The Redhead Outlander

Day in TARDIS - After Boom Town

Three thumps against the door of my room woke me up.

"Alvia! Wake up we're going to Raxacoricofallapatorius!"

I moaned a"no" while I pressed my head, which was pounding painfully, in my cushion. I pulled the blanket over my shoulder and rolled it into a warm and comfortable cocoon.

My door opened and light flooded my room.

"Go stand, groundhog! I swear you sleep more than Rose and Jack together!"

"Go lose yourself elsewhere and let me sleep!"

The Doctor chuckled.

"Ah, I see, hangover?"

"Nooooo, sleep. Not enough sleep, I don't wanna goooo ..."

He sighed.

"All right stay in the Tardis. You don't know what you're missing ..."

He closed the door of my room before reopening it and saying:

"And I want the Tardis in the same state as when I left!"

I grunted an unintelligible response and he went off again, turning off the light. I went back to sleep. A few hours later, I finally got up, catching up on the hours of sleep I needed. I yawned as I headed for the kitchen, preparing two slices of buttered bread and a cup of black tea with sugar.

I chewed my sandwiches as I pondered what I was going to do while waiting for the return of the Doctor, Rose and Jack. I suddenly remembered the mental note I had made the day before. I nodded to myself, I was going to gather all the information available about the fox. I was hoping to find as much information as possible thanks to the Tardis. I rubbed my hands to remove most of the crumbs and took my mug towards my room. I dressed comfortably in chill mode. A tracksuit pant with writing "procrastination" on the side of the legs and a graphic black t-shirt with a pizza drawn on it.

I put my mug on my desk and my eye caught something new in the right corner of my room. And indeed, where there was an empty wall before was an enormous corkboard with some bug already installed. I pulled out a white sheet notebook and a four-color style and started to write down all the keywords that came to mind, every time I was compared to a fox, all the mention of the fox I noticed.

As soon as these three things were written I pinned them, then I made a quick return to the library, returning with a stack of books in my arms. I flipped through all the books, looking for a mention of a fox or the characteristics of the fox in all this literature. Charles Dickens, Aesop's fables, Jean de La Fontaine's fables, the little prince of St-Exupery, and many more books. I did a tour in the oriental culture too, looking at Kitsune fox-woman.

The fox is present in western and eastern cultures. But both have a different point of view on the fox. While in Europe people see the fox as a symbol of evil, mischief and cunning, in the West the people see it as a benevolent figure as well as malicious, but they also have this cunning aspect. From scavenger to deity, I do not know what to think.

Several hours passed while I was doing my research but there was a moment when my mind was threatening to explode. I added a last note that mentions or compares to the fox to time and space. I added a drawing of the engraving I had seen on the wing of the bomb that was in the ship Chula Jack and a watercolor illustration of what I saw yesterday when the heart of the Tardis was open.

I finally retreated, observing the work I had done but my questions were still unanswered. I rubbed my tired eyes before hearing a noise outside my room. So, I headed for this source of noise to get into the console room where the trio from before was on the ground breathless and panting, looking unflattering look but a huge smile on their lips and shoulders shaking with laughter.

"I guess your adventure went well on Raxacoricofallapatorius?"

The Doctor raised his hand to say he was going to talk as he tried to catch his breath with a lot of effort.

"Margaret will grow up in a good family and Jack flirted with the royal princess and was sentenced to death." He explained a few minutes later. "The sentence being immediate meant we had to run for our lives"

"You really are a bunch of good-for-nothings , you know?" I sighed with an amused smile, shaking my head.

"And you? What did you do during our absence?"

"I rested, I read, drew ..." I listened vaguely without mentioning my research. "I tried to find a way to conquer the world, but I was put off by the paperwork," I finished with humor.

"Paperwork," mutters the Doctor with horror. "This is the only thing that holds a lot of people. Fortunately for us, you have no claim to dominate the world. You would be strangely effective."

"How should I take it?"

"As you want Alvia, as you want."