(Untitled)

[my_dear_doctor]

There's a Master in the multiverse, people!  At the moment, however, he seems mostly oblivious to that fact; he's sitting at a desk, working at sums; a Cuban cigar sits, smouldering, in an ashtray next to him, which he occasionally picks up to chew on.  His brow furrows as he taps the eraser end of his pencil against his paper

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[before_thedrums]

"Watcha doooiiiin?" asks the voice of a teeny tiny Gallifreyan.

[my_dear_doctor]

Young Koschei is very fortunate he's a Self (of sorts, anyway), otherwise the look the Master is currently casting him would not be half so tolerant as it is. As it is, it's a mere lifted eyebrow and a faintly indulgent quirk of the lips.

'Equations, my dear boy.'

[before_thedrums]

Ooh, math. "For fun or are you trying to figure something out?"

[my_dear_doctor]

The look he favours young Koschei with this time is downright approving. Aww. He remembers liking maths as a wee thing.

'These particular ones are for a purpose, yes. I'm trying to figure out a way to balance out the temporal flux that results when a Chronovore is pulled out of its own dimension into ours.'

He furrows his brow, taking the cigar and blowing a thoughtful smoke ring. 'The submatrices of the sums I'm working on here-' tapping the line of figures in question- 'don't quite seem to want to cooperate.'

[before_thedrums]

Koschei walks over and stares at the paper. He doesn't quite understand all of the math, but it excites him nonetheless. "What if you....." but he realizes he doesn't gave an idea, so he stops talking.

[my_dear_doctor]

The Master chuckles, amused by his young Self's attitude. As it should be; indeed, as he recalled it being. A chair appears out of nowhere next to his, should Koschei feel like getting up on it.

'What if indeed?' He arches an eyebrow at the boy, pencil tip tapping idly against the notepad. 'Tell me, do you understand any of this? I confess, I don't recall much of my mental abilities when I was your age.'

[before_thedrums]

He climbs up into the chair, sitting on his knees to be just that much taller. "I get most of it up until this part," Koschei points to the part he is talking about. "The rest of it though..." He doesn't like admitting his faults, but since it is himself that makes it a bit different.

[my_dear_doctor]

He cocks an eyebrow as Koschei takes in the equations, his attitude as much that of a kindly professor as anything else. It's something this regeneration falls into easily enough, and with his young Self, the kindliness is, for once, quite genuine.

The claim that he understands most of it prompts a delicately incredulous little look. He had been, of course, an exceedingly clever child, but a boastful one as well. Much though the Master esteems himself, he rather doubts that at eight years old, he would have been able to decipher mathematics that circumvented the temporal laws.

'Oh yes?' His whiskers bristle slightly as he hides an amused smirk. 'Explain for me, then, the parts you do understand; what am I attempting to do with these?'

[before_thedrums]

Koschei stares at the paper some more, trying to pull whatever bits of information he can from it. It's really very difficult, and he has the horrible suspicion his future self knows exactly how much of it he really does understand.

"Well, you're doing... You're..." He gives up and sinks back down into the chair, crossing his arms with a very small hmph. "Well, it's like you said. You're working on the temporal flux stuff."