(Untitled)

[lost_the_time]

Professor Yana's in the Nexus again.  He's been here off and on since last we saw him, flitting about with handheld doohickies that flash and spin and beep, and frowning at them a fair amount in the process.  Unfortunately, not much about the apparently paradoxical nature of the place has registered with his equipment, from the far, far future

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[holycrap2hearts]

It is a shame that he doesn't have any doohickies with him today, because the Doctor loves doohickies, especially ones that spin, beep, or flash. However, the Doctor also loves talking to people, which fortunately can still happen regardless of the lack of doohickies.

So, "Yes," he replies from the nearby couch he happens to be seated upon. "Though, usually that happens when I've got amnesia, so I'm not entirely certain if that applies or not."

[lost_the_time]

Yana loves them too! And he's good with them, even if his tend to be cobbled together from scrap and staples and nutrient bars. It pays to have an assistant who doesn't need external sustenance. Maybe some other time, and he and the Doctor can do science squee together.

A faint frown wrinkles his brow when the Doctor appears, the itch of something in the back of his mind alongside the drums, but Yana shrugs it off easily enough. The comment about amnesia prompts an incredulous little chuckle, and he gives him a curious sort of look. 'When you've got amnesia. Is that a common affliction for you?'

[holycrap2hearts]

The Doctor shrugs. "It didn't use to be, but recently it would seem my mind is especially slippery." He grins at Yana. This man seems somewhat interesting. His question definitely piques the Doctor's curiosity, as recognizing things and people for no reason at all isn't something that happens frequently.

"I take it then though that you often go through the situation you described?"

[lost_the_time]

The Doctor's grin seems something like contagious, and Professor Yana feels a bit of a smile twitching around his own lips in response. That something continues tickling in the back of his mind- apropos to this conversation, perhaps- some meaning attached to the smile other than simple friendliness.

'Oh, not often,' he waves the words away like bothersome insects, a bit of bluster to his tone, as if to suggest that such an idea is nothing less than errant nonsense. 'Just- well, just since I encountered the Nexus. Certain words, certain people... I don't suppose I could even tell you which, but it's certainly there. Damned frustrating thing, really.'

[holycrap2hearts]

This just keeps becoming more and more interesting, the more Professor Yana speaks. The Doctor's smile takes on a touch of curiosity that hadn't quite been there before, and he hops into a new position on the couch; raised on his knees slightly and holding on to the arm rest and leaning over slightly, as though staring more closely at Yana will help him figure this puzzle out.

"That is strange, now, isn't it?" he says. "Is there any sort of connection between the things, do you suppose?"

[lost_the_time]

'I haven't a clue, I'm afraid,' he says rather helplessly. It's not something he enjoys, being ignorant, ineffectual, but he's become disappointingly used to it over the past few years on Malcassairo. Now, he wears it with tired, faintly bemused irritation. 'Just... one thing or another, I suppose. Wakes up a sort of itch in the back of my head. Along with... Well.' He stops. No need to tell a complete stranger about that, after all.

[holycrap2hearts]

The Doctor tilts his head to the side. "Along with what? Please tell, it might be important." And he so dearly does want to figure this out. He likes figuring things out. "And as for the rest, perhaps you should start... keeping track of whenever it happens? That way later you could go back and look over everything and try to find something that links everything together."

[lost_the_time]

At the mention of it, he can feel that faint, distant quadruple beat in the back of his head grow, increasing in volume in a way that makes his fingers twitch to it- da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum. But again, he shakes his head, looking down and closing his eyes for a moment, willing the drums to quiet.

'Nothing,' he dismisses it easily as he looks back up, meeting the Doctor's eyes. He normally wouldn't have brought it up at all, but somehow... somehow he feels that he knows this man, that, perhaps, he can trust him. Even with this, which even to him sounds quite mad. 'It's just... noise,' he mutters. 'Noise, inside my head. The sound of drums.'

