Imaginary Worlds

"He wants to know her and I want him to as well. Because she'll let him down but that's good because he has to learn the truth," the Master found that was the only way to teach kids. They only learned that things were bad by experiencing sometimes.

And if it all worked out and he was happy around her? ... Well, he'd be unhappy but impressed she stuck to her guns for once. Smiling, he nodded and adjusted his shirt. "Yeah, dinner sounds great."

"You're a better person than I am. I wouldn't be able to do it." the Doctor admitted as he started down the road. He would probably tear her apart and call it good.

And how could he not? "I think that she gave up her rights from what you've told me. I don't like the idea of somebody just showing up again and expecting the world to fall at their feet." he murmured.

"That was just her. We met in a bar, she was clearly stupid but hey, I was drunk. Koschei was an accident," the Master explained as he followed along, that didn't mean Koschei was a bad accident, he was one of the good ones.

"She called me constantly but I told her I didn't want to date. She could of told me she was pregnant though," Pausing, he cocked his head to the side before smirking. It wasn't a nice smirk, it was a nasty sort of one. "I'm in her head, Doctor. Why else would she name him Koschei? I told her that was one my favourite book when we had drinks. See, I'm in there and it drives her mad."

"And now she's trying to use Koschei to hurt you. Let's try not to focus inthat. Oh, here's a nice place and I'm not banned. Long story involving past dating experienced." the Doctor stated with a shrug.

And really? It wasn't even that upscale, just a small little hole in the wall diner. But the food was good last time he'd been in town. "Here. This place is as good as any." he murmured, heading in so that the hostess could show them to a table.

The Master followed along and dropped down at the table they were showed too. He dropped his head in his hands and exhaled idly. Dinner out was nice and the place seemed pretty much normal to him.

Usually he just ate at home and ordered in. After all, he did get rather bad at cooking so he found the less he did it, the better things were for everyone. Looking at the Doctor, he cleared his throat, not sure what to say.

The Master wasn't the only awkward one. The last time they'd been put to eat, he had been dating the man. It was a big trying to focus on. Not that he could help himself there.

"Right. So...This is definitely awkward." the Doctor murmured softly, ducking his head to look through the menu. He needed something as a distraction from all of this.

"Yep, tell me about it," the Master said, dropping his head in his hands. He had a bit of a headache, today, it had been a rather hard and horrible day to be blunt and he was worrying over Koschei.

Smiling at the other man, he offered him a small awkward and not really convincing smile. "... So, well, how is Marnal doing at school?" Kids were neutral topics, easy to talk about.

"He's doing better. It's always easier when I don't have to pick him up early. He doesn't make friends easily." the Doctor admitted softly. The poor kid just came on a bit strong and it didn't help that he acted too energetic.

"How about Koschei? How are things since he's got a tutor?" the Doctor asked softly. He imagined it would make things a bit easier on the man.

"He has a giant crush on her so naturally he's very happy and I'm oddly happy with it too because he's not doing my head in," it was nice to not have to keep on going back and forth to these meeting things.

Koschei was in less trouble these days... he rather liked that. "Well, its always nice to have the kid happy, he's hard to deal with when he's sad and mopey."

The Doctor smiled softly and nodded. "That's good to hear. I do try to avoid screwing up in that regard. I figured that Koschei could enjoy it." he murmured softly.

He was trying to be nice. He wanted to help the Master and the kid out. He couldn't help it. The Doctor just had that tendency.

"I'm going to make enough money soon so you don't have to pay for me forever," the Master said and no, he wasn't being cocky. It was just that he wanted to be able to instead of this awkwardness.

Taking your ex's money would never be great. "I don't mean to take your money. I know you're offering, its nice but I still feel bad," the Master admitted with a small shrug.

The Doctor sighed softly and shook his head a bit. "I can't help it. I mean, I do get it. You don't like that you're taking money from me. I get it. But I don't mind." he assured firmly.

Smiling softly when the waitress came about, the Doctor placed his order sweetly. He didn't even register he was doing it. It just came naturally for him when he was single. No getting around that one.

The Master just rolled his eyes and let him be, if he wanted t hit on people then fine, the Master had no plans to get back together with the Doctor anyway. He just ordered a coffee and a ham sandwich.

Rubbing at his eyes, he dropped his head in his hands and sighed slightly. "Don't take this personally or anything but why can't you be alone? As in not dating? You seem allergic to it or something."

The Doctor blinked owlishly as he regarded the Master. Huh. "Never been asked that before." he admitted softly. And he hadn't. There was just no way that he could really put it into words.

"I...I could never be alone. Even as a child, I needed to be around others. It's...You know? The best way to put it would be that it's like there's a pull. Some ingrained trait that pushes me to be with somebody and I just haven't been able to be content with whoever I end up with." the Doctor murmured. Well....Once, but that was out of the question, now wasn't it?

