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Time for something a little different! This one definitely tickled me with novelty. Inspired in no small part by "The Parisian Sewage System, Venice, And Other Mistakes" by ShipMistress (and by Ship herself!), specifically that Astrid in this fic is a physical embodiment of the TARDIS. Perhaps extension is a better word - it's not quite like Idris, where the whole TARDIS was squeezed in to her. The ship is fine, there's just a physical body that can move around too. (I know, a Type 40 isn't constructed that way. But this is fanfiction, so fuck that.)
Doesn't really take place in a set time other than... during 13's first season.
-DW-
There were very few times an alarm and a countdown meant good things. This was not one of those few times.
"In my defence, it wasn't meant to do that!"
The Doctor yelled over the blaring alarm, trying to stop the machine from self-destructing after she had specifically told it just to turn off. Honestly, machines were so rude.
Even more so when they could talk.
"Well, it is, now either stop it or get back inside!"
Rolling her eyes, the Doctor turned around to glare at Astrid, who had her arms folded as she returned the glare tenfold.
"Stop fussing. Get the others back inside, I'll be in in a minute!"
"Are we in danger Doc?"
Graham asked, having to shout quite loud to be heard over the alarm that seemed to be getting even louder.
"Not at all! Astrid's going to get you all back in the TARDIS now anyway!"
A tingling whisper of telepathy in her head sounded like "you're lucky I don't just leave without you" as Astrid herded Yaz, Graham and Ryan back toward the box. Well, the Doctor supposed shouting it wouldn't have felt like Astrid was muttering under her breath. She kept sonicking and hitting buttons and shouting at the computer for good measure, though it didn't seem to be listening and just continued to count down while making an obnoxious amount of noise.
"Doctor! Get in the TARDIS before that thing takes us all with it!"
"I've nearly got it!"
She couldn't just leave it; if the spaceship the computer was on went up, there were over two hundred life forms aboard that probably couldn't survive the explosion, nor being shoved out in to space by the ship... not being there any more. Especially without a space suit, or any time to even hold their breath in preparation.
It took a few seconds for the Doctor to register that she'd managed to stop the damn thing, as her ears were ringing so hard she didn't immediately notice the alarm had shut up. With Astrid still looking rather unimpressed, she hurried off to talk to the ship's crew about finding somewhere to dock rather soon - there was no telling how long before their technology started acting up again, so best to get off as soon as possible.
"We will, and thank you!"
"No problem! S'what I do!"
She jogged back to the TARDIS, finding her fam were all stood in the console room waiting, and looking relieved to see her back there in one piece. Yaz hurried over and hugged her, Ryan and Graham close behind.
"We were worried!"
"I'm fine, see? And the ship is going to go dock soon, so they should be fine too. Now, who's up for tea and biscuits? I love a biscuit!"
The three humans nodded, before they all turned to see if Astrid was coming along. Technically, she didn't need food, or water, or rest, but she could enjoy tastes and smells and sensations so did indulge sometimes. However, the blonde avatar of the TARDIS did not look as enthused about sweets and chatting as the others. Yaz cleared her throat and grabbed the other two.
"C'mon, we'll get the kettle on, leave you two to make sure everything is fine before we take off."
The Doctor watched as Ryan took a minute to cotton on, but he and Graham quickly followed Yaz to go find where the kitchen was. As she looked to be a little upset, the Doctor wouldn't have been surprised to find Astrid had moved the kitchen. Again. She did that when she was in a bad mood. One time, she'd hidden it in a maze during a particularly bad mood.
"You almost got yourself killed out there!"
"I had it entirely under control!"
Alright, that was a bit of a lie. But she had it mostly under control. Three quarters. Forty percent under control, minimum.
"You do remember I can hear your thoughts, right?"
Damnit.
"Heard that too."
"Yeah, well, using telepathy is cheating! My brain comes up with things I don't always expect!"
"I've been in your head for millenia, dear, I'm well aware of that. That doesn't change the fact that you were reckless today!"
