Fic: Discovery (M7/Doctor Who) All
Title: Discovery
Claim: Vin Tanner (Magnificent 7)
Fandoms: Magnificent 7/Doctor Who
Prompt: 083 - Wet
Set years (?) before Legacy. Don’t ask me. I didn’t have anything more than a one-shot planned. This necessarily focuses on Nu!Who, because I haven’t seen all of Classic!Who.
Vin’s fingers absently picked at the new silver bars on his shoulder and he had to force himself to stop. It was his last night before deploying and most of his unit was with their families. He wrapped his fingers around his beer bottle when it was placed in front of him and wiped his thumb across the label, brushing the condensation to one side.
He wasn’t nervous or scared or any of the things he should have been. He hadn’t been in a long time. It was part of the reason he was on his own. You couldn’t trust a man with nothing to fear. Vin dug a short nail into the corner of the label and began to pick and pull at it. It made him think of scabs and open wounds.
The drone of voices in the bar became frenzied and Vin looked up sharply. Everyone’s attention was focused on the television where a news report was flashing across the screen. The gathering crowd made it impossible to hear the reporter, but the clip that followed couldn’t be denied. A spaceship clipped Big Ben and crashed into the Thames. As loudly as some of the patrons yelled that it was a hoax, Vin knew better, though he couldn’t say what prompted that knowledge.
He found himself holding his pocket watch, though he wasn’t sure when he’d reached for it. He always had it with him, wherever he went, even if he couldn’t remember why it was important.
Once upon a time, he’d made up stories about how it once belonged to his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his, and that it had traveled all over the country, that it had seen the wild west, prohibition, the Depression. That his story stretched back into history. That he was someone who came from somewhere. He knew better now.
He turned the pocket watch over in his hands like he had hundreds of times before. Keen eyes searched for any indication of its significance. He used to think it was magic, that it made him invisible. Sometimes when he’d held it in his hands and concentrated on it, people’s eyes would sweep right over him as if he wasn’t there at all.
He could almost hear a rhythmic tick, tick, tick that only hinted at the sound a watch should make but was part of a much larger pattern. A pattern that stretched far beyond anything he could see, beyond anything he could ever know. The Earth spun beneath his feet, spinning and turning like a carnival ride.
He staggered away from his seat, swaying as he went. He felt drunk and nauseous; his head split open to the movements of the universe and the warp and weft of time, twisting in on itself in impossible ways. It was too much for his mind to handle.
The next thing he knew he was kneeling on pavement, retching into the gutter. He barely registered the bitter taste of bile as he raised his head to stare at the stars. He’d spent his childhood mapping them and drawing his own constellations in the wide expanse that looked so small, so contained, now.
“Hey guy, you okay?” a man asked as he peered down at Vin.
“Fine,” Vin murmured. He had to force the word out when his throat refused to cooperate.
“Yeah, sure.” The man eyed him warily as he backed away.
Vin looked at the pocket watch still clutched in his hand. He raised his arm to throw it as far away as he could, but got no further than that. Somehow, the watch was as much him as a limb. He slipped it back into his pocket.
He wiped a weary hand down his face as he rose to his feet and was surprised when his hand came away wet with tears.
Claim: Vin Tanner (Magnificent 7)
Fandoms: Magnificent 7/Doctor Who
Prompt: 083 - Wet
Set years (?) before Legacy. Don’t ask me. I didn’t have anything more than a one-shot planned. This necessarily focuses on Nu!Who, because I haven’t seen all of Classic!Who.
Vin’s fingers absently picked at the new silver bars on his shoulder and he had to force himself to stop. It was his last night before deploying and most of his unit was with their families. He wrapped his fingers around his beer bottle when it was placed in front of him and wiped his thumb across the label, brushing the condensation to one side.
He wasn’t nervous or scared or any of the things he should have been. He hadn’t been in a long time. It was part of the reason he was on his own. You couldn’t trust a man with nothing to fear. Vin dug a short nail into the corner of the label and began to pick and pull at it. It made him think of scabs and open wounds.
The drone of voices in the bar became frenzied and Vin looked up sharply. Everyone’s attention was focused on the television where a news report was flashing across the screen. The gathering crowd made it impossible to hear the reporter, but the clip that followed couldn’t be denied. A spaceship clipped Big Ben and crashed into the Thames. As loudly as some of the patrons yelled that it was a hoax, Vin knew better, though he couldn’t say what prompted that knowledge.
He found himself holding his pocket watch, though he wasn’t sure when he’d reached for it. He always had it with him, wherever he went, even if he couldn’t remember why it was important.
Once upon a time, he’d made up stories about how it once belonged to his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his, and that it had traveled all over the country, that it had seen the wild west, prohibition, the Depression. That his story stretched back into history. That he was someone who came from somewhere. He knew better now.
He turned the pocket watch over in his hands like he had hundreds of times before. Keen eyes searched for any indication of its significance. He used to think it was magic, that it made him invisible. Sometimes when he’d held it in his hands and concentrated on it, people’s eyes would sweep right over him as if he wasn’t there at all.
He could almost hear a rhythmic tick, tick, tick that only hinted at the sound a watch should make but was part of a much larger pattern. A pattern that stretched far beyond anything he could see, beyond anything he could ever know. The Earth spun beneath his feet, spinning and turning like a carnival ride.
He staggered away from his seat, swaying as he went. He felt drunk and nauseous; his head split open to the movements of the universe and the warp and weft of time, twisting in on itself in impossible ways. It was too much for his mind to handle.
The next thing he knew he was kneeling on pavement, retching into the gutter. He barely registered the bitter taste of bile as he raised his head to stare at the stars. He’d spent his childhood mapping them and drawing his own constellations in the wide expanse that looked so small, so contained, now.
“Hey guy, you okay?” a man asked as he peered down at Vin.
“Fine,” Vin murmured. He had to force the word out when his throat refused to cooperate.
“Yeah, sure.” The man eyed him warily as he backed away.
Vin looked at the pocket watch still clutched in his hand. He raised his arm to throw it as far away as he could, but got no further than that. Somehow, the watch was as much him as a limb. He slipped it back into his pocket.
He wiped a weary hand down his face as he rose to his feet and was surprised when his hand came away wet with tears.