Romana II/Leelasilly_cleoMay 24 2008, 00:09:10 UTC
Romana was never entirely sure what prompted her to ask Leela to be her bodyguard. Maybe it was that they’d both travelled with the Doctor and having her nearby made that time (and him) seem less far away. Maybe she’d done it because she was afraid that rather than changing Gallifrey, Gallifrey would change her and she hoped Leela would somehow be able to stop that. Which was perfectly ridiculous, of course, as Leela barely knew her and she barely knew Leela. As if it were a bodyguard's place to criticize the Madam President’s behaviour.
Honestly. She’d probably done it simply to annoy Narvin. She was over-thinking the whole thing. Which wasn’t like her at all. The only thing she was sure of was that it hadn’t been because she really needed a bodyguard. Though if that were true she could probably, no, definitely trust Leela more than any member of the Chancellery Guard Braxiatel might appoint to the task.
*
She finds, after a frighteningly short while, that Gallifrey is changing her. She feels as if Gallifrey were a priceless piece of amber that is cooling around her, freezing her with it as it does. As though the more she tries to shape it, the more it shapes her. She had hoped that she could change things, do some good with all she had learnt. But Gallifrey is so old now, stiff and brittle, unbending, like old wood that could be snapped by the wind of too much change, too fast. She finds herself hardening as she freezes and as she hardens it feels as though parts of her are cracking. Her novel lies abandoned somewhere in K9's memory banks. She cannot seem to find time for such things any more. And it is when she finds these things that she is glad to have asked (begged?) Leela to stay because only with Leela does she find that she is able to soften, even a little. It is Leela's arms she finds herself in at the end of most days, Leela's kisses that smooth over the cracks a little.
And even though not such a long time ago she found the idea so ridiculous she realises that just by her presence alone (never mind how important she has become to her), Leela does help her to remember why she has chosen to do this and who she truly is. She is not sure what she would do without that.
*
If she were to choose one moment when it all began to change (never mind how, as a Time Lord, she knows exactly how silly and counter-productive such an exercise is) it would be after the incident at the decoy summit. She found herself at Leela’s door. Even though, like everything else about this, it made no sense that she, the Lady President of Gallifrey (…and all her dominions…) should be paying a visit to her own bodyguard on as weak a pretext as that of checking on her K9 unit. Still. K9 is a girl’s best friend. She recalls the instant the door shut behind her, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. As though the Lady President was a part she must play, as if all her time was a long series of automated holograms recorded for a long series of staged summits. It’s very very silly but when there’s only Leela she feels as if all that falls away, along with the weight.
Requests: Romana/Braxiatel, Romana/Mickey, Romana/Nyssa (whichever regeneration strikes your fancy in each case but slight preference for II!
Hex/Peri 284 wordsamaresuJune 27 2008, 12:01:48 UTC
“Perpugilliam,” Peri stated with an air of finality.
Hex looked at her for a moment, silently mouthing the name to himself. “Okay, you win. I will never complain about Thomas Hector ever again.”
As Peri laughed he spun her around and then continued with the waltz. After the dance finished Peri took the lead and dragged him over to a wall, making sure to grab two glasses of champagne along the way. She handed a glass to him and leaned back against the wall. “Sorry, you're an excellent dancer but I had to take a break. My asp keeps slipping.” She smiled at him as she fixed her headdress once more.
“Well we can't have that.” Hex joined her in leaning against the wall. “It's a very nice asp.”
“Thomas Hector are you flirting with me?” Peri questioned as she sipped her champagne.
“Hey, if you get to call me Thomas Hector, I'm going to call you Perpugilliam.” He looked across the room, “And yeah, I was flirting with you. That all right?”
“That depends.” Peri followed his gaze across the room, “Do you actually want to flirt with me, or are you just trying to make your friend jealous?”
He blushed and pushed away from the wall. “I do like you. Making Ace jealous would just be a bonus, really.”
“And if she doesn't get jealous?” Peri took his glass and placed it with hers on the windowsill next to her.
“Well, then I still get to dance with you.” Hex reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to the dance floor. “Like I said, I do like you.”
“In that case, let's dance.” Laughing, she followed him onto the floor.
'A fine day, I trust, Madam- 'Braxiatel. Are you too going to tell me that I'm the best President Gallifrey has ever had within her Citadel, and that you're sure I'll restore her to her former glory? If so, you'll be the... ninth this morning, I think. I might be wrong, though, I lost count at some point. Listen, I've told you many times, and I'll tell you again, I care little for flattery. It will get you nowhere.'
