*River* Just a Holiday...

[ada]

"Eurgh... Aren't you full of life all of a sudden." Her brow furrowed, River looked back at the entrance through which she'd been flung, recently closed. Had he seen something? Well, she couldn't ask him very well now, since he was outside, and she was in. With a sigh, she rose from the place she'd been pushed to so roughly, and stared the doors down. Locked. She knew better than to knock on them, as he obviously wasn't about to let her own. River crossed her arms, and sat on a set of stairs near the center console. He'd better let her out at some point, or she'd drive the TARIDS off somewhere else.

[Deleted]

The Doctor puffed his cheeks as he leaned against the TARDIS door. He still wasn't sure if leaving River in there was a good idea. "Right then," he said, knowing he could hear her. "I'm sorry River, but it's too dangerous for you. But I'll be back. You know I will. Oh, and I wouldn't bother trying to move the TARDIS, if I were you. I've activated the isomorphic blocks on most of the flight controls. So you'll be able to do anything except fly her."

[ada]

In frustration, River stomped. She would have kicked the door too, but she couldn't hurt this old thing. Such a sweet, kindhearted machine--one that summoned the opposite feelings she had toward her husband at this very moment. She looked back at the controls, and messed with them just to make sure.

"Aaand... yep. He wasn't bluffing." What a pity that was, since he seemed to fake his way along so often. Enough of moping, though. If she wasn't going to go on the usual holiday, she was going to put on something a bit more comfortable, or at least more hardy. Some pants, and a shirt and jacket. Yes, to the closet room. She went off and began to rifle though it, still keeping an ear out for if the Doctor called to her, or better yet, opened the TARDIS again.

[Deleted]

Sighing, the Doctor headed back to the castle. To be honest, he half-hoped that River would work out a way to get back there with him by using the other controls somehow. But it was too dangerous. If his hunch was right, he couldn't let her near them. If it even was them who were behind this. So many ifs...

He eventually got back and went inside; through the hall, the post where the suit of armour had been (he'd still need to find out what that was for) and up to the marble room. He kept going up the stairs, and uncovered another level, which appeared to be the exact replica of the inside of a WWII bunker, until he got to the top. He still wanted to know what the markings at the top were.

[ada]

Dressed more simply, River came back out to the center console area. She'd left her purse out here, fancy that. Upzipping it, she pulled out one thing after another: something like a phone, her blue book, a change of clothes--just in case, and a bobby pin.
"This will do. Let's see if it's a possibility."
With that she went over to the TARDIS' locked door, and began to attempt picking it from the inside. This took altogether too long, and after what felt a half hour (though it was certainly less, unless time was going wobbly again), she plopped down on the ground.

"Ugh, so useless." River threw the pin on the ground, then picked it up again. She couldn't be mad at a thing. Well, that wasn't true. She could be mad at things, but she really needed to be mad at the Doctor. Jumping up, she went over to the controls and began messing with them. One of these had to do something useful.

She flipped a few switches, then recalled where the voice interface was. "Activate voice interface." She called out into the empty TARDIS. River watched as the voice interface began to work, causing a window to pop up on the screen, and a hologram before her. A little version of her mother, Amy Pond. "Voice interface, give me the Doctor. Please." It always felt better to ask nicely. Sure enough, there he was. "Hello, Doctor." She said aloud with a smirk.

[Deleted]

Eventually, the Doctor came to the top of one of the castle's towers. Though it appeared not to be the one with the markings River had pointed out, it was good enough. Maybe now he'd get some answers. But before he could do anything else, he heard an all-too familiar growling sort of noise behind him. He let out a small snort, and a smirk without humour came across his face. "Hello again."

--

"Voice interface enabled," the hologram said as it switched to the Doctor, and then awaited what River would ask of it.

[ada]

River shook her head slightly. What would she ask, indeed. It'd be nice to hear something in his voice at least, even if he was off adventuring while keeping her stowed away in this box.
"Tell me, what information have we got on robotic gold suits of armor?" After waiting a moment, she added, "Ah, better yet, give me whatever you've got on unexplained symbols on castles, circa 16th century." The hologram seemed to look about, images whizzing back and forth across the hologram eyes of the Doctor. While River waited for a response from the computer, she began to play with the controls again. Ah, but there it was. Isomorphic controls. She'd have to convince the TARDIS that she was the doctor. How to go about it...

Well, River thought, it was worth a shot. "Geronimo!" She called out, in her best impersonation. But no way the TARDIS would accept that, it didn't sound anything like--
Wait, what was it doing? Unlocking the controls?
"Hah!" She hadn't sounded a thing like him, but luckily, the TARDIS was on her side. As the computer began to speak, telling her about those symbols, River started driving the TARDIS toward where she knew the Doctor had been going, where he wouldn't have been able to keep away from. The roof.

