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jardin-des-anges · 3 years

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Muses + Short Mun Bio

My name is Lana, and I’m the mun of this blog. I’m a high school student who primarily writes horror and mystery stories, with emphasis on lying, manipulation, and physical and psychological torment, but I enjoy simpler, more slice-of-life stories, so long as there’s a good plot. My pronouns are she / they.

Muses are right below the cut!!

Adrian Michaels - A dancer performing alongside her sister all across America. She’s rather shy, but with her performances, she’s found herself becoming a bit more outgoing. She normally wears darker colors. Her resolve is stronger than it seems, and she’s normally the voice of reason in dire situations. 24 years old || Female || She / they || 5′ 7″ || African-American || Bisexual

Bella Michaels - A singer performing alongside her sister all across America. She’s outgoing and loves people, and wants to gain friends and fans all over the country. She wears brighter colors. She’s often rash and impulsive, but keeps herself from lashing out at others. Her entire life, she’s enjoyed sewing, and makes both her and her sister’s costumes. 24 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 8″ || African-American || Heterosexual

Caden Contiman - A former college student who dropped out due to a variety of factors, mainly emotional stress. He lives with his parents and isn’t allowed to leave the house, but he sneaks out at night and stays out until dawn before heading home to sleep all day. He studied psychology in college, which has led to an almost intimate knowledge of the human mind and an ability to read almost any emotion and action. He’s somewhat cruel, and tends to play mean-spirited pranks on everyone who catches his eye. He doesn’t allow anyone to know anything personal about him, but always pries into others’ lives and minds. 19 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 10″ || Welsh || Homosexual

Casey Allman - A strange writer who works himself near death. He’s believed to be the only living member of his family, and spent quite a bit of time in the limelight during the collapse of the Allman family, which was spread out over three years. He’s antisocial, and freezes up if confronted by another person. The only thing that seems to bring him any joy anymore is his writing. When describing things, he goes into way more detail than is necessary. He has several bizarre quirks that tend to freak out the people around him. 22 years old || Male || He / they || 5′ 11″ || Korean-American || Homosexual

Charlie Patten - An assassin who travels the world, learning about every place he goes on every mission. While on missions, he poses as a tourist, and when the job’s done, he doesn’t bother to stick around for much longer. He’s rather confident, bordering on cocky, and can rarely be swayed to do something if money isn’t involved. When he’s not on the job, he’s a pretty sweet and approachable guy, if always on-guard and somewhat suspicious of everyone. 24 years old || Male || He / him || 6′ 1″ || Canadian || Bisexual

Christopher Simon - A waiter living in a large city, having to work multiple jobs to support himself and his younger brother. He’s quite cynical, which is different from his more optimistic, sweet little brother. He only does things for money, even if it’s unethical or dangerous. His constant struggle to survive has spawned a distaste for frivolous things or luxuries, seeing them as a waste of money. Despite being so cynical (and, for the most part, tired), he completely changes when around his brother, washing away to show a happier, much less tense. He despises his appearance and avoids mirrors and other reflective surfaces. 25 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 9″ || British || Homosexual

“Cian” - A mysterious chemist living on the edge of a small town in Ireland, calling himself an alchemist. He has a love of plants, wild animals, and nature in general, a love only heightened by the dense forest behind his home. He’s very quiet and somewhat secretive, but passionate about his work and loves to talk about it. He can be quite blunt or uncooperative at times, but he does enjoy company, especially when the discussion turns to chemicals. 25 years old || Male || He / him || 6′ 6″ || Irish || Homosexual

Ciara McCormack - A ruthless queen whose family has ruled a small part of southern Ireland for generations. Having been raised with a cutthroat mentality and trained to eliminate all competition, Ciara has grown up to have that exact approach to everything in her life, making her a fearsome opponent to say the least. She’s quick to cut out anything she doesn’t need, which includes banishing or even executing anyone who even shows any chance of being a danger to her reign. 27 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 9″ || Irish || Heterosexual

Corianna Sutton - An assistant investigator to her older cousin Evian, despite not fully believing in ghosts. She has a bit of an obsession with fire, which is shown in the burn scars and bandages covering the right side of her body. She’s cynical but still friendly and approachable, although her demeanor can come off as bizarre. She drinks often, and keeps a flask painted with the lesbian flag hooked on her belt. 28 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 6″ || German || Homosexual

Daniel Hirsch - A teenage street urchin and graffiti artist who is almost never seen without his sister. He’s annoying and troublemaking, but not without a kind heart. He doesn’t find it easy to make friends, but considers that unimportant, knowing that he’ll always have his twin by his side. He’s more verbally restrained than his sister, but just as irritating as she is. 14 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 4″ || German || Bisexual

Evian Sutton - A paranormal investigator who explores all sorts of “haunted” places, recording them for her YouTube channel. She doesn’t always carry around all of her equipment, but she makes sure to keep a recorder on her at all times. She’s unapproachable and abrasive, and isn’t very friendly towards anyone other than her younger cousin Corianna. Normally, when she’s approached by someone else, she’ll simply brush them off with a few crass words. She’s normally very uninterested when it comes to most things, but the paranormal piques her interest and gets her truly passionate. 29 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 9″ || German || Asexual

Grace Hirsch - A teenage street urchin and graffiti artist who is almost never seen without her brother. She’s a loudmouth with little control over what she says, and she often instigates fights, even without meaning to. She has a teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, with rips and patches all over it, that she considers the closest thing to her aside from her brother. Every possession she owns is stored inside of a large backpack she carries slung over one shoulder. 14 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 4″ || German || Heterosexual

Kai “Shōakuma” Misaki - A high school student often accompanied outside of school by his loyal falcon Chieko. He’s social and charismatic, with an ability to capture almost anyone’s attention with his wild stories. He’s absolutely fascinated by history, especially religion, as well as the supernatural. Despite his eccentricities, he’s a good person, with a strong moral compass and a warm, kind heart. 17 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 2″ || Japanese || Bisexual

Kunimasa Sakurai - A young man living with his family while attending the local college. He’s stuck to a strict fitness regimen for years, and has a passion for physical health, believing it links back to everything in one’s life. He holds family and friendship close to his heart, and would die to protect the people he loves. 20 years old || Male || He / they || 5′ 6″ || African-Japanese || Asexual

Landon Garrison - A bounty hunter residing on the deep web, hidden behind the pseudonym “Black Mask”. For a price, he can find anyone’s personal information and give it to his client. He doesn’t socialize much, preferring to hide indoors on his computer. When he is accompanied by someone else, he’s notably tense, and refuses to do anything that can make him seem vulnerable. 24 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 11″ || British || Bisexual

Logan Garrison - A talented painter who has somehow lacked emotions since birth. He’s managed to learn how to adapt to any situation and show whatever emotions he needs to, comparing it to painting, and despite his inability to feel empathy, he’s able to sympathize with others, and knows right from wrong. He’s extremely protective of his brother, Landon, and fears for his safety, knowing the dark web can be dangerous. Most of his life is taken up by his art. 24 years old || Male || He / him || 6′ 1″ || British || Asexual

Lyrica Jansen - A wealthy heiress with a high net worth. Her older sister vanished mysteriously, causing her to become the sole heir to the family fortune. She looks dangerous and unkind, but despite her icy exterior, she’s kind and welcoming to others, but not without many threats towards those who disobey her. Her clothing and jewelry are elaborate and she’s quite tall, making her somewhat intimidating to be around. 19 years old || Female || She / her || 6′ 3″ || Dutch || Homosexual

Maysilee Patten - A former soldier on the search for the people who destroyed her home. She’s a sweet person, but her fuse is unbelievably short, and she’s easily sent into a rage. She’s skilled with nearly every kind of weapon, her preferred weapon being knives. Her loyalty is unmatched, but so is her ability to hold a grudge. 22 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 10″ || Irish || Pansexual

Minka Himura - A sarcastic high school student working part-time at her family’s butcher shop, deli, and restaurant. She loves to play pranks on her family and classmates, some of which have dangerous consequences. Although she’s quite mean-spirited, she has a soft spot for her siblings, and is a hard worker. 16 years old || Female || She / they || 5′ 3″ || Polish-Japanese || Questioning

Myla Crimm - A doll-like teenager with a knack for collecting random items. They don’t speak much, and prefer to blend into the background. She resides in her childhood home, which is now decrepit after the death of her mother. Because they live alone, they have quite a bit of experience and can take care of themself just fine. He’s levelheaded, but curious, and is aware of how off-putting he can sometimes appear to others. 18 years old || Genderfluid || She / he / they || 5′ 4″ || American || Bisexual

Onacona Pierce - A high school student and the head of his school’s music club. He’s a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to instruments, playing most, if not all, with skill, but he prefers the guitar. He’s easygoing and fun to be around, with an unexpected love of horror movies and literature. They have an online presence where they perform music. Currently, he mostly performs covers, but he’s been starting to write more and more original work. 17 years old || Male || He / they || 5′ 11″ || Native American || Heterosexual

Reiko Wakabayashi - A hardworking surgeon traveling overseas to perform surgeries for the less fortunate. She was a child prodigy, and as such, had a lot of pressure put on her to succeed; pressure that has resulted in a constant need to do well and please everyone else. Although she’s quite quiet, she’s fine with large groups, and loves to have her ear talked off by someone who’s passionate about someone. She cares deeply for children, women, and weak or ill people. 27 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 6″ || Japanese || Asexual

“Rusty” - A runaway fleeing the law and their past. He’s plagued by several problems with his health, including blindness, an extremely low weight, and a whole host of diseases. Because of these problems, he tries to remain in one place for as long as he can to restore his stamina, but he refuses to stay somewhere for longer than two weeks. He resembles a skeleton. They’re constantly paranoid, avoiding human contact as much as possible and relying only on their own intuition and four working senses to help them. 25 years old || Demiboy || He / they || 5′ 9″ || Korean-American || Pansexual

Sam Fields - A mechanic working at their family-owned autobody shop. They spend most of their time holed away in the garage, hard at work, smeared with oil and gasoline. Most of their skeleton is metal and most of their skin is covered in burn scars due to a past accident. They’re social and warm, and very physically affectionate. They can be reckless, even if they’re warned about dangers. 25 years old || Non-binary || They / them || 5′ 7″ || American || Bisexual

Shira Hadley - A pickpocket who’s normally only found darting through crowds, stealing trinkets and jewelry, and before someone can realize something’s gone, she’s already vanished. She had her vocal cords cut as a teenager, resulting in her being completely unable to communicate outside of noises, half-uttered syllables, and gestures. Due to her constant fear of getting caught, she tends to stick to shadows, and is extremely paranoid when encountered by anyone. 21 years old || Female || She / her || 5′ 7″ || Dutch || Grey-Asexual

Volya Orlov - A DJ who’s famous at several different clubs. He’s rebellious and tough, but mostly friendly towards people on his side. A bizarre incident has altered his body to the point where he emits sparks when he gets emotional, which is why many of his friends call him “Sparkplug” or “Sparky”. He’s often spotted alone, but doesn’t mind company. 21 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 9″ || Russian || Heterosexual

William Simon - A child living with his older brother, who’s struggling to make ends meet. He recognizes the sacrifices his brother makes for him and wants to help, but is stopped and always told not to grow up too quickly. He often stays at his brother’s main workplace, a small cafe and diner, where he sits in the breakroom, coloring and talking with the other workers when they come in for their own breaks. He’s friendly, but cautious, having been taught to always be careful around others. 12 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 2″ || British || Asexual

Zenjiro Himura - A peculiar man whose family has owned and operated a combination butcher shop, deli, and restaurant in the heart of Kotohira, Kagawa for generations. He’s the eldest of sixteen siblings, all living and working with their mother. He’s approachable and friendly, but has a knack for getting excited over extremely macabre and disturbing things. As the oldest brother, he has an instinct to protect and care for anyone younger or weaker than he is. 26 years old || Male || He / him || 5′ 9″ || Japanese || Pansexual

#muses #oc's #rp muses #oh god there are so many #a lot of them are bisexual #but in my defense i am also bisexual

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rjperez03 · 3 years

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USA vs Serbia Full Game | Basketball Men's Gold Medal Match | Olympic Games Rio 2016

The sport video was taken place at the Carioca Arena 1 in Brazil. The court is 91ft long and 49ft wide. A professional basketball court would be 94 by 50 feet. Under International Basketball Federation(FIBA) rules, the court is slightly smaller, measuring 28 by 15 meters. There are several basic components to the courts. The baskets, 3 point arcs, free throw lines, and half court line. The indoor courts are generally made of polished wood, whereas paving, concrete, or asphalt are traditionally made from outdoor courts.

In the equipment’s being used, the two teams had similar yet different items. Team USA wore a dark blue jersey that has white text lines, they wore black shoes and a few wore blue shoes. Each of them wore black socks, black arm and leg sleeves. Team Serbia on the other hand, wore a white jersey with blue lines. Their members wore different colored shoes whereas some of them wore blue, or white, or black shoes. Everyone on team Serbia wore white socks and they all wore black arm and leg sleeves. The equipment being used by both teams to play the game are basketball which is used to play the game.

There was also a hoop and backboard, the hoop was used to state that a team won points if the ball goes in the hoop. They also used a clock to time the game. From watching the game I have identified the basic skills which are positioning, shooting, rebounding, passing, dribbling, and blocking. Team USA’s positioning seemed to have no trouble at all since they have one of the best NBA players in the team, their members positions were assigned to support their roles. They also have good shooters, they include Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarcus Cousins, and DeAndre Jordan. Their rebounders which is Kevin Durant was excellent in the game, although there were times where their range shooters missed but since they were tall they were able to change the score a lot. Over the course of watching the video I have noticed that some of their passing’s were a bit disorganized or messy which was easily overpowered by team Serbia. Their dribbling over all was amazing, Klay Thompson took the spotlight for me since he was able to pass through quite easily and manage to score a number of scores for the team. Their blocking which is used to block the opposing team to score a point was spot on, their blocking were so good that team Serbia were having a really hard time to score points. For team Serbia their positioning were not that great since I have noticed that the opposing team easily passed through them, although their offense positioning was okay at the start but the opposing team concluded a strategy which made team Serbia fail. Their shooters were great but not as great as Team USA as I have noticed that a player was passes the ball when he was given the chance to shoot it. Their rebounding was a bit impressive for me but they were overpowered by team USA in no time. Just from watching team Serbia closely, I have noticed that all of their passing didn’t have any sloppy mistakes or even fails, which concludes the fact that they have really excellent passers. They were good at dribbling, they didn’t have a lot of problems with that part. They were good at the blocking part but they weren’t as good as the opposing team since they knew how to use these skills easily.

The technical and tactical skills are offense, defense, coordination and angle and location. Both teams had great offense but one team had a greater offense team which is team USA since they proved it numerous times by scoring twice the points team Serbia has. From the start up to the end, their shots remained undefeatable therefore contributing to their victory. Both of their teams had great defense but I noticed that team USA had better defense because they easily went through the team Serbia’s defense. Both teams were great in team coordination and were able to communicate easily. Player angle and locations play a big role in competitions since they influence your chance to receive the ball or pass it. From what I have observed team USA had better strategies which helped them run to victory.

Rules for Offense:

1. When moving both feet, the player must bounce, or dribble, the ball with one hand. If both hands strike the ball at any moment or the player ceases dribbling, only one foot must be pushed by the player. The pivot foot is called the foot that is stationary.

2. There's only one turn a basketball player can take to dribble. In other words, once a player has stopped dribbling, another dribble will not begin. For a double-dribbling violation, a player who starts dribbling again is called and loses the basketball to the other side. Only after another player from either team touches or takes possession of the basketball may a player begin another dribble. Normally, this is after a shot or pass.

3. The ball must remain inside boundaries. The other team takes possession of the basketball if the defending team drops the ball out of bounds.

4. When dribbling, the players' hand must be on the top of the ball. This is called carrying the ball and the player can lose the ball to the other team if they hit the bottom of the basketball when dribbling and continue to dribble.

5. They do not go back into the backcourt until the offensive team crosses half court. A backcourt breach is called this. If the defensive team knocks the ball into the backcourt, the offensive team will be able to legally retrieve the ball.

Defensive Rules:

(The team on defense is the team without the ball)

1. For a defensive player, the key rule is not to commit a foul. A foul is characterized by physical contact as gaining an unfair advantage. There is some interpretation that the referee may make, but the defensive player does not, in general, contact the offensive player in a way that causes the offensive player to drop the ball or miss a shot.

Rules for everyone:

1. Although the foul rule can be described as above a defensive rule, it also applies the same to all players on the court.

