#i liked the plot but the interactions between the master and the doctor???

[biggest12fan]

The sea devils are getting added to my top ten homoerotic experiences list

[tootoomanycats]

CHAPTER 1 - That Bastard (A Kakashi x Reader Romance)

Summary: Kakashi is tasked with investigating a visitor whose peculiar behavior reveals deep grief over Jiraiya's recent death. Over three days, Kakashi discovers you are the beloved author of a series he has eagerly awaited updates on for over a year. Struggling with writer's block since losing your friend, the unexpected interaction sparks a connection that rekindles inspiration. As you both navigate the shared sorrow and newfound romance, its stands to be realized that healing and creativity may be closer than you imagined.

Warnings for THIS chapter: None

Master List

Pairings: Kakashi/Reader hinted at past Jiraiya/Reader

Word Count: 1,965 Words

Ao3 Link

Warning for this Story:

Reader is a smutty romance author

There will be smut

There will also be hate on Icha-Icha, trust me its for the plot

Please note that mention of Jiraiya's death is talked about, but its not super angsty. Think more comedy and light heartedness.

It is not specified what sexual power dynamics will happen during the smut.

Authors Notes: I want to start off by saying that the death date for Jiraiya is not something I just randomly chose, but is the date that “Episode 133: The Tale of Jiraiya The Gallant” was release on October 29th 2009 for viewers to be absolutely heart broken over. As hard as I tried to hunt for a last name, it seems that The Great Toad Sage was appropriate at coming up short for a real last name. Secondly yes there is smut in this story and it will have its own entire chapter. I am practicing on writing short stories and I hope to make this story happen in three chapters! So hold on to your hats folks because chapter two is where the fun and tension begins! Also please remember that fanfic authors live off of Likes, Kudos and Comments filled with conversation and praise. Have you fed your author today?

Chapter 1 - That Bastard

The receptionist nervously pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, the lenses reflecting the harsh fluorescent lights of the office. Her fingers trembled slightly as she handled the certificate, her eyes darting between the official document and your anxious face. The confused expression you wore made it clear that the news you were about to receive was entirely unexpected.

“I’m sorry, miss,” she said softly, her voice tinged with sympathy. “He passed just last year.” With a sad sigh, she extended the document towards you, her gaze dropping to avoid your eyes.

You scoffed in disbelief, gripping the certificate tightly, your knuckles whitening as you shot an exasperated look at the young woman behind the desk. Sure, it had been months since you last received a letter from him, but for him to go through all this just to avoid his work and you? It seemed absurd, even for him. He had always been elusive, skirting responsibilities and commitments, but faking his own death? That was a new low. You could already imagine the confrontation: finding him and giving him the earful of the century for this elaborate ruse.

But as your eyes drifted down to the neatly typed words on the paper, a chill ran down your spine, freezing you in place. The breath caught in your throat, and the room seemed to blur around the edges as you read the stark, unyielding truth.

There it was, in bold, unforgiving letters accompanied with the coroners official stamp sealing the grim reality:

Jiraiya ‘The Great Toad Sage’

Birth: November 11 Death: October 29th

You read it, and then reread it.

Your hands clenched the edges of the stiff paper, the rough texture and filigreed corners confirming its authenticity. The coroner's red stamp and the doctor's signature beneath it further solidified the harsh reality. Desperately, you scanned the document for any clue, any sign that it wasn't real, that this was some elaborate mistake.

In the end, it was fruitless.

He was gone.

Your muscles twitched, starting with your upper lip, causing the skin on your nose to wrinkle slightly. Your eyebrows furrowed harshly, deepening the lines you so hated in the middle of your forehead. The sound of your teeth clenching and the click of your jaw echoed through your head, reverberating painfully in your mind. In a swift motion, you looked up at the ceiling, refusing to let the stinging tears fall. As the square and dotted ceiling tiles came into focus, you took a long, deep breath before screaming out.

"THAT BASTARD!"

It was the receptionist's gasp that jolted you back to reality. A quick glance over your shoulder revealed a line of people had formed, their shocked expressions mirroring her own. Embarrassment burned at the tips of your ears as you handed back the paper, mumbling a quick apology before turning to leave the office building. If asked, you would lie and say you walked calmly to the doors you had entered through, but the truth was you ran so fast you were sure an outline had been left behind where you had stood.

The sliding doors opened to reveal a sun glaring down from its high, centered position, large, beautiful white clouds climbing into the stratosphere and sprinkling across the sky. A cool, light breeze carried the scent of blooming wildflowers planted around the streets, where butterflies fluttered lazily. It really was the most perfect-looking day.

"What a shit day to find out your friend’s dead," you grumbled, kicking at a loose pebble on the sidewalk. "Should be raining, dark, and freezing cold. How is someone supposed to mourn in this?"

—

It had been hours since you found out he was gone, and in that time, you had managed to get quite a few steps in. You walked the entire perimeter of the village three times, wandering into multiple retail shops like an apparition. Dragging your feet around and back out to the streets, you missed the uncomfortable glances from shop workers each time you reentered, your pale skin, swollen eyes, and red nose telling the story of your grief.

It was only when the ache in your feet grew too loud to ignore that you finally looked up from the ground. The moon had started to rise, casting a soft glow as the sky darkened into night, and a few stars blinked into view, timidly announcing their presence. Throughout the long walk, you had oscillated between softly sniffling and bawling your eyes out, depending on how populated the area was around you.

A particularly large sniffle brought a warm, aromatic smell wafting into your numbed senses, causing a growl to resonate from your stomach. With that one sense coming back to life, it felt as though the rest of your body seized the opportunity to make its grievances known. A headache, born of dehydration and hunger, throbbed from the base of your shoulders up into the juncture where your neck bones met your skull. The pressure in your sinuses only added to the headache's intensity. Your knees creaked with each step, and sharp pain shot through your shins.

Turning your head, you followed your nose toward the source of the enticing smell. You found a small ramen stall with only six bar seats, all of them empty. Your body moved before your mind registered what was happening, and you found yourself sitting in the low light of the intimate stall. The ache in your feet lightened as you settled onto the soft, well-worn cushion of the seat, the leather creaking gently under you as your hips adjusted to a more comfortable posture.

Having a moment before someone from the back noticed a customer, you took the opportunity to lean both elbows on the bar and unceremoniously plopped your tired, puffy face into your open palms. A groan formed in the back of your dry throat as the pressure from your hands helped alleviate some of your persistent headache. You rocked your skull up and down, the motion dragging and pulling at the overly tight muscles of your brow, cheeks, and jaw, coaxing them to relax slightly.

“Welcome In!”

An overly cheerful voice caught you off-guard. Peeking between your index and middle fingers, you saw a simple menu being held out for your perusal. It listed only three basic ramen bases, accompanied by a longer list of sides and extras that could be added on. Sitting up straight, your back popping and cracking as it straightened, you gently reached out to accept the menu and examined it further. Glancing up at the older gentleman who had handed it to you, you offered a grateful nod. It must have been painfully obvious how exhausted you appeared, judging by the sympathy in his smile before he turned back to his ingredient preparations.

Returning your focus to the menu, your shoulders slumped at the reflection staring back from its laminated surface. Raccoon-like makeup streaked from runny mascara, with red, puffy eyes peering out from beneath the smudged lines that once neatly adorned your eyelashes. Lips cracked and parched from dehydration framed a deep-set frown that seemed permanently etched on your face. Dear god. Even the meticulously styled hair you had spent hours on that morning now resembled a rat's nest.

You were definitely not looking forward to trying to untangling that later.

Another growl rumbled from your stomach, louder this time, making its presence known to those nearby. Sitting down seemed to intensify the sensation of hunger, especially being so close to the source of that tantalizing aroma, which only amplified your craving.

Turning back around, the worker asked if you were ready to order, and without hesitation, you placed your order: an extra-large bowl with double portions of ramen, soaked eggs, cheese, and noodles. The man nodded approvingly and swiftly went to work, knowing you needed the food desperately.

Once the steaming bowl of nourishment was placed in front of you, you attacked it with ferocity. The hot broth warmed your insides, and the new influx of calories and nutrients began to revive your depleted body. As you ate, tears welled up once more, dripping into the broth below, mixing with the savory flavors.

Kakashi remained perched in the tree just behind Ichiraku Ramen, silently observing the individual he had been ordered to track. The briefing with Tsunade had been brief and to the point, providing minimal information gathered so far. A few shop workers had voiced concerns about a suspicious person entering their shops multiple times throughout the day, raising fears of a potential thief. Additional updates from the front gate security confirmed sightings of a woman walking the village perimeter around the same time as the suspicious guest at the shops.

With most other ninja occupied on missions or assisting with preparations for a possible attack, there were only a few available to gather more intelligence and determine whether this person posed a threat to the village's safety. Kakashi sighed, recalling how the Hokage had emphasized his role in handling this assignment. The others available were still in training, yet to embark on their first mission.

So far, the person in question had appeared to be a mess, but Kakashi had yet to observe any signs of truly worrisome behavior other than the constant crying.

Even while eating.

