The Return

[nevermindtherunning]

Who: the Doctor, open
Where: the edge of the woods, by the ocean side. Southwest of the island
When: Day 34
What: The Doctor returns, and is surprised to find himself in a somewhat familiar location.

At first there were echoes of crashing waves in the distance, growing louder and more distinct when the Doctor finally opens his eyes. Odd... I don't remember landing-- He startles, sitting up only to feel something on his wrist and he quickly recognizes the communicator.

"I've been here before." But he didn't remember how he had left or how he had returned. Nor did he remember any events up to this point, as if his memory had been tampered. Resting his elbows on his knees, he sat there looking around before running hands through his hair.

After a while, he taps on the communicator, sending out a video to the network, "Hi! Hello! Anyone out there?"

Comments

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina smirked a little bit. "You don't," she replied, looping her thumbs through her pockets and tapping her fingers, lightly, against her trousers. "For all you know, I could be a homicidal maniac. Or worse. A politician. On the other hand, I could be something extraordinary. An angel of the Lord. They're quite common around here. Or a demi-god."

She shrugged. "Or I might just be a doctor."

[nevermindtherunning]

"Don't particularly care for politicians." Especially after the year that never was and how the Master flew completely under his radar. He still never quite got over the blaming of himself for that.

"Angels and demi-gods?" Boy had things just got more interesting. "Could be interesting." He commented, knowing he still remained the only Time Lord.

[primogen_vampirate]

"Interesting is a diplomatic word, my friend," Mina replied, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "I've heard any number of alternatives. 'Horrifying' and 'exciting' and 'disastrous.' I myself prefer 'dull,' but that's just me and my bad temperament."

She held out a hand to him. "Mina. Doctor Mina Barrett. Chicago, 1932."

[nevermindtherunning]

"They're not all bad... and not all powerful. Just very good with words, and that can be very dangerous." He had met his quota of Gods of varying degree over the years.

"I'm the Doctor." He takes her hand and shakes.

[primogen_vampirate]

Another doctor? Well, that was good, she supposed. If the citizens of Cape Kore didn't want her treating them, it would be good for Banner to have some back-up. Perhaps the oversexed, alpha male pricks of the village would find her new, dapper friend more to their liking.

After all, he was male.

Mina gave him a firm handshake, before pulling back to avoid any awkward questions about her body temperature or lack of pulse. "Doctor Who?" she asked.

[nevermindtherunning]

He grins, "Just the Doctor." That question never got, did it? He did notice her cold touch, but given it was a bit chilly here, didn't think anything of it.

"Now, what exactly do you want to look at? My vision is perfect, though I do quite like my brainy-specs!" He patted his pocket before pulling out his glasses and slipping them on, "I think they're brilliant!"

He continues to ramble on about odds and ends. He'll wait for her to take a listen to his chest later to make a comment on his double hearts and strange pulse. Surprises were sometimes fun. "Going to take me to a scary lab?"

[primogen_vampirate]

To her credit, Mina took it all in stride. She was used to eccentric characters. After all, she was a bloody pirate. And a Kindred. Hell, there had been a woman in her last Court who only went by the name 'Doctor M.' And another called 'Sunny.' Having a noun or an adjective for a name was hardly the strangest thing she'd ever encountered.

"Afraid I've been booted from the clinic," she replied with an irritable sigh. "But I have my kit back at number 18, if you don't mind a bit of a stroll. You do seem to be," she looked him up and down, "in working order."

A pause. "And the spectacles are rather dapper."

[nevermindtherunning]

"Thank you!" He chirped excitedly as he followed her. "Why were you booted out of your clinic? Not very nice..." He commented.

Lucky for them, it didn't take too long to reach the building marked 18 outside the door. "Looks like nothing has changed." He commented as he looked at the buildings in the distance. "I think I stayed in one down that way." He pointed eastward.

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina glanced over. "Oh, the house where Martha was?" she asked. Mina had liked Martha. A lot. She was mature. Intelligent. A doctor. And, most importantly, an independent female. Really, the ideal Valkyrie. For a human, anyway. She'd been awfully disappointed when Martha vanished.

