Coffee in the Park [L&M]
New York City is full of interesting and strange people. People who catch your eye from the sheer oddity of them. Beautiful people, who hardly seem real, that you just stare at them as they pass and wonder how anyone could give birth to something so perfectThe dark-haired girl on the bench is none of those things. Pretty, but not exceptionally
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And that's when he sees her, just another human child, not as pretty as he'd like, but one little detail grabs at his mind. The pendant. The watch.
He turns and pretends to be fascinated by a squirrel, looking and not-looking at the girl and the watch, and dares the unthinkable, just the briefest of mental probes directed at that painfully familiar watch.
:Who are you?: He's guarded, of course, keeping as much of himself back as possible. He has a vague memory of awareness during his imprisonment in that hateful piece of metal, and it wouldn't do to have whoever was in there recognise him.
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The power, the being in the pendent, it notices though. Sleepily, quietly, faintly. It doesn't respond with words so much as a brief impression of emotion. A flash of responsibility. Power. Guiltworryfear.
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He steps closer, but not too close... He'd hate to scare the girl off. Just close enough to establish himself in her subconscious awareness before he speaks.
"Ah, Miss? Could I trouble you for just a moment?" He furrows his brow, playing the part of the confused tourist for the time being, but oozing passive mesmerism. Nothing overt, nothing to trap her, just a subtle layer of mental background noise for her to soak up. Like me. Trust me. I'm harmless.
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"Yeah, no problem. Can I help you?"
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And he has her, and it's so, so good. Now the trick is to keep her from remembering the wrong things. Keep her off guard. He's not interested in waking Romana just yet. Not until she's tied to him, until he's sure she won't (abandon him, leave him alone) take it into her head to go hunting for the Doctor.
"You're quite the special girl," he says, squeezing her hands. "You've no idea just how special. Something of us... remains with you."
He smiles for her then, just a little. "Your coffee's going cold, by the way."
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"I don't understand, though," she presses. "How can I be dreaming about your people?" She pauses, and frowns. "And... what do you mean by 'remains'? You talk like they're all gone."
Oh, if only she knew.
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"Well," he says, choosing his words carefully, pausing for a sip of his (admittedly inferior) tea. "There are a few possiblities. It's not unheard of for humans to be a bit psychic, to... pick up on things. We've also been known to... Hide ourselves. To assume a human form as a disguise.
"There was a war," he continues. "A Time War. The Time War. I was... pressed into the fight. They brought me back to be their perfect soldier, to die for them in a fight they were already losing. And... I couldn't. I ran. I hid. Became human. It was how I survived. As for everyone else... I don't know. We can feel each other, usually. We know when there are others. But it's so very quiet..."
He looks troubled, and that, he doesn't have to feign. Where are they? They can't really all be gone, can they? Not really?
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"I'm so sorry," she says gently. "I can't... I can't even imagine how much that must worry you."
It doesn't even occur to her that she could be disguised. After all, he just said "disguise", not that she'd have false memories of always being human. She must be a little psychic - probably she lives near someone who is a disguised Time Lord. But it wouldn't be her.
"Is there anything I can... I mean, I don't know if I'd be able to do anything to help, but if I can..."
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