#isbrilliant. 03.

[highaver]

@isbrilliant. call.

"Are you sure this isn't busywork?" Balfour didn't much trust the Doctor. Especially not when he'd sent the two of them to the arse end of London with nothing more than a load of technobabble to see them off.

[dvarapala]

plots please.

plots please // @isbrilliant

01: donna seeing this twenty year old - this kid but not a kid but still a kid - in verse five (as laid out in your carrd) and being like: "is anyone gonna look out for her?" and basically making sure she doesn't accidentally get herself stuck in time or whatever.

02: udyati helping donna regain her memories of the doctor in arc three (as per your carrd).

03: udyati showing donna jyotisha.

04: donna introducing udyati to rose (her kid, not the companion).

[babyawacs]

@wired @Wireduk @googleai @apple @ai @interestinengineering https://interestingengineering.com/ai-gone-wrong-the-great-british-bake-off-becomes-an-optical-nightmare? https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-30-ai-transforms-the-great-british-bakeoff-into-a

@wired @Wireduk @googleai @apple @ai @interestinengineering

https://interestingengineering.com/ai-gone-wrong-the-great-british-bake-off-becomes-an-optical-nightmare? https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-30-ai-transforms-the-great-british-bakeoff-into-a-horror-show.html?

interesting

s obvious

ai isbrilliant tofind alikes

butitcannotthink

I am Christian KISS

BabyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophistication #TH…

[highaver]

There was a smile on Balfour's face at Donna's words - he would, in fact, not be taking a single bit of career advice from her, she was quite right - but he wasn't really of a mind to talk about this much further. Not with her, the woman he only saw at work and barely knew. It wasn't even a topic he broached with family.

So he let her keep talking. Eyes stuck to the little machine in his hand before Donna's words had him looking up again in surprise.

"Wait, you seriously have days where nothing happens?" Not quite what she said. But still. "I thought it was all full on with you two."

Her head tilts as she waits for the answer. It's probably an insensitive question; she's never had something like that. There was no pressure to go into something specific, just to be someone. Not that she did all too well on that at all.

"Yeah?" If she knows anything at all, it's what a person sounds like when they're a little unsure of themselves. "I don't know. Maybe you wanted to become a cherry farmer in the United States. I barely know what I'm doing half the time, I'd make a shit career counselor."

That's true enough. She'd say that at least 50 percent of the time it's a day when she and the Doctor land somewhere.

"You'd be surprised. Sometimes there's no danger. It's only -- no one hears about those."

[highaver]

"Right." He didn't sound particularly encouraged by this answer. He hadn't really been with UNIT for long, had been dealing with the Doctor for an even shorter time. The closest he had come was working with Martha Jones - and she wasn't exactly as full of bullshit as the Doctor was. He eyed the machine that they had been entrusted with and willed it to do something other than just whirr. "Does that not get old? I mean, I didn't join UNIT to get fucked around by the Doctor."

"I'll be honest - that man once put me on a big old disc, told me something important was happening, and sent me back to his time machine." Nevermind the bit where it didn't work and she got uploaded to a computer, and fucker but it hurt, because that's between her and him and no one else. "What I meant to say - you never know until you're doing the busywork and find out whether it's busywork or not."

[highaver]

Did you want to go into it? Balfour faltered. In fact, Balfour looked genuinely surprised for once. Nobody had ever asked him that before. Between his parents, his siblings, marrying the daughter of yet another distinguished UNIT officer - what did he have in his life that wasn't that? Why would he even think of doing something else?

He shrugged. He would not mention that he had once wanted to be an artist, until his dad told him to be realistic.

"Yeah," he said, finally, sounding just a little unconvinced. "I mean, what else I would do?" That somewhat confused frown was soon replaced by his regularly handsome smile. "And I'm not joking, either. I mean - it's not like we're bored every day you're not here or anything, but I know it's gonna be a day when you two show up."

It was a compliment. For now.

"I mean, it's not like you do anything boring, is it?"

"i'd argue you definitely do. i've lived on earth all my life and i know you do. they don't usually kidnap people." if she doesn't make light of it, what's she going to do? you've got to get through things somehow. her fiance betrayed her and died the same day she was going to get married, and it just so happened to be christmas eve, and if she doesn't put those things into a little box labeled 'okay to laugh at', she's not going to know what to do.

