#I’ve just been avoiding it for so long

[spill-that-anxietea]

So I finally started Peaky Blinders, and boy oh fucking boy is the brainrot settling in

[thirdeyeblue]

“Nine would have treated Martha better than Ten did”

I need to talk about this argument that never seems to stop circulating.

Note: Not a venomous/anti post. There’s more than enough of that across fandom spaces as is, and this is supposed to be a place for ✨sweet, blissful escapism✨

When making this argument, people seem to envision a scenario in which Nine never met Rose.

While I can appreciate a good hypothetical, recognizing Rose's significance to the Doctor (Nine and Ten) is essential to understanding why things with Martha played out the way they did in the first place.

In the third series, the Doctor is grieving. This grief is deliberately threaded into nearly every script, whether spoken aloud or not (and these are just a few examples):

He's burning in Rose’s wake the entire time Martha travels with him, which is why it’s so frequently called upon: It’s 100% deliberate in framing his grief. He grieved as Nine too, of course— having been fresh on the heels of the Time War — but then he met Rose, which changed everything.

Back then, he was still a rude, traumatized pain in the ass, but we watch Rose soften more of those jagged edges with every episode as they grow closer; as he lets his guard down and forms a deep connection with her.

He falls in love (against his better judgment) and it's game over.

And yes: provided S1E1 had been titled 'Martha', one can realistically assume things might have unfolded similarly to how they did with Rose. However, it wouldn’t have been that way just because the Doctor was Nine and “Nine was different” — it would be because he wasn’t already in love with someone else. The same can't be said for the start of S3.

Think of it like this: if Rose AND Martha had been in that cellar — if Nine had taken both of them along with him in S1 — we’d eventually be looking at the most melodramatic love triangle ever, what with him living in close quarters with two brilliant, gorgeous, compassionate young women... But Doctor Who is plenty “soap opera” as is with just one woman in the TARDIS.

(I certainly wouldn’t object to reading that fic, though)

Now, regarding the unrequited elephant in the room…

His inability to be romantic with Martha isn’t because he thinks her lesser, nor is it for lack of compatibility. It isn't because Rose is any better than her. It certainly isn’t just because he’s Ten.

It’s really only for one reason, which can't be denied — and now I’m a broken record:

He is still in love with Rose.

(cut from a tenrosedaily gif)

Nine is Ten, and Ten is only such a mess in S3 because he’s just lost the love of his life. Martha merely got caught in the crosshairs of a volatile Time Lord in mourning, and yes — it sucks. Absolutely.

But it also feels dismissive to chalk Ten and Martha’s relationship up to little more than some sort of mindless dance of pining, jealousy, and toxicity.

Ten trusted Martha with his life over and over again — and hers, with him. He constantly praised her brilliance, happily carting her around time and space with no intention of letting her go. In the BBC’s extended universe of novels/comics/cartoons/etc, there’s so much depth to their relationship: love and trust and trauma and sacrifice. They had their own special bond as mates, their own complexities — so it’s a bummer that it's forever overshadowed by the other things.

I’m not denying that there was a lot of stuff that sucked/was for sure toxic about Ten's S3 behavior, but so many of the things I've seen him catching flak for can be directly attributed to being A Clueless Fucking Alien Idiot (not a trait that’s unique to Ten) — as well as his flat-out obliviousness to Martha’s feelings.

So yes, I agree: if Rose never existed, he would have treated Martha differently as Nine. He also would have treated her differently as Ten. Certainly.

But Rose did exist, and when discussing canon, it matters.

“He tells me that he absolutely, 100% loves Rose... He tells me how my daughter; my wonderful, beautiful, clever little girl saved him from himself before… And he says that’s all because of me! I made her into the Rose Tyler that saved him.”

-Jackie Tyler, Flight Into Hull!

Martha got the short end of the stick in S3. She came round at the wrong place and time, but that doesn't mean it was all bad. It doesn't mean the Doctor didn’t adore her. It certainly doesn't mean the time they spent together was wasted or worthless. They were brilliant!

Sure, he could be a twat, but let it be known that he was a twat with Rose as well, both as Nine and Ten. I’m sure Tentoo can be plenty infuriating, too. So while I'll defend Ten (and Tentoo) into the ground forever and ever and ever, I'll concede that he's fucked up.

The Doctor is a certified Pain In The Ass. It’s one of the things I love so much about this character — dynamics.

But never forget that Martha was goddamn tough as nails and overcame every bit of it. She moved on with her life, and the Doctor moved on with his. One can only pray that, when they inevitably drag her back onto the show (which feels inevitable if I'm honest), we see at once that she's been living her best life for all these years.

