#GO AND FIND HIM DOCTOR

[sincerelyhannahx]

rogue, you have been promoted! you are now one of my elite employees!

[bluerosefox]

Eldritch Kidnappings

hmmmm a Kon/Danny/Tim idea? Maybe? Depends if anyone wanna ship all three but leaving it open ended (or if Tim is already dating Bernard just make it a Kon/Danny only?). AND a deaged Ellie.

Red Robin and Superboy (the original) were at a JL meeting. It was boring to be honest. Nothing to much was happening besides the normal stuff for all the heroes there. No big crises or world/universe ending danger.

Or at least it was...

Because not soon after a glowing green portal ripped opened and a large eldritch creature stuck its huge head and half of its body out. Every hero there went on high alert and into fighting stances, ready to defend the Watchtower. Once the creature was halfway in the room its eyes snapped opened, glowing near Lazarus Pit green colored but like brighter? neon?, and darted around the room before stopping right on Superboy.

Without warning or words the creature quickly reached out, using at first two arms/hands before more sprang out and swatted away heroes in the room that attacked. It quickly took a hold of Superboy who tired use his strength to get free but found the being stronger than him. Red Robin, in a panic to save his best friend (and crush, shhh maybe) quickly joined in but instead of being swatted away like the others gets snagged by a hand and soon found himself captured as well.

Just as quickly as the creature appeared, it retreated back into the still open portal, dragging the two with and not caring at all of the powers, fists, or shouting being thrown at it.

Then it was gone.

Leaving the JL in a panic.

-x-x-

"-And thats why I need your help! I understand its a lot to ask but please, any help will be welcomed." the eldritch being, or rather Danny Phantom begged as he worriedly glanced at them.

So... It turns out the eldritch being was a young halfa ghost hero named Phantom that needed their help stabilizing his clone/sister/maybe daughter?

She was apparently melting and needed stable DNA when he had rushed her to a ghost doctor and was told. But Danny had no clue how to stabilize a clone and the fruitloop that cloned him the notes were bare bones and frankly terrible. In his desperate need for help Danny had sought out clues/advice from his mentor who basically pointed him to Superboy and Red Robin in his frustrating riddling way.

Superboy's DNA had the stable cloning gene/code they needed. Red Robin was smart enough to help figure out a way to put it Danielle 'Elle' Phantom. (it also helped that he had dabbled into cloning during his... bad year)

So yeah, Danny in his panic to save his clone went full on eldritch monster and opened a portal during their meeting and dragged them to the Far Frozen where Ellie was currently suspended in a ecto healing pod and was now begging for their help, promising them anything if they helped out.

The catch? If they put Superboy's DNA in Ellie she'll de-age to her true age and no longer be a 'pure' clone.

Instead she'll be their (Danny and Conner's) kid.

[youremyonlyhope]

Me years ago: Yeah I never really understood why people are attracted to the Master. I get that Simm and Gomez are both attractive as the Master, but I've never really been attracted to the Master.

Dhawan!Master:

Me: ...... Oh ok I get it now.

[scribescrawls]

Tarnma AU where Pharma wakes up in the past pre-Cybertronian Civil War right after he dies and still reeling from everything that happened decides he’s going to go kill Tarn before he becomes a problem. Pharma isn’t in the best mindset at the moment understandably and is kind of running on the fumes of a revenge fantasy. Meanwhile poor Damus is just going about his day when he gets knocked out and kidnapped. At first he thinks the Senate has finally come after him (this is before he got empurata’ed). However, this seems not to be the case as his kidnapper, a pretty jet who appears to be a medic according to markings on his wings, is going on about things he’d never done, ranting about things that don’t make sense, and talking about how Damus apparently ruined his life. Pharma doesn’t care about keeping the future stuff a secret cause he’s in the ‘I’m going to kill him anyway so it doesn’t matter if he knows’ mindset.

Meanwhile Damus is like ‘you’ve clearly got the wrong bot, I’ve never done any of that! I don’t even know you!’ But Pharma just goes ‘but you will and I’m not going to let you live to do it a second time.’ Pharma proceeding to monologue all the horrible creative torture methods he plans to put him through before killing him.

Damus is thinking ‘oh this bot is delusional for real’ and is both confused and terrified.

