#food culture on gallifrey

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

I’ve had the headcanon that Gallifreyan dishes often include root vegetables for months now and didn’t actually have any reasoning behind it until this morning when it just got me that oh gallifrey is cold that’s why

[radio-ghost-cooks]

the Hole's ideas abt Gallifrey/Gallifreyan

spoken Gallifreyan sounds like song

there's some telepathic layer to it that humans/non-telepathic races can't pick up

in a brighter timeline the Master sings their childhood lullabies to the Doctor to help her sleep

the telepathic element makes it capable of soothing or causing physical harm

the Doctor's brain is so quiet now that Gallifrey is gone

not only are the Time Lords and Gallifreyans gone but so too is their culture

the Doctor scouring the TARDIS for the remaining seeds and saplings of her home, now endangered like she is

in one version of things the Doctor is a horrible gardener, in the other she's fantastic

either way the Master is the best with them

she saves the plants for when she gets the Master back (she never does)

the Master hates human Christmas because it can never go back to Gallifrey and enjoy the foods it loved as a child alongside its family. the Time War took that away.

the Theta Sigma used to bake Koschei a cake each year and now that Gallifrey is gone, the Master wakes up to a cake every year and it's not as pink as it was before and there are substitutions in the flour and it's not the same frosting as the kind from Low Town but it still tastes exactly the same

Gallifrey doesn't die with the Doctor, it dies with the Master.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

What native Gallifreyan species are there?

Gallifrey has a diverse range of fauna, both native and introduced. Despite claims of minimal ecological impact, the installation of the Eye of Harmony and millions of years of Time Lord civilisation have significantly altered Gallifrey's original biosphere.

🦋 Invertebrates

Beatitude Flies: Begin as maggots and pupate into golden-winged nocturnal insects. They use nectar to create helium in their bellies and are attracted to light and decay.

Butterflies: Various species flutter across Gallifrey.

Bees: Essential for pollination.

Gullet Grubs: Likely to live in digestive tracts of larger mammals, or similar environments.

Blossom Thieves: Possibly insects that steal nectar or pollen.

Scrubblers: Likely small, cleaning insects.

Neversuch Beetles, Sandbeetles, Waspbeetles: Various beetles.

Dustworms: Likely live in dry, dusty environments.

Scissors Bugs: Possibly predatory insects with sharp mandibles.

Flutterwings: Gigantic insects (3 meters by 25 meters) that never land. Five races include Wild Endeavor, Mandrigal, Silver-Band, Blue Crystal, and Perdition.

Snails

Water-Sligs: Likely aquatic or semi-aquatic molluscs.

Web-Spinning Insects: Including spiders about an inch long.

Other dangerous invertebrates: There are also nasty creatures that live beneath big stones.

🐟 Marine Life

Singing Yaddlefish: Notable for their song, and they can be eaten.

Kittensharks: Hatch from eggs and presumably grow into Catsharks.

Axolotl Salamanders: Amphibious creatures with regenerative abilities.

🐍 Elapids

Taipan: A venomous snake, 10 metres long.

Venal Snakes: Possibly nest-stealers or highly venomous.

Bat-Snakes: Presumably flying snakes.

Dinosauria: 20-meter-long reptiles resembling brontosaurs with thick chitinous scales and serrated teeth.

🦅 Avians

Owls: Symbol of Rassilon.

Flurry Birds: Likely small, fast-moving birds.

Trunkikes: Game birds whose eggs are often eaten.

Air Diamonds: Fly in the upper atmosphere, possibly crystalline or bioluminescent.

Song Birds: Various species.

Gargantosaurs: Dinosaur-like creatures, twice the size of a hab-bloc, with two legs, vestigial wings (with purple and white feathers), and four eyes.

🦣 Mammals

Plungbolls: Thumbnail-sized furry creatures living in mountains, attach en masse to warm objects.

Taffelshrews: Edible rodent-like mammals.

Fledershrews: Bat-like, mushroom eaters, nearly extinct.

Cobblemice: Mice that sprout wings.

Rovie Mice: Field-dwelling, long-lived if kept safe, sometimes pets. They have short memories.

Moss-Rats: Possibly rodents that live in marshes with moss-like camouflage.

Vex: Burrowing animals.

Gallifreyan Womprats: 1-metre-long rats with fifteen legs.

Pig-Rats: Inhabit the Drylands, presumably combining porcine and rodent traits.

Rabbits

Flubbles: Small six-legged koalas.

Unnamed rounder rabbit-like creatures

Ounce-Apes: Might be tiny monkeys that are particularly agile.

Sealak: Perhaps a kind of seal, often eaten.

Bear-Ass: A donkey-like animal with bear-like qualities.

Horse-Cats: Probably a horse/cat hybrid-like species.

Sagittary: Horse-like creatures.

Elephants

Pig-Bears: Can be trained as pets.

Wolf-like Creatures: With long snouts and black-and-white striped fur, almost as big as adult humanoids.

Broakir: Live in foothills, often hunted for food.

Baanjxx: Arboreal browsers that like to eat hallucinogenic cerub nuts. As a child, the Doctor was kicked by one in the head, apparently.

Cows

Walrus

Gallifreyan Marlot: Purple and unique in all of time and space. Probably a bit cat-like.

House Cats: Revered as symbols of intelligence. Traditionally, Presidents kept them as pets.

🐱 Killer Cats (C.A.T.S)

Killer C.A.T.S: These sapient creatures possess instinctive precognitive powers and cat-like physiology. Known for their lethal gladiatorial contests, they despise Time Lord traditions and live in the Gin-Seng Sector of Southern Gallifrey. Their culture includes mercenaries and oracles; they are telepathic.

🏞️ Ecosystem Preservation

Though Gallifrey's outer ecology has suffered, the Time Lords have used technology to preserve many species. Extinct species have been collected, ensuring none become completely extinct. The more fearsome creatures are contained in the Death Zone, while xeno-zoos hold alien species from other worlds.

🏫 So ...

So there's your whistlestop tour of the species on Gallifrey. One day, I'll try to put these onto a species distribution map. Oh, by Rassilon's Beard, I just gave myself more work.

Related:

��|🪐🌍How is Gallifreyan geography different to Earth?: The landscape of Gallifrey.

📺|🌳🍎The Fruits of Gallifrey

💬|🐾🐱What could be some biological traits of Gin-Seng cats?: Looking at who the Gin-Seng cats are, their biology, and their place on Gallifrey and in society.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[natequarter]

BRAXIATEL: I hear nothing other than an intelligent, well-connected student wasting her time, and mine, trying to fight the inescapable. Come on, let’s head back. I’ll tell whichever dreary Cardinal that is no-doubt waiting for us that I took you on a… field trip, and we got lost.

ROMANA I: Why?

BRAXIATEL: Why what?

ROMANA I: Why get yourself into trouble on my behalf?

BRAXIATEL: Because you remind me of... someone I used to know. Hotheaded, arrogant, self-assured… They used to call me the Icicle during my terrible time here. What do they call you?

ROMANA I: The Ice Maiden.

BRAXIATEL: [Chuckles] See? Things never change.

***

A renegade and exile from the Houses in the Pre-War era, he was part of the first generation of the Homeworld to produce renegades: indeed, he may have been spawned by the same flaws in the Houses’ breeding-engines which produced was part of the first generation of even more legendary transgressions like the Imperator Presidency and the Grandfather of House Paradox. But while the Imperator led a crusade in the name of military conquest, and the Grandfather seemed to have a rather more philosophical agenda for subverting the ruling Houses’ authority, the young War King was a bored, amoral outlaw, dedicated to his own desires above all else, meddling in the affairs of the lesser species for no other reasons than power, personal gratification and perhaps even casual amusement.

[...]

He was notorious for hiring, manipulating and seducing a variety of lesser species, many of them mercenary or megalomaniac in nature, and it’s possible that it was through his association with them that he became aware of the imminent War… the first step in his gradual (and quite legal) rise to power.

***

ROMANA: I am Romanadvoratrelundar, mortal heir to the House of Heartshaven, inheritor of the House of Dvora, and custodian of the House of Everston, and I command—!

***

In the brief period before a species loses its interest in its evolutionary surroundings, it’s relatively common for societies to be categorised as tribal, and for the ruling body to be seen as either an alpha-male among primates or as a dominant predator among lesser animals. While for the Great Houses such ideas have mostly been forgotten, a number still cling, oddly, to House Dvora: the House of Devouring Hounds.

This isn’t a metaphor for a House at the top of the food chain, a rare, vicious, rampaging beast. It’s an emblem of controlled, concerted, voracious power. Neither gauche nor hide-bound, the members of House Dvora look out across the landscape of the Homeworld from the comfortable position of an established pack predator. They are not careless. They are sombre, they are sane, they are pre-eminently practical. What they grip, they hold. When not deployed in the field their personas are icy, untouchable and ironic, but they can when necessary adopt any passion.

It’s not surprising, then, that it may be the House which exercises the greatest real power.

***

ROMANA: I am aware that my policies have not been entirely favourable with you all, but Gallifrey must not fall back on itself and become insular. We have the greatest knowledge of time in this part of the galaxy, and we must not be seen to create a monopoly. That only isolates us from those cultures who are capable of using time responsibly. So, I will not step down as President, despite these deaths, despite the opposition to my ideologies, because that is a regressive step for Gallifrey. We cannot linger in our past or, regardless of how much we know, time will overtake us. [...] I have thought about this long and hard, and to me, it seems the only way forward. As is my right, as is stated as ancient edict in the Book of the Old Time, I, Romanadvoratrelundar, claim the title of Imperiatrix of Gallifrey and declare my rule as such to begin immediately.

DARKEL: [Laughing] You cannot claim yourself Imperiatrix. It is a legend from the Old Time, nothing more. There’s no legality upheld in that title! Will you, the High Council of Gallifrey, ratify this? The ramblings of a woman mad for power? Her very bloodline desires war!

***

The Great Houses have, according to their own doctrine, observed and maintained the meta-structure of history for ten million years: a number so round that many feel it must have been picked by the Houses out of thin air, a purely arbitrary figure chosen just to suggest “a very long time”. True or not, it’s unquestionable that for aeons before the War the Houses themselves existed in a state of almost total stasis. There was no natural reproduction on the Homeworld; no death, other than the slowest, greyest and least spectacular kind; no argument, no injustice, no progress and very little actual culture. And yet around a millennium before the War began, tiny imperfections began to appear in the great status quo, defects in Homeworld society which would eventually culminate in the War itself. How did this happen?

[...]

Things took a startling turn for the worse around three hundred years later, during the cataclysmic Imperator Presidency, the first shockingly direct contact with the outside universe in living memory. House Dvora was a House of respect, its bloodline one of the cornerstones of the ruling six, and yet this seemingly reasonable bloodline had produced Imperator: the brutal, mono-maniacal God-Emperor who tore through the polite barriers between the Homeworld and the rest of history to lead a realpolitik crusade into the outside universe. He demanded involvement in the affairs of the lesser species; he demanded a pre-emptive re-forming of the Spiral Politic; he demanded that the Protocols should be ripped from the Homeworld, and that history should be adapted to suit the Houses’ own needs, particularly (it was implied) the needs of House Dvora. He actively recruited from the lesser species, not actually welcoming them into his bloodline but using them as extensions of his will, playing on their expectations that the rulers of the Houses would be inscrutable, unstoppable Gods. That he developed a cult of personality around himself wasn’t as shocking as the fact that he had such a personality.

***

WYNTER: That cannot happen. Our job goes back aeons. To change the role, to dispense with it, would take change in the law.

NARVIN: Of course. And with Braxiatel, Lebine, and the rest of the Council in her pocket, getting laws changed would be... oh, about as difficult as changing the oldest law about allowing aliens into the Academy. Think on that, Wynter.

[doctornolonger]

The Killer Cats of Gin-Seng

In Survival, the last regular serial of Classic Doctor Who, the Doctor and Ace visit a planet of humanoid cats called “Cheetah People”. The Cheetah People are highly telepathic: they can mentally control and inhabit their pet cats, and they can even teleport between planets. Most notably, one of them is played by Lisa Barrowman, better known as Bernice Summerfield.

But this wasn’t actually the first time that humanoid cats had been set to appear in Doctor Who. In 1977, script editor Anthony Read commissioned his former collaborator David Weir to write the Season 15 finale, a four-part serial set on Gallifrey. The request was to explore society outside the Capitol with an emphasis on morality, a theme which Weir had written well in the past. So he pitched a story about Gallifreyan civilization of humanoid cats.

The Gallifreyan cat-people would have mirrored real-world cats’ dual penchant for both sophistication and savagery: they would appear advanced and civilized until the Doctor wound up in one of their elaborate gladiatorial displays! Weir delivered his scripts on time, and production proceeded to the point that Dee Robson designed costumes for the cat actors.

