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themonotonysyndrome · 4 years ago

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Successors to the Future

I like to get lost on Tumblr when work becomes frustrating and I was immediately inspired by the Second Wive AU from @tri3tri!

If you’re a TW’s fan and enjoy reading yandere content, you just gotta check @tri3tri out. They’re one of the best yandere content creator for the TW fandom!

And since I’ve been playing Blazblue Centralfiction a lot lately and love badass girls, this plot bunny won’t leave me alone and so I want to add a little something to their amazing AU.

FD/N = First daughter’s name/Renata Draconia (half-human, half dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s eldest child)

SD/N = Second daughter’s name/Sherrie or Cherry Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Princess. Malleus & MC’s middle child)

S/S = Son’s name/Lucien Draconia (half-human, half-dark Fae Prince and the heir to the throne. Malleus & MC’s youngest child).

MC/S = MC’s surname

“Oh. My. God. What did you do!?”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! I got it all under control!”

“Under control - the pasta is on fire! How the - ”

“I can fix this! ...I think?”

“Move. You’re a human disaster, you know that? I told you to wait for me if you’re planning to cook dinner! Now the kitchen looks like an eldritch god just threw up! Mama is gonna be so sad when she gets home.”

“I tried yelling for you, but you were too busy livestreaming Among Us to hear me! Now help me scrap the pasta off the pot while I clean the counter before Mama gets - .”

“Sweethearts?”

Both teenage girls yelp at the sudden voice and instantly turn around. The pot of burned pasta clattered on the dirtied floor. MC looks around her kitchen in exasperation. She was wondering why none of her children didn’t greet her as soon as she got home from work. When she heard bickering from the kitchen, she saw her daughters were frantically cleaning up the mess that was Renata attempt at cooking dinner.

But instead of being upset over it, MC just shakes her head fondly.

“Did you use your fire magic to cook the pasta, sweetie?”

Renata sheepishly scratch her cheek in embarrassment. “I thought it might boil the pasta a lot faster...”

Her younger sister gape at her admittance. MC just smiles as Sherrie proceed to lecture her older sister about using her magic to cook while Renata slowly inch closer to her so she could hide from her sister’s wrath behind their mother.

MC will never get tired of seeing her children so comfortable and vivacious in their own home. A stark difference when they were all living at that place back then. She could still remember how Renata barely smile, barely interact with anyone that wasn’t her parents and little sister. Her Sherrie weren’t any better. Back then, she was too young to understand why the castle’s servants would whisper that the King’s daughters were imperfect because of their human halves. Why their lingering and judgemental eyes would upset her so.

MC could bear being a pet bird living in a gilded cage, could bear Sebek’s condescending remarks, Lilia’s cruel smiles, Silver’s guilty passiveness and even Malleus’ lack of empathy. What she couldn’t bear was how her daughters were treated at the castle. They expected their Princesses to be as aloof and noble as their father, but refused to acknowledge that they were children first and foremost. Refused to accept their human side.

And when the announcement were made public that Malleus would take a second wife to provide him a male heir at the behest of his council, MC decides that it’s time to leave.

Especially when she saw how the news broke her eldest child. That night, she was frightened at how intense Renata hatred of her father. While she could care less about Malleus taking in another woman into the castle, MC never thought that his second marriage would be an act of betrayal to her daughter.

At that moment, MC knew that if they were to stay in that place any longer, she would’ve lost her daughter to her own hatred. They needed to go, they needed to escape.

And so in the dead of the night while the entire Valley of Thorns were celebrating over their king’s second marriage and superior wife, MC and her children scurried away to the only place she could think of.

Night Raven College.

She didn’t know when Lilia or anyone else in the castle would realise her and their princesses’ disappearance, so she begged a stunned Dire Crowley who thought she had died when no one could find her after Malleus graduated to send her home.

The headmaster finally came through for her and her confused, distraught children. Crowley had quietly explained that he already found a way to send her back to her own world years ago. However, she disappeared before he could tell her. A quick glance at the two little girls alongside her and he couldn’t help but grimace with deep guilt.

As atonement, Crowley hurried to grab a few books and journal that he can find about the fae court (both dark and light) and their magic. He pressed the materials into MC’s arms and explained that after she and her daughters step into the mirror, he will shatter and destroy any remaining fragments so that Malleus and his men could never find them ever again. However, MC must teach her daughters about their Fae side and how to glamour their otherworldly features from humans.

MC tackled the headmaster in a hug with tearful eyes, grateful that he could help them. They were then ushered into the mirror and finally, finally, her nightmare was over.

Years have passed since that night. With each passing seasons and being able to explore the world without Malleus’ oppressive court, the castle servants and his retainers, her daughters flourish into amazing young girls.

Their little brother equally so.

As Renata try to persuade Sherrie to allow her to use her magic to clean the kitchen up, MC asks, “By the way, where’s your brother? I’ll just order some takeaway for dinner. They should arrive soon.” As she said this, she already whips out her phone to order their food.

“He was napping in his room.” Sherrie reply her as she wipes the stove clean. Renata grumbled under her breath as she was made to mop the floor manually.

Mc thanked her and left the kitchen to wake her son up. Her son was the unexpected gift that they were blessed with after they crossed to her world. She didn’t expect to be pregnant, but consider how feverishly Malleus made love to her as his way to console her that the other woman and his second marriage would mean nothing to him and that she would still be the only woman he truly loves, MC really should have known.

It was so difficult to hide her joy that with the presence of a second wife, it would mean that Malleus would focus more on the other woman. Which meant Lilia would also need to make sure that she would learn all the proper court etiquette and Silver and Sebek would need to arrange the proper security for her as Malleus’ concubine.

The arrival of her son was unexpected, but dearly welcome by her and his older sisters. Although MC was not able to give her daughters the childhood that they should have, she made sure that her son - Lucien - was raised in an environment that allowed him to be a normal child.

Well, as normal as a half human and half fae could be.

Shaking the lump underneath the thick duvet, she receives a tired groan.

“Wake up, dear. Go freshen up. We’re having dinner in a little while.”

Worming his way out of the duvet, Lucien poke his head out and smile blearily at her. “Welcome home, Mama...”

MC pressed a quick peck on his forehead before ruffling his dishevelled hair. Her son looks so much like Malleus except he inherited her eyes and soft heart. While her oldest daughter is a carbon copy of Malleus and her second daughter looks exactly like her but with Malleus’ green eyes.

She’s so happy that she can provide her children that life that they deserve.

Dinner that night was as lively as usual. Renata was still riding high from her sweet sixteen birthday party that they just had last two days ago. It was quite a celebration and it ended with the revelation of her Unique Magic. Since it was a warm Summer evening, the small family enjoy their meal at the garden outside.

“ - we should totally play Among Us together! Including you, Mama! I think you’d love it!” Sherrie gushes after she pushes her glass of water away.

Renata gasped as if affronted. “Are you trying to tear this family apart!? The moment we suspect someone is the imposter, it’s anarchy unleash!”

Sherrie rolled her eyes at her oldest sister need for the dramatics. “Oh please, you live for the anarchy. You’re the one who started the fire when we played last time.”

Lucien winced as he recalled their last gameplay. “It was a mess. Everyone couldn’t stop accusing one another. My classmates even swore they wouldn’t dare to play with you ever again.”

MC smiles to herself as her children chatted with one another. It always warms her heart to see how close the siblings are to one another. From the stoic and hateful little girl, Renata had grown to be a playful and brilliant young woman. Brilliant in terms of magic. Even from a young age, Renata could control her elemental magic well. MC still remembered how wide she would smile whenever Malleus praises her during their training. After coming to this world, she continued to mastered her magic with the helps of the materials that Crowley provided them. By the age of 14 years old, MC realised that her creativity had led her to combine her elemental magic into an arsenals of powerful spells.

They decide to celebrate her newfound skills out to dinner.

And with the recent discovery of her Unique Magic - Observer - their family is aware that Renata has been experimenting with it almost every day.

“Oh yeah, uh, Mama?” Renata suddenly broke MC from her train of thought. Beside her, Sherrie and Lucien are comparing their two favourite games.

“Yes, dear?”

“Umm... Last night I Observed myself and something came up.” Renata began to explain and she started to fidget in her seat.

MC grows concern over her daughter’s hesitant expression.

“What is it dear? Is something wrong with your Unique Magic?”

“No, no, everything’s fine! It’s just that, well, so you know my Unique Magic give me the ability to observe my possibilities, right? Well, 99% of my possibilities shows that I’m going to participate in Night Raven College’s entrance ceremony soon.” Renata explains.

“Say what?” Sherrie suddenly intervene, eyes wide in surprise. Their own conversation paused.

MC could feel her blood froze at her daughter’s words. Suddenly, she no longer has any appetite for dinner.

“Night Raven College?” Lucien asked, confused at the sudden tension in the air. “I remember Mama said she studied at a place call Night Raven College.”

MC wanted to spare her son what she and her daughters had been through in Twisted Wonderland. But at the same time, she didn’t want to hide their past from him. So he told her all about Twisted Wonderland and Night Raven College. Of the good friends she made during her time at the school. About all sorts of shenanigans they got themselves into.

About a dark fae that she could see herself falling in love with at the beginning of their friendship, but that became a distant dream when Malleus let his fear of her mortality and his selfish, draconic desire to hoard her all to himself overwhelmed him.

No matter how much she tried to pleaded with him, reasoned with him, Malleus refused to yield. He threatened to harm her friends should she ever think of anyone other than him and gave her all the luxury in a world while locking her up in castle full with creatures who believe they’re superior to humans.

Lucien was stricken when she told him everything. In the end, all MC could do was smile sadly and told him that while Malleus might have love her and his children, in the end, it doesn’t mean anything when he allow his own council to dictate that Renata was not suitable to become his heiress just because she’s a girl.

In the dead of the night when Renata couldn’t sleep after they settled down in this world, she went to MC and with tearful eyes yet resolute face, her daughter informed her that she never wanted to be Malleus’ heiress. Having a taste of freedom, everything that this world has to offer to her and the loving support of her family, Renata knew she could be so, so much more than a mere Queen to a backwater country and its people.

And so the thought of her going back to Twisted Wonderland - where Malleus would no doubt still be searching for them - scares MC.

“Is there a way to prevent it?” MC quietly asks, though in her heart, she knows the answer to her own question.

Renata regretfully shake her head. “I can’t make the 1% where I don’t go back to Twisted Wonderland into a reality.”

“And why not?” Sherrie demanded.

“Because in that possibility, I’ll die here from Overblotting.” Renata dryly reply.

That’s the drawback of her daughter’s Unique Magic. While she could observe her every possibilities and acknowledge one and turn it into a reality, Renata can only see hers and not other people’s. Not only that, she cannot changed the many paths that had been laid in front of her. She can only observe and choose. Not altered.

Both Sherrie and Lucien flinch. MC shove the image of her daughter dying as a monster into the back of her mind. Renata lowered her head slightly.

“I... I don’t want to go back there.” Renata whispers. “I want to stay here. All my friends are here.” She raises her head when MC hold her hand and squeeze it comfortingly.

She needs to be strong for her children. Being a single mother wasn’t easy. They used to live with her parents and they were pillars of endless support to MC and her children. They didn’t turned her away when she appeared out of nowhere after months of disappearance with two horned children in tow. Instead, they helped raised and care for her children when she’s out working under long corporate hours.

The kids adore their grandparents and were heartbroken when they passed away.

But by that time, MC was financially secure to move her family into a new house and support her little family all on her own. She understood what it meant to be strong for her children and she will continue to be just as strong.

So with a sigh, MC narrowed her eyes and said, “If we can’t change the outcome, then we will do out best to prepare for everything that will stand in your way, Renata.” All three of her precious children jerk their heads towards her. She press on, “Each one of you posses your own strength; and I don’t mean magical capabilities. Your oldest sister’s greatest strength is her creativity when it comes to magic, Sherrie possess an intelligent mind for planning and strategising and you, my son, I’ve seen how big your heart is. You understands that compassion isn’t a weakness and that’s something the faes from the Valley of Thorns can never understand.”

Sherrie interrupt her speech with an abashed expression. “Uh, I don’t think me playing Total War: Rome II counts as a mastermind, Mama.” She sheepishly said.

Her attempt at the joke lessen the heavy mood a little when Lucien giggle and Renata crack a smile. It’s amazing to see how much her children have grown.

MC playfully roll her eyes. “Be that as it may, what I’m trying to say was that we can help Renata survive in Twisted Wonderland by doing our damn best to prepare her.”

Renata nodded eagerly while Sherrie and Lucien cheer.

And so MC clap her hands once and her children sat straight. “Let’s turn this into a family project. Now, sweetheart, do you know when the Ebony Carriage will pick you up?”

“Hang on, lemme check again...” Renata’s scleras suddenly tinted black and her green eyes glow brightly as she activates her Unique Magic. While she Observe all her possibilities, SD/N left the table to fetch her tablet while MC explains a bit more what being a student of Night Raven College would mean for Renata. After Sherrie sat back down at the table, Renata blink and her eyes return to normal. “I’ll be at the entrance ceremony two weeks from today. The headmaster is going to be so shocked when he sees me.”

MC hums. “Two weeks... we can work with two weeks. We need to prepare a countermeasure when it comes to your father. Words will surely spread that someone that looks like him is attending Night Raven College.”

“I can Observe further ahead what he will do once he realised that I’m there.” Renata said and furrowed her eyebrows, contemplating. “I need to test my magic against other people so I can see if I’m able to fight him or not.”

“Actually, I think I might have an idea on how to handle that.” Sherrie intervene. She’s holding a stylus pen and is scribbling something furiously on her tablet. Lucien crane his neck to see what his sister is writing, only to tilt his head in confusion.

As the family continue to brainstorm into late in the evening, MC silently swore to herself that she won’t leave her daughter all alone to defend herself in Twisted Wonderland. She doesn’t know how, but she will be there with her and still keep her children safe.

And then, the fateful day arrives.

“Next student, please come forth!”

“State thy name.”

“Renata MC/S...”

She said nothing when she heard Headmaster Crowley gasped beside her. “You - how!?

The Mirror of Darkness ignores him. “You were born with a different name, but live proudly under your mother’s legacy.”

“Damn right.” Renata smirks. “I’m my mother’s daughter first and foremost. I’ll continue to live as free as her.”

“Such conviction. You possess a deep desire to protect your loved ones which is both admirable and ambitious with the power that you were gifted with. Becaue of that, the shape of thy soul is a blazing green fire and towers of thorns that serve as your shield. You belong in Diasomnia.” The Mirror of Darkness declare.

The headmaster mutter something about fate playing a cruel joke on his once poor prefect.

And when the current Dorm Leader of Diasomia greeted her, he took a step back when he sees her face and horns. His eyes wide with shocked and words failed him. For every Diasomnia member had seen the tapestries of their previous Dorm Leader and especially one as great and terribly powerful as Malleus Draconia.

“Nice to meet you, senpai. My name is Renata MC/S.” She said as politely as possible. “I’ll do my best not to cause any trouble to this dorm.”

Renata tilt her head and pretend to look confused when her Dorm Leader continue to gape at the sight of her. Whispers of her true heritage and family began to circulate among the crowd.

