FIC - The Amazing Team TARDIS 4/4
Dec. 21st, 2007 07:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsTitle: The Amazing Team TARDIS 4/4
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
neadods
Written for:alilamba
Rating: PG
Summary: When the Doctor, Jack, and Rose think they're freeing a slave, they end up in the middle of the universe's biggest reality game show.
Betas:dark_aegis, mechturtle, maureen_the_mad, and persiflage_1
Disclaimer: This is not a licensed BBC tie-in. Doctor Who, Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, and the TARDIS all property of the BBC.
Part 3
CHAPTER FOUR – "SHE'S OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE THAT!"
The flagship store had been emptied of all but service people and monitor balls when they arrived, but it seemed as if everyone who would normally be shopping was lining the street instead. There was polite applause when the Doctor slid out of the car, but it turned to loud applause, mixed with gasps and even a couple of shrieks, when Rose slid out.
"She is! She's actually out in public like that!" Rose heard a woman shouting into a mobile phone as she darted through the door to safety.
Waiting for them was a group of women, headed by an amazon who was strapped, buckled, and studded within an inch of her life. "How daring! How bold! Make a note, darling," she muttered to an assistant. "Next season, cutouts for the knees. I shall make the knee dimple the new cleavage! You!" She advanced on Rose, who had to fight the urge to step back. "You will make me even more rich and famous. Your style! Your innovation! You, I shall make a star. Everyone will look at you and see the most beautiful gowns. They will forget all about this little faux pas." She waved a languid hand at the two men without a glance in their direction. "You two, my assistants will handle."
"I like what I've got on, thanks," the Doctor said.
"As you wish. Edmina, Rasino, you help the other gentleman. This lady, she - she is mine!" Rose found herself being towed away by a hand hard and strong enough to belong on a robot. "I shall put you in purple! No, blue! Blue to match your young man's eyes. Or perhaps the other one is your man? No matter. His eyes are blue as well, yes?"
"Ye - He's not - they're not-" Rose grasped for one concept to cling to in the tide of words. "Pink. I want a pink dress."
"Pink? How three years ago."
"Pink. If you're that good, you can do it."
"There is nothing I cannot do." The woman turned to the monitor that was following them. "Go. Go and let them show you the latest collection. I have things to discuss with our winner. I come show you later."
The monitor bobbed.
"GO!"
It went. As soon as it was out of range, the woman turned to Rose. "There is pink. It was too simple, too plain for the latest collection. I would not insult you so. A woman such as you, so brave, so bold! You should have no less than fifteen buckles on your dress." The woman's voice suddenly turned wry. "Perhaps that would curb your tendency to strip in public."
"Pink. One buckle."
The woman gasped. "Never! Never would I make a woman wear such a disgraceful rag! Ten."
"Two."
"Eight."
"Three."
"Bah, I grow tired of this. Four. Take it or leave it. There are four on the pink gown." She turned to screech down the hall. "Bernina! Have they thrown out that pink mistake yet? The crazy stripper insists on seeing it."
"Oi!"
"Oi? What is this oi? This grunt is what people will say when they see you in that thing. Look at it! What will they say of me?"
For a moment, Rose couldn't say anything. It was beautiful. What was too plain by this world's standards was daring without being outrageous by hers. She could have her pick of clubs in that dress.
She could have her pick of men in that dress.
"They'll say it's simply elegant," Rose said, moving forward for a closer look.
"Elegant. Simply elegant." The woman was turning the words over, examining them as if she'd examine a hem. "Perhaps. Perhaps it is time for a change, yes? No more of the more, more, more! A time for less. A time for…"
"A time to see the woman under all the stuff," Rose said. She touched it reverently. The fabric felt as soft as flannel, but it shone like silk. There were, as advertised, only four straps on it; in a dark rose color contrasting with the bright baby pink. One strap buckled around the neck, making a mandarin color that held up the halter top. One strap ran right under the breasts, outlining and supporting them. One tucked in the waist, and the last one was set low on the hips, just above a miniskirt made of separate panels of pink. The mannequin had tights the same rose color as the straps. Beside it on the platform were baby pink stilettos, little more than a sole held on with crisscrosses of rhinestone-studded pink. She walked around it, to see that the buckles had matching stones.
