While Bill continued to gaze with wonder at the elephant right in front of them, Ophelia looked to her left where their Doctor seemed to not quite believe where they had landed.The ice was something she'd never quite felt in all of her years. The noisy, cheerful people caught Bill's disbelieving gaze, their period dress exquisite. Blackfriars Bridge, if her handmaiden's memory didn't fail, with St Paul's on the foggy skyline. Though things were probably going to end horribly, Ophelia couldn't help but smile at how the other girl's hair caught snowflakes.
"Okay." Bill walked back a couple of steps and turned to the Doctor. "So I have questions."
Her brown eyes caught Ophelia's hazel ones, expecting to see a similar expression. Both girls were ignored by him, who just licked a finger and used it to feel the air. Whatever that weird action had been used to discover must have been worrying because his brow furrowed, he then turned back into the TARDIS. Bill wondered at what laid outside before following her two friends back inside, shutting a door as if it made things normal again.
Inside, Ophelia looked at how the Doctor's hands moved through levers and buttons (it would probably move them because hey! it's no good to park on top of a frozen river). She'd seen so much even if it limited to laboratories or that mansion, going a few hundred years back in time seemed like nothing big. This ship screamed potential at her on the other hand, even standing in this room gave of a feeling infinite possibilities.
"You didn't tell me we could travel to parallel worlds!" Old habits died hard, Bill would soon learn that about their new companion. Her eyes beckoned the petite girl forward from a spot bu the outer walls as her words resounded, tinged with disbelief.
Ophelia had never been herself, every movement dictated by someone else (even her great escapade plan had been somewhat orchestrated by others), so the prospect of enjoying all this freedom looked like a daunting task. Even more so considering most of what she knew relied on technology that would take a couple hundred years to get ready. All in all, the girl felt incredibly small.
"Not a parallel world." The time lord sometimes forgot not everyone was used to living all over timelines, never doing days in a straight order. He was quick to pull up an image in the console's screen.
"But that's London..." Bill's young adult mind still had trouble wrapping around what'd just happened. How had they gone from a huge party to Regency Era England?
"Our London." With a dramatic flair, he showed them the screen with a grainy black aerial image of London, the Thames cutting through it. His body moved on auto pilot around, pulling levers and pushing buttons. "The last great Frost Fair, 1814. February 4th."
There was a certain satisfaction in Ophelia, she'd gotten it right out there back then. Though she doubted anyone would hand out punishments for wrong guesses, it stirred a nice feeling inside to have done enough for a quick proud glance to be thrown her way. She got a sudden feeling it would be so easy getting used to being here with them. Unlike a Canassis, the Doctor seemed entirely too transparent with his gesturing around, a bit of excitement showing through his frustration. Bill followed him around the console, her personality adding life to this mechanical looking room.
"Hang on, why aren't we home?" Bill sounded as if this had just come to mind. "Can't you steer this thing?"
A flickering of lights made the ex handmaiden think their means of transportation got a little upset by being called a 'thing'. The Doctor paid no mind as he powered up the TARDIS, a familiar wheezing sound signaling they were moving.
"You don't steer the TARDIS, you reason with it." He took two steps to the right and pulled out a lever, sending a puff of smoke over them all.
"How?" Ophelia's voice sounded foreign even to herself, tinged with a hesitation. The Doctor then looked at her with understanding eyes, like he too knew what a internal fight it would take to break out of mental conditioning; Bill just looked delighted a word had come from her (after all, it'd be hard to make friends with a non talking person).
"Unsuccessfully, most of the time." He broke eye contact to pull one final lever, his voice sounding almost reverent. "She's a bad girl, this one, always looking for trouble. Being stuck in the corner of my office isn't her idea of a party and she doesn't want to go back."
The TARDIS landed with a jolt and powered down again, thriving in being exactly where it wanted to. It's pilot, on the other hand, thrived in knowing just what expression would be in his companions faces when he turned around after taking a few steps into
Blackfriar's Bridge.
"Whoa." Bill stopped short in amazement, making Ophelia struggle to see over her shoulder.