At that moment, she recalled the advice given to her by her family:

“Don’t show off your spells. Ever. Lay low as much as you can. We can’t really control the rumour mill so let it travel on its own. While you’re there, gather all the intel you can about father and the current affairs in the Valley of Thorns. Anything that can be used against them. Also, you need to watch Bungou Stray Dogs with me. You can learn a thing or two from some of the characters in that anime.” Sherrie had said while showing her tablet and a messy flowchat of her plan. She tapped her stylus pen on the ‘Phase 1’ section with great importance.

“You need to keep your cool, big sis. You like to set the things that irritate you on fire. Like that girl’s handphone after she copied your test paper.” Lucien reminded her. Renata stucked her tongue out while Sherrie laughs.

“You need to make good friends, sweetie. Friends that can help you from the sideline. I have a list of people that might be able to help you against your father. I think it’s safe to assumed that their kids would also be attending Night Raven College too. Though some of them need to be offered a reward or be persuaded to help you first. Don’t worry, I’ll write down on how you can win them over.” MC assured her.

With her family supporting her even from another world, confidence in her magical abilities and a plan already in motion, Renata would not let her other so-called family trapped them ever again.

“It’s showtime...”

Did I really based Renata off Nine the Phantom? Hell yeah! I love her fighting style in the game. I HC that Renata is as badass as her.

I like to continue part 2 to this oneshot next week if my workload isn’t so crazy. I’m having so much fun writing for this wonderful AU!

#twisted wonderland #fanfic #twst mc #malleus draconia x mc #twst kids #Malleus and MC kids #yandere malleus draconia #Draconia Family series #Second Wive AU

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eposerta · 7 months ago

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WHAT IS SURVIVAL ? she wants to ask . is it suffering ? does it hurt like she does right now ? or is it nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other until the edge of a cliff is a mere breath away ? renata isn’t so sure anymore . perhaps she’s been beaten into submission , given up as sujin kindly puts it , but what other choice does she have ? renata byun is a lot of things , but hero or victim are part of them . she has become nothing more than a willing participant in her own undoing , cut the thread of fate and allowed it to be lost in another world . it was one that did not belong to her , after all . she’d given that up far too long ago and instead allowed herself to become swallowed by it and maybe sujin is right – she will suffocate in the end . — but marcus , he has a chance . even in knowing that he could live just one more day would make it worth it to her . that isn’t something she can explain to sujin - not unless she wants to face his ire or judgment ( more of it ) . ❛ don’t do that ❜ at this point , she is muttering into her knees , fighting back the tears that threaten with every word he speaks , ❛ you don’t get to sit there in the same cage as i do and … ❜ with this , renata pauses , her words slipping away as fists clench to turn knuckles white . no he doesn’t get to do this to her , he doesn’t get to tell her how her decision was stupid , he doesn’t get to lecture her about the lives of everyone else . no . he doesn’t get to do that to her .

there are counted breaths warming her skin , and he’s still talking , but his words are drowning her , and while she’s fighting to the surface the only sensation that hits is that of his hand pushing her head down . maybe he doesn’t mean it ( he says he’s not intending to sound harsh , if she chose to believe him ) , but the realization of how he doesn’t understand becomes clear . finally , her muscles loosen , back straightening just enough so that she can turn to look at sujin with a gaze filled with both mourning and exhaustion all so that she could shake her head . ❛ you don’t get to lecture me about whatever sacrifice this is , remind me how i need to worry about my own survival , but then tell me i need to worry about everyone else . ❜ if there wasn’t such a tremble in her voice that vibrated her lower lip , she may sound more certain of her words , but nevertheless , she carries on , disregarding the wince from a sharp pain in her chest , even breathing hurts . ❛ i’m not some hero to the world, sujin , and i am not the deathbringer they want me to be . i’ve already survived this my whole life , so if anyone here knows this so called battlefield ? it’s me ❜ words continued to linger at the tip of her tongue , but by the end of her tirade , her speech all the breath that was left had faded and a whirl of dizziness took over forcing her head back to the wall , ❛ – please ❜ she manages through a choked voice , ❛ think what you want — about my decision , but don’t … don’t talk about it until you’re on the other side . ❜ @mythous

THE VULNERABILITY IN HER VOICE TWISTS SOMETHING ——something inside sujin that had long been dormant in this place, something akin to sympathy, but tinged with his usually healthy serving of skepticism. he listens, waits for her to finish, sighs.

❝ you think i don't understand, ❞ he begins, voice low, each word measured, reflecting on her accusations. his expression softens fractionally, a rare concession to her raw emotion. ❝ but I see more than you think. i see the weight you carry, not just for him, but the weight of all your choices. ❞ he pauses, allows the silence to fill the space between them so that his words might have time to sink in. ❝ i don’t think you understand. it's not about right or wrong in this, it’s about survival. ❞

the casual way he leans against the wall at his back might give the impression of calm, but sujin’s words are edged, vehement. ❝ you know what, he might survive out there, you’re right, he has a chance. ❞ they’re unkind, these words, but she needs to hear them. ❝ but what about everyone else — what about you ? what about what you need to endure to keep breathing ? ❞ voice dropping to a whisper ( not that it would matter, every word they share is likely being monitored, anyway ), he shifts to face her more fully.

❝ don’t mistake my realism for disregard. i’m not the enemy, renata. we’re aligned more than you think. ❞

neither of them are alone in this, and he wonders if she’s truly so naive to the scale of the revolution that brews outside of these walls, if she’s blinded enough by some sense of loyalty to not realize what leaving with her guard had set into motion all those days ago.

there’s a calculated pause, his gaze piercing. ❝ if you decide to fight, you have to understand the layout of the battlefield. and the stakes — for all of us. ❞ he stands, a harsh laugh mingling with the soreness brought to the surface by the effort. ❝ but trust me, you’re not helping him by staying behind these walls. ❞ // @eposerta

#mythous #｟ MYTHOUS ｠ wang sujin #✿ — › 🇭🇦🇱🇫 🇭🇺🇲🇦🇳 & 🇭🇦🇱🇫 🇺🇳🇮🇻🇪🇷🇸🇪 — ⌜ interactions ⌟#lol let her be bitter for a second

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ericsonclan · 3 years ago

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You’re The Crybaby

Summary: Violet tries to help Brody find her blanket when suddenly Justin appears.

Word Count: 2126

Read on AO3:

It was nap time. Which was Violet’s third favorite time right after coloring and break. The blonde scampered across the room to clean up from her reading time. Her small hands picked up the big book on stars and struggled to get it up to the tallest shelf.

“I can help!” Sophie ran forward and gave a bright smile. Picking up the heavy book with a small groan she chucked it up to the tallest shelf. The book whacked against the wooden frame of the bookshelf and looked like it would fall off but luckily it didn’t. Instead it stayed in a rather odd position in a precarious spot halfway off the shelf. Sophie looked down at Violet with her usual smile.

“Thanks,” A small smile appeared on Violet’s lips as she watched Sophie give a thumbs up and barrel towards nap time where Louis was hoarding all the pillows and blankets he could. Violet watched Louis talk with Aasim who huffed at how rude Louis was being.

“But I gotta make sure Clem is comfy!” Louis’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

“Everyone should be comfy!” Aasim frowned deeply at his friend. Louis was about to speak up but Ms. Martin soon intervened.

“Louis, how about you bring over one or two blankets and pillows for you and Clementine. I’m sure it will be comfy enough and if it isn't then you can always ask for more, okay?” Ms. Martin knelt before Louis to be at his eye level.

Louis studied her eyes for a second before nodding. “Okay,” He reached up and held onto Ms. Martin’s hand as he worked to hold the supplies he needed for him and Clementine. Aasim watched for a second then went back to his spot.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Brody’s panicked voice made Violet look over to her friend who was searching the backpack area. Curious why Brody was worried and concerned for her friend, Violet walked over. The auburn was so caught up in the search of her backpack with small cartoon seashells that she didn’t even notice Violet was standing behind her. That was until Violet spoke up.

“What are you doing?”

Violet’s voice startled Brody who gave a small yelp and spun around. She looked towards the blonde who had her arms crossed yet her eyes looked worried about the small tears in Brody’s eyes. “I can’t find my blankie and I need it for nap time,” Brody sniffled and brushed at her face where tears were beginning to fall down. “Can you help me? Mitch would help but he’s-”

“That’s Brody’s spot!” Mitch’s booming voice erupted across the room. Violet and Brody looked over to see the young hothead glaring at Marlon.

“I saw that spot first!” Marlon snapped back and tried to look intimidating as he stood before Mitch.

Mitch didn’t budge from his spot. “It’s Brody’s now! She just has to get her blanket!” Mitch curled his fists and continued to stare angrily at Marlon.

“I want that spot for me and Sophie!” Marlon took a step forward but Mitch immediately pushed him back.

“No!”

That angered Marlon who moved forward again only to get the same result. The two boys locked eyes for a moment and were silent until Marlon gave an angry cry and wrapped his arms around Mitch, tackling him. Mitch yelled back just as loudly as he whacked Marlon’s back. Soon the two were rolling around, demanding the other give up the nap spot. Sophie cheered on Marlon and Renata decided to be on Mitch’s side while Omar tried to intervene to stop the fighting. He wasn’t successful though and soon ended up in the pillow pile that Louis had been planning to sneak over to him and Clementine later.

Brody watched on for a moment and felt her panic rise. Everything was going wrong. First she couldn’t find her blankie and now Mitch was fighting Marlon which meant he would go in the timeout corner. More tears began to slip down Brody’s face as her breathing became more uneven.

Violet picked up on that fact and tried to figure out a way to help Brody. “Just breathe. Take deep breaths and rub the spot around your heart,” Violet did the motion first so that Brody would understand what she meant. “Prisha says that helps. It does whenever I’m feeling that way.”

Brody gave a shaky nod and tried to take deep breaths. Slowly her breathing became rhythmic as she rubbed the spot by her heart. Violet gave a small smile, proud of her friend for getting rid of those mean feelings when suddenly a voice appeared.

“Are you crying again?” Justin walked forward with his usual mean smile. “You’re always such a crybaby,” He looked over at Brody who was clearly deeply hurt by his words. New tears welled up in her eyes and she shook her head back and forth.

“No, I’m not! I’m just sad about Blankie and-”

“Crybaby! Crybaby!” Justin pointed at Brody and laughed. Brody’s tears grew at those words and she gave Justin a push that made him stumble back before she ran off.

Violet took a step forward and reached out her hand, wanting Brody to come back. A sad frown pulled on the corners of her lips as she watched Brody hide herself away under Ms. Martin’s chair. The rest of the class was still too busy pulling apart Mitch and Marlon. Ms. Martin’s voice could be heard scolding the two boys who were both really mad at each other. Violet glanced at Ms. Martin, wondering if she should get help when Justin spoke again.

“She’s such a crybaby,”

Justin’s mockery angered Violet. She didn’t want anyone saying mean things about her friends. “And she named a blanket Blankie. I bet she ran off to cry again,” Justin turned to smile over at Violet but was immediately met with a punch to his face. The force of the attack made him stumble back and fall on his butt.

“Brody isn’t a crybaby! You are!” Violet glared down at the boy who had tears in his eyes.

“Nuh uh! I’m telling Ms. Martin!” Justin scampered up to his feet and ran off. Moments later Ms. Martin was in front of Violet giving her a lecture about how it was wrong to hit people.

“You can’t just go hitting people, Violet. That’s not right. We use our words and if someone is still being mean then you come and get me for help,” Ms. Martin guided Violet over to one of the timeout corners where Marlon was curled up in a ball, a large pout on his lips. Violet was silent and didn’t respond while Ms. Martin talked. Instead she sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees.

“Now you’re going to be in timeout and once you come back you’re going to say sorry to Justin,” Ms. Martin looked over at Violet who held a deep frown.

“He called Brody a crybaby! I’m not saying sorry!” Violet didn’t look up at Ms. Martin.

Ms. Martin gave a long, tired sigh. “Well, you will once your timeout is done. Just like how Marlon is going to apologize to Mitch,” Her eyes wandered over to Marlon who still looked really upset. With another sigh Ms. Martin walked off to start nap time for the others.

After a few minutes most of the kids were napping. Duck was happily off in dreamland while Oakley was laying down spread eagle. Aasim was out like a light next to Ruby who was holding onto Brody’s hand who was sitting up, still sad about her blanket being missing.

As for Louis, he was trying to be sneaky and visit his two best friends. Of course he wanted nap time with Clementine but he hated seeing Marlon and Violet look so sad. So when he was positive Ms. Martin wasn’t looking, he rolled over and began to caterpillar crawl over towards Marlon and Violet. He was sure if he got over there he could get them to smile again. In fact, he bet he could spend a whole ten minutes there before Ms. Martin even knew he was gone.

“Louis,”

Ms. Martin’s voice made Louis stop mid- caterpillar crawl. He looked up to see Ms. Martin next to Sophie who was wrapped in a burrito blanket and had tried to make a roll for it towards Marlon.

“It’s nap time. You can see Marlon and Violet after they’re done with timeout. Okay?” Ms. Martin’s eyes made it clear that he was going to go back to nap time. With a sad nod Louis along with Sophie went back to their spots. Ms. Martin sat back down at her desk with a long sigh. She really hoped another kid wouldn’t try anything during nap time.

She was wrong.

A loud thud made Ms. Martin’s eyes shoot up to see Prisha standing by the bookshelf, a book by her feet. The young child looked over at Ms. Martin and locked eyes with her as her hand wandered up and pulled down another book. Prisha repeated this again and again, clearly wanting to get in trouble. Ms. Martin had a pretty good idea why.

With a groan Ms. Martin got up and began to walk over towards Prisha. Prisha continued her misbehavior when suddenly her elbow bumped against the shelf, causing the large book on stars to fall down with a harsh sound. The book had fallen while open, causing some of the pages to be crumpled. Prisha let out a scream and knelt down to unwrinkle the pages to the book until Ms. Martin stood before her.

“Prisha, that was really rude. The others are trying to nap like you should be doing. Anything to say for yourself?” Ms. Martin looked into Prisha’s eyes.

The small child stood her ground and puffed out her chest. “I’m not sorry!” Prisha yelled.

Ms. Martin ran a hand down her face. Why the kids were being so wild today she had no idea. “Fine, then you’ll have to have a timeout,” Ms. Martin noticed the smug smile appear on Prisha’s lips. “In the corner with Mitch,”

The smile immediately disappeared and was replaced with shock. “That’s not fair! I wanna be with Violet!”

“Well, you could’ve been with Violet sooner if you behaved,” Ms. Martin replied simply as she guided Prisha over towards the corner where Mitch had a scowl on his face. Prisha’s face fell and she sat down with a huff, her arms crossing as her braid swayed. “You’re going to stay here and once time out is done you’re going to clean up the mess you made, alright?”

Prisha was silent, clearly still upset that her “master” plan hadn’t worked.

“Alright?” “Alright,” Prisha frowned and dramatically flopped onto the floor.

Ms. Martin stared at her for a second then shook her head and walked off.