Hearing her own voice, she's awed at how old and weary she sounds, when she has been President for little more than a week.
'I know that, Madam President. I myself have a distaste for both flattery and former glory.'
She allows herself to sneer at both of his `distastes'.
'What? A Time Lord who doesn't go on and on about how things were better in the old days? However is that possible?'
He says nothing, but he frowns, as if collecting his thoughts before he speaks.
Then, without a word of warning, he gently kisses her, and she's surprised to discover she does not fight against it, although whether out of amazement, affection or sheer terror, she cannot tell.
And he whispers in her ear,
'There was never a day so glorious on Gallifrey as the day you were elected as President, Romana.'
And looking at him in the eye, she realizes, frightened as she has rarely been before, that he means every word of it.
Requests: Emily Chaudhry/Robert Dalton, Braxiatel/Narvin, Tenth Doctor/Nyssa (edited because I requested an already-requested pairing)
It's not a habit of the Doctor to visit old companions, except when they call him. Maybe it's a lingering anxiety. If, in their future, he was to learn something happened to them, he could no longer do anything to stop it without breaking the laws of time.
Maybe he likes being brought back only by fortune, on the wings of a tempest, rather than risking turning up after it.
But this time, Astrid's death reminds him of everyone and everything he has lost: the Master, Rose, his whole planet. He finds himself needing to talk to someone. Seeing his former incarnation awoke in him a wave of nostalgia, so he sets the coordinates of the TARDIS to Terminus, about five years after his last visit.
The corridors are so clean and well-equipped that he almost doesn't recognize the station. He meets a few people; they look healthy and don't seem shocked by his presence. Feeling optimistic, he proclaims in front of the first surveillance device he sees: "I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to see Nyssa of Traken!"
(And he gets ready to run, just in case.)
It takes only a few minutes for her to appear in the hallway, one of the Vanir at her side.
"Nyssa!" She smiles, almost exactly the same. He runs towards her and takes her hands. "You made it quick!"
"Our sensors spotted a TARDIS, and I came as soon as possible. Oh, Doctor, is it really you? I thought I'd never see you again. I heard that..."
He interrupts her. "So all of this is your work? Isn't it magnificent? Oooh, it's a real hospital now! You have the equipment to cure a whole bunch of other diseases, I see!"
"Since the cure works, the Lazar disease became less and less frequent," Nyssa explains calmly. "Moreover, as the patients can go home now, we have all the room we need."
"Impressive! It's all set, next time I'll catch the flu, I'll come and get healed here! Do you have a little shop? I'm sure you have! Is the Garm still here? You absolutely need selling Garm plushies!"
Nyssa smiles when she looks at him. She answers his questions with a quietness that's in contrast with his restlessness. She listens with interest to his suggestions - at least, the ones that don't involve plushies.
Only when they're alone does he drop his smile.
"You regenerated," Nyssa murmurs.
"Many times."
"Doctor..."
He interrupts her again. "You heard about the Time War, didn't you?"
She nods. "People come here from all around the universe. I heard... about Gallifrey. But you survived."
"Yes," he replies. "I'm the only one."
There's a long silence. Nyssa puts her hand in the Doctor's. He holds it tightly and remembers why he came to see her.
"How could you bear it, Nyssa?" he asks with despair in his voice. "You lost everything. You were the last of your family, of your planet, of your civilization, and you never complained, not even once. Of course, I knew it was hard for you... but I couldn't understand how much. How did you do it?"
She seems taken by surprise. "I helped people... like you do." She lowers her voice, like it is a secret. "And I had you." Then, hesitant. "And, if it can matter, you have me."
Maybe she just intended to kiss her cheek, like when they said goodbye the last time. She doesn't seem startled at all when their lips meet.
She blushes afterwards, though, looking at her feet. "Not only me. All of us. I always think of you, and I'm not the only one."
He grins. "I'm getting old, Nyssa. Sometimes I need to be told the same good things over and over again."
Nyssa smiles too. She is still infinitely stronger than he is, and he knows it won't always be enough.
But, just for today, it is.
