Fic: The Last One Standing - (5/??)
Title: The Last One Standing
Chapter: Five
Author: malicehaughton
Rating: T for Karkat (language)
Fandoms: Doctor Who and Homestuck
Pairings: This chapter has Karkat <> River hints.
Summary: This chapter. The Doctor serves a dinner big enough to feed an army and takes Karkat to get new clothes. Karkat gets to hear the 'Last of his Kind' talk, sort of. The Doctor and River finish their date off with dancing in the console room.
Chapter Five
Dinner was roasted pork, ham, chicken and lamb for a bit of variety, along with a few different vegetables, fruits, stews, soups and drinks. It would last quite a while the Doctor figured, seeing as how the table was basically groaning under the weight of the food on top of it.
Still, better too much and have leftovers than too little and starve. River had told him once she had finally been given access to Karkat’s room that said boy was hungry.
Hungry was good. Hungry was indeed very, very good.
Now all he had to do was wait. River had gone off to find the room once again to get Karkat for dinner. This time around he enjoyed cooking, and knew he was good at it, so he had no thought that the food was bad or not cooked properly, so it was all entirely edible. Still, the Doctor believed that not much of it would be eaten by the new addition on the TARDIS.
Between grief, his upset stomach earlier in the day, and his already skinny enough appearance, it didn’t seem like Karkat ate right or much at all when he did. Still, he was now at that age where he’d be a bottomless pit due to his growing and changing body, so why not get him started in that a little earlier than was entirely necessary.
“Oh my God! Do you expect three people to eat all this? I couldn’t eat all this heading into a fucking moult! Just...what the hell? Have you got a legion of hungry grubs to feed or something?”
He looked up and away from his musings when he heard the small swearing being headed his way. Grinning widely, the Doctor shrugged. “No I don’t expect only three of us to eat it all, not in one sitting anyway. The TARDIS can put the rest in stasis so that it doesn’t go off, so there’s food for weeks here. So it’s basically eat what you can, of what you want and then go do whatever it is you like doing.”
Karkat stared at him for a second, before tugging on the hem of his shirt. “Getting new, clean clothes would be great. I’m covered in my dead friends’ blood. Thanks for noticing that little detail, shitstain.”
The Doctor looked at the shirt and the sudden realisation hit him. Of course, the hemospectrum, different coloured blood. While he had seen that Gamzee lad bleeding purple it had never quite followed in his mind that the other colours on him were blood as well.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that it would be blood.”
Karkat grimaced at that and stared at the food. “Can we stop talking about this and eat? It’s been ages since I have had a proper meal. It looks good at least. Better than a stupid fucking sandwich anyway.”
Grinning, the Doctor waved River and Karkat towards a seat each and begun to heap food onto the plate in front of where he was sitting. Just grabbing what was closest to him, he was barely aware of what he was eating, more intent on watching the boy with them.
Slowly looking at the food, he noticed he seemed more interested in the meats than the vegetables, seemed slightly interested in some of the fruits, and poured himself a glass of orange juice.
“I can eat anything here? You’re not like going to take the food away as soon as I go to grab something are you?” Karkat asked, glaring at him from behind the glass he was slowly sipping from between sentences.
The Doctor frowned slightly at the thought. “Why would I do that?”
Shrugging, Karkat reached for a chicken leg, a slice of lamb and grabbed a bowl of beef stew. He also grabbed an apple and a small bunch of grapes. The Doctor was glad that foods between their worlds weren’t that different. Things could have gotten rather messy otherwise.
Then, of course, he got to see those teeth of his in action. They weren’t as sharp as he had first thought, but were still predatory in nature. After the first bite, any manners Karkat may actually have when it came to eating vanished. He ate like he had been starved for weeks.
“Whoa, slow down, or you’ll make yourself sick again!” he stated, glad when Karkat froze before he took the advice and slowed down. Earlier that day must have still been playing on his mind. No one liked being sick.
Things went calmly, if silently after that. Getting through the chicken and the stew, Karkat managed to eat more than he thought, before stopping. At least he looked more energetic now than he had earlier.
Karkat leaned back in the chair he was on and sighed. “Clothes...I don’t want new clothes. Fucking need them, though. Ugh, so dirty...” He picked at the blood which had dried on his shirt. It looked like someone had painted a rainbow on him, poor kid.