Except Pharma never gets to enact any of it because he has terrible luck and two armed bots break into the abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere that Pharma had taken them to. At first Damus has a small inkling of hope that someone miraculously realized he was kidnapped and is there to save him. Hope plummets into the ground when the two armed bots declare that they are from the Senate and they are here to capture him and take him to get empurata'ed.

The two bots give Pharma a confused look not expecting anyone else to be there, but they're like 'they said no witnesses so kill him too or we can take them both in and they can both go through empurata and we'll just say he was aiding a fugitive'. Pharma is like 'frag no. I'm not dying or having my hands stolen from me a second time!" A fight breaks out and Damus watches Pharma pull out an honest to Primus chainsaw from his arm. It’s kind of sexy and scary at the same time.

Pharma got some mods put into his arm because even if he was going after a version of Tarn who had not become Tarn yet he wasn’t going to take any chances. He’d rather be well armed and over prepared than lacking weaponry when he needs it. He also remembers some of the schematics from his time on Luna 1 and look the chainsaw was kind of useful. Anyway although he was never the best fighter in the Autobots there was probably at least some training he had to go through and all the other stuff that happened in the last timeline. He’s no wrecker, but you pick up a few things after four million years of war. Plus it seems like the Senate didn’t think Damus was too big of a physical threat so had not sent their best. Pharma is holding his own pretty well in the fight considering it’s a two versus one fight. Pharma manages to cut one guy in half killing him before being slammed into the wall by the other one. Pharma transforms one hand and uses one of the syringes that’s filled with a knockout serum to inject the other with it. However, it’s not an instantaneous effect so Pharma is still grappling with the assailant who’s got one of Pharma’s arms pinned to the wall and is trying to push Pharma’s own chainsaw arm toward Pharma’s head.

Pharma to Damus: A little help here would be nice!

Damus: What am I supposed to do?! You tied me to a chair!

Pharma: Use your voice and take this guy out!

Damus: My voice??

Pharma: Yes your voice! Your outlier ability! Kill him before he kills us!

Damus: I don't know how to do that! That's not how my ability works at all! I told you, you have the wrong bot!

Thankfully the drug he’d injected into the other seems to take effect as the bot’s hold grows looser as they try to blink away the dizziness that’s taking hold. Pharma uses the loosening grip to push his arm forward cutting off the assailant’s head.

Pharma is venting hard and taking in any injuries. Most seem to be superficial or minor things that he can repair on his own thankfully.

Pharma, complaining: Of course, I have to do everything around here as usual! Why did I think for one moment you'd be helpful!

Pharma thinking out loud: How did they even find us? We're in the middle of nowhere. Though they seemed surprised I was here so they were clearly tracking you down.

Damus, seeing Pharma appraoch him: What are you doing?

Pharma: Scanning you for any potential tracking devices. I was right you're bugged. It's inside your plating I'll have to surgically cut it out.

Damus: What?! You'll do no such thing!

Pharma: Relax I'm a professional. I'll even put on a dampener so it won't be painful not that you deserve it.

Relax?! How was Damus supposed to relax when the kidnapper who says he wants to kill him says he's going to perform surgery on him. Was he even a real medic?!

Pharma gets tired of Damus' squirming and injects him with something that essentially paralyzes him. Just because Pharma doesn’t like him doesn’t mean he’s going to be accused of subpar work.

Pharma, pulling out the tracking chip and destroying it before skillfully welding everything back good as new: Got it! You can stop crying now I'm already done.

Damus hadn’t noticed he had started crying, but could anyone blame him? He was having one of the worst days of his life. He didn’t even get to listen to the music record he just bought! Which shouldn’t be a priority at all but his life is in shambles and he can’t get the thought out of his head that things will never go back to normal now.

Damus watching with wide optics as Pharma approaches both dead bodies pulling out their brain modules after cutting them open and smashing both brains beyond repair.

Damus: What are you doing?

Pharma: Getting rid of the evidence. If the Senate sent them no doubt they have mnemosurgeons under their employ. Although a dead brain is much harder to extract memories from, it’s still possible to pull information from it if it’s intact. This will make it harder for them to determine what happened here and also hide my involvement.

Damus internally is freaking out cause this bot has obviously killed people before and is even being methodical about covering his tracks.

Pharma: We need to get out of here now.

Damus: I’m not going anywhere with you!

