'dark have been my dreams of late'

[sortofaman]

The visions hadn't gone away. If anything, they had grown steadily, definitively worse. Worse to the point that after the last he had seemed to nearly taste dalekanium in the air, like a tang of sharp dirty metal in his mouth that took hours to disappate

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[unbreakableteen]

Claire walked in to get some water and looked at him, dripping chocolate and laughing.

"Are you all right?" she asked, grabbing a towel.

[sortofaman]

"I've been better, Ms Bennet," the Doctor said, blinking a few times. A droplet of chocolate ran down his cheek. "It's been one of those lifetimes."

[unbreakableteen]

"Yeah, that totally happens," she said, reaching up to wipe his face. "Just don't jump off anything."

[sortofaman]

"Not planning on it," the Doctor said, "I have a vested interest in living." That was, at the moment. If he went mad entirely, things would be different.

[unbreakableteen]

"Oh, super. Are you teaching more history next term?" she asked, still wiping chocolate off hs face. "I think your shirt is toast."

[sortofaman]

"That's all right, I wasn't keen on this one," the Doctor said. "And yeah, I plan to. The Renaissance and colonial eras to your personal present. You going to join us?"

[unbreakableteen]

"Yeah. I liked your class. Um...could I bring a friend sometimes? I'm trying to help her get out in the sun and stuff. She's totally not ready yet. She's just started eating. Food." Other places it might be weird she had to clarify that, but somehow she was pretty sure he'd get it.

[sortofaman]

"Uh," the Doctor said, "sure, if she wants." He paused and considered the sun bit and the food bit, comparing it to something Maladicta had once said. "Was she a vampire or something?"

He was quite serious. Maybe he should teach about Transylvania.

[unbreakableteen]

"Yeah," Claire said, smiling a little. "From Japan. She's super nice. I'm going to help her learn about clothes and stuff, too."

[sortofaman]

"I didn't know they did that story in Japan," the Doctor said, looking intrigued. "Okay. And they don't do clothes?"

[unbreakableteen]

"I don't know. I thought they wore kimonos and stuff, or at least, like, harajuku fashion, but she doesn't. She just had a chain on when she showed up. My dog totally hates her, and she can only kind of talk. She has really bad, sharp teeth. But she's never bit me. Swear."

[sortofaman]

The Doctor looked slightly aghast. "Only a chain? What sort of society was she from?!" And...well, Mr Muggles hated EVERYONE, mostly, so that wasn't too much of a surprised. "Claire, have you talked to anyone about this? Like a doctor--a medical one? I'm not going to snitch on you, but she might need more help adjusting than you can give, y'know?"

[unbreakableteen]

"Um...yeah?" she said sheepishly. "Actually, she got real sick and, um, maybe might have bitten someone else? So she's kind of under arrest or something intheclinic..." she said, the last bit trailing off to a mumble.

[sortofaman]

So the Doctor stared at Claire for a long moment. "Oh," he said. "Um..."

And he was really lost for words. A bit of chocolate dripped onto his chin.

[unbreakableteen]

"Yeah," she said, looking up at him and wiping again. "So, yeah. Vampires who come here are actually human, too, and blood makes them sick. So, she's like, starving to death and I've been getting her to eat little bits of, like, milk and cheese and bananas and stuff. It helps if I put in some blood, but I don't tell the doctor that. I just feed her. I don't want her to die or anything."

She hadn't told anyone about this, and wasn't going to tell anyone about what she'd done last month. Nick and Roger knowing were bad enough. She'd have to tell her dad...but...well, she really didn't want F to wind up dead or something, and it wasn't like she'd never kept a secret from him before.

[sortofaman]

"I knew some of that," the Doctor said, "from Maladicta. But...she must have some sort of mental block regarding eating real food. If beings are hungry enough, they'll usually eat."