#river not one person on this ship not one living thing is worth you!

[zimszim]

the conversation with amy and river at the end of "the wedding of river song" is really good but every time i watch it and amy talks about how she killed madame kovarian and how that makes her a murderer or whatever, i'm always expecting river to be like "mom i'm going to be honest with you. that was cool as fuck"

like you cannot tell me that river song, raised assassin by monsters and ghosts, wouldn't love to see her abuser killed by her mother as an act of love. it says so much about her character that instead she tries to absolve amy, saying it was a timeline that never existed, telling her it doesn't count. but i think sometimes she thinks about it and her heart warms a little bit

[nobleriver]

River, not one person on this ship, not one living thing is worth you.

[twelverriver]

the thing that gets me about elevenriver is that they're SO sweet and they're so exciting and soo into the adventures they have together but they both hide soo much from each other and are like do you like this version of Mr I m presenting you without any flaws or anything you can't know yet, do you like this me? and the other's like great masking! same here! I love this for us :) but eleven is still so eager to spend time with her while also running away at all times because he doesn't want to face that things and people and relationships have endings :)) but the thing that gets me about twelveriver is that they're past all that and river just came from one of the worst times of her life!!! and then she meets twelve who has lived without her for SO long and changed so much since that point of time she's coming from and is just SO glad to see her again and truly SEES her for first time and doesn't look away and wants to see the "damage" she's hiding !!

"what are you reading?"

"my diary"

"Is it sad?"

"why would a diary be sad?"

"I don't know, it's just... you look sad"

also. the way they immediately start to flirt once river knows he's the doctor and they're so touchy and twelve is picking up on what she said earlier, how she doesn't believe he loves her, and CHANGES SOMETHING !!!!! He then finally tells her his love through words, not just adventures together like his previous body did, but says "river, not one living thing, not one person on this ship is worth you." not one living thing!!!!! also. twelve built a whole restaurant with the best view of the towers which darillium is famous for !! for her !!!! and then he gave her her own sonic screwdriver, something special only he possesses in the entire universe (which will be used by his tenth regeneration to save her) and twenty four years on a planet she loves !!! twenty four years of linear time together !!!!!!!!!!!!

"All anyone will ever tell you is that when the wind stands fair and the night is perfect, when you least expect it but always when you need it the most... there is a song."

[rhea314]

20 questions for fic writers podficcers

Thank you for tagging me @gracieryder and @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove, I feel so included <3

How many works do you have on ao3? 1,559 - which I believe is 1,208 podfic, 179 vids, and 163 fics

What's your total Ao3 word count? 615,783

What fandoms do you create for? I have works in 450 fandoms so I’m not listing them all so here are top couple of fandoms by work-type: - Vid: Nirvana in Fire, The King: Eternal Monarch, and 9-1-1 - Podfic: Yuri on Ice, Teen Wolf, and The Raven Cycle - Fic: Smallville, Stargate Atlantis, and Gundam Wing

Top 5 Works by Kudos: Fics dominate sorting by kudos so here's top two of each category: - Fic: The Rock and The River this Spirited Away fic wins out by a large margin, bubbling up is another Spirited Away fic and in second place. - Vid: Bury a Friend is my most kudos’d vid (Untamed) and Applause is second most kudos (Untamed RPF) though that is my most-watched vid on YT. - Podfic: through a window softly by impossibletruths, an Untamed fic for which I did a lot of music mixing is my top kudos’d podfic, so much so that it actually gets in my AO3 top 5 kudos list which is wild. The Absolutely True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli is in second place.

Do you respond to comments? I try!

What is the work you've made with the angstiest ending? - Fic: All my fics are neutral or positive endings (I think?) - Vid: this TKEM AU where Yeong dies - Podfic: I enjoy narrating big emotions so I have a lot of people-cry-in-this-fic grief/angst and self worth issues stories but often they end on at least an uplifting note. Possibly something in Attack on Titan or X-Men had a and-they-stay-sad ending but I can’t remember something specific to for-sure point at.

What's the work you've made with the happiest ending? So many happy endings (both the emotional kind and the porn kind). I’m not sure I could point to a ‘happiest’ since a lot of them are very happy.

Do you get hate on your works? I’ve had some weird comments but not particularly hate, hopefully that will continue to be true.

Do you create smut? Yup, at least with podfic and fic.

Craziest crossover? I wrote a heralds of valdemar / lord of the rings fic when I was just starting out in fandom.

Have you ever had a work stolen? I hope not.

Have you ever had a work inspired by your works? Very excitingly, people have made vids inspired by my vids which is the absolute coolest thing (Nothing by @nubreed73, and Mei Changsu is Climbing the Mountain by @sandalwoodbox)

I have had fic translated, which is neat.

People have made podfics of my fic which is just delightful and makes me so, so happy as a fellow podficcer.

I've also had people make me fanart/coverart which is super cool!

Have you co-recorded/co-written/co-vidded before? I’ve done a podfic collab where we co-wrote the story together and then recorded the story together. I’ve been part of multivoice collabs of things I did not participate in writing for with both in-person/live recording and recorded separately then edited together. I’ve also done oral not!fic collabs.

I've done collab vidding with @sandalwoodbox

All time favorite ship? I can't decide. I tend to have one OTP per fandom I'm into, but see fandom list it's too long to pick just one ship.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I’ve got a variety of old files for fics I never got a permission response on that will just live in my computer forever. Some are complete, some needing editing, some are partially completed and all abandoned due to lack of response. I learned my lesson and now do not record unless I have already received permission or the author has BP.

What are your podficcing/writing/vidding strengths? - Podfic: Consistency? Enthusiasm. Emotion (I hope).

- Vid: Picking decent songs?

What are your podficcing/writing/vidding weaknesses? - Podfic: Accents, words not in english, cover art.

- Writing: Doing it without a challenge/exchange

- Vid: I don't know how to do a lot of technical stuff so I'm sort of coasting on my current skill level without challenging myself much.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? For podfic I try! Sometimes I don’t know what I don’t know (see past mispronunciation of French where I thought I knew what I was doing T_T). But having been in into anime, c-dramas, k-dramas, and a variety of fandoms with various languages involved I know I will give it my best shot, possibly fail, and it will take me 2-3x as long to record, but sometimes I can be proud of what I’ve come up with on the far end and that’s nice. Forvo, google translate, and finding friends/acquaintances I know who speak the language have all be helpful.

