#who trusted Jade with a pencil? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

olivia-anderson-fanfic · 7 months ago

Text

Yuu can do it!

Part 50

First - Previous - Masterlist - Next

Kuroki had thought, originally, the reason why he hadn’t been scheduled much since Savanaclaw’s whole… thing was because people weren’t visiting the Mostro Lounge as much, and therefore there wasn’t as much need for a second ‘nonthreatening’ server. Kuroki had covered all of Smee’s shifts while his coworker was injured, he thought it was only fair that Smee would get prioritized now that he was able to work again.

But then Smee had come over during their class on Yajugen. Kuroki had paused, his pencil half off the page. Because, yeah, Smee was a TA, but Kuroki didn’t really need help right now? Did he look stressed or something? Or… more stressed than usual? He thought he was doing fine. Relatively speaking, at least.

“Hey, man, you good? I haven’t seen you at work in a while…?”

Kuroki blinked at him.

A realization hit him over the head. He took a pencil to paper, making a note to check out a book from the library later.

He smiled at Smee. “I think you’ll see me around more, don’t worry. Can’t leave my favorite senpai hanging!”

Smee had to have known it was meaningless flattery, but he still smiled and blushed bright red.

Until Professor Hook called out to him and he had to go running back over. Ah, the inconveniences the working class has to put up with…

Kuroki looked down at the new note on his study guide, drumming his pencil on his desk.

(He skipped his next class. It wasn’t like he had ever really cared for choir, anyways, and his voice was always so quiet that he doubted Professor Kaa would even notice that he was gone.)

Kuroki stepped into the Mostro Lounge, the familiar sound of jazz washing over him. He hummed along, absently, making his way through the kitchen, mumbling “Behind” whenever he got too close to someone working, because he was not in the business of getting stabbed or doused in hot oil.

He was in the business of getting what he was fucking owed.

He saw the exact moment Jade caught sight of him, and sent his senior a slightly nervous smile. He had, somewhat, gotten used to the primal terror that loved to take him over whenever he got too close to the Leech twins.

Unfortunately for him, he just generally had anxiety about being around people who could and would beat him up, so he was still utterly terrified because of that.

“I didn’t know you were scheduled for today,” Jade said, more for the sake of being polite than anything else.

“I’m here to meet Ashengrotto-senpai, actually!” Kuroki said, bowing slightly, trying to resist the urge to cover the back of his neck with his hands.

Jade brought a hand to his mouth, chuckling. “I see. Then, I suppose I should tell you that customers need to buy something while they wait to meet him. We do not appreciate loiterers.”

Kuroki nodded his understanding and took a seat at the bar. He was half tempted to ask for a shot of ‘liquid courage’, but alcohol tastes terrible, so he would pass on that. Instead, he got himself a plate of nachos that was way too expensive and picked at that while he waited.

He spun around in his bar stool, watching the patrons of the Lounge. Business was booming, if only because there were so many people waiting to see Azul. No one was meeting each other's eyes.

Kuroki thought back to the contract Floyd had once tried to rope him into. Something about how If you’re from another world, Koebi-chan, you’re toooootally gonna fail your tests, right? Kuroki was a little insulted by their lack of faith in him, though he supposed it wasn’t personal — Floyd was trying to pick at a perceived insecurity, which was just part of being a salesman.

Kuroki had always known better than to trust a damn salesman, though.

He wondered, absently, what these people were getting themselves into. What the catch was.

The door at the back of the Lounge swung open. Azul was smiling widely as he led a Savanaclaw student out of his meeting room.

Kuroki sighed. It was one of the people on the Savanaclaw Magift team. Antlers Man. Whatever his name was. Kuroki didn’t particularly like the guy (literally didn’t even know his name), but he felt a little bad for him. The guy was clearly lacking brain cells, Azul was kind of messed up for taking advantage of him.

Azul’s eyes locked onto Kuroki, and for a second the boy’s expression dropped in horror.

0/10 performance, senpai, take notes from, like, any of us Ramshackle people, we could do better, Kuroki chided, mentally. Though he was smart enough not to let this thought show on his face, which only proves his expertise in this particular subject.

Azul hesitated, briefly, before striding over, his weird cane thing gesturing at Kuroki. “It is rude to show up uninvited, but in the spirit of benevolence, I will hear you out!”

Kuroki smiled, leaving his half-finished nachos on the counter, hopping off of the stool and lacing his hands behind his back. “How gracious of you, senpai. Did the Headmaster give you lessons?”

Azul’s eye ticked.

Jade looked like he was having the time of his life. He handed Azul something, and then continued on with his work, mumbling something about how it was a shame Floyd was skipping today…

Which, first of all, hell yeah! No Floyd!

Second of all, Azul was now eating a shrimp cocktail. Okay. This was fine, probably.

“Many people know I’m here,” Kuroki lied, just to ensure that Azul didn’t actually try to eat him. “Just… for the record.”

Azul gave a thin-lipped smile and continued to usher Kuroki into his meeting room.

Oh, they actually had a decent chair on both sides of the desk this time! Probably for the sake of lulling people into a false sense of security before they sold their — souls, or whatever. Still, Kuroki appreciated this much more than the plastic chair he’d been given the last time he was there.

Azul took a seat opposite him, folding his hands on his desk.

“What brings you here?” Azul asked. “Are you interested in one of the Lounge’s services?”

Kuroki gave a small hum. “Actually, I noticed a small discrepancy in my pay. You see, I got the bonus for all of the hours I did during the Magift game, but… funnily enough, I never got Worker’s Comp.”

Azul grimaced, caught.

If he had just scheduled Kuroki as normal, Kuroki wouldn’t have even thought about it. Why would he? He wouldn’t naturally assume Worker’s Compensation was a thing in this world — it just wasn’t something he thought about often.

“Yes… I was attempting to determine just how much the Lounge owed you. You were treated quickly, and there was little reason to assume you would get hit with a stray Magift Disk during the game… it made the situation a little gray.”

Kuroki nodded, slowly. “Well, luckily for you, I seek an alternative means of compensation.”

Azul’s eyes narrowed. “Such as?”

“I would like to cancel any deals my friends — Enma Yuuken, Ito, and Grim — have ever made with you, and ask you to never make a deal with them in the future.”

Azul blanched in surprise. “That’s… why aren’t you including yourself in that?”

He was pretty sure that Azul was just trying to buy himself time to think, but Kuroki didn’t mind answering regardless:

“Because I’m pretty sure you’d use it as an excuse to terminate my contract with you, and I really don’t want to have to find another job.”

“… I’m not sure this is an entirely equal arrangement.”

“I could always go to the Union and ask them why you took so long to even mention possible Worker’s Comp. to me,” Kuroki said, innocently. “And I’m sure the school would be interested to know why our schedules on the day of the Magift Tournament had a sudden alteration that prevented all of our workers from being in the way of that sudden stampede, almost as if you had known that it would happen ahead of time. Or, maybe, I should mention Leona-senpai’s use of a very difficult to obtain Mana Potion?”

The last one was a shot in the dark. Kuroki really didn’t know for sure whether Azul was involved with that, it was just something that he would do. But the way that Azul was getting progressively paler with every word was confirmation of a sort.

Hell yeah. Bluffing for the win!

And then, just to watch his senpai suffer a little, Kuroki added:

“How many other people here know about Worker’s Comp.? Are you giving the bare minimum benefits? Should the Union know about anything else?”

Golden light flickered in Azul’s hands, and before Kuroki knew it a contract was being shoved into his face.

He smiled as he looked it over. Everything was in order, even if the wording was vague in places (because Azul couldn’t admit on paper that he wasn’t complying with the Union’s demands).

He signed his name on the dotted line.

And then leaned back in the plush chair.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

Not even three days later, Grim took a sudden interest in Kuroki’s work schedule. Asking him which days he would have off… and Kuroki would usually assume that the monster was just missing him now that Kuroki was going to work again…

However, the way Grim came home sulking the next day, mumbling about stupid fish, was a small hint towards the monster’s true intentions.

Kuroki breathed a sigh of relief. They were already poor, no need to get indebted to Azul somehow.

As for Ito and Enma… he hadn’t really expected them to go to Azul, the guy was visibly shady. Kuroki simply… hadn’t wanted to risk it. They had shown they were willing to cheat in dire circumstances, back during the Culinary Crucible, and Kuroki would have stressed about every little increase in their grades, natural or not, until exams were over.

In the end, Kuroki never noticed any strange behavior from either of them, so he thought it was safe to assume that they hadn’t gone to Azul.

(Not that they couldn’t fake that, of course, they were both decent actors when they wanted to be. But if Kuroki spent too long thinking about that, he could and would spiral over that thing he wasn’t thinking about right now, so he was ignoring the possibility.)

Ah, thought Kuroki. Consequences.

He had thought that Azul wouldn’t have any easy ways to get back at him. He needed Kuroki to be on the waitstaff, so he couldn’t really force Kuroki to get the short end of the stick shift-wise, not without hurting his bottom line. He couldn’t fire him without getting in trouble with the Union. He couldn’t even pull a classic Japanese Evil Boss move and exclude Kuroki to try and make him quit on his own, because Kuroki would love to have an excuse to not interact with others.

He had been invulnerable to anything and everything Azul could throw at him.

Now, his customer service smile was more of a grimace, because he had forgotten about the fucking Leeches.

“Koebi-chaaaaan,” Floyd sulked, practically laying across the bar. “Why don’t you ever go Pistol Shrimp on us?”

“Because my pistol got confiscated.”

Floyd blinked. “What.”

Kuroki blinked right back at him. “What were you saying?”

“I — you had a pistol?! And it got confiscated?!” Floyd said, suddenly perking up, as if he had never been upset at all. Kuroki… wasn’t sure this was a win.

Kuroki sighed. “Yes, I did, now can you please keep your voice down?” He set down the shot glass he had been polishing. It was, typically, best to go along with whatever Floyd wanted, lest you put him in a bad mood, so — after a quick glance around to make sure no one was paying attention to them — he, briefly, pulled a fake gun from his suit jacket. “I would prefer people don’t know that this one is…”

He trailed off, mostly because Floyd had jumped to his feet, smiling widely.

Ah, it seemed he was going to be having a bad time regardless of Floyd’s mood. Damn.

“Fight me!”

“U-uh?” Kuroki said. “No thanks? I’m trying not to die.”

Floyd was, apparently, not taking no for an answer, because he grabbed Kuroki by the arms and hauled him up, right off of the floor, dragging him bodily over the counter and starting to carry him away. If Kuroki wasn’t very invested in the whole ‘not getting his ass beat’ thing, he would have probably made a joke about it.

And then he realized that it wouldn’t help him either way, because Floyd was apparently very interested in fighting him.

“Don’t you know anything about consent, senpai? No means no.”

“Not funny, Yuuya-san. That is a very sensitive topic that you are joking about,” a new voice chimed in, and Kuroki was torn between screaming and crying. A strange, slightly garbled sound tore its way out of his throat in its stead. He wasn’t even all that embarrassed, because why did Jade have to be here, too?!

Kuroki just wanted to do his job!

“Should’ve fucking let Azul fire me during that deal. Could’ve played dumb ‘n everything. Would have been less of a hassle…”

(He could’ve been a really cute librarian, like Grim suggested way back at the beginning of the year! Or! He could work in the infirmary! Crowley hates work, Kuroki can take over for him! He would rock a stethoscope! Or whatever the magical equivalent of one was!)

He’d spoken in a mumble but, it turns out, the Leech twins’ hard of hearing-ness was only applicable when Kuroki wasn’t being actively carried by them.

Jade smiled. “Oh? And what, exactly, did your deal with Azul entail?”

He blinked, stunned into silence.

“Don’t worry, Jade. You’ve already used your UM, but I can get the information out of him the old fashioned way!”

Kuroki spluttered, and only half because Floyd had just tossed him to the ground and it did not feel good. “That’s what this is about?! You could have asked, you know!”

Floyd frowned. “But that’s no fun.”

“Hurting me isn’t ’fun’, either!” Kuroki snapped back.

“Wrong,” Floyd said.

How was he supposed to respond to that?!

“Now, now, Yuuya-san, you said you would give us answers, don’t attempt to change the subject,” Jade said, sharp teeth on display.

Kuroki held his hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t trying to distract you guys!” He would have been more subtle about it if he had been. “I just —…”

Wait.

Azul hadn’t told them what happened? Is that why they’d been paying more attention to Kuroki as of late? Why didn’t Azul say anything? Weren’t they all supposed to be pretty close?

Unless.

Ha.

Hahahahahaha.

No way! Was Azul actually embarrassed?

Kuroki snickered into his hand. “Oh, I’d be happy to tell you about it. Hell, I’d do it through song, if you want.”

“Oh, sweet! Do you need a beat?” Floyd asked.

Kuroki hesitated. “That… was a joke.”

Jade gave what must have been his best approximation of a pout. “Aren’t you in choir? I’m curious as to your singing prowess.”

“How do you know about —?” Kuroki remembered the background check they’d done on him at the beginning of the year. He sighed. “Nevermind. So, what happened was…”

So, he regaled the two Leech twins with a colorful account of his meeting with Azul. He hadn’t told Enma and Ito (he didn’t want them to know — he didn’t know how they’d react — and, if he was lucky, they would never find out), so he might have been a little… pent up? It was strange. He’d never been a particularly social person back in his own world. His throat had ached a little, towards the end of that first day, after he’d shouted at everyone to get them to stop arguing… if he hadn’t gotten that healing potion from Crowley, he might’ve actually lost his voice at some point. He had never had people to talk to like this, he hadn’t known he could be so… reliant on others. To the point where the words were spilling out of him so freely.

Or maybe it was because he was scared the Leech twins might kill him if he didn’t tell them everything.

Or, worse: they might keep bothering him.

At least they would leave him alone once they got their answers.

They did not, in fact, leave him alone after they got their answers. In fact, it felt like they were actively trying to be even more annoying now.

”Wooooah,” said Floyd, his head on Kuroki’s shoulder. Kuroki had been placed in the kitchen today, the Sevens only know why. Maybe Azul was getting back at him for telling the twins what happened, maybe Jade had meddled with the schedules. “It’s real shrimp fried rice!”

”This is beef fried rice, actually, senpai,” he said, in the tone you speak to a small child who had said something extremely stupid and were now explaining a basic concept to. “That’s what the customer ordered.”

”You sure do like playing dumb, huh?” Floyd said.

Kuroki’s hand stilled on the cutting board. He had never really… thought of Floyd as observant. If anything, he’d thought the opposite. The guy clearly held no regards for social graces. Even the simple ones, like give the people you don’t know fucking personal space. He had, kind of, just assumed that the guy didn’t know, and it wasn’t as if Kuroki was going to stick his neck out and try to teach him.

But, no, Floyd might actually have a brain rattling around in there. This was, in his opinion, far worse. Kuroki’s hand twitched with the sudden urge to use the paring knife he was using to cut vegetables for something far less kitchen-safe. It would even hurt extra bad, because he was cutting chilies right now.

This mental image calmed him, somewhat. Which was, probably, not a good sign for his current mental state. But whatever. He smiled, and it wasn’t even all that forced.

”No, I think I’m just actually stupid.”

”I hear your grades are pretty good, though. Especially considering your situation.”

”Poor people can get good grades, too, senpai,” Kuroki said. “Lack of money does not necessarily indicate a lack of talent. Usually it’s actually quite the opposite!”

Floyd laughed. He tugged on the tiny puff of hair in Kuroki’s ponytail, as if trying to punish him for playing dumb again. “I was talking about you being from another dimension, actually!”

Kuroki was going to kill this guy. Without lifting his head, he glanced from side to side. If anyone had heard, they were minding their own business. So… no one had heard.

Probably.

He pressed his palms into his eyes, groaning in a strange mix of relief and frustration.

And then he screamed. He’d been working with chilies. Right. Right.

Fucking ow.

At least his screams alerted Azul to the fact that something was off, because he poked his head into the kitchen. “Why are you here? You were scheduled to man the bar today.”

”I was — schedule changed,” Kuroki said, scrubbing his eye furiously with water. It was not helping.

Azul scowled. “I see. Well, get behind the bar.”

”Y-yeah, okay,” Kuroki mumbled. He considered staying for a little longer to soothe his eyes, but whatever. He could not handle any more time with Floyd today. He could deal with blurry vision for a while, if that was the alternative.

Who knows. Maybe he’d get more tips if it looked like he’d just been bawling his eyes out, out of pity.

He pulled his hair out of his ponytail and wrapped the… hair… band… thing around his wrist. It was borrowed from another Mostro Lounge worker, but Ito had a tendency to complain about how hard ‘ligas’ were to keep up with, so… theirs now. Thank you, random coworker, for your generous charity donation.

He made his way over to the bar, still blinking back tears.

”Here.” A towel touched his hand. It was wet, and smelled distinctly of milk. “Press this to your eye. It should help soothe the pain.”

”Thank —,” Kuroki started to say, only to pause. Because he knew that voice. If he gave a strangled scream, it was just because his eyes really hurt. “Thank you, Jade.”

”Of course! I wouldn’t want my coworker to be in pain. I’m not often put on bar duty, and I’ll need your help ensuring I don’t make any mistakes. Let’s do our best, today, yes?”

Is there no justice in this world?!

The doorbell rang.

The Ramshackle kids were stunned. They hadn’t known they had a doorbell. Ace and Deuce usually vented their frustrations on their front door — if Ace didn’t just waltz in like he owned the place.

Grim floated over to open the door. “Nice to see you guys have finally discovered electricity — oh! It’s Jack!”

“At least say Jack-kun,” Enma scolded him lightly.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Call me whatever.”

“Alright, Jack-chan,” Kuroki said.

Jack sighed and, surprisingly, didn’t rise to the bait. “That’s on me.”

“Nah, it’s on Kuroki,” Enma said, cuffing him over the head. He sent Jack a grin. “Hey, you’re early.”

“I’m… on time?” Jack said, checking his phone for the time. “Honestly, I think I’m a little late. You guys said 18:00, right?”

“Yeah, but Ace and Deuce are usually thirty minutes late.”

“I just — respect your time!”

“Eh, we don’t mind. They’re off, like, making out, probably, and I’d prefer they get that out of their system before they come here.”

“What’s ’making out’?” Grim asked.

“Kuroki, why are you all pouty?” Enma said, a little louder than was strictly necessary.

Kuroki pouted harder now that he had been acknowledged. “Why did Grim get off with a warning but I gotta deal with a bruise?”

“First of all, if you get a bruise from that you’ve got bigger problems. Second of all, Grim is way too small for me to feel comfortable hitting him. And don’t act like you wouldn’t be pissy if I hit him.”

Kuroki pouted even harder.

Enma rolled his eyes.

Ito poked their head out of the kitchen. “Hey! Jack, do you want something to eat?”

Kuroki’s eyes lit up. “Ito, Enma hit me!”

“Did you deserve it?”

Kuroki spluttered, his fake pout immediately dropping in sheer shock and horror. “What the fuck?!”

“You guys really are… spirited…” Jack said, glancing behind himself, as if he was considering turning tail and running.

Unfortunately for him, Ace and Deuce were actually somewhat on time today, somehow, and they all-but pushed Jack through the door.

“Ito, what’re you making?” Ace called.

They shrugged. “I was thinking about whipping up a few sandwiches. I don’t know what Jack can stomach.”

Deuce shook his head. “Nonono, it’s his first time here, you have to go big or go home!”

“We can’t go home, we’re already in our home,” Enma pointed out.

“Exactly! So you gotta go big!”

Ito crossed their arms over their chest. “Fine, fine. I’m guessing you guys want tacos?”

“Yes!” Ace said, pointing. “Make the red thing!”

“… the red — pico? Okay, sure, fine. I’ll make some.”

Kuroki opened his mouth.

“Jalapeños on the side, yes yes.”

He smiled.

“Jack, do you have any preferred type of meat? Or is ground beef fine? Because if not I’m going to have to send you on a quick grocery run, we’re out of everything else.”

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “Um. It’s fine. But I thought we were all going to be… studying?”

“Can’t study on an empty stomach!” Grim said.

As if he could study on a full stomach.

The plan had been simple:

Step 1 was Food. It was a good step 1, Kuroki thought, probably the most important one. Not starving is fun. So is eating tacos. Hell yeah.

Step 2 was to study one core subject each.

Step 3 was to make everyone give a presentation on their chosen subject.

They would still have to study for their elective courses on their own, but… Kuroki was trying not to think about that, frankly.

The first years study session went as so:

Ito, the only person that could actually pay attention to Trein’s class and therefore knew what the man prioritized, gave an abridged history lesson. No conspiracy board this time, thank fuck, just a couple of study guides they’d written up when work was slow.

Ace was the best at math, so he had been put in charge of Personal Magical Ability. This wasn’t a core class, but it was close enough. Over half of the people present took it and, from what little Kuroki had overheard about it, the class was difficult. Kuroki didn’t want to know about how gravity and wind speed affected how your magic interacts with the world. Nor did he need to know, he was magicless. Convenient!

Enma had chosen his Magical Analysis class with Professor Yaxha. No one else was in it — a class on Magical Theory isn’t exactly the kind of thing the average teenager finds fun. But it actually did help the mages get a better understanding of their magic… probably. Jack, Ace, Deuce, and Grim all looked enlightened by the end of Enma’s lecture on visualization and observing those around you, at least. Kuroki, frankly, hadn’t understood a word of it. Nor did he need to! Once again, he couldn’t use magic, so who cares!

(Kuroki and Ito didn’t particularly mind being left out for Ace and Enma’s lectures, since it gave them time to whip up a quick marshmallow recipe, which was a nice break from studying.)

Deuce chose theater, because everyone present was in it, save for Kuroki and Enma. Because everyone else was lucky enough to not be from another world, and therefore didn’t have to spread out all of their classes for the sake of efficiently getting a grasp upon the new reality they had been thrust into without warning. They were free to take the only art elective that didn’t fully require you to put yourself out there.

And Ito had won nosegoes.

Kuroki wasn’t sure which side he hated more.

At least Ace was also suffering. Every time Deuce made a point, everyone would make him recite it, word for word. This was what he deserved for not doing a single page of the homework on his own this semester.

(Enma and Kuroki spent most of that time arguing over whether they should roast the marshmallows or not. Kuroki still held that the only reason Enma wanted to roast them was that he knew he would make their food spontaneously combust regardless of whether he was intending it.)

Jack had chosen Phys Ed. This was a little unfair, seeing as there wasn’t really much to teach in Gym class, but Jack was a sudden addition to their study group, and they’d had to scramble for something to make him do.

And, admittedly, for how little he had to work with, he did a pretty good job presenting. Next semester he would be a valuable addition to their friend group.

Kuroki, of course, ended up with Alchemy, because none of the others should be trusted to teach it, considering they didn’t understand it themselves. Kuroki himself was decent enough at it. It was mostly just following directions. Unfortunately, his friends were basically incapable of following instructions, so his job was essentially to drill all of the rote memorization into their heads.

If they got a good enough grade on the written portion of the exams, the practical portion might not be an issue!

Hopefully.

Thanks to the hours upon hours of his life Kuroki spent poring over their Alchemy textbook, though, he finally figured out why Ito’s cauldron kept exploding:

“Mana! It is a Thing!” he said.

“Ohhhhhhhh…” said Ace. “I’m stupid.”

“Nah, Ito is,” Deuce said.

“You’re not getting dessert,” Ito mumbled.

Ace and Deuce never learn, do they?

Deuce hit the floor. “Aghhhh my blood pressure… it’s so low… I need… sugar…”

Ito raised an eyebrow. “Or salt.”

“… noooooooo...”

Kuroki waved his hands for their attention. “Guys? Hello? I’m trying to fix our explosion problem?”

They, reluctantly, paid attention. Kuroki huffed. He was trying to make sure they didn’t have any more accidents! He had spent an entire day trapped in the same body as Ito last week! He didn’t want a repeat of that event! Please!

“Right, so, Mana, yeah?” Kuroki said. “It’s in everything. When you stir clockwise, it increases the potency of the potion — and, therefore the mana.”

Enma hummed. “I mean, yeah, they didn’t know what clockwise and counterclockwise meant until very recently, but they’re left-handed, wouldn’t they accidentally stir counterclockwise more?”

“… Ito is left-handed?” Kuroki asked, devastated. His theory!

Ito nodded. “Technically, I’m ambidextrous. Most lefties are. But, yeah, I prefer my left hand.”

“Freak,” said Ace, his nose scrunching.

“Dessert,” Ito reminded him.

“Nevermind.”

Ito nodded, once, approvingly. Then they turned back to Kuroki. “I stir with my right hand, though.”

“Oh, wow, left-handed people are just like the rest of us!” Jack joked.

Jack can make jokes? Wild.

Ito rolled their eyes. “It’s so I can prepare ingredients with my left hand at the same time.”

“Anyways, Ito, I am going to drill the difference between clockwise and counterclockwise into your head. Also, stir counterclockwise to dilute potions, don’t add water. It is not cooking. Water has a lot of mana, you’re doing the opposite of what you’re intending.”

Ito huffed. “Alchemy sucks. Is it too late to drop out of school?”

“No! You have to stay!” Grim said.

Ito looked somewhere between touched and wary, as if they were waiting for the catch.

Indeed, Grim soon realized that that sounded too nice, and promptly course corrected:

“Because you’re the best cook here! I can only eat so many omelets.”

“Hey! Why am I catching strays? Make fun of Enma for burning shrimp instead!” Kuroki pointed at him.

He wasn’t sure whether Enma was more offended by the pointing or the reminder of his lack of cooking prowess.

“Excuse me?!”

Kuroki screeched as he was pulled in a headlock, a hand messing up his hair. He called for help, but to no avail.

Even Jack stood by and did nothing. Apparently this visibly uneven fight wasn’t the kind of thing that he would get between.

Damn it.

He hates this school.

Grim did not have to do a presentation. Because it was Grim. He gets special privileges.

(And no one wanted to fail, which would certainly happen if they put the fate of their grades in the monster’s hands. He didn’t even have hands! He had paws! How could he properly cradle their fates, how could he keep them from harm, when he had no opposable thumbs?)

When Grim questioned why he hadn’t been forced to do a presentation, Kuroki recalled, loudly, that they had yet to eat dessert. Grim didn’t burn the dorm down, and they got sugary goodness out of it, so Kuroki was calling this a win overall.

“Alright, so… practical magic exams…” Enma looked over the four mages in the room. “How about you all try and use each other’s go-tos? Magic is all about visualization, right? You all know each other's magic pretty well…”

Because they’re constantly fighting each other.

Enma cleared his throat. “Alright. Grim, try Ace’s wind magic. Ace, try summoning something. Deuce…” He glanced at Jack, before shaking his head. “Try Grim’s fire magic. Jack… uh… I guess take your pick?”

Kuroki’s eyebrows knit. Why wasn’t anyone trying Jack’s magic? Does Enma not know how closed circuits work?

His thought process was cut off when a cauldron went crashing through the floor. Ace grinned widely.

“I’m so good at magic.”

“… we should have done this outside,” sighed Ito.

“You’re covering repair costs,” Kuroki told Ace, flatly.

Ace swore, loudly.

Enma sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How about all of you mages get some practical magic practice in and summon enough gold to fill this hole?”

“That’s more of an Alchemy thing,” Jack admitted. “And it's super high-level, too…”

Kuroki perked up.

“Nicolas Flamel? King Midas? Watch out, I’m about to steal your shtick.”

“Going to steel their shtick?” Enma asked.

It was hard to tell who groaned the loudest. Jack looked like he was back to wanting to leave and never come back.

“And right after I do that, I’m going to murder Enma.”

“Deserved,” said Grim.

Enma rolled his eyes. “I’m not eating your bell peppers for you anymore.”

“Wait,” said Kuroki.

“Hold on,” said Grim.

“C’mon, man, I was kidding! Don’t do this to me! Do you want me to die? You’re going to kill me —!”

#twisted wonderland #twst yuu #kuroki yuuya #enma yuuken #twst grim #ace trappola #deuce spade #jack howl #azul ashengrotto #jade leech #floyd leech #i’m mentally ill about this fic ok #also in general but we don’t talk about that #octavinelle

4 notes · View notes

traincarsandstars · 11 months ago

Note

When Stelle next wakes and intends to leave her room she'll find a piece of paper had been slipped under her door while she slept. It's a pencil sketch like the many she's seen in Dan Heng's notebooks, but this one is a headshot of her. It's not the most realistic but even in his style the details shine, particularly the softness in the smile, the light in the eyes, and the way there seem to be stars in her hair. His signature is in the corner along with a short message: 'For my guiding star'

~Starlighttrain

Stelle had spent an extra twenty minuets in bed, with her phone scrolling through video's and replying to messages. She didn't do this often, but she had gotten behind on a few messages, mainly from Serval and Gephard.

What started as one or two texts turned into a landslide of thinly vailed worried messages inquiring if they're younger sibling was okay. At least the siblings had enough tact to be indirect about it; most of the time. However, recently the number of text has slowed down to a manageable level—thankfully. Stelle isn't sure if they've finally decided to trust Lynx and stop worrying, Bronya found out and is distracting them, or Pela threated them with murder. Regardless, it's a relief to Stelle's own sanity; otherwise she would of had to rat them out to Lynx for her own sake.

After typing a few more replies, Stelle placed her phone on her nightstand and shifted her covers so she could roll out of bed— literally. Worry not, she has three fuzzy rugs by the side of her bed to break her fall, and she's been doing this long enough so that she knows how to avoid hitting her head on the nightstand.

Stelle laid there for a minuet or two, allowing herself to sink into the plush carpets before finally rolling onto her back and standing up. She stretched a little before padding over to her closet which was right by the door (which was a weird design choice, but okay). That's when she noticed the drawing.

Stelle felt her eyes widen as she bent down to pick it up. She didn't need to read the message to know who it was from, she could recognize Dan Heng's drawing style a mile away. Stelle smiled, studying every stroke; but now she wanted to draw him something too. Still smiling, Stelle returned to her bed only for her to stand on it in order to reach a small shelf that was mounted above. It was an ordinary white shelf she picked up from Belobog, but it held things Stelle consider 'priceless'; so far it includes pictures of herself with her friends and brother, the snow globe she picked up when she went on a mission with Bronya and Seele, a flower made from scrap iron, a bottle of marbles, the jade abacus she got from Jing Yuan, drawings from Pitch and her friends, and the hair pin Dan Heng gave her.

Carefully, Stelle propped up the drawing; wedging it between pin—which was on a stand—and the wall. She took a wobbly step back to admire the picture once more before hopping off and getting dressed for the day.

@starlighttrain

#asks #stelle!ask #starlighttrain #weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

1 note · View note

purplesurveys · 1 year ago

Text

1709

What’s your current favorite song at the moment? I'm still on a Seven high. I can't believe how stably it's been performing on both Spotify and YouTube. Makes me feel very proud!

Have you ever read any self-help books? I don't buy into those. Most of them talk about situations irrelevant to me anyway, or otherwise come from an entirely different cultural perspective.

What was the last book you read? Man this new Tumblr format SUCKS. Typing out answers is a mega bitch compared to before...anyway, I last read BTS' memoir. The funny thing is I breezed through the first 400/500 pages within 24 hours of getting the book, but now I'm struggling to finish the rest of it haha. It's not at all because it's bad as it's a lovely read...maybe a part of me just never wants to finish the book yet.

Do you thank the bus driver? Not quite the bus, but when I get off a Grab I always make sure to tell the drivers 'thank you' and 'drive safe' like 7 times as I get off the car. I'm mostly a quiet passenger so I try to compensate by verbalizing how grateful I am that they got me to my destination in one piece lol.

How many tabs are open right now? Just two Tumblr tabs and one for YouTube as I have something playing in the background as I take this.

Have you ever had your heart broken? Of course.

Do you wear makeup much? I'll wear foundation pretty much every time I go out just so that I don't look so obviously dead and jaded lol, so in terms of frequency, yes I have it often. It's a different story if we're talking about types of makeup because I couldn't care less for it.

When was the last time you flirted? I never flirt; not my thing.

What should you be doing right now? NOTHING. It's 1 AM on a Saturday and I'm right to be doing nothing. I just spent the last 16 hours outside and all I wanna do is sit back and take a bunch of these in the dark. I also can't wait to get the best sleep ever.

Do you usually get good grades at school? They weren't consistently outstanding, but I think I did good enough for my classmates to like, rely on me and ask me questions or let me lead group work and stuff like that. So many people way smarter than me though, and more often than not these are the classmates who are now either in med or law school.

My performance was also dictated by how much I care for the class, so I always got good grades in my favorites, like history.

How did you and your first best-friend meet? We were seatmates and I accidentally pushed a pencil into her palm, making it bleed and having some of the lead still stuck in her hand to this day.

Do you like short hair on girls? It's not my preference, but of course girls can rock the short hair.

How about long hair on guys? ^ Pretty much the same.

When was the last time someone told you they loved you? Last night, I think.

Are you a righty or a lefty? Right.

Do you think someone’s thinking about you? Not at this moment, I don't think.

What is your favorite month? April and June.

What is your favorite color? Purple.

Who was your last phone call from? Someone from work, but I genuinely missed the call because I keep my phone on silent.

Have you ever trusted someone you wish you wouldn’t have? Sure.

What color are your eyes? Dark brown.

If you could go back in time and change things, would you? Nah. I've made embarrassing or just overall horrible mistakes, but it seems like an easy way out to be able to change them every time.

Do you like your smile? Sure!

What made you the happiest today? Coming back home and seeing my dogs.

Who was the last boy you texted? A contact for work.

Do you get along with your parents? I do. My mom and I will still clash every now and then but we no longer go at each other's throats, which was the daily case when I was younger.

Are you scared of needles? Terrified.

Do you believe love can last forever? Yes.

Do you like the ocean? Love it.

Are you allergic to anything? If so, what? Grass, apparently. I don't always react to it, though.

Do you know anyone who is/was a drug addict? Apparently, I did. I only learned after my cousin's dad died two years ago.

What is currently the most tan spot on your body right now? I uhhh...don't know. My skin color is equally distributed haha??

What is your dream job? Doing in-house PR for a company I personally like/follow, like WWE or Hybe.

Would you say you are ‘popular’? Nah. Is that still given a fuck about in your mid-20s?

Do you tend to cave into peer pressure? Nope.

Have you lost anyone close to you? Through death or otherwise, yes.

Would you say that you are an intelligent person? In a general life sense/street smarts sense, no.

Who was the last person to hurt you? Celeste took me aback last night because she was being super (and a little unnecessarily) curt about a matter she eventually turned out to be wrong about, so there's that. I wasn't hurt per se, but I just genuinely didn't understand where her irritation was coming from. Then she turned out to be wrong on top of it all, so lol. We're good though.

Are good-byes easy or hard for you? Mostly hard.

1 note · View note

marsgod · 2 years ago

Note

Helloo, please delete if your requests are closed:

May I request a Staff!reader who just wanted to return something Crewel left in the staff room but was hit by a potion that makes them grow devil horns and a tail and the sclera of their eyes are now black

Staff!reader has to wait a few hours for it to wear off but during that? Oh. THEY ARE ACTUALLY A DEMON FROM HELL.

They’re scarier, angrier, more irritable and no one is safe from them anymore, if they were nice before, mx. nice-professor is GONE

If they were always on the stricter side, haha, we’re all in danger.

So after that, the student body learns to appreciate Staff!reader after the hell they went through

- underrated staff anon

hey hey, it’s a new anon! tbh? we love that for mx. professor, pop off💅

If the staff! reader was kind beforehand;

Crewel is scared, especially since he find you waiting in his classroom, and he’s trying his best not to be an accidental instigator, but everything is pissing you off

Writing with pencil or pen? You’re immediately screeching at him to shut the hell up, muttering under his breathe? Oh god you’re staring at him like you’re planning on how to get rid of the body

Crowley wasn’t informed of this unfortunate event, and waltzed in with a bunch of forms for dear Divus

Then his see’s more of the kind! staff and starts going into this and that, but doesn’t expect it when he goes to pat your shoulder and your strangely, now almost claw looking hand grabs his wrist with enough strength and sharpness in your nails to draw blood

In turn, he nervously says that he has nothing else for you and excuses himself

Crewel hates him more for leaving him with you

The students? The most scared, especially Ace, Deuce, and Kalim

Kalim doesn’t mean any harm, he’s just being his excited and social self, but quite literally nearly shrinks when you slam a pile of books down with a bang! and tell him to be quiet

Ace and Deuce are the same; Although they’re the ones that just don’t know how to stop unless you strap them to a chair

which may or may not be what you do but it’s okay, you guys remember eventually

Floyd and Jade aren’t scared, they thinks its funny and Floyd might do something to purposely piss you off

If the staff! reader was mean beforehand;

Nothing changes, everyone tries to avoid you (mostly trouble makers) (i.e. Ace and Deuce) so everyone in your classes, upon knowing you have literally turned into a demon, is dead silent and some ppl (read; Ace and Deuce) freeze whenever you take a deep breathe in fear

After it’s all said and done, the kind staff! reader is back and everyone basically treats you like an angel bc they’re so scared if you decide to just go strictly apeshit on their asses (nobody would blame you but still)

same with strict! reader, but a lot of the staff already know that you’re mostly just tired of their shit and not listening. The students treat you a whole lot better trust me😭

#{cecilia} >underrated staff anon #twisted wonderland #{..🌸writing🌸..}#twst x reader #this isn’t any particular character so i just did who j thought would have the most strong reactions #gn! reader #gn!reader #twst staff #twst headcanons

80 notes · View notes

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 years ago

Note

Perhaps a hc of Jamil crushing on someone [reader] from Octavinelle who (unfortunately for him) shares a close relationship with the Octavinelle trio? :DDD

Curiouser and Curiouser...

Jamil knows from firsthand experience that students of Octavinelle are not to be trusted--so he often curses himself for being enamored with you. It’s an odd sort of crush, the kind that he’s constantly questioning and fighting against.

Part of him suspects that the feelings are meticulously engineered by Azul and the twins in an effort to lure him into making a sketchy deal for “true love”, and the other part of him suspects that the ploy is entirely yours. The poor guy’s always grappling with his own suspicions and holding himself at a distance because of that.

Jamil doesn’t seek you out unless necessary, and makes it a point to conceal as much of his emotions as possible when he does. He typically avoids Octavinelle like the plague and is very curt when he does need to interact with them. He doesn’t want to disrupt that pattern--lest you offhandedly mention it to Azul or Jade, thus giving them a weakness to exploit.

Though his words remain to-the-point and professional, Jamil finds his gaze sometimes lingering on you. He pries himself away right as your sense the heat of his eyes and your own eyes flicker up to meet his. Jamil’s had several close calls, but he doesn’t think he’s been caught staring red-handed... yet.

He doesn’t let it show, but a vein of excitement runs through him when you show up at basketball or Magift games. Jamil tells himself that you’re most likely there to support Floyd or your own dorm, but just knowing that you’re in the crowd, watching, drives him to play his very best.

If he sees you hanging around the seafood trio, he immediately turns and walks the other way. There’s no way he’s risking exposing himself with them around. For Jamil, it’s enough to watch you being happy from a safe distance (even if he thinks you’re choosing to spend your time with all the wrong people).

He carefully calculates his moves, treating the crush as though it’s a game of 5D chess to be won. If he wants to say something nice, he’ll craftily word it to avoid directly complimenting you (saying the same thing but in a roundabout way). If he wants to give a gift, he’ll make sure that it doesn’t come across as “too” special. (For example, he might make a big batch of food and insist on sharing it with multiple classmates, including you.) Jamil won’t leave a single trace of evidence behind, either--no paper trail or physical items for the Ocatrio to potentially discover!

All this extra effort, for a crush he’s too apprehensive to fully realize, for feelings he has yet to express to their full extent. Sometimes, Jamil wonders why he even bothers doing all of it. His heart, a tangle of confused emotions.

When that hesitancy hits its peak, he’ll find a private location and break out into a dance. Jamil channels his unsure feelings into every step and move, putting on a wordless show of love and longing for an unseen audience.

... What he doesn’t realize is that you’ve stumbled across him, quietly watching on in awe. You wonder who such a dedicated dance must be meant for, and pencil in a note to ask the next time you’re able to meet with Jamil one on one.

#twst x reader #Jamil Viper #Jamil Viper x Reader #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland #Reader #twst #self insert #curiouser and curiouser #disney twisted wonderland

298 notes · View notes

wheezecheese · 24 days ago

Text

I ACTUALLY FUCKING DREW SOMETHING

This is J from a post-canon AU I'm working on.

I don't like how the jacket turned out but the rest of it looks surprisingly good.

#who trusted jade with a pencil?#murder drones #murder drones j #murder drones fanart #serial designation j fanart

5 notes · View notes

georgiapeach30513 · 3 years ago

Note

James and Iris are perfect couple goals!🥰 and also what their first arguement was like?

Their first argument was most likely something extremely stupid. They did meet when they were 3 and 4. But I'm assuming you mean big argument. James is such a laid back guy, but Iris has a lot of anxiety issues, and has for a long time. So as far as the first BIG argument, they were in high school. These two hardly argue, and when they do, it's because Iris gets in her head.

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Me and My Arm

Summary: Iris gets mad at James

Pairings: James Rogers X Iris Drysdale

Rating: high school drama

Warnings: mildly implying sexual activity, 18+ ONLY

Word Count: 650

Desperate Lives AU Masterlist

Iris Drysdale Masterlist

Iris slams her locker closed, holding her books close to her chest as she turns to walk away. James watches his pretty little girlfriend set off without him, and not even asking to be walked to class, that Cheer outfit a bit too short for her to be wearing for anybody but him. With a look down to his own arms, he realizes that she walked away mad at him.

“What did you do?” Carter asks with a laugh, swatting at his friend’s jersey-ed chest before the two of them head to class.

