#dr. lobatse

[abeltownshipslittlebitch]

Sam: *is hugging Five*

Jody: Hey! It’s my turn to hug Five!

Tom: *kicks down the door* What do you mean “YoUr TuRn”?! We agreed now is my time slot!

Kefilwe: No it’s my turn!

Five, currently being suffocated: Guys I love you but you can’t be hugging me every second of the day.

Nadia: But you’re so easy to hug.

Peter: If I don't hug you right now I think the depression will kick in and my body will stop functioning.

Five, close to tears: Okay, I-I guess.

@dorkylittleweirdo

[kelzebub]

Chapter 11 (12) of Home Again. Sam gets to break stuff.

[runbookzombie]

Zombies Run S3M27 Blue

I am in Seattle for work and I managed to run this mission after today's meeting. I have been so busy the last few days preparing for this trip. It's good to be back in Seattle, though. The last time I was here was in the early 00s.

Spoilers after the picture below:

This is an AI-generated image of a drunk-looking woman surrounded by blue flowers.

Are the blue flowers like zombie catnip?

It is so difficult to visualize ZR characters' conversations during a run. For instance, I only realized that Paula's demeanor was affected by the flowers after I read the transcript. I just thought she fell and hit her head or something.

I might have also missed the part where Dr. Lobatse explained the effects of the flowers. I also missed the hints that Paula and Sam were annoyed at Dr. Lobatse showing up to join the run.

Then Paula also made those comments about how Sam and Maxine are alike, and all the sweet talk about wolves, rubies, and open hearts. I am very confused and still trying to wrap my head around it.

I really need to pay more attention to the audio.

[ceem902]

Letters to Steve

I was replaying some s6 and s7 missions with Lobatse where I thought she was flirting with us but when I play them back now it kind of sounds like she’s annoyed? Especially around the subject of Steve.

So I have a theory, that those explicit letters that Steve broadcast on the radio with no name on it were sent by five pretending to be Lobatse as a prank, to help Lobatse/Steve get on with their relationship.

But in s7 Lobatse found out and she’s pissed.

[wubbelwubbwubb]

You probably shouldn’t hold a hand grenade sexily. I have a feeling Steve the Builder does it anyway.

[teacup-crow]

Just This Once (I’ll Be the Good Guy)

Kefilwe is too good for Steve. Or, some moments in their relationship we never got to see. Spoilers to S5M3. 

Zombies Make Valentine’s Day part 2! Thanks @puptart! Based on the song “Just this Once”, with some inspiration from the other prompts too.

Kefilwe Lobatse is too good for him.

He knows that from the moment he first lays eyes on her, crouching in an overcrowded hospital tent. She’s stitching up some kid’s leg – a girl guide who’d got too close to barbed wire on a training exercise – and being extremely patient with the child’s endless questions.

“What’s that for? What are you doing now? Can you show me how to do a tourniquet?!”

“You do not need a tourniquet, Posey,” she says, her eyes gentle but laughing.

“But I do need my tourniquet-tying badge!”

“We are not practicing on you. Keep it bandaged up and clean, and stay away from wire next time. Hello, can I help you?”

As Posey lopes off disappointedly, Steve winks down at the doctor. “Think I’ve pulled a muscle in my… foot, ma’am. If you wouldn’t mind taking a look.”

“You’ll need to take your shoe off first,” she counters, apparently immune to his stare. Nobody is immune to his stare! “And Dr Lobatse is quite sufficient.”

“Apologies, ma- Dr Lobatse, I only arrived from London this morning. Steve,” she takes his outstretched hand. He grins. “My pleasure.”

“Your shoe?” she repeats. He’s suddenly embarrassed, and quickly undoes his laces.

“It does look a little swollen. I’d normally advise you take two days of rest, elevate it, and keep it on ice. Now, I know you Runners won’t do any of those things, but at least aim for the elevation. If it gets worse, come back. Next, please.”

He doesn’t get a chance to see her again properly until they’re on a mission together, in hazmat suits of all things – hardly a great setting for romance, but just because he can’t quite see her eyes doesn’t mean he can’t use his other greatest assets.

“That sounds like quite a story,” she laughs, so cool-headed under pressure, just like he is. A kindred spirit.

“Oh, believe me love, it is. Might tell you some time.” Implicit in his words is later, and when she doesn’t dismiss it, he knows she likes him back. Even if she does hit him with a crowbar and then claims to not have dates with concussed men, which is a novel form of rejection at least.

“Are you always so good?” He asks her, escorting them back to Abel, guard down perhaps a little more than it should be.

She’s very serious. “I try to do the right thing, yes. Although, on that subject… I feel perhaps that I am the one who owes you a drink.”

They don’t decide on who owes who, but they do eventually end up in his bedroom.

***

He has several secure places he’s claimed around the area, but his favourite is the ballroom of a manor house. It has too many broken windows to ever be truly zom-proof, so it’s mostly been picked clean and then abandoned by the locals, but it’s not too bad if you can take care of yourself, and there’s the odd book in the library that even Ellie thought was too worthless to requisition (her exact words had been nine copies of the Da Vinci Code are quite enough, thank you).

“Also, at night, the ballroom… well, I’ll show you.”

They don’t have to wait long. As night falls, he pulls her to the top of the curving marble stairs, bottle of Aperol and two glasses in hand, her telling stories of all the places she’s travelled and things she’s seen, him content for now to just listen to the sound of her voice, their footsteps on stone, the faint groan of long-off undead.

The ceiling above them has half-crumbled, the chandelier collapsed either through negligence or looting in the early days or some bold attempt at fending off zoms. Either way, from the top of the stairs, they can see right up into the clear night sky, painted in thousands of glittering stars.

“Steven…” she whispers, awestruck.

“Quite something, isn’t it.”

“It is spectacular.” She leans into him for a kiss, and he obliges. “I have never seen it like this in England before.”

“My lady, may I escort you to the ballroom?” He offers his hand again, and he sees her eyes finally shine with recognition, remembering the day in the field hospital and her quick dismissal. She takes it, a little self-conscious as they descend hand-in-hand.

“I never knew you were so theatrical.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me yet, love…”

“Such as…” she pauses, leaving him an opening, and he pulls one of the rusted ceremonial swords from the suit of armour on their left. It was too much of a prop for even the raiders to take, apparently.

“Such as… I have never been bested at a duel.”

“I used to fence when I was at university, you know. Foil.”

“Sabre’s my weapon, but lady’s choice. I fenced too.” He tosses her the sword and jogs to find another. They circle each other for a few moments, curious as foxes in the moonlight. “I’ll fight for your hand, darling,” he half-jokes. She laughs again.

“There is no need to be quite so dramatic, Steven.”

“In my field of expertise, there’s often a need to be a bit dram- ow!” She’s caught him between the ribs and dances away with her point. “All right, now you’re on!”

They weave between each other, old furniture, his pop-up tent, the pieces of collapsed ceiling, never breaking eye contact for a moment, and for Steve, it’s almost like being a child again. He sees the serious determination in the woman’s gaze and wonders if Kefilwe ever was one.

***

Of course, it can’t last. She finds out about his past and turns cool, folding her arms close to her chest as if he’s already taken too many of her secrets, as if he might find out more without even trying. And can he really not think of a better defence than I was just following orders, like some pathetic war criminal in a bad movie with black and white morals? Life doesn’t have black and white morals, but Kefilwe doesn’t understand that.

Life doesn’t have black and white morals. There are no choices between right and wrong. There are just choices. Choices like his father made to be a coward, to desert, to shame everyone. The choice he makes to follow orders, to rebuild things. That’s what he does, isn’t it? He’s a Builder, a fixer.

He goes home alone. It’s a cloudy evening.

***

There are times when he regrets ever asking himself the hard question. What do I want my life to have been for? The times when he’s hurting her as little as he can get away with, and her eyes are blank, staring at nothing, saying nothing, and she’s still so desperately good and won’t escape no matter how easy he makes it for her, how regularly he leaves her cell door ajar in false negligence or arrogance. Which does she think it is? It’s unclear.

He punches the bag in the gym, imagining Golightly’s smirking face beneath his pounding fists. You keep saying they need a doctor more than ever, but why does it have to be you?

He knows why, of course. It’s because Kefilwe Lobatse is too good for all of them.

[curly5runs]

Listen Sam, I love you with every fiber of my being and would walk through a horde of flaming zombies naked before I let you get hurt; but if you and Paula keep bullying Dr. Lobatse like a couple of catty 13 year olds, imma smack a fool.

[runner5ive]

Moonchild

Thanks for the requests @kaoticfive / @dkvictorie and @mrs-elijah-wood !

Does anyone else remember when Moonchild’s hair was a little longer than shoulder length? 😅

If you'd like to request something please go here to see who’s who! I've had a few requests so far and I'm starting to work through them, but there's still plenty of characters available 💕

Five and Moonchild’s relationship from season three onwards below the cut to hide spoilers. I’ve also included an outline of what happens during what missions so if you’re half way through a season, you can read up until the point you’re at <3

Season Three Spoilers

S3M8 When Five meets Moonchild they're... alarmed.

S3M8 The first thing she does is seize them by the hands - which is a big no-no for anyone who relies on signing - and declares how connected their auras are. “You feel that too, don’t you? Your purple aura - my blue one!”

S3M8 Five does not feel comfortable how Moonchild is looking at them, with that greedy look in her eye. 

S3M8 Still, Five doesn’t have time to get mad, since they’re trying to escape a cult and all. They just yank their hands away and get to work.

They can’t help but think that something is a bit... off with Moonchild, but they figure its because of the whole hippy thing, and don’t think much of it. 

S3M37 Then, when they’d practically forgotten about Moonchild, she appears again. Marching with a hoard, controlled like all the other poor sods that walked out of abel the day Van Ark died. Still giving them those looks and talking about their “lovely purple aura”. Moonchild is as touchy as ever, holding onto Five’s arm, then their wrist. But Moonchild is just some hippy chick, so Five lets it go. Once they’re both in Abel, they’re sure it will stop. But it doesn’t. 

Five is affectionate. They show their love for others through affection. But only for those they care about. Sam, Janine, Maxine, the other runners: they’re used to Five walking up and draping their arms around their shoulders, or leaning against them, or even - when Five is in a really good mood - giving them pecks on the cheek. But this is reserved only for those who have earnt it.

Moonchild does not seem to realise this. And it makes Five very uncomfortable. 

They don’t like how every time they spot her around Abel, she’s watching them, with that smirk on her face. They don’t like how when they’re sat alone in the rec room, she’ll appear beside them, sitting too close, fingers brushing through their hair or along their arms. 

No one else seems to notice. Not much, anyway. Sam makes jokes that Moonchild is starstruck with Five, but that’s not really unusual these days. Most people are when they first meet Five after hearing so many rumours about them.

Still, Five hears what other people say about Moonchild. They hear them mocking her behind her back, calling her by the wrong name, getting frustrated with her whole... personality when things get serious. And Five has sympathy. So when Moonchild is being weird, Five just smiles wearily and tries to be nice. 

S3M39 The minute Five witnesses Moonchild convince a man to throw himself into a hoard of Zombies, Five becomes weary. Very weary. They realise how manipulative Moonchild is. When Moonchild drops herself beside them in the bunker that night, Five flinches away. When Moonchild turns out to be Cynthia Hill, the person responsible for controlling everyone, they’re only half surprised, but completely horrified. 

S3M44 Five does not like the thought of hypnosis. They hate the idea of not having control. Though no one actually takes it seriously enough to vote against it. So Five is hypnotised, and immediately starts freaking out. They hear Sara’s voice. They hear Simon’s. They hear Sam. They’re being chased by something and they have no idea what’s real and what’s not. And so they do what they’ve always done best: they run. And they don’t stop running until they’re standing before Moonchild, waves of utter bliss flowing through them. 

S3M44 Part of them know it’s just the control but they’ve never felt so... happy. They’ve never felt so warm. Or safe. 

S3M45 And they can see what they're doing. They know they're hurting people - know they're killing people - but it feels so euphoric that part of them does not want to stop.

S3M46 Not until Sam. The entire time they were fighting against it all - fighting against their own mind - screaming inside themself. That horrible moment they thought they'd killed Sam. Something inside them snaps and then they're running again. 

S3M47 If it wasn't for Simon, they probably wouldn't have stopped.

S3M48 In fact, for a while, they consider turning back to Moonchild. Turning back to where it's warm. Where it feels so good. They're perused through the psychiatric hospital, and they hear the other controlled folk calling to them. Telling them to go back to them. To welcome Moonchild back and for a second they... hesitate. They consider it.

S3M48 And Simon sees all this and just won’t stop talking. He grabs their wrist and pulls them along, going on about what's happened since the last time they'd talked all to distract Five from that voice in their head yearning for Moonchild again.

S3M48 They have somewhat of a breakdown the moment they're out of danger. In the back of Simon and Amelia's Van, curled up on themself, hating how they are feeling. Because back home there are all the people they love and they don't think there's any way they can possibly face any of them after what they've done. And the entire time, they just want to go back to Moonchild.

S3M48 They even consider running from everything - just leaving and finding somewhere new. Changing their name again. But Simon practically manhandles them through Abel's gates, knowing exactly what they're planning, and refusing to let them make that mistake.

Five is signed off for a few weeks after that. They stay in a private medical bay, cutting themself off from everyone except for Maxine and Dr Lobatse. They are miserable and they dream of nothing but Moonchild.

Part of them knows they love Moonchild, and it makes them feel sick. It's not romantic or sexual or even platonic love. It's more... obsessive. The same level kind of obsession Moonchild is over them.

They need to get her out of their head, so eventually, Five forces themself into their running gear and tells Maxine they want a mission. They need to think about something other than her.

S3M60 When Moonchild is defeated, they think for a while, maybe that's it. It's over. They slowly begin to return to normal. Think about her less. They let themself mourn the people they lost and despite themself, they mourn her too.

Season four spoilers

S4M6 But then they hear her voice. And they are certain - this time, they have completely lost it. They tell themself it's trauma, perhaps. But her voice is still there. Whispering to them.

S4M13 Half of them panics every time - what if she's not really dead? What if she's out there, tapping into their headset?

S4M13 The other half feels nothing but bliss.

[disabledrunner5]

So I got my first injury doing Zombies, Run! today. It’s not too bad, just twisted or something ankle but it keeps giving way when I walk so I thought I’d just give it a rest.

So in the spirit of that here’s some headcannons of what happened when my Five got her first running injury:

It’s a badly twisted ankle. But when you’re in the Zombie apocalypse even that could kill you.

It happens in early Series 3. Just after the run in with the cult in S3M8, Believe, but before S3M9, I Don’t Want To Get Over You.

To be honest, it was a miracle that it didn’t happen sooner, considering Five’s luck.

But naturally, with Five’s luck, it happened as her and Louise were being chased by roughly seventy of the undead whilst on a supply run to a town.

She trips on a pothole and twists her left ankle (she also hits her head but her headset takes most of the impact, but she now can’t talk to Sam who was on Comms (obviously 😂) or hear him, which scares her a bit)

Louise helps her up and Five is pretty certain she could run it off as she hates asking for help.

her ankle keeps giving way after a few steps.

So Louise has to support her. Running.

They have several close calls with the horde to the point where Five is considering on telling Lousie to leave her. But, the former prison inmate was pretty determined not to leave her behind, mostly for Sam’s sake as she doesn’t want to explain why she let his girlfriend to zombies.

Speaking of Sam, he’d looked away for two seconds to look at another camera when Five fell and missed it so he’s yelling for Louise to tell him what’s happened and why Five is limping, and for Five to answer him.

They somehow lose the Zombies and make it back to Abel before curfew.

Sam’s there at the gates, of course, but Five is immediately ushered off to the hospital by Doctor Lobatse before he could get to her due to the fact that she’s limping and has a very nasty gash on her leg that they couldn’t be 100% certain is not a bite.

The fact that Five is coughing from being out of breath isn’t helping.

Which worries Sam even more.

Louise explains to him what happen but she couldn’t be certain she wasn’t bitten in the two seconds before she realised Five was on the ground.

But thankfully its just a cut from the pavement and a badly twisted ankle. Which Doctor Lobatse cleans and examines it efficiently and tells Five to take a couple of days off to rest her ankle.

Five has to calm Sam down though when he (almost dramatically) bursts in and tearfully asks her if she’s been bitten and then starts blaming himself for taking his eye off the screen she was on for a second before she could tell him she was bite free.

Then he starts crying from relief when she confirms (although she’s unable to talk because Dr Lobatse is in the room, nothing against her though, Five just sometimes can’t talk to people she doesn’t know that well or when she’s in large groups) that she’s fine.

