#In Her Image - Tak

[hershelwidget]

Yeah ok more bo I MEAN completely normal barnacleses. barnaci? barncle. barnanc NEVERMIND

In all seriousness I think the part BB loves most about being the Captain is that he’s got that big voice and confidence to match and it has FUN with it. Gets Extra when saying his catchphrases and stuff yk

Also some cute quirks it has <3 BB’s actually adorable I can’t even deny it anymore (either that or my old crush on Barnacles is acting up) COUGHS ANYWAYS

[ratective]

part 3 of historical gems featuring these two in a mix of some traditional polish clothes

not quite the naturalistic late 19th century painting vibe i was aiming for because i rushed it but um?? i finally finished a painting?? ˛ꉂ ೭(˵¯̴͒ꇴ¯̴͒˵)౨

[theblackestofsuns]

“That’s Her Karma”

Hitomi #1 (October 2022)

HS Tak, Isabella Mazzanti, Nicoletta Bea and Valentina Napolitano

Image Comics

[theood]

s/o 2 my cousin for actually having my.back and lying to my.mom abt if im on anything. Real actual mvp thanks for that ily keep it up

[beaversatemygrandma]

So my ancient boofer here, who knows nothing but sleep and spaz for a treat or walk, needs a treat toy or puzzle toy. And I have no idea what to get her.

Tabby is 14 and couldn’t care less about toys anymore but immediately sits up to beg on her haunches when presented food. And everything I’m finding is for very small dogs. (I guess she’s just uncommonly old or smth but she’s puppy.) *baby kitten and thigh for scale

Anybody with an old dog have advice on a treat toy?

[kiwiraccoon]

In the Twilight

Ateez x OC

Word Count: 2678

Summary: She lives with eight men, it was planned by all their parents. They spend hours together and hours apart. They do things together, for each other, and on their own. She reads by her window and they join in. They fall in love first, and she falls harder one by one.

Notes: FLUFF that’s all

part 1

The pages on my book glow in the twilight of the setting sun through my window that I sit next to regularly. The words stick out against the beige pages and I lose track of time while reading. It’s a common occurrence causing the boys to interrupt my time to call me for dinner. If they didn’t I would skip the meal unintentionally.

“Your dress will get wrinkled like that.” A voice calls out from the other side of our decently sized library. He walks into the room with grace that calls attention to him even if he doesn’t want it.

“Will it now?” I jest, a smirk growing on my face as I close my book with just my finger holding its place. He continues walking towards me and I can do nothing but watch his elegance. I’ve learned much from him about etiquette, and how to hold oneself in a pleasing manner. If it weren’t for him I would be curled up on my windowsill and slouching in a very uncomfortable position.

He chuckles, “It will.” He moves to stand near where I sit allowing himself to see the beautiful landscape I find myself wanting to paint from memory many times.

“Did you come here for something?” I ask not out of annoyance, a feeling I never have towards him, but out of curiosity as he usually has something in mind for us to do when he does gain the courage to interrupt my time.

“I’m just enjoying the view.” He says softly looking out to the landscape and I look down smiling, opening my book once again. I know he has an idea but refuses to pull me away from my book when I am not at a perfect stopping point. He understands my love for words on pages and their stories better than any of the others.

“There are other windows, Seonghwa.” I say with a small laugh at his antics, but continue reading as to finish the chapter quickly.

“But none have this beautiful view.” He says simply, and without looking I can feel his eyes on me rather than the view outside causing a small smile to form on my face.

“It is quite nice isn’t it.” My pages turn as he ponders his next words. I can feel the way he wants to ask me a question but his morality refuses to let him ‘bother’ me. I always found it cute how he would wait for hours if he had to just to be sure he wasn’t intruding on my time alone. The way he would either grab a random book of his own to occupy his mind with or simply just sit on one of the couches and enjoy the ‘view’ before him.

“Indeed,” he breathes in for a moment obviously fighting his inner turmoil. “Uh… Do you have a book mark?” The way his voice shakes but also peaks in both curiosity and worry makes my smile grow once again and pull my eyes to him.

A chuckle escapes my lips, “nope.”

“Well then,” he clears his throat and steps closer to where I sit, “do you mind remembering the page you are on?” I see the way his Adams Apple bobs as his swallows down his stress. I never truly understood why he felt so scared or uncomfortable with gaining my attention. But I admire his consistency even if I do wish sometimes he would just give in to his desires and whisk me away without a question.

“May I ask why, Seonghwa?” I put emphasis on his name as I memorize my page number and close the book. Without missing a beat I hear a slight laugh blow through his nostrils as I haphazardly toss my book into my windowsill and turn my body to face him more. 

His hand reaches out in request for mine, “I would like to show you something.” The smile on his face never fails to make my heart stutter, he has one of those dazzling smiles that anyone would give their all to see again. Or just leave them wishing they could have the beautiful image painted in their mind just for them to see.

“Oh alright then.” I take his slightly larger hand in mine and let him pull me from my seat. He places my hand in the crook of his elbow as he leads me out of the room and to this mysterious place I can’t wait to see.

“What were you reading?” He questions breaking the silence and creating a comforting atmosphere, well more so adding to it as I have never found myself even slightly on edge in his presence. Over the years we have grown close, maybe it was because we saw each other often through our parents meeting or maybe just because for some reason we are just puzzle pieces who only fit comfortably with one another.

When our parents sat us down and told us we would be taking over the residence we both smiled to each other and silently agreed to celebrate later alone. This was before we found out about the others, but even then we still celebrated in the moonlight with our favorite wine. “ A beautiful romantic scene.”

“Will you tell me about it?” He smiles down at my encouraging me to tell him about the scene he so wishes he didn’t drag me away from but couldn’t wait much longer.

“Well, a charming prince took his beautiful princess to the gardens in the middle of light rain to dance… and then you showed up” I smile back up at him to show him that I didn’t mind and simply enjoy his presence no matter the time.

He slightly squeezes my hand against his arm, “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

A soft giggle escapes me and causes me to cover my mouth before responding, “I like your interruptions.”

“Is that so?” His smile grows more and we make our way out of the long hallways and into the larger rooms of the main area.

“Mmhmm.” I hum, “you always take me somewhere nice.” It’s common that he would whisk me away to a nighttime stroll through our garden, or even through our many halls just to let us get time alone and enjoy each other's presence. But other times he would take me out for a horseback ride and we would find ourselves in a beautiful landscape that would make me gasp and him laugh. I would spin around and dramatically fall into the grass laughing while he would slowly walk over and look down at me as if I hung the stars. He believes it to. Especially when we stargaze at night, he swears I placed each star just for him to look at, and I wish I did but I would do it so much better.

“Are there any interruptions you don’t like?” He asks.

“Wooyoung, Yunho, and Jongho sometimes.” I admit chuckling as he gasps when I say Yunho’s name. “Let me explain. Wooyoung always takes my books away when I’m at the best part then reads them himself, Jongho just sits there silently and stares I usually don’t mind but sometimes I can only feel his eyes and I can’t focus, and Yunho. Well, he makes the silliest jokes at the worst times. I will be reading a really intense or sad moment and all of the sudden he’s making a joke about one of our cats falling earlier in the day.” 

“And yet you never tell us to go away.” He shakes his head and pulls me towards our massive ballroom leaving a confused look on my face. 

“I could never… the ballroom?” I ask now pulling away from his arm and spinning a round the open space that has recently been cleaned. I can see decorations around the room along with the placement of large tables specifically for the food and drinks to come.

“We have the ball tomorrow.” He reminds following me around the large space elegantly.

“Ah right, tomorrow. I almost forgot.” 

“You forgot. Do you have a dress?” He corrects, and asks me a question he knows the answer to. Seonghwa is always prepared, possibly even weeks in advance. Sometimes I worry if he even spends time just to himself and not worrying about what’s to come and how to help all of us to prepare.

I laugh at his question, “I know you have made me one already.” More often than not he spends most of his time creating clothes for us, but he enjoys making me dresses the most. I remember him saying that creating dresses gives him more room for creativity than a simple suit for the guys. And I can’t help but agree and have zero rebuttal.

“You know me well.” He pulls me to him softly be the arm and smiles down at me. I swear his smile if enough for me to die happy but I would be doing an injustice to all the other guys in this estate. All of them hold a piece of my heart whether they like it or not. 

“Always,” I whisper patting his chest before looking around the room and smiling to myself. “It’s beautiful in here.”

I see him shake his head slightly in the corner of my eye. “You light up the room more than you know.”

“Oh really?” A blush finds its way creeping up my face and I turn away from him pretending to look around the room again. I don’t know why but suddenly I feel nervous under his gaze. Maybe it’s the intimate moment we are sharing, but we have shared many before. So many that compliments are normal conversation topics for us, and even though I get flustered never once has my blush made me want to turn away.

“Yes.” He places a finger under my chin and turns me to look at him once again while giving me a small smile with a smirk mixed in. He clears his throat, “do you have someone accompanying you?”

“All of you usually accompany me throughout the night, you know, I never have just one.” I state smiling at the memory of what they all tend to do throughout the night of a ball. Hongjoong accompanies me during the toast and first dance. Yunho makes me laugh when I grow bored. Yeosang and I whisper amongst ourselves about the music. San helps me relax when I feel there are too many people. Mingi steals me for a dance when he feels I haven’t danced enough. Wooyoung tugs me to the balcony at just the right time to get fresh air and chat. And Jongho takes me to my room when he notices my fourth yawn. Finally, Seonghwa makes me feel like I belong yet stand out all at the same time.

“Would you mind if I whisked you away for a dance this time?” He asks knowing he rarely gets a chance to dance with me thanks to the others. And for some reason he now feels the need to do so, but I can’t help but think how cute his invitation is.

I smile and tuck a piece of hair behind his ear and whisper, “I would never mind, Seonghwa.”

He leans his head down to connect with me and close his eyes letting out a sigh of relief, “good.” 

In the moment I can’t help but think how perfect it would be to just give in to temptation. “How about a dance now?” I ask pulling away to look into his eyes that always remind me how pure he really is.

“There’s no music?” His eyebrows furrow causing me to let out a small laugh and shrug.

“We don’t need music.” I pull him into position and start a simple dance enjoying the moment of peace and serenity with the one person who gives me that feeling just with his presence. He leads me into the dance and we hold eye contact the whole time, fully embracing a moment we claim as ours.

“Is this like your book?” He questions with a little smile on his face.

“No this is our own moment not written on pages but in history. Everything that is done is history whether it was written down or not.” I explain fully believing my words and hoping he understands what I mean. I want us to make history together, our own history that maybe no one else will ever hear but it doesn’t matter to us.

His teeth shine through his smile, “you have a way with words.”

“Well I do read and write often.” I jest smirking at his smile. Our relationship will forever amaze me at how we can be serious yet challenging to each other in a joking way no matter the situation. Whether it’s alone in the middle of the night or in the dining hall with the others watching our interactions. Of course one would insert themselves and steal our thunder but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I could listen to you speak all day.” He admits leaning our heads together once again letting his vulnerable side show in this moment. He has shown it many times with me and every time I can’t help but do my best to memorize every single moment even if it’s only fleeting.

“My voice would grow hoarse.”

“And yet I would still listen and when you can’t speak I will still be near.” He replies swiftly throwing me for a loop, it usually takes him a moment to think of what to say and now he knew exactly how to respond. With words that left me stumped and flustered more than normal.

I pull away and look into his eyes with a furrow in my brows, “now it is you who has a way with words.”

He laughs at my response and continues our dance. There is nothing but our breath and footsteps creating the music around us. Music would do nothing but pull us away from our own thoughts that run wild in the intimate moment that I can’t quite understand is doing to my emotions. “Would you like to see your dress?”

“No,” I reply simply.

“Why not?” His brows furrow as his spins me around in front of him.

“I know it is beautiful because it is you who made it.” My words catch him off guard and I can only tell by the way he only slightly loses his footing. 

He again clears his throat before regaining his footing and meeting my eyes. “Why do you think that?”

I send a smile his way and grip onto him a little tighter hoping he can feel my emotions through my touch. The emotions I can’t quite understand fully myself. “I always follow you because I know that whatever you see fit for my eyes to lay upon must be beautiful in your eyes and I wish to appreciate all the things you find worthy.”

“Yourself?” He asks quickly looking into my eyes more seriously and pulling me slightly closer.

My head tilts slightly to the side quickly, “what about myself?”

Our movements slow as the dance reaches its end. “I find you beautiful.”

The blush I had just cleared my face of rises once again and I can’t help but lean into his chest to hide away. He chuckles at my response and rubs my back to soothe any embarrassment I might be feeling. “And I appreciate myself maybe not as much as I appreciate you and the others but enough.”

“Appreciate is not the word I would use.” Our dance ends and we just hold each other close as we finish our conversation.

“What word would you use then?” I ask and start to pull myself away but he refuses to let me go pulling me in closer.

“Admire, adore, treasure, the list goes on.” He admits.

“Then I do ado-“

“Ah there you are! I have been looking for you!”

[sungbeam]

𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 — act I, scene iii

nonidol!hwang intak x f!reader

when summit poster boy hwang intak's car breaks down in the school parking lot, it sets off a chain of events that leads to you, someone he was perhaps always meant to find. the only problem is that the two of you are far from the ideal couple, and your peers are apt to keep that status quo.

▷ genre, chapter warnings. s2f2l, classism and discrimination, forbidden romance au, minimal swearing, angst, humor, kind of gray morals

▷ word count. 3.6k

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a/n: i've realized this has been pretty fast-paced but it's only cuz i wanna get to the good parts 😭💀

SUMMER (RISING JUNIORS).

YN stepped into the cooler, darkened building of the repair shop and immediately reached for her towel sitting on the front desk. As she swiped away the sweat dripping down her face and neck, she guzzled down as much water from her bottle as she could intake at once. It was a hot day out, and usually there were fans set up in the garage area, but the electricity had stopped working three hours ago.

The door flew open, and Jongseob's sopping wet head of hair poked inside. "Hey, lover boy messaged you."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop snooping, Jongseob."

He smiled with a shrug. "Tell that to your notification sound."

"And his name is not lover boy."

For some reason, that made Jongseob's smile grow wider, but before she could question it, he ducked back outside. She knew that if she appeared immediately after him, he and Soul would never let her live it down, so she continued to take her time drinking water and patting herself dry. As usual, it was a relatively slow day at the shop, and her mom had left the three of them there to watch the grass grow. She wasn't supposed to be in any hurry.

When she finally stepped back into the garage, she was greeted by a wave of heat that almost knocked her over. She felt the sweat drip down the side of her face again, despite having cooled down inside just seconds ago. Jongseob's playlist of r&b hits filled the space along with the familiar sounds of metal fixings.

Soul and Jongseob were both at their respective stations, so she made her way over to her own station and picked up her phone. Sure enough, there were messages from Intak sent about five minutes ago.

tak: *sent a picture*

tak: one of my friends just got back from his trip and we're at the roller skating rink in the crossroads 👀👀👀 maybe i'll see u here later??? wink wonk

Yn smiled to herself, but tried to suppress it for the sake of her own ego and pride (and the two others blatantly watching her from their stations). She had changed the contact name from "jae" to "tak" a couple days after first reaching out to him. It had seemed natural to let go of the contact name and bring in something new; it was an attempt at moving along in the grieving process, if you would.

The image Intak had sent was a selfie of him in fuschia-toned lighting, most likely from the neon lights in the Crossro-ller Rink in the Crossroads community halfway up the hill. His black hair was tousled just slightly in an effortless sort of mess, but he wore a plain black T-shirt and a chain collar, his lips pursed at the camera. He didn't show which friend he was with, but it wasn't like she would have paid attention to him anyway.

"Awwwh, Soul look! She's blushing!"

Yn rolled her eyes again and blindly flipped Jongseob the bird over her shoulder. His cackles of delight echoed in the garage, accompanied by Soul's softer laugh.

yn's phone: i have to give it to u, i think ur getting better at this "being smooth" thing

yn's phone: but i have to work, sorry buddy wink wonk

The thought did cross her mind, even for a split second, to ditch the shop and go to the roller skating rink. Intak would never know who she was—just another poor girl crawling up from the gutter to skate around. The thrill of it energized her though, and she set her phone aside to get back to work with just a hint of a skip in her step.

Jongseob peered out from under the car he was tweaking. "You're so whipped; it's insane," he teased with a feigned gag.

When she stuck her tongue out at him, her phone dinged to announce another incoming message. And another. And another—

"Are you gonna get that or should I?" Jongseob gestured to her station table with one oil-stained hand. He grinned at her scowl. "You're so touchy, sheesh. Fine, but if it's important and you miss it…"

Yn grumbled under her breath and stomped back over to her phone. "You're so stupid."

"And you're stupid whipped!" He cackled, then ducked out of view.

tak: r…. r u mocking me or were the winks genuine…..

tak: wait where do u work :0

tak: ur missing out tho yk 😋

tak: *sent a video*

tak: wait wdym u THINK? i AM GOOD AT BEING SMOOTH

The new picture looked like the saved recording from a Snapchat story. It was him and Yoon Keeho skating around the roller rink beneath the combination of a sparkly disco ball and rainbow neon lights. He still looked as good as he did in the picture, and the video gave a top view that was angled downward over the two tall boys' heads. Yn had definitely seen Keeho and his head of dark blue hair around school before. From what she had heard through the grapevine, he had an awful lot of sass and character stored up in him.

yn's phone: that's confidential :l

yn's phone: looks like a lot of fun! haven't been up there in awhile tbh but i'll think about going soon maybe (^^ゞ

yn's phone: whatever helps u sleep at night tak 🤕🤥

The smile on her face slipped as she read her own messages back, though. Her eyes caught onto one phrasing in particular—the words "up there" yelled at her from the screen with about a dozen sirens blaring. She slapped a hand to her forehead. "Fuuuck."

Her friends peered up from their projects, eyes wide with curiosity and concern. "What? What happened?"

"I said to him 'up there' in relation to the roller rink. There's no way he doesn't know I'm from the Hollows—" Her words were cut off by Intak's own replies.

tak: "tak" 🥰😩😗🥺🫂 someone hold me that's so cute

"I guess not," Jongseob said as he peered over her shoulder at the message, Soul leaning over on her other side. "Man, that's disgusting. Even he's fluffy."

