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oswildin · 2 years

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Man In The Museum {Oscar Isaac!Doctor x Reader}

Summary: What if Oscar Isaac was the Doctor? How would he meet his companion? How would he act?

Warnings: None, inspo taken from Moon Knight/Doctor Who

A/N: I HAD TO DO IT TO EM. I HAD TO. LET ME LIVE MY FANTASIES. Yes it’s set in a museum, it had to be, where else would a Oscar!Doctor meet his companion? I imagine him talking a bit like Steven, with a more subtle British accent, and having the mannerisms/characteristics of 10, 11 and 12. I added gifs to help with the visualisation of it all.

Sighing to yourself, you stood at the museum information desk, feeling boredom taking over as you began to absentmindedly rearrange various leaflets that sat on your counter. God everything was so mundane. As much as you loved history, standing behind a desk in a museum was not your ideal way of expressing that love. But it paid the bills.

Looking up from your fiddling of leaflets, you watched as a man came through the main entrance, wearing a dark blue button up, with dark trousers that were rolled up at the ankle to reveal matching dark blue socks. He also wore a long dark jacket that you could only describe as Sherlock Holmes-Esque. He pulled out a pair of round glasses from his pocket as he placed them on his face as he eyed the sign above.

He was a handsome man, to say the least. I mean he’d peaked your interest out of all the hundreds of people that had walked through the door throughout the day. He seemed to frown as he clasped his hands into fists, almost nervously? But nothing about this man shouted nervous. You then realised he had turned to look at you.

Oh god, you were staring.

Eyes widening a little, you pulled your stare away, pretending to be busy once again as you hoped you hadn’t creeped the poor guy out.

“Hello.”

You jumped at the voice, as you pulled your gaze back up, seeing the stranger you had been caught staring at, stood in front of your desk. You cleared your throat.

“Um, hi.” You greeted a little meekly. God you hoped he wasn’t about to tell you how much of a creep you had looked…

“I was just wonderin’-“ He began, brows furrowed. “Could you point me in the direction of your Egyptian exhibit?” You raised a brow as you quickly nodded.

“S-sure!” You told him as you rounded the desk, stepping out as you walking to the main hallway, peering over your shoulder to see the man following closely behind. “It’s just down this corridor, past the Ancient Greek exhibition and to the left.” You pointed as you spoke, glancing at the stranger every so often as his eyes stayed focused on where you were pointing. The man quickly lit up, his brows raising as he wore a bright smile.

“Ah!” He nodded. “Brilliant. Cheers-“ He looked down at your name tag. “(Y/N).” He paused, as you felt heat rise to your cheeks at his use of your name. Get a grip. “And what time do you close?”

“6pm. You have an hour-ish.” You told him. “Plenty of time to explore Ancient Egypt.” You gave him a small smile as he hummed in response. Without another word, he began to wonder off heading in the direction you had pointed earlier. You watched as he waltzed down the corridor, twirling as he took in his surroundings as he went. Shaking your head, you pulled yourself back to reality, heading back round to your desk, counting down the minutes till your shift was over.

Holding your bag over your shoulder, you heard your name be called as you turned to see your boss.

“(Y/N)- I need you to stay overtime.” He told you as you shook your head.

“I-I can’t. I’ve got plans!” You tried but the man simply gave you a stern look.

“Well, unfortunately our giftshopist called in sick and you’re the only person I trust to do a stock check.” You groaned at his words, rolling your eyes.

“Fine. Fine!” You threw your bag down behind your desk. “But I’m only staying for an hour, then I’m clearing off.” You told him as he nodded, quickly disappearing as you began to make your way through the hallway towards the stock room. You muttered to yourself in annoyance as you strolled through the dimly lit hall, however, as you got to the end of the hall you heard a noise coming from the Egyptian exhibit room.

“Hello?” You called out, frowning as you slowly approached the doorway. “The museum is closed! You shouldn’t be back here!” You called, grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher as you held it up threateningly. Well, at least what you thought looked threatening. You heard another noise, almost like a… buzzing? You saw a shadow on a wall, as you felt your heart beating in your chest. Narrowing your eyes, you began to walk closer, seeing a glass exhibit cabinet was where the shadow was coming from. They were hiding behind it.

You made your way silently to the exhibit, rounding it slowly as you held up the nozzle on the extinguisher, pointing it in front of you incase you had to use it against the intruder. When you got close enough, you held your breath, before quickly jumping out, causing whoever it was there to scream as they fell backwards onto the tiled floor, holding their hands up in surrender. You finally were able to look at the intruder, seeing it was in fact… the man from earlier.

“What did you do that for?!”

The man exclaimed, holding a hand to his chest as he tried to steady his breaths.

“Me?!” You exclaimed in return, looking confused. “You’re the one hiding behind an exhibit after the museum is closed!” You retorted, slowly lowering the extinguisher in your hands.

“I have a good reason!” He tried as you shook your head.

“Oh really?” You scoffed, putting the extinguisher down to put a hand on your hip. “Well you can tell it to security-“ You said, narrowing your eyes as you reached down, grabbing him by the arm as you pulled him up, ignoring his pleas.

“No, no, no!” He tried to get out of your grip. “God, you’re strong.” He commented, furrowing his brows. “How are you so strong?” You continued to ignore him. “Listen, there’s something in this museum! It’s alien!” You laughed.

“That’s a new one.” You shook your head in disbelief. “Are you on drugs?” The man looked confused, before pulling a face.

“What? No!” He dug his heels as he managed to snatch back his arm from you. “Listen to me-“

Before you could say anything you heard a sudden roar from the distance as you felt your heart stop. Your heads both snapped in the direction of the noise.

“What the hell was that?” You harshly whispered out, as a familiar buzzing noise returned, the stranger holding a device in his hand as it lit up at the end a dark blue.

“That… That would be our alien.” He told you quietly.

“This is a joke right?” You laughed slightly. “My boss set you up to this didn’t he?” You tried to reason as the man ignored you. “What? You an actor or something?”

“No.” He told you as he began to walk towards where the sound came from. “I’m the Doctor.” He told you as you raised a brow.

“The Doctor?” You almost scoffed. “Okay, okay then The Doctor-“

“No, just… Doctor.” He corrected. “Y’know without the ‘The’ when you address me-“

“Right, okay then Doctor-“ You corrected yourself. “Jigs up, let’s go.” You tried as you walked behind him.

“Can’t do that.” He replied simply. “Gotta send this beastie back home.“ You fought the urge to roll your eyes, when a growl reverberated through the room. “Get down.” He grabbed your hand, pulling you with him as you both hid behind one of the exhibits.

“This is ridiculous.” You muttered as he shhh’d you, placing a hand over your mouth, causing you to scowl at him. He slowly removed his hand when he knew you would be quiet, reaching into his other pocket to pull out a bigger device. How on earth did he fit that in there? It looked like a metal ball of some sort, as he pressed a button on it, causing it to light up red. Suddenly, you heard claws hitting the floor, as you furrowed your brows, daring yourself to peek round the corner of your hiding spot. Slowly, you craned your neck round, allowing yourself to peer out into the darkened room as you gasped, catching a glimpse of the beast the Doctor had been talking about. You threw a hand over your own mouth as you leant back, hiding away. The Doctor raised his brow.

“Believe me now?” He whispered as you removed your hand from your mouth, giving him a frightened stare. “Stay here.” He told you as he slowly got up, still hiding behind the exhibit as you frowned, watching him in confusion.

“What are you doing?” You whisper hissed at him as he gave you a small smirk, before he jumped out, grabbing the creatures attention as he growled.

“Oi! You big ugly beastie!” He waved at it as you watched in shock. Was this man an idiot?

“Doctor!” You exclaimed standing up as you went to grab him, but he rushed forwards as the creature began to charge at him. All you could do was watch in absolute shock and fear as the man fell to the floor, sliding through the beasts legs as he crashed into a nearby stand, knocking off an old vase as it crashed to the floor, smashing.

“Oops.” He breathed out, scrambling to his feet as the beast turned, roaring at him.

Okay, so he was clumsy.

You really hoped he knew what he was doing.

The Doctor threw the metal device he had been holding onto in front of the creature as it seemed to open up, a red vortex looking light enveloping the beast as it roared in what you assumed was anger.

“Back to where you came from!” The Doctor exclaimed, pulling out the other smaller device from before, aiming it at the light. “See you!” The device in his hand buzzed as the light began to grow brighter, the creature yelling in anguish as it quickly disappeared from sight, the ball closing back up, leaving silence to fall as you stood with your mouth agape at what you had just seen. He quickly raised his arms in triumph, beaming. “Woo! There we go.”

The Doctor knelt down, picking up the device from the floor, throwing it in the air before catching it. “Safe and sound. Back where it belongs.”

You slowly walked towards him as you stated at him, half in wonder and half in disbelief.

“Who the hell are you?” You breathed out. “And what on earth was that thing?!” The Doctor stood up straight as he lifted his head up a little.

“I’m the Doctor. I’m an alien. I travel through time and space in my blue box, and that was a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform.” You could only stare at him in confusion at his words. “Nasty things.” He shrugged, as you shook your head. Your eyes eventually trailed down to the smashed vase behind the Doctor as he followed your eyeline. “Oh.” He instantly seemed to slump again. “Sorry about that.” He grimaced. “The floor was slippier than I imagined.” He scratched the back of his head, turning back to look at you. “Anyway…” He cleared his throat, seemingly going to say something else, before he stopped himself, spinning on his heel as he began to walk away from you. You furrowed your brows, rushing after him.

“Hey!” You called after him. “You can’t just… leave!” You said exasperatedly. “What do I tell my boss?! I’m going to sound insane if I tell him what just happened!” He shrugged.

“I dunno! Tell him a stray dog got in somehow and knocked it over.” He offered as you rolled your eyes.

“Ha ha. Very funny.” You narrowed your eyes, rounding him as you stood in front of him, blocking his path. “You need to stay. I’m going to call the police- and-and they can tell the government- or whatever-“ You rambled as he raised a brow.

“No need. It’s dealt with!” He told you. “Besides, they aren’t really my biggest fan.” He pulled a face.

“Who the police?”

“No, the government.” He replied as if it was obvious.

“Of course.” You slowly nodded. “So what? You’re just gonna gallivant off?”

“Erm…” The Doctor hummed. “Yeah.” He shrugged. “I mean, that’s what I usually do…” He frowned, brushing past you as he made his way to the side exit, using his device to seemingly unlock the door.

“Not on my watch.” You muttered to yourself, quickly following behind him. Exiting your place of work, you didn’t think twice about it. After what you had just seen, your job felt like the least of your worries.

“Stop following me!” The Doctor called back to you as you ignored him.

“No!” You replied, defying his request. He dramatically sighed.

“Humans. You never listen.” Shaking his head, he walked towards a blue box. That must’ve been what he has mentioned before…

“A police box from the 60s?” You asked, watching as he stood in front of it, his back to you.

“Yes!” He replied a little exasperated. “Now, shoo!” He waved his hand at you as you wore a look of offence.

“I’m not a stray cat.” You whipped at him as he peered at you.

“Then why are you following me like one?” He smirked, raising a brow as you scowled at him. “Besides, didn’t your parents ever tell you not to follow strange men?”

“What’s in there?” You ignored his question.

“None-“ He turned to you, bopping your nose as you pulled back. “Of your business.”

“You made it my business when you decided to bring your pet alien to my place of work.” You retorted, folding your arms.

“I didn’t bring it to your place of work!” He exclaimed. “It was already there. I came to get rid of it, and I did. You are welcome.” With that, you pushed him out the way, grabbing the blue box’s door as you swung it open. “No! Wait!” But it was too late, you stepped inside, your eyes going wide, mouth hanging open as you saw what was hidden away in the blue box.

“Oh my-“ You breathed out, laughing lightly as you took a few more steps in.

“Haven’t you heard the saying curiosity killed the cat?!” The Doctor questioned, following you inside as he slammed the door behind him. “Also how are you so strong? Seriously?” He furrowed his brows, giving you a look as he passed you, walking up to the console. “Go on, say it! They all do!” He smirked, pressing a few buttons as he spun round to look at you.

“Am I on drugs?” You asked as his smirk faded, shoulders slumping a little at your words. That obviously wasn’t the reaction he expected nor wanted.

“No!” He shook his head. “What’s your obsession with drugs?” He pulled a face.

“I don’t have an obsession!” You scoffed, walking up towards him. “You can’t blame me for thinking it! I just saw a weird wolf looking creature, that was apparently an alien, I’m speaking to a supposed alien stood in a police box that is bigger on the inside-“ He smiled at that. “Which apparently travels in space and time. What would you think in my position?” He shrugged at that.

“Good point.” He concluded as you gave him a ‘duh, exactly’ expression. “But no, you’re not on drugs. As far as I know.” He frowned for a second, before twirling back round to the console.

“So, what? You just go around time and space stopping aliens from causing trouble?” You asked curiously, waltzing round the console as you reached out to touch something. The Doctor’s hand came and lightly slapped yours away, telling you not to touch anything.

“Well, yeah sort of.” He tilted his head slightly at you.

“On your own?” You inquired, as you saw his face drop a little at your question.

“Sometimes. Not always.” He told you lowly, sniffing as he turned his focus to the console once more.

“Well, from what I saw back there, it’s a miracle you’re still alive.” He turned back to you, looking offended as you smirked. “Or not locked up for breaking valuable, timeless pieces of history.” You teased as he narrowed his eyes at you playfully.

“I always escape.” He quipped, clapping his hands. “I’m like a magician. You see me, then you don’t.” He wiggled his fingers in your face to make his point as you laughed lightly.

“And the fact your ship is a police box? Not very inconspicuous is it?”

“You’d be surprised.” He raised a brow. “It was sat there when you went to work this morning.” He told you with a small smirk as you looked at him in surprise.

“I would’ve noticed it, that’s not possible.” You shook your head.

“Humans. You’re always so focused on what you’re doing to take a second to notice your surroundings.” He replied as you rolled your eyes at him, silently mocking him as he playfully shoved you to get you to stop. “So, considering you barged in to my ship and went on to mock me, I suppose I could offer you a quick trip.” He shrugged, walking round to the other side of the console.

