Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So where are we exactly?” Rose asked, looking about herself upon stepping out of the TARDIS onto a suspiciously average street.

There didn’t look to be any kind of emergency to her but that’s what the TARDIS had told them upon returning from their trip to the Victorian era. She was still dressed for the occasion, not having had time to change as they ran from one adventure to the next. Once she may have worried about standing out but she’d been travelling for decades now and it wasn’t as if she dressed up for alien planets most of the time. And of course, the Doctor never changed from his staples so she’d long since stopped worrying about it, dressing up only as she saw fit.

“Glasgow!” The Doctor chirped as he stepped out of the TARDIS in all his tweed-wearing glory already spinning about as he waved a device he’d cobbled together through the air, floppy brown hair falling into his eyes with the motion. “Shame we couldn’t bring Amy.”

The Ponds were at home with their infant daughter Melody trying to recover from the trauma of Madame Kavarian. The time travellers visited every now and again, more frequently for the Ponds in their timeline than it was for them. They’d been named godparents of the little girl and they were unfortunately smitten. Between Sunday lunches with all their friends - or as many that could make it that week - at Sarah-Jane’s and godparent duties at the Ponds they’d spent more time on Earth in the last decade than they had in the nearly century that they’d been travelling together.

Rose turned to frown at her husband in confusion, “Amy’s not from Glasgow.”

The Doctor shrugged dismissively, “Well it’s still Scotland.”

“No, that’s like saying Kent is the same as London.” Rose scowled.

“It’s still just one tiny corner of one island, on one little planet, in one solar system in a whole universe of places! In the grand scheme of things they’re close enough.” 

Okay yeah, he had a point there. She knew Amy wouldn’t take kindly to the implication of Inverness and Glasgow being the same thing. But it wasn’t as if they generally learnt the geopolitics of alien planets so Rose supposed she couldn’t fault the Doctor there.

“Fair enough.” Rose conceded. “What are we looking for again?”

“Ikiri. A known invasive species on seventeen planets, highly adaptable to most all environments they find themselves in, they out-compete the local inhabitants nine out of ten times. The TARDIS picked up a trace of them here which if true, could be bad news.”

“What sort of invasive species? What are they likely to replace here on Earth?” She still couldn’t see anything but perhaps knowing what they may replace would help her know what they looked like or at least what to be wary of.

“Generally bigger predators. Bears maybe.” The Doctor answered distractedly, still spinning and weaving around as he tried to get a signal.

Rose frowned at her husband once more. While she wasn’t sure exactly when they’d landed, she knew it was near enough to the Pond’s time based on the cars lining the street to take issue with that comment.

“Scotland doesn’t have bears anymore.”

“What? Since when?” The Doctor asked now frowning at his device. Whether it was because of the readings he was receiving or because of the lack of bears in Scotland, she didn’t know.

“I don’t know. Probably around the same time they got rid of wolves.”

“Humans,” The Doctor scoffed, “I don’t know why I’m even bothering with the Ikiri, might be good for you lot.”

“Oi! Not my lot, this was well before I was born.”

Rose had more than come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t entirely human now thanks to Bad Wolf, often felt a little detached from the people of her own time period as she was there so rarely but none of that changed the fact that she was human at her core and her husband occasionally needed the reminder.

The Doctor made a non-commital noise in response, still distracted by his readings or lack thereof by the looks of it. Rose huffed, hands coming to rest on her hips startled for a moment by the presence of her corset before she remembered why it was there. Honestly, she probably could have changed with how non-urgent this was turning out to be. Turning away from her husband she looked around them at the street again. There was still nothing in sight, maybe a handful of people a few streets away but that wasn’t surprising. She was well accustomed to the TARDIS’ poor navigation and inconvenient landing spots by now even when the ship insisted it was an emergency. Fickle old girl.

“What are we even looking for?” She asked when she grew tired of standing around, so much for an emergency.

“Not sure, they’re shapeshifters so they could look like anything but just slightly off. But they emit a certain chemical that we can pick up with this.” He wiggled the device in demonstration.

Rose’s shoulders slumped, “We don’t know what they look like?”

Because really she should have figured that out when the Doctor was being vague but it was still irritating to learn. Couldn’t the TARDIS have given them some help for this supposed emergency that needed dealing with right this second, regardless of the fact that she was a time machine.

“Well, they’ll be eating the local inhabitants so look for creatures covered in blood that look a little odd. They won’t be able to mimic other organisms completely faithfully.” 

Rose shook her head in exasperation before her attention was captured by the handful of people getting closer. Her hands fell away from her hips as the reality dawned on her. Wasn’t that just bloody typical? Well, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about standing out now.

“Doctor what’s the date?” She asked tiredly.

The Doctor looked up from his device with a frown, “I don’t know mid-autumn, why’s that relevant?”

Rose turned towards him with a stony expression, “It’s Halloween.” She gestured to the approaching trick-or-treaters.

