#river : ✲ : musings

[scriptastra]

[expectiations]

The Doctor does NOT and has NEVER loved River Song (And If You Think Otherwise, You Must Be Watching a Different Show)

Listen, folks. It’s time to face the facts. The Doctor has NEVER loved River Song. Not even a little bit. And I have 17 rock-solid, completely canonical, absolutely not contradictory reasons to prove it:

He only took her to Calderon Beta to show her the starriest night in the universe on her first night in space jail, which was also their honeymoon night. A night that is literally impossible to replicate with anyone else ever again. But no, not romantic. At. All. Just two people who happen to be married, spending a totally meaningless night under the stars.

He only stuck around for the mystery of her and once it was solved, he… checks notes …continued planning elaborate dates, risked his life for her, wrote her poetry, spent centuries in her company, and doing domestics with her. But yeah. Definitely just a phase.

He kept an entire diary to track their time together. But that’s normal, right? Just an intergalactic, timey-wimey version of a Google Calendar for the woman he definitely does not feel any sort of romance for.

He was willing to let all of time and space collapse just so they could have a linear married life. You know, because that’s what you do for a woman you have no strong romantic feelings for whatsoever.

He planned intricate dates just for her, dressed up for the occasion despite usually looking like a sentient pile of laundry, and bought her custom-tailored outfits so they could match. You know, just friendly little outings. Buddies. Chums. Mates.

Whenever she calls, he comes. No matter the situation, no matter how much danger he’s in, he drops everything and rushes to her side. He’s probably just really into checking his voicemail.

He wrote her love poetry. But, like, strictly in a platonic way. Just some totally neutral iambic pentameter for the fun of it.

Despite being universally known for his terrible time management, he is always perfectly on time for her. Which, of course, doesn’t mean anything. He just suddenly became a scheduling genius when she was around.

He keeps asking her to travel with him. Like, repeatedly. Like, he can’t take the hint that she has a life outside of running around in space. Almost like he wants her there. But that would be ridiculous.

The entire universe knows that the easiest way to lure the Doctor into a trap is to put River in danger. Because he will always come for her. But that’s not love. That’s just… reflexes.

He “only” took her to Darillium because he was lonely. And then, in an act of sheer, meaningless, absolutely not-love-driven desperation, he spent 24 years (and more) being domestic with her. Just hanging out. Not a big deal.

He built a whole planet just so they could have a little more time together. You know, because nothing says "total indifference" like terraforming an entire celestial body.

An entire archipelago, famously known as "The Lovers Dreaming Island", exists where the islands literally form the shape of their intertwined bodies. That’s just standard planet-building, really. All geography is accidental.

He physically defied the laws of the universe to hold onto her data ghost. The whole "ghosts can’t be touched" thing? He literally said, "Mmm, no thanks" then proceeded to french kiss her goodbye. But that’s really just the kind of farewell you give to someone you were forced to be with.

He keeps a spare TARDIS key inside a book called The Time Traveler’s Wife. No significance whatsoever. Probably just the only book lying around.

Her words gave him hope when nothing else could. Her voice became his mantra. But no, not love. Just, you know, some lady saying things.

But yeah, sure, he never loved her. The universe must be wrong. The Doctor must be wrong. The literal geography of an archipelago must be wrong. The foundations of time itself must be wrong. Or… maybe the Doctor is just the most emotionally repressed idiot in the cosmos, and we’ve all spent years watching a romantic tragedy disguised as sci-fi nonsense.

Final Conclusion: The Doctor absolutely, 100%, definitively does not love River Song. And if you believe that, I have a prime piece of real estate in the Medusa Cascade to sell you.

[moonlessnight125]

@devil-hunter66

River's wings felt heavy as the half-blood soar over Tartarus. She followed the river Acheron until she reached it. The crack in the ground where the water had been draining.

