TM Prompt 190 - You are temporarily turned into a child...

[thecricketer]

The Doctor was used to feeling far older than he seems, but this was utterly ridiculous.

At least he'd managed to make it back to the TARDIS shortly after being…transformed. He take comfort in that as he leaned against doors that were entirely too big. At least his clothes had shrunk as well, he'd have looked quite a fool trying to run in them otherwise. (Of course, now his celery was larger than his lapel. Why did he wear it again? It was beginning to look tasty, how long was it since he'd eaten? He'd prefer something sweeter, though. Why didn't he wear something sweet? Like a lolly. He should stick a lolly on his hat.)

As he slid down to the TARDIS floor, he tried to ponder what, exactly, they had done to him. It had seemed like a beam (it was very red, like ripe cherries on Earth, he rather liked cherries, though when it came to berries the blue were best) but he never got a chance to examine the machinery – how did it work? Why did it work? What was there purpose?

No, he knew that, they were probably testing it out – they'd been using their people as test subjects for ages, it was the very thing he was trying to put a stop to; he frowned, then, looking quite serious for a little boy. He thought he did a fairly good job of rallying the people, organising some resistance. He would check back once he was normal again.

According to one of his allies – and insider who'd long had doubts which he may have helped along – it should wear off in several days. Until then, well, he would just have to manage being tinier, more easily distracted, and craving sweets. Did he still have jelly babies anywhere? Oh, and he'd probably have to sleep more, being a child. (He could probably use his old opera cape as a blanket, or wrap himself in that scarf. His bed would look very large, wouldn't it? Hardly a child's bed. Now he was getting sleepy. Was that normal?)

Focus, Doctor. You are still a Time Lord, you are still over eight centuries old, you are not a seven year old boy who's never seen the Schism.

That thought both sobered and awakened him, and he went off to find a step stool so he could work the TARDIS.

She made it easy for him – rather like when she gave him that wheelchair, very kind of her, would this be like a new regeneration? – and soon they were in flight.

Several days, he thought, settling down on the stool. His fingers began to tap the sides – it had never taken this long before, had it? – and he hummed an old lullaby none of his friends would recognise.

Oh, dear, they'd be quite a lot larger than him too, wouldn't they? Perhaps they would have sweets.

((If anyone would like to interact with little!Five, do feel free - any community, meta or otherwise.))

Comments

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"That makes sense!" He looked utterly delighted, almost bouncing in his seat. Then he grew contemplative.

"...Do we have sweets? We probably do, but I'm not sure and I probably couldn't reach them anyway without climbing a lot." His eyes widened.

"That could be fun!" And he slid off the stool.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

Her eyes widened as well, but not for the same reason. "Erm... tell you what," she said, catching him by the sleeve before he could turn and run off. "Let's... look for them together? I imagine the kitchen is a good place to start. I could maybe supervise your climbing, how's that?"

She rose to her feet and smiled down at him, awkwardly offering a couple of fingers for him to hold.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor frowned for a moment - because he was perfectly capable of doing things himself - but then he remembered that offering to help was friendly so he grinned and nodded and said "Okay!"

Moments later he earnestly taking her hand and attempted to tug her toward the inner door.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"Okay!" The Rani echoed, smiling at him and allowing herself to be tugged along the corridor. The last child she had had to deal with had been far more... restrained.

She gazed down at the Doctor as he pulled at her hand impatiently, holding it tight, but determined to reach their destination, and quickly. If he had been this exuberant and energetic the first time around... oh, his poor House. He would have been quite the handful.

"A few days, did you say?" she asked. "Someone definitely told you that?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah!" He nodded again, entirely too fervently; it made him dizzy for a moment and he decided it would be unwise to do so again.

"And she would know, since she helped make it, though it was the first time they tried it, still not sure why they made it, maybe 'cause they could? a lot of it seemed to hurt people though, and this is odd and a bit inconvenient but not really..." He paused, and took a breath.

"I guess I'll find out when I go back, anyway."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I see," the Rani replied, still being more or less pulled along the corridor in the Doctor's wake. "Are you planning to go back now, or will you wait until this has worn off? Ah, there's the kitchen..."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The look he shot up at her intimated that she was a small child and he the intelligent adult.

"When I'm grown again, obviously, I won't be much help while I'm - ooh!" And he was running, as if the kitchen would miraculously point to what he was looking for.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

His hand slipped from her grasp as he started running, and the Rani wound up having to give chase, tearing down the corridor after him in a most undignified manner.

"I hoped as much," she said, stepping into the kitchen, "I just wanted to be sure... Doctor?"

The kitchen was apparently empty. She peered around a counter. "Doctor? Where are you?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor, as it happened, was perched rather precariously on a high counter.

"Over here!" He was grinning quite largely.

"I got a head start. You won't have to help as much." Well, it made perfect sense to him.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani straightened up and blinked at him, alarmed. "So you did," she replied, keeping her tone light and moving slowly toward him so as not to startle him and make him fall. "That was very thoughtful of you, Doctor, thank you. Can I come join you and watch you climb?"

She stood by the counter and kept one arm on it rather nonchalantly--one arm that just happened to be behind the boy, just in case. "Have you had a look in the cupboards yet? Any luck?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Sure!" he said brightly, clutching a shelf with both hands to steady himself as he looked at her.

"Haven't, no." So he crouched down and opened the cupboard door in front of him. This, of course, entailed stepping back.

