#it's an au from campervan part 2

[puffins-studio]

Campervan AU🪐⭐️🌙 🔥

I think we know I can get obsessed with an idea and have a tendency to go over the top. And here is an example with me being obsessed with the campervan AU by the lovely @picnokinesis ! I had so much fun doings this! And thinking what details too add!

I made the doctor, and then my brain was like ‘it’s dangerous to go alone take this’ and so I made Koschei I know he just make it more dangerous But I also love the Master. Then I was like 👀 I want to try something and as I made my way listening to each part with my screen reader I made some props! I also had to be a bit silly as when else would you make a little kazoo and spoon, who knows if you will need them! I also couldn’t help but try to sew the bag I saw in one of Taka’s drawings, I just thought it really was cute and I wanted to do the embroidery! i also wanted to try and sew a bag! And I just had to do a prop from the side AU! I also wanted to add the group picture at the end as I thought some other campervan fans may also like to see it ahaha

If you haven’t read this fic series yet. go read it, it’s very long but it so worth it!

Image description is under the cut as this got very long

[ID:There is a felt doll that is the shape of a gingerbread man with a big circle head, who is supposed to Picnokinesis’ 13 doctor she have on black converse, dark blue jeans, you can’t really see if but she have a binder on then a white shirt under 13’s purple stripe shirt, and a black leather jacket with a orange planet, yellow crescent moon, and a yellow star, on the upper right of the jacket. She have shoulder length, dirty blonde hair with brown root and her hair is behind her ears. And she have a scar above her ear on her left side. There also is Picnokinesis’ Koscehi He have light brown felt for skin, black hair with a fringe to his left, he have the staring of a beard. He have on black tried shoes, black pants, navy button shirt, and his purple coat with the golden inside. And golden beads for buttons. The first picture is of them together, then 2 and 3 are close ups of them. 4th picture is the doctor with a sidebag that have a little rocket and stars on the cover, she is sitting with a book that have the label ‘read me’ on the cover, and a notebook next to her feet that say Doctor and Master in Gallifreian. 5 is her sitting with the bag open, notebook inside, with the spoon and kazoo in her lap,6 is a close up of the bag, 7 is the doctor holding a match box and Koschei is next to her holding a lighter, 8 is them standing, 13 has the side bag on and the book open show to show sticky notes inside. And the last 9 is a group picture of bill, the doctor, and rose, and Jack.:ID

[picnokinesis]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Got tagged by the fantastic @wykart ahh thank you for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

32, most of which are Doctor Who!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

859,228!! (but it's gonna keep climbing until I finish posting part 6 of campervan sksk)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Pretty much just Doctor Who right now, but I have posted fics for Stargate Universe, Marvel and The Greatest Showman. And then I have written for other fandoms - most notably Venom, which I never posted anything for but I did get 40k into a multichapter one time.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In this order: Liminality, Tropospheric Disturbance, campervan part 1, watchfires and Renegades in the Ring (my TGS fic that I never finished, rip in pieces)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try and respond to comments!! Mostly because I love talking about my fics and also don't know when to shut up hahaha - but I also have some absolutely fantastic commenters who have such interesting things to say! And also like, idk I really appreciate people taking the time to comment, so I reckon it's polite to say thank you at least. The only time I don't reply to comments, mostly, is if it's a REALLY long comment and I just don't have the energy rip (but when that happens I definitely read and cherish the comment dearly haha)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh. MOST OF THEM RIP. I'm genuinely not sure because I always try and end my fics on a vaguely uplifting note. Maybe Campervan Part 4, simply because of all the uni-era angst? But tbh the ending of Part 6 is definitely a contender, now I think about it. Canon-fic wise, though.......hmm I think it's got to be notches in your spine, since that ends with the Doctor just straight up leaving the Master without warning sksksk

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hm. I think I'm gonna go with In the Wind for this one, which is hilarious since I wrote it THREE YEARS AGO, but it's a multi-chapter mid-series adventure that rounds itself off in a satisfying way, with everything being resolved nicely, so I think that's a decent contender!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Hm, no, other than people complaining about the show in an attempt to compliment my writing, but that's stopped for the most part since I got annoyed about it in my author's notes one time ksksks. I did get a weird comment recently that started out very complimentary but then turned really weird in a pretty upsetting way (and, frankly, it would have been very triggering if that sort of topic had been something that was something that affected me a lot? Luckily it wasn't, but the commenter did NOT know that). So I just deleted the comment because I didn't want that sort of thing in my comment section, especially when I know other readers comment lurk.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

No I'm sex-repulsed lol

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I wrote a crossover that was The Greatest Showman crossed with the X-Men Comics one time SKSKSKSKSK (and it was specifically the comics not the films, I did so much research on historical terminology for mutants HAHA) which was actually SO much fun - I never finished it, but I do think back on it very fondly. But I'd class that as more of an 'x-men au' rather than a crossover tbh, bc it was wholly focused on the TGS characters.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't believe so

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! We never finished it LOL

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Currently spydoc, but this will probably change. I have a MASSIVE soft spot for rush/young from sgu, clintasha from the MCU, newt/hermann from PacRim, and symbrock from Venom.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Hmmmm there's a bunch, but probably The Grandfather Paradox? I genuinely love that one so much. But who knows, maybe one day. I feel like it would make a great pitch for a Big Finish audio sksk. Oh, and Deathless will probably never happen. I'm not going to put Trestle on this list because I am SO DETERMINED to finish it some day HAHAH. Oh - and I don't think I'll ever finished Trouble With Entropy, which was my unfinished Venom fic, or Renegades (aforementioned TGS fic) even though I love them a lot, it's just....very unlikely at this point rip.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Going off what other people have said to me, I'm good at creative immersive worlds! Which is mostly because I really want my stories to feel 'lived in', so to speak, and broader than what you actually see in the immediate plot. I think I'm also pretty good at pacing, and also writing narrative prose with a character voice! The latter one I definitely pushed myself with when writing part 6 of campervan, as well as my recent doctormaster oneshot, where I had to weave together both the doctor AND the master's characterisation into one seamless pov

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I definitely worry too much about making sure the reader DEFINITELY gets what I'm trying to say, and so sometimes I'm repetitive and I hammer things home a bit that can be more subtle. I also think that sometimes I can be a bit repetitive in my longer fics where I know a gap needs to be filled but I'm not sure with what sksksks. There are other things too. I definitely struggle writing shorter things and getting to the point and TRUSTING that the reader will come with me. I often feel this urge to make sure all the steps are there for the reader to follow where I want them to go.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Oooh so I actually did this in campervan part 5 with Gabriela and Jamila speaking a bit of Portuguese! And I think there's like, obviously nuance to it, but when I had the pov characters who understood portuguese (namely Jamila in the prologue), I had the dialogue in portuguese, but the translation in the prose, either literally just next to the dialogue or explained in the narration by Jamila. But then in later chapters, when Yaz is trying to talk to Gabriela, because Gabriela is upset she's occasionally saying things in Portuguese....but Yaz doesn't understand them. So they don't get translated. And so I think that works for the story in that context, bc what Gabriela actually SAYS is less important and it's more showing the emotion of it. Another case I can think of was in Force Over Distance by cleanwhiteroom who wrote a LOT of ancient into the fic (which is basically latin) and when it was on ao3 there was this sort of 'hover to translate' thing which worked REALLY WELL, bc the translation was there but it didn't disrupt the flow of the fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Okay so I wanna know what counts here - if it's like, the first fic i POSTED, then that's Marvel (specifically the Avengers). If it's the first fic I wrote when I actually understood what 'fandom' was, then...I think that was also Avengers....or maybe BBC Sherlock. If it's the first thing I actually WROTE DOWN properly, then it was Doctor Who (specifically Ten and Rose and my oc companion sksk). If it was the first thing I played with creatively for media that wasn't my own...then that was probably me coming up with elaborate ocs out of two unicorns on the credits for the My Little Pony vhs tape we had SKSKSKSK SO. I don't know. One or all of those.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Oh this is hard because I'm proud of a lot of what I've written. My gut reaction at the moment is actually Trestle, even though it's unfinished and no one has read it HAHAH but I'm just so proud of some of the writing in that so far. And I'm extremely proud of Campervan AU as a whole entity. However I do really really love see me bare my teeth for you - which I actually forget about a LOT because it's not one of my thoschei fics sksksk. But I'm super proud of how that one turned out. And then also and they did live by watchfires because that one just has such a special place in my heart.

