#WILF indeed

[dekariosclan]

Writer loves a character: writes a fanfic

Artist loves a character: makes a drawing/painting/comic

Graphic designer loves a character:

[Fine print: I spent wayyy too much time designing this 100% fake cover, and I regret nothing ❤️]

[ingravinoveritas]

Full three minute-long clip of David on the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast talking about Pride Month and gay/trans rights. Truly heart-wrenching to hear him get so genuinely emotional/choke up as he keeps going. Notable moments:

David: "When I was at school, calling somebody gay was like the worst thing you could be called in the playground, and now we celebrate it...[choking up] and it makes me a little bit emotional. That it just gives people a chance to be seen and celebrated and to be just--combating some of that snide nastiness that is...when Target have to...[trying not to cry] when Target in America have to take down their displays because people are so intolerant, I think we all need to put up our rainbow flags and we need to march and shout and--[crying] I didn't expect this to get me this emotional, I'll be honest with you, but--you just want your children to grow up in a world that is kind, and you want your children to be kind and you want your children to be accepted for whoever they are. Whatever they want to be. They should be allowed to be whoever they want to be." David: "When you look at it--when you take a step back and see how far we've come, it does give you hope. Because sometimes when you're right in the middle of day-to-day you think, 'Where are we going guys, come on?' Ed Miliband: "We were in the era of Section 28 and all that stuff. But it has to be fought for." David: "Yes, we can't take our foot off the gas, that's the thing. And we can't expect that we will always travel in the right direction toward acceptance. We've got to--we've all got to be fighting that fight every day."

[scary-senpai]

So I asked John-senpai for help with this last chapter:

I appreciate that he answered immediately and (eventually) gave a thoughtful answer.

[ncoincidences]

All the fics I read this year, part 1: ship I read most this year —

It's James/Lily !! I've read about 80 fics for Jily this year! I've linked them all down below and limited myself to describe every fic in only a line to fit Tumblr's 4066-character limit (I don't think I did any of them justice though ,:) they're all amazing and incredible in their own way). They're not sorted in any order - it's a chaotic mess ,,:,,)

Kindly Stopped for Me* by @nodirectionhome-ao3 - Lily survives AU, an angsty fic with great badass Lily moments!

Lay All Your Love On Me* by @athenasparrow - Jily Hogwarts fic that also has smut :D

The Art of Identification by Athenasparrow - cute one-shot featuring amortentia :D

She Will by @relyingonoldships - ANGSTY! gather your napkins. I have warned you.

The Summer I fell in Love* by @annasghosts - Muggle meet cute + summer love <3

Finding Lily by Annasghosts - unique premise + fake dating for the win :D

Things That Haven't Happened Yet by @kay-elle-cee - SMUT

the silence in the sorrow by kay-elle-cee - secret relationship during war + battle angst

to ache, to hope by kay_elle_cee - unplanned pregnancy that explores both James and Lily's emotions

i'll be fine, i'll be good* by kay-elle-cee - Slytherin!Lily AU focussed on Lily's character + secret relationship

Tall Dark and Glasses by @jamesunderwater - lovely writing and a heart-melting meet cute!

Meet Me At The River by @charmsandtealeaves - PEN PALS JILY, absolutely adorable fic!

Laundry Day by charmsandtealeaves - cheeky fic

Midnight Dip by charmsandtealeaves - ALSO cheeky 😏

Call Me By Name by charmsandtealeaves - feat. Phone Call sex 😏 and strangers to lovers!

Incoming by charmsandtealeaves 'call me by name' but James POV and it's so good!!

Wake Me Up (When September Ends)* by charmsandtealeaves - Hogwarts Jily 7th year coming of age :)

Love Birds by charmsandtealeaves - fluffy ridiculous rom com au where James cannot be separated from his accidentally acquired duck and Lily is a gorgeous vet :D also features insanely cute doodles :D

Something Black and Blue by charmsandtealeaves - what's making Lily Evans so late to her own wedding?

Sugar Quills by charmsandtealeaves - SWEET x

Padfoot's Nose Knows by charmsandtealeaves - indeed sirius can smell the good news from a mile away!

The Exchange Principle by charmsandtealeaves - cute body swap fic!

Nom De Plume by AnnaBtG - !!!!! unique concept! secret erotica writer James needs Lily (his coworker who's totally NOT his muse) to pretend to be his persona but Lily hates his guts...... or does she 😏

Haircut by PetalsToFish - James gets a new haircut!!

Lipstick by PetalsToFish - James bought Lily a lipstick and she's trying it out 😏

WILF by PetalsToFish - Wizard I'd Like to Fuck 😏

Reputation (Wildest Dreams Version) by PetalsToFish - Slytherin!Lily + enemies to lovers fic <3

State of Grace (Never Saw You Coming) by PetalsToFish - Lily never saw James coming..... literally. a car accident meet-cute (no one's hurt tho :))

Prodigal by PetalsToFish - slightly angsty, exploring Lily through her years at Hogwarts from first year

Girl Crush by PetalsToFish - actually Peter's POV centred around Jily

*[The asterisks next to a fic indicate that I haven't caught up to the latest chapter update]

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Ben-Dror Yemini

Here and there, attempts at rehabilitation did occur. In their insightful book "The War of Return," Dr. Einat Wilf and Dr. Adi Schwartz recount the initiative by Musa Alami, a leading figure among Palestinian Arabs, who in the early 1950s established a prosperous farm near Jericho. This farm supported hundreds of families, housed a school and a center for orphaned children, and even secured international export agreements. However, the creation of a flourishing farm was viewed as a betrayal of the victimhood narrative. Following incitement, an Arab mob descended upon it, leaving destruction and ruin in their wake. The farm, in a much diminished form, still exists today.

Gazans take supplies from UNRWA stores

(Photo: braheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters)

UNRWA succumbed to Arab pressure. There was no rehabilitation, resettlement or economic initiatives, and no exit from the refugee camps. Quite the opposite, in fact. Journalist David Bedein has conducted numerous investigations revealing how UNRWA’s educational institutions have become breeding grounds for indoctrinating hatred against Israel, by nurturing illusions about the "right of return." Tens of millions became refugees in the last century. They did not receive a "right of return." Jews, too, endured a harsh Nakba in Europe, and another in Arab countries. They were expelled, their properties confiscated. But they lacked an agency of their own to foster hatred and support destruction and terrorism. The Palestinians, however, have had just that.

No one needed to wait until October 7 to realize that under UNRWA’s auspices a monster of terror support had been established. A series of testimonies have been gathered regarding UNRWA employees' involvement both in the massacre on October 7 and in Hamas terrorist activities, as well as Hamas' use of UNRWA facilities. In September, Israel neutralized Fathi Al-Sharif, a man who served as the coordinator between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon, yet his salary was paid by UNRWA, where he was magnanimously called principal of an UNRWA school and president of the UNRWA Teachers Union in Lebanon. An exemplary educator indeed.

This backdrop sets the stage for two legislative proposals by Knesset members Boaz Bismuth and Yulia Malinovsky, aimed at severing Israel’s ties with UNRWA and revoking the agency’s international immunity. Even opposition members have signed onto the second proposal. However, there is doubt whether these laws will pass, as both the U.S. and the European Union are exerting unbearable pressure to prevent their passage. Even in a letter threatening an embargo from U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense Blinken and Austin, there is a clear demand to freeze the legislative processes against UNRWA.

[dragoneyes618]

INthe current edition of Sapir (available online), Einat Wilf, in “The Palestine Propaganda Complex,” quotes an 1892 essay by Ahad Ha’am on the salutary benefits of the “blood libel.” Since every Jew knows that the claim that we use the blood of gentiles for the production of matzos is false, he argues, the continued existence of the “blood libel” teaches Jews, who might otherwise be susceptible to internalizing the widespread beliefs of their enemies, that, yes, it is possible for the entire world to be wrong and the Jews right.

We are witnessing something of that sort today, in the wake of Israel’s dramatic rescue of four hostages held by Hamas. In Israel, news of the operation set off unanimous jubilation. Secular Jews, knowing that their religious neighbors would not have heard the news on Shabbos, shouted it out from their windows as the latter walked back and forth to shul.

For nearly eight months, the hostages have been constantly in our prayers, and photos of them have been ubiquitous. I would guess that most Israeli Jews spend some moments every day imagining the circumstances in which they are being held and the torment that they are enduring, and that dread has only mounted as the number of hostages confirmed dead has climbed.