"If I hadn't stayed to fix it, all those people on the ship would have died! And I wasn't the one who picked up the distress signal anyway, that was you!"
Astrid rolled her eyes, leaning against one of the pillars. If not for the faint golden glow in her eyes, she could have looked quite casual.
"Yes, and if we'd evacuated to begin with while you were trying to fix the computers, they wouldn't have been. But noooo, you insisted."
"Like I said, I had it all under control. It's not my fault they had a slightly sentient, slightly bad-tempered main computer is it? Besides, it's all sorted now and I didn't die. So there."
The Doctor managed not to stick her tongue out childishly, but only just. She did give a sort of smug head nod, as if to reinforce her point that she was entirely right. Astrid huffed before vanishing entirely, the TARDIS lights flickering slightly before there was a low, grumbling clang. The Doctor didn't need translation circuits to understand that.
"Rude!"
Figuring Astrid needed time to cool off, the Doctor went off in search of her fam. They were in the kitchen, which was surprisingly easy to find, and had made tea and got the stash of biscuits out, with a custard cream pile on the plate ready for the Doctor to get stuck in to.
"Where's Astrid?"
Ryan asked, gripping his mug with both hands as it helped reduce the risk of him spilling it.
"Oh, she uh, needed a break. You know, from having a body. Can be quite exhausting, experiencing everything and in two different ways."
Yaz raised an eyebrow, sipping her tea before she placed her cup back down.
"You had a tiff and she's gone to cool off, hasn't she?"
"Not at all! Ok, a little bit. All I did was point out she took me to that distress signal!"
Yaz laughed, shaking her head before looking up and directing her next sentence to the kitchen ceiling.
"For what it's worth, Astrid, I'm on your side." Yaz lowered her gaze and looked back to the Doctor "you could have been killed, and you and the TARDIS must have been together a long time. She must be really worried every time she almost loses you."
"She should know by now I always get out!"
"Well, technically you don't always get out. You just respawn like a character in a game. At least, I think that's what you meant by regeneration. You keep saying you used to be a man."
Ryan commented, and the Doctor supposed he sort of had a point. Still, she was fine! Nobody needed to worry. She smiled around a mouthful of custard cream, which was a biscuit best consumed by shoving it in your mouth whole and crunching like your life depended on it.
Still, she did acknowledge that Astrid was probably just upset because she cared so much, and resolved to try and cheer her up about it whenever she felt like talking again. Astrid didn't reappear for a while, but she did let the Doctor direct the ship to float along in deep space for a bit, existing calmly amongst the stars when the humans decided it was time for bed. The Doctor wasn't really tired or in the mood to sleep, but headed to her room to see if she could think an apology to the TARDIS or something, so she wouldn't stay mad.
However, when she walked in to her room (after forgetting to twist the knob and walking in to the door first), she found Astrid sat on her bed. Legs crossed at the ankle, boots on the floor, pillows stacked up behind her to clearly show she'd made herself at home. The Doctor wondered if Astrid had heard her thinking and decided to appear just like that, or if she'd gone to the trouble of removing her shoes herself.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Astrid answered, and the Doctor remembered she could still hear her thoughts now. She sat down on the end of her bed to start unlacing her own boots, then hung up her coat and slipped her braces down before approaching the bed again to see if Astrid was going to let her get any nearer.
"Get on. It is your bed."
"It's your ship."
"And don't you forget it, but I made this bed comfy so sit down."
The Doctor complied, sitting down and swinging her legs up to stretch them out in front of her. Astrid was still a good foot away from her - the bed was extra wide, as the Doctor tended to roll around in her sleep. They sat in a somewhat awkward silence for about thirty seconds before the Doctor's mind started wandering, though she then remembered she'd been meaning to talk to Astrid anyway.
"I'm not sorry for trying to save people, but I am sorry for making you worry."
