Fic: Douceur 1/1

[wendymr]

Story: Douceur
Author: wmr wendymr
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, Ninth Doctor
Rated: PG13/Teen
Disclaimer: If these characters were mine, a lot more would have happened on screen than we saw!
Spoilers: None beyond Doomsday
Summary: They can only do this once, he knows that, and it’s going to be the experience of a lifetime.

Comments

[nina_ds]

Y'know, I'm not sure. One of the main reasons I'm revolted by the idea that Ten somehow "imprinted" on Rose and became a pretty boy for her is that it means that Nine still felt in some way inferior (which he so very much isn't). I've been struck by the way that Ten has developed almost no relationships of his own. They are either inherited (Rose, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah Jane, the Master, Harriet...), deflected/denied (Martha), superficial/substitute (Astrid), or dominated by someone else's personality (Joan, Donna - although granted, those work better). Nine, on the other hand, was always making connections and taking the emotional risks, or at least dancing closer to them.

I don't know. I still think that in canon Nine does all the work and Ten gets to call the shots, and I think that would feel unfair, even if I liked him.

This has nothing to do with your story, it's just it hit a particular sore point that seems especially raw right now, and I'm not sure why. Part of it is the sloppiness of JE, I think. ::ponders::

[wendymr]

Certainly, Nine had more courage, even while pretending that he wanted nothing to do with other people. I think Ten, perhaps, while appearing to be past the Time War angst, started to withdraw into himself again, particularly once he was reminded rather forcefully, several times, that any relationships he forms will be very fleeting. He finds Sarah-Jane again and discovers her forty years older and somewhat bitter. He meets Reinette and - whether or not one believes that he fell in love (and I can't) - he loses her in a matter of hours. He meets and likes Mrs Moore, and has to watch her die. Then he loses Mickey, and later Rose and Jackie. That's when he clearly doesn't want to let anyone in again... and then he does, and he ends up losing more people and - as he believes - ruining Martha's life. He becomes attached to Astrid, and in the same few hours promises so many people that he'll save them, and he fails. Over and over again, he tries to stop himself getting attached, gets attached anyway, and loses. I'm coming around to the

[nina_ds]

I suppose while I understand some of your arguments intellectually, the show doesn't sell it to me. I have never fully believed the "he's all the same person" line, because when the face/personality changes, that is essentially a different person, just with the same memories. Each Doctor has been so distinctly different to me, and Ten has never cohered for me as a character. This disjunction is accentuated by a tendency for the writing to manipulate things for maximum woobie effect. Since the performance doesn't sell me on his emotional reality, it just makes it all quite difficult.

I should probably just not read anything with Ten in it. I'll shut up now.