Imaginary Worlds

The Master got into the car and started up before sniggering slightly. Did he seriously have to behave that much? Not say the word Johnny? Cause he kind of liked it, sadly.

"Sorry I assumed you'd like a nickname, got a reason to hate it?2 Smiling slightly, he set off to find a pizza place they could grab some lunch at. He knew Marnal was hungry.

((Off to bed))

(Night!)

"Yes. Somebody I didn't get on with at school always called me it. He was the only one who did. I was young, stupid, and away from home all the time at a boarding school a short ways away from a river. People generally like me better when I don't talk abou that." he said softly.

It would seem the Tardis had kept Torvic about in both of their lives. At least to an extent. Sighing softly, he turned his head to eye the Master a bit. "If you really want the whole story, stick about the rest of the day and I'll tell you when Marnal goes to bed." he assured. It was one of those things he didn't share with his kid.

"I can kind of guess. Dunked into the river?" Harry asked casually, obviously not phased by such a thing because that had happened to him many times. Swimming lessons, at home, at school... that one time in college.

"No offence Doctor but until you've had your head shoved in a toilet while being held upside-down by 4 boys then you truly don't know the horrors of water," Nothing could get any worse than that. Pulling up outside the pizza place, he smiled slightly. "But you can still tell me. I love a good tale of schoolyard woo, takes my mind off my own."

"Not even close." the Doctor said simply in response, getting out of the car and simply picking up Marnal. He did love having a calm kid. He might even get a nap out of this whole ordeal upon returning home.

Heading into the building, the Doctor offered a small smile. "So. What do the two of you want?" he prompted lightly. He never did care much for choosing pizza himself. The Doctor sort of ate anything so long as it wasn't a pear.

"Aren't you a man of mystery," the Master remarked before smiling as Marnal clung lazily to his father, that kid would be asleep straight after food, there was no denying it. "Gonna have to teach this one to take on bullies."

Leaning over the counter, he looked over the food before shrugging his shoulders. "I'll just have a basic on, not really in the mood for topping and a milkshake. Chocolate."

Marnal squinted before smiling slightly. "I want one with everything!"

The Doctor just ordered a pizza that was half plain and half with everything, along with two milkshakes. Getting it to go, he paid and stepped aside to wait. It would be easier to have Marnal eat and pass out at home.

"Should only be a minute. I hope you don't mind. I just thought getting it to go woułd be better all around than staying about here." he admitted sheepishly.

"Makes sense," the Master said, watching Marnal wriggle down onto his legs and wonder off to have a peer around the place before he had to go. The kid didn't seem willing to stay himself, he got up to the kids section, saw the other kids and came running right on back.

Clutching his dads leg, he watched the kids play through the corner of his eye. He had always tried to be social before but these days, Marnal knew all too well that he didn't mix well with other kids. They were usually quite mean. "Is the pizza ready?"

The Doctor didn't even have to guess what that was about. Sighing softly, he brushed at Marnal's hair, glancing toward the kids playing about. He wasn't going to force social interaction. School was going to be hard to deal with come fall.

"Almost. Don't worry. You'll be out of here soon enough." the Doctor assured as he lifted the lad. It always was trying for him to deal with this one.

"Why are you scared of?" the Master remarked with a small frown, looking over at the kids. Pfft, they were bigger but they didn't seem too bad. "If they're jerks, just punch them."

Yep, the Master bad advise to children but hey, that had helped him a bit as a boy. Yes, he usually got his ass kicked but once they knew he wouldn't back down, it got less fun.

The Doctor bristled a bit at that suggestion. It was beyond bad advice to give. "Don't you let me catch you doing that sort of thing." he chided firmly, putting a stop to it before it could even be a problem.

"Kids can be mean. That doesn't mean that you have to be as well. It will get better with time." the Doctor murmured softly, actually quite relieved when informed their order was done. Balancing the milkshakes upon the pizza box, he lifted I carefully, heading for the door.

"Does it?" the Master muttered, giving the Doctor a sideways look. Years of playing nice, playing nasty and telling grown ups had gotten him no where. Bullies never stopped till you stood up to them.

"You know humans have this tale, David and Goliath. David was this weak little lad and he got rid of giant bully by ... well, I don't think he was nice to him," the Master remarked before shrugging slightly. "but then he might of been, worth a shot Marnal." H didn't want to belittle the Doctors parenting, even if he didn't agree... he tried to keep his mouth shut.

"And sometimes bad things happen, people get hurt, and you end up homeschooled and in counseling. Bit of an extreme, but the point stands. We be nice to people whether they're nice to you or not and hope they learn via example." the Doctor informed simply.

He got Marnal in the car and settled the food so that it wouldn't spill abou before settling himself. That wasn't too bad. He couldn't really complain about much where this was concerned.

"People are always going to get hurt, the point is that you need to hurt back. Look at Kosch, those kids made his life a misery and it wasn't till he hit back that he felt better," And, yeah, got expelled and homeschooled but that was that.

"Counselling is rubbish anyway," the Master mumbled, sitting comfortably in the car and looking back to make sure Marnal was ignoring them in favour of looking at a dig through the window. "I know that you know what it means to be bullied, you can't tell me that you never once just wanted to smack them in the face and be done with it? You feel better when you do."