Ultimately the story was cancelled: Weir, by all accounts an excellent screenwriter, dramatically overestimated the show’s VFX capabilities and budget. But executive producer Graham Williams later mentioned the idea at a fan convention, so it became well-known in fandom (albeit under the false name The Killer Cats of Geng Singh). As a result, when Survival finally brought cat people to screens, fans naturally canonwelded the two.

One of these fans was Adrian Middleton, editor of the Apocrypha fanzine. Here’s how Apocrypha issue 1 covered the cats:

Apocrypha on the Killer Cats

THE GIANT CATS     -16,000,000

The first intelligent mammalians on Gallifrey evolved from its version of the sabre-toothed Tiger. These giant cats developed a rudimentary form of empathic communication, which allowed them to influence the actions of their prey.

Over an extended period of time, the cats developed a finer telepathic ability, allowing them to actually control other species. This became a necessity as feline culture grew, as their physiological form prevented the use of tools to build or write with. Thus, in spite of their intelligence, the cats could not establish a true civilisation without anthropoid assistance.

FELINOID CIVILISATION     -14,000,000

Early Gallifreyan hominids soon became the tools of feline culture. The first buildings on the planet were built by hominids but designed by cats, taking the form of vast stone arenas, in which the cats would use lesser species for sport - hunting and killing for pleasure rather than survival.

HOMINIDS     -14,000,000/-13,980,000

Forced to live alongside saurian and feline predators, Gallifrey's first hominid tribes evolved as creatures of guile and stealth. Communities were established using primitive communications. These hominids were the cave-people, the tree-people, and the river-people.

THE FALL OF THE GIANT CATS     -13,980,000

The hominid tribes had at first been easy prey for the cats, easily manipulated as a supply of muscle and food. Ultimately, however, the development of feline culture accelerated the development of hominid culture. Being made to use their hands and having the telepathic parts of their minds manipulated awakened a new sense of purpose within them. Seeing the cats as their slavers, they rebelled, exposing the cats to a coup so bloody that the species was all but wiped from the face of the planet.

THE LEGEND OF THE VANISHING CATS     -13,800,000

It is rumoured that, after their defeat by the hominids, the giant cats fled to the mountains, where they hoped to restore their numbers (perhaps in an effort to restore their power over the hominids). Often hunting parties would venture into these mountains, bringing back the occasional cat. It seemed that the mental strength of the hominids had come to match their feline contemporaries.

Other psychic powers were attributed to the cats, including the power of teleportation. In Gallifrey's southern hemisphere, atop one of its highest mountains, there stands a crudely erected stone circle. Gallifreyan archaeologists determined that this was built by the cats themselves. Legend states that the giant cats emigrated by mass teleportation to another worlds. Few giant cats were seen from this time on, and those that did appear bore no telepathic powers. However, smaller domestic cats, or Kitlings, retained this ability.

WHY LINK THE KITLINGS FROM 'SURVIVAL' WITH THE KILLER CATS OF GALLIFREY?

The 'cat' theme is one that has been expanded on greatly in recent years. Colin Baker's cat motif and 'I am the cat that walks alone' slogan, followed by Eric Saward's novelisation of 'Slipback', set a pace followed by 'Survival' and the 'Cat's Cradle' trilogy.

Upon learning about 'The Killer Cats of Ginseng' by David Weir, everything seemed to fit into place. Cats can't exist everywhere in the universe, they have to come from somewhere - we have Earth cats, and Gallifrey has telepathic or empathic cats, just like the Kitlings.

Commentary

Since the 90s, a few stories have referenced the killer cats idea. Gary Russell’s VMA Invasion of the Cat-People mentions “mercenaries of Gin-Seng” alongside the Cheetah People in a list of felinoid species (hence the “canonical” spelling); there’s a similar offhand mention in Big Finish’s Erasure. But there’s only been one actual appearance of one of the cats: Daniel O’Mahony’s Faction Paradox short story “The Return of the King” (pdf).

“The Return of the King” is a prelude to the author’s 2008 novel Newtons Sleep. In that book there’s a glimpse of “the nocturnal delegations of the wild things, whose sharp bright teeth and claws gleamed in the dark of their robes.” The prelude elaborates,

[Time Lord Thessalia’s] oracle stays at the window, seething playfully below his hood. He has fiercely intelligent eyes, neither as sharp nor as bright as his scar. His mouth is a succulent white smile in a lightless face. His people have nothing but contempt for the rituals of the Great Houses. She’s little better than prey to him, a bloodless snack for his long teeth and hungry mind. He breathes, honeyed air purring out of the cavities of his body.

A killer cat kept as a Time Lord’s personal oracle … as @rassilon-imprimatur​ once noted, a funny recontextualization of The Mark of the Rani’s reference to the Lord President’s “pet cat”!

This was my first exposure to the killer cats, so I always took it for granted that they’d always had psychic or oracular abilities. But in fact, as best as I can tell, there was zero hint of this in the original serial. I tracked down every published description of the story, and they all amount to the same few repeated bits of information: Gallifrey, humanoid cats, and a gladiatorial arena. Richard Bignell ultimately told me, “No summary of Killers of the Dark exists. Even David Weir couldn’t recall anything about it when I spoke to him.”

So when “The Return of the King” features an oracular cat-man, it’s not just a reference to the unmade Classic serial. It’s a reference to fan interpretations like Middleton’s which canonweld that serial with the psychic Cheetah People.

And in some ways, it seems to be referencing Middleton’s version specifically! In “The Return of the King”, the above quoted memory is interrupted by commentary:

Your first oracle? ‘My last.’ You think? But his kind were vanishing from the world. ‘They were escaping the War. They could see it coming.’

Compare:

Legend states that the giant cats emigrated by mass teleportation to another worlds. Few giant cats were seen from this time on, and those that did appear bore no telepathic powers.

And so Middleton explains how the cats vanished in O’Mahony’s telling, and O’Mahony explains why they vanished.

Afterword

While we’re on the topic of why, why did O’Mahony choose to revive this specific idea in “The Return of the King”?

One of the places I checked for Killers of the Dark details was issue 336 of Doctor Who Magazine. Imagine how thrilled I was to find that the relevant “Accidental Tourist” piece, located one page after a Faction Paradox ad, was written by none other than O’Mahony himself!

Part of his reflection was particularly striking. He recaps the wild undefinedness of the Doctor’s backstory, a topic I’ve discussed before on this blog. But in his telling, the uncertainty extends past The War Games all the way to The Deadly Assassin.

After all, The War Games declared that “the Doctor’s people are the Time Lords”, but “who are the Time Lords?” was still left undefined. In the Time Lords’ many subsequent appearances, they were simply walking plot devices, and lore details were left to the wayside. Contradictions were rife. Who was Rassilon to Omega? Is their planet called “Gallifrey” or “Jewel”? Who or what on earth are the “First”, “Second”, and “Third Time Lord” who exiled the Doctor?

It was The Deadly Assassin which first dove into the details by featuring the Time Lords like they were any other of the show’s alien cultures. And for this, it was widely panned: “the fans had voted it the worst story of Season Fourteen and published reviews vociferously attacking its ‘betrayal’ of the Time Lords. The BBC practically disowned it, physically vandalising the master tape to placate Mary Whitehouse.” In other words, the stage was all set for a discarding of Holmes’ Time Lords.

O’Mahony writes in his conclusion,

The Deadly Assassin could have remained a one-off, its vision of the Doctor’s homeworld set at odds not just with the Gallifrey stories of the past but also those of the future. The Killer Cats of Geng Singh was the last chance to slip the leash. Williams loved the Time Lords but he had a raft of other ideas he could have put into play, not least the frustratingly deferred Guardians who were clearly intended as a new rung of the series cosmology above and beyond the Time Lords. The premise of Killer Cats was also to counterpoint the Time Lords with another Gallifreyan species – a race of humanoid cats that delighted in bloodthirsty gladiatorial contests alongside a highly refined culture. This wasn’t cribbing from The Deadly Assassin, this was building something new that would expand the newly-forged mythology of the series. In fact, with the cat-people on board and the Guardians waiting in the wings, the possibilities for Time Lord mythology were fluid. It might be possible to return to Gallifrey and find something new and exciting each time, different Gallifreys, with a mutable and ever-expanding history.

However, thanks to Killers of the Dark’s cancellation, Williams and Read were left with a slot to fill on short notice, and for The Invasion of Time they ultimately turned back to Holmes’ ideas. The Deadly Assassin wasn’t discarded or undermined, it was reentrenched.

This was the real moment that the Time Lords as we know them were crystallized: a real-world anchoring of the thread. This was when the whimsically-named planet “Gallifrey” definitively transformed into the rationalistic, stagnant, bureaucratic Homeworld that would feature in the Faction Paradox series.

Because in FP, by the time Grandfather Paradox enters the scene, the Great Houses are total strangers to whismy. It’s only through the course of the War that their understanding of the cosmos is broadened and stranger things begin to return to the Homeworld (with great vengeance).

By showing us a cat in the flesh, O’Mahony is finishing the housekeeping: just as the Intuitive Revelation banished the Pythia, the Eremites, and the Carnival Queen; just as the Grey Eminence unwrote Gallifrey’s first childbirth; and just as the Eternals “despaired of this reality, and fled their hallowed halls” at first hint of conflict – the Killer Cats have to leave to set the scene for the War to come.

P.S.

In Baker’s End, Tom Baker wound up “the King of Cats”. What does this imply about the Other?!?

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

This Town Will Never Let Us Go

Synopsis

From up here you can see it all, hear it all, taste most of it and feel the rest when the electric lights and the satellite signals prickle against your skin. The town, from midnight to six, marked out in headlights and the flash-fire of a culture in War-time. Séance-messages written in the patterns of the road signs, and ghost-transmissions scrambled into the background noise of the traffic. Animal scent-signals from the fried food stands. All describing something, buried under the tarmac and the street-geometry.

Down there, a girl in a fake-bone mask is working on a ritual to bring it to the surface. A popular performing artiste with a navel stud and serious identity problems is finding herself stalked — literally — by her own image. An ambulance crewman is about to find his own way of getting involved in the War.

And bringing them all together, in one neat little urban mythology, there's Faction Paradox - part cult, part subculture, part pop phenomenon, and part criminal syndicate, either watching-without-being-seen or simply not existing at all (at least until someone invents it). Assuming they're not wholly imaginary, the archons of the Faction seem like the only ones who know what this town really is - what every town really is — and what's bound to happen when it wakes up.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Unnatural History

Synopsis

""They called it the Millennium Effect"", said the Doctor. ""But the millennium was only beginning.""

San Francisco has changed since the start of 2000. The laws of physics keep having acid flashbacks. There are sightings of creatures from outside our dimensions, stranded aliens and surrealist street performers. The city has become a mecca for those who revel in impossible creatures — and those who want to see them pinned down and put away.

Sam's past is catching up with her — a past she didn't know she had. The Doctor is in danger of becoming the pièce de résistance in a twisted collection of creatures. And beneath the waters of the Bay, something huge is waiting.

With time running out, the Doctor must choose which to sacrifice — a city of wonders, or the life of an old and dear friend.

Propaganda

You too want to read a full novel explanation of why Dr Who canon is Like That (hint: it's little assholes who opt to look like 10 year olds wearing skull masks). Also unicorns in San Francisco. Unsurprisingly does feature Fitz being astoundingly gay for 8. (@eighthdoctor )

The villain of the week wants the Doctor to have a consistent backstory. This is bad because it’s not Doctor Who without plotholes and inconsistencies. Plus, it was published in 1999 (?) and there’s a line about how Gallifrey is always destroyed and un-destroyed. They didn’t even know… (anonymous)

[allzelemonz]

Please Keep Talking: Spencer Reid x Male Reader Smut

I don't know enough about the same things as Spencer, but I do know Doctor Who, so he's gonna talk about that

Days when Spencer didn’t have to work either meant spending the day clearing an entire section of the library or playing chess in the park with his fellow prodigies. You’re always there watching his wonderful mind and making sure he drinks water. Today is a park day, so you’re sitting on a bench near Spencer’s favorite chess table as he teaches a young girl about the chess strategies adults can’t pull off.

You’ve read about half of your book, one Spencer recommended, and the snacks in your backpack are all gone. As much as you love Spencer mentoring these little chess geniuses, it’s been hours and takeout for dinner is calling. You get all of your things and make your way to Spencer’s game.

“Almost time to go, Spence.”

“Hmm,” he hums, “check in three.”

The girl playing against him groans and stamps her foot, “I thought I had you that time!”

“You were close, maybe next weekend.” Spencer speaks with that enthusiasm in his voice he mostly has reserved for kids.

