#doing what he did to clara. cursing her to be the doctor!

[mulderscully]

btw just bc i enjoy the doctor and clara's relationship does not mean that i think moffat was a good showrunner or a good person, he can still eat my shit along with chris carter and joss whedon and every other shitty male writer who stumbled into creating smth i love

[anteroom-of-death]

Teacher's Pet part 9

Synopsis: Can lover's fights be resolved quickly? Or does it set up a new game?

A/N: I would like to thank my younger self for being infinitely cooler than I am now. Also the Kendrick Lamarr version of America has a problem. And to my readers. You fuel this beast that is my spiral into madness. Yippee!

The Doctor had to work quickly. He wasn’t about to let (y/n) slip through his fingers.

How much of a miscalculation this was! He thought this experience would further bond her to him. The swoop of glamor, the gravitas.

So many of his past companions followed a script. See the TARDIS, get a chance to save the day. Enter, become his friend and companion. Come to grips with reality and then cling to him as a life preserver.

He mentally cursed himself out. He should have just stuck to his original plan of never telling. Or just casually, maybe after her graduation, to do a meeting with Missy and explain Nardole.

It was better to keep her in the dark.

The thought of a memory wipe crossed his head. But after all that with Donna and after he got his mind wiped of Clara…the idea was less savory and could backfire.

If not for Missy and his duty to care for her, he would never had remembered Clara.

Missy was good for that. Her psychic skills and progress were always far superior, more accurate than his.

The thought of him contacting her mentally and getting her on board and then having her disentangle this day from his little fawn’s mind briefly flitted through.

Too late, as (y/n) was already climbing out of her shower. She didn’t take her time with it.

He braced himself for the next bit.

He usually wasn’t on the receiving end of this behavior.

She exited, wrapped in the towel. Her eyes were red from tears and lack of sleep. She stood in a defiant stance facing him, water still dripping off her legs.

She kept on hand braced at the top, protecting her modesty. She rose the other and pointed with her index finger. She inhaled and held her breath for a long second. He could tell that she was steeling herself. Preparing what she had to say, and wanted to say it without stopping or stuttering or anything else.

He let her have to floor.

Her next breath was long and rattled out of her like death from a corpse.

“Listen, I understand that you couldn’t have came out saying ‘Hey! I’m an alien stuck on Earth!’ without sounding totally fucking schizophrenic.” She hand went to under her armpits. More protecting of her precious modesty. A mini suit of armor, he gathered. “Am I blaming you for not wanting to sound insane? Even if it’s the truth? Sort of. But like, it’s also my fault. I was too stupid. I also made my happiness contingent on a man’s affection. If you are a man. You look pretty damn male to me. Feel pretty damn male to me. But I digress!” An exhausted, bereaved look fell over her face. “I said from the beginning I never wanted this to happen. But I did. This did.” She caught her breath and swallowed heavily. “I don’t really fucking know what to do or think here. Would it be dumber to leave, or dumber to stay? Would you just abduct me and probe me if I left? I don’t know any aliens besides you. I think. I don’t know…I don’t know what aliens do.”

“It’s too late to get anyone driving.” She finished up. “I’ll sleep on it. But, I don’t know.” Her eyes slammed shut tightly and she shook her head. He dare not probe in her brain to see if he could do anything, say anything, especially after that comment she just made…

“Find somewhere else to sleep.” She ordered. “Or sleep on the cuck chair. I don’t care. I need my sleep and to clear my mind. Don’t fucking touch me.”

It was a better outcome than he was expecting. A testament to his methods and his abilities. It was real affection too. In parts and pieces.

A shot in the arm, at least.

He could make strategies and find the most clever words at night. After all, he did need less sleep than a human. Mental seduction was now a line drawn in not sand, but concrete. And it was drying quickly.

He sat down in what she deemed the “cuck chair”. He’d have to Google that term later.

She got dressed quickly and did her little human skincare rituals quicker. After crawling into bed, she put her back to him and snapped off the lights.

The silent treatment…

He could work with that.

He heard her let out a few heaves of a half cry.

The thought of throwing her secrets into her face crossed his mind. Secret for secret. But he knew that was petty and would further alienate him from her. To shame her into submission was the opposite of what he needed to do.

Plus, with the way she operated, it’d be a blow out. Only a Time Lord with access to her brain would know.

All night his mind raked through scenarios.

And her sleep was restless, tons of thrashing and some talking. He got out of the chair a few times and it seemed she was also leaking tears.

He resisted the urge to wipe them away. And to rifle through her mind.

Thankfully the morning robbed him of overthinking any more.

She woke with such a start, her chest heaving and face crusted with dried tear salt.

The Doctor made his way to fake…something in the bathroom. Give her space.

He flushed the toilet and washed his hands.

She had already dressed up and sat on the chair. Just a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved turtleneck. She was slouched and a glum expression slacked across her face. She was chewing on her pinky nail with one hand and the other was tapping very quickly.

“I’m not going back to Bristol. Fuck it, I’m in London.” She announced very nonchalantly.

She heaved.

“You can’t help how you are. I can’t either. We’re an odd couple. An alien and a…” She caught herself. “Human.” She wasn’t ready to reveal her secrets yet. Of all the people in the universe, he understood the urge for secrecy.

“Don’t take me for a fool. No more wool over the eyes or a snow job. If I want to know, I’ll ask. Vice versa. Of course.” She conceeded.

“If you lay hands on me, it’s my right to launch you into the stratosphere.” She stood up for herself…it seemed like she was speaking from deep experience.

“I’m not going to waste whatever is between you and me. But yeah.” She cracked her knuckles and wrists. “Is that good for you? It’s good for me.” She ended getting up and grabbing at her purse.

His time to speak came.

“That’d work for me.” He decided the simplest words would make the best impact. He noted that this incarnation of himself was a sucker for women who likes to pull a bossy act, but came undone so easily under him. He’d lure his fawn back to him. Somehow…

“Okay, ummm. Fine, I’m going to go out, get some things. I’ll be fine. Message me whenever your done with whatever you needed to do today.”

She exited and he went off to help UNIT.

Distracted and raw, he did his duties.

They went off and Kate declared the operation a success.

He texted (y/n) to meet him at a café that was near the unit head quarters.

She met him and he went to kiss her hand. She smelled heavily of cigarette smoke and her sunglasses were glinting, eyes damn near unreadable. She had a few small shopping bags on her.

“You were busy.” He noted.

“Well, you did mention a play and I didn’t have anything appropriate.” She admitted. “I wanted to look nice…for you. Don’t want to embarrass you. Especially since you’re so nicely dressed this weekend.” Her head nodded to the side. “I’ve never seen you in a button down.” She mused, “They suit you.”

She gave a crooked half-grin, half-grimace.

It seemed that yesterday and this morning laid heavy on her mind.

Against his better judgment, he gently entered the surface of her mind and gently swept aside some doubt of self and this. Still there but not probing sharp and heavy. Gently safe, gently there. Letting her still have her free will, just sheltered nerves.

Maybe he still hung around Missy too much.

Even though, this wasn’t as bad as what either of them has done in the past regarding Time Lord’s skill sets in meddling in people’s minds.

This was for the better, would stop her from harming herself, he rationalized…

She relaxed and they finally entered the café. He got his usual cappuccino with enough sugar to overwhelm an entire preschool’s population, she got a simple espresso lungo.

“See!” He said as he took a sip, “Just like humans do.”

“Ah.” She said, her mouth partially hidden behind the cup.

“Sun feels nice…” She said, sitting down at a seat that got the full blast of it on her face. “Rare English sun…” She mused again. “Maybe it’s an omen.” She shrugged, fingering the one pendant around her neck like it was a talisman.

The late-spring sun shone in her hair, illuminating different shades and colors in her (insert your color of hair you have here, dear reader!). Much different than in the early days with the weak winter sun. It was radiant.

Semi-sarcastically, semi-impertinently, he asked, “Can I touch your hair?” His hand already halfway shot out. (Maybe he did have ADHD.)

She took another petite sip of her drink. She nodded, “Sure.” She placed the cup down and let the sun hit her more, shrugging out of her jacket, and extending her arms out to get the rays on then.

He leaned out and slipped his right hand through the line of her hair. Feeling it’s textures and gave a short swirl of the ends between his fingers. With his other hand he gripped her already clasped-together hands.

The cool metal of her rings was already warming in the sun.

It felt right, a small simple moment. He wished he had gotten more with more people.

“Let’s cut the mishegas.” She said after a while. “Let’s make this work.”

The Doctor nodded in assent, taking another sip of his drink. “Whatever you need.”

After a while, and minimal talking, they went back to UNIT head quarters and the Doctor took a meeting with the entire engagement crew and leads. (Y/N) decided to give a quick check in and chat with Petronella and asked her about her favorite place for a brunch on Sunday.

Sadly, Petronella didn’t know any good places, but she’d ask around and get back to her.

(Y/N) went off to prep for the night out.

The Doctor was buzzing, he was entirely intrigued by what his fawn’s idea of appropriate was for a West End play. Especially after her comment about his outfit.

He had no references, just what he’d seen a few companions wear.

He was properly doing a date in the first time since he sent River off to die on his younger self in the Library.

He hoped this one would be less chaotic. (Y/N) seemed a flight risk if any invasions or anything close to his normal dalliances he had on Earth happened.

He could respect her need for peace and quiet. It was admirable.

The meeting was just about ready to close up when she entered and sat next to him, sliding the chair over closer to his.

He gave a quick look over. Everyone did. It was a distraction. She entered in a slightly-overdid cloud of perfume.

She was…glittering. Glowing.

That was the only word to explain it. Obviously, she’d taken certain professional cues. Her legs were elongated in some ridiculous contractions masquerading as shoes. Her hair was pinned back in some areas and let loose in others. She wore a simple black dress and a tight black opened, long cardigan.

It seemed she was trying to send a message.

Her face was shining and her eyes were accented.

Definitely a big one.

He turned, interrupting the already interrupted meeting, slowly blinking.

“Don’t mind me. I’ll just wait.” She smiled, crossing over her wrists, sliding her arms onto the board room table, slightly slouched, slight pushed forward.

Whatever this little message was, he felt his cock stiffen a bit.

Is this what her clientele saw? This bejeweled wonder? All a show of confidence and heavily-scented fodder?

Was this her doing? To show him that she could invite the gaze of anyone she wanted?

His mind swirled with jealousy.

Then the rational side, who knew her for what she was when she wasn’t trying kicked in. She was just trying to look nice for the theatre! Nothing more, nothing less.

He hadn’t felt this white-hot dagger of jealousy since that PE teacher…What’s his name, Danny? Denny? Denise?

This human had him stymied again…

Too soon and yet not long enough, his duties ended for the night. She got up and went to Petronella for a moment to exchange numbers and she tossed her head, hair reacting to the little motion, shaking away. He caught a glint of her teeth backed against the lipstick, deeply pigmented.

His observation about them being friends was correct.

He felt a little unable to leave his seat. He had to will his body to do such an action. He accomplished it and went to near the door frame.

“Yeah, text me any time. I’ll see you later.” He heard her say.

She took a giant step away and joined him. She gripped his arm and shrugged on shoulder up. “How do I look for my first West End play?” There was a very new expression in her eyes. One that seemed unreachable.

He was rather uneasy in those micro-clues in this body, unless he relied on his mind to connect and check in...

“You’ll do.” The Doctor beamed.

She fixed her strap under the cardigan and they began their walk to the outside. A swirly motion, it was oddly hypnotic and drew his eyes to her chest. Her necklaces glinted in the light and clinked together gently. He let a small, sardonic grin form on his face.

On to call a cab, the Doctor noticed he had a bit of trouble counterbalancing his weight against her in the added three or four inches of (y/n). His little fawn had little trouble on her wobbly legs. He was the one in trouble, slightly stumbling like a newborn deer…

A reversal.

Before he properly could form any more thoughts she got a cab to come off the side of the streets.

Onto the play, onto a new act.

But what was she getting at showing up like that?

Or was this just nothing…?

He had to find out or give up quickly.

Not acts, no playing.

Just the night ahead.

[babiebom]

Two songs I think would describe my relationship with each doctor (nuwho)

A/N: i clicked on a video expecting chaotic doctor who TikTok’s but instead got edits and now all I can think about is what song would play if someone made an edit of me and the doctor. These headcanons are very self indulgent lmao so maybe read at your own risk(nothing too scandalous lmao)

Tw: some cursing maybe, the genre is really sorta fluffy and angsty so idk what to put as a trigger warning idk.

Bc: at least 4 for each 1 for each song and 1 explanation for each of those songs

Doctor who Masterlist

Nine

Until I Found You-Stephen Sanchez and Em Beihold

Okay for this song it’s just if he had never met Rose and I was in her place. Because I do think that whoever he meets at this time(if he likes them) will change how he views everything like she did. Like he needed somebody in this point in time to show him how wonderful the universe could be again after he had lost everything. This song gives those vibes

Snowman- Sia

This is because he’s a sad sad angry man and like, I don’t want him to be sad. This entire song is just me and my sad bf I don’t want him to be sad but no matter what it’s him and me because who else is there?

Ten

Stay With Me- Miki Matsubara

If you read the English lyrics the song is Sadge and I think it fits what I think would be my vibe with him. He will never admit if he has feelings for me(prolly not lmao) and this is just him being like love and affection are different things and i have affection for you. And like just wanting to stay in the moment if not having to be upset because of feelings or anything, just want everything to be good so I can hold on to the good moments.

Heather- Conan Gray

Okay so I’m going with my own AU of me just being the companion of each doctor and like maybe stuff happening in between? I think at this point, the doctor wouldn’t really either admit if he does or doesn’t have feelings for me and ends up falling for someone else while we travel. Like maybe the Family of Blood happens or something in this universe and I get Martha-ed(she’s the loml and I’ll never forgive the show for doing her dirty) by him. This is just me being angsty.

Eleven

My Love Mine All Mine-Mitski

Literally just how i feel about him. I’m the only companion and the only one he ever sails off with, he’s mine all mine in a way. I love him, and even if the song is talking about requited love, mine is probably delulu and this is me being all head over heels prolly

Honey-Kehlani

Again a sappy song. Out of everyone else in the entire universe he somehow chose me to travel with him, because of him I finally found what I wanted to do with my life (be with him) cute cute cute but also delulu

Twelve

Shinuoga E-Wa -Fujii Kaze

If we’re going based off canon things, the doctor was kinda insecure about this new face(because it’s older? I’m going off of what lizard lady was talking about to Clara) and this is just me being like I really don’t care what you look like I’d rather die than be without you

A Thousand Years- Christina Perri

Like the last song this is literally me being like YOURE STILL ATTRACTIVE MY FEELINGS HAVENT CHANGED PLS :)

Thirteen

Take Me to Church- Hozier

I feel like out of these doctors that thirteen was more so of like…I’m keeping all of my personal information personal? Idk like the others knew more about the doctor than the fam knew? At least before their last season. So I feel like at this point she would be lying about a bunch of shit and I’d be like “okay :) I’ll believe everything you’re saying even though I know for a fact your bullshitting me rn”

Love Story- Indila

This is more so the second verse. Me being like “lmao I’m never leaving you” and her being like “I’m literally being an asshole and I forgot how to love” and me being like “idc I’ll literally fight for you. If you ignore me I’ll just offer you my life” kinda insane but also like an undying love sorta thing

Fourteen is the same as ten but less angsty :)

Fifteen

Best Friend-Doja Cat and Saweetie

Atp I think that our relationship probably would’ve evolved to a couple that has been together for a million years but instead of being tired of each other were more like best friends to the point where everyone thinks everything has always been platonic. Fifteen is a bad bitch I love him <3

I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston

Because fifteen is still hella angsty. He’s acting like the therapy worked but it just helped him deal with everything probably. He needs to remember that no matter what I’ll always love him.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Doctor Who, but Chronologically: 36

It's such a treat to get sensible two-parters, look

And we're back! The cliffhanger is resolved by the Doctor sternly telling the gas mask zombies to go to their room because he's very cross, and they meekly do. This is actually a very clever way to get out of it, I think. It's nice when Moffat manages a genuinely clever twist.

Also, it means right before the opening credits roll, the Doctor breaks the tension by saying "I'm glad that worked, those would have been terrible last words." Eighteen years ago, in a student house in Rhoath, we shat ourselves we laughed so hard. Still a great line.

Anyway, fuck, this is SUCH a good episode. The plot is actually relatively brief (it turns out that ambulance Jack crashed here was full of medical nanogenes, and the first thing they found was a now-dead child still in a gas mask. But they'd never seen a human before, so they 'healed' him to a zombie creature. Now they're trying to heal all humans. The reason they're asking for their mam is because it's Nancy! Not his sister after all.) But, the episode contains multiple repeated creepy scenes to fill in for the lack of plot, and they're all bangers and all undercut with just the right amount of humour to be a foil. Love the Doctor replacing Jack's gun with a banana. Love the line "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." Love Rose discovering that the future of the human race is to fuck its way across the stars and that Jack has probably fucked a space squid. All great

It's just a shame about all the cringeworthy sex and romance talk disguised as a dancing metaphor. That made me wince two decades ago and time has not made it better. Even editing doesn't give Moffat the ability to write anything romantic that doesn't feel like unsettling wet noodles. Sometimes, being synaesthetic is a curse.

Ultimately Nancy tells the Bluetooth zombie that she's his Mam and the nanogenes realise her DNA is the correct one. This means there's an absolutely delightful bit where Christopher Eccleston throws his whole pussy into yelling "Just this once, Rose, everybody lives!" and the day is utterly saved. It's true, that is rare. I am still haunted by Horror of Fang Rock. What an awful story. Never forget poor Vince.

