"I think... I'm dying," Roka moaned.

She lay on the floor all limbs stretched out, not able to move an inch.

"For once it wasn't me," the Master remarked sarcastically from his desk.

"Oof..." She nudged the empty pizza box further away. At least he had kept word. Though it had felt surreal seeing a villain like him ordinarily ordering food and she had to try really hard not to laugh. Although she still felt a lot more like punching him for the thing with the gun.

And now he was so bold to just sit there... and to read a book. Casually. What a weird guy, she thought. But even someone like him couldn't be destroying worlds all day. Sometimes even a villain had to be... normal? Roka grinned. He was probably reading something that would help finishing a weapon.

"Stop staring at me." He didn't even look up. "You're annoying."

"Was just wondering..." she mumbled.

"About what?" Lowering the book revealed puckered eyebrows.

"Let me guess..." Roka pointed a finger into the air. "'10 ways to destroy earth in a day'. Or... 'How to tame a human'."

He snorted. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Your book."

"Who would write something idiotic like that?" The Master chuckled.

"Don't know..." She grinned and glanced towards him. "Someone like you."

He laughed. "No, if anything at all I'd write about... hmm..." For a moment he thought about it, forehead wrinkled. "'A guide to find the most tasty food in the universe'." He laughed at that thought and shook his head.

Roka giggled. That had been a bit unexpected. "I know what I'll write about as soon as I get out of here.... 'The ultimate guide to become a cliché villain.' ... Yep, I think that'll do. With that reference..." She stuck out her tongue at the Master.

"Oi, I'm not cliché!" he protested.

"You totally are! So far you are the ultimate prototype of a comic book villain." She counted her fingers up. "Chaotic, randomly cruel, fascinated by his own plans, wants to destroy earth for no reason, including the enslavement of humanity..."

"Don't forget, 'crushing your psyche when he's bored'." A mean grin spread on his face and he leaned back with folded hands.

"Good luck with that." Roka smiled. She'd been long gone before he would have the chance to do that.

Leaning onto his desk he stared at her for a moment, smirking slightly. "I'm more interested in the chapter 'How to deal with annoying hostages'." The Master stood up, came over and dropped his book on Roka's stomach.

"Oooow.... man! Ooof... don't do that..."

"There, read and shut up. It's too loud today anyway. Can't concentrate on it."

What was he talking about? Some of the devices around gave off a slight humming here and there, but apart from that the room was only filled with a heavy silence. She didn't get an answer to her questioning glance, so she picked up the book and looked at it surprised while sitting up. It was an old copy of Moby Dick.

"Oh... I read that as a child." She smiled and looked at the pages. "Nice... looks like a complete version. It's surprisingly hard to get by one."

"The only thing you humans are good at."

"Huh?"

"Literature." The Master waved a hand through the air as if to enclose this word into a bubble. "Most races don't write at all. Others only write facts. It's surprisingly rare to find actual stories."

"Mhm... I see..." Roka looked at him. "Then you're even more stupid than I am." When he raised an eyebrow she continued "If you destroy this planet... there won't be anyone left to write these."

He looked surprised for a second, then laughed.

"Hey, that's... I can't even argue against that."

"So, you stop?"

"Of course not! There are more than enough books written to spent a Time Lord's lifetime reading. Who needs more?"

"I do. And with you super reading speed you'll run out of them faster than you think."

He grinned. "Just because I can read that fast doesn't mean I always do. It's good to pull out information, but you miss all the nuances and details. And... hm..." A finger sat itself onto his chin. "You kinda have to slow yourself down so the pace of the story synchronizes within the speed of your own time stream."

"Huh, that's interesting. Never thought about it that way." Roka opened the book and started to read the first page when the Master crouched down next to her. She looked up again. "Get lost. I won't annoy you anymore."

"I'm curious." His head tilted. "Your brain is so limited. It just cancels out everything you don't concentrate on."

"I wish I could cancel you out." She sighed.

"How does it feel? Trapped up there..." He poked her forehead. "Looking through the eyes of the author like you're there yourself."

"Don't tell me you can't!" She looked at him in surprise, not getting an answer. But his look was curious, as if she were an interesting animal. "Hm... I don't know how to describe it. Depends on the words the author is choosing. Sometimes the book itself can't manage that. But when you lean back and just... let your mind wander off..." Her voice became quiet and slower. Her eyes closed. "Then yes, I can feel like I'm huddled together with the whole crew on deck in the cold storm, while Ahab is holding his frantic speech about the white whale."

"Ahab's an idiot." The Master rolled his eyes.

She looked down at the book. "No... just old and mad and bitter. I like that character. He's kinda fascinating. And scary."

"How is he fascinating?" The Master sounded surprised. "A stupid whale ate his leg and he kills his crew and ship and himself just to get revenge... on an animal... and he didn't even win!"

Roka looked up and smirked. "Different times I guess. We do have some interesting history, and back then... for them the whale wasn't just an animal. It was... like a dragon. A mystical beast with a mind of its own. So dangerous, so deadly... The only thing worthy enough to throw your soul down into the abyss of the sea. The only enemy worth hunting." She smiled and slid a hand over the page. "I should go there one day... I bet it's exciting."

A chuckle let her look up again. He poked her chest. "You like the danger." His grin got mean and wide... and amused. "I start to wonder... who is playing... with whom?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for a chance to strike." Roka grinned, but something had felt off the whole time and now she could finally point at it.

It took too long to be forgotten.

Sure, they were in the same room all the time, and she wasn't really invisible; especially not to single people. But still... it took too much time. Maybe the Master had written down some notes to remember her. He was the absolute opposite of stupid, so he probably already thought of something.

"Have you read Poe?" His curious voice suddenly ripped her out of the thought.

"I met him once..." Roka reminisced. "Only briefly though. Fascinating man. And fascinating stories. Wonderfully dark and a fine selection of words, if you ask me." But that probably wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Lovecraft?"

Roka looked up and tilted her head. Why was he asking her that?

"Uhm... yeah. I've read all of his stuff." She wondered... "Did you?"

A grin suddenly sat on the Master's face. "I even saw some of the locations he described. And I once held the Necronomicon in my hands."

"As if." Roka giggled, but he didn't look as if he was joking. "Wait... that stuff is real? You're not going to summon Cthulhu! That would..."

He started to laugh at her. "Some of it is real, yeah... and no, I won't." His face turned sour for a moment. "None of the summoning formulas so far worked..."

"Of course you tried already." She sighed, then giggled. "See? Cliché. And idiotic too."

"Careful, human. I'm not letting you insult me." The Master gave her a mean look. "Should kill you for that remark alone."

"How can you be insulted by the truth," Roka answered snippy. She really shouldn't provoke him like that... but somehow she just couldn't keep herself from it. Something about him just gave her this itch.

"No self preservation? Or are you just overly stupid?" The Master cocked his head, observing her like an experiment.

"I just really can't stand you," she countered and added in a mumble, "and all stories must end one day."

He poked her chest again. "This is not a story though."

Roka laughed. "Who knows. In some parallel universe we might be exactly that..." Her hand wrote into the air. "Traces of black ink slowly soaking into the fabric of a paper sheet."

"Kinda poetic..." He stood up and went to his desk. "You should write that down."

But halfway back he turned around again, staring down at Roka for a moment as if contemplating something. Then he returned and sat in front of her with some distance.

"What about Dante?"