Israel is no longer the tiny country I first visited in 1962, in which drivers going in opposite directions on the Tel Aviv–Haifa highway would wave at friends coming the other way. But neither are we separated by anything close to six degrees.

My own personal connection with the hostage families began four months ago at a shabbaton with hostage families under the auspices of Kesher Yehudi. Both the women with whom my wife and I sat at Seudah Shlishis have since learned that their loved ones believed being held captive — in one case a son and the other a husband — had already been murdered on October 7.

Rozita Ziv, the mother of Shlomi Ziv, one of the four rescued captives, was not at the first Kesher Yehudi shabbaton, but she was present at the second shabbaton and the follow-up Purim seudah. In a series of social media posts, she has fervently thanked Kesher Yehudi for all its support, coupled with a poignant plea for achdut and similar efforts to strengthen one another, beginning with meeting those from other sectors of the Jewish community: “United, no one can defeat us, for we are truly a chosen nation, and must act as one nation.”

THAT ISRAEL WOULD SEIZE any opportunity to rescue the captives if the opportunity presented itself was obvious to every Israeli Jew, and should be obvious to all citizens of any country in the world in which a trace of patriotism remains.

But that understanding of citizenship can no longer be taken for granted. Various UN officials, including the secretary-general Antonio Guterres, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Francesca Albanese, and the EU’s senior diplomat Josep Borrell, were quick to condemn the rescue on the basis of the casualty figures claimed by Hamas’s Health Ministry, long before they had any basis to confirm those figures or to ascertain the facts of the rescue.

A BBC anchor asked former IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus whether Israel had warned nearby civilians of the impending rescue operation. Incredulous, Conricus took a moment before explaining the obvious: Doing so would have ended the operation before it began, with Hamas killing the hostages. And indeed, Hamas has subsequently declared that its response to any future rescue operations will be to immediately kill the hostages.

The four civilian captives who were abducted from sovereign Israeli territory — itself a war crime — were held in apartment buildings in a densely populated neighborhood in furtherance of Yahya Sinwar’s declared strategy, as exposed in last week’s Wall Street Journal on the basis of dozens of his emails, of maximizing civilian casualties, a.k.a. “necessary sacrifices,” to turn Israel into a pariah.

Those holding the captives in their homes cannot in any sense be classified as civilians, even if they had side gigs as “journalists” for Palestinian media outlets. Ditto those guarding them in perpetually darkened rooms. The rescuers came under heavy machine gun and RPG fire as they attempted to evacuate the hostages, and when a rescue vehicle became stuck, a large Hamas force began converging on them, necessitating calling in additional IDF forces waiting in reserve.

At that point, the Israeli forces had to immediately suppress the fire directed at them and prevent Hamas forces from converging on the rescue vehicles. Even a fraction of a second could have been the difference between success and disaster. Fortunately, the rescuers were saved by heavy air support before successfully bringing the captives to waiting helicopters.

Again, those firing machine guns and RPGs and rushing toward the rescue vehicles were clearly not civilians. And they likely constituted the bulk of those killed. But no doubt the Israeli air support also claimed nearby civilians. Those deaths, however regrettable, are squarely on Hamas’s account for holding the captives in a densely populated area and subsequently engaging Israeli rescuers in that same area.

At least, that is how virtually every Israeli Jew sees it. And we are right.

-Yonoson Rosenblum, Mishpacha Magazine, Issue 1016, June 19 2024, page 38

[the-purple-possum]

Gotta say, that's one of the best doctor who episodes I've seen in years. It had a premise like the doctors wife, the space ship mystery of sleep no more, and the brilliance of midnight. Plus the writing was so fluent. And gotta say, it's not doctor who if the CGI isn't a little wonky.

How is it that the budget is bigger, but the cgi is somehow worse 🤣

[graaaaceeliz]

I have a few notes ad headcanons for The Giggle, now that I've finally seen the episode:

The One Who Waits to me felt like it could mean Death, but there's two issues with that: one, Death has, to my knowledge, never been represented in Who as a creature or entity, but I'll look that up; and two, the Toymaker just looked too frightened. Would Death scare this celestial being? I don't think so.

My brother has suggested that this could be Rory. This could track, as Rory does die a few times and waits a lot, and so I think his existence could cause enough of a time discrepancy to attract the Toymaker. Rory is "dead" to the Doctor now but the Toymaker is running to a different timeline, which means that he could indeed encounter him. My problem with this is that whilst Rory is dangerous and can be frightening, I don't think he's frightening enough to be the thing the Toymaker fears.

If nobody writes this soon, I will, but I'm quite busy enough being obsessed by Rory, so if someone else would write this I'd love it.

The gold tooth definitely feels like an openended Master possibility, and HELLO? THE MASTER IS IN A TOOTH??? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? There's a story there which I crave.

Now to the bigeneration, or the Great Mitosis as I'm calling it in our house. Why did this happen? Hear me out:

The Toymaker is a being from outside of the universe who obeys only the laws of his game. By using the pattern he noted of the Doctor having a new face for each challenge, and his own 'rules', I suggest that he changed the usual rules of regeneration when he forced Fourteen to die. He created a little loophole in the galactic laws - which we know don't apply to him - and made it so the Doctor could both regenerate AND keep his current face. Forcing a regeneration was fair in his mind, but not for the Doctor, so The Rules Of The Game balanced it out and allowed for both parties to have "fair play".

Makes sense, doesn't it.

Now a fun one:

The BANG which is Wilf shooting moles? Headcanon that his wheelchair is a UNIT one and has a little gun in it. Actually, not UNIT, Wilf deserves to go full Johnny English: Reborn and have speed settings and a gun and all sorts. Let the man have shenanigans.

[lisaplant4]

Thoughts on Doctor Who: The Star Beast (following 24hrs of nothing but "Eeek! I love it!")

*Warning Spoilers Ahead*

• One of the first things she does is insult him. Welcome back Donna, we missed you.

• Shaun Noble is just the best type of human, doesn't have much, doesn't need much, loves his wife and daughter unconditionally, always has their backs. Well done Donna, you found a good one.

• Now if I've gotten the timeline straight (and it's Doctor Who so 🤷🏼‍♀️) Rose Noble is 14yrs old at best (? It's been 15yrs since the wedding, she's consistently referred to as a child, etc) however the character is being played by a 20yr old, now I know this isn't particularly unusual in film and TV but, at times this seemed blatantly obvious to me and I found it very distracting. Maybe future eps with Rose will be set 5yrs in her future or something???

• I knew that little bastard was gonna be trouble from it's first "Meep"!

• Love me a sneaky Doctor. 🏃‍♂️

• "You!" *slap* 🤣 Hi Sylvia. 👋

• Loving the fact that Wilfred Mott is living it up in a Unit Housing, I miss Bernard Cribbins, wish we could see Wilf and the Doctor interact again.

• The sonic does force fields now?! Epic!

• Of course the Doctor has a prosecutors wig in his pocket!

• Hail to the Meep, indeed! I hope they stuff the little furball!

• Weaponised wheelchair?! She's right, that should come as standard. 🦽

• The Doctor raging at the universe 💔

• The part where I cried, Donna being her magnificent self. "Donna Noble is descending!" 😢

• The Meep go yeet!

• 🥺 please can we go see Wilf?

• The new TARDIS is like a giant hamster trail, made for a Doctor who just loves to run!

[13docwriting]

So I'll start with the fact that I am, indeed, a fan of Chibnall's era. I am an even bigger fan of the 13th Doctor. I'll also start with the fact that I quite literally grew up with RTD's writing and loved Ten with all my heart. But now I am an adult and some of RTD's writing has left me a bit scared. Here's my "live streaming" review on The Star Beast. SPOILERS BELOW!

I'm going in order of how I processed things, so it's gonna be chaotic. My first essay is this: You know why this post is so long? It's because we're not livestreaming things anymore. I'm not immediately with other fans in real time, typing out our little posts. I'm quite literally doing this at my leisure. I'll miss watching DW live. Now then, in order! 1. The music? Ten out of ten. I have always loved Gold's compositions and he did not let us down. And this opinion is only being generated from the new(er) theme song. Which leads me to...

2. Look at the B U D G E T. Even the opening credits has a budget that you can just FEEL. Those stars/galaxies? Very nice... And then I have to chuckle over the low level lighting / 2000s era effects of David Tennant's full profile voiceover of Donna and his story.

