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⠀⠀#DOCTORDONOVAN.⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ independent, ⠀ selective & private maeve donovan, ⠀ as saved from criminal minds' season 8.

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✦ | VERSES

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part three

at her core, maeve has always been hopeful and painfully curious. that nature doesn’t die: as she allows herself the time she needs, her heart heals as much as her physical wounds. wherever she goes - be it forwards, or trying to get the courage to get in touch with those she once knew, maeve begins to learn that maybe being someone new (a mix of old, damaged && repaired) isn’t so bad.academics, science, have always been her life. her abusive ex-fiance and her stalker are dead, it isn’t the time for anything more than friendships: she needs to relearn who she is before her future can be more than the same mistakes over and over. instead lecturing saves her life – bouncing between university after university, never longer than a term or two, long enough to truly change her students’ futures yet not long enough to get attached. she’s healing but there’s no way to rush getting over how the emptiness of her year in the coma has left her a little more hesitant of a world she’s rediscovering.

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✦ | main verse

❝ in that moment of revelation

↪ main verse. when diane pulls the trigger, maeve is certain she’s about to die. after all: the chances of surviving are close to none - she’s known, deep down, for years how it was all likely to end. she makes the choice to push diane - to sacrifice herself so spencer won't be hurt again. but the bullet doesn’t kill her. instead her coma lasts just under eighteen months, her recovery slow and painful. maeve is a survivor / she won’t surrender and lose to someone who already took so much of her life.

by the time she’s recovered, there is no longer any place for her in the life she had before everything went to hell. now she just has to learn to live again. taking jobs as a lecturer all over the country, maeve keeps in touch with what friends remain - with reid - via letters, needing time to herself to regain a grip on her own identity.

✦ | pre show

❝ work is the best antidote to sorrow

↪ pre show. growing up, maeve was never the most social of children. not because she didn’t like company, not even because she didn’t do well with others, she always had a way of charming both those her age and adults. but she was always easily caught up: caught up in her own head, caught up in books, caught up in an endless sea of questions she wanted answered.

her work comes above everything else, she’ll have time for it all later, relationships short lived to the point it was easy to worry something was wrong with her. wanting to fall in love with bobby was the first mistake - trying to ‘fix’ them for too long just continuing the misery. verse includes show events up to her main verse divergence.

✦ | profiler

❝ a curious constitution

↪ profiler au. somewhere along the line, her life takes a different turn: leading her not to follow in her mother’s shoes, or her father’s, but forming a completely new path. working for with the BAU team begins as simply a temporary assignment - she’s good with people, with reading them, and the team needs fresh blood (her degrees still coming in useful if in unexpected ways).

getting attached to being in a team for more than a few cases is far from a planned mistake but she still finds herself drawn to the idea of staying more than she ever imagined. NOTE: in this verse, she’s already been engaged to bobby, but diane’s obsession with her is still slowly building during maeve’s rare time home.

✦ | leverage

❝ THESE LULLABIES FILLED WITH LIES

↪ leverage / criminal. everything maeve ever learnt in her life came from mimicking: social norms, languages, accents, how to play with people’s expectations of who she is. a child genius who was lost in the system a little too long grows into the kind of woman whose soft heart doesn’t match her life choices. the grifter / thief becomes a world (unknown) master forger, replacing famous works of art with her own perfect copies… going almost fully undetected.

if all her aliases use the initials MD then well, who can comment? instead all her disguises always wear long fringes to hide the bullet scar on the left side of her temple: a harsh reminder of what happened the last time she trusted a team. she doesn’t do crimes where there will be real victims: and even if the rich ever do notice her carefully made forgeries, well, they can afford to invest in something else instead.

✦ | historical

❝ I'M AFRAID OF WHAT THE ANSWER WILL BE

↪ historical. is there a tragedy worse to society than a young, childless widow? she'd always hoped to find love - a romantic nature barely making sense for such a smart person. taken in by the donovans as a child, their young ward never tried to get anyone's attentions: shy and quiet to the point most likely had never heard her speak. she was harmless: and harmless people often underestimate the troubles that will find them. after all, all seemed glad when she caught a young lord's eye, happy anyone would be willing to tolerate her quirks and studious nature.

robert dies only two years into their marriage, and all she hears are endless apologies. how sad she must be, left with an estate and nobody to share it with. (and she is. she is so very sad, but not about the loss of her husband.) at least now, she tells herself, she doesn't need to rely on anyone. quietly publishing her writings under a male pseudonym and only fluttering in and out of polite society as she fancies.

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✦ | star trek

❝ TOMORROW WE DISAPPEAR INTO THE UNKNOWN

↪ star trek. adopted by humans when as only a young child, maeve is a half human, and until in her twenties believes herself to be half vulcan; a child of two worlds who never seems to fit in any. she’s got everything under control: until in her 20s she finds out that her adoptive mother, mary donovan – a prominent member of section 31 and one of starfleet’s best geneticists, had altered her to make her pass as half vulcan instead of half romulan. the revelation is one that breaks her heart: going from remaining a lieutenant on earth to signing up for any and all possible ships for as brief time as possible. staying too long, after all, would mean letting people getting attached... and that's bound to end in disaster when starfleet views her as a ticking time bomb.

NOTE: whilst some of starfleet knows, they don’t want to risk the scandal such a truth when it benefits them, && since they're fully aware maeve couldn't be less malicious. mary is ‘encouraged’ to retire and maeve is ordered to keep up the vulcan lie, meaning nobody but those with the highest clearance, or whom she trusts enough to open up with know she’s part romulan. as time progresses she'll start being more open about it. only the highest ranking crew with access to her file know anything at all is up.

✦ | star trek: elysian verse

❝ CLEAR YOUR SLATE AND WIPE YOUR CONSCIENCE

↪ strange new worlds, 1x08. based during the episode The Elysian Kingdom in the story realm. she’s gone by many names, too many if being entirely honest. a traveller between kingdoms and villages alike who never tells more than she must. rumours have it that she’s a witch, some kind of dark sorceress who makes herself at home in their woods to avoid prying eyes.

for the time being she uses the name vera, focussing on taking time to recover from whatever she’s avoiding && continuing the accidental art of growing attached to many of those she meets. one thing that cannot be denied or hidden are her empathic abilities, especially with physical contact, and many whisper that she can see people’s futures.

✦ | stargate

❝ I'LL BE THERE TO FALL INTO THE DARK

↪ stargate. she’s just a scientist, an occasional professor, that’s what maeve keeps on telling everyone - she’s not special && she’s certainly not military. but she’s always been curious, and it was always going to be her downfall. it starts off slow: all three of her phds needed in learning about new worlds, in learning all they can about what is happening. the sg-teams always bound to attract attention. attention that comes in the form of a goa'uld named d’ane: spiteful, jealous, far stronger than even the kindest example of humanity could hope to match. doctor donovan is MIA, assumed lost forever, they’ve lost so many to the goa'uld that none of them have hope of her return.

it’s two years before they encounter her again and when they do, d’ane is the one who is gone from sad green eyes. maeve spends an entire under her control: consciousness tightly trapped, seeing the creature that invaded her body commit atrocities on planet after planet. by the time she sees friends again she’s been free just over eight months: taking time to travel back to the places she saw destroyed to try and fix anything at all. or at least to allow them to decide if she is worth forgiving for the actions of the symbiont.stargate atlantis: by the end of season 7, maeve is tired and disillusioned: so when Atlantis is suggested... maeve volunteers for the expedition.

✦ | doctor who

❝ THE MORE BIZARRE, THE LESS MYSTERIOUS

↪ doctor who. whilst predominantly the same as her main verse, set after her leaving the hospital, maeve still focuses on lecturing at various universities across america to help with her recovery. what she never expected was for something so simple to lead her into what felt like an impossible world. she’d never doubted the existence of aliens out amongst the stars, impossibly distant…

imagining the impossible sitting in on her lectures? taking interest in her personally? no. that would have been utterly ridiculous, would it not? yet one odd student with fascinating questions caused the dominoes to start falling and her worldview to be changed forever. so much for finding a new normal.

in general, threads in this verse will be centered around her travels with chloe smith - she's less a companion and more just a sister figure who keeps being dropped into trouble.

✦ | the orville

❝ I HAVE TO REINVENT MYSELF AGAIN

↪ the orville. what’s the point of a xelayan without their strength? a half human and half xelayan was always bound to be not quite what either side would want. born on amongst a mostly human colony, merav delman did not start off with an easy life: given up by birth family before her first birthday, left to bounce between those willing to take little quiet hybrid in.

when the donovans came along, merav first took on the donovan surname, changing her name fully to ‘maeve’ by the time she turned eighteen.despite not having the xelayan strength, maeve got their intelligence: and, if anything, often proves herself incredibly smart even by their standards: younger than most by the time she’s rushed through education. an expert on genetics, entomology, botany and - unofficially - far too many topics… shy woman has a reputation in too many fields to really keep track of.

✦ | marvel / dc / heroes

❝ HEROISM ALL AROUND US

↪ marvel / dc / heroes. her life was always, for the most part, normal. parents loving and outside of her genius, childhood post her adoption perfectly pleasant. it was all completely normal – until, on january the 16th, her stalker killed them both with a single bullet. three days later maeve woke up only hours after the mortician removed the bullet from where it was buried in her skull.unable to comprehend what had happened to her, there was no telling her loved ones she was okay without putting them in danger.instead maeve found herself working as a geneticist again, this time helping (metahumans / inhumans / evos) who couldn’t control their abilities before they might accidentally hurt themselves. she rarely brings up her own ability: the white scar on the left side of her forehead a painful reminder things going unsaid.

✦ | the nevers

❝ I DON'T WANNA KNOW WHO I AM

↪ the nevers. she’s always been an oddity: american, female scientist the survivor of things she won’t mention - the sort of things to haunt her nightmares and drive her to london in time for monday of August 3, 1896, looking only for time to do her research && yet ending up changed for life. maeve ( a botanist, entomologist, someday to be labelled a founding mother of genetics ) used to her life surrounding proving people wrong… and having to hide herself to survive.

she is touched / or at the very least cursed, it is clear from days after the galanthi that something isn’t right. there is no name for it - it’s hard to imagine there being words for any of it, fully aware that she will never be quite alone again in a screaming universe full of life && death in equal measure.

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✦ | the magicians

❝ REMEMBER THAT ALL WORLDS DRAW TO AN END

↪ the magicians. found when only a toddler in 1980s, there was never any explenation as to where the little nameless girl was. she wouldn’t have an answer for a very long time: she got lucky, raised by a loving couple, a genius as always, finding her way in a world that never felt like home. it's a shock to all who know her when at the age of 23, maeve simply disappears. an evening working late turns into her simply never returning home – no letter, no clues, left behind.

when she wakes in fillory (somewhere that, somehow, feels more like home than earth ever did) it takes a whole to work out time is passing differently there than it is in the life she can’t quite get back to. instead the scientist fills her time with travelling, learning all she can, and simply trying to work out why she got sucked into this impossible world.

✦ | harry potter

❝ A VERY ORDINARY INDIVIDUAL AFTER ALL

↪ harry potter. fostered at five 1/2 and then adopted at 7 by a muggle && squib family, maeve had always shown magical potential in the form of flowers blooming around her and storms following her nightmares. attending ilvermorny school of witchcraft and wizardry (in pukwudgie) whilst continuing speeding through her muggle studies whenever she was at home.

as much as she excelled and loved magic though, after her eighteenth birthday maeve chose the muggle world: continuing to become a kind hearted geneticist with sometimes magical luck. after diane’s attempt to kill her however, when she’s fully healed from the injury and needing to move on, maeve finally returns to the wizarding world. to fill her time, she starts teaching charms and herbology at various wizarding schools.

