#i am jumping fandoms like its a sport

[dirtflunk]

my son mob. he has every disease

[fagsystem]

As an ambulatory wheelchair user I have so many thoughts about how people draw/write disabled!Scar. This is sort of a guide/insight from a disabled person about writing/drawing disabled people.

Specifically in regards to wheelchair users.

Do not get me wrong, this fandom is genuinely probably the best group of people I have ever seen when it comes to drawing wheelchairs. I do not believe I have ever seen Scar fanart where he is in a completely unusable, horrible, hospital chair. It is so clear people have taken the time and energy to research into wheelchairs and I love it. I am in no way saying stop that.

I just think people could maybe put a little bit more consideration into him being disabled beyond visual appearance.

I saw a really amazing artwork of SL!Scar and he is in a sports chair. Which is really cool, in many ways, as it shows some thought being put into the setting. If I were in combat, I would in fact like to not be knocked from my chair or have my chair tipped over.

Yet, you have very limited mobility in a sports chair. It is, by design, made to prevent you from tipping over. Which means that you are incapable of going over bumps, really, let alone natural terrain.

Just in general, there really is not any wheelchair that exists in our world that would allow wheelchair users to exist in a setting like the life series.

So, I have some ideas:

- Horses. Hands down my biggest suggestion. Especially with Secret Life they fit in very well with the setting, everyone uses them, and it fits the bill perfectly for what he would need. Especially considering Scar is an archer, it makes a lot of sense for him to be on horseback. It suits him and his style of fighting so well.

- Some sort of redstone power chair. There are all sorts of ways you could design something like this. Perhaps with pistons that push down against the ground, allowing for jumps. Perhaps just a series of pistions functioning as like a bunch of little spider legs. There are a lot of things you can do with that, you can get very creative.

- For my Vex!Scar lovers, you could have magic be used as a mobility aid. Perhaps a magic wheelchair, or perhaps a magic exoskeleton.

And with all of the ideas, considering how they fit into the setting really changes everything. What are the strengths? What are the draw backs?

With horses, they are strong and fast and agile. But they are big, it is hard to fit into small spaces, and they can be killed.

With some sort of redstone chair, I feel as though it would make sense for it to be robust and strong. Depending on how it is constructed, something fast and agile or perhaps something a bit slower and more clunky. Is it loud? How would stealth work in something like that?

When it comes to any sort of magic you do not want it to fix the disability. It is a mobility aid like any other. Not perfect, not the same as not being disabled, just another tool with its own unique draw backs. Perhaps magic is draining or it takes concentration. Would he tire quicker than others? Would he require food quicker than others? Is it possible for him to lose focus on it in a stressful situation, leaving him stuck until he can calm himself down?

Other things to consider are really specifically the setting as well as what disability you are giving him.

I feel as though on Hermitcraft an option like a redstone chair just makes a lot of sense. Multiple redstone chairs, even, all constructed differently for different uses. Such as ones for building. How does long distance travel work with the chair and how you lore your setting? Is it something he can put in his inventory? Is it something he remains in when using an elytra? Does that have any draw backs, such as being slower or needing more rockets or being less coordinated in the air?

I feel as though in the life series a mix of vex magic and horses makes a lot of sense. The magic is good for small spaces and short trips and emergencies, but it is too tiring to travel across the map with and too much effort to maintain when he needs to concentrate on battles. That would be where the horse comes into play.

As for what disability, well, it truly depends. Most of my rambles here have been based upon paraplegia, because I often times see people making him an ambulatory wheelchair user just because they do not know what to do otherwise.

Not that making him an ambulatory wheelchair user is a bad thing by any means. I am one and I adore reading stories like that. It is just a bit clear that a lot of you are quite lost as to how to navigate hurdles disabled people face, so you make it so he can walk over those hurdles. Which, once again, I am not shaming you for! This post is just to show there are other options

But in the case of him being an ambulatory wheelchair user: why is he one?

Mobilities aids are disabling unless you need them. You cannot access spaces or you do not have hands free or any number of things. What to the Scar you are writing makes using mobility aids helpful instead of a hindrance? What times are they more trouble than help, and what cost is there for not using it?

A good example is if Scar can walk around short distances with minimal difficulty/drawback, but long distances are painful or physically not possible.

Look into different disabilities and consider it. A lot of people tend to default to chronic pain because that tends to be quite a common one across a lot of disabled people, but there are a lot more different reasons why.

It could also be that he is very slow because of his disabilities. I have muscle weakness sometimes because of my FND, and it is like moving through sludge whenever I try and move.

It could also be that the mobility aids are a preventative measure. He does not need to use his wheelchair, unless he has done too much walking and then his body refuses to support his weight. He does not need to use his wheelchair, but when he does not he is a lot more likely to dislocate something and then yeah he can't walk. He does not need to use his wheelchair, but he is a fall risk especially after a lot of walking or running. Him being in his wheelchair prevents him from falling! (And if he's a fall risk, maybe he's strapped in too!)

I just have so many thoughts and I wanted to share them.

I see so many of you putting in effort already and it warms my heart. It is why I feel comfortable enough to make this post, because clearly you all care a lot about representing disabled people well.

:]

If you have read this far thank you so much. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Edit: I made a rough redstone wheelchair design. It is one of the few reblogs that has comments, if you filter for that you should be able to find it. If not, reply to the post and I can send you the link to it. :]

[kedsandtubesocks]

give you something to dream about

joel miller x f!reader

summary: It’s game night at the bar and you stumble upon the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen

warnings/tags: 18+ ONLY MDNI, no outbreak AU, Joel has both of his daughters, ‘strangers at a bar and maybe something more’ scenario with eventual husband!Joel, mentions of drinking, spicy making out session, Joel gets a bit handsy, gendered language / reader is addressed as “baby” & “darlin” light football discussions and terminology, lovesick and possessive!Joel

word count: 4k

a/n: this is my love letter to Joel, his love for football and maybe my own love for Texas football as well lol. To have this as my first fic of the new year and for it being for Joel means so much. To come back and write for the Pedro fandom is special and means so much. Big thank you to my babe @ahauntedcowboy for letting me scream my sports girl head off about this, and for @lowlights for giving me guidance when I needed it. And lastly - thank you for reading, you are what truly makes this so incredibly special and wonderful

A mixture of bright neon and low soft white lights bathe the bar in a cozy ambient glow. The music is barely audible, a sort of after thought. Instead commotion and the ramble of sports announcers fills the room.

You manage to squeeze through the sea of onlookers dressed in burnt orange. Maria thankfully stays close to you. Now at the bar counter relief floods you as you lean against it.

“Order me a beer, I’m gonna find our table.” Maria yells over the liveliness swirling around.

You give her a thumbs up and thankfully don’t have to wait for the bartender long.

“Like your shirt!”

The bartender’s voice catches you instantly. Bright and direct you blink towards him. He’s cute, young, maybe a grad student from UT Austin who works here.

You can’t help but glance down at what you’re wearing.

Even under your jacket the shirt is comfortably a bit larger on you. The main focus is the old cartoon type logo of Bevo, the Texas Longhorn's mascot. The burnt orange coloring is faded adding to its weathered look.

A warmth flutters through you from just seeing it.

“It’s vintage, cool as hell.” The bartender continues admiring.

“Thanks. Uh, a friend of mine gave it to me.” Thankfully the bartender nods understandingly and doesn’t press the topic more. Instead he soon asks what you’ll be having.

You order Maria’s beer and a drink for yourself.

“So, you a big Texas fan? Well okay, I mean…you gotta be if you’re here.” The bartender, grabbing a drink glass, starts up another conversation with you as his tone becomes playful.

“A lot of people I know and love are. So by default I am too.” You admit with a sleepy grin.

“Aw,” his face melts. “Now that’s sweet. Well glad to have you here cheering for Texas.”

The bartender now even winks at you. You politely laugh but then, the bar erupts silencing the conversation.

Excited yells come so loud you jump out of your skin. Quickly you turn around to view the many tvs and projectors showing the game.

From what you can tell the Texas defense managed to take down the quarterback. You even watch the replay to see what the fuss is about. It was a good tackle and the play kept the other team’s quarterback from even advancing.

The game has you memorized now. You watch as the burnt orange and white uniforms of the players scramble like chaotic ants now trying to rush after the ball was kicked, no, punted to them.

Your lips twitch. You never would’ve thought you knew this much football terminology or could at least follow the game. Yet here you are.

The bartender clears his throat and embarrassingly fast you turn back around.

Not two but three drinks sit before you on the bar counter.

One happens to be a surprise shot that makes your eyes go wide.

“Uh, so the guy at the end of the bar sent it your way.” The bartender explains lowly, trying to be discreet about it.

Your eyes instead whip up to search for the mystery man. Then your heart sprouts wings when you discover him.

Leaning against the bar rail at the very opposed end of where you are, the man seems like something out of a romance novel’s dream.

Ruggedly handsome, his distinguished aged face and striking nose glow against the mixture of neon and dim lighting. It highlights the grays in his beard and gorgeous dark hair. His chocolate eyes bore into you as if you’re the only one in this bar.

His attention on you alone has your knees weak and you wonder maybe you suddenly turned into jello.

Your mystery man lifts his beer up to you, a silent ‘cheers’ and then takes a sip.

Just watching him take a swig of his beer has you dizzy. So you readily snatch up the shot, toast it back to him and down it.

The alcohol burns, but you’re surprised it’s your favorite liquor of choice. You can’t help but cough up wildly and the bartender snickers at your reaction. It’s been too long since you’ve had a shot and you’re thankful to chase the stinging sensation down with your mixed drink.

“Hey!” Maria’s voice calls out and her bright smile greets you as she slides through the packed crowd.

“Hope you didn’t think I forgot about you.” She laughs warmly. She grabs her beer and slides a tip to the bartender.

But then her eyes notice the empty glass.

“Oh? You took a shot without me?” She teases.

You tell her someone bought it for you and her eyebrows fly up fast in eager surprise.

“Oh?” Even her tone is warmly excited. “You get a good look at who your mystery shot buyer is?”

You turn your attention towards the end of the bar, right where he should be. Except your mystery man has vanished.

A bit of disappointment trickles in.

“I did, but guess he took off.” You tell Maria a bit low.

“Well, his loss then. Come on! Let’s head back to our table-”

“S’cuse me…”

A smooth deep and accented drawl, direct and firm enough cuts through the commotion politely cutting in on Maria.

Just as fast, there’s suddenly a deep warmth behind your back. The presence is broad, warm, and smells of the beautiful hint of a sandalwood cologne.

“If you don’t mind, I think I might steal this pretty gem for myself.” The accent seems thicker now and melts off his voice like sin.

He’s talking about you.

Maria smiles wildly entertained while her eyes flicker between you and your mystery man.

Silently you stare back and with pleading eyes you mentally communicate that yes you want to stay, yes it’s okay for her to head back.

“Alrighty then, see you two later.” She says grabbing her beer and gives you one last amused look before heading back to the table.

Your heart races so loud in your ears you don’t even notice the upset yells at a bad call given by the refs.

“…Howdy…”

The voice purrs, absolutely dances against the noise of the bar and beckons to you, your personal siren’s song.

Turning around the shadow of the mystery man falls over you. He stares down with those obsidian pool eyes as his lips turn into a boyish grin.

“I’m Joel. S’nice to meet you.”

You think about all the songs that sing about Texas beauty and how they all must have actually been speaking of this man.

Joel extends his hand out to you and the simple pure southern gentleman introduction has excitement bubbling in you like you’re a champagne bottle about to pop.

Your lips fight back a disbelieved smile as you introduce yourself and shake his hand.

It’s larger than yours, warm and beautifully callous that speaks of hard work. Joel leans closer to you and you can’t help but slide more towards him as well.

“I like your shirt.” His fingers playfully tugs at the bottom edge of your shirt.

“Thanks,” you take a sip of your drink to gain more courage. “A friend of mine let me wear it.”

Joel laughs. It’s warm, touches his face and sounds like it settles in his chest.

“A friend huh?” His voice grows even more amused.

You simply hum a nod as you take another sip of your drink. Your body hums with so many wonderful emotions like a jenga tower trying to hold onto its form on a moving table.

“That friend of yours a boyfriend?” Joel asks, a dark drawl sticky as molasses and trapping you to him.

You can’t help but shake your head no. The taste of your drink momentarily settles you.

“Pretty thing like you single? Ain’t that a shame.” Joel comments with a low rumble and all the ease you had gathered floats away.

Your eyes flicker back to Joel. But your focus goes between his stunning eyes and his lips. You don’t miss the way his eyes gloss over, become hooded with a hazy desire. How much it intensifies his gorgeous features makes your stomach flutter.

The game must have quieted down or maybe you’re just this focused on this man.

He moves to whisper in your ear.

“So…Wanna find a nice quiet spot to chat? Get to know each other better?” His lips softly graze your ear and an electric current runs up your spine.

“Yeah.” You mutter back now tipsy off Joel’s presence.

The moment you agree, Joel’s hand slips towards your waist and draws you to his side. He quickly slams down plenty of bills on the counter to cover for the drinks and tip. Your poor drink and his are forgotten.

Now Joel shifts into a man focused.

Squaring up his shoulders, he stands taller as he takes the lead. His broad shoulders become a guiding force, keeping you close to him. His hand intertwines with yours while he navigates you among the crowds.

His larger hand suddenly squeezes yours, a reassuring pressure that draws you closer to him. Moving through the tables against the crowds, you arrive at the outdoor patio where the early night air clears your mind.

Joel continues guiding you to a smaller area where the bathrooms are outside by the patio. You stand before the family restroom that holds the sweet title of “cowpokes” on it. Opening the door, Joel leads you inside. You take in the slightly larger yet still small rustic bathroom that glows under the murky amber light.

The door locks behind you and you turn around to find Joel staring you down with hunger brewing in his smokey eyes.

That’s all you can focus on before you get caught up in a dizzying whirlwind.

Hastily Joel rushes forward to pin you against the wall. His body firm and large presses so deliciously against you. Before your eyes can even soak in the close sight of him, he sweeps in and kiss you with a ravenous fierceness that steals your breath.

He quickly consumes you.

Joel faintly tastes of beer and something intoxicatingly uniquely him. While his hand moves to hold your face, his tongue licks into your mouth, diving in, almost trying to get drunk off you. You can’t help but draw him closer to you as much as you can. You want your nails to dig into him the same way he’s burning under your skin and seeping into your core

His hips begin to grind against you with an eased pace and you moan into his mouth. You want more, need more.

“Oh baby.” Joel groans out and sounds like sticky delicious sin.

Suddenly the loudest cheers leak into the bathroom.

So fierce in their excitement it echos into the room and freezes you and Joel immediately.

He sighs against your lips.

“We must‘ve scored.” Joel mutters.

“Are you upset you didn’t see it?” You ask gently and kiss his lips soft as the heat begins to settle.

“Nah. I’m aimin’ to score here myself.” He grins and the line has you laughing. Your face goes to rest against his as you continue to snicker. The prickle of his beard gently scratching against your skin feels wonderful.

“Darlin’ you’re killin’ me. I wanted to sound slick.” Joel sighs again, sounding deflated now.

“You did...sort of.” You smile.

“Forgive me,” He smirks and turns to press another soft kiss against your lips. “Been outta practice for a while.”

“You aren’t too bad, cowboy. You managed to get me in here.” You hum amused while your fingers run against his jaw, through his scruffy wonderful beard.

Joel chuckles and it dances within his chest, resonating through him.

“You’re the only one I want in here.” He mutters.

You and him share a few more soft slow eased kisses that are rushed, almost shy now.

With one last kiss, a deeply melting one that now makes you ache to keep him here, Joel pulls away. You hold yourself back from pouting.

But, you’re now rewarded with the sight of Joel fully before you. The dim amber light paints him like something pulled from a sunset dream, an aged handsome man so sweet with his furrowed concentrated eyes.

You watch Joel pat around his jean pockets and suddenly your eyes go wide.

“Joel Miller if you lost them-”

“Calm down!” He huffs cutting you off while he rapidly digs into his deep jeans pocket. He yanks something out in his grasp.

He smoothly slides closer back to you and holds out his palm where two wedding rings sit waiting.

His and yours.

Your heart melts out of your chest seeing them and your ring finger itches for its missing piece. You grab Joel’s ring, leaving him yours and move to slide his back onto his hand.

In the same manner, Joel slides your wedding band back onto its rightful place. The memory of when you did this at your actual wedding faintly flutters in and settles warm in your heart’s chamber.

Joel draws your hand to his lips and kisses your knuckles.

This man, your husband - you yank him towards you again to kiss him.

It’s a kiss that’s like coming home, of sweetness and cultivated bliss reuniting together again.

“Wanna see that bartender try flirtin’ with ya now with that ring on your finger.” Your grumpy husband grumbles adorably.

You bark a laugh. “Oh please, he was being nice for the tip and you know it.”

“Uh huh.” Joel dryly huffs as he stares at you unamused.

“Hey he was nice. He even liked my shirt.” You reply back.

“My shirt.” Joel clarifies strongly. “That’s my shirt.”

You roll your eyes playful.

He is right though. The shirt is his. Your husband is a superstitious football fan. And ever since you wore his shirt and Texas won, Joel used his beautiful brown eyes as weapons to get you to wear his shirt every game since then.

“Come on, curious to see what the score is.” With one last sweet kiss, Joel leads you back out into the evening air.

Hand in hand with him, you find your way to Tommy and Maria. Both of them brighten up at the sight of you and Joel.

“Hey! Look at that! You’re a married man again!” Tommy cries happily and you laugh. Joel, after sliding your chair in for you, rolls his eyes now while you and Maria snicker to each other.

“Bet it was fun while it lasted.” Maria grins.

“Eh.” You shrug but the truth tugs at your lips amused.

A few nights ago, when you and Joel had come up with this idea of going to the bar without the rings, pretending to not know each other, you worried for a split moment that you’d enjoy the freedom.

You worried you would realize how much you missed and enjoyed the playful banter, the flirting and pull that comes with being single. But instead you simply found your way back to Joel.

The excitement of seeing him, of having that same sensation rush through you like it did when you first met him, was nostalgically addictive for a moment.

However, you instead soak in the comfort of sitting beside Joel because it feels like coming home. While being single for another moment again was fun, you want to find Joel in every lifetime, find him as your husband in every universe.

The bar suddenly breaks into wild excitement. Joel as well cheers so loud. You turn to the game and find Texas intercepted a pass.

Now you go to check your phone and find both your daughters thankfully are doing fine. Sarah even sent you a photo text of her and Ellie at the classmate’s birthday party they’re both at. There’s a lightness that settles into your bones seeing them and having their father, your husband, beside you.

Joel and Tommy, as if they’re ESPN announcers in deep analysis, dive back into how Texas needs to sharpen up their offensive line. It’s adorable. It makes you fall in love even more with him.

Maria goes to ask Tommy something about the game and Joel leans towards you.

“You happy to be married again?” His voice drops soft and low. You catch the hint of true curiosity and almost hesitation residing under his tone.

“Of course. It’s my luckiest day all over again.” You truthfully tell him with a warm grin.

“Yeah?” He mutters tenderly as his eyes flicker to your lips again. “Make sure you share some of that luck with the team alright?”

You playfully nudge his arm and Joel smirks. You love him like this, light and teasing.

Joel drops a kiss to the side of your head.

“Don’t worry baby, this is my lucky day too. Goin’ home with the most gorgeous person here and I’m married to her.”

You could say the same thing. You’re leaving with the most handsome man and knowing you’re married to him? You feel honored, proud, and grateful.

Even when he starts yelling at the quarterback as if the poor guy can hear him.

“I could throw a better pass than that!” He argues upset.

You’re not as big of a fan as Joel, but Texas holds a place in your heart forever. It intertwined you and him in its own unique way.

Back when you were dating Joel patiently explained the game, so gently spoke to you without any judgment when you asked questions you were sure would make any other seasoned fan mock you or get annoyed. But not your Joel.

The first big moment you met Ellie and Sarah it was over at his place during a Texas game.

You experienced how wildly invested Ellie got, just like Joel, and how amused Sarah got seeing her dad and sister scream at the tv. From that point - all the days, the games, laughs and moments cultivated into a path that has led you to this moment, to this bar.

And now, here you are.

You love Joel’s love for the game, for the sport. You love how it’s connected you to him.

“Honey, you okay?” The voice of your husband pulls you from your thoughts, like a call home.

You turn to find Joel intently looking at you, your sweetheart provider. You can’t help but grin and nod.

“Yup, just thinking about the handsome stranger I met earlier. Hope he asks for my number.” You tell him.

Joel breaks into a chuckle that touches his earth eyes.

“Between you and me, he’d be a fool if he didn’t.” His hand now slides to yours, his thumb even begins to twist and fiddle with your wedding ring, a sweet habit of his.

You snort amused at how effortlessly he can play along with you.

Before you can tease him again or even wander back into your thoughts, the crowd roars to life with shouts. All eyes including yours snap to the game.

Texas just intercepted the ball and the play breathes life into the bar, into your husband who claps loud and proud.

It’s a great energy to see the end of the second quarter and the start of the halftime.

Suddenly, Joel’s hand begins softly trailing against your thigh. Warm and almost eased, the slow movement ignites a blooming desire in your chest.

