#shes going through it but dw | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shanastoryteller · 9 months

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Happy Pride!!!! Living Blood or Lady Mo please!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Xuanyu disrobes unashamedly, hesitating only at the last second with the sleeve covering her left arm.

Jiang Yanli laughs. “Bit late to be modest, I think.”

“Modesty is overrated,” she returns, which is something that Zixuan would say and A-Yao would think. She slips the rest of the robes off and steps into the steaming bath, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction.

The changes her body has undergone are even more obvious without the thick layers of the robes obscuring her form. The extra weight seems to have settled in ideal places, not only thickening her waist and limbs but settling heavily along her hips and breasts, which hadn’t exactly been small to begin with.

She sits behind Xuanyu, filling a bowl with water and then pouring it over her hair to rinse it of blood and dirt that had been hidden by her dark hair. Acting as a bathing assistant is far below her station, but Xuanyu had sent all the servants away and she doesn’t mind, really. Xuanyu is her sister, likely the only one she’ll ever have considering A-Cheng’s track record with matchmakers, and she’s been worried about her. This gives them time to speak alone. “How has your marriage with Lan Wangji been? Has he been kind?”

Xuanyu pulls a face, which isn’t encouraging. “I guess. He mostly left me alone, and then we had a couple fights and he was a jerk, and now I think he’s trying to make up for being a jerk, but it’s a little – well, it’s nice that he’s making an effort. I suppose.”

Not as good as she’d hoped, but not as bad as she’d feared. “Sect Leader Lan seems fond of you.”

“Oh, Lan Xichen is great,” she says easily. Better than reaction to Lan Wangji, but still not what Jiang Yanli had been hoping for. Then her eyes light up. “Sizhui is wonderful! I’ll give Wangji one thing, he’s raised a good kid. He’s so sweet, and a great cultivator, and he’s always trying to help out everyone around him. I’m glad Jingyi’s always hanging around – without him, I think everyone would just take advantage of Sizhui’s good nature.”

Well, that’s something. Surely Lan Wangji can’t resist Xuanyu’s charms for long, not when she dotes on his son and gets along with his brother.

“What trouble did you get into on the road?” she asks, running her hand over the wound on Xuanyu’s shoulder. It looks nearly fully healed already and there’s another mostly healed wound on her hip, a thin slice on her left arm, and the shadow of various bruises that were likely much worse a couple hours ago. It’s of course a good thing that Xuanyu has a strong golden core, but Jiang Yanli can’t help a moment of wistfulness.

Her own core never lived up to her mother’s expectations, or her own. If she’d had a stronger core, she could have given A-Ling siblings. A child should have siblings. She would have had a calmer childhood without two little brothers underfoot, but a lonelier one too.

Xuanyu shrugs, lazily scrubbing herself down. “Looks like Xiao Xingchen picked up the girl, A-Qing, while he and Song Lan were separated and was trapped in this place that was basically a ghost town.” How could he be trapped by a place that had no people? “And I’d heard some rumors so when we ran into Song Lan I helped him find Xiao Xingchen, but there was a bit of a fight with someone who didn’t want him to leave. I just happened to get caught in the crossfire, so to speak.”

She’s stretching the truth to outright lying. Before Jiang Yanli can call her on it, her stomach growls.

“Didn’t get a chance to eat on the road?” she teases.

Xuanyu flushes, ducking briefly beneath the water to hide her flaming cheeks before resurfacing. “Things were a little hectic. It may have slipped my mind.”

How has she managed to put on weight while also forgetting to eat? Perhaps Lan Wangji deserves more credit.

“I think I have some candies in my room, if you want something before the banquet,” she offers. “I know the speeches take forever.”

Her eyes light up before dimming and she slumps in the bath. “Thanks, Yanli-jie, but I better not. Sizhui gave me some on the road and I usually love them but just putting it in my mouth almost made me sick. It was awful. And weird! They’re my favorite.”

Jiang Yanli blinks then gives Xuanyu’s significantly larger chest a considering look. It could be nothing. It’s probably nothing. She hasn’t even been married a year and it doesn’t sound as if she and Lan Wangji have been seeing eye to eye.

Then again, the same could have been said about her and Zixuan.

“Can I ask you something personal, Meimei?”

Xuanyu nods. “You can ask me anything, Yanli-jie.”

“Are you and Lan Wangji having sex?”

She turns bright red and ducks beneath the water for so long that Jiang Yanli is starting to get concerned before she resurfaces, still red faced. “Um. We did once. Well – I guess, technically, it was three times, but it was only one night.”

Well. Apparently Lan Wangji has stamina on and off the battlefield.

“One moment,” she says, briefly squeezing Xuanyu’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

It takes one whispered conversation with the servant outside the hall and approximately ninety seconds before her personal healer is standing in front of her. Jiang Yanli ducks back inside to see Xuanyu out of the bath, in a thin bathing robe that’s clinging to her as she wrings her hair out. “I’d like my healer to take a look at you, Meimei.”

Xuanyu freezes, slowly standing straight with a wary look on her face. “That’s really not necessary. The wounds were just superficial and they’re basically healed already.”

“It’ll be quick,” she says, because if she’s right then she can’t let Xuanyu go down to the banquet without letting her know. “She’s very discreet – she’s been my personal healer since I was a child.”

“Jiang Xingyi?” Xuanyu asks, some of her tension draining away.

Jiang Yanli nods, trying to think of some reason that Xuanyu would know her healer’s name, or her reputation, but all the servants are terrible gossips and her health is a frequent topic of derision. “Just your wrist, okay? Your golden core has changed a lot. I just want her to take a look.”

She feels bad about lying, but Xuanyu had lied to her first.

Xuanyu relaxes even further. “Okay, Yanli-jie. If it’ll make you feel better.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, then opens the door to usher Jiang Xingyi in.

The old woman doesn’t smile, but Xuanyu grins back undeterred, and says, “Hi, Granny,” before paling and adding, “uh, um. Sorry.”

Jiang Yanli feels a familiar pang of grief go through her. A-Xian had referred to Jiang Xingyi as Granny, the only disciple both bold and beloved enough to get away with it.

Jiang Xingyi ignores her, instead reaching for her wrist and pressing her fingers against it. Xuanyu fidgets, shifting from one foot to the other, but says nothing as the moments stack on top of one another.

Finally, Jiang Xingyi drops her wrist and steps back. Her stern visage breaks, a smile stretching her mouth across her face. “Congratulations, Madame Lan.”

She knew it!

“Thanks,” Xuanyu answers before wrinkling her nose. “Um. For what?”

“You are expecting,” she answers. “At least a couple months along, I believe, although I’d have to do a more thorough examination to be sure.”

Jiang Yanli moves to embrace her, but Xuanyu’s face drops and she turns dangerously pale. “What? No. That’s not possible. I can’t be.”

“Three times,” Jiang Yanli reminds her, trying to goad Xuanyu into laughter.

But instead she just shakes her head. “No, no I can’t, I – this can’t be happening,” she whispers to herself, grabbing her own arms in a white knuckled grip. “It’s not. It’s impossible. I can’t be.”

She’s young, and this wasn’t a marriage of her own choosing, and it’s so new. Of course she’s surprised and nervous. Jiang Yanli touches her elbow, intending to say something soothing, but Xuanyu collapses into her arms, gripping her waist and hiding her tears in her shoulder.

“Xuanyu!” she says, hugging her back just as fiercely, her heart breaking for the younger girl’s anguish. “Meimei, it’s okay, I know this is scary, but it’s going to be fine.”

“It’s not,” she says, voice thick with tears, “A-jie, this is awful, this is – it can’t happen! It can’t, Wangji is going to be so mad, he’s going to hate me, and everything is ruined and awful, I can’t be – I can’t! I’m going to die!”

Jiang Yanli’s whole body goes cold and she grips Xuanyu even tighter against her. “You’re going to be fine,” she says, pushing her conviction into every syllable.

No matter what Jiang Yanli has to do, Xuanyu is going to be fine.

