| "We need to talk about how to proceed here," Jarlath sighs, "What
with the new things that have come to light."
Jarlath then pauses, slumping down and looking into his cup of tea and muttering something scatological. The Doctor (the others are aiding with the search for the last Unseelie victim on Nantucket Earth) waits patiently as Jarlath bolts down the tea as if it was a shot of whiskey. Joan takes up the conversation thread. "Simply put....we have a problem with time," she says with a slightly
ironic glance at the Time Lord, "We thought we had a large time margin
afforded us by the TARDIS. Not so. We have a day at the most with the advanced
state of transformation with Belinda. Unlike Fred, who'd only been touched
by the Unseelie curse, moving the Unseelie afflicted about through time
would cause the curse to flare and seal their fates." "We thought we had
a week.....but we have only a day," Dragon Synizn explained with a trace
of exasperation to the startled Doctor, "perhaps even less. Something is
accelerating the changes....and the curse has as you know grown....contagious
(witness Fred here). I have NO clue as to what is causing this extra acceleration.
None."
Dragons take great pride in their magical knowledge. While they readily
admit that there is much more to learn and much they still don't know.....it's
not easy for this particular Dragon Mage to accept all this.....
He feels by this lack he's letting the others down.....
The Doctor knows the theory of magical super saturation would have on the Unseelie curse, The Doctor is well enough into his magical training to know how certain
types of magical curses could be sped up by the exposure to a fantastic
ammount of magic. "Super saturation" it's called. Good and well. But there
is an irony here. See, somebody has already visited the very world of Rift's
Earth where such super saturation is in existence. Another irony is that
the Doctor and his Companions were (after years of playing AD&D and
Torg) finally going to get around to playing a Palladium game named You've
got two "were"s - one just before the bracket and one just after it. Rifts
(the very game that mimicked perfectly the world of Rifts Earth). See,
it might have been even sooner if not for the fact that one can spend as
much time making a character as playing the game..... That being the case,
no connections are made.
"And I somehow know that by the end of the time we get all the others together....I'll be nearing the end of the time I'll be able to hold out......" Fred the pixie says softly, shivering, remembering the episode where he'd almost succumbed to the allure of the Fey. His eyes had even changed in response to it. Changing from human to.....something resembling those of a cat. Joan had told him of it....and it made him...uneasy to say the least.
Less and less about the loss it would/could mean to him....but more for
what it would mean for the others if he succumbed..... While Fred the curse
had only touched him, if he succumbed and became a full fairy then he would
seal the fate of the Unseelie afflicted.
Mention was also made of the fact of a sneaking suspicion that the Book
had used, somehow, its list of worlds which it had been spying on (mostly
who had a Fred or Astra on it....as it appeared)....but little was said
about it. What difference would/could it make now...except perhaps they'd
have yet more company to bring back (and more lives in the balance). It
made some want to throw up their hands in frustration....but that wouldn't
help matters at all...so they just concentrated on the tasks at hand and
prayed for the best.
All they could do....
"I....I'll see if we can skate the edge of time paradox a bit closer," the Doctor says softly. That was what they finally decided was the only thing that they could do....for now. Other ideas were bandied about, but most sounded to be the counsel of the desperate. Especially one made by Fred the pixie..... Others are just out and out weird..... Andrea, having seen a cartoon
that would pretty much sum up with an old Warner Brothers' saying: "How
Halloweeny can you get?!"
She only thinks this of Jarlath's suggestion. She doesn't say it aloud,
in order to spare her friend's feelings.....
As for the Doctor, while the number of lives at stake was way less than
before (a handful vice a planet full as before with the Book), the Time
Lord still was a knight errant at heart and hated the thought of losing
these accursed people to this dire fate.
Anyway, they break and prepare. The Doctor, going over to the TARDIS'
controls, fondly strokes the masculine version of the same kind of ring
that Inquirer wears. It had only happened after the prescribed ten years
of courtship, as per Time Lord custom (he'd been amazed that Inquirer had
insisted on following Time Lord custom vice Earth custom in this matter).
Time enough to get to know each other better and not rush in....as in a
manner befitting beings who have such long lives.....even before "Champion"-hoodness.
The next step would be a mere month after he and Inquirer had finished
up this business with the Red Pyramid.....
But.....
"First things first," the Time Lord sighed, setting the coordinates
on the Control Column.
On another world........in another universe.....
The Fred who had been in a valley has followed a small stream which has led him into another, larger valley. The way the red skin seems to be spreading over his body concerns him less than the way his clothes now seem much too large for him. He estimates he has lost a foot in height. He stops when he hears a tittering laugh come to him on the wind. It
has an elven, female quality to it.
He sneaks over to look from the bushes....and sees two elves (a male
and a female) having a pleasant picnic....next to a strange blue box with
the word "Police" written on it.
Now, understand, in some universes, Doctor Who is just a story. In some, it's reality. And then in some the mages there have detected the show through scrying and it's developed into a very chic, cool thing where all the nobility has become enchanted with it. On some worlds it's gotten so bad as to become something of a cult thing (witness one Astra's love for it). This is a reality where the Doctor is real, as well as Romana....
This Doctor and this Romana had an....interesting time back on
a version of their old Gallifrey. A life (and body) altering experience....(re:
10350 and 10351).
That hadn't been too long ago at all....really.....
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