Nothing's gonna change my world.

[late_born_myth]

If you'd been around a few millennia ago to ask Psyche's sisters about her most annoying qualities, somewhere on the list would definitely have been the solemn, repentant way the girl owned up to anything she thought was her fault, ruining your best efforts at telling her off. What made this several times worse, they would have explained, was that

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[hear_the_drums]

The Time Lords had, in fact, both been around a few millennia ago. At one time or another. Little trips here and there, and Greece certainly hadn't been avoided. Unfortunately, they had never met any of Psyche's sisters.

Today they had gotten into an argument about that "portalling" thing the Doctor had seen that Axel fellow do. Well, it had started as an argument about that, which had then branched into an argument about quantum mechanics, and then wavefunction collapse.

"It's not an illusion," the Master insisted furiously, turning his gaze away from the other -you really can't stand to look him in the face when he's being so obstinate and completely thick-. "It's random; just because you don't want to admit it, because it takes things too far out of your own hands, doesn't make it any less..." -hairs prickling at the back of your neck and something in front of you is alarmingly fuzzy, like Vaseline swiped across your eyes, and you're a little turned around like your internal compass was just shoved offHe smacked the Doctor in

[a_lonely_god]

The Doctor had once considered, briefly, explaining to Jack how it felt for a Time Lord to look at him -stand in one spot and turn around until you’re so dizzy you nearly fall over. See how the world goes all spinny? Now imagine a single still image in the midst of all that movement. Now, imagine that spinny world is all you’ve seen your whole life, that ‘still’ has never existed before- but gave it up as a bad idea.

A woman-shaped being, her permanence a little less scary, less demanding than Jack’s -he thought vaguely that such durability was perhaps less out of place here, in this little pocket of strange stillness posing as Disney Land- but somehow maybe even more uncomfortable for it’s relative subtly.

He stood there, next to the Master, just sort of staring at her.

[late_born_myth]

Strangers who stopped and stared the first time they saw her were a familiar feature of Psyche's existence, even if she'd never been exactly fond of that reaction. Still, one had to be polite; besides, she was a little curious herself about the two manlike beings in front of her. She smiled in a friendly, if slightly distant, way and said, "Good afternoon."

[a_lonely_god]

“Yes,” the Doctor agreed, then shook himself slightly. “Ah, sorry. Right. Um, lovely wings.”

I can has rethread?

[hear_the_drums]

"Sometimes." He finally did manage a smirk then. "I don't suppose that's my judgment to make, though." Whatever part of his brain that was aware that maybe this was not the best being to butt heads with, it was shoved to the back and gagged with sock. Common sense was fleeting at the moment.

[late_born_myth]

"Oh, really, why not?" she asked. Nothing in her voice or manner suggested she saw this as butting heads; it was all inquiry and sweet reason. "Gnothi seauton said the Oracle, and the gods know the world's full enough of people who'll be ready to judge you whether you've taken pains to judge yourself or not."

[hear_the_drums]

He rolled his eyes at the mention of the Oracle. How cute.

"Oh, knowing myself has never really been a problem." -couldn't be, really, not when you were given to yourself at such a tender age- "I suppose I should have said that it's better to let others judge for themselves, since they will anyway. At least it lets them feel they still have some control over things, being able to call it right or wrong and have done with it. More comfortable."

[late_born_myth]

Well, the Delphic Oracle might deserve a little eyerolling for its prophesies; Apollo certainly didn't stint on the twee omniscience in Psyche's day. That didn't change the fact that it was a perfectly real place, and the trouble with its truest pronouncements was just that they were true.

"More comfortable for whom? Part of the point of that aphorism was that self-knowledge can lead you to a better knowledge of others - not always a goal everyone finds attractive, but I should think you would, if you're bothering to be disingenuous with me about how and why one might influence the perceptions of others."