Sunday Memeage

[jjpor]

Oh, because I don't already spend enough time on lj talking about how clever I think I am:

Meme robbed from lindenharp:

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

My 'Spoon page:

www.whofic.com/viewuser.php

Comments

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

From "Ground Rules":

“These are the terms,” the Brigadier said, ignoring the comment. “The Doctor is off-limits; UNIT and its personnel are off-limits. If anything happens to the Doctor or to any of the people in that file you just showed me — if Miss Grant gets a heavy cold, or if I get a paper-cut, or if anybody starts making puerile insinuations about anybody’s private life — I am authorised to tell you that the Secretary General of the United Nations will present all of our evidence to a public session of the UN General Assembly. Britain will be a pariah nation, a rogue state; and Torchwood will be finished. Which would be unfortunate, but our work is too important to have to waste time dealing with this sort of nonsense. Do I make myself clear?” Starke did not reply immediately. “Do I make myself clear, Mr Starke?” This time, he managed to choke out a reply:

“You’re bluffing.”

“Then call my bluff, Mr Starke. Call it.” The car pulled up at the park gates. “I really don’t know who you people thought you were dealing with; we’re only the United Nations, for God’s sake. I face worse than you every working day. Just be glad I’m not going to let the Doctor know you exist; he’d eat you lot for breakfast.” As the Brigadier climbed out of the car, he placed a small silver object on the seat next to Norris: “You can have the bug back, by the way.”

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

This is the fic I've probably had the most positive responses to. People love the Brig, it seems; especially the Brig hitting baddies for six and being awesome. So do I!

It's the obvious question, I suppose. Torchwood are this top secret quasi-governmental alien-fighting conspiracy. They've been around since 1879. They seem to have some degree of interaction with UNIT. The Doctor is their most hated enemy; it's even in their charter. So, what doesn't add up there?

How did the Doctor manage to spend several years living on Earth, working for UNIT without becoming aware of Torchwood or having to fend them off? I decided that the Brig had obviously warned them off (they only felt safe getting Ten because they thought they could do it without UNIT finding out - or the original UNIT was disbanded after the unfortunate blowing-up-Downing-Street mishap, replaced by the much-despised "UIT", but that's just my crazy oldschool-Who-centric fanon...)

So, the Brig warned them off, and this is where he actually does it. Basically, unless they leave the Doctor and UNIT alone, he's going to expose them to the world.

My characterisation of the Brig here is, I guess, based on his portrayal in Season 7, where he was a lot less endearingly useless than he became later. You wouldn't mess with Season 7 Brig, or he'd mess with you, as Torchwood are finding out.

Mr Starke is their slimy, smug emissary, and he's the sort of character you see in a lot of 60s-70s era television about the British secret services. I bet he has one of those velvet-collared coats and has clandestine meetings with Russians on park benches. It's how I imagine Torchwood to have been during their "proper" existence, before they got taken over by management-speak and killed by Cybermen, and then rebooted as their younger, cooler modern-day incarnation. Men (mostly men, unfortunately) in pinstripes quietly backstabbing each other over the teacups in draughty, badly-decorated government offices, being terribly polite and quite incompetent about it too. But never underestimate what ruthless, morally-bankrupt barstewards they are at the same time.

So, exactly the sort of people the Brig would despise, even if his is required occasionally to work with them. And I think it comes out a bit here in his quiet relish at beating them at their own game. They were trying to cow him into handing the Doctor over with the sort of cheap threats people like them deal in, and they picked the wrong man to try that with.

So, the Brig delivers his ultimatum very matter-of-factly and briskly. He's not the sort of man to make threats - he makes promises. I don't think he is bluffing here, actually; he's a soldier, not a politician; he's identified a plan of action and will put it into effect if he thinks he has to.

The line about Jo getting a heavy cold or the Brig getting a papercut is, I think, a paraphrase of something Skinner tells CSM in an X-Files episode at a similar juncture.

I suppose there is an argument that being exposed wouldn't necessarily be fatal for Torchwood, that they'd ride it out somehow, but I think I suggested earlier in the story that the really damaging thing wouldn't be that they existed, but that they had all of this alien tech that could change the world, but preferred to hoard it, not even sharing it with Britain's allies. That'd hurt them, and the country, I think.

