Fic: Huntress
Dec. 27th, 2009 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjporFic: Huntress
Well, since RTD's decided to render my Romana-in-the-Time War fic obsolete, I thought I'd go for some Romana-in-E-Space instead. After a fashion. I've been wanting to write this for a while and it takes a lot of inspiration from my good buddy Clocketpatch, who has written some great Romana-in-E-Space fic that suggests that, in keeping with the very uncompromising tone of Warrior's Gate, it might not have been all good times and awesomeness as we Romana fans might like to imagine. E-Space is, of course, green and not black. I hope the assumptions of the POV character don't repel you to the point where you can't read this - he's supposed to be an unpleasant piece of work. Lots of references to Warriors' Gate, and the Antonine Killers and their blockade come from the Target novelisation of same by John Lydecker (a pseudonym for Stephen Gallagher), although I've kind of added my own spin on it all. As ever, Doctor Who and its characters and copyrights definitely do not belong to me.
The link:
www.whofic.com/viewstory.php
Well, since RTD's decided to render my Romana-in-the-Time War fic obsolete, I thought I'd go for some Romana-in-E-Space instead. After a fashion. I've been wanting to write this for a while and it takes a lot of inspiration from my good buddy Clocketpatch, who has written some great Romana-in-E-Space fic that suggests that, in keeping with the very uncompromising tone of Warrior's Gate, it might not have been all good times and awesomeness as we Romana fans might like to imagine. E-Space is, of course, green and not black. I hope the assumptions of the POV character don't repel you to the point where you can't read this - he's supposed to be an unpleasant piece of work. Lots of references to Warriors' Gate, and the Antonine Killers and their blockade come from the Target novelisation of same by John Lydecker (a pseudonym for Stephen Gallagher), although I've kind of added my own spin on it all. As ever, Doctor Who and its characters and copyrights definitely do not belong to me.
The link:
www.whofic.com/viewstory.php
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-12-28 02:14 am (UTC)I'll leave you a review tomorrow. I loved this overall but I do a couple of points I'd like to adress.
Not that you should take review from someone who has posted one single mini-drabble in all her time in fandom too seriously.no subject
Date: 2009-12-28 08:37 pm (UTC)I'll be interested to see what you think of it. I think it was more a coolish idea for a fic than anything - telling it all from the point of view of this horrible OC. I don't know if the characterisation of Romana is at all plausible or logical or anything like that, but then again the setting depicted in Warriors' Gate when there were no clear-cut heroes and both sides seemed capable of terrible cruelty and, for want of a better word, humanity, while at the same time thinking themselves to be perfectly ordinary, decent people...well, that sort of stuff might wear down your moral ideals fairly quickly if you weren't as experienced at this sort of stuff as the Doctor. But in any case, I look forward to seeing your ideas on it.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-28 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-28 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-29 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 12:15 am (UTC)That was, I guess where I was coming from; Romana's far from home, far from her own universe even, and she's in the middle of fighting this dirty war, much harsher than anything she was exposed to travelling with Four, while at the same time she's effectively just split up with her teacher, mentor, love of her life etc. So, you can see why she might be a bit emotionally unstable, but it's a testament to her strength that she carries on with what she believes to be right, even if she's probably worried that it's making her hard and ruthless.
And yeah, I agree totally that of all the companions, Romana is probably the one who understood the Doctor best (even if she also struggled to understand him at times, rejecting as he did most of the social values she had been taught to respect at the Academy), for obvious reasons. And while she loved him, respected him etc, she was all too aware of his shortcomings and called him on them, repeatedly. I think the blind hero-worship thing is very much something that has come in with NuWho; I think the best of the oldschool companions at the very least knew the Doctor wasn't perfect, and said so when they thought he'd made a mistake. It's all part of RTD's fetishisation of the Doctor as this almost Christlike figure, and hopefully the Moff will abandon that. Although he just as easily might not...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 12:51 am (UTC)Well, I'm glad you go for a middle ground. Fandom can be very bipolar when it comes to character development; Romana is either almost unchanged or unrecognisable. I admit that would like to see someone write a story where she didn't either stay in E-Space or become president, as neither is anything like rock-solid canon, as far as I'm concerned.
And yeah, I agree totally that of all the companions, Romana is probably the one who understood the Doctor best (even if she also struggled to understand him at times, rejecting as he did most of the social values she had been taught to respect at the Academy), for obvious reasons.
I think fic-writers tend to exagerate Romana's adherence to Academy norms. The only time you really see them ''argue'' over this is when they talk about art. You see more of this in the first Romana, but even then it's mostly in the beginning. I always found Romana's attitude to Earth and humans pretty reasonable; she likes them but she's not infatuated with them like the Doctor. Some writers seem to interpret this as her preferring Gallifreyan values, but I think it's pretty obvious that that's not what she means. She just doesn't have a particular preference for any particular planet or culture.
And while she loved him, respected him etc, she was all too aware of his shortcomings and called him on them, repeatedly. I think the blind hero-worship thing is very much something that has come in with NuWho; I think the best of the oldschool companions at the very least knew the Doctor wasn't perfect, and said so when they thought he'd made a mistake.
Yes, Old School companions were generally allowed to chew out the Doctor (most notably: Barbara, Steven, Liz, the Brig, Romana*) without put in their place by the end. As for Moffat, I hope there'll be less of that, but I'm not convinced, considering Reinette and River and their gushing over His Wonderfulness, not to mention ''Look me up!'' etc.
*This is just out of the companions that I've seen.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 10:03 pm (UTC)I think maybe a better third way would be one in which Romana ends up going around the universe like another Doctor and being just as awesome as he is. They still meet up from time to time to
shagcompare notes, but he respects the fact that she's moved on and doesn't need to play companion to the likes of him any more. They tell each other they'll retire one day, settle down together in 1890s Paris or something and drink absinthe on the Left Bank, but they both know it'll never happen; they're neither of them the retiring type... It's up to Romana VIII by now, and she's as awesome as Romanas I-VII were before her...maybe one day she'll take some keen young Time Lord as a companion of her own andshag himinspire him in turn to take up the same lifestyle of freelance trouble-solving and awesomeness... ;DAww...
A-ny-way...
I think you're right about the Academy stuff too; I know I always throw it into my fic, but that's just because I shamelessly copy my Four/Romana II relationship from City of Death, because I love City of Death! ;D I don't think she's being serious, though, when she claims to prefer Gallifrey to Earth, because quite honestly I think she realises that leaving Gallifrey is the best thing that ever happened to her. All that stuff like the Mona Lisa's eyebrows is just their way of flirting, I think; a bit of intellectual sparring, arguing for the fun of it. They're probably getting all hot and bothered while they're doing it...er...
No, I don't think Romana prefers Gallifrey to anywhere, once she's exposed to the wider universe - that's why she opts to stay in E-Space, after all. And as for not being as keen on humans as the Doctor is,
the Doctor's just blinded by his continuing massive crush on BarbaraI don't really blame her.Hmmm...I was being optimistic there about Moffat - if you think about it, he's actually one of the main purveyors of Magic!Jesus!Superhero!Doctor, who women want and men want to be like, etc etc etc... All of the companions you mention were fine examples of ones who weren't afraid to prick the Doctor's ego when required. I'd add, just off the top of my head, Leela, Tegan, Peri and Ace. Yes, even Peri, one of the least popular companions, didn't put up with Six's crap (well he did try to murder her, I suppose...). And as for Ace and Seven...their twisty, twisted love/realism relationship was possibly the best-explored between any Doctor and companion, just for the way it developed and played out over the course of their entire run together (much like Four and Romana). I can just imagine Ace's reaction if Ten started his lonely god nonsense... ;D
no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 10:59 pm (UTC)I think maybe a better third way would be one in which Romana ends up going around the universe like another Doctor and being just as awesome as he is. They still meet up from time to time to
shagcompare notes, but he respects the fact that she's moved on and doesn't need to play companion to the likes of him any more. They tell each other they'll retire one day, settle down together in 1890s Paris or something and drink absinthe on the Left Bank, but they both know it'll never happen; they're neither of them the retiring type... It's up to Romana VIII by now, and she's as awesome as Romanas I-VII were before her...maybe one day she'll take some keen young Time Lord as a companion of her own andshaghim inspire him in turn to take up the same lifestyle of freelance trouble-solving and awesomeness... ;DDamn, that would be good. I actually sometimes like to imagine they did just that inbetween Doctors 5-8. There's plenty of room to play with inbetwen some serials. Now I have a fanon where the Doctor becomes interested in River Song because that comparing notes thing was something he used to do with Romana. I don't mean that he won't like River for herself. Just that that was an initial reason.
