And yes, it is, but he stopped believing that. There’s only the drums now. Only war and bloodshed and a monster. What’s the point in fighting it when it’s inevitable?
Someone needs to show him that it’s worth the fight.
It’s actually FASCINATING to read your stuff, because your Master is exactly where mine was about an actual chronological year ago. Maybe longer actually. When I first started playing him, and on his bad days, he will still fall into one of these self-doubting ruts. Now he’s in a place of vastly sturdier self-esteem and emotional health. Things like trauma never have a “cure” but he’s comparably flourishing. And cheering on his counterpart from either an alternate timeline or the future. <333
“ABSOLUTELY, old boy! Medium rare filet mignon, with a nice mulled red to toast the season! Let’s see if I can drink you under the table again afterward, with something stronger!”
Koschei emits a soft gasp at the discovery, peering more closely still at the scientifically “enchanted” snowglobe.
“That’s stupendous. Darling. Nobody realizes what a genius you are, in your own right. And that is a true crime.”
He passes another kiss off to one of Jack’s beloved dimples, while peering closer still at all the intimate details of the painting.
Sharp dark eyes lock on that bassinet and his lips thin to a fine line against a torrent of ecstatic glee. A strangled little sound escapes the Master, and he shoots from his chair, knocking it clear over. He points both fingers at Jack, in unabashed triumph.
“I KNEW it!” he roars. “I KNEW IT!”
He flings his arms around Jack and tilts him back, kissing him properly on the lips.
“When? D’you know? Oh, my love, my gorgeous clever wicked Sam, have you done a scan yet?”
He laughs as he’s suddenly enveloped by his ecstatic husband, squeezing him tight as the secret comes out. “I had my suspicions about a week or two ago, but I wanted to be extra sure before I told you.”
Then he opens that ring box, and instead of a ring, there’s a little print out of an ultrasound scan. There’s BARELY a little bean sized dot in there, but it’s definitely there, and Jack kisses Koschei’s cheek.
“I was supposed to be down on one knee for this, but I guess this will do. Koschei Oakdown, will you have any other baby with me?”
“HohOOOO, bloody hell! You idiot, get OOP! Can’t have the mum on his knees!”
Koschei smacks Jack’s arm and drags him to his feet, where he steps onto his shoes and kisses him breathless.
“I’ll have a damned HORDE of them with you, and you bloody well KNOW it!”
“You have, Hearts. Long ago, and every day since, that you’ve welcomed me home.”
The words sound so polished, so practiced, but they’re on his mind like the constant thrum of the heartsbeat with which his own chest is synchronized.
He turns the parcel over in his hands, with the methodical, scientific precision for which he’s so well known.
“ … . what did you do?” he demands, with a sly grin. “What exactly’s in here?”
Smiling the Doctor reached and opened the lid. Within is black band with soft golden circles in their native tongue of Gallifreyan. Within the center of one circle is a deep red ruby that glints boldly against the dark colors. “This..” His tone is soft as he gazes at the ring in the little box.
Two words are carved into the band in Gallifreyan spelling out; love eternal. A deep blush has colored The Doctor’s cheeks as he awaits the reaction either negative or positive.
It’s only after staring at the writing, running callused thumbs over the simple truth in the concentric inscription, that the Master looks up at the Doctor. The sly satisfaction in moist eyes speaks volumes.
“You just never quit, do you?” he murmurs.
It’s evidence that he’s at last accepted the Doctor’s great turnaround–from running away, to chasing–is an act not of imprisonment, but of love.
Palms smack against ruddy cheeks, and he draws the Doctor’s face close, with a bewildering enthusiasm. He growls loudly.
“ARRRGH, you infuriating beautiful man! Would that I could bottle you like a color and paint a thousand canvases. Just kiss me, damn you.”
Happy loom-day me! In the first book you’ll find some friends and even a self-cameo! The cats have learned from us in the second book. A time lady lord should never be without some eyeliner. Here’s a nice looking coffee press, you can use it for anything!
ooxoo
~K~
“Dearest Sis, I am positively chuffed. Trust me to know, well, me. I’m a tea person, but these days, I’ve grown more and more accustomed to the bean brew. Should be of use when I’m out in the wildernesses of some distant planet or period. While reading these riveting texts, and winging my eyeliner in such a way as can cut a bitch.”