[holycrap2hearts]

"Drums?" He raises his hand to his mouth in thought. "That hardly sounds healthy. ...Er, forgive the accidental pun, er... What was your name? Sorry. I'm the Doctor, by the way." He extends a hand, but then realizing that the bits of furniture they are both on are too far apart for a handshake he drops it back to the arm rest.

[lost_the_time]

'No,' he laughs, soft and dry. 'I can hardly imagine it is. But, oh, yes, of course!' Professor Yana starts at that; silly of him, neglecting to introduce himself. But not unlike him, getting so distracted by his personal curiosities that he occasionally neglects common courtesies. 'Ah, Professor- Professor Joachim Yana. A very great pleasure to meet you, I'm sure, Doctor.'

But that's strange- the Doctor? Surely he's heard that name before... His eyes go distant for a moment or two, before snapping back to meet the Doctor's. 'I'm sorry, but have we met before? I'd think I'd remember, but...'

[holycrap2hearts]

"Oh no, a great pleasure to meet you, Professor Yana," he replies with that same smile. He quite likes this Professor Joachim Yana. He's interesting, certainly, and fun to talk with, if this conversation is anything to go by.

The Doctor pauses, trying to see if he remembers this man. "I... don't believe we have before. Or, at the very least, I know that I haven't met you. There is a good chance that you may have met me. It's a bit complicated, actually."

[lost_the_time]

'It certainly sounds it. Tell me, Doctor, how is that possible? That I might have met you without you meeting me? Though...' He trails off, resisting the urge to press fingertips to his temple as the drums speed almost imperceptibly. 'No, it's not that, it's like...' And he can't help a faint, sardonic laugh at the realisation, because oh, how very apropos. 'It's what I was just talking about, the deja vu, or whatever it is. Something about you...'

Yana shakes his head as if to clear it, tsking under his breath.

'Poppycock, of course. I'm sorry, ignore the ramblings of an old man.'

[holycrap2hearts]

"To make an exceedingly long story short, time travel," he explains with a slight shrug. "You could have met myself from the future some time in your past. ...Might not have looked the same, though, but that's only slightly relevant. Could explain why you seem to be having deja vu about me. For all I know, we could meet when you were a small child and thus you don't really remember me very clearly."

He shrugs once more, then grins. "I try to never ignore the ramblings of old men, lest I be forced to ignore myself, and that certainly would be no fun."

[lost_the_time]

Oh, but now that's distracted the Professor's attention from the drums and his questions and the strange, niggling feeling that he knows the Doctor somehow, and again his brow furrows, before falling wide and open- that greedy, curious expression that he's occasionally prone to. 'Time travel? Oh, but surely, that's quite impossible. They said, in the old days- but I never believed it. Time travel?'

[holycrap2hearts]

He nods. "I'm a Time Lord. It's, er, it's a species. From this planet called Gallifrey. I've got a ship that let's me travel where and whenever I want. ...On days she feels like cooperating, that is. Tell me though, when are you from exactly? Time travel 'in the old days'?" Because the Doctor finds that particularly intriguing, more so than anything else Yana has said so far. Most cultures either don't believe in time travel or think of it as something far off into the future, quite different from this man's viewpoint on it.

[lost_the_time]

Time Lords, Gallifrey- those words mean something, or they feel like they ought to, and really, that in and of itself is absurd. Just words, foreign words that surely Joachim Yana has never heard before in his life. And Gallifrey, wherever that is, it's undoubtedly gone by his time. So few planets remain in the sky, so few stars. Just blackness and cold, stretching on forever, interrupted only by the audacity of living beings to continue hoping.

He exhales a weary little sigh, but it's edged with that same, slightly crooked smile. 'The year 999,999,999,999,987,' Yana announces, and the number has a touch of grandeur to it, if only because it is such a large one. 'Give or take. It's not as if it really matters what the precise date is anymore; there's little enough left of the universe to keep the time anyway.'