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Fic: Dating the Cleverest Boy in the World. Chapter 18.
As promised, the next part. This has literally not let me be the whole week, so finally finishing it was wonderful. And oh, we're getting to the stuff I've been itching to write since forever... (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_redjay this one's for you. I'm sure you'll see why. *g*) All mistakes mine.
For anyone new, this is part of my 'Not the Last' AU 'verse, which centres around the Master's son. He is currently 20 years old, has grown up on Earth, pretending to be human, and has just finished his second year of uni (having been 'grounded' for 3 years by the Doctor for an undisclosed misdemeanour). He is dating a headstrong girl called Allison whom he is deeply in love with, but who doesn't yet know that he's alien. Fic index here if anyone wants to catch up, or just follow the tags. Also on AO3 and The Teaspoon.
Summary: Allison had always thought that university would be an adventure. But she'd not imagined that she'd end up dating Harold Saxon's son.
Setting: Summer 2027
Characters (this chapter): Alex and Allison (OCs) and Adelaide Brooke
Rating (this chapter): R (just to be on the safe side)
Wordcount: 3600 words.
Feedback: Will make me happier than you can imagine.
Chapter 18
Summer 2027, Texas
It was a strange sort of summer. If the previous year’s ‘holiday’ had been characterised by the constancy of their continual, shared, movement - new places, new sights every day - this summer was spent mostly apart, both of them buried in work with a singular focus; the time they shared near-breathless trying to tell each other what they were doing.
For Allison the other interns soon ceased to be a lump of ‘Americans’ and gained personalities and stories and quirks, and some of them even became good friends. The one who stood out the most being the boy who had challenged Alex on that first day. A tall, lanky, black kid with an afro to be reckoned with, he turned out to be called Panache - a name he carried off perfectly. He was also a whiz with computers, and ended up getting along famously with Alex. Of course Alex wasn’t around much, and Allison became part of a little ‘girl gang’ that usually went out together. (The boys outnumbering the girls to a ratio Allison found depressing.)
But most of all she was relishing the challenge of the work, and the fact that she could tell which avenues to pursue in her further studies in order to do this for a living. Not that she wasn’t enjoying Cambridge, but it was a world apart, and sometimes the wider scope of their lives was forgotten: at NASA there was no chance of that ever happening. The shared goal of everyone was constantly held up before them, as well as the importance of every detail - it gave a whole new meaning to the word ‘team work’.
After a few weeks however, the whispers started. Allison was barely aware of them at first, and put them down to Alex-being-Alex. The kind of thing that made Adelaide shake her head and look at Allison with wonder in her eyes.
“Never known a kid like him. At this rate-”
She caught herself.
“Nevermind.”
Allison just smiled. Once people got used to him it’d probably all die down.
Except it didn’t - instead it grew.
The turning point came one day when she happened to overhear two of the senior technicians chatting quietly, with perfect I-don’t-believe-it Victor Mildrew looks on their faces (not that they’d be familiar with One Foot in the Grave, of course), and became intrigued.
“... and from what I heard they call him ‘Golden Boy’,” one of them finished, lifting his coffee cup, and the other (a large black woman in an orange top that almost looked radioactive against the drab walls) lifted an eyebrow.
“Seriously? Well, I won’t believe nothin’ until we get word from above. I know Adelaide said he was special, but...”
There was something to the quality of their discussion - a sense that what wasn’t being said was somehow transgressive - which made Allison decide to cut in.
“Sorry, can I ask what you’re talking about? I’m his girlfriend-”
The black woman shook her head.
“Aw honey, it’s nothin’. Just some wild rumours. I’m sure he’s a clever kid, but some people just get carried away. I was here when they launched Curiosity and let me tell ya...”
Then followed a lengthy wander down memory lane, which was interesting, but didn’t answer Allison’s question.
As soon as she managed to detangle herself, she called Alex. They moved him around a lot, but he was currently in Florida as far as she knew.
“Hello ‘Golden Boy’,” she said archly, and the grin on his face was more than proof that the moniker was indeed his.
“Hello yourself. It’s a great nickname, isn’t it? And accurate too!”
“Alex - what are these rumours? What exactly are you doing?”
Biting his lip, his eyes danced like she’d rarely seen before.
“You know Project Pitstop?”
“Yes...”
“I’ve brought it forward by a year.”
She frowned, not sure she followed.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... Thanks to me, the first shuttle will launch this August, which is rather an improvement on the original date of September next year I think. Oh and I’ve made sure it launches from here in Florida, rather than Kazakhstan, as I know how much you wanted to see a proper launch. Figured that as our internships will be done by then we could even have a bit of a holiday first...”
She stared at him, and then abruptly sat down, feeling oddly light-headed.
He’d done it for her.
This whole wonderful summer, the internship, the courting of Adelaide... It was all for her.
Oh he was certainly getting plenty out of it too, but she knew him well enough to understand how he functioned...
He was making a spaceship fly for the simple reason that he wanted to make her happy; was making the whole of NASA dance to his tune because he’d noticed the wistfulness in her voice when she’d talked about shuttle launches.
“Allie? Allie - are you OK?” he was asking, sounding a bit anxious, and she smiled, as if from far away, then tried to focus on him properly.
Her impossible boyfriend, the Golden Boy...
Somewhere, dimly, the thought registered that what he was doing was... worrying. She seemed to recall breaking up with him because of the way he manipulated people without it registering on his conscience as problematic. Yet this was different, wasn’t it? He was, personally, causing the change, working hard to achieve something extraordinary.
Looking at him now - the happy open face, the concern over her lack of response - she finally spoke, the question following logically from her train of thought:
“Why me?”
His eyes softened, and he shook his head very gently.
“Clever I may be, but that’s a question I can’t answer. Although...”
He hesitated, and she waited for him to gather his thoughts.
“I’ve been thinking about this. About love. I think... Love is when what you want becomes what you have. Does that make sense? I mean - love is subjective. Unless you’re a saint, or something. I love you because you’re you. An impartial observer could probably find women thought more beautiful, or clever, but I’d still only want you, because what you are is what I love. All the specific things that make you you... The particular shade of grey of your eyes, the way you brush your hair, your... intransigence - out of the billions of people on this planet, you are the only one I want... My Allison - I’d lay all the stars in the sky at your feet if you wanted.”
She could only shake her head mutely in response, because what could anyone to say to a declaration like that? Except of course ‘Me too’, but she wasn’t sure she could remember how to form words. Then he dipped his head, a self-deprecating smile tugging at his mouth as the seriousness faded.
“I know, I know. Young men in love. I’ll try to tone it down...”
“Alex-” she cut in, blinking away tears that she hadn’t even noticed until now.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he replied swiftly. “I can see it all in your eyes. And I look forward to seeing you properly this weekend...”
She swallowed.
“Me too. Oh definitely me too.”
***
The main problem with moving something forward by a year soon manifested itself: A million and one tiny details needed checking and sorting in a couple of months, rather than a year, and as Adelaide was busy training for the launch, she - apparently without a second thought - delegated vast amounts of her work to Allison.
Although it was flattering to be trusted, a lot of it was almost beyond Allison’s capacity. She had always been at the top of her class, easily outshining others, and even at university she hadn’t needed to be sent to NASA to know that she and Chen were ahead of the rest.
The problem with NASA being that everyone was at the top of their field. Work Allison would usually expect praise for didn’t cause Adelaide to so much as raise an eyebrow.
Not that Allison could really blame her - Adelaide was pushing herself in ways that reminded Allison of the circus performers the previous summer. Except Adelaide wasn’t training in order to perform in front of an audience for the sake of entertainment... Going into space was a far more serious undertaking, where a mistake could cost lives, not to mention the destruction of equipment worth millions and the undoing of years’ worth of work.
So, despite often being too tired to even think, Allison far preferred this summer.
She was helping create a moon base, and she’d witness a shuttle launch. It was the fulfilment of childhood dreams she’d thought unattainable - or at the very least something that could only be the result of a lifetime’s worth of work.
Only once did she see Adelaide admit to any uncertainty, and she knew that if it hadn’t been for the fact that she was Alex’s girlfriend Adelaide would probably had kept it to herself.
It was during one of her flying visits, catching up and making sure that everything was progressing, when Adelaide suddenly put down the papers they were going through and turned to Allison.
“I don’t know how he did it. Does it, even.”
The was a pause, during which Allison didn’t quite know what to say, unsure where Adelaide was going. The four screens in front of them hummed quietly, and Adelaide slowly shook her head.
“He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met, frequently clocking in 48 hours or more at a stretch, and although everything adds up, and we’re on schedule... I don’t know how he did it. How did a 20 year old kid walk into my project and shave 12 months off? I’ve been over everything 3 times at least and it’s like he pulled the thing out of thin air.”
Allison wasn’t sure what to say, and had a feeling that Adelaide was talking to herself most of all. Eventually she went for something she hoped wasn’t too flippant.
“At least he’s working with you, and not the Branson lot...”
Adelaide nodded, a smiled spreading across her face.
“Very true. I do like your attitude Allison. I’m hoping you’ll both be joining us permanently one day.”
***
Leaving was harder than Allison expected. Not just saying goodbye to the people who had become far closer friends than she had realised - but leaving behind the work was nigh-on impossible.
All the way to Florida she was fretting that the perfectly capable person she’d left Adelaide’s work with would get something wrong, or misunderstand one of the thousands of notes she had written, or there could be a fire and everything would be destroyed... There was too much riding on this for her to let go.
Alex patting her hand and telling her that everything would be fine didn’t help (‘Do you think I’d be leaving if everything wasn’t going well, Allie?’), and she nearly bit his head off pointing this out.
The rest of the flight he quietly busied himself with his laptop, as Allison concentrated on looking out of the window. Flying was still a novelty, although now it also helped to remind her of the million-and-one things that could go wrong with the mission...
The first thing that began pulling her out of the stress was the heat and light of Florida. It enveloped them like a blanket when they arrived, and Alex (without asking) put a wide-brimmed sun hat on her head.
And instead of scowling, she smiled.
The house (or rather villa) that he had rented was not far outside Orlando, and the contrast between the accommodation at the Space Center in Texas (which, although basic, had been perfectly fine) and the excessive luxury of the villa was enough to make her stop going over lists in her head and have a look around... Which led to the discovery of a conservatory with a large pool at the back. On closer inspection the conservatory turned out to be made of netting, rather than glass, something which puzzled her hugely until Alex explained about the bugs. (Clearly nowhere was perfect.)
That evening, as the sun was setting and they were sitting by the pool, the heat having decreased to something suitable for human habitation, Alex tilted his head and studied her.
“You’re still tense. Here - try this.”
He held out - as if this was a perfectly normal thing - something she at first glance mistook for a cigarette, before her eyes widened and she stared at him, shocked.
“I think I can de-stress without the use of drugs, Alex! Where did you get that from anyway? Is it even legal?”
(What was legal where in America was something vague and confusing. She’d got her head around Texas, but nothing more.)
“Does it matter?” he asked, calmly. “It’ll work.”
“But...”
“Allison, you’re only young once. Live a little.”
“But...”
“Here, let me show you how. And since you’re wondering, this is one of the most fun things I’ve learned at NASA.”
Finding out that the people responsible for ‘her’ project did drugs on the side wasn’t very reassuring, yet somehow she found herself agreeing to just try a little... Despite disliking the very idea of smoking and getting weird chemicals inside her.
Maybe it was Alex’s attitude, she reflected a little later. There was a devil-may-care side to him, which was strangely at odds with his sensible, almost OCD tendencies... Whatever it was, she knew that it was something she was obviously attracted to. (It was a cliché, but there is was...) He had a restless mind, constantly looking for new challenges, which balanced her own, more steady, approach very nicely.
Plus he kept surprising her...
“By the way,” he started, watching the smoke dissolve, “I’ve not randomly turned into a pot-head over the summer. There’s method in my madness, if you’ll pardon the expression. You see, at some point my father will decide to introduce me to cigars, and I’d rather not make a fool of myself. So I figured I’d start small, work my way up.”
She stared at him for a long moment, trying to make sense of what he’d said. Surely a simple joint couldn’t make her head that slow-working.
“Cigars? What?”
“My father. He likes cigars.”
“OK...”
“It’s a thing. Sorry, I was thinking out loud. But - I like to think ahead, and besides... Why not try?”
She decided to ignore the bait and instead followed the thought that the mention of his father had brought up.
“But your Uncle... Won’t he mind if he finds out? He’s... quite strict, isn’t he?”