"Hey," Rose said. "It buckles in the back. How do you get out of it?"
"Not alone, darling. That's how you get out of it. The people who wear my creations? They have maids." The woman leaned in. "Or they have boyfriends. Are you sure those young men of yours aren't yours?"
Rose blushed.
"So, getting out will not be a problem after all, yes? So we see about getting you in."
The woman might not have been convinced, but Rose loved it all the more when it was on. It was surprisingly comfortable despite all the straps. And the shoes - Rose wanted those shoes more than anything she had ever wanted to own. Like the dress, they were pulled to a comfortable, custom fit.
"If you must, you must." The woman sighed with aggravation.
"I must." Rose sighed with delight as she smoothed down the panels of the skirt.
***
It was hard to keep a straight face when the woman announced her "bold new plan for fashion, a return to elegant simplicity so you can see the wearer and not the clothing" when Rose returned to the main hall, but the glazed looks on the Doctor's and Jack's faces were well worth it. The Doctor was still in his usual jumper, jeans, and jacket, but Jack had changed into the tight pants of this colony, which made Rose's mouth water just looking at him.
"You look beautiful," Hanro said. Rose had expected him to turn up - but she hadn't expected to see chains in his hands when she turned to look at him.
"All the teams have returned," Hanro said formally, speaking to a monitor instead of her. "It is time for the second Ultimate Trust Challenge."
"Right now?" Rose squeaked.
"Right now."
The Doctor and Jack were flanking her. "What is this challenge, then?" the Doctor demanded.
"The two of you will guide her through an obstacle course. Again, there will be no speaking, no touching, no physically leading. Each of you will have guide canes. And she will have… handicaps."
"Such as?" Jack asked darkly.
"She will be blindfolded and hooded as you were. Her arms will be chained behind her - not cuffed wrist to wrist, but enough to limit their use. And there will be these." Hanro held up what looked like two little figure 8s in leather.
"What're those?" Rose asked.
"Shoe locks. As much as everyone appreciated the show this morning, you cannot gain an advantage by removing your shoes."
"Oh." Rose tried to sound nonchalant and hoped her face didn't show that she had intended to do exactly that.
"Rose?" the Doctor asked quietly.
"Let's do it," was the answer.
The shoe locks went on first, one loop going around her ankle and the other around her instep. With a tiny click, the shoes were on. Rose was still wondering how she felt about that - in other circumstances, it might be agreeably kinky - when they gently pulled her arms behind her. The wrist cuffs were soft. When they were through, she found that she had just enough chain to stretch out one arm or the other - but not both at the same time.
"Not so bad," she told Jack and the Doctor.
"Do we have a chance to work out signals like last time?" the Doctor wanted to know.
"No."
"But - "
Hanro was looking at her. "How well do you understand these men? How much do you trust them?"
"With my life," Rose said simply.
The hood - part hat and part blindfold - wasn't uncomfortable either, although Rose found herself straining to try to see through it. She stood there, in a suddenly dark and muffled world, her mind racing to try to make sense of signals that weren't there. How long had she been standing there? What would it feel like when she was tapped? Would she understand the signals? Could she do it? She was suddenly aware of the four straps of her dress pressing against her body, touch being the only sense of use to her.
From out of the void, something thin and hard slid up and down the back of her left hand reassuringly. A moment later, something else tapped into her right palm. She almost curled her fingers around it, stopping just in time, afraid it would be considered "leading." Jack and the Doctor were there on either side of her.
A very gentle poke in the small of her back. Rose walked slowly forward, sweeping the toe of her new shoes ahead of her to try to find the way. She walked right into a stick held horizontally against her gut and stopped. There was a rush of air, and through the hood she could hear applause. The arena. They were back in the arena. Was she running the course alone, or were the other teams there? There had been time for them to come back while she'd been playing dress up.
