#(And Torchwood which I only partially watched)

[rahabs]

Man, I'm so glad I never liked Doctor Who because... what the hell has happened to it?

#Like I never liked it but in my high school days all my friends were OBSESSED with it. #So while I didn't like it I obviously listened to them talk about it because they all loved it so much #So I'm very familiar with the Eccleston-Tennant-Smith eras #(And Torchwood which I only partially watched) #And the major plot/character arcs etc. #And from what I'm hearing now they basically just... undid a bunch of the most impactful story lines and I just. #Like even someone who doesn't like Doctor Who I ask: why? #But then again this isn't unique to Doctor Who. #The trend seems to be to resurrect IPs and then just destroy them with bad/lazy writing these days #And then when fans understandably critique it just claim fans are being racist/misogynistic/insert-ist-or-ism-here. #No! It's just that your writing sucks! We're mad because the writing sucks and is lazy and the characters don't make sense! #Anyway I have heard NOTHING good about the new DW stuff even from my very progressive friends. My moderate friends are equally disappointe #text #misc

[wack-ashimself]

Liking the first season of 'Torchwood' BUT...

See, I knew of the show 10 years ago. Watched some of it. Hated it. Forgot about it. But was watching like top 10 most shocking tv deaths (or something like that) and they had season 4 (did NOT know they had that many) of 'Torchwood' on there, saying how the latter two seasons were SOLID AF compared to the first 2 seasons.

And I am getting into it. On the 1st season finale. But I gotta say this show has so many plot holes (record setting for just 1 fucking season), and characters who make the wrong call EVERY TIME, you wonder...who am I supposed to cheer for? Cuz, by the numbers, Torchwood has hurt far more than it helped so far.

The lead-she cheated on her boyfriend (with EASE. It felt weird how easy it was for her being in a committed relationship), drugged him, erased his memory, lied to him, and then (Spoilers) got him killed. Also thru negligence, released an alien that killed a BUNCH of dudes.

The butler-he literally chanced cyber men taking over the world, and got an innocent genius doctor killed, cuz he was too much of a COWARD to let his clearly dying gf go.

Tech lady-She reads everyone's deepest darkest thoughts, then got mad when Jack sent an alien who had been murdering for centuries into the sun. She's not bad, per say, more...neutral. She's harmed the least, for sure. That's such a low bar, tho...

Captain Jack-The original reason I watched the show. I LOVED his character on Dr Who. But...this is not him. Not the same guy. Not the free spirited, happy, goofy, witty, always ready, near-god. No. This is an immortal having a mid mid mid life crisis cuz he's lived so long and WANTS to die. Seriously, cuz of his shit, and the lead's, this is like a partial drama. I will say, tho, he has had to make some TOUGH calls which did not make him well liked, but I respected him cuz you knew, deep down, it had to be done, and no one else was gonna do it*.

The doctor-In the finale I am on, he was fired. And I hope his character dies. I fucking hate him. I hate his face, his voice, his actions, his brain; everything. He convinces the noobie to cheat with him, after he basically mouth rapes her. He's angry ALL the time, yells at people thinking he's a genius when he's like the 3rd smartest. He 'falls in love' with a women, tries to demand her to stay, and gets all pity party after ONE WEEK WITH HER. Can you fall madly in love in a week? Sure. But suicidal and a threat to others cuz 'you're sad'? Go fuck yourself, you bitch. Oh, and he basically openly chooses to chance ending the world NOT because he wants to save his team mates (tho he claims that) but because he's tired of being a bitch to the time tear (or whatever the fuck they call it).

So...WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CHEERING FOR? Jack is the only semi cool character, and he's still kinda an ass. They're ALL kinda...selfish, short sighted, fuckers.

But I will finish this series. Because, storywise, the themes and plots they got going, are HIGHLY original and almost always have 1-3 good twists I don't see coming. You don't understand: I have been exposed to so much media, I can predict most things I see within a short period of time (even whole movies from trailers). I'm SO good (or writing is THAT predictable) I actually can, based on context, guess, WORD FOR WORD some lines. Sometimes in real time. Not usually. But not too far off, either.

*I will say, the call the writers/show/characters are supposed to hate was Jack giving the child to the faeries. NO. GREAT call. Best call you could make. Every other call would have sucked. See-the girl was fucking evil. Sociopath. Straight up. Like the faeries. She hated everyone. Talked to no one, but the faeries. She was borderline evil. And the faeries straight up said if you don't give us the kid, we will kill en mass, starting with HER ENTIRE SCHOOL. And the girl WANTED to go. So...where's the problem giving up the kid? Her mom's sad? Who gives a shit. You just saved TONS of lives, an evil fucking kid is gone, and the fairies disappeared. Only one who really lose was the mom. Her long time boyfriend (he was an ass) and her kid: BOTH GONE, SAME DAY. That is cruel, but long run, genuinely, it's even best for her. Her boyfriend was abusing her kid behind her back, and her kid was cheering on the torture of kids. It's a win-win-win. Fuck you for trying to make me feel bad for him giving up the kid. She wanted to go, and I wanted her to go. Fuck her.

#torchwood #faeries #captain jack harkness #dr who #doctor who #spoiler #spoilers #but the show came out in early 2000s so come on!

[sasha-whos-askin-racket]

Just tell us what every Torchwoods member favourite bar is!

And where Jack and Ianto love to go on dates multiple times.

And where Tosh would love to go with Owen for a Date!

(Disclaimer that I was not of legal drinking age when Torchwood was airing and therefore don't have a particularly good knowledge of the early 2000s Cardiff scene, so will be partially substituting it with what I think they'd like today as well.)

Ianto is a Fuel fan. Half of that man's pay-check goes on the digital jukebox, and he will pay extra to fast-track all of his songs and make everyone else listen to the most obscure and off-the-wall rock and metal bullshit. I feel like he'd also appreciate a good live music venue, and I'm thinking The Moon more than something like Brewhouse. The Owain only does live music on Fridays, but I think you'd find him there on the occasional Thursday doing the quiz.

Now listen, I love Gwen. I do, okay? I love her, and I hate to admit it, but you'd find her in a Popworld. You would absolutely find her on the dancefloor in Popworld. Do I think she'd buy too much of the shitty merch? I do. I absolutely do. She's got about 12 Popworld branded ducks scattered around her flat. The music has permanently damaged her hearing. She's having a great time.

He's not a Torchwood team member as such but Andy would love Roxy Lanes. He'd absolutely fucking love Roxy Lanes. Give this man a cocktail and stick him in the batting cages. Let him play shuffleboard, watch him accidentally launch a bowling ball into the wrong lane. Actually I think he'd love any of the clubs where you can play games, be it something physical like Roxy Lanes and Golf Fang, or the arcade machines in NQ64. I'm also very tempted to say that he'd like Ballie Ballerson, but I think that's just wishful thinking. This man has seen The Horrors, let him in the ball pit.

Owen I think would like Ten Mill Lane. Maybe like is the wrong word actually but I do think that's probably where you'd find him. Probably not on the dancefloor though. I don't know why I've picked Ten Mill because it's not wholly in character for him, but I can just feel it in my soul. I have just realised I've been primarily listing nightclubs and not bars, but it's fine. We're fine. I think him and Tosh would go on a date to The Alchemist. I think they'd both enjoy it, because they're both pretty nerdy in that way. (For those unfamiliar, The Alchemist is a cocktail bar and restaurant where some the drinks are science-themed. They've got drinks that change colour and they do things with like, dry ice and fire and they serve them in test-tubes and distilling flasks and it's very expensive but very cool.)

I kind of don't have Tosh pinned as a nightclub person, I'm gonna be super honest with you. So again I think something like The Alchemist or The Botanist. There's a Wetherspoons in Mermaid Quay which I think would get a lot of use from all of them tbh. She'd probably also like NQ64 to be fair. I want to say one of them would like Heidi's because that's our go-to on nights out but also I can't decide which of them would like Heidi's so I guess I'm gonna give that to Tosh. But she'd definitely join Ianto in The Owain on quiz night.

I 1000% do not have Jack pinned as a nightclub guy, I do think he'd probably pick a local that's not actually local to him, somewhere like the Andrew Buchan or the Albany. I know most Spoons are kinda technically independents but I don't have him down as a Spoons guy, he'd be like a proper old man and only go to actual locals. I think he'd take Ianto on dates to The Owain, it does good food and the drink aren't too bad price-wise. They'd do the quiz, they'd probably half pay attention to the sports and Ianto would complain about the quality of the coffee machine but still order a latte with his dinner.

#torchwood #im insanely tired so i dunno man take this i guess #also i have at one point worked at more than one of the venues listed above - can you work out which?

[victoriawaterfield]

👩‍⚕️🔬 *enters your inbox scientifically* Good evening-ramble to me abt jack harkness

this is so sad i never got this notif :((

anyways !!! jack harkness !!! fifty first century man the only guy ever.......

he's introduced as an ex time agent & a con man (something that is never elaborated on nearly as much as it should've been tbh) & his life is saved in the same episode as the doctor says 'just this once, everybody lives!' which is so fun considering that later. in the season finale. jack is killed & brought back in a way that means he can Never Die. it's so devastating.

(technically, he first appears in the second episode of series one as the face of boe but. that's unimportant)

he is soooo devoted to the doctor it makes him look stupid <33 he waits over a hundred years in one place for them just because that's where the doctor would like to refuel, he devotes himself to fixing torchwood partially Because of the doctor, he has the doctors severed hand in a jar, he waited nineteen years for her in a prison based on a rumor that she was in there, there is a torchwood book in which He (in reference to the doctor) is capitalized because he basically. worships the doctor. he is so in love it's Awful.

the doctor (especially ten) could not give less of a shit about him <333

he's immortal so he watches everyone he loves die and is abandoned by like. everyone. including the one person who Would understand it (the doctor, because the doctor doesn't like that jacks immortal, he thinks it's wrong) & it's so. sick & twisted... he was so full of whimsy at the beginning & he's just being beaten by a stick.

he has also been pregnant like eight times & at one point turns into a giant head (the face of boe) but that's honestly less important

he's also so in love with rose tyler but he spends. a long time thinking she's dead (while she's off in another universe) and when she's finally back they don't really get to interact much it's so sad... ninejackrose were so sweet. & then ten was awful 2 jack & kinda ruined that by leaving him behind

i'd say 'don't even get me started on team torchwood' but honestly i have not seen most of torchwood so i can't say a lot about them other than the fact that they're all So Awful /pos <3 & that he cares for them greatly.

#annie.txt #jack harkness

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 020 - Another Prison Break

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 1 Episode 21 - Detained

The episode throws us right into the plot, even in the cold open, by having Mayweather and Archer wake up in some prison, where the majority of the prisoners are Suliban. Supposedly, these people have been at war with the Suliban Cabal, presumably part of the Temporal Cold War that's been brought up a few times throughout the series.

It appears however, that most of the Suliban in the prison aren't part of the Cabal. The Prison's warden was at first compliant, but immediately turns a lot more hostile once Archer starts talking to the Suliban. This episode unmistakably a Sci-Fi metaphor for the American Interment Camps in World War 2, and the episode even directly states the connection. The situation was covered with the weight the topic deserved.

Archer has a lot of great moments in this episode, making friends with the Sulibans. Honestly though, this should have been at least partially a Mayweather focus episode. We have two crew members in the prison, the script seems determined to give all the story beats to Archer. As a Character, he's definitely been given the Shaft in this series. Twenty episodes in, and he's only really had one focus episode to shine in, and even there he was overshadowed. In this episode, his lines are mostly just questions to get exposition, nothing really character development. Can some episodes please give this man something to do?

Aside from Travis feeling more like set-dressing than a character, the episode was a really really good episode about Governmental Racism and overreach during times of war. This was a very enjoyable episode, and I loved seeing the plan come together. And leaving it on the somewhat dark not of the question "will they be alright" unanswered was brilliant. This episode certainly hits my top 5 so far!

This episode does notably share a title with an Episode of the Doctor Who Spin Off, Class. I'm still deciding on my arbitrary rules for the Same Episode Title Segment thing, but I'll do it here. I don't like Class, but blocking off Class but still doing SJA and TW for these things would feel wrong. So:

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Class: Episode 6 - Detained

This is gonna be a long one, it's probably going to be my only chance to talk about this Spin Off.

Class as a Spin Off series was cancelled after one season, and it's a common opinion that the BBC never really gave it the chance it deserved, it aired during the 2016 gap year when the general audiences weren't thinking about Doctor Who and the marketing for never really made it clear who the audience was supposed to be.

That said, when it aired, I didn't really like it. It felt like it was combining the worst aspects of the other two Spin Off, SJA and Torchwood, without anything that made those series so great. It also doesn't help that SJA and TW were given multiple seasons to outgrow their issues, whereas Class only has it's very flawed 8 episode run.

But wider series issues aside: This particular episode of Class consists of the main cast, minus it's most interesting character, trapped in room in the void with an alien rock called "The Prisoner" that radiates Anger, and when you touch it makes you relive traumatic memories when you pick it up and speak unspoken truths. Which is good set up for character drama. And, they do a lot with it. Every character does get a shot with the Rock. This is one of the better episodes of Class, and one that sadly showcases what could have been if the series was given a chance, but the episode focusses way too much on the Relationship dramas of the cast, and I simply don't care enough about these characters to be invested in

Both the Enterprise "Detained" and the Whoniverse "Detained" were enjoyable, but I found the Star Trek enterprise episode a lot easier to watch, mainly because enjoying the Class episode involved getting over the fact that I don't like the series as a whole.

I hope I don't come across overly negative about Doctor Who in these title sharing ones, I swear I do actually like Doctor Who, Star Trek episodes just seem to share titles with the Bad Parts of Who

#whovian watching star trek #star trek #star trek enterprise #star trek ent #star trek: enterprise #enterprise #ent #detained

[finnismyoriginalsin]

What TV Series is worth watching from start to finish? Name any 10 ?

Hmmm, I've watched ALOT of stuff so I'm likely going to leave out quite a bit. And only the ones that have finished or are about to finish.

The ones that have stuck with me through the years:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the series as they intertwine a bit. This fandom started me out w/reading fanfic, and I love every bit of it.

2. Veronica Mars, including the movie, but the last season I would say is not the best. Still a good series though.

3. The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but only if you like the supernatural/and or are partial to vampires. I'm not including Legacies bc I've never watched it.

3b. Teen Wolf, I can't believe I almost forgot the show that gave me the inspiration to write some of my best fic.

4. Community, it's just so hilarious.

5. On my block is also hilarious but has some good drama as well.

6. Flight of the Conchords just 😂😂😂

7. The Office US version

8. Firefly including the movie

9. Penny Dreadful, though I hated the ending

10. Scrubs, but not the last season spin off.

Honorable mentions: Supernatural, GoT (terrible ending), Dr Who 9th-11th doctors and Torchwood, Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix on my shit list forever for not ending properly), Lucifer, just finished Mare of Easttown which was amazing. If I think of any more I'll add to it.

Grimm

American Horror Story but this is subjective

Fleabag

Once upon a time

Siren, kinda cheesy at times but one of the best mermaid shows

The Good place

Good Omens

The Haunting of Hill House and Bly manor

The Queen's Gambit

I am not okay with this

Chilling adventures of Sabrina

Dead to me

Atypical

#tv series #personal

[r0sequarks]

Hiatus Classic Who Watchlist

so, you’ve got a 10 month hiatus and need more doctor who...why not give the original series a try?

Classic who is a bit hard to get in to - the pacing of the episodes is much slower - but it’s still well worth it. This list is seperated by doctor, with ‘must watch’ and ‘reccommended’ if you don’t want to watch every episode ever. 

First Doctor 

Must Watch:

An Unearthly Child: the very first episode. Even if you skip the entirety of the first doctor, you should at least watch the episode where Doctor who began. 

The Daleks: the second episode - that’s right, the daleks are the first villains of doctor who, ever! I think this is probably the best episode of the first doctor, and one of the best to show people. 

The Gunfighters: All I’m going to say is that I watched this, and so y’all better watch it too. 

Recommended:

The Edge of Destruction, The Aztecs, The Sensorites, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Chase, The Time Meddler, The Tenth Planet*

*The Tenth Planet would be on the Must Watch, because it’s the introduction of the Cybermen and the First Doctor’s regeneration, but the final episode is missing, so ymmv. 

Second Doctor 

Must Watch:

The War Games: The only ‘must watch’. Very long - the longest serial ever, but if you’re only watching one episode with 2, it may as well be this one. Features the first appearance of Gallifrey.

Recommended:

The Tomb of the Cybermen, Ice Warriors*, The Enemy of the World, The Invasion*, The Seeds of Death

*Partially animated due to missing episodes

(lowkey i recommend basically every episode from here on out, but ...)

Third Doctor

Must Watch:

Spearhead from Space: Introduction of post-regeneration Hijinks, UNIT as major characters, and autons. 

Terror of the Autons: First appearance of the Master

The Three Doctors: First ever multi-doctor episode.

Recommended:

Doctor Who and the Silurians, Colony in Space, The Daemons, The Curse of Peladon, the Sea Devils, Frontier in Space, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Planet of the Spiders

The Fourth Doctor

Must Watch

Genesis of the Daleks: This is maybe one of the important episodes of Doctor Who of all time. 

The Deadly Assassin: Gallifreyan politics! What more can you want.

The Invasion of Time: Gallifreyan politics, part 2. 

The Key to Time Arc: all of season 16 is a single arc, introducing new companion Romana. While still individual episodes, they’re best watched all together. 

The Keeper of Traken/Logopolis: Final episodes of the 4th Doctor.

Recommended:

Robot, The Sontaran Experiment, Pyramids of Mars, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, Destiny of the Daleks, City of Death, Full Circle, State of Decay, Warrior’s Gate

The Fifth Doctor

Must Watch:

The Five Doctors: Crossover episode but this time there’s 5 of them.

Planet of Fire/Caves of Androzani: the finale episodes, with one of the best regarded final episodes of classic who. 

Recommended:

Castrovalva, Kinda, Earthshock, Timeflight, Snakedance, Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, Enlightenment, The King’s Daemons, Resurrection of the Daleks

The Sixth Doctor

Must Watch:

The Mark of the Rani: First appearance of the Rani. 

The Two Doctors: It’s not my fault, the crossover episodes are really good.

Recommended:

The Twin Dilemma, Attack of the Cybermen, Timelash, Revelation of the Daleks

Trial of a Timelord: season 23 is also a season long arc and introduces a companion, but it’s not all that great or important, so it’s going in Reccomended instead.

The Seventh Doctor

Must Watch:

Time and the Rani: Regeneration episode + the Rani. 

Dragonfire: introduces Ace.

Remembrance of the Daleks: introduces Dalek Politics.

Survival: the final episode of Classic Who. 

Recommended:

Paradise Towers, The Happiness Patrol, Battlefield, The Curse of the Fenric

The Eighth Doctor:

Doctor Who: The Movie. The only 

Bonus! The ... ninth doctor?

Scream of the Shalka was a 6 episode animated web series produced by the BBC in 2003 in the hopes of getting a new Doctor Who series on the air. They were planning to have Doctor Who continue in this format, but instead we got nuwho. 

Still need more Doctor Who? Don’t worry, the extended universe has got you covered, in both book and audio format:

The Novels! 

The Past Doctor Adventures + the Virgin Missing Adventures are the main series for the 1st through 6th doctors. 

The Virgin New Adventures are a continuation after the show ended, focused mostly on 7 and Ace. There’s also the Bernice Summerfield spinoff series for a well regarded companion.

The Eighth Doctor Adventures are where most of the Eighth Doctor’s personality comes from, so if you’d like to meet him check out those books. 

You also have the New Series Adventures for nuwho doctors, as well as Torchwood novels, and a bunch of other series you can find a full list of here!

the Audios!

Big Finish Audios are mostly in one series, the BF main range - Doctors 1-8 with various companions, no real order. there’s tons of lists, I’d recommend picking out serials based on doctors + and companions you’re interested in.

They’ve been doing more and more nuwho stuff recently, so you can find quite a bit for 9-12, including a series focused on the tenth doctor. A fairly comprehensive list of all the big finish series is here and a few of them are on spotify so you don’t even have to buy them!

There’s also the spin offs, most notably Gallifrey, a series that focuses on 4th Doctor companions Romana & Leela doing Gallifrey politics on Gallifrey in the direct lead up to the Time War, and which I highly recommend (it’s what got me into the eu stuff)

Oh, and Torchwood. There’s quite a few Jack and/or Torchwood audio series, including some with Ianto, so. you know. go check those out.

and if you’ve watched all 17 days, 4 hours, and 55 minutes of Classic who, and listened to all 7 weeks worth of Big Finish Audios, and read all 450+ books, and still need more Doctor Who,

...try ao3? sorry, dude, i’ve done my best.

#dw #doctor who #classic who #doctor who hiatus #the timeless children

[youremyonlyhope]

Spyfall

Yay more Doctor Who! I say as if I haven’t been watching Doctor Who non-stop for this entire week. God I love BBC-America’s Christmas marathon.

So are they all spies? These people being attacked?

Me: Oh I completely forgot I loved the newer opening sequence. I still love it. Dad: Because it’s all warped and psychedelic? Me: Well it’s obviously a homage to the original opening from the 60s with all the shapes - WAIT. PART ONE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN PART ONE?

Yay!  She has a RAZR phone. And it’s blue. That’s adorable. Our TV keeps cutting out words every like 10 seconds and it’s getting annoying. It did this for the whole Doctor Who marathon too, but at least I’d already seen those episodes and knew the gist of the dialogue. This is new so I���m missing everything. Me and my dad are literally going “COME ON!” every 10 seconds because we’re missing dialogue from the sound cutting. I would not have kept driving that car after all that. “I’ve read the files, the Doctor is a man.” “I’ve had an upgrade.” LOVE IT. We’ve got closed captions on now, so even if the sound cuts out we’re ok. “Yeah keep em coming” Love. Adorable. Calling it now. Vor might become a running plot point.

C: UNIT. Even Torchwood Me: They’re both gone. Doctor: All gone. Me: SEE.

I love that they brought up Torchwood though. That show was basically Chibnall’s baby for the first 2 seasons. The TARDIS can’t leave if something is partially inside...  ok it forced it back out. Who is this MI6 friend though? Do we already know them? Am I being stupid? ...This actor looks SO familiar...  “Cozy.” “You mean messy.” “You’re right, I do.” I loved that. Was he in an Adventure in Space and Time? I’m 99.9999999999% sure that’s who he is, but I haven’t seen that in about 2 years so I don’t want to assume.

My brother and dad are having an argument about student loans and whether or not they’ll be forgiven in a few years or if Trump’s gonna get re-elected. I’m glad I put on captions because I literally cannot hear this episode anymore.

93% human? Basically I only took in about half of the the “interview” with the guy because my family was talking over it. They’re going to his birthday party so I guess that’s all that matters. I meant to say it earlier, but the shapes of the aliens look so familiar to me.... I was gonna say they should back themselves against a wall, but that’s where they tend to come out of so... no. Out in the open is probably safer. OH GOD ITS LIT UP. So is it from another dimension? If physical boundaries don’t work? Ok yep it’s Sacha Dhawan. Waris in An Adventure in Space and Time. Very ominous. Obstacles. “Duck down you twits!” - My Dad. These tree things look like DNA... Does it feed off light... So it can teleport people? Sooooo is Yaz... still Yaz?  “They think that she’s Yaz... but she Yaz not.” - My Dad being dumb. Doctor. We’ve learned from Martha that you gotta tell us your sad backstory early on. Please open up. Awww O is like a Doctor fanboy. Love it. I wonder which Doctor he met since I can’t remember him... Multiple earths? So it’s dimensions! Like I said! The suits! Love it. The bowtie! And did I see a flash of red on the inside? I will cry if it’s red on the inside like Twelve and Three. ...Are we supposed to ship O and Yaz? There was a moment earlier of him looking up at her... in a way that seemed... meaningful. And now he’s saying stuff about being unlucky in love. That was very straightforward, Doctor. My dad pointed out that the car is TARDIS  blue. And I wanted to mention this earlier but didn’t think it was important, but Daniel’s blue scarf was kind of TARDISy with the white squares like windows.

...

I LITERALLY JUST SPENT 2 OR 3 MINUTES STRAIGHT JUMPING UP AND DOWN. I LITERALLY KICKED MY BLANKET OFF OF ME AND JUMPED OUT OF MY SEAT. THEN HOPPED AROUND MY LIVING ROOM. MY DAD WAS LAUGHING AT ME.

HE’S THE MASTER. HE IS THE MASTER. OH MY GOD.

I LOVE HIM ALREADY.

I can’t even be mad that he’s sending Yaz, Graham, and Ryan plummeting in a plane and transported the Doctor to the middle of nowhere. I can’t even be mad. Because HE’S THE MASTER!!!!!!!!! I AM BEYOND HAPPY.

Guys. MISSY SURVIVED! SHE LIVED! SHE REGENERATED! THE MASTER IS INDIAN! AHHHHHHHH. SO HAPPY!!!

Earlier in the episode I was like “I really like this actor, I hope this character comes back after it’s all finished.” AND HE WILL! BECAUSE HE’S THE MASTER! YAY!!

I wondered which Doctor he’d met before, and the answer was all of them.

Guys I am very happy right now.

Update: So halfway through the episode I looked up the cast of this episode to see who was playing O, but O wasn’t a character listed in the episode on IMDB. And I was like “that’s annoying, they haven’t updated the full character list yet” so I looked up An Adventure in Space and Time instead and saw his picture and was like “Yep. Same guy.” BUT I’M GLAD HIS CHARACTER WASN’T LISTED IN SPYFALL. I WOULD HAVE BEEN SPOILED HALFWAY THROUGH THE EPISODE IF IT SAID “Sacha Dhawal - O/Master”! Oh my god am I glad that IMDB didn’t update the character list until after it’s aired in America too.

#hope watches doctor who #doctor who #dw spoilers #doctor who spoilers #ignore me if you want

[fleurdeneuf]

tv show quiz

I was tagged by @joi-in-the-tardis, @blueboxesandtrafficcones, and @onthedriftinthetardis.  Thank you! :D

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Don’t cheat. Tag 10 peeps.

Doctor Who

Killing Eve

Life on Mars

Gentleman Jack

Father Brown

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

It’s a tie between Villanelle and my boy Kenny. 

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Umm....River Song and Madame de Pompadour....aka bad writing.

3. What is your favorite episode of 4?

Probably episode 8?  The happy ending after all of that angst!

4. What is your favorite season of 5?

Hmmm....I do like season 1 because I love Susie and she leaves after that, but they’re all good.  I do prefer the earlier seasons with Lady Felicia though (I love Bunty too, but LF is my fave).

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3?

Haha, there aren’t many to choose from!  But definitely Sam/Annie, even though I wasn’t sure for most of the time whether I actually shipped them, or just BroTP....but by the end I shipped it.  :’)

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2?

Eve/Villanelle (to the surprise of no one!)

7. What is your favorite episode of 1?

Dagnabit....ok, um, probably Rose?  Just the perfect opener!  But I also love The Unquiet Dead and Dalek and POTW and....

8. What is your favorite episode of 5?

IT’S A COZY MYSTERY SERIES WITH SEVEN SEASONS.  HOW CAN I PICK ONE FAVORITE EPISODE.  It would be much easier for me to list the handful of episodes that I DON’T like.  So, I’ll just say, generally speaking, my favorite eps are the ones where Father Brown says something beautiful and compassionate about God and love and makes me cry (this happens a lot).

9. What is your favorite season of 2?

I love both seasons so far, but I’ll say season 1 just by a hair...because of the originality and laying the groundwork.

10. How long have you watched 1?

HAHA....I started watching DW in 2007-2008?  I don’t remember exactly, but shortly after I finished grad school and moved home again, which was summer of 2007.  Let’s see...I was caught up just in time to watch season 4 when it aired in the US, which google helpfully tells me was April of 2008, so yeah, I would’ve started season 1 in late 2007 or early 2008 probably.

11. How did you become interested in 3?

I probably first heard about it when I first joined tumblr, especially from UK friends and Simm fans ( @flypup especially ;) ), and it was on my radar/in the back of my mind for a while, but I never got around to watching it.  And then I got Britbox and it was there, and then I fell into last year’s Simm Spiral (TM) and then @chiaroscuroverse suggested watching it, and then we did! 

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Suranne Jones??? Sophie Rundle??? Both?????

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

HOW DARE.  OK, I’m most obsessed with 2 right now, but 1 has been in my heart for more than ten years, and I’m currently rewatching 5 and it’s bringing me lots of happiness and good feelings, so I say: ALL OF THEM.

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

.......1.  Because I’ve seen every episode and serial ever made, whereas 3 has only 16 episodes. :p

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Well, I’m partially Ann Walker already, so...

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

No.  (Unless Sam ended up in 1830s West Yorkshire, rather than 1970s Manchester???)

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Oh goodness....of course I’m suddenly forgetting all of the fic ships I’ve ever read....OK, I’m gonna go with amberfocus’s Pete’s World OT3 from Wolf Moon and Hunger Moon: Mickey, Suzie, and Jake.  She really sold that relationship, and I hadn’t even seen Torchwood yet at the time. :D  Runner up goes to Jack and Martha.  I have a soft spot for them as friends (I love how much Jack adores her), and I could see, given the right circumstances, that turning into something.

18. Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

3!  An original and amazing storyline that ends at the perfect point, and is open to interpretation.  5, as mentioned above, is a cozy mystery series, and as such, it doesn’t really have big plot arcs; the episodes are pretty self-contained.

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

2, OBVS.  Have I flailed about the perfection of KE’s score and soundtrack lately?????  Perfection.

Tagging: @sorrynotsorrybabyx, @deartimekeeper, @ciara-jane, @naughtylupine, @wholockgal, @asthewheelwills, @pinchtheprincess, @stoprobbers, @turnswithus, @tinyconfusion  (no pressure, but @ and tag me if you do it!)

#fleur does the meme #about fleur #killing eve #life on mars #gentleman jack #father brown #dw #tv recs #gj s1

[kimnamjooonz]

Blank Space - Episode 1.

Okay, here’s the first episode of the thing I wrote. 

Episode 1 - Hold Up 

''Hold Up, they don't love you like I love you.''

On the outskirts of the town of Caernarfon in North Wales there was a little farm that belonged to a Aloisius and Helen Ward-Prowse a lovely couple that had made a living out of selling sheep's wool. Around their lovely house there were pictures of two raven haired children: tall and muscular yet inexpressive Clint, and Amanda, the lively and expressive girl that was slowly becoming a grown woman. Amanda Ward-Prowse was the darling of his parents and the soft spot of her strong and mighty brother. But it wasn't as if she needed protecting. as she could take care of herself perfectly well. Sometimes she was more intimidating than her rugby player brother. At 25, Amanda was an accomplished actress that could presume of having moderate success as in many Shakespeare plays but still hadn't had the chance of doing something big with her acting career. That's why she had decided to start from the bottom and audition for a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, in London. She had come a long way from starring in her school plays or the summer lessons at the prestigious Cardiff College of Music and Drama, even starring in many plays at the Shakespeare's Globe and small roles in British TV shows or soap operas. But her first important role had come from the Royal Shakespeare Company that offered her one of the main roles in a production of Richard III. That's how she ended up on the stage of the dreamy Royal Shakespeare Theatre. And to that, several productions followed, peaking in a version of Macbeth starring none other than Ian McKellen. Amanda had got dazzling reviews with her performance as Lady Macbeth and reviewers were asking when she'd finally have her big break. One year later, she was still waiting for it while preparing a series of complicated auditions to one of the most prestigious drama schools in the world. It was currently July and Amanda was facing the biggest challenge of her career yet: the final audition. On that warm summer night, Amanda and her best friend Taylor Bevan were just planning the schedule for the next days. Taylor had been her right hand since their school days. From the days Taylor kept saying that she was going to be Amanda's agent when they grew up. They were both sitting on the bed at Amanda's bedroom. This place had changed little since she was a kid. The walls were covered with pictures of herself at different plays, with the animals of the farm, of that time she had won the Caernarfon Junior Challenge of Chopping wood with an axe (she still kept the trophy among the ones she had got from acting) and the picture with Sir Ian McKellen. The only different picture there, was of Amanda's favourite actor since 2013: Sebastian Stan. His picture was between one of Amanda playing Lady Macbeth and another of herself hugging one of her cats. She had an unhealthy obsession with Sebastian in a particular way. She had fan accounts dedicated to him even though she never lusted over him on the Internet (maybe a couple of thirst tweets but that was all). She just tagged him in some posts on Instragram from time to time, captioned with sweet words telling him how much he meant to her. Also, she had never been one of those people who sent hate to any of his former girlfriends even though she had been jealous as hell and she couldn't help it. She had just wanted to grab the axe and kill a bitch. But those thoughts were never expressed out loud. She smiled thru the pain and went on with her life. And she wasn't damaging anyone. Well, maybe herself. God be praised that the guy was single now. Taylor knew about that even though Amanda hardly ever talked about it. Sometimes she wondered if it was sane for Amanda to be so attached to a guy so unattainable but then... she had the weird feeling that Sebastian Stan wasn't so impossible for Amanda Ward-Prowse. She had worked with people like Ian McKellen before, working with Sebastian Stan someday wasn't at all impossible. Amanda was rereading the lines of her monologue for the thousandth time with one of her cats curling on her chest. She had decided to play it safe and had chosen a piece of Lady Macbeth, a role that she had done many times before under more stressful circumstances. ''Take that furry thing out of the bed, he's shedding black fur all over it.'' Taylor grunted. ''Which one is this, by the way?'' ''Sir Frances Drake'' Amanda cuddled the black cat closer to her chest. ''Really, Taylor. You almost live at this house and you don't know the names of the cats?'' she rolled her eyes. ''Tay, can you take a look at my Twitter and see if I have any notifications?'' ''Your twitter is basically a fan account by now. If you make it to the RADA you'll have to change it.'' ''I was planning to have a stage name. Something more impressive than Amanda Ward-Prowse.'' she went on reading the monologue. In Taylor's opinion that was a complete waste of time. Who needed silly social media when she was about to have the most important audition of her life? And the only notification she could have was someone informing the breaking news that Sebastian Stan had eaten a sandwich or something of the sort. And she was partially right. But the news had nothing to do with sandwiches at all. They were more like Sebastian Stan having a date with some mystery woman. For the twits that Taylor could read, there were hundreds of young women thinking that this was an absolute catastrophe. Taylor wanted to laugh. How could they be so silly? It wasn't as if they could date the guy themselves any time soon. Her expression changed when she remembered that Amanda was one of those people who was going to mourn the fact that Sebastian Stan had a girlfriend. ''Why do you have that face?'' Amanda asked with a bit of suspicion. ''Nothing''. Unfortunately Taylor couldn't act or lie decently. Amanda took the phone out of her hands and glanced at the screen. Taylor got ready for any dramatic outburst Amanda may have but it never came. Taylor wondered what was happening. ''So, are you going to say something?'' ''No, why?'' Amanda looked genuinely confused. ''I mean, your celebrity crush has a girlfriend...'' ''And?'' Amanda's voice wasn't even harsh or resigned. It was just indifferent. ''Are you taking me as one of those people who send hate or believe that they may have a chance with him. Let's be realistic, Taylor. That's never going to happen. Now, I have to focus in the audition if I want to succeed in something.'' This was so unlike Amanda that it scared Taylor a little. Where was the obsessive and attached Amanda? Maybe she was too absorbed in nailing her audition. ''This doesn't sound like you. I thought you were part of the 'Let me have your children, Sebastian' club.'' Amanda let the script apart and looked at her friend. ''Really, Taylor? You think that low of me? I'm a professional actress that worked with Ian McKellen. Do you think my biggest concern in this life is having Sebastian Stan's children? Not that I could, even if I wanted to.'' she added. Taylor wanted to punch herself in the face. She was scared that she had said something insensible. ''I'm sorry for that. Sometimes I forget because you speak so lightly about your own body that no one can't take you seriously.'' ''Because there's nothing wrong with it. We all should all be proud of our bodies.'' And there was no doubt that Amanda was proud of hers. She loved her pitch black hair, the stunning pair of deep blue eyes (that in a certain angle looked purple), her tiny waist and long legs. ''Yeah, but remember that not everyone looks like you. Your legs age longer than half of my body. Empathy was never your strength, Amanda.'' She just shrugged her shoulders and looked at the time. ''It's ten. We should go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.'' ''Just rest. Don't stay up too late watching Doctor Who, Sherlock, Torchwood or any of those shows you like.'' ''I won't'' and Amanda was telling the truth. Whenever Taylor wanted to stay at the Ward-Prowse house she used Amanda's brother's old room. Clint had moved to Cardiff two years ago, he had a wife and played for Cardiff's top rugby team. It seemed that the Ward-Prowse siblings couldn't conform with a normal life and a normal job, they always had to be in the spotlight. ''Okay, we leave tomorrow at six. Please Amanda, don't look hangover.'' ''Who cares if I do? The audition is not tomorrow. And London is full of people with killer hangovers, I won't be the exception.'' ''Whatever'' Taylor left, leaving Amanda alone. Amanda made sure that Taylor was not coming back, grabbed a pillow and threw it at the picture of Sebastian Stan she had on the wall. ''You... bloody idiot!'' she hissed. She knew she had no absolute right of reacting like this but... she was alone in her room where she could vent out her emotions. ''You were better single why the hell would you need a girlfriend. You killed the magic!'' And it was true. The whole fun of having celebrity crushes was to try to reach the unreachable and making stupid dreams inside your head that were never going to happen. But with a freaking girlfriend in the middle, it was just not the same. Except that if she, Amanda, were the girlfriend. But unfortunately she wasn't. She was stuck in Caernarfon, talking to a picture of him. ''Why I have to be so idiotic?'' she buried his face in the pillow for a little while. ''Just stop with the bullshit, Ward-Prowse. You have a bright future, who cares about Sebastian Stan.'' Then she imagined him dating a little nobody, even less known than she was and her blood boiled. Yes, she could accept him dating Emma Watson or Hayley Atwell or a Victoria's Secret angel. But a nobody? Hell, no. Of course she wasn't entitled to an opinion and she wasn't going to say it out loud anyway. This rant was between her and her room walls. It was useless but who on earth cared. She went to Youtube to watch Beyonce's Hold Up music video. It featured Beyonce with a baseball bat hitting things while singing lyrics like 'What's worse, looking jealous or crazy, jealous or crazy?' . Well, she was both. And also ashamed of herself for pulling this stunt even though no one was there to see it. She kept the song on repeat until she fell asleep. Or maybe she never fell asleep and all the weird stuff that was into her head weren't dreams. Taylor found her at five a.m half asleep and half awake, looking like a zombie. When Amanda noticed her presence she immediately turned off the music. If Taylor found out that Amanda had been listening to Beyonce, she was going to guess what was happening in two seconds. And that was embarrassing as hell. ''I just couldn't sleep. I'm nervous'' she normally hated to admit that she was nervous. But it was better than to admit that she had spent the whole night being a jealous ass bitch. ''I was just listening to some Coldplay. They always calm me down.'' Seconds later Amanda's mum showed up. ''Clint just called me. He has some food to give you before you take the train to London.'' ''We're saved'' said Amanda. ''I really didn't want to eat some cheap cookies from the store. Lila may be a local but at least she can cook'' Lila was Clint's wife, a nice simple girl that Amanda considered a local. In her opinion, the dazzling Clint Ward-Prowse deserved better. But of course she had never voiced her opinions out loud. ''Don't call Lila a local'' her mother reprimanded her. ''Just because she doesn't have the same ambitions as you, doesn't make her less of a person. You have too much to learn...'' she added when she saw Amanda rolling her eyes. ''Not everyone wants to be a film star and win BAFTAs and cover British Vogue, Amanda.'' But Amanda wasn't listening. She had her mind somewhere else. What if Sebastian Stan's new girlfriend was a similar version of Lila? No, please, no. Anything but a local, please Sebastian, don't be an idiot. ''Amanda!'' Taylor yelled. ''We have to leave.'' Amanda's parents drove them to the station and they immediately caught a train to Cardiff. Cardiff was Amanda's second home. She had stayed there countless of time while attending special drama lessons at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama there. Also, Doctor Who was filmed there and once she had been lucky enough to score a little role in an episode. It was just a couple of lines for one scene but she had met Matt Smith and Karen Gillan that day. In the train, she was swearing to herself that one day she'll be in Cadiff filming Doctor Who again but this time she'd be the Doctor. Fourteenth or Fifteenth Doctor was good to her. Though the window she glanced at the familiar outline of the city of Cardiff. She smiled, forgetting about bloody Sebastian Stan or her ambitions for a second. Sooner than she had wanted, they got to the train station. She immediately spotted Clint standing at the platform. ''Manda! Looking so happy, as always.'' he said with sarcasm, noticing Amanda's expression. ''She didn't sleep'' added Taylor, blushing a little. Yes, she had a boyfriend and he had a wife but Clint Ward-Prowse was still bloody gorgeous. She was a bit taller than his sister and with a thicker complexion. He had the same pitch black hair as Amanda. The main difference between them were the eye colour. Amanda's eyes were dark blue while Clint's icy blue. ''Typical Amanda. Were you watching Doctor Who or Sherlock?'' ''Any of them. And I slept for a couple of hours.'' she lied. Of course that she was not going to admit that she had spent the night listening to Beyonce. ''Whatever'' he rolled his eyes. ''Lila send you this. She couldn't come, for some reason.'' he said with sarcasm. Of course that he was aware the sisters in law weren't the best friends on earth. They were just too different to agree on anything. They all knew that Lila hadn't made that handmade cookies to Amanda. They were for Taylor, who in Lila's eyes was a much normal and decent person than her sister in law. But Clint was never in a million years going to side against his little sister. Amanda had been the jewel of the family since she was born and this was not going to change. ''We have to leave.'' she hugged her brother tightly. Next time you see me I'll be a RADA alumni. Keep the faith.'' ''I'll never lose faith in you. You're the star of the family. Now go. Bye Taylor, take care of her.'' ''Of course.'' Clint had always been overprotective of Amanda. When they were kids he was her personal bodyguard. He was never going to stop caring about his little sister. ''Amanda, this is the first step to stardom, don't forget it.'' She smiled with confidence before getting lost into the crowd.

P.S. Here we have Amanda being the dramatic fuck she is. 

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan imagine #marvel #mcu #what the hell i'm doing with my life #bucky barnes #seb is my sunshine

[geekns]

The rules are as follows: go to page 7 of your WIP, go to the 7th line, share 7 sentences, and tag 7 more writer-bloggers to continue the challenge.

I was tagged by @grassangel  who specificially inquired about projects that are not PMS but i’m including it since it’s the only thing i’m actively working on. I haven’t even written another words of Princeling!

1 - PMS ch. 14 (ugh this is random and sounds terrible)

She made a sound of disagreement but was rather at his mercy.

“Just while we eat?” he cajoled. She rolled her eyes.

She dozed while he puttered the in the kitchen. She felt warm and safe hearing him cook for her. She wanted to try to feed herself this time.

A few minutes later he was setting food on the table between them.

2 - Tea with the Brig (doesn't have seven pages, only five; this is from page one)

“I say, who are you?” the Brig demanded, jumping to his feet.  “Where have you brought me?”  His chair thumped to the rugged floor, overturned.  The doors behind Missy opened abruptly, and he backed away from the sound.  She heard Seb quietly threatening someone, restraining them from entering the small sitting room.  The Brig was gazing around her tea room in open shock.  Sunshine streaming through curtains, potted plants, an ebony and velvet changing screen, a chaise lounge.

3 - still untitled twissy fic should have finished ages ago (i’m so sorry)

And she felt as if she were being watched.  She scanned her surroundings, pretended to look at a watch--not that she had or needed one--didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  Nothing was out of place, just quiet as death.  She tilted her head back, crossed her ankles, and closed her eyes.

After a long minute there was a quiet rustling and a breath of air.  Missy kept her eyes closed and refrained from crinkling her nose: someone needed to bathe. Small hands touched her knees.

4 - Petrichor sequel that i sometimes return to but may never finish (ugh this is an awkward section, thus why it’s unposted)

But he was willing to try to do this for Donna if she understood the risk to herself.

“Yes,” she said again.

“Lastly, you will not bear these children until they are born, it is...” he didn't want to say impossible, he didn't actually know that for certain.  “advisable that the male carries the eggs after a certain point.”

“Eggs?” Donna confirmed, doubt in her voice.  Humans are mammal, was he trying to tell her that Time Lords weren't?

“There's no word for it in your languages,” he explained.

5 - Epilogue to Something Blue (from page five, again no seventh page)

The temple was nearly fully submerged itself, its marble columns shining beneath the indigo water.  It had an upper level that was still mostly above water that he was headed for.  He cut power and drifted the last bit, pulling up to a balcony.  He leapt over the railing, his feet only partially submerged.  It only took a moment to tie the boat up, and then he was ascending a few stairs into the temple's interior.

There were no plaques or displays or velvet ropes in here.  This part of the temple was typically off limits to the public, though clean enough that perhaps VIP tours or fundraisers were perhaps an event.

6 - Incubus (now read this, i fully intend to delete this scene at a later date but it’s still in the draft)

The Doctor squirmed, resisting the urge to tell Jack what was going to happen next time they met:

“I don't know the details, Jack,” he lied.

“And even if you did, you wouldn't say anything,” he laughed.  “I knew what I was dropping on you when you left me at Torchwood, after that year that never was.  I could have stayed with you, but I knew that it was time to get out.  That's when I decided not to pine after you anymore, start trying to form some new connections.”

“And now?”

7 - Unicorn (Simm!Master regenerates into Missy post-End of Time, now non-canon)

It hurt, it was too warm, but she endured it.  She grabbed a bar of soap and started scrubbing harshly at her pale skin, trying to bring some color to it and get rid of the horrid stench of living rough.  She couldn't even remember the last time she had taken a bath, nor a shower.  Her thoughts started to wander again.  The Doctor had never been rough with her, but she had been rough with him.  A part of him hadn't liked it, but the part of her that had been going mad had wanted it.  She had wanted him to hate her, or to at least act as if he did.

8 - A Thousand More (Simm!Master regenerates post-the Doctor Falls...i have no memory of writing this!!! From page two out of five.)

She gradually regained control of her bodily processes and limbs, and told her body to sit up.

The third thing she noticed was her hair. It was dark, which suited her just fine, but it was everywhere. She had more hair than that bitch River Song. It was at least waist-length and had a mind of its own. Portions of it were damp from her tears, and it was hanging in her face now, wild curls frizzing frightfully and completely out of control. It simply would not do; she would have to tame the mop and quickly.

9 - In Case of Emergency (Ten, Donna, and Martha stick around a bit longer after “the Doctor’s Daughter” and get to see Jenny regenerate)

"Jenny," the Doctor gasped, voice tight with unshed tears.  "Oh, you came back to me, you regenerated."

"Is that what that was?" Jenny asked, reaching to pull Donna into the embrace she was sharing with her father. “I'd never felt pain anything like it, I was so scared."  She buried her face into Donna's chest, turning away from her father entirely.  She was shorter now, just as petite but less developed as a woman, with curlier hair now in a beautiful strawberry blonde. Her eyes searched for Donna's approval, and were brown, the same color as the Doctor's, which was jarring to the extreme, but it was still Jenny looking out at her.

10 - The Doctor’s Backup Plan (mpreg crack, pure crack)

The Doctor blinked at her.

“I suppose,” he allowed.  “I hadn't thought of that.  I guess I'll put on some protection...not that you're likely to be impregnated by me.  I doubt that we're compatible.”

“You don't know for sure?” Donna asked, amazed that he was admitting to a gap in his vast knowledge.  She often wondered if he actually knew half of what he claimed to.

11 - Slap (basically the Doctor gets turned on when Donna slaps him??? Donna’s POV, terribad)

Had he ever done this before?  The pervert probably had, multiple times. But Rose was the name and size of a mere girl, not a real woman. Donna would make sure that he forgot her.  She wagered that Rose had never even considered playing rough like this, no Rose was a porcelain doll for a pedestal, not a woman with deeper needs.  Not a woman capable of fulfilling an old man's darkest fantasies.  And that's what he was, she realized...she had no idea how old this man was, but his eyes were old, and tired, and seen more than even she could imagine.

12 - And Then She Forgot (Donna tries to go back to work at the temp agency after the mindwipe)

Donna blinks at him, stunned, and tries to regroup as quickly as possible. She bursts into tears, laying it on as thick as she dares.  She can feel the eyes of the other employees and potential temps on her as she sobs away.  Kevin sighs, walks around the desk, and offers her a tissue box.

“I suppose you didn't hear about the accident,” she manages to take a tissue between sobs.

“Accident?” he asks dryly, sitting on the edge of his desk with his arms crossed.

13 - Smith, Jones, Noble, and Mott (AU series 3 ep “Smith and Jones”)

“Sarah!” he exclaimed as they hugged each other tightly.  “This is Donna, and this is Martha.  Girls, this is Sarah Jane Smith.”

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“No Rose or Mickey this time?” Sarah Jane asked, smiling at the two women warmly, albeit a little confused.

“Uh, no, not after...” the Doctor lowered his voice. “...Canary Wharf.”

14 - Desert Fox (original fic, very old)

When I wake the lights have been dimmed, and I no longer have to squint against their harshness.  Logan is seated beside me, his hands clasped around one of mine, his head resting on our hands.  I feel no pain, only relief, comfort, safety.  I realize suddenly that this is why I have chosen to stay with him:  he is the only human I have ever felt safe with.  I lift a hand to brush his hair out of his face.  He had grown it back out, has yet to cut it again.

"How are you feeling, miss...?"

I get lots of ideas but not much traction. I tag @basmathgirl @missysrehabilitation @ellym3lly @perrydowning @emilyweepsforpilfrey @kylorenvevo @xreyoflight and anyone else who may want to take a whack at it

#writing #fanfic #this is embarrassing tbh #tagged

[takaraphoenix]

If you've watched Doctor Who, which doctor is your favourite ? Also, do you ship Doctor x Rose or maybe Doctor x Ten two x Rose? Or do you ship Captain Jack Harkness x Doctor x Rose cause that would be a good threesome but then there's Captain Jack Harkness x Ianto Jones too, ugh I'm so confused! !

The Doctor and Rose are my number one, overall NOTP. Beating out literally all other NOTPs I have... ^^°

I actually do not ship in Doctor Who. Beside accepting Mikey/Martha and oh gosh Rory/Amy as cute canons, there is no shipping on this.

The Doctor, while being a... *shudders* sexual and romantic creature on the show, is - to me - a very asexual thing. He doesn’t work in romance, in any way or shape. I just want him to travel through time and space with his friends. I don’t want to think about a 900 year old alien banging a 19 year old human girl. That throws me off the show so hard, every single time they think they have to sexualize the Doctor. The innuendos between him and River were the worst for me. I hate it. I hate it so much when they do it.

It’s literally the reason I’ve been contemplating watching Classic Who. Back when the Doctor didn’t need love interests to make a good show. It worked for so many years, what is it with this heteronormative forced way of saying “Nope. He gotta have love interests. And while we can carefully imply and mention he might not be 100% straight, we will only ever show him persue human women.”... THAT is what’s wrong with today’s TV. *sighs*

And due to my overall hatred for the character of Rose in general - which, huge factor in why that is my number one NOTP - I really don’t want her with my absolute favorite Doctor Who character.

I... also... don’t ship Jack with anyone. Him and Ianto was the reason I loathed Torchwood. It only got good for me after Ianto died... Jack’s a wild spirit, a free flirt, tying him down for seasons of dating one dude was just really very painful to watch for me.

Sooo... I think you came to the very wrong address for Who ships... I don’t have any, I prefer my Doctor Who without any distracting and partially misplaced romance. I just want adventure and friendship and family from it.

It’s why I wildly enjoyed the last series, actually. No romance, just the Doctor as a mentor-figure and not a love interest to his companion. Him and Bill had such a good dynamic.

I’ll be literally ripping out my hair if they decide that now that the Doctor is female, they will start presenting male love interests, because then that’s just the seal on the heteronormativity of it all. To avoid that, I hope they just don’t ship the Doctor for a while. I really hope the new guy in charge is not as obsessed with romantizing the Doctor as Moffat was... *sighs and crosses fingers*

#Doctor Who #I have so much bitterness on the topic #Shipping #Anonymous

[tenroseforeverandever]

Dear Father Christmas... Chapter 22: December 24, 2037

MASTERPOST

Characters:  Tentoo; Rose Tyler; Jackie Tyler; Pete Tyler; Tony Tyler; OC Hope Tyler-Noble; OC Charlotte Tyler-Noble; OC Wilfred Tyler-Noble; OC Therin Thomson; Javic Thane; Gray Thane; Tianza; the TARDIS

Rated: Teen

Tags: Family!Fic; Kid!Fic; Pete’s World; Letters to Santa; Christmas Fic; Family; Fluff; Hurt/Comfort; Angst; Romance; Love; gun violence; violence resulting in death; life-threatening injury; life threatening situations; life threatening illness; original characters

Summary: When Rose Tyler was little, she always wrote a Christmas wish list to Father Christmas. As she grew older, the wish list became more of a letter to someone she could confide in once a year, but she fell out of the habit somewhere along the way. Now, as a new mum, celebrating her daughter’s first Christmas, Rose takes up writing her Christmas letter to Father Christmas once again.

Rose’s Christmas letters are excerpts from her life with her beloved Tentoo and their children in Pete’s World, written once a year, for each of 31 years.

Chapter Summary: As much as Rose loves her Doctor, sometimes his fears, preconceptions, and prejudices result in a stubborn and obstinate attitude, but when Wilfred presents him with an extraordinary Christmas gift, the Doctor is given the chance to face his greatest fear head-on.

Notes: Wow! This chapter turned out to be super loooooong. I played around quite a bit with the concepts of Gallifrey and TARDISes. I tried to do some research, and develop a world that made sense given the circumstances I’ve envisioned for this universe. In the end, it is my (only partially informed) imagination that is to blame… for better or for worse. I hope you like where my muse took me.

***Trigger Warning for a near drowning early on in the chapter.

To my betas, @rose–nebula and mrsbertucci: you talked through my visions and concepts with me at length and helped me flesh them out, and you were always there when I called on you in a panic. I hope we managed to create something unique and magical, and that I was able to do it justice. I can’t thank you enough, my dear friends, for your creativity, talent, and patience.

Thanks to @doctorroseprompts for their 31 Days of Ficmas prompts. The prompt I used today was Lights.

Also read at: AO3; FF.net; Teaspoon

December 24th, 2037

Dear Father Christmas,

What a year! It’s been equal parts frustrating and wonderful! And all because my bloody, thick-headed, obstinate, lovable idiot has a lot of trouble getting past his long-standing fears, preconceptions, and prejudices.

It didn’t start out so bad. Me and the Doctor, in the TARDIS (with Snowflake), just as it should be. We’ve had so many brilliant adventures. We did some ambassadorial jobs for Torchwood, but mostly, it’s just been us flying by the seats of our pants all through time and space, finding trouble and doing our best to fix it wherever we go!

We have company sometimes, though. Hope and Gray are settling into their positions on Lunar Base Shepard, and loving it (no real surprise that Gray decided to get a position there, too.) But on their days off, they sometimes join us on our jaunts in the TARDIS. Gray’s quickly learned the ropes. He’s even picked up a few words of Gallifreyan from listening to the Doctor and Hope natter on. I was certainly impressed, even if the Doctor wasn’t. I’ve tried for years to speak and write it. The Doctor started teaching me back in the Prime Universe, and I love the songs; sing them all the time (my own special remixes which irk the Doctor no end!) But I’ve never been fluent. Not properly. The kids all speak it though. The Doctor spoke Gallifreyan to each of them whilst they were still in the womb, and he kept on with it after they were born. He’s so proud of them, and I can feel him positively gushing contentment and joy over our bond, all because he’s able to communicate with his children (and, of course, listen to his wife sing!) in his native language.

But, he didn’t feel that way toward Gray at first, even when the poor boy had just spoken a full sentence in Gallifreyan and managed to optimize some TARDIS manifold or other. Nope! That’s when protective-Dad syndrome kicked in with a vengeance, and all he could think about was “Jack Harkness’ brother” corrupting his daughter. Now admittedly, as much as he’s become a dear friend, Javic Thane is every bit as erm… sexually unrestrained as his counterpart in the Prime Universe. But I have to say, his brother is a very different creature: not at all a flirt (in fact, a bit too serious if I was to find any faults) and any idiot (with the exception of the Biggest Idiot of All…) could see that he’s utterly devoted to Hope. Devoted!

We all just had to ride out Oncoming Daddy-Storm for a few months until we visited Prebvok X-wani. That’s where a certain dafter-on-the-inside mindset had a complete makeover! Hope had requested we go there to collect certain medicinal herbs that grow at the edges of the swamps in the rainy season. I had stayed in the TARDIS because, bloody hell, the rain was bucketing down and it was flipping cold (kinda like Prime-London winters but with more swamps), and I figured I could stay warm and dry and make a nice hot stew for the intrepid adventurers. Gray had happily joined Hope, and so of course the Doctor just had to tag along as well. Blimey, I could feel his possessiveness absolutely bristling in my mind.

Anyway, not half an hour later, our bond went on full Mauve alert: pure panic from the Doctor. It was an agonizing 8.35 minutes (when you’re bonded to someone with time sense it rubs off on you after a while) before the calming green of relief started to trickle through my mind, and at least another ten before they all burst back through the TARDIS doors, covered in muck, and Gray carrying Hope bridal style, following the Doctor into the infirmary.

After making sure Hope’s airway was clear and after doing some dermal regeneration on her ankle, the Doctor looked at Gray and his gratitude practically glowed. He held out his hand to Gray to shake, but ended up pulling him into a full-on Doctor-hug.

I finally heard the whole story as we all sat eating supper in front of the fire, after everyone had cleaned up and changed into cosy jimjams. Hope had jogged on ahead, looking for her herbs, and had tripped on a vine across the path, twisting her ankle, and sending her headfirst into the swamp. It had been a sort of quicksandy material and having basically dived in, however unintentionally, she had disappeared below the surface almost instantaneously. The Doctor had had some rope in his pockets (never leave home without it, Rose Tyler; and thank God for that!) and without hesitation, Gray had tied it around himself while the Doctor tied the other end to a tree. Gray dove straight in there after Hope. It had taken three separate tries to find her, but he finally latched onto her fingertips and then her arm and then he’d signaled the Doctor to pull them up.

“Just goes to show,” (here goes my Doctor impersonation again), “all you need to get across this universe is a hand to hold… weeell, that and a good length of rope. Good man, Gray! Good man!”  And with that, one bit of the Doctor’s pig-headedness had been swapped for something much more rational.

But, Santa, the year was young… Turns out, this year was ripe with opportunities for the Doctor to dig his heels in and act a bit thick. And, as I’ve come to realize (not for the first time) the apple sometimes doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Here’s an example…

So, Hope and Gray weren’t the only ones who travelled with us from time to time. Wilfred was around quite a bit. Javic started to drop by on a regular basis, usually timing it to skive a few hours off work here and there, and filling our days with laughter at his tall tales of his (usually naked) adventures with the Time Agency.

Therin was also a regular visitor, especially over the summer before he started graduate school, and he never failed to be there if he knew Charlie was visiting. The poor baby; he wore his heart on his sleeve, and Charlie (Daddy’s little girl in so many ways for all that she looked like me) was completely oblivious. She sometimes flirted and held his hand, but she never once let on that Therin was anything more to her than her best mate. And I don’t think she had any clue he felt any differently. Oblivious! And oh, Santa, my heart broke for that boy. I knew everything he was feeling: desperate for more but never truly believing their friendship could ever develop into romance, and yet just so pathetically grateful to be a tiny speck of importance in Charlie’s brilliant, manic mind.

I tried to hide my thoughts about Therin and Charlie from the Doctor. I love that man more than life itself, and I didn’t want him feeling guilty about something that had happened ages ago, but those thoughts were so interwoven with other thoughts, it was difficult to keep them all separated and contained.

“You were never just a speck of anything, Rose Tyler.”

He’d caught me completely by surprise as I watched Charlie, Therin, and Wilfred from my place on the picnic blanket as they all tried out the new Wing-Gliders Charlie had developed. I’d been caught out and felt my face burning. Somehow I managed to tear my eyes from the kids cavorting in the sky overhead to look at my husband. His eyes were so sad, Santa.

“And you were never in any way pathetic.”

I knew I had to be honest and opened my thoughts to him, sharing all those old insecurities. I’d often wondered, especially in recent years now that my hair is peppered with grey, how it would have worked out had the Metacrisis never happened and I’d stayed on with the Time Lord Doctor. Would he ever have been able to slow down for me? Would he have eventually drawn away, unable to bear to watch me wither? Would he have resented me? Would he have dropped me off for my safety, for his sanity?

“I always loved you. I would have cherished every moment with you. I’d gotten past all of that awkwardness, but then I came along… and when Pete’s World presented itself, it was so easy to… weeell…”

He filled my thoughts with his love for me, past and present, and I snuggled against him. He was an idiot sometimes, but he was my very own idiot. It seemed, however, he’d passed the idiot gene on to Charlie.

“She’ll be all right.” He’d nodded at Charlie.

“Not her I’m worried about, is it? She doesn’t understand how she affects those around her. Once you have a taste of that… charisma, that allure, you can’t ever go back. Trust me.”

He just chuckled at me and booped my nose. “Oh, I know, my precious girl.”

“Shut up…”

“Now Wilfred… that’s who I’m concerned about. There’s something going on with him, I just don’t know what.”

The Doctor was quite right. There was something Wilfred was keeping from us. I’d thought so too. He’d always been a bit secretive, happy to quietly puzzle things out, but he also loved a great adventure and was never happy to be sitting still for too long. Now that he was out of our daily lives, travelling the world, it was difficult to figure out just what he was up to. Until we did, all we could do was keep our ears to the ground and wait to see what happened.

--ooOoo--

Santa, over the years, we’ve travelled to many wonderful places and the adventures never seemed to end, whether we were having a quiet day to ourselves or whether we had our entire extended family along for the ride. But, in all that time, there was one place the Doctor refused to even entertain trying to visit: Gallifrey. He wouldn’t even speak of it. To be quite honest, in all our travels, on any of our adventures, the name never even came up in rumours and stories, and for all we knew, it didn’t exist in this universe.

Whether it did or not, was irrelevant. The subject was taboo. I knew it, and the kids all knew it, so I nearly fainted when Wilfred brought it up at supper one day, a few months ago.

He’d been travelling with us for several weeks, tinkering in his own little workshop and learning as much as he could about the workings of the TARDIS, quantum mechanics, relativity, and the structure of space-time. He was most definitely up to something, but what it was, we still had been unable to determine.  At least he was home with us for the time being.

Javic had dropped ‘round for a visit and was staying for supper that day. Wilfred always really enjoyed Javic’s company, peppering him with questions about time travel and his vortex manipulator. But none of us were prepared for the question that carelessly slipped out just as we were starting on our pudding.

“Hey, Javic, just a thought…” (oh, so casual-like) “…have you ever heard of a planet called Gallifrey on any of your travels?”

I literally felt faint, though it was probably as much to do with the Doctor’s instant panic and anger hammering over our bond as it was the shock of the subject matter.

Javic, not ever having been briefed on our planet-who-shall-not-be-named situation, of course answered in his usual laid-back way, totally missing the electric mood around the table. “Can’t say as I have… but I could do some invest−”

Oh. My. God, Santa! The Doctor completely lost his trolley. Exploded it, more like. Pounded on the table; shouted; completely lost it! The Oncoming Supernova! He was properly frightening, demanding that Javic not do any investigating and that if he heard about anything to the contrary…

Well, you get the idea: threats were made.

I was trying to reach him over the bond, but the force of his emotions was preventing me from making contact. All I could do was keep trying and hope he would calm down, but then he turned on Wilfred, raging like something possessed. And my poor, stupid baby, despite being nearly as tall as his dad and sporting some wispy facial hair, suddenly seemed very small and vulnerable, you know? He took off to his room in a panic and slammed the door.

The Doctor’s mental walls finally crashed into place (saving me from the psychic fallout, thank God! My head was pounding with the mental barrage I’d been enduring!) and he stomped off into the bowels of the TARDIS. Like father, like son.

“Well, it’s been a slice,” Javic broke the silence, “but I think that’s my cue to vamoose.”

I was suddenly babbling and apologizing for the Doctor’s outburst and for not warning Javic beforehand, assuring him that it was a sensitive subject and things would smooth over in no time. (I hoped I was telling the truth.)

He gave me a hug. “I get it. Don’t worry, Rosie. I should be getting back to work anyway. I’ll check back in in a few weeks. You mind dropping me at these coordinates?” He showed me the display on his vortex manipulator.

I made him promise it was somewhere safe and told him to enter them himself. A few seconds later, he was stepping out the TARDIS doors onto a rowdy, seedy street. “Perfect!”

“You call this safe?”

“I call this a good time! Best hypervodka in the universe right through those doors, not to mention the servers…” He gave me a cheeky wink. “A bit of a pick-me-up before I head back to my current assignment.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll just bet you get picked up!”  I waved goodbye, and heard him calling out, “That’s the plan!” just as I was closing the TARDIS doors. I immediately sent us back into the Vortex.

--ooOoo--

I was furious at both my boys. Wilfred… well I don’t know what had gotten into his head, but he knew the rule, blatantly broken it, and had paid for it. The Doctor though… I was going to give that one a piece of my mind, treating friends and family like that. This situation had gone too far. Absolutely ridiculous! It was time we had a proper talk about Gallifrey. And to be honest, I was gutted he felt he couldn’t confide in me and trust me. I mean, he’d been completely excluding me on this for years… forever!

I decided to clear away the dishes, giving my lads a bit of space before I went to talk to them, and giving myself some time to work things out in my mind. Wilfred was brooding in his room, head buried in some gadgets on his desk. I didn’t say much to him. He knew why he was in trouble; no need to add salt to his wounds. So, I just gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and assured him that his father still loved him very much. I did quietly suggest he apologize.

I found the Doctor much later. The great plonker was hiding, faffing about deep in the workings of the TARDIS, among the mysterious glowing orbs and curtains of cables that dangled from the branches of the beautiful coral tree. I couldn’t imagine anything really needed repaired; he was likely just skulking. Anyroad, he never bothered to look up when I came in, just offered a gruff, “What do you want?”

“Oi!” I was stunned, and I hope I sounded as pissed off as I really was. “You don’t get to speak to me like that! I deserve better. Me and Javic… and Wilfred.”

“Wilf was out of−”

Oh, he was not going there! I wouldn’t let him. “He’s seventeen years old, for God’s sake! He’s curious about his heritage… your heritage. Don’t you dare put your hang-ups on his shoulders. You had no right to treat him like that!”

He growled at me. (I had to bite my tongue, Santa. He actually growled.) Then he muttered something about how I didn’t know anything about it. (Seriously? And whose fault was that?)

“Time you filled me in then, yeah?” I held my temper. It took every ounce of control I could muster, but I did it. I told him to meet me in the library in ten minutes, and to leave his attitude behind. So I walked out, and went to make us a cuppa and a couple of plates of the pudding we’d never managed to get to because of his tantrum. I reckoned he’d be much more approachable with loads of good ol’ free radicals, tannins, and a good dose of sugar in his system.

I hope you don’t think I was just being flippant or insensitive. I really wasn’t. I won’t say I completely understood why this affected him so deeply; he’d refused to speak about it for so long so there was no way to know for sure. But I know that man, and I had my suspicions. What was clear was that he needed to talk about this. It wasn’t healthy or safe for him to have kept all of this bottled up inside for so long. I love him so much. I’m his wife, his bondmate: I shouldn’t have had to stage an intervention for him to speak to me about this, and yet, there I was, doing just that.

--ooOoo--

Just over an hour later, he’d finally collapsed into sleep. We were sitting in front of the fire; me with my toes stretched toward the flames and my back against the sofa, and him curled into a foetal position next to me with his head cradled in my lap. I ran my fingers through the soft, lush mess of his hair, the rich brown shot through with wild sparks of silver. The stain of tears on his cheeks darkened his freckles, and I brushed a remaining droplet from the corner of his eye. He was so beautiful and vulnerable… my precious man.

He’d come into the library as I’d requested, looking all guilty and not meeting my eyes. He looked almost physically ill, with his fringe hanging over his pale face. I stood to meet him, and he threw his arms around me, clutching to me as though I might disappear. He was in a right state, sobbing and apologizing, and all I could do was hold him. Eventually, I drew him over to the sofa and got some hot tea into him, and gradually he became more coherent.

He’d never gotten over the Time War. Of course he hadn’t. How could anyone ever accept the fact that they had to destroy billions of lives, including all their own people, even if it was for the greater good, the salvation of the universe? Even after all these years, there were still nights when he would awake drenched in sweat, crying out in despair, after something during the day had triggered the memories to resurface. He told me he’d always felt at peace with me holding him, and so that’s what I would do in those times, for as long as he needed me.

Now in this universe, still unable to face the scars of his past, he was running from what-ifs and maybes. “I can’t sense the Time Lords,” he told me, clutching at his temples. “But that doesn’t mean they’re not there, it just means… I can’t sense them. Different universe of origin; not a full Time Lord… loads of factors. Maybe I just don’t want to sense them.”

What it all came down to was the Doctor did not cope well with loss, he never had, and just the thought of getting his hopes up only to have them shattered again was unbearable. He’d already seen too much sorrow associated with that planet: friends and family lost forever; memories and emotions, darkness, rage, and guilt, kept under lock and key deep in a fortress in his mind.

He couldn’t stomach the idea that the ruins of Gallifrey might be out there somewhere, the remnants of another Time War where everyone had perished, history unfolding the same way as it had in the Prime Universe. But equally, he admitted, he was terrified the Time Lords were actually alive and thriving, lording it over the rest of the universe, power misused through anger and pretensions.

At one point during our talk he’d snatched my hand in his and held my gaze. We’d moved to the floor by that time to be closer to the fire, hoping to find comfort in its warmth. “If the Time Lords are alive,” he confessed to me, tears pouring over his cheeks, “there’s a possibility there could be transdimensional travel again. You could… you could… maybe you’d want to… to go back to him. Me. Him, now. Different experiences. We’ve been different people from the moment I was created. But we started off pretty much the−”

“Stop!” I insisted, ending what was sure to be a long, self-deprecating babble. I locked my eyes on his (I was crying too, a right mess), so he would know how sincere I was. “I’m not going anywhere.” I felt so guilty for not realizing he thought I could ever consider abandoning him.  “Forever. I promised you… I love you, you muppet, and I’m never gonna leave you.”

--ooOoo--

The Doctor was much more settled after that night. Gallifrey wasn’t exactly on his top ten list of conversation topics, but he no longer flew into a rage at the mere mention of the name. Nightmares woke him often, but I was always there to hold him close to me, and they gradually dwindled away, becoming fewer and less intense as time went on. He apologized to Javic the next time he dropped by, and although things were a bit awkward between him and Wilfred, they were family and loved one another, and any grudges were shoved aside to make room for happier memories.

After another week or so, Wilfred returned to travelling on his own, and although other friends and family joined us on the TARDIS, we didn’t see him again until today when he, quite literally, blinked back into our lives.

We were back home in our little blue house, and I was sitting by the Christmas tree, wrapping gifts, when I felt a strange change in the air pressure near me. There was a whooshing sound, and a distortion in the air. I sensed something… something infinite. All that is; all that was; all that ever could be. The words were like a whisper in my mind. A memory? Perhaps…

And then, suddenly, Wilfred stumbled out of the distortion, beaming away like he had just walked through the front door. “Fantastic! Hey, Mum! Happy Christmas!”

“What the bloody hell was that?” The Doctor came thundering down the stairs, sonic drawn, ready to do battle. He stopped short at the sight of Wilfred. “When did you get in?” He didn’t wait for a response before he activated the sonic, whirring it all around the space in front of the Christmas tree.

I managed to stammer out some incoherent response. Then Wilfred piped up: “Hello, Dad. Don’t worry. Jus’ me!”

“What? What? WHAT?” The Doctor swept around Wilfred, sonic humming, then paused to examine his findings. “Local distortions in the Time Vortex… not just any distortions, not randomized. These are specific… programmed. What the hell is that on your wrist?”

My eyes snapped to Wilfred’s wrist where there sat something that looked suspiciously like a Vortex manipulator. Well, that cleared up a few of my questions. Generated a few more… but, yeah, what else could I expect when my child just popped out of the Vortex, directly into our living room.

“Been travelling, me! ‘S a Vortex manipulator.”

The Doctor pinched his nose, collecting himself. As for me, the initial shock of my son suddenly appearing in front of me dissipated rather quickly and I just slipped into my standard roll-with-it mode I usually applied in situations involving my children (and/or husband) doing something, erm… unexpected. “So how long have you been travelling… this way?”

“Since I saw you last, really. It took a little getting used to, travelling without the TARDIS shell to protect me…”

“Riiiight…” (What every mother wants to hear.)

“…but I made some adjustments to my original design…”

“Your design?” (Definitely our child.)

“Yeah! So, I made adjustments to the shield harmonics and I adapted the Chrononplasm flow regulators ever so slightly, and bam! Just like that, a fifty-seven percent increase in stabilization and a one hundred eighty-two percent increase in overall shielding!”

“Impressive…” (I had no idea to be honest, but it sounded pretty good.)

“Sort of, yeah. Aaaand it can transport a mass of up to a tonne now… that’s about six humans, give or take. The design the Time Agency uses can only take three people… and then only in a pinch. Not recommended. I’m hoping to get a patent on my design and sell it to them.”

The Doctor had been uncharacteristically silent throughout this exchange, which boded ill, so I went straight over to him and took his hand in one of mine and stroked his sleeve with the other. I soothed him over our bond, and he glowered at me, knowing exactly what I was trying to do. And it was working!

Wilfred watched our silent exchange, and I could sense the tension growing in him.

Just hear him out. Nothing we say is going to change anything. He’s smart. And he’s a good kid. And right now, he’s safe. I’d like to keep him that way.

The Doctor grumbled at me, and I just arched my eyebrow at him.

Nothing’s going to be solved with shouting and driving him away.

This time he huffed out a great sigh. (Victory!)

He’s so much like you.

I assume that’s meant to be a compliment. He nudged me with his shoulder, and threw me a cheeky smirk.

Always, love.

--ooOoo--

December 25, 2037

Oh Santa, since Christmas Eve so much has happened! I didn’t get to finish this letter because I’ve been so busy.

After the Doctor had agreed to call a truce with Wilfred, he was full of questions and the two of them disappeared into the Doctor’s workshop to tinker with the Vortex manipulator until it was time for our traditional Christmas Eve supper. Tony and Noah arrived with their arms full of my brand new (adopted) niece, Abby; and Mum, Dad, and Therin dropped by too. Mum couldn’t keep her hands off the baby all night, which gave Abby’s Dads a welcome break by the look of the dark circles under their eyes. (I remember those bittersweet days!) The girls and Gray were set to arrive tomorrow, which meant Charlie was going to be able to kick off the Festive Feast for the first time in quite a few years. We’d have the whole family together for Christmas! It had been so long! Even Javic said he’d try to make it.

I was thrilled!

But Christmas was only going to get better for us this year. Wilfred had a surprise gift for his father, which he wanted to give us once everyone had left after Christmas Eve supper.

He bustled us onto the TARDIS. He’d offered to use his manipulator, but he admitted with a fond stroke of the TARDIS’ walls, he thought she would enjoy this trip too. (I was, honestly, relieved. I didn’t much like the sound of travel by Vortex manipulator!) He pushed the Doctor away from the console. “Let me enter the coordinates, Dad. This is a surprise! You just can’t stand it, can you?”

The Doctor was glaring at him. “I don’t want to go.”

“Daaaad…”

“What the hell do you mean, you don’t want to go?” I wasn’t honestly surprised by his reaction. I’m pretty sure we both knew where Wilfred was taking us, and the Doctor was being bloody-minded and obstinate. Mind you, with perfectly good reason. His emotional distress over his home world had been festering for years, maybe all his life, and he’d only recently managed to get it back under some semblance of control.

“I mean, I don’t want to go! Full stop! Kaput! Fertig! Klaar! And just NOPE!” He fixed me with that I’m-not-compromising-so forget-it look of his.

I gave Wilfred a kiss on the cheek, stopping what was likely to be an outburst he would regret, and told him to give us a minute, maybe longer... maybe a lot longer. Then I went to the Doctor, and took him down to our bedroom. “How about a kip, yeah. It’s been a long day. It’s well past bedtime.” I tossed him his jimjams, and we got ready for bed.

A few minutes later, I snuggled up to him under the covers.

“I’m not going.”

“I know, love.” We lay there, just cuddling for a few minutes, and a memory of a previous Christmas drifted into my mind. “Hey, do you remember that Christmas when Wilfred gave you the transparency setting for wood? He was so proud. He’d been planning the reveal all day.”

The Doctor chuckled.

“He’s always so thoughtful, yeah. What a great Christmas that was! We all bundled out there with hot chocolate and ended up spending the whole evening stargazing and telling stories.” I felt his body relax. “I was so shocked when you pointed up to the sky and told us that’s where Gallifrey was supposed to be.”

“Weeell…”

“And then you even told that story about running through the grass, flying your little kite.”

“It got stuck in a Cadonwood. A gust of wind just took it off course.”

“But you got it down. You flew that little kite again.”

“I know what you’re doing.” He always knew… and I wasn’t being terribly subtle.

“Yeah? Is it working.”

“Absolutely not.” But he rolled his eyes and gave me a long, lingering kiss.

“Just sleep on it for a bit. That’s all I’m asking.” I stroked the stubble on his cheek and tucked my head under his chin and we gradually dozed off.

A few hours later, he was dressed, stubble-free, and back in the console room with a brand new attitude. “All right, son. It’s time I faced my demons…”

Wilfred grinned. “You’ll love it, I promise. Ready?”

The Doctor nodded and with that, Wilfred threw the last lever in the dematerialization sequence. The landing was gentle, and with a flourish of his hand he directed the Doctor to the doors. “Happy Christmas, Dad.”

I saw the Doctor hesitate as he moved to go out, and sensed he was going to turn back. I couldn’t let that happen. This was something he needed to do. Whatever he found on the other side of those doors, it would no longer be a product of his tortured imagination. It would be real, something he could deal with head on. Together, love, I suggested over our bond, and I took his hand. He was shaking. I did my best to reassure him. Love, he would never have brought you here if he thought it would be a bad thing. Come on. I tugged on his hand and we stepped up to the doors. “Together!”

With that, we pulled the doors open.

The Doctor gasped and squeezed my hand so hard it hurt. His emotions rushed over me as he took in the vista before him: apprehension, joy, sadness… and a lot of hope. I nudged him over the threshold, and we stepped out onto the soil of Gallifrey. We were on a little rise in the middle of a field of beautiful, long grass… and such a deep, rich, gorgeous red… spread out before us. Here and there were little groves of slender trees (the kite-snatching Cadonwoods, I guessed) with silver leaves, flickering in the breeze. And beyond all that… mountains. I can’t describe them properly: rugged and capped with snow, and all sorts of colours… purples and browns. The sky was amber, but as we stood there, everything began to grow brighter, and the sky began to turn more blue. Birds (I think they were birds or something like them) started chattering in the trees.

“The second sun rising in the south…” The Doctor whispered the words, and I when I looked up at his face, Santa, it was more beautiful than any of that scenery. Tears sparkled on his cheeks, but his expression… I’ve only ever seen that expression a few times before, and that was when he’d held each of our children for the very first time. It was wonder and disbelief and joy all mixed together.

He looked at me and beamed, his grip on my hand tightening again. “RUN!” And suddenly he was dragging me down the little hill, leaping and bounding through the grass like a puppy, and I couldn’t help laughing at him, even as I tried to catch my breath. He was so happy! He dropped my hand and danced around me, whooping and cheering. After a few minutes, he bounced his way back to the TARDIS, me tagging along behind, and Wilfred stepped forward to greet him. He handed him a kite, a simple diamond design.

“You once told us the story of how you would run through the red grass, flying your kite. (Just what me and the Doctor had talked about before our nap!) I thought you might like to give it another go.”

“Oh, yes! Oh, Wilfred! This is…” He pulled him into a hug, then gratefully took the kite and waved it at me. “C’mon, Rose Tyler, help me fly it!” I skipped over to him, and he handed me the kite as he let out a length of string. “You hold it up and I’ll run ahead! You know when to let go!”

Yes, I did. The Doctor loved to fly kites and we had done this a thousand times if we had done it once. In seconds, he was tearing across the field again, his exhilaration bursting like fireworks in my mind, and I was holding tight to the kite and stumbling along behind him until I felt the wind catch and tug at my fingers.

And then I released it, and watched it soar into the air, the words “Welcome Home” emblazoned in Circular Gallifreyan onto the kite’s wings.

I suddenly realized I was releasing him too, and a cold dread settled in my gut: I closed my emotions to him as I panicked and selfishly felt the need to keep him right beside me, as though if I didn’t he might abandon me and disappear into this world, into Gallifrey, never to return. That scared the hell out of me.

But how could I deny him this? Even if he left me, just knowing he was happy… that would be enough. I forced back my tears and watched him wading through the grass, gazing up at the dancing kite as it went higher and higher into the brightening sky. I don’t know if I’d ever seen him so alive. Oh, I love him so much; I know I’ve said it a lot, but I do, I really do!

Eventually, he reeled in the kite and jogged back to the TARDIS where Wilfred and me were waiting. He was beaming and his hair was wilder than ever and his eyes were glowing. “I can’t believe it’s here! Gallifrey!” He picked me up and whirled me around. “And I can feel them… the people… in my mind, their voices in my mind!”  

Oh god, Santa, my jealousy just flared at the thought of anyone else in his mind. I felt horrible but I couldn’t help it, and I bolstered the mental shields I’d thrown up earlier. “I thought you were touch telepaths?”

“Oh, we are… were…, but there’s a sort of a telepathic field, nothing specific, just like distant chatter, background noise I suppose you could call it. I’m aware of them, but not of who they are or what they’re thinking. Just that they’re there. And the Time Lords… weeell, we were all telepathically linked, like a sort of hive mind when it was needed, but that was stronger, and deliberate. This isn’t anything like that. This is just innocent whispers, nothing meant for power or manipulation.”

“Like the TARDIS in my mind?”

“Weeell… yes and no… not so specific. Not so intimate or intense.” I hoped he couldn’t feel my sense of relief at hearing that. I was desperately trying to push all my negative emotions aside and just enjoy the adventure. I certainly didn’t want to ruin this experience for him. And yet here I was doing just that…

“What are you doing with your shields up?” He touched my face, concern chasing away his joy. I felt like such a cow, worrying him like that, when all he wanted to do was share this experience with me. “Actually, you should be able to sense them as well. You’ve become quite a strong telepath. But first, you need to let them in.”

“I’ll try,” I wanted to reassure him so I relaxed my mental walls a bit, tucking my jealousies and fears behind a doorway in my mind, and opened myself to welcome the Gallifreyan voices. It was like a choir singing very faintly, very far away, just on the edge of my awareness. It’s lovely… I told him truthfully. It was, but he’d noticed my tight smile and I knew he sensed something in the turn of my thoughts. I couldn’t really hide my feelings from him, such an experienced telepath.

He didn’t say anything, just drew me into a hug and kissed my forehead and made me feel so incredibly loved.

“Oi! Yuck, you two! Break it up!” Wilfred’s voice cut into our intimate little moment, and we pulled out of the hug, chuckling.

Wilfred pointed out the footpath that meandered through the field and suggested we walk into town. He told us there was a small community at the end of the path where we could stop to get a bite to eat and meet some people.

“Allons-y!” The Doctor snatched up my hand in his again, and grinning from ear to ear, pulled me along the path. I couldn’t help laughing, my fears dissipating, knowing he wanted me with him. Besides, the prospect of an adventure with my two boys… what could be better?

As we walked, Wilfred admitted to having travelled here several times, often staying for long periods. He told us some of what he had learned about this Gallifrey. First off, there were no Time Lords, and the Gallifreyans had no active time sense that he could discern. (The Doctor seemed especially interested in this fact, and immediately began taking readings with his sonic.) They were an intelligent, hard-working, and thoughtful people from all walks of life. Regardless of their profession, everyone was encouraged to continue to learn and challenge their mind throughout their life. Many attended schools of higher learning in the major cities, like Arcadia.  

They were a philosophical people who were very open to offworlders visiting, and welcomed new opportunities for learning with open arms, but only a very few ever sought to leave Gallifrey. And it was no wonder. They had turned it into a virtual paradise. Through ingenious methods, they extracted water from the atmosphere, creating oases of civilization even in the driest parts of this dry planet, beautiful, lush communities where life thrived. They nurtured their world and it nurtured them.

They were quite long-lived, living about 250 Earth years on average, though they didn’t have the extended life span the Time Lords had enjoyed, even without the ability to regenerate.

“But why not? Why didn’t they evolve into Time Lords?” The Doctor was muttering happily to himself, thrilled to have a mystery to solve along with his enjoyment at just being able to experience this version of his home planet again. It seemed without those Time Lords, Gallifrey was a much kinder, gentler place, and he was truly quite delighted by that fact.

His obsessive questioning suddenly transformed to awe when we arrived at our destination, a little town called Flanx. The grassy plains morphed into farmland around the town. Flanx itself was… I want to say quaint, but I don’t think that’s quite the word. It was clean and modern, highly efficient. But it was also a comfortable, welcoming place. It was so pretty, flowers everywhere, and fruit trees and vegetables growing in every garden. There was nothing outlandish or snobby about it, nothing like the stories I’d heard from the Doctor about the Gallifrey he once knew.

The main street was quite busy with people going about their business, and a huge, colourful, open air market was set up in the town square. I was drawn by a vendor selling some of the gorgeous tunic dresses worn by the locals. The fabrics were exquisite: soft and durable, and dyed in beautiful colours and designs.

“They recognize UCS [that means Universal Credit Sticks, Santa] as currency,” Wilfred whispered in my ear, giving me a nudge.

The Doctor came up behind me, placing a hand on my lower back, stroking. He nodded to a tunic I had been eyeing: flowing and knee length, soft blue with a gauzy amber overlay. It looked like the dawn sky. Stretchy mid-calf leggings came with it. “Would you like it, love?”

I bit my lower lip, a habit I had never outgrown, and nodded. “But you need one too…” I smirked at him, “to blend in. Not that I mind the jeans and jumper, but it’s just that these tunics look so comfortable, and if I’m going to go native, you are too!”

The Doctor pursed his lips. I could sense his annoyance… mild annoyance. He hadn’t expected me to turn the tables on him like that, but I have to admit, it was nice to know I could still pull one over on him once in a while. I watched as he perused the selection available.

“Weeell, as long as it doesn’t come with a ridiculous headdress I suppose… Ah-ha!”

I followed his eyes and burst into gales of laughter. I couldn’t believe it. He’d found one in brown fabric with a dark blue pinstripe running through it. Soft brown trousers were worn underneath. “Oh my God! You have to buy it!”

“Oh, yes!” And with that, the Doctor spoke in Gallifreyan to the woman at the stall, and purchased all our items, including some sandals for me. He insisted on sticking with his trusty Chucks. I wrapped my arms around him and planted a kiss of thanks at the corner of his mouth.

We wandered through the market some more. The Doctor insisting on buying me a circlet for my hair (they seemed to be all the fashion): a simple design of silver metal, woven into infinity knots. I suddenly felt shy and self-conscious, worrying about how ridiculous it would be to waste it on my greying hair. “I should probably listen to Mum and go blonde again, yeah.”

“Don’t you dare! I love the silver in your hair, and this circlet will complement it perfectly. My precious girl…” He placed it on my head, and leaned in to give me a rather wonderful kiss.

“All right, love birds!” Wilfred had an annoying habit of interrupting us when we were having lovely, romantic moments. “How about we grab a bite to eat. I know a fantastic little restaurant just down the street…”

True to his word, the restaurant was fantastic and the meal was delicious. I had a sort of stew made with some mildly spiced, succulent meat, marinated in Ulanda fruit sauce and served with a wonderful flatbread, perfect for mopping up the last bits from the plate. The Doctor went completely mental when he saw the dessert menu, though. “Oh, oh, oh, Rose! They have Karmine pudding! You have to try it! This fruit! There’s nothing better in the universe! I used to have it all the time when I was a child.”

“What? There’s a fruit in the universe better than bananas?”

“Rose Tyler! Karmine is more bananas than bananas!”

“You’re bananas!” Wilfred muttered, and I laughed. I admit, I’d been thinking the same thing.

“Karmine is the original banana! Sweeter, richer… more banana-esque. Where do you think bananas came from, Rose?”

I shrugged. What else could I do? But it turned out he was right; the pudding was gorgeous!

As we stepped out of the restaurant, I sighed. I reminded them that Christmas was tomorrow… erm, today. We needed to get home. It was already nearly six in the morning, our time.

The Doctor’s face fell. “Oh, well all right then… allons-y!” he said, trying to be upbeat, and failing miserably.

My heart broke, and when Wilfred groaned, “Muuuuum! I have something really special to show you! Time it, Mum! Just this once! Time it!” I found myself questioning when I had become such a “rules” sort of person. I always used to be the first one to break them: go wandering off to find an adventure, or leap into a stranger’s “London Hopper” without a second thought for those I was leaving behind. I reckon that’s one of the ways being a parent changes your life.

“Well, I suppose…” I was grinning from ear to ear at the thought of this tiny rebellion. “And this way, I get to say Merry Christmas to you twice,” I crooned into the Doctor’s ear.

“Blimey, Mum! Child present!”

--ooOoo--

We camped out that night under the stars. After snuggling into sleeping bags from the TARDIS, the Doctor regaled us with the names of all of the constellations we could see. I eventually fell asleep to the sound of his voice and the familiar thud of his heartbeat against my cheek. I don’t think he slept at all, himself. He was far too excited.

Wilfred was excited too, barely able to contain himself the next morning. He was dying to show us the “really special” place he had mentioned the previous day. He didn’t want to give too much away so it would be a surprise, but he did mention we’d have to take the TARDIS to get there. It was much too far to walk.

We dressed in our new Gallifreyan tunics, and when the TARDIS landed, the Doctor flung open the doors and stepped out, open-mouthed. I came out behind him and found myself in the middle of a spectacular mountain vista. We stood in the foothills by the banks of a rushing river. Everything was lush and covered with all kinds of plants with leaves in purples, reds, and golds.

“Where did you say we came out?” the Doctor asked Wilfred as he joined us.

“We’re right at the edge of the mountain range, in the valley between the mountains Solace and Solitude. The view is spectac−”

“It’s gone!” The Doctor staggered forward, clutching at his hair, and my heart just leaped into my throat. “Completely and utterly… gone!” He was projecting an aura of what I could only describe as emptiness.

I asked him, as gently as I could what he meant, and when he turned to me his eyes were wild. “It’s gone. It was right here… weeell, I suppose it was never here. Not in this universe…”

“What wasn’t, love? What did you expect to see?” I turned to look at Wilfred, who was just as concerned as me, by the looks of him.

“The Citadel… the Capitol… beautiful city, majestic. Enclosed in a mighty glass dome, the entire city. And it’s just not here...”

I wrapped my arms around him from behind, my cheek pressed against his shoulder, and I tried to let him know how sorry I was, how sad.

He told me he wasn’t sad, not really. Just shocked. “Completely floored, to be honest!” The city had been a symbol of power and dominance, beautiful, yes, but full of corruption. It had been built on the bones of the original Capitol, and below that were the Vaults and Cloisters where the Time Lords guarded some of their darkest secrets. “But I think the saddest thing of all was deep in the Vaults, an Undercroft. It was a huge natural cave, reworked and modified by the Time Lords…” A single tear rolled down his cheek, and I felt how his heart ached. He gulped back a sob. “They sent TARDISes there to die. Discarded. When it was deemed they had outlived their usefulness.”

Our TARDIS hummed a melancholy little sound, and I could feel her stroking the Doctor’s mind, desperate to reassure him, bolstering my attempts to do the same.

“Maybe just as well it isn’t here. A pretty bauble to look at, but…”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t know…”

“Not your fault. And yes, I can’t help but think this world, this universe is better off for the absence of the Time Lords. They were sworn never to interfere, only to watch. But they couldn’t resist the temptation of power in the end. The Time War itself was the ultimate evidence of that, the ultimate interference, and coupled with their disdain for “lower” lifeforms, weeell…”

“What I brought you here to see,” Wilfred said softly, “I think will make you feel better about all of that. It’s beautiful too, but in a natural way. You’ll see. C’mon, it’s up this way a bit.” He gestured upstream. We hiked up the river bank along a faint foot path until we reached a cabin that peeked out from a little grove of Cadonwoods. Wilfred explained that there was someone he wanted us to meet, a guide who would be able to take us further. He stepped up onto the little porch of the cabin and knocked on the door.

A young woman opened the door, and after a brief hesitation, threw her arms around Wilfred’s neck. “Wilfred! You returned!” Me and the Doctor just looked at each other, stunned.

“Course I did. Said I would, didn’t I?”

“And these must be your parents…” She pulled away from Wilfred and stepped toward us. She was petite, with dark, caramel skin and long, straight black hair, and her eyes were an extraordinary, piercing blue.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah…” My poor baby. I think he’d almost forgotten we were there, but I could hardly fault him for that. The girl was beautiful. “Erm,” he stammered in Gallifreyan, “this is my mum, Rose Tyler, and my dad, the Doctor. This,” he nodded at the girl, “is Tianza.”

“Tianzadruxdomdivaradamas,” (obviously her full name) “but you can call me Tianza. Nice to meet you.”

“Well, I see some things haven’t changed,” the Doctor piped up, even as he took Tianza’s hand to shake. “You lot still have ridiculously long names.”

I elbowed him in the ribs and admonished him over our bond: Rude! To Tianza, I spoke aloud using the best Gallifreyan I could manage in an effort to be polite, even though the TARDIS was happily translating for me (the Doctor had long since made sure Gallifreyan was included in her translation matrix.) “Sorry about him. Nice to meet you Tianza.”

She just laughed and invited us in, and offered us some fruity biscuits and cold spring water for a snack. “So you want to see the Chanting Caverns of Consolation, is that right?”

For a second there, I thought maybe the TARDIS had mistranslated what she had said, but Wilfred quickly agreed with her. The Chanting Caverns it was then. Soon we were off hiking again, with Tianza leading the way. We climbed higher into the foothills, continuing upstream along the river. As we walked, she told us a little about herself. She was a student at the Advanced Biological Academy in Arcadia, and was stationed here to study and protect the flora and fauna in the Chanting Caverns of Consolation. I couldn’t help but notice how Wilfred hung on her every word. Besotted. She seemed quite fond of him too, but whether she was as taken with him as he was with her, I rather doubted. Still, I reckon she seemed like a nice enough girl.

We stopped to eat lunch at a spot where we could no longer follow the river. It flowed out from below ground at this point. Underneath us were enormous caverns and a great underground lake, fed by the river from further up the mountain. This was to be our destination.

“Just wait, Dad! You’ve never seen anything like this!” Wilfred was practically vibrating in anticipation.

An hour later we were standing at the large entrance of a cave. A soft droning sound drifted up to us, a melodic humming, so familiar, but so wild and strange at the same time. I felt a gentle prickle at the edges of my mind, someone, something attempting to make contact. Me and the Doctor found one another’s hands. “Is it safe? The telepathic field?” I blurted out, feeling silly. Nothing about this felt hostile, but I’d experienced enough deception in my life to know to proceed with caution.

“You can sense them?” Tianza sounded impressed. “They’re curious about strangers, that’s all. Purely emotional communication. Very safe.”

We descended into the cave, the narrow passage sloping gradually down to the underground lake. We could hear the humming better as we got closer. It wasn’t loud but it trembled, almost like voices in vibrato, not high pitched, though, but not deep either, lots of songs all at once… chanting… the Chanting Caverns. It was… I can’t think of a word to properly describe to you how beautiful the songs were, Santa, but combined with the telepathic field, they were just so powerful and wonderful and gave such a feeling of wellbeing. The Chanting Caverns of Consolation.

As we drew closer, I could hear the lake water sloshing against the shore, giving rhythm to the chorus of humming voices, and I realized I was able to see quite well even though we were deep underground.

“Do you have lights set up down there?” the Doctor asked.

“No, that’s just… them.”

“Who? Who or what is down here?” I could feel his nervous energy, held tightly under control, his imagination running wild with endless questions.

“Just wait, Dad,” Wilfred said. “Just around this corner and…”

“The Shimmering Coral Forest.” As Tianza spoke those words, the passage opened up and before us was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. All along the shores of the lake were lovely, little coral trees, draped with glowing fruit that dangled from their branches on long vines. Some were just little saplings with tiny bioluminescent buds, while others were strong, fully-grown corals. No matter their shape or size, I recognized them instantly.

“Those… those are…” The Doctor was stammering, at a loss for words. “But that’s impossible. I never considered…” Tears rolled freely down his cheeks and I held fast to his hand, leaning against him, and just took in the marvels of the Shimmering Coral Forest. “They’re TARDIS corals…”

“TARDIS? What word is this?” Tianza asked.

“Now that, that is a long story…”

“I’d like to hear it sometime, if you are willing to tell it, but we know these entities as the Consolation Corals. We believe they are unique to these caves. To date, they have not been found anywhere else on Gallifrey.”

I asked if we could walk among them, touch them, make contact. Tianza gave her permission, and hand in hand, me and the Doctor moved forward to meet these beings, who were so reminiscent of the entity who was our beloved TARDIS. I was drawn to them, and as I reached out to touch one, they seemed to bend toward me, and connect with my mind in a much more intimate way. Touch telepaths of sorts. It all felt so familiar, so much like how I communicated with the TARDIS, but less intense, less precise.

The Doctor felt it too. “These are the same caves where the TARDISes were sent to die. And look, here they are in their natural state, brim-full of life, Rose! These brilliant beings!” He pondered how they, like the Gallifreyan people, were so similar to those in the Prime Universe, yet they had evolved no sensitivity to time.

We spent hours wandering among them, marvelling at the beauty of the bioluminescent lights reflecting on the ripples of the water and listening to the peaceful songs that surrounded us.  Wilfred helped Tianza collect data for her studies and then the two of them left us to explore alone. We sat down at the base of a large coral, deep in the centre of the forest, and felt its strength fill us.

As comfortable as we were, eventually we had to leave the Shimmering Coral Forest, but Tianza invited us to come back any time. On our return trip to the cabin, we told her the far-fetched tale of our lives in a different universe and the fate of the corals and the people there. And we told her about our TARDIS.

She came back with us to meet the TARDIS, and I thought she handled the shock of experiencing the bigger-on-the-inside business very well indeed. She was intrigued that she could communicate on a rudimentary level with the TARDIS, and how familiar it felt to her. We asked her to supper and after pudding took her to see our very own Consolation Coral deep under the central console. She expressed understandable concern about the way the TARDIS was all wired up, how she was (as she saw it) enslaved to this life of being a space and time vessel, but we explained how much love there was between us and our beautiful girl, how we considered her family, a partner, and how we trusted her to keep us safe, and we did our best to protect her as well.

The Doctor did admit that not all TARDISes had been treated with the same respect we had for ours, and that “slavery” was probably not too far off the mark in many cases. He was just so happy that this Gallifrey had evolved so differently, though he still had to discover why that was the case. He asked Tianza about the Untempered Schism, and she had just looked confused. She’d never heard of it.

The next day we took her on a trip to see her planet from space. She and Wilfred sat in the doorway, with their feet dangling, watching the rusty orange planet spin before them. I didn’t miss Wilfred covering her hand with his, and the way she leaned her head against his shoulder. Maybe she was fonder of him than I’d previously realized. I couldn’t help but smile at the two of them. It was a romantic location, that doorway. Me and the Doctor had spent many an hour there, taking in the sights, both in this universe and the other.

The Doctor took the opportunity of being in space to perform a proper scan of Gallifrey using the TARDIS’ scanners. It showed him what he had suspected all along: the massive rift in space and time, known as the Untempered Schism, had never formed on Gallifrey. Without prolonged exposure to the naked Vortex, Gallifreyans had never evolved into Time Lords and the corals had never developed the potential to manipulate time and space.

Later, we took the TARDIS into the Chanting Caverns to meet her kindred. She warbled and hummed with the corals, and we could feel her joy and contentment absolutely bubbling over our bond. Me and the Doctor looked at one another and we knew what we had to do, what was only right to do. She could have friends of her own kind now, and it was with no small amount of trepidation that we offered to let her stay here, if that was what she wanted, to allow her the freedom she deserved for the rest of her days. It made my heart ache and brought to the forefront of my mind how I’d been feeling about the Doctor, losing him to this world, too. If I was to lose them both…

But the TARDIS enveloped our minds in what could only be described as a hug. We were her family, her life. Her freedom was exploring all of space and time with us, and she intended to spend her life looking after us and our family. Forever, she hummed.

We said goodbye to Tianza (Wilfred did too, though I suspected he would be visiting her a lot with his Vortex manipulator), and we ended up spending another entire week exploring Gallifrey: the universities and academies; Arcadia; the mountains; and many of the smaller communities around the planet.

I often took my easel and paints with me and let my muse run mad. There was inspiration everywhere, from scenes of everyday life to spectacular vistas. My favourite of my paintings, though, is of a little boy, running through an immense field of long, red grass, dragging a ragged little kite in his wake. I’ve managed to keep that one a secret from the Doctor. I still have a bit of work to do on it, but I hope to give it to him as a gift one day.

One night over supper, the Doctor sadly declared he thought it was well past time we return to our own timeline and celebrate Christmas with our family. This had been a brilliant, life-changing Christmas gift, one he would enjoy for many years, but for now, it was time to go home.

As we curled up to sleep under the Gallifreyan stars, I knew it was time to face my fears once and for all. Just as we had done for the TARDIS, I had to set the Doctor free, to give him that choice. “Are you sure? You’re certain you want to go back? You don’t have to feel obliged, you know…”

He gave me an odd look and arched his eyebrow at me. “What are you on about, eh?” He probed over our bond, and found the unfamiliar door in my mind where I had hidden all my feelings of jealousy and possessiveness and my fear of losing him on our first day on Gallifrey, and every day since, to be honest. “What’s going on in that beautiful mind, hmmm? May I look?”

I felt so guilty for having any feelings at all that would make it seem I didn’t want him to be happy I couldn’t look him in the eye, but I nodded and allowed him access to that room behind the door. The second he opened it, all my repressed fears and emotions came rushing out at once, before I was able to rein them in.  

I couldn’t hold the tears back any more than I’d been able to hold back that rush of emotions, and within moments I was blubbing away like a big baby. “When I saw the words on the kite Wilfred gave you when we first got here… welcome home… it made me think, yeah. I was just so afraid I’d lose you to this planet. I mean, it’s your home. I’m so sorry! You’re having the most brilliant experience of your life, and here I’m being such a cow. But, honestly, I just want you to be happy, even if it means having to lose you; I don’t care what the cost. I mean it, I really do.”

He was crying too, now, and holding me so tight, rocking me and repeating like a mantra, “You are my home.” Finally, our tears had calmed a bit, and he said, “I thought you knew that.”

“I did. I do. I guess I’ve just never had to compete with an entire planet before.”

