milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

kim bauer,
romana

(no subject)

Kim comes downstairs. She gets a salad and a soda from the bar and finds an empty booth. Attempt at eating well, day two.

She puts the book on the table but she's more in the mood for company than reading.

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"You must have visited a lot of places. When did you visit Earth?" She wonders if maybe Romana knows something about the distant future.

She grins at that. "Sounds like a lot of men on Earth, too."

Romana chuckles. "Oh my, too many answers to that question. Is there anytime in particular you were thinking of."

Wry smile. "I imagine the only difference is the ones back on Gallifrey are collecting more dust."

"Well I'm from the USA in 2008, so I was wondering if you'd been to Earth either much earlier or much later than that."

Kim looks a little confused. "Do you mean they're dead?"

"Later and earlier. Why?"

Chuckles. "No, no. I mean they're actually sitting around and collecting dust. You see...if a Time Lord is very safe and boring, he might not ever lose a life or need to regenerate. The ones who live the longest end up on the Great Council. They're..." She grimaces quite visibly. "Our leaders."

"Just curious. Although I'm not going to ask about how Earth looks in the future."

Kim understands. "Okay, kind of like bosses on Earth in a way. When you say regenerate you mean that Time Lords have longer lives?"

"Depends on the timeline. Depends on what happens and what changes. The future usually is a lot darker. More angry."

"Time Lords have more than one life. Usually thirteen."

Kim remembers an alternate universe conversation she had with Ryan. "You not only time travel but also experience different futures." She realizes.

"13 lives that each last as long as a normal human life? That's more than a cat, even."

Romana nods. "Time is constantly changing."

"Thirteen lives of considerable length. Really, you have to be killed. I'm not sure I know of a Time Lord who died of old age. Besides Council members."

"I'd think that skill would come in handy during a fight. Do Time Lords come back to life right away or is it a process?" She's kind of fascinated by the idea.

"I'm sorry, I probably am asking a lot of questions."

Romana nods. "It can be." She herself wouldn't know but the Doctor certainly would. "It's fairly quick. Sometimes you can even choose the new appearence."

Romana smiles. "Oh please don't apologize, Kim. It's nice. People usually don't ask questions."

"I've been here over a month but I guess I'm still sort of surprised when I come across something that's really new to me."

"How long have you been here?"

"I've been here...I think this is my fifth day now. Time is very strange here."

"It really is. Some people I know from home are here too, but they all come from slightly different times."

"...That must be hard to cope with."

She smiles. "Only a year or less apart but...well it's amazing how much of a difference that time can make."

"Have you met another you?" Romana imagines that would be uncomfortable.

Kim hadn't even *considered* that possiblity. "I don't think that can happen here. At least I hope it can't."

"I don't think the Bar would let it. That would just create too much confusion."

"Although...do you ever get tempted to go back and tell your past self things to change the future?"

"Hm. Hypothetically, I'd be tempted but I don't think I would tell my other self. Too much might depend on the mistakes you have made or have yet to make."

"But what if it was your other self just...a week or so before something really bad happened. Would you try to prevent it?" The entire changing the future thing is a little beyond her but she's curious.

Romana considers. "I'm not sure. I suppose...it would be difficult, you see. Because what if that horrible thing resulted in something really wonderful years from then? But would I consider that at the time? It's...all very...unpredictable."

"It seems that things get very messy when dealing with the future. Have you been time jumping most of your life?"

Romana nods. "Jumping, leaping and skipping."

Kim smiles at that. "Would you like to sit down? How do you keep track of your *own* age?"