“Oh, I see.” You smirked. “You like em mean huh?” He quickly wore a flustered expression as you laughed. “I’m winding you up dumbo.” You shook your head. “A trip… Where to?”

“Anywhere you like!” He exclaimed, arms extended. “Backwards, forwards, up, down, here or there… earth or space…” His feet had found themselves planted in front of you. “So what will it be, (Y/N) from the museum?” You hummed, biting your lip as you thought.

“Surprise me.” You challenged as he smirked, suddenly pulling a lever as the room shook, causing you to grab onto the console for support, watching as he rushed around, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

“All of time and space… Here we come!”

#Doctor who x reader #oscar issac x reader #doctor who au #marvel au #Doctor who #oscar isaac

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matbaynton · 10 months

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tagged by @baynton thank you!! 💙

8 shows to get to know me better

1. BBC GHOSTS

copying nat here to say that this is also where the mat obsession started 😈 my friend hallie (who i will also be tagging to do this obviously) got me into it and i cannot thank them enough for giving me the brainrot! i've watched this show.... idk how many times now i'm constantly rewatching it but i still laugh (and/or cry) every time. don't think i needed to know how absolutely FERAL and UNHINGED and RABID i was capable of being, i swear i was normal before i saw thomas thorne. i WAS, and no one can disprove that so just believe me 🤡 he is my sopping wet babygirl pathetic chewtoy and i love him.... so much..... and i want to d*e on the button house property and become a ghost more than anything in the whole world. anyway this show is fantastic and it changed my life and there isn't a single bad main character!

2. STRANGER THINGS

not sure if it's because i watched this show the year it came out (and on the night before/night of my 18th birthday, so it ended up being the best birthday i've had in years which is. still true lmao) but it continues to hold such a special place in my heart, and i can't truly explain why. gonna be honest seeing that winona ryder was in it immediately made me want to watch (and i love joyce byers + jopper a normal amount) i'm also really into horror and gross shit and this show really delivers on that sometimes, it's fantastic 🫡

3. THE OWL HOUSE

i don't think i can talk about this show for too long without crying lmao, but for a silly starter: THERE IS SO MUCH GOD DAMN FUCKING PURPLE IN THIS SHOW IT IS VERY PLEASING TO MY EYEBALLS!!!!! i'm a huge blubbering baby when it comes to the found family trope and this show has that! not to mention the incredible lgbt+ rep that truly shocked me to my core. i've also never related to a fictional character more than luz noceda, it's almost unsettling. still haven't watched the finale because i'm in denial about it being over and fuck disney channel for cancelling it.

4. DOCTOR WHO

besides glee and pretty little liars (that i'm surprisingly not putting on this list for reasons) this was one of the first real tv shows i've gotten into. my friend and i stumbled upon it on netflix (back in the ancient times of the early 2010's) she wasn't into it AT ALL but when i went home i immediately started watching the rest of it. i love all of the doctors/companions/eras in so many different ways, and every time i rewatch this show it feels like home <3

5. YONDERLAND

99% of the characters in this show are complete dumbasses and i'm truly here for it,. also seeing mat as so many different freaky sexy characters fixed me made me worse. HOWEVER.... the felt puppets still strike fear into my heart, i've gotten somewhat used to it but i still want to scream and poop my pants whenever i see them.

6. COMMUNITY

as we've established i'm a fan of the found family trope (even the FUCKED UP PROBABLY MENTALLY BAD FOR EACH OTHER kind of found family) besides how funny this show is (and how much i love troy and abed AND WANT WHAT THEY HAVE MORE THAN ANYTHING) it was also the first time i interpreted autism portrayed in a somewhat better way than i had ever seen before on television (of course abed being autistic isn't technically canon, hence "interpreted") but i really appreciated it and the fact that he IS canonically the most mentally stable in the group is incredible and i love it. will NEVER forgive them for making a felt puppet episode though, it haunts my nightmares.

7. SANTA CLARITA DIET

drew barrymore plays a zombie milf and timothy olyphant plays her hot husband who helps her kill shitty people to eat. wtf else do i need to say? it's a masterpiece and i wake up every day hating netflix for cancelling it

8. TOO MANY SPIRITS

YEAH THIS IS A SHOW! I'M COUNTING IT AS A SHOW! i knew i was going to put at least one watcher show on this list because i love these idiots so dearly. i chose too many spirits because the amount of times i've almost (😐) pissed myself from laughter watching these morons get drunk and tell stupid stories is TOO MANY..... spirits! like the name of the show! too many! too many times 🤡 anyway

tagging (no pressure to do it!) @larryrickard @reysorigins @softdavidrose @karura @captainsjack @jugheadscrowns @bejeweledantihero @hannamarins

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capybaraonabicycle · 1 year

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@thebadtimewolf: Thank you so much for voting Doctor/TARDIS in @drwho-shipbracket 's tournament!! You didn't send me a preferred Doctor, but you wrote 🖋 in the tags. So I figured you would appreciate a short story nevertheless. I decided to write you something for my second favourite Doctor and her TARDIS. I hope you like it :) (It's a quite angsty and it's about grief, so be mindful about that and stay safe ❤)

Everyone, go vote for Doctor/TARDIS again in the current round!!

The moment her other self has left the TARDIS, the door softly clicking behind her, it all starts to sink in. Lee is dead. Gat is dead. She doesn’t know where Karvanista is, he might as well be dead. The Division is still on her trail and they won’t give up soon. She’s a fugitive, hunted. And she won’t remember her past later on. It is likely that that's because, at a certain point, the Division will succeed in bringing her back.

There is a little hope in the fact that her older self didn’t seem to be working for them anymore. But it is a small comfort when she realises, she will forget them anyway. Lee, Gat, Karvanista. It seems impossible now with the memories clear and bright, returned to her mind. But she knows, with Division, nothing is impossible. She wouldn't put it past them to just make her forget everything when they catch her. One thing is sure: Timelord technology and physiology are both easily capable of deleting memories. Everything in her revolts at the notion. They were her friends, her best friends! She can’t, she mustn’t forget them!

The TARDIS gives a concerned beep at her growing agitated or maybe she’s just warning her that they need to leave, lest they be caught by the Judoon after all. At this point in her timeline, the Doctor isn’t that in tune with her, struggles to understand the sentiments the ship is trying to communicate.

“I know, old girl” she grits out through her teeth, starting the engine. It is more difficult without Lee assisting, even more difficult without Gat on the other side, shouting corrections back and forth and arguing about how this particular ship is to be flown. She misses them.

A leaver moves of its own accord - the one Karvanista always used to pull a little too early. The Doctor’s mouth twitches fondly: the TARDIS is helping her.

They park under a beautiful red and purple nebula. The Doctor searches through the TARDIS rooms until she has found everything: An old shirt of Lee’s, Karvanista’s favourite tea cup and lighter fluid from the Kasaavin-realm, which can burn virtually anything. Together with Gat’s gun, her and the TARDIS have themselves a ceremony.

Sitting on the TARDIS threshold and watching the ashes of their possessions gently float through space, the Doctor mourns her lost companions. She is not one for goodbyes, usually, but the fear that she won’t have another chance drives her to honour them now. The idea that she will forget them, their names, their faces, what they meant to her, that she will even forget she forgot them, hurts so much she can barely cry. She still does, quietly, ignoring the tears running down her cheeks. The TARDIS hums out her mourning, long and low and the Doctor places a hand against the open door, providing comfort as much as searching for it.

“Maybe I am jealous of her” she dares to admit because the TARDIS is the only one hearing her and the TARDIS knows anyway.

How must it be for her, this older Doctor? Who is free, who doesn’t even know the horrors of the Division? Who is surrounded by her new friends? Does she know loss too? Does she know what it is like to feel imprisoned wherever you are? Or is her life just one endless tourist trip, showing off to humans by giving them the Universe?

You are her the TARDIS whispers in her mind or maybe she is just striking the chords of what the Doctor already knows. But is she? Can she ever be this other Doctor when she won’t remember? Won’t remember the Division, won’t remember her friends, won’t remember her life? What will be left of her when she reaches that point?

I will be there the TARDIS promises. And that is the biggest - her only - comfort right now. Because that other Doctor, she had recognised the TARDIS. She must at least remember her, even if they aren’t together anymore. So, there is some part of her that won’t be forgotten. Some part that is stored in her beautiful, magical blue box.

And even now, when everything else is falling apart and she has lost everyone she loves, the TARDIS is still there. They’re still together for the time being and they will fight tooth and claw not to let the Division rip them apart. The Doctor can only hope they’ll succeed.

The TARDIS can’t know the future, not really. It is too much in flux, too iridescent to grasp. But she knows her and the Doctor will find each other, again and again. Their timelines are interwoven too firmly for them to be separated.

And she knows this Doctor is not attuned to her enough yet, to fully understand her and she is too warped up in her grief anyway. But she still tries, as hard as she can, to make her see:

We will always be together. You and I, we’re for eternity.

#fugitive doctor #tardis #doctor x tardis #the tardis #division #fugitive doctor x tardis #doctor who

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pluviacuratio · 5 months

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A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE. Repost with the information of your muse, including headcanons, etc. if you fail to achieve some of the facts, add some other of your own!

NAME: Arabella Noemi Cesario-Furuya NICKNAME: Bella, Bells, Emi TITLE(S): Dr. Cesario AGE: 30 SPECIES: Human (BG3 verse: Half-elf) SEX: Female NATIONALITY: Italian and Japanese INTERESTS: Piano, cooking, rhythm games, all sorts of novels PROFESSION: Verse dependent, typically a doctor BODY TYPE: Hourglass shaped overall, but certainly plus sized. There is a good bit of muscle in her arms and legs, but it's still softened with fat deposits. She's in good shape, healthy as she can be, but her body does hold on to fat moreso than some. She wavers on being comfortable with her body and not. EYES: Red, due to a lack of melanin from albinism. Her eyesight is terrible for the same reason, actually. Bella is nearsighted, needing really strong glasses or contacts to see much of anything that isn't directly in front of her nose. Without them, she can only sort of make out colors and maybe vague shapes but that's about it. HAIR: Naturally white-blonde for the same reason, dyed bright red. 4a type curls, soft and silky from the intense amount of care she's put into it. It's worn long, falling somewhere around her mid-back to her waist. If she's going to be working on something and her hair could get in the way, it's typically worn in a messy bun or a braid. Otherwise, she likes hairstyles that have half her hair in space buns and the rest falling free. SKIN: Incredibly pale with faint pink freckles all over her. Typically smooth and soft, but her hands are pretty calloused and can be rough at times because of how frequently she needs to wash them and how much work she really does with her hands. She burns very easily, again attributed to her albinism, so there's usually a faint scent of sunscreen on her. She also bruises like a peach and it looks much worse than it usually is. POSTURE: Typically straight backed, but relaxed. She prides herself on keeping proper posture for comfort and health of her spine. HEIGHT: 4'11" VOICE: Deeper than one might think, but still firmly in mezzo-soprano territory. She has a wide vocal range that lends itself well to her singing. Generally warm and inviting. SIGNATURE OUTFIT: White corset-style tanktop, sage green maxiskirt with black bike shorts underneath, brown cardigan and brown heeled boots. Her priority with her clothes is more comfort than style, and she rarely wears pants only because they almost always need altered in one way or another. Skirts and dresses are much easier to deal with! SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Verse dependent. COMPANIONS: Verse dependent. ANTAGONISTS: Verse dependent. STRENGTHS: Motherly, trusting, patient, determined. WEAKNESSES: Fiery temper, trusts too easily, bad at navigation, no sense of self-preservation. FRUITS: Strawberries and grapefruit. She's fond of most any fruit, enjoying the natural sweetness, but citrus holds a special place in her heart. Grapefruit is fun because of the memories of eating it with her dad and her sister, pouring sugar on it to make it less tart and enjoying what she saw as a treat every time. DRINKS: Jasmine tea, though strawberry milk is a guilty pleasure. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: Death in the Afternoon. Bella has a surprising alcohol tolerance despite her small stature! SMOKES: Not tobacco. DRUGS: Smokes weed on occasion. DRIVER'S LICENSE: She has one, but doesn't use it.

Tagged by: @chronicparagon Tagging: take it!

#♣ out of rain (ooc)#♫ little girl with great big plans (about)#♣ i'll cover you! (queue)

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braxiatel · 1 year

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Okay so some overall thoughts on Power of the Doctor

Disclaimer: I have found Chibnall’s era to be entertaining overall, but lacking the spirit of Doctor Who. It’s had some interesting ideas, but I think there has been a little too much focus on being flashy, and not quite enough focus on storytelling.

That, however, is my opinion. If you found meaning in any of these stories that’s great and I’m happy for you. There have been great and amazing episodes in the Chibnall era, and I can understand why you would.

Power of the Doctor had this problem too to some extend, and that’s all I’ll say on that. I’m not here to bash it, I could go every moment where I felt it suffered from this particular shortcoming, but I don’t really think it would add much to the conversation around it.

With that out of the way:

I really, really enjoyed the culmination of Yaz’s character arc. She has been trying to be the Doctor all of this time, and I think a lot of us have been thinking that was going to end in her dying. I was pleased that was not the case, and that instead she got to be the main character of the show for a bit.

She didn’t have to step up without the Doctor around, because she had been going in that direction for a while. She piloted the TARDIS, she gathered her allies, she stopped the Master (A Master that she specifically had history with), and finally she sort of saved the Doctor when she carried them away from an exploding planet (moon? planetoid?). In that moment Yaz was filling the role of the Doctor, and brilliantly so.

Rather than her arc ending with her getting too caught up in trying to be the Doctor and getting killed, it ended with her getting to be the Doctor in a lot of ways, including having to say goodbye to someone she loved: the Doctor. Mandip’s acting had me tearing up, and then smiling at the end when Yaz realised that being the Doctor also meant letting go of people and letting them move on to new adventures without you.

However, that did have the consequence of Thirteen getting less screen time in their last episode, and I think that’s a shame.

I mean, we can argue semantics over whether the Doctor or their companion(s) is the protagonist of Doctor Who, but at the end of the day this was a goodbye for both Yaz and Thirteen and I don’t think Thirteen got to shine quite as much as they deserved.

