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Camilla Fritton is not an easy woman to surprise.
This is most likely due to her role as Headmistress of Saint Trinian's. Her girls are much more than a handful, up to their necks in all sorts of interesting activities. Naturally, Camilla approves - but only when they do it right. Sloppy work is shameful and reflects badly on the school. Camillla doesn't tolerate sloppy. Messy is fine, even good but sloppy? Sloppy is unacceptable.
It also invites the possibility of a criminal record and Camilla doesn’t want those anywhere near her girls. She wants them to be able to get… solid jobs in the future. They don’t need to be stable - god knows government agents and mafia bosses don't work regular hours - don’t even need to be flashy not when bar tenders are perfect for sharing gossip and keep the school network alive and well. She just wants them to be able to make do and a criminal record is only going to get in the way of that.
So Camilla is not a woman who is particularly easy to surprise. Those who manage don't seem to enjoy it that much either. Surprises delight her.
When a blue box materialises in her room and a blonde woman comes spilling out, Camilla is working on two paintings at the same time - the third needs to dry a little longer.
She is definitely excited, positively giddy. A materialising blue box and a woman? It’s a mystery that she cannot wait to solve. Her girls are darling but they're also getting rather predictable and Camilla herself is in a period of waiting for fresh ideas to come. This is perfect.
”Hello? Excuse me? You couldn’t tell me where we are, could you?”
The woman’s voice is Northern and she’s just arrived in a box. Camilla has a great deal of questions. She looks at the woman though, really looks at her, and really she seems so completely lost that Camilla cannot help herself. She is a schemer, Camilla is, but only with short term things like convincing this woman to stay. She doesn't anticipate it will take longer than an hour or so.
”St. Trinian’s, dearie.”
She doesn’t say the woman should stay, not yet. But a woman is never too old to be a girl and a girl is never too young to be a St. Trinian’s girl. Camilla has learnt this lesson over the years, has tried her best to impart it upon her students. Boyfriends, they cried at first and Camilla rolled her eyes because these ones were going to take work but they came around in the end. The government only gives you so much time to grow up in - packing 18 year olds off to jobs by calling them adults even though the brain isn't fully developed by that point. Camilla tries her best to let her girls grow down instead.
The woman smiles excitedly, ”A school! I remember the school with the Krilitaines - there aren’t any weird chips in your canteen, right?”.
”I’m afraid I don’t know what those are.” Camilla returns pleasantly, mind whirring. They have had bad chips before but that was because the girls replaced the oil with something else in order to run the cook at the time out of the school. It had been such excellent entertainment but the girls had gotten lazy in the end. They were determined to do it slowly at first but waiting two months wasn't psychological warfare or whatever they argued. It was laziness.
”Ohh, of course not. Aliens. Nasty things. Like to keep trophies of the species they’ve conquered. The ones I met had wings and turned into bats.”
Camilla nods dutifully along to show she is listening but what she is really thinking about is that this woman needs to learn how to slow down. She is talking so fast and barely explaining anything and even with Camilla’s limited knowledge of psychology, she knows she’s dealing with a liar. A good one probably. A complex one certainly.
Still, when Camilla asks if her guest is a alien - she seems perfectly honest when she replies that yes, she is and moves the conversation onward.
Camilla is rather enjoying herself after an hour or two but it is late in the evening and she is getting tired. She doesn’t want her visitor to leave yet though - she still needs to explain how to build a robot dog (which flies right over Camilla’s head but she has no doubt her girls are recording and will be trying it for themselves soon - where can she find the cheapest metal?).
The woman eventually introduces herself as the Doctor.
”Quite right.” Camilla says. “You’ll stay the night, maybe even the year if we push it.”.
The Doctor tries to complain but Camilla fixes her with a look that never fails to quell her girls - though the Doctor may be worse than all of them combined. She has eagerly lapped up all of the aliens's escapades and wonders whether that is why she looks ready to bolt. Time for some tough love, clearly. It will be good training. She hears her niece might arrive soon and the girl will dearly need some help.
”Dearie, you’re obviously on the run from something - quite possibly reality. How good is your London accent?”
As it turns out, the Doctor is terrible. But the accent she can do? It gives Camilla the perfect idea.
”Marvellous.” she says. “We’ll call you Beverly.”.