This means Richard Wilson lives!

"Uh, all your patients will in fact be fully healed," the Doctor says. "Just quietly take credit and send them along."

"Doctor!" says a random woman. "My leg's grown back! When I came to hospital I only had one!"

"Well, there is a war on," says Richard Wilson, with devastating comedic delivery. "Is it possible you miscounted?"

And then Rose and the Doctor rescue Jack before his ship blows up, and then the episode ends EXACTLY ONE SECOND after Jack enters the TARDIS, yes that's right, there is NO MORE OF THE EPISODE. They most certainly did not ruin this incredible story with one of the most nauseating and awful scenes in televisual history that still gives me bone-creaking second-hand embarrassment. Nope. It ends when Jack walks in. He says "It's bigger on the inside" and we all just... move on. We're done. The end. Tidy.

Anyway!!! Only one new plot thread, I think - Jack reveals at one point that he used to be a Time Agent, but they stole two years of his memories. Exciting!!! That has also happened to the Doctor. I wonder if it's related?

“She” (an unknown person) is returning (perhaps River returned as Missy. Maybe Me? Maybe Clara???!)

There is something on Donna’s back

An entire planet, Pyrovilia, just… disappeared, somehow. (Maybe because the TARDIS is exploding??? Saturnine was also lost, and that WAS because of the TARDIS exploding. The lion man’s planet was also lost but he was a bit of a knob about it if I’m honest.)

Amy is maybe dead (she’s not)

The Doctor has been cubed (he’s out, but how?)

River is possibly blown up  (unless she’s Missy. NEW INFO: she is definitely not blown up)

The TARDIS has blown up  (It’s fine now. Except it’s sort of melting now because it’s corrupted, but it’s fine again)

The universe appears to have ended  (the universe is back again)

The Doctor has employed(?) Nardole

(And Nardole was “reassembled???” Nardole had glass nipples and invisible hair?? WHAT THE FUCK IS HE)

There’s a vault in the TARDIS and it contains Missy but we don’t know why (sometimes she knocks for the bants)

There’s an immortal Viking girl now. Her name is Me and she’s now looking after the people the Doctor abandons

Why was Rory entirely unconcerned by the entire world suddenly going silent when that is Not Normal and should have been, at the very least, extremely disconcerting?

What did the Doctor do to Queen Lizzie One?

Why is Amy seeing a one-eyed woman in a vanishing window? (She’s with the Silents, but we don’t know why Amy saw her)

Why is Amy’s pregancy inconclusive? (Maybe because the baby had Time Lord DNA?)

Who is Sarah-Jane Smith?

How is the Doctor Bill’s teacher and why/where does he have an office?

What is going on with the Cyber War and the Cyberium???

What happened with the Other Cyber War?

What happened with the Third War that deleted the void?

Why does Rose seem particularly important?

What order do these Doctors go in? (Eccleston, Tennant, uncertain, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker)

Which companion just… forgot the Doctor, and how?

Yaz and Vinder are about to die as Mori/Mwri/Muuri

There is a Lupari shield around Earth.

What’s a Time War?

What’s the Rift?

What’s Bad Wolf?

In which war did the Doctor become a war criminal, and how?

Who is the Master?

Why has Amy forgotten Rory?

Is Rory plastic or not?

Why is the Doctor sulking on a cloud?

How exactly does the Doctor have a cloud?

What exactly happened with Strax to, uh, tame him?

Which friend killed Strax?

Which friend brought Strax back?

Where did this lesbian lizard and human couple come from?

What happened with Clara as Souffle Girl and the Daleks?

How does Clara actually join?

Why so many Claras?

Why is Missy apparently in robo-heaven?

Why is probably!Missy pushing Clara and the Doctor together?

What is Trensilor and what happened there?

Who is Handles?

The Doctor is about to be dissolved by a beautiful geode man

The universe is being crushed by the Flux

Will the Doctor open the fobwatch?

Sontarans are invading Earth again

Who is Kate?

Who is Osgood? Another name of Clara’s again?

The fuck is the deal with the Grand Serpent

Does Martha get to go to an ice cream planet with 12-fingered massage aliens?

How did the Doctor forget Clara?

Who is Bill’s puddle girlfriend Heather?

How did Nardole die?

When does Bill get Cyberman-ed and die?

When does the Doctor shrink and enter a Dalek called Rusty?

Whittaker is falling to her death rn

Was that ring relevant?

Does anyone know the Doctor’s name?

When did Yaz talk to Dan about fancying the Doctor?

When did Dan talk to the Doctor about fancying Yaz?

What’s happening with the bees?

What happened with Donna’s ex and a giant spider?

What war wiped out the Daleks, and is it one of the ones already mentioned?

What did the Doctor mean when he said “The (Daleks) always live, while I lose everything?”

If Dalek Caan is the last Dalek left why are there more now?

How did the rest of the Time Lords die?

How and why did Amy melt?

What’s the question that will make silence fall?

Why do the Silents… want silence to fall?

How and why are Silents at war with the Doctor when he… hasn’t even heard of them?

How does Hitler get out of the cupboard?

What’s the significance of fish fingers and custard?

Why does the Doctor feel guilt about Rose, Martha and Donna?

What happened with the space whale?

When does Rory defend Amy for 2000 years?

How does the Doctor survive River

How does he erase himself from history

Did Captain Jack lose his memories to the same people as the Doctor? What did he lose?

[sourcreammachine]

Doctor Who episodes ranked let’s go

(o’th’ revived era. and eight’s movie because i’ve seen it)

and two-parters are counted as one, but i get to define what a ‘two-parter’ is. this is because i’m in charge not you

9.11 Heaven Sent aka the stars align and somehow Moffat manages to pull an incredible script out of his arse after being stuck up there for so long aka Capaldi is the new Atlas from carrying his entire era aka now you understand why i’m splitting up some two-parters and not others aka ahaha 9.11 lol

3.8/9 Human Nature / The Family of Blood

1.9/10 The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

3.10 Blink

2.4 The Girl in the Fireplace

4.12/13 The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End

1.6 Dalek

6.i A Christmas Carol

3.11 Utopia

4.8/9 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead

7.v The Time of the Doctor okay hear me out first thing is i’m an absolute sucker second thing is why couldn’t season 7 have actually seeded any of this with actual thought and subtly rather than mystery-box hackery it literally makes me think of how much better his era could’ve been if Moffat wasn’t so up his own arse

2.8/9 The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

7.iv The Day of the Doctor

4.11 Turn Left

3.4 Girldick

1.12/13 Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways

7.iii The Night of The Doctor aka my boi Eight finally gets done justice

4.10 Midnight

4.6 The Doctor’s Daughter

3.2 The Shakespeare Code

3.i The Runaway Bride

2.12/13 Army of Ghosts / Doomsday

2.3 School Reunion

6.11 The God Complex

4.1 Partners in Crime

10.11/12 World Enough, and Time / The Doctor Falls (look, i’m a sucker i know, and i couldn’t give a shit about Gomez and Simm, but fuck you Moffat actually figured out how to write human emotions. Talalay’s finest hour. Lucas’ finest hour. Moffat did not deserve a swan song but he got himself one somehow)

5.2 The Beast Below

8.8 Mummy on the Orient Express (despite the awful, horrible ending, see below (very far below))

4.7 The Unicorn and the Wasp

4.2 The Fires of Pompeii

7.12 Neil Gaiman’s Good Episode

1.1 Rose

5.1 The Eleventh Hour

2.7 The Idiot’s Lantern

10.1 The Pilot

5.10 Vincent and the Doctor

4.i Voyage of the Damned

6.4 The Neil Gaiman Fanfic Hour

3.1 Smith and Jones

4.4 The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky

6.10 The Girl Who Waited

1.2 The End of The World

5.12/13 The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

2.i The Christmas Invasion

6.7 A Good Man Jumps The Shark

5.6 The Vampires of Venice

4.3 Planet of the Ood

7.ii The Snowmen

1.11 Boom Town

3.12 The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords

1.7 The Long Game

7.7 The Rings of Akhaten

8.6 The Caretaker

5.7 Amy’s Choice

9.7/8 Zygons. you can basically hear Capaldi’s back cracking from him carrying it

4.v/vi The End of Time, Parts 1 & 2

10.6 Extremis, the most underrated episode fuck you

4.ii The Next Doctor

8.5 Time Heist

6.1/2 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

2.1 New Earth

10.3 Twelve Decks a Racist

9.ii The Husbands of River Song (yeah i’m a sucker, the ending gets me)

6.3 Curse of the Black Pearl spot, fuck

11.1 The Woman Who Fell To Earth (based on how it made me feel in 2018, looking back yeah the warning signs were all there)

5.4/5 The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone

5.11 The Lodger

1.3 The Unquiet Dead

7.4 The Power of Three aka Chris Chibnall Shits Himself on Live Television

2.5/6 Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel

7.9 Hide

10.5 Oxygen aka La Problema Es Capitalismo

8.1 Deep Breath

2.2 Tooth and Nail claw, fuck

1.8 Father’s Day

11.3 Rosa (bring back Blackman as an episode writer, she wrote Noughts & Crosses, she can do it)

7.11 The Crimson ‘Orror

6.8 Let’s Kill Hitler

6.5/6 The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People

4.iv The Waters of Mars

7.6 oh no it’s clara

9.10 yaay clara’s dead

5.8/9 The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood

12.5 Fugitive of the Judoon (again, based on how i felt watching it for the first time. it was a good episode and an interesting mystery box, just one filled with shit)

1.4/5 Aliens of London / World War Three

7.5 The Angels Take amy lol

2.11 Fear Her

8.4 Listen, aka the first episode that Capaldi carries, despite Moffat being himself again

10.ii Twice Upon a Time (ugh we could’ve had a brilliant trilogy to see out Capaldi, but instead we get Moffat masturbating on live television for an hour. look, The Doctor could have had an actual character arc - they feel like they’re on borrowed time after their resurrection on Trenzalore, after the events on Gallifrey they feel like any sort of feelings of ‘duty’ as last of the time lords (as errant and fleeting as such feelings might’ve been) are resolved, and after failing their BIG MASSIVE SEASON 10 ARC with Missy and getting stabbed in the back, and BILL [redacted for spoilers], they’re happy to accept their death - and that’s where the season ends. yuletide 2017 could’ve ended this arc, they’re taught the love of the universe again, they see the goodness they bring to all life - Clara, i am a good man. and when they sit down to die, those words ‘maybe just one more go’ could’ve had the weight of the universe behind them, it could’ve been the greatest who line ever written, had that line actually had weight on its shoulders. Moffat is a hack. mystery-boxing is hacking, end of story. Capaldi, the finest actor ever in the role, was done dirty by scripts with no weight and planning. Grand Moff lives up his own arse - that power gives him the ability to write incredible episodes such as Heaven Sent and everything he ever touched under Davies - but it makes all series, arcs and continuity fall apart into a pile of shit. this episode is the finest example - a universe of potential, reduced to one hour of self-congratulatory masturbation)

6.9 Night Terrors

11.9 It Takes You Away (the one with the frog god)

7.10 Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

9.12 Heaven Sent Part II: Whoops

8.9 Flatline

7.3 A Town Called Widowmaker

4.iii Planet of the Dead

9.1/2 The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar

6.12 Closing Time

3.7 42

13.i Eve of the Daleks (the aisling bea one)

8.3 Robot of Sherwood

9.5/6 Maisie Williams

6.13 The Wedding of River Song

5.3 Victory of the Daleks

8.11/12 Dark Water / Death in Heaven aka i’m sorry Gomez but not even you can carry this

3.6 The Lazarus Experiment

11.i Resolution (…of the Daleks)

10.2 Emoji Robots

8.2 Into the Dalek

10.5 Knock Knock. Who’s There? Yer mum

7.13 The Name of the Doctor aka the Biggest Waste of Richard E. Grant until Rise of Skywalker

7.2 Dinosaurs on a Plane

10.8/9 The Pyramid at the End of the World / The Lie of the Land

Doctor Who: The Movie!

11.6 Demons of the Punjab

7.1 Asylum of the Daleks

7.8 Cold War aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

3.4/5 Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks

11.5 P’ting

9.3/4 Under the Lake / Before the Flood aka the Biggest Waste of Peter Serafinowicz since the Clone Wars didn’t bring him back. also a deaf person falling in love with their interpreter is the most toxic thing ever. and it’s 90 more minutes of season 9 tedium ugh

2.10 Love and Monsters. yeah this high up

8.7 The anti-abortion episode. and it’s not just for that fact alone nonono, The Doctor is such an unbelievable unforgivable cunt this time. at least Clara calls them out in that brilliant final-ish scene BUT they’re still unforgivable AND they get forgiven anyway next week?? literally they take the way Clara’s character arc was going and throw it all in the bin

8.10 In The Forest of the Shite

11.7 Kerblam!

10.9 Empress of Mars aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

9.i Last Christmas aka remember how they reset Clara’s character arc after Mummy for literally no reason???? THEY FUCKING DID IT AGAIN!! she’s literally put in limbo for an ENTIRE SEASON, after they gave her TWO good offramps and apparently chickened the fuck out from using them?? and expected me to care when she (spoiler)? also the episode’s like really boring. bonus points for the absolutely perfect casting of Nick Frost tho, very nominative determinism

10.i is my hatred of Doctor Mysterio unwarranted? probably. but i still hate it

12.8 The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the most overrated episode fuck you. no it is not ‘the only good episode of season 12’ - it’s just as bad as the rest. The Doctor is unnecessarily unlikeable. the villain boy is nonsense, uninteresting and unlikeable. and worst of all - i don’t want to have violent sex with any of the people in this villa

12.4 Nikola Tesla’s Tower of Terror

11.8 The Witchfinders

9.9 Sleep No More aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

13.2 Flux Part 2: War of the Sontarans (oh yeah like they don’t do war normally, that’s like saying the fucking ,, toasting of the toaster or something)

7.i The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (it’s only Chibnall from here on out let’s goo)

12.1/2 Spyfall. literally how the FUCK do you waste both Stephen Fry AND Lenny fucking Henry how the fuck. also The Doctor basically committed a nazism right

12.3 Orphan 55, the second most underrated episode - a lot of people say it’s Chibnall’s worst but i think there’s worse

12.i Revolution of the Daleks (the priti patel one)

11.2 The Ghost Monument

13.4 Flux Part 4: Village of the Angels

11.10 The Battle of Rashhcjxjshog s Kjalapados

12.7 Can You Hear Me? (that was the one with the finger guy. no i don’t mean jonathan banks)

11.4 Spiders in Sheffield

12.6 Praxeus

12.9/10 how did they let chibnall get away with it. isn’t there supposed to be oversight. aren’t there supposed to be safeguards. how did they let him get away with it

13.1 Flux Part 1: The Halloween Apocalypse

13.ii Legend of the Sea Devils

13.3 Flux Part 3: Once, Upon Time

13.iii The Power of the Doctor aka thank fuck, it’s finally over

10.5 Flux Part 5: Survivors of the Flux

10.6 Flux Part 6: Fuck You Chibnall

[variousqueerthings]

cool, so did just watch heaven sent, aware that I was going in with some biases (as written out in a long post I kept in my drafts), and yeah it's a good episode, but I definitely think the biases in question stop me from being able to enjoy it Simply As at this point in time. maybe in future when I've rolled twelve's era around in my brain a bit, because I find it much more complicated to rate than eleven's on the whole

what's really good about it of course is that peter capaldi is a fantastic actor, because it all rests on peter capaldi being a fantastic actor, and the setting and energy of it is great. the melancholy, the despair, the lowkey anxiety the whole time -- and of course the music, the music is carrying so much of this episode! I also really like that it ties back into the confession dial (the clue of which is actually given to us in the episode itself, in that the doctor has to confess in order to not die)

bit of kvetching, but actually not so much I think:

I cannot help but see the various m*ffat-isms inherent in it, which in this episode if it were its own thing in another showrunner's era, wouldn't be irritating to me, because they'd balance it out with other Stuff -- the main one is that he's clearly always been much more interested in the doctor versus the companions so it's essentially a long look into various facets of the doctor's mind, after a season where I've felt like Clara might as well not be in most of the episodes for all she moves the plot or is emotionally changed throughout. Clara in some ways is doing in this episode exactly what she's been doing in any other episode and she's dead! she's a figment of the Doctor's mind as he talks to himself and imagines her asking questions!

it's also doing more prophecy, which at least has been hinted at since the beginning of the season (the Hybrid), but ohhh am I tired of m*ffat and prophecies, I wish this episode didn't - in the end - hinge on some kind of prophecy and could stand on its own

there's a lot that's quite unexplained, but I'm willing to see if that's given a bit more in the next episode. how the doctor got into the dial in the first place, what the creature was, why the confessions, why it was structured like that, etc. I'm thinking that'll still come up -- do note that if every past doctor left wet clothes on the wrack to dry, then presumably the first time this happened, that doctor just ran around nude afterwards?

I'm not really bothered one way or another by it being a billion+ years, I did vaguely remember that there was something about that and it ties in quite well on the grand metaphorical scheme of things vis a vis this era, of the doctor constantly pushing themself beyond their limit and totally disregarding their own pain, so the idea that they'd go through the same set of painful actions again and again for billions of years makes sense for this era, and there's questions in there of whether the doctor physically remembers that or just sets it aside, if those billions of years "count" for them or or or etc. is that, for example, part of what fourteen is working through on top of all the other things that lead into fifteen coming into being?

so in the end, good episode -- definitely thinking a looot more about how I feel about it because it's rated so highly, which is kind of a curse it has on it now I've realised. also because swelling m*ffat's ego like that can't be healthy for anyone, and don't think a single good episode in one good season out of five makes me think you're a good showrunner or writer (unless incredibly curbed by writing for someone else)

I'll definitely still put s9 through the rating's system I've got, but I let myself wait for a bit to see how the structure of it came together. might watch hell bent to round off this story (am also btw shocked that part one of a two-parter is rated like that, I'd never be able to see them apart from each other. two-parters belong together in my brain)

I think in the end what was interesting about this episode is noting what one can let go of and what one can't. while watching the recent rtd specials I saw people who were unable to let go of things that I quite readily accepted and worked with (bi-regeneration, fourteen looking like ten, etc), critiqued as something I hope will become deeper in future but isn't a dealbreaker for me (extrajudicial paramilitary force UNIT, will martha jones get closure (but also martha jones in a fifteen episode tho)), or -- once or twice -- simply went "not this," and moved on from ("male presenting") (actually my main hangup of the specials was that fourteen should have regenerated in thirteen's clothes)

with m*ffat I always have a much harder time doing that, because I simply haven't got a lot of faith in him as a showrunner or a writer that's going to give decent pay-off in the end because I know from experience that he frequently does not give decent pay-off in the end he is famous for sucking at that, and his recurring quirks that I don't like become really irksome as consequence

this not to say I didn't like this episode -- I really did. but I assume I'll like it a lot more when I can structure twelve's era in a way that I enjoy more than I have done parts of it, so that the emotional core lands more strongly than it could do at present time. I also would never call an episode that is solely about the doctor "the best episode of all time." that focus will always be too self-indulgent, ungrounded, and to the left of what I personally like in the show, I imagine

but, yeah, I could happily watch peter capaldi monologuing for hours of course I could

[pastanest]

Why I Won’t Write For Thirteen

I feel like a lot of what I’m going to say in this post is going to be obvious to a lot of people who have loved Doctor Who for any amount of time prior to Chibbers era, but regardless, I wanted to provide an in-depth explanation as to why I won’t write anything regarding the thirteenth (or fourteenth if we’re counting John Hurt?) regeneration of the Doctor.

the simple fact is, from a writing standpoint, I don’t know Jodie Whittakers Doctor well enough. that’s no discredit to Jodie herself, I think she’s incredibly talented and I loved her in Broadchurch, but I did not watch enough episodes of her Doctor to know how to write her character accurately and there are a few reasons for that.

Doctor Who has been my favorite show for longer than I can remember. it is the first show I ever became infatuated with as a young child, it was the beginning of my love for science-fiction as a genre, and it was a crucial staple of comfort within my childhood. for various reasons I won't go into, I don't remember much of my childhood at all (which is both a blessing and a curse), but some of the fondest memories I do have is of watching Doctor Who. 

I started with Christopher Eccleston when he became the Doctor, and I loved him. he was witty and dry and a great introduction to the series for those - like myself - who had not seen the show before. David Tennant, though, was my Doctor. I grew up with him and adored him more than any other fictional character, and to this day he is my favorite. I loved the passion, the raging fire in the Doctor that he portrayed so well, and I loved how romantic his whole regeneration was. Matt Smith had some big shoes to fill, and I’ll admit, at the start of his first episode I was VERY skeptical, but by the end of The Eleventh Hour, I loved him. he was so different to Ten, so childishly charming and full of wonder, but there was still that lingering sadness, that painful weight he carried behind his eyes that I really, really loved. despite how wonderful Matt Smith was, as soon as Peter Capaldi came along, he was my second favorite Doctor without a doubt. any discredit to his Doctor will not be tolerated, because that man is a gem, he’s a grumpy grandad and to be completely honest, the only Doctor I’ve ever seen who truly encompassed the ancient magic that IS the Doctor; this whimsical grouch who’s seen and lost so much and tries to protect himself from hurting anymore, but simply can't resist saving everyone he can. the love he had for Clara, their whole relationship, made her my favorite companion (which, for a diehard Rose stan stemming from her entire relationship with Ten and that single handedly shaping my frontal lobe, says A LOT).

a lot of people disliked Peter Capaldi before they’d even seen him as the Doctor, simply because he wasn’t young anymore - as though the Doctor himself has ever actually BEEN young in reality - which I thought was a disgrace. anyone who watched Peter Capaldi’s era and tries to tell me it was bad, will no longer have a seat at my table. I’d take a bullet for that man, don’t test me. when the writing began to fall off towards the end of his era, he CARRIED the weight of the show on his back. he pioneered for references to Classic Who like no other, catering to older fans of the show, and is the biggest fan of the show to ever play the Doctor.

Chibbers and I immediately got off on the wrong foot based on his treatment of Peter, in the fact that he only agreed to take on Doctor Who if he had a new Doctor to shape for himself, meaning Peter had no choice but to go. the fact that Moffat said Peter sat in a room on his own, crying while writing his Doctor’s goodbye speech, will haunt me for the rest of my days and I will never, ever forgive anyone who allowed that transitional clause to pass.

despite that, I was willing to give Chibbers and his team a fair shot. then came the news that he was going to do way less episodes each year. then came the news that he didnt want to write any references whatsoever to any previous episodes, companions, Doctors, or plots (considering nostalgia plays such a huge part in Doctor Who, callbacks to the past and characters who never die having the chance to show up randomly etc, that was a fucking joke). then came the news that Murray Gold, who had composed the LEGENDARY music for Doctor Who since its renaissance in 2005, would no longer be working on the show. and then came the news that there was going to be no story arc or thread throughout the series, Chibbers wanted individual standalone episodes only. 

what.

what.

WHAT. 

literally one punch to the gut after another, unreal. AND YET, I was still willing to give Jodie’s era a go, and I did. I’m not sure how many episodes I watched, but all I can remember is trying my absolute hardest to find things in those episodes that I enjoyed and genuinely struggling. for the first time in my life, I found myself scrolling on my phone when Doctor Who was on, instead of being completely enthralled. there are episodes of this goddamn show that I know off by heart and I will still be glued to the screen The-Idiot’s-Lantern-style to ensure I don’t miss a single second. I will give Chibbers props on a cinematic front only because I can remember some beautiful shots, but apart from that, I was at a complete loss. not a single character theme, not a theme for the Doctor, no continual plot, not a single companion (out of THREE available candidates) that actually interested me, and just no SUBSTANCE. 

I can remember one specific moment where the Doctor is speaking to someone and is told that a woman is waiting for her, has been waiting for her a long time or something like that right. so I was sitting there thinking OH MY GOD CHIBBERS HAS HOODWINKED US ALL HERE HE IS HE’S GONNA BRING OUT ONE OF THE CLASSICS OH MY GOD I WONDER WHO IT’S GOING TO BE!!!!!! COULD IT BE RIVER! CLARA! MARTHA! DONNA! ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it was a woman that we barely knew who died in the first episode of Jodie’s era. 

every Doctor is different, every Doctor FEELS different to watch, but no matter which Doctor you watch, you should always be able to tell that’s the Doctor, and I couldn’t. Jodie’s Doctor felt like a side character in her own show, constantly being outsmarted by her own human new-on-the-job companions and with the WORST attempt at ripping off Eleven’s cringey childish humor I have ever seen.

never in my life did I think I would have to stop watching my favorite show of all time, but I did. and even when I stopped watching, I couldn’t stop hearing about it. seemingly Chibbers realized his mistake and tried to shoehorn one-off references (like a random fez) into random episodes, bringing back classic aliens and things like that in some desperate plea to bring fans back. 

now, let me just clarify something: I’m a woman who is chronically online and in my early 20’s, I was raised on the internet so have no problem with “woke” content, I am regularly battling my bigoted elders who are against seeing anything other than heterosexual, cis white people onscreen at all times, so in terms of all the middle aged cis white men who pin their hatred on Jodie for being a woman, I could not be further from them, PLEASE do not lump me in with that crowd lmfao. but to have this Doctor go back and meet a regeneration of the Doctor that came before the first regeneration we know of, feels like trying to rewrite the show’s history in a way that does not make sense, and is, in my opinion, disrespectful to the show’s actual origins. if they’d tried to do that with John Hurt, I would’ve been just as disappointed. adding in secret new regenerations of the Doctor is not an original idea and there is a literal anniversary special to demonstrate how to do it right lol but apparently Chibbers has never actually watched an episode of Doctor Who in his life so who’s surprised? 

tldr: Chibbers ruined Doctor Who so I hope he can fight cuz I’ll personally take him out 1v1 and shove a screwdriver so far up his ass he’ll hear Murray Gold and the BBC Orchestra playing some haunting backing track to the battle x

that being said, can’t wait for the 60th Anniversary Special episodes, cannot WAIT for David Tennant’s return (yes, before you ask, I foamed at the mouth and sobbed for 8 days when that was announced), and am SO EXCITED to see what Moffat and Ncuti Gatwa bring to the next series of the show!!! 

if you’ve got any thoughts in response to all this, please feel free to drop them in the comments, but please do not try to justify what Chibbers did to Doctor Who because quite frankly, no amount of miniscule positive notes will change the catastrophic damage he’s done to the show, it's universe and it’s ratings. I only hope that Moffat is able to salvage the show from the rubble!

not looking for arguments and not trying to upset anyone so will not be tagging this with anything - if anyone reblogs for any reason, PLEASE do not add any fandom tags, this is solely my explanation for not writing for 13 and is not meant as a general discussion piece ♡

[xbludlust]

        ❝ there’s nothing like a little pain to remind you that you’re still alive . ❞

     𝑐𝘩𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟⧸𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 : morgan blake  ››  bitten werewolf  ››  danielle campbell .

❛❛   aesthetic .  ❜❜   ―   ◜   ❏  . ―   the  first  snowfall  spouting  layers  of  ivory ,  lazy  mornings  curled  up  in  black  silk  sheets  with  messy  curls  and  lacy  lingerie ,  blood-laced  rose  water  ,  singing  pretty  melodies  in  unmade  beds  ,  bloody  pawprints  left  imprinted  along  the  decaying  woods  under  the  blood full moon  ,  a  smile  to  fall  in  love  with  ,  there’s  a  wildness  in  her  eyes  that  you  just  know  there’s  more  animal  in  her  than  human  ,  the  curse  that  falls  on  young  lovers /  starts  so  soft  and  sweet  then  turns  them  to  hunters   . ⸻  tw : death tw .

🇦​🇵​🇵​🇱​🇮​🇨​🇦​🇹​🇮​🇴​🇳  ››

―   ◜   ❏  . ―   oc. danielle campbell. cis woman. she/her. ― i saw morgan blake on the streets, you know? the  28 years old  werewolf ( bitten ), i think they been around beacon hills for a week  but i can be wrong… not like they can leave now, anyway. i heard a rumor that they want to destroy the nemeton. they hum babydoll by ari abdul , you know? .  ⸻  .  

🇧​🇦​🇸​🇮​🇨​🇸  ››

full name : morgan blake .

age : 28.

date of birth : december 21st .

occupation : artist / art restorer .

species : werewolf ( bitten ) .

language(s) spoken : english  ,  french  .

hair color : brunette .

eye color : green .

notable scars : the scratch mark on her shoulder and bite on her side stomach .

🇮​🇳​🇹​🇪​🇷​🇮​🇴​🇷 ​ ››

positive : resilient  ,  passionate .

negative : moody  ,  tempered .

moral alignment : true neutral .

deadly sin : lust + wrath .

element : fire .

emotional stability : its there .

alcohol use : socially .

prone to violence? : more than usual .

drives / motivations : herself / her  .

character parallels : riley blue  ( sense8 )  +  thea queen  ( arrow )  +  reía  ( a soul to keep )  +  clara oswald  ( doctor who )  +  bryn  ( raised by wolves ) .

🇫​🇦​🇲​🇮​🇱​🇾​​  ››

mother : desmond blake( deceased ) .

father : madison blake ( deceased ) .  

father : simon blake ( deceased ) .  

🇧​🇮​🇴  ››

— Born on the coldest night of the year to madison, a religious woman, and desmond, a military legacy who worked hard to be named chief . morgan was their second child, the first being simon who is eight years older than her. Growing up, desmond always expected his children to go into the military as he did and his family line before him. From the day she and her older brother could walk, they were trained in hand to hand and weaponry. Being part of a military family legacy was never easy for morgan. Especially with a controlling religious mother. They never had time for themselves. Between the lessons, their father would leave them for when he comes back and going to church every Sunday, and having prayer groups.

— morgan always felt left out. From a young age, morgan already knew she didn’t want to be like her father or keep to the family legacy, nor was she as religious as her mother. She did, however, knew she wanted to be an artist. Because her parents were always busy, morgan was always left on her own after school and after practice waiting until her older brother would pick her up.

— As she grew, morgan would find ways to excuse herself from going to the prayer groups. Although, there was never a way to excuse herself in her father’s lessons and training. Which ironically enough, she surpassed her oldest brother. She figured that if she’s better, she would have more time for herself and her arts. Often making deals with her father which would grant her permission to join her school cheerleading, volleyball, and powder puff during her senior year. Graduating early, morgan was still two years shy of being able to enlist. Taking this chance to go off to college and pursue what she wanted to do. Her father rejecting the idea refused to help her out financially. This led her to make the decision to leave from home. Which proved to be tough when it came to having her father be the chief of police and had all eyes in search of her.  

— morgan worked hard to come up with the money to go through school. doing ood jobs , bartending and being a dog walker mostly . then came the year to enlist but morgan kept on going to school for her arts until finally she got her masters . leaving the town to go into the city for work is when she met HIM . Hellos were said more often then they turned into good mornings when waking up next to each other .

—  while she kept in touch with her parents and brother, although her father was still upset at the fact that she would not enlist but was still happy to have her back in his life. She was happy and her boyfriend being one of the many points of it. 

— unfortunately , it was a happiness that did not last when she got bitten . not remembering much of what happened that night and the events that lead to it. morgan had woken up in the hospital bed with her parents and brother beside her. Worried and clearly crying, they were relieved when she woke up. She had been out for two weeks. Telling her a little while longer and she would have been dead if she hadn’t been found. Unfortunately, it was too late for her best friend who was with her that night. Going home with her family without so much as telling the anyone for that matter, rumors spread about the fact that she died along with her best friend as the news released little details on the attack .

— For the next two weeks, morgan felt strange. Hearing things she normally wouldn’t hear. Smelling scents that she wouldn’t normally smell. Was stronger than she normally was. All those feelings she had that she couldn’t explain made her grow temperamental . especially when she tried to remember what happened that night . she wanted to call her boyfriend but he clearly changed his number when she did try. her father wouldn’t let her go back home until she fully recovered but she felt fine. Not understanding what was happening to her before her first full moon . 

— morgan had shifted spontaneously for the first time. Animalistic instinct took over and she attacked anything that got near her.  Waking up the next morning bare, covered in blood, and their home destroyed. it wasn’t until she saw her parent’s body and her brother was when she realized what she had done. Memories of last night coming to her. She had turned. She shifted into a wolf and killed her parents and brother. The weight of it caused a pit in her stomach. she wasn’t sure what to even do but to pack her all her things and leave . knowing the scene looked like an animal attack and the news would just chalk it up as that . 

— She constantly had to keep her temper in check and it had gotten the best of her sometimes. Sneaking out during the full moons out to the woods. spending the next  3 years privately restoring art for museums and making them and shipping them out . she stayed secluded in a cabin in the woods unless she had to go into town for supplies .  morgan was beginning to accepted herself for who and what she is. Embracing the fact that she was a werewolf and coming to terms that she had killed her family. yet she still somewhat gelt guilt over it and there was so much she did not understand . 

—  morgan was forcibly made to leave when hunters came for her . moving as far away as possible , she was passing by beacon hills when she got stuck there . Morgan realizing there was more than meets the eyes in this  city and was now aware of the world hidden from humans and how naïve they all were before her turning.  she has a lot to learn and is no longer bound by mundane rules but others that are made for creatures that go bump in the night.  

[herleaf]

it's funny, how when you know that you're not supposed to do something, the act becomes all the more enticing. in her heart and in her head, she knew that she was pushing her luck by visiting and meeting future travelers of the tardis--future friends of the doctor--but she couldn't help it. clara oswald never shied away from a challenge and she always did what she wanted; it's what always got her into trouble. thankfully, she was clever and knew how to get out of anything. well... almost anything.

sometimes, she didn't even mean to cross paths with other tardis occupants, perhaps they just had some kind of magnetic pull towards one another. it was her curse to bear, watching from the outside as others lived the life she prayed to travel for her remaining days, walk in her shoes and support the doctor. travel the world and see the stars. she yearned to step back through the frame of the phone box but she knew she couldn't. she was already walking on borrowed time as is, but isn't that an awful lot of adventure, ey?

well, mentioning that the meetings and paths crossing happening truly and constantly at random wasn't quite truthful. perhaps she would reach out to old unit contacts from time to time, catch a few pints and talk about adventures past. they all knew she was just meddling, that if they didn't give her the information then she would just find other ways to procure it. she was addicted--no, the doctor was her friend and that was why she did this. because of friendship. perhaps it was also some kind of strange torture self-imposed, but she couldn't stop. if she stopped, what else would she do?

her informant had told her about yasmin khan, the traffic cop turned doctor companion and the exploits that the fam had gone through. she'd heard about graham and ryan leaving and about an amateur tour guide joining the tardis instead? well, she always wanted to tour the museum of liverpool for totally non-selfish and completely educational reasons.

with luck only the impossible girl could have, the day she visited was a day that @officialscouse himself was pushing the rules to try to educate anyone who would stop to listen. honestly, he wasn't at all what she expected him to be; the doctor didn't normally bring people like him along. he was so loyal, so simple to a fault, but most of all he was just... normal. not a bad normal, but normal still. she couldn't help but listen to his words, laugh at his anecdotes and stories; clara was even finding herself grasping onto some of the local knowledge that would usually slip right from her mind the moment the conversation veered away from present topics.

he was charming. sweet smile. oh, yes, she now sees exactly what the doctor would keep him around for. their conversation was, sadly, interrupted by a worker of the museum, the lines on their forehead and the tiredness of their voice showed the familiarity and monotony of the actions. They'd been through this many times with Dan. The only difference is that she was never part of the equation.

