realityshifted | (no subject)

...Oh dear.

I only hope this...switch isn't direct, or else I'm wandering around inside the Master at the moment.

Well, one of me. It doesn't bode well regardless.

[is horrified at the very thought] Do you know what caused this? Is there any way to reverse the effects? If the Master is somehow me, I...!

[he steps forward, touching her shoulder lightly]

I don't know, but I mean to find out. I'm certain we can put things right again.

[nods, comforted by his touch, and steps a little closer, looking him over] Have you found yourself trapped within a different reality as well, then, Doctor?

[he smiles, slightly, and shakes his head]

No, fortunately, but I'm sure enough havoc is being wreaked for me to be getting on with.

For what it's worth, I am glad of that. Your Tenth is trapped on a desert planet without me, and I on the Cheetah Planet without him. At least you and my self that is with you are not parted.

[the smile widens, warms]

Yes. To have a reality between us...I'd rather not contemplate it.

It is quite horrendous, I assure you. Though your own reality...it seems different than what I remember. You never wore black, not in your Fifth. A different time stream?

[a slight nod]

I appear to be from a different...divergence than the rest - the Master was the first to note it. The younger one, I mean.

In my reality, he's still Koschei.

It is the younger Master's reality I appear to be trapped in now, I note. I do so hope he likes the way I leave it for him.

[raises an eyebrow, surprised] Is that so? [actually smiles!] Koschei...I remember him fondly. The two of you, doing everything together, playing hide-and-seek inside me after sneaking into the holding deck. I am...glad...for you, Doctor, that you did not have to see the monster he becomes. I suspect our travels lack a certain amount of entertainment without him destroying peoples and planets, then?

[with a mischievous glint in his eyes]

And how do you plan on leaving it?

[it fades, and he smiles, rather sadly]

I don't like seeing him like this - isolated, mad, a murderer. He can be good company all the same, but this isn't who he should have been.

Koschei does tend to interfere, though - we want the same things, really, but we don't always...agree on how to go about it.

I'll think of something, surely. [hadn't honestly thought about it, sadly] In the meantime, I'll use this to my advantage. When he returns, his precious cheetah won't be as...loyal.

[frowns] There are a great many things that have happened in your lifetime that shouldn't have, Doctor. But...what do you mean, he interferes? Koschei was not one to hurt others, not from what I remember. I should think he'd be helping you.

[with utmost faith] I'm sure you will.

[he shakes his head]

He does, sometimes, but on the whole he thinks I interfere too much. It's one of the very few things he and the Council agree on.

[now that is quite the surprise] Koschei and the Council? Agreeing on something? Even before he was the Master, I can't see him agreeing with anything the Time Lords would decree, especially in relation to you. And surely saving others' lives is not a type of interference which should be so looked down on. [hmphs] I see that dogmatic sense of ship-shod Gallifreyan isolationism continues in your time line. Dabble not in the lives of others -- except when they want you to.

[a slight smirk]

I've said the very same thing. He always gets flustered and offended.

[he chuckles, wryly]

I'd be stunned if it was different anywhere.

Of course, he still does more than they think he should - and he only obeys them when it suits him.

Does he, now? I should prefer that boy to the one the Doctor insists on keeping with him now. At least my Doctor -- your Eighth, the one who pilots me -- had the good sense to let the Master die. Well...the last time we saw him, at any rate.

[smiles, laughing with him] He sounds quite a bit like you in that regard, Doctor. Going about your business and saving others, regardless of what the Time Lords think. I'm glad that hasn't changed about you, skewed time lines or no.

[quietly] Sensible of me. The Master is dangerous, unpredictable - he shouldn't be allowed to run about unless he's somehow contained, somehow useful.

[his voice grows lighter again]

I think he and your Doctor would get on splendidly. Though I wish I knew...what changed.

[purses her lips] That's what your Tenth thought, as well. That he was safer trapped inside me, even after he'd raped me and left me as a paradox machine. But I never took you for someone to keep another around because of usefulness, Doctor. Not after dealing with some of your more...annoying...companions.

[taps her chin a little, clicking her tongue] You mean what changed with the Master? How he became what he is?

[a slight scowl] I shouldn't make you endure that regardless. [he shakes his head, the scowl fading promptly] Another difference, I suppose - I may grow attached to my companions, but if they weren't useful in some way they wouldn't be there.

[softly] Yes. From what I've gathered it...doesn't seem as if our years together in Academy were any different.

[frowns faintly, then gently touches his cheek] I know you wouldn't, Doctor. Your Tenth...he's so lonely. I can understand that. It still upsets me, however.

As for the Master, well. You failed your exams and he felt betrayed. He went out into the universe and you went back to school, passed, and left to your own life. He felt you'd abandoned him and his anger festered until it was all he could do to get you to pay attention to him. [frowns] I believe, possibly...he had wanted to save the universe, just as you always did. But his idea of saving it is to bend it to his will, and you and he have never seen eye to eye on that.

[his hand rises to cover hers] It's no excuse.

[his brow furrows, slightly, as he nods] I see. I suppose he and Koschei simply went in rather opposite directions, after...I left him.

[holds his hand in hers, as well]

It is. I should like to think you chose the truer path, though.

I believe I did, even if he disagrees - any of him.

[smiles kindly at him and, well, leans in to give him a kiss on the cheek, patting it lightly afterward] I am glad of your choice. Moreso than I think you realise.

[he ducks his head slightly, grinning at her like the boy he was; yes, he can still remember that smile, and how to use it]

We saved each other.