#oh wwx #our babygirl is going through it #dw everything is going to be fine #wwx is like i'm going to die before i can have this baby and kill lan zhan's baby and he's going to hate me forever #and jyl who obviously has no context for this hears that xuanyu thinks that lwj is going to kill her #which she'd think that lwj would never do but also she saw him during war and she's not the one married to him #and everyone knows he didn't want this marriage and also made a big thing about how sizhui's position won't be usurped #jyl to herself: do i have to kill lan wangji?#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #anon #untamed

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cowlvent · 5 months

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clara reaching back into the unknown darkness for several long, agonizing seconds "i'm right please god say i'm right" AND THEN SHE IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the core of their relationship plays out right there: clara can and will defy death, and the doctor will always save clara, even when it seems impossible. (and it's crucial that this is the first really doctor-y moment he has as twelve.) the growth and distortion of these fundamental beliefs drive the two of them to their eventual end.

#going through deep breath induced madness here on this day #that shot of her reaching out into the unknown darkness. yeah it's bouncing around my brain like a windows screensaver #something about it makes me so. like. you can physically FEEL the nothingness there and the desperation+fear she has. whew #also “i'm right aren't i say i'm right” and thats when he grabs her. Where do i even begin with that #clara oswald #twelfth doctor #twelveclara #dw #clara + dr

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variousqueerthings · 5 months

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the thing is that martha and the doctor are an interesting, complicated, eternally evolving in my head dynamic that completely change the game of the narrative, and I am so into them and I will think about them forever and ever

and on the other hand I suspect that at least a certain percent of it comes from my specific reading of the doctor-as-character, and from things that the writing brought up around martha, her position in her family, her history as a medical student, her later decision to join UNIT and Torchwood, her more-than-average complex feelings both during and after being a Companion about what that life meant for her, and what the doctor changed in her life, that I would say were intentional, but weren't brought up in a narrative that was given as much space and time (ha) as other companions, and so she is eternally left in character limbo where I can only ask questions (and read fanfic) and stipulate on what this story was all about for her, and where she went as consequence, and what her feelings are about having been within it, and of course the parts that aged more poorly related to a bunch of white people writing a black woman as a lead character who weren't so well-versed on nuance as one would wish... so it's also the most frustrating dynamic in nu!who, if not all of doctor who, for me, because there is no attempt at giving it a proper end from her side, in the way there has been for so many other companions, including of course lots and lots of classic!who companions

on the third hand you would really want that potential bringing-back to be interesting in a way that interacts with their past dynamic, and fun for freema to do, and you'd worry about the amount of racist backlash that might occur, because nobody was giving martha grace as a character in the first place, would this past complexity that seemed to go over a lot of peoples' heads be something that the show perhaps should be more explicit about, so that there is no ambiguity as to how this series of events affected her and why it's more complicated than with other companions, and how does it both honour her character's inherent strengths, while also not having to make her be so strong All The Damn Time

on the fourth hand... just wanna see her again. and she'd be fire opposite ncuti, you know she would

#martha jones #dw #doctor who #and opposite ncuti she wouldn't be shouldering being the First Lone Main Character Who Is Black #with all the scrutiny and judgement that entailed #tbh give an adventure to fifteen martha and rose noble #i think that would go someways to offering that catharsis to the character + the amount of thematic throughline and narrative/lore #connective tissue between the three of them -- martha from the early days of nu!who -- rose being the next gen and ushering in the new #and fifteen of course is the doctor #also rose has a connection to donna ofc being her daughter. and she has a connection to rose through the name #it seems unjust that martha isn't a part of that celebration of rose's narrative heritage so to speak #fifteen giving martha the biggest hug would heal the biggest frustration i have with this show i swear it would #doctor who meta #the doctor #the tenth doctor #the fifteenth doctor

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spacemoth-matt · 7 months

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I know the doctor was grieving rose in s3 but come on my guy you did not need to treat martha like that like she walked the earth for a year for you + the entirety of the family of blood, she should've run him over with the tardis after that honestly

