017 - Feet to the Sky

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[Since the labyrinth was such a well received addiction to the Plane Reinette has returned -- with a new escort of sorts. A strong, sturdy tree, though that is only part of the story. Attached to it is a wide, carved wooden swing. There is a rope attached to it as well, designed to prevent the user from swinging too high. Though that hangs rather uselessly to the side. Reinette is in the swing, gently pushing it back and forth with a single satin shoe as she looks up at the stars]

Comments

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[he looks at her and smiles; he doesn't feel the need to say what she already knows]

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[her features hardly alter, even as they do. It is one of the things she likes best about him]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

We will go to Keterlan. My own planet, crafted by my own design. I'll duel to the death to win us access to the court, and then I'll have the pleasure of seeing you adapt to the new playing field.

If you can squeeze that into your plan, of course.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she continues to swing, eyes sparking briefly at the promise of a new challenge. And at his understanding of her need to entertain]

I should most likely not flatter your ego and suggest that not only will I edge you into my day, I might be inclined to clear it entirely.

Not that it is required. But the gesture is often important, I think.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Particularly for people like you and I, hm, Madame?

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she laughs, the sky swallowing the sound]

Precisely.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[when the swing hits its height, he pushes himself off it, jumping away and landing on the ground. (He only stumbles a little!) He turns, then, to watch how she deals with his absence]

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she watches him, amused.

And for the moment is quite content to swing on her own. One does not always require a partner]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[he watches her, mind sinking into mathematics. The Plane is often very still -- too still, because it is too large, and everything is taken in and lost in its eternity. Her movement is all the more brightly charted in his mind as he observes her swinging on her own]

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[the loss of her companion has altered the feel of things greatly. She is without her skirts, and the world is moving at a remarkable speed. She laughs]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Pop quiz! Tell me all you know of Gallifrey.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[the swing eases slightly lower, so as to inspire actual conversation]

I know it has a vastly complicated and dramatic educational system.

[and then]

I know more of emotion than actual fact. More of what I have seen. I know that you are both of there. And I know that it is gone.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Those are all the important parts. All that has stood the test.

What do you know of swingsets?

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she considers this. She has never seen one, but it might not be for the most obvious reason]

I would think? That they do not exist.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

No? No lined up rows of swings to make it a group activity? Little children gathered together on constructions of - well, in your time, constructions of wood and rope, their laughter filling the palace courtyards?

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

No, none of that.

[there is one more full swing and then as the arc comes forward Reinette too leaps from the swing. She is a dancer, after all. And perhaps not entirely unknown to this exercise. Before Madame LeBon, there was a child there. She lands easily next to him, smiling]

You stumbled after all, when you landed. If it was a part of your childhood, I do not believe you would have. You would have studied it. Mastered it, if you must.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Your faith in me, Reinette, is inspiring.

[but he's smiling his approval]

There were no swing sets on Gallifrey, and no children, either. Just adults that were rather tiny and needed extensive instruction.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[is all she says to that. She smooths the line of her more simple skirt]

And whose need was being filled?

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[he watches her with ever-curious eyes]

Gallifrey's, of course. Or what the old and unimaginative order thought was Gallifrey's need.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she is accustomed to being watched]

And you thought - think -- otherwise.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

I didn't leave the planet on a whim.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

I never said that you did.

But Gallifrey is gone. What do you rebel against now?

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

The stars, Reinette. Only the stars.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she looks up at those stars, as if to discern their opinion on the matter]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

And the Doctor, but that's more a battle of wills than a rebellion. We're united in our rebellion, in fact.