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tea-earl-grey · 1 month

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20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @isagrimorie (thanks for the tag!)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

only 9 lmao. you're never gonna guess what my fic writing weakness is.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

108,636 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Doctor Who (and various related fandoms. though funnily enough i've never posted a new who fic), Star Trek (currently just Star Trek Picard but i have a few Voyager wips too), and a single Steven Universe fic.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

this happiness is hell on earth – Steven Universe fanfic about Pearl and Rose's toxic relationship and Pearl learning to recover after the series

And They Became Monsters (the fall of great men) – Gallifrey/Bernice Summerfield/DWEU fic that's a novel length character study of Irving Braxiatel and started as a way to explain his timeline and then i was carried away by the themes.

The Office – a somewhat silly Gallifrey fic where Romana and Narvin fight over an office following Enemy Lines when Romana takes over the CIA

A Holiday – a fluffy Eighth Doctor audios fic where Eight, Liv, and Helen go on vacation and accidentally run into the Doctor's past...

What is Beautiful – Gallifrey fic where Narvin and Leela explore one of the Axis worlds alone and Leela makes Narvin see the beauty in the world

5. Do you respond to comments?

i try to! a few comments always get lost in the email weeds but i try to make an effort to respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh this is hidden lore because i wrote it before i had an ao3 account but i posted a Gallifrey fic called Hope in Times of War in 2015. it was on my old tumblr so i doubt that is survives online but was about Gallifrey succumbing to Rassilon's military dictatorship during the Time War and Romana, Brax, Leela, and Narvin all being separated and i remember Narvin was executed as part of military executions and well... no one else had a great time either. i've learned that i prefer writing bittersweet endings to purely angsty ones.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i don't tend to go for outright happy 'everything's fine' type endings. the closest is probably What is Beautiful because it doesn't have much of a plot other than some musings on Narvin's character growth.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

on the one SU fic i wrote, i got a weird hate comment an hour after posting it and the commenter edited it like three times so it was no longer hate but just... vague disapproval and complaining about... not even my fic but just the standard interpretation of the show. anyways it didn't bother me but i did think it was funny how bothered this person was over the canonical fact that Pearl and Rose had a toxic relationship.

other than that, i don't really write for big enough fandoms or write controversial enough things to attract any hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

none published :) i've written some smut but i've been far too insecure to publish it because 1) i'm very ace and i think it shows in my writing and 2) some people i know irl have my ao3 and i tend to be conscious about how things i post could escape online containment. if i do publish any smut i'll probably publish it anonymously.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

again – none published. i have a few Gallifrey fusions i've sketched out before and one Gallifrey/Voyager crossover that i wrote a few pages of over the summer.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope but i would welcome it!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! i think my writing habits are far too erratic to be a good co-writer but i love sending ideas back and forth with people.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

the Gallifrey ot3. not even necessarily in a romantic sense, just in a 'these characters' lives forever revolve around each other and they can never escape even if they want desperately to leave' sense. Gallifrey was the first fandom that i was really dedicated to and spent a lot of time thinking about so these characters have permanently left a mark on my brain.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i only have one posted WIP that i am very much intent on finishing but as for my eternal drafts i have two notable ones that i still work on occasionally but will never be published in their current form:

Star Trek Perseverance – i challenged myself last spring/summer to create my own 20 episode season Star Trek series that i would want to see in the world. it's a slight AU of the end of Picard s3 where Seven and Raffi were given a new ship called Perseverance instead of the Ent G with a mostly OC cast of main characters and a more similar 90s vibe of an episodic series with different tones. i have an outline of all the s1 episodes and a few of the "scripts" written but yeah... writing 20 full length episode scripts is simply too much for me to tackle but i'm toying with the idea of adapting a few to prose/taking out the AU elements to publish because i do really love the "episodes" i wrote and it was fun to experiment with some comedy/light hearted stories which i tend not to write.

also during lockdown i started a 'Romana survives the Time War instead of the Doctor' AU of new who and i sketched out an outline of s1 (and some other big season plot points) but only wrote about 10 pages. it has some excellent writing tbh but given how long it would need to be, it's destined to live forever on my hard drive and in my head.

16. What are your writing strengths?

character voices 100% if i feel like i can't find a character's voice for whatever reason then i simply will not write for them. even when i go back to my old work, i cringe at the pacing/grammar errors, but generally i think the character voices are pretty on point.

i also like to think i've become pretty good at adding rhythm and pacing to my prose when i put in the effort. it's quite hard to do sometimes but it's so satisfying when it works. i'd never claim to be a poet but i love writing prose that just feels good and melodic to read aloud.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

... finishing things. or just committing to projects and ideas that i can actually follow through on.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

oof. i know enough Spanish (and Russian to a lesser extent) to get through some dialogue but i would very much want to run it by a fluent speaker first. however neither Spanish nor Russian have ever come up in my fics.

the only non-English languages that's come up in my fics are French and Latin. the French was for an abandoned fic and i asked my French-speaking friend to translate. the Latin was for ATBM and i'm pretty sure i ended up taking the line out because i didn't know any Latin speakers(?) (i mean it's a dead language so.... readers? translators?) and was too shy to ask a stranger.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

technically i wrote some HP fic in a notebook when i was 8 though i didn't know what fanfiction was at the time. (obligatory note that i'm not a HP fan or supporter right now given JKR's bigotries and hate speech)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

And They Became Monsters (the fall of great men) without a question. i poured my heart and soul into that beast and was the first time i wrote something that felt like Real Writing with Layers and Themes. when i was done i felt like my writing meant something more than the usual short fic i'd write. like at the end of the day it's a fanfic but it's also a critique of Great Men histories, a dissection of how art and the ways we view art perpetuates imperialism, studying how abuse causes abuse in cycles, how egotism stems from insecurity and slowly eats away at the self, how the self is just a performance and mask of something no one can ever name, and how sometimes the only thing you have to do to break away from cycles of tragedy and violence is to ask for help. (sorry i'm being too pretentious but i am very proud of my work on that one)

it was also the first time i feel like i put real effort into small details and experimented with them like tense – the story is told from the perspective of two versions of the same character and depending on the POV, the story is either told in past or present tense. there are even a few scenes when the two versions meet and i still narrate one's actions in present tense while the rest of the scene is in past tense to drive in how the present-tense character is quite literally out of place. there are also quite a few sections that i purposefully wrote as fragmented and run-on sentences to mimic the thought processes of someone having a breakdown/ideological crisis.

if i had to pick a favorite excerpt it would probably be the confrontation between the two different versions of Braxiatel:

He sighed. “You believe this is my fault? Deferring responsibility? Are you sure that you have grown up?”

“You were the one who lied. You told me I was a hero. You told me I would win the War. My future is Gallifrey’s future. Don’t you remember that?” Braxiatel wouldn’t rise to anger because he was better than that, he would never give up the game. (It’s always been a game.)

“I told you that you mattered. All children believe they matter.” Neutral, impassive, infuriating. He wasn’t belittling. Maybe to him, Braxiatel was still a child – the wayward son fallen far away from a distant and demanding father. Maybe that was the truth. What a cruel family he’s created. Just another cycle. Ad infinitum.

And here they were, blame circulating around and around. Things would never be resolved. Things would never heal. Braxiatel didn’t even want to heal. He wanted to leave this jagged cut deep inside – so deep that maybe the wrong Braxiatel felt it – because if there was an ugly scar for all to see that meant all the hurt was real. His bitterness and anger was justified because wasn’t healing just erasing? Forgetting the hurt meant letting it happen again and again, and there’s another cycle because he just can’t seem to get away.

Tagging: I can't remember which of my mutuals are fic writers but if you see this feel free to fill it out!

#this was a lot of fun!#writing #my posts #long post

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heimeldat · 1 year

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Guess who finally started listening to Gallifrey! Just 1.1 so far, but I’m hooked and you’re going to get inundated with my reactions.

My Leela! I didn’t know how much I missed her. And Romana being badass in her own calm way of course, but I’ve encountered her in other Big Finish stuff, so my reaction to her wasn’t as dramatic. I love horrible Time Lord politics and spy thrillers, so the plot is off to a good start. Brax seems like a decent enough guy (as far as Time Lords go, anyway), but he needs to chill out and let Romana be president. Overruling her decisions isn’t cool, man. Narvin needs a punch in the face. I hope Leela delivers.

#doctor who #big finish #gallifrey #episode reaction

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swinging-stars-from-satellites · 1 year

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“desperate need to write more narvinromana you say??” 👀👀👀👀👀

so I don’t know if you want to stick to them in the later audios, *but* since the majority of your narvinromana fics *have* been post-Enemy Lines, I would be super interested to see how you write them in say, the time when Leela has left them on the alternate Gallifrey — maybe when she’s just left them, and they’re stuck together with just each other on this hostile world and are maybe stepping into their doubles offices and rooms for the first time? or them during the civil war — maybe between series 2 and 3, on the run from Pandora and Romana trying to figure out her plan of attack and Narvin having Opinions and the very fragile alliance they have — or maybe a moment post-Fractures when Romana is isolating herself and Narvin is trying to secure the Academy and maybe he tries to talk to her?

but also I love their specific dynamic in Time War so much and I always love more Time War narvinromana stories. I know you’ve already written a few TW3 snippets, but I am so interested in any fics about them in exile, when suddenly they aren’t President and Coordinator (or Chancellor) or Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator anymore. maybe a scene/moment between Nevernor and Unity (aka post-Nevernor from what you’ve heard) that’s exploring them just living together in this constantly-on-the-verge-of-malfunctioning TARDIS as they’re following Leela’s biodata trail and the impact of that situation on them and their relationship?

but really I will be interested in anything you write with them!! <33

HOW HAVE I NEVER WRITTEN S5 NARVINROMANA BEFORE

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There's an assassination attempt at least every other Tuesday, for Rassilon's sake — all of him, every regeneration, and the Rod and robes and blasted sandals as well — and Narvin cannot stop shaking. When Leela left, he thinks she took all their collective strength with her. Maybe she was their strength.

Either way, his hands shake near-constantly these days and a part of him longs for the Axis, lonely and desolate as it may have been. At least it was safe. At least they were together. With first Braxiatel, who admittedly, Narvin did not mourn as much as he could have, and now Leela gone as well, albeit in a much different way, thank goodness, there is half of them missing. It's like losing a limb, or a heart stalling.

Romana frowns, lines between her brows deeper than Narvin can read, whenever she sees him. She's cut her hair. Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar has only had hair this short, not even to her chin, once before, and it was a great many years ago on their own version of their planet; after Etra Prime, if Narvin, who was quietly puttering along in his own shadowy work at the time, remembers correctly. This is something they do not talk about.

They don't talk about Leela, either. They talk security, and reinforcements, and politics and plans. They do not talk about Romana's hair, which Narvin keeps finding himself staring at, or the deepening worry lines between her eyes, or Narvin's shaking hands. Sometimes, Romana's hands shake as well, like she's trying hard not to fall apart, and this, too, is something they don't discuss.

If Narvin is beginning to shred apart at the seams, then Romana is about to shatter. And if Romana shatters, then Narvin will be cut open, and neither of them will ever be whole again. (Neither of them is whole to begin with. They haven't been in a long time.)

So, just once, absolutely uncharacteristic much as he hates to admit it, Narvin takes a risk. There was another attempt on her life today and as common as it is, Romana is shaking despite her own composure. The two of them are composed of contradictions. She's perched on the edge of her desk, Narvin sitting in the chair itself, which somehow seems both backwards and completely correct. Her hands are shaking and she's pretending they aren't, except that she keeps combing through her short hair, can't keep still.

Narvin catches her hand as it drops from the back of her head and for the first time this entire evening, since the sudden rush of panic and immediacy that followed her nearly being killed, again, they both are still. Romana stares at him, for just a moment, eyes wide but the worry lines disappearing, and then squeezes his hand back. Wraps his hand in both of hers until he brings the other one up to join it and closes his eyes, feeling her double-pulse in her wrists and the cold solidity of her touch. They may not be whole, but they are both here. Romana is alive; this is what matters most of all.

He wishes he trusted the guards who watch over her. He wishes he could watch over her himself, so for now, he does just that. Holds her hands for as long as she will allow and maintains the pretense of conversation when she finally pulls away so that he has an excuse to walk her to her quarters. Were he more of a courageous man he might take one of her hands again, carefully kiss her knuckles. But, no, Narvin is a coward, and they are barely friends. But they're all each other has. Sometimes, their hands shake.

#losing my mind over them again aldjskjfkajfskdhak #Lu rambles #asks #Lu writes #dweu #gallifrey #narvinromana #this is wholly unedited and i wrote it in under half an hour. i hope it's decent #if you see me constantly nodding to LTBM... yeah 😅

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sircarolyn · 1 year

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I posted 1,878 times in 2022

152 posts created (8%)

1,726 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@thebraxiatelcollection

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@theresa-of-liechtenstein

@natequarter

@stoppablethetramstory

I tagged 1,869 of my posts in 2022

#dw - 636 posts

#whatnot - 382 posts

#gallifrey - 163 posts

#cabin pressure - 158 posts

#dw spoilers - 118 posts

#x files - 67 posts

#quiz - 66 posts

#i got an asking - 57 posts

#lucy listens to bf - 33 posts

#gallifrey spoilers - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#between the lipstick on the head and tossing apples and saving the day and gerti's staying with me so up yours baldy! 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭

My Top Posts in 2022:

wishlist for gallifrey war room:

leela gets to be angry - like properly, deeply angry

leela gets to actually have a chance to show some grief for veega everyone she’s lost recently

leela and rayo episode!!!

leela meeting eris in top secret to work with the resistance

narvin.....

leela finding a way to get into the matrix so the way we get romana back is not physically, but as leela’s really annoying siri-type thing, so romana can appear as like an interface and chip in suggestions but not actually do anything, but this way they can actually talk to each other and not be as lonely.....

50 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

ACE AND TEGAN AND KATE AND ACE AND TEGAN AND KATE AND ACE AND TEGAN AND KATE AND

54 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

i’m genuinely interested and also quite petty, so could people please reblog this with their most controversial doctor who opinion? the more niche and likely to get you slapped by the masses, the better (but preferably, without actually fighting about it)

i’ll start: talons of weng chiang is a boring episode actually, and jago and litefoot are vastly overrated

73 notes - Posted January 8, 2022

‘leela hasn’t been the wild savage of whatever childhood stories you may have heard for a very long time. that is, if she ever was to begin with’ YELLING there is so much to unpack here but mostly just the general i love you

79 notes - Posted August 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

you know the other thing i love about carolyn so much? she's never made to change. like she does change and it's good! but she's never forced to become soft by the narrative - she's allowed to still be mean and grumpy!! she's allowed to care about the others in her own way and her own way is so wonderful and i love her

126 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#yea seems classic me haha #iconic of me that my top post is about carolyn 😌#lucy speaks #i was so right about war room too btw like look how close i was!!!#still stand by the hologram romana idea i think that would be hilarious

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punkrockbuttrfly · 10 months

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Can I have 8, 12, and 22 for the fandom asks (for Gallifrey)?

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

season 5 is good. Listen, I've heard all the arguments about how it's boring and how nothing is achieved by the end and how it spins its wheels and is just padding until season 6, and maybe it felt that way when it was first coming out, but I love season 5.

It is such a good insight into the characters we love, because it's about Romana and Narvin on one side and Leela on the other, all sticking so hard to their principles while feeling like the other side has betrayed theirs and betrayed them in turn. Romana and Narvin relying so hard on each other in this universe where it's normal and expected for upper level politicians to turn on each other constantly and challenging the norms of the society they feel stuck in, while Leela tries so hard to get back to her own roots and help the people who were so screwed over by the people she feels Romana and Narvin are now defending, all of them doing exactly what's right but having differing methods on how to do it and ending up struggling to actually do good against the real monsters of this society.

It's so good, and the way they do come together at the end is such a wonderful conclusion and lead in to series 6. Season 5 is good and I will hear no arguments against that.

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

I don't know if there are any unpopular characters in Gallifrey. I'll admit that sometimes Ace feels like the writers didn't want her there given how little she actually does in the series, but everyone else loves her.

Seriously, I really wish Ace got more to do, she brings so much of that rebellious energy that exasperates everyone around her but also makes them question themselves, because even if she's definitely naive and very loud, she's got probably the strongest (or, at least, the least battered and worn down) moral compass, so if she disagrees with them, they're probably in the wrong.

I'm choosing to defend Ace in this because it feels like she was only there as a mandate to the writers, given that she spent most of Intervention Earth under mind control, most of Enemy Lines dead, and then got written out halfway through Time War 1, and she deserved better.

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

the fact that Braxiatel legitimately cares about the rest of the cast. He manipulates everyone, and that's what I see most people talking about with him, he's the master chess player who sees everyone else as a piece on the board, and, like, maybe, but he does legit love these people.

He makes a joke about how many times he's rescued Narvin "by accident" but every time he does it because he's helping Romana, and he's perfectly willing to help out someone he (ostensibly) hates just for Romana's sake, and he is never anything but curteous and lovely to Leela.

Like, his loyalty to Romana is talked about, but I often see people talk about how he's only loyal to the President, ignoring the fact that he murdered an earlier President the second he gave him an order he didn't like and covered it up by acting as his own investigator. He could get away with messing these people over easily, and he would probably be better off doing so and fucking off back to his Collection to spend the rest of eternity doing his own thing.

But he doesn't. Because he cares about them, whether he admits it to his enemies or himself or not.

#thanks for the ask! This was fun!#tbh I don't engage in fandom spaces much #so all the opinions I complained about might be incredibly niche and mocked opinions #but they're takes that I've seen and I wanted to explain how these people are valid but wrong /j

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whifferdills · 2 years

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GALLIFREY: TIME WAR: BEYOND: The thing about the War is, they've all been dead since the beginning;

Another labyrinth, another haunting. The Brax Ex Machina flying directly into a black hole. You're possibly the only person in the universe I trust. Every moment as a physical space to be descended through, each layer denser and denser until time stands still. Brax is unfailingly polite and, to hear him explain it, even kind: Nobody suffers, they simply were never born. The Daleks as a glitch. Transformation as a way to escape the loop. The Parallax, the paradoxes, another boogeyman made flesh. See you on the next turn of the wheel.

She isn't the Romana who gave the order, but she also isn't a Romana who can fix this. This has already happened. His proposed mass extinction event and the other Romana's destruction of the planetary system and he is so, so desperate for her to forgive herself for that. Because if she can't, where does that leave him? How unforgivable has he become?

Like Narvin's Dalek in "Dissolution", the clown rats are of course always coming and in a sense have always been coming, and will find him wherever he goes. Unlike Narvin in "Dissolution", Brax refuses help - even from himself - in two different directions, natch - and runs directly into the waiting mouth of death (🤡); and, also, into his specially-built Dalek-free pocket universe. Absolute clusterfuck of a man. All his self-loathing and his Great Man Theory ambition and his needs-must pragmatism and his loneliness. His last big swing at being the mouthpiece of Gallifrey's paternalistic chessplaying death-cult tendencies, to enact the oubliette on an impossibly grand scale (The narrative, having taken pains to explain the cost of this happening to one single person last episode, now allows it to sprawl into the War's full (ish) dimensions). His desperation, his smallness, all his careful construction of the Irving persona unraveling (don’t worry, he’ll put it back soon). Did he really think this would be his redemption? Of course he gets eaten alive. Of course he accidentally kills the Ravenous by just being too much. The universe wants him to live, but it also doesn’t want him to win.

And then, of course, Romana left alone again, unable to follow either Brax, armed at least with the slight but perceptible shift from having to do it by herself to doing it for herself. Good for her, that’s a big step. Just in time for "Homecoming"!

There should be a little minisode which is called "Romana Takes A Nap" and it's about how she gets to take a nap, and then also maybe go to Time Therapy or whatever.

Brax and Romana are so.....she doesn't trust him, but she does care for him; he's been in love with her for like 238484727 years, but he puts her on a pedestal and thinks taking away her agency is doing her a favor. And the Doctor is this missing link between the two of them and it's. You know?

"I know how flawed and how venal I can be but you're meant to be the best of us. So if it means saving you, it's worth it" like ok sure but also what the fuck is wrong with you Brax. Brax. What the fuck, Brax.

Really dig the other Romana going buckwild because Leela died, and how easy it is for this Romana to retrace those steps. Toxic wlw representation <3

Brax and Narvin are more alike than either of them would ever admit and it's been very funny listening to them needling each other over how their fears and failures dovetail. Although now we're here and Brax is Brax and Narvin is an entirely different creature from season 1 and they still refuse to acknowledge each other....top tier dynamic. Personally I think they should kiss about it but that’s a special little fun feature just for the erotic fan fiction I’m currently writing.

"Leela? Narvin? I'm coming home" wherein home isn’t just the main universe, home is the people in it........scromiting etc

#big finish gallifrey #dr who #the conga line over rassilon's grave #i've had the notes typed up for a year but this week has been nothing but wednesdays so #hopefully i did not forget anything

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thebraxiatelcollection · 1 year

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So I've finished relistening to Time War 4 since. I've not relistened to this since it was first released, so there were things I have missed. It has been an interesting listening experience?

I enjoyed it- but it has left me with mixed feelings. The content was good but this felt like the penultimate boxset- After nearly 20 years, I was hoping for a big cathartic ending, when it feels like actually, they've left it open for more - Brax and Narvin could easily be rescued from their respective 'deaths', Romana could be freed from the pocket dimension, Leela is explicitly alive and well - which is fine if they do (Gallifrey, after all, is known for its hiatuses), but so so disappointing.

Some random thoughts:

I really like that this series tied in, even if it was only briefly, lots of different Time War media: Romana and Brax's conversation about the Doctor, plus the frequent name-dropping of Cardinal Ollistra, tied this set in really nicely with the War Doctor series; the sabotaging of the Emperor Dalek's ship makes me wonder if this is what leads to the events of Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways; and the use of the 'Gallifrey Stands' was a nice link to The Day of the Doctor.

I love, love, LOVED hearing more Narvin backstory and all that lore on how the different chapters work.

I wish we could have heard more of the Apothecary and Danna. They had such interesting ties to our main cast, it was a shame they were only used once each. I like to imagine both the Apothecary and Danna knew each other and met up once every few centuries over cups of tea, and complained about their students together.

Honestly, it was super cathartic to hear Romana have a proper cry. Nearly 20 years of Gallifrey and up til now all we've heard is a sniffle or angsty speech. Sometimes, Romana hon, u just gotta cry it out.

The ending with Romana being forced to the archive by Rassilon was...hmm. It's not the ending I've wanted but i'll live with it for now.

Brax deserves better and I wish big finish would stop referencing him as a coward when he's not. He's many things and he has done so much for the gallifrey gang, he is not a coward. Give us actual writers who understand his arc!

Things I wished had happened:

Romana actually uses the chameleon arch. Really wanted something like Human Nature/Family of blood for Romana. can you imagine how powerful doing a similar story for Romana would have been?

Brax and Romana go through the Beyond together, and Romana for once saves Brax in all the times he has saved her. Beyond just leaves me so frustrated in terms of how Brax was written.

That they didn't kill off Livia and had her work as part of the resistance with Eris. I'd also like to have seen Mantus work with them; if reluctantly. I think that would have been so fun to see.

Leela getting to say a proper goodbye to Rayo

#april listens to big finish #gallifrey audios #gallifrey time war 4 #time war 4 #big fnish #i dont hate the boxset as much as i thought i did #stories 1 and 2 were the best ones #then it went down hill from there

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magicofthepen · 2 years

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gallifrey 001 please :)

send me a fandom, ship, or character! 001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Romana

Least Favorite character: do I have a least favorite character? I feel like the answer would be one of the early Gallifrey Chancellery guard characters, simply because it took me multiple listens to remember who was who. or one of the side characters from the Axis seasons. someone I’m meh about.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Romana/Leela/Narvin, Romana/Leela, Narvin/Romana, Leela/Narvin, Leela/Veega

Character I find most attractive: I am gayest for Leela

Character I would marry: hmm. probably also Leela. or Veega.

Character I would be best friends with: oh I’d love to hang out with Ace, she seems very easy to get along with and very fun to be friends with!

a random thought: I’ve probably said this before, but Era 3 (Enemy Lines onward) truly has my favorite side characters, I’ve never gotten strongly attached to minor characters like I have in this era. Livia as a sometimes ally, sometimes antagonist with a prickly admiration for Romana, Eris’s arc from a young agent who wants to follow protocol to a resistance leader, Knyla as an ordinary girl caught in the middle of two wars who dares to try to save her world and stop the Time Lords, Veega’s decades long effort to build a home for her family in the middle of the worst war the universe has ever known, Rayo losing everything and turning his grief towards helping and healing…..there’s some really great stories here!

An unpopular opinion: while I do very much stand with the popular opinion that kicking Leela out of the story was a Bad Move, I also will defend Time War 2 and 3 as Good, Actually because of how they explore Romana and Narvin grappling with Gallifrey’s darkness and seeing the consequences of the War on the universe, and how their friendship persists and they grow more vulnerable with each other through it all…..I can and will criticize the Time War era, but I’m also much more of an apologist for it than most in Tumblr fandom, I believe

My Canon OTP: none, there’s barely any canon romance, and none of my ships are canon

My Non-canon OTP: Romana/Leela/Narvin my beloved <33

Most Badass Character: I feel the need to appreciate that all the main characters have their badass moments in different ways. that being said, yeah it’s Leela.

Most Epic Villain: not sure if epic is the right word, but I vote Darkel for Best Villain of the Series for sure

Pairing I am not a fan of: for canon pairings, Leela/Andred. for fandom pairings (well. I guess it’s sort of half-canon? ish?), Brax/Romana.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): forever irritated about the sidelining of Leela in Time War…..the exploration of Romana and Narvin reacting to Gallifrey changing around them and trying and failing to stop Rassilon (and how their friendship persists through the War) is so good!! why wasn’t Leela also there!! she provides a different perspective on Gallifrey and her relationships with the other two are So Important to the show, it’s so unfortunate that that core part of the story was neglected, and she had minimal interactions with either of them over four boxsets :(

Favourite Friendship: also Romana/Leela/Narvin <33 listen I know I also ship them all, but I adore their relationships platonically too, and I love how these intense friendships are at the heart of the series

Character I most identify with: so I relate to early TV Romana A Lot, not quite as much to Gallifrey Romana? still, I default to seeing and thinking about things from her pov—I’ve spent so much time in her head (metaphorically), that I do identify with her the most of the Gallifrey characters

Character I wish I could be: everyone lives such distressing lives, I don’t really want to be any of them?

#thank you!!!!#trailmixtime #gallifrey audios #asks #ramblings

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timeladyjamie · 3 years

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Why I Ship Leela & Andred (Spoilers for Gallifrey)

As part of my exploration into my ships, I thought I would start with a canon, but not usually talked about one: Leela and Andred.

Although their relationship is sudden and completely out of the blue in The Invasion of Time, I can’t help but be a sucker and ship it. Especially because of the fact that when Leela declared her love for him and said she would stay with him, he didn’t reject her. In fact, he is caught holding her hand, trying to comfort her while she talks to K-9 about how the Doctor will take her departure. He didn’t have to do any of that, but he did. He even ends up marrying her!

And one thing I love about the Gallifrey Audios is the fact they actually give their relationship depth and explore it. (Major Spoilers for the audios under the cut)

Before the audio series, Andred had spent many years with Leela happily married. However, he started to become suspicious of actives from the Celestial Intervention Agency involving violent Anti-Alien happenings in opposition to President Romana’s new laws and feared for Leela. He acted to be in agreement with Coordinator Narvin (who was in support of Anti-Alien policies) in order to invite him to the catacombs and set a trap to assassinate him. However, Narvin saw right through his act, sending one of his officers in his place. In the confrontation, Andred ended up killing Torvald and regenerating, seeing an opportunity to take on his identity and make everyone think he had died so he could get close to Narvin and uncover any bad plots. However, this left Leela to believe he was dead, bringing herself to the Outlands since she was seen as an outsider in Time Lord society as is.

But once Leela becomes Romana’s personal bodyguard, she undergoes missions with “Torvald”, who doesn’t reveal his true identity until he is forced to reveal the truth, coming across the real Torvald from the past. Leela is angry and hurt with him while Andred is arrested for his crimes. However, he soon admitted to Leela, telling her that he was trying to become the man she once loved again and everything he had done was to keep her safe, thinking she would age on Gallifrey and he would lose her. But instead, she had been slowly aging.

Like honestly, I’m just leave you with this transcript of them talking about this in the audios:

Andred: I didn’t set out to betray you, Leela. I was confused. After the regeneration- no, you don’t know what it’s like. How could you?

Leela: Oh, because I am an ignorant savage?

Andred: No, because you only have one life. One chance. But we have many chances, maybe that’s what makes us unfeeling and arrogant. I saw my chance to do some good, to find out what Narvin was up to. I wanted to make things better. Being with you *pause* oh, what’s the use?

Leela: Being with me? You are blaming me for what you have done?

Andred: No, not blaming. Being with you showed me how much there is outside Gallifrey and how fragile and short lived the rest of the universe can be. That made me sad, and it made me angry, and it made me want to change things QUICKLY before- *pause* before you grew old.

Leela: But I am not not growing old.

Andred: No, you’re not. But I didn’t know that then and I didn’t realize you’re cursed, just as we are.

Leela: Cursed?

Andred: With living long enough to experience the consequences of our own actions down through the centuries. I wanted to change things, Leela, I wanted to make them better.

Leela runs off in tears….

Andred: I did it for you.

However, before he gets his chance, he is killed and Leela is left grieving over him, wishing she could join him. Like seriously, IT RIPS MY HEART OUT EVERYTIME!

Other Reasons I love these two:

They are seriously the epitome of the “Strong Girl, Smart Guy” trope with Leela being the muscle of them and Andred being the brains of them.

Plus, Battle Couple! Nothing more needs to be said.

Andred taught Leela how to use a staser.

Although I don’t condone the things he did and believe Andred could have done it another way, you have to remember: HE DID IT ALL TO PROTECT HIS WIFE!

Their Alternate Universe selves are into some kinky ass shit with each other. Like whoa.

Andred marries Leela despite Time Lord society’s views of her being an outsider. EXCUSE ME, BUT THIS RIGHT HERE! THAT TAKES SOME TRUE LOVE AND GUTS!

In the book, Lungbarrow, they have children.

#jamie rambles #jamiesdwships #andred #leela of the sevateem #classic who #doctor who #Gallifrey audios #classic doctor who #doctor who meta

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trailmixtime · 2 years

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Brax/Leela and 002 for the asks :)

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: when i read @swinging-stars-from-satellites' post about why leela and brax dynamic is so good. though, i will say - and say as a disclaimer of sorts - that the way in which i ship them tends to be fluid. i enjoy platonic, romantic, queerplatonic, or any other variation of the ways in which people can partner. they're just. Very Good y'know?

My thoughts: they respect each other so much!! makes me want to cry!! because that's so good!! am upset we haven't gotten more of them in big finish

What makes me happy about them: see previous answer. i just. i really like how leela's first instinct is to call on brax when there's a problem because she knows he can fix things!! and the way that brax doesn't patronise her by "dumbing things down" for her bc he knows she's perfectly capable of figuring out what he means!! i'm so soft!!

What makes me sad about them: that we didn't get more!! give us more leela and brax @ big finish!! give us a whole boxset, a whole range!! i will gobble that up.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: i admittedly haven't read much brax/leela fic. i don't actively seek it out, if i'm completely honest, so i haven't stumbled across any patterns that really annoy me.

