“So close!” he groused as he turned to jog back to the TARDIS. They had a lock on the signal, so finding it again would be easy. But that was the last thing on Zepheera’s mind.
“Doctor?” she piped up, making an effort to keep her voice steady in spite of the worry coursing through her entire being.
“There’s something I should tell you…”
Admittedly, Zepheera had gotten a little sidetracked. The borrower had resisted all the other distractions the forest had to offer, but this was different. A flash of green zooming past in the distance, moving much too fast to be a bird. She followed its path curiously while the Doctor carried on, muttering to himself.
So it’s been a while since I’ve done much of anything on this blog ^^; School had consumed pretty much my entire existence so I’ve been behind on prompts and shirking the Zepheera-Visions, and I’ve also gotten myself deeply involved with the @brothersapart universe.
But that’s not all I’ve been up to.
Introducing Borrowed Magic, my first co-written AU in the BTaS universe!
Art © @lotminx [Deviantart] a lovely commission of the babs
@neonthewrite has lent me her Bowman to join in the shenanigans of my borrower OC Zepheera and the Tenth Doctor in my crossover series Borrowed Time and Space. Fittingly enough, we’ve named this AU Borrowed Magic.
I’ve poked at ideas for AUs of BTaS before, mostly to allow for interactions with more of the Tenth Doctor’s companions, but this one has the potential for so much fun. Not only is Bowman a spitfire of a sassball, but it’s interesting to throw yet another non-human companion into the mix! His life in Wellwood has in no way prepared him for travel in time and space, and it doesn’t help that he’s the youngest and the smallest on board (due to the slight scale difference, Zepheera ends up a whole half-inch taller than the sprite, much to his annoyance).
This is a young AU, but Neon and I do have plans in store for these dorks. I’ll start posting excerpts semi-regularly, and we’ll take any questions involving the AU!
For now, here’s a sneak peek at our first completed story!
“Zepheera, answer me!”
Who is Zepheera?
The insistent call deepened the concerned frown on Bowman’s face. He watched the tall man with hardly-blinking eyes for a moment before registering that there could be another human out there. That made his wings fan open and closed as he scanned the forest for another giant nearby.
He was thinking he might have to fly a short distance to find another giant crashing around in the woods. Keeping track of all intruders was imperative for the safety of the village. Bowman turned, aiming to look behind himself first.
He did a double take at the sight of someone on the branch with him.
“Spirit’s dance!” he yelped, flinching backwards. He stumbled off the end of the branch, but his wings caught him easily, flaring open and pulling him back up to hover level with one of the strangest people he’d ever seen. They had skin that looked a bit pale compared to his own, but not as pale as the tall human a distance away. Most important was the lack of any sort of wings on their back, despite otherwise being sprite-sized.
“What … who are you?!”
Look out for Part 2 of this update, coming soon
“You’re a dunce.” “Yeah, but I’m your dunce.”
Another adorable commission from @ghostquack of my beautiful OCs, Zepheera and Orrick
~Featuring my borrower OCs from my Doctor Who/Borrowers crossover series ‘Borrowed Time (and Space)’~
Zepheera was utterly exhausted.
While technically her companions did all the running from the Master’s threats, the four and a half inch tall woman was in an equal state of adrenaline, hanging on tight to her Time Lord’s collar in order to not be thrown off in all the chaos.
Hours later, she sat on Captain Jack Harkness’ shoulder, mostly so she could speak more directly to the Doctor for once. They had finally reached a place of safety, and the captain just returned with hastily scavenged food, a few bags of chips.
Jack lifted a chip to his shoulder, smirking at the pun while Zepheera took it. She eyed it suspiciously; she didn’t often have access to fried food, and when she did it was usually old and mushy and a real hassle for a borrower to eat.
When she expressed her concern, the Doctor vouched for the chips. “Actually, they’re not bad,” he said, munching on another. “Go on, give it a try.”
