19 - All we are we are

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[It has been quite some time since Reinette brought herself to the Plane. If one looked closely enough, the especially pale almost translucent coloring to her skin might suggest as to why. But only, really, if one looked.

Her hair is down, and she is dutifully brushing it as she critically considers her reflection within the mirror of her vanity. An intricately carved box sits on one side, holding her most valued jewelry. And on the other side rests a music box, and a small collection of cosmetics]

Comments

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

I doubt that keeps you from desiring it all the same.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the pleasures of desire. Attainment is something a bit different.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

You do not wish for what you have?

I thought that was the Doctor's struggle, not your own. I would never say as much around your wife.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[if one is observant and wise in the ways of expressions, one might not a slight - 'difference' is the only word for it, at the mention of the Master's wife]

I desire what I desire and I desire to always desire more.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

I think that a poor answer.

[he rarely allows her an inch either, after all]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

It was using 'desire' four times, wasn't it? Hnn, maybe you're right. Not my best. Ahh, well. Can't get every star, but you can win a shiny gold sticker for trying.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she breaks eye contact, choosing to brush her hair instead]

Hardly improved. Am I to think -- where the Doctor is considered, for example -- you would accept some 'sticker' for your attempt? A consolation?

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

It's a gold sticker, Reinette. It glitters. The Doctor is easily distracted by things that shine.

And oh look, there comes a victory.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she does not think it sounds all that impressive]

But hardly a universal one. What would you use to ensure victory over myself? Your wife? Even the other Doctors?

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

You're not distracted by things that glitter and spark? Well, there goes that present.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she actually laughs]

Pleased, yes. Distracted? Never for certain.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

From time to time, I gamble.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

I would never gamble on the female sex sir.

I say that, even as a member of it. We can be contrary creatures. And you still did not answer my question.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's no worse than the other six.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

You take great pleasure in controlling the flow of conversation.

[Statement. Not question. Not that she can say too much. She is the same after all.]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

I like to have a hand in the way a thing moves.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

But only one hand. Because if the thing did not mov independently, you would grow easily bored.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Sometimes one suffers boredom for greater challenges.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she is obviously teasing]

Are you bored now? Shall I do something distracting and captivating?

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[rising to the taunt]

I'd love to see your efforts.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she smiles]

So you are bored.

[She could ignore him, of course. But that is far too typically female. She could brush her hair, for his benefit instead of her own. She could act a scene or sing a song or dance a dance. Except, of course, they are always dancing. So instead, she picks up a broach from her jewelry and exposes the back. Then she traces it along one of the older scars from her bleedings. Black, shimmering blood wells, and she exposes it to him. She does not know if he has seen it closely yet]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[murmured]

I think your doctors have done that enough.

[yet he reaches out to know the blood with his fingertips]

It is like the universe. But there is more light.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

And yet they never seem to tire of it. Nor Louis.

[there is a sharpness there, that just might suggest her lack of color upon arrival. And her prior absence]

It looks the same, you know. In France. It fills the bowl, the black and the light. But no one ever sees.

Or perhaps they never look.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Have I ever told you how much better than Versailles you are? You deserve far more of the universe than that.

[ambitious-woman.livejournal.com]

[she does not entirely disagree with him, and is not one to pretend otherwise]

Perhaps. But Versailles is the universe that I have.