Poke. She stepped forward. She wanted to move normally, walk as fast as she could, but her head just wouldn't let her. After a couple of steps, the stick to her left touched the back of her left shoulder and pushed, while the stick to her right touched the front of her right shoulder and pushed. She twisted, one foot up, confused, then realized they must want her to turn. Carefully placing her feet so she knew where she was, she turned a quarter turn to the right.
Tap. Back of left shoulder, front of right shoulder. Not pushing this time. Did that count as leading? She turned harder. Had she gone too far? Was this right? She couldn't tell. The audience was just a dull roar, like wind in the trees.
Tap behind her left knee. She raised the foot. Tap behind her left ankle. She extended the foot. Tap across the top of her foot. As she put it back down, she felt the back of her heel graze something. Little hurdles? Logs? She couldn't tell. Did it matter? She very carefully raised her right foot high and brought it down beside her left.
A quick sweep of the stick against the back of her hand. Then they were tapping her feet again. Another hurdle. A third. Turn to the left.
A tap to the back of her right ankle. As she lifted her foot, a tap against her sole. What? What did he want? Higher? A tap against the heel. As she started to put the foot back down in place, a harder tap against the sole. What did it mean? Up but not down? Up but – tap against the heel – OH! Up and forward while up. What? Why?
Her foot came down on a stair step.
Tap on the back of the left ankle. Step number two.
She wasn't afraid, not the slightest bit. Nothing bad would happen to her. She was safe with the Doctor and Jack. Her heart was pounding, but she was excited, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. It was the weirdest sensation, a sort of Zen because she had nothing to think about - but at the same time, her mind was running full speed trying to interpret the signals. She just had to concentrate and obey, but it wasn't a docile, brainless sort of obedience. It was up to her to figure out what to do and do it.
Over hurdles. Up a flight of stairs. Something across a narrow path – there were little taps against the outside of each foot until she walked heel-to-toe in a straight line. Turn left. Turn right. Turn left again. A slalom? Duck under something.
It was getting easier. She was more used to the shoes, the straps of the dress, the tapping sticks – even the chain that rubbed across her back. She was getting confident now, moving more quickly. When her feet touched a ramp, she went up it almost as fast as she would have normally.
But suddenly, the light slap against the stomach that meant stop. There was a long pause where nothing touched her at all, and Rose wondered if she was left adrift in the dark. Where were they? Why had they stopped? Without them to guide her, it was up to herself. Rose cautiously slid a toe further up the ramp. There wasn't anything in front of her. She put that foot down and felt the board she was standing on shift. Instantly there was a stick against her chest urging her back, while another wouldn't let her lift the foot.
And suddenly, without any input from the Doctor or Jack, she knew. Of course! The card was the clue, like it had been for Jack. Like a child's drawing of a see-saw. She must be standing on a see-saw, right by the fulcrum. They must have stopped because they didn't know how to tell her what to expect, and now they were trying to tell her not to shift her weight.
Sod that! She'd figured it out! Experimentally, Rose leaned forward.
Her right foot swung down, her left foot swung up, and she was riding the board as it tilted. No problems!
Until the other end slammed to the ground and rebounded. Rose writhed and skittered along the bucking board, her balance completely gone between the blindness and the heels. She couldn't even throw out both arms to compensate; every time she tried she just pulled against the chains, and as the board shuddered beneath her, her brain couldn't override her body and choose an arm to extend.
Then all of a sudden, it was over. With one heel over the edge and several muscles in her back pulled, the board had stopped moving and she had precarious balance again. Slowly, carefully, she straightened up and got both feet back under her and back on the now downward-sloping surface.
The audience was going crazy with applause and whistles as Rose paused to get her breath back. Was it for her? Or had someone else completed the course? Had they done all this only for her to lose in the end?
She could feel something rhythmically touching one arm, almost as if… as if someone in a heavy leather jacket was standing so close that the lapels touched her as he breathed. Rose reached in the opposite direction and for a millisecond she felt something warm before Jack shifted away.
They were right there. She was okay.
Time to finish this!