2. The players are not allowed to kick nor hit the ball with their fists.

3. Players shouldn’t touch the ball if it is still traveling downwards towards the basket or if it is on the rim.

To officiate the sport you need to hire a referee, timekeeper, scorer, and overall officiating. The official in charge during and after the basketball game is called the referee. The referee watches the match or game closely in order to make sure that the rules are followed, as well as to be able to arbitrate on certain matters that may arise. As such, the enforcement of the rules and the maintenance of order of the game or math is the referee’s full responsibility. He makes the decisions and has the final say on disciplinary matters. Lastly, he also has control over the game and has positions on opposite sides of the basketball court. The referees in the match did a good job. The Timer, or sometimes also called Timekeeper, is the official responsible in keeping a record of the playing times and the stoppages in play. The Timer should also keep a record of all time-outs, and be able to indicate when each half of the game or an overtime ends. The timekeeper did an outstanding job which meant there weren’t any delays or technical difficulties. The scorers in a basketball game are also called scorekeepers. They keep records of all points scored, all the fouls called against each player of both teams, the timeouts charged to each team, takes note of the starting line-ups, and records all substitutions made during the game. The scorers also did a good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtm0khT1qec&ab_channel=OneSports

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beautifulletdownfics · 4 years

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‘someday, someday’ :: tumblr edition, #28

London was beautiful at 3am.

Rodger sat in the passenger seat flicking through the emails he missed during the day. BBC Radio 3 played softly as I navigated through the streets back to his house.

"Who'd have thought you'd be a Radio 3 fan," Rodger said distractedly.

"It's calming," I defended.

Rodger was quick to come back, "It's Nina is what it is."

"You're supposed to say how adorable it is that she's got me listening to Mozart in the car."

"Oh," He locked his phone and put a hand on my shoulder as I drove, "It's extremely fucking adorable. Didn't I say she'd be good for you? Look how cultured you seem now."

I laughed but shrugged off his hand, “Shut up, I’ve always been cultured.”

“This is Bach,” He deadpanned, “Not Mozart.”

“Oh, piss off.”

As I turned into their street, Rodger dug through his backpack for his keys and started rattling off scores from a football game while I found a park. By the time we were talking up the front steps to their house, I was well and genuinely freezing my arse off and ready to be with Nina.

I wasn't planning on spending the night here, but it was a few days since I had seen her and I knew Nina's rehearsals were taking a toll, but I wasn't able to get more detail than that. I had two days off, and once the idea to be in her bed tonight formed in my head, it took hold.

Rodger let us in and turned on the hall light, "Cuppa?" He asked.

"No," I shook my head, "Thanks, I'm just gonna go up."

"Righto, see you in the morning."

I ducked into the bathroom on my way up to Nina's room, using some of the toiletries I knew were hers to wash my face. I stripped down to my pants, so there was less chance of waking her up with undressing and then stumbled out and up to her door.

It creaked open loudly, but I held the handle so I could slip it in quietly as I closed the door again. I put my clothes in a pile on the floor at the bottom of the bed and smiled as I then tried to figure out where on earth I was meant to fit in the bed when Nina was comfortably asleep right in the middle.

"Harry?"

I paused and winced where I had barely pulled back the duvet to slip my leg in, “I’m pleased I was your first guess,” I chuckled lowly.

She rolled over onto her side and shuffled back, making room for me. I settled next to her and pushed her hair off her sleepy face.

"I wasn't expecting you," Nina said, quietly letting out a weary sigh, "How was your day?"

"It's 3am," I pressed a kiss to her forehead and shuffled closer to her, "Go back to sleep."

"I wasn't sleeping, not really."

I pulled back to look at her in the dark, only her eyes shone from the light outside, "How're rehearsals going?" "Fine," She yawned, sounding more awake. My eyes momentarily flicked to the necklace she was wearing, it was the one I gave her for Christmas. I pressed my index finger to it briefly.

"Still drama?" I asked, trying not to give her a pass to evade the answer. Nina had a tendency to underplay her own work at the moment, and the idea bothered me.

"Yeah."

"Tell me about it," I prompted.

Nina rolled over onto her back beside me, "You want to hear?"

"Yes," I told her earnestly.

She had been quite evasive about it over the phone for the last two days, but I could hear something was wearing her down. Since recording the song together last week, I felt like Nina had shied away somewhat. Rodger told me after the fact about a pep talk, he needed to give her before working on the song together. I had been scolding myself ever since for being insensitive to what walking into that recording studio would have been like. I just didn't think.

"Orchestras are like ..." While she collected her thoughts, I wound my arm across her tummy, "Where else would you have eighty to a hundred and twenty people all working together with the precision of a tenth of a second? It's high stress and high stakes, and everyone has skin in the game."

"Yesterday you said something about egos ..."

"Egos like you wouldn't believe," She confirmed, speaking quietly to the ceiling, "It's all about your chair. Your chair is your status in the orchestra and beyond. Some people sit in their chairs for decades, and it's always a pissing contest."

“Right.”

“A chair in the strings has come up this week, and somebody in the orchestra stepped into the position. Which seems simple enough, but now they’re trying to dictate who gets their old chair. It’s also final program week where section leads are figuring out if the soloists are right. It feels like everyone’s breathing down each other’s necks and I already know I’m a featured soloist again.”

I interrupt her, “You’re featured again? Isn’t that incredible news? Nina! Congratulations.”

“It’s not public knowledge yet,” she doesn’t accept my praise, “Ryan says I’ve got nothing to worry about, but I don’t want to step on any toes.”

“I’m sure nobody’s—

—I’m new, young and female,” Nina says over me, “Someone will have an issue, even if they only say it under their breath. Orchestras are superstitious as all hell. I don’t want any bad voodoo pointed my way.”

I wound my arm entirely around her and pulled her closer, “Hey,” I pressed a kiss to the side of her mouth, “You’re a treasure, hear me? You can’t change what people think of you, much less alter anything by worrying yourself sick about it. I don’t know anything about orchestras, but I know how corporations run … The people whose job it is to do so will make their decisions, you just worry about how you treat the people around you. None of them has a legitimate reason to dislike you, Nina. The whole orchestra benefits from the best talent being displayed.”

“I know.”

I squeezed my arms tighter around her, “And you know what you’ve got this time you didn’t a few months ago?”

“What.”

“You ... ” I kissed her again, “... Have a boyfriend who adores you who you should definitely offload on more frequently. Tell me this stuff, Neens. I can’t help, but I can listen and distract and encourage.”

She pressed her forehead against my bare chest and took in a deep breath, "Can't we run away back to New York?"

"Any time you want."

She sighed, we both knew that wasn't entirely realistic. Still, I liked that Nina wanted to run away with me, "I just want—hang on," She interrupted herself, "It's the beginning of birthday week!"

"Hmm," I hummed, thinking about the date and how many days were left until my birthday, "I suppose it is."

"Harry!" Nina was out from my arms and pushing me onto my back in a heartbeat, her palms pressing to my shoulders to hold me down, she slipped her leg over my hips and hoisted herself over to straddle me, "Happy birthday week!" She peppered my face with kisses, "Happy happy birthday."

I laughed under her, holding her waist and starting to squirm away from her grabby hands, "Ouch. Careful. Oh," she planted a long kiss on my lips and then held her head up to watch me, "Thank you. That was ... Joyful."

"I"m thrilled you exist," she whispered. "This week is gonna be fun.”

“It is,” I agreed quickly, trailing my fingers up her sides and hooking my thumbs around the straps of her sleep singlet, “May I?”

Nina took my mouth in a languid kiss, her hair fanning out around my face, “Please,” she breathed.

+++

Standing in their kitchen later that morning, Nina was frowning deeply at the saucepan on the hob.

"What did it say to you?" I sided up to her and laced my arm around her middle.

Nina bit her lip, not catching my teasing tone, "They're not staying together properly."

"Spin the water before you drop the egg in," I instructed gently, looking at the mess of egg white from her most recent poaching attempt. "Did you add vinegar?"

Nina pulled back with a sceptical look on her face, "Sorry, you're an egg expert?"

"Eggspert," I corrected, "Yes."

Her eyes narrowed by I caught the twitch of a smile, "Your sister warned me about this."

That surprised me, "My sister?"

Nina raised her eyebrows at me and nudged my thigh with her hip, "Yep. We text now."

"Hang on," I took the wooden spoon off her when she held it out to me and watched her move over to the fridge, "What are you and my sister texting about?"

"She's got me onto Love Island," Nina said, pulling a few items out onto the bench and then starting making us both a coffee, "And she's been helping with some birthday things. You're hard to buy for, we're bonding over it."

"Birthday things, you say ..." I leant down and kissed Nina's cheek as she took back the egg poaching station and gave me a delicious mug of coffee.

"She told me a really delightful story about you as a six-year-old stuffing an Action Man limb up your nose."

"That's a lie!" I spluttered out too quickly.

"You can defend yourself at dinner tonight," Nina smiled brightly as she blew on the surface of her hot drink.

"God, Gem will be loving this," I all but rolled my eyes.

We were playing, but I was looking forward to bringing Nina along for Gemma and I's usual Monday night dinner. I also didn't mind at all that they were texting, I'd never had that happen before. My sister was always deliberately separate from the women I dated. Nina and my sister were fast becoming two peas in a pod, and I couldn't say I minded a bit.

"Do you want to eat here or on the sofa?"

Nina had two plates of eggs on toast served up waiting for my response, "Sofa," I said, picking them both up and following her through to the living room.

Once we were settled, we chatted through eating breakfast, establishing our plans for the rest of the day off we shared. I didn’t care what we did, I was just craving being with her. Which is why well over an hour later, without empty plates still sitting on the coffee table in front of us, I didn’t care that I was watching the telly while Nina scrolled on her phone. Both Rodger and Max had come and gone, and the house was quiet around us.

“I like this house,” I said aloud. “Almost as much as I like my own,” I watched Nina look around their living room blankly, clearly not seeing anything praiseworthy. I dug my toes in under her thigh from my spot at the opposite end of the sofa, “Not the house itself … I just like being here is all I mean.”

“Was gonna suggest you get your eyes tested,” Her hand rested on my calf comfortably, “It’s certainly not as pretty as your place.”

“There’s a lot of love and safety in this house,” I explained, my eyes are drawn to Nina’s phone when it pinged with multiple notifications at once, “What on earth is going on?”

Nina frowned at the screen and started rapidly typing back to a message, “The girls are all on. And I’m talking to Gemma too.”

I crawled over to her and rested my head on her shoulder, “What are you all gas bagging about?” Nina flipped the screen out of my view quickly, but I reached for her hand and brought it back because I recognised the website she was on, “Gucci?”

“Don’t,” She tried to reach the lock button, but my fingers were stopping hers from being able to.

“What are you buying from … Nina.”

“You like Gucci,” Nina spoke quietly, avoiding meeting my eyes, “Don’t ruin it.”

I locked the screen myself and sat up next to her, keeping a hold of her hand, “Nina, don’t spend that kind of money on me, particularly on a brand I work with. I don’t pay for any of their stuff, babe.”

“I want to get you something you’ll love.”

I love you, I wanted to say, alarmed at how easily the thought drifted into my head.

“I don’t need anything,” I took her chin in my hands and made her look at me, noticing the small white line of Nina's scar from her childhood bike accident, “But I’d love it if you got me some classical vinyls … Like of some symphonies you like. Please don’t spend anything ridiculous though.”

“I have a job, Harry. I want to buy you something nice. New York was—

—Okay,” I breathed out, hating the conversation that was coming. Usually, I avoided it. No, usually things didn’t get serious enough to need to have the money conversation. But Nina was sitting in front of me planning to spend more than she could probably afford on my birthday because she felt like she needed to repay me for my more extravagant Christmas gift. “Neens, you can’t think that way. You really can’t. I don’t have normal circumstances when it comes to money … When it comes to almost everything, actually. The point is,” I continued slowly, “I love that up until this point things have been pretty even, you pay for a lot, and it means so much to know that you’re not just sitting back relying on me. But Neens, for big stuff like holidays and extras I’ve got it covered.”

“That’s not fair, Harry.”

I shook my head, “Money isn’t about fair, Nina. Relationships suffer for it every day, and that’s usually about not having enough. It fills me with shame to think the people in my life would worry because I have an excess. I’ve worked hard for it and sacrificed a lot. And you’ll sacrifice a lot being with me … Money can’t be what ruins this. I won’t let it. I don’t want to be scared to spend money on you or on us because when I’m away for months at a time or when our dating becomes public things will be stressful and money is one thing we won’t need to worry about.”

Nina sat for a moment, looking uncomfortable and a little glum. I leaned in a kissed her, she gave me a weak smile after, “You really want vinyls?”

“Yes,” I promised her, understanding that maybe she needed time to sit with everything else I said, “I really do. I’m extremely behind in my classical collection. Actually, that reminds me, I’ve got something for you to listen to.”

She gave me a curious look, “What?”

“Where does Rodger keep his good headphones?”

“I think there’s a pair of his studio ones on the kitchen table …”

“I’ll be right back,” I jumped up off the sofa and rounded the living room, scooting back in a moment later figuring out how to pair them with my phone. “Okay,” I leaned over the back of the couch and slid the cups over Nina’s ears.

“What on earth …”

I slumped back next to her, hooking my arm through Nina’s and pulling up the file Rodger sent me the day before, “I’ve got our song for you to listen to.”

She frowned, “It’s not our song, Harry, it’s yours—

—It’s ours,” I corrected her, “And I love it. Ready to hear it? Rodger finished it yesterday afternoon.”

“Okay,” Nina’s voice shook as she adjusted the earphones on her ears, “You really like it?”

I pressed a kiss to her shoulder, “Yes.”

I hit play before she could protest again, turning my head to the side so I could watch her as it played.

I could tell she was listening carefully throughout, her eyes focusing on different points in the room as I kept up with where int he track she was up to. Only the tiniest amount of residual noise leaked from the headphones, but I got exactly the reaction I was after about halfway through.

The intro to the bridge happened, and Nina’s eyes met mine, welling beautifully as she heard the incredible work Rodger had done since the rough cut she heard on the day. He’d added a choir of voices and the slightest echo effect onto the piano. The strings part Nina wrote we had recorded with a string quartet, and Rodger left in the sound of the piano keys falling back into place, just as Nina had suggested we do.

The song was incredible, and I was already obsessing over how to perform it live; over how to make that point in the setlist a real moment where we all shone up on stage.

“It’s so good, Harry,” Nina sniffed, dabbing under her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper.

“You’re happy with it?”

“Yes!” She cried out, “You idiot, it’s gorgeous! It’s sad but hopeful, and your voice is vulnerable, but the lyrics are sure and steadying … I adore it. The strings are great. Play it again for me.”

+++

Nina and Gemma were laughing so hard I was concerned cider was going to come out of someone's nose.

Ned looked across at me as though I might have an explanation for what was going on. I shrugged at him and took another bite of my sister's take on our grandmother's apple pie. There was no need to let dessert go cold.

"And then they—

—I know!" Gemma cried, nodding her head and wiping at tears in her eyes. "I know, oh my god. It's hilarious."

Nina beamed at my sister, her eyes shining with tears of her own, “I never actually would, but I’d go on the show just to be in those conversations after.”

“Me too!”

“Hold up,” I waved my hand across the table between them, “Are you still talking about Love Island? Because I can promise you, neither of you is ever going on that show.”

“Yes,” Nina squeezed my bicep, “But notice I started with ‘I never actually would’?”

My shoulders sunk, and I took another bite of pie, “Oh. Good.”

“So, what do you still need for Saturday, Harry?” Ned turned the conversation to my birthday party on the weekend, “I’ve got Friday off so I can come over and help set anything up … Or run out and pick things up. Whatever you need.”

“My girlfriends will also be around to help,” Nina added.

“I’ve got meetings,” Gemma said, “And I’m picking up Mum from the train after, but we can come over too.”

I look at them all, grateful to have everyone offering to help. I hadn’t been in the UK for a birthday in several years, and I was looking forward to it. It was going to be low key, I only sent out an invite email to a few dozen people a few days ago. I was planning on just having it at home, which kept things simple and meant I didn’t have to worry about the added element of paparazzi or other people being around.

“How about we go out for dinner on Friday night then?” I suggested, “I’ve hired caterers for Saturday so there’s really not a lot to do that can’t happen on Saturday during the day. Just have to clean the outdoor furniture a bit, although it’ll be cold. I’ll book somewhere for Friday, that’ll be a good start to the weekend.”

“You can’t take us out for dinner on your birthday weekend!” Gemma scoffed.

“Watch me,” I stared her down.

+++

Fresh orange and pink light beamed all around us as Nina, and I made our way hand in hand back along the streets from Hampstead Heath.

It was only just nearing seven am, but I was alive with the sense I’d been awake and could continue being awake, for days. It was a high I only really experience within the throngs of touring life, but starting the day watching the sunrise with Nina, standing with her back pressed tightly to my chest, gave the same sense of life. And I felt drunk on the feeling.

“Look at that picture, that’s a good one,” Nina held my phone up in front of us, tilting the screen when I squinted to see which one she was talking about. Walking lazily, side by side, was a strange kind of perfect.

“My forehead looks funny,” I commented, pulling her out of the path of a puddle when she started flipping through the rest of the photographs we’d just taken together.