Still find the River-thing irritating, though.Hmmm...I was being optimistic there about Moffat - if you think about it, he's actually one of the main purveyors of Magic!Jesus!Superhero!Doctor, who women want and men want to be like, etc etc etc..
I'm not sure I can think of a New Who writer who doesn't fall into that habit.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-30 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 12:15 am (UTC)The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of an AU Romana who stays with the Doctor, or indeed a Romana who only stayed in E-Space for a bit, before continuing her life of adventure and still occasionally meeting/teaming up with the Doctor from time to time. And if she wasn't President, and indeed the Time War was clearly lost and Gallifrey had been taken over by Bond and his fellow crazed megalomaniacs, then I think she could have fobwatched herself with a clear conscience. And being Romana, she's left some clue out there so that the Doctor can find her again; he's just too thick to work it out yet! ;D
I think River is very much the Doctor's "type" - brainy, experienced sort of woman who'll talk back to him. So, just like Romana, then! He only _thinks_ women like Rose are his "type" because he's going through a midlife crisis... lost_spook wrote really good fic along these lines a while ago.
I'm just glad RTD managed to get through Pt 2 of End of Tim without coming out and directly mentioning Romana at all. Maybe she was the woman in white, maybe not - who knows? But at least he didn't do anything to wreck the character. She might still be out there...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 12:52 am (UTC)What about Time Lord/humans? It's my fanon (stolen from one of violetisblue's fics) that Time Lord-Human hybrids are a bit like mules: sterile, genetically funky, and with a tendency towards bi-polar disorder (which would explain a lot about Susan, come to think of it). Well, of course only the first part applies to mules, but you get my drift.
''The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of an AU Romana who stays with the Doctor, or indeed a Romana who only stayed in E-Space for a bit, before continuing her life of adventure and still occasionally meeting/teaming up with the Doctor from time to time. And if she wasn't President, and indeed the Time War was clearly lost and Gallifrey had been taken over by Bond and his fellow crazed megalomaniacs, then I think she could have fobwatched herself with a clear conscience. And being Romana, she's left some clue out there so that the Doctor can find her again; he's just too thick to work it out yet! ;D''
I still like to think they met up occasionally, only we didn't get to see it. Really, though, if Moffat would just give her a shout-out and have the Doctor react to it in an appropriately mournful/wistful manner, I'll be a very happy camper (I don't see why, we've had shout-outs to lesser characters). At least we know he believes they were a couple. Still, I don't want him to bring her back if it means she'll be ''snubbed'' by Eleven in favour of River. So better wait 'till River is gone
if that ever even happens.;D''I think River is very much the Doctor's "type" - brainy, experienced sort of woman who'll talk back to him. So, just like Romana, then! He only _thinks_ women like Rose are his "type" because he's going through a midlife crisis... lost_spook wrote really good fic along these lines a while ago.''
Please don't say you ship it! I don't want to be alone! *clings*no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 11:25 pm (UTC)Regarding Time Lords/Humans my fanon is that back in the old days, when Rassilon was young and the Time Lords didn't have their laws banning interference with the "lesser" species, they did an awful lot of pretending to be gods on various planets, maybe Earth too... And like real oldschool gods like the gods of Olympus or Asgard or wherever, getting up close and personal with humans was part of that...
Except the Time Lords don't talk about any of that any more. They'd like to pretend it never happened...
I have new fanon on the Master and Time Lord sexual mores after watching EoT; In Part 1 he mentions his father's estates - now how do we reconcile that with
ourmy beloved LOOMS? Well, I'm thinking that the Master's father was some sort of high-ranking Time Lord - a Councillor, perhaps, or one of the leading academicians at the Academy - and he...well, had what the Time Lords would consider to be a moral lapse and got some Time Lady/one of his students/one of the Shobogan servants pregnant... Which is not only scandalous but kind of icky according to the mores of Time Lord society as I imagine it, where "our sort of people" use LOOMS to reproduce. So, the kid got sent off to virtual exile on some plot of land in Outer Gallifrey that his dad happened to own, well away from the Citadel where people might see him and rumble his dad's dirty secret... No wonder he grew up maladjusted...And yes, I have no evidence for any of that whatsoever. ;D
And yes, just a mention of Romana would be nice...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-05 11:42 pm (UTC)