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lady-rose-moon · 2 years

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The Selection || Chapter One ||

Hello and welcome to The Selection! I am super excited to share this story with you and I hope you all enjoy it as well! This chapter is 3.2k so manageable, I hope you like it!

The Selection has come again, too quick for some.

Preview || Masterlist

Warnings: descriptions of poverty, other things?, (gif has no links to the readers appearance)

The Selection came around again and this year, you were within the eligible age group. You didn’t want to, of course, coming from a family that barely got by through the winter and knowing that the Royals had no idea how much people like you suffered. Usually it was a rare event, only seen twice in somebody’s life but Queen Frigga had given King Odin two sons and so, for the third time, The Selection was happening again. Your little sister had signed you up for it after you protested and you knew that it was fine, no one from your town won anyway.

The other negative to this year’s Selection was the Prince that was up for marriage. Prince Loki. The ‘Dark Prince’. Hardly seen other than at public events when Prince Thor dragged him outside. He was closed off. Self-centred. Jealous. Arrogant. That is what you believed.

As you walked through the door to your 2-up 2-down house, you heard the squeal of children and yelling of your father upstairs and you chuckled before setting down your bag of firewood and toeing off your boots before you stepped into the living room. You took a moment to admire the hand-made decorations that had been accumulated throughout your life with your parents. The rickety dining table that had been made in the cold of winter nine years ago as the big tree in your back yard collapsed. The chairs that were donated by the lovely neighbours down the road before their passing from the flu just two summers ago. The little trinkets that you and your sisters had sat and created for ours that were now proudly displayed on the walls or on the furniture. You never dreamed of living a different life, this life was perfect.

“Ah, Y/N,” came the happy voice of your mother as she opened the splintering door leading to the kitchen, “welcome home. Go help your father gather your siblings, it’s almost time for tea.”

“Yes, mother,” you replied with a happy smile, venturing up to the next floor and your smile widened at the sound of your little sisters laughing and running around their room. The stairs creaked beneath you as you climbed them and that created a hush in the bedroom that made you giggle.

“It’s Y/N!” came the squeaky voice of your youngest sister, Milly, and you heard Donna, Millie’s older sister by two years, running into the rickety wardrobe with the squeaky doors pulling closed.

You knocked on the door before turning the doorknob and stepping inside the bedroom. You saw Milly sitting beside your father, a book in her hand, eagerly looking in your direction. You heard muffled laughter of Donna, and you shook your head before walking over to the shaky wardrobe and pulling the doors open with a grin, laughing when Donna screamed and jumped into your arms.

“Mother says that tea is almost ready!” you announced through laughter as you spun around with your little sister, causing her to laugh to the sky and wrap her arms around your neck, “so that means playtime is over!”

“Wha’s she cookin’, Y/N?” your father asked, looking away from Milly’s book to meet your eyes. Your father worked in the mines just outside of town so he was rarely here when you were all awake, but The Selection was airing tomorrow so all businesses were preparing for the show, it would be the first time that electricity would work in their homes for six months.

“I assume it will be another spinach soup, father,” you responded quickly with a smile, setting Donna down on her feet before walking over to the bed and lifting Milly up for a cuddle. “There wasn’t much in the market this week,” you whispered solemnly.

Donna gagged and leaned against her bed’s broken bedpost, and she sighed. “We have spinach soup constantly, Y/N! Can’t we have something more exciting? Like the chicken we see on TV!” she complained, holding her stomach and faking being ill.

You sighed and put Milly down before turning your attention to your other sister. “Do you have the means to pay for it?” you asked, your arms folding and your head going on a slant as you waited for her to respond.

“Well- no...” Donna replied, her gaze falling to the floor with a frown plastered on her lips.

You sighed and knelt before her, holding her arms and gazing up into her eyes. “I promise, Donna, it’ll get better in summer,” you whispered, trying your best to help Donna feel better but you knew that her spirits weren’t lifted that much.

Soon enough, you were all gathered at the aged dining table, spinach soup in front of you all in chipped bowls and your mother hummed as she sat down in her seat. “Well, go on!” she chirped happily, gesturing to you and your sisters, “you’ll like it, I promise!”

“You said that last time,” Milly snapped, picking up her spoon before dipping it into the soup and taking a mouthful, repressing the gag that you knew she wanted to display.

“Milly, be nice,” you whispered softly, watching your mother’s smile drop into a frown at your sister’s spiteful comment, “mother tries.”

Milly slumps in her chair and continues to eat the soup, only getting to halfway before she pushes the bowl away and her chair scrapes across the bare concrete floor and she disappears from the table to hide upstairs. You sigh and return to eating your own food.

Minutes later, Donna taps your arm, and you turn to her with a smile, prompting her to begin speaking. “What if when you marry Prince Loki, we live in the castle with you!” she grinned, her eyes sparkling with her fantasy.

You giggle and ruffle her hair, shaking your head as you smiled fondly, “I’m not going to marry Loki, I’m probably not even going to be selected.”

Your mother’s eyes rose to meet yours as she raised an eyebrow, “you could be selected. It’s a random name call.”

“Out of all Nine Realms, twelve people are going to be chosen, I highly doubt it’s going to be a simple girl from Midgard, mother,” you responded with a huff, wanting the conversation to be over. You didn’t want to go. You didn’t want to even see Prince Loki!

“Y/N,” your father spoke, his voice rough and deep from lack of use down in the mines, “Queen Frigga was a middle-class lady from Vanaheim, I highly doubt that was staged.”

You sighed and finished off your soup before standing and taking everyone’s bowls into the kitchen. Closing the door behind you, you sighed and leaned against it as you thought about your chances. “It’s impossible,” you whispered to yourself as you began to clean the dirty pans and dishes, “out of over twenty billion, I am not going to be chosen.”

Crawling into the top bunk that night, you heard your sisters eagerly whispering beneath you about your chances of getting into the “Lucky Twelve”. You slid down the broken ladder and knelt between their beds with an exasperated sigh. “I’m not going to be picked,” you reiterated, smiling at both of them, “maybe one day, you will marry Prince Thor’s future son?”

“But we’d be so much older,” Donna complained, draping her arm over her eyes while she laughed, “you’re eighteen, Y/N! Prince Loki is twenty! You have more of a chance!”

You laughed and shook your head as you kissed her forehead and doing the same for Milly. “Go to sleep,” you whispered before climbing back up into your bunk and relaxing your body.

“Sing for us?” Milly whispered, her voice light and laced with sleep.

With a tender smile, you sang the nursery rhymes that your mother loved to sing, and you sang until you heard the soft snoring of both of your sisters before you rolled over in bed and allowed yourself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You worked tirelessly in the field the next day, aiming to work well into the night and miss the livestream of The Selection but you weren’t alone in the field.

“I don’t know what you have against the show!” your best friend moaned, hacking into the ground and planting the seeds you had been tasked to plant. “It’s an opportunity to leave the town! I would take it at the drop of a hat!”

You ceased your raking to glower at the girl. “I don’t want to leave,” you replied quickly, your temper rising as you saw the surprise on your best friend’s face, “I don’t! I am perfectly happy in our little home with Donna and Milly!”

“Y/N…” your best friend sighed, laying down her rake to grasp your hands with a smile, “your family does so much for the town, you’re the most generous out of all of us and yet, you have the most horrible house. It’s falling to pieces. Think of what the money could get you!”

“The money is meaningless!” you countered, rolling your eyes and pulling your hands from hers with a deep sigh, “they’d donate it, do another good thing, further the town before they even thought to keep it for themselves.

Your best friend hesitated before relenting and turning back to her work. She knew you were right. Your family never kept money for long if something needed donations. You turned and continued your work, your mind lost in thought.

How bad would it be to be Selected? Even if you were forced to interact with eleven other women and even Prince Loki, your family would be getting the money to benefit the town and hopefully themselves, why would you be so against that?

You knew that the only reason that you didn’t wish to be Selected was because of who you would be trying to win. Prince Thor was the one that everybody wanted, the one that everyone talked about and mostly everyone forgot that the heir to the throne had a little brother anyways. Prince Loki was cut off and never spoke when in public unless he was forced to make a speech on Thor’s behalf when the Prince was participating in The Selection.

He wasn’t bad looking, Gods no! His eyes shone like a thousand emeralds, his leathers accentuated the godly body beneath and everything about him screamed that he was good in bed but that is what you disliked about him, he probably slept around more than anyone else. He knew his worth as a Prince of Asgard and the God of Mischief. The royal family hardly paid attention to Midgard and you were thankful for that but now that The Selection was coming around again, their eyes were equally everywhere.

“Y/N?” the soft voice of your friend broke you from your thoughts and you turned to her curiously before she gestured to her watch with a smile, “it’s time to go! The livestream is in an hour!”

You sighed, pulled off your mud-covered gloves, and headed back to town with your best friend. As the rain began to fall, you took the time to gaze at the girl before you, your sweet best friend. She was so animated with excitement that it brought a smile to your face. You thought that she would be a worthy Princess, able to understand how impoverished Midgard was in its towns and maybe she could help them. She would be a better Princess than Loki could be a Prince, anyway.

“I still don’t understand,” she was saying with a smile, her hands making big gestures as she spoke, her eyes on the pavement ahead, “you are one of the most honest and helpful girls in our town and yet you do not wish to represent us in The Selection?”

“It’s not about that,” you replied quickly, shaking your head firmly as your friend eyed you with a raised brow, “I just don’t think that the Asgardian castle is where I want to spend the next however long it takes to get sent home! I also don’t think that Prince Loki would look to the poorer sides of Midgard for a wife.”

“You never know!” your friend bit back, her eyes blazing with determination, “you’ll be great if you get Selected, Y/N!”

With a roll of your eyes, you watched as your friend unlocked the door to her house and stepped inside. Silently, you carried on down the cobbled street towards your house. When you opened the door this time, Donna was there to grab your hand and pull you into the living room.

“It’s starting! It’s starting!” Milly was chanting from her place on the tattered sofa, cuddled up to your mother. The girl was beaming ear to ear as the anthem of Asgard sounded through the television and you sat silently through it all.

It was only five thirty and The Selection happened at six so you had to sit through thirty minutes of interviews with elites that got to go to Asgard and you listened to the commentary given by Synthia Wards, a noblewoman from Scotland, about what was happening in the stream.

“And now, we go to Asgard’s pavilion for the King’s speech and The Selection,” Synthia announced before the camera’s cut to the golden pavilion where you saw King Odin and Queen Frigga standing near the microphone with Thor and his lady wife Elysia Makson from Alfheim. Prince Loki was off to the side, hands held behind him and a nonchalant expression on his face.

“Oh, isn’t he handsome, Y/N?” Donna swooned, dropping into your lap and laughing, “you’ll get to live with him for so long! I’m so jealous!”

“Donna,” you groaned, pushing your little sister off of you with a fond smile, “out of all the people in the Nine, I doubt I’d be picked.”

Everyone in the house was quiet as King Odin stepped up to the microphone. The God was exactly as you had seen him two years ago with maybe a few more wrinkles but he was otherwise looking perfectly healthy.

“People of the Nine,” the King’s voice boomed, the absolute power in his voice overpowering you for a moment before you calmed yourself, “we are all very excited for this year’s Selection! As you know, two years ago my son found his lady wife Elysia and she has been quite a wonderful addition to the family. We are happy that Prince Loki will get to have the same experience! Twelve lucky ladies will be Selected today and brought to the castle. Those lovely ladies will slowly be whittled down to just one lucky lady that will win my son Loki’s hand. To the lucky girl out there, we await your arrival.”

With King Odin’s speech out of the way, the raffle box was brought forward, and you tensed, knowing that your name was in that box somewhere. The names were announced, and your shoulders became more relaxed when your name continued not to be called.

“Lady Elaine Falardottir.” Lucky girl, sounds lovely

“Lady Robecca Danes.” Midgard, how nice.

“Lady Georgina Xanerdottir.” Respectable family of Vanaheim, well done.

“Y/N Y/L/N.” hey that one has the same name as me. WAIT-

The screaming in the house after your name was announced deafened you and you stood quickly, staring at the TV while shaking your head. “No,” you whispered, backing out of the small living room as the last two names were called and you watched Milly hug your leg, “no, they meant someone else.”

“They didn’t!!” Milly squealed, a bright smile plastered over her face as she hugged your leg tighter, “you’re going to be a princess, Y/N!!”

You faltered when there was a harsh knock on the door, and you gulped when your mother floated past you to the door, and she opened it. When she came back, two officials followed her and you stared at them, terrified.

“Miss Y/L/N?” one of them asked and you stepped forward nervously and they bowed to you before the first spoke again, “we are here to go over the terms of The Selection. Please, sit down.”

You hesitantly led the men into the small dining room and sat at the dining table with them opposite you. “You must head to the train station at eight am tomorrow, with this ticket,” one of them explained and handed you a blue ticket that had Odin’s sigil in the top left, “from there, you will ride into three different towns until you get to the designated Bifrost site and from there, you shall be taken to Asgard.”

Nodding, you released a sigh and nervously fiddled with a thread that had come loose from your already tattered cardigan. “And my family?” you asked softly, watching the men straighten and their eyes glisten with concern, “what shall happen to them while I am away from my field?”

“Your family get paid £1,000 for every week that you are away, my lady,” the second man explained with a kind smile, sliding a contract to your side of the table, “it’s not much but it shall help in your absence.”

“£1,000?” your mother breathed, her hand on her heart as if she had died and gone to heaven. Perhaps she had. “That is more than generous of the royal family. I had expected £20 at the most!”

You read through the contract patiently and found that you agreed with it all. Follow the rules, be polite, be practical, no fighting with the contestants or you will be sent home and finally, any harm befalls the prince thanks to you will lead to immediate imprisonment. With a shaky hand, you signed your name and watched the man slide it back over to him and store it away in a folder.

“We shall see you at the train station bright and early in the morning, Miss Y/L/N,” the first man spoke, rising from his chair along with the second man, “good day to you.”

The men left and you were still sat in your chair, absolutely stunned with the progression of the day. You hadn’t expected it to be like this! You were fully prepared to watch The Selection from the comfort of your living room! Not participate in it!

“Y/N is going to be a princess!!” Milly screamed minutes later, and you flinched from the sound, the instinctual ‘no I’m not’ fully rising in your throat before you realised that you had a one in eleven chance that you would actually be Prince Loki’s bride and therefore, a Princess.

With a gulp, you looked at your family and saw the pleased expressions on their faces and despite yourself, you were happy that they were going to get money out of this, they would be okay even if you stayed for one week! “I better go pack,” you whispered before leaving the dining room and slipping up the creaking stairs until you got to your room, and you began to pack all the clothes you had. You left your best dress out for tomorrow, ready to wear for your departure for the train.

Teatime that night was animated with excited chatter about you being Selected and getting the opportunity of a lifetime! You, however, remained silent as you feasted on the carrot and pea soup that your mother had put together as a celebration. You didn’t want to go to Asgard but you would for your family. That was why you needed to go.