Rose swept her toes along the board as she guided herself to the ground. Just as her feet were on the flat again, something passed by her chest, fast as a striking snake. Rose leaned back, but a pair of sticks tapped her forward. Five steps, and the audience screamed. Rose couldn't tell if it was delight or horror. It was just loud.
"Before you take off the hood," Hanro suddenly said in her ear, "are you willing to do one more test for extra points?"
Rose shrugged and nodded.
Hands – not hands she knew – took her by the shoulders and turned her around a few times. She tried to count, but she had no clear notion of when a turn ended. Then the cuffs came off. Her hands went to her face, but Hanro said, "Not yet."
He dropped back into announcer voice, and it was harder to hear him. He must have been talking to a monitor instead. "There is a test that only a few of our T3 teams have ever agreed to. Fewer still win it. But this team is special, don't you think?"
It was the loudest scream yet from the audience.
"Rose, I am going to tell you to reach out and take your friends' hands. Then I'm going to ask you if you can tell, just from touch, which one is which."
Rose almost laughed. Didn't she know those hands? And with plenty of experience with their touch in the dark too, thank you very much.
"Reach out."
For a moment she was confused. Fabric? Then she realized that not only had they disoriented her, they must have made Jack and the Doctor put on bulky gloves. No shape or body temperature as a clue.
For a moment she stood there, in the dark, indecisive, her hands stretched out to each side and her in the middle, blinded. Then on her right the padded fingers slipped between hers and squeezed, and she knew without question. She would have known if they made him wear a thousand gloves, because she still knew that hand. She had run a million times clutching it, squeezed it for strength in a thousand tight spots.
"Rose," Hanro ordered. "Turn to Jack."
A little bit of her heart broke as she turned her back on that supporting hand, but he squeezed her in understanding just before she let go. Then she was sandwiched between them and the hood was coming off and the audience was deafening her, but not so much that she couldn't hear the Doctor whispering "Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic."
Hanro looked shocked and delighted all at once. "Team TARDIS," he said formally, "your running of the obstacle course, although bravely done, was slow enough to drop you back into second place by just a few points. And you were almost disqualified for inappropriate touching." On a giant screen over his shoulder, Rose saw a replay of her coming off the see-saw – and the Doctor lunging forward to sweep her into a huge hug. The brush she'd felt across her chest had been Jack, stabbing him back just in time. Hanro was continuing, "The T3 challenge has been run 500 times, but teams have only offered to take this particular challenge 50 times."
He grinned hugely at Rose. "And in all those times, only two other teams have gotten it right. Congratulations, Team TARDIS. You are the winners of the 500th T3 Challenge!"
The sweetest thing wasn't the cheering. It wasn't Hanro promising them all sorts of lovely prizes. No, the memory of the next moment that Rose would always treasure most was their laughing, bouncing group hug, and the Doctor's voice whispering, "Thank you, you two."
***
"What do you want to play with first?" Jack asked as they hauled armloads of booty into the TARDIS. In addition to what they'd won, every merchant in town rushed to be seen giving them something. Even the scrapheap had sent over the junk Jack and the Doctor had collected in the first place. But being a celebrity wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and they were all ready to leave far sooner than the TARDIS was.
"Rose, what are my chances of talking you into putting that pink thing back on?" Jack asked as they finally made it back to the vortex. "I've been thinking of taking it right back off you ever since I saw it."
Rose felt herself blushing. "Y'know what I'd really like, now that we have some privacy?"
Jack looked at her, his grin growing. "Oh, do tell. Just remember that inappropriate touching gets you disqualified."
She wrinkled her nose at him, showing him the cuffs and shoe locks that had been at the bottom of the Grebeppa gift bag.
"Really?" the Doctor asked. But he didn't sound disapproving. He sounded… intrigued.
"Really. Kinda… spice things up a bit, you know?"
"I'll ignore the fact that you just suggested they were bland before," the Doctor said magnanimously.
"Always room to try something else, yeah?"
They looked at each other for a long moment before they all said in unison, "Oh, yeah!"