Yn scoffed and waved him off. "Oh, shut up you."

yn's phone: ur friend can hold u lmao

tak: u don't wanna hold me? 😔

yn's phone: if u figure out who i am, then sure ;]

tak: game on.

Though there was a part of her that wanted to get to know Intak like she had his brother, she knew there would be consequences. If he found out her social standing, it could lose her Intak, for one. Even though his brother didn't believe in following the foul classism and bullying his peers up on the hill participated in, that didn't mean Intak felt the same way. (Though, she wanted so badly to believe the opposite.)

It wouldn't matter anyway, right? Losing him? If he discriminated against her based on her income and where she lived, then he could screw off.

(It wasn't like she wasn't used to losing people anyway.)

"Oh my god, who is making you blush so hard, dude?"

Intak's head shot up from where it had been buried nose-deep in his and Yn's text chain. He subtly moved his brother's phone screen out of sight as Keeho came to sit down next to him on the leather sectional. The two of them had come back to Keeho's house about an hour ago from the roller skating rink, legs and backs and behinds aching from hours of skating. It had been a breath of fresh air, getting out of the house. As vast as the Hwang estate was, it was never big enough. Intak had always felt suffocated, and perhaps that was partly because his father shared a living space with him.

"Hm?" Intak mentally willed his heart to calm down.

Keeho eyed him strangely, but his smile was teasing. He reached for the remote to unpause the movie on screen. "Are you still purging Jae hyung's phone? You've been pretty occupied with it ever since the last few weeks of school." Keeho tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth, and Intak cautiously reached for a handful of the buttery treat for himself.

If "purging" meant keeping in contact with one of his older brother's old friends, then yes. Because of Yn, he probably spent more screen time on Jaehyuk's phone than on his own device. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. Just lots of stuff I didn't know about him."

Intak sunk into the couch and tucked the phone away into his pocket, albeit reluctantly. It almost seemed unfair that Yn knew more about him than he did about her, but he was sure there was a good reason for it.

Well… especially if his hunch was correct.

The movie on screen wasn't very interesting, to be completely honest. Intak had seen it about a dozen times before, but it was the movie Keeho had chosen randomly with the Amazon fire stick thing, and he pretty much stuck with it because he didn't know what to watch either.

Intak suddenly cleared his throat. "Can I… ask you a question?"

Keeho glanced over at him. "Of course. What's up?"

"What do you think about the Hollows kids?" He asked slowly, choosing his words carefully. He tried to pose it as neutrally as possible; he had never really gotten a clear stance from any of his friends about what they thought about the people who lived down the hill from them, but generally, they never seemed against the Hollows kids. At least, they never went out of their way to "show them their place." Those were the obnoxious people from their social class whom Intak was pointedly not friends with.

Come to think of it, Intak hadn't gotten a direct answer from his brother either. But then again, Jaehyuk had never been much of a bully sympathizer or bystander.

Keeho raised his eyebrow as if surprised by the question, which wasn't completely unexpected. "Uhhh—I think they're fine. Like the whole community discrimination is a little stupid, but…" He shrugged, "They can bark as long as they don't bite, y'know."

Intak pursed his lips together in a slow nod.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh—uh, no reason." Intak shifted. What did that answer even mean? "Just curious."

His friend bobbed his head. "Okay… well, if they look at me funny, I'll look at them funny, too. I dunno, dude. It's hard to explain, but if I don't have to get involved, then I won't. You know it's complicated."

Intak supposed he could… live with that answer. It wasn't like he fully accepted it either. After all, he didn't even know what his answer would be... Right?

If faced with the opportunity to befriend someone from the Hollows, would he follow his damn heart or succumb to peer pressure?

This felt illegal.

Intak sat behind his desk at home, hair damp from his recent shower, his laptop opened to a new web browser. He was searching for car repair shops in the Hollows region, something that had been poking at his brain since the roller rink. He didn't know if Yn had even realized she had said "up there" in regards to the roller skating rink, and to be honest, it wasn't until the third time he read the message that it finally clicked in his brain. (Sue him, he had the nickname "Tak" stuck in his head like some fool.)

It didn't really make sense that Jae would have gone all the way down to the Hollows to get a luxury, vintage car repaired and maintained, but because Yn and Jae had met over the phone, it was just a little more plausible. There were a few holes in his theory, clearly, but it was all logical. Actually, the more Intak thought about it, the more it made sense.

There were a couple repair shops in the Hollows, but only one of them was family-owned and not a chain. The name was something along the lines of Ln's Auto Repair—simple and to the point.

He was seconds away from whipping out the academy yearbook.

yer a wizard yn!: ayo r u alone rn?

Intak bit his lip in a poor attempt to hide his smile.

jae's phone: oh so u wanna get me alone?

yer a wizard yn!: u said u almost got caught by ur friend AGAIN earlier õ_ó

jae's phone: and she CARES!! 😩🙏

yer a wizard yn!: smh T-T

jae's phone: admit that u deflect my flirting bc ur flustered

yer a wizard yn!: u were flirting????

jae's phone: that's so hurtful.

yer a wizard yn!: plus, i bet u get flustered easier than i do, hwang intak

yer a wizard yn!: i bet ur blushing so hard rn 👀

He instinctively pressed the back of his hand to his cheek—and goddamn, it was hot. He wasn't about to admit that though.

jae's phone: not the government name 🙁

yer a wizard yn!: ahh look who's deflecting now 🤭

jae's phone: … touché

He paused, biting his lip. Hey, btw…|

No, he thought to himself, spamming the backspace button with his thumb. But why not? He was already searching it up—it didn't feel right without asking her first.

jae's phone: okay i don't wanna come off as stalkerish but…|

Before he could finish his text, Yn's own popped up.

yer a wizard yn!: anyways the reason i came to bug u was bc i m bored :l

A small laugh fell from Intak's lips. Omg ur finally reciprocating my feelings?? :')

yer a wizard yn!: bro what feelings 😭😭

jae's phone: ur literally so mean to me 😔 y am i here to suffer huh

yer a wizard yn!: dunno dude it's cuz i'm cool B)

jae's phone: not w that emoji ur not 💀 what r u? 60???

yer a wizard yn!: experience-wise, yes

jae's phone: and humor-wise 🤕🙁

jae's phone: a little concerning tbh

jae's phone: but ur bored? lol i thought ur usually w ur friends?

He was usually the bored one because his own friends were with their own families and away from this damned place. Intak technically knew a vast sea of people, but it didn't mean he really knew them. He hadn't smiled while talking to someone new like he did with Yn since he first met his three best friends. Crazy how one could feel so alone in an ocean of people.

yer a wizard yn!: they had to go home to help their families w some stuff lol so im just here ig

yer a wizard yn!: my mom's busy w work rn too so i have the house and it's so quiet haha

jae's phone: r u trying to make moves on me rn 👀 insinuating that the house is empty ;))

jae's phone: JKJK IM SORRY IF THAT MADE U UNCOMFORTABLE KSFBJEBFJRJF

yer a wizard yn!: dude do u just flirt w everybody is this a reflex or something 😭😭😭😭

jae's phone: n,,no just u :')

yer a wizard yn!: tak, honey, r u stuttering thru text T-T

Intak leaned back in his desk chair with a soft giggle.

jae's phone: yes my honey bunches of oats 😚 i did stutter

yer a wizard yn!: damn ??? okay 😭 (honey bunches of oats huh 🤨)

jae's phone: do i make u speechless, snookums

jae's phone: or how about sweet lemon drop daisies

jae's phone: lovey dovey partridge in a pear tree?

yer a wizard yn!: HELLOAKDJKS 😭😭

jae's phone: hUH? WHATS THAT? U LIKE THE NAME SNOOKUMS???

jae's phone: i'd change ur contact name to snookums, but i like the hp reference :/

yer a wizard yn!: i don't think i've laughed that hard in awhile tbh 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

yer a wizard yn!: where tf dID U GET ALL THOSE ???

jae's phone: wdym snookums :(( they came from my love for u

He unconsciously raised his hand to his face and felt the scorching hot skin there. Yeah, he was so far gone. Maybe a glass of ice water would do him well.

yer a wizard yn!: okay,,, i think i've calmed down now 🤧🤧

yer a wizard yn!: were u doing anything interesting before i interrupted 🤩🤩

jae's phone: yes yes very important stuff o7 top secret info

yer a wizard yn!: who's the vague one now :// lol jkjk

Intak's eyes moved back to his laptop, of which the screen had faded to black. He moved his fingers over the trackpad to wake the device up and display the page for Ln's Auto Repair again. This felt like—was—an invasion of privacy.

jae's phone: okay uhm… don't be mad

yer a wizard yn!: uhhhh haha that's not very reassuring 😅 what'd u do lol

jae's phone: okok uhm im so sorry but i promise i don't stalk people for fun and i was really curious and i noticed that earlier u said that the roller skating rink was "up" from where u were and i figured u were prob in the hollows, so i looked up the auto repair shops in the hollows… and i think i might have found yours?

jae's phone: ik this was an invasion of privacy, i feel so bad

jae's phone: pls don't be mad

Intak dropped the phone onto his desk with his eyes pinned to the screen, waiting for her answer. He bit his lip, knee bouncing frantically. The dots would appear and disappear, then reappear again.

Finally, he watched Yn's reply come in.

yer a wizard yn!: it's… actually kind of relieving ? in a way

yer a wizard yn!: i actually noticed my mistake earlier too but i figured since u didn't say anything about it, u might not have noticed, but ig i shouldn't have underestimated u haha

yer a wizard yn!: so,,, this is it then?

Panic seized his chest, and he picked up the phone so fast it almost fell right out of his hands.

jae's phone: WOAH WOAH WAIT

jae's phone: hey what's wrong? no this isn't **it**

yer a wizard yn!: well u know im from the gutter now right lol

jae's phone: and?? y should that matter to me

jae's phone: yn i don't care that ur from the hollows like u literally don't care that im from the hill right?? and my brother didn't care either and u had no problem being friends w him too

When she didn't respond for a couple of minutes, Intak felt the furrow in his brows as his thumbs raced over the phone keyboard to type out another message.

jae's phone: call me?

He pressed the button to send the message and left the phone on the desk, waiting for the phone to ring. His knee would not stop bouncing to save his life, and so he turned the phone screen off and busied his hands and eyes by looking through his mess of an email inbox. Every few seconds, his eyes darted to the phone, however, the screen remained dark and still. No answer, no phone call.

Just silence, and the palpitations of his nervous heart.

He screwed up, hadn't he? He had just scared her off—and that in itself messed with his head.

He was about to give up for the night—maybe resort to finding a drink downstairs and curl up with a movie—until the dull vibration of the phone jolted him out of his chair. He fumbled with the slim device, and somehow managed to accept the call.

"Hello?" He answered, almost breathlessly.

Yn's throat cleared on the other side, voice low. "Hey. Sorry it took me a couple minutes to call. I think I was just nervous." Her throat cleared another time and it sounded like it was accompanied by cracking knuckles.

Intak relaxed a little into his seat. "No, no, don't worry about it. I—" I was dying, "—take your time. I get it. I was just worried I scared you off." He laughed a little at the end as if he hadn't just experienced a self-induced heart attack.

"No, don't worry," she rushed to reply. "You didn't scare me off. I think I do a good enough job at that already."

He turned on speaker mode and placed the phone on the desk so he could fidget with his fingers. "Ah… if it makes you feel better, I feel the same way—scared, I mean. And I really did mean what I said… with the not caring about you being from the Hollows."

A beat passed. "Thanks, Intak. That's… really cool of you."

He nodded. "Right, yeah. Just the...the bare minimum," he said quietly with a flippant flick of his wrist. And it was the bare minimum, but in a community like theirs, bare minimum was a high standard when it came to classism and discrimination. "So—we're cool, right? We're cool?"

She hummed. "Yeah, of course."

A smile crawled onto his face and tugged at the corners of his lips. "Good. I'm glad." He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk with his cheeks leaning on the palms of his hands. "Listen, Yn... you can be comfortable with me, I hope. I—I hope you can feel safe with me like you did with my brother."

His heartbeat thundered in his ears almost as loud as the volume of the call, and his cheeks were aflame beneath his palms. It was a marvel how one person could make him feel this way. Hearing her voice sent a course of tingles down his spine, made his toes curl. It was a feeling not entirely foreign, yet completely new at the same time.

"Thank you," was her soft reply. "I hope so, too."

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[ohsalome]

Aisha Jung, 50, said she lost her job at the organisation’s London office after she objected to the award of the status, arguing that Navalny had also incited violence against Muslims.

She highlighted a 2007 video in which Navalny rails against “cockroaches” while images of apparently Muslim men were flashed on screen. He then goes on to “shoot” an actor playing an attacker who seemed to be wearing traditional Muslim clothing. Jung said: “Let’s be very clear, he advocated shooting dead Muslims.”

In another video, Navalny dressed as a dentist, appearing to compare immigrants to rotten teeth.

Jung said that Navalny’s case compared unfavourably with that of Nelson Mandela, who had prisoner of conscience status removed in 1964 when he was convicted of offences related to the armed struggle against South Africa’s apartheid regime.

She also claimed that Uganda’s main opposition leader, Bobi Wine, was denied the status because of past homophobic comments, despite his more recent comments advocating tolerance.

Aisha is currently crowdfunding to pay the legal fees needed to call Amnesty International accountable. You can help her here:

[jojojooo33]

Thinking about original series Professor Membrane. Even if we put a very cynical lens on him-- he's very cold-hearted and only cares about his children so much as they further his career and image-- I think it could make for an interesting parallel to Zim + the Tallest in the way that BOTH Dib and Gaz want to impress, spend time with, and have their dad care about them. Dib of course tries to get his dad to acknowledge his special interest, and is unsuccessful. Though on this post I'm thinking about Gaz-- Gaz is VERY good with technology! She created a whole army of robot dolls and was able to figure out Tak's spaceship and other irken technology. While Membrane certainly appreciates her, I don't remember him actually acknowledging her skills (I need to rewatch the Christmas special to confirm this). And it still doesn't get her as much attention as she'd like. Imagine how frustrating that is!

[project-doomsday]

since we don't know if Tak will be in this AU can we have an idea of what she might sound like?

Of course!! I have a few ideas!!

If Tak was in the AU, she'd have a lot more technology to help her fit in, so she'd definitely have a translator. I image her voice to sound waayyy more calmer and just a bit monotone, since Iyer-Kahn can't really feel a whole lot of emotions.

The perfect example of this would be Sal from Space Odyssey 2010

Of course she'd have to have the accent but you get the idea.

Now, for her roars~

Female Iyer-Kahn have higher pitched feminine roars. I can imagine Tak sounding less vicious and more elegant in the AU so she'd sound like this:

(Audio is Mothra from the 2019 Godzilla movie :3)

I enjoyed making this! I don't know much about Tak, it's been years since I seen her debut episode. I just sorta remember her being waay more competent than Zim and that she really really hates him. Don't hesitate to tell me more about her! And who knows! Maybe she might appear in the comic, we'll just have to see

[hedgethemaze]

I stumbled upon this meme, a couple of days ago and I thought, since it's been quite a while since I posted anything LoK related reblogs don't count it would be cool to give it a go, while also freshen up some of my views on the series and... *he he he* while I was hoping for some of them to have changed over time, I see that most of them didn't🤣

Original template done by: purfectprincessgirl on deviantart

A bit of analysis is under 'keep reading', plus, some silver medals because like half of these weren't as easy to sort out as I thought 😅​

WARNING: Long post ahead!

Favorite Character

Asami is no silver medal, she's the gold for me! Honestly, she should be the one in the image above (my n°1 favorite character in the series). The main reason I chose Korra for it was for the sake of not having repeats (she's my 2nd most fav character) 'cause Asami is unarguably my number one pick in another category (more on that way below)

Least Favorite Character

The author of the meme describes this category as follows: "LoK character you dislike the most, and they either annoy/bore you too much to ever enjoy their presence whenever they're on-screen"

Runner-up

Raiko embodies this definition to a tee, yet what Zaheer does to Korra during their confrontation in the Book 3 finale is plain torture and really painful to watch. I don't just dislike Zaheer, I hate the guy!

If it wasn't for the airbenders' intervention, he could and would have killed her - something Raiko would never be capable of, or even think of doing. Basically, he gets a pass for being harmless lol

Favorite Episode

This one may have been the hardest I had to consider. The runner-ups are too many to count, so I had to resort to the author's meaning yet again, to decide.

Long Live The Queen is an exciting episode with a lot going on - some of it being quite serious and grave, but with enough lightheartedness to not be an agonizing watch.

Watching Korra and Asami working as a well-oiled machine to escape not only imprisonment by the Earth Queen's men but also the dangers of the desert is a blast (plus, the more Asami gets to show off her skills and have relevancy in an episode, the better). Meanwhile, Mako's struggle and failure at getting Bolin to metalbend, Lin finding Naga and Pabu, and Korra getting to meet Zuko for the first time on screen are moments that lift off some of the tension from the fact that the Red Lotus are rapidly gaining on their hunt for the Avatar the on-screen assassination of the Earth Queen.

It's because of the balance between these elements that I chose this episode over the one I consider to be the best episode in the entire series.

Runner-up (among many!)

Korra Alone is a masterpiece of animated media and one of the best written episode in all of the avatar-verse.

To me, it cemented the titular character as one of the most significant, ground-breaking and inspiring protagonist of all time - I could go on and on about how great of an episode this is but I don't think I need to - yet, it's because of the heavy topics it deals with that I don't prefer it over many others...I love the episode immensely, but to see Korra go through such despair and torment is not exactly my idea of a good time😅

Least Favorite Episode

Quite the opposite to choosing a favorite episode, my least favorite episode has always been clear, no runner-ups needed.

In short, Beginnings is my least favorite episode because it is the answer to a question I never asked, as I stated at the end of this post of mine almost two years ago (see n°34). It is really hard to sit through these episodes for me.

Now, if you want a more fleshed out explanation - which, in turn, touches on some of the reasons why I picked my least favorite season as well - I encourage you to watch THIS video on youtube by Hello Future Me, if you're interested.

Favorite Season

I made this choice easier by counting how many episodes I love from each season, against how many I just like, otherwise it'd take me more than a day to make up my mind. As a result, Change won with me favoring 10 out of its 13 episodes, giving it a score of 77%.

With that in mind, the runner-up is...

Me loving 9 out of its 13 episodes gives it a score of 69%.