“There was never any competition, love. Gallifrey was where I grew up, and I have some very fond memories of it, but it never really felt like home, no matter how hard I tried to make it that way. It’s why I ran away. The TARDIS and all my friends were the closest things I had to that. Then you came into my life. You gave me a future and a reason to live. You gave me the one adventure I always thought I could never have. And, yes, I do want to come back and have more adventures here, on this Gallifrey, but only if I have you by my side every step of the way. You’re it for me, Rose Tyler. My home. Forever.”

Santa, I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve him. Yes, there are certainly times he’s so bloody thick-headed he makes me want to pull my hair out, but honestly, I wouldn’t have him any other way. He’s my home, too.

I hope you found your way back to your home safely this year, Santa, and that it was filled with love. Give my love to Mrs. Claus, the elves, and all the reindeer.

Love, Rose.

#doctorroseprompts #kid fic #tentoo x rose #angst #hurt/comfort #christmas fic #fluff #love #family #romance #ficandchips #tenroseforeverandever's fic

[omegangrins]

[Kingsmen 3: The Golden Service] Harry Hart turns "villain"

TL;DR: The Lepidopterist is the *perfect* name for a "colorfull" megalomaniac who's trying to save the world via villainy.

I've allways had a nagging feeling that Colin Firth's Harry Hart is destined to become a villain. Like Valentine and Poppy, our Hart will break.

Why do I think this? Let's start simple:

1) "I always felt that the old Bond films were only as good as the villain. As a child, I rather fancied a future as a colorful megalomaniac."

Now you could take it as face value veiled metaphor in their cat and mouse game. A game recognize game moment. Though when you look at it from a character angle, it is rather apparent that Galahad is not lying here. Look at the giddy nature in which they both talk about the subject. Almost lost in a moment of childhood nostalgia. Neither man is lying. So if Valentine tried to save the world like his younger self wanted, then it stands to reason that Harry has that childhood dream himself.

Harry even has a flair for the dramatic already. "Manners maketh man" is all about him causing a dignified scene to teach a lesson to all watching. In the Freebird church scene, you can see it BEFORE he starts fighting because of Valentine's machine.

Feels like a simple "I'm going to the bathroom" or "I'm hot and need to breath outside for moment" would have sufficed and gotten him out of there without hassle from the crazy Baptist and he KNEW that but didn't care. Arthur implies this subversiveness in their conversations about choosing candidates. Then there's the *way* in which he kills everyone there. Not just defense or trying to kill quickly but lots of slow, painful, and fucked up deaths. The killing is Valentine but the style is ALL Harry. It's part of the reasons he's disgusted. Not the enjoyment, but the ease with which he turned so gleefully. That slow motion fade in smile in the middle is proof of this. Harry *wanted* to punish those people the same way Valentine did. That's proven by what he says at the start. (Don't blame him either, just character commenting. Fuck those people.) Part of me thinks the Freebird is playing in *HIS* head. He's a bird freed by blood.

2) The Lepidopterist

I know the clip is from Venture Bros but it's meant to show how two "good guys" became bad. Kinda the perfect coincidence. But I digress... it was a shameless plug to #SavetheVentureBros. 😎😙😍

The hobbyist collecting of insects, fauna/flora, and what-have-yous has looooong been a trope of "colorful megalomaniacs".

Then there's the added bonus that The Lepidopterist sounds like the *perfect* name for a Bond villain.

Butterflies even symbolize death and rebirth and the violence inherent in transforming something for the better.

Is Harry's butterflies a set-up foreshadowing to his coming transformation from "hero" to "villain"?

"I doubt whether I'd work for anyone who drowns their employees. I want to go home. I want my butterfly collection. I want to see Mother."

3) As we know, all the best villains are ones we sympathize with and understand WHY they do what they do. Valentine was trying to solve over-population and save what he could of the species so it wouldn't happen again. Poppy wanted drugs to be legal, partially for vanity reasons but mainly for anger at global government hypocrisies (the same governments which had their heads blown up for trying to kill humanity for their own gain). Wouldn't it fit perfectly for Harry Hart to have seen the horrors inflicted by the world governments and the corruption of not only Statesmen, but his beloved Kingsmen themselves, and say "No more." What's he gonna feel when he finds out Arthur sold the Kingsmen's soul and got him killed? How long has the "shoot the dog" exercise been in practice? Why is trying to drown someone thought of as a reasonable way to help them? Does the rot go to the core? All things any reasonable person would ask after being shot for an organization that was just blown up by a drug dealer.

"When I was shot, can you guess what the last thing was that flashed through my mind? It was absolutely nothing. I had no ties. No bittersweet memories. I was leaving nothing behind. Never experienced companionship, never been in love. And in that moment, all I felt was loneliness and regret."

Who's to say what he would do or the methods he would take, but villains are merely people casting shadows in the way of the light.

4) I put this last because it's more pun than the others and because I only realized it while writing their names out loud. Valentine. Poppy. Hart. A valentine is love, poppies symbolize death, and a heart combines both (a Hart is also the name for an adult male deer over the age of five but I'm not British enough to understand what the fuck that has to do with anything.) There's also Richmond Valentine/Rich Man Love (Rich dude saving the world). Poppy Adams/ Poppy of the Earth (Death of the World). And finally Harry Hart/Harry Heart. An attacking heart. Yeah, that's the old definition of "harry". To harass. (Or Power Ruler of the Five Year Old Male Deer. This isn't an exact science 🙃 ). Honestly, as I write these out, the puns become the hardest piece of proof for me. Brits love a good wordplay foreshadowing.

"... this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

AND what else do they have in common? They're all things associated with the color red. And what's red?

BLOOD.

Sorry, couldn't resist the touch of drama. 🤣

P.S. I know it's not really related but I also subscribe to the Poppy is a former Statesmen theory as well.

Making this an even more thematic connection. Good guys gone villain because of shitty situations.

Edits

5) HE'S WEARING AN EYEPATCH!!! How autistic am I that I missed that in my explanation. Eyepatches just seem that normal to me but they're like the ultimate villain accessory. Unless you're a pirate.

6) /u/Bespoke3 pointed out how the one thing keeping this from happening is Eggsy and Harry's relationship, and I contended that it was true. While making an interesting movie, you need a sufficient reason for those two to be on opposite ends of each other. And in rambling through comments, I found it. This is why you write shit outloud:

It's Princess Tilde!

The first movie showed that world leaders would gladly sell their souls to save themselves, Princess Tilde being one of the few exceptions. The second showed that even after those figureheads exploded (see what I did there 🤣), there was still terrible people left in charge making even worse decisions.

What if Harry's plan is to attack all of the "leaders" of the world as a way to show people they have the power to govern themselves. This would put Princess Tilde, and moreso her family, directly in the line of fire and force Eggsy's hand to intervene and choose.

Save the girl or save the world.

7) As /u/baddestmofointhe209 pointed out, Harry *was* shot in the head. That kind of thing does tend to mess with people after the fact. Maybe turning villain isn't such a stretch. Not evil, but morally grey.

7) As /u/baddestmofointhe209 pointed out, Harry *was* shot in the head. That kind of thing does tend to mess with people after the fact. Maybe turning villain isn't such a stretch. Not evil, but morally grey.

8) My wife was telling me about how Colin Firth has allways wanted to play the villain too.

"Whenever you take on playing a villain, he has to cease to be a villain to you. If you judge this man by his time, he's doing very little wrong."

“I’d never rule out a part in Doctor Who or Torchwood – especially Doctor Who, I’d also love to play a villain like Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes."

9) Thanks to some pushback from /u/The-Reddit-Giraffe, I decided to Google Kingsmen 3 rumors and stumbled on this little nugget about it, and specifically the Harry/Eggsy relationship:

"I'm really not allowed to say anything, but there is a script. It's a really neat idea."

Outside of it telling the finale of Eggsy and Harry Hart's story, we don't know all that much about the plot for the third movie.

"People will either freak out in a good way, or freak out in a bad way, but they will freak out," Vaughn teased. "We're literally finishing the script off as I speak – but they go on a journey that, if anyone sees it coming, then I'll give up."

To which I would like to thank YOU. This is why I love being shown how I could be wrong. I can't help but feel like this is EXACTLY what they're talking about. You don't have a script finished that fast if you didn't already know where you were going with the first two.

It HAS to end like this. Now I can't see any other way. Maybe The Rock is the Big Bad they have to team up to stop at the end but I will say with 99% confidence that Harry Hart will turn rogue for the first 2/3 of the movie.

10) This wouldn't be the first time I was right about something like this either.

#kingsman #kingsmen secret service #kingsmen golden circle #colin firth #taron egerton #mark strong #samuel l jackson #julianne moore #matthew vaughn #sophie cookson #sofia boutella #michael caine #elton john #spy #villain #hero #movie #film #theory #plot twist #james bond #guy ritchie #spy vs spy #thanos #guns #violence #fight #manners #gentleman

[sigmastolen]

well thank the prophets WORMHOLE ALIENS i got all of the aftertrek trivia questions right

some thoughts on dsc 1.01–02 after the jump (spoilers ahoy)

i love everyone~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

okay, well.  i love all the starfleet characters so far.  the klingons... i’m not there yet with the klingons.

i mean, i’m doing my best to stay open-minded about these newfangled klingons.  klingon culture and spirituality has always been pretty interesting, so that’s an easier sell -- the visual revamp is more what i’m struggling with.  the hairlessness weirds me out, since klingon hair has been such a strong design element (worf and all his dandyish grooming! the definitely-racist but also ubiquitous and iconic fu manchus! the higher the hair the closer to god kahless!!!!).  the new ridges so far are smoother and seem less individual, which is kind of disappointing -- a klingon character’s ridges felt like they did a lot of the work in setting the character’s tone.  (i also really like that the ridge designs for tng–ent-era klingons were based on dinosaur teeth & vertebrae, that concept is like candy to me.)  plus we are now seeing even less of the actors’ actual faces and i am finding the nu!klingons therefore very hard to read. all the gold coloring of the ship and the armor could be a callback to tos-era klingon uniforms, but in my heart i long for the black-and-silver industrial look, with the riveted belt buckles and the boob windows.  (tbh i hold out hope for boob windows somewhere amongst the 24 great houses.)  and, like, yeah, it’s intricate and beautiful and it would be at home on an IMAX screen but i’m watching on a 13-inch laptop and so the armor?  maybe too busy; kahless help the poor souls streaming it to their smartphones.

i must admit i’m also having a little difficulty with the new starfleet uniforms.  i don’t understand how to read them yet tbh -- how to parse rank or division.  the heritage from ent’s blue cargo suits is clear, but it’s very difficult to imagine how they go from here to tos’s colorblocking.  then again, if you include the films, starfleet history is full of radical uniform redesigns...

i looooove that the shenzhou bridge crew is so diverse -- more bit-part and background aliens always!  kthx

wow, sarek is really not great at parenting (actually now i am thinking a lot about amanda, since sarek’s specialty in life seems to be Saying The Wrong Thing (this guy is a diplomat? really?))

how many times did i cry? not that many, actually!  but definitely at least five times.  once was during the opening sequence, despite not thinking it was all that when i saw it teased on social media.  and when they showed us the damage to shenzhou i wept like it was an old friend, which is.  healthy.

are we accepting vulcan science academy training as equivalent to starfleet academy (i mean, in some ways we always have but still)?  did burnham get a field commission? or did she have to spend some time in san francisco?  because the implication is that she spent the entirety of the last seven years on shenzhou, serving under georgiou and learning how to human.  i just... have questions.  (i would suggest it’s like archer, janeway, or sisko making non-starfleet people the first officer, except all of those were to force cooperation between their various factions.  it echoes the dynamic of kirk and spock, except spock did go to starfleet academy and moved conventionally through the ranks.)

the “kelpiens sense the coming of death” thing is so much less stupid than the advertising made it look, thank goodness.  so far i love saru very much and it is only partially because i love doug jones very much.

i also love georgiou very much and am Disappointed 

is this what indira varma’s fans felt like after the first episode of torchwood?

but i also can’t wait to actually be on discovery -- the information so far makes it seem like the island of misfit toys meets DARPA and i am Into That.

i’ve seen people complaining about the tone and i’m reserving judgment on that, too, i guess.  that it’s a wartime show makes it closer to later seasons of ds9, voy, and ent than anything in tos or tng, and just in terms of its visual language it’s most similar to the reboot films, though various interviews have been careful to talk about dsc carrying on the trek legacy of optimism.  i make no secret of my love of technicolor camp and monsters-of-the-week, which means dsc and i might just have Philosophical Differences.  we’ll see.

#sigma watches trek #sigma watches dsc #thinky thoughts #space: the final frontier #spoilers #star trek discovery

[smileythirteen]

i love ten he's almost the perfect doctor in my opinion (and I don't mean he doesn't have flaws but I mean i appreciate how his flaws contribute to his character the most) but sometimes he's fuckin terrible putting martha in this boarding school in 1913 with all these racists fuckin snots and she has to be a MAID and do all of this distressing undercover work to keep his human body from bumbling around into certain death and then when it's all over he asks another (also pretty racist btw) woman to be his companion without martha's input. like?? being a doctor/companion team is kind of like being roomates?? aint just up to u doc. and martha was literally like right there wtf is she chopped liver hohohohohO some of this wasn't entirely his fault but omg. jack. he really didn't treat jack that well. (tbh ten in series 3 is lowkey an ass because of rose angst i guess) he generally just pretty contemptuous all over, (I know he usually makes fun of his flirtiness but he was especially rough and acted like he didn't want him around.) and i mean "It's not easy, even just looking at you, Jack because....because you're wrong." and of course jack comes back with that little "prejudiced" quip cuz he's jack but oh my gOD. and when the master took martha's family jack's like "how about I use the perception filter to sneak up behind him and break his neck" im like hell yeah fuck this guy!!!! jack already cares so much and this is martha's family!!! and the doctor's like "now THAT sounds like torchwood" doctor shut the fuck up with ur pretentious pacifist ass. i usually love ur pacifism but sometime u a douche. like yeah torchwood london was shitty and they fucked up and it all led to doomsday but jack literally told you he changed it all in your honor and ur being a dick. jack cares about u so much. u were his inspiration and his hero!! u changed him from a con man to a (action, not pacifist, but come ON we're not all as handy as you) hero!!! he waited for u!!! he loves u!!! dick i mean he expressed concern about jack wanting to die but i mean. then jack chickened out like "i thought i did" which is partially true but honestly i just don't think he thought he could really talk about it with the doctor since he was being so contemptuous. and the master literally. actually tortured jack. he killed him multiple times. as far as we can tell the doctor didn't really mention it. at all. (ok maybe cuz the writers didn't wanna talk about it much cuz it's a family show) like "ok so we're the only ones who can remember but lol wtf is trauma!!!! come on martha allons-y!!! bye jack lmao!!!!" and martha's like "um my family has to cope" and jack gets 0 mention. jack went through this shitshow and the got to watch the doctor give like 500x more fucks about the master's life than jack's. (but that was partially about some time lord stuff and the history those two had and some shitty attachment stuff. keep in mind that the master tortured the doctor too, so that's...pretty fucked in a sorta stockholmey way)

#doctor who #I ramble