open rp; fast food

[best_served_hot]

The Master had wandered away from the room he had taken as his own. He breathed deep, pinpointing the different people on the base and their locations, so far as he could manage. He thought he smelled something else that was rather familiar and sneered, making his way to the food storage area and opened one of the cupboards and grabbed an armful of

Comments

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor sighed, hearing the sound of ripping containers. No one he knew would just eat the raw and frozen packs apart from one, very hungry individual.

"Master," he said, turning the corner and trying to find him. "Master?"

It was very like looking for a very sick child you knew was in the cookies when they shouldn't be.

[best_served_hot]

Oh, he heard it. Yes, he did. That didn't mean he had to pipe up and reveal his location. Maybe he didn't want to even if it made him out to be acting like a petulant child.

But he wanted that other food pack.

So that begged to question whether the food pack was worth dealing with the Doctor. The Doctor would start asking how he was. He would ask if he needed help. He would start whining.

The Master abandoned the fallen food pack and turned to go the other way.

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor turned the next corner and called out to the Master again.

"I know you're here, you don't have to run."

If the Master ran, the Doctor would follow. If the Doctor ran, the Master would follow. This was how they were. How they always would be.

[best_served_hot]

Resisting the urge to sigh, he stopped where he'd turned and peeked out around the corner in order to scowl in the Doctor's direction.

"Yes, dearest," he sneered, though it didn't have the same venom in it as it would have before. "You bellowed?"

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor leaned down and picked up one of the remaining food packs.

"You really should start cooking your food," he said. "Or working out some sort of a time schedule so that you can cook it before you're so starving you have to eat it raw."

With his free hand, he fished into his pocket and produced a datapad.

"I have some results from last time."

[best_served_hot]

The Master eyed him and the food pack but didn't make a move for it. He'd let show too much already. He wasn't helpless.

He wasn't.

"Sorry, I haven't been able to stop and keep a proper enough schedule to find out when I'm about to lose all cohesion. I'm sure if bodies start turning up, you'll know I didn't get to the kitchen in time."

He took another bite before reaching out for the datapad. "Results that have big bold letters that spell out exactly what I've already told you?" That he was dying. That it was all this body did with any regularity.

[rude_not_ginger]

"But there's got to be a cure," the Doctor said. "There has to be something, some way we can reroute your body's workings, turn the energy transference back on itself and heal you."

He tossed the last food pack towards the Master.

"I won't let you die."

[best_served_hot]

He caught the food pack, somehow managing to not drop any of the others and started putting them into his pockets. "I used a machine that was supposed to fix this sort of thing already. It didn't work," said the Master, voice steely.

"It helped for a little while and then it got worse rapidly." It was right after the Doctor-that Doctor-had talked about the two of them leaving.

A ridiculous idea. So why was he thinking about it? He shook himself from those thoughts.

"Your little bangle helps but that's only buying time."

[rude_not_ginger]

"Time is all we need," the Doctor said. "We can make it better, Master. We can stop this, but you have to trust me."

He felt like he was back where he started. Begging the Master to let him save him. Only this time saving was very literal. He needed to save his life, he needed to make him whole.

Maybe, in that way, the Master might give him a chance.

[best_served_hot]

Trust him. Did he trust him? The Doctor that didn't know all of what had happened.

The Master changed the subject, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps gauging how much the Doctor trusted the memories he had willingly shared with him.

"You know, it didn't quite happen as I expected, but I finally found out just what happened at the end of the War," he said, looking at the Doctor and then away at the opposite wall, just staring.

"I know why you did it. I also know why they resurrected me."

[rude_not_ginger]

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, confused. "I thought they wanted you to be the ultimate warrior or something?"

[best_served_hot]

The Master's eyes narrowed on a particular spot on the wall and his jaw worked a moment. The entire idea of all of it was disgusting. He hated it. He hated them. "I'm sure I was very useful with that for a while," he started.

"I was their contingency plan for the grand escape. Or return. Whatever you want to call it," he spat out the words as if they left a foul taste in his mouth.

And they did. They made his blood boil.

[rude_not_ginger]

"A contingency plan?" the Doctor snapped, livid. How could they do that? Why would they do that? "How? How would they use you like that?"

Is that what caused the Master to lose his energy? The resurrection coupled with the Time Lords' return?

[best_served_hot]

The Master cast a sidelong glance at him, his anger still there but tinged, lessened by just how tired he was. Tired in so many ways.

"The noise, Doctor. The noise in my head," he started, eyes closing momentarily as the sound grew, as if it were sentient and knew he was speaking of it. "It's a signal, tangible. I just needed a link. Something to solidify it and amplify it. Call them back across the dark."

He stopped then, going oddly quiet.

"I didn't know what they had been planning to do."

[rude_not_ginger]

"To bring back Gallifrey. To wipe everyone in the universe out apart from the Time Lords," the Doctor said, bitterly. Oh, he knew well what they had planned. He knew that only Romana, Susan, and Straxus had stood up against them, though Straxus was denied his vote. Even Brax had chosen to live rather than to fight. It was a black day for the Doctor. A black day for the universe.

[best_served_hot]

"Have I mentioned yet how much I despise our dear Founder Rassilon?" It was spit out harshly.

"They sent a piece of our world to Earth. You should have seen it, Doctor," he began, voice almost whimsical. "Beautiful and shining."

The Master looked away and then chuckled ruefully. "But we stopped them. Not that you'd believe me."