Inkvite - My Collaborations

Doctor Who: The Stone Tree

Note: Originally written on Inkvite by 'S. A. Michaels' & 'JamieKnightOnline'. Unfinished. You may notice my idea for a 'stone tree' for other stories.

It was winter. Snowing heavily over Victorian London. The TARDIS materialised in a random back alley. A newly regenerated Doctor stumbled out of the time machine and fell to his knees clutching his stomach. He was companionless, without assistance to help him to his feet.
He tried the stand to his feet regardless, but simply fell back down. He moaned loudly. He forgot how much he hated regenerating. The pain, the lose of energy, the hunger.
After a few moments of trying to compose himself, he slowly stood to his feet.
A black veiled figure came out of the darkness, it was Vastra, closely followed by Jeeny and Strax.
"See Mistress," said Strax holding the device, "the TARDIS detector The Doctor gave us works!"
"Lucky for him," Vastra replied, "Jenny help him up."
"Doctor?" Jenny asked, worried about the Doctor's pale appearance.
"I'm fine." The Doctor mumbled, swaying. His feet were still unsteady. Jenny held him in place so he wouldn't "I just need food. Yes, food. Food is what I need!"
"We'll get you some food, Doctor." Jenny stated.
They locked the TARDIS and took him back to Vastra's house.
"No Doctor," said Strax, "we do not possess fish fingers or custard."
"Good," said The Doctor, "maybe I shouldn't be repeating myself. Tell me Vastra... Am I ginger this time?"
"No."
"Shame." He looked down to the table. He grabbed an apple, bit into it, and spit it out. "Apples. I do not like apples!" He looked up to Vastra. "Why can't I ever be a ginger! I just want to be a ginger!"
Jenny prepared him multiple dishes. All of which he spit out. At last, he found some beef steak and covered it in peanut butter.
"Yuk," said Jenny.
"We're lucky Jenny," said Strax, "we've shared in two of The Doctor's post regenerations now."
"That as maybe," interjected Vastra, "but to business, there is still the business of The Stone Tree."
The Doctor looked up from his unusual meal. "The Stone Tree? That sounds interesting. Tell me about that."
"It's a tree, Doctor." Jenny said, nodding slowly. "Made of stone."
"But why? Trees aren't made of stone! Stone is made of stone. Unless of course it's a statue."
Vastra raises an eyebrow.
---
We see a young working class woman standing underneath The Stone Tree waiting for her gentleman friend. Eventually he arrives.
"See," says Jennifer, "it's branches move in the wind, it's flowers fall light as petals, isn't it great?"
He looked to the tree. Great isn't the word he would use to describe the tree. Creepy and weird were more like it.
"Yeah... Great." He said unsure.
The two turned away from the tree. They couldn't see the branches reaching for them or the ground opening up behind them as they lent into each other for a kiss.
Then the tree shot out stone vines and grabbed them both and sucked them into the tree, branches hugging them in a terrible embrace. Leaves covering their mouths. It twisted down into the ground and was gone.
---
The Doctor, Strax