Promt 006.2 for lightyearsahead
Prompt 006.2: "Tombstone Shadow"
Said, I saw the gypsy man, 'way down in San Berdoo.
Five dollars on the table, Ooh,
Keep me 'way from my tomb.
Oh! Oh!
Said I got thirteen months of bad luck,
Bound to be some pain.
Don't you do no trav'lin',
Fly in no machines.
Tombstone shadow, stretchin' across my path.
Ev'ry time I get some good news, Ooh,
There's a shadow on my back.
"It's all hogwash," Benny muttered under her breath as they headed back toward the TARDIS. "You know that, don't you?"
Normally he would have agreed with her. Normally. Though this time the Doctor seemed a little reluctant. More than a little. Every step seemed steeped in that reluctance, actually, as he plodded toward his beloved time ship.
"Perhaps," he agreed, sighing heavily so that his shoulder's shirked. She hated it when he seemed to keep things all pent up like that. It was one of his worst habits.
"There's going to be a 'but'."
"There is no 'but', I merely said perhaps."
"And?"
"Well, why must there be a 'but'." He hadn't gotten out his key yet, either, which was also a bad sign. He lingered near the door of the blue box, looking at it and not going in. "...However-"
Benny rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself. It was bothering him, wasn't it? "Is there something you've noticed that I should be told about?"
"I sense evil."
Evil, as he always called it. Delivered in that tone of dislike and animosity. Evil. Some could equate it with antiquated concepts of morality, but to the Doctor it was destruction, plain and simple. He could be evil too, he knew this, perhaps he deserved whatever evil happened to him. Though he couldn't give just anyone the satisfaction, could he? He'd do his best not to.
"Alright," Benny said, leaning against the edge of the TARDIS. "So we're not going to be going on that tropical holiday to visit Pachacuti, are we?"
"I'm not quite ready to, no..." He took a step back, patting his pocket as if reassuring the key inside of it he would be using it later. "So, the man told me that any mechanical conveyance would break, any close associate would take ill, and any assets that I had would be procured by unsavory parties."
"He said you would be robbed?"
"No! Not precisely anyway. It's difficult to tell with these so-called metaphysicists because they always present you with just the right sort of veiled language to make a warning irritating and not actually useful at avoiding trouble." He tapped his umbrella's curled handle against his mouth the way that he did when he was mulling something, or trying not to be worried. Benny assumed that it was a bit of both in this case.
Though she doubted very sincerely if he knew that there was trouble to be had that he would make an effort at avoiding it. He hadn't this time.
It had seemed like an absurdly normal jaunt at first. A travelling performance troupe was happening through the town where Benny wanted to examine some artifacts. As it turned out, they were all fakes, but the Doctor? He couldn't leave without watching the live acts. And of course, without acting out himself, twitchy fingers and all that. He loved the attention. Certain individuals hadn't taken well to him stealing the limelight, most notably an angry woman who kept a tight hold on her particular set of performers. And that the Doctor hadn't taken too well to, nor had he succumbed to her womanly wiles (though Benny had found the scenario rather hilarious).
It began innocently enough. A vehicle they were in getting a flat, and then breaking a fuel line. A trolleybus losing power. A scooter's engine simply shutting down and refusing the Doctor's apt repairs...
Well, that last one was when things started to get a bit peculiar.
The Doctor had been keeping an eye out for the woman since, either her pet acrobats or her mop of red hair. He guessed that she was wanting to make a collection (none of her set seemed entirely human). In a fit of paranoia, he'd allowed a streetside psychic to give him a reading. A streetside psychic that he'd actually detected a higher level of telepathic activity from or so he'd said. Those happened occasionally, as Benny had discovered, but not very often.
Anyway, here he was. And here was Benny, and he had to find a way to break this curse if he wanted to get her off to her next destination-
She coughed into her fist.
"...Benny, are you alright?" He asked, lowering the umbrella to lean on like a cane.
"I'm fine, Doctor!" She laughed, waving dismissively at him. "I'm fine, you're being paranoid over a little cough."
"You're getting sort of a look."
"What sort of a look?" More exasperation.
"That sort of a look. That look that comes with a tickle in the back of your throat, and now you're trying not to cough again."
"I'm fine." The words were a tad strained, and she sounded as if she were about to be upset with him.
"Are you? Are you certain?"
"Yes! Yes I'm certain." Her jaw strained with an effort not to do exactly as he was insinuating. Because a tickle in the back of one's throat didn't mean that someone was cursed! And if she coughed he would inevitably take it as the sign of culminating events and then they would have to stay there and find a way to relieve him of a curse that was most likely the product of a con artists twisted manipulation rather than any real substantial effort to strike against him.
She coughed. A tiny one.
"Right then, shall we walk to the hotel? You pay, Benny. I gave the last of my money to the gentleman who informed us of how the curse would go."
"At least one thing he said was accurate..." she grumbled under her breath, starting to follow him as he walked away.