The Brig's a patriot, but I don't think he'd see this as damaging Britain, more like surgery to remove the tumour that is Torchwood from British officialdom.

And at the end, he reveals his true attitude to the Institute - totally dismissive. He has no time for their silly little secret agent games; he and the Doctor have to save the world every day of the week; to him all of this is just an unnecessary distraction. In fact, he isn't even going to bother the Doctor with it (he knows that these clowns would be no threat to the Doctor, who beats far worse every week). And, of course, it explains how the Doctor didn't know about them all those years later. ;D

And the bug...I just thought it would be great if Torchwood used alien-tech "bugs" that really are little mechanical insects. Except, being morons, theirs have "Made In Sheffield" stamped on the bottom...

[hangingfire.livejournal.com]

"Made in Sheffield" made me snort coffee, I'll have you know.

Thank you for the commentary; that was as enjoyable reading as the original story. ^_^ I really liked your characterization of the Brig here, and that matter-of-fact tone is part of what really makes it. And I for one never thought he was bluffing—on a matter like this, with these kind of people, I doubt he'd go in with anything less than everything he needed.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Heh - because if their latter-day incarnation is anything to go by, it's the kind of no-brainer move TW actually might make...

Thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed reading my, er, thoughts. ;D No, he wasn't bluffing; I think the Brig plays to win, and I don't think he lacks boldness or ruthlessness either, at least not in his younger days. But you know, he doesn't make a song and dance about it, that's the kind of silly business you'd expect from TW and their ilk.

[clocketpatch]

From 'Incident in a Parisian Cafe'

“Oh, oh yeah!” With hindsight, it was a fortunate thing that no member of the Paris police happened to pass the café on his night-time rounds. Not only was there the broken and suspiciously steamed-up front window, but there were also the voices emanating from the darkened interior. Somewhat enthusiastic voices, it had to be said:

“Oh!” exclaimed the woman; “Oh! Oh! Oh!” By way of accompaniment, there could also be heard the distinctive sound of a rickety wooden table rattling back and forth on its unsteady legs: “Oh!oh!oh!oh!” As the table’s oscillations seemed to pick up pace, there was in addition what sounded like a wine bottle and glasses chiming and vibrating in time to the rhythm.

“Oh baby…” the man gallantly commented; there was another sound, like one of said wineglasses falling off the edge of aforementioned rickety table and tinkling across the floor. The woman’s voice cut back in, very calm and collected under the circumstances:

“Please don’t call me that,” she politely requested; “thank you very much.”

“Er, sorry,” the man apologised before managing to get back into his stride: “Oh my…Jesus…”

“Oh! Oh! Oh…” There was the briefest moment of calm, broken only by the sound of two people catching their breath, before the woman spoke again: “Well, I think that’s that, then.”

[thisbluespirit]

Clocket, that's just evil. You know it is. ;-D

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

It is fairly evil, I'll agree... ;D

[clocketpatch]

I know, but I couldn't help myself. *cackles*

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

So, yeah...

Er...

Well, it's like this...

Er...

Right, well this is the opening of a fic I wrote sometime during the summer called "Incident in a Parisian Cafe". I was watching City of Death, you see, as I do more often than a sane person probably ought to, and... Well, it's like this; Duggan/Romana. Duggan/Romana is wrong on many levels, especially if you're a dedicated Doctor/Romana shipper as I seem to have become, but it doesn't go away. It crops up all over the place. I think it's partly the idea that Four and Romana are just so damn hip and bohemian that they spent the whole of their time together swinging around the universe hooking up with whatever random character-of-the-week they took a fancy to, and partly down to the "significant" glances Duggan and Romana give each other at a couple of points in the story. They're there, but they're very much open to (mis)interpretation.

The other thing is that a lot of Duggan/Romana fics seem to assume that the moment that "it" happened was in that bit where they're alone together having just broken into the cafe, where Romana's drinking wine and patronising the hell out of Duggan, who's just too thick fully to realise it. I think that any sexual tension there is probably in the eye of the beholder, to be honest.

