#other gallifreyans like: you spend too much time and energy on these beings -- they make no sense and they make the tardis smell weird

[variousqueerthings]

@fabiansociety A GALLIFREYAN CAT LADY THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!

[terryballs]

The Solar System in Doctor Who is crazy

If you’re a Doctor Who fan, you’re probably aware of a few intelligent species that call the Sun’s system their home.

There’s humans, of course, and Earth also has the Silurians and the Sea Devils. The Zygons are refugees on Earth. The Ice Warriors are on Mars. And the Cybermen were first shown to come from Mondas, Earth’s astrophysically-improbable twin planet.

That’s already six intelligent species who call this system home. But what if I told you that that’s barely scratching the surface?

Mercurials

Mercurials are tall, silver-skinned humanoids with pointy arms and flat, round feet. They are very much products of their time, underdeveloped peaceful creatures who manage to survive on Mercury and bear no ill will towards humans.

Mercurian Energy Beasts

The other sapient lifeforms on Mercury are the Mercurian energy beasts. As their name suggests, these creatures have quite a fearsome appearance. They are gigantic, made of lava, and have huge beard-like fronds. However, again, they are actively benevolent.

Venusians

With five arms, five legs, and twelve eyes on stalks, Venusians were masters of martial arts, and taught the Doctor a form of Aikido. They are capable of absorbing memories by eating brains. They are said to have gone extinct due to Venus’s global warming.

Wispies

These gaseous creatures are made of the Venusian atmosphere - perhaps they even are the atmosphere.

Cytherians

 Also known as Thraskins or Plinge, Cytherians look like lemurs, but they’re the size of humans and more intelligent. Cytherians were responsible for the climate change that killed the Venusians and birthed the Wispies. Unlike the Venusians, the Cytherians managed to survive the cataclysm due to their mastery of cryogenics. When humanity terraformed Venus, the Cytherians awoke and were enslaved, until the Doctor freed them.

Merpeople

Earth is home to multiple intelligent aquatic humanoids. The Third Doctor encountered the Carpanthans, who deliberately hide themselves away from terrestrial civilisations. But far more interesting are the merpeople. They prefer “merrows”, but humanity fixates on the image of the mermaid far too much for the preferred terminology to ever catch on. Merrows are the creatures of legend: half fish, half human. They can breath the air and have no difficulties talking outside of the water. A mermaid called Magda was the mother of the Time Lord known as the Doctor - he was, after all, half-human on his mother’s side.

Tuskens

Descended from pigs, Tuskens very rapidly evolved into a fully sapient species due to the intervention of the Doctor, who taught them how to speak English.

Dolphins

In the Whoniverse, dolphins are as smart as humans, and are capable of two-way communication with the help of assistive technology. They can also survive on land through the use of robotic spacesuits. Dolphins have colonised aquatic worlds throughout the Milky Way.

Sidhe

The Sidhe are multidimensional beings who resemble Tolkien’s Elves. They are responsible for most paranormal phenomena on Earth, but largely keep to themselves. Their greatest intervention in human history was fighting against the Nazis in WWII due to the threat that Nazism posed to their realm.

The Silence

Although they were originally a hostile invasion force, the Silence lived on Earth for generations. They were able to live on the planet undetected due to their antimemetic properties - they were wiped from a person’s memory as soon as they were outside their vision cone. The first Silence were genetically modified Catholic priests designed to hear confession. If we accept that white people can be Americans, we must surely accept the Silence as Earthlings?

The Forest of Cheem

At the other end of the scale, the Forest of Cheem are sentient bipedal plants. They evolved from Earth’s rainforests. They’re from Earth’s genetic stock, but they’re also aliens.

Terrae

Before the Moon became a moon, it was the planet Theia. Like the Earth Reptiles, the Terrae, who lived on Theia, were worried when they foresaw Theia colliding with the Earth. They hibernated beneath Theia’s surface, and were only disturbed when humans mined for helium on the Moon. Their corpses turn to a purple dust, which humans consumed as a recreational drug.

Lunaries

After the Reptiles made it to space, but before the humans did, the Lunese formed a colony on the Moon. They were an insectoid species who evolved on Earth and formed diplomatic relations with every nation of Europe in the late 16th century, bringing the ambassadors to the Moon, which was full of Earth life.  

Lizard Kings

What, you thought there were only sapient reptiles on Earth? No, no - Mondas has its own reptiles, both aquatic and terrestrial. The Lizard Kings were even thought to, paradoxically, have helped to bring about the Cybermen by sending an augmented ape forward in time to Mondas’s future. The Cybermen have an obsession with the Lizard Kings, but have never found any alive.

The Flood

“The Waters of Mars” introduced the Flood - a waterborne parasite that seemed to possess intelligence. It was able to operate machinery and successfully lay siege to a Mars base. It is thought that the Flood was buried in Mars’ ice by the Ice Warriors as a desperate final defence.

Cerulians

Now long extinct, the Cerulians lived on the dwarf planet Ceres between Mars and Jupiter. They had a two-caste society, divided between Masters and Scribes (slaves). Eventually, Masters trained Scribes to spend their whole lives flattering the Masters, and the Masters came to enjoy it. Neither caste noticed when Ceres was hit by an asteroid, eradicating life on Ceres.

Fendahl

History keeps repeating itself in the Solar System. Before Ceres, there was Planet 5 - a planet variously known as Minerva, Hestia, or Asteris, but usually just called Planet 5. In the early days of the Solar Sustem, this planet was home to the Star People, who created the Fendahl: a species where each individual contained thirteen separate parts with their own intelligence. Like on Ceres (and indeed Mars - the Ice Warriors were originally slaves), the Fendahl were intended to be a slave race, but they proved to have telepathic powers strong enough for them to consume the psychic energy of all non-Fendahl life on Planet 5. This caused a “rare” intervention in the outside world by the Time Lords, who feared that the Fendahl were threats to life in the universe. They were probably correct - the Fendahl were capable of making Great Old Ones like Fenric turn and run in fear. The Time Lords placed Planet 5 in a time loop, making it completely invisible and inaccessible. Some theorise that the planet broke up into the Asteroid Belt - which, of course, contains Ceres...

Europans

A race of amphibious insects evolved on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Unfortunately, in the 20th century climate change nearly caused their extinction. Colony ships flew out to other worlds, but the only known success landed on Earth. The Third Doctor helped them form an Earth colony... but then time was rewritten, and the more cynical Seventh Doctor was sent to help UNIT instead. This unfortunately ended with UNIT killing all the Europans.

Vogans

The Vogans live on Voga, a former planet made entirely of gold. Early in their history, the Vogans were visited by a Vampire Hunter named Rassilon, and their society thus mirrors Gallifreyan society in many ways. They have grey skin, white hair, and high, domed foreheads.

Voga was of great interest to the Cybermen, who possessed a fatal weakness to gold. The Cybermen tried to blast Voga out of existence (which would not have destroyed the gold, but who said Cybermen were clever?). They only succeeded in sending Voga spiralling through space. The Vogans hid underground, and emerged when Voga settled in a stable orbit around Jupiter. I would point out that this makes Voga one of four bodies in the Solar System to dramatically change its orbit after evolving sapient life, and one of two to become a Moon of a larger planet. It also makes the Vogans at least the tenth species to go into hibernation following a calamity, most of which did it underground.

Waro

Aside from the Fendahl, the Waro were the solar species who were most hostile to humanity. Short goblin-like creatures with huge bat ears and terrible tempers, Waro were native to Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.

Siccati

Lastly, the Siccati evolve on Sedna. Never heard of Sedna? No, nor has anyone else. Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object which Gary Russell was sure would be named the Tenth Planet.

The Siccati were a race of bohemians, dedicated to art above all else. As Sedna is tiny, freezing, and has an irregular orbit, the Siccati relocated to floating cities in the atmosphere of Neptune.

Conclusion

The Solar System is weird. I have skimmed over some species, but there have been:

- Three instances of a species creating a slave race which leads to their destruction.

- Ten species who have hibernated (mostly underground) to escape a calamity.

- Four species who have been disturbed by humanity when hibernating underground, causing conflict between them and humans. One race, the Cytherians, were even enslaved by humanity.

- At least three different origins for the Moon (Theia colliding with Earth, Mercury’s twin planet that sent Mondas off into space/scared the Silurians, an egg).

- Four bodies being expelled from their orbits after evolving sapient life - the Moon/Theia and Mondas from within the Solar System, and Voga and Skaro (yes, that Skaro) from outside it.

- Multiple aquatic societies.

- Multiple species said to have inspired the human myth of fairies.

Earth’s solar system is weird. How weird is the rest of the universe?

[gingerteaonthetardis]

There might already be a fic about this, but I just love the concept...

Rose gets to stay with the Doctor.

Let's just suppose there's no Doomsday or Journey's End, but there's also no Bad Wolf-induced extended lifespan or any other fix-it for Rose aging. She just... stays with the Doctor. Here's what I envision:

The Doctor's Tenth body lasts quite a few more years, which seems to surprise Rose, as their life together doesn't really get any less dangerous. But their life has also gotten wonderfully domestic in some ways - they share a bedroom, he helps her fold the laundry, and they go home for Christmas every year. They get married on four different planets. (Though Jackie claims it doesn't count unless it's on Earth. She doesn't realize that Rose and the Doctor got the paperwork done ages ago, when Rose decided she wanted him to be her next of kin. They're married in every way that counts.) They've even done some bioengineering, so they can try for kids together. They certainly do love trying. The adventures start to get further and further apart for a while.

Rose wakes up one morning to him licking her shoulder and mumbling something she can't quite make out. He has to repeat it three times before she understands she's pregnant. She's twenty-seven. She has seen governments topple and stars being born, and she's suddenly scared to death of starting a family. He realizes she needs her mum, and decides to take her home, to Earth, just for a while. But his piloting is as unreliable as ever. They land somewhere they aren't supposed to, somewhere dangerous, and there's finally a slip up - the kind they've been dreading and anticipating for years.

He begins regenerating. As his body is reborn, he thinks, "Just let me be a good father. Let me be a good father for her baby."

His Eleventh body is immediately pulled into a hug from Rose who is worried beyond comprehension. But the minute he wraps his gangly arms around her, all worry is gone, and she's giggling and complimenting his floppy hair and his soulful green eyes and the way his smile is so different from before and yet, so much the same. She loves him.

He gets them back to Earth, in the end. Jackie has to get used to another face, but she treats it like old hat. “The bowtie makes you look like a swot,” she says. They tell her the news, and she's ecstatic and horrified in equal measure. She asks if the baby will have two heads or something.

The Doctor soon finds out that this body was made for fatherhood. He spends the entire pregnancy doting on Rose like a mother hen. Foot rubs and spooning have become the currency of this body. His obsession with optimizing her diet drives Rose mad, but as he stands in front of her with a green milkshake that he's trying to pass off as dessert, she can't help but love him. Fiercely protective of her, he takes her and Jackie on a short hop forward for the delivery. He won't risk his wife to a twenty-first century doctor, he says.

Their first child is a daughter.

Their second child is a son.

He loves them and fears them both in equal measure. Their daughter is nearly full-blooded Gallifreyan, and a complete genius. She makes improvements to the TARDIS that he hasn't considered in all of his 900 years. Their son, however, is almost completely human, and takes after his jeopardy-friendly mother. His heart is enormous - and oddly, his ears are rather large, too. Still, the Doctor puts all of his substantial energy into raising their children while still serving a universe in need. Though it seems that the universe has decided to take a vacation from real disaster, because the next thirty years pass like a blink. He goes from making toys and gadgets for his kids to releasing his adult children into the galaxy in what feels like mere moments. There are times when he would give anything to show them Gallifrey, teach them to be proper Time Lords and not just half-cocked maniacs like he is. But he does a good job, clinging to the slow path. He is proud of the children they've raised, and what he believes they'll do for the universe.

Their nest is empty again. Rose starts to get mistaken for his mother, which is a surefire way to get her spitting angry. She's delivered a smack or two in defense of their marriage. He pokes fun, says she's turning into Jackie Tyler. Time Lords age, obviously, but slowly, so he still looks quite young - nearly the same as when he first regenerated into this body. He still wears bowties. She stopped dying her hair a long time ago and let the brown grow in. He loves the way the silver threads through it, like little strands of time, or like the tiny, silver leaves on the trees of Gallifrey. Calls it very, very sexy. She calls him mad. But they still love one another like they always have. He loves Rose like he was born to do it. And he was born to do it.

On her sixty-fifth birthday, the Doctor - a sentimental old fool - decides to give her a birthday present.

His Twelfth body makes Rose beam. "You're a silver fox!" she cries, her eyes brimming with tears. "And Scottish! What are you Scottish for, you daft man?" But she loves his voice, loves his body, loves him so much it aches. She can't believe he'd do this, for her. But he would. He does. He wants to grow old with her, and he's found a sort of... cheat. A way to do that.

They still save the universe from trouble, though their kids (and their TARDIS, which they grew together in record time, due to the fact that their daughter is dazzlingly brilliant and their son is dreadfully determined) handle most of the intergalactic crises. Rose worries about them - hopes they're eating enough and not putting themselves to unnecessary risk, and that when they overturn governments, they make sure the power vacuum is safely filled. That's a lesson she and the Doctor learned the hard way.

Most of all, she hopes they'll find love like she did.

She and the Doctor run less and less. They return to earth to spend lingering, final years with Jackie Tyler (who doesn't like this face much, says the eyebrows are dreadful, but she still kisses his cheek and thanks him for taking care of her daughter). Rose mourns.

They find themselves standing in beautiful places more and more - planets with five moons, circumnavigating the sky in an elaborate dance; oceans that crest and peak in stunning lavender waves, where the sun slants through like stained glass. And though her eyes have gotten older, Rose never tires of the sights. He never tires of watching her step out onto a planet, her hand in his, and seeing something new, something beautiful. He realizes he could live ten thousand more years with this woman and never tire of her boundless love and spirit and compassion. He realizes he never, ever wants to let go of her hand.

But he has to.

Time travelers are rarely long-lived, though they can be, if they manage to survive the danger and benefit from the slightly altered biology. Rose lives very long for a human - she lives to nearly 120. Even in the last years, when she can't run anymore, he walks with her out into foreign worlds. She charms kings, and she loves children. She always reminds him to do the kind thing, the good thing, the right thing. He thanks the TARDIS over and over for letting them have this - this sort of retirement together. He thanks his beloved ship for keeping Rose safe.

The last hours of her life are spent on the TARDIS, talking of where they've been and where they'll go next. He wants to go back and revisit some old favorites, but Rose insists on somewhere new. "Doctor," she rasps, "I want to go somewhere I've never gone before." She does.

He buries Rose on Earth, next to her mother, in the late twenty-first century. He keeps her things, though, on the TARDIS. He keeps her old room, and their old room, and the children's room. He spends a few years just... drifting. Mourning. His Rose. His precious Rose.

That is, until the TARDIS slams him into the hull of a sinking ship.

The SS Bad Wolf.

The Doctor laughs. He saves the crew, but loses the body. He is happy, because he knew he would. This body wasn't made for running and mad escapes, it was made for loving someone who is no longer there. It was made to be a father, a husband, a grandfather. Now he isn't really any of those things. He wonders what he will be next. The words “Bad Wolf” linger in his vision as he steps back onto the TARDIS. That’s Rose, he thinks. Always looking out for him.

He regenerates again. He thinks - no, he knows - this will be the last one.

The Doctor's Thirteenth body is, in a word, brilliant.

"Oh, Rose," she says, standing in the wardrobe room, her hazel eyes filled with tears. "If you could see me now!" The brown roots with the blonde hair. The golden brown in the eyes. The Northern accent, from so long ago. The kindness that she can feel as a crystal spring, hidden deep in her body and running joy and compassion through her like a babbling brook.

She laughs as she pilots into the vortex, in search of her next great adventure.

[avid-windex-consumer]

Heaven’s Trap | Chapter 2. | Welcome Home

Her companions are exhausted, she can tell. They try to hide it; for her sake maybe, she doesn’t quite know why, but it’s obvious to her.

They’ve been going from place to place all day, counting and running and hiding. They hadn’t had any direct encounters with it, though at this rate that could change very soon.

It’s in the way Yaz’s eyes are droopy, and Ryan’s steps slow, his body addled with the need to rest, his coordination worsened. It’s in Graham’s shoulders, hunched over slightly.

They’ll need to rest soon, she knows. But at what cost? How long will they really be able to nap for, 75 minutes, maximum? She needs the extra few for good measure.

The movements of the castle had been stubborn, blocking access to the chamber she needed in order to get to the top.

It’s vital she sees the stars. Absolutely vital. Because if someone had gone to all the trouble of making a replica of the confession dial, then they’d also replicate where the stars had been last. Where the stars had been positioned when she’d escaped.

When she was in the dial, she often thought about the starting point. That’s what she called the time when she’d first arrived in the dial. So all calculations of time after the starting point were based on the shift from the starting point to each time he’d looked at the stars in the dial.

But if the stars weren’t positioned 4.5 billion years after the starting point, that meant that she was in the confession dial.

Because the times would have changed, and though it would be a minor shift, it would be obvious to her. And it would be the only changed factor in the castle (that she’d found so far).

She hopes, she really, really hopes, that the stars have changed.

“When are we stopping, Doc?” Graham says groggily.

You can never stop, but you can rest.

The tower is still sealed off.

“We’ll have to skip the tower for now, the castle’s being stubborn. Five minutes to the closest room, yeah? You can all rest for an hour or so.”

The four make their way to the room in an uncomfortable silence.

-x-

They’re all asleep now, except for the Doctor. She watches over them, like a guardian angel. A guardian angel in a cage.

She wonders if this is hell. The Time Lords don’t have a religion, but most other cultures do, and most of them include some type of hell.

This would be hers, definitely.

If the Doctor doesn’t escape, the companions will die, whether it be from sleep deprivation or it. She’ll die too eventually, but her death will come long, long after.

If it turns out that this really is the confession dial, then the Doctor is at a loss. What does it want her to confess this time? The hybrid is gone because Clara is gone.

What other secrets does she keep? Her name?

Her name.

Is that what it wants?

God, she hopes not.

Click

Click

Click

Click

She needs to wake them up.

It’ll be here soon, and by then they’ll need to be long gone.

She shakes Yaz awake, watching the girl’s eyes droop open. There’s something unsettling about them, a fear that the doctor doesn’t like.

Fear keeps you on your toes.

“Come on Yaz, you have to wake up.”

Yaz slowly sits up, still sleep addled. Her body desperately needs more rest, but it is coming.

She can see it on the screen, slow and creeping. The can see the flies buzzing in front of it. It was a constant, for so many years. 4.5 billion years. A constant, relentless, pursuing nightmare with claws.

She hates it. How she feels almost at home here. A familiarity that can match the TARDIS, beat it even. She did spend billions of years here; it shouldn’t have surprised her-

No, not here. It can’t be here. It’s a replica, it has to be.

Could she handle it if it wasn’t?

Is that even a question?

“Can’t I lose, just once.” She murmurs under her breath; no one hears her.

You have a duty of care.

The voice sounds too much like Clara for her liking.

Yaz helps wake up the other two, and the Doctor’s resolve breaks for just a fraction of a second when she sees their eyes, desperate and begging for sleep, already wearing down.

She strengthens her resolve, mentally berating herself for letting it fall, even for a second. The companions still don’t know what happens here, in this place; they don’t have any idea at all.

It will take them a while to get to the other side of the castle, she knows. But there’s somewhere specific she needs to see. If the tower is being stubborn, she may as well go to the garden. There’s something important there.

“Let’s get a shift on, yeah?” She smiles, urging them on. The grogginess of sleep still settles on them, but it lessens as they jog to the yard.

“Where are we going now, Doctor?” Yaz asks.

“We’re going to the garden. Well, I say garden. Not really much to show if it is a garden.”

“Why the garden?” Ryan cuts in.

“There’s something I need to dig up.”

-x-

As soon as she enters the garden-if it can even be called that-she freezes. The vines are just as dead as they were last time, and the shovel is positioned perfectly against the wall.

Do I dig?

Of course you dig.

That’s been happening a lot lately. Clara. Maybe it’s the place, this castle.

“Okay then fam!” She regains her composure, smile tight, forced into a mock playful grin. “Ready?”

“For what?” Yaz asks.

“To dig.”

She grabs the shovel, making her way across the garden to the middle of the area, where a bed of soil lies.

God, it’s just like she remembers it. She’s dug it up billions of times, and the sound of the soil giving way to the shovel sends shivers down her spine.

-x-

It takes a long time, digging it up. Ryan and Yaz pitch in for bits, but she does most of the heavy lifting. Graham can’t, his joints are weak from age. She hates to say it, but Graham is most likely to die first if she can’t get them out of here. His body is old for a human’s, not terribly old, not as old as her last body even, but still old. A body that wears down faster.

She hears the familiar clang of stone, and bends down to swipe away the soil.

Her heart drops and her breath catches.

It’s the same.

“I AM IN 12”

She remembers writing it in her first time, before the stars shifted and the years passed. Before she’d laid out the clues and set up the loop.

Things were much harder then, and she’s glad that those memories are the hardest to unlock.

Sometimes she wishes she’d forget them all, but she can’t afford that, not now.

But then something catches her eye. She swipes at the soil, and her eyes widen.

“WELCOME HOME”

No, no, no. Please. It’s a trick, has to be. Has to be a trick.

Those words are chilling, because despite the dread she feels, this place has the familiarity you’d associate with a home. The castle is more familiar than the TARDIS, and if that thought doesn’t inspire dread…

Focus. She has to focus.

It’s Gallifreyan writing, clear as day. And it isn’t hers. She’s never done that.

She hopes.

What if she has done that? What if she’s in another loop? How long have they been here?

No, stop thinking like that. So far you’ve seen no evidence of an energy loop.

Granted, it’s only been a few hours, less than a day really. But so far, nothing.

That’s right. Focus on that.

And then she hears the buzzing. Coming from right below her.

-x-

She pushes open the doors to the TARDIS, the familiar golden glow of the consoles sets the setting comfortable.

“Ah! My storm room, good to be back! Well, this is no good. Look at that.” She pulls the monitor towards her, showing The Veil’s hands coming towards her face.

“Hmm. This seems all too familiar. No time to think about that though, we have bigger fish to fry.”

She ducks under the console and fiddles with a wire, making the console spark.

“Ah! Idea!”

Coming back up, she spins the monitor forward, and closes her eyes.

“Okay teacher, ask me questions.”

When she opens them, there’s a whiteboard to the side of her.

Does it want a confession?

“Everything else has been exactly the same, don’t see why this wouldn’t be. But if this was the real deal-hypothetically, because it can’t be-then it would have to be a Time Lord engineering this, yeah? And I don’t know what information they’d want from me.”

A truth you haven’t told anyone else

“Yes, yes. This regeneration, luckily, doesn’t talk much-well, I do, but not about myself. Well, not about important things about myself.”

She thought for a moment, before sitting down and resting her back on a glowing pillar, head in her hands.

“This place feels like home.”

Why?

“I was here so long-god, I hate it, but people can hate their homes, can’t they? I know every corner, twist and turn, and I know The Veil.”

Then say it.

“I really don’t want to…and I don’t know why.”

You don’t want to because saying it will make it more real.

“Yeah...you were always smart like that…Clara.”

-x-

“This place feels like home!” She shouts. “Is that what you want to hear!”

It slows…but it still comes near her.

“What, you want more?” She asks incredulously. “I was here for so long. 4.5 billion years! It’s more familiar than the TARDIS, every room and corridor; and god, I loathe it.”

The Veil freezes, the flies stop buzzing, and she flicks one away. The walls start to move, and instinctively she knows that the tower is open right now.

She climbs out of the hole, and watches her companions looking at her with wide eyes.

“Doctor?” Yaz asks tentatively, as if she was stuck between being concerned or horrified. “What did you mean when you said 4.5 billion years?”

The Doctor freezes, then calmes and smiles, trying to reassure her friend. “Ah, that’s not important. Come on, we have to get to the tower while we can.”

Yaz wants to follow up, the Doctor knows, but she drops it for now. The Doctor has a hunch she'll bring it up again eventually, when they're safe.

If they're ever safe.

“How do you know it’s ready?”

“I told you I knew this play well, yeah? Come on, let’s get a shift on.”

[charlottedabookworm]

I just - suddenly have the mental image of a FFXV/Doctor Who Ardynson crossover that I HAVE to share with you, because wtf, it got sparked into life by your putting Doctor Who and Ardynson stuff side by side. (Suffer with me. SUFFER!)

SO. WHAT IF Somnus and Ardyn’s mom was a Time Lord - one tossed through dimensions, stranded on Eos by the Time War - pick whatever reason you choose. And Ardyn and Somnus grew up on stories of the universe beyond their simple planet - of distant worlds unlike anything they’d ever seen, of wolds where the suns were bright and the skies ran read, Worlds where ’the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song.‘ Ardyn and Somnus received an education worthy of a Time Lord because their mother insisted - yet, physiology-wise, they were never more then human.

Going by what some people speculate - it would takes regeneration to shift their physiology from almost-identical to human to Time Lord.

Except - it’s possible to refuse to regenerate. To die a human death; and that’s what Somnus did. And over the generations - over a hundred generations, his descendants bed and interbred with humans, until the Lucis Caelum line is - simply that, for all intents and purposes. Something lingers - the shape of the eyes, a natural talent to always know what the time is - but little more.

And maybe that’s where the Lucis Caelum tradition of having a title came from - something Ardyn and Somnus got from their mother, and they themselves continued.

Ardyn, on the other hand. Ardyn has been trapped by the Scourge in his veins and his Curse. For over two thousand years - he’s never had the chance to regenerate, and it hurts. It hurts so much; his body is all but screaming at him for death, for change - it knows it should have two hearts, that it should be different, but he can’t, he can’t. Both death and regeneration are denied to him.

And now there’s Nyx. His son, Nyx.

Nyx, who dreams of other worlds and times. Nyx, who was born, much like Ardyn, to trace the skin of eternity. Nyx, who knows the theory of regeneration, who was taught by his father as he himself was taught by his grandmother before him. Nyx, who has a Time Lord’s basic training and knowledge, who is just a little bit other. Nyx, who knows that all he has to do is reach.

Nyx and Ardyn have never regenerated, but they are Other nonetheless. And sometimes they dream; dream of what lies beyond the stars.

