007 | video

[dracobin]

I appear to have--damaged my harness, and also a dear possession of mine, while I was in the bottle.

[His ruff droops guiltily. Is that a note of embarrassment in his voice? Of course it is. He is nothing if not transparent.]

If there is anyone here with a talent for leatherworking, or perhaps metalworking, I should be very glad to hear it.

[private to anyone who encountered his mirrorverse self in Kithika]

I--I must beg your pardon, if I said anything to you that was very rude, or stupid, or both; you may rest assured I am in my right mind again, and the incident is unlikely to repeat itself, and I should like it very much if you forgot everything I--that is to say he--told you, and pay it no mind at all, because it is not true.

[Beat.]

And I should think it obvious that goes doubly for you, M. Pontmercy.

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[parallels]

[Instinctively, Clara leans close to stroke the dragon's neck for comfort. No one had left Kithika unscathed and some had been burned worse than others. She'd been trapped in a nightmare, but the idea of having your memories tampered with was simply terrible.]

Even though it's alright now, it doesn't so easily get better, does it?

[dracobin]

[He leans into the touch instinctively, taking some comfort from her closeness.]

Loyalty is important to us, but it is the sort of bond which comes from being close to one's friends, not to one's country, whatever that might be. I had never much understood what treason was, or cared about it, but now I think I might.

[But he pauses, and looks down at her again.]

You know what the statues do. Did you touch one yourself?

[parallels]

I see. I don't know much about treason either but... I don't think I'd much like suddenly thinking I was someone different. And not remembering my life or my friends.

[She twists her fingers around her teacup. She, like him, would rather not speak of it. But maybe it would be some comfort to share.]

I did. But I didn't forget who I was. I just had a nightmare or a vision. It was just me. In this big empty room. Everyone I knew had been there once, but had left me behind. When I tried to call out to them, they were gone. I was just alone in the dark.

[dracobin]

I do not know if it might be properly termed treason: but I knew, with an awful sort of certainty, that my loyalty belonged to Napoleon alone. And it is gone now, but when I think back on it, I can remember the feeling of devotion, and it feels like a sort of theft.

[And theft is the greatest of crimes to a dragon.

He makes a quiet, rumbling sound, and carefully curls his tail around Clara, the leathery scales warm with dry heat.]

I should not know what to do, if I were in a situation like that.

[parallels]

Neither did I. I just felt... lost.

[She curls up under the warmth of his tail. It's comforting, like curling up with a blanket after a long day. Or a long few weeks as it's been for them. She sips her tea and mulls over what he said.]

A theft of your proper life?

[dracobin]

And of my loyalty.

[He nudges her again with the tip of his nose.]

What did you do? Did it last very long?

[parallels]

[She strokes his nose quietly before replying.]

About a day, I think. It was dark when I snapped out of it. But I couldn't feel how much time had passed. It was disorienting.

[dracobin]

An entire day!

[The exclamation escapes him before he can restrain himself. He peers down at Clara, dismayed.]

And was there nothing to be done in that darkness? It sounds dreadful.

[parallels]

It was dreadful.

[she replies quietly. When she'd awoken from the dream, she'd been left so shaken that she'd been unable to sleep or eat for the next day. She just sat, trying to breath and steady herself.

Then she looks up at him with gentle look.]

I'm alright now though. Or... alright enough.

[dracobin]

[He does not return her gaze immediately, only tightens the warm coils of tail around her, a little, in response.]

It is better, I think, when one has an enemy one can see. Fighting the dragon was difficult, but at least one knew where it was, and even if one could not defeat it outright, one could have run away, instead.

It is much harder to fight something inside you, or a memory of a thing. I do not mind a battle, at all, but the way the enemy here fights--

[He falls silent, and rests his head on his forelegs, huffing out a quiet breath.]

[parallels]

I'm not even a proper candidate to fight a dragon and I think I'd agree with that.

[She drops her head slightly onto his neck and gently strokes his tail with her fingers. She enjoys the warm sensation and closeness. She's had no one to talk to about it. She didn't want to concern Jack and she hadn't spoken to Jim since Spock left.]

It's a bit scary. What your own mind can do. It knows everything about you. It's the perfect enemy.

[dracobin]

I confess I have never thought of my mind that way.

[And he wishes he never had, either. He is normally confident to the point of blustering, when he faces down an enemy, but this is the sort of war he has never been trained to fight.]

It is no wonder our enemy is so threatening, when he can read us so easily.

[parallels]

Yeah. I'm not sure what will happen in this war.

[She's silent for a few seconds. The Doctor would have something clever and insightful to say as he always does. More than ever, she wishes he were here, but in the meantime, she'll have to do.]

But we've also got each other. And everyone else. Your mind knows you, but it doesn't know all of me.