It was all for them, in the end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Main tags:

@lokisgoodgirl @lokisninerealms @evelyn-kingsley @slpnbty2001 @jennyggggrrr @hahaha12123445 @ozymdias @holdmytesseract @itsybitchylittlewitchy @lovingchoices14 @xorpsbane @huntress-artemiss @muddyorbs @nerdy-fangirl-65 @lonadane @silverfire475 @chantsdemarins @iamsherlocked1479 @kittiowolf210 @just-someone11 @stupidthoughtsinwriting

Fic tags:

@paperclippedmime @lokidbadguy @pauline-s12 @lokixryss @here4thefanfics @lokisgirll @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore @goblingirlsarah

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caitlynmeow · 3 months

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Hey, can I ask for kind of a sequel from the other anon's previous ask : Everyone meeting Aurelia for the first time, like holding her and stuff and cute baby fluff and hcs 🥰

of course you can, anon! <3

It was early morning when Alcina's phone rang. It was her personal phone and looking at the time, she nearly panicked as she picked up the phone. It was Cassandra's wife, who was both calm and nervous as she said that they were headed to the hospital.

Alcina did worry as it was a little too early; 39 weeks a little too early in Alcina's opinion and she couldn't help but worry about her daughter and granddaughter. Alas, it wasn't time to dwell on it, she needed to head to the hospital immediately and be by her daughter's side at this time.

Alcina was beside herself with worry; on the one hand, she was very excited that her granddaughter was being born, but on the other hand, she felt worried about her daughter. She was pacing the hallway like a crazy person, occasionally going inside the delivery room when Cassandra requested her presence.

Bela and Daniela were at the hospital soon after; they woke up and didn't find their mother. They called her and left the castle immediately when she told them where she was and why.

Daniela called Donna and let her know, and she too was at the hospital soon after that.

Alcina felt like she was going crazy as the clock ticked by with no real change. It was almost fifteen hours later with no update. She remembered that when was having Cassandra it took her more than two days of labor and she hoped that it wouldn't be the same for her daughter because it was awful.

Donna, Bela, and Daniela achoed Alcina, pacing outside and trying not to worry. Alcina coming back out every now and then to update them was a relief but as time went on, everyone grew more restless.

Suddenly, a nurse came out and called for Alcina. Expecting the worst, she almost sprinted back to the room wondering what could have gone wrong. Of all the things she thought of, Alcina didn't expect to walk back into the room to find her daughter, her wife, and a tiny newborn waiting for her.

Cassandra wanted her mom to be the first person to see and hold the baby, even before she was taken by the nurses to be cleaned up and dressed. Alcina took the infant and took a long look at her. She couldn't stop the tears as she felt another tug deep inside of her. It was like the time she had her daughters, the familial bond snapping into place.

Donna, Bela, and Daniela were also called into the room to take a look at the baby. "She's so tiny," Daniela said, her finger carefully poking the baby's cheek. Bela wasn't as brave, she thought she could easily hurt the delicate infant and only looked at her.

Donna was an emotional wreck but she stayed composed. Or tried to. They realized that they needed to tell Miranda and did just that. By that time the pain meds were wearing off and Cassandra felt very drained.

By the time she woke up hours later, Miranda was there, holding the baby who was soundly asleep. Miranda is not making any effort to conceal her delight at the new addition to the family. Indeed, watching her family grow is one of the proudest moments of her life. To be around to see and hold her great-grandchild is a feeling she isn't going to forget.

Heisenberg poked his head over Miranda's shoulder. He believes babies are slippery and they'd fall and break. He did the same with his nieces, he only picked them up after they turned six months and he intends to do the same now that his favorite niece has had her first child.

Moreau showed up late at night and didn't stay for long. The baby was awake, her blue eyes blinking at him. He said a quick "Hello" and placed a small teddy bear in the infant's crib, next to her head. He wished well to his sister and niece before leaving again.

#do u want to guess how coddled and spoiled this baby is because everyone is fawning at her?#asks #house dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #bela dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #re8 #alcina dimitrescu #headcanon #mother miranda #karl heisenberg #donna beneviento #salvatore moreau

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steelycunt · 1 year

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ten books 2 know me!

thank for you the tag @pancakehouse @fruity-individual @serethereal @rollercoasterwords !

-> skulduggery pleasant, derek landy.

starting with this one because this WAS my childhood i was. i never read percy jackson never read twilight read [redacted] and it wasnt even good but my dad thought id like these so he bought me the first skulduggery pleasant one day...oh man oh boy...these were. i was eight queuing up outside a whsmith with a schoolbag full of books for the author's booksigning...also he was so nice ta derek x

-> giovanni's room, james baldwin.

cannot get into this too much before i start wailing and biting and stuff but well. giovanni's room is my favourite book of all time i read most of it. last year in june laying on brighton beach while the sun was going down and i have never recovered from and will you bring me home again / yes. i'll bring you home again since and fear i never will. also! first james baldwin book i read who has come to be an author whose writing style i adore and carry in my mind whenever i try to write something myself.

-> young mungo, douglas stuart.

not the first book i ever cried at but. first book i ever experienced disgusting full body sobs while reading and fierce competitor also for. my favourite book. had to reread so much of those final pages because i couldnt concentrate with all the crying and after that i am so excited to never have to experience the physical chest-aching worry that i did for the duration of reading this. also i think the very quiet way love is written here through. very trivial small things is something i loved very much and that has stayed with me!

-> wuthering heights, emily bronte.

read this when i was about eleven, and then again a few weeks ago with my mum (whose favourite book it is) and it was still so. absolutely sickening i just think its excellent xx and without it we wouldn't have kate bush's 1978 single wuthering heights so xx think on that xx

-> the autobiography of malcom x, alex haley.

when i was a child my younger sister joined a sunday league football team and my dad used to give her a tenner every time she scored a goal. to even things out since i refused to get up at the arsecrack of dawn to contract hypothermia on a frozen football pitch, he started giving me books exclusively on malcolm x to read and would give me a tenner every time i finished one. this one was the first i read and was indeed the first book that ever made me cry at the end xx

-> my brilliant friend, elena ferrante.

so many of these are recent reads because it was only jan 2022 that i made a genuine effort to get back into reading for leisure and mbf is no different but well. the way friendship is written here is just unhinged and incredible and the series in general so far has been. there is nothing like it i fear

-> the raven boys, maggie steifvater.

gansey unfortunately.

-> macbeth, william shakespeare.

okay i know i know but. when you are studying it in englit class for your gcse it might as well be a book innit. anyway of all the texts i did for english both at gcse + a level macbeth is still my favourite and probably the most effort i ever put into an english essay. special shoutout to frankenstein which i can enjoy in hindsight but unfortunately it fucked me on the exam so out of bitterness it doesnt get a place here x

-> the secret history, donna tartt.

i did inhale this book but also it gets a place purely for being my first exposure to donna tartt's writing and style in general which is so very distinctive and has. undoubtedly had an effect on me for better or for worse we shall one day see but for now. who can say!

-> foster, claire keegan.

it is a little pamphlet of a book at eighty six pages but. i read it just over a month ago and havent properly stopped thinking about it since it was just everything quiet + mundane + understated that makes my brain start sparking and whirring and. im bringing it on holiday in the summer so i can read it again in the appropriate season xx

tagging. but no pressure. @gaewaren @dykefever @emerqldv @fastasyoucan1999 @forlorngarden @writteninverses @boyjoan !!

#also it doesnt quite earn a place but the enemy series by charlie higson? no one ever seemed to read those but that was my fucking last of #us. that was my mazerunner. that was my dystopian YA (bar the hunger games okay yeah i was a hunger games girl wasnt everyone)#considered putting the beatles in their generation on here but managed to avoid it thank god. also no future by matthew worley #which was a dense slog into british punk as a politics and youth subculture but also well i learned a lot about my favourite topic #tag game #reading tag #will b fun to see how i would do this a little while on from now. like what maintains its spot + what gets bumped n stuff

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danny-chase · 1 year

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How many times has Dick been homeless/Alcoholic?

You're like the Wikipedia of the titans btw (compliment)

Thank you! It helps having friends who are just as obsessed with other characters on the team as you! So there's not really a short answer to this question, and it's going to depend on which timelines you're pulling from/consider canon and you're own interpretation of the scenes, image descriptions are in the alt text, i ordered these based on when the comics came out:

There's this time in NTT where no one's quite sure where he lives

The New Teen Titans #33

So this one is very open to interpretation, but for me it was weird that Kory didn't know where Dick is living, because in #29 Donna says he's working with the Titans, alone, with Bruce, and going to college. At this point to my knowledge, he doesn't have his own apartment (I'd need to double check with Batman/Detective Comics to be sure though). Why Kory didn't go to his college, I'm also not sure. But clearly the Titans still thought he was living at home but he's not. He does have a room in Titans tower, so I would say he's not technically homeless, but he kinda disappeared for a hot second. This scene takes place during the Adrian Chase arc and sometime after that and before The Judas Contract, he moves into his own apartment.

2. Dick's post-crisis departure from Bruce

Batman (1940) #416

Now what a lot of people get wrong about this era is that Bruce didn't kick Dick out - he fired Dick from Robin and as Dick describes it:

"For six years you trained me to be a crime fighter, then denied me that role. Of course, you assured me that it was for my own good. I lay there with a bandaged shoulder and my life in ruins. You smiled, kicked a great big hole in my life, then walked out of the room. I didn't see what option I had, other than to split. Alfred tried to talk me out of it. It was Alfred who forced money on me so I'd have something to live on. You couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye."

So while Bruce probably would have been okay with Dick moving back in after he dropped out of college, Dick didn't feel like he could come back home and he didn't have a permanent residence until he moved in with the Titans/rented his own apartment. This origin i think was retold by tom taylor but i'm not super paying attention to that run

3. Dick gets evicted, unclear living situation take 2

The New Titans #97

Basically at this point the tower is destroyed and they don't really show where Dick's living after getting evicted and his stuff burning up :/ so whether he's crashing on someone's couch or figured something else out, i don't know

4. Dick gets sent to juvenile detention for being homeless

Robin Annual (1993) #4

So technically he has a bed to sleep in, but post his parents dying, in this retelling of his origin (this one is by Chuck Dixon, who wrote a good chunk of his solo comic) he ends up sent to Gotham City's Youth Center, which is not really a home or an orphanage, it's more like a juvenile detention facility and some of the kids jump him like immediately after this panel. So, it's not exactly a safe place to be, but it's also not the street (although he can climb out and tries running away pretty quickly before being told to go back by Batman), he spent a month here before he moves to a permanent home with Bruce

5. Dick runs away

Robin: Year One #3

Again, he's not explicitly kicked out, but Bruce neglected him after he got injured in the Two Face incident to the point where he felt completely unwanted/unloved, was miserable and decided to leave. He joins a gang soon after this. This story is retold later in the Nightwing run, and has Dick as 12 when the two face part happens and 17 when he runs away for different reasons (it's kind of like - two different authors reference two different parts of the story, one of which is Marv Wolfman, and he changes a lot about it, but i'm not bothering to count the incident twice, and this was the first time the running away bit appeared in canon)

6. The Blockbuster arc

Nightwing (1996) #91

So this is the first time we literally see Dick sleeping on the streets. Basically the rundown is, his apartment got blown up, Haly's Circus was burnt down, and Blockbuster was killing people just for talking to him so yeah :(

7. Skaboom

Batman (1940) #649

So at this point, Dick was drifting and living with the mob/training Rose Wilson and didn't exactly have a stable home life, and then DC decided to drop a bomb on his city, so all of that blew up. He proceeded to go on a cruise with Bruce and Tim and um. yeah sure that fixes things i guess (the only point in this cruise that we see, to my knowledge, is Bruce ditching the two of them to go live in a cave, and Tim and Dick having some fun international adventures, though to be fair, i didn't read the batman comics at the time, and the recap was in Tim's robin solo). when he gets back, he finds an apartment

8. Ric

Nightwing (2016) #50

So during the Ric arc, Ric breaks into other people's homes to sleep, or sleeps in his cab. Points to Alfred for giving him money (again). I'm thinking this is where you're bringing in the problems with alcohol. This is the only arc that I know of where Dick/Ric drinks frequently (he has a bar tab, but full disclosure, I haven't actually read the whole arc, so i'm not sure the extent to which he drinks)

If i missed any feel free to add on

#i thought about adding spyral but he does have like - a base of operations (though as for a permanent home Bruce kind of. you know.)#dick grayson #momo don't look #asks #anon

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ihavewritersblockbutinreallife · 11 months

Text

Fun fact: When I was little my parents bought a four disc set of the original TMNT Movies, the three of those, and then the 2007 TMNT. And for SOME REASON, little nine year old me was scarred for life after watching 2007. Keep in mind I had no knowledge whatsoever of the ninja turtles, I just thought the movies looked cool.

But 2007 shook me to the core, probably because Leo and Raph fought almost the whole time and Leo almost died, and my tiny brain didn't understand plot development and the whole "SUFFER FOR THE STORYLINE" concept.

And for years I just completely forgot about it.

Until my friend got me into TMNT like, six months ago, thank you @theressomanyfandomsineedtojoin

And ever since I joined the fandom there was this nagging thought in the back of my brain like "hey there's something you're repressing you should figure it out" and I'm like yeah that's about as helpful as any website telling you your password OR username is incorrect but won't tell you which one.

Then I finally remembered that 2007 TMNT terrified me and talked myself into watching it again.

Y'all if you haven't seen it, DO IT IT'S SO GOOD It's literally on my list of favorite movies now.

Anyway, after that whole mess, have some 2007 TMNT quotes as a reward for making it this far lol.

“Did you turn the computer on? Have you plugged it in. Yeah. That would help…”

“No, I’m not playing hard to get! I’m telling you sir, it’s not that kind of phone line!”

“No, I’m not your enemy, I’m just Donnie, you’re friendly IT tech support, here to help you 24 hours a day sir- I’m sorry! Ma’am. Heh.”

“Why couldn’t you send him away for training?”

“Well guys, if you ask me, I’d say this has Winter’s name written all over it.” “How do you figure that?” “Because, THIS has Winter’s name, written all over it.”

“I’m not dreamin, am I?!” “No, Mikey, you’re not dreaming.” “Oh, good. I have nightmares about birthday parties.”

“Donnie, you’re so smart. Why don’t we have jetpacks?” “Yeah, that’s good, Mikey, I don’t even trust you with a drivers license.”

“Well, good news is there’s a bunch of Foot ninjas getting the snot kicked out of them.”

“YEah, the turtles are back, dudes! I’d give us a ten for style, an eight for skill, and, uh, two, for stealth.”

“Dudes, did anyone get the license plate of the thing that hit us last night?”

“Yeah, it looked like your mom, dude!” “Uh, that would make her your mom too, dufus.” … “Yeah, whatever.”

“So it’s like Haleys Comet, but monsters come out.” “Uh, yes, I guess so!” “Heh. I’m smart.” *crashes*

“And that would be the swirling vortex to another world, i assume.” “Cool! I want one.”

“Winters.” “Looks more like Fall. Heh. Get it?” “Mikey, remember our talk.”