Requests : Carstairs/Jennifer ("The War Games"), Pirate Captain/Mr Fibuli ("The Pirate Planet"), Alice Cassini/May Cassini ("Gridlock")
Braxiatel/NarvinpathologizeJune 24 2010, 19:05:07 UTC
Mouth-to-mouth contact was obviously out of the question; each wanted to be free to throw back an insult, and it would be a bit of a task to exchange vitriol while exchanging spit.
Honestly. She’d probably done it simply to annoy Narvin. She was over-thinking the whole thing. Which wasn’t like her at all. The only thing she was sure of was that it hadn’t been because she really needed a bodyguard. Though if that were true she could probably, no, definitely trust Leela more than any member of the Chancellery Guard Braxiatel might appoint to the task.
*
She finds, after a frighteningly short while, that Gallifrey is changing her. She feels as if Gallifrey were a priceless piece of amber that is cooling around her, freezing her with it as it does. As though the more she tries to shape it, the more it shapes her. She had hoped that she could change things, do some good with all she had learnt. But Gallifrey is so old now, stiff and brittle, unbending, like old wood that could be snapped by the wind of too much change, too fast. She finds herself hardening as she freezes and as she hardens it feels as though parts of her are cracking. Her novel lies abandoned somewhere in K9's memory banks. She cannot seem to find time for such things any more. And it is when she finds these things that she is glad to have asked (begged?) Leela to stay because only with Leela does she find that she is able to soften, even a little. It is Leela's arms she finds herself in at the end of most days, Leela's kisses that smooth over the cracks a little.
And even though not such a long time ago she found the idea so ridiculous she realises that just by her presence alone (never mind how important she has become to her), Leela does help her to remember why she has chosen to do this and who she truly is. She is not sure what she would do without that.
*
If she were to choose one moment when it all began to change (never mind how, as a Time Lord, she knows exactly how silly and counter-productive such an exercise is) it would be after the incident at the decoy summit. She found herself at Leela’s door. Even though, like everything else about this, it made no sense that she, the Lady President of Gallifrey (…and all her dominions…) should be paying a visit to her own bodyguard on as weak a pretext as that of checking on her K9 unit. Still. K9 is a girl’s best friend. She recalls the instant the door shut behind her, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. As though the Lady President was a part she must play, as if all her time was a long series of automated holograms recorded for a long series of staged summits. It’s very very silly but when there’s only Leela she feels as if all that falls away, along with the weight.
Requests: Romana/Braxiatel, Romana/Mickey, Romana/Nyssa (whichever regeneration strikes your fancy in each case but slight preference for II!
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From Caerdroia - Eyeore!Eight/Charley, Tigger!Eight/C’rizz, Eyeore!Eight/Logic!Eight/Tigger!Eight
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Disturbing Conversations :: 883 words
Charley/Hex, Hex/Peri, Hex/Peri/Erimem
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“Perpugilliam,” Peri stated with an air of finality.
Hex looked at her for a moment, silently mouthing the name to himself. “Okay, you win. I will never complain about Thomas Hector ever again.”
As Peri laughed he spun her around and then continued with the waltz. After the dance finished Peri took the lead and dragged him over to a wall, making sure to grab two glasses of champagne along the way. She handed a glass to him and leaned back against the wall. “Sorry, you're an excellent dancer but I had to take a break. My asp keeps slipping.” She smiled at him as she fixed her headdress once more.
“Well we can't have that.” Hex joined her in leaning against the wall. “It's a very nice asp.”
“Thomas Hector are you flirting with me?” Peri questioned as she sipped her champagne.
“Hey, if you get to call me Thomas Hector, I'm going to call you Perpugilliam.” He looked across the room, “And yeah, I was flirting with you. That all right?”
“That depends.” Peri followed his gaze across the room, “Do you actually want to flirt with me, or are you just trying to make your friend jealous?”
He blushed and pushed away from the wall. “I do like you. Making Ace jealous would just be a bonus, really.”
“And if she doesn't get jealous?” Peri took his glass and placed it with hers on the windowsill next to her.
“Well, then I still get to dance with you.” Hex reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to the dance floor. “Like I said, I do like you.”
“In that case, let's dance.” Laughing, she followed him onto the floor.
Request: Rassilon/The Kroaker
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'A fine day, I trust, Madam-
'Braxiatel. Are you too going to tell me that I'm the best President Gallifrey has ever had within her Citadel, and that you're sure I'll restore her to her former glory? If so, you'll be the... ninth this morning, I think. I might be wrong, though, I lost count at some point. Listen, I've told you many times, and I'll tell you again, I care little for flattery. It will get you nowhere.'
