Owl from the Master to the Third Doctor

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

The Master found it harder than expected to compose his note to the Doctor.... the Doctor as he had been so long ago. He could barely recall how it was between them, it was so long ago.

But finally, he produced a letter in an elegant hand.

My dear Doctor,

As we discussed, there is an establishment in this school suitable for a gentleman's relaxation. The enclosed map will direct you there, and no where else. Shall we meet for drinks at seven?

With a sharp pang, he signed his name in Gallifreyan.

Comments

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Oh, but I have the advantage of familiarity over you here." That wicked smile captured his attention like a neon sign, and he had to force himself not to stare. Oh, that viciousness had suited him so well, it had been so tempting in those days to do all he could to bring it out... "And I've always been keen on... pressing any advantage."

[science-advice.livejournal.com]

The Doctor chuckled. "Oh yes, I remember that. Would keep on till you found something you were better in..." theoretical engineering had been one of his worse defeats, because he'd been so sure he could get a better grade than Koschei.

"Bit funny, though, that you didn't dare 'press your advantage' without the excuse of winning a bet, though," he teased. Usually he wouldn't actually be so incautious as to mention their first kiss so cavalierly, but the strange situation and several glasses of wine had blurred the lines sufficiently.

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was unfair. Bad enough to have one devious young Doctor in front of him without such head-spinning reminders of an even more distant and less fraught past.

"I had to figure out the rules before I could know the best ways to break them, after all," he purred, trying to sound seductive and not utterly gobsmacked by nostalgia. "It's not like either of us is who we were then."

[science-advice.livejournal.com]

"No, hardly," the Doctor agreed, eyeing the Master, still with some waryness.

He felt restless, caught in this new trap with even less distraction from the chafe of it than UNIT could offer.

"You're not even like you are in my time, are you?" he asked rhetorically, some of the inner tension coming out in his voice, and the restless swinging of one leg, crossed over the other. No good, showing agitation to the Master, let alone this one, so he forced himself still, to appear unconcerned. "Why, I'm 'then' to you as well, aren't I?

[theregothedrums.livejournal.com]

"Very much a 'then'," he agreed, looking the Doctor up and down. "Whereas I am more jaded and wicked, and far less concerned about the niceties of timelines."