So, yeah, I thought I'd write some Duggan/Romana, confronting one of my fic phobias as it were, and even set it in the said cafe. And the result was...this...

I'm very bad at writing this sort of thing. I don't mean in terms of output, the effectiveness or not of which I leave up to the opinion of the reader, but in actually writing it. I get kind of embarrassed just reading that sort of stuff, so writing it and putting it out on the intrawebs with my (admittedly) pseudonym on it made a little bit nervous. What will people think? I thought, and not in a "will they think it's good/bad" sort of way either, if you know what I mean.

Which is why I confine myself to sound effects in the above scene. I cringe enough reading that back without having to read about...anatomy...and heaving whatsisnames and pert whatevers and that sort of thing. I fear if I actually tried to describe the action, as it were, it would end up as one of those purple sex scenes you read and sort of wonder at the badness of...because I'm much more comfortable writing about soldierly types murderising each other with kewl weapons. And what does that say about the sick values of our decadent Western society, huh? ;D

So yes, they both say "Oh!" a lot. So, yeah, that's Duggan at the start there. The window's broken because he and Romana have just broken into the place, and it's steamed up because... And yes, good job Officer Crabtree or somebody didn't just walk past. "There are a wamun and a private dock in there on a tooble, 'aving socks...!" Or something.

And, my, they're enjoying themselves, if the sound of the table falling to bits is anything to go by.

So, yeah, Duggan seems like the sort of bloke to call women "baby" in intimate moments, and Romana seems like the sort of woman to not be impressed by that at all, but she is polite, because she's Romana.

Damn. I wish I'd put in some witty comeback from Romana about Jesus at that point...

And well, that's it; and Romana is immediately back to business, because she's Romana, and isn't easily impressed by that kind of thing, especially not from the likes of Duggan...

Okay, I got through that passage. Can I go now, Clocket? ;D

[clocketpatch]

LOL, okay, now I almost feel bad about putting you on the spot. Almost... I'll feel bad as soon as I stop giggling into my sleeve.

No, really though, I do love that fic, and that fact that it steers clear of all squick while being funny as all get out. And I really shouldn't have put you on the spot, because you're much braver about posting that sort of thing than me.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, enjoy your cackling while you can... XD

No, I don't really mind talking about this one - I think I quite like it now. But yeah, I did avoid the squick like the plague, as you can see. I'm just glad you liked it too.

And well, I could make some rumblings about why don't you post _that_ Romana/Biroc fic, if you haven't already, but I wont... It is really good though, you know.

[thisbluespirit]

Not that I selected this with any sort of hidden agenda or anything.. :lol:

***


“Name’s Rimmer,” said the man, shaking it manfully. “Ace Rimmer, Space Corps.”

“Where have you been all my life?” Jack wondered. Ace grinned back at him:

“Bread’s not buttered that way, big guy, but for someone as ruggedly handsome and handy with a plasma carbine as you are, I might make an exception.” Jack, incredibly, actually blushed.

“Are you like some sort of…hero, or something?” Rose asked, adoringly.

“Me, a hero?” Ace shrugged. “I’m no hero; just glad to be part of a great team; and you guys look like a great team to me.” He picked up a couple of fallen Sontaran blasters, cigar clenched between his teeth: “Now, if you’ll excuse me, lady, gentlemen; there are still a hundred thousand Sontarans between us and our ride out of here; I like those odds!” He bounded over the pile of bodies in the doorway and out of sight: “Smoke me a kipper, big guy! I’ll be back for breakfast!”

“I’m surprised he can get out the door with a head that big,” the Doctor sniped, taking his jacket back from Rose; both she and Jack completely ignored him, too busy gazing after Ace, breathing, in unison:

“What a guy!”

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

No, not at all - selected completely at random; I can see that! ;D

Yeah, so, er this came out of another meme I did where you asked people to suggest crossovers, and then you wrote them a drabble or something on the subject. The ones that were Who-related, I ended up posting on the Teaspoon as a little collection. And, well, I did one about Romana I meeting Arnie Rimmer from Red Dwarf, at I think lostspook's suggestion, and someone who responded said, well, why not one with Ace Rimmer in it. And, well, here it is.

It's sort of modelled on that scene from the start of the (Series 7?) Red Dwarf story "Stoke Me A Clipper". Now, the Dwarf had maybe started to lose its lustre a bit by that point, but that whole sequence is genius. Ace Rimmer vs. a load of Nazis (led by Ken Morley who used to be in Coronation Street!); he jumps out of a plane without a parachute, surfs to ground level on the back of a crocodile (!), then gets on a motorbike, rescues a princess from a firing squad, some Nazis get hit on the head by the aforementioned reptile...it is, in the quite literal sense of the word, awesome. So, Ace is reenacting this scene (off camera) vs. a load of Sontarans, just before the bit lostspook selected above (which is the bit I really ought to be talking about, I guess...)

It's worth mentioning that whenever I feature Nine in fic (the couple of times I have), it always seems to be Nine accompanied by Rose and Jack, as in the end part of NuWho Season 1 - I just like that grouping. I think they were a great team.

Naturally, we have Jack smarming over the new arrival, because it's Jack, but Ace's response, especially that remark about what side his bread's buttered is a bit of a reference to the first Red Dwarf story he appeared in, "Dimension Jump", where he has an exchange that features the other guy saying something like "my bread's happily married with two kids, but someone like you can really turn a guy's head!" Ace has that effect on people...including Jack here, a man who, I suspect, doesn't blush at much. And the way he calls Jack "big guy"; it seems that everyone Ace had dealings with falls naturally into the role of adoring sidekicks, and he gives them suitably sidekicky nicknames - in "Dimension Jump", he took to calling Dave Lister "Skipper" for some reason. "Smoke me a kipper, skipper..." Normal-Rimmer's reaction to that was priceless.

And Rose is practically speechless. It's another thing I get from "Dimension Jump", where everyone who meets Ace just falls into helpless hero-worship as a matter of course, and being a true hero as he is, he's always terribly modest about it as he is here. And really, if you've seen the aforementioned thing with the Nazis, in Ace Rimmer vs. 100,000 Sontarans, the Sontarans are probably the underdogs.

And the famous "smoke me a kipper" catchphrase; it's Ace Rimmer, folks; it's what he does!

Oh yeah, and Nine is, predictably, not impressed at all with Ace. This is sort of based on the normal Rimmer's reaction to him in Red Dwarf, the only person who didn't fall over themselves admiring Ace (but then he had personal reasons to be bitter). Maybe Nine's a bit jealous, the way Rose reacts to Ace, maybe he has a point; Ace is a fairly ludicrous figure, and his brand of macho heroics aren't really the Doctorly way.

And absolutely, positively, the only line on which it is possible to end a scene featuring Ace Rimmer is an adoring chorus of "What a guy!"; it's the rules!

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, you did very well at explaining what was self-evident. I should have picked something more complex from your TW fics, shouldn't I? ;-)

Still, at least, unlike other people, I'm not actually evil yet. Erm... aside from use of this icon, which aside from Spooks-realted reasons, I got to use in the hope that it would provide the same sort of effect as you using your Delgado icon on me. (Which comes out very weird and wrong now I think of it... I mean, the Master looking all innocent... I believe him every single time. The Doctor would not approve.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

LOL! *Gazes at icon...* Ah, those were the days...

But yeah, well, as you can see, my thought processes behind that whole fic didn't really go much deeper than "Ace Rimmer - what a guy!", but, well, it's true, isn't it, so that's all right then! ;D

How could you pick something evil, when you claim not read that sort of thing? Hmm? Eh? ;D

[thisbluespirit]

I think the words I was looking for that don't sound scary were 'Cool icon' and 'self-defence' and ./ or 'retaliation'. ;-)

And I don't read that kind of stuff, but I read your fic because you claim you never write that kind of stuff... and then every now and then you do. What's a reader to do? 8-o

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Of course I don't write that sort of stuff...except when I do...er... O.o

What can I say? I'm a man of few principles! XD

And it is a cool icon.

[john_amend_all]

From 'The Protectionals!':

“It’s in —” one of the bystanders began, just before Duggan punched him in the jaw:

“Out of my way, you slag!” he advised, stepping over the comatose civilian. His taller, ill-advisedly be-permed colleague with the zip-up cardigan and raybans was too busy rolling across the bonnet of the car, drawing an enormous, shiny revolver and executing a perfect forward roll from which he emerged in a two-handed shooting stance, to notice.

“It’s in there, and it’s got hostages!” a woman from the crowd advised.

“Thanks, darling,” replied Duggan, and punched her too, before pulling out his own enormous, shiny revolver: “Cover me, Benton!” Benton was just looking back and forth from his partner to the unconscious woman and then back again. “What?” Duggan asked, nonplussed.

“Well, you know how angry Sir Keith gets when you start thumping civilians,” he pointed out. Duggan was unimpressed:

“Yeah, well when that pencil-pushing bastard gets out from behind his desk and puts his fat arse on the line out here, he can tell me how to do my job!” He started racing up the steps into the building: “Until then, let’s nick that Martian slag!”

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

So, this was written, I think, around about the same time as that Duggan/Romana thing up above, after a particularly successful/drunken/squeeful/fannish (delete whichever ones seem most appropriate to you) watching of City of Death, and well, over on the DbyA boards, we just encourage each other in this sort of stuff. So, I wrote this on a wave of "Duggan IS awesome!"

Funnily enough, it started off as a semi-serious attempt to write Duggan sequel-fic, which I still haven't given up on, but somewhere in the space of the first sentence or two it turned into some sort of cracky spoof of 70s/80s cop shows, and I made Benton his partner, because, well, it's the kind of thing that happens when you're writing fic, isn't it?

So, Duggan and Benton have just burst out of their Ford Capri, on the trail of (as we find out later on) a rogue Ice Warrior who is hiding out in a block of flats. Serious, well-thought-out plotting, as you can see. ;D And a member of the public is trying to offer assistance, shortly before being KO'd. I suppose I'm sort of poking fun at Duggan's canonical habit of "thumping" things, but to be fair it's exactly the sort of thing they actually used to do in oldschool cop shows like The Sweeney and The Professionals. Well, maybe not quite like that, but they didn't stint on the thumping.

And that's sort of where I got the, frankly, appalling language going on in this, because it seems to me on my viewing of The Sweeney and its ilk, that the main cops, Jack Reagan (John "Inspector Morse" Thaw, incredibly), and George Carter (Dennis "Dennis Waterman" Waterman), call everyone they encounter a "slag", a "bastard", a "tart" or something similarly offensive (including things that it was okay to call people in 70s TVland (cf. Talons of Weng-Chiang), but which I wouldn't use in lighthearted fanfic).

And then we have Benton in his perm, sunglasses and zip-up cardigan, which (as did his inclusion as the partner here) came as a result of the world's greatest Doctor Who publicity photo, the link to which I unfortunately seem unable to find. But basically, it was shot during the filming of The Daemons, and shows Katy Manning standing next to John Levene, who is done up in his kewl "Benton undercover" 70s threads, while smoking and STRIKING THE MOST OUTRAGEOUSLY MACHO POSE EVER SEEN IN A PHOTOGRAPH, which involves showing off his shoulder-holster. It is, in a word, marvellous, and it is why Benton is in this story.

But yeah, with the "hot" car and the "hip" clothes, I think I was thinking about the Professionals, which if anyone's not familiar with UK TV of a certain vintage, was sort of the grittier, shootier Brit equivalent of Starsky and Hutch, but better. If you like adolescent macho stuff with shooters and motors and stuff. So, yeah, Bodie and Doyle, the guys in the Professionals were at the prettier, better-dressed end of the tough guy scale compared to Reagan and Carter, and this is what I'm trying to convey, while taking cheapshots at 30-year-old fashions as if it's clever.

Oh yes, and pulling out enormous, shiny guns and rolling unnecessarily across cars etc. is absolutely the right way to carry on if you ever find yourself in that sort of TV programme. And more unrequired thumping from Duggan too, to keep up the theme.

So yes, we get Benton sort of trying to be the voice of reason, in his slightly dim-witted way, because it seems like the kind of thing Benton might do, but he would of course be very bad at it.

Sir Keith is meant to be Sir Keith Gold out of Inferno, just because I wanted an actual Who character of a certain vintage to be their boss, and the Brig seemed too obvious somehow. If I ever wrote a sequel to this, I think I'd somehow work in a reference to his great-grandfather the famous Victorian music-hall impresario...

And Duggan's rather disrespectful assessment of his boss is again, absolutely the right way to talk about your superior if you live in a 70s-era cop show. As is the desire to "nick" people. "Nicking" objects means stealing them, of course, while "nicking" people means duffing them up, putting handcuffs on them and throwing them in the back of a Ford transit van...

And the language in this really is appalling, isn't it? ;D

[john_amend_all]

That's a very comprehensive commentary!

I don't think I've ever seen such cop shows directly, but I'm familiar with them through parodies, homages, Life on Mars and the like.

because, well, it's the kind of thing that happens when you're writing fic, isn't it?

As far as my fic's concerned, it's practically a law of nature.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I try to be comprehensive. Some people might say long-winded, but... ;D

As you point out, the idea of parodying 70s-early 80s cop shows isn't exactly ground-breaking, cutting edge comedy, but it amused me.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

This is going to be highly embarassing for the both of us:


''She remembers what it was like to lie there, for what seemed like an eternity, gradually letting the feeling of anticipation grow, running through fantasies and scenarios in her head; by the time he arrived, she was in a definite state of excitement; more than ready for him. The light from the corridor silhouetted him against the open door of the room:

“Romana?” he asked, as he always asked, in what for him counted as a whisper. “Are you awake?”

“Yes, Doctor.” He closed the door, and she lay there in the renewed darkness, listening to him undress. It was always the same; another game that they played. When he climbed into bed with her, she returned his kisses with a passion; a hunger; that she can scarcely believe when she recalls it now. It was all so new and exciting to her, back then; she was so desperate to experience it, as deeply as she could. He was always so careful, though; almost hesitant as he ran his hands and mouth over her body; taking his time, attending to her needs before his own. Maybe he was afraid of hurting her; he was so much larger and stronger than she was; he never hurt her, though. He would gently shush her more passionate exclamations, as if there were somebody other than K-9 (who did not care) to overhear them, and smooth the hair back from her burning face as she shuddered and spasmed beneath him. Afterwards, she lay with her head on his chest, sweaty and exhausted, with his strong arms encircling her; she still remembers the feeling of contentment, of…safety that she always felt when she was with him, like that.''

So, is this an example of your squishy inner shipper, or had you been drinking.;D

Ahem, I'm going to... listen to Black Sabbath or something, now.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think I had been drinking, but I seem to remember writing this on a Sunday afternoon as sober as a judge and in full possession of my faculties...

So, yeah, see comments in response to Clocket above regarding "purple" sex scenes. Although, to be fair, it doesn't get into actual anatomical discourse, does it? It is, however, a bit more, er, explicit than the off-camera Romana/Duggan stuff above, and I'm cringing like a very cringey thing indeed just reading it now...er...

Right, this comes from a fic I wrote called "Gaze into the Abyss", which was basically my take on the Time War, from start to bitter finish, as told from the p.o.v. of the Lady President of the High Council of Time Lords herself, our very own Romanadvoratrelundar. And in this early passage, Romana is thinking back from her (as we find out at the end of the story) fairly desperate modern-day situation to what is, with hindsight, the happiest time of her life, namely when she was travelling with Four.

So, she was thinking about their trip to Paris in City of Death, and they've just left Paris and are now...doing things...but unlike in some fics, those things don't involve Duggan. But yes, I did start from the basic assumption that the Doctor and Romana did have a physical relationship, as they say, and that this involved humanoid-type, er, sex. I suspect that actual "time sex" as it were, was probably far weirder and more subtle than we can imagine, if it happened at all (we can argue about Time Lord asexuality or not for a bit, if you like ;D - I have my own thoughts on the subject), but you know, maybe the Doctor picked up this kind of thing from humans or something, and Romana is, as ever, an eager learner. Er...

