#why have an anniversary special with only one doctor??

[cosmicallyavg]

im still clowning that the 60th specials are multi-doctor and that they're just hiding it reaallllyyyy well 🤡🤡🤡🤡

[bittersw33t-lotus]

Surprise

Ghosting pt. 1

Simon “Ghost” Riley x Fem! Reader

Cw: swearing, unplanned pregnancy, mentions of abortion, angst, arguments, abandonment, younger Simon, story takes place when he’s 25 and you’re 23.

Part 2 here

“kids?”

“What about them?”

“Would you ever want any?”

It was yours and Simon your one year anniversary. It was nothing special, just some takeout and card games with a movie playing in the back. You don’t know how the conversation of your futures came to be but you both knew it had to be said at some point in your relationship. You asked what Simon planned to do once he got older and retired from the military. He asked you questions about your plans as you grew older. That’s when you decided to be the one to bring up the very question that tends to either strain or strengthen a relation, children.

“No. Hard pass. I don’t do well with them nor do I want any of my own.” He never meant to say it with such a rude tone but It didn’t bother you much. You knew that there was a deeper reason why with the way his brows furrowed and the tension in the shoulders. You wanted him to elaborate more but you decided against it.

“Yeah I’m not too keen on children. At least right now anyways.” You said placing down your card on the table as Simon continued to examine his cards to find a way to defeat you. He looked at you as you spoke your last words as you kept your eyes on your cards. You liked kids to a certain extent and wouldn’t mind one later on in your life as you settle down or just none at all. You tried not to let Simons words get to you, since you don’t mind a childless life, as long as you had Simon by your side, but sometimes there would be days where you felt lonely without Simon when he’s deployed to his job. There’s also days where you fear he’ll never come back home and you’d be left with nothing to remember him by but memories, pictures and his possessions. A kid would be something that not only would be a piece of him that breathes and moves but they would be the physical embodiment of yours and Simons’ love, something that would keep you two tied to each other.

As nice as a child with Simon would be, you respected his wishes and you would have to come to terms with it. It’ll just be you and Simon, growing old together in a little house on the far side of town where no one can bother you and it’ll just be you, your grumpy (eventual) husband and your animals to keep you company. Yeah, you could live with that.

Hopefully, if he doesn’t die on the job…

“It’ll just be the two of us and a bunch of animals.”

That’s how you’d thought it be. Until it wasn’t.

You sat there on your bed holding the white stick in your hand. The pink plus sign was burning your eyes. You could feel your stomach churning. What the hell were you gonna do? You were panicking. You had been throwing up the past few days, Simon suggested you’d go see a doctor worried you ate something bad or caught some stomach bug but you refused and said you’d be fine thinking it go away within a few days however more things surfaced on your body that caught your attention. You breast grew a cup bigger and felt sore as hell, you assumed it was due to your period, it was due to arrive in a week anyway but you still found it abnormal that your breast swelled up so much. When the week passed you figured it was delayed due to your little stomach bug but another week passed. That’s when the thoughts hit you. You couldn’t be right? There’s no way you could be pregnant. You and Simon were always careful.

That same day of realization you went to the drug store just to be sure. You brought three sticks and each one came out with the same pink plus sign appearing on the little box. What the hell were you gonna do? How were you going to tell Simon? Maybe you don’t. You can just get an abortion and get it over with. Well, maybe it’s best if you tell him either way. But the more you thought about the baby, the more harder it seemed for you to think about getting rid of it.

You never really made your decision on not having kids, you figured that when it happens it happens, but what about now? Simon doesn’t want a baby, but you’re pregnant with the child you created with the love of your life, Yours and Simons baby…

Tears prick your eyes as you stared at the stick. What are you going to do?

Simon was out drinking with his ‘comrades’ so you had some time to yourself before he came back. You needed to plan a time when you’d tell him. But you were beyond terrified. You know having this baby was putting your relationship with Simon at risk. But this was just as much of his doing as yours, but at the same time, your IUD should’ve prevented this from happening.

You tired to gain the courage in the past couple days since you’ve found out, to tell him but you never could. For days Simon could tell something was bothering you, and it wasn’t the sickness you had. It was something that was clouding your mind. He could see in your eyes that something was troubling you.

Simon had just returned to home from the bar, feeling dreadful about having to be deployed once again here in a couple of days, he doesn’t want to leave you. He hates it, he hated leaving you here all alone, he can’t be there to protect you, hold you and love you but his job makes it worth it if it means you get everything you deserve. Even if he isn’t around for long periods at a time.

As he walks into the house you greet him with a smile, he’s a little tipsy but just barely since he still had to drive home, he did enjoy his time with Price, Soap and Gaz though. Even if he didn’t outright admit it.

“How’d it go?” You asked him as you approach him with a small smile. You’re too nervous to give him his usual greeting kiss which made Simon’s suspicions of your worry confirmed.

“It was fine, not too shabby and the boys were okay as usual. I need to ask you something.” He said glancing your direction aa he looks into your eyes like he’s trying to read your mind, he cups your face gently as he approached you. He saw your body tense up, you tried to save yourself by quickly relaxing before Simon could see but it was too late, he already did. That was his que. “There’s something bothering you, I can see it. You know you can’t hide things from me and I understand you don’t wanna talk about it but at least let me help you the way you help me.”

Your throat grew dry, ‘Shit.’ You thought. You could feel your anxiety flow through your nerves as your hand began to tremble slightly. Your silence worried Simon. “Yn…” He called out but you stood silent.

‘It’s now or never, i can’t hide this forever, not when I start to show.” You thought, Simons hand gently rubbed your cheekbones which brought your attention back to him. Your teary gaze met his concerned ones. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry…” You quivered out. You tried to keep your composure but the hormones betrayed your body. “For what? What happened love?” He grew more worried as the tears rolled down your face. He wiped them away with his fingers as he cradled your face, as you both stare into the others gaze. “You promise you won’t be mad, I’m scared you’re gonna hate me, leave me and…” You whisper but Simon cuts you off as he leaned down to take your lips into a soft but passionate kiss, pulling away you look at him such vulnerability as you wrap your hands around Simons wrist gently. “I won’t.” He whispers back to you, his eyes filled with concern and love in his eyes. It makes your heart break thinking about what can happen next.

Your breath hitched before you inhaled and closed your eyes leaning into Simons touch. “I’m pregnant…” it was silent for a hot second. You felt his hands stiffen up but quickly relax as he looked a bit surprised. Your IUD should’ve been working, but he can’t blame you, there’s still a small chance.

“Have you made an appointment?” He asked after a long silence.

“For what?” You look up nervously, your guts telling you things were going downhill soon now, it’s too late you’ve already made up your mind.

“To get rid of it.” He asks you confused but something was telling him something else is going on. It was dead silence after that, you didn’t even need to say anything, the look in your eyes were enough to tell Simon what your intentions were. His hands were stiff it almost felt like a mannequins hands were placed on your face but then they were quickly snatched away from your grasp and face. You gasped lightly at the action. He took two long strides away from you, his eyes were slightly wide and had a blank look in them as he stared at you.

You wanted to call out to him but his eyes alone were enough to tell you that he was about to run. Your heart throbbed and your stomach began to churn again. More tears began to flow and obscure your vision. “Simon…” You called out to him, you refrained from walking towards him, terrified that one wrong move and he’d run and leave you in the dust. But it seemed to trigger him.

His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes began to show frustration. “No.” He shook his head as you sobbed. “Dammit yn I thought we established this. You promised!” He began to raise his voice, his fear coming to light. Not only was your relationship beginning to strain but you were planning to bring a child into this world. His child. All he could think about was his father and his family something he doesn’t want to experience or risk history to repeat itself.

“I’m sorry Simon but I never made a promise! But I truly didn’t mean for this to happened but it did and when I thought about having an abortion I couldn’t bear that thought of it. I know what we had in mind was to not have any kids but I can’t bring myself to get rid of our baby.”

“No we agreed that we’d have no kids, for Christ sake, I’m always at base and deployed. I can die and leave you to raise a baby alone. And I’m not ready to care for a baby, nor did I ever plan on having one.” He didn’t yell but his voice sounded distant like he was guarded. Like how he used to be when you first met him back in high school, stiff as a stone with years and layers of built up walls around him to keep anybody out from his heart and mind, a troubled Simon who was haunted by his abusive father wanting to save his mother and brother the ones who are now six feet under. One that took you years to slowly tear down and let him trust you with more than one few but big bumble in the road but in the end you never gave up on him and always stuck by his side. “I can’t do this.” He didn’t sound like your Simon anymore. He sounded like Ghost now. The Ghost he separated you from, the Ghost that was cold hearted and never cared about anything or anyone else but getting his priorities done and missions finished.

Your breath hitched. “What do you mean?” Your voice quivered. Ghost didn’t even bother to answer you he made his way to the bedroom. “Simon please!” You treaded after him, your anxiety surfacing again.

You walked into the bedroom to see him reaching into the closet and pulling out his bag, already packed with all the gears and items he needed for his deployment. Slumping the strap over his shoulder as you watched made your throat tighten.

It was nothing but silence the whole time as you watched Simon pack away a last minute items he’d need. You watched as he began to tie on his boots. “You’re right,” you finally spoke. Your voice soft as you tried not to let out a sob. “You don’t have to do this, you can keep doing what you do. I’ll keep the baby without you.” Simon just sat there listening to you as he kept his gaze glued to the ground. You couldn’t see what he was thinking with his Balaclava on now but you could see his fists clenched tightly. “I won’t make you go through this but just know, I still love you Simon, but I want this baby. You won’t hear from me asking you for anything at all. Just know once you walk out that door. I’ll be gone, unless you say something Simon...” you stand there staring at him hoping he’ll say something… anything. A sliver of wanting to be around at least or try to work something out but you know it’ll never come. He’s Simon, Ghost, he’s not, and may never be, mentally prepared nor does he have a lifestyle fit enough to raise a baby. Without a single noise Simon gets up and walks past you to the bedroom door, you watch his back, he doesn’t spare you a single glance before he walks out without another word.

After a few seconds, you hear his boots stomp down the stairs, the door opening and slamming shut. Your que to finally let all your sobbing out easing the pain in your throat. You sat on the floor holding your stomach. You were really on your own now. Just you and your baby.

You were lucky you managed to gain contact with your older sister, Stacy, she and her husband had welcomed you into their home with no hesitation, surprisingly. Granted you and your sister had some mending to do but it was mostly cause by your parents. Your mother had always founds way to turn you and your sister against one another when you two were younger. You both always fought and tried to better the other for praise of your mother she’d always compared one over the other, “Your sister is skinner than you,” “You eat like a pig, your sister eats better than you,” “your sister this” or “your sister that”. You mother always tried to make you two compete against the other that both physically and mentally damaged you both.

Your father never bothered with you two, you could never talk to him without every conversation ending in a some form of abuse or never in the right mindset being constantly high off his mind with drugs. But as you grew older you began to see the things your mother did to you and your sister but you never took the chance to make amends, your sister met her then boyfriend and ran away with him the first chance she got, you did the same when you met Simon.

“Are you alright?” She approaches you as you got out the car. The moment you came face to face with her you wrapped your arms around her shoulders and brushed into tears. “I’m sorry!” You cried out. “It’s okay.” She hushes you and cradled your head. “No it’s not, I should’ve talked to you, we should’ve made up long ago but I ran off…”

“And so did I!” She cut you off. “I was the one that ran off first, I was the one who left you in the dust for some guy that turned out to be a fraud. I chose a man over my own sister but I was too dumb to see it. We both made mistakes but now that we’re here, let’s take this chance to make it right.” She wiped your tears from your face. “Now tell me what wrong?” She asks you as you take a deep breath. “Simon left me.” You say, your sisters eyes widen in surprise and sympathy. “Well technically I left but we decided that we were through.”

“Why, what happened?” She asks you as she began to guide you to her house. As you make your way in you wipe your eyes as you think about the memory.

“I’m pregnant.” You start off, your sister is caught off guard and stunned, but she doesn’t speak and allows you to continue. “I found out not too long ago.”

You sister looks at you in shock. “Is that why… Simon…” she tries to ask, you know what she’s saying before you nod answering her question.

“Yeah, we’ve had the talk before. We agreed on no kids because he didn’t want any, me, I wasn’t too sure at the time but now, now I know, I do want this kid.” You say as you lay a hand on your stomach. “I don’t know what to do know. I told him and shit just went down hill. He made his choice and I made mine. I left home, he left because he’s currently on deployment but he’s made his choice not to be in the baby’s life. I gave him the choice to leave because I don’t want to force him into this since he never wanted any in the beginning.” You say, you sit on the soft couch as you both settled on conversing in the living room.

“He’s in the military?” She asks him a bit surprised, she’s still trying to process all this new information about your current situation and your now ex-boyfriend.

You nod your head and rub your eyes feeling the fatigue catch up to you from the past couple of days. You’ve nearly gotten a wink of sleep ever since Simon left, the past two days you were packing up all your things that you needed and wanted to take with you into your car, and you were stressing about where’d you go and be staying up until your Stacy, thankfully, responded back to you and offered you a place to stay at her house. “Yeah, he doesn’t tell me much about it. But from what I’ve seen every time he came back, it was always bad. He’d come home with bruises, sometimes wounds that sometimes looked to be fatal. It always scares me every time he goes, and I sometimes never know when he’ll be back, or if he’ll come back at all.” You explain to her. You leave out the part where he’d be a shell of himself, like a ghost possessing Simon, so unemotional, and you can never forget how scary it was seeing how empty his eyes looked sometimes.

