❛ come in . . . ❜ it's said delicately & without hesitation , stepping out of the way to allow room for @rivierlied. an exhaled breath leaves part lips as hues , that try to mask the worry worn within them , scan for any sign of injury. you worry too much , pond. the doctor would say. she could hear it now & of course she'd have some sort of snarky response back at him , accompanied with an eye roll or glare.

❛ are you okay? ❜ she finally asks after realizing how she probably looked , how she was just standing there in silence , just staring. hand fidgeting with the knob , door still ajar.

❛  let  me  help  you,  JUST  THIS  ONCE.  ❜  the  doctor  replied,  almost  annoyingly.  he  wiped  the  blood  from  river's  face,  finding  it  hard  to  to  look  into  her  eyes,  to  see  the  gleam  of  youth,  while  the  doctor's  eyes  only  grew  older.

❛  we...  ❜  he  sighed  as  he  had  to  think  about  the  timeline  of  their  lives.  ❛  we're  very  far  from  each  other.  so  far  from  each  other.  ❜  both  hearts  were  ecstatic  to  see  river,  he  couldn't  deny  it.  but  the  cheerful  demeanour  of  this  new  face...  he  couldn't  show  it.  how  could  he  show  it,  knowing  river's  future.  having  to  keep  that  terrible  end  away  from  her.

hands come up as though they could cause the moment to pause, eyebrows raised. he was used to the doctor plowing through stories, skipping around and leaving out details, but he likes knowing more about what river was or wasn’t telling them. besides, she told stories better, and this one was implied to be both fascinating and alarming.

❛ river , no , it's not . . . ❜ but it was , wasn't it? it was always so hard to see past the lost time. the identity.

hues squint as tears form , why did it have to be like this? so complicated. her whole life was always so . . . complicated.

❛ you are my DAUGHTER , regardless of how complicated things get . . . regardless of how- . . . ❜ head falls , defeated. it shakes back & forth , eyes closed.