After a few minutes Prisha sat up again and looked across the room where Violet was glancing her way. The two shared a small, soft smile then waited as patiently as they could for timeout to be done.

It felt like an eternity for the timeout to be done for the four kids but once it was they all apologized and decided to not let anything mess with coloring time.

After Prisha helped clean up the books she dashed over to grab some crayons with the help of Clementine. The two talked excitedly about what they were going to draw today while Violet went to grab some paper. When she reached the table where the blank pieces of paper were she noticed Brody.

The auburn bounced on the balls of her feet for a second, her eyes on the ground before they traveled up to Violet’s. “Thanks for standing up to Justin.”

“It’s no big deal. He’s a poopiehead,” Violet glanced away and brushed off Brody’s thanks even though it meant alot to hear those words. She moved forward to grab some paper when suddenly Brody wrapped her arms around Violet. Violet froze, her eyes growing large as she registered the hug.

“He is a poopiehead, but you’re not. You’re cool!” Brody held onto the hug for a little while longer before pulling back.

Violet gave a quick warm smile then looked behind her to see that Louis had already set out a whole spot for coloring time. “Wanna color with me?”

Brody beamed and nodded excitedly. Violet led the way towards the table where Louis immediately greeted them with a grin. Soon all the drama of the day melted away as the kids happily colored together, their minds solely focus on coloring time and the joy that came with it.

#twdg #twdg violet #twdg brody #twdg louis #twdg marlon #twdg mitch #twdg sophie #twdg prisha #brody violet brotp #sophie violet brotp #louis violet brotp #louis marlon brotp #clouis #twdg moody #twdg marlie #twdg privet #fanfic #kindergarten au

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toughgirlchallenges · 4 years ago

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Renata Chlumska - Adventure athlete who became the first Swedish and Czech woman to climb Mount Everest and in 2005 did a circumnavigate of the lower 48 States of the United States by her own power.

During a journey to Nepal and the Himalayas, she first began to dream about climbing the world’s highest mountain herself. And – following four years of preparation – she accomplished the feat of becoming the first Swedish and Czech woman to reach the summit.

In 2005. Renata boarded her sea kayak at the quay in Lake Union in central Seattle. This was the beginning of an almost unbelievable adventure, circumnavigating the coast of the USA in 439 days, mostly in her kayak. The day on which she completed her journey, 15 September, has since been designated as ”Renata Chlumska Day” in Seattle.

For Renata, the thrills of adventure surpass the extreme efforts during her expeditions. The preparation process is a vital part of each new challenge: planning, financing, training, and getting the right equipment and teams together.

After each successful challenge, she focuses on the evaluation, documentation and use of her experiences to inspire others, not least as a very popular lecturer and speaker for companies and organizations, as well as schools, clubs and associations.

To Renata, a challenge does not have to be about climbing mountains or journeying into space. Adventure is always waiting around the corner, if you can recognise and accept it.

New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out.

The tough girl podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. To find out more about supporting your favourite podcast and becoming a patron please check out www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.

Show notes

Who is Renata

Her dreams as a little girl

Liking the outdoors and nature

Her first solo adventure

Being involved in a Swedish Mt Everest Expedition in 1996 as part of the film team

Building connections

Spending the Spring Season in 1996 at Everest Base Camp

Wanting to go higher and to see more

Not being able to resist the mountains

Female role models in mountaineering

Starting climbing in 1995

Learning new skills

Cycling from Nepal to Sweden

Getting to know someone while you travel

Cycling in India, Pakistan, China, Russia & Finland

Cycling without tech and being off the grid

No news is good news!

Turning her passion for adventure into a career

Becoming a professional adventurer

Climbing Mt Everest at 25 years old

Adventure blues?

Why climbing Mt. Everest was just the start

Circumnavigation of the lover 48 states

Doing the challenge solo

Losing the love of her life

Having something to look forward to

Having a reason to get out of bed in the morning

Figuring out the logistics of the challenge

Kayaking down the Pacific Coast

Advice for those going through a tough situation

Putting her focus on safety

What’s going through her head

Future Astronaut with Virgin Galactic

Paying for the ticket

Future dreams and goals

What would you like to do?

Starting to learn how to sail

Having children and how it’s impacted on her career

Climbing 6 of the 7 summits in 5 months

Getting back into climbing again

Don’t compare when it comes to adventures

Final words of advice and why you should believe in yourself

Write down your dreams and break them down into smaller and more manageable pieces

Social Media

Website - http://renata.nu/english/

Instagram @renatachlumska

Twitter @RenataChlumska

Check out this episode!

#podcast #women #sports #health #motivation #challenges #change #adventure #active #wellness #explore #grow #support #encourage #running #swimming #triathlon #exercise #weights

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eposerta · 1 year ago

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ALWAYS IS A POWERFUL WORD . only two syllables but layered with more meaning than she believes marcus could ever understand . the weight of it alone fuels the pressure in her chest , it fields every bone in her body – but instead of crushing her , it offers something far too dangerous to approach . hope . he’s lectured about her willingness to give until there is nothing left , worried about how easily she would throw herself in the line of fire for people that he claims she doesn’t know . perhaps marcus duncan is the unlucky one tasked with protecting a charge that’s biggest threat isn’t the looming building of equinox and the tests he’s deemed dangerous , but herself . because he isn’t wrong in his assumptions , and she hates it. ❛ — i know ❜ perhaps if the setting was different , renata would follow this statement with a laugh , but that moment isn’t now . not while she has him so close , so vulnerable . ❛ but what if it’s you who isn’t safe with me ? ❜ any threat he worries about , the riots outside the walls growing louder , more violent each day , she worries that he will be taken by the storm on the other side and she’d be left standing alone . without him . just the tick in her dna that’s made her special — valuable . she wants to tell him that there is nothing that she wouldn’t do for him , mountains would move if the capability were there , the sun would remain bright , the skies clear , but that’s selfish, isn’t it ? the mountains would move , the world would be brighter and easier and she’d do all of that if she could only for the sake of seeing him smile in her direction when he thinks that she’s not paying attention . still , she would do anything for him , even if the feeling is still there that he knows something that she doesn’t . yet – what world out there is one that renata is actually privy to others’ intentions ?

pulled from her thoughts as his grip tightens , feet pulled forward , she stares in uncertainty . the air around them has faded , the surroundings and music playing softly at her back have become a void . all that matters is the way his forehead presses against hers , that in the close proximity she feels as though she can smell the war on him , the history that she’d been longing to turn every page of , each layer that had taken so long to pull away – and then the words that escape his lips makes her throat tighten . ❛ that’s a lot of pressure to put on someone , you know , ❜ it feels natural , the way her face leans into his touch – like it belongs there , as if she belongs this way , with him. again , renata is selfish in the way that she longs to keep him this way forever – when really , even she knows he would be better off far , far away . she’s allowed to be selfish every once again though , isn’t she ? for her whole life she’s done nothing but give , and give some more , so what if she longs to bask in this moment of closeness and soak in his attention with hopes of retaining it for when they part . so she looks up at him , lashes not dark enough to hide the way his eyes are some of the brightest things that she’s ever seen – like watching the moon from the highest peak on a clear day . perhaps she is the sun , always reaching for it , but the recognition of things that will never be attained beyond an eclipse remains . still – she’s entitled to this moment of self - serving , and knowing an apology will have to follow , a sigh holds the weight of this moment , and this moment only . as more distance is shut by the palm of her hand so carefully finding a home on his cheek again but this time she closes it with lips pressed gently against the corner of his mouth . it’s just as quickly she reopens the space , though foreheads remain together , hand still in place , ❛ — and i thought you already knew , i don’t want to be just your peace . ❜

SOMETIMES, WHEN SHE SAYS HIS NAME LIKE THAT — like it’s a whispered secret shared between them, like it belongs to her, and she doesn’t want to share it with anyone outside of the breath between them — marcus feels a little crazy. it’s like he’s drunk on the sound of it, the way her lips part around it, like his name is precious and worthy of existing on her tongue ( it isn’t — precious or worthy, but he’ll let her breathe through it for as long as she’s willing ).

sometimes he daydreams about another life, another meeting. her in a garden on the outskirts of the city, tending to the flowers in her gentle way. him being just a guy — not a soldier — utterly captivated and asking her out because he can’t let the opportunity pass him by. in his fantasy, she says yes, and he cooks her a romantic dinner, and she lets him kiss her in glow of the candlelight.

but they’d found each other in this life, and despite the way marcus suspects that maybe in this one she’d still let him kiss her in the candlelight — he’s terrified that she’ll never allow him to even look at her after all of this.

❝ you’re always safe with me. ❞ he says it too quickly, eyes too wide when they snap up to meet hers, sensing the plotting going on behind them and feeling a bit of unease mixed with a little excitement about whatever she’s got in mind. but he needs her to know that ( she does, he thinks ), needs her to know he’ll do anything in his power to protect her.

his hand moves lightly to her waist when she steps closer, and he doesn’t remember making the decision to touch her, but marcus is hardly willing to stop when she’s looking up at him like that — a tease on her lips and a sparkle in her eye. he wonders if she knows how completely he belongs to her—— he scoffs in mock offense. ❝ you have to stop calling me a monster, ❞ he’s not above pouting down at her at the word. ❝ it hurts my feelings. ❞ but she makes some compelling points. he had planned to take her out to the garden a little bit later anyway — it’s beyond the eyes of security, and even cameras, and it would serve as the best place to start their exit plan. the vial for niko seems to sit heavily in his pocket suddenly, and he does his best to ignore it.

marcus finds himself nodding, leaning into her careful touch before it's gone too soon. instead of releasing her, though, he indulges for just a moment longer, his fingers shifting from the whisper of a touch to a proper grip ( albeit still so gentle ) and in a move for which he’ll likely apologize later, he tugs her closer, his other hand coming up to caress her cheek in much the same way she’d done to him. ❝ i thought you already knew — ❞ there’s a wry smile on his lips when he presses his forehead against hers — like this is just a silly joke they’re sharing, like it's not everything. ❝ — you are my peace. ❞

#mythous #« mythous » marcus duncan #« post » interactions

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shytiff · 4 years ago

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Jan 2021 Wins

ive “journaled” for 6 months now. it started as small ___ wins because when you feel rly empty, even doing the bare minimum feels like a win. written down some of the wins. i think until now i’d like to keep the “win” part. a win against my shadow sometimes. a win in life. some things to be grateful for. a win for remembering it later in the future. i know some days im just basically doing nothing. there are a lot of wars not won by me. but im still tryna ✨manifest✨

1 - woke up. watched bts’ 2021 seasons greetings. read trap city. afternoon nap. pupuy’s mbah passed away. i got DOMS in my body even though i did the barest of exercise yesterday (frail, i know). shower, matcha latte.

2 - the x banner atikah and i sent for racil post thesis defense has arrived lmaoo. mom made delicious (and sweet) fried banana. did some studying (more than usual, bcs the bar is on the floor)

3 - ate muesli, 3 risols. Kopsus coklat at flavola. Stayed there from 12-ish to 17:30 lmaooo. weekly bahas soal w/ fi. Rapat nemo

4 - first day of collab module. Barely cicil ukmppd. My mood is normal-ish but i hardly have the will to study. Dinner is fried fish with mentai sauce, potato wedges, and saladdd by mom

5 - collab module, qa presentation for rsui reps. finished reviewing tryout 2 solid. did padi pretest (got 66,5). ate chicken porridge, a bit of muesli and vsoy, tan ek tjoan bread, matcha latte, fish and chicken and potato wedges and salad, fried banana. i ate well today lol.

6 - slept during collab webinar, went to clara’s place to study osce and attended padi together. i ate well at clara’s placeee lol. ate nastar, kusuka, white kwetiaw with soup (?), and lele goreng. went back home @ 9 pm. i feel refreshed. even though we’ve half studied half mukbang all day. human interaction rly does heal me. i need human interaction more than i think. at night i dreamed about going to bali, to waterparks, seeing sea creatures, watching a movie displayed on a concert-like stage and screen at the front row.

7 - woke up at 07:55, finished my part for collab group work. felt a bit tired today. the rest of fam went to DM, and when they were on the way back i HURRIED my way out, not even taking a shower lmaoo. got pistachio matcha latte at starbucks dm. now im more skilled in searching the best spot in a cafe to distance myself from people lmao. the matcha latte is served with some sort of pistachio cream and sprinkled with nuts on top. its like when sbux had taro matcha latte and it had purple cream on top. the pistachio taste is quite strong. reviewed TO 1 padi, sent proposals for nemo sponsorship.

8 - did syndrome try out and padi 2 web try out. studied for osce and padi @ clara’s place. wanted to order pizza since clara bought me food before, but she insisted in ordering lmaoo. so dinner is pizza hut

9 - woke up at 11.00 lmao. havent had breakfast. lunch is muesli with the brand new delishhh chocolate granola and cimory banana milk. did one shot try out, got 71. had a google meet with Prof Agus (that ethics book ghostwriting job from a year ago is not finished until now huaaa) that went from 20.00ish and finished at 22.30,,,,, reviewed syndrome try out along the way. havent made my collab self reflection hhhh. i also need to study for osce. also havent edited article for bukang solid. and there goes my saturday nooo

10 - i swear i keep waking up late lmao. Flavola w atikah, racheel later came with wawa. Kopsus coklat and ukmppd class w dr yudo. After class i just talked at flavola (and ended not studying osce at all for sunday). Went to racheel's to pray and talk some more. Hurriedly went back for booty call with fi, watched konser dies natalis first. Tryout and sum study with fi and clar that went from 20:30 to 00:10. Powered by left over kopsus and 2 snackit pia. Rip my sleeping schedule

11 - woke up at 10:30 ish, the lack of meal and horrible sleep pattern (for my standard) produced stuffy nose during the day and a bit of headache that went away for a bit after i ate. Late bfast is muesli, drank protein, ate tan ek tjoan, plus 2 brownies in the evening. Tht coaching w dr niken. Did self reflection for collab. Had dinner without rice, as usual. Ukmppd class w dr ayu. Finished reflection at 21:30 lmao (deadline is 23:55). Tryna sleep and my nose is still itchy and i sneeze a more often. i hope it goes away 2mrw

12 - DV coaching, scele tryout, took a nap before padi cause my head kind of hurts. Les padi while drinking matcha with vsoy less sugar and no added sugar. I can withstand the horrible sugarless cy matcha taste bcs theres a taste of soy. Didnt do anything else. Havent studied osce on my own until now. Astagfirullah

13 - my head still kind of aches. Its goes away when im eating. im eating so well during the weekdays that i gained 2kgs lmao. lazed around the first half of the day. padi. finally tried saint matcha and damnn its an amazing upgrade from Cy matcha. the green color is super different yall. Cy’s green looks sick and tired compared to saint matcha. the taste? immaculate (although coco deli is more fragrant). caffeine? hits. awake and feel normal? yes. messaged an ao3 author and got replied and turns out she’s making a sequel for my fav fic of hers. yay

14 - osce practice w ara ren ness. bedah and anak osce coaching. had 3 of mom’s cinnamon rolls and matcha latte for the afternoon. cicil osce DV. edited some pld articles. did nothing else basically

15 - wasted my day, didnt have the courage to study osce (i feel like i procrastinate on it bcs it feels overwhelming to me), TO FKUI 2, hurriedly reviewed to 1 before, les padi. i feel like this is the least focused im being in a les. maybe its the too few matcha powder.