“Oh, yes! Clothes! Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have something to your tastes and size running around somewhere in here. I have a huge wardrobe.” With that, he jumped to his feet, walked over to the boy, dragged him off his seat and promptly got yelled at for it.
“What the fuck?! I can walk on my own two legs. I have been doing so since I pupated, which is more than I can say for your sorry excuse of a squishy skinned species. Get off my bulge about it.”
The Doctor stopped what he was doing, turned to look at Karkat and grinned sheepishly. “You are creative with your words. And pupated? You don’t look like any species that does that in this universe. No buggy parts.”
He watched as Karkat scowled deeply and lifted up his shirt. Between his ribs and pelvis on both sides of his body laid a ridge on the side of his skin that was black, or at least a darker grey than the rest of him. After a few seconds, you see it as a large, awkward claw, which has had the tip grown into the body naturally to make it non movable. “Vestigial grub legs. When we pupate, they are no longer needed since two legs, yay. But we have all six functioning limbs as wigglers. So fuck you.”
And that was the worst thing this boy could have done, because now his brain was firing off on all cylinders with absolute fascination. “Oooh, will you look at that!? You are beautiful, you know? Stunning.”
The shirt was quickly pushed down and Karkat backed up several steps, a startled look on his face. “Are you hitting on me?! You sick fuck! I’m only six! I’m not even old enough to breed yet.” His voice was several octaves higher than normal. He had truly scared him.
“Hitting on you? I’m not hitting you in any way.”
“Flirting! Wanting to get into my fucking pants! Oh my god, you are, aren’t you? Fuck, do I have to start screaming rape right now? I knew this would happen. Nothing good comes from adults.”
The Doctor blinked, honestly confused. “Flirting with you? Why would I do that? You are still a child and, regardless of what you may hear about me, I am not interested in anyone underage. I tend to just...speak my mind about an entire species over one person sometimes. That remark wasn’t about you, it was about your race. I just find things...”
Karkat slapped his hands against his face and groaned loudly. “If you use the word miracle in any way, shape or form, I swear I am going to kill you right here and now. Can I just get some clothes now? Please?! Look, I’m being polite and everything!”
Well, now that he knew what he had done wrong, and Karkat had calmed down again and wasn’t accusing him of something he’d never do in a million years, things seemed slightly better, and Karkat had just been polite enough to ask for new clothes. He hadn’t taken the death threat very seriously. Smiling, he waved in the direction of the wardrobe and began walking again. “Yes, of course. This way. Any type of clothing you like in particular? You’ll probably find styles you’ve never even dreamed of in here. Mind you, I do have notoriously bad taste in clothes. I just happen to find clothing I like at the time and put it on and there is nothing wrong with that at all! And no matter what anyone tells you, Karkat, always remember that bowties are cool.”
Karkat then proceeded to follow slightly behind, while growling slightly under his breath what the Doctor could only think were some rather creative insults.
After a few twists and turns, he found the wardrobe just where he had left it last time he happened upon the room. Opening the door with a flourish, he allowed Karkat to step around him and enter. The boy’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
“See? Surely there’s something in here you will like. I’ve got plain clothes, dressy clothes, silly clothes, formal wear...you name it I have it, from a wide variety of fashions from different worlds and time periods! You can take whatever you want, it’s all up for grabs. And clean, I should add. All shiny and new clothing.”
Karkat turned to glare at him. “Holy fuck, you’re a male version of Kanaya. Do you make these, or does your ship steal them like everything else?”
“I mainly actually buy things I like, or look good for the time period. It’s important you know. The people who travel with me tend to keep the clothes they like so I have to get more. This is my area, not the TARDIS’s.”
“Yeah, you weren’t wrong, you have the worst taste in clothes...I’m going to get lost in pink frills, aren’t I?”
“Only if you want to be. Which you don’t look too pleased with. There’s plenty of black in here, and grey. Oh! Try and find something to wear to bed too. Maybe a few outfits? If we stop by anywhere, we can always come back for the fashionable clothes, or you can keep wearing plain. It really all depends on you.”
Rolling his eyes, he watched Karkat as the boy slowly began looking through the clothes nearest to him, all of them in bright colours. It didn’t surprise the Doctor at all that there seemed to be an almost permanent scowl on his face. They were not only all ridiculously too big for him, but also too colourful.
He didn’t follow him around, instead opting to sit on the floor by the door, occasionally talking out loud to make sure the boy was fine and still looking. He always got a shouted reply back, so just let him go for it.