Joel easily laughs with Tommy about the game. His eyes stay on his brother. Yet Joel’s hand slides now confidently deeper into the inside of your thigh. Your throat tightens and heat now begins to soak between your thighs, almost daring him to touch you.

Then a collection of happy cheers burst in the bar and steals all the attention.

All the tables nearby including yours turn to find a group of ladies. One of them currently grabs the cowboy hat off a taller man who grins so warmly down at her. She laughs loudly after doing what had to have been a wild shot.

The guy orders her, and her friends, another round causing them to squeal loud and excited again. Maria leans back to talk to Tommy and so you too lean closer to your own husband.

“Maybe I should pretend to be single again.” You tell Joel. “To see if I’ll get free shots and attention like that.”

Not that you’d want any of that. You just enjoy teasing your sweet grumpy husband from time to time.

“Nope.” Joel says with an unwavering sharpness. “You ain’t going anywhere without that ring Mrs. Miller.”

His words are rather light, almost playful, but you catch the underlying possessive simmering. It ignites an even stronger warmth beneath your skin.

“And who says you don’t get free shots? I’ll buy you as many as ya want.” Joel adds and his clipped almost ruffled voice has you laughing.

But as you settle, your thoughts wander. The smell of Joel so close, the mixture of his faint cologne and the detergent you use to wash his clothes, brings back the sensation of having that smell surround you when you were in the restroom with him.

It makes you ache.

Your hand now softly wanders to rub his warm broad chest. A low rumble comes from him, an awareness of your presence as you drape against him now. Maria and Tommy thankfully have begun to make fast friends with the couple sitting beside your table.

Your face leans to rest against Joel’s and the slick honey like desire you felt earlier creeps over you once more. It urges you to be bold.

“Wanna go mess around before halftime is over?” You offer soft and low, only for his ears.

Joel peers over to you, his eyes now smoldering coals.

“You wanna?” He mutters back.

Your answer comes as a soft kiss you place against his cheek. However, your hand now begins to slide up his thigh just like he did to you earlier.

Joel loudly clears his throat and sits up fast which untangles you from him. Immediately he yanks out his wallet to slam his card on the table.

Tommy and Maria now blink back at the sudden action.

“Order anything y'all want. We gotta grab somethin’ from the truck.” Joel lies effortlessly.

But Maria knows as she grins knowingly while embarrassment instead rises in you.

And apparently her husband isn’t as easily fooled either.

“Yeah yeah! Get outta here ya horn dogs!”

Joel barks a sharp ‘hey!’ at his younger brother’s crudeness while you can only laugh against him. Tommy simply makes obnoxious kissy faces while Maria snickers besides him. Unable to endure anymore teasing Joel playfully calls Tommy a piece of shit and with that you wave a quick and thankful to Tommy and Maria.

Joel once again leads the way to the entrance.

The two of you now stay stuck together closer than earlier. An almost giddy frenzy now keeps you both hyper aware of the other. His hands keep you so firmly close to him.

The giddiness you had earlier while pretending to be single with Joel is nothing compared to this. This feeling swirling in you comes from knowing you get to sneak away with your husband. It has you floating, only tied to this world by Joel keeping you steady and protected.

Around you, small chatter about the game hangs in the air.

Texas might not win. But as you slide closer to Joel, a unique shade of triumph washes over you.

Your good man, your wonderful husband.

He is your victory and champion.

Your victory lap and your welcome home party all at once.

And when he kisses you wildly against the side of his truck…you think he might also be your sneaky devilish opponent as his hand already starts to slip under your, no his shirt.

And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

[stationintern]

Hello all!

This month was, truly, a beautiful month for me reading-wise. The birds were chirping, I found smut that made me sweat, and I revisited some old favorites. Let's jump right in. I am so excited to share these with you. (Hence why I am posting this a day early.)

Strap in!

Dwelling On Dreams by @the-sinking-ship for H/D Big Bang 2021, 135k, E

I reread this fic this month, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. There are aspects of this fic that felt burned into my memory, so it came as a shock to me when I realized that the last time I'd read this fic was over a year ago. Everything about it feels so vivid. Harry's magic, his raw sexual energy. Draco's ability to make me scream at my phone and throw a mini temper-tantrum. I love flashbacks, and this fic has them in abundance. If you're looking for a thick read with complex characters and an interesting case to solve, look no further!

Hear Me Out by @rainstormradish for @dronarryfest 2024, 5.2k, E

I am pleased to announce that I have officially bought my ticket and jumped on the Dronarry train. You've all convinced me. This fic, in particular, is what really got the ball rolling. This was... immaculate. When I said I found smut that made me sweat, I MEANT IT. I had to, like, physically reconnect with my limbs after I read this. A bit of fake dating to start you off, and it only gets better from there.

The Way You Say My Name by InnerLilith 5.3k, E

Ya'll ever just bark at your phone? Sometimes, a girl just wants to read about Harry Potter going absolutely bonkers over Draco Malfoy calling him sweet little names. Very hot, very important to me.

Please hold. Your call is very important to us./Bloodlust and Bureaucracy by @goblinmatriarch 5k, T/8.5k E

DOUBLE FEATURE! I love the smell of wizarding bureaucracy in the morning. What a little world you have built! Authors who can create a new little piece of the wizarding world to explore mean the world to me. Very interesting in regards to how the medical system in the wizarding world relates to its real-world counterparts. Also, some biting action. Very smart, very hot.

Crossed Wires by @skeptiquewrites 11k, E

Critics are raving. "Literally ripping up the wallpaper in my home," says one reviewer. "Gnawing at the bars of my enclosure," says another. Bureaucracy lovers win forever and ever. Also, Draco gets to wear many suits. Harry Potter the reluctant politician. I couldn't have wished for more.

Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses 46k, E

BOATS, REPRESSION, MORE BOATS, EDGING (for sports purposes), EVEN MORE REPRESSION, AND WILL YOU BELIEVE ME IF I SAY THERE'S MORE BOATS. I don't know how you've done it, but you've managed to parallel the epic highs and lows of college rowing with the literal wizarding war. If that isn't talent, I don't know what is babe.

Truth or Dare? by @lettersbyelise 3.4k, E

There is truly nothing more intimate than jerking off your childhood rival while a party goes on around you. THAT, my friends, is the key to post-war, inter-house unity.

Borrowed Time by @the-starryknight for @dronarryfest 2024, 7.6k, E

Oh this was fire. What do you know about body swapping threesomes? Would you like to know more? Yes. Yes, you would.

Alrighty, I think that's all for now, folks. Very thankful to be in a fandom with so so so many talented people. You all blow my mind. Here's to another month of fantastic fiction!

See ya!

XX, Moon

[rearranged-fanfic]

New Story Out!

*Waves* Hello! It's been a while since I interacted with the fandom. The AO3 curse got me bad. Sorry, guys!

Anyway, I'm back for the moment. And I bring you a smutty two-shot of Merman!Satoru in apology. Hopefully, I'll be releasing Part Two by this Friday. REARRANGED is still taking a bit because Nanamin is decidedly hard to write, especially because I've been in a slump.

Anyway, it's super late where I am. I'll respond to all the messages and comments on here that I've been neglecting tomorrow morning! Sorry for ghosting you all! I missed you 🥰

In other news, I now have 84 messages on AO3 that I also need to respond to. Oops.

:.:

New Story

Seaside

Rating: E, Very E

Warnings: None

Summary: Will you let me keep you forever? When Reader-chan returns to her seaside hometown for the summer, she catches the eye of a mysterious suitor. Of course, she's not aware that she even has a suitor, let alone one as unusual as this.

Tags: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Merman Gojo Satoru, Human Reader, Mystery, Horror Lite, Romance, Interspecies Romance, Human/Monster Romance, Courting Rituals, Misunderstandings, Explicit Sexual Content, Nonhuman Genitalia, Cervical Penetration, Happy Ending

*Excerpts from the story (Spoilers, duh)*

Excerpt 1:

The long reach of the dock is less intimidating than it’d been when I was a child.  It’d once felt like it stretched a mile into the sea.  Now, it’s just a short walk until I reach the end.  Shuffling off my sandals and rubbing my sore heels, I plonk down at the very edge.  The coolness of the water caresses the red-hot soles of my feet.  My sterling silver ankle bracelets reflect the light of the sun like fish scales. It’d been a bad idea to wear new shoes, I admonish myself. I kick out absentmindedly, sending ripples of water out to sea.  The ocean is calm right now, but I know that it can get rough.  I sigh and tilt my head back, basking in the midday sun.  I’d jump in to cool off, if I didn’t know any better. The water around the village isn’t good for swimming.  The surf and spray are rough at the best of time.  It’s good for sports and the like, but human bodies are too likely to get tossed around or pulled out to sea in a riptide. The cove that my little home rests on is one of the more dangerous areas, with the tidal pools that have formed here creating all manner of crazy currents when the tide changes.  I’d been scared away from taking a dip here time and time again when I was just a kid. Now, I know better.  Only my feet in the water, or Dad will claw himself out of his grave just to berate me. It’s so quiet out here, with only the waves to keep me company.  I let out a low hum—a song from very, very far in the past.  It’s what Mom used to sing to my sister and I when we were small.  I only remember parts of the words now, but the tune is forever ingrained into my soul. Then another sound joins my lament: a low, haunting wail. “A dolphin?” I ask under my breath.  Whatever it is, it sounds close.  Or it’s very, very loud. And as its beautiful cry dies off, I sing back to it a little louder.

Excerpt 2:

It feels hazy—like experiencing everything through a gaussian blur.  I can’t quite focus on any one thing.  It’s too hard to lift my heavy body.  Sleep paralysis, I think. This must be a dream.   It has to be. Then there’s a smooth voice murmuring into my ear.  The vibrations almost tingle.  I feel it down to the tips of my toes. It’s a man, I think.  One that I’ve never heard before—that’s a voice I’d recognize no matter what.  It’s so incredibly beautiful. “You didn’t come when I called.  I was worried,” the presence seems to almost be scolding me.  I’d laugh at this weird dream manifestation if I could move. There’s a beat. “You shouldn’t sleep like this, you know; you could drown.  You humans are terrifyingly fragile.”  A chuckle follows the statement, trails off and fades into the sounds of the waves from below. A dream. Just a dream. I sigh, leaning into the sweet touch.  My dreamlike phantom nuzzles at the place where my shoulder and neck meet.  The soft tickling comes again.  It lingers against my chin, leaving moisture in its wake.  Hair, I think.  Wet.  Cold. It’s such a contrast from the heat of my bath that I shiver.

[pikahlua]

Katsuki Bakugou and the most unpredicted predictable plot twist

Okay, I was a little obnoxious recently, I’ll own that. But what the hell else was I supposed to do? It’s been a while since Horikoshi gave us such a wink and a nudge! I want to savor this so much.

But let’s talk about the new fantasy AU art. In case you’re unaware, we’ve had three up until now. What’s notable about the first two is that the sword All Might sports in the first...

...makes an appearance in the second as a sword split between Izuku and Katsuki.

And you can take that how you will. The easiest conclusion to draw is that both Izuku and Katsuki have inherited a piece of All Might’s legacy and won’t be able to realize the full power of that legacy without the other’s help. That’s a fair interpretation. I will allow you that one.

But then we get this:

Yeah, you can keep the same interpretation with this. But come on! What am I supposed to think about Katsuki pointing at the completed sword (that he’s apparently also put his own spin on)? While Izuku’s sword is hidden and not showing if it’s completed or still just a half? And why did Katsuki have a hunting knife in the second art but only one sword now? And why does Izuku have an extra sword now which he didn’t have in the second art? What the hell am I supposed to think!?!?!?

You know, anon, that (allegedly) happens in both the second and third art pieces, and now I’ll never unsee it.

Okay, so am I 100% certain this is a hint that Katsuki gets OFA? No. I have never been 100% certain about any of my theories. But here’s the thing: as a fandom, we really haven’t considered this possibility enough. It’s actually brilliant if you think about it. We’re all so convinced it won’t happen because it happened in Heroes Rising, which throws us off Horikoshi’s trail. BUT I CONSIDERED IT AND I REALIZED SOMETHING CRUCIAL.

What happens in Heroes Rising is its own set of events in which Katsuki ends up with OFA. There are other distinct possibilities that could lead to the same outcome, and they are immensely different from the Heroes Rising movie.

Let’s explore them.

THEORY: Katsuki Bakugou will receive the One For All quirk (or something).

Table of Contents I. Heroes Rising II. Transcendent Katsuki III. A New One For All? IV. An Explosively Petty Heart V. Good Ole Parallels

I. Heroes Rising

So Horikoshi claims Heroes Rising included some of his original ideas for the MHA ending, but now he has come up with a better ending. But we don’t know what it is about this “better ending” that will supposedly be different from Heroes Rising. If we just assume the part that was meant to be the original MHA ending is “Katsuki gets OFA,” we’re really just jumping to conclusions.

But what else could he have been talking about if not that?

Well, he could have been talking about the circumstances in which it happens.

What really happens in Heroes Rising? Izuku, in a desperate gambit to defeat the enemy, passes One For All willingly onto Katsuki so that they can both use it to fight, and then Izuku uses up the power and ends up quirkless, leaving Katsuki the next heir of One For All (until it gets undone).

So what if the part that changes in the “better ending” isn’t the fact that Katsuki gets One For All. In other words...what if Izuku doesn’t give it to him? How else could Katsuki then end up with One For All?

The answer may be staring us in the face.

II. Transcendent Katsuki

First of all, we must acknowledge that Horikoshi has been setting things up for something to happen with Katsuki. I won’t rehash my entire theory here about how Katsuki is about to awaken as a transcendent one. But of all my theories I’ve ever crafted, I have never been more certain about any than that. And if I’m correct that Katsuki is becoming a transcendent one just like Tomura is, then the major consequence of this will be that he becomes a suitable vessel for multiple quirks. Ain’t no worries about One For All sapping his life away at that point.

There are other hints about legacies Katsuki is to inherit. Heck, aside from just the All Might vestige visiting Katsuki as he dies, we do have this interesting sequence that ends with Katsuki on-panel.

And what drives me nuts about this sequence is how Edgeshot and Jeanist and Mirko are all there essentially passing their legacies onto Katsuki as well. With the OFA vestiges being numbered as they are, the pro heroes’ rankings suspiciously resemble a similar line of progression. Were I to mention the quirks of the “Third, Fourth, and Fifth,” you would be entirely justified to read that as the OFA vestiges Izuku has met...or Jeanist, Edgeshot, and Mirko. Is it a coincidence? With all this talk about legacy and chains connecting people?

But since these are not characters connected with the real OFA, what does that mean? Is Katsuki somehow gonna create his own OFA? One that’s separate from the one Izuku has?

I mean, maybe???

III. A New One For All?

I don’t know what Horikoshi ultimately has up his sleeve, but there’s one particular Chekhov’s gun that still hasn’t gone off, and I AM WAITING.

Neito Monoma, that beautiful bastard.

Wayyyyy back in the Joint Training Arc, we had a nice little expo from Monoma that ABSOLUTELY CANNOT HAVE BEEN A ONE-OFF THING.

“Some [quirks] have effects that last and linger.” (And also “Be careful of the supporting role’s dying breath,” because that one is just hilariously ominous.)

What I’m getting at is that this arc went well out of its way to establish what would happen if Monoma copies OFA, which for him is a whole lot of nothing. But the “some have effects that last and linger” IMMEDIATELY made me wonder about: what happens if he copies All For One and steals a quirk? Or gives a quirk to someone else?

So here we have a character who really could move quirks around or even DUPLICATE them. If he copies AFO, can he pass a Copied quirk to someone else...and the effect lingers indefinitely? Or maybe he just copies OFA itself and passes it onto another person. Will that other person still have the Copied OFA when Monoma hits his time limit? Or can he just hold Izuku’s and Katsuki’s hands and give Katsuki OFA for as long as they hold hands plus 10 minutes?

Now, that last one is a bit iffy because Copying OFA by itself doesn’t do a whole lot, but the fact that there’s still the potential for it to happen should not just fly under the radar. Horikoshi can make all manner of things happen in his story to turn this seemingly useless ability into a big game changer should he so desire.

IV. An Explosively Petty Heart

Before I go into another possibility for how all this could go down, I’d like to point out another series of suspicious potential hints that Katsuki will end up with OFA--because we’re coming off the subject of Monoma, and he and Katsuki are both infamous fourth wall-breakers, with all their talk about supporting characters and extras.

You see, Katsuki has a habit of lampshading the story with irony.

“I’ll last longer in battle than you, wimp!! [promptly dies]”

Because of this, anything and everything Katsuki says should automatically become suspect. He gives so many hints about the story proper by just sneezing. This is a major part of why that new fantasy AU art was so conspicuous with his pointing at the sword. If that gesture really is a clue, it’s a clue that once again breaks the fourth wall.

I’m just saying, we really still have no idea what happened to Katsuki’s heart. Did it get hit? Or did it explode from the inside?

Given what I said about Monoma before...maybe Katsuki already has OFA???

V. Good Ole Parallels

So we’ve got a new OFA legacy being formed, we’ve got Monoma pulling some shenanigans, we’ve got Katsuki already somehow having OFA before the battle, but what other possibilities are there?

There’s one that just won’t stop haunting me.

It’s time to extrapolate Star’s fate to Katsuki.

Look, New Order did its damage, and it’s still making its mark on the current story. I am convinced of several things, those things being: (a) Star and Stripe has way too many parallels with Katsuki Bakugou, and (b) this bit above with AFO’s quirks turning on him is coming back again.

Probably the most ironic defeat AFO could suffer would be for his stolen quirks to cause his downfall. We’ve seen them rise up in rebellion against him before, but they seem to need some help to do so. New Order got them riled up. Now somehow Jirou managed to trigger them. They are just itching to fight back.

So what could One For All do to help those stolen quirks rise up? The vestiges have their own wills. Perhaps they could LEAD the rebellion.

Which means...All For One (either version) is going to steal One For All.

So here’s a concept: All For One (probably the Tomura version of AFO, let’s be real) steals the OFA quirk successfully. However, the vestiges inside OFA turn on AFO and get the rest of his quirks to attack him. OFA becomes a poison to AFO just like New Order did. So what does AFO do when that happens?

He has to offload the OFA quirk onto someone else.

But where could he safely store OFA until he can find a way to get control over it?

His best bet to make sure OFA wouldn’t be used against him would be...an unconscious person.

(Or you can mess with this formula a bit as you like. Maybe AFO Prime steals OFA, but because his AFO quirk is a duplicate his authority/strength over the vestiges is weakened--and THAT’S why the OFA quirk is able to get all the other quirks to turn on him. So AFO then offloads OFA onto unconscious Katsuki until he can find a way to get TomurAFO close enough to transfer the quirk to him, because the heroes will be doing everything in their power to keep TomurAFO away at that point).

But do you see how Izuku isn’t giving OFA to Katsuki in this case or any of the others? See how Heroes Rising was possibly throwing us off the trail?

And, well, there are more iterations of possibilities I haven’t listed. I’ll admit as much as that too.

Like...I don’t know, maybe Katsuki doesn’t receive OFA in the end.

Maybe somehow he actually ends up with the All For One quirk instead? 👀

[saiilorstars]

Chapter 24: The Honorable Ladies Souzas

Fandom: Doctor Who

Current Masterlist || Previous Story

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If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

The Doctor stepped out of a grocery store holding a rather large chocolate egg in his hands, minty fresh of course, for his—

He scrunched up his face at the water that practically smacked him in the face.

"Sorry!" He heard Minerva's cry right after. He lightly sighed as he patted his face dry with a cloth from his pocket. Minerva quickly reached him with an apologetic face that he frankly couldn't ignore. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I was just trying to practice again and then...well..." she made a face as she patted his cheeks, "...on the bright side I finally got my 2 seconds to turn into two minutes?" She gave a small, nervous smile.

"Which means I'm proud of you," the Doctor declared and placed a kiss on her lips.

"Yeah? Cause Zohar says I'm behind. Donna's practically mastered the snow by now! She's moving onto the ice!"

"Everyone has their own pace, dear. Plus, Donna isn't also learning how to raise up a kingdom, how to form relationships with other planets' leaders and she isn't learning about all of time and space at the same time."

"But still, I'm the princess and I still can't hold water for five minutes. And I can't even activate my ice and snow. It's a bit disappointing to my grandfather..."

"To be fair, he's gotten a lot more difficult to impress lately," the Doctor sighed, "The only thing he's going to be happy about is the day you tell him you've finally left me."

"Never," she declared dead serious, "I told him on the day of our wedding this was final. You and I forever, always together. It'll take him some time but he'll eventually have to accept it, I'm married now."

"And what lovely time it's been so far," he Eskimo kissed her, making her giggle.

"Oh yes," she linked arms with him and began walking down the London night street with her husband, "Still feels like yesterday we married...actually, it still feels like our wedding night..." she admitted with a blush as she looked to the side.

"What? You're telling me that's not how the first four months as a married couple is supposed to feel?" the Doctor looked at her with a teasing face, though he also sported his own blush.

"Oh shut up," she playfully hit his arm with her free hand, "And eat your chocolate instead."

"What ever you wish, wife," he smirked as he began unwrapping his chocolate.

~ 0 ~

Not too far away from the couple, a woman with long black hair and brown eyes was running down the night streets carrying a heavy backpack. She looked back as a police detective was hot on her tail along with several other policemen. She noticed a bus not too far ahead and quickly ran for it, the detective seeing her and running after her.

