roleplay for ibringlife, <lj site="livejournal.com" user="the_cor

[rude_not_ginger]

The Doctor flipped a few final switches on the TARDIS console, adding the information he'd just recieved about Aislinn into the systems, should he ever run across another muse like her again. Well, he doubted it would be exactly like her, but...the same genus at least.

He turned, picking up the teacups that were left behind. Funny, he would've thought Rose would've been back by now. The sound of a familiar key in the lock made him look up. Speak of the devil...

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[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, after we get back from the 18th century, I'll take a vial of blood or two, see what the TARDIS can come up with," the Doctor gave him a smile, "Nothing quite like learning about your own history, in the end. Might not tell you the whole story of who..."

A pause. "You said your doctor was 5000 years old? How many of you are there?"

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

Byron shrugged, a careless movement that hid a real lack of knowledge.

"I've no idea. Hundreds? Thousands? I daresay that not even the Watchers know for sure. There have to be some of us unreported."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Watchers?" the Doctor crossed his arms, his interest piqued, "Like guardians, or sports spectators?"

How did this world of people exist within the human population for so long and the Doctor hadn't known?

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"I don't like it," Rose blurted out, frowning.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but I don't. How's this different than Torchwood wanting to keep you and discover your secrets?"

How was it different from her working for Torchwood for those months, answering all the questions they had about anything and everything else she'd seen out there? She couldn't answer that one, either, but it felt different. Different enough for her to protest.

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

Byron gave her a smile. "I don't mind. I suppose I'm a bit curious myself."

Or self destructive.

Same difference.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, the difference is, I'm just going to give his secrets right back to him," the Doctor replied easily, "No harm in discovering something in someone if they don't know about it."

He paused, thinking about that for a moment. That wasn't entirely true at all, but he'd ask Byron later. Away from Rose. Let the man make his own decisions.

"So, the Watchers, who are they?"

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

Byron made a slight face of distaste. "Humans who follow us around, writing journals apparently. Chronicling our lives for posterity's sake." A flash of a wry smile. "Papparazzi for Immortals?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't posterity be more likely to toss you on a stake or stick you under a microscope?" the Doctor asked, "Not that I'm one to talk about microscopes, but still. Seems a bit unsafe for a race as secretive as yours---and I say secretive because to have survived for so long under the radar, that...that says a good bit."

He scratched his head, "Maybe I'm reading a bit into it."

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

"That's what most of us feel when we find out. They run about writing things down and now putting it on computer. It's atrociously bad." He scowled. "None of us even knew they existed until the last decade or so."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Sort of a secret society or something?" the Doctor gave a bit of a nod, "Interesting. I wonder if any of them are related to Torchwood. Rose?" he tossed a look in his companion's direction, "Heard of the Watchers before?"

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"Not that I recall."

Rose shrugged, still not really liking the idea, but liking the part where it kept the two of them from snapping at each other.

"I was only there a few months, though, and that version hadn't been around as long as ours yet. They were still sorting things out."

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

"What's Torchwood?" Now Byron was curious.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor vaguely motioned to Rose to explain about her previous job. He was so very done with dealing with those irritating people at Torchwood---Rose excluded, of course---that even explaining what they were was a bit annoying.

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"Paranormal intelligence agency," Rose explained, almost a little apologetically.

"Their primary mission, depending on who you ask and which world we're in, is either defending the Earth from alien threats, or stalking the Doctor. I worked for the good version for a while, and I guess if I felt like it the one here would have me, too, but..." she shrugged, with a glance at the Doctor.

"Don't really want to, I guess."

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

"Why am I not surprised?" Byron gave them both a wry grin. "You can try to be stealthy but there's always someone who catches on."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"They weren't really stalking me," the Doctor corrected, weakly, "More like...deeply interested in my whereabouts and ongoing, you know, adventures and the like. They clearly didn't look that hard, otherwise they'd have known your Mum wasn't you."

He gave Byron a nod, "Or thinks they've caught on, as it usually is."

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"Are you forgetting the part where they had you named as an enemy right from the start?" Rose reminded him, with a small shake of her head, not going anywhere near that part about her and her mum.

"Anyway, I don't work for them here, and that's not why I'm interested -- I mean, that's not why I offered this trip." That last part was to Byron, to whom she offered a small, almost sheepish smile. "It's not all some ploy to get you here and then study you."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"I want to study you," the Doctor added, raising his hand in a bit of an immature fashion.

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

"In front of Rose? Why Doctor, I never would have suspected." Byron's smile was a perfect blend of flirtation, outright invitation, and sass.

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"...oh my God, it's like having Jack along again."

Rose does not facepalm, but she does burst into a brief fit of giggles.

"You'd best be careful or he really will leave you stranded in outer space somewhere."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor gave Byron a bit of a shrug, "Well, I suppose we could, but I always figured you were more of a private sort of man." It might've been complete naievite that kept his tone smooth, or it was...who knew what else.

He made a vague gesture in Rose's direction, "And he's far from Jack, I'll tell you that. Jack doesn't try to woo with poetry, if you remember. Just hypervodka and dirty jokes." A pause, "Did you understand that one about the elephant and the branding iron? It never made that much sense to me."

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

Byron leaned back again, twirling his cane. "Three is very rarely either not private or a crowd." That smile still stayed on his lips and the look he gave the Doctor was openly speculative and more than a little sensual in the speculation.

"Elephant and a branding iron?"

[ibringlife.livejournal.com]

"I think that one might not have been a joke, actually." Rose replied, still laughing a little, and maybe blushing a little at the ideas that Byron's comments were making her try very hard not to picture. The Doctor was a little bit psychic, after all.

"Keep it up and we'll never get to the eighteenth century."

She didn't quite sound like she minded all that much.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

Rose's blush? Very cute.

"You've experience with more than one then?" the Doctor gave Byron an impressed look, and smirked, "Good man."

Then, to Rose, offhandedly: "Actually, we're only about five or six minutes off of the eighteenth century. Autopilot and all that."

[the-corsair.livejournal.com]

Byron smirked right back. "I've experience with more than that."

He flashed Rose a grin, with a wink.