"We opened the door to the shadows...

[nightbeyondfire]

The man sat alone, back slumped against a wall as he stared down at the pistol in his hand, unloading and reloading it in silence. Over and over again. How long had he been here, ignoring the sounds of life around him and the chatter and racket from the communication device on the ground along with the discarded necklace? Days? Weeks? Months?

It didn't really matter. None of it did anymore.

Load. Unload. Reload.

"You look like crap."

The man looked up, staring upwards at his only companion for what felt like an eternity. Himself... only different, like seeing a photo negative version. The colors were all wrong and there were a few things off.

It had no eyes. He'd found that strange once before the feeling had been bled out of him.

Load. Unload.

It was this thing that had shown him the truth. It had started with whispers in his mind when he was alone and had grown from there, appearing in shadows, taking the place of his reflection and finally standing right there beside him exposing the plain, hopeless reality of where he'd found himself.

An ugly grin split the negative version's face.

"So, what's the hold up, jackass? You know what you have to do now."

Load.

Yeah, he did.

-------------------


In the early morning, it happened without warning. A shudder ran through the entire city and for just a moment it was almost as if reality itself... bent for a moment, warping out of shape before snapping out of place and one of the buildings of Genessia's skyline vanished into a rising cloud of smoke and dust.

The thing rose up out of the cloud, standing over the buildings around it. Misshapen, grotesque, it could only be called humanoid in the most generous of terms. Its body was colored in splotches of red and black, its limbs twisted with the right arm many times larger than the spindly left and it stood on legs that should have been bent and twisted too awkwardly to support it at all.

The head swiveled from side to side on a too-long twiglike neck, wide, blanket white eyes that seemed painted on searched the city and a toothless mouth opened wide in a low, groaning howl that rumbled over the city.

The creature’s body convulsed and with a chorus of sickening splits and cracks its body bristled with weapons, and they all fired as one, shearing the top floors off of the next several blocks and covering the rest of the town in burning debris.




Through the city, every communicator screamed out a deafening alert, which was followed by the voice of the AI.

“CORRUPTED ELEMENTS DETECTED. PLEASE ASSIST IN PURGING IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED SURVIVAL OF THE CITY AND ITS INHABITANTS”


[OOC: Subthreads are up. Post in them for combat, or go nuts with planning/reactions through the rest of the comments.]

Comments

[sonicvelvet]

The Doctor hesitated at the doorway and shoved his hands into his pockets. He didn't like the way the furniture behaved so differently to what he was used to (and he was used to a lot of unusual things). The unease only seemed to grow the further into the room he went but he had survived a lot of close calls. Why shouldn't he survive another? If it came to that.

"Pay? I don't know what the currency here is but I have a few British pounds, a penny, some credits from a space station in the year 5 000, and a droll'c from the Amousilyac empire."

[rules_winter]

[The only thing really misbehaving is the walls, fortunately for the doctor. Otherwise her furniture is elegant but mostly normal for the time being. And a few icicles in the corners, a bit of frost on the windows and a single frozen rose on the credenza.]

[Mab stands again in front of the window, taking note of the weapons being used and the powers being thrown about like candy. Her mouth quirks at his answer.]

I should think knowledge would be best bought with other knowledge, do you not. For instance you are not human. I find that interesting. As well as the fact that you have some form of currency from a year that has not passed in my reality.

[Bombs exploded outside and she didn't turn but she did breath out, her breath a cloud of ice crystals.]

Shall we play a game?

[sonicvelvet]

The Doctor saw that bomb. He saw the way the world outside shook and crumbled a little more. Still, he was tempted given that the women wasn't shaken. She didn't show any signs of having seen the bomb. With exception to that fascinating was she breathed.

"I suppose you're not talking about checkers or monopoly?" was all he said.

[rules_winter]

"Certainly not." She smiled a little and glanced over her shoulder at him. "You may ask a question and I will answer truthfully, and then you allow me a question which you will also answer truthfully. It's really very simple." She turned her attention back to the window, eyes moving intently from one battle to the next as the citizens fought. A blasting gun here, some impressive leaping there. And of course magic flying about. "Is this acceptable to you?"

[sonicvelvet]

The Doctor paused for a long moment. The little smile had a kind of dangerous edge to it - she knew what she was doing. Knowledge was power, and there was a lot of power behind knowing the Doctor's secrets. And he was a very secretive Time Lord. Unfortunately he needed answers and the quicker the better.

"Alright. That is acceptable."

[rules_winter]

He took time to think about it. Aside from his initial panic-y insistence that they run and hide he seemed mostly together at the very least. And it pleased her to feel the hesitation. Not wanting to answer questions. Which meant he knew answers she might actually want to hear.

"Very well, you may ask."

[sonicvelvet]

Right. Asking.

The Doctor opened his mouth and closed it again. Did he get a limit on questions? Perhaps he should have asked beforehand. Too late now.

"Why are you not either running in fear or staying to help fight?" he asked eventually. He figured that either she'd give him a riddle of an answer to ponder or a straight answer to shock him. Either way, it would be something.

[rules_winter]

She paused in her watching to turn and look at him fully, her chin lifted a little and pride shone from her face. "I am Mab. I do not run in fear." No, but sometimes she created need for fear. Then again, so did most beings of power. "My Knight lends his aid and I do not demand he refrain." Mostly Harry did what he wanted, she just creatively directed things occasionally. Or blackmailed him.

She tilted her head a little. "You are not human. What are you?"