That aside, Jodie obviously killed it. The regeneration scene fit Thirteen well, and her acting sold it well. There was a hint of sadness, but also that joy and curiosity that is so very Thirteen.

Dan... Okay, I’m gonna be honest here. I liked Dan realising that he was no longer willing to put himself in mortal danger to travel with the Doctor. But I wish that they had done this at the end of Legend of the Sea Devils so we had had a full episode of Dan when he left. The opening part felt a bit tagged on, like they forgot to add Dan to the script and had to come up with an excuse for him not to be there.

Dhawan!Master was brilliant as always. Do I understand what he was trying to achieve? No. Did him being Rasputin make any sense? Also no. But was it fun? Yeah! And did Sacha kill it always? Absolutely. Big Finish I hope you have his agent’s number, because I am not ready to give him up.

For legal reasons I am not getting into the continuation of the Timeless child plot.

All of the cameos were lovely. Was it very obvious occasionally over the top fan service? absolutely. But you know what, if we can’t have nostalgia in a regeneration episode when can we? I laughed at the dress for the occasion reference and got uhm. pretty misty-eyed at all of the classic doctors they’d gotten involved for that scene with Thirteen.

But uhm... am I the only one who was unhappy about the whole Tegan’s ex-husbands + Ace and Graham thing? Cause it’s just... Of all the companions to bring back and then hint at male love interests for, you picked Tegan and Ace? Possibly the two classic companions most widely believed to be wlw? (excluding Nyssa for obvious reasons) It just... doesn’t sit well with me. Especially not because Tegan and Nyssa being together was already canon, and that line about the ex-husbands didn’t add anything to the story. (Ace obviously did also have male love interests before and I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. It’s just the combination of the two I didn’t really enjoy.)

But! The companions’ support group! Yes, good, love that for them. I especially loved the empty chair as sort of a promise that they were going to eventually include more people.

(Do we know why Ryan wasn’t there? I’m assuming Tosin just didn’t have time to make a cameo, but it was such a shame not to have all of Thirteen’s companions there to see them off.)

And finally the preview for the next episode.

Okay lads, i’m gonna be real with you here. I’m concerned. Now, do I look forward to the R2D era? yes! I’m excited to see what he’s bringing back. But am I keen on so many characters from the first RTD era returning? eeerh.

Look, I’m just a bit worried about Ncuti Gatwa’s debut being overshadowed by all of this, you know? Cause I think it should be about him, and I don’t know that it will be...

I very much hope I will be proven wrong, though. And I mean, as an aficionado of all things Gallifrey and Time Lords, a look at regeneration and some of the forms it can take is obviously something that does appeal (now what time lord who has regenerated to look like himself several times could tumblr user braxiatel be thinking of? hmm)

So yeah. Pretty good episode, had its ups and downs, but overall I think it was tonally similar to the rest of Thirteen’s era and a fitting sendoff.

#normally i proofread stuff like this but I've got a thing with my mum in a sec so like #raw unedited thoughts for y'all darling followers #doctor who #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #the power of the doctor

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bear-of-mirrors · 1 year

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So thank you to @sal-absinthii for tagging me in this list of 10 characters in 10 fandoms.

To start off, gotta go with the Big M:

1: Megatron - Transformers (IDW1.0 continuity as the best incarnation to date, but I also really love both the Fall of Cybertron and Prime versions of him too)

At close second is:

2: Fëanor - The Silmarillion (I don’t care what you say, he did nothing wrong cause no one else was trying to stop Morgoth. The Telari should’ve given him those damn boats.)

3: The 8th Doctor - Doctor Who (I tended to waver back and forth on which of the revived Who Doctors were my favorite [not counting 11] while always wondering what the show would’ve been like had the TV movie actually worked at reviving the series in the 90s. But then I found out that Paul McGann and his silky honey voice reprised the role of the 8th Doctor in audio dramas from Big Finish well before the show returned on BBC tv. And yeah, without a doubt 8 is the best Doctor and has phenomenal writing, and also has the honor of being the first Doctor to have a trans companion played by a trans actor in the recently concluded Stranded story arc series of stories. 8’s just the best and always needs a hug cause he’s basically what would happen if you took all of the Doctor’s hope, love, joy, enthusiasm, excitement, and curiosity and made a person out of those emotions.)

4: Jaina Solo - Star Wars (yes, I know she’s not technically part of the current canon anymore but Jaina is just the absolute best and I love her and she deserves the Galaxy. I’m still waiting for them to finally let her book trilogy be uncancelled and get written.)

5: Benjamin Sisko - Star Trek (in the debate of who is the best captain, it always unjustly becomes a Kirk vs Picard kind of thing, but while Picard is indeed better as a captain than Kirk, Picard is the kind of officer you want to serve on while inside the Federation. Once you’re out on the frontier or beyond? You need someone with the flexibility and morality/lives over Starfleet regulations, duty, and honor. Besides, he’s the Space Dad that keeps the DS9 polycule alive cause he’s the only one with a brain cell.)

6: The Rookie - Halo (well before Doom got revived in 2016, Halo had already made a game where your silent protagonist had beautiful characterization purely through his body language alone. Halo 3: ODST is a beautiful game with an amazing environment and a really great player character that you can just feel the loneliness through his body language as he works his way through an alien occupied and dead city trying to find his unit, while also seeing sparks of exasperation and playfulness at times without a single word being spoken. I will never forgive 343 Industries for killing him off in a flashback in a book instead of giving him the sequel we all wanted.)

7: Isaac Clarke - Dead Space (Dead Space is the kind of game I never expected, horror in space while allowing you to live your starship engineer dream. Like, yeah dealing with the terrifying cosmic horror truth of the Necromorphs and Brethren Moons is my kind of story, but I found I really really loved the parts where eternally tired engineer Isaac Clarke comes up with on the fly ways to keep space ships and space stations going and in the sky while fighting hordes of monsters. Especially that 200 year old derelict fleet section where you get to fly through like four or five different ship wrecks getting what things you can turn back online, well, online lol)

8: William Adama - Battlestar Galactica (what more can be said about Commander-turned-Admiral Adama? Sometimes you gotta roll a hard six and he did so every time. Not many people could lead the survivors of humanity through the stars to build a new home and future after a twelve-planet-wide robot induced nuclear apocalypse, but he sure did)

9: Loghain MacTir - Dragon Age (oh boy this is a character. You meet him as the main human antagonist in Dragon Age Origins as you try to unify the nation of Ferelden against the Blight and its Darkspawn hordes. He seems a typical fantasy bad guy human but the more you learn about him the more complex and tragic he becomes. He was once a peasant during the imperial occupation of Ferelden by neighboring Orlais and its fantasy French people, who rose up and joined the rebellion of the deposed prince and helped liberate his homeland from truly barbaric oppression. And that oppression scarred him for life. At one point he had to sacrifice a whole army to rescue said prince, his best friend, but was forced to promise to Maric that he would never again sacrifice an army to save one person not even if that person was a king. This places his retreat from the field of battle at the start of DAO in a different light than what you initially are led to believe. Cause his leaving the field allows for the current king, Cailan, son of the deceased Maric, to die at the hands of the Darkspawn in what was a hopeless battle. Loghain keeping that promise to Maric saves the lives of his part of the army, but is viewed by everyone else after as betrayal of the crown. He also comes to fear that Orlais will return and so instead of fighting the Blight he tries to solidify his regency against a hypothetical return of the imperial occupier. And so he has to be beaten and humiliated by you as you topple him from power less his actions doom the nation. After doing so you have the choice to kill him or recruit him into the Grey Wardens which is a life long sentence of protecting the world from the Darkspawn. If you do that, he returns in the third game as the only Warden not corrupted by the magic of the big bad and who can either sacrifice his life in battle to atone for the Wardens being overcome, or you can sacrifice someone else and keep Loghain alive still so he can continue his penance for what he did in Ferelden during the Blight. You also learn from his daughter that when his wife’s roses died he rode to the other side of the country to buy her a new rose bush but didn’t know how to safely transport it on horseback so he silently held the thorny bush in his bare hands for the whole ride back home, thorns piercing his hands all the way, simply cause he loved his wife and wanted her to have her flowers.)

10: Tali Zorah - Mass Effect (what else is there to say about Tali other than that she is the Space Wife? Nothing else need be said cause that says it all)

Tagging @cblgblog @fantastic-fantasy-fanfics and @thefingerfuckingfemalefury for this.

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eirian-houpe · 5 months

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Harm's Way - Act 3

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Teyla Emmagan/Michael Kenmore Characters: Michael Kenmore, Teyla Emmagan, John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Rodney McKay, Radek Zelenka, Samantha "Sam" Carter, Evan Lorne, Kanaan (Stargate), Jennifer Keller, Todd the Wraith (Stargate), Steven Caldwell, Original Stargate Wraith Character(s), Original Stargate Character(s) Additional Tags: Angst, Kidnapping, Action, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Hybrids, Pregnancy, Interspecies Romance, Slow Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Series: Part 1 of SGA Virtual Season Five Summary:

With Colonel Sheppard's team still trapped in what remains of Michael's compound, and Teyla in Michael's hands, Colonel Carter must hurry to rescue them before the game of 'Lantean in the middle' takes an even more deadly turn with the arrival of the Wraith, led by a new and vicious queen, and her too-familiar scientist.

Read previous chapters on AO3

Act 3

He was dreaming. It was a terrible dream wherein he was trapped in a hole barely big enough for him to crawl around on his hands and knees. He was hurt and bleeding, but still scrambling around searching for something; something important that could mean the salvation or destruction of the Pegasus galaxy. Just when he thought he'd found it, some screaming Banshee had flown at him out of the rumbling fire of another explosion. She robbed him of his senses as she carried him down into the pit of hell filled with half Wraithlike men. They dragged him to a chamber where he was subjected to torture and partial dismemberment

Rodney McKay surfaced slowly. The dream had been so real that the back of his head and his arm still ached from the memory of it. Moaning he tried to sit up and move his hand to wipe the last vestiges of sleep from his face. After a moment of struggling, that became increasingly more urgent as the seconds passed, he realized that he couldn't.

"Please try not to move around, Doctor McKay. I should hate for you to undo the work I've put in to ensure your good health."

"Michael!" Rodney's eyes flew open and he watched as the menacing figure that was Michael came to his side and looked down on him, where he lay, restrained against the bed.

"Of course, whether you continue to enjoy that good health is entirely in your hands," Michael continued, quietly intimidating.

"Sure," Rodney managed, somewhat more confidently than he felt, "threaten a helpless man."

"Hardly," Michael said.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, unable to help himself as he rattled his good arm against the restraints. "What am I going to do?"

"It was hardly a threat," Michael corrected him with even softer menace.

Rodney watched in alarm, refusing to take his eyes off the former Wraith as Michael attached a bag of a strange, almost luminescent, straw-coloured fluid to an IV line and then adjusted the flow. The line disappeared beneath the bandage around Rodney's forearm

"Relax, Doctor." Michael said and he cringed as Michael looked at him with wry amusement. "You lost a lot of blood after you were injured "

"What do you care?" he snapped.

" and I wouldn't want you dying before you tell me what I want to know." Michael concluded without missing a beat, the mild amusement replaced with a definitely threatening undertone.

Rodney swallowed hard. His bravado suddenly evaporated in the heat of Michael's gaze. "What do you want from me?" he asked.

"In time," Michael answered and then left his side to cross the room and stop next to another bed. He looked down at the occupant, whom Rodney couldn't properly see, and said almost thoughtfully, "Your companion was not quite so fortunate."

"Major Lorne?" Rodney swallowed again. "What did you do to him?"

Michael turned and glared, making Rodney wish that he could take back the words and sink into the surface of the bed. He whimpered slightly and stammered, "Well, I can't believe you'd help him purely out of the goodness of your heart. Altruism, you know?"

"I fear that there is little more I can do for him," Michael cut him off, adding somewhat coldly, "even out of the goodness of my heart."

Slowly Michael returned to Rodney's side and looked down at him again. For a long time his wraithlike eyes bore into Rodney's, awakening every fear, every nightmare, that the scientist had ever known.

"Now, tell me what you saw," Michael said almost gently.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, his voice trembling.

"Don't be a fool, Doctor," Michael's gaze did not waver and the room receded into a darkness that pressed around him, threatening to suffocate him. It grabbed his primordial fears and crushed him with them until a scream began to gather in his throat as Michael asked again, "What did you see?"

-did you see- -you see- -see-

"You. I--" he squeaked.

"You will tell me."

-will tell me- -tell me- -tell-

"Ronon!" Carter called a warning to him in the same moment that he sensed the Wraith behind him and turned to catch the enemy warrior by the arm. He pulled him into the fist he swung into the bone cover of his face.

Without waiting to see if his pugilistic attack had been effective he snatched his weapon from his holster to fire point blank at his would be assailant , and then beyond to the others that were already running in, raising their weapons as they came.

"Ronon, get out of there!" Carter repeated the warning, as more of the bone faced warriors began to rush toward his position. He growled and instead faced off against them even more, firing time and again into their midst.

"We need to get back to the 'Gate while we stand at least half a chance of taking them down," he called to her. He knew he was taking a risk in rushing the Wraith as he was, but he couldn't help but notice the change in them since the incident at the compound. It was almost as if something had knocked some of the wind out of them. Though it didn't necessarily make them any less deadly, he knew they had to take advantage of even the smallest weakness.

"But not to get ourselves killed in the process." The colonel, and the men with her, advanced to his side. They fired into the Wraith warriors to give him support against the onslaught.

He turned his head and almost grinned at her, "I hadn't intended to," he said, before once more, firing with each step, he lead the colonel and the marines deeper into the Wraith held vicinity of the 'Gate.

She woke suddenly and even before she was fully awake began running her hands over herself, checking for injuries; checking for anything out of place, before opening her eyes into the dim, blue lit interior of the holding area aboard the Wraith cruiser. Quickly Alicia Vega scooted backwards until she made contact with the solid wall.

"Fine mess you made of it this time girl," she told herself softly, under her breath. She reached inside her uniform, inside the front of her shirt to make sure that the core she'd taken from Doctor McKay was still nestled there against her bust. She breathed a sigh of relief when, disturbed, it pinched her soft skin until she could resettle it again. "Maybe not quite a complete mess then."

Narrowing her eyes a little she peered beyond the confines of her cell to try and see what she could of the rest of the ship. She could see little enough and no Wraith at all, which as far as she was concerned was more than all right, because it meant she might live for a little while longer before one of them decided to feed on her. She frowned, her memory of how she reached the holding cell was at best hazy, at the worst, it made little sense to her.

Scrambling over the lip of the mound she threw herself at Rodney McKay, taking him down to the ground in an inelegant tackle that knocked the breath out of her lungs and jammed the butt of her P90 painfully against her ribs.

The scream of the Dart grew louder, reminding her that she did not have time for discomfort, and she rolled to the side. As she did she quickly grabbed the object from the doctor's hand and quickly shoved it down inside her shirt before she snatched her weapon into her hands and began firing

A tingling cold spread through her body and she lost awareness of herself for a moment. In the next heartbeat she opened her eyes to the dim interior of some kind of cavernous chamber. She lay on her back, her P90 still clutched in her suddenly unresponsive hands. Beside her lay the stunned Doctor McKay, and next to both of them the badly injured form of Major Lorne.

And around her, several shadowed forms. It didn't quite take the mind of a genius to work out that the outstretched arms were no doubt holding some kind of weapons

"They weren't Wraith, they were men," she remembered with mounting horror. That could only mean one thing, and she didn't expect it to be good news. Quickly she unfolded her legs, and climbed to her feet, approaching the web-like bars of her cell to try and find a way out.

In spite of her fears, things had taken a bit of an upturn as they committed themselves to Ronon's insane charge. She didn't dare let herself get complacent though, the sky was still ringing with the sound of mosquito-like Darts that were still flying search patterns, randomly firing into the ground and air alike to try and find the Jumpers she had ordered to the other side of the planet. On the ground the Wraith still outnumbered what amounted to little more than a small guerrilla force of marines by at least four to one and worst of all, it would soon be dark. However, they had managed to take, and hold a defensible position within site of the Stargate.

Ronon ducked back down, breathing hard as he pressed his back against the natural barricade behind which the two of them sheltered. Around them the sounds of gunfire provided a staccato accompaniment to his labored breathing.

"I think I can see a way past this," he said, his voice a little hoarse from all the yelling he'd been doing.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

She watched him glance around and then he picked up a stick, and with his booted foot levelled a section of the ground in front of them to make a pallet for his diagram. Quickly he started to draw.

"Here's the 'Gate," he said as he made some marks in the dirt, "and here and here are the Wraith guards." He looked over at her to make sure he was following so far. She nodded and he continued, "We're here and beyond us here," he made another series of marks on the ground, "is the tree line. This..."

Whatever he started to say was interrupted as the natural barricade of fallen logs, overgrown with tufts of grass, exploded behind them. Almost as one, she and Ronon turned to lean up over the lip of their cover, opening up on the Wraith who had tried to take advantage in the lull of their assault.

"I got it," she yelled at him over the combined sounds of their weapons, telling him she had the diagram in her memory, "go on!"

"Just the other side of the trees is a small gully, and from the shape of the ground over there," he nodded to their side, "the gully runs out from the woods, through to the other side of the Stargate. If we could get to that point I think it's a blind spot that could get us close enough to take out the guards."

He stopped talking for long enough to fire an uninterrupted volley of shots into an overgrown patch of foliage up ahead until a Wraith warrior came tumbling out with a smoking hole in his chest.

"How do we know there aren't more Wraith in the woods further down?" she asked, not to challenge him, but to better understand his thinking; to encourage him to develop his plan.

"We don't," he answered, "though I'd think if there were, we'd have Wraith breathing down our necks from both behind us and in front as well."

He started firing again. The high pitched sound of his weapon against the percussive sound of her P90 was staring to make her ears ring. "Good point," she yelled, and then she glanced behind her toward the trees. "It could work," she decided after a moment or two. "We'll need cover."

"Go," he told her, "I'll cover you."

"No." She put her hand onto his arm. "Your plan you're coming with me."

"What," he turned his head to grin at her, "So you can kick my ass in case something goes wrong?"

"Something like that," she said with a smile and then she keyed her mic and called for one of the other subdivisions of her team to give them both the covering fire they needed to reach the woods.

Nothing she could do made the slightest difference to the bars of the holding cell. She could find no control panel to tamper with, not, she thought to herself, that doing so was a particularly good or safe idea and neither could she damage them with anything she had to hand. With a sigh she rested her forehead against the bars.

"There is little point in your struggles."

She started, and jumped away from the bars as the figure that had spoken approached the cell. From beyond arm's reach she peered at him, taking a measure of him and shivered at the appearance of the hybrid soldier.

His skin, obviously once tan, was mottled and the veins at his temples and along his forehead stood as though engorged. His pupils were wide in the dim light, but even so she could see the pale quality of his irises.

He regarded her with cold dispassion and continued, "He will come to speak with you when he is ready."

She glared at the hybrid, trying not to let show just how much the thought of it disturbed her. "Then what do you want with me?"

The hybrid shrugged, and blinked as if the question made no sense to him, and then, holding out the bowl he had in his hands, said, "I was told to bring you food."

She took a step backwards, away from the outstretched hands and looked at the bowl as though it was a weapon pointed toward her. The hybrid remained in that posture, waiting patiently for a time, before he took another step forward and set the bowl onto the floor just inside the bars.

Vega couldn't help but take a look. The food inside had the appearance of porridge, though she doubted very much that was what it was. Taking another step back she said, "What makes you think that I'll take anything you give me?"

The hybrid shrugged, "It does not matter to me if you do, or you do not," he said. "But I was told to say to you that the Geneva Conventions state: The basic daily food rations shall be sufficient in quantity, quality and variety to keep prisoners of war in good health and to prevent loss of weight or the development of nutritional deficiencies."

Vega blinked. If she could have made a guess at the answer he would have given, that was the furthest from her mind.

"Excuse me?" she said, nonplussed.

"The Geneva Conventions st--"

"I heard what you said," she took a step toward the bars, to peer at him more closely, wondering perhaps if she had been mistaken in identifying him as a hybrid. The same pallid skin and bulging veins, the same paling of the iris met her eyes. She had not been mistaken.

"Then what is your confusion?" he asked, creasing his face in confusion of his own.

"Since when did your..." she struggled for a way to describe the part-Wraith, part-Human creature; eventually settled on, " boss comply with the Geneva Conventions?"

"I was told to bring you food," he repeated, starting to turn away.

Vega's mind began to race. She could use this. She could turn this to her advantage and use it to find a way out of the cell and off the ship.

"Wait!" she called. He turned back and waited for her to speak again. "What about " she glanced around, " you know, facilities."

"Your needs will be catered for," he said, fixing her with the kind of expression that told her he knew exactly what she would try to do, "at the appropriate time."

"And when is that?"

"He will speak with you when he is ready." The hybrid soldier turned and began to walk away, as he did so, he said, "In the mean time, I suggest you eat."

"This is so not good," Sheppard said quietly as he maneuvered the cloaked Jumper into orbit and threaded his way through the collection of Wraith ships gathered around one of the largest Hive ships he could ever recall seeing. Worse still, it wasn't the only one.

Beside him, he heard Zelenka take a breath. The doctor then began swiveling his head one way and another, muttering under his breath.

"I have to agree with you, Colonel," he said at last sitting down and pushing up his glasses. "By my count there are two Hives, at least three cruisers and well I lost count when it came to the Darts."

"We are so screwed," Sheppard said, studying the heads up display that activated even as he began to wonder how accurate Zelenka's count had been. "Even if the Daedalus were to show up right now and we could throw all the 302s at them, with so many we'd be hard pressed to make even an insignificant dent in their numbers."

"Maybe it would be better if we " Zelenka said, cringing a little as they got closer to the Wraith fleet of ships, " didn't get too close?"

"Relax, Doc," Sheppard said lazily, "We're cloaked we're perfectly safe."

"Yes, well, you'll forgive me if I'd rather not risk my life on that," he answered. "The modifications I had to make to the cloak on the planet's surface were somewhat hasty and--"

"Now you tell me," Sheppard interrupted, and instantly began plotting a course to take them out from under the noses of the Wraith.

"I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

Sheppard shook his head, and sighed as they pulled away, setting them back into their own geosynchronous orbit.

"Why did you want to get so close anyway?" Zelenka asked him after a moment.

"What? After what Sam told us you expect me not to try and scan for McKay, Lorne and Vega aboard those ships?"

"Of course. Right... right "

"I figured, the closer we got the more likely we would be to find them," Sheppard said.

"And what would you have done if you had?" Zelenka looked at him with honest curiosity. His eyes blinked owlishly behind the lenses of his spectacles.

"I dunno," Sheppard had to admit. "I hadn't quite gotten that far."

"I see." Zelenka pushed his spectacles back up again and added, "As you say, it is unlikely that we would be able to pull off any kind of daring rescue, not with so many of them out there."

"Well we can't just leave 'em." Sheppard said, horrified at the thought. "God knows what they're going through."

"On the contrary," Zelenka said sadly, "I think we can make a pretty good guess as to exactly what is going on."

"Well you're a bundle of laughs, Radek. Thanks for that."

"I am only trying to be realistic, Colonel." He said. "Perhaps we should let Colonel Carter know what we have discovered."

Sheppard sighed again and turned his gaze back out toward the Hive ships, and in particular the larger of the two. He couldn't help wondering at the disparity between them.

"Colonel Carter, this is Sheppard. Come in."

Slowly she lowered herself back down into the gully beside Ronon as Sheppard's voice came uncomfortably loud in her ear. She and Ronon had managed to come almost to within arms reach of the Wraith at the postern side of the Stargate and she was sure that they would have heard the Lieutenant Colonel's overly cheerful voice.

Carefully she keyed her own radio and in a stage-whisper answered, "Go ahead, John," then added after a second's thought, "quietly."

When he spoke again his voice was much more subdued. "We have a little more company than we expected."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Two Hives."

"Two!" she yelped, forgetting herself, then jumped as Ronon grabbed her and dragged her further down into the gully, all but covering her with the bulk of his form. Dressed as he was in more natural earthen toned clothing, he was much better camouflaged than she.

"Stand by," she hissed into her radio as she heard the Wraith start to move and then, daring to raise her head, watched as a pair of warriors left their positions and approached, peering into the undergrowth and the trees beyond. She held her breath and tightened her grip on her weapon.

Beside her, Ronon moved slowly, reaching down to the sheath on his thigh to close his hand around the hilt of the knife it contained. He barely moved more than an inch with each of his slow breaths. Every muscle was under tight control.

Step by step the booted feet of the Wraith came closer until one of them stood on the very lip of the gully almost directly above them. She could hear his breathing, his almost growling hiss as he continued to peer beyond their hiding place.

An intense chill began to descend on Sam as she prayed Sheppard would continue to be patient. The click of her radio now would give them away as surely as if she were to stand up right in front of the Wraith.

Her head began to swim and her lungs burned for lack of air, but she dare not take a breath; fought to keep her body from automatically obeying its need. She glanced at Ronon again, and saw that he was tensing, preparing for action. If they had to move against the single Wraith, who now stood over them, their timing would have to be perfect. They couldn't afford to alert the others, otherwise their careful approach would have been for nothing and with the news that Sheppard had just delivered, the need to retake the 'Gate was even more vital now.

As quietly as she could she took in a long slow breath and watched as Ronon turned his head to try and locate the other Wraith. She realized, somewhat sheepishly, that in concentrating on the more immediate threat of the warrior that stood over them she had neglected to consider the possibility that the other might take a position that would completely compromise their stealthy approach. Their pincer assault would be over. Carefully, she too looked around to try and see where the Wraith was, so that she could predict what their best course of action would be. The second warrior had, it seemed, lost interest in the search and had begun to return to his place beside the 'Gate. For the moment at least, it seemed that the best strategy was to try and wait it out.

Not for the first time she found herself cursing the Wraith's telepathic abilities. An assault against any other enemy from this position would simply be a case of making a grab for the one above them and taking him out. She had faith in Ronon's ability to do such a thing with a reasonable amount of stealth, but the minute that either one of them moved against any of the Wraith, each one of the patrol by the 'Gate would know of their presence.

"Maybe we should contact her again," Zelenka looked across at him with a frown on his face.

He shook his head, though every sense was nagging at him to do something when several minutes had elapsed without any contact from Sam. "She said to stand by," Sheppard said.

"I know what she said, Colonel," the scientist answered, somewhat testily, he thought. "But what if she's hurt or needs something. What if she needs something?"

"If she needed us she would have called," Sheppard reasoned, but it was as much for himself as it was for Zelenka. He had a bad feeling and it was growing more and more acute by the moment.

"What if she can't?"

"If she can't she..." he trailed off, having no answer to that.

"You see," Zelenka said triumphantly, "I told you we should contact her."

Again he shook his head.

"But Colonel," the Czech began, "You said--"

"I'll do you one better than that," Sheppard said, and leaned a little in spite of the inertial dampeners when the Jumper banked as he began to search for a favorable vector for re-entry. He was looking for one that wouldn't give away their position. "After all, there's not much we can do up here now, is there?"

Zelenka frowned for a moment, and then his face came alive, his eyes going wide as he obviously realized what he intended to do. "No, I suppose not," he agreed with a quirky smile finding its way to his face.

"All we have to do is find an approach that doesn't paint a bright red bull's-eye on our ass and--"

"Wait!" Zelenka suddenly pointed at the heads up. "What was that?"

"What was what?" he asked, peering at the display.

"Go back up. Go back around," Zelenka told him.

"A minute ago you were all right with my plan," Sheppard said lazily, though it didn't stop him from doing as Zelenka said. When it came to reading sensor data he trusted the man almost as much as he did Rodney if not more. "Now you want to stay up here with all these Wrai--"

"There." The scientist pointed at the forward display again, and this time he too saw the momentary ghost on the sensors. "What is that, a glitch? I didn't think I'd disturbed the sensors when I rerouted power to the cloaking generator, but--"

"That's no glitch," he said, his eyes narrowed as he realized what the presence of a third ship, masked behind the planet's moon, must mean. He brought the Jumper around again, bringing it to a stop at just the moment the ship became visible to the sensors.