After two hours, he was getting bored of this, and a bored Doctor was not a fun Doctor. If Karkat hadn’t found anything, he can wander around his room naked for all he cared. “Karkat? Have you found anything you like? I think that’s enough for today, you can come back tomorrow and look some more.”
After a few minutes of silence, he got up on his feet to go look, when he spotted him coming to his waiting area.
“Yeah I found some things,” Karkat stated, holding up a lot of black and grey items of clothing in one hand and a pair of jogging shoes in the other. “These will fit me for a bit anyway. Fucking moult coming up.”
The Doctor blinked before grinning. “Yes, that tends to happen. You can find clothes that fit once you’re done growing. Well, are you going to show me what you got? There are some dressing rooms over here.”
Showing him where the changing rooms were, he waited only a short two minutes, before Karkat came out dressed in a dark grey long sleeved shirt, and some baggy looking black jeans. The bloody clothes were left in a heap on the floor. In his hands were his old shoes and a pair of boxers with crabs on them.
“You really like crabs, don’t you?”
Karkat blinked at him and frowned. “My lusus was a crab. Didn’t I already tell you this? So, yes I like crabs. He also kind of died twice in the past four weeks. Can I fucking grieve the death of my guardian in peace?”
He had no idea what possessed him to hug the boy, but moments after those words escaped Karkat’s mouth, he was holding him close. He could feel the stiffening muscles and heard what could only be a warning sound come out of a sharp toothed mouth.
“Listen to me before you get all bitey, ok? I understand what it is like to lose your world, and what it’s like to have to destroy your friends and family. I destroyed my own world and my people to save this universe. I am the only one of my kind left too. I understand the anger and pain and guilt. And I can tell you it will never fully go away either. It will get easier to live with, easier to feel good things. It takes a while though. You are still in a shocked state judging by your trembling right now, but that will leave soon enough and when it does, know I’m here, even if you don’t like me.”
There was silence once he stopped talking for a good long while, but Karkat stopped shaking after five minutes of quiet and slowly relaxed against him, enough to head butt his lower chest with one of those small horns. He was thankful they weren’t sharp or he’d have major trouble breathing.
He didn’t complain about it though, as he knew it was accidental. Karkat was just trying to do what any other child would do, hide his head and try to gain some comfort at the same time. The Doctor loosened his hold on the boy and slowly let him go, before nudging him slightly in the direction of the door.
“Tomorrow, I’ll land the TARDIS somewhere and we can go see what there is to see. It won’t do you any good to stay in here and let yourself be alone most of the day. I’ll let the TARDIS choose the time and place. She likes you a lot and will take you somewhere she thinks will be good for you. Come on, let’s go find your room and you can relax a bit more. River told me some of your friends lived, human friends. Go talk to them for a bit, they’ll help you through this more than I can.”
“Fine,” Karkat muttered, before taking the not so subtle hints and began walking back through the halls of the TARDIS.
Within five minutes they had found the door to Karkat’s room and, leaving the boy well enough alone, the Doctor made his way back to the console room where he knew River was waiting for him.
“Did he find some clothes?” she asked, before he even reached her. He nodded, grabbed hold of her and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
“Yes he did, and he knows he can come talk to me about...things if he needs to. I left him to talk to his human friends. Hopefully he does take that bit of advice at least. He really isn’t in a very stable mindset right now. He said his guardian had died twice in the past four weeks. Do these lusus things regenerate?”
“No, they only get to die once. I have no idea how one would die twice.”
Grinning, he pulled his wife into a hug, before swinging her around. “Well, it is date night and I don’t think it would be wise to leave the TARDIS, so let’s dance in here, shall we? Did you tell him you don’t actually live on the TARDIS with me? I think he needs to know that. He might decide to choose someone else to be all cuddly with. I think it would be better for him to be with kids his own age.”
“Oh believe me, I never thought this moirallegiance was anything other than temporary. A child troll would never trust an adult for longer than necessary, especially with their quadrants. He’ll probably come to me himself, but I will talk to him about it later. Now, where were we? Dancing wasn’t it? Are you going to come and sweep me off my feet, sweetie?”
Laughing, he spun River around and dipped her. “And here I was under the impression I had already done that.”
“Oh, you smooth talker. Show me your moves, Doctor.’
He did just that for a majority of the rest of that 24 hour period of time.
