[ Aching loneliness has always followed him ever since he was a child. It was the monster that slept under the bed, it was the root of the heaviness in his heart. No matter what he did to try and chase it, drown it, burn it away it always came back, surviving from one incarnation to the next. As much as curiosity and the taste for exploration and freedom had driven him to leave Gallifrey in the first place, loneliness, perhaps, had been the other half of that coin, gently biding its time until he was at his lowest to cover his eyes, surprising him, reminding him, that it was always there.

But loneliness is quiet tonight; in fact it feels eons away like it belongs in another world or universe. Tenderness reserved for her that had settled into his bones a long time ago stirs.

Clara. The Impossible Girl. Defender against loneliness.

His hand reaches out, brushing briefly against the chain holding the pendants together. ]

Good thing you're going in prepared then, hm? Although, we might have to look at getting you different shoes. The soles on those are going to go any day now.