He was torn, and the urge was there to shove the outside presence from his mind, but the Doctor's - Theta's - words cut off the idea before it could come to anything more.
Distraction.
You mean when we were young and innocent and naive, and you didn't know about the drums because I thought you'd think me insane? Even before I was. They were quiet, then. Soft and hard at the same time, but still there, all the time, never leaving me, but oh, so. Much. Quieter!
Don't think about that. Though with their connection this strong, the Doctor knew that was nearly impossible for Koschei. Think about other things. Remember how peaceful it was then on Gallifrey. Just us two lying in the fields, looking up at the orange sky beneath the silver trees...
An image from his memories filtered into Koschei's mind. The two were young then, just children, both lying on their backs and watching the sky. They used to hold hands all the time then. The Doctor missed that.
I can't bloody help thinking about it, and I have to think around it or else I'd be thinking through it, and you wouldn't want that. They're war drums, Theta - they are and they always have been.
The 'Theta' came through from the old, old memories, and something else slipped out, as well.
There's a patch of red grass in Central Park, and the trees were painted silver. I've never been there. It's only a fake. A garden. Not the real thing. Maybe there should be a better one, though...
He registered the touch, the physical memory that came with it. The warmth of the two suns, the grass on their backs, adrenaline still rushing through their veins, the drums drowned out by his own heartsbeat, back when they'd been quiet enough for that to be possible.
Perhaps a backwards sign that he actually was beginning to calm down, his mental voice held some teasing derision. I'm not that desperate.
Or... perhaps he was. But he wouldn't lower himself to anything other than the best. And if you wanted something done well, the best way was to do it (or oversee it) yourself. A number of ideas were beginning to form in his mind.
We're not going to break a Time Lock. His voice was stern, guessing what Koschei was thinking. Our home is gone, Koschei. We'll keep it alive in our memories.
I'm not that much of an idiot, either. That wasn't what I was thinking of.
He got up abruptly, and started pacing - the drums were still there, still louder than normal, but he had something to focus them on, now.
"Then we do what anyone else would do. Like you said before - begin again. Work with what we have got. I'm not asking for Gallifrey. Gallifrey doesn't have a future any more. What I'm after is..."
Somewhere to go that he could fool himself was home. That could be made to look authentic, that could fool the senses, and that could be shown to those entrusted with the Time Lord legacy so that they didn't live ignorant of what it had looked like. And Rassilon knew there were enough of those about in the many universes.
He paused in his pacing, but didn't stop moving. His hands started to tap and drum involutarily, but he used them to gesticulate the moment he realised this.
"Look around you. How many of us are around here, now? How many have TARDISes? It would be a simple enough task to find the equipment to terraform a planet or moon that was deserted, and adjust the workings and settings to achieve the results we wanted. It could work. Perfection would be nice, but I'm not expecting it. The details can work themselves out."
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Distraction.
You mean when we were young and innocent and naive, and you didn't know about the drums because I thought you'd think me insane? Even before I was. They were quiet, then. Soft and hard at the same time, but still there, all the time, never leaving me, but oh, so. Much. Quieter!
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An image from his memories filtered into Koschei's mind. The two were young then, just children, both lying on their backs and watching the sky. They used to hold hands all the time then. The Doctor missed that.
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The 'Theta' came through from the old, old memories, and something else slipped out, as well.
...I miss it. The grass, the sky, the trees, the-
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He registered the touch, the physical memory that came with it. The warmth of the two suns, the grass on their backs, adrenaline still rushing through their veins, the drums drowned out by his own heartsbeat, back when they'd been quiet enough for that to be possible.
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He smiled, sensing that Koschei was beginning to calm down finally.
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Or... perhaps he was. But he wouldn't lower himself to anything other than the best. And if you wanted something done well, the best way was to do it (or oversee it) yourself. A number of ideas were beginning to form in his mind.
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Proper use of keywords ftw.
He got up abruptly, and started pacing - the drums were still there, still louder than normal, but he had something to focus them on, now.
"Then we do what anyone else would do. Like you said before - begin again. Work with what we have got. I'm not asking for Gallifrey. Gallifrey doesn't have a future any more. What I'm after is..."
Somewhere to go that he could fool himself was home. That could be made to look authentic, that could fool the senses, and that could be shown to those entrusted with the Time Lord legacy so that they didn't live ignorant of what it had looked like. And Rassilon knew there were enough of those about in the many universes.
Amen!
"You want to make another Gallifrey?" he said skeptically. "That's quite a task, even for us."
;D Ohyes~
"Look around you. How many of us are around here, now? How many have TARDISes? It would be a simple enough task to find the equipment to terraform a planet or moon that was deserted, and adjust the workings and settings to achieve the results we wanted. It could work. Perfection would be nice, but I'm not expecting it. The details can work themselves out."
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