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[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

Disconcerted though Leni was, it hadn't taken her long to find a way to cope with her current situation.

Naturally, it involved filming everything.

The... whatever-it-was that went by the name of "Stacy" had apparently been kind enough to grab her equipment. There was her minicam, which allowed her to keep a videolog, something she did faithfully every day. She had her handheld 2D corder, too--a sleek, streamlined piece of equipment that was about as top-of-the-line as you could get with tech that was mostly used these days by amateurs, arthouses, and housewives filming birthday parties--which never left her side these days. Her holorecording equipment (she felt an obligation to keep up-to-date with it, even if she didn't like the medium; it'd come in handy here, though) was too bulky for her to move out of the lockers by herself, but she'd be back for that once she was ready.

Most of what she'd done so far involved scouting, trying to get a feel for the place and plan out her shots for later on, as well as doing a few preliminary testing sweeps. From what she'd seen so far, she had the place pegged as some kind of pseudo-military facility (particularly given the food, which had almost made her sick at the mere sight of it). That she could handle easily enough, she'd figured; she'd done it before, and all she'd need to do would be to adjust for the size.

Right about then was when she'd found the city.

It was stunning, unnerving, and yet beautiful all at once, like all good art was, and--was that a real, honest-to-goodness, atmospheric-scattering-induced blue sky? No, the transport tube went up past it, but it was a good imitation.

Hardly knowing where to begin, she set off outward, not knowing what she'd find but certain it wouldn't take her long to run into something interesting.

Comments

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor has been prowling the city, trying to pick up more clues and get a little thinking in. Between the abduction and supposed death of his TARDIS, he hadn't been feeling very sociable at all.

Now though, investigating a temple, he thought that he caught a glimpse of someone through a window. Curious, he poked his head out the door. That was odd, he didn't seem to recognize her. "Hello? I don't think we've met."

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

Absorbed as she was in her study of the local architecture, Leni almost literally jumped when she heard a voice come from a nearby building. She hadn't run into anyone else in here so far, and had been half-convinced it was empty. Apparently not.

She recovered her composure quickly, though, and eyed the man who'd spoken to her appraisingly. He at least seemed normal, which was more than she could say for a lot of these people, and was almost reassuring in a way. "No, we haven't." She offered her free hand, the other holding the strap of her camera bag. "Leni Ivens. And you are..."

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

Oh how little she knew. This fellow was far from normal. Emerging from the temple he quickly crossed to shake her hand; his own skin was cooler than a human's, but his grip was firm and he looked her in the eye with a smile.

"The Doctor, actually," the Time Lord supplied. "Hullo, Leni Ivens."

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

Leni lifted an eyebrow skeptically at this reply. "'Doctor'? Doctor who?" Admittedly, though, it was better than Sta'c Kerbibble-whatever. Easier to remember, anyway, and much less... alien.

Hopefully she'd get over that eventually.

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Just the Doctor. Yeah, I know, it's a bit, well. But you know how it is." Or probably she didn't, which was rather the point. The Doctor scratched his head, looking a bit sheepish.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

... okay, slightly less normal. At least he was human? Or looked human, and acted human, which was good enough for her at this point. She'd save the prying into slightly sketchy-seeming personal details for later. "Right. Nice to meet you... Doctor."

She rested her hand on her hip--nearly trying to slide her thumb into a now-nonexistent waistband, a habit she was apparently going to have to train herself out of. "So. What do you make of all this?" She made a vague gesture meant to take in both the city and the whole structure in general.

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Oh well," he trailed off slightly, looking up and around. "Biotechnological, sentient ship collecting some sort of cream crop from multiple, probably parallel universes for reasons unstated but probably militaristic in nature. Not sure on the city bit, still working on that. Maybe archeological, maybe action figure complex, hard to say."

As an after-thought he added, "Though you should probably stay away from the Escher building. You know Escher, yeah? Great man, genius really. Bizarre taste in fruit, though."

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

It seemed like the name fit him, from the explanation he'd rattled off. The implications she could glean from it were more than she wanted to think about at the moment, so she latched onto the one thing she could properly comprehend.

"I know Escher." She frowned. "You... do mean a museum of his work or something like that, right? Because most of his work relied on two-dimensional tricks of perspective--you can't build something like that."

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Er, no, an actual building. It works based on the theory of gravitational... space... stuff. Fun to play with, but not a place to visit. Bit like a blow pop with a bug in the gum, really. Only a lot, definitely a lot more unpleasant."

"A lot," he added for emphasis.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

"Gravitational space st-- Look, I don't appreciate being... gods." The last word was half-spat out with an exasperated huff as she ran a hand through her hair. Aliens or whatever she could almost accept, but physical impossibilities were right out. But any journalist worth their salt knew that there was only one thing to do when faced with this kind of thing...

"All right, unpleasant or not, I need to see this for myself. Which way is it?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

"Not so much unpleasant as life-threatening and terrifying. Really." Time for a change of subject.

