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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 5, 2011 23:23:18 GMT -5
It was clear that Sarah was in over her head. At least it was also clear which one of these Gallifreyans thought she was better off dead, and which one liked her 'as is'. She knew who to stand behind. The conversation started with an explosion and ended with the memory of a dead boy in the room.
"I'm sorry about your son." She echoed, and also bolted for the stairs. If Harrison was going to go kill himself, she wanted him to send her Brownstone home first.
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 5, 2011 23:29:09 GMT -5
Alec saw Sarah coming after him, and threw his screwdriver at her.
"One click and you're back on Earth." he said.
One last tear fell from his eyes, mourning for a dead world. And a dead man walking.
(OOC: What's your verdict?)
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 6, 2011 16:41:20 GMT -5
She caught the Sonic on the fly at the bottom of the stairs. For an instant she thought he was trying to wound her, but the throw landed perfectly into her upraised hand and he told her what to do with it, to her befuddled relief.
His perfect face was a portrait of grief. She added two and two together and didn't like the answer. Her words were kind, but she delivered them with an edge that verged on anger. Such waste.
"Punishing your self won't help. It won't bring her son back. It won't bring anybody back." She implored. "It doesn't matter who you've been. It matters who you are and what you do right now that counts. The Doctor always believed that. So do I." Her dark eyes flickered away from his just long enough to spot the button.
She pushed it. She pushed it before he could leave the room for certain, whenever it was that he may try. The lecture would come first or last or on the run if need be. She hated the idea of him killing himself. Of anyone killing themselves. Such terrible waste.
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 6, 2011 16:56:52 GMT -5
Dark frowned, banging on where a square of dust showed a refrigerator should've been. Surprisingly, a refrigerator appeared. Alec opened the door, and revealed it to be much bigger on the inside. It was his Tardis.
"Punishing your self won't help. It won't bring her son back. It won't bring anybody back."
He leaned against the Tardis, looking at his feet.
"Don't you think I know that?" he said quietly.
"It doesn't matter who you've been. It matters who you are and what you do right now that counts. The Doctor always believed that. So do I."
He turned back, and if eyes could throw daggers, he was sure launching them.
"Think about. Think about who I am. Don't talk to me about the Doctor." he said.
The Timelord sighed as they came back to earth.
"Ok. Hateful words, like Susan, I can handle. But please, please don't act like you care about me."
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 6, 2011 17:12:26 GMT -5
Now, she was mad.
"I don't know you from your hat, Alec Harrison, and frankly I don't care about you." She settled just a little bit, eyes flickering to Croydon's street lamps glorious out her window.
"I don't care about you personally, really, but I bet somebody does. Someone would miss you, " She said quite boldly, for she could see the death in his pain darkened eyes. "Someone would wish that they were here begging you to live. Everyone should have someone beg them to live, just when they wish to die. Everyone deserves that." Her rant ratcheting down sentence by sentence falling from anger into flat, tired fact.
"So here I am. So tell me why."
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 6, 2011 18:41:14 GMT -5
"I don't know you from your hat, Alec Harrison, and frankly I don't care about you."
Alec nodded, understanding.
"Join the club."
Sarah Jane Smith was obviously mad, but he struggled to find why. He would be out of the picture, no problem of hers.
"I don't care about you personally, really, but I bet somebody does. Someone would miss you," she said, "Someone would wish that they were here begging you to live. Everyone should have someone beg them to live, just when they wish to die. Everyone deserves that."
Alec's shoulders drooped, any hint of the former anger gone into pure, relentless sadness.
"I'll give you props on everything else, but that's where you are wrong," he admitted, "My entire family was burned to death by an insane pyro, my last friend I can remember is- sorry, was, Susan, and as you can see she hates my guts. I've never gotten along with humans, so who does that leave? In your own words not you."