Chapter: Five
Author: malicehaughton
Rating: T for Karkat (language)
Fandoms: Doctor Who and Homestuck
Pairings: This chapter has Karkat <> River hints.
Summary: This chapter. The Doctor serves a dinner big enough to feed an army and takes Karkat to get new clothes. Karkat gets to hear the 'Last of his Kind' talk, sort of. The Doctor and River finish their date off with dancing in the console room.
Chapter Five
Dinner was roasted pork, ham, chicken and lamb for a bit of variety, along with a few different vegetables, fruits, stews, soups and drinks. It would last quite a while the Doctor figured, seeing as how the table was basically groaning under the weight of the food on top of it.
Still, better too much and have leftovers than too little and starve. River had told him once she had finally been given access to Karkat’s room that said boy was hungry.
Hungry was good. Hungry was indeed very, very good.
Now all he had to do was wait. River had gone off to find the room once again to get Karkat for dinner. This time around he enjoyed cooking, and knew he was good at it, so he had no thought that the food was bad or not cooked properly, so it was all entirely edible. Still, the Doctor believed that not much of it would be eaten by the new addition on the TARDIS.
Between grief, his upset stomach earlier in the day, and his already skinny enough appearance, it didn’t seem like Karkat ate right or much at all when he did. Still, he was now at that age where he’d be a bottomless pit due to his growing and changing body, so why not get him started in that a little earlier than was entirely necessary.
“Oh my God! Do you expect three people to eat all this? I couldn’t eat all this heading into a fucking moult! Just...what the hell? Have you got a legion of hungry grubs to feed or something?”
He looked up and away from his musings when he heard the small swearing being headed his way. Grinning widely, the Doctor shrugged. “No I don’t expect only three of us to eat it all, not in one sitting anyway. The TARDIS can put the rest in stasis so that it doesn’t go off, so there’s food for weeks here. So it’s basically eat what you can, of what you want and then go do whatever it is you like doing.”
Karkat stared at him for a second, before tugging on the hem of his shirt. “Getting new, clean clothes would be great. I’m covered in my dead friends’ blood. Thanks for noticing that little detail, shitstain.”
The Doctor looked at the shirt and the sudden realisation hit him. Of course, the hemospectrum, different coloured blood. While he had seen that Gamzee lad bleeding purple it had never quite followed in his mind that the other colours on him were blood as well.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that it would be blood.”
Karkat grimaced at that and stared at the food. “Can we stop talking about this and eat? It’s been ages since I have had a proper meal. It looks good at least. Better than a stupid fucking sandwich anyway.”
Grinning, the Doctor waved River and Karkat towards a seat each and begun to heap food onto the plate in front of where he was sitting. Just grabbing what was closest to him, he was barely aware of what he was eating, more intent on watching the boy with them.
Slowly looking at the food, he noticed he seemed more interested in the meats than the vegetables, seemed slightly interested in some of the fruits, and poured himself a glass of orange juice.
“I can eat anything here? You’re not like going to take the food away as soon as I go to grab something are you?” Karkat asked, glaring at him from behind the glass he was slowly sipping from between sentences.
The Doctor frowned slightly at the thought. “Why would I do that?”
Shrugging, Karkat reached for a chicken leg, a slice of lamb and grabbed a bowl of beef stew. He also grabbed an apple and a small bunch of grapes. The Doctor was glad that foods between their worlds weren’t that different. Things could have gotten rather messy otherwise.
Then, of course, he got to see those teeth of his in action. They weren’t as sharp as he had first thought, but were still predatory in nature. After the first bite, any manners Karkat may actually have when it came to eating vanished. He ate like he had been starved for weeks.
“Whoa, slow down, or you’ll make yourself sick again!” he stated, glad when Karkat froze before he took the advice and slowed down. Earlier that day must have still been playing on his mind. No one liked being sick.
Things went calmly, if silently after that. Getting through the chicken and the stew, Karkat managed to eat more than he thought, before stopping. At least he looked more energetic now than he had earlier.
Karkat leaned back in the chair he was on and sighed. “Clothes...I don’t want new clothes. Fucking need them, though. Ugh, so dirty...” He picked at the blood which had dried on his shirt. It looked like someone had painted a rainbow on him, poor kid.
“Oh, yes! Clothes! Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have something to your tastes and size running around somewhere in here. I have a huge wardrobe.” With that, he jumped to his feet, walked over to the boy, dragged him off his seat and promptly got yelled at for it.
“What the fuck?! I can walk on my own two legs. I have been doing so since I pupated, which is more than I can say for your sorry excuse of a squishy skinned species. Get off my bulge about it.”
The Doctor stopped what he was doing, turned to look at Karkat and grinned sheepishly. “You are creative with your words. And pupated? You don’t look like any species that does that in this universe. No buggy parts.”
He watched as Karkat scowled deeply and lifted up his shirt. Between his ribs and pelvis on both sides of his body laid a ridge on the side of his skin that was black, or at least a darker grey than the rest of him. After a few seconds, you see it as a large, awkward claw, which has had the tip grown into the body naturally to make it non movable. “Vestigial grub legs. When we pupate, they are no longer needed since two legs, yay. But we have all six functioning limbs as wigglers. So fuck you.”
And that was the worst thing this boy could have done, because now his brain was firing off on all cylinders with absolute fascination. “Oooh, will you look at that!? You are beautiful, you know? Stunning.”
The shirt was quickly pushed down and Karkat backed up several steps, a startled look on his face. “Are you hitting on me?! You sick fuck! I’m only six! I’m not even old enough to breed yet.” His voice was several octaves higher than normal. He had truly scared him.
“Hitting on you? I’m not hitting you in any way.”
“Flirting! Wanting to get into my fucking pants! Oh my god, you are, aren’t you? Fuck, do I have to start screaming rape right now? I knew this would happen. Nothing good comes from adults.”
The Doctor blinked, honestly confused. “Flirting with you? Why would I do that? You are still a child and, regardless of what you may hear about me, I am not interested in anyone underage. I tend to just...speak my mind about an entire species over one person sometimes. That remark wasn’t about you, it was about your race. I just find things...”
Karkat slapped his hands against his face and groaned loudly. “If you use the word miracle in any way, shape or form, I swear I am going to kill you right here and now. Can I just get some clothes now? Please?! Look, I’m being polite and everything!”
Well, now that he knew what he had done wrong, and Karkat had calmed down again and wasn’t accusing him of something he’d never do in a million years, things seemed slightly better, and Karkat had just been polite enough to ask for new clothes. He hadn’t taken the death threat very seriously. Smiling, he waved in the direction of the wardrobe and began walking again. “Yes, of course. This way. Any type of clothing you like in particular? You’ll probably find styles you’ve never even dreamed of in here. Mind you, I do have notoriously bad taste in clothes. I just happen to find clothing I like at the time and put it on and there is nothing wrong with that at all! And no matter what anyone tells you, Karkat, always remember that bowties are cool.”
Karkat then proceeded to follow slightly behind, while growling slightly under his breath what the Doctor could only think were some rather creative insults.
After a few twists and turns, he found the wardrobe just where he had left it last time he happened upon the room. Opening the door with a flourish, he allowed Karkat to step around him and enter. The boy’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
“See? Surely there’s something in here you will like. I’ve got plain clothes, dressy clothes, silly clothes, formal wear...you name it I have it, from a wide variety of fashions from different worlds and time periods! You can take whatever you want, it’s all up for grabs. And clean, I should add. All shiny and new clothing.”
Karkat turned to glare at him. “Holy fuck, you’re a male version of Kanaya. Do you make these, or does your ship steal them like everything else?”
“I mainly actually buy things I like, or look good for the time period. It’s important you know. The people who travel with me tend to keep the clothes they like so I have to get more. This is my area, not the TARDIS’s.”
“Yeah, you weren’t wrong, you have the worst taste in clothes...I’m going to get lost in pink frills, aren’t I?”
“Only if you want to be. Which you don’t look too pleased with. There’s plenty of black in here, and grey. Oh! Try and find something to wear to bed too. Maybe a few outfits? If we stop by anywhere, we can always come back for the fashionable clothes, or you can keep wearing plain. It really all depends on you.”
Rolling his eyes, he watched Karkat as the boy slowly began looking through the clothes nearest to him, all of them in bright colours. It didn’t surprise the Doctor at all that there seemed to be an almost permanent scowl on his face. They were not only all ridiculously too big for him, but also too colourful.
He didn’t follow him around, instead opting to sit on the floor by the door, occasionally talking out loud to make sure the boy was fine and still looking. He always got a shouted reply back, so just let him go for it.