She fished out her keys, opening the door. Really, she wasn't quite sure why they bothered to lock the place up. If someone wanted to rush in and kill them, they'd bloody well do it.

"This way."

[nevermindtherunning]

"You know Martha!?" He perks up at this thought, only to realize she said 'was'. He hadn't forgotten she didn't answer his question, but right now he was curious to know what had happened since he was last here.

"Is she gone?" He looks a bit sad, wondering if she's alright before finally stepping inside.

[primogen_vampirate]

"Disappeared," Mina replied. She wasn't one to sugar-coat things. Least of all for grown men. "A lot of people have disappeared around here. We're at a complete loss for what to do."

She sighed, betraying how frustrating she genuinely found it.

The inside of the house was dark, but Mina could see well enough. She led her new friend to the kitchen. It had, largely, been taken over by Jones. Which stood to reason, as she was the only one among them who ate. Mina, however, had claimed the table for herself. Not unreasonable, since there weren't family meals.

Sprawled out across the table were her books, her medical supplies, and a host of notes and sketches, detailing the things she'd encountered in Cape Kore so far.

[nevermindtherunning]

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I suppose as much." Being drawn inside, he looked around, but it was difficult to see anything until they entered the kitchen. Small, but adequate. It did the job, though, as he walked over to the table, fingers reaching out to trace along bookends and the table itself.

"So why were sacked? From the clinic, that is."

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina raised an eyebrow, but then set herself into motion again, unnecessarily rifling through her medical kit, as though she didn't know that her stethoscope was right on the bottom, where she'd left it. "I had the audacity to insist that everyone check in for a physical, to get blood-typed," she replied. "And I imagine it was a crime, for some of them, that a woman should be so brazen. I was both told to 'blow' one individual and asked if I was 'on my period.'"

Mina came from a world of sexism. Unfortunately, she'd rather gotten used to being respected, as a doctor, as a primogen, as a hierophant, as a Valkyrie. This backslide was a painful reminder of the very reason why she'd spent most of her life masquerading as Mark.

"No matter," she murmured, staring into the depths of her bag. "Doctor Banner is more than capable. And I suppose you'll make a fine addition to the clinic. Assuming, that is, that you're a medical doctor." She glanced up. "Are you?"

[nevermindtherunning]

He frowned at her reply, making him wonder what kind of personality-types he would be running into. He opened up his mouth to comment there were planets and vast societies where the female halves were more dominate, but what matter did it have? He was without his TARDIS and stuck on an island.

At her last comment, he laughed, "Not a medical doctor, no. Although a scientist of everything else. Astronomy, geology, physics, botany, literature..." He gives a cheeky grin before sitting down.

[primogen_vampirate]

"A jack of all trades?" She couldn't help but show a bit of admiration. Immortal though she was, she hadn't yet found the time to study many of those subjects. It was her own fault, she supposed. She'd made choices about how to spend her off-duty years. And none of those choices had involved literature.

Mina removed her blazer, tossing it over the back of a chair. She rolled up her sleeves. On her left arm, halfway between her wrist and her elbow, there was an old scar. A P-shaped burn, leftover from her mortal days. Once upon a time, she'd been self-conscious about it. Now, she gave it no thought at all as she took out her stethoscope, draping it around her neck, prepared to do work.

Life was always easier with a task at hand.

[nevermindtherunning]

He watches her intently, moving about the table and collecting some items. Leaning forward, he unbuttons his tailored jacket, folds it across his lap and unbuttons a sleeve to roll it up, knowing she was interested in a blood sample. Although, her tests wouldn't show much of anything. He had no blood type, at least not in human standards.

"What's your scar there? It's like a letter..." Rude and not ginger, that was him. Always curious and wanting to know more.

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina glanced down at her arm. "Nasty encounter with a less than gentlemanly gentleman," she replied. Her standard response. And it was a truth. As long as one accepted lies of omission. It wasn't as though she was about to out and out tell a stranger that she'd been condemned to death for piracy in the 1700s.