Stacy looks at you, she’s processing all this and trying to her best to listen but she can tell that’s it’s a lot for her to take in. You don’t blame her, you two haven’t seen each other er for over five years, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. “I promise you I’ll only be here for a few months. I’ll find a place to stay for the baby and I before they’re born, we’ll be out of your hair soon.” You tell her quickly trying to reassure her that it’s only temporary and you’re not going to take advantage of your sister’s kindness and willing to help you out, you don’t wanna have the burden of having her worry about you and have a baby in the house. You’ve already become enough of a burden for Simon with the baby.

Stacy shakes her head and gently takes your hand and gently squeezes it. “Don’t worry about it. Take as much time as you need to get back on your feet. You got a kid to worry about now. And granted, it may be hard but I believe in you. You’re a strong woman, I know you can get through this, you always do. And even if you don’t, I’ll always be here to help you.” She says as she smiles at you fondly.

You feel so grateful for her. Your hormones have you all over the place both emotionally and physically. You’re on the verge of tears as you engulf Stacy into a hug once again. “Thanks Stac.” You say, your voice threatening to crack into a sob.

Stacy smiles at you and hugs you back. “Don’t thank me, you’re my little sister, family looks out for one another. Real family.”

꧁——————————꧂

Im debating if this series should have a twist to it. So stay tuned :)

[livelaughlovesubs]

hello! do you write for ratio? if yes, I would like to request for Ratio + the beg prompt from the event.

Thank you in advance, have a nice day.

Ratio and begging? That’d be such a treat hehe.

Dom!reader x sub!Ratio

Warning: teasing, degradation (a little only), begging, flustered veritas~

Anniversary event

Dr. Veritas Ratio was a smart man. In fact, he’s borderline a genius. At least that’s how he’s known to the outside world, and how he’s described in various papers. When you two were alone, you’d always call him—

You leaned back against your work desk, hands flat on the wooden surface as you held yourself up. The room wasn’t special in any sense, the only eye catching thing had to your visitor, who was currently disturbing your work. Veritas groaned in annoyance, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, crossing his arms before his chest. He shoot a rather serious glare at you, before squeezing the bridge of his nose and mumbling, “listen, I won’t repeat myself, I just-”

“I don’t think you can give me that attitude when you barged into my office.” You scoffed, tapping the table with your index finger impatiently. “Now try again.” The male frowned a little, then sighed, “I want to know when you get off work today..” he trailed off, gaze fixating on the decoration around the room, as if he didn’t want to meet your eyes.

Such a weird person, he’s intentions are so easy to read, yet his actions don’t match up. Does he himself doesn’t know what he wants? “Why do you want to know?” He blinked, staring back at you now. With some dreadfully obvious hesitation, he answered, “if you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine.”

Yes, he knew he was acting like a fool, and that his reasonings didn’t make any sense. It was so different from his usual self. Can’t you take some pity on him and stop looking at him with these judging eyes? “Why don’t you make up your mind first before coming here, doctor.” You said, getting up from the furniture and taking a few steps forward, until you were inches away from him. There, you leaned forward, and he instinctively back up as you basically insulted him, “after all, only an idiot speaks before thinking.”

“I did make up my mind.” he snarled, the blush on his cheeks deepening at the closeness. Yet the expression on his face was more like a grimace, as if he’d seen a bug. “So? What do you want, doc?” You wondered, even though you knew the answer, and he knew that you’ve seen right through him as well. “I want us to meet later—”

“no.” You cut him off suddenly, reaching one hand out to tug his hair behind his ear, cupping his cheek. “Not that. What you want us to do once we meet. Gosh, I thought you could read between the lines.” The words you uttered were clearly mocking, but he wasn’t offended, all he did was furrow his brows as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. All this was ridiculous, he blamed it all on that swaying, stubborn heart of his. The reason why he’s here in the first place.

Veritas clasped one hand over yours, as if worried you might pull away and leave, and he whispered, “I want you to… do that to me, again.” You hummed, teasing him, “what is it again? I don’t remember~” in response to your playful comment, he squeezed your hand, glaring at you with gritted teeth and a flushed face. Was that too much for his poor pride? Right, he was a sensitive man, you had to take it slow with him.

“Fine, I won’t tease. But if you want something, veritas, shouldn’t you ask nicely?” You tried to not smirk at him, though you weren’t sure if your body cooperated. He didn’t reply for a while, his free hand clenched into a fist before he tried again, “will you do that with me again? Err.. please?” Definitely nicer than he usually is. This boy really has such a foul mouth. “I’m not sure I have time today.” You acted as if you were deep in thought, thinking hard about it.

At least this time, he knew the implications behind it, you weren’t satisfied with him. This time, he was the one who closed the distance between you two, your noses almost touched as he asked with an expression anyone else would mistake as anger, “can you please, uhm.. please hold me like last time?” He was almost shaking with humiliation and embarrassment, why did he have to be this unsightly whenever he was in your presence?

You smiled, still not agreeing to his request. “I beg of you…?” Ratio pondered if these words would work, he wasn’t used to asking others for favours in this manner. One because he never thought it’d work, and two, most of the time he only did business transactions where both sides would get mutual benefits. When he sah the corners of your lips twitch, he was sure of it, this shameful display actually worked.

“See? It wasn’t that hard.” You stroked his hair, eating up that delicious expression spread across his features. It’s not everyday you get to see him like this. “You could have saved so much time if only you did this from the beginning.” He opened his mouth, probably about to argue. Now that he got you to agree, you can’t take it back anymore anyway, so he didn’t have to act all pliant anymore.

But you beat him to it, grabbing his collar and yanking on it, whispering with pure amusement, “—such a dumb little puppy.”

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter One

Pairings; Rafayel x reader, Xavier x reader, Zayne x reader, Sylus x reader (Love and Deepspace)

Word count; 4,495 (sorry it's so short, I'll try to post three chapters today)

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rated; 18+ for swearing and some mature themes

Notes; To make things easier to read, I'm going to use emojis for who is texting.

Y/n 🩷

Rafayel 💜

Zayne 💙

Xavier 💛

Sylus ❤️

Hi everyone! This is my first time posting to tumblr so please be gentle with me! If you like this, then let me know! It would be greatly appreciated. My upload schedule will be every weekend (so either fri, sat, or sun!) Also, if the story seems similar, it's going to be verbatim with the story, just with my own embellishments to it. Without further adieu, I hope you enjoy this first chapter.

Prev || Next

Masterlist

A bright light shines within the dark room. There you lay in bed, playing a game on your phone late at night before bed. The soft background music coming from your speaker as the game loads up. You press ‘enter game’ as images of three men make their way across your screen, each one holding a special place in your heart.

Who says you need a real man? Fictional men are where it's at. They can't cheat on you, can't leave you, can't lie to you. It's a lot better than having to stress over a real person and worry if they'll leave you the next day or not. You know from experience, having two boyfriends in the past and neither lasting longer than six months- both breaking off the relationship before an anniversary. Screw men– well, besides the three on your screen right now. They were fine. Oh, and the fourth one being added a month from now.

The game loads in and you get a greeting from one of the men on screen. They take turns showing up in the Destiny Café, each able to say hello every time you log in. It was always sweet to see what they'd say, how they'd react, or any new text messages you'd get from them. You could even change their phone nicknames! You had Xavier, the sweet tired and aloof silvery blonde haired man, saved as Princess since you thought it would be cute. He'd definitely be embarrassed if you called him that. Zayne, the seemingly cold childhood friend and doctor, was saved under Snow Angel; you honestly didn't know what to have his name as that but it would just be amusing to see his reaction to it. Then there's Rafayel, the purple haired sassy and charming painter, who was saved as Nemo- again, very original. But Nemo works nonetheless. As you smile and send your daily stickers to each man to see their reaction, you get a new notification at the top of your screen.

“A new message?” You murmur, noticing that it's contact is unknown. The message was coming from the game. “It must be some new event. Weird…I wonder why there wasn't an update for it?” You back out of your message with Rafayel and click on the new message from the unknown sender.

:’Will you enter the game?’

“That's it?” Your brows furrow and you sit up in your bed, your phone lying in your lap as you scratch your head. “Wait..” You click on the message to reply and your keyboard pops up. “That's…” Usually, to reply in game, you get a choice between a few predetermined answers but for this…You just get to answer how you want to?

’What do you mean?’ You text back before reaching over to put your glasses on. Maybe you should've gone to bed earlier, it kind of feels like you're hallucinating.

You hear the chime of another message rolling in, and you look back down at your phone.

:’Yes or no? Hurry and pick one.’

This time the keyboard doesn't pop up, you only get three options.

ロ Yes

ロ No

And…

ロ Why?

You don't even think twice before pressing why, and the answer comes back quicker than you expect.

:’Please take care of them for me.’

You let out a scoff before running a hand through your hair. This must be some sort of elaborate prank. There's no way this is a part of the game, and even if it were there'd be no explanation for it. Is this the dev's way of getting back at you for sending so many support requests? Before you can think much about it, suddenly you feel more sleepy than before. Your eyes tiredly blink as you try to grab your phone to at least plug it up and get off of the game before you fall asleep, but instead you're lulled to sleep by the soft, melodic tune of Love and Deepspace.

Then a light so bright that it burns your eyes even though they're closed appears. It's hard to even force your eyes open, but when you do, you notice it's a big, deep crimson eye. Similar to the one you'd see in game. Your blood runs cold as you try to look around this unfamiliar area, but all you see is darkness. A dream? Yeah..this must be a dream. Although you've never been able to actively move in a dream before, there's a first for everything!

Right when you finally calm yourself down, you hear it. A loud explosion, the feeling of embers licking at your skin. Your ears are ringing, and you feel a sharp pain on the right side of your face. The darkness fades, and you're left with the blinding light of the sun against your back and your body lying on a pavement. Just lifting your head up to look at your surroundings feels like an extreme workout, everything about your body feels heavy. Sluggish. Though your left eye widens as you realize you're laying in front of a burning building. Something shining in the sunlight catches your eye, and once you grab the object, you find it harder to breathe. It was a dog tag with a charm on it. An apple charm with a star design in the center, and in the center of that was a ruby gemstone. The words ‘When U come back’ were written in cursive on the dog tag.

“No way..” you manage to croak out, the necklace clutched in your hand as you try to push yourself up, but the pounding in your head and the pain coming from your eye are no match, and you end up laying face down on the pavement in front of the burning home until you pass out from the pain.

Being passed out had its perks. You finally had a chance to think and put together a few puzzle pieces before you woke up. So if memory serves, what just happened was your- no, the main character's childhood home just blew up right after her best friend and basically brother Caleb stepped inside and her grandma, who adopted them both, was inside as well. They both died, and supposedly a mafia-like group called Onychinus was behind it because they were tying up loose ends as Grandma was a former researcher and scientist, experimenting on children and modifying them with aether cores. But the main character wasn't badly injured after the explosion, which never made sense honestly. You're that close to a building exploding, and you only get off with trauma and minor scrapes? That doesn't seem right…and honestly, the pain made it feel all the more real. If you were in a dream, that pain most likely would've woken you up.

So coming to terms that you're inside of the game was a bit easier that way. Though the bigger problem lies with your evol. You wouldn't even know the first step to using it, let alone resonating with another person. And firearm training. You've never shot a gun before, but you did take self defense and fighting lessons a few years back, but you can't exactly punch a wanderer. They're durable monsters that can shoot ice or anything at you and, some even have blades for arms…

“Great, it seems like she's waking up now.” You hear the deep, yet cold voice of a man. Then, you hear the higher pitched voice of a woman, “Finally! It's been three days, I just hope she doesn't insist on going back to work..” “She won't, doctor's orders.” The male voice says before you hear a door close.

Your eye slowly opens before you have to squint to adjust it to the bright white lights. A hospital? You try to sit up and the woman next to you rushes to help you. You have to turn your head to look at her since she's on your right side. Your right eye was also bandaged since all you can see is darkness out of it. The first thing you notice is her short bob cut. “Tara?” You say, your voice sounding a bit raspy and you tilt your head to the side. “Thank goodness, Y/n! We thought you'd never wake up.” She seems excited, bubbly and sweet…just like her character in game.

“That's..” Before you can finish your sentence, you start coughing. “Here, let me get you some water!” She hands you a plastic cup and you take a sip before continuing, “I…can't remember much.” You squeeze your hand in a fist, the sound of metal clinking together has you looking down at your hand. “You never let go of that. You've been holding it since..” Tara trails off and you're caught off guard by a sudden surge of emotions. You take a shaky breath as to not start crying, since that would definitely hurt your right eye before you look up at the ceiling. “I don't recall how to use my evol, how to shoot a gun…Can I still even call myself a hunter?”

“Y/n…” Tara sighs before taking your free hand, “Things can always be retaught, we're all just glad you survived. You should be glad to still have both eyes being that close to the explosion!” She smiled at you before handing you your phone. “I can't stay here long, but your phone has been blowing up for the past three days so make sure you check it out.” She pats your hand and stands up. “I'll visit later with a coffee or something for you.”

“The patient is advised to not have anything caffeinated until after being discharged.” A voice comes from the door before he steps inside.

Black hair, glasses, hazel green eyes, tall…

“Doctor Zayne,” I greet him with a small smile, suddenly more nervous and I turn to look at Tara. “I'll see you tomorrow, Tara?”

