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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"Probably a few regenerations richer," the Master's voice remarks acidly. Though he can't really fault the Doctor too much for attempting to push beyond the barriers of 'impossible'-- he's done it often enough himself-- he chooses to do so anyway.

"If you would just--" Whatever the Master had been about to say dissolves into an unmistakable yelp now coming from the tablet, and with one last writhing motion the handle releases the Doctor's wrist just as one of the Drudges makes another grab for his collar.

The Doctor twisted away the moment the handle released his throbbing wrist, signalled just as much by the Master's yelp of pain as he was the door itself. The Drudge managed to catch a hold of his collar, but he'd had practice with that and it only took him a moment to wriggle free of his jacket and continue on. He was going to miss it, but it was easier to get another late--

His headlong dash was pulled up abruptly with a choked noise as the second Drudge caught his shirt and braces. That was going to be a bit harder to get out of, so the Doctor twisted again to try and bring up his sonic screwdriver and aim at the Drudge, but at this point he was more than aware he was fighting out of stubbornness more than anything else.

Edited 2010-08-23 21:39 (UTC)

"Gotcha." The smug satisfaction in the Master's voice would be extremely hard to miss. And then: "His hands. What's hurting you is in his hands."

The first Drudge obediently lurches over from the side, reaching for the Doctor's wrist.

The Doctor tried to resist, but really. When a large, exceedingly strong, wooden creation wanted to take something from you, it was rather difficult to stop it. Especially when another of them was concentrating on keeping a hold of him. He really wouldn't have put it past the Master to have them break his hand to make him let go of the sonic either, so in the interests of keeping his bits all in one piece for when he needed them later for his daring escape, he flicked the screwdriver off.

"It's off, see? No harm done, I'll just put it back in my pocket, shall I? Then we can go back to, you know, other things." He smiled hopefully and slowly moved to slide the tool into one of his pockets.

The Master's still vaguely aware of the residual pain the screwdriver has caused, and the Doctor remaining in possession of the screwdriver makes him uneasy. But he decides not to press the issue for now, primarily because if the Drudge were to take it from him, given the House's current state it might very well crush it. And the Master needs it. He'll be able to take it later, he reassures the House, once the Doctor is brought to him.

"Good boy," his voice croons. He wonders if the Doctor remembers the last time he said that to him, at least from the Master's point of view. Making him crawl around on all fours and eat out of a dog's dish. Memories, indeed!

"You didn't really think I'd let you traipse about my estates without an escort, did you?"

Once the screwdriver is safely in the Doctor's pocket, the Drudges, waiting patiently in the meantime, move to take either arm.

No, the Doctor didn't need much prompting to remember the times he'd been the Master's captive, both the time he knew the Master was refering to and a briefer time from more recent memory. Fortunately he was fairly certain things would work out differently now. For starters, the Master wasn't in control of the planet, which counted for a lot. From the sound of it, he didn't have much pull in Taxon either, and the Doctor knew there were several people who had the ability to make things very difficult for the Master if he did have to ask for outside help.

But he'd really prefer it not to come to that, if he could avoid it. He had only come to talk, despite the Master's 'welcome party' making things more difficult there.

"You never know until you try," he remarked flippantly. Sonic screwdriver safely stowed away again, he allowed the Drudges to take his arms, turning to address the one still gripping his abandoned jacket as he did so. "Mind you don't ruin it!"

The Drudge spared him a dull, uncomprehending glance, but at the very least it didn't rip the jacket to shreds, instead carrying it gingerly by the collar with its free appendage as the trio began to move. The Master had gone completely silent, awaiting his arrival, and the two creatures guided him at a pace that was almost too slow for comfort. If the Doctor had suspected before that he was meant to take his time marveling at the ornately furnished rooms they passed through, the vaulted ceilings, the delicately carved wall sconces, the inlaid jewels here and there made to look like white point star diamonds-- there was likely little question now. The Master wanted to remind him of their home-that-was. Of what he'd destroyed.

The path was complicated; not nearly as labyrinthine as a TARDIS, of course, but it was still some time before the Drudges finally entered a large hall that might have once been used for entertaining. The Master was sprawled carelessly upon a very fine, heavy chair, resting his chin in his hand and looking for all the world like a king minus the crown. His other hand restlessly tapped what almost looked like a replica of the laser screwdriver against one of the chair arms. He smiled as the Doctor was marched in.

"There you are."

"Sorry I'm late," the Doctor said, managing to be surprisingly relaxed despite being held by the Drudges and facing the Master. "We took the scenic route."

He made an attempt to straighten himself up a bit, though the Drudges weren't making that any easier. Difficult to look presentable while being held in place by two wooden creatures. "Not sure I like what you've done with the place," he continued. "All a bit... over the top, if you ask me. Trying a bit too hard."

He knew perfectly well what some of the rooms at least had been meant to remind him of, as if the Master thought he could just forget Gallifrey and everything that had been lost, but the Doctor had always found all of the pomp and circumstance a bit much. He preferred to remember the smaller things, the red grass and open fields, running forever with no concern for tomorrow.

How time changed them.