Which reminded her.

"What year do you think it is?" she asked, walking over and pulling out a chair across from him.

[nevermindtherunning]

"That's a shame. I'm sorry."

He blinks for a moment at her question, furrowed his brows, and quickly stands up and walks to the nearest window, looking out. "The stars..." His eyes dart across the night's sky. A hand is raised as he traces a finger along what constellations he could spot, and he closes his eyes for a moment.

"It's distorted. Time is distorted here." Opening his eyes back up, he looks at the dimly lit kitchen, "This kitchen looks like it dates to the 1980s or even earlier, however, these communicators don't fall into place for that, nor does that camera." He nods to the one on the wall.

"The exact date, I don't know. But time..." And he half laughs, "It's all wibbly-wobbly, but even moreso here."

[primogen_vampirate]

Both of her eyebrows shot up, practically to her hairline. She was certainly learning a lot about her new friend. And not at all what she expected.

"I mean," she said politely, once he'd finished, "what year was it before you arrived here? Not what year is it here? It does seem to be...to use your term...distorted."

The stars, she could understand. Dating a place by the kitchen left her at a loss.

Then again, she'd never owned a kitchen.

[nevermindtherunning]

Time to have a confession, "I'm not human." He walks back to the table, resting his hands on the back of the chair, "I'm a Time Lord. I can see all of time and space, but here, the laws of physics don't follow up quite right, meanings someone or something is tampering with it."

He smiles softly, "I didn't mean to startle you, if I did." She did have a surprised look upon her face, "As for what year? Last I checked, it was 2009, but even that isn't correct, as I can travel through time."

[primogen_vampirate]

Mina considered it for a moment. And then she unlooped the stethoscope from around her neck, gathering up the cord, and setting it down on the table. "I'm going to guess that giving you a physical would be bloody useless," she declared.

She leaned over, picking up a pad of paper and a pencil. "What, exactly," she asked, pencil poised, "is a Time Lord?"

[nevermindtherunning]

"From a planet that no longer exists, I'm the last of my kind. From a medical standpoint, as I assume that's what you're interested in: two hearts, a double pulse that is bradycardic compared to yours, no blood type, a respiratory bypass, a fast metabolism, I don't need as much sleep, a low core body temperature... What else would you like to know?"

He grins as he steps around to sit back down, "You haven't told me much about yourself, might I point out."

[primogen_vampirate]

She took a few notes, particularly curious about what it meant to have no blood type. Blood had, of course, come to the forefront of almost everything she did in Cape Kore. It was necessary for her survival. Back home, it was a simple matter to get the blood she needed to stay alive. She worked in a bloody hospital, after all. But here? She never knew exactly what she might be biting into. And while having Pendragon to serve as a virtual blood spigot was certainly convenient, she didn't want to rely on him too heavily.

After all, people had a peculiar way of vanishing around here.

"As you're not my physician," she replied when he turned the conversation back on her suddenly, "I don't think there's much you'd want to know. Now. What is your standard body temperature?"

[nevermindtherunning]

"There's plenty I want to know." He could play this game, be tight-lipped as much as she was.

He rested an arm on the table, playfully leaning forward, studying her, "You've evaded most of my questions or barely answered any at all. You can trust me, but I doubt you believe me as we've just met, but what else do you have to lose?"

He leaves it at that, as he sits back in this chair, stretching out his long legs before him and watching her body language.

[primogen_vampirate]

Cheeky.

Mina raised an eyebrow, leveling her greenish-blue eyes on him for a moment. It was not in her nature to trust. Kindred were innately secretive. But, she supposed, he was clearly not a Kindred. And as far as she could remember, she'd never heard of a Time Lord at all, let a lone a Time Lord hunter.

"All right," she finally said, setting down her paper and her pencil. She bridged her fingers in front of her chest. It was an old pirate's trick she'd never quite been able to shake. It was meant to show dominance. Steepled fingers displaying the vast amounts of wealth she possessed. In the form of her rings. "What would you like to know?"