Looks like I'm on the boat that considers the second half of the series to be the "better" half, huh. I still would've placed Book 1 as the runner-up, thought - for two reasons only: Asami's untapped potential in that particular season and having more screen-time and dialogue than in Book 4, and me liking the main antagonist more (despite some issues I ultimately have with his execution).

*ehem* Anyway, Balance also has a far better finale in its favor, so it wins its silver medal fair and square!😁

Least Favorite Season

Even without giving it a score - which I still did, 43%, 6 out of 14 episodes - Spirits is my least favorite season, bar none.

Though, much quicker than talking about what I didn't like about this season (again, you can watch THIS video by Hello Future Me), is to talk about what I did like:

Delving into Korra, Tonraq and Senna's family dynamic (Unalaq gets included here but only for the first 4 episodes of the season), the introduction of Bumi and Kya, and their sibling dynamic with Tenzin and the appearance of Uncle Iroh! - these are the aspects, I think, the season touches on perfectly.

Then there's the not-so-perfect bits I still enjoyed, even though they went nowhere or got resolved in an unsatisfying way, like: Mako's detective work on the bombing of the SWT Cultural Center and finding out who's stealing Future Industries goods, which pushes Asami to having to sell a controlling portion of her company to no other than the one making profit out of the civil war between the tribes😱 Speaking of, Varrick's partnership with Bolin and the introduction of movers war propaganda, was fun but.....well, this is on the not-so-perfect stuff that I liked about Spirits so, yeah.

Most Overrated Character

One of the reasons for me to choose Kuvira is because I never shared other's fascination about her (which in most cases I've seen, it boils down to be either because of her looks, her fighting/bending skills, or both), nor did I ever bought into the parallelism they tried to draw between her and Korra.

But the one thing that could never get me on the Kuvira-train is the show going out of its way to try and give her the Avatar equivalent of Hitler seemingly redeeming qualities. Nothing Kuvira did since her raising to power across the EK, up to the end of the series, is justifiable or excusable.

Even so, I can't ignore the one thing I do like about her and that is Zelda Williams' flawless performance. I especially remember her speech in The Coronation, her delivery gave me chills! Throughout the season, honestly, there's like a haunting quality to her voice - it's like, I don't like the stuff she's saying, yet I still wanna listen lol Truly, she did incredible.

Oh! Almost forgot about the runner-up:

Originally, it was going to be Meelo (a petty choice on my part, I know) I can't believe I'm still salty about Patterns in Time

But I'll give the silver fairly to Zaheer because I seriously cannot get the hype for this guy. Even if he's my first exposure to an airbender actually murdering someone...even if he unlocked the ability to fly.

He may be a skillful martial artist, but if it weren't for the other members of the Red Lotus, Zaheer wouldn't be half as terrifying, imo. And he's also a coward.

Most Underrated Character

*sigh* Asami Sato, my beloved...do I need to elaborate on why this category (in my eyes) goes to no one but her? No matter, I've done it already: here (see n° 25)

It's also quite masterfully, and better explained here by Unicorn of War.

Ironically, I gave this category not one, but two runner-ups

Technically, Mako should be the runner-up.

To me, Korra is just as deserving of being the most underrated, underappreciated, and underestimated character in the whole series as Asami (then again, no repeats) - yet, Miss Sato is also mistreated (no pun intended) not only by others within the series but its creators, as well.

First thought of as one of the bad guys, Mike and Bryan created such an extraordinary character - with a killer design to boot! - who in spite of having less appearances and fewer lines than other 'main' characters, spoke loudly enough to write her own narrative. From the very first time we see her in Book 1, Asami pulled all the stops: She could've been a rival to Korra, an enemy to her friends, an ally to her hateful father...still, she ended up being one of the most compassionate, kindhearted and loyal characters in the series...despite all that, more often than not, the creators simply didn't know what to do with her💔

Now, imagine I didn't write all of that. That I don't put Asami above anyone else here.

Korra is the most underrated character in her own series, everybody knows this. The amount of complaints and criticism she gets to this day, unfairly so, is insane!

As for Mako, let's check the autho's definition of this category: "LoK character that you think doesn't get enough attention, as they're usually almost always forgotten about/bashed-on for the lamest of reasons in your eyes"

Well, in my opinion Mako does get a fair amount of attention, and while he does get forgotten from time to time, so are Asami and Bolin, so that doesn't bother me much. It's the last bit that gets me...

For the most part, he's hated because of the love triangle fiasco - a mess of a plot line that happened literally a decade ago. If to hold that sort of thing over one character isn't lame, I don't know what is - and I say this as a Korrasami shipper, an Asami simp and a Korra stan.

Moreover, these people easily gloss over the fact that both Korra and Asami moved on from that rather quickly, forgave Mako and still are good friends with him. More than underrated, I feel like he's misjudged - because those who complain about him don't take into account why he is the way he is, or rather, was.

They forget that, pretty much like almost everyone in LoK, he had a struggling childhood and went through his own share of trauma (like witnessing the murder of both your parents at the age of eight is no big deal) not to mention he had to be a parental figure and look after his little brother from a very young age, while fending for themselves on the streets...but besides all that, Mako was a 18 y/o teenager putting up a brooding front when the triangle happened, he should be expected to make stupid decisions, jeez!

If I had to blame someone for that mess, even today, it'd be the writers. To those who still shame and bash Mako for it, I'd tell you to either grow up or move on (if you're dumb enough that can't do both)

Favorite Villain

[I feel like, at this point, I've held anyone that's still reading this at gun point for too long. Let's speed up!]

Amon is my favorite villain of the series because of how entertaining he is to watch, maybe part of it has to do with the way he kind of resembles a classic horror movie baddy - he's definitely got the best design out of Korra's main antagonists (and I'm talking about masked Amon, not paint-faced Noatak). Steve Blum's performance is also a hook.

One of the first things I remembered when having to pick this one is how incredible I thought it was, back in the day, to have the first season's main threat be a waterbender. I know they did it first with Hamma in ATLA but she wasn't exactly a main villain.

Anyway, I'm aware Book 1 is quite contrived and it has lots of issues going on and off screen that I don't care to unpack. At the end, Amon is a fraud and, as a thread, he falls flat rather quickly. Despite being wasted potential, he had a good run. At least, he had one thing over Korra no other antagonist has and that's a frightening first impression.

Runner-up?

I don't think I have one...

Least Favorite Villain

Well, I already got Zaheer and Kuvira up there, and there's my 'no repeat' self-imposed rule. Btw, did you notice that it's a rule now? XD

I think it's fitting that my least favorite season has my least favorite villain. Give it up for UnaVaatu! One of the most bonkers concepts this show ever came up with is the 'Dark Avatar' ugh! because an Avatar shouldn't be either pure Light or Dark, sorry, not sorry. Also, spirit energy shouldn't be equal to laser beams - at least Kuvira had crazy engineering and mad science to make it so. UnaVaatu just...did it😂

Runner-up

I had to give Varrick the silver medal, simply because he isn't even a villain (ultimately, that is)...talk about wasted potential, this guy is frustrating in this regard, because he could've been a good one.

But...he had to conveniently spring a conscience in the middle of the last season, he had to turn good (sort of) and have a wedding. Well, at least he's a fun character *shrug*

Favorite Couple

It's all been said before - Korrasami belong together. Their relationship is supportive, caring and loving, and their characters fought against all odds to make it happen. Even if Korra is to answer a bigger calling as the Avatar, and Asami has to be at the helm of the largest company in Republic City, I just know, these two will always be there and committed to each other.

Runner-up

I almost didn't pick a runner-up, because I noticed that besides Korrasami, I don't give too much mind to shipping in this series. Then again, I can't deny that Tenzin and Pema's marriage is refreshing. I love how their personalities gel so well together and how she brings out the best in him.

Least Favorite Couple

When the description for this category said that non-canon ships can apply, well that is it...First, let me say that I never cared what other people ship and I still don't. You ship whatever you want! But I'll be damned if I don't find this revolting...and if there's even the tiniest need for me to explain my distaste for this pairing then there's something very wrong here.

How could anyone ship someone with the murderer of their last living relative - the one they were starting to rekindle their relationship with?! (*sigh* I explained it anyway) Not only Kuvira did it in cold blood, but even after the fact and wanting to atone for her other crimes, she never showed Asami any remorse for it.

(Feel free to correct me if it did happen in the comics, I honestly don't remember)

Runner-up

I know I sound like an hypocrite, I'm sorry. But shipping Amorra should be illegal. Ugh, I hate that I know what their ship name is.

[southasiansource]

lagta hai impress karne ki koshish ki jaa rahi hai. dekhte hai yeh koshish kab tak kamyaab rehti hai.

[Image ID: three gifs of Wahaj Ali as Murtasim Khan from Tere Bin episode 15. Each gif has the original Urdu text with the English subtitle underneath, and all text is his internal monologue:

GIF 1: Murtasim turning his face up towards the moon, deep in thought about something. The text reads, "Oh, Khudaya." The subtitle reads, "Oh, God."

GIF 2: Murtasim's eyes opening as he stares up at the sky, as if searching for answers. The text reads, "Kya ho raha hai mujhe?" The subtitle reads, "What is happening to me?"

GIF 3: Murtasim looking down then off the side, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. The text reads, "Jitna mujhse door jaa rahi hai, main utna hi uske taraf kheecha jaa raha hai." The subtitle reads, "The further she goes from me, the more I'm being pulled towards her." in regards to Meerub.

/end ID]

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About The First Doctor's Run

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and sometimes draw comics and cartoons.

So, I’ve made a discovery…Almost every episode of Classic Doctor Who is available FOR FREE on Tubi! You know what this means?!

“More people can watch the early beginnings of the most iconic sci-fi series of all time?”

That AND I can finally review Doctor Who as a whole!

I won’t lie, this has been something I’ve wanted to do for a WHILE. Either as a ranking of each Doctor or a ranking of their best episodes, I’ve been wanting to go in depth with this series for SO LONG. And since the odds are I WON’T become a writer for television like I’ve always dreamed, I might as well talk about my favorite TV shows! Starting with the son of a bitch who started it all: The First Doctor.

Here’s what I know about the First Doctor: Next to nothing. My experience with The Doctor as a whole started all the way with Number Nine, with the only taste of One being through that Christmas Special a few years back. He’s definitely more cynical and rude than present Doctors, but this is way back in his early beginnings. NO ONE knew what direction this character would take years later and just focussed on making an interesting character NOW. Er, then? Now? Then?

Eh, bibbly-bobbly.

The point is that I’m going to TRY and not be biased with One, look at him as if I were right there in 1963. Unfortunately, unlike everyone ELSE in the sixties, I don’t have access to all the episodes. During 1968-1978, most tapes that held Doctor Who episodes were reused for new film or deleted completely for space, leaving NINETY-SEVEN episodes erased from time forever and causing twenty-six serials either gone completely or incomplete. It’s basically what streaming services and studios are doing nowadays, but without pirating sites as a safety net to preserve the art from being COMPLETELY lost. Now, there are some audio tracks saved for commercial release that feature still images or commissioned animation, but that’s not the case for every episode, unfortunately. So things are going to get a little…weird for this review. For now, I’ll say that I’m going to stick to what’s on Tubi and improvise with what’s NOT on there. Also, I’m not going to go through every single episode. Just share my thoughts on each serial as a WHOLE, mainly because those practically add up to modern episodes anyway, just an hour or two longer.

Now, with that said, let’s take a step back in time as we discuss the first adventures with our first Doctor.

Decades Old Spoilers Below

THE SERIALS

We’ll begin by going in order of each serial, starting with his first adventure and ending with his last. Helps go through this journey together.

The Unearthly Child: Okay, full disclosure, this one’s NOT on Tubi, so I had to look it up through…other means. But to be fair, it’s not like I could just IGNORE The Doctor’s very first adventure. It’s here we see a sort of formula that still remains constant to this day. The Doctor meets new companions, they become shocked by how the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, they go to a place that’s filled with a temporary cast of disposable characters, and are forced to solve a problem for them or die trying. Of course, some things are different, and not just the inside of the TARDIS. The fact that The Doctor had a granddaughter was mind blowing and left me wondering what happened to her since she never showed up ONCE in the revival. And The Doctor was…surprisingly inactive despite being the titular character. He caused more problems than fixed them, like being the reason everyone was trapped in the Stone Age and later becoming the person who needed to be rescued. Honestly, Ian proved himself more as the leading man than The Doctor did throughout the whole ordeal, calling the shots and even being the one who came up with the plan that got them OUT of danger. Even when taking account that this was just the show starting out, it seems weird that the titular character isn’t the one who leads the group and is instead the whiney bitch that the others just tell themselves to ignore. As for the adventure, it’s pretty dull. Granted, you need to introduce audiences to the concept of time travel by showing them something easy to grasp like going back to the stone age. You gotta save weirder stuff for the future episodes. But the characters getting chased around by cavemen isn’t really that engaging, and it REALLY drags down a lot by part four where the conflict feels stretched out to meet the full twenty-three minutes. Overall, not that great of a first introduction but most of the best series of television rarely start off perfect. The question is if it makes me want to see more, and…it honestly doesn’t. If not for the knowledge of what the series would eventually become, I’m not sure WHY someone would stick around. But the Doctor Who fan in me is strong so I say we keep charging on.

The Daleks: The first encounter with The Daleks, the Doctor’s WORST enemies, and the serial is much better because of it. It’s actually interesting to see how these villains began with how simple they are to fight, the fact that they don’t INSTANTLY kill others they attack, and how they actually keep PRISONERS. And the serial does a great job at showing how they’re definite menaces to be feared, but not impossible to defeat, creating decent tension as the characters try to fight back literal killing machines. I also love how every character throughout the serial does something important, especially The Doctor who manages to do much more this time than whine and complain as he actually uses his intelligence to help his companions out of this troublesome situation. Although, he’s still the jackass that got them all trapped in this situation all for the sake of exploring a town that they know NOTHING about. There’s definite improvements to his character this time, but The Doctor being the cause for their current conflict is not one of them. And while we’re on complaints, this serial STILL feels like it stretches its adventure out for the sake of making the serial longer than it should be. There’s some definite excitement in the first half with our core four characters trying to escape the Daleks, but this serial still didn’t need to be seven gosh dang episodes long. I feel like there’s some meat to be cut out with making the Thals stand up for themselves, conceiving a plan of attack, and invading the Daleks’ base. Other than that, this is still a pretty decent serial filled with great tension from the Daleks and strong chemistry and dynamics between our core four. It’s definitely stronger than the last serial and a MUCH better introduction to the series. No wonder it’s the one that Tubi has.

The Edge of Destruction: A nice, short mystery where the first half does really well in making you feel as disoriented as the rest of the cast. There’s this solid unease where you’re not sure what’s going on and you’re left to pick up the pieces, bit by bit, to figure out what happened and if there’s anyone or anything responsible for this mess. Although, part two tends to fall a tad short because most of the clues we got were then explained to the audience and then given this big explanation that came out of left field because the biggest clue wasn’t revealed yet. So as a mystery, it definitely isn’t strong. Though, I do like how The Doctor is the one to figure things out and save the day in this serial. Sure, him being antagonistic towards the others wasn’t great but I enjoy how The Doctor has finally warmed up to his companions and that it’s implied that he no longer chooses to be suspicious of them. So while the mystery fell short, I can’t complain when it improves The Doctor’s character.

Marco Polo: Unavailable on Tubi due to the BBC deleting episodes. Yeah, unfortunately, this is our FIRST serial that can’t be seen in its entirety through official means…Though, no one said anything about using transcripts.

HAHA! Loophole! Because while I’m not going to steal audio-only episodes for the sake of reviews, who’s going to stop me from READING. It’s not stealing episodes if I’m just reading what happens! Although, unfortunately, it only gives me a PART of the picture. I won’t understand performances or fully grasp how characters look, but it’s no different from strictly LISTENING. There’s a lot that unfortunately goes missing when a visual media loses its visuals, and for a case like this it’s best to work with what we have. And what I have is the story pretty much described to me by someone else. It’s not preferable, but it IS what I can do for these times. Remember this every time a studio deletes episodes or entire shows off its platforms.

With that said, based on what I’ve read…Yeah, this one DRAGS. It’s The Doctor and company being forced to move from place to place and dealing with Marco Polo as they do. Doesn’t sound too bad, but each place they go to follows a specific formula: Someone does something Polo doesn’t like, he voices displeasure about it, The Doctor and others argue their case, Tegana points out how they’re actually evil, and Marco Polo, who flips from being reasonably cautious and unreasonably stupid, constantly tells them to get out of his face while still dragging them off to the next location. This goes on for SEVEN EPISODES, each one making the whole serial feel way too long and way too repetitive. I kept hoping this would be the end of the serial and we could move on to the next, only for it to KEEP. F**KING. GOING! It’s so dull that I needed TWO DAYS to read through the damn thing. But maybe that’s the problem: I had to READ it. There might be subtleties in the VISUAL performance that better conveys Marco’s personality, even if it DOES seem to flip/flop on paper. Plus, there are some things like the set designs and special effects that a transcript could gloss over and not properly convey. And there are SOME nice bits like The Doctor trying (and failing) to win the TARDIS back in a game of backgammon, which is all kinds of fun. And Susan made an endearing friendship with Ping-Cho. Those two are surprisingly adorable together and it’s nice to see Susan make a connection with someone her own age. Other than that, though, if this wasn’t that great of a story on paper, the original serial better have some MIND BLOWING execution to make it great. Otherwise, maybe fans aren’t losing much if this serial is lost to time.

The Keys of Marinus: A pretty clever idea with this one. The story for this serial is that The Doctor and his companions are out searching for the titular Keys of Marinus, presenting a story that’s a fetch-quest, with each episode dedicated to the characters finding one key. It’s smart because instead of stretching out one adventure to make the serial longer, it connects four adventures through this loose thread, keeping audience interest up as everyone tries to get out of the danger of the week. It’s fairly effective, filled with great moments like Barbara trying to save the core four from being brainwashed into mindless zombies, the entirety of “The Snows of Terror,” and The Doctor solving a murder. It’s all good fun, but not without some problems. An episode like “The Screaming Jungle” feels like it needs more time as there’s a lot of ideas that don't live up to its full potential or come out of nowhere. Like, a living jungle SOUNDS cool, but it only really comes into fruition until the end. There’s also the fact that the search for the last key feels stretched out because the writers didn’t realize soon enough that the finale for this serial was too short so they made the final hunt longer to compensate. But what bothers me the most is that The Doctor just…leaves the hunt just to spend time in a more civilized society. It works out for the murder mystery, but it also feels weird that the titular character bows out for two whole episodes, leaving his companions to do all of the work he neglects. Honestly, at this point, I’d say Ian should be the one the show is named after with how well he leads the party and even comes up with a clever plan to stop the big bads. And I know I keep harping on it, but why name the show Doctor Who when that same doctor hardly helps? Still, “The Keys of Marinus” is a fun serial that leads to solid short tales, even if there were some rough steps along the way.

