Saibra

Favourite quote:  “Being alone never felt right. Sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.” - Charles Bukowski 

Saibra is ambidextrous because once they learned their abilities to shape-shift into a perfect copy of the person, they thought it's necessary to learn to write with the other hand so they could be a truly perfect copy

Saibra tells the people around her very often how she feels about them, mainly friends and such. She can’t show affection with touches, so instead she uses words. 

things the Time Agency probably did to make sure Saibra didn’t escape: (apart from the obvious manipulation of money and desires)

- Attach a remote-controlled VM to their wrist, molecularly bound to the skin
It's a very simple one: it works by remote and has but a ‘return’ button on it. That way they can make sure xe will always be back. Xe can try to escape in another time, but even then, from the TA they can make xer come back if they think too much time has passed for whatever mission they were sent away.

- Find a way to press genetic material to their skin, in a way xe can’t take it away by themself, forcing them to look a certain way. (And once xe looks like another person, they would rather act like them than risk being caught by the rest.)

14. Have you ever doubted your own beliefs?

“Yes. It’s hard not to sometimes. When life goes wrong and everything seems like it’s going against you, then you wonder… If there really is a God to take care of me, why are they letting this happen? But then… I guess God does have a plan. Maybe all this pain is worth something, maybe it’s necessary to get to good things. I don’t know, but I hope. If anything, I believe.”

Saibra is terrified of pregnancy. Just the idea of having someone, a person growing up inside of them, makes xyr shiver and cringe. It’s a big no.

Xe isn’t infertile though, but lucky her, in the 52nd century, period cramps etc etc are a thing of the past. ((One can dream))

Whenever Saibra transforms, it’s instant. But also painful. Because every cell of the body is changing to become another DNA, the body grows or shrinks, it can have a new skin tone or genitals. It isn’t really that bad, because it happens so spontaneously. Think of it like when touching something burning and recoiling right away. You can feel it’s hot, but it doesn’t linger once it’s over.

But sometimes things go wrong, and she touches cells that aren’t human. Those times, because her cells can’t transform correctly, it lasts longer and so does the pain.

Once she gets the cure for her mutation, though, her cells don’t transform again. But her brain is used to the fact that whenever she touches skin, pain will happen. So after the gene suppressant, every time she touches someone, it is like she put her hand in the fire only to discover it’s cold. Even though she knows, rationally, that nothing will happen, it is still ingrained in her subconscious.

HC about fun

Saibra loves to have fun; a laugh or some time spent with friends are her favourite way to relax. There is one teeny-tiny problem though: What most people consider fun usually involves crowded places, physical contact, a disturbing lack of clothes or all at the same time -  which Saibra can’t really be part of. So, if you ever asked her, she would tell you of an evening spent playing board games with Beth, reading her favourite books, watching her beloved movies and dancing her heart out while out of sight from anyone.

❤ - A romance or relationship memory. 

   Saibra was thirteen when Kenshin first arrived to the house. It had been her lucky day that he arrived when classes were over and Beth was the one to receive him, so she asked Saibra to show him around the house. 

     They connected almost immediatly when he asked her about the book she was reading and they found out they had very similar tastes. Not long after, their laughs echoed through the halls as they talked and talked. When he looked at Saibra, his eyes sparkling, his lips curled up in a bright smile, her heart skipped a beat. It was the first time she had felt like this - no, the first time she felt like this and it wasn’t fear. Her cheeks were flushed with laughter and something else. She finally had a chance to have a friend, someone her age to joke with and talk. 

      Hours passed in the bliss of new friendship and the start of a crush - at least on Saibra’s part. But of course, a new kid didn’t go unheard of and other children wanted to meet him. None of them was thrilled to see who his first meeting had been, but you could always trust Hugo to ruin something like that. He had made his way towards the couple with his small group following -like they always did-, had offered Kenshin a hand with that smug smirk he always wore on his face. And just a tiny glance towards Saibra, but somehow he managed to focus all his hatred in that split of a second he looked at her. (She had tried to imitate it in front of a mirror, but it wasn’t easy to do.) 

      “So you’ve met our most beloved mutant already?” Only Hugo could say those words with a bright smile and ooze such disgust and aversion with his voice alone. Kenshin looked at him first in disbelief, then surprise passing through revolt and finally settled by watching Saibra with a raised eyebrow, as if begging asking her to disprove what the other had said. His smile disappearing, his eyes gone from gleeful to accusatory, it felt like a slap on her face. What could she say? It was true. Her silence was broken by Hugo’s voice again. “Hadn’t she told you? She can’t even touch people.” He said it as if it were contagious. And Kenshin took a step away from her, probably subconsciously, but she noticed. He looked at her almost disappointed, betrayed; just a very small glimmer of hope that she would laugh, shout, do something to contradict it. But she was frozen. His suddenly cold gaze was a bucket of iced water over her and all she felt like doing was cry - but not in front of Hugo, not in front of others. Finally, Hugo wrapped an arm around Kenshin’s shoulders and pulled him away from her, using stage whispers to insult her while they walked away.

    Hugo she could deal with, she could avoid. But his poisonous touch was too close to anything she could ever try to love. It wasn’t only him though; it was what she was. Sometimes it seemed easier to just not love than to risk the pain of losing it.

HC + Wells

There aren’t many wells where Saibra lives, so she has only seen one in her life (before she met the Doctor). She can remember it well, though. 

It was one of her favourite trips with the school to a replica of a typical Earth town from the 20th century. The houses were made of stone, and they all looked so primitive - it made her wonder how they even stood upright. The teacher told them about the techniques used to build them, but they seemed very complicated, even more with the technology they had back then. Steam machines? How would boiling water have enough power to move cars or trains? Yet the small model running around a tiny mountain was fun enough that she didn’t care how implausible it sounded.

They were left time alone to explore the village, and she was glad to be able to leave the rest of the group behind and discover the small wonders of it on her own. Each house was decorated with style, wooden furniture covering every spot of it, some paintings and old white and black photographs hung from walls, mainly of cities and people with big dresses and fancy suits.

When Saibra sat on one of the chairs to read the small booklet left there for the visitors and looked around, she felt like she had travelled back in time. It wasn’t difficult to imagine a life in such a house, in a time when everything seemed easier and places were closer. Eyes closed, the distant sounds of her classmates were muffled by the thick walls, and the smell of old dust and wood hung in the air and filled her lungs. 

On the backyard of that small house, there was an even smaller garden. The flowers were bright and scented the air with their sweet fragrance. And in the middle of it all, a small round of stones that surrounded a hole in the ground. She had to look it up on the pamphlet to recognize it as a well. There it was written that back in those days, people would have wishing wells, where they would throw a coin in it and believed it to make true the wish spoken while doing it. Having no coins at hand, Saibra went back into the house, looking for one. The closest thing she found was a box of buttons (something about sewing apparently, she didn’t pay much attention to the label next to it). They were round and shined with silver, so she hoped it would do serve the purpose. 

She held the button in her hand for a long while, watching it with hopeful eyes while she thought of which wish she would ask for. Would it work if she asked for the impossible? It wouldn’t work, and she knew it, but she wanted to hope for a moment, to have something to hang on to. 

She closed her eyes, pressed a small kiss to the button before letting it fall into the dark hole that was the well. She watched it drop, turning, smaller and smaller until it faded into the shadows; while her lips murmured what she wished more than anything

                                                       “Let me be normal.”

Years later, a man named Wells introduced her to the Time Agency. It meant having a real job, something she would enjoy doing. And they assured her they do their best to cure her affliction. Saibra had never forgotten the shining silver button and silently thanked it for this opportunity.

a couple more drabbles