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Post by Susan Foreman on Aug 6, 2011 20:37:39 GMT -5
Ignoring the jibe about her grandfather was the easiest part – with a slightly guilty glance towards Sarah, but the woman hadn’t seemed to notice. Not slamming the steel baton into his head also pretty easy, even despite his open invitation for her to pummel him to death. But staring at the grieving man was the easiest part. The ice around her heart didn’t melt, and she found her lip twitching in annoyance as he ran down stairs.
“I-I’m s-sorry about your s-son.”
The Time Lady sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache. She hadn’t expected the Time Lord to retreat without a fight. Sarah Jane hurried past her, muttering much the same thing about her son. Susan shrugged indifferently, pushing memories of Alex Campbell to the back of her mind again. Forgetting didn’t hurt nearly as bad as remembering.
She followed the woman downstairs, the baton still clutched tightly in her hand. “One click and you’re back on Earth,” he said.
“You’re giving up?” she asked, raising thin eyebrows. “Not a very exciting reunion,” Susan lamented, looking despondently at the unused weapon.
Blue eyes shifted with clinical interest to Sarah Jane. She sounded an awful lot like somebody trying to talk someone away from the edge of a cliff. She rubbed her temples, the kind words grating on her nerves. “Just let him die,” she said, as kindly as she could muster given what she was suggesting. “He deserves it anyway.”
“My entire family was burned to death by an insane pyro, my last friend I can remember is-sorry, was, Susan, and as you can see she hates my guts.”
Susan frowned, the memories beginning to stir in her mind. She pushed them back, because she didn’t want to remember the man sobbing in her arms. She stared at him evenly. “Forgive me for being a little cross when you take an attempt on my life,” she said drily.
What would the Doctor do?[/color]
But it had been too long since she felt anything except contempt. Any niceness she had shown Sarah was for her own selfish wants. She’d be lonely. She wanted her restaurant back. Susan almost opened her mouth to assure him that she didn’t hate him, but kept stubbornly silent. The man wouldn’t believe her anyway, so there wasn’t a point in her wasting her breath.
But then she’d have even more blood on her hands.
“If you feel that way then there isn’t anything that I can say,” she said carefully, putting down the baton. “But I’m still me. I’m still that Susan that you met. I just don’t want to be hurt again. You get that.”
She frowned and bit her lip, unsure where she was trying to go with this. It was her lame attempt at an apology. The hundred years of being lonely and exiled had made her bitter. “So, uh, if you want to die… I’ll miss you,” she said blandly.
[/size][/font]
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 6, 2011 21:05:18 GMT -5
“You’re giving up?” she asked, “Not a very exciting reunion,”
Alec sighed, half inside the Tardis.
"I'm sorry that you're so disappointed."
Susan seemed a bit a distracted, but her speech wasn't any less cold, like a dagger with each uttered word. “Forgive me for being a little cross when you take an attempt on my life,” she said.
Alec didn't even bother answer, he just wished she would stop talking. But of course not.
“If you feel that way then there isn’t anything that I can say,”
"Its a bit late to say that, isn't it?" he asked.
“But I’m still me. I’m still that Susan that you met. I just don’t want to be hurt again. You get that."
"Um...what? I'm having trouble understanding your relevance." he frowned.
Alec knew there was no chance for forgiveness, from anyone. He had outlived his time, he only regretted that it took so dear a friend to realize it.
“So, uh, if you want to die… I’ll miss you,” she said blandly.
Alec snorted.
"I don't believe that, I don't think you do either." he jumped in the Tardis, absent-mindedly leaving the door open. He was heading for the sky-twelve hundred feet above London. He would jump, and hope he was dead before he hit the ground.
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 6, 2011 21:28:18 GMT -5
It was blistering, the strife between these two, the painful secrets revealed. Her life was suddenly seeming so short. Tears ran, unnoticed and untended down her face.
"In my own words, Dark Lord? Let me tell you. I once had to burn up a Weevil on my front lawn. The neighbors wouldn't stop talking about it. I moved six blocks and now nobody knows who I am. GET IT? Have you forgotten the very nature of yourself? To Travel through Time and Space. Because you have the rest of the Universe out there. Start again." Bewildered shake of her head. "Isn't that what Time Lords do? And for the love of Pete, if you want to end it, don't be such a selfish pig. Your TARDIS, no doubt is full of . . . of . .of all kinds of stuff! Go do some good for people who could really use your stuff before you go and throw it all away."
