The Doctor let @thebadtimewolf style their look. They were genuinely happy that they were with the youngest Great King [have to add capitalized letters, after all, they had to put up with it. Catching up since their own death in the Last Great Time War, what they missed. Then the topic of recent human relationships arrived. There was a pause in the traveller at the mention of certain humans they were supposed to link up with (actually, forcibly matchmade from beyond the grave) by now and it's nearing the end of the year. They observed the human from a far away distance in the similar way @themadvigilantist 's family's 'business' observe their targets. Seeing how they went through life. Who they surround themselves with. What made them special. Why they were this certain amount of importance for what seems like they are being aggresively shoved towards to fix a stranger's mistake.
What the Doctor observed - ordinary human-ness aside - the specific human was a former hollywood orphan and by that they labeled: a stereotypical early eighties-noughties comedy drama made for family with the abuse being a comedy villain song and dance with a twist! Oh yeah, the twist is that kids also abuse other kids. No, absolutely nothing like famously set in New Jersey, New York's Annie Warbucks. Aside from the parental death by house fire. Learning that your schoolmate man-crush now ex-whatever, current 'best enemy' was the cause of this particular death whilst they themselves were dead was a bit of a brain scratcher. Sure, she was a human that got a bit parallel viewing, a touch of realm connection centered around who the Doctor either knew and or knows and or will know. A form of personal mastery with the one 50-50 catch: a type of varied reproduction linked to the Doctor DNA. Their DNA. At least the reality they were all in was all about purpose defiance.
Well, it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, yet fortunately from how the Doctor saw it, no one seemed to realize this reality worked on fate immunity rules. If you are unfortunately in some way, in anyway, fated for xyz - it tends to be thrown back in your face. The Doctor, at least themselves (can't vouch for the other Doctor's the human connects to), possessed being a Living Anomaly.
Much to many microaggressive chagrin and a pity for the human's kids (adults on monday wednesday and fridays, tuesdays thursdays, saturdays and sundays as infants to middle schoolers) who are fated to have ancestral paradox immunity since they shouldn't exist in this reality if the Doctor (themselves thank you very much) never mated or bonded with the human (they can not stress this enough that they were dead the whole time). Which in turn makes the merged reality of the erased crumble back to what it was before - at least in their own case. A dusting.
Which of course led to distrust and distance. Well, for that lot. The rest that the Doctor knew were accustomed to this. Bill, Martha, Donna - they were just fine. This was just another day. Another hour. A minute. They had their lives, the Doctor had their own.
But all of this was an observation. As far as the Doctor had scanned them, they were partially Vin's offspring and the human's. Just like they were when Vin divulged how they met the human. American high school basement on the cusp of graduation and a poisonous alien slug from the planet Da'yxg year six billion five-four-delta-nine to the eighth and half power. Or as the Doctor overtly summarized when Vin had told them: slug facts.
They looked up as Alizarin had finished, sharing a ciggy (though it was more like a smokable candy that when inhaled turned into a drink in mouth and steam if exhaled through the nose.) between the two.
Within @tardis500, specifically V's ship since the Doctor's was keeping their past self busy in synchronizing the resurgence of their pilot - posing as if they were from the particularly erased Doctor's timeline (it wasn't hard. Ships creak and groan. That and telling your past self that has a dog on their back to turn invisble and scoot over back behind the tree next to them via hovering wasn't hard. An empty street tended to give one a better advantage. Much more easier to let someone in when you're all better versus when you are currently sick from a mummy dog's bite.) - it was easier for the present ship to say goodbye to the friends they made in the midst of their now-resurrected Doctor’s absence.
Always fun to do: co-conspirating with yourself. But, the Doctor digress.
When Alizarin brought up the fact that the erased had bonded with the human - hence the cold shoulder vibe - because they had a DNA test and it turned out that the erased Doctor’s DNA was part of Vin's and the Human's children DNA: that rang some alarm.
"What do you mean I was supposed to bind @girl-in-the-tardis to me? For what?" Unlike the erased, unlike Vin, unlike the rest - no one looked back on the test after the erased... well, erased themselves. Except the Doctor. Who had looked over the papers and not only was the company that used it never existed, the centre that was used to do the blood testing in the first place was a cover for Think Tank's side businesses. All it showed - had anyone not let domestication blind them - was that Vin was the father and the human was the mother. Just how it was before the merger. How it always was.
Pure erasure, reverted the big bits and left behind the tiny mess for the rest to clean up. Nasty stuff. Ah well.
"Besides, Vin knows I'm bound to V. Bit harsh of that dead bloke to put a human through a double bind like that and then off themselves just to resurrect the likes of me."
"If I was human and I was told to bind myself to two different aliens just so my kids could live when one of the binders erase themselves so the whole bond is strengthened to the surviving binder before and after that bubble reality merged and popped away for an earth year, I would give that bloke's last life saved the cold shoulder too. Especially if I knew that the bloke's last life saved was someone who never bonded with a Earth human and definitely doesn't plan on it now. Bonkers and overtly convoluted."
A sniff then. "Like... that's really fucking weird. And I'll be damned to let the likes of Think Tank ruin my perception of reality and what I know because a shitty two-pence DNA test. Let alone help them continue to live in that utter wrong ten toes down - fuck off on that. Fucking Daleks with thumbs." That swindon accent came out in anger. They felt a pause from their friend, them realizing in the moment the large thing this gang avoidance had done: no one knew the DNA test was going to be affected. No one. And the first they blabbed to was to @thebadtimewolf. "Sorry, I thought–" Their family got split apart by Think Tank's shittiest side hustle that was tied to a now popped bubble universe (best way to say erased - popped! Haha!) And the Doctor watched as Alizarin's - sorry, the Vigilante's face drop. Shellshocked, oh the Doctor knew that look all too well.
"I'm just gonna get you some wine, yeah?"
