RP for renegadeinexile

[thecricketer]

The Doctor had his head beneath the console, a tool kit at his side, and his hands plunged in very delicate wiring.

He didn't need to make this repair, not strictly; the TARDIS ran well enough without it. But it would make reactions just a bit smoother, just a bit swifter - and besides, he felt he owed her some tender caring to anyway.

It certainly wasn't because he needed something to distract him while he waited.

He wasn't impatient, he decided as he pulled a thin silver rod from the ancient box; he'd given her as much time as she needed and he'd meant it. He just...well, he never was good at standing still, really, especially when there were nagging thoughts to run from.

So he worked, and was content, and sometimes he smiled. He already knew what their first real trip should be - he'd promised already, after all.

Comments

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He returned the smile, but several moments passed before he spoke again; he knew when to allow one to look in silence.

"Is there any place in particular you'd like to visit?" he asked softly.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"Erm." Her eyes darted quickly to the palace, and she laughed softly. "Let's not go there."

She bit her lip, thinking, and then her eyes lit up. "Come on," she said, tugging at his hand. "I know just the place for you."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He offered no resistance, laughing softly as she led him.

"A pleasant surprise, I hope?"

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She nodded, smiling as she looked back over her shoulder. "There's a gathering place just a few blocks away. People come together there for, erm, it's sort of the equivalent of coffee. They drink, and argue, and talk, and tell stories. The Raja brought me once when I first arrived, before he was courting me; once he'd started that I was far too well-known to visit again for everyday sorts of conversations. It wasn't as if the ruler's consort could sit idly at the edge of the plaza and listen in on conversations."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The description widened his smile into a grin; anticipation was clear in his voice.

"I imagine not, no. That's why I've always preferred anonymity."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I begin to see the attraction," she replied, leading him around a corner and into a large open-air plaza. "Ah. And here we are."

All along the edges were tables of various sizes surrounded by chairs, and low benches. People were gathered around them, in pairs, in groups, talking animatedly.

She smiled at the Doctor. "Do you want a drink? If you'll find us somewhere to sit I'll get the drinks sorted..."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He grinned at her, delighting in the easy, earnest conversation surrounding them.

"Certainly." He squeezed her hand before drawing it away; he wasn't entirely sure why.

He decided not to analyse it as he strode towards an empty table near the centre of it all.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She blinked at the hand-squeezing, breaking into a small but bright smile as she watched him walking away.

She turned and crossed the plaza, joining the queue for drinks, eavesdropping on bits of conversation as she waited. It was as it always had been, history, current events, trade, gossip, and she noted that things seemed to be going well.

If she were honest, she also was listening very hard for any mention of herself, good or bad.

But there was none by the time she'd gotten their drinks, and so she started weaving her way back across the plaza, her eyes searching the crowd for the Doctor.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He kept his gaze on her as best he could, wondering about any number of things, from what she might hear to what, exactly, would be in their drinks.

After she stepped back into the throng of tables and chatter he lost sight of her; he stood, giving a slight wave.

In the back of his mind he wished it was always this simple to be reunited.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She caught sight of him when he waved, her face lighting up. She wove her way to him, joining him at the table, setting down a cup in front of each.

"Here." She smiled, settling in and wrapping her fingers around the cup, clutching it in both her hands. "It's rather similar to coffee. We have a fruit here that resembles a cherry, and the seeds are collected and roasted similar to coffee on Earth. That's what this is. It's cut with a dairy thickener and sweetening agent."

She watched him fondly as he settled himself, both marvelling at and savouring the easy companionship that had risen between them over time.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He sat down again as she approached the table, looking up at her with a warm, grateful smile when she set his cup in front of him.

It didn't fade as he listened, and once again he wondered how she did it.

It seemed, when he thought a genuine smile would never touch his lips again, someone came along who utterly ruined the theory.

"It sounds splendid." Luckily, when he took a sip, his taste buds agreed with him.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"It's not half bad," she replied, smiling. "I've missed it. Hadn't really given that much thought until I was standing in the queue."

Her eyes wandered momentarily to a neighbouring table, where the discussion seemed to be getting rather animated and passionate. Someone was saying something she hadn't caught about this Raja being far more fair and benevolent than the last one... though just hearing those words relieved her somewhat. She was glad to know things hadn't gotten worse.

She smiled, meeting the Doctor's eyes again. "They stay here well into the night, you know," she said, canting her head at the crowd. "Always something to talk about, I imagine, until you need to sleep."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He found himself distracted as well, glancing at the fervent debaters with a curious eye. Oh, it was always nice to find people who were involved, who cared. Passion could be quite absent, sometimes, replaced by complacency, apathy.

His wandering thoughts showed in the faint smile that became a faint frown that was a smile again when she spoke.

"There's always someone with a different opinion, willing to defend it..." His smile widened, then.

"What about you? Is there anything you'd like to argue?"

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She blinked at him over the rim of her cup, then set it down, smirking faintly.

"You may find this difficult to believe. In fact, I'm glad you're seated. The shock alone..."

She fixed him with a mock-serious gaze as the debate at the neighbouring table about how that Raja had clearly had it coming.

"There is nothing I wish to argue at the moment."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His hand rose to cover his lips, eyes widening as he gasped behind his fingers. He stared at her, aghast, as they wrapped again round his drink.