Jack did take the time to grab one of the blindfolds before he followed the others to the bedroom.
--
Author:
neadodsWritten for:
alilambaRating: PG
Summary: When the Doctor, Jack, and Rose think they're freeing a slave, they end up in the middle of the universe's biggest reality game show.
Betas:
dark_aegis, mechturtle, maureen_the_mad, and persiflage_1 Disclaimer: This is not a licensed BBC tie-in. Doctor Who, Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness, and the TARDIS all property of the BBC.
Part 3
CHAPTER FOUR – "SHE'S OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE THAT!"
The flagship store had been emptied of all but service people and monitor balls when they arrived, but it seemed as if everyone who would normally be shopping was lining the street instead. There was polite applause when the Doctor slid out of the car, but it turned to loud applause, mixed with gasps and even a couple of shrieks, when Rose slid out.
"She is! She's actually out in public like that!" Rose heard a woman shouting into a mobile phone as she darted through the door to safety.
Waiting for them was a group of women, headed by an amazon who was strapped, buckled, and studded within an inch of her life. "How daring! How bold! Make a note, darling," she muttered to an assistant. "Next season, cutouts for the knees. I shall make the knee dimple the new cleavage! You!" She advanced on Rose, who had to fight the urge to step back. "You will make me even more rich and famous. Your style! Your innovation! You, I shall make a star. Everyone will look at you and see the most beautiful gowns. They will forget all about this little faux pas." She waved a languid hand at the two men without a glance in their direction. "You two, my assistants will handle."
"I like what I've got on, thanks," the Doctor said.
"As you wish. Edmina, Rasino, you help the other gentleman. This lady, she - she is mine!" Rose found herself being towed away by a hand hard and strong enough to belong on a robot. "I shall put you in purple! No, blue! Blue to match your young man's eyes. Or perhaps the other one is your man? No matter. His eyes are blue as well, yes?"
"Ye - He's not - they're not-" Rose grasped for one concept to cling to in the tide of words. "Pink. I want a pink dress."
"Pink? How three years ago."
"Pink. If you're that good, you can do it."
"There is nothing I cannot do." The woman turned to the monitor that was following them. "Go. Go and let them show you the latest collection. I have things to discuss with our winner. I come show you later."
The monitor bobbed.
"GO!"
It went. As soon as it was out of range, the woman turned to Rose. "There is pink. It was too simple, too plain for the latest collection. I would not insult you so. A woman such as you, so brave, so bold! You should have no less than fifteen buckles on your dress." The woman's voice suddenly turned wry. "Perhaps that would curb your tendency to strip in public."
"Pink. One buckle."
The woman gasped. "Never! Never would I make a woman wear such a disgraceful rag! Ten."
"Two."
"Eight."
"Three."
"Bah, I grow tired of this. Four. Take it or leave it. There are four on the pink gown." She turned to screech down the hall. "Bernina! Have they thrown out that pink mistake yet? The crazy stripper insists on seeing it."
"Oi!"
"Oi? What is this oi? This grunt is what people will say when they see you in that thing. Look at it! What will they say of me?"
For a moment, Rose couldn't say anything. It was beautiful. What was too plain by this world's standards was daring without being outrageous by hers. She could have her pick of clubs in that dress.
She could have her pick of men in that dress.
"They'll say it's simply elegant," Rose said, moving forward for a closer look.
"Elegant. Simply elegant." The woman was turning the words over, examining them as if she'd examine a hem. "Perhaps. Perhaps it is time for a change, yes? No more of the more, more, more! A time for less. A time for…"
"A time to see the woman under all the stuff," Rose said. She touched it reverently. The fabric felt as soft as flannel, but it shone like silk. There were, as advertised, only four straps on it; in a dark rose color contrasting with the bright baby pink. One strap buckled around the neck, making a mandarin color that held up the halter top. One strap ran right under the breasts, outlining and supporting them. One tucked in the waist, and the last one was set low on the hips, just above a miniskirt made of separate panels of pink. The mannequin had tights the same rose color as the straps. Beside it on the platform were baby pink stilettos, little more than a sole held on with crisscrosses of rhinestone-studded pink. She walked around it, to see that the buckles had matching stones.