3. Him taking the boxes, seeing Donna's face, and slowly putting the boxes back is an RTD special and I LOVE that kind of comedy. It just makes me chuckle. And then him having a full blown panic over hearing Donna shout "Rose!" which... 4. Having these little call back moments feels rather bitter since we're calling this a reboot of the show. UNLESS the reboot is when Nucti starts up? But the fact that I'm confused just shows how bitter I should be. Again, my Chibnall love is showing. I don't believe in yet another reboot for DW, but that's a marketing thing over anything else... I hope. 5. I'm glad the 2000s Rose/Doctor shipping era lives strong through the name Rose. I know those fans are going to be happy and they deserve it. 6. NOW... Donna having a family. Okay. I'll have a separate post but... Does anyone else think that Donna having a husband just doesn't fit for her? Especially with her memories erased? Idk, I just never envisioned Donna getting married after the whole Lance thing. BUT I'm glad she's happy and the husband seems so nice. 7. Donna giving up that lottery money? Also strange considering she lost her memories. The first time we meet Donna we get this feeling that she's a bit shallow, which makes sense because she has to develop as a character. That was her character development so here KEEPING the money would have made more sense here. Which...

8. Rose. That's all. She's great!

9. Hey, can't help but notice, but when did the 14th Doctor have time to make a new screwdriver, huh? What gives? AND - AND there's not a single hint of 13's sonic on there. HMM. What the heck!

10. FORGOT SOMETHING. Whatever the line was "that says mistress" "Oh, catch up, will you?" I don't know how to take in this scene quite yet, but it's making me pause. It felt... Off kilter. Maybe cause I love 13 so much, I don't know. There's always callbacks to other faces when the Doctor first regenerations, but this felt... Wrong? Also, TEE HEE my mind went to Missy IMMEDIATELY and I love that little connection my fic writing brain is going wild.

11. WHY DOES UNIT HAVE SO MUCH MONEY???? Look at this uniforms, holy cow! I almost don't like it? Like, they're an underground agency. WE JUST SAW THEM GET DESTROYED BY CYBERMEN IN THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR. Are we just ignore that entire episode or...?

12. Donna not being able to keep a job? Yeah, THAT one I believe haha.

13. "I will burn down the world for you, darling" says Donna Noble to her transgender kid. WHICH IS AMAZING, WHICH MADE ME SMILE SO WIDE I WAS HAVING A PARTY IN MY BRAIN. There's my Donna! 14. "Gramps used to talk about flying saucers" oh god my heart. I teared up a little, not going to lie. Wilf, I think about you every single day. You made the Doctor the person he is today.

15. MEEP IS SO CUTE. OH WOW. I know "evil" is coming but SO CUTE RIGHT NOW.

16. To go from some excellent animatronics from the Meep to whatever those alien, fly things are was HILARIOUS. What, we'd run out of money for those costume's? Were they meant to look like a typical RTD alien back in the 2000s? How does that work?

17. WHAT THE ACTUAL FLYING FUCK WAS THE SONIC DOING. Wait, did Disney give the sonic some magical powers? Why are we suddenly writing in the air? How are we getting readouts of the ship from the sonic like that? Could it do that before? Why would we not do that before? I'm dying that's so funny.

18. Shirley seems cool!!! I hope we get more of her! And I love the nod to PROPER representation. Chibs did a good job of that as well. Edit: REAL representation! Good on RTD. The scene with the stairs and she says "don't make me the problem"... I am not a wheelchair user but I do hope that was properly done. 19. "I absolutely love her [Donna]" LOOK AT 14 HAVING FEELINGS! Aww, I hope 15 follows through with the feelings! 11, 12, and 13 have been so locked up, so scared to love... Having a Doctor that's ready to loudly embrace their love for things would be such a good character development. (My fear would be RTD ripping that away in the most tragic way possible, but that's a future problem I suppose).

20. I'm at the scene where Rose is talking to the Meep in the shed, and just, again, THE MUSIC. We did have some good musical moments in 13's era but, even I have to admit, nothing as pretty as this. It really is something, round of applause once again.

21. LISTEN. L I S T E N. I don't condone slapping the Doctor. I don't. In fact, it's wrong. It's very wrong. And you can't slap 13, can you? So slapping 14 shouldn't make sense. It's the definition of sexist. It's just not something you should do. BUT. B U T. Jackie's "stitch this, mate" is always in my head and now THIS "here we go again" after Sylvia gives the Doctor a good slap... I laughed, okay? It was funny! But really, in the good year of 2023, there shouldn't be comedy like that. That joke should have died. BUT I LAUGHED. So I'm to blame as well.

22. "Never mind about the ferret from mars." I LOVE the mars callback from Donna, thank you very much.

23. Kate looking after Wilf damn near brought tears to my eyes. Kate, you are the real hero of the DW universe. Thank you.

24. This is... This is gonna be another post. But. Okay. So. The whole "you're assuming he as a pronoun". Right. Okay. I know groups of people that talk like that. Both online and in person. Personal life spoiler, I work(ed) in musical theater. I've seen it all. I, personally, do not like this whole... "Let's be really obvious about it" thing. And also highly believe in someone else first telling me, when it fits, what their pronouns are. Having someone pull the defensive "YOU ASSUMED" crap doesn't work because humans don't think like that. It's a whole other rant, but yeah. This felt forced and I hate when shows do that. Representation is important but FORCING that representation doesn't help.

25. what's the. what's the sonic doing. what. how'd it. we got lines in the air. we got unbelievable shield. we. he waved it like a wand and now. what the. how'd. (Yo, not me head cannoning that this is 13 banging around in 14's head demanding that they have a better way to protect their friends. Love it). I WILL HAVE A LOT MORE THOUGHTS ON THIS.

26. DW has money now. That will continue to blow my mind.

27. "This is a sonic screwdriver and if it's good at one thing, it's resonating concrete". Oh yeah, Doctor? I'd like to bring forth you, never once, being able to do it. Not once! (And now it's good at creating magical shields and complex, alien holograms, but that's point #25)

28. Where'd in hell's name did he get that wig and how soon can Donna throw it out a window?

29. MEEP YOU - YOU UTTER AHOLE. Man, it was SO CUTE

30. O k a y. I take back, holy crap what point am I on? I take back point #7. So there's some of the Doctor left in her, eh? That's why! I dig that. I really, really dig that. Sorry for being a downer, that was my mistake.

31. I too can come up with technobabble bullcrap that means nothing. I sometimes think that's RTD's biggest failing, his incessant need to over describe things. EDIT. JEEZ, a good five minutes later as we're STILL talking gibberish.

32. Hey, I see you "glass wall between Donna and the Doctor" and raise you "glass wall between Wilf and the Doctor". OW. I demand emotional compensation!

33. Listen, I just got over 13 keeping every. single. emotion inside of her. She never raised her voice, she never really cried, she never had a chance to just scream and yell and be angry at the universe. The fact that there's 14 RIGHT HERE, screaming, because to save Donna, he has to lose her YET AGAIN. Just angry and devastated and grieving... It's a stunning scene, it's a scene that makes sense, but my 13 loving little heart says that this is 13's moment to be angry and it was taken from her.

34. Also, ha, I know Disney bought DW, but did we just "Winter Soldier" Donna Noble. We gave her trigger words to keep her memories at bay? Really?

35. "Hold on a minute," said in Ten's/Fourteenth's voice... Was that.. Was that ELVEN'S theme music while Donna was being, well, Time Lady Donna? Because that was... That was GOLDEN. How amazing is that? What a great idea!

36. You MONSTER, RTD, making Fourteen hold Donna the same way he held the Master? What the hell is that about?

37. The.. The nonbinary, but binary. I... It's... Something! Okay, I'll get there. I'll have a post about it. Maybe. But. Yeah, it's something!

38. DOES UNIT HAVE AVENGERS *cough* sorry it's been a while for Marvel me *cough* STARK TOWER. WAS THAT STARK TOWER? Damn, Disney, you really did bring us back to superwholock Avenger's "Clint in the vents" era, huh?