Pharma dryly: Oh would you rather stay here and have the Senate find you? I’m sure the empurata will be lovely.

Well no Damus didn’t want to stay here, but he also didn’t want to go with the delusional jet either.

Pharma: Look I’m not giving you a choice. If they capture you and a mnemosurgeon takes a look in your memory they’ll know I was involved. You’ll be safer from the Senate with me. I’m not going to let them kill you, only I’m allowed to do that.

Seeing as Damus is in no condition to walk since the drug Pharma injected him with still hasn't worn off yet and they can't stay here or the Senate will find them, Pharma lifts him into his arms and carries him princess style to the ship he had bought and hidden away. It's actually a lot easier since Damus is not a huge tank and is shorter and smaller than Pharma in this form.

Damus, internally: Kidnapping and death threats aside, it feels kind of nice to be held.

Damus pls that is not a normal reaction to being kidnapped lol

Pharma basically bought a ship, stocked it with any necessary supplies from food to medical equipment withdrew all his savings and planned to book it off Cybertron before the civil war kicks off. He has no intention of joining the Autobots again considering his bad experiences and he’s also not planning to join the Decepticons. He’s planning to fly off to a remote corner of the world away from the impending war where he can maybe do odd jobs as a medic here and there while doing personal research. He hadn’t planned to leave this early, but technically everything is all stocked and ready to go. There’s one extra passenger, but he has time to kill him later. It’ll be fine.

Except as time passes and Pharma has more time to cool down, Pharma is conflicted about going through with the torture/murder thing because hurting/scaring a bot who clearly remembers none of the stuff that happened isn’t giving him the revenge satisfaction he imagined in his head. He starts pulling the Dread Pirate Robert’s thing similar to the Princess Bride where as they travel together he keeps telling Damus ‘goodnight, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning’, but never does. Rinse and repeat for the next how many years lol.

I think Damus did try a few escape attempts early on and I like to think one of the times he runs into people sent by the Senate to kill him and almost died but gets saved by Pharma who’s kind of grown a bit fond of him and is scolding him for getting hurt/into trouble as he carefully repairs any injuries. And okay yes he’s technically a hostage/prisoner but also no one’s ever really cared about Damus nor shown him so much protectiveness and attention before and it’s a heady thing. He likes the feeling and he wants more of it. And it’s not like he’s really suffering much with Pharma truth be told. He’s never hungry and always has access to food, he has his own room and berth on the ship by now, and once he promises not to try to run off he has more freedom to wander the ship and planets they visit where Pharma sometimes works as a medic. As more time passes they’ve grown closer. They have movie nights and listen to music together sometimes. Damus helps out Pharma as an assistant with his job here and there. He sometimes does inventory or helps move things around either in the temporary clinics they set up on different planets or on the ship. When Pharma is busy with his personal research or working, Damus spends his free time practicing his singing or playing his slowly growing collection of musical instruments most of which were bought for him by Pharma. He also gets better at controlling his outlier ability. He does in fact learn to use his voice to expand the range of his abilities. It had become useful whenever they ran into any unsavory or hostile people and Damus liked being able to use it to protect Pharma the way the other had protected him. Damus isn’t sure if he believes Pharma about the being from the future thing, but sometimes Pharma did know things he really shouldn’t know.

And then Pharma having grown to care about Damus has an attack of conscience and drops the “you can leave now. The Senate has definitely fallen by now and you should be safe to go wherever you want. Though I implore you to heed my warning of avoiding joining either side of our planet’s war. There’s enough money saved up. You can take half of it and it should be enough to start a new and comfortable life somewhere else. But I won’t keep you here with me any longer.” Pharma’s internally like ‘it’s not right to keep him here when technically he hasn’t done anything wrong. I should give him his life back instead of dragging him around the outskirts of the universe with me.’

Meanwhile Damus is like: You abandon Damus? You abandon him like he is scrap? Jail! Jail for Pharma for a thousand years!

Anyway they have an argument. Pharma is like ‘isn’t this what you wanted? You’re no longer a prisoner/hostage you can finally be free to go where you want! Why are you making things more difficult than it needs to be?!’ Because the truth is that Pharma doesn’t want him to go, but the guilt is slowly getting to him.