Like everyone’s talking about how positive and lovely and wholesome she is and yeah that’s true to a point.
But there’s times when it feels so painfully forced, like she’s trying desperately to stay that way, and other times where you can see the cracks
Like… until someone yells at her she’s willing to jeopardize an entire ship full of hospital patients just to get her TARDIS back.
She not only sends Tim Shaw away with his body completely fucked up by those bombs, but she barely bats an eyelid when she finds out he didn’t end up where she wanted him to and she’d doomed him to torment; essentially causing him to become more of an ass. She’s almost pleased to find out how fucked up she left him.
The moment Graham sounds like he’s going to kill Tim she loads up on explosives and runs off to confront him alone, as if she’s willing to do what she’s done before and do everything possible to make sure Graham doesn’t do it – even if that means killing Tim Shaw herself.
Even when she finds out she could have unknowingly blown up an entire planet, she only lets it affect her for a second before she’s back to happy-go-lucky Doctor.
It’s clear at this point that her wholesome happy demeanour is at least partially a mask. There’s only so far that’s gonna go. And as someone who knows how hard it is to keep up that kind of attitude for so long, and someone who knows the consequences of it?
I’m a little terrified to see what happens if she does snap.
“The moment Graham sounds like he’s going to kill Tim she loads up on explosives and runs off to confront him alone, as if she’s willing to do what she’s done before and do everything possible to make sure Graham doesn’t do it – even if that means killing Tim Shaw herself.”
This kind of reminds me of the Tenth Doctor, though, where sometimes he would come off like a dick and it was because of good writing, but then sometimes he’d come off like a dick and it was because of bad writing. It’s all down to how it’s framed.
Like, I can’t tell if Thirteen is a little bit of a knight templar because they’re writing her as a complex, flawed character, or if they’re just trying to write her as a hero but without enough nuance or self-awareness to know how she’s coming off.
Thirteen makes a lot of dubious choices in the name of stringent moral rules like “Killing is always bad, no exceptions,” and “Guns are always bad, no exceptions.” But at no point are they framed like dubious choices. No one questions them and we don’t really see any negative consequences of them. And considering that, in most of Chibnall’s episodes, the nuance is usually pitched at the level of “pollution is BAD, mkay” it’s hard to feel like we’re supposed to view her actions as anything less than correct.
I would love it if we got to see the more sinister aspects of the character played up. But right now I’m not sure how much of what we’re seeing is intentional and how much is a consequence of tension between the complexity of the issues that the show is trying to tackle and the simplicity of the show’s morality.
Okay so I always come back to this one scene from ‘Rosa’:
When the Doctor smashes Krasko’s vortex manipulator,
And he starts to strangle her…
She’s smiling. The entire time.
She knows full well he can’t hurt her. Like he’s physically unable to. Yet she manipulated him and his emotions so she could show this off. She planned it down to a t.
You know what this reminds me of? VNA Seven. The really edgy and dark Doctor.
That’s what I find so interesting about Thirteen. I see a lot of darkness in her. It’s also what makes her so dangerous. People will see her as the happy-go-lucky Doctor, but she’s capable of some really messed up things.
That’s why I’m hoping for her to snap. It’d be really cool to see New Who give as that ‘Darker Doctor’ they promised with Twelve (who just ended up becoming that precious, punny dork). Like oh my god, please.
^^^ THIS.
I have been waiting for s11 to finish so i can binge it, and have been smiling on the sidelines, wondering when you all will realise that (from what i was noticing, at least) Thirteen is a dark Doctor hiding behing a happy-go-lucky mask.
Perhaps I pick up on this stuff more because MacQueen’s one of my favourite Masters, and he’s exactly the same: makes jokes, laughs a lot……..and will kill you in a heartsbeat. So I’m used to noticing this in characters.
Icarus 