"So, we get meet face to face at last."

The Master gives a short laugh at that. "More's the pity." He straightens slightly to get a better look at this new body the Doctor's sporting, but otherwise moves very little at the moment, still focusing some of his attention and much of his energy on maintaining his link to the House. It's still fairly weak, after all. These things take time to build.

"Is it my imagination, or does your appearance become even more ridiculous each time you regenerate?"

It might very well be a jab in return for the Doctor's dismissal of his interior decorating skills, but for Rassilon's sake, this one barely even has eyebrows.

"Ridiculous?" The Doctor's voice might have sounded a tiny bit offended at that. Had the Master forgotten some of his previous regeneration's clothing choices? At least now he didn't look like he'd mugged a clown on the way to their meeting or something.

"There's nothing ridiculous about it. At least I don't have a rubbish beard. Getting rid of that was a step up for you." If he'd had his hands free, he might have been tempted to adjust the bow tie, just in case. People were always picking on the bow tie.

"Look, did you drag me up here to poke fun or are we going to talk?"

"You're the one who wanted to talk, Doctor."

Oh, he hadn't forgotten that kaleidoscopic monstrosity of a wardrobe. Still, there was trying to look as absolutely garish as possible and there was attempting to look put together... and still failing utterly.

The Master pointed out several details of the Doctor's clothing in quick succession, casually gesturing with the screwdriver. "Tweed. Braces. Bow tie." He pointed at the jacket, still in the hand of the Drudge. "Elbow patches. Did you mug someone from 1920's Earth or merely borrow your clothing from an elderly invalid?"

"There's nothing wrong with the bow tie! It's smart. It's a smart, cool look. Better than black capes and things."

The Master didn't need to know his clothing had come from an impromptu raid on a hospital locker room, after all. In fact, the Doctor was happy to have found something he liked in the mix of clothing kept there. Even more so when he'd been able to obtain a few different colour combinations to keep things fresh.

"Look, I didn't come here to get fashion tips," he continued, trying to steer the conversation away from his much-abused bow tie and braces. "I wanted to talk about you being here. How we've both apparently been here before."

Edited 2010-08-24 10:33 (UTC)

He merely snorted at the Doctor's defense. Hopefully he at least remembered that the Master hadn't been the only one to sport a cape at one point or another.

When the Doctor finally got to the truth of why he'd come, the Master favored him with a bored expression, though he'd sat up even straighter without realizing it. "Oh? Going to give me another warning? Don't do anything naughty or else you'll... forgive me again?"

"If you get up to anything I'll stop you," the Doctor said, a small, dangerous smile touching his lips and never reaching his eyes. The previous man who'd been defensive about silly things like bow ties was almost gone entirely now, leaving a side of the Doctor that came out rarely, but was hard, cold, and distant.

"You know how this goes. But I'm asking nicely and giving you warning. There are other, better ways we can do this. Try making a change for once, and we can end things on a different, better note." He straightened up, pushing at the Drudges' hands as though they were only a minor inconvenience.

"Working together isn't impossible for us, and after we've gotten to the bottom of all of this, then we can take this fight elsewhere. That's all I'm asking."

The Master tilted his head, watching the Doctor as he spoke. It might have looked as though he was seriously considering the offer. But inside he felt a cold spike of anger. Of course! Once the Doctor decided on something, naturally everyone else needed to follow suit. After all that had happened, he couldn't honestly expect things to end on a 'better note'. The Master wasn't one of his pet humans.

He stood, carefully, a grin spreading across his face, and made his way to the Doctor, masking his slow, weary strides as merely taking his time. A casual stroll. He stopped inches away before he bothered to speak, his own voice soft and dangerous. "Where's the fun in that?"

Even if the visual feed hadn't been active, the House would have witnessed which pocket the Doctor had hidden the screwdriver in. Without another word, the Master's hand darted for it.

The answer hadn't changed, even after all the things they'd been through. Maybe the Doctor should have expected that, made the offer from a safer place, but he'd hoped that the Master's actions when they'd met for the last time (though he doubted anything was final where the other Time Lord was concerned) meant that there was a chance, a hope, for change.

Maybe there was, but it obviously wasn't here now, though he didn't stop trying. Even a flicker would be worth the effort.

"It doesn't always have to be this way," he began, keeping still as the Master's hand dived into his pocket, seeking out the sonic screwdriver. Fighting with the Drudges right there still wouldn't do much good. "Aren't you tired of it? Always fighting, never stopping?"

Again, the Master didn't answer right away, concentrating on the task at hand. Of course he was tired. He was tired of pushing so hard and the Doctor never giving in, not once. He was tired of knowing, with every beat of his hearts, that he was meant to control the universe, but constantly watching it slip through his fingers until he was left with only his fury and the pulse of the drums. He was tired of only hearing one Time Lord in his head instead of the billions it should have been. But he'd not admit any of that to the Doctor.

As he pulled the screwdriver triumphantly from the pocket, the Drudges tightened their grip on the Doctor's arms, instinctively responding to the reappearance of that thing. The Master raised his eyebrows, looking amused. "Not too pleased with you, is it?"

