Under the waves of another world, a man opened his eyes. He yawned and stretched as he took the covers off to reveal that he had a fish tail instead of legs. Yes, this was a merman! He swam over to a closet and…you’d think he was going through a lady’s closet, given that there were skirts in there. But no, they were his clothes. The merman’s name was Lukas and, years ago, he had become a femboy servant and lover for a powerful sea witch, the great Madame Calliope. He pulled out his daily clothes, put them on, and fluffed the petticoats of his skirt. He then swam over to a vanity and looked himself in the mirror. “…Not just yet, but soon,” he said to his reflection. He then teased his hair, adorned the left of his head with a fascinator hat consisting of eight blue flowers and a veil, then he put on makeup. After all that, he smiled at his reflection. “Now you look good, Lovely Lukas!” he said to his reflection. Just then, his mirror went screwy as his reflection distorted itself. “What the-? Who’s calling me?” he pondered aloud. He put his finger to the edge of the mirror and two women appeared. One looked like an anthropomorphic bunny and the other looked like a green-skinned woman. They both wore a blue rose in the right of their hair.
“Lukas, is that you?” asked the bunny woman.
“Bea!” yelped Lukas. “And my Divine Coilzette!”
“Good morning, my dear Lukas,” greeted the green-skinned woman, Coilzette Mentalia Goldcoil, the Divine Naga that ruled the lands of Coilusa. She then gave her attention to the bunny girl, Bea Cottonhop Goldcoil, Coilzette’s adopted granddaughter. “Bea, is everything all right?”
“Well, Mama and Madame Calliope share a birthday and we’re supposed to set everything up, right?” asked Bea.
“Yes,” confirmed Lukas. “You’re in charge of the banquet, your grandmother’s working on accommodations for us water-folk since the venue’s gonna be in your home citadel in Serpentia, and I’m in charge of the decorations.”
“Well, the food’s all good,” said Bea. “I’m down to the cake and I just had a few questions.”
“All your mother and Calliope wanted,” interjected Coilzette, “was a sheet cake that acknowledged the two of them.”
“I got that,” replied Bea as she held up a sheet cake with a desert and underwater theme that said “Happy Birthday, Ssylphiel and Calliope” on it.
“That looks perfectly lovely,” said Lukas.
“Quite right,” agreed Coilzette. “So what’s the issue, Bea?”
“Well, the issue is, put together, Mama and Calliope have just over 10,000 years of collective life,” replied Bea.
“…Okay, what’s the issue with the cake itself?” asked Lukas.
“The issue is that there’s not enough room on the cake for 10,000 candles!” answered Bea.
“You sweet, summer child!” laughed Coilzette. “You weren’t planning on indicating their ages, were you?”
“…W-Well, yeah,” confirmed Bea, confused. “That’s what you do on a birthday cake.”
“Most of us Ageless folk don’t care for that when we hit our thirties,” explained Lukas. “Just put a fancy candle on each end of the cake so they both can blow one out.”
“…I thought the whole point of candles on a cake,” muttered Bea, “WAS to indicate how old someone was.”
“No, it was originally thought,” explained Coilzette, “that the smoke from the candles would carry your wishes and prayers up to the Gods. Humans may have popularized birthday cake candles, but we really owe this tradition to the Dwarves.”
“…Grandma, are you telling me that birthday candles are culturally appropriated?!” gulped Bea.
“Technically, yes, but since most modern-day Dwarves like Nora don’t know that bit of history, I think humans are okay grandfathering that one in.”
“…Well, that’s really all I had for the cake,” muttered Bea. “I’ll see you guys later today.”
“Looking forward to it!” cheered Coilzette.
“See you later!” bid Lukas. The call ended and a blue skinned woman with purple hair and eight black octopus tentacles instead of legs then swam into the room.
“Lukas, my lovely?” she asked. “Who were you talking to?”
“Just Bea and Coilzette, Madame Calliope,” replied Lukas. “…Is it true that the Dwarves are the actual inventors of birthday candles?”
“It’s true,” confirmed Calliope as one of her tentacles snaked its way over to Lukas and started coiling him. “So, a little issue with the cake, then?”
“The cake itself is lovely, Bea just wanted the issue with the candles settled.”
“Ah yes, she was a member of the Ageing Folk.” By now, Calliope had pulled Lukas close to her. “…Well, you look delightful as usual.”
“Thanks to you, Mistress,” replied Lukas as he hugged Calliope. Calliope kissed the top of his head lovingly.
“What say we head to Serpentia, then? For all our differences, a good meal in Ssylphiel’s palace is something we all can agree on.”
“Quite true, Mistress,” agreed Lukas. The two then headed off to say their goodbyes to the rest of Calliope’s staff.
In another dimension of swirling energy, a blue London Police Box spun through the energy, its lamp flashing. Inside the box…the laws of interior geometry were torn up as it was bigger on the inside! It was a spacious room with a central hexagonal control console with a cylinder going up and down. A woman with African features worked on the console. She wore a burgundy rose-themed outfit, complete with a rose headband. Her gloved fingers drummed one of the console panels as she growled to herself in frustration. “Come on! Come on! Where are you?!” she snarled.
“No chronal surge, Doctor?” asked another woman’s voice. The speaker stepped into the console room, brushing her platinum blonde hair.
“I don’t get it, Tysar!” replied the pilot of the machine, the Time Lord known as the Doctor. “The TARDIS has her sensors at capacity and so does Gallifrey! Where’s the next chronal surge?!”
“Doctor, there’s always a lull between them,” replied Tysar, a Thal from New Davius.
“And we need to take advantage of it!” retorted the Doctor. She checked the TARDIS’s instrument’s again. “…Still nothing! I-!” A green flash then appeared. “…What-?”
“Doctor, isn’t that the button Grand Zeno gave you?” asked Tysar.
“It is,” replied the Doctor as she grabbed the source of the flash, a circular device with a green button on one side, a yellow button on the other, and purple material making up the circumference. The green button was flashing. “This thing is only supposed to flash when Grand Zeno or one of his staff has a mission that requires mortals to solve. …Welp, in for a penny and all that!” The Doctor pressed the green button. A new flash of light then appeared and then faded away to reveal a woman in a blue dress with blue costume fairy wings and blue hair. The Doctor goggled in horror as she remembered that woman!
“Excellent!” praised the woman. “So you’re not too busy, Doctor?”
“Doctor, who is that?” asked Tysar.
“Tysar, get out of the console room!” hissed the Doctor.
“Oh, come, come, Doctor!” replied the blue woman. “There’s no need to fret. As you promised, Grand Zeno is a much better playmate than you or any mortals.”
“…Doctor, who IS that woman?” insisted Tysar. “Why are you so afraid of her?”
“…That’s the Celestial Toymaker,” answered the Doctor. “Her sick games result in you being her prisoner forever!”
“Not these days, Doctor,” replied the Toymaker. “I’m afraid the Grouping has caused considerable damage to not only your universe, but to the multiverse at large. And it’s spawned new universes outside of Zeno’s ideas.”
“So you want me to help you destroy them, is that it?” asked the Doctor.
“Hardly!” scoffed the Toymaker. “I easily convinced Zeno that such an act meant new games to play! No, this is something else. Someone intends to take advantage of this problem.”
“There are quite a number of people that would jump at the chance for multiversal travel. You’ll have to narrow it down.”
“Let’s just say that this particular person would cause trouble somehow if he continued putting his newfound knowledge of multiversal travel to his own ill purposes, trouble that has given Grand Zeno and I pause.”
“You’re afraid of this person?” The console room darkened for a brief moment, making the Toymaker look scarier than she usually does. It brightened up later when the Toymaker sighed.
“…Yes, we are,” she admitted. “Doctor, this person would seek the eradication of all things, from us gods to mortals.”
“Oh, come on!” argued the Doctor. “Who could possibly worry you-?!”
“Davros!” The console room went silent, even the TARDIS stopped making its usual noises at the mention of Davros’ name.
“…Davros?” the Doctor asked in confirmation. The Toymaker nodded. “…What is he doing that has you so worried?”
“He’s already learned about multiverse theory,” replied the Toymaker. “I’m sure you recall his reality bomb. It really would have worked against us had you not stopped him in time. As for the current crisis about him, we foresee a time where he will have destroyed all other life in the multiverse.”
“That’s always been his aim. Go on.”
“After your last encounter with him, he used his DARDIS to flee and gather allies, then he altered his craft to go between universes and go after one who went to a foreign universe during the Time War.”
“Is he in that universe now?” asked the Doctor.
“He’s made an alliance with a local tyrant,” replied the Toymaker. “Right now, what he seeks is in the hands of that tyrant’s enemies. So I want you, Doctor, to send Davros and his allies back to their correct universe.”
“…All right, I’ll do it,” declared the Doctor. “Just one thing, give my TARDIS a means to get there and back.”
“Doctor, you forget,” chuckled the Toymaker. “The yellow button will get you there and the rim of the device will get you back once your mission is complete. I’ve already put the coordinates into the yellow button, so press it when you’re ready. Good luck.” The Toymaker then vanished.