I can read you like a book @catherinestandishstits - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
I can read you like a book
@catherinestandishstits
minors dni โฆ professor of tittyology โฆ paula โฆ she/her - xxviii (28) โฆ โtis pity sheโs a whoreโ โฆ saskia reevesโ personal mattress actress; โฆ socials
๐ผ๐พ๐ถ๐ถ๐ช๐ป๐: Lisa has left utter chaos behind, and Donna sets about to clean it up.
๐๐ฌ: ~ 3.4 k (Chapter 5/?)
๐ฝ๐ช๐ฐ๐ผ: multi chapter, slowburn-ish, hurt/comfort, eventual smut, car crash, loneliness, winter, canon adjacent, trauma, protective!donna, lesbian!donna is so real to me
A/N: it's too hot and I don't mean the fic sadly
๐๐๐ฅ I header image & beta-ed by @sanguibus <3
One could watch the sun rise and set and it was beautiful, every damn time. That was the dirty thing about this place; it was too good at acting innocent before stabbing you in the backโand Donna could almost fall for it every single time. Sheโd watched the sunrise from the kitchen window after a long night staying up in case the fire started up again, busying herself with chores; tidying the kitchen, organising the pantry, washing dishes.
The last thing they needed right now was people going rogue and setting things on fire, least of all herย ownย people. It was enough that Kenny, Dale, Jade and Kristy were going out foraging in the middle of an impromptu winter, all because Jim fucking Matthews had gone on one of his stupid excursions and thought heโd struck gold. Finding Tabitha shouldnโt be his priority right now, his damn kids should be. The kidsย sheย had to look after now and reassure they wouldnโt be orphans by dawn. This was a bad time to have to worry about a new arrival, one who sheโd proudly proclaimed they wouldnโt have to worry about, and it would be easy to blame Lisa for stirring things up, but no, it wasnโt easy. Lisa wasย herย responsibility and she deserved the same grace every new arrival before her had been granted. It wasnโt her fault that she got trapped here at the worst imaginable time. If anything, Donna had failedย her, and sheโd have to make up for it somehowโnot only to avoid another wildfire.
โCan I haveโโ Victor started, then stopped abruptly and looked around the kitchen. โItโs different.โ
Donna hadnโt heard him coming down and startled, but caught herself quickly. Sheโd spent almost a year hiding in holes in the ground from monsters every night but still jumped when someone walked in on herโthe irony.
โYeah, I, um, spent the night tidying,โ she told him, leaving the window and approaching him. โYouโre up early. Whatโre you lookinโ for?โย
โMy-mh peaches.โ
โThereโs not much left, Victorโฆ You sure you wanna have them now?โ
โI want peaches.โ
โOkay, then,โ Donna said calmly. Victor was restless, which was never a good omen. He had instincts regarding this place none of them could understand and a lot of them disregarded as the musings of a lunatic, but Victor was not that. โIโll go get โem for you.โ
โOkay,โ he said expectantly.
Donna went into the pantry and took one of the last four canned peaches out from a box she had hidden for Victor behind other supplies. In the beginning, little else other than those canned peaches could calm his meltdowns until Donna had learned how to talk him down. She missed those times in some twisted kind of way, when it was just day-to-day survival and not whatever this mess was. Trying to get out of here no matter how many lives it would cost. The pretence of normalcy, her little kingdom, the bonds they all shared.
โHere you go,โ she said, giving the can to Victor.
โHm-thanks,โ he said, taking the peaches into both hands, holding on to them tightly. He looked at the label for a long time, hesitant.
โSomething wrong, sweetheart?โ
Victor turned his head from side to side as if stretching his neck to work out a kink, working his lips. โThe trees,โ he said finally, โtheyโtheyโre upset.โ
โYou mean the fire? Youโre worried about the fire?โ
How do you approach portraying a character who constantly seems to suppress those emotions while still conveying the weight of what she's going through?
It's a combination of doing the work of what's sitting underneath the conversation โ which is sometimes easier to track than others for me. I've watched scenes where, after the fact, I go, "There was something there that could have held a bit more weight." But part of it is that I have an aspect of that in me. Liz tends to carry burdens โ I'm not someone who goes, "Oh well." [laughter] If I drop into a burdensome situation, that's something my body shifts into quite readily โ unfortunately for me.
Liz Saunders interviewed by Mordecai - Behind The Screens / June 26th, 2026
๐ผ๐พ๐ถ๐ถ๐ช๐ป๐: At the diner, Bakta has a surprise for Lisa before she meets Donna for lunch.
๐๐ฌ: ~ 3.3 k (Chapter 4/?)
๐ฝ๐ช๐ฐ๐ผ: multi chapter, slowburn-ish, hurt/comfort, eventual smut, car crash, loneliness, winter, canon adjacent, trauma, protective!donna, lesbian!donna is so real to me
A/N: forgot to post this chapter here oopsie, now you're getting two for the price of one haha
๐๐๐ฅ I header image & beta-ed by @sanguibus <3
Lisa had woken up to a different jacket laid out for her over the chair in Donna's room this morning, replacing the quilted jacket she'd worn all of yesterday. She'd liked that one, but the jeans jacket was more her style and newer, didn't have as many holes. Donna had left a note for her in the pocket:
Lunch??? โ Donna
Today, she wasn't wearing Donna's clothes anymore but the ones she'd picked out with Bakta yesterday, although she'd kept the flannel shirt and wore it over the black turtleneck; it was getting colder by the day and she needed the layers. She skipped breakfast and headed straight for the diner, arriving just as Bakta was opening up.
"You look well-rested," she noted, an appreciative hum to her tone.
Lisa didn't reply as she followed Bakta inside and behind the counter. She'd slept better this time, curled in Donna's bed again. At first she'd tried the room she'd been given on her first night but then she'd heard those things screech again and fled to Donna's room. Even though Donna hadn't been there yet, it put her at ease enough to fall asleep, and so deeply she hadn't even heard her enter.
"Kitchen or coffee? Your pick," Bakta said, hand on her hip.
"Uh, coffee," Lisa said and looked around until she found the coffee machine. She knew how to work those things. They started their tasks in silenceโLisa refilling the machine and Bakta mixing pancake batter. Bakta didn't check on what she was doing, not even when the first townspeople trickled in and she got their orders. She just trusted her.
It's insane to me that everyone isn't discussing Eva Stratt and Sandra Hรผller. Did you know they changed the whole marketing strategy because she sang? And that she sang because RyGos learned she has the voice of an angel? And that she was the dictator of the world and also its scapegoat?? And that she's the love of my life???