With a thoughtful frown at the chip in her lap, nearly tall enough to reach Zepheera’s shoulder, she gave a shrug and broke off a small portion of the tip. If she didn’t like it after all, she could always give whatever she didn’t finish to one of the humans.
She gave it a small nibble, and soon found herself finishing her portion, breaking off another piece for seconds.
From her perch on top of the railing around the console, Zepheera watched the two human-sized men across the room. She knew better than anyone that neither of them were human, and in fact, they were the same man.
The TARDIS had gone berserk, throwing the four and a half inch tall woman off the Doctor’s shoulder and halfway across the room. She was thankfully unharmed, but it didn’t take long to notice the entirely new presence. At first Zepheera scrambled to hide from the stranger, but when the Doctor seemed to recognize this man, her wariness shifted to confusion.
This was only magnified when the new man referred to himself as the Doctor, and was seemingly unaware that he was face to face with a future incarnation of his.
Rather than clearing up the confusion and introducing his tiny companion, Zepheera’s Doctor was entirely caught up in his nostalgia and the excitement of the impending crisis. Zepheera had never seen someone so entirely pleased to meet himself.
She’d have to introduce herself, she determined as she dashed across the thick pipe of the railing.
Zepheera would never understand how one could simply drain an entire planet of color, but according to the Doctor it was an extremely malicious procedure. Once every single thing was dulled to black and white, total corrosion of the planet would begin.
When the Time Lord and his four and a half inch tall companion arrived, they were one of the few things left in the area that were not black and white. However, it didn’t take long for them and even the TARDIS were monochromatic. It was a race against the clock to find the machine instigating the calamitous procedure and shut it down so they could even begin to reverse it.
Zepheera clung to the Doctor’s shoulder as he ran through the alien spaceship, nearing the motherboard that could shut down the entire thing and restore the planet to its original state. Desperately, he fished out his sonic screwdriver and gave it a quick buzz, relieved to find it glowing blue. The last color in the world.
“Blimey, you’re a lightweight…” muttered the Doctor, bracing a hand on the console as he dropped to his knees.
“Oi, zip it!” Zepheera called up irritably through the grate of the floor she’d fallen through moments ago. It was one of those rare special occasions that inspired the Doctor to unearth perfectly aged alien wines for his companion and himself to enjoy. Zepheera simply lacked the uncanny Time Lord ability to control just how drunk she got. “I am four and a half inches tall and haven’t touched the stuff in nearly thirty years, I’m the definition of lightweight!”
The Doctor grumbled as he reached down for the handle that would lift up the panel, uncovering his tiny companion sitting on a trunk and staring up at him with her arms crossed.
“Well. Now you know where the floor is. And that it has holes in it.”
“I hate you,” murmured Zepheera, offering no further protest as the Doctor reached down to retrieve his friend.
“I know.”
“Yes sir, Mister Boss Man!”
Gorgeous commission from @ghostquack! Thanks again for bringing my bby to life!
~Featuring my borrower OC from my Doctor Who/Borrowers crossover series ‘Borrowed Time (and Space)’~
Krrk-krrk-krrk-krrk-krrk!
Out of seven likenesses of Zepheera, six fell to their knees writhing in pain as the Doctor sauntered into the room with a noise maker. The one that wasn’t an alien brightened and hurried to join her friend.
Being four and a half inches tall, she naturally crossed the room at a much slower rate than the Time Lord, and suddenly he was standing over her, the noise maker still going on. Ever aware of his borrower companion, the Doctor came to a stop when she approached him, staring pointedly at the alien doubles of Zepheera as he continued to spin his strange weapon against them.
“I think you got em!” Zepheera called up, glancing back at her copies. Most of them had fallen unconscious from the sensory overload their extremely sensitive ears were experiencing.
Looking back at the Doctor, he gave the noise maker a few last turns for good measure, then bent down to offer a hand to his tiny friend.
“And a happy new year,” he quipped, lifting her to her usual spot on his shoulder.
Borrowed Time and Space 