open log!

[helpline]

WHO: the Doctor & you!
WHERE: throughout Heropa!
WHEN: various points in January.
WHAT: it's an open log with a few closed prompts as well. drop me a line if you want a prompt & we'll hash something out. c:
WARNINGS: eccentric aliens

time after time watch and clock repair
It's become a bit of an open secret that watches and clocks aren't the only thing repaired at Time After Time. Various electricians, craftsmen, and other electricians occasionally send the hopeless cases over there, usually with a warning that he's a bit eccentric, but he's good with things that seem to be broken beyond repair.

The shop itself is cramped and cluttered, extra clockwork pieces and half finished clocks and so on and so forth spilling out into the main selling area. A small clockwork elephant sits on the counter. A grumpy and beat-up looking shop cat sits on a chair, giving anyone who enters a stink-eye.

As he hears the door open, the Doctor sticks his head out of the back of the shop. "Be with you in a mo'—oh, and don't touch that elephant."

a bookstore
Were you trying to get over to that book? Sorry, not gonna happen. The Doctor's sitting right in the middle of the aisle, engrossed in a book. The aisle's a bit too small for the six foot Time Lord, so he's seemingly a bit cramped. Though really, the Doctor doesn't care. If you want to creep on what he's reading, it's straight up a picture book: Miss Rumphius. And he is reading it like it's the most enthralling page turner imaginable.

"Just step over my legs," casually said without looking up from the book. There's obviously someone there. He can hear that sort of confused pause of 'well what am I going to do about this person in the middle of the aisle.' Step over them, duh, that's what you're going to do. "It's not THAT hard to do."

heropa 11
Something in the backyard is on fire.

There's smoke and a (thankfully) contained fire--whatever sort of device the Doctor had been fiddling with, he was smart enough to surround it in a ring of sand. The smoke's thick enough that it can be seen from the street, though thankfully the fire's relatively small. So, the Doctor's in the backyard, hose turned on some sort of cobbled-together machine, made from VCR bits, a DVD player, what used to be a microwave, and some confusing additions that seemingly make no sense.

"Everything's under control!" the Doctor announces to no one in particular (or probably everyone, he knows this must be attracting some attention) as he turns the spray nozzle of the hose onto a higher setting. Don't mind him, just putting out a fire, no big deal...ignore that patch of grass that's inevitably going to be burnt for the next who knows how long.

Comments

the Doctor & Kogami

[helpline]

Knock, knock, knock. The Doctor's knocking at the door of Maurtia Falls #10 in a very rapid manner, like a kid who's waiting for someone to answer. He can't help but smile a wry little smile as he does so. Time Lord turned time therapist? After all, Kogami's the second or third person that he's had to talk about time with. Too many people here had suffered loss and were hoping for time travel to fix it. He hated to be the bearer of bad news...but if he could at least listen to people's woes then who knows, maybe he'll manage to help them.

He knocks again, rocking back and forth on his heels slightly. With his dark purple velvet coat, the Doctor looks a tiny bit eccentric...though he doesn't really realize it. Once Kogami opens the door, the Doctor gives him a grin.

"Glad to see you! Lovely city, by the way. I live in Heropa, it's always nice to see some snow every once in a while. Make it feel like a proper Christmas."

Or a proper January.

the Doctor & Namine

[helpline]

They had agreed to meet up at a Heropa community center with a large enough multipurpose room. Namine had mentioned that she wanted to learn self-defense, the Doctor mentioned that he knew a little bit of martial arts, even though he was hundreds of years out of date, but it's not like anyone else here knew Venusian akido.

The Doctor's setting things up, dragging out gym mats for them to practice on. He hasn't really gotten the knowledge that one might want to wear workout clothes. Granted, he's not wearing his velvet coat, but he is wearing a hoodie under a thinner black coat. When Namine enters, the Doctor grins, gesturing for her to come on over.

"First things first, we should stretch. Now this body's more flexible than it looks but that doesn't change the fact that it's been ages since I've done something like this."

[redigere]

She offers the Doctor a smile of greeting in return, tying up her hair in a ponytail before making her way over to her new self-defense teacher. Unlike him, she knows to wear comfortable clothing from the handful of training sessions she's had with Riku, and almost looks like a normal teenage girl in her raglan sweater and leggings.

"Sure!" Naminé starts going through some basic stretches, holding her balance remarkably well, before she pauses. "Is there anything I should stretch specifically for the type of self-defense you're teaching me?"

[helpline]

"Legs?" Spoilers, the Doctor has absolutely no clue. "Definitely arms and shoulders. There's a lot of chopping and blocking and lifting."

He makes awkward karate moves to his words, demonstrating TERRIBLY what he's trying get across. It's obvious that the Doctor knows what he's doing. It's also obvious that he's way out of practice. Still, there's a pause before he starts stretching again.

"Really, it'd be a good idea to stretch everything. Better safe than sorry, as they say."

[redigere]

It might be obvious to anyone else, but Naminé has a very high suspension of disbelief threshold thanks to everything that happened in her world in general. So while the Doctor might not look like any fighter she's ever seen before, she'll reserve that judgment for...much later.

"Yes, sir!" She gives him a cheery smile and starts stretching everything. "What are we lifting, though? I didn't realize self-defense could involve that."

[helpline]

"Each other!" said with a wide grin, as the Doctor starts to stretch his arms, raising them over his head and in front of him. "We might not do flips to start off with, but we'll eventually get there. If you can knock your opponent off his feet, it's all too easy to flip him."

[redigere]

"Even if I'm shorter?"

She suspects that she'll immediately be at a disadvantage for that portion of her education, considering how many inches and pounds the Doctor has on her. Or any opponent in general, really. Naminé knows that her size makes her more agile and thus harder to hit, but the sheer physical difference between her and a potential opponent is a nerve-wracking thing to consider, especially when she's essentially weaponless.

the Doctor & Margaux

[helpline]

The best thing about sushi? You can take it anywhere. Specifically, you can take it to the park. The Doctor's eating lunch in De Chima today, sitting on a bench, watching the birds. De Chima's a bit colder than Heropa this time of year but the Doctor's wearing a coat and a oxford like he can't feel it at all.

Popping a sushi in his mouth, the Doctor looks up, just in time to spot Margaux. Or, at least, her head of purple hair. He might be a tad faceblind but the Doctor's not hair-blind. How could he forget that?

"Margaux!" the Doctor calls out, waving towards her, chopsticks still in his hand. Box of sushi in his other hand, he hops up from the bench and walks over in her direction, grin on his face. "How've you been lately? What a coincidence, running into each other in the park like this—course, I'm not complaining. Big fan of parks, they're like a tiny free urban safari!"

[indocile]

Sushi is something that Margaux has not quite got the hang of yet - she's been taken out to eat it a couple of times and she always ends up giving up on the chopsticks and just making a mess of it with her hands, which is at least apparently sort of endearing to some people. It is delicious, though, so the Doctor's lunch may be in immediate danger of becoming shared -

"Hallo!"

turning, pleased, navigating around his lunch and gesturing hands to greet him halfway with half of a hug (mostly to avoid crushing fish between them, which would have been - you know, gross). Is he a hugger? Is he bothered by people he's only ever spoken to via the fancy internet before hugging him out of no where? It's already happened, so everyone can just move on with their lives.

"I've been - oh, busy! Mostly busy! But good, I think, I like it here." De Chima; the park. Splitting her time has been making life interesting, but not in any way she particularly objects to, not when it means she can always just come home and put on corduroy and go to the park.

(Did you know they make corduroy pantsuits for women? They do, and they're great in winter with a jaunty little cowlneck and some sunglasses. More you know.)

"Do you come to watch the people?"

She does.

[helpline]

He's slowly becoming a hugger. When Margaux hugs him, there's a brief pause where the Doctor doesn't know what to do before he reciprocates that half a hug while also trying to keep the sushi from being smushed. Content that yes, that was enough hug, the Doctor pulls away and gives her a small smile.

At her question, he shrugs. "Partly! Partly to watch people, partly because I didn't want to eat in the restaurant, partly because I like this sort of weather." Even though he's not from Earth, the Doctor's spent a lot of time in England. The crisp, cold weather is something he misses, especially in comparison to Heropa's humid heat.

"Do you come to watch the people too? I'm trying to find the best spot for people watching but I don't think I've got it yet."

[indocile]

Certainly he will become one faster if he spends much time in the tactile company of one (this) small elf. She doesn't hold onto him, but she isn't in a great rush to give him back his personal space either, taking the opportunity to peruse the sushi container for anything interesting. This may or may not be a precursor to asking if she can have a bit. Stay tuned.

"I like to," she says, by way of agreement. "You learn so much from people who are..." A wrinkle of her nose as she searches for the words, "Who are unobserved. I mean, who don't think they're observed. Just going about all of their ordinary business! Who people are when no one is looking. But not the secret version."

People are different in all kinds of places; when no one is supposed to be looking, different again. Margaux is not peering in windows, just- peering in lives.

[helpline]

Yeah he notices her eyeing that sushi. As such, the Doctor pushes the sushi slightly in Margaux's direction, giving her a small nod. Go ahead, take one.

But people who are unobserved...he can understand that. "The best way to learn from people is for them to forget about you in the first place. I generally do that by having them underestimate me, but simply watching? Not a bad idea."

[indocile]

The Doctor knows the way to a woman's heart is through cut up pieces of raw fish - Margaux's over-exaggerated look of delight is, you know, only slightly exaggerated. Truly, a prince among aliens; she takes a piece of salmon nigiri that hasn't been touched by the wasabi (she had not been braced for that, the first time) and swallows half of it before saying, "I don't have to do anything for people to underestimate me," with affable self-deprecation.

She is 4'11" and bounces through the world like an excitable kitten; it would be fairly surreal if anybody did anything else, most of the time. Occasionally, the deeply genre-savvy harbor suspicions, but Margaux is fairly accomplished at keeping herself to herself until the timing is right.

...and it isn't as if none of what you see is what you get, anyway. It's just, as with most people, somewhat more complicated than it initially appears.

bookstore!!

[quemar]

Robbie scoffs, audibly annoyed, and steps over his sprawling legs. But the Doctor doesn't get to enjoy his resulting peace for long, since after a few minutes of glancing around the isles and not seeing either what he's looking for or any employees, Robbie comes to the slightly dubious conclusion that the rude old guy sitting on the floor must work there.

He tromps back over, arms crossed, and squints down at—is this guy reading a children's book? Pictures and all? Alright.

Just... deep breath. Don't even comment. "Yo, where's the legal books? I need one on this, uh, world's CPS." They set Robbie up for a job as a school counselor, which he is Not Trained For. He figures he should do some reading up on the relevant stuff here before he walks in and gets his ass fired on day one for being useless. Or, you know, doesn't do right by some kid down the line, which is much worse.

[helpline]

The Doctor looks up from his book, raising an eyebrow at Robbie. That slightly dubious conclusion is going to get made fun of a bit, sorry dude. "Staff still wear nametags, don't they? That happened when I used to work in a shop."

Still, he knows where the legal books are, so he can at least help Robbie. The Doctor gets to his feet, still holding his children's book as he gestures for Robbie to follow him. "Follow me. They put them in the back next to sporting manuals for some reason."

Yeah, he's confused about that as well.

[quemar]

Used to, whoops. Robbie shrugs a shoulder, stubbornly not apologizing about the false assumption, especially since the Doctor knew where to look anyway, and was clearly willing enough to show him. He hadn't even thought to look for a nametag, honestly.

"You're not taking me to the for Dummies section, are you?" That's the only place he can think where sports manuals and books on law might be crammed close together (not that he's an expert on bookstore layouts or anything, being about as non-bookish as they come.) He's making a joke, as it happens, though it might not translate well through his continuously gruff delivery and resting bitch face. He's trying!

[helpline]

Gruff delivery, resting bitch face, and the Doctor's occasional inability to human make it so that sorry Robbie, he doesn't get the joke. Instead, he looks over his shoulder to give Robbie a confused look as he explains,

"That's not a section."

Really, did this man not know how bookstores worked? Poor chap, no wonder he was having trouble. Anyway, they reached the section as the Doctor gestured for Robbie to look around.

"Why're you looking for legal books anyway?"

[quemar]

Robbie opens his mouth to explain, but honestly, it doesn't seem entirely worth the effort. It wasn't really a great joke to begin with... Whatever, he thinks he's funny, that's all that matters.

He glances around where the Doctor indicates, running his fingers down the spines of books as he passes and eliminates them as not being useful to him, one by one. At the question he pauses, glancing up in surprise. He wonders if it's just politeness or genuine curiosity behind the question. (Though considering how they started this encounter, he suspects this guy isn't really one for unnecessary politeness.) "I got—assigned a job as a school counselor. Even though I'm a mechanic." His nose wrinkles: it feels like a bad joke more than anything, considering he dropped out of school himself a long time ago and never looked back. "So I need to know the Child Protective Services, right? Maybe it runs different here than it did at home."

[helpline]

Ah. He's an imPort as well. The Doctor gives Robbie a small smile as he leans up against a different bookshelf, crossing his arms over his chest. He's been here for a year, he's seen plenty of bad jobs assigned. Still, the fact that Robbie's actually bothering to research and do his job the best he can raises him up a bit in the Doctor's eyes.

"They assigned me to a watch shop," said as if that explains everything. "I suppose the government thought it'd be funny--Time Lord, watch repair, a bad joke like that. Half the time they nail the jobs on the head, half the time they really, really don't."

bookstore.

[admemoriam]

There's only one reason why Noah Czerny would walk into a bookstore - it starts with "a" and ends with "ttached coffee shop". He hasn't left the farm much in the last month, evident in his ashen cheeks and dark-ringed eyes, and he's in desperate need of something with at least three shots of espresso in it before he can tackle the grocery store.

Reluctant to go back out into the cold so soon, Noah picks a thick volume of animal photography off a shelf, and heads back to a chair to guzzle his coffee and look at some cool snakes. Except, there's someone's grandpa in his way. For a moment, Noah thinks that the guy might be in some kind of distress. A heart attack? A stroke? Frowning, Noah walks closer, until -

"... What's a rumphius?"

[helpline]

"It's her name," the Doctor simply states, looking up from the book. "Miss Rumphius wanted to make the world beautiful, so she accomplished it by planting lupins everywhere." He just states the fact like it's something completely obvious, looking up at Noah from his spot on the floor. It's obvious the Doctor's not really moving.

"As for what a lupin is, it's a lovely purple flower. Don't eat it though, some lupins are a bit poisonous."

Again, this is just calmly stated as if people would eat flowers to begin with.

[admemoriam]

Noah seems to take this into consideration.

"So she made the world beautiful-" He takes a sip of his (incredibly sweetened) coffee. "-but he also made it poisonous?"

He's no philosopher, but he is dead. That brings a certain wisdom.

[helpline]

"I said some lupins are poisonous, not all. She made the world beautiful and slightly dangerous."

The Doctor stands up at that, stretching slightly. Sitting down was nice, but his six foot frame was a bit cramped sitting on the floor.

"Course, I'm of the opinion that all beautiful things are slightly dangerous to begin with."

[admemoriam]

"But can you tell which ones are poisonous? Or is it like the M&M thing?"

The second statement sounds too much like a poem from high school English, and he just wrinkles his nose at it.

[helpline]

"By the M&M thing d'you mean how some people think that all M&Ms taste the same no matter what color they are? Cause they're wrong. The blue ones taste the best."

He assumes that's what Noah's talking about--what else would he mean by the M&M thing? "But yes, you can tell which ones are poisonous. Get a guidebook or someone who knows their lupins."