"Then what?" Zelenka asked, still not catching on, "Another Hive? It isn't big enough for a Hive. It--"

Through clenched teeth Sheppard said, angrily, "Michael."

A momentary vibration passed through the ground. Sam frowned and her heart began to sink still further as she realized the vibration was a prelude to the activation of the 'Gate. How many more were they going to send? How many more did they need? With Two Hives in orbit, and outnumbering them on the ground, why would the Wraith need to send more troops?

A light tap on her arm pulled her out of her angry contemplation and she glanced over at Ronon, only to have him nod upwards. Following his lead, she looked up to watch as the Wraith left the lip of the gully and start toward rejoining the rest of his patrol, who were taking up positions in front of the 'Gate. Not the Wraith then?

"Expedition teams, this is Atlantis, come in please."

"Damn it," she hissed. "Atlantis, this is Carter. This is not a good time." She tried to speak quietly, but it was already too late. The retreating Wraith had heard the radio engage, and turned back toward her position. Abandoning stealth, with Ronon already moving at her side, she called to the rest of the marines to provide supporting fire, to at least give her and Ronon a chance to withdraw to safety.

Only Ronon was evidently not in the mood for retreat and was already scrambling over the lip of the gully toward the Wraith.

"Ronon!" she called to him, but he ignored her and taking out his gun began firing at the Wraith as he went.

Sam swore again and called out quickly into her radio, "All teams - move on the 'Gate - go, go, go!"

Suddenly the area around the 'Gate was a rattling cacophony of P90 fire, percussive explosions from the blasters, and the high pitched whistle of Ronon's weapon as the marines pushed forward in an all out effort to take back the 'Gate from their Wraith enemies.

Sam dropped to one knee, tiling her head and her weapon to take a better aim at a group of three Wraith heading toward where Ronon was already embroiled in a fierce hand to hand battle with two of the biggest warriors she thought she had ever seen.

Catching the incoming raking claw of one of the warriors he faced, Ronon kicked out at the other as he pulled the first toward his waiting fist, to shatter the bone covering from his face and send him staggering backwards. In the meantime he turned almost full circle, letting the momentum add power to the attack against the second who, recovering from the kick to his chest, came back at Ronon growling and hissing like an angry alley-cat.

"Colonel Carter, we have security teams standing by, do you need back up?"

Sam couldn't help looking around at the pockets of fighting scattered around the 'Gate, at the numbers of marines over-run by the number of Wraith. Certainly they were making some headway, but it would undeniably even the odds of success if she could boost their numbers. In spite of that she answered, "Negative, Atlantis. What was it you wanted?"

"We dialed in to let you know that Daedalus in en route. We would have informed you when she left, but we were unable to dial in at the time."

Sam nodded to herself. If Atlantis had been unable to dial in when Daedalus set out, that would mean it was around the time that the Wraith first showed up and could well mean the ship would reach them at any time. "Understood, Atlantis," she said, raising her voice over the chatter of her weapon's fire as she turned her aim against a second group of Wraith heading her way. "Have the infirmary standing by. As soon as we can secure the 'Gate we'll begin sending back the wounded. Contact Colonel Caldwell and inform him of two Wraith Hive ships - I repeat, two Wraith Hives, in planetary orbit. One of them took some of our people. He might want to come out of hyperspace a little early and come in cloaked."

"Understood, Colonel." Atlantis confirmed.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she began to register an overloud mosquito-whine coming from somewhere up above. The next moment she was hit by the flying brick wall that was Ronon, and thrown aside. The ground beside the two of them exploded in clumps of earth and rock and scorching fire.

She didn't have time even to nod her thanks at Ronon before he was pushing at her, encouraging her to move again with a shout of, "Darts!"

Scrambling to her feet, she turned her P90 skyward to try and pepper the incoming darts while Ronon provided her cover from the Wraith ground forces. Once again, just when she felt the slightest glimmer of hope stirring within her, matters had taken another downturn.

"Atlantis about that help," she said, "Any chance of sending through just a couple of personnel with ground to air missiles?"

"We'll see what we can do, Colonel. It may take a few minutes."

She bit her lip, seriously wondering if they could actually hold out that long. Perhaps if they could engage the Darts with one or two of the Jumpers they might stand a better chance. "Sheppard, this is Carter."

"I hear you," he answered, and she thought she detected a somewhat hard edge to the lazy tone he used. She frowned.

"Anything wrong?" she asked in spite of the pressing need.

"Just peachy," he said sarcastically, but he didn't elaborate, and she didn't have the time to spend teasing it out of him. "What do you need?"

"We're at the 'Gate," she paused to fire a stream of bullets into the Dart that was beginning a second strafing run. "We need air support to get these Darts out of our hair."

There was a long pause, before Sheppard came back. "Stand by, Colonel. I think I have a better idea."

The last time Rodney could remember feeling this way, he had been lying in the infirmary on Atlantis and though he'd felt just as sick, and light headed there had been none of the associated pain. Dizzy too, he'd been just as dizzy. No matter how hard he tried, either with his eyes closed or open as they were, everything still spun around, and right at the middle of it all was Michael.

"I can't tell you what I don't know," he moaned as Michael swam into focus again.

"I understand that, Doctor," Michael answered, this time, mercifully unaccompanied by the mental intrusion that had become more painful than the worst migraine he had ever suffered. "But I know that you were able to identify 'Gate addresses--"

"--I don't remember any of them--"

"--my communication codes--" Michael harried him.

"--Do you know how many elements even one of the most simple ciphers--" he moaned as he saw and felt Michael move even closer still. "Of course you do."

"And my research?"

"I can't tell you what I don't remember," he all but screamed as Michael's tone bore a great deal of menace once more.

"Then tell me what you do," he growled. "What do you remember?"

-remember- -remember- -remember-

A pain that was at once crushing and like a stabbing heat exploded around and through his mind. His stomach lurched and nausea gripped him. The room began to spin more quickly and he closed his eyes, only to see before him the spinning image of the screen, covered with Michael's data. The pain only increased, forcing him backward through the memory of it, making his burning blood run suddenly cold with the effort of blocking the intrusion and--

"Michael "

An almost gentle voice loosened the vice the half-Wraith was inside his head and McKay opened his eyes again.

"Teyla," Rodney gasped as he identified the blurry figure that stood just behind Michael. "You're alive!"

She knew Michael was aware of her arrival. She could feel the answering touch of his mind, and the flutter of movement within her as the child too sensed their connection. Michael's anger and frustration were as clear to her as well, but even so, she was surprised when he did not break from the interrogation until, standing behind him, she softly called his name.

"Teyla," She focused her attention on Michael even though Rodney gasped her name and continued in a surprised whisper, "You're alive!"

The vehemence with which Michael reacted to the simple statement almost made her take a backwards step, as he all but growled at Rodney. The rumbling hiss in the back of his throat was both a reminder of his heritage and of that which he had become at the hands of the Atlantis expedition. In the same moment that she heard McKay's resulting cry of pain; she felt Michael's crushing grip on the scientist's mind increasing, the echo of Michael's fury at the insinuations in McKay's statement rolling, wavelike, over his synapses.

Teyla's stomach turned full circle inside her. Her breath became shallow and moisture gathered behind her eyes in recognition, not for the first time, of Michael's emotional investment in all that he did.

"Michael," she called to him again, this time reaching for him with a hand that held a slight tremor, " please..."

He turned quickly, releasing McKay who, with hardly a whimper, fell back against the bed, barely conscious. As Michael turned he caught the wrist of her still outstretched hand, his fingers closing over the fabric of her sleeve.

"What's this?" he asked almost softly.

"What is what?" She pulled just slightly against his gently restraining grasp. He did not let go. Instead he ran the back of his free hand slowly along the side of her own, beside her little finger where it trembled still.

The touch was almost imperceptible, but for the whisper of heat that blossomed outward from it. The air caught against her frozen diaphragm and she found herself looking up into the darkness of the concern in his eyes. She dare not breathe, or could not and was uncertain which as his mind touched hers more strongly

A promise of strength and health - concern and a lingering anger at the thought of harm to her with an intensity that was almost sensual.

She felt her heart beating low in her body, everywhere sensitive to each atom of her being.

"I was concerned for what your continued interrogation might do to Doctor McKay," she stammered, even knowing that through their connection, the partial lie was pointless. She could not understand the sudden strength of her emotion and it was unsettling, frightening.

Michael tilted his head to one side and regarded her. Curiosity, and something else she could not quite place, softened the frown that had been etched on his face. She tugged again on his grasp as he continued to hold her wrist, but was unable to free herself even from his light restraint. She was unable to dismiss the feeling that he was playing with her and yet knew, from somewhere deep and hidden inside of herself, that he was not. Was it this she fought, as she tried to free herself?

"I think you understand far better than you allow yourself to believe, Teyla." His soft but serious words, and his use of her name, sent a shiver through her. She drew in a deep and shuddering breath at the thought and forced herself to stillness. He tilted his head from one side to the other. "From the first time we met, even before we came to blows--"

"You remember that?" she could not help the surprise from showing in her voice in the way she looked at him for just a moment seeing not the hybrid he had become, but the Wraith he had once been.

He let out a long, slow breath, his eyes burning into hers and she was unable to look away. She felt her colour rise, and swallowed.

"Over time," he confirmed, "I have come to remember."

"I, it... It changes nothing, Michael," she told him, and even to her own ears the conviction of her words was lacking.

"No?" he answered with an amused questioning tone. His eyes flicked down for a moment before returning to rest in hers. Slowly, almost not daring to see, she looked down, to find that he no longer held her wrist and yet, the fingers of her own hand rested almost quiescent along his arm.

Trying to appear casual, she began to slide her hand away, willing away the trembling she felt beginning again. Michael quickly closed his fingers before hers could graze the palm of his hand.

She blinked at him, feeling the echo of his reticence to touch, to save her from himself, burn along the connection they shared perhaps more deeply in that moment than at any time that they had shared together. Again her stomach and her rapidly beating heart exchanged their places in her small frame. She took in a hurried breath.

"Michael, you cannot--" she began, though the words were unnecessary. She knew; felt that he anticipated her words.

"That is not the only reason, Teyla." he told her almost hesitantly, almost more softly than he had ever spoken to her. "I can still be dangerous to you."

She felt his concern strengthen, a hint of the same pressing fear that she had felt surrounded some part of him, in the deep places of his mind, where he would not normally allow her ingress. Curious, she pushed, expecting in that moment he would shut her out and push her away as he had always done before.

Memory - a long and darkened hallway and a doorway ahead. Guards with covered faces and a chamber an important place...

She looked up at him, her gaze lost in the golden stare he fixed on her. He took a step closer, and slowly began to move around behind her, to move from between where she stood and the bed that held McKay. A part of her knew she should help the doctor, tend to him, but so great a chance to understand a part of Michael she had never seen could not be allowed to pass her by, not when she knew, from Michael's own understanding, that Rodney was not in any immediate danger.

A darkened chamber... the only light a swirling mass of color from above pulsing to a heartbeat a burning a hunger

She turned her head to follow his movement, to keep him with her view. She should have turned when he came around her shoulder and she could no longer see him, but could almost still feel him there behind her... close. In spite of every sense of danger within her, and the painful echo of the same from Michael she pushed still further, pushing against him now that he was aware of just what she was doing.

Weakness within strength... a dizzying need... overwhelming...

Her breathing became shallower and she began to feel light headed. She closed her eyes against the fluid spin of the room before her. The blue light of the walls pressed inwards. She reached out toward the bed to steady herself, but it was too far away. Her head fell back

Denial... pain...

He was there, behind her. His arm came around her, beneath her own outstretched arm and wrapped around her body, pressed against her shoulder to hold her to him as he stepped closer still to balance her weight. She could feel his breath against the side of her head; his heat against her spine...

And a mental barrier... strong. but he was tiring weakening

-Teyla don't! No!- -Teyla don't!- Teyla-

A presence... anger... cold fury.

...Michael... ...Michael...

=I will find you=

"Michael!" she called out to him in panic at the malevolence which flooded into her. It was raw and angry violence incarnate. It gripped every part of her, threatening to crush her and at the same time tear her into atoms. She felt the movement of her child become as frantic as her breath, and unaware entirely of what she was doing she clutched at his supporting arm, at the same time fighting to be free of him, fighting his grasp. "Why!"

"Don't," he told her and moved to cup her face in his other hand, keep her head against his shoulder. "Teyla, stop. Let go."

She felt him take in the deepest of breaths, felt the heat of it as he exhaled, long and slow. The pain she felt began to soften, to recede... the trashing of the child within her slowed, and the vice around her lungs, stopping her own breath loosened. She took in a deep breath and as the panic lessened she stopped struggling.

"Why is she doing this?" the words came out as little more than a breathless whisper as the warmth of Michael's hand came away from her cheek. Seeking a moment's solace she did not lift her head from his shoulder, but turned it against his chest and found some small measure of comfort in his rapid, but slowing heartbeat.

"She is dangerous," his voice rumbled in his chest. "She will stop at nothing, Teyla. Don't try to find her and connect with her."

Taking another breath she started to turn in his supportive embrace, to look up at him.

"But Michael, why? What does she want with you?" she asked.

The edges of a wry smile twitched at his lips, and the smallest of breathy, humourless laughs escaped him. But he tilted his head to look at her, and in his eyes she thought she saw the echo of pain, regret. When he raised his hand toward her cheek she froze, uncertain, very unsettled by what had just happened. She barely felt the softest of touches as he brushed back her hair from her cheek with the back of his hand.

"What do any of them want?" he said, blinking. "She knows of the threat I pose to her, and all of the Wraith." He blinked again, and let his hand fall away, as if suddenly becoming aware. His voice became clipped once more, and his gaze dropped momentarily to take in the curve of her belly. "She seeks to undo my work."