She felt as much as heard Astrid's deep sigh, and then the mattress depressed beneath her as Astrid shifted over until they were sat much closer. Her hair, tied into her usual messy braid until moments ago, now fell in soft waves down her shoulders, a sure sign she wasn't mad anymore. The Doctor's skin tingled with the contact of her machine as Astrid laced their fingers together; Astrid didn't quite have a heartbeat (or two, like herself), so there was no real pulse, but the life and soul of the TARDIS thrummed beneath her skin and it was a touch like no other.
"You're really alright."
"I am! I'm always alright. Occasionally I need a bit of a repair job, but luckily I can do that. So stop worrying. See, I'm all here."
The Doctor reached for Astrid's free hand and placed it on her own chest, letting Astrid feel the steady thumping of her two hearts there.
"You scared me. For a minute I really thought you were going to be so stubborn you got blown up trying to fix it."
"I promise... no, I can't promise never to scare you again, because I can't stop helping people and sometimes that can be dangerous. But I promise to do my best not to scare you as much, and you know there's nowhere I'd rather be than with you."
Astrid's hand moved, her body following until she'd turned over enough that the two could cuddle, her lovely blonde hair up close to the Doctor's face as she rested her head to hear the two hearts beating. The Doctor wrapped her arms around Astrid, only ever really content to be still and quiet when they were embraced. Astrid's scent was as unique as the rest of her, something undeniably Gallifreyan with a hint of mayweed, but there were also a myriad of others there, testament to every time and place the TARDIS could go. The Doctor breathed her in, feeling her body relax deeper in to the bed beneath them.
"Are you sniffing my hair?"
"Yes."
Astrid chuckled, but did not move, toying idly with a strap of the Doctor's braces where it hung loose at her side.
"You do like your quirky outfits. At least by Earth human standards. There's lots of planets where you'd look pretty tame, but you don't spend as much time on those."
"Well, I wouldn't want to be anywhere I was considered boring!"
"Oh, I'm sure that will never happen. You'll always fascinate me."
Shifting slightly, the Doctor let her hand run down over Astrid's hair. It was so soft it almost didn't feel real, sliding effortlessly against her fingertips.
"Even after all this time, you're not bored of me?"
"Nope. Frustrated to the ends of the universe and back with you sometimes, but never, ever bored."
"And we've been, so that is saying something."
Astrid chuckled again, wriggling around until she could push herself up so their eyes met.
"I mean it. You drive me crazy, but I love every part of you. Even the parts that haven't been built yet."
Sometimes she talked like that; as the TARDIS was a time machine, the future and past were not very different to her. Sure, the Doctor was a time traveller, but she had a personal past and future, things that had already happened and other things that had not happened yet. For Astrid, it was one and the same, though she was devilishly good at never giving out spoilers.
River Song would be proud, she thought to herself.
"She is!"
Astrid commented in response to the Doctor's thoughts, winking when the Doctor pouted.
"Cheating!"
"You would think you'd be used to it by now."
Unable to even pretend to be irritated, the Doctor shared a smile with her. Astrid's eyes had lost that faint golden glow of irritation, leaving them the bluest of blues. Astrid often found it amusing that the Doctor described the outside of the blue box and the colour of the TARDIS' eyes the same way. All those languages, and you can only find those words. As if it was the Doctor's fault that Astrid defied all description. There simply weren't enough words in the universe. So bluest of blue would have to do.
"Are the humans asleep?"
"You know they've gone to bed. You know everything on this ship."
"I do, but if I only asked questions I didn't know the answer to, it would be almost pointless for me to have a mouth. Almost."
That made the Doctor break out giggling, Astrid's cheeky smile saying plenty about the unspoken meaning of her words.
"You're terrible. I love you."
"As you should. I love you too."
That was definitely the Doctor's favourite thing about the TARDIS being able to speak. Obviously, her mouth had other, rather fun uses, but those three words softly spoken made her hearts quicken in her chest, made her feel at home, a unique sensation for the lifelong traveller.
Astrid leant in and kissed her, moving closer. This time around, the TARDIS had chosen the body of Astrid who was a couple of inches taller than the Doctor, but it wasn't particularly noticeable. And their legs still slotted together nicely when Astrid got on top of her or they were snuggling, and honestly that was all that was important. She felt the tingling of contact with the living embodiment of the TARDIS roll through her, the thrum of Astrid's skin against her own wherever clothes did not impede the contact.