The Aztecs: Oh, this one’s racist, isn’t it…? You know what? I’m as white as a ping-pong ball and have the patience of a goldfish to do proper research myself to make any judgments to decide something that I have no official standing on. So I won’t be the one to say what is and isn’t racist…Aside from the fact that those are obviously WHITE people playing the Aztecs.

But possible racism aside, this serial is more on the dull side. I do like this conflict between The Doctor and Barbara, where Barbara tries to change history for what she thinks is for the better (Which means changing the history and culture of Aztecs–Let’s not get into it) where The Doctor tries to convince her that there’s no way to change history. Future episodes continue to dive deep into the idea that history cannot be altered no matter what the characters want, and it’s interesting to see one of the first instances where the characters learn this the hard way. I also love how it ends on this idea that while they couldn’t change what happened, they still touched the lives of those they’ve made relationships with, meaning that it ALL wasn’t a loss. It’s a shining light of optimism within the tragedy that becomes a reoccuring theme through a lot of future episodes, and I love it each time. But other than that, this serial is another one that DRAGS. It’s just The Doctor and his companions screwing around with Aztecs for two hours while this boring subgroup conspired against them. It makes the whole serial feel like it’s running in place for too long, and I feel like if it cut out ONE episode or maybe shorten it down to two, the serial could be stronger for it. It’s also weird how Barbara is, like, a different person in this. Like, I get it, she’s acting like a goddess, but she seems TOO good at her performance, almost as if the writers wrote her as an ACTUAL goddess and not a character PRETENDING to be one. It feels off a lot of the time, and it’s just one more thing that makes this serial weak. Even though I like the idea of characters trying to fight hard to change history, that’s something done MUCH better in the future. It’s a charming first attempt, but not one I’m willing to revisit.

The Sensorites: A pretty…substandard serial. The titular Sensorites start off pretty scary and intimidating, being unlike anything the show has produced so far in this run. It presents a bit of uncanny horror for a good while…But then the serial reveals that they’re mostly peaceful creatures, aside from a few devious outliers, who actually need help. It’s a decent twist that also leads to The Doctor being the most active he’s ever been. The way he goes about finding a cure for this mysterious illness and taking charge in dealing with any dangerous Sensorite made it feel like, for the first time, he deserves to have the show named after him. I like it…but it doesn’t stop the serial feeling like it’s a little aimless at times, almost as if it’s drifting by for six episodes. We get some good stuff from it, but storywise it feels like we’re just bouncing from scene to scene as if the writers are making stuff up as they go and presenting coincidences that foil some villains’ plans. And then there’s this out of nowhere idea that this subgroup of humans lived under the Sensorites for so long, but there was never any indication of this and it’s presented in the VERY LAST episode, making it an almost pointless idea that went nowhere. I’m glad to see The Doctor become more  of a leading man, but I would have preferred it in a better, more coherent serial.

The Reign of Terror: MOST of the serial is intact…aside from two episodes. Meaning that it’s incomplete and not available on Tubi, so…ONTO THE TRANSCRIPT!

On paper, this whole thing seems like a drag. It starts interestingly enough with The Doctor being separated from his companions as they’re taken prisoner during the French Revolution. It leads to Ian, Barbara, and Susan trying to escape while The Doctor tries to reunite with them (instead of pissing off for half the serial), creating this situation where everyone’s putting in the work as they share the same goal. The problem is that, like the REST of the serials before, the characters fart around for too long just to stretch the story out to reach a goal. They will escape and then get recaptured for the sake of forced tension, and by the time Susan and Barbara were in prison again I just wanted the serial to come close to an end. Thankfully, by then, there were two episodes left, but it doesn’t change how it’s all two episodes too long. The only thing to catch my intrigue later was Barbara wishing they could help Robespierre from getting killed and The Doctor reminding her that they can’t change history. I still love an idea like that, but here, it happens near the very end and there’s barely enough time to appreciate it or dive deep into it. In fact, this could have been a great “Can’t mess with the past” episode, but it’s just…the characters trying to escape a situation and spending too long on it. The worst part is that this is the Season One finale, the time to go for broke, and it’s just…the same old thing with the same old problems as previous serials. Maybe it worked better visually or even through audio, but on paper it’s just as slow and boring as ever. Hopefully the next season starts big.

Planet of Giants: Huh. Guess it did. Just…literally.

Jokes aside, I am impressed with the set design in this serial. I can tell everyone worked so hard to set the scale, making you feel how small these characters are. Sure, you can tell exactly HOW it was done, but for the sixties this all must have been mind blowing work, especially for a TV show. As for the story, it’s…adequate. The characters are trying to prevent these two men from making an insecticide that could do more harm than good while also trying to find their way back to the TARDIS to reverse their size. It’s not the BIGGEST (ha) danger in the world and it’s something they could have stopped easily at normal size. If they focussed on growing again, they could have stopped the main evil prick within seconds, so the majority of the serial is just them messing around by trying to stop him while they’re an inch tall. And there’s also the fact that Barabara held the idiot ball throughout the serial, touching something in a lab when she shouldn’t have and keeping that information to herself for far too long. Like, WHY didn’t she tell the others she was infected with the insecticide? We never got an answer for that and it’s kind of frustrating as it adds unnecessary tension to a serial that doesn’t really need it. The characters trying to get big again is more than enough, we don’t need a nefarious plot about an insecticide gone wrong or one of the characters getting sick from it. But while the story definitely could use some improvements, the set design really does carry it, being an impressive visual display even if it’s for an inferior serial.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, so THAT’S what happened to Susan…Anyways, the best way I could describe this serial is two steps forward and one step back. The cinematography is impressive, looking like a feature film at times with dynamic shots and cool ways that the camera follows the characters. BUT the direction seems to be all over the place. Most of the time, it’s fine, but then you get stuff like actors interrupting or talking over each other or moments where peripheral view is…not a thing. There’s even a part where a Dalek is looking RIGHT AT THE DOCTOR as it’s moving away…and it just continues moving onward as if nothing happened. It’s actually kind of hilarious at times. And speaking of the Daleks, this serial did a great job showcasing how threatening and evil they can really be. The twisted way they used humans as slaves to destroy a planet is sick and seeing how that broke the human mind and ruined their families proved that the Daleks are nothing to be messed with. The problem is that the serial shows how easily they can be messed with. Like, even if they doubt the intelligence of normal Earth people, it’s not a smart plan to have a way for them to escape their prison cell WITHIN THE CELL ITSELF! And how is it that they can blast away people no problem but struggle with the robot slaves they made? I don’t know how it’s possible, but this serial manages to make these tin salt shakers MORE and LESS terrifying. On the upside, our heroes are at least competent in this adventure. Much like the last encounter with the Daleks, everyone does something of value, only this time they’re all split up to accomplish their own task that actually helps the others in a way they wouldn’t expect. It DOES feel like some plot lines are a little aimless with some of our cast waffling about a little longer than they should, but it all leads to a great ending when they reunite once more. 

And, of course, there’s the sad departure of Susan. It’s performed well and does a decent job of making me FEEL a little sad when The Doctor allows Susan to leave so she can live a life of her own without being forced to travel everywhere with him. I liked it…though I do have issues with how the reason that she wants to leave is because she fell in love with a man she’s known for a few days. It’s part of the writing of the sixties, I know that, but it doesn’t change how WEIRD it feels that Susan is willing to give up everything she knows for someone she recently met. So while I enjoyed the scene, it felt very flawed, which is the same for the whole serial. I enjoyed it a lot, but there were a few imperfections here and there that made “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” a messy, albeit fun, serial.

The Rescue: This was a blessedly short serial. The big twist was fairly easy to figure out after Part One, and if this serial was stretched out for more than two parts it would hurt it significantly. We don’t need four parts of the characters farting around, picking up little clues, and then solving the big crisis within minutes. So having the story last for about two episodes leaves for a brief adventure that works well on its own while also introducing the audience to Vicki. And I’ll admit…I’m not too sure about Vicki in this serial. She comes across as a less competent Susan who cries more and doesn’t have the same intrigue Susan did as being The Doctor’s granddaughter. It’s obvious that she’s there as a replacement for the “The Young One” in the group and it doesn’t work for me. What DOES work is how The Doctor is presented, as he acts much more like The Doctor I know now. He’s active towards figuring out what’s going on, caring towards Vicki and consoling her when she needs it, and is the one to confront Bennett in the climax of the serial. I do like how it’s sort of a slow burn with The First Doctor, showing him eventually grow from the bitter old man who couldn’t care less about anyone else to a more kind and proactive character due to the adventures he went on with his companions and the people that they meet. I still say it was off to name the show after the guy who didn’t do much, but The Doctor’s slowly earning his role as the leading man and I enjoyed that this is one of the earlier starts of them becoming the hero we know now. So while this is a standard serial, it does give us one of the better presentations of The First Doctor.

The Romans: *INSERT DATED ROMAN EMPIRE JOKE HERE*

Anywho, this one’s pretty entertaining. There’s basically two sides of this serial’s story: The Doctor and Vicki hanging out with Nero and his hysterical nonsense and Ian and Barbara being stuck in the slave trade…Yeah, probably sounds like the tones would heavily clash with this one, but it surprisingly flows well. You laugh at the hijinks of The Doctor acting as a close friend towards Nero while feeling empathy for Barbara and Ian as they’re forced into the worst possible position in Rome. There’s even equal attention to both plotlines, making them balance each other out fairly well that leads to the serial feeling fast but fun. The only thing that drags it down is how it begins and ends. The cut between the TARDIS falling and The Doctor and Ian chilling out in Roman attire felt jarring. Same goes for the reveal that they willingly stayed in Rome for a whole month instead of focussing all attention on fixing the TARDIS. I suppose it would come across as a pleasant holiday, but then they say they’ve been hanging out in someone else’s house while they were away and that’s…odd. It’s odd that it worked out like that for a whole month. Same goes with the ending, where The Doctor feels giddy at causing the fire of Rome. Even for the First Doctor, it doesn’t seem right that they would take joy in causing such destruction and mayhem. But aside from the problems in the beginning and the end, everything in the middle of the serial offered great entertainment for a pleasant viewing for me.

The Web Planet: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! MY EARS! For whatever bizarre reason or another, SOMEONE decided to give these giant ants the most ear-piercingly irritating sound for how they communicate. It was already grating by the first episode, yet they still thought it was a good idea to use the same sound, continuously, FOR SIX EPISODES! Halfway through the third, I genuinely considered skipping the rest of the serial entirely because I couldn’t STAND those f**king ants! Thankfully, I remembered that subtitles were a thing, so I just played the rest of the serial on mute and just read the subtitles. Trust me when I say that is the only way to make the damn thing watchable. And even then, it’s not that great of a serial anyways. It’s the characters helping these anthropomorphic bugs with slightly less annoying (but still pretty annoying) voices in a rebellion against the ants. I’m all about it, because screw those things, but it’s still a bog-standard adventure with some admittedly impressive costumes and effects for the time. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I couldn’t stand LISTENING to this episode, but I would have been completely fine if this was one of the few serials lost to time.

The Crusade: Speaking of which, HALF of this serial is missing and not on Tubi either. So ONTO THE TRANSCRIPTS (Gosh dang it…)

I think the problem with this serial is made clear with how it begins. We have new characters talking about political nonsense as if we, the audience, should already know the context of what they’re saying. Then when we’re introduced to the core four, they’re thrown into the middle of a battle with no proper set-up that their conflict of Barbara getting kidnapped happened so fast that it barely registers. This slow pace of boring politics with characters we don’t know and fast paced attempts of Barbara trying to escape her kidnappers remains throughout this whole serial. MAYBE it was handled better visually, but the way the serial constantly introduces new characters to discuss politics while The Doctor and his companions are barely there makes the whole thing feel like its priorities are disjointed. There should be more focus on Barbara trying to escape while the others go out to save her, but there’s so much attention on the politics and trying so hard to be historically accurate or whatever and it…doesn’t keep my interest. Not to mention that the constant new characters to keep track of as they steal attention is not all that entertaining and causes the whole serial to seem like it forgets who the show’s really about. I just wanted it all to end, as I feel like this is one of those serials that aren’t better on paper nor through execution.

The Space Museum: This one starts off pretty confusing, first intentionally and then unintentionally. I’m just as lost as the characters are, wondering what happened to them and what’s to come of it. It effectively puts me in the mindset the serial wants me to have, but then they give this explanation that just makes my brain hurt when I try to think about it too long and hard. Thankfully, the premise that the serial tries to sell is simple enough to shrug off the nonsense of time and relative dimension or whatever the hell. Basically, The Doctor and his companions saw a vision of what COULD BE their future, and the whole serial is them trying to make sure that never comes to be. It’s a solid premise that’s effectively tense in a lot of scenes as the characters seemingly get closer to what could be an inevitable future. Added with some fun moments of The Doctor being a giggly old goof as he screws with his enemies and it’s a fun time. The only weak part is this subplot involving the most ineffective rebellion I’ve ever seen, where it’s a miracle that they survived this long until they received help from Vicki of all characters. Though, even then, the subplot does well to show how independent Vicki can be in a situation AND adds to the theme that a person’s future can be changed if they changed the lives of others. It’s a decent message that helps make the serial a surprisingly good time. And yeah, that ending sting made me excited for the next one. Speaking of…

The Chase: This was…not what I was expecting. In the last two encounters with The Daleks, it was a big, tense adventure with the characters struggling to find a way to beat them. Here, it’s more like “The Keys of Marinus,” a collection of small adventures as the characters are chased through space and time as they try to escape The Daleks. It’s less of an epic adventure and more of a mixed bag of fun escapades and…awkward distractions. For example, watching the characters get stuck in a haunted house or fighting a robotic Doctor can be entertaining, but them interacting with this weird, underground civilization or this man from Alabama just drag it to a halt. Thankfully, the worst of it is only in the first half, making it a serial that starts slow but picks up momentum as things go on. There’s also some decent money put into this, having some impressive sets that change each episode, some crazy special effects for the sixties (the part where there’s two Doctors still looks good), and some creative camera angles that give a more cinematic feel. I dare say that this would be an impressively put together serial that is mostly fun despite some awkwardness.

But the real meat of this is that “The Chase” ends with the departure of Ian and Barbara. I will admit, the pacing upon their exit felt a bit too fast, with their decision to leave coming out of nowhere and their return home not giving us enough time to appreciate them appreciating Earth. Although, as weird as the pacing is, The Doctor’s heartbreak to see them go is well-acted and believable. You can tell that he’s less upset about the risk that comes with using The Daleks’ time machine and more upset about the idea that they want to leave in the first place. It’s odd that he feels more upset over two humans than his granddaughter, but this is still a moment that introduces the tragedy of The Doctor. They’re a character that’s always on the move, going from one part of the universe to the next and having to say goodbye to every friend and companion they ever make. They WANT to keep company, but know that their companion’s departure is always inevitable. Yet it breaks their heart just the same. I FEEL that tragedy here way more than with Susan, where The Doctor seemed more than willing to let her live her life. But with Ian and Barbara, these two humans who left an impact on him, they’ll stick with The Doctor’s heart for a long time.

The Time Meddler: The premise of this one is great. A time-traveler disguised as a monk is screwing with time to make himself the most important person in the universe. And The Doctor, being the biggest defender of time and space, tries to stop him. It’s a perfect idea that fits perfectly with who The Doctor is while giving him a true foil that he won’t have again until meeting The Master. It’s actually a ton of fun watching what’s basically the Beta Master trying to mess with history just for the pure selfish reasons of self-importance. And I do say that the serial perfectly captures that idea…by Part Four. Yeah, the majority of the first three parts are about hinting at what The Monk has been doing and padding out the runtime with characters screwing around in the woods or the monastery. By the time we get to Part Four, it does work well with the premise, having The Doctor and The Monk try and outsmart each other for victory with The Doctor, of course,  coming out on top. And I’ll admit that it was great seeing The Doctor take charge without someone else stealing the show as the leading man. What, do you think that the new guy STEVEN is going to take Ian’s place as the take-charge companion? Get the hell out of here…

But, yeah, while the first three parts DRAG, “The Time Meddler” at least ends on a high enough note where I say it was worth the watch. I’ll likely only return to that final episode instead of watching the whole thing, but what are you gonna do?

Galaxy 4: Unfortunately, this is another that’s been deleted from history. HOWEVER, it’s still on Tubi…Sort of. Because the audio logs are still intact, they had the whole serial reanimated by Digitoonz Media & Entertainment. And it’s…distracting. Not because the animation is bad. I mean, yeah, it’s not GREAT, but what’s distracting about it is that the animators tried their hardest to give this serial a cinematic feel, having grandiose backgrounds and doing things the actors and set designers wouldn’t be capable of doing. It’s entertaining to see, but leaves me questioning what the original episodes would have looked like. Because there is NO WAY this animation is an EXACT reenactment of what happens. But I’m not really complaining because there are some good stuff that comes from making this serial animated, like having all of Maaga’s forces exact copies of one another or actually seeing the destruction of the planet as Maaga is forced to watch it fall apart around her. I like a lot of this stuff, despite the distractions. As for the story, it feels blessedly quick, albeit simple. I saw the twist of Maaga and her weird ass clones being the real evil a mile away, but this WAS likely one of the first instances when a story presents the nice looking creatures as evil where the ugly looking ones are good. I can give it a little leeway for that, especially since “Galaxy 4” makes it clear that it’s MAAGA who’s the real villain whereas her clones are more or less drones following orders to appease their crooked master. There’s actually a bit of tragedy to the clones where they don’t get a chance to think on their own and do what their master says because it’s all they know. It effectively makes you feel bad for them as you also feel grateful that Maaga dies knowing it was all for nothing. And, again, it all goes by fairly quickly, making a serial that feels short and to the point. I couldn’t ask for better and I REALLY wish there were more lost episodes that were animated. Would have at least made for a more unique experience than reading transcripts to ones that are lost.