Suddenly, Teyla felt her fear replaced by rising anger. The soft expression she had fixed on him hardened and she stepped backwards, away from him until she collided with the bed on which the doctor lay, slowly becoming more conscious again.

"And so because of what you have done to me, my child and I will be hunted by the Wraith." she found herself tearful in her anger and had to try hard to block out the hurt that entered his eyes at her tone and her actions. She would have said more, but then Rodney moaned, and she went to the doctor's side. Michael did not try to stop her, but followed her, staying close as though to remain as a protection.

"You should consider perhaps that he is telling you the truth. That he knows and remembers nothing," she snapped.

"You know I have seen that he does," he countered.

She felt him turn to watch her as she crossed the room to fill a bowl with cool water, and bring it, with a cloth, back to Rodney's side. She was certain that he could tell, and felt his possessiveness rise around her again, that her hand shook dreadfully as she wet the cloth and gently mopped the doctor's brow, and cheeks. She had been shaken by so many things in the last few minutes, felt many emotions mixed up inside her, that she fought to concentrate on even so simple a task.

"Teyla," Rodney moaned.

"It is all right, Doctor McKay," she said to him softly, her voice cracked slightly as she spoke and, wetting the cloth again, she repeated the mopping of his brow, focussing on the mundane to try and steady herself, before settling the cold wet cloth against his head. "I am here."

After a moment she turned again to face Michael, and then glanced beyond him to the immobile figure on the other bed. This one was shrouded in a kind of cloth-like film, and around the bed, equipment hummed and Wraith text scrolled across a screen. She asked, "What of Major Lorne?"

"I have done everything possible," he told her. "There is nothing more I can do for him."

She drew her gaze back to Michael, who tilted his head again to regard her, to show her the truth and sincerity of what he had told her. She found that she did not at all doubt him. "And what will you do with Doctor McKay? I cannot believe that you went to the trouble of tending his injuries only to kill him."

"He will not be harmed. You have my word," he told her softly, and then a little more forcefully added, "So long as he tells me what I want to know."

"All right," Sheppard almost crooned, carefully maneuvering the Jumper through the many Darts that were flying, like sentries, around the Hive ships. "Let's see what we can find."

"Colonel," Zelenka said nervously, "I really think it is not a good idea to get so close to these things. Even cloaked there is no guarantee that they will not detect our scanning them and find us out."

"I know, I know," he said, far more light heartedly than he felt, "But the closer we get the more likely it is that we'll be able to find out which of these ships has Rodney and the Major and the success of my plan depends on knowing which of these ships to target once the Daedalus gets within range."

"So you said the last time, Colonel Sheppard," Zelenka nodded, "Just--"

"You're nervous I get it." Sheppard glanced over at him. "Relax. I've done this a hundred times. Scanning for transceivers..." he frowned. "Oh crap!"

"Oh my God, what is it!" Zelenka almost jumped out of his seat, and began looking out of every side of the forward screen.

"It's what I was afraid of," Sheppard said, and even though it was serious, he had to try to contain the chuckle at Zelenka's panic. "There's no sign of them on either of the ships. That can only mean--"

"That Michael has them," Radek finished his sentence, and added, "I'll thank you not to do that again. Do you think it's funny, to scare me like that, hmm?"

"Radek, I'm sorry," he said, and truly meant it. He slowly banked the Jumper and threaded his way out of the furthest reaches of the Darts' web around the Hives, before heading toward the rendezvous coordinates, where the Daedalus would exit hyperspace. "It does complicate matters though."

"Why?" the scientist wanted to know, "I do not see how it is any different than before."

"Because what I have planned, Michael will already have thought of," he answered with a solemn sigh.

This time she was waiting for him as he entered her chamber. She was agitated pacing.

=He is near I can feel him=

~Neither my scans, nor those of your own Hive detect anything~

She came at him then, her blade tipped fingers raised and quivering in barely held tension before his face. He took a breath and held his ground, aware that if she had stopped on her own then still she valued the contribution he could bring to their alliance.

"Do you dare to contradict me?" she hissed, "You have too much consorted with the humans."

"I will ensure that we scan the area again," he gave her a little bow, only then did she lower her hand. She walked around him again. He felt her looking him up and down, and when she was once more standing in front of him, became almost mesmerised by the way she swayed her head from one side to the other as she regarded him.

Finally she straightened and let out a hissing breath, her mind pushing at his again searching. He opened his mind to her, rather than endure the pressure of it, except for one small place in his memory even as he assured her that he would tell her anything. She sought to know the progress on his research.

~It would be easier, if I were to have a subject on which to experiment~

She growled long and deep in the back of her throat pulling back her mind from his, but even so he caught a glimpse of her thoughts and even though it took a great deal to unsettle him after all he had been through, he trembled at them.

Alicia Vega looked up at the sound of footsteps, expecting another of the hybrid soldiers bringing her the things she had asked for. She started to rise, and cross to the bars to receive them, but stopped when she saw that she was mistaken.

"I trust that my soldiers have treated you with courtesy," Michael said firmly in a clipped voice. The voice was deep, with but barely a hint of the two toned echo she had heard of Wraith voices. She had seen the archive tapes Atlantis kept on this particular Wraith, or Wraith-Human hybrid, she reminded herself. She was more than a little taken aback at how changed he was. How unlike the images she had seen from the security footage of his last visit to the city of the Ancients. It was a difference that disturbed her in how similar and yet utterly alien he looked to her.

When he tilted his head in query she realised he was still waiting for an answer, and stammered, "They've been most cordial, yes."

"I'm told you've asked for clothing, and for bathing facilities to be brought to you," he said. So they did report everything to him.

"Yes, in accordance with articles twenty seven and twenty nine of the Geneva Con--"

"I am fully aware of your Articles of War, Alicia Vega, Captain, 502011972," he said in an equally clipped voice, though she thought, somewhat with irritation. He waved his hand in front of a panel in the cell door, and the web spiralled outward to form a doorway, to allow him to stand before her with nothing between them. Instinct made her take a step back as he stepped inside. "But what makes you believe they carry any weight in the Pegasus Galaxy?"

"You provided me with food. Article Twenty si--"

"Did I?" he tilted his head again and took a step forward. She backed up another step. She was trying to be strong, but each time he spoke, he chipped away at her confidence piece by piece. She felt entirely foolish when, in the next moment, two of his soldiers entered the cell behind him.

One of them carried a large bowl, and a jug which was steaming slightly in the chill air of the ship. The other held folded linen, a blanket and a set of civilian clothing. They put them down on one of the benches at the side of the cell and left without a word.

Michael did not move. "The things that you asked for," he said.

Vega stood staring at him. She took a breath and, with as much bluster as she could, snapped, "What, you're going to stand there and watch?"

He took another step forward and ignoring her completely he said. "You have something that belongs to me."

"No, I..." she took another step back. "I don't think so."

"I will ask you one more time," his jaw tightened and he took another step toward her.

"I don't know what you're talking about?"

He moved more quickly than she expected, closing the rest of the distance between them. She backed up until she was pressed against the bulkhead wall, and still he came on.

"Don't play games with me, Captain!" he growled. She tried to dodge sideways as he reached for her, but his hand slammed against the bulkhead, cutting off her escape. "The memory storage unit from my computer, where is it?"

"Doc... Doctor McKay... he--" she stuttered, turning her face away from his still outstretched arm that was braced against the wall beside her.

"I have already spoken with Doctor McKay," he leaned closer and spoke in a low and vicious tone, "and he has more than adequately convinced me that just before my Dart took you aboard; before the Wraith fired on what was left of the rubble, you were the one that grabbed him and took it from his hand."

"I..." she started, but before she could voice another word of the lie she was about to tell, she felt his hand close in her hair and a moment later he pulled her head back, painfully, until she looked up into his eyes. Terrified she started to reach for his hand with her own that was not pinned to her side by his nearness. She struggled to free herself, but he slapped her hand away, and then caught her wrist to pin her to the bulkhead.

"Wrong choice, Captain," he told her, towering over her, appearing massive, deadly. "Let's not make this any more unpleasant that it needs to be."

Her imagination began to weave images of hideous experiments, vivid and lurid impressions of pain and suffering; of what would be once he was done with her; finished with and left to live with what was, instead of made to die. Her knees weakened and she pressed backwards, ignoring the pain as the movement pulled at her roots, as far away from him as she could get.

"Shirt," she barely managed to force the words from her lips. "In my shirt."

Still holding her by the hair he released her other arm, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on her face. She had the fleeting thought, as she unfastened the buttons at the top of the garment and slipped her hand inside, that he was at least allowing her some small shred of dignity. The thought offered her little comfort.

As quickly as her near paralyzed muscles would allow she reached inside her shirt and plucked the memory module from her undergarment. She held it out toward him.

Slowly he unwound his fingers from her hair as he took the component from her trembling hand. Then without another word to her, he turned and started to the door.

"Wait," she called after him, "What what are you going to do to me?"

He paused in the doorway and looked back at her over his shoulder. The cold amusement in his eyes withered what was left of her spirit.

"It is already done," he told her.

"Colonel Caldwell," Sheppard sighed as he stepped onto the battle bridge of the Daedalus. He'd wanted to be involved in the execution of his plan, but while he was more than capable of flying a Puddle Jumper in his current state, flying an F302 in a combat situation was an entirely different matter. He would need both hands and a sharp mind to pull off the maneuvers necessary, and frankly there was a full platoon of marines inside his head beating a military tattoo.

"Colonel Sheppard, you're taking one hell of a risk with our people's lives," Caldwell said.

"Yes sir, but I don't see any other way. Our people on the ground are overrun by Wraith ground troops. Darts are beaming in new forces the minute we start to clear them and we can't get to the 'Gate to get the wounded out." Sheppard spoke quickly as Daedalus came closer to the Hives, under cloak, and running silent.

"Even so..." Caldwell tried to interrupt.

Sheppard shook his head, "Due respect, Sir," he said, "the only way to draw those Darts away from our people is to attack the Hives and even with support from the Daedalus and all the 302s she carries, we don't have that kind of firepower."

"And you think the best way of supplementing our firepower is by setting Michael and the Wraith at each other's throats."

"Yes, Sir,"

"Even knowing that's exactly what Michael will expect."

"Yes, Sir"

Caldwell sighed and shook his head. "I sure as hell hope you know what you're doing."

John Sheppard turned and looked out through the main view screen at the sight of the two Wraith Hives and their supporting armada. "So do I," he said under his breath. "So do I."

#stargate atlantis #sga #angst #kidnapping #canon typical violence #drama #hybrids #pregnancy #slow burn #michael #teyla #harm's way

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daily-doctor-who-picture · 3 years

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Romana II.

#Romana II #Tag classic #Tag fourth doctor era #Tag colour #Tag companion(s) without doctor #Tag season 17 #Destiny of the Daleks

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condescensionsation · 2 years

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Fallout 1 & 2: Entry Guide

As I personally love the first two Fallout games in particular, and because it might help someone else interested in playing them, I decided to make this post as a mini-guide to not slamming your skull into a wall when playing either of the first two Fallout games.

As CRPGs (Classic RPGs), Fallout 1&2 (which I will refer to as F1 and F2 from now on) can be brutally difficult if you’re careless, and by careless I mean “Picked all non-combat skills as tag skills and were surprised when the radscorpion was unamused by my maximized Doctor skill.”

The first step on your journey to playing the games is actually getting them. I do not care if you plan to acquire them through “alternative” methods, but both games are also available on Steam (Fallout 1, Fallout 2) and GOG (Fallout 1, Fallout 2) and are frequently discounted. They are well worth their very cheap prices. As this is a long post, please click through the readmore if you’re interested in, uh, reading more.

I am basing the following information off the GOG install. I’m reasonably sure it will work the same for a Steam copy. Alternatively acquired copies should be patched up to the latest official patch (Fallout 1 patch 1.1, Fallout 2 patch 1.02).

After installing either game (or both), see below for instructions are installing fan patches. You will WANT/NEED these fan patches. These games are notoriously buggy and contain a plethora of broken quests, scripts, save corrupting “features,” etc.

Fallout 1 installation/modding

The main Fallout 1 unofficial patch to grab is Fallout Fixt (Link here). Fallout Fixt combines multiple fan mods and patches into one large mod. You will want it alone for the fixes it includes. On top of that, it restores some cut content and contains multiple quality of life improvements.

If you’re absolutely set on experiencing vanilla Fallout, the link above has a “fixes only” version which will only correct errors and bugs. Otherwise, please download the “full custom” version on the above page. There will be an installer that comes with the download that should walk you through how to install it. The process is not complicated, so long as you understand what a file directory is.

IMPORTANT: Fallout 1 (somewhat infamously) contains a TIMED OBJECTIVE that will end your game if you fail to complete it in time. I assure you it is very easy to finish the objective with time to spare. Even on my first run almost completely blind, I was able to finish the game without coming close to running out of time. That said, I understand not everyone likes having timers, especially in large RPGs. The above FULL CUSTOM version of Fallout Fixt contains an option to remove this timer. If, for some reason, you are not running the latest official patch, there will also be a second timed objective after the first. Again, the timer on this is generous, but again, you can either download the official patch or apply a fix in Fallout Fixt. For more ‘hardcore’ players, Fallout Fixt also includes options to make these timers more strict.

Be aware that the “restored” content in Fixt usually isn’t very good, most likely because said content was cut for being bad rather than not having time (Fallout 2 reversed this, with content cut due to time instead of quality) to be created.

You should not need any further patches beyond Fallout Fixt, it covers basically everything. Do NOT try to install other mods on top of it unless you like the game crashing a lot. Be aware that Fixt is very old, and has not been updated in a while.

If you are feeling adventurous, Fallout Et Tu (link here) recreates Fallout 1 in 2′s engine, and is actively being worked on. After having played through most of this mod, I can say that it is as good as playing the original game with Fixt and probably a little bit better on top of it. This is because the engine is more stable, the UI is a little cleaner, and all the companion fixes present in F2 are automatically part of F1. This is vital, because only in Fallout 2 are you able to make your companions wear armor and tell them to stop burst firing directly into your spine. Playing Fallout 1 with this mod will require also owning Fallout 2, but it’s worth it.