" hi--hello, sorry, don't mean to interrupt here but i was having a wonderful and insightful tour from your volunteer here. don't you find it funny how the people who are passionate about what they teach are usually the ones that engage the audience? " oh, she was meddling, meddling hard. but standing down to any type of authority was never really her style, clara would much rather cause trouble than stand by as a watcher alone. " before this lovely person here started talking to me about the history, i was only walking around and blankly staring about, using my walkthrough as a thing to pass the time mindlessly. i'd recommend you think about giving him a chance. or not. so, sir, if you're about to be asked to vacate the premises, can you give me a more hands-on tour and show me around? i was always told in my teaching classes that the more hands on and immersive an experience, the more the brain can connect and compute. "

starter call

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 248

Beyond the Mat/The Girl Who Died

“Beyond the Mat”

Plot Description: Sam and Dean take a break to attend a wrestling match. But the fun ends when a man is found dead at the venue, with an ancient mark carved into his chest

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: would I be in these very specific circumstances? No. Probably not

This match is like “The WWE We Have At Home”

Geez…I haven’t seen a grown man be treated like an actual dog….well, actually since the last time I watched sk8 the infinity but the answer SHOULD have been ever. Anyway, it’s real weird hearing Lucifer refer to Crowley as “little puppy.”

I ADORE fanboy Dean

Aw man….not the dad who brought his son and reminded the boys of a John doing that with themmmm

You can tell Dean has wanted to play around on that stage for a LONG time

Oh thank god the demons are finally starting to turn on Lucifer, having to watch Crowley clean the floor with his tongue was a step too fat

Dean trading scar and injury stories with this older wrestler 💖

YEAHHH!!! Crowley’s out of hell!!

What. Is. Happening. Why’s the older wrestler trying to get this guy to sell his soul to a demon???

Ummm…so, it’s sell your soul or die?! Sorry, Crowley would never let that happen under his watch

Noooooooooo, why’d Lucifer have to show up RIGHT when they got to Crowley’s hand of god?? OH!! The demon I thought was working WITH Crowley was still working FOR Lucifer

Ok but like…the “I invented the double-cross”/“I perfected the double-cross” was really good. I won’t lie

Don’t meet your heroes, Dean ☹️

Oooo, been a while since we encountered some hellhounds

What a strange episode. It’s like they couldn’t figure out what to do with their literal main characters while a couple MAJOR side ones got to further the plot

“The Girl Who Died”

Plot Description: the Doctor and Clara help to protect a Viking village from space warriors from the future

I’m so glad someone finally snapped those stupid sunglasses. Thank you, random Viking man

That just seems dangerous to do. Maybe don’t pretend to be Odin, Doctor

Oh the new fake Odin took Clara to his fake Valhalla

Poor Maisie, she’s so so scared but still willing to fight. Way to go, not-Arya…except that way to go is a little sarcastic because they were so close to leaving and so were the aliens, but she had to go and declare war on them

Why are babies in dw so poetic? I mean…the translation the Doctor gives of what he can understand from their cries

The way he’s always worried about Clara dying 😭 no one tell me, but ARE we still hurtling towards the worse timeline for her? Where she becomes a Dalek?

Poor might-as-well-be-Arya feels out of place in her village for being too like a boy for the girls and too actually a girl for the boys

They’re gonna won with EELS??

ARE THEY GONNA KILL ARYA STARK???

Wait…is it only called the girl…….no, they did actually kill Arya

OH FINALLY. We got to the point where they explain why Peter Capaldi was both a dude in Pompeii and now the Doctor. He chose that face to remind himself, to hold himself to the promise to save people, to just save SOMEONE as Donna once begged him to

So of course he saved Arya, buy may have put upon her the curse of immortality. I’d love to see her come back….and it seems to be in an eternal youth way

OMG NOT ANOTHER TWO PARTER. Stop this, it’s madness

[sheliesshattered]

I have this little post Face The Raven AU that I’ve been poking at off and on for about two years now. It’s never been the primary fic I’ve been working on, but little by little I’ve added to the first chapter, and a few scenes after that, and it’s come together into something I really like.

Only, I have no idea where it’s going. Or really, just a vague idea of how I would want to re-write Heaven Sent and Hell Bent to go with this divergent AU timeline, but not any solid plans for how to get there. I love it as a what-if and a character study, particularly for a slightly darker take on Clara. But I’m not sure if it actually has legs past this point?

I put the finishing touches on chapter 1 the other day, so I thought maybe I’d throw this final-ish draft version of it out here on Tumblr and see what you guys think. Do you like it? Would it be worth figuring out how the plot unfolds from this point? Or is it just too weird for you to want to read more?

The feedback I get on this post will help me decide what to do with this fic, so definitely let me know your thoughts!

Working title: Feral Circle, chapter 1

With a gasp she comes back to herself, lungs aching and circulatory system lurching abruptly into motion. Her final words to the Doctor are still on the tip of her tongue, but she knows, she knows—

She has never been more herself and less Clara Oswald than she is in this moment. She has never more clearly understood the how and the why of Clara Oswald. She has never hated herself more or felt more at home in her own skin.

She has never been more blindingly, incandescently angry.

“Well, shit,” she groans. Her voice is hers and yet not hers, utterly familiar despite the maze of memories now coursing through her mind, and under the control of absolutely no one but herself. This has always been a curse of her own making, a death sentence ordered and carried out by herself alone. But here on the other end of her grand master plan, she is filled with anger and disappointment, instead of the triumph she had so long envisioned.

All those years of planning, all those decades of hiding, wasted, and for what? The life of one solitary human? One inconsequential blip of a boy and his overly adorable offspring?

It was the Doctor with Rigsy’s baby that did her in, really. Damn him. The moment is burned into her mind in a way she knows will stay with her for lifetimes. His or hers or the universe’s, it’s all up for debate just now.

She pushes herself up to sitting, takes a moment to readjust to gravity. She half expected to find herself still on the cobblestones of the Trap Street, but she’s in a quiet back room, laid out on a bed. Of course they hadn’t left her where she fell. The Doctor wouldn’t have allowed it. Not for Clara, not for his Impossible Girl.

She wishes now that she had let him say it, let him confess the words that so desperately needed to be spoken aloud. That’s how native she’d gone, how thoroughly she had believed her own lie, that with moments left until her death all she could think about was sparing his feelings, reminding him to be a Doctor. What an inconvenient time to have finally perfected the art of disguise.

The Doctor is no longer here, he had snarled at Ashildr, Mayor Me, whatever the hell she wanted to call herself. You are stuck with me! And I will end you, and everything you love.

That was him, the love of her life, finally showing his true face for the first time in centuries. And she had to go and beg him to stop. Of all the idiotic things to do.

Every one of her muscles burn in a way that she knows from long experience means this is only a temporary reprieve before her body goes all explodey, just the reset before things get real. She needs to get out of here, she needs to get back to the TARDIS.

She needs to find the Doctor.

How long has it been? This process shouldn’t have taken more than mere minutes, but she can feel the shift in local relativity that can only mean one thing. She’d told Ashildr to remove that stupid transmat bracelet from the Doctor, but then she’d up and died before she was able to enforce that demand. There are voices coming from the next room, but she knows, she knows he’s gone, out of her reach just when she really needs him, just when she finally truly understands, in a way she never once before in her very long life understood, and she is, she is—

She is enraged is what she is. At him, at herself, but most of all at the meddling little bitch who lured them here and ruined everything. This was not the way it was supposed to happen.

Clara Oswald was supposed to die in the Doctor’s arms, someplace far more private. Dramatic, overwrought, and ultimately unavoidable. The perfect climax they’d been building to all these years, the final tragedy after so many narrow escapes. A poignant, heartbreaking end to everything that might have been between them, rendered in blood and tears and the Doctor clutching her broken body. Without an audience.

The rest of it had held startlingly close to script, she is forced to grudgingly admit. He had gone through all the stages of grief right in front of her, threatened to summon armies in her name, to rain down destruction for all time in exchange for her life. He had nearly said the words they had both so carefully danced around for so long, and would have done if her overdeveloped sense of self-sacrifice hadn’t gotten in the way. He was sure as hell thinking them, doing his best to press them into her temporarily-deafened skin in those last moments.

But the key turning point of The Plan— he was supposed to be there when she woke up, he was supposed to witness the miracle of her restoration to life with his own eyes. He was supposed to hold both of those truths in his hands and realise he couldn’t have one without the other. It had come so close to being perfect.

Damn it all to hell.

She pushes her body into motion, every cell screaming out for release. It is irrelevant, unnecessary in this moment: the pain isn’t overwhelming, she can put it off awhile yet. At least long enough to find out where Ashildr’s stupid teleport bracelet sent the Doctor, and maybe wring from her the information of just who set this all up, who was pulling her strings.

It’s only a few steps from the bed to the door, but she refuses to open it until she can make an entrance with some level of dignity. She is Ashildr’s worst nightmare made flesh, and she should sure as hell act like it.

Breath in, breath out. Her ribs ache. Goddamned raven. Stupid bloody quantum shade of all bloody things.

She pulls herself up to her full height. Recites her titles in her head. Reminds herself exactly what all this was for. Lifetimes of work, millennia of longing. A dance of soulmates, played out across all of time and space. One pathetic pseudo-immortal viking isn’t going to stand in her way.

She strides through the doorway like the vengeful goddess of death she is, and revels in the way all conversation comes to an abrupt halt.

“C-Clara??” Rigsy stutters, wide-eyed in her peripheral vision.

She doesn’t bother to correct him. The less he knows, the better. “Run on home now, Rigsy,” she tells him, her gaze fixed on Ashildr with a ferocity that could ignite concrete. The viking girl has gone very pale, and takes a step away from her out of instinct.

“You’re alive! How? How are you alive??” the boy demands.

“Go home,” she tells him again, sparing him a glance. “Go home to your baby and forget this ever happened. Do not look for me. Do not contact me. Do not tell anyone what happened here. Go, now, before I change my mind.”

She doesn’t have to tell him a third time. The newly reunited Janus mother and daughter follow him out the door, leaving her alone with Ashildr and her own mounting rage.

“I don’t understand,” Ashildr says, retreating another step. “You were dead! You should be dead!”

“Death is for other people,” she says, pacing deliberately closer. “Do I strike you as someone who would let a little thing like dying slow me down? Or keep me from the Doctor?” Her voice is clear and steady, anger held in check like a coiled spring.

“But the raven—”

“Where is he?” she cuts her off, in no mood to listen to the babblings of such a pathetic excuse for a lifeform. “Where’s the Doctor?”

“I— I don’t know,” Ashildr says, eyes wide with fear.

“I’ve had a very bad day,” she tells her, angling her approach to block Ashildr’s path to the door. “And I do not have the time to drag the truth out of you in the sorts of painful ways I would prefer. Where. Is. The Doctor?” she demands, punctuating each word with another step closer.

“I don’t know!” the girl insists, backing up against a wall. “They didn’t tell me where they were taking him! All I was supposed to do was put the teleport cuff on him and make sure he couldn’t get to his TARDIS! They didn’t tell me anything else!”

“‘They’ who?” she demands, her patience fraying.

Ashildr shakes her head frantically. “I can’t, they’ll kill me, they’ll—”

Her hand shoots out and she grips the girl around the neck, hard enough to let her know she means business, but not enough to crush her fragile windpipe and make her useless. “I will kill you, don’t for a moment think I won’t. Tell me who took him. Do it now.”

“But all those things you said to the Doctor—”

“None of that was meant for you,” she tells her coldly. “You should not have had any part in my death, and whatever happens to you now, it’s your own bloody fault. Don’t make me ask you again,” she says, tightening her grip fractionally. “Who took the Doctor?”

“The Time Lords!” Ashildr gasps out, hands scrabbling against her grip.

“What?” she spits, her rage climbing to new heights.

“They threatened the Street! I had no choice! No one was supposed to get hurt!”

“Which bloody Time Lords?” she snarls, only barely managing to keep from wringing the life from the viking girl. Ashildr will heal from most things, but she can think of a few ways to make sure she stays dead.

Though, if the girl is telling the truth, her murderous intentions are better directed elsewhere.

“Rassilon, and others with him, I don’t know!” Ashildr cries. “The confession dial, they wanted the Doctor’s confession dial, too. I swear I don’t know anything else!”

She drops her hard against the stone floor, her mind racing as the girl sits at her feet, wheezing and rubbing at her neck. Rassilon and a transmat bracelet and the Doctor’s confession dial. Her bad day has just gotten significantly worse.

“Where is it?” she demands, once she can form a sentence that is anything more than howling obscenities. “Where is his confession dial?”

Ashildr gestures vaguely towards the mantelpiece but says, “They took it already. I was told to leave it there for them, and now it’s gone, they must have—”

“If you are lying to me,” she says, staring down at her and forcing herself to be slow and calm, “I will use that Mire chip in your skull to make your death take a very, very long time. And then I will bring UNIT in here to make sure all your little pets get the same treatment. Do you understand me?”

The girl nods, wide-eyed. “What happened to you?” she asks, a millennia of being all but invulnerable making her reckless. “The raven should have killed you, not turned you into this.”

“The raven killed Clara Oswald,” she replies, her voice detached. “I woke up as myself.”

“Then who are you?” Ashildr presses.

She pauses before answering, both a well-honed inclination towards theatrical gravitas and a moment to consider. Names are tricky things, they can define a person as much as their actions, set a tone and an entire trajectory. There are dozens of names bouncing around her head just now, old and new, real and false. But in the end, there was only ever one name that truly fit.

“You can call me the Master,” she tells the girl. “And for your own sake, you should hope we never meet again.”

--

Of course, she thinks, as she makes her way to where they’d left the TARDIS as quickly as her deteriorating body will allow, she only wishes it was that simple. That clean of a break. Clara Oswald did die in that cobblestone alley — the cover persona, the human façade. And yet the Master knows herself well enough to realise that she is still Clara. She lived that life, she felt those emotions, and never once questioned her own identity. She willingly threw herself into the Doctor’s timestream to save him. She demanded he find a way to out manoeuvre death, if he loved her in any way. She told him that everything he was about to say, she already knew, and she meant it.

She can never go back to being just Clara Oswald, but she will never again not be Clara Oswald, either.

The friend inside the enemy, the enemy inside the friend, she said to the Doctor, back on one of her more self-destructive days, when she was still wearing her last face. She tried to get her future self killed that day, did her utmost to cause the death of her next face without actually assassinating Clara Oswald herself. It was all in pursuit of The Plan, of course, and she remembers wondering at the time if she told the Doctor too much, been too obvious, if he might finally look at the face of the woman masquerading as human and see her real self in there. But he had been simply too relieved to have his Clara back.

Oh what a death that would have been. Pity it didn’t work out.

The TARDIS is locked up tight when she finally reaches it, and she drags her key on its chain out from under her jumper, grateful to have the option. She has a vortex manipulator stashed away just in case, contingencies laid in place long before she became Clara Oswald, but she doesn’t have the time or the patience or the physical resilience to put up with cheap and nasty time travel just now. The TARDIS’s Cloister Bell starts tolling before she’s even got the door open, and she rolls her eyes as she fumbles her way inside. The regeneration process is starting in earnest now, she can’t put it off much longer, and it’s making her clumsy.

“It’s just me, you old cow,” she tells the TARDIS, pushing the door shut behind her.

The rotors make a worried sound overhead, but at least the Cloister Bell cuts out.

“You’ve known it was me for ages, haven’t you?” she asks absently as she goes to the console. She needs a quiet place to do this, somewhere she’ll be able to focus on getting the details right. Earth in this timezone would be easiest. Privacy, but an outdoor space. The Doctor always seems to want to do this inside the TARDIS, for reasons she’s never understood and certainly won’t be emulating. The only thing that could make this wretched day worse is if the TARDIS booted her out or crashed mid-regeneration.

This first, and then she can focus on saving the Doctor. Put your own oxygen mask on first, like the human’s aeroplane safety instructions always say. The Doctor needs her, but she won’t be any good to either of them if she goes off half-cocked with her brain still on fire.

The TARDIS makes another concerned noise, telepathic awareness reaching out, but she bats it away.

“Shush, mummy’s working,” she says, focused on the navigation system. There’s a field she knows, a meadow high up in the mountains, far enough from everything that she’s unlikely to run into any humans...

A holograph that looks like her flickers to life a few feet away. The last time the TARDIS did this, the Doctor was stuck in a pocket universe trying to save a lost time traveller. The TARDIS must have known then what she herself would never have believed, must have recognised her true self hiding in the shell of Clara Oswald. No wonder the old girl had shown such a marked dislike for her.

She barely spares her holographic doppleganger a glance. “We do not have time for this,” she says crisply. “I have places to be, and you are going to take me there.”

“You are a danger to the Doctor,” the holograph says in her own voice, staring her down with lifeless eyes.

With an exasperated sigh, she turns towards the projection. “You do realise what we’re up against, don’t you? What Rassilon is doing to the Doctor, even as we stand here arguing?”

Overhead, the rotors make a distressed noise. Of course the TARDIS knows what’s happened to her madman, what the Time Lords must be doing to him. She bites her lip against asking for gruesome details that will only distract her when she most needs to be focused.

“I cannot permit harm to come to the Doctor,” the holograph says.

“Good, we’re on the same page: I’m not wild about the idea, either.”

