The Doctor stepped outside to the frozen terrain with Magallan and Plume tailing him. Magallan wanted to embark on an adventure through the sheets of white to discover something that'll spark her interest and her exploration senses.
Even though she was scheduled to rest for the duration of his vacation, the two would not intervene in her ambition to learn something unique.
The Doctor looked over his shoulder to study the two of them. Magallan was positioned right behind him, staring out into the open wasteland with a hand above her eyes to shield herself from the harsh sun reflecting against the snow.
As for Plume, she snuggled in her fluffy coat and held her battle-axe out with one hand. She adjusted the collar of the furry coat and made a face, spelling her irritation at the tickling sensation whenever the wind caused the fur to graze her face.
Magallan noticed the Doctor staring at them and waved her hand at him. "I see you came prepared by wearing your mask to block out the sun, though you wear it all the time... However, I have a solution for us. These magnificent goggles will block out the cruel rays from our eyes! And I also have a pair for you, Plume!" Magallan said, pulling two goggles from the pockets of her exploration suit.
Plume perked up when she heard her name being called. "Oh... Thank you." She said meekly, accepting her pair with both hands, despite the battle-axe impeding her ability to do so.
"No problem! And if they get annoying, you can also take them off for a while, but don't do it for so long. Don't want to suffer from being snow blind…" Magallan trailed off as she struggled to put the goggles over her eyes.
Once she succeeded, Magallan released several of her drones to fly next to her before she tinkered around with her camera to the right settings. She locked the camera to her tripod and beamed at her trivial accomplishment.
One drone recorded their journey as a flash of red appeared on the top of it, repeatedly blinking as it followed them while the others followed suit. "Now we can start exploring and see a day in the life of Magallan!" She exclaimed.
They traveled down to the lake where Magallan and the Doctor had ice skated a few days ago under the night sky and settled down to collect some samples for the lab. What they were going to discover was beyond him, but helping her out in any way possible as long as it didn't require exhaustive movement for his muscles seemed correct.
Magallan established her camera where she wanted it positioned and pointed it at the cluster of mountains jutting out from the ground, miles away from where they stood. "I bet tectonic plates or volcanoes formed those mountains over there," Magallan muttered, taking a few pictures of the scenery.
When she finished, the Doctor sat down on the ice next to Magallan while she carved out a perfect circle on the frozen lake with her drone, leading her to discover water underneath the thick layer of ice they were standing on. Magallan smiled as she dipped a small cup through the hole to scoop out some water to test it underneath a microscope later and examine it for its salinity content.
Plume stood around, surveying the area as she gripped her battle axe tightly. Her nerves were on edge because everything looked identical in the white-painted landscape. Unfortunately, the goggles didn't help either as they slightly tainted her vision from focusing on the subtle nuances of danger encroaching on them.
"Maybe we could go fishing later if time permits it. The computer predicting the weather said it was supposed to snow this evening, so we should be fine as long as we finish up some of this exploration by noon!" Magallan held up the cup to the sun and smiled.
The Doctor watched the drone cut out another block of ice for him. He picked it up and marveled at the extent of it. They were standing on a dense layer of ice, which wasn't surprising, considering how it was holding their weight up with no struggle. "Sounds fine…" He murmured.
Magallan misconstrued his half-hearted response as disapproval of her suggestion. "Do you not like the idea?"
The Doctor shook his head as he tried his best to clear up the misunderstanding. "What? No, it's nothing like that!"
"Oh… I was about to say!" Magallan giggled as she leaned a little closer to the Doctor.
The Doctor suddenly felt conscious of her now that she was so close to him. He hardly spent time with Magallan since she was holed up at the research outpost for a few months at a time, and whenever she was back in Rhodes Island, she was dealing with Rhine Labs and such. As for him, he was busy with missions, office work, and negotiations while handling the patients and operators of Rhodes Island.
