singillatim | open to all~

No wire, I'm afraid. Just a bit of yarn I unraveled from a woolen sock.

[He glances behind them, just once, just in case, but presses on, drawn to this enigmatic figure.]

I need something sturdy as a base and some bait. I thought I'd try the lake for that.

Clever clogs! Making use of whatever you have on hand. We'll put it to work yet, that yarn.

[ As they walk, the Doctor digs into his trouser pockets, producing a few items — a spoon and a medium-sized, rather shriveled carrot. Shows them both off like he's so clever, though he tucks the spoon back into his pocket and keeps hold of the carrot. ]

I had this in my pocket before I arrived here. In case anyone got hungry, but — likely to be of better use now, perhaps, what do you think?

[ Rather than...letting it continue to shrivel and eventually rot in his pocket. Maybe the lake is a far better idea for bait, after all... ]

[It's been a very long time since he's seen a fresh carrot, but even he knows there's something wrong with that one. He blinks at it and then up to the Doctor, waiting for the punchline.

When it doesn't come, he tucks his hair behind his ear and glances to the window.]

We should go out there. That won't be enough.

[Diplomatic as always.]

Fine, fine, we'll do it your way, Jopson.

[ He's not, at least, in any way opposed to trying the lake for fresh bait. It was probably the wisest choice from the start. Probably. He'll set the carrot out on the ground for...any strays in need of a nibble. Otherwise, he continues leading the other man down the corridor towards the exit. ]

For your base, you'll want a solid wood board or very large rock of some sort, yes?

[ The Doctor has a lot of vast and extensive knowledge about so very many things, though being dropped in the middle of this world and forced to survive as they are is...newer to him, of course. Probably obvious. It's Jopson's bait trap, though, so rather than barrel in with a multitude of ideas, he's excited to explore with Jopson and collaborate on this trap of his. ]

A simple trap would be a container held up with a stick. But I think that may be too simplistic for this. And prone to fail.

[He thinks about it as they venture outside, chewing on his thumbnail. It's remarkable, really, how easily he falls into this thought. How quickly he matches the Doctor's strides, going along with him as if they hadn't met only moments before.]

Different snares and knots we could fashion, too, if we had enough rope, but — we'll make do with what we have.

[ The Doctor has never hunted for anything in his life and he's never had to think about this sort of thing, but his logical mind can at least conjure up different creative solutions for what they need to accomplish.

He does glance over at Jopson frequently as they make their way towards the lake, finding it perfectly natural they've fallen into step, essentially. He picks up new friends easily, or at least, that's how he sees it. ]

So where were you before this, Jopson?

[They will make do. Of that, Jopson is pretty familiar. He's fairly good with knots, with hunting and trapping, and so this is all quite familiar territory for him.]

The Arctic, sir.

[This 'sir' is more cheeky than the other. He heard the request; he's choosing not to listen right now.]

I was on John Franklin's expedition to find the Northwest Passage.

[ He'll allow it, that little 'sir' again. With a small smirk and a good-natured eyeroll to accompany it, his amusement quite clear far more than any actual annoyance. Quite the opposite, in fact, he's enjoying Jopson's company already. But then, of course, for the man who's traveled across time and the stars themselves, the Doctor can't help a moment of excitement at the mention of an historic event he's certainly familiar with. ]

John Franklin! Set out from England in 1845 — two ships, was it? The HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror. No wonder you have your wits about you here, if you'd just come from that.

[ Ah, but quickly he settles as further details of the expedition come back to him. Not a lovely little expedition at all, far from it. He sobers a bit, his steps slowing slightly as the lake comes into focus. He has to be careful what he says or what he asks, of course. Fixed points in time, spoilers of future events, and the like. ]

Is this place better or worse than the circumstances you left behind?

[He colors a little, unused to any of the attention given to the others of the expedition. He was not a key player there, nor was he anything more than the Captain's steward. History will not remember him, remember the man who had been named Lieutenant in the field in a moment of necessity. He will go down on the muster roll in his Captain's hand.

But he's never been the sort to care about glory. He cares about people, especially the people he cared about.]

Warm fires, plenty of shelter and game, clever company - the circumstances are much better here than what was left. There are several of us here now.

[ While the Doctor knows of the expedition, and the horrific turn those events had taken, he doesn't know the specific details of every member of the crew — their fate, yes, but not the lives they led. So, it makes him all the more curious about Thomas Jopson and his life before this...everything that happened.

It also makes the Doctor rather more committed than ever to seeing the people here safe. For now, at least, he'll forego thinking about the fate awaiting Jopson at the end of this. ]

Well, you are in the best company, Jopson, that's absolutely true. And the very best happens to be a bowtied man leading you towards a lake just now. [ Another cheeky grin because the Doctor tends to think quite highly of himself in that regard. He softens, though, to add — ] Strange to think a place like this could be a respite of sorts.

Not so strange. This was meant to be a place for people on holiday, wasn't it? The homes are nicer, even unfinished, and this place would be beautiful if it thawed.

We must work hard here, but there is a life.

[And that life is something that Jopson doesn't take for granted. He knows what lies waiting for him back home and he isn't keen on returning there so quickly.]

With a few bonus adventures, yes. [ Now Jopson sounds awfully familiar. Or rather, he reminds him a bit of himself, finding good in situations that others might see as anything but. ]

There's beauty nearly everywhere if you look long enough, though warmth would do wonders to the flora here, certainly. And beyond. But where there's life, there's hope and vice versa! We'll manage, all of us. [ As the cold air greets them, the Doctor ventures closer to the shore of the lake. ] We might see a day yet where we can actually take a dip in this lake. Imagine.

I dare not.

[Another gentle tease. A laugh behind those words.]

The trees are more greenery than I have seen in years. Though - did you visit the hot springs in Milton? It was as if I had never known warmth like this.

Now that would be a treat. I didn't make it over that way yet — amazingly enough. I consider it my business to scout every detail everywhere and anywhere and somewhere and all over — wherever I happen to be.

[ The way he chatters, it's definitely an excitable run-on sentence. ]

And you left your hot springs to venture over here. Worth your while so far?

It has been. I like seeing new places. New - opportunities.

[He glances out towards the lake.]

So much that others might take for granted. But there is beauty in it, even in this place. I intend on seeing it.

As you should. There's beauty even in a single blade of grass, or — considering where we find ourselves at the moment — the dreadfully cold snow offers its own majesty, doesn't it?

[ The Doctor, at least, tends to find the good in all things even when circumstances are at their worst. Or, most especially when they are. ]

We're not so different in that way, though, enjoying new places. I'm an explorer myself, actually, when not stuck here. This place is just somewhere else I've never been.

[Once they reach the lake, he walks the edges of it, occasionally kneeling down to inspect a small rock or find anything underneath it.]

Where have you traveled?

Better question — where haven't I?

[ He smirks a bit because there's not necessarily an answer to that either. Too broad. But he's quick to add — ]

I travel across time and space, in fact, in a ship of my own, though one far different from yours. She's a beautiful blue box, bigger and grander on the inside than you could imagine. So the answer to the question is, quite broadly, just yes.

[He pauses from where he's knelt down by the edge of the lake and looks up to the Doctor with a long, calculated look. He takes all of that in, all of the strangeness and fascination with it. Everything. And he sighs.]

And even you are as trapped as we are here? Your big, blue box did not come with you?

Where were you, just before you came here?

No need to rub it in, I'm quite aware. [ It's meant in jest, his tone exaggerated for effect. While none of them surely enjoy being trapped, it has even more of a claustrophobic effect on him. ]

She's out there safe somewhere, though, she'll find me here. All of us.

[ Or perhaps it's a lie he prefers to tell himself. ]

And just before this, I was parked up above the clouds over London, stationary for a little while.

[ That was part of a longer story, though. ]

Edited 2024-05-03 06:32 (UTC)

[He winces a little - the tone softening the remark only slightly. He doesn't like upsetting anyone, especially a stranger like this who he is very much enjoying the company of.]

Above the clouds -

[It seems remarkable, far too much, but there's an additional question that seems to be missing.]

When? Which London?

[ He's not actually bothered beyond just his frustration at this situation on the whole, and he doesn't take Jopson to mean anything at all but to tease about it. ]

London, 1842 to be precise. I was there with friends, they were very kind to me.

[ There's quite a bit more to the story, but it's all a bit much to tell someone he's only just met. That only a short while before this, he'd been visiting Manhattan with his very best friends, and they'd been forcibly sucked back in time by menacing stone angels, to a place even the Doctor couldn't go. So he'd abandoned his calling for a little while, stopped helping anyone, and parked himself up in the clouds away from everyone. Until...well, now. ]

[He stops, kicking a small rock onto the ice.]

I was there.

[It's a strange feeling and he automatically looks back to the Doctor, searching his face for something - any sort of hint of what he might have been doing there. An odd coincidence, to be certain, but to think they might have been just there. And then they're here - it makes his head hurt.]

Were you all - in the clouds?

Just me in my box. You wouldn't have seen it, no one could have. I had it cloaked and hidden away. My friends were down below with all the humans milling about, living their lives completely unaware of me. I was nothing and no one and nowhere then.

[ He says humans more distinctly being that he isn't one, though he's always loved humans. It's why he stays so close to Earth so much of the time. ]

But you were there and I was more than likely somewhere just above you for a little while. Time is wibbly wobbly, of course, particularly for someone like me who travels backwards and forwards and sideways in it, but...we might have been there at the same moment, now we're here. Funny little thing isn't it?

[ Of course, nothing entirely funny about their circumstances now, but it is interesting to him. ]

We're meant to be getting bait, sorry! You get me talking, I won't stop. But while we're looking, tell me what you would have been up to in London in 1842.

[He notes the casual use of human there, as if he isn't one, though he'd be the first on that Jopson knows to be able to travel in such a way. It makes sense that he would be something - else. Something different. He doesn't ask, thinking such things might reveal themselves in time.]

I don't mind the talking.

[He continues around the edge of the lake, occasionally leaning down to pick through the small sprouts of cattails or rocks.]

In '42, I would have - no. [He laughs a little sheepishly.] I wasn't in London. I was in Antarctica then. We wouldn't return until '43.

[It seems like decades ago. Centuries. Another life.]

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