Serenade for String Orchestra in E Major

[collector]

[Braxiatel walks through the rain with an umbrella in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. He is taking more care in keeping the rain out of his tea than he is in keeping it away from his clothes, and for a moment he even sticks his head out from under his umbrella to look up at the clouds. When he speaks, he is speaking to himself, his voice like smoothed glass.]

That's an awful lot of oil going to waste. And in such a way. [His smile is made of irony, and he looks down at the stars still under their feet despite the rain.] How the old symbols are reformed.

[With the skill of the absurdly well-balanced, he switches his cup to the hand holding the umbrella, opens the library door, and steps inside.]

[After a moment, he pops his head back out again.]

Oh, one thing: have there been any odd deaths lately? I'd be interested to know.

[Then it's back in out of the rain.]

Comments

[collector]

[mildly] I see you've gone colour blind in your age, Thete.

[bit_impossible]

Can't be colour blind when this rain has no colour. It's the same stuff in those who've died here.

I approve of the use of a black-and-white icon here.

[collector]

Then I think my answer is obvious.

It is rather apropo, isn't it?

[bit_impossible]

[frowns] There were all those fights in the Coliseum and yet we didn't get rained on then. And I heard that the last time anything like this happened, the blood poured out from that hot springs where bodies were found. I don't know how many, and I'm pretty certain I don't want to know.

But that all happened before I arrived, so I'm betting it's...[his frown deepens]...well, a foreshadowing of things to come, perhaps. [a very brief pause] Blimey, that sounds a bit dramatic.

Unless you know something different, that is.

[collector]

[Brax actually holds back on asking the Doctor if he heard the conversation between Roe and Meredith. Because Brax really doesn't care to share his theories on cause and effect here, and there's the very great possibility that if Brax reminds the Doctor of the facts, the Doctor may come to the same conclusion Braxiatel has.]

[So when he speaks, it is a little wry, and a little misleading] The fights in the Coliseum certainly didn't shy away from someone's sense of cruel dramatics.

[bit_impossible]

[he did, but he didn't need to hear them to confirm his fears. he's been expecting something to happen...] Well, as dramatic, senseless shows go, it rivals a few programmes I've seen and heard about on a certain satellite... Have you known anyone who has died recently? After the matches, I mean.

[collector]

No, thankfully. I haven't heard a thing. Mind you, my resources aren't quite as good here as they are back home.

[bit_impossible]

If you haven't heard anything, why bring up the subject of odd deaths?

[collector]

Because it's the most likely result. We know that death has a particular result, we know that 'weather' doesn't happen here without a reason, and we know that this rain is the blood of those resurrected here.

[bit_impossible]

Actually, the weather here is rather new to me, but, well, if just about anyone can be brought here, why not atmospheric conditions such as a rainstorm? What's next? Snow and hail in the form of this blood as well? You can bet no one would want to catch those snowflakes on their tongues.

[collector]

It's not a biosphere but a Machine. There has to be a will to bring things about - people, the weather, fights to the death.

[bit_impossible]

[rolls his eyes, sighing] Yes, I'm aware it's not a biosphere. Does anyone know if the Machine is sentient at all or tried to speak with it directly?

[collector]

It has its own will, that much has been said. I plan on performing a little experiment to see how sentient it is.

[bit_impossible]

[pretends to be uninterested] Is that right?

[collector]

It is. [He can enjoy being needlessly mysterious towards the Doctor as well.]

[bit_impossible]

[really, he hates it when Brax does that] Well, you'd just said you were. What exactly are you thinking of doing?

[collector]

I'll tell you when I see how it goes. [Brax finds it very fun.]