#don't get me wrong i love the doctor #but he can se such an ass sometimes #his story after rose is one of grief and loss and although he does tell martha what he's going through #some of the things the does (looking at you the family of blood) are just WAY too bad #i have a complicated relationship with that episode #it's interesting but oh dear does she get treated horribly #martha jones #doctor who #dw #tenth doctor

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ryanthedoctor11 · 1 month

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Imagine a support group being created for your exes, purely to help them move on from you

#doctor who #the doctor #dr who #dw #I'm talking about the ex-companion support group in POTD #also #imagine if you just showed up #and claimed to be one of your exes #like Mel attends the group #she visits 14 a lot #I can totally imagine her dragging the Doctor and Donna into it #saying it would be “good for him”#but he doesn't want them to know who he is because it would be so awkward #so he pretends he was his own companion #and pretends that 15 telling him to go get therapy was the break up #and all the other companions see through it really quickly because he keeps on remembering or adding onto the things they all talk about #and he doesn't travel with stupid people #so it's awkward anyway (especially for him and Yaz)#someone please draw this #I've been thinking about it for months

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expectiations · 19 days

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I recently got pulled back into a rabbit hole that Rory Williams is a descendant of Caecilius (you know, the guy in Pompeii the Doctor and Donna saved). By saving Caecilius and fam, the Doctor has unwittingly ensured the existence of their wife (which they'll meet in the Library a few episodes later).

Then someone pointed out that supposedly, the Froshbishers in Torchwood was the descendant of Caecilius (since they're played by the same actor – Peter Capaldi himself) and that's why he ends up killing himself and his family to tie up all loose ends that never should have existed.

And I was like no–oh. OH. WAIT. The Froshbishers and the Williams could have both been descendants of Caecilius. We already know of the Froshbishers' tragic end but then there's Rory! Roranicus Pondicus, who seems to suffer from a tragic death every other episode. Penny in the air. What if that's why Rory suffers from frequent deaths? It's the universe trying to tie loose ends up but somehow Rory almost always ends up 'escaping' (for lack of a better word that I can currently come up with) the clutches of death – until of course, Manhattan. Penny drops.

But anyways, I think there's something beautiful in all that yapping I've spewed. Also, that could also explain why – or could be one of the explanations why River's death had to be a fixed point. Other than to prevent the Doctor from rewriting it, it was also the universe's final way of cleaning up the past.

#tia talks tish #dw musings #doctor who #rory williams #caecilius #river song #the doctor #tenth doctor #eleventh doctor #john frobisher #also there's something amusing about how the Doctor shares the faces of two other people who may or may not be their wife's relatives #i could also talk about how River may or may not have seen the deaths of her parents and brother. she was by their bedside as they drew #their last breaths. they lasted that long because anyone who dares to hurt them has to go through River first and anyone who was wise enough #to do their research first knew better than to touch the Williamses (is that correct)

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luxraydyne · 7 months

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fragile objects

#aitsf #aitsf spoilers #jupewter #ai the somnium files #ai: the somnium files #ai:tsf #pewter (aitsf)#renju okiura #cw nudity #*falling rock* BUT only a LITTLE #listen if you were to pan down i think you'll find these two good pals are absolutely positively fully garbed from the waist down dw abt it #luxraydyne's pewter saga #my art #oh ill do a little matchy matchy doodly this will be fun and not a problem at all. she spits through her teeth #ptooey throwing things going back to pen and paper ptooey never starting digital from scratch again ptooey #if you look closely you can actually see the moment i start having a big tantrum

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livelaughloverinky · 3 months

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nice weather we're having

#enstars #rinniki #rinky #sana #50 #apologies for sana's lateness because she is going through the Horrors (sleep deprivation sniffles and schoolwork)#she'll power through dw o7 #and she'll be back to rinkying at full power soon

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long-suffering-little-spoon · 4 months

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Not sure how hot a take this is but Twelve had the best regeneration sequence (at least in NuWho) by a landslide like good fucking god