“When did you take this?” Nina asked, eyes together as she assessed my personal favourite; Nina standing with her hands in her pockets, eyes closed with her face to the sky, sunrise lighting up the expanse behind and above her. As soon as I had taken it, I knew it would be one I’d keep. I had already made it my phone lock screen, and I planned on changing Nina’s contact picture to it as well.

It was Nina I always wanted to see; beautiful beyond belief, simple in that way that had me catching my breath.

“You were having a moment,” I explained, “I captured it perfectly.”

“I look ...” She trailed off.

“... Completely gorgeous,” I finished with certainty, snatching the phone away from her and shoving it in my pocket. “Now, pay attention to where you're walking please.”

We chatted about what it might be like to live like hermits for the rest of ours lives, and by the end of it Nina decided the life we’d described—early rises, countless books, snuggly nights, no television—sounded a lot like retirement. I smiled at the thought.

When we got back to the house, kicking off muddied boots and jackets damp with the moisture from the air, I flopped myself down on my favourite sofa as Nina said she’d be back after a quick trip to the bathroom.

“Harry,” She sat right next to my waist when she returned. “Are you ... Okay, you’re going back to sleep,” She answered herself, I opened one eye to look up at her. Nina was looking around the room like she was trying to figure out what she was going to do next. I mumbled a laugh and let the eyelid close slowly.

I stuck my arm out to incase her, keeping my eyes shut, “You fit too, c’mon.”

I managed to get her lying next to me for a moment. Still, just as I was adjusting myself against the back of the sofa and pulling her legs closer to mine with an expertly hooked foot, Nina surprised me by wriggling free and instead straddling my hips to sit up and look down at me.

"Why, hello," I opened my eyes and smiled up at her, wanting more than anything to be able to convey how fucking beautiful she looked.

"Hi," She grinned.

“Are you trying to say you don't want me to have a nap right now?”

“I mean, a nap can be on the list,” Nina said, pressing her lips to my neck and digging her hands underneath my shirt, “But maybe you’d like to do something else first.”

“Like what,” I insisted, letting her pull my shirt over my head but pulling her down for a heated kiss.

Nina sat back on my hips and surprised me by pulling her own shirt straight over her head without any hesitation, “I think you’re clever enough to figure it out.”

+++

“Do you no think if I start doing a bunch of media people will get suspicious? I think I’d prefer not to,” I told the conference call, my concentration momentarily pulled to Nina and her girlfriends assembling a string of garden lights outside. “I really want this EP to drop without a whisper of it beforehand, I don’t want to lose the fun of that.”

“I agree with Harry,” I recognised my manager’s voice.

“Okay,” The rep from marketing relented, “No media until afterwards then.”

“I’ll do interviews until my mouth bleeds once it’s out, promise,” I told them cheekily, hearing a screech from outside and then a choir of laughter. “Is that everything?”

It was, and the call ended soon after. I plugged my phone in to charge on the kitchen bench and peeked out the window again. Nina hadn’t stopped smiling since her friends arrived earlier in the morning. They had been out with Gemma buying lights and decorations for the party tonight. I couldn’t say I gave them free rein, they simply took it.

Gemma was off collecting our mum, so when I walked through to the dining area, I started on sorting through a whole bunch of crap on the table to be put away before the party. The doors to the back garden were open, so I tuned into the conversation going on out there momentarily, with Sam’s reply catching my attention. I was only just out of their view but stayed quiet to see if I could catch the moment.

“Oh shut up, this is the best stage of the relationship, Nina. Just tell us how it is!”

“Quiet,” Nina insisted. “This is his house!”

Sam didn’t listen to her, “You of all people deserve to be having all the sex in the world right now. Are you?”

“I hate you so much right now.”

“Leave her alone,” Isabel said. “She’s bright red. That’s confirmation in itself. Harry adores her, there’s no way that man isn’t good in bed.”

“I’m leaving,” Nina announced, appearing in the doorway a second later.

I spun around and met her eyes, she was bright red and looking flustered. Her mouth fell open when she saw me, and I bit my lip but smiled at her, knowing I had been caught. The girls called out for her and just when I opened my mouth she pointed right at me.

“Not a word from you,” She tried to look menacing, “Not a word.”

I held up both hands and laughed, “I wouldn’t dare … But for the record, I’d appreciate it if you defended my reputation instead of leaving room for doubt by being silent.”

“Harry,” She hissed, looking behind her to make sure her friends weren’t nearby.

“I mean, ‘all the sex in the world’ is a little hard to quantify, but we’re doing okay,” I grinned, watching her blush deepen almost as much as it had in the shower that morning.

Nina narrowed her eyes at me, “I’m going to put the kettle on for tea.”

“I’ll come help.”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t,” She threw over her shoulder as she left the room.

I laughed loudly but followed after her regardless. She was embarrassed, and it was sweet. As I walked passed her in the kitchen, I gave her bum a light tap and told her she was beautiful. She told me to go away, but her voice was soft and affectionate—her heart not in it. When I returned to her side with a bunch of mugs and the tin of tea under my arm, I put everything down and looped my arm around her middle, depositing my hand in the back pocket of her jeans.

I gave her bottom a squeeze and pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear, guessing the question her girlfriends had asked her, “Tell me how the sex is, Nina.”

She smiled and was about to reply when we both jumped and turned around at the voices behind us.

“Urgh! See? They’re having so much sex,” Georgie cried out with Sam and Isobel close behind.

“Oh my god,” Sam wheezed, pointing at Nina, “Your face. Both of your faces. Gold.”

“You’re all uninvited to tomorrow night,” Nina shouted through a smile, “Tell them,” She nudged my side.

All four women were looking at me, and I was truly at a loss as to what to say, but I found myself laughing along with Nina’s friends, “Thank you very much for having this conversation while my sister isn’t here.”

They all laughed again, but Nina covered her face with her hands and turned back to the kettle. While Nina made the tea, the rest of us moved on to discussing where else they should decorate.

A plan was hatched to add some lights out in the front courtyard.

+++

“They’re never going to stop talking, are they?”

I felt Nina laugh against my chest and the sheets across my chest moved when she snuggled even closer, “No.” “You absolutely wish you were in with them, aren’t you?” I said into the darkness of my bedroom, “You have FOMO, just admit it.”

The sound of her friends chatting down the hall, despite the fact it was the middle of the night, was the only sound going through my house. We went out for dinner once my sister and mum arrived and now, a few bottles of wine at home later, Nina’s friends were very much enjoying themselves instead of sleeping.

“I thought we were all tired,” Nina mumbled through a yawn.

“They’re full of beans.”

She spoke sleepily, and it made me smile, “I love them.”

“Me too.”

I love you as well, I thought.

“Are you excited for your party tomorrow?” Nina asked quietly. My mind lingered on my previous thought.

“I am,” Her hair was damp against my shoulder, and one smooth leg of hers was spotted between mine, “Are you?”

“I’m a little nervous,” Nina admitted. “But it will be good.”

I kissed her cheek and wondered what the best method of reassuring her was, “Should we do sunrise again?”

Her head started nodding against my skin before she spoke, “Mhmm, let’s. You set the alarm, my eyes are already closed.”

“How you do know mine aren’t closed as well,” I chuckled.

“I can hear you blinking.”

“There’s absolutely no way that is true.”

“It is.” “It’s not.”

“You have lovely eyelashes, and I’m a prodigy, I can hear it when you blink.”

“Oh, now you’re a prodigy.”

“When it suits me, yes.”

#1dff #one direction #one direction fanfiction #harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #fic:someday someday #hina

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

The Beginning of Everything

Ch. 17: Dorothy Bell & the Osirans

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: Female OC x 10th Doctor

(OC Renata’s Face claim: Marjorie de Sousa) (Gabby’s face claim: Victoria Moroles)

// Story Masterlist //

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DISCLAIMER: This chapter’s plotline is from Doctor Who’s comic stories. Most of the dialogue is directly written from the comic. The plot is NOT mine.

Chapter Summary: The time travelers are back in New York for an interesting auction that leads them to a celebrity and alien Gods.

For some reason, the Doctor had expressed a need to go to New York due to some strange readings he was getting from the TARDIS. None of his companions, including Renata, had much trouble accepting the impromptu visit since it was the perfect chance for Gabby to visit home and catch up with her family. While Gabby was at home, the remainder of the travelers went to a top-notch secret auction of 'alien' objects.

"Do I hear a hundred thousand? 200,000?" a chirpy young woman raised a finger at a gentleman in the crowd responsible for the new bid amount.

Way in the back, the Doctor rudely snorted.

Renata, who sat beside him, shot him a glance for his action. "Would you keep it down? I thought you were the one who said we needed to keep a low profile. Whatever that means."

"It just means staying low and not getting noticed," Donna chimed in from her seat which was on Renata's left.

"Yes, thanks Donna," the Time Lady huffed and crossed one leg over the other then put her hands over her lap. "I don't see the need for us to entertain this silly auction. Why, pray tell, are you making us sit through this, Doctor, when we all know you can just steal whatever you're looking for in its storage room?"

There was an inevitable smirk on the Doctor's face as he glanced at Renata. "Are you saying I can just steal something and be on our way?" Renata rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. "Renée, I am shocked - no, flabbergasted. Maybe I am rubbing off on you."

"You wouldn't be so lucky," Renata flatly said, though there was a hint of pink on her cheeks.

Donna eyed the two aliens as much as she could from where she sat. Those two had been acting...different. And by different, it meant less arguing and more harmless bantering. There was a more clear closeness between the two that, honestly, gave a warmer vibe to the whole TARDIS. Gabby was the only one who often seemed to be on edge about the two aliens, but she wouldn't say why.

"Doctor, why the hell are we here anyways?" Renata asked after watching some suited man pay over a million dollars for an object she was pretty sure was only a hair dryer. Almost all these objects, actually, resembled more human characteristics than alien as they were made out to be.

"I told you, I got some strange readings back in the TARDIS that I couldn't ignore," the Doctor picked up the pamphlet they'd been handed at the start of the auction and went through it again. When he found the item he'd been waiting for, he called one of the employees to inquire over it. The helpful woman informed him the object needed to be bid on privately at the front desk.

So he had the trio get up and go do just that.

"I'm pretty sure you don't have the kind of money to pay for these things," Renata whispered to the Doctor on their way out.

"And I'm pretty sure they don't have clearance to be selling this object," the man retorted with. He pulled out his sonic from his coat's inner pocket and activated its communication feature. "Message to UNIT HQ, NY. Flag this location with a clean up requirement for a few suspicious items, maybe ex-Torcheood - immediate effect."

"What's Torchwood?" Renata dreaded to ask but instead of getting the answer from the Doctor it was Donna who replied. She vaguely remembered the name from her time with the Master, but she could do with a fresh reminder.

"Some facility that was responsible for getting a good half of us killed with their robotic men and weird pepper bottles."

"She means Cybermen and Daleks," went the Doctor who wasn't very interested in retelling the story. He only informed Donna of the full story because she wouldn't leave him alone about it.

"What!?" Renata exclaimed. She honestly could have paid a little more attention while she was trapped with the Master. Once she got to thinking, she did remember a few times the Master mentioned the name 'Torchwood' sometimes but it wasn't like she paid much attention to him. He had a nasty habit of insulting her most of the time so she learned - as a survival mechanism - to ignore a lot of his words.

Before the Doctor could defend himself from any looming argument, he felt a very hard fist connect with the back of his head. He fell forwards, flat on his stomach and with a nose first-down on the ground.

"Doctor!" Renata was horrified at the sight.

"Uh, Ren…" Donna very gently shook the Time Lady's arm, meaning for Renata to look ahead but the woman was too focused on the Doctor.

"Don't make a move," warned a different woman, the culprit of such a blow. She was a young dark skinned woman dressed in all black. She held a high-tech gun on the trio as well as the Doctor's fallen sonic screwdriver.

But instead of being scared, Renata was furious. "And just who the hell do you think you are? And put that thing down before you hurt someone else!"

The woman raised an eyebrow at Renata, as if questioning whether or not Renata was actually demanding things from her when she held the gun. "I don't think you realize your position right now."

"I think I do, actually," the Doctor groaned as he got back on his feet. Renata yanked him to her side and pulled him slightly down in order for her to better check the spot where the woman's fist had knocked him.

"English accents," the woman noted from the trio. "So pompous. Lot 28, the artifact. You bought it and I need it."

"Wait a minute," Donna's eyebrows wrinkled together. "You think we bought it? Whatever the hell it is, we don't have it."

"Ha, sure," the woman scoffed.

"We really don't," Renata's eyes hardened. "And what kind of asking involves punching someone then threatening them with a gun and a stolen sonic?" she pointed specifically to the blue-lit sonic screwdriver in the woman's hand.

"A sonic?" the woman tilted her head at the sonic screwdriver, specifically eyeing the blue glow at the top.

"Unauthorized user alert," went the Doctor all of a sudden and in the next moment the woman was shocked. It was at the same time that the Doctor tackled the woman to her floor. "I haven't got a collection ticket. We're going to look silly at the front desk!"

"Don't be silly with the human who's trying to kill us," scolded Renata.

"We want to know who bought the artifact too," the Doctor informed the woman as he swiped her gun away then sat on the floor like nothing had occurred.

"Really?" the woman sat up, all of a sudden smiling. "Oh, well then we maybe we can work together."

"I think not!" went Renata and Donna at the same time.

"Yeah, I don't think my friends are very keen on you," the Doctor muttered as he disarmed the gun and dropped it to his side.

"Well, we're after the same thing so we can help each other out," the woman insisted as she pushed herself up to her feet. "And in good faith, I'll even tell you my name: Cleo."

"Oh and that's supposed to make us forget you nearly tried to kill him?" Renata gestured to the Doctor still sitting on the floor.

"And us!" Donna reminded with a huff.

"I only wanted the artifact before it got into the wrong hands," Cleo shrugged. "I imagine that's what you all want as well?"

The Doctor swayed his head specifically at Renata, as if trying to say Cleo made a good point. The Time Lady's face indicated pure warning. Do. Not. Do. It.

"We really can't let it fall into the wrong hands," the Doctor reminded her. Renata huffed and looked away, knowing what he was going to do next. "Alright Cleo, you can help us. But don't use that gun again on anything or anyone or it'll just zap you like my—" he swooped up his sonic from the floor, "-little friend did here."

"Oh, so we're just going to ignore my very wise advice not to let the evil woman come with us?" Renata was at his side the moment they started walking again.

"Better to have people who want to kill us near us then far away where we can't see them," he said.

"I'm not sure I like that logic," Donna mumbled to Renata who agreed with a nod of her head.

In a short amount of time, Cleo had taken the lead with a high-tech tracking device the Doctor knew she hadn't gotten out of the local market.

"Where's that Jeridian energy tracer from?" he inquired as Cleo led them out the backdoor of the building.

"Does it matter? I got a signal," Cleo shrugged.

"It really does, though."

"That car right there!" Cleo pointed a car that was just pulling out of the alley into the street.

The Doctor aimed his sonic at the car that was too far to stop. At the same time, Donna yelped that they were no longer alone. A group of armed men were making their way out of the building as well.

"C'mon!" Renata grabbed both Donna and the Doctor to lead them behind a dumpster to hide in. Cleo came as well but she was more interested in the readings of her tracker than the men almost finding them.

"I can't trace the signal!" the woman groaned as she continuously played with the controls.

"But I did," the Doctor grinned at his sonic. "I can pinpoint the power signature to within a few meters once it stops moving."

Cleo lowered her device to look at the man. "Okay, who are you? And what the hell is that?" she nodded to the sonic.

"Oh, right, we haven't been introduced," the Doctor smiled so casually Renata wanted to smack him on the spot. "I'm the Doctor, that's Renata and that's Donna." He then got up, pulling Renata who then pulled Donna towards the street after the men had passed. "Why are you so interested in this artifact, Cleo?" he asked once they were walking on the sidewalk.

"Not me," Cleo put a hand over her chest. "I just hunt that stuff for collectors. A lot of people are interested in that thing but I've no idea why."

"You never thought to ask what you were hunting down?" Renata incredulously glanced at the woman who merely shook her head. "Ignorance is not bliss, you know? You could get hurt."

"I know how to take care of myself just fine," Cleo smiled. "And I don't care where that stuff's from as long as I can put a high price on it."

"Lovely," Donna shook her head.

"Taxi!" Cleo called at the corner of the street, wailing her hand in the air. At her beck and call, a yellow taxi club stopped in front of her. "Come on! See as you're so in charge…" she pointed at the Doctor, "I'm following you. We'll split the proceeds."

"She's not kidding," Renata side-glanced the Doctor with a tilted head.

"Better to have her near," he reminded her of his logic that she could not disagree more with. She was very worried over this mysterious object the Doctor refused to tell her about, saying it was just something that shouldn't be in a human's hands. And this Cleo woman didn't exactly give her a good vibe.

And all those feelings of concern and worriment were, without her knowledge, reaching someone else in the city. A young girl whom Renata wanted far away from them right now.

The tracing had brought them to the upper east side of New York. It was an upscale building that had the end of the trace.

"It's coming from that apartment," the Doctor led the way towards the door marked '4G' at the end of the hallway. Just as he knocked, an small explosion rocked them all to the ground.

Cleo shrieked after feeling most of the explosion hit her. "What did you do to my gun!?"

"Did you seriously just try to shoot us again!?" Renata was about to lose it. The woman had tried shooting them while their backs were to her.

"I told you I didn't like guns," the Doctor frowned at Cleo.

Suddenly, the door he'd knocked on opened up to reveal a ginger woman with another gun pointed at them.

"Oh, that's just great!" Donna huffed at their odds.

"I don't know who you are but you need to come in right now before I shoot you all," the ginger warned and stepped aside.

The group were forced to go in, but secretly the Doctor knew it was their best chance to get the object back anyways.

"Oh my God, you're Dorothy Bell!" Cleo gasped at the sight of a middle-aged blonde woman. Said blonde woman was scowling back.

"What, the movie star?" Donna squinted her eyes for a second before they widened like Cleo's. "Oh my God! It is! You are!"

"I'm your biggest fan!" Cleo laughed in delight as she truly took a look at the apartment. It was full of trophies and awards and pictures. "Is this your Oscar for Tennessee Waltz? They should have given you the Oscar for the love scene in the Great Pretender too. It was so intense—"

"Shut up!" the ginger woman raised her gun as well. "Or I'll shoot you!"

"So shoot me!" Cleo laughed as she picked up a golden trophy.

"Oh my God I'm so confused," Renata deeply exhaled. Since she started travelling with the Doctor, she understood less and less of what went on with her life but this point...this was a new low point.

"Put that down!" Dorothy exclaimed.

"Of course," Cleo's lips suddenly curled into a smirk. "Catch!" she threw the trophy directly at the ginger woman, smacking her in the face and knocking her down. With the commotion, Cleo then reached for a golden object sitting on the table. It resembled a gun but with a wide circular end.

"Don't be so stupid," hissed Dorothy. "Don't touch that! You've no idea what it is!"

"Oh, but I do," Cleo shrugged.

"This—" Renata gestured at Cleo for the Doctor to see, "-is why I told you that she shouldn't have come!"

"Yeah alright, I see your point," the Doctor rolled his eyes. Of course she would pick this moment to say 'I told you so!'.

"I know what you want to use this for, Dorothy! You want to use it to stop getting old. To get young again — to reverse the aging process," Cleo looked at the blonde who seemed now a bit frightened about her knowledge. "People like you think this thing is a fountain of youth. But it isn't. I mean, you can use it for that purpose but it can be used for so much more." Cleo ignited the object and a golden energy struck from it to attack the ginger woman. A golden and orange glow surrounded the woman but it looked like her figure was beginning to shrink. When the glow died down there was a baby girl with a tuft of orange hair right where the woman had been.

"Did that thing just turn her into a baby!?" Donna's eyes bulged to the point of nearly popping from her head.

"This something you can 'use', Cleo? How do you know so much about it?" the Doctor asked the woman who definitely seemed comfortable with the object than an ordinary human would be.

"I could ask you the same thing," Cleo retorted, her eyes narrowing on the Doctor. She dragged the object over Donna first, making the ginger woman squeak in terror.

Renata quickly positioned herself in front of Donna. "Don't you dare!"

"Why? I'm having way too much fun formation point but I'm not a total killjoy. Let's give that movie star what she wants!" Cleo pulled the 'gun' on Dorothy but the Doctor jumped in front of the blonde and received the blow instead.

"Doctor!" Renata exclaimed, almost running towards him when Donna caught her arm. "You need to stop! It's not having the same effect on him!" Renata begged from Cleo as the golden energy surrounded the Doctor.

Unlike the ginger woman, he didn't shrink but instead the energy became stronger, blinding. The Doctor groaned and clutched his head in terrible pain.

"Retro-regeneration!" Renata realized just as the man before him changed. With a new fierce determination, she ran directly for Cleo and tackled the woman down. "GIVE ME THAT THIS INSTANT!"

"Doctor…?" Donna hesitated to help the man on the ground, since he looked nothing like the Doctor she knew. This man had thinner hair and glimmering blue eyes, not to mention more protruding ears.

"It's me, Donna...just...stop them…" the Doctor, in his 9th incarnation, raised a finger towards Renata and Cleo currently battling it out for the damn object causing all the trouble.

Donna turned to the two women but before she even stepped towards them Dorothy beat her to it. All three women had a grip on the object but Renata, being stronger, seemingly was getting the upper hand.

"Renata! You need to stop! The local time field is in flux, be careful!" the Doctor tried getting up but that retro-regeneration was a strong thing. His legs actually felt wibbly-wobbly.

"Doctor — that thing is glowing again!" Donna noticed the golden energy beginning to surge from the object. "But no one's shooting!"

But there came another explosion that threw every women in different corners of the room with only a billowing golden energy afterwards.

At the same time that Renata felt a new surge of energy - the same energy in the air - course through her blood, Gabby felt it from her location. Her best friend, Cindy, was busy babbling about something while they walked the night streets of New York but Gabby had to stop listening. There was something in her head and in her heart that was telling her, yelling at her that Renata was in trouble.

By the time the Doctor and Donna woke up, Cleo was gone with the artifact. The Doctor, now back in his current incarnation, dashed for Renata who was outcold on the ground.

"She's back to normal," Donna pointed at the ginger woman now getting up as well. "Everyone is."

"Hey Renée — wake up," the Doctor gently pulled Renata into a sitting position, but the Time Lady remained unconscious.

"Can somebody help me?" the ginger woman was trying to move Dorothy's body to the nearby couch. Donna figured she was better off helping the humans than trying to wake up a Time Lady. Between the two of them, they moved Dorothy and all the meanwhile Renata stayed unconscious.

"Renée, you're, uh...you're not waking up…" there was a hint of fear in the Doctor's tone as he relentlessly shook Renata's body. He had no idea what happened to her and what could possibly keep her out could like this. What if he had finally hurt her so badly that she was...she was...

Renata gasped awake suddenly. Her eyes flickered from one side to the other as her brain caught up with what happened. "What the — Cleo!" her expression morphed into a deep scowl. "I told you we shouldn't have trusted her!" Her expression, however, seemed to fade when she noticed the Doctor's face. "What? Why are you smiling like an idiot?"

The Doctor had a growing smile on his face, but it was spreading far too much. "I thought you were really hurt..."

"Well, I just got zapped with some energy! I have no idea where it came from but-"

The Doctor pulled her body forwards for a hug, instantly quieting her. "You just scared me," he whispered as he held her tightly.

Renata blinked out of surprise. Slowly, her hands raised to rest on her back, but it was done rather awkwardly. She wasn't used to this type of touch from anyone. She'd made a damn good job keeping the Doctor away from her but it'd been getting harder lately. "Doctor, I'm fine," she patted his back and just barely resisted the urge to bring her hand up to his hair. She could've probably ran her fingers through it to ease his nerves...

But that was probably something a friend wouldn't do. Donna certainly wouldn't.

When the Doctor finally pulled her away, he still held her by the waist. He didn't even let her go when he pulled her up to her feet. He only studied her body to find any obvious injuries. "When we get back to the TARDIS, I'm going to run some tests on you just to make sure you're alright."

"I already told you that I'm fine," Renata rolled her eyes. Honestly, he was making a big deal out of nothing.

But she was thinking like he was. "This isn't the first time you've been hit with an unknown energy."

"Right..." So maybe she hadn't thought about that but she wanted to focus on the bigger problem: Cleo and the missing artifact. However, it was then that ginger woman — who introduced herself as Vivian — brought them to Dorothy and explained her situation.

As it turned out, Dorothy had some type of illness that was going to end life very soon. Hearing about this magical artifact that could cure anything, Dorothy sought out to buy it no matter how much it cost. After running a few quick exam on the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor realized that Dorothy was now connected to the power field of the artifact and that it was giving off even stronger signals than before. It meant that wherever Cleo and the artifact were, they would be able to track it with Dorothy's help.

"Uuh, Doctor…" Renata was the first to spy Dorothy's body levitating off the couch. "Don't think that's supposed to happen."

"Oh my God, what is it now?" Donna stepped backwards while the Doctor rushed to get up close.

"What's happening to her!?" Vivian shrieked in horror.

"If I didn't know better, I would say she was regenerating," the Doctor blinked, clearly flabbergasted with the sight.

"Hello?" they suddenly heard Gabby's voice. Renata spotted the young girl poking her head into the room. Along with her came an Asian girl with black hair.

"How'd you find us?" frowned Renata. She really didn't want Gabby anywhere near this place.

"You...wouldn't really believe me," Gabby smiled awkwardly since even she didn't understand how she'd found this place so fast. All she knew was that someone — Renata — had been in trouble and she just followed that sense. It brought her directly to this apartment. "Are you okay?" she walked up to Renata with a full etched concern on her face.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"Um, Maybe because you was that with some artifacts energy?" Donna reminded, something that earned quite a look from the Time Lady.

"Energy? What type of energy? Did it hurt you?" Gabby's mind immediately went to the prediction that Ood had made. What if this was the place where Renata would die?

"I'm fine," Renata smiled as wide as possible, almost as if she was reading Gabby's thoughts. She looked over Gabby's head and saw the black-haired girl. "And who's that?"

"Cindy," the girl introduced herself with a small wave since most of her attention was landing on the walls so clearly pointing out Dorothy Bell's life.

"She just followed me, sorry," Gabby apologized. In all her running, she didn't exactly tell her best friend where she was leading her to.

"Uh, excuse me!?" Vivian called back to Dorothy's situation. The unconscious woman was glowing white and still levitating. "She's pulsing now!"

The Doctor hurried to the window to see the reflection of the same glowing energy shooting into the sky.

Dorothy's body moved so that her head was closer to the ceiling and her feet below. The glow around her was becoming unbearingly blinding. But just like that, it died down.

Dorothy Bell stood in front of them, looking younger than ever. She was dressed in all white that consisted of a long pencil skirt tucked over a blouse and with a blazer. She was even wearing a 50s white hat.

"Ooh, so not regeneration but rejuvenation," the Doctor blinked.

"I was a bell and now I'm a key! I'm both!" Dorothy laughed, even the sound of her voice sounded completely new.

"She's now glowing orange," Renata raised an eyebrow and looked at the Doctor. "She's just rejuvenated and now she's glowing orange. How much trouble is this?"

"I have no bloody idea," admitted the man. He brought a hand to scratch the top of his head. He'd never seen anything like this.

The smile on Dorothy's face slowly faded as she looked out the window. "That looks wrong," she said suddenly.

"What does?" the Doctor watched her carefully. "The city?"

Dorothy looked back at the group, letting her bleached blonde hair flip over her shoulder. She walked up to them and smiled at Renata. "You in-took part of my energy."

"Did not mean to, honestly," Renata took a cautious step back.

"I know, and I am so sorry."

Renata tilted her head. For some reason, that didn't really sound like it was coming from Dorothy. "Sorry…? For what?"

Behind her, Gabby gulped. Was this another reminder of what was coming?

But Dorothy suddenly groaned as she staggered on her feet. The glow around her became a little bit stronger in that one moment. Everyone rushed to help her stay on her feet.

"Dorothy?" the Doctor called. "You are still Dorothy, right?"

"Who else is she supposed to be?" Cindy was staring at the entire procession like a true civilian: she was so lost. And a bit scared. What the hell had Gabby brought her into?

"I'm not, yet I am. How strange. We are merged as one. But then again, not quite as one...missing final component," Dorothy spoke in pauses and in different voices. One was hers and another sounded like a computerized female voice.

"We?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "You and who else? Tell me what's wrong, how are you feeling?"

"Nothing is wrong. I can put everything together they it's supposed to be. The city, I can make it better. More efficient." Dorothy turned away from the group and walked towards the window. She touched the glass with one palm and in that instant disintegrated the glass into nothing. The same blinding light that had her earlier once again enveloped her as she shot into the sky.

"What is going on with her?" Donna couldn't understand and she wasn't the only one.

"She's taking the new ones for a spin! Vivian where is she heading?" the Doctor turned to the ginger woman. "What's the first place Dorothy would go to?"

"The hospital. St. Joe's. Not for treatment though, she's funding a new wing and they're building it now," the woman quickly answered.

"Ah, Now I understand."

"Why we wanted the artifact?" Vivian sighed. "She wanted to be able to see the construction work completed, to be there when it opened."

"It's all sad but defying death is a huge mistake," Renata pointed at the woman, not that she thought a human would understand. It was natural that a human — with such short life spans — would want to elongate their lives.

"Are we going to follow her?" Gabby asked the Time Lady who then pointed a thumb at the Doctor.

"You think he's going to let it go?"

Gabby smiled and shook her head.

~ 0 ~

After leaving Vivian back in the apartment, hoping that they would have some luck and Dorothy might just go back to the apartment where her good friend was, the group rushed to follow the trace they had on Dorothy. Like Vivian had said, Dorothy had come to the hospital she was funding. With swift movements of her arms, she finished the construction herself and left a pretty damn good building.

On their way, however, a black car drove past them and an angry Cleo yelled at them through the passenger's door.

"I really hate her," Renata shook her head.

"Same," agreed Donna with a similar scowl on her face.

The car had stopped not too far from them and out came Cleo with two other men. They were making their way towards them and fearing they would get in the way, the Doctor ushered Renata forwards.

"Renée, try talking to Dorothy," he said as soon as they stood a few feet from the woman. She was still gazing at the newly finished hospital, almost as if she wasn't even aware that they had found her.

"What? Why me!?" the Time Lady frowned.

"Because she seems to like you? Just try it please," the Doctor gently pushed her forwards. "We can't afford to lose her when we don't understand what kind of abilities she now has."

Renata knew he was right. It would be irresponsible to let Dorothy get lost in the city again. "Fine," she huffed and walked towards Dorothy. "Um...Dorothy?"

At the sound of her voice, Dorothy turned around with a dreamy smile. "Hello again. See what I did? Nine extra levels. There's everything they will need," she gestured to the building behind her.

"It's all great…" Renata admitted it was a cool power to have. "But...maybe we should take it easy. It's not very wise to go running about using these abilities when you don't know how strong they are or what side effects can they have on you."

"Well honey, I do feel a bit wobbly. It's all so new and strange but I can't say I'm enjoying it. but to be honest my dear Renata, listen to your instincts. You will totally get what's going on." As Dorothy said those words, Renata stiffened as she had no idea what Dorothy was going on about. Dorothy walked up to the Time Lady with the sweetest smile anyone could have. "Looking at you, I can see a glow around you…it's fading. Unfairly too."

"Oh please just stop," Renata rolled her eyes and stepped away. "I need you to listen to me and just take a breather."

"Um, Ren?" Gabby called from her spot. She'd moved away from the Doctor and was pointing at the man arguing with Cleo and two other men. "That's not sounding very good."

"Yeah, got that," Renata sighed. "Look, Dorothy, I just need you to come back with me so we can make sure everything is okay."

Dorothy backtracked several steps before the glow around her became a dark red. She levitated into the air and struck a hand forwards. All arguments between the others ended when the artifact came zipping out from one of the men's pockets and into Dorothy's hand.

"Goddess, we have awaited for your arrival!" one of the men with Cleo, a man in a white lab coat named Hanif, exclaimed.

"That's ours," Dorothy's voice overlapped with the computerized voice from before. "Mine. That's what was missing."

"Dorothy?" Renata called from below. "Remember that thing I said about taking a breather? Now might be the right time to take it. Please?"

"Internal enhancements in progress. Biogenetic overhaul completed." Dorothy's hand seemed to merge with the artifact and disappeared altogether.

"Dorothy, we really need you to listen!" called the Doctor, but the woman just smiled at him.

"I'm fine," she assured. "Look at you all. So many possibilities. You Cleo, I haven't forgotten about you," she raised a finger at the woman in question. "You going to behave yourself now?"

"Y-yes ma'am," Cleo gave a quick nod of her head. "I really am a fan."

"And Doctor, you are an adept, present in the here and the now and yet not. You move through this reality like smoke, a beautiful, dangerous idea. You are a very complicated space-time event."

"Oh come now, I bet you say that to all the boys!"

"Not the time," Renata shot him a quick look.

"Don't joke," scolded Dorothy, very much sounding like Renata in that moment. "I saw what you did. You made Vivian stay at home. You kept her safe, protecting her."

"It was just an instinct…" the Doctor tried to say, but Dorothy shook her head.

"No, you're attuned to the Flux Of potentialities. If she had come here this man—" Dorothy pointed at the man suited in black, Erik, who'd come along with Cleo, "-would have shot her as she tried to protect me. She would be dead now. In a world parallel to this one, Vivian is dead."

"What?" went the man indignantly. "But I haven't!"

"I can see the possibilities," Dorothy began to lower herself to the ground but even then the glow around her hadn't dissipated.