"I dunno how you do it. I can't stand constant company," the Master admitted, everyone was so stupid and unable to keep up, they just didn't get what he wanted ... though everything the Master wanted was a pipe dream. He wanted to be rich, powerful, acknowledge by all. Oh how he'd love to be Lord President.

But no, he was stuck in a boring job caring for his son and living paycheck from paycheck. "I suppose it depends how you were raised. I imagine you yearned for company often?

"My mother died when I was young and my father was only interested in my becoming Lord President. He got me in that position for all of five minutes before I ran. I didn't have any sort of company, so I suppose I did crave it." the Doctor murmured, shrugging a bit.

He never did all too well with that growing up. And now? Well, now he just couldn't find what he wanted. "I figure that I'm essentially going to just date on and off for a little while longer before I give up completely. You can only take so many hits to your morale." the Doctor stated softly..

"Y-You gave up being Lord Presi-- what?" Okay, yes, this had him stumped because how was that fair. He spend his childhood being the bottom of the pile, the bloody runt and he was pushed around endlessly. At school, at home, at work. This wasn't fair, why did the Doctor have everything and he had nothing.

The Master seriously looked like he was about to seize up or something. This just kept getting worse and worse. Why was the Doctor so bloody successful. What did he do that the Master didn't?

The Doctor had a Tardis that played favorites. "Hm? That's not that important. My father forced me into the role and he'd do it again if he could. I assure you that it's nothing to be desiring." he murmured dismissively. And it wasn't.

"I took off and I ended up marrying into money. She left me everything and I put it away so that I wouldn't have to deal with it. Turns out that a couple mill can grow quite rapidly when forgotten in a bank account for five years." the Doctor mused sheepishly, shrugging lightly.

This was just-- no, this wasn't right. It wasn't fair! The Master sat there staring at the man with such loathing that he seriously couldn't hide it. That moron got money for nothing, a great job offered to him and all the bloody things he wanted.

Gritting his teeth, he could practically feel them grinding away and he got to his feet. "Excuse for a moment," The Master said before swiftly exiting. He had to just ... compose himself and break some things.

Well. That was definitely something he should have expected. Funny. That's usually how his dates ended whether they were talking about him or not. It was definitely the hint to back off a bit. Sighing, the Doctor just shook his head and changed their orders to go, stepping out when he got them.

Well. No point in sticking around. "Sorry, change of plans. I have a lot of work to get done and I should really stop in and say hi to some people, but I can do that while you're in court." he murmured, keeping some distance between the two of them as he spoke before heading for the car.

"Why do you have everything and I have nothing? You're pathetic, you're useless and you don't even understand what you have," the Master growled angrily, obviously not trying to even be nice any more.

He couldn't help being so stressed, his head was pounding and he was having such a shit time and why didn't the Doctor? How was any of this fair at all. "I have no money, no respect, I hate my job, I'm losing my son and you have absolutely everything! Fuck sake!"

"You hate your job? Then consider it gone. You losing your son? You have a lawyer that you don't have to pay for fighting your case for you. You don't have respect? Bloody well earn it. Don't have money? Well. You seem to have an ex well enough off." the Doctor said slowly, eyes narrowing as he shook his head.

"I had to sit there while my wife died so that Marnal could live. Marnal, mind you, who is a needy and hard to deal with child. That's why I have money. You want to call me pathetic and useless? Fine. Just remember that it's the pathetic and useless man who doesn't understand what he has that's paying your lawyer and giving you a job. Walk back." the Doctor bit out, lashing out in hurt as he headed for the car. He didn't care how the Master got back, but it wasn't going to be by him.

"Oh yes, ohhh Rassilon, don't you have it so hard with all your money and your son being too friendly. You want to fire me, take away all your fucking money? I don't care! I'm not the charity case of an idiot!" the Master yelled, growling at the Doctor before looking the other way. Cause not he really was in trouble.

He just quit his job, lost Koschei's tutor and he had no ride home. "Piss off!" the Master yelled just out of sheer annoyance at the idiot, waiting for him to drive off before he wandered down the street to the bus stop. An hour till the next bus and it was getting dark. Wonderful, just wonderful.

No, he really didn't want to. He liked the Master. He didn't mind helping the man out. He just couldn't sit there and allow for the man to lash out at him like that. He'd dealt with being lashed out at and screamed at enough to last him entire lifetimes already.

And now? The Doctor wasn't taking anything from anybody. Period. He simply returned to the hotel and settled in to do some work in his room, listening closely in case the Master returned. He at least wanted the man safe.

The Master got home eventually and slammed the door shut behind him loud enough that it rang out into the hallway. He started ramming all of this clothes and stuff back into the suitcase, trying to pack fast.

He even nicked some hotel stuff, just in case he had too make use of it. Hell, maybe he could go crawling back to Verica for a job. Honestly, he never stopped doing that lately.