More than words

Beat It

"You're gawping." He chuckled when she sent her a glare, snapping her mouth shut immediately.

"Shut up." She muttered, but smiled again as she resumed her gaze over the room. "When exactly are we?" She asked, walking up to one of the paintings on the wall depicting the late King Edmure, Prince Joffrey's grandfather.

"Oh," He took a quick look at his watch, ignoring the bemused smirk Rose was sending him. No matter what she said, he did not need a watch to keep track of time. It was just... easier that way. Plus, it did look cool. "About four hundred years into your future. The human kind is spreading like wildfire through space, but back on Earth the old traditions remain. Well, with one or two aliens coming to visit now and then." He added when one of the royal guests, a Zeedium from the planet Zood, accidentally knocked a glass down with its long tail.

"Is that a Zeedium?" Rose looked at the alien with fondness. "I haven't seen one since that time we..."

"...we got stranded on their moon, yes, I remember." He interrupted her. "Let's see if they remember us, shall we?" He offered her his arm which she took with a graceful curtsy, and together they walked up to the alien in question.

-----------------------

"Doctor!" River practically shouted into her communicator. "Doctor, can you hear me?" No answer. "Damn him." She cursed, and all but threw the communicator down on the desktop of the spaceship she was currently borrowing, doing her best to not lose track of the Sontaran ship in front of her, only visible as a blip on the radar.

Before it disappeared completely.

"Oh no, you don't." She growled, typing furiously on the console to get a reading on the ship, calculating their estimated landing point to a small town in Wales in the 25th century.

Landing just outside of a large mansion like building, River quickly spotted the TARDIS parked behind a dumpster just to the side of the parking lot. Classy, she thought and shook her head at the Doctor's ability to park the TARDIS.

There were at least a dozen different space ships parked here and there on the lot, but no sign of the Sontaran ship.

Taking a second look around, she concluded that the gathering inside the large mansion was a bit fancier than she was dressed for, with her green tank top and khakis. So after a split second decision, taking into consideration that she somehow had beaten the Sontarans there, she headed over to the TARDIS for a change of clothes. Luckily, she just so happened to have a spare key.

River stepped into the seemingly empty TARDIS, but she knew somewhere in the depths her parents were sleeping deeply. She stroked the console as she passed it to get to the wardrobe, sending fond thoughts to the sentient ship and getting a small hum of satisfaction back.

Being a child of the TARDIS meant she had a slightly deeper connection to the old ship than the Doctor, not that she would ever let River take her from her thief and her Wolf.

Now clad in an auburn dress that reached all the way down to her ankles, River strode into the mansion with her head held high, using only a small amount of hallucinogenic lipstick on the two guards, and proceeded into the large ballroom.

Scanning with her eyes, she quickly found Rose and the Doctor dancing very closely together to a slow waltz. She wondered if they had been to Apalapucia yet or if she would have to act clueless.

Pulling out her journal from a hidden pocket on her dress, she walked over to the dancing couple and in one swift move, took over the Doctor's position in front of Rose.