Sam waits on Five all night. Despite her telling him she can do everything herself. Sam refuses to let her do anything that could make her injury worse.

Five suspects he still feels guilty for letting his eye off the ball and not realising she was hurt and needed help.

So she’s constantly telling him it’s not his fault. Just like he does when she’s blaming herself for literally everything.

Sam managed to get hold of some ice from the kitchen and a cloth after a ‘medical emergency’ snack run when he realises Five is still in a bit of pain (it’s more discomfort than pain). He nurses her ankle with it.

Jody and Paula pop in and the four of them talk. Anything to take Five’s mind off the potentially traumatic day.

Eventually when Paula and Jody leave Sam convinces Five to go to sleep as she looks tired.

She’s reluctant because she’s terrified of having a nightmare about it (she’s been having nightmares slightly more than usual after Sara died and she found out that her dad didn’t make it back from London) but eventually agrees.

Sam swears (like he always does when she’s scared of a nightmare) that he’s not going anywhere.

He also mentions that she is not allowed to go anywhere without him or anyone else if her ankle is still painful and seizing up in the morning. He’s not letting her make it worse.

She’s not complaining. She sort of enjoyed being waited on in the apocalypse by her boyfriend 😂 ... but she doesn’t want to take full advantage of Sam or milk her injury.

She still manages to persuade Sam to let her go on the mission with Paula, Owen and Louise to Deadlock Territory in a couple of days if she was feeling better though before going to sleep.

[delucadarling]

ZR Fic - Mutual Dining

Literally just threw out the idea of Kefilwe/Janine and went a little feral. Not even a little edited, be aware. 

Word Count: 1,038

Spoilers: Mild season 3 spoilers. 

Summary: Janine falls for Dr. Lobatse and invites her over for dinner. 

*

*

*

Janine is not a woman much in touch with  her emotions, so it is not at all a shock to her to realize that she’s been in love with Dr. Kefilwe Lobatse for the past two years. What’s more shocking to her is the realization that Dr. Lobatse is in love with her as  well.

“Would you join me for dinner?” Janine asks, tone too sharp with the nerves of doing this again. There has been no one  since Simon, and she assumed there never would be, her insides too shredded and raw for even the gentlest touch. 

The quiet smile she receives from Dr. Lobatse-- from Kefilwe-- proves her wrong. 

It’s been so long since Janine has had to cook a meal. After Abel was on its feet she was far too occupied with running the township to take a turn in the kitchens, and it was too wasteful to use her own kitchen, especially during rationing. She opens the drawers and stares at the implements inside like they’re strangers looking back at her.  

Cooking had always been a small joy, less simplistic than most realize, and Janine is the kind of person to do all things as perfectly as she can manage. Which is to say not so perfectly; all creatures have flaws, and Janine has an itemized list of her own. She is proficient though. Or she was. After so long, she fears she may have forgotten what she knew.

Straightening out her shoulders, Janine grabs a knife, a cutting board, and re-teaches herself how to do this.  

There are hiccups. The sauce is over salted, the chicken not as brown as she’d like, and the vegetables too soft. She can’t find the container of dried fenugreek she was certain she had, which she knows would elevate the dish. 

Even so, she knows her flavor profile is cohesive, everything is warm and unburnt, and all-in-all, she’s had far worse far even before ‘mystery can casserole’ nights were a regular occurrence.

It’s only once everything is plated that she remembers the matter of the kitchen table. 

“Damn it,” she mutters, hurrying to clear away the wires, motherboards, batteries, and various tools scattered on the surface. It is her one area of chaos that is allowed to fester, where projects that are unnecessary go to die a slow death until the pile grows monstrous enough to warrant attacking. Even  with the clutter gone there are stains and pock marks in the surface of the wood that she doesn’t have time to get rid of entirely. All she can do is clean it until it shines and try to hide the flaws with placemats that she has never once used.

The knock on the door comes just as she finishes. Janine removes her apron and brushes down the front of her shirt and trousers, half wishing for a mirror to fix her hair, but knowing well enough that it’s a lost cause.

Kefilwe smiles in a way that chases away the shadows when Janine lets her in. She holds up a glass bottle and says, “I brought a bottle of scotch.”