And if they should ever stumble across a Tardis? Well. At least they should be better pilots then the Doctor.

(Due to magic Screwing Up Everything, I just. Can’t help but picture a regenerated Nyx as being basically identical to his First Self, only with his father’s coloring - the eyes and the hair! And since Illusions Are A Thing, he can look like whatever the hell he wants.)

Please let me know you if got this? Half the time I’m afraid that submits just don’t get through to people.

(Submission by @hamelin-born)

@hamelin-born Oh. Oh shit. Why would you do this to me? Okay. Okay, damn you, I can run with this. This is going under a cut because this ended up getting stupid long very quickly.

So, let’s say that Ardyn and Somnus’ mother – the Undaunted – ran to Eos to escape the Time War (because look, if the Master can do it, so can the Undaunted. And who wouldn’t want to get the fuck out of that mess). She lands her TARDIS in Solheim, in the furthest corner of the universe that she can reach, and happens to accidentally save the life of the King – a King who cannot have children due to medical issues, who loves his people and whose line of succession ends with him – and gets to know him, becomes friends with this man who laughs freely and truly loves his people and wants the best for everyone but is still a King, and together they see an opportunity. (The King to have this new friend protect his people, and the Undaunted to escape permanently from the hell that is the time war, to hide and not be found). The Undaunted uses the chameleon arch to become human – but not entirely, because the Lucis Caelum line is just other enough, the blessings of the Astral just strong enough, to give them magic, to make them different, to class them as not-quite-human – but she doesn’t forget who she was, she becomes the Crown Princess of Solheim (the recently discovered bastard child of the King) but she remembers. And then, years later, the King passes. She takes the throne and rules the country that she has grown to love – that is full of people who she has grown to care for, people who still call her the Undaunted, who title her as a queen – and she has two children, five years apart. She has two children who have regeneration energy buzzing under their skin, who can feel the planet beneath their feet as it spins and hurtles through space, who can see threads of possibility and can tell you the time down to the millisecond without even thinking about it. Ardyn and Somnus are born with a single heart, are born with the magic of the Lucis Caelum line bound to their souls, but they are not human. They are raised together, raised with both a Prince’s education and a Time Lords – as many lessons taking place in their mothers’ TARDIS as in the palace or on the road, learning through tutors and books and experience with the TARDIS library free for them to use. They grow up on stories of the stars, of Gallifrey, of all of the planets that their mother had visited, of different skies and different peoples and of supernovas and black holes. They learn of regeneration and the untampered schism and how to pilot a TARDIS and of time itself. They grow, and they learn, and, in the end, they are as much Gallifreyan – as much time lord – as they are human, for all their single human heart. But then their mother dies – their mother dies because she can’t regenerate, because she is still hiding, and Ardyn is 25 and Somnus is 20, both adults by human reckoning but still children by Gallifrey’s count. Their mother dies, and her TARDIS disappears, and Ardyn becomes King – and they are still time lords, are still Gallifreyian, are still their mothers’ children, but without the TARDIS (without their mother and her stories, with only her journals and a few artefacts from her quarters) it is so much easier to be human. (It is easier to be human, to pretend that they do not long for something that they could never have. It is easier to be human, because what is the point of being a time lord? What will it give them? They could regenerate, but they cannot leave this planet. They are time lords, but their mother is dead and the time lords are dying in a war that hasn’t started but is currently ongoing but had ended millennia ago. It is easier to be human, because all they have is each other in a world surrounded by humans) The Undaunted dies. Ardyn becomes King, Somnus as his heir and best diplomat, and all they have left of their heritage is themselves and what their mother had written down for them. Ardyn takes the title of the Sage – a title as much granted to him by the land as it was chosen by himself – and Somnus becomes the Mystic, and this is the part of their heritage that they grip the tightest too (something from their mother that they could shout out to the world, that they could wrap around themselves like a shield. Ardyn is as much his name as the Sage is, and – beneath both of those – there is a name that is known only to himself, one that his mother granted him at birth and that has never been spoken aloud). Somnus, who is five years younger than his brother – whose memories of their mother are a little more faded, who has had fewer lessons on being a time lord, who was not a scholar and spent less time in the library, who knows less of his heritage despite Ardyn’s best efforts – clings far tighter to his human half than his brother does. There are things that he doesn’t quite understand, abilities that he pushes aside in favour of being normal, and he tries to ignore the longing for the stars that he sees in Ardyn. Because Ardyn can’t stay in one place, can’t stand still – can’t live his life in a single country. Ardyn is a Healer and a traveller, he wanders from place to place – healing his people and learning the land and always looking upwards, reaching for a universe that he cannot travel – rarely returning home unless necessary, and there is a part of Somnus that hates his brother for it. There is still a prophecy and an Astral and a brother betraying another for a throne – because their heritage, their otherness, changes nothing in that case. Ardyn still takes the scourge into himself, he is still captured by Somnus, is still set to the cross – the difference is, in this world, that Bahamut steps in before Ardyn can regenerate, before he can give in to the energy under his skin and change. Bahamut steps in and binds Ardyn’s soul to his body – ‘grants’ him immortality, as though it was a gift instead of the curse that it was – and then Ardyn can’t regenerate. He spends the next two millennia caught on the cusp – regeneration energy humming just out of reach under his skin, unable to take that final step and be free of the pain. And Somnus? Somnus embraces his human side, prefers to forget the heritage that he had shared with his brother. Somnus gets married and his children, founds the Lucis Caelum line and Lucis alongside it, rules over his country – and, when he is old and tired, he lets go. Somnus Lucis Caelum dies – old for a human, but still just a babe in Gallifreyan terms. He chooses not to regenerate, chooses to be human, and, in the end, time forgets that he was anything but. Years pass. Ardyn slips further and further into insanity – driven to distraction by a song that only he can hear, by the constant feeling that he should have two hearts instead of one, by a longing for the stars and the universe, by the empty space in his mind where his brother and mother once where, by the thousands of screaming voices in his mind that block out near everything else – and the Lucis Caelum line dilutes their blood more and more, marrying human after human after human, until finally children are born without life under their skin: children who cannot feel the world turn, who cannot hear the minds of their family, who do not know time in a way that they once did, who do not look up at the stars and think home. The line of Lucis becomes just another human family with just a little extra, like they once were, before a young Gallifreyan ran from the Time War and got herself adopted - with an innate sense of time and an odd tinkle in their eyes and a habit of choosing titles for themselves, but nothing more. And then, Nyx is born. Nyx, who has three names – one given to him by his mother, a second, secret, name given to him by his father, and a third, once that was chosen both by himself and the Land beneath his feet. Nyx, who is born with golden fire dancing under his skin, whose mind reaches out for his fathers’ mere moments after he first opens his eyes. Nyx, who feels time and possibility, who can trace the passage of eternity and step outside of the known with just a thought. Nyx, who looks up at the stars with wonder and awe and longing. Nyx, who – like his father before him – dreams of what lies beyond the night sky, dreams of travelling the universe and uncovering its secrets. Nyx who is other. Ardyn teaches his son everything that he remembers – dragging himself back from insanity inch by inch so that he can teach his son, using the mental bond between them to block out everything else. It is Ardyn who teaches his son of Gallifrey and Time Lords, of the Time War and the Undaunted. Who teaches his son what he remembers of Gallifreyan, teaches him what he can of how to fly a TARDIS without one on hand to help learn. He teaches his son and he heals himself in the process. Nyx, who has a single heart and is only quarter-blooded, but who embraces his heritage wholeheartedly. Again, nothing much changes despite this, Nyx is still Nyx, for all that he is not human. He is still Ramuh’s Chosen, is still Galahd’s protector, and he still puts his people before himself. Galahd still falls to Niflheim. Nyx still goes to Lucis, still joins the Glaive, is still loyal to Regis – just, in this world he recognises the hint of other in the Lucis Caelum, that small thread of not-human that is all that is left of the blood in his uncles line, and there is a small part of him that pities them (pities what they will never know, will never feel. Pities them for everything that they do not even know is missing, for everything that they have lost). There is still a war, his father is still Niflheim’s Chancellor, there is still a treaty signing, everything still goes wrong, Regis still dies. But, this time, when Nyx puts on the ring of the Lucii – when he summons the old wall to defeat the daemons, when he uses everything to kill Glauca, when he is told the price will be his life by his uncle because he is not worthy, because he will not sacrifice another, when the ring tries to kill him – he doesn’t die. In his final moments, before he shatters into ashes, he thinks of those he loves. He thinks of Selena and Crowe and Libertus, who are all his family – who accept him, all of him, and would be devastated by his death. He thinks of his father, who is just as other as he is – he thinks of the only one in the world that truly understands him, who he can feel reaching along their bond with heart-stopping worry, who was alone for so long before Nyx was born, who clings to Nyx sometimes, like he is his only hope in the universe. He thinks, I cannot leave them alone, and he reaches for the energy under his skin and lets it consume him. Nyx regenerates. Golden energy blasts out of him, burning away his human blood – and it hurts but it doesn’t, it burns but it is a gentle warmth, it is old and young and renewing – dyeing his hair the purple of his father, leaving his eyes as gold as the energy in his veins, and he has two hearts now but he does not change. (Nyx’s magic is bound to his soul, is bound to his identity, and it has wrapped itself around the regeneration energy in his cells. Nyx will never change his appearance unless he chooses to). He regenerates and, for the first time in his life, he feels whole – he feels right. This is who he was, who he was always meant to be, and he hadn’t even realised that he had felt so uncomfortable in his own skin until the feeling was gone. Nyx wakes in a crater in the ruins of Insomnia, with his father’s hair and eyes, with two hearts and an expanded awareness, but he is still Nyx. Of course, everyone thinks that he’s dead – and Nyx doesn’t exactly do anything to change that, not when he looks so much like his father (like Niflheim’s Chancellor) now. He tells Lib and Crowe and Selena, goes to see his father (and ignores the hint of envy in the man’s eyes as he congratulates him, because he knows what his father has been through, has felt that point just before regeneration and couldn’t imagine spending two millennia stuck on that brink) and then he travels. He travels across Eos, to the furthest corners and the well-known cities, and the daemons don’t bother him because he is still the son of the Accursed – any hint of the scourge may have been burned out of his blood, but his magic had existed alongside it for his entire life and that leaves a mark. He travels, and he learns, and he saves people, and he feels free, but at nights he stares up at the stars and he wishes. And then, one day, he finds a TARDIS. He’s in the ruins of Solheim, following a call that is half gut instinct and half knowing, and he doesn’t even realise what he has found until he steps inside and recognises it. Until he steps inside, and the memories of his fathers’ stories come flooding back, the memories of his father talking fondly of the lessons that his own mother had taught him in this very TARDIS. “Oh,” He says, as the TARDIS unfurls in his mind – familiar and welcoming, and this should be strange, but nothing had ever felt more right. “Aren’t you beautiful?” The TARDIS preens, consoles humming at the compliment, and Nyx laughs, leaning back against the doors. And this is amazing, this is everything that he could have ever hoped for, but there was still one thing missing – one thing that kept this from being perfect. “Dad is going to be so happy to see you. He missed you so much after Nanas’ death.” There was a hint of apologetic grief from the bond, shame for having left the children of her bonded, but Nyx understood grief – understood the need to get away from everything that reminded you of them. (Hadn’t he done the same, after his mothers’ death, after the fall?). Reaching out, he strokes a hand against the walls – comforting and absolving at the same time. “He doesn’t blame you, girl.” Lights dim and then pick up again, a thread of gratitude in the humming of the console, and Nyx smiled again. “Now, come on, let’s go and surprise the old man.” The console buzzed with mischief, and Nyx laughed again. They were going to get on brilliantly. Ardyn’s face when he sees the TARDIS is a picture – one that Nyx instantly takes, because it is rare that he can shock his father so thoroughly, and he is going to hold this against the man for the rest of time – but the look on his face as he reaches out slowly, both with his mind and his hand, the disbelief and desperate hope, as though he doesn’t believe that it is real, is almost enough to make him cry. He does cry, when Ardyn touches the doors with so much grief and awe and love and pain, and his father cries with him – but it’s a healing sort of crying, the kind that leaves you drained and tired but feeling better. It’s Ardyn and Nyx and the TARDIS – all of the remnants of Gallifrey that exist in this little corner of the universe together for the first time, happy and laughing and crying and just existing together – and it’s amazing. But, despite this, there is still a prophecy – is still Noct and the Astrals and the Scourge and Bamahut’s curse – and Ardyn still has a part to play. Things play out pretty similarly – Noct fights Ardyn, who puts up a pretense and makes it a good fight but just wants this to be over (one way or the other, he has hope, has Nyx and the TARDIS glowing in his mind and shielding him from the screams of the daemons, but he is still so tired and regeneration or not he wants this to end), Noct wins, as he always would have, no matter the world, because Ardyn had always planned this to end in his death, but Nyx is there this time. Nyx is there, and he shoves Noct out of the way as the curse ends – destroyed by the Chosen King’s actions, by the poor child that was going to have to die for Bahamut’s schemes – and he clutches his fathers’ hand and asks the man to regenerate. Asks for just one more life together. Ardyn has never been able to deny his son anything, and he gives in. He regenerates, finally, golden fire bursting out of his skin violently – so much more so than Nyx’s regeneration was, because this has been building for millennia and now that Ardyn had given in nothing could stop this – burning the scourge out of his soul. It hurts – but it is a good sort of hurt, because this is finally happening, this is what Ardyn has been edging towards for over two thousand years. He regenerates, and for the first time in his life he has two hearts – can hear the dual beat of his blood pounding in his ears – and the TARDIS is singing in his mind and he feels right. Everything is so clear and so quiet and his magic feels lighter without the scourges taint and Ardyn is more himself than he has been in centuries. Ardyn lives and Nyx lives – and maybe Noct lives as well: maybe they find some way to save the kid, but maybe they don’t, maybe they try and fail, maybe they don’t even try but I’d like to think that they would – but they are alive and the TARDIS is singing with joy because now she has two time lords, one who is so young but the other is 2000 years old, both of whom are related to her first bonded, both of whom will not leave her. They’re alive and they’re time lords and they have a TARDIS and they’re free of the Time War. (The War is over, echoes across the universe, Gallifrey has fallen. The Daleks have fallen. The Last Great Time War has ended. And, maybe they should care more than they do. Maybe they should be sad at the loss of their home. But it is a home that they never knew, full of a people that they had never met, one that they had only heard of through stories and all they need is each other. There is no war and they are safe and Ardyn just wishes that his mother had lived to see it) For a little while, they stick around – helping Galahd with their rebuilding and making sure that they’re okay – but eventually Lib gets pissed off at their hanging around and fussing and tells them to go. (Look, Lib and Crowe and Selena – and possibly Cor, depending on whether or not Noct lived - totally end up being on-again off-again companions, you can’t convince me otherwise). So, they take the TARDIS and go. They come home every so often, but – most of the time – they travel. Bouncing from world to world to world, helping people and having fun and learning new things and experiencing the universe (they may or may not use the TARDIS to go back in time and prank the shit out of Somnus. They can’t change anything, they know that, but they can make the man’s life hell). And yeah, they are way better drivers than the Doctor because why not? For one, there’s two of them, and they’re happy to learn what the TARDIS teaches them. Until, one day, they land on Earth. They land on Earth and Ardyn has some fun in Cardiff with a certain captain, they travel between countries and bounce back and forwards in time and have fun but they keep being drawn back to the UK by something, and honestly the repeated alien invasions are quite fun to watch so they don’t really care. At some point, Nyx probably makes friends with Donna (and when he figures out what’s wrong with her memories, because there is something off with her timestream and he can almost feel the Time Lord consciousness hidden behind the bloc, he takes her to his dad and the TARDIS and between them they manage to fix it so that Donna at least gets her memories back. And then Donna gets to travel with her new friends while telling them all about the Doctor, because look. Donna deserved better), and, after a while, he ends up in university because he has a goal to beat the number of degrees that his dad has – because he has a lot of time, and it is going to take a very long while to meet that target, especially since Ardyn keeps picking up more (Ardyn finds this hilarious, his son is adorable when pouting) – and somehow he ends up in Bristol Uni, doing some sort of undergrad degree in a subject I haven’t decided on yet. One day, gold eyes hidden behind a spell his father had taught him, he walks into a lecture and then he meets the wide eyes of the old man lecturing in the front in shock, even as his mind automatically reaches out to the other Gallifreyan in the room. One day, the Knight meets the Doctor, and things spiral outwards from there.

