Next chapter's on the 5th of December.
There's a pause as the Mistress considers, not enough that a human would notice but enough still that the Master knows that she is considering whether she's going to murder him very painfully right now or later.
(He knows that look well.)
Fortunately for him she decides later and tosses him to the side.
He doesn't expect to be let go so soon and bounces a little off the wall.
"Ow." He complains, rubbing his arm and looking down to see if she's damaged his suit- he really hopes not, it had been a pain to get the humans to make him anything like this given the fact that most of them were dying or on the edge of death.
But no- no damage aside from his pride and the roaring headache which is swelling right behind his eyes.
"Out." The Mistress commands, pointing to the door and not even bothering to look at him as she bends over her companion, the fingers of her left hand delicately finding their placement on the right of the almost human's head.
"But what is she?" He protests, feeling a little safer with the Time Lady between her pet freak and him, "what have you done to her?" He asks, not whining at all, thank you very much, as she steps closer and stretches to try and see the abomination over the Mistress' shoulder.
He almost feels offended that she could ignore him, her own old self, like this.
No- scratch that- he is offended but at the moment there is a far more pressing need to survive and to not feel like his eyeballs are melting out of his head again (the first time was really more than enough).
"Get out." The Mistress says again, eyeing him dangerously over her shoulder, one hand now clutching the side of the bed.
The Master, as curious and brave as he is, knows a death threat when he hears one and steps back, hands held in the air as a peace offering, shuffling around to the door, not turning away from the Time Lady or her pet.
"I'm going, I'm going." He mutters as he finally, finally reaches the door, grabs the handle and shuts it after him, scuttling up the stairs, along the corridor and up the stairs again until he reaches the roof, thankfully not having to see any of the smelly humans on his way.
A stale breeze blows as he climbs up and situates himself next to the weathervane. It's enough to ease a little of the headache.
As it clears he can start to think a little about the things he'd seen, what had happened.
Clearly it had been some kind of defense response, something trained on mental invasion, heavy mental invasion clearly.
It would make sense, he supposes, for the Mistress to train the human like that if she didn't want half the universe to know where she is, what with all the bounties she's probably collected on her head, additional to all the ones the rest of them have collected.
To have a companion who can't have information pulled from its brain- that's actually quite clever.
It must be trustworthy too, somehow.
Mental invasion is one thing but there are other more physical methods of torture which would be the first avenue for most who are searching for the Mistress. He'd seen, in the brief moment before the companion had attacked him, a glimpse of centuries.
Prison cells, dark rooms, caves, empty skies, the medical bay ceiling.
No. There was little human left in that thing by now- not after so many years and so much time toying around with the body, turning back the time, replacing and rewiring.
To have a companion who can fight back mental attack and who will bear a lot of pain over giving away vital information- that is very interesting.
To have a companion who is basically hand-crafted?
That is irresistible.
Later that day the not-human is up and about again, apparently not feeling any worse than he is after the stunt that it pulled earlier, helping the small humans in piling up sandbags, much to the egg's pleasure at having something so strong to help and much to his annoyance, not that the Master cares about that, because it keeps playing with the little apes.
The Mistress watches them from a window and he knows that she knows that he's stepped into the room.
There's an old rug, dull, red, on the floor- it might have been worth something once, he steps on it a little heavier just for that- and the bookshelves on the walls sag with faded books, as dusty as the window is grimy.
The floor does not creak as he goes to stand behind her and he can practically hear her bristle although she says nothing.
Her reflection glares at him from the window, mind shut tight.
"You know," he says softly, just above a whisper so that it doesn't carry beyond the room they're in, "I think I know why you've stuck with that one." He can't help but smile as he sees her teeth clench just a little harder.
There's a pause as he watches her think and it feels like he's winning.
"You're lucky that you didn't hurt her." She hisses back slowly, eyes unwavering, deathly cold. There's another pause, the Master content to just stand behind her, watch her wind up like a toy.
He would laugh if it wouldn't spoil the moment.
"She's mine," The Time Lady says eventually, "so you better not get any ideas."
And the Master is ever so pleased for the opening she's given him- just an inch through a doorway- enough to get his foot in. He feels his grin widen.
"Well I'm you too." He tells her, letting his words drag, "Except, well, I'm not a girl." The Master lets himself chuckle as he says it, it feels right, sets his teeth tingling as he watches the Mistress squirm inside her stillness.
"It's got another mate- do you really think that I couldn't convince it all the same?" He asks her, soft as he steps closer, puts his hand on her shoulder very deliberately, lets it slip down her arm.
"They're all so squishy-" he continues, pressing his body against hers just a tiny bit, enough to really encroach on her space.
"Little bundles of emotions and wanting," the Master hisses, grin stretching his cheeks, "I almost think you're becoming one of them." He spits at the end.
He's ready for the right hook she sends straight for his head, twisting her left wrist behind her back enough to cause pain but not enough to do damage and grabbing her right, pulling it up above their heads, glad for the height difference as he pulls her against him.
She can read the disgust on her face through the pain and then, beyond that, the little kernel of anxiety that he'd been hoping for.
"If there were no consequences I'd gut you and leave you to bleed out all over this floor." The Mistress snarls, voice low, grunting a little at the pain that shoots through her right arm as his grip tightens.
"Scared of the consequences now? You really are pathetic." He singsongs, releasing her and pushing her away so she hits the wall just a little, knows that he can just do that.
She rubs her wrists, eyes not leaving his face, glare acidic.
"Eventually you'll realise that the consequences matter." She hisses at him, trying to shove him aside as she stalks from the room.
The Master laughs, stepping to the side and avoiding her jab easily.
He takes her place at the window and looks at the not-human.
How in the universe was he going to get to it?
Her.
Her. That would be a good start probably.
Florence can feel the Mistress' upset ringing through the house, though her bones.
She slides the child on her back, Fioneia she thinks, it's hard to remember with so many of them, onto the ground and tosses the sandbags she's carrying where they're supposed to go.
"You go and do some good work for Nardole, yeah?" She asks softly, bending down to the child's level, "I've got to take care of something in the house." Florence tells the kid who nods and starts telling her all about the things they're going to be doing to do a good job.
She can't help but smile as she shushes the child and sends them back to help.
The front of her skull feels a little wobbly still from earlier and from the Time Lady's distress but she pushes back the slight pain, standing up and dusting off her knees.
She realises that she can feel the connection being more direct, searching for her out of everyone.
The companion is already climbing the porch as she extends her mind, feels the connection, that it is locked down entirely except for her.
It only hastens her speed.