| Date: 16 January 2008
Characters: , Location: outside a shop Link to IJ: thread #37772 |
 He slipped, skidded, and fell off the low roof with a dull thud. He landed flat on his back, looking straight up into the strange sky. When the light was blotted out by a shadow, he managed a rather breathless, "I meant to do that."He was lying through his teeth, but there was no way in the world he was going to admit that he'd been so surprised by a large bird that he startled right off the edge of the shop's roof. No way in hell. Not until he could breathe, anyway. |
 "Of course you did." The Master raised an eyebrow at the man sprawled at her feet, her gaze sweeping over him a moment. "Though I rather enjoy seeing you at my feet." Well, anyone, really, and the Doctor more so than anyone else, but this would do. |
| He lifted his eyebrow back. "Oh, do you really?" He inclined his head a little. "Well, your legs aren't bad, anyway." |
| The Master smirked faintly, leaning against the wall. "It's not often one gets handsome men throwing themselves off a roof to land at one's feet." She shrugged at his comment on her legs, the smirk still there. "I work out." |
| He kept eyeing her when she leaned back against the wall. "It shows." He pushed himself up, finally and cautiously. "I bet your ass is fantastic." |
| The Master didn't offer him a hand up, just watching as he got off the ground. "If you're the type to look." She kept her attention focused on him, the smirk fading just slightly into a more calculating and almost predetory expression. "Are you the type to look, Mr...?" She trailed off, leaving him to fill in a name. |
| "Harding," he said, deliberately using the name someone had given him last. "And I always look." He took the rest of that time to finish climbing to his feet, checking his balance and soundness along the way. |
| "Mr. Harding." The Master snorted, raising an eyebrow. "Such a... potentially evocitive name." |
| "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking when I picked it," he answered, unconcerned with even attempting to deny it wasn't the one he was born with. |
| "Perhaps about your next shag, like almost every human I've met before?" She shrugged, not caring that it wasn't his given name. She wouldn't be able to talk, anyway. She didn't use the name she was given when she was loomed, or added to over the centuries. Just the one she had chosen. |
| He didn't expect her to care, which was why he hadn't bothered hiding it. "Eh, possibly. I'd like to think I'd outgrown it by then, but it's always a little hard to tell." |
| "Is it?" The Master gave him an arch look. "Not familiar with the contents of your own mind?" |
| "Only for any given moment, and at the moment mine is about as far from my next fuck as it's possible to get." He continued to smile, pleasantly. |
| "I'd offer to help, but that's not particularly my style." She held his gaze, keeping a faint smirk on her face. "You're not quite as handsome on your feet as you were on first glance." |
| "Really? You're still a handsome looking-" He paused. "Wait, are you supposed to be a woman? Oops. Your ass is still great though." |
| "Good to see that gender doesn't change that." She snorted softly. "You're amusing, Mr. Harding." |
| "Gender doesn't change much. Are you going to give me a name, or should I just call you Lady, and choke on irony?" |
| The Master wrinkled her nose a moment. "'Lady' reminds me of the stuffy idiots back home. I'd rather not be called that." She paused, tilting her head. She didn't think, after the conversation with the other Master, that giving her name - either of them - was a good idea. Though she did have another name she could use, even if it was technically the Doctor's. "Call me Theta," she said quietly, the faint smirk back on her face. |
| It didn't actually mean anything to Jack, but he was more than willing to go with it. "Theta it is. Fan of greek?" ...Well, he was Jack. |
| "Something like that." The Master shrugged. "It's really just an abbreviation of a much longer name that I'd rather not try to teach you how to pronounce." Well, and she wasn't sure if the Doctor hadn't picked up more names while she was otherwise too occupied to pay attention. |
| "That," he said helpfully, "was a pun. Not a remark about how you spell your name or the alphabet you're using to do it." |
| "Sorry." She didn't bother to even try to make that sound sincere. "My friends would tell you I don't always have a sense of humour." Well, the Doctor would, but she never had understood why the Master found amusement in what she did. |
| "They're probably too busy staring at your ass to notice if you've got one or not," he said, blandly. |
| "If they're not too busy begging for forgiveness for having done so before to do so again," the Master shot back, matching his tone. |
| "Mm. Begging. Nothing like having someone on their knees to make you feel twice as tall." |
| "Though I appreciate the image that conjures, I didn't actually say they were on their knees." |
| "No, but you were having a good time with having me at your feet, weren't you?" |
| The Master tilted her head slightly. "It was rather nice. Appealing, and a bit nostalgic. Perhaps something to keep in mind for the future, and someone else I plan to get to know better." |
| "See? I knew I was right." He was having more fun with this conversation than he had in weeks. That probably meant he needed to work on getting home. |
| The Master shrugged. "If not for the reason originally proposed." The Doctor was probably right in stating the Master had no sense of humour, but the Master wasn't about to concede that, even in the privacy of her own mind. |
| "What?" he asked, casual to the point of drawling. "That you like being above people? Is there another reason?" |
| "Was that what you intended to say?" The small smirk made a reappearence on her face. "I'm always above people, Mr. Harding. I'm not meant to be one of the little beings scurrying around living out a pointless existance." Of course, the fact that she rather had a thrill at certain people being on their knees had nothing to do with her appreciation of seeing others in that position. Really. |
| "I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I said. " Except it wasn't really. "And I'm sure you're not. Your ass gives it away." |
| "Do you have an obsession with everyone's arse, or just mine?" |
| "Everyone's. You can tell a lot about someone by their ass." |
| "Can you?" The Master raised an eyebrow, inviting him to elaborate on his statement. |
| "Yep," he agreed. "Most important people have great asses." |
| The Master tilted her head back just slightly, an amused expression on her face. "And those that don't?" |
| "Are the ones who are really secure in their position." |
| "Fascinating theory." |
| "I have lots of fascinating theories. Keeps things interesting." |
| "I would imagine." The Master pushed away from the wall, straightening her suit jacket. "Any others that would be amusing?" |
| "Yeah. Stay out of the way of low flying birds." He twitched his coat back into place. "I'm sure I'll see you around soon, Theta." |
| "I'm sure you will, Mr. Harding." The Master sauntered away, a faint smile playing over her face. This place really did have as much potential as the other version of her had said it did. |
