Imaginary Worlds

"I can't believe my son has ruined your future career plans and another mans job. Look, maybe I can get you back in if I just explain that Koschei was the reason," or maybe he could try and talk Smith into being a bit understanding.

Either way, he felt so bad for Epsilon. And all because his bratty boy had a warped idea of how to deal with his problems. "Come on, I'll walk you to the car but I'm sorry about what he did, really. Just try not to kill him."

"It's funny, actually. Had Koschei waited...He was going to resign anyway. Something about converting an old warehouse into a science lab...And I can still qualify for an apprenticeship." Epsilon murmured. Maybe. If he got lucky and found the right person willing to overlook his record. Something that might work out if a certain teacher succeeded in the lab business.

"He'll pay me back in kind. I feel bad for Theta. You would think nobody had been disappointed in her before...I don't know how to tell my mother. Verica can't be refunded for this year and..." Epsilon shook his head slowly as he followed along. And she really couldn't afford that sort of loss.

"Could you do me a favour, Epsilon? Could you just-- tell Koschei this. Make him understand. Because I know, deep down, that he feels all of this but he needs to understand his actions have impact," And this seemed like the best way to get this across to him. He didn't want his friend to suffer, he just wanted to make his point.

Once they were at the car, the Master unlocked it and left the two boys in the back as he started up the car. "So do you want to go straight to your moms then or do you feel like hiding out?"

Great. Epsilon gets expelled from the school of his dreams, which leaves his adopted mother with a debt for nothing, and the Master wanted to use him for a lesson. Seriously? "Fine." he mumbled with a small shrug. Maybe he could get a job. Sure, he was only seven, but he was almost eight. He could do something to help out. Especially since he had to pay for the apprenticeship now.

Sighing, he glanced out the window, not really wanting to talk to Koschei. It was the kid's fault. "I don't know...Home. I need to tell her." Epsilon settled after a moment. It wasn't helping that Koschei really wasn't getting any formal consequences on record.

"Right, well I'll drop you off but I want to talk to your mom first actually... its about work but I think I should ask now before you drop a bombshell," the Master remarked with a small shrug of his shoulders. It might give Koschei and Epsilon some alone time.

Koschei could face his consequences and the Master would help him understand and make it right and that way things would be much better for the both of them... it was exactly what he wanted.

"That's alright. I can do it." he assured softly, shaking his head softly. Epsilon would wait off for the Master's sake. It was the least that he could do. But..."He shouldn't have resigned, you know. Just because of Koschei." he murmured, shooting a glare to the kid in question and receiving one right back.

He couldn't believe that the kid got away with that. It wasn't fair to the man in the least. Epsilon actually liked that teacher. "I know you can't help me...But can you talk to the school? I liked him. He was nice." Epsilon murmured. So different than Koschei.

"I'll talk to Mr Smith, see if I can't sort this out. I've gotten rather good at sorting Koschei's mess out," the Master muttered, clearly not happy at all the time he'd have to waste putting all of this right.

"Koschei? You do realise you owe not only Mr Smith an apology but Epsilon and Theta. I hope you'll remember that," the Master added, just to make sure the seven year old remembered to say he was sorry, an important social need.

Koschei cringed at that one and shrugged. "Why?" he asked. Because he didn't know what was going on just yet. Epsilon and Theta couldn't be in that much trouble...Right? Koschei didn't quite mean anything about that one. But he didn't know what was going on.

"Ill talk to him when you're busy with Verica." Epsilon assured as the house came into view. Oh, poor Verica. She didn't know what was about to come and hit her. He could get a job. Start saving up and paying her back. It was the least he could do.

"Wait in the car you two, I'll be back in a second," the Master got out and left Epsilon to give Koschei the blunt facts while he knocked on the door and waited to be greeted by Verica - boy did she have a rough day ahead.

"Hey you, before I get to the serious stuff, can I just ask for a bit of extra time on my accounts? Sorry for the delay, Koschei has run me in circles and, just so you know, I will be punishing him severely but Epsilon will explain everything," he wasn't going to tell her, he wanted Epsilon to make this approach. "But after you and Epsilon talk... can you ring me? Just so I know you're fine."