THANKS FOR THE TAG LIV!!! I'm gonna tag hmmmmmmm @sunshinedaysforever @taardisblue @novantinuum @emptyofdust @strikingtwelves @walker-lister aaaaah basically anyone else that wants to do this! :D

[phobiadeficient]

Neko scout

gonna be honest i’ve been keeping track of how many prompts i’ve gotten specifically to do a bit about like “it took xyz number of prompts before ___ happened” (this is number 30 by the way) and i really did think we’d hit monsterfucker before we hit furry since that seems to be a way bigger trend in the tf2 fandom, but you’ve surprised me on two levels by 1. getting to furry first and 2. not making scout a bunny so like. i dunno take a trophy about it

here’s some furry au based in some shit i brewed up with a friend a while back. scout’s a black cat because he’s got bad luck and sniper’s an aus shepherd because i love them.

-

“Snipes.” A pause. “Snipes, wake up.” Another pause. “Snipes, I want breakfast. C’mon.”

Once upon a time, Sniper’d been the type to have a lot of sleep problems. Mostly in the realm of falling asleep in the first place, sometimes with staying asleep. Now those were gone, for the same reason he now apparently would regularly wake up at dawn.

He blinked his eyes open and glared at Scout, who was pouting right back at him.

“Quit ignoring me and get up,” Scout urged, a little whiny.

“Love, it’s six-thirty in the bloody morning on the bloody weekend,” Sniper said, patience thin in his voice. “What could you possibly need from me this early?”

“I want breakfast,” Scout said simply.

Sniper rolled over to go back to sleep.

“No!” Scout whined outright, stopping him. “C’mon, I’ll cook and everything, but I’m not eating without you. That’d be shitty. C’mon, wake up.”

Sniper blinked up at him again begrudgingly. “Why should I do that?”

Scout pouted for a minute before he visibly perked up. Sniper could feel his tail lashing. “…I’ll make it worth your while,” he said, voice a purr, a matching rumble rising up in his chest for only a moment.

“Will you, now?” Sniper asked idly, eyes drawing down what view of Scout he had. No shirt on, having slept in a pair of shorts. His neck was well marked up—not from the previous night he was pretty sure, probably from the one before that. Scout always got a kick out of Sniper biting him, with his big teeth and all.

“Yeah,” Scout agreed. “Like, besides me makin’ you food.”

“Get to it, then. I’m already dozing off again,” Sniper warned, and Scout rolled his eyes, stuck out his tongue at him, then shifted down the bed a little ways.

He shoved the blankets aside and pushed Sniper’s briefs down out of the way, and there was unfortunately some amount of shifting to be had from Sniper for the both of them to be situated even  a little comfortably. A little cot in a campervan wasn’t the best place for two people to move comfortably most of the time, but they made it work. Then Scout was taking hold of him in one hand, moving in tentative strokes to get Sniper hard, eyes flicking up to watch his face every few seconds, not entirely convinced Sniper was joking about the nodding off thing.

He found himself relaxing and just settling in for the ride, propped and watching idly, enjoying his good luck, and then Scout was bending down and pressing teasing licks all across him, seemingly random but a very lovely warm-up to what was to come.

Sniper exhaled through his nose, head rolling back, ears flattening for a moment as he stifled a noise of pleasure in the back of his throat. He let his hand fall down towards Scout, tangling in the hair at the top of his head, right between his ears.

Scout seemed satisfied enough with his work to properly start in, laving messier licks across the head to get him nice and wet before finally taking him into his mouth, lips and tongue tucked carefully over his teeth.

Often this was more of a zero to a hundred sort of situation, both of them stumbling across time and privacy and promptly buggering each other’s brains out whatever way they felt like. But they’d gotten most of that out of their systems over the previous two days, and now they were allowed to be lazy, to be simple, gentle bobs of Scout’s head bringing forth soft panting from Sniper the longer he kept at it.

And it was just plain pleasant, really it was. Sniper just had one more thing in mind.

Scout looked almost ridiculously satisfied down there, working with easy concentration, eyes closed and face slack with his own pleasure, ever the empathetic little thing. But Sniper’s hand in his hair moved to scratch along his ears, and he was melting all the further, and he started purring.

It was maybe one of his favorite things to get Scout to do. First because it just sounded nice, second because it felt absolutely amazing, such low vibrations thrumming around him, fluttering and teasing at him, making him gasp. And he was panting outright, making a soft noise on the exhale, pressure building, building, building, and he managed a warning, and the purring redoubled, and Scout looked up at him—

His hips jerked, and he spilled, thighs tensing, a growl rising in his throat and petering off into a groan. Then he was catching his breath, eyes closed tightly.

Then Scout was up with him again, breath hot against his neck. “Fuck you look good like that,” he managed, voice weak, and Sniper blinked his eyes open, and found that Scout had a hand around himself, tugging furiously, damn pleased with his work, apparently.

Sniper hummed in reply, moving to hold Scout, arms around his waist to gather him close. “Good-looking yourself,” he replied, huskier than before, and it coaxed a noise from Scout. “Need anything from me?”

“Bite me?” Scout offered, looking just as embarrassed as he had the first few dozen times he’d said it.

Sniper hummed, and bent to align his mouth with the slope of Scout’s shoulder, and opened his mouth wide, scraping sharp canines threateningly over the wiry muscles there beneath, biting down with only enough pressure to draw attention, never enough to break skin or hurt him.

Scout hadn’t asked for anything else, but Sniper figured, well, Scout was in an awfully giving mood, he ought to do the same. So he slid a hand down over the arch of his back and started teasing at the base of his tail idly, fingers scratching through the fur of it, other hand rising to do the same thing to his ears.

“Sweet little kit,” Sniper hummed into his neck, nipped again. “So sweet like this.”

Apparently that was enough, because Scout tensed, gasping, and Sniper felt a stray drop or two landing on his stomach.

“Lovely,” Sniper praised next, and Scout relaxed a moment later, a brief shiver going through him, and Sniper kissed him on the shoulder. “But a naughty little thing, aye? Made a mess, haven’t you?”

Scout pulled back enough to look at him, expression hazy and confused.

“Go on, lick it up,” he urged, nodding down towards his own stomach.

Scout flushed, ears flattening for a moment in his embarrassment, but he only hesitated for a moment before he moved to do so, doing his best to maintain eye contact, and Sniper grinned at it. Scout finally sat back up, fixed Sniper’s briefs, his own shorts, wiped off his hand on a towel that was just barely in reach.

“Okay, breakfast now?” Scout urged.

“Thought you just had it,” Sniper teased, drawing a thumb over Scout‘s cheek. He laughed at Scout’s sputtering, at the way Scout tugged on his ear in annoyance. “Awright, awright! Joking! Yeah, breakfast sounds good. And I’m helping you cook, you’re not burning down my kitchen.”

“I was just gonna do pancakes, I’m great at pancakes,” Scout whined, looking put out, ears flat again.

“Well, I want more than just pancakes, love,” Sniper replied. He finally sat up, planted a kiss on Scout’s cheek as he urged him up out of his lap, amused by the way even that small show of affection was enough to have him perking right back up again. “Right, go on. Get up.”

He did, and only whacked Sniper with a pillow for a few minutes when Sniper gave into the temptation of giving his tail a parting tug as it brushed up near his nose, and continued to complain about it all the way through eating the pancakes.

[frangipanidownunder]

X-Files was always set in Australia AU.

My five headcanon response:

1

Samantha’s disappearance is officially recorded as a crocodile attack. His mother moves to Brisbane but his father keeps the Queenslander near Airlie Beach. He spends the rest of his childhood scuba diving on the reef and watching the Southern Cross.

After Oxford, he sets up his consultancy in Melbourne, after parting ways with the violent crimes taskforce of the Victorian police. His first client is a woman, Kelly Cahill, who claims she was abducted by aliens while driving in the Dandenongs. She claims she lost an hour of time and she bears strange marks on her abdomen. He requests a full medical.