“I’m never usually that happy to be in pain.” “He’s happy because he’s mortal again, Mikey.”

“Yeah, I do nothing. You’re right. You got me all figured out.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, knucklehead! Guess night school’s in session!”

“That was too easy! *crash* … Like I said, too easy!”

“Hey, Casey! Meet me on the roof!” “Raph? What is it?” “The roof. You know what a roof is, dontcha?”

“Oh look at you, you’re so cute! Come here, Imma drop kick you to hurty town!”

“You’re gonna need these if you’re gonna lead us out of here.” “We’re gonna need you too.”

“Typical. We do all the work, he gets all the thanks.”

“Ah, I love bein a turtle.”

“Look, Raph, if you’ve got something you wanna get off your shell, now’s the time. But I’m not gonna sit here and debate Splinter’s direct orders with you!”

“Come to daddy.” *literally has like eight sharp objects now"

“What is it with ninjas and smoke pellets?”

“What’s going on Raph?” “Did I mention that we ran into a monster last night?” “No, you kind of FAILED to tell me about THAT one, buddy!”

“And now we got walking statues? You got a plan for those?!” “Hey, those are a first for me too.”

“And I thought Girl Scouts were pushy!”

“Cody is going to break up with Donna. I just know it.” “We interrupt the Gilmore Girls for this special news report. Monsters loose in the city? Strange reports are coming in tonight about a construction site incident that sounds like something out of science fiction.” “BOYS!”

“Raphael. You always bear the world problems on your shoulders. It is an admirable quality when you are a protector of others. But you must realize that while, at times, you may not be my favorite STUDENT, that does not mean that you are my least favorite SON. You are strong, passionate, and loyal to a fault. These are the merits of a great leader as well. But only when tempered with compassion and humility.”

“Sensei! You alright?” “Hehe. We must do this more often!” *whack* “I still got it!”

“Hey, look guys, I grabbed a toaster!” -Tommy

“I love your work ethic, Tommy, you’re an inspiration to us all.” -Gang leader

“Looks like you got a sidekick.” “Yeah, right. You’re the sidekick.”

#the pink is supposed to be splinter lol i kinda ran out of text colors #tmnt #tmnt 2007 #quotes #tmnt quotes #tommy is the real one lol he got us a toaster #oh and regular text is casey #also did anyone else notice that april has like no internal organs #my girl is thinner than a pipe cleaner #ouch #donnie is so sarcastic and i love it

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middleearthpixie · 2 years

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Fifty

Armitage Summer Splash #25 ~ prompt courtesy of @fizzyxcustard & @lathalea!

Trope: Birthday

Quote: “I’m sorry.”

RA Character: Ray Levine

Relationship: Ray Levine x ofc Theo Bailey Levine

Warnings: None

Rating: G

Word Count: 1,461

***

Theo sat in her car, staring up at the apartment building on the opposite side of Lescart Street. It was half-past six, the streetlights had come on probably an hour earlier, but no light showed through the windows on either of two upper floors. The flat on was completely dark.

Ray wasn’t home.

Again.

It had been a busy couple of week for the both of them. She’d picked up two new clients to train, Fester had plenty of need for Ray as a paparazzi for hire, so they were both running crazy. They saw each other briefly in the morning, and managed to fall asleep almost around the same time every night. Other than that? They were the proverbial ships passing lately. And she missed him.

With a low sigh, Theo climbed out of her car, moved to take her bag from the back seat, closed the door, set the alarm, and dashed across the street to avoid being run over by the rush hour traffic.

November had been a damp month so far, with rain almost every day, and she began to wonder if the sun was ever going to come back out. Although she’d been in England since the past spring, and her bouts of homesickness grew fewer and further between, today had not been a good one at all. Everything was cold. Damp. Gloomy. It suited her mood perfectly today of all days.

Today, she turned fifty.

Fifty.

A half century had gone by, mostly in the blink of an eye.

Fifty.

She sighed softly as she let herself into the flat and hit the switch just inside the door. Donna had called her around noon, which was about seven in the morning in New Jersey, and sang Happy Birthday in her loud, very much off-key voice. But that was it. No one else knew it was her birthday, and she didn’t tell anyone. After all, she wasn’t dealing well with the fact that she was now, as of two in the afternoon, officially a half-century old. She really didn't want to think about it.

The flat felt even quieter than usual. It was Tuesday, and normally, Ray would have a gaggle of pre-teen and teen boys and girls in his studio in the basement, where he taught photography on a part time basis. Before she’d met him, he’d won a Pulitzer for photos he’d taken in Iraq during the war, and since they’d been married, had almost taken a job with the Associated Press, but decided he’d rather do what he’d been doing all along—working with Fester and those kids.

She set her bag on the floor by the sofa, and moved to set her keys in the dish on the breakfast bar that served as their kitchen and dining room table. The pipes rattled as the heat kicked on to take some of the damp chill from the air. Blackpool was on the ocean, but she was from Point Pleasant, which was also on the ocean, and so was used to the dampness for the most part. But today, everything felt magnified and she seemed to feel it more deeply than usual.

The bottle of chardonnay she’d opened yesterday was on the refrigerator door, just waiting for her, so she grabbed the wineglass from the drainboard and emptied the bottle into it. There was a little under half a glass. Why had she even bothered to put it in the fridge? Pointless.

It went down in one mouthful, and she sighed as she moved to the wine rack and selected another bottle. “How sad is this?” she muttered, setting it on the breakfast bar.

Her phone rang, and when she dug it out of her bag and turned it over, Ray’s picture was on the screen. “Hey, where are you?”

“Sorry, love,” his deep voice rumbled over her the way it always did—smooth and elegant and enough to still give her chills, “I’m going to be a while. Fester has me waiting for someone at Madeline’s and I don’t know where the fuck they are, so I have no idea what time I’ll be getting home.”

Her stomach sank. “Oh. Okay. No problem.”

“Hey, why don’t you come on out and wait with me? It’s been a while since we’ve done this together.”

She heard the rain pattering again the windowpanes. “I don’t know, Ray. It was kind of a long day.”

“Come on. Let me buy you a drink and maybe you’ll get lucky.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe? Ray, all I have to do is show up to get lucky with you.”

“Okay, maybe I’ll get lucky. Throw an old guy bone, won’t you?”

“All right, you win.”

“Good. I’ll be the ass standing around outside with the camera.”

“I think I can manage to find you.”

Madeline’s was down near Pleasure Beach, and parking was at a premium. Rain still fell softly and Theo actually felt bad that Ray had to be out in this weather. True, it wasn’t quite as bad as some other elements he’d been in before, but waiting around for spoiled rich kids to show up and pretend they were more famous than they actually were could be just as demanding a job. He mostly did it because he and Fester were more friends than boss and employee.

She sighed as she drew nearer to the building. Loud hair band music pulsed through the walls and the neon lights were reminiscent of the clubs from the eighties, where she’d gone as a teenager at the Jersey shore. She smiled as the deejay put on Def Leppard and the opening guitar riff of Photograph echoed from within.

“There you are!” Ray shouted over the music as he strode down the sidewalk toward her. “I was wondering if you were standing me up, love.”

“When have I ever stood you up?”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” He bent to kiss her, his lips soft as they swept against hers.

“Not tonight, I’m afraid.” She slid her arms about his waist and gave him a squeeze. “Did your prey finally show up?”

He nodded before kissing her once more. “Yeah. About ten minutes ago. But, you’re here, so let’s go in and lose our hearing a little more. I owe you a drink, so…”

“Sounds good.”

His hand closed about hers, and she smiled as he linked their fingers and gave a gentle tug. He might have forgotten her birthday, but she’d make the best of it anyway. Besides, it wasn’t as if she looked forward to this one, anyway.

Still, it did hurt a little.

Okay, maybe more than a little.

It hurt.

A lo—

“Surprise!”

She jumped as the music ended and it seemed everyone she’d ever met leaped out at her. Black and gold balloons dropped from the ceiling as she rounded the corner into the main room, and everywhere she looked, banners and gold fives and zeros were strung about her. Fester, her coworkers, even Donna was there, smiling as she hurried over and threw her arms about Theo. “Happy Birthday, Thee!”

“Wait… You were in Jersey this morning. I talked to you and you were half asleep.”

“Nope. I was at the Edgemont Hotel when I talked to you and that’s what? Ten minutes from here?” Donna shook her head, her wild black curls bouncing in all directions. “I used my pretend to be sick to call outta work voice.”

“Venus!” Fester boomed, appearing as if from nowhere to wrap her in a massive bear hug. “Don’t be too mad at him, darling. He really just wanted to surprise you. Happy birthday, love.”

She gave him a squeeze. “Thank you. Is this why you’ve had him running like a fool all week?”

“Someone had to get this all set up. Do you know what it costs to rent an entire club for the night?” Fester straightened up and then punched Ray in the arm. “Even if you know the owner?”

“Ray,” she turned to find him trying hard not to smile, “what are you doing?”

“You thought I forgot, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, actually. I did. I spent all day thinking you just didn’t give a damn.”

He drew her into his arms. “I’m sorry, love. But, you should know by now I was not forgetting this birthday. I know how much you looked forward to it.”

“You’re an ass.”

“I’m not just any ass, baby, I’m your ass.”

She slid her arms about his waist and leaned away to peer up at him. “Ray.”

“What?” He draped his arms about her shoulders and bent to brush her lips with his. “I love you, Theo. Happy birthday, baby.”

***

Like it? Love it? If so, please love it, leave a comment, reblog it, or do all three! 💜💜💜

Tag List: @tschrist1 @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @arrthurpendragon @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knitastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @ggfamert @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell @jotink78

#armitage summer splash #richard armitage #Ray Levine #Ray Levine x OC #Stay Close fanfic #this one is not dark #Ray x Theo

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regenderate-fic · 1 year

Text

Back Home Anew

Fandom: Doctor Who Ships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott Rating: General Series: Eight Nights of DoctorRose (link goes to ao3 page) Word Count: 2,708 Other Tags: Hanukkah, Holidays, Post-Episode AU: Journey's End, Rose Stays

Read on AO3

Summary: Reunited with Rose, the Doctor promises to come to dinner with Donna-- and then accidentally launches the TARDIS six months into the future.

NOTES: i said this was going to be a short little thing just so we had SOMETHING for night four and then it turned into the longest fic in the series. god. also writing tenrose makes me miss my girlfriend oh my GOD i need help. or possibly gay kissing 🤔😳

anyway the au here is that tentoo doesn't exist and donna is fine and rose is still in this universe. you all can substitute the events of your favorite journey's end au fic as explanation for how that happened. also i stole delia's jewish donna headcanons

“Will you stay for dinner?” Donna asked, looking from the Doctor to Rose. “Grandad’ll be thrilled.”

The Doctor looked at Rose, standing next to him, her hand so very warm in his. “Rose?”

“Er— yeah, of course.” Rose nodded. “I’d love to.”

“Right.” The Doctor took a breath. “We just ought to— calibrate the TARDIS— she’s had quite the shock, you know. We’ll just pop her a minute into the future, and then we’ll be right out.”

“I’m holding you to that, spaceman,” Donna said. “One minute.”

“One minute,” the Doctor repeated. He squeezed Rose’s hand and led her back to the TARDIS, pushing the door open so they could step through together. The second they were back inside, everything felt quiet: the last day or so had gone so quickly, everything happening at once, a crowd in the TARDIS, a world-ending threat, and now it was just the Doctor, back in the TARDIS with Rose.

He turned to Rose. For a moment, they just stared at each other: he took her in, the face he’d thought he’d never see again, her searching eyes, her blonde hair. And then he couldn’t hold back any longer. He reached for her, pulled her close to him, wrapped her up in the tightest hug he could manage, and her arms around his waist felt unimaginably right. He didn’t know how he’d gone without Rose for nine hundred years— didn’t know, either, how he’d survived the last two-ish in her absence. Even though he’d only had her back for a few hours, it was impossible to imagine ever being without her again. This is dangerous, some part of his mind reminded him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“We don’t actually have to go to Donna’s dinner,” he murmured. “If you’re not up for it.”

“No,” Rose said into his chest, “we said we’d go. Can’t back out now.”

“Right,” the Doctor said. “Then I suppose I’d better get on with the calibration.” If he was being honest, the TARDIS calibration could have waited— the TARDIS had been damaged, but not so badly that it needed immediate attention. But he hadn’t gotten the chance to really check in with Rose, and he’d needed the excuse to spend even a few seconds alone in the TARDIS with her, just to make sure she was really there, and okay, and with him.

Rose released her hold on the Doctor’s waist, and the Doctor wasted no time in taking her hand before stepping over to the console. She came with him, her head resting against his arm, and he looked down at her with a little smile.

“You all right?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Rose said. She looked up at him, and her smile hit him right between the hearts. He felt his own smile turning into a goofy grin, and she grinned back, and for a second he got lost in his own happiness, looking at her.

She squeezed his hand.

“Calibration?” she prompted.

“Calibration,” he repeated. He forced himself to let go of her so he could start the process, running halfway around the console and back, hitting buttons and throwing switches and running back to Rose as the TARDIS started up its sound. He found her watching him, still smiling, and he stared back. “What?”

“Missed this, is all.” She leaned her head against his arm again, and he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in.

“You ready?” he asked.

“‘Course.”

Together, they walked to the TARDIS doors and stepped out. Immediately, the Doctor got a sinking feeling in his chest: it was cold, colder than it had been a few minutes ago, and when he looked around he could see twinkling fairy lights wrapped around the lamposts.

Before he could say anything, though, Donna came running out of her house, red hair half-hidden by a knit hat, already yelling, “One minute? Is that what you call one minute? You go in there and say you’re going to pop a minute in the future, and now it’s the fourth night of Hanukkah!”

The Doctor lifted his free hand to scratch the hair at the back of his neck. “Hanukkah? You never said you were Jewish.”

Donna stared. “That’s the takeaway here?”

“Well—” The Doctor looked at Rose, but Rose was laughing, grabbing at his jacket to keep herself from doubling over.

“You still can’t drive,” she wheezed.

“Oh, you mean he was like this with you, too?” Donna looked at the Doctor. “And she came back for you?”

“First time we met,” Rose said, “he told me he’d brought me back twelve hours later. Turned out it was a year.” She burst into laughter again. “And I stayed with him anyway!”

“D’you know,” Donna said, “he used to talk about you, like, all the time, and I’d sit there wondering, who in the universe would stay with him?” She looked Rose up and down. “But you seem all right. Even if you do have terrible taste in men.”

“I can’t help it,” Rose sighed. “He had me at blowing up my job.”

Donna laughed. “Well, can’t help that it’s been six months, but d’you still want to come for dinner? Only, Grandad and I were just about to light the menorah.”

“We’d love to,” the Doctor said. He glanced at Rose. “Right? We’d love to?”

“We’d love to,” Rose repeated with a nod.

The Doctor and Rose followed Donna into the house. Immediately, Wilf’s voice met his ears, calling, “Donna, was it him?”

“Yeah,” Donna called back. “Him and Rose. You remember Rose?”

Wilf came into the hallway. “Rose! You found him!”

“Yeah.” Rose smiled. “Good to see you again.”

“You too, love. Are you staying for the candle lighting?”

“They are,” Donna said.

“Oh, good!” Wilf smiled. “I’ve been learning to make latkes, you know. And we’ve got those pastries— Donna, what were they called again?”

“Sufganiyot,” Donna filled in.

“Right,” Wilf said. “Those. I’ve eaten three already today.”

“He’s eating us out of house and home,” Donna said. “Come on, you two. Menorah’s this way.” She ushered the Doctor and Rose into the living room. “Grandad, do you have the matches?”

“Give me a second,” Wilf replied from the hallway.

“We’re still getting used to this,” Donna explained. “Haven’t really celebrated Hanukkah since I was a kid. My dad’s thing, you know?”

“Ah,” the Doctor said. “Your mother’s not—”

Donna shook her head. “She’ll light candles with us if she’s not out,” she said. “‘Course, she’s started going out more and more on Friday nights, but—” She shrugged. “Grandad’s a good sport, though, isn’t he?”

Just then, Wilf came back into the room, holding a box of matches. “Put them in the kitchen yesterday. Don’t know why, considering.”

“Well, we’ve got them now.” Donna took the box in one hand. “Everyone ready?”

“Just to check,” the Doctor said. “This is just candle-lighting, yes? Bit of prayer?”

“What does it matter?” Donna asked.

The Doctor shrugged. “Got to know what I’m supposed to be ready for, don’t I?”

Rose nudged him. “Being rude.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I like her,” Donna said. She nodded to the window, where a simple gold menorah sat on the sill. “C’mon.”

The Doctor, Rose, and Wilf followed her to the window. They took their places around the menorah.

“Don’t suppose you know the blessings already,” Donna said to the Doctor.

“Er— they might be in here somewhere. But people tend to use different tunes, don’t they?” It had been a while since the Doctor had attended any religious event, really, if you didn’t count all the times he’d almost died on Christmas.

“Well, I didn’t remember the tunes my dad used,” Donna said, “so I’ve stolen them from the synagogue.” She shrugged. “Oh, well. Either you’ll work it out or you won’t. Not my problem either way.”

The Doctor snorted. “That’s one way to think about it.”

Rose laughed.

Wilf, it turned out, was the one to carry the prayers: Donna sang, and Rose and the Doctor knew a few words each, but Wilf’s deep and enthusiastic voice seemed to fill the room. After a blessing, Donna lit the shamash and used it to light the four candles to mark the fourth night, and the Doctor drew Rose closer to him as Donna and Wilf started singing again, all four of them swaying in front of the menorah.

“All right!” Wilf exclaimed, once they were done. “Let’s eat!”

It had been a long time since the Doctor had sat around a table with a family, celebrating a holiday. If pressed, he would probably say the last time was immediately after his regeneration, eating Christmas dinner with Rose and Jackie and Mickey, pulling a red crown out of a Christmas cracker and putting it on his head— this reminded him of that, except he and Rose had gotten older, and he had newer friends, too, to celebrate with. The biggest family on Earth, Sarah Jane had said. Maybe it was true.

Once they’d eaten, they moved back into the living room, where the candles still flickered on the windowsill. Wilf and Donna each took an armchair, and the Doctor and Rose took up much less of the sofa than they technically could have, Rose leaning against the Doctor’s shoulder.

“You all right?” the Doctor asked her, keeping his voice low. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Just tired,” Rose said.

“We can go,” the Doctor said. “If you like.”

“No.” Rose nuzzled closer into his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her. “This is nice.”

“Suppose we could’ve made it a ‘welcome back to the universe’ party,” Donna said. “If we’d had any warning at all, that is.”

“I said sorry!” the Doctor exclaimed.

Donna shook her head. “He never changes.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“Sorry,” Rose said. “Next time I’m making him let me pilot.”

“You don’t even know how,” the Doctor scoffed.

“Oh, yeah?” Rose lifted her head to look at him. “In the last two years, I helped Torchwood figure out how to jump across universes. You give me long enough, I’ll figure out how to take your TARDIS wherever I want to go.” She let her head fall back to his shoulder with a contented hum. “Besides, she likes me.”

“That she does.” The Doctor let his fingers trace up and down the leather at Rose’s shoulder. He must’ve been giving her some kind of sappy look, but he only realized when Donna started making exaggerated gagging sounds from her chair.

He shot her a look.

“You try spending two years thinking someone you care about is stuck forever in another universe,” he said. “See how you behave.”

Donna rolled her eyes. “Whatever, spaceman.”

“How do you two even know each other?” Rose asked, and the Doctor realized suddenly just how much he had to catch Rose up on. It filled him with excitement, somehow, the idea that he could talk to her now— the idea that he could tell Rose about every time he’d done or seen something and thought, I need to tell Rose about this.

“Just after we said goodbye,” the Doctor said. “Remember that? Burning up a sun?”

Rose pressed even closer to him. “I try not to think about it.”

“So do I,” the Doctor agreed. “But that was when Donna showed up in my TARDIS. In her wedding dress. Turned out her fiance was filling her with Huon particles to help a giant spider make her into a key.”

Rose hummed. “You’ll explain what all that means when I’m more awake, yeah?”

“‘Course.” The Doctor smiled. “Point is, we got each other out of trouble, and then I asked her to travel with me, and she said no, and I bounced around with Martha for a bit—”

“He was borderline mean to Martha, from what she told me,” Donna interjected. “All hung up on you—”

The Doctor winced. “I’ve had finer moments, it’s true.”

“I liked Martha,” Rose said. “Seemed nice.”

“She’s very nice,” Donna said, directly to the Doctor.

“The point is,” the Doctor said, “Donna and I found each other again, traveled together for a bit, and here we are now. Happy Hanukkah.”

“And I’m sure I’ll get more of that story later, too,” Rose added.

“I’m an open book,” the Doctor promised.

They talked a while longer— Donna updated the Doctor on what she’d done in the last six months, which seemed to involve a decent amount of work with UNIT and a worrying amount of contact with Martha, Sarah Jane, and Captain Jack, and she and the Doctor both told Rose about a few of their adventures. It was halfway through talking about Pompeii that the Doctor looked down and realized Rose had fallen asleep against his shoulder, her breath coming out in soft puffs against his jacket.

“Think maybe we’d better go,” he said softly.

“All right, then,” Donna said. “Take some of the sufganiyot with you, will you? There’s no way we’ll eat them all on our own.”

“No way you will, maybe,” Wilf protested.

“Take them anyway,” Donna said.

“You’re not coming with us?” the Doctor asked.

“Nah.” Donna winked. “Have your honeymoon. Come back for me when you’re ready.”

The Doctor let out a laugh. “Thanks.” He nudged Rose. “Rose?”

Rose’s head lifted. “Mm?” She fell back against him immediately, and he prodded her harder.

“Rose.” He moved his arm from her shoulders to her waist, trying to keep her upright. “C’mon. Let’s get you to bed.”

Rose jumped, then looked around wildly. “Wh— Doctor?”

“Shh,” he murmured. “I’m here. Let’s get back to the TARDIS, all right?”

“Okay,” Rose whispered, her body relaxing. She let the Doctor pull her to her feet, still leaning against him as they moved into the hall. It was like she fit into him, her body taking up his negative space. He’d forgotten what it could feel like, having her here. He took the box of pastries Donna handed to him and hugged her goodbye, and then he and Rose walked slowly back to the TARDIS, Rose stumbling over her own feet.

“When’s the last time you slept?” the Doctor asked.

“Dunno,” Rose replied. “Three minutes ago?”

The Doctor laughed. “Before that.”

“Oh.” Rose paused. “Not sure.”

“Well, you’ll be glad to know your room is still waiting for you.” The Doctor pushed the TARDIS doors open. “TARDIS didn’t touch it.”

Rose waved a hand at the console. “Thanks.” There was a gurgle from overhead, and the Doctor smiled.

“C’mon.”

They found Rose’s room quickly. The Doctor hesitated at the door, still not sure whether Rose would want him to come in— he’d slept in here with her a few times, and a few more times stayed awake while she slept, but those had all been special circumstances: particularly hard days, instances of illness or injury, moments of emotional need. And it had been a few years: maybe something had changed, between them. Maybe things were different now, or they’d need time to get back where they once were, or—

“Don’t be stupid, Doctor,” Rose said, tugging at his arm. “I want you to stay.”

“All right, then.” The Doctor stepped into the room, looking around. It looked just the same as it always had, with the messy bed and clothes strewn about, the pictures tacked up on the wall, the vanity at one end and wardrobe at the other. Rose stepped away from him just long enough to peel off her jacket and kick off her shoes, and he did the same, sitting gingerly at the end of the bed until Rose came back to him, sitting at the head of the bed and tugging at his arm until he joined her. She wasted no time in curling up against his chest, her arms around him, and he carefully wrapped his own arms around her waist.

“Stay with me,” she repeated, her words already slurring with sleep.

On instinct, he bent his head down to press a kiss to her hair, marveling at her softness, her presence. “Forever,” he promised, and he meant it with every cell in his body. He never wanted to let her go.

#my fic #fanfiction #tenrose #ten x rose #doctorrose #doctor x rose #donna noble #wilfred mott #rose tyler #tenth doctor #the doctor #rose stays #journey's end #holidays #eight nights of doctorrose #short

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chocolatequeennk · 1 year

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Forever Timeless, 13/23

Summary: Two months after the Dalek Crucible, the Doctor and Rose are getting used to having the biggest family on Earth. As they visit Leadworth in 1996, Victorian England, a mysterious desert planet, and Elizabethan England, those family and friends often help in unexpected ways. But no matter where they go or who they’re with, it’s always the Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler–just as it should be.

Ten x Rose, Donna x Lee

Betaed by @rudennotgingr, @pellaaearien, and @jabber-who-key

Tagging @doctorroseprompts

Part 7 of Being to Timelessness

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12

Chapter Thirteen: And Pretty Dangerous

Rose’s mind raced as she slid her hand into the Doctor’s. If Jenny couldn’t get to the TARDIS and the bus was out of petrol… She shook her head and pushed the thought away.

Beside her, the Doctor was still tense. She nudged him in the side and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We’ll get home somehow,” she murmured. “Even if I have to find a way to turn sand into petrol.”

He smiled weakly. “Six impossible things before breakfast?”

“You know it.”

She was just going to suggest they get going when an alert chimed on the ship. The Tritovore captain hustled over the control panel and turned around, mandibles clicking excitedly.

“The probe has reached its destination. But it is not a storm.”

He turned back around and tapped in a command, and the holographic view screen switched to show them what the probe saw. A million flying stingrays flew over it, shrieking as they went.

“It’s a swarm!” Rose said.

The Doctor stood inches from the display, his specs perched on his nose as he peered at the video. “There are billions of them.”

“But what are they?” Rose asked. She joined him in front of the display, watching the aliens soar over the desert surface. One flew directly at them, and just when Rose was ready to flinch from the attack, the screen went black. “What happened?”

“We’ve lost the probe,” the Doctor said. “I think it got eaten.” He threw his hands up in disgust. “Everything on this planet gets eaten.”

“Doctor, focus,” Rose said sharply. “How far away is that swarm?”

The Doctor raked his hand through his hair and paced the bridge, glaring at the blank display. “A hundred miles. But at that speed, it’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

Rose jolted when she heard the Tritovore chittering again—she’d almost forgotten anyone else was in the room. “If they are coming for us, they will find justice swift and unpleasant.”

The Doctor shook his head quickly. “No, no, no, they’re not just coming for us. They want the wormhole.”

“You mean they’re going to Earth?”

The Doctor nodded. “Show the analysis,” he requested. The Tritovore turned the display back on, showing the scans of the alien the probe had managed to take before being devoured. “Incredible. They swarm out of a wormhole, strip the planet bare, then move on to the next world. Start the life cycle all over again.”

Rose stared at the image of the alien, from the curved head down to its dangerously finned tail. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she recognised, instinctively, what the design was built for.

“They make the wormholes.”

The Doctor blinked; he’d come to the same conclusion, but he could tell Rose understood more than he did. “How?”

Rose pointed at the head. “Look at that. The air glides over their body as they whip around the planet. A whole swarm of them, going faster and faster—travelling in four dimensions, like Malcolm said.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “Billions of them, flying in formation, all around the planet. Round and round and round, faster and faster and faster, till they generate a rupture in the Vortex. The speed of them, and the numbers, and the size, all of that rips the wormhole into existence.”

“And then the closer they get, the bigger the wormhole gets,” Rose concluded.

“And this is why they eat everything on the planet,” the Doctor added. He pointed at the image. “They eat the metal and extrude it to their exoskeleton, creating the perfect protection from the wormhole.” He scratched at his sideburn as he put the pieces together into a stunning whole. “So their velocity makes the wormhole, then their body makes it safe. Perfect design.”

“Yeaaaaah,” Rose drawled. “The perfect design that’s headed straight for Earth.”

“Guess we’d better save the planet then,” the Doctor said, a twinkle in his eye.

Rose laughed and took his hand. “Just another day in the life of the Doctor and Rose Tyler.”

oOoOo

Donna tried to shut out the sounds of people’s fearful mutterings. She knew the Doctor and Rose could get them home. She believed that, one hundred percent.

But she also knew that having the ability didn’t matter if you didn’t have the resources. Jenny still hadn’t shown up with the TARDIS, and without petrol, the bus was dead in the water. She snorted at the ironic metaphor—dead in the sand, she corrected, smiling wryly.

“How are we going to get home if the bus has run out of petrol?” Barclay asked.

Donna opened and closed her mouth a few times, unsure how to answer. It hadn’t escaped her notice that the Doctor and Rose hadn’t mentioned the TARDIS to any of the passengers. But without explaining that, how could she reassure anyone?

“T-t—” Lee paused and took a breath. “Trust the Doctor and Rose,” he said. “They’ll come through.”

Donna nodded. “You might not believe it, but we’ve actually gotten out of worse situations than this before.” The heat outside reminded her of Pompeii, and being shot out of Vesuvius in a Pyrovile escape pod.

An idea occurred to her, and she brightened. “They were the ones who saved the Earth from the Daleks last year!” Everyone but Lee looked at her blankly. “When there were all the planets in the sky?” she prodded, remembering Barclay mentioning it before.

Barclay whistled. “No way!”

Donna nodded. “Yep!”

A distant rumble of thunder echoed over the desert, giving a welcome distraction. They all looked out the window at the cloud forming on the horizon.

“It sounds like a storm,” Nathan said.

“If it rains, we’ve got water,” Angela said.

“No water.”

Donna shivered and looked back at Carmen. It was hard enough travelling with two aliens with some sort of time Spidey-sense. Carmen’s clairvoyance was downright creepy.

Carmen stared straight ahead, seeing something none of the rest of them could see. “All of it dust.”

“Don’t now, sweetheart.” Lou wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders and pulled her close.

The thunder came again, louder this time, and the knots in Donna’s stomach tightened as she turned to watch the storm.

oOoOo

The Doctor turned off the display and turned back to the Tritovores. A clock was running down in his head, but he took a breath and gave them a smile. “Well, thank you for your help. I think I know how to repay you. Would you like a lift home?”

The commander and officer exchanged a look, and the commander shook his head. “A captain can’t leave his ship.”

“Oh, don’t be so daft!” the Doctor exclaimed. “A captain can leave his ship, if there’s another ship standing by.”

The captain shook his head, his mandibles clicking.

Rose stepped forward. “Please, commander. There’s no need for you to die here. You saw that swarm, what it did to the city. Your ship will be completely eaten in less than 20 minutes.”

The Doctor held his breath. The two aliens exchanged another nonverbal conversation, but the commander shook his head again.

“I know,” Rose said. “I have a ship I love, too. And believe me, the thought of leaving her would just… gut me.”

The Doctor’s stomach tied in knots just at the thought. They’d lost the TARDIS a few times, or come close, and it was never any easier.

“But if she were lost—well and truly lost—I wouldn’t throw my life away just to stay with her. You can get another ship, but you can’t get another life.”

“The female speaks truly,” the lower-ranked Tritovore said. “There is no honour in needless death.”

The Doctor stood poised on his toes, ready to run as soon as the Tritovores agreed. The swarm was only fifteen minutes away now, and they still had to run back to the bus. Rose’s phone buzzed with a new text message in his pocket, and he sighed in relief when he read Jenny’s message.

“They’re almost to the TARDIS,” he told Rose. “She’ll be here in ten minutes.”

Rose gave the aliens a wide smile. “See, that’s our ship. So what do you say—will you come with us?”

The commander shook his head, but handed his translator to his second in command. “This is my ship, and it is my choice to stay. But you should go home.”

The Doctor knew Rose was going to keep arguing, but they didn’t have time. He took her hand again and started for the front of the ship, followed by the second Tritovore. “It’ll take us nearly ten minutes to run back to the bus,” he told her quietly. “He isn’t going to change his mind… and weren’t you just saying you shouldn’t give your life for a lost cause?”

Rose tensed, and he shook his head. I’m not saying a living person is a lost cause, he explained. They ducked beneath the broken bits of spaceship and could finally see sunlight. But convincing him to come was.

Rose sighed. She knew the Doctor was right, but she hated leaving the captain behind when the TARDIS was on her way.

Her eyes watered when they stepped into the sunlight. “Oh, that’s gonna give me a headache,” she groaned.

The Doctor squinted at her. “Come on,” he said. “We can get you some paracetamol once we’re home.” He pointed to the horizon. “All right, everyone—time to run.”

oOoOo

Donna sat in the driver’s seat, staring so hard at the blazing sand that her eyes burned. “Where are they?” she muttered. “Come on, you should have been back by now.”

On a whim, she pulled out her phone and sent Jenny a quick text, asking for her ETA. She closed the phone resolutely as soon as it sent, refusing to stare at the screen waiting for a reply.

A hint of something on the horizon caught her eye. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the smudge on the sky.

Everyone leaned towards the windows on the right side of the bus, staring at the glittering cloud in the sky. “What sort of storm is that?” Angela asked.

Sand storm. The words lingered unspoken in the air, and the tension inside the bus ratcheted up a few notches. They’d all heard stories about what sand storms could do.

But after over a year travelling with the Doctor and Rose, Donna had a feeling it wasn’t sand, any more than it was water. She glanced at Carmen, afraid the woman would give another of her dire predictions and stir up more fear, but for once, she said nothing.

Donna turned back to look at the storm clouds, but she saw something else, moving fast across the sand. “There they are!” she exclaimed, pointing to the people running towards them. She squinted, then rolled her eyes and added, “And it looks like they’ve brought someone with them. Typical.”

She glanced at her phone, but Jenny still hadn’t replied. Hopefully that means she’s in the TARDIS and can’t reply because she’s setting the coordinates.

“Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run,” Carmen chanted.

Donna forced a laugh. “That’s all the Doctor and Rose ever do, it seems. Save the world, or the universe, but always with an awful lot of running.”

Tiny particles of sand started swirling in front of the bus, hitting the windscreen with tiny plinks. “The wind’s getting worse,” Barclay said.

Donna listened to the wind with her heart in her throat. “Please, please, please,” she mumbled.

And then she heard it—the wheeze and groan of the TARDIS engines.

“Yes! Oh, it’s about time!” she crowed and leapt to her feet. Lee laughed and hugged her, but all the other passengers looked at them like they were mad.

“What are you two…”

Christina’s question trailed off when the outline of the TARDIS became visible. “Come on,” Donna said, gesturing at the door. “That’s our ride home, everyone.”

oOoOo

Rose laughed when she heard the TARDIS engines. “Just in time!” she said as they slid down the last dune.

“She’s always on time!” the Doctor protested, and she didn’t bother to debate the point.

Donna and Lee seemed to be getting the passengers off the bus, so Rose didn’t veer away from the TARDIS, running straight for the ship with her key out. The ship solidified just as she reached it, and she slotted her key into the lock.

“Come on, everyone!” she called to the people shuffling across the sand. “We’ve got an angry swarm on our tail and I don’t fancy being dinner.”

The unfriendly feeling built in Rose’s gut, and she ran full tilt down the ramp. “You’re a lifesaver, Jenny,” she said as she spun around the console, setting the coordinates. “Literally, a lifesaver.”

Jenny laughed and sat on the jump seat out of Rose’s way. “Now aren’t you glad I’m staying on Earth for a while? How would you have gotten home if I hadn’t been there?”

Rose peered over the console, waiting for the Doctor to enter the TARDIS. “I promise it’s a ship,” she heard him say, and then the Tritovore stepped through the door, followed by the Doctor.

As soon as he slammed the door shut, Rose threw the dematerialisation lever. “Next stop, London.” The time rotor moved slowly, chugging as the ship took them into the Vortex. Meanwhile, Rose rocked back on her heels and watched their passengers stumble down the ramp.

“That’s…” Barclay breathed.

“It’s impossible,” Nathan mumbled.

From the door, the Triotovore emitted a string of clicks that roughly translated to the same sentiments.

“This box…” Lou said.

Even Lady Christina didn’t seem to know where to look. “It’s bigger on the inside,” she murmured as her gaze moved from the console to the ceiling to the struts and back to the console. “How do you make that work?”

The Doctor winked at Rose. “In a super clever, outer spacey way.”

Carmen stared up at the ceiling of the console room. “Your ship… she sings!” Her gaze snapped to Rose. “She sings your song—the song of the Wolf.”

Rose patted the time rotor. “Yeah, she does.” For a moment, her eyes flashed gold, then she shook her head and looked at the Doctor. “You should probably call Malcolm and get him to close that wormhole.”

“Oh, good point!” The Doctor pulled the phone and quickly called Malcolm back. “Malcolm, it’s me,” he said as soon as the scientist picked up.

“I’m ready,” Malcolm pledged.

The Doctor blinked. “Ready for what?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

The Doctor leaned back against one of the struts. “We’re in the TARDIS, on our way back. But there’s something on our tail. You need to close the wormhole.”

“Would that be a compressed burst of feedback on a counter-oscillation, perchance?”

The Doctor bounced on his toes, a broad grin on his face. “Oh, Malcolm, you’re brilliant.”

“Coming from you, sir, that means the world.”

“Doctor, what sort of something?” Erisa asked. “That wormhole is now measuring ten miles and growing. I need to know the exact nature of the threat.”

“Captain Magambo, as long as Malcolm can get that wormhole closed, there won’t be a threat.”

“Doctor—”

The Doctor smashed the end call button and slid the phone into his jacket pocket. “Hold tight, everyone, we’re almost there.”

“Almost where?” Angela asked. “We just got into a box. Is this going to protect us from the storm?”

The Doctor grinned at her. “Ah, Angela, Just trust me—you’ll want to grab onto something.”

“It’s not like you’re driving, Space Man.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes at Donna. “Yes, I know Rose is a better driver than I am. But we’re going to land in close proximity to another wormhole, and the inter-dimensional feedback will make the landing rocky.”

He looked around at the group. “Come on, everyone. This is your co-pilot speaking. Please buckle in, or if a seatbelt has not been provided for you, latch onto the railing in front of you.”

Jenny got up and smiled at Carmen and Lou. “You take my seat. That’ll be easier for you than trying to stay upright.”

Angela and Nathan grabbed onto the railing that ran around the edge of the platform, while Christina and Barclay clapped their hands onto the edge of the console. The Tritovore, who hadn’t moved from the ramp, sat down on the grating and waited.

And not a moment too soon. The console room lights flashed in warning, and then the TARDIS rocked out of the Vortex like a plane flying through horrible turbulence. Rose kept her feet, barely, but the Tritovore stumbled and fell backwards.

Rose reached out a hand to help him up, ignoring his rapid clicking. “It’s fine,” she reassured him. “We’ve made it back to Earth, where everyone else lives.”

Her skin crawled as she said it, as if mentioning the name of the planet had reminded her of the original danger. She frowned; they’d made it home, but the unfriendly feeling hadn’t gone away.

“Doctor, I don’t think Malcolm has the wormhole closed yet.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened and he ran for the door. “Everyone, stay here until it’s safe!” he ordered as he left the TARDIS.

Now that he was out of the TARDIS, the Doctor could clearly feel the wrongness that had started their investigation. The wormhole was about to open over London, if Malcolm didn’t stop it now.

He pulled Rose’s phone out of his pocket and hit redial. “Malcolm!” he said as he made his way through the cars.

“Not now, I’m busy.”

The Doctor blinked; he wasn’t used to people hanging up on him. He spun and pointed at an officer. “Where is Dr. Taylor?” The man looked at him blankly and he sighed. “The scientist. What trailer is he in?”

The officer pointed at the middle trailer, and the Doctor nodded his thanks and ran off.

He yanked open the door of the trailer and leapt inside. “Malcolm, we need to get that wormhole closed.”

Malcolm shook his head. “I know, but it’s not working.”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “I need that signal,” he said, his voice low. “We’ve got billions of hostile aliens about to fly through.”

Erisa’s eyes widened. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen.”

The Doctor turned so she could squeeze past him. Once she was gone, he bent over Malcolm’s displays, trying to figure out where their plan had gone wrong.

“Well, what do I do?” the scientist asked.

Outside, they could hear Magambo shout orders. “Code Red. Fire at will.”

The Doctor’s nerves tightened. If any of those aliens made it through… They’d seen what it could do.

He straightened and tapped at a number on the screen. “Loop the signal back through the integrator, and keep the signal ramping up.”

Malcolm nodded and turned to his work station. He paused and looked at the Doctor over his shoulder.

“But by how much?”

“Target at nine o’clock!”

Both men flinched at the captain’s muffled words.

“Five hundred Bernards,” the Doctor growled, trying not to yell at the other man. “Do it now!”

A few gunshots fired outside as Malcolm typed in the command. The Doctor held his breath. If this worked… if only one had gotten through…

The image of the wormhole onscreen shifted, pulling closed and then disappearing like an old fashioned television signal.

“Yes!” Both men pumped their fists.

Malcolm spun around and wrapped his arms around the Doctor’s waist. “Oh. Oh. I love you.” He backed up, and his eyes shone. “I love you. I love you.”

The Doctor smiled awkwardly. He pointed at Malcolm, then quickly ducked out of the trailer.

oOoOo

The rest of the passengers stared blankly at the door after the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS. “Where is he going?” Christina asked. “I thought we came in here to hide from the storm.”

Rose rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the prickly feeling. She didn’t have the patience to explain that they weren’t on San Helios any longer, so she focused on explaining what the Doctor was doing. “That wormhole was caused by aliens. We need to make sure it closes so none of them can get through to Earth.”

“It’s always aliens,” Donna said.

Rose grinned at her. “You sound like your Gramps now.”

“Yes, hello,” Christina said. “Did you just say that aliens might be going to Earth? Are we going to be safe anywhere? Are we even safe in here?”

“The TARDIS is always safe,” Rose said without looking at her. “The hordes of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through those doors.”

Suddenly, the unfriendly feeling and the Doctor’s tension both disappeared at the same time. Rose took a deep breath and leaned on the console.

“What is it?” Angela asked.

“We can go outside now.”

Nathan and Barclay looked at each other, then at the door. None of the passengers moved. “Is it safe out there then?” Nathan asked.

Rose bit back a grin. “I think I can say it’s as safe as you’re used to,” she said, gesturing to the door.

Everyone exchanged looks, clearly not sure what to make of her comment. Finally, Barclay walked up the ramp past the Tritovore and opened the door.

“It’s London!” he exclaimed.

The Tritovore’s mandibles clicked rapidly as he tried to move out of the way of the four humans crowding up the ramp.

Rose swallowed a laugh when they all stood in the doorway, staring out at the familiar city. “We’re back home,” Angela said.

“You and the Doctor talked about driving,” Barclay continued, “but I was sort of distracted by the bigger on the inside ship.”

“You did it,” Nathan said to Rose. “You and the Doctor, you got us home just like you promised.”

Rose smiled. “Like I said, it’s as safe as you’re used to.” Relieved laughter echoed in the TARDIS as everyone stepped out into the street.

Donna stared at the woman still standing in the shadows of the console room. Lady Christina hadn’t stepped towards the door, and she had a feeling she knew why.

“Rose, we still have a passenger on board,” she said. “A human passenger,” she amended, glancing at the fly creature standing across the console from her.

Rose turned around and her eyebrows rose when she saw Lady Christina. “I spotted several members of the metropolitan police outside,” she said. “I don’t suppose they have anything to do with your hesitation to leave the TARDIS.”

Lady Christina shrugged and pushed her hair back over her ear. “I’m afraid they might not look too kindly on some of my recent actions.”

“We found a gold cup in her bag,” Donna said. “Lee said it’s the cup of Ethel something.”

“Æthelstan,” Lady Christina said primly.

Rose’s eyebrows lifted. “You’re a thief.” She looked Lady Christina over, taking in her expensive clothing. “But why? Don’t tell me you need the money.”

Lady Christina was suddenly all sad eyes and slumped shoulders. “Daddy lost everything. Invested his fortune in the Icelandic banks.”

“Oh, come off it!” Donna exploded.

Rose held her hand up. “No, if you want money, you rob a bank. Stealing from a major museum… that’s an adventure, a way of life.”

Lady Christina smirked at her. “I don’t think you can really talk about anyone else wanting a life of adventure,” she said, looking pointedly around the TARDIS. “Flying around in this little blue box, crashing into buses that go through wormholes and so many other things. We’re not really so different.”

Rose glared at her. There was some truth in those words, as galling as it was. “I never stole from anyone, though,” she pointed out.

“Maybe if I had a life like this, I wouldn’t either.”

Rose pursed her lips. Part of her wanted to march Lady Christina outside and hand her over to the Metropolitan Police. It was no less than she deserved.

But no matter how much Christina’s personality had grated on her, she still deserved a chance—just like everyone else she and the Doctor met.