"Hey," Rose said. "It buckles in the back. How do you get out of it?"
"Not alone, darling. That's how you get out of it. The people who wear my creations? They have maids." The woman leaned in. "Or they have boyfriends. Are you sure those young men of yours aren't yours?"
Rose blushed.
"So, getting out will not be a problem after all, yes? So we see about getting you in."
The woman might not have been convinced, but Rose loved it all the more when it was on. It was surprisingly comfortable despite all the straps. And the shoes - Rose wanted those shoes more than anything she had ever wanted to own. Like the dress, they were pulled to a comfortable, custom fit.
"If you must, you must." The woman sighed with aggravation.
"I must." Rose sighed with delight as she smoothed down the panels of the skirt.
***
It was hard to keep a straight face when the woman announced her "bold new plan for fashion, a return to elegant simplicity so you can see the wearer and not the clothing" when Rose returned to the main hall, but the glazed looks on the Doctor's and Jack's faces were well worth it. The Doctor was still in his usual jumper, jeans, and jacket, but Jack had changed into the tight pants of this colony, which made Rose's mouth water just looking at him.
"You look beautiful," Hanro said. Rose had expected him to turn up - but she hadn't expected to see chains in his hands when she turned to look at him.
"All the teams have returned," Hanro said formally, speaking to a monitor instead of her. "It is time for the second Ultimate Trust Challenge."
"Right now?" Rose squeaked.
"Right now."
The Doctor and Jack were flanking her. "What is this challenge, then?" the Doctor demanded.
"The two of you will guide her through an obstacle course. Again, there will be no speaking, no touching, no physically leading. Each of you will have guide canes. And she will have… handicaps."
"Such as?" Jack asked darkly.
"She will be blindfolded and hooded as you were. Her arms will be chained behind her - not cuffed wrist to wrist, but enough to limit their use. And there will be these." Hanro held up what looked like two little figure 8s in leather.
"What're those?" Rose asked.
"Shoe locks. As much as everyone appreciated the show this morning, you cannot gain an advantage by removing your shoes."
"Oh." Rose tried to sound nonchalant and hoped her face didn't show that she had intended to do exactly that.
"Rose?" the Doctor asked quietly.
"Let's do it," was the answer.
The shoe locks went on first, one loop going around her ankle and the other around her instep. With a tiny click, the shoes were on. Rose was still wondering how she felt about that - in other circumstances, it might be agreeably kinky - when they gently pulled her arms behind her. The wrist cuffs were soft. When they were through, she found that she had just enough chain to stretch out one arm or the other - but not both at the same time.
"Not so bad," she told Jack and the Doctor.
"Do we have a chance to work out signals like last time?" the Doctor wanted to know.
"No."
"But - "
Hanro was looking at her. "How well do you understand these men? How much do you trust them?"
"With my life," Rose said simply.
The hood - part hat and part blindfold - wasn't uncomfortable either, although Rose found herself straining to try to see through it. She stood there, in a suddenly dark and muffled world, her mind racing to try to make sense of signals that weren't there. How long had she been standing there? What would it feel like when she was tapped? Would she understand the signals? Could she do it? She was suddenly aware of the four straps of her dress pressing against her body, touch being the only sense of use to her.
From out of the void, something thin and hard slid up and down the back of her left hand reassuringly. A moment later, something else tapped into her right palm. She almost curled her fingers around it, stopping just in time, afraid it would be considered "leading." Jack and the Doctor were there on either side of her.
A very gentle poke in the small of her back. Rose walked slowly forward, sweeping the toe of her new shoes ahead of her to try to find the way. She walked right into a stick held horizontally against her gut and stopped. There was a rush of air, and through the hood she could hear applause. The arena. They were back in the arena. Was she running the course alone, or were the other teams there? There had been time for them to come back while she'd been playing dress up.