The Doctor turned to look to where she’d gestured his own expression falling away at the sight.

“Oh bother.”

Odd-looking creatures covered in blood, indeed.

Chapter Text

"Hey Launa, which teachers do you have?" Amaryllis asked, bounding up to the girl.

The girl in question ducked her head down to read her timetable, a curtain of mousy brown hair shielding her from view. "For physics, I have Doctor Smith, fo-"

"No way!" Tammy shrieked.

Launa looked up in confusion at the interruption.

Tammy flushed at the expectant expression of the shorter girl due to her outburst.

"Sorry, it's just he's practically a legend around here."

"Really?" Launa asked, disbelief colouring her tone but Amaryllis was already nodding eagerly in agreement with her friend.

The two friends were second-year students at the university Launa was doing an exchange programme at for the year. They'd needed an extra roommate or two after the set of twins they were supposed to be living with had dropped out. Launa had been desperate, and the girls had been welcoming so it had seemed like a no-brainer, particularly when they offered to show her around.

"Oh yeah," Amaryllis cut in, "He's been here for like ever, some say he's been here longer than the university. Emily heard that he sleeps in the basement of the university. He's super weird but in a cool way, not a creepy way."

Tammy rolled her eyes at her friend, "He's eccentric." She corrected. "But seriously he once mentioned 'his friend Shakespeare' and how he wrote a sonnet for his friend, there's a rumour that he's actually immortal which isn't that ridiculous if you look at any old staff photos, that man has not aged since the 60s. There are also photos of him from the nineteenth century hidden somewhere too. His lectures are always super crowded because other students like to slip in and listen, so make sure you get there early if you want a seat."

"I'm still placing bets on him being a Keanu Reeves-esque immortal." Amaryllis shrugged.

Tammy quirked an eyebrow at her friend, "Who said Keanu Reeves isn't a vampire?"

Amaryllis scoffed but didn't acknowledge her friend's point as she turned to the other girl in their group, a freshman by the name of Charlotte, their fourth and final roommate. "What about you 'Lottes, who've you got?"

Charlotte flustered at the sudden change in focus onto herself, scrambling to unfold her timetable as she stuttered, "Oh uh I've got Professor Tyler for art hist-"

"No way!" "Oh, come on!" The two friends exclaimed in unison.

"That's so unfair that you both got the coolest professors on your first go."

"Urgh, I was on a waitlist for her classes for 2 months last year for sociology." Amaryllis groaned.

"I thought she took art history?" Launa queried with a frown; she was sure that was what Charlotte had been about to say before the duo had interrupted the timid girl.

"Oh, they both teach a bunch of subjects." Tammy waved her off.

"Yeah, it's just that Rose's classes are separated into different subjects while the Doctor does a ton of classes, but you never know what you're getting that day?"

"Rose?" Charlotte asked carefully.

"Yeah, that's what they prefer to be called, Rose and the Doctor. Technically the Doctor is a professor too; he just doesn't like to use that title." Amaryllis shrugged.

"Wait," Launa interjected, already feeling lost, "He doesn't always teach physics?"

"He's supposed to teach physics, but he'll go on tangents about poetry and stuff. You'll learn so much in his classes and they're so easy to pass, as long as you're passionate." Tammy reassured.

"Never mind that. Brandon said he heard howling coming from Rose's office last year, like honest to god, wolf howling! Apparently, her office has been checked nineteen times because they're certain she's keeping one as a pet in there as part of her zoological research. But they never find anything."

"Oh, I heard that one. And you can't eat in her classes because she has the nose of a bloodhound, and no matter how full that lecture theatre is she always pinpoints it. Even in summer when it gets a little too hot and gross because the ventilation is shit, she'll still find it."

"Really? The vampire and the werewolf? You're pulling our legs."

The two friends immediately looked defensive at Launa's comment.

"It's true! The Doctor once said he'd been tutored by Leonardo Da Vinci, and while he'd been a dab hand at the inventions, he couldn't keep up with the art as that had always been more his wife's thing."

"Yeah! And Rose said that the Royal blood condition that first affected Queen Victoria was the result of a wolf bite. And half the university can vouch that they've seen her eyes flash gold at least once, she's also like, weirdly fast? Michael saw her on a morning jog once and she wasn't even out of breath after practically sprinting for half a mile." Tammy carried on from her friend.

"Mhmm." Amaryllis nodded in agreement. "And the Doctor was knighted by Queen Victoria, there's a record of it in the archives. And he has all these letters from historical figures framed in his office, like Benjamin Franklin and Queen Elizabeth the first."

"I think you're getting your mythology mixed up." Charlotte piped up uncertainly.

"Urgh, you'll see," Amaryllis told them spinning on her heel, Tammy quickly following after her, leaving the two new girls to look at each other in confusion.

There was never any consensus as to just what was up with the Doctor and Rose, but two months into the year the two former sceptics could safely say there was definitely something weird about their professors.