"oh?" donna doesn't have a family who's known for all doing one thing. sometimes she thinks it would have been nice, having one path to go into - something to make her mother proud. she probably would've let her down at that too, though. best to not have that option at all. she'd make a shit soldier, she knows that. she's not good at following orders when they're not about what type of font to use and when to submit an assignment. "did you want to go into it?" that might be insensitive, but she's gone and asked it already. "oh, please, i cannot be the most exciting part of your day."

[highaver]

"No spiders, in fact." And no spider juice, which he didn't want to know about and regretted having asked the kind of question that would ever have had her say those words in the first place. Balfour didn't even mind spiders. It was just that Donna's whole story was a bit on the horrific side. Then again, she'd survived. How bad could it be?

"My family's all UNIT." It was a bit of change, actually, to have to explain that. A nice one, maybe, though he wasn't thinking too hard about it. Most people heard the name Sutherland and could put two and two together. Especially when they saw him, spitting image of his father that he was. "Sort of a, uh - 'you will be an officer one day' situation. It's not very exciting, I'm afraid. Unless you count, like... cadet nonsense particularly thrilling." He gave her a smile. "Most of the exciting stuff I see usually happens when you and the Doctor turn up, honestly."

a shrug of her shoulders. "i don't know. i guess you deal with aliens enough here." but he's on earth. he's living day to day on earth. despite the doctor thinking he doesn't live day to day, she has to argue that they do. sure, it's on the tardis, and they can skip through time and space, but you've still got to make it from one hour to the next.

"it was a hell of an awakening, that's for sure." she feels like there have to be easier ways to get introduced to the concept of aliens. "sort of? i got ... teleported into the tardis in my wedding dress. while walking down the aisle. but it was ... because ... of the spider juice." all of this makes for a weird story, doesn't it? "how'd you start working for unit? i'm going to guess there are less spiders involved."

[highaver]

"Why would I be offended?"

He wasn't exactly a secretary. Actually, he was more in the position of his family name doing some seriously heavy lifting for his - well, everything. His reputation, his career, his day-to-day. Balfour wasn't sure he'd be swanning around London with the likes of Donna Noble if he wasn't Bryce Sutherland's son. He didn't much mind it. The problem was making sure that he didn't fuck any of that goodwill up. Which was why he so desperately wanted this stupid little machine he was holding to do something interesting. What better time could there be to prove himself than now?

"That's, uh - Sorry. For... the spiders, though." That wasn't the wildest thing he'd heard this week. Not even today. Mind you, it probably was up there with bat men, given everything. "That's kind of fucked up." Made him feel better about his own love life, though, that was for sure. "Is that how you met the Doctor?"

she watches that face with a raised brow.

"i was. suppose i still am, if i go back to living life, but well, my last full time job, the head of HR took an interest in me. least i thought he did. got me coffees and we fell in love and everything. turns out he wanted to feed me to a giant spider who was going to take over the earth with her babies. and if you're thinking, donna, you're saying all of this so matter of factly, i'd love for you to tell me another way to say it, 'cause i haven't thought of one." and if she goes into it - really goes into it, how deeply she was in love, how much she trusted - then she's going to cry in public, and she prefers to save that for life or death scenarios.

"i wanted a change. i felt stuck, back there. no offense."

[highaver]

Balfour made a face. He wasn't unfamiliar with being told to shut up and follow orders (not unusual, and certainly not for a UNIT man) but he still thought the Doctor could do to explain things a little more. Maybe one day he'd come to understand the deep-held respect his parents seemed to have for the guy but, right now, he was an idiot walking around London with a big metal hairbrush-looking thing, waiting for it to do something important.

He gave the machine a little shake. It continued to whirr. He looked at Donna.

"You were a secretary?" He hadn't really thought about who she must have been before. "That's a, uh - bit of a change, isn't it?"

"Sorry. Probably wasn't the answer you were looking for." It wasn't the answer she'd been looking for at the time either. Oh, it wasn't his fault. He'd been trying his level best to protect her. It had still meant getting uploaded to a computer and having a weird seven year long life. "Anything can get old if it happens enough. You ever worked as a secretary? 'Cause that gets old too, and I'm good at it. Really good at it." She's fast, and she's good with numbers, and she's reliable. "He's my best friend. If he's fucking us around, he has a reason. Unfortunately."