#Dottore ABSOLUTELY uses this event to gaslight Scaramouche later on any time he's having a panic attack

[starlitwishes]

When Dottore grabbed onto his jaw, Scaramouche tensed.

While Dottore had just meant to turn his head to examine the wound on his head, Scaramouche found himself initially resisting for a moment. Damn this malfunction, making him act like a scared little kid when he hadn't ever been a child to begin with. He eventually forced himself to allow Dottore to do whatever he wanted with his head, even if the thought brought about a choked sob.

Dottore traced his fingers on the back of his head, and pain shot through the entirety of it. He yelped, every part of his body shaking as new tears formed and streamed down his face.

Then Dottore started musing out loud, talking about how humans who sustain heavy damage to their heads often have a similar 'malfunction' he was having. Something about that sounded off when Scaramouche applied that to normal humans, but at the very least, Dottore seemed to believe him that his attempt to kill him was a malfunction.

Scaramouche didn't know what he was going to do if Dottore didn't believe him.

But why would he not believe him--it wasn't really a lie, after all.

Yet those typically soothing words brought about no comfort to him. More proof that something was wrong, that he truly was having a malfunction--such words would normally soothe him after Dottore's experiments were over. While the aim was to make him stop crying, Scaramouche only cried more. His whole body was trembling so fiercely that he wondered if he was about to lose control of himself again.

Malfunction. Malfunction. Malfunction.

He was breaking. He was malfunctioning.

While when he threw himself off of the cliff on his own accord, Scaramouche convinced himself that even his disgusting desires to die were probably a result of the malfunction. Logically, it didn't make a whole lot of sense--but he told himself over and over that it was the only solution.

So again, he begged in a soft whimper;

"Please fix me. Please."

He'd expected silence at best, not apologies and pleas to be fixed. Despite the anger still simmering within him, Dottore recognized opportunity, and he would take it, to tighten his control over future incidents such as this one.

From what he'd observed, the emotions imitated by the puppet were equivalent to that of most humans. The body experienced pain much the same way, too, even if the damage was never so permanent. Its reaction hadn't been that unusual among test subjects, reaching the very end of their sanity after surviving so long, though Dottore couldn't understand the dramatics of the weak.

It must have stemmed from far before Scaramouche threw himself from a cliff. Yet if Scaramouche came to the conclusion that him at his most panicked was a result of malfunction, then Dottore wouldn't contradict him.

Instead he would fix him.

Dottore grabbed Scaramouche's jaw to turn his head, to check the back of it, the stitch work that had been reopened by slamming his head against the table. He hummed thoughtfully, running his finger down along the lines by which he had previously pried the puppet's skill open with.

It wasn't a necessary action; he wanted to make the puppet hurt. Scaramouche had stabbed him, after all, and Dottore still didn't feel satisfied with what he'd done thus far.

"If that's the case... well, I do specialize in this sort of thing, as you know," he said, his own emotions at last returning to center. He felt back in control, and since Scaramouche was inviting him to play to help, he had no reason to complain.

"In humans, a blow to the head can cause changes in mood, disorientation, personality changes... among other things. Perhaps your own construction can sustain these defects as well, and your fall caused such damage," Dottore mused aloud. "I was focused on reviving you when I took a look at the inside of your head, so there may be minor damage of something more delicate, or a misalignment I hadn't noticed..."

No, Scaramouche's emotions were more than likely normal, if unnecessary. That was just one more irrelevant detail, however.

"There, there, now." It was a statement that should be soothing, if said by anyone else. "No need for more of these tears. If there's something in you that needs to be repaired, I'm more than capable of fixing it."