clarifiedbyfire:
“Bad at what?” he demands, sounding appalled. “I’ve not done anything; I’m literally just standing here in the woods, and here you are, having a shout at me for being bad at something. Have you always done this? I could have sworn you actually used to be nice sometimes. Maybe it’s the nostalgia,” he grumbles, frowning.
The Doctor has met people out of sync hundreds of times. He and River had practically known each other in reverse, but this is definitely not something he had ever prepared for, and something twinges - oh, if Koschei knew what would eventually become of her.
Play it cool, Doctor, play it cool. He slides his sonic sunglasses onto his face, even though it’s growing dark, because they’re very handy and sonic and also hide his eyes.
Part of him still desperately wants to impress her. Missy, the Master, not so much - but this is before almost everything, this is the best friend who he thought hung the moon, who was unimpressed by every dumb stunt he pulled to try to make himself seem cool. He had tried so hard, and it had come to her so effortlessly somehow. And she’d still hung out with him anyway. He still doesn’t understand how that happened.
“Hang on, wait, we’ve been here before, haven’t we?” he says suddenly, because that’s more important, because that old terror of the dark and the unknown rises for a moment like bile in the back of his throat, unbidden. But he’s older now, and the things he’s faced… This can’t be much worse. For all he knows he’s met a few of the Old Ones already. The fear subsides quickly. “If - never mind,” he says abruptly. If you ever found anything out here, that would explain so much about you now, he had almost said.
“Bad at time travel,” Koschei answers dryly, the only part of his spiel she’s going to dignify with an answer. It’s not surprising. Graduation’s coming up for everybody except Theta. He rarely shows up to class anymore, not that it would make a difference at this point. He’s definitely failing no matter what.
Anyway, she’s trying to decipher exactly what it is his face is doing when he covers his eyes with a pair of sunglasses. What is he even wearing. Naturally, he’s completely oblivious to how stupid he looks.
“Right, so I guess you better clear off then,” with a tone that doesn’t leave much room for discussion. She’s not much in the mood to expend energy on avoiding foreknowledge. She’s not much in the mood to expend energy on Theta. From her point of view they’re fighting again and she doesn’t really want to look at him right now, no matter how far into the future he might be.