16 - woke up at 9 am. breakfast is muesli. reviewed to 2 fkui w apa salahku (finished at 12 pm, there goes half of my saturday). tried fried chicken master. its good and tender but i still prefer moon chicken.

17 - breakfast is muesli, banana and 2 martabak tahu. snack is keripik pisang aduuu wenak (and picking bits of meat cooked by mom). went to devi’s place w/ racheel silvi. brought RJ to be wrapped. we watched okay madam and its super fun, hilarious and full of twists anddd a bit of cutesy romance. just the right balance to enjoy and let the stress out. late lunch is moon chicken yay!! went home after maghrib, did to padi 6 w/ fi and matcha latte. talked about a senior’s wedding and eating healthier til 22:30

18 - To fkui 3, wasted my afternoon playing my phone, finally mustered some will to study after ashar. My progress is rly slow today. Watched hilarious jessi interview with eric, heechul. Im telling u, i thought tiktok is the funniest internet content but i was wronggg. Seeing heechul flustered is hilarious. Tried to study again at night but only learned 1 disease hiks

19 - had no idea what i did before dzuhur lmao. went to racheel’s to surprise atikah. actually napped at her place lmaoo why do i feel so sleepy. gifted rj to atikah. we ate fried chicken master and pempek on a small green table and talked. its like korean movie lmao. we talked while im simultaneously listening to padi lol.

20 - woke up at 8, chicken porridge + muesli and low sugar vsoy for breakfast. arrived at clara’s @10am. to fkui 4. reviewed it. reviewed general physical exam. finished up to padi 7. tried bombo donut. studied osce. i felt sooo dumb in osce (and clara is already super smart). superrr motivated to learn after going back home (arrived at 7) but i ended up opening youtube and drinking protein lmaooo and its suddenly 9 pm

21 - matcha latte at starbucks dm. Studied osce. Obgyn coaching w the super kind dr ilham. Les padi. Read angel buddy and played with my phone til 12 pm

22 - to fkui. padi as usual. had low motivation, so i did the tryout that day close to the actual course.

23 - left home at 06:30 to study together in capitol. had breakfast in mcd first. thank god i ate rice + chicken and breakfast wrap cuzzzz. studied osce together w ara, ical, kelvyn, dio and kak ilonka til about 2 pm. WALKED to bk bcs my parents are there. apparently simply driving to capitol is too much for them. immediately ate muesli at 4 pm cause i didnt eat anything in capitol. did nothing else after that. did not pray maghrib together lmao somehow mom had mercy on me and let me sleep som more. mom bought sate padang but i didnt eat it. i cried in bed because as yoongi said, “this is the real you and this is the real me”. did not shower/wash my face at night bcs i felt like shit lmao rip my face (its a week before bukang photoshoot)

24 - i feel tired, lazy, and just wanted some sleep. like all that’s in me is drained. ate muesli with strawberry milk. tried fitmee beef. its better than i thought. because the noodle is chewy you spend more time to chew. also ate fried chicken and daun singkong. usually i cant wait to go to flavola but even at 12 pm i just feel like laying down. finally mustered the will to shower and go out. its raining a bit on the way. colddd.

25 - to fkui 6, osce briefing, covid lecture (that was actually for ppds), padi

26 - spaghetti for brekkie, coaching neuro and ophthalmology, cicil osce

27 - cicil osce, the second to the last padi omg. the fastest padi ever

28 - obgyn osce practice at kak ilonka’s place (that nice kosan at forkabi) with ara, ren ness, kelvyn, dio with mannequins from og dept, tried meokja salemba that serves bulgogi rice. quite good. after arriving at home, studied neuro together with menno til about 20:45 an and i just dont have the energy lmaooo so i gave up and slept

29 - today is bukang photoshoot at bintaro. put base make up on the way. even put glue on my eyebrow. got eyebrow, eyeshadow and blush done by renata. took lots of photos. nebeng om coro afterwards to bxc to meet mom. we ate at genki sushi (renata ara kris mendel oca regan geordie eka). i missss road trips hua. did tryout fkui on the way back home. after shower and prayer proceeded to review TO with apa salahku. Last padi (havent done the questions beforehand so i sprinted it out while on the actual course). Muhasabah osce with kak widia afterwards lmao. Studied osce with clara

30 - studied osce with ara ren ness @ merra. I ate eatlah, moms muffin, kemplang, tango. I ate so welll. Its a productive sesh, neuro and infectious disease. At home i studied osce w clara til abt 22:15 ish. I feel like i miss my me time lmao its been 3 days. I can still go on w clara but i dont wanna get myself sick

31 - simul osce in the morning. Osce study with clara almira. Cicil osce alone. Played my phone at 10 pm even though i still have mental clarity post matcha latte -___-

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exploringbrazilianculture · 4 years ago

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Exploring Brazilian Culture!

Below excerpts represent a virtual study of Brazilian culture by Columbia College Chicago (CCC) undergraduate students enrolled in the Humanities, History and Social Science (HHSS) Dept. online course: HUMA121 “Latin American Art, Literature and Music” .

This virtual showing on tumblr is hosted by CCC students enrolled in this HHSS Dept. course with its instructor, Jesus Macarena Avila. This investigation began with a study on Tarsila do Amaral and her involvement with the cultural movement: Antropofagia.

Amaral with creative intellectuals like Oswald de Andrade and Anita Malfatti advocated a new ideology, the Manifesto Antropofago.

This investigation was only enhanced by the course's online contributors and guests: Dr. Roberto J. Tejada and Ariani Friedl. Dr. Tejada's expertise of Latin American art history and knowledge on Amaral's cultural production.

Dr. Tejada gave cultural and historic interpretations of Amaral's paintings like "Carnaval em Madureira" (1924, oil on canvas, 76 × 63.5 cm) showing the Afro Brazilian influence on the work.

Below are students' comments on what was learnt from Dr. Tejada's lecture:

"The speaker Dr. Roberto J. Tejada did an amazing job really helping me comprehend what was going on, and the different and creative ways with the European side and the afro American side were trying to solidify the culture and understanding of one another’s history."

"Amaral is also well known for creating the work of 'Anthropofagia', according to Dr. Tejada, in which its 'main intention was to create a mythic space in a language of painting through using bold colors and unusual forms, in order to create a vision specific to Brazilian history and attending to contemporary human geography/landscapes'."

"Dr. Tejada gave a great explanation of Amaral’s painting Anthropofagia. Made in 1929, its intention was to create a mythic space in painting using non-contemporary forms and vanguard themes to connect to Brazil's history of violent colonialism."

"Some background information about that Dr. Tejada touches on the fact where many Brazilians might have come from. The government encouraged immigration for the most part from Europe. Around the year 1888, the population contained many white Brazilians but also as well many black Brazilians.

Brazil was also one of the last countries in Latin America to abolish slavery. So even from then on racism was something that was influencing many policies (specifically Immigration policies), systems created in Brazil, etc."

"Dr. Tejada made a good point when he stated 'the word itself, signifies the Tupi language and enhancement, it seems to serve the undeniable presence of indigenous people. The indigenous culture is elevated and given importance just as any other subject European painters would put forward’."

And Ariani Friedl (above) representing Chicago's annual cinematic program: Mostra Brazilian Film Series gave an insight to this year's film programming.

Friedl was recently interviewed by Illinois Latino Voice's TransLatinx artist, Jesus "Jesse" Iniguez, this is an excerpt:

Jesus "Jesse" Iniguez: Due to the national Shelter in Place order, how has Mostra become more accessible to a wider audience this year?

Arian Friedl: Due to the pandemic and the impossibility for us to have a MOSTRA in person, we decided, as many other organizations, to present our MOSTRA XI virtually. This has been a completely new field for us and we have had to learn a great deal of new techniques and ways of doing a festival.

JJI: As with previous festivals, What film(s) are this year’s highlights? What are the themes or concepts being featured for Mostra Brazilian Film Festival 2020?

AF: As you know, MOSTRA present Brazilian films with social conscience and every year we bring films which address different aspects of Brazilian culture, environment, social issues, history and others. This year we will be featuring films related to our political history, environment, gender and race issues and others.

JJI: Thank you so much for your time during our “new normal”. You can find Mostra’s film listings on their official website: http://mostrafilmfestival.org/xi/

Below are student/instructor film review excerpts:

"Amazônia, o Despertar da Florestania", Dirs: Christiane Torloni & Miguel Przewodowski, Documentary/1h 46min/2018 (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"How has Brazil dealt with nature and its natural resources in the early 20th century? What state is the Amazon Forest in? Based on interviews with specialists from the most diverse areas and the rescue of historical figures, the notion of forestry is discussed: the citizenship of the forest, a term necessary to reflect on Brazilian identity.

Although dramatic, sometimes bordering on desperate romanticism, the questions raised by the documentary Amazônia, the Awakening of Forestry are treated with the necessary urgency and a very welcoming tone by the actress, environmental activist, and now even filmmaker Christiane Torloni.

In her directorial debut, Torloni accesses something profound, mystical, and sacred, but no less concrete or vivacious: the surreal power of the Amazon rainforest – and the risk of its disappearance.A documentary film of a conventional format like this only works with the cast's quality and constitution.

A movie like this is only as good as the level of testimony it collects and makes available to the viewer. Fortunately, there are media personalities of weight, prestige, and intelligence, from the fields of art to sciences. All are coming together to trace and unravel the devastating panorama in which we find ourselves as a society." -- E. Reynaga

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dvm-VH1L8k

"Açúcar", Dirs. Renata Pinheiro & Sérgio Oliveira, Fiction/1h 30min/2020 (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"Açúcar is a surreal but haunting portrait of an aging sugar cane plantation. It centers on the main character, Bethânia Wanderley (played by Maeve Jinkings), a last remaining family member of a historic Brazilian plantation family. She tries to repair the old mansion and thinking of new crops to revive the plantation industry.

Although this is a fictional tale, it does reference actual facts about slavery in Brazil (being the last Latin American country to abolish slave ownership). As the story progresses, Bethânia begins to see or "hallucinate" things around the old mansion, is it the Wanderley's past with slavery? Or is it the local people, descendants of slaves plotting to get the aging land back? Is it this about “revenge” or reclaiming human rights?

It's beautifully photographed against a sugar cane landscape referencing Afro Brazilian beliefs in Orixas and body possession. Directors Renata Pinheiro and Sérgio Oliveira has won awards for their own films and this feature is a collaborative work at re-looking Brazil's slavery and the history of plantation families." -- J. Macarena Avila

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQBfzNZMags

”Mormaço", Dir: Marina Meliande, Political Drama/1h 36min/ 2018 (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"Mormaço combines different genres, fantasy, political, drama, etc. using visuals to make social commentary about 2016 Rio de Janiero's Olympics. That year, many resident areas were displaced to create attractions for tourism for the Olympics.

This feature is a dazzling, but slow burner story using different genres based on true events surrounding the 2016 Olympics when one of the hottest summers faced Rio de Janiero's area.

It centers on a public lawyer, Ana representing residents being threaten to move. The residents have regular meetings with Ana to prepare to lobby against the city government. Then Ana develops a unknown medical condition that starts a metaphorsis that only complicates her life." -- J. Macarena Avila

"After viewing the film I did some research and learned from an article titled 'Film Mormaço Interweaves Fiction and Reality to Retell Story of Vila Autódromo Evictions' that these events in the film are based on historical events that actually occurred.

The article also states that Mormaço 'makes use of actual footage of these events.' Many of the scenes illustrating war and protest are primary sources that I found very interesting.

Knowing this about the film made me want to watch it a second time to catch all of these primary footages. Mostly because of how seamless the transition from historical footage to current footage. Overall, I felt the film was not only entertaining but also informational." -- J. Heflin

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSanEqppds

"Deslembro", Dir: Flávia Castro, Drama /1h 36min / 2018 (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"Quickly summarizing this movie, it’s about a girl named Joanna, who lives with her mom, stepfather, and two stepbrothers in Paris. Her parents announce that they would be moving the family to Brazil and it is very clear at the beginning of the movie how Joanna feels about the decision. Of course, the move is inevitable and the rest of the movie is located in Brazil.

The move to Brazil allows Joanna to be able to explore new things, like the world of literature, her first love, and she awakens politically. Being in Brazil seems to bring up a whole bunch of old disturbing memories from Joanna’s childhood that have something to do with her fathers’ disappearance which then leads Joanna to have a slight hope that her father may be alive.

Leaving this paragraph on a cliff hanger just in case anyone ends up wanting to watch it. I believe that this was a very well written and portrayed movie. It caught my interest because it just seemed relatable. Something realistic, unlike this other movie that I was interested in watching which seemed more fiction based." -- Y. Contreras

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4qFP5cbmyEg

"Mulher Que Sou" (15m), Dir: Nathalia Thereza (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"The film 'The Woman Who I Am' follows a single mother who is in search of a new beginning away from what appears to be the rural lifestyle she once lived. We immediately begin the story following our main character, Marta, who is traveling alongside a mountain by bus before abruptly switching to a highway where she continues her travel into the city. Later, as she is searching for apartments we are introduced to her daughter who she consults with during this process.

This establishes for the audience their relationship with one another but also theimportance of and emphasis placed on the value of listening to her daughter and including her in this journey. While the prevailing theme of this film, I contend, was identity, we also can identify themes of femininity, single motherhood, modernity, and beauty all woven into the dynamic of Marta’s character.

These intersections help us to understand and even challenge the ways in which we often place mothers in society, especially those that are single or value women past a certain age, questioning their worthiness to be called beautiful" -- G. Paredes

"Oddly enough, the Woman I am was probably my least favorite out of all the films I watched at Mostra. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed the film and thought it was pretty good, but it had a lot of potentials that was wasted. There were scenes where the dialogue was too rushed and others where nothing was happening for a particularly long time.

One thing I don’t like is that they didn’t show you some things. For example, the characters would be talking about something off-screen, and the way they were talking about it, you would think it would be some, what of a big deal. They didn’t show the thing in that scene and I thought they were leaving it to be some sort of reveal later on in the film.

But it never gets mentioned again and the audience never gets to see what the characters were talking about. In my opinion, it would’ve been fine not to show it if it was a quick mention but the character made it seemed like it was kinda important.

A reason I did like the film’s 'secretness' is that it captured what the film was supposed to be about: a mom and daughter moving on from their past to a new beginning." -- K. Williams

View this short here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=05-F8PDvxdY

"Azougue Nazaré", Dir: Tiago Melo, Fiction/1h 22min/2018 (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"The film Azougue Nazaré was a drama film released in 2018 directed and written by Tiago Melo. The film is about the start of a new destructive supernatural phenomenon and different spiritual ideologies that collide within this community.

The film touches on religious topics and events in Latin American and was very informational and entertaining. I felt that this film was well put together and although I was not used to many of the different rituals and traditions are shown in the film.

