Lu wanted to read something atmospheric. I've wanted to write something Doctor Who for a LONG time. Both of us recently caught up one the end of series four and mourn the loss of our Doctor. :(
(Not that we don't adore Eleven, but Ten is and will forever be our Doctor.)
That being said, this is probably sometime in the second series. Which means I don't own it or it would be part of an actual episode. Do I look like Russel T. Davies? I also don't look like Rockne S. O'Bannon, so don't assume Farscape is mine either. I just needed an alien to discuss and for some reason Rygel was the first to pop into my head. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry. It's not terribly relevant.
Not really betaed so bear with me and feel free to point out any egregious mistakes. :)
'Did you know that the Hynerian Regents used to have a feast honouring the dead from a planet they never actually visited?'
Rose looked up from the pool of clear water that filled the bowl-top of a large stumpy stalagmite. 'Why would they do that?' she asked.
The Doctor shrugged and she looked back to the pool and poked it just to see the mirror-stillness broken. It flared in a bright kaleidoscope of colours in an oily sheen on the surface and she gasped.
'Might not want to do that,' the Doctor said idly, but Rose knew that tone of voice and pulled back, straightening up.
'So, Hynerians, then?'
'Mmm,' the Doctor agreed, craning his head back to look at the darkness that shrouded the ceiling. Every now and again a stalactite could be seen dropping as if from the blackness of space itself, but mostly it was just... dark.
Rose shivered and tried not to think of bats and things that liked such places to lay in wait for an unsuspecting victim to walk underneath.
The Doctor wandered down the smoothed path and she jogged to catch up. Getting too far away from him was a bad idea on a good planet. On a planet like this that positively screamed 'B-science-fiction-flick' it was suicidal.
The only light source was a moss of some kind that glowed a nearly white blue and covered a great deal of the walls and stalactites and stalagmites like a lot of cans full of neon paint had exploded in a black-light factory. The sounds that echoed out of the patches where the moss was scarce didn't do much to counter the crawly feeling on her skin.
She didn't realize how bad the shivering was until she felt the lingering warmth of the Doctor's body envelop her as he snugged his trenchcoat around her shoulders. Not that her problem was cold air. It was actually quite warm, in fact.
But she felt safer somehow, and gripped the lapels, tugging it in tighter. 'Thanks,' she said softly.
He grinned that brilliant smile of his and stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking on.
She followed, curious as to the point of this trip and what lay at the end, but well-experienced in the art of Travelling With The Doctor and therefore kept her curiosity to herself for the most part. Asking wasn't likely to help with the mood he was in right now and besides, he had that twinkle in his eye that said she was going to love what was coming—more so if she didn't know about it beforehand.
A repetitive burbling sound from the left drew her attention and held it until she walked right into the Doctor's back. He lurched forward, but kept his feet and turned to see what was wrong.
'Sorry,' she said, ducking her head down a little into the collar of the coat.
He smiled and laid a hand on her shoulder, following the curve of her arm down until gravity pulled them apart naturally.
That reassured her enough to straighten her spine and she cleared her throat.
'So, Hynerians then?' she repeated.
'Hynerians, yes,' he said. 'A dynastic culture from the planet Hyneria, they are best known for their large appetites and larger families. And their absolute devotion to backstabbing and treachery. Very friendly though, if they don't want something from you. Nice people. Well, I use people in a loose sense of the word. Look kind of like big frogs, actually,' he said, absent note entering his tone at the end there as he furrowed his brow and looked around.
'D'you hear that?' he asked after a moment.
Rose resisted the urge to laugh at the seemingly absurd question, her senses sharpening as the sensation of eyes on her grew too intense to ignore.
'Hear what?' she asked.
He pouted, considering, and she consciously quieted her breathing lest it interfere with his hearing. Then he shrugged, strolling on down the path. 'Nothing. My mistake.'
She ducked her head and stared at his back, willing him not to be a great git and get them killed—or very close to that.
'It's just...' he said, spinning back on one heel, 'You really don't hear that?' he asked, whirling a finger in the air.
She let her eyes roll up to the darkness and tilted her head and listened.
'No, Doctor, I don't— What the hell is that?' she said when suddenly she could hear the sound he was referring to.
'That is a— DUCK!'
