x02 [visual][Locked to the Doctor]

[beholdthedrums]

The Master has been productive since he’s left the other Time Lord to poke into the business of the city. Checking the lay of the land, keeping tabs on the people, begrudgingly thinking of how to deal with the woman preaching about the Ori. Currently he was leaning towards letting her go about her conversion attempts and possibly wiping out part of

Comments

[who_never_would]

"Oh, I dunno," the Doctor tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling of the TARDIS. He checks in with her mentally for a moment, asking how long the ship has been there, when he gets his answer, he turns his attention back towards the Master, or at least in his general direction. "Awhile. Long enough to be bored of it, right? The Ori nonsense seems fairly harmless in terms of destruction and all, the only people she seems to have convinced are those drones ambling about out there and if she's gets too pesky I'll deal with her. Or you can, though honestly, I don't think it's much worth the effort..."

The Doctor rummages around in his suit-pant pockets, fiddling with a scrap of wire. "So... if you don't mind too terribly, I'd like to do this in a fairly uninhabited part of town, which means I'll actually have to look at the bloody map and see where people aren't actively living. Unless you've got better ideas, and you usually do."

Talk of actually killing people makes the Doctor's stomach flop a bit. He's done it before, he's ended lives for the betterment of others, but where does that line stop and start, and what exactly is it dividing? The Doctor chews on the bit of wire thoughtfully.

[beholdthedrums]

He did mind.

The Master, of course, had no qualms with taking out a few citizens along with some buildings - the point of this was to get the city’s program to react with defenses, after all, correct? So, would it not jump more instantly to protect the people, as well as its property? Though there was a chance that if everything - except for the people - was simply made of program, and that was all that needed protection…

But the Doctor didn’t need to know he thought that.

Still, they had to start small; or, the Master had to have the Doctor start small, and then eventually work up to chaos. Not a care for human life - for any life! Compared to that of a Time Lord, any other was insignificant, and everyone in the universe needed a reminder of that. Always.

Taxon needed to know that in the first place.

Small steps.

“If it will satisfy your petty need to preserve life, then fine. Find somewhere that’s as uninhabited as you can, but it won’t be perfect, Doctor, and I bet if you try and give a warning, the program will find out.” He taps his beat against his tablet, visible to the Doctor. “I’d imagine there’s a special-something to these devices.” And the wristlet. They both irritated him to no end. “In which case, you’ll have to make some sacrifices for this.” Oh yes, some lives will have to be lost - or at least injured - for this 'plan' to go right.

[who_never_would]

The Doctor does, though. For as weird and twisted as he's been getting he's not quite about ready for indiscriminate murder, and the Master should probably recognize that in the way the other Time Lord chews on the wire in his mouth, uncertainty showing in his features. "Yeah, my petty need to preserve life is pretty strong. I'm thinking some of the outer districts, maybe something prominent in the park with a smaller explosive, uh..."

Long fingers tapping on the PDA, the Doctor shoots a few locations to the Master, along with the blueprints he's already studied and marked with key locations to tuck explosives to bring the buildings down. He's been working while the Master has been talking at him, and it's not as if he didn't have a clue where to start to begin with.

"Thinking about a time-frame here. I think we should wait until whatever Ori nonsense is still floating around to clear up a bit, let the city calm down. Also, if you're really insistent on doing it somewhere more populated, I think we should start with the Sanctuary. Blow up the place that brings us all in here, that should shut down the influx of people we've been getting and keep anyone else out there from getting brought in."

[beholdthedrums]

His eyes scan over the blueprints and he takes down some shorthand notes out of sight; he would rather a look of his own, close up, at some of these places. The casual, interested tourist. Or lost. Which ever excuse sounds better at the time. Either way, he'd probably whisk up a different outfit for the occasion.

Can't have anyone being suspicious of him as the bomber now, can he?

Oh wait, yes he can. It's so much more fun that way! Stay away from the crazy Time Lord, or he'll find where you live and wreck it!

The Doctor may have caught a few moments of the Master's amusement over his face, before it settled back down to business. Once they knew where they would do it and the finer details, the Master could handle patiently waiting for things to calm down again. It gave him more time to 'socialize'. Draw people to his side, one way or another. Whether it was the 'innocent' side of Harold Saxon, or the 'corrupt' side of the Master. He could appeal to all kinds of people.

"Oh, but doing it at the Sanctuary almost sounds like we're doing the people a favor," the Master says; no, he isn't whining. Bloody hell, now he's settling for compromise with the Doctor. What's next? "But likely, if anything is going to draw the city's defenses out, that would be our best option." It's something the city needs.

[who_never_would]

"We're doing everyone a favor by drawing out the city's defenses. It'll give them something to rally against instead of moping about and doing nothing with themselves. If an enemy appears, it'll be interesting, and if not, well... then... I suppose the city will rebuild itself and that'll be that." The Doctor leans back in his chair with a weary exhalation.

"I'll send you all of this nonsense," and he does so. The Master's tablet should cheep at him cheerfully - or to whatever ringtone he's got set up for a data transfer as the TARDIS sends him [begrudgingly, she might add], the information for the explosives and the set points in the buildings where he'll place them.

The Doctor leans forward against the console, looking up at the Master.

"Go amuse yourself with that for the time being. I'll talk to you later, I've got some chemistry to do."

And with that, he clicks the PDA off and sets to work.