First fandom you podficced/wrote in/vidded? - Podfic: Spiderman/Smallville crossover: 2008.

- Vid: Eastwick (TV)

- Fic: Heralds of Valdemar

Favorite work you've made? - Podfic: The Ion Arc by Sunhawk - I started recording this Gundam Wing story in 2008 and finished in 2019 and it clocks in at over 80 hours. This was my labor of love for just over a decade and will always hold a very important place in my heart. Have I re-listened to it, no. Do I think it’s the best podfic I’ve ever made, probably not, doesn’t matter, still my favorite. - Vid: I’m not sure how to pick so I’ll just go with my co-vid with @sandalwoodbox Hug Cats! - Fic: I’ll follow the consensus and say The Rock and The River for this.

Tagging - feel free to take up this invitation to answer some questions or not as you see fit!: @sandalwoodbox, @revolutionaryjo, @rollerskatinglizard

[whitestopper]

Something I don't see people talk enough is not that Ben and Darcy are different but that they are two extremes that ironically end up meeting.

Ben wants to remain closeted to the extent that he won't even acknowledge Charlie as a casual friend or challenge Harry's homophobia (which, regardless of your opinion on Ben, can be enough for rumours to start circulating) and will date girls whom he doesn't fully - if at all - like just to throw up smoke and mirrors. On the flip side, Darcy's agenda when she meets Charlie for the first time is to make friends with another local gay person.

This is one thing when it's out Charlie (though it should be noted that he was outed as opposed to coming out and therefore might not have been entirely comfortable being approached for that alone) but another thing when she needles him about Nick, though it's largely laughed off because she is correct that there's something between them and lots of people find her wanting to associate with fellow gays relatable (which is... fair). However, it slowly becomes more of a nuisance; first when she tries to set up Elle and Tao on the triple date (which Elle does not want even though she does like Tao), then when she insists that there is something romantic between Isaac and James (which there isn't, at least not on Isaac's end) to Elle's discomfort and Isaac's frustration respectively. Ben won't tell you a thing about himself at the risk of being picked apart, while Darcy will gladly pick at you if she thinks you'll tell her something good (especially something gay).

In some sense, both Ben and Darcy use relationships to affirm - Ben to affirm his (illusion of) heterosexuality with girls and his gayness with Charlie, and Darcy to affirm her gayness and self-worth with Tara (though I absolutely discourage the idea that any relationship mentioned - especially Tarcy's, built on a five-year friendship - is that shallow). This sentiment is something that I sometimes see, though implicitly and hidden underneath a joke - the idea that a romantic relationship 'done properly' is inherently a step in the right direction and even inherently feminist. This is something Heartstopper halfway/accidentally deconstructs - Ben isn't willing (or fully able) to acknowledge what's happening even when he and Charlie are alone, Charlie has the idea that he owes other people more than he should give reinforced by his relationship with Ben, and Darcy mistakenly thinks whether you like someone or not is the only thing that matters when it comes to dating. [I say halfway because Heartstopper is built on shipping but... C+ for effort?]

Another similarity is how Ben and Darcy shield others from their home lives. Sure, Darcy is more than happy to go to Tara's house in a way Ben is not for Charlie, but she stays there to avoid being at home where (proximity to) gayness is curbed - moreover, Tara and Darcy have been friends for five years, Darcy has been out as a lesbian for years, and the two have been dating for at least a few months... and yet Tara at best has never known about the extent of Darcy's tumultuous relationship with her mother, something that sticks out as Tara is the more emotionally aware one. In other words, Darcy has been hiding her home life for years despite her easily being closer to Tara than Ben is to Charlie - Ben and Darcy are swimming in the same river of denial.

While I understand that hiring extra actresses would be another cost, it's a shame that we never get to see Tara and Darcy's friends. They tell Elle that "a few of their friends" know and that she can be considered "part of the inner circle" yet we never see the rest of that circle. Sure, we get them interacting with some people in the girls montage, but apart from the four main girls (five with the addition of Sahar in S2) and that one teacher, Higgs is just a school of extras talking about how lesbians are disgusting only to suddenly cheer and woop at Sports Day. I think seeing more of Darcy's (and Tara's) positive interactions with peers would help elaborate on why Darcy feels comfortable with being out in a way that Ben cannot and help contrast the lesbophobia that Tara notices later.

[scryptids]

frank dillane / he/they  ———  no way is that PEREGRINE ‘PERRY’ KRAVEN.. they’re a 33-year-old HUMAN notoriously known for being FLIGHTY  &  PESSIMISTIC  but there are some people who have seen them being LOVING  &  OPEN-MINDED.  if you ask me, they remind me a lot of an unpacked suitcase full of clothes that need to be replaced, dirt caked under their fingernails from working in the garden for too long, bright smiles paired with blushing cheeks, and an old guitar that goes untouched, but that could just be because they’re considered the NOMAD around town. just keep an eye on them  &  see if their true colors shine through..

full name: peregrine ashe kraven birthdate: april 21st age: 33 height: 6’0”  occupation: carpenter ship status: in an open relationship with river patel bio:

perry kraven has never wanted to sit still, not even for a minute

born in london to a single mother, he was accustomed to moving around a lot at an early age, and he likes to think that it’s ingrained in his bones at this point

by the time perry was seven, he and his mother had lived in three different cities, and four different towns, and they had never once fully settled down in once

she was a chronic dater, always finding a man to cling onto and then uprooting her child when the relationship didn’t work out

it was hard on perry, but she never seemed to pay attention what was and was not good for her son, and so they had a very strained relationship from the start

he became more and more self-sufficient as the years went on, and by the time perry turned seventeen, he was working full time while also going to school, one of which he struggled with more than the other

he loved to work with his hands the most, often building little structures for stray animals or even fixing things up around whatever house he and his mother were living in at the time

but perry didn’t want to stay living with the woman who gave birth to him, and so he packed up and left, not even once stopping to look back

