Oral Fixation
by Captain Oblivious
AN: Doctor Who is a very new thing for me, but I was aching to write something, and the Doctor was the first thing I could think of.
Summary: Just a little one-shot, theorizing on why the tenth Doctor ends up licking everything around him. : )
Written and Posted on July 17, 2007
The Doctor had spent a very long time learning everything there was to know. He had read things, seen things, smelled things, touched things, and heard them. And he'd gotten a bit tired of assimilating data those ways, frankly. After 900 of years of anything, you were bound to want to move on.
So, when he'd pulled the Time Vortex out of Rose and ended up regenerating into yet another body, an idea began to form. He opened his mouth to make a (dashing, stunning, intellectual, and all together witty as hell) comment, and found that the first thing he noticed... was his teeth (oh well. He'd never really managed to come up with anything particularly earth-shattering to say after a regeneration anyway). They were shaped differently, and that was strange, but what really caught his attention was that his mouth tasted different. When Rose wasn't looking, he stuck his tongue out and discovered that even the air had a taste. It tasted of stars and time and travel, of a thousand different worlds that he had yet to even visit. Above those other tastes were the ones of heart and intelligence, and a deep, intoxicating taste that made him forget for a moment about tasting and instead he inhaled as deeply as he could. That mysterious taste was not available to smell, he supposed after a moment. Everything smelled just the way it should.
But his tongue, he had discovered, could separate each little taste until they were thoroughly categorized. Like... wow.
He hadn't had much of a chance to experiment with this new talent, though (nor had he had the chance to find out that he was now rude, and definitely not ginger) before he collapsed and spent the next couple of days in bed.
He woke up at one point when Rose needed him. The fact that she had that power over him made him a little wary, so he'd kept his mouth clamped shut until he'd turned away from her. Then Jackie, that bloody domestic, human woman was breathing in his face and proving that she was the source of Rose's talent for talking quickly without the need to breathe.
He hoped fervently for a moment that Rose didn't taste like her mother, though. The more Jackie talked, the more of her taste was pushed into his mouth, and when he finally collapsed again, it wasn't so much the exhaustion that caused it as it was the fact that he simply didn't think he could taste any more Harrod's and daytime drama without destroying Rose's sweatshirt with some good old fashioned stomach acid.
He was blessedly free of that taste the next time he awoke. It was almost an accident that when the last bit of excess energy left his body through his parted lips, the taste of tea flooded his mouth and touched his tongue. He inhaled immediately, the cells in his body rejoicing at the appearance of the saturated air. The shock of it nearly sent him into a coma, but the strength that had once again filled his body propelled him to his feet and he nearly tore the doors of the TARDIS down in his haste to taste the world.
Of course, the invasion had caused a bit of a cramp in his journey of self-discovery, but he hadn't been alive for so long without learning how to deal with a cramp. He took control of the situation quickly, as usual, ranting and raving when he found out that he was brown and not ginger, and putting his newfound rudeness to good work. The Sycorax were obviously thrown by his quick analysis of the whole thing, but it did occur to him that he had very nearly made Rose swallow her tongue when he did what he felt was the most natural thing in the world and tasted the substance that they were using to control the people on Earth. Metallic and thick, obviously blood. Slight tinge in the right-hand corner, with a shift to the left. A-positive. How interesting.
The Sycorax were, of course, dealt with and sent on their way very quickly. Who really wanted to see the world invaded on Christmas? Harriet Jone's taste, which had been of a warm and strong, motherly texture changed to cracked and dry, bitter and old; he'd set in motion her end of office, and he and Mickey joined the Tyler women for a Christmas feast. Quite a good end to the day, if you asked him.
As he and Rose later held hands outside under the falling ash, he wondered if she would be much put off by his sudden urge to lick things and discover their taste. With a quick glance to make sure she wasn't paying attention, he stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth and tasted the festivities and the nearby exterior of the TARDIS on the air... and again, that intoxicating taste that he was beginning to think had everything in the world to do with his companion, something that he was not willing to give up.
His words from the Sycorax ship (or rather, the lyrics from Circle of Life) came back to him.
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done...
And more to taste than has ever been tasted, he added, smirking and finally grinning outright. What did it really matter if Rose would think it strange for him to go around licking things? This was something new, and after 900 years of life, new was difficult to come by.
He leaned over and licked the side of Rose's forehead, eliciting an indignant squeal that was probably deserved, but he really didn't care. He'd identified the mysterious intoxicating taste along with a great number of other things, like the fact that he liked the perfume she'd brought on the Tardis better than whatever she had on that she'd gotten from home, and that human skin can actually be quite a tasty thing... in a strictly non-cannibal sense, of course.
Quite amazed with himself, he grinned cockily down at Rose, who was using her sleeve to wipe at her forehead and giving him one of those looks that obviously meant she thought he was a loony. So nothing new. Which, in itself... was nothing new.
Which was why he was quite looking forward to tasting the universes and times. Because he was the Doctor, and his tongue could do anything. He winked at Rose.
Imagine the fun he could have with that.
Hope you enjoyed it, and that I didn't disgrace the Doctor too much!