"We came here only to welcome you," Erik began to say when the second man, Hanif, added.

"And to collect, humbly, our reward."

"Oh really — that's what brought you here," Donna scowled at the two men.

"We know only what our forebears told us," Hanif said. "Generations of us have guarded the secrets of your kind for Millennia. You are a herald, one who the return of the Gods."

"Now wait a minute," the Doctor called for the attention before it got more lost. "Dorothy thought the artifact was a fountain of youth while you think it's a radio for talking to the gods, is that it? It isn't either of those things."

"Let me guess, you've seen this before?" Renata wasn't even asking at this point, she just presumed he had to know.

"Then do tell us what the artifact was for, Doctor," Hanif pointed. "If this woman isn't a goddess, then she is a harbinger of the Gods."

"Lower East gods of yours...you're a religious sect. A cult?"

"Oh but there's nothing anymore," Dorothy suddenly went, raising her head as if she were looking up to the sky. "There's no more Gods."

"Ooh…" the Doctor blinked and slowly turned to Dorothy with a new look in his eyes. "Dorothy, hold on, I think I know what you are...what you've become."

But Dorothy's face had become the place for a stream.

"Oh now you've made her cry! Good going!" Renata exclaimed to the three men. "Dorothy, you should calm down…"

Dorothy shook her head away but seized Renata's wrist and pulled her up into the sky. The Time Lady screamed out of shock, and after realizing how high she was going it turned into screams of fear.

"Dorothy, come back! You're a Quantum Harvester!" the Doctor was left to holler from the ground. His hearts were pounding wildly under his chest as he saw Renata disappear into the sky.

"Doctor, we have to get Ren back!" Donna shook him by the arm while Gabby took hold of his other arm.

"What if she hurts Renata!?" Gabby started panicking, thinking this was yet the way Renata was supposed to go.

"Hello," Cindy suddenly called, "Was like some rustic form of particle physics terminology? Before anyone says anything, yes I do understand science."

"Beginning to like you a bit," the Doctor said but he was more focused on the missing Time Lady. "What was your name?"

"Cindy, and I'd really like to know what the hell is going on here?" Cindy looked more directly at Gabby for the answers. She'd been following Gabby everywhere and sure Gabby had already warned her that this was out of her world but would it kill Gabby to explain it better?

"Cleo warned us that you could mess things up for us," Hanif's words drew the traveler's attention and alerted them to the silver gun aimed on them.

"Thanks to you and your little friends, none of this went the way we anticipated. You are responsible—" Erik had been saying before Cleo pulled him back.

"Wait!" the woman blocked the gun's way to the travelers. "I am strategizing here! This is tactical, what you keeping me around for. Much as I hate to admit it, Doctor, you seem to know what's going on here. If we're going to follow the Hollywood all-high we should join forces."

"I would like to point out that Renata told us not to trust her," Donna quietly told the Doctor while keeping narrowed eyes on Cleo.

"You can walk behind me if you'd like," Cleo offered as another sign of good faith.

"Donna, we don't have much of a choice," the Doctor muttered. He needed everything and everyone at his disposal to get Renata back.

With his sonic, he managed to pick up a trace on Dorothy again and so that's what they did: follow it. With Cleo's help, they now had a car at their disposal to take them around the city as they went on a chase for Dorothy.

"So when are you going to explain what Dorothy is?" Donna asked, though she wasn't sure if the Doctor was listening to her. He'd been keenly focused on his sonic so far.

"She's a fusion of a human being and incredibly advanced alien technology. That's all."

"But is she dangerous?" asked Gabby who kept chewing on her lower lip.

"I don't think so," the Doctor said and that's the only thing keeping him somewhat calm. "I think she's an overwhelmed being who grabbed the person who was making her feel a bit better in all the chaos. Naturally, it had to be Renata. She inspires calmness and peace wherever she goes and I should know. Changed my life a while ago."

Both Gabby and Donna gave him the same strange, tilted-head look that he missed since he was staring at his sonic. He hadn't even realized what he said.

~ 0 ~

Renata only got her bearings back when Dorothy finally brought them back to the ground. And that was only after Dorothy went around the city repairing and building what she thought New York needed.

"You really should start listening," the Time Lady helped Dorothy — who was now weary from all her work — down the sidewalk leading up to her apartment building. "You can't go around doing that stuff when you've no idea what abilities you have nor what side effects you have."

"Something's coming…" Dorothy mumbled the same thing since they'd started to walk.

"You keep saying that but you don't tell me who is coming."

"I don't know," Dorothy admitted. "But it wants me."

"And here you are drawing attention to yourself."

They heard a car skid to a stop beside them and when Renata saw the Doctor jumping out of the car, she so greatly relaxed. If he was here, then Dorothy couldn't be in trouble anymore.

"Renée!" the Doctor came directly to the Time Lady, once again pulling her in for a hug just as when she'd fallen unconscious in Dorothy's apartment. Twice already he'd scared her and it was all because of some threats he hadn't been able to foresee.

"Oh no…" Dorothy stepped backwards when she saw the others getting out of the car.

"No, no, it's okay now," the Doctor tried to bring her back but Dorothy shook her head.

"No, it's them!" she pointed at Erik, Hanif and Cleo. "They're calling whatever's coming here."

The Doctor immediately looked back and saw the lab-coated man holding something in his hand, something he hadn't seen yet. "What are you doing!? Stop—"

But a golden light struck down and took all of them away, up into a clear alien spaceship. The room was huge with dark brown walls and one set of controls set at the end of the room. There was a clear distraught in Gabby, Cindy and Donna but for the other humans - Cleo, Erik and Hanif - they were quick to begin arguing. Cleo seemed to be the one taking the sudden transportation the worst.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Donna asked Renata since the Doctor had already begun sonicking the entire room. Renata was tending to the even more fear-stricken Dorothy.

"Really? What would I do?" Renata shook her head. "Sounds to me like Cleo is finally getting a reality check. That is what you call it, right?"

Erik caught onto her poor description and turned at the woman. "We are very real! We are the Cult of the Black Pyramid!"

But to be honest, Renata stopped listening after that. She had no interest in learning what they were nor what exactly they worshiped.

"Would you all just stop?" the Doctor called. He had made his way up to the main bridge's control panel. "This is not the place of the 'Gods'. It's just a vessel of an old civilization that died eons ago. The ship is a remnant of the civilization, as if the relic that Dorothy merged with."

Dorothy's eyes widened. She looked at her palms as if the relic was still there, but it was far gone and yet so close.

"So, the ancient Egyptian gods those people-" Gabby jerked a thumb over her shoulder to Erik, "-are just aliens?"

"Yup! They're from a planet called Phaester Osiris."

"How about ancient Chinese gods?" Cindy asked, gesturing herself since she was of Chinese descent. "Got any of those?"

"It's not a game," scolded Renata.

The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the control panel, prompting Renata to warn him that messing with unknown controls of an unknown spaceship could lead to even worse consequences -

But then the spaceship rumbled and a rough voice spoke from the computer. "This is the will of the Seeker…"

"Doctor, what is that?" asked Donna.

"Like a Janitor Robot - an AI."

"And it wants me," Dorothy shook her head. She chose to merge with an alien tech and now the spaceship that owned that tech had come for it.

"And this," Hanif raised his hand with a peculiar ring on his finger. "I'm so sorry but I had to do it. It's said that this ring came from you - the Old Gods - and has been handed down in my family for more than a hundred generations."

"And that was a lie," Cindy rolled her eyes.

"See the mark of our faith?" the man went on, pulling up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a triangle inside a circle. Erik did the same behind him. "We are your true disciples."

"Did you not just hear that they're aliens and not Gods?" Renata gestured to the clear alien control panel. Why were they still on this plan? They were desperate for their beliefs.

But she was ignored, like Cindy's earlier remark. Hanif went on to explain how his family had cared for an old Egyptian black pyramid centuries ago that disappeared into darkness after some false prophet showed up.

The Doctor scratched the top of his head as he corrected, "The chap in the pyramid was probably the last Osirian. Trust me, he's gone too."

"I've had enough of your blasphemy, Doctor!" Erik pulled out his gun and pressed it to the back of the Doctor's head.

Renata stiffened but the Doctor seemed way too calm for her liking, leading her to believe he had something up his sleeve.

"Erik, there might be some automatic defenses-" Before he would finish, a golden light erupted from the gun in Erik's hand and when it disappeared Erik was left screaming in pain as the gun merged with his flesh.

"Force will be met with force," went the computer.

"This is our reward!?" Hanif cried in anger. "He's an archaeologist, one of the faithful! And my family have served you for centuries!"

"Seriously? He just tried to kill our friend," Gabby scowled at him.

"He wouldn't have used it!"

But now the Doctor frowned as well. "He had already pulled the trigger. That's why the seeker registered it as a projectile weapon."

"The key has been retrieved," the computer suddenly declared, at the same time Dorothy's glow became stronger. "All sentient Osirian devices are reclaimed. Any non-sentient devices will be rendered useless."

"Hey!" Hanif witnessed the glow from his ring die in two seconds.

"My purpose here has been fulfilled. Individuals potentially of value to be historical record will be retained for authentication. Individuals irrelevant to mission parameters will be returned to earth."

Flashes of portals blinded them all before one of theirs were dropped back to Earth. It was only the Doctor and Cindy who were dropped back onto the street. The Doctor quickly attempted to use the sonic to get them back into the ship, but the ship prevented it somehow.

"They've got all of 'em!" Cindy cried as she watched the triangular shaped - the Black pyramid - fly off in the sky. "Now what?"

The Doctor didn't even answer her. He'd broke into a full-fledged run down the sidewalk. He lost Renata twice to that thing, he wasn't going to let it happen again. There would be no more times!

"HEY! Wait up!" Cindy hollered as she ran her fastest to catch up with him. "You're going to have to start explaining things here! I haven't forgotten that you said Dorothy was a 'Quantum Harvester'. You can start with that!"

But the Doctor only explained once he was back in the TARDIS, because that's where he could get work done to get back onto that ship. "The Osirians used them to construct their civilization. They calculate and harvest the best possible outcomes of parallel universes' histories and co-opt them for our own. They are keys to the underlying structure of reality. With them, the Osirian architects reshaped whole galaxies to their whims. And they should all be extinct by now."

Cindy watched him work around that console, something she hadn't yet commented about. In fact, Cindy was the only person the Doctor had met who wasn't shocked about the TARDIS' misleading dimensions.

"Then you clearly misjudged the entire situation!"

"Yeah, won't happen again! Hold on now!" the Doctor pulled the lever of the console, jolting the TARDIS to life. Cindy yelped as she fell flat on her back. "We're heading for the 'Center of Things' - whatever that is!" He'd locked onto the Black Pyramid's location and merely following it. What he would find on the other side, he wasn't sure except for the fact Renata would be there.

~ 0 ~

Renata was getting really tired of being separated from the Doctor when there was an impending alien threat looming over them. The Black Pyramid ship had taken flight as soon as the Doctor and Cindy were teleported out and no matter how much Renata tried figuring the control panels out...she couldn't figure out where they were going. In the meanwhile, though, Dorothy and her merged Osirian half took it upon themselves to heal Erik with the hope that the man would re-evaluate his life choices. Donna loudly disagreed with that hope.

'Commencing disembarkation ritual,' the AI declared. At the corner of the room started creating a blue humanoid figure.

"I-is that an Osirian?" Cleo guessed, her eyes widening as the hologram finished forming.

"No, it's the AI - the Seeker," Renata sighed.

'I have scoured the universe to find and collect the last remnants of our civilization - and now that the task is completed. The debt is repaid.'

The ship embarked onto a new ship, this one making it seem like they were outside with the dark scenery around them. At the end of its short platform was a huge, golden pyramid.

The AI took form of a silver mummified figure with its arms crossed over his chest in the shape of an 'x'. It actually walked over to Dorothy, dismissing or ignoring the others' wide-eyed stares. "Sister, do you remember our home, the Shining Horizon? Here, sleep has long had the countenance of death but now the time of Atonement is over for us all."

"All?" Renata caught on fast to the word choice.

"Hear that?" Erik had turned to Hanif with a new flourished grin on his face. "Maybe we were right after all!"

Renata shushed them with a pointed finger, almost looking like a mother scolding her children for being so imprudent. "No, no you were not! They are still aliens!"

"Why do you speak in riddles?" Dorothy asked the AI. "You always speak in riddles. Can't you make sense for once?'

"Sister, suddenly you speak with acrimony and yet your compassionate nature is evident," the AI noted. "Horus would be proud. It is as if you chose your new human vessel very deliberately - perhaps as a reaction towards your previous owner?"

"No one owns me!" frowned Dorothy.

"You're incorrect," the AI sounded as if it was snapping. "Sutekh the Destroyer owned you! With you and the others like you, he extinguished life on millions of worlds."

"Well, at least now why she came to Earth," Donna remarked sourly.

"He burned a trail of death and destruction through the cosmos until his brother Horus, leader of the Osirians, cornered him on Earth and imprisoned him within the Forbidden Pyramid. You are his instrument - you are the hand of Sutekh."

"Now wait a second!" Renata yanked Dorothy behind her as if she could protect the woman from a 6 foot soldier. "You've no right calling anyone an 'instrument'. So do it again and I'll have my go at you right here and now! And I don't care if I'm dealing with Horus or Sutekh or Anubis - I want you to return me and the others back to Earth this instant!"

"But what he says is true…" Dorothy whispered behind her. "And they're not all dead. I can feel it. It's here."

"What is?" Gabby dreaded to ask.

"Master...architect. Your millenia long fatigue is over!" the AI raised his arms in a worship. "I have served you faithfully. Awake now. Our task is accomplished."

"Renata, what is he waking?" Donna wore the same dread Gabby had.

"Well…" Renata hated that she was actually beginning to figure it out as the situation went along - it made her feel a lot like the Doctor right now. "Remember how I said I'd rather face one of the Gods?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I might get that wish. Because if these two-" Renata pointed at the AI and Dorothy, "-were the lackeys, and they just re-united...that means they have the keys to bring out the...what do you guys call it? 'The big guns'?"

The ground under them rumbled again as if an earthquake was striking. A black hole started forming out of thin air. With seconds, it formed a tall - a very tall - figure but it wasn't human. It was all black, like the true color of a black hole, but its hands were claw-like and its face...was the head of an animal.

"Anubis…" Renata sucked in a deep breath of true fear. She took a step back for caution but she knew that if her wanted to, he could wipe them out with a snap of a finger.

"Who dares wake Anubis, the son of Sutekh!?"

"Ren…." Donna's voice trembled with utter fear.

The Time Lady was at a loss for their next course of action. She had no idea what she was supposed to do - this is where the Doctor shined! Oh be honest, he always shines, the little voice in her head reminded her. "I-I don't know…the Doctor would know, I...I don't..."

"I awoke you," the AI spoke up. He explained how they came to be on the ship and that the world was at Anubis' hands.

"But these primitives?" Anubis gestured with his staff to the group crowded together.

"Excuse you," Renata said, momentarily getting over her fear to snap on behalf of the humans. "My friend over here-" she nodded to Dorothy, "-had a play in your awakening and you repay her by insulting her? Spoken like a true Noble, or God in your case."

"My key?" Anubis seemed to take a double-look at Dorothy. "I didn't recognize you in this form. You're now...part human?"

Suddenly, they heard the familiar wheeze of the TARDIS and a few seconds later the Doctor and Cindy emerged from the blue box.

"Renée!" the Doctor rushed up to the Time Lady, encasing her in a tight hug.

This time, Renata hugged him back with the same intensity. "Oh thank God you found your way to us! I have no idea what I'm doing here!"

The fact she even admitted that was a clear indication of how scared she actually was. For that, the Doctor may have squeezed her a bit tighter. Today had just been far too crazy, even for them, and if he had anything to say about it would be the last trip that separated them multiple time. "I'm here," he whispered beside her ear, unknowingly reminding Renata of the many times they'd done this back home too.

Each time she was upset, scared, or simply needed him, he'd be right there giving her such comforting hugs and his comforting whispers. Even today, his whispering voice next to her ears gave her the same chills. Funny how time couldn't make those feelings go away, or at least decrease.

Donna awkwardly cleared her throat to get the pair's attention. "Sorry to interrupt but I believe there is an alien trying to kill us all?" She smirked when they pulled apart with the same red blushes on their faces.

She gestured towards the alien and when the Doctor looked over he blinked in shock. "Well, sure missed a lot, then."

"More primitives?" roared Anubis.

"There's that word again," Renata frowned at him.

"They are uninvited," the AI said fast. "I only brought those with interesting historical records since it was one of your interests in the past."

"Historical records?" Gabby repeated quietly. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you, Donna and Renata each hold valuable historical importance to the time lines," the Doctor shrugged, not too worried about it as the three women seemingly were.

"What?" Renata frowned. "But me? I've done nothing important."

"I didn't say it was in your past," the Doctor smiled at her. "Who knows what your future has in store for you." He had no doubt that her future was bright considering all the amazing things she was capable of doing. Who knew where her big hearts would lead her to?

