InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I command you to join asylums."

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?"

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -