#meta: rose.

[terrifyingstories]

today on: flaws being my favorite ❤️

how rose won’t talk about anything Ever and then will have all this pain and resentment about people not understanding or recognizing what her experience has been like.

and in her defense, people often overlook her struggles and she’s had a lifetime of them being minimized (which of course fosters further refusal to be vulnerable. it makes perfect sense she doesn’t trust anyone with her pain because it’s never had permission to exist.) but again, she also won’t tell them even when she is around people who would gladly support her, hope that helps ❤️

[terrifyingstories3]

if there's one constant about rose's phone, it's that it's gonna be broken. between it being damaged in fights with deadly creatures of the night and rose dropping it, throwing it in frustration or oh my god did i really just send that text, FUCK, or her just generally being a menace, her screen is gonna be cracked. she'll get it fixed and she'll be battling it out with some strigoi and it'll end up cracked on the ground and she'll be inches away from strigoi teeth in her neck like "really. AGAIN? REALLY?!"

[zan0tix]

Assorted homestucks number 72382683

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Me, on a new date: Hey, have you ever thought about the fact that there are plenty of planets where "the Doctor" doesn't refer to the Time Lord carrying around the sonic screwdriver, but rather to the young women who swing through their lives and ask their names and demand answers and sacrifice themselves, to the young men who start off unsure and second-fiddle but bring a kindness, a loyalty, with them and end up finding their own voices and their own purpose? Do you ever think about the role that myth plays in Doctor Who, how so many companion exits and finales take on the role of storytelling, about how companions become gods and immortals and walk the entire dystopian earth and wait two thousand years and be the cause of every Cyberman's single tear and wrench the Doctor back into the universe and carry the story off of screen with them, that they birth myths in their wake, that Doctor Who finales so often leave science-fiction behind them and become mythology itself, when these humans insert themselves into the mythology of the Doctor only to usurp him, that they make themselves the Bad Wolf and Orpheus and the Woman Who Walked the Earth and the Doctor Donna and the Last Centurion and the Girl Who Saw the Stars and most of all, they become the Doctor themself, that the Doctor's story goes nowhere if Rose doesn't save him on Satellite Five or Amy doesn't pull him back into existence or Martha doesn't walk the entire hell-earth to restore him or Clara doesn't make him forget her or Jack doesn't sacrifice himself to stop the Daleks or Bill doesn't carry him away from the Cybermen or Donna doesn't stop him from drowning himself with the Racnoss or Yaz doesn't pilot the TARDIS or River Song sacrifices herself at the library or Sarah Jane and Mickey don't help restore the earth back to its place in the sky and that the Doctor is only a myth with so many stories to their name because their companions make it so-

My date, sliding the breadsticks out of their purse back onto the table, hopelessly intrigued: Go on...

[khruschevshoe]

We do NOT give Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith their props for their character growth in the Parting of the Ways. Rose is absolutely amazing, an absolute ferocious beacon of hope and stubbornness and bravery in the finale, the absolute reason why the Doctor lives and the world is saved and an equal hero to Nine, but she has a moment of doubt. A moment of hesitancy.

And Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler step in and help her save the day. Both Mickey and Jackie give up on their idea of Rose and their hatred of the Doctor and help her pull open the TARDIS. Even within this one episode we see them struggle with their feelings and decide to put them aside and help do this because Rose is right- this is a better way of living your life.

Doctor Who is about ordinary people making extraordinary decisions and making themselves extraordinary and this doesn't just apply to official companions (who I love with all my might)- it applies to the people they love, too. We see it over and over again in Davies' era, with Jackie and Mickey and Sylvia and Tish and Wilfred and Francine and Harriet Jones and every one-off character as well, from Lynda-with-a-Y to Jabe to Gwyneth to Novice Hame to McDonnell to Sally to Chantho to Nancy to all the rest.

Doctor Who is at its strongest when the story is focused on the strength of the bleeding, beating heart of humanity (and character in general, in its non-humans), when the characters drive the story, when at the end of the day you understand why, for all of the world's flaws, the Doctor comes back over and over again because of people like this- not just his companions, but the Jackies and Mickeys and all the rest of the world.