“I...I don’t know. She...she walked to class without me, and I’m not holding her books,” Carter lets out a chuckle, scratching at his head when the two head to class. When they walk in Iris turns her head to look the other way. “Ris?” he whispers to her seeing the teacher walk in, but she pulls out her book, ignoring him. “Iris Jade.”

Her body turns back to look at him with a furrowed brow, “Do not full name me, James Carter,” she looks at Blair who walks in. Her hair perfectly styled, uniform just barely in the dress code, and her perfectly perfect headband. Giving James a smile and a wave, which he returns. Iris scoffs spinning back around in her desk.

“Ris,” James taps at her shoulder, “Do you have a pencil.”

“Ask Blair,” she responds without turning around.

James throws his hands up confused, but Carter covers his mouth stifling his laughter. He now knows exactly why Iris is pissed off, and it has to do with the perfectly dressed Blair that now is sitting in Iris’s usual seat.

Iris’s thumb spins around his class ring on her finger, hers now on a necklace around his neck. Even though she’s mad over his ‘flirting’ with Blair, she still needs her to know, that Jamey is hers. Slamming her left hand down on the desk, she rests it awkwardly in a way that Blair can see the gleaming green stone, but still the girl taps on James’ shoulder.

“Jamey, can I borrow a pencil?”

"Sorry, but I don’t even have one. And my girlfriend won’t give me one,” he gives Iris another tap, but she refuses to look.

“If I were your girlfriend I would make sure to give you one.”

Iris takes a deep breath. Her eyes wide at that comment before she turns around to glare at the other girl. “You will never be his girlfriend. You are nothing but a delusional trust fund baby, that thinks you can flirt with my boyfriend. And Jamey, you need to stop being so nice to her, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea. Blair, sweetie, he’s not flirting. He treats my sisters the same way. He’s just being nice. Now, if you could please keep your slutty little hands to yourself, and get out of my damn seat.”

“Iris Drysdale, office now,” Iris huffs out a puff of air, turning to glare at her teacher. Her hands grip her books tightly as she stands up. “I expected better from you. Mr. Rogers, do you need to join her?” she asks when James goes to stand. Iris stops to look back at him, pleading him to go with her. Her mind racing of how this is going to be on her record, and won’t look good for college applications. With a quick nod, he follows her out of the office. Grabbing ahold of her books, before wrapping his arm around her.

“That was the hottest thing I have ever seen.”

“Jamey, stop it.”

“That’s why you’re so pissed off at me? Ris, you know you’re the only girl for me.”

“But she...she touches your arm, and you don’t say anything. That’s my...” her words stop because she can’t bring herself to say it, but James smirks down at his little baby doll.

“It is. It’s yours. And later on tonight, I’ll let you claim my arm.”

“Jamey!”

“Leave your scent behind, that way when she touches it, she’ll know exactly who me and my arm belong to.”

Masterlist

#desperate lives #desperate lives au #desperate verse #DA AU #DA AU ask #DA AU request #DAU #iris drysdale #james rogers #james rogers x iris drysdale

20 notes · View notes

2andahalfcatastrophes · 3 years ago

Note

11, 12, 20, 23, 24, 28, 35, 38, 43, 62, 77, 78, 96 (I am a menace, I know <3)

you are NOT a menace ily <33 also sorry this is super late, i had to stop and make pasta lol

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

honestly this varies a ton bc sometimes i forget to eat breakfast, but mostly either some fruit or a toasted english muffin with butter :)

12. name of your favorite playlist?

oooo probably either my 80's playlist which is just called 80's or the giant playlist where i toss all my super high energy songs which is called bangers (i do not have very good playlist names hehe)

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

definitely my laptop! im super used to typing so it goes much faster and i hold pens and pencils incorrectly so writing by hand for too long hurts my lil fingeys :( i love the vibes of writing in a notebook tho!

23. strange habits?

when i was younger i watched spirited away (and most ghibli films) a LOT and there's a scene Chihiro taps the toes of her shoes against the ground after she puts them on. I started doing it too because i thought it was Funky and now i do it without thinking lmao

24. favorite crystal?

oh this question made me BIG think... im really partial to most colors of beryl though, they just have nice vibes :) also some opals are really pretty!

28. five songs to describe you?

i kinda went more for vibes than for subject matter bc thats how i experience music so these are kinda all over the place hehee

Vienna- Billy Joel

The Village In May- Joe Hisaishi

Super Trouper- ABBA

Make Me Feel- Janelle Monáe

Wild Young Hearts- Noisettes

35. average time you fall asleep?

I have an Old Person sleep schedule so usually i fall asleep around 10 or 10:30 because I am simply Quite Tuckered Out

38. lemonade or tea?

Lemonade, mostly bc i have very specific Tea Preferences and if im out eating somewhere i would feel bad asking for so many specific things lol

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Bomber jacket! One of my favorite coats is a massive leather bomber jacket that my dad gave me, its a vintage WWII reproduction and it is SO cozy in the winter

62. seven characters you relate to?

get ready for a THOROUGH tour of my extremely eclectic media tastes lmao

Annie Edison from Community (because i am also Insane about academic achievement)

Hermann Gottlieb from Pacific Rim for the Hectic energy

Hypnos Hadesgame. He sleeby. I am also sleeby.

Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. I just really feel that one scene of her angrily cleaning the house and also we are both part of the needlecraft gang

Scarlett from Four Weddings and a Funeral just because of the clothes

Anne from Anne of Green Gables. i read that book as a child and i do not remember much but i do remember relating to anne Very Much

I could not think of another character so i asked my friend and she said Flora from Winx Club :)

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

it depends! If that window gets a bunch of light every day, you want something that thrives on a ton of direct light like jade, sargo palms (poisonous to pets!), herbs like sage or rosemary, air plants, snake plants, or many other leggy succulents. Also if you have pets who eat every leafy plant in the house like my absolute MENACE of a cat then succulents are probably better :)

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

definitely gas station coffee, mostly bc i do NOT trust grocery store sushi even a little

96. desktop background?

A screenshot of the main street of the spirit town from spirited away :)

#long post #ask games!!#auggie <3

3 notes · View notes

hi-i-do-stuff · 5 years ago

Text

So I made a whole bunch of quick x reader oneshots here are a handful of them so. Enjoy I guess.

Jade Harley

You were feeling childish today, so you decided to take a day trip to the park! What fun! You decided to ride a scooter to the park with your decorated backpack with some food and your sketch pad and some coloring stuff, you had planned to ride around the park then take a break and draw. And that you did! You rode your scooter for about half an hour before parking it next to a tree and you walk to a bench and sit, eating your snacks and sketching some people's dogs as they walked by. You felt like something was going to happen, so you looked around and suddenly saw at the tree you parked your scooter at some jerks were stealing it! You quickly set your stuff down and bolt to the scooter, but before you could get there some girl decided to drop kick the guy stealing your bike, causing him to fall over she took the scooter from him and said, quite harshly "This doesn't belong to you." And they guy got up and ran, yelling "You're crazy lady!" As he seemed to disappear away from view. You walked up to the lady and she handed you your scooter "Here you go! Earlier I saw you riding it and then i saw that guy taking your bike, but I didn't see him with you earlier. Then I saw you at the bench over there and you seemed to not know what's going on so I got him for you!" She smiled this HUGE freaking beautiful smile, you smiled back "Thanks! You really didn't need to though. I have more scooters at home if he took it anywho." You shrugged and looked at your scooter "Well maybe we could go ride our scooters together sometime!" She says, then started to walk toward the bench you were previously sitting at "I'm Jade by the way!" She called before taking one of your pencils and writing down her chumhandle really quick before skipping off "Text me sometime (Y/N)!" "S-Sure?" You called back, a bit dumbstruck. Well guess you made a new friend... wait how did she know your name-

Dave Strider

You were in a shop that your friend dragged you to, and you hated this shop for more than one reson. It was a sex toy shop. You were so disturbed and desperate to get out and your friend wouldn't let you stay in the car. So you were stuck. Suddenly you heard another distressed person in the aisle over, so when your friend wasn't looking you peaked over, to see two boys with shades on, inside, odd. "Bro why am I here." "So you don't mess up my stuff at home." The shorter of the two groaned again, as the taller one looked away you whispered "Hey!" At the shorter blonde, and he looked over at you "Wanna get out if here?" You whisper-shouted. He looked over at the taller one then back at you, and he bolted for you. The both of you left the store and walked to another nearby one, talking about yourselfs and stuff you both had in common. He was currently talking about his caretaker's 'Job'. "-and I kid you not he threw it right at me. (Y/N) stop laughing it's not funny dude." You couldn't help yourself, suddenly you both got texts from the people who brought you into the store in the first place, you quickly traded chumhandles and went your separate ways.

Rose Lalonde

You were chilling on your roof, your house had woods behind it and a lot of people passed by or went into the woods, and your family didn't mind at all. You were half asleep when you heard two people arguing "Dave just admit we're lost." "No no- I know where we are-" "David I've never even seen this house in my life what if we're trespassing!?" You laugh to yourself a bit and sit up, looking over the roof to see two people who looked almost exactly alike. You called out to them and they both looked up at you, the girl spoke first "Hello, I apologize are we trespassing? We are kind of lost." She smiled a bit, the one who she called 'Dave' simply nodded. You hopped off the building(dont worry it's not to high off the ground, about 6-7 feet off the ground) and made your way over to them, turns out they were simply hiking, so you vave both of them your chumhandle so you could guide them if they got lost on the way back. You took a look at the map they are reading from and show them where they are. Apparently their just on the other side of town and somehow walked all the way around through the woods. You said your Goodbyes, and trust me, that girl is not going to let it down that you helped and will 100% try to do something to thank you.

John Egbert

You were at the store, looking for a movie because your friend wanted to come over that evening and watch one with you. Somehow you wandered to a section full of weird looking movies and you let out a panicked/confused whine. Apparently someone heard you and walked over "Hi, uh, are you alright?" He asked nervously, obviously the boy didn't have much social interaction so he was a bit nervous. "Yeah I'm fine... I'm just looking for a good movie for my friend-" you said smiling at him, he seemed to light up at this "I know some good movies! Follow me." He said cheerfully as he dragged you around the store, and for a good while you talked about each other and some other things. When you finally had picked out a movie he offered you to come over to his house sometime and you two could watch a movie together. You thought this was a great idea and exchanged Chumhandles before you left the store.

This was awful but eh. Hey I take request :/

#homestuck #x reader #oneshot #imagines #writing #jade harley #dave strider #rose lalonde #john egbert #john egderp

35 notes · View notes

yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy · 4 years ago

Text

Why So Jaded? Chapter 5

FFN, AO3, Enjoy.

Why So Jaded

Chapter 5

The next week, on Thursday, Buddy noticed there was a new delivery man that dropped off his various shipments and Buddy nearly cried tears of relief when he recognized him but Buddy did his best to act nonchalant and unaffected because the delivery guy was in fact, one of his oldest and most trusted friends, partners and colleagues- John Clairborne.

"Mr. Pine?" The new delivery guy greeted, acting like he didn't know him.

"Yes, that's me. And you are?" Buddy felt the need to ask.

"Jack Reacher. Sign here please sir." He offered and Buddy barely contained his amused reaction to that name.

"Yeah I know, you have no idea how many jabs I get." Jack offered good naturedly.

"Then I won't make any." Buddy insisted as he took the device to sign that had a special screen on it so that only when you were looking directly at it, would you be able to read what was on it as Buddy took it and then there was an infrared flash that was invisible to the naked human eye but it was for a secret camera on the device that positively ID'd Buddy before it flashed him a special screen that had super quick message for just a moment but Buddy had caught it before vanished and returned to the signature screen before he signed his name on the signature screen to receive the packages as usual, using Jack's pen that doubled as a stylus to do so.

"I really like your pen." Buddy praised as he recognized his own work, this had been one of those super secret spy pens that had all kinds of extra features and hidden devices. Buddy was impressed it had made it through security.

"Keep it sir, I have plenty." Jack grinned.

"Thanks." Buddy thanked him as he took the pen and simply placed it behind his ear like he usually did with his pencils.

"You're welcome. Have a good day sir." He wished him.

"You too Mr. Reacher." Buddy thanked him before Mr. Reacher left before he went about unpacking the boxes, careful not to cut the packing slips and collected all the slips and put them aside as he double checked what he got, doing everything he could to act as normal as possible and when he was done, he took the packing slips and put them in the folder he kept, just in case he needed to return anything and when he looked at these packing slips and the others, he saw it . Coded messages in the barcodes. How had he not seen those before and went through his owner's manual for one of the first pieces of equipment he had ordered and found the cipher because the message that flashed on the reader told him to. How had he not put it together before?

According to the hidden messages. There had already been three new "employees" at SEB Industries along with new "agents" that were infiltrating all these other companies. They were gathering what they could to make a counter case against SEB and were working on getting him out. The new employees with SEB were infiltrating the tech department and one had been sent as a new security guard and the other was simply working his way through the corporate side.

"Good evening Mr. Pine." Violet greeted as she came into the lab which nearly made Buddy jump in his skin as he realized what time it was, he had lost track of time deciphering the messages and hoped and prayed he wouldn't get caught.

"Good evening Ms. Parr." Buddy greeted back as he quickly got up and came over to her, the new pen tightly in his grasp.

"So, do you have anything outstanding you would like to report?" Violet asked per usual, a little disappointed he didn't have a snack ready for her but tried to keep that disappointment to herself because his little snacks had become an extra perk to her day. They would always tide her over till she could get dinner and Buddy actually kept his snacks relatively healthy if not very delicious which she always appreciated.

"Uh, nope, all my shipments came in, so I was just squaring those away, matching the shipments to the packing slips and tickets, making sure everything is all here and accounted for and I'm not missing anything." Buddy answered because that was the closest truth he could offer because he didn't trust himself to lie to her at the moment.

"Oh good. So we don't need to mail anything back?" She asked, realizing how seriously and meticulously kept things like that and he probably got caught up in that, and it was that- that was the reason he didn't have a snack ready for her.

"Nope, not this time." Buddy answered, knowing that from now on, his packing slips were going to be used as extra communication and he was going to try his hardest to make it as discreet, unassuming and secret as possible.

"Awesome. I'm glad everything was correct." Violet nodded as she went through her checklist and notes before she noticed Buddy was still holding the pen before she looked at it just a moment longer and realized it was new.

"New pen?" She asked.

"Uh yeah, the delivery driver had it, it writes really nice and I said something to him and he let me keep it." Buddy answered before he offered it to her and she took it and used it both as a stylus and a pen.

"Ooh, that does write really nicely, I can see why you would want to keep it. I wonder who the company used to make it. Because this is obviously a company pen." She said as she gave the company logo a dismissive glance but appreciated the pen itself and it's aesthetically clean and sleek appearance but surprisingly stylish.

"I don't know." Buddy shrugged.

"Well obviously if you're envying a delivery company's pens, your pens must be lacking then, I'll put in an order to get you decent pens." Violet noted.

"Oh, don't bother Ms. Parr, it's just a pen, you're looking too far into this." Buddy tried to discourage her casually because the last thing he wanted was for anyone, especially her to be tipped off about the recent developments, but he had to play this off convincingly.

"Mr. Pine. I too would like some really nice, decent pens so this is an excuse to get myself some decent pens too and one can never have too many writing utensils, at least in my office. I've misplaced my fair share of them and all the stylus' to the point I keep several extra ones in my top drawer. I'm notorious for it in fact. The next time you get a delivery, you could ask them where they got the pens if they know. If not, it's not the end of the world. But keep this one close and don't let me or anyone else steal it from you." Violet advised with a fond smile which brought a smile to Buddy's face in turn.

"You might as well just keep that one if it'll make you happy." Buddy offered, he was helpless against her charms and she wasn't even trying to charm him.

"No, this is your pen. The next time that delivery driver comes though, if you happen to get another one, I'll take that one." Violet compromised as she put it back into his hands.

"Or you can just have this one now," Buddy pointed out as he tried to offer it back.

"I'll take the next one besides I would still probably lose it between now and then- "I have spoken"." Violet good naturedly teased as she refused, putting her tablet down on the counter so she could use both of her hands to reach out and grab his and folded his own hand around the pen as Buddy savored the small, gentle touch. It was really nice.

"Ok fine." Buddy put the pen behind his ear before he put his hands up in defeat because arguing with her was pointless.

"By the way, next Wednesday we should return to Black Orchid for the first preliminary suit fitting. Mr. Nelson will be joining us and we will have Mr. Soche accompany us instead of Mr. Leland because again, the more of the security detail that get to know you and how you behave normally, and your 'twatwaffle protocol' the better. The last thing I need is for us to have an incident and have to defend you when half of the security doesn't know it or you." She began.

"Smart." Buddy praised.

"Thank you," Violet beamed.

"By the way, if someone yells ‘twatwaffle’ at you, what would your answer be?" Buddy felt the need to ask.

"Glitter nugget." Violet answered which got them both to laugh.

"That's...that's very fitting." Buddy appraised.

"Oh that's not as bad as Phillip's." Violet murmured lowly before Buddy could help himself, he sidled up next to her as he folded his elbows and leaned on the counter next to her.

"Tell me, tell me, tell me." Buddy begged.

"No, once anyone but myself and his security knows of it, it has to be changed for his security."

"Oh come on, who would I tell? I only ever talk to you and the doctors in the medical wing. Please, I need it to live!" Buddy pleaded as he playfully grabbed her arm and shook her a little which got Violet to giggle again. Oh what a melodious and perfect sound it was.

Then she caved so she reached up and whispered it into his ear which Buddy again, relished in the close contact before his eyes got wide when he heard it as he gasped softly but couldn't help the giggle that escaped him.

"No." Buddy breathed at her before she nodded and waggled her eyebrows at him.

"Well, if that will be all, have a good evening Mr. Pine." She said before she gave him a wink before she sauntered out of there.

"Good evening Ms. Parr." Buddy beamed back. Oh she had been in a really good playful mood today. He wished he could have tempted her to stay longer.

"Oh a snack." Buddy realized after she left and rubbed his hands over his face before he realized his mistake. He didn't make her a snack, that's why she looked disappointed at first, she could have stayed longer. Tomorrow though, he was going to create an awesome one before he went to his kitchen to see what he had and could make before the thought occurred to him of what he could make before he looked up recipes and put in a grocery order and looked at his watch to make sure Leslie or Dion would get it for him tonight so it could prep overnight. And sure enough by the time he had made himself dinner, his groceries were delivered to him by Dion at the door on the apartment side of the floor.

"Thank you Dion." Buddy thanked him as he got the groceries and went back to his kitchen to begin prepping what he needed because this particular snack would be a labor of love, but a labor he wouldn't mind making, especially if she liked it because she had told him about her preference to them before.

On Friday morning Violet walked in to the smell of the lab smelling divine.

"Good morning Mr. Pine." Violet greeted.

"Good morning Ms. Parr. I realize I didn't provide you with any sustenance last night. My apologies." Buddy offered as he offered her a plate of macarons.

"Where did you get these?" Violet gasped in delight as she readily took one from the plate.

"I made them. They didn't turn out perfect but hopefully they'll taste ok." Buddy offered.

"You made these?! Macarons are like, one of the hardest things anyone can make. They're a labor of love and test of patience. I've only tried to make them a handful of times and every time I've tried, I swore of baking for months at a time. But I'm not that great in the kitchen. Only because I'm rarely ever home long enough to cook half the time. So thank you very much. I love macarons. There's a pastry shop a few blocks over that knows me and my order by name that I get every Friday to start out my weekend with. They make this white chocolate raspberry one that is to die for. When we have our outing next week, I'll have us stop there so you can get it." Violet offered before she took one and bit into it and chewed thoughtfully.

"Ooh, strawberry vanilla, very nice." She praised as Buddy beamed happily that she could taste the flavors.

"Close enough." Buddy admitted.

"Like how close?"

"Strawberry champagne." Buddy revealed.

"Oooh, the champagne is subtle but now that you mention it, I taste it now. Very well done." Violet praised. "So how did you know how to make these?" She asked thoughtfully.

"Uh, it was Mirage's favorite dessert." Buddy had to admit but there was sadness in her eyes yet a smugness to Violet's grin as she felt some vindication that her hunch was right and was hoping Phillip was watching and listening but also hurt that when Buddy was with her, he was still imagining Mirage which she knew was probably for the best because that was the only way they could keep this up without Phillip getting too suspicious or keep herself from getting to close either.

"Well I'm grateful you've kept the skills up. These are delicious." Violet praised as she took a second one.

"Here, I made you some more because when you make them, you make a tray at a time." Buddy offered as he left and went to the fridge where he had kept the container with the extras, the best ones and handed it to her since she had eagerly followed him.

"Thank you." Violet thanked him as she readily took them before they went through their usual routine before Violet saw herself out and took her prize straight to Phillip's office. And once inside the elevator Violet let her head drop as she closed her eyes, the beginnings of tears stinging them before she pushed her hurt down.