Verica just gave a tight smile at that. "The school called me. He's been expelled from both of the local schools now." she murmured softly. It wasn't fair. For either of them. Because there weren't many options left. She could send Epsilon to a boarding school or hire somebody to home school the kid.

"Yeah. You can have the time, don't worry about that. But...You might also want to consider looking for a new job. Just keep your options open." Verica said softly, giving an absent tug to her hair. "I think that I'm going to have to sell out to a larger company. I just...I can't afford to stay as an independent business and take care of Epsilon. I have the loans for the academy to pay back and now I need to come up with more." she explained with an apologetic frown.

"Its fine but don't do anything till the end of the week? Because I'm going to fix this. My little bastard of a son has fucked us all over and I will make him face this and admit what he did. Be easy on Epsilon, Koschei did this to him," the Master sighed and gave Verica an absent minded pat on the shoulder before dashing down to the car once more and sliding inside when it looked like Epsilon was done.

"Epsilon, go ahead mate and be strong," the Master offered, sitting patiently and waited for the boy to leave before he dropped his head on the steering wheel and cursed. If he couldn't fix this? Well, great, he'd end up jobless. He had no proper qualifications in engineering, they'd never actually hire him!

Koschei watched Epsilon head up the drive and sighed softly, looking to his father. "'M sorry...I messed up." he said softly. And wasn't that fun. He had managed to screw everyone over. He didn't even know about Verica. He just knew that he was in a lot of trouble.

And he wasn't the only one. "Am I going to the other school?" he asked softly, frowning. Because Koschei wasn't quite sure what to do or say in this situation. Because this wasn't going to end well in the least.

"Probably because when Verica goes bust, I'll lose my job and how can I ever afford to pay for your school when we'll probably be starving to death," the Master pointed out with a frustrated look on his face because it did his head in.

"Look, Koschei, you haven't messed you. You've ruined several lives and made a lot of people unhappy-- a mess if when you accidentally blow something up or break something important. This is just a disaster. And you did all of this because you hated Smith?" The Master started up the car and sped off with a look of annoyance on his face. "Well, we're going to apologise right now to that man and try our hardest to smooth over your mistakes."

((Off to bed))

{Night~!}

Koschei's expression gave away just how he felt over that one. What? Then again...He had screwed up a lot. And apparently something to do with Verica as well. Oops. That was the last thing that he wanted to do. He sighed softly and leaned against the door with a small sigh.

"'Kay...I can do that." Koschei conceded softly. That was the least that he could do. "I am sorry." he added as an after thought. He didn't mean for all of this to take place. It just sort of...Had.

"Good, you should have a problem saying it to everyone then," the Master informed him because Koschei was going t have to apologise to a lot of people as the Master tried to make this whole mess right.

He couldn't risk losing his job or he'd probably have to teach himself and he just couldn't stand humouring simple minds for money. He had to go all the way back to the school to get Mr Smiths address and the drive all the way down to their place was long enough, by the time they got there, it was getting on a bit. "Right, Koschei, remember you say your sorry and you mean it. Got it?"

Koschei positively glowered at that one. He got it. Alright? He screwed up and was needing to make it right. He could do that easily. "Still don't like him." he mumbled as he got out, keeping his head ducked as he followed along to the door. Glancing up whenthe Doctor opened, he gave a practiced contrite expression. "'M sorry, Mr. Smith. What I did wasn't right." he murmured softly.

The Doctor sighed softly in turn, running a hand through his hair and shrugging. "It's fine. Honestly, I was resigning soon anyway. That job had been for me to save up on a down payment." he assured softly, worrying his lip as he looked between the two. "I was just sitting down to eat...Would you like to come in?" he asked softly nit was quiet without Marnal there, but they weren't letting him have the boy back until the following afternoon.