39. "It's a shame you're not a woman anymore, because she would have understood... Something a male presenting Time Lord will never understand." You can't... You can't do the whole "nonbinary" thing and that just immediately point out gender like that. What. The defeats the entire purpose. The whole point you're trying to make is that gender DOESN'T matter, and yet... And the Doctor has always, always been nonbinary. I refer to the Doctor as "they" when speaking as a collective whole, and many of us have done that. I use pronouns when talking about specific Doctors because humans have always used pronouns. Again, 11 and 13 have made mention that gender has NEVER mattered to them. I just... You can't be poking a bear and then expecting the bear to not to come after you if you've changed the poking object from a stick to a teaser.

40. I gotta laugh that Rose and Donna had the most peaceful "regeneration" we've ever seen. Somewhere in there, a Doctor or two is screaming lol.

41. Oh... The TARDIS is ugly. DON'T HIT ME. STOP HITTING ME. I MEAN It. Not, for real though, Oh my god, what. Why. The colors. Or lack of colors, really. What the fuck. Where's the... Where's the personality? Where's the sass? I've loved every single TARDIS change but THIS... This is a hard one to swallow.

42. The TARDIS having an shit fit over Donna spilling coffee on her is WONDERFUL. That's so funny to me. With everything she's been through with 13, that was just the best way for her to get her revenge! All in all, strange episode, yeah? I mean, what WAS that plot? It was really more of setup for the next episode, and double really meant to reunite ten and Donna, which was well done, but also... Why? It just felt a bit all over the place but very much cushioned by nostalgia. I'm done now. My fingers HURT. As always, and as I say in all my fics, I'm here if you want to chat. Reblog this, PM me, tag me in stuff!

[mywingsareonwheels]

Ugh, I am such Endeavour trash though.

Because on the one hand I'm rejoicing so so deeply in Fourteen coming back with the same face and basic personality as Ten and able to finally express all the love the Doctor has for Donna and Wilf and indeed a lot of other people.

And and and. And now I need E Morse and Fred Thursday to each regenerate a few times and be able to express all that affection and love and joy in each other that we know is there. And not just with each other! With all the other people that they each love so much and are not great at expressing it with! (Not, in fact, that anyone is much good at it in Endeavour! Ugh.)

But then that's I suppose what we do every time we write fanfic in which we give our favourite characters the ability to finally give each other the love they deserve to both give and receive. <3 (Which I continue to regard as one of the most beautiful and healing things that any fanfic can provide. :) )

Honestly RTD is providing us with an incredible Tenth Doctor fix-it fic, and we sort-of knew it advance he was doing that for Donna (WHOOOOO!) but not that he was doing it for Ten(nant) as well. :-)

[magnificent-buckless-butt]

Idk why, I feel like a bit of hypocrisy that Wilf is canonically alive in the Whoverse when his actor is not.

Like. At first, when the Doctor tears up a little when Donna says "he's not with us anymore", I thought it was because the actor was already dead when they started filming. So the "twist" got me thinking like it was some sort of cruel joke but at least Katherine is watching over Wilf, and I can live with that.

Then the end of the 2nd special brought me to tears because the Doctor hugging Wilf was everything I needed in my life.

Except then, I looked it up and saw that scene was indeed the last of him - which broke my heart.

And again, including Wilfred dying in this 3rd special would have been a bit over the top and make the end bitter sweet when (just this once, Rose!) the end was clearly going for a happy one.

But, like I said, idk, I would have prefer for the Doctor to acknowledge his old friend actually passing over before himself.

[ingravinoveritas]

DAVID TENNANT USING THEY/THEM PRONOUNS??! Georgia’s story showing David at the theater and used their pronouns for them. If this is true and they really do use those pronouns, I really hope Georgia showed and made sure it was okay for her to post and out them. I really hope that if this is true, they are okay and felt safe enough to be posted and shared online about this

Oh, my. Well, I did indeed see Georgia's Insta story the other day, but for those who didn't, here it is:

The reaction that I've seen to this has been intense, which is not surprising. I also don't think it would be at all surprising if David actually does identify as nonbinary, as since his appearance on the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast, I've written on my blog here and here about how David's increasingly vocal advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community (especially nonbinary/trans folks) could be as much on his own behalf as it is for Wilf. It's often the case where someone may not feel able to confront the struggles or questions they've had about themselves until they are living it through their child's eyes, and feel a sense of urgency to make the world better for their child, as well as for the child they once were.

It is also entirely possible that Georgia just used "their" as a neutral term, without meaning it as a specific statement on David's gender identity. What is interesting to me, however, is that the casual use of "their" was exactly how she began to allude to Wilf being nonbinary. I also tend to think that Georgia is very deliberate with what she posts on social media and does not post anything "accidentally" or haphazardly. That being said, it is ultimately David's decision as to whether or not to share something so personal, and I concur with you @phantomstars24 in hoping that Georgia made sure it was okay for her to post that (if that is indeed the case).

The other thing I want to mention that makes this especially peculiar is that, as Anon #2 mentioned, Ty Tennant does seem to have deleted his main Instagram account, just days before GO 2 was released. Given that he has a (small) role in episode 2, one would think that he'd want to be able to promote that on social media. So the timing of all of this (Ty deleting his Insta, and now Georgia's story using "their") is what I am questioning, as if an announcement (of some sort) about David is forthcoming, it could be that Ty deleted to avoid being bombarded with questions/comments from fans about it. Again, pure speculation here, but it does make you wonder.

Whatever the case may be--whether David is nonbinary or not--I wish him nothing but happiness, and the joy of feeling fully comfortable with who he is. It's a difficult and frightening time for queer folks, so if he is contemplating this, I hope it will happen on his terms, when he feels safe and ready to be open.

[theemptybloggercometh]

UNIT’s Latest Recruit

Fandom: Doctor Who/Doctor Who Redacted

Characters: Rose Noble, Mel Bush, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Cleo Proctor

Context: Set a few months before The Legend of Ruby Sunday

Summary: When Rose doesn’t go back to school after getting into trouble for something that wasn’t her fault, she doesn’t realise the trouble’s only beginning

Triggers: Transphobia including misgendering, deadnaming and physical assault. Transphobic “jokes” and slurs. Reference to Rowling. Reference to racism. 

Word Count: 5933

The sound of the Nobel’s front door slamming shut reverberated around the up until then empty house.

“AHHHHH!!!” Rose cried out both out of anger and of anguish. Then, using the hand that hadn’t lowered since slamming the door, she suddenly tore her school bag of her back and threw it into the corner.

All her energy expended, she then fell against the door and slid down until she was sitting on the wooden floorboards. As tears start to well up deep down inside of her, she drew up her legs up to her chest and folded her head down onto her knees. Within seconds tears were blurring her vision and cascading down her face before falling onto her school blazer.

Her mind started whirling like one of those old film projectors, projecting her day back to her.

It had started off good enough. Having had an alright  sleep, she got downstairs to find the Doctor in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her, Wilf and Donna. As they were eating, Wilf told them stories about his old army friend who everyone, apart from Rose, who going to visit that day in Chatham.

“It’s a shame you couldn’t miss school today, Rose” he said

“I don’t believe it” Donna chided good-humouredly “after all the times you stressed the importance of education to me and now you’re encouraging her to play truant”

“I’m sorry, you’re right” he said and then added, in an over the top manner “I don’t know what I was thinking, school is the best place in the entire world”

Donna rolled her eyes 

“What is you kids say?” Wilf continued “my bad”

Rose laughed “OMG, Great-Gramps, I’ve told you, you can’t say things like that it just doesn’t sound right”

Unfortunately this was as good a day as the universe was going to allow her. Indeed, it started to go downhill as soon as she got onto the bus to go to school.

“Do you have a bus pass, mate” the driver asked

The gendered connotations of ‘mate’ set Rose’s teeth on edge.

“Miss” she corrected firmly before showing him the app on her phone

Apart from gesturing towards the seats, he showed no sign that he had heard her.  

As she climbed up to the top deck Rose really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt; maybe he genuinely hadn’t seen her skirt or noticed her long hair. (Of course, she reminded herself, gender presentation does not equal certain pronouns or a specific gender identity) But then again, he wouldn’t be the first person to see that she was trans and decided to maliciously misgender her.

A few stops later, a couple of boys in Year 9 got on and they both sniggered as they passed her to sit at the back of the bus. Rose maintained her gaze looking at the passing houses and trees as the bus slowly made its way through Camden. However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the boys were still mocking her.

The day took another dive when she was in second period biology.

“So the male of the species – ” Mr Robson was saying when a pupil raised his hand “Yes Connor?”

“How do we know it’s a male?” said Conner whilst leaning back on the stool so that it’s front two feet were raised from the floor

Rose looked up from her notes where she had been copying the diagram from the screen as a few other of her classmates laughed and saw Mr Robson’s glance towards her.

The teacher held up his hand and the laugher slowly died down “You know my rule about there being no silly question”

Despite this, Mr Robson himself doubted that a high achiever like Connor actually needed to ask this question; it was more likely that he was asking this to make a dig at Jas-, no, Rose. Mr Robson had freely admitted to his fellow teachers that this whole trans thing confuses him.  And that wasn’t even considering how to implement all the guidelines from the local authority and the government. He’s just a few years away from retirement, for Pete’s sake, and doesn’t need this aggro. And yet…and yet…just because he doesn’t get it, it doesn’t mean that Rose has to suffer, especially in his classroom.

“How would you find out?” he asked putting Connors question back to him

He instantly regretted this course of action as Connor put on an extremely exaggerated thinking pose which would have made Miss Coopper, Head of Drama, proud

“Um…” Connor replied “I don’t know…we could look at the genital”

“Right” affirmed Mr Robson simply, hoping this would shut the tangent down “Now where was I? Ah yes –”

“But sir?” Connor piped up again

Rose’s shoulders tensed; she did not like the way this was going 

Resisting the urge to say ‘what now?’, Mr Robson instead asked “Can it wait?”

“It’s just I thought we had to ask it how it self identifies?” said Connor whilst looking pointedly at Rose

As laughter rippled through the lab, Rose’s skin prickled with embarrassment. She absolutely hated being made the centre of attention. In a way, it wasn’t the joke – if you could call it that – that stung, much more so it was the laughter. The “joke” was predicably boring and unoriginal but the laughter depressingly showed how shallow the ‘acceptance’ of her peers actually was. It was moments like this when she felt like she was in a Victorian freak show, being brought out when people needed something to stare at; to be amused and horrified by in equal measure. 

“Quiet” said Mr Robson quietly like a storm rumbling off in the distance. The laughter silenced, he addressed Connor “If you manage to pass your GCSE’s, you might wish to study sociology and learn the difference between sex and gender”

Thirty minutes later, with laughter still ringing in Rose’s ears, the bell sounded for break and her day reached its nadir when she needed to use the bathroom.

Walking past the girls’ bathroom, Rose went down a side corridor to where the disabled bathroom was located. She felt a bit uncomfortable with using the disabled bathrooms and taking up space meant for someone else, someone who needed it more than her, but she had rationalised it as societies fault for having it’s weird obsession with keeping men and women separate.

But no sooner than she had thought that, she saw the bathroom had an out of order sign taped to its door “Ah, crap” she muttered

The nearest disabled bathroom to this one was in the English block. Rose bit her lip; could she make it that far? She cursed how her body just had to betray her like this and how she hadn’t needed to go whilst in the lesson.

Taking a deep breath, she went back up the corridor and before she could think about it a second longer, pushed open the door to the girl’s bathroom. Keeping her head low as she rushed past the girls standing by the sinks, she went into a cubical and quickly locked the door.

After she was done, she stood in the cubical waiting for the girls leave. When five minutes had passed without this happening, Rose knew she couldn’t stay put any long so took another deep breath and opened the door before walking to the sinks

Rose waved her hand in front of the sensor and focused on the sound of running water as she started to wash her hands. The girls next to her were still fixing up their makeup like nothing was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, this one time the world wouldn’t end because a someone nonbinary had used the bathroom  

This was when the universe decided to punish Rose for getting her hopes up.

Rose had just about finished holding her hands under the dryer when three girls in the same year group as her entered the bathroom 

“And do you know what he said to me” Grace was saying to Bella and Zara “he said – ” before stopping dead in her tracks with her expression suddenly going from delight to disgust  

“What the hell are you doing in here?” she demanded, glaring at Rose

Even though this was far from new, it was still unnerving especially as Rose was acutely aware that every girl was now staring at her. She fixed her eyes on the door as she shook the last remaining drops of water off her hands.

Having not got any response, Grace strode over and got right into Rose’s face “Answer me, freak”

Rose took a step back and collided into Zara; having been too focused on Grace, Rose had missed the other two girls moving behind her

“Oh my God, get off me” Zara snarled as she crossed her hands defensively across her chest “I swear he just tried to touch my boob, the pervert”

Grace came around to stand beside her and Bella as they marched menacingly forward until Rose’s back was pressed against the cold hard wall, the air thick with the sense of impending violence  

Rose couldn’t control her breathing. Her heart was beating against her ribs. Her feet were rooted to the spot. Her mind was screaming ‘GET OUT!’

Grace took another step forward and this is what Rose’s body needed to snap into action. Without thinking of what she was doing, Rose turned to the left and reached out for the door handle, in her haste nearly missing it, and yanked it open. As she was in the middle of taking a step forward she felt Grace’s hands press onto her back and push her forward out of the bathroom.

‘Fuck off, tranny’ she heard over her shoulder as lost her footing and crashed down hard onto the floor. Before she could even register that her right elbow, hip and knee were hurting, she was on her feet again and had turned to face Grace. She raised her fist and was about to drive it into her stupid face but just then Mr Robson rounded the corner.   

“ROSE NOBLE” he roared

Rose, her breath ragged, blinked. If the last few minutes had been going at double speed, now it was like everything was in slow motion. She looked at her hand and wondered how it had turned into a fist. She looked at Grace who’s look of fear was turning into smug satisfaction. Likewise, the murmurs of the teens who had stopped to stare were increasing in volume.

Rose dropped her arm to her side and took a step back. She turned to face Mr Robson who’s disappointment was etched on his face.

“Please go to Mrs Gallaghers Office” Mr Robson continued this time in a low voice.

“But, but, but” sputtered Rose

“No but’s.”

“You don’t understand”

“Oh I think I do.”

Rose noticed that one of the girls who had been putting on makeup was walking away “Hey” she pleaded “you saw the whole thing, tell Mr Robson what really happened”

But the girl looked down to her shoes and hurried along

“I’m not going to ask again; go now or you’ll be in more trouble” Mr Robson demanded

Rose spluttered again before she turned on her heel and walked down the corridor. Throwing the buildings door open she started to walk across the path toward the art’s building where her Head of Year’s office was situated. She was already thinking of what she was going to say to Mrs Gallagher – like Mrs Gallagher would believe anything she said.

Rose came to a sudden stop.

“Fuck this” she muttered

Turning around, this time, instead of going into the science block, she went quickly around it’s right side until she was at some steps. With her shoe’s clicking on the stone tiles, she made her way down where at the bottom was a short path to the school reception. Knowing the questions she would have to answer if she went through this to reach the school gates, she veered off from the path and walked across a patch of grass to the staff car park. Once she had got round the collection of Vauxhalls, Honda’s and Toyotas she ducked under the barrier and made her way onto the main road.  

Back in the present, Rose opened her eyes and wiped away her tears. She was glad that she had kept it together on the bus – this time with no problematic driver. And for once she was glad that the Doctor or her Great-Gramps were not here, as they would usually be at this time; it would have been so embarrassing for them to see her lose control like that. 

Her eyes felt sore and she knew if she looked in a mirror they would be red too. She felt like closing them again and sleeping a dreamless sleep for a thousand years, maybe then the world would be better.

As much as she would have liked just to stay where she was, she knew that she had to get up eventually. Indeed, this was going to have to be sooner rather than later as it was getting a bit uncomfortable sitting on the floorboards. Slowly uncurling herself from the floor, she gripped the top of the sideboard with her left hand and heaved herself up to a standing position.

With feet that felt like lead, Rose walked into the kitchen and put the kettle on. After getting the tea pot ready, she stood waiting for it to boil. That was when she saw, over by the fruit bowl, her mum’s UNIT ID badge. Rose smiled, a weird sensation to be sure, but an fantastic idea had started to form in the back of her mind. 

The Doctor had once said ‘just walk about like you own the place’ and while this was a bit trickier as someone trans and of colour, Rose had put on her best nonchalant expression and walked through UNIT security like she had done it a thousand times. It had helped that she had done it a few times whilst visiting with her mum. It also certainly helped that she had changed out of her school uniform and was now wearing an purple jumper with a knee length black pencil skirt and ballet flats. This and her subtle makeup help make her look like a professional just starting out in her career instead of an awkward schoolgirl.

With its efficient hum of fingers clicking away on keyboards and hushed conversations, you might think that the Bridge of UNIT’s HQ was just like any other office in central London. That was until you saw the Vlinx and the soldiers dotted around, then you might start to get the idea that the work going on in here was a bit more important than that happening in the rest of the city. 

Rose had entered the Bridge and, keeping close to the walls, made her way over to the opposite side. She looked across to one of the workstations and saw that the operative was looking at pictures from the 70’s – or was it 80’s? – Axos incursion. Craning her neck to get a better look at the next operative along, she could just see over their shoulder that they were comparing various maps of Northumberland.

“Oh hey, Rose” a bubbly voice said behind her

Rose turned around to see Mel with a fresh cup of tea in her hands. She had thought she would have to make an effort to smile so was surprised with how naturally a smile spread across her lips.

“Hi Mel” she replied “you alright?” 

“I’m good thanks, how are you? Haven’t seen you in a long time”

“Yeah, the last time was…” Rose paused to think, conscious of the fact that that she was avoiding Mel’s question “It was my mum’s birthday, right?

“That was a very fun evening, my sides hurt for a week from laughing so much. Come, sit with me” Mel said as she began to walk to her workstation. Once she had reached it, she pushed some folders, a few pens and a half-full packet of Garabaldi biscuits aside and put her cup down. “Oh my, I’m such a…I forgot to ask if you wanted a drink”

“I’m good thanks”

“You’re sure?” said Mel as she went across to an empty workstation and wheeled it’s chair over next to hers.

“Umm. well, maybe a small tea” Rose said as she sat down and placed her bag on the floor

“Milk? Sugar?”

“Just a drop of milk, no sugar”

“One small cup of tea with just a drop of milk coming up. Make yourself at home”

And the thing was, Rose did feel like she was home from home. Here she felt totally safe. Here nobody was judging her. A feeling of contentment swept over her and for the first time since this morning she could properly breath.

When Mel returned, she shoved aside some memory sticks and memory drives to find space on her desk for Rose’s cup. “There you go” she said and anticipating that Rose might say something continued “I know, I know, it may look a mess, but I have a system”

“If it works for you that’s all that matters. Anyway, what are you working on at the moment?”

“This?” Mel said, logging onto her computer. The screen showed several lines, similar to an ECG “We’re picking these signals up from a satellite, but here’s the thing, where do you think they’re coming from?”

“I want to say space, but…”

“That’s too obvious, right? Think lower”

“Underground…no, the sea?”

“Yep, we’re think that the Sea Devils are waking up once more” 

Behind them, Kate, in a smart navy trouser suit, walked onto the Bridge and proudly looked at her hand-picked team. But a frown made its way onto her face as she tilted her head and started to walk forward. 

“Rose” she said firmly after approaching Mel’s workstation “can I have a word?”

“Oh, hi Kate, yeah sure” replied Rose, smiling

Once they had gone over to the side, Kate put her hand on her hips “I’m going to have to ask that you leave”

Rose’s jaw dropped “What! But I’ve been here lots of times before”

“With your mum who has security clearance, you don’t. How did you get in anyway?”

Rose went back to Mel’s workstation and retrieved her mum’s ID badge from her handbag. She handed it to Kate and then folded her arms across her chest. 

“Ah” said Kate handing the badge back to Rose “If you were anybody else, I would have you arrested”

“But that’s the thing” implored Rose a bit more loudly than she had intended. She motioned towards the workstations “this isn’t new to me. Why can’t I have security clearance”

“You’re sixteen” said Kate kindly

“But like I said, I’ve dealt with things some of these people haven’t. How about if I volunteer?”

“I’m really sorry” Kate put her hand onto Rose’s shoulder “I just can’t”

Rose brusquely shrugged off Kate’s hand “Okay” and went over to Mel’s workstation to retrieve her bag

“What’s going on?” enquired Mel over the sound of her mobile ringtone

“Nothing” murmured Rose, not looking her in the eye. Then she marched past Kate, who tried to touch her arm, and out of the Bridge.  

“Please mind the gap between the train and the platform. This is a Central Line service to Ealing Broadway. The next station is Holborn”

The doors of the carriage soon slid shut and the tube jolted forward, but despite this, Rose continued to stare into the middle distance.

It was just one more stop until she needed to change for the Piccadilly Line and then a short journey to Leicester Square where she would need to change for the Northern Line to get to Camden. She could of course gone straight from Moorgate to Camden instead of this convoluted route from Liverpool Street, but that would mean passing through King’s Cross and she absolutely didn’t want to be reminded of anything to do with her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw the man who had just got on reading the Daily Mail. Biting her lip, she shifted her body away from him.

She got the Underground map up on her phone and traced her journey from Holborn to Leicester Square. Her eyes then followed the dark blue line back up to Holborn and then onto Russell Square. She tapped the screen a few times thoughtfully.

When the tube came to a stop, Rose got off and then started the long walk down the curved tunnel until she got to the Piccadilly Line section. Then instead of going down to the southbound side, she took the right side of the junction that eventually led her to a northbound train.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose emerged from Russel Square station and went down Marchmont Street until she was nearly at its end. There stood the white store front of Gay’s the Word, the oldest queer bookshop in the UK.

As she approached, she had a moment of doubt. Going here did have the feel of postponing the inevitable explanation she would have to give her mum. But then again, her mum wouldn’t be home for a good while yet. And if she did go home now all she would do is just wait for her to get back. At least here she would be doing something. Plus, she needed something to lift her spirts up and being here never failed in that regard.

With that decided, Rose surveyed the window display and saw some books that she had read like The Transgender Agenda, Pageboy and One Last Stop. Then her eyes lit up as she saw they had Rebel Robin back in stock; She had been looking for that everywhere. 

A bell dinged as Rose pushed open the door to the shop. The person sitting at the counter pricing a stack of books looked up from their task and waved at her

“Hi” she replied waving back

The shop always had a quiet peacefulness about it and today was no different even with several other customers present

Passing a hanging Progress Flag and a noticeboard which included posters for PrEP and an upcoming poetry evening, she got to the fiction section and went straight to ‘C’ to find A. R. Capetta. A few second later she had a copy of Rebel Robin clasped in her hands.

Later she was reading a synopsis that finished ‘discover that true love isn’t limited to romance’. Maybe next time she thought as she squeezed the book back onto the shelf with the rest of the ‘O’ authors.

She had moved onto perusing the nonfiction section when the bright pink spine of To My Trans Sisters instantly caught her eye. She reached out towards the book, but just as her hand was inches away, it collided with the outstretched hand of another woman.

“Sorry” Rose said, her hand recoiling

The woman waved Rose’s apology away “No, no, my bad”. She motioned towards the shelf “you first” 

But instead, Rose complimented the woman on her outfit especially her leather jacket.

“Ah thanks babe” the woman replied “it’s Versace, but” and here she leaned in closer conspiratorially “I found it in a charity shop for a tenner, just don’t tell anybody”

Rose laughed “Don’t worry, your secrets safe with me. I’m Rose by the way”

“Nice to meet you Rose, I’m Cleo. So are you a student or…?”

“Kinda, I’m still at school”

“Ah you’re playing truant” Cleo waved her left hand into the air and clicked her fingers “Yes, girl. I totally understand, school was absolute hell”

“Is it truanting though if you’re pre-emptively walking out before being suspended?”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I got into an altercation with another girl. She pushed me and I went to punch her but guess who the teacher saw?”

“Damn, I’m sorry” said Cleo, her face full of concern as she placed her hand onto Rose’s arms

“I mean, that’s being trans all over isn’t it? Rose sniffed, determined not cry especially in front of someone she didn’t know, albeit an extremely friendly someone “the moment, the one moment, you defend yourself against all the crap that gets thrown at you, you forfeit society’s so called tolerance”

“Exactly, we’re never allowed to be angry, properly angry, even though we’ve got lots to be angry about”

“I’m exhausted being this angry though” Rose paused and briefly looked wistful “You know, I thought coming out would be the hardest part, but it’s what comes after. It’s hardened me. Years ago I would have said that violence was always wrong. But now…” Rose’s voice dropped slightly, almost as if she didn’t want to admit truly admit what she was about to say “punching her would have felt so very good –”

“For sure”

“But…but going to punch her is all evidence they needed that I’m, we’re, the dangerous ones” Rose put her hands on her temple and groaned

“But remember you we’re provoked”

“I know, it’s just…”

“Yeah” Cleo agreed simply

Rose groaned again “Sorry, I didn’t mean to vent like that”

“Don’t worry about it” Cleo said as she once again put a comforting hand on Rose’s shoulder “I know the feeling of how it is to speak to someone who gets it”

Rose nodded

“I know what you need” Cleo continued “a coffee…oh…do you drink coffee? Tea, you need tea. Maybe a slice of cake? I know somewhere really good around the corner, yeah?”