All Buddy saw was Mirage, all Phillip saw was Invisigirl. Suddenly she felt like she was 14 again with Tony, being so invisible and no one really seeing her- for her. But it was for the best wasn't it? It would be easier to walk away from all this and all of them knowing that what everyone thought and saw- was never even close to the truth. It was better this way. That's all she needed to remind herself of. She needed to stay focused. But right now- she needed to be smug in her validation and vindication that her hunch was right. That's what Phillip would expect from her as she straightened up her posture and put on the façade once again.

"I told you." Violet practically sang as she strutted up to him and presented the macarons as proof.

"You did, you did. Bravo." Phillip congratulated her as he took a macaron and ate it, particularly proud of her for her performance.

The next day Mr. Reacher came back with another delivery.

"Hey, so my supervisor and liaison really liked the pen, is there anyway we can hook her up with some more or at least point her in the right direction to get more herself? Surely this place has website where she could order them off of right?" Buddy asked, hoping that wasn't too transparent for whoever was watching him but clear enough for Jack to understand.

"Sure, keep that one for her for now." Mr. Reacher nodded in understanding.

"Thanks. Also I have this to send out, I printed off my own return slip for it." Buddy offered a box that had a part that needed to be replaced.

"Of course Mr. Pine." He assured him.

On Monday Violet came in just as Mr. Reacher was dropping off Buddy's latest shipment.

"Mr. Reacher, this is my supervisor and liaison- Ms. Parr. she's the one who liked the pen." Buddy introduced.

"He said something to me on Saturday. I asked my boss about it this morning and he still had a business card for the company who makes them. He only got a few of the premium ones as part of an advertising promotion." Mr. Reacher revealed as he pulled the business card from his pocket and handed it over to her.

"Oh thank you so much! Yeah I really loved the way that pen wrote and the built in stylus is very convenient when you deal with electronics all day." Violet thanked him as she scanned the company card and the QR code on the back and it brought up the "company website" for her before she went through the catalog that had been put together before she placed an order right there on the spot.

"Thank you so much, you can have the card back, I got all I wanted and needed." Violet grinned happily.

"I'm glad I could be of service Ma'am. You both have a good day," He bid them before he took Buddy's own shipments and left.

"That was really nice of you to mention that to him. Thank you Mr. Pine." Violet thanked Buddy gratefully.

"You're welcome. Also he gave me this one Saturday for you. So you won't have to go without a good pen until the shipment comes in." Buddy nodded in turn as he handed the pen in question over to her. Grateful that it had worked and that he was at least, for now- above Violet's suspicion as Violet gasped with a wide bright smile.

"Aww thank you." Violet cooed as she eagerly took it from it.

On Wednesday at 9:15 Violet returned with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Soche and after going through the same protocol they returned to the Black Orchid for a suit fitting and Buddy was able to pull Violet aside as they looked over the new ties that had come in while they got some of the suits that had started to come together.

"Is there any way I can talk with you privately? Where we aren't getting listened to?" Buddy managed to breathe in a whisper in her ear as Violet gave him a look before she managed to pull a shirt that would look hideous on Buddy.

"Try this on. I dare you." Violet urged him with a giggle but a meaningful look all the same.

"Really? You want me to put on yellow? With my hair?" Buddy mock complained but did as she asked as she followed him to the dressing room.

"Ms. Parr, come on, have some mercy on my soul, don't make me come out like this." Buddy pleaded as he put it on and gave himself an unimpressed look in the mirror. He looked awful which got Violet to giggle evilly as she stepped to the other side of the door.

"Just let me see then." She urged him as she used the doors on the dressing rooms on both sides of his own to box them in before she put up a forcefield around them both.

"We got thirty seconds. What?" Violet demanded.

"About the macarons," Buddy began, keeping his voice to low murmur.

"Why do we need to talk privately about macarons?" Violet pressed, completely confused as she also hushed her voice.

"Because the look you gave me when I made them for you told me that something was wrong. I saw it in your eyes. Was it because I used to make them for Ta-Mirage?" Buddy asked in a hushed whisper.

"Do you think that I think that you remind me of her? Is that why? Do you think that I think that you're Mirage Jr or something?" Buddy asked, trying to keep his voice to a hushed whisper.

"You don't?" Violet asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"No of course not! She's her and you're you and completely different individual people. Sure there are some similarities but not enough to bring her to mind and I made you the macarons because I didn't have a snack for you the day before and I felt bad and I was hoping the macarons would be a nice way to make up for it because you told me that you liked macarons." Buddy confessed before Violet blinked in surprise.

"Oh, ok, fine, here's the deal, the only reason Mr. Sebastian is ok with these outings and me being your handler for these outings and the whole you making me food and stuff and our camaraderie is because he thinks that you think that I'm Mirage 2.0. Otherwise he is super jealous and possessive and controlling and I need these outings as a break from him. So if you could actually just drop her name from time to time, just like once or twice and "slip up" to keep him thinking that every once in a while, I would be forever grateful." Violet pleaded.

"Oh, yeah you got it." Buddy nodded.

"Thank you." Violet thanked him.

"Anything else?" Violet asked.

"No." Buddy shook his head no before she nodded dropped the forcefield and shut the doors quickly and quietly.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad, let me see Mr. Pine, please?" Violet begged just as Mr. Nelson was coming back to check in on them to see Violet leaning against the wall casually on the opposite side of the wall that Buddy's dressing room was in.

"Mr. Pine is shy." Violet giggled to Mr. Nelson from her spot before Mr. Nelson nodded and retreated again.

"Come on, let me see." She giggled again as she tapped on the door with her foot before Buddy reopened it before Violet snickered a laugh because she honestly didn't notice what he had looked like just a moment before because all she focused on was his face.

"Oh my God, it does look atrocious on you. That shade of yellow isn't good for you or your complexion. Thank you for humoring me though." Violet thanked him.

"Well I'm happy I could be of some entertainment then." Buddy pretended to grump before his suits were brought into the dressing room from the back by Mr. Sudwar before Buddy practically ripped the shirt off of himself and barred his upper body in just a wife-beater undershirt and Violet was struck by how built Buddy was. She knew he was stocky, but to realize that he had some serious, frankly gorgeous sculpted muscle because in his apartment was a personal gym that he used quite often and by the way he worked out, Violet could tell that had been part of his routine before. And while he still had a bit of a paunch left, he was frankly built like an ox and strong as one too as Buddy noticed she was staring at him and was appreciating the view at least.

"Miss Parr?" Mr. Sudwar prompted which caused her to jump and break her out of her sudden lust filled daze.

"Oh, Mr. Sudwar, the suits, yes, he's ready to try them on. Uh, let me just take that and put it back." She practically ripped the shirt out of Buddy's hands and the hanger off the wall as her cheeks stained cherry.

"Are you alright Ms. Parr?" Mr. Sudwar asked.

"Yes I'm fine, I'm fine, Mr. Pine is fine, he's fine, I'm fine, we're fine, we're fine, I need to stop saying fine, thank you." Violet quickly stuttered and stammered as she just blushed harder and quickly tried to get the shirt back on the hanger and get it back to where it was in the shop as Mr. Nelson and Mr. Soche tried their best not to laugh at her clearly flustered state.

"You ok?" Mr. Nelson asked Violet as he came to stand next to her.

"Yeah, I just got caught staring indecently at the asset. Damn it his wife-beater was showing off those guns." Violet confessed in a harsh whisper to him.

"You and arms." Mr. Nelson teased.

"Shut up. This is so embarrassing." Violet complained as she managed to get the shirt hung back up before she covered her face with her hands.

"Well I mean, I've seen your dad…" Mr. Nelson continued with a knowing grin and a playful nudge to Violet's shoulder.

"Don't! Don't you dare go there! And this incident will never be known by anyone else for as long as we all shall live." Violet harshly whispered yelled at him with a dirty glare.

"You're the boss, boss." Mr. Nelson simply grinned as he put his hands up in defeat.

"Yes I am." Violet confirmed as she took a deep cleansing breath.

"Hey Ms. Parr?" Buddy called out before Violet turned on her heel and went back to the dressing room and tried to slip back into her cool composure.

"Yes Mr. Pine?" Violet asked calmly, doing her best to be professional again.

"Why are these suits so heavy?" Buddy asked as Violet took a deep breath before she turned to Mr. Sudwar.

"Is Mr. Sanchez still in the building?" She asked.

"Yes." Mr. Sudwar confirmed.

"Can you get him for me please?" She requested.

"Of course." Mr. Sudwar nodded as he left and a few moments later Benny came out, looking like just another tailor.

"Mr. Pine, meet Mr. Sanchez. Mr. Sanchez, meet Mr. Pine, can you please explain what you've done to Mr. Pine's suits that would cause them to be heavier than normal and why?" She requested.

"Of course. Each piece of the suit, the jacket, vest and pants are lined with Kalsix, it's a special fabric that will deflect anything from bullets, to a knife to a missile. It's fireproof and resistant to most flammable liquids and other corrosive liquids as well, you can pour battery acid on it and it won't melt and because of the properties of the fabric- if you get tazed- it'll lesson the tazing because it'll absorb most of the electrical current. It's the best secret armor you can wear and it will protect you when she can't or even they can't." Mr. Sanchez announced as he nodded to Violet and then to the body guards.

"The only thing is that it's not that breathable, elastic or light. But it will keep you safe when you’re out in the open in public and possibly exposed to a threat." Violet admitted to Buddy.

"Oh, well, thank you." Buddy graciously thanked him.

"Don't thank me, thank her. She's the one who insisted on it." Mr. Sanchez nodded towards Violet.

"Thank you, that'll be all." Violet thanked him.

"No problem, I gotta get back to work." Benny excused himself.

"Job done right?" Buddy guessed as Violet nodded again.

"Exactly." Violet nodded and smiled appreciatively.

After the fitting, they stopped for lunch again before Violet had them go to the Merry Cherry Bakery where they had a whole section just for macarons.

"Ms. Parr, this is a surprise, you usually come on Fridays." Mable noted.

"I know, I was needing an extra fix this week, I also brought in a friend from work, this is Mr. Pine who also shares my love of macarons, and I of course told him that this was one of the best places to find the most amazing macarons." Violet praised as Buddy looked over the selection appreciatively.

"Ooh, they have cheese crowns." Buddy realized.

"Get whatever your heart desires Mr. Pine, my treat. Guys, same goes for you, get whatever you want." Violet offered to Mr. Nelson and Mr. Soche.

"Sweet." Mr. Soche grinned before he placed his order before Mr. Nelson did and then Buddy practically got one of every kind of macaron and along with his own personal preferences as Violet made sure to make mental notes of what Buddy liked and preferred for future reference.

A week before they had to leave for Vegas, they returned once again to the Black Orchid for a final suit check and Buddy really loved what he found in the mirror, especially when Violet came to stand beside him to check the fit herself, making sure he could move freely and comfortably in them and to feel Violet run her hands over his body was frankly heaven for Buddy. Plus they looked really good together, although if Buddy was honest, it was Violet who could make anyone and everyone look good just by standing beside them and Violet had them go back to Vers for another 'man spa day' to make sure Buddy would look and feel his best and even went and got special luggage.

"Ok, I gotta know, not that I'm complaining, but why the massages and spa treatments?" Buddy asked once they got back to his apartment as she was once again helping him put things away.

"You're an important and valuable asset to SEB, and it is currently my responsibility to make sure that you perform at the most successful rate possible. And burn out, touch starvation and lack of enrichment and the like are hindrances to your performance and we can't have that can we Mr. Pine?" Violet explained. Knowing that was the 'right answer' but again the sweet sadness she portrayed in her eyes made Buddy's heart begin to feel uncomfortably constricted as his look soon mirrored hers which in turn made Violet feel so awful and guilty for giving him that answer.

"I just...I don't want you getting touch starved. I've been there and it sucks and mentally it can push anyone into reading too much into simple, kind, and genuinely platonic gestures and make them see more meaning than is there. And the way I see it, you're a compulsory guest. Might as well make your stay as comfortable as I can because we're still just two birds in side by side gilded cages. If I can share a toy or two, then I will, if it means that you'll stay in it and won't try to break out of it every chance you get and the more you can stand and bear the confinement, the better for all of us. And if you break out, I have to hunt you down, it's my job, it's actually written in my contract that 'any asset rented or owned or otherwise by SEB Industries that is lost or stolen must be retrieved or destroyed'." Violet quoted.

"And I don't want to do that. Because when I hunt, I hunt to kill, I have to. And I don't…" Violet began as she mentally chided herself for her eyes getting glassy and Buddy was awestruck that she didn't want to kill him, that she actually cared enough and was attached enough to not want to harm him, but instead help him all the ways she could.

Violet took a sharp inhale through her nose to clear it and blinked the glassiness to her eyes away and damning herself for being so transparent but at least- hopefully- Phillip was watching this and thinking that she was just emotionally manipulating Buddy again. That would be her only saving grace.

"Hunting is a hassle and I don't want the hassle. So take pity on me and don't force my hand to do it Mr. Pine." Violet said, while her tone was forced to be light and teasing, her eyes were still sincere in their pleading with him and Buddy didn't trust his voice not to break with emotion if he tried to talk so he just nodded in understanding and agreement.

"Thank you. Good night Mr. Pine." Violet offered.

"Good night Ms. Parr." Buddy managed to get out before Violet saw herself out.

"Bravo." Phillip clapped dramatically when she returned to his office which got Violet to laugh, albeit, a bit mirthlessly.

"I was ready to promise to never run away. The way you play him and pull on every heart string is just...marvelous. You're the best, you need an Emmy." Phillip praised.

"Oh stop, you're being dramatic and embarrassing me. But, there's a reason I'm the best there is and why you pay me so much." Violet could only point out, forcing her smugness.

"What am I going to do with out you My Dear?" Phillip cooed as he enveloped her into her embrace.

"You're going to be just fine. Whoever takes my post after I leave will handle you perfectly well." Violet assured him.

"What if I don't want anyone but you to handle me?" Philip proposed as he started swaying in place as he managed to get her tablet out of her hand and start dancing with her in his office, hoping that was romantic enough for her.

"Phillip, you know I'm still under a contract with you. And while I'm cool with friends with benefits- any more than that is too dangerous, especially for you. Because I already have a big enough target on my back just being a Super, but being your handler is an even bigger one and being your romantic partner would be an even bigger one than that. Now don't get me wrong, I do thoroughly enjoy being your handler and full time babysitter." Violet teased which got Phillip to chuckle and hum before he couldn't help but kiss her and was happy she at least kissed him back.

"But everyone knows I'm important to you. If I would be your handler and your romantic partner. There's no telling what could happen, and you already have enough enemies as do I, we can't risk combining them, at least not right now. I don't want anyone to use me against you or to get to you or harm you or anything like that. That and you know as well as I do that while I'm still under contract, The Agency can pull me out at any time without anyone's say so, even my own. They can still come in here and drag me out kicking and screaming. I'm still Invisigirl for the next two years and that contract is iron clad. You know it is, because you were the one to help draw it up and the only thing harder than your contracts is perhaps maybe this." Violet managed to purr as she stroked his manhood suggestively, already feeling it harden beneath her touch, even though she was far from feeling romantic herself.

"And you shouldn't have to wait on anyone, let alone me. Because while I'm a great agent and Super and handler, I'm a shitty girlfriend and would make an even worse wife because all the things that make me awesome in the former make me lousy in the latter. It's just the way it is and it's the trade off. But it's one I gladly and happily do. If you want a girlfriend that badly, get one of your ballerina/model types. They'll look better with you anyway and they're more suited to you than I am." Violet insisted. Already having had this conversation many times before and getting sick and tired of having it but she couldn't let Phillip know that.

"Fine, for now, but the second your contract is up, be prepared to be wooed." Phillip playfully warned her.

"Woo all you want, it would still be up to me to decide to accept or not. Besides, who knows, you may even grow bored with me before then or you'll find the love of your life by then too. All we have is right now, let's just enjoy it and not spoil it." Violet urged him.

"If you insist." Phillip caved, but he was far from deterred. If anything he was even more firmly set in his belief that she was the one for him. And it would just be a matter of making her see it.

Meanwhile a new mole finally made his way into the surveillance department and he set up piggybacks on all the feeds to all the cameras. And while SEB security was top of the line, the mole's was still one step ahead while another team made it's way to Violet's apartment.

"Sir, her place is already bugged, like beyond what the CIA and FBI do, any more bugs in here and I'll have to call an exterminator. You can practically hear every neighbor piss in here. She's already under very heavy surveillance. Do you want us to piggy back these feeds too?" A henchman reported.

"Yes." Came the reply and after the piggybacks were put in place, they then traced the feeds back to the data banks it was all stored on and then the hunt began to find anything and everything they could. Useful or not.

#Why So Jaded?#Why So Jaded Chapter 5 #Synlet #Buddy Pine #Bartholomew Pine #Violet Parr #Corporate espionage AU #Modern AU

3 notes · View notes

mymistakewriting · 5 years ago

Text

Bart Allen (Impulse) Headcanons

Let me preface this by saying it’s a weird mix of comics!Bart and Young Justice!Bart. Most of his past is based on what it was in YJ with splashes of comic canon thrown in (keep in mind, these are all headcanons for a rp group)

Can draw - it’s a good way to slow him down and pass the time when he’s bored.

Drawing style: graphite pencil or colored pencils. Mostly graphite, he saves the color for very special pieces or for when he's genuinely happy about something.

He never. stops. vibrating. Unless he's putting in a crap ton of constant focus on staying still, but even then, the second he gets excited or startled, that focus is gone.

very clingy. If he hugs you it lasts until either he gets distracted or you physically pry him off you.

Bart seems to thrive on physical touch. He's clingy and will latch onto anyone he meets. However, he isn't sure how much of it is a Trauma Response and how much of it is him actually enjoying the contact. If anyone asks, he's just a huggy guy!

He thrives on affection, but only when he initiates it. He's not quite to a point where he's completely okay with someone else initiating some kind of affection (Wally is currently the only exception to this).

horror movies and games don't tend to phase him. It takes a lot to get a reaction out of him considering his past.

has times where he's randomly confused because the future didn't have this help what is this

There's a long list of things from the current time that Bart doesn't understand because he hadn't ever experienced it in the future. It's a mix of stupid stuff and things that are... honestly, he's a little pissed about regardless of if he understands or not. (It varies from certain plants and animals to heavier things like racism and homophobia. Relationships are in there, too. He doesn't understand how they work, and honestly, he's a little afraid to ask)

You know what, good luck communicating with Bart. He's a mess of movement and quick speech and slang terms that are almost completely foreign. Easiest way to get a read on him is through touch - he clings, nuzzles more when he needs support or just needs to ground himself, whereas his usual lingering hug and then moving on shows he feels safe or at least content in his present situation and company.

He gets a lot of stares and comments because of his eyes - understandable, yellow eyes aren't exactly common - but he will always pretend he doesn't know what they're talking about. ("Yellow? You must be seeing things, they're green! Like my grandpa's.") It's a source of constant anxiety that it's just going to be another thing that keeps him from forming any real connections with people.

he's all pastels and bright colors. Mismatched clothing and soft textures and too-big sizes. (He wore too many dark colors in his past, he wants this to feel different so it has to look different until he gets it)

fan of soda, should not be allowed to have soda. When he crashes from caffeine, he crashes hard

Bart is a strange duality in a lot of his life. Trust is no different. He trusts easily, but having his trust doesn't guarantee he won't be watching you for any wrong move. But then, what can you expect of a kid from a dystopian future? He desperately wants to trust and be trusted, he just hasn't quite gotten down how that works yet. It's nothing personal if he doesn't trust you. Mostly.

He remembers his mom, misses her, but make no mistake - she was dead in his time by the time he came back to the past. Both of his parents were

Here's the thing about Bart: He's a fast learner. He didn't learn to read properly (more than was necessary to survival) in the future. He's learned quite a bit since coming back to the past - just don't ask him to read out loud. He's not quite to that point yet and he WILL make up words if he hits one he doesn't know how to say. For the most part, his mom and Nathaniel taught him how to read/write what they could and numbers and mathematical symbols.

This also means that he does take a second to let autocorrect tell him what he did wrong on most messages - he hopes that people don't question if it takes him a few moments to answer them, but he doesn't want anyone finding out about his lack of knowing basically anything that kids learn in elementary school.

If Bart thinks he can get away with it? He'll ask questions to learn more about a specific topic. But it's one of those things that if he thinks it's too risky, he won't ask. He'll find a way to learn it on his own.

It's canon that he has a near perfect recall for anything he learns. Whether or not he uses it is completely dependent on the situation. As of late, though, he feels like it's failing him - he's been struggling to remember details about his mom, or about Nathaniel. It feels like he's losing part of himself along with those details.

surprisingly enough Bart's worst habit comes in the form of sitting himself down with something he can zone out with on bad days - usually drawing, sometimes video games. He's always still enough on these days that it seems like he's sick. (You'll never catch sight of his cheerful act on these days. Just full out, raw jaded behavior. He dreads the first time it happens around someone)

Listen, his mom was part of a rebellion. So was his dad. He was raised knowing about it and seeing things slowly take form. Rebellion is just part of who he is at this point. Give him a cause that he can believe in, and you can damn well bet you'll see every bit of influence his mom and Nathaniel had on him.