“I cannot permit you to harm the Doctor.”

“How exactly am I a danger to the Doctor?” she demands.

The holograph stutters, then flashes rapidly through an array of her previous faces, Missy and Saxon and Yana and back and back through their shared past.

“Oh, don’t go digging up ancient history,” she tells the TARDIS sourly. “How am I, this me, a danger to the Doctor?”

The hologram settles on Missy, sneering out, “You would go to hell if she asked. And she would!”

“Except I’m not the one asking! I’m not the one who’s done this to him, and you bloody well know it. It’s them. The Time Lords. It’s Rassilon, because of-bloody-course it’s Rassilon.”

The projection shifts back to her current face. “And you want to kill Rassilon?” it asks.

Of course I want to kill Rassilon is on the tip of her tongue, but she pauses and forces herself to think through the haze of the beginning of the regeneration process. She has wanted to kill Rassilon for aeons now, but right this moment that’s not the point. “I want to save the Doctor,” she says instead, knowing it’s the truth. “Everything else is secondary.”

With a flicker, the hologram disappears. The overhead lights dim, and she can feel the TARDIS considering, pacing out possible futures branching out from this moment.

“Look, are you going to help me or not?” she demands impatiently. “I have every intention of saving him, just as soon as I’ve got this regeneration situation under control. You are welcome to come along, but if you prefer to leave the saving up to me, I’ll be happy to tell the Doctor that his beloved TARDIS abandoned him when it mattered the most.”

The TARDIS doesn’t respond, and for a long moment the console room is dark and silent, eerily empty in the absence of the one person she can’t bear to lose.

She braces her hands against the console and closes her eyes, dropping her chin to her chest. “Please,” she whispers, not above begging in this suspended, unwitnessed moment. “Please, you have to help me save him.” She gathers up all her worry and fear, all her anger at what Rassilon has stolen from her, all her concern and longing for the Doctor, and pushes it to the surface of her skin, willing the TARDIS to hear her. To believe her. “Please.”

Slowly, the rotors spin back into life overhead, and she opens her eyes to see the lever beside her hand flip itself into the ignition position, sending them into the Vortex. She remembers pulling that lever herself, the side of her hand pressed snugly against the Doctor’s, and her longing for him doubles. Clutching the edge of the console now, her hand has begun to glow with dim golden light, and she knows she’s out of time.

“That little hidden valley in the mountains, you know the one I mean?” she asks the TARDIS, her gaze fixed on the regeneration energy seeping from between her fingers. “Take me there.”

The TARDIS lands quickly, the doors swinging open before she can raise her numb hand to snap. The world beyond is lit by late afternoon sunlight, outlining the waving grass and wildflowers in gold.

“Wait for me, this shouldn’t take long,” she tells the TARDIS, then staggers out into the field, away from the TARDIS, trailing golden light behind her. There isn’t a moment to spare, but she can’t simply release her stranglehold on the energy coursing through her body. No, she has to be far more careful and strategic than that, if she’s to have any hope of salvaging her future.

Controlling the regenerative process, choosing a face, is merely a question of focus. Even the Doctor had managed it, this last time around. And she isn’t replicating someone else’s face, she’s choosing her own all over again, choosing to regenerate into exactly the same form. It ought to be simple enough.

She designed Clara Oswald back when she put The Plan into action, handcrafted all the little details she knew would get under the Doctor’s skin. Big, emotive brown eyes in a pretty face. A small stature, weak looking, so that the Doctor would feel instinctively protective over her. Quick-witted and funny, able to keep up with his babbling and his harebrained schemes. She’s known him for centuries, since they were children — she knows his type. In the end she hadn’t been able to talk herself into masquerading as a blonde, and she is grateful now to realise that gamble paid off. Brunette always suited her better, anyway.

There’s no stopping the regeneration process now, but if she can replicate Clara Oswald all over again, she just might be able to get The Plan back on track. Once this is done, she’ll go save the Doctor from whatever hell Rassilon is inflicting on him, and he will look at her and see his Clara, back from the dead. He’ll look at her and see the Master and all their long history together. He’ll look at her and see Koschei, his first love. He’ll look at her and see her.

Please, just see me he begged her, when she hadn’t yet been able to see the Doctor hiding behind his new face. That’s all she wanted, in the end. To be seen by him.

She can feel the regeneration energy coursing through her, pulsating in a rising tempo, and focuses her mind on what she wants out of this, what she needs.

Her face, her face absolutely has to remain the same. This face was the first face the Doctor saw when he regenerated, he would spot any tiny difference.

Her hands have to be perfect reproductions of themselves. After all these months, the Doctor had finally gotten comfortable with holding her hand again, and he would know if they changed.

Her voice has to be the voice of Clara Oswald. When she calls to him, he has to hear her, the woman he loves.

She resists the urge to add a few inches to her height. Five-foot-one and crying he once said. He would notice if she changed that. Her past faces had always resented his height, the extra inches he used to tower over her, but she had found the power of a small frame, this regeneration. Making him bring himself down to her level, fold himself smaller to accommodate her.

The hair, the hair needs a slight update, it can’t be what she regenerated into the last time, it has to match her recent haircut. Such a small thing, but she almost missed it.

She holds the idea of Clara Oswald in her mind, all the little details that make up her physical being, until she can feel her body acquiesce to her demand. Every cell will die and every cell will be replaced by an exact replica. Because she wills it to be so. Because she needs it to be so.

But the body is only half of it. The other half, the personality, well— she’s all over the place just now, and she scrambles for some sense of control, as the golden glow of regeneration spirals outwards from her hands, growing in intensity with each beat of her hearts.

Who is she? She’s never particularly had time for existential questions, but now it matters more than it ever has before. There are dozens of names in her mind, lifetimes of personalities, all muddled together now in this strange twilight between lives. Who is she? Who must she be, to save the Doctor?

She is Clara and Missy and Saxon and Yana.

She is the snake-eyed monstrosity and the one burnt beyond recognition, she is the wearer of disguises and puns and goatees.

She is Koschei, and she has been in love with him since before he took up the mantle of the Doctor.

She is a burning ball of anger and hate and loathing, she is the pounding of the drums, she is all the declarations of love that died on her tongue unspoken.

She is if you love me in any way, she is run you clever boy and remember, she is his duty of care, she is someone he can’t bear to lose.

She is his Impossible Girl, and she will dismantle the universe and rewrite time to get him back.

She is Time Lord and Human, she is Clara and the Master.

She is the Doctor’s best friend, his oldest enemy.

She is the one who loves him,

loves him

  loves him

    loves him.

It is the one truth that has sustained through all her lives, through all her schemes and misdeeds, through every dark day and every ecstatic moment of joy.

She loves him, and it is the most powerful force the universe has ever known.

That is the thought she holds tight in her hearts, as the golden energy rips through her, replacing every cell in her body and changing nothing.

--

With a gasp she comes back to herself, greeted by the smell of wildflowers and the sound of the TARDIS’s Cloister Bell.

The field, and regeneration, and—

She examines her hands, then uses their familiar size and shape to push herself up to a sitting position. The question that had so occupied her final moment before regeneration has found its answer, reverberating in her chest in time to her twin heartbeat.

She is Clara Oswald and she is the Master.

She was born to save the Doctor.

And she is never, ever going to stop.

[oodlyenough]

lmao i watched doctor who today. ftr i haven't seen a full season since clara (just random eps here and there), so, you know

the editing, especially in the first 10ish minutes, was godawful. characters appearing in scenes where they weren't a second ago in the wide shot. team tardis walks up on the sea devil and the sea devil walks into their trap that they i guess coordinated the instant they saw it, somehow? madame ching talks to the orphan son and then team tardis materializes mid-convo. we cut from team tardis with madame ching and the son having a conversation to the son and dan on a beach away from thasmin who are also away from madame ching who is back on her boat. i literally rewound thinking i missed something but no it was just sloppy editing. it was so bad it made me wonder if they rewrote the opening a few times and had to juggle scenes to replace.

the fight choreo editing was sloppy too -- and there's a shot of 13 doing an MCU front flip that made me lose my shit lmfao. also did dan just kill all those sea devils? after the doctor briefly disapproved of ji-hun killing one? okay, whatever

dan wandering off and thirteen deciding to fuck off in the tardis and potentially strand him there forever was absurd to me but alright lmfaooo

admittedly i mostly watched bc i was curious to see what they'd do with thasmin. i'll be upfront that i can't really imagine what they might have done that i wouldn't be cynical about, but i was cynical about this. i don't find the conversation OOC for the doctor, but i do find it an eyeroll to write into the story in the penultimate episode for both characters. like what's the point? what's the payoff? so they can maybe kiss once before both characters go away forever and thirteen regenerates without ever having to show the actual f/f relationship? groundbreaking....

also, i found it ridiculous that dan outed yaz in the previous episode, and in this episode when yaz directly asks him if he did that he's like "haha idk!!! what?? that's crazy haha". lmfao. okay

in conclusion: thirteen suggesting she likes yaz more than river made me laugh my ass off. on the bright side, for all the terrible editing, i don't think they lost an entire pirate like Curse of the Black Spot did, so i guess dw pirate episodes have marginally improved

[thebrotherssalvatore321]

Keeping Secrets Ch. 51

Keeping Secrets Masterlist

A/N: According to the TVD universe timeline I’ve been using, Hayley was pregnant with Hope for like, a year and a half or some crazy crap. So just so you guys know in this story, Baby M. was conceived in late March, putting Katie’s due date in late December or early January.

Late October (The day after Rebekah left)

Katie, sleeping with her back to Klaus’s chest, was woken up by the feel of him slipping his fingertips lightly up her bare arm, skipping over the strap of her pajama top as he moved them over her shoulder and across her chest. Curious about what he’d do next she kept her eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep. He traced back over his previous path then down her side and over her thigh that he gently gripped. The touch sent a tingle throughout her body, but she tried her best to hide her reaction.

Since that didn’t wake her he slowly moved his hand up and under her pajama shorts and she almost had to bite her lip to hide her reaction to his teasing. He knew she was awake, not from her relaxed face or slow even breathing, but from the beat of her heart, that skipped at his tempting touches. With his hand now on her hip he pulled her closer then went back to lightly slipping his fingertips over her smooth exposed skin. When he moved his hand back to her chest and pressed his palm to it, his fingertips touching the hollow of her neck, her heart skipped again and he couldn’t hold back his chuckle. “You are an amazing actress, Little Phoenix, but the beating of your heart betrays you.”

She smiled, but didn’t open her eyes. “I’ll work in it.”

“Why do you attempt to fool me?” he asked, letting his eyes skim her face.

“Because I’m afraid if I open my eyes you’ll stop touching me like that.” she answered then opened her eyes to see him studying her face. “I missed you.” he placed the backs of his fingers on her cheek and stroked it with his thumb. “When those witches took you I…” she narrowed her eyes and shook her head, “I hated not being able to help you, not knowing where you were or what they were doing to you. How did they manage to take you down anyway?”

“While Elijah was saving you from that burning house, Sophie Deveraux stabbed me with Papa Tunde’s blade. I passed out and woke up in the sanatorium.” He answered then dropped his hand to rest on the side of her neck.

“Well, the next time I see her I’m going to bust one of Bonnie’s magic muting bombs in her face and break her neck.” Katie said through gritted teeth.

“I would pay to see that, Little Phoenix, however someone beat you to the punch.” He told her getting a curious look from her. “Sophie is dead, Elijah didn’t tell you?” he asked and she shook her head no.

“So what happened to you, at the sanatorium?” Katie asked, getting back on topic.

“Genevieve shackled me to a chair, took the blade out, kept me weak and linked my mind to Rebekah’s. While we were linked Genevieve forced Rebekah to take a walk down memory lane revealing her betrayal.” he answered.

“Why? What did Genevieve get out of it?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Revenge against Rebekah.” Klaus answered.

Katie gave him a confused shake of her head. “I know Rebekah used her to bring your father here, but that doesn’t seem reason enough to completely wreck someone’s family.”

“When Genevieve found out exactly who she brought to town and that Mikael would kill me she threatened to come to me and beg for forgiveness for what she had unknowingly done. Rebekah could not let that happen, so she infected Genevieve and her nosey little friend with Spanish influenza and had them locked in quarantine until they died.”

“Do you happen to know the name of the friend?” Katie asked curiously.

“Clara I think.” He answered, “Why?”

“Things are making so much more sense now.” Katie said with a look around and a shake of her head. “In 1919 Celeste was using Clara’s body. Both Celeste and Genevieve were victims of Mikaelson mistakes and Bastianna went along with everything because she was mad at Father K. and Marcel for screwing up the harvest ritual.”

To change the subject Klaus slipped his hand over her growing stomach and asked, “How is our little princess?”

“I haven’t felt her move in a while. I’m worried.” Katie admitted as she slipped her hand over his and looked down at her dark blue pajama tank top covered stomach.

“Her heartbeat is as strong as ever.” He told her as he brushed his thumb back and forth over her stomach. “We can find a doctor in town to take you to if you need more reassurance.”

She was about to take him up on the offer when the baby kicked hard, making their hands move. “Nope, I think I know what the problem was.” Katie told him as she gave his shoulder a push then moved to straddle him.

“Yeah?” he asked, placing his hands on her hips as she settled into his lap.

“She, like her mother, simply missed you.” She was about to lean in and kiss him when her phone on the bedside table chimed so she leaned over and grabbed it.

“If that is Nate I’m going to get jealous.” He told her with a bit of a smirk.

“It’s Hayley.” She replied as she opened the text. “Did you know the crescent wolves have been cursed to only be human on the full moon?” she asked and he shook his head no. “Elijah told me about it and Hayley came to me the day before yesterday asking for information in exchange for helping keep the peace between us and the wolves. Turns out Celeste cursed them while hopping a ride in a Deveraux witch’s body.” Klaus slipped his hands up her sides as she read the text, going back to caressing her like he had been before they started talking. “According to this message Hayley got to Celeste before Elijah killed her and got what she needed to cure her people.” Katie texted back, “Awesome.” and a smiley face emoji then put her phone away. “On the subject of Nate, who’s not gay just so you know,” Klaus gave her an I-knew-it look. “Oh don’t look at me like that. Straight or not he’s not interested in me like that. Besides, I doubt I’ll be talking to him anytime soon considering he’s been banished from the quarter. It seems it’s not meant for me to have friends here.”

“Why not get Bonnie to make a daylight ring for Josh?” Klaus asked. “He’s completely loyal to Marcel and you’ve expressed the desire for his friendship in the past.”

“Bonnie doesn’t make those rings for just anyone. She didn’t even want to make one for me, but Damon and Elena talked her into it and I had to promise that I wouldn’t feed on people before I could have it.” she said with a shake of her head. “And I kept that promise up until I stopped clinging so tightly to a relationship that was doomed from the beginning.”

“So that’s why your compulsion sucked when we first met.” He said with a small smile at the memory of the guy that Klaus almost killed at homecoming.

“Pretty much.” She nodded. “And after getting compelled by Elijah I have to wonder if all compulsion feels that invasive and violating or just what he compelled me to do.”

“You’re livid with him for that, aren't you?” he asked, seeing a spark in her eyes.

“Livid is an understatement.” she answered with a nod as she dropped her eyes to his shirt covered chest. “That slap was not satisfying enough.” She looked into his eyes. “I’m guessing you’re mad at him for defending Rebekah.”

“As well as a plethora of other things.” He replied then slipped his hand over her cheek and pulled her down for a slow, sweet kiss. “Less discussion.” He whispered then started kissing his way to her neck, pulling a sigh from her when he grazed his teeth over the sensitive skin. “Show me how much you missed me.” he whispered then kissed her earlobe as he threaded his fingers through her long, wavy auburn locks at the nape of her neck. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes as she grabbed the hem of the grey wife beater he’d worn to sleep and pulled it over his head. His hands settled on her sides as she tossed the shirt aside then turned her eyes to his torso, slipping her fingertips over his shoulders, his collarbones, down his chest, over his perfectly toned abs and around to hold his sides. She leaned forward and kissed his chest slowly working her way up to his neck where she nibbled, pulling a sigh from him as his hands lightly squeezed her hips.

She kissed just below his ear before she whispered, “Tá tú gan locht.” “You are perfect.” Her words, spoken seductively in her native tongue, made a toe curling groan slip from his lips and he wanted to take her right then, but after two nights without her, he wanted to make the moment last. So she kissed down to his chest, "tá tú dathúil." "You are handsome." she kissed over to one of his nipples and swirled her tongue around it making him sigh and back to the nape of her neck, his fingers tangled in her hair. "Tá tú blasta..." "You are delicious..." she pulled back and looked into his lust veiled eyes, “and...Kingdom or no kingdom…'' She moved to sit on her knees beside him, "village or no village," removed the blankets from his lap then slipped her fingertips up his inner thigh stopping at the line of his boxers then leaned up and caught his lips in a kiss that quickly heated up. When it finally broke she opened her eyes, her bright greens meeting his steel blues, "beidh tú i mo rí go deo." "you will forever be my king."

A gasp left his lips as he whooshed to his knees, one hand still on the back of her neck and the other pressed to her lower back, holding her as close to him as her belly would allow. Her hands pressed into his back as he caught her lips with his. Every ounce of passion, how much what she said meant to him washing over her like a tidal wave. As his tongue found hers her hands slipped down to his lower back, lightly scratching him as she moved her hands to hold his sides, steadying herself. He broke the kiss and cupped her cheek in his large hand as he looked into her equally lust clouded eyes. “Tá tú, mo bhanríon, ar meisciúil.” “You, my queen, are intoxicating.” She’d known he could understand her when she spoke Irish, but she didn’t know he could speak it and doing so caused an overwhelming amount of love and desire to wash over her.

A smile spread over her lips before she bit her bottom one and let it slip between her teeth. “Say that again.”

“Tá tú meisciúil.” “You’re intoxicating.” He repeated as he brushed his thumb over her cheek.

“The other part.” She told him with a smirk.

“Mo bhanríon.” “My Queen.” He picked up her left hand from his side and looked down at the tiara on her finger, sat it and her other hand on his shoulders then grabbed her butt with one hand and her back with the other, picking her up. A laugh left her lips as she wrapped her legs around him and he laid her back cutting off her laugh with his lips on hers.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie stood in the kitchen making a late breakfast when Elijah walked in. “Where is Niklaus this morning?” he asked as he leaned on the frame of the archway that led into the room.

“His studio.” She answered flatly, not looking up from the banana she was slicing. She was hoping he’d go away in pursuit of Klaus, but instead he walked over to stand beside her, leaning his hip on the edge of the counter.

“I owe you an apology.” He told her as he set his hand on the bar next to the cutting board.

She flipped the knife around in her hand, slammed it down into the back of his hand. He looked at his hand and the knife that she still held onto then back at her. She looked into his brown eyes with a glare that he was unfortunately getting used to being aimed at him. “I am getting, so sick of your apologies.” She told him through gritted teeth. “Thanks to you, in the back of my head I am still unwillingly coming up with ways to excuse what Rebekah has done.”

“You are the one person he listens to. I needed you to talk him down.” Elijah reasoned.

“Playing mediator was not my job or my wish at that moment.” She argued angrily as she jerked the blade out of his hand and tossed it into the sink. “He looked like death warmed over and all I wanted was to be there for him, however he needed me. Rather that was simply nursing him back to health or talking him out of killing his sister.”

“You made it perfectly clear you had no intentions of that.” Elijah pointed out.

“I was angry with her and pissed at you for stabbing him!” She yelled at him, but she stopped, closed her eyes and placed her hands on the bar as she took a deep breath then let it out. “I said things I didn’t mean. If you seriously think I’d ever really want him to kill her,” she looked back up at him, “for him to live, knowing that he was the one that took her from this world…then you really don’t know me at all.”

“Yes, well, you were not the only one who was angry.” He pulled the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his hand where she had stabbed him.

“Oh I’m aware.” She used her hand to scrape the banana slices off of the cutting board into a bowl of honey nut cheerios. “Klaus and Rebekah aren’t the only ones who inherited the Mikaelson temper. You, in your anger, kicked a friend of mine out of this house.”

“You made a friend amongst the riffraff. Why does that not surprise me?” he asked, his air of superiority pissing her off.

She grabbed the jug of milk out of the fridge and took the cap off. “Just because they were loyal to Marcel and Klaus does not make them unworthy of being in the presence of the holier-than-thou Elijah Mikaelson.” She poured some milk in her bowl then capped it and looked at Elijah. “My friend's name is Nate and he is welcome here anytime I damn well please.” She grabbed her bowl of cereal and took a bite.

“If I find out he has less than honorable intentions for you I will put an end to them.” Elijah warned her.

“I’ve come to expect no less from you.” she replied and started to walk off.

“Katie.” She turned back to him with a sigh and an eye roll. He walked over to her, placed his fingertips on her cheek then looked into her eyes. “You are free of my compulsion.”

She blinked out of the compulsive state then took his hand off her face. “Thank you. Now, if you ever compel me again, you can expect more than a slap to the face and a knife through your hand.”

TVDTVDTVD

Later that evening Elijah led Katie to the court yard where Nate stood near the fountain. “He asked to speak to you.” Elijah told her as they walked down the stairs.

“Nate, what are you doing here? Elijah could have killed you.” Katie asked as she walked over to him and the other two vampires.

“I don’t want to leave the quarter. It’s my home.” Nate answered. “Most of the others are across the river following Diego, but I have a different leader in mind.” He made a motion at her with his hand.

“Me?” Katie asked with raised brows and a disbelieving tone. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Hear me out.” He told her defensively. “I understand that you have Klaus and Elijah, but they can’t always be with you. You’ve complained in the past about not being about to go out and about without one of them with you to make sure the witches leave you be. You need a body guard since your dad left. Besides, I kind of thought we had become friends and I don’t leave my friends even when an original tells me to.” He glanced at Elijah who was standing behind Katie then back at her.

“Don’t you have friends amongst the people that you’re leaving behind for me?” Katie asked with a narrow eyed head shake.

“Not really, no.” he answered as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “I’ve lived here for five years. Only a year of that has been spent with Marcel and his people and the whole time I was with them I never felt like I was one of them. You’re the first friend I’ve had here.” He finished with a shrug.

“Then how did you get a daylight ring so fast?” Katie asked.

“I was a vampire before I moved here. Not all witches hate vampires, as you well know.” He pointed out with a motion to the daylight ring she still wore. “If I have to follow a leader to live in this city then I choose you.” he told her with a shrug.

“I say he can stay.” Klaus’s voice hit their ears and they both looked at him as he walked down the stairs to stand beside Elijah. “Though, I’m not sure my opinion is the one that matters at the moment.”

“I would like him to stay here and be able to come and go as he pleases.” Katie said with a look at Elijah.

Elijah frowned in thought and crossed his arms over his chest. After a few seconds that felt like minutes he gave Katie a nod then looked at Nate. “Do not make me regret letting you stay.” Nate gave him a nod.

A Week Later

Katie sat at a chair at the hair salon in the quarter, the hairdresser cutting her long hair that hadn’t been cut in over a year, back into the style Katie preferred which was shoulder length with layers and side bangs. Nate sat in a chair outside keeping an eye on every person that entered the salon while pretending to read a newspaper.

“You know,” Genevieve said as she sat down in the empty chair next to Katie that wasn’t being used by a hairdresser, “You may have Klaus wrapped around your finger, but I’ll have that little knot untied in no time.”

“Excuse me?” Katie asked with raised brows as she looked at Genevieve out of the corners of her eyes, not able to turn her head for fear of messing up her stylist.

Genevieve propped her elbow up on the armrest of the chair. “Once he sees how powerful I am and that I can offer him things you could never dream of, he’ll realize you are nothing more than a has been.”

“You’re forgetting two little problems with your theory.” Katie pointed out, turning her head while her stylist sprayed her hair with water, to give Genevieve a glare. “I’m pregnant with his daughter, and he loves me. He’d never leave me for an overconfident little witch bitch like you.”

Genevieve looked at her painted red nails and shrugged. “We’ll see about that.” she gave Katie a confident smirk as she stood and walked away.

Not two seconds later Nate sat down beside her. “I tried to stop her, but she did that stupid thing witches do where they make it feel like your head’s going to explode.” He told her with a rub of his temples.

“It’s fine.” She told him with a shake of her head.

“Are you gonna tell Klaus?” he asked, sounding worried.

“That a witch got past you or that said witch is out to snatch him away from me?” she asked with a look at him before the stylist asked her to look straight ahead. So she did.

“Um…both?” he answered though it sounded more like a question.

“I have to warn him that she’s after him, even though she could try as hard as she wanted to and she’d never come between us.” she answered. “Don’t worry about Klaus. Unless you do something incredibly stupid like side with our enemies, you’re safe.”

Present Time

Elijah stood in the doorway of Katie’s recording studio watching her where she sat on the couch in the control room, practicing guitar that she’d been getting lessons to play. She’s also been getting lessons on recording and writing music. “What is that you’re playing?” he asked curiously.

“You mean other than a guitar?” she asked then looked away from her fingers on the guitar strings to give him a smile that let him know she was joking with him. He gave her a small, fleeting smile back as he walked in and sat down in the chair at the control table, facing her. “It’s a song of mine, ‘Lonely’.” She answered.

“May I hear it?” he asked hopefully.

“Mmmm…I don’t know…” she answered with a draw. “It’s kind of depressing and I’m not that good yet.” She reasoned with a motion to the guitar.

“I promise not to judge.” He told her with a serious look then gave her a small smile.

“Fine…” she sighed then turned her attention to her guitar and started playing a slow, melancholy tune and sang. “I’m slowly killing myself. Trying so hard at the back of the shelf. It’s just the same every day. I’m writing these songs that will never get played. I get told what’s wrong and what’s right. I don’t have a fantastic life. Everyone’s dying so I keep on trying to make ‘em proud before they’re gone. Can’t someone help me, please, someone help me. I don’t care, anyone or anything ‘cause I’m so sick of being so lonely.” She finished at what she had learned to play then looked at Elijah to see him frowning. “It sucks, I know…” she sighed and set the guitar on the couch beside her.

“No, it was good.” Elijah countered still with a frown on his face. “When did you write it?”

“The end of sophomore year, right after Elena’s parents died. Why?” she asked with a frown.

“Because what I just heard was a literal cry for help.” He told her, sounding really worried.

“Let me guess you thought I’d been feeling neglected by Klaus and lonely because he’s been…entertaining, Genevieve.” She said with a smirk that told him he was being ridiculous. He just nodded. “I knew what I was getting into when we started this whole thing. He’s not neglecting me. I still get just as much time with him as I always did. She gets his days, I get his nights and after Klaus’s wolf relatives and the crescent wolves have moonlight rings on their fingers…she gets dropped on her bony little ass.”

“You are aware that in order to keep up the charade Klaus will eventually be required to give her some of your nights, right?” Elijah pointed out.

“I’m aware.” Katie nodded.

“She will grow suspicious if she even so much as suspects that you and Klaus are still together.” He reminded her.

“And have I not played my part perfectly?” Katie asked, getting irritated with him.

“You have, which is what confuses me.” he told her with a frown. “How are you okay with him indulging her?”

“Because I know where his heart truly lies and that everything that happens between them means absolutely nothing to him and everything to her.” Katie argued.

“How can you so callously crush someone’s heart when yours has been broken so many times?” Elijah asked.

“Because after torturing him and Rebekah, threatening to take Klaus from me and therefore break up yet another part of his family she deserves to get dropped on her ass.” Katie answered then decided to change the subject a bit. “So how’s it going with your end of things?”

“I have gotten the new faction leaders to agree to a meeting this afternoon.” He answered. “Would you like to join me in leading it?” he asked, catching Katie a little off guard. “Diego and Hayley respect you.”

“Yes, but Genevieve will be there representing the witches. Witches, who I need not remind you, I have a special hatred of. Putting the two of us in one room together will be like putting two angry vipers in a tank and watching them fight to the death. It will be counter productive to the mission.” Katie pointed out.

“Yes, you are probably right about that.” he agreed.

“Is she gone yet?” Katie asked, missing the enhanced hearing she once had as a vampire.

Elijah listened for a moment. “No. She and Niklaus are talking, but it’s nothing of import. Would you like me to interrupt and urge her to leave?”

“Yes, please.” Katie told him with a thankful look.

TVDTVDTVD

That afternoon, while Elijah and Genevieve were at the summit, Katie and Klaus had lunch together. “So, how are things with Genevieve?” Katie asked before she took a bite of her b.l.t. sandwich.

“I believe she has grown suspicious.” He answered making Katie give him a curious look. “I noticed a willows hoop dream catcher, adorned with the bones and feet of a chicken, on a shelf in our quarters.”

“She’s spying on you.” Katie observed getting a look from Klaus that asked how she knew about the witch’s use of dream catcher spy glasses. “Fiona’s mother used them all the time to keep tabs on my father. That way she wouldn’t get caught healing my back.”

Klaus looked at her with sadness in his eyes and she knew it was because he too knew what it felt like to have his flesh split open with tiny strips of leather. He took a deep breath, then let it out and took a bite of his lunch. “Yes, she is spying on me. So we can no longer sleep in our quarters.”

“Because if you move or destroy the dream catcher it will only further her suspicions.” Katie sighed.

“And I’m afraid her suspicion stems from the fact that she and I have been taking it too slow. My actions do not match my reputation.” He added. “It is time I took the next step with her…”

“Well,” Katie paused to swallow the food in her mouth then continued, “we knew this was going to happen sooner or later.” she pushed her empty plate away and took a drink of water from the clear wine glass.

“I can not tell if you are hiding your resentment with indifference or if you truly do not care rather or not I sleep with Genevieve.” He observed.

“Klaus…” she sighed as she stood from the chair and walked around the table to lean her butt against it as she looked down at him, “I truly don’t care if you have sex with her. If you’re comfortable using it as a tool of manipulation then so am I.” she assured him. “All of this…Elijah working to unite the factions, us empowering the werewolves and manipulating Genevieve into doing so…it’s all to achieve one main goal.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “Create a safe environment for our daughter with you and the werewolves at the top of the totem pole. It will take time, but I have all faith that we can make it happen.” He scooted his chair back and grabbed her hips as she slid to stand in front of him. “I’ve asked you before and I have to ask again…are you comfortable using sex to manipulate her?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done a thousand times before.” He answered as he slipped a hand over her stomach. “It’s easy when she means absolutely nothing to me.” she gave him a look that asked him to give her a straight answer. “Yes, I am comfortable with it.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.” She told him then leaned down and pressed her lips to his. “Though I worry a little,” she made a pinching gesture with her thumb and pointer finger, “that she will be better than me, all things considered.” Her eyes glanced down at her massive stomach.

“You needn’t worry about that.” Klaus assured her as he stood up and looked down at her.

“But I do.” She replied as she slid her hands up his chest. “I can hardly breath these days much less satisfy you…” her eyes slipped from his to look at her hands on his chest. “Besides, you clearly have a thing for redheads considering I found a painting you made of a very beautiful woman with long, wavy, red locks in the attic.”

“How do you know it’s one of mine?” Klaus asked with a tilt of his head.

“Because I’ve watched you paint enough to know your brushstrokes when I see them.” Katie answered.

“I’ll admit to having a predilection for red hair.” he told her before he pecked her on the end of her nose, “However, you…are the red head I crave every second I am away from you.” he leaned down and caught her lips in a long, slow, sweet kiss.

When it broke she looked into his blue eyes. “I love you, Big Bad Wolf.” He just smiled and slipped his thumb over her cheekbone. “So…how’s Father Kieran?”

“His lucidity is slowly deteriorating.” Klaus answered. “I’ve heard talk of him being replaced as the leader of the human faction.”

“By who?” Katie asked with a frown.

“Francesca Correa.” He answered. “She is the city’s leading philanthropist.”

“So she’s a do-gooder like Father K.?” Katie asked curiously.

“She also owns the biggest casino in the city and is the matriarch to a rather sizable drug trafficking empire.” He added.

“Okay…definitely not a do-gooder.” Katie drawled. “Have you spoken to Cami?” Klaus just shook his head as his cell phone dinged in his back pocket.

“The summit is over. No doubt Genevieve will be here soon.” He told her.

“I will be so glad when this is all done and she is banned from this house.” Katie sighed.

“That makes two of us.” Klaus told her then pecked her on the lips. “Until then we all have our parts to play.”

Katie simply blew air between her lips as she led her head fall forward to rest on his chest. Knowing what she was feeling he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

TVDTVDTVD

With Nate at her side Katie looked through maternity dresses on a rack in the local maternity boutique. “So why are you going to this party?” Nate asked as he looked through a rack then held up a black dress and she shook her head no.

“Because it’s partially my responsibility to help Klaus and Elijah make this place safe for my child to grow up in.” She answered and he held up another dress. “Ooh, I like that one.” She took it from him when he held it out to her and draped it over her arm. “And you wonder why I thought you were gay when we first met.” She commented with a playful smile.

“Hey, a guy doesn’t have to be gay to know what will look good on a woman.” He defended.

“Oh I’m aware.” she replied with a laugh.

“For curiosity’s sake why did you think I was gay?” he asked as he held up another dress that she liked and tossed it over her arm.

“You’re pretty for a guy.” She answered and he gave her a “get serious” look. “And I mean that in a very…Jensen Ackles kind of way.”

“Thanks…I think.” He told her as he held up another dress and she shook her head.

“You’re welcome.” She told him then looked at her arm to see that she had way too many dresses stacked on it. “I’m going to go try these on.” After waiting for what felt like forever for her to be done she stepped out of the dressing room in a dark blue form fitting dress that stopped just above her knees with a deep v cowl neckline and long sleeves. “Be honest, what do you think? Is it too plain?”

“I think if you wear that dress every male at the party as well as some females might have heart attacks.” He answered.

“Is that a good thing?” Katie asked with an unsure look down at the generous amount of cleavage that the dress revealed.

“Yes.” He answered. “And no, it’s not too plain.”

“It doesn’t look like I’m trying way too hard to be sexy when in reality I look like a blue whale?” she asked self-consciously.

“No.” he answered. “If your goal is to make Klaus remember what he left for a shapeless bean pole with no personality setting other than bitch, then this is your dress.”

“What would I do without you?” Katie asked fondly.

“You would be a hopeless mess too scared to leave the compound.” He answered, then smiled and shook his head. “Na, you’d be just fine, friendless, but fine. Now go change, I still need to buy something to wear to this fancy pants shindig.”

She ducked back behind the curtain of the changing room. “You’re coming tonight?” she asked knowing that parties weren’t usually his thing.

“You think I’m going to let you walk into a room of witches, werewolves and vampires without a bodyguard?” he asked as if her question was silly. “No. I’m your self appointed friend date.”

Katie just laughed to herself at his silly over protectiveness. “You know both Elijah and Klaus will be there right? Neither of them will let anything happen to me.”

“Yes, but Elijah will most likely be working the floor ensuring that everyone gets along with each other and Klaus will have his head up Genevieve’s butt.” He pointed out.

“Okay, fine, you can be my friend date.” She told him as she pulled her maternity shirt over her head then stepped out of the booth and shrugged her jacket on.