They were up on the bridge and their view was beyond awesome. The Thames was frozen solid, snow swirling all around giving everything a magical feel. The city peeked out over fog, making both girls realize just how real this experience was. Crowds milled on the ice amid a village of tents and fires in barrels, someone cried out for people to come see that same elephant they'd seen just a few seconds earlier.
"The last day before the thaw." He said after a few seconds of silence, it didn't take long for his own eyes to begin looking around. "Thought we'd better find a more reliable parking spot."
Ophelia didn't quite understand why Bill became tense all of a sudden.
"You... You want to go out there?" This statement cause him to turn around, one attack eyebrow raised in questioning.
"You don't?"
"It's 1814." Her voice tried to make him understand. Oh.
"Yep." Bill pointed at her own face, spelling things out.
"Melanin." Ophelia smiled at how he still looked completely out of the loop.
"Yes." Both girls step out of the doorway into a freezing world.
"Slavery is still totally a thing." The Doctor turned around to hide his surprised expression. This was volcano day all over again.
"Yes, it is." Bill bumped into a still carmesim clad girl as she stepped backwards into the TARDIS.
"Won't it be dangerous out there?" She innocently questioned him.
"Definitely dangerous." A white covered background made him look like a watchful raven standing over them.
"So how do we stay out of trouble?" At this Ophelia has to discreetly cover a giggle.
"He's really not the person to ask." Bill looked proudly at her, as if encouraging a few more words to be said. "But do we just go like this? I'd really prefer if Bill came back in one piece. Don't you have some equipment, probably not weapons." That got her a nod of approval. "When you go somewhere dangerous, which according to my research is all the time, what do you take?"
The Doctor pointed back into the TARDIS over their shoulders.
"First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left." Her mind automatically registered this information for later use.
"What's there?" Against her own will, a giddy smile broke out.
"The wardrobe. Pick a dress." These first few adventures had to be his favorites with anyone. The Doctor prayed to whoever would liste that this would turn out differently, that they could get a happy ending.
While Ophelia quietly considered this, mind racing with possibilities, Bill grinned at the Doctor.
"So the TARDIS has dresses and likes a bit of trouble?" Her eyes met his in a playful manner. "I think I'm lowkey in love with her."
"Me too." His tone wasn't as playful, showing just how true that was.
Ophelia had stood wordlessly at the room's doorstep while Bill instinctively walked over to a section where things would fit her. From what the former handmaiden had learned, this ship was a bit more than just mechanical and she sent out a silent prayer for help. Perhaps it was how this wardrobe seemed to go on forever, each piece of clothing looking as nice as the one next to it, but it all made her feel small. She'd not bother her friend who seemed to be having a great time so it was just her and a never ending ship.
"So I'm thinking a feather in my hair because why not?" Bill's voice sounded from behind a big display of old fashioned coats. "Could you help me with that?"
Bill wouldn't not deny, it would be awesome to have another girl around (specially considering how this whole traveling could become a constant thing), her mind raced with possibilities of things they could do together. It seemed her prayers were answered because the former handmaiden felt a pull towards some racks further back filled with time appropriate garments, and almost jumped back when the ship pushed one part forward. Such simple choices had been denied to her for so long, every little thing chosen to agree with what others had planned.
"Thank you but I can take it from here." The ship hummed in encouragement and she pulled out a dress.
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Even if there were people around, no one noticed when The Doctor stepped outside, changed from his usual outfit to a black frock coat, with a matching cravat, TARDIS blue vest and a top hat completed the ensemble. He was quick to turn around, offering help to his girls.
Bill came first in a very suitable fur-trimmed green long coat, silver buttons running on the sides until it reached down to her feet. Underneath it, her outfit was completed by a white scarf, pale pink dress and of course a big feather in a band of fabric which also served as a hairband. The Doctor smiled at Bill then each took one of Ophelia's hands, receiving a beaming smile in return. Much like her friend, she had gone for a blue overcoat (in a color similar to the Doctor's vest, fault of their ship) trimmed with white fur, it laid buttoned over a thick white dress which would probably be ruined by mud and sturdy black boots as suggested by a fashion inclined TARDIS.
"Doesn't anyone notice the Tardis?" Bill asked the Doctor as he closed their transportation behind them.
