(Untitled)

[thedoctorwho]

Entering now, from the back door, is a face unseen in a while. The Doctor shuffles in muttering, "Another Christmas, another crisis," and heads to the bar for some tea

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[riversinger]

There's a possibly familiar face at the bar, behind her own pot of tea and an ancient tome. His scent and his voice stir her before he ever gets to the bar.

"Did you make it snow in London again?"

Her tone is perhaps familiar, but maybe he'll forgive her the presumption.

Possibly.

[thedoctorwho]

"It's not Christmas without snow," he says, looking a little askance at her. It's that woman again, the one who seems to know him but he hasn't met yet.

[riversinger]

She waits for the light of recognition in his eyes, perhaps waits too many heartbeats. (How is it she still has the will to hope, after all these decades? How could she not?) When she doesn't see it, her shoulders fall just a little. But her smile doesn't falter.

"It's good to see you again... Mr. Smith."

[thedoctorwho]

Interesting. He hasn't used that alias in a while.

"I'm afraid you still have the temporal advantage of me," he notes. "Things don't always happen to me in any recognizable order."

[riversinger]

"A fact of which I am all too aware, Doctor." She blinks as she looks at him. He looks so young.

The wolf in her is still wary, despite all the memories.

"Should I tell you my name, or would you prefer to wait until we meet again, for the first time?"

[thedoctorwho]

"Well, it would be helpful to have something to address you by," he decides. "I can always pretend that I don't know once I'm back in the worlds."

Milliways laughs at timesteams even more than he does.

[riversinger]

She thinks for a moment, trying to remember how she introduced herself the first time they met. She can't help but smirk at the memory.

"Professor River Song. Archaeologist."

She extends her hand in greeting.

[thedoctorwho]

The Doctor shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you," he says. Truthfully, he doesn't always have the greatest respect for archaeologists. Most of the time, they get it utterly, utterly wrong. But he's willing to keep an open mind. "Found anything interesting recently?"

[riversinger]

"Oh you might say that. My last project was the Library."

It's not a lie. She really has spent a great deal of time there.

"And you?"

[thedoctorwho]

"Alexandria, or Cestus Three?" he asks, before catching something in the woman's voice that makes his eyebrows perk up. "You mean The Library? I haven't been there in ages. Really should drop in sometime. You must be from an enormously long way up the timestream if you're excavating The Library."

[riversinger]

She nods when he gets it. Her head tilts to one side and she regards him with one eye, smirking at him.

"Ah, ah. Spoilers."

[thedoctorwho]

He thinks about that a moment and returns the smirk. "That's a bit of a spoiler of itself, though. Means I have something to do with it, or else you'd tell me."

[riversinger]

"True, but then, you already knew that, didn't you?"

She takes a sip of her tea, still watching him carefully.

"Could I ask you -- one small favour?"

[thedoctorwho]

The Doctor nods. "If it's in my power to grant," he qualifies.

[riversinger]

"When you finally do meet me? Would you..." Her brow furrows as she struggles to find the words. "I mean, could you..."

She sighs, studying the inside of her empty mug like the answers might be found in the dregs.

"I have something I need to ask you, but until we meet on the other end of our time stream, it's pointless to even ask. So when the time comes, could you please find me here? In Milliways, I mean."

[thedoctorwho]

He frowns. There's definitely something about her, he thinks. And she obviously knows him better than just a casual acquaintance. Is it possible she'll travel with him a while at some point in the future? Certainly seems likely, given the circumstances.

"I'll find you," he says earnestly.