taxonomites | 1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

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1 [Holo] I know exactly where I am, it's everywhere else that's lost

No sooner had the TARDIS come to a stop than the Doctor was throwing open the doors and dashing outside with a cheerful shout of "Come along, Ponds!", eager to see where they’d arrived this time. That was one of the fun things about connecting up the old randomiser every so often. Enter a few basic guidelines to avoid places that might end up with them all collapsing from something unfortunately terminal the moment the stepped outside or into the middle of a war zone (he’d been shot exiting the TARDIS once before, thank you very much, and had no desire to repeat the experience), then let the TARDIS do the rest. Guaranteed mystery the moment they opened the doors.

It was a little unfortunate then that it looked like 'mystery' in this case was...

"A white room with a sort of... thing on a pedestal. Not really what I'd call exciting but maybe there's something more out there. Like a ship or a space station or a..."

He trailed off, alerted by the silence even before he turned around to find no sign of the TARDIS or his companions. Just himself on a raised platform in an empty room in a place he wasn't familiar with. There was also something strange hanging overhead, and the Doctor frowned at it, his mind racing to fill in the blanks in what he knew.

"Some sort of teleporter maybe... I’ve been kidnapped?" The idea wasn't impossible, he knew for certain, since it had happened a few times before. But it had been a while since anyone had tried. "I suppose whoever’s behind this must be feeling pretty satisfied with themselves right now?"

His wrist felt odd, he realised. Well, he’d realised it earlier, in a vague sort of way, but it was only now that it persisted in feeling odd that he scratched at it and found what seemed to be a metal bracelet fused to his skin. "Did you go and tag me?" he asked the room incredulously. "Who goes around fusing jewellery onto people? ‘Oh, I know, he’d look so much better with a silver bracelet grafted to his skin’?"

The room remained silent, so obviously whoever had brought him here didn't feel like turning up to do the gloating bit. Which left him with the thing on the pedestal, the thing in the ceiling, and a door that proved to be locked when he tried opening it.

"If that's how you want to play it," he muttered, his hand delving into his pocket to produce his sonic screwdriver. It warbled reassuringly as he waved it in quick, apparently random patterns over the walls and door, but quickly escalated to a high-pitched shriek not unlike something in pain the moment he ventured too close to that thing hanging from the ceiling. Whatever it was didn’t want to be scanned in a hurry.

"Let's see what we've got then," the Doctor commented, extending the end of the sonic screwdriver with a practised flick of his wrist. Unfortunately, the answer turned out to be ‘not much of anything’, which really only left the device sitting on the pedestal. Snapping the sonic closed again and returning it to his pocket, the Time Lord wandered over to it curiously, taking his time looking it over before reaching out and picking it up. Whatever it was, it was active and had been recording and uploading information to somewhere the entire time.

"Hello," the Doctor said, shifting his hands on the tablet to get a better look at it. "Been having a good look at me, have you? Let’s see... text, holo seems to be active... visual, voice... Oh, maps! Yes, let’s start with that then. Always a handy thing to have, a map." His finger hovered over the icon for a moment as he paused in thought, his brow furrowing. "Not that I normally use them. But I’ve heard they’re handy if you get lost easily and don’t like the fun of finding your way back on your own. Personally I always think that’s the best bit, seeing where getting lost takes you, but I suppose some people might—Oh?"

Cutting himself off suddenly, the Doctor’s eyebrows shot up as the map loaded, revealing this to be a decent sized city apparently named Taxon. But the really interesting and surprising part was how the map displayed people’s names next to some of the glowing dots on the map. Or, more accurately, the surprising part was what some of those names were. "Martha Jones? Charlotte Pollard? Fitz Kreiner? That’s... No. It can’t be. It’s just not possible..."

For a moment there was the barest flicker of uncertainty in his face, before it was quickly hidden again and the Doctor addressed whatever unseen audience he had. "I think I need some answers."

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[The Master hesitates before responding, watching the Doctor's progress on his map without really seeing any of it. He gave him proper funeral rites, then...

And then he gives a dismissive snort. The Doctor really must be grasping at straws if he's telling him all this.]

As if I'm going to give any of that away.

[That he doesn't know, himself, is something he'll keep to himself.]

And I'll have you know I remember all the times I've died. Quite. Clearly.

"Well, you have had a bit of practise there, haven't you?" the Doctor conceded. "Always turning up when I think I've seen the last of you..."