It was very easy to follow along and even relate some of these traditions to ones in my culture. I usually would never go for a film that has to do with religious topics but the film’s artistic values and images caught my eye." - J. Heflin

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NFxE51n0IQo

"Quebramar", (27m), Dir: Cris Lyra (Portuguese w English Subtitles)

"Going off of Mostra Festival’s description of the film, Breakwater (Quebramar) is a movie about a group of girls from São Paulo who takes a vacation to a remote island for the New Years. While on this vacation, the girls hang out, form a connection, build a safe space, and discuss with each other their experiences being in a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The things that caught my attention most about this movie and made me want to watch it were the categories 'LGBT' and 'black perspective' because those both relate to me. The movie was filmed in the style of a documentary, though I couldn’t really find any proof it was.

If the film was scripted, then I have to give a huge round of applause to the actresses because they delivered them seamlessly and made it feel natural.One of my favorite things about the film is how casual it was. It was a feel-good film where everyone was having fun, bonding, and really supporting each other." -- K. Williams

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNDquFNV9dQ

"Sem Asas", (20m), Dir: Renata Martins

"Sem Asas, or Wingless in its English translation, is a short film about a boy with a longtime interest in flying discovering he 'can'. I watched this movie because it was under the category 'black perspective' but I enjoyed it so much because it broke a lot of basic representation the media gives us.

The film mainly centers around the boy but also features his parents. I mention this because the movie really focuses on this family’s strong bond. That’s one thing media rarely gives movies, films, T.V, and etc that focuses on black representation. There’s always one parent (usually the dad) missing or dead and if both parents are there, the marriage is toxic and on the verge of breaking.

This family however is very close and from what the movie showed us very healthy. They help each other out when asked, joke around, lightheartedly tease each other, and were overall worried for each other. Another thing this film didn’t do that most media does was only make it about struggle.

I won’t lie the Black community does have a lot of struggles and situations it has to deal with but those things are usually the only thing media recognizes us for. While the representation of that is important, it starts to build an image in your head when that’s pretty much the ONLY time you see yourself and your community focused on in media.

Yes, there is black on black violence, broken family, major poverty, and many other things but that’s not all the black community is. I think Wingless did a good job of portraying this."-- K. Williams

View trailer here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPkWmJvC-Tc

This for educational purposes and co-hosted by

Friedl's video introduction (created/produced by Sara Vianni) to enrolled students in the HUMA 121 course, "Latin American Art, Literature and Music".

youtube

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herflcme-blog · 8 years ago

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SPECIALU LECTURE TAIMU FROM RENATA-CHAN !! UPUPUPUPU IT’S SHOW TIME, BABES ;3

i won’t cut this post, sorry. you can block “lectures from renata” if you want to skip this. thanks ;)))

lemme say u dis --- i love you, guys. please, be happy and remember that you are awesome and unique. i love seeing you all on my dash and you deserve happiness and smiles. please, take care of yourself. never put roleplaying before your feelings and your real life. damn, i might sound like a bitch right now, but real life and YOUR HEALTH (!!!!!!!) is far more important than this internet life. do not make tumblr users or other assholes make you feel like you’re not good enough. believe me, you are an adorable and good person. thank you for being here and thank you for trying hard!

some personal confession ok, you can skip if u don’t wanna read it: i understood that my anxiety and insecurities got ten times worse since i joined tumblr, actually. because i thought i was not good enough, but now??? i understood that i need to focus on myself and try to improve my life. i became an international student in U.S. and i’ve become more confident in myself. i still have a long way to go, but i’m getting better.

so, i wish for you all to know that you are amazing, ok? i’ve been learning from all of you how to write in english tbh. so, for that i must thank this website. i can only thank it for two things: improving my writing and meeting cool people. in other ways, i have nothing to thank tumblr about. i’ve been here for four years and i’ve seen a lot of shit happening. probably, that turned me into an arrogant or ignorant bitch at some point, and i’m not joking about that and ask people not to say it’s not true. sometimes, i do act like that, but once again --- i’m trying to improve.

once again, please, remember that you are an amazing person. do not let internet put you down and let you feel like you’re not cool / aesthetic / amazing enough. never let that make you feel like you’re not good enough. --- this is said to those who are struggling and who are truly adorable rolls who must be protected.

do not let others put you down and bully you. those people are the worst, ok. be it stealing, bullying, sending anon hate. i said this thing before and i will repeat it: people who are doing that are not happy in their life, i can feel pity towards them and simple disgust. i do ask people who are doing these things to block me or unfollow me. when i see anon hate i want to fucking laugh, because people who are doing that, in my eyes, are fucking stupid and ridiculous. i went through a massive anon-hate shit back when i was in owa//ri n/o s/er/aph fandom and on my other blog. now, however, i find those people stupid and ridiuclous.

NOW, EVERYONE, LET’S REPEAT TOGETHER AND SING THIS SONG !! YOOOSHHHH, LET’S GOUuUuUUUUuuUUUU!

STEALING IS FUCKIGN WRONG, ANON HATE IS FUCKING WRONG, NEGATIVE VAGUE BLOGGING IS FUCKING WRONG, GUILTY TRIPPING IS FUCKING WRONG, CALLOUT POSTS ARE FUCKING WRONG, STALKING IS AGAINST THE FUCKING LAW. EWWWW IF YOU’RE DOING SMTH LIKE THAT.

HALLLOOOOOUUUUU??? CAN YOU HEAR ME PEOPLE??? PLZ FUCK OFF IF YOU DO SOMETHING OUT OF THIS. THANX & BYE. THOSE THINGS ARE DI-SGU-STING.

Oopsie daisy, i got a little bit angry there. Oh well, but seriously, guys. Who the fuck does that? Do you really so miserable in your life that you’re doing these things? Aloha to my fist and sayonara to my blogs and my content. I’m a straightforwrd person who will not be afraid to tell you to McFuckOff.

So, if you are doing that --- you are disgusting, and my kind words are ONLY towards those people who have RESPECT to others. Kind words are said to those who are doing things right and try to be creative, put everything into their blog and their character. I honestly feel sorry that so many people are leaving fandoms because of this shit. I left one of the fandoms because of a the same thing.

So... those who are being adorable cinnamon buns and who i adore so much, read this:

you are you and that is what imprortant. be yourself and do not let anyone take it from you. you are as beautiful as you are. let’s be honest, we’re not perfect, but that’s humans’ nature. we all have flaws, but we’re all unique and we’re the only ones in the whole world. you are you, and you are precious. I love you like a guy from “Hi Strange” video (fucking weird, but the love is real). <3

NOW, THE LECTURE TIME IS DONE. STUDENTS, THANK U FOR READIN THIS. YO MEME’S OUT. <3

#my long ass confession #forgive me but i had this sitting in my head for a long time and i just want people to know that they shouldnt belittle themselves so hard #i hate seeing my friends getting hurt #► █ ▌ ( ♛ ) renata’s speaking. �� out of character.#lectures from renata //#DRAMA MENT //#ANON HATE MENT //#STEALING MENT //#STALKING MENT //#GUILT TRIPPING MENT //

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rubisaurus98 · 5 years ago

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--Bada Fana--

"We'll take care of them!" Karl declared. He, Seria, and Tilith charged at the large group of monsters.

Paris inched away from the conflict. "And I'll just be over here with these--" As she turned around, she felt something warm wrap tightly around her torso. She looked down and saw that it was white and glowing. Before she could register the source, she was pulled backwards and made to face an upset-looking Ren.

"Hello, Renata." Paris greeted awkwardly.

Ren didn't return the greeting. "Paris, I'm not mad at you, I'm just disappointed." Ren began in a tone that was very even...and parental. Paris' heart sank.

"Choosing to secretly abandon your fellow fighters and not being as concerned over the possibility of a missing person's life being in jeopardy as you ought to be, especially one like an Elder Summoner's in a harsh world like this one? That's poor form, Your Excellency." Ren continued.

“I...Well...” Paris stuttered. “I suppose I can’t say that I haven’t been on the battlefield as much as the rest of you, can I?”

“If we didn’t already have that discussion back in Seltavia, you could’ve. Not that I’d still buy it, when this field trip’s already turned rescue mission. We need all the able-bodied fighters we have right now, because we still don’t know what happened to Lugina for him to be unable to contact Yurika, because while Bada Fana’s connection’s not the best, it’s still usable.”

Paris sighed in defeat. “You have a point, Renata. I’ll focus this time, truly. It’s just that, with the opportunity to see these historical otherworldly places, I have...trouble containing my excitement, especially since I no longer venture outside Elgaia much nowadays.”

Ren gave her a small smile. “I know how you get. I’ll tell you what: Once we find out what happened to Lugina, I’ll take you back here and you can explore as much as this world will allow. Deal?”

Paris smiled back. “I...I would like that very much.”

“Hey, what are you two still doing over there? We’re already done!” Tilith called out.

“Lecturing Paris about the possible gravity of this situation.” Ren replied frankly. “Caught her trying to sneak off on her own while you were off fighting.”

Seria sighed, exasperated. “Godsdammit, Paris...”

“No need to worry anymore, Seria.” Paris reassured. “I have resolved to behave in a manner more befitting of one of Elgaia’s leaders. Now, if you’ll all follow me inside the base, we may have a higher chance of finding Lugina in there.”

#Rubi says things #Rubi does a write #BF:LC #Oh. don't mind me. Just writing out a small scene for Paris' Story Quest #Paris Lowendell #Renata Diés Crux #bf2 spoilers

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saiilorstars · 5 years ago

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The Beginning of Everything

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: Female OC x 10th Doctor

(OC Face claim: Marjorie de Sousa)

// Story Masterlist //

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Ch. 7: Partners in Crime

Chapter Summary: Renata struggles traveling with the Doctor after Martha's departure. She tries to follow the Doctor through his crazy ways of helping people but she just can't help but point out how many rules they break! And the Doctor doesn’t make it any easier when he tries to argue with her.

"It's crazy-"

"Of course humans wouldn't be able to detect any-"

"-what you're saying-"

"-extraterrestrial signals but I have the-"

"-I mean what's the point of-"

"-TARDIS constantly checking for anything strange and there it was," the Doctor pushed the monitor so that it was in front of Renata. "Adipose Industries. Bunch of conspiracy theories-"

"Doctor, the humans are always looking for crazy theories-"

"Well it happens that these are not so far off. We really should just pop in and check to make sure everything is alright."

There was a clear 'why' written across Renata's face. "What is your obsession with planet Earth?" That was one question she'd been asking ever since she met the Doctor on Gallifrey. Up to now, she suspected there wasn't a clear answer.

The Doctor just smiled at her question. "Renee, I really think we need to check it out. Just a couple of investigation scenes and-"

"Which will involve us breaking in and lying to officials - no, no way!" Renata turned away from the monitor, intending on going into the corridors so that she wouldn't have to listen to anymore of the nonsense.

"Oh we're not going to be doing anything bad!" the Doctor reached forwards and grabbed her arm.

"Really?" Renata pulled her arm and crossed them. "What does your little plan entail, exactly?"

"Just, you know, bit of the pyschic paper and-"

Renata stopped him with a hand in his face. "Psychic paper? You mean that little portable lying booklet?"

"That's...a strange name to give it but...sure," the Doctor nodded his head.

"And in that little paper we're going to lie and say we're some other people to get ourselves into the Adipose headquarters?"

"Um...yes," the Doctor had to contain himself under Renata's scolding face. To him, honestly, it was both funny and a bit scary how serious she got sometimes. He'd come to learn that it was often.

"Do you hear yourself?" Renata raised her hands in front of her, making it clear she wanted no part in this plan. "You're going to go in that building, interrupt business and for what? Conspiracy theories?"

"Renee, I'm going," the Doctor left it clear, turning for the console and preparing the controls to land on Earth. "Question is, will you be coming to make sure I don't get into trouble or will you be here."

Renata's eyebrows raised almost increduliously. "Am I to be your babysitter?"

"Well, no, but you seem so determined to give yourself that role…"

"Doctor!" Renata huffed.

"Well, you are!" the Time Lord turned around to defend himself before she decided to smack him on the back.

"We've been at this for a month-" Renata gestured between them, "-and you can't seriously understand that I am against the lying and breaking in?"

"You didn't have trouble in 1913," the Doctor mumbled under his breath.

Renata's eyes widened. "I was doing that to fit in! Not to break in all silly-nilly!" A small smile began spreading across the Doctor's face. "Why are you smiling?" Renata crossed her arms, expecting there to be some joke she hadn't caught like usual.

"You said silly-nilly, but somehow I'm the one that uses childish words."

Renata air-strangled him but brought her balled hands to her mouth. "Sometimes I just can't with you!"

"So you've said in this past month," the Doctor said all proudly which only irritated Renata even more.

One month she had been in the TARDIS with the Doctor after Martha left them, and somehow she hadn't strangled the Doctor into his next incarnation. Yes, the Doctor had done everything in his power to make sure she felt welcomed in the TARDIS - which she truly did. And yes, he was never purposely rude to her and he was always attentive to what she needed or where she wanted to go. But that didn't stop him from frustrating her with his childish antics and constant rule breaking and running.

Renata honestly wondered how he had made it this far without regenerating again.

Every day he had somewhere new he wanted to go and almost every time there was something he just needed to help and save which would then bring along danger and a lot of running. When they weren't travelling, the Doctor was 'fixing' the console and causing things to break. He was a fast talker when he was excited and thus had Renata's ears nearly fall off when they were together discussing things of home or some experiences they've had.

It truly felt like they were those young Time Lords again still messing around in her foundation.

Renata tried pushing those feelings away, every day, but being so close didn't help. Now there she was...bickering away with him...and remembering everything she'd fought for so long to forget.

"Renata, c'mon, it'll be fun," the Doctor smiled incredibly wide and held out a hand for her, wiggling his fingers.

She hated herself. She truly did. Renata took her hand, ignoring the Doctor's face momentarily go smug, and let him bring her back to the console.

~ 0 ~

A couple of hours later, the two embarked on a journey for Adipose Industries. As the two walked along a busy street, Renata continuously looked around like they were already going to get caught. The wind blew much of her blonde hair on her face, making it more difficult for her to keep a 'look out'.

"I see it," she said to the Doctor once she caught sight of the large building meant to serve as headquarters for the company. "But there's plenty of security check, I'm sure."

"Good thing we're going through the back," the Doctor pulled her to the left to go along the building towards its back.

Renata's head did a double-take in the process. "The back? What? Like actual thieves?"

The Doctor preferred not to get into a whole argument on the technicalities of what they were doing. Renata grew even more self-conscious as they arrived to a fire exit.

"What are you doing?" she nearly hissed when she saw him pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"Getting us in," he motioned as he flicked on the sonic.

"Oh my God, we're actually breaking in - ah," she put a hand over her chest and looked around, properly frightened.

The Doctor hid his amused smile in his work. It was actually rather adorable the way she got so worked up over things he did so normally. When the door opened, they crossed into a set of solitary corridors. All the noise came from their quick strides.

"Doctor," Renata had another near attack when she saw a security guard walking opposite of them. Her arm curled around his on instinct.

Without conflict, he just pulled out the psychic paper and flashed it at the security as they passed on by. "John Smith, Renata Cartwright, Health and Safety."

