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Tweak says, "Immortals all, the Holy Five"

mary lampion is anything but ordinary (momentouschild) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-01-26 18:38:00

Entry tags:

mary lampion, the master

WHO: Mary Lampion and the Master [with a guest appearance by Mickey the Mogwai]
WHAT: The resident crazypants!Time Lord meets the resident tiny!reality-hopper. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
WHEN: Mid-afternoon
WHERE: The Doctor's TARDIS → an AU!Colligo
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

With things going to back to what passed for normal in the city, Mary had taken to exploring other realities once again. Some of the ones she visited were really interesting and some of them weren't very different at all. Each and every time, though, she always came back having learned something new and exciting and wanting nothing more than to share her findings with the Doctor. Unfortunately, the Doctor had other things he was busy doing sometimes so Mary sometimes found herself arriving back on the TARDIS with the Time Lord nowhere to be found.

This time was one of those times. Although, unlike other times, Mary had known the Doctor wouldn't be there when she returned. It wasn't often that she knew such things but this time she did, which made her arrival a bit different than what was normal for her.

Appearing seemingly out of nowhere courtesy of a small fissure in the reality walls, the eight-year-old's re-arrival was forewarned only by a sudden, small wave of water. She showed up immediately after it, pants rolled up to her knees and barefooted, with a small, clearly wet Mogwai in her arms. The creature made a displeased sound and Mary huffed, bending over to set him on the ground. "It's not my fault," she insisted as she stood straight again, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning down at him. "I told you not to touch that valve. I told you it was the only thing keeping the water back. You need to listen more! You're just lucky that I was able to shut it off or we'd both be in real big trouble right now. You know the Doctor'd give us one of his looks if we went and flooded a whole other Colligo."

Mary rolled her eyes when Mickey squeaked something back at her, turning on her heel as she slid her backpack off her shoulders. "Don't start in on that again," she groused as she plopped down on the ground and pulled out her shoes and socks - carefully tucked inside a plastic bag inside her backpack - and began putting them on. "I told you, it's not my-"

The squeak of alarm from the Mogwai stopped Mary in her tracks. Immediately she was on her feet, absently catching the creature as he leapt into her arms and pressed his tiny face against her neck. Eyes wide, it was only then that she finally noticed the man who was standing off to the side of the room. Not the Doctor, her mind instantly hissed at her. Not River Song either. But definitely a Time Lord. If nothing else, the way he shifted and glimmered ever so slightly to her unique vision alerted her to that much.

Not sure who he was, though, aside from his species, Mary hesitated for a few brief seconds. Then she finally managed to find her voice again, with only the slightest of wavers as she straightened her shoulders and demanded, "Who're you and what're you doing here?"

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cantyouhearit
2012-01-28 03:30 am UTC (link)

The Master sort of felt the urge to put up an argument. After all, he wasn't normally one to take orders from anyone that he could easily pick up and throw over his shoulder, particularly when they had the age to match. But the Master wasn't a moron. He was smart enough to know that Time Lord or not, the only way that he would get back to where they'd left was if she deemed him worthy to take back. So the Master smiled, snapping to attention to half mock her before declaring, "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" And doing a half spin as he headed towards the door. "I should probably go first," He said, pulling it open as he flashed her a smile and twirled his laser screwdriver between his fingers. "You're not exactly prepared to deal with men with guns," He said before slipping out into the hallway and holding the door for her to follow him.

There were police patrolling for some type of curfew, so that Master was certain that getting out of the building was going to be no simple task. But down one flight of stairs and along another hallway, and they hadn't encountered any obstructions yet. Perhaps it was just enough to get them to let down their guard so that they would be able to apprehend them easily when they did reach the people keeping watching.

Sparing a glance back over his shoulder at Mary, the Master motioned for her to move ahead of him. Police, even corrupt ones, were far less likely to shoot a tiny child wandering about a night in the hallways than they were a grown man. After all, she could just be lost or locked out of her family's flat. It would just be bad form to shoot a lost child.

