Doctor X Donna - Tumblr Posts

Hello fellow Ten/Donna peeps. As I know our people are starving, I have come to offer some crumbs from the novel "Shining Darkness" by Mark Michalowski.

1: (twinkly glare is such a good description of her oh my goodness)

2: The Doctor wishing (his) Ginger Goddess was there to protect him (he is definitely the damsel in this relationship)

3: Donna just loving herself because wholesome (and she's right on all counts. Queen.)

4: Donna THROWING HERSELF into his arms and burying her head in his chest. And then punching him. (And him obviously enjoying the hug, which makes him smile despite being sad in this scene)

5: Donna thinking about her and the Doctor just missing each other in a way that sounds a lot like they are a married couple (they are)

6: This needs no explanation (actually it does. The man has a crush.)

7: This never specifies that she took her head off his shoulder. For all we know she put her head on his shoulder and inhaled deeply and had a heartfelt conversation with him and. I'm so normal about them.

Okay that's all bye.

Donna Noble, and the plucky young man who helps her out.

My brain was hijacked by a concept: Tendonna with Parks and Recreation quotes

I don't know whether to apologize.

OKAY so I am re-listening to "Death and The Queen" again and I am having Thoughts™.

I can't find any info about when this drama takes place continuity-wise, but my personal placement would be after "Planet of The Ood" (4x3) and before "The Sontaran Stratagem" (4x4) because 4x4-4x6 take place directly following each other with Donna stating at the end of 4x6 that she plans to travel with the Doctor forever. Donna's determination to continue traveling w him is in keeping with the conclusion of Death and The Queen, where she comes to the decision that the Doctor IS her "happily ever after," as it were. Placing the drama after "Fires of Pompeii" and "Planet of The Ood" also makes sense with Donna's desire in the audio drama to have a break from "the extraordinary" of traveling with the Doctor (specifically, horrific death and destruction,) which adds understandable context to her seemingly being so willing to leave the Doctor after searching for him for so long.

 (Don't talk to me about the ending of Forest of The Dead. It's unlikely Donna would have left the Doctor even if she found Lee. Donna's desire to confirm whether Lee was real could be easily contextualized by her wanting to know how much of her experiences inside CAL were a fabrication, and what the supposed "perfect husband" persona would have said about her if it was drawn from her own mind. Also it was written by Moffatt so it shouldn't count anyway.)

ANyway, what I actually wanted to talk about. Notably, considerable emphasis is placed on Donna enjoying her role as Queen and especially caring for her subjects and having power to help people. A greater amount of text is dedicated to her talking about how as Queen she can care for her subjects than her love for Rudolph, even before the reveal that he is human(?) trash. Her attachment to the role of Queen that marrying Rudolph will grant her is established to be largely based upon her passion for helping people rather than luxuries associated with rank, especially in view of the montage of how royal life on Gorotainia is not as glamorous as she hoped but is still enthralled by being Queen. Later in the story, when danger has appeared, her main role in the story is sacrificing and taking the lead to protect her subjects.

Notably, when things start going downhill and Rudolph starts talking to her about the difficult choices that he must make as royalty she comments that Rudolph is “just like HIM” (the Doctor) and that she went with Rudolph to escape these darker aspects of her travels with the Doctor, specifically the hard choices that go with the role the Doctor plays in the universe (while she doesn’t connect these concepts directly, these two statements are placed very close to one another textually.)

Only when her relationship with Rudolph and role as Queen seems like it will involve some of the same dark choices that her travels with Doctor did does Donna decide she doesn’t want to be involved anymore, which is quickly reversed when she finds out she needs to become Queen in order to protect her people. (I love Donna. In case you can’t tell.)

The narrative has established that a large part of Donna’s attachment to her relationship with Rudolph is potential authority to help and guide people, and that her main interest in pursuing a life with Rudolph rather than her travels with the Doctor was her perception that her role as Queen of Gorotainia would not involve the same death and destruction she has seen with the Doctor. Perfectly understandable after experiencing something like Pompeii.

Donna’s compassion and empathy have been essential components of her character since her introduction, with her wanting to protect the Doctor despite being irritated with him and feeling sorrow for the children of a Rancoss that wanted her to be eaten in “The Runaway Bride”, her taking the time to mention Stacy in “Partners In Crime,” and literally everything in “Fires of Pompeii” and “Planet of The Ood’. Donna has always taken the time and the energy to think of others and work to protect them, even this early in her run. In view of how deeply she feels the pain of others, it is understandable that she would find the idea of a world where she could help others from a position of power without all of the death and chaos and destruction appealing, and her outrage at Rudolph for once again putting her in a position where she has to witness (and potentially be responsible for) terrible things happening to innocent people is believable. He proves that being a Gorotainian royal is like being the Last of The Time Lords. On a smaller scale, sure, but still. 