2

The doctor is new. She’s also a short, fiery redhead with an attitude the size of the MCG.

“You must barrack for Collingwood,” he quips as she tells him for the third time that time just does not disappear. Universal invariant aside, Doc Scully can explain neither the marks or the cause of the womb infection for which Ms Cahill was hospitalised.

“I don’t follow Aussie Rules, Mr Mulder,” she says and he hopes that means she’s into real footy. “I’ll buy that this woman is suffering from some pronounced psychosis, but whether it’s organic or as a result of those marks, I can’t say, but to say that they’re riding around in flying saucers, it’s crazy.”

He is crazy. He’s been told a million times. As crazy as a cut snake. But there’s a feeling in the pit of his stomach that tells him he needs to find out more. Not just about Kelly Cahill and the hundreds of other abduction cases he’s uncovered, but about Dana Scully.

She agrees to investigate the site of the abduction with him ‘because it’s on my way home’ and that’s how their working partnership begins.

3

She provides him medical data when he requires it, becomes a trusted sounding board even when she dismisses his ‘theories’ as having more holes that than the entire coral surface of the Reef (which is nearly 350,000 square kays, Mulder);  she takes him to all the best coffee shops and teases him when he claims he’s cold in 20 degrees. He’s not sure what he brings to the relationship other than a steady supply of Violet Crumbles and a bad habit of turning up at her place on weekends with potato scallops (they’re called potato cakes, Mulder), and bottles of New Zealand sav blanc. He buys her a ticket for the State of Origin match but she tells him she doesn’t follow rugby either. But that’s real footy, he says and she digs him in the ribs, before offering him a Tim Tam and a sly smile.

He’s never had a friendship like this. He doesn’t quite know how to handle his growing feelings and when she disappears, he goes out of his mind. She’s returned without ceremony with no memory and will not discuss his fears that her abduction was as a result of her connection to him. When her sister dies in a shooting, he’s more convinced than ever, but she dismisses him. When he suggests the red mole on the back of her neck is new, she tells him it’s just a skin tag and not to be such a worry-wort.

4

Her diagnosis is a gut-punch and he spends hours trawling the net for treatments he knows she’ll flip off. Cancer happens to 1 in three people, Mulder, she says, as though acceptance is going to help. Dana Scully is one in five billion, he knows that much. His mates at the Lone Gunmen find a man who knows a man who knows a quack who’s got some idea about her type of cancer. Her brother flies in from Sydney and they end up in a brawl at the pub. Bill calls him a ‘fucking nutjob’ and throws his VB in his face, ‘that’s what I think of you and your Victorian beer. Leave my sister to die with dignity’. When Mulder goes back to the hospital Scully agrees to try the treatment. She goes into remission and he sends Bill a slab of VB as a gift.

5

He’s on to something big. He tells her about but she’s tired. She’s in line for a promotion at work and she needs to give it her all. She can’t just drop everything and help him out on some wild goose chase whenever he demands it. When she shows up at his door and tells him she’s moving to Sydney he can’t breathe, can’t think. She leaves and he chases her down the passageway. He tells her she’s made him a whole person. Her eyes moisten and she rests her head on his shoulder. Tells him he’s always been whole all by himself. But it’s not true. He kisses her. She’s still in his arms. He whispers sorry but she shakes her head, lifts those big blue eyes and kisses him back, with such intensity that he feels time disappear, snap back and alter the way he thinks about life and the future.

They fly to Sydney to watch an Origin match and Queensland win. They win the series. But he’s the biggest winner of them all, when she says yes to his spontaneous proposal in the stands surrounded by a sea of maroon and white fans. They rent a campervan and travel the country, sometimes sleeping under the stars, sometimes tussling for the doona in the confines of a camp bed. They only settle when she’s pregnant. Within earshot of the Ninety Mile Beach, they buy a block in east Gippsland and he’s certain their kids will grow up respecting the ocean, supporting the Maroons and adoring their mother as much as he does.

[keena-kapu]

Destination: None - Calichrome Runaway AU ~ Chapter 5

Pairing: Weiss/Blake/Ilia (Calichrome)

Words: 2′436

AU: Runaway

AU Content Warnings: None in this chapter

AO3 Link: Click here! (Recommended for Mobile App Users)

Summary: Blake Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Weiss Schnee. Three girls that can’t be more different, but are each running away from something. It’s going to be a rocky trip, but these three have to stick together if they hope to survive with nothing to their name but a change of clothes and a beat up campervan. Ko-fi | Commissions

Three weeks on the road, 5700 miles travelled 11:56pm Destination: None   Weeks to spare, nowhere to go. So, much, time to kill. What exactly can you do with yourself when you have absolutely nothing to do but wait for four months? The three had barely even made it through one without being bored sick. After a while, the novelty of being in a camper really did wear off, far quicker than any had anticipated.

But we’re safe. All things considering, that was a consolation prize anyone could accept. Being out in the middle of nowhere did have its benefits in that regard. To everyone involved, not just the famous face. To some, the silence could drive someone mad, but to the group, it was a blessing. Finally. Some time to just think.

There was another benefit of being in the middle of nowhere. No lights from the big cities revealed an amazing view of the night sky. One all of them were enjoying tonight. They’d pulled the camper off road, set up the nighttime bedding in the back along with turning on the heating so it’d be ready for their arrival, but no one was going to bed just yet. They’d taken the largest blanket to lay it outside, right below the midnight air, making the perfect place to lie for a look at the spectacled sky.

“It’s beautiful...” It was probably the quietest Weiss had spoken through the entire trip. “I’ve never really been able to see them this clearly before.”

“Nor me.” Blake smiled. “I’ve always kind of been in the suburbs. Was too light to really see a night like this.”

“Eh, I used to do it a lot.” Ilia tucked an arm behind her head in an attempt to get comfy. “We went camping a lot back in the day, my pap used to take me out and show me the constellations.”

“That sounds wonderful.” The words had a hint of jealousy to them. If Ilia had mentioned family weeks ago, Weiss might have been offended and left or had a rant of her own. But there was an advantage to all that wasted time they’d had together. She got to know Ilia. And Blake even. Maybe she didn't have the best family stories to compare, but she could at least humour theirs.

Blake looked over to Ilia in her position. “... Well?”

“... well, what? ” Ilia raised an eyebrow.

“C’mon, you can't just tell us you learnt constellations and not show us one.” Ilia snorted at Blake’s remark. “The fuck if I still know that! I was as much a shit then as I am now, I didn't listen.”

“Some consider consistency a positive thing,” Weiss remarked. She might have seemed like a snob or a bitch, but she was trying. Again, the wasted time was very good at getting to know each other.

And by now they learned that was her attempt at banter, so Ilia laughed. “I’ll get that down on my resume when I’m on the job hunt then. ‘Consistent shit-head that stares at stars.’”

“Hey, I’d hire you.” Blake chuckled, continuing to stare upward for a while longer.

More silence. But it wasn't an awkward silence. No, not at all. It was more the silence you have when you’re doing your own thing but your best friend is sat watching T.V in the same room. Or when you’ve sat down the night and your pet cat just happens to be there and sits with you quietly. Enjoyable silence. That was something that could be valued a lot more than constant conversation.

But in a short while, Ilia pointed. “You see that kinda bright star there, and there’s a few around it which kinda make a wonky pentagon shape with legs?” The other two seemed confused, though after a while she felt Weiss nod, then shortly after, Blake. “I think that’s Orion. The three stars just above the legs definitely look like the belt.”

It could be felt that the other two were tilting their heads, trying to see what Ilia was. It was amazing how vulnerable Ilia felt in those seconds just for showing one of her interests.

But Weiss then pointed. “I think I see it, those three there that make a line?”

Fuck yes, validation.

“Yeah, that’s the belt,” Ilia confirmed. “Pap said Orion’s a good one to start with, cause you can find others using that one as a guide.”

“We’ll have to come out and spot them again.” Blake agreed. She hadn't heard Ilia ever speak of her parents in too much detail, so to hear her speak of his hobbies and her childhood felt good. It felt… weirdly intimate. But in a good way.

