( Michelle ):
The last thing she wanted was him blaming himself for this. It wasn’t his fault– not in the slightest.
❝ Hey. Don’t blame yourself for this, Custy. Ya hear me? None of what’s happened here has got anythin’ to do with your actions. It was an accident, and we’ll– ❞ There was a small pause of uncer- tainty, ❝ We’ll find a way out of this… ❞
She realized suddenly that he probably didn’t know just how much things that were meant to happen had changed.
❝ Custy…. things are really…. REALLY not lookin’ good here. The battle that’s comin’– the battle with Jon Snow. Ramsay might win… We messed up.. both of us. The Doctor and I.. we–
–allowed too much information to slip, and he’s built his numbers by thousands because of it. He’s got over twelve thousand men now… If I remember right… Jon barely has three. Even with the Vale’s help… It’s lookin’ extremely bad. ❞
There was no way she was ready to get into the topic of the marriage. Not yet. He was already in enough anguish without that bit.
❝ There’s this man helpin’ him. Negan Northbow. He wasn’t in any of the lore that I recall, but… Here’s here now. And he’s playin’ a MASSIVE part in all this. ❞
That optimism of hers, encouraging the Doctor when he needed it, being a ray of light in these dark times. It was what he had been missing, what he had been striving to find again, to save; and yet, that only made it all the more apparent how hopeless it felt that after all this time, he still had very little to show for it. Next to nothing, in fact.
But it was quickly washed away at this news of changing the events within this world, changing the outcomes from what they knew. It was a strange concept, finding that what was just a story in their universe was TRUTH in another, acting out play by play. And the fact that it could be altered--
Thin brows tugged together as he turned to face Michelle more properly, taking a step closer, his gaze wholly and entirely fixated on her. ❝ I didn't ACTUALLY think it possible, ❞ the Doctor began, puzzled, intrigued, and horrified all in one go. He shook his head.
❝ I've always heard the stories, y'know, that's what they've been: stories, rumors, whisperings. Nothing concrete, very little proof. But this world, it's influenced by a story in our universe, specifically Earth, and now that story is diverging, changing, REARRANGING... ❞ he trailed, the mutterings and ramblings his way of moving through his thoughts, trying to find the sense in it all.
Then his eyes widened, a look of worry crawling onto his angular features, ❝ If this man, this Negan Northbow, was already in this world-- it's already different from the one we know, MASSIVELY so, an' that only means nothing is predictable. Which makes things all the more... ❞ The Doctor allowed that sentence to hang, lips still and parted for several moments as he swallowed, not daring to finish it even as he cleared this throat.
❝ The Doctor, ❞ he asked quietly, tone incredibly uncertain, still trying to gauge everything that had happened in the time he'd been absent from the events. ❝ He hasn't come up with a plan of any sort by chance, has he? ❞