“Sure! That is, if I don't get a call about a wanderer..Metaflux readings have been crazy as of late, so we've all been pretty busy- but that's not to push you into coming in or anything! Your health matters more to us at UNICORNS so only come back when you're ready.” She says before leaving the room.

“How are you feeling?” Zayne asks as he comes closer, taking a seat where Tara once was. His eyes scan your whole body to make sure you're okay before landing on your face. He leans forward to take the bandage off of your right eye and you wince at how bright the light is for your non-adjusted eye. “It'll probably scar..” he murmurs, presumably to himself.

“I'm..” You trail off, sighing before you decide it's best to tell the doctor the truth. “I'm fine, but I can't remember-”

“Can't remember what?” He cuts you off, almost seeming more worried about just what you can't remember, which makes you laugh a bit. “Calm down, I was getting to that. I can't remember how to use my evol, use my gun, or anything to do with wanderers.” “Hmm..are you sure it won't come back with time?” Zayne seems to have calmed back down as he's now writing everything down on a clipboard. “I'm sure of that.” You clear your throat, looking back down at the necklace in your hand before running your thumb across it.

“I don't mind relearning everything but I won't be as good as I was before, that's for sure.” You lean your head back and Zayne quickly corrects you, gently tilting your chin back down. “If your wound reopens, we'll have to use stitches so be careful.”

“You'll get better at it in no time. Don't forget that I'll help you out.” Zayne says before standing up. You take a glance at the clipboard and it seems like he added ‘post traumatic stress disorder?’ as a note. You guess he assumes your forgetfulness might be caused by that, but you knew otherwise. “I'll leave you so you can check up on your phone.”

With that, the doctor leaves the room and you can finally let out a sigh of relief. It seems he didn't notice anything was off with you. He was honestly the hardest hurdle since he's known the main character for a long time, but you've noticed you tend to act like her to begin with so maybe it wouldn't be as hard as you thought.

You finally decide to put the necklace down on the table next to you, your hand aching from having held it so tightly and grab your phone. There was no code on it so you easy got into it, might as well put a code on it now..and now you go to check your messages. 45 missed calls from Nemo…Nemo? Your brows furrow and you flinch because, of course, that hurts the wound on your face so you quickly straighten your face out. The nicknames are the same as they were in your game. 11 missed calls from Princess, 55 missed messages from Nemo, and 5 missed messages from Princess. Zayne didn't leave any since he works at the hospital… though on the day of the incident, he did leave two missed calls and a reminder of a doctor's appointment.

You decide to check up with Rafayel first since he's a certified drama queen. You don't scroll too far up but the most recent text messages are just him being pouty that his ‘miss bodyguard’ is ignoring him.

🩷 :’Been in the hospital for three days, sorry!’

You decide that's sufficient of an answer before nearly jumping out of your skin as he immediately calls. You laugh before answering the call, being bombarded with questions the moment you press the green button.

“Which hospital, Miss bodyguard? What happened? Are you okay?”

“One question at a time.” You laugh before you start coughing and have to take another sip of water from the plastic cup. Your throat was a bit achy from not being used for three days.

“Which hospital?” Rafayel sticks with his first question, his voice void of his usual playful banter. “Uhm..” you look around for a moment, not exactly remembering the name of the hospital in game before spotting its name on the whiteboard in front of you. “Akso Hospital, room 205.”

“Got it.” Then silence. “Uh…Rafayel?” You say, taking the phone away from your face to notice he had already hung up. You shrug it off before going to your messages with Xavier. Most of the messages were just asking if you wanted to go hunting with him, sending locations, and the most recent one was from a few hours ago with him asking if you were okay.

🩷 :’At the hospital right now, been out for three days! Sorry about that. I might need some help soon though.’

Xavier doesn't immediately call like Rafayel did, instead just exchanges a few texts with you.

💛 :’what happened? are U alright? is it’

🩷 :’Is it what? I'm fine, a bit sore though. I got caught up in an explosion three days ago and have been out since then.’

💛 :’..nevermind that how can U be okay if u were passed out for 3 days? what's the extent of your injuries?’

🩷 :’Just a few bruises, scrapes, a sprained ankle, and…’

💛 :’and what?’

🩷 :’I might have a cool new scar over my eye!’

💛 :’thats not funny..what hospital, i'm coming now.’

You pause your messages, knowing he definitely can't come now if Rafayel is. None of the love interests have ever interacted in the game before, so you're not sure of the consequences just yet.

🩷 :’I'm probably about to sleep again! You can visit tomorrow, the doc gave me some pain medicine that's making me a bit tired and I wanted to talk to you.’

💛 :’alright as long as ur okay. i can wait as long as you need.’

You pout, trying your best not to gush over how sweet Xavier is, and drop your phone as your room door suddenly opens to reveal an exhausted looking, purple haired man. His shirt was haphazardly buttoned, his hair tousled as if he just got out of bed, and panic written all over his face.

“You didn't think to describe the details of your injuries to me?” Are the first words out of his mouth before he shuts the door behind him, walking deeper in the room to grab your plastic cup to drink some water. “You've been out for three days, you shouldn't even be sitting up right now!” He sits down on the chair next to the bed and you reach toward him to try and fix his shirt buttons. The tips of his ears turn red and he pushes backward on the rolling chair. “What're you doing- you're a patient.”

“Your shirt..” You drop your hands into your lap with a small smile.

“Oh-” Rafayel clears his throat, turning the chair to fix his shirt before he rolls the chair back up next to you. With his hand gently cupping the right side of your face, he murmurs, “How did this happen?”

You assume he's probably in shock since you were never scarred like this in any of the past lives you shared with him.

“An explosion from my..” You trail off, lips pressing together in a thin line as you find it hard to say what happened, even though you know they're not your actual family. “..my childhood home. Two casualties.” You finally finish your sentence, not meeting Rafayel's bluish pink eyes as he still cups your cheek.

The silence is almost deafening before Rafayel sighs and drops his hand. “I'm sorry for your loss.” He finally says. “Do you need a hug?”

You quickly shake your head. “If I hug you, I'll cry and I really don't need to..irritate my…” You can't seem to get your words out as your eyes water and no matter how hard you try to stop it, your cheek stings as salty tears run down your still healing wound. Rafayel moves to sit on the side of the bed, guiding your forehead to rest against his shoulder as his arms wrap around you. “We can always get your doctor to fix it, huh? It won't do you any good if you keep your feelings all bottled up now, will it?”

You can't seem to stop crying, even as your breath stutters in your chest and you find it harder to breathe. Sure, you cried when they died while playing but for it to affect you like this? Maybe it's because someone offered to be a shoulder you could lean on.

“Focus on my breathing. Don't hyperventilate on me now, miss bodyguard.” Rafayel murmurs, hand still patting your back as your tears eventually fade and you fall asleep.

Rafayel pulls you back from his shoulder, moving you so you're laid flat on the bed before he grabs a soft tissue to wipe your face, wiping the trail of blood coming from your wound since the salt from your tears irritated it. He then leans forward to kiss your forehead. “I'll see you soon.”

The next time you wake up, your eyes are puffy and your nose is stopped up.

“I see you cried yourself to sleep.” Zayne comments, tilting your head by your chin so he can examine your wound. “You irritated it.” He sighs. “If you don't cry anymore, it'll probably be healed up in two weeks..then you can cry all you want.”

“Well, I'm sorry, I had to cry.” You say with a pout, knowing it's not his fault. “When can I be discharged?”

“After today, your ankle should be better to walk on so tomorrow? But if you want to start work again, I'd say another few weeks.” Zayne finishes writing something down before standing up. “I also did a routine checkup on your heart in case that was the reason you can't use your evol and I don't think that's the case. I believe your evol revolves around your emotions so if you're not confident in it, it won't work.”

“Thank you, Zayne.” You say before taking a sip of the iced coffee that Tara left for you thirty minutes ago. Then you finally shoot Xavier a text to say he's free to come to the hospital whenever he wants, that you'll be discharged tomorrow.

Not even a minute after you sent your message, there was a knock on your door. You look toward the noise before smiling behind your hand. “Come in.”

A silvery blond head pops in from the now opened door before he comes in and shuts the door behind him. “How are you feeling today?” He asks, his soft tired voice sounding a bit more emotional than usual. “Mmh, pretty good. I'd probably feel better if you came a bit closer.” You say, leaning over to pat the chair next to your bed. He quickly comes to sit down, almost as if waiting for the invitation.

“Your eyes are swollen. Did you have a rough sleep last night?”

“No, I..” it's probably best to keep telling the truth for now. “I just cried myself to sleep.” You shrug, trying to play it off as nothing but Xavier isn't falling for it. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“If I cry myself to sleep again, will you hold me?” You ask, raising your left brow before laughing to yourself. “Just thinking about what happened, not being able to save anyone, getting hurt like this…” You feel a hand on top of your own and turn to look at Xavier. “It's not your fault.” He finally says after a moment of silence. A small smile tugging at his lips before he changes the subject, “What is it you wanted to ask me?”

“Oh right!” You sit up before turning your body to face him. “I need you to teach me how to use my gun…and how to fight….aannnd how to use my evol.” You name off each one and tap on your fingers to count them off.

“You..forgot all of that?” His head tilts to the side before he nods his head. “Alright, I can do that. Is there anything else you need?”

“Uh…can you pick me up tomorrow? I don't know where our apartments are…or how to drive my bike either.” You rub the back of your neck and smile sheepishly.

“What else did you forget?” He lets out a small laugh.

“All of Linkon?” You say before adding, “I mean, I remember names but I don't remember where anything is..like Azure Square, UNICORNS HQ, Twinkle Toys, Meow's Café..”

“Don't worry, I'll help with anything I can.” Xavier smiles, his thumb rubbing across the back of your hand.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me.” You smile before looking down at your phone as it buzzes. Rafayel. He's- on his way?

“Actually, could you get me a friend for tomorrow?” You ask, a smile tugging at your lips. “A..friend?” His head tilts to the side until you say, “Can you get me a fox plushie and bring it to me when I'm discharged tomorrow?”

“I-” Xavier laughs before nodding, “Of course I will.” He stands up, looking toward the door. “I'll leave now though, since you seem a bit restless, but I'll make sure you get all the plushies you want.”

Not even five minutes after Xavier leaves, Rafayel is in the room. Almost as if he felt a disturbance in the force that someone was with his lady right now. “Was someone just here?” He asks, trying to act nonchalant as he sits down in the chair.

“No?” You phrase it as a question before you nod your head. “Yeah, the doctor just left. He was upset that I irritated my wound but, at least, I'll be discharged tomorrow! I can't go back to work for another two weeks though.”

“So does that mean my bodyguard is still out of commission?” Rafayel pouts, a hand on his hip. “Well, that's a shame. I had an art expo to go to in a few days and I was wondering if you'd join me.” “Ah…about that,” you clear your throat before telling him all about the troubles with your evol and even not recalling how to use a gun. “Why don't you try resonating now?” He asks, placing his hand on top of yours. “But what do I even do?” You murmur, closing your eyes.

“Do you feel all of that energy coursing through your chest? Try to direct that through your body to your fingers.” Rafayel whispers. “Think of it like paint. If you pour paint on a flat canvas, it spreads all out like crazy. You have to take a paintbrush and direct the paint to where you want it to go. So your evol is the paint and you are the paintbrush.”

That…helps but doesn't help at the same time.

You take a deep breath, trying to silence your mind to be able to focus but it's difficult to have dead silent thoughts. Instead you try to imagine the energy moving from your chest all the way to your hands, which were clasped between Rafayel's much bigger ones. Then, you finally felt it. You were resonati-

You flinch as you’re bombarded with a few blurry memories of your past life with Rafayel; Well, if you didn't know, you would've just been confused but since you played the game, you knew they were of your past lives with him. Though they were blurry, so you didn't catch anything besides a soft ‘my bride’ at the end.

My eyes blink open and you take one hand away from Rafayel to rub your temples. “I think it worked but..” you look at Rafayel, who was uncharacteristically silent. Maybe he saw the same images too?

“Hey, did you see it too?” You ask, which finally gets his attention. “Huh, see what?” He tries to brush it off but you don't let him. “It was kind of blurry but I remember seeing you…in a purple outfit? Oh and you said something at the end.” You tap your bottom lip with your index finger, pretending to try and recall what you saw when, in reality, you only saw a blurry Rafayel. You never saw specific details like that. “You said my bri-”

Rafayel covers your mouth with a hand. “That's enough of that.” His ears were red and he wasn't looking you in the eyes. Then he clears his throat. “Anyway, I'll contact you soon about the expo since you seem to resonate just fine and then maybe I can show you around Linkon City to try and jog your memory.”

He leaves as quickly as he showed up, clearly embarrassed by what you were going to say.

“Cute..” you say to yourself, laughing into your hand before wincing and touching the right side of your face.