She jumped inside the bus and gave a small smile to the bus driver, "Hello. I'm so terribly sorry. That card paying device thing, that's a Lobster card, am I right?"

"Oyster card," the driver gave her an odd look.

"Ah, well, that's the problem, you see. I only use my Oyster when there's an R in the month."

"It's April," the driver reminded.

The woman sighed with no patience. She took her earrings off and held them to the driver, "Diamonds. Genuine," she dropped them into his palm, "Drive!"

"Works for me," the driver shrugged.

The woman quickly hurried down the bus and sat down at the first open seat by the window. Before the bus shut its doors a lovely couple entered and the woman swiped a card.

"You're just in time," the driver remarked.

"Thank you!" she called to the driver as they continued through the bus. With the sudden start of the bus, the pair fell to different sides of the bus, "No, thank you!" the woman called as she sat up and saw her husband across her, "You okay?"

The Doctor looked down at the chocolate egg in his hands and grinned, "Yes!" he looked over to the woman that sat beside him, "Sorry about that, by the way."

"It's fine," the woman mumbled, waving him off.

"I'm the Doctor! That's my wife, Minerva! Happy Easter!"

"The chocolate is minty by the way," Minerva added with a grin, "It's really good. Glad you were able to actually land us on Easter," she looked at the Doctor, "Maybe getting rid of that hammer actually improved your piloting."

He mock-glared at the Clever Girl. "I still can't believe you actually did that."

Minerva had actually chucked his hammer out into outer space! Granted she had warned him of her intention two minutes before she'd actually done it. He thought she'd been kidding...

...she had not been kidding.

"I promised the old girl," Minerva shrugged and looked at the woman beside the Doctor, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't hear a lousy disagreement, it's Easter!"

"Funny thing is, I don't often do Easter," the Doctor admitted then smiled at Minerva, all disagreements forgotten, "Perhaps now that I have a wife with excellent human memories, I'll start having Easter more often," Minerva silently smiled back, "Although I never could find it, it's always at a different time. Although I remember the original. Between you and me, what really happened was... "

A beeping sound interrupted him and so he quickly handed the chocolate egg to the woman beside him while he reached into his pocket, "Oh, sorry, hold on to that for us. Actually, go on, have it, finish it."

"Hey!" Minerva frowned upon seeing their chocolate I'm the hands of another woman, "I still wanted it!"

"It's full of sugar," he declared, "You're energetic enough and I'm determined to keep these teeth," he bared his teeth to her.

"Funny, cause you didn't seem to have that problem with me last night," she shot him a smirk when he blushed.

"Anyways..." he quickly looked down as he pulled out the gadget he'd been searching for in his pocket, "Ah! Oh, we've got excitation!" he shook it and garnered an odd look from another passenger behind, "I'm picking up something very strange."

"I know the feeling," the black-haired woman gave him a quick glance, actually hoping he'd go sit with that wife of his and leave her out of whatever that gadget was all about.

"Rhondium particles, that's what we're looking for," the Doctor began to explain to the black-haired woman since Minerva knew all about it. Minerva could see the woman had no interest in the Doctor's words but Minerva kept quiet for the Doctor's sake, and because he looked so adorable rambling on, "This thing detects them," the Doctor was tapping the gadget in his hands, "The little dish should go round, that little dish there...

"Right now, a way out would come in pretty handy. Can you detect me one of those?" the black-haired woman finally spoke up in a normal tone.

Behind the trio was another couple where the woman seemed nervous as she looked to her husband, "Lou, can you hear them?"

"Hear what, sweetheart?" Lou asked, sensing her nervousness rising.

"The voices. So many voices. Calling to us. Calling so far."

"Oh, the little dish is going round!" the Doctor exclaimed, "Look Minerva."

She smiled and nodded, "Yup. Oh, but..." the dish started spinning until a part of the gadget exploded, "I don't think it's supposed to do that.."

"Excuse me. Do you mind?" a blonde woman behind them gave both a sharp look, irritated with the commotion.

The Doctor stood up, "Sorry. That was my little dish."

"Can't you turn that thing off?" the black-haired woman asked

"What was your name?" he looked at her for a second.

"Christina."

"Christina, hold on tight," he told a seat beside Minerva ad wound an arm around her waist while the other hand held onto the handle, "Everyone, hold on!"

The bus lurched and shook, making the passengers scream and jerk forwards. The Doctor fell to the floor with Minerva unfortunately.

"The voices! Oh, the voices, they're screaming!" Lou's wife cried.

One of the bus windows shattered and sparks flew from the overhead wires. A young man toppled down the stairs from the upper deck and shouted as soon as he could, "What's going on?!"

With a blinding light, the rest of the windows started shattering. A couple minutes later, the Doctor opened his eyes to find the wrecked bus and the sunlight that streamed through the window, that had definitely not been there a couple minutes ago!

"Oh, it is hot" Minerva groaned as she sat up.

"Are you alright!?" he quickly turned to her, "Is it too much!?"

She shooed his hands off her as they stood up, "A bit of a new heat, but..." she looked around, seeing the endless sand hills that was now their new environment, "...manageable."

He sighed in relief, it seemed that the adaptation was going just fine for his Clever Girl. It was a fact that she, unlike the rest of the Moontsays except Zohar, could withstand much higher levels of heat. However, that didn't mean she was easily resistant to all types of heat. So, the Doctor had made it his job to slowly introduce her to those other heat levels little by little. It was a work of patience and even if he really had none, he magically garnered extremely high levels of it when it came to Minerva. It seemed like it was all paying off seeing how she was taking the new desert they were in.

The pair moved to the doors and opened it up to look at the desert, "End of the line," the Doctor declared as he stepped out, taking Minerva by the waist and pulling her down, "Call it a hunch, but I think we've gone a little bit further than Brixton."

The other passengers slowly started coming out of the bus where they took observation of their bus and environment. The bus's tip deck was crushed with smoke wafting from it. Apart from that, it seemed lie they were the only ones around.

Minerva watched the Doctor laying on the ground letting the sand sift through his fingers. She really didn't know what he was trying to accomplish. The sand was just...sand. She supposed this was one of the lessons he was yet to teach her. She'd been learning a lot faster now that she wasn't human anymore, but it wasn't like she was a genius either. Even with a fast pace the universe was vast and had many complicated things about it that simply didn't stick in her head.

"That's impossible. There are three suns. Three of them!" A blonde woman exclaimed, horrified at the sight in the sky.

"Like when all those planets were up in the sky!" a second young man added.

"But it was Earth that moved back then, wasn't it?" the first young man asked.

"Oh, man, we're on another world!"

"It's still intact, though! Not as bad as it looks," the bus driver was studying the bus, "The chassis's still holding together. Oh, my boss is gonna murder me!"

"Can we please desist of the word 'murder', please?" Minerva had looked back with a displeased face. That word was still sensitive to her and she didn't wanted to hear it any more.

"Can you still drive it?" the blonde woman asked the driver.

"Oh, no, the wheels are stuck. Look at them, they're never gonna budge," the driver gestured to the tires that were deep inside the sand.

Christina took off her jacket once she felt the desert heat and put on some black sunglasses, "Ready for every emergency."

The Doctor and Minerva looked back and saw the woman with her sunglasses. The Doctor took off his own glasses and used the sonic to tint them then promptly put then back on, "Me too!" he cast a concerned look at Minerva, "Would you like some, dear?"

"No," she declared rather fast, "I wanna get used to this kind of heat. Eyes too," she pointed at them.

"And what's your names?" Christina asked them.

"Minerva," the brunette raised a finger.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Name, not rank," Christina gave him a sharp look.

"The Doctor."

"Surname?"

"The Doctor."

"You're called 'the Doctor'?"

"Yes, I am."

"That's not a name, that's a psychological condition."

Minerva snickered. "That is the most underrated line of your life!" she looked down at the Doctor.

He mock-glared at her for a minute then returned to the sand, "Funny sort of sand, this. There's a trace of something else," he put some of the sand on the tip of his tongue to 'taste' it then crinkled his face, "Blah, that's not good."

"That's sand," Minerva frowned and made a distasteful face, "And this is me...stepping away from your mouth."

Quietly, the Doctor scoffed and mumbled: "That won't last long."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, dear," he flashed a small smile.

Minerva rolled her eyes, "You walk on thin land, Martian. Why don't we get back to business? What, I dare to ask, did that sand taste?"

At that, the Doctor's sense of playfulness faded. He really would rather not answer that and really scare her, "Nothing important," he dismissed the question, avoiding the questioning look she was giving him.

The rest of the passengers started coming over, one person singled out already as the culprit, "Hold on a minute, I saw you, mate! You had that thing, that machine. Did you make this happen?" one of the young men had a pointing fingers at the Doctor.

"Oh, humans on buses, always blaming me," the Doctor mumbled, not even surprised anymore, "If you must know, we were was tracking a hole in the fabric of reality. Call it a hobby. But it was a tiny little hole, no danger to anyone. Suddenly it gets big, and we drive right through it."

"But then where is it? There's nothing, there's just sand!" the driver gestured to the surroundings.

"All right. If you want proof," the Doctor reached down for some sand, "We drove through this," he threw the sand at the space behind the bus to real a swirling vortex that quickly disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

"And that was?" Christina stared where the Vortex was.

"A door in space!" Minerva exclaimed excitedly, quickly realizing the other may not have been as excited to know that information.

"So what you're saying is, on the other side of that is home? We can get to London through there?" the bus driver asked

"The bus came through, but we can't," the Doctor answered but apparently ignored.

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" the bus driver looked at the other passengers.

"Oh, no, don't," the Doctor tried calling but the man wouldn't listen.

The driver headed for the portal, "I'm going home, mate!"

"I said don't!"

The driver headed into the portal and screamed as his body caught fire.

"He was a skeleton, man! He was bones, just bones!" one of the young men cried.

Minerva walked back to the bus, observing its state, "It was the bus that kept us safe, right?" she looked at the Doctor who had moved up beside her, "It protected us, right?" he smiled and nodded before kissing her head, making her beam she'd gotten another thing right.

"Rather like a Faraday cage?" Christina walked over, staying by the entrance of the bus.

"Like in a thunderstorm, yeah?" one of the young men asked, "Safest place is inside a car, cos the metal conducts the lightning right through. We did it in school."

"But if we can only travel back inside the bus...a Faraday cage needs to be closed. That thing's been ripped wide open," Christina looked at the top of the bus.

"Slightly different dynamics with a wormhole. There's enough metal to make it work, I think. I hope," the Doctor made a face as he also looked over the bus.

"Then we have to drive five tonnes of bus, which is currently buried in the sand, and we've got nothing but our bare hands. Correct?"

"I'd say nine and a half tonners..." the Doctor trailed off

Minerva peered around him with a polite smile, "But he means you're correct."

"Then we need to apply ourselves to the problem with discipline! Which starts with appointing a leader."

"Yes, at last, thank you, so..." the Doctor turned to the group...when Christina took over.

"Well, thank goodness you've got me! Everyone do exactly as I say! Inside the bus immediately!" she motioned for everyone to get on inside.

"Is it safe in there?" one of the young men asked.

"I don't think anything's safe any more, but if it's a choice between baking in there or roasting out here, I'd say baking is slower. Come on! All of you. Right now! And you. 'The Doctor'," Christina eyed him before stepping inside.

Minerva giggled at the face her Martian was making and moved in front of him, "Is someone upset their dominance is being threatened?"

He looked at her with a mock-glare and pointed, "Shush."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him inside the bus, "C'mon, Martian."

~ 0 ~

Christina was busy giving her speech to the other passengers, declaring herself as the leader of the far, neither the Doctor nor Minerva had argued against it. She seemed fine and, at the end of the day, she had the same goals as the rest of them. Getting home was pivotal.

"Point five, the crucial thing is, do not panic. Quite apart from anything else, the smell of sweat inside this thing is reaching atrocious levels," Christina said, still grimacing. "We don't need to add any more. Point six. Team identification. Names. I'm Christina, this man is apparently 'the Doctor' and that is Minerva," she gestured to each of the pair.

"Hello," Minerva wiggled her fingers at the group.

"And you?" Christina turned to one of the young men.

"Nathan," he waved.

"I'm Barclay."

"Angela, Angela Whittaker," the blonde female went next

"My name's Louis, everyone calls me Lou, and this is Carmen," the third man gestured to his wife beside him.

"Excellent. Memorize those names. There might be a test. Point seven, assessment and application of knowledge. Over to you, the Doctor," Christina pointed to the man.

"I thought you were in charge," the Doctor made a face, confused for a minute.

"I am. And a good leader utilizes her strength. You seem to be the brainbox. So, start boxing."

He shrugged and moved to sit on the back of his seat, facing the rest of the group, "Right. So, the wormhole. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was just an accident."

"No, it wasn't. That thing, the doorway. Someone made it. For a reason," Carmen cut in.

"How do you know that?" Minerva asked, curious.

"She's got a gift. Ever since she was a little girl, she can just... tell things. We do the lottery, twice a week," Lou explained.

"You don't look like millionaires," Christina remarked.

"No, but we win ten pounds. Every week, twice a week, ten pounds. Don't tell me that's not a gift!"

The Doctor hid three fingers behind his back as he moved up to Carmen, "Tell me, Carmen. How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three," Carmen replied and when the Doctor added another finger behind his back, she spoke again, "Four."

"Very good! Low level psychic ability, exacerbated by an alien sun," the Doctor sat down across her, "What can you see, Carmen? Tell me. What's out there?"

"Something... Something is coming. Riding on the wind. And shining."

"What is it?"

"Death. Death is coming."

Angela began weeping at the words, "We're going to die."

"I knew it, man, I said so," Barclay shook his head.

"We can't die out here. No-one's gonna find us," Nathan looked out to the endless sand.

The passengers started talking all at once, all sharing the same fear.

"This isn't exactly helping," Christina rubbed her temples.

"Shut up, we're not your soldiers," Barclay snapped.

"It's not doing any good..." Nathan said.

"You're upsetting her, be quiet!" Lou exclaimed.

"Will we be bones, like the bus driver?!" Nathan cried.

"Hey, STOP IT!" Minerva shouted, her voice above all the others. She stood in the center of the bus with her hands on her hips, "God I really miss my whistling abilities," she mumbled to herself.

The only sound new heard in the bus was Angela's quiet weeping. The Doctor moved to stand in front of her, gripping her shoulders, "Angela, look at me. Angela, Angela, answer me one question, Angela. That's it, at me, at me," she stopped crying to look up at him, "There we go, Angela, just answer me one thing. When you got on this bus, where were you going?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it?"

"It does matter this time," Minerva gave a small smile and moved beside them, "So just answer the question."

"Just home..." Angela answered

"And what's home?" the Doctor asked her.

"Me, and Mike and Suzanne, that's my daughter. She's 18."

"Brilliant age," Minerva remarked and patted Angela's shoulder. She looked over to the others, seeing them still uneasy, "What about you, Barclay? What was going on tonight?"

"Dunno. Going round Tina's," he shrugged, sighing.

"Who's Tina? Your girlfriend?" the Doctor looked back.

"Not yet..." Barclay smiled a bit mischievously.

"Good boy. May I suggest you not waste time, it's a very precious thing," the Doctor smiled softly as he glanced back at Minerva.

She blushed under his gaze and looked at Nathan instead, "What about you, Nathan?"

"Bit strapped for cash, I lost my job last week. I was gonna stay in. Watch TV."

"Brilliant. And you two?" the Doctor called to pair at the back of the bus.

"I was going to cook," Lou replied first.

"It's his turn tonight. Then I clear up," Carmen added.

"What's for tea?"

"Chops. Nice couple of chops and gravy. Nothing special," Lou said.

"I think if you're eating together and happy, then it's very special," Minerva corrected, "I know it's special to me when I eat with my Martian."

"The brownies are my favorite part," the Doctor admitted with an excited grin, "So it is very special, Lou, Carmen."

"What about you, Christina?" Minerva looked back at the black-haired woman who had been oddly quiet for the moment.

"I was going... so far away..." she answered absently.

"Far away. Chops and gravy. Watching TV. Mike and Suzanne and poor old Tina," the Doctor shrugged as Barclay gave him a sharp look.

"Hey!"

"He's kidding," Minerva apologetically smiled at Barclay then promptly smacked the Doctor upside the head, "Stop being rude to people!"

"Sorry, dear," he mumbled and rubbed the back of his head, "Alright, back to the point: just think of them and what your plans were for tonight. 'Cos that planet out there, all three suns and wormholes and alien sand, that planet is nothing. You hear me? Nothing compared to all those things waiting for you. Food and home and people. Hold on to that. Cos we're gonna get there. I promise. I'm gonna get you home."

"We're going to get you all home," Minerva corrected the passengers and clarified to the Doctor. She would have no more of this 'he saving the world', no. They were married now and as such she would stand by him in all situations that affected them: together.

~ 0 ~

Barclay and Nathan were coming out of the bus holding seat cushions where the Doctor and Minerva met up with them, "Here we go! That's my boys! We lay a flat surface between the bus and the wormhole, like duckboards, and reverse into it!"

"Let some air out of the tires, just a little bit. Spreads the weight of the bus, gives you more grip," Christina joined them.

"Oh, that's good," Minerva remarked.

"Holidays in the Kalahari."

"Yeah, but those wheels go deep," Barclay reminded.

"Then start digging," Christina shrugged.

"With what?"

"With this," Christina reached into her bag and pulled out a folding shovel.

"Wow, got anything else in there?" Minerva blinked as the Doctor took the shovel and opened it then handed it to Barclay.

"Try that, might help with the seats," Christina handed a small axe.

"Thanks!" Nathan took the axe and headed back to the bus.

"I can't find the keys!" they heard Angela from the inside of the bus.

"Buses don't have keys!" Minerva half-shouted as she poked her head inside the bus, "I saw that when I used to travel. There's this master switch, one button for start, the other one for stop, yeah?"

Angela, sitting in the driver's seat, checked for the button, "Hold on, oh, I've got it," she flicked a switch, "Here we go, hold tight, ding ding!"

"Clever one you are," the Doctor neared Minerva from behind and kissed her head.

"It's not clever, it's observation," she corrected.

Angela had pressed the button but the engine spluttered for a second then died.

"Oh, that doesn't sound too good," the Doctor took Minerva and himself over to the engine and took a look, "Oh! Never mind losing half the top deck, you know what's worse? Sand. Tiny little grains of sand. The engine's clogged up."

Christina walked around to where Barclay and Nathan worked on the wheels, "Anyone know mechanics?"

"Me!" Barclay stood up, "I did a two-week NVQ at the garage. Never finished it, but..."

"Well come on!" Minerva called, "Let's see how much you learned!"

"Try stripping the air filter, fast as you can," the Doctor took Minerva's hand and started heading away towards the dunes, "Back in two ticks."

"Wait a minute!" Christina called after them and quickly hurried to follow, "You're the man and woman with all the answers. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

~ 0 ~

Minerva passed a hand through her hair, feeling slightly enclosed with the heat as she walked through the desert. She could take it, she knew it...but it wasn't going to be easy. She shrugged her elbows to try and lift off a piece of hair for at least a second. Then, she'd run her hand through it just to lift off her shoulders once more. She had even discarded her gray sweater in the middle of the desert, ignoring the Doctor's suggestion to simply hand it over where he could keep it safe. She was determined to make this work, she would not give up at the first real struggle of heat, no sir.

"Do you happen to have something for hair inside that bag of yours?" she settled for asking Christina for a bit of help, but only for a bit. At the first sign of genuine help the Doctor was sure to overreact and quickly send her back to the bus where it was slightly less hot.

Christina nodded and reached for one of the backpack's smaller pockets in front and took out a black scrunchie, "Ever thought of just cutting it?"

"NO..." Minerva made a horrific expression that made Christina laugh.

"Asking her to do that is like asking her to stop breathing," the Doctor casually remarked.

"Really?" Christina raised an eyebrow, making it sound like it was ridiculous, but to her it really was.

"Thank you," Minerva took the scrunchie from Christina and proceeded to pick up her hair, "Let me make a comparison to you, Christina, that'll make you understand the value: asking me to cut my hair is like me asking you to leave that backpack behind."

"No, no, this goes where I go," she pointed to the backpack, playfully rolling her eyes at the look Minerva was giving her, "Yeah, fine, I get it now."

Minerva chuckled as she fixed the last part of her ponytail, "Knew it would work. I'm clever like that, you know."

"My clever wife," the Doctor remarked, wounding an arm around her waist.

"You two are married?" Christina blinked, surprised, "Really?"

"Why do you say it like that?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, not offended simply curious of the reaction.

"Just didn't strike me as the married couple. I can see it Carmen and Lou, but...not you two..." she eyed the pair to see if she could be wrong but simply did not see the picture 'happy married' couple.

"Well, to be fair, you didn't strike me as a woman who's afraid of sirens," the Doctor gave her a sharp look, "Just who are you?"

"As much of a mystery as you two are," Christina countered.

"We're not mysteries," Minerva corrected, "We're just a pair of travelers, that's all."

"Let's just leave it as mysteries, shall we?"

Minerva shrugged and gave up.

"So why not tell me about Carmen's prediction?" Christina asked, "If that wormhole's not an accident, then what is it? Has someone done this on purpose?"

