Recognizing something he could have designed himself by a man who was set to be the next version of himself was a bit dizzying to the still-human bits of his mind. John had been awaiting the day he woke up completely the Doctor, any semblance of old wily John Smith gone for good. Since joining the community, he'd become a veritable shadow of the tightly-wound man he used to be.
Now, there he stood with his eyes wide with admiration over the lengths Troy had gone to locate their beloved ship. What had been keeping him from doing the same? Rose came to mind almost immediately. He would cling to the humanity given to him in this incarnation or whatever it might be to his very last breath, wouldn't he? He yearned to see the TARDIS again just as much as he feared the very same.
Spying the hairclip, John's nose and brow scrunched in contemplation. "Perhaps as a conductor of sorts," he offered, like it was the most normal thing in the world to utilize a hairclip in such an alien machination. "Benefits of the alloy," he elaborated needlessly.
Removing his glasses as he leaned back from observation, his eyes wandered after Troy as he carried on. Growing slightly anxious, John tried to quiet the Time Lord side of him, but the more his cousin spoke, the more he fell himself falling into the guise and a brand new sense of whimsy sent him pacing the floor in return. Gesturing with the pair or glasses in hand, he nodded at the speculations thrown about.
"Right, well. No. Yes, but then... Oh... Of course! A source," he suggested with a bounce. "If we knew where these bits and bobs from our dreams came from in the precise moment of their arrival, we could better--hm? Me? Ah, busy namely. Very busy." Things had not been well for many of his friends, but he bottled up the worries and put on a smile. He was almost as adept at it as his own version of the Doctor. That wasn't saying much. "And you?"