He's so bad at making friends. He's still got the concept of needing people to trust him immediately or it'll end in someone (read: him) getting hurt. But everyone trusts different things and he's getting tired of having to switch between acts to be trusted. He just wants friends who like him for him - every part of him, the messy cheer and the bitter jadedness and everything in between.

He doesn't actually want to be a hero. Sure, he wants to help people. He wants to save as many people as he possibly can. But he's marooned in a time that he doesn't understand, he wants time to adjust - and help figuring out how to do that. He just won't ask. He doesn't know where to start that won't get him hurt for trusting the wrong person.

Bart's a gray area. If it's an injustice he feels he can relate to, he's going to fight like hell. He came from two parents who were rebels, of course he doesn't know how not to rebel himself. But if he believes, for even a millisecond, that him pursuing something will harm those he cares for and wants to protect? You can bet your life he'll put it to the back of his mind. His priorities are gray at best, right alongside his morals. It's a fifty fifty shot as to which side of him you'll be getting at any given point, best of luck.

Coping mechanisms? Bart? Adorable. Closest he comes is destroying old drawings. Doing new ones. Repeat. He lashes out, takes any small chink he can find on anyone he talks to, and will destroy any chance at a working relationship with that person the second he feels even slightly overwhelmed or upset. He's used to people fighting back - people hurting him for how he deals with things. He doesn't quite feel safe and adjusted in this time enough to have anything healthier. (He wants to try, but let's face it, his grandfather doesn't exactly make a great example of how to cope with things going wrong with how quick Barry is to throw himself into work and self isolation in canon. It's going to take Bart a while to find a balance, even if he does eventually get some help with it).

#dc #young justice #bart allen #impulse #headcanons #rp headcanons #I have three more posts like this coming soon

21 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 5 years ago

Text

Next Stop, Everywhere

Chapter 16: Jolly Old New York

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: Female OC x 10th Doctor

(Minerva’s face claim: Victoria Camacho)

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

Chapter summary: The Doctor takes Minerva and Martha to 1920s New York where they come across the deadly Daleks. Despite their struggles, though, Minerva insists that she must leave the TARDIS.

// Story Masterlist //

I sat on the doorway of the TARDIS, legs dangling out into outer-space with a sketchpad on my lap and a pencil in my hand. I was busy drawing the very stars in front of me, finding their glow to be completely captivating. I nearly didn't hear Martha's footsteps until she had called my name and tapped my shoulder.

"Sorry, Martha," I smiled, scooting to the left so she could sit down beside me, "Did you need anything?"

"Not really," she took a seat, "I was just curious where everyone was...and why it was so quiet."

"Well as you can see, I'm busy doing this," I gestured to the sketch pad, "And the Doctor is in his workroom. Apparently 'working'."

We both laughed then sighed in content, "So you draw?" Martha eyed my sketchpad, "Never actually seen any of them, you know."

"Yeah, it's sort of a hobby. And, don't take it personal, I'm very shy when it comes to what I draw. I barely show even the Doctor."

"Well, can I see?"

I nodded, handing her the book, "C'mon Martha, I think you're beyond asking that question."

She took it and started flipping through the pages, gasping at some of the drawings and awing at the others, "This is wonderful, Minerva. You're really good. Hey, who's she?" she stopped a page and pointed to the drawing of an elderly woman.

"That's my grandmother."

"She has really pretty eyes," she remarked, glancing between the picture and I, "They're your eyes!"

I chuckled, "Yeah, people always said that."

"Same jade-green eyes," she shook her head, "Did she have your incredibly long hair too?"

"Nah, she kept it short, plus she was blonde," I smiled, remembering the dozens of photos of my grandmother as a teen, "She didn't like it."

Martha flipped the page, tilting her head as she studied the next drawing,"Hey, who are all those people?"

I sighed, looking away from it,"It's...it's mine and the Doctor's old friends."

"As in...the Tyler's?"

"Yeah..." I peered at the drawing, seeing the bright blonde hair that belonged to Jackie and Rose. It was a drawing of the two, Mickey, the Doctor, and myself. I had drawn it for Mickey, since it was going to be his birthday...although that never came since he had left the world.

"And him?" Martha pointed to Mickey.

"That was my best friend, Mickey Smith."

"I thought Rose was your best friend," she looked at me with a genuine confusion.

I never did explain the whole fiasco between Rose and I that fell through. It was a 'story to tell later' but...that 'later' hadn't really come by. Now's your moment. "No Martha...she was definitely not my best friend. In fact, I dare to say she probably hated me."

"Why would she do that? You're incredibly sweet!"

"Martha, not too long ago I asked if I could trust you and you said yes. Once again, I ask that you keep this a secret...please?"

She nodded, "Don't worry."

"The reason Rose probably hated me was because she believed I had a thing for the Doctor, which at that time I did not. But, see, in the beginning when I met both of them, I told them my name was Joy. I didn't tell them who I really was and Rose found out about it. She knew I was using another name and she took it the wrong way."

'Wrong way how?" she raised an eyebrow.

"She sort of threatened to tell the Doctor about my fake name because she was jealous..."

"Threatened?"

"She thought I liked him and so the obvious feeling she got was jealousy. But, I don't get why she would even think that, I mean...she was perfect. If the Doctor was to set eyes on anyone, it would've been her. She had nothing to worry about. I'm just boring old me."

"First of all, you are not boring. Second of all, I wouldn't be so sure the Doctor would have chosen Rose."

"Martha, you weren't there," I said quietly, taking my sketchpad back from her and blankly flipped through pages, "Sometimes they would have those conversations for hours, and I would be there...feeling so left out. I think he forgot that I was there at times."

"Uh, no," she wagged a finger, "You don't know that."

"Yeah, I do."

"No, you don't. He's told me some of the trips you guys took back then and he described in great detail your accomplishments. I think he forgot Rose was there. He kept droning on and on about how clever you were, sometimes even more than him! How calm you were, unlike Rose who was a bit frantic during bad situations. But not you. You were calm and you kept it together to think on a plan to escape. Minerva, that is so not forgetting you."

"But that's what I felt," I sighed, "That's why I stopped traveling with the two. I stayed with Rose's mom, in their apartment. I would go on some trips but I preferred to stay on Earth rather than feeling left out," I paused to think for a moment, "But now...now I have to admit that I don't want to leave. I feel like...this is where I need to be. We've gotten closer and...I don't want to leave."

"Mhm, 'at that time' you said," Martha nudged me,and I noticed the clear smirk on her face that wasn't there two seconds ago, "I got it, Souza."

"Got what?"

She nodded, as if gesturing with her head but I remained confused, just staring at her. "Oh c'mon, I got you. Isn't that what Americans say? 'I got you'?"

"Got me what? Why do you keep saying that?" I frowned, recalling the same words she said to the Doctor in the guinguette.

She laughed, "Minerva! I know why you don't want to leave!"

"That's...great?"

"Don't tell me you don't!?" she exclaimed. I just stared at her until she further explained, "Minerva!" she whacked my arm, leading me to rub it as that did in fact hurt, she was also no frail human,"When you said that Rose hated you because she believed that you had a thing for the Doctor, was that true?"

"What? Of course not!" I looked away, touchy on the subject for some reason.

"And now?"

"Of course not."

"You said that quieter," she pointed a teasing finger at me.

"I did not."

"You're still doing it!" she laughed, poking my arm with her index finger.

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Martha!"

"Minerva!" she mimicked, putting her hands on her hips.

I sighed, finally looking back at the woman, "We were talking about Rose and now what are we doing?"

"Frankly, I could care less about Rose. She treated my best friend badly and I don't like people like that. But what I do like is how red you are right now because Rose might have been right and you do like the Doctor."

"Do not!"

"Minerva," she nudged me."

"What do you want me to say!?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

I sighed, seeing no other alternative but to speak, "It's...it's weird. See, at first, I thought Rose was delirious to think I actually liked the stupid alien...I just wanted to get to know him, but now..." I rubbed the side of my neck, "Maybe she wasn't that crazy."

"Aha!"

"I don't like him like that..." I looked at her, allowing her to see the doubt in my face, "...I don't think so, anyways. But it's just the time we spent together after she left...sometimes, I find myself looking at him for no damn reason. Or sometimes, I get all...blushing, for no reason!" she laughed as I continued, "I'm serious! We were doing fine up until that stupid kiss he gave me after the hospital!"

"Woah, hold on," her laugh ceased and her eyes widened, "After the hospital? There was a sequel!? Is that what you did before I came along? Snogged all day in the TARDIS?"

"Oh...shut up..." I looked around, feeling another blush come on.

"Explain at once!"

I laughed, passing a hand through my hair, "It was nothing really. Just a simple kiss afterwards to make up for my not-so-great first kiss. He made it up."

"And you say it so calmly?"

"How else am I supposed to say it?" I raised an eyebrow, "It's not like it meant anything for either of us."

"Either of you?"

"Yes."

She smirked and laughed again, "Minerva, you're actually quite innocent sometimes. Have you ever liked a guy before?"

"No," I waved her off, "There was no time for that."

"So there's never been at least one guy that was interested in you?"

"Well...see, my mom had this friend, Angela, and she had this son, Evan, and we were both the same age and..."

"Got it," she held her hand, cutting me off, "Tried to do the impossible to get you together?"

I nodded, "Yeah. We were like twelve! My mom kept insisting we just spend time together, supervised of course, but I never saw Evan as anything more than a robot."

"A robot?" she laughed.

"He does what he's told and is completely rude! He never wanted to do what I wanted to do. He never listened to me nor cared about what I needed. He was conceited, agh!"

Martha laughed even more, "But the Doctor's quite cocky on his own, remember?"

"Yeah, but, I don't know..." I shrugged, "..it's not the same. When he does it, it's not like he's trying to be rude or anything; it's just him. But when Evan did it, he wanted to be rude. He was arrogant about it, and not the 'he's actually really kind inside' arrogant, just plain arrogant."

Martha's laugh had stopped, but a big grin plastered on her face, "And the 'he's really kind inside' arrogant is..."

"The Doctor, of course," I shrugged, "He's not really arrogant, though, never could be. He's really kind. But why do you ask?"

She blinked, silence falling for a minute or to before she playfully knocked on my head, "Hello? Is the Clever Girl at home or...?"

"What?" I laughed as I pushed her hand away.

"Okay, clearly you've never liked a guy and so much less knows what happens when a guy likes a girl. You haven't seen the looks, have you?"

"What looks?"

"The ones you find yourself doing when the Doctor isn't looking, those are the same ones he gives you when you're not looking."

"Don't be silly," I waved her off.

"You two may be oblivious but I'm not. I'm taught to be observant for my profession and I see what you two stupidly can't."

"Can just move on from topics, please?"

She paused and looked out to the stars, suddenly nodding, "Okay, okay," she sat straight and looked ahead, "Minerva, who brought you here? I mean, here here. This view for you."

"The Doctor," I answered, not finding the importance of the question.

"Okay, and why did he bring you?"

"Because I asked for a good view to draw?"

"Aha, and did he obey without asking a question?"

"Well...yeah."

"Aha, so...what does that mean to you?"

"That he's just trying to keep me happy."

"Yeah, something he's so keen on doing!"

"And? What's the problem with that?"

"Nothing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The little looks you give each other are nothing bad," she fiddled with her fingers casually, "You know, like in the guinguette...god, you two were so close and looks were thrown everywhere," she shook her head, smiling nonetheless, "And what do you have to say about the horse riding, hmm?"

My looking away gave me out, apparently, "What...what are you talking about?"

"I'm just saying..." she swayed her head, acting as if all this was just some casual talk, "...his arm around your waist all the time, your hand on his all the time...refusing to let him go when we tried teaching you to ride on your own. You two rode back still together."

"I was scared of the horse so he didn't let me ride on my own!"

"And beyond that, he didn't want to let you go. Didn't you see that?"

"Martha, stop. Just...just stop. I already felt confused and I don't need that in my life. I'm just drawing," and I quickly returned to just that, blushing madly that I hoped she wouldn't see.

"I'm just saying, don't be so quick to think it's a one way connection," she patted my shoulder as she started getting up, "And don't discard the fact you may have something for him too..."

"It's wrong, Martha, it shouldn't happen. Not ever."

"Why?"

"Because of Rose, alright? It can never happen because he was in love with her, is in love with her..."

"He...he what?" that got her to really think.

"He and Rose were in love with each other, okay? Rose was jealous and perhaps she was right, I should have stayed away from him because perhaps they actually were together and I was just an intruder. He could still be in love with her, for all we know. And my life is already complicated enough to add a heartbreak. So whatever feelings may be developing have to stop. They will stop."

"But...but if everything I'm saying is true, you can't just decide to stop feeling. If your heart wants to, it will happen."

"But it can't! It won't, I'll make sure of it."

"That's not how it works. Your heart will have the final word. And like I said, don't be so quick to believe this thing is only a one-way like, it could be responded."

"Don't be ridiculous," I returned to my sketchpad, losing all focus of what exactly I was drawing.

She chuckled, "Oh you poor thing, you have no idea what's to come."

"No, I can't tell the future." I muttered, opening the sketchpad to my unfinished drawing.

"Me neither, but I have my eyes open and so should you," she finally stood on her feet and dusted herself off, suddenly gasping a minute later, "Doctor?"

I nearly fell out of the doorway, terrified for my life the Martian had heard even the most minimal detail of our conversation, "Oh my god," I mumbled to myself, hugging my sketchpad, gripping the thing so hard it was actually leaving a mark on my fingers.

"Did you, um...did you..." even Martha was shifting on her feet, fearing of being caught.

"Whatever you heard was not my fault," the Doctor said instead, sounding afraid...?

"Heard...what?" I glanced over my shoulder, finding him with his hands raised up.

"There may have been an explosion..." he said slowly, quickly jumping on his next words when he saw Martha and I gape, "Just a tiny one! Don't worry!...but don't go into the kitchen."

"Why?" Martha questioned.

"There may be...um," he scratched his head, "Some yogurt...on the floor...and the walls...and, " he cleared his throat, "...everywhere else," he mumbled fairly low.

"What were you trying to do, Martian?" I finally turned around on the floor, moving a little off to the side so I wouldn't fall back.

He mock glared, still disliking his new nickname I had appropriated for him even if though it'd been some time since it had become his, "I was trying to make a smoothie. Martha makes really good ones."

"And how does yogurt explode?" Martha asked, biting on her lip as the hint of a laugh spread on her face.

"Very messily."

I laughed and shook my head, now relieved that it looked like he hadn't heard anything due to the explosion, "You are no longer allowed in that kitchen without supervision."

"Oi, you're prohibiting me from entering a room in my spaceship?"

"That's pretty much what I said, yeah," I nodded.

"Listen, Souza, I do as I like," he said, trying to sound authoritative but it never worked with me.

"And look where that's got you? You just ruined our kitchen."

"It was an accident!"

"I'm curious though, how bad of a cook must you be to mess up a smoothie?" I smirked, now having to bite my own laugh back.

"...just..." he shifted, frowning at his loss of words.

"I mean, it's no rocket science, you just put everything in a blender and push a button. How could you get that wrong?"

"Shut up!"

"Shall I have to teach you how to make a smoothie?"

"You have so much more to learn from me so I'd button it up!"

"As big of a genius you might be, I know how to make a smoothie...and you don't."

"Minerva!" he shouted, exasperated.

Martha and I just laughed, "Okay, why don't I go check out that...explosion thing, in the kitchen," Martha suggested, "Meantime, you discuss where we're going next."

"Or I can teach him how to use a blender," I muttered, sniggering when I heard a grumble from the Doctor.

"Two-way connection!" Martha 'discreetly' coughed before running off.

"You're very snappy today," the Doctor muttered, making his way over as I took back my seat at the doorway, "An awful lot of sass means Minerva's feeling better!"

"Well, I will admit it's been a good day," I shrugged, skimming through a few pages of my sketchpad.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, all serious now.

He'd do this often now. We'd have a good laugh, or a good day, or whatever, and then in the end, when Martha was gone and it was just us two he'd ask 'how I was feeling'. Ever since the guinguette, he'd taken extra precautions with me. I wouldn't be able to lock myself like I had done for the week after I visited Liv's burial site. I was encouraged to talk more, either to him or Martha or both, they didn't care as long as I talked to someone. I admitted I liked this extra attention from him but beyond that, I liked the feeling of freedom. I wasn't afraid to let things slip, because now he and Martha knew about my background. I could say things freely now, and it was so refreshing. It was like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And because of that, because of that big step I had taken, the Doctor was worried I'd fall into a relapse, hence the question of 'how are you feeling' being asked every day.

I sighed, "...okay, I guess."

"What are you drawing?" he asked, scooting closer and peering down to my drawing.

"Uh...st-stars," I scooted just a bit away, feeling that blush again, "It's um...it's for this art assignment I forgot to do."

"Best one they'll see," he looked up with a grin, enforcing that blush with his closeness.

"Aha," I looked down to the drawing. Martha was wrong, she had to be. And to make sure nothing happened, I had to take cards into the matter. I couldn't allow for anything to happen beyond friendship. And being so early, perhaps I could stop it. And luckily enough, I had the perfect excuse that in reality wasn't entirely an excuse; it was something that had to be done sooner or later.

He took the book from me and started to skim through the old drawings.

"Speaking of class..." I said slowly, "...um...I really need to get back to class," he looked up from the book, the idea seeming so out of nowhere for him, "I dread to think how many days I've possibly missed. I'm almost done and I wanna finish so I can finally graduate."

"We can go back later, maybe after our trip," he shrugged.

"No, Doctor, you're not getting it..." I took a deep breath, getting ready to speak the words I never wanted to say in my life, "...I need to stay on Earth again."

"Wh-what?" the sketchpad fell to his lap, his eyes wide with shock.

"I'm falling behind again and I won't allow it. I'm almost eighteen now, and if I keep it up I won't graduate until I'm twenty-one!"

"But...but we're supposed to travel together," he mumbled, "We're supposed to get to know each other..."

"But look, we did, you know a lot more about me now. And, I know a lot more about you."

"But I want to know everything!"

"There's no reason we can't continue doing that. It's just, I'd be living on Earth again, that's all."

"But...where would you stay?"

"Um...I don't know, maybe at Ami's. She's an old friend of mine...maybe I could stay with her until the year finishes up."

"And us? You would stop travelling?"

"I really want to keep doing it," I looked at him sadly, the look he wore wasn't helping either. It was like I was severely disappointing him, "But I also need to focus on my education. No offense but, whenever I'm with you things sort of seem to escalate."

He looked down, "Yeah, it does doesn't it?"

"But it's not your fault," I quickly said, putting a hand on his arm, "It's just...this time that we've spent, it's been...amazing," I paused, remembering the guinguette for some reason. It was my favorite and I definitely would want more trips like that, "But... it's also given me a reality check. One day, you're going to get tired of me-"

"Don't say that," he shook his head.

"But it's true-"

"It's not," he cut me off, looking up with a deep determination in his eyes, "I will never get tired of you."

I faintly smiled, believing his assurance for the moment, "Okay, but even apart from that, one day I'm gonna age. One day, I'll be an old woman who can't travel anymore. And then what? If I don't have a high school degree I can't have anything on Earth. And I want to remain on earth after my travels are done. I love Earth and that's where I want to be buried-"

"Please don't," he took my hand, gripping it so tight it actually, kind of hurt for a moment.

"But it's true, Doctor. One day you're going to be standing on my grave. At least I hope you'll spare me a visit once in a while."

"Stop."

"You don't want to hear that I'll die?"

"No, I don't ever want to hear that. Not you, not Martha, not Rose..."

"Right," I looked to the star-view, cringing a little at the last name. I felt guilty because the blonde and I had gotten into such a predicament that he didn't know about and would never know about. I would not tarnish her memory. But if she was here, and she knew what might be happening...I didn't even want to imagine.

"I don't like endings," the Doctor mumbled.

"Well, this isn't an ending," I scooted closer, my hand still in his, "Think of it as a...pause button. But it's not a permanent pause. We can travel on weekends and on holidays. Heck, we can even travel in the nights, as long as you swear to return to me before the sun rises so I can get a few hours of sleep."

I felt terrible but...I also had to think of myself. By leaving, I could end any developing feelings and return to the regular friendship we shared. Plus, as much as he denied, one day he would get tired of me. If not tired, then a burden. I'd be older, much older...and I'd have to move on with my life on Earth. For that, I'd need minimum a high school degree. I'd need something to help me in those later years. This was for the good, for both causes.

"But it's not forever," I spoke again, reminding him, "Unlike Rose, I will be back. I'll be back on weekends, and on free days."

"Minerva, I get what you have to do. Just don't expect me to be happy about you leaving," he said quietly, looking down at our hands, "I'm happy for you. Because if you think this is what you need to do to be better, than I'm happy for you. And I'll accept your departure."

"So...we're okay, then?"

"Yeah, but just...promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Don't forget about me?" he looked up, sad eyes gazing into mine, "I don't want to be alone."

"Oh Martian, that'll never happen," I chuckled lightly, "I'm just going to be gone for five days of the week. Though for you, it could just be every five minutes. It's not that bad, honestly."

But he stayed silent.

"Doctor?" I called softly.

"Come here, you," he sighed, letting go of my hand and draping his arm over my shoulders, pulling me in a side-hug. "If it's for your best, then it'll be fine. We'll be fine."

~0~

The Doctor was the first to step out of the TARDIS into this new place he had brought us. He hadn't told us where it was he was going to bring us, but he promised it'd make me very happy. So naturally, I believed him. He always made happy, why would this be an exception?

"Where are we?" Martha asked as she stepped out, me following behind her.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely," the Doctor glanced back at us, "Minerva, mind introducing us to your friend?"

"Oh my god that's the Statue of Liberty!" I cried happily, seeing the great big statue in front of us.

"Gateway to the New World.. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free..."

"This is brilliant! I've always wanted to go New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, New..." I laughed excitedly, giving him a hug, "Oh my god! Thank you! This is absolutely fantastic!"

"Paving the way for a good recuperation, then?"

"Definitely, Martian boy!"

"Martian boy?" Martha cleared her throat, making us turn back to her.

"Minerva, I told you to stop," the Doctor muttered, nudging me.

I giggled, "Forget it Martha, only I call him that."

She gave us a smile and raised her hands in defense, "Got it."

"How about no one calls me that?" said Martian suggested.

"It's a bit late for that," I patted his arm and turned away, the two following me to the end of the island, looking out to the great city, "I love this city," I sighed, happily.

"I wonder what year it is 'cause look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet," Martha pointed.

"Work in progress," the Doctor shrugged, "Still got a couple floors to go and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around-"

"Year 1930," I smiled.

"Precisely November 1st, 1930," Martha added

"Hey, you're getting good at this."

"I had help," Martha waved a newspaper, "Minerva's just smart."

"History is one of my favorite topics," I flashed a grin.

The Doctor took the newspaper from Martha and looked at it.

"Eighty years ago. Unfunny cause you see also those old newsreels in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are," Martha gestured to the city, "It's real. It's now. Where do we go first?"

But the Doctor remained reading the newspaper, and by the face he was making, I knew something was wrong. Martha noticed it to and walked over, peering over his shoulder.

"What is it, Martian?" I asked just as Martha looked up from the newspaper.

"Hooverville Mystery Deepens". What's Hooverville?" she looked up in confusion.

~0~

We walked along Central Park. It was a beautiful park...if it wasn't for the tents and shacks across from us.

"So is anyone gonna explain?" Martha asked again, still lost on the Hooverville topic.

"Well this is my country," I sighed, "Herbert Hoover was our 31st president of the United States. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, my god I love that era, but not as much as the 50's," I smiled, the two shaking their heads, "Rambling, right, sorry. Anyways, he came to power a year ago and sadly went into the Great Depression with us."

"The Wall Street Crash, yeah?" Martha inquired, "That was 1929."

"Our whole economy went down the drain. There were thousands of people unemployed. Suddenly the huddles masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park," I gestured to the dozens of tents and shacks placed ahead of us, random barrels spread around the community.

"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" Martha raised an eyebrow.

"Well, they lost their jobs. They lost everything, Martha. There's places like these all over the country."

"But you only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go," the Doctor said, sighing.

We heard shouting coming from the little community and so we ran to go see what it was. It saddened me to see it was two men fighting over a loaf of bread; that's what our people come to in desperate times. We moved further along, watching the two men argue it out, pulling the loaf of bread back and forth.

An older man finally went up to the two men and pushed them apart, "Cut that out! Right now!"

"He stole my bread!" one of the men pointed at the other.

"That's enough," the older man said before glancing at the accused man, "Did you take it?"

"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy," the accused tried to say before the other man lunged at him.

"That's enough!" the older man kept the one who lunged back, "Now think real careful before you lie to me."

The accused sigh, "I'm starvin Solomon."

Solomon held out his hand to the accused, receiving the stolen bread, "We are all starving," he said, breaking the bread in half, "We all got families somewhere," he handed each man a half, "No stealing and fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got," and he sent the pair along.

"Now that's a mediator," I praised, the Doctor already heading towards Solomon.

"I suppose that makes you the boss around here," the Martian said to the man.

Solomon turned around, "And, uh, who might you be?"

"I'm the Doctor. These are Minerva and Martha."

"A doctor," Solomon scoffed, "Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighborhood gets classier by the day," he walked to a barrel with fore and warmed up his hands.

"How many people live here?" I looked around, spotting a little girl that was crying her eyes out on the floor.

"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same. All starving," he laughed, "So you're welcome. All of you. My name's Solomon if you need anything."

"Mhm, thanks," I mumbled, my eyes fixated on the little girl. I took a few steps towards her while Solomon spoke, not paying attention until a key question popped out.

"But how come they have enough money to do that, and we got people starving in the heart of the city?"

I stopped and looked over to the Empire Building, knowing it was true.

I shook my head and shifted my focus again to the girl and walked over to her, "Hi," I waved, "I'm Minerva, and call me nosy but, I'd like to know why such a pretty little girl is doing on the ground crying her eyes out," her eyes looked up, letting me see their icy blue tinge, "What's your name?"

"Karina," she sniffled.

"Hi Karina," I said, softly, sitting beside her on the ground, "What's wrong?"

"My Daddy's gone."

"What do you mean gone?"

"He's missing," she looked up, "Now I'm alone."

"And your mother?"

"She went to go look for him...but she's not coming back. They've been taken," she cried harder.

"Oh, no, don't cry," I scooted closer to her, "I'm sure they'll be back. Just wait."

"No, they won't," she shook her head.

"How old are you?" I asked, trying to figure it out already.

"Nine."

"Tell you what, Karina, I will go and look for them. Yeah?"

"But them you'll disappear. I don't want anyone else disappearing."

"I won't disappear," I assured.

"Minerva?" I looked ahead and saw the Doctor motioning me to follow.

"I'll go and see if I can find anything okay," I ruffled her brunette curls. I stood up and followed the Doctor and Martha into Solomon's tent.

"People ate missing," I directed myself to Solomon, "Two parents to be exact."

"It's not just two," he shook his head.

"But what does missing mean?" the Doctor asked, "Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."

"But this is different," I clarified.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because parents don't just leave their 9 year old on their own," I crossed my arms, "Not unless their mine, anyways."

"She's right," Solomon nodded, gesturing for us to sit, "Someone takes them. At night. We hear something. Someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone. Like they vanish into thin air."

"And you're sure someone's taking them?" Martha questioned.

"When you've got next to nothing, you hold onto the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."

"Have you been to the police?" the Doctor asked.

"We tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, Big deal. It's not taken serious."

"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" the Doctor said, more to himself.

"Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here," a young man poked his head into the tent.

We followed him out and saw a man at the head of a crowd, "I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."

"What's the money?" the young man who had brought us out yelled.

"What's the work?" Solomon questioned.

"A little trip down the sewers," Diagoras replied, "Got a tunnel that collapsed, needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"

"A dollar a day is a slave's wage," Solomon said, "Men don't always come back up, do they?"

"Accidents happen."

"What sort of accidents?" I asked, calling out his much-too-calm response.

"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?"

The Doctor raised his hand. I looked at him with confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Volunteering," he smiled.

"I'll kill you," I spat before raising my own hand, a few seconds later Martha following.

~0~

The Doctor, Martha, Solomon, Frank and I found ourselves in an old, smelly sewer while Diagoras gave instructions.

"Turn left. Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it."

"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank, the young man, asked.

"When you come back up."

"And if we don't come back up?" the Doctor asked, already suspicious.

"Then I've got no one to pay," Diagoras said, sounding wicked.

"We'll be back," Solomon assured.

Martha and I looked at each other, both uneasy about this little trip, "Let's hope so," we mumbled.

"We just gotta stick together. It's easy to get lost," Frank said as we walked, "It's like a huge a rabbit Warren. You could hide an army down here."

"So what about you, Frank?" I glanced at him, "You're not from around these parts, are you?"

"Oh, you got me. I'm from Tennessee, born and bred. And you?"

"California."

"Not doing so well either, I hear," he smiled, apologetically.

"'Fraid not," I shrugged.

"So how come you're here?" Martha jumped into the conversation.

"Uh, my daddy died. Mama...couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runways in camp younger than me. From all over: Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas...Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So what about you? You're with the overseas brethren."

"We're just hitchhikers," Martha said, chuckling.

"You stick with me, you'll be all right," he assured.

I chuckled, "I don't mind."

"So this Diagoras bloke," the Doctor cut in between us, "Who is he then?"

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman," Solomon replied, moving up as well, "Now it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."

"How did he manage that, then?"

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way 'round.

"Whoa! What is that?" I pointed ahead to a green blob on the ground.

"Let me see," the Doctor walked past us and knelt down before it, taking out his glasses and picking that blob up.

"Ugh, don't touch it," I frowned as Martha and I joined him.

"Is that radioactive?" Martha asked, pinching her nose to rid herself of the fowl smell it gave off.

"Shine your torch through it," he ordered, giving it a sniff. Martha moved her torch beside him, "Composite organic matter. Medical opinion, Martha?"

"Definitely not human."

"It's not. And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in and I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did send us down here?"

We started looking around, nervously.

"There's no collapse anywhere," I observed, feeling ridiculous for not noticing as fast as I should've. My mind was just not working so well with so many things going on, "Mr. Diagoras was lying then."

"But why did he want people to come down here?" Frank asked.

"Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own," the Doctor said, not taking his eyes off the blob. We heard a squealing sound coming from across.

"What the he'll was that?" Solomon demanded.

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing?" Frank asked, "There hasn't been any bodies found...you'd be scared, half mad down here on your own."

There were more squeals heard, but still no body.

"I've never heard nobody make a sound like that," Solomon said in a hushed tone.

"That's because it doesn't sound human," I muttered.

The Doctor stood up and walked a little ahead. The squeals wouldn't stop, instead, there were more, "This way."

"No, that way," Solomon moved his torch to another tunnel.

"Look!" I pointed to a figure on the ground right where his torch had passed.

"Who are you?" Solomon called.

"Are you lost?" Frank joined in, "Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' about folk lost…" he started walking for the figure but the Doctor kept him back.

"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look," he walked for the figure that still remained in place, only a few non-human squeals coming from it, "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us," he squatted in front of it, shining a light on the figure that indeed was not human, more like a pig! "Oh, but what are you?"

"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked.

"No, it's real," the Doctor sighed, "I'm sorry..." he said to pig man, "Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Now, who did this to you?"

"Doctor, you should get back...right now," my voice trembled as I watched the shadows that had fallen over in the tunnel, growing closer to us.

"You're not one to get scared so easily," he remarked, glancing over, "Unless it's horses..."

"Kinda makes you think, doesn't it?" I watched the other pig men standing across, "There's no horses around so..."

He looked back and finally saw the shadows, "Good point..." he stood up and backed away, rejoining us.

"They're following you," Martha whispered.

"Yeah, I noticed, thanks," he replied, backing us away, "Well then, Minerva, Martha, Frank, Solomon..."

"Yeah?" Martha and I asked.

"Um, basically...run!" he turned around and did just that.

We ran up to a cross-section, where we remained in confusion as to which way to take.

"Now what?" I looked around.

"This way!" The Doctor made a sudden turn, the rest of us rushing to catch up, "There's a ladder, c'mon!" he went up the ladder first and used the screwdriver to open up the lid.

Martha and I were pulled up first, and as Solomon was coming up I noticed we were now in a storage room with many props.

"C'mon Frank!" Solomon called, he and the Doctor working to get the man up.

"I've got ya!" the Doctor exclaimed, and we were just able to see a pair of hands when he was slipped back down.

"No!" I cried, running back to them.

Solomon pushed the Doctor aside and consequently, myself, then shut the lid closed, "We can't go after him!"

"You're damn crazy!" I snapped, "We have to go back!"

"Solomon, we can't just leave him!" the Doctor agreed.

"I am not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from Hell, Hell itself! If we go back, they'll take us all! Now, there's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

"All right then. Put 'em up," a pitchy voice ordered. We looked back and saw a blonde woman holding up a gun straight for us, "Hands in the air and no funny business," we did as told and put our hands up, "Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?"

"Um, who's Lazlo?" Martha asked, timidly.

~0~

"Lazlo's my boyfriend," the pitchy-voiced woman finally answered, having taken us to her dressing room with her gun. She sat at a table, explaining, "Or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothin'. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Lazlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"

"It might...might just help if you put that down," the Doctor stared after the gun as she waved it absently at us.

"Huh?" she looked at the gun, realizing she still had it, "Oh, sure," she threw it back, "Oh, c'mon, it's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

"What do you think happened to Lazlo?" I asked.

"I wish I knew," she frowned, sadly, "One minute he's there and the next, zip! Vanished."

"Listan, uh...what's your name?" the Doctor asked.

"Tallulah."

"Tallulah," he repeated, nodding.

"3 L's and an H."

"Right. Um, we can try to find Lazlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."

"And there are creatures," Solomon added.

"Whaddaya mean 'creatures'?" Tallulah raised an eye brow.

"Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is," the Doctor pulled out the blob from his pocket, "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."

She leaned back on her chair, "Ew!"

"And how exactly are you planning to do that?" I asked, crinkling my nose at the smell.

"I'm gonna need pieces," he turned around.

"I'm thinking the prop room might be a good start?"

"Good idea."

"In fact, I saw something I think you could use, sort of metallic and stuff," I turned back for the door and walked out, hearing his immediate calls after me.

"Minerva, I'd prefer for you to stay back with Martha and Tallulah."

I turned around abruptly, causing him to bump into me, "Let me think about that...no," I continued on my way only to be pulled back, "Oh c'mon, Martian, I can help. I know the basic thing you want is a DNA scan on that blob so-"

"Wow you are stubborn-"

"Yeah, I get that from my mother," I patted his shoulder, "But I'm serious. Plus, if this is gonna be my last trip, at least let me be useful."

He took hold of my arms and brought us back towards Tallulah's door, "You're always useful. But this is sort of out of your range."

"Oh? You always say I'm clever...what's changed?"

"This is a bit different and you don't want to know what it is."

"So you know what it is, then?" I raised an eyebrow, "Or are you just lying to me?"

"I wouldn't lie to you..."

"And who guarantees that? I seem to recall your first rule..." I smirked, "You lie."

He pretended to gasp in shock, "You listen to me?"

I gave him a look that said I'd kill him in the next second, "Listen, Martian," I gripped his arms and made a determined face, "Nothing is gonna keep me from helping you. Now, I don't think I'm committing a crime, am I? Somehow, I believe that this is just your pride being in danger."

"My pride!?" he repeated, looking indignant of such a thing, "Of what?"

"That I won't listen to you in front of all these people. You gave an order-"

"I do not give orders!"

I smirked, knowing this was my chance to slip away and go for the storage room. This Martian was just as stubborn as I was, only he was at the wrong times! "Aha..." I let go of his arms as he made an attempt to defend himself.

"I am against giving orders!"

"Aha..." I ducked underneath his arm and hurried to get away, "But you're telling me to stay back so..."

"Nice try, Souza," he grabbed my arm and pulled me back, "You may be clever but I am always one step ahead of you."

I rolled my eyes as I was returned to the wall once more, "Idiot."

"Show off."

"Says the pompous alien."

"Says the sassy human."

"At least this sassy human can use a blender."

"Minerva," he gritted his teeth.

I leaned up, smiling sweetly, "Yes?"

"Stop it," he ordered, leaning down.

"Or what?" my smile grew as I felt him closer.

"Or I'll..."

The door beside us open, and out came the others we had seemingly forgotten about for a moment there. Huh, how'd that happen there?

"Did you forget the problem here?" Martha raised an eyebrow.

I know this was probably inappropriate but I couldn't stop smiling. As the Doctor moved back, I ran a hand through my hair and felt my face warm up.

"Minerva?" Martha called again, a sharp look on her face.

"Yes?" I looked at her, a laugh threatening to come out of my mouth.

"The storage room? For the blob?"

"I'll do it!" the Doctor exclaimed, already backing away from us.

"That's what you were supposed to be doing!" Martha snapped.

"Right..." he rubbed his neck, pausing for a moment, "Solomon, you coming?"

"I don't know...may I?" the man raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor mock glared before turning around and walking off. Solomon just shook his head, smiling as he followed the alien. I watched the two go off before walking back inside the dressing room. When I entered the room, I found both Martha and Tallulah standing across with their arms crossed and smirks on their faces.

"What?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"No, no," Tallulah raised her hands, "If you'll excuse me, I have a show to do. Give me a couple of minutes."

I raised an eyebrow, watching her leave, "Um..."

"Minerva," Martha called, sounding like a tease as she strolled over, "What happened out there?"

"Nothing...I just wanted to help and, well..." I shrugged.

"Minerva..." she tilted her head as she linked an arm with me, leading us back to Tallulah's vanity desk, "...I keep secrets you know."

"Nothing happened, Martha. We just got...distracted," I looked the other way, "Seems to happen a lot nowadays."

"You don't say," she chuckled, "It's like you two forget I'm there."

I looked at her serious, "Really? Martha I don't want you to feel that way," and under no circumstances did I want for that to happen. Martha would not end up like me, not if I had anything to do with it.

"It's alright," she patted my arm, "It's actually quite funny. You get under his skin really good."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" I tilted my head, her tone just not settling with me.

"It's just what I see," she shrugged.

I sighed, letting a smile slip, "I don't know, I like messing with him. It's pretty fun because he always has a comeback."

"Those aren't comebacks between you, that's flirting."

"No," I immediately said, "That can't be it."

"Why are you so keen on denying it?"

"I told you, it can't, and I'm taking care of it."

"Taking care of...how?"

I shrugged, looking away, she'd know later on when I left the TARDIS, "Just, taken care of, believe me."

She stared curiously, but didn't have a chance to question further when Tallulah returned to us, now dressed as an angel. She took a seat on her vanity desk, sighing as she did her make up.

"Tallulah, are you okay?" I asked, quietly, knowing it was a stupid question to ask but there was nothing else I could really do.

"It's Lazlo...he'd wait for me after the show and walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rose," she looked at the one rose on her desk.

"Well haven't you gone to the police already?"

"Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't."

"Can't you kick up a fuss or something?" Martha tried.

"They'd fire me."

"But you're the star!" I exclaimed, "They have to listen to you!"

"Oh honey, I got one stone in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle, which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says. I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville," she put down her brush and stared at the mirror. Martha and I stared sadly at her, there was nothing left to say. "It's the depression, sweeties. Your heart might break, but the show goes on and if it stops, you starve. Every night, I have to go out there, sign, dance, keep going. Hoping he's gonna come back..." she started sobbing.

Martha and I quickly rushed to her and gave her a big hug.

"It'll be alright. He'll come back. Because we'll find him," I offered a comforting smile for her, "You'll see."

"You're lucky, though," she patted my hand then began wiping her tears, "You got yourself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit."

"Ha!" I laughed, "We're not...we're not together."

"Sure you are. The way you two looked at each other back there, and how close you were..."

"That was an accident!"

Both women scoffed and shook their heads, Martha giving me a sharp look afterwards, "Oh Minerva, you know you don't believe that."

"You should just stop," I smiled, embarrassed, "We're not. He had a friend and they were..."

"Had," Tallulah raised a finger, "Had."

"And it's like I said," Martha stepped beside me, "I'm not so sure he would've chosen Rose."

I sighed, "Can we just get back to what's important? Tallulah's grief!" I put my hands on her shoulders.

She chuckled, "You're one strange girl."

"I've been told."

""Every day I get one of these though," she picked up the rose from her desk, "Just like always."

"Do you think it's Lazlo?" I asked,taking the rose from her, stroking the petals as I remembered my beautiful crocus that was set beside my bed, still as fresh as ever...

"I don't know...I just want to know, if he's still around, why's he bein' all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?"

Martha and I looked at each other, no answer emerging from either.

~0~

When it came time for the show, Martha and I stood on the side of the stage and waited for Tallulah to come out.

"Do you think it's really him, though?" Martha asked, "Lazlo?"

I sighed, "I don't know. All this is strange."

"You know, I think it is," she crossed her arms, "One flower a day, just like always, it has to be him."

"Something tells me he never actually left," I scanned the area, as much as I could behind the curtains, "No one leaves a rose every day after 'disappearing'."

"Oh, I don't like what you just said," she frowned, peering out through the curtain as well, "The Doctor's right, I don't like it when you're clever and right all the time."

"When has he said that?" I asked, amused at her sudden scowl.

"All the time. It'd be really useful for you to not be so right!"

I chuckled, "I'll try my best then."

As we watched the show begin, we forgot about the problem at hand and watched Tallulah emerge on stage, looking gorgeous as ever and with such a flashy smile that no one would ever guess she was going through a heartbreak.