"I don't know," the Doctor answered as they stopped walking, "But every single instinct of mine is telling me to get off this planet, right now."

"And do you think we can?"

"We live in hope, it's kind of our thing," Minerva informed casually, "But I know we'll get out of this, just like we always do."

"That must be nice..." Christina paused and eyed the two before holding her hand out to the, "It's Christina de Souza. To be precise, Lady Christina de Souza."

"Hey! We're cousins," Minerva laughed as she shook Christina's hand, "Minerva Souza, get it? Only I'm not a Lady..."

"You very well can be, you're a princess after all," the Doctor corrected as he shook Christina's hand, "And I'm a Lord."

"Princess of what? And Lord of what?" Christina raised an eyebrow.

"Quite a big estate," Minerva answered, "For both of us..."

"No, but there's something more about you," Christina looked at the Doctor suddenly, "That device you were carrying, and the wormhole. Like you knew. And the way you stride around this place, like..."

"Like?" the Doctor asked.

"Like you're not quite..."

"Anyway! Come on! Allons-y!" the Doctor continued on with Minerva, the brunette groaning as they did.

"What have I said about that word?"

"That it was very adorable when I said it," he smirked.

"Shut up," she playfully rolled her eyes.

They stopped on a high dune that looked to the horizon where they could ahead in a distance the sky was becoming grayer and grayer.

"Ah. Don't like the look of that," the Doctor said.

Christina shaded her eyes, "Storm clouds. Must be hundreds of miles away."

"But it's getting closer," Minerva frowned.

"If that's a sand storm, we'll get ripped to shreds," Christina said.

"It's a storm. Who says it's sand?" the Doctor challenged, all three immediately running back.

~ 0 ~

Lou and Carmen were still sitting in the bus, Carmen with her eyes closed and mumbling: "Closer... and closer and closer..."

The Doctor hurried inside the bus with Minerva, Christina and Barclay behind him, "Where is it?"

"There, there on the seat," Barclay pointed to his seat where his cellphone laid in.

"You're hardly going to get a signal, we're on another planet!" Christina exclaimed.

"Oh, just watch me. Right, now, bit of hush, thank you," the Doctor started dialing on the phone, "Gotta remember the number, very important number."

"Hello, Pizza Geronimo?" they heard a man on the other line answer as the phone was on speaker.

"Pizza is an important number?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"Shush," the Doctor pointed as he hung up and redialed, "Seven-six, not six-seven..."

"This is the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Please select one of the following four options," a new voice answered.

"Oh, I hate these things!" the Doctor exclaimed, noticing how pale Minerva had gotten once the phone had been answered again.

Minerva was severely uncomfortable with UNIT, despite being the place her best friend worked at. To say the word 'uncomfortable' wouldn't even cover half of her feelings towards the place...terror described it perfectly. Now that she knew who she was and what UNIT could've done to her if they had figured out her actual origin before her...well...she'd had some pretty bad nightmares that would describe it. She knew UNIT had closed their investigation on her and left in the dark but it didn't stop her fear that one day someone new in the place would pick up the file and re-open the case. The Doctor had tried numerous times to remind her that he was still working for them (in technical terms) and that he would never allow UNIT to lay even a finger on her. Plus, he was actually on good terms with UNIT nowadays and just by that relationship the two shared, Minerva wouldn't be harmed. He just needed to prove that to her, perhaps today could be the day...

"No, if you keep your finger pressed on zero, you get through to a real person," Angela suggested to the Doctor, "I saw it on Watchdog!"

"Thank you, Angela," the Doctor sat down and reached for Minerva's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze to let her know he was here and she would be okay.

"UNIT helpline, which department would you like?" a new woman's voice answered the other line.

"Listen, it's the Doctor! It's me!"

~ 0 ~

A soldier approached the captain with a mobile, "Captain! Urgent call, ma'am, relayed direct from HQ."

"Who is it?" the captain asked.

"It's him, ma'am. It's the Doctor."

The captain took the cellphone and spoke through it, "Doctor. This is Captain Erisa Magambo," she saluted, "Might I say, sir, it's an honor."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor made a face, "Did you just salute?"

"...no."

"Erisa, it's about the bus. HQ said you're at the tunnel, yeah?"

"And where are you?"

"I'm on the bus. But apart from that, not a clue," the Doctor looked out the window, "Except it's very pretty and pretty dangerous."

"A body came through here. Have you sustained any more fatalities?"

"No, and we're not going to. But I'm stuck. I haven't got the Tardis, and I need to analyse that wormhole."

"We have a scientific advisor on site, Dr Malcolm Taylor..."

~ 0 ~

Erisa was entering a mobile physics lab filled with electronic equipment. Malcolm, an older man wearing glasses and a white lab coat sat in the midst of the place.

"Just the man you need, he's a genius," Erisa said.

"Oh, is he? We'll see about that," the Doctor said, over the speaker phone as well.

"Don't be rude!" Minerva's voice came afterwards.

"Here's the Doctor," Erisa told Malcolm as she shut the door.

"No, I'm all right now, thanks. It was just a bit of a sore throat, although I've got to be honest, a cup of tea might be nice," Malcolm cluelessly said.

"No, it's the Doctor."

"Do you mean... "the Doctor" Doctor?!" Malcolm nearly gasped.

"I know. We all want to meet him one day, but we all know what that day will bring," Erisa mumbled.

"I can hear everything you're saying," the Doctor reminded.

Malcolm incredulously upon hearing the Doctor's voice, "Hello, Doctor? Oh, my goodness!"

"Yes, I am. Hello, Malcolm!"

Malcolm chuckled, "The Doctor! Cor blimey. I can't believe I'm actually speaking to you! I mean, I've read all the files!"

~ 0 ~

Minerva mindlessly bit her nails as the Doctor spoke on the phone through...UNIT. The man, Malcolm, sounded very nice, cheerful even, but that didn't change the fact he worked for UNIT...the institution that had wanted to seize her as human...it terrified her.

"Really? What was your favorite, the giant robot? No, no hold on, let's sort out that wormhole," the Doctor shook his head and stood up, 'Scuse me," he took Minerva's hand and led them to the front of the bus, needing her to see he wouldn't let go of her for one moment when UNIT was involved. He plopped down on the driver's seat, pulling Minerva down to his lap. He gave her a kiss on her temple and wound his arm around her waist, "Malcolm, something's not making sense here. I've got a storm and a wormhole, and I can't help thinking there's a connection. I need a complete full-range analysis of that wormhole, the whole thing," he ordered.

"I've probably got the wrong idea, but I've wired up an integrator. I thought it could measure the energy signature," Malcolm said.

"No, that'll never work. Just listen to me."

"It's quite extraordinary, though! I'm measuring an oscillation of 15 Malcolms per second."

"Fifteen what?" the Doctor blinked.

"Fifteen Malcolms. It's my own little term. A wavelength parcel of ten kilohertz operating in four dimensions equals one Malcolm."

"You named a unit of measurement after yourself?"

"It didn't do Mr Watt any harm. Furthermore, 100 Malcolms equals a Bernard."

"And who's that, your dad?"

"Don't be ridiculous, that's Quatermass."

"Right. Fine. But before I die of old age, which in my case would be quite an achievement, so congratulations on that, is there anyone else I can talk to?" the Doctor felt a small chuckle escape his wife and beamed, "Actually, no, stay on the line, you're doing someone very important to me good," he smiled at Minerva.

"Um...okay," Malcolm slowly said, confused, "I set the scanner to register what it can't detect and inverted the image."

"You did what?"

"Is that wrong?"

" No, Malcolm, that's brilliant! So you can actually measure the wormhole. OK, I admit, that is genius!"

~ 0 ~

"The Doctor called me a genius," Malcolm excitedly looked at Erisa beside him.

"I know, I heard," Erisa nodded.

"Now, run a capacity scan. I need a full report. Call me back when you've done it. And Malcolm? You're my new best friend-well, no, my wife's my first best friend but you can be the second."

"Uh, you're mine too, sir," Malcolm said before the phone call ended. Confused, he looked over to Erisa, "The Doctor has a wife?"

"That can't be right..." Erisa thought for a moment on it, "...there was nothing in the files..." she mumbled as she started heading out, confused.

~ 0 ~

"Barclay, I'm holding on to this," the Doctor waved the man's phone as he and Minerva stood up.

"Then you'd better bring it back!" Barclay warned as the two went out, Christina once again hurrying to catch up.

~ 0 ~

"Send this back to Earth, see if Malcolm can analyse the storm," the Doctor held up the phone high up to take a picture.

"There's something in those clouds, something shining. Look..." Christina pointed.

"That looks like metal," Minerva tilted her head, the Doctor taking a picture with the phone.

"Why would there be metal in a storm?" Christina frowned.

"We never did say it was sand..." Minerva mumbled.

While the Doctor snapped more pictures, Christina heard the sound of chirruping. "Did you hear something?"

"Hold on. Busy..." the Doctor replied, turning.

"Well, Minerva? Did you hear it too?" Christina tried as she looked around.

"A bit, yeah," the brunette nodded.

Christina's eyes widened when she saw an insectoid creature watching them, "Doctor, Minerva..."

The creature approached the trio with a weapon in its hand and began to speak, more like click. The Doctor answered back in its language, "That's 'wait'. I shout 'wait', people usually wait."

"You speak the language?" Christina looked up at the man with wide eyes.

"Every language, actually," Minerva smiled in amusement as her Martian and the creature spoke.

"That's begging for mercy," he informed the women.

The creature motioned with its gun.

"And that means 'move'," Minerva pointed.

"Ooh! You're learning. Clever you are!"

Minerva chuckled, "Nope, it's just how it usually goes with us," he made a face and agreed.

The creature marched the trio off in front of it.

"These fly things, they must be responsible. They brought us here," Christina said as they arrived at the creature's crashed ship.

"No, no, no, no, no! Look at the ship, it's a wreck. They crashed, just like us," the Doctor pointed at the half-destroyed ship on the sand.

~ 0 ~

The interior of the alien ship was no better than the outside. It had the appearance of ongoing construction with wires and electronics left all over the place.

"But this place is freezing!" Christina shivered.

Minerva loudly sighed in relief of the lower temperature they were now in. She didn't want to admit it but the new climate change outside was more than she could handle at the moment.

"You okay?" the Doctor turned to her with concern.

"Now I am," she nodded with a dim smile.

"Why's it so cold?" Christina asked while rubbing her arms in an attempt to regain some of her heat.

"The hull's made of Photafine steel," the Doctor answered her, "Turns cold when it's hot. Boiling desert outside, freezing ship inside."

"Since we met you, Christina, we've been through all the extremes!" Minerva remarked playfully.

"That's how I like things. Extreme," the black-haired woman nodded firmly.

"Oh, this is beautiful! Intact, it must have been magnificent. A proper streamlined deep-spacer!" the Doctor looked arund with intrigue.

"I'll remember that as I'm being slowly tortured," Christina mock-glared, "At least I'm bleeding on the floor of a really well-designed spaceship!"

A second creature joined the group and touched its device attached to its clothes.

The Doctor noticed it and nodded, "Oh, right, good, yes, hello! That's a telepathic translator. He can understand us."

"Still sounds like gibberish to me," Christina remarked.

"It doesn't seem to work the other way around, though," Minerva observed, "What does he say, Doctor?" she looked at him.

"Um, "You will suffer for your crimes." Et cetera. "You have committed an act of violence against the Tritovore race," he translated then looked at both women, "Tritovores, they're called Tritovores. And they say "You came here in the 200 to destroy us." Sorry, what's the 200?"

"It's the bus. Number 200, they mean the bus," Christina reminded.

"Oh! No, look, I think you're making the same mistake Christina did," he gestured to himself, "I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is my wife, Minerva and our friend Christina, the Honorable Lady Christina, at least we hope she's honorable! But we got pulled through that wormhole. The 200 doesn't look like that normally. It's broken, just the same as you."

The Tritivores spoke to each other and lowered their guns.

"What are they doing?" Christina asked at the motion.

"They believed him," Minerva guessed.

"What, as simple as that?"

"I've got a very honest face. And the translator says I'm telling the truth. Plus, the face," the Doctor flashed a cheeky grin, "Right! So, first things first, there's a very strange storm heading our way, can you send out a probe?" he made his way to a control panel with Minerva, followed by the Tritivore with the translator as it spoke to them, "Ah, they've lost power. Hmm, the crash knocked the mainline crystallography out of sync. But if I can jiggle it back..." the Doctor kicked the panel and the power came back, " I thank you!" the creature chittered, "Yes, I am! Frequently. Okie-dokie, let's launch that probe."

The trio watched the picture they garnered from the probe as a hologram projection in front of them.

"Oh! This is the Scorpion Nebula, right!?" Minerva exclaimed excitedly as she looked at the Doctor for confirmation.

He smiled softly and nodded, "You got it, dear."

She beamed, "Yes! My lessons are paying off," she looked at Christina who had been looking in amusement, "We're on the other side of the universe, Christina. Just what you wanted, so far away. This is the planet of San Helios."

"Correct, correct, correct," the Doctor kissed her head, happy she was beginning to gain more knowledge after her months of learning.

"And that's us? We're on another world," Christina looked at the projection with awe.

"We have been for quite a while," Minerva said.

"I know, but seeing it like that..."

"It's good, isn't it?" the Doctor asked, knowing the feeling the woman had to be feeling.

"Wonderful," Christina smiled.

The Tritivores started telling their story to the trio, only the Doctor understanding what was being said.

"The Tritovores were going to trade with San Helios. Population of one hundred billion. Plenty of waste matter for them to absorb," the Doctor explained.

"By waste matter, you mean?" Christina crinkled her nose, half-guessing what he was trying to say.

"They feed off what others leave behind. From their... behind," the Doctor clarified, "If you see what I mean. It's perfectly natural. They are flies."

"Charming. Just remind me never to kiss them," Christina mumbled.

Minerva was watching the projection show a thriving city with trees and green parks, "Well this is quite beautiful," she remarked, "San Helios City."

"That's amazing. But you've seen this sort of thing before, haven't you?" Christina looked at the pair.

"Thousands of times," the Doctor nodded.

"That Lordship of yours... The Lord of where, exactly?" Christina asked, suddenly intrigued, "And you said Princess," she looked at Minerva, "Princess of what?"

"Of Time. I come from a race of people called Time Lords," the Doctor answered first.

"Princess of the Silver Monsoon," Minerva offhandedly replied, "Water-based race - well, part of his," she jerked a thumb at the Doctor.

"So you're both...aliens?" Christina looked from one another, as if searching for anything that would back up their statements.

"Yeah. But you don't have to kiss us either," the Doctor mumbled, "Don't you dare," he subconsciously pulled Minerva closer to his side.

"But you both look human..."

"Well technically, you—" Minerva pointed at herself and Christina, "—look Time Lord. Our races came first."

"But anyways, back to the point," the Doctor reminded to the projection.

"So if that's San Helios, all we need to do is find that city. They can help us!" Christina exclaimed.

"But that's the problem," Minerva looked at the projection as it changed to the desert they were in now, "This is the city..."

"But it's sand! That first image, the temples and things, what's that, then? Ancient history?"

One of the Tritovores chirruped and so the Doctor translated, "The image was taken last year."

"It became a desert in one year?" Minerva frowned.

"I said there was something in the sand," he bent down and let the sand fall through his fingers.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Minerva asked.

He looked up with a bit of guilt, "It would've scared you."

"It would not have..." she shifted as she took notice of all the sand, "...a lot..."

He just sighed as if that proved his point, "It's the city, the oceans, the mountains, the wildlife and 100 billion people, turned to sand. All those voices in Carmen's head. She's hearing them die."

"But I've got sand in my hair. That's dead people! Oh, that's disgusting! Oh!" Christina shook her head and hair, now wishing she would've used that scrunchie Minerva had for herself.

"Doctor, even if it scares me I still want to know," Minerva adamantly said as he stood back up, facing her, "I'm actually trying not to be so fearful of things but you know after this regeneration everything's a bit more...fearful, after everything I had previously went through. But that doesn't mean I don't want to know the reality of situations we're in. So next time, please just tell me, alright?"

"Alright, that sounds fair," the Doctor nodded, though he still wasn't very convinced. He only wanted to protect her from scary things and whenever he could, he wold, "So something destroyed the whole of San Helios and we should probably know why."

"And who," Minerva pointed.

"It's in my hair!" Christina was still stuck on that detail.

Suddenly, Barclay's cellphone rang and the Doctor pulled it from his pocket, "Malcolm, tell me the bad news!"

~ 0 ~

Malcolm was sat on his chair with his phone on speaker and Erisa beside him, "Oh, you are clever! It is bad news! It's the wormhole, Doctor, it's getting bigger! We've gone way past 100 Bernards, I haven't invented a name for that."

"How can it get bigger by itself?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, that's why I'm phoning! You'll work it out, if I know you, sir."

"Doctor, we estimate the circumference of your invisible wormhole is now four miles, heading upwards. I've grounded all flights above London. We can't risk anyone else falling through," Erisa spoke up.

"Good work, both of you," the Doctor praised.

"But I have to know. Does that wormhole constitute a danger to this planet?" Erisa questioned.

~ 0 ~

The phone beeped and so the Doctor looked at it, "Oh, sorry, call waiting, gotta go," he switched it off for the other call.

~ 0 ~

"Call waiting!?" Erisa half-shouted.

"He's a devil, that one!" Malcolm laughed.

"I'll say he's got a lot of explaining, starting with that wife of his..." she shook her head, "...I found the file."

Malcolm raised an eyebrow, seeing the subject was more complicated apparently, he only wondered why.

~ 0 ~

"Yep?" the Doctor answered the other call.

"Doctor, it's Nathan. We got those duckboard things down, but..."

"It's my fault," the Doctor heard Angela in the background.

"No, it's not, don't say that," Nathan shushed her.

"Why, what's happened?" the Doctor asked.

"We kept on turning the engine, but...we're out of petrol. Used it all up. Even if we can get those wheels out...this bus is never going to move."

The Doctor lowered the phone and Minerva immediately saw the new expression her husband wore, "What's wrong?" she asked him quietly.

"You promised you'd get us home. Doctor? Are you still there?" Nathan asked.

"Doctor, tell me, what did they say?" Minerva asked, Christina joining them.

A beeping noise from the monitors interrupted them followed by the excited chirrups of the Tritovores.

"It's the probe. It's reached the storm," the Doctor moved to the monitors.

"And what's he saying?" Christina questioned.

"It's not a storm."

The probe was flying through a massive amount of creatures flying in the air, looking like manta-rays which the group could see through a video on the ship.

"Okay, scared now..." Minerva started breathing harder. "That's a swarm...millions and millions of them..."

"Billions," the Doctor's eyes widened.

One of the creatures flew straight for the probe with its mouth wide open and showing off its sharp teeth. The connection was soon lost after that.

"Ah! We've lost the probe. I think it got eaten..." Minerva trembled a bit and shook her head.

"Everything on this planet gets eaten," the Doctor realized with distaste.

"How far away is that swarm?" Christina asked.

"Hundred miles. But at that speed, it'll be here in twenty minutes," the Doctor replied and the Tritovores chirruped, "No, they're not just coming for us. They want the wormhole."

"But that means they're heading for Earth!" Minerva gasped.

"Show the analysis," the Doctor instructed the Tritovores. Quickly, a 3D image of the creatures appeared before them, "Incredible! They swarm out of a wormhole, strip the planet bare, then move on to the next world, start the life cycle all over again."

"So, they make the wormholes?" Minerva asked curiously.

"They must do..."

"But how? They don't exactly look like technicians," Christina observed, "And if the wormhole belongs to them, why are they 100 miles away?"

"Because they need to be?" he tried then shook his head, "No. That's bonkers. Hang on! Yes! Oh! Do you see? Billions of them, flying in formation, all around the planet, round and round and round, faster and faster and faster, till they generate a rupture in space! The speed of them, and the numbers, and the size, all of that rips the wormhole into existence!"

"And the wormhole's getting bigger," Minerva reminded, "Because they're getting closer?"

"Correct!"

"But how do they get through? Cos that wormhole's a killer, we've seen it!" Christina reminded.

"No, no, see the exo-skeleton?" the Doctor pointed to the projection.

"It's metal," Minerva blinked, "Wow..."

"They've got bones of metal! They eat metal, and extrude it into the exo-skeleton! So their velocity makes the wormhole, then their body makes it safe! Perfect design!"

"Those things are going to turn the entire Earth into a desert. So why exactly are you smiling?" Christina raised an eyebrow.

"Worse it gets, the more I love it!"

Minerva shook her head and sighed when Christina gave her a look, "Yes, I did voluntarily marry that."

And just like that, the grin on the Doctor's face dropped. "Hey."

"The thing is, Doctor, you're missing the obvious," Christina said before the man started another little moment with his wife, "We came here through the wormhole, yes? But our Tritovore friends didn't. They came here to trade with San Helios. Therefore, the question is, why did they crash?"

"Ah, good question! What a team! Like she said, why did you crash?" he asked the creatures.

One of the Tritovores lead the group into another room with a large open hole on the floor where apparently the answer laid.

The Doctor observed the hole, "Oh, yes. Gravity Well, look. Goes all the way down to the engine. So what happened?" the creature chirruped, "He says the drive system stalled. Ten miles up, they fell out of the sky. But what caused that?"

