Chapter Text
Graham never thought people like the Doctor had fears. She wasn’t scared of the Dalek, or any other psychopath alien creatures they’ve encountered before. Giant spiders didn’t seem to frighten her either. Not even death. And yet, she panicked when they had to jump.
Jump . Four letters. Verb. It’s only twelve meters , she thought, in an attempt to distract herself from the spikes of panic going crescendo, you’ve survived bigger falls. Twelve. Nice guy, he. Duodecad. Twelve months in a year (earth). Twelve pairs of ribs in the human body. Twelve solar systems in the Keeba Galaxy. Twelve inches in a foot (metric). Lucky number of love.
Love. She glanced at Yaz. Too busy staring down to notice her. Dark strands of hair flowing in the wind, and her skin glowing in a pretty shade of gold; the Doctor couldn’t stop herself from looking. Yaz had that effect on the people and she didn’t even know it. If we make it out alive, I’ll let her know .
You have to jump, now! The Doctor knew there wasn’t much of a choice, either jump or get killed by a colony of feral humans two hundred light years in the future (should’ve known from the start stealing their sacred stone wasn’t a good idea) (not her fault though, it wasn’t even labeled!). The fall wasn’t enough to kill a human, let alone a Time Lord — Lady ; not with that planet’s gravity force at least (lighter than earth’s, just a teensy bit heavier than the moon’s) it’ll take a little more than that to even leave a bruise. But still.
“I reckon this is the part where we jump,” said Ryan, looking down. The water had a fake-looking turquoise tint, like ones in the cover of those holiday destination catalogs travel agencies like to hand you when you reach retirement age. He used to jump off bridges like this in his late teens because girls seemed to like when he did backflips in the air.
“Noticed that Ryan” said the Doctor, her voice a little agitated, too aware of the dead waters waiting impatiently for her twelve meters below her feet, her hearts were racing, there must be another way, think, think! “I’m trying to think”
“Can you think quicker Doc?” asked Graham, looking at their red skin peeking through the vegetation, the humans were armed with a combination of highly dangerous futuristic weapons and the classic handmade bows and arrows (two thousand light years in the future and they’re still the same, amazing!) pointing at them. He could hear them scream in rage, and slowly getting closer “I don’t think they’ll delay dinner waiting for you to get a thought”
He was right (of course he was). The wild humans were just a few meters away from them. The Doctor could sense the anger, and they had all the right to be, but the whole sacrifice thing to their Gods was a bit too much. She looked at their leader, trying to come up with a plan that didn’t involve dying or jumping off a cliff. This body seemed to dislike heights, that’s new, and unfortunate . More on that later. Focus, Doctor .
“We can talk!” insisted, taking a step closer, careful enough to make them know she wasn’t a threat. Talking didn’t seem to work a couple of hours ago, and it certainly wasn’t going to work now, but it was worth a try “we can reason together, and come up with a solution that doesn’t involve sacrificing any of us, our lives are very valuable for us, you see”
The leader said something, in what could only be described as Animal Crossing villager’s babble, but less friendly and more intimidating, and making gestures with his hands to explain his opinions. “Very valid,” the Doctor signed back, visibly struggling to copy the local slang, making walking gestures with her fingers, and what looked like water and mountains. Probably narrating the whole story of how they ended up there, and how sorry she was for stealing (even if it wasn’t her intention, it was a shiny rock for Heaven’s sake!).
“If I die here, I’ll haunt the TARDIS” whispered Graham, crossing his arms.
“Don’t ruin the vibe Graham! I’m negotiating, they’re very angry at us. But I’ll work something out! Everything’s going to be f—”
Arrow .