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GALLIFREYAN IS THEIR LOVE LANGUAGE
Gallifreyan, the last language of the Time Lords, able to burn stars and rise up empires and topple gods. But it was never just that. It's the first language he ever spoke, the language of his childhood, the language he taught his children and granddaughter. It's the language that brings him home. But his home is long gone and when Gallifrey fell, the language was lost with it.
What had meant family became the reminder of his loneliness. But he never stopped using it. He used it as a reminder of what he had lost, as a reminder not to let anyone else have to make the decision he made that day.
Gallifreyan means so much to the Doctor... And all the companions have sensed that at some point.
Rose used to stare at Nine writing on sticky notes, delicate tracings of all she didn't know about him, perfect circles and lines that fascinated her. She never dared to ask, though. When Jack joined them, not knowing the Doctor was the last of his kind, he had no problem doing it.
"What are you writing?" He asked peering over his shoulder. "Oh, Doctor, do you have a secret code you use to look enigmatic?" Smiling as he said it. "Is it even a real language or are you just using it to impress us?" It had just been their normal banter, he hadn't meant to hurt him.
The Doctor had turned serious for a moment, trying to make clear that Gallifreyan wasn't banter material-
"It's the language of my people." He answered simply. "Now," he added, a smile on his face and changing his tone completely while pressing buttons in the TARDIS controls, "who wants to go to the beach?"
Jack was confused, wanting to ask, but Rose took his arm, signaling for him to let it go.
"You're finally taking me somewhere I can get a proper tan." Rose said smiling to the Doctor, letting go of Jack's arm.
Jack understood Rose and went back to his normal harmless quips.
"Only if he's able to land the TARDIS in a real beach without an emergency crisis going on this time."
The Doctor had seen the interaction between Jack and Rose and he silently thanked her for it. He decided at that moment that if Rose ever asked, he would answer. The image of him teaching her how to read Gallifreyan even crossed his mind for a brief second.
"Oh, Jack, I'm going to land this TARDIS in the most beautiful beach you've ever seen.
And he did.
They never talked again about Gallifreyan with the Doctor, but the beauty of the circles always Intrigued them. They used to joke about what they thought was written on the sticky notes when Doctor wasn't there and that led to them trying to figure out how to read it, which circles where words and which ones where letters, failing every time to decipher it.
Rose understood it when she was Bad Wolf but it all faded away too quickly for her to remember it afterwards. Then, Jack was left behind and Rose stopped trying to figure it out. Ten would have taught her, but she never asked. Tentoo taught her without her needing to say anything.
Jack never stopped trying to understand it. Using the Torchwood files they had about Gallifreyan just like Martha used UNIT's. Working together and knowing what some of the messages said they made some progress at recognizing patterns but not enough to translate other messages.
Donna didn't give Gallifreyan a long thought while she was travelling with the Doctor. Just a Martian language. Sometimes Wilfred finds her doodling perfectly organized circles and lines when she is distracted. He hates not being able to tell her about the Doctor when she gets angry at herself after realizing she is doodling nonsense again.
When Ten met River she told him his name in perfect Gallifreyan. He thought he should have had to really love and trust her not only to tell her his name but to teach her Gallifreyan to the point of speaking it daily, judging by the accent. What he didn't know was that River had born with the ability to talk Gallifreyan, she was, after all, the daughter of the TARDIS.
Jack and River came across each other a couple of times, forming a close friendship over the years. Their love for the Doctor made them create a special bond. At that point Jack had lost all hope in learning Gallifreyan; his adventures with the Doctor had happened centuries ago and understanding sticky notes around the TARDIS had no sense anymore. He had given up the thought of travelling with him again. When River offered to teach him anyway his face lit up with a smile.
Eleven hid his past inside himself, so when the TARDIS redecorated he made sure not to have Gallifreyan anywhere visible. Amy learnt about it when River used it to contact the Doctor but she was more interested in the adventure so she never thought to ask. That's what Eleven loved about her. (Because Army didn't ask, neither did Rory.)
When they got trapped by the angels in Manhattan, Amy's way to cope with loosing the Doctor was listening to the stories her daughter told her. She started to get interested in the little things she hadn't been able to appreciate with the adrenaline of the moment, trying to hold on to anything that reminded her of that moment of her life. When River understood it, she taught Amy to read and write Gallifreyan. Soon, the Pond's house started filling with messages: reminders and recipes written in a language only Amy, Rory and their two children could understand and a letter from Amy for only her Raggedy Man to read once he was ready.
When Eleven met Clara he fell for her, every time. He redecorated the TARDIS for her to ask about Gallifreyan, ready to share that part of his life with her. Clara was like Amy, though, always invested in the adventure, slowly falling for the Doctor. But when he changed, she changed too. Twelve eventually accepted Clara was never going to ask, so he started to write in English in the blackboards of the TARDIS for her to understand what he wrote but still leaving the Gallifreyan in the console's decoration. He adapted to her but he quietly hopped she would do the same one day.
Clara was forced to learn Gallifreyan in order to fly the TARDIS. Me taught her. She had learnt it many years before from her old friend, the Face of Boe.
The first time River spoke Gallifreyan in front of the Doctor was during their night in Darillium. She called him anidiot. She had gotten used to insulting people in Gallifreyan and switching languages was an instinct. River saw the Doctor cry for the first time that day. She hugged him in the floor while the Doctor told her about his kids and his marvelous granddaughter, all in the language of his people. At that moment she had thought that she had reminded him of everyone he had lost when she spoke Gallifreyan. Now, however, she understands the Doctor was thinking about how he was going to lose the only person he had left with whom he could speak it.
When the Doctor let Missy into the TARDIS with Bill, she made a comment about him having the names of his companions as decoration in the console. It took the Doctor a second to realize that Missy understood Gallifreyan, he had been guarding the vault for years and he had never spoken to Missy in their native language.
"We don't speak Gallifreyan." The Doctor mentioned once they were alone in the vault.
"Always so observant, Doctor" Missy rolled her eyes.
The only time he spoke Gallifreyan with Missy was when he was trying to convince her and the Master to stay and fight with him against the cybermen. The next time they saw each other, O spoke in Gallifreyan ("I did say the spy... master."), Thirteen didn't give him the privilege of answering in Gallifreyan.
In the year 2023 a giant graffiti of circles appears in London. It says "You are not alone". Yaz wrote it. She doesn't know Gallifreyan but she asked Jack to translate that sentence after one of her Companions Meetings.
The Doctor knows about the graffiti but she doesn't know who wrote it. She doesn't know that almost all her companions know Gallifreyan. She thinks it's something from her future, not realizing she has already Inspired so many people, not realizing that her companions can sense how much Gallifreyan means to her. Not realizing that Gallifreyan is their love language.
sometimes a family is an immortal viking, a girl with no heartbeat, a time lord old enough to be your messiah but who consistently wears plaid pants and a hoodie, and their celestial gay daughters.
Was in the mood to do some shipping bingo
This one is for the clashidr girlies
They give me brain rot. So much brain rot. I need more of them but people don't make much content of them anymore since ashildr hasn't been mentioned for ages. Truly a crime against the people.