video.

[ex_inventive578]

All right. It's all very intriguing, and I'd quite enjoy a chance to get involved with Communications, or have a look at those engines, and the science department is quite enticing, not to mention all the people here — yes, you lot, definitely a perk, lovely chatting with you all — but I've had enough.

[ enough of boring domesticity. enough of being trapped. no matter how many small projects he takes on it never gets any less dull, and the bigger one never resolves itself. one thread leads to another leads to another, and he knew from the moment tom mcnair told him about the pirates that there was more going on here than meets the eye, reaffirmed by neal caffrey's cryptic intelligences, but in the process of finding it he's getting itchy for real information. ]

[ so there's a strictness in his tone and a glint in his eye that is perhaps not strictly the best way to make his debut on the network (this debut, anyway) but he has a question he needs answered. ]

Now. Somebody tell me how I can go about speaking to the captain of this ship.

[ he adjusts his bow-tie, and waits. would he be the doctor if he didn't think he could work it all out where everyone else has failed? it would be delusional arrogance if he hadn't managed it quite so many times in the past. ]

Comments

[refusing]

[She arches both eyebrows, her mouth caught somewhere between a smile and disbelief. So casual about meeting gods, Doctor.]

If it's a higher power doing all this, do you think they're really gonna care if they're doing the wrong thing?

[She sighs, and just gets to the point she wants to make because she's not going to build it up and give him a chance to get a word in edgewise.]

Whatever's in charge, though, I'm going with you. 'Cause you're right, we can't search the whole ship. But I've been trying, and I'll keep on trying, until I find a way out. And I can't just sit around and wait for you to come back with answers, not when I can hear them for myself.

[And also, she's worried about him vanishing if he goes off in search of a captain that may or may not be there.]

[ex_inventive578]

You think it mightn't care? Perhaps.

[ but he's living proof that being incredibly old and powerful doesn't eradicate the conscience. well, not totally. ]

I'm not going to wander off and simply hope to run into him. And there's precious few people who are currently able to tell me anything at all.

[ so he's not quite ready to forbid her accompanying him on an expedition when he's still not sure where that expedition's going to be to. ]

[refusing]

Doctor, I don't think many of the people here know all that much. Most everyone I've spoke with seemed to just be...I dunno, okay with the way things are? Or maybe they're just good at hiding stuff and won't tell me anything 'cos I'm new.

[Which is just offensive, really. Her cheeks puff out and she slouches down in bed, because that's where she's moping about and sitting, apparently.]

Where're you at, though? Mind if I come and keep you company while you sort all this out? Might be better to discuss this in person, anyway.

[She's going to act like anything she has to tell him is important in this, not because of a heightened sense of worth but because she's hoping to get involved in some sort of crazy plan if they aren't talking over their devices.]

[ex_inventive578]

Resigned, is the word you're looking for. An understandable self-preservation mechanism in the face of continual failure.

[ that's a flip little tidbit, but he actually sounds quite grim about it. it's not the first time he's seen this sort of thing, people who have given up on escaping from a bad situation and have simply become focused on surviving it. but ir's the first time he's really heard futility's siren song. no screwdriver, no tardis... ]

[ but! all of human ingenuity, a brilliant and limitless thing. when rose suggests coming over, he grins and nods, but then looks around like he's remembering something important, fringe flopping. ]

Oh. Actually, I moved. Nothing like a change, eh?

[refusing]

Moved?

[Her tone of voice implies she wasn't aware they could do that, just up and move. So she's caught somewhere between suspicion and amusement, the corner of her mouth twitching upward just slightly.]

Yeah, okay, but where did you move to?

[She drops the subject of how resigned and frustrating everyone here is for the moment, choosing instead to focus on this. At least this, she can get answers to right away.]

[ex_inventive578]

Nnnnineteenth floor, actually. Seemed like time for a change.

[refusing]

[Of course it's the nineteenth floor.]

All by yourself? Sorry, but I'm gonna just come out and say it: that's an awful idea. Unless -

[A pause.]

Is it just the same as the eighteenth floor?

[ex_inventive578]

Yeah, basically.

[ he shrugs. gives her a quick pan around his room, which is the same as any other room. ]

Good for solitude. Felt like a little solitude.

[ he says, from the room next to the only number 19. ]