Fallout 2 installation/modding

Fallout 2 is even more buggy than Fallout 1 in my opinion. Even with the latest official patch, for example, it isn’t uncommon to hit a save corrupting bug about 2/3rds of the way into the game. Therefore, I would not suggest trying to play the game without The Restoration Project (link here).

“AAAH! GITHUB!” you might scream, and that’s fair, but just scroll down a little bit past all the files. The link has installation instructions that are simple to follow.

The Restoration Project, as its name indicates, restores a huge amount of content to Fallout 2 that was cut during development due to a lack of time. It also includes the latest unofficial patch and multiple other mods as well.

If you are interested in a “pure” experience without restored content, the unofficial fan patch (updated) can be found here.

Otherwise, I would highly recommend the restoration project. The content restored, unlike in Fallout 1, is of at least respectable quality. I feel I should point out that it restores a cut companion questline which the game leaves hanging entirely otherwise. I actually can’t play normal Fallout 2 anymore because of this, it drives me nuts.

On top of the Restoration Project, I would recommend installing (as the restoration project also recommends) FO2tweaks (link here), which includes further fixes and tweaks to improve Fallout 2. I would highly suggest making sure the highlight fix and companion levelling fix mentioned in the mod (fo2tweaks.ini) are turned on as these fixes really improve being able to find containers/people/items in the world and making companion levels less sporadic (this will be detailed later).

Fallout Character Creation

In my experience, when I have to learn an entirely new ‘system’ to design a character in, I start suffering paralysis of choice because I have no idea what will make a ‘good’ character. I don’t want to get stuck with a bad character that I can’t respec, after all.

On that note, NEITHER FALLOUT GAME ALLOWS FOR RESPEC.

So, no pressure, but if you design a bad character at the start, your only recourse is to restart.

That said, there probably actually is pressure you’re feeling. Fortunately, I am here to help you avoid common build pitfalls. Please note the following screens are from Fallout 2, but as both games use the same system, there’s no real difference between character creation in either game.

When you first press new game, you will be given three pre-generated characters to pick from. It’ll look something like this:

As you can see, Narg is built to be a guy who fights real good. You can note his backstory (no actual effect in either game) on the right and his stat breakout on the left. This screen looks much different in Fallout 1, but the basic gist is the same.

You will have access to 3 different pre-generated characters. Each one represents an ‘archetype,’ or play style. Narg is combat oriented, the second (Mingan) is thievery/stealth focused, and the last (Chitsa) is speech oriented. As I recall, Fallout 1 follows a similar trend with its pre-generated characters.

All three builds are “viable,” but I would really recommend building your own character. It’ll help you learn the system which will make future playthroughs (and your current one, as you gain levels) easier to understand.

Click “create character” or “modify” to move on to the character screen. Modify will let you adjust the stat sheet of the currently selected pre-generated character as you see fit, but I’ll be assuming we’re starting with a fresh, blank character.

Understandably, these screen can be very intimidating if you don’t know what you’re looking at. I still think it’s one of the best RPG creation screens since EVERYTHING will be explained to you so long as you click on whatever you’re interested in, and you can see how changing one stat affects your other stats in real time.

That said, I have one major critique:

Please change your name before you forget and start your game as “None.” This headache has plagued many a Fallout player since the box has no label and is way out of the way. To change it, just click the box and type in whatever name you want.

Age does not matter, it is purely for aesthetics.

Your sex DOES matter, moreso in Fallout 2 than 1. A male will have certain different dialogue options compared to what a female will have in certain situations. However, you won’t miss anything important by selecting either option, so don’t feel pressured about picking one over the other.

These arrows allow you to customize how your character looks. Be aware there’s not a lot of options in the vanilla game (either one). You’ll want the Restoration Project for Fallout 2 if you want more than 1 or 2 options for either sex.

Since each item on this page will have a very thorough description given in the bottom right, I’m not going to go line by line and explain everything. However, I will point out a few “hot gamer tips” for people brand new to these games.

Derived Stats

Poison resistance and radiation resistance are meaningless. Ignore them. radiation is only a threat in one area in Fallout 1 and barely exists in fallout 2 (As a side note, speaking of the area in Fallout 1, listen to the warnings people give you and save in a separate slot before going there. You have been warned). Poison resistance is slightly more relevant, in that some early game and some late game enemies will use it. However, the damage from poison is so pitiful that it’s not ever going to be what kills you unless you try to wander the world map at like 5 HP while poisoned. Just take an antidote or hit yourself with a stimpack and you can naturally heal poison off.

Armor Class (AC) represents how hard it is to actually hit you. The higher it is, the harder you are to hit. This is distinct from Damage Resistance (seen a few lines below) because AC will never subtract damage. While you should want a decent AC, damage resistance is infinitely superior and therefore you shouldn’t concern yourself too much with AC. Damage resistance, as per the name, lets you resist damage when you are hit. It is usually increased by wearing armor, with different sets of armor providing better damage resistance against different kinds of damage (Metal is better at deflecting bullets, for instance, but leather handles heat better).

This is a set of armor from in-game. Armor Class indicates what your AC is raised to after putting it on, not what the armor itself grants. “Normal” damage is everything not covered by the other types. Lasers are energy weapons, fire comes from fire breathing geckos and flamethrowers, plasma comes from HIGHLY DANGEROUS energy weapons, and explode comes from grenades and rockets.

I could go into a huge rant explaining what each number means, but all that really matters is that higher = less pain for your character. In F1 and F2, if you’re wearing heavy enough armor, it is possible to outright ignore the damage from some attacks! So get suited up, and don’t worry too much about how your stats affect your AC.

Action Points

Action Points are critical to the combat of Fallout 1 and 2. The amount of Action Points you have is based off your Agility (AG) score. Everything you do in combat costs at least one action point. Firing a gun, reloading a gun, throwing a knife, stabbing, moving, opening your inventory, EVERYTHING! Therefore, Action Points are your lifeblood in combat and are the difference between getting to punch someone once per turn versus punching them twice.

It is very common for people familiar with the first two fallout games to play with 10 Agility as a result. This gives you 10 Action Points, which is enough to shoot any starting gun twice in a turn or perform two aimed shots with unarmed strikes and melee attacks. Under no circumstances should you “dump” (decrease by a large amount) Agility due to this.

Seven action points (AP from hereon) are ‘enough’ to get you through the game. You don’t absolutely need 10, but if you want to have an easier time in combat (especially at the beginning), 10 AG is a great way to start.

Attributes / SPECIAL

Here’s a quick overview of each stat. Every stat in the game is checked outside of combat at some point, so keep in mind they’re not just used for combat.

Strength (You can even read the description on the right there): Not very important unless you want to make a melee character. You can safely leave this at 5 for most characters and make up any shortfalls in the lategame. Please note: guns in F1 and F2 have a minimum strength score. If you’re not strong enough to hold a gun, your aim is going to be awful to the point you will miss the broad side of a barn. Do not decrease strength below 4 for this reason. 5 should be plenty for most gun users. If, for whatever reason, you want to pick up Big Guns at some point, add one or two extra points (to strength 6 or 7) so you don’t fall over trying to aim your minigun. It is also used out of combat for when you try to force open doors or containers, or if your character might need to physically carry someone (this doesn’t come up more than once or twice, so don’t get too excited).

Perception: The higher it is, the easier it is for your character to shoot someone in the eye. No, really. It determines the penalties you receive from distance when shooting. It also helps determine Sequence, which determines when you act in combat. You ideally want at least 6 Perception. This is because numerous out-of-combat checks require at least 6 perception to succeed. You can dump it if you don’t care about acting quickly, being able to find clues in the wasteland, or using anything ranged.

Endurance: Most directly affects health, alongside strength. It’s occasionally checked in dialogues when trying to physically overpower someone. 5 is more than enough, people trying to fight in melee will want more so they aren’t swiss cheesed, and you can afford to toss one or two points if you’re feeling lucky.

Charisma: Determines how butt ugly you are, very important. Notably, having better charisma tends to improve prices for you at stores and helps you out when it comes to convincing people through speech. Very important: In fallout 2, the number of companions you can bring with you is determined by your Charisma. Take your score and divide it by 2 to determine how many people will willingly follow you into death. For example, a character of 6 Charisma can have up to 3 party members at once, while someone with only 4 Charisma can only have 2 party members. No matter what, you can only have up to 6 party members at a time. You can dump this if you’re not interested in party members, you can usually cover for it by investing in the Speech skill.

In Fallout 1, I’m not sure if that rule still applies. There’s not as many companions in F1 as there are in 2, so it’s not really worth worrying about.

Intelligence: Determines how many skill points you get per level, at higher amounts it will help your character’s deductive reasoning and intuition outside of combat. I recommend 6 to 7 intelligence, as that should be enough to meet most checks. Anything more is nice, but not super helpful. Important: Having less than 4 intelligence reduces your character’s mental capacity to the point they have difficulty communicating with other people. This drastically changes what you can do in the game, and is not recommended for first time players. It is definitely worth checking out on a replay, however.

Agility: Mostly already covered by my explanation of AP. It also gives you a higher AC and is used to determine how quick your character’s reflexes are. I would never reduce this below 5.

Luck: Affects your crit rate and also how much critical damage you do. It also helps you gamble more effectively! Very important: Having a low luck means you will critically fail more often, which can have disastrous results in combat (Guns breaking, losing your turn, knocking yourself over, losing all your ammo). You want to avoid that, so do not reduce Luck below 5. An average Luck will see you rarely critically fail. If you want to do a critical hit build, 6 or 7 luck is probably more than enough so long as you combine it with Aimed Shots (explained further below).

Note that you start character creation with 5 points to spend. These are spent on a 1:1 basis for each stat (so increasing Agility 5 to Agility 10 costs 5 points) and are refunded on an equal basis (So dropping your Endurance to 3 gives you 2 more points to spend).

Traits

Optional traits, as noted in their title, are optional. You can freely ignore them all and your build will be just fine for it.

Each of these is explained in the character creation screen just fine, so I only have a few comments.

Bloody Mess: This will slightly change the ending of Fallout 1 if you take it. Otherwise, there’s nothing else to note about it.

Skilled: DO NOT TAKE SKILLED, IT IS A VERY BAD TRAIT, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. You only get a perk every 3 levels in F1&2, so you absolutely do not want to delay them any further than you have to. Perks are VERY strong and can really make or break builds, getting extra skill points in exchange for them are a terrible trade.

Jinxed: Funny trait to take if you plan to do a 10 Luck unarmed build. You might want to wait until a second playthrough to use it so you have some experience with critical failures under your belt.

Gifted: Powergamer’s favorite. The drawbacks of it are minimal as skill points are easy to come by and most skills you won’t use anyway. Don’t feel bad about taking it in your first run, it gives every build some more wiggle room when it comes to stats.

Fast Shot: It’s not a bad trait, but you’re missing out if you take it since it won’t let you make use of aimed shots. I’d suggest avoiding it on your first run so you can try out the aimed shots system.

Small Frame: Carry weight isn’t that big a deal if you have companions. This is safe to take so long as you realize it’s going to make wearing heavier armor a bigger limit on your inventory space, and the extra AG point is great.

Skills

The percentages you see next to each skill represent the “bonus” you have when the game internally rolls dice to see if you succeed. Therefore, a higher percentage is better! Easy!

You get three tag skills when you start out. Tagged skills increase twice as fast as normal skills (adding 1 point to a tagged skill gives you a 2% increase, while 1 point to a non-tagged skill only increases it by 1%). Tagged skills are also easier to increase once you hit a 100%+ bonus.

Yes, that’s correct, your skills can go beyond 100% bonus. This is because the game likes to throw penalties at your checks all the time, so having even more than 100% as a bonus is great insurance. However, skills begin costing more and more skill points to increase as you go further from 100%. Tagged skills are cheaper to increase at this point compared to normal skills (at 100%+, a tagged skill will need 1 point to increase by 1%, while a non-tagged skill will need 2 points to increase by 1%, and so on).

There’s usually not a lot of reason to increase skills beyond 100% in most cases. The exception would be if you’re trying to do something incredibly hard (hacking a difficult computer, picking a fiendishly hard lock, etc.) and combat skills. Non-combat skill checks requiring 100+% to succeed are rare, off the top of my head I think only Science, Speech, Steal, Repair, and Lockpick really benefit from being over 100%. Steal is specifically helpful to have over 100% because it makes pickpocketing easier. The others just have very specific checks in F2 that need them.

Combat skills, however, should definitely be increased over 100%. I find it helpful to pick one MAIN combat skill and push it to about 150% or so, which tends to mean almost guaranteed aimed shots most of the time. There’s very little benefit to picking a second combat skill, so pick a lane and stick to it.

That said, you should avoid the following combat skills:

Big Guns, Throwing, and Energy Weapons.

There are not a lot of big guns available in either wasteland, and they chew through too much ammo to be worth it. Throwing weapons destroy themselves after use or become a pain in the ass to find, and aren’t very damaging on top of that. On a second playthrough, once you know where to find big guns and ammo for them, you might be able to make use of the skill as a secondary combat skill.

Energy Weapons are actually very powerful, however (understandably) they are rare as water in a desert. You will not find any of them quickly unless you’ve played the game through at least once. Energy Weapons is probably the most “ideal” secondary combat skill to get in the lategame of either F1 or F2, if you feel like it.

In F1, I would also avoid using any of the melee skills as I have anecdotally heard that melee is much weaker in that game since there’s a lack of good melee weapons. This is remedied in F2, where you can go berserk to your heart’s content and knock people across the room with a super sledgehammer.

Skills you can “safely” ignore in both games:

First Aid - Restore HP to yourself or others. Just use stimpacks or rest.

Doctor - See First Aid. If someone breaks a leg, reload a save or go find a doctor to fix it for you. This has one or two uses outside of combat total.

Outdoorsman - Press the load button if you get hit by a bad encounter.

Gambling - There’s plenty of ways to make money without gambling.

Any combat skill you didn’t take at the start

Traps (especially useless) - this has precisely ONE use in Fallout 2 in one very specific scenario, there are almost no traps otherwise outside of 2 locations

Barter - You’ll be awash in caps/cash so long as you remember to sell all the junk you don’t need at stores. You might get price gouged a little when bartering, but you’ll manage.