He had to admit, sometimes he wondered what it would be like if that didn't happen. If one day he just never saw the Master again. He wondered if he'd even know at first; the other Time Lord could disappear for such a long time before showing up and surprising him again. Even after he'd seen the Master disappear with Rassilon back into the Time War, a part of him had to wonder. If anyone could find a way out of the time lock...

"But that's not really the main point now, is it?" he said to himself as much as the Master. "The point is that you're here and very much alive, and I'm here and... alright, bit different, new regeneration, new face. Sort of younger-looking with a lot of chin and a tendency to ramble..."

He disembarked the tram without any of people making any move to stop him, and started towards the mountain.

"But you haven't started anything from what I've heard, and I've just gotten here. Blank slate, the two of us. We could try something different for a change, work together to get everyone out of here and take this somewhere else. You said before it was too late for that, but it's not too late now."

A part of him knew what the answer would be, but he'd still try. He'd always try.

'Blank slate'? Is that what you think's going to happen? I help you save your pathetic pet species and then what? Just file into the TARDIS dutifully as your prisoner?

[He can't help but laugh.]

Nothing's changed, Doctor. I still hear them. And that means it's already too late. It's always been too late.

"All because you hear them doesn't mean you have to listen," the Doctor argued, striding down the largely empty streets, the tablet held up in front of him as though he could somehow make eye contact with the Master despite the lack of an image.

"It's never too late to change for the better, to make a new start! The only one who's making you do this is you."

He doubted it could change the Master's mind, but he couldn't tell him that he'd heard the drumming beat in the other Time Lord's head, seen what it would eventually bring about. Not when that knowledge could affect the Master's future, and his own past.

The Doctor slowed, lowering the tablet as he finally reached his destination. It was one thing to see the mountain marked on the map and another entirely to stand there, the red grass brushing against his legs. "It is here..."

[The Master leans back and closes his eyes. The Doctor's found his way to the mountain. It's started. He begins tapping absently-- not because he's nervous; he refuses to let the Doctor shake him.]

They won't stop.

[And that's all he says, on that score. It's all he has to say, really.]

Of course it's here, you idiot. Did you think I was imagining it? It's every bit as real as they are.

"I didn't say they would," the Doctor answered. He knew better now than to think the sound would stop, unless he found a way to block it out himself. And he honestly wasn't sure if that was even possible. Rassilon would have done his best to try and prevent anything like that.

He moved slower now, the feel of grass against his legs reminding him of days long, long ago. Several lifetimes past and unable to be revisited any time soon. He reached down to pick a long strand of it, twirling it between his fingers as he walked.

"Well I found the mountain," he mused to himself. "Now to find its Master..."

[No, of course he doesn't understand. The drums won't stop, so the Master won't stop. Simple as that.]

Not really cut out for a life of meaningless martyrdom, though, am I? That's more your thing.

[He opens his eyes, just in time to see the Doctor fondling some of the red grass, and immediately wishes he hadn't bothered to open them for the flood of memories that evokes. It's only the Doctor's voicing his name again that brings him back to present, grounds him in a weird way.]

And if you do? Then what? [He chuckles.]

Oh, Doctor. You haven't thought it through at all, have you? You just came running.

[ooc: Some sorta action log once he's close enough y/y?]

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something," the Doctor answered loftily. "I always have before."

It was said with rather more confidence than he really felt, but nothing good would come of letting the Master know that much. And it was true, for the most part. In his current incarnation especially, the Doctor found it far easier to see what possibilities presented themselves as he went, rather than fixing entirely on a solid plan. Not that he didn't have some ideas already but...

Well, hopefully something would turn up. For the moment he continued walking and studying the ground around him.

"You were always the one for the big, complicated plans anyway," he said, twirling the grass absently. "Everything worked out, planned down to small details..."

He blinked at the grass, remembering it was there, then stuck it in his mouth and chewed it once or twice to release the familiar, bitter taste before spitting it back out. The taste, the chemical composition of the grass was as it should be, so it wasn't just a place made to look like Mount Perdition. It was Mount Perdition.

[ooc: YES. He'll get closer to the House first? Then can the Master come out and play?]

Edited 2010-08-23 00:13 (UTC)

[The Master makes a face even though he knows the other Time Lord can't see him. It's one of the Doctor's more annoying traits, never having a proper plan and yet always managing, by some stroke of dumb luck, to ruin every last detail of the Master's own meticulous designs.

And then he clucks his disapproval, quietly.]

Oh, what now? You've decided to eat your way up the mountain? I suppose it isn't enough for you that you're trespassing.

[Never mind that the Master tried the same thing himself, when he first arrived. It's his right. His mountain.]

[ooc: Hee! How do you feel about having the Doctor accosted by two brainless, wooden security guards?]

"Didn't see anything saying I couldn't walk around on the mountain," the Doctor answered blithely. "Should have put up a sign if you didn't want visitors."

He kept moving, putting a bit more bounce and speed into his step as he did so. If the Master was claiming this to be trespassing, that the mountain was his by right, then there was one place the Doctor was almost certain would be here as well. Unless the Master was camping out on the side of a bare mountain, that was.

"Ground feels the same, grass is right," he continued as he walked. "Pity about the sky and air. Still, enough like Gallifrey to bring back memories, isn't it?"

It was those memories that guided his footsteps now; up towards the northern face of the mountain and the building he was hoping was still nestled there.

[ooc: That it's his own damn fault for being all 'let's dash in without a plan' on me? In other words, go for it!]

Edited 2010-08-23 02:29 (UTC)

Of course! You're absolutely right. I should have just put up signs everywhere I didn't want you to go. Now why didn't I think of that?

[That would be the day, really, that the Doctor paid the slightest attention to a sign telling him 'Stay Out'. Sometimes the Master has doubts he can actually read.

And then he scoffs at the Doctor's attempt at some sort of nostalgic small talk. The Master would rather not entertain quite a few of those memories, thank you.]

None worth keeping.

[He taps against the arm of his chair, feeling restless. Rassilon, how long is the Doctor going to take?]

"At least I'd know I was going to find something interesting if you did that," he answered, looking up from the tablet as he approached the House of Oakdown. Right where it should have been.

A smile slowly spread across his face despite who he was here to see, and the Doctor stopped a short distance from the building, taking a moment just to look at it again.

"Brings back memories," he commented. Tugging his jacket straighter he called out to the house. "Hello! The Doctor is here to see you now!"

Edited 2010-08-23 04:30 (UTC)

The House stands silent, not looking particularly inviting. Over the tablet, the Master is quietly laughing.

"You don't honestly expect it to just let you in, do you? Without so much as a polite knock?"

"Oh come on," the Doctor answered, unperturbed by the Master's laughter. "You don't really think I'm going to just waltz right into a living house that you're in control of, do you? Come on out here and let's try talking."

He didn't expect it to work, but it would give him a little time to think and see what the Master would try next.

[ooc:...I know what tense I'm writing in, really I do.]

Edited 2010-08-23 05:49 (UTC)

"Stay out there, if you'd like," the Master drawls over the tablet feed. Why should he budge? He isn't the one, after all, who's running out on the slopes mooning about the past.

"But it seems awfully silly to have walked all that way to simply stand outside a house calling in."

There's a pause before he adds, "Sort of romantic, though, isn't it?"

He'd expected that, but it had been worth a try. Maybe one day they would be able to have a conversation without all of this between them. Just pop down to the pub and have a drink and a chat...

Actually, if that happened the Doctor would possibly be even more concerned about what the Master was planning than he was already. At least this was consistent.

"What? Romantic?" he repeated, confused and momentarily distracted by his own derailed train of thought as he made his way to the impressive-looking door. He pressed his hand against it briefly before knocking - tap tap tap tap - and waited.

"Oh, aren't you clever." Naturally, the Master doesn't miss the significance of the Doctor choosing four beats for his knock. It echoes strangely in his mind, amplified through his newly forming bond with the House, and for the teensiest of moments he feels disoriented.

Still, the Doctor's done as suggested, so the Master supposes the least he can do is let him inside. He commands the House to open the door, letting it swing inwards to reveal a grand entranceway, lavishly decorated if somewhat dim. The Master's not right there waiting, naturally, giving the impression he's either further in the house or he wasn't lying after all.

If you decide to enter the House, turn to page 6.

If you think the Master must be somewhere else and you'd rather leave, turn to-- oh, who are we kidding.

If you think this is all a trap you're probably right, Doctor.

The lavish decorations weren't surprising in the least and the Doctor gave them a bored, dismissive look as he entered the House. The Master wouldn't be in the entranceway, he imagined. No, the Master would be somewhere important and impressive and where he could force the Doctor to have to trek through several other rooms in order to show the House off first.

"I don't suppose we could hurry this up at all?" he asked the House at large, tucking his hands into his pockets and continuing further inside with little regard for any dirt he might be tracking in with him. "You know how it is; places to go, people to see... Much as I like to see what you've done with the place, I really only came to talk."