Meanwhile, Damus is blindsided by Pharma’s sudden announcement. Things had been going well between them. In fact it was going great. He doesn’t understand why Pharma is suddenly pushing him away. Damus is in disbelief going ‘I’m the one making things difficult?!’

Pharma: Why do you even want to stay?

Damus probably drops the ‘I’m in love with you!’ bombshell and Pharma is like ‘you just think you love me but you’re just confused. Me holding you prisoner for so long has messed with your head. Once you leave and meet other people, you’ll realize that.”

Damus just scoffs and is like ‘let’s be honest, I stopped being your prisoner years ago. If I had really wanted to escape I’ve had hundreds of opportunities to do it. Pharma you’re so beautiful and smart. You know so much and you’re right a lot of the time, but when it comes to what I feel you’re wrong. And yes as rare as it is you are sometimes wrong my dear Doctor.’

Damus is like ‘As for why I want to stay? How is it not obvious? I’ve never been happier in my entire life than I have been being by your side! I’ve never felt like I belonged somewhere until then! I have met other people before I met you! And you know what, most of them sucked! You said I can go anywhere I want now, well I want to stay right here with you!’

Damus: If you’re worried I’ll do those things the past me or I suppose future version of me did to you, I won’t! I promise and swear on my spark I won’t!

Pharma: It’s not that. I know you’re different even if some things are also similar or the same. I just want you to have the freedom to choose the life you want

Damus: Okay then I’m free. And I choose to stay here with you. I love you.

Damus, now a bit unsure: Do you not feel the same way?

Pharma: I do. Feel the same way.

Damus, whose been dreaming about this day for Primus knows how long and never been great at waiting: Then stop being an idiot and kiss me already!

Pharma going ‘I’m not an idiot!’ but proceeds to grab Damus and kisses him. They spend the rest of the day smooching, become conjunxes, and live happily ever after.

[sausage-rolll]

I think it's pretty clear that season 2 of Ncuti's era was rewritten at some point and that a big chunk of the original story was lost.

So I thought I'd write up what I believe the original plan was, or at least what I think would have worked better than what we got.

First of all, I think Ruby was planned to still be the companion in this season. Belinda is depressingly underutilised and somehow less relevant to the ongoing plot than Ruby is, despite the fact that she’s the one actually traveling with the doctor. So unfortunately I think she was not a part of the original plan for the story. So in the version I plan to lay out now, she isn’t going to be present.

Now, I just want to stress that me writing Belinda out of this version of the story isn’t because I do not like her or that I don’t want her in the show. It is because I genuinely believe she wasn’t planned to be a part of it until something happened midway through season 1 that led to Ruby’s role in the story being cut down. In my perfect version of the show Belinda would still be a part of it, she would just be a part of a 3rd season (and beyond) alongside Ncuti where she can be actually plot relevant.

Now, with that cleared up, let me quickly lay the groundwork for this alternate version of the story, then we can really get into the meat of potatoes of things. 

It’s quite simple really, only two major things are different.

Ruby is still traveling with the Doctor during season 2 but frequently takes breaks from the TARDIS in order to live her normal life and spend time with family (this allows the events of Lucky day and Joy to the world to happen basically unchanged.) 

The mystery of Ruby’s past and her mysterious and elusive mother is not solved in ‘Empire of Death’ and Ruby is still silently craving answers about everything.

Now let's finally begin.

The Doctor and Ruby, after another adventure in time and space attempt to return to Earth on the 24th of May so Ruby can spend time at home for a while, only to find that… They bounce right off of it? That’s strange… that’s certainly never happened before. The doctor is silently concerned about the implications of this, but makes sure to keep an upbeat and carefree attitude to hide his worries from Ruby. Ruby isn’t necessarily happy about being unable to return home at the time, but just assumes that it’s another quirky “timey-wimey” thing that the doctor can figure out. Overall she’s slightly annoyed but not worried.

The doctor whips out the vindicator and explains that it can be used to triangulate the coordinates to get them back home. Things continue relatively identical to the original version for now. They go to Earth 1952 where they face off against Lux. During the 3-dimensional part, the doctor confides in Ruby that he is terrified he won’t be able to get her home safely, that he’s worried he’ll never be able to save Rogue. And one other thing… something that (I believe) he’s never admitted to Ruby before. He isn’t just a timelord. He’s the last of the timelords. The soul survivor of his species. This pops him back into full 3D. From here the episode continues as normal.

