person man, person man, hit on the head with a frying pan

[jacksonian]

WHO: Mark and whoever
WHERE: Everywhere!! But mostly De Chima and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Throughout November
WHAT: Catch-all for November with stuff. Hit me up!! Please!!! Open prompts below; PM me if you want something that isn't these things.
WARNINGS: Mark's life sucks; I'll edit this header if any particular suckiness comes up.


1. dog dog dog dog dog dog dog; De Chima/Maurtia Falls
[ In De Chima or in Maurtia Falls, you might find a rather strange sight: a small stocky man walking an enormous stocky dog. This is Mark walking his dog Captain, a scarred and warlike pit bull that pulls at the leash and constantly wags his tail. Mark's expression is still a forbidding glower, but Captain's doggy face is open and bright-eyed and happy; there's no one he doesn't want to make friends with.

And Mark, unfortunately, doesn't know good leash technique, and also (in spite of his own roundness) doesn't outweigh his dog by that much. And so when Captain wants to make friends, Mark is dragged along behind him. And that is why, if you're walking around, you might be approached by a dog trailing a very sour-looking little man who's hissing - ]

No, don't - stop - heel -

2. come make $$$$; Maurtia Falls
[ PKE, LLC, up in Maurtia Falls, is beyond luxurious. The office is appointed with a sort of brushed-steel-and-pine classiness, like it's furnished from the expensive part of Ikea; the receptionist out front is attractive and aloof, and people who are waiting get offered mineral water from glass bottles.

There are any number of reasons that you might have ended up here: you might have received an advertisement in the mail, or a random notification on your phone, or you might have seen the advertising that targets imPorts. All of this advertising will have offered help in investing, getting rich, or opening a new business - generous funding to get everyone a little bit wealthier.

Mark, sitting at his desk, smiles a smile that can generously be described as oily when you're shown in. And he purrs - ]

Please, sit down. Tell me about how you'd like to make money.

3. kicking some grass; De Chima
[ Mark doesn't like to practice where he can be seen. Definitely not. So when he's worked up and anxious, he goes out far away from his family, far away from the people who know him, out into the forests of De Chima. On the unlikely off-chance that your character happens to wander by, they'll be treated to a very strange sight: a small fat man vigorously practicing a judo kata, face miserable, before punching a tree. He turns as soon as he hears them, though, eyes flashing with anger as he snarls - ]

What the hell are you doing here? Go away.

4. fuck it; anywhere
[ Mark's eating ice cream. Come have ice cream. ]

Comments

[helpline]

[ He gives Mark a small nod. Ding ding ding, there is some rule. ]

I can't change the past. Say I did do that, went back in time and saved you and the other clones before they died. At best, it creates a divergent timeline. At worst, a massive paradox. Because we'd only know to save them because they died in the first place.

[ The Doctor continues talking, serious but also sympathetic in his tone. ]

It's just too dangerous. The universe can support a few paradoxes--saved the day with the Bootstrap Paradox a while back. But those are smaller things. When you get into the big events, saving hundreds of lives, preventing that volcano from erupting, that's when things get too rocky. I don't want to chance it.

[jacksonian]

Yeah.

[ Hope quickly flees, giving way to cynicism. He glares off at the wall behind the Doctor's head. ]

That's how it always is, isn't it? There's always some reason. Everyone disapproves of it, but no one does anything. There's always some reason. [ But he doesn't quite succumb to misery. Because he has this to add: ] Barrayarans are crazy, but at least when they say, I wish I could help, they follow it up with and instead of but.

[helpline]

Oi, didn't I say I'd be the bus? [ The Doctor's rolling his eyes, but his tone of voice is a bit more teasing than hostile. They're at a relatively steady part of the roller coaster conversation and the Doctor's a bit concerned that it's gonna plummet. ] That's something.

[ And, to further keep the roller coaster from crashing, the Doctor adds in, ]

Can you tell me more about your Barrayarans?

[jacksonian]

[ He hesitates, a little uncertain - still possessive of them, frankly, and possessive of their relationship with him. But - well - the Doctor offered to be the getaway car, and even if that's not everything it's not nothing, either, and so he relents just a little. The roller-coaster track is still intact. ]

I guess. There's Lord and Lady Vorkosigan. And Miles. You'll recognize him if you see him. He looks a lot like me.

[ Not identical, of course. But close. ]

[helpline]

And all of them are here in this world, right?

[ Keep Mark talking about the Vorkosigans, keep him talking, keep him not thinking about clones and his world. ]

[jacksonian]

[ A slight hesitation, and then a nod. He's still skittish, but the Doctor has managed to take another turn in the conversation without either bumping up against one of his (many, many) raw spots or triggering his violent allergy to feeling like someone's exerting control over him. So he's drawn out a little further, answering - ]

All the living Vorkosigans are, yeah. Not all Barrayarans, obviously. There are hundreds of millions of them.