Turning to her, he smiled a brilliant smile.
“Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.”
“Oh great, you’re just going to be quoting stuff...”
He laughed, and she suddenly remembered what he’d said to her weeks previously.
‘Love is subjective’, she thought, watching the way the setting sun outlined his cheek, painting his hair a luminous shade of orange-gold, and she knew there was nowhere else she would want to be, except with him.
***
Somehow the week vanished in no time at all, with morning and evening dips in the pool; excursions to everything from ‘The Parrot Jungle’ to Disney Land; and visits to wonderful restaurants every night.
Yet it was over far too quickly, and they were now at the culmination of the whole visit. Allison felt very touristy in a short pale blue summer dress and a large straw hat bought in the Florida Keys, yet the excitement almost made her shiver despite the warmth.
They were allowed to say goodbye to the astronauts, and she hugged Adelaide tightly, wishing her all the best.
Alex only took her hand, tilting his head and watching her with that selfsame intensity he had the first day.
“Say hello to the stars from me,” he said, and oddly enough didn’t sound flippant at all.
And then they had to relocate to a viewing gallery where they had an uninterrupted view of the shuttle. (Their shuttle.)
As the countdown started, Allison grasped hold of the bar in front of her.
"Oh my god," she said, almost unable to breathe. "This is better than sex!"
Alex laughed and pulled her closer. "Knew there was a reason I liked you."
And then they both fell silent, watching as the white spacecraft slowly and majestically ascended, up and up and up, a bright beacon against the blue-white of the clear sky - impossible and incredible and near-magical.
As the people slowly dispersed, the vapour trail dissolving in the sky above them, Allison felt Alex’s hold on her tighten, hands almost nearing somewhere not appropriate for public, before he let go, grasping her hand and spinning her around, looking deep into her eyes.
“Better than sex... You know, I’d like to challenge that.”
“Alex!” she said, trying to see if anyone had overheard his words, but he only smiled, eyes so intense she felt almost hollow with sudden longing... How the breathlessness of the launch had translated so effortlessly into desire she wasn’t sure, but she was not about to complain, considering how they were clearly on the same page.
(He’d made the shuttle fly just for her. She should have gotten used to the thought by now, yet it still tripped her up.)
Next he was dragging her along behind him, through yet more labyrinthine corridors (the Americans clearly loved them), before stopping at a random door and fishing a keycard out of his pocket.
When he pushed the door open, she looked around at the rather untidy space, several desks crammed into the dull office, and frowned as he locked the door behind them, leaving the key next to the lock.
“Whose office is this?” she asked, but he shook his head, eyes full of something beyond mere lust.
“No idea,” he said, before pulling her close, kissing her so deeply she had to gasp for breath when he let her go. Pushing her backwards so she bumped into a desk, he reached behind her and with an efficient sweep pushed all the papers down on the floor.
“Alex!” she admonished again, momentarily shocked out of the spiral she was climbing by his casual disregard for someone else’s belongings. But he merely grasped her waist and lifted her onto the fake-wooden work top, stepping between her legs and pushing her flush against him, demanding and irresistible.
“I-” he said, inbetween kissing the corner of her mouth and then her neck, “-feel more like myself-” at this he pushed up her dress, “-than I have in two years! Do you have even the slightest idea what that means?”
Another kiss, deep and searing, as his hands (so clever, so skilled) made waves of pleasure flood through her until she barely heard his next words.
“My Allie,” he whispered, low voice barely audible, yet somehow making her tremble. “You and me - we are going to touch the stars.”
And then there were only the two of them in the whole world, moving as one, intertwined, answering a need that was somehow more bone-deep than was possible to express in words. She just knew that he was her beautiful, clever, impossible lover, and hers only...
She clung onto him as they moved towards their mutual completion, but as she crested onto that incredible release she felt as if she broke out of herself completely. For a fraction of a second the present ceased to exist, and instead the future shone at her in a thousand fragments...
The solemnity of Graduation - Josh and Jamie’s wedding - shuttles launching - a shared meal - the moon, stark and brilliant - his hand on her face - dull meetings - the endlessness of space, stars spread out beneath her feet - a night of passion - her family celebrating Boxing Day - twin suns against a flaming sky - playful work in a technical lab - Adelaide on Mars, face proudly radiant - an alien spacecraft - a world in celebration - Alex, older but his eyes lit up, golden and blazing, as if containing all the stars of the sky, watching her as if she was the most precious thing in the whole universe...
Then the moment was lost, shattering into golden ecstasy, before everything (slowly, slowly, so slowly it felt as if time itself was slowing its steps in order for her to gather herself) dissolved back into the real world where her Alex was only a boy in her arms, shivering and spent, pressing soft kisses into her neck.
Although she wouldn’t have been the least surprised if she’d seen actual stars in his eyes when he finally lifted his head to look at her.
Despite the strange vision fading until she couldn’t quite remember it (except now and again when in that no-where-land between waking and dreaming; or reasserting itself as strange déjà vu's, forgotten as soon as the moment passed), she from that day onward had an unshakeable conviction that their future would be golden.
***
The autumn term seemed to prove her right.
Living with Alex was just as easy as it had been the previous summer (he was so organised she never had to worry about a thing), and - just to prove that she could still be rendered speechless - on Remembrance Sunday she met the King.
Christmas, however, threw dark shadows over their happiness. Being clever was no guarantee against tragedy, and Allison was reminded of just how fragile even a Golden Boy could be.
(Next follows To Save A Life.)
Chapter 19.
the_redjay this one's for you. I'm sure you'll see why. *g*) All mistakes mine.For anyone new, this is part of my 'Not the Last' AU 'verse, which centres around the Master's son. He is currently 20 years old, has grown up on Earth, pretending to be human, and has just finished his second year of uni (having been 'grounded' for 3 years by the Doctor for an undisclosed misdemeanour). He is dating a headstrong girl called Allison whom he is deeply in love with, but who doesn't yet know that he's alien. Fic index here if anyone wants to catch up, or just follow the tags. Also on AO3 and The Teaspoon.
Summary: Allison had always thought that university would be an adventure. But she'd not imagined that she'd end up dating Harold Saxon's son.
Setting: Summer 2027
Characters (this chapter): Alex and Allison (OCs) and Adelaide Brooke
Rating (this chapter): R (just to be on the safe side)
Wordcount: 3600 words.
