms.
Rose toppled under his weight, the two falling to the ground in a swirl of petticoats and displaced holographic grass.
"Nice catch," the Doctor remarked, pushing aside his skirts to find Rose's face.
"Nice boxers," she quipped, obviously getting a bit of a view under his petticoats.
"Hey now!"
The two mock glared at each other, finally caving and both breaking into peals of laughter.
"You look so ridiculous in that dress," Rose stammered between giggles.
"And you with the bowl on your head," the Doctor retorted.
Struggling a bit around the vast amount of fabric that seemed to make up the dress, Rose managed to sit up with the Doctor seated in her lap. "You see now why I won't just sit still and wait for you to do something?"
He leaned his forehead in to rest against hers. "Yeah. Bit of a bore actually, that sitting and waiting business."
"And honestly, this dress must weight a ton because you sure as hell don't."
"Oi. Part-Time Lord metabolism. Not my fault."
Leaning her face in closer, Rose whispered, "So fair princess, do I get a reward for my daring rescue of you?"
The Doctor snorted. "Welllll, I think I can manage something."
And closing the remaining distance between them, he kissed her tenderly; Rose reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair as they deepened the kiss. Around them, the holographic world disappeared; leaving them in their normal clothes in a nice but very normal hotel room. But at that moment, they were a bit too preoccupied to care.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Doctor was, of course, pleased to find himself back in his suit; the sonic screwdriver safely in his pocket. Rose, on the other hand, was a bit miffed that she'd not managed to snag a picture of the Doctor in his dress.
Trying to distract Rose from the fact she hadn't gotten such a picture, the Doctor went over to the wall and pointed out the dial that was embedded there.
"Rose, look at this."
Above the dial read 'Bedroom Décor' and there was five different options you could turn the dial to. The current reading was for 'standard,' but the other four were definitely carrying through on the room's theme.
"Hmm, so what should we go for? Forest Cottage?"
"Sounds too full of dwarves."
"Slumbering Castle?"
"After fighting that dragon, I'm not keen on dealing with any more castles."
"A Thousand and One Dreams?"
"Doesn't the bloke wanna kill the girl in that until she distracts him?"
"Ah yeah, might get a bit messy. And the last one is: Mermaid Grotto."
His eyes seemed to light up with a childlike excitement at this one and Rose sighed in resignation. "Fine, but if we end up underwater I am not forgiving you."
Twisting the dial around, and getting quick glimpses of the options they'd vetoed as they did so, they arrived on the Mermaid Grotto. The whole room settled; the walls now painted an ocean blue and the décor definitely reflecting an under-the-sea feel.
"Rose, the bed!"
He was halfway to it by the time she looked, noticing the elaborate waterbed in the center of the room.
"It's got real fish in it!"
Shaking her head at his exuberance, Rose yawned. "Okay, this knight needs her beauty sleep. Did we bring anything to change into?"
The Doctor frowned, then jumped up off the bed and raced over to the drawers. Opening them up, he exclaimed. "Aha, thought so! Deluxe suites usually provide."
Handing over a white nightie to her that was adorned with seashells; the Doctor took the pyjamas covered in little fish for himself. Setting aside her clothes and pulling it on, Rose crawled onto the waterbed and stretched.
"Next time you take me somewhere as a Christmas gift, let me know ahead of time if there's a chance of dragons."
The bed sank down as the Doctor's weight was added to it, his arms sliding around her waist and pulling her close.
"Aw, but it was a bit fun. Much safer than our usual adventures. Sort of like the Land of Fiction, but without the crazy guy and master brain manipulating everything."
Snuggling up against him, Rose smiled. "Land of Fiction?"
She could feel him smile against her temple, "Oh yes. Went there ages ago back during my second incarnation. Met Rapunzel there, ironically."
And as the Doctor told her of his adventure, Rose rested her head against his chest and drifted off to a peaceful sleep. It had been a wonderful Christmas Eve, dragons and all.
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Rose awoke the next morning to a curt knock on their room's door. Figuring it was breakfast, she nudged the Doctor awake beside her. When he just shifted and went back to snoozing, she leaned over him and kissed him.
"Oi, sleeping beauty. Wake up."
Blearily squinting up at her, he frowned. "Enough with the princess jokes, please."
"No way. You are never living that down. I'm gonna get the room service at the door, so get up 'kay?"
Sliding off the bed, she padded across to the door and opened it. Sure enough, a robot with a rolling tray of breakfast food was standing there.
"Good morning, Miss. By your designation as an Earth visitor, I am required to wish you a Happy Christmas."
Rose smiled. "Thanks."
"Also, this is a memento of your stay. You may purchase more at the front desk when you checkout, but this one is complementary as part of the deluxe package."
The robot handed over a large envelope to Rose then and with a nod, rolled off towards the elevators. Curious as to what it was, she opened it up and had to repress a laugh.
It was similar to those novelty photos they gave you at amusement parks, those flattering images of you right as the roller coaster started its drop and the camera caught you screaming like an idiot. Except this one was something Rose knew she would cherish the rest of her life.
It was clearly snapped by a hidden camera when they were in the roleplay room, right at the moment they had kissed. This of course meant that Rose was still in her singed knight attire while the Doctor, in his princess finery, sat in her lap. The cardboard frame around it read "Dreams Do Come True" in fancy font.
"Dreams come true indeed," she murmured to herself, already plotting to purchase several more copies at checkout just incase the Doctor tried to destroy this one.
Sliding it back into the envelope just in time, Rose turned to see the Doctor bounding over to inspect their breakfast. After popping a strawberry into his mouth, he leaned over the tray and pecked a kiss on her lips.
"Happy Christmas, Rose," he said with a grin.
Grinning back, she daubed a bit of the whipped cream from the waffles onto his nose. "Happy Christmas to you too, Doctor."
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