Rose nodded again “Just let me pay for this” she said holding up her copy of Rebel Robin.

They started to walk towards the counter and just before they passed the shelf that divided the back from the front of the store, Rose realised that all the other customer had already left.

“What the hell” exclaimed Cleo 

Rose stopped dead in her tracks. She could literally feel her blood run cold. Instead of the kind person sitting behind the counter, there with its wings outstretched and it’s face covered was a Weeping Angel. 

“Don’t blink” she yelled as she kept her eyes locked on the Angel

Cleo turned around to face Rose “Why?”

“I think that’s a Weeping Angel, at least I think so based on the Doctor description”

“Wait, you know the Doctor?” asked Cleo disbelievingly 

“You know the Doctor?” exclaimed Rose, her astonishment causing her to momentarily lose focus. Her eyes snapped back to the Angel but now it was no longer at the counter. Instead it was just an arms-length away from Rose’s right side with its face frozen in a scream. Automatically, as if to correct her mistake, Rose turned and stood square to the Angel.

“Wow, how did it do that?” shouted Cleo as she took a step back

 “They are quantum-locked” Rose replied

“What in the hell does that mean?” asked Cleo, her voice noticeably higher

“We’ve got to keep calm” said Rose soothingly, ironic given the fact that she was internally freaking out herself. Addressing the Angel she said, a lot more confidently than she actually felt, “So…so that’s really bad luck, mate. What are the chances, eh, I mean, not just one but two people who know about aliens and shit”

“Or maybe it’s not a coincidence” Cleo pipped up

Rose wanted to say ‘thank you’ but thought better of it. Gosh her eyes were starting to sting. “What we need is help” she started to explain. She tried to turn slightly to her left but could only manage a few degrees before she would lose eye contact with the Angel. Annoyingly this meant that she had to contend with the Angles outreached wing that divided her from Cleo. “I can’t get to my phone in my bag without looking away” she continued “but if I throw it to you, you can call Mel, she works at UNIT and will be able to help”

“Great, yeah ask the person who can’t catch why don’t you”

“Well, at least I throw like a girl” Rose slipped the bag of her shoulder and took a deep breath. For the first time, she was glad for those PE lessons; finally a use for learning how to do a rugby throw in. “Right here goes nothing”

The bag sailed over the Angel’s wing and then over Cleo. Cleo turned to grab it, but it fell though her arms. Despite herself, Rose winced. Instantly she looked back towards Angel but it was now exactly where Cleo had been standing.

Oh shit! Rose started to walk backwards; hadn’t she seen a door to the stockroom at the back of the shop? But as soon as the this plan formed it was shot down by the realisation that she would have to turn around to use the door handle.

Her eyes were now screaming in pain. How long could a person go without blinking she wondered? Why did this have to happen on a day she had been crying? But then again there hadn’t been that many days recently where that she hadn’t been crying to be honest. God knows what her emotions were going to be like once she got onto…

If she was going to go down, she wasn’t going down without a fight, even if the only weapon she had was her words. “This must be so difficult for you” she said, taunting the Angel. “wanting to feast but having to wait. How does it feel to be that powerless?”

She could feel her eyelids trembling as her eyelids got closer and closer. The Angel was getting more and more blurry. She knew she couldn’t hold on any longer. But her overwhelming thought was about wanting her mum.

“Go, go, go!” a voice yelled

Rose heard the breaking of wood behind her and then a second later felt someone or lots of someone rush past her. Something then rolled across the floor and emitted a few bleeps. Through her blurred vision, Rose could see an extremely bright light, brighter than any light source she had every encountered before. She wanted to cover her face but didn’t dare move.

“Angel neutralised, ma’am” said the same voice

Rose felt an arm go around her shoulders

“It’s okay, your safe now” reassured Mel

As she collapsed into Mel’s arms, blinking rapidly, Rose felt like she had just swam the Channel; totally exhausted but also full of pure relief. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God” she repeated.

She watched as Kate strode over to where a grenade shaped object was shooting a beam of opaque light right at the centre of the Angel’s chest causing it to shimmer

“How’s the Quantum Beam holding up, Captain Gethin” she asked one of the soldiers who was part of a triangle formation around the Angel

“All good ma’am” he replied

Kate nodded “I want this taken to the Black Archives immediately”

“Yes ma’am” the soldiers chorused  

As Captain Gethin began to radio for equipment Kate turned her back on the soldiers, and faced Rose and Mel. “And, Sergeant Burns” she said to another solider “can you get Miss Nobel a very strong cup of tea”  

Rose, with her head resting now on Mel’s shoulder, asked “How did you know?”

“I can answer that” said a familiar voice behind her

Rose whipped around to see Cleo leaning against a shelf of bisexual nonfiction. She ran across the shop and threw her hands around Cleo in a huge hug. “h…h…how?” she exclaimed

“Well” Cleo began

“I’m really sorry” Kate put her hand onto Rose’s shoulder “I just can’t”

Rose brusquely shrugged off Kate’s hand “Okay” and went over to Mel’s workstation to retrieved her bag

“What’s going on?” enquired Mel over the sound of her mobile ringtone

“Nothing” murmured Rose, not looking her in the eye. Then she marched past Kate, who tried to touch her arm.

Mel shot Kate an enquiring look but knew from Kate’s expression not to pursue the matter. She leaned over to get her mobile and frowned as the screen was saying that it was Rose was calling her. But that couldn’t be, she could see Rose storming out of the Bridge.

Not knowing what to expect, she accepted the call. “Hello?” she said hesitantly

“You don’t know me, but my name’s Cleo Proctor and I need your help; Rose is in danger”

Rose’s eyes had widened as Cleo relayed this “Wow, what a stroke of luck only being sent back a few hours to the Royal Hope hospital of all places”

“I’m afraid that it wasn’t luck” said Kate “All UNIT badges are equipped with technology that means if someone is inadvertently or deliberately thrown back in time, they only go back a maximum of five hours and to nearby hospital, just in case they’re injured”

“It is good though that you chucked me your bag instead of just your phone” added Cleo “otherwise I would have been a goner”

Later, when Rose’s storiform cup only had the dregs of her tea remaining, her and Cleo walked out of the shop and down Marchmont Street. Cleo had offered to walk Rose home and she was prepared not to take no for an answer, but Rose leapt at having her by her side.

They had got a meter down the street when Rose was struck by an idea

“Wait a second” she told Cleo and ran back to the outside of the shop where Kate was on her mobile

“Okay, keep an eye on it and I’ll be back at HQ soon” Kate said before ending the call “yeah, Rose?”

“I was just wondering, the person working here taken by the Angel, what are you going to tell their loved ones, I mean they’re going to want to see the body, aren’t they?”

Kate looked thoughtfully at Rose “We going to say the body has already been cremated, an unfortunate administrative mix up, won’t happen again, that sort of thing”

“Uh…okay” 

“We have tried other ways, but this is the one that works the best” A few seconds of silence passed before Kate prompted “So…was that all?”

“Um…no” Rose replied hesitantly “So…like this is the second alien I’ve dealt with and if I say so myself, I think I dealt with it remarkably calmly whilst displaying good leadership skills as well as initiative so –”

“So you were wondering if this would mean you could have a job with UNIT?” Kate put her hands into her beige trench coat and after a long pause said “I’ll see what I can do, might have to be voluntary to begin with, but we’ll see”

Rose clapped her hands together “Great, thanks” She motioned to toward Cleo “I have to…”

“Yeah sure, I’ll let you know soon”

“Great” Rose repeated before going back to Cleo

“Everything sorted?” Cleo asked as they started to walk towards Russell Square tube station 

“Yeah” replied Rose “I was just asking Kate if I needed to sign the Official Secrets Act again. What about you, when are you signing it?”

