for magicalskeptic: A trip to the ocean

[rude_not_ginger]

"You wanted an ocean, have I got an ocean for you."

The Doctor darted around the console and scooped his jacket up from where it hung on one of the TARDIS pillars. He absolutely loved this bit. The first trip to an alien world with someone who didn't even believe in other worlds until now. Very little was more exciting.

"Now! We've got breathable atmosphere, low radiation, and a beautiful summer day. The waters of the Greeio Malgoon are purple in the summer, which is when they're the warmest and the safest. I'd have taken you to them in the winter when they're blue, but the water's acid content gets a bit high and ends up spewing out strange creatures with eyes that shoot lasers. Green lasers, they disintegrate you without much warning. Very technicolor world, the Greeo Malgoon."

He shrugged. "Still! In the summer, peak of tourist season, it's the most brilliant place for a visit."

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[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana is not one to flake out in a crisis, and she doesn't here either.

Once inside the building, she pulls away from the Doctor, and heads back to the door.

It's fumbling, as she's still not used to it, and can't be certain that what she has will work, but tries her might-be-a-screwdriver to try and lock the door.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor grins at her reaction, and grins even wider when he hears the lock click into place.

"Brilliant," he says. He offers her his hand again. "Come on, let's get downstairs. If there's an actual air raid, I don't want to be on the upper level of a glass building, do you?"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Despite everything else, Morgana's willing to give him lenience here, and takes it. Any implication she might be justifying, would be unwise.

And, of course, a question that is perfectly rational to her. "How can we be attacked from the sky." Although, the logic, if such a thing were possible, to be out of the way of any falling glass, is unimpeachable.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, variety of ways. But here, I don't know. All the light on this planet comes from the ground, they'd need incredible power to move past the Dark Star," the Doctor says. He leads her down a dark corridor to what appears, to the Doctor, to be a set of stairs.

"Down here. Least until the sirens die out."

A few steps down, however, and he finds himself waist-deep in what feels like very thick water.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

She's following, as she has no better ideas, at the moment. That moment of not having any better ideas changes as soon as her feet hit water. Morgana's managed to say a step or two behind the Doctor.

"Doctor?" She picks up her foot, and it is like the water, but not water is sticking to her foot. She looks down and says, very slowly. "Doctor, the water here is supposed to be purple."

Whatever she's looking at is either black, or really dark red, and she does not want to know which.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, and it's not supposed to feel like this, either," the Doctor agrees. He reaches one hand down to the water and raises it up, the water sticks to his skin and stains it.

"Whatever this is---"

He goes rigid and his eyes go wide.

"Morgana, stay away from the water."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

"Doctor, my feet are already in the water." It's not an admonishment, it's an acknowledgement of whatever situation they are in, they are both in it.

And Morgana still has his hand. "I think you need to come back towards me."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I can't," the Doctor says, and his voice shakes just the slightest bit as he tells her this.

"Because something has hold of my leg."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana has to hold back the immediate urge to ask him what he means by that, even though it is a ridiculous, and superfluous question. Instead she takes a breath and asks something that could be more useful.

"Which leg?" She may not sound overly calm, but she's trying.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"The right one," the Doctor says. "And I think it's wrapping itself around---"

He lets go of her hand to reach for his sonic, but the moment he does, he lets out a startled yelp and proceeds to splash into the sludgy water.

"It's pulling!"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Instead of going back up the stairs, she takes another step down. The ocean did not ruin her dress, but this will, not that it matters, at the moment. She's now knee-deep in whatever this is.

Morgana grabs a hold what she can reach -- in this case, his left arm. It takes a lot of her strength to keep the grip.

"I have you. Where is your -- sonic?" It will always be a might-be-a-screwdriver to her.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He grips onto her arm, though part of him is worried he'll end up dragging her under, too. The tentacle creature is strong, and even with his might and Morgana's might, he still feels himself losing grip.

"Right breast pocket!" he cries. He slips again, and he winds up on his knees with one leg being pulled through the muck. He struggles to keep his head above the water.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

She tightens her fingers into the material of the Doctor's coat with one hand, while Morgana used the other to fish into the the pocket of the the Doctor's coat. She nearly loses her balance while doing so but --

"I have it. How do I make this," she does not know the correct vocabulary, "dangerous?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor goes under the water, then pulls himself back up.

"Setting 8.56B!" he cries. "And aim for the middle of the water!"

