Sienna knew she should have checked her pockets before leaving the cabin. She knew the woods well, and didn't anticipate that she'd be out that long. Just a short walk to see if any cranes were nesting by the pond, she'd thought. Usually they'd come back by now, and had really hoped to nab a few photos for Instagram. Not that she got great cell service up here, but still. Now she was several acres deep into the family property, and saw the distinct movement of something big through the pines. She caught a glimpse of something brown through the boughs, and grimaced. She looked around, taking her time before she made her choice. She could stay put, but it was getting dark soon.
She hadn't seen any bears on the property in years, but knowing her luck it would be the first time now. Now that she forgot her phone in the kitchen. And no one would come check the cabin for at least a week, since she had to make a big deal back home about going off the grid—her version, at least.
She had turned slowly, hoping that by the time she'd made a full circle whatever-it-was in the pines would be gone. It was, but she couldn't help but hear the distinct rustle of underbrush nearby. Only now, she'd lost view.
"Please be a deer. Please be a deer," she murmured.
"Be a dear and do what?" A voice called from behind her.
"JESUS." She shouted, whipping around to see a ruffled brunet head pop out from the cluster of ferns and raspberry bushes.
"Nope, just the Doctor. Hello!" The head grinned, although she noticed it was now not actually a floating head, but rather connected to a skinny man in a brown pinstriped suit. A pinstripe suit in the middle of her woods.
"Uh…hi." She replied, lamely. "So, you're not a bear." She glanced around, looking for anyone else strange to pop up.
"Nope! Not a bear, not a deer—"
"Just a regular old British dude who is on my private property?" She supplied?
"Uh, something like that." He looked down at something metal in his hand, holding it up toward the sky and back to the ferns. "But," he looked back at her, "bears, huh. Been a lot of bear sighting in the area?"
"Well, not a lot. But you know how it is with Yoopers, everything's bears or wolves or whatever."
"I really wouldn't, first time here! I picked up some weird signals and here I am!" He grinned at her again, beamed really, as if that should be an answer to her question.
"You picked up some weird signals, on my property. In a full suit." Sienna backed away a bit, trying to reign in the situation. It wasn't uncommon for people to wander around on people's property, and it wasn't like she was here all the time. But she also knew that all sorts came around the backwoods here, and one never knew what exactly they were carrying. Or taking.
"Yup!"
"Weird signals… Wait, were you doing some geocaching and got lost or something? That you GSP?" She pointed at the silver thing in his hand.
He beamed at her again. "Yup, you're right! Always filling in the blanks, you lot!" He looked at his GSP again, a blue light on the end flashing and blinking off. "Arhg!" He pulled at his hair, glancing around again. "Lost. Lost lost lost is absolutely right."
Unconsciously checking her own braided hair, Sienna watched the Brit with consternation. "Uh, do you need to call someone? My cabin's not far off, but I really don't want people who shouldn't be here on my property…"
"Well, it's closer than my ship, I suppose. I'm sure I'll get some better readings there."
"Uh, sure. Your car off on the other side of the property?" She started following the deer trail back through the pines and poplars.
"Sure" He mirrored. "So, we've established that I was geocaching, what were you doing out in the woods all by your lonesome…miss?"
"Sienna." She supplied. "I was trying to see if the cranes had come back. The pond," she waved vaguely toward the east, "is where a few couples nest every year. I haven't seen anything, but I've only been back for a few days. Don't know why they're not here, it's a little weird."
"I bet. Weird's my middle name! Well, not really, but it probably could be. Middle name's a weird concept though, isn't it?"
"Ok… And maybe you want to tell me your first before we get to middle, huh?" She stopped, turning to face him, expectantly.
"I already did, I'm the Doctor."
"Doctor…who?"
"Yes!"
"What's on second." Sienna muttered, turning back around. "Is that some British thing, like some guy down south insisting on being called Colonel?"
"See, there you, filling in the blanks. Astute, that's what you are."
"Kay…" She looked back, expecting to see some note of sarcasm on the Doctor's face. Instead, she saw a man with a genuine smile, hands stuffed in his pockets, and chucks stomping over the underbrush. They passed a few minutes in silence, the buzz of the occasional deer fly and a far off woodpecker the only sounds around them.
Until the beeping started.
And the smell.