But over the past few days, he felt like there was an odd amount of affection radiating from Magallan. She was teasing him a lot but catering to his health and such whenever it was needed.
However, there was something about her bantering that struck closer to flirting rather than the consistency of jokes. Perhaps the Doctor was over-analyzing her motives, making him consider throwing the notion of such a thought on the back burner.
"Anyway, I want to visit the mountains across this lake to see what they offer! Though we have to be careful, otherwise, we could end up falling into some of the deep cracks and crevasses!" Magallan warned as she safely stored the evidence of the lake in her suit pockets before she helped the Doctor up on his feet.
"M-Maybe I should go back to check if the heater is working in the lab." The Doctor proposed as he tried to sneak away from them, but was caught by Magallan tugging on the sleeve of his outfit. "Ack! Please spare me!"
"We're going to get that weak body of yours some healthy exercise! I know you need it!" Magallan exclaimed, raising her free arm in the air to flex her biceps.
The Doctor looked over to Plume for some help, but she turned a blind eye to his plea. "Sorry, Doctor. I agree with Magallan here."
When the Doctor returned to the lab, he swore to gobble up every unhealthy snack he brought along with him to make up for all the calories burned.
Through his trials and tribulations, the Doctor somehow made it back to the humble lab, where he indeed kept his promise. He rummaged through his suitcase to shove every snack he could find in his face.
Unfortunately, Magallan and Plume successfully stopped him on his first snack. They returned the stale jelly donut he was snacking on into the plastic bag it originated from. Then they dragged him to the dining table where he was given a healthy plate of food. At least according to them, but the entire dish looked close to inedible.
What he would do for that donut or bag of blue brownies baked by Blue Poison. But he wasn't able to because of Plume's watchful eye, and because they exited the lab right away to go fishing with Magallan, who only had enough equipment for herself because of their spontaneous quest.
The Doctor sighed as he sat next to Magallan, who was busy fishing in a small hole created by her drones. A smile was painted on her face, despite the frigid air brushing against her rosy cheeks.
"What a beautiful day to go fishing! Don't you agree, Doctor?" Magallan chirped as she shook the fishing rod a bit from her excitement.
"I'm not so sure… Maybe if I had a snack?" The Doctor reminded them as he laid down on the ice, upset at the lack of snacks.
"You'll live, Doctor." Magallan looked over at the Doctor for a few seconds before she crawled over to where he was and put a finger on his neck to check his pulse.
"Ah! I'm alive, don't worry!" The Doctor laughed nervously. He wasn't expecting Magallan to touch him like that, but it felt nice. Like he was cared for. Maybe a little too much, but it was to be expected when he was an important figure for Rhodes Island.
"I had to make sure you didn't bite the dust to the cold since it is colder than yesterday!" Magallan responded.
"Haha... I'm fine, I hope."
"If you want, I could always lend you some hand warmers." Magallan reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a lumpy, rectangular object, and placed it on top of his stomach. "Just shake it so the chemicals stored inside the package can react with each other."
The Doctor lifted his head and studied the white object in contrast to his black coat. Just as he was about to reach out for it, something moved in the corner of his eye. He tilted his head to the side to get a better look at the movement created by the icy lake and found a small colony of penguins waddling to their fishing spot.
"Doctor, are you still alive?"
"I'm afraid so."
Magallan laughed at his joke as she returned to fishing. "I was wondering why you were so quiet, but..." Magallan trailed off when her focus diminished at the sound of little footsteps approaching their location.
Plume held her battle axe close to her while she judged the weird black and white creatures, who silently studied them back out of curiosity. Plume shuffled closer to the Doctor, who sat up and slowly stuck his hand out to them as he would to Mousse's cats while he stuffed the hand warmer in his coat pocket with his other hand.
"Wow, it's been a while since I saw them… Usually, I see Emperor penguins and such, but this species is a treat! They're called Adélie penguins! But they're feisty, so I wouldn't extend my hand out to them, Doctor!" Magallan advised as the penguins craned their necks to see who was talking.
