Open RP - The Master returns

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

((with the approval of the other Who muns))

He was...

He was in a slick heap on the floor, the smell of butter the first thing he consciously aware of. The smell. It was impossibly silent, an undreamed-of silence.

The Master, looking distinctly unmasterful in ragged, butter-drenched clothes, dragged himself from the room, pulling himself upright on the doorframe.

Silent, but for his breathing, and the butter dripping from him to the floor. His mouth felt greasy, and he spat to clear it. If only he could do the same to his mind! It was too quiet to think. He staggered into the hall.

He was...

He was alive. And that was all the starting point he'd ever needed.

The Master's laughter echoed down the stony corridor, echoing, folding in on itself. He was alive.

Comments

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

There was a brief moment of debate where The Doctor had to decide whether or not to let go, but his emotions won out and he continued the hugging. Of course he knew he looked like an idiot, but really, it was hard to curb his excitement, especially here and now.

"New body," he said by way of excuse. "Still getting used to telling which limb to do what."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Really," the Master said, in what he'd meant to be a sneer. But in this position, the Doctor's beating hearts seemed to resonate to his own and amplify his pulse, and it didn't matter if he couldn't hear the drums if he could feel them. The rest of his cutting reply died on his lips and his internal debate on whether to push the Doctor away or try to turn the contact to his advantage was forgotten as he raised his hands to press to his ears.

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"Really, yes," he laughed, dropping to his feet, hands going to pat the Master's buttery face. "Look at you! All alive and here and... buttery!" His feet did a little jig as part of him was stuck on the Master and part of him wanted to run through the halls. "We'll have to get you a bath straight away. The baths in this place are fascinating. There's a mermaid in one of them!"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

...the Doctor wanted to bathe him, now? Regeneration must have scrambled his brain thoroughly.

"Of course I'm alive," he grumbled, trying to keep his fragile composure. "When have I ever been able to let go of that?"

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"Of course, of course," the Doctor said, patting the Master's cheeks again. "But really, you do smell like a dirty movie theater, it's got to be taken care of. Don't remember anything from the last time you were here? Long before I happened in."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

For some reason, that was a disturbing thought. "If I've been here before, it hasn't happened yet." Ah, the flexibility time travel gave, and the flexibility it demanded! And all this touchy-feely business was unnerving as well, but more than likely it was intended to be. Well, the Master could play that game too, and well. "Or perhaps it would come back to me, if I were... taken care of."

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"Likely, yes," the Doctor said, nodding solemnly. He patted the Master's shoulder, trying his hardest to be comforting. It was suddenly apparent in his mind that he may have glomped a pre-mildly-heroic Master. And while that was a bit disturbing, the sentiment was the same. He had a chance here. "What's the last thing you remember?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Snickering internally, the Master tilted his head enough for his cheek to brush the Doctor's knuckles. "Do you mean the part where you begged me to run away with you, or the way you pointed that delightfully primitive weapon at me? The look on your face... seriously, I wish I had a picture. I'd carry it around in my wallet and look at it when I needed cheering up."

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

All right, so he remembered that bit. At the very least, it was a start. "I was working with what I had at the moment," he muttered, rubbing his knuckles a little harder against the Master's stubbly chin. "Besides, I'm better at being cute than pouting with this face."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Oh, he was being playful now. That was good. It was no fun taunting someone who looked like they wanted to hole up with a Morrissey CD and a razorblade.

"I'd have said the hair was the real improvement," he said, making mercilessly unwavering eye contact. He dipped his head just a little lower, his bottom lip barely brushing the Doctor's fingers briefly enough to be almost subliminal.

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"I'm rather partial to the nose," the Doctor said, trying not to let wariness creep into his voice. He really shouldn't be quite so trustworthy around the Master, but he couldn't get out of his head those last few minutes before delivering the most epic of all Screw Yous to the elders of Gallifrey.

And that coupled with the subtle (but so extremely noticeable) kiss to his fingers made a traitorous little jump in his pulse. But... he could still see that look in the Master's eyes, where the door that shouldn't have ever been opened was laying off its hinges, covered in dust.

He coughed. "Better than just a bit of a hack dye-job, leastwise."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

He made a show of examining the nose in question. "It looks a bit melted, actually. Like soft wax." And while the Doctor seemed disdainful of the epic pouts his former self had been so free with, the Master knew his pouts were far more effective, and assumed one, his voice taking on a wounded note. "And it was hardly a dye job. It was a side effect."

As had been the insatiable hunger and the ability to shoot lightning bolts and jump like a rocket-propelled kangaroo. Those were gone, he could feel it. His metabolism wasn't burning at a hummingbird's pace anymore.

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"A likely excuse," he said, drawling out the words and jucking his fist against the Master's chin before finally bringing it away and placing it in his pocket where it wouldn't cause any trouble.

"So! About that bath, then." He lifted an eyebrow "unless you want to run off and eat your weight in curry first."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"In curry?" He stared at the Doctor in amusement. "Even a Time Lord's digestive system can't neutralized capsacin. I don't fancy afterburn of that magnitude."

The idea of eating a curry that wasn't spicy wasn't worth considering.

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"That's half the fun," he grinned, nudging the Master's shoulder with his own. "Unless you fancy custard and fish fingers?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Is that a clumsy innuendo, or has your tongue been damaged?" Neither item sounded appealing, but he'd been rather picky about earth food when he wasn't unnaturally ravenous from a sabotaged resurrection.

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stuck out his tongue childishly, to prove that it was working just fine, thank you very much. "You know how it is when you first... wake up. Some things just taste better than others." On hindsight throwing the toast out the door might have been a bit of overkill, but the needs of the stomach should not be compromised.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Better childish than mopey, in the Master's opinion. He'd seen plenty of the Doctor's sullen sulking.

"Oh, I'm sure," he said lightly. "I've no doubt you go around tasting all sorts of things, with as little excuse as you can get away with."

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"I always say, if you don't have a sense of taste, you're better off dead." He paused. "Actually, I never say that. usually say I'm the coming storm and if you mess with me I'll knock you into next universe. But it doesn't matter." He flapped those words away, plastering on a fakey smile. "I'll show you where the bath is, anyway."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Good to know that his backbone hadn't entirely vanished. It would be depressing if the Doctor were to become as weak and sentimental as the Master actually told himself he was.

Not that he thought that consciously. It was more of a vague sensation of relief and approval.

"I miss the baths on Rexlar 7," he said. "Pity their sun went supernova."

[eleventyrags.livejournal.com]

"Alas, nothing gold can stay," the Doctor sighed, refusing to be baited. It had been a pity. But if there was anything he'd learned over the last nine hundred odd years, it was that he couldn't solve every problem. Sometimes the universe just had to take its own course.