Poke. She stepped forward. She wanted to move normally, walk as fast as she could, but her head just wouldn't let her. After a couple of steps, the stick to her left touched the back of her left shoulder and pushed, while the stick to her right touched the front of her right shoulder and pushed. She twisted, one foot up, confused, then realized they must want her to turn. Carefully placing her feet so she knew where she was, she turned a quarter turn to the right.
Tap. Back of left shoulder, front of right shoulder. Not pushing this time. Did that count as leading? She turned harder. Had she gone too far? Was this right? She couldn't tell. The audience was just a dull roar, like wind in the trees.
Tap behind her left knee. She raised the foot. Tap behind her left ankle. She extended the foot. Tap across the top of her foot. As she put it back down, she felt the back of her heel graze something. Little hurdles? Logs? She couldn't tell. Did it matter? She very carefully raised her right foot high and brought it down beside her left.
A quick sweep of the stick against the back of her hand. Then they were tapping her feet again. Another hurdle. A third. Turn to the left.
A tap to the back of her right ankle. As she lifted her foot, a tap against her sole. What? What did he want? Higher? A tap against the heel. As she started to put the foot back down in place, a harder tap against the sole. What did it mean? Up but not down? Up but – tap against the heel – OH! Up and forward while up. What? Why?
Her foot came down on a stair step.
Tap on the back of the left ankle. Step number two.
She wasn't afraid, not the slightest bit. Nothing bad would happen to her. She was safe with the Doctor and Jack. Her heart was pounding, but she was excited, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. It was the weirdest sensation, a sort of Zen because she had nothing to think about - but at the same time, her mind was running full speed trying to interpret the signals. She just had to concentrate and obey, but it wasn't a docile, brainless sort of obedience. It was up to her to figure out what to do and do it.
Over hurdles. Up a flight of stairs. Something across a narrow path – there were little taps against the outside of each foot until she walked heel-to-toe in a straight line. Turn left. Turn right. Turn left again. A slalom? Duck under something.
It was getting easier. She was more used to the shoes, the straps of the dress, the tapping sticks – even the chain that rubbed across her back. She was getting confident now, moving more quickly. When her feet touched a ramp, she went up it almost as fast as she would have normally.
But suddenly, the light slap against the stomach that meant stop. There was a long pause where nothing touched her at all, and Rose wondered if she was left adrift in the dark. Where were they? Why had they stopped? Without them to guide her, it was up to herself. Rose cautiously slid a toe further up the ramp. There wasn't anything in front of her. She put that foot down and felt the board she was standing on shift. Instantly there was a stick against her chest urging her back, while another wouldn't let her lift the foot.
And suddenly, without any input from the Doctor or Jack, she knew. Of course! The card was the clue, like it had been for Jack. Like a child's drawing of a see-saw. She must be standing on a see-saw, right by the fulcrum. They must have stopped because they didn't know how to tell her what to expect, and now they were trying to tell her not to shift her weight.
Sod that! She'd figured it out! Experimentally, Rose leaned forward.
Her right foot swung down, her left foot swung up, and she was riding the board as it tilted. No problems!
Until the other end slammed to the ground and rebounded. Rose writhed and skittered along the bucking board, her balance completely gone between the blindness and the heels. She couldn't even throw out both arms to compensate; every time she tried she just pulled against the chains, and as the board shuddered beneath her, her brain couldn't override her body and choose an arm to extend.
Then all of a sudden, it was over. With one heel over the edge and several muscles in her back pulled, the board had stopped moving and she had precarious balance again. Slowly, carefully, she straightened up and got both feet back under her and back on the now downward-sloping surface.
The audience was going crazy with applause and whistles as Rose paused to get her breath back. Was it for her? Or had someone else completed the course? Had they done all this only for her to lose in the end?
She could feel something rhythmically touching one arm, almost as if… as if someone in a heavy leather jacket was standing so close that the lapels touched her as he breathed. Rose reached in the opposite direction and for a millisecond she felt something warm before Jack shifted away.
They were right there. She was okay.
Time to finish this!