Important skills you should consider investing in:

Speech (highly useful) - Speech is rolled invisibly by the game almost constantly. It determines what options you get in quests and whether trying to intimidate or convince others works. Note that I said invisibly. Unlike New Vegas, you have no way to know you missed an option because you didn’t invest. A silver tongue can spare you a number of headaches.

Science - Useful when you have to hack into still functioning pre-war tech, but you don’t need to maximize it most of the time. Really useful in F2 in one location in particular.

Repair - Highly useful in one of the endgame locations of F1 and in one location in F2. A companion in F2 can cover this skill for you, incidentally, so don’t feel pressured to take it. The companion in question is acquired fairly early on if you’re willing to spend the cash ($1,000) for it.

Lockpick - Do you know how much junk is kept locked in cabinets and behind doors? A disturbingly high amount. A good lockpicker can get that much more loot. This is highly useful across all of F2 and probably most of F1.

Steal - Similar to lockpick, people have a lot of good stuff on them. You can’t steal items people are wearing, but you can get access to lots of goodies otherwise.

This concludes character creation. If you want to make a sniper build, pick up small guns and ensure your perception is good. If you want to clobber people, beef up your endurance and strength and tag either melee or unarmed. Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be.

Aimed Shots

I keep using that phrase, so you’re probably curious about it. Aimed Shots (replaced by VATS in Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4, and 76) is the ‘tactical’ aiming system of F1 and F2 that let you hit specific parts of a target.

You can performed an aimed shot by right clicking on your equipped weapon.

See my equipped fist here? Right click on this box.

Note the little aiming reticule that appeared in the bottom right, as well as the increase in AP cost. Aimed Shots require more AP to pull off than standard shots, and also are harder to land in general.

When starting out you should stick to normal attacks that do not make use of the Aimed Shots system. You won’t have enough points spent in your main combat skill to hit and you’ll probably just miss a bunch, getting yourself killed.

Once you have a healthy amount of skill points spent in your combat skill, (80%+, trust me it happens faster than you think thanks to the tag system) you can consider using aimed shots.

When you target someone with an aimed shot, the following screen will appear:

The enemy targeted will get a cool holographic projection which will then list out all the places you can target. These are unique to the type of enemy, so, say, targeting a scorpion will get you a scorpion projection, targeting a human gets the above projection, and targeting a spore plant will get you a projection of a spore plant!

Note the various places you can target and the number listed next to each one. This number indicates hit chance, which is based on a ton of factors (lighting, skill in the weapon, proximity, etc.) and maximizes at 95% chance. My character here has 150%+ in the relevant skill, is standing directly next to the target, and is in broad daylight. So, he can hit pretty much wherever.

Each body part has different effects depending on your luck and damage. Each type of creature in the game has its own “effect table” that determines exactly how crits get multiplied when you hit a specific part of the body.

Yes, I said multiplied. If you critically hit someone somewhere extremely vital, it will get multiplied as a result and do “absolutely bananas” damage (see below).

Additionally, depending on where you target, your chances of a critical hit also get increased. Basically, you want to do aimed shots to maximize your damage and totally obliterate people. Additionally, the following location dependent effects can occur (other types of creatures can have different effects, but usually you can roughly guess what might happen depending where you target them):

Eyes: Instant death (requires perk - Better Criticals), highest critical hit multiplier, can potentially permanently blind someone. Blindness means they almost never hit and are pretty much useless for the rest of the fight. Ignores armor often.

Head: Less of a multiplier than the eyes, but easier to hit. Can potentially knock someone out, ignores armor often.

Groin: Lowest critical hit chance increase/multiplier compared to head/eyes, but has a good chance of knocking someone down for a while. Sometimes ignores armor. Plus you can laugh at the idea of constantly nutshotting people to victory.

Arms: Tied with legs for lowest critical hit chance/multiplier increase. Crippling the arms can make an enemy stop using two handed weapons, or even one handed weapons if you manage to break both of them.

Legs: Tied with arms for lowest critical hit chance/multiplier increase. Kneecapping someone can knock them down pretty effectively. If you break someone’s legs with aimed shots, their movement speed will be heavily reduced (cost more AP to move) which lets you outrange them more effectively if they’re melee fighters.

Torso: What are you doing? You target the torso already without aimed shots. Don’t pick this.

As you can see, aimed shots open up some good options once you’re skilled enough to reliably land them. It is indeed possible to completely obliterate someone by shooting them in the eye with a BB gun. That is why I recommend skipping the Fast Shot trait.

The User Interface

So you’ve started the game, and now you want to know how to actually play the damn thing.

Let’s take this step by step. Here’s a screenshot from my current run in Fallout 2 using the Restoration Project on top of the FO2tweaks mod. It’s not too different from the standard screen aside from being fitted for 1920x1080 resolution and the AP bar being longer than normal.

This box is where various “events” will pop up. This is particularly important for combat, where it will announce damage taken/received, who shot who, and who just got killed. It will also describe important actions taken out of combat by NPCs, anything you look at using the “look” command (described later), XP gain, karma gain/loss, and so on.

This unlabeled button switches what weapon you’re using. Characters can equip two different weapons at once, by default having unarmed attacks (as indicated by Haymaker over there).

This opens your inventory. I’ll show this below:

This is the left half of the inventory screen (I have not included the other half because it is incredibly self explanatory). The context menu you see pulled up here is created by holding left click down on an inventory item. The binoculars will give you a description of the item and its relevant stats, the hand that’s sort of reaching out will make you “use” the item, and the hand that appears to either be dissing someone or throwing something away will drop the item on the ground. The last symbol will just cancel out of the context menu. To scroll through the options, move your mouse up and down.

I’ll add that you can unload any guns you can pick up with this menu as well. You’ll get a picture of a gun magazine being ejected when you pull up the menu for a loaded firearm. You should do this for any guns enemies drop so you can recycle their ammo for your own use while selling their guns.

Opens the pause menu. Press Escape for the same thing.

Current HP and AC. If you hit 0 HP, you’re dead. AC was discussed earlier.

These green blips are your Action Points. They will light up once combat starts, which I’ll show shortly. Without mods, you will only have 10 blips visible, but it is possible even in unmodded games to have more than 10 AP available at a time. As you use up AP, the blips will dim again.

These buttons open the map, your character screen, and pip-boy respectively. The character screen looks exactly like it did during character creation, and you’ll need to view it whenever you level up. Here’s the Pip-Boy screen:

Status will list all the major locations you’ve visited and lets you examine what objectives you still have available at each of them. This is also where you can review any holodisks that you’ve uploaded to your pip-boy. To upload a holodisk to your pip-boy, left click on the disk in your inventory and scroll to the icon that looks like a hand reaching out. This is shown above when I mentioned the inventory screen.

Automaps contain all the maps your Pip-Boy has created while you’ve traveled. I have literally never used this screen.

Archives contain all cutscenes that you’ve witnessed so far in your playthrough in case you want to watch them again.

The little bell way up at the top is the wait function, which is used for resting or moving to a specific time of day. Some quests will have people ask you to meet them in the morning, or the next day, and so on. Using the wait feature speeds this time up. Resting lets you heal naturally, which is slow, but completely free.

Lastly, pressing the circled button will bring up your skilldex. This lets you pick one of the above skills to use in the world while showing your current bonus. For instance, if I wanted to pickpocket someone, I could press “steal” and then click on one of the people milling about in the screenshot up there.

Notably, each of these is also bound to a number key. Sneak is bound to 1, and repair is bound to 8, with the other skills taking up the numbers leading up to 8 respectively.

You can pull up a context menu on almost anything in the world using the same method as described under inventory. You must right click to switch to the pointed cursor, if you have a red hexagon then clicking will only move your character to that spot.

The picture of the mouth lets you speak to someone, the arrow pointing to the hand ‘pushes’ someone (only available for companions and some NPCs, used to get them out of the way if they stop in a doorway), the binoculars give you a description, the satchel bag lets you pick an inventory item to “use” on them, and the Vaultboy lets you pick a skill from your skilldex to use on them.

Combat User Interface

To start combat, either press “A” or left click the weapon box on your screen (that is, the box showing your currently held weapon). Enemies can also forcibly start combat when they see you.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of the user interface, here’s what the game looks like when you’re trying to put people six feet under.

Note the person who has no highlighting. That is you. You are not highlighted in combat, which makes you stand out when everyone else is.

Please note that I have set “highlighting” to ON in the settings page on the escape menu (also available from the main menu) to achieve highlighting on everyone. Otherwise highlighting only appears on people obscured by objects.

The people outlined in green are friendly to you, in this case they are my companions that I’ve recruited while travelling. Creatures outlined in red are not allied. This is important to remember, because occasionally you can be in a battle between two different groups indifferent to you but hostile to each other, or one group that is indifferent to you while the other group is hostile to both you and the indifferent group.

Fortunately this sort of confusing scenario only really pops up in random encounters.

In general, creatures outlined in red are the guys you want to fight. Note that my cursor has changed to an aiming reticule.

If I right click, my cursor will turn back into a hexagon. Note the number now occupying the hexagon, this represents how much AP it will cost to move to that hexagon.

If you’re not using an aimed shot, hovering the aiming reticule (right clicking off the movement mode) over a creature will show you your percentage chance of hitting. Note that you will never have a 100% chance of hitting, it maximizes at 95%.

You can also target friendly creatures in this manner, in which case the hit chance will be tinted red to indicate you’re about to piledrive your companion.

Here’s the AP bar. Again, this is modded to show more than 10 AP at a time. Note the two yellow dots, which represent bonus action points granted by a perk that can only be used for moving. Green blips represent general action points which can be used for anything. Note that unused points are lit up, while the two dim blips indicate AP not available for use.

Additionally, remember when I right clicked to do an aimed shot? You can right click to get more than that. Right clicking with guns will switch to aimed shots, then to reloading, and then to burst fire mode if the gun has it available. Never waste AP rifling through your inventory to reload (4 AP) when you can just reload with a few right clicks (2 AP).

Note these two buttons that appeared once combat was initiated. Pressing turn will end your turn, converting any unused AP into extra points of AC. Pressing CMBT (Combat) will attempt to end combat. Combat can only end once all hostiles are defeated, fleeing, or are made unaware of your location by breaking line of sight and starting to sneak. It’s mostly used in case you accidentally initiated combat and want to exit it without turning anyone hostile.

This concludes the User Interface explanation. It’s a little complicated at first, but with practice you’ll find that navigating it becomes almost second nature.

Companion Levelling

This section will be short, but it’s important to note.

Companions in F1, to my recollection, do not level with you. So, good luck with that.

In F2, companions will “sporadically” level with you. That is, whenever you level up, all companions in your party have a chance to level up as well. Every time they do not level up, the chance to level up next time increases. All companions can only level up so many times. If a companion does level up, you’ll see them comment about it and the description box in the lower left will mention their “skills have improved.”

You could savescum (save just before levelling, load afterwards if your companions don’t level), but it’s much easier to just use the setting mentioned in FO2tweaks to make it less random.

General Tips

In Fallout 2, there is NO time limit. That means there’s no reason to heal at doctors unless you’ve got a crippled limb. Simply use the “wait” feature from your pip-boy to heal to full whenever you get the chance.

In F2, the game will occasionally insist that you’re running out of time. However, this is just a façade. You can only run out of time if you spend 13 years in-game, at which point the game’s engine cannot handle keeping track of everything and forcibly ends the game. You would have to actively try to hit this time limit, I rarely spend more than a year in game even on completionist runs.

In Fallout 1, if you wait 1 to 2 days, you can actually return to the Vault from which you started. This gives you access to whatever supplies aren’t being guarded and a few small quests.

If you put a bunch of points into an untagged skill, then later take the “Tag!” perk (which lets you select an additional skill to become tagged), all those points are retroactively treated as if the skill had always been tagged. This lets you really supercharge a skill late in the game, so it’s good for picking up a new combat skill.

Try to avoid giving companions weapons that can burst fire. In both games, this usually means your companions will turn you into swiss cheese and also waste a lot of ammo. In F2, you can at least tell some companions not to use burst fire through the combat control screen.

Companions, unlike in modern Fallout games, have to be supplied with weapons and ammunition. Don’t forget to give your Best Friend Sniper an actual rifle and bullets, or he’ll start trying to punch people instead. They can also die, so be sure to give them armor as well.

Do not “sleep on” companions. They can be incredibly useful and strong in combat if you equip them properly and support them. Lethal encounters are made much more manageable when enemies have more than just you to throw bullets at.

If you don’t qualify for a perk you want (which you could only know by looking it up ahead of time), you can take drugs to temporarily boost your attributes to let you qualify for them. You can also do this to pass attribute checks in the same manner (i.e. take buffout to win an arm wrestling contest).

If a fight is going badly, run to an exit grid. Exit grids are painted orange (instead of green) on the map. If you reach the exit grid, you’ll escape clean and free. Come back later when you’re better equipped and healed up.

Save often and in separate slots. You never know when you might trip some unfixed bug, or accidentally get thrown into a really difficult encounter that you can’t seem to win. You don’t want to lose hours of progress just because you haven’t saved in a while or only used one slot.

If you use the various mods/patches suggested way at the top, pay attention to what type of ammunition you’re using. In the lategame, enemies will start wearing heavier armor, making Armor Piercing ammunition more useful. You can load specific types of ammunition into guns by dragging the relevant bullets onto your gun in your inventory. In unmodded F1 & 2, you should just ignore AP ammo since it’s glitched and actually less effective against heavy armor.

Hold left shift to highlight objects left on the ground. It’s really hard to see stuff that’s been left on the ground otherwise (Be sure to turn highlight on, see below):

Above are my game preference settings. I’ve circled the ones that you should definitely use.

The developers really made use of hiding objects behind other objects (walls, boxes, etc.). When exploring, make sure to check behind walls and corners so that you can see behind them for hidden loot.

Conclusion

That concludes this entry guide. Please let me know if there’s anything I haven’t explained that you feel would be helpful. Hopefully you enjoy Fallout 1 & 2 as much as I did.

#fallout #fallout 1 #fallout 2 #video games #games

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