The Tritovore shrugged.

"No idea," Minerva sighed.

"Yeah. But wait a minute, that's a crystal nucleus down there, yes?" he looked at the creature which chirruped, "And it looks like it survived the crash. If the crystal's intact... Oh, yes, that's better than diesel!"

"What, you can use the crystal to move the bus?" Christina asked.

"I think so. The spaceship's a write-off, but the 200's small enough."

"How does a Crystal drive a bus?"

"In a super-clever outer-spacey way, just trust me!" the Doctor pulled a feed on a monitor.

"What have I said about those words?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "You got me doing them!"

"I'm a very good influence," he smirked then glanced at the Tritovore, "There's the crystal! It's fallen to the bottom of the well. Have you got access shafts?" it chirruped, "All frozen? Maybe I can open them! Internal comms, put that on," he gave Minerva a Bluetooth-like device and ran for the door, "You two stay here, keep an eye on the shaft. Tell me if anything happens," the Tritovore followed him.

"Where it's safer," Minerva sighed and gave Christina a tired, irritated look.

"Overprotective?"

Minerva rolled her eyes and nodded. She covered the part of the speaker before she talked, "I had um...an accident, months ago where I changed and needed a lot more protection. I sort of used be like a human, all fragile and stuff, so he took it upon himself to protect me. And that was nice and all - it still is," she admitted with a light shrug, "But I'm myself again. I've got my strength back and I'm getting my powers too, but he's taken this job of protection severely serious to the point where I don't think he'll ever let me try anything dangerous again no matter how many times he tells me he'll 'try'," she rolled her eyes.

"And it's highly annoying," Christina slowly moved to the hole, well, and peered down.

"Truly," Minerva sighed, "It's more irritating because he thinks the dangerous jobs are all his. He's the one that has to deal with the enemies and has to keep everyone safe. And yes, I like when he protects me but that doesn't mean I want him to do it all the time. We're a team, we're married, I want to help him too."

In all the meantime, Christina had moved back to the well and peered down, a small idea popping into her head.

"I understand he's only looking out for me but I want to prove to him that I'm no longer that meek woman he met years ago. I'm different, literally. I can handle more things but he just needs to give me the chance to prove it," Minerva continued.

"If I can use that sunlight to start the automatic maintenance. Minerva?" she heard the Doctor call through the bluetooth, "If you see a panel opening in that shaft, let me know."

"Got it," Minerva replied quietly as she turned to face Christina.

She blinked when the black-haired woman held out a harness, "Well my dear cousin...how'd you like to prove to your husband you're more than ready to get in the game?"

Minerva followed Christina's gaze to the well and immediately knew what the plan was. Christina raised an eyebrow and smirked, nodding to the well, daring the brunette woman to go ahead and do what she wanted, what she needed to do.

"Minerva, anything now?" she heard the Doctor ask again.

Minerva bit her lip and held her hands to Christina, "Gimme."

Christina quietly laughed and obeyed.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was pulling and connecting cables in the other room, "Anything now?" he asked again.

~ 0 ~

Minerva now wore the harness which Christina was making sure was set correctly, "Nothing," Minerva said.

~ 0 ~

"Any sign of movement?" he sighed.

"Nope."

"How's that?"

~ 0 ~

Christina set up a wire cable and winch for Minerva, "Nothing," the brunette replied again.

"Any result?"

Christina attached the cable to the harness. "Martian, you need that crystal right?" Minerva asked, Christina took out a small torch from her bag and attached it by Velcro to the harness.

"Yup, that would be right," the Doctor cluelessly replied.

"Then consider it done," Minerva winked at Christina, "Thank you," she whispered to the black-haired woman.

"Off you go then you're highness," Christina backed away.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor's eyes widened at his Clever Girl's words. "Minerva? What are you doing?" He had stopped his work to get the answer. "Minerva!?"

~ 0 ~

"Proving myself," Minerva determinedly answered, "A good princess does whatever needs to be done for her people and a good wife always helps her husband." She swan dived into the gravity well.

"NO!" the Doctor hurriedly ran inside the room but too late as his wife was gone, "What have you done!?" he angrily faced Christina.

She was as calm as ever however, "How about instead of yelling you help her?"

Minerva tried her best not to give any shouts to show her massive fear of her choices as she fell through the well with her arms outstretched. It would just make it worse.

The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the pulley and made Minerva stop, "That's better — somewhat!" he nearly shouted again, still giving Christina dagger glares, "You let her do this!?"

"She wanted to!" Christina exclaimed, crossing her arms, "You're suffocating her with your over-protectiveness!"

"What!?"

"Martian, I was doing good," he heard Minerva's soft voice through their devices.

He sighed in irritation, "Minerva, you were about to hit the security grid, look."

Minerva looked down and saw a field of cracking energy below her, "Oh...okay, so what do I do?"

"Try the big red button," he said.

She pressed the button on the wall, "Yes!"

"Now come back up! I can do that! PLEASE!" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, that hole reminding him far too much of the Titanic's engines where she nearly died...

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm doing this so shut up and let me help you."

"You'd be helping me far more if you were here!"

"But it's not helping her," Christina quietly said, earning another round of glares.

"Oh and you are?" he snapped.

"Frankly, yes. She told me you wouldn't let her do anything even when she's her alien self again," Christine didn't understand exactly what that meant but if it would make the Doctor get the idea then she would use it, "How do you expect her to be better if you don't let her try to do stuff on her own?"

"I am her husband and I will protect her. I'm the one supposed to be doing this," he pointed down at the well, "She's innocent and she doesn't know what harm can come to her—"

"She's not innocent," Christina started with that, "And even if she was, it wouldn't be good for her. You can't be innocent in this world and survive. She needs to experience things and you're not letting her. God forbid this, but what if something happened to you and you died? You spent all this time protecting her from everything and never allowed her to do something, to protect her self...how would she move on by herself? She wouldn't know anything..."

The Doctor opened his mouth to make a comeback, but...there was nothing really to say. Christina looked at him with a 'I'm right' expression. But as right as she may be, the Doctor could not allow his wife to be doing anything dangerous when he could do it...he didn't need to do it, he was sure Minerva could actually protect herself quite well on her own if she needed to. But, he remembered all those centuries where he was married and she told him of all the dangers the Monsoon had to deal with, apart from her family problems. At those times he wished he could promise, swear, that he would protect her and comfort her...but the fact was he couldn't. He was married, he had his children, he had his wife. Minerva had her own life on the Monsoon and as such deserved a man who could stay at her side and give her the love she deserved.

But that had finally changed and she was his wife now, his wife. Now, he could finally protect her like he'd always wanted to. He could care for her, openly love her and show her he loved her. She didn't need to be worried over these problems because he could always be there now. He would always take care of her.

"I'm fine, Martian," Minerva informed the Doctor as she continued on her way down the hole. She didn't like the way she was probably making him feel and that wasn't her intention. But, this was the chance she wanted and finally had thanks to Christina. He would see that nothing bad would happen and that she could help much better than her previous incarnation had.

"Just...just please be careful," was the Doctor's plea, looking at Christina with a less angry face. It pained him that she was right.

"My cousin is doing just fine," Christina smiled.

"Cousins? Oh no, no, no," he shook his head, "You're a bad influence on her. The moment we finish up, we leave."

"Where to exactly?" she raised an eyebrow, curious, "And how? On a little rocket?"

"I'll have you know my TARDIS is much cooler than a rocket," he frowned, immediately softening when he heard Minerva's laughter.

"What's a TARDIS?" Christina moved around the place, a little bored having to wait for her 'cousin' to reach the destination.

"Well...a little blue box. Travels in more than space," he replied, "It can journey through time, Christina. Oh, the places we've been. World War One. Creation of the universe, end of the universe, the war between China and Japan..." the Doctor tilted his head as he saw something shiny from Christina's backpack. It seemed like his wife's curiosity had infected him because he found himself moving over to the backpack and opening it up, "Oh..." his eyes blinked rapidly, "And the Court of King Athelstan, in 924 AD.," he lifted a golden chalice up just Christina spun around, "But I don't remember you being there. So what are you doing with this?"

Christina stormed over, "Excuse me, a gentleman never goes through a lady's possessions!" she tried taking the chalice but the Doctor lifted it up to where she was unable to reach it.

"Doctor, what's going on?" he heard Minerva ask.

"It's the Cup of Athelstan. Given to the first King of Britain, as a coronation gift from Hywel, King of the Welsh. But it's been held in the International Gallery for 200 years, which makes you, Lady Christina, a thief. Your cousin is actually a thief, Clever Girl."

"I like to think I liberated it," Christina hopped for the chalice.

"Don't tell me you need the money."

"Daddy lost everything. Invested his fortune in the Icelandic banks."

"That's not right," the Doctor heard Minerva again, "If she was short of cash she would've robbed a bank or even a liquor store. That's her lifestyle."

"My wife is very clever and she says this is your lifestyle," the Doctor told Christina.

"I take it you both disapprove?" Christina raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely," he nodded before thinking on it more, "Except, that little blue box. I stole it. From my own people."

"AH!" Minerva suddenly yelped.

"What is it!? What's wrong!?" the Doctor peered down the hole.

"We never did find out why the ship crashed..." Minerva breathed as she saw the end of the hole coming closer.

"Minerva, I think you should come back up," the Doctor swallowed.

"It's too late, I can see it..."

"Please, Minerva, please, be careful and do this slowly," he looked over to the Tritovore, "Have you got an open-vent system?" it chirruped, "I thought so."

"What does that mean?" Christina asked, stopping her hopping when she noticed it was serious again.

"It's like when birds fly into the engines of an aircraft..."

Minerva reached the bottom and saw one of the creatures, "Oh dear..." she breathed at the sight, "It's one of the creatures..."

"Got trapped in the vents. Caused the crash. Minerva, get out," the Doctor begged again.

"It's not moving, I think it's injured," Minerva offered to relieve his nerves a little. If it was injured, it wouldn't be able to cause much harm.

"No, it's dormant, because it's so cold down there. But your body heat is going to raise the temperature."

"But not that fast," she reminded, "I'm part Moontsay and that should give me just enough time," she tried to release the crystal as best and quickly as she could, "And you needed the entire thing, right?"

The Doctor sighed, "Yes..."

She lifted it from the ground, cautiously looking over at the creature, "I'm almost there, Martian. It's okay."

"Minerva, you're giving me heart attacks," he whined, actually rubbing his chest as he felt them constrict when thinking of the creature with her.

"Not so fun, is it?" she smirked when there was no reply, "Got it!" she looked over to the creature and saw it barely move, "And look at that, it's just waking up."

The Doctor used the screwdriver on the winch and pulled her up, "Come on, come on!"

Minerva saw the red button coming up again and pressed it as she moved past it, turning on the field, "And just for precaution."

"Oh she is very good," Christina remarked as the Doctor swung the brunette over to the side, "Well done, cousin."

"Thanks," Minerva breathed with adrenaline and handed her crystal and couplings.

Suddenly, she found her face turned to a very crossed Martian. "Don't ever do that to me again!" he brought her to his lips for a deep kiss, "Ever, ever, ever!" He pepper-kissed her face until she laughed.

"But it worked out fine, see?" she gestured to the place, "I can do these things now," she took his hands in hers, "I'm not a goddess or anything, or even you, but I'm capable now."

But the Doctor was just too relieved to see her in front of him, safe and alive. He took off all the contraptions on her and pulled her into his arms for a very tight hug, needing to bask in this small moment. He supposed now he understood completely what it meant to have a heart attack, or in his case hearts attack when the person you loved faced a danger.

"Doctor, we need to go," Minerva reminded, trying to wiggle out of his arms, "C'mon, Martian!"

"Right," he pulled back but kept her hand in his with a tight grip, "Commander! Mission complete! Now we've got to get back to the 200, all of us," but the commander Tritovore chittered, "Oh, don't be so daft! A captain can leave his ship if there's a bus standing by."

"We can take you to a nice planet," Minerva promised, "But we have to go now! That swarm can't be long now, c'mon!" she motioned to be followed as they started running.

~ 0 ~

The rest of the bus passengers could see the swarm reaching them only they still believed it was just a storm...except Carmen of course. She was the one who was freaking out the most.

"What sort of storm is that?" Angela had to ask.

"Run! Run, run, run, run, run!" Carmen mumbled, sensing the trio, along with two newcomers were running towards them.

As the group ran, the Doctor could hear that cellphone ringing again and when he answered he'd only let Malcolm say his name before he said, "Not now, Malcolm!" and hung up.

"Still rude!" Minerva exclaimed.

They reached the bus where Nathan and Barclay stood at the door, their eyes wide at the Tritovores behind the trio, "What the hell are those?" Nathan pointed.

"Don't point, it's rude," Christina scolded.

"Hey, now you're getting it," Minerva laughed, "And they're friends so be nice," she warned the two men.

"Get inside, get them sitting down," the Doctor ushered the two men away and held the crystal, "Now then, let's have a look."

"So what does that crystal do?" Christina questioned.

He tossed it over his shoulder, "Oh, nothing, don't need the crystal."

"She risked her life for that!" she pointed to Minerva.

"No, no, she...risked," he really didn't like remembering that detail. "Her life for these," he unhooked one of the clamps, "The clamps!" he ran to the driver's side front tire and attached a clamp, " One there. One there. One there. And one there!" he had made a trip all around the bus putting each clamp on the tires, "Now get in! All of you!" he ushered the women in and the Tritovores.

"But what are the clamps for? Do they turn the wheels?" Christina asked once inside the bus.

The Doctor took a seat in the driver's seat, "Something like that. I just need to fix this. Have you got a hammer in that bag?"

"Oh I bet she does," Minerva sighed as said hammer was pulled out of Christina's bag.

"Phone, phone...: the Doctor handed her the phone, 'Press redial, dear," Minerva dialed the phone while he hooked the plate to the steering wheel. Once someone answered, Minerva placed the phone to his ear, "Malcolm, it's me!"

~ 0 ~

"I'm ready!" Malcolm exclaimed, popping up from the floor with large goggles.

"Ready for what?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know! You tell me!"

"I'll try to get back. There might be something following us. You need to find a way to close the wormhole."

"Would that be a compressed burst of feedback on a counter-oscillation, perchance?"

"Oh, Malcolm! You're brilliant!"

"Coming from you, sir, that means the world."

"Doctor, what sort of something?" Erisa spoke into the phone, "That wormhole is now measuring ten miles and growing, I need to know the exact nature of the threat."

~ 0 ~

"Sorry, gotta go," the Doctor nodded to Minerva who hung up the call. He worked on the steering well up until it sparked and made him lean away, "Ah, it's not compatible! Bus, spaceship, spaceship, bus. I need to weld the two systems together."

"And how do you do that?" Minerva asked.

"I need something non-corrosive, something malleable, something ductile, something..."

Both looked over to Christina, "Gold."

Horror flashed across her face knowing exactly what they wanted from her. "Oh, no you don't!" She hugged her backpack to her chest.

Minerva groaned. "Christina, seriously, what is it worth now if you're going to be a little too dead to cash it in!?"

Barclay came forwards to offer his watch, "Hey, hey, use this!"

"I said gold," the Doctor reminded.

"It is gold."

Minerva gave him an apologetic smile. "Let's not add one more bad thing to this," she patted the man's shoulder and sent him back to his seat.

"Christina!" the Doctor exclaimed in frustration.

She looked at her bag then the other passengers and finally took the chalice out, "It's over 1,000 years old. Worth £18 million. Promise me you'll be careful."

He took the cup from her gently, "I promise," he then turned the cup upside down and banged it with the hammer.

Christina's expression flattened as he banged it probably about ten times. "I seriously hate you."

"Exactly why I threw away the TARDIS hammer," Minerva smirked. She turned to face the passengers, "Ladies and gentlemen please stay seated we are about to leave this desert, hot planet. And yes, there are currently two new passengers, nice Tritovores, so please be nice to them," she flashed a smile to the said aliens who chirruped back.

"No, she stays with me, fellas," the Doctor called to them after their remarks about Minerva being so kind. Yes, she was kind, yes she was funny, and yes she would be staying only with him.

"What's he going to do, though?" Barclay asked.

"Just do as he says please," Minerva smiled and turned to the Doctor, her smile dropping as she leaned down beside him. "You do know what you're doing right?"

The Doctor flatout ignored her and continued with the steering wheel. "Come on, that's it... You can do it, you beauty! One last trip!" Suddenly the bus powered up and rattled. It rose from the sand, astonishing the passengers.

Barclay looked out the window, "Ah, you are so kidding me!"

"We're flying! It's flying!" Nathan laughed.

"He's flying the bus!" Lou breathed.

"It's a miracle!" Angela blinked, a bright smile on her face.

"Anti-gravity clamps. Didn't I say? Round we go," the Doctor cheered as he turned the bus and faced the the wormhole.

Carmen looked back the window to the swarm, "Doctor! They're coming!"

"Do you think this thing will survive the journey back?" Christina quietly asked the pair.

"Only one way to find out!" the Doctor shrugged, "Next stop..."

"Everywhere!" Minerva cheered, "Though it would be nice to stop by Earth first..."

Everyone held on tight as the Doctor propelled the bus through the wormhole, yelling as it did.

There was a flash of light before the wormhole became visible to the soldiers on the other side on Earth and suddenly the bus came through, flying over everyone.

"It's London!" Barclay looked out the window to see the dark night of London, England.

"We're back home!" Angela cheered.

"He did it! He did it!" Nathan exclaimed.

"Malcolm! Close that wormhole!" the Doctor ordered through the phone that Minerva held to his ear.

"Yes, sir! My pleasure, sir!"

The Doctor blinked, "He's hung up on me!"

Minerva smirked, "You had that one coming."

~ 0 ~

Malcolm pressed a button on his keyboard, "Yes!" but the electronics sparked and away went his excitement, "Oh, no, no! No!" a small fire sprouted which he quickly put out with a fire extinguisher.

He heard the phone ringing and so picked up only to say, "Not now, I'm busy!" he set the phone down.

~ 0 ~

"He's hung up again!" the Doctor cried and so Minerva went ahead and redialed, "Malcolm! Listen to me!" the Doctor exclaimed once Malcolm had picked up again.

"It's not working!" Malcolm said.

"I need that signal. We've got billions of those things about to fly through!"

"Well, what do I do?"

"Loop it back through the integrator, and keep the signal ramping up."

"But by how much?"

"500 Bernards! Do it now!"

Malcolm made the adjustments on the computer, excitement back on when he saw it working, "Yes!"

Outside, the wormhole sealed up and left only the three manta creatures on Earth. Unfortunately, for the first couple of minutes it would seem that the soldiers' bullets didn't harm the creatures.

"Doctor, it's coming for us!" Nathan pointed at an oncoming creature heading for the open window of the bus.

"Oh, no, you don't!" the Doctor swerved the bus and batted the creature away.

Finally, the creatures were taken down by the soldiers and everything was left to pure excitement and cheers inside the bus.

"Back home," Minerva sighed in content and looked down at the Doctor, "Knew you could do it."

"Technically we did it together," he took one of her hands and kissed the back of it, making her smile.

Once the bus landed, everyone gathered their belongings and as the Doctor sonicked the door open, they filed out with a soldier giving instructions for them.

"Welcome back. If you could step away from the bus to be safe. As fast as you can. It's standard procedure. We need to screen you, and then you'll all be taken to debriefing."

Minerva tensed as she remembered just what sort of institution was guarding the perimeters. The Doctor stood and took out his psychic paper, "We don't count," he flashed it to the soldier and stepped out with his wife.

Christina made to follow the pair, "No, but, Doctor..." but the soldier took her by the arm.

"With me, ma'am," he took her away.

"Doctor!" Malcolm exclaimed as he saw the pair heading towards Erisa.

"You must be Malcolm!" the Doctor stopped and surprisingly found himself in a hug.

"Oh! Oh, I love you,"Malcolm pulled away, "I love you, I love you."

Minerva had to chuckle, not so much afraid of this man, "Not as much as me though," she warned, "Cos that's my job."

"To your station, Doctor Taylor," Erisa joined them.

"Yes, ma'am," Malcolm headed back to the lab but turned and pointed to the Doctor, "I love you!" the Doctor simply pointed back with a smile and Malcolm went on.

"Doctor," Erisa saluted, "I salute you, whether you like it or not. Now, I take it we're safe from those things?"

"They'll start again. Generate a new doorway. It's not their fault, it's their natural life cycle. But I'll see if I can nudge the wormholes on to uninhabited planets," the Doctor said, feeling Minerva silently and discreetly move a bit more behind him, "Closer to home, Captain, those two lads," he nodded to Barclay and Nathan, " Very good in a crisis. Nathan needs a job, Barclay's good with engines. You could do a lot worse. Privates Nathan and Barclay, UNIT's finest."

"I'll see what I can do..." Erisa noticed the woman practically hidden behind the Doctor, "...I take it that's your wife? Also known as our formerly investigated case in San Diego, 2009."

Minerva, seeing no other point of hiding, moved back to the Doctor's side, gripping his hand like she was holding onto dear life, "...hello..." she greeted with a shaky voice.

"Ma'am," Erisa nodded.

"Captain I'm going to be frank here, my wife's terrified of UNIT because of the investigation on her last year. Can you please tell her that it's alright now? Because it is alright now, right?" the Doctor gave the woman a sharp look, practically daring her to say something else, "There are no current investigations of her and her human family...right?"