"You're certain you're Ushas? You're not possessed, or anything?" He managed to look perfectly concerned, even distressed.

The sharp glance at the other table was quick enough as to never have happened.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

Her eyes narrowed at him, but good-naturedly. "I'm quite sure, yes," she replied, raising her cup to her lips again.

The animated discussion at the next table broke into full-on shouting. "Natural causes, nothing!" one of the men declared. "There's nothing natural about heart failure at that young an age. Someone killed him. We all know the man had scores of enemies. I wouldn't have put it past the Rani, even. She sure was close enough to him to do it."

The woman in question blanched ever so slightly, setting her cup back on the table in front of herself. "Quite sure," she said. "Nothing's wrong at all."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He was grinning by then, but it faded as the outburst penetrated his thoughts like a blunt knife. The murmuring - of dissent, of agreement - began to build and he would have looked, if he wasn't concentrating on his companion.

He might have missed it, her reaction, but he'd been expecting one. His brow was furrowed, slightly - curiosity, concern, perfectly masking a certain kind of anger.

"You're certain?" he said quietly.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She tilted her chin up at once, meeting his gaze squarely, her initial insticts bringing a sharp retort to her lips. She meant to protest, to laugh off the argument dismissively, to chide him for putting stock in baseless rumour, for trusting a stranger's utterances over her own presence.

She meant, in short, to lie, cheat, and manipulate her way out of it.

But she bit back the words, and took a deep breath.

He had gone so far out of his way to be fair, to be kind, not to give up on her.

It was only fair that she allow him the opportunity to walk away. It was only fair that she confirm what had been spoken, what they both knew--oh, he knew, she saw it lurking behind his eyes even as he tried to hide it--to be the truth.

She replied, in just as quiet a voice as she rose to her feet, "Perhaps we'd better go somewhere a little more quiet, and discuss that."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He expected denial. He wanted denial, or righteous indignation, or sharp words on spiteful conjecture, on baseless assumptions, and he wanted it to be sincere.

Except that didn't happen, and though his eyes widened and his frown deepened he nodded, and rose with her.

"Shall we take our drinks?" His tone was deliberately casual, as was his pose, and then his expression; neither of them needed probing stares or thoughtful muttering.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I can't--" she said, shaking her head, making a face that conveyed her stomach was tied in knots. "If you want yours, that's fine, I just... can't."

It seemed rather a moot point; she wasn't expecting the upcoming discussion to last very long.

"This way," she murmured, canting her head at the opposite side of the plaza from where they'd entered.

This time, she didn't reach for his hand as she led him away.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

Another slight nod, and he didn't give the glass so much as a glance as he followed her.

He wanted to say something as they walked, something soft and warm and reassuring, but nothing came - nothing that would help.

No, he would just wait, and listen.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She didn't say a word as she guided him through the plaza, and out the other side. She was silent as they left the crowd behind, the din of voices slowly fading in their wake.

It wasn't until they'd stepped just inside a quiet alley, out of the way, that she spoke.

"That rather loud man at the other table... everything he said was true."

She met his gaze, her eyes troubled and wary.

"The Raja--my husband--did die at a very young age. He was assassinated."

A few beats, and then:

"And I did it."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His hands found each other behind his back when they finally stopped, clenched tight enough to hurt - the emotion he that didn't allow to seep into anything else.

When she spoke, his expression did not change; his mouth was a thin line, and his eyes were hollow. When he did, his voice was quiet, and very little else.

"Tell me why."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I was very young," she replied, the matter-of-fact tone of her voice conveying that she meant to relate facts, not offer excuses or explanations.

"I did it partly out of wanting an escape. The marriage was miserable. I wasn't a wife; I was an enemy brought under control through manipulation.

I did it partly out of fear. I knew he was tired of me. I feared he'd do the same to me if I didn't act first, to escape our bond, to seek a replacement.

But mostly... I did it out of anger."

She sighed, and forced herself to stand up straighter, head held high. "He humiliated me. Repeatedly. Publicly. He belittled my interests, my talents, my work. He made no secret of having other women. He wore the fact that he had tamed a mighty Time Lord as a vulgar display of power."

Her gaze was unwavering.

"His was the first life I took. It would not be the last. I fear it set me down a very wrong path. That was near to seven centuries ago, and a lot has happened and changed in that time. But I cannot expect you to merely accept my word for it."

She tossed her head slightly, and tucked her hair behind one ear. "I can only humbly request your indulgence in taking me back to where we met, so I might retrieve my TARDIS. But should you be unwilling to do so, well..."

She smiled a small, sharply sad smile. "... at least I'm home again."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His gaze never wavered as she spoke. A number of emotions warred within it, and he made no attempt to disguise them; they ranged from understanding to revulsion, never holding one for long, straying back and forth.

The rest of him was utterly still, and remained so for a long moment after she finished, as he studied her.

Then, quite suddenly, he relaxed, because the woman he was looking at was still the one he knew, and he cared too much, and nothing was futile this time.

He remembered one of the first rules he'd ever made, and why he made it.

So he stepped forward, and took her hand.

"I should have told you," he said softly, "that when someone steps aboard my TARDIS, it's the present, not the past, that matters."