After two hours, he was getting bored of this, and a bored Doctor was not a fun Doctor. If Karkat hadn’t found anything, he can wander around his room naked for all he cared. “Karkat? Have you found anything you like? I think that’s enough for today, you can come back tomorrow and look some more.”
After a few minutes of silence, he got up on his feet to go look, when he spotted him coming to his waiting area.
“Yeah I found some things,” Karkat stated, holding up a lot of black and grey items of clothing in one hand and a pair of jogging shoes in the other. “These will fit me for a bit anyway. Fucking moult coming up.”
The Doctor blinked before grinning. “Yes, that tends to happen. You can find clothes that fit once you’re done growing. Well, are you going to show me what you got? There are some dressing rooms over here.”
Showing him where the changing rooms were, he waited only a short two minutes, before Karkat came out dressed in a dark grey long sleeved shirt, and some baggy looking black jeans. The bloody clothes were left in a heap on the floor. In his hands were his old shoes and a pair of boxers with crabs on them.
“You really like crabs, don’t you?”
Karkat blinked at him and frowned. “My lusus was a crab. Didn’t I already tell you this? So, yes I like crabs. He also kind of died twice in the past four weeks. Can I fucking grieve the death of my guardian in peace?”
He had no idea what possessed him to hug the boy, but moments after those words escaped Karkat’s mouth, he was holding him close. He could feel the stiffening muscles and heard what could only be a warning sound come out of a sharp toothed mouth.
“Listen to me before you get all bitey, ok? I understand what it is like to lose your world, and what it’s like to have to destroy your friends and family. I destroyed my own world and my people to save this universe. I am the only one of my kind left too. I understand the anger and pain and guilt. And I can tell you it will never fully go away either. It will get easier to live with, easier to feel good things. It takes a while though. You are still in a shocked state judging by your trembling right now, but that will leave soon enough and when it does, know I’m here, even if you don’t like me.”
There was silence once he stopped talking for a good long while, but Karkat stopped shaking after five minutes of quiet and slowly relaxed against him, enough to head butt his lower chest with one of those small horns. He was thankful they weren’t sharp or he’d have major trouble breathing.
He didn’t complain about it though, as he knew it was accidental. Karkat was just trying to do what any other child would do, hide his head and try to gain some comfort at the same time. The Doctor loosened his hold on the boy and slowly let him go, before nudging him slightly in the direction of the door.
“Tomorrow, I’ll land the TARDIS somewhere and we can go see what there is to see. It won’t do you any good to stay in here and let yourself be alone most of the day. I’ll let the TARDIS choose the time and place. She likes you a lot and will take you somewhere she thinks will be good for you. Come on, let’s go find your room and you can relax a bit more. River told me some of your friends lived, human friends. Go talk to them for a bit, they’ll help you through this more than I can.”
“Fine,” Karkat muttered, before taking the not so subtle hints and began walking back through the halls of the TARDIS.
Within five minutes they had found the door to Karkat’s room and, leaving the boy well enough alone, the Doctor made his way back to the console room where he knew River was waiting for him.
“Did he find some clothes?” she asked, before he even reached her. He nodded, grabbed hold of her and pulled her in for a quick kiss.
“Yes he did, and he knows he can come talk to me about...things if he needs to. I left him to talk to his human friends. Hopefully he does take that bit of advice at least. He really isn’t in a very stable mindset right now. He said his guardian had died twice in the past four weeks. Do these lusus things regenerate?”
“No, they only get to die once. I have no idea how one would die twice.”
Grinning, he pulled his wife into a hug, before swinging her around. “Well, it is date night and I don’t think it would be wise to leave the TARDIS, so let’s dance in here, shall we? Did you tell him you don’t actually live on the TARDIS with me? I think he needs to know that. He might decide to choose someone else to be all cuddly with. I think it would be better for him to be with kids his own age.”
“Oh believe me, I never thought this moirallegiance was anything other than temporary. A child troll would never trust an adult for longer than necessary, especially with their quadrants. He’ll probably come to me himself, but I will talk to him about it later. Now, where were we? Dancing wasn’t it? Are you going to come and sweep me off my feet, sweetie?”
Laughing, he spun River around and dipped her. “And here I was under the impression I had already done that.”
“Oh, you smooth talker. Show me your moves, Doctor.’
He did just that for a majority of the rest of that 24 hour period of time.