XD I imagine Zepheera and Donna would have a roller-coaster of a relationship. Donna’s a rather intimidating human for a borrower, being so loudspoken and robust in personality, so Zepheera would be wary of her at first. After a rocky start, Zepheera would warm up to Donna, but the Doctor would be quicker to adjust to having such a small person around all the time (i.e. keeping his voice lower and gentle handling). She and Donna would definitely butt heads every now and then, just like Donna does with the Doctor on occasion. It’s practically how the three of them show affection.
While they have their differences, at the end of the day Zepheera and Donna get along fine because they know exactly what they have in common. They’re both strong-willed and passionate, relish in all the traveling, and they both truly care about the Doctor, a man they want nothing to do with romantically and everything to do with in all other respects.
[This is an alternate ‘Midnight’. Due to the intensity, I wanted to give this one closure. Spoilers for the climax of the episode. Prepare for angst. You’ve been warned.]
Taking a big space truck full of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?
Everything.
“Doctor!” Zepheera cried, climbing along the bottom of an uprooted seat to look him in the eye. But he couldn’t look back. He sat on the floor trembling, unseeing eyes more full of fear than Zepheera had ever seen in them before.
If there was one thing you learn when you sit on a man’s shoulder, it’s how much that man moves. The Doctor was always moving–always–and now he was terrifyingly still. If he could have budged, like his eyes told her he desperately wanted to, he would have. She clutched at her hair in frustration. She wanted to help, needed to, but what could she do? She couldn’t move him on her own or save him from physical harm, she was four and a half inches tall!
For once, she wished Donna were around. The loud, boisterous human would make quick work of slapping sense into the other six, who were still arguing about what they were going to do to the Doctor. All they had done the entire time was bicker and yell, giving the borrower the worst headache. And the seventh, that Sky woman…As though she could read her mind, she stared coldly down at Zepheera with the faintest of smirks.
Now the yelling was so loud it blocked out Zepheera’s thoughts. At the very least, a couple of the humans were sticking up for the Doctor, but they were quickly shut down. One more look into the Doctor’s eyes–utterly petrified, begging for help the only way he could–and Zepheera’d had enough of these humans.
This week’s Zepheera-Vision has a bunch of things going on that are new to the format.
1. It’s the first ZV set in a previously existing episode of Doctor Who.
2. It’s also the first to imply that Zepheera is a companion at the same time as the one in that episode/series.
3. This is a feelsy story, broken up into four parts due to length. So rather than keep you all in suspension, this ZV will update every other day starting on Saturday.
Hope this clears up any confusion that would have arisen if I’d just done what I wanted without telling y’all. (Also, if anyone can guess the mystery episode and companion before today ends, perhaps you’ll earn a lil sneak peek uwu)
She is demisexual and biromantic, though she doesn’t open herself up to much. Her last relationship ended…poorly, and love hasn’t come easy to her since.
Zepheera picked up many hobbies over the years to pass the time and to keep herself productive. On top of tactile skills like sewing and knitting, she’s also dabbled in electric wiring and tinkering – a skill she only expands upon after meeting the Doctor.
The borrower in question rolled her eyes as the felt a series of rumbles through the hardwood floor that seemed to indicate the Doctor was crouching down to check on her already. It had only been a few seconds since she’d been sent down into this small gap to investigate for clues. A glance over her shoulder gave her a narrow view of her Time Lord flattened on the ground with one eye shut tight and the opposite eyebrow raised high, as though it would give him a greater insight on Zepheera’s perspective.
“Doctor, we’ve been over this, you can’t fit down here.”
“Yeah, but I can’t help being curious!” he declared defensively. “Last place anybody sees the big old mysterious being is disappearing through this tiny little gap, which should be impossible given its size!”
Depending on how it had been done, such a change might have left behind some sort of residue that would assist the pair of time travelers in knowing what exactly they were up against. On the other hand, if the person or creature had simply made themselves smaller, then Zepheera could be at risk where she now stood.
Well, more like crouched. Even for her, standing at four and a half inches tall, it was a bit of a tight fit. In any case, the Doctor had to be ready to help her despite the fact that his hand wouldn’t be able to reach more than a few inches into such a small space.
Zepheera bit back a huff, placing her hands on her hips as she backed away from the Doctor. They’d been together for months doing this exact kind of thing on a near daily basis, and she’d thought the Doctor trusted her more than what he seemed to be demonstrating. But just as she was about to tell him exactly what she thought, she felt and heard her foot sink into some gelatinous mystery fluid with a sickening squelch. She jumped away from it with a cry of disgust, shaking as much of it off her foot as possible.
“Found something,” she muttered to the Doctor through a clenched jaw.
“But what is she?” asked one of the scientists to the Doctor in an aside.
The Time Lord looked up from the sample he was examining through a microscope at the woman in a white coat addressing him, glancing at the shelf on the other side of the room where his four-inch-tall companion stood scrutinizing racks of test tubes. They knew one of them was wrong, and she volunteered to find out which out of the 75 tubes it was since her eyes wouldn’t tire as easily as any of the human scientists’ would looking at the miniscule labels.
Turning back to the scientist, he gave a sniff and replied, “I rather think that’s her business to share, not mine. Although,” he added as he focused back on the microscope, “to be fair, if you asked she probably wouldn’t tell you.”
“And why’s that?” the scientist hissed, sounding affronted.
“Cause you’re human!” exclaimed the Doctor, not bothering to look up from the microscope this time. “Would you trust somebody who looks as big as you do to her right off?”
Her gaze wandered over to the impossibly tiny woman still searching tirelessly through the test tubes, and she heaved a resigned sigh. She supposed she wouldn’t. Rather than admit that, however, she pressed on. “But she trusts you, and you’re taller than I am!”
“Well, you’ve got me there.” The Doctor straightened to his full height–a full head taller than the female scientist–adjusting his crisp royal blue suit. “Little over sixteen times her height, I’m surely terrifying. In’t that right, Zepheera?”
His tiny companion’s head snapped up at the mention of her name, only to find the Doctor crossing the room right toward the shelf she was standing on. After all this time, it still blew her mind how fast someone so large could move.
“I’m just as scary as any mean ol’ human, eh?” he smirked, pulling a teasingly startling ‘rawr’ face close to the eye-level shelf as he passed the borrower and moved on to fetch whatever he was after.
Zepheera flinched at the sudden lack of space, but shot an exasperated look through the back of her friend’s head. She went about her business, muttering about what a giant ten-year-old her Time Lord was as she worked.
Zepheera’s healing factor is inspired by the mutant gene à la X-Men. Similarly, the gene is carried by and passed on through males. Zepheera’s father had the same healing factor and passed it on to her, but none of her descendants will have it.
As to the extent of the power: it’s not as strong as, say, Deadpool’s or Wolverine’s, but most wounds will heal. This includes but is not limited to cuts, burns, and broken bones, but excludes regrowing lost extremities and mortal wounds. Zepheera is as susceptible to death as any other borrower.
Zepheera has a bad habit of scratching herself absentmindedly, whether at the back of her hand, her neck, or her upper arms. It’s a nervous tick that developed during childhood, and thanks to her healing factor it’s a difficult habit to notice, let alone shake off.
Borrowed Time and Space 