Maybe if she can start to open up, I can too eventually.

But for now, Weiss sat herself up, stretching out her arms and yawning. The night was clearly taking its toll. “I’m afraid I’m starting to nod off though. Do you two mind if I head back?”

Also sitting up, Blake started to stretch out also. “No, not at all. Starting to get tired myself. What time is it anyway?”

Once on her feet, Weiss glanced at her phone. “It’s… wow, just past midnight.” When Weiss looked back up, Ilia and Blake were both looking at one another. They exchanged a cocky smile between them, one that had Weiss raising her brow. “Why the face…?”

“Let’s get to the van for the night then you’ll see.” Ilia was already getting up, ready to collect the blanket from beneath them and shake it clean. Any other night she’d have probably stayed out longer, but not tonight. Tonight was gonna be special.

A quick change into some bedclothes and brushing teeth, the girls were ready for the night. The rear chair was fully opened into a double bed and the passenger seat fully reclined to make it comfortable. Not exactly luxury, and frankly pretty shit whoever had to sleep in the passenger seat, but it saved them a few hundred Lien that would have gone on an equally shit motel room. They just had to make sure to change every so often.

Blake, however, wasn’t thinking about sleeping yet. She made a beeline for one of the upper cupboards, reaching in for something. Though as she looked back at Weiss, she glared. “Hey, no peeking.”

“You guys are acting really strange, just to let you know.” But hey, might as well humour them. As instructed, she turned away and covered her eyes, just to make absolutely sure she wasn’t going to see whatever Blake and Ilia had planned. It’d been a fair while at least, so by this point, she at least trusted they weren’t going to do anything bad.

There was fumbling around, brief muttering, but after that, they were obviously both stood in front of her. Fairly sure I can peek now.

And peek she did, easing her fingers open and looking through.

Embroidery eyes of a plush toy stared back at her. A white wolf, with some blue markings on it, something Weiss had seen on TV before but never really caught the name of. But the plush toy was fat and cute, perfect cuddling size.

“Happy Eighteenth, Weiss.” Blake smiled, holding it out toward her.

“Sorry it ain't booze, but we figured with your eye you’d had more than enough.” Ilia joked.

But the joke fell on deaf ears. Weiss had heard the birthday wishes, but other than that she was gone. She took the toy from Blake and stared at it for what felt like forever. It was just a toy, to anyone else it was just a cheap gift, nothing worth any deep thought and probably not any more than twenty lien tops.

This was so much more than that.

It was the gesture behind it that completely fucked Weiss’s head up. Blake and Ilia had nothing but the clothes in the van, the van itself, and what little cash they could grab. They didn't owe her a damn thing. If anything Weiss knew she more than owed them for the time she was allowed to spend here, the fuel they've used for her and all manner of things. Before two weeks ago, they didn't even know her.

Yet they still got her a birthday gift. They probably checked Wikipedia for the date or something, but they still remembered it was soon and went out to get her something, even if it was just a plush toy or something she didn't even really know. That was more kindness than her family had ever shown her in years.

“... Hey, wait, are you crying?” Ilia asked, leaning in once noticing a tear fall from Weiss’s cheek. When leaning forward to look properly, that was confirmed. Oh god, we broke her, oh god.

Weiss wiped away the tears, sniffing and trying her hardest to hold anymore back, but it was just useless. She was smiling though, even through a shaky breath. “It’s okay! You just caught me off guard, I wasn't expecting anything.”

Ilia breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god, I thought we really offended you or something.” Then she took a seat at Weiss’s side, shrugging her shoulders. “We couldn't exactly not . I mean, being away from family for your birthday’s hard enough, let alone no gifts to show for it.

Actually, being away from family was the best part about this.

Up until the subject of Weiss’s family had been very sensitive. Either she’d totally shut up or actively turn the conversation away. All Blake and Ilia knew were that she had a dad she hated, an oblivious mom, a sister far away and a brother who was the golden child. The rest of the pages were still blank. Knowing that compared to how honest the girls had been with her so far made her stomach twist with guilt.

“... This is actually the first physical Birthday present I’ve had since my sister left.” Her grip on the plush tightened as she brought it closer toward her. “God, that’s… five years now.”

No wonder it hit me like a truck.

Weiss began to stare blankly toward the floor. Whether it was just how tired she was or a building of trust, the rest just came out. Nothing held her back this time.

“She joined the military as soon as she was eighteen, just desperate to get away from home. At first, I really hated her for leaving me. But when I heard how my father talked about her, I completely understood. Honestly, up until a month ago I pretty much made the same plan as her, at least up until,” She pointed at the bad eye. The skin had healed, but it was going to leave a permanent scar. “Funnily enough, having a bottle thrown at your face speeds things up.”

Both girls just listened. No words, no gestures, Weiss needed to let it all out. This cut ran deep, not just the physical one but the emotional scars. From a family that in the public eye was so perfect, it seemed unbelievable or crazy, but no one would ever run away without a plan if they weren't desperate.

They all had experience with that.

“The plan was as soon as I turned eighteen I’d enlist then move with her while I train. Even if I didn't end up passing, I’d at least be far enough away to figure out some other plan and find a job. Winter would have supported me regardless.”

“I was gonna say, as much as I support your plan, you don't really seem the army type,” Blake admitted, taking a seat on the space next to Weiss. “But work’s work.”

“Exactly. And it says a lot that I’d rather get shot at than stay in that house any longer.” Weiss tried to joke, although upon saying that, she began to think about it more. “Though, Winter seems to have done really well there. She’s been promoted twice, now has a girlfriend she’s moved in with… god, knowing she finally has a life now gives me a lot of hope, y’know?”

Oh yeah, they knew.

Even if this was just a journey with no destination in mind right now, their lives were going to be better. No more baggage, no more hurt, wherever they were going to end up, it was going to be fantastic. Might as well have fun getting there.

With that thought in mind, Weiss looked around to the bed again. It was Ilia’s turn to sleep on the passenger seat, but upon looking, she had a thought.

“... Why are we all taking turns on the shit seat when the bed has enough room for all three of us?”

Ilia raised an eyebrow. The thought had definitely crossed her mind before, but she never wanted to say. So she tried to make an excuse. “Won't that make it cramped as fuck?”

Blake shrugged her shoulders. “No more cramped than we usually are. And it would be better for our backs in the long run.”

“And you’re really fine with it?” It seemed stupid, but she had to ask. The spots on her cheeks turning bright pink again. “Cause, y’know… your ‘gaydar’?”

“Ilia.” Weiss had to resist from laughing but looked reassuringly. “We’ve all slept with one another before, just not all together.” Then she smirked. “Besides, considering how long lesbians take to actually make a move, I’m fairly sure even if you liked me you wouldn't do anything.”

It was met with a wince from Blake. “Ouch, that was a callout.”

“Alright, fine! Whatever. Just… Budge over then.” The callout was more than valid, but Ilia resigned herself to it. The bright side was her worries were put to rest.

As were Weiss’s too. In fact, she found herself getting rather comfortable once tucked in between them both, pulling the blanket over once they were all ready and bringing the stuffed Beowolf in her arms also. It didn’t feel cramped, nor did it feel too warm. It was cosy, comfortable… But something more than that.

It felt… right.

A few minutes in silence and Weiss was feeling herself starting to drift away. But that wasn’t before thanking her friends once again. “Best birthday in years…” She said in a doze. “And the day’s not even started yet…”

The gratitude didn’t have a vocal response, but it earned her a small, sleepy smile from Blake, and a shuffle to get comfortable from Ilia. But a vocal response wasn’t needed. At that moment, Weiss was completely positive these few months were going to be an amazing adventure.

[bryonysimcox]

Solar Gains and Friendly Faces: Week 2, France

It’s the second week that George and I have been on the road and we’ve tracked westwards through southern France, from Lyon towards Bordeaux. We’re settling into the rhythms of life in a campervan and learning to balance working and exploring.

The biggest lesson learned this week has been that solar impacts everything. When I say that, I mean both in terms of how sunshine (or lack of) can impact our mood, and also how the power of the sun has such a critical role to play in our electrical system.

