"Talk about cultural appropriation," said Zari in a snarky tone as they walked the boundary between Adventureland and Frontierland. "I don't know which group should be more offended."
"The Doctor says we should be careful not to judge people too harshly for the beliefs of the time," said Yaz, looking around the strange area they'd found themselves in. Truth be told she always wanted to go to Disneyland, but never thought it would be under these circumstances.
"Yeah, well, just because it's a common belief doesn't make it a right one," said Zari, looking through the window of one of the shops. Adventureland had given them nothing of use so far, so there were hopes that Frontierland would give them something.
"So who are you guys?" asked Yaz. "Are you also tourists."
"No, we're more... superheroes," said Zari, unable to think of a way of finishing that sentence.
"Superheroes?" asked Yaz, giving a disbelieving smirk. Zari looked at her, before softening, knowing it'd be mean to insult her for not knowing.
"Well for example," said Zari, seeing a bottle someone had left balanced on one of the small walls by the river. With a simple smirk she threw out her hand, a gust of air coming from it and knocking the bottle over.
Yaz said nothing, eyes widened in shock, before breaking out in a massive smile.
"Oh that it so cool," she said, beaming. "How do you do that?"
"My totem," said Zari, indicating to the small amulet around her neck. "Allows me to control the air."
"That's awesome," said Yaz eagerly. "Wish I could do that. I could shut my door whenever my sister leaves it open."
Zari said nothing, avoiding Yaz's eyes, hoping she wouldn't ask her the inevitable follow-up question.
"Do you have any siblings?" and there it was. An innocent question, with no malice behind it, but one that stung nonetheless. What was the right answer in this scenario? Yes? No? Was the fact that he was dead suddenly not mean he was her brother? And then you had time travel, which made things even more confusing since none of this had even happened yet...
"It's complicated," Zari said, trying to brush it off. Yaz frowned, worried she'd touched a nerve, torn between probing deeper and letting her have her privacy. She also wanted to apologize, but that might make things worse.
"Oi!" said a voice suddenly, breaking the two out of their thoughts. "What do you lot think you're doing?"
Both women turned to see a rather angry man stomp towards them, fuming. Quickly Yaz pulled out her press pass.
"We're reporters," she said. "From..."
"From the Daily Prophet," finished Zari quickly. "Out of time paper, probably haven't heard of it, don't expect you to have done so. We were sent here at the wrong time, but the security guard kindly let us in to do some early press releases."
The man said nothing, looking at their press passes. Both women held their breath, hoping the Doctor's psychic paper copies would work.
"I wasn't informed of your arrival," he said. "But, since you're here, I might as well give you ladies the grand tour."
"Thanks," said Yaz, with a nervous smile, not quite believing that the ruse worked.
"You're both Muslims, aren't you?" said the man.
"Yes," said Yaz.
"No," said Zari simultaneously.
"What I mean to say is sort of," continued Zari, ignoring Yaz's confused look. "Not that it matters, does it?"
"I suppose not..." said the man suspiciously. "Anyway, as you can see, this is Frontierland..."
"I wonder if we could instead talk about you," said Zari, cutting the man off. "You seem to be someone of great importance."
"Well considering I'm Walt's brother," said the man. "Roy Disney, at your service. Though the fact you didn't know that..."
"Oh don't mind her," said Yaz. "It's just this thing she does when reporting, acts like she's someone who landed here from another time and doesn't know what's going on. Really helps put an interesting spin on the proceedings."
"I see," said Roy, somewhat suspicious. "You know, you better just wait here for a moment while I check to make sure I have no other commitments at the moment."
"But of course," said Yaz, smiling, trying to work out what to do as the man walked away.
"What are we going to do?" she whispered to Zari.
"Why you asking me?" Zari whispered back.
"I don't know, you're the superhero."
"Just because I have powers doesn't mean I'm capable of doing anything," she hissed back. She looked around, spying a raft tied to the dock.
"Come on," she said, running over to the raft, Yaz following her. As quickly as they could they untied it from the dock and let it adrift, Zari directing the craft with blasts of wind.
"We'll hide out on the island till the heat dies down," said Zari.
"Good idea," said Yaz, as she nervously scanned the shoreline, waiting for Roy to come back. However, they managed to make it to the island safely, slipping into the cover of the foliage.
"That was close," said Yaz as the two of them made their way to the fort, aware of anyone who might be watching them.
"Yeah, well, you get use to it," said Zari. "Not the first time I've had to bluff my way out of a situation."
"Are you Muslim?" asked Yaz.
"Yes," said Zari, wanting to sweep that under the rug as well. She had no idea why she was bothering to give this girl Yaz so much information about her life. But that young naiveté... for some reason she couldn't help but trust the woman.
"Then why did you say no?" asked Yaz. "Do you not practice?"
"I do," said Zari. "It's... complicated."
"Is it because you're scared?" asked Yaz. "My gran says we shouldn't give in to fear, despite what others might think of us. We should stand proud in our belief."
"Easy for you to say," said Zari sarcastically, but immediately regretted it when she saw the hurt look on Yaz's face.
"I bet where you're from is some sort of utopia then," she said crossly.
"Actually, religion is outlawed from when I come from," said Zari. "My brother was killed over it." She didn't want to snap at Yaz, but she'd always struggled with not being confrontational, letting her feelings take control of her.
"I'm sorry," said Yaz, and Zari realized that she was sincere. It only made the guilt worse, as she realized just how awful she'd been. Zari took a few deep breaths, clearing her mind.
"What's this," she said, glad for the distraction as she examined some strange footprints in the dirt.
"They look like... tiger paws," said Yaz, uncertain. "But there's certainly no record of a tiger being in Disneyland."
"Not in the usual timeline," said Zari, standing up, looking around. "The question is, is the thing that made those footprints still here?"
"Zari," said Yaz slowly. Zari turned to see... something, staring back at them. Some sort of strange hybrid of mismatched parts. Before either of them could react the creature roared and charged straight at them!