Kakashi watched from his perch as you placed a significantly larger sum of payment onto the table, easily three times the price of the meal. You were speaking with Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, who bowed repeatedly and tried to return the excess money. With an exhausted smile, you shook your head and instead asked a question that the ninja couldn't make out. Teuchi responded while pointing in a specific direction, waving kindly as you began to walk down the empty, dimly lit street as directed.

The night had settled over the village, casting long shadows and a quiet stillness broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves in the breeze. The usual night time sleepiness made itself know as he adjusted his position in the tree, body starting to protest keeping still for too long. All while keeping a careful eye on you.

The empty streets amplified every sound – the soft shuffle of your footsteps, the distant hoot of an owl, the creak of a sign swaying in the breeze. Kakashi shadowed you discreetly, blending into the darkness with practiced ease. He noted the way you glanced around nervously, as if expecting shadows to come to life.

As you turned another corner, Kakashi's keen senses picked up on a faint murmur of conversation ahead. He narrowed his visible eye, maintaining a safe distance while ensuring he didn't lose sight of you. Whatever your mission was, Kakashi knew he had to remain vigilant. As odd as this stake out was becoming.

Following closely behind, he watched as you turned back and forth through multiple blocks until you came to a stop in front of one of the few hotels in Konoha. Ringing the front desk bell, you completed the transaction with the attendant and received a key. Luckily it was easy to observe through the few windows of the stairwell as you ascended to the top floor. Luck again on his side as the windows of the room you had chosen, faced the tall tree where Kakashi was already positioned.

Entering the room in total darkness, it was easy to follow where you walked inside when a lamp was turned on next to the single bed. He chuckled when you unceremoniously fell onto the bed, passing before your head even hit the pillow. The bedside lamp, clothing, and shoes were still on as you drifted off. Peacefully unaware, the ninja outside disappeared from thesite for the evening.

[trashboatprince]

I've been listening to the Big Finish stories for about four years now, and I've come to find that I honestly enjoy the way the characters are written and performed in them better than they are in the show.

Like, we get more stories out of these guys, with more ways to expand on the plots and characterizations. I like learning more about the Doctors and their companions. And the fact that four of the Doctors are actually allowed more stories since their on-screen time was so limited (especially Eight, that man only has the movie and two on-screen moments, everything else is expanded media).

But one of my favorite things is just the strange and fun things added to the characters' lore in stories.

Here are some of my favorites:

-Donna wears Crocs when she's on vacation, and it was a running joke through an audio adventure

-Ten ate melted marshmallows coated in melted plastic

-This came from a whole adventure with Ten, Donna, Sylvia, and Wilf and I adore this story, even if it's full of really bad, cringy 'flirting' between Ten and Donna. I'm sorry, but second hand embarrassment and I are not friends, haha.

-Eight was on a game show once and he won

-There is a whole audio series of Eight and two of his companions stranded in 2020, and the audio was recorded before COVID so... yeah, haha. It also has the Curator as a character in it!

-He also seems to have memory issues in stories, and it's a lot more frequent than you'd expect

-Six had to dress in the clothes of a dead Santa Claus in order to not be killed by a cult that worshipped fictional characters

-Six and his companion Evelyn befriended two of Burke and Hare's last murder victims, one of them played by David Tennant. The story is actually really good but leaves me feeling empty whenever I finish listening to it.

-Speaking of characters played by David Tennant that aren't the Doctor, Seven and Ace had to deal with a N*zi played by him that had a very, VERY horrific sounding death due to the TARDIS. Seven canonically had to install a program to prevent anyone else from dying such a death. This was David's first ever role in a DW project.

-Ten has the weirdest relationships with Four, Five, and Six. He seems to begrudgingly respect Four (and vice versa), fanboyed over Five, and basically had a buddy comedy adventure with Six against Weeping Angels.

-Why does it seem like Eight travels mainly with lesbians?

-Eleven and Fifteen have teamed up in an audio story before, but we don't hear Fifteen. But it's nice to know that he has interacted with more than just Fourteen. Hope we one day get a Fifteen Doctor audio series.

-Nine is canonically aromantic! Which explains a lot, but it makes his relationship with Rose a lot more meaningful because the aroace identity is a spectrum and Nine is somewhere on there. But I love that this is a canon thing, it makes me very happy to hear.

-This is more of an opinion than anything else, but River is a thousand times more interesting in the audio stories than in TV canon. Probably because she isn't just talking about the Doctor, she's doing things, she's actually funny and entertaining, and while she does flirt, she knows when to pay attention to the situation and actually be part of it without being all 'femme fatale'. Probably helps that she's not being written by Moffat, who always writes her one handed. :\

-The War Master is terrifying and I'm kinda sad that the fandom doesn't do much with him. Same with the War Doctor.

-Ten fought a plant version of himself with Leela and it's probably the audio story I've listened to the most. I am obsessed with the Spriggan and I don't know why. Maybe it's because of David's gremlin voice he uses for him.

-Jackie's stories about Tentoo fill my heart with joy, I adore the friendship they have

-Jackie, Lady Christina, and Six make for an awesome team

-Six and Peri had to solve a mystery at an women's college, which meant Six had to be the companion

-Seven and Ace got stuck in a situation against an enemy that uses words to manipulate people, specifically around the words forty-five (this is due to the story being for the 45th anniversary of the series)

-Ten and Missy are the weirdest MasterDoctor couple, but damnit, they make me laugh. Also, this is the third time David and Michelle have acted together (they did the Loud House movie as the main Scottish characters, and they are Scrooge and Matilda McDuck)

-Ten can canonically sing Italian opera

-Rose, Jackie, and Ten teamed up together through shenanigans to save a British town from an 'invasion'.

-Donna has almost been married to a prince

-Eleven and Twelve got trapped in a morgue together to deal with someone trying to harm them, it is a very weird story and the very first one I ever got from Big Finish (because it was free!)

-I won't spoil anything, but Chimes of Midnight is one of the most intense stories I have listened to and I think it's due to just how complicated the story gets. I highly recommend it.

-There is an audio story that is connected to a novel and an episode. Time Reavers is connected to In the Blood, a novel that takes place just after the Library episodes.

-Ten tells Rose that gender is basically a dumb, human concept

-Ten has a cellphone, he just doesn't like to use it

-Apparently he does not mind being arrested, because it usually means he can talk to whoever is in charge

-He spent time with Jane Austen, who is a monster hunter, and a very cruel one at that because she collects trophies. He thought about her traveling with him, but he's terrified of her. This makes Crowley's knowledge of her hilarious because apparently according to both of these DT characters, she has done a lot more than just writing novels

-Ten hates tourist-y stuff, like queue lines and and tours. He also doesn't like hats due to them messing up his hair.

-Donna can play the piano

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3)

An embarrassment, frankly.

After playing Forces and actually liking it, I figured I'd give a chance to the franchise's biggest punching bag. Turns out that in this case, I agree with the popular consensus: Sonic 06 is broken and unfinished, with a messy story, bad controls, and crippling performance issues. I've heard it described as entertainingly bad, but I just can't go along that far; I had a miserable time with this game. Let's get into it, shall we?

Although I'm still not ready for my Sonic doctorate, I'm progressing well in my studies. I've played enough of Adventure to pick up that Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) is trying to be Adventure 3 in all but name (and speaking of the name, this game is not to be confused with the Mega Drive game, or the Master System game, or any of the handhelds or animated shows or comics or movies of the same name... the title is the first of many stupid decisions in Sonic 06). A big group of playable characters, more open levels than what would come later, exploration of hub areas, and a heavy focus on story and cutscenes with interweaving plot threads. It's fine in theory, it's just that every individual piece breaks down in various ways. As opposed to previous Adventure games, there are just three main stories (Sonic, Shadow, and new character Silver who is basically just Dragonball's Trunks) with the other hangers-on popping up only temporarily within certain levels.

Sonic's story, such as it is, revolves around Elise, a filler character who is a gormless and feckless human princess and frequent damsel in distress; she gets kidnapped out of nowhere at least five times and dies in a plane crash once, necessitating time travel-based rescuing. Elise’s role in the story when she’s not being kidnapped is alternately mooning, pining, emotional outbursts, and having a tragic backstory. Also, on several occasions Sonic the Hedgehog literally tells her she should smile more. Textbook misogyny, WTF. On top of this is the uncomfortable subplot about a potential romantic connection between her and Sonic, which always fails to feel earned or appropriate. The one saving grace of the character is the mildly amusing idea that her design is loosely based on the chicken animal that you free from badniks in the early games.

I know it sounds harsh but Elise almost single-handedly drags down the whole "story" aspect of this game. After progressing Sonic's mode you unlock the others and theirs almost feel like real plots, centering around stopping Iblis—the mindless beast of fire who ruined Silver's future—and Mephiles—a scheming creature of shadow—before they reunite. Even these stories don't really hold together though with their disjointed plotting, time-hopping, and contrived interactions. Not to mention the utter humourlessness, and the sheer awkwardness of everything from writing to line-readings to mocapped movements. The fact that it's seemingly incompatible with Blaze's backstory in Rush was annoying to me personally, and ending the story with a closed time loop "it never happened" resolution is just the icing on the rotten cake.

