supernova (11th doctor)

Vampires in Venice (pt 3)

Signora Calvierri walked back into her school to find a man sitting on a throne. Not just any throne, her throne. She paused and looked up at him, slightly surprised, slightly shocked—but mostly too amused to be as angry as she should be. He wolf whistled at her.

"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you?" He tapped on her throne, marking each word that came next. "Sister of the Water?"

Signora squinted at him. "No, let me guess, the owner of the psychic paper." The man shrugged and showed his hands, as if pleading guilty. "Then I take it you're a refugee, like me?"

The Doctor, still sitting smugly on the throne, didn't reply to that question. He supposed that in a way, he was one, but he wasn't like her. He was here for one reason, but he knew that he needed to seem a certain way around women like Signora Calvierri, or he wouldn't get any answers. He knew how this worked. "I'll make you a deal. An answer for an answer."

She nodded with a smile, and he knew that the game had begun.

"You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with, so leaves it blank... hence no reflection."

Signora raised her eyebrows. "Your question?"

"Why can we see your big teeth?" He asked, smiling just a little, because it was Nova who was wondering that. Actually, she wouldn't stop talking about it while they were walking around town. She was so curious about the smallest things. And the biggest things. And everything, really... and he remembered why he was there.

She laughed. "Self-preservation over-rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain."

"What did you do to Nova?" He asked quickly, trying not to look mad, trying not to show how he was growing impatient.

"My turn," she interrupted, smirking. "Where are you from?"

"Gallifrey," he responded promptly.

Her expression changed, showing just the slightest bit of awe. "You should be in a museum," she gaped, and the Doctor let out the smallest chuckle. "Or in a mausoleum," she added, but she was smiling.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

Her smile faded. "We ran from The Silence. Why are you here?"

"Wedding present," he muttered quickly, before asking, "The Silence?"

She began pacing, lost in thought. "There were cracks. Some were tiny... some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence... and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us... and Saturnyne was lost." She frowned, looking down in regret.

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark II?" The Doctor guessed, disgusted.

If she noticed his tone of voice, she did a great job of ignoring it. "And you can help me," she looked up hopefully. "We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?"

"Hmm," the Doctor stood up and walked to face her. He walked up so close to her that they were inches apart, narrowing his eyes at her just a moment, intimidating, and then moved behind her. The game was over. He gave up trying to listen to her side of the story, because he already knew it all too well. He had to know. "What did you do to Nova?"

"Nova?" She asked. She tried to mask her worry by pretending she didn't know who he was talking about. It's true, she never would have guessed who she was before, but now it all made sense. And now she was afraid.