[Deleted]

The next thing he knew, the Doctor was on the roof of the tallest point in the castle. He had no idea how he'd got there..."Oh well. I'm just where I want to be," he said to himself. "Now where are these markings..." He started walking around, looking for and examining them, when he heard something. A groaning vworp vworp. But that was impossible..."River...NO!"

[ada]

Rather quickly, the materialization finished, and they were together on the top of the castle. The TARDIS doors burst open, with River standing at the entrance, hands placed on her hips, gun in her left hand.
"What, you thought I'd stay at home like a good girl? Don't be foolish." She jumped out onto the roof with a chuckle, and walked over to the leftmost edge. "Here you are, symbols. Circle with three lines coming down, isn't that interesting?" She leaned down to have a closer look, grazing the stone incisions with her hand. It didn't seem like it'd been made by something inhuman, something powerful.

"Did a bit of research, while you had me locked away." River continued, standing up. "Might have something to do with skulls, but I'm not sure. There wasn't much information on it. What do you think?"

[Deleted]

The Doctor didn't answer her. He just stood watching her, gobsmacked. He thought he had her all worked out, and yet, and yet, she'd managed to get past the isomorphic blocks. It seemed as if River Song would never run out of surprises for him. But that was beside the point.

"River, get back in there," he said immediately. "I am telling you: there's something bad here. And I don't want you to be in any danger."

[ada]

"Mhmm, danger danger. I think if you wouldn't have wanted me in danger, you wouldn't have ever let me come along, come get me, met me at all. But here we are, eh?" River checked the bullets in her gun, just to make sure they were all in order. Yep, working order indeed. She'd be able to take care of herself. "Now then, let's talk about skeletons. Skeletons mean death, and they're written all over this castle, at the very top, like a signal. But what does that symbol come from? Humans didn't know what skeletons really looked like for a long time, not until they chopped up one. And skulls, those were always filled with brains, sinewy muscles... so where did that image come from, that it got so ingrained in the psyche, from the very beginning? Who made humans afraid of skulls?"

River turned around, and looked down at the countryside. Cows everywhere, and some shepherds... so nervous still. She could hear the baaing from here. "Maybe it's not skulls. Something worse than death." Feeling something like a brush at her shoulder, River turned around. But nothing was there. Dangerous up here, was it? Better than being stuck inside.

"Well, let's start figuring this out then."

[Deleted]

Sighing, the Doctor decided he'd just have to go along with her. He just hoped he wouldn't have a need to say 'I told you so.' Then again, given the secret he'd been keeping, he could be held responsible. So he'd tell her. As much as it might worry her, it'd be best.

"River...there's something I have to tell you," he said. "When we got here, well..." He held up his hand and showed her the marks, then looked at them himself. "What...no! It was only two, not ten!"

[ada]

River followed after the Doctor, in a fashion far more like a docile pet than she would have liked. Something strange, was it? He certainly as acting strange at the moment, not letting her follow, twitching this way and that. And then there was that feeling that something followed, something strange and terrible. Yet every time she turned around, River forgot what had made her feel that way.
"I get the weirdest feelings in this place." River said, half thinking, half commenting as the Doctor glanced about. "It's as if I'm being watched. But, I suppose those kinds of feelings are just paranoia, eh?" River had gained more than her share of little paranoia ever since she started traveling about with this Doctor. And now that they'd been hitched, well, she saw more things to fear in the dark than ever.

"You alright, Doctor?" There was a strange look of worry on his face. It'd been plastered on his face for the past hour or so, but now he seemed much more terrified. Maybe her words were worrying him. "I'm sure we can work this castle thing out and leave pretty quickly, if it's bothering you so much."

[Deleted]

The Doctor looked at River worriedly. With the feeling of her being watched, and the marks on his hand...no question about it now. They were here. "River, do you know what these marks mean?" he asked, showing her again. Twelve of them now. Damn, they were fast. And he can't remember them...that was so irritating. "We need to find out what they're up to..." he muttered to himself. The rooms. The robot armour. The skull-like markings that seemed to represent death. He was now getting the idea they were representing something else.

[ada]

"Let me think..." It'd been only a little while, but what she could recall of their marriage-adventure, did hold just a few memories of those who'd tried to do them in. The Silence. What did they look like though? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything. Maybe that was why the symbol hadn't had any information about it in the computers. Still, it was hard to be sure of something you couldn't see, couldn't chase. But why chase something, when it was coming for you?

River shivered a little, the wind surrounding the castle whipping the countryside. "Remember the Silence? The marks had something to do with them. I remember that much, but barely anything else."
The wind had stopped. Why had it stopped? Looking around, River noticed that she faced a different direction. She turned back to the Doctor, and saw something odd. Very odd.
"Your hand. It's blinking red." A tiny dot on the underside of his hand blinked. Had he left a message for them? And why couldn't she remember, so hard as she was trying?