I must also mention another decision made in Sonic 06: why game look like that? It falls into the trap of early HD striving-for-realism and falling far short, but it also feels unfitting for Sonic. After all, the hedgehog himself and his anthro friends are as cartoony as ever (almost expressionless faces notwithstanding), so putting them next to the human-looking humans really jars, especially the redesigned Eggman. And speaking of, his robot army is at its most militaristic and entirely whimsy-free... just another in a long line of missteps for ol' 06.

Now all this could be swallowed if the game was fun to play. You should be able to predict that indeed it isn't. Sonic's playstyle is the stinkiest of the lot, particularly the autoscrolling running sections that feel barely functional and were the biggest cause of lost lives (I did not appreciate starting over a ten-minute level due to these abominable segments). His moveset is simple, just a homing attack and not much else, and without a targeting reticle it's unpredictable. He has some sloppily implemented extra powers that are unlocked in a shop; hilariously they're supposed to drain your special bar but due to some error they just don't, so you can use them infinitely for what that's worth.

Shadow is similar, with a combo attack and ranged stunning bolts, but also has a lot of vehicle sections which while awkward are playable enough; meanwhile Silver plays like an entirely different game. His psychokinetic powers let him pick up and throw enemy projectiles and physics objects. It's janky but his slower-paced, almost puzzley levels felt ever so slightly less like the game was constantly falling apart at the seams. There's 9 playable characters in total and none of their abilities work very well; among the others Knuckles and Rouge were pretty fun with their gliding and climbing completely breaking level design, while Blaze (another big reason I wanted to try this game, an opportunity to play as my favourite character in 3D) has a fun moveset with a double jump and a homing attack that actually keeps momentum and flings you around. Like everything in the game it's slippery and totally jank but in a way that actually feels fun sometimes.

I even sprung for the "Team Attack Amigo" DLC (now only available on PS3!) which remixes the levels for play as Tails, Blaze, and Omega (aka projectile spam bot). I should say that each campaign takes you through the same nine levels, sometimes making them new, sometimes reusing whole segments which gets old. The lowest point of the low are the boss fights, another area where the phrase "barely functional" comes to mind. These are tedious to the extreme with a lot of waiting, and several of them recur in each campaign. The worst is fighting Silver, who can instantly grab you psychically and hold you for a long pause before throwing you, and then catch you again as you recover with no chance to make any input. Wonderful!

The elephant in the room for Sonic 06 is its performance. I guess being rushed to release in an unfinished state actually has its downsides, which take the form of horrendous slowdown throughout the entire game experience. Having seemingly almost any number of objects or any amount of level geometry on screen starts making the game chug, the action not dropping frames but rather slowing to a crawl as you agonisingly float mid-jump waiting for your next input to register. And this is despite having pretty severe pop-in not too far away from your character. For what's supposed to be a fast-paced action game it's frankly unforgivable. And speaking of things that you wish ran faster, the loading screens are interminable not just for their length but their frequency: deign to do a side mission and you'll sit through a long load both before and after a character gives a tiny snippet of dialogue until you're allowed to try it, and if you fail then get ready to do it all again! They really add up!

I could go on: the camera is atrocious, the music is forgettable, Elise is incredibly cringe-inducing—oh wait, I covered that already. To be fair there is one bright shining spot and it's from my new old friend Tomoya Ohtani: the main theme His World stands among my favourites from Forces, a strong melody that mixes rock and orchestral with even some rap and makes it work! Watching the credits four times may have been the most pleasant part and it's all thanks to this song. So that's my big takeaway from Sonic 06: the rumours are true, it sucks big time, don't play it unless you're a real loser like me who doesn't value their time, it's a monument to Sega's staggering incompetence, but hey this one song is really good, maybe give it a listen!

[lgwilt]

10 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @loki-is-my-kink-awakening and @boredintjqueen, thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

A grand total of 10

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

143,259

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I’m currently hopping between wips for Lokius and M*A*S*H (I haven’t posted anything M*A*S*H-related yet, but I'd like to), and semi-actively working on wips for Doctor Who/Life on Mars and Big Finish’s Gallifrey audios. (I'm starting to think prioritisation might be an issue...)

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely!! 💖 Even if it isn't always right away. Comments mean the world, and it’s genuinely a joy to interact with people who love these characters/fandoms as much as I do.

I used to be very shy about leaving comments on fics, but I'm making up for lost time—there's so much talent and love and enthusiasm in each and every one of the fandoms I've engaged with.

5. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

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

No, but I'd be open to the idea.

7. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Ohhh this is tricky.

Mulder/Scully was formative, Doctor/Master is the template for one of my favourite ship dynamics (friends/lovers -> enemies -> ???), obviously I adore Lokius... the list goes on (and on).

No, I give up, I can’t choose. 

8. What are your writing strengths?

Hmmmm.

Character studies, drawing out patterns and overarching Themes™️, building up (piling on?) the angst/emotional tension (or maybe that's just what I enjoy the most, which isn't necessarily the same thing).

Coming up with last lines for chapters or fics is one of my favourite parts of the writing process—I almost always start out knowing exactly how I want a chapter or story to end (then get tangled up in knots trying to get there).

9. What are your writing weaknesses?

Starting with the Big Emotional Scenes and then scrambling to come up with a coherent plot to provide a framework.

Overworking individual sentences/paragraphs (and losing the natural "flow").

Trying to cram all my favourite things into the same scene/chapter/fic (usually a chaotic mess of ideas, disconnected phrases, snatches of dialogue), even when it clearly isn't working. I need to pin "murder your darlings" to my wall.

Relatedly, I write out of order, so I end up spending an inordinate amount of time fretting over how to join the dots between scenes (or within scenes). Sometimes/often I feel like the cracks I've poured cement over are still visible.

10. First fandom you wrote for?

If we’re talking very first? Probably Lord of the Rings when I was in my early teens.

The first fanfic I tried writing as an adult was a Tenth Doctor/Simm!Master epic back in 2015 (which tragically remains unfinished).

First fic posted to AO3 (or anywhere!) was for Doctor Who/Big Finish Eighth Doctor Adventures/Torchwood (posted in 2022, written in 2016).

No-pressure tagging (and probably double tagging) @insert-witty-user-name-here @mirilyawrites @blackbirdofasgard @dewdropreader, and anyone else who sees this 💚

[synthient]

Open questions about Rogue-Master

Because I'm very confident that this reveal is coming, but I have a much less concrete idea of how it'll be executed

Does the Doctor know:

My first impulse would probably be no; his emotional reactions seem a little too genuine + I kind of doubt he would have let Ruby think she was genuinely about to die. But then again, his companions' feelings and wellbeing do seem to take a backseat a lot of the time when his evil ex is involved. (or Ruby could have been in on it a la the Sutekh confrontation?). There are a few moments where the Doctor's interactions with Rogue feel a little pointed/bait-y. And it would be really funny if Rogue does his big reveal-flourish, the audience gasps, and then the Doctor immediately takes the wind out of his sails by going "haha yeah babe, I've known since the balcony ;)"

How plugged in is Rogue to the A-plot:

On one hand, I think we're building to a season 2 storyline that's significantly about the Doctor's backstory and the time lords, so it seems like a no brainer for the Master to be a major player. On the other hand, I could actually see Rogue-Master as a plausible self-contained B-plot: we get one (1) Rogue Returns episode, the reveal happens, they fight and make out, and Rogue fucks off on a flirty "maybe we'll fight and make out again another day ;)" note. Or, some compromise between the two, where after the Rogue Returns ep he shows up one more time to dramatically help the Doctor during the season finale ("get out of the way" callback?)

Is Rogue's boss real/who are they:

Seems like a superfluous detail to his cover story, so I suspect there's some truth there. Maybe whoever picked up the tooth has been exerting some kind of control over him ever since? Either making him do actual bounty hunter missions, or sending him after the Doctor specifically? (If it was Mrs. Flood, then that's a point toward A-plot involvement). Or maybe it was just another one of his signature Total Lies

Was he working with the Chuldurs the whole time, was he hunting them for real (as an assigned mission if the boss is real?), or did he he stumble across them and use them to his advantage:

Not a huge deal to the overall storyline, but could be any of the above I think (though his Bird Ship is certainly suspicious)

Is Rogue-Master a major villain/the big bad:

I lean pretty strongly toward no on this one. If he's self-directed, I think the disguise is probably little more than a 'getting my ex to take me back' scheme, and/or foreplay. If he's working for Mrs. Flood/the time lords/the real big bad, then I think he'll probably dramatically turn on them at the 11th hour. I could of course be wrong, but at this point I think "the Master's around but he's not Behind It All, he's just vibing" would actually be more of a twist

Could Rogue become a companion Missy-style:

Sadly, I think there are several points against this: a) Groff lives too far away for more than periodic guest appearances to be likely. b) unclear how many seasons we're going to get, so if the reveal happens in mid-to-late s2, then that may already be too late. c) "and what if I like what I do? Would you travel with me?" seems to be setting up that even in a best case, truce/back together scenario, they'd have more of a long distance thing with occasional run ins/hookups. Would be fun, however

Could Rogue be a new antagonist/someone other than the Master/working for the Master:

It's possible! It'd be less fun and hot to me personally. And I get very strong they already know each other vibes from both performances. But a "he's not the Master but he was lying his ass off" reveal seems more likely to me than no reveal at all

[thirddoctor]

What is your favourite of the Doctor-less Master stories? And do you think it works better with some Masters than others?

Oh, unquestionably The Master and Margarita (though the Doctor does show up in a hallucination in that one and is referred to quite frequently). Face of the Enemy is also pretty decent as I recall. Those are the only two standouts I can think of; most of the others are mid at best.

I'm not sure how much the incarnation matters, because the difficulty with this kind of story stems from the way the character was conceived. The Master was created to stand in opposition to the Doctor both literally and thematically. They act as mirrors to each other, and we learn a lot about them through that contrast - how and why are they similar? How and why are they different?

Without the Doctor, the Master is frequently just a generic bad guy. Their relationship with the Doctor is a huge part of what makes them unique amongst other DW villains (not that there aren't other interesting things about them, but this is the big one). Their dynamic can also carry a lot of otherwise mid stories - writing fun interactions between them is a lower bar to clear than writing a compelling plot.

Also, a heroic protagonist is generally easier to write than a villain protagonist. In a villain-led story, we either have to watch the character we're following lose, or we have to watch them get away with hurting a lot of innocent people, both of which become kinda depressing after awhile. This is the main thing that turned me off the War Master audios. Like, it's absolutely possible to pull off a villain protagonist well, but it's tricky and requires more care than I think a lot of the endless boxsets churned out by Big Finish allow for.

So yeah, it's not that you can't do a Master story without the Doctor - I think you could make it work with any of the Master's incarnations - it's that it's much harder to get right. When I look at Master stories or scenes that I enjoyed where the Doctor was absent, almost all of them either still had a strong character for the Master to play off of, or were still connected to the Doctor in some way.

[variousqueerthings]

Well, you don't steer the Tardis, you negotiate with it. The still point between where you want to go and where you need to be, that's where she takes you.

We've headed to Bill's second proper episode. The Doctor is in a somewhat non-dissimilar position to back in s3, but not spiralling into a series of suicidal urges (well...) -- in the sense that we're at "taking on a new companion is Not allowed because I'm sad (and in this case because the Master is being held in the cellar), but... well, wouldn't it be nice?" the difference between Bill and Martha is manifold, it's just interesting to imagine character change in the Doctor, who's consciously got not just Martha, but all of his companions in mind when he's interacting with Bill... and, possibly, Susan a bit, considering that picture in episode 1. Bill, to me, feels correct in being the final companion of this era, she ties a lot of emotional themes together going all the way back to Rose, and her greatest trait to me is all the questions she asks/the kinds of questions she asks

right now Bill is following the Doctor with the knowledge that out there in space, her almost-not-girlfriend-turned-puddle-creature is also hanging around...

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 9/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 5/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 5/10

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this season, I tellya. I like this episode despite its flaws (flaws which come from some deeeply ingrained scifi tropes that are due a good Poking at)

OBJECTIFICATION: Woooo, we've done it! none of this Nonsense. also Bill's top is cute, and feels to me like something that didn't come out of a fashion catalogue -- I just mean by this that she's someone without a bunch of money, she'd probably have some Fits that she's really into and this gay top gives off that vibe

PLOT-POINT: Bill really engages with how she feels about travelling and the kind of adventures she's in (ofc we see even more of that in the next episode). in this one she's noticing that the Doctor runs into danger and tries to get her out of the way, and simply follows after, because she thinks there's something kind of destructive and lonely about that behaviour -- and this is what leads her to figuring out key parts of the plot as well

there's also this neat moment where there's a statue of perhaps Nefertiti and Bill stops and compares herself for a moment, and it feels very "I'm Black and I'm in space and I have both history and future" which is part of what her story is about -- before the Doctor she was very much floating from one day to the next, with all these questions she didn't have the privilege to be able to ask and have respected and answered. the Doctor really functions so often as a professor in their stories, being really indulgent with these questions, but still challenging her to figure things out for herself and letting her challenge him when she notices the flaws in his logic (or in the next episode, gaps in his truth)

COMPLEXITY: it's relatively easy to follow the twists and turns of this one, and they're quite good twisty-turns. the one thing I question is its ending, and a bit of its buy-in, but that's about Politics

I liked the feeling of this one though. I liked what it wanted to say, at heart, and I liked a fair bit of how it said it

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: Bill's first own adventure. She's noticing that the Doctor has a tendency to run into danger. she's having some feelings about what the future of humanity might look like. it's not so heavy on Stuff outside of this, but that's fine, the point is really "how does Bill react to time-and-space"

COMPANIONS MATTER: yeah yeah yeahhhh! she really does! and it feels like a conscious choice to go from River Song's "we do as we're told" type line, to now where Bill really challenges the Doctor's limitations. and because she does, vital bits of the story are revealed, to us and to the Doctor

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I feel like I should have taken more notes on the Doctor's behaviour in this episode, because it's very much the oppossite of this/the Doctor is fallible, but I wasn't conscious enough about whether it's saying something about where the Doctor's head is at that he didn't consider that the colonists might already be there, and could have risked blowing them -- and the Vardy -- up. regardless, I think the Doctor is very happy to be travelling again and specifically to be travelling with Bill

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: this episode is very self-contained, its narrative of colonising a planet because earth is [insert some kind of catastrophe that's not quite spelt out for us] doesn't relate to any other, similar episodes of the same, and I think it could have done. it's quite a popular theme (as we will get into)

“SEXINESS”: Bill is here to tell us we're post the need for stupid faux-sexy talk

INTERNAL WORLD: I think for where it is -- that is a "post"-colonised world, and I will absolutely be talking about that in the point below -- it's very well developed. the way also it threw the Doctor for a loop that the colonists were already there!

I am fascinated by how "post"-colonised is depicted via wheat fields. mono-culture harvesting is no good! (I may be overanalysing but that's the thing about "colony" -- it needs to be complicated as concept in modern scifi, it's well overdue for it)

I also noted in "previous doctor who" that it doesn't connect to any other narratives about Something Is Up On Earth so we must leave narratives it's done, so it's sort of ambiguous handwaved Reasons that bring them to this plot. perhaps if that was more grounded, their desperation would feel more real

but it works, the way the mystery comes together. the Vardy in the wall, the old spaceship full of memorabilia from earth, the shrine to the first dead, and the pods of sleeping people. I really like all that

POLITICS: oooooohohoo it's one of my favourite kind of stories, "everyone is people!" the way to win at the end is not destroying the robots, it's to acknowledge their rights to the planet on which they live. I also like that the majority of the colonists (we'll get to that word in a sec) are South Asian, until we get to gun-man-dude, who's not meant to be in the right. there's just a lot more casual and deliberately thought out diversity from the looks of things, making the future of humanity feel far broader

that being said, there are sooome elements to the whole thing that of course I cannot help but pay attention to- first of all, of course, the idea of colonists to begin with is always something complex that conveniently tends to pretend that wherever a colonist lands is empty before they arrive. that is the case in this episode as well, where the plot asks the audience to simply run with the fact that this planet was colonised, and we arrive to the story when "colonised" is its state, that's how we the audience first see this world. what it was before colonisation is not a part of this story

I really would be fascinated in Doctor Who moving forwards grappling with that idea of the implications of "colonist" because it's been the word habitually used in scifi for so long, without thinking about it, and although there are episodes that deal with immigration, with oppression of one species over another (notably, with humans over others), and with stripping resources without "considering" or perhaps caring for the consequences (and then there are consequences), the very concept of colonist isn't so challenged yet

actually if anyone can point me towards a science fiction story consciously writing on colonialism, which I'm sure there are, I'd be very interested

anyway, for this episode, one of the prime science fiction conceits that I would like to see challenged one day, is the "empty" planet just waiting for humans to populate it. maybe this episode has already been done, but not in nu!who, so again, if anyone knows an audio adventure, a classic story, a book, a comic, I'd be very interested

I also just watched Interstellar for the first time yesterday, so now I'm thinking about the popular narrative of "something's up with earth and it's so fucked, we have to go to somewhere else" which is... well, it's very colonialist, it's very Elon Musk and billionaires in space leaving the poor suckers to die, it's very defeatist, and dare I say it without going a biiiit into sentimentalism... it's very ungrateful to the earth, as narrative. it's time we complicated that "easy" shorthand for why colonialism must be done, the same as we need to complicate the "easy" setting of the conveniently empty planet

SO this story is not about the idea of colonialisation, but the Vardy (who have been helping to prepare the planet) are self-aware, and, according to the Doctor, were here first. I think the throwaway joke at the end lets down the story a biiiit, when the Doctor asks about discussing rental agreements for the humans being allowed there, and the Vardy then show a money sign and a ding effect

don't insert last-minute capitalism on a seemingly abundant world where everyone needs to learn to get along! I think this is partly a consequence of the episode needing to end and not having enough time, but I think drops the ball on that

however! tiny swarms called The Vardy who communicate with humans via robot interfaces are people! that society could become so in a particular Cyborg kind of way as long as it's not capitalist, but that's another discussion

FULL RATING: 72/100 (if I can count….)

this is a solid episode -- it's not perfect, and it kind of falls for "easy tropes" rather than real originality or challenge to concepts, but where it really really works is Bill, in my opinion

this makes a big difference to previous companions, where that's often been the point I've rated middly-to-low, because episodes have struggled to give companions something to do and/or a reason to care about what's happening around them

Oh Bill, you're so great

[kcdahippie]

As a whole, another solid outing from Season 8 of Doctor Who. While I don't think the Master completely nails his motivations, it's hard to deny the fact that Roger Delgado is charismatic as The Master and his showings with Jon Pertwee as The Doctor truly shine bright and give promise to continued interactions between the two.