✦ | charmed

❝ YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN

↪ charmed. she’d never, in her far too few years of life, truly believed in an afterlife. there was no science behind it after all: just the simple, child like hope that someday her life wouldn’t come to mean nothing. when diane killed them both, that was meant to be the end. A tragic, useless end of a good soul and a broken one.

the universe had different plans for her all the same, waking up to a whole new world of possibilities. a whitelighter. with all the good she’d both done && was meant to do when still alive, maeve was given a second chance to look out for the people left behind. and if she still kept an eye or two on the people who’d meant the world to her when she was alive, who could possibly know?

✦ | once upon a time

❝ TRAIN YOUR SOUL TO REMEMBER

↪ ouat / magical worlds. when she’s found, only a toddler, lost and alone, there’s no way to tell what world maeve from. a little girl raised by two scholars: a genius in her own right with a talent for sensing the weak spots between worlds where portals can easily be created. if anything it was a shock that she waited until her twenties to finally give into what had been calling her for her entire life – her father gifting her an enchanted compass to guide her home and praying for her safety as she faded from their lives.

whilst she mostly prefers to travel by enchanted mirror, maeve’s journeys went smoothly for a few years at least. then it all went so terribly wrong – a robbery in a distant land leaving her without her compass and a scar on the left side of her face. in lands with magic, there are an overwhelming number of potential pathways… meaning she has no way to know which, if any, might take her home. now without a guide the best maeve can do is keep on travelling, learning, and trying to understand how to control her talent at all.

✦ | his dark materials

❝ MATTER AND SPIRIT ARE ONE

↪ his dark materials. a female scholar is something the magisterium will never be willing to accept: never mind a female genius rumoured to not even have a dæmon... she's the kind of person they'd much rather not exist. her work is spent in solitude, published under male names just like her mother was once told to, genetics && dust a fascinating combination regardless of religion or philosophies.

if occasionally there's a flash of colour - a quick and little fluttering from her sleeve to a high up spot - well, maeve prefers not to discuss why her very soul has never uttered a word to her. instead she lives for her work, no time left outside of it for much more than a trail of failed attempts to be maeve as well as doctor donovan.

✦ | the old guard

❝ HARKEN TO THE VOICE OF OUR PRAYERS

↪ the old guard. her first death, the one that started it all, came when she was thirty during the bar kokhba revolt (134 CE). she’d been engaged once but it hadn’t worked out… forming a pattern in which, the woman still known a merav, remained an odd creature for many eras. when centuries passed and she chose a new name, maeve donovan was born. yet violence never came easily to her: it never really would become so either.

whilst she can fight if necessary, maeve’s role to the team is her expertise. when they lost quynh, maeve left to see if science could offer a better way of finding a needle in an ocean. she’s still ready to come running the moment she’s needed, she cares a lot, but she struggles a great deal regularly with what she is and having the weight of ‘helping’ her own kind by finding answers.

✦ | grishaverse

❝ AS THE WORLD CAVES IN

↪ grisha verse. it never takes long around maeve to realise two things - one, that no matter what gentle features claim, she is a great deal older than anyone would guess. with power comes a long life && she has plenty of power: some sort of universal joke at her expense. a corporalki whose ability is oddly unique - a reverse healer of sorts, capable of draining people of their life energies ( both in order to heal others and as simple nature ).

all sides have, over the years, let her down too much to know how to handle it. instead she travels - as nameless as she can keep herself and sharp scar along her hairline a mark of when death almost won. whilst she tries to only use her skillset when she has to, maeve involves herself greatly in any sciences she can, an expert on many things yet never on how to exist.