“You’re better than a lot of the other kids I’ve seen him play.”

The girl looks up with a smile on her face and giggles, “Really?”

“I bet you could beat Bradley.”

“She probably could.” Spencer looks back at you then to the girl.

Bradley is the boy Spencer played with a few years ago, he never beat Spencer but he’s probably the best kid in the park. This girl is probably the only peer competition he’ll ever have. She doesn’t hesitate to run over and challenge him after Spencer’s encouragement.

“Do we really have to go?” Spencer asks as he stands up. “It’s a nice day.”

“It’s supposed to rain in an hour and I want to order dinner before then so the driver doesn’t have to go out in the rain.”

You take Spencer’s hand in yours and pull him away from the chess tables. He walks alongside you until you’re home and you both collapse on the couch with dinner on the way. Spencer puts something on once the food arrives and you fall into the universe of Doctor Who.

With the food eaten and the Doctor bumbling around on screen Spencer and you cuddle up to one another as the sun disappears behind dark clouds and rain begins to fall. The Daleks are back again and despite his arms around you it’s clear Spencer is invested as always.

“You know the Daleks still have the same design after all these years because they think they’re the superior beings.”

He mumbles the fact as he rests his head on your shoulder and you crack a smile when he keeps talking.

“But things like the Cybermen change because they have a need to upgrade.”

The sound of his voice is always nice, fact filled or not. However, something about the way he describes the little details about the Time Lords makes you listen a little closer. He’s talking about the Master and why he’s so different from the others at a mile a minute, then he goes on to the societies on Gallifrey and how they compare to Earth. Which then leads him to the differences in culture between the United Kingdom and the United States and how different the show might be if it were American.

It’s around the time that he starts getting into the Doctor’s travel limitations and limited zone for alien invasions on Earth that you realize somewhere in his ramblings your hearts picked up and you feel hot. When you look down to your pants you see just what Spencer’s endless talk has done. You’re hard, painfully so now that you’ve been brought back to reality.

Spencer is none the wiser, still mumbling about little nuances as the show keeps playing on. If he just moves his hand a little to the left he’ll feel it, but he doesn’t seem to be planning on moving anytime soon. You’re sure if you have to keep listening to his mumbles you’ll come untouched, especially if he keeps getting so into the topics like he has been.

But you can’t stand the thought for another minute when Spencer starts on the topic of Weeping Angels. You bring your hand slowly down his back and begin to play with the hem of his shirt, hoping he might take a hint for once. He doesn’t.

“Spencer,” His name rolls off your tongue like a moan even though you try to stop it.

He looks up at you with an odd look, but he moves his hand in the process and you can see the realization cross his face.

“Oh, I, uh,” he fumbles his words as he realizes what the pressure near his waist is and finally notices what you were trying to do.

“Please keep talking.”

“O-okay, well,”

You push him onto his back and hover over him, lining his jaw with kisses as he continues to ramble on. Your erection presses into his hip and you can start to feel him hardening next to your leg. Spencer is good at talking, but not so much when you’re fucking him silly.

“Spencer, look at me.”

You tilt his head to look over at you and he stops his ramblings for a moment. His eyes are that blown out that they tend to be when you kiss his neck and his skin is becoming quite warm.

“Spencer, I’m going to need you to keep talking, okay?” You dip down and press a kiss to his mouth. “Just keep talking, don’t stop. Can you do that for me?”

“Y-yeah, of course.” He pauses to look at you and twist his hands into your hair. “But why?”

“I just need to hear your voice, I need to hear you explain things in the most detailed nuances. Please.”

He takes your hand off of his face and presses a kiss to it before launching into another topic, particularly time travel in all of its variations.

You don’t waste time in getting his clothes off, followed by your own. You wait until he’s slowed down in his explanations before lining yourself up to him and pushing inside. He whimpers a bit and you wait for him to get settled enough to talk again before moving out slowly and pressing another kiss to his neck.

His words stall slightly with each of your thrusts, but he keeps talking and it drives you through it. You find your grip and the right leverage to pick up your speed just as Spencer starts talking about something you can only guess is really interesting, but at this point it’s just the hum of his voice that’s getting you off while you slam yourself as deep into him as you can.

You feel his hands reaching down to touch himself between you and you dip your head down to press deep kisses onto his neck. You’re surprised he’s still talking, but he goes on and on with only the occasional twinge in his voice from your actions.

You grip onto his hair as you thrust into him as hard and deep as you can and you hear Spencer’s voice hitch and he moans as he cums onto his stomach. His other hand grips at your hips and you get into a fast and steady speed before Spencer starts talking into your ear, whispering all of the facts that run through his head and you finally release into him with a few last sloppy thrusts.

Spencer meets your movements as you get through your high and places a kiss on your lips as you still yourself.

“Should I talk about my interests around you more often?” He asks.

You fix a stray strand of his hair and smile before kissing him again. He takes that as a yes.

[fatelesschild]

Imagine Ten could bring Rose to his home planet, walk her around, introduce her to his people's culture. And one thing they both love most is food. What sorts of food (and beverages) do you think he could show off to Rose? Would he recommend his faves? Something that's "tolerable" for human taste? Or a (probably safe) menu that's beyond reckoning to see what her reaction would be? A cool date in Gallifrey.

If you have your own food culture ideas that make Gallifrey good for tourist attraction to hop on to if they were open for other species, then that'd be brilliant, thanks ♡

They'd arrive on the celebration known as Otherstide. The Doctor would park the TARDIS just beyond his childhood home in the region of Prydon, where they'd walk across the still and beautiful red grass fields gleaming under the twin suns. Rose would be filled with awe at the range of weird and wonderful wildlife and would be asking a million questions, some of which the Doctor would seriously struggle to answer. Eventually the Doctor would pick a spot and reveal from his transcendental pockets a complete picnic. Sandwiches, fruits, wine, and even a standard gallifreyan tea set, comprising around 180 pieces that come out of his pockets one by one, somehow all intact.

This particular custom could be paid for as an tourist experience with some trained gallifreyan in a posh frock, but here the Doctor would be able to serve just fine. Rose would certainly enjoy the tea, with hundreds of varieties made from the unique flora of Gallifrey - there's plenty to choose from, including the strong-smelling tristort fern, schlenk blossoms, or what's probably going to be her favourite, 'arkytior', which is a pearly-grey gallifreyan rose.

This plethora of tea would be accompanied by a couple of Baanjxx meat sandwiches and Rassilon's Red wine, during which the Doctor would recount to Rose:

'You know, I got kicked in the head by a Baanjxx when I was a kid.'

'That literally explains everythin'.'

Baanjxx sandwiches are by no means particularly elegant and can be a bit chewy, but the taste would be alien enough for Rose to find it utterly fascinating. Alongside the sandwiches and wine would be some of the sweet fruits of the Ulandan tree, which tastes like a cross between lemon and mango and Rose wouldn't quite be able to work out which one.

Now full of tea and desperate for a wee they'd retreat to the TARDIS. Rose would sort herself out as the Doctor takes them to the renowned Prydos market, where they'd spend the early afternoon browsing the stalls filled with products and food from across the entire universe, including Earth. She wouldn't be able to resist buying some chips, but things never quite taste the same on a different planet do they? Bit soggy. But she'd get something for her mum as a memento.

Then, due to her persistent nagging, they go to the Capitol. It's mind-blowing for her. After the hustle and bustle of the market of Prydos it's an entirely new experience. Men and women looking sombre in peacock collars, giving her slightly strange looks she can't even be bothered to register. She and the Doctor would spend the rest of the dying afternoon in the Capitol together, exploring. He's used to it, and she would be leading.

Then as the evening approaches it's time for the main meal. Since all the these posh capitol Time Lords and Ladies are content eating blocks of coloured protein, you can't stay in the Capitol for a good meal. He and Rose would catch the next skimmer, the most tourist-friendly being longboat-like ships that fly through the sky from city to city. They'd alight at Arcadia, which would be a hive of activity on Otherstide. The Palace of Arcadia is known to be probably the best restaurant on Gallifrey, but the Doctor prefers a bit of gritty reality, so would go for a more low key establishment.

For starters, it's going to be either a broth or some dactyl eggs, the latter of which has been especially imported for Otherstide. This would be followed by roasted sealak (a gallifreyan delicacy, which is probably fish) with roasted grockleroots (mildly alcoholic - have fun), and side of lushberries (probably edible) sprinkled with swamp mint. Karmine pudding is the finale in a blue fruit sauce.

'What's blue fruit?'

She'd ask.

'Err ... A fruit that's blue.'

He'd reply.

(me) For the more daring foodie, there is what's known as a varga plant. Native to Skaro, the home of the Daleks, these plants are usually deadly and able to instantly kill Time Lords, ignoring regeneration. But when specially prepared its leaves can be used for tea making or soup. Just like fugu from Japan, this requires a specialist chef with plenty of certificates to wave around before preparing. Unfortunately since being a chef is not deemed a noble profession by the Citadel folk, there aren't many accredited ones around. This makes varga a sort of dirty commodity, as it's rumoured that having a bit more varga than is reasonable can get even the most biologically balanced gallifreyan brain, err, 'totally bombed'.

Luckily since the Doctor's already done this in his youth and one sip would probably kill Rose, they opt not to.

Then once the meal is over, it's time for the drinks. The elite class rather frown upon these sorts of frolics, so you'll find the best clubs and bars in the Low Town. This is in the depths of the Capitol, run by Shobogans. These are the real dives, filled with quick fights, dirty elbows, and old gallifreyans in the corners ranting about how time travel isn't what it used to be.

Gallifreyan drinks aren't IMMEDIATELY fatal to humans, but if you spend an entire night out with a gallifreyan in Low Town you're probably going to need a new liver. Fortunately the Doctor would have the foresight to arrange for Rose's drinks to be slightly less potent. He'd watch over her as she bopped the night away dancing to the gallifreyan top twenty (actual thing). She starts with the Orneilian Wine and Milean Head Juice, before becoming drunk enough to get a little bit hooked on Bog-Truffle Tincture. She'll have anything she can try, purely because she's having one of the best nights of her life with the man she adores on a planet she may never see again that means so much to him.

The twins sun would begin to rise and they'd realise they've been out all night. They make their way back up to the Capitol, before the Doctor stops her at a food dispenser. He would absolutely refuse to leave without having Rose trying a Promarzzi bar. They're beige blocks of pure chewy stodge. He thinks they're amazing because he grew up on them, but they genuinely taste like pond weed. Rose would tell him that and he'd reluctantly agree, but counter:

'But they actually try to choke you as you eat them, isn't that fun?'

[whittakerjodie]

and it Wasn’t Quite You (13th Doctor X Reader)

Request:  13th x reader request: I was wondering if you could do a hurt/comfort fic? The reader and 13 are in an established relationship. The reader is slightly insecure and during a trip she catches a girl/alien girl kissing the doctor (the doctor not kidding back but it looks like it?) I’m sorry if this a bit confusing and long 😓 Lots of fluff please! Thank you 🙏 :) - from @biscuitfam​

A/N: ooooo i’ve been going through a funk the last few days and this totally regenerated my writing ability! Yay!! Also, might’ve laid the angst on heavier than the fluff whoops. ALSO ALSO it’s important to me that yall know the doctor and the master were in a band. Please know this. please. 

Words: 3k

Warnings: jealousy, insecurity that isn’t true but we all have it, hot alien princess’s making a move on your hot alien girlfriend, obscure Doctor who eu references, 

   Your adventure began as most did; with the Doctor rambling as she ran around the console, describing a planet she’d been wanting to visit. When she first mentioned Princess Osea, you were hardly listening. The Doctor met so many people on so many adventures that you didn’t immediately attach any importance to the Doctor’s story of meeting her. 

   When you stepped out of the TARDIS, quite the crowd was there to greet you. There was a loud fanfare coming from all sides of the crowd.  It was like an entire parade had been arranged just for your arrival. Behind the people stood shining towers, stretching far beyond the limits of your vision. Each one was made out of a golden material, complimenting the light pink sky filled with dozens of other planets. You didn’t realize your mouth had been hanging open for so long before you heard the Doctor giggle softly. Her finger quickly pushed your chin up, a move that made you blush despite how quickly it lasted. 

    It’d only been two months or so since the two of you had decided to make things official. Well, as official as you could make things with a timelord who spent all her time gallivanting around the universe. You didn’t exactly use the term ‘girlfriend’ but your relationship had gotten a little past that point by now. Before you could grab her hand to hold it as you walked, she was raising hers to shake hands with the woman in front of you. 

   You’d been staring at the Doctor so long, you didn’t realize that the five of you had reached the end of the red carpet, where a large golden throne stood. On top of the throne sat one of the most beautiful women you’d ever seen, save for the Doctor. She was tall- at least, you thought she was, judging by the extremely long, toned legs that were peeking out of her large ruffled orange dress. Her cheeks were a darker blue than the rest of her skin- was she blushing? 