Lee cleared his throat. “I think I know the p-p-perfect place for her,” he said. “Full of adventure, and they aren’t too picky about grey morals.”

Rose stared at him for a long moment before she caught what he was saying. “The Time Agency.”

Lee nodded. “I still know people. I could get her a spot in the t-t-training program.”

While Rose was mulling it over, Christina huffed. “Excuse me, you do realise I’m standing right here while you all decide my future.”

Donna glared at her. “Listen here, Posh Spice, you’re getting a better offer than you deserve. Shut your trap.”

Christina’s eyes glittered at the name, but she wisely did as she was told. That tiny bit of wisdom decided Rose.

“You have two choices, Christina. You can go through those doors right now and be arrested for your crimes.” She paused and watched Christina look warily at the door.

“Or, you can take Lee’s offer and join the Time Agency. It’s plenty of adventure and thrill, and not too much rule following.”

Christina shifted from one foot to the other. “What about the cup?” she asked finally.

Rose almost withdrew the offer at those selfish words, but she managed to rein in her temper. “Oh, the cup is going back to the museum no matter which option you choose.”

Christina scowled, but after a moment she nodded. “I suppose it’s the better option. Orange really is not my colour.”

Lee smiled, then looked at Rose. “My Vortex Manipulator is back in Cardiff. If you and the Doctor will drop us off at home, I can take Christina to her new life.”

Rose nodded, then held out her hand. “I’ll take the cup back now.”

Lady Christina sighed, but she pulled it out of the bag. “You wouldn’t believe what I went through to get that.”

Rose rolled her eyes, then walked out of the TARDIS. She could hear a UNIT officer telling all the passengers they would be screened and debriefed, but that didn’t concern her.

The Metropolitan Police were hovering near the group of passengers. One man in particular kept standing on his toes, straining to see everyone in line. “I’m looking for someone,” he told another UNIT officer. “A woman, with long dark hair.”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t seen her. You’ll have to wait behind the line, sir.”

“But she’s mine!”

Rose made her way towards him. “Are you looking for Lady Christina?” she asked.

He spun around. “Yes! Where is she? I know she was on that bus, I saw her.”

Rose bit her lip. “I’m sorry, she didn’t make it back. But,” she went on quickly before he could launch into a rant, “I did find this in her bag. I hope this helps.”

She held out the cup, which he took and passed off to a subordinate without looking at it. “I didn’t want the cup; I wanted her. Where is she? She can’t get away from me this time.”

“I told you, sir, she isn’t in London. She’ll never be in London again.” Strictly speaking, it was the truth. The TARDIS was its own dimension; inside the ship, Christina wasn’t exactly in London.

By this time, the rest of the passengers had taken notice of their conversation. “That’s right,” Barclay said. “All of us left that ship together. You saw us.”

For a moment, Rose thought the police officer would storm into the TARDIS and search her. Finally he spun around and walked off in a huff.

oOoOo

The Doctor wasn’t alone when Rose spotted him. Rose studied the UNIT officer as they approached; she was familiar, somehow.

“Doctor, Ms Tyler, I salute you whether you like it or not.”

“We’ve met before,” Rose said, and the memory snapped into place. “On the Valiant. You were part of the team that came to debrief everyone after the Master’s death.”

Erisa nodded, a slight smile on her face. “And I know from that encounter not to ask if you’ll help with the paperwork.”

The Doctor laughed. “Well remembered, Captain.”

Erisa nodded. “Now, I take it we’re safe from those things? I did hear that you lost a passenger.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows rose and he looked at Rose. “Did we?”

She shook her head. “We’re helping someone relocate and start a new life. The Metropolitan Police wouldn’t understand.”

“Ah,” Erisa said. “Yes, he’s been quite insistent that one of your passengers belonged to him. But the creatures?” she asked again, focusing on the part of the story that concerned UNIT.

The Doctor shrugged. “They’ll start again. Generate a new doorway. It’s not their fault, it’s their natural life cycle.”

“But we’ll do what we can to sort of guide the wormholes to uninhabited planets,” Rose added.

Two familiar figures caught the Doctor’s eye, distracting him. “Yeah… Closer to home, Captain,” he said, pointing at them. “Those two lads. Very good in a crisis. Nathan needs a job; Barclay’s good with engines. You could do a lot worse. Privates Nathan and Barclay, UNIT’s finest.”

Captain Magambo glanced over at the two young men and nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.” She snapped another salute. “Till we meet again, Doctor.”

“I hope so.”

The Doctor held out his hand and smiled when Rose took it. So, we have a new passenger do we? he asked as they walked home.

Rose shook her head. Lee is going to take her to the Time Agency to train. In his words, they provide the adventure she’s looking for and won’t mind if her morals are more grey.

The Doctor chuckled. “That works,” he agreed. “Though I don’t envy her recruit training.”

They were almost back to the TARDIS when Carmen called out to them. “Rose?”

They both turned and the Doctor smiled at Carmen. His smile faded when she regarded them soberly.

“You and the Doctor take care now.”

“You too,” Rose said. “Keep playing the lottery and enjoying every moment of your life.”

Carmen shook her head. “No, but you be careful. The wolf’s song, it doesn’t change—but change is coming.” She looked at the Doctor. “When there are two of you, that’s when it will happen.”

She nodded again, then she and Lou walked away.

oOoOo

If Donna and Lee noticed that the Doctor and Rose were more subdued than usual, they didn’t say anything. They waited patiently while the Doctor and Rose first took the Tritovore back to his home world.

That’s one good thing from this trip at least, the Doctor told Rose. We managed to save someone.

And the Earth, she reminded him.

He nodded, but she felt his telepathic shrug. That wasn’t enough to make up for whatever was bothering him, apparently.

She sat back and watched as he flew them back to Cardiff to drop off Lee, Donna, and Christina. As soon as the doors were shut, he slammed the dematerialisation lever with a force that had the TARDIS whistling in indignation.

Carmen’s words were humming in both of their minds so loudly that neither of them needed to say them out loud. Change is coming.

Change was the one constant in their life, but somehow, this sounded different. “What do you think she meant?” Rose asked finally.

The Doctor sighed and leaned his head back against the console. “Oh, we’ll probably meet another one of my regenerations at some point. It’s an inevitability, really. It’s surprising it doesn’t happen more often, as much as I used to hang out in London.”

Rose shook her head. “Doctor.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know.” His voice was harsh, and he took a deep breath. “I don’t know, Rose, and it honestly terrifies me. The last time we got a cryptic message about the future, it turned out to mean the Master was still around. I know it can’t be that, but—”

Rose shook her head. “That wasn’t the last time,” she disagreed. “The last time was the Pyrovile telling us that Mickey was coming back.”

The Doctor pressed his tongue to the rough of his mouth. “I forgot about that,” he admitted. “Okay, so mysterious messages about the future don’t always refer to something bad. Though I should point out, in the broader context, that message was about Davros trying to end reality as we know it.”

“That change would have been bad,” Rose agreed. “But Mickey was coming back so it wouldn’t happen. So maybe this change… whatever it is, maybe it’s going to happen so other bad things won’t?”

Rose held her breath as those words hung in the air. There was something there, some truth she’d landed on without knowing it.

The Doctor scrubbed his hands over his face, and she realised he hadn’t felt that shiver in the timelines. “Hey,” she said softly, taking his hands. “We’re gonna be all right, me and you. Yeah?”

At the same time, she reached out telepathically and tugged at his anxiety, slowly helping him unravel it the way he helped her. Finally, he let out a shuddering breath and pulled her into his arms.

Rose sighed and rested her head on his chest. The Doctor pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then whispered a single word.

“Forever.”

#ficandchips #doctorroseprompts #ten x rose #cq's fic: forever timeless #series: being to timelessness #in which the day is saved #and predictions are made #and feelings are had #and maybe a few teensy easter eggs pointing to the end of the story #outside of the predictions that is

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acacia-may · 2 years

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Melting Snowman

Description: 9-year-old Langris Vaude has never liked the cold and would much rather spend his winter days curled up inside by the fire. Thanks to his snow-loving brother and cousin, however, Langris finds himself roped into a day of snowman building, snowball fights, and snow angels. But maybe that isn’t the worst thing ever...

Rating: G

No Warnings Only Fluff Here!

Fandom: Black Clover

Genre: Family Fluff

Characters: Langris Vaude, Finral Roulacase, & their cousin Alina (a lovely OC belonging to @delirious-donna who requested this story)

Part of the Friendsgiving Event 2022 Series, But Stands Alone

Word Count: 2,596

Link to original post on AO3.

Note: All OCs belong to Donna without whom this event would not be possible. Thank you dear! I hope you like this! 💖

Langris frowned and ruffled his hand across his head, trying to shake out some of the snow that gotten caught in his hair. He should have worn a hat rather than earmuffs, but he wasn’t about to leave his brother and cousin alone in the snowy garden to go switch them out. Alina was only six, after all, and even though Finral would be eleven next month, he still acted like he was only six. Who knew what kind of trouble they’d get up to if he wasn’t around?

“Wow! It’s so pretty!” Alina’s eyes widened with wonder as she flittered around the snowy garden making trails of footprints.

“You almost don’t want to step in it and mess it up,” added Finral, his warm breath making a cloud in the icy air as he talked. The heavy snowfall had lightened to a soft sprinkle of snowflakes that tumbled around in the air getting caught in scarves, mittens, and—frustratingly enough—hair. Langris huffed and crossed his arms.

“Maybe we shouldn’t and should just go back inside.” He couldn’t stand the cold, and they’d only end up getting wet and possibly even sick from being out here. Sure, it was pretty enough, but couldn’t they just enjoy it from the indoors where it was warm?

“Oh, come on, Langris. It will be fun!” said Finral, draping an arm over his shoulders. Langris wrinkled his nose and bristled—shaking free from his brother. If he had learned anything in his nine years, it was that he and Finral had vastly different ideas of what was ‘fun.’

Before he could begin to protest, however, Alina slipped her gloved hand into his and smiled up at him with rosy cheeks and a chapped-red nose. “Please Langris. Let’s play!”

Frowning, Langris crossed his arms, but he twisted his mouth to one side as his cousin stared up at him expectantly. He wrinkled his nose and sighed. “Alright, but only for a little while. Then we should go warm up inside by the fire.”

His advice seemed to go unheaded, however, as his brother began immediately gathering snow into a large sphere chuckling, “I know—let’s build a snowman!”

“Yay! Can I help?” asked Alina practically bouncing up and down.

“Of course!” he said with an enthusiastic nod. “You too, Langris.”

Langris huffed. “I don’t—” he began to say, but he stopped as he watched Alina’s face light up as Finral used his spatial portals to stack the spheres of snow that they had gathered into the body of their snowman. Her eyes were wide with wonder, and she had never looked so happy. Langris twisted his mouth again. Alright fine… “Maybe we can use branches for its arms…” he suggested as he went to gather some sticks that had fallen from some nearby trees.

Finral positively beamed at him before he added, “I can get some buttons for its eyes too.”

“And a carrot nose?” Alina suggested with a bright smile.

Nodding excitedly, Finral pulled a carrot and a handful of buttons out of a portal followed by a red scarf. “A scarf too. So he won’t get cold.”

Langris crossed his arms with a huff. “He’s a snowman. How is he going to get cold?”

As Finral merely shrugged his shoulders, Alina said, “Snow is cold, and he’s made of snow so he’s cold too, right?” Langris blinked. He couldn’t quite argue with what his cousin had said, but he still didn’t think it made that much sense.

His brother, of course, was no help and suggested, “Maybe he needs a hat too” before pulling one out of a portal and handing it to Alina. Alina nodded very seriously before she triumphantly put it on the snowman’s head. As she took a step back to admire their work, she tilted her head.

“Can we make another one? So the snowman won’t be lonely and will have someone to play with?”

“Of course. How about a snowlady?” Finral chuckled. “They can be the Lord and Lady Snowman.”

“Or a snow prince and a snow princess!” suggested Alina as she started to gather snow for the snowlady. Langris didn’t think the snowlady looked much different than the snowman, but Alina insisted she was much prettier and Finral, naturally, agreed.

As they put the finishing touches on the snow princess, Finral bowed to their snow people with a gracious, “Your Highnesses” which caused Alina to burst into giggles. His brother looked ridiculous, but Langris’ mouth still twitched in the corners before he frowned again.

“This is silly…” he began to say even as he twisted branches together into a crown of sorts for the snow princess, but Alina cut him off, chuckling behind her gloved hands.

“Look, Langris is frowning just like the snowman.”

“Langris is an awful lot like our snowman isn’t he?” Finral teased.

Flushing, Langris crossed his arms and frowned. He supposed his brother had a point, though Langris would never admit that Finral was actually right about something, of course. Langris scowled as his brother smiled at him. “It’s better than being a soft marshmallow like you,” he huffed with a tint of pink in his cheeks.

Finral, however, just laughed. “Marshmallows are warm—which means I can melt you.” Playfully, he flung his arms around him and pulled him into a hug—even as Langris bristled and wriggled, his cheeks blushing an embarrassing red all the while.

“I can too!” exclaimed Alina also wrapping her arms around him. Despite the warmth in his face, Langris frowned and rolled his eyes.

“Is it working?” chuckled Finral.

“No,” Langris blustered. “Now would you two just knock it off? You’re both ridiculous.” He shook free of his brother and his cousin’s hugs with a pointed glare at each of them that only seemed to cause Finral and Alina to giggle.

“Maybe we should just settle for making one of them smile?” Finral suggested with a bright smile of his own. As Langris glowered at him, Alina laughed harder. “It’ll probably be easier to make the snowman smile, huh?” his brother teased as he pulled a few buttons out of a portal and added them to the snowman’s mouth so it curved in the corners.

“But we can make Langris smile too, right?” asked Alina, blinking back at him with earnest eyes.

His brother’s eyes seemed to twinkle playfully before his brow furrowed thoughtfully. “It might be really hard, but I think I have an idea of how we can do that...”

Langris bristled, but he tilted his head almost haughtily at his brother. “Oh really?” he asked with a dry sarcasm. “And just how do you plan on—?”

He didn’t get to finish his question, however, as in the flash of a spatial portal and movements too quick for him to keep up with, Finral had hit him square in the back with a snowball. Alina laughed and clapped her hands as Langris glared pointedly at his brother who was stifling laughter. “Oh, do you want to have a snowball fight? Is that it?” he huffed, crossing his arms. Finral could no longer contain his laughter, and Langris shook his head slightly, wrinkling his nose. He debated whether or not he should stoop to his brother’s level and start a snowball fight like a child. He was nine years old and a proper noble boy after all—too dignified for such things, but when Finral threw another snowball at him, he scrambled to his knees and started making snowballs to throw right back at him.

“Eep!” exclaimed Alina, and Langris stopped. He blinked guiltily at the splotches of snow on her coat, evidence that the poor girl had gotten caught in the crossfire.

“Are you okay?” Langris asked, but Alina just giggled and threw her own snowball at him—a small one that mostly fell apart in the air, Langris noticed, but it was a start. His mouth began to curve into a smile. The one she threw at his brother was much better.