Feedback: Will make me happier than you can imagine.
Chapter 18
Summer 2027, Texas
It was a strange sort of summer. If the previous year’s ‘holiday’ had been characterised by the constancy of their continual, shared, movement - new places, new sights every day - this summer was spent mostly apart, both of them buried in work with a singular focus; the time they shared near-breathless trying to tell each other what they were doing.
For Allison the other interns soon ceased to be a lump of ‘Americans’ and gained personalities and stories and quirks, and some of them even became good friends. The one who stood out the most being the boy who had challenged Alex on that first day. A tall, lanky, black kid with an afro to be reckoned with, he turned out to be called Panache - a name he carried off perfectly. He was also a whiz with computers, and ended up getting along famously with Alex. Of course Alex wasn’t around much, and Allison became part of a little ‘girl gang’ that usually went out together. (The boys outnumbering the girls to a ratio Allison found depressing.)
But most of all she was relishing the challenge of the work, and the fact that she could tell which avenues to pursue in her further studies in order to do this for a living. Not that she wasn’t enjoying Cambridge, but it was a world apart, and sometimes the wider scope of their lives was forgotten: at NASA there was no chance of that ever happening. The shared goal of everyone was constantly held up before them, as well as the importance of every detail - it gave a whole new meaning to the word ‘team work’.
After a few weeks however, the whispers started. Allison was barely aware of them at first, and put them down to Alex-being-Alex. The kind of thing that made Adelaide shake her head and look at Allison with wonder in her eyes.
“Never known a kid like him. At this rate-”
She caught herself.
“Nevermind.”
Allison just smiled. Once people got used to him it’d probably all die down.
Except it didn’t - instead it grew.
The turning point came one day when she happened to overhear two of the senior technicians chatting quietly, with perfect I-don’t-believe-it Victor Mildrew looks on their faces (not that they’d be familiar with One Foot in the Grave, of course), and became intrigued.
“... and from what I heard they call him ‘Golden Boy’,” one of them finished, lifting his coffee cup, and the other (a large black woman in an orange top that almost looked radioactive against the drab walls) lifted an eyebrow.
“Seriously? Well, I won’t believe nothin’ until we get word from above. I know Adelaide said he was special, but...”
There was something to the quality of their discussion - a sense that what wasn’t being said was somehow transgressive - which made Allison decide to cut in.
“Sorry, can I ask what you’re talking about? I’m his girlfriend-”
The black woman shook her head.
“Aw honey, it’s nothin’. Just some wild rumours. I’m sure he’s a clever kid, but some people just get carried away. I was here when they launched Curiosity and let me tell ya...”
Then followed a lengthy wander down memory lane, which was interesting, but didn’t answer Allison’s question.
As soon as she managed to detangle herself, she called Alex. They moved him around a lot, but he was currently in Florida as far as she knew.
“Hello ‘Golden Boy’,” she said archly, and the grin on his face was more than proof that the moniker was indeed his.
“Hello yourself. It’s a great nickname, isn’t it? And accurate too!”
“Alex - what are these rumours? What exactly are you doing?”
Biting his lip, his eyes danced like she’d rarely seen before.
“You know Project Pitstop?”
“Yes...”
“I’ve brought it forward by a year.”
She frowned, not sure she followed.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... Thanks to me, the first shuttle will launch this August, which is rather an improvement on the original date of September next year I think. Oh and I’ve made sure it launches from here in Florida, rather than Kazakhstan, as I know how much you wanted to see a proper launch. Figured that as our internships will be done by then we could even have a bit of a holiday first...”
She stared at him, and then abruptly sat down, feeling oddly light-headed.
He’d done it for her.
This whole wonderful summer, the internship, the courting of Adelaide... It was all for her.
Oh he was certainly getting plenty out of it too, but she knew him well enough to understand how he functioned...
He was making a spaceship fly for the simple reason that he wanted to make her happy; was making the whole of NASA dance to his tune because he’d noticed the wistfulness in her voice when she’d talked about shuttle launches.
“Allie? Allie - are you OK?” he was asking, sounding a bit anxious, and she smiled, as if from far away, then tried to focus on him properly.
Her impossible boyfriend, the Golden Boy...
Somewhere, dimly, the thought registered that what he was doing was... worrying. She seemed to recall breaking up with him because of the way he manipulated people without it registering on his conscience as problematic. Yet this was different, wasn’t it? He was, personally, causing the change, working hard to achieve something extraordinary.
Looking at him now - the happy open face, the concern over her lack of response - she finally spoke, the question following logically from her train of thought:
“Why me?”
His eyes softened, and he shook his head very gently.
“Clever I may be, but that’s a question I can’t answer. Although...”
He hesitated, and she waited for him to gather his thoughts.
“I’ve been thinking about this. About love. I think... Love is when what you want becomes what you have. Does that make sense? I mean - love is subjective. Unless you’re a saint, or something. I love you because you’re you. An impartial observer could probably find women thought more beautiful, or clever, but I’d still only want you, because what you are is what I love. All the specific things that make you you... The particular shade of grey of your eyes, the way you brush your hair, your... intransigence - out of the billions of people on this planet, you are the only one I want... My Allison - I’d lay all the stars in the sky at your feet if you wanted.”
She could only shake her head mutely in response, because what could anyone to say to a declaration like that? Except of course ‘Me too’, but she wasn’t sure she could remember how to form words. Then he dipped his head, a self-deprecating smile tugging at his mouth as the seriousness faded.
“I know, I know. Young men in love. I’ll try to tone it down...”
“Alex-” she cut in, blinking away tears that she hadn’t even noticed until now.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he replied swiftly. “I can see it all in your eyes. And I look forward to seeing you properly this weekend...”
She swallowed.
“Me too. Oh definitely me too.”
The main problem with moving something forward by a year soon manifested itself: A million and one tiny details needed checking and sorting in a couple of months, rather than a year, and as Adelaide was busy training for the launch, she - apparently without a second thought - delegated vast amounts of her work to Allison.
Although it was flattering to be trusted, a lot of it was almost beyond Allison’s capacity. She had always been at the top of her class, easily outshining others, and even at university she hadn’t needed to be sent to NASA to know that she and Chen were ahead of the rest.