Erisa caught the question - warning - and nodded fervently. "Quite right, Doctor. Miss Souza there no investigations over you anymore," she informed the brunette, "Though we will need to create a new profile for you."

"Why?" Minerva breathed and stepped back.

"Just to have a record of you like the Doctor."

"But why? I haven't done anything bad, I swear. I'm good."

The Doctor chuckled, "It's just to have something to follow by for protocols," he took her hand in his up to his lips for a kiss.

"Protocols? What for?"

"Employees," Erisa explained but garnered confusion from Minerva.

"Employee?" she blinked, "But I don't...I don't work here..."

"Now you do," Erisa nodded.

"So...UNIT doesn't want to like...poke me or anything?"

Erisa had to laugh, "Not really."

"Oh, okay," Minerva breathed a sigh of relief then looked at the Doctor with a dim smile, "I'm working for UNIT..."

"Want to be my partner?" he raised an eyebrow, sharing a smirk with her.

"That sounds nice," she laughed.

"And as a peace gift, we've got something for you and your husband, ma'am," Erisa cut into the moment and gestured behind them where a tarp dropped to reveal the TARDIS.

"The box of wonders!" Minerva cheered, running over to the dear box, "Better than any sort of transportation!"

"Found in the gardens of Buckingham Palace," Erisa explained as she and the Doctor joined the brunette.

"Oh, she doesn't mind," the Doctor waved it off.

"Now, I've got three dead alien stingrays to clear up. I don't suppose you fancy helping with the paperwork?"

"Not really, but could you please send over the Tritovores to us? We're supposed to bring them to a nice planet for them."

"Of course," Erisa nodded, "Till we meet again, Doctor, ma'am," she called to Minerva.

Minerva turned around with a half-smile, "Minerva," she corrected for future references.

The Doctor walked up to Minerva and took her into a hug, "See? I told you everything would be fine with UNIT. You had nothing to be afraid of."

"I know it was stupid but it was a real fear for me," she sighed, resting her head on his chest, "I didn't want them questioning my family here, or even my friends."

Christina, who was being monitored with a Geiger counter saw the pair near that blue box of theirs and swatted the soldier, "That's quite enough of that!" she ran towards the pair

The detective, McMillan, spotted her and went after her. "She is not getting away this time."

"Little blue box! Just like you said!" Christina looked at the TARDIS with excitement, "Right then, off we go! Come on, Doctor, cousin," she eyed Minerva, "Show me the stars!"

"No," Minerva sadly smiled.

"What?"

"No," Minerva repeated, looking at the Doctor to see if he was thinking the same.

"But I helped you," Christina reminded, "I helped both of you."

"So?" the Doctor asked.

"We're surrounded by police. I'll go to prison."

"Yeah."

"But you were right, it's not about the money. I only steal things for the adventure, and today, with you...I want more days like this. I want every day to be like this. Why not take me with you?"

"People have traveled with us and we've lost them. Lost them all. Never again," the Doctor replied, "And my wife needs a lot of help right now. She is my main priority and I make no trips that interfere with her assistance."

McMillan arrived with policemen, "Lady Christina de Souza! Oh, I have waited a long time to say this. I am arresting you on suspicion of theft," Minerva watched with sadness as Christina was handcuffed. " You do not have to say anything, etcetera, etcetera. Dennison, take her away."

As Christina was taken away, Carmen and Lou walked over to the pair.

"Doctor? You take care, now," Carmen warned.

The Doctor smiled, missing the warning, "You too! Chops and gravy, lovely! What do you think we'll have for tonight, dear?" he looked at Minerva.

"No, but you be careful. Because your song is ending, sir," Carmen reiterated her warning with further explanation.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, his smile gone.

"It is returning. It is returning through the dark. And then, Doctor... Oh, but then... He will knock four times."

As the humans parted, the Doctor and Minerva shared a concerned glance with each other. The last time they heard about a song, well...a certain human song ended (Minerva) and a certain hybrid song began...Minerva. But this time, this time the song was his...

Thankfully, the two Tritovores arrived as requested, distracting them from the dark moment.

"Oh, please come in," Minerva opened the TARDIS doors for them, "We'll be taking you home right now! Any requests?" she called as the two went inside.

The Tritovores chirruped from inside and the Doctor poked his head inside, frowning, "For the last time, she is staying with me!" he closed the doors and faced his wife who giggled, "What?"

"You're so ridiculous," she turned away to see Christina being led to a police car. Suddenly, she reached for the Doctor's screwdriver and pointed to her 'cousin''s handcuffs, unlocking them, "My cousin will not go to jail."

Christina noticed the unlocked handcuffs but remained silent as she was placed in the backseat of the car. As soon as the door was closed, she scooted to the other side and bolted out of the car, heading for the bus as the McMilan and another officer chased her.

"No! Stop that woman! Stop that woman! Stop her! Don't just stand there, stop her!"

Minerva handed the Doctor back his screwdriver and hurried up to the bus with him.

"Open the door! I'll add resisting arrest!" McMillan pounded on the bus doors.

"I'd step back, if I were you," the Doctor warned him.

"I'm charging you too! Aiding and abetting!" McMillan warned the two.

"Yes, we'll just step inside this police box and arrest our selves," Minerva sweetly smiled and took the Doctor's hand as the two returned to the TARDIS.

Christina waved to the detective and started the bus. McMillan watched helplessly as the bus lifted off the ground, "No! Come back!"

The rest of the passengers laughed at the getaway. The pair stopped in front of the TARDIS doors where Christina hovered and opened the doors to call out, "We could've been so good together, cousin," she smiled.

"Sorry cousin, but I've got a kingdom to build and a husband to deal with," Minerva playfully shrugged.

Christina laughed while the Doctor mock-glared at the two. She waved at them then flew and the bus flew into the sky, leaving behind a cheering group of their new friends.

"Time to go home," the Doctor whispered to Minerva while taking her hand.

"Yes, please," she agreed and allowed him to take them back to the TARDIS to finish their last task before they could end their long day.

[lonewolflink]

lol not the internalized misogyny jumping out with the way you talk about the USWNT.

listen bud it's not internalized misogyny, truly i wish it was. it is something more vile...

sometimes u hate a group of women but it's not because they're women…it’s because they're on a team u hate...

alas, tis the nature of being a sports fan. at least it is for me! i am a passionate sports girl!! i spew hatred!!!!!!! welcome to sports fandom lmao. you should hear the horrible, insane shit i've said in my life about sidney crosby, a man who by all accounts is just a nice canadian saint. :P

(if this is about me calling the uswnt as an organization arrogant, please understand that as the arrogance of a rich first world nation not as gendered lmao. let me be sour in my country's defeat? wtf man? i literally cried over this game yesterday, don't be dick)

PS/Extra Note: i don’t think you meant any harm here, but you should know that it's extremely poor form as a sports fan to go poke the wound of a fan whose team yours just beat in a championship game, the day after that game. 

EDIT: my big frustration with the whole thing really has nothing to do with the uswnt, to be clear. it's that marta, the greatest women footballer of all time, has never really had a proper team put around her because of economic and socio-political issues in brazil. she and really all of brazilian women's soccer has been systematically failed by the country. by contrast, the uswnt receives great support economically and politically for its development (obviously not relative to men's sports, but that's not the comparison here).

this is not to say that the players on the uswnt did not earn their medal; of course they did! they won the game fair and square. they worked their asses off to get there. they currently have, and have long had, an excellent team. i personally enjoy watching a lot of their players do their thing (trinity rodman in particular is a force and i love her style of play).

but i think it's pretty fair for brazilian fans like myself to be frustrated that marta's years on the seleção were squandered in this way, in a way that has nothing to do with the actual play on the pitch and everything to do with economics and politics. and to pretend like the USWNT (and other teams as well) have not had a leg up over brazil in that respect is a kind of arrogance that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. but again, that has nothing to do with the actual game that was played, which the americans won fair and square.

[note: it's not like we don't see this happening in other sports either!! there's a reason the US and China dominate the olympics lol]

at this point i'm just venting (sorry!). but it's deeply tragic what has happened in brazilian women's soccer, and specifically to marta. at least it is tragic to me. and instead of writing this essay mid-game because i was sad and angry, i just made some snide comments (really one comment) in my tags, on my personal blog. i feel like...i should be allowed to do that without someone accusing me of misogyny anonymously lol?

anon, i hope you see that this is actually much more complicated—both in the economics and politics of global sport but also for me personally—than just "i guess lonewolflink has some internalized misogyny to work through". like...no. that's not what the snide comment was talking about at all. i harbor no genuine ill will to the american women's team. but even if i did, and i had to work through some internalized misogyny...

my PS still stands. it's not cool to come to someone's personal blog when they clearly care a lot about sports and the teams they cheer for, and then prod the wound the day after a huge tragic loss. please don't do that in the future. not to me, not to anyone else.

[animetedworldblog]

True Otaku and Fandom Conventions

Before I took this class, I barely watched anime and I had assumptions about the different genres and fans. I think my exposure to anime and otaku has, unfortunately, been things on the internet perhaps making fun of them or criticizing them. I think that society has put an unfair label on anime fans and the documentary “True Otaku” has helped me to understand what really happens at those conventions and what the people are really like. For me, I cannot say I am remotely a fan of anime, but watching the documentary has helped me understand its appeal more. First of all, I thought the host, Nicole Boyd, did a very good job at engaging with the attendees of the convention, as well as people who work within the conventions. For example, she interviewed writer and volunteer Lauren who gave insight to how attendees feel when attending conventions. She gave an interesting analogy that people who go to medical conventions dress a certain way because it is appropriate, which is the case for those who cosplay and attend anime conventions. After watching all three parts of the documentary, I have a better understanding of the camaraderie within the otaku community and what the common points of emphasis are. One particular thing I noticed was how people have different definitions for otaku and how some anime fans do not label themselves as such. Additionally, Nicole mentioned that many of these anime conventions equate to attending a sporting event, which I am more well-versed in, so I could appreciate the desire to represent their favorite shows. One of the more impactful parts of the documentary were the attendee testimonials. Many of the interviews impressed me because of how much Shadow Cultural Capital many of the attendees obtained. For example, when the two girls dressed in Lolita fashion were talking about the subgenres of Lolita fashion and how it was their main draw into the anime world was especially interesting. I thought the documentary did a very good job at communicating that anime conventions are a place where all genres are well represented, and that there is a little bit of everything that satisfies the endless types of anime fans. For example, one of the interviews was a mother who brought her two children with her. She talked about how she had been consuming anime and manga for years and introduced her kids to it. Her kids were so excited to go to the convention and they were dressed up as their favorite characters. Another interview was of a family on vacation and each member of the family- mom, dad, and sister- were dressed as characters. True Otaku gave good insight on a very misunderstood culture which often gets the short end of the stick. I personally have been responsible for jumping to conclusions about many anime fans, conventions, and shows, so watching this documentary gave me a better understanding about what things appeal to people. Some of the main takeaways from the documentary were how many of the cosplayers were attention whores, each niche genre in anime is represented well at conventions, many people find a sense of community within the conventions that they have not experienced outside of them because they are criticized for liking such things. Personally I enjoyed this more than Genshiken because I found myself jumping to conclusions. The characters in Genshiken represented a small percentage of the people who attend the anime conventions. I have never attended an anime convention or any convention of any kind, so I could not relate to much of the documentary. I do not think I will go to an anime convention ever in the future, nor will I watch anime outside of this class. What I can say is this; anime is a unique medium of entertainment, and these conventions represent the medium well. I think that when the documentary talked about its global reach, I was impressed because it is true that when people have common interests there is more potential for a better relationship, so I can appreciate that anime can be used as a way to better relationships with different places all over the world. 

[oonajaeadira]

For the Love of Fic: September 11

Oooof. I did a lot of Pero last week and I’ll be spending the next week focusing on another Pedro. So this week it’s a miscellany...with bonus non-Pedros....what?

MULTI

Euclidian Geometry by @leslie-lyman Okay, sure, there’s some smut involved, but really, the way Pero, Jack, and Frankie need each other, find solace in each other and in the reader...I can’t tell you what a beautiful surprise it was to expect wall-to-wall sex but be given deep, deeeep feelings. Not usually a reader of poly-fic myself, but I trust Leslie and if she goes there, I will follow. So glad I did.

How Did You Love 7 by @writeforfandoms This time it’s Jack’s turn to make a play for the chance to stay by your side. As always with Jen’s Jack, I just wanna bask in his warm protectiveness all damn day. And as much as I love Ezra, I have to say he irritated me a little this time...

The Infinity Cube Part 20 by @littlemisspascal Apart from an epilogue coming, this is the final chapter...and it’s a great one. Rae has stolen my heart with this fic...and trapped it inside. If you haven’t started on this one yet and have been waiting for a conclusion, now’s your time.

You’re the Light (Dragonrancher Jack Daniels universe) by @writeforfandoms Now we’re really getting into some mystery as the Thief shows up with some important information about Eggsy and his mom...

Formula 101 - Prologue: September by @littlemisspascal  Rae’s coming strong out of the gate on this one, the first “media fic” AND the first sport / driving fic I’ve ever delved into. It’s teeming with easter eggs not only with its media format and clickable links, but in characters and places from the Pedro universe (as well as a couple of other universes) and some other recognizable faces come up.  So much fun. And if you don’t know anything about F1 racing, you will be taken care of here as Rae uses the format to explain the basics in a format that’s quick and easy. GET IT.

.

JOEL MILLER

Loss by @radiowallet I feel like when Joel hits there will be so much beautiful angst in this fandom. Cat is starting us out strong by jumping off that “you have no idea what loss is” line from the teaser. Short and poetic, she’ll break your heart with every word.

A Fascination by @iamskyereads  Even though I’m not familiar with the character, I feel like this fic takes the time it needs for Joel to open up and let someone in. And when he does, whoo boy, it is savory and sweet in all the right spicy ways.

.

DIETER BRAVO

Locked Down Part 17: The Bubble, Part 18: The Return, Part 19: The Carpet, Part 20: The Admission and Part 21: The Reveal by @something-tofightfor​ Okay, I meant to read like two chapters per FTLOF, but I had to stand in some long lines this week and needed reading material and I can’t get enough of these two. So now I’m caught up and I want more and I am just hooked on how much these two love and trust one another. How they acknowledge what’s hard and what’s unconventional and how they take care of each other through it even if they’re not together. I’m so in awe of this story and the whole relationship, it feels so alive...

.

MAX PHILLIPS

Long Term Position by @blueeyesatnight I love a Max fic where the reader hates him intensely and for good reason, but in the end he’s able to break down barriers and get through to the heart by being no less shitty than he always is. I don’t know how Blue weaves this magic, but here it is.

.

MARCUS MORENO

A Good Man: 4 Days West by @radiowallet I admit that I came upon Cat a little late to jump on the Poorly Wired Circuit wagon (but am looking forward to the novelization!!!!) so I’m excited to be able to get on board at the start of this one. I don’t read Marcus often, but Cat’s gorgeous writing always pulls me in and she has such a deep love of the character that I know I’m in good hands. And a western AU to boot? Yee haw. Sign me up.

.

THE THIEF

An Unexpected Surprise by @mandosmistress A fun and flirty cat and mouse exchange between the Thief and a security systems expert in the wine cellar of a wealthy client...with a delicious little twist at the end.

.

PERO TOVAR

The Debt by @prolix-yuy This is one of my new favorites. Pero is such a perfect blend of grumpy and touched here. He’s such an ass but at the same time, knows when to spend his moments of sincerity. I love the subtle yearning, the respect, the unspoken camaraderie. And I love a lady badass. Chef’s kisses and cakes.

.

BONUS BAILEY CORNER - NON-PEDROS (with a pinch of Din)

KHONSHU

Like a Prayer by @unhinged-summer-fun Bailey could have written a straight up, full stop, beak-fucking fic, and she kinda did, but really, that’s just a small part of it. The path there is a lovely build of modern-day magic; the way the life of an everyday woman can catch the ear of an ancient god. And his eye. And his soul. And other parts.

.

BOBA FETT

The Book of Boba Fett (Bailey’s Version) by @snarwor Look. I am just fine with TBOBF. I liked it just fine and I enjoyed watching it. But I think it could have been so much better. Bailey does too...and she nails it. From letting the Tuskens live, to getting them involved in the fight, giving Boba motivation for redemption, giving Din reason to choose his path, making Cobb and Fennec more active players, and just cutting out the gristle. I love this version. I kind of wish I hadn’t read it because I really really want this to be canon....

.

[greatgreedyhandfuls]

Deep and Shorn Raw

Hello OFMD sneezblr!! This is my debut, after many years of lurking in various fandoms. Made a side blog just to post this and begin to participate! :) 

Here’s nearly 4k of clingy emotional sick person Edward Teach, featuring plentiful h/c, reluctant caretaker Lucius and incredibly enthusiastic, protective caretaker Stede. It’s set in a vanilla modern au I posted on A03, which is very h/c centric as well- if anyone is interested dm me and I’ll drop you a link! You’ll be able to follow it just fine without having read that though 

I’d like to dedicate this to softersteve and straightupsickfics whose supply of wonderful, soft Blackbonnet fic has sustained me these last few months.

Enjoy! And please do let me know what you think, this is only my second sneezefic- all comments are welcome, even naughty ones. I am dyslexic, so please tell me if there are typos!

                                                         ~~~

The sneeze waxes and wanes, teasing mercilessly. Ed tips his head back into the arm of the couch, panting through his mouth, nose far too blocked to breathe through. He shakes out a handkerchief- his favorite microfiber one that Stede had embroidered ‘Edward’ onto the corner of with two crooked little hearts- with trembling hands.

“Oh my god, can you just sneeze already?” Lucius complains, from the other side of the room where he sits, fully masked and sporting a pair of latex gloves, perched stiffly on the arm chair. 

At the moment, he is Ed’s temporary, and extremely reluctant, caretaker. Stede has been off  two hours away at an unskippable custody meeting with Mary, and, unwilling to leave his sick husband alone for most of the day, coerced Lucius into staying with Ed. There may have been blackmail involved. Ed would object to being babysat, if not for the fact that every time he sits up he almost passes out.

“I’m- try-t- hee-ah-hunh,” Ed gasps. He nearly has it at a fierce spike of the tickle, but it fucks off in the last second, distracted by Lucius’s pestering. He massages his very sore, very pink nose and shoots Lucius a watery glare. “I’m fucking trying.”

All at once the itch rushes from a dormant prickle to and out right stabbing somewhere in the depths of his swollen sinuses. Ed sucks in an enormous breath and shoots forward into the handkerchief with three massive sneezes, tripping over each other to get out.

“ErTCHhUHh! Hirhh-ERSHH! H’ERhhshhiiEw! 

“That’s absolutely vile, I hope you know.”

“Fuck off,” Ed snaps, though it’s dubiously comprehensible through the congestion. Those had done his handkerchief in, unfortunately. He loves that thing, loves that Stede made it for him, loves how soft it is, and that using it almost makes him feel like Stede is with him even though he isn’t. That thought kind of makes Ed want to cry and the prickling at his eyes only gets his nose running even worse. “Can you grab me some tissues man, this is shot.”

“Fine,” Lucius huffs and gets up to rummage through the front hall closet. He returns moments later with a box of puffs, the extra soft fancy kind, thankfully- his nose is raw enough as is without subjecting it to something scratchy. Instead of handing it to Ed however, Lucius chucks them roughly at his head. Ed, reflexes fever slow, fumbles, barely managing to catch them as they bounce off his chin.

All of a sudden he’s fucking pissed, the anger revving up well traveled channels in his gut. Pissed at Lucius for being difficult about everything, pissed at Stede for not being here right now, pissed at himself for being sick and needy. He hurls the box right back at Lucius, as hard as he can. Despite the fever weighing him down, he turns it into an effective projectile weapon. Lucius yelps and jumps out of the way.

The box thuds dully on the carpet and rolls twice underneath the armchair Lucius had been sitting on. They both stare at it.

The anger floods away- he has no energy to sustain it. In its place he feels lonely and small and foolish-everything hurts and he’s woozy and his entire head itches and he wants Stede. His lip trembles and he swipes frantically at his eyes. When that fails to stem the tears, he turns away from Lucius, into the back of the couch, to mop at his face with the blanket.

“Fuck. I’m being a bit of a bitch aren’t I?” Lucius concedes, and there’s the rustling sound of him kneeling on the carpet to retrieve the tissue box. “I forgot you’re actually miserable, not just annoying.” 

The last part is said under his breath and mostly to himself, though Ed hears it easily. He stares daggers at the couch, the weave of the fabric rippling and wobbling in the lens of his blurry vision.

“Sorry. Look, I’ll try to be a little nicer. Not only because if Stede finds out I made you cry he’s going to castrate me. Metaphorically, probably, but no guarantees,” Lucius says as he sits heavily on the loveseat next to the couch, “You’re also sort of my friend. I guess.” 

Ed tentatively peers over his shoulder to find Lucius holding out the tissue box to him gently, though still leaning as far away as the extension of his arm allows.

“Suppose you’re mine too.” Ed acquiesces, and takes it from him. He tugs one out and scrubs at his face with it, flopping back onto his mound of pillows, “And you didn’t make me cry.”

“Ah, so I’m imagining you leaking from your eyes in addition to your nose, is that what we’re going with?”