he didn’t bother to finish school, and he purchased himself a one-way ticket to america, knowing that leaving the country he grew up in would be far better for him

when they arrived in america, perry chose not to settle down right away

they’re a very friendly individual, so meeting friends had never been a problem for them, and through those friends they made new connections

they couch surfed for a long time in the lower district of dallas-fort worth, living only out of a suitcase and finding odd carpentry jobs to make money

somewhere along the way, perry met river patel, and they fell deeply in love

neither of them were the type to commit, but perry knew that river was their twin flame, and they’ve been hopelessly devoted to them for years

they keep their relationship open, and perry has a few other partners that he sees regularly, but he will always continuously go back to river

in fact, their love for river is what finally led them to settling down in their own apartment

they knew it would be nice to have a consistent place to rest their head at night, and so they saved up all of their money and got a tiny little apartment in the lower district

since leaving london, perry is a far happier person, and it’s evident by their demeanor

they like to keep things light and happy, and they will do just about anything for anyone if they’re asked to

sometimes people take advantage of their kindness, but perry figures that life is short and you can’t spend time dwelling on the terrible things

these days, perry still makes money by doing odd carpentry jobs, and they’ve also made it their mission to spruce up the lower district a little

they want everyone to have nice things no matter where they live, and he can often be found doing landscaping projects in the local parks and playgrounds

perry just has a very big heart, and it’s his eternal life goal to give back to people

[viperwhispered]

hiiiiii!! how about 5 and 27 from the ask game?

Hiya, ty for the asks!

Let's see here.

5. If you could have any unique magic / signature spell in the game, which would you choose and why? 

Now this is a tricky one. Also, I’ve not made much progress in book 7 yet (I know I know), so I can’t say much for what we learn there in regards to the signature spells.

Cater’s signature spell is pretty fun. Assuming the copies are happy doing whatever (even if I wouldn’t be), boy would it be useful for like doing chores and in general just getting things done.

Trey’s signature spell also feels like one could do a lot with it if so desired (I really should read some meta on this ngl). Like, making medicine palatable? Or could I make food not trigger my sensitivities? Would be pretty nice.

Jack’s signature spell also feels kinda fun. I mean, a bit hard to use it without causing concern (assuming my current circumstances of living in the city, folks sure would jump seeing a huge wolf chilling about), but boy if it wouldn’t be a fulfillment of all those childhood games of pretending to be an animal of some sort.

On the other hand, with Kalim’s signature spell, one could do a fair bit of good in the world (assuming it doesn’t like start chain reactions of messing with weather patterns and things, which, realistically, it might). I mean, a whole river’s worth of water? That sure is more than just filling a swimming pool or two and could actually make a fair bit of a difference - tho I also don't exactly live in an arid area, so, some logistics would need to be involved there.

In general though, Cater's signature spell just feels like it could make life a lot more convenient. Tho now I really am curious about the whole “how much would they be me”, and what about sharing memories and knowledge and just… how does that work, exactly? Are they just simulacrums of some sort, basically? I need some deets here.

27. What drew you into TWST? What made you stay? 

What drew me: cool fan arts (especially Malleus as I recall), and a friend selling the game to me. I was a bit hesitant about picking up another mobile / gacha game, and also about the ages of the cast / the school setting (kinda starting to feel a bit old to fully relate to teenage drama, and it also adds some extra complications to how I usually view characters (namely, the self-shipping that tends to happen)).

What kept me: the multifaceted characters. They’re so distinct, with quite defining core features to a lot of them, yet also wonderfully layered, too. It also lends to some wonderful dynamics when you put all these different personalities together in all the various combinations and potential situations. It just makes for such an interesting and juicy web of interactions. This was also definitely part of how my friend was selling the game to me originally.

Also, the gameplay is pretty chill for the most part and I’m not feeling overwhelmed by a million dailies that I “must” do, so that makes twst relatively easy to keep going from a gameplay perspective. Though I really am here for the characters and the story, and don’t particularly care for the rhythm games or the guest room (mine’s so neglected ngl). So I'd be pretty fine with an even more emphasis on the visual novel angle.

And of course, let’s be real here, Jamil definitely is a not-insignificant contributing factor in my continued interest.

(ask game in question here)

[seaweedstarshine]

To soothe it further, Dr. Moon totally said it. Probably kept waking her up at 'night' to tell her he loved her :) It did probably eventually end in River answering with 'I hate you' for being waken up all the time

('no, you don't' <3)

Oh…!!! No “I love you” until they’re BOTH dead so the Doctor no longer has to fear the razor-sharp pain of losing her. 😖 Layers of emotional constipation, finally falling away…

This is the most perfect kind of soothing because it’s complicated emotions honestly — and you are so real — because it always fits them, even if I personally like to think eleven said “I love you” when he was dying, well, it’s easier to say these things when you’re dying and may not have to live with the pain that comes with love that’s fated to end…

Night-long “I love you”s when they’re both dead. (😭 “no, you don’t.” After ten giving the wrong response to “I hate you,” that would heal all. 😭)

On the vein of the Doctor’s various equivalents to “I love you” that he definitely would’ve said if he couldn’t actually say “I love you” in those moments — I once heard a headcanon that eleven whispered “you are always and completely forgiven” in LKH and honestly, that’s the only possibility (apart from “I love you”) that really makes sense to me — if something’s gonna persuade you last-minute to save the man you were raised to kill, why not being (lovingly) forgiven as he loses consciousness?

RIVER NOT ONE PERSON ON THIS SHIP NOT ONE LIVING THING IS WORTH YOU

[convenientalias]

2023 Dramas I Watched in 2023

Cdramas:

A League of Nobleman--Slashy historical mystery drama. I loved all the slashiness and all the intrigue and then in the last few episodes I fell even more in love with the villain. Worth a watch but not my favorite slashy historical mystery of the year.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook--My favorite slashy historical mystery drama of the year! Tho more wuxia than historical I suppose. Bromance and archnemeses and identity porn abound. The identity porn in particular was a special treat for me; a character wandering around all these ppl who care deeply about him or idolize him but all think he's dead is my catnip. (I technically have a few episodes left to go on this one but I'm still counting it bc I am very close.)