“That will go well with dinner,” Janine says, trying and failing to sound less like she wishes Kefilwe would leave. Her battle with tone is an unending one, and she fears the other woman won’t understand.

But of course she does. Not a single flicker of uncertainty passes Kefilwe’s face as she enters Janine’s home. There’s only warmth, and a sparkle of amusement.

“I was thinking it would be better for after,” Kefilwe says, leaving the bottle on a side table as she begins leading the way to the table. Janine’s throat clenches at the low purr to the words. 

She forgets what to say, so she simply says, “Indeed,” and pulls out Kefilwe’s chair. 

Kefilwe carries a conversation beautifully, thank God, or else Janine may have been forced to stammer through any number of topics she’d come up with while cooking. Listening to Kefilwe, and weighing in where she feels she should, is far, far more pleasant. 

As  is the way her hand, short and soft and warm, takes Janine’s on the table as they eat. Well, as Kefilwe eats. Janine mostly pushes her dinner around with her fork, marveling at the motion of Kefilwe’s thumb over the back of her hand. 

No words are needed for this part at least. She shifts her chair closer, and Kefilwe does the same, lips twitching at the corners. Heat rises up the back of Janine’s neck, and pink spread across Kefilwe’s cheeks, and Janine is now glad that there is no scotch to act as an excuse for it. It’s just her. Just them.

Just a kiss. 

“I was hoping  for that,” Kefilwe murmurs as they pull apart, but it takes Janine a moment to respond, too mesmerized by her lips. 

“I only just figured it out today,” Janine says. She doesn’t have to explain further, Kefilwe nodding as if that is all she needs to hear.

This is the part where passion usually wins out against better judgement. Janine braces for it, and she thinks she wants it, until Kefilwe simply continues to eat her dinner, letting the kiss just be that; a kiss. Something unknots in Janine’s back and… can it really be so easy? So simple as that?

“Are you alright?” Kefilwe asks, noting Janine’s bewildered expression.

“I- Yes.” A smile finally forms on her own face. “More than, actually.”

“Good.” Kefilwe squeezes her hand. 

Dinner goes on, they neck like teenagers on the couch, and afterwards Janine sees Kefilwe to the door without worrying about who might see. Who  might know. The lack of anxiety buzzing through her veins is completely foreign.

They share another kiss, this  one interrupted by their giddy laughter. 

“Good night, Colonel,” Kefilwe says, playful.

“Good night, Doctor,” Janine returns. 

Kefilwe leaves, and Janine watches her go. Security is what she feels. Safe. Content. She savors the warmth in her chest as she closes the door behind her and turns back to face her home.

The bottle of scotch is still sitting there on the side table, untouched. A perfect excuse. Janine smiles to herself, already imagining seeing Kefilwe tomorrow. 

[abeltownshipslittlebitch]

Five: I asked if he liked to play catch.

Five: He said yes.

Five: I asked if he liked to catch these hands.

Five: And he said yes again.

Five: So I hit him.

Five: I don’t see the problem here.

Lobatse, holding an ice pack to Steve’s eye:

[mrs-elijah-wood]

Steve called Dr. Lobatse “Kefi”

Excuse me I just need to go cry for the next couple of hours 😭😭😭😭😭

[lightuptheshadows123]

Gave The Builder and Dr Lobatse a hand collecting vital clues #zombiesrun

5k run time was 31:06. This is faster than yesterday, so I’m happy 😊

Although, I nearly wasn’t able to actually go for the run. Road works suddenly appeared out of nowhere this morning, and the entire road has been closed. But they don’t seem to care about pedestrian runners 🏃🏻‍♀️

[pldubrahs]

This mission was very stressful, in general, but the juxtaposition of Dr. Lobatse accusing Steve of Not Really Being On Their Side while Steve desperately tries to figure out why she's ghosting him is,,, comedy gold

[wubbelwubbwubb]

I’m still alive! Posting again in what feels like ages. This is for all you fellow Lobatse fans!

I tried to make her not too young and beautiful (though I still think she looks good). With my own and others’ pictures I noticed that many characters tend to be very young and very cute, and so I try to leave that pattern once in a while.

[homeboundrunnerfive]

Steve, slugged with crowbar, bleeding from the head, ripped hazmat suit in contaminated lab, chased by zombies, seconds from death: still deadass hitting on Dr. Lobatse.

Me: