#clara is the doctors true love

[sometimesraven]

The way people are STILL going off at Moffat for allegedly making The Doctor the “biggest baddest most powerful space god” or some shit

As if Moffat wasn’t “I really am just a madman with a box”

As if Moffat wasn’t “I’m not a good man and I’m not a bad man either, I’m an idiot”

As if Moffat didn’t spend an entire episode dedicated to how the Doctor is still just a scared neglected child at heart

As if RTD didn’t LITERALLY DO SPACE JESUS AND TIME LORD VICTORIOUS

[seaweedstarshine]

Thinking about the convolution of Eleventh Doctor's expressions of love for River Song in Season 7B. He does not trust Clara. He is utterly (wrongly) convinced that he and Clara are playing a grand manipulative game together. “What are you, eh?! A trick? A trap?!!”

So naturally, the last thing he should do in this game is to clue his opponent in on something that could be used to hurt him. Something like River, so painfully near the end of their time together, whose data ghost he can always see, who “it would hurt too much” to acknowledge. He can't let Clara know of the loss which constantly floods his senses; (“You are always here to me. And I always listen, and I can always see you,” he professes, once Clara has vanished into his timestream).

And yet. River fills his every moment (irregardless of any sneaking out for dates with increasingly-young Rivers while Clara is asleep like he did while the Ponds slept, which would explain his absence when the TARDIS is hiding Clara's bedroom). Even though it's not strategic, he can’t help but tell Clara about her. The best defense he can manage is to phrase it as if River isn’t as important to him as she is. Not only is avoiding her first name in his grief; he's also completely avoiding pronouns; which seems extreme given that he's still mentioning her as often as: “Oh yeah, of course he has! Professor Song! Sorry, it's just I never realized you were a woman.”

Leave out the emotion — leave out the details — don't show the cracks in the armor — play the part — win the game.

“Well, there's no point now. We're about to die. JUST TELL ME WHO YOU ARE.”

[thetorturedlovergirl]

What would you do if I pull up in this beauty? 😍

[nosferatufaggot]

SORRY WILL NEVER GET OVER IT!

"Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?"

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jupiter049]

I think that Clara being the impossible girl would have been way better if the twist was that the real reason she appears at multiple points in history is.... That there isn't one. There isn't an explanation as to why she appears at multiple points in time and there might not even be a real reason as to why.

This feels like a perfect conflict for The Doctor. He is obsessed with knowledge. He knows everything, and when he doesn't he wants to know it (for example: Midnight). He loves freedom and liberty but he enjoys it in a way that is logical and that he can understand. The 10th Doctor himself said in The Runaway Bride that the great thing about humanity is that it's able to make sense out of chaos.

But then comes Clara. A girl with literally no logical explanation for her existence but who still somehow exists. She is chaos, and one that The Doctor can't make sense of.

Imo it's not only a more powerful execution of The Doctor's arc of accepting who Clara is and that he can trust her, but it also ties very well with the storyline in series 7 about how The Doctor's real name doesn't matter and what matters the most is that he is The Doctor, no matter what. The Smith era straight up concludes with Clara telling the Time Lords that it matters more that they love who The Doctor is than what his name is, which would make their arcs parallel in a very organic and effective way.

At the same time, I'm not too angry as I can't deny the inherent coolness of the canon explanation. Clara pulling a W.D Gaster and living millions of lifes across all of time and space to fight The Great Intelligence and save The Doctor is just such an exciting, fun, and compelling concept that probably should have been explored more than for 5 minutes.

[oceanwithinsblog]

so here i am again ... just caught up with the last two episodes of season 7b ... and i feel like banging my head on a wall :)) what's new :))

[confusedbeannn]

I find the idea of love so heavenly beautiful that I can't put it into words. To have loved someone to your own ruin, to have been loved more than all the joy and riches and experiences this world could have provided. To love and be loved with no conditions, no ifs and buts. To put someone before you and to be put before everything else. It sounds like possibly the best thing life can offer.

But at the same time, I can't comprehend it.

That unconditional eternal love.

I can't comprehend the possibility of it existing. I can't comprehend loving like that. Being loved like that.

[hellosweetie99]

Is there anyone who ships Bill and Clara? Am I the only one??

[gnougnouss]

People who can't accept that characters (or like. Other people really lmao) can be in love with multiple people, sometimes at the same time, have a really hard time with doctor who.

[nehswritesstuffs]

The Time That We Love Best - RECAP - PART 1 OF 13

So, you know how tumblr's dashboard has been made jankier and jankier with each passing update? I'm taking it into my own hands to make some masterposts of some of my long-form fics because even though they have a side-page on my blog, I don't know how long that will hold out, and this is easier to share anyhow.

The Time That We Love Best - 206k words - a slice-of life/WWII/1950s Whouffaldi AU

Broken into thirteen parts because tumblr is a very webbed site.

[Part 1] - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10

Prompt Fills: Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13

1. January 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

Clydebank, Scotland, 1940. John Smith is just trying to get through the war while making himself useful, trading in his paintbrushes for a rivet gun. After a bad day at work, he meets a young English girl at the pub who reads him a bit too well and lingers on his mind a bit too much.

2. Two Weeks Later [FFN]/[AO3]

Two weeks later, a second meeting leads to a second date for John Smith and Clara Oswald. Forward is as forward does and sometimes being forward leads to some funny things.

3. Early February 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

Clara Oswald faces a long and lonely night keeping watch over students. But John Smith gives her an offer for some companionship.

4. 11 February 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

John and Clara head into Glasgow for a day-long excursion. It’s a lovely day with some unexpected events, including one that John wasn’t ready for when he woke up that morning.

5. Late February 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

Clara’s faced with another long night watching over her students…which would’ve gone a lot smoother had John not shown up to demonstrate his sewing skills.

6. March 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

Clara finds herself with no students to watch for the first time in months and decides to use the free time to surprise John with a proper supper for once.

7. Early April 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

Movie night with the students of Miss Oswald, questions from curious children, and a few innocent words that make John consider his future.

8. Mid-April 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

John and Clara have a chat about war, risks, and on-hold plans.

9. 16 April 1940 [FFN]/[AO3]

After helping a coworker through a bad day, John decides he and Clara need another bus ride into Glasgow.

10. The Next Day [FFN]/[AO3]

John and Clara Smith have no regrets, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else is happy to hear that.

CONTINUED IN PART 2!

[theeastgable]

.

[oflgtfol]

it kills me that the patho protags are so young like artemy and daniil are in their twenties. and then i see tumblr posts calling them middle aged men. like i understand where you’re coming from but they are not even 30 years old

[dontbelasagne]

desperately need to do a presentation on why the Twelfth Doctors journey perfectly represents the transfem experience

their previous eleventh incarnation being suave and hypersexual (i know moffat is mostly to blame but!) is reminiscent of attempts to fit into heteronormative ideals of masculinity. whilst it is not completely insincere, there are obvious signs this does not fit you as a person, it is acted out of desperate need to being seen. as Vastra put it, eleven wore that face, and subsequently that form of masculinity, to be accepted. on becoming twelve, realising even an "idealised" masculinity does not inherently serve them, they retreated into themselves as a person for self-reflection and trying to understand why they feel so detached from who they are.

the "am i a good man" arc mirrors being closeted and having to present as something not inherently tied to your sense of self, but still wanting to be the best of your perceived gender as any failure could leave you spiralling into self-doubt about simply being like any other "man". you ignore your gender dysphoria/questioning by trying to claim a moralistic view of gendered expression. made even more clear by Twelve rejecting Clara's heroic view of them, establishing that even though they have made efforts to be a "good man", that is just a placeholder for their loss of identity.

Missy appearing as she does, who as a character serves as a parallel to The Doctor on what they could become, and her eventual arc in trying to become good is symbolic of the fear around transition regret that internalised transphobia can create when you are closeted. Missy never gives importance to their fem existence other than nonchalant jokes, rather showing a more free and expressive personality devoid of any frustration. this immediately dismisses the transphobic assumption that trans people are only focused on their gender. also, Missy representing trans femininity is inherently tied to chaos and upsetting the status quo, she is the embodiment of what society considers accepting your womanhood as someone previously labelled masculine. what many others, and The Doctor themselves, saw as a need for attention and senseless disruption is Missy not needing to serve a false version of who they are, that they can now focus on becoming whoever they want to be now without losing energy to performing a gender that society has imposed on you. Missy could never have made the decision to stand with The Doctor if she had not given importance to her own queerness.

it wasn't coincidence with meeting Bill, she was the perfect foil for The Doctor to finally let go of their anxious attachment to masculinity. i would even argue for the majority of s10, The Doctor is largely ambiguous in their gender identity and does not fit into any construction of masculinity or femininity. whilst they still present as something socially labelled as masculine, they do not internalise that gender expression. they are uncaring about and not needing the validity that comes with heteronormativity, and thus is free to finally accept the decision they have to make. as Bill says, it is so hard to let go of The Doctor, and that rings true for twelve themselves. but they begin to realise The Doctor can be anyone. yes, they are tired, it would be so easy to simply rest and not give value to who you can become. but choosing to let go of everything you once were to survive is better than oblivion. it is better to let go, to choose another lifetime where the only person that dies is your falsity, to finally get it right and choose kindness. for yourself and for those who you love. they regenerate, not just into another person, but into someone who (if only tv scripts...) can now move forward.

