RP for renegadeinexile

[thecricketer]

The Doctor waited outside his TARDIS, leaning nonchalantly against the door and turning his hat in his hands. Only in them was his anxious excitement evident.

It had been good seeing Ushas after so long. He'd almost felt young again, talking with her. Remembering that there were times on Gallifrey that he could still remember fondly.

He knew this might not have been the best of ideas. He couldn't simply disregard his future incarnation's suspicion, his enmity, even if he didn't understand it – couldn't understand it, if they were to preserve his future.

He couldn't, however, turn his back on someone who had been his friend for what she might have done. Perhaps she came from both their futures – perhaps things had changed.

Even if he was wrong, he decided it was worth it. They could enjoy their stolen time, for as long as it lasted.

Comments

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

Neither had the Rani, really. She scanned the area, and then raised her free hand, pointing. "Up there," she said, indicating a hill rising over the fields they'd been walking through. "I can't see if there's a path from here... let's hope there is, otherwise we're in for a bit of a workout."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His gaze followed instinctively, and he nodded, drawing away only to take her hand again.

"Oh, I think we can manage." There was that mischevious gleam again, surprising him time and again. He hadn't thought to be cheerful for quite some time.

"I could carry you if you like."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani shot him a look. "You attempt to pick me up, and we might have to come to blows right here in the middle of this field," she announced haughtily. But was that the tiniest hint of a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth.

She was further tempted to comment upon his hand grasping hers, but strangely, she let it go. Even more strangely, she gave it a warm squeeze and kept it clasped in her own. "We'll manage, I'm sure. Shall we?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He raised his eyebrows, a defiant smirk playing at his lips.

"I warn you, I've fought with the best of them." It softened into a more genuine smile after a moment, and he began to walk.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She fell into step quickly beside him, having no choice since their hands were still clasped. Which she really didn't mind. Odd.

"That very well may be, Doctor," she replied, a teasing lilt to her voice. "But so have I. I've beaten the best of them. It might be a more evenly-matched spar than you'd expect..."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He found the connection soothing, natural - as if their new bodies remembered an old kinship, forgotten for so long.

"Have you ever defeated a god?" he asked lightly; the smirk was back, playful and a bit smug. Just a bit.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani raised an eyebrow and returned the smirk. "Not through hand-to-hand combat, no," she admitted.

A few moments' silence, and then she tossed back, just as smugly, "Have you ever had yourself installed as a god?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He turned his head to meet her eyes, his own wide and curious.

"Is this to do with the planet you ruled?"

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

She grinned at that, and shook her head. "No, actually. I was only a ruler there, not a god. I accidentally wound up on some remote forested planet some time back, a good few hundred light-years from here. The inhabitants decided, since I had apparently fallen from the sky and looked so different to them, that I must be the fulfillment of some ancient prophecy, some goddess returned to them. I had the most ridiculous time convincing them otherwise..."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He hid soft, rather delighted laughter behind his free hand hand.

"You managed, though, obviously. Or did you just take off while no one was looking?" Not that he'd know anything about that, though the amused, rather nostalgic look in his eyes said otherwise.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I... convinced them to let me into my magic cabinet. And then I took off."

She laughed too, surprised at how easily it came to her.

Finally, they were approaching the hill. She gazed up, frowning. "I don't see much of a path... though there are plenty of hand and footholds. It's not insurmountable. And perhaps it'll be easier to find or make a path closer to the top, do you see? It gets rather flatter up there."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He chuckled again at that, shaking his head. Sounded rather like what he would do.

His gaze travelled the hill slowly as she spoke, nodding absently.

"Most do. It's certainly not well-travelled, at least not recently." He knelt down, trailing his hand through the grass.

"Shouldn't be very difficult, though, it's far from the steepest I've climbed."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani smirked. "Well then. That's good to know. It means I won't have to worry about keeping an eye on you because you don't know what you're doing."

And with that, she stepped up to the rock face, carefully placing a foot on a ledge. She used it to hoist herself up, reaching for a handhold.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He stood fluidly, reaching upward and hauling himself ahead of her, looking down with a playfully smug smile.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani set her jaw, and began hauling herself up a bit faster, trying to catch him, her competitive streak engaged by both his speed and his smugness. The effort made her face flush, and she was rather a deep shade of pink as she managed to catch up to him, just barely.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He chuckled softly as she rose to his side, his expression warm, and impressed.

"There's no need to rush, you know," he said innocently.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani narrowed her eyes slightly.

"...dreadful," she breathed, a warm smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth as she pulled a bit ahead of him. Her side ached, an abdominal muscle burning and protesting at the sudden burst of movement, but she'd never tell the Doctor that.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His eyes widened, more in delight than surprise; his own muscles felt the strain of his speed but he couldn't start pacing himself now.

He reached for a distant handhold, and as he pulled himself up his shoulders didn't scream, but did tell him to sod off thank you ver much.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

There was a plateau just ahead of them, a few more arms' lengths up. The Rani pushed her protesting muscles as hard as they would go...

...and still only managed to crawl up onto the blessedly flat ledge a second after the Doctor reached it.

She pulled herself up onto it, sitting, dangling her legs down the way they'd come, huffing a bit as her eyes searched the landscape below. She turned toward the Doctor, seemingly ready with some biting remark, but instead she sort of made a face and put her hand over the stitch in her side.

"I'm getting far too old for that," she panted.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor was leaning back on his elbows, breathing deeply through curved lips. That...well, that was fun, and he won!

He turned to her, eyes lit with laughter - "Come now, you can't be so much older than...well, no, I suppose you can considering" - that faded as his brow furrowed. He pushed himself into sitting position and leaned closer.

"Well, we should certainly get rid of that before moving on. Lie down?" His expression was bright, and beseeching.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

The Rani was still panting, her exhalations sounding out very audibly from parted lips. She glanced over at the Doctor and gave him a look that started out saying "do what?" but quickly gave way to "I'm too sodding winded to argue with you."

She lowered herself gingerly onto her back, and lay there, blinking up at the sky, her breathing starting to quiet just a bit.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Thank you." He scooted closer and reached out, applying gentle pressure as he stroked one of her ribs.

"This will hurt at first, just a moment..."

His touch was deft, practical, determinedly that of a doctor. It was all that kept him from flushing further. That, and explaining himself.

"...It's the, ah, well, humans call it the primary serratus anterior trigger point. Straining those muscles is usually what causes these kind of cramps - ah, if I'm wrong this won't work. Sorry." She should have been feeling the pain ebb away by then, since he doubted it was serious.

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"Doctor..."

The Rani drew in a breath sharply, a bit from discomfort, and a bit more from surprise. The last thing she'd expected to be doing this afternoon was lying prone on her back with his hands on her body. "I see," she breathed, exhaling, forcing herself to relax under his ministrations.

She shifted a bit, the tightness around her eyes slowly wearing away as the pain ebbed. "That's... actually much better," she murmured, blinking up at him. "...thank you."

She took a few more breaths, and smiled faintly.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He grinned down at her, hand falling away.

"You're welcome." He drew back, resting on his hands, the smile lingering.

"It's a good technique to know."

[thisway-comes.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad you knew it."

The Rani sat up, still smiling. She folded her long legs under herself, and rested her forearms on her knees. "Shall we rest for a bit before we start the final assault on the top of the hill?" she asked. "And shall we further agree, no racing the rest of the way...?"