The well happens essentially unchanged.

Lucky day also happens unchanged but is an episode set slightly in the past during a time Ruby isn’t travelling with the Doctor. However young Conrad sees Ruby and the Doctor together in the opening segment with the vindicator which is part of the reason he tries so hard to get close to her during the events of lucky day. He recognises her from his childhood and it drives him mad because that isn’t possible.

The story and the engine once again happens mainly unchanged, however Poppy does not appear this time. (I can’t think of a way for her to fit into this rewrite)

The interstellar song contest occurs, once again, almost unchanged. They finally have enough vindicator juice to force their way back to May 24th and rush into the TARDIS without saying goodbye after hearing Earth's history and how it ceased to be on that very day. Miss Flood Bigenerates and all the cards are set as she, using her own TARDIS (The Doctor doesn’t have the only one, fuck you) uses the vindicator coordinates to also get back to earth. Well after a quick pit stop to pick up one more thing. Flood is dropped off in modern day to break Conrad out of prison while Rani goes to the past to find their trump card. Desiderium the god of wishes.

-

Wish World

John Smith (The Doctor) wakes up in his house. He’s alone as he starts his day. No partner, no pets, just him in an empty house going about his morning routine. It’s not that he didn’t crave companionship, he did. He deeply did. But he was never particularly interested in women and… well there certainly wasn’t any other options. Not in this world.

Not in this world. This perfect little world.

John realises he’s running late for work and rushes out the door, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face. A girl. Young, short and blonde. She asks John if he was… The doctor? No, of course not. He’s just an ordinary office worker, but if the young woman needed help he’d be happy to call someone, it’d have to be quick though since he was running late for work.

The girl quickly apologizes and mumbles something about her being mistaken before running off… How strange.

How strange indeed. Desiderium’s power… it doesn’t seem to work too well on Ruby. yet another oddity to add to the list. Her oddness was what drew Ms. Flood to her in the first place, not that Ruby would know this . She wanted to understand what made her tick, she needed to understand what made reality bend around her. 

Now from here things continue as normal. John Smith goes to work and Ruby stews in her confusion and false memories.

After work the doctor sits down in front of his TV and watches Conrad's channel. The only channel. But… then something else fizzled into the picture. The stark white background was drowned out in a deep red and Conrad was replaced by someone else. Seeing him made the Doctor’s heart drop. There was something about the man on the TV. He liked him. He really liked him.

He listens to his advice and slowly begins to snap out of his delusions, but before he can, Miss Flood arrives and takes him to the tower.

From here Rani's plan is revealed and the doctor is plunged into a decaying London.

-

Reality wars

From here, things once again happen almost identically to the original, however without Belinda there is no need for the stasis cube.

The doctor and Ruby free Unit from the Wish, confront Miss Flood and Rani and make the plan to infiltrate their tower, take Desiderium and stop the Rani from freeing Omega.

The doctor encounters Rani, keeping them distracted as Ruby goes after Conrad.

Omega appears, killing Rani and Miss Flood escapes.

The doctor forces Omega back into the underverse and Ruby defeats Conrad and returns the world normal.

Everyone meets back up at Unit and celebrates defeating the Rani and the Wish world. The doctor walks over to Ruby who is still holding Desiderium, a nagging feeling eating away at him as he approaches. The two of them talk for a short while and the doctor neutralises Desiderium powers with a wish.

It isn’t foolproof mind you. There’s no knowing what their life is going to be like. Their powers could reawaken at any moment, and even if they didn’t it could still bend reality around it just by existing. But to the doctor it was worth the risk.

Then why was he so scared?

Ruby sees The Doctor’s concern and offers for him to hold the baby. He agrees.

The doctor picks up Desiderium from Ruby’s arms and looks down at the baby.

And his heart stops.

He’d seen this baby before. He’d held this baby before! But where?!

His mind raced trying to grasp what gave him such a suffocating sense of deja vu.

And then it clicks.

Then it finally made sense.

Everything finally made sense.

The Doctor looks up at Ruby and thanks her.

He shouts out into the Unit headquarters that he knows exactly what to do with Desiderium. They would be safe, happy and loved, he would make sure of it.

He runs into the tardis clicking buttons and pulling levers, all the while never letting go of small Desiderium.

