No More Tears, I Promise.

Mal sat in the stool and began spinning in it slowly, people stopped to stare at her but she was oblivious to their judgement. Her head flopped back as she watched the ceiling spin, focussing on that one focal point before reaching for the counter to stop herself. What she'd done made her feel childish but she could only smirk at the thought. Mal glanced over at the Doctor, staring at him curiously as he leaned back. This one seemed so calm compared to the others. The tenth was always moving about dramatically, thinking, thinking, thinking. The eleventh... well that should be description enough. Thirteen was a wack job and she decided not to think about any of those Doctor's farther.

"Well, sometimes you do. I guess not this you, but the other you's. That sounds ridiculous. What are we going to do then? I haven't had a job in two months, money isn't exactly in my pocket. Unless you're going to whip out your psychic paper and declare we're the health inspectors. Or just run. Though I don't think the latter would be very relaxing."

Mal snatched up one of the coins and held it up so she could expect it. The gold was discoloured from, what she assumed, age. "Little bit of everything, eh? Is your pockets bigger on the inside , then? That would be both handy and a tad messy. Hard to find anything in it with just fishing around with your hand." As the Doctor was returning the coins she dropped the one she took back into the pouch and let her eyes wonder around.

The bowls came and Mal smiled at it, taking the chopsticks and preparing to dive in until the Doctor made his comment. She started to giggle at him, covering her mouth and setting down her own set. Mal reached over and took his chopsticks in one hand, held out his other hand with another. She set the sticks into place and assisted him with clamping it a few times. Pulling away she took her own and bit her cheek to hide the smile. "They're utensils, man. I thought you were culturally aware." The teasing was light, not meant to be insulting.

Mal snorted at him while she continued to use her chopsticks. Ordering take out at Chinese restaurants for the majority of her childhood served to make her a master at using chopsticks. "Well, not sure I can answer that question but I know the chopsticks are use to prevent overeating. It forces the person to eat slower which gives your brain more time to realize you're full before you've hit over the top. Also, I think using chopsticks is the only art form I can do." She grinned and shook her head. Where did that random bit of knowledge come from? No one knew.

She watched with amusement as the Doctor slurped down his food, attracting offended looks from people around. "Oh, beautiful. Aren't you clever. Maybe you'd like a gold star for your efforts?"

Mal shook her head at the Doctor and continued to eat. Man, she had been starving and filling up her stomach just brought forth that fact. After taking a few more mouthfuls and chewing thoughtfully she pointed the end of her chopsticks at him accusingly, "You lack modesty I hope you know." He wasn't really listening and went off on a rant about human artwork and museums and basically outlined one of the many reasons the apes of Earth were foolish creatures.

"I'm not much of an art person anyway. Abstract art is just confusing and I don't see what's so impressive about flopping your paint brush around on a canvas. Real art should be a picture and demonstrate realistic shading and all that. I would go to see a realistic painting of, say, the Eiffel Tower, not some red and yellow splotch on a page." Mal finished up her food and pushed the bowl aside, mumbling a thanks as she placed a hang over her stomach and spun around on the stool to face the street. It had gotten impressively darker since the Doctor and her first arrived for the food. How long had they been here? Didn't much matter did it?

"Hm... so what is this Judo Era? When is it and all that?" Her mind was trying to poke her in a bad direction so she struck up the second thing that came to mind in order to divert herself from the foreboding topic in her mind. This was suppose to be a break from it all, so she wished her brain would cooperate and make it a bloody break.

"Whatever that means." Mal said in response to the Doctor's answer. He rose suddenly from his chair and she was left to look at him curiously. When the word 'games' was thrown out there she grumbled a little. "Games? Oh, I suck at games. And what would I do with a fish? It would probably die on me within a few days. Hell, within a few hours. I'm hardly qualified for... never mind. Let's go play games then. But you don't get to make fun of me when I brutally fail. Remember when I tried tossing my cup in the garbage can when we met up with Sonya and that Interfect dude? Yeah, that about sums up my whole skills in a nice, little, sad bundle. So no mocking or I'll find an interesting place to stick the fish you're gonna win me."

With a mischievous little grin she removed herself from the stool and snatched his hand. She replaced the frown on her face with a tiny grin, looking at him devilishly as she thought about what he'd look like with a fish tail hanging out of his mouth.