---------------------------------------------------

That's it for the first chapter! Since I wrote this on goggle docs, I wasn't sure just how short the chapters were but they'll get longer as we go on! I have a few chapters piled up so even if I don't write for a few weeks, I'll still be able to post. I'd love any feedback or even any explanations of the features on here to make the reading experience a bit better. I've never posted to Tumblr before so I've been just copying what I see from the tags and word count so I think I've done pretty well for my first time. I would love to learn how to do a masterlist though and also a next button, I guess I just have to link the next chapter on it? I'll have to test it out so please bear with me and I hope you enjoyed- and stick around for the chapters to come! 🩷

[mizgnomer]

Behind the Scenes of The Giggle - Part One

Excerpt from DWM 599 - Benjamin Cook's interview with David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa:

Typical. You wait ages for a Doctor to come along, then two turn up at once. It’s 22 June 2022 – so many twos! – and I’m seeing double. I’m in the captivating company of not one, but two Time Lords: Ncuti Gatwa and David Tennant. (It’s really, really them! Completely them.) We’re sat in the shadow of the enormous UNIT helipad set at Wolf Studios, on which the Doctors have been busy bi-generating. I’ve nabbed them during a recording break – on The Giggle, the third and most extravagant of Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Specials. But reports of a bigger budget might have been exaggerated. Money must be tight, because David and Ncuti appear to be… sharing a costume?! It’s a twist worthy of one of the Toymaker’s games. Who got the better deal, do you think? Ncuti got the shirt and tie, socks and Converse, and underpants, but no trousers. (DWM has never interviewed a Doctor in his pants before. Wish us luck.) David is wearing the trousers and – who knew? – the Doctor’s under-shirt. He also got the waistcoat, but he’s shoeless. (DWM has never interviewed a barefooted Doctor before either. WikiFeet will lose its mind.) Before we know it, the two Doctors will be called back to the helipad. So let’s ask them some questions – quick! – before they finish bi-generating. Right now, they’re still cooking. They’re fizzing with residual bi-generation energy. (Try saying that when you’re drunk.) DWM has got ’em while they’re hot. Well, relaxing on canvas chairs in the Cardiff sunshine. Now, someone tell me what the hell is going on here… DWM: Hi Ncuti, hi David. You’re members of a very exclusive club – only 14 actors have played the lead in this show. But a surprising number of you are Scottish. What makes Scots such great Doctors? Ncuti: “The madness.” David: “The chippiness.” Ncuti: “Chippiness, ha. And we’re always up for an adventure. Heh heh. Why is it, though? It’s true, there’s been a lot of Scottish Doctors.” David: “What is the ratio?” Ncuti: “Four. There’s four. Mm. Four out of fourteen. Fifteen?” David: “Yeah, how many Doctors are we now saying there are, ’cos some extra ones have joined the gang. John Hurt. Jo [Martin].” Ncuti: “Which are the Scottish ones? Sylvester McCoy. Peter Capaldi. David and me. Lots of Scots. Yeah, we’re doing pretty well.” David: “We’re punching above our weight.” Ncuti: “We’re just trying to hold down the fort, for the Scots.”

I'll post additional parts in the coming months with the  #whoBtsGiggle tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

[hollow-keys]

THE BI REGENERATION RUMORS WERE REAL? NAHHHH. The! Entire! Point! of regeneration is moving on but now suddenly we can't move on and we gotta keep David Tennant running around somewhere? We already did that with the weird Doctor clone they sent off with Rose in the alternate universe, and that was cowardly enough, but now we're splitting the new Doctor too? At least Matt Smith got to have his own tenure not overshadowed by David Tennant.

And OF COURSE they do this shit with the first black Doctor. To repeat what's been said elsewhere, this only fuels racist fans who won't accept Ncuti Gatwa as the real Doctor. First Twonant steals Gatwa's Doctor's claim to the 14th Doctor, now he's putting Ncuti's entire claim to the mantle in question.

He's a clone Doctor in a clone TARDIS, and the show fuels this by having Ncuti's regeneration focus on David Tennant. Regeneration is about sending off the old Doctor and introducing the new, but this time it's all about the old one. 15 is out here comforting this sad white man, all while appearing to have no issues of his own. He even says he's fine because 14 fixed his shit, when it's made clear that he did not, in fact, fix his shit! There's no emotional focus on him, he's just a Nice Man who comforts 14 then fucks off in a clone TARDIS.

And the ASSERTION that the Doctor is happiest when he stops travelling and settles is so bad it makes me want to tear my eyes out, especially when it's made clear he's still adventuring in time and space! The Doctor not only enjoys travelling and helping people, but feels compelled to do it. That's why he does it! Yes he needs to take better care of himself, but not by withdrawing from his responsibilities.

AND THE FACT THAT 15 IS RUNNING AROUND WITHOUT TROUSERS. So when David Tennant regenerates from Jodie, his clothes have to regenerate because otherwise it would be disrespectful (how?) but when Ncuti Gatwa regenerates from Tennant, he's suddenly beholden to the old laws of regeneration and the clothes split. 14 keeps the trousers, undershirt and waistcoat and all 15 gets is a shirt, underwear and a tie. And even then! The shirt is unbuttoned and the tie's loose (when it wasn't on 14) making him look even less clothed. It's so uneven! There's a reason that 15 was the one who got the trousers, and that's because they respect him more!

The special is just. So, so bad. It panders to racists and fanboy fools who can't move on from """the best Doctor""" and hurts Ncuti's tenure right at the beginning. These weren't 60th anniversary specials, they were RTD backpatting himself for 3 hours about how great his Doctor, his companions and his era were, and disrespecting the new Doctor to do it.

[sirwadewilsonfromimgur]

Deadpool and Wolverine: KCAU

Christmas Special

Part 5

The Christmas party

Authous note: This story is organized into scenes. It's a party with lots of interactions. I'm sorry for cutting the Father Kurt scene. This may be a bonus later, but it's February, and I'm still doing Christmas shit. Shout-out to @nuggetpool-hi for translation work and @icarusredwings for Workshoping these scenes with me.

Our scene actually opens up in the far flung future... Logan and Wade haven't aged a day since July 2024, though. A cabin in the deep woods nestled in a valley between gigantic mountains... Wade is holding a photo album and a baby girl.

Ok Gabby, Grampa is going to tell you a christmas story, but this one is about your Uncle James.... he was a good boy. Well behaved, and I loved him. Just like I love you... he was a doctor, he saved lives... he wasn't like me or your gump-pa.

but your uncle James did have one family tradition he just couldn't escape... Toxic old man yaoi. Yup, he was doomed by the narrative to be nothing like his parents and exactly like his parents... flipping open the album he turns to a page. James and Greg are standing with Ellie and Mary puppens in front of a large christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights of various shades of Yellow, Black, Blue and Red. On top was a golden inverted star that had the words "Hail Santa" emblazoned on it. The little girl coos as Wade carefully shows her the picture and our story opens up on the Christmas eve of 2065.

Christmas eve was a buisy occasion and Wade and Logan were the consummate hosts. Dozens of bottles of Asti were chilling in buckets of ice and Wade had made enough lasagna to feed an army...

The immediate challenge for James was getting Greg through cocktail hour without him stirring up drama for fun.

Laura had decided to play bar tender that night and busied herself at the end of the kitchen counter setting up liquor and glasses.

Ellie was at the door greeting the guest as they came in. James and House were in the living room by the impressively sized christmas tree, martini's in hand.

Logan and wade walked over to Laura to get themselves a drink as well.

-Scene one- (telenovela navidad)

Logan, Wade, Laura, James, House

Papá.. no me gusta como Greg jode a James

OH mi amor, solo son gays, es su manera de coquetear con él

....Acaso soy la única hetero en esta familia?

Sí.

hasta el perro?

Pos si Mary le da a to, bi seguramente

*Laura mira a la perra*

Mary: *ladra en español*

Puta madre ahora soy yo la minoría

Greg hears Laura having her conversation with her dads... not knowing that he spoke Spanish...

I don't think your sister Luara likes me...

She grew up in a desert wasteland and had to fight to survive she doesn't like a lot of people.

Calling Mexico a desert wasteland sounds a little racist.

I wasn't referring to Mexico... Ass! there's a place called the Void. My dad's found her there... dad used to tell me stories. It's a nightmare world in-between all the worlds... it's where they fell in love.

Of course... they fell in love in a nightmare, hell scape.

It's also why they're not allowed within 50 yards of a Honda dealership... at least that's what Grandma told me years ago.

-Scene 2- (Father knows best)

Wade, James, Greg

Once the party had gotten into full swing, Wade had retired to the bedroom only to shortly return in a tight fitting party dress

A strapless red dress it was brocaded with little silver pine trees. A fox stole was draped around his shoulder... James had told Greg who was taken a little by surprise that the fox was cought by Logan. He'd skinned and treated it and presented it to Wade as an anniversary gift a few years back...

P. e.t.a. is on the long list of people whom have personal beef with Wade and Logan.

Wade walks over to them...

How are you and your boyfriend doing over here kitten?

I'm not gay dad! You were at my wedding's

Wow, all three.

Shut up House!

Fine! Your roommate *he says with exaggerated air quotes* anyways! Yes, I remember your weddings. They were very nice... I also remember writing a check for all three divorce attorneys fees.

For the record, you didn't have to do that.

Kitten, I love you, but your taste in women is equally matched by your taste in attorneys. It's just awful... Thank god we keep Jeff on retainer, and since we're on the record. Your dad and I technically aren't gay either. Ya salty, sally! Shame though, because Greg sure is handsome *winks at Greg* I've always liked a man with permanent 5 o'clock shadow and stubble. Forgive me for assuming that the apple hadn't fallen far from the queer tree.

-Scene 3- (House asks a shark a lot of questions)

Greg, Jeff, James, Sam

In the Howlett-Wilson household, parties were pretty informal affairs. Some people showed up early, and some a little late... Father Wagners "Bamf time" always varies from where he started. Cocktail hour (which is usually a couple hours) was how they made up for that, so everyone was at the dinner table at the same time. So it wasn't unexpected when Jeff and his personal assistant and paralegal Sam walked in half an hour after the party started.

<whispering in a gosspy tone>

James what the fuck just walked in!?

James, seeing the old family friend, nonchalantly answered. That's Jeff and Sam. Jeff is the family attorney. I told you he'd be here.

Yeah but he's a fucking shark! You didn't tell me he'd be a shark!

Lots of attorneys are sharks, James said with a chuckle.

Seeing that Greg was still processing things, he remembered that the little section of New Jersey they lived in didn't see a lot of non-humans nor a lot of mutants...

He specifically is a land shark. Jeff and my dad are old friends. Jeff went to Harvard and is an incredibly talented litigater. He once got both my dads off war crimes charges at The Hague. Though his critics would say he won that case entirely by being distractingly cute.

No, I believe you, Wilson... but how is he breathing? I see gills over his little suit jacket.

You could ask him. He's very friendly.

James grabbed House by the hand and introduced the two of them to House.

Hello James. It's good to see you. It's a pleasure to meet your friend Greg. I hope you've been staying out of trouble.... though if not, I've been brushing up on medical malpractice law *chuckles*

The shark spoke through electronic assistance. Below the collar of his suit on his neck was a transponder developed by Parker Industries that translated Jeffs grunts chirps and vocalizations into English. A voice came out of his phone via Bluetooth connection that sounded a little A.I. generated but not as stilted and monotone as the late Steven hawking, not perfectly, but emotion and tone could be expressed.

Sam returned with an extra dirty low tide Martini for Jeff who liked the brine of canned tuna... and some of the tuna as a garnish added to his...

James tells me you're quite the talented attorney.

Well, i like to think so... but being a cute littel shark has been a benefit... i disarm people with my cuteness... then I tear them to shreds on the stands.

Where do you get your suits?

As you can imagine, until they make off the rack clothes in shark sizes, i have to have them custom-made... with the company I keep *he looks over at Wade Luara and Logan* i have connections to several custom Taylor's whom are discreet and talented

Cool, cool.... how do you breathe

Honestly... I don't know...

(and neither does the author... couldn't find any lore, and he didn't feel like making any up in case there is some out there... lazy writing if you ask me.)

Was Harvard law hard for you?

The academic part? No... everything else... Kinda. I'm grateful that I have Sam around. It's hard for me to type things and hold a pen.... or drive a car or other activities that bipedal humans can do regularly...

*looking at sam* do you do everything for him?

That'd be a gross exaggeration... Jeff is completely capable of a lot of things. I merely provide reasonable accommodation for the things he can't do... i'm also a paralegal, so i perform the necessary tasks for his firm, such as legal research, fact-finding and checking, interviewing clients, and helping him in court... as well as less glamorous things like paperwork.

So, do you have a girlfriend? Are you a mutant? You always been a shark? How would it work biologically if you had a girlfriend?

*blushing* I... that's a little personal, don't you think?

It is! <whispering> damn it Greg, you can't just ask people how they fuck...

That's not what i said!

That's not the point... I'm sorry jeff please excuse Greg. He's... he's just very curious... excuse us.

Grabbing Greg by the hand, James walks away from the tiny shark attorney and his friend.

That was weird...

Not really, Sam... not in this house. Honestly, that was mild..... i might find him and answer his questions... I just didn't want to talk about it in front of you and James... don't really want to discuss my intimate stuff in front of my godson, ya know.

That's fair... so I got the vibe they're dating...

Oh, absolutely. Not to gossip about a client, but his dad tells me they're roommates... apparently, everyone knows they're together but them. Poor fools.

<chuckles> Scandalous

-Scen 4- Perfect end to a perfect evening.

Logan, Wade, Greg, James, Morph/Kevin

The party went very well and dinner went smoothly, the gayety of the holiday season and the warm conversation was as close to a perfect Norman Rockwell portrait of holiday biss as you were going tobget in this house. No fighting, no shots fired or hands stabbed... James was nervously waiting for the shoe to drop because even Greg had behaved himself engaging in polite dinner conversation...

They made it the whole night through like this... Logan, Wade, Greg and James were getting ready to call it a night... Greg came with 4 champagne glasses.

One last drink for the night, and a toast to our excellent hosts

James absolutely knew something was going on... but didn't put it together until both of his father's had downed their drinks...

Wait dad don't.... shit...

Merely seconds later Logan spoke.

I feel... Drunk, I'm not supposed to feel drunk... not like this *Logan slurred the last sentence*

Well. Logan, I took your advice. I'm being honest with myself... and I'm doing something nice for James...

I've taken the liberty of making a special cocktail for you... your champagne has a heroic dose of Nembutal and Halcion.

You two are exhausting, and if anything James deserves one christmas without the sound of you two perverts going at it like dogs in heat the night before... and the fighting and the constant rambling, seriously Wade do you ever shut up?

Oh Peeeenut... I like him. He's a keeper Kitten. Wade said sleepily before collapsing on the floor.

Bub I....

Logan didn't get the last words out. He fell face forward on to the ground with a loud almost metallic thud cracking one of the granite tiles below him.

Greg! What the fuck!

Merry Christmas!

By the way how heavy is your dad...

About 600 pounds why?

I may have miscalculated his Dose.

He has a metal skeleton...

That's an interesting mutation... I may have killed him.

Wouldn't be the first time someone has killed him, and the metal skeleton is something the Canadian government did to him...

Jesus I thought those people were supposed to be nice.

For fuck sake after a week with my Canadian parents I'd hoped you'd realize thats a myth by now... you should go they're going to wake up shortly. And it's gonna take me and dad both to keep Papa from stabbing you... he really really doesn't react well to being drugged against his will.

No, they won't... when your dad was drinking with me, I observed that half a bottle of everclear had a mild seditve affect after about a minute from ingestion.

He was drunk?

Yes barely...

And it lasted for about 5 minutes before he expressed having a mild hangover for about 12 minutes, then he was sober. I know we don't work with a lot of patients with hyper metabolism or healing factors, but I have observed it. I was able to calculate that his and your other father's metabolism has an increased factor of about 97... 9 grams of Nembutal is enough to kill a normal human... I gave them 100 grams each between that and the Halcion... they will be asleep until morning...

Well, we better move my dad next to Papa, since you sure as shit can't help me lift him in to bed we're just gonna leave them here on the floor...

why do they have to be next to each other?

They're going to be unhappy as it is when they wake up... they freak out when they don't wake up next to each other... it's a thing...

That thing is called being toxicly codependent and you've spent your life catering to that...

Greg my parents love me.

I'm not saying they don't. Trust me, they clearly love you... but they're also a mess, and you've always gotta fix everything and help people... it's what makes you a great doctor... but it also makes you crazy around those two... because they need sooooo much help. so as soon as we put the hit man husbands in their designated dog pile You and I are going to raid that wine fridge for something expensive and watch Rankin and Bass christmas specials and enjoy a quiet christmas evening.

Later that night, the boys had indeed watched cheesy stop motion christmas specials. They had just finished Rudolf, the red noise reindeer when Morph walked out of the Master bedroom in a red dress.

I have been in there dressed as Jessica Rabbit for two hours. What is taking you two.... OH MY GOD! James what the fuck did you do to your dads!

*Pointing at the piled up mercenaries on the floor*

Damn it... yeah. I'm sorry, Uncle Kevin, but they're out cold for the night... sorry for ruining your christmas...

Well shit... It's ok. We still got the weekend, just won't be as special... I guess I got the big bed to myself tonight.... good night boys...

Uncle Kev... before you go. Is that one of my dad's dresses, or did you bring your own?

Kid... red isn't really my color... Now yellow... he says this as he transforms into a picture-perfect copy of Logan. Yellow is more my style... I'm gonna go occupy myself...

Again, sorry. but before you exact your revenge... I want you to know it's 100% Gregorys fault, he drugged them...

Traitor!

Secen 6 On the Jet

The following morning, cooler heads prevailed... they did not, in fact, cut Gregory into thin ribbons. Logan had actually had the best sleep hed had in probably 20 years... they forgave and chalked it up to normal Howlett-Wilson household shenanigans. Wade actually appreciated how clever the sly doctor was. But as they say. All good things come to an end, and Jame and Greg were soon wisked away to the airport to return home to New Jersey.

Wilson... despite drugging him, your dad Wade handed me this before we left... told me not to open it until we were on the plane...

Well, I'm here, so I doubt it's a bomb.

Greg opens the box and understands why it was so suspiciously heavy. He pulled out a gold brick and a note and showed it to Wilson...

Dad has always been weird with gifts... what's the note say...

It says, "Merry Christmas and welcome to the family, I stole this from Saddam hussein in the 90s. It's yours now.... Wilson... I'm pretty sure this is your dowry

Sure...

James... I actually need to talk to you about something.

The end

[nostalgicmiscellaneous]

"Russell T Davies is similarly full of praise for Coughlan. “You don’t cast Nicola Coughlan,” he tells the Big Issue. “You just close your eyes and hope and pray you’ll get lucky so she shines her light your way. And I got lucky.” Doctor Who star Nicola Coughlan: 'What a privilege to be part of people's Christmases' The Bridgerton star speaks to Big Issue about brushing up on her Doctor Who knowledge ahead of guest starring in this year’s Christmas special

Nicola Coughlan has shared how Ncuti Gatwa helped her to brush up on her Doctor Who knowledge ahead of her guest role in this year’s Christmas special.

Speaking to this week’s Big Issue Christmas special, which is out today (16 December), Coughlan says: “I don’t know if you’ve ever attempted to read the Doctor Who Wikipedia page. But it is like a full encyclopaedia.

Ncuti Gatwa on ‘feeling seen’ by Doctor Who, being a Ken and why his Time Lord is ‘very human’ Doctor Who star Millie Gibson on hope for Ruby Sunday and lessons learned from ‘magical’ Ncuti Gatwa “Then I watched the first two episodes ever made with my brother, who first introduced me to sci-fi through Star Wars, which was our big thing. It gave me a sense that this was proper TV history. So what a privilege to be part of it, and to be part of people’s Christmases.”

Wikipedia could only do so much for Coughlan – it was on set that she really learned the ropes. “If you’re going to get lessons, get them from The Doctor. That’s pretty cool,” she reflects. “It was really fun having Ncuti [Gatwa] be the one who was teaching me about stuff like Mavity.”

The show’s ongoing “Mavity” joke was introduced in last year’s 60th anniversary specials, when David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor accidentally rewrote history and caused Isaac Newton to misname gravity.

Also in the interview, Coughlan recalls how she was asked by showrunner Russell T Davies to take up the role of Joy in this year’s Christmas special. “He simply said, ‘Come and play with us in Cardiff!’ He’s such a legend. But I said, I know nothing about Doctor Who. I didn’t grow up with it in Ireland. I was very clueless.” Russell T Davies is similarly full of praise for Coughlan. “You don’t cast Nicola Coughlan,” he tells the Big Issue. “You just close your eyes and hope and pray you’ll get lucky so she shines her light your way. And I got lucky.”

Read the full interview with Nicola Coughlan – and more from Russell T Davies – in this week’s Big Issue. Buy from your local vendor, or if you can’t get to their pitch, show your support by purchasing a Vendor Support Kit at bigissue.com/Christmas.

https://www.bigissue.com/culture/tv/nicola-coughlan-doctor-who-christmas/

[tinycastleguy]

This is probably an old topic but I want to rant briefly about Russell T Davies' reasoning for having the 13th Doctor's clothes regenerate, because it just doesn't make any sense to me even from a metatextual point of view.

First of all, David Tennant has been in drag many, MANY times throughout his career.

Now, there is legitimate discussion to be had over whether all of these portrayals are respectful, because most of them are played for comedy. But my point is that he has not been made into a laughing stock by the media because of this, and as someone who struggles with their gender identity, it is validating to see a man comfortable enough with his masculinity to not only perform in these roles but honestly slay in them.

But wait, why are we talking about drag anyway?

Jodie Whittaker's costume was created to be intentionally androgynous.

The entire point of 13's outfit is that anyone can wear it, so the decision to not allow it to carry over to the next Doctor completely goes against that vision. If the concern is that David Tennant won't be able to fit in her clothes because he's so much taller, why not tailor a version of the outfit that fits him better?

In recent years, the Doctor is shown to be above gender stereotypes. 13 is able to wear Peter Capaldi's outfit post-regeneration and unashamedly sport a tuxedo for an episode and a half. If anything, not allowing the same for a male Doctor reinforces the idea that a man wearing women's clothes- or in this case, ANDROGYNOUS clothes- is just silly. It would be one thing if the explanation came from an actual drag queen; I would still disagree but I could at least respect their wishes, but it comes across as RTD trying to speak for the community.

I am excited to watch the 60th anniversary specials when I get to them, but everything surrounding David's return to the show was mishandled imo.

[one-and-a-half-yikes]

*inhale* Cuphead and Colly headcanons please😈😈😈

(Also perchance your opinion of coffeekitty (cup x Felix) mayhaps I live laugh love coffeekitty)

THE GODS HAVE GIVEN ME AN ASK!!!!

Okay okay starting with Colly hcs (because I don't think I have that many Cuphead ones)

These two would be such a chill fucking couple, but definitely capable of chaos every once in a while (it's Holly's fault lol). I like to think, in a relationship that Holly does get Cup into reading after at least getting him to try exploring some genres. Anything crime related is usually his go to though he did finally start branching out into other stuff. Ideally on a good day he's reading something from the adventure genre. After a decade spent involved in actual crime reading about stories, even if they're fictional, involving murders, killers, etc wears on him mentally and emotionally so he doesn't really read that anymore.

Snuggle time for these two is a must but it's usually initiated by Cuphead because he's touch-starved. Not that Holly's complaining, unless he's literally sweating in which case fuck that. And yes, this does mean that Holly is the big spoon in their relationship. Always. It's comforting for Cup, and sometimes when his mental health decides it's wants to plummet for no reason he just kinda flops near wherever she is. Sometimes "snuggling" for these two literally just means knowing the other is in the same room as them. Alive. Breathing. Especially for Cuphead who would still get the occasional nightmare of the Devil coming for him and taking everything he has away, including Holly. So it's nice to just sit on the floor and lean his head against the back of her chair if he knows she's working on something at her desk.

Because of everything involving Hat and his experiments done on him Cup's fear and unease around doctors does in fact extend to psychiatrists as well. So seeing a therapists is still incredibly hard for him. Enough that they had to settle for 40 minute sessions cause that's the amount of time Cup was willing to spend in a shrink's office. The first time he agreed to an hour session he got so antsy he was basically pacing the room like a caged animal. They went back to 40 minute sessions after that lol. Also, I do think Cup has other nervous ticks if he doesn't have a cigarette on hand. Which is probably why it took so long to get him to stop smoking. Because when he wasn't he was irritable and a nervous wreck. Best solution Holly could find was incense, but then when they got Dagger (wounded stray kitten Cup found and took in as a pet) she went back to regular scented candles. Somehow, that seemed to quell his anxieties.

Also they got an apartment instead of a house. Only cause Cup didn't like the idea of being in one and it wasn't like they were planning on having kids anytime soon like the others so it was more of "yeah sure why the fuck not".

I will say it here and now that these two have gone on sooooo many vacations. Listen that money that Cup has saved up for a rainy day. Null and void his Princess wants to go to fucking Japan so that's where they're going now. Whatever his queen wants ✨️

Too chill for fancy outings, I think they'd just hangout at cafés, diners, or try finding new street food to eat. Also concerts?? Soon as those become a thing fucking yes obviously (it was a one time thing and they both hated lmaooo). Fancy restaurants are reserved for anniversaries or special occasions when Cup wants Holly to fucking REST FOR ONCE. Because oh yeah she's not her mom entirely but she is a workaholic like her so yeah it's Cup's designated duty to drag her from her desk to bed. And hide the coffee on the highest shelf where she can't reach (this has never stopped her btw).

Also! Mentioning spooning again? Surely not me. Surely not I. As it stands, when they are going to bed, Holly gets to be the little spoon which works just fine for Cup cause it's the only way he can keep her contained (Holly sleeps like a fucking starfish okay and her hair being as long as it is means it's splayed out EVERYWHERE by the time morning rolls around)

Last thing I'll mention and it's a Cuphead hc is that I don't see Cup becoming a detective once he's able to be free from the Devil. Tbh I don't know WHY that's such a popular idea in the fandom because it seems completely antithetical to his character to me. You spent a decade involved in crime and committing the worst crimes a person could committ, just so you can jump right back into that but this time solving them? And we're supposed to assume that Cuphead has no problems with that? As an AU it's fine but canon-wise if you ask me I think he would work perfectly as a volunteer with animals. Either at a sanctuary, or at least at a shelter. I see him working at a shelter personally because that fits him. It's calming, he gets to spend time around cute animals, AND he gets to chew out irresponsible owners for not taking better care of their pets. It's a win-win!!!

(Okay I KNOW I just said I was done but rq I do think Cup knows a lot about animals as much as he does about astrology. But he doesn't get to usually gush about that so he's hiding his power level from everyone lmao)

Okay that out of the way this...coffeekitty you speak of...