The problem with NASA being that everyone was at the top of their field. Work Allison would usually expect praise for didn’t cause Adelaide to so much as raise an eyebrow.
Not that Allison could really blame her - Adelaide was pushing herself in ways that reminded Allison of the circus performers the previous summer. Except Adelaide wasn’t training in order to perform in front of an audience for the sake of entertainment... Going into space was a far more serious undertaking, where a mistake could cost lives, not to mention the destruction of equipment worth millions and the undoing of years’ worth of work.
So, despite often being too tired to even think, Allison far preferred this summer.
She was helping create a moon base, and she’d witness a shuttle launch. It was the fulfilment of childhood dreams she’d thought unattainable - or at the very least something that could only be the result of a lifetime’s worth of work.
Only once did she see Adelaide admit to any uncertainty, and she knew that if it hadn’t been for the fact that she was Alex’s girlfriend Adelaide would probably had kept it to herself.
It was during one of her flying visits, catching up and making sure that everything was progressing, when Adelaide suddenly put down the papers they were going through and turned to Allison.
“I don’t know how he did it. Does it, even.”
The was a pause, during which Allison didn’t quite know what to say, unsure where Adelaide was going. The four screens in front of them hummed quietly, and Adelaide slowly shook her head.
“He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met, frequently clocking in 48 hours or more at a stretch, and although everything adds up, and we’re on schedule... I don’t know how he did it. How did a 20 year old kid walk into my project and shave 12 months off? I’ve been over everything 3 times at least and it’s like he pulled the thing out of thin air.”
Allison wasn’t sure what to say, and had a feeling that Adelaide was talking to herself most of all. Eventually she went for something she hoped wasn’t too flippant.
“At least he’s working with you, and not the Branson lot...”
Adelaide nodded, a smiled spreading across her face.
“Very true. I do like your attitude Allison. I’m hoping you’ll both be joining us permanently one day.”
Leaving was harder than Allison expected. Not just saying goodbye to the people who had become far closer friends than she had realised - but leaving behind the work was nigh-on impossible.
All the way to Florida she was fretting that the perfectly capable person she’d left Adelaide’s work with would get something wrong, or misunderstand one of the thousands of notes she had written, or there could be a fire and everything would be destroyed... There was too much riding on this for her to let go.
Alex patting her hand and telling her that everything would be fine didn’t help (‘Do you think I’d be leaving if everything wasn’t going well, Allie?’), and she nearly bit his head off pointing this out.
The rest of the flight he quietly busied himself with his laptop, as Allison concentrated on looking out of the window. Flying was still a novelty, although now it also helped to remind her of the million-and-one things that could go wrong with the mission...
The first thing that began pulling her out of the stress was the heat and light of Florida. It enveloped them like a blanket when they arrived, and Alex (without asking) put a wide-brimmed sun hat on her head.
And instead of scowling, she smiled.
The house (or rather villa) that he had rented was not far outside Orlando, and the contrast between the accommodation at the Space Center in Texas (which, although basic, had been perfectly fine) and the excessive luxury of the villa was enough to make her stop going over lists in her head and have a look around... Which led to the discovery of a conservatory with a large pool at the back. On closer inspection the conservatory turned out to be made of netting, rather than glass, something which puzzled her hugely until Alex explained about the bugs. (Clearly nowhere was perfect.)
That evening, as the sun was setting and they were sitting by the pool, the heat having decreased to something suitable for human habitation, Alex tilted his head and studied her.
“You’re still tense. Here - try this.”
He held out - as if this was a perfectly normal thing - something she at first glance mistook for a cigarette, before her eyes widened and she stared at him, shocked.
“I think I can de-stress without the use of drugs, Alex! Where did you get that from anyway? Is it even legal?”
(What was legal where in America was something vague and confusing. She’d got her head around Texas, but nothing more.)
“Does it matter?” he asked, calmly. “It’ll work.”
“But...”
“Allison, you’re only young once. Live a little.”
“But...”
“Here, let me show you how. And since you’re wondering, this is one of the most fun things I’ve learned at NASA.”
Finding out that the people responsible for ‘her’ project did drugs on the side wasn’t very reassuring, yet somehow she found herself agreeing to just try a little... Despite disliking the very idea of smoking and getting weird chemicals inside her.
Maybe it was Alex’s attitude, she reflected a little later. There was a devil-may-care side to him, which was strangely at odds with his sensible, almost OCD tendencies... Whatever it was, she knew that it was something she was obviously attracted to. (It was a cliché, but there is was...) He had a restless mind, constantly looking for new challenges, which balanced her own, more steady, approach very nicely.
Plus he kept surprising her...
“By the way,” he started, watching the smoke dissolve, “I’ve not randomly turned into a pot-head over the summer. There’s method in my madness, if you’ll pardon the expression. You see, at some point my father will decide to introduce me to cigars, and I’d rather not make a fool of myself. So I figured I’d start small, work my way up.”
She stared at him for a long moment, trying to make sense of what he’d said. Surely a simple joint couldn’t make her head that slow-working.
“Cigars? What?”
“My father. He likes cigars.”
“OK...”
“It’s a thing. Sorry, I was thinking out loud. But - I like to think ahead, and besides... Why not try?”
She decided to ignore the bait and instead followed the thought that the mention of his father had brought up.
“But your Uncle... Won’t he mind if he finds out? He’s... quite strict, isn’t he?”
Turning to her, he smiled a brilliant smile.
“Frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.”
“Oh great, you’re just going to be quoting stuff...”
He laughed, and she suddenly remembered what he’d said to her weeks previously.
‘Love is subjective’, she thought, watching the way the setting sun outlined his cheek, painting his hair a luminous shade of orange-gold, and she knew there was nowhere else she would want to be, except with him.
Somehow the week vanished in no time at all, with morning and evening dips in the pool; excursions to everything from ‘The Parrot Jungle’ to Disney Land; and visits to wonderful restaurants every night.
Yet it was over far too quickly, and they were now at the culmination of the whole visit. Allison felt very touristy in a short pale blue summer dress and a large straw hat bought in the Florida Keys, yet the excitement almost made her shiver despite the warmth.
They were allowed to say goodbye to the astronauts, and she hugged Adelaide tightly, wishing her all the best.
Alex only took her hand, tilting his head and watching her with that selfsame intensity he had the first day.