Things I look for in fanfic: mostly i look for fics where leela/brax is not the main ship. while i do enjoy leela and brax's dynamic, i like a romantic dynamic best when it slots in with the general ot4 tag (where everyone is in love with each other). if leela/brax is the main dynamic and i Just Want Them, i'll look for a more platonic dynamic

My wishlist: again, just for more leela and brax dynamic in whichever audio. there's not much else i can wish for, is there, given that gallifrey as we know it is over and even wishing that brax shows up in war room series is unrealistic and wishing for brax and leela interaction in said series is even more unrealistic.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: narvin or romana, and i don't mind which pairings happen, i'm equally ok with both :)

My happily ever after for them: at this point? just being alive to see each other again?? and then maybe settling down with the other two (narvin and romana) on a little farm or something on a distant planet and just living out their lives there :)

ask game

#answers #leelabrax #thebraxiatelcollection #thanks for the ask :)#i like leelabrax a lot

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doccywhomst · 3 years

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Kinda new at expended universe thing. Could you tell me about Brax? Is worth the obsession over his group and his history with Theta or not?

so - i haven't gotten into the gallifrey audios quite yet (which is where, i believe, most of his content comes from), but it's next on my list after i wrap up Ravenous and get through Stranded 1 + 2! i'm extremely excited!

yes, i'd say that he's definitely worth the obsession, as well as Romana, Leela, and Narvin in the gallifrey audios. i've heard very good things! and i love the academy era/the deca very much, which plays into that, since Brax and the Doctor were brothers/relatives from the same house growing up.

#gallifrey audios fans pls lend me your assistance #i am merely a fan sitting on the sidelines and watching a game that i have no idea how to play yet #but im very excited to learn #doctor who #gallifrey audios

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heimeldat · 1 year

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Ok Gallifrey 1.2

I love Romana's grandiose snobby I Am The President voice. It's so obviously an act, so self-aware of her position's problems, but nobody except Leela can hear the mockery in her grandstanding. Also how can she just swan off in her TARDIS like that? You'd think they'd be more aware of their leader's whereabouts and security... And I love how she arranged the whole summit as a front. She and Seven are much alike aren't they? Manipulation for the greater good.

Leela is more awesome than ever. I love seeing her more mature and comfortable with technology but still her straightforward violent self. And what she said at the end about changes in time negating meaning... ouch those were some good lines.

Narvin REALLY needs a punch in the face. He does seem to mean well, which is more than can be said for most Time Lords I guess, but wow he's punchable. Is that a prerequisite to becoming Coordinator of the CIA? Vansell was super punchable too.

Hossack or however you spell her name... that was some Classic Who style scenery chewing for sure. I couldn't help laughing through her evil reveal scene. Oh well, it was fun even if she was a bit of a stupid villain. (How does Time Lord society even still exist when literally every Time Lord character is constantly on the verge of an evil maniacal breakdown?)

Also, I just realized I conflated Monan and Monoid in my head. I spent this whole audio imagining shaggy-afro mouth-eye guys, but blue-skinned and stuck-up and wearing metallic spandex unitards.

#doctor who #big finish gallifrey #episode reaction

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swinging-stars-from-satellites · 1 year

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what is your favorite episode of gallifrey? and what is your favorite series of gallifrey?

I'm gonna answer these in reverse order-

early Gallifrey is easily my favorite in general. I think s3 would probably be my favorite one series if I had to pick. Narvin character development... every single relationship arc that happens that series.... mmhmm.

my favorite EPISODE, though... that's between Mindbomb and the pairing of Extermination+Ascension (Renaissance is also great but I feel it stands alone to itself in a way these two don't.).

Mindbomb because I'm a sucker for Leela and Brax's friendship and the way Leela is written in that episode just in general is absolutely peak. Justin Richards the writer you are...

Extermination/Ascension, though, for two specific reasons: one, Narvin's choice. his love makes him willing to commit horrors. he cannot lose her. he can't breathe without her. he'll self-immolate, burn alive, fall into ruins and flames without her. so. at any cost, he will save her. interesting, isn't it, that it all comes back to this? later on she tries to strike deals with the species that enslaved her but now, where it all begins, someone who loves her so so much tries to stop it all from happening, from the very beginning. was it you or @janeturenne (or a secret third person I'm not remembering) who wrote about him wondering if she would even be his Romana, the woman he knows, if the Daleks had never existed? because I think of that often and it ties into the second reason I chose Ascension: the direct, agonizing addressing of Romana's trauma from Etra Prime.

she's not who she was before that. she's different and despite it making her exactly what Gallifrey needs in its darkest hours (and deepest pit, without hope without witness without reward), it isn't good. they made her who she is. and finally, after her imprisonment being the undercurrent that lies just beneath her characterization for the whole of the series, she is allowed to say it. she is allowed the catharsis of speaking that truth not only to herself but to the creatures who created her. Romana is, in a great many ways, a creature of kintsugi. she's been broken so utterly that the only way to put her back together is gold. but gold is a soft metal and the color of regeneration and nothing gold can stay and. they made her that way. she's never said it. she's never allowed herself that anger this way but now she does and it is brutal. and addressing it in such a visceral way is something I never quite expected. it's good that they did it.

#also not Ascension having the same title as the xfiles episode where scully is abducted and mulder is trying desperately to save her...#Lu rambles #ask games #asks #Gallifrey #dweu #meta finding tag

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