First of all, that name is cute as hell and second. Idk, Cuphead and Felix have hardly had any real moment to TALK and stars knows they need to because I don't really think Felix gets the Cupbros still and there's still a lot of resentment there regarding Wilson, which is understandable but still-

It's interesting I guess but genuinely only see these two having a platonic relationship. That and also I already have a Cuphead in a gay ship (It's Cupex Cuphead x Alex [the bear not the cat] lmao)

[mochiiniko]

i dont have the time to make a whole special drawing for rhythm doctors 3 year anniversary, so i decided to redraw the first thing i posted in the rd server (around late 2022 i think??) because honestly rd was one of the things that got me to improve so much 💀

original drawings + me being emotional about rd under the cut because while ive only been into the game for a year it means EVERYTHIGN TO ME GRAHHH (lots and lots of rambles youve been warned)

originally i was gonna make these redraws when act 5 came out because of this?? like i just find it really funny how things came full circle

that time i was dealing with school and the stress from assessments were just. pretty bad LMAO. i had some steam credits from commissions and one of the core rd memories™️ i have was just going "oh rhythm doctor, i remember seeing a video about it i should check it out an-" BRAINROT BLAST PAST ME DID NOT KNOW

fast forward to 2023, october-november was just as rough as the previous year and i know its kinda stupid to say, but rd genuinely helped me get through it. act 5 especially since it was something nice to look forward to despite all the awfulness that happened that time. then playing act 5 made getting through that awfulness genuinely worth it

i had to play act 5 outside because i was on a trip, but i just vividly remember looking out the car window and feeling the happiest ive been during that time. and i didnt even play it yet!! just knowing that its finally out and knowing it was gonna be good was already enough

november 4 being the same time i got into the game, plus the fact that act 5 literally felt like playing through the game for the first time, made things much more emotional. act 2 was what made the game click for me (i dont have to explain why its already so obvious from my art posts 💀), and experiencing 5-X was like 2-X all over in the best way possible (i vaguely remember my own classic 2-X reaction with the window dancing, so again the whole "things coming full circle" with the window resizing lol)

im also thankful about it basically reviving the community?? i wouldnt really say it was dead pre act 5, but there wasnt too much going on especially on tumblr

theres probably stuff that im forgetting but its pretty late and i need to sleep so yea, happy 3rd early access anniversary to the silly spacebar game :>

[pers-books]

INTERVIEW

Jemma Redgrave: ‘Doctor Who will keep me young’

The actress would be happy to be remembered for the sci-fi series, she tells Dominic Maxwell

Jemma Redgrave: “My character wanted to make her way on merit. That wasn’t difficult to play”

Dominic Maxwell

Saturday November 25 2023, 12.01am, The Times

Jemma Redgrave has a problem. “Every time I get a new office,” she says, “it blows up.” Granted, she admits, the first time we saw her office — in the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special of 2013 that featured Matt Smith and David Tennant — it was in the Tower of London, and that one has stayed standing. Otherwise, though, in her role as Kate Stewart, the head of the Doctor’s paramilitary allies UNIT, her workplaces seem to routinely explode. That they seem to get swankier and swankier each time only seems to make them more vulnerable to the zap gun.

She won’t give anything away, and the BBC is keeping under wraps each of the three 60th anniversary specials, which start tonight. Yet you have to fear for the giant floating Marvel-style Unit HQ that features in the trailer. Redgrave doesn’t appear until the final part, which pits David Tennant’s returning Doctor against Neil Patrick Harris’s Toymaker, a villain not seen since 1966. She will, however, be the one other holdover from the 50th anniversary specials. “Yes,” she says with a disbelieving smile over morning coffee in a north London café, “I think it’s just me and David.”

She and her sons, now aged 29 and 23, had watched the series ever since it returned, after 16 years off our screens (a one-off comeback starring Paul McGann aside), in 2005. She wondered for a while why seemingly every other actor she knew got a role in it. Hers, though, has proved to be the longest-running.

She first played Kate Stewart opposite Smith in an episode in 2012. She didn’t realise the significance of the surname at the time: Stewart is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of Unit from 1968 to 1975, during the eras of Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. All of which is catnip to the fans, some of whom, as emissaries from Doctor Who magazine, were on set doing a story on her first day. They helped her to join the dots.

As Kate Stewart in the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (BBC)

Stewart, after all, didn’t use her full name. “She didn’t want to take advantage of her connections and wanted to make her way on merit,” Redgrave says. As the daughter of an actor (Corin Redgrave), the niece of two actresses (Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave), the granddaughter of actors (Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson) and the cousin of actresses (Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson), she knew where Stewart was coming from. It can be tedious spending your time fending questions about how you’ve got where you are today, after all.

“That you’re some sort of nepo baby? It can be, can’t it? Sometimes those questions go on and on and on, many, many, many, many years down the line.” Redgrave, a gifted under-player of a scene, gives a surprisingly full-hearted chuckle. “So that wasn’t a difficult scene to play.”

Redgrave appears only sporadically, but has rubbed shoulders with six doctors: Smith, Tennant, Peter Capaldi, John Hurt (in the 50th special), Jodie Whittaker and, coming soon, Ncuti Gatwa, who will take the lead once Tennant’s celebratory trilogy is done.

There have been rumours that Stewart and UNIT are getting their own show, but Redgrave insists that this is news to her. Then again, it’s rare for her to be permitted to admit even that she is in the first Gatwa series. She has to sign an NDA each time she shoots the show so that nobody, with the exception of her partner, who may be staying with her in Wales during shooting anyway, knows what she is working on.

She understands the rationale for this, although it can become absurd. During lockdown, because travel was restricted, the BBC sent a car to her north London home to pick her up for filming. On the way to the car she bumped into Smith, who lives in the area, walking his dog. He asked where she was heading. Cardiff, she told him. He asked what she was working on. “I said, ‘I can’t possibly tell you. I’ve signed an NDA.’ And he said, ‘Oh well, send them all my love.’”

Redgrave is a young-looking 58. Her extensive stage work includes appearing in a London production of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters with her aunts. Her TV work includes starring in the series Bramwell as well as recurring roles in Holby City, Grantchester, Silent Witness and Cold Blood. How would she feel if the world remembered her most for her sporadic role as the head of UNIT?

“I think that’s OK,” she says. “I grew up watching Jon Pertwee. And Jon Pertwee doesn’t change in my imagination. The people I grew up watching don’t get older in my imagination and I will remain in the imagination of the children who watch this 60th-year episode. And that is a kind of lovely thing. So I’m very happy to be remembered as Kate Stewart. Also, she’s a formidable woman. She has humour and heart and courage. And she’s vulnerable and aware of her limitations. So she’s kind of human in every possible way, even though she exists in a world of aliens and tech.”

On the subject of “the sci-fi stuff”, she admits that jargon and technobabble can be hard to play: the plot may need it, but it’s hard to bring much of yourself to. So she tries to find some emotional resonance of her own. “Either that or you just play it fast. It’s one or the other.”

She has found, too, that the fans will support her in other roles. Recently she appeared in a play, Octopolis, at the Hampstead Theatre in London. “And a lot of Who fans came to see that, which is a lovely thing. She’s a great character, but partly the reason that UNIT has continued through this series is because fans have been very vocal in their love of those storylines.”

When she was growing up, it took her a while to admit that she wanted to be an actress. “My parents split when I was young. My mum [Deirdre Hamilton-Hill] supported me and my brother. There wasn’t a lot of money around, but we did get taken to the theatre. And I think growing up in the theatre, and particularly not having a fear of Shakespeare because I encountered him on the stage and not in the classroom for the first time, was a great privilege.”

It was a trip to see the Wars of the Roses Shakespeare history plays at the RSC in Stratford when she was 13 that convinced her she wanted to act. “Before that I’d played my cards close to my chest. I didn’t have much confidence. I was quiet about it because there were a lot of people in my family who acted.” When she told her father, he gave her a complete Arden set of Shakespeare plays, and wrote “to commemorate your decision to become an actress” on the front page.

She went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, after which she began to work regularly. She appeared in a TV film, The Relief of Belsen, with her father, and in Howards End with Vanessa, but beyond that has ploughed her own furrow. So is the family connection one she can celebrate at this point?

What’s lovely, she says, is going to a set and having crew members come up to her and tell her they worked with her father, or her aunt, or her cousin or her brother Luke, a successful cameraman. “And usually anybody who says ‘I’ve worked with somebody in your family’ says it because they loved working with them. So it’s suddenly not quite such an intimidating environment.”

Family fame is dwarfed by sci-fi fame anyway. “I’m ‘her from Doctor Who’. And if you’ve got a body of work behind you, people don’t talk about the name. I just feel lucky that I come from the family that I come from because I grew up with books and theatre, which is a proper privilege. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was that, and that’s worth everything.”

Doctor Who is on BBC1 and iPlayer from November 25. Jemma Redgrave’s episode is on December 9

(Source)

[what-gs-watching]

“I can only smile like this because I have lost so much.”

Y’aaaaaaall, how excited am I that Doctor Who is finally back?! The 60th anniversary specials got me so on board for 15, and I am really so curious about how his arc is going to play out. Nunuwho, and all that. I’m here for it, I’m ready, I desperately need the distraction. 

Obviously, last time we saw 15 he was getting into hijinx with his new companion Ruby over Christmas, and I appreciate that’s exactly where they picked up for the first episode. 

Let’s talk about it. 

Space Babies

Wherein the Doctor and Ruby end up on a space station and something is definitely wrong.

Okay so, this episode was honestly just really cute from start to finish. Babies on a space station? Running the station, rolling around in little strollers? Trying to fight the boogeyman? Fucking adorable. Was the CGI to move their mouths weird? Of course. But again, I’m totally bought into this absolutely ridiculous situation so you gotta just roll with it. It’s pretty clear that this season is going to be a lot more whimsical than they have been in the past, and that might not be some people’s thing, but oh well. I can’t drag myself away from Doctor Who, it’s become too much of me, so I really will just follow where they lead, why the eff not. 

It’s also obvious they’re gonna keep leaning into the whole Timeless Child business, and I’ll go along with that too even if I was NOT a fan of the Flux because I’m interested to see what 15 is going to make of it. He was surprisingly upfront about where he was from when Ruby was grilling him, that was something that historically had to be PULLED out of the Doctor. Telling her, “the one that was adopted was the last one left” (which, isn’t he technically the first time lord also, since they basically harnessed whatever he technically is to become time lords?) And then this man actually said the word ‘genocide’ AND  expressed his gratitude about the fact that he’d survived. Is the Doctor finally letting go of the guilt he felt over that entire absolutely insane situation? 15 really is all about that emotional growth. You love to see it. 

Bypassing the ridiculousness that is a monster made out of straight up baby BOOGERS, I also thought it was interesting that they let that creature live. I’m not sure 10 would have. But again, the whole ‘the only one of my kind’ thing. Adopting the forgotten. Saving everybody, for once. 

Basically, the whole thing was pure fluff. And I like that sometimes. Cute first official adventure. Even though I gotta say I was surprised he gave Ruby a key like, fucking immediately. 15 really is going all in on those human emotions. It’s gonna get him in trouble, gang…

The Devil’s Chord

Wherein Ruby makes a request for where she’d like to go, and they land in 1963, but again, something is definitely off.

OKAY so, here’s the thing about this episode. Asking to see The Beatles recording their first album is a DIRECT LINE to my heart. Ruby talking about listening to records with her aunt - that’s me with my dad. And it’s absolutely what I would suggest. I enjoyed that he said everyone asks about the Titanic (I would too, eventually) but this girl got her priorities right. 

And I loved how he reacted to it. Pure fucking joy, 15. And the little vignette with them getting dressed up and strutting through the fucking TARDIS, yelling “I’ve got wigs galore!” And then being so absolutely excited about landing basically on the cross walk of Abbey Road. Just, all of it. Pulling all kinds of strings for me. I can’t even. 

I can also appreciate how  they got around not being able to utilize actual Beatles music - music is dying! Music is gone! John and Paul singing about having a dog; “my dog is alive, he’s not dead … he’s not your dog, if you want a dog get your own.” I loved the surprise of it, how absolutely absurd. 

The conversations that Ruby and The Doctor have with Paul and John too…the whole episode is a love letter to music, and I love that. 15 says something like “songs that lift you and devastate you and-and make you soar…” and shit, that’s exactly what it is (I say, as I continue to cry through The Tortured Poet’s Department).

John saying “why do I wake up crying?” ugh. The whole fucking thing. As someone whose life has always revolved around music in some way or another, the thought of losing it really is mind melting. All the feels.

All that to say - the Maestro. Damn, gang. Hard fucking whimsy, I see. And what an absolute psychopath. In a creepy, good, but also terrible way. What the fuck was that? 

The point being now we know a little bit what they’re up against - because 14 played a game at the end of the universe, they apparently let gods from the Pantheon into the universe. So now we’re less about aliens, and more about forces The Doctor really shouldn’t be fucking with, but is going to anyway. Because he caused it, after all. And the devastation he had when he realized that - 15 feels so much, so hard. Gonna hit the entire emotional spectrum with this one, which is so not a Doctor thing, and I will enjoy the entire ride.

 There were so many good moments in this one - Ruby playing the piano on the roof, or when she was trussed up in musical notes and just started emitting Christmas music - and that’s the other thing, the Maestro saying “this creature is very wrong.” Girl, what are you? I love the companion backstories, I really do.

Oh AND The Doctor declaring they had to hide, at one point. My dude is realizing his limitations. 14 wondering what he was underneath all of the gadgets and the time machine really sunk in. And then him talking about how his soul was ripped in half? Jesus. Growth, growth, growth. 