The half-blood just wanted a normal summer vacation at camp half-blood. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. The underworld at some point had been thrown into chaos, creatures from Tartarus finding a way to flee and raise hell upon the rest of hades. Now it was up to her to figure out the issue.

"Alright. Father said this should be the way to hell." The half-blood check to make sure she had everything one last time. Rations? Check. Nectar? Check. Tools to maintain her prosthetic if it gets damage? Check. Weapon? Check. River took a deep breath and dived bomb down into the crack to hell. The quest prophecy ringing in her head.

She wasn't sure how far she was falling, or for how long. But eventually the air change. She opened her eyes to find herself in the demon world. Hell. "Okay..." She landed on the ground. "Now, how the hell do I find who I need to?" River said to herself.

With no better answer, she began walking deeper into hell. Keeping her scythe in it's cube form. But a hand around it just in case. She wasn't sure how long she had been walking, but it was at least felt like a few hours, until she finally found something else down here.

[lexierius11verse]

imagine if at the very last second on darillium, the doctor thought, screw the fixed point. screw time itself. what if he decided that the universe could burn, as long as river song was still in it? he’d stare at her, hearts racing, knowing what’s supposed to happen. knowing that he’s always done the right thing. but this time… this time, he’s selfish. what would that look like? would he grab her hand and run, tardis doors slamming shut behind them as time itself howled in protest? would he rewrite history, consequences be damned, and make a paradox so big that even the stars blinked out in fear? or would he stand there, one breath away from saying, no. not this time. not her. only for river to place a hand on his cheek, smiling softly, and whispering, “you know you can’t.” because she knows him. she knows that no matter how much he loves her, he’d never choose one person over everything. and so she makes the choice for him. and maybe that’s the real tragedy of it all. that if she hadn’t, he just might have.

[princeloww]

someone get me to england i have so many perfect roles for david tennant written in my head

[wgm-beautiful-world]

P A R I S

[werentwethesaltinthesea]

I keep going to myself "maybe I need to wait for more signs from Poseidon" as if every single year since SIX I used to get strange urges to go to the beach near or directly on my birthday. Every year?? Without fail???

[smallerontheoutside]

the thing is, right, that we never see the doctor join the ponds for Christmas dinner

he did join Rose, and I'm so glad about that

does no-one on the production team think that maybe we want to see them happy for once? I want to see the doctor having dinner with the Ponds, I want to see him spending that time with Jackson Lake (ooh, the doctor and people named after bodies of water / nature things), I want to see snippets of what he and River got up to on Darillium - what did they argue about that was so insulting to him that he had to go spend two weeks with otters? And I want to see the same with other characters - Rose and Jackie, Clara attempting more soufflés, Bill and her various dating attempts, Amy and Rory being Amy and Rory, Martha and Mickey just hanging out, Donna with her family, Vastra and Jenny and Strax (thank you so much @jennyandvastraflint for your fics about them, they really scratch my brain in the right way)

and yes I know this is part of what fanfic is for, and the audios are brilliant, but sometimes I just want to see them smiling, laughing, crying, whatever, but I feel like they're always in mortal danger on screen, I'd love if some time was devoted to softer, quieter moments too. hell, it might hurt more (in a good way) if characters had time to process and freak out over what's happened to them

[shinobinvku]

@mushimaster sent: Kakashi E15 for the Expression Meme

Unmasked version under the tab. Enjoy! ;)

[malevolent-muse]

🌀🦎🌀

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[rueyam]

„in a world where children are frightened, it doesn't matter if the sea is blue“ said cahit zarifoğlu… still thinking about it…

[expectiations]

I love that - thanks to one small line - their first kiss gives us a huge look at what kind of partner (and then later husband) the Eleventh Doctor is.

'What, that's it?'

First of all bear in mind from his perspective, yes they've gotten closer, but he's still suspecting that River might kill him sooner rather than later. It's understandable that some trust issues linger and thus he's still a bit quick with the casually dark (and cruel) demeanour.

