Challenge 429: Loss

[evilawyer]

Title: Lessons
Characters: The Doctor
Rating: G
Disclaimer: The character belongs to the BBC.

In his youth, he knows:

The world that cocoons him is small, yet it holds within its boundaries more tedium and pomposity than the imagination can encompass. The world is stagnant and inert. It is a fact. It will always be a fact.

The universe that dwarfs him is vast, yet its limitless confines are not enough to contain the adventure he craves or the escape he needs. The universe is fluid and mutable. It is quicksilver, and he can make of it what he will and lose nothing at all. 

With age, he learns:

Loss is the only constant.

Comments

[swordznsorcery]

Terrific! I love the sense of a restless young Doctor, especially.

[evilawyer]

Thank you!

[amphigorym_2011]

Beautifully done. They tended to live so long on Gallifrey, you wonder if The young Doctor, setting off to see all of Time and Space, even knew what loss was. With age, however, comes wisdom.

[evilawyer]

Thank you! Yeah. Classic Time Lords are rather removed in demeanor from their very first appearance; that doesn't really ever go away even after they turn into backbiting politicians. And while One shows signs of missing his home in The Unearthly Child and Three seems to have a moment of genuine regret over the loss of his school days friendship with the Master, the Classic Doctors all seem to me to give an air of not really knowing what it feels like to lose something he values. At least not until Five, and it comes down on the too-much-to-bear side of the line for him, I think, so he regenerates. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the drabble.