Hearing her own voice, she's awed at how old and weary she sounds, when she has been President for little more than a week.
'I know that, Madam President. I myself have a distaste for both flattery and former glory.'
She allows herself to sneer at both of his `distastes'.
'What? A Time Lord who doesn't go on and on about how things were better in the old days? However is that possible?'
He says nothing, but he frowns, as if collecting his thoughts before he speaks.
Then, without a word of warning, he gently kisses her, and she's surprised to discover she does not fight against it, although whether out of amazement, affection or sheer terror, she cannot tell.
And he whispers in her ear,
'There was never a day so glorious on Gallifrey as the day you were elected as President, Romana.'
And looking at him in the eye, she realizes, frightened as she has rarely been before, that he means every word of it.
Requests: Emily Chaudhry/Robert Dalton, Braxiatel/Narvin, Tenth Doctor/Nyssa (edited because I requested an already-requested pairing)
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Maybe he likes being brought back only by fortune, on the wings of a tempest, rather than risking turning up after it.
But this time, Astrid's death reminds him of everyone and everything he has lost: the Master, Rose, his whole planet. He finds himself needing to talk to someone. Seeing his former incarnation awoke in him a wave of nostalgia, so he sets the coordinates of the TARDIS to Terminus, about five years after his last visit.
The corridors are so clean and well-equipped that he almost doesn't recognize the station. He meets a few people; they look healthy and don't seem shocked by his presence. Feeling optimistic, he proclaims in front of the first surveillance device he sees: "I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to see Nyssa of Traken!"
(And he gets ready to run, just in case.)
It takes only a few minutes for her to appear in the hallway, one of the Vanir at her side.
"Nyssa!" She smiles, almost exactly the same. He runs towards her and takes her hands. "You made it quick!"
"Our sensors spotted a TARDIS, and I came as soon as possible. Oh, Doctor, is it really you? I thought I'd never see you again. I heard that..."
He interrupts her. "So all of this is your work? Isn't it magnificent? Oooh, it's a real hospital now! You have the equipment to cure a whole bunch of other diseases, I see!"
"Since the cure works, the Lazar disease became less and less frequent," Nyssa explains calmly. "Moreover, as the patients can go home now, we have all the room we need."
"Impressive! It's all set, next time I'll catch the flu, I'll come and get healed here! Do you have a little shop? I'm sure you have! Is the Garm still here? You absolutely need selling Garm plushies!"
Nyssa smiles when she looks at him. She answers his questions with a quietness that's in contrast with his restlessness. She listens with interest to his suggestions - at least, the ones that don't involve plushies.
Only when they're alone does he drop his smile.
"You regenerated," Nyssa murmurs.
"Many times."
"Doctor..."
He interrupts her again. "You heard about the Time War, didn't you?"
She nods. "People come here from all around the universe. I heard... about Gallifrey. But you survived."
"Yes," he replies. "I'm the only one."
There's a long silence. Nyssa puts her hand in the Doctor's. He holds it tightly and remembers why he came to see her.
"How could you bear it, Nyssa?" he asks with despair in his voice. "You lost everything. You were the last of your family, of your planet, of your civilization, and you never complained, not even once. Of course, I knew it was hard for you... but I couldn't understand how much. How did you do it?"
She seems taken by surprise. "I helped people... like you do." She lowers her voice, like it is a secret. "And I had you." Then, hesitant. "And, if it can matter, you have me."
Maybe she just intended to kiss her cheek, like when they said goodbye the last time. She doesn't seem startled at all when their lips meet.
She blushes afterwards, though, looking at her feet. "Not only me. All of us. I always think of you, and I'm not the only one."
He grins. "I'm getting old, Nyssa. Sometimes I need to be told the same good things over and over again."
Nyssa smiles too. She is still infinitely stronger than he is, and he knows it won't always be enough.
But, just for today, it is.
Requests : Carstairs/Jennifer ("The War Games"), Pirate Captain/Mr Fibuli ("The Pirate Planet"), Alice Cassini/May Cassini ("Gridlock")
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Methods for World Peace (~2000 words)
Requests: Leela/Rodan, Straxus/Lucie Miller, Narvin/Leela (fixed because I forgot to type down my second two requests)
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