[ That's uttered with nothing more hostile than the eye-rolling well, duh-ness of your average sullen teenager. ]

[helpline]

It'd be a bit ridiculous if there were hundreds of millions of imPorts, [ the Doctor can't help but remark, with a wry little smile of his own. Because yeah! That's a shitton of people!

He leans back in the chair, trying to be calm and cool and nonchalant. ]

Glad also that it's just the Vorkosigans you know. It's always a bit awkward when you run into someone from the distant past or future. Don't mind me, I'm just your great great great granddad.

[jacksonian]

[ That actually cues a dry lift of Mark's eyebrows. ]

Yeah. Especially since they'd be pretty horrified by me and Miles both. Barrayar's only starting to get over its anti-mutant prejudices. And even that's arguable.

[helpline]

Oh now that's even better. If you're not horrifying at least one of your ancestors, then you're not trying hard enough.

[jacksonian]

[ And - wonder of wonders - he actually ducks his head and lets loose a small snort of dry, dark, ironic amusement. ]

A mutant clone assassin. I think I have that covered.

[ And then it occurs to him that he let loose a little more than he'd meant to in that witticism - because he hadn't said, before, that he was an assassin, and that's not something you generally want people knowing about. His eyes dart upwards uncertainly; then he looks away, trying to look casual. ]

Have you met a lot of your ancestors, then? Traveling through time and space and all.

[helpline]

[ The Doctor continues talking as if he totally ignored the assassin part. Because really: he killed people and he traveled with someone who tried to kill him. Judging shall be kept to a minimum. ]

Thankfully, not that many. I try to avoid crossing my own timeline, partly because I can't stand myself, partly because I know I won't be able to stand my ancestors either.

[ The Doctor's veeeery much a black sheep. ]

[jacksonian]

Why? What's wrong with them?

[helpline]

Well they're Time Lords, [ said as if that's an answer enough. But it isn't, so the Doctor continues. ] I'm an atypical Time Lord. I'm not bragging or anything, it's just a statement of fact. Time Lords tend to be boring stoic non-interferey people and I'm not that in the slightest.

[jacksonian]

Fuck non-interference people.

[ But, hey, at least the implication is not "fuck you," right? ]

[helpline]

[ The Doctor can't help but laugh at that, giving Mark a big griiiiiiiin. ]

My opinion exactly. They're a bunch of useless assholes anyway.

[jacksonian]

Uh, yeah.

[ The duck of his head doesn't hide a smile, but there's something a little flustered in it - and flustered in a positive sort of way. Shyness instead of a redirected glare. ]

So...Why are you different?

[helpline]

One of the reasons is because I like to travel. A lot of Time Lords are content to just spend their days on Gallifrey, simply watching. I like to live things.

[jacksonian]

That's just something you like to do, though. Not a reason to have a different personality.

[helpline]

Course it's a reason to have a different personality. [ said in a tone of 'well DUH.' ] Like-traveling compared to not-traveling, that's different personalities!

[jacksonian]

[ Mark gives the Doctor a Look. This Look says, you are being facetious. ]

Yeah, but...Does traveling change you that much?

[helpline]

[ As he talks, the Doctor leans back in the chair, smiling at Mark as he does so. ]

It all depends on where you travel to and what you do with it. If you travel to the next state over? Maybe not so much. But going somewhere entirely out of your element, going somewhere strange and unusual that you're not used to in the slightest...that's going to change you no matter what.

[jacksonian]

[ He fiddles with his cufflink a moment, and then admits: ]

I guess...Yeah. I guess you're right. Now that I'm thinking about it.

[helpline]

[ There's a pause while the Doctor mulls things over. ]

We should go traveling sometime, just to see something different. I've been stuck in Heropa too long, let's go do something fun. [ And without waiting for Mark to say yes or no, the Doctor continues. ]

There's the Skunk Ape Research Center, I've been meaning to visit that. There's also something called Dinosaur Land which looks like it'll be fun and anachronistic.

[ Apparently 'fun', in the Doctor's mind, equates to 'hella weird roadside attractions.' ]

[jacksonian]

[ He gives a little uncertain shake of his head - it's not a denial. Rather: ]

On Earth, they have a real dinosaur park. With genengineered animals that look like what dinosaurs would have. [ Uh - ] Earth in my universe, obviously. When I lived there. [ A shrug that tries too hard to be casual, because obviously he's way too cool to still be bitter about having lived a one-hour lightflyer flight away from a park with real-fake dinosaurs and never visiting. ] I never went, though. But I bet this isn't like that, right?

[helpline]

Nah. I think these are all concrete and plaster. [ The Doctor's keeping his tone light but there's a little pout on his face because what the hell, real dinosaur park, why doesn't his Earth have something like that, that sounds amazing!

It is also entirely possible the Doctor's never seen Jurassic Park. ]

There is an alligator park with real alligators, though. You can feed them and probably pet the babies.