Mal's eyes flickered from stall to stall as they walked down the path. There were some interesting things to see: odd games she'd never encountered before, food booths, merchandise that caught her attention but she was forced to keep along with the Doctor, and stalls with curtains around it so she could only guess what was inside. They finally came across the game that was previously discussed and she stopped in front of it, rocking back and forth on her feet as she stared expectantly up at the Time Lord. "Alright, impress me- whoa wait did he just say....?" But the Doctor seemed unconcerned with the comment so she just let it slide. This time. Well, there probably wouldn't be a next time after this. No, wait, there would be, that's what he wanted, he wanted to see her again. Oh, shut up. Just shut it, Mal.

Without blinking Mal watched as the Doctor carefully tossed the ball and even gaped when it plunked right in the bowl. Oh, yeah right. Talk about an ego booster. She scowled and prodded him forcefully in his ribs. "Oh shush before you draw attention to yourself. All those big, testosterone filled manly men will come around trying to butt heads with you and prove superiority. Don't matter where you're from, pretty sure that's a male thing. And I don't want to fall witness to it. So pick up your damn fish and let's move on." To lighten the blow of her seemingly harsh outburst, Mal grinned at him and offered an awkward little pat on his head. With that she turned and started to weave her way through the crowd, wondering what sort of things the previous merchants had to sell.

Mal was headed toward a booth that had intriguing jade statues but was soon snagged by the wrist and redirected to a different location thanks to the Doctor. She was going to complain about it until she saw the reason he had dragged her along. What was that thing? It looked interesting enough. Also looked like it really didn't belong here and especially not in the hands of some merchant at a festival. "Uhm... this is slightly unnerving. Oh, screw the slightly..."

The merchant fiddled with the device and offered the Doctor a small glance, smiling, "You like it? For the right price it could be all yours. How much have you got?" He was avoiding the question and now turned fully to face the two of them, a charming smile on his face as he tried to snare them into the trap that was known as marketing. It would make him a small fortune to sell this little device since people would give up quite a lot in order to get there grubby hands on something so admirable.

Mal cast the Doctor a sideways glance and shivered. She'd just let him deal with this. Whatever this was.

Mal struggled to keep up with his long strides, blinking several times in confusion as they broke away from the crowd and stopped in a nice, quiet street. Whatever that thing was the Doctor had bought, it didn't belong here. The look on the Time Lord's face made that assumption fact in her eyes. When he began to talk her eyes widened considerably larger. "Wh-what? K-kill you? Why? What...? Doctor!" She quivered in fear, biting her lip anxiously as her eyes darted around the shadows to try and spot anyone who might be waiting there, anticipating their chance to spring and murder. Who would want that? Hopefully it wasn't because of her. But it wouldn't be, no, the Doctor himself had gotten himself into a lot of trouble that would draw unwanted attention such as this. But still, she couldn't help the paranoid thoughts that stated how this was all her fault.

Mal felt self-conscious and very nervous, wrapping both arms securely around her waist. "I-I can't. I can't be apart of this. I'm sorry... it's just.. I'm no good here. I can't. But you'll be safe, right? You won't let them... of course you won't but I have to say it anyway, makes me feel better." She kicked at the ground rather angrily and refused to look back up. This was it. She'd vanish now and deal with everything again. The games were over. This was reality once again.

Mal was stiff in his hold for a moment but soon relaxed and brought her own arms around him tightly. It made her feel sick with grief but she hoped she didn't show him that. She tucked it away to deal with it on her own, away from the friendly face and to prevent him from feeling bad in any way. Well, he would probably feel bad anyway considering he was the Doctor...

She was pushed back but still kept in his grip. Mal looked at his face but saw through his smile like glass. Hesitantly, she brought her hand up and placed it on his cheek, murmuring sadly, "Good bye." She couldn't even tell him she didn't need to crawl into the TARDIS, that he could just stay here and deal with the situation without escorting her to her destination. So instead she figured he'd see it soon enough.

Mal tugged up the sleeve to her hoodie to reveal her vortex manipulator. The etched word "Run" was ugly in her eyes, mocked her as she grimaced and plugged in, what she hoped was, the proper coordinates. When that was done her hand hovered over the button. She looked up at the Doctor one final time, giving him a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes before pushing down on the button and leaving all of this behind in a flash of white light.