A scream! Another scream! He loomed over the man on his back, dressed in his white coat, with his mop of greasy black hair. The man below him rocked on his back, his boots kicking against the window sill as he squealed a squeal of pain. Piglike pain. And the man in white moved his arm again ferociously. He shook his head and let out a puff of breath, then lowered his arm once more...

"HEAVE!"

"OOOH!"

"HEAVE!"

"OOOH!"

"HEAVE!"

The camera angle switched to the interior of the dentists's office, showing the man on his back helping the man in the white dentist's coat heave a third man up the side of the building, rope rig tied to his face.

A minute later, all three of them left the room, after one of them got a swift kick in the ass. It turned out, the man in white hadn't been a dentist at all. The dentist walked in a moment later.

Lenna glanced towards the obscenely large cockroach on the couch next to her in the Sanctuary's rec room. "It's been an hour of this stuff so far... feeling any different yet?" She asked. And were there any other DVDs on this shelf? She was getting sick and tired of comic boobs, three Stooges, or not.

Ah, the brilliance! The simple pleasures of slapstick never failed to amuse! He chuckled at the scene he'd watched many times before, coming off more fond than anything else.

"If you knew them, you'd understand. Seeing Moe as a suspected dentist pulling a tooth comes off as quite wrong. When you see that they are window washers, everything suddenly makes sense, and from that comes humor."

He chuckled again, and eyed the TV intently.

"It's been an hour of this stuff so far... feeling any different yet?"

Sad day. It would appear Lenna did not share his fondness of Larry, Curly, and Moe.

"Well... My intermediate set of hands is completely useless. I would say we need only spend... Eight more hours finding some what to stay entertained... By my calculations."

He was guessing. YAAAY!

"... We... Could watch the price is right. Do you like the price is right?"

He stared at her for a second, his antenna and a half(a battle wound given by a now very dead officer Berry) twitching.

"... What do you like?" It was odd... They'd worked in tandem for some time now, but he knew so little about her... Partially because his modified roaches refused to go near her, and the regular ones around her tended to just... skitter off. Maybe this would be a chance for him to find out more about his... Leader.

"Movies, mainly." She replied somewhat tersely. She didn't like giving out intimate details when she didn't have to. Eight hours was a long time to wait, though, and if she were forced to watch more television, she'd go mad. "Old movies. Casablanca. Maltese Falcon. Newer ones. Star Wars. (Mostly). Dirty Harry. Indiana Jones. Basically, if it's good, I'll probably like it. Not too fond of television..." She glanced towards Roach again. "Want me to check what's in the case?"

He couldn't, in his state. They were biding their time until he went human within her aura. He wasn't able to move much of his body right now, she suspected.

What all was there to marathon, anyways?

"Movies, mainly. Old movies. Casablanca. Maltese Falcon. Newer ones. Star Wars. (Mostly). Dirty Harry. Indiana Jones. Basically, if it's good, I'll probably like it. Not too fond of television...Want me to check what's in the case?"

"Movies... Oh, you're missing out on so much, only paying attention to those things that grace theater screens... don't get me wrong, all of those are beautiful classics, but television has much to offer as well... Ah! I know just what we shall watch. It was what I used to watch in order to escape my life when I was normal, and boring looking, like you. Now that I'm in my current state of sexy, I must admit it has been a while since I've partaken, but I was sure to bring it along with me."

He pointed toward the case, as if she could follow his drooping fingers accurately. "It's in the bottom corner... It should be labeled 'The doctor, property of Greg, Mom, do not touch.' Ignore the flavor text." His arm lingered for a moment, and he reached the other one over to place it carefully over the edge of the couch.

"While you look... I must say thank you for that source of untraceable shooty things; They came in quite handy cleaning the blue stains out. It's all handled by the way; got a little messy, I do admit, but I left no bread crumbs." The stooges had placed cement in a man's mouth, and were now trying to blast it away with explosives. He chuckled lightly.

His half/antenna twitched and started to deflate on his head. Not long after the other started to follow. "The next phase is well underway... I think some of our young blood will do quite well at the tasks I have planned... May I remind you, though... I wish to be granted full creative control when it comes to my part of the business..." Yes, he was talking in less than specific terms; he of all people knew that you never knew who could be watching.

"As long as I'm not left in the dark," She said, pushing off her knees as she rose. "That should be fine."

A brisk walk across the room was all it took to get to the shelves. Roach never left her range. It wasn't that far. Her fingers trailed over the spines of the cases until they found the one he'd pointed out. She was potentially horrified. Mystery movie. What could it be? Turning, she moved back to the television, and got things ready, slipping the movie in.

She plopped back down on the couch beside him. "Good work, so far." She noted. Hit play. "Keep it up."

Whatever Roach had selected began.

"Many thanks. I shall do my best."

The... movie came on. It was clearly in black and white. Strange music started playing... And then, from a smoky background, the words "Doctor WHO zoomed up, and then disappeared, showing the title "An unearthly child." and a police officer poking about in a slight mist.

"Another piece of television that I simply could not let you dismiss without experiencing it. If you think it horrendous we can find something else. You may just find yourself addicted before long, though. Many do."

Lenna gave it a chance. She didn't owe Roach anything, but she was willing to, and what did it hurt?

