owl to the Master

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

I want to talk to you. If you're interested meet me in the Great Hall.

- the Lone Centurion

It was a short letter for two reasons. One, Rory was not sure about the wisdom of setting up a meeting with the psychopathic alien who'd threatened to do unpleasant things to you with a cocktail stirrer. But he needed to know more than he did, to protect Amy and himself and the rest of the school and possibly even the Doctor because what the bloody hell had he got himself in to? And he had a bargaining chip, sort of.

Which was the other reason the letter was so short. He couldn't remember how to write anything more elaborate in Old Norman dialect. Still, that ought to get the Master's attention.

Comments

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

...he hadn't mentioned the plastic thing before, had he? Not good. Very, very bad. Under the circumstances, all he could manage by way of comeback was "...should I?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Puts you in a different class than most of your species." He shrugged. "Generally your kind is only of occasional strategic importance."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I gathered that." He shook his head. "Still not convinced being interesting is actually any better, but here we are."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Ah, but you made a point of letting me know you were interesting," the Master countered, "without very much detail. Who doesn't love a puzzle? So I have the curious matter of you to bat around right now. Tell me, 'Lone Centurion', do you ever trick yourself into thinking you're ordinary? You seem to be floundering for arguments to support the theory."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"No, I know I'm not. Not any more." Rory sighed. "It was a choice between being interesting and being a beetle for you to pull the legs off, right? I went with the one that might get us actually talking."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"So, you mentioned Doctor-stalking and being plastic? Can't say as I've done the second, and the first, well, that's something of a relative concept." He looked pointedly at Rory's legs. "Be harder to pull off than a beetle's. I don't feel the need to do that sort of thing by hand, you know. Carnage, that sort of thing. I've always been happy to delegate."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"I didn't mean that literally," Rory pointed out, and tried not to think about the thing with the cocktail stirrer again. "So how do you mean, 'relative'?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Well. Stalking. That's a bit harsh. We've got a history. As you've implied you do with polymers."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry, when you talk about torturing someone's 'pets' -" He didn't stoop to doing the air quotes thing, but the tone was there. "- to get their attention, I think that's an appropriate word for it."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Oh, well." He shrugged and smiled, as if he honestly thought the mere warmth of his smile would be enough to thaw Rory's 'reserve'. "If you were judging by human standards, I suppose."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory looked distinctly unthawed. That smile was somehow the creepiest thing yet. "I don't have any others to judge by."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Is there something in particular you want to know?" He peered closely into Rory's face."I mean, a word like 'stalking' makes me sound like some sort of unsavory ex."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"...are you?" He didn't lean away, much as he'd like to. "The idea has crossed my mind."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Nothing so straightforward," he huffed, then shrugged. "It's not a completely inaccurate way of looking at it, though."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory sighed, sitting back finally. "...and that actually does explain a lot."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

That was a somewhat refreshing reaction. "A lot? I didn't know there had been a lot for you to need explaining."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"There's why he never said anything when he knew you'd turned up." Which counted as 'a lot' by itself, as far as Rory was concerned.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like I'm a dark secret," he said with a sardonic grin. "You'd think he'd have learned better. Maybe he's ashamed of me. What an awful thought." He said it lightly, but there was an undercurrent of irritation as well.

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

And maybe it's also because you two are the last ones left from your planet? Obviously, he wasn't going to bring that up, but it made it harder to be angry with the Doctor. It wasn't as if Rory didn't understand isolation, or survivor guilt. "I wouldn't like to guess what he's thinking, half the time."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"I've got centuries of practice, and he's still exasperating. It's a point of pride with him, so I usually let it slide." When, of course, he's not blowing up countries to make his point. "I'm still waiting for the backstory on your remark about plastic, by the way."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

"All right." He had been planning to exchange stories, after all. And this was possibly the only time he'd be able to explain it without apologising for how little sense it made. "Do you know about the cracks in the universe, and the Pandorica?"

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Must've been while I was busy not existing," he said, cupping his chin in his hands. "This is going to be good, isn't it? Do go on."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Of course, this was the kind of exchange that meant he'd be giving a lot more than he'd got. But he should've known that, going in. "The cracks - it was actually one crack, but it was everywhere. Through all of space and time. And the way I remember what happened is ...I got shot. Long story, negotiating with lizard people, it's not the important bit. I was shot, dying, and the last thing I saw was this crack opening up, and I was going to fall into it and never have existed. And then I woke up and I was a Roman who somehow remembered being a nurse from two thousand years in the future."

He sighed, leaning forward again to rest his head in his hands for a moment. "Only it turned out I wasn't. I wasn't me, not exactly ...I mean, it was. My mind, my - heart and soul, and I remember it all even though it's been written out of time again. But I was a copy. A Nestene duplicate."

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Nestene?" The Master's eyes lit up at that. "A human mind in Auton form? Oh, that's good, that's brilliant." He looked at Rory sharply. "And you're not anymore. It must feel so good to be right again."

[thefuturemrpond.livejournal.com]

Rory met his eyes for a moment, then looked away again. "...yeah," he admitted. "It's a relief."