coimiceoir (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coimiceoir) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thoughtformed2013-07-04 07:27 pm
coimiceoir) wrote in thoughtformed2013-07-04 07:27 pm
Entry tags:
[Video/Private to Doktor]
[The video clicks on to a familiar pale face looking rather upset.]
Múinteoir, something's wrong. She's not getting better, and I don't know what to do. I am no healer...
[She whirls, her hair lashing the lens, to scamper into the wolf den. The narrow tunnel opens into a wide, shallow, low-roofed cave of sorts, the light from her screen just enough to make out the shapes of Banríon curled around her youngest daughter. The pup is from the most recent litter, the smallest of the three, and she... doesn't look good. Her mother is cleaning her fur, but she's thin and bedraggled and shivering, but panting as though she's overheated. When Aisling touches the little one's face, her eyes open, but they're glazed and glassy. She barely responds when the sprite tries to get her to drink some water. Finally she drinks a few drops by licking the water from Aisling's fingers before letting her head fall back to the dust, clearly exhausted.
Banríon whines softly, nosing her daughter and then looking beseechingly to Aisling, who looks extremely troubled. Taking up her phone again, she creeps outside, speaking low.]
I would be grateful if you might come see her. Please, I have done all I can. I don't think this is natural.
Múinteoir, something's wrong. She's not getting better, and I don't know what to do. I am no healer...
[She whirls, her hair lashing the lens, to scamper into the wolf den. The narrow tunnel opens into a wide, shallow, low-roofed cave of sorts, the light from her screen just enough to make out the shapes of Banríon curled around her youngest daughter. The pup is from the most recent litter, the smallest of the three, and she... doesn't look good. Her mother is cleaning her fur, but she's thin and bedraggled and shivering, but panting as though she's overheated. When Aisling touches the little one's face, her eyes open, but they're glazed and glassy. She barely responds when the sprite tries to get her to drink some water. Finally she drinks a few drops by licking the water from Aisling's fingers before letting her head fall back to the dust, clearly exhausted.
Banríon whines softly, nosing her daughter and then looking beseechingly to Aisling, who looks extremely troubled. Taking up her phone again, she creeps outside, speaking low.]
I would be grateful if you might come see her. Please, I have done all I can. I don't think this is natural.
[Video]
Keep calm, I'll be right there! [Through the video, it is obvious that he has started moving very quickly, and a moment later the TARDIS doors can be heard to creak open and there's a loud crash just as the video shuts off.]
[Action]
[Action]
Come on, come on! Please...
[I hope he can fit into the cave, tall, lanky thing that he is, because she yanks him over and only releases him when she needs to crouch a little and scramble in.]
[Action]
He then reaches down down to the cub, placing a hand under her head and peering into her eyes for several moments before gently prodding and feeling the head, chest, stomach. Eyes still wide, he unconsciously licks his lips while he pulls back and scans her with the sonic, then flicks it and looks at the sonic, reading the results. He puts it away and speaks to Aisling in a low voice, already digging in his kit.]
It looks like she had a fever, and also ate some human thing with a lot of xylitol in it - to them, it's a sugar substitute, but it's very poisonous to canines. I'll need to perform a dextrose injection, with extra fluids and some added liver protectants.
[He's already mixing something in a vial of clear liquid. He takes a moment to growl at Banríon to let her know what he's doing and then calms the pup, stroking her side and making soothing noises. Then, he quickly but carefully reaches down and presses something that vaguely resembles a mix between a syringe and a toy gun to her neck for several moments, the fluid in the vial quickly disappearing. The pup stirs and whines, but he holds her steady till the mixture is gone.
He turns to Aisling.] All right, now she needs to eat something with a lot of potassium and preferably some glucose in it. Mashed up fruit, perhaps? Particularly bananas. Bananas are good.
[Action]
Her eyes reflect light with a bright green flash as she looks up at him. Bananas. Oh! Loki showed her one once. Nodding solemnly, she's gone. Just a pale blur vanishing from the cave. Banríon noses the Doctor's hand gently and resumes bathing her baby. They don't have long to wait.
Ten minutes, perhaps, pass, and she's back, burdened with several bunches of bananas. They don't grow naturally in this climate, so she must have gotten them from a store somewhere, but that certainly wasn't enough time to have bought them properly... Regardless, she's here now, kneeling and gently pulling the pup into her lap. The little creature leans into her, drawing strength from her proximity. Even as small as she is, her puppy feet and tail overflow Aisling's lap as the sprite hoists her into a better position for feeding. Aisling has her hands full and none to spare for the actual feeding portion of this. Beseechingly, she raises a drawn and slightly abstracted face to the Doctor.]
The skin of the fruit... Is it necessary? I can grant her more energy, but I don't know how well her teeth will handle not-meat.
[Action]
He gives Aisling a gentle smile as she pulls the pup into her lap, already peeling a banana. He'd drop in to the closest grocery store later and pay for the bananas.] The skin isn't necessary. And I can mash it up a little, so she won't have to chew much at all.
[Breaking off a portion of the banana, he mashes it up a little with his hands, reducing it to more like a paste, before bringing it down to the pup. He slowly and patiently feeds it to her, at first only managing to have her to lick it off his hands. Gradually, she starts taking larger bites of the mush. Eleven continues until she's finished a banana and a half, then sets them aside.]
