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Fill: Challenge #5 (Doctor Who)
Hastily-written and very basic, because I didn't have the time, but I still did it! :) It took longer than I'd hoped. I had only intended to write the first part (where the "object designed for an alien" is described), but I couldn't let myself get away without a little more.
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Compared to the others in the marketplace, the shop was positively cramped, with rows of shelving and display hooks lining aisles that were barely wide enough for two humans to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. Martha glanced at the paper in her hand, then peered around, wondering how she’d find item the Doctor had sent her to purchase.
“Can I help you find something?” came a raspy voice above her head.
Martha jumped back, flattening herself against the door that had just closed behind her. The creature wound its long serpentine body through the sturdy metal latticework that stretched across the shop, just below the ceiling. Though it held its clawed hands in front of its narrow chest as if in supplication, its catlike eyes set in a pointed, draconic face danced with laughter at Martha’s reaction.
“I am sorry to have startled you.” It touched a claw to its forehead.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Martha hastened to assure it. “My fault for not knowing how this place worked. I’m Martha.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Martha. I am Ezehfrit.” It slithered a couple of metres through the lattice, possibly to allow Martha to see it more easily. “I expect you haven’t been on Paradil for very long. I am a tarfri. We are a minority species, especially here in Obrye City. If you’re only here for the day, you’ll not likely encounter another one.”
“Well, I count myself very lucky to have met you then.” Tucking the paper into a pocket for a moment, Martha held out one hand palm up and placed the other hand, palm down, over it, in the gesture of greeting and friendship that the Doctor had taught her before they left the TARDIS. Ezehfrit repeated it.
Martha pulled the paper back out and held it up for the tarfri to see. “Do you have one of these?”
“Oh, yes. Just over here.” It wove its way to one of the far aisles, and Martha had to duck around a corner and jog after it. “Just one, you say?” it called to her over its shoulder.
“Yes, just one.”
Ezehfrit dangled its tail down to the bottom shelf and pulled out a single box, wrapping itself securely around it before lifting it to the rafters. It snagged the item with a hand. “This will be a hundred and thirty credits. It is the lowest price you will find anywhere in the city.”
“Brilliant,” Martha replied, digging in her jacket pocket for her credit stick as she followed it to the register.
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Compared to the others in the marketplace, the shop was positively cramped, with rows of shelving and display hooks lining aisles that were barely wide enough for two humans to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. Martha glanced at the paper in her hand, then peered around, wondering how she’d find item the Doctor had sent her to purchase.
“Can I help you find something?” came a raspy voice above her head.
Martha jumped back, flattening herself against the door that had just closed behind her. The creature wound its long serpentine body through the sturdy metal latticework that stretched across the shop, just below the ceiling. Though it held its clawed hands in front of its narrow chest as if in supplication, its catlike eyes set in a pointed, draconic face danced with laughter at Martha’s reaction.
“I am sorry to have startled you.” It touched a claw to its forehead.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Martha hastened to assure it. “My fault for not knowing how this place worked. I’m Martha.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Martha. I am Ezehfrit.” It slithered a couple of metres through the lattice, possibly to allow Martha to see it more easily. “I expect you haven’t been on Paradil for very long. I am a tarfri. We are a minority species, especially here in Obrye City. If you’re only here for the day, you’ll not likely encounter another one.”
“Well, I count myself very lucky to have met you then.” Tucking the paper into a pocket for a moment, Martha held out one hand palm up and placed the other hand, palm down, over it, in the gesture of greeting and friendship that the Doctor had taught her before they left the TARDIS. Ezehfrit repeated it.
Martha pulled the paper back out and held it up for the tarfri to see. “Do you have one of these?”
“Oh, yes. Just over here.” It wove its way to one of the far aisles, and Martha had to duck around a corner and jog after it. “Just one, you say?” it called to her over its shoulder.
“Yes, just one.”
Ezehfrit dangled its tail down to the bottom shelf and pulled out a single box, wrapping itself securely around it before lifting it to the rafters. It snagged the item with a hand. “This will be a hundred and thirty credits. It is the lowest price you will find anywhere in the city.”
“Brilliant,” Martha replied, digging in her jacket pocket for her credit stick as she followed it to the register.