[oldbookshop]

something about how rose tyler gets mentioned after she's gone more times than any other companion does, but she's never mentioned to the doctor, just around them, and always in indirect ways. jack telling yaz about rose, donna calling for her daughter rose, war doctor addressing bad wolf girl, etc. hell, half the time it's not even actually rose tyler being mentioned. something something representative of rose tyler's existence in a parallel world, living with the doctor but not this doctor, relegated–in this universe–to only fleeting halfway mentions that the doctor can barely catch onto before they're gone

[partyrockin]

possessed by the homestuck brainrot demon of old to make this

[variousqueerthings]

the doctor being a part of the noble family has the energy of an addams family cousin -- imagines rose being in a school play and the doctor fixing up some gizmo to open up a tiny gap to some part of the universe where stars shine particularly brightly for midsummer night's dream, and accidentally almost levels the school by misjudging how close they are to this one very dense planet (people in the audience confusedly waving at aliens who are just as confusedly waving their tentacles back from a thousand years in the future a million light years away. everybody afterwards talks about the great special effects, but they're not sure what it has to do with the story)

people trying to figure out who this "the doctor" person is and why he's living with the nobles, and always trying to catch out that there's something going on, but the doctor's answers to all their inquiries are so lowkey bonkers as to bamboozle any further attempts (so where are you from again? oh just this place, well, I say place, planet, well, I say planet I don't actually know these days, but somewhere certainly... is Ipswich a place? how do you know mrs noble again? we travelled together for a bit, and then, well you know how it is when you get hit with a face full of radiation, ey *snort-laughs at his own joke* and what's your name again? doctor, the "the" is a pronoun, it can get confusing I know, but people on this planet choose their names all the time, you'll catch up)

just this house gremlin in a setup that nobody from the outside understands, toddling about, showing up at every event that rose has going for her, wearing little pride pins that might be partially for himself as well as for rose (gay??? one of those trans ones????), always seems to be talking about strange places that nobody has heard of but doesn't want to admit to, occasionally goes eerily still and unnerving around people who are cruel and mean, knows a lot about history, but peppers it with facts that can't possibly be true, gets on very well with shaun who always answers questions with "the doctor's part of the family, youknow?" they do not know, but at this point it's too rude to keep asking

[candyskiez]

can we talk about how garnet most likely got the story of the rebel hero rose quartz and the cruel pink diamond that created her from rose herself and how pink is described as a coward, cruel, wicked. and how rose told greg it's good he doesn't know anything about her. and how rose felt like she owed greg a list of everything shed ever done wrong. and how rose didn't tell pearl anything about what she did because she couldn't bear to lose that love. and how rose didn't think how her actions would effect pearl and in trying to destroy the part of herself that she felt did nothing but hurt and ruin everything and deserved to die, she hurt one of the people she loved the most. can we talk about the fact rose is a self fulfilling prophecy and destroyed herself twice. once asking pearl to kill pink diamond. and then by having steven. and how both times, it was out of love for change and hatred for herself. and wanting there to be someone better in her wake. and out of fear of what she'd done. and how at the end of the day her story is a tragedy because she believed everyone could change and become a better person. the only exception she had ever made on that was for herself. because she knew she used to be a horrible person and the one thing that scared her more than anything was the fact she didn't know how to fix it. so she didn't. she ended it all, and she prayed that the child in her wake would be a better person. because she, fundamentally, thinks she's irredeemable. and the only good thing she could do now was give her life to someone that deserved it.

can we talk about the fact that rose fucking quartz would rather die than try to confront the people she hurt because she thinks the only thing that'd do would hurt them more. and she can never learn to see the good she did as well. because all she thinks she does is hurt.

can we talk about the fact that rose isn't a twist villain, she's a fucking twist tragedy. oh my god. this fucking SHOW.

[relaxxattack]

people will really write rose as a badass girlboss as if her main character trait isn’t hubris. as if her main story arc wasn’t her fucking things over for everyone time and time again by assuming she was better and wiser. oh you think rose is a girlboss? rose who intentionally allowed herself to be corrupted by morally ambiguous terrors because she thought it might give her a slight mental advantage on the game? rose who willingly went along with the manipulation of a groomer because she thought his idea of putting a tumor into the universe was smart? THAT rose? that rose??? why don’t you ask her where the green sun is. since she’s such a competent and intelligent boss bitch

[lunaefall]

Looking back, this might actually be my favourite scene in the entire show (even if v5 was a mess).

The quote, "You're my daughter after all," hits different now. And I'll explain why.

Yang is nothing like Raven, because she's no coward who'll run. As she said, she'd face Salem when the time comes unlike Raven who'll just run away.

And in v8, this is exactly what she did.

So when Yang ignored her and walked past her, choosing to fight even in such an awful situation, it reminded her of the mission that killed Summer — where she too walked past Raven, willing to fight on even with the stakes.

And now we finally know why she cried — she realised Yang was always Summer's daughter, never hers.