“Say hello to the stars from me,” he said, and oddly enough didn’t sound flippant at all.
And then they had to relocate to a viewing gallery where they had an uninterrupted view of the shuttle. (Their shuttle.)
As the countdown started, Allison grasped hold of the bar in front of her.
"Oh my god," she said, almost unable to breathe. "This is better than sex!"
Alex laughed and pulled her closer. "Knew there was a reason I liked you."
And then they both fell silent, watching as the white spacecraft slowly and majestically ascended, up and up and up, a bright beacon against the blue-white of the clear sky - impossible and incredible and near-magical.
As the people slowly dispersed, the vapour trail dissolving in the sky above them, Allison felt Alex’s hold on her tighten, hands almost nearing somewhere not appropriate for public, before he let go, grasping her hand and spinning her around, looking deep into her eyes.
“Better than sex... You know, I’d like to challenge that.”
“Alex!” she said, trying to see if anyone had overheard his words, but he only smiled, eyes so intense she felt almost hollow with sudden longing... How the breathlessness of the launch had translated so effortlessly into desire she wasn’t sure, but she was not about to complain, considering how they were clearly on the same page.
(He’d made the shuttle fly just for her. She should have gotten used to the thought by now, yet it still tripped her up.)
Next he was dragging her along behind him, through yet more labyrinthine corridors (the Americans clearly loved them), before stopping at a random door and fishing a keycard out of his pocket.
When he pushed the door open, she looked around at the rather untidy space, several desks crammed into the dull office, and frowned as he locked the door behind them, leaving the key next to the lock.
“Whose office is this?” she asked, but he shook his head, eyes full of something beyond mere lust.
“No idea,” he said, before pulling her close, kissing her so deeply she had to gasp for breath when he let her go. Pushing her backwards so she bumped into a desk, he reached behind her and with an efficient sweep pushed all the papers down on the floor.
“Alex!” she admonished again, momentarily shocked out of the spiral she was climbing by his casual disregard for someone else’s belongings. But he merely grasped her waist and lifted her onto the fake-wooden work top, stepping between her legs and pushing her flush against him, demanding and irresistible.
“I-” he said, inbetween kissing the corner of her mouth and then her neck, “-feel more like myself-” at this he pushed up her dress, “-than I have in two years! Do you have even the slightest idea what that means?”
Another kiss, deep and searing, as his hands (so clever, so skilled) made waves of pleasure flood through her until she barely heard his next words.
“My Allie,” he whispered, low voice barely audible, yet somehow making her tremble. “You and me - we are going to touch the stars.”
And then there were only the two of them in the whole world, moving as one, intertwined, answering a need that was somehow more bone-deep than was possible to express in words. She just knew that he was her beautiful, clever, impossible lover, and hers only...
She clung onto him as they moved towards their mutual completion, but as she crested onto that incredible release she felt as if she broke out of herself completely. For a fraction of a second the present ceased to exist, and instead the future shone at her in a thousand fragments...
The solemnity of Graduation - Josh and Jamie’s wedding - shuttles launching - a shared meal - the moon, stark and brilliant - his hand on her face - dull meetings - the endlessness of space, stars spread out beneath her feet - a night of passion - her family celebrating Boxing Day - twin suns against a flaming sky - playful work in a technical lab - Adelaide on Mars, face proudly radiant - an alien spacecraft - a world in celebration - Alex, older but his eyes lit up, golden and blazing, as if containing all the stars of the sky, watching her as if she was the most precious thing in the whole universe...
Then the moment was lost, shattering into golden ecstasy, before everything (slowly, slowly, so slowly it felt as if time itself was slowing its steps in order for her to gather herself) dissolved back into the real world where her Alex was only a boy in her arms, shivering and spent, pressing soft kisses into her neck.
Although she wouldn’t have been the least surprised if she’d seen actual stars in his eyes when he finally lifted his head to look at her.
Despite the strange vision fading until she couldn’t quite remember it (except now and again when in that no-where-land between waking and dreaming; or reasserting itself as strange déjà vu's, forgotten as soon as the moment passed), she from that day onward had an unshakeable conviction that their future would be golden.
The autumn term seemed to prove her right.
Living with Alex was just as easy as it had been the previous summer (he was so organised she never had to worry about a thing), and - just to prove that she could still be rendered speechless - on Remembrance Sunday she met the King.
Christmas, however, threw dark shadows over their happiness. Being clever was no guarantee against tragedy, and Allison was reminded of just how fragile even a Golden Boy could be.
(Next follows To Save A Life.)
Chapter 19.
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*HUGS*
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♥ ♥ ♥ (I could point out all the flaws, but I won't. And certain parts I'm definitely happy with... *g*)
And now I'm going to reread To Save a Life!! OMG, so there!!
It's funny, because To Save A Life was written AGES before Dating - indeed, the whole of Allison's character came from the snatched snippets in that story.
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I had to rush off and reread 'To Save a Life' as well and now I have a need to cuddle Alex, as well as a great deal of curiosity as to how the experience will affect his relationship with Allie.
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<3
The images you conjured up when playing with the idea of the 'Golden Boy' were amazing
I owe 'Golden Boy' to
and that was some of the most lyrically written love making I've seen in a long time. Passionate without being graphic...well it was a different type of graphic but hopefully you get what I mean.
Oh yes. I wanted the passion, but wasn't interested in just throwing in some pr0n - the point was very different.
I had to rush off and reread 'To Save a Life' as well and now I have a need to cuddle Alex
I can't believe I've finally gotten this far. Had to edit that story a tiny bit to make it fit (it was written before Dating), but overall it still works wonderfully. Poor Alex.
as well as a great deal of curiosity as to how the experience will affect his relationship with Allie.
Ah yes. He does his best to deal with things as they're thrown at him, but it's all very hectic... Longterm it's going to have quite an impact.
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Utterly wonderful.
Allison became part of a little ‘girl gang’ that usually went out together. (The boys outnumbering the girls to a ratio Allison found depressing.)
– Yes. 2014 was a bad year for women in tech on so many levels – and I don’t even know the first thing about the most recent idiocies, there was plenty going wrong before that. Even if Kathy Sierra ends this with a hopeful note, it’s hard to imagine that we could get from here – http://seriouspony.com/trouble-at-the-koolaid-point/ – in October 2014 to a much better and more sensible place in 2027. I wish, wish, wish that it weren’t. And there are also people like Vanessa Hurst doing neat and good things – http://vanessahurst.com/about – so it’s not all bleak. But there’s a lot of bleak, unfortunately.