She would have said that she'd never heard a duck like that, but the lack of oxygen in her lungs from being crushed under his surprisingly weighty frame prevented her from being able to do so.
A harsh cry and a guttural stuttering sound preceded a wash of air hot enough to painfully dry the skin instantly.
When it passed and the sounds faded into nothing but the dripping of water that was familiar to all caves the universe over, he pushed cautiously up to his hands and knees, then tugged her into a sitting position.
'Thanks,' she said, then swallowed her heart back down. 'What was that?'
'That was our cue to leave,' he said and stood, pulling her up to her feet fast enough to startle a squeak out of her.
'But—'
'Answers later, running now. Please, Rose.'
She huffed, but tightened her grip on the coat and started back on the path toward where they'd left the TARDIS.
'D'you just like almost dying?' she asked. 'You're just a bloody adrenaline junkie, aren't you? Admit it.'
'I like feeling alive,' he said, a hint of defensive pride underlying his words.
She laughed. 'Yeah, I thought so.'
That same cry and the stuttering bark that followed were muffled when she was once more tackled to the ground.
It didn't last long, though, as the Doctor was pulled away, one of his Converse trainers kicking her in the back of the head.
'Ow!' she said and glared upward, anger morphing into horror when she realized that whatever it was that was chasing them had gotten its claws into her Doctor and was carrying him off.
'Rooooose!' he yelled. 'Get back to the TARDIS!'
'Like bloody hell, I will,' she groused and pushed to her feet.
She dug into the pockets of the trenchcoat and tried to think of something that would 1. hurt the beast and 2. be something the Doctor would think to stick in his pockets.
A can of aerosol hairspray, a Frisbee, two packages of twine, and a rubber banana peel fell to the ground as she looked at each in disbelief and dropped them to the cave floor.
The creature—for reasons that Rose could not explain, but wasn't whinging about either—made a great curving sweep and came back her way, the Doctor hanging upside down, his ridiculous hair waving in the wind and a long drawn out yell trailing from his open mouth.
'ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!'
'I'M WORKING ON IT!' she yelled back and dug in once more, head tilting up as she pushed down into the pocket. There was something just on the edge of her fingertips that she thought might... be... A-HA!
She wrapped her fingers around it and yanked up, grinning in triumph.
Then she opened her hand and the smile dropped.
'A dog whistle? Really?'
'YES! THAT! USE THAT!' the Doctor said on the next pass, waving and flailing his arms. If he'd been on his feet he'd have been bouncing like a kid on a sugar rush holding a live wire.
She had to duck down, nearly dropping to her knees to keep from braining them both and then looked at the whistle again. It really wasn't any more ridiculous than some of the things that had saved her life since joining the Doctor. With a shrug she put the tin pipe to her lips and blew for all she was worth.
The agonized cry of the beast, a yell from the Doctor, and the sudden wet sound of a bag of meat hitting pavement at top speed all combined into one of the most disturbing auditory experiences she'd ever have in her life.
And then she was hitting the ground for the third time under the Doctor's weight as he barrelled into her with all the subtlety and grace of a train. They rolled over and over a few times until a stalagmite blocked the Doctor's path. He yelped, then groaned and went limp next to her, breath whooshing out the only sign he was still alive.
She stared up at the darkness, focusing on a stalactite overhead and then said thoughtfully, 'You ever wonder what people who don't travel with you look forward to in their day?'
She'd thought him unconscious from his completely boneless state, but a soft chuckle that grew very quickly into laughter and then proceeded right on into guffawing proved her wrong. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest and just held on for dear life as he chortled his way through the next few minutes.
A smile twitched at the corner of her lips shortly after he began, and then all too soon she was right there with him in the thick of it. That was pretty much the status quo, though, and she was surprised when it felt like a great weight melted right off of her shoulders.
'But you feel alive, don't you?' he asked when he was able to draw breath enough to speak.
She tilted her head so she could meet his gaze and bit the tip of her tongue, nodding. 'Yeah,' she said. 'I really do.'
He hugged her, then jumped up and pulled her along.
'Mission accomplished then,' he said and stuck one hand in his pocket, the other arm looping through hers, as they strolled back toward the TARDIS.
She just laughed and rested her head against his shoulder. Mission accomplished, indeed.
Review, please and thanks.