TVDTVDTVD

Loud dance music floated upstairs from the party that was kicking off downstairs and into the bedroom that was attached to the nursery where Katie stood at a vanity fastening a shimmering bracelet around her wrist. When it was secured she took off the necklace Klaus had given her and added some small shimmering beads to the chain dressing it up to match the form flattering dress. Klaus let himself in and quietly closed the door. Katie turned to see him dressed in a black suit with a black dress shirt and a black and gold printed tie. “Hello handsome.” Katie greeted with an appreciative tone that suggested if she had it her way they wouldn’t leave the bedroom at all tonight.

Klaus growled, low and deep, as he sat his hands on her waist then slid them down to her hips and caught her lips with his. “Was it your intention, when you chose that dress, to torture me all night?”

Katie laughed and he noticed a devious tone in it. “I chose it to show Genevieve that regardless of what she thinks even eight months pregnant I’m still sexier than she’ll ever be. Torturing you and making you think only of me all night was just a happy side note.”

He gave her an impressed look with his lust filled eyes. “You haven’t peeked at the nursery have you?” he asked considering he knew it was tempting to do so, but he hadn’t finished it yet and didn’t want her to see it until he was done.

“I promised you I wouldn’t.” she told him with an eye roll and he gave her a look that told her to be honest. “No, I haven’t peeked at your unfinished project.”

“And you remember your role for tonight?” he asked, getting back to business.

“Yep, hang out with Nate, look defeated when I see you with Genevieve, help keep an eye out for tension and if need be distract Genevieve catty, immature banter while you’re talking to Jackson who is the alpha of one of the two branches of crescent wolves.” She answered then slid her hands over the smooth skin of his neck.

He smiled down at her but it faded when an uncomfortable look flashed across her face and she placed her hand on her stomach. “What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly concerned.

“It’s nothing.” She assured him with a shake of her head as her face relaxed.

“Katie.” He drawled in a warning tone.

“Klaus.” She mimicked back. “It’s just Braxton hicks.”

“You’re sure?” he asked with wide worried eyes.

“I’m sure.” She assured him then dropped her hand from her loosening stomach. “I know what contractions feel like. I’ll tell you when I start feeling the real thing.” He breathed out a heavy breath and rested his forehead on hers. “I know you grow more anxious the closer we get to the due date…” she sighed as she grabbed his hands off of her hips and threaded their fingers together as she looked into his steel blue eyes. “But we’ll be okay.”

It was rare for him to let her see him vulnerable, but every time he did it just reminded her how much he cared for her and trusted her. Eventually, as the music outside grew louder, Klaus let go of her hands and pecked her on the lips. “Let’s get this show on the road shall we?” he asked as he held his hand out to the door for her to go first.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie and Nate were sitting at a table munching on some hors d’oeuvres when Genevieve and the three harvest girls walked in from one entrance. At the same time, a group of people led by two rustically handsome men, one with long blond hair and the other with shorter, but still long brown hair, came in from the second. “I’m guessing those guys are the crescent wolves?” Katie asked Nate.

“Yep. Something tells me it’s only a matter of time before this party gets interesting.” He answered then noticed her plate was empty so he grabbed his then motioned to hers, “you done with that?” she gave him a nod so he went to pass the plates off to a waiter. While he was gone she watched Elijah join the party and Katie was going to go talk to him and compliment him on his party planning skills, but another woman beat her to it and started flirting with him. “Feeling jealous?” Nate asked as he joined her at the tall table and handed her a champagne flute of sparkling white grape juice.

“What?” she asked looking away from the woman and Elijah, to a smirking Nate. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Um, probably because you two were a thing once upon a time.” He answered getting a frown from Katie considering she never told him about her past with Elijah. “It’s kind of public knowledge that you were soul bound to him and the link only broke because your soul shattered. The recovery from which led to you being able to get knocked up by Klaus when you were still a vampire.”

“My life’s story is public knowledge?” she asked with raised brows and he nodded. “Wow, that sucks. But to answer your question, no I’m not jealous. I’m curious.” She told him with a sigh then looked to see that Elijah was elsewhere, but the woman still stood at the table choosing desserts.

“You’re curious?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Last I heard he was dating Hayley. So when I see him flirting with whoever that chick is, yeah I get a touch curious.” She defended.

“That chick is Francesca Correa.” Nate informed her with a smirk.

“Would it completely and totally annoy you if I asked you to be nosey and tell me what Elijah and Diego are talking about?” Katie asked with a nod of her head at the two men.

“Not at all, I love being nosey.” He told her with an interested smirk then noticed her giving him a look. “What, guys can be nosey too.”

“I knew there was a reason I like you.” she told him with a laugh that he playfully shushed.

“Elijah is telling Diego to be polite and welcoming to the wolves, but they killed Diego’s family and would have killed him too had Marcel not saved him.” Nate told her while continuing to listen then Katie watched as Elijah said something to Diego and walked away.

“What did Elijah say back?” Katie asked, but when she looked at Nate she saw that he was looking off to the side and up. She followed his gaze and realized he’d noticed Klaus and Genevieve standing on the upper balcony talking.

“Elijah used fancy words to tell him to suck it up and Genevieve just called you a walking incubator with trashy taste in fashion.” He answered. The insult didn’t bother her, it wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard a thousand times before in her life. What bothered her was when Klaus placed his hand on Genevieve’s shoulder and said something to make her smile before he kissed her.

It wasn’t passionate or even a lingering kiss, but it was still a kiss and the first time Katie had actually seen them together. “If you squeeze that glass any harder it’s going to break and slice your hand open. I don’t need to tell you how bad that would be given the amount of vampires in the building.” Katie tore her eyes off of Genevieve, who’d seen her giving them a glare that if looks could kill would have Genevieve coughing up blood, then set her flute of juice on the table. She flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She answered. He ducked into her line of vision and raised his brows at her. “No, but…I have to be.” She told him with a sigh. “Otherwise I’m not and I can’t deal with that right now.”

“Well, I would offer you a drink, but…” he motioned to her stomach.

“Yeah, trust me, if I wasn’t pregnant I would have found my way to the nearest container of bourbon and drank half of it already.” She told him with an aggravated look then picked up her glass and downed it.

“You know they say the last month of pregnancy is all hormones and mood swings. So, just, keep that in mind.” He told her in an attempt to make her feel like less of a crazy person and she gave him a thankful look.

An hour later, Nate had left her to dance with a witch that had been eyeing him all night. So Katie stood at the table by herself watching him dance with the witch and Elijah dance with Hayley. She was supposed to be keeping an eye out for fighting or tension, but so far the entire party had been going according to plan. So when Jackson, the rustically handsome brunette werewolf, interrupted Elijah and Hayley and Hayley started dancing with him, Katie left the table she’d been hanging out at to go to Elijah. “Save me from my boredom?” she asked with her hand held out to him.

“Gladly.” He took it and gave her a spin before she placed her other hand on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Did she just ditch you?” Katie asked with a glance at Hayley.

“She just informed me that she and Jackson were betrothed right after their birth and considering she is eight weeks pregnant with his child they are going through with the ceremony.” He told her with a displeased look.

“But Jackson and the other crescents haven’t even been cured for a full month.” Katie thought out loud. “So that means…” she couldn’t make herself finish her sentence. It meant that Hayley has slept with Jackson while being courted by Elijah. “I warned her-”

“It’s fine.” He cut her off.

“She cheated on you. That’s not okay in my book.” Katie argued with a frown and a glare at Hayley who saw and averted her eyes in shame.

“They got caught up during a full moon and sparks flew.” He defended Hayley. “I can’t say I do not know the feeling.” She knew from the look in his chocolate browns that he was talking about the sparks that once flew between the two of them. “I just did not feel it with her.”

“What about Francesca Correa?” Katie asked and he narrowed his eyes and shook his head not knowing what she was talking about. “I saw you two flirting earlier.”

“She flirted first and I flattered her because she is the new head of the human faction.” He explained.

“Either way, she has a thing for you.” Katie told him noticing Francesca gave Katie the stink eye. “She doesn’t like that I’m dancing with you.”

“Well, you are incredibly threatening to the entire female population in that dress.” He replied purposely making it a point to not look any lower down than her eyes.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She told him before he gave her another twirl making her smile.

TVDTVDTVD

Katie was dancing with Nate when a confrontation between the blond werewolf guy, who’s name she’d learned was Oliver, and Diego broke out. As soon as Diego threw Oliver into a glass table, shattering it, Nate whooshed Katie up to the second floor away from the fight. Soon after, Elijah pinned Oliver’s head down on a table while Jackson held Diego against one of the wooden columns with a stake on his chest. “This ends now. I won’t ask again.” Elijah told Oliver.

“Oh we’ll end it alright.” Jackson said, making Elijah look over his shoulder to see that he had Diego pinned down.

“So end it.” Katie spoke up as she left Nate and started walking down the stairs and into the middle of the courtyard. “Kill each other. Get it all over with.”

When she walked past Klaus where he had been talking to Francesca she heard her ask him, “Shouldn’t you intervene or something?”

“Why would I? This party just got interesting.” Klaus replied. “Besides, I want to know what’s going to come out of that talented little mouth of hers.”

Katie ignored him and kept her eyes on Elijah and Jackson. “Except that it won’t be over. It will just be one more hate crime to add to the long list. Let’s take a look at the “crimes” each of the factions shall we?” She air quoted the word crimes as she looked at Jackson and Oliver. “The werewolves have a natural and uncontrollable tendency to turn feral one night a month and tear people to shreds. Therefore getting on everyone’s bad side and we all know that the wolves and vampires have hated each other since the creation of time.”

She turned her eyes to Elijah and Diego. “Then there's the vampires who ticked off the witches by throwing a wrench into their harvest ritual and using one of their own to control them. And, well, they anger the werewolves and humans simply by existing.”

From there she looked at the witches. “In retaliation for the vampires and the leader of the human faction getting in the way of them gaining more power with their ritual, the witches hexed not one, but two humans. Long before that they also cursed the werewolves to live in their wolf form save one day of the month. And to top it all off they’ve angered the original vampires with their repeated attempts to get rid of my unborn child.”

Lastly she looked at Francesca, “Then there’s the human’s…” she sighed. “From what I’ve seen they turn a blind eye as long as the money keeps rolling in and when it stops they go on a killing spree of whatever faction cut them off.”

“Are you approaching a point?” Elijah asked, still pinning Oliver’s head to the table.

“My point is…” she turned to look at everyone else in the room, now speaking to them. “We all have reason to hate each other, but we need to put the past in the past, step out of the hate tainted shoes of our ancestors and come together to create a thriving community. Not just for ourselves, but for future generations as well. Otherwise we will constantly be looking over our shoulders waiting for the next war to break out…the next crime to be committed, and I don’t know about all of you, but that doesn’t seem like much of a life to me.” she paused and looked at the four men still frozen in place with their eyes on her. “So, boys, what’s it going to be, murder and war… or peace and hope for a better future?” she asked and the men let go of one other and brushed themselves off. “Alright then,” she looked at the DJ standing at a table in the corner of the silent courtyard and made eye contact with him. “laissez le bon temps rouler!” she waved her finger in the air in a wrap it up manner and the DJ turned the music back on kicking the party back up.

Klaus gave her a proud smirk when they caught each other’s eyes as she turned and headed back up the stairs where Nate still stood. “You are aware that you just did a New Orleans style mike drop right?”

“I’m not sure I’m aware of anything that just came out of my mouth.” She answered as she turned her back to the crowd, leaning on the wooden railing then stared off into the distance. “I hate being the center of attention.”

“Then what possessed you to stick yourself in the limelight?” Nate asked curiously.

She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know, I just…I saw Elijah slam that werewolf’s head into a table and Jackson threaten to kill Diego and something in me just…snapped.” She explained then met his green eyes.

“Well, this is your home now and you’re not just a human, you used to be a vampire and you’re carrying a baby that is three out of the four factions. You have good reason to want them to all get along.” Nate pointed out.

“Yes, but that doesn’t give me the right to jump onto a soapbox and lecture them like I’m some kind of high and mighty, all knowing-”

“Queen?” she heard Klaus ask and looked to her left to see him walking over, “May I steal a minute, mate?” he asked Nate who nodded and walked off.

“I’m not a queen.” She told him with a head shake.

“That speech you just gave suggests otherwise.” He countered. “You may not see it, but everyone else does. You were born for this role. All you have to do is open your mouth and people respond.”

“Born for it or not I wasn’t born into it.” she argued as she turned around and looked down at the crowd. “This has only been my home for a little under eight months. Those people have lived here their whole lives.” Genevieve, standing at a table with the harvest girls, minus Davina, looked up at them and Katie frowned. “Queen or not we shouldn’t be talking right now. So,” she gave Genevieve a challenging look as she turned from the crowd to face Klaus and placed her hand on his shoulder. She started seductively talking to and touching him, “I’m going to flirt with you like the desperate, has been, walking incubator she thinks I am and you’re going to look at me like I’m pathetic, reject me then walk away.”

His face took on a look of disdain as he removed her hands from where they were slipping under his suit jacket then towered over her as he grabbed her face in his large hand and looked her in the eyes. “I love you.” from far away, especially from the angle Genevieve was viewing the exchange from, it looked like Klaus had told her he loathed her.

Katie’s face twisted with a pained look and she surprised even herself with the tear that slipped down her cheek as he let go of her face, turned his back on her then walked away. She kept her eyes on him as he made his way to Genevieve then asked her to dance to the slow song that was playing. While they were dancing Genevieve glanced up at Katie and gave her a snooty, ‘I win’ smile then slipped her eyes back to Klaus. “Wanna take a walk, get some fresh air?” Nate asked as he walked over and stood beside her.

“Fresh air would be nice.” She answered as she took her eyes off of Klaus and Genevieve to look at Nate as she wiped the tear from her cheek.

They were on their way to one of the main exits when she heard Elijah call her name and stopped as he walked over to her. “May I have a moment?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” She answered, wondering if she’d said something in her speech that pissed him off, then looked at Nate who had also stopped, “I’ll meet you outside.” he went ahead and she turned her attention back to Elijah who placed his hand on her shoulder and walked her over to the desserts table. “What’s up?”

“First,” he grabbed a slice of cheesecake and a metal fork and held them out to her so she took them with a roll of her eyes, “I haven’t seen you eat much tonight. Also, I have been talking to the faction leaders and we all agree that you should join us in signing the treaty tonight. They believe you should take a seat at the table.

“What?” she asked around a bite of the plain cheesecake.

“With Rebekah no longer in the picture, the people see you as the Mikaelson matriarch.” He explained. “Not to mention you put things in perspective and gave them the final push that led to them all agreeing to sign the treaty tonight.”

“You call me a matriarch, Klaus calls me a queen, both are flattering, but insanely inaccurate.” She said with an animated shake of her head not understanding why Klaus and Elijah kept putting her on a pedestal.

“Katie, you are standing in a unique place of power as an important member of this community with the fresh, un-bias, view of an outsider. We are simply encouraging you to embrace it. However, it goes without saying that you do not have to do anything you do not want to do.” He told her diplomatically.

“Can I think about it?” she asked as she dropped her eyes to her cheesecake.

“Of course.” He answered, happy that she was even thinking about it. “We’re meeting here in the courtyard at 11 if you decide to sign it.” she just gave him a nod and headed outside where she found Nate sitting on a bench.

“So, what did Elijah want?” he asked as she sat down next to him.

“He asked me to sign the treaty.” She answered with a sigh as she slipped her hands over the itching skin of her stomach.

“Are you going to?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know.” She answered with a shrug. “On one hand I’m flattered and I want to step up to the plate, but on the other I just want to be a good mother.”

“You know, this is the twenty-first century, you can choose to be both.” He told her, making her look at him across her shoulder. “I think I speak for the masses when I say I think you should go for it. Take your place at the table and use your voice to make a difference.”

Katie took in a deep breath as she lifted her shoulders then let them fall as she let it out.

TVDTVDTVD

Elijah gave Katie a surprised look when he saw her walk into the courtyard and join him, Francesca, Genevieve, Diego, Hayley and Jackson where they all stood around a table that held the new treaty, a bowl and seven silver daggers. Diego was the first to pick up a dagger and cut his palm. Everyone else followed suit then held their hands over the bowl, creating the ‘ink’ they would sign the treaty with. Elijah dipped a quill pen in the blood then handed it to Diego who signed then handed it to Francesca who passed it off to Genevieve then on until Hayley handed Katie the pen. So Katie dipped it then signed her name and handed it to Elijah, the last to sign.

After a few words from Elijah the meeting dispersed. Katie and Genevieve headed for the stairs at the same time and bumped shoulders. Katie bit her tongue, gave Genevieve the most polite smile she could muster for such a horrid person, then stepped aside and waved for her to go first. “You know,” Genevieve started as they neared the top of the stairs, “you can flash your cleavage and flirt all you want, but you’ll never win him back.”

“Yet, I believe you’re time with him is limited and you know it.” Katie replied with a condescendingly chipper tone and her head held high as they came to a stop at the top of the stairs. “After the birth of our child he’ll be so wrapped up in his daughter and me, aka his family, that your little love spell on him will break and he’ll forget all about his witchy little play thing. So enjoy your borrowed time in our bed while it lasts.” Katie told her with a smile as she walked past her. “Goodnight.”

She knew she shouldn’t say things like that since it was technically true, but she was ninety percent sure that Genevieve saw her as a giant joke no matter what came out of Katie’s mouth.

[nehswritesstuffs]

Embrace the Raven - A Halloween Whouffle Event - Part 2 of 5

Hi all–the Clara’s Diner Discord server is at it again, except this time it’s a bunch of spooky and spoopy prompts for this, the autumn season!