“Doctor,” She drawled. Her arm extended forward to offer the back of her hand to the Doctor, who placed a quick kiss upon it. You didn’t take a lot of notice to this either; travelling with the Doctor for years meant you were fairly accustomed to different cultural expectations and displays. She was simply addressing royalty, right? “It’s so lovely to see you again.” 

“I could say the same, princess Osea. How are things?” 

“Much better, now. I wish we could’ve organized more for your arrival, but it was rather short notice.” You glanced again at the massive crowd that was gathered, complete with streamers and music. This wasn’t enough? 

“Oh it’s wonderful,” The Doctor said. “I did land at the right time, I hope? I’ve been dying to show these four the Omicron Eclipse for ages.” 

“And you’ll be able to. Hello, by the way!” She gave a small wave and a cheeky smile to the four of you before turning back to the Doctor and the Doctor alone. You winced as Osea grabbed both the Doctor’s hands, holding them. The look in her eye was… warm. Loving. You didn’t like that much either. “We’ve prepared a feast for tonight, which will be followed by a performance by the Orchestra-” 

“Oh! Is that the one that uses the Perigosto sticks? Love a perigosto stick, me” The Doctor interrupted cheerfully. Oh, that was an inside thing you didn’t know about. The Princess nodded, grinning even wider. 

“You remembered! I had a few players added just for you.That’s not the only surprise. After the orchestra plays we’ll have a ceremonial wreath burning on Mount Aiq’ans, where we’ll watch the eclipse.” 

   Okay, that did seem rather cool. The Doctor turned back to You and the rest of the fam with two thumbs up. Everyone else answered with their own excited thumbs but you resorted to a hesitant smile. As Osea stood up from her throne you felt your awkwardness increase tenfold. She was tall. Not only that, but the way the sun shined on her as she stood highlighted thousands of sparkling freckles you hadn’t noticed before. She was truly glowing, twirling her flowing black hair in between her fingers. 

   You gulped, half of you intimidated by her beauty and the other really attracted to her. Not the time to gay panic, you thought. To offset the panic you glanced at the Doctor, only to find that she was also staring up at Osea. It wasn’t inherently romantic, but you couldn’t deny that your heart twinged at the long established friendship clearly apparent between the two. Their words were laced with a loving familiarity, and the way they looked at each other made your cheeks burn. Neither of them seemed to notice your gloom as Osea linked her arm with the Doctors and began to lead all of you through a doorway on the right into the castle. 

____________________________________________

“You’re not going to eat anything?” Ryan asked. You stared right past him at the Doctor and Osea, who were laughing as they recounted the last time they’d seen each other. Fingers tightly gripping your glass, you shook your head to answer Ryan. He turned and whispered something to Yaz as you sipped your drink, trying not to be bothered. Just a friend, you reminded yourself. That’s all they are. Friends making up for lost time. 

   Your food had remained untouched- you doubted you’d ever have enough appetite to finish it anyway. The feast was more elaborate than the welcome parade. The tables seemed to stretch for miles, every inch of them covered in platters of different foods. The Doctor must’ve done something really spectacular to warrant this kind of treatment for all of you. Or maybe it was just a regular ceremony they did every time the eclipse happened. Or maybe the princess was just so in love with her- 

“Y/N, you remember that right?” Your head whipped towards the Doctor, who was looking at you expectantly. You hated how beautiful she looked in that moment; eyes shining with tears from laughter, cheeks red with warmth and lips stretched into a smile. How were you supposed to wallow in misery over something small when an angel was addressing you?

“Sorry I um-” Then, your gaze landed on the Princess, who was watching you with a somewhat disdainful look. It wasn’t mean, but it seemed like she was rather irritated at you causing a pause in the conversation. “Sorry, Doctor, I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?” 

“She was asking you if you remembered falling into an Eiccen pit?” Your face warmed even further. You didn’t know the Doctor had been telling that story as well. It was embarrassing; you thought it was funny that the grass felt so wobbly and the next thing you knew you’d fallen ten feet into a pit full of jelly that turned your skin green. And the Doctor was just sharing it with this.. This… goddess sitting next to her?!? 

“You alright, Y/N?” the Doctor asked, her hand rubbing your shoulder comfortingly. You blushed even harder, avoiding the princess’ gaze, which you could feel landing on you. You couldn’t let her know that you were embarrassed or weak or less than her. Not when your girlfriend was sitting there. Not when you were getting the feeling that the Princess wanted a little bit more than friendship from said girlfriend. 

“Everything's fine,” You whispered. When the Doctor looked unconvinced, you cleared your throat and spoke up. “Of course I remember it, but I also remember you falling in right after me” The whole table laughed and turned back to the Princess for her next comment. You sighed in relief as the weight was lifted off of you, but you couldn’t quite stop the feeling of being a third wheel pressing back in on you. 

__________________________

   Tears dripped down your cheeks. You didn’t bother wiping them away at this point; every second the orchestra spent playing was a second the music washed over your body, mind, and soul in the most wonderful way. It’d been at least 15 minutes since they started playing, but you couldn’t quite grasp onto any specific thought or measure of time when the hundreds of instruments sounded from the stage. 

  There wasn’t any earthly way to describe the sound that filled the auditorium. It truly was amazing, and did wonders to your spirit after dinner had gone so sourly. 

“You like it?” the Doctor asked. She was standing next to you, eyes taking in your crying face. She wiped your tears away with her sleeve, smiling. “It can be a little overwhelming, but that’s why they’re one of the most famous Orchestras in the 81st century. “ 

“Doctor, I love it,” You whispered with a tremble in your voice. She smiled wider, then pointed to the right of the orchestra. 

“Do you see that, the long stick? That’s a perigosto stick. Used to play one of those when I was a kid.” 

“I thought guitar was more your style” You laughed, remembering how musical her 12th form had been. 

“Oh it is but not when I was at the academy. Used to be in a band, actually.” 

“You’re kidding?!” 

“Never,” She laughed. “Well, sometimes. But not this time. Gallifrey hot five, we called ourselves” 

You shook your head, assuming that she must be joking. Then, when you took in her completely serious face you gasped. “No, you’re serious? The Gallifrey hot five?” 

She giggled, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, we were a little cheesy back then. But I did, admittedly, do smashing on the perigosto.” 

“You’ll have to play for us sometime” Your face fell into a frown as you realized Osea was standing to the right of the Doctor. A little too closely, an observation you also made. You tuned out the Doctor promising to do just that, trying to focus back on the music. 

   You felt ridiculous for feeling so jealous, but you couldn’t help it; you were a normal human from earth. You didn’t have sparkling skin or flowing hair or long, beautiful legs. You weren’t a princess. She was so much… more than you, it seemed. The Doctor and her seemed so close. Had they ever-?

    It seemed like in the blink of an eye you were on top of Mount Aiq’ans, facing a wreath larger than a house. Vines and flowers were arranged in an elaborate circle, waiting for fire to consume them. Supposedly, the custom was to look through the ring of fire at the moment the planets eclipsed one another. You’d also heard that there was significance for one of the planet's main religions, but you couldn’t confirm or deny that based on your attention lapses. 

The princess held a long torch in her hand, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly she turned back to the Doctor, grinning. “Doctor, I would love for you to do the honors.” 

The Doctor chuckled nervously, accepting the torch. You took a step back from it’s heat, unable to escape your own, which crept through your veins as the Princess gave the Doctor the highest honor of the evening. “Alright then,” The Doctor said. She stepped forward, the Princess stepping aside to let her through. 

“This is so cool” Ryan murmured. You nodded, not because you believed it but because you wanted to keep up the facade that you did. Really, it’d just been a long day and you were tired of feeling like second best to an alien you’d never even met before. Light assaulted your eyes as the wreath went up in flames, the cheers of everyone present pressing against you from every side. It was all rather overwhelming and you ignored everything and everyone, eyes focusing on the eclipse with a stubbornness you’d never felt before. You shrugged off your jacket to offset the new heat, enjoying the moment for what it was. 

______________________________________

The walk back to the castle had been exhausting. Your legs were tired and everyone else seemed to be having the best time talking and laughing with one another. No matter how hard you tried to keep a hold of the memory of the eclipse, your mind could only hyper-focus on the Princess and the Doctor walking ahead of you. Did it even matter what they were talking about at this point? Clearly they’d known each other for ages and you’d never be as good as- no, stop that, you told yourself as your throat started to tighten. Stop that. 

You set your jacket on the throne as everyone carried out the final conversation for the evening. The TARDIS seemed to be calling your name, as you could feel an oddly warm force drawing you back towards it. You made quick work of saying your goodbye to the Princess, walking back towards the space-time machine with the fam in tow. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Yaz asked as soon as the doors shut. You leaned against them, nodding. 

“Yeah, course, I’m perfect.” 

“Well… whatever it is, I hope you had fun tonight at least. Oh- you forgot your jacket.” You looked at your shoulders, noticing that Yaz was right.

“Thanks, Yaz,” She nodded and gave you a quick hug, disappearing into the TARDIS hallway. You smiled at your friend's generous words. The smile dropped off the face of the earth, however, as your eyes took in the scene before you. They were standing far away, but it was all too easy to make out Osea’s hands cupping your girlfriends cheeks, drawing her in for a heated kiss. 

   A gasp left your lips and you quickly threw the doors shut, heart racing. No. No way you’d seen what you’d just seen. Your brain was moving a mile a minute, stomach turning over. Some unknown force-the TARDIS probably, let you know that the Doctor was coming in soon. Scared embarrassed, and seconds from bursting into tears, you sprinted into the hallway and into your room, letting the TARDIS dramatically slam the door for you.  

   Tears started to fall from your eyes again, but not due to an ethereal beauty. These were uncontrollable because of a poisonous, fiery sorrow that you couldn’t understand because you couldn’t understand what you’d just seen. Or maybe you could. Maybe you were right and Osea was so much more than you, so more beautiful, and interesting, and-

“Y/N?” there was a furious knocking on your door, joining the Doctors quick tone. “Y/N, please, I need to explain what just happened.” 

You leaned against the door, letting yourself slide to the floor. You couldn’t face her. Not yet, not like this. “Doctor…” 

You could hear rustling from the other side, like she was copying your position. “Y/N, I had no idea that Osea.. felt that way. I definitely don’t reciprocate it. I made sure she knew that after she kissed me, you have to know that.” 

“You don’t?” You sniffled. “You just seemed… like, you guys knew each other so well and she’s so pretty and-” 

“Yes, she is pretty, by several universal standards. Yes, we know each other well. But she will never be- she never could be- she’s not you, y/n. No one could ever best you.” 

   Temporarily, your breath came to a standstill as you let her words echo through the air. Your hand landed against the hard surface of the door, suddenly longing to disintegrate it so you could instead feel the Doctor’s soft hand in yours. The TARDIS granted your request and the door slid open, sending the two of you into a collision as soon as the support was gone. You shrieked slightly as you fell into her arms and she fell into yours, landing in an odd heap. 

Instead of helping you up, her arms wound around your figure, holding you closer. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume things” You whimpered against her chest. “She’s just so…” 

“Don’t finish that sentence, y/n. Because I know whatever you say isn’t going to be true.” Her lips planted a kiss against your temple, then a second against your cheek. Finally, she pressed her lips to yours. Forehead resting against you, she pulled back and whispered. “I need to know that you know that I love you. Do you know that?” 

   Tear slipping past your eye you nodded, letting her pull you back in for another kiss. Relief was flooding through your system, mixing with love for the Doctor to create a mood a thousand times better than the one that had been plaguing you all day. While she carried you to bed and tucked you in, the Doctor dedicated her breath to informing you of all the reasons why she loved you. You were pretty sure she carried on even after you fell asleep, because when you woke up in the morning her arms were still wrapped around you, mouth hung open like she’d been mid-sentence when sleep claimed her.

[timelordpropaganda]

Hello again! I was just wondering what entertainment is like on Gallifrey. Do you have films? What are your favorite?

Hello @floating-goblin

Gallifrey has a wide array of entertainment and cultural works including but not limited to: Theater plays, Opera, Orchestral pieces and performances, art museums including the “Museum of Gallifrey Past, Present, and Future” and the “Rassilonian National Archives”. There are also restaurants and places that will provide food that is grown and cooked instead of the usual food pills. 

Music here often has inter-dimensional qualities in tune with the biological  parts of our ears that match with it. I can’t imagine it would be pleasant for humans. 

Films are pretty popular here too. Vulca and I, of course love going to the Citadel Art Film Festival and Ball every year. I had an a few friends who run it every year. Besides art films I also enjoy the documentaries, and like everyone else, the Gallifreyan Academy Romantic Comedy! 

We also have access to Netflix and the CrunchyRoll and I think there is a bill in the council to approve of a renewal of Hulu. 

[crinkle-eyed-boo]

Digging Deeper Meme

Tagged by the lovely @homosociallyyours @a-brighter-yellow and @disgruntledkittenface ...thank you my bbs. Let’s do this!

1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? Usually black, and it has to be like an INK pen that flows easily. No Bic pens or any of that shit. 

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? I’m a city girl. 

3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? I’d become fluent in other languages. I took Latin in high school and was VERY good at it, but I was shit at Spanish when I took it in college. (I also think I had a bad teacher, but that’s neither here nor there)

4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? At Starbucks, half and half with sweet and low (I KNOW IT’S BAD FOR ME, I WAS BROUGHT UP ON IT.) At home, I usually have a flavored creamer and a splenda. (THE DICHOTOMY OF ME.) 

5. What was your favourite book as a child? Babysitters Club books, The Little House on the Prairie Books (On the Banks of Plum Creek was my fave)

6. Do you prefer baths or showers? Showers. I DREAM of having a big ass tub some day though. 

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would it be? A Fairy

8. Paper or electronic books? I used to be die hard paper only, but it’s HARD in a tiny apartment, so now I am more of an e-book person. 

9. What is your favourite item of clothing? Any one of my nice dresses. 

10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? I spent way too much time practicing my autograph instead of paying attention in math class to EVER change my name. 

11. Who is a mentor to you? I always think of my first boss in NY as one. He took a chance on a kid who showed a compulsive obsession with box office results and gave me a job and took the time to teach me. 

12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for? Being a famous writer offers enough anonymity to still keep your life but have money!

13. Are you a restless sleeper? I can be, yes. 

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? A romantic with a heavy dose of cynicism because my romantic LIFE has been nothing but trash. 

15. Which element best represents you? Fire, I think. When I care about things, it’s often all consuming. 

16. Who do you want to be closer to? I wish I were closer to my sisters, but a lot of times, it’s like the three of us speak completely different languages. 

17. Do you miss someone at the moment? I miss my friends and I miss my city. 

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. It’s not early childhood, per se, but it was the 80s and much more innocent time, because my parents would leave me and my sisters in kiddie movie and THEY would go see a movie for grown-ups. I remember sneaking into their theatre after ours was done, to tell them our movie was done. The movie was Dirty Dancing, and I stood in the back for the entire final dance, captivated. I was 8. 

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? Nothing is REALLY coming to mind. 

20. What are you most thankful for? Right now? My health and my dog. 

21. Do you like spicy food? Moderately spicy, yes! 

22. Have you ever met someone famous? When you live in New York and work for a long time in the entertainment industry, it’s inevitable. Add in fandom things, and I’ve met many many. I still think Joel McHale may be my favorite, if only for the fact that he stood and talked to us for almost 20 minutes after doing a stand-up show. 

23. Do you keep a diary or journal? I’ve never had the discipline. 

24. Do you prefer to use a pen or a pencil? Always a pen!

25. What is your star sign? Sagittarius, Taurus rising. I am, in a word, a mess. 

26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? A little bit of crunch. Though I am not really a cereal person. 

27. What would you want your legacy to be? That I loved people (and things) fiercely and well. That I was loyal. And that I wrote some good words on occasion. 

28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? I DO. I have ALWAYS been a reader. As far as BOOK books, I don’t remember because I read so. much. fic. The last one being @twopoppies LOVELY artist fic, which was so awesome to read after writing Artist!Harry myself. And it just showed me why people shouldn’t worry if someone else is writing the same trope as you, because TRULY they all come out different and equally wonderful because different people glean different things from the same trope. 

29. How do you show someone you love them? There are few things that thrill me more than finding the perfect present for someone. 

30. Do you like ice in your drinks? Yes

31. What are you afraid of? Snakes. Tornados. Fire. 

32. What is your favourite scent? Coconut

33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? Usually when I first meet them it’s surname

34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? Like Sage said, I would see every single Broadway show. I would get a nice apartment with my dream kitchen. I’d follow my fave artists on tour. And then, eventually, I would fuck off and go live in New Zealand. 

35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? pools. I hate sand. 

36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? TREAT YO SELF. I’d probably take myself to a nice meal. 

37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? Yes. 

38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? I don’t plan on having kids of my own, so it is my duty as an aunt to make sure they are properly exposed to pop culture. 

39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? I’ve been dying to get part of the pattern of the old carpet at the LAX Marriott, where Gallifrey One is held, tattooed on my inner ankle for 18 months now. Fucking pandemic. 

40. What can you hear now? Supermarket Sweep on Netflix

41. Where do you feel the safest? In a puppy pile with my friends

42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? My BODY ISSUES and disordered eating. 

43. If you could travel back to any era, what would it be? The 50s - summer of 1963

44. What is your most used emoji? Currently, it’s the head exploding emoji

45. Describe yourself using one word. Passionate. 

46. What do you regret the most? Not loving past me more. 

47. Last movie you saw? Eurovision. A JOY. 

48. Last tv show you watched? Supermarket Sweep. 

49. Invent a word and its meaning. TOO TIRED FOR THAT. 

Tagging @beau-soleil-louis @queenofquiet17 @sweetstrawberryheadache if you want a thing to do!!

[throne-of-embers-and-storms]

Seeing the Stars

Castiel X Reader

It was midnight and Dean, Sam and I had just arrived back at the motel. I look up to see the whole sky is blanketed in pure black without a star in the sky. Three months have passed since all angels fell from heaven and during that time I have joined the Winchesters on their hunting trips. I had to get used to human life fairly quickly once I fell and I still have many difficulties understanding the humans strange customs.

"Those vampires were a bitch…bar anyone?" Dean asks the two of us whilst already heading in the direction of the bar across the street from where we are currently standing. But suddenly, a metallic thrumming noise starts from the alley way to our left.

"Can you guys hear that or is it just me?" Sam, the younger Winchester, asks with a confused yet curious expression on his face.

"Never get a break around here…" Dean mutters quietly under his breath. The three of us start walking towards the alley where the noise appears to be coming from. At the end of the narrow aisle, a strange blue blur is appearing in and out of my vision. Is this some kind of demon trick?

The three of us inch our way to the strange sight ahead of us at the end of the alley, weapons in our hands. The blue blur takes a few seconds until it starts to materialize into an actual sight. A blue box with the words 'Police Phone Box' stand in front of me and it comes in and out of my view a few more times before it stops.

"Uh, Cas. Any idea here?" Dean asks me with wide eyes. I don't reply because honestly, I'm just as clueless right now. So instead I just shrug and the three of us start to move closer to the box ahead.

Out of nowhere though, the door is burst open by a man with a bow tie and shaggy brown hair who quickly takes in the sight of myself and the two Winchesters on either side of me as well as our, not so concealed, weapons.

"Uh, there's no need for weapons. I'm not here to hurt you." The man says with his hands slightly up as if in surrender. What is this blue box? I've never seen something like this. It just appeared... seemingly out of thin air.

"Who are you and what the hell is that?" Dean shouts at the man in apprehension and fear of the unknown.

"I'm the Doctor and this is the TARDIS. She's my ship. Who are you?" The Doctor asks.

"This is Dean and Sam Winchester," I say with glances at the two hunters. ", and my name is Castiel. I am an angel of the Lord." I say to the man in front of me.

"An angel? Well, I haven't seen an angel in centuries. Please come in. Let me show you around." The Doctor says, ushering us all into his TARDIS. Seen an angel? So he's met my kind before...

Who is this man? I have never heard of this Doctor, although he seems to know of my kind. Walking into the box, I look around and stop. I can vaguely hear Dean shouting how we won't all fit in here, but stepping into the box, I see that it is bigger on the inside. How? This technology is more advanced than humans possess. If only I was an angel… then maybe I could do something. But I do not believe this man wants to hurt us.

"Cas, man. Get out of there." I hear Dean shout from the outside. The Doctor leans against what looks like the control console of this contraption.

"Dean, Sam. It's fine. There's nothing to fear. We'll all easily fit." I shout back to the two brothers standing outside. "What is this?" I ask the Doctor who has gone to a screen behind me and is looking at it intently and focused.

Behind me, Sam and Dean slowly and anxiously walk into the Tardis, guns in hand. "Weapons away. You won't be hurt in here." The Doctor says with a glance at the two and a confused glance towards me. Why?

"Y/N, come in here. We have guests." The man with the bow tie exclaims out of nowhere.

"No need to shout. I'm here." A girl with (Y/H/C) hair comes bouncing down the glass stairs on my left. Wow. She's beautiful. I've never seen a girl like her. The way she walks with such confidence. "Who are these people Doctor?" She asks the man with a friendly smile.

"Y/N, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. They stopped the apocalypse." He says motioning to the two behind me. Wait, How does he know that? Both are still looking in awe at their surroundings when they finally notice the girl called Y/N. Their eyes are focused on the girl in front of us and both walk forwards to be closer. She is stunning.

"Hello." She says with a soft angelic voice."I'm (Y/N) (L/N). This is the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside due to sciency things, but I'm sure the Doctor hasn't explained a thing to you, going by your expressions that is." She says with a laugh towards the Doctor. "I guess you've never been in a time machine before. Wait apocalypse?" She says with a shock at the end, changing the subject.

"Against Lucifer." I offer to her. Turning her head, her (E/C) eyes meet my ice blue ones and all over I feel a warm feeling.

"Lucifer. What like the devil?" She asks and I nod my head as an answer, not being able to keep my eyes off her. "Huh, I thought they were just old stories you know, hell, heaven. In the future, religion really isn't a big thing. Nearly non-existent. Oh and you are?" She finally asks for my name in a sweet voice. Religion isn't a big thing, the future?

"Did you say the future?" Sam asks the girl. Her head turns away from me before I can answer and she starts to talk to Sam. For some reason I feel disappointment and another strange feeling to her talking to another man.

"Yes. I'm not from this time. I'm from the 51st century and live in what you would call London. Doctor what's going on?" She asks confidently. Her eyes shine with hope and dreams... and even a bit of rebelliousness.

"I found them outside. I've been wanting to meet you three for a long time. The ones that stopped armaggedon and that fight between the two archangels." The Doctor says whilst rapidly turning to us. His eyes are blazing with curiosity. "You've never met an angel have you (Y/N)?" He asks the girl.

"No. I haven't. Why? One of you aren't angels are you?" She says with the same curiosity in her bright (E/C) eyes as the Doctor. Her eyes shift amongst the three of us.

"My name is Castiel, I'm an angel of the Lord... or was." I say,my eyes falling to the glass floor.

"I was wondering about that. Where is your grace Castiel?" The Doctor asks, looking between the screen and I. That must be why he keeps looking at me strangely.

"Heaven was closed up and the angels fell. My grace was stolen by another angel, thus making me human."

"All angels fell?" (Y/N) asks me, stepping forward slightly.

"The trials right?" The Doctor asks. I don't say anything but stand in silent shock. How could he know that? "I'll take your silence as a yes." He says before checking more equipment on the console.

"How the hell do you know so much?" Dean asks angrily, obviously getting annoyed at the man's vagueness about himself. "Who are you?"

"You haven't told them?" The girl asks with a shake of her head before leaning on the console.

"I'm getting to it." The doctor replies, waving his hands at her to stop leaning on the controls. "So I'm the Doctor. I'm a Timelord from the planet Gallifrey and I'm very old. I'm basically a madman with a box." He says quickly, seeming to be in a rush. Timelord? I've never heard of a Timelord or Gallifrey before. "Okay, you guys ready?"

"Ready? For what?" Sam asks the man.

"An adventure." The Doctor says with an excited glint in his eyes before pulling down a lever. Then the doors shut and the room lurches up slightly. The metallic thrumming noise is heard again from the centre console of the room and everyone immediately goes to hold onto something to stop themselves from falling down. Sam, Dean and I are still in shock whereas (Y/N) and the Doctor are just laughing giddily to themselves.

"What the hell is going on?" Dean shouts from beside me.

"Wait and see." (Y/N) says calmly. Once the room stops shaking, the Doctor and (Y/N), who seems to be a companion of sorts, walk out of the room and step out of the doors. "Come on guys." She calls to us. Looking at each other, we slowly walk out the TARDIS and are shocked to see that we've moved.

"What..." Sam says, not being able to think of a solution for our shift in space. Laughing, (Y/N) and the Doctor look at us all and just walk around the place, commenting on the different species of people around us. Apparently we are not on Earth anymore and are on a planet far away. The Doctor says he just wanted us to see something and felt random at the time. I get the feeling that this is a normal occurrence with him.

