trans_9 | And you say that time goes rushing by, but it seems so slow to me...

Any other day, maybe, the Doctor might be wandering the ship, looking for something interesting to pull apart or poke his nose into. He still hasn't had a chance to inspect the brain of the ship, after all, and there's that great big city he'd like to explore as well...

But right now, he'd rather not. He's tired and annoyed, and any place he could wander, it wouldn't be far enough. So instead, the Doctor has sprawled on his back, halfway upside down, on one of the couches on the Obs Deck. It seemed as good a place as any to sit still for a while - maybe not the place to go if he wanted to be alone, but he'll take company over quiet just now.

He doesn't actually seem to be paying attention to anyone who might be in the room, though. Instead, he's playing with an unidentifiable bit of patched-together technology - it's got buttons and flashy lights and a little dish and there is absolutely no outward indication of what it actually does. It's... entirely possible it's not meant to do anything, at least at the moment; he just wanted something to do with his hands, though someone to talk to (or talk at) would undoubtedly be a better distraction.

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Ba'al, to a point, was still nursing his wounds - so to speak. Physically there was little (and what there was was healing at a fairly rapid rate, thanks to his biology), but he too was quite annoyed by everything. His pride had taken a slight shot from recent events, but also he felt there was much incompetence - and too little known for certain. Surely, the crew would have to improve greatly before they next faced such a force.

If it weren't for such moods (and perhaps a small amount of boredom) Ba'al would never have set food on the Obs Deck again. He had avoided it, mostly because it was a place of gathering, by nature. He felt it necessary to branch out and make connections, but he hardly enjoyed being in large crowds of people. Fortunately, it was not terribly crowded that day.

The man on one couch did, however, catch his attention; Ba'al was unfamiliar with him, and he was handling some piece of alien technology (which he could not, for the life of him, identify). He stood not far away, hands folded behind his back (which now had a suit over top of the plantsuit), watching him for a moment, before he spoke up.

"Keeping yourself busy?"

((ooc: and I finally tagged you somewhere!))

The Doctor had noticed the man in the suit out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn't actually pay him any mind until he speaks. Glancing up, the Doctor snorts softly, not quite a laugh, and answers, "This isn't busy. This is bored. And... some other things, but mostly bored."

Ba'al nodded at that, giving something of a laugh - and it was genuine enough, too. "I suppose that is a burden we must all face," he replied. As he spoke, he moved his hands from behind his back, attempting to adopt a more relaxed pose. "There is only so much to do with our time, here. It is best not to spend it worrying."

((ooc: it's fine! :) No rush. I can be a slow tagger sometimes, anyway.))

"Suppose so." He sighs and rolls his eyes a bit as he shifts around on the couch to sit more or less upright, getting a better look at the man now that he's oriented in the right direction.

"I just assumed that if you're going to kidnap a bunch of people to save reality..." Pause. "Realities... you'd want to be a bit... I dunno, faster about the saving part."

"You would assume," Ba'al replied wryly, with a grim nod of his head. Shifting somewhat, he watched the other man closely. "I am beginning to believe that... there is much that we do not know about the situation."

"Isn't there always?" The Doctor smiles crookedly. The TARDIS was always very good at landing him in places where he didn't know much about the situation. Not that that tends to bother him...

"How long have you been here? If you don't mind me asking..." He can understand why someone would be touchy about that point, but - as is often the case with the Doctor - curiosity easily overrides propriety.

"I suppose that is true," he smiled, though frankly he detested it. He made a point, usually, to gather as much intelligence as possible, as early as possible. But here it was different. Nigh impossible.

"It's not a problem," he replied, though it was another issue that bothered him. It was an inconvenience. "I believe it has been approximately three months. And yourself?"

Three months. Not bad, all things considered - long enough to get accustomed to the place, not so long (for most people) that it might start to grate. Then again, the Doctor had no way of knowing whether this man fell into the category of "most people"... and his estimation of the average person might be a bit off anyway. The Doctor doesn't hang around average people long enough to really know what they're like.

"Me?" he asks, blinking like he's surprised to have the same question turned on him. He grins, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "Brand new, or... near enough. Still finding my way around."

By which he means, he hasn't had a chance to poke his nose into everything quite yet. Give him a little more time.

Ba'al gave a small, genuine smile to the other man, nodding his head. He could sympathize, to an extent. "There is much to see here," he remarked. "I am still not sure I'm completely familiar with it yet, myself."

Silently, he moved somewhat closer. It seemed the appropriate response to continuing conversation, anyway. "I suppose you are still adjusting, then?"

The Doctor shrugs a little. "Suppose I am. It's not often I stay in one place this long - even if that one place is... you know, travelling." Space travel and other universes and genocidal alien races is all old hat for him, but that...

He shakes his head slightly and adds with a bright grin, "Still, it's not so bad. Things to do, places to explore, clever people around... I've been stuck worse places before."

Ba'al laughed in reply to that. It was merely being stuck in one place that was bothering this man? Unusual, but he could sympathize with that, also. It was more the sense of being trapped for him, but it was much the same.

On the other hand, it seemed this other man was making the most of it. Enjoying the company. That, Ba'al could not quite connect to. He smiled. "I can understand the sentiment. It has it's ups and downs-- it could always be worse, after all."

"That's the spirit!" he answers brightly. "Although, to be perfectly honest, on balance between this place and 1969, I still haven't decided which comes out ahead..." Because 1969 is absolutely comparable with a place where you wake up naked and covered in goo. Oh yes.

The Doctor pauses a moment, absently tweaking something on his device, and then looks up again, eyebrows raised. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. Worth knowing if we're going to be on a ship together for who knows how long. And... I don't believe I caught your name."

Ba'al rose his eyebrow, surprised (and honestly somewhat confused) by the statement. But it seemed appropriate to laugh, and so he did. He knew next to nothing about the sixties-- he'd not returned to Earth yet, which this man seemed to be referring to. Instead, he asked, "Is that around the time period you are from?"

He inclined his head respectfully at the Doctor's introduction, and smiled. "I am Ba'al. It is a pleasure, Doctor."

"Ba'al," the Doctor repeats with a faintly amused smile. It doesn't seem likely that it's his given name, but... well, he's one to talk, when it comes to that... "Pleasure to meet you. And... no, I'm not from there at all. I was just sort of... visiting, that one time. I'm not really from anywhere."

Ba'al rose an eyebrow somewhat, but he assumed it best not to question that too much. To 'visit' a time period was hardly impossible-- he knew nothing of this Doctor to judge whether he was capable or not. "I suppose that is fair enough," he said instead, nodding his head respectfully. "It is logical that not everyone here can feel comfortable calling a particular place - or time - their home."

And you say that time goes rushing by, but it seems so slow to me...

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