Of course, Mary was smart so she could probably easily see that he was offering her up as distraction bait for whoever was waiting for them. Then again, maybe he'd get lucky and she wouldn't.

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momentouschild
2012-01-30 03:13 am UTC (link)

Mary gave the Master a knowing look, wholly unaware how odd the expression was on a child her age. She'd always been smarter than other kids, something she'd inherited from both of her parents and therefore had been raised to embrace rather than feel self-conscious about. And while it was true that sometimes she missed important details of situations due to lack of life experience and a true belief that everyone had at least something good within them and could therefore be trusted and redeemed to some sort of degree, she typically saw right through rather obvious attempts to undermine or belittle her.

Or, in this instance, use her for bait.

"Chicken," she muttered with a dramatic sigh and shake of her head. "Big, fat chicken." Yet even with her opinion of the Time Lord being stated, she moved past him to the corner of the wall. Peering around it, Mary didn't immediately see anyone. Still she paused, drawing in a breath and exhaling slowly before working up enough nerve to step out into plain sight. She had taken a few tentative steps and was just starting to think that maybe they really weren't going to come across anymore scary policemen when a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Hold it right there!"

Instantly Mary froze, eyes going wide as she slowly turned her head to look at the man in uniform who was approaching her. He was by himself, at least, but he was also resting his hand on the weapon in his holster, which wasn't good. She couldn't risk being arrested and getting in trouble here. That would be bad in ways she was pretty sure even she could imagine. Not only would it possibly get the guy killed anyway, but it would end with her being found out as someone who didn't belong. No matter what else happened, Mary couldn't take the chance of that happening. So, thinking quickly, she did the only thing left at her disposal that she could consider.

She started to cry.

Large tears, prompted by a rather remarkable acting ability, began to roll down her cheeks as her shoulders shook and sobs echoed in the hallway. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed loudly, sniffling for good measure as she began to babble a bit. "Please don't shoot me! I went into the wrong building and the man at the 'partment was mean and wouldn't help or call my folks and I was just trying to get over to the next building and... and... I WANT MY MOMMY!" The last bit was a full-on wail, causing the stunned cop to spring into action and cover the distance between them with a few quiet shh's.

Mary waited until he was close enough then immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his stomach. She turned the waterworks up for good measure and continued to babble into his material about not wanting to go to jail and that she was in so much trouble just as soon as she got home. Eventually, after a few seconds of hysterics, she let the cop believe he'd calmed her down to the point that she was no longer sobbing. He continued to reassure her, awkwardly patting her head and telling her that he wouldn't report her and would make sure she got across the street and avoided the patrol coming by in a few minutes, but that they had to leave now if they were going to manage it.

"Thanks," Mary said as she pulled away enough to peer up at him, eyes shining as she offered him a small smile. "And I'm real sorry about this." There was sincerity in her voice even as he frowned down at her in confusion at her sudden lack of tears. He didn't get a chance to ask what she meant, or was doing, though, because as soon as the words left her mouth she took a small step back, released her hold around his waist, then shoved him with all of her might.

For one brief second, the cop teetered backward, arms flailing as he both tried to regain his balance as well as snatch back the utility belt that Mary was now holding firmly in her own grasp. Then he was gone with no sign he'd ever been there to begin with. With a soft sigh, Mary dropped her attention to the various items in the utility belt - including the identification card that had a picture of the man as well as some sort of barcode for scanning - and called out calmly, "You can come out now. He's gone someplace else."

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cantyouhearit
2012-01-30 03:55 pm UTC (link)

The Master had intended upon Mary merely serving as a distraction, a decoy to occupy the officer's attention until he could better position himself to eliminate the threat, but as he watched her, quietly impressed at just how well she held her claim in the face of opposition as well as how seamlessly she came up with a suitably plausible and emotionally manipulative lie, he became so transfixed upon her performance that by the time his mind had finally told him that the moment was opportune for him to strike, she already had.