And of course, Astrid heard her thinking of that. So it was little surprise when nimble fingers slid down her side, tugging up her t-shirt and undershirt until they came free of her high-waisted trousers. As soon as Astrid's hands were on her bare waist, the Doctor felt a shiver roll through her. Even after all their many years together, there was no way to really calm her reaction to that first intense touch. She squirmed and panted, feeling Astrid smirk against her mouth at how predictably the Doctor still reacted to her powerful touch.
Astrid's clothes were part of the projection of her body, and if she wanted Astrid could simply make them disappear. But it was more fun to unwrap her like a gift, removing each article of clothing to find her bare form beneath. The Doctor pressed her hands to Astrid's bare belly, feeling that thrumming again before she found herself on her back, Astrid working off her trousers and gesturing for the Doctor to finish taking off her two tops. The rainbow t-shirt and white undershirt were soon discarded to join Astrid's top, skirt and leggings on the floor, soon all buried under her trousers, braces still hanging on by one of the clips.
The Doctor wasted little time getting out of her bra - undoubtedly one of her least favourite things about her current body - before pulling Astrid close again. Whispers of TARDIS energy wrapped around her, trailing over every inch of bare skin and feeling as though Astrid was touching her entire body all at once. Smooth lips trailed over her neck, sucking just enough to make her double-pulse race. Astrid could experience all of time and space whenever she liked, but somehow seemed to find the Doctor's body more interesting quite a lot of the time. Personally, the Doctor wasn't sure how searching the stars could ever become routine, but she certainly wasn't complaining about being the centre of the universe to the being that was pressing against her.
Because of how vast it was inside the TARDIS, they couldn't drop the barriers completely all the time or the Doctor risked getting overwhelmed, or even hooked on that energy in the heart of the TARDIS, but when they were physically intimate, Astrid allowed some of the two-way telepathy that came naturally to Time Lords.
"The brain is the biggest sex organ. How could I resist the urge to get inside your head?"
Astrid's voice sounded within her mind, sending a shiver of delight through her. The Doctor mewled, already feeling the familiar heat spread through her. It had taken time to get used to the way she got wet now, nipples hardening instead of a cock, though it was quite a bit more discreet. Around humans, anyway. Astrid could read her mind, so she always knew. Heck, Astrid could make her orgasm through telepathy alone if she really wanted to...
"Not tonight. If I'm going to the trouble of having a body, I'm gonna use it."
She was in no bloody rush though, grinding lazily against the Doctor, letting blonde hair tickle against her cheeks and shoulders when she leant down to pepper kisses across the Doctor's collarbones. It sounded a little cliche, but when Astrid suddenly dropped down further and closed her warm, tingling mouth around the Doctor's nipple, she saw stars. It was always so much all at once and the Doctor loved every second.
With Astrid buried in her mind, she felt every bit of pleasure she gave to the Doctor through their connection and it only seemed to spur her on. Astrid lavished equally ardent attention upon the Doctor's other breast, leaving sharp little nips around her nipple before she sucked it in to her mouth and flicked her tongue across the tip. She pinned the Doctor's squirming hips down with one hand, using only a fraction of the strength hidden within her.
"Hold still."
"I caaaaan't."
The Doctor whined, and Astrid's giggling echoed in her head. Still, there was some mercy in her that night, as the hand on her hips moved down so those talented, tingling fingertips of hers could find the Doctor's slick clit. Every nerve in her body lit up, pleasure rolling through her from her head to her toes. Astrid moaned against her breast, moving her fingers in the small, tight circles she knew would make the Doctor buck and writhe beneath her. Though this shape was still quite new when compared to the many years the Doctor had been some variety of male, Astrid quickly learned every inch and found every way to wring ecstacy from the Doctor. The TARDIS certainly had plenty of space for memories, and so she kept them all and put them to good use reducing the Doctor to a quivering, babbling mess.