“No. That’s not-I mean you’re not exactly helping but-” Ed sighs, and in the absence of his beard tucks most of his face under the blankets so the truth will be easier to speak, “It’s just-I. I feel like dogshit and I want my fucking husband alright?”

“Oh, that’s uh,” Lucius fumbles, “Fuck. Sorry.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Ed says weakly, not really meaning it. He’s, ok, well he’s a bit of a baby when he’s sick. Or at least, he’s come to let himself be, after a lifetime of holding back the need, now that he has Stede to take care of him. The attention Stede heaps on him-endlessly gentle, patient and protective- is something he craves with a viciousness as old as he is, thrashing in a place deep and shorn raw in his soul. He tosses his used tissues vaguely in the direction of the garbage can in the corner and fiddles with the tassels on the edge of the blanket forlornly. 

“I’m not picking that up,” Lucius informs him, though without much bite. He reaches out and gives Ed’s blanket covered knee an awkward, consoling pat. “Stede’s been texting me like every five minutes to check on you, you know.”

“He has?”

“Yup! It’s driving me insane, that’s a lot of why I’ve been so fed up, which isn’t fair to you really. He just keeps pestering me; ‘Did you give Edward his medicine, has he eaten, is he drinking electrolytes, what’s his temperature, does he have enough blankets?’ It’s relentless.” 

Ed smiles, ducks his head. The pressure change in his nose makes him rush a tissue to his face to sneeze fiercely into. Lucius grimaces.

“I also just really hate being around sick people.”

“Yeah, I gathered.”

Ed blows his nose into the uncomfortable silence.

“Wanna watch something?” Lucius asks.

“Sure.”

They end up flipping around channels until they land on the 1996 adaptation of Matilda. Lucius isn’t a bad movie buddy honestly, he talks through it just as much as Ed, though with a great deal more sarcasm. Ed falls asleep around thirty minutes in, mid argument about the potential practical, and explicit, applications of telekinesis.

He wakes to the sound of the front door opening, gritty and disoriented.

“I’m home!” Stede sing-songs from the entryway. His footsteps tap closer as Ed’s muzzy brain pieces together that sentence. As soon as he does he scrambles up off the couch, wanting nothing more than to fling himself into Stede’s arms. His vision promptly goes gray and he’s swaying dangerously as Stede rounds the corner.

“How is my favorite patient d- Ed!” Stede bolts to his side just in time, catching him soundly in a hug. Ed sags into him, dizzy and relieved in a way that rearranges his insides. His eyes begin to well, spilling over into the crisp fabric of Stede’s suit. Stede tenses as he notices the tears dampen his skin and makes a wounded noise, holding Ed tighter. “Oh my love it’s alright, I’m right here, shh shh.”

Ed clings, letting Stede guide them back down to the couch. He crawls into Stede’s lap as soon as they’re sitting, wanting never to let go. He wishes he could smell him. He burrows his nose in anyway, nuzzling into Stede’s neck, only for the fine lace trim on his collar to tease the sensitive edges of his nostril and send him gasping. 

Unwilling to lift his face from the refuge of Stede’s chest and unable to resist the oncoming sneeze he ducks to stifle it in Stede’s shirt. One turns into two quickly, followed by a third that holds him captive, hitching breaths hot and damp in the little nook he’s made for himself under Stede’s collar bone. Stede strokes his back, hushing him, and kissing the damp crown of his head.  

“Oh wow, bless you sweetheart, are we feeling tickly?”

Ed nods against him, sniffling urgently. He sneezes once more, a thick and desperate “Hee- huhhESHiiew!” that he doesn’t manage to stifle.

“Goodness, poor thing. Here, let's get you cleaned up,” Stede murmurs, and manifests a fresh handkerchief from his suit pocket. He lifts Ed’s heavy head, meeting his glassy gaze with a worried little pinch between his brows, and wipes carefully under Ed’s eyes, at his cheeks. He tents the cloth around Ed’s nose and the gentle touch there makes Ed seize up with a breathless little “hurschuh!” into Stede’s covered hand.

Stede tuts sympathetically, and waits for Ed to clear himself into the handkerchief, which he does with practiced obedience, too exhausted and grateful to have Stede tending to him to care that Lucius is still there. Lucius however, definitely cares that Lucius is still there.

“Yeah, yup, I’m super good on seeing any more of-” Lucius waves a hand at them intertwined, Stede fussing over Ed’s nose. “-all of this. Ed- it’s been not entirely unpleasant, feel better. Stede, make someone else do this next time, thanks.”

Stede pulls back with a final wipe and pockets the handkerchief.

“Cheers mate,” Ed says and rolls his eyes again, coughing a little to clear his throat. He makes a jab at sincerity. “Thanks for staying with me.”

“You’re welcome or whatever,” Lucius responds, clearly more touched than he wants to let on, “I’d say it was my pleasure, but it really wasn’t.”

“I’d like to second that. Thank you very, very much Lucius.” Stede, still petting Ed’s hair, sounds a great deal more effusive about it than Ed did. “But barring an emergency, there’s not going to be a next time.”

Ed doesn’t love the guilty edge to Stede’s voice, but he can get behind not having to be apart from him when he’s sick unless the sky is fucking falling.

“Works for me. See you two soon,” Lucius calls from over his shoulder, already almost down the hall, eager to get out of their germ infested house. The front door opens and closes decisively.

Ed is still sniffling, so Stede coaxes him into clearing his nose out again. He gets himself lying down next to Ed, and Ed snuggles in, nice and close with his head on Stede’s chest, pliant and shivery in his arms. Stede kisses his head again and sighs.

“I shouldn’t have left you. I should have put my foot down with the lawyers, insisted we do another day.”

“It’s ok,” Ed mumbles, playing with the silk lining of Stede’s suit jacket, a bright emerald green that compliments the rich forest color of the exterior, so dark it’s almost black.

“It’s not! You’re ill, and you needed me.” He pushes the hair away from Ed’s face, kisses his forehead. “I’m so sorry Edward.”

Ed attempts to stop the little sob that tries to quiver up his throat, but it makes it out anyway.

“Oh my darling,” Stede laments, and pulls him in tight, guiding Ed to hide his too hot face in his throat, “Shh, shh, I’m here. You’re ok, I have you now.”

Stede rocks them, gliding his fingers through Ed’s hair over and over with one hand and rubbing circles over his spine with the other.

“It was important,” Ed croaks once he’s calmed down a bit, “I get it.”

Stede shakes his head, squeezes him tighter.

“There is not a thing in this world more important to me than you.”

Ed stills, throttled by the implications of that. 

“You can’t mean-”

“I do. I realize it makes me more of a spectacularly shit father than I already have been, but,” he pulls back to cup Ed’s face in his hands, taking him in- unusually pale and blotchy from the fever and the tears, cracked skin above his lips and around his once again dripping nose, wet, bruised looking streaks under his eyes- and seems to process it all with welling adoration, “I love you more than anything. More than reason. Alright?”

Ed nods jerkily, unable to say it back through the lump in his throat. He leans in to kiss him, because he can’t not, and also so he doesn’t start crying again. A few tears slip down his face anyway, his resistance fever worn. Stede just admitted to loving him more than his children, something that, in all their years together, he’s never said out loud. Ed’s suspected but- this. He’s not an unselfish person; he feels a little giddy, a little like a dragon clutching at a hoard of gold. 

Stede’s nose taps his gently and Ed rears back with a startling sneeze he doesn’t manage quite to catch. Between the light touch, the constant low grade tickle and the tears upsetting the delicate equilibrium of his sinuses, it spirals into another fit. 

“UH-tshh! Hihh-ersHH! ETCHcchhh-uhh! H’uhhshhiiew!  Huh-he-”

The vibration of each sneeze seems to set off the next. In a momentary lull he presses his nose into Stede’s chest in an attempt to get it to stop, nostrils twitching helplessly against sleek fabric. The lack of friction does little and he lifts his head, eyes half mast and mouth tugging open with each little gasp. Stede works a few more tissues into his hands and tucks the short wavy hairs that frame his face, which keep drifting to his nose and egging him on further, behind his ears.

“HuhhTCHusshh’oo! ithurschuh! H’uhh… TCHushhiew! Hhhh…” Ed moans, waiting for an overwhelming final, “HEH-hh-RRRiSHSHH-oooh!"

Ed blinks in the aftermath, dazed, the world spinning wildly.

“Bless you, poor honey,” Stede all but coos. Ed flings his sodden tissues at the trash and whines, turning to launch himself back fully into Stede, who makes a few more of those gentle shushing noises that turn Ed to butter. “You seem worse than this morning. Has it been this bad all day?”

“On and off,” Ed rasps into Stede’s neck.

“God, my poor sweet thing. I should have been there,” Stede insists again.

“You’re here now,” Ed breathes, pleased and a little awestruck as he always is, to be so cared for.

“And you’re not getting rid of me until you’re better,” Stede proclaims, pressing yet another kiss to Ed’s damp hair. Ed grins hugely, hidden in Stede’s shirt, which is surely going to need to be dry-cleaned after all this. 

“I know Lucius wasn’t thrilled to be here, I do hope he wasn’t too sharp with you,” Stede inquires, faux casual. There’s a knife hidden in that sentence Ed is sure.

“He was fine, mostly,” Ed tells him cautiously.

“Mostly?” Stede asks, innocent and deadly.

Lucius may have had a point about the castration. For the sake of Lucius’ dick, beloved by many in their community, he abstains from mentioning the tissue box incident, or grand amounts of bitching that preceded it.

“Seriously babe, he complained, but kept me fed and medicated, got shit for me. We even managed to bond a bit. No need to torture him.” Ed drops a kiss on Stede’s chest.

“I would never.”

Ed snorts at that: he knows exactly what kind of conniving, petty bastard he married- that was part of the appeal. The disturbance in the air through his nose however, proves to be a mistake quickly, sending the tickle bucking back up.

 “hhehh’IYSSCh’hh! H’uhh… huh!” Ed pants, eyebrows knotting together, eyelashes fluttering, “uhh— hrrUSHH’uuhh!

“Bless you darling,” Stede soothes with his lips brushing Ed’s forehead, handing him more tissues, “So sensitive.”

“It itches like h-he hhUSCH’uhhh! Ngg. Like hell. Fucking everywhere too, under my eyes, in my ears. Kind of want to claw my face off.”

“It’s such a lovely face, we can’t have that.”

“Dunno,” Ed says, transparently fishing, but also sort of needing the reassurance after his last depressing encounter with the bathroom mirror, “Pretty sure I look like death warmed over.”

“You look beautiful,” Stede delivers swiftly and sincerely, punctuating it with a kiss to Ed’s cheekbone, and two more after each of his next compliments, “Dazzling. Devastating.” 

“If you say so,” Ed laughs, trying for off-handed, but he’s gone all giggly and soft under Stede’s ministrations. Stede has a way of getting him belly-up with very little effort.

“I certainly do.”

Ed settles back down on top of him, content despite his pounding, stuffy head. Stede continues to smooth his hair in comfortable silence.

“You’re due for another dose of medicine in about,” Stede says after a bit, lifting his wrist to glance at his watch, “Fifteen minutes. How about once we get that fever down we hop in the steam shower? Might help you breathe a little easier.”

“Sounds great. I've been wanting to all day, but I thought if I was alone I’d probably pass out and brain myself on the tile. Be a pretty lame way to go out,” he says and feels Stede’s fingers spasm in his hair at the thought, “Mind, getting me naked might’ve been something Lucius would have actually been happy to help with.”

Stede laughs, and it vibrates through Ed, warming him to his core. He’s joking really, mostly to keep Stede from anxiously spiralling over the idea of Ed dying alone in their bathroom. Lucius is a habitual flirt of course, but has never once hit on Ed; at first too intimidated by him and then, upon getting to know him, too perpetually annoyed. There was also the fact that Ed only had eyes for Stede, something Lucius, ever observant to these kinds of things, was aware of before either of them were.

“He wouldn’t dare. You’re all mine,” Stede teases back, though to Ed’s delight, under the needling tone he clearly means it.

“Damn right I am,” Ed agrees happily. He sneezes again, harsh and itchy, trapped between Stede and the blankets. “HttCHSHSH’U! Ugh. Massive amounts of snot and all.”

“You know I don’t mind darling,” Stede assures, kissing Ed’s forehead when he’s through dealing with his nose, “I’m still thoroughly charmed by you, I promise.”

“Yeah?” Ed asks, smiling a stupidly love struck thing that feels too big for his face.

“Yes.”

He levers himself up on Stede’s chest enough to kiss him properly, cupping his face. Stede kisses back in great hungry pulls, undeterred by Ed’s sniffling, and chases after his lips, magnetised, when Ed has to break it in order to breathe. Ed coughs, trying to get enough air in.

“You’re so unfairly gorgeous in this suit. Striding in and fucking catching me, all heroic like. And I’m too stuffed up to do anything about it.”

 He pouts.

“Hhmm I don’t know. We might be able to work something out. Endorphins do have extraordinary healing properties,” Stede muses, “Maybe in the shower, once you’re breathing better. I don’t like how heavy that sounds.”

Ed perks up, anticipation bursting through the malaise, amazed to be desired even in the state he’s in.

“Really? Fuck yeah, I could get behind that.”

“Excellent.” Stede leans down to give him one more deep, quick kiss. “I’m going to be very, very gentle with you, and you’ll have to be patient. Do you think you could do that for me, love?”

Ed makes a suckerpunched noise and nods vigorously, once again forgetting to account for the pressure changes of the movement. He interrupts the bubbling heat between them by sneezing in a frantic little fit.

“huhUHH—hhhuh’RRSCH’mph! httchshShhh’u! “hh! Hh! Huh’edtsshh!”

“Easy darling, in and out, I’ve got you,” Stede hushes, stroking his cheek as Ed struggles to catch his breath, “Why don’t I go grab your medicine now, it should be fine to take a few minutes early.”

Stede starts to extricate himself, but Ed shakes his head quickly, pinning him with his weight and grabbing on tight. He has to crush another sneeze against his arm.

“Let’s stay like this a little longer,” he implores, then looks away from Stede’s concerned eyes to admit, “I- I don’t want you to let me go yet.” Or ever.

“Oh my dearest,” Stede whispers, sounding overwhelmed, “I’ll hold you as long as you like. Forever, if that’s what it takes.”

“Forever sounds pretty good,” Ed says, lingering tension bleeding out of him in a long breath.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

They will actually  need to leave their cocoon at some point soon- Ed’s fever is already creeping back up, and it’s only going to boil higher the longer he waits to take the meds. Stede probably wants to get out of his suit and goad Ed into drinking more water. There is, of course, promised sexy times and a long soak in the steam shower to look forward to.

But for now, they stay like this; wrapped up in each other, quiet and warm, the steady beat of Stede’s heart under Ed’s ear the only sound in the world.

[zexalweek]

Hello again, friends! My laptop isn't cooperating with me, so I won't be able to make a cut or add a photo since I'm making this post on mobile! I'll try and come back and make a more user friendly post once my laptop decides to work with me! (Cuz its nearly an hour past 5pm CST, when I said I'd post, I'm so sorry! I had to retype this all out on my phone TwT)

So without further ado, here are Zexal Week 2022's prompts!

Sunday, May 29th: Sports Day - Children's Card Games are the claim to fame for YGO, but in Zexal, we do sometimes see the characters in their gym class! From the springboard jumping over stacks, to the school's indoor pool, what other sports can you see characters doing? You can keep it simple and in-universe, or you can go as far as a full revamp of Zexal and make it a sports anime!

Monday, May 30th: Prank Wars - What characters are the most capable of shattering the peace, setting off a full on prank war? Who's participating? Who are unwitting victims, or amused, untouched bystanders? Does it stay simple? Do things get complex? Does someone take it too far?

Tuesday, May 31st: Mer/Maid - Its the last day of May! During May, 2 different common events in fandom take place: MerMay, and Maid Day (Held on May 10th in Japan)! As a send off to the month, use today to promote any Zexal content you made this month for those events, or make/share something new!

Wednesday, June 1st: Roadtrip - Its the start of the summer months, so we're celebrating with a roadtrip! Who's going? Where are they going? How long is it going to take? Are they making pitstops/small trips to see the sights along the way? Was it a spur of the moment trip? Was it meticulously planned to the most minuscule of details?

Thursday, June 2nd: Retro - YGO Zexal is set in a futuristic setting, but what if it was set in a more recent past? Zexal but 90's, 80's, 70's, hell even Roaring 20's? Whether or not you incorporate the card game or not is entirely your call!

Friday, June 3rd: Call to Attention - With nearly 150 episodes, Zexal definitely had a fair amount of time to introduce and explore different characters and concepts, as well give the fandom enough fuel for fan-theories galore! What is/are some aspects of the show you wish had been given more attention? Do you think a character should have been more fleshed out? Was there a specific direction you thought a plotline was going, only for it to go somewhere completely different? Was there one that just seemed to be dropped? Tell us your thoughts!

Saturday, June 4th: Free Day! - Just as it says: Do as you will, anything is fair game!

Extra Prompts:

A character(s) you relate to the most

Museum of Wonders

Coffee shop date

The Measure of a Life

Defying Gravity

We're Getting the Band Back Together!

"This is a retroactive nightmare."

"Here's to a night we'll never remember, with the people we'll never forget!"

"Lie after lie after lie, we all stopped counting the crimes. You know why we can't trust you, don't you?"

"Do you want to be the layer of the bricks that seal your fate, or would you rather be the architect of what we might create?"

"All I wanted was you."

"I'm minor in a major kind of way."

-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-☆-

Now, as usual, the prompts are not mandatory! They're meant more as a framework for those who prefer a guideline or structure! If there's something you'd prefer to do that is not mentioned here, then by all means, go for it! We're celebrating Zexal, and doing so in whichever way you feel is best is totally fine!

Not only that, but by no means is participation in Zexal Week limited to producing content! Likes and reblogs, even leaving comments on others' posts all count as contributing to Zexal Week! Even if you don't consider yourself a creator, your actions and support help make things possible!

In addition, while I am aware that fanfic and fanart are the most common forms of fan content, I encourage all types of content, AMVs/fancams, poetry, screencap edits, even simple posts or videos of you just talking about Zexal! OCs and Self-Insert characters are also totally acceptable!

That being said, if you plan on contributing content, I kindly ask the content you share be your own, and that you're not reposting someone's work, or at the very least, not doing so without their permission and/or passing it off as your own. "Credit to the Creator" does not fly here. Having commissioned someone to make content for you is fine, so long as you state/acknowledge it was commissioned, share who commissioned it, and confirmed with the creator that it is ok to share like that!

Additionally, I will accept mature works, so long as there are clear content warnings and proper tags.

Finally! I kindly ask that you use the tags "#Zexal Week" and/or "#Zexal Week 2022", cuz those are the tags I check to see people's content! In the past years, some people's posts fail to show up in the main tags, so feel free to tag this blog in your posts if you're concerned I might not see them!

Thank you for your patience, and again, I'll try and clean this post up when my laptop stops being rude to me! I'll see you all soon!

-- Krys 💙

[spacedancer1701]

Family Days at Joanna’s School

(a Star Trek AOS fic)

Fandoms: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (AOS) Characters: Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Joanna McCoy Rating/Warnings: None Tags: Leonard is a loving father, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Daddy Leonard, Bullying Word Count: 2,170

This is actually a birthday gift for a lovely Trekkie friend, who happens to be a dedicated French teacher, but I hope you’ll enjoy it, too! 

Summary: Leonard finally makes it to the Family Days, helps a little boy out, and has a conversation with Joanna about bullying.

Read it on AO3: Family Days at Joanna’s School    

“Daddyyyyyyyy!”

The squeal could be heard all over the school’s sportsgrounds, and startled people turned their heads to see little Joanna McCoy racing across the lawn towards a man, who was just getting out of his hovercar.

“Daddy, daddy, you came! You came to our Family Days!” she cheered a little less loudly and threw herself at the beaming man, jumping right into his open arms.

“Good to see you, too, pumpkin,” McCoy laughed, squeezing her tightly, his heart soaring at his darling daughter’s boisterous greeting.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she pulled back after a moment to look at him with big, reproachful eyes, and it took all his self-control and then some not to burst out laughing at the outrage on her face.

It was like looking in the mirror.

She’s a mini-me, if ever there was one, the doctor thought affectionately.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I couldn't,” he answered gently. “I wasn’t sure I was going to make it here in time.”

“But now I didn’t get to look forward to having you here for the Family Days!” Joanna pouted, even as the big grin made its way back across her face. “Or register for all the competitions we could do together.”

“I’m sure they’ll make an exception for us, and we can still register, sweat pea,” McCoy kissed the top of her head and set her back down on the ground. “I really couldn't tell you before, you know. Because daddy only ever makes promises he can keep. You understand that?”

“Yes, daddy,” she sighed and, quickly losing interest in their discussion as she spotted her grandma waving at them from the cake and pie stall, grabbed the doctor’s hand to pull him along.

“Welcome home, Leonard,” McCoy’s mother smiled when they’d reached the stall, wrapping him in a big hug. “I’m so glad you made it!”

“Granny knew?” the frown was back on Joanna’s face. “You told her? Don’t you have to keep your promises to her?”

“Of course, I do, honey,” the doctor laughed, ruffling her hair. “But I never promised her I’d come. I just told her I’d try.”