"Minerva," Martha suddenly shook my arm, "Look!" she pointed ahead.

I looked and saw what I assumed was another pig man standing on the other side of the stage, "But...it's not moving or attacking."

"We should see!" Martha rushed out on stage before I could reply.

"Martha!" I called. She hid behind the dancers, causing havoc, "Martha!" I ran out as well.

"What are you doing!?" demanded Tallulah as the poor dancers fell back with us scrambling through.

"Tallulah, look!" I yelled, pointing ahead.

She did but screamed at the sight, making every other girl do the same as they looked over.

"No! He's different!" Martha ran after the pig man.

I groaned as I stood up and ran after her, "For goodness sake's Martha!" I caught up in the prop room where she was desperately looking around, "What are you doing? It could be dangerous!"

"He's gone!" she turned to me.

"But what if it was a trap?" I asked, making her rethink everything.

"It was different," she assured, "It would've just attacked."

"You could be right or maybe this was the trap right here!" I pointed, slightly irritated with her slip,"Leading us to a room where no one's around and-" I felt something grab me from behind and pull on me, making me sigh, "I hate you Martha!"

But she had also been grabbed, "Maybe it was a trap!"

"Yah think!?" I snapped, "You better let me go you...you pig!" I wrestled for my freedom but to no avail and so, "DOCTOR!"

~0~

Martha and I were forced back into the sewers by pig-men. If it wasn't scary under here, and the possible looming death, I would've shouted at her for falling into the trap. Then again, she seemed so certain about that pig-man we had been chasing that perhaps this time I was wrong.

"Let us go!" Martha cried, struggling to be free as we were pushed against a wall.

More humans, along with pig-men, were coming by.

"You're gonna be damn sorry!" I snapped, pushing a hand, or a paw, or whatever the hell they had for hands, away from me.

"Martha? Minerva?" Frank came down the line with the humans and stopped beside us, giving us both a hug.

"Oh thank goodness you're alive!" I exclaimed, "I thought we'd lost you!" One of the pig men pushed us forwards and forced us to walk with the rest. "Where are they taking us?" I asked Frank, quietly.

"I don't know."

We reached a tunnel where people were being kept in a crowd.

"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. I've just got a nasty feeling that we're being kept in the larder," Martha shook her head.

The pig men around us started squealing, like they were nervous or something.

"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Frank panicked.

"Silence. Silence," a horrible voice ordered.

I felt my heart stop when I immediately knew what the voice belonged to, "Oh no..."

And out glided a Dalek.

"What the hell is that?" Martha blinked.

"You will form a line. Move," ordered the Dalek.

"...Daleks," my voice shook as the Dalek passed us, "Now I'm afraid. I'm really, really afraid."

"Why? What does it do?" Martha glanced over, noticing my trembling, "You're so pale..look like you've just seen a ghost."

"Or death itself."

We were pushed into a line of two, leaving space in the middle for someone to walk through...or in this case, a Dalek.

"Just do what it says!" I exclaimed, as some of the humans tried to struggle, "Just obey..."

"The female is wise. Obey!" another Dalek strolled on.

"Report," the first Dalek ordered.

"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause."

"I'm sorry?" I raised an eye brow.

"What is the status of the Final experiment?"

"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete."

"Then I will extract prisoners for selection."

One of the pig men brought an older man up to a Dalek. The Dalek used its socket and scanned him, "Intelligence scan. Initiate. Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."

"Are you calling me stupid?" the man snapped.

"This one will become a pig slave."

And the man was pulled away by the pig men. The Dalek moved onto us, scanning Frank first.

"Superior intelligence," it concluded, moving onto Martha, "Intelligence scan. Initiate. Superior intelligence," and finally, me,"Superior Intelligence."

"They will become part of the Final Experiment."

"You can't experiment on people!" Martha exclaimed, "It's insane! It's inhuman!"

'We are not human," the Dalek turned to her, my heart beating ever so fast at the thought of it harming her, "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."

And after more scans, two new lines were formed and we were forced to continue our walk. I felt my legs barely useful at a time like this as I looked at the Daleks in front of me. Because of them, I lost Mickey and Jackie. Much more, the Doctor had lost Rose. Together, we had lost everything, for the second time. Everything from the battle started rushing through my head, the urge to burst out crying rising and rising.

"Just keep walking," I heard the Doctor say from behind.

"Oh am I glad to see you," Martha sighed, relived.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want."

"How about you get us out of here, instead?" I nearly cried.

"Working on it."

"I'm serious, Doctor. I can barely feel my legs right now and if it wasn't for these pigs I'd drop and bawl up into sobs," I looked around, frantically.

"No need for that."

"The last time they were here they took everything from us and I don't want them to do that again. I'm scared. I'm really scared-"

"Don't," he grabbed my hand, "We won the last time-"

"But we lost so much," my voice broke, unintentionally gripping his hand, "What if this time I end up in a parallel world? Or Martha? Or you?"

"Not this time," he muttered, "No one will leave this time. We'll make it. I'll make sure of it."

And for some reason, I calmed down a bit afterwards.

~0~

We were brought into a lab above land that was filled with chemicals on dozens of tables as well as weird machines around the lab.

"Report," a Dalek said.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution," a second Dalek responded.

"Scan him. Prepare for birth."

"Evolution?" the Doctor repeated, confused as the rest of us were.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha nodded over to a Dalek that seemed almost restrained?

"Ask them."

"What me? Don't be daft."

"I'd do it..." I spoke up, doing my best to put aside my fear to help.

"I don't exactly want to get noticed...and no offense Minerva, but you don't look so good," both of them trailed me up and down, my face probably still pale as a ghost, "Martha, ask them what's going on," he gently pushed her upfront.

Seeing no other choice, Martha took a deep breath and finally spoke, "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!"

"You will bear witness," one replied.

"To what?"

"This is the dawn of a new age."

"But what does that mean?"

"We are the only four Daleks so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again."

Just as it finished speaking, the shells of the 'restrained' Dalek opened and out came...I don't even know. It had a HUMAN body, no doubt, but the face...it looked more Dalek. Just one eye and tentacles, just as the Doctor had once described to me in one of his stories. But this was a hybrid.

"I am a human Dalek. I am your future," 'Dalek Sec' responded, very slowly...yet equally terrifying as the others.

"That's Diagorus..." Frank said, disgusted at the hybrid, "Those are his clothes alright..."

"I am a human Dalek," Dalek Sec said, me definitely finding his voice to be similar as the human Diagorus, "I am your future. These...humans, will become like me."

"Over my dead body," I muttered, looking it up and down.

"That is exactly what we need," another Dalek replied, "Prepare them for hybridization."

"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha swatted the pig men away from her.

As they drew us together, a song started playing and caused everything to stop.

"What is that sound?" Dalek Sec demanded, desperately searching the room as were the rest.

"That would be me," the Doctor walked out with a radio in hand, "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Etcetera."

"Doctor," Dalek Sec declared, although it didn't sound like it was trying to be threatening.

"The enemy of the Daleks," a Dalek said.

"Exterminate," another Dalek ordered, that sounding like the common response.

"Wait," Dalek Sec cut in.

Something told me this 'hybrid' was not getting the memo of destroying the Doctor...

"A new form of Dalek," the Doctor walked towards them, the radio set down on a table, "Fascinating and very clever."

"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter."

"How did you end up in 1930?"

"Emergency Temporal Shift."

The Doctor scoffed, "Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?" he walked around, "Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world but instead your skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting," he took a deep breath, turning for the hybrid, "All of which results in you."

"I am Dalek in human form."

"And what does that feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it?" he moved around the hybrid, "You've got as name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I feel...humanity. I...feel...everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such...a genius for war."

"That is not what humanity means," I spat, not about to let them defame all of humankind, "You've yet to learn who we really are."

"I think it does. At heart, this species is so very...Dalek."

I frowned, becoming more irritated and defensive, "No we are not. Believe me, nothing will ever compare to what you kind can do," my eyes teared up as I thought about Mickey and Jackie, even poor Rose who came the closest to dying and nearly trapped in the Void, "Nothing that has a heart can ever measure up to you..."

"Alright, alright," the Doctor cut in, eyeing me curiously, silently asking if I would be okay. I gave him a small nod and he continued, "Let me just tell you what you achieved with this Final experiment... nothing! Cause I can show you what you're missing with this thing," he walked back to the radio, "Simple little radio."

"What is the purpose of that device?" a Dalek demanded.

"Plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it," he glanced at me, smiling softly, "Helps a man distract his friend when she needs him."

I nodded, recalling all the ridiculous amount of music he'd filled my head with lately, to refrain any of my little 'episodes'. Even Martha would join in and suddenly, I'd find the console room turned into a dance floor. But neither of them would listen to me when I said I didn't really listen to any music, but Martha made it a 'goal' to introduce me to new artists and songs, something that would discreetly help me as well. And while it was admittedly fun to dance at random moments, it was also very amusing to see the Doctor. He seriously could not dance. But it was touching that he made the effort to help cheer me up. I appreciated the gesture and him very much.

"Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's just noise," the Doctor used the sonic and created a higher pitch noise from the radio, causing the Daleks to go crazy, even the hybrid was trying to cover its...ears? "Run!"

And at light speed, we ran!

~0~

We returned back down into the sewers, running as fast as we could. On our way, we bumped into Tallulah and brought her along on the chase.

"But what's happened to Lazlo!?" She cried.

We couldn't really answer...so we didn't. The Doctor returned us to the ladder from which we originally entered and made us go back up. "Let's go! Hurry up! All of you!"

~0~

Back in the temporal safety of Hooverville, we tried to calm ourselves and inform Solomon of our discoveries.

"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they wanna breed?" Solomon asked, sounding frightened at the thought.

"They're splicing themselves into human bodies. If I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stick right here in Hooverville," the Doctor said, "We've got to get everyone out."

"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's no where else to go."

"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across the state, just get out of New York."

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things."

I scoffed, "Not a chance. They will take everything from you."

"You ain't seen 'em, boss," Frank shook his head.

"They're impossible," agreed Martha.

"Daleks are bad enough at anytime, but right now they're vulnerable and that makes them more dangerous than ever," the Doctor warned.

We heard a whistle blow followed by the yelling of a man, "They're coming! They're coming!" a Sentry ran towards us.

Solomon stood up, "A sentry. Maybe he saw something."

"They're here! I seen 'em! Monsters! They're monsters!"

"It's started," the Doctor stood up.

I felt my stomach churn as we looked around at the frantic people, wanting to push back the memories of Torchwood but somehow they just kept coming back, "Doctor," I looked around, doing my best to be as emotionless as possible.

"We're under attack! Everyone to arms!" Solomon ordered.

"We need to get out of here, not stay and fight," Martha argued, "Minerva, what's with you? You're pale..."

I put a hand on my face, "I can't help it, it's Torchwood. It's the Battle of Canary Wharf its..."

"Hard, I know," the Doctor nodded, understanding completely, "But it's not like that anymore. This time, this time we could have a chance."

"What happened at Torchwood? What is Torchwood?" Martha looked between us, lost on the subject.

"I haven't told you about Torchwood," I turned to her, "I'm sorry."

"Hold on, that's where Adeola worked," she frowned as she started making the connections.

"I know, I'll tell you later," I assured.

She nodded, then hugged me for some reason, "Don't let these creatures ruin your recuperation, don't give them that satisfaction."

I nodded, hugging back, seeing the Doctor agree with a nod as well. I faintly smiled and reached for his hand, hugging my best friend and holding the hand of someone I cared for deeply, all the support I needed to help me keep going.

Frank returned with his weapon, ready to go, "I'm ready, boss. Find a weapon all of you, use anything!" Frank returned to us, the men of the community already gathering their own weapons.

We ended our moment and remembered the problem we faced.

"Come back! We gotta stick together!" Solomon shouted after the running community members, "It's not safe out there! Come back!"

The pig men started pouring in from all sides, not allowing any escape plans.

"We need to get out of the park," Martha suggested.

"I don't think we can," I frowned, seeing the pig men stationed at every possible side, "They're surrounding us and drawing everyone back towards us."

"We're trapped!" Tallulah cried, "Now what!?"

"We stand together," Solomon stepped up, "Gather around. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together," everyone was gathered into a tight spot, just waiting, "They can't take all of us!" and they started firing.

"If only we could hold them off till daylight." Martha looked around, frantically.

"Those are just the foot soldiers..." the Doctor said, quietly, looking up.

"And they fly..." I mumbled, my eyes fixated on the flying Dalek above us.

"What in the world..." Solomon lowered his weapon.

"It's the devil. A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation," the sentry cried.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Frank fired at the Dalek but was very much disappointed to see it had made no trace.

"That's not gonna work," the Doctor lowered Frank's gun.

"There's more!" I pointed up.

The other Daleks joined in and together fired at the settlement, causing fires to erupt, "The humans will surrender," one of them said.

"Leave them alone!" the Doctor shouted, "They've done nothing to you!" Solomon stepped up but he quickly pulled him back, "No, Solomon. Stay back."

"I'm told that I'm adressin' the Daleks, is that right?" Solomon said, then moved up to the front, speaking to the Daleks, "From what I hear, you're outcasts,too."

"Solomon, don't," the Doctor repeated his warning.

Solomon looked back, "Doctor, this is my township, you will respect my authority. Just let me try."

The Doctor shook his head and stepped back with the rest of us.

"You're not just gonna let him do this, are you?" I whispered.

"I can't!" he pointed, "You saw."

I sighed, "I saw...and I'm also seeing another death."

"Daleks...ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" Solomon set his weapon on the ground, "'Cause, see, I just discovered this past day God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Terrifies me. Right down to the bone. But it's got to give me hope...hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So I...I beg you know if you have any compassion in your hearts then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well...what do you say?"

"Exterminate!" one of the Daleks yelled and killed him instantaneously.

"No!" Frank yelled, running to where Solomon had just been, "No! Solomon!"

"They killed him. They just shot him on the spot," Martha gaped.

"Because that's what they do, they take," I muttered, staring up at the devils in the sky.

"Daleks!" the Doctor yelled, angrily, opening his arms out for them, "Alright, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!"

"He needs to stop doing that!" I snapped, wanting to smack him for putting himself in that situation, but also wanting to pull him back to safety, "Volunteering to be killed first helps no one!"

"Unfortunately, he won't listen," Martha smiled, warmly, "Don't worry."

But I stared on, watching the idiot calling his own death once more.

"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy," the Dalek announced.

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it!" the Doctor beat on his chest repeatedly, "Do it already!"

"Extermin-" it just stopped midway, "I do not understand. It is the Doctor."

"The urge to kill is too strong," another Dalek said.

"I...obey," and the Dalek seemed to back away in the air.

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked the question we all had.

"You will follow," the Dalek instructed.

"No! You can't go!" I exclaimed, stepping up.

He looked back, "I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds."

"But what about us, then?" I asked, quietly, "We're gonna die without you."

He looked at the crowd then back to the Daleks, "One condition. If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?"

"The humans will be spared," the Dalek agreed, "Doctor...follow."

"You can't leave us," Martha said, "We're coming with you."

"Stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go."

Martha sighed, looking down but I continued to stare, "There's nothing for me to do here. I'm terrified, please don't leave us."

"Minerva!" I heard a soft little voice in the midst of the crowd. Little Karina was pushing herself through the people until she finally ran up to me, throwing her arms around my waist, "I'm scared. Please don't go."

The Doctor smiled, softly, "I think someone else needs you right now."

I looked down to Karina, knowing no one else would protect her but me. It was like that natural instinct to protect the younger, like a big sister would to their little sister; like Liv protected me from the monsters. I sighed, nodding at the Doctor, "Just be careful then..."

He nodded, and with that, he followed when suddenly he looked back and returned, giving Martha and I a quick hug, "And can I just say, thank you very much."

~0~

"Did you find my parents yet?" Karina was asking me as I helped Martha heal a man.

"Um," I looked to Martha and Tallulah, "Well...you see..."

"Oh honey, it's best to tell her," Tallulah smiled dimly, "Sooner or later she'll find out."

Martha nodded in agreement and gestured for me to take the little girl away and explain to her that her parents would never return. I sighed and turned to Karina, leading her a short distance away from the others.

"Where are they?" Karina tilted her head, "I'm scared, Minerva. I want my Mom and Dad."

I knelt down in front of her, preparing myself to speak the most horrible words the little girl would ever hear in her life, "I'm really sorry," I looked at her icy blue eyes and saw she really had no idea what happened, "I couldn't find your parents. And, I doubt I really will...Karina, I think they're dead."

"But...but they...no..." her eyes became watery, "I want my Mom and Dad. I want them here!" she stomped her foot and started to cry, "I want my Mom and Dad! Minerva, I want my parents!"

"I'm really sorry, honey," I pulled her for a hug, rubbing her back as she wept, "Really."

"But I'm too little to be by myself. I don't know how to do anything. I'll die too."

"No you will not," I pulled back and made her face me, "For that same reason of being young, you are not gonna die. You have a lot to live for."

"But I want my Mom and Dad," she cried again.

"Hey, listen, my parents aren't with me anymore. Granted, they're not dead but I don't live with them anymore and look at me...don't I seem fine?" she sniffled and nodded, "And you could do even better than me! You've got the big city to live in! And tell you what, I'm Californian but I gotta admit New York is one of the best states ever."

She faintly smiled, "Yeah?"

"Oh yeah! And is Karina going to cry and never get to know her city?"

"Well...no..." she swayed her hard, fiddling with her fingers.

"Exactly!"

"Minerva?" Martha walked over, Tallulah right beside her, "I think we have to go."

"What? Why?" I frowned, "Where?"

She took out the Doctor's psychic paper and grinned, "Something tells me."

"When did you get that?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, little sneak slipped it in without me noticing. Probably when he hugged us goodbye."

"Okay, but where are we supposed to go?"

"I can't think of anything."

"Minerva," Karina tugged on my sleeve, "I'm cold."

I looked down at her, disliking the idea of having to leave her. But, if I left, I could help the Doctor and stop the big threat over her life and that actually sounded really nice, "Okay, I have to go somewhere but I will be right back."

"What if you don't come back? Like my Mom and Dad?" she frowned.

"I will," I assured, "Now go into your tent and don't come out, okay? And if anything happens here, you run. Do you hear me? Run as fast as you can!"

"Please be careful," she hugged me tightly, "You're the last thing I have now. You can be like my big sister, is that okay?"

I stroked her hair, smiling softly, "That would be very okay."

I pulled from our hug and Karina ran off to her tent. I turned to the others, ready for the task ahead, "Alright," the two quickly straightened up and listened, "Back in the sewers, do you remember what the Daleks had said? Something about um...an energy conductor?"

"Dalekanium!" Martha exclaimed.

"They said it was in place."

"But in place where?" Tallulah asked.

"Frank might know," Martha said, already turning for our friend and walking over, Tallulah and I following behind, "Frank? That Mr. Diagoras was like a fixer, wasn't he? Got you jobs all over town?"

"Yeah, he could find a profit anywhere," Frank sighed.

"Where?" I asked, "What kind of things?"

"You name it," Frank shrugged, "We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you up for something good. Building work. That pays the best."

"What sort of building work?"

"Mainly building that," he pointed to the Empire State building.

"Oh, boy," I breathed in, staring the building up and down and taking its great altitude in.

~0~

"You know, I always wanted to go to the Empire State," Tallulah remarked as we went up in an elevator of the Empire State Building.

"Me too," Martha agreed, "Just...never quite imagined it like this."

"Where are we headed anyways?" Frank asked.

"Up," I pointed, "That's where they're still building."

"But how come those guys just let us through?" Tallulah asked, "How's that thing work?"

"Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we're three engineers and an architect."

"Let me see that," Frank snatched it from me and took a look, "Hey, it does."

I chuckled as I took it back just as the elevator opened, "Anyways, we're here and we've got a job to do."

We walked out to the top floor, finding it to be a construction mess.

"Look at this place. Top of the world," remarked Tallulah.

"Now this looks good!" Martha ran over to a desk with papers, "Its architectural plans!"

We rushed over to her and peered down.

"Look at the date," I pointed, "These were issued today, meaning they changed something at the last moment."

"You mean the Daleks changed something?" Martha asked.

"I think so."

"The ones underneath, they're from before. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not this one. We need to check one against the other!"

"The height of this place! This is amazing!" Tallulah was still in shock, now by the great open window which held a view of the city I presumed.

"Careful, we're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off," Frank warned.

"I just wanna see," she waved him off.

Martha and I spread out the plans on the floor and started studying them.

"I'll go and keep an eye out, make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody buttin' in," Frank said as he walked past us.

"There's a hell of a storm movin' in!" Tallulah looked out to the sky.

"Okay, okay, if we could just figure this out," I looked intently from one plan to the other before sighing, "But I don't know what I'm looking for. The Doctor would know. I'm useless."

"No, you'll figure it out. You're just as clever as he is," Martha put a hand over my shoulder.

I sighed, "Now's not the time for lies, Martha."

"I'm serious," she smiled, "He said so himself; he only takes the best."

"Please, he took me in because Rose said no," I muttered, forcing myself to continue looking, when I realized what I just said.

"What?" she stopped me from studying the plans, "What did you say?"

I looked at her, slowly coming to terms of my reality that I never even realized before, "When he first asked us to come along, Rose said no. Then he asked me, and foolishly, I said yes. So he only invited me because she turned him down. I was...I was a second choice plate," I shook my head, wanting to smack myself for never realizing it, "...I was second best."

I never thought of it that way...what would have happened if Rose had said yes? Would the Doctor have even remembered me? He seemed so enthralled with Rose that maybe he probably would have just left me there along with Mickey. Then what would I have done?

With so many thoughts like this, I stopped scanning and shut my eyes, "Martha, I'm second best."

"Minerva Souza, I am so done with you trying to belittle yourself!" Martha frowned, "You act like you're nothing to the Doctor and the world. You're so focus on those lies that you don't even see the way he acts around you, you don't see the way he looks at you," she started speaking softly, even Tallulah walking over and nodding in agreement, "You are so focus on picking out your insecurities that you don't stop to see that you're the top woman on his list. And apart from that, you don't see what you've done. Before getting into any kind of relationship, you need to understand, you need to know what you have done for the world."

I looked at both women for a moment, almost falling for it, "I shouldn't even be thinking about that," I shook my head, feeling totally ridiculous for using this time to talk about all this. I swallowed hard and once more forced myself with great struggle to look at the plans.

"Minerva, I don't like seeing you so sad," Martha looked at me with great sorrow, only increasing my emotions, "Especially when none of it is true. I don't get how someone so special, so strong, can have those kind of thoughts about herself. Is it because of your mother? Because of your guilt?"

"It doesn't matter, Martha," I mumbled, "It's just the truth, let it go."

"But it's not. It's really not. And maybe after this I'm gonna sit you down and give you a big lecture on why you're wrong. I'll even give you hardcore examples if I need to!"

"Martha, it's alright."

"No, it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No-"

"Martha!" I exclaimed suddenly, making both women flinch, "Maybe this is not the time to tell you all this but yeah, okay, I feel second best. I always do because there's these moments where I feel like...the Doctor's not really seeing me. He's seeing Rose again. It like there's times where he doesn't consider my aptitude, my skills, my remarks, as good as Rose's. And it kills me, alright? It shouldn't bother me this much but it does because I want him to see me and only me, not some girl that's never going to come back. She's gone but I'm still here..." I started sniffling, hating Martha so much for making me say all these in the worst place possible, but also needing one of her supporting hugs she offered.

She smiled softly, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Sounds like a lot of emotions for someone who doesn't want to even feel something for a man."

"Yikes, wonder what would happen if she did like him," Tallulah nudged her, both smiling and shaking their heads.

"Just know Minerva, that you're not second best," Martha assured, "A second best to a ghost? Are you kidding me!?"

She was wrong, they were wrong, I could never have anything beyond friendship with the Doctor and it would stay like that. I shook my head and really focused this time one the plans, "Aha! I got it!"

"But Minerva-" Martha tried returning us to the conversation.

"Martha, shut up! Look at this!" I pointed to the big difference of the two plans, "On the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?"

"But added what?" Tallulah asked.

"Martha, you said it before," I glanced at her, smiling big, "Dalekanium!"

"I told you, you were as clever as the Doctor!"

We heard the elevator doors opening and saw the Doctor and Lazlo running in out of breath, Frank coming up behind them.

"Doctor! Come here!" Martha called, "We worked it out! Well, Minerva did! Come!"

"Yeah, there's Dalekanium on the mast," I pointed as Martha stood up and was given a hug by him.

"That is fantastic!" he exclaimed as I got up, "Brilliant work!" he hugged me next, leaving a sloppy kiss on my forehead, "As always."

I smiled as he let go, catching the look Martha was giving us from the corner of my eye, and quickly stopped, "Thanks..."

There was a ding coming from the elevator doors and we looked to see them closing.

"No, no, no, no!" the Doctor ran back to them, trying to use the sonic on the panel, "Ah! It's a deadlock seal! I can't stop it."

"But where's it going?" Martha asked, confused.

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?"

"11:15," Frank replied.

"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."

"Gamma radiation? What the heck is that?" Tallulah frowned.

We led the Doctor to the opening of the room that overlooked the city, "Oh, that's high," his eyes widened, "That's very...Blimey, that's high."

"And we've got to go even higher," I pointed up, "The mast is up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium at the base. We've got to get them off."

"That's not 'we'. That's just me," he corrected.

I raised an eye brow, "You're not gonna keep doing this. I will not stand here and watch you just go and possibly kill yourself...again!"

"You're gonna have your hands full anyways. You have to stay here and fight. I'm sorry but they're coming...and you're gonna have to fight."

~0~

"The lift's coming up," Martha said, as we waited for just that while holding makeshift weapons. "

"I shoulda brought that gun," Frank muttered.

"Tallulah, stay back. Martha and Minerva, you too," Lalzlo stepped up in front of us, "If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill."

"Sorry, but the Doctor left us here to fight, and whether we want to or not, we're gonna do it," I frowned.

"They're savages. I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth," he suddenly collapsed on the floor.

"Lazlo?" Tallulah quickly helped him up, "What is it?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me," Lazlo struggled to keep on his feet. He fell back to the floor and we helped him against the wall.

Tallulah knelt down beside him and put her hand to his forehead, "Honey, you're burning up. What's wrong with you? Tell me."

"One man down and we ain't even started yet," Frank sighed.

Martha suddenly looked to open space behind us, "The storm!" she pointed,"Meaning, lightning...meaning..." she smiled, suspiciously.

"Martha, what are you thinking of?" I asked as she ran across the room.

"No time, just help me, clever girl!" she motioned for me to join.

"Okay!" I rushed over, "Whaddya need?"

With Frank's help as well, we set up rods above the ground and led them all the way towards the elevator.

"What the hell are you clowns doin'?" Tallulah asked, still trying to get Lazlo better.

"Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still gonna get hit. Great big bolt of lightening, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped," Martha explained.

"That could work," she blinked, surprised.

"Then give us a hand!" Frank exclaimed.

She did, slowly, but she did. At last, we finished and not a moment too soon.

"Is that gonna work?" Tallulah asked.

"It's got to," Martha nodded.

"I trust it," I said, looking at Martha with a smile, "And I trust Martha."

She smiled back, "Thanks Minerva!"

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside," Frank said.

"Come here and sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal," instructed Martha.

We all huddled into the corner of the room and awaited the pig men to arrive. A lightning bolt struck down and was sent through the rods, electrifying all the pig men as they started coming out of the elevator.

"You did it, Martha," I stood up, rushing up to the dead pig men, "You got them all."

She didn't seem too happy about that as she stared on, rigidly, "They used to be like Lazlo. They were people and I killed them."

"No, the Daleks killed them," Lazlo corrected, "Long ago."

"But what about the Doctor?" I suddenly remembered, already running for the Martian, "Oh, he better be alive! Or I'll kill him!"

~0~

"There he is!" Martha pointed to the unconscious alien by the mast.

"Oh, he better be alive!" I rushed over to him, kneeing beside him, "Doctor! Doctor! C'mon, wake up!"

He began to groan, putting a hand on his head as he started coming around, "My head..."

I looked to the others, sighing in relief, "He's alive."

"Hey, you survived," he smiled, glancing at me.

"So did you, I'm glad to say," I helped him sit up, "Do I want to know what happened here?"

"I, uh...was electrocuted," but he groaned as he rubbed the side of his head, "Why do I always get electrocuted when I leave you?"

"It's a sign telling you I'm always right and you should listen to me more often!"

"Nice try," he pointed before bringing us to our feet.

"Um, I can't help but notice there's still Dalekanium still attached," Martha pointed.

"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan."

"How do we stop them?" Lazlo asked.

"There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first."

"And that means?" Martha raised an eye brow.

"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!"

"That's me. Three L's and an H," she stepped up, grinning.

"The theater! It's right above them and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

"Don't see why not."

"Is there another lift?"

"We came up in the service elevator," I said.

"That'll do!" he exclaimed, moving to run off again.

"Hold on!" I grabbed his arm, pulling his back, "I think you might need this," I pulled out his screwdriver.

"Oh, yes!" he grabbed it excitedly, "Allons-y!"

He ran off again, leaving the others to just stare at me with a big question on his stupid word, "I-I don't know about that word. Let's just go," I shook my head and followed the alien.

~0~

We ran into the dark theater which was empty save us...for the moment.

"There ain't nothin' more creepy than a theater in the dark," Tallulah remarked, shivering at the sight.,"Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes but there's a time and place, huh?" Lazlo collapsed into one of the seats beside her, "Lazlo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just so hot." He complained, shaking his head.

"But...it's freezing in here." Tallulah frowned, "Doctor, what's going on with him?"

He was busy with the screwdriver and barely listening, "Not now, Tallulah."

"What are you doing?" Martha asked.

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am," he held up the screwdriver in the air and turned it on, "Now I need you all to go. Frank can take you back to Hooverville."

"I have had just about enough of this," I snapped, "We're not going this time."

"That was an order."

Martha stepped beside me, "But this time I'm with Minerva. No more splitting up."

"Look you two-"

"NO!" I yelled, shutting him up for once, "Now you listen and listen well, Martha and I are staying and you are gonna like it do you hear me? This is my last trip in a long time so I am gonna stay do you understand!?"

Martha turned to me, catching the last part with shock, "Wait, what do you mean 'last'-"

But the doors burst open and in came the human-daleks carrying weapons.

"Oh my god! Well I guess that's them then, hun?" Tallulah backed away.

"Humans with Dalek DNA," I stared at the line forming around us.

"Just stay calm and don't antagonize them," the Doctor instructed.

An explosion from the stage made all of us go down behind the seats. The Doctor was the first to peer back up.

"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks," that irritating voice called.

"Stay put," he muttered then got up and stepped over the seats.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age."

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro."

"Oh and what a world," the Doctor shook his head, "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"

We stood up and found the Daleks on the stage, along with a chained up Dalek Sec.

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor," a Dalek said.

"But he can help you," Dalek Sec insisted.

"The Doctor must die."

"No, I beg you, don't," Dalek Sec seemed sincere in his intentions.

"Exterminate!" another Dalek exclaimed, shooting forwards.

Dalek Sec stood up just as the beam shot through and was killed.

"Your own leader. The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him," the Doctor looked on with disgust, "Do you see what they did?" he glanced to the human Daleks, "You see what a Dalek really is? If I'm gonna die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek-Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them," he opened out his arms for them.

"Dalek Humans, take aim," ordered a Dalek.

They hybrids aimed their weapons to the Doctor.

"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" the Doctor cried.

"I'm gonna kill him," I muttered to Martha.

"Exterminate!"

I shut my eyes, already trembling. When I heard nothing, I opened an eye and found everything as it was: the hybrids had failed to shoot.

"Exterminate!" the Dalek ordered again but nothing happened.

"They're not shooting," I said, looking to the Doctor, "What did you do?"

"You will obey. Exterminate."

"Why?" a man suddenly asked.

"Daleks do not question orders."

"But why?"

"You will stop this."

"But...why?"

"You must not question."

"But you are not our master. And we...we are not Daleks."

"No, you're not, and you never will be," the Doctor nodded then turned back to the Daleks, "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightening strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."

"If they will not obey, then they must die," the Dalek shot down the questioning hybrid.

"Get down!" the Doctor shouted.

We got down behind the seats just as the sound of shooting took over the room. We heard explosions but couldn't get up from our spots until they all stopped. When the shooting ceased, we peered up and found the Daleks were gone...but the hybrids weren't. In fact, they stood rigid, but alive.

"It's alright. It's alright," the Doctor walked over to them, "You did it. You're free."

Suddenly, they held their heads and screamed in agony.

"No!" the Doctor yelled as they all collapsed onto the ground, "They can't! They can't!"

"What happened!?" I looked at all the dead bodies.

"What was that?" Martha asked.

"They killed them. Rather than let them live. An entire species," he stood up, completely enraged and teeth gritted, "Genocide."

"One o the Dalek masters must still be alive," Lazlo said, "Only two were destroyed.

"Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one."

He went ahead after it. I didn't even make an insistence on accompanying him this time. He was furious and I admitted it actually scared me...and I wanted to be no where near that.

~0~

"Doctor, he's sick!" Martha exclaimed as we helped Lazlo into the lab of the Daleks.

As we set him on the floor, I took a look around and found there was no Dalek and by the Doctor's face, it must have escaped.

"It's his heart," Martha explained, "It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."

"What is it, Doctor?" Tallulah asked, "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe."

"It's time, sweetheart," Lazlo very faintly smiled.

"What do you mean 'time'? What are you talking about?"

"None of the slaves...survive for long. Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on cause I had you. But now...I'm dyin', Tallulah."

"No you're not. Not now, after all this," she shook her head, "No. Doctor, can't you do something?"

"Oh, Tallulah with three L's and an H...Just you watch me!" he took off his coat and threw it to the side, "What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one," he gestured to the whole room then turned to us, "Lazlo, just you hold on!" And he ran around the room, mixing up chemicals and solutions, "There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age-old enemies. And I'm tellin' you right now, I am not having one more death. Got that?" he turned back and ran, "Tallulah, out of the way!" he pulled out a stethoscope and put it on, "The Doctor is in!"

~0~

"Well, I talked to them," Frank walked towards us. The Doctor, Martha, Tallulah, Lazlo and myself had awaited him at the park while he tried convincing Hooverville to take in Lazlo, "I told them what Solomon would've said and I reckon I shamed one ore two of them."

"What did they say?" the Doctor asked.

"They said yes."

"Oh!" Tallulah hugged Lazlo excitedly.

"They'll give you a home, Lazlo. I mean, uh, don't imagine people ain't gonna stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for, people who ain't got nowhere else."

"Thank you," Lazlo nodded, "I can't thank you enough."

Frank smiled, nodding his head.

"Minerva!" little Karina ran from the community, "You came back!"

I chuckled, stumbling back with her abrupt hug, "Of course I did."

"I thought you were going to die!"

"No, I have a lot to do still before my time comes," I looked down at her as she pulled away, "Just like you do."

"I'm alone now..." she backed away, her gaze on the ground, "...what am I going to do?"

I knelt down in front of her, "Karina, I have some friends that could definitely help you out," I turned her to the others, "That's Frank, Lazlo, and Tallulah. Say hello."

She stepped up, sheepishly looking from one to the other, "Hello."

"Frank, do you think you could maybe look after her?" I asked, "I want to know she's gonna have people with her."

He nodded, "I've got siblings of my own. I know how to deal with them."

Karina looked back to me, "Are you gonna leave now?"

"Uh...yeah," I nodded.

She pouted, and I thought she'd end up crying she threw her arms around my waist, "I'm gonna miss you."

"Aw, me too. Don't think I ever met such a proper young girl," I chuckled, "You'll be just fine in this world."

She pulled away and grinned, "I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

"A mini-Minerva, can you imagine that?" Martha joked, chuckling.

"She's pretty, she's smart, she's very neat and I like her hair," Karina explained her reasons, "And she makes people feel good."

"That she does," the Doctor agreed.

"Better hit the books then, kid," Martha said, "She's very smart."

"And so is she," I declared, swinging an arm around her shoulders, "She doesn't need to be like anyone else. She just needs to be herself. The world doesn't need another Minerva, they need a Karina, a big Karina!"

She smiled and rested her head beside me. I looked down and couldn't help but remember Olivia. I used to do the same thing when I was upset...the times we were actually together. It made me miss her even more, as well as making the guilt increase.

~0~

Martha, the Doctor and I were watching the Manhattan Skyline once more, getting ready to leave.

"Do you reckon it's gonna work, those two?" Martha suddenly asked, breaking a prolonged silence that had fallen over us.

"I don't know. Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York, that's what this city's good at," the Doctor shrugged, beginning to smile, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid too."

"The pig and the showgirl," I added, making them laugh.

"The pig and the showgirl," he grinned.

"Just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone," Martha sighed, turning around but not before giving us a look.

"Not everyone," I said, going to follow, "Sometimes they're not looking."

"Ha!" she waved me off with a hand as she opened the TARDIS doors.

"What's that about?" the Doctor asked as she went inside.

I shrugged and proceeded to slap him across the face, remaining serious as he rubbed his cheek. I wanted to smack him, but I figured a slap would get the message across.

"What did I do now?" he gritted his teeth, looking fairly annoyed.

"That was for giving me heart attacks each time you volunteered to die today!"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, 'oh'," I rolled my eyes, "Honestly, you have got to stop doing that! Some of us actually care if you die!" he remained silent, looking down as he took his scold. I then brought him for a hug, sighing as he slowly hugged back,"When I'm gone, please refrain yourself from using that strategy. Please?" he nodded quietly,"I mean it Doctor. I know your number one rule. Swear to me this time," I pulled back, being serious as I looked him in the eye, "Swear to me you won't do it again."

"I swear."

I smiled, "Thank you. Now I can be somewhat less stressed about your shenanigans."

"When exactly do you want to leave?"

"In about an hour?" I tried, shrugging in the end, "I don't know, I just want to get my things ready."

"And do you know where you're going to stay for sure?"

I nodded, "I'm sure Ami won't mind me staying."

He sighed, and reopened the doors for us, "Well, an hour it is then."

I turned for the doors, offering a fake smile as I stepped in, "An hour it is."

~0~

"I can't believe you're actually leaving," Martha shook her head, helping me wheel along a suitcase, "Why? Why are you doing it? Did I finally make you angry with the whole Doctor thing and being second best?"

I smiled softly at her concern, "No, it's because I really want to finish high school already. It's my senior year and I'm literally months away from finishing up. And with all these trips I never attend school anymore..."

Aaaaand, I wanted to put a stop before anything that shouldn't happen, happen. Because I didn't want them to happen...I didn't.

"But you're just gonna stop travelling?"

"It's not forever," I shrugged, "And besides, I told the Doctor I'd be around on weekends...holidays..."

"You don't look so happy," she remarked, watching my smile diminish as I thought about how little time I'd be spending in the TARDIS now, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"It's not what I want," I corrected, heaving a sigh, "It's what needs to be done."

We entered the console room and I stopped at the sight of the Doctor. I coughed, and he looked up from his work, "I'm, um, ready."

He looked at the two suitcases and nodded. Martha suddenly looked back into the corridors, "Minerva, I'm gonna go take a look around your room, see if you forgot something. Is that alright?" I nodded and she went on, nudging me before walking away.

""All set, then?" the Doctor asked, sounding more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah..." I slowly walked over to him, "...listen, I kinda have something for you."

"Me?"

I chuckled nervously as I reached inside my bag and took out my sketch book. I opened it up and ripped out a page, my face already warm as I looked at him, "See, I was trying to give you a present to thank you for this wonderful opportunity you gave me...with the box," I laughed with nervousness again as I ran a hand through my hair, "But then I realized what could a human possibly give a Time Lord?" he smiled and looked down for a bit, which I took as an opportunity to breath in and try to calm down, "So my lame attempt was a drawing," I held out the paper to him, looking at the drawing intently, "It's us three, you Martha and me. Plus your box of wonders."

"My what?" he looked up, confused at the unknown nickname I had branded his TARDIS with.

"That's what I call your TARDIS sometimes..." I smiled, knowing for sure my face was red now, "Because it's full of wonders."

He chuckled as he looked at the drawing once more, "I like the name, haven't heard that one yet."

"It's definitely brought me some wonders..." I said quietly, and he looked up.

"This is really nice, Minerva. Thank you."

"Yeah? I mean I know it's lame and pretty simple but I'm a human with no money and absolutely no way of getting anything intergalactic for you so..."

He pulled me into a hug, surprising me at the abruptness,"It is not 'lame' and I wouldn't want anything else. Well, actually, I'd like for you to stay but...you know..."

"We're all good!" Martha's voice rang through the room as we pulled apart.

"So, London?" the Doctor asked, going around the console and setting my drawing aside for the moment.

I nodded, "Yeah."

He grinned and worked to get us there. Martha came by to hang on just as the box started its shaking. Once it stopped, I turned for the doors, feeling as if I could just rush back to my room here and lock it so I would never leave.

But I knew what needed to be done.

The Doctor walked past us and happily opened the doors, earning a curious look from Martha and I. He seemed just a tad not-sad about this...and he had been sad just an hour ago. He looked back at us and gestured for us to go out.

I peered over and saw just a little bit of outside and catching something that was not usual in London.

A bright, red lantern.

I looked at the Doctor, raising an eyebrow as I questioned where the hell he had brought us to. He simply stepped back for Martha and I to come forwards.

This alien had something up his sleeve, and it sure didn't involve London.

#doctor who #10th doctor #ocappreciation #ocapp #doctor who fics #10th doctor fics #dw imagine #dw imagines #doctor who imagines #10th doctor imagines #10th doctor imagine #martha jones #oc: Minerva Souza #fic: next stop eveywhere

14 notes · View notes