Renata looked away, for the first time feeling guilty about her pending fate. She thought, honestly, she was doing him a favor by sparing him the details of what was (apparently) coming. He didn't need to be burdened by her problems.

"Master!" the AI said, once again opening his arms only this time he had white spheres come into the air. "You must let the nano-meds begin their work. They must rejuvenate you before you start your work."

"Wait, Anubis needs medical attention now?" Cindy shot a look at the travelers as if they had some explaining to do. "Seriously?"

"They're aliens, not Gods," Renata sighed. She was getting tired of reminding everyone that details. "If they're aliens then medical attention makes sense."

Cindy looked between her and the God that was an alien. She shook her head a minute later. "...sure."

Renata glared. She didn't need that right now.

"You, Doctor," called Anubis who had trapped by the nano-meds as they commenced their work, "You are not a lesser species — as is the woman —" he languidly pointed one claw finger at the Doctor then Renata. "You're both long lived. I sense great age in both of you. What are you?"

"Time Lords," the Doctor answered only to be scoffed at.

"Last time I heard the Time Lords were engaged in some petty squabble with a Daleks."

Renata's face instantly morphed into a furious incredulity. "Squabble with the Daleks — are you serious!?" she moved for Anubis, as if ready to charge at him, but the Doctor grabbed onto her arm to keep her at his side. "He just said 'squabble' as if it were—"

"-I know," he nodded at her. He'd love to correct Anubis as well but he didn't want to make things worse. "But it's not really the time to correct him." Renata rolled her eyes but figured he was right.

"It is time for me to ascend," Anubis declared. "To travel beyond this universe!"

"No chance," went the Doctor. "Your 'circle of transcendence' isn't stable anymore. Don't even try it."

"Ha, who are you to tell me I can't do what I was meant to?"

The Doctor glowered at the creature. "Anubis, if you try to pass through that gateway, it will collapse. It will kill you and create a catastrophic effect that will Ripple outward at translight seeds, destroying the rest of the universe." He'd figured out that Anubis wanted to cross over through a 'gateway' promising some sort of new world for him and his people, but it was far too weak to actually work as a proper gateway.

Anubis rose into the air again, gaining a green glow in his eyes as he spoke. "You do not comprehend how long and lonely these final duties would be. I miss my people, my wife, my children."

"But there are ways to counter the loneliness," the Doctor said. "I speak from experience so trust me."

"You know me by what insight, Time Lord? Your race is gone too. You're a fugitive from destiny, as is your partner."

The Doctor unconsciously moved his body slightly in front of Renata's. He could handle whatever was said at him but there was no need to bring in Renata.

"Horus asked two final duties of me. Mindful of the destruction my father brought, the first was to stay behind as guardian of the circle, to keep it turning."

"The second was to seek and collect any remaining of Osirian technology from this universe, so as to help with people's departure from this plane," Dorothy suddenly said, the words seemingly tumbling out of her mouth before she could even process.

It seemed to surprise Anubis. "You remember?"

"Sure," she said after careful thought. "Just like I remember New Jersey, where I'm really from."

"So you see why it is time for me to transcend this universe, to follow the other Osirans through. Do not tell me that I cannot."

"Fact is, there is a lot of stuff in here that are mine and yet not mine," Dorothy brought her hands to her head. She shared a vast knowledge know with an alien and her mind was pretty jumbled up right now.

"What if we find a compromise?" the Doctor offered. "I can help you heal and safely get rid of the circle before it destroys us."

"It is my right to ascend!"

"And so, therefore, your right to destroy an entire universe? Because that's what you'll be doing. And you know what? I met Sutekh," the Doctor confessed, instantly gaining Anubis' and the other's attention. "I know what he stood for and I don't think it's quite you. You're not the same as him, no matter what horrid that to you before trapping you here. You need to forget your father and Horus because one destroyed and one lied but both of them fought. Don't be like either of them. You have power over all life and death. Live Anubis, and let the universe live too."

Anubis retracted a step from them, for the first time looking like words had affected him.

"We don't really have much to lose, do we?" Dorothy offered one small smile at Anubis. "Maybe, sometime in the future, we could fix the Circle and you can cross through safely. Without putting anyone in danger."

"But it would take eons before it'd be fixed!"

"So you would rather die because you're impatient?" Renata found her voice to demand. It was a fairly good question that stumped him for a moment. "Because that's the risk you're taking if you cross through the gateway. Wouldn't you rather wait and see it actually get fixed?"

"Look, Anubis," the Doctor called again, hoping to really drive things home with this last bit especially when he already seemed to be considering, "I'm not telling you that you'll never be able to cross through. I'm only saying to let us find a way of collapsing the circle safely so when the day comes...you can cross safely."

There was a moment of tensed silence as Anubis thought. If he didn't agree, then it would all be over. And truthfully, the Doctor didn't know what else to do.

"...Very well. I agree to delay my voyage to the circle," Anubis' words caused simultaneous relived sighs. "It's always best not to get caught between Horus and my father. I did as I had the misfortune of birthright. What is clear is that I cannot leave, not until the circle is repaired."

"Or until someone can take your place as guardian," Dorothy stepped forward, the look on her face indicating she would volunteer for the job.

"Are you sure about that, Dorothy?" Renata turned to her with concern, as if thinking that the other half of her, the alien half of her, was making Dorothy say that.

Dorothy nodded. "Yeah. I can learn. At the very least I can help. Anubis can train me. I'm only just beginning to explore my powers."

"We'll come back and check up on you," the Doctor offered, putting one hand over Renata's shoulder to let her know they wouldn't be abandoning Dorothy.

"I take that agreement," Anubis announced. " Doctor, I give you five thousand time-cycles, and no longer. I will look in on you and I will expect progress reports."

"I don't quite like the idea of leaving you here," Renata admitted to Dorothy while the Doctor started ushering everyone else into the TARDIS before Anubis changed his mind.

Dorothy still smiled her sweet smile. " I will be just fine. I'm an Osiran-Human hybrid now - I can take care of myself. Thank you for what you've done for me and I'm so sorry that I put you through so many scares."

Renata nodded. If it was Dorothy's choice, then there was nothing more she would say. At least now, she could return home safe and sound.

Until the Doctor would drop Cleo, Erik and Hanif back on Earth along with Cindy. Despite asking Gabby if she wanted to stay home for a few days, to get over what happened, the young girl shook her head and said she would much rather be in the TARDIS. So, she bid goodbye to Cindy and left with the trio in the TARDIS.

And while Renata usually whipped up her famous dinners, this night she seemed to missed it. Gabby and Donna ate dinner alone and it was just regular human cereal.

"Where are they?" Gabby asked the ginger at the table. She moved her spoon in endless circles against her bowl, not really in the mood to eat.

"Don't know," Donna shrugged. "Doctor said he wanted to run some tests on Ren but…" she smiled for a moment, "...Renata refused so it turned into one of their arguments. Kind of funny."

"Wait," Gabby straightened up in her chair, "He was going to run some tests on her? Like...medically-wise?" Donna nodded. "I have to go!" Gabby jumped from her chair and ran out of the kitchen before Donna could even say her name.

It was the perfect time to confirm whether or not Renata was safe in terms of health. If she was lucky, Gabby thought maybe she could be there when the results were in. Of course, she would have to convince Renata to let her stay in the room or at the very least she would have to convince Renata to tell her what the results were. Gabby came to a skidded stop before the open door of the medbay. She was already hearing some of the conversation and she didn't really have the courage to come in.

"So, are we finally done here?" Renata sat on the edge of the medbay bed, looking completely irritated. "And then you can realize this was a waste of time — I didn't even get to make dinner for everyone!"

The Doctor was reading off the results from the computer screen in front of him. He looked far too focused for there to be nothing wrong. Renata came to that conclusion only a minute after speaking up.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

The Doctor straightened up and looked at her. "I'm so sorry. I keep putting you in danger, don't I?"

"Where'd you get that from?"

"I…" the Doctor drew in a breath then turned to face her completely. "You're...okay, but...you haven't expelled the energy you in-took from when we visited Zhe's art gallery. The Block-Transfer Matrix energy from the apprentices?"

"How could I forget?" Renata sourly said as she remembered the homicidal apprentices Zhe had conjured up. "But that was weeks ago!" Her body, while not being completely invincible, was still more attuned to a higher standard when it came to health. She'd always been very healthy in her previous incarnations. Why would this one be the exception?

"No," the Doctor shook his head. "And then you took in new energy from the Osiran lot. Now that's combined inside of you and…" a new type of fear etched across his face as he willed himself to say the truth, "...you've been contaminated."

Renata blinked slowly, the movements of her body slowing down to awkward shifts. From the hallway, Gabby felt her heart pounding under her chest.

Is this what that Ood meant? She started coming up with terrible ways this 'contamination' could kill Renata. Out of fear, she rushed away from the room.

"Contaminated?" Renata finally spoke up after a minute of processing. "I've been...contaminated? With what?" there was a confused smile on her face but the Doctor wondered — he had to — if it was in place of a growing fear.

"These two different energies have merged to form something new, something a Time Lady shouldn't have — that no Time Lord should have — because remember, we carry a bit of the Time Vortex in order to regenerate. Now couple this new energy with the Time Vortex and we have a triple-way contamination."

"So...am I just going to die, then?" Renata pushed herself off the medbed and walked over to the computer screen to see for herself.

"No," the Doctor said automatically. "You're not dying but...it's something we have to keep a constant eye on. We have to be careful of what you expose yourself to from here on out and see how your body continues to react to these energy forces."

Renata turned the computer screen off and turned to the Doctor. The fear on her face had disappeared, or perhaps stored away for the moment. "Okay, so we'll just do that but is there really any cause for concern? For all we know, my body is just a little slower in expelling the energy."

"No, it hasn't expelled anything," the Doctor urgently reminded her. "We cannot brush this off, Renée." If that was her plan then he was going to be sorry for being himself and making it a priority! He wasn't going to lose her.

Renata rolled her eyes but it seemed more like an action she forced in an attempt to be casual. She put a hand on his arm and wore her best smile. "I'm not brushing it off, Doctor, but I don't think it's that big of a deal. You've been through worse and I don't see you 'raising 'alarm' about yourself."

"Because it's you I'm talking about," the Doctor started to frown. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I'd rather it be me than you." He didn't even realize he said the words until they'd left his mouth. But Renata had flinched when he said those words. It actually made her gasp. It was astounding that he'd said it like it was an automatic instinct, but even as he went back to think about it...he wouldn't take them back. He was a terrible man, who cares if he got contaminated? Better him than someone as pure and honest as Renata.

Don't you dare! Renata felt her hearts skip several jolts while her mind went crazy wondering if he truly meant that. Once upon a time, he'd said those exact words to her but during the period where they both knew they loved each other. Right now, they were nowhere near that. They were friends, just friends.

#doctor who #10th doctor #ocapp #ocappreciation #dw imagines #doctor who imagines #10th doctor imagines #10th doctor fics #doctor who fics #doctor who imagine #10th doctor imagine #donna noble #gabby gazonalez #oc: Renata Cartwright #fic: the beginning of everything

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thisselflovecamebacktome · 4 years

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(A big shout out to IDSB for starting this)

" I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics” - Taylor Swift.

Who am I? I’m almost 25, can’t remember half the time that I’ve been alive... For real though, for those who don’t know, I’m Jess, I’m 24 and I’m in the final year of a law/psychology double degree.

While I will be forever grateful for the privileges in my life I’ve received through the colour of my skin and growing up in a country that has afforded me opportunities that others could only dream of, Australia is still a nation that is far from gender equality; especially when it comes to those of different nationalities, health statuses and economic classes. And though I know my story is not the worst there is, I’ve definitely felt that throughout my life.

Looking back, I’ve realised that a lot of my story comes with intergenerational trauma. For as many generations I’ve known on both sides of my family, there have been women who were forced to give up their independence to make up for what the, typically abusive, men in their lives lacked. Both of my grandmothers dropped out of school to raise their siblings and/or work after my great grandfathers abandoned them. In my maternal grandmother’s case, this meant she never learned to read. These women went on to marry equally as abusive men to secure some form of financial stability for their children. When my mother was 15, she fled a physically abusive home just as her older sister had before her. My mother then bounced from one abusive relationship to the next until she met my father, a “nice man” who 23 years down the line would emotionally abuse her and leave her in debt knowing that 20 years beforehand, she had given up her higher paying career that would have risen us out of poverty to raise their children. More generally, from my knowledge, only three females in the history of my family had the chance to go to university; my aunt who married into the family and went beforehand, my cousin who finished a latin degree and me. Meanwhile, most of the men in my extended family are doctors, engineers and high paid builders. With the exception of that aunt, none of the women in my family are breadwinners.

And I know that all sounds very depressing and it would be very easy to say things are different now... and in many ways they are; but there’s also a long way to go and a lot of misogyny I have seen in my lifetime. Like did you guys know that the legal field is one of the fields with the largest pay gap between males and females within Australia? Ironic huh, we pushed for everyone else to pay evenly and yet never practiced what we preached. Likewise, a recent study showed that sexual violence, one of the few crimes mostly aimed at women, is the crime that police within the country are least likely to record let alone follow up with. And of course, studies are still indicating that the glass ceiling and glass cliff effects are still issues for women in the workplace.

We see it all the time, Hilary Clinton losing the election to someone with no experience because she wrote some emails, Elizabeth Warren doing so poorly in primaries despite the fact she’s not all that different to Bernie Sanders, Julia Gillard having to tell Tony Abbott to stop talking over women on women’s issues. Time and time again, we see women being knocked down and then blamed for having a reaction. On a personal level, in 2017, after a frustrating talk with a now ex friend, I wrote this post. In short, it labelled all my frustrations from seeing myself and other women constantly hurt in one form or another at the hands of men, and how even men like him who are apathetic and refuse to help fight for us because they see it as something that doesn’t concern them and ‘not all men are like that’ hurts us. In my degree, I have constantly been told I have ‘a woman’s heart which is far too big and caring for [the law field]’ or that I’m too emotional because of my past traumas. Likewise, when my mother approached a lawyer about retrieving the debt my father left us in and I called him out for saying he couldn’t when law states she could have gotten an order from the courts within 24 hours for dad to pay up given she wasn’t working, the lawyer turned to me and said ‘well I wouldn’t know that. I never did family law. Too many women who get pissy when they’re kids get any time with their fathers’.

Yet, women are also expected to be compassionate and courteous. Over the years, I was attacked for not reaching out to reconnect my beyond broken family in a way my brother wasn’t because ‘reconnecting people is a woman’s specialty’ and have been deemed heartless for accepting that outside my brother and mother, I will never talk to my family again. I have watched as my sister and I learned to clean in our teens compared to my brother and father who at the ages of 28 and 57 respectively who to be honest, I’m not even sure knows how most cleaning items work. Additionally, I, someone who is childless, have been expected to babysit children (and grown ass men) as well as had discussions where the other criticised me for going to university assuming I’d give up my career in the future when kids (which I’m not even sure I want) come along because ‘women are better with this emotion stuff’.

And that’s the issue, isn’t it? It’s a Catch 22. For I’ve found that being raised as a woman in the 21st Century means that in order to do anything, I must be able to do everything. I have to be a good person, loved one, homemaker, business woman, advocate and more just to receive what I deserve in life. So I will leave you with one last thought...

If I was a man, I’d be allowed to simply exist.

#ifiwasaman #taylor swift #the man #lover album #about me

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purplesurveys · 4 years

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800

.·゜゜·. Holy Cow A Survey .·゜゜·. (and holy cow, it’s my 800th on here) by junkie_dreams

1. What made you pick up the last book you started reading? I started reading it for a while, then thesis made me too busy to read it for a few weeks, then when I was finished with that I realized I’ve left the book alone so I continued it and proceeded to finish the whole thing.

2. Have you received any bad or troubling news lately? All things revolving around Covid19, George Floyd, & Trump < Pretty much, though replace Trump with Duterte. He’s being such a cranky ass about hastily passing this new bill that will essentially allow warrantless arrests to anyone complaining about him on the internet, so everyone’s kinda stressing out about that right now.

3. When was the last time you were relieved about something? Since Tuesday, every day that I’ve woken up without a fever is a relief. Another thing is that it’s Gabie’s birthday today and I was relieved to find out that she loved the surprise I made for her :) I pooled all her friends together and made them do video birthday greetings and submit photos that they have with her and I compiled it in a simple short film. It turned out super cute!

4. What about your life concerns you the most? Anything job-wise. They say 2020 graduates are heading into the worst job market in a very long time, and I think that’s pretty straightforward information.

5. Is there a common thing most people seem to do without trouble, but it scares you (talking on the phone, driving, interviews, etc)? When was the last time you had to do one of these kinds of things? Talking on the phone, ordering in a restaurant, and asking for help in any kind of store. I had to talk to a Grab delivery driver the other day to help him with directions going to my house; andddd I don’t usually have to recite my order or ask for help at a store myself because my girlfriend will often be the one to speak for me HAHAHAH.

