A Fateful Day (Master and Othala)

Othala was wandering through the streets of the Hidden Village, she was happy to be out here shopping with her allowance, however she just had wished the Doctor would come with her one of these days, apparently Raven had given him something else to occupy himself with, he seemed to be happier than before, but he was still ignoring her like he had been when he was obsessing over the other project, more so in fact.

She could tell that the old project was still bothing him, underneath it all.

Like she so often did these days, she sighed and sat down on a iron bench in the middle of the small park in the village, she often came here on sunny days and she remembered the time after the Doctor rescued her from her house, and they went to the park shortly afterwards. She might be a little too big for parks now, but she really wouldn't mind coming to one if the Doctor was there with her.

Othala threaded her fingers through her long brown hair, and scuffed her black mary jane shoes on the gravel, taking out her book, she thought she might as well get a few chapters read.

The Master had been out of his prison for less than two days and in that time he had been going on a bit of a bender. Everything that had been denied him due to his imprisonment was now available to him. He'd done as much as he could cram into the days. He'd slept with a japanese women, had a steak, bought a kitten to pet, shot a muggle firearm and was currently trying to decided which flavour of ice cream to eat first.

Strawberry, Vanilla or Chocolate... decisions decisions!

As he made his way down the street, he paused for a second and sniffed the air. Adding magic to his nose he sniffed again. He could smell runic magic. All that time in the dome kind of made it hard not to recongise it. Moving towards the source he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head when he saw the source was a young teenage girl. Approaching her, he sat down on the bench beside her,

"I don't suppose you like strawberry, vanilla or chocolate ice cream?" he asked her, seemingly out of nowhere, holding strawberry cone in one hand, vanilla in the other. The chocolate cone was levitating and orbiting his head, "I only really want two."

Othala looked up when she heard someone speaking, for a moment she wondered if he was speaking to her or someone else who just so happened to be near, but the park was unnaturally empty when she had arrived here. Seeing he was indeed talking to her, Othala grinned happily and nodded her head.

"I uhm...I like strawberry ice cream but, I shouldn't really take things from strangers, thats like, rule number two in the kids handbook." she stated with a small smile "But thanks anyway."

Still, she was lonely, and this man was the first person to really talk to her for a long time, despite the Doctor and his distracted conversation, and Raven, but she still scared her and often was busy doing other things. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad, just to talk to him for a little while. Looking back up, she smiled shyly;

"You look kind of silly with that ice cream going around your head you know, are you intending it to look like that?" she asked, attempting to make light hearted conversation.

When she said that she liked strawberry ice cream he made it levitate to her as the chocolate filled it's place in his hand. Alternatively licking each of the two ice creams in his hands he shrugged a little bit,

"You want it then you can have it." he told her with a grin, "Just cast a spell to check if it's poison or something if you want to follow the book."

When she said that he looked silly with the ice cream cone levitating around his head he pretended to be outraged before grinning widely,

"Well I'd look stupid juggling it now wouldn't I?" he joked before smirking, "Besides when it levitates around again I can take a lick."

Othala blinked a little bit and she hesitantly let her tongue reach out and lick the ice cream, waiting a few seconds, and having nothing happen she grinned and began to lick at it properly, enjoying the cool ice cream on the hot summers day. Although she did wonder something, whether she should ask it is something different.

"How come you had three ice creams in the first place?" she asked, interested in why he was eating so much "My name is Othala by the way, Othala Thormund, who are you?" Othala asked, but stopped, afraid of asking the man twenty questions.

Giggling a little bit Othala nodded her head and smiled brightly at the man; "Yes you would look a little sillier juggling it, especially if you dropped it on yourself. Oh, I never thought of it like that, thats a good idea actually."

Looking back up at the man, Othala smiled shyly and licked a trail of melted ice cream down the cone before it plipped onto her green skirt.

The Master was glad to see that she was licking the ice cream he had given to her. He didn't want to have to steal it back if she hadn't been doing so. When she asked why he was trying to have three ice creams at once he grinned widely,

"Because it was the maximum the store would sell for just one person." he told her with complete honesty before laughing a little bit and licking his ice cream, "Nice to meet you Othala. I'm The Master."

He grinned a little bit before nodding with a sad little pout that he had obviously put on, "Yes and my juggling is terrible! Not like my unicycling. Which is immense."

Licking his ice cream, The Master got a little impatient and swallowed the chocolate ice cream whole. Cone and all. Swallowing, he grinned, completely relaxed,

"Ah the express way to eat."

Othala blinked a little bit and laughed happily, she really did seem to attract strange people didn't she? Well at least this one seemed to be pretty fun even if she wouldn't see him after this ice cream was done most likely, it was nice to finally have a conversation with someone again, someone who was actually listening.

"I guess that makes sense then." she giggled before letting her mouth pop open a little bit in surprise, not another person like the Doctor, why couldn't people just have normal names "Is that your only name, or do you have another one, I know someone else like that, but he has another name too."

Seeing that he had swallowed the whole ice cream in one, Othala felt both a little sick and more than a little bit...creeped out, it seemed more sinister than it should have bee. If he could swallow that whole, what else could he swallow?

"Uhm...okay that was weird." she said truthfully "I'll just...eat mine the normal slow way..." Othala stated, continuing to lick at her ice cream, but diverting her eyes down to her shoes resting on the gravel.

