Ficlet: The Moment After (S&S/DW)
Title: After the Moment
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 347
Characters/Pairings: Silver/The Moment
Notes/Warnings: None. (Possible spoilers for The Day of the Doctor?)
Summary: Someone always has to clear up after the grand gestures - and that someone is rarely the Doctor.
For
john_amend_all in the 500 Prompts Meme #197: the moment - Silver/The Moment (S&S/DW). (Because apparently one Silver fic inevitably leads to another.)
***
“You don’t like me,” she says.
“I wouldn’t put it quite that way.”
“He likes a big red button. You don’t?”
Silver ran his fingers along the box’s casing - gently, very gently, both caressing and tremulous. “Not as a rule, no. They tend to be . . . somewhat drastic in effect.”
“He’s not very good at tidying up,” she says. “But you, you are. Are you going to destroy me? Reduce me to atoms. Sparkling specks. Nothingness. Poetic justice. All finished. Assignment completed.” She’s slightly mocking now, if with a note of melancholy.
Silver doesn’t look up from the box: the girl isn’t there, the girl is the box. Silver knows that far too well to be distracted. “Do you think I could?”
There’s a long pause and he can feel her - it - her assessing him, weighing him up. She’s not sure, he thinks and finds that comforting.
“I don’t know. If you tried hard enough, maybe. But you think I’m beautiful, don’t you? Beautiful and terrible. Do you destroy beauty? Can you risk the terror if you don’t?”
“Sometimes,” says Silver. “It all depends. But you are exquisitely made, I’ll say that for you.” He looks up at the girl suddenly, after all. The box - the girl - the Moment - is many things, but this is what she’s chosen to be, and what’s chosen is usually the most significant. “I could,” he offers, “limit some of your most destructive capabilities. You’re very - ah - adaptive. You might find a new career ahead of you - so to speak. Would you like me to try?”
“It could go wrong. As you say, I’m very adaptive. Programmed to prevent hostile tampering. Counter your moves by carrying out my purpose. Boom!”
Silver smiles. “I don’t think your purpose is that clear, is it? And wouldn’t it be more interesting not to? Only think of the possibilities.” His fingers on the box are more assured now as he traces them over the surface. “Imagine it. You can do that, can’t you? I think you can.”
She does. And, inevitably, so does he.
***
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there:
Author: lost_spook
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 347
Characters/Pairings: Silver/The Moment
Notes/Warnings: None. (Possible spoilers for The Day of the Doctor?)
Summary: Someone always has to clear up after the grand gestures - and that someone is rarely the Doctor.
For
john_amend_all in the 500 Prompts Meme #197: the moment - Silver/The Moment (S&S/DW). (Because apparently one Silver fic inevitably leads to another.)
***
“You don’t like me,” she says.
“I wouldn’t put it quite that way.”
“He likes a big red button. You don’t?”
Silver ran his fingers along the box’s casing - gently, very gently, both caressing and tremulous. “Not as a rule, no. They tend to be . . . somewhat drastic in effect.”
“He’s not very good at tidying up,” she says. “But you, you are. Are you going to destroy me? Reduce me to atoms. Sparkling specks. Nothingness. Poetic justice. All finished. Assignment completed.” She’s slightly mocking now, if with a note of melancholy.
Silver doesn’t look up from the box: the girl isn’t there, the girl is the box. Silver knows that far too well to be distracted. “Do you think I could?”
There’s a long pause and he can feel her - it - her assessing him, weighing him up. She’s not sure, he thinks and finds that comforting.
“I don’t know. If you tried hard enough, maybe. But you think I’m beautiful, don’t you? Beautiful and terrible. Do you destroy beauty? Can you risk the terror if you don’t?”
“Sometimes,” says Silver. “It all depends. But you are exquisitely made, I’ll say that for you.” He looks up at the girl suddenly, after all. The box - the girl - the Moment - is many things, but this is what she’s chosen to be, and what’s chosen is usually the most significant. “I could,” he offers, “limit some of your most destructive capabilities. You’re very - ah - adaptive. You might find a new career ahead of you - so to speak. Would you like me to try?”
“It could go wrong. As you say, I’m very adaptive. Programmed to prevent hostile tampering. Counter your moves by carrying out my purpose. Boom!”
Silver smiles. “I don’t think your purpose is that clear, is it? And wouldn’t it be more interesting not to? Only think of the possibilities.” His fingers on the box are more assured now as he traces them over the surface. “Imagine it. You can do that, can’t you? I think you can.”
She does. And, inevitably, so does he.
***
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there: