#OBSESSED with missy wanting the doctor to see that they're not so different.

[nym-wibbly]

On your AO3 you wrote The pieces I'm proudest of are the Broken Wheel series (Once Upon a Time) and Madness for Two (Doctor Who).

What made those two series stand out above others for you if it's ok to ask?

It's completely okay to ask!

Those stories are the ones that turned out on the page looking something like the vision in my head. They were relatively quick and painless to write, probably because they're so contained compared to my long fanfics, but also because I threw away some of the self-imposed constraints that make writing harder (if ultimately more likely to be attractive to a wider audience). They're more self-indulgent and removed from canon than I normally go for as either writer or reader.

Broken Wheel explores a Dark Castle-based romance for Belle and Rumple without really digging into the pitfalls of their relationship. They desire each other and they go for it. As a canon-divergent AU it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but as a fairytale take on OUaT's twist on a fairytale, it's kinda fun. It's quirky because Belle and Rumple are both quirky characters capable of becoming lost in each other to the exclusion of everything else. They spend the story exploring what's possible on their terms and - to deploy a phrase I didn't yet know when I wrote those pieces - matching each other's freak. I think it was the first time I wrote Rumple's POV, which I don't find easy or comfortable compared to Belle, so I'm proud of how that turned out.

Madness for Two is similar in a way - short, contained, smutty with feels, showing POV's I usually avoid because I find them hard. Self-indulgent, quirky, prioritising the Doctor/Master 'ship and smut over the more complex realities of their canon relationship. I wrote it for the 50th anniversary of the Master's debut on DW so I wanted to avoid really diving into the morality of it all and just celebrate my love for the characters. As with Broken Wheel's Belle and Rumple, I wrote Thirteen and the Master (and the subplot with Twelve and Missy) in an obsessive, claustrophobic, and quirky collision of personalities. Nobody matches freaks like those two!

In this case I added a MacGuffin to stop 'em actively fighting for five minutes so the story could work, not so much to enable the smut (though it was nice to do that for the Master's birthday - they've been jonesing for some quality Doctor-time in my head since the 1980's!) but to force their POV's to deal with the antagonism and intensity of their bond in words. I wanted them to describe each other as intimates and, in doing so, throw a light on themselves.

I intended both Broken Wheel and Madness for Two to be character studies first, smut second, love story third. The DW piece throws in angst and hurt comfort too, because that's my fave playground. I played with tone and voice and imagery more than I usually would and - on the whole - was happy with the results. I enjoy reading these stories back, actually seeing the story instead of the flaws in my writing/things I'd do differently now I've learned that bit more.

Lastly, they're actually finished pieces and not WIPs that keep me awake at night listening to the unfulfilled character voices in my head! I've always hoped to add a third piece to make Broken Wheel a trilogy, but it doesn't need it if I never can. I've never quite found the right narrative voice for it, maybe because it wants to be told from Belle's POV while the first two are Rumple's. It's a cute enough story from her POV, but I'd like the set to match and haven't yet figured out how to do that.

[how-masterful]

My personal opinion on the 'Yaz and the Master' debate is he was absolutely messing with her. Even from the start. From the moment he met the fam he wanted to mess with all of them by giving them what they wanted.

He gave 13 a friend who understood beyond the companion level. He was texting her, he knew spycraft, he was seasoned in alien invasion. He was the genius 13 could bounce off of rather than yank by the hand to safety. He was an equal.

He gave Graham the possibility of knowing more about the doctor. Graham was a parental type, he was curious about just who he, Ryan and yaz had run away with. O had a shelf full of information on the doctor, and offered it to him. He was information.

He gave Ryan involvement. Ryan wasn't truly craving anything from the fam, he'd built his relationship back up with Graham, dealt with his dad, and had promised help to Yaz. All the master had to do was make him feel involved, like he did need to come back, rather than stay at home. He was vindication.

But with Yaz? Yaz was the most desperate. He could see from the moment she was in that chamber that thirteen had a secret favourite. Yaz craved the doctors approval, craved to impress her, craved to be loved. So all he had to do was turn on the charm, tease her and make her feel needed. Not only would that give Yaz pause, but also make thirteen feel jealous too. He had her pinned down as the last one to leave instantly. He was the attention she craved.

I think any 'attraction' people see between them both is purely his jealousy of the doctor manifesting. It's the reason he keeps Yaz around when he's the doctor, why he pushes her buttons when he's the seismologist. Its why he says to her 'stick with me, yaz'- he's taunting her. Because he knows yaz will refuse to leave until she's forced out.

Nothing will ever come close to his fascination with Jo, to me Yaz is the spy master's version of missy's obsession with Clara- a girl who is so desperate to be the doctor, that he can mess with eternally because they know they won't leave until they're pulled away. But Jo was different, she didn't want to be the doctor, she was empowered by him. She learnt from her past mistakes and adapted, like when she learnt to resist hypnosis.

Overall, Yazter wasn't real. It was never intended to be. It was purely the master doing what he does best- pushing the doctors buttons by teasing their closest friends.

[timetakeover]

[Like do my non-Doctor Who fandom followers understand the depth of the relationship between the Doctor and the Master

They were best friends (and arguably in love already) 2,000 years ago, in their school days, in their first lives (when the Master is now on his 20-something'th life and the Doctor on his 15th.)

They each took wives and had families, the Doctor left their home planet all together, they lost touch as the Doctor learned to be a better person and the Master became worse. They were apart for literal lifetimes and on the Masters 12th life (the Doctor's 3rd,) he followed the Doctor all the way to another planet because he missed him. And thinking there's no way the Doctor would want to be friends with him again now that they'd become such different people, he forces the Doctor to give him attention by hatching evil schemes for the Doctor to defeat. Every once awhile a scheme gets out of hand; they team up, they're briefly on the same side again, and then they go their separate ways.

This goes on for lifetimes. Eventually their home planet was destroyed. The Doctor thought he was the only time lord left in the universe, only to come across the Master again and realize there's actually TWO of them. The only two time lords left in the universe, the Doctor and his highschool sweetheart. But, the master is still evil. There's an understanding that if they become friends again, he'll have to follow the Doctor's rules, he'll have to give up his free will and change his moral code. He chooses to die out of spite instead.

But, then he's brought back. There's another face off with a bigger evil than the Master; they take each other's side again. They win by teaming up. And then the Master leaves, the Doctor dies, and things are the same as before.

Then the Master is back again, as Missy this time, doing another evil scheme to force the Doctor to pay attention to her. The Doctor defeats her, they go their separate ways. Missy is put on trial, sentenced to death. The sentence has to be carried out by someone of her species, another time lord. He can't. He finds a loophole and saves her life. She'll be imprisoned for 1,000 years and he'll watch over her to make sure she doesn't escape.

They bond in this prison vault for nearly 100 years. They canonically watch Frozen together. He starts breaking the rules for her, sneaking her out, going on adventures together. Missy's past self time travels and sabotages the whole thing. They both die. The Doctor is left believing Missy abandoned him, never knowing she actually died for what they mutually believed in, that she died to prevent her past self from doing more evil because she truly wanted to change and be friends again.

They regenerate. The Doctor is furious over Missy's betrayal. The Master is traumatized from the horrific end of his failed redemption arc. He's never going to try to be good again, he decides, because he's simply not capable of it and it only makes things worse. They're on opposite sides again. The Master does a handful of schemes, culminating in one where he BECOMES the Doctor, wears multiple layers of the Doctor's old clothes at once, goes completely out of his mind with his obsession over the Doctor. The Doctor defeats him again and takes her identity back. The Master is dying and the Doctor, still betrayed and hurting, doesn't help him. He kills her, so that they'll die together.

And…. It'll be at least a couple of years before we see the next installment of "couples counseling would have less collateral damage, you guys…"]

[and-stir-the-stars]

*looking at Missy from Doctor Who* STUNNING SPECTACULAR ICONIC VIBRANT GLORIOUS. OWNS MY WHOLE HEART.