The Master sniffed the air casually and almost sneezed with the amount of runic magic coming off of the girl beside him. He had to admit that some of it smelt familiar too. Almost like the barrier runes but that was impossible. He chuckled a little bit when she remarked on his name,

"It's not my only name. My other name is Harold Saxon." he told her before he suddenly grinned a little bit wider, "This other person... Is he, by any chance... The Doctor?"

When she looked at his funny because of the way he finished his ice cream he laughed a little bit and shrugged,

"Sorry, I've not had ice cream in about ten years." he told her honestly, "What? Do people not do that party trick anymore?"

Othala looked at The Master, he made an odd noise almost like he was going to sneeze, however he didnt and she merely smiled at him. He was kind of cute, in a weird way, but there seemed to be something about him that...just screamed at her that talking to him about the Doctor, was not a very good idea.

"Harold Saxon?" she asked, toying with the name "Well at least yours is better than Florence...yes I know the Doctor, he is the head of Durmstrang after all, I see him a lot outside school as well, I'm his...apprentice."

After all, what was she to the Doctor really? She wasn't a daughter, but she wasn't just a friend because he took care of her, so, she would settle for an apprentice for the time being, it seemed to be the best option for her.

Hearing he hadn't had ice cream in ten years she opened her mouth in surprise; "Well why ever not, if you wanted some why not just go out and get some, have you been on some sort of magically enforced diet?" Othala asked, trying to figure out what the reason could possibly be.

The Master could hardly believe his luck. Here he was, just idly eating some ice cream, when he stumbled across a teenage girl who knew The Doctor! Well enough to know that his real name was Florence,

"Yes I think it's a lot more normal than Florence. That's a girls name isn't it?" he joked with a small smirk before grinning, "His apprentice huh? He must have taught you a lot about runes and duelling then!"

Those were the two subjects of magic that he knew The Doctor was most skilled in after all. Of course the man might have changed over the years. This was his chance to find out how much. Of course when she asked if he had been on a magically enforced diet he couldn't help but laugh a little bit. It wouldn't seem out of place but he was actually laughing at the absundity of the question. In the end he grinned and nodded,

"Oh yes it was a very bad one." he told her, leaning it, "The Doctor made the runes for it you know."

Othala nodded her head a little bit, she had thought the exact same thing when she had first heard what the Doctors first name was, she had laughed because it was a girls name, although he hadn't made her laugh in a long time. Sighing lightly she nodded her head.

"Yeah he taught me a lot I suppose." she said, finishing her ice cream by crunching the cone down to the bottom "Although I taught myself a lot of stuff too Master." Othala stated, feeling a little unhappy that people thought it was just the Doctor who helped her unlock her special pictures.

The laugh, made her want to laugh with the Master, but it also made her want to look at him as oddly as when he ate the ice cream, it made her think that there wasn't something quite right about him to be honest, but she wouldn't say that.

"He did...?" she asked confused "Well you must have asked him because he wouldn't have done something like that to be mean, at least, I dont think he would."

The Master noted that she didn't seem too happy with The Doctor at the moment. Like the man had done something to upset her. Or perhaps he hadn't done anything and that was the problem. Both could hurt a young girl's feelings fairly quickly,

"You don't seem too happy with him." he commented, voicing some of his thoughts, "Ah a student of the school of self-study? Good. I myself learnt all of my skills since school from self-study and personal experience."

When she told him that The Doctor would never do something like that he chuckled a little bit and glanced at her out the corner of his eye,

"Wouldn't he?" he asked her coyly, "Well you would know wouldn't you? As his apprentice I'm sure he's told you all about his past."

Othala thought that this man seemed to know the Doctor, but he just wasn't saying, he seemed interested when he heard that she knew him, but maybe he was just someone from a newspaper trying to get a story, or an old friend who hadn;t been able to keep in touch, he was busy after all, the Doctor that was.

"I try to make sure that I study myself, I like to be able to say that I was the one who taught myself how to do things, so I don't rely on other people helping me too much." she sighed lightly "But no I'm not too happy with the Doctor."

The statement seemed more than a little bit sly and Othala raised an eyebrow, she was feeling a little bit suspicious of the man, why would he be saying things like that about the Doctor? Did he know something that she didn't? The Doctor wouldn't keep something from her would he?

"It doesn't matter about what he's told me and what he's not, I know he's a good person, he wouldn't hurt someone just because he could." she stated, with a frown.

The Master could see that he was going to have to wrap this up quickly as Othala was beginning to get a little be wary of him and his relationship with The Doctor. Perhaps he had tipped his hand to her? No the damage wasn't that bad, she still had no idea how he knew The Doctor, or his final plans for The Doctor and his allies,

"Well perhaps you should confront him about what upsets you?" he suggested with a small smirk, "Reason it out with him."

He chuckled a little bit when she told him that The Doctor was a good person. Standing up, levitating what was left of his ice cream into a nearby bin, he smirked a little bit,

"A good person? Well that depends entirely on who you ask now doesn't it?" he asked her before grinning a little bit, "But enough of that. I'm going to head on home. You ever want to talk you just send a letter with my name on it via owl Othala and we can owl each other or meet up. Ttfn, ta ta for now!"

And with that he disapparated.