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Post by Susan Foreman on Aug 6, 2011 22:40:39 GMT -5
“I’m having trouble understanding your relevancy,” the Time Lord told her. The woman twitched her fingers, unsure of how to articulate the spare pieces in her mind. How was she relevant in this man’s life? She was just an old friend that had been downtrodden and abandoned, lonely and bitter. They were too much alike; similar circumstances had made them drift off into their own paths. He had become as close to a villain as the man could get; out to for vengeance. She’d become a cold-hearted, manipulative, selfish child.
And she kind of, definitely, wanted him to live. Or maybe she just didn’t want people to have to scrape him off the ground.
She glanced sideways at Sarah as the woman began to talk about charities. “He just tried to kill you,” Susan reasoned, “I doubt he’s the type to donate clothes to blind orphans,” she said drily. Susan looked at the tears – the second time she saw Sarah cry that night – and frowned, looking down at the ground guiltily. How could she tell the woman that she hadn’t cared? She just wanted her life to go back to the way it was, and protecting Sarah had been means to an end.
Susan looked away, hurrying inside of the TARDIS. “Maybe you’re right, Alec. I don’t know if I’ll miss you or if I’ll just miss the company,” she admitted, glancing back towards Sarah to see if the woman would get in the TARDIS. It’d be easier to subdue the man with two people.
“But I want to try, you see. I’m willing to accept that you were trying to kill us in a misguided attempt to bring back your friend,” Susan told him, stepping closer carefully. “Listen, I don’t hate you nearly quite as much as you seem to think I do. Sure, I tried to kill you, but you did kidnap me,” she reasoned, leaning against the console and resting her hand stubbornly over one of the levers.
She smiled at the man and held out her other hand. “I don’t think you sincerely want to die. You want help, my friend, and that’s what I am.” Still holding out her hand – as a symbol, of sorts, that maybe neither of them needed to be given up on – she glanced away, the smile softening slightly. “I’m selfish enough to keep you alive by force.”
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 6, 2011 23:13:17 GMT -5
Alec sighed as Susan followed him. Maybe she wanted his Tardis? He couldn't think of a better person, despite their mutual dislike for each other.
He ignored a jibe she made. Nothing changed. Alec threw the levers, ready to go.
“Maybe you’re right, Alec. I don’t know if I’ll miss you or if I’ll just miss the company,” she admitted, glancing back.
"Ya'know, I can wish good riddance to myself." he said, looking at his feet.
“But I want to try, you see. I’m willing to accept that you were trying to kill us in a misguided attempt to bring back your friend,” Alec's face darkened. Susan stepped closer. “Listen, I don’t hate you nearly quite as much as you seem to think I do. Sure, I tried to kill you, but you did kidnap me,”
"I'll give you that." he conceded.
She rested her hand on a lever, and for the first time in a long time, he genuinely smiled.
"I see you've found the light switch." he chuckled.
Susan smiled, and Alec weakly did the same. He placed his hand in hers, floating over unclear waters.
“I don’t think you sincerely want to die. You want help, my friend, and that’s what I am.”
Alec was surprised, and the shock showed on his face.
"Y-you want to h-help me?" he asked.
“I’m selfish enough to keep you alive by force.” she said, smiling.
"I'm not interested in fighting." he claimed.
He felt something on the tip of his tongue, something that left a rotten, yet strangely satisfying taste on his tongue.
"I," he started, "I'm sorry. For everything." he said lamely.
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 6, 2011 23:42:13 GMT -5
She ran after them.
She hesitated at the threshold of the Dark Lord's TARDIS, intimately aware of just how powerful a Time Lord could be inside his own TARDIS. All it took was one look from Susan though, and she found herself following.