"Besides, it's much, much more interesting out here. Look at this, all of this! Who wants to see science when you can see history?"

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

"Life-threatening? You're telling me that the architecture is dangerous?" Under most circumstances, Leni did not like being nudged away from a line of questioning, but there were things Beyond Her Ken here, so maybe it would be best if she dropped it.

She'd just go see it herself later.

"Anyhow, I'm not really seeing the... history here. I thought I saw something that looked like the Parthenon back that way--" another vague wave "--but I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Unless there are other replicas here?"

[fluffinasuit.livejournal.com]

The Doctor eyed her before deciding it wasn't worth trying to warn her again. Instead, he turned on the happy face. Architecture! History! Amazing!

"Yes! All of these. Everywhere. Well, everywhere that doesn't have a pulse. Well, most everywhere with no pulse. And only in the city. Well, as far as I know. But it's amazing!" Ignore the grim, says the Doctor's philosophy, focus on the bright and shiny.

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

There's a thump and a chitter in a nearby dark alleyway - a patch of terrain like modern, dense urbanity.

Metal creaks.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

Leni jumped and spun around, searching for the source of the noise. Solitude she could normally handle; solitude in an alien environment was a little harder on her nerves.

"Hello?" she called out tentatively. It was probably nothing, but she still kind of wished she had a light.

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

There's a loud, hard slam, like a hand slapping against metal harshly enough to injure itself. It's further into the alleyway - out of view from here.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

What was that old cliche about going into dark alleys alone?

Well, there was no one else around, and it would only be a quick look--besides, Stacy had said something about there being punishments for attacking fellow crew members...

That thought, however, didn't soothe her much as she crept into the alley to investigate. Just a quick look, she swore, and that would be it.

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

Tap-tap-tap-tap goes the noise, over behind the empty dumpster here... It's about at waist level, though there's nothing in sight.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

Now Leni was just baffled. She hadn't seen any non-human(ish) living things around, or indeed much of anything but the buildings and the Doctor, and who would sit around behind a dumpster and wait for people?

Her curiosity getting the better of her, she approached the dumpster and peered back behind it.

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

For a moment she sees a scrawny thing, corpselike and emaciated, with dull black hair and wide eyes.

Then it pounces.

The body, brittle as it looks, has the strength of a rabid animal, and it's putting all of that to use to try and pin the poor woman who's stumbled on it. It really is the best word - the body may be male, but there's something wildly inhuman in its countenance.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

"What the--"

--and then she was down, the wind knocked out of her, and the rest was a blur.

She kicked and struggled frantically, with a strength born of panic, but fighting had never been her forte, and this thing, whatever it was, was downright inhumanly strong.

No one was around--she'd seen that much--but she yelled anyway, just in case. "Get the hell off of me!"

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

It snarls animalistically, bending Leni's limbs back on herself painfully. Its jaw gapes - there are the normal human teeth, but somehow more, behind them, a set of impossible, cruel-looking fangs.

It bites, teeth sinking sharply into the woman's cheek and jaw, avoiding the neck of the symbiote-suit - something it lacks, though its shriveled, ashen skin doesn't seem quite human enough to need a normal dose of modesty.

The strange thing is - it's nice. Almost euphoric, as soon as the the bite spikes past the initial jolt of pain and transforms it into something else entirely.

And it's slurping blood out of the wound hungrily, still holding Leni down.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

A sharp, bright moment of agony brings everything into crystal-clear focus, and her gaze fixates on the approaching fangs.

As they pierce her skin, a shriek of pain, both real and anticipated, rises in her throat like bile--and turns into a ragged gasp as soon as the euphoria hits. A stray thought of vampirism as a sexual metaphor flits through her mind, but a shudder courses through her and it feels almost too godsdamned good to care.

As last moments go, she could do worse.

[cutintomyheart.livejournal.com]

For what seems like an eternity it drains at her. And then... stops. She isn't dead - though she'll certainly be rather worse for the wear, short of breath, weak, maybe even delirious.

The thing licks lasciviously along the wounds... nasty-looking ones that are likely to leave a small tracery of scars, though somehow they're already starting to clot.

It hisses, and nuzzles its face against hers in a way that would be almost caring if its expression didn't suggest a farmer being kind to livestock.

And then it drops her and runs.

[fromtheraw.livejournal.com]

She isn't dead. She isn't quite sure how or why, but she isn't dead. She feels awfully close to it, though.

Feeling too woozy to really register what's happened, she stumbles to her feet, clinging to the dumpster for support, and touches a tentative fingertip to the wound on her neck; it comes away red and sticky with half-coagulated blood.

The world spins and she falls back against a planty wall, trying to regain her balance and her breath. She has no idea how much blood she's lost; it certainly feels like a lot. And she's in no condition to go after that thing...

"Stacy?"