[myokk]

1) this might be the MOST embarrassing thing I post here ever…I was TRYING to escanciar bien but 😳…I SWEAR I DID A GOOD JOB UNTIL MY BF FILMED ME😭😭 pouring cider like this is a lot of fun and traditional to where I live🥰 (also you can hear the traditional bagpipes in the background😆)

traditional asturian cider (sidra asturiana) is VERY dry…not sweet at all, and it’s poured like this to aerate it. You have to pour in very small amounts and then drink it super fast before the carbonation leaves. There are special lids etx that you can put on the bottle though so that it pours a lot more easily and you don’t end up spilling all of it like I did😭😆

ANYWAYS every year my city does the cider festival…and we try to break the world record for the most people pouring cider at the same time. We didn’t get it this year😔🙏 but two years ago we did!! It started raining a little bit an hour before we were supposed to do it & lots of people bailed🙄 it rains every day here…what did they expect…

2) the sunrises lately have been so beautiful!!!💓

3) the gremlins👹

4) some of my “normal” art…I don’t really post it here but I like how this one turned out a lot💓

[stuckinapril]

I’m afraid she’s busting out the straightener again

[werebutch]

This month I feel very strange. Everything is clear to me about what I need to do for myself and my future and my life and everything is so clear about the mistakes I make every day and why I do it and how to avoid making those even though making them is my safe zone kinda. I know all this now and not just that but I acknowledge I have to change it and have the will to. Because I’m so so tired of living in fear every day. But that’s the part that’s always hard I guess. I just have to make myself change slowly. If I don’t change, it will get worse from here on out. I’m my own worst enemy truly but I’m the only one who can dig me out of this hole of hopelessness and isolation and avoidance

[azoraahai]

it’s the way i’m obsessed with merrin and cal and i stg if anything happens to either of them, i will commit. commit what? who knows? not me.

[buildoblivionthenwewilltalk]

side note I think I can learn to like the ‘susan is the child of the doctors future kid’ stuff

[ilostyou]

trying to explain feeling anxious about something to someone who. does not regularly experience anxiety is a very uniquely torturous experience

[grmpgm]

ok executive dysfunction is kind of ruining my life actually

[truly-quirkless]

[ @refrxctedprism || Replied for an Event starter!]

"Young Miyamotos! I must speak with you." Yagi had raised his hand as he dismissed his class. He and Fin had already spoken at length of what they were planning to do. Anyone who was too close to the situation was to be warned- and for Kage and Hikari, possibly, relocated. The risk of either being harmed (or worse, killed) was too much not to warn. "Please, stay just a few minutes."

[callixton]

oh i am on the Brink of a mental breakdown. and like a real one. i am going to feel so so fucking terrible and guilty if i don’t go to the first week of mac rehearsal bc i need to recover but i am also getting the sense that i Need to recover. i have never been this burnt out or genuinely terrified of starting a new semester in my life.

[drstanfordpines]

more stanford thoughts

forgets to eat CONSTANTLY. his appetite is all fucked up from not having a stable source of food (plus a secret second reason that i may expand upon later)

this man has definitely done Alien Drugs. Alternate Dimension Drugs. Whatever. Whether intentionally or unintentionally he has definitely had at least a small handful of Weird Drug Experiences.

triangles used to be his favorite shape before the whole bill thing happened. he liked triangles bc they’re “the strongest shape”. now, he understandably is not as much of a fan. (if you ask him what his favorite shape is, he’ll say he doesn’t have one. he still likes the concept of triangles. he just doesn’t like to think about it because well. the whole being tortured by a triangle thing. he also feels embarrassed about it bc what kind of fuckin loser is afraid of a shape? like. he’s not AFRAID of triangles. that would just be ridiculous. but like….. having an image of a malevolent triangular entity seared into your brain as your sole focus in your efforts to defeat it while isolating yourself AND being in survival mode nearly 24/7 for THIRTY YEARS is probably uh. not the healthiest thing in the world. yaknow?

he likes soup but never eats it because it “takes too much time”. he prefers a meal like a sandwich, so he can eat half of it and then leave the rest on a random workbench to be forgotten about.

this bitch audhd for realsies

he did in fact install that metal plate into his own skull and it was in fact a traumatizing experience 👍 whatsherface mcgee prophet lady was also there but she didn’t or couldn’t help him for uhhh reasons i haven’t thought of/decided on yet :)

i want to give him something like a bag of holding like in d&d. i think he deserves it. plus he’s gotta have a place to put all his trinkets!!!

not specifically about ford but i hc that instead of “dungeons dungeons and more dungeons” being abbreviated to d&d&md, it’s abbreviated to 2DMD. i think it rolls of the tongue better. sounds cooler. the works.

[thriftdyke]

.

[seilon]

genuinely it is so depressing to spend money drinking just to end up doing nothing interesting and just sitting around

[mazojo]

If someone doesn’t show up to my porch on the other side of the country at midnight asking to crash over while saying we are not strange “bedfellows” I don’t want it

[milkstoner]

I don't have an insta 😔

I do have to respect that honestly.