Chapter Text
The whirring of the engines faded away and the Doctor turned from the controls to grin at Rose and Jack. He gave Jack an exasperated look when he saw the man was stuffing his face with crisps.
"Wha? I picked them up on Earth." He swallowed and Rose put a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. "They make my mouth hurt, but in a good way, like that evening I spent with-"
The Doctor held up his hand. "Thank you Jack, but we get the picture. And if it's salt you like, you're in luck." He grabbed the flaps of his leather jacket and leaned back, giving them a grin that made his big ears all the more pronounced. His eyes twinkled.
"Why? What's out there," Rose asked.
The Doctor nodded his head towards the door and quirked his eyebrow upward. "Why don't you see for yourself," he taunted her.
Rose beamed and ran to the doors. She threw them open and started to step outside, but Jack encircled her waist with his arm and yanked her back before her foot could leave the TARDIS. "Let's look before we leap next time, what do you think?"
Rose looked outside and saw towers of gleaming white that reflected the sunlight with such intensity it hurt her eyes to look straight at them. Between the TARDIS and the towers was a wide expanse of ocean. The TARDIS was resting atop waters of deep dark blue, which the depths of could not be known.
A frigid wind blew into the TARDIS and Rose shivered. "It's freezing out there! I'd have caught my death if I went into that water, what were you thinking?!" She didn't sound mad, well she did, but the Doctor knew what she sounded like when her anger was real. She knew he was going to have some sort of clever explanation, and he knew she was excited to hear it. He didn't intend to disappoint.
He walked up to stand behind them and put a hand on both their shoulders. "Oh ye of little faith," he pronounced to them. "The oceans on this planet have the highest salt content possible while still remaining salt water instead of wet salt," he said with a chuckle. "And as you felt it is quite cold outside."
"Meaning," Rose prompted with a smirk.
"Meaning," the Doctor shoved Jack out of the TARDIS, who shouted a protest. By instinct Jack kept stepping forward to maintain his balance and not fall.
Rose gasped. "He's walking on water! Jack you're walking on water!" Rose ran out of the TARDIS after him, shrieking delighted laughter as she did.
"Just remember to keep moving," the Doctor called out after her. "You'll sink in if you stop moving!"
Jack was already learning this, and he shot the Doctor a dirty look as he began jogging back and forth in front of the TARDIS. "So how is the TARDIS floating there then," he demanded as Rose started running circles around him, both to stay afloat and keep her circulation going. It was quite cold.
"Old girl can be light as a feather when she pleases," the Doctor explained.
Jack scooped Rose off her feet on one of her passes and spun her in a circle. "You have roses on your cheeks Rose." He ran his thumb over a reddening cheek. "You're like to catch your death whether you get wet or not."
"Right." The Doctor stepped outside and jogged in place while he locked up. "Time to get moving. Let's see the White City in all her glory. This is the heyday of this civilization, the peak of their artistic and technological advancement."
"What happens after this," Rose asked as she twined her hand in his. She pulled Jack close as well, linking their arms and using both men as a windshield. "A war? An invasion?"
"Migration. The next ice age starts and people migrate to other planets. The White City empties. Frozen towers of salt preserved as a timeless monument to the people that built it."
Rose snuggled closer to the Doctor and picked up her pace, which both men matched with ease. She was getting colder. "Isn't there some old play about the White City," Jack asked. "It could be a different city though, not the most unique name in the universe after all."
"It's a new play now!" The Doctor oozed enthusiasm, and it warmed his companions more than any fire or central heating ever could. "It's one of the greatest romances of all time," he explained. "The story of the Queens of Winter and Summer, and how they can kiss but twice a year, and yearn for each other throughout all other days."
"That's so sad," Rose said.
They stepped onto the shore. "We don't have to watch it if you don't want," the Doctor assured her. "There's plenty of other things to do. There's the Street of Fire where every sort of meat is roasted, and free samples given to passers by to warm them. There's the Hall of Furs, where we can find something warmer for you to wear if we're going to stay outside."
"Why didn't we just grab something warm from the TARDIS again," Jack asked.
"I didn't think about it," the Doctor admitted.
"I do want to see the play," Rose told him. "I want to see everything. It's all so beautiful."
The Doctor stared at his companions, one shivering and pink, the other pulling her close to warm her, as blue as still waters. "It is," the Doctor agreed, not looking at the city. "It's very, very beautiful. And we haven't even gotten to the temple of the arts, where-"
"Maybe we should stop talking about it and go see it," Jack said with a cheeky grin.
"Oh well lead the way Captain." Jack grabbed both their hands and, laughing, he complied, running to the blinding white towers while pulling the Doctor and Rose behind him.