Being so reliant on the sun has left us feeling infinitely more connected with the cycles of nature.

Our highlight of the week was probably the last day of the week, which we spent in Coutras, a small town about an hour north-east of Bordeaux. It wasn’t necessarily an awe-inspiring place, but the critical combination of lots of sunshine and a perfect parking spot gave us the perfect base to set up and get some work done. With one day reaching highs of 21 degrees, we were able to live in a more inside-outside way, with the doors of the van flung open and our camping chairs set up. The sun also totally lifted my mood - I was inspired to take more photos, George and I were motivated to go for a run, and I was able to just bask in the sunshine and read my book.

(images, left to right) Early morning sun over the town square in Coutras, feet up and sun out as the solar panels soak up the sun, and fresh pain au raisins on our morning wander into Coutras.

We were also getting some incredible solar gains - more than 150W at its best which is more than we’ve seen before. Both George and I are working on energy-intensive Adobe computer programs at the moment, making animated graphics and editing a long-format documentary about an ultra-marathon in Mont Blanc. The documentary has been in the pipeline for three years and will soon be released through our channel Broaden, but with George so close to completion he’s keen to do some solid work on it. When both computers are running and charging, they can easily draw 150W so we need intense sun like this consistently coming in. 

It still feels like we’re learning a lot about the electrics and the impacts that slight changes to sun intensity and the angle of the solar panels can have.

Before that, the week started at our remote camping spot in the Parc Natural Regional Livradois-Forez (see last blog post). After an incredibly peaceful night there, we spent the morning getting Suzi the HiAce spruced up ready to make a little film. The van can get dirty really quickly, as there is nowhere to hide the mess and we’re constantly tramping mud in from the outside. Once freshened up, George and I filmed an introductory video to the van. It’s something that we’ve been meaning to do for ages, paired with footage we got from the months of van-building.

Filming Suzi and reflecting on all the hard work of building her is a really rewarding process, and at times quite an emotional one.

(images, left to right) Sunshine over the van interior, George setting up film our van tour video, and details of the kitchen.

Making videos is all still very new to me, so making a film about the van in a quiet forest spot was the perfect kind of tutorial. George and I took turns operating the camera, interviewing one another about all of the features and modifications of the van. George mainly focussed on the exterior and mechanical stuff, like the suspension lift, the all-terrain tyres, the new exhaust and reconstructed rear differential. I spoke about the design of the kitchen, the interior upholstery, the bed and the solar panels. We think there’s quite a large audience of people who are building their own vans or who are just generally interested in van conversions who’d like to watch a video like this, so it’ll be cool to see how well it does on YouTube once we’ve edited it and released it. In the meantime, I’ve got to catalogue and select all the best parts of the footage (another new filmmaking experience for me).

Moving onwards, rural France flashed through our windows and we observed the incremental changes to the scenery. From dense pines and dramatic mountain switchbacks, to charming stone buildings and vintage tractors - we soaked it all in.

Driving through the steeply sloped village of Aubazine was especially memorable, not least cause it always feels like a bit of a miracle that Suzi finds her way (slowly) up a hill. Although fog obscured what I imagine to be a rather dramatic view, we really enjoyed the place’s winding streets and historic buildings. At the peak, we spent the night camped next to Lac du Coiroux and I couldn’t resist a swim the next morning - I hope it’s the first of many wild swims.

(images) Wild swimming in Lac du Coiroux.

Whilst it was absolutely freezing, swimming in the lake was exhilarating: immersed in fog and silky water, with not a soul in sight.

The week continued with lots of drizzle and fog. Having spent our first week on the road fairly relaxed and seeing new cities, we knew we needed to knuckle down and work in the van. We left Lac du Coiroux in search of power, passing back through Aubazine on our descent and doing a bit of Wikipedia reading about the 12th Century monastery and convent that the village was centred on (coincidentally also discovering that Coco Chanel is one of the town’s more well-known past inhabitants).

We found another picturesque ‘Aire du Camping-Car’ in a tiny village called Sadroc, which actually offered free water and electric hook-up and so was the perfect place to stay. It seems that there is a real generosity towards campervan and caravan owners around France, presumably because they bring in much-needed money from tourism, as well as some activity to what are often very (very) sleepy little villages. We’ve been determined to put some money behind local initiatives where possible, to give back even in a small way. So when the mobile pizza van rolled into Sadroc on Friday evening, we didn’t feel so bad about going and getting a Margherita (plus it meant no washing up!).

(images, left to right) Out and about despite the incessant drizzle, a welcome sunny (rather than rainy!) morning for Suzi, and pizza night in the van (so tasty!).

When the weekend arrived, we made our way to Jayac. This tiny commune in Dordogne has less than 200 residents, one church, and not even a shop, so George and I would never have discovered it if it wasn’t for the Djelils. Elena and Amar Djelil are long-time family friends who my mum has known since she studied Accountancy with Elena at university in Edinburgh. The family relocated from Scotland to France more than a decade ago, and so it was a real treat to see them after all this time, along with their (now grown up) children, Emma and Alistair.

As we learnt in Paris and I reflected on in last week’s blog post, seeing friendly faces on the road is a welcome ray of sunshine.

We were welcomed by Elena with outstanding hospitality (no surprise considering the Djelils have run hotels, B&Bs and gites for most of their lives). The family is in the middle of building a house for themselves in Jayac and so we had a chance to learn about local planning regulations and the process of designing and constructing. George and I are both quite interested in building our own house one day (albeit a tiny one), so it was fascinating to hear how the process has been and to even see the house-build in person. Despite the pressures of this intense project, we were made to feel completely at home and spent a wonderful 24 hours with them all - not only sharing food, stories and laughter but also making the most of the amenities (hot shower and washing machine!).

(image) A fantastic reunion with the Djelil Family. Haven’t seen them in over ten years!

On the road once more, we left Jayac and set up in Coutras, ending the week on a rather sunny high (high spirits and high wattage, as I refer to at the start). It has taken almost two weeks, but I have really relaxed into the rhythm of things and can honestly say I feel content living like this. I’m especially grateful to George, who has been a steadfast companion along the way. Living together in a confined space can certainly amplify any tensions, but he has excelled at putting me at ease, and we have started to collaborate together on videos and animations which is pretty exciting.

This time next week, I’ll likely be writing from Spanish soil. Au revoir for now.

[smartselectnz]

Booking Host

New Post has been published on https://www.smartselect.co.nz/jobs/booking-host/

Booking Host

Come share the adventure with us at thl! Tourism Holdings Limited ( thl ) is NZ’s largest provider of campervans in the world, with operations in NZ, AUS, USA and UK. Our tourism services operate Kiwi Experience , the big green hop on hop off bus and the Discover Waitomo Group which includes Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and the Legendary Black Water Rafting. Our busy Reservations team in Auckland is on the lookout for a number passionate Travel Consultants (Booking Hosts) to join their crew. As a Booking Host at thl you will be working with a fun, supportive team that provides the highest level of customer service. You will be responsible for helping our customers plan and book their unique campervan experience.

Key responsibilities include: Help our customers to book unforgettable holidays of a lifetime! Be driven by achieving sales targets and providing customer service excellence! Converse with confidence with people from all over the globe!

For our winning candidates you will: have the ability to speak a second language fluently – German, French, Spanish, Mandarin or Cantonese be a Sales superstar with 1 – 2 years’ experience have previous experience in Call Centre or Contact centre (bonus point!) be eligible to work in NZ for at least year 1 year Our contact centre operates 24/7 on a flexible roster you will need to be flexible with your working hours which will include some weekend work. Our people come from varied backgrounds, countries and cultures. Some are shy, others are loud (some are even ninja’s!) We accept people as they are. That’s what makes our thl family special! We want crew who are willing to go the extra mile, help their work mates and share team success. It’s all part of our challenger spirit! So if you love being part of a team, looking for a challenge or a company that pushes personal and professional development and growth, then we want to hear from you! PLUS, why not take the opportunity to experience a holiday in any of the vehicles in our extensive range through our great staff discount scheme ! Reference #

27636

Posted on

Mar 15, 2017

Closes on

Apr 15, 2017

Location(s)

Auckland South

Expertise

Contact Centre, Customer Service, Sales, Tour Guide

Job level(s)

Experienced/Skilled

Work type(s)

Full Time

[picnokinesis]

WIP ask game: 5, 9 & 10 for the ziptie or anterograde aus?