During the day, the three of us had become settled into the new enviroment, Sam asking the Doctor plenty of questions about the universe and Dean trying every food he came across. I went a separate way, following (Y/N) as she showed me plenty of different things from a variety of cultures.

"Hey Cas. You hungry?" She asked me as she pulled me towards a cafe of sorts. "This place has great food. You'll love it." For some reason, I felt a connection towards this human girl from the future. She was beautiful, but it was more than that. I felt like I'd known her my whole life.

"Yes. I am actually." I answered to which she just smiled a breathtaking smile and pulled me to a table near a water display of sorts.

"Any idea what you want?" She asked me and when I looked at the menu I had no idea. As an angel, I never required food, but now, as a human, it was needed to keep me alive. Shaking my head at her, she smiled and ended up ordering for the both of us. "You'll like it, I swear." She says to me before starting on her food once it had arrived. I copied her way of eating, with both hands, the strange yet delicious food. I hummed in delight at the food in my hands.

All day I had been getting to know (Y/N) better, both of us asking questions about the other. She was interested in the fact that I was once an angel as she said that she had never heard of my kind. "(Y/N), if you don't mind me asking, but why did you join the Doctor on his trips?" I anxiously asked, hoping I hadn't 'crossed a line' as Dean says.

"Why not?" She replies with a laugh. "I had nothing keeping me home and I saw an opportunity to see the stars. Plus, I couldn't not go. Who wouldn't want to see the whole of time and space?" Thankfully I hadn't upset her but I'm curious as to what she means by 'having nothing to keep her home'.

"Why wouldn't you have anything at home?" I ask quietly. Her face dropped and I immediately started to regret my question. "I... I'm sorry. Forget I asked." I hurriedly say before she cuts me off.

"No it's fine, Cas. Really..." She says before stopping for a second. "My parents gave me away when I was a child and I grew up in an orphanage with a bunch of other kids. I never had a real family and all I had when I was older was my job. I was a soldier in the army but I lost my friends and squad due to an attack and I couldn't carry on. So I left the army and met the Doctor. We've been travelling together ever since..." She says and my hand immediately finds hers. I don't know why, but her soft small delicate hand in mine feels right.

Smiling at her, I become lost in her eyes. Bright with happiness yet hurt from her past at the same time. A slap on my back brings me out of my thoughts, and I notice how I had unconsciously moved closer to her. Both of us jump away from the close proximity and I turn around to see the Doctor along with the Winchesters smiling at us knowingly.

"Well. As much fun as the day has been, you should probably get back. Come on. I'll take you three back home in the TARDIS now." The Doctor states before walking back to the blue box that brought (Y/N) to me.

Walking with Dean and Sam, the two ask me about (Y/N). "So what? You like her?" Dean asks with a grin.

"Maybe...I don't know." I answer but like isn't a strong enough word. There's just a connection between us two and I feel like she can see into my soul, if angels had one that is.

The two brothers laugh but quieten down by the time we arrive back at the TARDIS. All five of us enter the room and the Doctor immediately starts to set the controls to our time. The Winchesters and (Y/N) laugh about the differences between the present and the future as well as things they have seen today. The TARDIS starts making the same metallic thrumming noise and after a few seconds the Doctor opens the doors with a click of his fingers and I can see we are back where we started.

"Well. It was nice meeting you three. Today has been fun. If you ever have any alien trouble give me a call." The Doctor says before turning around to look at the screen once again.

"See ya Doc, Bye (Y/N)." Dean calls out with a wave before stepping out of the box.

"Yeah. Bye guys." Sam says before following his brother. Now I have to leave. I probably won't see her again.

"Goodbye Doctor. (Y/N)," I say, walking up to her where she is standing at the door saying goodbye to Sam and Dean. "I'll miss you. Goodbye." I reluctantly say before walking out of the box.

"Goodbye Castiel. I hope we meet again." She says with a smile and bright (E/C) eyes. She turns to close the door but I quickly grab her wrist.

"Stay with me." I ask her, wanting nothing more than to kiss her in that moment.

"I can't. I'm sorry. The Doctor... needs me. He can't be alone. It's not good for him." She answers, looking back at the Doctor worryingly. She told me how close the two were. Almost like brother and sister.

"Oh..." I say. Disappointment showing clearly on my face. "Well. Then I guess this is it." I reply, letting go of her wrist reluctantly. My hands already missing the contact.

She steps forward suddenly and grabs my face within her hands. She looms down at my lips before flitting her gaze to my ice blue eyes. I lean into her touch until I feel her soft lips brush against mine. I lose myself in the kiss, forgetting about the fact that I'll never see her again. My hands reach up to twist in her (H/L) (H/C) hair. After a minute we break apart.

She pulls away and steps backwards, back into the blue box behind her. "Goodbye Cas." She says with a sad smile that doesn't reach her eyes before closing the door between us. My shoulders visibly fall at that moment. Already missing the warmth I felt whenever she was near. After a few seconds the TARDIS starts humming that metallic noise and the wind around us starts to pick up slightly.

"Cas. You okay?" Dean asks me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"No. But she'll be happy with the Doctor. Seeing the stars." And with that I walked away, never forgetting the girl that stole my heart within a day. Hopefully I'll see her again...

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

History is often written by the rich and the powerful, how we see culture is often dictated by those on top and while that’s all interesting and such, what I’m interested in is: What’s it like to be poor/equivalent to lower class in Gallifreys society?

What's it like to be lower class on Gallifrey?

When you think of Gallifrey, you probably imagine the shining halls of the Time Lords, the great Capitol, and those iconic flowing robes with their weird peacock collars, but like many societies, Gallifrey also has its lesser-known layers ...

👽 The "Shobogan" Legacy

The term "Shobogan" originally referred to the Gallifreyans before they discovered the ability to regenerate. But over time, the word took on a very different meaning, becoming a slang term for any Gallifreyan who rejected the high society of the Time Lords. These people live in areas called Low Towns and have their own distinctive culture and even a form of writing. They're often blamed for vandalism and other rebellious acts. Over time, the term 'Shobogan' has expanded even more to apply more broadly to Gallifreyans who lived outside the Time Lord's pristine society, or socially rejected, or a general reference to the working classes (aka plebians).

🏙️ The Plebian Class

Plebians are the artisans, technicians, cleaners, engineers, and everyday folks who keep Gallifrey running while the Time Lords sit at the top of the social pyramid. Most of the population lives in smaller city complexes scattered across the planet.

These non-Time Lord Gallifreyans are generally prevented by circumstance from attending the Time Academy, which means they can never become Time Lords themselves. This separation keeps power in the hands of a select few, as non-Time Lords cannot hold significant positions of power.

🌌 Outsiders: The Rejected Ones

Now, for some Gallifreyans, rejection from society isn't enough. A small but notable group, known as Outsiders, choose to completely reject Gallifreyan technology and live off the land. They retreat to the wildlands of Outer Gallifrey, surviving at a stone-age or bronze-age level of technology. These Outsiders, often former Time Lords or those disillusioned by the system, live in yurts, hunt their food, and grow crops. It's a very hard life when you consider Gallifrey is quite a hostile environment.

👮 Watch Out It's The Watch

Worth mentioning here - when it comes to law and order on Gallifrey, the Watch is the enforcement arm. But most of the Watch comes from the plebeian classes—at least, from Gallifreyan families that can afford a commission.

Their duties include guarding the Capitol, escorting Time Lords, investigating crimes, and even dealing with labour disputes between the Time Lords and Shobogans. However, while they do carry weapons (strictly for ceremonial or defensive purposes), they're often untrained in actual combat. And since hardly any crime happens on Gallifrey (apparently), the Watch are perpetually bored, and tend to be quick to anger and aggressive when dealing with any violations, even if those violations are extremely minor.

🏫 So ...

So, here's the reality: unless you're born into one of the higher-ranking Gallifreyan families, the chances of becoming a Time Lord are slim to none. The divide between the Time Lords and the non-Time Lords is pretty well-established. Hmm, this all sounds very familiar ...

Related:

💬|⏰👽What does the Gallifreyan political and social environment look like?: Overview of the general structure of Gallifreyan society and politics.

💬|🧬👽What are the differences between Time Lords and Gallifreyans?: The biological differences between Time Lords and Gallifreyans, general overview

💬|🏺🧙What do Shobogans look like, and how are they different from modern Gallifreyans?: Various biological difference between Gallifreyans and their ancestors.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts→🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[incorrigiblyhuman]

Get To Know The Blogger!

tagged by:  @starcaptn​! tagging:  anyone who wants to do it!

FIRST NAME olive is what i go by with most folks!

STRANGE FACT ABOUT YOURSELF i do special effects makeup for student films, mostly injury and monster stuff! it’s all self-taught, but i’m finally taking an actual class on it this fall, so i’m pretty damn excited!

A FOOD YOU COULD EAT FOREVER AND NOT GET BORED OF oh my god, there’s this bacon jam burger that i had last year..........i think of you every day my queen

A FOOD YOU HATE mustard mustard MUSTARD WHAT IS THE HYPE ABOUT MUSTARD

GUILTY PLEASURE tbh i haven’t caught up with doctor who in a couple of seasons now, but i still try to go to the gallifrey one convention every year that i can! fourth doctor and ninth doctor episodes are my life!

WHAT DO YOU SLEEP IN whatever clothes i was wearing that day sdjk i don’t have the energy for pajamas.

SERIOUS RELATIONSHIPS OR FLINGS i tend to go for serious relationships myself, but i don’t judge what other people prefer. live your lives, have fun, do you!

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN THE PAST AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WOULD YOU AND WHAT WOULD IT BE? so much tbh but uhhh specifically i’d tell my 8th grade self not to listen to my mom’s constant demands that i cut my hair short, because that was not a pixie cut baby, that was a mushroom top.

ARE YOU AN AFFECTIONATE PERSON yeah! fuck me up dude, i love showing affection and getting affection!

A MOVIE YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN the matrix!!! GOD i love that movie!!!

FAVORITE BOOK this is illegal to ask me, someone whose room consists of piles and piles of books, but i will say inkheart and mean it with my whole chest.

YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP ANY ANIMAL AS A PET, WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE if i had a humane way of keeping a snow leopard as a pet i would be khary payton’s guy from walking dead in a heartbeat, but since i do not, i want a RUSSIAN BEAR DOG

TOP FIVE FICTIONAL SHIPS [IF YOU ARE AN RP BLOG, YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN SHIPS AS WELL] since this is my star trek blog, i’ll narrow it down to star trek ships: spones, mckirk, mcspirk, data/geordi, and just data/happiness.

PIE OR CAKE BOTH

FAVORITE SCENT smoked honey woods from bath and bodyworks.

CELEBRITY CRUSH mackenzie davis, specifically in terminator: dark fate but let’s be real, all the time

IF YOU COULD TRAVEL ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD YOU GO peru!!! i miss it

INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT closer to introvert!

DO YOU SCARE EASILY absolutely. my dnd group was playing the kids on bikes rpg at our last session and every time one of our party’s dog barked during a suspenseful scene i jumped a mile and a half. doesn’t stop me watching horror constantly tho, even though i will never sleep again!

IPHONE OR ANDROID iphone.

DO YOU PLAY ANY VIDEO GAMES star wars battlefront (1 and 2, but i’m better at 1 rip), any pokémon game, and any fire emblem game!

DREAM JOB i wanna ACT yo!!! partial to stage, specifically shakespeare and musicals, but i did screen as a kid and i wouldn’t mind dipping my toe in again!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A MILLION DOLLARS split it with my girlfriend so we could fly out and visit each other whenever we wanted!

FICTIONAL CHARACTER YOU HATE i have a lot more love to hate characters honestly, but i’m sick and goddamn tired of kylo ren so there’s that

FANDOM THAT YOU WERE ONCE A PART OF BUT AREN’T ANY LONGER i used to be so big on bbc sherlock, i’m so sorry to 2012 tumblr. but also fuck ya cringe culture and fuck ya chicken strips, andrew scott as moriarty was a godsend and it introduced me to the sherlock holmes books that remain some of my favorite works of literature of all time with a vengeance.

[burclay]

When the Music Stops

The Corsair and the Doctor have been dancing for centuries.

This time, the music changes.

AO3

Written for @thetransgirlwhoneverwas as part of @doctorwhoficexchange2019! Hope you like it!

It’s always been a dance, between the Doctor and the Corsair. 

They come together, then spin apart, through time and space, and pull together again. And in those moments, the times when they’re together, they never crash, never fall. It’s just the same exhilarating dance, spanning hundreds of years.

But the dance is over.

It’s been over for years.

But the Doctor still thinks about it. Thinks about what it’s like to dance. What it’s like to have someone on her level, on her side, running with her. 

She doesn’t really miss the Time Lords, but she does miss that dance.

And she doesn’t expect to be spun back into it a thousand years later.

It’s when she’s with the fam, trying to find a stolen relic. She’s grown accustomed to a new dance in the last thousand years, a clumsier one, with new steps and new partners and different music, and she’s going through its motions, stepping into another adventure, when the planet’s police show up and the music abruptly changes. 

It takes her a moment to recognize the tune. 

When she does, she almost cries.

Not on the outside, of course. On the outside, she slips into the steps effortlessly. It’s only after the adventure, once the relic has been returned to its original owners and the fam is trooping back into the TARDIS, that the Doctor breaks from the rhythm. She does it by saying, “Don’t suppose you’d like to have dinner with me?”

“Doctor,” the Corsair purrs. “Are you asking me on a date?”

The Doctor immediately flusters. She can’t help it— this regeneration has turned out to be much more embarrassed, on a fundamental level, than she’s ever let herself be before.

“Just want to catch up with an old friend,” she says. “Really, we can just pop into the TARDIS, have a cup of tea, and after that you can be on your way, if you like.”

“Already inviting me in,” the Corsair says.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” the Doctor replies, and she leads the Corsair inside.

And the music changes.

Yaz is in the kitchen when they get there, but she finishes making her food and clears out with the bowl pretty fast.

“I think I’ve scared her,” the Corsair says.

“What, Yaz?” the Doctor asks. “She’ll be all right. Tougher than she looks and all. Probably off to play games with Ryan or read in the library or something.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the Corsair says.

The Doctor looks at her. There’s still the same edge in her eyes, even though the eyes themselves are a new shape. 

“It does matter,” she says. “You know, if you’re trying to do what I do, that’s what you have to learn. Everything matters. Everyone matters. Even when they’re human and barely last five years in the TARDIS.”

“I thought humans lived almost a century,” the Corsair says.

“Some of them do,” the Doctor says. “They just always go back to a normal life after a while. Or they get hurt and have to leave. One got stuck in another universe. I could list ‘em all off if you wanted.”

“And you attached yourself to every single one,” the Corsair says. Her voice is soft, and suddenly the Doctor realizes what it means to have another Time Lord, someone else who is capable of understanding. She’s never thought she’d have this again, River notwithstanding, and it’s overwhelming, the difference it makes.

She shrugs.

“Suppose I did.” They’re still standing in the doorway to the kitchen, and the Doctor starts for the counter. “Tea,” she adds. “We were going to have a cup of tea. Maybe some sandwiches? I love a good sandwich. Say what you like about humans, they’ve perfected the sandwich.”

The Corsair follows her to the stove, and while the Doctor’s putting the kettle on, the Corsair rests a hand on her shoulder.

“Doctor,” she says. “You really haven’t been able to talk about yourself much, have you?”

“Well, have you?” the Doctor retorts, turning to give the Corsair a look. 

“Not since leaving Gallifrey,” the Corsair admits. 

“How long’s it been for you?” the Doctor asks, carefully. “Since you left?”

The Corsair’s composure slips, her mouth falling from its smirk. It’s like the music has stopped, and now she has to think of something to fill the silence.

“I’m not sure,” she says. “I wound up in some strange places.”

“A pocket universe?” the Doctor asks. She still has the cube with the Corsair’s message on it, tucked away in a closet. She still has all the cubes. 

“How did you know?” the Corsair asks.

“I was there after. Just for a bit,” the Doctor said. “It was your cube that lured me there, actually. How’d you get out?”

“If we’re being honest,” the Corsair says, “I’m still not sure. I was being torn apart, and then a moment later, I was back in this universe. I’m sure time passed in between, but I try not to concern myself with that.” Her composure has come back, her tone suddenly distant, and the Doctor feels the music start again, but now she doesn’t recognize the tune.

“What do you concern yourself with?” she asks. 

“I’m still deciding,” the Corsair says. “Didn’t mind kindness, though.”

“It gets harder,” the Doctor says.

The kettle whistles, and the Doctor takes down two cups.

“How do you like it?” she asks. “Milk? Sugar?”

“Don’t know yet,” the Corsair says. “Haven’t had tea in this body.”

The Doctor turns back to look at her. Her hair is long and shiny, her skin, unmarred. 

“How long have you been this way?” the Doctor asks.

“Fifty years, give or take,” the Corsair says. “But not a lot of cultures like tea nearly as much as you seem to, Doctor.”

The Doctor shrugs.

“Yeah, well,” she says, “that’s what I get for focusing in on just the one country, I suppose. Made lots of friends, though.” She puts a teabag in each cup, pours hot water over them. Hands the Corsair one, pours milk and sugar into the other for herself. 

“Your human friends,” the Corsair says, sitting down at the kitchen table. “How strange.”

“I quite like them,” the Doctor says. “They’re kind. Keep me honest.”

“Are you?” the Corsair asks. 

The Doctor freezes halfway to the table. “What?”

“Honest,” the Corsair says. She takes a sip of tea and makes a face. “Needs milk,” she says.

The Doctor picks the milk up off the counter and brings it over as she sits down.

“I try to be,” she says. “It’s hard. I’ve got a lot to lie about.”

“Do you?” the Corsair asks.

“They wouldn’t like me anymore,” the Doctor says. “If they knew everything.”

“Like what?” the Corsair asks, and suddenly the Doctor remembers that her message cube had mentioned the Time Lords, that she had entered that pocket universe before the Time War and been ejected after it was all over, and the Corsair doesn’t know yet what has happened to her people.

“Lots of things,” she says vaguely. “You weren’t there for most of them.”

“Enlighten me, then,” the Corsair says. And then, when the Doctor hesitates, she adds, “Or are you afraid I won’t like you either?”

As she says it, a sinking feeling in the Doctor’s chest tells her that the Corsair is right, she is afraid, but— 

But the Time Lords are the Corsair’s people too.

And if the Doctor is trying to be honest, to be kind, if she’s trying to do what’s right, well— 

It’s her duty. 

“I am,” she says. “A lot happened while you were gone. The sort of thing you can’t just go back and fix. The sort of thing you can’t ever go back to, really.”

And this isn’t a dance anymore. It’s not for fun. It’s not exhilarating. It’s just a hard conversation that needs to be had.

“What do you mean?” the Corsair asks, and she’s always been good at hiding her emotions, but now the Doctor can hear the tremor in her voice, see the fear on her face. It’s the look of someone who’s spent fifty years in denial, who doesn’t know what happened because she didn’t ask.

“A Time War,” the Doctor says. “The Last Great Time War. Thought it wiped out the Time Lords, except for me. Turns out it just sort of trapped them in a time lock, and then they all got stuck at the end of the universe.”

“So they were gone,” the Corsair says, “and now they’re back.”

“Sort of,” the Doctor says. “They’re stuck. Gone for all intents and purposes. And a lot died anyway. You know. People do, when it comes to war.”

“Anyone I know?” the Corsair asks. 

“I don’t know,” the Doctor says. “Yes, probably. I’m sorry. We can find out.”

The Corsair nods slowly.

“I knew something had happened,” she says. “I tried to reach out. No one answered.”

“I’m not really in favor there right about now,” the Doctor says, “or I’d offer to take you. Think they might execute me. ‘Course, that was a regeneration ago.”

“How many has it been for you?” the Corsair asks. “Regenerations, I mean. Since we last met.”

The Doctor can’t remember. 

“Enough,” she says. “I had to get a whole new cycle.”

“Lucky you,” the Corsair says.

“Lucky,” the Doctor repeats. “Suppose so.”

They’ve both forgotten their tea.

The Corsair reaches out, puts a hand on the Doctor’s wrist. It reminds the Doctor of River, and of Rose, both long-gone, but echoed in the care she sees in the Corsair’s eyes.

“How long has it been since you’ve rested, Doctor?” the Corsair asks. “Properly rested, not just fallen asleep on your feet.” She laughs, almost to herself. “You never did take care of yourself.”

“Oi, I’m fine,” the Doctor says.

The Corsair raises an eyebrow.

“Fine enough,” the Doctor amends.

The Corsair doesn’t break eye contact. The Doctor looks down at the spot where the Corsair’s hand meets her wrist.

“’S been a while,” she admits. When she thinks about it, she doesn’t think she’s had a proper rest since last time she saw River. That twenty-four-year-long night. 

The Corsair stands up. Her hand trails from the Doctor’s wrist to her hand.

“What are you doing?” the Doctor asks, even as she lets the Corsair pull her to her feet.

“Making sure you get some sleep,” the Corsair says. “Where’s your room?”

“Different every day,” the Doctor says. “If we start walking, the TARDIS’ll direct us.”

Sure enough, it only takes a few moments for the door to the Doctor’s room to show up. It slides open and the Corsair pulls her inside.

“Wow,” she says, looking around at the books, clothes, and unfinished projects spread across the floor. “You haven’t changed.” Her eyes go to the bed, which is shoved into one corner of the room, blankets tossed in every direction, and is mostly covered by a crawling ivy (the Doctor picked it up a while back and has been trying to tend it, but she’s never been the greatest green thumb).

“Oh, and I’m sure your room is perfectly tended,” the Doctor retorts, although the Corsair has always been organized and deliberate underneath her rough-and-tumble facade, the exact sort of person to keep her spaces neat.

“It’s called a cabin, actually,” the Corsair says.

“Forgot you had a pirate ship,” the Doctor says. “Drama queen.”

The Corsair lets go of the Doctor’s hand and marches right to her bed. She starts pulling at the ivy, twisting it away from the mattress, moving the leaves over and resting them on one of the Doctor’s other projects (a microwave from the ‘50’s that she’s been trying to upgrade, just for fun). She’s gentle about it, careful in a way the Doctor hasn’t seen from her before. The Doctor, for her part, just stands and watches, too blindsided to do much else.

Finally, the bed is relatively clear, and the Corsair moves back to the Doctor. 

“Come on, then,” she says, and takes the Doctor’s hand again. She backs up, and the Doctor follows until they’re both right up against the bed. The Corsair sits down, and the Doctor sits next to her. 

“I don’t think I know how,” she says, looking straight ahead.

“What do you mean?” the Corsair asks, her voice low.

“To rest,” the Doctor admits. “Don’t think I can do it.”

“Of course you can,” the Corsair says. She reaches over and, with a gentle hand to the Doctor’s cheek, turns the Doctor’s head to look at her. “I know don’t like to slow down, Doctor.”

“I can’t slow down,” the Doctor says, trying her absolute hardest to avoid the Corsair’s eyes. “There’s always things to do.”

“You’re outside of time,” the Corsair says. “There’s no rush.”

“I know,” the Doctor says, her voice quiet. 

“So why can’t you rest?” the Corsair asks.

The Doctor shrugs, a lump suddenly in her throat. The Corsair wraps an arm around the Doctor’s waist and lies down, pulling at the Doctor until she lies down too, nestled against the Corsair. Like this, facing away from the Corsair, eyes wide open, she feels a little safer.

“I don’t deserve this,” she blurts out.

“Is that what you think?” the Corsair asks. The Doctor can feel her mouth moving against the top of her head.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor says. “Sort of. And if I slow down I start thinking too much.”

“What’s wrong with thinking?” the Corsair asks.

“There’s too much to think about,” the Doctor says. “And not enough of it is good.”

The Corsair’s arms tighten around her, and the Doctor smiles despite herself.

“This is good, though,” she adds. Even though she’s still in her clothes, on top of the covers, with her shoes on.

“I know,” the Corsair purrs, her voice low in the Doctor’s ear.

If this is a dance, then it’s a slow dance, the sort of thing you do because you want to be close to the other person more than you want to dance. It’s careful, graceful, and the Doctor can feel her eyes closing, her hearts slowing down…

She wakes up some time later, only half-aware of where she is. For a moment she’s scared, but then she feels the Corsair’s arm on her waist, and soft breath on her neck, and she suddenly feels warmer than she’s felt in a long time. She wiggles around until she manages to roll over to face the Corsair, who is looking at her with half-open eyes.

“Did you sleep?” the Doctor asks. “Can’t go ‘round telling me to rest and then not sleep yourself.”

“A little,” the Corsair says. Her hair is still perfect, somehow. “But I sleep every night, Doctor.”

“Why?” the Doctor asks. “You don’t have to.”

“It’s time for myself,” the Corsair says. “Time to relax.”

“Don’t like relaxing,” the Doctor grumbles.

“Seemed all right with it a moment ago,” the Corsair says.

“That’s just ‘cause you’re here,” the Doctor admits, and immediately turns red. “I mean— just— it’s harder when I’m alone.”

“Guess I’d better stick around, then,” the Corsair teases.

“Nah,” the Doctor says. “I know you. You’re too much a free spirit to ever come with me.”

“I said I wanted to change,” the Corsair says. “Remember?”