Unfortunately, there wasn't actually anything solid to step back on.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani caught him rather neatly--and couldn't be sure who was more startled by that, him, or her--as he stepped back off the counter's edge. "Got you," she said. "Tell you what... I'll hold you so you can have both hands free to look in the cupboards, all right?"

She shifted him so his weight sat over her hip, and leaned in a bit, so he could reach the cupboard doors.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He'd winced, ready for a painful meeting to the ground - but then it didn't happen, and his eyes opened wide as he looked up at her.

A nod, and a toothy grin, sheepish gratitude clear in both. After a moment he was back in action, gently shoving things aside as he searched.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She couldn't help but mirror the grin, if a bit less brilliantly, though internally she was just short of a full-on flail. She was not the maternal type not at all... so where the devil had that instinct to shift his weight to her hip come from?

She quashed down her panic and held him carefully, watching as he searched through the cupboard, one of her hands rubbing his back absently.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

This was...well, in his right mind he would think it very odd indeed, but right at the moment it simply felt comforting. Being held and supported as he searched for something sweet - it was the most content he'd felt in some time.

"Chocolate!" he announced suddenly, though he didn't pull out a candy bar - rather, a large bag of soft brown powder. He turned his head, smiling.

"I forgot. Tegan really liked cocoa, and I found this on this really neat bazaar, it's sort of like Earth chocolate but a bit richer, but she never drank much of it 'cause that was a little before she - " He stopped, and suddenly he looked, for a moment, like the weary adult he was.

"Um. I know where the mugs are. I have a lot of mugs. All kinds of colours and...and things..."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She nodded, studying his face for a moment, and patting his back. Clearly it troubled him, and while she hated to bring attention to it again, she didn't want to let it pass without reassurance, either.

...maybe that came from the same mysterious place as that hip thing. Had to be.

She started to put him down, but then thought better of it, and slid an arm securely around his waist. "Show me?" she asked, stepping away from the counter. "I'll carry you there. Then I'm afraid I'd better see to heating the milk. But you can tell me about the bazaar where you got the cocoa while I do that."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Kay!" His voice was cheerful again, eager as he nodded toward a low cabinet, but his small hands clutched her arm rather firmly.

"I remember I put them down low 'cause it's harder to break them if they can't fall very far. Not that I break things, I'm good at not breaking things. Some of my friends have been clumsy, though."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"That's eminently sensible," The Rani replied, smiling at him and carrying him across to the other cupboard.

"Would you like to choose a couple of mugs?" she asked as she opened the door, moving so that he was within arms' reach of the shelves.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He beamed at that, and it lingered as he was carried; he didn't seem to mind being ferried about in the least.

"Sure!" He rummaged carefully through what seemed endless shapes and colours - well, carefully for a rather hyper child - until pulling out two mugs, holding each firmly by the handle.

One of them seemed very old. It was worn, chipped in places, though the paint, rendering an abstract Mutter's Spiral, held strong.

The other was newer, or perhaps, like many objects in the TARDIS, resisted the pull of time. Thin, vibrant vines twisted throughout, forming ancient equations; and they varied infinitely, because the vines tended to reshape themselves.

This was the one he offered her.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani forced herself not to step in and help him in his rummaging, though she did brace herself for any potential falling crockery. She was relieved when he managed to select two mugs without shattering anything else.

She accepted the mug he offered, oddly touched by the gesture and selection. "Thank you," she said softly, bumping the cupboard door gently with the back of her hand to close it, and carrying him over to the refrigerator. "Oh, good, you've got milk. Brilliant."

She carried both milk and Doctor over to the stove, setting down the milk and the mug carefully, and setting a pan on the stove. She poured the milk and and turned on the burner, shifting him so that he rested over her hip once more. "It won't boil if we watch it. Or so they say," she offered with mock gravity.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

It was clear, in his expression, that he was thrilled that she liked it, and he was still grinning when they reached the stove. He was careful to keep still as she worked, watching intently.

"It must be shy," he said solemnly.

"Performance anxiety."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"And that's simply the most dreadful thing that could happen to anyone," the Rani intoned in that same mock-serious tone, bravely fighting to keep a smirk from turning her mouth. "We should leave it alone, so it won't feel pressured."

She moved away from the stove, and asked, "Do you want to sit on the counter? Or shall I keep carrying you?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"You're more comfortable than the counter," he said abruptly, and then blinked wide eyes.

"I mean, um, if I'm...getting heavy or, um...the counter would be fine..."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

That earned him a raised eyebrow, and a faint grin. "I see. Well. It's a good thing I don't mind carrying you, then. Just... hang on."

She shifted him to her other hip, sighing softly. "That's better. Now then. Spoons?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He smiled back, nodding earnestly.

"Very good." A moment after his brow furrowed, and he looked about.

"Ummm....that cabinet over there? I think. Could be the other one. Or maybe both."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"We'll start with that one," the Rani replied, carrying him along the counter yet again, pausing in front of the cabinet and leaning in so he could reach.

Without thinking she reached and tucked a stray bit of his hair behind one of his ears.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

That made him pause in his rummaging, and he looked over his shoulder with a wide grin before turning back to his work.

"Here that are! Most of them are teaspoons."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"Those should work, yes?" she replied, watching him rummage through the drawer. "Cocoa is almost like tea, in a way, so teaspoons should be sufficient. We wouldn't want larger spoons."