Also, I binged your zombie au a few days, and much like w/ the campervan au I was so impressed about how you incorporated the show’s dialogue, especially in regards to the climactic meeting between Theo and Koschei. Also also, I was so excited when Jericho showed up - what a tenseful way to introduce him to the reader, too. If you’re comfortable w/ answering: 1 and 2 for this au?

Ahh hello! :D Thanks for the ask - and ahhh I'm so glad that you enjoyed zombie au!! It's one that I'm actually pretty proud of, I have a massive soft spot for it. One of my favourite things to do with aus is take lines/ideas from the original content and weave them into the new story - I mean, you've seen that in campervan au, but for me one of the most interesting things about writing zombie au was taking lines that I'd also used in campervan and putting them in a new context and shedding a different light on them, but also taking lines and ideas that I haven't even touched in campervan and exploring them here instead! And augh, man, I'm still SO proud of that part where Theo finds Koschei in the corridor during the attack - everything just came together, and I could just see it in my brain but I feel like I actually managed to get what I could see onto the paper in a way that really captured it. I'm so happy that you enjoyed it!!

But hmmmmm let me see...I'm gonna put this under the cut because it's long, but:

5 - What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

Oooh this is kind of tricky. I think one of the biggest problems with both of anterograde and ziptie is that they're so interlinked with the main au - I can't really write them or post them until I've finished the entirety of campervan. Anterograde is also quite large and nebulous - it spans over several years after the initial train crash, and so I'd really have to figure out how to structure it if I wanted to do it properly. It's much more 'slice of life' than the other ones, which are much more plot driven. The other problem with both of them is just sitting down and writing them, yknow? They're both BIG stories! Ziptie in particular also has a lot of logistics going on that I'd need to actual sit down and figure out if I wanted to write it properly, but at the moment the main draw is thoschei being feral

9 - What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

With anterograde au - I feel like it's the slower, domestic version of the main au, but with bucketloads of angst to make up for the general softness. I think it's also just the premise of it too? Like memory and identity are SUCH interesting themes to me (see: I write about them all the time), but I think holding up campervan and anterograde next to each other is what makes them both so fascinating because in one you've got the Doctor with retrograde amnesia, cut off from her past but still ending up defined by it; with anterograde, the ONLY THING SHE HAS is her past, and everything else is thrown into confusion and uncertainty. And then, you've got Koschei, who is suddenly having to deal with a very different situation to the one he was originally envisioning for himself (and for the Doctor) and it's just......really cool to see how the same characters, with the same backstory, end up in completely different places (emotionally and literally) because of the Doctor's brain injury being different depending on the verse. Also just the inherent....trust that comes with them living together and Koschei fundamentally ending up as the Doctor's carer. And not just the trust between the pair of them, but also with other people too (like Graham and Grace, Jack, etc.). I think anterograde reaaaally makes it clear that Koschei is, at heart, still the terrified 15yo that he was in 1999, and that he's never had anyone to actually help him. Anterograde kind of gives Kosch this chance to actually have a support network and help himself, which does allow him to heal (to some degree) from a lot of his stuff. The inherent tragedy here is that the Doctor, on the other hand, has suddenly lost her sense of time and so can't tangibly heal in the same way, because she can't remember it. However, there is a lot of healing going on under the surface - which is takes a while for both of them to notice and understand, but it is definitely there.

With ziptie - I think the premise of 'spydoc ziptied together' is the main draw HAHAHAHA but serious answer, ziptie spydoc are just...so painfully co-dependent in the worst way ever. And they hate it! Because they get thrown into this working AGAINST each other, and then are suddenly in a truly awful situation for weeks where they're suddenly the only person that the other can trust. And then by the time they get out of that, everything is worse and they're also messing with each other's heads in a very literal way (because in ziptie, they both have the kasaavin on their necks and can't get them off) and it causes a lot of interesting issues.

10 - What are your hopes for your wip?

This is interesting, because I have thought a lot about this - because, truth be told, I'm almost certain that anterograde and ziptie and the other aus will never be written in full. However, when (and it IS a when, I am determined) campervan is finished and fully posted, there's a reasonable chance that I'll post some excerpts from the other aus, if people are interested! It might also be fun to like, write an explanation or summary of the au? Or maybe make a video or something explaining everything? That would probably take ages to make but I feel like that would be the best format. I would definitely like to share them somehow, someday, because they offer such an interesting insight into each other.

And then - for zombie au!!

1 - What was the first part of your wip that you created?

I'm genuinely not sure with this one!! I'm pretty sure I just opened a document and started writing haha! I feel like that's right - the opening of zombie is very much just me going 'uhhhhhhHHHH LET'S JUST START IN A RANDOM PLACE' ahahaha, you can kind of tell that I just threw Theo into the set and told her to improvise. Which, to be clear, is something I do WAY too much. Even when I plan fics, I have no idea what's going on, so I have a tendency to just coast on vibes and see what happens as the story unfolds. Especially when I'm starting a story. Usually by a few chapters in, I've started to get a sense of things.

2 - If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Hahah well the fic title is take from a song off the album Future Dust by The Amazons, so no one is surprised that I would probably pick a song by that band. Either In My Mind or Mother. As a fun sidenote though, the theme song for Theo and Koschei before Gallex gets released is Junk Food Forever.

THANKS FOR THE ASK!! <3

[picnokinesis]

Do you have a masterlist of your AU's somewhere? I'm simply a bit confused on where to find them and if they've actually been written at all, I'd just like to make sure I haven't missed anything as I'd really like to read them!

Oh my days anon bless you I am SO sorry, all my things are always a convoluted mess of stuff - no masterlist as of yet, but let me make one here real quick to explain to you where you can find everything (now placed below the cut)

(Note - some tumblr links may not work on mobile, but I put all the tags in the tags if you need them!)

CAMPERVAN AU - this is the main one, also known as the au where the doctor is an investigative journalist with amnesia and the tardis is a campervan. You can find the written parts of this one on ao3 (+ extra excerpts) and then there's also the campervan au tag on this blog for any asks people have sent, as well as artwork that I've done

Then - campervan au has FOUR offshoot aus. They are anterograde au (Notes to Self), ziptie au (The Ties That Bind Us), redacted au (All That Divides Us), and au5 (And I Run (Love, Run)). None of these are posted on ao3 at all, mostly because they're a mess but also because they are mired in spoilers for the main verse. Maybe when I'm done with the main verse, I'll post stuff I've written of the others. I'll briefly explain what they are for clarity and link their tags on my blog:

anterograde au - the one where the train crash results in the Doctor having anterograde amnesia rather than retrograde, so she can no longer form new memories. It's the one about brain injuries, autonomy, caregiver fatigue, learning that you are not alone, and the O'Briens adopting spydoc (cry over adult thoschei edtion). The tag is here

ziptie au - the one where the very end part 1 of campervan au goes differently and 1) graham, yaz and ryan die (I KNOW SORRY) 2) the doctor, ada and noor get captured with koschei. It's the one about separation anxiety, only being able to trust the person you hate, fist fights and identity confusion. Ziptie Thoschei are currently winning 'worst iteration of campervan thoschei' by being constantly feral. I adore them. The tag is here

redacted au - the most spoilery one. Things go differently when the doctor and koschei are kids, in a bad way. The one about breaking away from everything you've been led to believe, ft the doctor playing 4D gender chess with pronouns. Looks like a role reversal but it really isn't. The tag is here.

au5 - the other most spoilery one! Things go differently when they're kids, in a good way. The one about co-dependence, one-sided pining (until it isn't) and ghost-hunting. The O'Briens adopting spydoc (cry over baby thoschei edtion). The tag is here

THEN.