The unbalancing of the cop followed by him seemingly vanishing from existence gave the Master more pause to think about how he was acting and would be acting. He really didn't want to vanish to parts unknown, and it was pretty obvious now that she had no qualms about doing so. A fact which also prompted the Master to think about just how she was really being wasted on the Doctor. He'd never be willing to put skills like that to use. In fact, the Master was certain that if he were here, he'd be frantically demanding that that man be brought back from wherever he'd been sent to immediately without any thought about the fact that after that was done, he'd likely shoot all of them.

Stepping out from where he'd been concealing himself at her call, the Master beamed, a sort of odd pride and quiet admiration in his features as he secured his laser screwdriver back in his pocket. It was obvious he wasn't going to need it at the moment. "You know, you could make a killing doing that," He said, with an idle wave of his hand. "I'm sure everyone has someone in their lives they want to make disappear, and it's less sloppy than killing. And probably not even illegal," which was a shame all in itself, but still. "And I'm not a chicken," He said, seemingly out of nowhere. "I'm just highly strategically minded."

Particularly when the alternative strategy ends in him getting shot.

"Think that ID card will help get us the rest of the way past security?" The Master asked, sincerely curious about her opinion. They didn't have a uniform for him to try and disguise himself, but he was in a rather nice and plain looking suit. He could pass as government if he tried. Or, hell, given this reality, he could actually be government.

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momentouschild
2012-02-01 02:59 am UTC (link)

Truth be told, Mary had every intention of eventually going after the cop she'd sent someplace else. She just wasn't going to do it now and certainly wasn't going to mention her plans at all to the Master. No, she decided it was probably easier to simply let him think what she'd done was something she did all the time rather than admit that she felt pretty guilty for having done it the handful of times she had thus far. She had been raised to treat people nicely, the way she wanted to be treated, and she certainly wouldn't want somebody coming along and shoving her into a place where she didn't belong. Which was an awful lot like what the Asaph guy had done when he'd brought her to Colligo, now that she thought about it. But, unlike the being in charge of Colligo, she had sent the cop someplace real nice, that he'd be perfectly safe, until she fetched him.

Shaking her head a bit when the Master seemed to change topics to defend himself against accusations from a kid, she simply fixed him with a look that was similar to the 'I don't believe you at all so you can just stop right now' one that her mother wore every so often. "My daddy says that for every pound of objecting, there's bound to be at least an ounce of truth to it. Otherwise, nobody'd bother objecting in the first place," she said simply, in a matter-of-fact tone. Considering the discussion closed no matter what the Time Lord might have to say about it after that, she turned her attention fully down to the identification card in her hand.

"Hmm." She looked back to the Master. "Stay right there. Don't move," she instructed him before fully turning her back on him. Then she stared straight ahead for a long moment, seeming to really concentrate on nothing more than thin air. Finally she glanced over her shoulder at him with a decisive look on her face.

"I don't know how far it'll get us, but if we want any answers we need to go that way a good bit. The lines get brighter in that direction so whatever the biggest change was, that's where it started," she said decisively. Pausing for a second, brow furrowed in thought, she finally held the badge out for him to take in a sign of trust, even if she wasn't sure she was one hundred percent sure she really felt it just yet.

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cantyouhearit
2012-02-01 09:19 am UTC (link)

The Time Lord wanted to know what she was seeing. As much as he could feel the flow and shape of the universe moving about them, the feeling just enough of for him to be able to tell that they weren't in the place which they should bee, any deeper details like the ones she was speaking about alluded him. She was able to see the strings of causality, follow the events as they tied together until they traced back to the root cause of the fundamental differences between this universe and the one they'd just left?

No wonder the Doctor had taken such an interest in her well being. There were a number of ways that an ability like that could be put to us. Especially if she had any foresight built in with it. Of course, that probably wasn't the best thing to ask when they were in the middle of some place that seemed to be built up as a small scale military dictatorship. Not really any way to fix that.