"Wasn't really going out of my way to impress it," the Doctor answered, doing his best to ignore the Drudges' grip. It wasn't tight enough to be too painful yet, but that could change.

"Not that it would have been a problem if you'd just listened to me in the first place. We could have had this exact same conversation without the need for guards."

He watched the Master carefully, tilting his head back a degree to study the other Time Lord down the length of his nose.

"So now what?" he asked suddenly. "I'm here, you've got the sonic, so what are you going to do now?"

"Listened to you?" The Master gave him a disgusted look, ignoring the question for the time being. "Whether you believe it or not, Doctor, I am currently the only thing standing between you and this House ripping you apart."

He held the screwdriver up, studying it for a moment. "It was a frightened, feral thing when I found it. No way to tell how long it'd been left alone without a Housekeeper to tend it, but do you know?" He grinned. "I think it had gone quite mad from all the waiting."

"Then you came along," the Doctor finished. "Someone to care for it and it to care for in return."

Which made things rather more complicated. The Master allied with a crazed House that would do its best to fulfil his every request. It was difficult to think of ways that wouldn't end badly.

"So it's been here this entire time?" he asked instead, thinking back to what he knew of the city already. Possibly more than the Master, if only due to more people who already knew the Doctor and were willing to share information with him.

"The mountain and your father's estates have been in this city the entire time?" If that were true, then coupled with what he'd learned from Aximili, it raised a slew of new questions.

The Master beamed, his eyes nearly closed. He could have been a cat that had gotten into the cream. "It trusts me," he agreed, stowing the sonic in an inside pocket of his jacket. "Not really a conventional relationship, of course, but we make do."

He glanced back at the Doctor, wondering what he was on about and what he meant by 'the entire time'. Certainly it had been on Gallifrey during the Time War, though it had taken some damage that had been mysteriously missing when the Master had happened upon it in Taxon.

"And 'no way to tell' means exactly what it sounds like, you do realize." He had asked, of course, but the House hadn't been able to tell him. It hadn't even understood the question.

Edited 2010-08-25 07:23 (UTC)

The Doctor watched silently as the sonic screwdriver disappeared into the Master's pocket. He hadn't really expected the other Time Lord to just return it to him, and would have been suspicious if that had happened, but all the same there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at seeing it vanish from sight. It wasn't going to be easy to reclaim it now, though at least the Master hadn't broken it or tried taking it to pieces for parts. At least there was the chance that he could reclaim it.

"No, not conventional at all, is it?" he agreed. "You're not really the Housekeeping type." The House of Oakdown must have been in a bad way indeed to form that sort of link with a male Gallifreyan, let alone someone like the Master. Something else that backed up the other's comments about the House's sanity.

"But if you're connected to the House, then you share a psychic link..." the Doctor continued, musing aloud to himself now. The question seemed like something obvious, but he needed to hear it from the Master.

No, a Housekeeper he certainly was not. It wasn't his finest of plans, the building of the link mentally exhausting and unnatural to both of them, requiring so many alterations. But if he hadn't reached out to it, soothed and tamed it, the House would have destroyed him just as it was itching to destroy the Doctor. Perhaps the Master wasn't the natural choice-- but he had been its only choice. And he preferred keeping it that way. His eyes narrowed, instantly suspicious of the Doctor's line of questioning.

"Might I remind you, Doctor, that without me, you won't make it out of here alive?"

"Of course not," he agreed readily, "place like this, with you the only connection keeping it together? I'd not even make it a few steps. 'Specially not with these two here."

He nodded his head to indicate the Drudges either side of him, how they'd imperceptibly tightened their grip on him, just enough for it to start hurting. Though whether that was from the Master's suspicion of his motives or the House's feelings was hard to tell.

"But what do you have to worry about? I'm just standing here, don't even have my sonic anymore. Hardly much of a threat, am I?"

The Master studied him a moment longer, unsure. The Doctor seemed far too chipper for his admission of helplessness, and he was likely formulating an escape route as he spoke. It would fail, however. He was sure of it this time.

There was no way out.

"Not at all," he finally said. "I'm merely concerned on your behalf. Wouldn't want you to perish before we were finished here."

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

[Voice/locked + Location: Mount Perdition]

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[Location: Mount Perdition] And now I confuse you by switching tenses MWAHAHA

[Location: Mount Perdition] SOB wait, now we're both in past tense, so isn't that easier?

[Location: Mount Perdition] Yeah, I just... kinda wanted to have an excuse to laugh ominously >.>

[Location: Mount Perdition] If you play the Master, do you really need an excuse? :|a

[Location: Mount Perdition] Clearly I don't even need an excuse to stick to the same tense :/

[Location: Mount Perdition] The Master needs no consistent tenses!

[Location: Mount Perdition] He's the Master of inconsistency!

[Location: Mount Perdition] Well if he were too predictable, he'd be boring!

[Location: Mount Perdition] I really need a Master/Eleven icon

[Location: Mount Perdition] SAME. If I find/make one I will share?

[Location: Mount Perdition] Deal, and same for me :D

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