Someone might as well get the emotional epiphanies I should probably be having. It counts if I watch someone else go through it, right? 

There’s too much to say about this one. I loved it, even if I did think the last musical number was almost a bridge too far. But, I’m already on this train, so I’m giving up on clinging to expectations.

Boom

Wherein the two of them land on a planet that’s clearly at war but maybe it’s not all that they think it is.

This one is definitely more classic Doctor Who - immediately they’re in danger and it just ramps and ramps and ramps the entire episode and you can never really relax. I love those. This episode is basically all stakes. 

Doctor standing on a landmine? Check. Ruby valiantly trying to help but most likely is going to make it worse but does it anyway? Yes. Post-apocalyptic “ambulances” wandering the battlefield killing people if they’re injured instead of actually helping them because an algorithm decided it? Of course. 

I feel like a lot of shows lately have been trying to lecture me about the danger of AI (I’m looking at you, Murder At The End of The World, which was so terrible I didn’t even bother writing it up) and I’ve been like ‘yeah yeah I get it jesus’ but I think they did a solid job of it in this one. Capitalism and AI together is honestly a worrying combination, and they got me with this plot.

Essentially, 15 is trapped on a landmine that immolate whomever it ensnares basically, turning him into a giant bomb  which isn’t great because as we know he’s a big ol’ space-time event and he needs to get out of it but then the daughter of a soldier we saw killed by the ambulance shows up and then another soldier coming after the kid and things just go haywire. 

The point is, AI is running everything because war has become an industry (more than it already is) and the algorithm is forcing casualties in a war that literally doesn’t exist and everything is kind of terrible but the Doctor manages to talk his way out of it sort of, by connecting to a projection about being a father and protecting their kids always and forever, no matter the form they’re in. 

It’s kind of sweet that they’re letting 15 talk more about his long, long life - in the previous episode he mentioned his granddaughter and when Ruby asked if he had kids he said something like “did have, will have” and then at the end he tells the child he’ll be back to check on them and that “fish fingers and custard” is his favorite which obviously made me squee and I just really appreciate that he’s more…integrated? It’s always felt like they worked so hard to make sure they’re all different and of course they are, but they’re all The Doctor and I want that thread of all of the things that have come before. 

Also, Ruby again with the weirdness, making it snow after she gets shot accidentally and then grabbed by the ambulance, basically dying on the ground. Girl is complicated. Gimme that backstory!

The other thing I really enjoyed was the mockery of “thoughts and prayers”. Fuck people who hide behind that. Fuck corporations that hide behind that. The Doctor’s not taking your shit, and neither should we. 

All that to say, all three of these episodes were ridiculous in their own ways, and I’m about it. So far, 15 is 1000000% his own thing and I love it even if it is fairly far off the beaten path for Doctor Who and I’m excited to see where else he’ll take us. 

Like he said, “There's hardly any time that we're not dead. Which is a good thing, too. We've got to keep the pace up.”

[bringbacktentoo]

UPDATE 12/20/24:

I have no idea if anyone will see this, but!

With the petition crossing 300 signatures, I desperately need to update this entire post the way I eventually went back and updated the petition itself... Many of us realized with the airing of the 60th specials last year that we didn’t particularly want Tentoo and Rose coming back to the show itself, worried that it might not be handled the way we’d previously hoped (writing concerns, retconning, etc). That’s why the goal is to now (hopefully) encourage some Big Finish audios or comics (as both have done wonderful work with Tentoo content in the past)!

I’m actually planning a new event for early next year, which will be my last attempt with anything like this. Keep an eye out 💜

“Rose is actually happy in a parallel universe with a half-human Doctor.” - Russell T. Davies

Hello, Whovians — we’re excited to announce the #BringBackTentoo movement!

Sign the petition

In July 2008, millions of viewers tuned in to watch ‘Journey’s End’; where the Doctor and Rose were left hand-in-hand on Bad Wolf Bay.

While fandom has remained active, continuing to generate endless works inspired by this iconic pairing, there's sadly been little official content from the people who launched the ship!

Nonetheless, our devotion remains unwavering. We persist, loving the OTP; ceaselessly spreading love and fan-made content worldwide!

The purpose of this movement is to show there is still an audience that is very interested in revisiting these two. One that would love to see the Doctor and Rose together again, on-screen or off, living their best lives in Pete’s World. 

Regardless of whether it’s a spin-off, comics, audio adventures, or — and this, we believe, is crucial — anything at all, we would just love to have them back in some way. We’ve realized that perhaps there hasn’t been enough collective buzz to bring this into reality, which is why we’re looking to rally up as much support as we can.

Already with us? Sign the petition! Our petition will be emailed directly to the powers that be; including Russell T Davies, Big Finish, the BBC, and more.

Have questions? Doubts? Need a little more convincing? Then read on…

Why now?

Because there’s never been a more perfect time for it. 

Already, Russell’s return has been bringing former fans back in droves. Everyone’s waiting with bated breath for RTD2 and the sixtieth anniversary; plus Ncuti, David, and Catherine. With so many fans dipping back into the Doctor Who world, why not strike while the iron’s hot? 

At the fifteen-year mark, it might never be this “hot” again!

Plus… nostalgia is a massive market.

A return of Tentoo and Rose after all of these years would be the perfect cherry on top of all of it: closure for so many fans, as well as validation for the only happy ending a Doctor-and-companion pairing ever got in Doctor Who.

And don’t forget — fan campaigns work, especially in the social media age!

A spin-off — too much? 

As much as we’d love to see David and Billie back on-screen together as the proper Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose, we understand that we already have David coming back in a big way, as well as Ncuti Gatwa — our brand new Doctor. It’s a big, BIG ask, trying to get a spin-off out of this. We recognize that.

However, as famished fans who are living off of little more than canonical crumbs and dreams, we will greedily devour anything we can get.

Such as:

More Big Finish audio adventures

Big Finish has done incredible work for Doctor Who, including one of the only official ‘glimpses’ we’ve gotten into Pete’s World: A couple of short audios featuring Tentoo and Jackie.

Big Finish understands and respects these characters, their relationships, and the overall source material. They’ve shown time and time again that they’re more than capable of doing justice to Doctor Who! 

Audio adventures with a focus on the Meta-Crisis Doctor and Rose Tyler would be fantastic. Anything from their adventures with Torchwood and/or UNIT, imaginings of their life with a TARDIS, etc — there are endless possibilities! 

Comic book adventures

In 2021, Titan Comics published ‘Empire of the Wolf’, a lovely comic book that gifted us with the best glimpse we’ve ever had into the lives of the Doctor and Rose in Pete’s World:

It was a beautiful, if brief imagining of these two (and includes their daughter), but even so, the vast majority of the story involves Rose being trapped with the Eighth and Eleventh Doctors. We only get a few pages of Tentoo. 

Comics would be an excellent way to dive into the parallel world again!

Novels

There are loads of Doctor Who novels with amazing stories about Rose and the Tenth Doctor (like 'The Stone Rose' by Jacqueline Rayner). But, here's the thing: there's just one official novel that dives into the whole Metacrisis and Rose relationship... And guess what? Fans are really craving content that stays true to RTD and Julie Gardner's original vision for this couple.

The good news is, there are tons of talented writers out there who would jump at the chance to create legit Meta-Crisis stories, and some would even do it for free!

An animated series

We recognize that this would be a tremendous undertaking, but imagine: You can do incredible things with animation that aren’t possible with film. It would appeal to fans of all ages, and Billie and David have more than proven themselves to be excellent voice actors. There are all sorts of stories that could be created in this medium.

But let’s say we went with the first choice…

A spin-off/miniseries

RTD has been very vocal about his plans for spin-offs. Billie and David are willing, and it hasn’t been so long that the pairing has lost relevance… Although, in Doctor Who, does anything ever really lose relevance? The show is known for bringing back old characters. Enemies, companions… Doctors:

It’s obvious that David seems to have no issue with playing the Doctor. Furthermore, even Billie Piper has recently expressed interest in a spin-off!

In 2019, she told Doctor Who magazine: 

“I would like to see a one-off dark comedy about Rose and the Doctor in the parallel universe”. 

Then, even more recently in December 2022, she told Buzzfeed [on returning to Doctor Who]:

“If it was like four episodes all shot in London, then yeah, I’d be like a rat-up-a-drainpipe for that.”

Four episodes of Tentoo and Rose in London? What could be more perfect than that?

Wouldn’t a spin-off overshadow Ncuti Gatwa?

It doesn’t have to! If a spin-off were to happen, it wouldn’t necessarily have to happen immediately — it can happen after Ncuti has been established as the Doctor, and after RTD has re-established himself as showrunner. We’d just like for it to be part of the conversation, and let those in charge know that people are interested.

So… What about the people who didn’t like the ending?

Yes, there are some naysayers out there. People who refuse to acknowledge Tentoo’s legitimacy as the Doctor; others who refuse to believe that Rose could ever be truly happy with him, and vice versa.

This, sadly, is willful ignorance. Not only has Russell T. Davies, the man who wrote Journey’s End — who created Tentoo and Rose — confirmed that they're happy; the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will be the first person to tell you that those two are blissfully shagging their lives away at all times. And god bless him for it.

We’ve come to find that a lot of people who aren’t on board with the ending just didn’t understand it, which is fine — what better way to understand this pairing than by seeing more of them? 

On that note…

How can I help? 

Sign the petition!

Petitions are old school, but they are proven to be effective at affecting change, even in today’s world. We can preach to the ends of the earth about how much we want to bring these two back, but without numbers to back it up, the prospect is null and void. 

Don’t just like this post — please reblog!

This is a grassroots effort that is counting on the power of fans to help spread the word. Unlike most social media platforms, there is no algorithm on Tumblr. Likes do nothing for visibility, so please reblog to make sure as many people see this as possible! 

Participate in Tentoo x Rose Month

This is a multi-medium fan event for creating content of the OTP throughout all of July! All works will be featured on the @tentoorosemonth2023 page, with certain works even shared on the BringBackTentoo Instagram.

Buy the already-existing content

If you haven’t already, buy the ‘Empire of the Wolf’ comic. Buy the Big Finish audios ‘The Siege of Big Ben’ and ‘Flight Into Hull!’. Show these fantastic creators that we will gladly consume any content about these two that we can get!

Spread the word

Know anyone who likes Doctor Who? Any former fandom friends who might’ve outgrown all of this, but would enjoy more Tentoo/Rose content? Or maybe even just a random IRL friend who supports your obsessions? Link them to the petition!

Join the movement by following this page and our Instagram (which is brand new, give it time to grow ♥️). Keep on creating content, using #BringBackTentoo to tag any of your fanart, well-wishes, or whatever you like across platforms — just please be sure to keep it positive!

Feel free to DM/ask if you have any other questions, concerns, or ideas that weren’t touched upon in this post. 

And please, for goodness' sake, be kind. This is a labor of love inspired by passionate fans and creators who just want to see our OTP again. ♥️

[stargazerlily7210]

Hello, and welcome to my TED Talk.

In this essay, I will demonstrate why I think Mrs. Flood is Susan Foreman (aka The Doctor's Granddaughter, aka The Unearthly Child, aka The Boss, aka The One Who Waits).

I know, I know. Not exactly the hottest take out there.

But buckle in, cause this goes deep.

Getting this out of the way first: I know this season has been billed as a bit of a fresh start (what with calling it Season 1, and all) and thus people are wary about assuming Mrs. Flood is a returning character. But let's be real. Just look at the 60th anniversary specials. Ya know, the massive 3 parter whose plot has set everything in motion for this next season.

They feature The 14th Doctor (aka The 10th Doctor revamped) with Donna Noble and her family (from the 2000's), Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (from the 2010's) who is both the current leader of UNIT (from Classic Who) and the daughter of The Brigadier: original leader of UNIT (throughout all of Classic Who), The Meep (from a Classic Who comic strip of all things) The Toymaker (Classic Who) and Mel (Classic Who).

And that's just the characters. Never mind the near constant references to both New and Classic Who.

They made it appealing and approachable to new viewers, sure. But they've already proven they're not actually interested in distancing themselves from the show's past.

So why do I think she's Susan, specifically?

Well, for starters, although the age of an actress doesn't really mean much in a 60 yr old time-travel show that's already had (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVENT SEEN THE 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) a parent-child dynamic where the daughter is not just played by an actress who's noticably older than the parents, but also canonically met the doctor first, despite her parents being the primary companions, (and each of them are played by both adult and child actors). But Anita Dobson is 74. Which would have made her 14/15 when the show started in 1963. Around the same age Susan Foreman is supposed to be/appear.

But again, that doesn't really mean anything in this show. So why else would I think she's Susan? And why do I think this means she's also The Boss mentioned by the Meep, AND The One Who Waits mentioned by The Toymaker?

Well, because I think it all falls into place with some of the big themes they've been pushing in the episodes so far, if she's Susan.

I mean, from what I know of Susan, she was a refugee from Galifrey, with her grandfather, The Doctor. As far as we know, he's her only family. He'd basically been raising her until she caught feelings for a human guy, so The Doctor decided she'd be better off staying on Earth. Effectively abandoning his very traumatized teenage granddaughter in 1960's London. It wasn't malicious, he was trying to do what's best for her. But he still left her there against her will and never came back for her.

So she's an orphaned teenage refugee, raised in a high-tech alien culture, stuck in the 1960's, with her first major crush as her primary confidant and caregiver. Let's be real. She'd have been deemed a mentally unstable minor, and at best institutionalized, at worst dissected/studied, in a heartbeat (or rather, two heartbeats (a surprise tool that'll help us later)).