"Erm, sure?" the Master couldn't turn the guy down after his son sort of ruined everything. Ushering Koschei inside after him, he looked around with a frown. There was a lot of toys in this place. Poor guy,k his son didn't seem to be around. Little harsh to take the boy away over an unfounded and uninvestigated complaint.

"So Marnal is not here?-- Rassilon, I am sorry bout that. Like I said, Koschei is a hard kid to deal with. He's a bit... well, he's too much like his father," yes, he and Koschei were both manipulative and lying assholes but that was just who they were.

The Doctor just waved the two off. "I get why they did it. I can pick him up tomorrow afternoon. Which gives me just enough time to finish clearing out the books and whatnot for a trainset." he said simply. Always a silver lining.

"Really. It is fine. I've been saving to open a science lab since before I moved here. I have just enough saved up to start out small and get by still. May be a bit tight the first month or two, but I can manage." the Doctor assured, absently picking a few things up so that his guests could sit. A thing Koschei had no issue with. "Can I offer you anything?"

"Well yeah, see I'm glad everything worked out but -- see, the boy who was manipulated to punch Koschei and the girl who panicked and said it was you have both got into a lot of trouble, which is fair I suppose, but Epsilon, who actually hit Koschei, has gotten expelled," the Master tried to explain because he just had to try and help it the kid at the very least.

"You know Epsilon right? Well, he can't get his money back from the academy which means his mom will probably go bust and all because my genius son decided he didn't like you," the Master summed up as quickly as he could, knowing that this was a long shot. "Any chance you might consider talking to the academy, maybe vouching for Epsilon and saying that you bare no ill-will? They might listen to you more than a random family friend."

"Odd kid? Red hair and obsessed with a science career? I know him. Interesting lad really. I've been helping him get ready to skip ahead." he murmured softly, frowning a bit. The idea that they would so easily expel him was a bit of a bother actually. The kid wasn't all too bad.

"I'll try. I make no promises in this regard, but I will try. The last thing I want is for people to suffer needlessly." the Doctor murmured softly with a small shake of his head. "I don't know how forgiving that place is going to be in this regard." he cautioned as an afterthought.

"No idea, I avoid it unless Koschei is called in," the Master remarked as he sat beside Koschei, now feeling very awkward because they seemed to have slowed the mission now to talk with a man they barely knew for whatever reason.

Perhaps he just felt bad for the man, losing his kid and all. Leaning over, he picked up a car off the floor and idly span the wheels before giving Koschei an amused look. "Why don't you play with stuff like cars? Cars always amuse me."

"I dunno. I don't like them." Koschei said simply, shrugging. He couldn't help it. Not really. He just..."I prefer books." he stated. And that was that. He much prefered to sit back and try to read than to play.

A thing that had the Doctor perking up a bit. "Would you like some books? I need to get rid of them soon and they're on various subjects." he offered the Master lightly. Eh. Why not?

Both Koschei and the Master were big readers, it was how they bonded together and the Master loved it-- but he always appreciated the merits of toys and it was a little disappoint Koschei didn't but oh well, he was like that as a boy as well, only worse. He used to skip spending time with everyone just to finish a book.

"Those would be fantastic, if you don't mind giving them to us?" Little odd considering they got the mans boy taken off them, not something most got rewarded for. He would kill anyone that had Koschei taken away.

"They need to go. Marnal wants a train set and, between his things and the cat's things, there isn't much room for it. So the books and the bookcase need to go in order to make room." he said simply, shrugging. They were already boxed up and everything.

It probably said something that he was so willing to give things up for his kid. "I think it'll be a pleasant surprise for when I get him back tomorrow. And I'll talk to the school first thing in the morning. I really do get it. Why your son did this, I mean." he assured softly.

"Bet Marnal can't wait to get home," having a four year old who was attached to his father taken away for a few days with no real explanation was the sort of trauma that stayed with a kid. Well, maybe not a Time Lord one, but the point stood.

"I'm sorry about him though, I love the brat but others, less so. Me and Koschei are working on the whole empathy and not manipulating thing," it was not a great thing but ... well, it sort of worked. He smiled sort of and ruffled Koschei's hair. "But he is sorry."