Then followed a lengthy wander down memory lane, which was interesting, but didn’t answer Allison’s question.
– Loved this. Allison in not interrupting is more polite than I might be in her place.
She stared at him, and then abruptly sat down, feeling oddly light-headed.
He’d done it for her.
This whole wonderful summer, the internship, the courting of Adelaide... It was all for her.
…
He was making a spaceship fly for the simple reason that he wanted to make her happy; was making the whole of NASA dance to his tune because he’d noticed the wistfulness in her voice when she’d talked about shuttle launches.
– !!!!! This. Just… this.
Looking at him now - the happy open face, the concern over her lack of response - she finally spoke, the question following logically from her train of thought:
“Why me?”
His eyes softened, and he shook his head very gently.
“Clever I may be, but that’s a question I can’t answer. Although...”
– I don’t know why the idea of Alex’s eyes softening is so poignant, but it is. (Only after thinking about it for some time does this come up: “there is the back of his adorable head, and nothing I can say will soften it.” / “I’m not so sure of that.”)
The “Love is subjective” paragraph? You smote it as Saul smote the Philistines. :)
Then he dipped his head, a self-deprecating smile tugging at his mouth as the seriousness faded.
“I know, I know. Young men in love. I’ll try to tone it down...”
– He so seems to be channelling Peter, sometimes. “True, it is a youthful effort; but there are some things that even youth does not excuse.”
“Alex-” she cut in, blinking away tears that she hadn’t even noticed until now.
– Beautiful detail.
“Very true. I do like your attitude Allison. I’m hoping you’ll both be joining us permanently one day.”
– Poor Adelaide…
Alex patting her hand and telling her that everything would be fine didn’t help (‘Do you think I’d be leaving if everything wasn’t going well, Allie?’), and she nearly bit his head off pointing this out.
– And quite right too. Brilliant and yet sometimes completely tone-deaf. Even though he obviously loves her.
There was a devil-may-care side to him, which was strangely at odds with his sensible, almost OCD tendencies...
– INTJ and…?
You see, at some point my father will decide to introduce me to cigars, and I’d rather not make a fool of myself
– This bit though is pure INTJ.
“Oh great, you’re just going to be quoting stuff...”
– ? Didn’t follow this.
‘Love is subjective’, she thought, watching the way the setting sun outlined his cheek, painting his hair a luminous shade of orange-gold, and she knew there was nowhere else she would want to be, except with him.
– !!!!!
“Say hello to the stars from me,” he said, and oddly enough didn’t sound flippant at all.
– Oh, Alex…
And then they had to relocate to a viewing gallery where they had an uninterrupted view of the shuttle. (Their shuttle.)
– “My school? Oh, that is telling.”
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For a fraction of a second the present ceased to exist, and instead the future shone at her in a thousand fragments...
– Torn between the moment when John Smith and Joan Redfern are holding the fob watch and see the future they might have had (but didn’t either – ouch!), and Yeats’s “Being so caught up, / So mastered by the brute blood of the air, / Did she put on his knowledge with his power” – compelling, whichever way you slice it.
she from that day onward had an unshakeable conviction that their future would be golden.
– Poor, poor Allison…
he was so organised she never had to worry about a thing
– INTJ, is all I’m saying. Love how later when she’s on her own she realizes how much this was down to him.
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♥ ♥ ♥
so it’s not all bleak. But there’s a lot of bleak, unfortunately.
Will check out your links later. And yes. I made Allison 'science-y' on purpose.
– Loved this. Allison in not interrupting is more polite than I might be in her place.
She's been well brought up. Also they might be future colleagues.
– !!!!! This. Just… this.
Ah yes. (From Chapter 16: If someone had asked hir, sie wouldn’t have been able to reply with any specifics, but sie simply knew that manipulating the physical world - even time itself - was, for him, as simple as reaching out and just doing it.)
– I don’t know why the idea of Alex’s eyes softening is so poignant, but it is. (Only after thinking about it for some time does this come up: “there is the back of his adorable head, and nothing I can say will soften it.” / “I’m not so sure of that.”)
He might lie about what he is... But he does not lie about his feelings, and indeed reveals more vulnerability to her than anyone else. And that's important.
The “Love is subjective” paragraph? You smote it as Saul smote the Philistines. :)
I want to print that and put it on my wall. *beams*
– Beautiful detail.
:)
– Poor Adelaide…
Dunno. Yes she dies in the end, but she more than achieves her life's dream.
– And quite right too. Brilliant and yet sometimes completely tone-deaf. Even though he obviously loves her.
;)
– INTJ and…?
Just INTJ I think.
– ? Didn’t follow this.
He's not going to engage, instead he'll just give her silly answers.
– Oh, Alex…
Poor boy.
– “My school? Oh, that is telling.”
Can't place that... Sorry
(And lunch break is over, will get to the rest this evening! <3)
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– slaps forehead. Ah yes, the “smooth, defensive surface of ironical quotations” digressionary tactic. Thanks.
“My school? Oh, that is telling.”
– Just rewatched series 8, so that was Twelve to Clara in The Caretaker. And Twelve might equally have called Alex and Allison on their use of the possessive (“Your shuttle?”), but hopefully more indulgently. (Although given how Alex messed with the timeline to make it launch a year ahead, possibly not…)
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Perfect summary. ;)
– Just rewatched series 8, so that was Twelve to Clara in The Caretaker
I thought it might be, but wasn't sure.
And out of interest, will you be reading/commenting on 'To Save A Life'?
(45 minutes left... Fridays are good!)
ETA:
– !!!!!
(Re. 'and she knew there was nowhere else she would want to be, except with him.') It's at this point that I generally go 'OK EVERYTHING AFTER THIS POINT IS A DREAM AND WHEN SHE WAKES UP THEY ARE STILL IN FLORIDA AND EVERYTHING IS FINE AND THE LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THE END.' (This would be Evil Writer Vs. Sappy Shipper... My head is a complicated place.)
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I had never actually read 'Leda and the Swan' before - thank you. And yes, that's a very good parallel, as Alex/the Seeker walks a very, very, very fine line here:
It's not that he couldn't have talked her into it - he could, easily, and she'd have said yes. He just... took a shortcut.