Character: The Seventh Doctor
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 945
Notes: Not based off any specific Benny player.
Said, I saw the gypsy man, 'way down in San Berdoo.
Five dollars on the table, Ooh,
Keep me 'way from my tomb.
Oh! Oh!
Said I got thirteen months of bad luck,
Bound to be some pain.
Don't you do no trav'lin',
Fly in no machines.
Tombstone shadow, stretchin' across my path.
Ev'ry time I get some good news, Ooh,
There's a shadow on my back.
"It's all hogwash," Benny muttered under her breath as they headed back toward the TARDIS. "You know that, don't you?"
Normally he would have agreed with her. Normally. Though this time the Doctor seemed a little reluctant. More than a little. Every step seemed steeped in that reluctance, actually, as he plodded toward his beloved time ship.
"Perhaps," he agreed, sighing heavily so that his shoulder's shirked. She hated it when he seemed to keep things all pent up like that. It was one of his worst habits.
"There's going to be a 'but'."
"There is no 'but', I merely said perhaps."
"And?"
"Well, why must there be a 'but'." He hadn't gotten out his key yet, either, which was also a bad sign. He lingered near the door of the blue box, looking at it and not going in. "...However-"
Benny rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself. It was bothering him, wasn't it? "Is there something you've noticed that I should be told about?"
"I sense evil."
Evil, as he always called it. Delivered in that tone of dislike and animosity. Evil. Some could equate it with antiquated concepts of morality, but to the Doctor it was destruction, plain and simple. He could be evil too, he knew this, perhaps he deserved whatever evil happened to him. Though he couldn't give just anyone the satisfaction, could he? He'd do his best not to.
"Alright," Benny said, leaning against the edge of the TARDIS. "So we're not going to be going on that tropical holiday to visit Pachacuti, are we?"
"I'm not quite ready to, no..." He took a step back, patting his pocket as if reassuring the key inside of it he would be using it later. "So, the man told me that any mechanical conveyance would break, any close associate would take ill, and any assets that I had would be procured by unsavory parties."
"He said you would be robbed?"
"No! Not precisely anyway. It's difficult to tell with these so-called metaphysicists because they always present you with just the right sort of veiled language to make a warning irritating and not actually useful at avoiding trouble." He tapped his umbrella's curled handle against his mouth the way that he did when he was mulling something, or trying not to be worried. Benny assumed that it was a bit of both in this case.
Though she doubted very sincerely if he knew that there was trouble to be had that he would make an effort at avoiding it. He hadn't this time.
It had seemed like an absurdly normal jaunt at first. A travelling performance troupe was happening through the town where Benny wanted to examine some artifacts. As it turned out, they were all fakes, but the Doctor? He couldn't leave without watching the live acts. And of course, without acting out himself, twitchy fingers and all that. He loved the attention. Certain individuals hadn't taken well to him stealing the limelight, most notably an angry woman who kept a tight hold on her particular set of performers. And that the Doctor hadn't taken too well to, nor had he succumbed to her womanly wiles (though Benny had found the scenario rather hilarious).
It began innocently enough. A vehicle they were in getting a flat, and then breaking a fuel line. A trolleybus losing power. A scooter's engine simply shutting down and refusing the Doctor's apt repairs...
Well, that last one was when things started to get a bit peculiar.
The Doctor had been keeping an eye out for the woman since, either her pet acrobats or her mop of red hair. He guessed that she was wanting to make a collection (none of her set seemed entirely human). In a fit of paranoia, he'd allowed a streetside psychic to give him a reading. A streetside psychic that he'd actually detected a higher level of telepathic activity from or so he'd said. Those happened occasionally, as Benny had discovered, but not very often.
Anyway, here he was. And here was Benny, and he had to find a way to break this curse if he wanted to get her off to her next destination-
She coughed into her fist.
"...Benny, are you alright?" He asked, lowering the umbrella to lean on like a cane.
"I'm fine, Doctor!" She laughed, waving dismissively at him. "I'm fine, you're being paranoid over a little cough."
"You're getting sort of a look."
"What sort of a look?" More exasperation.
"That sort of a look. That look that comes with a tickle in the back of your throat, and now you're trying not to cough again."
"I'm fine." The words were a tad strained, and she sounded as if she were about to be upset with him.
"Are you? Are you certain?"
"Yes! Yes I'm certain." Her jaw strained with an effort not to do exactly as he was insinuating. Because a tickle in the back of one's throat didn't mean that someone was cursed! And if she coughed he would inevitably take it as the sign of culminating events and then they would have to stay there and find a way to relieve him of a curse that was most likely the product of a con artists twisted manipulation rather than any real substantial effort to strike against him.
She coughed. A tiny one.
"Right then, shall we walk to the hotel? You pay, Benny. I gave the last of my money to the gentleman who informed us of how the curse would go."
"At least one thing he said was accurate..." she grumbled under her breath, starting to follow him as he walked away.
Character: The Seventh Doctor
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 945
Notes: Not based off any specific Benny player.