The Mustard Musketeers [Overseer]

[Deleted]

Katharina Diederich could safely say it was the strangest day of her relatively young life. Not only had she been kidnapped and briefly imprisoned by a vicious alien-robot species called the Daleks who were determined to kill her for some reason, but she’d also been whisked away by an eight hundred and twenty-five year old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. And, if that in itself wasn’t odd enough, the Time Lord, who called himself the Overseer, had then died. Yeah, that was enough to put a damper on anyone’s day, right? But don’t worry – because apparently when Time Lords come close to dying, they erupt in a bunch of pretty fireworks and their cellular structure rearranges. They come back to life, but as a completely different person.

Yeah. The strangest day of her life.

But it was certainly the best day of her life as well. And Rina was quite positive that if she wasn’t the most well-traveled and adventurous Dulcian in the universe, she was at least the runner-up. How many others could say they traveled with a Time Lord? Sort-of battled the Daleks? (Well, fine, she’d only squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that she’d live to tell the tale and the Overseer had done all the clever bits.)

After the Overseer’s regeneration and subsequent withdrawal into his bedroom, Katharina had set herself to exploring the TARDIS. She’d set her jacket – the only item she’d manage to keep from her small travel pod – on the bed in one of the bedrooms as a small declaration of her intent to stay there. She’d explored the recreation room, rummaged through the storage room, and she’d even gone through discovering the infirmary room.

Once the initial curiosity had settled with her, she plopped down on the bed and rolled around, wondering if they were still on Nirn. He’d told her to feel free to explore (except for the control thing), but she was almost positive he didn’t want her to slam open the doors. What if they were just drifting in space? She sighed and rolled off the bed, walking towards the closet quietly. Was she going to be doomed to wear the same dress for all her travels? Thankfully, whether the Overseer had traveled with a woman who’d had her own wardrobe, or part of the TARDIS’ sentiency, there was still a closet full of clothes that was close enough to Rina’s size. She slipped out of her dress and pulled on a nightgown.

She wasn’t sure if it were the nighttime or if it was even time for her to go to bed (because, goodness, for being a Time Lord, there were no clocks upon the ship!) but she fell asleep anyway. The most perturbing thing, Rina noted as she awoke, was that there was no way to tell how long she’d been asleep, or what the time was. She got dressed and padded out of the bedroom after making her bed. Did Time Lords like breakfast? Would he even be awake for it?

He’d mentioned that he’d be up and about in twenty-four hours, but Rina had no way of knowing if she’d killed thirteen or thirty hours. Perhaps Time Lords had an inner clock? Maybe time was irrelevant inside a time machine? She shrugged it off and walked into the kitchen.

A brief amount of time later (she’d never get used to the time-traveling stove and oven) Katharina had chocolate-chip pancakes, vanilla cupcakes and two glasses of milk set on the table. She left the kitchen and knocked tentatively on the door to the bedroom she’d seen the Overseer stumble into.

“E-excuse me? I don’t mean to bother you, Overseer,” she began nervously, not wanting to disturb him if he were still resting. “But I made breakfast. Or… well, it’s breakfast foods, I’m not sure what time it is. Or if there is a time… um, anyway. What I mean is, there's food if you want some,” she finished lamely.

[Deleted]

The Overseer was snoring loudly. Perhaps it was merely by virtue of the fact that the regeneration was still tapering off. Time progressed normally in this circumstance, and in a strictly linear fashion. Either way, the blockage in his respiratory tract was probably a side-effect of some sort. He subsequently awoke with a start, his eyes snapping open at once. He still felt a bit ill; the process hadn’t completed itself quite yet. He had since changed out of his former incarnation’s attire (he deemed it as far too tacky for his taste) and put on a pair of striped pajamas. No sense in being uncomfortable for a quarantined occasion. His hair was matted and messy, and his eyes were bloodshot. The symptoms felt like a cross between the common cold and minor Gallifreyan heat fever, but overall, this regeneration’s side effects were much less acute than the last two.

He sat up abruptly when Rina knocked on his bedroom door, sniffling a bit before responding to her calling.

“Oh. Thank you, Rina. I don’t know how my taste buds are faring at the moment, though. They’re rapidly changing as a side-effect of this regeneration,” the Overseer called softly through the door. “One minute I felt like tortillas and salsa, and the next minute I felt like a hearty bowl of Russian beet stew. Best leave it out for me until later. The TARDIS will keep it all fresh.”

Exasperated by the sheer energy required to even prop himself up, the Time Lord flopped back onto his pillow once more.

[Deleted]

Tortillas and salsa? Russian beet stew? Katharina bit her thumbnail, staring at the closed door. The Overseer sounded very unhealthy, and Katharina frowned, worried all over again. He’d mentioned that it was normal for Time Lords – or, at least, him – to be sick after a regeneration. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Overseer,” Rina called, grinning with determination – he may not be able to see the grin, but she wanted him to hear the grin in her voice instead of a frown, just in case Time Lords happened to be sensitive to that sort of thing. “I’ll find you something you like!”

She hurried back to the kitchen, murmuring under her breath about how wonderful the TARDIS is and she wished that her bakery could keep everything fresh indefinitely. How on Earth could a man have had Russian beat stew but not a cupcake? And what did borshch and tortillas and salsa have in common? Well… both had tomatoes in it? Both were human? Katharina stared at the cabinets and refrigerator, wondering if she bit off a bit too much.

Well, no matter. She was a caterer, and she would cater! How different could this be from her usual clientele? Except, you know, for being who-knows-how-many lightyears away from Rina’s Ritz and her client was a eight hundred and twenty-five year old Time Lord with a fresh set of taste buds? Easy peasy. She could do this. She pulled out some spices from the cabinets and pulled out a few ingredients from his refrigerator.

She tied her hair in a ponytail and washed her hands again. Well, she wouldn’t just be making breakfast foods, but she figured he’d forgive her… especially since he might not get up for another few hours. She cracked her knuckles and turned to the potatoes, tomatoes, lemon, eggs, onions, mushrooms, thyme (haha, thyme for a Time Lord, she thought, amused) and asparagus. Katharina wasn’t very fond of asparagus, but she wasn’t cooking for herself. She was on a catering mission, and she would find food that the Overseer liked, or she’d… she’d run down his food supply trying!

She did wish that his oven and stove weren’t quite so effective. While convenient, it rather spoiled the fun of twirling around the kitchen and occasionally glancing in the oven to see her creations browning. All right, so she never actually twirled in her shop, but there was a point to be made. She shrugged and continued making the food. An asparagus frittata with potato, egg, caramelized onions and a tomato relish for the crispy shallot rings. A mushroom (whether human or alien, Rina wasn’t sure, but she nibbled on it and didn’t feel any odd after-effects, so she decided that it was safe to work with) and thyme arrancini with a lemon aioli.