And, slowly, the Doctor allows herself a glimmer of hope.

“All right, then,” she says. “Couldn’t hurt for you to try out a trip with us, at least. See how it goes.” And before she knows it, she’s rolling out of bed, getting back on her feet, reaching to pull the Corsair in the same direction. 

“Knew I couldn’t get you to stay still for long,” the Corsair says, but the spark is back in her eyes. They’re dancing again, a new, old, familiar, terrifying sort of dance, and the Doctor is thrilled.

[konigsfaerie]

All you want for Christmas is to spend the holidays with The Doctor.

You sighed, putting the last Christmas ornament on the green tree in front of you. No matter how glum you were this holiday, you had to admit: the tree really was beautiful this year. Your dad picked out a lovely one. It reached the ceiling with different colored lights wrapped all around it, some gold tinsel, and some silver, blue, red and green ornaments on it. The Christmas baubles stood out most of all, but the ones you loved most were the five different colored hummingbirds in remembrance of your grandmother. And of course the blue and red the shone the most. There was a picture of your mother in the center, with the words “love” “remember” and “mother” all around in silver cursive.

Your father put his Christmas record on the gramophone you got him last year. He had loved his records, and knowing that you could get him anything his heart desired, you picked music. It’s something both of you had always bonded over, especially since your mother’s passing. He could never afford such an extravagant purchase, and you knew he’d never treat himself to such a luxury. Not when he loved seeing the smile on your face when you opened something spectacular. It’s not that the gifts he’d give you were horribly expensive. They were just thoughtful, always perfect. Last year, it was a golden locket with your favorite picture of your mother. You had only taken the necklace off to shower all year.

But this Christmas was different. You had been traveling with The Doctor for two years now, and that was part of the reason you could get your father that gramophone. It was a genuine antique, taken from Frank Sinatra’s private collection. The Doctor had said he was a close friend, and you ended up having something called mulled wine in his home. It seemed to be a completely pleasant affair in your opinion, a change from the constant adventures you’d been having all year that usually ended with just barely escaping with both of your lives. Sinatra detailed a time where The Doctor saved his life from very robotic creatures. “Cybermen,” The Doctor mouthed with a wink. Sinatra mentioned that he owed him his life. In fact, you couldn’t think of any friend of The Doctor’s that he hasn’t saved one time or another.

Of course The Doctor would never think of it that way. The Doctor saves people because he enjoys it, because he genuinely loves helping. Not because he wants people to owe him a favor. Nevertheless, you eyed the multiple record players all lined up just around the fireplace. Each more beautiful than the next. They were clean, polished. You could tell he really cherished them. And then you thought about your dad, who absolutely adored Sinatra almost as much as your mother. He bought himself a cheap record player a few years ago, but he could always be found scrolling on eBay, looking at vintage gramophones and records.

You went from a small town life of going to the diner every Sunday night, eating a sandwich and sharing a piece of pie with your father, serving coffee at your local Starbucks just to save to move out, to going on impossible adventures with the best man you know. And of course when you have nothing else to do, you get lost in a good book. Usually fantasy. Amazing adventures, sword fights and worlds of magic you could only dream of. But when you met The Doctor, all of those dreams came true. Every time you looked out into the stars and saw something beautiful, you couldn’t help but whisper, “magic” under your breath. To which The Doctor always replied, “Magic is just science that we don’t understand yet.”

As you watched your father spread out the ladder and walk up each rung, you couldn’t help but wish The Doctor was here with you. You knew that The Doctor didn’t do holidays or family, but the thought of him drinking your dad’s jingle juice, eating your warm chocolate chip cookies and being his normal grumpy self warmed your heart. He had never met your father and you were almost certain your father thought he was entirely made up. It didn’t sit well with you knowing that you were warm inside your house stuffing your face with cookies, listening to a Christmas Sinatra album with your father, about to exchange presents when The Doctor was alone in the tardis, probably tinkering with some device or reading something in his library.

You handed the Christmas angel to your father. It was a beautiful but clear angel who holds out a bright and shining star. He smiled at you and put it atop the tree. “Thank you darlin’,” he said as he climbed down from the ladder and gave you a tight hug. “Is something wrong? You don’t seem your normal cheery Christmas self.”

Christmas was your favorite time of year by far. Just four years ago, your mother, her sister, grandmother and father would all be gathered by the fireplace, you drinking cranberry juice or hot chocolate, them drinking your father’s jingle juice or perhaps some hot buttered rum that your mother would mix up. It really was a family affair. Your family had never been large, but always close. Since your mother passed, one side of the family had grown apart from each other. Christmas never used to be lonely. The reality is that lately you had been lonely whenever The Doctor was too far away. You depended on him, and you hoped a small part of him depended on you.

“I just -- I just wish The Doctor was here. That’s all.” You gave your best fake smile, hoping it would fool your dad. But it never did. He could always tell when you were bluffing.

The two had never met, but you always talked about him. The only explanation you could think of was that you traveled together. Paris, London, Africa, any country that you had ever wanted to go to. Each culture more interesting than the next. Some of those stories you told him were even real. Actually, most of them were. You just left out the stories of meeting Jane Austen, Marsha P. Johnson and Frank Sinatra. God, he would go crazy if he knew that you met Sinatra. Sometimes you thought of the adventures you could have if The Doctor agreed to bring him on just once. You never asked though, because you were deathly afraid of rejection. Especially from him.

“I wish he would come around. It’s not right that I’ve never met him. I’m your father and I’ve never met the man you travel with almost 24/7.” You let out a large sigh as you knew he was happy for you. You never liked living in such a small town and wanted to travel badly. Your father would take you out of state every now and then because it was all he could afford, but he knew deep down that you just wanted to experience cultures that weren’t your own. Although he was happy about that aspect, you knew he didn’t completely approve of him, probably because he looked a lot older than you. If he only knew how much.

You sat down on the couch, tapping your cranberry-painted nails on the coffee table. “He just doesn’t like holidays.. That’s all. Sort of a rough time I imagine.” He’s mentioned to you that he had a whole family back on Gallifrey. So you couldn’t completely blame him for not wanting to be around this time of year. Or wanting to meet your dad. Still, it hurt that the person most important to you wasn’t here.

“I see. Well. I’m gonna check on dinner.”

You walked into the kitchen, grabbing a few warm cookies you made, piling on the jammie dodgers you made specially for him, and pouring some tea into a tumbler. “I’m just gonna step outside for a moment,” you muttered quickly, turning around so he wouldn’t see what was in your hands. You rushed out the door, walking just two streets down. The tardis was inconspicuously parked just a few blocks down from your favorite diner. You opened the tardis doors, seeing The Doctor using a screwdriver -- an actual screwdriver, not just a sonic one on something that looked like a cyberman head. “HA! And it works!” The Doctor proclaimed. “Genius,” he muttered.

“Uh, what is that Doctor?”

“Don’t you get it? It’s a Cyberman coffee pot! We can drink coffee out of a Cyberman now!”

“Riiight.” You stopped to think. This is what he was doing on Christmas? Christmas was supposed to be filled with family, alcohol and presents. Not screwdrivers and dead Cyberman heads. “Anyway, I brought you some food and tea.”

“Shouldn’t you be with your dad?” He got up off of the tardis floor, taking the plate of cookies and tea, setting the tea down on the console and munching on a jammie dodger.

“Yeah, he’s just cooking dinner.. so I came to see if you had eaten.” You looked down at your feet, something you always did when you lied. Plus, if you looked him in the eye, he’d probably see everything. See that you desperately wanted him to come to your house for dinner, to meet your dad, and more than anything you just wanted a hug from him because you hadn’t seen him in over two days. Which was far too long for your standards. You constantly traveled with him, breaking only to let the tardis rest and recharge.

“Thank you. Jammie dodgers are my favorite.” He gave you a small smile and still not having the courage to look at him, you turned on your feet.

“I know,” is all you said and immediately you exited the tardis. You started walking back to your house, kicking a rock out of the way. It was a mistake to see him, even if only to give him some of the cookies you made. Because now you really were sad. A tear fell down your cheek and immediately wiping it away, you felt stupid. It wasn’t personal at all. It’s not because he didn’t want to spend time with you. In fact, he would have wanted to go on some weird planet called Raxacoricofallapatorius.

When you got home, you shut the door behind you and leaned on it for a while, trying to gather yourself. “Something wrong?” The Doctor’s voice sounded.

You turned around as quick as you could, almost getting dizzy from it. “W-What are you doing here, Doctor?”

The Doctor was showing my father a few properly ancient records from his collection, and of course my father was eating it up. “You invited me over for Christmas, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but you said you didn’t do Christmas.” You were trying your hardest not to smile, not to give him the pleasure, but it was the hardest thing you had to do all week.

“I changed my mind. It was probably the jammie dodgers.” He gave you a small smirk, following your father into the dining room.

Dinner was a success. They talked music, arts, and literature they both loved. They got along great, and you could even tell he wasn’t faking being nice. Being nice doesn’t come easy to The Doctor. It’s a private rule of his that he has to offend at least two people in every room he enters. You let the two talk uninterrupted, only stopping to laugh and make a comment or two about adventures they’d had.

As your father finished up the dishes, you both sat next to each other on the couch. You had given him a glass of your mother’s famous hot buttered rum with a single cinnamon stick in it. You sipped on some more jingle juice, plopping a cranberry into your mouth. As your father walked into the room, The Doctor handed you a small gift wrapped in blue paper with stars all on it. It looked like what you see every night you open the tardis doors. “I got you something.”

“Really?” You beam, unraveling the paper to find a little brown box. You open it, finding a black jewelry gift box with gold trim. You slowly open it, savoring this perfect moment. Your eyes focus on a beautiful necklace, a blue tardis with small diamonds encrusted all over. It was perfect. “It’s beautiful.. I love it.” You turn to him, a bright small on my face. “Thank you so much, Doctor.”

He gives a smile back. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it. Here, let me put it on you.” He opens the clasp, moving your blown out hair to the side of your shoulder. The Doctor wraps the necklace around your neck, closing the clasp and letting it fall on your chest. The necklace falls slightly lower than the one that your father got you last year. It was the most perfect gift you’ve ever gotten. The necklaces represented everything you loved. Your mother, your father, the tardis and The Doctor.

“This is the best Christmas ever.” You gave him another smile as your father sat down and eyed the necklace. You guessed he didn’t know what to make of it.

“Is that a police box?”

“Yes,” The Doctor replied, giving a little smirk. “Just an inside joke.”

“Well, it’s beautiful.” Your father reached around the couch and handed you a gift wrapped in red gift wrap with green Christmas trees all on it.

You started unwrapping. One of your favorite parts about Christmas was giving gifts, but you never could wait to see the perfect gift your father gives you. It’s always so thoughtful. As you unwrap, your father explains. “I know you think scrapbooking is corny, but you can put all the pictures from your camera on it. When you’re old like me, you’re going to want to remember all of the impossible adventures you have.”

“Thank you, dad. It’s absolutely perfect as usual.” You leaned over to give him a big kiss on the cheek. It was perfect. Usually you were always too busy running with The Doctor to stop and document what you did, what you accomplished.

As you finished the night up, you couldn’t help but think about your father’s comment. The Doctor would continue living his life while you aged. While you got old. While his age might change, while his face might change, he’d never become truly old and decrepit. But you would some day. Would he really want to tote an old woman around with him?

It was already midnight, and your father had already said goodnight. We had desert, a few more cocktails, and had even played some card games. It was an amazing night, and it was all thanks to The Doctor. “Come on, I’ll show you the guest room.” Part of you thought that he would just go back to the tardis, but he followed you down the hall.

He grabbed your arm, stopping you in the hallway. “Did you have a good Christmas?”

You nodded, a smile spreading on your face. “Yeah. I really did.” You bit your lip, looking at your feet again.

“But?”

“But… I just.. I just wonder what happens when I’m old and you still look young.”

He gave a chuckle. “I don’t think I look young.”

“Not this time,” you corrected. “But there’s nothing wrong with you. You can run and fight and you barely need sleep. And if you ever really do get hurt, you can regenerate.”

He stared at you for a minute, trying to sum up all of your feelings. “I think you view our friendship differently than I do.”

You nodded, staring at your feet again. You braced yourself for the hurt feelings, for the tears.

“I travel with you not because you run fast or because you fight hard. I don’t love you because of what you can do. I can’t lie.. your strength and curiosity made me want to travel with you. But the reason I love to travel with you is because you’re a person I can be proud of to have in my life. No matter how old you get, no matter what happens to either of us..” He stops himself, taking a breath. “I’d travel with you forever if I could.”

You smiled at your feet, looking up. “I know you hate them, but-”

He didn’t let you finish as he wrapped both arms around your torso, hugging you tightly. “Merry Christmas.”