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[justimprobable]

Clara Oswald here! You've just missed me, so please leave a message at the sound of the beep.

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[justimprobable]

[Well. She's sure fucked this up. So much for Max not getting concerned.]

... I'm not able to be with him anymore. He doesn't know it yet, but our time here is the last time we have together, and I don't want to ruin it by telling him. So please, don't worry. Just be his friend, that's all you can do for me.

[timecapture]

Holy shit. What happened?

[Something terrible, that's for sure.]

I will. But I wanna be yours, too, okay?

[justimprobable]

He lost me, the same way people lose each other every day, all around the world. Sometimes it doesn't take great wars and dying stars to take people away from you. It happens in a heartbeat, almost a bit boring.

[Her voice is gentle, if a bit sad. She doesn't want to tell Max what the Doctor did to get her back. She doesn't want to tell her that it's the Doctor's fault she's living this uncanny, abnormal life. So for now, she'll leave that part out.]

And you're already my friend, Max. You don't have to worry about that.

[timecapture]

I know how that goes. But losing someone... it's never boring. Even if it seems like it's going to be, it's not. It always hurts.

[She still remembers Kate jumping off the roof. She still remembers all the times Chloe died.]

Thanks, Clara. You, too.

[justimprobable]

It does.

[She nods slowly to herself, even though Max can't see her. It's still her biggest regret that she couldn't have left without causing the Doctor any pain. It's always going to hurt, no matter the manner.]

And I wish you didn't know that pain. I know it's awful.

[timecapture]

I wish you didn't, either. And I wish the Doctor didn't.

[She wishes no one had to feel that way.]

[justimprobable]

I wish no one did. But we wouldn't be human if that were the case.

[timecapture]

I guess you're right. But maybe there's a world out there where things don't have to be that way.

[justimprobable]

I don't know, Max. Not one I've seen. But then, I'm not done exploring.

[timecapture]

I wish I could explore, too! I wonder what seeing another planet would be like. I mean, I guess I'm technically seeing one now, but...

[justimprobable]

Oh, it's marvelous. Very first trip, the Doctor took me to a place called Akhaten, where rings of asteroids circle a parasitic sun.

[timecapture]

That sounds awesome.

[... Wait.]

Parasitic?

[justimprobable]

He fed on souls and stories, and the people had been singing for thousands of years, just to keep him asleep. They worshipped him, called him their Old God, but they were afraid.

So I fed him a leaf.

[timecapture]

A leaf? What was so special about it?

[Because honestly, there had to have been something.]

[justimprobable]

It was full of stories.

[Because of course she's cryptic, it's part of being a little too much like the Doctor.]

Full of past and present and future, things that happened and things that could have happened and things that never will happen now. Infinite possibilities and impossibilities, so many that even Akhaten couldn't digest them.

[timecapture]

So... you fed an ancient god a leaf, and then he... what, exploded?

[Max knows how much what could have been hurts. She can see why it would have the potential to kill.]

[justimprobable]

Yep, that's about how it happened.

[Leaving out how everyone involved nearly died.]

Oh, I wish you could've seen the Doctor back then. Tall and skinny as a scarecrow, bouncing about like a kid with too many sweets. And he wore the most ridiculous clothes.

[timecapture]

I can imagine. What happened to make him change like that?

[justimprobable]

He regenerated. It's a Time Lord trick, to cheat death. Get a new body, a new face, a new lifespan. Of course, it's more than just that. They become a new person. The way they walk, the way they take their tea, the way they feel about Charles Dickens... It's all a bit of a lottery, he's always said.

[timecapture]

Wait. Time Lord?

[Holy shit. Were her suspicions right?]

[justimprobable]

[Oops.]

His... species. I'm sorry, I didn't realize he hadn't told you.

[timecapture]

[Cue dawning realization. Well, less "realization" and more "holy crap, I knew it".]

I just realized that... I've heard of him.

[justimprobable]

Yeah? I'm not surprised, I s'pose. He's been swanning about for thousands of years, probably been to the worlds of about half the people here.

[timecapture]

Yeah. They actually tell stories of him, back where I'm from.

[justimprobable]

I'm glad. People should remember him.