[tenscupcake]

electrostatic potential (34/?)

ten/rose. teen this ch. this chapter was definitely an exercise in pushing my creative boundaries. a style i’ve never tried to tackle before, and it’s a short chapter on top of that (concision is something EVERYONE already knows i suck at). i like the way it turned out though, as did my beta :D so i hope you guys do too. summary: as the doctor and rose traverse time and space looking for adventure, they slowly fall victim to a mysterious energy that can manipulate their emotions. though confused and unnerved by the cerebral affliction, neither of them understands its cause, or realizes that it could jeopardize their friendship. what will it take for them to discover the truth? this chapter on ao3 | back to chapter 1 on ao3

There’s a phenomenon that exists in many species across the universe – ones with cardiovascular systems, at any rate. A temporary enlargement and reduction of function of the heart muscle in response to a severe stress, especially a death or breakup. Untreated, it can result in fatal arrhythmia or heart failure. Its symptoms are similar to those of a myocardial infarction: acute chest pain and shortness of breath.

Some medical professionals designate it takotsubo cardiomyopathy. But, species and language barriers notwithstanding, it’s known colloquially across much of the universe as broken heart syndrome.

“We haven't got time to argue. The plan works. We're going. You too. All of us.”

“No, I’m not leavin’ him!”

There’s no evidence the condition occurs in Gallifreyans.

But as the Doctor turns his back on the stark white wall and faces an empty room, he wonders if all his time spent around humans hasn’t begun to affect his biology. His chest is swollen yet empty and aching, and the only time he can breathe is when the erratic, pounding palpitations of his hearts knock the wind out of him and he gasps for air.

“He does it alone, Mum. But not anymore. ‘Cause now he's got me.”

Why did he do it? Why did he sling the device around Rose’s neck?

He would never. He should never.

His legs, barely functional pegs, slowly carry him out of the room where the rift was created. Broken. Numb. He nearly makes it to the stairwell but falls to his knees before he can reach the door. He buckles over at the waist, barely catching himself with his hands before his head hits the ground. The cold, hard floor is a welcome, if miniscule, reprieve from the agony in his chest.

“I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you.”

He squeezes his eyes closed, wishing tears would fall. Wishing he could scream. Wishing something would happen to disrupt the deafening silence. The intense emptiness of this room. This entire building. Its previous employees either evacuated or dead.

He knew. He knew she’d never leave. He promised he’d never leave her either.

Why did he do it?

But she came back. The storm had nearly passed.

Nearly.

“Hold on!!!”

Haunted by the memory of his own guttural scream, he finds his voice.

“NO!” he shouts at no one except the walls and the corpses scattered through the building. Smashes clenched fists on the linoleum.

They had come so close.

And they had hardly two weeks connected. Hardly one actually believing they might be able to live out their days together.

More and more seconds pass without Rose’s mental presence close enough to feel, and his mind begins to throb with the realization she’s gone. It worsens until it overrides the pain in his chest, the edges of his mind a raw wound that no salve will treat. And yet, futilely, the abandoned tendrils of his mind search for her. They’ll never stop searching for her.

He was right not to trust. To flee from a possibility of a connection like theirs. He saw this coming. He knew how much it would crush him, but he did it anyway. He’s a fool.

And for his stupidity, Rose will live out her millennia of life in a different dimension, with no one to spend it with. Her very immortality a constant reminder of what she’s lost. He’s thrust the very curse upon her that he can hardly bear the burden of himself.

He can’t let her suffer like this.

He can’t.

He has to find a way to her. He’d rip apart two universes to find a way.

A burst of adrenaline wrenches his eyes open. A second gets him to his feet, supporting himself against a wall.

As he takes in his immediate surroundings, trying to re-orient himself so he can find the TARDIS, the stark surfaces of the white box he’s trapped in begin to warp. The walls bend and buckle. A haze drifts over everything, until it’s suddenly too treacherous to take a single step.

He squeezes his eyes shut and rubs his fingers over them, giving himself a moment to try to breathe. Kick in his respiratory bypass to assist. This must be merely a symptom of his situation, his brain’s sensory processing ability taking a temporary hit from hypoxia or shock. Maybe both.

But when he opens them again, the entire interior of the cursed building flickers in and out of existence around him. Milliseconds of utter blackness interrupt his shaky perception of the world – like a live video feed cutting out.

Somewhere, Rose is screaming his name.

He screams back, only it’s not her name but a garbled cry of pain, because his head is suddenly pounding like it’s about to explode. Clutching the sides of his head, he crumples to the floor again, and this time he’s unable to break the fall with his hands.

---

He’s tried everything he can think of.

Went back in time to Canary Wharf, risked it all to try to slip through the crack between the universes while it was still open. But the TARDIS wouldn’t allow the risk of crossing his own timeline. He shouted himself hoarse and tried to override her safety precautions but she wouldn’t budge. She wouldn’t let him kill himself trying to get her back.

Normally he’s grateful for her protection, but right now the alternative still seems preferable. He did have that deal with himself, didn’t he?

He tore apart the console trying to recreate the accident that brought them to Pete’s World in the first place. It was an even worse failure that led the TARDIS to confiscate his flying privileges entirely. He was marooned inside the ship, no outlet for his grief for what felt like years.

He’s searching for other gaps between universes now, any crack that might be large enough to squeeze through. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a one-way trip or not. Setting the randomizer over and over, he searches every new destination for signs of the Void seeping through. But with and all of time and space at the TARDIS’s disposal, her search radius a mere pinpoint in comparison, it could take ten billion stops before he found one.

It’s hopeless.

His mind cries out for her, its edges aching, still raw. Frayed. Like the stub of a severed limb.

The monitor still doesn’t have any positive readings.

He crushes the pen in his hand, not caring when the ink bleeds onto the keyboard beneath it. He’s about to punch the glass screen, desperate to feel something besides the hollow ache in his chest.

But he suddenly feels… strange. Without warning, a different emotion rapidly displaces his grief and hopelessness: a potent sense of amnesia.

How many times has he done this? How many loci of this universe has he already checked? Two? Two thousand? He can’t remember any of them. But their current voyage doesn’t feel like their first one, either. Mingled with the amnesia is déjà vu, a nagging sense he’s done this before. He’s exhausted like he’s been at it for months without sleep, maybe even years.

He rubs a hand down his cheek, finding it rough with stubble. Looking down at his suit, he finds it stained with grease, dirt, and blood. His own? How long has it been since he washed it?

As he looks around, suddenly nothing he sees feels real. The console, the floor beneath his heavy feet, none of it.

Why are there such large gaps in his memory? Was he dosed with something? He doesn’t feel right.

He must need sleep. He’s been fighting so hard to get back to Rose, he’s been neglecting himself. Severely.

That’s all it is. A kip is all he needs.

Suddenly too exhausted to make the trek to his own bed, he drops to the console floor and is unconscious before he can second guess himself.

---

The Doctor carefully pilots the TARDIS around the dying, blazing star, getting the ship into just the right orbit to absorb its power without her shields being depleted by the intense radiation.

The gap he eventually found isn’t large enough to fit through.

Only just enough to send simple communication.

When it’s finally in the right spot, he steps away from the monitor. It’ll take a few minutes to draw enough power to send the projection, and the Doctor needs to freshen up. He’s still determined to find a way through properly, but he’d be an idiot not to consider the possibility this is the last time she’ll ever see him. He doesn’t want to look pathetic and unkempt as he says what might be his final goodbye.

He mechanically changes his suit and shaves his face, styles his hair though he hasn’t in he can’t remember how long. The way she likes it.

They didn’t get to say goodbye.

It’s the very least she deserves.

It will destroy them both, to be able to see one another but not touch. To be tempted with one another’s image even as the pervasive emptiness in their minds persists.

But it’s better than nothing. He repeats that to himself as he drags his feet back to the console.

But when he re-enters the console, his head is suddenly killing him again. He pushes his fists into his forehead, clenching his eyes shut and gasping through his teeth to try to will the pain away.

It does begin to fade after a few moments of steady breathing, and he takes one last deep breath, steeling himself for what he’s about to do.

But when he opens his eyes, the TARDIS’s interior has been completely transformed. A console still looms in the centre, the time rotor still breathes heavily as it churns up and down. But a purplish glow has replaced the green hue he’s accustomed to. The control panels have sharp edges, the organic corals supplanted by polygonal pillars. Unfamiliar Gallifreyan inscriptions line the walls and moving parts overhead, and the room is far bigger: multiple tiers of pathways extending in three dimensions beyond the grating of the console.

Dimly, as though a projection itself, a young redhead traipses around on a level of grating above him, and he can just faintly hear a Scottish accent...

And with a blink, it’s all gone. The stranger, the headache, the foreign TARDIS. It’s all back to normal.

He shakes his head, blinking hard a few more times. But the console room is now just as he left it: small and green and old-fashioned.

But… how… wait...

How did he get here?

The last thing he remembers is falling asleep on the grating. When he came to, he had already found this supernova. What did he do in between?

He shakes his head, dispelling the nonsensical train of thought.

It’s the anxiety. It has to be. Messing with his brain. Temporarily distorting his memories. But he can’t back out now. This might be his only chance to say goodbye to her.

---

“How long have we got?”

“About two minutes.”

---

“Am I ever gonna see you again?”

“You can’t.”

“What’re you gonna do?”

“Oh, I've got the Tardis. Same old life, last of the Time Lords.”

“On your own?”

He nods.

“I…”

A sob chokes off whatever she’s about to say, and she buckles over at the waist, trying to contain it.

Two minutes.

They’re running out of time.

When Rose rights herself, meeting his gaze again, her cheeks are still wet with tears, but they’re no longer falling. Terror and desperation have replaced the sorrow on her face.

“Doctor!” she shouts, far too loudly for being right in front of him. It’s frantic and impatient, as though it’s not her first time shouting his name, like she’s been shouting it for ages and he hasn’t heard her. The tangible shift in her emotional state makes this feel so much more real. Her presence here with him is an illusion – she’s not really inside the TARDIS – but it suddenly feels like she is. She feels closer to him than she has for months. His mind agrees she may be within reach, reaching out and calling her more strongly than it ever has.

Which is foolish and naïve. It must be merely his instinct to protect her kicking in, a strong emotional response to her evident distress affecting his judgment.

“Rose? What’s wrong?”

“You need to regenerate!” She’s still shouting just as forcefully.

He looks around, searching within the TARDIS for whatever danger she’s detected, but finds none.

“Rose, what are you on about?” Panic bubbles up inside him. This isn’t how he wants their last conversation to be. “I’m fine.”

“Doctor, whatever this is you’re experiencing in here, it’s not real.”

In here?

He’d rather they could touch one another, too, but this projection was the best he could do. He’ll keep trying the rest of his life, but there’s a good chance this is their last chance to speak. As far as Rose knows, it is. He doesn’t want to waste their final seconds together arguing about what’s real.

“Rose, I know I’m not here properly. Not physically, but… I had to say goodbye.” He pleads with her to understand with his mind, though he knows she can’t feel it. Her mind is still too far away, notwithstanding this visual fabrication that’s projecting her image inside the TARDIS.

“No, Doctor! Don’t say goodbye!” She lunges forward and grabs onto the lapels of his suit, the strong clutches of her fists successfully capturing the fabric, and his eyes bulge out of his skull. He stares down at her hands, the dark blue fabric of her jumper pressing into his chest, the arms attached to them suddenly quite real.

“Rose,” he gasps out, breathing heavily. “How are you doing this?” He reaches his arm up, touching her shoulder and finding it quite solid. His throat closes up with panic. Has sending this projection torn the fabric of reality? Jeopardized the stability of this universe? Hers? Both? As much as he wants to touch her in return, he knows something has gone horribly wrong.

“Look, you’re hurt.” Rose moves her hands up to his cheeks, tilting up his head, forcing him to look her in the eyes. Frantic as they are determined. “You’re hurt really bad. You hit your head. You need to regenerate.”   

“What’re you…” he tries to speak, but a potent spike of pain in his head prevents him from finishing the sentence. “Agh!” Clutching his head, he sinks to his knees, but rather than the hard grating, there’s nothing but sand beneath his knees. He glances around, only to find the console, the coral struts of the TARDIS, the ramps and the adjacent hallway are fading out of view. In just a few seconds, his ship has disintegrated completely. There’s only Rose, the ocean, the cold wind and sand and scattered rocks surrounding them.

“Rose, what’s happening?” he grits out through his teeth. The world tilts on its axis as the relentless pain brings nausea and disorientation. 

“Doctor, you need to stay with me.” She kneels down with him, fighting desperately for his full attention. But he can’t give it; the pain is already excruciating. “Can you feel the regeneration energy?”

“No!” he spits out, too miserable for politeness.

Amidst the agony is a profound confusion. How did he get here? Why does his head feel like it’s been cracked open?

But he has to say goodbye.

Two minutes.

He’s running out of time.

A powerful wave of dizziness crashes over him as he looks up at her, making the entire world spin around Rose until she goes completely out of focus.

“Rose, we don’ ‘ave much time. Just… needt’ tell you…” The words are slurred. Like he’s drugged, about to lose consciousness.

“Doctor! Listen! We’re not on this beach, okay? We’re at Canary Wharf. You’re about to leave me forever. You’ve got to trust me. I can feel it. The fire in your veins. You need to surrender to it.”

He stops trying to fight against what she’s saying. If this will be the last time he sees her anyway, he might as well indulge what she wants.

But how can he regenerate if he’s not dying?

Maybe he is dying. He’d be better off dead than living without Rose, anyway. Either way, regenerating sooner just means his miserably lonely life will be over sooner once she disappears.

He searches inward for the familiar flames of change, and to his surprise, he can just detect it down in his toes.

Is he dying?

Now that he can feel the fire in his veins, it quickly consumes him. Spreads through his body, burning every cell it touches from the inside as he yells against the wind in protest. The relentless migraine in his head worsens as the fire reaches his head, spreading and swelling with unbearable pressure until his head feels fit to burst. An overinflated balloon about to violently pop, its shrivelled latex remnants raining to the ground.

The agony at least brings a burst of adrenaline that hauls him to his feet, still holding his head. At this point he’s worried if he lets go his skull will fall apart, but he pulls one hand away from his head, needing to see the evidence for himself. He watches as the golden glow emanates from his hand, trickling down to his fingers. Brighter by the second.

He doesn’t want to regenerate. He wants to stay in this body. This is the man Rose fell in love with.

But if she’s gone, what’s the point? If he can’t get her back… oh, he’d do anything to get her back... but it’s too late. The crescendo of energy is moments from reaching its peak. The overwhelming heat is melting his organs, the poorly contained energy tearing his cells apart one by one as it searches desperately for an outlet.

He gasps for air, desperate for the pain to be over. Maybe Rose will still be here when he comes out the other side...

Rose.

“Get back!” He barely gets the words out before he explodes.

Rose.

She’s his only conscious thought as his body combusts to a whirlwind of plasma and ashes around him.

[one-of-us-blog]

Knock Knock (Doctor Who S10E04)

Today Drew is forced to watch and recap “Knock Knock”, the fourth episode of Doctor Who’s tenth series. The time has come for Bill to leave the nest, so she and some pals are house hunting. They think they’ve struck the jackpot when they find a massive house at an amazing price, but they soon find out that this place has more problems than faulty wiring or creaky floors. Can the Doctor get to the mystery surrounding this spooky old house? Is he a match for the Landlord?

J’accuse!

Eli, I’m pretty darn loathe to shit talk any episode of The Golden Girls, but even I have to admit that “Stand By Your Man” leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It just seems like at that point the writers were so in love with the “Blanche falls for a guy who has a flaw and can’t look past it but then does when she’s too late” premise that I feel a bit burnt out on it. We’ve have Blanche hem and haw over a relationship with a a guy from a different social standing, then a guy who was blind, now a guy in a wheelchair. Things felt a little different now because Ted turned out to be a big sonuvabitch and a cheater, but the basic premise is the same. I absolutely agree that the puppy subplot was adorable, but overall I’m not a big fan of this episode. I think you did a fantastic job on your recap, though, and now it’s my turn up to bat. 

Buttocks tight!

Episode directed by Bill Anderson and written by Mike Bartlett

We start off right in the middle of some hot millennial action. Bill has decided to move out of the house of her awful foster mother, and is moving in with an absolute gaggle of young people her own age. Let’s get some names out of the way right up top, because we’ve got an ensemble cast to keep track of this time ‘round. Bill’s friend Shireen introduces her to Felicity, Harry, Pavel and Paul. Best of luck trying to keep all that straight. Despite their limited incomes, the gang has some high expectations for living quarters, and are unsatisfied with the options presented to them by a realtor. Luckily a kindly old man (played by the incomparable, utterly #iconic David Suchet), who brings them to a mansion which is dirt cheap. Bill is skeptical of the price tag and wonders why such swanky digs are so affordable, but everyone else is so excited to find a nice place that they sign a lease with the Landlord right then and there. Pavel needs new accommodations ASAP, so he actually moves in that night. Unfortunately he meets a grizzly, off-screen fate as soon as he arrives to the house alone, so it’s safe to bet the kids are going to have more problems with their new place than mold or leaky pipes. But hey, now they won’t have to worry about Pavel trying to get them to listen to his new mixtapes all the time!

After the credits, the Doctor helps Bill move by loading her few possessions into the TARDIS. We get a pretty charming little scene where Bill finds out that the Doctor’s people are known as the Time Lords, which drives home how much she still has to learn about her tutor, and she almost finds out about Gallifreyan regeneration (though the Doctor holds back on that for now). Bill is cool with just carrying in her stuff on her own, but the Doctor takes one look at her new house and his hackles instantly rise. Despite Bill wanting to handle the move on her own from here, he insists on helping her carry her stuff inside. The (surviving) housemates all think the Doctor is pretty cool, but Bill really wants to get him out of there so she can bond with her new pals. She claims he’s her grandfather, which he’s not thrilled about, and he takes his leave. By the way, nobody knows Pavel is missing yet because he left music playing in his room when he got offed and apparently he’s known for spending days alone in his room. Paul seems to have a bit of a thing for Bill, because I guess no one’s informed him that guys aren’t her thing.

Bill hangs up a picture of her late mother to make herself feel more at home, and hears some odd noises coming from the wall. She tries to assure herself that this isn’t one of her life-or-death adventures with the Doctor, and that she should just relax. That night, the kids bond, and Harry reveals that he’s heard some odd noises, too. Bill says it’s probably just mice, which Felicity isn’t thrilled about, and right on cue they hear some loud noises coming from the kitchen. Bill offers to check it out and the gang follows behind. Turns out it’s just the Doctor poking around, though, and he informs them the house doesn’t have any central heating, there’s no washing machine and the electrical sockets won’t work with any of the kids’ gadgets. There’s not even any cell service here, for pete’s sake! Bill insists the house is just old and that this isn’t some spooky mystery that the Doctor needs to stick his schnoz in, but he points out that when they arrived he could hear the trees around the house creaking. Bill says it was just due to the wind, but he reminds her that there wasn’t any wind at the time. He flat out tells the youngsters they should move, but at this price they’re willing to deal with a few inconveniences.