It wasn’t long before the trio were running around the yard—squealing and giggling as they threw snowballs at each other. Finral and Alina were positively beaming despite being cold and wet, and even Langris himself couldn’t quite stop the smile that tugged at his lips when he managed to hit Finral square in the back of the head when he wasn’t looking. His older brother shook the snow out of his hair and began chasing him around the garden—eventually running into him and an unfortunate Alina who just so happened to be nearby. They all landed in a laughing heep on the snowy ground.

As Langris shook himself free, he laid back and stared up at the snowflakes falling from the sky. It really was pretty, he thought, even if it was cold. He threw out his arms and, surprising even himself, waved them back and forth in the snow.

“Snow angels! That’s a great idea, Langris!” said Finral as he and Alina began making their own angel patterns in the snowy ground.

Langris shrugged, but the tips of his ears turned pink. “Well, I just thought since we were already on the ground anyway…”—he frowned—”thanks to you…”

Chuckling lightly, Finral rubbed his hand across the nape of his neck. “Sorry about that…”

“It’s okay. It was fun!” Alina insisted before she sighed and sank even deeper into the snow. “Can we always do this—whenever it snows? Even when we grow up?”

Sitting up, Langris shook some of the excess snow off of him and crossed his arms, “We’ll look silly if we play in the snow when we’re grown ups.”

“But we’ll have fun,” insisted Finral. As Langris frowned, his brother chuckled but nudged him, “Admit it, you had fun today!”

Langris’ cheeks grew hot. “No.”

“That’s a lie. You smiled,” teased Alina. Langris crossed his arms with a huff, but he could feel that flush of red in his cheeks. That seemed to be enough for Finral and Alina who both laughed with triumphant smiles on their faces. Wrinkling his nose, Langris glowered at them. His cousin and his brother were ridiculous.

“Let’s go in,” he said standing up and turning to head back into the house. “I’m getting cold.”

“But I want to play more,” pleaded Alina. Finral, however, put a gentle hand on her shoulder before standing up himself—brushing snow off of his coat and hair. “I think Langris has a good idea. It’s getting really cold out here, and it’s going to be dark soon too.” Alina’s face fell, and Finral added hurriedly, “But don’t worry, we can definitely do this again someday. Right, Langris?”

Finral turned to him—blinking with his widest puppy-dog eyes. Langris crossed his arms before Alina scampered up from the ground and ran after him begging, “Please. Please, Langris!” Her pleading eyes met his, and he bristled as she took his gloved hand. As Finral threw in a few “Please”s of his own, Langris felt that warmth in his cheeks again despite his best attempts to frown. He shook his head slightly, but his mouth twitched just barely in the corners. They really were so ridiculous…

“Maybe,” he conceded at last to jubilant cheers from Finral and Alina that only made his blush deepen. “But I’m not making any promises…”

*-*-*

Epilogue:

From between the archways, Langris watched the snowflakes swirling around in the air—a constant, gentle shower that added a fluffy, powdery coat to the already snow-covered garden. Langris sighed. He had never liked the winter weather, even as a child, but his dislike had only grown stronger as he aged and collected a slew of injuries from his years as a magic knight that had the awful habit of aching in the cold, despite having been long-healed. He supposed that was a good excuse, but most of his dislike for the snow was just due to personal preference for curling up next to the fire in a cocoon of blankets rather than catching snowflakes like his brother and cousin were doing now.

If Langris was being honest, they looked rather silly running around and playing in the snow at their age, but Langris supposed he could let it slide, if only because it was for their families. Finral was laughing—running around after his giggling children and Lina’s girls as well while they dodged in and out of the bushes and trees in a flurry of snowballs and spatial portals. Langris shook his head at the dissonant chorus of laughter and playful “Dad!” s, “Uncle Finral!” s and “I’m going to get you!” s. His mouth twitched in the corners. His dumb brother.

“Aren’t you going to play too?” teased Alina as she walked over to him.

Langris sighed. “I think you and Finral have it covered.”

“Oh come on, Langris, it’ll be fun!” she insisted with a playfully pleading face.

“You and I have never really agreed on what ‘fun’ is, Lina,” he said with a tilt of his head.

Alina crossed her arms. “You promised me that we’d still play together in the snow even when we were all grown up.”

“I made no such promise,” he insisted. “In fact, I distinctly remember saying that I wasn’t going to make any promises.”

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud,” called Finral who had paused to catch his breath and to scoop up his youngest who had lost his hat in all of the running around.

Huffing, Langris crossed his arms. Before he could say anything in retort, however, Finral portaled over to them, draping an arm around both Langris and Alina. “Come on, Langris. For old times’ sake.”

Turning from his brother to his cousin, Langris frowned pointedly. “It’s not fair that you’ve ganged up on me like this. I’m not going to—” He stopped as he felt a tiny gloved hand slip into his. His brow furrowed. “Sera?”

Seraphina was Lina’s youngest, and even though she was only his cousin, he considered her as much his niece as any of Finral’s children. As she had been the baby of the extended family for the past couple of years, everyone had quite the soft spot for her, even Langris who couldn’t help but see her mother in her—especially as she stared up at him with familiar wide eyes and begged, “Please play.”

“Yes, please play ‘Uncle Langris,’” echoed her mother who blinked at him with much the same expression in her eyes.

“How can you say no to that?” said Finral as he playfully shook some of the snow out of his hair and onto Langris’ coat. Langris glared at him, but his mouth twitched in the corners as his brother’s attention was pulled away by the delighted squeals of his children. Turning back to Sera, Langris quirked an eyebrow and held a finger to his lips before he gathered some nearby snow as quickly as he could—throwing it at Finral when he wasn’t looking.

Gasping, Finral whipped around towards Langris as he shook the snow off in mock offense. “That was a cheap shot,” he protested, but a beaming smile spread across his entire face.

Alina burst into laughter, and Sera giggled—shouting, “Run!” as she took off towards her sister and cousins.

Langris twisted his mouth. “Alright fine,” he conceded with a slight shrug of his shoulders before he smirked at his brother and took off after his niece. After all, what was a little cold to a melting snowman?

#friendsgiving event #spatial mage brothers #black clover fanfiction #Langris Vaude #finral roulacase #fluff #writing requests #thank you for reading #black clover writing requests #black clover writing requests event

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thebreakfastgenie · 1 year

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For the WIP list game, tell me about all or any of your TWW fics! Bonus for 'donna moss fic 2' because that is one hundo how I name my files.

this got real long so I put it under a cut

so donna moss fic 2 is called that because many years ago I had a fic called "donna moss fic" that was supposed to be quick and ended up being 10k and taking like six months. that fic became Start Over. then in 2020 I watched the When We All Vote Special and two things happened. one, I rewatched the show and landed back in the fandom after drifting away because I basically could not watch it while Trump was in office. two, I noticed a detail in Hartsfield's Landing I had never really paid a lot of attention to before. Josh says the Flenders took Donna in and fed her, and that she was pretty pathetic. I realized this was in New Hampshire, probably right after she joined the campaign the first time. I once spent a night with volunteers who housed campaign workers, and I thought that would be a really fun story to tell about Donna.

and somehow this turned into doing the Donna campaign backstory fic, again. the full title is "donna moss fic 2?? why are we doing this" because why the hell I would that fic again after what I went through the first time, I don't know. but I do know. I can do it better now. it's not a rewrite of Start Over, it's an alternate version. some things are very similar and a few lines are exactly the same, but there are some differences. I revised the timeline and geography, for one thing. this fic drove me to the brink of actual insanity (it was lockdown time to be fair) trying to figure out the fictional presidential primary schedule. I also checked the actual color of the "Welcome to New Hampshire" sign in person (I was going there anyway lol).

the idea is that each chapter is a state Donna goes to, either with the campaign or on her own. there's a prologue about the end of her drive to New Hampshire, which is the only part that is strictly speaking "written." the chapters are New Hampshire, South Carolina, maybe South Dakota depending on if I think it needs another campaign chapter for pacing, Illinois, California, Wisconsin, New Hampshire (reprise) and probably an epilogue in DC, tying together the information we have from In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, 17 People, and Hartsfield's Landing.

when I wrote Start Over I kind of side-stepped the issue of Josh's father's death and this time I am attacking it head on. I should probably keep this to myself for maximum impact, but oh well, it'll be long enough for you to forget. the idea this time around is that she tries to leave before Josh gets back from his father's funeral, but he comes back early because of course he does and catches her in the act. I have a very heartbreaking scene planned. this is not a Josh/Donna fic because I can't stand pre-series J/D, but like most of what I write, it's written with the idea that these people do fall in love and get together a few years down the road. it's about the beginning of their friendship, with a few charged moments, but it's more about Donna as a person. I'm also trying to pepper in some backstory of how she ended up with Dr. Freeride in the first place and why she feels enough loyalty to go back. the scene where she actually does come back is so vivid in my mind. I can hear the exact inflection of "thank god, there's a pile of stuff on the desk."

the planned epilogue is the first "anniversary" when Donna gets flowers from Josh for the first time. I thought about folding in an idea I had for the transition, where Josh is forced by Leo to give Donna a job interview as a formality, but I don't think that fits here so it'll be on its own whenever I get to it. obviously the main relationship Donna has at this point is with Josh, but I want to show the beginning of her friendships with the other senior staff, too.

the original first scene, before I decided to add a prologue, was going to be Josh dropping Donna at the Flenders' house for the night, having called in a favor since they don't have a hotel room for her. the Flenders proceed to freak her out by serving some kind of local New Hampshire dinner and a full breakfast at 5am. that will all still happen, of course. basically I want to fill in the gaps!

here's a bit of the prologue. I hate writing opening lines, and this is one of my favorites because it's the rare one I actually like:

In Massachusetts, she almost lost her nerve. The broken-hearted rage that had propelled her across six states faltered as she waited to merge onto I-495 and it occurred to her, finally, how crazy this was. She could get off at the next exit, turn the car around, and go home. She could stay with her parents, hold her head high, grit her her teeth through the humiliation. She could do exactly what everyone expected of her. A space appeared on the interstate; she nestled her dusty car between a shiny red sedan and an old silver van. Flying down the highway, she thought of the life she was leaving behind. Her dead-end job, her unfinished education, her tiny apartment, and him. She floored the gas, outrunning her doubts, her fears, her insecurities.

I will be doing strawberry fields in another ask but just a quick (lol) rundown of the other two west wing fics:

the ellsberg variant

the ellsberg variant is called that because it sounds cool but it's also descriptive. Daniel Ellsberg worked at the state department and leaked the pentagon papers (this is in the movie the post) and in retaliation a group of guys better known for other work broke into his psychiatrist's office and tore the place up. either they were just trying to intimidate him, or they were looking for his file to find embarrassing information and just didn't find it because they were incompetent (the other work was Watergate). so I thought, what if that happened to Josh, but they actually did just get pictures or copies of the file and leave without evidence?

so in my imagining, burglars break into a psychiatrist's office in Virginia or Maryland because they know there are high profile clients, and just get photos and copies of any files they can, to sell to whoever might be interested. the Republicans plan to use the information to embarrass Josh during the hearings, like they did with Leo, but Bartlet takes the censure deal before they get the chance, so they end up dumping it in a tabloid in order to damage Bartlet's re-election campaign with claims that his staff is mentally incompetent and he's too checked out with MS to notice (the headline is "Bartlet's Loony Bin").

the White House finds out when an advance copy is delivered by messenger in a brown envelope to CJ's office. they try to figure out who warned them and why, as well as what they can do about it. CJ enlists Danny to help (without giving him the full story, but he figures a lot out) and he finds out about the break-in, which was downplayed by the security company to avoid embarrassment, meaning the patients (including Josh) were never informed their records may have been compromised.

I'm not sure where exactly it goes from here. the first scene is the delivery of the envelope from Carol's POV. I might have Josh call Mandy in as a personal consultant (I just want to give Mandy real character development) and Amy will probably be involved in some way too. there's definitely a conversation where Josh is worried about the Oval Office incident being made public, and Leo assures him the four people who were there (Josh, Leo, Sam, Jed) won't tell anyone, Josh points out they already did, they told Stanley. Josh tries to resign, naturally, but Jed refuses to let him. I know it ends okay, I just don't know exactly how, or have the intrigue plot worked out. I do have a backstory for the person who sent them the advance copy: an employee at the tabloid who can't afford to quit her job, but thinks printing the story is wrong. her father is a Vietnam vet with PTSD and everything. I don't know if the White House staff ever find out who she is, but it might be fun to end with a flashback to her sending the advance. there's also some exploration of Josh's trust in his therapist being violated and where he goes from there.

don't be a hero

I wrote almost all of don't be a hero on notebook paper during psychology class in college and a couple years ago I finally typed up what I have. in theory it just needs an ending, but I can write so much better now, I started rewriting it, and just haven't gotten around to finishing it.

in 2008, President Santos is giving a speech at a university and presenting an award to a professor who has consulted with the White House on counterterrorism work, when a bomb goes off in the auditorium. The target was the professor, who is Muslim (there had been an Islamophobic hate crime in the news recently when I started this). Santos breaks his arm, Sam gets some cuts when a light falls on him, but the Secret Service does their job and gets them out of there. Josh had stepped out to call Lou, who is back at the White House working on a critical vote, and Donna had gone to get him. Donna hurts her foot and can't walk, so Josh helps her out, and on the way out he thinks he sees someone trapped. While Donna is talking to the paramedics, Josh runs back inside to look for the girl he thinks he saw.

the girl is real and he finds her and is able to unblock the door that was trapping her in, but inhales a lot of smoke in the process and passes out. the girl runs outside and tells the firefighters what happened, and they go in and pull Josh out. the scene has mostly been cleared at this point, but Sam is still looking for Josh, and end up identifying him to the first responders, which contributes to the ensuing media circus when it comes out that the White House Chief of Staff ran into a burning building. Josh wakes up in the hospital and gets chastised by Santos and Donna and also most of the Bartlet era staff via phone. Donna also has a talk with him about how she's proud, but she was terrified. He also has a nice visit with Amanda, the girl he saved.

When I finish the rewrite, I'm adding a storyline where the White House communications staff suggest trying to control what Amanda says to the press, and Josh insists that she's 19 years old and someone tried to kill her, so she can say whatever she wants, but asks CJ to come in and advise her on how to handle the press, for her own wellbeing. Danny also tells Josh he thinks the media attention on the rescue is going to dig up personal history and find out about Joanie, so he should consider making a statement. He tells Lou about Joanie for the first time in the process of preparing that, and Lou wonders why he never told her before.

I think it will end with Josh and Donna's wedding a couple months later.

#ty!!!!

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authortobenamedlater · 1 year

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@a2on1break this is for you because you sent me that ask last year asking about my long-abandoned Keeping Up With the Raptors stories and got me thinking about those characters I loved so much again.

I’ve had this written for a little bit and in the spirit of trying to get over that dumb hockey game last week, I’m gonna post it. I’m not sure if I’ll ever put this on AO3.

I’m also just slightly irked that Seattle got a hockey team before I could get this series any further along, LOL.