As the episode went, it became apparent it wasn't your run-of-the-mill situation. Two teachers, worried about their student. A student, going into a police box in a scrap yard. And when they followed her into this 'police box', they found... that it was smaller on the outside. A rather surprising turn.

Hrm. Well, she liked Star Wars. She'd give it more time. It didn't appear there was any slapstick, yet. Just a grouchy old man.

There wouldn't be much slapstick at all. Instead, there was intrigue, fanciful journeys, and a mad man with a box! Through the first few sets of episodes, his front set of arms had fallen off, and he'd lost a mandible... He looked swollen, and he wasn't moving much... Still, he would giggle at a silly thing here or there, or coo fondly at something that reminded him of a happy memory.

"I... Hmm... Hard to speak.... I spent... Much time... With this. As a lad... As... As you may imagine. Much has changed since... The world... So simple. Always is through... Young eyes." He almost sounded sorrowful, if a bit muffled by the loss of a mandible. It had been 3 hours of the doctor, and it appeared as though his calculations may have been a little too conservative. Already, he seemed... swollen. "You... Your childhood... Was it... good?"

One of those arms would have made an excellent cudgel for beating idiots with, she noticed. It was an odd thing to notice, a silly thing, and one she quickly forgot she'd noticed, in favor of noticing how strange Roach looked after a bit of time in her presence. He looked like a mutilated cockroach. He basically was. Her face gave no hints at the thought. Her eyes were on the television, on the Doctor in black and white.

Roach asked a question, and it took an effort of will not to tell him she preferred not to talk about her childhood. Instead, she answered positively. "There was a lot of baseball and gambling. That was good." A faint smile turned up the edges of her mouth. "And sneaking out to watch movies when I could." Though they weren't always the newest releases. Sometimes, what she got was a bit behind with the rest of the world.

"There was a lot of baseball and gambling. That was good. And sneaking out to watch movies when I could."

"Ahh... So often, when looking back... We... Remember the sad times... The painful ones... I envy being able... to look back... and smile. Heh... A rarely spoken secret... I miss... Smiling. It shall be... The first thing I do... I thin-CLLLAAAGH"

Pop! His other mandible was on the ground. He stared at it for a moment, and then looked to her, pointing to his mouth. He made a few clicking sounds, and one that almost sounded like a slurpee machine that was out of slush. Clearly, talking was no longer an option... at least for now.

He instead turned to the television, and then pulled a phone from his shell, which was hanging like an impacted car door. With a clicking sound of fingers against a text pad(one with big buttons for his buggy digits), he sent a message her way.

If you are interested in the show, there is much to watch. I I wouldn't mind watching the series again... Though I dare say, we shall have to sit a little further away from each other... Would you believe this process is excruciating?

She texted back 'No'. That was all.

He didn't answer. His face was falling off.

'You've got an arm off,' She texted him. But it was only a flesh wound.

Whatever was happening to Roach, it turned her stomach. Lenna usually had excellent fortitude. This, apparently, really wasn't her cup of tea. It was like The Fly, in reverse, with less Jeff Goldblum. Excruciating, he'd said. Probably. Definitely to watch. Luckily, there was something on the television, and oh, it was time to change to a different disc or cassette. She stood up, so she could walk away.

When Lenna returned, Roach's body would be very still.

Apparently, he'd fallen over, one arm lay on the ground at his feet, His head was turned to the side, into the couch, and some form of goo could be seen running from it slowly. Every once in a while, his shell would shudder, but he gave no signals whatsoever whether or not he was enjoying the current episode or not. How rude!


He would lay still for quite some time, and in that time, some people would come and go; a big blue man came in, saw the television was taken, huffed, and stormed out, a kid with smoke coming from his ears saw there was an adapted about, and turned right back around and left, and a rather normal looking gentleman wandered in and stood behind the couch, watching the show. "Ah... The fourth doctor. Tom Baker was a force to be reckoned with." He was dressed in rather plain loaner clothed; the type the Sanctuary offered to those who needed to wash their clothes, or simply had nothing. "I hope the series hasn't bored you at all... Those lost episodes tend to drive people mad." He stared into the screen for a moment as a giant tentacle grabbed a man and pulled him toward a hole in the wall.

"Well, I do hope my human face doesn't disappoint. The longer I wear it, the less hideous it looks to me... I hope it's not to long before I can take it off again." He did look rather normal... not exactly dashing or roguish, but not bad looking. He was a bit thin; probably a result of the transformation.

"It's odd... The more time I spend around your field... The more human I feel... I wonder, how do you lot manage? When I am me, the world is filled with wonder, things to eat, things to build... Grand plans that will one day touch the sky... As a human... I feel more like the monster who ate my family... So... bland." He smiled wryly, and turned to her. His eyes were glazed, as if he were lost in thought. "I... Wouldn't like to stay like this for long. I don't like it. Pardon me if I don't wish to stay in your presence much longer..."

"That's fine," Lenna replied, corner of her mouth turned up in the ghost of a smirk. What he'd spoken about had seemed strange to her, alien, and yet made perfect sense. Somehow, as a human he seemed scarier than he ever seemed as a roach. Maybe it was the fact that roach him was often comical? Or perhaps it was just like he said? "We all wear our masks from time to time." She decided. "For you, this is a mask. You've got a role to play. I won't take it as offensive if you go and play it."

Gesturing like Vanna White, a hand swung towards the door. "Knock 'em dead." She matched his wryness.

Do your job.