Turns out the Doctor wasn’t their only unexpected visitor. The Landlord is waiting for them in the living room, despite no one having heard him enter. The Landlord seems to have quite the attachment to the house, but he takes in the kids’ series of complaints in stride. He gets a bit short, though, when Harry asks about how to get into the house’s tower; that area of the house, it seems, is strictly off limits. Nothing suspicious about that! The Doctor knows something is up with this dude, who’s sending up all kinds of red flags and has the odd habit of tapping the walls of the house with a tuning fork, and trips him up by asking the simple question of who the Prime Minister is. The Landlord is unable to answer the question, not even hazarding a guess of Harriet Jones, and tells the Doctor that he should leave his ‘granddaughter’ and her friends alone to get used to their new, exceptionally creaky house. As the Landlord leaves, Shireen remembers she didn’t tell him about the house lacking a washing machine and tries to run after him, but he’s gone. Bill tries to get rid of her grandpa so she can have a normal night with her friends, but he tries to insist on staying and hanging out with the young folk. Bill says she’ll be down for more TARDIS adventures soon, but this is a part of her life that the Doctor isn’t in and he needs to respect that.

The Doctor says he understands, but he’s not intent on leaving. The Doctor points out that she might want to check on Pavel, though, given that no one’s seem him for a day. Bill, Paul and Shireen head upstairs for bed. Paul makes a pass at Bill and she lets him know she prefers the ladies, which he takes in stride. He makes a show of being spooky to freak Shireen out, but then once he’s in his room Bill and Shireen hear him cry out in pain. Knockings sound out all around the women, and doors begin to slam. Bill says they need to get the Doctor, but there are some spooky, slamming doors between them and her grandpa. Downstairs, Harry and Felicity are still down to party with the Doctor, but the Doctor notices that the doors to the outside are now completely sealed. Scrabbling noises come from the walls, and the shutters on the windows close on their own. Felicity freaks out at the thought of being trapped, and manages to make it out a window before the shutters close (despite the Doctor’s warnings). Outside, she gets eaten by a tree while Harry and the Doctor are stuck helplessly in the kitchen.

Bill and Shireen make it into Pavel’s room, where they find him partially Josie Packarded into the wall of his room. Luckily he still seems to be alive and conscious, despite his uncomfortable position. Just then the Landlord arrives, not surprised to find Pavel in his current state. The Landlord stops the music that Pavel had left on, and without the music for him to focus on, Pavel is completely absorbed into the bedroom wall. The Landlord tells them that Pavel has been preserved, and that everyone has to pay their dues. Everyone but him, that is, as he’s running the show around here. He says it’s time for Bill and Shireen to pay the price, but they run away and find a hidden door behind a bookcase and head up into the forbidden tower. Downstairs, the Doctor bounces ides off of Harry about something living in the wood, like wood nymphs or tree sprites, but to his surprise a decidedly alien-looking insect pops out of the wood. The Doctor runs after it as it scurries away, but then hundreds of the little suckers pop out of the woodwork and head their way. The Doctor and Harry run into a service elevator in the kitchen, and wind up in the basement. The Doctor dubs the bugs Dryads, and admits to Harry he’s never seen anything like them before.

In the tower, Bill and Shireen hear someone calling out for their father. In the basement, Harry and the Doctor find evidence that other groups of young people have moved into this house before, and all of them were absorbed into the house by the Dryads. Every 20 years the Landlord finds a new group of youths to bring into the house, and none of them are still here. Speak of the devil, the Landlord arrives and admits that he’s done awful things over the years. He says his daughter was dying of an incurable disease until the Dryads arrived, and now she’s part of the house. The Landlord uses his tuning fork to summon a swarm of Dryads to absorb Harry where he stands. The Doctor gets that the Dryads are using the energy they absorb from their victims to keep the Landlord’s daughter alive, but he doesn’t get how it works. He offers to try to help the man’s daughter, and upstairs Bill and Shireen come face to face with her.

Her name is Eliza, and she’s a walking, talking hunk of wood in the shape of a young woman. She’s also full of Dryads, which she doesn’t seem to mind. She’s pleased to have visitors, but Shireen is immediately absorbed by the Dryads. As the insects absorb Shireen’s energy Eliza glows and moves toward Bill, but then the Landlord arrives with the Doctor. The Doctor surmises the history of this father and daughter; Eliza was terribly sick and doctors had given up on her, and one day the Landlord happened across some odd bugs he found. He showed them to Eliza just to entertain her, and the tune from her music box inadvertently awoke them. They miraculously preserved Eliza, and for the last 70 years the Landlord has been keeping his daughter alive this way. Bill points out this story has some issues; why would he randomly bring in some bugs he found and show them to his sick daughter? Also, how could this possibly have been going on for 70 years? The Landlord is an elderly man, yes, but he’s not that old. And why haven’t the Dryads absorbed him? Cut the smack, Jack, this story just don’t work!

The Doctor realizes the mistake he’s made; he forgot that humans live such a short time, and there’s no way the Landlord would still be alive now if all this went down 70 years ago. He asks Eliza what she remembers about the past, but it turns out that the while the Dryads have preserved her appearance and voice, her memory’s not the best. It’s Me all over again! The Doctor says Eliza wasn’t the Landlord’s daughter, she was his mother. He found the bugs as a boy, and brought them in to show his ailing mama. The Landlord breaks down in tears, and asks his mother for forgiveness. The Landlord was a sharp little boy, and he figured out that if he tamed the Dryads and kept them fed, they would keep his mother alive and leave him be. Eliza is horrified by this situation; she went along with all this murdering because she thought the Landlord was her father and that he knew best, but now she sees he’s just a murderer.

The Landlord summons the Dryads to absorb Bill and the Doctor, accusing them of upsetting and confusing Eliza, and the Doctor urges Eliza to take control as a parent. She has a strong connection to the Dryads after all this time, and with some effort she takes control of the swarm. The Landlord urges her to finish Bill and the Doctor off, but the Doctor points out that her life isn’t worth living at this cost, especially if she’s cooped up away from the rest of the world. He asks her when the last time she saw outside was, prompting her to throw open some shutters in time to see some fireworks from a nearby festival going off. Eliza remembers some of the joy she used to have before her life became what it did. She begs her son to leave her side and go out and experience the world, but he refuses and tries to attack Bill and the Doctor. Eliza holds her son tight and says this has to end. She calls for a swarm of Dryads, and the insects absorb mother and son alike.

Eliza’s not done saving the day, though, and she has the Dryads restore all of Bill’s friends. Even Pavel’s back! The Doctor and all the youngsters make it outside as the house crumbles to the ground behind them. The Doctor wishes them luck on finding a new place to live and heads off into the night. He heads back to the university and relieves Nardole from his vault-watching duties. Nardole says whatever’s in the vault has been pretty active lately, and the Doctor sends him on his way. Before Nardole leaves, the sound of piano music comes from inside the vault. Nardole is surprised that the Doctor put a piano in there, but the Doctor sends him away. The Doctor offers to share some Mexican food with the vault’s occupants, and offers to share the story of his adventure with them. The occupant isn’t really interested, until they find out that the story involves a bunch of kids getting eaten by a haunted house.

The End

~~~~~

Someone tie a rope around my leg before I get carried away by this tenth series cloud I’m floating away on! I know we’re only four episodes in, but so far this series is delivering hits on hits! I’ll readily admit that I’m pretty biased here, because I have a deep, deep love for David Suchet and I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent watching and rewatching episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. I think Suchet absolutely shines here, and manages to pull off the “creepy guy trying to be friendly and approachable to kids” routine perfectly, only to deliver a heartbreaking performance as the Landlord is confronted with the truth about his mother. I also love House of Leaves, so that might be why I’m a sucker for a story about a spooky house. I like that we’re getting to see Bill slowly learn more about the Doctor and his people, and I’ll be interested to see just how much she gets to find out and how quickly the Doctor fills in the gaps in her knowledge. I think the Dryads were an interesting force to reckon with, but, much like the creature from “Thin Ice”, I really wish we could have found out more about them or where they came from. This series has been pretty light on backstory for its villains so far, and I’m wondering if that theme’s going to continue.

I give “Knock Knock” QQQQ on the Five Q Scale.

We’ll see you again soon as Eli tries to navigate the choppy and fickle waters of grief with his recap of the next episode of The Golden Girls, “Ebbtide’s Revenge”, and then I’ll be back with my recap of the next episode of Doctor Who, “Oxygen”.

Until then, as always, thank you for reading, thank you for tuning and thank you for being One of Us!