Taking the ID card that was being held out to her, the Master flashed her a smile as he reached out and settled a hand on her shoulder as though he was keeping her captive. "Best make a good show if it, then, if we're going to make it that far," He said, smirking as he gave her a small nudge towards the doors and headed out into the lobby with her, trying not to be phased by the way the two remaining guards cocked their weapons at him.

"Who goes there?" One of them demanded, prompting the Master to smile lazily and proceed the ID with a flash, his finger masking the picture, before he slipped it back into his pocket.

"Government attache. I've been told to take this one back to the capital," The Master said, having quietly noted that the direction she had pointed when referring to the lines appeared to be the way to city hall. With that fact in addition to the assumption they'd made about this being the responsibility of the person in charge, it was a simple enough leap to make that was where they needed to go. He really hoped he was right.

The guards spared a glance downward at Mary, a brief look of confusion crossing each of their faces as they exchanged glances, but they lowered their weapons all the same.

"Of course, sir," One said. "I'll alert the patrols that someone is coming through after hours on official business."

"Good, good. As always, gentlemen, we thank you for your cooperation," The Master said, giving Mary another shove as they headed out of the building and onto the street. Moving away from the door and down to the abandoned courtyard, the Master flashed Mary a smile, "So far, so good. And I didn't even have to kill anyone!" Disappointing, really.

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momentouschild
2012-02-11 07:07 pm UTC (link)

Mary wasn't sure this was the smartest plan ever. It was one thing to be on some kind of adventure with the Master. It was another entirely to be in a situation where he was the one whose behavior determined if they wound up being shot at or worse. Especially since he really seemed to like the violence a whole lot more than he really should.

Still. She did want to find out just how things had gotten the way they had in this place, and the only way to do that was to head for the source of the change. Which meant she had no choice but to play along, pretend to be in some kind of trouble, and let him seem like the one in charge. It was dangerous, of that there was no doubt, but she could only hope that he realized the only way he was getting back to his own reality was by keeping her safe. Because if he turned on her, she would leave him here. She'd feel guilty for it, and the Doctor would probably make her come back to get him, but she'd still do it.

Fortunately, the plan seemed to work well enough and, all too soon, they were on the street and away from the guards with the scary guns. Casting a glance at the Master at his comment, she snorted softly. "You don't have to look so bummed at the thought," she muttered before turning her attention back to the empty courtyard and, beyond that, the eerily silent streets.

"This place is too quiet," she said warily. "I don't get it. Why would somebody want to turn the city into something like this?"

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cantyouhearit
2012-02-13 12:13 pm UTC (link)

"Fear is a very unique weapon," The Master said, responding to her last question despite the fact that a tiny part of his brain was pointing out that it was rhetorical. It still sounded like it deserved an answer. "When properly mastered and utilized, one doesn't even need to do much more than exist to bring either civilizations to their knees, make it do whatever you want it to, make its citizens do whatever you tell them. The police are really just for show," He said, motioning to the near empty streets by doing a slight twirl as they were walking.

"This is a true marvel because it's not because of any outside enforcement or brutal regime that's been put into place. It's because people are just too damn afraid of what might happen to chance it," He said, a certain amount of admiration in his tone as they walked. "It's beautiful."

Realizing after he'd said that how it would sound, who he was with, and the fact that, as beautiful as this place was in his mind, he did want to get back whence they came, The Master flashed Mary a very sheepish smile, the best he could feign, "In a completely horrible, not at all correct, very morbid sort of way," He said before relaxing his expression back to normal. As much as he wouldn't have hated the idea of staying in a place more suited to his disposition, at least back home, he didn't have already well established competition to deal with. The best he could manage here would be middle management.

And that simply wasn't acceptable.

"The fact is, whoever turned the city into this had a use for everyone being too scared to question anything that happens here. Whether he's making money with it or plotting interplanetary domination from an unlikely seat of power, he's got a plan for everything that's going on."

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