That's enough for now. If she just rests now, she should be fine - I'll stay close by, though, just in case. And we should feed her another banana or two in the morning.
[Action]
Deep evening shrouds the world without, the fireflies beginning to test their lamps beneath the trees and the very first stars peeping out from their mother's mantle. Some part of Aisling is aware of it, and she allows herself a moment of deep-rooted connection, spreading herself over her kingdom to check on its health and growth. With the pup already recovering, a weight lifts, a dark spot lightening to a more natural hue.
She takes a deep breath and comes back to the nearer at hand. Turning, she extends a pale hand toward her friend in a request for a chance to hold his hand.]
You've saved her. Already she's better than she was! How can I repay you? Nothing is worth her life, aonair críonna.
[Wise one. For a moment age and great knowledge rest on her, wrapping her like a cloak. She seems taller, almost. Older, certainly.]
[Action]
He takes in a deep breath, feeling much more calm and relaxed than usual - seemingly a trend in Aisling's company, and out here in the forest. Perhaps it is a side effect of being trapped on the island, without constant travel and terror and crises. Either way, though it took him a while to admit it to himself, this was... nice.
He glances at his young friend, a broad and very warm smile slowly spreading over his entire face, and he takes her hand in his. When he speaks, his voice is slow and soft.]
You owe me nothing, rún beag. This is what I do. What I am here for. I am the Doctor.
[He sees her before him, wise and fair and old, gleaming in the moonlight. The little fey he had slowly come to think of as family. His smile doesn't visibly change, still warm and gentle, but the weight and age and knowledge of a thousand years is suddenly clear behind his eyes.
He realizes suddenly that he does think of her as family, and that is because he can see much of himself, much of the ancient and mighty time lords of old in her. Wise and fair and powerful, old beyond human comprehension. His kinship to her extends beyond words. And there is both pain and gladness in his heart as he discovers he has truly found kin again, though he had stopped himself from realizing it. He closes his eyes a moment and his smile becomes knowing as he understands what he's been hiding from himself, and what he's inevitably about to do next.]
[Action]
This man was more than a man. A hero, worthy of song in the way that so few were, and she would not be surprised to find that there were in fact songs written of his exploits among other clans. She was no bard, but she would have to do her best. Perhaps she would speak to the Once-ler about it. If he would speak to her. She discards the idea for now, refocusing on the present. Something has revealed itself to her companion, that much is clear. She won't push, but curiosity is a weakness of hers. Her hair swings as she tilts her head, watching and waiting to see if he'll explain what he's thinking about.]
[Action]
You are my family, deirfiúr bheag, little sister... [He slowly reaches into his jacket pocket. After bringing it back out, he slowly uncurls his fist, revealing a small, golden key.] This is for you.
[Action]
The key, though, was a surprise, and she was slow to take it, gently lifting it to let it lie in her own palm, strangely weighty for such a small object. It gleamed invitingly, and she looked up from it solemnly.]
What is it for?
[Action]
[Action]
It was a great gift she had just been given. Access to his home, his... his consort, almost. Certainly his sanctum - the place where he felt safe and comfortable, where none but him and his closest companions were allowed without his express permission. And even then, it was an honor only bestowed on a very, very few. She reminded herself to breathe, pressing both hands over the key and feeling it warm against the skin just below her throat.
She couldn't break the tension and the silence. So instead she nods, slowly, deliberately, bending her knees in the curtsy of a girl to a king. She holds it, bowing her head, for a long moment before raising her eyes and straightening, making bold enough to reach out and gently capture his hand. Raising it to her lips, she catches his eyes and deliberately presses her lips to the place where a signet ring would lie. A close alliance between their clans. The last survivors, lonely and quiet in their power and responsibility.]
[Action]
They still bore their burdens, the power and responsibility of their races, their clans. But now, at least a little, they bore them together. She was not timelord, and he was not fey - but they were one clan nevertheless. Bound more closely than any allies. A relationship that was at once vast and encompassing and incomprehensible, while at the same time it was small and personal and the simplest and most natural thing in the world.]
[Action]
With Jack she could be a child, and trust that he would do his best to keep her safe, to play with her, to understand what it meant when they lost someone. But the Captain sometimes had a harder time seeing her as older. As Other than Human. And why should he? He was only human himself. She didn't blame him for that. He was as close to her Father and King as she had ever met. And she loved him for it.
But it meant that, while she could be herself, whole and entire, with Captain, she often didn't want to. She didn't want to disappoint him, or remind him of the things which he couldn't control. With the Doctor, she could hardly forget that part of her. They were so alike sometimes. And even under all their seriousness, and the weight of their natures, they still had time to play. To be friends as much as scions of races lost to time. And now, family.
Aisling smiled, rubbing her cheekbone along his shoulder with deep affection before standing up on tiptoes to murmur in his ear.]
She is beautiful, your TARDIS, and I will treat her well, you have my word, deartháir. We will all take care of each other.
[Action]
He closed his eyes for a moment, face smiling and bittersweet, as he let a tear roll down his cheek.] I could ask for nothing more.
[Action]