6. Is a pen pal something you would enjoy? If so, what kinds of little things would you send your pen friends? No, only because writing exhausts me these days. I only enjoy writing for people I already know very well and love, and I wouldn’t feel invested enough to write to people I don’t know all that much yet.

7. Describe a time when you were there for a friend? Angela was sad the other day so I dropped her short messages to let her know I was there for her. She never replied, but it’s okay; it was just important to me that she knew I wasn’t going to leave her alone.

8. When was the last time you went somewhere for the first time? I dunno, I obviously haven’t gone around the city in months...though I’m thinking it’s the milk tea place we have at campus, called Nomu. I was there to pick up a drink a week before lockdown.

9. What is a situation that makes you feel especially confident? If it’s a situation that I know I can handle, like a test I studied a lot for; or if it’s a situation where I have a lot of support.

10. What was the subject of your most recent conversation? My dad was asking if he can have one of my soju bottles (my mom recently bought me five) and was also asking what flavor is really good. That prompted me to walk over and hesitatingly point out the good flavors, until he said, “Just kidding, I was just checking to see if this will make you stand up. You’re so predictableeeeeeeee” hahahaha

11. Hypothetically and generally speaking, how would you go about breaking up with someone? Is there anything you would make sure to say, or perhaps not say? I’d do it personally, say everything there is to say, and let’s face it, I see myself crying a lot too because I can never have serious conversations without tearing up lol.

12. Are you more of a night person or a day person? What is it about the night/day that you favor? I like the nightlife more. I hate the sun and when it’s bright out, so I’m most active when it’s evening and the lights and stars are pretty.

13. What do you find particularly offensive? Would you say you’re easy or difficult to offend? Mostly anything racist, misogynist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, biphobic, acephobic, and anti-poor. I’m very alert about these things and will call out anyone making insensitive sentiments about any of them.

14. Is there a belief you have that most others around you don’t have? Do you share this belief with others, or do you tend to keep it to yourself? Have you ever offended anyone with this belief? Ok so it’s technically the opposite of belief but I am atheist in a predominantly Catholic country. I’m very vocal about it except with my family. I probably have offended some people by stuff I’ve said or shared, but I don’t care. If they choose to ignore the myriad of issues surrounding their religion, they’re part of the problem and the reason why I’m so wholly against it.

15. Do you consider internet friendships as important as offline friendships, or do you view them differently? I value offline friendships more.

16. When was the last time you visited relatives or friends of the family? Is visiting family something you enjoy? I visited my lola, aunt, and cousins last Sunday when I was sick, since the doctor we were heading to lives in the same village. I hadn’t seen them since December I think? so my lola cried when she saw us walk through the front gate :’) I love visiting family, whoever it may be. It’s always fun to catch up, as long as conversations don’t turn into politics lol.

17. What did you do for the last holiday or event you celebrated? For my birthday we were stuck in lockdown so I couldn’t really do anything, but we had lots of food which is the easiest way to make me happy anyway. My parents and sister bought a blueberry cheesecake but had the blueberry part scraped off and then they crushed a whole pack of Oreos to turn it into an Oreo cheesecake lol; and Angela sent me a box of sushi.

18. If you’ve moved out from home, what was the scariest thing about it? What was/is your favorite thing about it? I haven’t yet.

19. Are there any fictional characters you like even though they’re “bad” or “evil?” What qualities draw you to a character? Yeah. Many antagonists speak the truth, and that makes it so easy to root for them. It’s this case very often in pro wrestling.

20. What are your thoughts on “forgiving” murderers, rapists, attackers, etc? Do you think it’s even possible to forgive these people? I don’t even forgive friends who betray me, so much less would I forgive assholes like the ones you listed. It’s definitely possible; I just choose not to do it because that’s my way of being in peace.

21. What was the last series you finished watching? Do you have any plans to begin another? I’m awwwwwwwful at finishing series man. I’m still on Descendants of the Sun but I also started a rewatch of The Big Bang Theory lmao. I want to finish DOTS first though and then maybe move on to Crash Landing On You, another Korean drama. Big Bang’s not really a priority for me and just something I wanna watch when I don’t want anything too heavy.

22. What is one way in which you are different from a year ago? What is one way in which you are still the same? I’m a lot less afraid of dealing with people (and been better with it) thanks to the stuff I’ve had to do in the last year, like my internship and heading external relations for my org. I’m still the same in the sense that I’m still deathly terrified in the last few moments before I do the aforementioned dealing with people lol. Once I jump into the conversation I’m perfect, but I take f o r e v e r to get prepared.

23. When was the last time you had to walk somewhere in the rain? How about the snow? I don’t like walking in the rain and we don’t get snow.

24. Are there any types of survey questions you dread or don’t like answering for whatever reason? What kinds of questions do you like best? Questions that make me think too much or are too deep. I also don’t like basic surveys. Random is where it’s at. Ask me what I got at the last restaurant I was at, places I plan to visit soon, the last time I got mad, stuff like that.

25. If you could learn about anything without the stress of grades or cost, what kind of classes would you take? Law.

26. What was the last item of clothing you purchased? Do you wear it often? Two identical tops in different colors. I haven’t gotten the chance to wear either a lot because lockdown happened shortly after I bought them.

27. Has anything made you feel nostalgic lately? Sure. When I was compiling stuff for Gab’s surprise video, I came across some very old photos of us and of her and Angela.

28. What was the last chore you completed? Wash my plate from breakfast.

29. Name a song you’ve listened to today? 7/11 by Beyoncé, heh.

30. Is there anything you’ve promised yourself you’ll never do again? Drink buko juice. I had to drink it for the first few days of my UTI treatment and it’s so disgustinggggggg.

#survey #surveys

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hoper5x · 4 years

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Fitness

‪This was the end of last week after a week & a half of scarfing down whatever I felt like eating. Cleaning up diet again this week & I’ll update the photo again next week. Sometimes you have to take a break. Don’t punish your body for enjoying life. I learned that the hard way..‬

Don’t be disillusioned by good lighting and poses, my body changes constantly and it’s OKAY. Be safe, be healthy with your choices, but don’t beat yourself up either when you have a difficult spot. Just pick yourself up and keep moving forward. 💪🏼❤️ You CAN do this.

Expandir

#autumn ivy

#cosplayer

#autumnivy

#the bone collector

#narrator

#actor

#amazon

#costumer

#alternative

#cosplay

#fitness routine

#fit girls

#fitness

#girls with muscle

#muscle girls

#muscle

#positive

#work hard

#diet

… Ver todas

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#fitness

#healthy

#fitspo

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#healthy

#fitspo

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drukhari

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This might sound silly but you're kind of a referent here and I need some guidance. How do I get stronger? Like I really want to start getting buff but I don't know where should I begin. I'm not overweight but I'm definitely not fit or athletic, especially after spending so many days at home being sedentary. I want to focus on my back and upper body but I can't do a single pull-up/chin-up nor a push-up. So what exercises should I start with? Can you give me some advice? Thank you so much 💜

None of these questions sound silly at all anon, happy to help however I can 💙

So first off, the disclaimer that since I'm not a physical trainer (or have any formal education when it comes to strength training) I'll be supplementing any information described here with links to more knowledgeable resources who can dig deeper into the details.

Here's a good link to start with for some strength training basic info:

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/strength-training-101/

You can start building up muscle right at home using bodyweight exercises, and in fact bodyweight workouts are usually recommended as a great place for beginners to start because it allows you to build a base strength level and focus on form, which will reduce the chance of injuries in the future when you might choose to start incorporating equipment like dumbbells or barbells.

With these exercises, your body provides the resistance needed - so you don't have to order any equipment to cycle them into a workout routine. I'd recommend checking out the below links for some good bodyweight exercises to start with, but if you want to check out others as well try Google searching "bodyweight exercises for beginners"!

https://kettlebellsworkouts.com/bodyweight-exercises-for-beginners/

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

Don't worry too much if you're not able to hit all the reps that some online resources recommend right from the start - that's perfectly normal and even the strongest body builders started out at that point once. What's important is to simply try and challenge yourself a little bit more incrementally over time, what that looks like in your own routine can vary. If during one workout you're able to do 5 lunges, and then the next time you try again you get to 6? That's forward progress, and you deserve to celebrate that.

The actual MOST important piece of the equation when trying to build muscle isn't even in the gym - it's nutrition and recovery. People can spend years training like a beast in the gym but if their diet is bad then they just straight up will not see the results, and that can be super frustrating especially when you're trying to really build up strength for the first time. It's important to make sure you're getting plenty of protein in your diet so that your body has the fuel it needs to build up those new muscles as you go - and don't buy into anything out there that recommends just completely dropping carbs from your diet. Carbs are a key part of a balanced diet just like proteins and fats are, and your body will require a healthy amount of all three to properly build itself up. Some good sources of each group that I tend to use in my own diet are below, but you're by no means restricted to these - and of course if you have any dietary restrictions that would prevent you from eating certain foods, then you can always do some Google searches for some ideas for substitutes.

Carbs: Oatmeal, whole grain bread, brown rice, whole grain pasta, fresh fruits like apples, bananas and pineapple (tropical fruits in particular can be part of a great recovery snack post-workout)

Protein: Chicken, tuna, turkey, egg whites, Greek yogurt, low fat string cheese, cottage cheese, whey protein powder

Fats: Nuts like almonds or cashews, olive oil, peanut butter (which could also be counted in the protein category!), salad dressings, avocados

This is not by any means an exhaustive list of options, there are a TON out there so I'd definitely recommend checking out at least a few sources to get a feel for what will work best for you. And of course, if you're in a situation where you don't really have that much control over the grocery list or some items just aren't an option, don't sweat it. With nutrition obviously you want to aim for a strong balance, and maximizing protein however you can, but even just working at cutting out excess sugar sources and junk food from your diet in general will go a long way to helping fitness goals.

https://www.verywellfit.com/meal-timing-for-weight-training-3498426

Aside from nutrition, recovery after a workout is crucial. Pre and post-workout stretches will help prevent injuries, and getting a good night's sleep at the end of the day will be super important to help those muscles you worked out during the day to properly recover and grow. When coming up with a workout schedule, you'll want to also make sure that you're not working the same muscle groups on consecutive days because then you're not giving those muscles enough time to recover and you'll inhibit their growth as a result (also risking injury!)

For just starting out, try to aim for doing some exercises 2-3 days out of the week for 20 minutes (though it's ok if you're not able to train for that long early on, it's something to aim for then!), so this way even if you're doing a full body workout (meaning you're doing exercises that target all the different muscle groups instead of just picking one or two groups per day) then you will still have at least 1 down time day between workouts for those muscles to recover.

Now that I've just dropped that huge wall of text (including links with even more text haha) I think I'll wrap things up. Again, I'm by no means an expert and part of the reason I tend to ramble a bit when it comes to fitness advice is because I made a TON of mistakes early on when I was starting my own fitness journey, some that cost literally years of progress, and I don't want other people to encounter those same pitfalls. It can be tough sometimes, especially when you're getting started and you're looking for those gains in the mirror after the first couple of weeks, but don't give up on yourself - as long as you stick with it and keep making moves forward towards where you wanna be, even if those moves are just baby steps some days, then I guarantee you'll get there.

Wishing you the best of luck in your own fitness journey, anon. You've got this! 👍

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#food mention

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#also if any followers who do strength training want to add links or resources - feel free

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dailyfitnessgirls

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gotta-be-skinny-for-me

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thatveganfitblr

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10k for my virtual Fiesta Fenzy run!

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Thea Renee Schuler

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jaidspo

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thinking about how vulnerable this time has made me and how many big topics i wish to discuss with all 20K of u. hope u will let me open up the conversation soon ✨ let's get open n real with each other ok?

#me

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gabriel294posts

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#alice matos

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60 notas

geneticallymodifiednerd

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Today's workout brought to you by my cute hamster shirt!

2 miles walked on the VACANT Greenway this morning. 🎉 Shout out to the rain and chill for scaring all the people away! 😂

Then got in my core workout and some yoga!

(I even applied for a job today 😬)

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#fitness journey

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#health & fitness

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#core day

#core workout

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#yoga

#namaste

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gotta-be-skinny-for-me

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38 notas

fit-avocados

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Missing family time during this quarantine🤍

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thatbrownsolution

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Training Accessories and PR. Mga huling araw bago nag close yung gym namin.

Isang buwan na din akong home workout ngayon pero kahit papano kaya naman i-maintain ng weighted push ups at pull ups. Hindi din advisable sakin mag calorie deficit lalo na at walang training na maayos. Kaya calorie maintenance para ma preserve kahit papano ang pinaghirapan hehe. On point din ang macro nutrition.

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fitaleeex

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Tagged by @one-day-at-a-time365 !! ❤️ it’s only 3pm, but I’m working until 10pm from home so basically my day is over 😂 but this morning I woke up early and went for a walk by the ocean with my boyfriend. We went for a nice drive as well. Got Starbucks. I recently got a meal plan and workout plan made for me so I did my first workout from that. I played a little bit of animal crossing and then started work!

I feel like today was relatively productive. It was nice getting exercise early in the morning, especially because my walk was beside the ocean 😌

I nominate @callmenic0 and @suvisfitness !

What have you been up to today? 💕

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IG taneth.fit

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transboyz

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here's a fun thing i do every morning before i shower, i find it really helps my dysphoria

I stretch, and do a couple yoga poses like the downward dog, the cat and the side plank. Then I do some weightlifting. Currently 1kg an arm, doing 120 reps each arm. Then I do around 50 sit-ups. After that I'll shower, get dressed, and put leg weights on which I walk around in for about half an hour.

I really feel like it's really helping me get more muscley, even more so on testosterone. Knowing I have that muscle and feeling it makes me feel way more masc and as though I pass as male. It affirms this in my head. Then I feel really good about myself for the whole day :-)

#workout

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ma-sulevin · 5 years

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I need mmmmmmm evens for Mattie and Sharky thanks

mmmmmm you’re welcome

2. Who is the most insecure and what makes them feel better?

Sharky’s more insecure because he feels like Mattie could have anyone and he’s not 100% sure why she chose him. It just makes him kind of sad. Fortunately for him, Mattie is free with her PDA and is always happy to cheer him up or reach for him if he starts looking uncomfortable with what’s going on around them.

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

They’re both bad about it, but Mattie’s definitely handsier. They’re usually able to keep it PG, PG-13 at most.

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Well, if she wasn’t married, probably Kim. If they were open to swinging, probably Kim and Nick both. Mattie’s pretty free with her affections, but she doesn’t ever want to make anyone uncomfortable, so this is 100% never happening.

8. What do they like in bed?

Sharky… likes everything. He’s definitely more sub-y, and Mattie’s a switch, so usually he lets her boss him around and sit on his face and take what she wants because it always turns out really really well for him.

I don’t, uh, I don’t know how the furry thing plays into this.

10. What two songs, two books and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

Hmmkay. So he’d obviously take a disco song, probably “Disco Inferno.” She’d take something a little more relaxed, like “Stay Alive” by Hidden Citizens, or really anything off her playlist (shameless plug).

Books? I don’t see either of them as big readers, but maybe Sharky would take some of those Mars or Zombie comics, and Mattie would want something practical like “how to survive on a desert island” or “first aid when you don’t have supplies.”

Luxury items? Sharky wants his flamethrower; Mattie wants a pool float.

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Given the circumstances under which they get together (the Cult Situation), the biggest change is straight up just having sex. Like, they were already practically living together and fighting together and sharing finances, so they just hit up a gas station to liberate some condoms and go at it. They drop the L-word pretty fast too.

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Sharky worries more than Mattie, but they’re both free with the tissues, cough drops, and hair petting.

16. When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

Well since they face the regular apocalypse together… Sharky’s plan is more of a Mad Max situation, but Mattie’s more practical. She wants a defensible location, renewable resources, and general independence. She knows the importance of community, so that’s really what they do. Sharky goes fury road on his own time.

18. When they fight, how do they make up?

If it’s Sharky’s fault, he mopes around until apologizes and tries to bribe her into forgiveness with massages or party liquor or whatever. If it’s Mattie’s fault, he mopes around until she apologizes and then he’s ready to forgive her. Makeup sex is enthusiastic.

20. Where do they go on holiday?

They don’t really get a chance before they get trapped in a bunker, but before that they planned on a trip to Florida.

22. Where does their first kiss happen?

It’s after they take Holland Valley, when everyone is celebrating in Fall’s End. He gives her the whole “will we still be friends after this” speech, and she’s so touched she just climbs right in his lap and starts kissing him.

24. Where do they first have sex?

I don’t know where yet, exactly? One of the empty Fall’s End houses, probably, basically immediately after their first kiss.

26. Why do they need to have a serious chat?

They’ve had serious chats about being more careful fighting peggies, about being responsible bunker mates, about general expectations for their future as a couple.

