sometimes its best to not get involved || condesce

[The Eleventh Doctor]

Mars wasn't exactly a hop a skip and a jump from Earth - at least not to your average human. For the Doctor, however, it only took a few pressed buttons, a flipped switch and a whirring noise, all of which took place inside of a blue box. It had been a while since the Doctor had questioned all the downright weird stuff that he did on a daily basis. Even for a Time Lord, the box part was sort of odd. The Doctor's TARDIS materialized on Mars, in a totally unspecified location. Ice Warriors weren't exactly good at marking land, from the Doctor's perspective. They could probably tell, but Ice Warriors were just... weird. Within the TARDIS, the Doctor himself was hoping beyond hope that the Ice Warriors wouldn't actually notice he was there. He and the Ice Warriors had... something of a history. It wasn't a pleasant one.

At least all he needed to do to check was press yet another button. The TARDIS console's lack of clutter made everything so much easier to operate. It left the Doctor wondering why he hadn't changed it years ago.... or, rather, why he had changed it years ago. A panel in one of the TARDIS' walls opened up, revealing what appeared to be a television screen. It showed the exterior of the TARDIS. Mars looked as red and seemingly barren as ever. As far as the Doctor could tell, the Ice Warriors either hadn't noticed him or were outright ignoring him. The Doctor had no idea which was worse. Being ignored wasn't something he was used to, after all, but... it was probably for the best. He exactly wasn't in the mood for being chased all over the planet by armored reptiles for the rest of the day.

With that taken care of, The Doctor was ready to get out of the TARDIS and explore the planet. Of course, he'd already been all over Mars looking for things... but sometimes he just liked to double check. After all, Mars had something of a history of housing dangerous species. As he pulled open the TARDIS' doors, The Doctor observed that the planet looked as normal as he remembered it looking. All red sand everywhere with basically nothing else. Hopefully, he wouldn't come across a rover again. That was a messy situation.

[seahitler represent]

If the Condesce thought - though she rarely did - of safety, sanctuary, her first thought was always to the vast Alternian ocean, with Gl'bgolyb's son thrumming through the depths, a wordless croon that pounded against her bones with the rhythm of the tides. But it had been a long time since she had returned to that place - and second to sanctuary was freedom, and with that she thought of space, stars and galaxies all waiting for her to brush past them and reel them in with glittering smiles and false words. Dazzling promises of conquest and victories in blood and fire and planets ruined beneath her fleet's countless weapons -

But now she had no fleet, no weapons but her own abilities.

So sometimes she flew up through the atmosphere, away from Earth and its tempting but polluted waters, and drifted among the desolate planets, trying to recall old triumphs.

Psionics carrying her effortlessly just above the ground, her path through the planet meandered. She could have blown it up, but that would have drawn attention, and besides... she had heard reports that once there had been water here. Perhaps, once she broke free of English, she'd terraform this world, flood most of it and let it be a colony. It was an amusing thought, and she toyed with it, until the grating sound of something caught her attention. Lips pressing together in a frown, she approached the location it had come from without even a trace of hesitation.

Lord English or not, she was the Imperious Condescension - there was little in this universe that could give her pause.

So the blue box innocuously sitting there, and its occupant - who she would have taken as human if not for the fact that humans didn't have the ability to come this far from their planet - got a quizzical look instead.

")(ow... interesting."