realityshifted | 008 [A Hand in the Darkness]

Entry tags:

doctor who (d1) leela of the sevateem

008 [A Hand in the Darkness]

[Leela could not see the graffiti. It went far beyond – far deeper – than sight. The words burned behind her eyelids, written on her very soul in an unseen hand. It was enough to chill even the most hardened of warriors. She imagined them scrawled on the walls of the Capitol or the rock outcrops of the Axis. Perhaps even on the handful of buildings that were scattered around the Plane.

It was all for her, though. She was sure of it. The message was for her.

Kill yourself, they wrote. Kill yourself.]

You may wish me dead, but you could wait for a thousand years and you will still be wishing in vain. I will die in battle, defending my allies, not by my own hand.

[Her lips curled into a derisive smirk. (She did not realise that she had left the Axis when she addressed the invisible artist. She did not realise that others could listen to her.)]

You seem to know so much about me, but you do not know that I am a warrior of the Sevateem. I am no coward. You ... you, who hides in the shadows and writes secret messages in the darkness, are lower than a coward. You are lower than a snake in the grass. I dream of the day when a blade will find your slime filled throat. If the world is kind, I will be the one to bury it there.

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[Excuse Issac for being kinda sorta afraid to approach after that little tirade]

...Leela?

[Kay doesn't even know her sight had been taken from her again. He just recognizes her voice and her distress, and while he'd recently discovered writing of his own, it wasn't quite the same.]

Leela?

[He approaches her.]

What's the matter? What's going on?

Isaac? [She smiled apologetically in the direction of his voice.] Do not worry, I was not speaking to you.

Kay?

[She turned in the direction of his voice without hesitation, though it took her a moment to settle on the right location. She did not know the Plane as well as she knew the halls of Gallifrey and, even if she had, the echoing stars did not hold voices so clearly.]

Nothing. I am fine.

[And that's the first time he notes she's seeming to have difficulty finding where he was standing. So he actually stops to look at her eyes, touching her shoulder with his fingertips as if to doubly announce how close he was.]

Last time I spoke with you you could see. At least I know that much is different. But you sounded like you wanted to kick someone's liver right up into their tonsils there for a moment.

I have been blind for a long time. Braxiatel fixed it for a little while, but his nano ... his nanobots did not work. They were not enough.

I often wish I could do that to those who bring us here!

We've had some agents lose their sight before and were given artificial eyes. It's not easy, but if you wanted it fixed I could talk to some people. You're doin' pretty well without it.

[He looks around.] They do something specific? Besides give me butterfly wings for a week. [Whatever that crap was.]

What happened?

I have been sent a message.

That is what Braxiatel said, but the repairs did not last for long. Perhaps I am not meant to see. [Still, she smiled at his last comment. She did not think of herself as an invalid, blind or not. It was good when others felt the same.] Thank you.

A message. They sent me a message.

What kind of message?

I do not think they like me. [Her smile was a wry one.]

Oh yeah? Who's heads do I need to knock together?

[His tone is light, but he's definitely serious. Nobody and NOBODY dicks with Isaac's friends.]

If I knew that, I would not be waiting for them here.

That kinda message, huh? Any ideas as to the senders?

I do know many people with the power to write a note beyond where the eyes can see. Perhaps it was the hands that control the Plane.

Hm. Maybe....Do you know if you're the only one who got a note?

I hope I was. I do not want the others here to be troubled by one. I must ask.

Do you know of any others?

No, I don't. Maybe we should ask around, and see if anyone else did, and if they did, if we can find a pattern.

Yes, that is good! That will help us!

No problem. [Though any impairment to him was a damn shame, she seemed to be satisfied with her current functions.

But... they sent her a message?]

I think I mighta got one too. Where was yours?

I ... I am not sure. It was as if it was written behind my eyes.

[It's a pity that she can't see, because Kay makes a fantastic face.]

...They wrote it-

Just... floating text? Wherever you turned there it was?

[The what is this fuckery? tone is at least obvious in his voice.]

I know it sounds foolish, but it is true! How else could I read it?

Oh no, I believe you. I believe you. [He puts his hands on her shoulders as a sign of assurance, because he knows she can't see his face.] I just think it's a little questionable they'd get in your head like that.

What did it say? Mine said, "The children will play."

They are not the kind to care that our thoughts should be our own.

Mine ... told me to kill myself.

[If only she could see the face he makes.]

...Well that somehow makes it even more wrong. And given the circumstances, it was pretty damn messed up before.

At least the meaning of my message cannot be mistaken.

Has it gone away? Is it still there?

[Because that would be just sick of them to do. The butterfly wings were nothing compared to that.]

Not always. I no longer look.

You've not heard anyone else skulking around? [This makes him uneasy.] I could at least get you a proximity alert for when you're alone Not that it would do much good about staying your hand if the wrong bastard got in your head.

An alert? You mean an alarm? My ears are as keen as they have ever been, Kay. I do not need that.

I mean no insult, ma'am. I'm just a vicious, paranoid bastard.

[He admits it, at least. And with a smile in his voice.]

I know. I am glad of your help. But I grew tired of being treated as an invalid on Gallifrey. I still have my part to play.

Vicious? Only when it is needed, I think.

I try to keep it to a minimum, anyway. [Though, even with her assurances, he is still kind of worried. Because it's how he thinks. But it's more because he likes her and less that he doubts her abilities.]

And when it is needed?

Twenty foot long cockroaches with superiority complexes tend to bring out the worst in me, I admit.

Twenty foot cockroaches? Truly?

They're smart, too. I hate the goddamn things.

What planet do they come from? How did they reach Earth?

They've infested a ton of planets. Their craft is capable of faster than light travel so it's pretty easy for them. They love putting planets to war so they can come down and snack on the decimation.

Then they are soulless creatures that deserve worse than death.

You know, I find I usually agree but death is the best I can manage. [He sounds a little bit amused.] But if they don't get the hell off the planet when we ask politely I'm authorized to dispense of them in any manner that I see fit.

I cannot imagine a creature like that responding to politeness.

[Even the Time Lords struggled with it at times and they were the most evolved race in her universe.]

You usually get a speech on how you're an unevolved milk-sucker.

[He nods grimly, but he really likes shooting those damn things. ...And then he remembers she can't see the nod and pinches between his eyes, feeling a little dumb and huffing out his nose.]

'An unevolved milk sucker'? A strange insult. It is too foolish to hurt.

I think it's supposed to. [He sounds amused.] They never seem offended by any of the things I cook up for them.

Perhaps you sound foolish to them. [She smiles, teasing.]

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008 [A Hand in the Darkness]

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so guess what I didn't get!

Good old LJ!

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And then I ignored this for a few days because LJLogin hated me. D:

It hates everyone!

AND THEN LJ ITSELF DECIDED TAGS ARE DEPRESSING

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