Glittering, golden trails of light wound their way around the Doctor's ankles, holding her legs apart so Astrid had all the room she liked to lie between them when she finally opted to continue her journey downwards. The Doctor felt her hearts pounding at the deep blue gaze peering up from between her spread thighs, sparkling with mischief. Her hands were technically still free, but felt frozen at her sides as she waited for Astrid to move.
Her tongue seemed to burn in the most incredible way, stroking lazily up and down her slit, tasting and teasing before there were more flat, pointed licks against her clit. The Doctor felt every touch echoing through her whole body, heat flooding her senses.
"One of my favourite uses of telepathy is I can still be doing this while I tell you you taste amazing."
Astrid could even make her mental voice more sinful, her breathy tone fuelling the fire that was working it's way through the Doctor. It felt like they had barely even started and she was close to breaking point already, but it was little wonder when she was under the ministrations of someone like Astrid. The Doctor knew she sometimes slipped in to Gallifreyan when she got close to climax, but thankfully the TARDIS understood - she just didn't translate it for anyone, as she knew the Doctor liked to keep it private.
More trails of golden glitter appeared to hold her down, preventing her hips from bucking too wildly so Astrid could keep going, her lips and tongue working the Doctor right up to the edge until she came undone, hands fisting in soft sheets as her hips and legs fought their bonds, twisting and thrashing her way through her orgasm. It only turned her on more knowing Astrid felt every single sensation herself, and Astrid only made it more intense by echoing the sensations back all over again to make the experience twice as powerful.
"I love it when you swear in Gallifreyan. Nothing like it in the universe."
Astrid murmured as she slid back up along the Doctor's body, her bonds vanished with not a mark left behind. Soft, damp lips brushed her cheek, Astrid's arm resting loosely over her heaving chest as she waited for the Doctor to catch her breath. It took a while for her hearts to slow, but she felt warm, safe, swaddled by the contentment of laying there next to Astrid.
"Good, love?"
"You know it was. You felt it."
"Like I said, if I only asked questions I didn't know the answer to..."
The Doctor snorted.
"I think you just proved your mouth has plenty of other uses."
Astrid laughed, nuzzling in to the Doctor's neck.
"Exactly. Get some rest love."
"Are you staying?"
Astrid nodded.
"We're just drifting, I can stay this way for a while."
Humming, the Doctor reached for some wet wipes so they could clean up a bit, then burrowed into Astrid and sighed happily. Their telepathic link was lessened, but the TARDIS always let it close slowly so it wasn't too jarring. Astrid stroked her hair, her back, speaking softly in Gallifreyan until the Doctor fell asleep.
She woke with Astrid still holding her, breathing in the comforting scent of her until the buzzing energy that seemed to fill this current regeneration most of the time made itself known. She checked her watch - which she didn't remember taking off and putting on the side, so Astrid must have done it for her - and saw there were still a couple of hours before the humans would rise.
"Where should we take the fam today, do you think?"
"Oh... somewhere a little less dangerous today, I think."
Astrid joked, kissing the top of her head.
"If you say so. I better get up."
Despite her words, the Doctor stayed there a couple of minutes more before the energy would not be ignored, and so she reluctantly left Astrid's arms and leapt out of bed. Astrid seemed quite happy to take in the view as the Doctor went round in search of her clothes, but she got up to follow quite happily when invited to join the Doctor in taking a shower...
"I guess it's time for you to go."
The Doctor said as they got to the console room, having talked out where they felt like going en route. She knew it wasn't a permanent loss, but she never liked to see Astrid go. Letting out a soft sigh, Astrid nodded and kissed her sweetly, squeezing her hand before stepping away. It was hard work for her to be standing there while the ship was in flight, so the Doctor knew the physical form would vanish for a little while as they travelled.
"I'm so glad it was you I stole from Gallifrey, Doctor. Now, show me the universe."
-HTTYD-
I loved Idris saying "I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord", so Astrid says it too. This was so much fun!