on a high wire

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Nina knew she should be used to the sky leaking — it did it every day. She also knew by now that it was called rain, which didn’t make sense because it was just water falling so why did it even need a special name? Hey, Sebastian, wake up, she insisted. It’s raining! “It always rains,” the human grumbled, pulling a pillow of their ears like it’d help prevent her voice from infiltrating his salad brain. “Come on, Nina,” he pleaded, sensing her restlessness. “It’s a Saturday. I don’t have school. I don’t even have anywhere to play, I can actually sleep in without getting in trouble and—” Oh good! You’re awake! She didn’t need to read his mind to understand that the frustrated scream, muffled by the pillow and mattress, was a product of her insistence to get the hell out of this bed. Come on, just let me take over, and you won’t even need to think about anything, she persuaded, taking control of his body with very little resistance. It was always great fun taking control of him. For starters, it meant that she didn’t need to hear his rebuttals for every decision. She didn’t bother changing out of his pajamas - she pulled on a jacket over them and put on the rain boots he had shoved inside of his closet. She took the stairs two at a time, jumping over empty bottles and slipping merrily by the female parental unit passed out on the couch. Once she’d made it outside, she skipped gleefully down the sidewalk until finally finding a decently sized puddle. Nina jumped up and down in it, not too bothered with the disgruntled noises of people passing by as she soaked them. Nina jumped to the next puddle and grinned widely at the woman her great leap put her beside. She was not a human, Nina was pretty sure of that anyway. “Hello!” she said, excitedly. “Are you—” a jump “—going to—” another jump “—play with me?”

@trakenprincess - she's just an infant

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The Doctor was sorting things out between Tegan and Turlough; Nyssa considered herself well off having some time to herself. The weather was strange here, but the Doctor visited Earth enough that she was starting to adjust. She knew logically that outside of the Traken Union, climate wasn't regulated by a Keeper. Or, at this time in Earth's technology? Regulated at all.

Still, walking in rain was better than walking in snow, Nyssa thought. Even if the Doctor disagreed about her priorities in that regard. Days like today, Nyssa missed travelling with just the two of them, but Tegan was far too dear of a friend to give up the chance to spend time with. Except, of course, when she was quarreling ceaselessly with someone who was attempting to rile her up.

Nyssa hadn't been paying much attention to the people around her, but she did notice the loud splashing as a young boy in sleep clothes, rainboots, and a hopefully warm enough jacket jumped up next to her.

"Hello," she indulged, a soft hint of a smile on her face. "What are you playing?"

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“Do I have to be playing something?” Nina asked, kicking some of the puddle towards a bird and laughing merrily as it flew away. “Do I have to have a specific game in mind, I mean?” That’d be awfully boring — Nina didn’t know very many human games that children were allowed to play. Sebastian shot down all of her ideas, like throwing rocks at people and setting buildings on fire and setting the birds and fish free from the pet shops. Sebastian wasn’t stirring — or she couldn’t feel the annoying tug that informed that he was fighting desperately for consciousness — so she supposed that she wasn’t making too many social faux pas with this woman yet. Good job, Nina, she praised herself, because no one did that often enough, you could be a total real life human and no one would know different! Amazing! She thrust out her hand perhaps a bit too suddenly, wriggling the fingers. “I’m Nina!” she exclaimed, racking her brains for what Sebastian and his mother said when forcing him to talk to new people. He normally clammed up and waited for the social interaction to be over, so Nina tried to recall his mother’s words. “How do you do, sir?”

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The young woman considered the question for a few moment. Games without structure felt rather foreign to her, but you didn't get much more foreign than a strange, backwards people on a strange, backwards world. Perhaps this was like Tegan's 'IF'. Much less pragmatic and more creative.

Somehow, Nyssa could picture the Doctor having loved such a game as a child, even if he was much more relaxed about such activities now.

"I suppose not," Nyssa said agreeably after a while. "But if you want me to play with you, you'll have to explain something. I'm not overly fond of surprises, I don't think."

A very enthusiastic hand a moment later had her smiling and returning the handshake.

"I do quite well, thank you. Although I'm a miss, not a sir."

Perhaps it had been a mistake moving away from dresses entirely, no matter how practical the velvet felt.

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“I just wanna jump!” Nina said, confused about having to explain it. “That’s the game,” she decided. “We just jump in puddles and see who can make the biggest splashes!” Nina jumped up and down in the puddle, the splashes gradually getting smaller and smaller as the water went away. “It’s not a surprise at all, except maybe I get a surprise when I jump and some water gets in my face. That’s surprising.” Nina’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion — what was the difference between a miss and a sir? Maybe a sir were a an old adult and miss were a younger type of adult. As she thought about it, all of the people that Sebastian’s mother had called “sir” were very old. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel old. You’re very young, I bet you’re almost as young as Sebastian, or maybe as young as me, I don’t know!”

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Nyssa couldn't help but feel apologetic. She hadn't meant to distress them. The child had been so energetically playful that Nyssa hadn't wanted to just directly shoot them down. Instead, it seemed, she'd frustrated the young one.

For that reason, she bit back the question of why something so illogical counted as a game. This was a different society from her own, and this was far outside the court society or even the fosters she was accustomed to dealing with.

Better to figure it out now then when Adric could poke fun at her, she thought.

Nyssa tilted her head minutely at the apology, then shook her own.

"Oh I see. It's a translation issue. Don't worry. I was told Miss was for young unmarried women. I think sir is for men. Or maybe it's knights. Do you still have those?"

Hoping to indicate her own friendliness, Nyssa took a deep breath and jumped into a puddle, her eyes squeezed shut hoping it wouldn't splash her too much.