It was a slow night, and the Doctor was sitting in the TARDIS library, looking through some books. As far as he knew, his companion, the Master, was in a bedroom asleep. He was bored, but he wasn't going to disturb him. He knew better than to do that. Not only would it be rude to disturb the Master, it would also possibly earn him a punch in the face, so for now he would just deal with his boredom the old fashioned way-with a book.
After about ten minutes of searching, Theta had found a book to read: Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. It was a classic gothic horror and vampire novel, which was published in 1976. While the Doctor himself was not a huge vampire fan, due to past experiences with certain aliens, he did enjoy a good horror novel every once in a while, and this happened to be a very good one. He found himself a bean bag chair (because bean bag chairs are cool), and sat down, opening the book and beginning to read, until he himself eventually fell asleep…
The Doctor was sitting in a small, dimly lit room. Sitting across from him was a pale-skinned man in an old fashioned suit who called himself Koschei.
"So you want to know my story, eh, Doctor?" Koschei asked in a monotone voice. He sounded bored almost.
"Yes, sir. That's my job. I interview people, and I collect their lives on tape. You know, I recently-"
"You realize that you're going to need a lot of tape for my tale?"
"I have a whole bag here, sir."he said, motioning to the bag of tape beside him.
"So.. Did you follow me here?"
"Yes, I did."he admitted, "I saw you in the park. You seemed like an interesting guy, so I followed you. This is where you live?"
"No. It's merely a room."
"Oh, I see. So, shall we start?" He pressed the button for the recorder to start. "So, what do you do?"
"I'm a vampire."
"A vampire? Never heard that one before. ...Are you being literal?"
"Yes I am."
Before the Doctor could speak again, the vampire came over to him, and started shaking his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Theta asked.
"Wake up, Theta."
"Hu?"
"Wake up!"
The Doctor opened his eyes. "Oh.. Hey, Koschei."he said, looking at the blonde who was standing over him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just thought you might be hungry. It's morning, you know."
Theta sat up. "I guess I fell asleep reading again." He accepted the food and tea that his companion held out to him with a 'thank you.'
"You've been doing that a lot lately.. Is something the matter?"
"No, nothing. I just get bored, and come here."
"You were muttering in your sleep. Something about vampires and collecting lives..?"
The Doctor blushed sheepishly and picked up the book that had fallen in the floor. "I was reading this."he said, holding it to where the blonde could read the title.
"Interview With The Vampire... I didn't take you for a gothic horror fan."the Master grinned.
The madman shrugged. "Eh, I enjoy them because it's fun to go through them and see what they get wrong."he said, shrugging a bit. To be honest, he was fascinated by the genre itself, not just poking fun at it. To him, books were portals to worlds the TARDIS might not be able to take him to, which was why he spent so much time in the library when he wasn't off saving universes. "Everyone has a hobby, eh?"
Koschei nodded. "That's true. And reading is a good hobby, in my opinion. Better than some peoples hobbies." He took a sip of his own tea, and wrinkled his nose. Note to self: don't use three sugar cubes unless you want really sweet tea.
Theta grinned at the face his companion made. "Having trouble with your tea?"he chuckled.
"Quiet, you."the blonde scowled. He wasn't mad though, not really. "So what other places will I find you asleep at? Ceiling rafters? The pool?" He talked as he stood up and went behind the Doctor, knowing that the goofball was more than likely aware of this.
"Oi! I do not climb into the rafters. … Wait, we don't even have rafters…"he looked up….only to see his companion in his face. "...What are you doing?"
Koschei grinned. "Just seeing how observant you are.~"he said, placing a kiss on the others forehead, then returned to his seat. "In all seriousness, if we had rafter, would you climb into them?"he asked with a grin.
For a moment, Theta didn't answer. Then he started grinning. "Cours' I would. Do you really have to ask?"he said, then laughed. "And as for other places to find me sleeping.. You might find me asleep at the chair in the control room, you could find me asleep in a chair by the pool.."
"Why don't you sleep in bed like a normal person?"
"Cause I don't like normal? I dunno."
The Master grinned. "Well, you aren't normal so I guess that's a given."
"Oi, you aren't normal either!" Theta laughed.
The two sat and talked for a bit about all sorts of things, like the past, things they wanted to do, people they'd met, and a number of other different topics. Somehow they came to the topic of mirrors.
"So, Theta, what do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"My reflection of course… What else would I see?"
"No.. I mean what do you see."he said, putting a hand over his hearts.
Theta shrugged a bit. He wasn't sure what Koschei meant exactly.
The blonde smiled softly. "Just think about it for a while. I don't need an answer right away. I'm just curious." With that said, he stood up and took their now empty breakfast trays and teacups, and took them back to the TARDIS kitchen.
The Doctor watched as his companion left. What was it that he had meant? What would you see besides your own reflection? He shook his head, and stood up, leaving the library. He was in deep thought though. He put a hand over his hearts.
What do I see...?