Imaginary Worlds

"I don't want your money," the Master asserted, shaking his head in dismay before getting up. "I wasn't looking for anything, forget it, I'm going to have a snack."

He just wanted to make a sandwich and watch some TV. Taking a bags of sweets from his pocket, he tossed them to the Doctor. "For your son, go offer them to him, make proper amends. Course he doesn't have to eat them all."

"I didn't say that you did. It was saying that I don't understand what you want from me I my being supportive wasn't it." the Doctor murmured softly. He didn't get it.

Shaking his head softly, the Doctor just sulked upstairs with the sweets to hand off to his son, not intending to head back down. Not yet anyway. He wasn't sure how to approach the Master.

The Master was just twitchy on the subject and sometimes the Doctor was hard to read, he could never tell what the man was thinking, it got pretty frustrating.

Marnal didn't expect sweets. He expected more celery and a lecture about how the Doctor was in charge. He watched them careful with a lack of trust because it didn't ... fit. His dad never did stuff like that. "What's that?"

"Candy. I know you know what that is. Mr. Saxon bought it and I figured you might enjoy that." the Doctor murmured as he sat upon the bed with a soft sigh. Marnal should at least be happy.

He'd been trying to keep the kid happy and the like all day. It hadn't been going over too well as of late. The Doctor wasn't sure what to think about this.

Marnal smiled and shuffled closer. "I didn't know if I was allowed them," the lad confessed before he offered his dad a smile. Despite what his dad did, he just had to love him. He didn't know why.

Perhaps it was just what unconditional love was, even if he couldn't even pronounce that word yet. "When are we going home?" Marnal asked, he didn't want to rush back, he was more curious.

"Sunday. Have to take Koschei of the day after tomorrow, but it's going to be fine. Yôu still have a few days." the Doctor assured softly.

He was hoping to enjoy some time out and about. "That is still subject to change. We might head home sooner." the Doctor cautioned. It all depended on what happened and with who.

"I know. When Koschei goes, can we go to town?" It was nothing personal to Koschei but whenever he was around the other boy, he always gave him that death glare. Even when he tried to be nice.

"If Koschei goes, does Mr Saxon and Sigma have to go?" Because he didn't fancy losing the dog, actually. Sigma was nice and he was currently sleeping on the floor of the boys room rather contently. Dogs were a great comfort.

"Only if that's what he wants to do. Marnal, you do know Sigma has to go when we get back home, right?" the Doctor asked softly. He needed to make sure.

He meant nothing by it, mind. He just...Didn't want it to be a surprise to the poor kid. "They aren't staying around forever." the Doctor murmured.

"I know... but they'll come back?" Marnal could hope anyway, Saxon was nice to him and he really did have a fondness for Sigma, he liked the silly little dog and the way he came leaping on the bed to cheer him up.

Sometimes he felt like he already knew the dog. "Can I gave a dog?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. "I can take really good care of it, I promise."

"Maybe. You have to remember we have a cat. Dogs don't typically get along with them. I'd rather not risk it with Pest." the Doctor murmured softly.

And could he be blamed? He would love a dog, but he knew better than to be anything less than logical. And logic dictated a dog was a bad choice.

"Not all dogs hate cats, maybe we could find some that get along? Then we can have a dog and cat!" But then Pest couldn't like anything, he was an utterly mental cat.

It was going to take some sort, that was definitely clear. "Can I at least visit Sigma?" the boy asked with a small pout, he did love dogs admittedly, he seemed more drawn to them that cats.

"You know Pest won't take well to a dog about. But maybe you can visit. It will be up to the Mr. Saxon. He might even bring Sigma around to visit." the Doctor offered.

That pup at least got on well with Pest. It was a sight to take in. The Doctor didn't think he'd ever seen that cat take to another living creature so well in the past.

"Okay," Marnal resigned before gently taking the sweets from his dad as if he was worried the man would snatch the back. He stashed the bag in his pockets swiftly and crossed his arms.

And now to ask the question he'd been dreading all day. "What do we have for dinner? I'm hungry."

"Chicken Marsala. It has mushrooms in it, but you've had it many other times." the Doctor stated. He wasn't sure if this would be another uprising or not.

He hadn't expected the celery incident the night before. And yet? It still took place. He wasn't sure what to expect with his cooking anymore.

Marnal grinned, he liked that, yes he did blow up yesterday but the Doctor had done little to calm the situation. But he'd just never liked that stuff, why would he?

"I don't like tomatoes, celery, raisins or really spicy stuff," Marnal informed the Doctor, just in case he ever wanted to know. "Is that okay? I can't help what I find horrible."

"Tomatoes, huh? No more spaghetti, lasagna, chicken parmesan...Those all have tomatoes in them." the Doctor said lightly, smirking as he stood. And speaking of the chicken marsala...

"I'm going to head down to cook. Relax and watch your cartoons." the Doctor said lightly, heading down to get cooking. He might as well get it going. And it wasn't much longer before Koschei decided to try helping him out.

"But you can't taste it in those things, it's just the vegetable. Tastes funny," Marnal complained, pulling a face. He never tasted it in his pizza but it by itself was horrible.

Marnal ventured downstairs to watch cartoons with the Master as he always did and the Master sat beside him, typing idly on his laptop to try and find something fun to do.

((Off to bed))

{Night!}

The Doctor hummed softly as he worked, some absent tune. It was nice. It was one of those things that he actually rather enjoyed to do. The Master had definitely chosen to date an odd one.

He called the others in when finished, sitting down to eat his chicken and some potatoes. Those were Koschei's own doing. A fact the child seemed rather self-satisfied over.

"If you can cook, why do you never do it at home?2 the Master asked the boy, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, if I supervise, we could probably make an all right dinner."

Course he didn't totally truth the boy ad who would? Two burns and several other nasty incidents all in his young life.

"You don't let me. An' 'm not cooking. 'M just helping." Koschei responded softly as he ducked his head a bit. He wasn't looking for recognition for what he'd done.

It was awkward enough with who he was assisting. And really? Even burning himself, what he'd made before happened to be good. The Master couldn't deny him there.

Well he never got the chance to try it, he was more panicking over the burnt flesh of his child. He hadn't even eaten the boys cooking properly because of all the negative incidents.

"You know why I don't let you but we can try together, I get to handle any heated things," the Master informed the lad, it was the fiarest and safety way to be.

Nothing they made together could possibly taste decent. The Master simply couldn't cook. At all. Nothing was going to change that.

"It's fine. I don't really mind not cooking." Koschei assured softly. He'd just assist with the Doctor and move on. There was no reason to do much else.

"We'll try it at home," The Master had no intention of trying to cook himself,just watching the dangerous stuff, he knew he was awful at it and his skills in the kitchen were pretty painful really.

He could make toast, french toast, eggs, bacon, instant noodles and microwave pizza. That was pretty much it. And he wasn't bad at anything in a frying pan but everything else? Dreadful. "See what you can do."

Koschei hesitated before nodding softly. "Fine. But don't blame me if it's bad." he murmured. That wouldn't end well in the least. Never mind the idea that the Master would be helping.

"I've never been able to get Marnal into the kitchen to help outside of sweets. He's more interested in cartoons." the Doctor admitted. Sweets and doughs the kid just liked to pick at and stir.

"Cooking is boring," Marnal whined, clearly not even enjoying the subject. Cartoons were fun, sweets were nice and cooking was something that Marnal would never understand as fun.

"It is pretty boring, John," the Master agreed before smiling playfully at Koschei. "Luckily I may have a little chef who can help to relieve me of that boredom a tiny bit."