Shadow of a wing (Doctor Who)

Singing Planets

"This takes way too long, you know that?" the Reaper blamed the silent air and stared at his time counter. "That's already... four Gallifreyan years... You should think I'd get at least a bit closer..."

As usual he got no answer. And as usual it made him... angry? Not quite, but he couldn't really name the emotion.

"Well, another day, another planet. Can't deny it's an interesting assortment of places you lead me to so far." He smiled to himself, grabbed his black coat and opened the door. "Take care of the TARDIS while I'm gone."

With a sigh he closed the door behind him and found himself in a modern city. It reminded him a bit of some of the Asian places he had been on earth. Many of the houses had similar pointy roofs, but were taller and overall thinner than the ones from earth.

It also seemed as if they were preparing for some kind of festival, since the streets were filled with banners, colourful lanterns and decoration made out of orange paper. There was a thin, calm river nearby overarched by a slightly bent bridge. On it stood a few delicately carved metal benches, most of them occupied by probably tourists.

There were a lot of different species around, so the planet must be advanced enough for space travel. Or they at least received visitors from beyond. Not few of them looked similar to Time Lords, although that wasn't unusual. Evolution went many ways on different planets, but there were some patterns that repeated themselves more often than others.

"Oh, what have we here," a female voice resounded from behind, and as the Reaper turned around he saw a humanoid woman, clad in some kind of loose kimono of different yellow and orange tones. Her fiery hair flew elegantly over her shoulders, and a brazen grin graced her face as she approached him. "My, you're a handsome one." She boldly trod close to him and trailed a finger down his chest. "Looking for... something?"

Growling annoyed he grabbed her wrist. "Go, look somewhere else."

"Oh, how rude," she said sarcastically and audaciously hooked her arm into his. "Let's take a walk."

For a moment the Reaper was a bit perplex about that, but then he pushed her rudely away. "Aren't there enough people around you can pester?"

"None that are so... interesting." The woman chuckled and winked. "And handsome too."

It wasn't as if he disliked being complimented, quite the opposite, but there were more urgent things on his list. And an annoying harlot, or whatever they called themselves here, wasn't even on it. Although...

"Say, you don't happen to offer some more... useful services?" He turned towards her. "I'm foreign here."

An eager glint sprang to her eyes. "Oh, sure. There are some interesting sights around, I can show them to you." Swiftly she was at his side once more. "But that will cost extra."

"Oi, why does that cost me something?" the Reaper protested.

"Because it's my time I'm offering," the woman chuckled. "Payment in advance, by the way."

He huffed and grinned. "Well, then goodbye. I don't have any local money."

With that he simply left her behind and moved across the bridge, making his way through masses of people that were enjoying the festival. The streets were filled with booths, that sold all kinds of wares and snacks. It reminded him of another, similar place he had visited a long time ago. And as he eyed some of the snacks, he wished his own thievery skills would be a lot better. Well, at least those species here reacted to his hypnotism, so he wasn't in need of any money to get himself covered with pockets full of exotic food.