So the text (and Donna) have set up the idea of Rudolph being similar to the Doctor in role, so what is the difference? Rudolph doesn’t much care about people. He is willing to sacrifice his own people quite coldly.

The Doctor does care about people. How good of a person he is, or how good of a job he does caring for people is up for debate, but he cares.

Which all leads me to this quote from “Beautiful Chaos,” that I cannot believe is cannon and real and published.

Why does Donna love the Doctor?

"I wish you could see what I see. We've been to places, to worlds, to futures and pasts you could only dream about. I think half of them I dreamed up because they can't be real. But they are. And everywhere we go, we make a difference. We put things right, we make people happier. That's what the Doctor is all about. He finds a way for the universe to make sense. And I love him for it.”

Donna Noble wants to make a difference. No matter where she goes, she cannot escape the death and pain and suffering and chaos and nonsense that is the universe, and she can’t help but want to help. And right there beside her, the Doctor is working to put things right too. And she loves him for it.

We have this entire drama dedicated to Donna wanting to make a difference, while also escaping the darkness of the universe, and she learns she can’t. There are no happily ever afters.

Except with the Doctor.

I have so many feelings guys.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Minor oc Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, This is written for an audience of me, Trying to serve up that bickering old married couple vibe, Accidental Marriage, Absolute fluff, slightly snarky fluff, Fluff and Humor Summary:

Many are familiar with the concept of mutual denial. That is definitely not what is happening between the Doctor and Donna, however. No way.

Same energy, different POV

I just realized... In Partners In Crime we have Donna explaining why she and the Doctor wouldn't be a couple:

And then four episodes later in The Doctor's Daughter we have her explaining why they couldn't be a couple:

It seems to me like she's putting a lot more emphasis on external factors and deflecting her own feelings about it??

Then in the next episode they kiss and episode after that she calls him pretty ("Oh that came out a bit quick...")

Okay girl, whatever you say. Sure you went from "You are the most repulsive unattractive person I could possibly imagine, and an alien to boot" to "Well if we got together someone might arrest us so we're just friends." But I'll take your word for it.

Ten/Donna is my comfort pairing because they're so snarky and depressed and neurodivergent and mentally ill but they still get to have The Soft together without erasing any of that

Just thinking about the Doctor calling Donna Noble his best friend and The Most Important Woman In The Universe.

I finally bought the second set of ten/Donna big finish audios, so expect me to be off on my nonsense real bad.

Anyway, in One Mile Down Donna offers to get the Doctor a hat that says “kiss me” to cheer him up, and when he says he doesn’t like hats she says it would suit him.

Edit:

Doctor: "There goes young love... Of a sort."

*Donna immediately appears*

Doctor: "Ooooo, can I try your ice cream?"

Donna: "Yeh, but it's pear."

Doctor: "You did that on purpose..."

Big fave Ten/Donna trope is Donna missing the Doctor making heart eyes at her/desperately making sure she’s okay because she’s focused on helping other people. Theres a reason why one of her defining lines is “never mind us.”

I just love how every moment Donna is talking about the Doctor when hes not there is just so shippy.

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble, The Doctor/Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott & Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor & Wilfred Mott Characters: Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott Additional Tags: Fluff, Humor, Denial of Feelings, the tiniest amount of angst you have ever seen, Unresolved Tension, Kind Of, its pretty fluffy you know me guys, What's wrong with them (Affectionate), They are absolutely terrible and I love them, Featuring a guest appearance from Wilf Summary:

The Doctor and Donna do a lot of talking without saying anything. They also go to a fancy restaurant! A two part one-shot. A two-shot if you will.

...Th...Them

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble, The Doctor/Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott & Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor & Wilfred Mott Characters: Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott Additional Tags: Fluff, Humor, Denial of Feelings, the tiniest amount of angst you have ever seen, Unresolved Tension, Kind Of, What's wrong with them (Affectionate), Featuring a guest appearance from Wilf, The author admits to being a sap, Friends to Lovers Summary:

The Doctor and Donna do a lot of talking without saying anything. They also go to a fancy restaurant, pay Wilf a visit, and embark on a journey to figure out what's wrong with them!

Taylor Swift "...Ready For It?" as a tendonna song, in the fluffiest way possible.

They think it's their super platonic spy theme song.

(Ten is the Swiftie)

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Donna Noble, The Doctor/Donna Noble Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) Additional Tags: Fluff, Accidental Marriage, Humor, Implied/Referenced Sex, general silliness Series: Part 2 of Very Not-Married Summary:

"Listen lady, I’m going to be very honest with you: we do not need couple’s counseling. We’re here because my husband won’t accept he’s wrong about what the best film adaption of Pride and Prejudice is, and I need your professional confirmation that he is wrong before we can move on with our lives."

I'm gonna be brave and post these even though I feel little insecure about them... Importantly I made them matchy 🥹