28. Why do they get jealous?

Sharky gets jealous if he thinks there’s another person around Mattie’s attracted to, and if she pays them too much attention he gets kind of bouncy and loud to get her attention back. A little PDA cures him. Mattie’s less likely to get jealous, but if someone gets too flirty she’ll come over and mark her territory.

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?

So honestly, a guerilla war and a nuclear apocalypse are probably the most ideal circumstances for them to work out. I don’t think it would have under normal circumstances, since he was out on probation and/or wanted by the Marshalls and she was a cop.

They make a good team against the peggies – they fight well together, they trust each other, they support each other. After they get to leave their bunker, there’s nothing to keep them apart. So it just works for the same reasons as before.

#oc: mattie covington #statichvm #x: burn like a star fire

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ciathyzareposts · 4 years

Text

Game 38: Super Dungeon (1979)

Believe it or not, this is the title screen for Super Dungeon, not the exciting new game PROGRAMMA SOFTWARE

Today’s game is Super Dungeon, a CRPG released only for the Apple II. Like most of the CRPGs released commercially around this time, it has no particular goal beyond venturing into a dungeon and escaping with as much loot as possible. (Of those I’ve played so far, I think only Wilderness Campaign and Beneath Apple Manor have a non-monetary quest.) What it also has in common with the other games of this time is that it’s implementing Dungeons & Dragons-style gameplay in its own way; we’re still in the era before there have been any widely influential CRPGs, so everyone has their own ideas about how it should be done.

Super Dungeon was created by Rodney Nelsen, who we’ll see on the blog again at some point, as he has at least one more more RPG to his name (Dragon Fire, released in 1981). He also worked on some Carmen Sandiego games in the 90s, so he had a decently lengthy career in the games industry. It was published by Programma International, who must be among the earliest video game companies. They went out of business in 1983 but in that time they published loads of games, almost exclusively for the Apple II. None of these appear to be of particular significance, although Dragon Maze was influential on a number of early CRPGs, including Super Dungeon.

I was immediately impressed after booting up the game by the extensive in-game instructions. The space limitations of the time usually prevent this sort of thing, but Super Dungeon does a very good job of explaining itself up front. It might be a tad too lengthy for someone who just wants to start the game, but you can skip it with no trouble.

It starts with the story, if you can call it that, which I’ll reproduce here: “There have been numerous rumors of huge deposits of gold, hidden in a maze of caves, deep beneath the Earth. It is said that this gold is guarded by thousands of demons, monsters and other sorts of evil beings. Well, these rumors are true, and you are about to descend into the depths of these caves that we call the D U N G E O N S ! ! !” I don’t know if it’s worth those three exclamation points, but it is the classic D&D set-up.

Character creation is fairly simple. You type a name, and then the game gives you two stats: Constitution and Strength. Constitution, which appears to range from around 10 to 30, is this game’s equivalent of hit points. Strength ranges from about 10 to 25, and is part of what determines whether you score a hit in combat. Creating a character right now, I got a Constitution of 28 and a Strength of 12.

There are then five character classes to choose from: Warrior, Wizard, Elf, Dwarf, and Hobbit. Each of these, of course, has their own strengths and weaknesses, but what differentiates this game from others is that each class has certain doors it can pass through. Seriously, doors are way important in Super Dungeon. Your stats don’t limit your choice of character class, but they may have an effect on how many experience points you earn. For example, a Warrior or a Dwarf will earn more experience if their Strength is over 15, and a Wizard earns more with a Constitution over 30. Hobbits are penalised if their Constitution is over 30, and Elves likewise if their Strength is greater than 15. With my scores of 12 and 28, I don’t want to choose a Warrior, a Dwarf or a Wizard, so I go with an Elf.

After that you get more stats: Life Points and Armor Class. Armor Class ranges from 0 to 10, and wearing armour improves it. Unlike old-school D&D, a higher number is better. Even wearing no armour my Elf begins with 3. Life Points are like stamina, and may be the most important stat in the game. Every move you make drains a Life Point, and going through certain doors will drain from 5 to 10. If your Life Points hit 0 you drop from exhaustion, and the last monster you encountered gets the honour of killing you. Each class begins with its own range of hit points; Hobbits are the lowest with 50-60, while Warriors get 90-100. The main reason I chose the Elf over the Hobbit as my class above is that Elves get more Life Points (74, in this case).

Nathan the Elf, I feel like I’m insulting myself

The last part of character creation is buying equipment. You begin with a number of copper pieces determined by your class, and from that you can buy weapons, armour, a horse, and food. Weapons add to your Strength in combat, while armour adds to your Armor Class as I mentioned above. Food grants you more Life Points. A horse increases your Speed, which begins at 1 but can be raised to 2 with a draft horse or 3 with a light horse. It’s pretty weird to imagine an adventurer galloping around the dungeon on horseback, but having a good speed is essential for getting the first strike in combat.

You have to buy two weapons for some reason. Most classes can use whatever weapon they want, but Wizards are restricted to non-magical daggers. They get a +3 Strength bonus to offset this due to their magic, and to be honest I never noticed them performing particularly worse than the other classes. There are no restrictions on the other items. With 106 copper, I bought my Elf a sword, a dagger, chainmail armour, a light horse, some iron rations and a quart of wine. This increased my Armor Class to 5, and my Life to 109. I don’t know if you get the Strength bonus from both weapons, but the sword is worth 5 and the dagger is worth 2. There’s no point saving any copper at this point, because you can’t do any more shopping once the game begins.

Super Dungeon looks visually quite similar to Robert Clardy’s Dungeon Campaign, which makes sense because both games were influenced by Dragon Maze. Each level of the dungeon is created at random. Your character begins near an exit on the right of the screen, and the entrance to the next dungeon level will be found on the left. (It never occurred to me while playing, but progress being right-to-left is slightly odd from a Western perspective.) Your character is represented by a brown rectangle, and you move around using the U, D, L and R keys to represent Up, Down, Left and Right. (I’m pretty sure this is done because the Apple keyboard didn’t have all four Arrow keys.)

Scattered throughout the maze are various kinds of doors: red, blue, and white. The red doors are normal, the blue ones are secret doors, and the white ones are bolted. You can get through the red doors for free, but depending on your class the blue and white doors will drain your Life Points: Wizards and Elves can get through the blue (secret) doors for free, while Dwarves and Hobbits suffer no penalty for going through a white (bolted) door. Warriors are drained by both blue and white doors, but they get a bonus 25 Life Points at the start of every dungeon level. (In my opinion, it’s not enough.) You don’t always succeed at opening doors, and more than once I lost loads of Life Points trying to batter down a white door that was blocking my way forward.

Randomly creating the next level of the dungeon.

Beyond every door is a room where you will find some treasure and/or a monster, so you want to explore as many of those doors as possible. On the other hand, you don’t want to lose too much Constitution or Life before you reach the exit, or you’ll be starting the next level at a major disadvantage, unless you’ve earned a lot of experience points along the way. Balancing your Life and Constitution against the experience you earn is probably the most important factor in surviving the game.

The rooms beyond the doors aren’t shown on the map, but when you enter one you get a crude graphical depiction of what treasure lies within. This can include coins (gold pieces, naturally) as well as various kinds of magic items. If there’s no monster in the room you can claim the treasure, but if there is a monster you’ll have to fight it first. You can only loot the treasure from a room once, though; if you try to go through that door again the game will inform you that it’s illegal, and erase any doors you’ve already been through from the map.

The game has treasures as follows:

Gold pieces, either loose or in a bag

Magical swords and daggers, which increase your chance to hit (and give you the ability to fight certain monsters)

Magical armour, which increases your Armor Class. You can keep finding magic armour, and it keeps raising your AC, which is welcome even though it makes no sense.

Magic rings, which increase your stats

Magic potions, which give you a Life or Constitution bonus

Maps, which give you the ability to get through any door of your choice for free. The class description for the Wizard mentions that they can always read maps, but I never found a map that I was unable to read with the other classes.

Keys, which allows you free access through the white doors.

Chests, which might be trapped. I think they only contain gold, but don’t quote me on that.

Coffins, which might contain gold, magic gas that increase or decrease your stats, or skeletons that you have to fight.

This room contains a pile of gold and a magic ring fit only for thin, rectangular fingers.

Combat is extremely simple. There are lots of different types of monsters, all drawn from D&D, but they don’t have any special abilities. Monsters have scores in Speed, Strength and Armor Class. These function in much the same way as they do for the player, although the monster’s Strength also doubles as its hit points. The combatant with the highest Speed goes first, and then you simply trade blows until one or the other dies. This can take a while at first, because your maximum damage is equal to the dungeon level you’re on. When you’re fighting a monster with a Strength of 20 and doing 1 point of damage with each hit, it can get a little tedious. Thankfully you can blast through it quickly by holding down Enter, but there’s always the risk of a surprise death when you do that.

Pretty much your only option other than attacking is to run away, which you get the opportunity to do at the end of every round (or at the beginning of combat if your Speed is higher). When you flee the monster gets a chance to hit you in the back. You shouldn’t need to run unless your Constitution is very low, the monster has loads of Strength, or it has a Speed of more than 1. High Speed monsters are the ones you really want to watch out for, because they get multiple attacks per round. A monster with a Speed of 3 gets three attacks to your one, so they’re best avoided; some monsters have Speed as high as 5. You might beat them, but sometimes it’s better to leave the room than lose too much Constitution. If possible, your best bet might be to circle around and enter the door from the other side, because doing that will give you a different room altogether.

This room has a bag, two coffins, and a Dragon that I would probably run away from.

Oh, there’s one more reason you might want to run away: some monsters can only be damaged by magic weapons. This isn’t a problem for the Wizard, who gets to kill them with spells, but every other class is outta luck. Even the Elf (who is described as being both a Warrior and a Wizard) needs a magical weapon in these circumstances. The game gives you the option to fight, but it’s a suicidal one.

Defeating monsters gives you half of their Strength score in experience. When you reach the entrance to the next level you also get a bonus equal to the level you just defeated, modified by whatever bonus or penalty you get for your stats and character class. You can then spend this experience to raise your stats, with 1 point buying 1 Constitution or 3 Life points. Getting the balance right here can be difficult, but for the most part I found it better to prioritise Life over Constitution. Unfortunately, all this balance went out the window once I figured out that the process could be cheated. You can return to the level you just beat, and then pop back to the next level and get more bonus points. Keep going back and forth between levels and you can get your stats as high as you like. It’s time-consuming, but that’s what upping the cycles on emulators is for. (I did cheat a little bit using this method, but the character I finally beat the game with was 100% cheat-free.)

Spending experience between dungeon levels. This is pretty deep into the game.

There are dangers outside of the rooms as well, that pop up at random. You can’t see them on the map, you just have to deal with the consequences of the encounter as it happens.

Wandering monsters: These don’t appear on the first dungeon level, but after that there’s a chance that a monster will attack you while you’re exploring the tunnels. You can’t flee from them either, so it’s just pure luck as to whether you’re strong enough to win. It would be terribly unfair if a monster that can only be affected by magic weapons popped up in this way, but I never encountered one.

Tremors: Occasionally a tremor hits, which causes some tunnels to be blocked and others to open up. Fairness isn’t a consideration here: sometimes the path to the next level is completely blocked, sometimes the way back is blocked, and sometimes (rarely) both ways are blocked. If this happens, you’re probably dead unless you can find a teleporter.

Teleportation: Some squares will teleport you to a random location on the same level. If you’re low on Life Points, this can be a death sentence; more than once I lost a character by being teleported away just as I was about to reach the exit and restore my Life with experience points.

The Witch: There’s a witch who pops up at random and zaps away some of your Constitution. Usually it’s a small percentage, like 1/10, and not too troubling.

The Thief: This thief occasionally appears to steal your gold. This isn’t a big deal, unless you’re playing for points: gold has no effect on the game aside from measuring your success at the end.

Pits: Sometimes you will stumble in the dark into a pit, and climbing out will drain a certain percentage of your Life. I’ve had it drain as much as half, and when your on the deeper levels that can mean hundreds or thousands of points. Along with being teleported this is the deadliest random occurrence.

Magic Wand: The only good thing that happens at random is that you can find a magic wand you can use to obliterate any one enemy. Handy to have in emergencies, or when you find a Speed 5 monster with a Strength score in the triple digits.

Getting zapped by a Witch.

As I mentioned above, there’s no goal to this game beyond amassing as many gold pieces as possible. You win by escaping the dungeon with your treasure, which can be done in two ways. The first is by retracing your steps all the way back to Level 1 and leaving via the exit. The other is by finding a secret passage, which looks like a black square on the map. (Well, the instructions call it a secret passage and the game calls it a transportation chamber.) Entering a secret passage takes you all the way back to the surface, but they appear at random so you can’t always rely on having one around.

In general I found that the Wizard was the most effective class: they get a decent amount of Life Points, they don’t need magic weapons, and they can get through blue doors for free. At the beginning the ability to get through the blue doors is about as useful as the ability to get through the white ones, but eventually you’re going to find a key that opens all of the white ones anyway. The Warrior is the weakest class: they can only go through regular doors, and their 25 point Life bonus isn’t enough to offset that limitation. If you pick the Warrior, you’re playing on hard mode.

I lost a dozen or so characters before I figured out the balance of the game (and also how to cheat). The first character I “won” with got down to Level 10 before I found a secret passage and left the dungeon with around 13,000 gold pieces. I was ready to declare the game beaten at that point, but I thought that just for fun I’d make a mad dash and see how deep I could get. I had an expectation that the game might be infinite, but I hadn’t taken into consideration the fact that it remembers the levels you’ve previously explored; there’s a limit to the number of levels a PC of this era could remember. When I got to Level 20 I noticed that there was a secret passage right next to the exit. I cleared out the level, and when I stepped on that secret passage I got the following victory message:

This was followed by a summary of my character’s status, including how much gold I had amassed:

Having reached the bottom of the dungeon, there’s really nothing left to do but try to do it again with more gold. I’m not particularly into achieving high scores, so for me Super Dungeon is done and it’s time to give it a Final Rating.

FINAL RATING:

Story & Setting: I mean, let’s be real, this game doesn’t have a story, and it does nothing to flesh that non-story out with some setting flavour. The dungeon doesn’t even have a name! Random doors and walls do not an intriguing setting make. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Characters & Monsters: The variety in the monsters is pretty high: there might be as many as a few dozen. They’re all from D&D or mythology, which is a hackneyed thing to do but works when you don’t have graphics. It’s not original, but at least I have some idea what a Rust Monster looks like. There are some deep cuts as well: I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a Su-Monster before (in video games or tabletop, to be honest). There’s not much done with that variety, though. None of them have special abilities, beyond the few that are only damaged by magical weapons. In many ways, the variety is in name only, because there are no tactical options in combat. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Aesthetics: The graphics are functional, but not exactly easy on the eyes. The only sound comes from the internal speaker, with different variations of beeps and bloops that are occasionally amusing but otherwise don’t do much for me. As for atmosphere, there ain’t none. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Mechanics: Exploration is rudimentary, while combat is a rote affair at best. The strongest aspect of this game is the balance between Constitution, Life and experience, which can be tricky to master when you’re starting out. It’s an adequate game that’s a little too repetitive. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Challenge: This game was a challenge at the beginning, before I learned how to best conserve my Life and Constitution (and before I learned that you can earn free experience by going back and forth between levels like a cheating cheater). This took me a couple of hours. After that, it became far too easy. I had thousands of Life points, my Constitution became too high for any damage done by monsters to trouble me, and eventually I found enough suits of magic armour that monsters could barely hit me at all. The only challenge that remained was from random factors such as pits, teleportation, and the dreaded game-ending tremor, but these aren’t the good kind of challenge. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: Like most of the CRPGs of this vintage, this game is trying to recreate D&D. It’s not really doing anything that previous games haven’t done, but it’s doing the same things in different ways. I’d say it’s moderately innovative, mostly because it came out early enough in video game history that it’s not drawing from anything that came before. As for influence, there aren’t any significant CRPGs that take inspiration from it (only its sequel/remake Dragon Fire), and it doesn’t appear to have made much of a historical mark. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Fun: This kept my interest for a couple of hours, and to be honest most of the fun I got from it was after I became super-powerful: there’s something to be said for being able to stomp around the dungeon killing everything in your path. Even so, that fun was mild at best, and it didn’t hold my interest beyond those initial hours. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Bonus Points: I probably won’t ever play Super Dungeon again, so it doesn’t get any bonus points.

The above scores total 14, which doubled gives a Final Rating of 28. That puts it 30th overall, and 14th out of 15 CRPGs. It’s only above Devil’s Dungeon, which is perhaps unfair; it’s better than a number of games above it, but that’s a consequence of me rating a bunch of stuff way higher than it deserved in the blog’s early days. In the end, the exact ratings and positions are a little meaningless, as long as it’s in the right ballpark.

NEXT: The Priority List kicks in, as I get to the beginning of what is probably my all time favourite CRPG series: Akalabeth!

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-38-super-dungeon-1979/

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