"How do you do that so calmly?" Renata whispered to him despite leaving the security guard well behind.

"Do what?" the Doctor repeated rather cluelessly.

"Great," Renta unwinded her arm from his and sighed, "You don't even realize you do it anymore."

After making it to the higher levels, they discovered that there was to be a private lecture from the very head of the company herself.

"You don't think they'd notice two unregistered people waltzing into the lecture room?" Renata had to ask as she followed behind the Doctor in a hallway.

"That's why we're not going there, clearly."

"What?" Renata stopped, dumbfounded. "Then where are we going?"

"Projector room, c'mon!"

Renata slowly continued to follow. "But...how are we getting in?"

~ 0 ~

"Health and Safety. Film department," the Doctor once more showed his psychic paper to a man working the computers in the projection room set right above the lecture room.

Renata shook her head behind the Doctor.

They were able to see the head, a blonde woman with glasses who went by 'Miss Foster', describe the components and process of her company's products to the small audience. "Adipose Industries. The 21st century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is. You just take one capsule, one capsule, once a day, for three weeks. And the fat, as they say…the fat just walks away."

Renata couldn't help scoff as she listened. "Do all the humans have an obsession with thinness?"

Beside her, the Doctor nudged her to be careful with her words. He motioned to the man working the computers who was giving Renata a curious look for her statement.

"U-uh," Renata flustered and looked at the window again. "I meant...the lot of humanity."

The Doctor gave a discreet shake of his head, fairly amused. Renata was one woman who did not know how to travel. That was novelty.

~ 0 ~

"Don't you think we're playing our luck here?" Renata walked right beside the Doctor through an aisle of small cubicles.

The Doctor had a bright idea to go to one of the employees and pick up a couple more information.

"Just relax, Renee," the Doctor wondered if he would ever get tired of telling that to her. Because everytime they traveleld somewhere, it was the same thing. She was overly nervous about getting caught.

They came into the cubicle of a young, dark-skinned woman who was in the middle of a call with a customer.

"John Smith, Renata Cartwright, Health and Safety. Don't mind us," the Doctor whispered so as not to interrupt her phone call. He let Renata take a seat first then took the one next to her.

Soon as she was done, the Doctor got straight to questioning. It truly amazed Renata how well he did it. There was no faltering, no stuttering, not a trace of nervousness in his face.

"If you could just give us a list of some of your customers we'll be on our way," the Doctor finished it off with a big nice smile.

The employee, Clare, seemed more than happy to oblige.

"That's the printer there?" the Doctor stood up for a moment, unknowingly giving Renata a hearts attack thinking he might get caught by Miss Foster. She'd only been in the room 15 minutes ago, what's stopping her from coming back?

"By the plant, yeah," Clare nodded.

"Brilliant," the Doctor beamed but Renata yanked him down to his seat again. Soon as her hand let go of his arm, he sprung right back on his feet. "Has it got paper?"

"Yeah, Jimbo keeps it stocked," Clare found him amusing.

Renata did not. She grasped the Doctor's arm and pulled him down with all her might. "Sit down!" she hissed. She then smiled at Clare. "Anyway, if you could print that off. We'll be on our way. Thanks."

The employee typed on her computer for a moment before giving them the 'ok' nod. Renata stood up followed by the Doctor but stopped when she heard the Doctor ask, "Oh, what's that?"

Renata turned around to see Clare giving him a piece of paper.

"My telephone number," the woman answered his question.

Renata raised her eyebrows.

The Doctor looked between the paper and Clare. "What for?"

There came a smirk across Clare's face. "Health and Safety. You be health, I'll be safety."

The Doctor stammered for an excuse. Renata...did not.

"I am going to report you!" she threatened the woman as she snatched the paper from the Doctor and slammed it on Clare's desk.

"What-"

"You can expect a call from your superiors tonight!" Renata grabbed the Doctor by the arm and yanked him out of the cubicle.

Honestly, she thought. Where was that human's professionalism!?

~0~

Night time fell and instead of going back to the TARDIS like Renata believed, the Doctor dragged her to continue investigating. This time they were set to pose as employees of Adipose Industries who made house visits. As the Doctor flashed his psychic paper to a lucky customer they were visiting, Renata rolled her eyes on the side and began to count the many times he'd done something like this and gotten away with it.

She couldn't count that high without losing her place.

Now sitting in the customer's, Roger's, living room, they listened to him how the pills had worked for him in so little time.

"I've been on the pills two weeks now, I've lost fourteen kilos!" he finished excitedly.

"That's the same amount every day?" asked the Doctor.

"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

Renata's brows knitted together. "I-I'm sorry...how...how is that?"

"That's when I get woken up," Roger answered in a matter of fact tone. "Might as well weigh myself at the same time."

"U-um…" Renata glanced at the Doctor to see if he was as confused as she was.

He was. "Could you...could you tell us more about that please?"

"Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."

"But with no burglars?" Renata asked to be sure.

"Nothing. I've given up looking."

The Doctor still did not falter. "Tell me Roger, have you got a cat flap?"

Renata made a face at that but nonetheless she followed the plan. Roger showed them to the cat flap on his front door, more than happy to show another person in case this one actually figured it out. "It was there when I bought the house. Never bothered with it. I'm not a cat person."

The Doctor had already begun screening it with his sonic. "No, I've met cat people. You are nothing like them," he murmured.

He's met cat people. Renata inwardly sighed. Of course he's met cat people.

"It's that what it is then? Cats getting inside the house?" Roger frowned.

"Well, thing about cat flaps is that they don't just let things in, they let things out as well…" the Doctor said slowly, still coming up with ideas to follow.

"Like what?"

"The fat just walks away..." The Doctor pushed himself back on his feet and turned to Roger with an excessive smile. "Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so."

"Probably forever," Renata added. "You could just try the regular eat healthy and exercise thing..."

The Doctor stiffened when he heard a small 'bleep' from inside his jacket. "Ooh, we gotta go, sorry."

"What-"

The Doctor hurriedly opened the door brought Renata along with him. He reached inside his jacket to pull out a device he'd hand made earlier that day.

"When did you make that!?" Renata gave a face at the device, fearing it would explode like the last thing he made.

"This morning! Now hurry!" He let go of her completely and picked up his pace. Renata was also not good at running.

Groaning, Renata did her best to keep up.

She managed to catch up when he made a stop by the corner of one street. He banged a hand on his device, ignoring Renata's sarcastic 'that'll make it work' then ran off again.

"What are we looking for!?" Renata panted when they stopped again.

Not answering, the Doctor held up the device for a better signal. He waved it around then lowered it to check the readings. When it dinged, he beamed and ran again.

"Oh my God," Renata groaned and chased after him. They were nearly ran over by a rushing van in the process. However, soon as it passed by, the Doctor turned in the same direction to follow it...apparently, the signal was coming from it.

He finally came to a stop at an intersection and was disappointed to find the signal gone.

~ 0 ~

Much later would find the Doctor examining one of the golden capsules of the Adipose company. He was looking at it through a magnifying glass, far interested in its components. "Ohh, fascinating!" he gawked. "Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for…"

"Are we still on that?" Renata's voice stopped him in the middle of his discovery. He glanced back to find her leaning against the corridor's threshold.

"Well, uh, I was…" the Doctor motioned the magnifying glass still in his hand then lowered it.

"Still investigating," Renata finished for him, giving a small shake of her head. "Honestly Doctor, don't you ever get tired of fixing everyone's problems?"

Because she had asked in a simple, curious manner, the Doctor entertained it. "What do you mean?"

Renata shrugged her shoulders as she came off the threshold. "I mean just what I said. You always go and find a problem - like Sto's government and a broken water pipe - that you have to fix. Last week it was some planet's default engineering settings and today it's…" she had come up to him in the while of her explanation and took the Doctor's magnifying glass from, "...Adipose," she looked at him through the magnifying glass, her brown eyes enlarging from the glass.

"Are you asking me why I help people?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, finding the question too far even for her uptightness. Because yes, it only took a month to realize that Renata was uptight.

Knowing how that sounded, Renata ventured to clarify herself. "I don't mean that you shouldn't help people I just…" she thought about it for a second, "...isn't there the Shadow Proclamation to help with cases like these? They are the police and it should be up to them how things get fixed. I don't see why you have to keep doing it."

"The Shadow Proclamation is never that good," the Doctor gave a roll of his eyes, clear dislike for the place. "And I like helping. I can do it, don't see why I shouldn't."

"Yeah, I can see that you like to," Renata chuckled.

"And I can see that you not so much." And the Doctor truly appreciated how Renata was doing her best to keep up with him in his shenanigans.

"I do! You have no idea how much I love to help people, but...when I did it...it was with...our people."

"You don't like to help the humans, then?"

"I do, if I have the chance then...sure," Renata nodded, but it was easy to tell that she wasn't all that into the idea. "But in the end...they're just humans to me. For so long they were only a means to hide myself from the rest of our kind. I miss helping my kind, you know? People I can share my ideas with, my perspectives, my everything. People that would understand me."

The Doctor tilted his head, a faint smile writing itself across his lips. "Renee, what did you used to do back on Gallifrey?"

The question set Renata into nervous state. "U-uh...l-like my...my job?"

"Yeah," the Doctor didn't catch any of her nervousness, too curious imagining her in different positions. "Cos you're all uptight and-"

"Hey," Renata pointed at him but he went on.

"-strict on rules so...I would think of you as one of the teachers at the academy."

Renata blinked, for a moment in disbelief. "You think I was a teacher?"

"Well," he straightened up. "Were you?"

"No," Renata shook her head. "I wasn't."

"Then, what were you?"

Renata stared at him for a minute, the ongoing battle within her taking a bit more than she thought. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about telling the Doctor more about herself - in fact, she already had. Bits and pieces had been exchanged between the two about their past lives on Gallifrey but Renata was always careful not to disclose too much about herself that would risk her identity with the Doctor.

"I...was…" her eyes flickered to the side, "...I worked at a foundation."

Technically, she wasn't lying.

Those were the rules she set herself for. Loopholes.

"You did?" the Doctor became even more curious.

"Mhm. I worked with all sorts of people in need. Children who weren't quite ready for the academy came for some lessons. People who just needed help, whether emotional or physically but didn't have the resources were always welcomed to stop by," Renata looked into the distant, remembering more and more about her foundation. She missed it so much. She missed her workers, her kids, her friends…

"Renata?" the Doctor gently shook her arm to get her out of her thoughts.

She realized she'd let herself think far too much and released an awkward breath, smiling in a flushed manner. "Sorry," she waved a hand at her face.

"No, it's okay," the Doctor softly said, reaching for her waving hand. He liked seeing her remember their home due to the fact she hadn't disclosed much about herself on Gallifrey. He had made it his mission not to get overexcited and push Renata to tell her stories when she wasn't ready. To say, she hadn't even said whose family she was from. But still, the Doctor was forcing himself to be patient.

"Do you want some dinner?" Renata was the one to pull him out of his thoughts this time. With a warm smile on her face, she took his hand. "It's all set up like usual."

The Doctor smiled, forgetting his investigation from then on till the next morning. Renata made it a custom that they were to have dinner every night like normal people. She made pretty damn good meals.

"C'mon," Renata said quietly, still smiling as the two headed for the corridors.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Renata was not the least bit surprised to have the Doctor practically pounding on her bedroom door shouting for her to wake up because they had to go back to Adipose Industries. Swooshing herself out of bed, she got ready and came out of her room...and then smacked the Doctor on the chest and stalked for the console.

"I hate mornings!" was the only explanation the Doctor got for being hit.

They left the TARDIS in an alleyway close to the Adipose Industries building and once more used the fire exit to gain entrance. The Doctor led the way down the same empty corridor but this time stopped midway and turned to a storage closet.

"What...are you doing?" Renata blinked as he opened the door to the small room.

"We need to hide, c'mon," the Doctor didn't wait around for her to warm to the idea and pushed her inside first. As he sonicked the door shut, Renata raved with her back to him.

"Are you mad!? This is wrong!" her hands waved above her head. "First of all, we're bound to get caught! Second of all, it's just wrong!"

The manner in which Renata had said her last statement made the Doctor turn around questionably. "Why? What's wrong?"

In her moment, Renata whirled around to face him and bumped into him because he was literally standing right in front of her. Her eyes blinked rapidly trying not to overthink it. Meanwhile, the Doctor was still demanding to know why she was so freaked out.

"Renata? Why did you say it like that?" his eyebrows knitted together in the manner they always did when he was confused.

Renata slowly looked up to meet his gaze and soon wished she hadn't. She found that she was vulnerable to his long look no matter how she felt at the moment. It threatened to give her identity up.

"Renata?" the Doctor finally broke through her thoughts which, admittedly, were making her face warm. "Well?"

"...it's just inappropriate…" Renata quietly said, turning away and walking the most she could inside the small room which turned out to be seven small steps.

The Doctor scoffed, giving a sway of his head. "Really? But it's not to live inside a TARDIS with me?" the moment turned sideways with alarmed eyes the Doctor regretted his response. "N-n-n-n-n-no! Forget I said that!" and he rushed up, but because of the small room he nearly rammed into her.

"Doctor! Just stop!" cried the blonde, swatting him away with her hands.

With a big sigh, the Doctor listened and retreated to the door. He took a seat on the floor, back up against the door. He watched Renata look for a spot of her own until she settled for a small box positioned over another.

"Renee…?"

"Hmm?" Renata wearily glanced over to the Doctor, hoping that whatever came out of his mouth would not send them into another round of bickering.

"On Gallifrey...were you part of...high society? Before you married off, of course."

"Why would you think that?"

The Doctor made a gesture at her. "Just...just the way you act...the way you think. It has all the...makings of a high class Time Lady."

Renata looked down, her fingers fiddling with each other. "And you hate that," she recalled from oh-so-long ago.

The Doctor wasn't about to lie and say he was best friends with that part of their people. "I mean, they weren't particularly the best people for me to spend time with."

"So then why do you tolerate me and my...uptightness?" came Renata's honest question. She knew she was not the ideal companion and she doubted she ever would be.

A warm smile spread across the Doctor's face. "Because I like you of course - you and everything I know about you so far. You're not like the others of your class and I'm happy. Otherwise it would have been a real shame for such a pretty woman with big hearts to go to waste."

Renata's face softened. "Doctor…"

"You working at a foundation just proves it," the Doctor shrugged. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask.. " he cleared his throat, suddenly nervous, "The foundation...did it...did it happen to be…the Auxilium Foundation?" It was like Renata's whole world just stopped. The Doctor was too delved into his own memories to notice it. "There was only a couple foundations and...and you seem the sort to want to help Gallifreyans despite what Time Lord society thought. Was it?"

Renata couldn't bring herself to lie more, at least not in that moment. It was too many memories, too many fond memories she couldn't get rid of. "Yeah…" she passed a hand down her hair, secretly shooting him a glance. "How do you know about it?"

The Doctor released a breath, a dreamy one actually that sped up Renata's hearts in the second."Oh, I, um...I knew someone there…"

"You need to see it, Zuriah. I bet the pictures don't do Earth justice!"