Parallel World--YE LIUXI. I did a review of this one here! The short version: urban fantasy and parallel worlds in a desert setting, with a badass amnesiac female protagonist.

The Lady and the Lies--Miniseries, one of those short-episode things that China's doing a lot of now. Involved a cheating husband and a wife out to get revenge. I'm sorry but I shipped the wife with almost every person doing her wrong. She should destroy their lives and also dom them. They're all kind of obsessed with her anyway, in their own way.

Under the Microscope--You ever sit down and say, "Okay, but what I REALLY want from all these historical dramas is to just dig into the tax fraud going on in the background"? Me too, my friend. This show and Long River, which I also watched this year, are all about logistics, bureaucracy, and corruption, and the small man's struggle against ppl in power. That makes them both kind of difficult watches in a way, but also fascinating. I have yet to finish Long River, but this one is an easy 14 episodes and not as emotionally draining, so it was much easier for me to binge through.

Ye Cheng--I must admit I watched this for the pretty people. It's set in a matriarchal fantasy wuxia setting, but the gender role reversal feels a little shallow when the strongest good guy and the strongest bad guy are both men, even tho in theory women are supposed to be the warriors in this setting. However, the role reversal can be quite interesting in some ways--watching the male MC run a brothel as the city's top entertainer, try to use his ~masculine wiles~ to charm the FMC in a way that would be more typically feminine, and deal with the power dynamics of joining the FMC's household. Also, the two leads are just a lot of fun and have a lot of chemistry. The plot is sometimes stupid, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. Also, this was one of just two dramas I managed to finish this year that were mostly romance focused. When you reach the "dropped" section you will see that this is an impressive feat.

Kdramas:

Bloodhounds--I love Woo Do-hwan and I love Park Sung-woong but you know I was here for the ACTION SCENES. PEOPLE PUNCHING EACH OTHER AND SLICING EACH OTHER WITH KNIVES. THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT. I've also written a lot of fanfic about the protagonist and villain at this point but honestly they should have interacted more, we were robbed.

Queen of Masks--The only rich woman thriller kdrama I completed this year. But honestly, when it comes to rich woman thriller kdramas, I've seen better and femslashier. Mine did a better job with the whole "your husband told you the mother of his child was dead, but guess what it's actually me and I'm still alive and here to cause problems" plotline, tho I still enjoyed it here. And the sexual assault aspect... eh. I don't love seeing that kind of plotline in a revenge story; it's such a serious issue (and so much more realistic than, say, "this businessman murdered my whole family to acquire our company" a la Eve) that it kind of makes it hard for me to enjoy the fun of the mystery. But I suppose the way they handled it at least had gravity. My favorite plotline was Hae-mi and her husband and the drama they got into, which is serious in its own way (addiction and lies) but extremely well acted and with so much romantic chemistry.

Revenant--Spooky spooky ghosts and Kim Tae-ri, what's not to like? The possession aspects were creepy without being gory or too terrifying for a wimp like me to handle. The acting was great. And I actually shipped the sort-of-romantic subplot, though apparently a lot of ppl shipped the two MCs instead, which is understandable.

Song of the Bandits--A whole ton of gunfighting and other action scenes. One very badass assassin woman, a dude who is equally capable of taking out a whole squad of soldiers or bandits on his own, a villain with a complicated relationship with the dude above, and a woman spying on the Japanese government who's in a sort of spy love triangle with the MC and the villain. the plot was okay but again I was mostly here for the action!!

Thai dramas:

My Dear Gangster Oppa--This year I tried to watch a bunch of different BL dramas bc I was in that kind of mood but the truth is, it's not the het that gets me in m/f romcoms, it's unfortunately the romcom. Despite that! I persisted and did manage to finish this one. The lead couple was cute, and there was gangster intrigue and action etc to keep the fluff and comedy from driving me insane. still mostly a romance.

To Sir With Love--Also has a BL romance in it but not really a romance drama but a Family Drama with lots of familial plotting, the classic first wife vs. second wife scheming-for-their-children plotline along with what could have been a love triangle between brothers... except Tian is gay, which means the love triangle is null (except he's still engaged to his brother's love interest. which is awkward for all involved.). Also Tian being gay is a Deep Dark Secret. There's a lot of homophobia which might turn some viewers off but I loved seeing Tian's struggle between wanting to come out and having been forced to stay in the closet for so long that he freezes even at the thought of telling people he trusts. Also his mother commits a bunch of murders with terrible poison mushrooms so if THAT'S what you want out of a Thai drama, there is also that. Also he and his brother are. so sweet. and I love them. but also the central m/m romance is very good and involves assassination attempts and identity porn and pining and everything good. Also also this is actually a 2022 drama BUT IM STILL COUNTING IT bc it came out in October 2022 and am I really supposed to get around to watching dramas that fast??

Started and dropped:

Kiseki: Dear to Me--Even gangsters and intrigue could not save me from dropping this romcom.

Our Blooming Youth--This is also a romcom. You may see a pattern here. But to give it credit it is quite a plotty historical drama too. I just didn't really care about the two leads and dropped it halfway through.

Pandora: Beneath the Paradise--A thriller that was going places a bit too wild and frustrating for me.

Killing Vote--Can you believe I dropped this with only four episodes to go? I'm sorry Park Sung-woong, I love you but the plot is just so boring. And it plays at moral complexity while being just. not very complex. Like I swear the morality in this thing is "catching bad guys and punishing them is good, not catching them and not punishing them is bad." We could be talking about police corruption, our MC's terrible ethics, innocence until proven guilty, and so on and so forth, but we were just not going there. Also the twists were doing very little for me and the cops are just not very interesting characters. Again, Park Sung-woong, I'm sorry, you were a decent character but you could not save this show. Let's be real I needed either more Devil Judge here or more Death Note.

Legend of Anle--The romcom element was not helping this show's case but I still tried for 1) wuxia with identity porn and 2) Dilraba Dilmurat costarring with Gong Jun. Unfortunately those two had no chemistry and the plot was just very unsatisfying for me in the political intrigue area. One example: Gong Jun can't find the supplies needed to pacify a near-rioting mob. But that's okay bc Anle's subordinates found it. How did they find the super secret hidden storehouse?? we don't know and will never find out bc it was offscreen and never explained. They just did. this would be fine if it weren't, like, the climax of the episode and presented as a victory of the two MC's brilliance. I can't deal with this.

Naughty Babe--It's. A romcom. I'm so sorry I probably should just stop trying.

Other romcoms I quit too fast to give a fair opinion: You Are Mine, Extremely Perilous Love, My Lethal Man, Taikan Yoho.

Well, there you have it, 2023 dramas I watched in 2023.

Fun as it was, I think in 2024 I'm going to try to catch up more with older dramas lols.

Did y'all watch any of these dramas this year?

[coffee-deer]

A lot of words about romantic ships in Doctor Who

I’ve always found it both funny and, honestly, inexplicable that I care for every canonically established romantic (or anywhere near romantic) relationship in Doctor Who (with the exception of Micky and Martha because let’s be honest, it was lazy writing, RTD pulled this one out of his ass).

the reason I find it so weird is because I’m used to not having relationships I’m heavily rooting for or emotionally invested in, even in the stuff that I like. I’m used to feeling lukewarm attachment to the canon-approved ships even in my favourite TV-shows.

in Doctor Who, though? I can bawl my eyes out even because of the pairings that are not necessarily my OTPs - just because *every* ship strikes a chord. 

Nine and Rose - because it’s the way he finds hope and meaning in her after going through war and sacrificing his own people, and the way she finds a better way of living her life through traveling with him, and you were fantastic and you know what, so was I

Mickey and Rose - because even though eventually they both get that it’s not meant to be he’s there for her every time she needs it

Jack and the Doctor - because it’s the longing for someone unattainable and even though you’re this dashing, now immortal, captain from the future, you’ll run toward the TARDIS with his severed hand in your backpack (and they say romance is dead)

Ten and Rose - because it feels like spring and butterflies and every romantic fairytale ever told, proper stuff of legend, and then it’s the sweetness of the heartbreak and Rose Tyler, I...

Martha and Ten - because even the smartest girls can fall in love with someone they totally shouldn’t because he’s clearly not over his loss and won’t stop comparing you to his ex, but it’s so beautiful and powerful when they finally see their worth and are able to walk away without bitterness but with fondness and a smile on their lips

TenTwo and Rose - because I’m a little fucked up and I like to think of them in terms of “what if it never worked out and they broke up or even divorced and there’s this sense of unfulfilled promise that doesn’t go away”

Amy and Rory - because they’re the Ponds, because she chose him and because for him there never was any other choice, together or not at all

Madame Vastra and Jenny - because I’m a lizard woman from the dawn of time, and this is my wife

the Doctor and River - because she’s like Time itself, wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, and who knows, maybe he trusts her because he always trusted her - because that’s what had already happened when he met her for the first time, - but isn’t that awesome? 

Eleven and Clara - because they’re both drawn to the impossibility of each other, and she tries not to fall in love with him, sometimes twice a day, and she’s just perfect, perfect in every way for him, Clara, my Clara!

Twelve and Clara - because nothing is simple any more and then everything is, and do you think that I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference? and then it’s 4.5 billion years of refusing to say goodbye and the laws of Time put at stake because of one heart that won’t beat again and people like me and you, we should say things to one another, and I’m going to say them now...

Bill and Heather - because everywhere she went, she always wanted to leave, but then can I come, too? and maybe yes, definitely (god I wish we had more of them!)

Graham and Grace - because what is grief if not love, persevering, and their story, however brief, felt like a promise that love can find you late in life, in the midst of the worst times of your life, actually, and light the way forward

Thirteen and Yaz - because WWTDD and you’re the best person I’ve ever met and we can’t have a universe with no Yaz! because it’s such a human heartache when the Doctor begs her to leave things as they are and Yaz will never ask for more even though she yearns for it, and maybe if there was more time, maybe, maybe - but even as it is, they’ve changed each other for the better and then were able to let go  

the Doctor and the Master - I will die on this fucking hill but yes, because it’s a romantic kind of love and a platonic kind of love and a psychotic kind of love, it’s friendship and rivalry and hate, it’s codependence and abandonment, disappointment and hope and second chances for the hundredth time because she’s different, and then texting via atrocities again because how else would I get your attention?

(I’ve only listed confirmed romantic relationships and the ones that I see as romantically coded - no disrespect to any frienship in DW, they’re just not the point here, as I’m always a sucker for a good friendship, in every show ever.)

(I’ve also only included New Who pairings since none of my ships in Classic Who were confirmed as romantic ones, but I'll just say that for some unknown reason I shipped Steven and Dodo, was absolutely feral for Two and Jamie, had feelings for Three and Liz, and as for EU, don’t even get me started on Eight and Charley, okay)

[inquisitor-gayfax]

Fic ask game: 3, 4, 19, & 20!

oh wow, thank you so much!! what a bountiful ask! :D

answers below the cut, as this got long!

(from this ask game)

3. What is your absolute favorite kind of fic to write?

Slow burn femslash longfics with tons of pining, without a doubt! There is something so uniquely beautiful about the slow careful building of intimacy and a payoff that makes it worth the wait!! Also, women.

4. Are there any other fic writers you admire? If so, who and why?

Too many to name, honestly!!

@chemos-factories (ao3) for his commitment to following their passion where it leads (and always sharing snippets of the results with me <3)! @i-cant-believe-it-s-not-grimdark (ao3) for her sense of humor, dedication to writing the underrepresented tropes and ships she loves, and being a h/c queen! Lieara for her ability to connect ideas and concepts in a flow as smooth and silken as her prose! @datamodel-of-disaster (ao3) for her skill in making characters and stories feel so real you could almost touch them! And, finally, noun and i_cant_say for prose that makes me weep (affectionate).

19. Why did you start writing?

I was dealing with some personal stuff in 2021 (weren't we all), and struggled to find an outlet. Fortunately this corresponded with getting really into Warhammer 40k, and at my partner and friend's insistence, I channeled it into fic writing!

Now I mostly write things I want to see in the fandom, but someday I'll finish Birds of Prey, the fic that started it all (a slow burn femslash longfic ofc)!

20. 4 sentences from your work that you’re proud of:

Man, I'm often most proud of sentences that started out way too complicated which I wrestled down to size and coherence (hopefully). Here's a few of those:

From At Last, Farewell: "Most times, her barbs were meant as affectionate gestures, but other times, like now, Astarte deployed them as bulwark against her two most stubbornly sentimental indulgences: a persistent, decidedly unscientific theory that in some universe, they were perfect for each other, and a single, tiny heartstring, tucked away and carefully hidden, which painfully vibrated every time it seemed like it might be this one."

From Birds of Prey (WIP): "You are embedded in me so completely now that should ever these feelings pass, their scars will remain indelible on my flesh, the craters of my own personal Callisto, and I will seek them out again and again, lovingly tracing every mark my love for you has left upon my body and soul."

From Of Rituals Secret and Sacrosanct: "That one day, she would emerge from the Warp as nothing more than animated armor, a blazing brand bereft of all humanity yet duty-bound to continue fighting and dying for it ad infinitum."

From The Small Fire of Winter Stars: "Celestine the Living Saint is a prismatic inferno in the witchfinder filter, a single autumn leaf of red and green and gold carried by the sub-ice currents of a still-flowing river, a paradise-world avian alight with iridescent color under the blazing winter sun."

[strawberry-jan]

im reading your isshin fic series and let me just tell you that i looove all the extra research notes, it helps bring so much color and understanding to the world <3 had to skip the last two chapters in the secret history of saito hajime (haven't actually played the game yet and the spoiler warning scared me but once i do!! i'll get back to it!!) but what i've read has been just marvelous. you have such a lovely style that feels like a gentle river carrying you from one destination to the next so smoothly and easily. maguro-san is my absolute favorite bit. thank you for your work and i hope you have fun while writing, be it for isshin or any other source material! <33

Ohh, wow, thank you for stopping by my inbox to say this! I hope you enjoy Ishin once you have a chance to play it. (The third story in my series takes place after the credits roll and it spoils allllll sorts of things from the late game, so definitely don't read that yet!)

Out of all the games in this series, mainline and spinoffs, Ishin holds a special place in my heart because - at the risk of sounding kind of corny - my desire to play it and write things about it got me doing all sorts of other things that were enriching in their own right and that reinforced my fondness for the game in turn. I first encountered it when a friend streamed the original Japanese version for another friend to live-translate for us, and I fell in love so quickly and completely that I had already ordered a copy for myself before the stream ended. Not long after that, I decided that I'd finally do what I'd been talking about for years and start learning Japanese so that I could at least read the menus, and I'm still studying today. The business of writing fic for it has also pushed me to do all sorts of fun research; I'm planning to make a post on here with all my sources once I've wrapped the fic up. (I would also like to do a big illustration for the series, but it's been a while since I last plugged my tablet in, so we'll see.)

All of this is to say: I'm having a ton of fun writing for it - particularly the most recent chapter - and it makes me very happy to hear that people are enjoying reading my work and the thousands of words' worth of endnotes that accompany it. It's been a bit lonely writing for Ishin at times, because it feels like it sort of came and went within a few months in the English fandom and fics about it sink pretty quickly to the bottom of AO3's pond, but that's also been a bit freeing. Even when I'm writing the fandom's Big Ship, it's in a context where there aren't that many eyes on my work, so I feel like I can just do whatever, and the people who are here for Ishin will be here for all of that. Spend the whole first part of a chapter talking about Edo-era laundry-washing? Translate a bunch of corny 19th-century haiku? Shove in a weird side rarepair that like one other person on AO3 has written about? No problem!

Anyway, thank you again! It made my evening to see this in my inbox. <3

[theidiotwhowritesthings]

I binged all of A Fresh Start and your writing is:

THE PART WHERE DIN IS ANGRY AT KA'RTA BECAUSE SHE WENT OUT IN THE STORM AND HE'S LIKE "I don't give two shits about other people but I can't live without you."REMINDED ME OF THE DOCTOR AND RIVER SONG WHEN THEY'RE ON THAT SHIP THAT'S ABOUT TO CRASH AND TWELVE SAID " River, not one person on this ship, not one living thing is worth you"

AND THEN DIN ASKS "do you not believe that? " AND THAT REMINDS ME THAT UP UNTIL THAT POINT ON THE SHIP, RIVER DIDN'T THINK THE DOCTOR LOVED HER AND DIDN'T THINK THAT SHE MATTERED TO HIM.

AND EVERYBODY CONSIDERS THE DOCTOR AS THE HERO BUT HE HAS ALWAYS SEEN HIMSELF AS THE VILLAIN AND YOU KNOW DAMN RIGHT HE'S GONNA SAVE THE ONES HE LOVE BEFORE HE SAVES THE UNIVERSE BECAUSE DAMMIT HE'S SELFISH AND THEN DIN SAID "no I will not risk your life because I'm not a good man. I am a selfish man"

THE WAY YOU PLAY WITH WITH MY WHOVIAN HEART 😭

I've actually never seen Doctor Who! But based on that scene alone it sounds right up my alley lol. I am an absolute sucker for when the love interest would burn down the world just to save the person they loved. So, I couldn't resist adding that in especially since I personally think Din fits in that category easily👀

[inafieldofdaisies]

Ship Songs Tag, vol. 2 | tagged by @nightwingshero | Tagging @strangefable @socially-awkward-skeleton @vampireninjabunnies-blog @shegetsburned @poisonedtruth @jacobsneed @direwombat @neverthesameneveranother and anyone that would like to do the tag 🖤

5-10 songs that you think describe or relate to your fav otp/personal ship(s). I did this tag a while back (vol. 1) but since then I've came across new gems, they're definitely worth sharing. 🖤

Salvation by Christabelle Marbun

I'll deny you of salvation I'll be the reason you repent Kiss me like I'm a conviction Beg for divinity in my breath

Swimming with the Crocodiles by The Veils

And there's no remedy I feel you when there's no one else around Hold me under until I drown Then pull me down Just tell me what you came for

Sin by Lia Marie Johnson

Smoke in my lungs from your burning passion Sing to me in melody Melancholies sew with a golden pistol Speak to me in poetry Bare my teeth to the wind River water on my skin Have I lost my innocence? To love again, is it a sin? The whiskey makes me numb It's never enough I'm feeling for your love I'll write it in blood

Silver Bridges by Skott

When we fall asleep and we don't wake up I believe that love still holds a meaning When the moonlight falls And it's time to cross Maybe we will find a new beginning Silver bridges

I am Fire by J2, Eivør

I am woman, I am child I am an animal, I am dangerous I was born to be wild I’ll entrance you, and enchant you You are brave but beguiled, you can’t hide I’m an angel, I’m the devil I am all the ones who’ve gone before I’m the fever, you can’t fight it I’m the sickness, I’m the cure I’m not giving up, I’ll never stop I am the creator, born to be a troublemaker

All Over Again by Caitlyn Smith

I wouldn't change a single thing If I knew then that we'd go down in flames If I could've seen it all when you first walked in Could've read the last page first If I would've known just how the story ends And how bad it would hurt I would do it allI would lose you all over again

God be You by Nostalghia

Would you die, Die for me Into the sea Would you die for me, baby? With you love is my religion And sickness is my drug Carefully craft incisions Until you fit like glove

A Dangerous Thing by AURORA

Something about you is soft like an angel And something inside you is violence and danger I knew from the moment we met, you are a dangerous thing When you are with me, I feel like I'm living And living besides you can be unforgiving I knew from the very first step, you are a dangerous thing There's no end to the fall You keep on getting better, I keep forgetting There's no love in the end

[daylander1000]

Hi, I've recently discovered your fic and I absolutely love it! I'm currently reading chapter 8 and Aemond's list is such a great idea. He reminds me of Arya, but your version of him is even more interesting and likeable imho. Just one thing, I believe that the bastards born in KL/the Crownlands are called Waters, so the names of Aemond's nephews on the list would be Jacaerys and Lucerys Waters, not Rivers. This is not a criticism or anything, just a tiny detail a nerd like me noticed😅. Anyway, I'm in love with your writing and would like to know what is your opinion on Alicent in HotD. Her interactions and characterization in SWHHW is just what I imagined her to be as a mother, especially to Aemond after the eye loss. As for the show, I mostly liked her characterization until episode 8 and the whole "you'll make a fine queen" thing. After that I had mixed feelings about the route they decided to take with her.

Also, how did you get introduced to Rhaemond? Hints from the show, Tumblr...? It is an interesting ship with a lot of potential, but sadly not as popular as some others, at least not yet. Thanks in advance for your answer and for giving me something good to read:))

Nerds together, strong!

(sorry x1000 for taking so long to respond. Exams are done but I picked up an eyestrain 😒 This was half-answered in my drafts for a week? Very sorry.)

Criticism is fine! It's good! I mean, I would love 100% total praise, but I am honestly amazed that people love this. My ego is well pleased. 😅 Thank you (and everyone) for reading! Like, I would love to say that I write for the simple joy of it, but no. Readers make it worth doing.

I will confess that I didn't research this properly. I went with Harwin Strong > Riverlands > Rivers, but yeah. I've been out of the fandom for a minute and did not think it through. I have to edit this when I'm done so hopefully I remember to fix it. Will make a note.

My view on Alicent... Honestly, I'm almost at a point where I feel like any criticism of any non-Rhaenyra character is unfair because imo the writers aren't actually trying to create characters, they just contort everyone else to fit whichever role they need for Rhaenyra's plot, but okay, pros and cons? What I like versus dislike?

She's too apologetic, for one thing. I like the green dress scene, but it's so rare to see her show some teeth. I get it, that she really doesn't have all that much power, especially after Driftmark when she's watching her husband try to get their son to snitch on her so that he could have her tongue cut out, or have her tried for treason or killed or set aside or whatever Viserys was angling for in that scene, but I still wish she had a more proactive personality. More like Cersei, Catelyn, Margaery, Brienne, etc.

No way is Catelyn being gaslit into apologizing for being angry that Bran got pushed through a window, you know? Cersei might apologize but she'd also probably leave half the city blind by the time she's done getting her vengeance. I wanted some of that.

Half the fandom hates her for wanting Aegon on the throne instead of Rhaenyra and my problem is that she's not doing enough to make that happen. Everyone's living the grimdark life, playing the game of thrones, while she's a high fantasy damsel queen. They make her a sort of 'Trapped In the Wrong Genre'/'Not Built For This' character like Sansa and it's kinda hard to watch tbh.

I mean, she's more of a Good Wife™ than Alicia in the actual show named Good Wife. Rhaenyra wants to put Jace on the throne, and presumably Daemon, the family serial killer, would want to have his own son take the throne, either way, all Alicent's children and grandchildren will have to be killed to fully secure the throne since Westeros plays by Best Claim Wins but also Keep What You Kill rules. Why isn't she leading the charge to prevent that?

From her perspective she has witnessed the destruction of House Velaryon. Laenor, Laena and Vaemond dead, Baela and Rhaena, Daemon's own daughters disinherited and dismissed for Luke, the boy who cut her son's eye out without so much as a slap on the wrist. What does she think is waiting for her children and grandchildren under Queen Rhaenyra, King Daemon and then King Jace and Master of the Tides Luke?

It's not like she doesn't know how Rhaenyra feels about her children. When someone calls for your still bleeding child to be tortured - there's not a lot to misinterpret about that. Fans can be like "No, that happened a whole episode ago. Get over it! She meant to say gently questioned with cookies and tickles! Rhaenyra would never!" but Alicent isn't supposed to be a fan of Rhaenyra in the show.

Post time-skip, she's like “water under the bridge” when only minutes ago they were accusing her of poisoning the king. You cannot "water under the bridge" your enemies throwing you, your father and your children into highway traffic at every opportunity.

It's like they wrote her to be the show's butt-monkey. Daemon and Viserys literally laughing at her when she's just trying to be cordial, Rhaenys of all people gets to give her that "you have failed feminism" speech, Rhaenyra gets her “now they see you" moment...

