realityshifted

[night has long since settled over Gallifrey and yet he doesn't retire. instead, he leaves his rooms and makes his way to gardens in his section of the residential quarters. there, amongst several other Gallifreyan flora planted there, are several silver-leafed cadenwood trees, their leaves glittering and reflecting a warm burnt orange and red, offset by the few lights still left on in nearby quarters. by his watch, he has an hour before the first sun starts to rise up over the Mountain of Solace. he settles himself against the base of the tree, deciding not to have a seat on one of the nearby sofas. no doubt he'll be joined by others wishing to watch the sunrise, but most Time Lords wait for the second sun to rise. he, selfishly, prefers to watch both.

while he waits, his thoughts return to the Plane and he mulls over his previous explorations and encounters there. too many things--too many new things--for this stuffy Time Lord.

and then there's that forest. what would his beloved cadenwood trees look like there without the magnificence of Kasterboran suns? no doubt they'd still overshadow the ones there in their silvery brilliance, but would some of their magic be lost?

to test this, he enters the Plane, bringing the one tree with him. unfortunately, he isn't anywhere near the forest, though he can see it in the distance--but still... he glances up at the silver leaves now twinkling in the light of the millions upon millions of stars in that place and grins. smugly, of course.]

Better than that forest any day! Just as I thought it would be.

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[He grins slightly.] Oh, they might look nice in the improper areas as well. A tree right in the council room. Might make the meetings more exciting.

[flatly] Nothing can make them more exciting.

Fair enough. Still! Worth a try. [He pats the tree trunk fondly.] Speaking of the old stuffy robes, how are things back there?

Returning to normal now that Morbius has been defeated for good. Ah yes, and you'd supposedly just died in the process.

Well, you know, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Probably. Never really know, alternate universes and the like.

Ah yes, that. One of your past selves I've met seems to be from one such universe.

I'm starting to believe very few of us share a universe at all.

Which are you from then? [not that he has anything to gauge this against, but still.]

Have you met the younger looking Master?

[makes a face] Yes...

Well, that would be my universe. There's also his...wife around here and a friend of mine, Martha, though there's two of her, so best to check which.

[frowns. he's not going to comment on the wife thing.] I wonder who, if any of you, are from mine then.

Hard to say, really. You're in my past if you are and events could be the same for many years before changing. Or not. There seem to be personal differences so far.

"If" I am? You knew my name and recognised me, so wouldn't that be a fair assumption that I am? So far, all versions of you and your ninth remember me, so the variance in universes must happen later on.

Quite right. Though possibly not my specific past. The difference may have already occurred but not affected our meeting as well. Bit tricky. But generally we seem to figure out what's missing or new eventually.