Zuriah laughed softly while the Doctor rambled onto her about what he'd learned of Earth that morning. She shook her head at him and moved on around the empty tables, soon to be filled up with their daily visitors, to set up some of the materials. "Now I know why you probably failed some of your coursework in the Academy. Did you ever stop talking in those classes?"

The Doctor sent an unamused glare her way. "I'll have you know I have my moments of silence."

The scoff Zuriah gave in return was one of clear disbelief. "Just help me out here, please?" she motioned with her hands to the mess of toys on the ground. "Some new recruiters' kids found my stash of toys and didn't exactly learn the rule of 'put it away'."

The Doctor rolled his eyes but got up to help. "So, do you think you could somehow incorporate this planet in your activities?"

Zuriah waved him off. "I don't know. We haven't done the schedule for next week. Perhaps..."

"Oh c'mon! You know you'd love to!" the Doctor hurriedly threw some toys into the bin she'd set up. He followed her around the tables, rambling on about the benefits her people would get if she incorporated Earth into activities.

"Look, Doctor, maybe we could - AH!" she had stepped on a toy and slipped backwards. Her basket went flying in the air along with the materials. She herself would've fallen to the floor if the Doctor hadn't caught her.

"Hm, didn't take you for the klutz," the Doctor smirked at her. Zuriah looked up, her face flushed when she realized their closeness. The Doctor felt it too, but he didn't think about telling her of it. Although he did take notice of how many freckles were over Zuriah's face...they were lovely...

Renata was utterly stunned to see such a soft look on the Doctor's face. He was clearly remembering something...

"Zuriah, that was the, uh..." the Doctor shook his head out of the memory but no matter how much he tried, the freckled-face ginger still smiled at him. It'd been so long since he thought about her...

~0~

After a full day passed, the Doctor finally declared it was time to leave and investigate. Since they had fallen into bits and pieces of conversation after the foundation topic, Renata was itching to get out of there. She was afraid that the Doctor would begin to ask questions about 'Zuriah' which was her before she picked her graduating name.

You can't hide it forever, Renata. The same sentence passed her mind over and over but somehow she still couldn't act.

"Where exactly are we headed now?" Renata inquired once they were striding down the dark corridors.

"Up to the office of course," the Doctor flashed a smile that warned it wasn't technically literal.

Renata would have questioned further had it not been for him pulling her into a hasty walk. They found the staircase and went up...and up...and up…

Of course he meant the roof. Renata actually blamed herself for not seeing this earlier.

The Doctor went straight for the edge and sonicked the cables holding…

"What are you doing?" Renata slowly approached the edge, eyes glued onto the Doctor who was in the process climbing into a window cleaner's cradle.

"Getting a look at the office, what else?" the Doctor shrugged then motioned with a hand for her to join him. Instantly, Renata incredulously blinked. "Don't give me that look! C'mon!"

Nervously, Renata inched closer to the edge and took one look down to the high view. "Um...is this a bad time to tell you...I have a fear of heights…"

"Not surprised," the Doctor said. He then reached over and grabbed her arm, pulling her slowly. "But for another time!"

"Doctor…" Renata struggled to let the Doctor bring her into the window's cradle.

"In you go," the Doctor slipped his other arm around her waist to get her into the cradle.

As soon as Renata felt the cradle wiggling a bit she gasped and latched onto the Doctor for dear life. "We're going to die! We're going to die! We're going to die!" she cried with eyes shut.

There was a fierce determination in the Doctor not to laugh. But he was still thankful that she couldn't see his face right now.

"This is it! This is where you finally kill me!" and because the Doctor didn't know who Renata was, he thought she was just talking about their short time together...when in reality Renata was remembering all the adventures their younger selves took because of him.

"Calm down, it's not moving," the Doctor peeled her off him and aimed the sonic at the controls. Renata gasped again when the cradle descended. "And duck!" he ordered when they were nearing Miss Foster's office.

"You're gonna get us caught," Renata whispered.

The Doctor ignored her and poked his head just slightly above the cradle to peer into the office. He saw a young dark-skinned woman being tied to a chair by body guards while Miss Foster watched. Unknowingly, an old friend was also watching from the other side of the office, right in front of its door.

"What's going on?" Renata curiously asked, still not taking the risk by peering herself.

"Can't hear much," the Doctor mumbled. He could see Miss Foster showing her prisoner a capsule.

"Well, it is a window-"

"Donna!?"

Renata made a face and looked up to find the Doctor, stunned, staring ahead. "What? What is it?"

'Donna?' she watched the Doctor mouth.

What she didn't know was that across the office stood the Doctor's old friend, Donna Noble who was also stunned to see him there.

"DOCTOR!' she excitedly mimed back, her face right in front of the door's porthole.

'But... what? Wha... What?!'

Renata tried following along but the Doctor was just opening and closing his mouth to her.

'OH MY GOD!' Donna continued miming happily.

'But... how?'

'It's me!' Donna pointed her thumbs at herself, as if the Doctor hadn't yet made the connection it was in fact her.

'Well, I can see that!' the Doctor gestured his eyes then pointed at Donna. Beside him, Renata was still hopelessly lost. She was not risking herself to see who it was.

'Oh this is brilliant!' Donna would have laughed if she could.

The Doctor, on the other hand, was perturbed. 'But what are you doing there?'

'I was looking for you!' Donna pointed at him.

'What for?!'

Now Donna, being Donna, did her best to mimic what she was saying which went along the lines of…

'I, came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Heard this lot. Looked. You! Cos they…' But when she happened to jerk a thumb to her right she found that Miss Foster, along with the tied-up woman and her body guards, were staring at her.

The Doctor too had caught it.

"Are we interrupting you?" MIss Foster loudly, sarcastically called to Donna.

'Run!' the Doctor urgently mimed for Donna then aimed the sonic ahead to lock the door of the office and give Donna time to run. Without notice, he waved the sonic above and pulled the cradle above.

"DOCTOR!" Renata nearly cried when the cradle shot up.

"Sorry! Sorry!" the Doctor hopped out of the cradle fast and turned to help her out.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on!? Besides probably getting caught - like I told you!"

"Old friend of mine-" the Doctor grunted as he pulled her out, "-in a bit of trouble! Hurry!"

They ran back for the door that laid the staircase. Despite Renata asking questions of who this 'friend' was the Doctor didn't answer many as he was focused on helping Donna out before she was hurt. They came down another set of staircase where they bumped into a redhead. Donna had encased the Doctor in a big hug, ecstatic with finding him. Renata's eyes just flickered from one to the next.

"Oh my God! I don't believe it!" Donna laughed but suddenly stopped to give the Doctor a look over. "You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?" The Doctor sarcastically rolled his eyes. "Yeah thanks Donna, not right now."

"Well…" Donna finally noticed that the Doctor was not alone. "Hey-" but that was all she could say to Renata before the Doctor saw the guards and pulled them both up the stairs.

"Doctor! There are guards!" Renata had looked below to see several guards coming after them.

"Yes, I've noticed!"

Donna was too cheery to be affected by the guards coming for them. As they made it back to the roof she explained the events that led her to the building. "Cos I thought, how do I find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up! So I looked everywhere, you name it - UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all…"

During this, the Doctor had started working on the cradle controls with his sonic. Renata had half a mind to scold him for even thinking about using the damn thing! But she was quick to discover Donna had a rambling mouth much like the Doctor.

"...like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Cos the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day, I mean that's gotta be a hoax!"

"What d'you mean the bees are disappearing?" the Doctor picked the sentence up by random.

"I don't know. That's what it says on the internet!"

"Doctor!" Renata helplessly watched the Doctor get back into the cradle, and was even more astonished to see Donna so easily getting in as well. "Aren't you even going to question why you're getting in?" she demanded from the ginger.

"I figure it was to escape?" Donna glanced at the Doctor but quickly looked back to Renata. "I'm sorry, what's your n-"

"Renata, get in!" the Doctor urgently said.

"What for!?" Renata argued. "They'll just bring us up again! I'm not here to go up and down like a stupid amusement park ride!"

"No no no, cos I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one who can control it," he promised. "Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own. Which is very unlikely."

The door burst open again and out came Miss Foster.

"RENATA!"

Flinching, Renata clambered into the window cradle. Soon as she was in, the Doctor made it go down.

"How are we getting out!?" the blonde held onto the railing as they went down and down, but suddenly they started going dangerously FAST faster.

The Doctor managed to stop it with the sonic but the force knocked all three down for a moment. Being the first one to get up, he aimed the sonic at the window. Up above, Miss Foster ordered to the building to be deadlocked.

The Doctor retracted the sonic. "Can't get it open!"

"Well, smash it then!" Donna had grabbed a large spanner from the floor and used all her might to shatter the window.

Renata helplessly looked from Donna to the Doctor, wondering how much worse it could get. Her answer came in the form of sparks and smoke from the cradle. "She's cutting the cable!" she shrieked after looking up and seeing Miss Foster aiming some sort of laser pen at the cables. At her words the Doctor and Donna instinctively grabbed on but Renata hadn't had the time and so when the cable broke and the cradle lurched to the side, she was flung back screaming.

"RENATA!" the Doctor wanted to go in after her but calmed after seeing her feet dangling under them.

She'd manage to get ahold of the broken cable and was currently, and dangerously, swaying back and forth. "DOCTOR!"

"Hold on!" the Doctor tried reaching for the cable sustaining her to pull her back up but he just couldn't.

"Doctor!" went Donna this time who was staring up, seeing Miss Foster about to break the last cable.

Angrily, the Doctor aimed the sonic above just at the right moment to make it spark and fall out of the woman's hand. He caught the second sonic and climbed up the cable to another window. He managed to get it open and ordered Donna to follow him.

"I'm not gonna fall am I!?" Donna asked for the blonde below who was crying out in terror.

"Get in! Get in!" the Doctor didn't want to waste time answering obvious questions. His hearts was racing unbelievably fast as he thought of Renata so close to danger (and because of him).

Meanwhile, Renata was crying out to be helped. Her eyes were stinging with tears and from the hard wind hitting her from every direction. She was sure her hands were slipping from the cable and that at any moment she would fall and splat on the ground like the television showed.

Oh God I was wrong - this is how he finally kills me! And yet Renata felt not an ounce of anger with the Doctor. It was just so like him to get near danger, like a taunt, and then get away from it like nothing. It was actually one of the things that attracted her after getting to know his ways. Her hearts pounded like never before yet it was not a new sensation for her.

"AH!" she screamed all over again when she felt hands on her ankles. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

"Renata, it's me!" the Doctor managed to cut through her screams. "I've got you! Stop kicking!" He slowly pulled her down and into the office he and Donna coordinated would be the room of the next window down. "There we go! I've got you!"

"Oh my God! I thought I was going to die!" Renata clung to him with teary eyes. "Oh you stupid, stupid man!"

The Doctor soothed her with a hand on her back and regretted he couldn't do more at that moment on account of still being on the run from Miss Foster. "We have to go, I'm sorry," he pulled away and felt a pang of guilt seeing her tear-stained face.

He took her and Donna out of the room but not before untying the journalist in the office and telling her to go home. They only made it to the call center because Miss Foster and her guards were already waiting for them.

"Well then," Miss Foster pulled off her glasses and raised her head at the trio, "at last."

"Hello," Donna nervously laughed, the thrill of the chase still clouding bits of her.

The Doctor was just the Doctor who said 'hello' to everyone. "Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor."

"And I'm Donna!"

Renata crossed her arms, deciding the Foster didn't need her name.

"Partners in crime," Foster concluded, eyeing Renata who seemed to falter every now and then from her brave stance. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."

"Oh yes, I've still got your sonic pen. Nice, I like it," the Doctor raised the sonic pen to give another look. "Sleek, it's kinda sleek." He let Renata and Donna give it a glance as well, but Renata lowered it down.

"I don't think it should matter the form of the thing that nearly killed me."

The Doctor winced and retracted the pen from Renata. "Now-" he looked at Foster, " if you were to sign your real name that would be...?"

"Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."

"A wet nurse?" Renata gawked for a second. "What...and you're using humans as surrogates?"

Foster gave a curt nod. "I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost."

"But who gave you the right to use humans as cows for your reproduction methods!? It's against Shadow Proclamation rules!"

Beside Renata, the Doctor silently laughed that she would ignore a planet being lost because of 'rules'. "How do you mean lose a planet?"

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents," Foster made a gesture, shrugging her shoulders.

"What, like an outer space super-nanny?" Donna crinkled her nose.

"Yes, if you like."

"So... so those little things they're, they're made out of fat yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her." Donna still couldn't shake off that horrible feeling of seeing a nice woman like Stacey disappear into little white blobs of...fat?

"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."

"What about poor Stacey!?" Donna incredulously returned.

"Enough," Renata's sharp edged voice cut through the womens' conversation, and the hand she had for Donna was, frankly, irritating the ginger. "Seeding a level 5 planet is against galactic law - you should know that!" she said to Foster who merely raised her eyebrows.

"Are you threatening me?"

The Doctor then put an arm in front of Renata. "We're trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance; cos if you don't call this off, then we'll have to stop you."

Foster smirked. "I hardly think you can stop bullets." And just as she said it, her guards flanking her took aim.

Alarmed, Renata stepped back.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, one more thing, before... dying…" the Doctor settled for the blunt word. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" he once again gestured to his sonic and Foster's sonic pen.

"...no?" Foster doubtfully answered.

"Nor me, lets find out!" the Doctor happily pointed both sonic objects at each other, activating them at the same time. A high-screeching rang in the room, causing everyone to squirm uncomfortably and a glass pane behind to shatter.

"Come on!" Donna was the one to pull both aliens out of there.

In the process, the Doctor took the lead and ran them down an empty corridor, stopping by a door of a cupboard.

"No more cupboards!" Renata nearly pleaded. Small spaces meant more talking and more talking meant more chances to risk her identity.

"Not quite," the Doctor opened the door and started throwing out the storage's supplies.

"You can't just throw those things out!" Renata said, scandalized as he created a wad of mess on the floor. "Those are some employee's utensils!"

"Another time, Renata!" the Doctor rolled his eyes, this time a smidge of honest annoyance for her lack of priorities.

"Renata?" Donna repeated the name, looking a bit confused as she studied Renata head to toe. "So you're not Rose, then?"

Recalling the name, Renata scowled. "No I am not! Why would you think that?"

"Dunno…" Donna shrugged, "...blonde...and stuff."

"I'm not her," Renata's eyes briefly glanced at the Doctor and saw him working. There was glowing green machinery built into the wall.

"Well, I'm Donna Noble by the way," the ginger held a hand to Renata, realizing that they hadn't been introduced properly.

"Renata," Renata shook Donna's hand. She looked over at the green panel and frowned. "Okay, what's this for?"

"It's the inducer. For the Adipose. It's wired up the whole building...I...I'll need some time," the Doctor paused, running a hand through his big hair.

"Then get to it," Renata made a motion. "I'm not sure if I can distract but...but I can certainly try." The Doctor made a face at the prospect of that idea. "I can to you know," the blonde insisted now more than ever.

"Okay."

Renata bubbled with instant anger. "Listen to me you idiot," she began sharply, "I nearly fell off a window's cradle because of you!"