That's not to take away from Katy Manning who does a wonderful job playing Jo Grant thus far. I must say I suspected Jo Grant to fall wayside of prior companions like Susan or Dodo or Victoria, but she truly continues to stand on her own.

The UNIT era characters of Brigadier, Yates, and Benton also continue to be fun in this serial. I am very much enjoying Season 8 thus far, mostly carried by fun characters, even if the plot points themselves could be a bit stronger. I look forward to seeing more.

[ralexsol]

I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED CLARA'S ERA!! JUST WATCHED THE FINALE OF 12'S 2ND SEASON!!!!

as ive already seen bill's season & 13's era - plus just. existing because it's been almost 9 years -, i already knew that a) 12's memory gets wiped of clara and b) clara gets her own time machine. id seen "heaven sent" (penultimate episode) before because my sister rewatched like it a billion times but that was a long time ago. so like. i wasnt totally surprised by the plot aspect. WOW.

ive always hated clara. id only seen her in a couple episode w/ 11 and 12's first season (altho i didnt remember that until i started watching the season and kept being like wait. i remember this episode. but surely this was where i stopped watching. wait i remember this one too). but MAN. after seeing 12's 2nd season, my opinion on her has completely changed.

maybe it's because im aroace-spec and platonic relationships being the main emotional throughline is like. NEVER a thing. and even when it IS a thing, it's usually just queerbaiting where it's like yeah they're friends but only because you're homophobic. but to get a relationship between this very old doctor and a young woman, and they're not a romance? but they still love each other more than they'll love anyone else ever? and one of them literally has to erase their memory so they don't tear the universe apart to stay together???

they go through so much together. they are so unhealthy for each other and yet they're the best thing that ever happened to each other. clara loses danny and with him goes her connection to earth. seriously, after 12's 1st season, she just completely abandons her life and just lives in the tardis. 12 is her family, her partner. she loses herself and fully goes through the doctorification. she literally is forever broken over danny and i dont think she ever heals from it. she just decides to run forever with the master of running.

meanwhile, 12 is horrible at social interactions. he finds it so hard to connect with other people, to express his care. clara is the one person he allows himself to hold onto. and it just escalates so far past any relationship he's ever been in (to my knowledge. ofc w oldwho the doctor did a lot of crazy shit that i dont know about but. for nuwho standards). clara has been by his side for so long that he doesn't know who he is without her. his whole identity is being clara's friend. she is his teacher. she is the compass to his ship.

god. it's so painful. at the best of times, their love fixes the universe. at the worst of times, it destroys the universe. they can't be apart but they can't be together. steven moffat you son of a bitch. steven moffat gets a lot of flak for being a shitty writer for a lot of times but doctor who was something he got right. he did a damn good job with it, with every companion and doctor. he just. he gets the codependency right. first w elevenponds, then w clara n 12. god i love them

[capybaraonabicycle]

Let's write an episode together and talk about the TARDIS(s)!

Anyone still there? Sorry, I got a little distracted by other things. But I am still having fun with this, so I will slowly continue it. Come along if you like :D (If you’re new: we’re writing a dw episode with my options that I am giving you and your choices in the polls. When it’s done I’ll force RTD to write it properly /j )

So far, we have decided on a multidoctor episode with the teams:

9 travelling with Rose, Bill and Jack

10 travelling with Martha, Donna and Jack

13 travelling with River and Yaz

Now, the last poll decided, that our episode will mostly take place inside the TARDIS. As we are dealing with a multidoctor episode, the question is: (How) Do they end up inside the same TARDIS? I have come up with some answers.

Explanations and examples can be found under the cut. Please remember while voting that no matter the scenario, the most time the camera will show the inside of one or more TARDIS-s (well, it’s all the same one anyway but you know what I mean), i.e. the console room, hallways or other rooms inside the ship.

I'll give you a little more time this round as I am expecting I might stay this slow with updates.

please reblog to gather more writers ❤

Scenario Different TARDIS-s, different plots

The distinct TARDIS teams don’t interact directly. The scenes switch back and forth, showing three distinct (but related?) stories inside the three TARDIS-s of the three teams. In different points in time and different locations. The teams don’t interact with each other except for possibly the Doctor and Jack remembering a similar situation or objects inside the TARDIS being used. Or things one Doctor and team do influencing another incarnation (think 11 ordering a fez and 13 receiving it). To the teams it has no relevance that we are seeing the scenes together but they enhance each other through subtle references.

Scenario Different TARDIS-s, same plot

All the teams stay inside their own TARDIS, at least for most of the episode, but they can communicate. Either directly, video call style, or a little more like Sally and her DVD’s with the Doctor/Jack leaving notes for past and future selves. The three teams work together to fight some impeding doom™, perhaps resulting in a celebratory party in the end outside the TARDIS-s.

Scenario Same TARDIS

For some reason two teams end up inside the TARDIS of another. I am imagining 13 purposefully tries to borrow 10’s TARDIS to do something specific (maybe she needs the round things for it or something) but miscalculates the time. Thus, contrarily to her belief, 10 and his team are already inside, taking a calm day to explore some rooms or something. And it’s not just them because right before 13 plus team arrive, 9 and his friends have made their way on board, mistaking her for their own TARDIS. The TARDIS, ever helpful, provided them their rooms, too, at the usual place. So, everyone’s inside the ship somewhere, none the wiser, when 13 and Yaz and River are starting the engine. Everyone comes to see who is abducting ‘their’ ship and find those strange women. Half of the episode is probably consecrated to the Doctor’s bickering about whose ship this is and who gets to fly her and the other half to actually pulling themselves together and solving the issue 13 was concerned with together.

Scenario Merged TARDIS – Doors

An error occurs and suddenly, while believing to have landed somewhere else, one team opens their door to leave the ship and finds itself entering the console room of another team, through the TARDIS door again. When they try to leave and go back, they end up inside the third team’s console room. Only at the third try they get back, but no matter where they try to fly to, the doors stay merged together. The outside of one TARDIS has become the inside of another (a tiny bit like in ‘time’ and ‘space’). The main issue of this episode is to figure out how to detach the TARDIS’s again and which Doctor belongs into which TARDIS and which Jack to which Doctor before the split happens and they’re all separated again.

Scenario Merged TARDIS – Interior

The TARDIS incites the teams to venture further into her depths until they reach the inside of another TARDIS incarnation. She has merged her insides together, producing a way of easily moving from one timeline to the other (although you have to run quite a long way, I suppose, I’m sure Donna and 10 will provide some segways to help out eventually). This helps with fighting several issues outside two or three of the TARDIS-s. This episode will feature a lot of running through TARDIS hallways, getting lost, searching for items that only exist earlier or later in time and loads of chaos and shouting to get a grip on the issues happening outside. Also probably someone getting locked inside a room on accident or one of the console rooms being no longer safe to enter.

Scenario Merged TARDIS – Russian Doll

One TARDIS is having steering/stabilising problems. To solve them, she lands inside the safest place: Herself. But not herself right now, but a former/later console room. When that TARDIS, disturbed from the impact of having herself inside, tries to land, the same thing happens. The Doctors storm out, managing to prevent the third TARDIS from landing and repeating the process, but now we have a TARDIS inside a TARDIS inside a TARDIS that can’t land. And the inner ones are too ruffled to start flying as well. The main issue is to resolve the connection and get all the TARDIS-s to be normal again.

(possible extra option with this one: one or several of the TARDIS-s get shrunk in the process together with the travellers. Picture mini-13 climbing over the console and leather jacket up to 9's ear to yell at him to notice them and help them out for Gallifrey's sake! (also tiny Jack hitting on giant Jack and vice versa) If people like this extra option, regardless of which option wins, I'll see if we can include it there, too)

Scenario Merged/One TARDIS – Echoes

We are following the storyline of only one of the teams but the TARDIS is supplying memories/echoes of former/later companions and Doctors to help with the plot. A little like River in ‘Name of the Doctor’ or 13 and the fugitive Doctor in ‘Once upon time’. Some possession, some ghostlike figures and images in mirrors and tapestries, some people suddenly being displaced in time and disappearing again. The echoes are interacting with the main TARDIS team but it is clear they are not completely there. When that particular adventure is lived, the TARDIS stops producing the echoes or is repaired so she doesn’t have to anymore.

Scenario The Master’s TARDIS

We are not inside the Doctor’s TARDIS at all but some incarnation of the Master has abducted/lured all the three teams into their own TARDIS where they have to work together to survive whatever the Master can throw at them in their own realm. Also possible with several incarnations of the Master working together.

Scenario Trenzalore

What it says on the tin. The three teams end up on Trenzalore inside the giant TARDIS that is the Doctor's grave. This one is angsty, friends ❤

In any case, feel free to leave your own ideas for scenarios in the tags. If I like them enough, I might to a redraw between your ideas and the most popular ones here :)

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 071 - Trip's Grief

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 3 Episode 20 - The Forgotten

As we open into this episode, Enterprise has mostly recovered from it's heavy damage. We finally have a number of casualties from the battle. Some work is still a lot of work to be done, but the ship is in functioning order.

I love that uniforms in this one are not in pristine order, their grimy, covered in soot and charring, and just I love that look. It's a quick and effective way of communicating that they haven't had time to rest yet. Trip hasn't even had time to shave, he's growing some stubble (and it suits him). I've been loving that such a heavy attack has had lasting damage on the ship

T'Pol has been finding her emotions harder to suppress, but is getting off the Trellium D well enough.

The main plot of the episode quickly takes hold, Archer boards Degra's ship to make discussions with the Xindi council, and decides that they have to prove what he has to say about the Reptilians. Unfortunetly the Council's representative is not convinced by all the evidence, but Degra is being pulled closer towards Enterprise's viewpoint.

Trip's arc throughout this episode was absolutely great. I'm a sucker for characters who overwork themselves beyond any and all reason. Between repairs after the battle and what happened to his sister, the poor dude refuses to give himself the nap he deserves. His dream conversation with Crewman Taylor, the deceased member of the crew Archer asked him to write a letter to the family of was beautiful. His guilt over not being able to write the letter during that scene and his grief over both Crewman Taylor and his Sister was heart-breaking. This breakdown has been coming since the start of the season, and I loved seeing him finally let it out.

The main plot of this one was weak, but that's been par for the course for this arc, however I really loved the character interactions here. Especially Trip, who was absolutely the highlight for me. His final letter to Crewman Taylor's family was beautiful.

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Doctor Who - The Forgotten

It's been while since I've got to do one of these! The Forgotten was 6 issue comic run by IDW in 2009. I haven't really got to touch on Comic-Who yet on this blog. Speaking truthfully, most of Doctor Who comic love is directed towards DWM comics and Titan Comic's lines. IDW's run at Doctor Who comics as whole isn't spectacular to say the least, especially their 10th Doctor run.

The Forgotten Specifically, involves The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones waking up in a strange museum dedicated to his life, where he's set to become the next exhibit. A good premise, and one Doctor Who has done both before and since. Trouble is, he also can't remember before his current regeneration. The majority of the comic is dedicated to the Doctor going through the museum and regaining his memories from his previous incarnations, and we are treated to a few flashback stories with the first nine Doctors. I won't focus on those, but one small detail I liked is that the first and second Doctor flashbacks are in Black and White.

Throughout the main story, the comic keeps baiting you into thinking The Master is behind all of this, but actually it's "Ten-two" from Stolen Earth/Journey's end, and it's not even actually really Ten-Two because It's actually all just a dream caused by an Alien parasite that latched onto the Doctor, who's actually dying on the TARDIS floor.

The Forgotten is kinda the Epitome of everything I don't like about IDW's run of Doctor Who comics. It tries to throw the entire breadth of Doctor Who canon at you, but with very little of the Depth to it. This comic brings in Autons, the Kaldor Robots, the SS Marie Antoinette Clockwork Robots, but none of them stick around for more than a few pages, and it doesn't do any of the work into even differentiating them beyond their designs. They're just all robots that shoot in this comic. There's nothing about what made these individual villains unique or scary here. The Fake Ten-Two says one line about speculating to be The Valeyard, but nothing is done with that because two panels later he fully admits to being an image created by cranial parasite. It's just a random Valeyard name drop, and it feels really out of place.

I know IDW also had the Star Trek licences at one point, so I am kinda curious if they had similar issues with that. In terms of this episode vs this comic though, this one definitely has to go to enterprise. While I'm not particularly invested in the whole Xindi plotline, the character writing on this episode was enough to keep me engaged for Enterprise's "The Forgotten". Sadly, another instance of "I swear I actually like Doctor Who, Star Trek is just sharing titles with the bad stories"

[headcanonsandmore]

Ways Parted

Summary:  Yaz finds herself being sent away to safety by the Thirteenth Doctor. However, a certain hologram (and a message from a past incarnation of the Doctor) may just help her save the time lord she loves. Slight AU of "The Power Of The Doctor".

Tagging:   @wholesome-dragon-lady @asugarfoot @anxietyriddenhuman

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                       Read on FFN.                               Read on AO3.

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Yaz was not having a great day.

First, Dan had left the TARDIS and, while Yaz did miss him already, she didn’t remotely blame him for leaving. Given that he’d almost had his space helmet punctured, he probably deserved a bit of a quiet life. Like he said, the life Yaz had with the Doctor wasn’t really for him.

Still, she missed him nonetheless. He had been there for her through those long years in the early twentieth century, making sure she didn’t lose faith and keeping the mood light with a joke when things got too heavy. He had almost become like an uncle for Yaz; hopefully, they’d be able to keep in touch.

Then, the whole plot with the Master had happened, and Yaz had been thrust into the UNIT headquarters. And met Tegan Jovanka and Ace McShane. That had been a bit of a shock, to say the least. She’d met Captain Jack before, of course, but this was… different. Two women older than Yaz’s mum had been travelling with the Doctor when they had been Yaz’s age. That… shocked her.

Although she could guess that Tegan’s “we used to be you” hadn’t been referring to… whatever was going on between Yaz and the Doctor.

That was a thing now. Her and the Doctor.

Talk about a quick turnaround. All that business with the sea devils had drastically changed things between them. The Doctor did care for Yaz in the same way that Yaz did for her, but… the two of them couldn’t do anything. Time was apparently running out for the Doctor. And Yaz wasn’t sure she could bare to see the Doctor she loved change into a whole new person.

So, here they were. Trying to enjoy things while they lasted.

Anyway, back on topic.

The Master had turned up, caused all manner of difficulties. Now, Yaz was holding the Master under armed guard while the Doctor piloted them back to the Russian Empire during the First World War.

The TARDIS slowly stopped groaning, and the Doctor headed out of the doors, following by the Master, who was smirking in that infuriating way. Judging by Tegan and Ace’s reactions to him, he had been causing trouble for decades. Yaz didn’t want to know about the cat thing, though.

Yaz followed them, pointing the gun at the back of the Master’s head. She was just reaching the doors when the room beyond them opened up before her-

Daleks and Cybermen. Dozens of them.

‘Yaz?’ the Doctor said, as she stepped out of the doors.

‘Yeah?’

‘…. I’m sorry.’

‘What for-’

But Yaz heard the tell-tale sound of the sonic screwdriver, and the TARDIS doors slammed shut between Yaz and the Doctor.

‘No!’ Yaz screamed, charging forward. The gun fell to the ground, forgotten. Yaz slammed her hands against the blue doors, but she could already tell that they had been locked. Behind her, she could hear the TARDIS dematerialising.

Turning, she hurried towards the console.

‘C’mon, if I can get back to UNIT,’ she thought aloud. ‘I can fix this; get help and-‘

‘Heya!’

Yaz jumped, turning.

A hologram of the Doctor had appeared. Same hair, same clothing, same smile.

Yaz let out a small squeal of alarm.

‘If you’re seeing this, I’m probably dead,’ said the hologram. Yaz stared at them, her mouth falling open. ‘Oh… bit overdramatic, maybe? Anyway, I have been working on this literally forever! It’s a fully interactive holo-me! It’s based on my behaviours across thousands of years, and it will only activate in the gravest of circumstances. Like if I’m not around. Anyway, I will have remembered to insert a nano-trigger under your skin at some point. I should do that; I need to remember to do that.’

‘You could have told us you’d done that!’

‘Whoa!’ the hologram said, wobbling. ‘The emotional receptors on this AI are a little oversensitive. Apparently, you’re… upset with me? I should… apologise for something?’

She’s lucky she’s cute, Yaz thought, sighing. Sometimes she really does take the mick.

‘You locked me in the TARDIS,’ she said, irritably. ‘Trying to keep me safe because you’d know I’d follow you into anything!’

‘Oh…’ the hologram replied. ‘Er… sorry.’

Yaz turned and frantically tried to operate the TARDIS controls, but they didn’t seem to budge.

‘Did you set them on an automatic course?’

‘Probably,’ the hologram said, from behind her. ‘I’ve got the TARDIS controls linked up to my sonic, so I can remote operate it if need be.’

‘Where’s it sending me back to?’

Yaz stared into the monitor.

Sheffield. Present day.

Of bloody course it was.

She’d sent Yaz home. That stupid, self-sacrificing time lord had sent Yaz home. Away from danger.

Away from the Doctor.

Yaz sank slowly down the floor, turning slightly as she did so, her back leaning against the central console. She put her face in her hands, and closed her eyes.

‘Please…’ Yaz whispered. ‘I need to help her. She’s surrounded by Daleks and Cybermen, and the Master as well. I… she needs me.’

The TARDIS made a soft bleep, and Yaz’s eyes flicked open.

Then, two new holograms appeared in the centre of the console room, as if being projected from the TARDIS data banks. Two figures; one was a tall man in a leather jacket, the other a shorter, blonde woman in baggy flared jeans.

‘This is emergency protocol one…’ spoke the man, in a Mancunian accent. ‘Now, Rose; listen…’

‘Gosh, that’s me,’ said the hologram of Yaz’s Doctor. ‘Haven’t seen that face for a while.’

‘That’s Rose, isn’t it,’ Yaz said, putting down her hands and looking up at the woman. ‘The friend of yours that Captain Jack mentioned.’

The hologram nodded.

Yaz had long suspected that she hadn’t been… the first time the Doctor had fallen for a companion. She knew that there had been others before. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. But… well, this wasn’t her Doctor. Technically, it was the same person, yes, but… Yaz had fallen for her Doctor. Not any of the others.

‘Emergency programme one means I’m facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine,’ continued the man. ‘So this is what you should do…’

‘But… what am I supposed to do?’ Yaz said, looking between the two figures.

‘And if you want to remember me, you can do one thing… that’s all, one thing.’ The figure turned to look at where the projection of Rose was standing. ‘Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose; have a fantastic life.’

Yaz stared up at them both. There was something strangely calm about the face of that Doctor. In the face of presumably overwhelming odds, they were still calm, asking nothing other than that Rose be safe and happy.

Which would have been fine, if it didn’t remind Yaz of what her own Doctor had done.

‘You can’t do this me,’ Rose exclaimed, her voice cracking. ‘Take me back! Take me back!’

The holograms of the other Doctor and Rose disappeared. Yaz sat still for a moment, processing this. The Doctor clearly had always been this self-sacrificing, but that didn’t make her feel any better. She could completely understand Rose’s anger and pain.

‘But what happened to her?’ Yaz said, turning to look at the hologram of her Doctor, which had sat down next to her. ‘Jack mentioned she was living on a parallel world, but that doesn’t explain how she saved the Doctor.’

The hologram of Yaz’s Doctor flickered.

‘Yaz… I can’t tell you. But… please don’t do that. Don’t do what Rose did.’

‘Save you?’ Yaz said. ‘I have to! You’d do the same for me!’

‘That’s why you shouldn’t,’ replied the hologram, looking terrified. ‘Please… just forget me.’

The hologram turned off.

‘Not bloody likely!’ Yaz exclaimed, jumping to her feet. ‘You’re my Doctor and I will save you!’

The TARDIS console gave a groan from behind her, and a panel opened. Yaz turned, getting onto her knees. She looked into the streaming light that emanated out of the opening. Her heart seemed to beat in her ears, and her mouth fell open gently. The TARDIS spoke to her.

She saw the past. She saw the present. And she saw the future. She saw it all.

 *

 ‘Forced regeneration,’ the Master said, staring at the Doctor. ‘The time lords even did it to you once, didn’t they? That’s how you ended up as that dandy with the white curly hair-’

The Doctor’s brain was scarcely able to process this, before she automatically startled. The noise… that noise!

Was that-

‘TARDIS materialising!’ shrieked the Dalek commander.

The Master swung round.

‘Bah! You cannot escape, Doctor!’

The doors of the TARDIS slammed open, and a bright light exploded out of it. It was so dazzling that it was almost blinding.

Yaz was stood in the doorway, her eyes glowing.

The Doctor felt as if both her hearts had stopped. No… no, not again…

Yaz floated off the ground and soared across the room, coming to a stop in front of the Doctor. With a crash, the constraints around the Doctor fell to the floor. She staggered forward.

‘Yaz!’ she cried. ‘What have you done?’

‘The TARDIS called to me…’ Yaz said, her voice strangely ghostlike, as if speaking from a point faraway. ‘And we looked into each other…’

‘Yaz, you looked into the time vortex!’ The Doctor collapsed to the floor by Yaz’s feet. She stared up at her friend. ‘No-one’s supposed to see that!’

‘What is this?’

The Master was staring at Yaz, his face contorted with a horrified expression, as if every fabric of his being was telling him to run. Run far away as fast as he possibly could.

He pointed the gun at Yaz, and fired.

The Doctor screamed, but the lazar halted in mid-air as Yaz turned to look at it. The lazar was forced back, back into the gun, which exploded in the Master’s hand.

‘Bad Wolf…’ Yaz said. ‘Yes, that’s what she called herself…’

‘Yaz, please!’ The Doctor cried, ‘You’ve got to stop this; you need to stop this now! You’ve got the entire time vortex running through your brain! You’re gonna-’

‘I want you safe,’ Yaz said, and for a moment the light faded from her eyes, and her voice became like Yaz again. Tears began to trail down her cheeks. ‘My Doctor. Safe.’

‘You cannot defeat me!’ spat the Master, clutching his injured hand. ‘I am a Time Lord; I am far beyond your-’

‘You are tiny!’ Yaz said, her eyes glowing once again as she turned to look at him. ‘I can see the whole of time and space; every atom of your existence, and I will not have you hurt my Doctor anymore!’

With this, she raised a hand, and the Master was thrown back several feet. He hit the wall, which collapsed around him, covering him with rubble.

The nearest Dalek sent forth a beam of deadly energy, but Yaz raised her other hand, sending the energy back into the Dalek, which exploded. The very particles of every Dalek and Cyberman in the room began to dissolve, leaving nothing behind. Soon enough, Yaz and the Doctor were alone in the room.

‘Yaz, you’ve done it…’ the Doctor said. ‘Now stop.’

Yaz did not respond.

‘Yaz… please! Just let go!’

Yaz did not respond.

‘Yaz, you can’t control the universe like this! No-one can!’

‘I… I know,’ Yaz said, and the light faded again from her eyes. ‘But… it hurts, Doctor. It’s gonna kill me. How can I…’

‘You’re Yasmin Khan,’ the Doctor said. ‘You can do anything. It wouldn’t be the universe without Yasmin Khan.’

‘Please… help me.’

The Doctor stood up and wrapped her arms around Yaz. Yaz’s arms reach around her, and the two of them embraced tightly.

‘Always will.’

Slowly, the Doctor took on part of the vortex energy, feeling it coursing through her like a conduit. Yaz slowly settled against her, as if a great weight was being lifted off the young Yorkshirewoman’s shoulders.

The power, showing as more of the light, slowly drifted away, flying back through the doors of the TARDIS. Eventually, when all of it had returned, the light faded and the doors slowly swung closed.

Yaz and the Doctor stumbled.

‘You did it,’ the Doctor said. ‘Yaz, you did it; you saved me.’

Yaz smiled, tears still running down her face.

‘Couldn’t have a universe without the Doctor, could we?’

Without thinking, the Doctor leaned forward, just as Yaz did the same. Their lips met.

The Doctor wished the circumstances could have been better. The two of them were both exhausted and drained, scarcely able to stand up. But she found it difficult to care. All she knew was that she should have kissed Yaz a long time ago. If she’d been braver, she would have been honest with Yaz from the start. But she knew as well as anyone that it was no good to think about what could have been. All you could do was make the best of the time you had. And that’s what she was doing.

Slowly, they broke apart, and the Doctor was dimly aware of falling gently against Yaz. The young woman lifted the Doctor off the ground and into her arms, carrying her softly towards the waiting doors of the TARDIS.

The Doctor slowly drifted out of consciousness, her sole thought being that Yaz was safe.

 *

 The Doctor startled, and sat up.

She was lying on the floor of the console room.

‘Ah, you’re up.’

Yaz was stood next to the console, a wide smile on her face.

‘How long was I…’

‘A while,’ Yaz replied, taking a few steps towards her and helping the Doctor to her feet. ‘Long enough for me to stop and pick up Tegan, Ace, Graham and Kate; they all send their regards by the way.’

‘You dropped them off home?’

‘Yeah. Well… Croydon, so near enough.’

The Doctor chuckled, before staring into Yaz’s eyes.

‘You… you saved me.’

Yaz shrugged.

‘You would have done the same for me-’

The Doctor stumbled. Yaz grabbed hold of her.

Clang!

‘Why’s the cloister bell sounding?’ the Doctor gasped, looking around in confusion.

‘Doctor…’ Yaz said, slowly. Her voice was strangely hollow. ‘Look at your hand…’

Slowly, as if moving through treacle, the Doctor looked down at her hand. Time seemed to slow down as she processed the sight that met her eyes. The sight that she had been dreading for longer than she cared to admit. Ever since the she had met personification of time. Perhaps longer, when she had started noticing the way Yaz looked at her. The way that Yaz smiled at her. Because she knew it would cause pain, and she hated that she knew she would be responsible for the pain Yaz would feel.