"No, actually, I didn't feel better. Look. I'll tell you about it later but the point is that I'm not letting Marnal fight back. If I pull him out from school to see a tutor instead, then so be it. But he won't fight back." the Doctor said softly, his tone firm.

He wasn't going to change his views on this. The Doctor hadn't done very well with the concept of fighting back growing up. It hadn't had very good consequences for him.

"Maybe Marnal and Koschei can share a tutor," the Master remarked with rolling his eyes. Marnal frowned at them and looked between them, not sure what they were arguing over but he knew it was bullies.

Either way, he just wanted to have his pizza. When they pulled up, he carried it inside, despite how his arms had to stretch, and beamed up at his father. "Can pest have some?"

The Doctor just shook his head and got out of the car. "I already have a tutor lined up." he said simply, letting Marnal in and taking the pizza box to serve the kid up.

"Be careful while eating and Pest has his own food. I want you to eat and then go upstairs to lay down a bit." the Doctor instructed, grabbing his own slice to eat. Pizza was definitely easy to eat.

"But that's boring," Marnal whined, not wanting to go upstairs and sleep, he wanted to eat his pizza and play more. Yes, he was tired now but he'd feel better soon enough.

The Master snagged his own and chewed on it as he watched the boy sulk and wonder off out of the kitchen. "You know, a boy like Koschei is good for tutoring because e doesn't like people much. Someone like Marnal? He'll be lonely. He wants friends, he's just been scared off. I would suggest, and this is just my opinion, that you just try to help him instead of sending him off to a tutor."

"It's a just in case backup and the only advice I've ever taken from my father." the Doctor murmured softly, eying the doorway before regarding the Master. Well. Moving on.

"So. Want to hear the story? Or would you like to try and make a guess?" the Doctor asked softly, trying for a bit of humor in the given situation. That may have been asking for too much.

"Can I use logical deduction to theorise you did something bad? Maybe fought back and it went badly? I mean, no offence, but you seem very against the idea. Did you dad tell you to attack and you didn't know your own strength?" the Master suggested, vaguely guessing at what it was. He could expect to hit the nail on the head.

"Look, go for it. I can safely say that you can't shock me. I've done some very immoral stuff, I've suffered some nasty stuff and hell, I'm sure I can empathise," or try anyway, he didn't empathise well unless it was with his boy.

"Pretty damn close. My father thought it would be a good idea to try and condition out the human aide of me by sending me off to a boarding school that was strictly pure blooded. One student in particular had issue with me." the Doctor said simply, shrugging.

"Long story short? He confronted me down by the river and was trying to provoke me into fighting back. The river wasn't that deep, but he tried to hold me in, so I grabbed a rock and the next thig I know? He's dead and I just sat there in the river for hours, covered in blood and in shock. My dad pulled me out and sent me to a few various conselors. He was more angry that the school let it get so bad than what I did." the Doctor admitted softly.

The Master stared for a while before... well, pausing. The actual hell? The Doctor was a killer? But he didn't have it in his blood... did he? Christ. Looking up at the ceiling, a smile flicked on his face. He couldn't help it, it seemed so mental.

"Well, you outdid me." the Master offered, rubbing the back of his neck. So the Doctor was a killer and he wasn't and woah. He couldn't get over it. "Well... you shut him up, didn't you?"

"I was ten. The first time I ever really stood up for myself and I killed somebody. People usually react the same way to that story. So. You going to run for the hills now?" the Doctor asked slowly.

It was honestly what he expected. The Doctor figured that that wasn't exactly a positive in a relationship. Definitely explained the Doctor's habit of backing down when things got heated. Also explained his ability to deal with Iros.

"Run for the hills? Piss off. I find myself more and more intrigued by you. Rassilon, if only I'd done that. You know what I was doing when I was ten?" the Master asked, cocking his head to the side. "I was ducked taped to the school statue."

He left out the part where he had been in his underwear and it was winter. The TARDIS really hated him, she could of let him forget at least some of his more embarrassing memories. "Look, you stuck back with a very hard rock against a guy who was going to drown you... that's fair. But you have to let Marnal fight back. not with rocks but with his fists. He's little, he won't kill anyone. He just might get some extra confidence and he needs it."

"Yeah. Come tell me that when he strikes your son and it escalates. This isn't one of those things where you react one way and it's all fine." the Doctor said soflty.

It really wasn't. The Doctor had learned a specific behavior and he was trying to get Marnal to follow that. "I'm not letting him fight back. I don't want him to face the same sort of thing as I did." he said slowly.

"If he punches Koschei, I can bet you all my money Koschei probably had it coming. Sometimes I wish I could hit that brat," the Master said with good humour, he wouldn't but maybe if the boy did, Koschei might learn a lesson or two about running his mouth.

"You're holding him back, you know? It's like... if you had had a bad experience with swimming, you wouldn't of let him gone today and he wouldn't of had such a good time. Well, what if he can hit once? What if he does and those kids at school stop?" the Master theorised, not sure the Doctor had thought this all through.