“Kate’s going to contact me later on in the week” Cleo replied and then with a more tongue-in-cheek tone added “I’m really annoyed about it though; after all, I was only helping you as it would have been great for the podcast”

Rose laughed. It was a wonderful thing –  to laugh – Rose realised; it made her feel so glad to be alive. 

[inversionimpulse]

so a propos of absolutely nothing, I was thinking about Doctor Who.

Turn Left, specifically.

"'Labor camps'... that's what they called them last time. It's happening again," even more specifically.

As far as I've seen, most people online connected that to the nazis and the holocaust. But my family has a history with labor camps, and that's not what I heard in that scene.

I heard echoes of "No Japs from the Rockies to the seas."

During WW2, here in Canada where I write from, 850 German-Canadians, 700 Italian-Canadians, and 22000 Japanese Canadians were forced out of their homes and into labor camps, sometimes straight into POW camps and frequently separated from their families, by our government. People were made to live in literal stables and barns, or else build their own homes from nearly nothing. They were forced to do back-breaking work for below-subsistence money - and they did indeed have to pay for the privilege of being treated like animals. The government "took temporary custody" of every single thing the Japanese prisoners owned and sold them for fractions of their material value, never mind sentimental value. When it was all over, they were tossed out the other side of the affair with not a single thing to their names but the trauma and, for the Japanese, eviction from the west coast where most of them lived - for some, from the country entirely.

This was neither the start nor the end of the persecution of German, Italian, and Japanese Canadians.

"The Italian South Peasant is not the type we are looking for in Canada."

"Take them back to Japan. They do not belong here, and here, and there is only one solution to the problem."

My grandmother and grandfather, second-generation Japanese immigrants, survived those camps. My family still suffers the repercussions as generational trauma.

I don't know if there was anything similar in Britain. I'd assume so, but I'm not going to check because I'm only partly talking about if this is a supportable interpretation of the writing, I'm mostly talking about how it resonated with me. (but I don't think the victims in the show being an Italian family was a coincidence)

It is certainly worse to be a nazi than the people behind the internment for whom there isn't a catchy name. I'm not about to say that the suffering my family and all those other Japanese, German, and Italian families were put through compares in any way to the suffering of Jewish families in nazi territory. But the meaning behind Wilf's horror takes a very different edge depending on who you see behind it. And I personally think that "We're becoming like Them, we're being corrupted" is a much weaker horror than "We're still like Us, we haven't learned better at all" In fact when contrasted like that, the former looks almost like the fear of being infected by the Other that caused the internment camps to begin with.

The latter, on the other hand, forces us to contend with the fact that there is no Them. We, all we humans, are Us. The existence of Them is mere illusion, and fear of it makes us commit a grand and abstract sort of suicide.

It's a message that Doctor Who frequently tries to convey and sometimes bungles. In fact it is a message that so many different things try to convey so frequently that it has become a little bit trite. But it's a message to be proud of, especially when you can deliver it so viciously and powerfully.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

@cosmicallyavg okay sorry if you didnt want me to respond but the autism won today and i thought abt nothing but this for like 3 hours so

i think the doctor knows yaz has done/will do the same morally questionable things as her if it becomes necessary? because for her to be self aware about herself, and then also aware of yaz becoming her in a way. she has to assume that its a possibility. and asking her to hold the master at gunpoint is her testing that theory i think. because yaz very well could have straight up not done it but in the end, shes her equal, she admires her (and wants to impress her lets be real), and she has a duty of care. she knows/assumes how dangerous the master is and doesnt want anything to happen to Her doctor if she can help it. theres no use being squeamish weve got the doctor to save.

i hadnt thought of that angle but the doctor consciously sort of testing how much yaz will indeed do exactly as she herself would, and guessing right on that front is so interesting. i was reading 13s comics yesterday and she did it multiple times there too, like delegating to yaz for llittle minidoctor tasks like occupying herself with a victim like she does in witchfinders with willa too, and like just literally going "yaz, go play police at those aliens" (i said "be police" first but 1 no jurisdiction, and 2 for the doctor 'be' and 'play' are the same thing)

and when she gets yaz that gun, it's so interesting bc to me at least it feels like simultaneously theres the power dynamic of doctor-companion where yaz is definitely a step lower like shes not in charge here (compared to later with vinder) but what the doctor uses that power she has to do is to like place some of it in yaz if that makes sense? she's using yaz as a proxy of herself, which sounds bad but i think thats what shes doing?

like guns for the doctor are this visual sign that theyre going against their own principles right? it's not really the violence of guns that the doctor protests bc theyre plenty violent, but it's a visual representation of their principles right? we see this with 10 when he wont take wilfs gun against the master but when he hears timelords are coming he does. 13 being willing to use a gun on the master means shes willing to break her own rules to deal with him (which the doctor always kinda is with them thats part of the problem but i dont think it's in the "i forgive you one more time even though i shouldnt way" this time)

but also! she doesnt touch the gun herself. she orders a soldier thats at her command (actively breaking her own rules) to give it to yaz. ace talks abt this i believe in at childhoods end, to yaz. that like, the doctor is not opposed to violence but they will keep their own hands clean if they can. as opposed to 10 who picked up the gun himself, 13 lets yaz do it. and then later, bc of course the doctor cant shoot people, yaz lets vinder be the one to actually shoot the master. 

so 13 is outsourcing her principle breaking wrt the master to yaz, but i think shes aware of it. it's not like letting yaz handle the gun is eschewing her own responsibility, i think she doubles her feeling of responsibility, bc not only is she breaking her own rules, shes making yaz break them too (clara voice: and now youve made me lie! youve made me your accomplice!) which is why it feels so simultaneously like equal and unequal, yaz is both doctor and companion in potd.

(short detour abt what you said abt "theres no use being squeamish weve got the doctor to save" like yeah thats exactly it. i wrote a fic where yaz shoots the master and the doctor is like Why The Fuck Did You Do That bc while she expected yaz to take the gun (bc she would), she didnt expect her to shoot (bc she wouldnt), but that then maybe reveals a sort of distorted image she has of both herself and yaz. bc yaz did shoot, which means the doctor would shoot even if shes so dedicated to the image of herself as The Doctor that she might not realise that she would. and it reveals an underestimation of yazs feelings for her, and her sense of duty, and how far she will go, has gone, to try and save the doctor. the master is a threat, so she shoots (im thinking again of clara and 8x12 where 12 literally offers to shoot missy to protect clara('s immortal soul))

and abt that equality, like, there was this photoset i saw last week of bts stuff from s11 i think? chibnall talking abt the first meeting in the train. which was basically just like that post i made ythat you linked except chibnall was talking abt it from 13s perspective, which i hadnt considered dkdjdjdh

i saw your tags when you reblogged that post and i thought abt them for a bit but didnt respond bc i dont think i entirely agree? theres a definite, like, respect and i think recognition on the doctors side of things when they first meet and she does the thing i wrote abt in that post where she like listens to yaz and then presents her own plan and this first listening to yaz probably fixed a problem they might have had if she had just forcefully tried to push yaz out of the authority position she was in there as a police among civilians, where yaz might have fought for the leadership position the entire rest of the night and maybe rest of their time together (not that thats not also a fun version of events to think about) 

anyway to get back to the point, yes theres that respect, and the doctor uses yaz for her skills since the beginnig, but i dont really agree that it's equal necessarily. the power difference is too big and too easily leveraged by 13 for me to call it equal

when it comes to doctor-companion power dynamics the first thing i always think about is the tardis, because it's this really concrete and undeniable representation of that power right? you need this ship and you need this pilot or you are most likely never going home again. thats just like a fact at the foundation of most doctor-companion relationships (excluding companions who have their own means of transport or could fly the tardis maybe like river or romana). im not saying thats on purpose or the doctor likes it, im just saying when youre stranded on an alien planet and theres one person who is capable of making sure you dont die, doug eiffel voice: really really far away from home, then youre not gonna do anything that person doesnt want you to do. or at least youre gonna be hesitant to

so following the big bluish money (tardis), i think the real equality between them finally only really arrives

here. in their last scene together. where the doctor can say "you know what this means right?" bc yaz already does despite still not being told anything, and yaz can say "lets not say goodbye" bc the doctor is not good at goodbyes and the doctor is both of them

thats what really appeals to me abt writing them post-potd everybody lives happily ever after au, this partnership that we only ever got to see glimpses of. in a version of events where 13 lived after this, we could see what that partnership really would have looked like