bakerstreet | Damn you, spruce bark beetles!

Okay, good. *He yawns.* Nice of you.

I'm just trying to keep you sane. [He lets himself drift off after a while.

The next morning they had an unexpected visitor after breakfast time. Pete had shown up, wanting to talk to them about the Master. He wasn't at all happy with the arrangement, already noticing how Handy was slacking off at work with some secret project and how Rose was caught in this. Everyone was worried with just cause, but the real icing on the cake was the late night phone call Jackie had gotten from Rose about everything that had been said.

So they all sat in the living room, the three of them (Rose had gone to see her mother), with Pete looking none too happy]

*Sigh.* Honestly, what do you expect? Incomplete or not, he's my best and oldest friend. We're the only people with Time Lord blood in this universe, and his original is the only one still alive back home.

We have 1000 years of history together, good and bad and sometimes bizarre or downright insane. But we were babies together, as close as twin brothers, and nothing you do can change that.

I've offered every concession to you, human, and I've never done that before. But death is my only medicine and without it I will break. The only reason I haven't broken already is because the disease started slow--I can never show anyone else the real force of it, for fear of breaking them worse than me.

I can be an assassain, an executioner, a soldier. I've been in much worse wars than any you humans have fought yet. I fought in the Last Great Time War, and I was in skirmishes of the Second War in Heaven. Your brain can't even imagine a Time War, Pete.

So would you rather gain a Black Ops type, or possibly lose everything? It shouldn't be that hard a choice.

Is that a threat? [Pete wasn't at all amused by any of this, especially with an offer like that. Really he was thinking of having the team come and pick the Master up.

Handy tries not to roll his eyes at being called incomplete, but he knows how true that is. He feels like they're sitting back at the Academy, being yelled at for their latest prank. If this weren't so serious, he'd laugh a little.]

John, I've already warned you about this. You've been slacking off with your duties, working on who knows what. Don't think because you're with Rose that I won't have you sacked and thrown into a cell for insubordination. I understand that you've been having a hard time adjusting to your life year and that you're excited to have someone from your former species, but we have the planet to look out for.

You mean you're going to pretend you weren't threatening me first? *The Master's hands flicker with energy for a moment, before he forces it down.* You are essentially threating to torture me into permanent catatonia.

But that doesn't matter, does it? Because I'm not human and you don't know me personally. So you can lock me in a little box until my brain turns to mush and that's okay. That's fine, we have no rights and why not just shoot us each in the head, hmm? Same result and a lot quicker. And then you can dissect us like in the good old days without dear Rose complaining. Only because she'd probably have committed suicide, but that's alright. Your stupid little planet is so precious that who gives a shit about torturing and murdering anyone whose morals are just sightly different? Who cares about your daughter's boyfriend dying, he's not important!

But if you're willing to torture someone to death, why aren't you willing to have an executioner on the payroll? Or do you just not want to tell yourself the truth? Because I think the truth isn't something you should kill mental patients to hide.

Edited 2012-07-07 03:41 (UTC)

[Pete frowns even more at the Master's words while Handy nearly jumps up to stop him from talking. He knows the Master's upset at Pete's thinking and while he doesn't agree, he can understand it. This world did suffer from the Cybermen and the Daleks and everything. They're only trying to protect one's own.

Pete clears his throat and leans forward, hands folded in his lap.]

I'll agree to this; You can continue to live as you are, but you are not to hunt down anyone innocent, understand? If we send you on a mission, you are to complete it as we see fit. Also, we will assign you housing. You are not to continue living with Rose and John. Is all this understood?

[Handy sees Pete out, but not before exchanging a few words. They're hardly calm or nice, and when Pete leaves he slams the door shut. His hands go to his hair, tugging at it as he paces back and forth and muttering about stupid apes and their small minds.

When he finally stops, he turns and looks at the Master.]

He's ordering me to a therapist. Me! He's going to make me see some paid shrink who knows nothing about non-human relations because I have "an unhealthy attatchment". [He even does the quotation marks with his fingers.]

I promise. There are enough criminals and utter bastards around to keep me somewhat sane. And I'm good at obeying orders, as long as they make sense at all.

I would appreciate my own apartment, I don't want to be in the way.

*Once Pete is gone he sighs and rolls his eyes.* Honestly, doesn't he understand how people work at all? Of course we're attached, idiot, we're the last of our kind! And in any case, I'm the crazy one. It should be me talking to the shrink. Or at least we could see her together . . . hey, mind if I do come with you?

Oh, he understands that. He just thinks it'll detract from my development as a human. Suddenly everyone thinks they know what's best for me cause I only grew out of a hand, nevermind the fact I've got over 850 years on the whole lot. And Jackie's worried because I might just up and swan off to chase you around. Who do they think I am?

[He sighs and flops down on the couch, beside the Master.] Go ahead. It'd be better for you if I mediate.

But you can't just stop being who you are! And I'm starting to think your swanning off might be for the better all around . . .

Want to come therapize with me? You're good at helping me keep calm. And maybe if we explain things the therapist will understand better. *He frowns.* They've got one who is in the know, right?

They do. I was supposed to see her when I first came here. To help me better acclimate. I told 'em to stick it. [Obviously when he gets upset, that Donna side comes out more.] I know who I am, mostly. I don't need anyone tell me anything different.

I'll go with you. Maybe we can get someone else on our side. I mean, humans have strong bonds with childhood friends. Granted they're a lot less than our bond, but still. Best example I could give.

Okay. More people who understand would be nice . . . when are we supposed to see her?

Tomorrow morning, around nine-ish I think he said.

Alright. *He sighs.* If not for Rose I'm not sure Pete would be alive by now. He really annoys me.