And if doing that meant wandering into the Master's trap? Well, it was really a common theme for him. Of course it would help a lot if he knew what the Master's trap was, though he imagined he'd find out one way or another. He just hoped that the 'another' part was not when there was no chance for him to do anything about it.

Feeling like he had little choice in the matter, the Doctor ~~turned to page six~~ continued further inwards, aiming for a likely looking door.

"Oh all right." The Master's voice sounds put upon, exaggeratedly so, but there's a hint of eagerness and... glee behind it. "If you insist."

With a loud thwump the door swings shut behind the Doctor and instantly, the two Drudges that were stationed behind it detach themselves from the shadows, reaching out for the Doctor.

"And by the way, Doctor, I'd recommend you don't struggle," the voice advises.

The Doctor wheeled around sharply as the door swung shut and stared at the Drudges.

"Oh," he said quietly. Then he spun on the spot again, breaking into a run for the door that had been his original target. Yes, he wanted to speak with the Master, but several long lives of being chased by a wide variety of things with grudges against him didn't make him much inclined to stand around when two of them were advancing on him right now, not to mention he wasn't even sure if their goal was to take him to where the Master was or elsewhere.

The problem was that running away would mean going deeper into the House and going deeper into the House meant that he was well within the Master's territory. If the other Time Lord didn't want to be found, then it would be very difficult to find him.

But he'd worry about that part once he was out of immediate danger. He hit the door hard, one hand struggling with the handle while the other dived into his coat pocket for his sonic screwdriver, bringing it to bear on the lock.

A sharp hiss comes from the tablet; the House doesn't appreciate being tampered with, and the Master's inadvertently sharing in a little of its discomfort. He should have known the Doctor wouldn't make this easy.

"What did I just tell you?" the voice growls. The handle twists under the Doctor's hand, not to open the door, but to try and wrap around his wrist and hold him there.

Trapped in a living house with the Master pulling the strings and a couple of decidedly solid-looking drudges advancing on him wasn't exactly what the Doctor would call the most ideal situation. Especially as the handle twisted and caught his wrist, making it even more difficult to try and wrestle the door open.

But the Master was going to have to try a bit harder than that to stop the Doctor fighting altogether. He flicked the settings on the sonic, giving the door another blast while twisting as much as he could to eye the approaching drudges.

"Can't we just talk about this?" he tried, awkwardly pointing the sonic over his shoulder to try slowing the drudges down a bit before shoving at the door again. "This is really not necessary!"

The Master wants to scream at the Doctor to stop-- stop struggling, stop attacking the House. Instead he takes on a congenial tone. It'll hurt, but the Doctor will be his. He just has to be patient. The Drudges halt in their tracks, sending waves of distress feeding back into the House, but after a handful of seconds they continue to advance. The door gives a small amount, even as the handle tightens further around the Doctor's wrist, probably bordering on painful by now.

"It isn't? And what were you expecting, Doctor? Tea and biscuits and a nice long afternoon chat, after which I would just-- what? Let you go?"

His wrist was hurting, waves of pain that meant if it got any worse he might end up having to see Martha later about possible damage (which if it was all he got out of this would be a blessing) but he's taken worse. Flying a makeshift ship after being shot by a Dalek came to mind. And anyway, the Doctor was more interested in the fact that the Drudges had stopped for a moment. He'd really rather not damage the House if he could avoid it, but that's not very likely with the Master around, so he flicked the settings on the sonic, amplifying the signal that he'd been using before and tried another blast at the Drudges.

"Well, you know," he said, pain creeping into the edges of his voice but his tone still light and upbeat despite the situation. "There's always the chance of trying something new."

"You'd like something new, would you?" The Master's voice, on the other hand, now sounds more than a little strained. "You could try-- oh, I don't know-- listening to me for once!"

The amplification, naturally, hurts more, and the Drudges are paralyzed for a bit longer, but there's another side to the Doctor's meddling-- the House itself has decided enough is enough, and after the Drudges regain their mobility they are moving with greater speed. One's almost close enough to touch him...

"You can't stop them, you know," the voice observes. "You can only piss them off more."

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[Visual/locked] ---> [Location: Mount Perdition]

[Voice/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] Wherein the Master becomes a DM apparently ;)

[Visual/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] Do I have to roll D20?

[Voice/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] Pssh, like that'll make a difference.

[Visual/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] Not my fault the Master's a cruel DM :(

[Voice/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] THE DOOR KNOCKER BITES OFF YOUR HAND- nah just kidding

[Visual/locked + Location: Mount Perdition] So long as it doesn't turn into a ghost, we're good

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