For a short moment all the walls fall away, all the lies are put aside and he is just a Time Lord. No, she doesn't know what that means (because he hasn't told her), but it wouldn't have made much of a difference at this point...
– Poor, poor Allison…
:(
– INTJ, is all I’m saying. Love how later when she’s on her own she realizes how much this was down to him.
Ooooh yes, hyper-organised. And she *can* be (well, maybe not as much as him), but he does like to have everything running smoothly.
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And yes, this is not, alas, one of those cases where your OTP gets together after all. I was going to comment on that line that if I wasn’t already heavily invested in these characters I would probably have thought that that line was too sappy to live, but… because it’s Alex and Allison, I really really just wanted it to be true.
Also, nice ginger foreshadowing in “painting his hair a luminous shade of orange-gold”.
And yes, will now interlude into To Save A Life, which I didn’t actually read the first time through, so I had no more idea than Allison did what was going on there…
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Once you know how, you can achieve anything from the merest flutter of desire to actual orgasms through a simple touch, mind to mind
– I totally did not see that, even though you obligingly spelled out the whole thing in a previous chapter. Oh, hell. Oh, Alex, you idiot / out-of-control-young-person / danger-to-everyone-around-you.
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Now I'm bathed in light
Something just isn't right
I'm under your spell
Nothing I can do
You just took my soul with you
You worked your charm so well
Finally, I knew
Everything I dreamed was true
You made me believe
The moon to the tide
I can feel you inside
Under Your Spell, Once More With Feeling (BtVS) (Allison POV)
(It's very subtle, which was deliberate... And she would have said yes anyway. But... That whole scene is - if you want to be a little melodramatic - his 'Fall'. (Which can be traced back to why he was sent to Cambridge in the first place. Ouroboros or something...)
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Falling into bed now. But tomorrow is Saturday. And I can sleep in!
And yes, this is not, alas, one of those cases where your OTP gets together after all. I was going to comment on that line that if I wasn’t already heavily invested in these characters I would probably have thought that that line was too sappy to live, but… because it’s Alex and Allison, I really really just wanted it to be true.
That's it - dangle happiness in front of people's noses and then tear it away...
Also, nice ginger foreshadowing in “painting his hair a luminous shade of orange-gold”.
Heh. Generally everything golden/orange/ginger has Time Lord-y implications/associations. (And I think that's why the Doctor wants ginger hair - it's 'hair the colour of the sky'. Like how people like blue eyes.)
And yes, will now interlude into To Save A Life, which I didn’t actually read the first time through, so I had no more idea than Allison did what was going on there…
Huh. Well it'll be instructive then. I've edited it a *tiny* bit, just to tie it in better, but literally lines you could count on the fingers of one hand.
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Bossy - or 'forceful' - but caring.
(I really liked the line, but it was... sort of intransigent? (Since I used that word above.) So I had to construct a character who would use a line like that. Et voila - Allison.)
ETA: Looking forward to your thoughts! Esp as this is one of the only opportunities we get to look inside the Seeker's head, and to see the world from his POV.
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So this chapter is in fact the cornerstone of the whole story, the recursive point of it, and I completely missed it because I was swept away in the enchantment just as Allison was. Which, yes, “It had overmastered her without her knowledge or notice, and that was the proof of its mastery”, but I don’t think that’s the sense in which either Harriet or Miss de Vine intended it. (Although, ominous incidental music for the choice of wording there, “Quite masterly”, as the Doctor makes Kamelion say in The King’s Demons...)
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The Seeker is very aware of his more powerful mind, and takes great care not to force himself in any way... But he has (since infancy) ,leaned on people... (And during the sex itself he... forgets himself, let's say.)
I think the point is that *if* he chose to use his powers, there is nothing she could do [to stop him] - even if she knew the truth, she'd be helpless. (Just see poor Donna...)
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Oh it is. Physical power/threat (Toclafane) sort of thrown in for good measure, but he's long since let go of the 'leaning' - the last of it was probably burned away by his first regeneration. (Charm s. bluntness.)
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He’d barely moved a muscle, but they’d done as he told them. His power invisible, yet it had moved giants. He had never done that before (never had a reason, nor the power) - never forced his will through like this.
He knew he had only delayed the ongoing confrontation, but the Doctor had yielded…
‘Oh father - I can see why you love it so.’
He could also see why it was so addictive. To just force the arguments to go away - it was an option he’d never really thought of before. So far he’d tended to just lie, or to let people draw their own conclusions; hide himself away…
Which might not be the old “leaning”, but it feels like he is aware that he did something he possibly shouldn’t have to get his own way.
Clearly I’m missing or misreading something?
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He has Toclafane. He has just wiped out an army of Daleks. He had them all locked up, didn't let them out until he decided it was OK...
By 'invisible' I mean 'implied threat'. He would never hurt them, but they're not willing to take a chance - he could force them to leave against their will, but gives them the choice to do it themselves.
He's never really been a fighter before, never had power [in that sense], never been in the position of being able to tell people what to do.
The important part is that they accept his 'new status'.
There are still a lot of issues, and they don't know what's going on in his head. They're worried he might have somehow 'gone bad' [thanks to his father], but at this point they're not arguing.
ETA: I'd say his actions are the very opposite of 'leaning' - leaning means gently pushing people towards an outcome; manipulating; getting them to do something they might not really agree with, but you're just that persuasive.
In A Good Day it's 'Go - or challenge me!' No softening, no pretense.
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And I need to write a technical blog post before I leave the house in two and a half hours, so I should clearly go and do sensible things too. :)
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*nods*
So when the Seeker muses about his father loving it so, that’s where I went. This makes sense, thank you.
My pleasure. :) And the Master is mostly just pleased as can be that a) he's finally influenced the Seeker to 'his' side and b) that he's sowing discord everywhere.
ETA: Darn, pressed 'Comment' too soon - hope the writing goes well!
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Meta is very much like that. It needs to... flow. (This is one reason I've not written about Last Christmas yet. I don't have a 'narrative' just scattered thoughts.) Anyway - good luck!
Would totally be snagging your “Writing is hard” icon if I hadn’t now used up my six… (And yes, for this I totally blame you. :) )
*points to icon*
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And I shall not apologise in the slightest!
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