Rose swept her toes along the board as she guided herself to the ground. Just as her feet were on the flat again, something passed by her chest, fast as a striking snake. Rose leaned back, but a pair of sticks tapped her forward. Five steps, and the audience screamed. Rose couldn't tell if it was delight or horror. It was just loud.
"Before you take off the hood," Hanro suddenly said in her ear, "are you willing to do one more test for extra points?"
Rose shrugged and nodded.
Hands – not hands she knew – took her by the shoulders and turned her around a few times. She tried to count, but she had no clear notion of when a turn ended. Then the cuffs came off. Her hands went to her face, but Hanro said, "Not yet."
He dropped back into announcer voice, and it was harder to hear him. He must have been talking to a monitor instead. "There is a test that only a few of our T3 teams have ever agreed to. Fewer still win it. But this team is special, don't you think?"
It was the loudest scream yet from the audience.
"Rose, I am going to tell you to reach out and take your friends' hands. Then I'm going to ask you if you can tell, just from touch, which one is which."
Rose almost laughed. Didn't she know those hands? And with plenty of experience with their touch in the dark too, thank you very much.
"Reach out."
For a moment she was confused. Fabric? Then she realized that not only had they disoriented her, they must have made Jack and the Doctor put on bulky gloves. No shape or body temperature as a clue.
For a moment she stood there, in the dark, indecisive, her hands stretched out to each side and her in the middle, blinded. Then on her right the padded fingers slipped between hers and squeezed, and she knew without question. She would have known if they made him wear a thousand gloves, because she still knew that hand. She had run a million times clutching it, squeezed it for strength in a thousand tight spots.
"Rose," Hanro ordered. "Turn to Jack."
A little bit of her heart broke as she turned her back on that supporting hand, but he squeezed her in understanding just before she let go. Then she was sandwiched between them and the hood was coming off and the audience was deafening her, but not so much that she couldn't hear the Doctor whispering "Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic."
Hanro looked shocked and delighted all at once. "Team TARDIS," he said formally, "your running of the obstacle course, although bravely done, was slow enough to drop you back into second place by just a few points. And you were almost disqualified for inappropriate touching." On a giant screen over his shoulder, Rose saw a replay of her coming off the see-saw – and the Doctor lunging forward to sweep her into a huge hug. The brush she'd felt across her chest had been Jack, stabbing him back just in time. Hanro was continuing, "The T3 challenge has been run 500 times, but teams have only offered to take this particular challenge 50 times."
He grinned hugely at Rose. "And in all those times, only two other teams have gotten it right. Congratulations, Team TARDIS. You are the winners of the 500th T3 Challenge!"
The sweetest thing wasn't the cheering. It wasn't Hanro promising them all sorts of lovely prizes. No, the memory of the next moment that Rose would always treasure most was their laughing, bouncing group hug, and the Doctor's voice whispering, "Thank you, you two."
***
"What do you want to play with first?" Jack asked as they hauled armloads of booty into the TARDIS. In addition to what they'd won, every merchant in town rushed to be seen giving them something. Even the scrapheap had sent over the junk Jack and the Doctor had collected in the first place. But being a celebrity wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and they were all ready to leave far sooner than the TARDIS was.
"Rose, what are my chances of talking you into putting that pink thing back on?" Jack asked as they finally made it back to the vortex. "I've been thinking of taking it right back off you ever since I saw it."
Rose felt herself blushing. "Y'know what I'd really like, now that we have some privacy?"
Jack looked at her, his grin growing. "Oh, do tell. Just remember that inappropriate touching gets you disqualified."
She wrinkled her nose at him, showing him the cuffs and shoe locks that had been at the bottom of the Grebeppa gift bag.
"Really?" the Doctor asked. But he didn't sound disapproving. He sounded… intrigued.
"Really. Kinda… spice things up a bit, you know?"
"I'll ignore the fact that you just suggested they were bland before," the Doctor said magnanimously.
"Always room to try something else, yeah?"
They looked at each other for a long moment before they all said in unison, "Oh, yeah!"
Jack did take the time to grab one of the blindfolds before he followed the others to the bedroom.
--
