| Date: 23 December 2007
Characters: The Master, Susan Foreman Location: hotel hallway Link to IJ: thread #18185 |
 It was dark again outside. The Master stood at the window of an upstairs landing of the hotel and stared out over the town. Nondescript buildings of no distinctive period or style, separated by unnamed streets. He still couldn't make any sense of this place.
And he missed the Valiant. He'd been Lord and Master of Earth for three months now and he'd got used to having absolute power. Here, he was just another person, as lost as everyone else. And all right, Lucy had told him exactly what was going to happen when he got back to the Valiant and they'd worked out what he needed to do when he got there - but he had to get there first. He fidgeted restlessly, wondering where to go to find someone who might help him find out what was going on. Or, you know, someone just to alleviate the boredom. |
 Susan had lingered back a ways as she watched the curious gentleman. There was something about his stance, the air that surrounded him that just provoked Susan's instincts when it came to comforting people. He had a very formal look about him, however, and there were few formal individuals that she knew who liked being talked to by teenage girls.
But still. "All right?" |
| He jerked round. As soon as he saw there was no threat, however, he relaxed and smiled down at the young lady.
"Bored," he said frankly. "You?" |
| "Just exploring," Susan said, rocking back and forth as she moved in next to him, peering out the window with a curious expression on her face. "This is a curious place, isn't it? It's all turned around. Like one of those loops, that bends back on itself." |
| "That's an interesting way of looking at it."
The Master frowned a little, studying her. There was something about her... "It's nice to find someone who's as bothered by this place as I am." |
| "It's interesting, really. And it's so nice to meet all of these different kinds of people, but it really shouldn't be here," Susan said, frowning as she studied the buildings. "It's contrary to everything I've ever learned." |
| His eyebrow went up. "You've learned about this sort of thing?"
And she was. She did. She was as bothered by it as he was. |
| "Of course," Susan piped, a smile spreading across her face. "The intersections of time, realities, and nothingness were some of the most elementary concepts. Technically, we should be sitting directly on top of the Void. But...we're not. Obviously," She said, leaning against the windowsill.
"Nothing can exist within the Void," Susan said softly, a frown spreading across her face. "And we are clearly existing, out of time, out of reality, outside of...consequences." |
| The Master stared and stared. And stared. The drums crescendoed in his head, drowning out coherent thought.
"You're from Gallifrey." |
| So, he knew? Susan beamed, bouncing a bit on the balls of her head as she turned to face this man, curiosity shining in her eyes as she studied his face. Not one that she recognized, but with their race, that never meant much.
"That I am!" Susan said, bouncing a bit more. Someone from her home who wasn't Grandfather? Susan couldn't have been much more excited than she was right now. |
| "But... But... You can't be." Unless - this place was drawing in people from before the destruction of Gallifrey? How? |
| Susan blinked a few times at the man in confusion, a worried look spreading across her face at his reaction. Grandfather had been weird when she'd asked him about Gallifrey. What...Why couldn't she be? What had happened?
"What's wrong?" Susan asked weakly. "Why can't I be?" |
| "Did you come from there? Were you on Gallifrey directly before you got here?"
He couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. If she was, maybe there was a way back there. |
| Susan frowned softly, shaking her head, "I wish I could tell you that I was. But I came here from Earth. Stranded. I hadn't been back home in...too long," Susan said, lowering her gaze and shuffling her feet a bit. |
| The Master bit his lip, hopes dashed. He looked at the girl, anxious and frightened, and said gently, "I know what that's like. I was stranded on Earth too. I... haven't seen Gallifrey in a long time either." |
| Susan offered this gentleman a compassionate look, reaching out and settling a hand reassuringly on his arm before looking back out of the window, "I'd give anything to see it again," She said softly. "It almost seems like a dream anymore. I was barely out of Novice status the last time I was there." |
| After a moment, he placed his other hand on top of hers, comfortingly. "You must have been very young. Why did you leave?" |
| "Grandfather took me with him," Susan said softly, "when he left. Thought practical experience would be better for me than anything that that stuffy old Academy could teach me. He wanted me to get out and see the universe before they drummed all of the wonderment out of me, I believe," She said, glancing down at their hands with a soft smile, turning her attention up to this gentleman.
There was...something about him. Something so achingly familiar and yet not in the same beat. "I'm Susan," She said with a soft smile, shifting her hand slowly to squeeze his. |
| "Harold Saxon. Call me Harry." There was something about her that was bringing out the big old softie in him. "Who's your grandfather? Would I know him?" |
| "You might," Susan said softly, smiling up at him. Harry? That was clearly an alias. Not that she could claim much better. Sure, she had only shortened her first name, but the last, the last was pure invention. "Most people call him The Doctor anymore." |
| His hand tensed on hers uncontrollably. "The Doctor?" Again? Oh, this really was getting ridiculous. But that left virtually no doubt about it. The Doctor really was the link between everyone here.
He swallowed, relaxed his hand deliberately and gave Susan a small smile. "What a small world it is." |
| Susan should have guessed. There were few people on Gallifrey that hadn't known at least of her Grandfather before he left. He had been quite the troublemaker, after all. Him and his friends at the Academy had been little hooligans, she remembered her mother telling her once, determined to cause trouble at any opportunity.