Regeneration energy was leaking out of the Doctor’s hand.

‘What?’ she gasped, horrified. ‘No… that’s not right! I need more time! I want more-’

But she turned to look at Yaz, and a dagger seemed to go through each of the Doctor’s two hearts.

Yaz was crying.

Tears were streaking down her face, and her mouth was trembling with suppressed sobs.

In that instance, the Doctor forgot about the regeneration, she forget about everything else, everything except Yaz.

‘Yaz…’ she said, softly. She cupped Yaz’s face in her other hand. ‘It’s okay, Yaz… it’s okay…’

Yaz’s breath was ragged, as the sobs threatened to erupt. It broke the Doctors hearts to see her like this. Yaz was indomitable. Again, the Doctor cursed her own bad luck. Yaz deserved better than this. She deserved every happiness. But all the Doctor could give her was a small comfort, knowing full well that the ending was coming soon. That their ending was coming soon.

‘One last trip…’ the Doctor said, softly. ‘Where would you go? What flavour of ice cream?’

Yaz gave out a small, teary laugh. Their eyes met for a moment, and then tears began to slide down the Doctors cheeks too.

‘I did this…’ Yaz mumbled, agonised. ‘I made you take on the power of the time vortex-’

‘Ssshhhh,’ the Doctor said, pressing her forehead against Yaz’s. ‘It was an honour, Yaz. Truly.’

‘You’re dying…’ Yaz sobbed. ‘And it’s my fault…’

‘No; Yaz, none of this is your fault. I wouldn’t let you die. Don’t you remember? Can’t have a universe with no Yaz. I can’t have a universe with no Yaz. I promised I’d keep you safe, and that’s what I’m doing.’

Yaz let out a miserable chuckle, as if responding to a joke the Doctor didn’t think they’d made.

‘So… how about that last ice-cream?’

Yaz sniffed, before smiling.

‘Let me guess; no money?’

‘Empty pockets.’

Yaz chuckled, before putting her arm around the Doctor’s waist.

‘What kind of date are you? C’mon, big head; ice cream is on me.’

And, holding each other, the two of them headed out of the TARDIS doors.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone; hope you enjoyed this fic!

[ob4yme]

good morning! i am now exclusive with @timedten's tenth doctor and @badwo1f's rose. i don't usually practice exclusivity but i feel at this point that it's unfair to other portrayals of these muses not to - i'm sure you are lovely, and i'm sure you bring something beautifully unique to your take on your character! however due to deep, interconnected plotting between the three of us, i can no longer see my master/s interacting with other portrayals, and i don't want to... string anyone along, i guess. i'm so sorry if this disappoints anyone, but please know that i'm making new blogs all the time and we'll more than likely be able to write on those <3

[picnokinesis]

I finally got up to date on the Campervan AU a few days ago; I’ve been meaning to send this for ages, but dejumbling my thoughts took longer than I thought.

I really liked the way you’ve incorporated Grace into the respective reimagining of each plot, not just keeping her to the sideline, but making sure she gets an amount of screen time compared to everyone else while also writing her in such a way that her decisions and dialogue feels like something she’d do in-canon. Which, similar to your handling of Jamila and other supporting characters w/ limited screen time, is really impressive. I also liked how you were able to tweak a few endings so they weren’t so bleak - maybe I’m a sap, but I was genuinely heartbroken watching Vilma and Benni’s fates during Orphan 55 ngl.

Similar to the show itself - altho given the au’s overarching plot you do have a bit more leeway here as far as spreading breadcrumbs - your ability to have Koschei and co. have an almost tangible presence in each ch. is just Great, no notes (I do admit, however that much like our beloved, if not over-frazzled Doctor here, I think about this Master entirely too much. So, I probably would’ve been thinking them all plotting in the shadows even w/o the occasional mention here and there). Speaking of, I love Gat sm and I’m equally excited as I am worried about her being about to scheme w/ Koschei bc that’s just asking for all kinds of trouble - especially as we making our way towards the end of s12 and all that entitles. I do wonder how a canonical interaction between them would go, she’d probably be as wary of him as Ashad was tbh.

But above all, I think what I enjoy the most about this series is the little moments you’ve fit in-between all the bigger, more intense ones. I’d make this ask longer than it already is by listing my favorites, but I wanted to make sure I mentioned how much like ‘em.

Ahhh thank you so so much!!! I absolutely love hearing your thoughts! <3 I can't remember when you sent me this ask, so I think I might have posted a chapter or two since you sent this - so I hope you've enjoyed those chapters just as much as all the others!

With regards to Grace - I'm so SO happy that you love her in this story because I just adore writing her! I was actually very concerned that I would accidentally end up side-lining her when writing the stories, simply because she's obviously not in all of the s12 episodes that have inspired all the fics. But when I started the au, I made notes on pretty much all the main cast to figure out what they wanted, what they needed, and some flaws and strengths that they had, so I could work out how to show their development over the whole series - and so I did that for Grace too! Which actually opened up SUCH an interesting thing, because in the process of deep diving on her character (by watching the episodes where she's there/talked about) and also on Aaron's character, I could sort of...extrapolate a few things. Like if Graham says in Resolution that family means everything to Grace, then how much must it have broken her heart when everything happened with Aaron, and Ryan's mum dying? And then, of course, there's stuff I could extrapolate from the set up of the story - like, the Doctor lowkey lives with them half the time for the sake of the plot, but what kind of person invites someone like the Doctor into their life like that? And asking that question gave me some really interesting answers about Grace as well as Graham.

Regarding character voices though - I'm genuinely SO glad that everyone rings true to how they sound in the show! I think my trick with that is that I can kind of 'hear' the characters in my head - and some characters are easier than others. Grace is quite distinctive, for some reason, so if I can 'hear' her saying the lines, then the lines make the cut. Same with all the others. I actually find, of all people, Jack to be one of the hardest characters to 'hear' in my head - except for in Campervan AU, where I find him really easy to write! It's extremely odd. (Also SKSKSK Vilma and Benni BLESS you actually have to thank my beta for saving them - she was like 'make grace being there make a difference', which I really liked, so they got to live!)

And then ahhHH yessss Gat and Koschei!! I'm so glad Kosch comes over as a tangible presence, even when he's absent - I feel like that comes from me being as obsessed with him as the Doctor is, bless. But ahhh yess they're so much fun to write, honestly. I'm excited for you guys to see more of them!!

My reply is getting long lol but in short THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE SO KIND!! It is really REALLY nice to hear all your thoughts on this honestly - sorry it's taken me a little while to reply to this one but I wanted to reply properly <3 <3 I think Part 6 is definitely the most 'in-between moments' fic of the whole series - it's in its nature! - so I really hope you're enjoy this one in particular before we go off into the last leg of the journey with parts 7-9 (which will be chaotic haha)

[colmsmyth]

Review: Babel by R.F. Kuang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really need to use this blog more often — partially because, as an aspiring writer, I should be involved in a community of other readers and writers.

Kuang’s Babel follows the journey of nameless-yet-pseudonymed Robin Swift, a Chinese boy living in a world of magic and severe inequality.

Once again, Kuang’s incredible writing prowess shines through in this story of colonialism, magic, racism, and translation. The experience and knowledge of a writer flaunting two Master degrees and a Doctorate arise on every page of this book, and I found myself amazed at the amount of in-depth knowledge Kuang includes throughout.

While the story of a young boy growing in a world of magic is one that has been tackled many times, (even I’m currently writing it!) Kuang’s spin on the genre adds a bitter, scathing indictment of British imperialism and colonisation in general. Kuang’s magic isn’t fantastic and heartwarming, because it is rooted in slavery, murder, rape, torture, theft and greed.

I found this book to be a great fiction read and a great history lesson. Kuang includes footnotes which make the text much more accessible for readers who do not speak any of the languages explored, and includes detailed information on contemporary wars, conflicts, and social viewpoints. Even if you are not well-versed in Chinese history or non-Romance languages, Kuang makes her story accessible to us as universal readers.

I think that’s what blew me away the most about Babel, and what utterly decimated my self-expectations as a writer. I revisited my manuscript after every reading session and asked myself, “Why can’t I BE her?!” I found a deep love for Robin, Ramy and Victoire that I couldn’t even find in my own characters. It feels as though Kuang truly spent blood as she wrote the relationship between these characters. Without detailing any spoilers, the character deaths, plot twists, betrayals, and even just the daily interactions with racism and colonialism, all pluck either a nerve or a heartstring. I found myself experiencing mixed emotions up until the very last page.

The last book which managed to play my emotions like a grand piano like this was Yellowface, which is another incredible work of Kuang’s, though it is set in a much different environment. (Regardless, Kuang of course writes powerfully and effortlessly here, too.)

I finished Babel close enough to the end of 2023 that I’ll cheat a little and call it my favourite book of 2024. I cannot see any novel I read this year topping this powder keg of emotion. I give Babel a 5/5, as it was a powerful and interesting read, and evoked a strong emotional response in me — mainly anger, but many moments of sadness as well.