"Which I will make up for later, I promise!"

"That's not the point!" Renata's voice cracked and she took it a sign to calm down. With a sigh, she put a hand on her forehead and took a moment for herself. "Sorry," she said a minute later, truthfully.

"I get it, I do," the Doctor didn't stop his work but gave her an honest face. "You're making an effort and I do see it and appreciate it." Renata lowered her hand from her face and smiled.

Donna silently studied the two aliens in front of her, a bit curious of what they were and just who was Renata overall. Renata crossed gazes with her and realized she had yet to ask something important.

"How do you two know each other?" her finger pointed from Donna to the Doctor.

"I met him on my wedding day - the big starship in the sky at Christmas?" Donna waited for Renata to remember. "That was us."

Renata blinked as something donned. "It was you who drained the Thames!" she turned on the Doctor with an accusing finger. The Master had never clarified the happenings of that evening, but then again she wasn't exactly in the mood to be talking to the Master during that period.

"It was such a crazy day," Donna continued. "In the beginning, I thought he kidnapped me actually," Donna had a small laugh.

"You too!?" Renata incredulously asked of the Doctor. "What, did you throw her over your shoulders too?"

"No, I didn't!" the Doctor defensively said.

Renata huffed. "Well, that's unfair."

"What do you mean?" Donna fit in the pieces together quick. "Did he do that to you?" Renata nodded and gestured being thrown over a shoulder. "Doctor," a great smirk took over Donna's face as her eyes landed on the Doctor, "I didn't know you were that sort of man."

The Doctor looked mortified at her assumption. Renata face palmed. "I meant a thief!" she exclaimed.

"I was not a thief!" the Doctor stopped for a minute to argue. "You-" he pointed a finger at her, "-were being stubborn!"

Renata's eyes blinked rapidly and her mouth parted slightly. "M-me? You're saying it was my fault? What part of 'you threw me over your shoulder and brought me into the TARDIS' did you forget about?" The Doctor said no more but his scrunched face said the words alright.

Donna burst into laughter, making the argument stop. "I'm sorry, but...what?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing honestly. The Doctor had actually slung the poor woman over his shoulder and forced her into the TARDIS? No, hold on, the woman had to be forced in the first place? Who wouldn't want to travel the stars!?

Grumbling, the Doctor returned to work.

"It's really not that funny," Renata crossed her arms and muttered. "Least Martha didn't laugh."

"Martha?" Donna repeated. "Was that a friend at the time?"

"Yeah. My only human friend who I still keep in contact with," Renata thoughtfully said, since Joan was dead and she had left the family in 1959.

"Is she here? In the TARDIS?"

"No," the Doctor said then. "She was brilliant... but... I destroyed half her life."

Renata's annoyance was gone the moment she saw his guilt-ridden face. "You did not," she softly said then looked at the surprised Donna. "Martha decided it was time for her to go back home. But she's fine. She's good."

"Oh," Donna nodded then thought for another moment. "What about Rose?"

"Still lost," the Doctor mumbled, missing Renata purposely looking away. He had yet to tell her anything of Rose and he frankly didn't know when. He actually thought that perhaps Renata would be scandalized to know he had developed an attachment to a human. He was, for a lack of a better word, scared of her reaction.

Renata, on the other hand, thought his lack of explanation arose from the fact she wasn't trusted enough, and that perhaps he didn't see her as a friend at all. By this point, she knew who Rose was. The Master had taken joy rubbing it in her face that the Doctor had exchanged her for a human.

"I thought you were going to travel the world?" the Doctor suddenly remembered it was Donna's grand plan after her failed marriage.

The cheery face on Donna was quick to fade away. "Easier said then done. It's like I had that one day with you and I was gonna change. I was gonna do so much. Then I woke up next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try, I went to Egypt. I was gonna go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."

"What offer?" the Doctor failed to recall.

"To come with you." But now Donna was a bit nervous that since Renata seemed to be on board maybe the Doctor was good on companions.

"You didn't want to go into the TARDIS at first?" Renata was a smidge more impressed with the woman. Usually, every human jumped at the chance to get into the TARDIS.

"I didn't understand," Donna tried to explain herself. "I was...I was all emotional...and-and...just…"

Renata swayed her head till she met the Doctor. "I mean...I wouldn't mind, honestly."

The Doctor was surprised to hear such easy acceptance from her. "Really?"

"Yeah, maybe we would bicker less," Renata recalled that was her excuse for when Astrid Peth had asked to come with them. It was true, as much as she loved the Doctor - and boy did she - there were moments where she just needed a break...or at least someone to stop her from strangling him. She was sure that the feeling was mutual.

"Oh yes!" Donna cheered.

'Inducer activated.'

Renata peered into the cupboard to see the green machinery. "What's it doing now?"

"She's started the program," the Doctor groaned.

'Inducer transmitting.'

"And...what does that mean?" Renata now stared wide-eyed at the machinery.

"Up to now the customers have only been losing weight but the Matron has gone up to emergency pathogenesis."

"Oh no." Renata glanced at the end of the corridor where they could see doors. She was sure that outside swarms of little Adipose were going to be gathering real soon pathogenesis.

"That's when they convert…" Donna, too, remembered.

"But that's skeletons, organs, everything!" Renata exclaimed. "A million people are gonna die!"

"Gotta cancel the signal!" the Doctor took out the golden capsule they'd gotten the previous day and pulled one of its end to reveal a chip inside. "This contains the primary signal. If I can switch it off the fat goes back to being just fat." He hooked up the capsule to the machine hoping to God he was right.

'Inducer increasing.'

The Doctor panicked. "No no no no no, she's doubled it, I need... Haven't got time! It's too far, I can't override it! They're all gonna die!"

"Can we do anything?" Renata asked, Donna nodding her head in agreement.

"Sorry, this is way beyond you - and I mean no disrespect but I have to double the base pulse, I can't…"

"Doctor, tell us what do you need," Donna sternly cut him off. Rambling was no good to anyone.

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them!"

Donna blinked, remembering something very important. She reached inside her pocket to take out a second gold capsule. Renata laughed when the Doctor froze in shock.

"Here!" Donna waved it in front of his face till he snapped out of his stupor. He nabbed it and hooked it into the green machinery, making all its lights shut down.

A couple seconds, a loud horn filled the place.

"What the hell was that?" Donna frantically looked around.

"I suppose it would be...the nursery ship," Renata said.

"But when you say nursery you don't mean a creche in Notting Hill?"

"Nursery ship," Renata repeated.

'Incoming signal.' the machinery had come back to life for a minute and began with a voice that spoke a different language.

"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna made a gesture for them to leave.

"Hang on, instructions from the Adiposian First Family," the Doctor put a finger on his lips to listen in. "She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post!"

"But now she's the one in trouble," Renata said soon after she heard.

The Doctor didn't waste a chance and hurried back for the roof. Renata and Donna ran after him. When they got up all they saw were blue beams levitating thousands of Adipose babies into the large nursery ship in the sky.

Most of them were smiling and waving at the trio.

"What you gonna do then? Blow them up?" Donna curiously asked the Doctor beside her.

"They're just children," the Doctor made a face for a brief moment. "They can't help where they come from." Besides, something told him that if anyone threatened those children they would come across a raging Time Lady. God help those fools.

"Doctor, there she is!" Renata called as soon as she spotted Foster coming up in one of the blue beams.

The Doctor ran up to the edge with Donna. "Matron Cofelia, listen to me!"

Foster stopped right at their lever. "Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it will be too soon."

"Oh, why does no one ever listen? I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"

"What, so that you can arrest me?" Foster's eyes briefly flickered to Renata.

"No, you're going to want to listen," Renata promised. "Because the families you worked for know that it was a crime to breed on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice!"

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children."

"Exactly!" the Doctor frantically waved a hand. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore!"

And just then, the blue beam sustaining Foster disappeared and she fell all the way down screaming. Donna hid her face in the Doctor's shoulder and Renata covered her mouth.

Sometime later, when the police arrived to the site, the Doctor and Renata, along with Donna, exited the building. The Doctor chucked the sonic pen into the nearest trash bin.

"Oi, you three!" the journalist the Doctor had thought followed his instructions to go home was coming up to them...tied to a chair again.

"Didn't you let her go?" Renata whispered to the Doctor, blinking rapidly.

"I did," the Doctor defensively replied.

"You're just mad. Do you hear me?" the journalist cried. "Mad! And I'm gonna report you... for madness!"

Donna silently watched the woman leave, barely able to hold her laugh back as she said, "You see, some people just can't take it."

"No," agreed the Doctor.

"But some people can. So, then - TARDIS!" she excitedly said and grabbed the two aliens by the arms, pulling them away.

They headed back to the alleyway where the TARDIS had been left...and apparently Donna's car as well.

"That's my car! That is like destiny!" Donna laughed. "And I've been ready for this." She rushed up to the car's trunk and opened it to reveal a series of suitcases. I packed ages ago, just in case. Cos I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather…" she pulled out the top luggage and loaded them into the arms of the Doctor, who was too stunned to say a word at the moment. "...he goes anywhere, I've gotta be prepared." She then loaded more into Renata's arms.

"You've got a... a... hatbox?!" the Doctor found his words after Donna loaded him with one last box.

"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready!" Donna declared and shut the trunk of her car, excitedly heading for the TARDIS. "Do I need injections though, do I? Like when you go to Cambodia, is there any of that? Cos my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and-"

Renata suddenly began to laugh hard, making Donna stop just outside the TARDIS doors. Even the Doctor was oddly staring down at the Time Lady. Donna eyebrows furrowed together, thinking Renata was laughing at her.

"Oi! What's so funny!?"

"This!" Renata motioned with her arms to the luggage and then the situation in general. "You're so funny! I love you!"

The Doctor gaped. "Wow…" he had never seen such a reaction from Renata, so lively and happy…

Renata walked up to the TARDIS, sobering slowly from her laugh. "I like you, I do. Doctor, can we take her?"

"I'm not a dog," Donna made a face. But it did feel better to know Renata wouldn't mind if she came along with them.

"It's really fine with me," the Doctor admitted, staying right where he was. "It's just...it's a funny old life, in the TARDIS."

Donna knew that sort of tone well. It came when one was fired or the casualness from her mother. "You don't want me."

"I'm not saying that-"

"But you asked me," Donna frowned, glancing at Renata for some help.

"Doctor, it really is okay with me," Renata shrugged. "It's your TARDIS. You can bring whoever you want." She wished he would make up his mind faster because Donna's luggage was getting heavier by the second.

"I wouldn't mind either. In fact, I would love it," the Doctor clarified, letting the luggage in his arm drop to the floor. "It's just...the last time, with Martha, it... it got complicated. And that was all my fault. I would want nothing more than a mate-"

"You just want to mate?" Renata blinked, eyes impossibly wide. Beside her, Donna was losing it believing in what Renata heard.

"You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Donna shouted.

The Doctor had a hard time keeping up with both women who'd heard horribly wrong. "Renata! I didn't say that-"

But Renata was trying to control herself after her first outburst. "No, no, that's fine. What you want to do in your TARDIS is your business-"

"What - no!" the Doctor once more tried to cut in but then came Donna.

"He better find someone else cos I'm not into that sort of alien thing, no sir!"

"STOP!" the Doctor finally cut over both of them. "I said a mate! Nothing more!" he frantically waved his hands.

"...oh," Renata looked away, embarrassed yet relieved.

The same applied to Donna. "Well just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean you're just a long streak of... nothing," she motioned to the Doctor who took it with an unamused face. "You know, alien nothing." She then passed a casual glance at Renata and shrugged. "You could probably find yourself someone quick. Kind of curvy."

Renata laughed.

"There we are, then. OK," the Doctor was glad to have things clarified and corrected.

"I can come?" Donna anxiously asked.

"Yeah. Course you can, yeah."

"I'd love it!"

"Great," Renata pushed the TARDIS door open to begin bringing Donna's things.

"Car keys!" Donna suddenly remembered, gasping.

"What?"

"I've still got my mum's car keys! I won't be a minute!" she held a finger to them and ran away.

Renata started to laugh again as she returned. She stopped at the doorway and smiled. "I think I'm gonna like her. She's so...spunky."

"Yeah, she is," the Doctor agreed and left his part of luggage inside.

"And you know," Renata stopped him just outside after he came out, "It really is your TARDIS - even though you stole that too," she mumbled and the Doctor rolled his eyes, "So you can bring anyone in without having to consult me. And...do whatever you want inside."

"Yeah…" the Doctor sucked in a large breath, "...no thanks."

Renata couldn't help the stupid smile that quickly set on her face. She forced it away as best as possible. "I-I mean...it's it's your choice…"

"Renee," the Doctor tilted his head, close to laughing at the subject they were somehow talking about again.

"I'm only saying! I respect rules and...and in here-" Renata gestured to the inside of the TARDIS, "-they're whatever you want-"

"Renee! C'mon," the Doctor laughed. "None of that please. We should focus on the fact we're having a new guest in the TARDIS who I am sure is going to love your dinners."

Renata smiled. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah! Who wouldn't?" the Doctor reached for her hand and brought her inside the TARDIS.

A couple minutes later, Donna came rushing in, happy than ever. "Off we go, then!"

"Here it is, the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside…"

"Oh, I know that bit," Donna interrupted the Doctor's favorite bit. "Although frankly, you could turn the heat up."

"So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?"

"Oh, I know exactly the place," Donna smiled widely with just one spot in her mind. "Two and a half miles, that way!" she jerked a thumb to her left.

Although confused, the Doctor and Renata obeyed. It became clear where they were headed when they saw a street lined with similar houses. Donna hurried to the doors, to get them opened. It was almost an instant when she saw her grandfather looking up into the sky through his prized telescope. She waved ecstatically below. Renata and the Doctor waved from behind, although neither was sure if the grandfather would see them. Still, it didn't hurt to be nice.

Afterwards, when all was calm, Renata started for the corridors. "I'm just going to get dinner started. Donna, allergic to anything?"

"N-no…" replied the finger, fairly confused. "Though if it's alien meals then I wouldn't know would I…?"

Renata chuckled. "Fair enough." She disappeared soon after.

Curious, Donna looked to the Doctor who seemed quite at home. "Uh...since when do you do dinners? Last time I asked you disappeared into the night."

The Doctor smiled and looked up from the console after setting them in the time vortex for a peaceful night. "Oh that's just Renata. She does that every night. Sort of our tradition actually."

"Sorry, I never asked...are you and her…?" Donna gave a meaningful tilt of her head.

"No!" the Doctor quickly clarified before word made it to Renata. "No, we're not! Actually," he moved around the console, "Renata is one of my people. She's a Time Lady. Last one."

Donna didn't know what happened to the Doctor's home but she assumed it was not good. It was incredibly good to see that the Doctor was not alone anymore.

#10th doctor x oc #ocappreciation #ocapp #dw imagines #10th doctor imagines #doctor who #10th doctor #noblecrescentedit #oc: Renata Cartwright #donna noble #10th doctor x original female character #10th Doctor imagine #dw fanfics #doctor who fanfics #fic: the beginning of everything

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