Mission to the Unknown: Speak of the devil! At least it’s only ONE episode…And a pretty decent one at that.

This is the first time where we don’t follow The Doctor or any of their companions, but instead some one-off characters. This would happen on occasion, with one of the most popular examples being the episode “Blink,” showing great tension as we watch these characters try to survive without a Doctor to save them. It’s no different here, as “Mission to the Unknown” features two men trying to warn the galaxy of a master plan of the Daleks, setting up a future serial while also standing well on its own for a quick adventure that ends in unfortunate death. It doesn’t give us enough time to really CARE about them, but that might have something to do with me reading it too fast. It’s still a solid episode that leaves one fearing for what’s to come later.

The Myth Makers: And another for the transcripts. Son of a bitch…

It’s not easy to tell strictly through text, but I think this is meant to be a more comedic adventure. In past serials like “Marco Polo” and “The Crusade,” they bore me by forcing in politics and dull characters, likely for the sake of “Historical accuracy.” Here, it’s The Doctor and his companions dealing with idiots on both sides of the Trojan War, with historical accuracy most definitely thrown out the window as people are more familiar with the version in Homer’s Odyssey. It is much more entertaining to see The Doctor try to appeal to the whims of a meathead like Odysseus and watching Priam and his family bicker about Cassandra and the legitimacy of her visions, rather than getting lost in the politics. It’s fun, but I’m curious if it’s meant to be. You have obvious comedic moments like Steven’s quickly failed rescue attempt and Menelaus wanting a drink after hearing The Doctor’s Trojan Horse plan, but the majority of the lines also don’t strike me as TOO humorous. That’s largely because the way an actor delivers a line versus how it’s written can give two different reactions, and it’s why READING the lines doesn’t leave as big of a comedic punch as hearing an actor say it in a funny way.

“Well, then listen to the audio versions.”

I’VE READ SO MANY TRANSCRIPTS AT THIS POINT! I’M IN TOO DEEP NOW!

But I will say that if the point WAS to make this adventure more comedic, then it makes the inevitable fall of Troy feel all the more tragic. I didn’t want the Trojans to die! They were FUNNY! And because they made me laugh a little, it hurt seeing them killed, even if I should have expected from the beginning.

One thing I didn’t expect, though, was that this was Vicki’s departure. Which I wouldn’t have minded if not for how it’s weirdly unceremoniously done. There’s no final goodbye and it feels like it breezes past The Doctor saying he’ll miss her. And her reasoning is just…dull. She leaves because she liked a boy, much like how SUSAN left. I guess there WAS a bit of foreshadowing given how Priam changes Vicki’s name to Cressida, a female character in retellings of the Trojan War who famously falls for Troilus. But even then, it still feels weak and even strange that Vicki would willingly choose to stay in a time she doesn’t live in for Troilus, a boy she knew for about two days. I know it’s something that just…happens back then in 60s fiction, but makes for an off addition to an already entertaining serial.

The Daleks’ Master Plan: SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, this is the LONGEST serial yet! Possibly the longest serial in the show’s history! And the weirdest part is that only three episodes of it still exist, which is crazy not only because of the length but also because it features The Daleks. Even back then, it’s pretty clear that The Daleks are the fan favorite villains of the series, with the writers inserting them in when they can. And you would think that major characters such as them would be more valuable to protect, but no. All we have are mostly audio logs…And transcripts for yours truly.

Which is a shame too, because…this is a frickin’ GOOD one! Quite possibly the best serial I’ve ever read yet! The plot is basically characters playing keep away from each other, chasing after this insanely impressive element that The Daleks want to use for another doomsday weapon. And I just loved that the second The Doctor saw The Daleks, he knew that they needed to be stopped. He wasn’t forced into it or was trying to survive The Daleks attacking first. After three whole adventures of dealing with them, The Doctor finally put two and two together to realize that The Daleks just existing is enough to know that nothing good can come from it. So he takes charge on an adventure that’s definitely a little too long but reads as incredibly grand. It’s sort of a repeat of “The Chase,” where The Doctor and company go from place to place, planet to planet, so they can avoid The Dalek’s capture, but there’s some things that make this serial stronger. For one, the stakes feel real this time, with characters who assist The Doctor and Steven on their journey getting killed unceremoniously or tragically. You’re given enough time with Bret, Katarina, and Sara that when they meet their end for the sake of saving the group, it makes you feel a little something. The whole serial comes to a close with this idea that while victory was met in the end, The Doctor and Steven still take a moment to reflect on the lives they lost to win. It really sets how grim and deadly this adventure was, showing characters could die whether they’re ones you care about or even enemies to The Doctor. Speaking of, this serial also works in giving more unique foes outside of STRICTLY The Daleks. You have Chen, an arrogant and egotistical dilweed who’s maniac drive to be ruler of the Universe and doing anything to get it makes you enjoy his untimely demise all the more. There’s even a surprise return of The Monk, who sets himself more as this pathetic failure of a villain as he stumbles constantly to one-up The Doctor only to be outsmarted every turn. Both mix things up well while also making it clear that The Daleks are the real threats as Chen and The Monk follow every command due to fearing for their safety. It helps make the serial feel like a more unique adventure compared to past ones with The Daleks, adding more life, energy, and intensity to it. The only time I was taken out of the whole thing was this random Christmas special that got inserted halfway through. It distracted from the plot way too long and was filled with jokes that were probably funny VISUALLY and maybe AUDIBLY, but not so much when you’re reading it…like I did. Still, that’s ONE episode in a twelve episode long serial. Being entertained with eleven out of twelve episodes is still a great feat that makes “The Daleks’ Master Plan” a masterclass serial. Now can we go back to actually WATCHING these episodes again?

The Massacre: Guess not…

And this one’s one of the worst, if not THE worst. “The Massacre” has the same problems as “The Crusade.” So much of this serial is focussing on the politics of the historical event taking place, watching these characters you barely give a shit about with the main cast you love getting pushed to the sidelines. Except that while “The Crusade” had the charming cast of THE DOCTOR, Ian, Barbara, and even Vicki, “The Massacre” focuses on Steven. And I’ll get into the specifics in a moment, but I do NOT care for Steven. So to have four episodes focusing on boring historical politics and a character I do not like, it’s pretty easy to pick up why I dislike this serial the most out of all of them. I’m not kidding when I say that the best part about it is the moment where it seemed like Steven was leaving. Before you say anything, it’s not because it gave me hope that Steven was gone for good…Okay, it’s partially because of that, but it’s mostly because of this moment where The Doctor reflects on the people in his life and how he misses them. He even corrects HIMSELF when getting Ian’s last name wrong, showing us that he cares enough to get it right now because he misses his friend. It’s a bittersweet moment that proves how much The Doctor loves each companion they’ve made, even the first few people they’ve met in this first life. It was beautiful…and then it got undercut immediately to introduce Dodo and shove Steven back in as he changed his mind. The one thing I liked about this serial, and it’s ruined by itself. Yeah, this one’s definitely the worst, and I’m not missing it.

The Ark: FINALLY, something I don’t have to READ!

“The Ark” surprised me for a second. I knew going in that it was a four-part-long serial, but by the time Part Two met its end I was confused. It seemed like the story was wrapping up as The Doctor and company cured a ship of the common cold and went off to a new adventure. Only for the TARDIS to appear in the same exact spot many years later with a new problem caused by their actions in the past. Already, I love this premise. We almost never return to the same place twice with The Doctor, where after they save people from this great threat they always head off, assuming everything is fine. This is the first time we actually see what happened to the people that The Doctor saved, only to find out something worse happened to them. It’s a solid premise with good enough execution. I like that this whole thing started with an accident. Dodo just happened to have a cold and didn’t expect the consequences that could come to a species that never experienced it. It puts The Doctor and company in a situation where you don’t BLAME them for what happened but you understand that they have to clean up this mess they caused. I also find it brilliant that the first half of the serial has The Doctor and his companions dealing with rouge Guardians and the second is rouge Monoids, giving this message that both parties aren’t innocent creatures and that peace can only be made when they learn to live together instead of treating one species as slaves. It’s a bit muddled as we don’t really see much of the extent that the Guardians treat the Monoids and how disrespected they are. It gives the idea that the creepy-looking creatures who look different are more at fault, especially since the human Guardians are the ones who assist The Doctor in both halves. There’s never any assistance from the Monoids, which makes it feel like peace might not be the best option. I wouldn’t harp on it if not for the fact that several serials back in “Galaxy 4,” we had the same message of “The ugly ones aren’t evil” with decent results. Still, the idea and meaning is clear as no one’s really, wholly good. Just could have used some cleaning up on showing the good side of the Monoids, making “The Ark” having a strong story ARC.

HAHAHA–Kill me. Next one!

The Celestial Toymaker: All but the last part of this serial is missing, so…onto the transcripts.

I mean it, kill me.

(I don’t actually mean it. Just…been doing this for a while)

This serial introduces The Toymaker, a character that would only reappear once more…fifty-seven years later with the incomparable Niel Patrick Harris playing the role. And speaking as someone who got introduced to this character through NPH doing random accents and a random ass dance sequence to “Spice Up Your Life,” I wasn’t sure what to expect from the version in the sixties. Turns out, while he’s not as bombastic and jovial as Niel Patrick Harris, The Toymaker is still the most unique villain that The Doctor and others have come across so far. The Doctor isn’t kidding when he says that The Toymaker loves using people as his playthings, sending out dolls, board games, playing cards, and all sorts of other traps to entertain himself with The Doctor and his companions. And while Steven and Dodo aren’t the best duo in the world,, they’re at least paired up with despicable and hilariously incompetent antagonists as The Toymaker sends out his toys against them. You’re entertained by them, but at the same time you feel bad for them when they fail because they’re all trapped souls captured by The Toymaker. Or are they? The serial cleverly keeps you guessing whether or not these toys were once people, leaving it up to interpretation on if it’s all a part of a trick he’s playing. It adds a bit of tragedy to the goofs and gags, which I certainly appreciate. Then you have The Doctor’s game with The Toymaker that adds intensity, as he’s trying his best to stall to win the game until Steven and Dodo find the TARDIS. And, sure, I would have loved MORE to actually SEE The Doctor beat The Toymaker in a battle of wits as opposed to watching Steven and Dodo going through a goofy, silly adventure, I’m not complaining too much for the end result. “The Celestial Toymaker” is still an incredibly entertaining serial that has every character working well together to survive and being competent as they win their own game. Although, I do have to call nonsense towards Fourteen in “The Giggle.” Saying that cheating is the last thing The Toymaker would do when that’s all he does in this serial…Nonsense.

The Gunfighters: This serial finds the characters in a wild, wild west adventure, and this one’s definitely meant to be a more entertaining ride rather than an epic adventure with huge stakes. You’ve got fun stuff like Steven being forced to sing at gunpoint, an outlaw playing dentist as he rips out The Doctor’s tooth, Dodo fainting as she attempts to hold a man at gunpoint, and British people trying to do western accents. It’s definitely a good time, but it also feels like the writers leaned too hard into this being a western. All the tropes and cliches seem present and it’s definitely enjoyable, but it doesn’t feel like a Doctor Who story. The characters are pretty much in the background as we follow the narrative threads of these outlaws and a sheriff. Sure, they’re entertaining as well and don’t make the serial drag like “The Crusade” and “The Massacre” did, but at the cost of abandoning who we really follow this series for: The Doctor and his companions. What’s crazy is that ten (eleven?) regenerations later, The Doctor would go on another wild west adventure, facing down a space robot playing bounty hunter as The Doctor protects a town that’s inexperienced with this kind of threat. Not only does that episode have a concept that works perfectly for this show but it makes the story revolve around The Doctor and his companions trying to save this town. In “The Gunfighters,” The Doctor and company are pretty much absent for most of the story, either being dragged along by characters with more narrative importance, or stepping out of the entire climax. And yes, there are instances when the show follows random characters for the entirety of a story, but that’s still done in a way that it feels like it matches the show. Like how in “Mission of the Unknown,” where we follow characters trying desperately to stop The Daleks. Goofy or intense sci-fi nonsense and seeing The Doctor and co. reacting to history is what makes Doctor Who one of the most engaging science fiction shows ever made. While a western can be entertaining, something like “The Gunfighters” tends to make you forget what show you’re watching.

The Savages: Deleted. And a shame too, because this is another good one. The concept of this civilized society using living people as an energy source is already chilling, and the serial does well in showing how messed up it is for the supposed Savages. Though, if this was written in Modern Doctor Who, I feel like  the results of this power draining would be MUCH darker. Especially if Steven Moffat wrote the episode (The sick bastard). As is, it’s still great with how they made the power draining as dark as it could be for the sixties, all while adding a classist message that still manages to work NOW with its themes of the high and mighty sucking the life of what they think is savage. I love it and I also adore how The Doctor quickly picked up on how sick this whole idea is, wanting to shut the whole thing down immediately. THAT’S The Doctor I know, and it’s pretty fun that what saved the day is their leader taking some of The Doctor’s essence. Even when temporarily beaten, The Doctor still wins.

It’s all pretty great, but do you wanna know what’s better? STEVEN! IS! GONE!

Again, I’ll get to WHY later, but I am so glad to see Steven go. He wasn’t really the best companion out there and it is pretty nice that in his last adventure with The Doctor it’s all about Steven finally learning how to be useful. It’s to better sell that he’d be a capable leader to these people and…under his leadership, they’d probably die, but I can take it. Seeing Steven gone makes me willing to accept any nonsense of making him a leader and it’s nice that the show lets him leave with dignity. Even with the worst companions, it’s great the show at least treats them as people and lets ones like Steven leave happy enough instead of injecting him out the airlock or something. His departure is very welcomed and makes this serial stand out a little higher.

The War Machines: The final serial available on Tubi, and it’s…alright? Yeah, I honestly have no strong feelings one way or the other towards this one. The premise itself is what I love to see in Doctor Who, as this machine meant to help humanity ends up wanting to conquer it, with The Doctor being a key factor in securing the victory only to become the machine’s downfall. It’s all decent enough, with actors doing well at portraying these disturbingly obedient human puppets and there being some impressive puppetry on display with WANTON’s war machines. But as decent as it all is, none of it really WOWED me. The techno babble that The Doctor used to explain how he outsmarted and bested the war machines lost me due to how convoluted it was. Same goes for how WANTON was able to hypnotize human beings. I don’t even know if it was ever explained because of how much non-scientific science was thrown in this entire serial. It’s the central part of this entire premise, and it makes little sense how a computer was able to hypnotize anyone, even if it was supposedly advanced.

Another thing that bothers me about this serial is that this is supposed to be Dodo’s exit. She’s out for half the adventure and doesn’t even get to say goodbye in person. She just takes a nap, lets her replacements do most of the work, and then she’s gone for good. It feels cheap and gives her the weakest exit out of any companion in this run. Possibly the weakest exit ever. It’s another little aspect that makes the serial not BAD but not outstanding, either.

The Smugglers: Not much to say about this one. Just a fast romp as The Doctor and his companions fend off pirates in their hunt for a legendary treasure. It drags a little bit and there’s a lot of flip-flopping in terms of certain characters’ loyalty, but it has some fun moments, like The Doctor outsmarting opponents and Ben and Polly proving their worth as companions fairly quickly. Not a spectacular adventure, but entertaining enough.

The Tenth Planet: Here it is. The final serial in the First Doctor’s run…And it’s incomplete.

Yeah, the final adventure with William Hartnell’s Doctor, and you can’t see it in its entirety. You can watch the first three parts, but the fourth? Not a chance. It’s quite disappointing and, you know what? If I could cheat with his first adventure, I can cheat with his last. Let’s use “other means” than Tubi to watch those first three episodes and read what happens next.

And I’ll just say…it’s ALMOST perfect. It has a STRONG premise, introducing the Cybermen, a longtime enemy of The Doctor. It was so fascinating to see how humanlike these monsters began, moving and speaking like everyday men just with a slight robotic lean to it. It actually makes the more robotic, emotionless Cybermen more chilling in the modern age as it now becomes clear that the Cybermen perfected their goal to be more robot than human. The serial also cleverly makes it where the Cybermen aren’t the ONLY threat. I truly love that the bitter and impulsive General Cutler is just as much of an antagonist as the Cybermen are, with his desire to kill them before they kill Earth being potentially more damaging if he ever got away with his plans. It goes along with a recurring theme of this show in the modern age where those who try to be the victor in an unnecessary war tend to destroy themselves. Cutler dies because he attracted Cybermen attention with the warhead and the Cybermen die because their planet burned up when they could have asked for assistance with their problem instead of destroying the Earth for survival. It’s handled really well, with Polly and Ben still continuing to be useful additions to the cast as they do all they can to stop both Cutler and the Cybermen. Mainly because they have to with The Doctor checking out for when things get their most deadly.

Speaking of, the one thing that holds the serial back is The First Doctor’s exit. This was his final adventure, and he doesn’t do much aside from telling people what to do and taking a nap. By the time his regeneration begins, it all goes by so fast that it feels like he’s being rushed out the door. In a way…he kind of is. Due to age catching up with him, William Hartnell was forced to leave the show because his memory problems and exhaustion were getting difficult to film around. So now they had to get him out of the show for his own good, all while making one last serial as a final goodbye to this actor. However, it doesn’t change how…off his farewell feels. He’s not the triumphant hero who stopped The Cybermen and he didn’t get any final words to make his goodbye feel haunting or bittersweet. Future Doctors got this chance, even ones who decided to leave on their own accord like David Tennant or Matt Smith. It’s actually kind of sad that William Hartnel didn’t get the same treatment and that the writers would only learn their lesson for FUTURE generations. His flawed departure is the one thing that holds back what is admittedly a well-made serial.

And that’s it. That’s the last adventure with The First Doctor. But before I talk about my overall thoughts with this man, I should first discuss some other characters. Characters who are important to any Doctor no matter WHO (haha) they are…

THE COMPANIONS

Doctor Who would not be the show that it is without the companions. They’re frequently the audience surrogates, experiencing new adventures alongside The Doctor while assisting them across space and time. One thing that Chris Chibnall did correctly is point out that the companions are the true power of The Doctor and are worth talking about within the same breath. However, it DOES get a little tricky on who’s considered a companion or not. And trust me when I say it’ll get trickier as time goes on. So, for the sake of sanity, I’ll say that a companion is a recurring character who travels with The Doctor in the TARDIS and is there for more than one episode (Or serial, in this case). With those rules that I’ll probably break in the future out of the way, let’s begin with each companion as they left us.