Before we get started: The Catholic/Protestant “argument” is some good-natured iron-sharpening-iron between friends. It’s not meant to be taken super seriously and I won’t entertain people getting mad about it or telling me how wrong I am.

“Ever think about what we’ll do when all this is over?”

Andor Ronningen raised an eyebrow at his defense partner.

“You must have thought about it,” Hank went on.

Andor looked past Hank to the clouds below. “Go back to Bergen, maybe.”

Hank put his Kindle down and faced Andor head on. “You went through all that trouble becoming an American citizen so you could go back to Norway?”

“You asked,” Andor harrumphed.

“You want to live where it’s winter six months out of the year? Nine feet of snow, always dark—”

“You’re from Colorado!”

“Yeah, and I don’t live there anymore.”

“I never said I was going back for good,” Andor clarified. “Just for a little while. You could come visit, you know.”

“That’s a great idea,” Hank said wryly. “Put my wife and our six children on a 24-hour plane ride.”

“Donna and Ashley are basically adults.”

“Basically adults who still rely on me and Katie to pay for the very air they breathe.”

Andor rolled his eyes. “All right, what are you going to do when all this is over, you little ray of sunshine?”

Hank seemed to think. “Maybe I’ll go to law school after all.”

Andor snorted. “Really?”

“Yeah, why not? My LSAT scores are probably still good.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Andor chuffed. “It’s only been…twenty years?”

“Nineteen,” Hank corrected pointedly.

“Yes, that one year makes such a difference.”

“Hey, you were gonna retire last year,” Hank said. “Now you’re about to play in another Cup Final. A year can make a lot of difference.”

Andor grunted. “Feeling every second of it.”

Hank sobered a little. “Me, too.”

“Gosh, Hank, we’re old.”

“We really are.”

“Did it hurt this much last year?” Andor asked.

“I don’t think I was this sore last year,” Hank answered.

“My knee still hurts from that fall in Minnesota last week.”

“You did go down pretty hard,” Hank mused.

“Don’t try to make me feel better about it. I did not go down that hard.” Andor paused. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Fine.”

“Are you lying?”

“Yup,” Hank deadpanned.

“Huh. If you were Catholic, you’d have to go to confession for that.”

“And that’s why I’m Protestant.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“You also still haven’t sold me on papal infallibility.”

“Are you really going there again?” Andor huffed.

“I’m just saying, I’m not sold.”

Andor chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll keep working on you.” He gave Hank an almost fond smile. “Maybe I’ll bring you back to the fold by next year.”

“Or maybe I’ll bring you over to the light.”

Andor glared playfully. “Don’t bet on it.”

“Well,” Hank picked up his Kindle. “A year can make a lot of difference.”

For anyone who read this far: Hank and Andor were 41 and 43, I think? I’d have to go back through the stories. But they are old by hockey standards and like to play up their grumpy old defensemen act.

That doesn’t seem as old now as it did when I started this series 12 years ago.

#original fiction #hockey #original fiction by atbnl

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arrowverse-next-gen · 2 years

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Late Night Gang

It was a Saturday afternoon and Q was stuck at the clinic doing routine check-ups on the kids that had come in two weeks ago after a soccer incident. Three sprained ankles and one broken toe. Everyone should be fine by now, but he received a call from the team mom of the week telling him that if they didn’t have a clear from the doctor then they couldn’t play their championship game that following Sunday. He wasn’t going to work on a Saturday, but he figured he could waste a few hours in his office before taking off to the Queen mansion for the monthly extended family dinner.

The kids had already come and gone, leaving him bored for the remaining five hours of his shift. He talked with Amber for about 45 minutes and then locked himself away in his office to play games on his phone until someone came in needing attention.

Eventually there was a knock on his door and it opened before he even had a chance to pretend to be working. Luckily, it was just Amber.

“You have company,” she told him, moving out of the way to reveal Ashton behind her. She walked off back down the hall as he stood up from his desk to greet his girlfriend.

“What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” His concern came out immediately in tone and facial expression as his brows furrowed. She usually didn’t visit him at work despite the two of them being together for almost a decade now.

“I need to talk to you about tonight,” she told him, waving off his concern and grabbing his hand to pull him back over to his desk since he was already halfway through his office by the time she made it in the door.

“Dinner or something else?” He asked, taking a seat on his desk and crossing his arms loosely.

She sat down in the chair in front of him. “Are we going to tell your family about–” she gestured around her stomach. She was wearing one of his sweaters with stripes on it, deciding it was the best choice when trying to hide the small bump forming underneath it.

He stared down at the sweater for a few seconds, then shook his head as he met her gaze again. “No…” he tilted his head slightly, questioning his own words before sitting up straighter and giving her a more confident head shake. “No, we can wait a little longer, I think.”

“So we’re going with the second trimester for sure?” She looked up at him as if this is a decision they had made previously and she was double checking. They had never explicitly said that they would wait until the first few months went by before revealing anything, but he knew his family and he felt like they should get by the more uncertain parts of a pregnancy before telling anyone.

The last thing either of them wanted was to be drowning in baby things before she reached 5 weeks.

“I mean, that’s up to you. We don’t see them that often–”

“We go to your uncle’s house for dinner every month,” she reminded him, her tone sweet but confused.

He took a minute to process the information that he already knew, scratched at the stubble he was starting to grow that he hadn’t had a chance to shave yet, and shrugged. “We could skip a few dinners.”

“Quincy!” She laughed, standing up to meet his eye level easier. “We’re going to have to tell them at some point.”

“Maybe we should dry run it,” he suggested, taking her hands into his own and looking down at the engagement ring on her finger. He never bought her a wedding band to match. They got married six years ago and he never got her a wedding band. He had a ring that his grandfather had given him, but she didn’t have a wedding band because she refused to take the one Donna was offering. He wondered if she would take it now that they’ve been together longer.

He brought his train of thought back to the situation at hand and looked up at her face. “We tell your parents you’re pregnant.”

“I don’t think that’ll fly with them,” she shook her head, a smile on her face.

“No?” He mimicked her smile and head shake.

“No.”

“Ah, well…” he let go of her hands and leaned back a bit on the desk, using one of his hands to hold himself up. “I guess they’ll just have to come see us in labor and delivery.”

“Mine or yours?” She took a step back and raised her brows.

“Flip a coin.”

“Quincy, you have to tell them. Your family is a lot closer than mine is. I’ve not seen my parents in two years, I’ve not spoken to them in one.”

“We should fix that. I have the perfect ice breaker–”

“Is there something you’re afraid of?”

“Always,” he answered without hesitation, sitting back up. She stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He didn’t plan to, but felt now he had no other choice.

“I come from a big family, and there is a lot of love, but there is a lot of attention I don’t want and a lot of advice I don’t want right now, and they make a big deal out of getting an A on a math test. I’ve seen Eliza go through like two different pregnancies, Quinn’s one... I don’t wanna go through that.”

“Lucky for you, you’ve done your part,” she joked.

“Not with the nursery, getting a bigger apartment, moving us into that bigger apartment with enough time to get you comfortable and get a nursery set up–”

“So… You’re waiting because you want to procrastinate?”

“I want my family to see that I am capable of thinking of these things on my own and therefore do not need a constant reminder that there is going to be a child that depends on me in about… six months.”

“So we tell them after we move?”

“If we can hide it that long, yes,” he nodded. She looked down at her stomach as he took her hand and pulled her closer again. “But… If you want to tell them now. We can do that too.”

“You don’t want them in your business–”

“I’ll tell them to fuck off,” he shrugged, dropping his head down to meet her eyes and not taking his off of hers once he found them. “You want the support system, you’re entitled to that support system. But the warning is there, once they know, there’s no off switch.”

“Can we think about telling them next month?” She asked, looking for the best compromise for the both of them. He nodded. “Okay… We’ll do this again next month.”

“More emotionally, I imagine,” he nodded, bringing his head back up as she did the same with hers. She glared at him and he leaned back. “Hormones. Strictly because of Coffee Bean there, not because you’re emotional.”

She laughed and shook her head before leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss. “I’ll see you at home.”

“See you tonight.”

#a proper lil story for you guys #gotta get back into this #q lance #ashton palmer #late night gang #arrowverse next gen

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denimbex1986 · 6 months

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'After more than 13 years off our screens, one of the Doctor's most beloved companions is returning to Doctor Who - Donna Noble, as played by Catherine Tate.

Donna first appeared in the 2006 episode Doomsday, and went on to become a fan favourite, before having one of the most tragic fates of any of the Doctor's companions.

She is now set to return in The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle, three specials to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary, which also see David Tennant returning, this time as the Fourteenth Doctor.

But just what did happen during Donna's previous tenure on the show? How did she come into the Doctor's life and how was she so cruelly snatched away from it?

Read on for everything you need to know about what has happened to Donna Noble in Doctor Who thus far.

How did Donna first meet the Doctor?

Catherine Tate's Donna Noble first appeared at the end of Doctor Who's season 2 finale, Doomsday, when she suddenly appeared in the TARDIS wearing a wedding dress.

In The Runaway Bride, we found out that the temp from Chiswick had been getting married on Christmas Day, to man called Lance, who she'd met six months ago at work.

Together, the Doctor and Donna discovered that she had been drawn to the TARDIS because of a chemical reaction in her body, caused by Huon particles she had unwittingly ingested in liquid form.

She was being poisoned by her Lance, who was working with the Empress of the Racnoss. A ship full of her Racnoss children was buried at the centre of the Earth, after the planet formed around them Millenia ago.

The particles were intended to set them free, but the Doctor flooded the pit, stopping the Empress's plans. Donna saved him when it seemed he wouldn't leave, and would be trapped inside and drowned. Lance, meanwhile, was killed by the Empress.

The Doctor offered Donna the opportunity to travel with him, but she said that she couldn't live his life of danger and adventure. She planned to travel the world, and the two thought they would never see each other again. How wrong they were...

How did Donna and the Doctor reunite?

Over a year later, in the episode Partners in Crime, we learned that Donna had never properly travelled the world, and had instead spent a lot of her time searching for the Doctor, looking to take him up on his offer.

Through a series of coincidences (and a mystery to solve) the pair were reunited to stop Miss Foster's plans to use the Earth as an Adipose breeding ground.

Donna told the Doctor she had changed her mind and off they went, travelling through time and space.

Throughout their following adventures, the Doctor would notice a host of coincidences which seemed to be drawing the pair together. He overlooked them, but they would soon pay off in a big way.

Why did Donna stop travelling in the TARDIS?

In Journey's End, the season 4 finale, things seemed hopeless. The Earth had been stolen by the Daleks and placed in a pattern with 16 other planets to create a Reality Bomb, which cancelled out the electrical field binding atoms, destroying anything in its path. Davros planned to use it destroy the entire universe.

A Dalek had also shot the Doctor, causing him to begin the regeneration process. However, after healing himself entirely but before changing his appearance, he had siphoned the remaining energy off into his spare hand, which had been cut off by the leader of the Sycorax during a battle on Christmas Day years before (as seen in The Christmas Invasion).

He had grown another hand at the time, as he was still recovering from his previous regeneration, and the spare hand had been collected by Captain Jack Harkness.

In the aftermath of the half-regeneration, the Daleks captured the TARDIS, containing the Doctor, Donna, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack, and brought it aboard their ship.

As they exited the TARDIS, Donna found herself momentarily drawn back into it by the sound of a heartbeat. Then, the doors slammed shut.

The Daleks then plummeted the TARDIS into the heart of their ship, The Crucible, intending to destroy it, with Donna left inside.

However, when all seemed lost, Donna found herself drawn to the Doctor's spare hand. She touched it and a regeneration light enveloped both her and it. The hand burst from its cage and out of it grew another Doctor! The new Doctor transported the TARDIS to safety, but the others thought it destroyed.

The new Doctor revealed that when Donna had touched his hand, she had created a biological metacrisis, from which he had grown. He was also influenced by Donna, picking up some of her voice, and only had one heart, revealing him to be half human, half Time Lord. The Doctor theorised this had been somehow destined from the beginning.

Later, the new Doctor and Donna revealed themselves to the others, and Donna was zapped with electrical energy by Davros. This unlocked regeneration energy, which had fed back into her and made Donna half human, half Time Lord as well - the DoctorDonna.

She now had some of the Doctor's voice and his intelligence, and using her own human initiative and newfound smarts was able to stop Davros and the Daleks' plans.

It was revealed that this had all been influenced by Dalek Caan, a rogue Dalek who had saved Davros but had since become disillusioned with him and the entire Dalek race. He had therefore manipulated the timelines to ensure Donna was always in the right place at the right time for this to happen.

With the Daleks stopped, the Doctor and Donna returned the planets to their rightful places and dropped all of his friends back home. They also left the new Doctor in a parallel world, with Rose.

Then, tragedy struck. As Donna started to repeat her words and struggle to get her thoughts together, the Doctor revealed the truth - that the reason there had never been a human-Time Lord metacrisis before was because it wasn't possible. The information inside her head was too much and it was burning her up.

In order to save her life, the Doctor had to wipe Donna's memories; not just of the metacrisis, but of himself, the TARDIS and all of their adventures together.

The Doctor dropped her back at home with her grandad Wilf and her mum Sylvia, and told them that they had to stop her from remembering at all costs - if she ever remembered him or anything they did together, her mind would burn and she would die.

He said goodbye to Donna as he left, but she didn't have any sense of who he was.

When did we last see Donna?

We picked up again with Donna some time later, in the Tenth Doctor's swan song, The End of Time Parts 1 and 2.

In those episodes, Wilf was being plagued by visions, and so set up a group of friends to search for the Doctor, while Donna was planning for her second wedding, this time to a man named Shaun Temple.

Wilf managed to find the Doctor, but he warned again that Donna must not remember. Wilf went on to aid the Doctor in a new fight against the Master.

As the Master set his plan into motion to turn every human into him, Donna, along with Wilf, was one of the only ones who didn't, but she started to remember her adventures.

Her mind started to overload, but it turned out the Doctor had left her with a defence mechanism, which allowed her to wipe out some of the Masters in close range and then fall asleep, forgetting all that she had started to remember.

After facing off against the Time Lords and the Master, and seeing the human race reverted back to normal, Wilf signalled the Doctor's demise with four knocks.

The Doctor saved Wilf from a radiation chamber which was about to get flooded, but in doing so took it on himself, meaning he would soon die.

However, he took the opportunity for a series of goodbyes, including visiting Donna and Shaun's wedding. There, out of sight from Donna, he gifted her, via Sylvia and Wilf, with a lottery ticket he had bought in the past, using money given to him by Donna's late father.

With a final salute from Wilf, the Doctor left, and never saw Donna again. That is, until The Star Beast...'

#Catherine Tate #Donna Noble #The Runaway Bride #Partners in Crime #Journey's End #The Star Beast #Doomsday #Wild Blue Yonder #The Giggle #60th Anniversary #Doctor Who #David Tennant #The Christmas Invasion #Davros #Captain Jack Harkness #The End of Time Parts 1 & 2 #Sylvia #Wilfred Mott

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