Joanna seemed satisfied with his answer and turned around to search the sports grounds for a suitable activity they could participate in.

“Are you a fast runner, daddy?” she asked, looking at him appraisingly.

“That depends,” he chuckled. “If the cookie monster is threatening to eat the last piece of my favourite peach cobbler, I sure am fast as lightning!”

“You’re silly, daddy,” Joanna giggled. “There is no cookie monster, and you’re standing right next to a gazillion peach cobblers.”

“Oh, right,” McCoy feigned surprise, looking around the stall with all its cakes and pies. “So, what were you thinking of?”

“I want us to do the water bucket relay race over there. Can we, please?”

“Of course, we can,” the doctor smiled, winking at his mother and hurrying after his little girl to their first competition of the day.

x-x-x-x-x

Several activities and competitions later, an exhausted McCoy and his daughter were about to settle down on the grass near the cake and pie stall with cold drinks and an ice cream for Joanna, when a boy, looking close to tears, almost slammed into them, apparently trying to get away from four girls who were chasing him and laughing at him over something.

The girls came to stand right next to Joanna, and one of them pointed a finger at the boy, who’d sat down on the grass, face covered in his hands.

“My dad’s great,” he cried indignantly. “He just has to work, and he does love me!”

“Look at him, Jo!” the girl sneered. “No one likes him. Not even his own dad. Finn registered them for so many competitions, but his dad didn’t even show up today.”

“He can’t help it, if he has to pull an extra shift!” the boy, Finn obviously, murmured defeatedly, but the girls weren’t even listening, too busy taunting him.

McCoy was watching the scene closely, waiting for the right moment to intervene. It was clear that Joanna didn’t agree with the other girls who tried to get her to join in. He knew the outraged look on her face, when she was disgusted by something, only too well, and couldn't wait to hear her set those girls straight.

Joanna, however, just turned around and quietly walked away. The doctor was very disappointed to see his daughter abandoning the poor boy. He’d have to talk to her about this later. But right now, he had to put an end to the bullying. So, he went over to Finn and, crouching down next to him, disapprovingly fixed the girls, one after the other, with his eyes.

“Do you ever stop to think before you speak, girls?” he asked sternly. “Have you even considered that his dad might not have had a choice? That maybe he is needed at work more than other dads are? Some people have important jobs they can’t just leave at any given time.”

McCoy turned towards Finn and put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What does your dad do, kid?”

“He’s a paramedic,” Finn answered shyly.

“Oh wow, that’s one of the most important jobs of all! Just like fire fighters and other heroes!” the doctor exclaimed, looking back up at the girls, who were awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other now. “Just imagine if one of your dads or someone else you love had an accident, and there were no paramedics on duty to help them, just because they’d all decided they’d rather spend time with their families.”

The girls looked away, adequately chastened by the doctor’s words. All but one, who spoke up, looking at him defiantly.

“But still, there are plenty of other paramedics. Surely his dad could have made time for the Family Days, if he’d really wanted to!”

“It’s not always that easy, my dear,” McCoy replied more gently now, grateful to have got the girls thinking at least. “Sometimes there are emergencies, and they always take priority over private engagements. I’m a doctor myself, and this is the first time I could make it to the Family Days.”

“But that’s different! You work in space!”

“How is that different? Saving lives is always important, no matter where – space, Earth, or any other planet!”

x-x-x-x-x

After the girls had toddled off, and Finn had run off with a grateful little smile, too, McCoy had gone to find Joanna, who’d been watching from around the corner of the cake and pie stall.

It had been evident that she was proud of him while clearly less than proud of herself, and since the doctor hadn’t wanted to spoil the rest of the day for her, he’d just hugged her to him, brushed a kiss on her hair, and smiled, “Let’s talk in the evening, sweetheart, shall we? Because right now, I want to have some more fun with my darling daughter!”

So here they were, sitting on Granny’s comfortable couch after dinner, when McCoy brought the issue up again.

“Now tell me, pumpkin, why did you just walk away from Finn this afternoon?” he asked, trying not to sound too reproving.

“Well, I didn’t join in, did I? I hate when my friends make fun of him!”

“So, those were you friends, eh?” the doctor raised a quizzical eyebrow.

“Yes. They can be really nice, you know, dad,” Joanna sighed. “But for some reason, they always have it out for Finn.”

“That sounds like they’re bullying him, Jo. Are they?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“So, you didn’t join in,” McCoy went on. “I’m proud that you don’t just follow your friends’ lead and make your own choices instead. But, Joanna, in this case, not joining in wasn’t enough, you know that, don’t you?”

“What else could I have done?” she asked, but he could tell that she knew the answer perfectly well.

“Stand up for him, of course!” he spelled it out for her anyway. “And if those are your friends, it should have been particularly easy for you to make them stop.”

“But I didn’t really know what to say, dad! After all, you’re not often around, either,” his daughter countered with a helpless little shrug.

Joanna was just trying to explain, of course. McCoy was aware of that. She didn’t even sound accusing, and knowing her, probably didn’t mean it that way, either. But it was still like a punch in the gut. Because she was right. He wasn’t there for his little girl nearly as much as he should. Or would like to be.

Joining Starfleet had seemed like the logical choice at the time, putting some distance between him and his ex-wife after giving in to Jocelyn’s demand of full custody instead of dragging Joanna through a long and ugly battle in court. But maybe he should have fought harder.

Suddenly, the meaning behind Joanna’s words struck home.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart! Did they give you a hard time, too? Have you been bullied for not having your dad around?”

“No, never,” Joanna shook her head vehemently. “They’re my friends, and with you, it’s totally different. You’re a cele … a celeb … kind of really famous!”

“A celebrity?” McCoy couldn't help but smile at that, relieved that his daughter hadn’t been bullied because of him.

“Yes, that,” Joanna nodded. “And besides, Finn’s not even my friend!”

“So?” the doctor asked, the conversation back to the topic of bullying now. “If someone gets bullied, we stand up for them! That’s what we do! No matter if they’re a friend or not. We don’t just ignore it and hope it’ll simply go away again. You’d want someone to stand up for you, too, if it happened to you, wouldn’t you?”

“I guess so.”

Having made his point and knowing that Joanna was feeling bad enough about the whole thing anyway, the doctor moved on to the next question.

“Why are they bullying Finn anyway?”

“I’m not sure,” his daughter responded. “Probably because he’s such an easy victim.”

“I see,” McCoy said thoughtfully. “So, that’s where we have to start. Tonight, we’ll make a plan how to help him be less of a victim, all right? You can be quite bossy, sweet pea! I’m sure there’s a lot you can teach him about self-confidence!”

“I probably could,” Joanna grinned.

“Perfect!” the doctor smiled, holding up his hand for her to high-five. “And we’ll also figure out a way to convince your friends that bullying is a horrible thing to do.”

“Yes, daddy, let’s!” his daughter nodded enthusiastically, clapping their hands together, then proudly added, “We’re McCoys after all, we can make a change!”

“Where did you get that from?” McCoy chuckled, lovingly pressing a kiss to Joanna’s forehead.

“Granny always says that,” the girl explained, snuggling comfortably into her daddy’s arms.

Ah, good old mom! the doctor thought. She’d taught him all about values, and apparently, she was also making sure that Joanna got hers right, too.

“And, Jo,” McCoy returned to the subject of bullying one more time, “if your friends won’t listen to you, and the bullying goes on, you have to tell a teacher, ok? Bullying is a serious matter, and it often needs an adult to deal with it. You understand?”

“Yes, daddy,” his daughter nodded earnestly, “I understand. If I have to, I’ll probably tell my French teacher. I’m sure she’d be happy to help. And I promise I won’t just walk away again.”

“Glad to hear that, sweetheart!” the doctor smiled, immensely enjoying having this conversation with his daughter while holding her close instead of just seeing her face on a screen. “One more question, though. Why didn’t I get to meet the fabulous Ms. Annie, today?”

“Oh daddy!” Joanna giggled, playfully hitting his arm. “Why do you always get her name wrong? And you’d better not let her hear you calling her Ms. Annie – she hates that! Her name’s Ms. Anne. With a silent ‘e’.”

“All right, all right, pumpkin,” McCoy chuckled, impressed by his daughter’s linguistic expertise, and couldn't resist teasing her a little. “I’ll make sure to always call her Ms. Anne with a silent ‘e’ from now on.”

“Daddy!” his daughter exclaimed, rolling her eyes, “You’re so embarrassing!”

“Oh, am I now?” the doctor grinned, rolling his eyes, too, in perfect McCoy manner. “Well, maybe if I finally got to meet her, I wouldn’t get confused over her name anymore!”

“You’ll meet her tomorrow, daddy, I promise,” Joanna beamed. “She couldn't be there today. Something to do with her family. I think she had to go look at some colleges with her son or something. But after all the sports today, tomorrow is quiz day. And Ms. Anne always has the best quizzes! It’ll be quite a challenge for you to win them!”

“I can’t wait!” McCoy laughed, groaning inwardly at the quiz part, but looking forward to finally meeting this fabled teacher. “And make sure to introduce me!”

************ Disclaimer: Nothing of or associated with Star Trek is mine – it all belongs to Paramount / ViacomCBS (or whoever else is currently holding the rights). This is a work of fanfiction, no infringement intended.

[chayacat]

Remember, My Love. (9)

Fandom: Resident Evil 8 Village

Lycan Karl Heisenberg x Female Reader  

Rated M for Violence, language and Smut

***

It was a long road. Long but quite relaxing, despite the situation. Aria was still attached to "Arty", the Vârcolac that drove her to Lord Moreau and in the meantime, two lycans on horseback had joined them. Heisenberg had everything planned. They then faced the Artificial Lake which, despite everything, had a certain charm. But let us also remember that under its waters, houses and other farms in ruins were in an eternal sleep. In a sense... it was that gave this place even more charm. Aria recognized this place, it was precisely here that she had met Lord Moreau, when her father was ill. Nothing had changed. The two Lycan riders left after an exchange with the Vârcolac and before Aria could react, a voice called out to her.

“A-Aria? W-what are you doing here?” said the voice which was none other than Lord Moreau’s voice.  

Aria turned her head in his direction and came face to face with the Lord. He was still as stocky, resembling to a hunchback, hidden under his large cape that sported a crown of bones, surely human bones. She didn't know what he once looked like, but the poor man was unlucky with his "Blessing." Arty walked up to the Lord and raised his head to show him the metal box he was wearing around his neck. Moreau opened it, and took out the message that Heisenberg had written to him. He stepped back slightly to read and Aria could see the man, if he could still be considered a human being, jumping with joy, passing from one foot to the other.

“But that's good news! if you have regained your memory, even for a short time, it means that everything will return as before very soon! I'll take care of you! I'll examine you; you don't have to worry; I wouldn't do anything wrong. Follow me!” said Moreau with a smile.

Moreau left in the direction of his laboratory, Arty still carrying Aria on his back behind. They walked for a few minutes, during which Aria observed the surroundings. If she managed to escape, she could easily hide. But how to contact Chris after? And what if Moreau or the Vârcolac ever finds her? She could defend herself but, in view of the creature's jaw, she would have barely lost herself.

“Here we are! I'll be able to examine you! wait I'll take those chains away from you. And you, you're going to wait outside! I don't want you to break all my material!” said Moreau, looking at Arty who was growling a little, before laying down, allowing Aria to get off his back.  

The young woman turned to the creature and could not help but instinctively stroke his head slightly to thank him. After all, he could have devoured her, he didn't. The latter licked her face, making her back away with a slight laugh before turning to Moreau and following him. She had no choice. She couldn't run away, at the moment. He invited the young woman to sit on the examination bed and began to examine her as Heisenberg had asked him to. He paid attention but still practiced a meticulous examination on the young woman, like a real doctor caring for a patient. Then he wrote down everything he found on a sheet of paper, which he had torn from a notebook.

“Lord... Lord Heisenberg said that... you would take care of those headaches I had.” said Aria trying to make a conversation.  

“Yes, he told me about it in his letter. He wants me to find the origin. And from what I see, I think I have a little idea. Your memory is trying to come back but as you have been used to your current life, it's like a kind of... conflict between you two.” said Moreau.  

“What do you mean?”

“Basically; let's say that you are two Aria in one body, the one you are now, and our Aria, the one we are going to bring back.”

“I've heard everyone say that. But you're sure you're not wrong? I have a name that reminds you of this girl but... I am not her.”

“...Let me show you something.”

Moreau walked to a semblance of a dresser, opened the first drawer and took out a box. He opened it and took out 2 pictures that he presented to Aria. When the young woman delicately took them in her hands to look at them, she instantly froze when she saw what was on each of them. On the first, we could all the Lords as well as Mother Miranda and a young woman, posing like an official photo. And on the second, Lord Heisenberg with this same woman, looking at each other tenderly like a couple. What shocked Aria was precisely the young woman in the photos. Because it was her. And when she looked at the dates, which followed one another, she found that they had been taken years and years ago. How is this possible?

“It's... they're fake, aren't they? it can't be me...” said Aria shocked, without taking her eyes off the photos.

“Of course, they are true! They are old but... they are true! These are the few photos of you that they remain.” said Moreau self-confident.

“That's impossible! take a good look at the dates! I wouldn't be too... young if they were true. I would be much older. Or... maybe it was my grandmother?”

“No. Your grandparents were already dead when these pictures were taken. It's you who is on it.”

“I... I don't understand anything anymore. All of this makes no sense. If that really was the case... then my parents wouldn't be of this world for years! But they died only 3 years ago.”

“Your "parents" weren't really your real parents... those who died 3 years ago were only adoptive parents. Who have never been able to have children. Your real parents died a few years before these photos. They died of the same disease as Mother's daughter.”

Aria was speechless. Shocked by what she had just heard. Adoptive parents? Those who had raised her, loved her, had always done everything for her? Impossible. Inconceivable. He's lying. They are all lying. But in another sense... that would explain everything. These headaches, these funny dreams that she has, the fact of knowing the roads and the places by heart when she has hardly left her house ... Is all this really a manifestation of her past? From her old life? Or is it just an attempt on their part to implant memories that don't belong to her? Is it the work of Mother Miranda? But why? What is she looking for?

“You... You talked about Mother Miranda's daughter and an illness... what disease?” Asks Aria.

“She... her name was Eva. She was 10 years old when she left. She succumbed to the Spanish flu... Mother never really recovered...”

“Spanish flu? But it appears in...1918. But that means...It’s impossible." replied Aria, more shocked than before.

For his part, Chris was on the hunt. He had seen the Vârcolac take Aria, but he had found himself in the territory of Lady Beneviento. He saw the footprints of the creature, but no sign of it. Like flying. But he continued to follow in his footsteps, he was sure of himself. He stopped in front of a door where it was written "Give up your memories". But the latter was already open. As if Lady Beneviento invited him of her own free will. strange, it is better to stay on these guard.

“I’m almost there Aria... Hold on.” he said, looking at the entrance.  

He entered and took the elevator which began to go up. As he stood, the lights began to flash, then cut off, before turning on again, leaving a clearly visible message on one of the walls.  

*COME AND GET HER, IF YOU HAVE THE STRENGH FOR*

At least the message is clear. He knows what to expect. Lady Beneviento is a doll maker. And all those who ventured into their homes never returned. Except Aria. He will have to be wary of any object in the house. Absolutely all of them. No one knows what she is capable of, and with what she will kill you.

The elevator stopped and opened onto a small tunnel. From where he was, Chris could hear the waterfall flowing forcefully but which brought a certain peace. He went out, and faced an incredible spectacle, worthy of a souvenir photo or a postal card. The Beneviento house stood in front of the waterfall, as if it were an integral part of the décor. The small garden that surrounded the house was well maintained, no weeds, a few flowers gathered in a flowerbed but nothing more. a small gazebo stood on the side of the house, giving anyone a more impressive view of the waterfall.

Chris stepped forward and the front door of the house opened, a sign that Beneviento herself was welcoming him. It's far too good to be true. He did not have time to take more than 3 steps in the house as the doors closed behind him and an unbearable laughter was heard.

“Ooooh, if I had known that we would have such a beautiful guest, I would have made myself even prettier. You must be the famous Chris Redfield...” said Angie who appears in front of him, hovering in the air.

“A talking doll? Your creator knows how to welcome his visitors.” responds Chris coldly.

“I'm not just a talking doll. I am Angie, THE doll of Donna Beneviento, one of the 4 lords of this village. And you, you are only a little troublemaker that must be eliminated.”

“Where is Aria?”

“Oh, don't worry, Aria is fine. She is well taken care of. On the other hand, you... my friends are very keen to kill you. After all, you want to attack our mother and take back Aria. And you see it's not something they like.” replied Angie laughing.  

“How do you know? Miranda is spying on me?” asks Chris frowning.

“Hahahahahaha! You see, we are EVERYWHERE in this village. In the houses and other buildings of this village. We see everything. And we are... connected to each other. So, everything a doll sees or hears... Others hear it too. But it doesn't matter anymore, you can't contact your friends outside the village and they won't move from their hiding place since you forbade them to do so until further notice.”

“You little...”

“Be careful what you say!! Or else I would be happy to cut you up with the help of my friends! If you want to find Aria... You're going to have to play with me...”

“I don't have time to play.”

“Oh, but you're going to have some. Because you won't get out of here until you play or find Aria! And I advise you to do it quickly, otherwise my friends may lose patience. There is small... clues hidden in the house about where Aria is. If you find them all, then you will know where she is hiding. But do not believe that they will be simple pieces of paper, no the clues will be very particular dolls. And they are very well hidden. Do not intend to go out, all exits are closed.”  

On these last words, Angie sneered and disappeared in the same way she had appeared. Chris was now alone in the house but he could hear this last phrase echoing in the house.

“Tic-toc! Your life is at stake, let the game begin, hahahaha...”

There is no more time to lose in this case. And no choice either.

***

(There you go! Pokemon Arceus is really a very good game, even if it is still quite easy in itself but I really like this idea of an open world where you meet more Pokémon than human beings. And especially fewer morons who fight you all 50 meters without you being able to do anything. It's nice to be able to explore the whole world freely without having to find strategies to avoid trainers! If you don't have it yet I advise it to you! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Have a great week everyone! See ya!)  

[gale-gentlepenguin]

I think lukanette is a good ship, but the fandom ruined it for me :/ they (toxic lukanette shippers) use him as an excuse to shit on adrien/chat and give him no development other than him comforting marinette after adrien/chat did something bad and its just like,,, give him development out of marinette, yknow? show him being a good brother or his passion for music!!!

My journey on how I felt about this ship is complicated. Forgive me that I turned this into a long response. I felt like going into history.

But for those that want the short answer.

Totally see where you are coming from. Though I wouldn't call it a good ship, it is not a bad ship. Its sort of Okay. Truth did a LOT to improve my view of the ship. I felt like the romantic interactions between Marinette and Luka were forced in every episode except truth.

Luka could have used more development, it would be nice to have seen the development earlier like we got with Kagami

Now if you want to find out the unabridged history of me and this particular ship, check the read more.

At first, seeing it was the last straw because I thought the show was going to turn into a generic Shojo. (I didn't see Riposte). And Captain Hardrock was so dull it made me leave the show for a bit. I didn't even look at the ship, I just HATED what it and Adrigami represented at the time in season 2 (I have long since moved past this mentality, but it is something I need to address)

After coming back, I found the ship annoying but not the worst thing. I just accepted it existed, but anytime a scene came on, I didn't see the chemistry that some people were screaming about.

I would shrug, but hey, people ship what they want.

Then salters came in.

At first I ignored it. I would see a few posts talking about Luka being better for Marinette then Adrien, I'd roll my eyes and move on. But at that time, I was in the ml salt side of the fandom. It wasn't until Oblivio that I saw how Toxic some of the shippers were. After reading a specific au written by a rather prominent Salter, I felt so unbelievably disgusted with the salt side of the fandom that I jumped out of it. In hindsight, I am actually really thankful for that au, I might have still been bitter and salty if I didn't see how grotesque and spiteful it was. That au is still prominent in the salt fandom. But hey, they need something and they can keep it.

Then after my salt purge, I clashed with toxic stans a few times and My opinion on Lukanette was conflated with these toxic stans that salted on characters I liked. So I found myself HATING the ship, even seeing art of it made me want to gag.

But after making memes and jokes, I found myself taking an objective look on the ship. I think with a bit more polish and some more attention to character writing, Luka could have been interesting and been a good alternate love interest for Marinette. Granted I still think there was another character more qualified, but it didn't matter.

It was only after seeing truth that I actually understood the interest in the blue boy. And if he and Marinette didn't break up in truth, I probably wouldn't have even been mad.

HOWEVER, the amount of unadulterated JOY I got from seeing the salty toxic Stan reactions to the break up was the most fun I had on Tumblr in months.

I was practically walking on sunshine. The meltdowns were *Chef's Kiss* and some are STILL very salty about it. Which sucks for them, but honestly. "Did they really think it was endgame?" The creators and writers were pretty up front about the love square being the end all from SEASON 1.

The reason salt rots the brain.

But during that hilarious time, I got to see the genuine Lukanette stans. The good people that just really liked the ship, and those people I do wish the best for. Some of which are very good sports about the whole thing.

But now, looking back on the ship.

It wasn't evil, it just got a bad rep from toxic salters that used it to attack characters. For that, I feel sorry for it.

[makeste]

BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god