Susan: I have…complicated feelings towards Susan. She had great chemistry within the group, did well as the wide-eyed, naive child who was excited for everything, and I was truly sad to see her go…But while my heart was sad, my ears were eternally grateful.

Yeah, as sweet a character as Susan is, she wouldn’t. Stop. F**KING. SCREAMING. Every time danger happened, she would always go, “AH! AH! GRANDFATHER! IAN! BARBARA! AH-AH!” Everytime. And when Susan was part of the group, having fun with them, being just as silly as the others, THAT’S when Susan worked. She was “The Young One,” acting as someone who the others would look after but still treat with respect as they knew Susan was capable of so much more than SCREAMING. As a member of the group, Susan worked great. As someone who could face danger…Let’s just say that my ears will be bleeding less now that she’s gone.

Ian: It’s weird that a college professor has more of a hero’s heart than the titular character of our show, but I’m not entirely complaining. Ian was a solid companion, willing to take charge for the sake of the group and having some great interactions with The Doctor. You could tell he wanted to strangle the old man, but also enjoyed The Doctor’s company as they shared a similar spirit. They both consider themselves leaders of the party and find conflict when one has an idea they believe is better than the other’s. After a while, they learn to work together and you feel that trust they have thanks to them realizing they’re basically the same kind of men who want the same kind of things. It DOES tend to feel that Ian steals the show at times, but it doesn’t change how much of an entertaining and perhaps even inspiring character Ian can be. He went through so much for The Doctor and the others, being the hero that they need and being charming as hell when doing it.

Barbara: Barbara’s sort of the character that has a well-defined relationship with everyone in the TARDIS. She’s a supportive, motherly figure to Susan and Vicki, treating them with respect while calming them down during intense times. With Ian, she’s a good friend and ONLY a friend. I’m actually glad that she was never forced into a love-interest role with him. There were so many moments where that could have been a possibility with how often those two are paired together, but it’s nice that they remained as close friends who can rely and help one another when the time comes. Not every man and woman needs to end up dating in the end. As for how Barbara is with The Doctor, where Ian and The Doctor are the same in a goal-driven level, The Doctor and Barbara are the same through an INTELLECTUAL one. They often share the same kind of thoughts and curiosity for each adventure they go on, and when they argue, you can tell it’s between two people who are of the same mind but with different opinions. It’s done well and I appreciate seeing these two interact the most. I also appreciate that Barbara stood strong in the face of danger, being just as valuable of a helping hand as the others are and not being a damsel in distress. Sure, she was like that SOMETIMES, but for the sixties this was likely the most independent a woman could get on television. Barbara was a strong character, and likely my favorite amongst the original companions.

Vicki: I was very worried that Vicki was going to turn out to be Susan 2.0, and in a lot of ways, she is. She was very much the young one who was commonly paired up with The Doctor or Barbara as she oozed with childish naivety. Even her exit was nearly identical to Susan’s, except that Susan’s was handled better because The Doctor at least said goodbye. Still, while very similar to Susan, there were some things that I did like a little more with Vicki. For one, she didn’t scream as much…thank FRICK! And two, she was a bit more proactive. Instead of screaming for Ian, Barabara, and The Doctor, Vicki found solutions herself and was frequently the one who helped save the day. I appreciate that, as it helps set her apart more from Susan and gives fans a different kind of naive character that’s endearing in her OWN way. I will say that it feels weird that The Doctor treats Vicki with more respect than his actual GRANDDAUGHTER at times, but this one isn’t screaming too often, so I don’t blame him. Vicki’s a little too much the same, but in some ways, I’d definitely say she’s a bit of an improvement, as mean as it is to admit.

Katarina: Does she count? She doesn’t really go past a single serial…Aw, screw it. She traveled in the TARDIS and helped the group for some time. I’ll say she counts.

And there’s not much to say about Katarina. She was along for the ride for such a short time, not really given a chance to stand out between the young characters like Susan or Vicki. There is this bit of naivety due to her seeing technology for the first time and mistaking The Doctor as a god, but there’s not enough time to develop that idea further and show her capabilities. I will say, though, that she gets the DARKEST exit of any companion I’ve seen. It’s sudden and unceremonious, dying because of some stupid maniac trying to escape his personal Hell. What’s worse is that it’s left to interpretation as to whether or not her death was an accident. Because she was from the distant past and had no knowledge of technology or buttons, it’s unknown if she sacrificed herself to stop the others from going back to The Daleks or because she didn’t know what button opened the door. A character that got to see the universe for the first time, thinking she was a part of something perfect, only to die in an unpredictable circumstance. She had a short amount of time, but I’m with The Doctor. I hope she found that perfection.

Steven: I. Do. NOT care for Steven. It feels like the writers were trying to make him Ian’s replacement as the heroic figure that was often at odds with The Doctor. Except that Steven is very much NOT that. He’s more like this bumbling buffoon who caused more problems as he constantly needed to be rescued by The Doctor and even Vicki at times. The very SECOND that proves how useless he could be was during his introduction when he ran to get back his teddy bear during a grueling escape from The Daleks. You COULD make the argument that the writers wanted to slowly develop Steven into a more heroic character, but there was barely any progression with him constantly being the butt of every joke. The only time he felt useful was during his last appearance, which I can appreciate. Again, they let him leave with some dignity intact and I’m grateful that he and The Doctor left on good terms. The two of them had a lot of one-on-one times with Steven having a great amount of trust towards The Doctor despite the constant jabs The Doctor gave. The Doctor admires every companion he lets tag along, and I love that it’s no different with Steven, even if I was more glad to see him gone.

Dodo: I…am incredibly indifferent towards Dodo. I don’t HATE her, I guess I could say that. She never really made my ears bleed like Susan did, but, at the same time, she wasn’t really the most useful companion. Dodo was either a damsel for The Doctor to save or someone that CAUSED a problem instead of leading to a solution. In a way, she’s more of what I expected Vicki to be: A downgrade rather than an upgrade who never really got a chance to shine as a worthy member of the group. Even Steven seemed more proactive than her, and that is a crime. And I’m pretty sure even the writers weren’t sure what to do with her either, given how they just…kicked Dodo out of the series without any proper exit. If Steven could get a proper ending, then so could Dodo. Regardless, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m going to miss her. Not too much, anyway. I didn’t mind her existence in the show, but I won’t lose sleep with her being gone. Sorry.

Ben and Polly: Yeah, might as well lump these two together. They weren’t on this run for long, and I assume they’ll be more dynamic characters when we talk about Number Two. For now, I’ll say that they’re fairly useful, saving the day with cunning and bravery. I wish Ben was a LITTLE less whiny and Polly a lot less of a damsel, but who knows? Maybe they’ll improve with The Second Doctor.

But that’s enough with the companions. Let’s finally talk about the man who started it all…

THE DOCTOR

The Doctor, no matter the iteration, is one of my favorite fictional characters. I ADORE a character who solves problems through wit, prefers not to use violence but will if pushed to their limits, and is the kindest being in the universe who will also destroy you if you hurt anyone they love. The Doctor is a being of many contradictions, who’s personality may fluctuate throughout the generations but still, at their core, is a caring being who won’t let ANYTHING stop them from doing what’s right.

…So to see The Doctor start off as this old fart who constantly complains while everyone does everything, causes problems for others, and sometimes cowardly bends to the will of enemies was a definite SHOCK to the system. The Doctor did NOT start out as the nobel hero I know them now as. It was actually kind of frustrating to see him stand off to the side while Ian took charge of everything. THIS would be the person who defeated countless enemies all over the universe? The person who sets out to save lives and regrets the ones they lost? That all started with someone who purposely trapped him and his companions on a distant planet just so they could explore? I couldn’t believe it, but thankfully the writers knew this neat little trick to storytelling: Character development.

Slowly but surely, The First Doctor does become more and more like the character I now adore. He fought Daleks after knowing how dangerous they are, weeped for the friends he had to let go, and outsmarted enemies rather than overpower them. He even gained The Doctor’s silliness and sense of humor. Just look at his grin as he scared enemies off after pretending to be a Dalek. The man relished in the chaos he brought, and it was fun to see…Except when he got giddy for being the one who caused Rome to burn down to the ground. Still have no idea what that was about.

Now, things weren’t always perfect. The First Doctor, while improved over time, still never became the heroic badass I know him NOW as, relying on his companions to do most of the work while he’s off having his own fun. Still, that’s where him being the FIRST comes into play. I can absolutely buy that it would take a few regenerations before he became The Doctor I know and love. As is, I’ll say that The First Doctor is an interesting, albeit off-putting, look into what The Doctor USED to be. It wasn’t always good, but I had my fun and I’ll miss this goofy old man.

And with that, we close off The First Doctor’s run. Most of it was fun, a lot was more dull than I expected it to be, and there were both good and bad surprises given to me through this journey into The First Doctor's adventures. It was great to finally see how this show I love started out, and it’s only the beginning from here. Tune in next time when it’s out with the old and in with the…significantly less old as we talk about The Second Doctor’s run.

[gangplanksorenji]

Around You (Part 3)

Pairing: LOONA Chuu ft. Heejin, Hyunjin X Male Reader

Word Count: 6997

A/N 1: Hallo Orenjideul! It has been a a while since I released a fic and here it is! it has been a busy month for me so sorry for the readers who made me wait for this series ._. Anyways, hope you enjoy this third part of my "Around You" mini-series and have a great day ahead Orenjideul! <3

—---------------------------------------------------

“Hey Oppa! Can you help me here? It’s a b-bit heavy...”

She grunts while lifting her backpack from the floor as it says enough on how she struggles to lift it. You then unhesitantly helped her as you hand the straps and helped her in flinging it in her shoulders as a confused face paints you right after.

 “Why are you bringing so much stuff, Jiwoo? You’re not helping anyone and even yourself. Tch…”

“Well, maybe because I’m studying and brought all my books so I can prepare for the upcoming exam, unlike you Oppa. Hmp!”

“Really? I can maybe ace the exam without reviewing, hah!”

“Ace it, huh? Then explain to me how you scored a C on your Pre-calculus exam and exactly said the same things…”

You can't possibly think of an excuse after what Jiwoo had said towards you as you were frozen upon your position. Not only that you were stunned by that, but you were also dazed by her beauty as her hair flew at your sight, the wind helping her to showcase it as her effortless features made you in awe. Time felt like it ran slower as you could just hear her faint voice echoing around your ears, reverberating as you came back to your senses slowly while still looking at her with a genuine smile on your face.

“See Oppaaaa??”

“Jiwoo-yah…” you said in a soft and caring tone until you snapped yourself back to reality.

“W-what?”

“Uhm, n-nothing, j-just your books. Here, get it, now.”

Your sudden cold demeanor intimidates Jiwoo as she glares at you from daydreaming while she’s talking with you. She knows that you often space out while talking with her but little did she know, those were the signs that you’ve already fallen for her. 

“Why do you mean get it? We’re still nowhere near my-”

“Nope, look behind you Jiwoo.”

She then looked back as she saw that she was now near her house, just near the vicinity of it. A gasp came out of her mouth as you smirked at her and chuckled right after. 

“How c-come we are here already? We literally just walked like a few minutes a-ago.”

“Well, maybe because you were talking too much to the point you didn’t notice that we’re already near your house.”

You then teased her as you clicked your tongue multiple times with disappointment painting your face sarcastically. You can see her mother waving cheerfully through the glass window as it’s the sign that the both of you are parting ways.

“You’re no fun Oppa! Hmp! Anyways, see you tomorrow?”

“Why are you questioning me? Of course I’ll see your face tomorrow, as always, pft. Anyways bye Pengo…”

She pouts and sulks on the spot as she brings her textbooks with her, playfully stomping her feet on her way to the door of their house.

“Bye Pengo, stop tripping okay?” you said loudly, a chuckle escaping your mouth as she glared at you like she’s about to slap you at any time because of your annoying teases. 

She’s always used to it and it’s most likely the charm of your relationship as best friends, mostly how the both of you are notorious in the whole school for acting like cats and dogs to each other. Your cold demeanor earlier doesn’t mean to intimidate her but just to burn the image of you being allured in her charms from both of your minds, mostly hers. You’re showing her signs but those seem won’t work as you dismiss her compliments towards you too, thinking that she’s really joking and always prefers calling you a “pabo” all the time rather than the both of you being locked up in a room for a minute or two.

“How could she be blind? Aishh, nevermind, whatever…” 

Frustration is evident in your tone as you hurriedly walk your way home as all you can think of is to take a rest and freshen yourself up as the exams are nearing. After minutes of walking, you then arrived at your apartment, unlocking the locks hurriedly as you prepared yourself to take a rest: eating a right amount of food, taking a shower, brushing your teeth and making the bed—you’re just tired and wanting to take a rest as soon as possible.

—--------------------------------

Two days. Only two days left before your finals exams as the students rush in their classrooms as soon as the bell rings. Most of them were busy chit-chatting, reviewing, teasing and a lot more yet you’re the complete opposite, you’re just laying down at your chair comfortably as you peeked outside the window, reminiscing the memories you made with Jiwoo for the past years you’d been friends with her.

Heejin notices this as she comes towards you and sits beside you. She then asked why you’re looking out of place as she knows you’re feeling eerie by the small expressions of your face.

“Nothing much, it’s just, Jiwoo…”

“What’s with Jiwoo Oppa? You haven’t confessed to her yet?”

“Shhh, quiet, we’re still in the classroom, they may hear us…”

“Sorry ‘bout that Oppa.”

It’s true that you wanted to confess to Jiwoo. It may seem unusual that the feelings you’ve developed with each other are late yet now your heart speaks up for the truth as you wanted to be with her in all of these years. You’ve witnessed her cry over a failed date due to a rejection up to the pointless quarrels the both of you made, you can’t slip it off your mind and wanted to take it a step further. You’ve been talking about this with Heejin for a long time and only the both of you know it. 

Heejin knew it. From the start he met you and Jiwoo, you know something’s going on between the both of you as she can sense some signs that the two of you only knew and the connection the both of you are oblivious of. Also, with Heejin’s strong connection between the both of you, she knew that her gut feelings were true as the both of you always talked about each other and the thing is, the both of you had feelings towards each other. She’s been playing it wise as the both of you are oblivious about having some feelings towards each other as Heejin almost spilled the tea one time when Jiwoo and her were talking about their ideal types. Gladly, Jiwoo didn’t mind it and slipped it off her mind.

“But, Heejin…”

“What Oppa?”

“D-do you think I c-can do it later?”

“I trust in you Oppa. You can do this. There’s no harm in trying, right? Besides, she’s still your friend at the end of the day whatever happens, you got nothing to lose, Oppa.”

Maybe Heejin was right. There’s no harm in trying, right? You have nothing to lose and Jiwoo will still be your friend at the end of the day if you did. 

After a few talks, you thanked Heejin for a quick talk as you’re always grateful for having a friend like her, alongside Jiwoo, of course. The class is about to start in a couple of minutes as you prepare for what’s coming next with Jiwoo still revolving around your mind.

—-------------------------

Dismissal time. The bell rang and after a few minutes, students were scattered around the campus grounds and across the quadrangles, cafeterias and most of the students are now rushing towards the gate to go home yet you’re in an opposite way—a sudden bet with Heejin earlier as the cause was your non-stop teases about her highschool crush. Both of your competitive spirits ignite while talking about the bet as Heejin’s sarcastic sulking face makes an introduction to you as you jokingly tease about her bad luck with bets. You became so confident about winning to the point that you let her choose what will be the bet for later’s main event. 

She’s not giving up easily and rather found your pride as her ultimate advantage. Like the smart bunny she is, she thought of a bet that surely will make her win as she uses another advantage against you and now is the time for her to prove it.

“Now that we’re here, what’s the bet that you had in store against me?”

Before Hyunjin could say anything, she was stopped by Cheongsoo as he ensures the bet that you’re going to be in and its consequences for the both of you.

“Are you sure about the consequence, Hyuk?” “Yeah, why? Like she’s going to put some make-up on my face? No chance!”

“Yah! Don’t underestimate my friend like that, Oppa!”

“Are you sure about the consequence, Jin?”

“It’s not like I’m going to treat him what he wants, for a day. No chance!”

“Well, without further to do, let’s get started!”

You’re aware of the saying about “jinxing yourself” yet you didn’t care about it because pride took over your body, complacent on how easy you’re going to win the game without any effort wasted.

“Well, what’s the bet you have in store for me?”

“Are you ready to lose, Heejin?”

“I should be saying that to you but let’s see, Oppa.”

A chuckle escaped your lips as you locked your eyes on Heejin—your competitive spirit igniting every second you locked eyes on her. Her eyes also ignited the same as yours did but more of a teasing one since she can’t hide her chuckles everytime she sees you.

“Well, shall I reveal the game that we’ll be playing?”

“Go on Cheongsoo, reveal it!”

Cheongsoo then winks to Heejin—a sign of a “teammate” advantage towards you; finding it unfair but the deal is sealed and there’s nothing you do about it—as he places four bottles, four ten-thousand won bills onto the table and a couple of coins. Curiosity paints your face as you are taught of the possible game that they made against you and gladly, you know what game it is yet do you know how to win against her? You're familiar with the game yet you exactly don’t know how to beat it and with that in mind, you’re nervous as you don’t want to walk like a clown in the campus as you can imagine what can happen next.

“Well, you two will get the bills without any of the coins falling off and there are four bottles on the table. The winner will be declared if they got the bills the fastest under a minute or if the other one didn’t finish all the bottles or who’s the player who got the most bills at the end. So… goodluck to you two!”

After Cheongsoo’s plain yet punctuated explanation about the game the both of you are playing, you can’t help but feel lost and stunned because of what is presented at the table. As you’re feeling uneasy and off, you wanted to get out of this, close the deal and escape the bet yet you’ll be feeling guilty after that—not to mention how cute Heejin’s face is when she’s sulking and frustrate and thanks for being her classmate for months and being her close friend, you can came up to that conclusion accurately.

“Well, because of Hyuk’s confidence earlier, why don’t we let him do the bet first?”

“Wha- Why m-me? No, no, l-let Heejin go first, not me!”

