EYAI DRABBLE PARTY

[fahye]

Ji pointed out that it would make more sense for me to host this because my journal is busier and less locked! I make no promises that I willl actually write anything* because the end of Three Bags Full was meant to signify a return to the studying and sewing I was SUPPOSED to be doing all week.

*who are we kidding really

DRABBLES. GO. London or any other place ahem ahem Emma & Sares (nobody gets Australia, though -- that one's mine). Feel free to leave requests, fulfil requests, or just post drabbles about any characters you damn well please.

Comments

[girl-wonder.livejournal.com]

Ok, re: aldress, let me know if I've quoted this one at you yet:

Aldress is not a game of chance, but it is not exactly a game of strategy. The fine webs of crystallized light that hold the senior board above the junior create a certain amount of chaos in the plays, a carp as likely to destabilize the senior board as a dauphin.

Kelly Manuel in his definitive book on aldress said, "If the leaders of today paid more attention to the game of aldress than their pocket books, there would never be any need for revolution."

The Doctor moved the palm across the axe and grinned. "I call destabilization."

Across from him, the girl smiled. She looked no more than 16, with dark hair and wide, wide eyes. "No," she said.

Casually, she moved her oxen in tandem with the carp and the senior board dropped.

"I call collapse," she said.

He moved in, claiming the board. Holding up her dauphin, he offered it back to her. "I win."

Shrugging, she offered over her hand, "Good game."

"Good game," the Doctor agreed. "Another?"

She shook her head. Gesturing out the window, she said, "We're almost in London."

"Ah," he paused. "Yes."

The empty train car swayed just slightly as it rounded a corner. Replacing the pieces in her traveling case, she faltered as the train door opened behind her, turning to see who had come in.

For a second, the Doctor knew he saw fear on her face, the same expression he'd seen when he first entered the car, when he'd seen her playing both sides of an aldress board.

"Liz," she said. When she stood, she scattered pieces all across the floor, and the other woman took two steps across the car before bending to pick up a fallen oxen.

"Who's this?" Liz asked, glancing to him. Her expression was blank, the hint of a smile making it seem as though she was alive, but he saw underneath that to the gears turning, the binary flowing.

"You're a machine," he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, setting it until it for a program scan.

As with most of the larger complications in his life, he missed the girl picking up the aldress board until he felt it slam down on his hand, knocking the sonic screwdriver down.

The expression on her face was deeply afraid and he said, "Wait."

She didn't, instead slamming it across his cheek, going for another blow when Liz reached her.

"Aimee," Liz said, hand against Aimee's neck.

The Doctor sat frozen on the ground, fumbling for the sonic screwdriver. He could feel blood on his face and thought that he needed to say something to make the situation less dangerous, but there was a horrible sort of terror in her face. She looked at him like he was the Destroyer of Worlds and she didn't even know him.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said. His voice faltered. The last girl who had trusted him was probably sitting in her house, going about her life, not remembering a single thing about him.

"We're about to arrive," Liz said. She knelt down and picked up the screwdriver from under the table, tucked it into her dress in the invisible way he'd noticed that beautiful women could hide terrible things. Then, pulling a handkerchief from the edge of her glove, she dabbed at his cheek, making a soft 'shush' sound as though he was a child.

"Liz," Aimee said, quietly behind her, and he noticed that the aldress pieces had been collected. "We have to knock him out."

"No we don't," Liz argued, quietly. There was a familiarity in her disagreement, as though it was an old argument. "He's not going to say anything."

Gently, she pressed the white cotton square into his palm and ran her fingers through his hair. She made a slight humming noise and shook her head, standing and straightening her skirts. He would have loved to see her programming in that moment, the grace of mechanics meeting the organic flow of reality.

Wibbly-wobbly time-space flexing and shifting to accommodate something so beautiful.

The train stopped and he stood as the conductor came through, announcing that it was the end of the line, due to the revolution.

"Revolution?" the Doctor exclaimed.