A stranger's TARDIS. Like a foreign car, she recognized elements, but everything was different. It wasn't anything like home, which is what the Doctor's TARDIS had felt like the first time she'd stepped into it. Still, there was that soft musical hum in your bones, even when she was standing still. It was as provocative as a scent.
She went in ready for a fight. Next she stood, leaning against the wall just listening. Maybe things were going to be alright and nobody would have to die today.
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Post by Susan Foreman on Aug 7, 2011 0:40:39 GMT -5
“I see you’ve found the light switch.”
Susan paused and lifted her hand slightly, squinting at the lever. “Don’t make me use it,” she threatened, pretending that she could still intimidate anyone whilst holding a light switch. She glanced over at Sarah and tilted her head slightly, trying to coax the woman into coming closer. If worse came to worse, she could at least shut off the lights and… surprise attack Alec. Yeah. That had been her original plan.
Once he rested his hand hesitantly into hers, she put her other hand over it, ignoring the light switch. “Y-you want to h-help me?” the man asked, sounding a bit more surprised than Susan felt. She frowned at his words, quirking an eyebrow.
“Wouldn’t have chased after you if I didn’t,” she said bluntly. Susan looked at his hand, unsure of how she was supposed to act next. She slipped one hand away from his and used the other to shake his hand. “Glad you’re not interested in fighting me. We both know you’d lose,” she said casually, a smug smile on her lips.
“I…I’m sorry. For everything.”
She smiled warmly. “I forgive you,” she whispered.
Susan dropped his hand and looked over to Sarah. “What do you say, Sarah? Should we make him scrub the floors with a toothbrush? Make him wear an apron as he does it? Cinderalec. Bit of a ring to it, don’t you agree?”
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Post by Sarah Jane on Aug 7, 2011 1:15:05 GMT -5
Susan wanted her closer, and she went near. That single glance between them and she knew they were not out of the woods yet. Sarah was ready for anything except perhaps what happened next.
Words went from tension to solace. Something broke almost loud enough to hear as Susan forgave Alec Harrison, Dark Lord, and perhaps the Time Lord somehow responsible for the the death of Susan's son.
Would Susan really win in a fight between them? She looked like just maybe she could. Sarah Jane thought smugly that her added weight on a fight just might tip the scales. Not that it looked like it was going to come to that.
But was Sarah Jane somehow responsible for the death of Alec's family somehow? she still wasn't certain.
"Well, if he cleaned out my gutters, I might be more willing to believe the Dark Lord-" This she says with a hint of dry and wry- "Still doesn't have me on his maybe better dead list."
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Post by The Second Doctor on Aug 7, 2011 9:10:41 GMT -5
“Don’t make me use it,” Susan threatened.
"Okay MacGyver, no need for your mad skills." he teased.
He half-turned a knob and messed with a few other configurations.
“Wouldn’t have chased after you if I didn’t,” she said bluntly.
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Oh, well that's not completely true. At first I thought you were coming because you wanted my Tardis." he admitted.
“Glad you’re not interested in fighting me. We both know you’d lose,” she said casually, a smug smile on her lips.
Alec cracked his knuckles.
"Of course you would. I'm getting too old for combat anyways." he said, sincerely.
Susan smiled warmly. “I forgive you,” she whispered.
"Thanks," Alec turned back to the console, his hand awkwardly leading back to Susan before she dropped it.
Susan looked over to Sarah. "What do you say, Sarah? Should we make him scrub the floors with a toothbrush? Make him wear an apron as he does it? Cinderalec. Bit of a ring to it, don’t you agree?”
"Oh yes, I'm enchanted, but that's not going to happen. If I were you, I would remember whose Tardis you're in." his words carried sarcasm, but it had a touch of seriousness...dead seriousness. Alec finally noticed Sarah Jane, and his words were half-directed at her.
"Well, if he cleaned out my gutters, I might be more willing to believe the Dark Lord-" Alec turned completely around to look at her with the use of his title, "Still doesn't have me on his maybe better dead list."
Alec sighed.
"I wouldn't do that if you payed me money."
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