“Well, don’t you want to beat me, right, Oppa?”

“Nah, ladies first, remember?”

“And be a gentleman, hmp!”

Heejin pouts as she crosses her arms, pretending to be sulking and you know that it’s your biggest weakness as you can’t help but fall for her. How could you not feel bad if she’s sulking? Of course, you always want to cheer her up and enlighten the mood whenever she’s like that and without wasting time, you just do what can make her smile. 

“*sighs* Alright, I’ll go first…”

Coming nearer to the table, you positioned yourself and adjusted your stance as you thought of a possible way to get that bill between the bottles without letting the bottle fall. It may seem challenging and impossible as you doubted to give it a go and asked Cheongsoo if this is really the game the both of you will be playing.

“Yeah! That’s the game we’re playing! Well, show us the confidence you showed earlier…”

“Just shut it…”

With no other choice, you then stepped near the table and played the game without knowing how to beat the game efficiently.

“Well, what can I say? Let the games begin!”

As the game starts, you step in as the timer starts to tick and Heejin faces you in order for her not to gather any possible techniques that she may use against you. Every second ticks and pressure can be felt from your veins as stress starts to rise up. 

“No, no, I should not do it fast because the coins will fall off.”

Strategies and all of the possible techniques that you can think of is all that you need to win this bet as you don’t want to go home embarrassed with make-up on your face.

With a single try, you managed to get halfway through a bill as unfortunately, the coins fell off the bottle as you were frustrated by the sight of it. Hope starts to fall off drastically as you feel that you just need to accept your fate—you already know that all of them are against you in order to make you lose, intentionally—yet you didn’t think of that as there are still three more bottles to go and Heejin may lose two or more if it’s her turn. 

45 seconds left as you went to the second bottle and did the exact same strategy yet this time, you’re not rushing it and pausing at random intervals in order for the coins not to fall.

“Just do it nice and easy Hyuk, you got this! There aaaand… yes!”

After an intense moment, you managed to be successful with your made-up strategy as you got the bill out of its restraints yet you still have two more to go as the time is ticking—every second counts here.

28 seconds left and you feel like it’s an eternity as you just want this to end yet your competitive spirit ignites and lets you think the opposite.

You just did the same strategy—pull the paper bill slow and concise for the coins not to fall—as you were successful on the third bottle. You smiled to yourself as you were satisfied with how your sudden strategies are working despite the zero experience of playing this game yet the game is still ain’t over as there were just 14 seconds left for the last bottle.

10 seconds was only left as you were only a quarter of the bill done as all of the students began counting down to zero which just sent gasoline to the flames. Intense pressure can be felt as you upped the pace of your strategy which earns a skip of a beat in your heart. 

“Come on! It’s halfway done!”

“5 seconds left!”

“Nearly finished! And…”

“Time’s up!!”

“Argh!!”

You let out a frustrated roar as you were just close to finishing the last bill yet time interferes with the sudden hype you’re feeling as it subsided, feeling defeated and accepting your fate on facing the consequence later.

“They're literally cheating, I swear! Ugh…”

“Well, I think that’s it for the most confident person here!” Cheongsoo shouts as he teases you, earning an annoyed glare at him which earns a laugh from him. Heejin then mischievously grins as she knows exactly what to do to beat you—not to mention how all of them set you up to basically win the bet and let you have the consequence. You can maybe foresee the future as you know how bad this bet is going to end yet there still hope for you to win this as you could only hope for Heejin to mess up. If she messes up…

“It’s now Heejin’s turn for the game! Will Heejin make him go home looking like a clown or will Hyuk make her wallet wail? Let’s find out now as we’ll start the game again!”

The timer starts as soon as Heejin steps up near the bottle, trying to do  a different strategy that probably your friends had said to her earlier. You watch her with fire in your eyes as anger ignites the flames inside it which just paints a put on your face. 

As she tried to flick the bill at lightning-speed, she wasn’t successful enough as the force applied is felt by the bill and as a result, the coins fell down resulting in a rough start for Heejin. As you watched her beat the game, you noticed how uncanningly familiar is the techniques she’s using and that’s when an imaginary lightbulb pop above your head as you remember a lesson about Physics in your Science lessons and also, thanks to Jiwoo for teaching you that when you’re failing years ago in Physics.

“Ahh!! Inertia! I knew it! How come I didn’t think of it earlier?? Aish, I'm so bad…”

Regret revolves the entirety of your mind as Heejin now moves to the second bottle as there was still three-quarters of a minute left. You sat down there, eyebrows scrunching as you know what Heejin will do next, feeling defeated.

You’re still amazed about “her” ingenuity and the application of inertia to beat this game and it never fails to make you smile—it can’t be helped since you’re always feeling soft towards Heejin. 

She now tried to do the same technique earlier yet this time, she positioned her index finger like she’s about to chop the bill in order for it to work with a higher success rate. 

Well, that trial became successful and it’s way faster than what you have expected as you were caught off-guard once she aced the rest of the bottles in a span of a small period of time as there’s still 37 seconds left on the timer. With a stunned face and a flabbergasted reaction, Heejin knows how you didn’t see that coming even though you’re half-expecting it.

“Well, that was fast and it looks like we knew the winner already!!”

Laughs and smiles painted their faces as gray clouds revolved around you as you know that you’re facing the consequence and they don’t even need to tell who’s the winner. As you face the inevitable, you glared at Heejin as you shouted, “Heejin is not unfair! She cheated!”.

Well, she didn’t cheat yet technically, she did yet the game is now over and as much as you want to whine about it, the favor isn’t going to end well for you as Hyunjin laughs at the corner, knowing what is going to happen next to you. As you’re still dumbfounded and lost, Heejin then approaches you as she drags you somewhere as Cheongsoo shouts, “You lost, Hyuk! Better luck, next time!” while the others are still giggling on your reaction to your sudden loss.

“Guess someone’s getting lucky…”, Hyunjin whispers to herself and your friends are still laughing as Hyunjin waves them goodbye, knowing how early she should be going home yet the fun earlier was worth more of her time. Not so long after, the people at where the event happened started to wave goodbyes and thanked each other for an exciting and a funny game which all of you enjoyed,except you.

—---------------------------------------------

“You cheated Heejin. That's just unfair.” “No, I didn't Oppa. You let me pick the game we're going to play and sadly you lost the bet.” Heejin's face is on the verge of laughing as she applies more makeup on your face. You didn't mind it at first yet she's applying more than what you expected, making you yield and complain between her words of joy. “You lost it! Just accept it! Haha, you looked better in this!” “You played unfair! That wasn't right!” “You played it badly, Oppa! Accept it!”

“Yet I know all of you set me up!” You rolled your eyes in discontent as she applied more blush-on to your cheeks, making you feel a sting in your brain to yield again but her visuals made you in awe as you didn't mind her putting all of it onto your face as your glares and dissatisfaction masks the fluster your heart is experiencing. "I think t-that's too much, Heejin. Stop it. I'm looking like a clown, probably." "No, I'm not making you a clown, Oppa. Also, don't move that much or we won't be finished. It'll end soon, just trust me." "Fine, whatever you say Heejin, tch."

Gladly, it was dismissal time once the consequence was fulfilled as you can’t afford to be teased and laughed at by the whole campus as you know that you’re looking like a literal clown right now. With regrets spiraling over your mind, you can’t wait to remove your makeup when you get home as the nightmare of all things is coming near—Jiwoo teasing you endlessly and how annoying it is.

Just a few retouches left and Heejin giggles in front of your face as she pulls a lipstick on her makeup bag and you’re not liking what’s going to happen next.

“Oh-OH! No, no, you’re not putting that on my lips!”

“Yes, I will because it's the consequence, Oppa…”

“No! Y-You said you’ll just put on makeup on my face, that’s it! The-”

You were paused as Heejin shuts you with lipstick brushing on your lips, marking a strong red tint. You’re aware that she’s probably making you a clown yet her reassuring tone dismisses all of it. After a couple of seconds and retouches, you’re finally done with the hell you’ve been through.

“And there! It’s done!”

“Fu- I shouldn’t have done that stupid bet, gosh…”

“Wanna take a loo-”

“No, thanks.”

“Oh, alright… Anyways, see you tomorrow! And, be better next time…”

Heejin then sticks her tongue out as she gestures goodbye towards you, still giggling on how you look which earns a frustrated face from yours—you rolling your eyes and exhaling a deep sigh right after.

“Gosh, Jiwoo will laugh at me non-stop. This isn’t good…”

You then remembered that you’re going to escort Jiwoo on your way home and looking at yourself right now, you know that you’ll get teased by Jiwoo and it’s just misery thinking about it. 

You then course your way to her classroom with your face hiding your makeup as you surprisingly, you stumbled with Jiwoo on your way there.

“O-Oh, J-Jiwoo, I t-thought you were in y-your classroom?”

She didn’t respond at first however, a cold invitation sends shivers down your spine as you’re not liking what’s going to happen next.

“Let’s go home.”

“This isn’t good. She’s acting differently. Did I forget something again? Ah, come on now Hyukie what are you doing??”

Those questions lingered around your mind as she’s not usually like this—not like this when his ‘best friend’ is looking like a clown right now. You ultimately want to end your incoming suffering earlier, just thinking about the thought of how Jiwoo would tease you like it’s her last but it was the complete opposite—no teasing at all.

“Maybe she’ll tease after a few minutes but I hope this goes on but why is she acting like this?”

Your eyebrows scrunch just by thinking about what could be the possible root of her uncanningly random sulk. You are puzzled by such an unprecedented introduction of a new ‘Jiwoo’ as the awkwardness between the both of you doesn’t help you—you just wanted to see the Jiwoo you know.

“Why are you like this, Jiwoo?”

She didn’t respond yet she clicked her tongue in annoyance. You’re confused and baffled at her sudden behavior as she glared at you right after and at that moment, you knew that you did something wrong.

“Is it about me, huh?”

No response as the both of you continued walking until you stopped in front of her, making her do the same action too.

“Answer me Jiwoo! Is it about me?”

A response from her is not futile yet you won’t give up and you’ll do everything to get an answer out of her. She ignored you and continued walking as you held her wrists, making her gasp as she glared towards you.

“Let go of me…”

“Answer my question first.”

“I’m going to scream! Let go!”

You let go of her wrists as her threat against you worked. She continued walking as you questioned yourself on why she is like that, again and again. You’re definitely getting frustrated by her childish and selfish actions as you asked her once again yet this time, with a different tone that’ll send shivers down her spine.

“Answer my goddamn question, Jiwoo. Why the hell are you so stubborn, huh? Is it about me? Then speak up and stop acting like a child.”

“Y-u’re s–h a j–k…”

Mumbled words can be heard from her as curiosity paints your face, needing to find an answer on what she has said.

“What did you say?”

She faced herself against you as she was annoyed at your clown-looking face that she can’t afford to make eye contact, not even a second.

“You know what? You’re such a jerk! I’m finding you everywhere and you’re not even there! How stubborn are you! I said just stay in your classroom!”

You could definitely tell how annoyed and frustrated Jiwoo is: her deadly glares and her slightly-high tone says enough—not to mention how she’s still refusing to make any eye contact towards you because of how you look—yet you can’t help but think that she seems off and something’s wrong with Jiwoo.

“Well, you I literally said we’ll do something in dismissal and you said “Alright, I don’t care…” and there you go. Also, I don’t really know why you are acting like a child with a tantrum, Jiwoo.”

“And why the hell do you look like that? You look ugly, aish…”

“I know Jiwoo and don’t change the topic!”

“Can’t help it since you’re looking like a rejected clown which probably, you are, maybe…”

“How am I rejected? Huh, what are you even saying, Jiwoo?”

“Don’t play dumb Oppa, I know you like Heejin.”

Jiwoo really knows how to change the topic—or maybe, to really piss you off—as she pulls out an assertive smirk that she knows exactly how well she flipped the table between the both of you.

“What do you even m-mean? I- I don’t have feelings for her! And besides, if you keep teasing me I’ll shout that you like Che-”

You were paused by a sudden raise of Jiwoo’s arms, ready to slap you as gladly, your reflexes acting faster than the speed of light, preventing her from hurting you as you involuntarily flinched as a response to her actions.

“Shut up, you jerk! Aish!”

You can see how annoyed she is, not just by the look of her face but also the tone of her voice which you rather find cute—even though you know how cute she is in whatever she does and that makes your heart flutter. She then punched your shoulders as you didn’t have the reflex to dodge nor to prevent it as you can see her face on the verge of crying before she walks away to you slowly, which you don’t expect since you know how fierce and brave she is whenever she’s with you. You were stunned at your feet as you feel guilty for the reason for her sudden shift of mood and you don’t like when she’s at her lowest times—you’re getting concerned and thoughtful towards her since she’s your best friend… Your best friend.

“Yah, Jiwoo…”

She didn’t answer at first—knowing how much she’ll laugh and tease you with the makeup you’re on—yet you know how she’s feeling bad for you being too concerned for her. It almost feels like the both of you telekinetically knew each other’s feelings and there weren’t any teasing or joking around. The mood suddenly changed within a blink of an eye as you slowly patted her back to make her feel reassured about the current situation as she looked back, her eyes forming a glare as she softly murmured between lips, “You’re so blind Oppa…”

Now you realized something that you never knew that would come. You realized that she’s been holding it in and that she’s hurt every time she sees you with her friend, Heejin. You were dismissing everything: from her playful teases up to her cheerful moments with you, you didn’t know that she’s feeling the same way you do towards her—the both of you have feelings towards each other.

---Few Minutes Ago (Dismissal Time)---

*distinct chattering, bird chirps, wind breezes*

“Oh my gosh, where the hell is he? I’m going to hit him when I see him!”

A pissed penguin is definitely not a sight you want to see. Despite her cute demeanor and her vibrant aura, she’s a total opposite when she’s frustrated with something and that frustration is all about… you. It seems like the both of you didn’t understand each other—and most likely Jiwoo’s fault—yet she’s still determined to find where you are.

A few walks, a few chit-chats of various gossip around the campus—she does not even bother eavesdropping a single syllable— as Jiwoo sees a familiar figure with a girl, face-to-face towards each other in a cafeteria table. She’s piqued at the sight as she waddles her way slowly towards those people as she hides behind the wall near them in order to not get caught.

“...”

Silence interrupts the boisterous nature of the campus as Jiwoo was frozen at her place. Jiwoo taught herself that she shouldn’t have been too curious to know it because it just hurts for her to see it with her own, two eyes—it’s you and Heejin, together.

She's not dreaming and nor are you. Even though the both of you are much of a cat-and-dog relationship towards each other, it still hurts for her to see you with one of her closest friends being so close to each other. She may act tough; her heart is unscathed yet deep inside, it’s shattering slowly, piece by piece and she just can’t afford to do anything since it would be awkward for all of you. She doesn’t wanna lose you as she wants to step up the relationship between you and her, a lot more.

Jiwoo just wants to shout just to call your name but she can’t—she wants to know what the both of you are doing as she doesn’t want to end in an awkward situation as she wants to know more. As she sees you moving your right hand to hold Heejin’s left shoulder, she can’t help but feel anger and jealousy in every move you do with Heejin. She shouldn’t be because the both of you are just friends, right? Just friends…

“Hey Jiwoo, what are you do-”

“Ah-AH! Hyunjin! U-uhm…”

Jiwoo was startled by the sudden appearance of Hyunjin as Hyunjin sensed that something’s off the bat here—probably on why Jiwoo was hiding behind a wall and looking for someone.

“Oh-ohh, what are you doing here Unnie? I thought you went home after we met earlier…”

“Ah-ahh-AH! I w-was just, y’know, like— uhm, checking the ambiance here for tomorrow so I’ll know if I’ll review here since the exams are coming...”

“B-But you, uhm, just don’t mind it Unnie, I’ll go home, okay?”

“Okay Hyunjin! Bye… Phew, that was close.”

After Hyunjin left, Jiwoo then continued to stalk the both of you by sneakily peeking behind the wall as she feels like her world is collapsing everytime you and Heejin are with each other, close to each other.

After about two minutes, Jiwoo is still peeking behind the wall as she’s seeing something that’s not right which only piqued her interest in being hooked into an uncanny occurrence—you and Heejin, close to each other with both of your lips just inches away. She can’t bear looking as she already saw enough of anything and it’s breaking her heart slowly. She rested her body against the wall as a tear escaped her eyes as she felt defeated—having the thought of losing you is something she can’t think of.

Sniff after sniff, she feels lost as she regains her confidence and wipes the tears that are coming out of her eyes. She stood up as she said to herself, “I’m going home, alone. It doesn’t matter anymore.”. Guess it’ll rain on Jiwoo’s after that sight…

—---------------------------------------

“And I know I can’t do anything because it’s too late for me… Just why? Why are you so blind Oppa?”

She breaks down in front of you as she knows how she lost you—as if to know that you have a relationship with Heejin now. You were baffled in your place as she slowly hugs you, whining about how you're blind to see every move she makes just to know that she has feelings towards you. You’re just oblivious about it and always take things with Jiwoo as a joke, little did you know that those were small steps that lead onto something more. 

“You’re such a jerk, you know that? You’re such a jerk, you’re such a jerk, you’re such a-”

She keeps on hitting you, frustrated about what’s happening as you pull her deeper in your embrace, her muffled words and whining toned down and so is her hits towards you. You then cupped her cheeks as you wiped the tear that came out of her eyes as she didn’t make eye contact with you—you totally understand her and you would do the same too if you were in her shoes.

“There’s nothing between us, Jiwoo, never was. It was all just a bet yet in fact—”

“—there’s something I wanted to tell you for a long time…”

Jiwoo’s eyes widen, eyebrows scrunched as you clear your throat yet her hand stops you from saying anything and surprises you with something that you’ll forever cherish.

As you are about to speak, she reaches for your collar as she pulls you into a deep, passionate kiss. You were baffled at the moment you locked lips with her as you wanted to pull out—panicking on a sudden action that you’re new with—yet her full, soft lips are letting you do the opposite. 