PIRATE AU - aka that one time I wrote a 2k oneshot which is here on ao3, but then my brain wouldn't let it go and it spiralled wildly out of control and I told maybe three people about it. The Doctor is a privateer captain and the Master is an ex-lover ex-best friend pirate captain that she keeps betraying (but like he also killed nearly her entire crew so Y'KNOW don't feel too bad for him). Maybe one day I'll try and write it, but I cannot express how MASSIVE it is. The tag is here

ZOMBIE AU - my most recent project. The Doctor is a traumatised virologist trying to find a cure whilst everyone else tries to get her to forgive herself. Currently posting on ao3 right here (chapter 7 literally just went up tonight, I'm posting weekly around 7:30pm ish GMT on Wednesdays) but there is also the tag on my blog of course.

Hope that helps! <3

[picnokinesis]

In the fully produced tv version of campervan au that lives in my head, A Place to Hide is the theme song for the whole series. The title sequence is made up from clips of part 1 where the whole gang, including O, are happy. I even think it ends with the episode title dropping in time with the line in the song, overtop a group shot of the fam and O all laughing together. The implication after part 1 is that we'll change it for each episode, but we don't. This sequence is used unchanged for the rest of the series, so each episode starts by reminding us how fun and happy things were at the start before everything went wrong.

oh my days i forgot to answer this but 1) absolutely obsessed with the fact that you lowkey have a tv show version of campervan in your head, completely with a title sequence 2) SKSKSK THAT IS SO EVIL??? HELLO? I love it, no notes.

[picnokinesis]

Tag Game - First 10 Lines

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and  tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and  share anyway.

Got tagged by the wonderful @wykart - thank you!!! :D I’m actually gonna include the first lines of wips I’m working on that aren’t posted yet because I think that’ll be more interesting to show haha. Gonna try and put them roughly in the order I wrote/posted them in. They’re all Doctor Who, of course. 

1. Taken from a canon-based oneshot that I might not finish, currently called ‘i’m what’s left when children go to war’ 

 “What do you mean you can’t get her out?” Yaz is saying, clearly trying for stern and authoritative, but not quite managing to hide the raw fear that’s bleeding out through the cracks in her voice.

2. Taken from ‘The Trestle at Kasterborous Creek’, which is a spydoc canon-based multichapter involving matrix nonsense and references to an obscure play that I love a lot. Alas, it’s actually the second line of the fic that’s one of my favourites

The room is choked with shadows.

3. Taken from Campervan AU part 6

On a scale of one to ten, Ryan thinks to himself, how embarrassing is it to hide in the kitchen at your own party?

4. Taken from ‘fletching’ - yet another canon-based oneshot that I’ll probably never finish

The snow is crisp under her boots, each step a soft crunch underfoot as she traipses through the frozen forest, coat wrapped tightly around her.

5. Taken from your ex-lover remains dead (i'll kill who you hate), my post-TPOTD spydoc oneshot 

She really should not be doing this.

6. Taken from ‘haunted house’, which is a Ryan-centric post-TPOTD oneshot that I never finished

“I’m just saying that it doesn’t make sense, is all!” Yaz is saying, the video stuttering on Ryan’s phone screen as his shaky internet connection tries its best to carry the call.

7. Taken from and you will go to mykonos - a thoschei-ish prison ficlet

“This isn’t real,” the Master comments as the wind plays with the tails of his coat.

8. Taken from  FUTURE DUST (blood and rust) - zombie au!

The survivor camp is built around a hospital in what’s left of Liverpool, and it’s busy.

9. Taken from ‘the rockrose and the thistle’ - yet another unfinished spydoc oneshot

The sudden spike of pain sends her back into consciousness with a gasp, harsh against the darkness.

10. Taken from the wild grass overlapping the front porch, a dhawan!master pov drabble that I wrote as part of the drabble bingo challenge! 

It turns out that escaping death particles, frankensteining an army out of the corpses of his own people, and letting an AI share his brain eventually takes its toll.

There we go! Now everyone knows how much I’ve been floundering with wips in the last few months hahah. I’m hoping I get out of the rut I’ve hit with campervan au soon, but said rut is definitely making me more distractable. Trestle was going very well until I realised that it was much bigger than I anticipated (I was at almost 40k and realised I wasn’t even halfway through rip) and then hit a rut with that too, and now my brain isn’t letting me write rip. So I’m just taking a break now, and hopefully I’ll get back on the wagon sooooon.

Tagging some wonderful writers (but no pressure, ofc, feel free to ignore) - @taardisblue, @sunshinedaysforever, @gabeorelse, @novantinuum, @fictionpenned, @koschgay, @emptyofdust, @echo84, @krebkrebkreb 

[picnokinesis]

Ahhh Ryans POV was amazing and its soo great to read how he acknowledges his accomplishments too and believes in himself, its like a flowerv that finally blooms. I was so happy like, "Yes, finally you are seeing what you are worth!". And that comparison between the Doctor and Aaron, how Ryan hesitantly agrees that the Doctor is closer to Aaron than he would like, in that the Doctor could have just as well vanished from his life. (1/2)

(2/2) And the stand off between the Doctor and Aaron was just great. (And a bit of tension in there too). The way the Doctor looked at him as if to say "Yeah, in contrast to you I STAYED. Dont fuck up further than you already have." And Grace in the beginning was soo sweet I just love how she takes care of everyone. In the end how Ryan emphasized that both Graham and the Doctor are family too, and Aaron better get used to it was fantastic. Its great how Ryan has both of their backs.

AHH hello thank you so much!! <3 I'm so happy that you enjoyed the chapter :D One of the things I've had in my notes for Ryan in campervan au from the very start is that I wanted him to learn to be more confident and stable in himself - and, I mean, if I'd started off in s11 then it would have been even more apparent, but he has definitely grown I think. But another part of that stability comes from his family - in learning that they're not all just going to up and leave him at any point. He's very much like the Doctor in that way, although they both react to that fear very differently. I'd say that the Doctor isn't aware of the impact that her staying has had on Ryan, but she's actually painfully aware that if she left it would be particularly damaging for him. It's actually the core reason why she hasn't run off on her own.

BUT THEN YEAH the parallels between the Doctor and Aaron is ALWAYS something I've been lowkey obsessed with - in fact, I think it goes for both Ryan and Yaz in the actual show, but they both come into the TARDIS with their own issues and troubles, as young adults who are growing and are so uncertain about their future and who they're going to become. But then they both meet the Doctor, and they learn so much from her but also see how she's not perfect! That she does a lot of things that are unhealthy or bad or whatever - but that, fundamentally, she IS a good person, and she strives for something better. And they BOTH take those good qualities, and step out of the TARDIS and back into their own lives as grown, changed people - but they haven't become more like someone else, like Ryan being so scared of being like his dad, or Yaz's tendency to try and mould herself into another person because she doesn't know how to be herself. They both become THEIR OWN PERSON. They become so much more of themselves, and so much more confident, able to stand up for themselves and what they believe in. And honestly I just adore that so much, and it's definitely what I'm trying to mirror in this story

But also sksksk regarding the Doctor staring at Aaron - you will be getting this scene from the Doctor's POV in about. October RIP but you will get it! So you'll get to see precisely what she was thinking at that moment haha

Grace, my beloved <3 One of the delights of this fic was getting to write so much of Grace - for Ryan's section in particular, I did a deep dive on her and Aaron and Ryan in the show, just to scrape for as many details as humanly possible, as well as throwing in my own headcanons. There's a lot of her in Ryan's part, but also in Graham's part too, of course, so you have that to look forward too! :)

And then yesssss the found family - it's such an important part of this series I think, although I do find it so funny because, as a family, the O'Briens are fairly standard, until you spot the unhinged feral journalist that they lowkey adopted muttering to herself in the corner SKSKSKSK - but she IS part of their family!! In fact I'm pretty sure Graham and Grace have thought of her as such since they realised that she had no-one else to look out for her. As for Ryan, I'm not sure when he decided - but I know that he did at some point, as you can see from this chapter, even if he's still uncertain about how the hell to define who the Doctor is to him sksksk

BUT ANYWAY THANK YOU!! <3 <3 So glad you enjoyed it! :D

[picnokinesis]

You don’t have to publicly publish this if you don’t wanna, just bc of how long and gushy it is, but: I just binge-read part 1 & 2 of your campervan AU over the course of like 4 days, which, tbh, wasn’t my original intention? I really wanted to savor and really take my time with both of them just bc the amount of passion you have for the au is obvious, even by just reading through your inbox answers on here.