I'm just waffling to avoid talking about Four and Romana...doing things...to each other now, aren't I?

A thought, and I don't want to squick anyone out, but reading that back now, it occurs to me that there's something a little bit creepy about Four sneaking into Romana's bedroom like that after lights out and getting into bed with her. A bit creepy, if you see what I mean? Quite unconscious on my part, but interesting all the same.

And yeah, the Doctor's great in bed, it seems; very considerate etc (cringes even more cringily). Those of you who like this kind of scene in fic more than I maybe do; do you think I should have had Romana being more take-charge? Er... Look at the kind of questions you've got me asking, Maggadin! XD

You'll notice the little bit of present-tense prose stuck in the middle of the past-tense stuff. Do you think it works? The idea of it was that the whole story is really the last thoughts going through Romana's head in the seconds before the Doctor blows Gallifrey to hell, and her and the Dalek invasion fleet with it. And she's remembering how she's come to that, but mainly she's remembering the good times most of all. And she's in love with the Doctor still (and he's in love with her for that matter) and that's the best time of her life (I'm a sap, aren't I?), but that's the idea. So we have to see all of this, all of this stuff about feeling safe and protected, as being filtered through that. The intention is not to make Romana seem less assertive or less in charge, if that is the way it seems. She needs the Doctor, I guess, but only in a positive way; I don't know if it didn't at some points come across as the other, less good, sort of neediness.

*Imagines K9 listening in on Four and Romana doing it, and trying to make sense of it, and giggles a little*

I suppose the obvious place to go from there (and I'm sure many have) is a Doctor/Romana/TARDIS sex scene... Yes...

Oh, I actually typed that where people could see it, didn't I?

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Actually, I thought the getting-into-bed-in-the-dark-thing was quite hot, and that the scene itself was really lovely. I just wondered about the ''it was always like this''-thing. I'd like to think that there was variation.;) And I refuse to believe that the Doctor picked up sex from humans. There are at least two different sexes on Gallifrey, you know.;D Not that the lack of that should necessarily prevent stuff, of course.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I daresay they mixed it up a bit, but without getting into the kind of detail I was shying away from when I was writing that, it's a bit hard to tell, isn't it? ;D

At least two... It brings us back to that hardy perennial Time Lord sexuality, doesn't it? I lean increasingly toward the view that Looms are real (although they maybe make Time Tots rather than fully-formed adults as the novels seemed to suggest), and that Time Lords, ie fully-paid-up and fully-educated residents of the Citadel are supposed to be above sticky physicality. But as you point out, nature is nature, and the Time Lords are nothing if not hypocritical, so we have Academy students and the like sneaking off and doing untoward things with the Shobogans. Some of them like it so much they end up going on permanent walkabout in Outer Gallifrey.

So yes, Time Lord sexual mores = Victorian hypocrisy tuned up to the max. That's how I've come to see it.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Especially seeing as my brain canon is that they spent at least a century together. The same old thing would become boring (especially to Romana). Really though, I thought that scene was just lovely, especially Four's tenderness for Romana. They totally had days where they went to uninhabitet planets and did nothing else.

I totally agree with Time Lords = victorians in that sense (if your ever write the Four-Romana-Wilde fic, you should totally have them talk about that), including the various ''free spirits'' i.e. Byron, Shelley, Wilde etc. In fact, I like thinking that the Doctor and Romana gained that sort of notoriety (although a lot of it would be gossip). As for Looms, they're fun to have around, but I vary in what type of role I give them. My favourite is that they're tools used to correct genetic ''imperfections'' or maybe to add the stuff that makes a Time Lord a Time Lord. However, I enjoy thinking that sex and messy biology plays a greater role than they like to think about. Just like with the Victorians.;)

Also, you do realise you might have to write a K9 Listens In drabble now, don't you?

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Hehe - I'm sure that they did! I like to think so anyway. I'm glad that you liked it, anyway.

It's hard to say how long they were together, isn't it? They were on holiday, and it's easy to lose track of time when you're having fun (and even easier when you live in the TARDIS, I imagine!)