River knows that. She knows where he is in his timeline. She knows that, despite how much he flirts with her (and he flirts with her A LOT), he is not her husband, not yet the man that loves her and he's not even the man that knows her. So why does his short goodbye confuse her?

Because this small line tells us that not only have they been dating (from his perspective) between DOTM and AGMGTW but they've been dating physically. To River, this short-fuzed ball of trust-issues is essentially not only her husband but also her actual boyfriend.

Meaning that the Doctor, before he became the doting idiot husband we saw in TATM/TNOTD and even before he knew who she was, never dropped her off after a date without at least (!) kissing her goodbye.

And I'm really putting the emphasis on never because River would otherwise not risk asking for a kiss, if there had been any doubt in her mind that this Doctor isn't a Doctor she had been dating. So what does that tell us?

Despite how much this fandom likes to paint the picture of the evil River who forced herself on the Doctor, she is never the one to initiate (physical) intimacy. She expected to be kissed, she expected the Doctor to kiss her because that's what the Doctor does. Husband or not.

And it's so ingrained in their relationship that even when he showed his honest confusion, River assumed he must be acting coy on purpose to get *her* to kiss *him* for once. And well it worked, intentionally or not, River complied because why wouldn't she? It's what they do.

Until of course she is forced to realise that it might not be what they do for much longer. This was his first kiss; so she might not see the boyfriend version of her Doctor very often from now on, if at all.

But ignoring all the insanely depressing angst of how that scene ended, yes we saw an end for River but we also saw where the Doctor's pre-AGMGTW dating spree and thus the affectionate idiot began because he makes it quite clear that he's up for more. (pun intended)

I wish we could've seen more of their time together. Unfortunately 98% of it happens off-screen but the point of this thread is to show that, even if most of it is off-screen, the show has made the nature of their relationship and the nature of the Doctor's feelings very clear. Moffat's writing style is quick-paced and certainly assumes that the audience isn't too stupid to keep up. (wonder how that worked out) And small lines like these contain so much vital information that, for some people, it's easy to overlook. But all we need to know is right there. The Eleventh Doctor dated River prior to AGMGTW, definitely prior to TWORS; they've been intimate for two hundred (!!!!) years from his perspective before he married her and he is the one to initiate that intimacy. That's all. 🥰

original post on X by @/eIevenriver (who writes the bestest Doctor x River threads ever)

[galleryofart]

The Starry Night

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853 - 1890)

Date: 1888

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France

Description

From the moment he arrived in Arles on 8 February 1888, the representation of "night effects" was a constant preoccupation for Van Gogh. In April 1888, he wrote to his brother Theo: "I need a starry night with cypresses or, perhaps, above a field of ripe wheat". In June, he confided to the painter Emile Bernard: "But when will I do the Starry Sky , this painting that always preoccupies me" and, in September, in a letter to his sister, he evoked the same subject: "Often, it seems to me that the night is even more richly coloured than the day". In that same month of September, he finally realized his obsessive project.

He first painted a corner of the night sky in The Terrace of a Café on the Place du Forum in Arles (Otterlo, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Muller). Then this view of the Rhone where he magnificently transcribes the colors he perceives in the darkness. Blues dominate: Prussian blue, ultramarine or cobalt. The gas lights of the city shine an intense orange and are reflected in the water. The stars sparkle like precious stones.

A few months later, when he had just been interned, Van Gogh painted another version of the same subject: The Starry Sky (New York, MoMA), where all the violence of his troubled psychology is expressed. The trees take the form of flames while the sky and the stars swirl in a cosmic vision. In The Starry Night , the presence of a couple of lovers at the bottom of the canvas reinforces the more serene atmosphere of the painting kept at the Musée d'Orsay.

[fatedmuses]

//I decided to work on a google site to at least organize my muses and

Felassan age is just "old" lmao

[salvadorbonaparte]

I think there's something almost philosophical in the idea that not only can you choose your own name but also choose an additional name that you only use when you're traveling ie in between places. very liminal.