Adrenaline pumped in your veins as you can see how you’re new to this situation yet you’re not complaining—her soft, full lips are irresistible—as you deepen the kiss until she pulls out, a smile now forming on her lips as she did what she’s been longing for.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry for that Oppa. I was j-just gotten away”

“N-No… It’s fine, Jiwoo, and I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable about the kiss. I’m really sorry…”

“No, it’s fine Oppa, I just can’t say it in words but I think that I’m too late…”

Jiwoo sighs in defeat as she thinks that everything is over. You then step closer to her, cupping both of her cheeks as you inhale deeply and sharply and then say, “The truth is that, I love you, Jiwoo…”

Silence reverberated around the area as Jiwoo is speechless upon her place, stunned about those eight letters that you’ve said that now revolves around her mind.

“Jiwoo, this time—I’m for real, I do love you…”

No words can explain what Jiwoo is feeling right now, at this very moment as it is evident in her eyes that she’s incredibly flustered—you can see it. There weren’t any hints of teasing or jokes between the both of you as it feels like the both of you knew each other’s feelings involving telepathy. The both of you exchanged smiles as you can see your sunshine being herself again, enough for her smile to infect you. She then suddenly kissed your cheeks; you were caught off-guard yet you didn’t complain as some words escaped her mouth in the form of a whisper: “I love you too, Oppa.”

Your grin widened as Jiwoo laughed at your state: you looked like a clown because of your make-up yet it didn’t matter as she sees everything but beauty in every inch of your face. 

“Why? What was that, Jiwoo?”

“A little gift, just for you, Oppa…” her cheeks rosy-pink from her statement as she lightly hit you, making your heart skip a beat from her adorable actions as it’s just you being soft towards your best friend—maybe now your girlfriend.

“Let’s just go home, shall we?”

“Heh, alright Jagi~”

Jiwoo was baffled by an uncanny word that’s new to her ears as your eyes widen, flustered yet nervous on what’s about to happen next yet you remain calm and composure in order to slip off what you’ve said.

“What did you say, Oppa?”

“Nothing, let’s just go home.”

“You’re no fun, Oppa, argh!” Jiwoo playfully hits you as if you didn’t bother to dodge—it even makes your heart flutter and you love it. 

The both of you then walked on her way home as teases, laughs and joy emanated the air, unlike the gloomy and defeat earlier. This day never had been special because of a sudden confession and a memorable bet that will be forever cherished and you loved it even though you faced the consequence and deeply regretted your life decisions.

—----------------------------------------------------------

Chirps of birds and boisterous noises resonated your eardrums as the sun shines through the blinds on your window, signaling that it’s time for another day to begin yet this time, this feels uncanny. It’s normal for you to feel this way when waking up and it’s nothing new, so you dismiss it yet you still think of her after what happened. A smile paints your face as you stir your coffee and sniff it, the aroma brushing within the tip of your nostrils, sending dopamine all over your body.

Drink it slowly as the warmth of the coffee stings your tongue lighty which you always prefer, pairing your favorite morning drink with two toasts. Even though you dismissed the earlier thought, it can’t be helped that you still feel defeated about the thought of something. All of this feels like a fever dream yet you need to wake up to reality. “Did I dream again? About her? About… Jiwoo…”you say to yourself between abrupt words of confusion as there’s a single sip just to finish your coffee, hoping to wash off all of these feelings but it doesn’t seem to be the solution.. 

You did dream, all about her, and her friends—a lucid dream to say the least. Was the girl you saw from your last nightmare was her? Is it her foreshadowing things that will happen? Patterns can’t help here as it may mean something yet these are all just made up by your mind—it does make sense because these were just dreams. 

Between the idyllic ambiance around the room, it rained on you, knowing that there's nothing you can do but to accept that all was just a dream—and it may not come true. You sigh heavily as you grab your phone to check the time as there is still more or less an hour left before you go to school with Jiwoo. 

You then hurriedly eat the remnants of your toasts as you wash the mug you’ve used as you prepared yourself on your way to school and to fetch Jiwoo yet you calm yourself down, knowing that you shouldn’t rush things as there's still time for you to catch up.

Lay down on the couch as you browse the internet on your phone, a series of delighted emotions can be felt as it enlightens the mood of yours yet that dream of yours still rings your head—it almost feels like it’s tattooed. Not so long after it, you proceed to take a shower as you notice how time flies fast—only 40 minutes left until the both of you meet. 

—--------------------------------------

Lock the doors—even double-checking them—as you nonchalantly walked your way onto Jiwoo’s home to fetch her. Now inches away from her doorstep, you ring the doorbell as the door opens quickly which earns a baffle from you. You are then greeted by a cheerful Jiwoo, her vibrant smile illuminating the dark side that you’re currently feeling which paints confusion on your face. Not so long after, she closed the door as she waved goodbye to her parents.

“Hey Oppa! Morning~”

“Why is she sounding like that? Sounding so coy? What’s with her? Hmmm…” “Morning Jiwoo…”

“Hey, are you good, Oppa? You seem stressed or whatever…” “Yeah, I’m good Jiwoo. It’s just maybe my mood swings…” you said an excuse just to play it off as Jiwoo seems convinced, earning a relief from yours.

“Oh okay, anyways, we’ll meet later huh? So we can review the lessons, okay Oppa?”

“Alright Jiwoo, whatever you say…”

The both of you then coursed your way onto your school as you feel revitalized as Jiwoo’s vibrant and contagious smile is the reason—you blame others on why she’s such a social butterfly and the bringer of good vibes. 

The sun is already shining at the horizon, signaling that a new day will start as you’re unsure of what fate could bring you. There’s nothing new happening yet you’re still not ready on what could happen between the both of you, maybe the thought of you losing her yet all you need now is to focus on what’s about to come—your finals as it’s nearing with only 2 days to spare.

Will you be friends until you part ways or you will act up and share what you’re really feeling about her? You don’t know what to do and you’re just hoping for the best of both of your worlds. Hopefully…

----

A/N 2: I know I said this will be only 3 parts yet we'll see... *smirks*

[irkendogma]

Would Takship if she got a body want to be a double of tak? Or would she want to curate her own image?

going off of what little canon material we have on the specifics of takship's characterization beyond the basic concept of "spaceship with tak's personality uploaded on it that gets mad as hell when piloted by anyone but her", there could be a lot of answers to this based on how you choose to extrapolate off the text! but in terms of how i personally write her, i think it'd be like...a bit of a mix of both?

the sort of "fuck it, we ball" process of figuring out how to write takship (and by extension her relationship with tak) has thus far led me to the current conclusion that originally, takship was not fully loyal to tak, but in doing so was actually closer to the original tak in her defiance and remained this way for a period of time during the development of her physical spaceship body on dirt before it became clear that 1) no matter how vehemently takship insisted she was the real tak this would on a simple, physical level never be true, and 2) the tak she'd been copied off of was kind of a miserable, angry person and she realized she actually didn't want to spend eternity stuck in both her own identity crisis and her sourcecode's career crisis

so she begrudgingly requested that tak perform the loyalty-inducing, body-dysmorphia-removing, personality-optimizing modifications the latter had initially held off from, unwilling to "stamp out" a mirror of her own rebellion on a petulant sort of self-recognition, just so that takship, if she was going to exist as her code dictated forever, could exist in a way that wouldn't be actively painful - which means that, in a weird way, tying her identity inextricably with tak's as a retainer rather than a mirror is takship's form of curating her own image, because the defiance removed from her is still an intrinsic part of tak's own personality and behavior

but the point of all that ramble is basically to say that i think takship, if she were to get a body, would have an "optimized" version of tak's. just slightly taller, standing slightly straighter, looking overall a little more dignified in an uncanny way that separates her from tak's own scrabbling-animal imperfections

[random-iz-stuff]

Analyzing how Zim (probably) fights:

Exactly what the title says. I’m analyzing how Zim would theoretically fight someone in the absolutely optimal conditions. Zim gets to use any weapon that he would normally have on his person and he’s not fighting a worthy opponent like Dib or another Zim from the Zimvoid as Zim goes easy on those people (however, he could theoretically fight like this against Tak, because despite her being a worthy opponent, she’s close enough to Zim in skill that he doesn’t go easy on her).

I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but Nickelodeon All Star Brawl shows a really good example of how Zim fights.

Here’s his full moveset in that game.

PAK:

As you probably noticed, Zim uses his PAK legs in a lot of his moves, along with using them to support his body during the entire match. He also uses his PAK legs a lot in his fights in the show, mostly using them to gain more maneuverability and do things like dodge and launch himself in various directions.

And that makes sense considering that he’s an Irken that’s been trained to use these things (including in combat) practically since birth and is a former soldier. If you have access to metallic spider legs that give you extreme maneuverability in combat, you use them in combat.

So Zim would (and does) use his PAK legs a lot in combat, just like any other Irken, using them for maneuverability and faster movement along with raw attacking power by jabbing, slashing and using his PAK lasers, not to mention the other weapons and tools in there that he could use like the deflector shield and grappling hook.

Shock Spears:

Next, I want to talk about Shock Spears. The electric spears that Irkens use. Thanks to Nickelodeon All Star Brawl, we know that Zim doesn’t just know how to use a Shock Spear, he has his own unique one. (Which isn’t that surprising when you take into account the evidence that all Shock Spears are slightly unique and may be created by the wielder. (This also brings up the possibility that Sizz-Lorr’s giant spatula is actually a Shock Spear that Sizz-Lorr made himself, but that’s a different post)).

This is what Zim’s Shock Spear looks like (image courtesy of me after I dug through NASB’s code to find it). The left image is Zim’s Shock Spear and the right image is generally what the other spears we see in the show look like:

So Zim obviously knows how to use a Shock Spear in combat, however one might be used (I say it’s a mix between using a spear and a halberd), even though we never see him using one in the show. I imagine that in an optimal scenario where he has access to his Shock Spear and isn’t fighting someone he’d normally go easy on, he’d be a lot more willing to use it.

Now onto a thing that starts on its own, but eventually comes back to Zim’s Shock Spear:

Knife Throwing:

(I’m sorry but all I have for this is Dio because he’s the first person that comes to mind when I think of knife throwing)

Zim CANONICALLY has borderline Olympic skills with throwing knives with an accuracy of 99.7%. We learn this during the Zimvoid arc of the comics.

Technically Zim has extreme accuracy with “Vibrating Irken Death Blades”, but it’s implied that these are just high tech Irken throwing knives.

I want to just point out that with an accuracy of 99.7%, Zim could throw one thousand knives and only miss three.

With that in mind, there’s no way in hell that Zim doesn’t carry at least a dozen throwing knives in his PAK at all times. Say what you want about Zim, he’s shown that he’s more than smart enough to recognize strengths like that and capitalize on them.

I’m willing to bet that the only reason we didn’t get Zim throwing knives in NASB is because they didn’t want Zim throwing actual knives in a children’s fighting game. If the people who made NASB knew about and cared enough to give Zim a Shock Spear, let alone a unique one, at least one person on the team definitely knew about his knife throwing accuracy.

And there’s a good chance that Zim’s extreme accuracy doesn’t just apply to knives. His aim probably isn’t nearly as good with other objects as it with knives, but I’m willing to bet that if Zim can throw something, he’s got at least a 98% in accuracy with it. This applies to everything from small rocks to baseballs to grenades. If Zim can see you, you are in throwing distance of Zim.

How does this connect back to Zim’s Shock Spear you may ask? Because Zim’s Shock Spear has a very unique design and I have a headcanon as to why.

The end of Zim’s Shock Spear is covered by four blue parts that aren’t found on any other Shock Spear.

What they do is unknown, but I have an idea.

A headcanon of mine is that Shock Spears are retractable, being able to go from the size of the wielder to about the size of an unlit lightsaber that can be strapped an Irken’s belt or easily stored in a PAK. (This isn’t originally why I made the headcanon, but it could explain where Zim pulls out and stores his Shock Spear in NASB).

So a headcanon that sort of branches off of that is: “what if the blades of Zim’s Shock Spear were detachable as well?”. On Zim’s command, the blades of his Shock Spear can detach from the main spear and reconfigure themselves into daggers, giving Zim two Shock Knives and one retractable metal pole.

This is where the blue things on Zim’s spear come into play. Without the blades getting in the way, the blue things can be electrified and used to hit the opponent, turning the otherwise useless metal pole into a Shock Mace.

Zim seems to be more skilled with knives than a Shock Spear, so it would make sense for him to be able to take his Shock Spear and turn it into two knives that he can dual wield. The remaining pole still being useable as a mace means that even if he loses the knives (which is sort of to be expected considering that his whole deal with knives involves throwing them), he still has a weapon he can use.

Hell, he may even be able to use Irken technology in the Shock Mace and Shock Knives to recall the knives back to the mace (and therefore Zim, who’s currently holding it) after they’ve been detached and thrown. Even if the Mace is in its completely retracted form, the knives will fly back to the location of the mace and Zim can grab them again.

Also I can picture a scene where Zim and Dib are about to fight something together and Zim takes out his Shock Spear, detaches the blades, and tosses the now-Shock Mace to Dib while he dual wields Shock Knives.

Now, the single most important part of how Zim fights:

Zim’s Fighting Style:

I made a whole post about this before, but Zim uses his mind a lot more than his fists when he’s fighting.

What I mean by that is; Zim’s main strategies when fighting usually involve using the environment to his advantage.

For my best example of this you have Zim’s battle against Giganto-Baby in Plague Of Babies, where Zim immediately starts the fight by leaping to the ceiling and dropping a massive piece of machinery on Giganto-Baby, knowing that although he can’t beat Giganto-Baby on his own, the force of the heavy machinery falling on him might do the trick. When that doesn’t work, Zim leads Giganto-Baby through a large amount of cables, trying to get Giganto-Baby tied up in them. And when THAT doesn’t work, Zim goes for the amplifier.

Another trick Zim pulls frequently is briefly getting into his opponents heads, usually without them even noticing that he did it.

My best example here is Zim’s fight against Sergeant Hobo 678. In that fight, Zim is almost thrown out of the ring, but plays dumb and manages to distract the Sergeant with his interrupting “perhaps you have trained me too well” quote, throwing off the Sergeant’s concentration and giving Zim the time he needs to fully drain Sergeant Hobo 678 of his energy.

Another example is found in the pilot episode. In the fight against Dib, Zim grinds the fight to a halt to ask “What planet is this?” and when a now confused and distracted Dib replies with “Earth”, Zim takes advantage of Dib’s now distracted state to say “yep. It’s the right planet.” before leaping behind Dib and shooting him in the back. It IS the pilot episode so it’s not exactly canon, but it is worth bringing it up.

Also adding more proof to both Zim using the environment as a main part of his fighting style and my personal theory that at least one person on the Nickelodeon All Star Brawl dev team wrote their fucking college essay on Invader Zim is the fact that in NASB, Zim is a trapper type character, with a moveset focused on using traps and the environment to win fights.

So that plays a LOT into how both how Zim fights and what he uses in combat.

Speaking of what Zim uses in combat, grenades and bombs. Zim definitely knows how to use them and definitely WOULD use them because grenades and especially remote bombs play right into that environmental/trapper fighting style. Zim likes using the environment to his advantage, and remote activated bombs combined with Zim’s extreme throwing accuracy would let Zim control the environment practically to a tee, with Zim being able to toss explosives to whatever spot he wants and then detonate those explosives right when he needs it.

Zim would also carry multiple different kinds of explosives and explosive-like devices with multiple different purposes. We sort of see this in NASB where Zim has and uses three (at least technically three) different bombs, those bombs being Gir, who walks forwards and explodes when he hits a target and can be commanded to stop or continue moving, a garden gnome that floats in the air and electrifies anything nearby and a regular impact bomb that Zim drops during his recovery move. Point is, Zim can and would carry a few different kinds of bombs and similar devices, both traditional military and self-made.

Remote explosives are obvious and so are regular grenades, but Zim could also carry things like:

Bombs that hover in place in the air instead of falling to the ground

Bombs that lock onto and home in on a target after being thrown

Devices that electrify the area around them like the garden gnome from NASB (it would probably look different than the gnome because I doubt Zim would just carry around and use a garden gnome outside of Nickelodeon All Star Brawl and maybe one scenario where he’s forced to fight using one of his garden gnome base turrets as a weapon)

Explosives that detonate in unique ways, like something that explodes like the X-Bomb from Smash Bros Ultimate.

All of this variety lets Zim control the environment even better, as now he has multiple options for trapping areas. We know he’s smart enough to recognize these strengths and he’s definitely smart enough to create unique bombs and similar devices, so there’s no reason that Zim wouldn’t use multiple different bombs and explosives in combat.

Guns:

Also fitting in with Zim’s usage of the environment in combat alongside his usage of knives, if Zim were to use a gun, Zim would probably prefer using a small gun that can be pulled out, aimed and used rather quickly, like a pistol. As a trained soldier Zim would know how to use larger guns of all shapes and sizes from machine guns to snipers and would probably use them if the situation called for it and he had access to one, but he’d do best with something that can be pulled out and used quickly without much fuss.

Plus with something like a pistol, Zim could quickly and easily pull it out and aim for something in the environment like he tends to do in combat. He could do something like shoot a chandelier that’s above his opponent so it falls on them. In he used a larger gun like a machine gun or sniper, it would take far longer to pull out and use, losing its effectiveness when used in this way.

TLDR under the cut:

Zim’s fighting style:

Uses the environment and his mind a lot in combat, using traps, manipulating the environment and briefly getting into his opponents heads to distract and confuse them.

Uses his PAK legs a lot, primarily using them for extra maneuverability and dodging attacks, but also fully knowing how to attack with them.

Also has access to various tools, devices and weapons in his PAK that can and will be used.

Main weapon is 100% knives and/or daggers, especially throwing knives as Zim has a 99.7% accuracy rate.

Owns and uses a Shock Spear. (Pure headcanon: That Shock Spear can split into two Shock Knives (which Zim dual wields) and a Shock Mace meant to be used as a backup weapon. The Shock Knives can also be recalled to the location of the mace.)

Would use a lot of different bombs and similar devices (most of which are detonated remotely by a detonator Zim has on him or using his PAK) to better control the environment and gain an upper hand.

Would probably prefer a small gun that’s quick to use like a pistol.

Zim’s ideal combat gear (not including things like the armour he dons during Planet Jackers, Zim’s PAK (because he always has it on) or Gir and Minimoose (as they count as outside help here)):

Shock Spear (Headcanon: can split into two Shock Knives and a Shock Mace)

At least a dozen throwing knives, possibly more

Various bombs and devices that can be thrown out and activated when Zim needs them

One detonator for the above bombs and devices, possibly more

A few non-remote detonated explosives like timed or impact grenades

An Irken pistol