Not even sure if butt-monkey is the right trope. She might be more of a Chew Toy? I don't understand why they're this determined to make her a permanent victim. With Sansa, there was the sense that she was being punished in a way for getting Ned killed, for being naive, childish, etc... Ned gets punished for his rigidity... People get "punished" in asoiaf world, but it's like Alicent's being punished for "seducing" grown ass Viserys? For not buying in wholesale to her Hightower inferiority and the natural order of Targaryen supremacy?

I don't understand the desire by the writers and the showrunners to keep kicking a character who is down and has never been up.

When you have one opponent being OP, the other one is usually powerful in some other equivalent way. Like superman has physical power but Lex gets social power and genius intellect.

Dr Manhattan is near omniscient/omnipotent but Ozy is smart enough to plan for that.

You would think it's supposed to be Aegon v Rhaenyra because they're both Viserys' Dragonrider children who stand to inherit, but S1 is entirely Alicent v Rhaenyra where Rhaenyra has

physical power in a dragon,

political power in being the named heir and Viserys' clear favorite with Corlys in her pocket,

childbirthing power (5 sons to Laena and Aemma's 0, and Alicent's 1, 2 or 3 depending on how you count it), and

social power with Daemon and Rhaenys killing for her without hesitation (or repercussion). Even Baela who barely knows her eagerly wants to go fight for her.

What does Alicent have to balance it out?

Instead of giving her the cunning tactician card, they make her dependent on Larys the Clubfoot with a Foot Fetish™

God, I'm ranting again.

I hate how Laena was written too, as a "Daemon's trying his best" Good Wife™ but it's hard to think about them as actual characters outside of simply being Rhaenyra's foils so of course I had to fix it up a little in swhhw.😅 It's mostly a fix-it fic for Rhaena, but if I were doing one for Laena or Alicent, I don't think Rhaena and Aemond would have even been born. I'm talking about serious murders from Day 1. 🤣 As soon as Aegon was born, we're going directly into a Queen Regent Single Mom Era and Vhagar is being fed on pedigree prince meat.

I hate HotD with the passion of a thousand sons, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the black characters and the ND/disabled/maimed characters.

Alicent already had my empathy from the beginning. I don't nail pick, but I hair-pull (BFRBs are a bitch) so, it's near impossible for me to be on the side of the Kool Kidz laughing at her, just personally speaking, regardless of how inconsistent/incoherent she's written.

I try to really avoid a lot of the discourse on hotd because of how ableist it is, but you still see so much of it. All the r-words thrown out for Aegon and Helaena, all the eye jokes on Aemond and the idea that Alicent has inferior/disabled children and grandchildren who should be killed... Like, in 2023, it's just sad that this is still a thing, but I'm always going to be team weirdos (endearing).

And being Team Rhaemond... I have a longer post where someone else asked me about it but it generally boils down to Tumblr and AO3. Basically:

The fanart on here... The Aemond fanart and headcanons are hilarious. Rhaena fanart is harder to come by but it exists.

The dinner staredown gifs. I completely misread that scene. I honestly thought Aemond was looking at Rhaena because I thought the kid was Joff. (I am moderately faceblind and I couldn't really tell them apart on first watch). I was also just kinda generally confused by how they were all sitting down to dinner to feast after Vaemond's murder earlier that day.

Rhaena's is painfully underwritten. I've never seen a character more in need of fanfiction than Rhaena.

This pic: (not mine, I just found it on Google but the original has Aegon in it. it's like a fanart "cover" of a real behind the scenes photo of Ewan and Phoebe and Bethany... )

The lack of Daemon-free Laena fics. I went to AO3 looking for Laena fics but I can't read Daemyra. I tried, but I can't and maybe 90% of Laena fics are actually Daemyra fics, so to avoid that I had to filter out daemon and Rhaenyra so I was left with nothing. And then I tried Baela, but they were only Jace x Cregan fics with more Daemyra. And then searching Rhaena led me to Rhaemond, and there were like 20 fics or so and I read them all, and then I came here for more fics but realized that between the Sirius Black tag and the Velaryon Strong!Reader tag and Visenya lives/Daemon's OC daughter that it would be near impossible to get an actual black reader, Velaryon reader, Rhaena, Baela or woc OC fic, and I was like "FFS, how did this fandom get worse? This is 2023!" and I decided on shipping rhaemond out of spite.

[yokaismp]

🌲The Woodlands 🌲

Alright, time for our very first showcase!

To start us off, let us look at the Woodlands. This is the area around many of the Overworld's major cities; Emberlan, Opulence, Rabbiton and Windhaven all fall into this region. It is also home to several notable builds, such as the Yokai Manor, Lachlan's Ship, The Woodlands Postal Service and one of River's Restaurants!

Read more about this world's cities, or simply click for details below.

Emberlan is one of the bigger cities in the Overworld. Ruled by Lachlan, the Kelpie (and his ever-vigilant ravager Justice), it is a port city with many shops and lots of trade going on. It is a warpstone hub between many Overworld locations, and the most common meeting place for events - whether they be mundane or world-ending.

Opulence is a mysterious city. Still under construction and closed to the public. Should one venture too close to the outer walls, however, they may hear muffled screaming from within.

Rabbiton is a peaceful little town, if you ignore the ominous ships hanging out by the cliffside! It is run by Krinny, a sentient shadow and member of the Gallus Nesting council.

Windhaven - a floating thing somewhere between a city and a sentient being. Just recently, it personally recommended one of its residents be made a Helper to the Keeper! It is home to the largest public library in the Overworld.

Yokai Manor is where many new arrivals spend their first nights. A sprawling buildings with a variety of themed rooms available to anyone, as well as a huge ballroom! How Yokai Manor chooses those it drags into this world, nobody really knows.

Lachlan's Ship can be found in the port of Emberlan, recognisable by the vicious tamed animals aboard or the stockpile of TNT on the deck! It sits among various vessels in the port, some intact, some run aground, all of them worth a visit.

The Woodlands Postal Service runs on phantoms as delivery workers. Sitting comfortably on a floating island near Emberlan, anyone may send a letter or claim a mailbox here, regardless of where they live. Just be aware of the mail thieves.

Finally, River's Restaurant offers a unique dining experience. Not only is the place owned by one of the heads of a city nearby, it also offers a unique underwater dining experience! Unless someone has frozen the water shut, again, that is.