He knew exactly where he was going.

He puts Desiderium down for just a second, just long enough to throw on a long, hooded cloak from his wardrobe. He picked it so the young baby wouldn’t get cold. It had a built-in heat regulator that would stop the small thing from freezing. Ironic that it also covered The Doctor’s body head to toe.

He picks Desiderium up and steps out of the Tardis into a cold, dark alleyway.

He would have parked closer but he knew what was about to happen. He couldn’t risk being spotted by anyone lest the timeline unravel itself at the seams, and he’d had quite enough of reality breaking for one day.

As he walked through the dark street looking down at Desiderium, he thought about his time with this face. It was all so nostalgic. 

His mind wandered to Ruby. He thought about how snow and soft tunes of Christmas hymns followed her everywhere she went. How no technology in the universe could track down her past. How Mistro was terrified of her. How Sutekh was curious about her. How Desiderium’s power failed to keep its grasp on her.

She had defeated the very gods. And now he finally knew how.

After a short walk through the snowy streets he finally found his destination. A small, simple church. Snow falling heavily all around him and the sound of singing getting ever so closer.

He gave the small child a light kiss on the head and set her down on the front step of the church before turning around and walking away.

Away from Desiderium. He didn’t even look back. Afterall, he knew she was in safe hands here. 

He knew she would be safe, at the church on ruby road.

He returned to the present with a grand smile on his face, stepping towards Ruby and pulling her into a hug. They had a lot to discuss.

[zenshigarakilover]

I like to think that pre canon both AFO and Izuku visited the same online forums where people came together to discuss quirks and often debated with each other about pro hero quirks lol. Their first conversation ever was arguing over aspects of All Mights quirk because AFO said something insulting about him.

Izuku finds AFO abrasive, but creates some of the most fascinating analysis he's ever read that he wonders if AFO is some kind of quirk counselor or doctor who specializes in studying quirks in real life.

AFO finds it refreshing to see someone share the same enthusiasm about quirks like he does and enjoys reading and challenging Izuku's own theories at times.

I wouldn't call it friendship.... but more like two people finding common ground in sharing a hobby that almost no one else cares for.

[gutterclan]

Moon 5 - Part 2

Synthsong is more than twice as old as the next oldest cat in the clan btw. & he's like. middle aged.

Start / Back / Next

[ohshinytrinketsmine]

Sneaky sneaky little birdie

The Sign, Ep 9

[hangwjj]

[themagicalghost]

If you are wondering what the fandom wiki is up to these days

Links to the 'Employee' page would only go to Yesman's page, but while making this post it got turned back to normal with no way to revert it. Good thing I recorded this gif

Someone seems to like him

[sleepymarmot]

The semi-rewatch of the s3 finale validated my past self's affection for Lucy Saxon

Every single new who showrunner, RTD included, repeatedly: Check out this character who is a dark mirror of the Doctor! RTD, his brain huge: Yes yes but how about we give them a dark mirror of a companion?

[roxannepolice]

Another thing I adore about saxteen bubble universe, and am happy to report I included in my own series but also found in a brilliant makeout fic, is Fourteen being sooo enamoured by the little padding on the waist Saxon got along with the beard. He finally has something to grab and squeeze. He's constantly nuzzling either at the beard or the tummy, while the Master acts appalled and Donna just has to put up with the purring noises.

Like, s10 would have ended differently if Twelve took a moment to compliment on the Master improving his diet.

[roeiswriting]

Doctor I am not messing about you need to go find Rogue NOW

Pushing Ruby out of the way because he knew the Doctor couldn’t lose her despite the fact they JUST MET?!?!?

“Find Me” INSANEEEEEE

[bloodanddiscoballs]

I'M GOING HOME TODAAAYYYYY

[eightdoctor]

—

—

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i think i hauve covid

[spiralmode]

wait im rewatching saw 2004 and as a germaphobe one of the cruelest things i had to watch adam endure was dig around in that toilet ("find anything?" "no solids!" 🤢) anyway so he had just taken out the play me tape out of a ziploc bag and that stuck with me because I was like okay that's something he could use idk for what but for something, and so then that toilet scene happens and im like yelling at my screen adam!!! no!!!!!!!!! use the ziploc bag as a glove ahhhhhhh !! but he just went right in there with only one small moment of hesitation