687 words; this one was actually kind of hard…? Weird, I know; it was very difficult to just not wholesale recycle a bit from Courage the Cowardly Dog and you’re welcome; I deliberately kept this super-short since the prior fill was so long and the next couple are threatening to be longer ones as well

Days 8-14: Shadow | Ancient Curse

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The Doctor chewed idly on his forefinger as he looked at the stone slab before them. It was taking a while for the translation microbes to kick in this time around, and he was beginning to become concerned. Nothing was fitting in correctly, meaning this glyph was fuzzy and that was just scribbles, and it wasn’t looking promising.

“Anything yet?” Clara asked. She couldn’t see anything translated either, meaning it needed to take something a lot more long-lasting and powerful a translation program than normal.

“Not a thing,” he replied.

“Pretty close to thinking here that we might have just run into a language the TARDIS just doesn't know,” she shrugged. “Of course this would happen in such a romantic place.”

“Clara, this is a tomb.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

It was true—they were in the final resting place of some empress of… something… on some far-flung planet. The Doctor had said it, but Clara had forgotten, and it was giving her definite haunted vibes. She glanced around, seeing if there was any bit that the TARDIS was willing to take pity on them and translate anyhow, but no such deal. It was that way not only with the writing that looked like it should have been there, as well as the stuff that looked as though it was merely graffiti, bragging about how far deep the writer had traveled inside the tomb. None of it was very impressive, or elicited any sort of reaction at all, in Clara, so she was doomed to sit there, bored out of her mind until further notice. It wasn’t as though either of them had any chance at reading the glyphs, so she sat on the flagstone below her feet in an effort to get comfortable.

Before long, Clara had tuned the Doctor out, as it didn’t seem as though he was going anything much more than verbalizing the issue out in order to solve it. Sometimes this took hours, and so she decided to trace her pointer finger along some symbols carved into the wall next to her. As she did, the glyph began to glow in a pale blueish color, first gently, then brightly when she stopped mid-symbol.

“Uh… Doctor…?”

“Yes, Clara…?”

“I think you might want to look at this...”

In a moment he was by her side and observing the glowing glyph. He placed his finger on it and traced it backwards, allowing the symbol to grow dark.

“Is that what you did?”

“Yeah, just the other way,” she confirmed.

“Then it looks like we’re getting somewhere,” he grinned. “I knew I kept you around for a reason, Clara Oswald.”

“Is it because you don’t know what you’d do if you got your finger stuck in something?” she teased. He scowled at that.

“That too, but… you know what I mean,” he replied. After partially tracing the glyph back and forth, the Doctor completed the symbol, which made the carving glow brightly. The glow began to spread to all the other surrounding characters, which made him grin. “It’s like backlighting your keyboard,  but for wall carvings.”

“Are you so sure about that?” she asked, pointing at one of the glowing glyphs. It was a soft green color, prompting her to raise an eyebrow. “Did the species that built this suffer from any forms of color blindness?”

“Only the women,” he noted. The Doctor touched the green symbol and it had a ripple effect, turning the surrounding symbols green as well. His face fell and alarms went off in Clara’s head.

“Doctor…? What did we just do…?”

“I think what we just did was activate something that was supposed to prevent the Empress’s retainers from coming in and taking her out of the tomb,” he posited. “The TARDIS has finally caught up, and it looks dicey.”

Clara looked at the original glyph she traced and watched it shimmer and wobble until it became words in English: beware all who enter here, or suffer the wrath of the Watchers.

“Uh, Doctor, can we start running now?”

He swallowed hard and grabbed her hand. “You read my mind!”

[melodypond-thewomanwhomarriedme]

"Please believe me" for 11/river with lots of angst but a happy ending pleaseeeee :( I miss them so much :(

someone reminded me of the fact that 11 didn't tell cl*ra that river was his wife, or that he was married at all and it made me angry

The first thing she did when she regained consciousness was slap him.

It was instantaneous; one sharp slap as her expression contorted with rage and heartache as their eyes met. Her breathing grew heavy as she struck him, and though he expected it he still cried out in pain and stumbled a few paces back.

"How dare you," she hissed, and when he looked back up at her again, his hand covering his reddening cheek, he saw that she was quivering and her eyes were filled with tears. "How dare you, Doctor."

"River," he gasped, as she advanced on him dangerously again, getting out of the bed and striding calmly towards him. "River, I-"

"How could you trap me in that hell," she started, her voice quiet with fury, "and never return? No visits, no messages - I was in that computer for over a thousand years and you couldn't take a second away from your joyrides to even check if I was still there."

He gulped as she glared at him through her tears, still wearing that ridiculous garb she wore in Trenzalore, her hair like a majestic lion's mane against the bright lights of the medbay.

"I thought you would come back," she said, shutting her eyes. She seemed angry - but not at him this time. At herself. "I thought you would have the decency to just erase me if you couldn't find a way to save me. But you just went off gallivanting with your women. Did you even spare a thought for me at all? Or was I really just Professor Song to you?"

"Don't be - I - River - of course -" the Doctor stammered, but as she watched him, his cheek bright red from the force of her slap, she seemed to lose all the fight in her.

She turned back to the bed and leant on it, her shoulders hunched as she cried.

"I thought you would come back," she repeated, but instead of the fury with which she spat the words out before, now it was with a choked sob as tears poured out of her. "I waited for you. Every day I waited for you, until I realised that you wouldn't come. I was on my own. And then, after Trenzalore, it dawned on me - I was always on my own."

She turned and perched on the edge of the bed, looking at her husband with gaunt eyes and a wry smile.

"You never intended to save me, did you, my love?" she asked softly. "You trapped me there when we met but by the time we married you must have realised just how much I would have hated being in that data core - and yet you never had the decency to even see me there."

The Doctor shut his eyes and looked down. He didn't know what to say - she was right, about all of it. She didn't deserve him; she deserved a husband who loved her selflessly and he - he was the most selfish man in the universe.

"I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly, but it didn't sound enough.

"Did you even grieve for me?" she asked him, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. "Or did you find some other young, pretty thing to impress? What was her name - Clara, was it? I hope you treated her well, my love." she laughed harshly. " Better than you treated me, anyway."

"Of course I grieved for you," the Doctor answered softly, his eyes still shut tight. He couldn't look at her. "I never stopped grieving for you."

But she shook her head. "You didn't even tell anyone about me. Like I never existed at all." she pointed out to him. "Clara didn't even know you were married - what did you tell her I was?"

He didn't answer for a moment. And then he mumbled, "An ex."

She nodded once. "Is that what you want me to be? An ex? Was that what it took for her to fuck you?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "No, River -"

"I'm leaving," she interrupted. "If you want me to be an ex, then I'll be one. I've spent too much of my life trying to be someone you can love, Doctor. I'm not about to squander my second chance at living on someone who never wanted me in their life."

"Stop," he whispered.

"Why?" she challenged, eyes blazing. "You know it's true. I gave everything up for you. I gave my lives to you - every single time, I was there for you. And you couldn't even-" she closed her eyes and swallowed as more tears escaped. "You couldn't even get over yourself to visit me. Just admit that it's over, Doctor. Because I am so tired of hurting over this - over you."

"It's not over," he said softly, staggering towards her. His eyes were blinded with tears as he dropped to his knees and held her hands. "It's not over, River. You're right - you deserve better than me. You've given me so much that I don't deserve - and I couldn't - I'm not -" more tears escaped and he took in a shaky breath as he continued. "You asked if I grieved for you. I couldn't - after our last night, I didn't leave the Tardis for over a century. I held your pillow to sleep because it smelled like you. I drove myself crazy because I missed you so much it felt like my hearts were being ripped apart."

He looked up at her and kissed the back of her hands. She was watching him and crying silently, red rimmed eyes cautious but hopeful. But he could still see how betrayed and heartbroken she felt, and he wished that he was a better man.

"I'm sorry." he repeated again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You deserve a billion apologies after what I've done to you and it still wouldn't be enough." He pressed another shaky kiss to her skin and she felt his lips quivering against her. "When I found out you escaped, I - I couldn't get there fast enough. I was so - so unbearably happy, River. Happier than I'd ever been. It was like my hearts stopped ripping themselves apart."

He sighed, heavy and remorseful, as he looked down and shook his head. "But I don't deserve you. You're right, River. I didn't tell anyone about you. But only because - because every time I thought about you, all the pain would come flooding back. It reminded me that I could never be with you again. So I didn't tell anyone - it wasn't because - I didn't do it so I could -"

"Are you sure?" she asked, her voice gentler than it had been since she woke up. "She liked you, you know. I could see it. And my love, you are not as innocent as you like to pretend. If she's who you're with now and I've showed up and complicated things, just tell me."

His head shot up and he held tightly onto her hands as he answered with a firm, "No. It's not like that, River. I - not since - I couldn't. Please believe me. Please, River."

"But she-" River frowned. "So you didn't fuck her?"

The Doctor flinched at her curse, but shook his head. "There was never any chance of it."

River looked doubtful but didn't say anything. The Doctor sighed and stood, sitting next to her. She didn't move away but she didn't turn towards him either.

"I didn't forget you. You were everywhere, River. I could hear your voice in my head, telling me that I left the brakes on or scolding me for being so slow." he said. She remained motionless, looking down at her lap. "I know I haven't given you any reason to believe me, but I do love you, River. You're my wife. And I - I'm so happy to see you. I'm so happy that you're alive and breathing and - and free. And if you want to remain free, I won't stop you."

At that, she turned to look at him, her eyes slightly widened in shock. He continued, smiling reassuringly at her.

"You choose what you want, dear. I won't stop you. I can be in your life as your husband, or a friend, or," he paused, as though even thinking the words were hard. "Or I can not be in your life at all. I won't blame you if you choose that. But I wouldn't be a selfish old man if I didn't at least try to convince you to stay."

"Doctor," she whispered, but she didn't seem to know what to say.

"I will be better," he whispered, fresh tears springing into his eyes as he gazed at her. His expression was one of hopeful desperation - she recognised it from when they fought together and were on the brink of losing. She never realised she was something he wanted to fight for. "If it's for you, I know I can be better. Please let me try. You don't owe me anything - God knows I don't deserve this at all - but I swear, River, I'll do everything I can for you."

He reached out to touch her cheek lightly, wiping her tears away. "I've missed you so much. I love you so, so much, River."

He leaned towards her but before he could blink she threw herself into him, sobbing into his chest as she clutched tightly at him. His arms wound themselves around her automatically and he found himself holding her, stroking her hair and shushing her.

"Whatever you choose, dear," he whispered soothingly to her, rubbing her back as she shook in his embrace. "Just remember that I love you. Please, don't forget that."

She cried and cried and cried until she couldn't anymore, until tears refused to fill her eyes again. She felt so conflicted but she knew herself - she knew that there was never any choice to begin with. It was only ever him, the Doctor. Her stupid husband.

'You don't have to choose now," he told her softly, as she stopped shaking and simply rested her head against the wet spot on his chest where she cried. "Think about it for a while."

"I don't have to. I know what to choose," she mumbled against his chest. She pushed herself up and looked into his eyes, her hand reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. "Just please, don't make me regret it."

His eyes burned with more tears at the realisation that she was choosing him. He sniffed and dropped his forehead onto hers, hugging her tightly to him.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered again. "River, my wife, my partner - my equal. How could I ever fall in love with anyone after spending centuries loving you?"

She smiled against him. "Don't be an idiot, sweetie."

Their lips met for the first time in centuries.

[variousqueerthings]

It’s very obvious that you’ve been with him for awhile, because you are really good at the excuses

if no one else got me, I know Time Heist's got me! and, shockingly, it was co-written by M*ffat! I wonder if I should do a top ten episodes per season type list, because this is so far EASILY the best of season 8 and I imagine it'll stay there

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 9/10

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

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 8/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 4/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

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

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

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

this may be the highest M*ffat (co)-written episode so far -- the other writer is Stephen Thompson, who also did Curse Of The Black Spot (underrated) and Journey to the Centre of the Tardis (a bit of a missed opportunity, but cool Vibes)

this one is. it's good. also a pre-Bridgerton, waaay pre-Fellow Travellers Jonathan Bailey, and he's got a moment that made me go "wait, fun queercoding? M*ffat's economy???"

OBJECTIFICATION: Clara's in the objectively sexiest outfit of her entire time on this run -- a suit and thin tie. perfectly suited for the slickness of the episode, and finally giving her a bit of that lowkey bi-cred (listen, this may be contentious, but while obviously Clara is solidly considered to be bi, I don't think it's adequately confirmed on the show beyond a scant few jokes/male-gazey fanservice and Word Of God, so it's like... yes we can consider her bi, but she's not portrayed as such onscreen)

(I wonder if Big Finish have come through on that front, from what I've heard it's sooooo queer on the whole)

(Let Clara Be Bi On Big Finish (if she isn't already))

PLOT-POINT: Clara's got more Journey going on in this than the last one, which, considering what the last one was meant to be giving us (emotional exploration) and what this one is giving us (a fun Bank Heist!) is funny... M*ffat you were part of the writing of both of these???

this is one of those where they poke further at the way the Doctor just pulls Clara along in a very emotionally messed up way and she's left to be apologetic about his behaviour, but aaaaalso...

this could be subjective, but at the end the Doctor shows his true colours and the other two characters (Psi and Saibra my standouts for this season!) also very much forgive the way he's been acting for the rest of the episode, which I think makes sense

they realise the Doctor needed to do certain things (erase everyone's - including his own - memories, make-believe they're going to die, etc) in order to make sure that nobody died, and to get things to them that they'd never have been able to get otherwise, and can change their lives for the better and... it was all done to save someone

so it gives these two sides to the current Doctor as off-putting and secretive, and also someone who is trying to help everyone around him

this Doctor hasn't had so much of the latter half of this so far in this era, and it makes you think "ah yes, that's what Clara sees in him"

COMPLEXITY: ohhh an episode where the plottwists pay off? shocking, actually, genuinely

it's got some twisty-turns, but they're... they're good on the whole. it all centres on one particular concept, that this being can read thoughts and is a slave that must work for the bad guys, so everything has to be around not allowing this being to know what's going on whilst helping it out

I'm sure if I go deeper into it I'll find some holes here or there (such as "just keep your mind blank" as a valid plan for avoiding the mind reader, it's fine, I'll suspend my disbelief on that), but it's not trying to trick you, or to be overly clever for no reason, it's got a good core to the reason things are happening

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: there's not soooo much of this on the whole, it's Fun Bank Heist Time! but yeah, more stuff on the relationship between the Doctor and Clara

RIP if M*ffat had to bring characters back, why not Psi and Saibra (jk, they're mercifully great single-episode characters, we don't need to make them sexy recurring Cool Concepts)

COMPANIONS MATTER: again, this isn't much of Clara's episode on that front. she has some neat interactions with Psi that make us learn more about him and he in turn puts some thoughts in her head, and she's the reason why he sacrifices himself/teleports without knowing it

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: Yeeees this is a Doctor Machinations episode, but it's cool machinations, with a Point, and even consented to -- everyone goes into this one consensually!

and the Doctor's whole reason for doing things is... to rescue these two beings....

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's this cool bit where Psi, being an augmented human, makes the memory-sucking being believe he's every great/dangerous/etc criminal ever and the screen flashes everyone from a member of the Slitheen family to John Hart from Torchwood... that was good fun callback!

“SEXINESS”: can you believe this episode features just a host of the most attractive actors (JLC, Jonathan Bailey, Pippa Bennett-Warner!!!) and there's no stupid sexiness????? AND they were like "oooh what if Psi was an augmented human with a sexy haircut and plugs in his cranium, and Saibra was a shapeshifter who could take anyone's form with a touch and they were both dressed in lowkey cyberpunk coolness" and still resisted any stupid fucking Nonsense

this is hands down the sexiest episode of M*ffat's entire run, and it's purely on the strength of great characters, hot actors with neat character Types, cool AF costuming, and a plot with heart

INTERNAL WORLD: it's a big bank! it works. also the woman who runs it has clones of herself running every bank, which, I'm guessing this is during a time period where clones have no rights, so she can just "dispose" of them whenever they let her down

there's another neat concept in this about clone rights, but I'll let it slide, because this episode is already doing Many Things

there's also the suggestion of some hypercapitalist prison state outside of this, where families of potential bank robbers are incarcerated, again, great potential future concept, this episode is firmly, and correctly, centred on One Location

POLITICS: there's some stuff here -- clone rights, hypercapitalistic prison state, augmented human rights, and the mind-reader which is kept as a slave being the whole point of the story

I think what I like about this episode is that it's very much advocating against everything the bad guy stands for (see the above), and for kindness, support for one another, and respect for many ways of being. it's very scifi, but its core is in the right place

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

could this be the winner of the season?

the more I think about it the more it !!!!!!! it's not rated higher, because it is in the end a single episode concept, and that's not a point against it, it's just the limitation of this ratings system

if I were to say one thing it's wanting Clara to be incorporated more, but that's an issue for her entire run, much like Amy before her. M*ffat really struggles to write companions Doing Things In An Episode

still, Psi and Saibra, my besties, rocketed up to my top ten of single-episode characters (ooh, should do a list of that for nu!who) -- also Psi had this Moooment of shaking the Doctor's hand for a long time and inviting him on another bank heist...

Psi: If you ever need help with another uh… bank-heist

after which Clara hugs Psi goodbye and says in his ear: It’s not really his area

listen... listen I cannot say if this was what it was. but it certainly was more than I've ever seen in M*ffat's era of dull heterosexuality, walking gay jokes without names, and sexy lesbians in leather -- if that's what it was going for, I found it incredibly charming actually

although Clara, you've never met the Master or you wouldn't be saying that (also have we re-asexualised the Doctor? I think so mr M*ffat)