[terrifyingstories3]

rose loves dancing and has a natural talent for it. she gravitates more to the kind of dancing you’d find at a party or club where there’s music she can find her rhythm in, but she likes other forms of dance, too. she would enjoy slow dancing even though she doesn’t really have much formal training in it with the right partner, and can pick up on things fairly quickly. she thinks dancing is really fun and also just really sexy and there’s a confidence and grace about her when she dances that makes HER very sexy without needing to try. it’s very intuitive to her and speaks to her learning style (physical). she’s the whole moment ya’ll

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

If it's not a spoiler, what would you say is WD!Rose's biggest weakness/flaw?

I would hope that her biggest flaws haven't really changed from the original show. It's not like she acquired some new ones just because Steven's there. At her core, her motivations and fears are still the same.

Largely, it's her self-hatred and self-doubt.

Rose Quartz has always been defined by her dislike of herself. It's in the lyrics of the end song. It's practically telegraphed at every episode she shows up in.

Rose Quartz popped out of the ground, was immediately defined by who she was (supposed to be) and then was pretty much immediately reprimanded by the other diamonds for acting out in any way that didn't fit their 'standards'.

Then she went to Earth, realized their standards were shite, and tried desperately to become someone else - while never believing that she could ACTUALLY change and grow to be someone new. To the very end, she thought that she was fooling the others, even as she tried to protect them.

Her entire arc is about desperately trying to be herself, and failing at every step of the way because she fundamentally doesn't believe she's capable of change. She looks in the mirror and she sees in past tense.

Rose, here, is faced with something she has been running after her whole life:

Living proof of how a Diamond could be Not A Diamond in a way that isn't deceiving anyone. In a way that is purely, entirely, fundamentally, changing who they are.

Rose adores Steven at this point in the story, as much as she is terrified of him and all he represents.

His ability to forget who he is supposed to be.

His potential for change, and growth beyond his programming.

And the looming threat of that all being just another lie, or a temporary fix that will shatter her hopes of ever becoming like him.

Of course... she doesn't know about his dreams, nor his internal struggles. But that's gonna be its own story. :)

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Alright, I'll say it: Jack Harkness and the Doctor's relationship is possibly the most fleshed out/complicated dynamic in Doctor Who and that is INCLUDING the master/doctor relationship. Seriously, think about it:

the fact that when they meet jack is presented as sleazy con man and the doctor makes him brave- makes him good

but that they are both willing to die for rose as long as she is safe

and then she comes back and dooms them both to live (even though jack has already died for her and the doctor WILL die for her)

(ninerosejack is canon and you cannot convince me otherwise)

but then the doctor sees jack as immortal as someone he COULD spend the rest of his life with

and instead of embracing it like you'd think he would because he is so wrecked by people leaving him/being left by him the doctor RUNS bc the Doctor is so scared of jack of what he means of what he is

jack ends up abandoned in dalek dust goes back in time to find the doctor suffers a hundred years alone/being tortured but STILL WAITS

(screw amy being the girl who waited or rory being the boy who waited- Jack Harkness is the boy who waited and he did it FIRST)

Jack finds out that he was abandoned. that the man that he loves HATES the sight of him. that the doctor would rather have a genocidal murderer than have him

and so Jack gets the hell out of dodge to go to a man who DOES love him

and don't get me wrong Jack loves Ianto and Jack DOES remember Ianto until he dies as the Face of Boe don't forget that (protecting Novice Hame from the virus as he couldn't Ianto

BUT AFTER EVERYTHING THE DOCTOR HAS DONE TO JACK JACK STILL LOVES THEM

Jack still considers five billion years cursed to never die to be BETTER than the alternative: dying a young time-agent-turned-con-man

Jack has more reason than any other companion save maybe Amy to hate the Doctor & yet spends 20 years in jail to rescue Thirteen still LOVES HER

AND AFTER FIVE BILLION YEARS HE ORGANIZES THAT FIRST MEETING ON SATELLITE FIVE HE ORGANIZES 9/ROSE'S FIRST DATE

jack harkness is a living ghost a reminder of the doctor's failures a physical fixed point and yet he still loves the girl who cursed him and the time lord that turned him into the kind of person that would give his dying breaths to protect the last of humanity in a dying city and tell the doctor that he is not alone

because fuck it, YANA was a warning but also a reminder a final gift

jack had been there all along, a ghost an echo a PROMISE

there is no more human character than jack harkness

[khruschevshoe]

You have to understand that the reason why Nine is my favorite doctor is not because he is grizzled or edgy or a bad boy- it is because he is, fundamentally, kind. He is full of hope and optimism and compassion and he tries to convince himself that he is wrong to do so because the world tries to convince him otherwise (Jabe's death, Dalek, Adam, the Time War, the Slitheen, etc.) And yet at every opportunity he is given he is in awe of the majesty of the universe and the wonder of human kindness and Rose is important because she reinforces this over and over, her ferocious humanity, her relentless empathy, her flirty teasing, her incredible warmth, the fact that she reaches out to a Dalek with kindness.

And it's not just Rose, either- there is Jack and Cathica and Jabe and Lynda with a Y and Harriet Jones and even Mickey and Jackie, they are all so incredible, so flawed and complicated and wonderful and Fantastic.

I love Nine because he is hopeful and kind and a coward, not a killer, any day. I love Nine because of the absolute sheer, healing joy we see as he gets to shout "Just this once, Rose. Just this once. Everybody lives!"

I love Nine because, at his core, he is the Doctor. He is a healer. He is angry and traumatized and carrying the weight of the universe but most of all, his heart, damaged and broken and so full of love for the universe and humanity and one girl in particular that he welcomed the time vortex into himself without a single regret. He regenerated not with tragedy or regret, but with pride and optimism.

I love Nine because "You were fantastic, Rose. And you know what? So was I."

[nail-art-no-jutsu]

🍅

Here's why I really love Sasuke and Itachi's parents, and why it makes complete sense that he'd want justice for them. Pro all these characters.

There's a lot that can be said about how Mikoto and Fugaku raised Itachi, how the boys got compared to each other, and how more often than not parents get more practice with parenting the more children they have, and so the last child gets to know them at a different parenting skill level...

But.

It really says a lot that Sasuke was able to actually go ahead and ask his mother a very difficult question for a child. It's easy to imagine that it's not the first time he came to her with a tough question, and it shows that she was a safe person for him to talk to.

And I like what she replied, too. I love how calm she was, a lot of parents and caregivers would absolutely take it personally and punish the child for daring to ask such a thing. Not Mikoto. She's listening.

Then she tells Sasuke that it only seems that Fugaku is paying more attention to Itachi because he's older and one day he will inherit his father's position. And more importantly,

Mikoto explains that basically Fugaku is generally sullen and awkward but it doesn't have to mean anything, and when they talk in private, he does talk about Sasuke all the time.

And if mother says that father talks to her about him, it's enough for Sasuke, he doesn't need to hear his father's words with his own ears. He doesn't sit there wondering, well great but what if I had never asked, because that kind of world isn't possible for him. He lives in a world where it is safe to ask his mother such things.

Right after that, Fugaku arrives and they have tea together. Sasuke doesn't feel comfortable asking why exactly his father and Itachi fought, at least not right now, but he does ask about the Sharingan, and says he'll master it one day because he is his son, which makes Mikoto smile:

She's glad to see that Sasuke is already acting like a boy who knows that he's important to his father, who never doubted that. He's acting like this to see if what Mikoto said really is true, and she doesn't take this personally either. She knows that Fugaku will respond in a way that Sasuke will appreciate.

And then the best thing happens.

Sasuke is brave enough now to talk to his father the same way he talked to his mother just earlier. If he wasn't safe to ask stuff like this before, he is now. He responded well to Sasuke's first question, about the Sharingan, and now he's asking something a lot more personal. He doesn't wait for Fugaku to leave so he can ask Mikoto instead.

We're shown that Fugaku is the same as Mikoto in the sense that he doesn't reject Sasuke just for asking such a thing, or even for thinking it, like many parents are capable of doing, he takes his question seriously, he doesn't even always have to be awkward, he trusts his young son with something surprisingly vulnerable:

So in short:

Sasuke: mom, why doesn't dad pay attention to me? also Sasuke: dad, why doesn't my brother pay attention to me?

Basically, even though Sasuke did have some difficulties at home, we see that both his parents were in fact open to communication, and I'm getting the impression that they regret not being able to do better with Itachi. In any case, Sasuke can be confident after this that both his parents care about his feelings, and that he can ask them anything. That if more problems appear they can be solved through communication.

How many children have parents like that?

And who wouldn't want to turn the world upside down to avenge them?

P.S.

I also think that this is what enabled Sasuke's interest in the truth later on, to the point that he would resurrect the previous Hokage to hear it. He's always been a questioner, and it was never frowned upon or rejected, he was loved unconditionally underneath it all, even if it did take, well, a bit of questioning to learn that.

Yeah!! 🍅🥰🤗

I bet they would have been the best in-laws too lol