"Your species hardly notices anything." Ophelia fiddled with a stubborn piece of hair and nearly fell over going down icy steps.
The trio walked with a time lord being flanked by a human and a something else, the latter now arm in arm on his right side due to one too many slip ups.
"So, what are the rules?" Bill struck up conversation in a matter of fact tone.
"Rules?" The Doctor kept on looking forward at this impossible place, not quite paying attention.
"Yeah. Travelling to the past, there's got to be rules." She kinda has a point, Ophelia tuned back into their conversation. "If I step on a butterfly, it could send ripples through time that mean I'm not even born in the first place and I could just disappear."
"Definitely." The Doctor winked at her before halting them to a stop. "I mean, that's what happened to Pete."
"Pete?" Confusion tinged Bill's expression.
"Your friend, Pete. He was standing there a moment ago, but he stepped on a butterfly and now you don't even remember him." He quickly let go of Ophelia just to point at a random spot on the ground. They stood centered in a passageway, in front of a blue door, and Bill looked at where he had pointed with confusion before snapping back with a gentle slap to his right shoulder.
"Shut up! I'm being serious!" She couldn't even be mad at him for mocking her, instead they moved on to even more steps.
"Yeah, so was Pete." Ophelia took a jab at Bill with a hidden smile, getting more and more comfortable around these people.
Much more than whatever trouble we're going to face, she mused while studying every detail in the fair below them, I want to face myself today. Maybe when their adventure ended, her time would be spent figuring out everything that had been stolen.
"You know what I mean." Bill stopped on the top step while the other two went down some more before looking at her. "Every choice I make in this moment, here and now, could change the whole future."
"Exactly like every other day of your life. The only thing to do is to stop worrying about it." There was so much truth in his words, Ophelia saved them in a special place to think about later.
"Hmm. Okay. If you say so."
"Pete's stopped worrying."
Finally they reached another set of stairs, which Ophelia hoped would be the final one because her boots had definitely been a poor choice. The Doctor got distracted by a nut seller while they chatted with a very small girl.
"Come to the Frost Fair, miss. Only a sixpence, miss." Both women had their hearts melted by this poof thing though Bill hesitated to reach for a flyer.
"Oh, my God."
"You're not stepping on a butterfly, you're just taking a flyer." The Doctor handed the urchin girl his recently purchased hot bag of nuts when Bill took her flyer and Ophelia fixed the top hat gifted to that tiny girl by him.
"It's just time travel. Don't overthink it." He offered them while walking down to the Frost Fair.
"Is that what you said to Pete?" Bill's voice had a joking hint that seemed to always be present in it.
"Who's Pete?"
He joked back to her, walking up to pay to pay the waterman for their entrance. A breath of this freezing air woke a reverent fear in Ophelia, who looked at Bill, who'd frozen by her side, and then at the Doctor. He looked at them with expectation as their feet gingerly touched the frozen river.
"Yeah, no big deal. Just walking on the Thames!" Both girls failed to look unfazed by where they had been taken. Bill's childlike wonder made them all smile. "I hope you realize I'm going to try everything. Everything. "
Ophelia really did like Bill but she felt safer by the Doctor so she followed him around an agglomeration of tents. Tasty ox cheek, piping hot! Lapland mutton! Lapland mutton, cooked right on the ice! Get your sheep hearts here! Juicy, juicy sheep hearts! Maybe not everything had to be tasted, including whatever her current company tried to force onto poor Bill Potts. She dared to move a little ahead of them to watch a couple of men wrestle in clothes that weren't warm enough while nursing a mug of tea.
Just as everywhere else, this crowd had a great variety of people. Tall men with pointy hats stood next to small girls in frilly dresses, then pampered up women walked right next to someone large enough to be confused for a large cabinet. Also there were so many different ethnicities it nearly knocked her back, the Canassis family wasn't exactly accepting outside of public sight.
"Interesting." It seemed her company had reached her again, following a bright blue pin she'd placed in her hair.
"What is?" He looked at her as if verbally asking for elaboration.
"Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies."
"So was Jesus. History's a whitewash."
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I revamped this chapter to be longer so it doesn't feel too chopped up.
Also I am like super tired so kindly point out any mistakes that there may be here.
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