#just finished watching the doctor falls and twice upon a time #and they both go so fucking hard #like the fondness the sorrow the acceptance #the pear callback #THE EMOTIONS ARE OFF THE CHARTS #peter capaldi was absolutely fucking stellar omg he gave the performance of a lifetime #maybe i'm biased cos twelve and bill and missy are all my faves but the s10 finale and special are some of my favourite eps of dw ever #how steven moffatt wrote some of my least favourite plotlines but also s10 i will never know #the doctor falls monologue is objectively incredible but i also think his regen speech deserves credit too #i'm gonna miss him so baddddd 😭😭😭😭#i don't think i can bear chibnall who again give me strength. at least in s5 and 6 i had river to get me through #i like jodie's doctor she's super cute and dhawan!master is brilliant but the rest of it...#also ugly tardis i said what i said #doctor who #dr who #12th doctor #twelfth doctor #peter capaldi #the doctor falls #twice upon a time #regeneration

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agentark · 5 months

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Bill's death is one of the most (if not the most) horrific companion ends in all of Doctor Who

#like yes she gets to live on - after horrifically and painfully dying TWICE #she gets a hole blasted through her then waits ten years for the doctor #with a big mechanical box for a heart #and then gets blended up and dumped into a cyberman suit HOURS before twelve makes it to her #she's collateral damage in the millennia long tragedy of the doctor and the master #justice for bill potts #doctor who #dw #bill potts #honestly im with the toymaker's sarcastic 'well thats alright then!!!'#very few companions don't suffer heartbreaking ends but man twelve's era inflicts some serious emotional damage #im going to watch classic who for the first after i rewatch 13.... can't wait to get attached to a whole new crop of companions!!

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witchofthemidlands · 6 months

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i am going to mutate like the meep if anything bad happens to them 🥺

#I AM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH #GNAWING THROUGH THE POWER CABLES #I AM GOING TO EAT DRYWALL #donna noble #she is gorgeous 😍��#not to be a lesbian but oh my god #fourtenth doctor #fourteenth doctor #wild blue yonder #60th anniversary #catherine tate #david tennant #doctor who #whoniverse #dw spoilers

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jennycalendar · 5 months

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also, because i have been thinking about this for a hot minute -- this is obviously not the reading that the show wants us to go with, which is good, because what the show wants us to go with is so categorically ridiculous that there are 27 million different ways the fandom has come up with to easily circumvent it, but i think there could be something really compelling about the doctor specifically choosing not to save river from the library because he knows it would be the easiest thing in the world for her to save herself.

like, ok, consider: the doctor's influence on river's life is such that the person she became would not even exist without him there! she was literally molded into who she was To Kill Him. taken away from her parents because of their connection to him. and when she tried to reclaim her agency by choosing to love him, she was forced to kill him again, spending the rest of her life in prison for a crime she didn't really commit (once again about him) and then when she gets out she is essentially a dead woman walking anyway. always has been, to the doctor. i don't think he'd be in any hurry to reconnect with her when she's centered her entire life around him -- i actually think he would see it as an act of love and grace to allow her a way to separate herself from him. a death that isn't permanent and doesn't have to be. all the books in the world to help her figure out a way forward without him.

but also, this is the doctor, so of course he does not TELL HER ANY OF THIS, and river, who loves him, sees this as being abandoned! i think there could be a really compelling story about an embittered post-library river who has figured out a way to leave and has not forgiven the doctor for leaving her to rot in the library, because river and the doctor are always always talking past each other. or, potentially, a post-library river with a different face who has decided to give the doctor a (loving) hard time about his terrible decisions by popping up everywhere, deliberately in the Right order this time, just to be flirty and vague and ridiculous. idk. food for thought.

#celia watches dw #doctor x river #i like the idea of the doctor giving river an out through her death #like leaving the door waaaaay open and going ''ok you can leave now''#and river missing that the door is open entirely. like one of those little cats #she's like WHY would you imprison me like this??? abandon me like this???#the doctor's like Did You Not Spend Our Entire Marriage Repeatedly Breaking Out Of Prison. Is This Not Your Thing

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