#serenbex

3, 4, 9 and 13 for lovely Liz Shaw please! 😁

Fair's fair XD And 'lovely' is an apt moniker for Liz (along with 'fantastic' and 'awesome')!

3. whether or not i have any merchandise/objects with them

I am currently living somewhere without any free space, so I physically cannot buy any merch, Doctor Who-related or otherwise. However, rest assured that I am planning on buying more stuff once I move into my new place sometime later this year. XD

4. what about their personality i like

I like how intelligent and forthright Liz is. She's constantly having to deal with sexist nonsense from basically everyone (the Brigadier, one-off characters, etc.) and never loses sight of the fact she is an incredibly qualified and capable person. Also, love the way she can think on her feet and improvise ways of getting out of difficult situations.

9. my favorite canon outfit of theirs

Probably one of the following;

I really like the outfits that Liz wore that were practical, and you can tell Caroline John enjoyed wearing them (albeit not in the gifs above) as opposed to the more made-up ones with the miniskirts and wigs (I adore Caroline John's natural hair in these instances, and it's frustrating that she wasn't allowed to have her hair like it more often because the production crew insisted it messed with shot continuity). I think it fits Liz's personality to wear the more practical outfits compared to the for-the-dad outfits that the wardrobe department kept trying to force on her (apparently Jon Pertwee had to step in at one point so she could wear a boiler suit instead of a mini-skirt and knee-high boots).

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them

To be honest, I'm not seen much bad stuff in the fandom about her, although I will say I dislike how some in the fandom consider her to not be a true companion because she never travelled in the TARDIS. Not to mention the people who don't think she's likeable because she's intelligent and unwilling to put up with sexist nonsense.

No worries, mate; I know being sick can knock it out of you. :) I do love Benton, it has to be said XD

1. how long have i known about them

I'd heard vaguelly about him on DW retrospectives but then I watched season 7 and thought 'he seems nice'. With each subsequent season, I adored him even more. Apparently I wasn't the only one; several hundred women in a factory up north wrote into the BBC demanding Benton be in more stories XD

10. my favorite moment with them in canon

It's a toss-up between Benton managing to stop Yates during the latter's brief indoctrination-into-eco-fascism, and Three telling Benton he makes one of the best coffees in the universe (I'm a sucker for the other characters being sweet to Benton, which is also why I love when Jo Grant refers to him as 'the lovely Sergeant Benton' in a letter she sends to UNIT after she leaves). But basically any moment where Benton is on-screen is my favourite moment. He's such a sweet bean.

14. what i liked about the way canon portrayed them

I love how it was originally a bit-part but the cast and crew liked John Levene so much he got to do more and more over time. I especially like how he goes from getting the short straw from Yates constantly (never quite forgave Yates for stealing Benton's sandwiches that time by pulling rank) to getting the last laugh. Not to mention how it's a canon fact that basically everyone likes him and knows him to be a fundamentally good person; the Doctor is suspicious of everyone during that dinosaur serial except Benton, because they knew Benton would never betray them. Even the Master respects how earnest and resourceful Benton is.

Also, love the little insights into his personal life, like how he takes his little sister to ballroom dancing lessons. If we're talking the novels, he also seems immune (like Dan Lewis) to attempts at mind control; the himbo power is strong in Benton!

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them

I don't like how he ends his last appearance unconscious on the floor and the Fourth Doctor doesn't even bother to make sure he's okay. Bit of an unfair ending, in my opinion (one of the early reasons I had for not liking Four as much as I like Three and Five).

Also, don't like how the Brigadier clearly doesn't pay Benton enough; he has to deal with a lot of nonsense that is clearly well above his pay grade (not to mention the Brigadier being a jerk to him on several occasions).

Personally, I like the idea of Benton being involved in 'Mawdryn Undead'. Mainly because it would be nice for him to get a proper send-off, but also because (as neither of them were in the army anymore) he would have been able to tell the Brigadier to stop being a jerk. Bonus points if he also defends Tegan and Nyssa when the Brigadier was being a chauvinist to them (I know Tegan and Nyssa would have gotten along well with Benton, because that man CHUGS the respect women juice).

Thanks, mate! 😊😊

8. What project(s) are you currently working on?

I just finished the first draft of a fic that delves into the aftermath of the season 20 trailer (because I REFUSE to let Tegan ignore how gay that dream was), so that one just needs some sprucing up and then it's good to go. Also, I have a Discworld/Thirteenth Doctor Era crossover fic that currently in the middle of drafting and is missing several scenes.

Haven't start work on my next multi-chapter fic yet, but I am aiming to within the next week or so.

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

It depends on the fic. Sometimes, I will have an exact idea of what will happen, while other times it will happen spontaneously whilst writing.

29. Share a bit from a fic you’ll never post OR from a scene that was cut from an already posted fic. (If you don’t have either, just share a random fic idea you have that you don’t plan on getting to.)

To be honest, I don't have any of either. I've never written a fic that I never posted, and -as I work on each fic within it's own document- I don't have any scenes that I delete (and I'm not in the habit of deleting scenes anyway).

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

Tegan and Nyssa- The scene in 'Castrovalva' where her and Nyssa are figuring out how to work the TARDIS. That's also when I started shipping them, ngl. Given the fact that the TARDIS turned the heating up during this scene, I think it ships them too!🤣😂

Five- The scene towards the end of 'Castrovalva' where he's running around like a headless chicken, trying to figure out what's going on.

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves

Tegan- Probably that she was in love with Nyssa the entire time they were room-mates. I imagine this became a lot more difficult to ignore after the Mara came back.

Nyssa- That she is becoming used to being abandoned (either intentionally or unintentionally) by those around her. Also, that she is terrified of not being "useful" to be people because that may mean that they end up leaving her. Aand I just made myself sad; Poor Nyssa 😭😭

Five- That he isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Also... that he is very aware that he often pushes his companions away by being abrasive and irritable when they ask reasonable questions.

27. Their guilty pleasure

Already did this one here.

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Not gonna lie, while I do appreciate every kudos and comment I recieve, sometimes I wish that my longer fics got more attention. I once wrote a long action-adventure AU for The Old Fandom that was super long and had tons of research (plus Discworld cameos) put into it, but got barely any response from anyone at all. I've noticed a weird trend (on FFN, at least) where the first chapter will get a decent amount of hits, but then the interest from readers will rapidly nosedive after that. I don't think my writing rapidly gets worse as my series go on, so... *shrugs*

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I think I've gotten better at writing action, as well as writing themes in my works aside from just "they fancy each other".

🎙️which one of your fics would you like someone to make a pod-fic of?

I mean, I wouldn't say no to someone making a pod-fic about "Half Agony, Half Hope". At one point, I did briefly consider adapting my own fics to pod-fic format, but I just don't have the time or technology for it.