It's not a small creature, the Doctor can tell, and he doesn't want her to hit him.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana had to let go of his coat, just for a second, to change the setting, when he's pulled under, inducing her first moment of true panic throughout this whole misadventure.

When the Doctor resurfaces, she reaches out and grabs him with her left hand, and points his might-be-a-screwdriver with his right.

She wants to close her eyes, but her training -- with fencing and a bow and arrow (the latter of which she is nowhere near as talented with as the former) stops her. When she presses the button, the whine is similar to the first time she saw it -- and the exploding rock which was terrifying at the time, but nowhere near as frightening as right now, if this does not work.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

There's a roar, and the tentacle around his leg releases suddenly. The creature surfaces, something huge and many-legged, and then dives down, frightened and injured. The Doctor is propelled forward, and he uses it to dash out of the liquid.

The moment he's free of it, he turns to Morgana and, without warning or worry of propriety, hugs her.

"That was brilliant," he says.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana is perfectly fine with propriety not being the first thing on everyone's mind, at the moment, and she hugs him back tightly, as they're crowded on the the stairs, just out of the brackish liquid. She's still holding on to his might-be-a-screwdriver.

What she says was the thought that ruled her actions -- it was something the Doctor said to her elsewhere. "It's a tool, but so is a hammer."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He lets out a small laugh. He pulls back to look down at her. She just saved his life, and that's not something he plans to forget. He's so relieved he could probably kiss her, but there's a lack of propriety in a hug and then there's a kiss, and a kiss is far beyond even his sense of propriety.

"That it is," he says. "And you were brilliant."

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana looks at him for a moment, feeling far more upset and shaky than she was in the middle of the crisis. Without thinking, she reaches out and places a hand on his cheek, gently rubbing with her thumb, and smiles weakly. The Doctor is fine, and she will be in a moment, so she tries to think practically.

"I think we need to find somewhere else to wait out the siren."

That was practical, right? It is certainly more practical than what she does next, which is lean forward and hug him again.

Propriety will be back in just another minute.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Practical doesn't matter, he appreciates the hug and wraps his arms around her tightly. So much for one simple, easy holiday to the ocean. He closes his eyes and gives himself one moment to just indulge in this hug, though. Just a moment to be glad to be alive.

Then, the water bubbles as the creature resurfaces.

"Yeah," he says. "I think an air raid's safer than being in here. Come on!"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Once releases, Morgana nods, instead of saying anything, and follows the Doctor up the stairs, back into the lobby of the large glass building. She might be imagining it, but she thinks she can still hear the water bubbling.

Morgana?

It's the same voice from before, and Morgana, for a moment has the same reaction, turning towards it.

No, it was not real last time and she did not fall for it the first time. Instead, she confirms a theory.

"Doctor, did you hear something just then?"

She's still holding his might-be-a-screwdriver.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," the Doctor says, thinking he understands her words. "Nothing. The air raid sirens must've shut off. I don't know why, though. Do they want us to go outside? Or do they want us to think we're safe in here?"

He leads the way towards another staircase, this one leading up.

"Come on," he says. "Let's get a better view of this city, shall we?"

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Now, she is feeling more like herself, and one of the things she dislikes most about the Doctor, is that he assumes everyone is always on the same page -- his. Of course, that frustration can be found in any one of the men in Morgana's life.

Thus, Morgana's voice, as she follows the Doctor, does not sound like the awe-filled one on the beach, or the shaky ones a few moments ago. This one sounds distinctly wry. That's Morgana, as long as no one's in immediate danger, she can adjust fairly quickly.

"So you did not hear a TARDIS again, like before? Because I heard my name again." If she took a moment (she won't) she would find her not being upset at the thought of hearing voices, almost amusing.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

He looks back to her. "That boy again?" he asks. "Where was it coming from?"

Whatever is making the noise must want her for some reason. Whatever reason it is, the Doctor doesn't know. Or maybe it's trying a different wavelength, one the Doctor isn't on.

[magicalskeptic.livejournal.com]

Morgana tries to discern exactly where the voice might be coming from -- but it was so much simpler out in the street. She hears her name again, louder, more insistent, and it ignoring its summons takes a great deal of her willpower.

The one thing that helps -- the absolute certainty that she's being played.

"Down there." She points down a corridor. Her annoyance at these games whatever it is is playing is evident in her voice. "It wants my attention. I do not think we should give it such."