But, similar to my reaction to Spyfall, I got to the end of Part 1 and couldn’t bare to wait and see what happens next. The way you were able to take the story beats and dialogue from the episodes and transform them into something entirely new while still maintaining the show’s energy just had me completely hooked until I saw the words “End of Part 2.”

Side note: I’ve gotta give you props how you handled “O”’s comeuppance. Your careful threading of the needle between making him despicable and unsettling, yet simultaneously sympathetic was, pardon the pun, masterful (which, you could the same thing about Sacha’s portrayal, actually), and really helps get across why The Doc’s has such complex emotions towards him. That said, I may have gotten a touch too excited about his various injuries and eventual apprehension by the Judoon, if only as payback everything he put The Doctor and Fam through and to see his arrogant attitude, even just momentarily, taken back a peg.

I've been out all day at work/orchestra but I got chance to read this before I left the house this morning and it honestly made my day bless you <3 <3

Also writing the Master as both The Worst but also a compelling and somewhat sympathetic character is literally my favourite thing to explore and write, so I'm so so happy that you think I managed to strike the balance right! It can be tricky to do, but it's what makes him such an interesting character to me.

Anyway I'm just so delighted that you've enjoyed the story so much!! I hope you like the rest just as much <3

[picnokinesis]

Touch aversion ask.

is it guilt ? some kind of punishment or is it a protection.

OK SO it's interesting because it's not really any of those things in either verse - with the exception of protection, actually, I guess that comes into it a lot now I think about it. But let me explain my thoughts on it in each au:

So in Campervan AU, the Doctor's touch aversion is a messy combination of things. A lot of it is actually because she's lowkey autistic, and so touch is very intense for her and she just finds the sensation of skin on skin to be somewhat overwhelming. But then you combine THAT with her fundamental problem with control and it becomes more of an issue. Because she likes to be in control, doesn't like people grabbing her unexpectedly, doesn't like people touching her at ALL - but she can touch other people, if she wants to. We see it in part 4 with Jack, when she gives him a hug because she knows he won't try and hug her back. She has enough control that she's comfortable with it. But she doesn't find much comfort in touch, and thus later in part 4, when Jack seems to want to hug HER, he doesn't because he knows it wouldn't actually help her at all and would probably just overwhelm her more. Of course, her issues with control stem from her childhood (and people who've read this au will probably have clocked that control, or lack of it, is a key theme in this story, and that a lot of Koschei's issues are all about control too). So then when she is expecting touch or feels completely in control (or on very rare ocassions, actually seeking it out) then she can touch people and it's ok. Case in point - Jack grounding her whilst at the hospital, and Ryan at the end of part 3 with the ambulance. It works because touch is intense for her, so it cuts through the noise of her panic attack and provides her an anchor that she trusts, is in control of, and also knows isn't going to grab at her or unexpectedly do something that freaks her out further.

But then in Zombie AU, Theo's touch aversion is all about trauma. She actually liked touch before everything went down - case in point, the flash memories where Koschei touches her show her having zero issue with it and very much being relaxed about it. It's less obvious at this point because we're only four chapters in but as the fic goes on you'll see that Theo's touch aversion means she can't stand touch AT ALL. Even if she was initiating it and completely in control. And it's because of 1) everything that happened in the lab after the isolation chamber exploded and 2) everything that happened in general after the pandemic regarding lots of incidents where she got grabbed or touched in a Bad Way because zombies and desperate survivors but in particular 3) the mass grave incident. Which means when she gets touched? That's a trigger. Unlike for campervan 13 who just has an aversion to it, Theo is very traumatised. She cannot deal with it. She gets vivid flashbacks. And she discusses this a bit with Dan in chapter 3, but it'll become more obvious as thing goes on how it's categorically different to campervan 13's issues - especially when people actually touch Theo hahaha (because of course it's going to happen). I mainly noticed this difference because I read back on some of campervan after finishing zombie au and was just...wigged out by the fact that she actually DOES touch people sometimes! And she can deal with it haha whereas when I was writing Theo, I definitely got into her head a bit and suddenly saw that a LOT of the ways that she approaches things is like...with an extra step that goes in first before EVERYTHING which is "how do I make sure no one is touching me". Campervan 13 does this a little, but she's much more reactionary - if someone reaches out for her, she flinches back. Whereas Theo was already standing out of reach.

And then both of them are then interesting to play off against characters like Grace - who, in both verses, I characterise as being someone who seeks out comfort via touch, and shows/feels love and affection via touch. And it's just fascinating to play with that.

[picnokinesis]

Hi! I discovered your campervan AU a few days ago (I was just about to start part 3 but apparently AO3's down right now), and I just wanted to say how much I'm loving it so far! It's fun and fresh and creative, especially in the ways you find to parallel/subvert scenes from the main show. I was genuinely tense at the ending to part 1, and I read most of part 2 in one sitting because I just had to know what happened next! Your voice and style is entertaining and engaging, and I can't wait to see how you adapt *checks notes* Orphan 55

Ahh!!! Oh wow, thank you so much you're so kind!! I've actually seen you in my tumblr notes hahaha and I knew that you'd gotten to the end of part one when you interacted with the art I put at the end of that one, and I had hoped in particular that you'd enjoyed the ending. It was just so much fun to write and it's so lovely that so many people found the ending exciting and tense even though we all know what happens haha! And oh my goodness binging part 2?? Consider me impressed, that's a heck of a lot of words! Genuinely delighted that you enjoyed it so much!!

Hopefully ao3 will be back soon haha, and I really hope you enjoy the rest of the ride!! :D Thanks for the ask, it's lovely to hear from you!!

[picnokinesis]

What are your favorite fun (or not so fun) facts about the Campervan and Redacted verses?

Hmmmmmm your timing is impeccable because I've actually been writing campervan au this evening. I've had a similar ask to this sitting in my inbox for a little while now (sorry for not answering, whoever sent that one!) and honestly it's kind of a difficult one to answer because I can't really think of anything specific off the top of my head right now. It's not a fun fact so much, but I do really love how I can find out something in one au, and then suddenly it reveals something in all the other aus. When I was thinking intensely about AU5 a few months back (which is the one where thoschei run away from everything when they're kids) I actually figured out some REALLY key important things about Graham, of all people, that I go reaaaaaally into depth about in campervan part 6. There's a conversation he remembers having with Grace that he also has in AU5, but it's a couple of decades earlier than literally all the other verses and so whilst it has the same emotional impact, the result is very different because the context just isn't the same hahah

Ok my other favourite thing is the way that, in multiple AUs, Grace and Graham take one look at the Doctor (and, in some cases, Koschei too) and are like 'ok we're parents now' HAHAH

And then hm a ziptie funfact - in Campervan AU, it takes quite a long time within the story for the information to all get revealed. In ziptie, it happens a lot faster, and (believe it or not) in LESS ideal circumstances than it will be revealed in the main au, which means the Doctor essentially gets a TON of lifechanging information dumped on her very quickly, not in the right order, and she. Does NOT cope with it very well at all hahah. Also in ziptie - I take the whole 'kasaavin has a mind texting function' to the next level, which is so strange when I think about campervan au because the kasaavin has only been talked about in part 1 and 2, whereas in ziptie it's like....so crucial to the plot of the entire thing, in many ways. Koschei gets one put on his neck pretty early on, and the Doctor gets hers put back on again as well - and then they never come off RIP. An attempt is MADE to get them off, but there's an...incident that involves the kasaavin which actually messes up the Doctor and Koschei's heads real bad, but also the side effect is that the kasaavin kind of gets. Fused on. So then later attempts by UNIT to get it taken off don't work. The worst part is that the Doctor and Koschei are both lowkey relieved by this, because it was something that connected them and made sure they couldn't lose each other (by this point they are horrifically codependent) but at the same time they're also freaked out by the fact that this thing is now Part of them. The mess in their heads can't be undone. Lots of fun. That, combined with the fact that, in ziptie, Koschei is directly responsible for the death of Yaz, Ryan and Graham, is..........a Lot. The Doctor is having a great time.