Soul's Shadow (Doctor Who - SI)

Part X (V)

"The wardrobe?" I wondered. "I thought you wanted to find out more about what's going on."

"That's right," he replied, voice chipper, his eyes twinkling. "And I plan to do it with style."

I looked around, a smirk blossoming on my lips. "Good plan. Count me in."

We walked through the immense collection of clothes until we found a section that was clearly dedicated to cowboy style attire. Immediately I grabbed one of the plaid shirts, only to get it torn out of my hands in almost the same movement.

"Not that," the Master commented, ignoring my pursed lips and instead picked a button down in black, holding it in front of me with a grin. "That's better."

I grimaced at him. "Guess I'll have to go in style too, eh?"

His grin grew nasty and he bent down to meet my eyes. "Want me to pick a dress for you instead?"

"Nope!" I squeaked. "Black's fine."

It actually didn't bother me at all. My only worry was that it might be unnecessarily warm in the sun, but the dry kind of heat this place had was surprisingly easy to endure.

And having him pick different outfits for me was at least distracting. I didn't want to think. Not about why it made me almost panic when the Master came too close, not about how it had made me feel to see him kiss the Doctor, not about how, despite all of that, I had felt so safe as he held my hand in the darkness.

"And red is always a nice contrast if you ask me."

"Whus?"

Okay, not thinking didn't work as planned. I had missed whatever the Master had told me the entire time and now he looked at me as if it might be a good idea to shoot some holes into me with his laser screwdriver.

"Sorry," I muttered and rubbed my arm nervously. "Just too much stuff in my head."

"I told you not to think about it." He rolled his eyes, obviously very well aware of at least some of the things that plagued me. When he saw me only pouting at that comment, the Master hooked a finger into my collar and dragged me in front of his face. "And if you can't let it go, at least have the decency to admit to yourself that it's too complicated for a tiny ape brain to understand."

"Pffff.... Fuck off," I told him, unable to keep a smile from widening. "As if you could comprehend how the incredible depths of a mind like mine works." I made an effort to exaggerate my words. "I do keep on surprising you, don't I?"

The Master huffed and let me go, then pushed a small bundle of clothes into my hands. A pair of boots on top.

"Do something useful with that brain and get dressed."

"Yes, Master," I said, very careful to not let it sound obedient at all. The opposite actually. And still there was a content spark in his eyes when I did so.

Maybe he was right, though, and all of this was simply too complicated. For me, at least. And according to his reaction probably also for the Doctor?

Okay stop this! I scolded myself. This was leading nowhere and a lot of it wasn't even my business. At all.

I frowned at the person in the mirror that was I and somehow also not at all. In the end, the Master had chosen a dark red button down and a black leather vest, black pants and boots. Which actually did look cool on me, although I was undecided whether or not I should bind my chest again.

I decided not to, mainly to make the temperatures less of a problem. And who knew... maybe we had to run or fight or whatnot. And I'd need every bit of lung capacity I could get then. I did however take the contact lenses that, somehow, had mysteriously appeared in the bundle of clothes. This time there even was a small pouch with spares.