So here we have a woman who's likely been drugged and tortured ("psychotherapy" in the 1960s, am I right?), gaslit, and desperately isolated for a significant portion of her life. With a massive list of reasons to both deeply resent and have seriously dissociated from The Doctor and the TARDIS.

And now we finally get to the new episodes:

The Meep says that creatures with two hearts are so rare that it can't wait to tell The Boss about The Doctor. So we have The Meep, who just happened to pick Earth to "crash land" on, answering to a nameless Boss who's on the lookout for 2 hearted creatures. Thus, we're looking for someone with both a connection to Earth and intimate knowledge of Timelord biology.

The Toymaker says even he didn't dare face The One Who Waits. Which says a lot, considering the importance and prevalence of people described as Waiting with a capitol W.

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE 10TH and 11TH DOCTOR'S EPISODES!!) Off the top of my head, I can think of Jack Harkness aka The Face of Boe who waited billions of years to see The Doctor again. We have Amy Pond aka The Girl Who Waited, and Rory Williams aka The Boy Who Waited. We even have Sara Jane Smith, who's first real conversation with the The Doctor after finding him again had her admitting she'd spent her whole adult life waiting for him to come back. So to be The One Who Waited, above and beyond all others? You'd have to have somehow waited more than the rest. And when you're already talking about Waiting upwards of 5 Billion years, that's tough to do. Unless you're looking at it from The Doctor's perspective. And the Granddaughter he'd abandoned 15 lifetimes ago would absolutely fit that bill.

So we have an individual who is intelligent/knowledgeable enough to be called The Boss by an alien kapable of mind control and space flight, who's searching for creatures with 2 hearts. Who's earned the title of The One Who Waits, above so many other candidates.

And we just so happen to meet a character who's being played by an actress the same age Susan should be.

Speaking of, we can finally look at Mrs. Flood herself. When I first watched the episode, it struck me just how angry she was at seeing the TARDIS. When it's far more normal to see people ignoring the thing. So her reaction is weird, both in general, and for a character the actress herself described as a friendly neighbor lady.

It's only after she's utterly shocked by the TARDIS disappearing in front of her that she starts acting different. As if seeing that unlocked her memories. From there on out, she's a different person who knows exactly what's going on. She even addresses the audience at the end and knows to call it a TARDIS. Which Susan of all people would know, as Susan claimed to have come up with the acronym herself, during her time with the 1st Doctor (whether that's technically canon or not, idk).

It's also worthy to note, that if you look at the houses during the scene where she's complaining about the TARDIS, you'll see that on the outside, her house, while the most extravagantly decorated outside, is noticably stark and empty inside, unlike each of the other houses where you can clearly see decorations through the windows. Not to mention, her door is the only one that looks like the TARDIS. The other doors are either the wrong shade, or style, or both. And her's is the only one that doesn't have stairs going to the second level. I don't know how much of this is just working within the confines of the location, and how much is intentional, or what it would mean, but we see enough wide shots of the house fronts, it seems potentially relevant.

So if Mrs. Flood is, in fact, Susan Foreman, she's exactly the right age, she'd have had more than enough reason to be triggered by the sight of the TARDIS, more than enough intelligence/knowledge to reach Boss status in her search for a rare two-hearted creature and being The Doctor's Granddaughter, could absolutely intimidate The Toymaker, and have more than enough claim to the title of The One Who Waited.

And if she turned out to be a future Big Bad, she would have the trauma, reasoning, skillset, and intelligence to truly challenge The Doctor and force him to deal with the repercussions of his habit of never stopping or looking back at his actions or mistakes.

We've never seen if Susan can regenerate as far as I'm aware, but we know she's a Timelord and significantly younger than The Doctor. So if she can, the actress has already suggested that Mrs. Flood will go through quite a transformation throughout future episodes. We might be seeing the birth of a new antagonist for a new generation of the show.

Honorable Mention: I feel like The Boss is right up there with The Doctor and The Master. And RTD would absolutely make The Boss a bada** boss babe.

Phew. That was a whole essay. If you've made it this far, congrats!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[marvelousmop]

Mop's 2024

Another year has passed me by... where does it all go? Who knows. All I know is that I've kept on writing, even when perhaps it wasn't the best idea or when it wasn't what I should've been writing. Let's go over some of that writing, shall we?

WARNING: INANE RAMBLING AHEAD, READ WITH PATIENCE

The Man in Grey's Christmas Carol:

What better way to start off the year than with a very belated Christmas special? But it was belated for a good reason. The Man in Grey's Christmas Carol was an idea I thought up in July of 2023 when Aristide brought up the idea of using the Retconning Crocodiles in a minor way, and trying to figure out a plot to use them in somehow turned into the idea of doing a retelling of A Christmas Carol that gets derailed when the Ghost of Christmas Past learns that this year's Scrooge (our Man in Grey) didn't have a backstory, and so naturally they'd go to the Retconning Crocodiles to give him one.

The resulting story is to date the longest 925 Universe story, and I tried to incorporate as many ideas as I've had in the past about MIG (and some new ones just to mix things up a little), though of course a lot is not on the page. I don't personally want to answer every question about him, and neither does MIG really - as far as he's concerned, his life is what's on his CV.

It also ended up being quite a pivotal story in the 925 Universe, mainly because of the use of licensed DWU elements (really more just me liking the work of my friends and wanting to reference it with their permission) which means the Doctor Who wiki now has a page for a story that was first published on AO3... and that made me realise something. There were over 10 925 Universe stories at this point, and I was still using AO3 - my choice in platform when I specifically assumed this wouldn't be a series, let alone one with a 20k word novella that takes a detour to reference the Wold Newton Meteorite and Paul Shapera. That just wouldn't do...

But first:

The Noodle Man:

Yes, I had a hand in this. Wrote two short vignettes featuring Talbot Molossus (the 925 Universe Character I keep forgetting to use because I don't really have any funny ideas for him) and not the Noodleman (because I didn't really have any funny ideas for him). I was also the one who suggested the title of the anthology, fun fact, though I'm largely not very notable in this varied anthology from some very demented minds. It's also the first appearance of OMSCF!

The Nine-Two-Five Universe Website:

So, in-between writing various stories that haven't been released yet, I was chipping away at the next phase in the 925 Universe's strange evolution - a wordpress blog. I was of course taking lots of notes from The Crew of the Copper Colored Cupids (I even stole the lovely @aristidetwain for the illustrations) though, like any good plagiarist, I tried to change enough words to not get into trouble. For example, while they have a series of concise character bios that directly and effectively tell you about the characters, I...

Okay, so, like many problems, it started with the Man in Grey. I wanted to write a character bio for him, but also I'd just done a Christmas Special giving him this big backstory, and I don't want it to be spoiled for the unfortunate new readers, and also I didn't really want to write it all out again... so I instead opted to just make his bio his CV, which conveyed literal facts while also giving a sense of the character through the medium I used. I though this was fun. Naturally when I wrote Dynamite Thor's bio, I did it mimicking superhero origin stories, and with Jenny I gave her something normal because, well, she's the only normal person here... and that's why the character bios now have all these dumb gimmicks.

Initially I wanted this to all be out by the 2nd Anniversary, but the edits for the earlier stories were becoming more expansive, the character bios took up time, and eventually it became clear that I'd have to stagger the releases through the year, which would also mean I wouldn't be writing many new stories... a shame, but oh well.

Academy 27:

During this time, I also wracked up some more writing credits for the Academy 27 Series (a spinoff of the WARS TCG), with my main contribution being the story "Key Card" - a more thriller-inspired story about Midi being tormented by an evil Janitor robot. I also wrote a scene for an end segment for the story "Stage Blocking" (the one where the actors spend the whole seen fighting against a table with wheels - a very Goes Wrong Show-inspired bit), and I made the thumbnails for "A Kendo Story" and "Jae Hyun Puts on the Moves".

There is another story I contributed to that was meant to go out this year but, due to some Behind the Scenes complications, Academy 27 Season 2 was split, with my last story being in the second half of the second season (now Season 3)... so, look forward to that!

Super Speed Dating:

For a while, I wasn't planning to contribute to Jenny Everywhere Day 2024, just because I really didn't have the time for it... but I did it anyway. Part of it was admittedly because it was a good excuse to draw more eyes to the new 925 Universe Blog, but also it was a story I had been chipping away at for a while anyway, and it was, in-theory, quite short and plotless, so I could just write it out in a week and have it ready.

In-theory.

The story ended up being around 14k words long, partially due to an end segment that kept expanding as the series of aimless skits came together to form a chaotic battle against the very original character of Mike the Merciless. I also just can't shut up.

Also, fun fact - one of the characters in this story is a mean-spirited adult version of Little Orphan Annie (because she's public domain, and why the hell not) and, in a completely unplanned coincidence, this story was released near the 100th anniversary of the character. Leapin' Lizards, indeed.

The Crew of the Copper Colored Cupids Advent Calendar (2024):

So, one cold, November Day, Aristide messaged me asking if I'd like to contribute a vignette to that year's Advent Calendar. Naturally I cautiously agreed to try to write maybe half a story... and then I wrote two. Really, three.

Merriment started off as a thing featuring Acquaintanceship-982 witnessing a scene from the end of a Christmas story and being very confused by it (especially this all-knowing character named "Mother Merriment" who would just be there as if she were a well-known Christmas character that everyone knew about)... that draft went nowhere though, so it got scrapped and replaced with Pythagoras-858 waking up in the small, Christmas-obsessed town you see in dozens of Hallmark Romance movies and slowly realising there's something weird about the citizens. Mother Merriment got carried over to this version, and her role got expanded to be like how many of these movies treat Santa (mainly because I was told not to use Santa).

Doctor Omega got some representation though (along with his two companions) in Doctor Omega's Last Minute, which also went through the sort of wild revisions you only see in a story where it's written very last-minute (it was December by the time I'd started it). At one point, I was planning on doing a parody of the Doctor Who episode "Kerblam!", but I thought it'd be a bit tacky to use the pre-existing 925 Universe parody, Kablamazon, so I replaced it with Argolis (a very timely parody of Argos)... and then I realised that doing a Kerblam! parody in general was a bit tacky, so I scrapped it all, but kept in Argolis as a driving force for the story.

This ended up ballooning to around 8000 words so, when I sent it in, it was suggested that it should be split into two parts. I agreed, partially because it artificially inflated the number of stories I've written for the Cupids, and partially because it gave me an excuse to change the format and introduce Professor Helvetius at an earlier point.

Two Sheep at a Standstill:

Back when I wrote Lawyers and Tigers and Bears, I felt a bit dissatisfied with how Dorothy and Ozma's story concluded. Sure, structurally there wasn't really a place for them to have a resolution, but I still wanted to give them one. That's why, when I was putting together the website, I also started writing "Two Sheep at a Standstill" (at the time "Two Sheep Standing Still in a Field"), a little thing where we see what their life is like outside the courtroom and also they kiss a bit.

This story actually went through more revision than I thought it would, mainly because of Ozma - the story alludes to the character's history quite a bit (of her childhood with Mombi and, more pressingly, her being trans) and, while I knew I was going to tread lightly with these topics, I still wanted to make sure I was not doing anything egregiously bad (and if I failed, I hope someone would tell me). In general with Ozma, I'm really more interested in this almost tragic element to her becoming a Queen - the idea that she was living such a terrible life and then, when she was finally free from it, she was in a position where she had to give so much of her life to others, and at a stage where she maybe wouldn't even be ready for it (don't make children monarchs, it never goes well)... but also, in a way, it shows the ultimate kindness of the character - that she'd surrender so much of her life in spite of what she's gone through.

Dorothy, similarly, is a character I had a lot of fun reimagining for the 925 Universe (there are quite a few Action Dorothies out there that are interchangeable, so I just had fun leaning into her protectiveness that we see in the books), and it was nice to write something where the characters could be happy with eachother, in spite of what they've gone through.

In short: Yay, gay people!

What Now?

As of now (with the exception of "The Rhino Tower"), all 925 Universe stories are up on the website, meaning I'm finally ready to move forward! I've learned at this point to not make strong plans with this series, as it keeps evolving faster than I can keep up with it, but I know that we will have a new story for the 3rd anniversary. I also have various personal projects I'm chipping away at (the Hook Book namely...) and there are stories I worked on this year that should hopefully be released at some point maybe. Who knows.

But anyway... thank you for putting up with all this waffling, and thank you for sticking by me for yet another year! Why did you do that? I don't know.

Thank you to @aristidetwain and @drleevezan, both of whom have been massively helpful to me this year (especially Aristide, who's done more illustrations for me than I'd ever reasonably ask of him, including many for character bios that haven't even been written yet), and thank you to @tardistogongen for enabling so many opportunities for me and others to write many stories.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to some fabulous new creative projects, headed by lovely people:

The Land of Elcarim - A series by @ranmagender that, much like the 925 Universe, features extensive crossovers from various public domain and open source characters (including some you might recognise from my work), but with a more metafictional approach that's very fun to read.

The Cheshire House - A repository for short stories by various authors set in and around the same universe. It features many people I've written with for Arcbeatle Press, and generally fits into the same Doctor Who-adjacent niche (though to call it a Doctor Who spinoff is to diminish the vast creativity that goes into this series).

And let's all, to the best of our abilities, survive 2025.