To Those Who Dont Know About Gallifreys Past, This Is The Ancient House Of Lungbarrow; Ancestral Home

To those who don’t know about Gallifrey’s past, this is The Ancient House of Lungbarrow; ancestral home of the Time Lord, The Doctor. Grown from a seed halfway up the slope of Mount Lung, in southern Gallifrey, over looking the Cadonflood river. One of the first Houses grown during the Intuitive Revelation, a once respected Old Blood house, seat to generations of Time Lords, Lungbarrow fell into obscurity and disgrace and only produced servants and petty clerks before it’s initial death after the Doctor’s long awaited return home. 

So a while back I won a cheap eBay auction listing for a collection of love letters from the first world war.

They arrived today, and...the listing was WAY more than I expected for the price I won it for. There's over 100, and they're not just from WWI, but from 1906 (earliest I've found so far) through to 1915.

Charlie writes to his girlfriend, Gertrude. This is the most beautiful, lovesick stuff I've ever read. He sends her so many letters, sometimes twice a day, and lots of poems. He seems to have been an artist, as he talks a lot about small exhibitions of his stuff, and included a flyer for one. He also talks about how her parents don't approve of them and how he's desperately awaiting the day they'll be married.

I haven't found the latest of the letters, but the fact it's up until 1915 and then stops...doesn't give me hope for a happy ending.

This man continuously refers to his precious beloved Gertie as his queen and goddess, and whilst most of it is sickly sweet, there's some raunchy stuff too, with him talking about how he can't wait until they have a little house together and can 'please each other all day'...

There's. So many.

I'm going to put them in order by date, read them through, and then maybe even transcribe them so we can find out a bit about Charlie and Gertie's love story.

Doccy PLEASE TELL THEM THAT ALL THOSE FICS WHERE THETA IS CUTE, PURE AND INNOCENT ARE A LIE. HE IS NOT RAINBOWS, please I am going to cry.

i don't really read fics, but yeah - theta is a little bastard. he canonically scraped through his academy exams with a 51%, failed his driving test, and was born into an extremely wealthy and powerful family. he's basically that rich kid who (nearly) flunked high school and crashed his dad's car on a joyride.

i'll admit that he had plenty of positive traits - pacifism, curiosity, creativity, bravery, etc. while it's true that he killed another student (torvic) and destroyed the body to avoid punishment, it was after years of violent bullying and it was on koschei's behalf. but he's definitely a far cry from cute, pure, or innocent.

if anything, koschei (the master) was the "better" of the two. he was a disciplined star pupil and a bit meeker than theta. they were both problem-causing little shits, of course, but theta was twice as much of a mess.

doctor who + text posts part 2

part 1

watching a bit of that scene start of 12x5 where shes looking for the master and wow it just really sank in for me how different of a companion experience the fam had. she says she goes home [dramatic pause] on her own and yaz asks “why? why not with us?”

rose: first date martha: Weird Melodramatic Bullshit on her second trip donna: first meeting amy: …i dont…actually remember oh im disappointing myself here. but by episode two she knows hes so very old and so very kind and the very very last of his kind and he cant stand and watch children cry clara: we’ve got that whole death in heaven/last christmas fiasco bill: “bill, missy, the Other Last Of The Time Lords”

they dont know!! they dont know what Home means!! this has been like the idk the fucking mud we stand on for all new who!! and They Dont Know

it’s- it’s WILD putting myself in their shoes their idea of The Doctor is so vastly different from any other new who companion. it really really is. like if they meet a previous regeneration sure they’ll recognise the Doctorness. but like, different trauma. it’s really weird

like, for all previous new who companions the doctor is like, their Friend (you know, special Friend status it’s always a bit Different, how do you explain your relationship with the doctor as a companion well youknow, theyre your Friend, anyway) their Friend who is Lonely and Hurt and Shouldnt Travel Alone, and who has such impressive admirable ideals and needs someone to keep them to them, appreciates the people who can, appreciates the people who share them. and theyre a bit mysterious sure but information will trickle out, when it’s relevant, such a long life you wouldnt expect them to share it all at once

to the fam the doctor is more like, their Friend who likes her privacy, who keeps her doors closed and her distance, but who loves showing you around the universe. she appreciates your input the way a tour guide appreciates an engaged audience, but you dont touch the things youre not supposed to touch. you leave that to the professionals. she’ll show you around. dont go poke at things yourself and get in trouble.

other new who companions would see the doctor be stupid and smack them over the head verbally, physically, spiritually, whatever way necessary to say “dont be fucking stupid”. you dont go around smacking your tour guide. there are boundaries.

she doesnt tell them about her life and they cant ask more than is polite. they cant sit down on an alien planet and go “im not moving until you talk to me properly”. like, yaz probably can. i think during s12 it’s iffy and it’s complicated by the fact that the doctor is Not Okay which also affects the boundaries in yet another direction. but s11 they really couldnt do that.

they dont know how old she is. it never comes up. for all they know she looks her age. they dont know why she looks human. they dont know where she got the tardis from. they couldnt do what amy did in the beast below because they knew the doctor so well. they couldnt do what donna did in fires of pompeii and put their hands on the button. they couldnt do what clara did in death in heaven and bluff their way out of getting shot by cyberman by rattling of the doctor’s biography. not through any fault of their own, the fam couldnt do Any of that.

and it’s not like thats new information to me, some of my first posts on here were about passenger vs companion status and what the fam knows but i guess it just Hit me suddenly? how different their view of the doctor is compared to previous new who companions.

“why? why not with us?”

are we not friends enough yet that you could let us into your life a bit more? are we not friends enough yet that we’re allowed to know where youre from?

she DISAPPEARS. they have no idea where to. im assuming during s11 they were together most of the time? the fam dont seem to get home much at least. can we assume she didnt just disappear then sometimes? if she did it wouldve been rarer i think. i cant honestly say that i cant see her do it. once every couple of weeks. just go somewhere quiet and stare into space and come back barely missed and ready to go another few weeks. she’d probably have very plausible reasons. like 10 and donna in midnight. you go lounge around by the pool im going on this tour. probably enough opportunities for stuff like that where she could without suspicion disappear for a few hours.

but then youre getting an idea. youre getting an idea of a life of a person who seems like they dont have much going on except for what you share. theyre with you basically all the time. they dont mention any other attachments (ha funny i hurt myself), friends, family, home. and they mention enough other things that the white noise kinda fills all the gaps. you dont notice it’s all popcorn until Some Guy shows up, the One attachment she apparently does have, and hes like a whole Evil Guy, and he tries to kill you all. and then you realise wait what the fuck we dont know anything

and then they ask “why not with us?” and i realise, wait what the fuck they dont know anything

never gonna get over the this. the faces of two women that Know Things but aren't allowed to say anything 😭💀