The Doctor quickly retracted his hand to his side. "I don't see how these cute penguins can be violent, but since you're the expert here, I'm going to trust you."
"Calling penguins cute, but not Magallan cute..." Magallan muttered under her breath.
The Doctor stiffened for a few seconds. Did he hear her right? "Did you say something, Magallan?"
"Ah, nothing!" Magallan exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head furiously, though her posture seemed a bit more slumped than usual. "Anyway, you can calm down, Plume. They may be aggressive, but they're more curious than threatened right now."
Plume bashfully lowered her guard and nodded her head. "I understand... But I've seen nothing like them before. I think I saw a picture of them when Doctor was reading to some children in Rhodes Island, but I've long forgotten about that until now."
One penguin hopped over to the Doctor and took a peck at his flippers on the side, which ended up being his hand. The Doctor froze in fear as Magallan secretly laughed at his misfortune. The curious nature of the penguin had finally emerged in recognizing the Doctor as one of their own.
Another penguin joined in by making a noise as it approached the Doctor, causing him to jump slightly in shock. The current penguin, tugging on his sleeve, mimicked his action with caution glinting in its eyes.
The sound differed vastly from what he expected a cute animal to make, but then again, he never heard a penguin caw in his life. It was almost like a crow yelling into the expanse, only to receive no reply.
"I fear the penguins identify you as one of their kind. Maybe try tapping one of them on the flipper and see if they run away!" Magallan suggested, a mischievous grin appearing on her face.
Unfortunately, the Doctor missed it because his focus was pinpointed on the two penguins flocking around him. When he tapped the one pulling his sleeve with its beak, it moved to bite his hand with misplaced aggression. Then the two of them started bumping into him with their white bellies and craning their neck to jab their beaks at his dangerous arm.
"Gah, Magallan, you tricked me!" The Doctor cried out, curling up into a ball while one of them jumped on top of him to viciously assault his hands covering his face. "Please help me!"
Magallan laughed for a good minute while Plume cautiously paced around the Doctor, panicking at the sight of small, flightless birds overpowering him. When Magallan was done laughing, she quickly stood up to place herself in front of the penguins and softly bump back at them.
However, they weren't deterred so easily. They put up quite a spectacular fight against Magallan's custom-made exploration suit before giving up after a minute to waddle away with their buddies.
Magallan turned around and helped the Doctor up from his frail position as Plume joined in, albeit with a displeased expression. Plume circled the Doctor slowly, patting the fragments of ice off his clothes.
"Please don't do that to me, Magallan! You know a lot more about them than I do, and I didn't expect to trigger their aggression!" The Doctor protested, holding a hand out to Plume to signal he was fine, but she continued to clean him until he was spotless from the blemishes of snow.
"S-Sorry! I thought it would be funny, but I took it too far!" Magallan admitted.
"Could you also delete the footage of me being swarmed by penguins?"
Magallan turned around to face the drone, bobbing up and down, performing its function flawlessly. A lightbulb appeared over her head as an idea manifested itself into the world, causing her eyes to sparkle. "Doctor, could you let me keep it? I want something to remind me of you when you're gone!"
The Doctor was about to reject her request, but her last sentence made him stop. "I… I guess it doesn't hurt as long as you don't share it with anyone."
"You wouldn't have to worry about that because I'm going to treasure it all for myself," Magallan said, a playful smile dancing on her lips.
An alarm rang in the brain of the Doctor as his brain spiraled into an avalanche of questions. Something told the Doctor there was something more to this than just a vacation idea she suggested to him a while ago. Was his suspicion confirmed, or was his mind playing games with him?
Author's Note: Adding penguins to the story sounded awesome, and it was! A genius idea by yours truly!
Now excuse me, I have some more editing to do!
With love from your favorite writer, Out4Lunch!