singillatim | open to all~

[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.]

Well, I'll have to pop by for a visit before you set off on your big expedition.

[ It sounds strange with timelines, but time is his business so he'll sort it out. Assuming they make it out of here, which they will. Though then that has implications for Jopson's survival which is path he dare not tread at the moment. ]

What other bait do we need? Small trap — what are you hoping to catch?

[ He's not overly fond of hunting or trapping, but understands the necessity of it. They do have to eat, and he has to admit his body is far weaker now than it's ever been. ]

[Jopson's never had someone say that to him. That they would like to visit. To see him. Perhaps it's a little bit of a dream to think they'll ever get out, but he can indulge a little.]

I'd like that.

[He returns to the task at hand, frowning as he surveys the land.]

Rabbits. Birds. Anything. Growing up, that's how I fed myself and my mother and brother. Out here, it's more difficult.

[ He does mean it sincerely, too. He'd make it a point to visit him somehow.

To the topic at hand — the Doctor doesn't judge anyone hunting for food to survive, it's only for himself more specifically that he tries to lean more into edible plants and other vegetation. Though admittedly, it's not something he's had to think about much. A luxury that traveling on his ship had afforded him. ]

Everything is a bit here, isn't it? More difficult. I never had to think of food much. My physiology made it so I didn't feel hunger the way other species do, but here in this place, well, everything's changed.

[ He's like everyone else and it's frustrating to say the least. That part of it, anyway. ]

Rabbits! Oh, I'm slow sometimes, I really am. My carrot — well, not the most appetizing certainly, but worth a try. And anything else you've foraged. More vegetation we can find the better. Easier said than done here.

[He holds out a hand to him, palm out, laughing.]

No, you keep that carrot. I think it's more likely to drive them away than it is to bring them forward.

[But they haven't had much luck in anything else, so Thomas takes a moment to rethink their plan.]

Rabbits will go into any sort of - hole if we make it inviting enough. But a little greenery will attract them well enough.

What - what was that you meant about your - physiology?

open to all~

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject