(open) old man yells at tree, and other things

[axefight]

who: the Doctor and YOUUUU
what: find the Doc in various locales, up to the usual nonsense. a thing explodes.
when: 19-24
where: the university; a rooftop; the jungle
warnings: nada, most likely



the university, afternoon.

[ for the most part, since starting his job here, the doctor's managed to pass himself off more or less as a normal college professor, teaching a normal class about time travel (and occasionally exobiology and space farming and thermodynamics and--), spending his evenings grading normal papers. normally. it works out - he's a skilled orator and he honestly enjoys this work (specifically, the part where he gets to listen to himself talk passionately for hours on end in front of a captive audience), and is more or less content to devote a chunk of his work week to doing so. besides, he actually needs a little money right now, appalling as that notion is. so he has taken a certain amount of care not to make waves yet. by, say, blowing anything up.

except for this one afternoon, when he accidentally blows something up.

it starts as a whizz, a bang, and a deafening POP! followed by a cloud of white smoke billowing out of his open office door. from inside, you can hear the hssss of a fire extinguisher, as the doctor, his hair comically swept back, puts out a small fire from an inscrutable piece of machinery laying atop his desk. the thing looks like it was cobbled together out of garbage. which it was.

work in progress!

several students' papers may be beyond repair, unfortunately, though. ]

some rooftop somewhere, night.

[ the following night, if you happen to be hanging out on a rooftop, for whatever reason - brooding or something, i don't know - you may find this old fellow with his handmade machine. this time in working order.

although what 'working order' actually means in this case is anyone's guess. the device looks like the unholy amalgamation of a tape deck, an umbrella, a carburetor, three whisks, and a panasonic orbitel television, among other things. little bits of it spin. it softly boops every minute or so. it's playing what appears to be five games of pong layered atop each other at once on its screen. nobody is winning.

the doctor's pacing around in front of it, his thinking face on. every now and then he stops to stare at his creation, tapping his fingers to his arms. whatever information it is displaying doesn't appear to be what he's looking for. it's been going on for a while. ]

the jungle, whenever.

[ because if a place is clearly dangerous, walled off and under watchful guard, of course he's going to head straight out into it. he's not too far from the inhabited city, at least, this time. but he's clearly unarmed and unarmored, and at the moment - yelling at a tree.

or rather, scolding a thing that's in the tree. some sort of cat-like being, from the looks of it, with something shiny and silvery held tightly in its jaws. the doctor clearly wants this thing back, but alas, isn't really a climbing-trees type. just gonna have to resort to his skill with negotiation. ]

Listen to me - don't eat that! You cannot eat that! You can't even use it - you haven't got thumbs! And even if you had, a little brain like yours--

[ the cat thing chomps down harder on it, glaring. ]

--Look, I've got a fish sandwich! Let's trade! Honestly...

etc.

[ if you've got something else in mind, go for it! or pm me to plot things out. ]

Comments

the rooftop

[couldkillthedevil]

[Chloe's become fond of spending her time on the roof of the community center building. It helped her clear her head when she needed space to think and when she wanted her time alone from her roommates. Especially at night, when the strange constellations of this faraway moon that she never fathomed existed twinkled overhead, dimmed by the soft glow of satellites. They were beautiful, in their own alien way.

But it seems she's not alone tonight. At first she'd been content to leave the man be to his own devices, not usually being one for interruptions. But the more he tinkered away at his strange contraption, the more she found herself glancing over periodically, curiosity and something like amusement beckoning her towards him.

She waits for a moment before she speaks.]

You make that, uh... thing yourself?

[axefight]

[ if he'd actually noticed her at all up there with him before she spoke, he made no acknowledgement. but neither does he seem surprised to hear her, finally turning to look at chloe after a beat. ]

Shockingly, yes.

Why, do you want one? [ he casually rests a hand on the top of his... whatever it is, rattling the whole structure. it boops. ] I've been considering working on commission.

[ no. ]

[couldkillthedevil]

[Yeah. Probably no. But she can't help but ask anyway, even though she knows she'll (most likely) regret it.]

That depends on what it is. Or what it's even supposed to do.

[axefight]

[ with an air of authority, ]

A thingy. That detects things.

You know how there's some idiot's cup stuck in the portal, playing havoc with people's personal timelines?

[couldkillthedevil]

I'd heard about it, yeah. Saw a few strange things myself over the past few days. So this thing is supposed to detect it and, what...? Help shut it off?

[She sounds a bit dubious, if only because a 'thingy' that detects things doesn't really sound all that promising. But she's willing to be surprised.]

[axefight]

Of course not, reversing the effects is going to require more than a bit of kit. It's like someone set a toddler armed with a crayon loose in a fine art exhibition - if the paintings were people. And the toddler unreasonably powerful. [that makes sense, right.]

This [ gestures to the screen ] is me keeping an eye on things, to ensure we're not on the cusp of a temporal calamity.

[ a tinge defensive, ]

I left my time machine at home, I'm having to make do.

[ jungle; 24th ]

[signifies]

[ Clark's weekends are for trekking in the forest. He used to wear the suit and cape because he often encountered monsters, but these days he has proper hiking wear. They're deep blue and he has a jacket that can zip up with the red S emblazoned on it, with a yellow background. Much more practical than his ancestral clothes.

He's out with the baby Kryptonian kite tucked into the front of his jacket. Its head pokes out and swivels back and forth as it takes in the new environment, eyes half-closed. It's not sleepy, because it sometimes lets out its alien screech. He figures it's getting used to the new environment.

The yelling draws his attention first, and then he notices this person has two heartbeats.

What surprises him is that this gentleman is unarmed in this area of the forest. ]

Excuse me. Are you in a hurry?

[ The cat will get tired of chewing whatever that is eventually, right? ]

1/2

[axefight]

[ he turns to glance at clark, but his eyes immediately fall upon the baby kite, and for a moment, he's just staring at it appreciatively. ]

Oh, hello.

[ it's a new species, and a baby: two of his favorite things. ]

2/2

[axefight]

[ then he looks back up at the person, whom he finds noticeably less impressive.
he gestures emphatically to the ground around him. ]

No, I was planning to spend all day - and possibly all night - standing under this tree, in particular. It's my favorite hobby.

[ that is, in fact, sarcasm.

the cat-thing with the mouth-thing makes a muffled growl-ish noise and climbs up another branch, and the doctor's eyes dart straight back up to it. ]

No, I told you down! Not up!

[signifies]

[ The baby kite is much cuter than him.

Sarcasm just means this gentleman is in a hurry, and that cat isn't helping matters. Clark steadies the kite with his hand as he walks towards the tree. He stops in front of it and looks up, his eyes flashing red at the cat-creature. No heat vision because that's not really necessary, and he doesn't want to injure it.

It yelps and drops what it was holding right into his hands. Just as planned.

Clark turns, looking very normal. ]

Here you go. Saves your sandwich.

[axefight]

[ the doctor takes his device back and quickly pockets it.

but rather than thanking clark, as would probably be polite, he's now tilting his head to the side and openly studying the man's face. ]

How'd you do that?

[signifies]

[ Clark gives him a small shrug. He's not bothered by directness. ]

I'm good with animals.

[axefight]

And by 'good', you mean good at staring at them so hard that your eyes glow and they flee in terror?

[ the more innocuous clark tries to make it sound, the harder he's gotta press, of course. ]

university

[antietam]

[ Adam has been part of the captive audience in the time travel class. All the material and tangents are fascinating to him, and he's a good student—asks questions, always does the reading, always shows up to class.

He's coming by, in fact, to ask something, but the sound of the explosion stops him in his tracks. It's only when he sees the smoke coming out of the office that he thinks to actually help.

So he pokes his head in, eyeing the machine before making his presence known. ] Uh, professor? Should I—get someone?

[axefight]

[ the doctor looks up, eyebrows raised. he recognizes adam, of course - smart, studious, engaged, good grades, any professor's dream - and looks briefly surprised to see him. ] Oh.

[ and then a piece in the middle of this clusterfuck starts sparking, and his attention's back on that. ]

No, no, it's, er. It's fine. Not to worry, I have it under control--

[ what appears to be a tiny dial violently ejects itself from the sparking device and soars through the air, landing in the middle of the room. smoking slightly. ]

--Ish.

Actually, come here.

[antietam]

[ The smart thing to do would be to get out of there before the whole office goes up in flames, but Adam is both a suck-up and a mechanic.

So he enters carefully, frowning at the machine like it might attack at any moment. ] Can I ask what this is?

[ Once the smoke dissipates, he picks up the dial to examine it as well. ] It's not a time machine, is it?

[axefight]

No, no, no. 'Course not.

I left my time machine in Bristol.

[ he waves adam closer. ]

Right now, it's an error. Or a thrilling modern art exhibition. [ the dial came off a vintage cassette tape deck, which is currently buried within the machine, and also what the doctor's pointing to. ] Help me disassemble this bit.

[antietam]

[ The time machine in Bristol really isn't the weirdest thing here. ]

Oh, sure. [ That's probably something he can do. He gets close enough to inspect it, but all the random garbage is confusing. ]

Is all this stuff necessary? [ He grabs the nearest tool to start working on the task. He at least seems skilled at working on machinery and is delicate out of fear of breaking something that might explode in his face. ] You could probably find better materials at the garage, we don't have much to do with scrap parts.

[axefight]

Oh, it is. It's all been modded. [ which is true; the inside of that tape deck ain't a tape deck anymore. ] It's not my fault the parts that work best are the ones people thoughtlessly bin.

[ meanwhile, he's digging around under his desk, and pulling out a box of more spare parts. for someone who's only been here a few weeks, he's collected a lot of stuff. it's rather minimalist in terms of decoration, but even the bookshelves lining the walls are almost full. ]

But I'll gladly relieve you of any useful scrap, too. The garage is where you work?

university;

[aeturnus]

[ Romulus isn't here for the Doctor or anything like that. In fact, he's got a little friend trotting by alongside him to see Professor Sycamore for a few more questions when the explosion goes off. The human startles, but the pokémon darts forward with a loud and inquisitive call.

It hardly takes a moment for Romulus to chase after it, scooping Teddiursa up when it gets to the doorway. ]

Shhh, no, please don't do that...! [ Without really noticing that they've found themselves at the door of the explosion itself, he addresses whoever might be in the room: ] We're very sorry, please don't be angry—

[ Wait. His brain catches up and he turns to actually look inside the room. Whoaaaa. ]

S-Sir... Are you okay?

[axefight]

[ the doctor glances at this guy, then at his bear-thing friend. ]

Hello there, nothing to worry about. Is that a bear?

[ a piece of his machine bursts into flames again, and the doctor sprays it down once more. without actually looking at it. ]

It's meant to do that.

...No, OK, it's not actually, but it's fine.

[aeturnus]

[ Teddiursa is wriggling in Romulus' grip so he finally sets the small thing down once it's obvious there's no immediate danger. The pokémon takes the chance to head further inside and climb up first onto Twelve's chair, then peer at the mess on the desk itself. Ursa? it asks. ]

No, um... it's a pokémon. Teddiursa.

[ Maybe that will mean more to this man than it did to Romulus? He steps forward uncertainly when his friend starts poking around at the remnants. His lips purse and he's got his eyes downcast halfway, not meeting the Doctor's gaze at all. ]

What happened?

[axefight]

Dunno what that is -- Hey, out. No shedding on the furniture!

[ he tries to nudge the bear off his chair - but not very forcefully. ]

My machine developed a fault. Just a small one. Once I can get in there, it won't take me a second to fix.

[ it's just still smoking, slightly.

the doctor squints at romulus. ]

Haven't seen you before, either. Are you a student?

[aeturnus]

[ Teddiursa makes a whining sound of protest before hopping up onto a non-smoldering part of the table instead. What? Normal-types aren't weak to fire.

Romulus is already moving further to skirt around the whole thing and try to pick up his pokémon. He stops at the question and his shoulders hunch just slightly. ]

No, um... I was here to see Professor Sycamore.

[axefight]

Nooo, no, no, not there, either.

[ still going to try to shoo teddiursa away from - all of this. without actually touching the animal.

the machine creaks, precariously. the bizarre, shiny machine, with all sorts of buttons and switches. ]

Sycamore... the one with the hair? [ most of them have hair... ] Is that what's got you nervous?