After everything that's happen to this world, he's only trying to protect it. Besides, even if it weren't for Rose you wouldn't touch him. I'd get dumped here either way and probably be stuck living with him and Jackie anyway. I wouldn't let Jackie suffer the loss of her husband again.

*He nods.* Yeah, alright. I still don't like it, though.

[So it's the next morning and they're only slightly late to their therapy session at Torchwood. Actually the therapist is a bit happy to see the Master at this session because she can find out just what was going on between them.]

Well, let's start our session, shall we? Anything either of you would like to talk about?

Oh, a lot of things. For example, being childhood friends excuses a lot of things. Being the last of your people even more so. Since we happen to be both, I'd think it would be a bit more understandable that we care about each other in spite of everything else. Even insanity and pain.

But no. The idiot in charge want us to stop caring about each other. Probably so that he can kill me without consequences, because I'm dangerous or some shit. Honestly, it's not like there aren't plenty of worse people hanging around. At least I'm not planning to destroy the world.

I doubt Pete's goal is to kill you. [Handy's wandering about the room, looking at all the little knickknacks and trying to get a look at the therapists' ledger before he settles down on the couch. Already he's looking to leave. This gets all noted down of course.

The therapist leans back in her seat a little.]

That's very understandable. Being the last two of your kind would draw you two together. What we're having trouble understanding is this pact you've both made. Once dies and the other follows, correct?

I'm dangerous. A threat to his precious civilians. He'd love to see me dead.

It's not a pact, just the most likely outcome. We've thought about things and realized that if one of us was lost the other would almost certainly have a complete meltdown. And since mental breakdowns on either of our parts would be seriously bad, both of us and probably a lot of other people would wind up dead. *He frowns.* On that note, I'll have to remake my old ring for you. Don't want it to be a matter of when, not if . . .

Unfortunately, my mind is in a big enough mess that obeying the law would be enough to destroy it. It's complicated, but essentially I was turned into a weapon as a child and by now I literally can't go on without regularly committing murder. Killing is just what I do, Death is my eternal companion, torture is a way to prevent boredom and anthropophagy is a good meal. I've been killing people who deserve it, lately, but not many people care if I'm trying to be good or not.

It's not worth wasting the ring. Not when there's still another me.

I've already lost him once and it was horrible enough. [He sighed, tilting his head back and looking up at the ceiling.] He's the only connection I have to who I was before, and I don't think I could handle loosing all that.

Right now I'm the only person who the Master trusts and the only one who can help him. I'm even working on something to help curb all those urges he has. This is what Pete doesn't understand. Just because I have Rose now and I'm a member of her family...I can't just leave him to suffer.

[The therapists nods and jots some more things down before leaning back in her seat.]

By human standards, it's very hard to understand. Really, we would think it's very unhealthy and work on separating the two of you, especially since one of you is partially human.

What about by your species standards?

Our species is dead. That's half the reason we're like this, and it's one that doesn't seem to be getting through to you. Anyway, the Time Lords pretty much despised us for daring to go out and see the universe, so why should we care what a hidebound bunch of morons thought?

Have you ever had a close friend whose life sucked? Who got sent to prison or went nuts or anything? Imagine you and them were the last humans in the world. That there was nothing to show mankind had ever been. Would getting attached to that person be unhealthy, or the only way to save what sanity you yourself had left?

Partly human or not, Handy has a thousand years of my best friend's memories. He will never think of himself as a human, because for a thousand years he simply wasn't. And the species he thinks of himself as is me and me alone. Not the race or the culture, the entire species. Humans are weak and clumsy and stupid and their skin is hot and they don't breathe right and they have such slow pulses that they should be dead and everything is off. I'm right to him, more right even than his own body, I'm the only normal person in an Uncanny Valley world.

It doesn't matter what I've done, because I remember orange skies and rust-red grass and how we climbed the silver trees together. No one else in the universe even knows what those skies looked like, much less sat next to him to stargaze. And a thousand years later, the days when I was five or six and played with him were the best days of my life. I was happy and sane and I had a good friend. And that was all I ever needed. All I wanted, until the bad things took me away.

I suppose I would get attached if humanity ended. But we would be alone on a planet with no one else to worry about. The both of you have chosen to adopt this world, and unfortunately need to follow the rules of it. I can understand that you have issues that need to be worked out and the only way that you can deal with that right now is to kill, but you need to understand that we have to look out for the needs of everyone. Now that the issue of mental instability has been brought up, we can work on it and be able to act accordingly.

[This session wasn't going to go anywhere with the two of them together. So it would be better to separate them.]

Well, his identity is something I would like to talk to him about alone. We can continue our chat on your relationship tomorrow.

And I've tried as hard as I can. But 900 years of madness is almost as hard to get over as a thousand years of friendship, so I would appreciate a little leeway.

I'll just wait outside, then, shall I? *He goes to the couch in the waiting room and lies down for a bit.*

[It's about a half hour before he comes out of the office. He's trying his best not to look how he feels, walking over to the couch to fetch the Master.]

All done. We should probably go get you situated in your new flat. Maybe give you a quick tour of the area before I have to head in to work.

Is she on our side or not? I couldn't tell. *He sighs.* Although she did seem a bit thick. Is our friendship really so hard to understand? Even Jack and Martha seemed to get it more than them.

New flat it is. I hope they don't mind me repainting it, white walls tend to bore me and boredom can get dangerous in my case.

the BAD MOVIE NIGHT meme

KK :D

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Sorry about all the edits. Can Pete be convinced this time?

Sure. But it'll be a very shaky truce.

He can live with that, he's used to it

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Play that out now?

Sure ^__^

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So, onto the therapy session!

I'll probably be going to sleep soon, just so you know

Me too. Actually I should have been in bed by now. :P

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