"I'll take that as an affirmative when it comes to knowing him?" Susan asked with a slight giggle. |
| It was strange, but for the first time since he'd arrived in this place, the Master felt like he'd finally met someone he could relax with. He hadn't even been able to relax that much with Lucy here - she wasn't his Lucy and he hadn't been quite sure about her - but Susan just made him feel... not at home, exactly, but as if he was finally with someone who understood.
He smiled. "I think you could safely say I know your Grandfather, yes." And now he thought about it, he did vaguely remember a tiny, dark-haired little girl running around the last time or two he'd visited the Doctor on Gallifrey. She'd grown up nicely. |
| "It seems a lot of people here do," Susan said with a smile still on her face as she glanced out the window again before turning her attention back to Harry, her smile widening a bit. "You're the first other Gallifreyan that I've run across, though. From what I've seen, it seems humans are more easily attracted to this place." |
| Well, of course, there was a very good reason for that. All the other Gallifreyans were dead. He had no idea how she had escaped - or even if she had. She was from a point in Gallifrey's history before it was destroyed, after all. Maybe that, combined with the fact that she hadn't been on Gallifrey, was why she was here.
He didn't have it in him to tell her about Gallifrey, though. He ought to be rejoicing in the horror the news would bring her, but for some reason he wasn't. "You're the first I've seen too," he told her truthfully. "Apart from the Doctor, of course. It's nice to see someone from home." |
| "Same," Susan said with a friendly smile. "I mean, I love Grandfather, I do. But he can be so tiresome sometimes." |
| The Master grinned. "It seems we have a lot in common, my dear." He leaned back against the window, and tilted his head, looking at her. "If you don't mind me asking, who else have you met here? I gather you've met your Grandfather?" |
| "Yes, Grandfather was the first person that I happened across," Susan said with a soft smile. "He'd changed quite a bit since I'd seen him last. Of course, it wasn't like he was too far from regeneration when he left me on Earth. As for who else I've come across," Susan paused a moment to consider the question.
"Well, you, obviously. A Captain Jack Harkness, a young man my age by the name of Brant, another young man named Ianto, and an older gentleman by the name of Yana," Susan said with a slight smile. "Yourself?" |
| He listened as she listed the people she'd met. Jack - check. Brant - never heard of him. Ianto - Jack had an associate called Ianto... Yana.
He froze, excitement and anticipation running through him as the drums surged again. "Yana? Professor Yana? Here?" |
| "That he is," Susan said with a broad grin. Professor Yana was a very nice man. He'd reminded her a bit of her Grandfather when they'd first left. At least, at his best moments. "If you want to find him, you might want to check the library. It seems the most likely place." |
| "Thank you." He said it almost absently. Professor Yana. Still human, or Time Lord? Could be in full possession of his real personality and just hiding it. Even if he wasn't, it was still him.
Oh yes. Two Doctors. Two Masters. This was going to be fun! The only question that remained was: who should he seek out first? Jack, who seemed to have talked to almost everyone and might well have a few answers about this place (not to mention that the Master was missing having him around) - or the Professor? "And Jack?" he asked, as casually as he could. "Any idea where I might find him?" |
| "I can't be too sure about Jack," Susan replied with an apologetic smile. "We were outside when we talked so I don't know where he might frequent the most," She said.
"If you want, though, I could help you look," Susan said. She wanted to be helpful. Hopefully that would make up for not having the information right on hand. |
| The Master smiled fondly. She really was a lovely child. So very open and friendly and... trusting. It was a long time since he'd spent time with someone who wasn't cynical and jaded and suspicious.
"You are a dear child," he said, patting her cheek. "I have greatly enjoyed talking to you. But I think there are people I need to talk to on my own." |
| Susan blushed. It had been a long time since anyone had called her a dear child. A long, long time. Before she had to leave Gallifrey, before she was even sent off to the Academy.
"All right. I'll let you get on with your business, then," Susan said, squeezing his hand once more before letting it go, turning her attention fully to the window. She paused for a moment before turning back to him. "Oh, and if you see Grandfather, tell him that I want to talk to him." |
| "Any particular version of him? I mean, do you want the version you spoke to before, or will either one do?"
He thought back, realising she hadn't described which incarnation of the Doctor she'd spoken to. "Which version was that, anyway? I've met two." |
| Susan just stared at him for a moment, "You mean there's more than one? Here? right now?" She asked. Normally, that wouldn't have worried her. It happened sometimes. But here.
Susan shook her head slowly with a slight frown, "Tall, big ears, leather jacket, northern accent," Susan said, raising a hand to run through her hair. |
| The Master frowned. That didn't sound like any regeneration of the Doctor that he knew, and certainly neither of the two he'd already run into.
"Make that three versions, then," he said, with a rather forced laugh. "I haven't had the pleasure of meeting that one myself yet. I'll look out for him." Yes, he'd definitely look out for him! Maybe 'tall, big ears, leather jacket, northern accent' held some answers. |
| Three? Well, that was worrying. What would happen to the world if they all ended up here? It could be dangerous. And then again...she still wasn't sure what rules this place went by, so maybe it would do nothing at all.
Susan offered Harry a gentle yet sheepish smile, "Thank you. I owe you." |
| "My pleasure," he smiled. "I'd rather like to speak to him myself."
He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "It really has been lovely. I hope we meet again." |