#and narvin is explaining things to leela

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

one thing i love about coming back and relistening to the early episodes is that now that i know where the characters and their relationships to each other are going to end up i can pay more attention to the little details of those relationships being built

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Gallifrey Relisten Lists: Series 1

Romana, Destroyer of Worlds

Her backup plan if negotiating fails is to blow up the entire planet of Gryben and everyone (the Time Lords trapped) on it. Initially she wanted to lower the barrier and give some people a chance to run, but she doesn't argue when Brax vetoes this (Weapon of Choice)

Insists that they stop the theft of the timeonic fusion device from its testing despite knowing what will happen, allowing Minyos to be destroyed without even trying to find a way to save it (The Inquiry)

Romana is Suicidal

Plan A involves waltzing into a charged situation and offering herself to the terrorists in exchange for diffusing the timeonic fusion device. And, yes, this is a trick, but it's a very risky one and still counts because the first idea that came into her head involved her own potential death (Weapon of Choice)

Plan B involves having Brax blow up the entire planet to prevent the device going off, with her on it to prevent a war starting about it (Weapon of Choice)

Plan C involves sitting there and waiting for said device to detonate a few feet away without trying to diffuse it, betting that it's actually a bluff and will never go off (Weapon of Choice)

Says "all of us are willing to die to defend our beliefs" as if it's a pure truth of the universe (Weapon of Choice)

Casually refers to both herself and Napenthe as martyrs (Weapon of Choice)

Is faced with a "robot" attempting to kill her and just completely forgets to run away in favor of asking it questions about its anomalous behavior (Square One)

Runs off completely alone to confront Brax about his alleged dangerous criminal behavior, refusing to allow someone to come along and protect her (The Inquiry)

Later that same day, demands to accompany Brax to fight servitors (though they didn't then know who they'd have to fight then) and stop the theft, again risking her life (The Inquiry)

Parks her tardis in front of a speeding train to frighten Andred-Torvald into telling her the truth, and I truly don't think she knew if she would go through with it if this plan failed (A Blind Eye)

Leela is Smarter than the Time Lords

She's the only one paying enough attention to notice the Monan spy in the Free Time movement (Weapon of Choice)

Memorizes door codes after being told by K9 once (Square One)

Workes out the logical person to be in the robot costume very quickly (Square One)

Annoys and needles Narvin into very nearly giving away information he doesn't want to (The Inquiry)

Honorable mention: despite drowning in grief and betrayal, is the only one to walk away from that train in a dignified and adult manner in a story where Romana nearly kills a bunch of people and meets with a known criminal, Torvald tries to break the timeline on purpose, Andred commits identity fraud, and every just generally behaves badly (A Blind Eye)

Everyone is Autistic

Romana relies on her emotional support Braxiatel to help her regulate her emotions and initial reactions. I don't think she realizes they're doing this, but he clearly does and has clearly done it often enough before to be unconcerned about whether she'll listen (Weapon of Choice)

I'm not going to record every instance of this because it's (far too) constant, but Leela processes complex concepts through familiar metaphor, which is why Romana automatically explains things to her like that (Weapon of Choice)

Despite knowing the plan and understanding subterfuge, it takes Leela a moment to process that K-9 has shifted from his usual self to the evil persona he's playing (Weapon of Choice)

Leela assumes a new situation will work the same as it has in the past and she doesn't need to think through the logistics, thus assuming that Torvald will pay for the meat she grabs (Weapon of Choice)

None of them can lie worth a damn when put on the spot (Weapon of Choice, but also just...all of it)

Leela takes a long time to understand space sex work euphemisms despite understanding the concept of space sex work (Square One)

Leela struggles (again) to get in character despite understanding why she should lie (Square One)

Narvin...uh...*gestures vaguely to Narvin's entire deal and all attempts at diplomacy* (Square One, but also always)

Leela doesn't understand why she should follow inquiry protocols when they're redundant, such as introducing herself (The Inquiry)

Narvin decides never to trust Brax because "he disagreed with me once"

Even when openly contemptuous of a person, Narvin is awkward and uncomfortable when dealing with emotions, his or theirs (The Inquiry)

Romana, Leela, and Narvin all stick very strictly to their own moral codes and get very upset when something or someone doesn't match up (The Inquiry, but also always)

Romana telling the conductor that she's President of Gallifrey is such an autistic mannerism. My guess is it's a holdover from when she didn't understand that aliens wouldn't get it that became an inside joke with herself (A Blind Eye)

Narvin is so incredibly proud that Andred found no conspiracy, that he runs a squeaky clean...black ops spy agency. Do you think he understands that he is literally the only CIA agent this determined to follow the rules? (A Blind Eye)

Leela's "we must protect even those who disgust us" is along the same lines (A Blind Eye)

[gotyouanyway]

my favourite leela/romana/narvin thing to think about is narvin and romana being on the same time lord wavelength about certain things and leela being confused by them, picking them up herself, and/or constantly having things explained to her in dire earnestness while she looks at them like this 🤨

[xisco-lozdob]

What do we know of Dark Gallifrey?

So, yesterday Big finish finally announced a new range titled Dark Gallifrey. The initial reveal left me underwhelmed because it didn't look as Gallifrey-oriented as I'd at first thought, but some of the comments the creators have posted afterwards are making me warm up to the idea.

So, first of all, it's going to be "a brand-new series showcasing the most chaotic, mischievous and evil Time Lords the planet has ever produced" and it consists of 8 different trilogies, each focusing on one these dark children of Gallifrey. The fact that three of those were given to three different incarnations of the Master who all already have their own ranges gave me pause, but it could be alright if the themes and focus is distinct enough.

However, the Monk and the Nun and, more importantly, Morbius (the incarnation played by Samuel West from the 8DAs 16 years ago) also have their own trilogies. Morbius' one is actually the opening act of the series, though we don't know exactly when it's set. But Morbius is always a great character to delve into Gallifreyan lore.

First thing I want to point out is that they chose to use the same Gallifrey logo as the Gallifrey series, so at the very least they think it should be branded the same way. So we don't only have a link through the title choice but also the same visual identity.

Now, even if John Dorney, writer and script editor for the Morbius trilogy, said this:

It’s completely disconnected from regular Gallifrey.

It doesn't have to mean it's disconnected from Gallifrey the planet, and its history, which, for me, is the most important part, just that it's disconnected from the main cast of the series: Romana, Leela, Narvin and Braxiatel.

So let's see what the other creatives are saying. Rob Valentine, who serves as producer for the series, had this to say:

Dark Gallifrey is a sprawling, multi-story event in which all the most dastardly Time Lords are being let out of the box in various unexpected ways. [...] ...and, behind it all, something massive is brewing.

That means there's some overarching theme or threat in the shadows, probably to be resolved in the last trilogy. What I think is that, more likely than not, it's not going to be a big crossover kind of deal. Maybe some characters and even a couple of the trilogy protagonists are going to be there, but, from what is know, I surmise that we'll be looking at a... Rassilon? trilogy which ties together things that have been set up during the others, but we won't know they have been until we have all the pieces. Let me explain.

Firstly, and something which I really like the sound of, from the Big Finish Talk Back panel at Gally1, they want to do more experimental stories and Dark Gallifrey is part of that.

Dorney, again, said that these are:

Writer led concept albums full of bold creativity. [...] these are not your standard stories.

Whereas Scott Handcock, director and script editor for the War Master trilogy, teased that there are "baffling surprises" and that he doesn't know how his trilogy pieces together with the other ones.

I do like that this range seems to be based on allowing the creators freedom to tell the story they want to tell, so they can experiment with the storylelling and the format. Valentine also says there are all sorts of stories, from darker ones to some that are more comic. But, while Handcock seems to confirm he wasn't privy to all the plans for the range, I read that as implying he did know there was something that linked the trilogies together, but that due to his involvement being with just this trilogy in particular, he didn't need to know every detail.

Still, one last piece of information from Dorney, tells me it's particularly not necessary for the individual creators to know how it all pieces together (if the producers did a good job in keeping tabs):

Just to repeat what I said on the panel this series is influenced by things like Alan Ayckbourn’s Norman Conquests, the old Transformers comic strip Aspects of Evil and Chris Ware’s magnificent Building Stories. [...] it inspired the entire series.

All of these have one particularity in common: they're stories that build a bigger tapestry if put together, with multiple layers of storytelling. But they still work as your basic anthology.

But why do I think it'll all come together with a Rassilon story? Well, for that let's go to writer Tim Foley's blogpost with some visual clues. All the pictures are really interesting, but two in particular piqued my interest. (Btw, Foley seems to have worked at least on the Morbius trilogy with Dorney.)

The first illustration comes from the DWM story The Tides of Time. This story features Rassilon (actually his first appearance in any medium) and the Matrix, as well as the Higher Evolutionaries, a group of ancient and powerful time-aware beings. Basically, they're to Gallifrey's Temporal Powers what Division sorta is to the CIA.

The other image is a rendition by Daryl Joyce of Ancient Gallifrey, from the Lungbarrow ebook. You all know what kinds of implications this has. I really hope we take a long overdue trip to other episodes in Gallifrey's History. This is what I'm expecting (hoping) from this series and, in a way, the Fugitive Doctor's one.

Will we have references and nods to other stories that built on the mythology and history of Gallifrey (and not just those two, Morbius being a main character has the potential to link with some more obscure things)? I don't know but I hope so.

I think that's all the information we have. I don't even really know what I want to say with this post, just wanted to collect all this somewhere, and I guess speculate a bit there at the end.

I really hope this series ends up being as special as it promises.

[stopmyhearts]

Mindbomb live blog an actually mind-blowing experience and definitely one of my favourites

yay Gallifrey time! (this is the first thing I write down every time but it's true)

I love that the way Valyes addresses them as ex-presidents, the political situation is just so messed up

god I love the way Narvin explains this to Leela

I was joking Leela and Narvin autism moment

I love the way this just ends up being legal spats

oh Morbius interesting nice mention

I hate Darkel so much

oh the fuck is she doing now

oh that is amazing

they are the high council that is so weird I love it

on a technicality I love it, this is all just technicalities

well that's bad

this politicking is so cool

I wonder how Romana was right at the beginning of her presidency

Matthias is so fucking manipulative, I did not guess this before last episode

yes Leela!

Narvin stop it with the fucking law, you had it all figured out last episode, you are Romana's man just accept it

even I don't what side I'm on it's so compelling, his identity, what he's loyal too

I adore how protective Leela is

they really need to stop imprisoning Romana

that is so mean

good grief Narvin 😆

oh they're using K9

I love that

oh that's good of him

the stupidity clause 😆

calling her naive, he's not wrong in regards to politics but this is again so interesting

there is no one else 🥺

Leela and Romana both seem very sad

it's so interesting how Romana too has now been isolated from all her allies

so they really only have each other and Narvin

and Leela has lost so much!!

I love the way they talk about him, with contempt and appreciation at the same time

a metaphorical knife I adore her

Romana is really a rare honest politician

I love how Leela is so loyal to her

oh he is good

Darkel is so fucking evil

affirmative by Leela 😆

oh that's odd

K9 please mention your conclusions

like things on Gallifrey constantly don't make sense so don't dismiss anything as illogical

he did that with Wynter too

Edit: this is the point where I thought it might be Brax for the first time but I didn't want to jinx it by writing it down

I hope Narvin's trying to make her incriminate herself

I feel like Narvin really shows his sides in opposition only

like he figures out what is important to him when it's threatened only

which is why he was so completely on Romana's side the last three chapters

I hope Brax comes back soon

I miss him yeah me too Leela

Gallifrey's type of government is very interesting

I like seeing someone in a bit more normal position and what they think about this

Darkel is a bitch but a very good politician

what's happening

oh I bet she arranged this

she's totally the type to do it

thank you Narvin she sounds so surprised 🥺

and Narvin defending her>>>>>>

I love how Leela does that, it's how I react to sarcasm

K9 being pedantic I love it

apart from everyone who's met her so true

I want to shoot her

yes Leela do violence

oh yeah this is precisely what Darkel wants

whether or not she organized it she's so going to be using this

it's someone else

I feel like it could be Brax

I hope it is

I did not look at the character list btw, I genuinely don't know if he's in this one

ha I love Annos

who says it's a man

I love that Romana still calls the shots even in so bad situations

yeah Narvin gets it

I love their discussions

they are so full of tension and layers *please please

please tell me it is him

yes

yesyesyesyesyes

I love him he's back

oh shit that's bad stuff

no she already said it, Romana listen Leela!

yes

I'm so happy he's back

yay I love it

it explains perfectly why they wanted it removed

oh her plan is backfiring I love it

I did not expect this at all

oh fuck her

oh shit what's happening to him

wtf

this is bad

Is it Pandora

oh she really cannot stop can she

now what will Narvin do to that

oh that was the Doctor I remember, in Invasion of Time

I hate Darkel so fucking much

she's so fucking evil

oh now to examine Narvin's brain

oh very good

I love this

it's incredible that Darkel still expects Narvin to follow her orders

yes she needs to get her fucking due

oh it's left him

it's gone elsewhere

Darkel?

please tell me it's her

oh yes

yes

fucking finally

that's precisely what she deserved

that is what I meant Leela I love you

no Brax stay please

oh what the fuck

[theladyjojogrant]

Having some mildly incoherent thoughts about War Room 2 and the Gally trio this morning. May or may not make sense, spoilers below the cut:

When was the last time we saw Narvin “thinking with his hearts” instead of his head like he does in WR 2?

When he tried to wipe the Daleks from existence to save Romana.

Romana wasn’t there, just like she isn’t here now as Narvin is falling apart.

Narvin and Leela have managed without Romana before, but never for this long, and never like this. When things get bad, really bad, all Leela can do is stubbornly tell Narvin that there is hope, there is a reason to keep going, but she can’t explain why because she doesn’t know herself. She just knows there is hope. There has to be.

But that doesn’t work with Narvin’s analytical, rational mind. Normally, this is where Romana would step in and placate him with facts, numbers, figures. It’s what he understands. But Romana isn’t here. Leela can’t give him the facts he needs to believe in a better future. 

Romana, Leela, and Narvin can no longer function without each other. As the gap where Romana should be widens, everything is tipping out of balance. Leela, Leela is becoming the rational one, the one who must serve the system she hates and play by the rules that go against her deepest values.

Meanwhile, Narvin, Narvin’s rationality is dissolving as he loses his grip on everything and everyone he loves. (Besides, if he doesn’t have anyone to love, who is he? The guy we all hated way back in S1. And he physically can’t become him again. So what does he become if he loses everything?)

[lonely-space-ace]

cause I’m having Thoughts about this but don’t know if I’ll actually write it

So in my brain Ace does still stop traveling with the doctor, (spends some time on Gallifrey, goes to timelord academy, joins the cia, etc.) BUT afterwards when the Time War starts happening she begins traveling with him again

like I haven’t listened to all the audios so don’t quote me but this au takes place after that one when she gets her memory erased and sent back to earth (?) idk we can mess with the timeline canon is funky

anyway so helps with the time war, is there for the explosion all that jazz

which I think has really big implications for the Doctor and Aces relationship

Bc like... the Doctor destroys the timelords, and that includes romana, leela, andred, brax, narvin... IF we're considering a world where she stays with him after he does that

but on to the episode

first off the episode will need to be renamed “Rose Tyler’s bisexual awakening” bc that’s what it’s gonna turn into have you SEEN Sophie Aldred with short hair???

I feel like it would change so much of the Rose and the Doctors dynamic, mainly bc when the Doctor tries to be all grand and mysterious Ace is there to be like “remember that time you electrocuted yourself by poking the microwave with a fork?”

also does kill most of the chances for Rose/Doctor romance unfortunately bc Rose sees his 30ish year old daughter traveling with him and it does make her rethink some things

speaking of that is how Ace introduces herself

they meet and Rose is like "so how do you two know each other" and Ace goes "He's my dad" and then Does Not Elaborate

Ace loves Rose by the way, 19 year old from a council flat going around asking aliens if they’d like to join a union? Yeah they get on great

Ace and the Doctor are Something Else at this point btw, they’ve been through so much shit together they’re entirely too codependent

speaking of honestly can’t decide how it would go on the Doctor being the last of the time lords thing. I’d imagine it’s a pretty big argument between him and Ace at some point bc while the Doctor did lose his entire people, she lost a lot too, and she went to the academy the same as him

like Ace is the only person who can understand but also she is human and from earth and so she cant really

this confuses the Heck out of Rose btw, which means that Ace's very existence forces the Doctor to explain himself

at some point when Ace is regaling her with tales of Gallifrey Rose is just like “wait, aren’t you human?” At which point Ace grins and says “I started that way” while her eyes flash yellow and Rose decides to not ask too many questions after that

similarly she asks them how old they really are at some point and they’re both like 🤷

thinking of writing a fic that’s just “Rose but if Ace McShane had never stopped traveling with the Doctor”

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

leela + brax as people who work in a library (can be either undercover or au, you decide :D)

oooh... I choose AU!! I LOVE writing platonic leelabrax asxhsksbdksn — this can also go along with a university teachers kind of AU, if you want 👀

~~~~~

The university archivist is a strange man, with cutting eyes and the kind of look that says he knows far more than anyone around him. Leela is not sure how true that is, but she can tell that he believes it. She has never seen him soften the way he does when she approaches him with a question; at first, she becomes defensive, because she does not want him to see her as fragile — she does not want anyone to see her as fragile, or soft, but especially not someone she works with.

The library is a nice work environment, a place she can help people and learn more herself. She gets strange, disapproving looks, sometimes, when people hear her stumble over words in her second language or ask why she does not use contractions — she did not even know what a contraction was, until she looked it up in the dictionary. Where she comes from, combined words do not exist as they do in English.

Irving Braxiatel, known among university students as "The Icicle" — a funny name, considering that the school's headmistress is called "Ice Maiden," almost as if the two of them go together in some way — seems to become warmer when Leela works with him. She never asks why, and he never truly tells her anything outright, but she senses a connection. He does not point out her shortcomings, or the ways she differs from most; in turn, Leela does not pry into his constant secrecy.

There is something guarded about Brax, but then again, there is also something guarded about her. Perhaps in some quiet, unspoken way, they understand each other.

send me a character pairing + an AU and I'll write three sentences(ish)

[whifferdills]

GALLIFREY: TIME WAR: BEYOND: The thing about the War is, they've all been dead since the beginning;

Another labyrinth, another haunting. The Brax Ex Machina flying directly into a black hole. You're possibly the only person in the universe I trust. Every moment as a physical space to be descended through, each layer denser and denser until time stands still. Brax is unfailingly polite and, to hear him explain it, even kind: Nobody suffers, they simply were never born. The Daleks as a glitch. Transformation as a way to escape the loop. The Parallax, the paradoxes, another boogeyman made flesh. See you on the next turn of the wheel.

She isn't the Romana who gave the order, but she also isn't a Romana who can fix this. This has already happened. His proposed mass extinction event and the other Romana's destruction of the planetary system and he is so, so desperate for her to forgive herself for that. Because if she can't, where does that leave him? How unforgivable has he become?

Like Narvin's Dalek in "Dissolution", the clown rats are of course always coming and in a sense have always been coming, and will find him wherever he goes. Unlike Narvin in "Dissolution", Brax refuses help - even from himself - in two different directions, natch - and runs directly into the waiting mouth of death (🤡); and, also, into his specially-built Dalek-free pocket universe. Absolute clusterfuck of a man. All his self-loathing and his Great Man Theory ambition and his needs-must pragmatism and his loneliness. His last big swing at being the mouthpiece of Gallifrey's paternalistic chessplaying death-cult tendencies, to enact the oubliette on an impossibly grand scale (The narrative, having taken pains to explain the cost of this happening to one single person last episode, now allows it to sprawl into the War's full (ish) dimensions). His desperation, his smallness, all his careful construction of the Irving persona unraveling (don’t worry, he’ll put it back soon). Did he really think this would be his redemption? Of course he gets eaten alive. Of course he accidentally kills the Ravenous by just being too much. The universe wants him to live, but it also doesn’t want him to win.

And then, of course, Romana left alone again, unable to follow either Brax, armed at least with the slight but perceptible shift from having to do it by herself to doing it for herself. Good for her, that’s a big step. Just in time for "Homecoming"!

There should be a little minisode which is called "Romana Takes A Nap" and it's about how she gets to take a nap, and then also maybe go to Time Therapy or whatever.

Brax and Romana are so.....she doesn't trust him, but she does care for him; he's been in love with her for like 238484727 years, but he puts her on a pedestal and thinks taking away her agency is doing her a favor. And the Doctor is this missing link between the two of them and it's. You know?

"I know how flawed and how venal I can be but you're meant to be the best of us. So if it means saving you, it's worth it" like ok sure but also what the fuck is wrong with you Brax. Brax. What the fuck, Brax.

Really dig the other Romana going buckwild because Leela died, and how easy it is for this Romana to retrace those steps. Toxic wlw representation <3

Brax and Narvin are more alike than either of them would ever admit and it's been very funny listening to them needling each other over how their fears and failures dovetail. Although now we're here and Brax is Brax and Narvin is an entirely different creature from season 1 and they still refuse to acknowledge each other....top tier dynamic. Personally I think they should kiss about it but that’s a special little fun feature just for the erotic fan fiction I’m currently writing.

"Leela? Narvin? I'm coming home" wherein home isn’t just the main universe, home is the people in it........scromiting etc

[natequarter]

[Leela finishes talking to K-9; the door opens and Andred enters.]

LEELA (angry): You!

ANDRED (walking through): Hello.

LEELA: I do not wish to see you!

ANDRED: But I want to see you. To explain.

LEELA: I do not want your explanations! You pretend to be one thing when you are really another. You have lived your life behind a mask for so long that now that mask is your own face.

ANDRED: Leela-

LEELA: No more words. [upset] You are not my husband. You are not the Andred I married.

ANDRED: That isn't true. Look into your heart, Leela, you'll see it isn't.

LEELA: My one heart knows the truth. You have two hearts, just as you have two faces, and neither speaks the truth.

ANDRED: I didn't set out to betray you, Leela. I was confused. After the regeneration, you know what- [stops] No. You don't know what it's like. How could you?

LEELA (sarcastic laugh): Oh, because I am an ignorant alien?

ANDRED: No! Because you only have one life, Leela, one chance. But we have many chances, and perhaps that makes us unfeeling and arrogant. I saw my chance to do some good. To find out what Narvin was up to. I wanted to make things better. Being with you... oh, what's the use?

LEELA: Being with me? You are blaming me for what you have done?

ANDRED: No! Not blaming... being with you showed me how much there is outside Gallifrey, and how fragile and short-lived the rest of the universe can be. That made me sad. And it made me angry. And it made me want to change things, quickly, before- before you grew old.

LEELA: But I am not growing old.

ANDRED: No. You're not. But I didn't know that then. I didn't realise that you were cursed just as we are.

LEELA: Cursed?

ANDRED: With living long enough to experience the consequences of our own actions, down through the centuries. I wanted to change things. I wanted to make them better. I did it-

LEELA (angry): You did it out of selfishness and arrogance. [volume increasing] You did it to become important, with no thought for the feelings of others.

ANDRED: No, that's not true.

LEELA (shouting): It is true! [about to cry] And I will listen to no more of your lies today.

[Leela storms off and the door closes behind her.]

ANDRED (softly): I did it for you.

[magicofthepen]

Happy Time War 4 week!! In the interest of getting this fic series out (very very slightly) before Time War 4, I decided to...post the fics all at once. So here’s a quick summary/breakdown of What We Choose, a series of linked fics exploring the relationships between Romana, Leela, and Narvin, from Enemy Lines to the Time War. (These fics do all exist in the same ‘verse, but they can also be read on their own!) 

Defying Reason: The final days of Romana's presidency, and what comes next. (Or: personal relationships don't get any easier, no matter what office you hold.) 

Length: 25k (7 chapters) Relationships: Leela/Romana, Narvin & Romana, background Leela/Narvin POV: Romana Warnings: character injury, somewhat suicidal behavior

The “let’s unpack the emotional issues of Enemy Lines” fic! Part Romana/Leela sorting out some issues and getting together, part Romana & Narvin sorting out some issues and figuring out how to work together in the CIA. (Also: Leela Has Two Hands.)   

Call It Home: The early days of Narvin and Romana's CIA partnership — and the uncertainty of what they're building together. 

Length: 22k (3 chapters) Relationships: Narvin/Romana (centric), established Leela/Romana and Leela/Narvin  POV: Narvin, Romana Warnings: minor references to (offscreen) death

The “Romana and Narvin eventually hold hands” fic! (Leela also appears quite a bit.) This fic is my happy place ngl. Lots of fluff and awkward emotions, endgame ot3 cuddlepile. 

Price to Pay: As Gallifrey begins the slow march towards all-out war with the Daleks, information about an old CIA mission comes to light. Narvin, it turns out, has a lot of explaining to do. Set before Gallifrey: Time War 1. 

Length: 16k (3 chapters) Relationships: established ot3 POV: Narvin, Leela, Romana Warnings: discussion of Dalek-related torture and death, aftermath of psychic torture 

The “Romana finds out about Narvin’s Big Mistake” fic! ft. Romana’s Dalek-related trauma, Narvin’s guilt, lots of complicated interpersonal tension, Leela being wonderful. Things are sort of resolved, but this is also sort of a Romana/Narvin breakup fic?

The Echoes Between Us: As they chase Leela’s trail through the universe, Romana and Narvin struggle to bear the weight of everything they’ve lost in this war. A collection of missing moments from Time War 3. 

Length: 29k (6 chapters) Relationships: Narvin/Romana, past ot3 POV: Narvin, Romana Warnings: injury, psychic trauma, suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide

The “they’re grieving and traumatized and don’t know how to talk about things” fic! Also sort of a “getting back together” fic? In a sad way? (This is a Time War 3 fic....you know how it ends.)

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Some of the wildest things about every episode of Gallifrey, standalones edition:

Intervention Earth

Ace is here now! They get out of explaining how she joined the cia by…just having her not remember lol

Narvin makes friends with a couple of random prehistoric people on earth <3

It’s not the daleks for once! It is, however, Omega and his hand

Brax is back! Wasn’t he a dog in an alternate universe that was either overrun by daleks or permanently sealed off? What happened there? No one knows because he won’t tell them

Enemy Lines

Brax rescues Romana from a dead tardis and imminent execution, but lets Narvin and Ace get blown up

Romana tries to blow herself up AGAIN for diplomatic reasons. She fails and Brax rescues her. She also succeeds and regenerates. She also also fails and dies. Because time travel

Narvin is horribly murdered

Ace is horribly murdered (in space)

Leela and Romana bargain with an urban legend and win

Romana abandons Leela (for real this time) and she lives out an entire life on other planets, including helping stand up to an invasion and having a lovely house with a little garden. Big Doctor leaving Sarah vibes, actually

Also…the above never happened

Romana demotes Narvin and takes his job live on tv without telling him first. Twice.

These stories together cover TWO DIFFERENT realities that are then changed to never happen. Net zero events

[alyona11]

TW4 overall thoughts. Spoilers. Some salt.

Ok, I have one word and the word is mediocre. Like it’s literally as mediocre as it could be. Very sterile emotion-wise cos, as I said before this boxset even came out, when you separate your characters for the majority of time you have no room for exploring their relationship. Was the action worth it? Nah, also mediocre.

I can’t say there were no parts I’ve enjoyed. The first 2 eps were a nice build-up, even though the 1 one was super rushed (again, as I said after I heard the teaser of the 1st 15 minutes, but I will not repeat it here, read it there if you wanna). Leela and Eris had some nice dialogues, learning more about Narvin’s past was nice + Narvin “adopting” Reyo was kinda cute. BUT again, because the focus of the LAST series was moved from the main characters towards exploring the secodary characters in a way, the emotional attachement between for example Leela and Narvin felt very stiff. And I would have been ok with that if Reyo and Eris played a significant part in the plot of Homecoming for example. But nah, they were dropped completely (or less completely when if comes to Eris who was at least mentioned as a part of the plan). Which makes me wonder what was the point of having them all together and whether if was important to separate the main characters. Like... you could have had 4 of them together during 2 eps if you wanted Reyo and Eris to be there and have a development in the first place? 

The lack of emotions is actually one of my biggest complains tbh, I would have forgiven a simple plot if the emotions and characters’ interactions were really engaging. I liked having Brax back, and I liked their small talks with Romana, it felt refrashing. But again, Romana expressing nothing while one of the Brax’s versions getting killed in front of her? Eh, really? 

Tbh, the only emotional part that got me was Romana mourning Leela’s death in the alt!timeline. And ok, mb Leela remembering her dead son. 

Narvin was, sadly for me cos I like the guy, the weirdest and the weakest character of the boxset. He felt very unlike himself most of the time. Plus if felt like he had no purpose in this boxset, he kinda did nothing or close to nothing. Which...again could be solved by engaging him with Leela for example (Romana or Brax would be great too, but I’m judging from TW4 ep1′s perspective where there’re only two of them left from the ot4). Another thing: what was this last “savage” line was all about? It was SUPER out of place, I can’t explain how wrong it sounded. This word isn’t used as an endearment almost at all in the series. It doesn’t even sounded like an endearnent in the context it was used, idk was in the way it was said? Like the last time Narvin calls her that is in s5, and I’d say it makes sense as he’s still fighting with his growing attachment to her, the “savage” is spoken to himself and not to her. Not saying it’s good, just saying there is an emotional context for him to do that. Plus he never used that word ever since cos imo as he takes the idea of her being his friend he stops calling her this stupid insult. So why would he say “savage” as an endearment term during their probably last meeting? Idk it absolutely ruined the scene for me.

The ending was boring, they literally did nothing. I understand the wish to tie up the Time War narrative with the other series, but it feels disappointing when you have “oh this is gonna be epic” build up and have a “poof” in the end.

Ok, I’m tired, so I gonna finish it there. Gonna add some stuff if I remember some of my other complains. 

[best-enemies]

For the fandom ask meme thing can I request the whole damn alphabet or is that not very cash money of me? I’m nosy lmao I wanna know all of them!

AHDKAJSDKJAHSKDA JACK YOU’RE THE BEST

A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)

I’ve had my current OTP for like almost 8 years and it’s, obviously, Thoschei (Doctor/Master). My other current obsession is the Gallifrey OT4 hehehe

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

It’s funny because I didn’t ship Hannigram at first... I’d thought the idea of a cannibal having a relationship was terrifying because what if they had sex and Hannibal got hungry in the middle of the act? Lmaoooo 

But yeah they’re my endgame now. I watched the show when it first aired and I was about 14/15 years old so now you see why I thought that. Although I’m still afraid I’m gonna be reading a fic and Hannibal will suddendly bite Will’s dick off or smth AKJHSAKJSAHSASKAJ

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will (be nice)

Uhhh Doctor/Clara. Mainly because I don’t like to ship the Doctor with companions (there may be one or two exceptions but I don’t ship them enough to actually say I ship them lol) and I don’t know I just never vibed with it

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t (again: be nice)

Doctor/River. I mean, I did like it for a while years ago but now it’s just... eh. I think she has a waaay better chemistry with the 12th Doctor, but still don’t ship it. I might give it a try once I listen to the River audios but so far meh. I’m not much of a multishipper anyway.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

God. I’ve written a couple of Academy Era (focused on the Deca) crack fanfics and I still have to translate them to English. They’re pure garbage but I love them. I have a lot of fun writing crack fics because they’re easier and I can ignore whatever piece of canon I want just for the laughs

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

Guess it’s Doctor Who, been here (in and out of the fandom) for over 8/9 years

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

Uhhhh I think it was Han Solo and Leia, since I was a kid really. I wanted to marry both of them lol

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., tv shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)

I had to google what a source text is and still don’t know

I - Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

I don’t think so, but Twitter definitively has. I remember a couple years ago I was curious to see what voltron was about and watched a few episodes, it was ok, fun and cute but the fandom was so annoying I stopped watching it for good and don’t care about it enough to pick it up again

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

I had definitively forgotten about supernatural until I saw it all over my dashboard in the year of our lord 2020 lmao like in my wholock days I tried to watch the show because everyone on my dash (is it still called dashboard?) was talking about it and I watched about 8 episodes before dropping it. But seeing it again on the dash was actually a happy surprise because the memes are too funny hahaha

K -Say something nice about someone in any of your fandoms

I’m extremely shy irl and on the internet as well but I wanna say that  @janeturenne is one of the best authors ever and her fanfics are a blessing in my life; also @thebraxiatelcollection who brings awesome content to my dash and is also one of the best authors. And of course, you, Jack, also one of the best authors god I’m so BLESSED

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves (chars you’re neutral on are fair game, as are chars you dislike)

Uhhh I guess I’m neutral about the current companions. They’re not my favorites but I don’t really dislike them - they had a lot of potential and chibs came up with some good storylines but did not develop them well in my opinion. I think Graham is a fun grandpa whom I’m going to miss when he leaves; Ryan is cool and could’ve done a lot more if the writers had kept a few things, it’d be awesome if he vlogged all of their adventures. He’s like the one I was curious to see more but sadly didn’t feel a connection; and Yaz, I hope she’ll keep growing and that her friendship with the Doctor will finally be developed to a level we can connect to her.

It sounds weird because with the fam it’s always ‘what I wish could have been’ because I never felt really connected to them :(

M - Say something genuinely nice about a ship that you don’t ship (or its shippers, or anything related to you)

Ok... I don’t really ship Rey/Finn but I think it’s one of the sweetest ships ever, and if they ended up together I’d be happy. They love each other and are there for each other always so, yeah :D

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

I don’t know if I got the question right but it’s three things I wish I saw more in my main fandom? Well, if it’s that, then, 3 things about the Doctor Who fandom: 1) people having more civilized or light-hearted discussions about things. Like, I genuinely disliked an 8th doctor audio I listened once that my friends loved, and they made fun of me and we joked about it. Also once we were in a live twitch video playing among us and discussing doctor who, and then we got into a ship “discourse” as a joke and nobody really cared and just laughed because everyone knew it’s fictional shit so why get mad over it? 2) Doctor Who has a titanic amount of content, it’s all canon but at the same time it’s not, so who cares? If you want to listen to Big Finish audios and if you can afford it, then lisiten; if you can’t, it’s okay, no one has the right to tell you you’re less of a fan. Just tell them to fuck off; 3) The best way to keep fandom alive is by creating content. Here in my local fandom we have several podcasts dedicated to all areas of the whoniverse (the show, the expanded universe, the audios, etc), those old fandom websites who do serious work to bring news to the fans, people who make subtitles for the classic series (we don’t have it available here so they do their best to make it accessible to other fans), accounts dedicated to promoting dr who fans who create content, and we even have people making their own audiodramas with dw characters and writing book-lenght fanfiction to help explain the show to people who’ve never watched it, and a great variety of things. I’ve seen a few of these things in the international fandom, mostly by older fans, so I wish younger fans about my age who have the means to make this kind of stuff would make it too. Maybe there’d be less twitter drama out there lol

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

“the killing moon” by echo & the bunnymen reminds me of thoschei. yep it was totally random

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

The fact that we don’t have a pride and prejudice AU for brax/romana yet is driving me insane

Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why

I’ve mentioned it before but doctor/river, don’t really remember why idk I just don’t vibe with it anymore. But also because thoschei has so many different pairings in 1 ship that I don’t really feel the need to ship them with anyone else lol

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

GOD I NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT BECAUSE IT’S SO SPECIFIC ok fellow academy era stans gather around if you have read Divided Loyalties there’s a scene where it SHOWS that Magnus had a crush on Ushas. And NO ONE HAS EVER TALKED ABOUT THEM and the power couple they would’ve made. I write them into all my fanfics in hopes of making other people ship them but I’ve had no success so far

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

The Master is a big fan of musicals and in the 77 years he spent on earth he watched every single one ever. I’m gonna be bold and say that when he was young, still Koschei, he was an artist, and thought about dropping everything to become an actor on Gallifrey. Time Lords do appreciate art, and have their own plays, but it’s just the same old and boring ones the young people don’t care about. The Master then created a shocking performance that was way ahead of its time and the older Time Lords were so appalled they banned him from writing and presenting plays and that’s his villain origin story

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

1) The Doctor and the Master married on Gallifrey and the entire show is just them having the most litigious divorce in the universe (still isn’t final because the Master has killed all the judges); 2) Ushas/The Rani is ace; 3) The Deca was a 10 people polyamorous relationship; 4) Romana and Livia were girlfriends at the Academy and they hate each other now because the break up was baad; 5) Romana writes fanfiction; 6) Romana/Leela had a thing in Davidia I KNOW it; 7) Leela pegs Narvin; 8) Brax has a life-size painting of Romana at his collection or a statue or smth; 9) Brax’s dream in Reborn is actually REAL and he’s married to Romana, Leela and Narvin all at the same time

U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

I don’t even think I’m in 5 fandoms but

Doctor Who: The Master, The Doctor, Romana, Leela, Sarah Jane, Bill (this was the hardest thing ever)

The X-Files: Mulder, Scully, Monica, and can I add The Lone Gunmen too?

Star Wars: Leia, Obi-Wan, Finn, Poe Dameron and honorable mention to Din Djarin and Grogu

Hannibal: Hannibal, Will, Bev, Alana, Chiyoh

V - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms

That’s hard

Doctor Who: thoschei ofc, gallifrey ot4.......... uuhh as you can see i don’t ship many pairings in the show

The X-Files: Mulder and Scully. And whatever Scully and Monica had going on because they definitively flirted

Star Wars: Poe/Finn, Han/Leia, whatever Han/Lando had going on too

W - 5 favorite ships and 5 kinks you like best for said ships

WHATVASHAJSKAJSA ok this is a little embarassing but I don’t have a lot of kinks for many ships... I guess I have some for thoschei like, choking, whipping, blindfolds/gagging, bondage, begging, biting, sem-public, phone sex, dirty talk, body worship, praise kink, etc. Alright alright I know it’s a lot but in my defense they've shown half of these on the show

X - top 5-10 characters who are yoUR PRECIOUS BABIES AND YOU WILL DIE DEFENDING THEM

The Master, Romana, Leela, Brax, Narvin, Bill Potts, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane, Donna Noble, Lucie Miller. No particular order for most of them but the Master is my precious baby and I will die for this mf

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)

Not many, usually the people I follow are in the same fandoms as I am but I’ve seen some mutuals reblog some Hadestown stuff which is a play that I’ve never seen but definitively would because the protagonists look hot 

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)

I DON’T KNOW WHAT DOES IT MEAN

it took me three hours to do this but it was fun!! thank you bb <3

[thebraxiatelcollection]

considering your url, I figured you'd be a good person to ask. I'm writing a fic w eleven and brax, but I'm unsure how to characterise him. I've been looking at some ppl rp him but I'm still nervous about how to do it. if you have the time, could you maybe just explain a bit of his character (traits) and motivations? you don't have to right away of course! I just think asking someone would be better than stalking the wiki. I'm planning to buy some of the audios when I get the money. thanks💕

Hey there! Thanks for coming to my ask, I’m flattered! Irving Braxiatel is my favourite character ever and I could talk people’s ears off about him. 

Brax is tall and thin, normally dressed immaculately in a light grey suit. His hair is short and dark and his features slightly angular. His eyes are alive with an intensity that is exaggerated by the way they forever flicker to and fro. He has a sarcastic sense of humour, and understates things for effect (‘Does this give you a problem?’ he might ask when suggesting someone fling themselves into certain death). He does not suffer fools gladly. Actually, he does not suffer fools at all.Fabulously rich, Braxiatel is a Renaissance Man for the new era. He is well-read, extremely learned an expert in almost everything though in some matters he lacks practical experience.He is a strategist and can formulate a plan to deal with anything – however dangerous, ill-advised and convoluted the situation, Braxiatel’s plan will put it to shame. He does have a tendency to miss the details while looking at the big picture – details like how people actually feel about things, for example.He has built up his collection over the years – probably over the centuries. But how old he really is, whether or not he actually ever ages, is not something that is not polite to discuss.He hugely respects Benny and would die rather than let her come to harm. But there is no way he will ever let her know that. He also does care for his brother but doesn’t admit it outright. 

He is ambitious, powerful and has friends in high places. He is willing to get the job done if it fits his schemes, no matter how dirty it is and is willing to use his friends in his manipulative plans. Even if that means hypnotising or manipulating their entire timelines.

He is also basically a handyman and has done a lot of odd jobs over the centuries. Pub owner? Check. Soldier? Yup. A teacher at Gallifrey and St. Dellah’s university? Check. Assassin? Check. Cardinal, Chancellor, President? Check. Curator? CIA? He’s done more or less of it all.

He would also rather die than give up the secrets of time travel or his own people. He is madly in love with Romana and would put her before any other timelord except for himself and calls her his starblazing queen of the night and has huge respect for Leela and understanding with Narvin. 

At one point, he did have the entity called the Pandora trapped inside his head to save Gallifrey, making him an exile. 

He also hates Nazi’s.

I hope this helps! You’ll have to share your fanfiction later as I would love to read it!

[glompcat]

Thanks to the sale on Gallifrey Big Finish is having, I was able to buy all the rest of the Gallifrey series, and I am all caught up now (I just finished Time War 2), and just... wow.

(spoilers under the cut)

The audios do an amazing job really explaining the Gallifrey we see in the modern show, showing you the horrors of the Time War - both in terms of cost of life (the genocide Rassilon committed against Ysalus was beyond horrific), and the ways politicians can use fear and mindless patriotism to dissolve institutions. 

I mean don’t get me wrong, the Gallifrey of the classic series was also a horrific nightmare of a dictatorship (see: everything in part 10 of War Games or how the Doctor got out of those murder charges in The Deadly Assassin or everything the Doctor could get away with in The Invasion of Time or how down with senseless execution they all were in Arc of Infinity or the entire dang Gallifrey audio series really if you thought for even a moment that Gallifrey was anything other than the worst sort of hell state), but there is a clear difference between how Gallifrey was before the Time War and during/after. I really appreciate how these audios show Gallifrey changing in the war.

The Gallifrey Romana is banished from at the end of Time War 2 is recognizable as the Gallifrey of End of Time, Day of the Doctor and even Hell Bent. Or rather it is clearly on the path to fully transforming into what we saw there and it was only what? A year into the Time War? I mean Time War 1 was explicitly placed between the very start to just a few months into the war, and Time War 2 started with the end of Romana’s trial for the events of Time War 1, so it really isn’t that far in. And already we have Romana giving speeches about how she does not recognize the planet anymore (I love so much that she is the leader of the opposition to Rassilon).

Also, I just really have to say, I fucking love Romana. She came so close to successfully assassinating Rassilon with her series of careful cascading bootstrap paradoxes, and managed to establish the Resistance against the Time War across all of space and time in the process? (Also I can’t with her doing things like making references to Earth history/pop-culture and then complaining that if Ace was still around she’d appreciate her humor)

Plus it was amazing how worn down and tired she was, by the end of Assassins, but once she and Narvin were exiled from Gallifrey, and given an ancient and falling to pieces TARDIS to leave in (one that was locked to take them to the heart of the Time War) Romana started rushing about doing repairs on the  TARDIS... and she actually started to sound hopeful again? She assures Narvin as they are dragged ever deeper into the war that it is only a matter of time before the Doctor gets involved in the war (which she clearly believes will make a difference), and then tells him they are going to find Leela, and she is so sure of both of those things, and I just... ahhhhh I love her (also lololololol at how running around a dilapidated and collapsing antique TARDIS doing repairs is one of Romana’s comfort zones)?

Anyway, I have a lot of feelings about this series as a whole, but obviously those pertaining to the most recent box set, Time War 2 are strongest right now, as its events were just... a lot really.

I also am beyond impressed with Narvin’s character arc, and how this series has portrayed this man’s journey from a right wing asshole to Romana’s ride or die right hand man (well, when it comes to things that are not assassinating Rassilon). Ugh there are so so so many great characters and arcs in these audios I don’t even know where to start. Even the characters I started off not really caring much about (such as Livia or General Trave) I found myself coming to really deeply care for.

Anyway these audios are really really good.