Oh, I'm sure there were the Gallifreyan equivalents of bohemians, aesthetes, etc. In fact, I suspect that is probably how the Master got started - he lives only to indulge his own desires, doesn't he, in disregard for other people's rules? Unfortunately, he is also a sociopath.

And I'm also sure there are quarters on Gallifrey where the Doctor was a hero and an example. As you say, there was more of that sort of thing going on in Victorian society than they liked to think. On the slopes below the Citadel, in the Shobogan villages, there are bars and brothels where quite eminent Time Lords go "in disguise", just as the great and good of Victorian society used to sneak down to the East End of London etc. after dark, while Academy students do all of the things that students usually do, if more discreetly than is usual in freer societies.

[John Leeson voice]"Sexual activity! The intermingling of genetic material by two individuals to ensure greater biological diversity in the next generation!"[/John Leeson voice]

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Hehe - I'm sure that they did! I like to think so anyway. I'm glad that you liked it, anyway.


I like to think that since Time Lords have two hearts and stuff like that, they also have at least somewhat greater stamina than humans, which means that they could... go on for longer. Which is why Time Lord/human relationships just can't work in the long run.;) And I liked it a lot. I totally get what you're saying about being a memory of feeling safe and loved and things (I add ''and things'' because I put up a flippant front like that when discussing emotional stuff). I wonder what the TARDIS thinks...

It's hard to say how long they were together, isn't it? They were on holiday, and it's easy to lose track of time when you're having fun (and even easier when you live in the TARDIS, I imagine!)

My brain canon says at least a century. Maybe two.

And I'm also sure there are quarters on Gallifrey where the Doctor was a hero and an example. As you say, there was more of that sort of thing going on in Victorian society than they liked to think. On the slopes below the Citadel, in the Shobogan villages, there are bars and brothels where quite eminent Time Lords go "in disguise", just as the great and good of Victorian society used to sneak down to the East End of London etc. after dark, while Academy students do all of the things that students usually do, if more discreetly than is usual in freer societies.

I'm sure there were ''freethinkers'' withing the citadel as well who wished to reform society from within. Hey, this world-building thing is fun.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it? I'm sure there were, and I like to think that they came out of the woodwork during Romana's presidency, because, well, social strictures tend to break down during wartime. I'm sure it was very interesting while it lasted, and would have led to great things had Gallifrey ended up winning the War (or not! - you know Time Lords...), but as it happened they didn't. Nobody won that one.

I too wonder what the TARDIS thought. TARDIS-fic seems like an interesting sideline that I haven't really got into very much, but it'd be nice to do someting TARDIS-POV, I think.

And I am very glad you liked this one. Yeah, humans/Time Lords, it just doesn't work out in the long run. Not in that way, anyway. ;D

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I too wonder what the TARDIS thought. TARDIS-fic seems like an interesting sideline that I haven't really got into very much, but it'd be nice to do someting TARDIS-POV, I think.

In my fanon, the TARDIS doesn't notice other species the same way it notices Time Lords. She cares about what the Doctor thinks, so she'll protect the people he loves, but she ''connects'' with Time Lords on a different level because that's what she was made for*. When Romana arrived, there hadn't been another Time Lord in her life but the Doctor (after Susan, about whom she cared very deeply), so it was a bit like ''But I thought it was just you and me!'' She got used to it, though.

And I am very glad you liked this one. Yeah, humans/Time Lords, it just doesn't work out in the long run. Not in that way, anyway. ;D

RTD and Moffat need to subsribe to this newsletter.;)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

The story of how Romana won over the TARDIS and was accepted by her would be an interesting one, I think. The bond between a TARDIS and its crew/pilot is especially close, I think; moreso when it is just one pilot as in the Doctor's case. I wonder what K9 and the TARDIS made of each other, one artificial mind to another? I think the TARDIS might have been fond of some of the human companions the way you might be fond of a pet; or equally might hardly have noticed them at all. I'm sure her viewpoint is extremely alien (and probably difficult to write!).

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

That would be totes awesome! *adds to your burden of labour*

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'll just stick it on the list. Should be done in, let me see, 2015 or thereabouts... ;D

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

We're all going to die in 2012, so you'd better squeeze it in before then.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I forgot about that...more pressure... ;D