[robiniswriting]

rose and clara’s downfalls are the same — they thought they could stay with the doctor forever, that they could BE the doctor. the two of them fall in love with the doctor’s youthful facade. with rose, he leaned in to the illusion, even regenerating into a version of himself he designed for her, while with clara, he tried not to repeat that mistake — instead, he regenerates into a more honest version of himself, and clara reacts the same way I imagine rose would. she is shocked and unnerved, trying to connect the version of him she knew to the one standing in front of her now.

and then the doctor clearly tells her that he isn’t her boyfriend. but also that it wasn’t her mistake. he fell in love, and wanted desperately for her to be his equal, but he couldn’t lie to himself. he couldn’t repeat the mistakes he made with rose. he couldn’t continue to deny the truth of who he was — to deny that in any relationship with a human, no matter how kind and intelligent and wise, there is an insurmountable power differential between them.

the doctor is so much older than them both. so much vaster. both clara and rose make the same mistake. had the doctor been honest with rose, I wouldn’t be surprised if her story went very similarly to clara’s — after all, there’s no way in hell she would have ever left the doctor’s side willingly. like clara, she would have been shocked, but she would have stuck by him, and yet eventually, trying to be his equal would get her lost or killed, just as it did to her originally. just as it did to clara.

they are so similar, these women who love the doctor. and there is no denying that the doctor loves them back. but too often people ignore the power dynamics of those relationships, pretend like rose and/or clara were the doctor’s true equals. those people are missing the point of their endings, missing the fact that in the end, while rose tyler and clara oswald were brilliant, they shared the same flaw — they were human, and the doctor was not. is not. he couldn’t be, no matter how hard he tried.

[makeithappenandreal]

If Donna stayed the Doctor's companion Part 2:

12th Doctor: *trying his best act* Look, Donna, So I am with monks now, I don't care about the Earth or your people...

Donna: You know I can tell the type of breakfast you had today from looking into your eyes at this point , right?

Donna: So wrap your acting up, we have an afternoon tea arranged at Jupiter after we get this monks out of the Planet.

12th Doctor: Can't you just play along for once...

-

12th Doctor: I can't tell Donna that I am blind! She will fuss over me!

Nardole: You need to tell her! How can you hide it?

12th Doctor: Trust me, she will not notice one single thing.

Donna: *the second she walks into TARDIS* You are still blind, aren't you?

12th Doctor: Oh for Time's sake...

_

11th Doctor: So, River is Amy and Rory's daughter and she is also my wife as well... Does that mean Amy is my in law?!

Donna: She can berate you Like a child at any time. Living my dream for real

_

Donna: ...

12th Doctor: Not another word-

Donna: WORLD PRESIDENT LOL *bursts out laughing while pointing at him*

Donna: UPGRADE FROM TIME LORD VICTORIOUS THO

12th Doctor: Oh hell.. *puts his head on his hands*

_

_

War Doctor: We are surrounded by knights, we need to do something to escape!

11th Doctor: Oh there is no need to espace. Watch. Donna?

Donna, from the portal: YOU STUPID SPACEBOY WHERE IN THE EARTH ARE YOU AND I AM COMING THERE TO KICK YOUR IDIOT ASS TO SPACE

Knights: *run away in true terror*

10th Doctor: It's like we never left...

_

12th Doctor: *after turning up on the coffee shop Donna's relaxing* So, remember Davros?

Donna: ... Of course I do.

12th Doctor: *laughing nervously while thinking how he fucked up* So Guess what...

_

10th Doctor: *getting married to Queen Elizabeth*

Donna and 11th whispering aggressively behind* : - I cannot believe you did not mention you were married to QUEEN ELIZABETH! -.OBVIOUSLY i diDN'T KNOW!-

_

12th Doctor: So this is Gallifrey!

Donna: I thought it was Space Eden or something from the way you described it, this is just red sand. Like literal Azirona has more eccentric places than here.

12th Doctor: ...i sincerely want to believe I will be able to impress you one day because this is killing me.

_

Donna: So...

12th Doctor: ...

Donna: Why did you kidnap the president's wife?

12th Doctor: Oh, Heaven, you had a conversation with Missy, didn't you?

Donna: I literally have enough material in my hand to embarrase you for at least one regeneration, yeah.

Missy: She is my favorite.

_

13th Doctor: *steals Donna's coats every once in a while and does not give the clothes back*

Donna: *rants to her about that but secretly loves it*

_

12th Doctor: Clara, please be rational and give the TARDIS keys to me.

Donna: *whispers to Doctor* Not to interrupt an emotional moment but she does know you can just snap your fingers and get into TARDIS doesn't she?

12th Doctor: *shakes his head slightly*

Donna: Also that I have an extra key...

Donna: In fact I have a bowl of them because you like the noise the keys make when you drop it in there

Donna: But I guess this is what we are doing because you like to see people in angst. Okay.

[dashedwithromance]

sorry going fuck wild about 15 referencing ‘a sad old man once told me, what survives of us is love’ quoting philip larkin’s ‘an arundel tomb’ but the whole quote is “… to prove / our almost-instinct almost true / what will survive of us is love”… our almost but not quite true instinct is that love survives us all - we don’t know what survives us, and we will never know what survives us. a stone effigy can never be fully accurate to the love that may or may not have proceeded it, or so the poem says

but of course, this is doctor who - love is what survives us all. of course, he’s a sad old man (aren’t they both?) and we know, and the doctor knows, that love does survive us all… dad to dad, dust to dust…. clara’s half a heartbeat… burning up a sun just to say goodbye… in the doctor’s experience, of course it’s true - what survives of him is love, every single time