King of Infinite Space ('Unseen' entry)

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

Title: King of Infinite Space
Author: templeremus
Characters: The Doctor (any), The TARDIS
Rating: PG for angst, hints at emotional trauma
Wordcount: 350
Genre: Angst/Romance/Character Study
Summary: A boy and his box have stolen each other.


Her Thief dreams, sometimes.

The strays call them ‘nightmares’, though she has no night to speak of, only the totality that exists across all time and space. Dreams are those thoughts he shares without thinking, when his eyes are closed or his smile no longer looks inward.

He dreams in burnt-orange, sad beyond the reach of words. At times he’ll shout until even the strays can hear him, and then their heads are swarming with such fears as make their love shine bright. They love him as she cannot, with arms and pulse and voice- and since they are so vast inside, much will be lost in translation. Clumsy tongues might fumble their sympathy; hands might grasp too long.  Yet the confusion is a welcome one, and when her Thief is grateful, so is she.

She archives their faces, for neatness. Every room is filled with strays that will be and have been and are, though he may only glimpse them by turns.  Mostly they’re part of the burnt-orange. Archives are not memories or nightmares but facts, devoid of colour. Once or twice she even tries to show him, but he looks away. Some futures are better left unseen.

The dread each future holds for him weighs less heavily when they are running.  In certain reckless moods he will forgo the controls altogether and reach directly into the telepathic circuits. The contact surges with the force of a hundred thousand solar storms, all their past-present-futures colliding as they tear their way through the vortex, until the fuel rods boil and her engines are throttled wide open with the effort.  It is the closest she can come to pain and to touch, and for a moment that burns through an eternity they are both held within one body.

Afterwards he’ll talk to her in words as well as thoughts, call her ‘dear’ or ‘old girl’ as he makes good the damage. The sadness gathers in the neglected corners of his mind just as the strays throng her corridors, hidden and clamorous and always.

For his sake, she will keep them safe.

Comments

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

Very beautifully done. :)

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

<3 Thank you. I drew quite a lot on 'The Doctor's Wife' for this, which is just a gorgeous episode, and a beautiful look at the show's most enduring relationship.

[but_can_i_be_trusted]

That episode is one of my absolute favorites!

[paynesgrey.livejournal.com]

Wow, wonderfully done. The imagery you evoke here is very powerful, and you have their synergy and dynamic spot on.

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The TARDIS is certainly a strange perspective to attempt, as she can hardly be said to exist along the same planes of reality as anyone else. But the relationship between her and the Doctor is beautifully complex as a result.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Ohhh...this tugged my heart and made me feel - fierceness and joy and understanding -

Because she does. She is so much more, so how can she not feel DEEPER, if in a more abstract way. And that love is timeless. Her hope boundless.

Thank you...

*HUGS*

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

<3 Thank you. Yes, the boundless aspect to the TARDIS is both freeing and rather merciless at the same time, imo; she can never experience connection in the messy human way, with all love's kindly misinterpretations and revisions. There's no such thing as forgetting. But she loves, as you say, with total understanding.

[mahmfic.livejournal.com]

love this. TARDIS pov is something I rarely read.

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Writing TARDIS pov is a bit of a bugger to get your head around, but it was fun to attempt. :)

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

This is just stunningly written and very subtly emotional, as always. I just love the way you handled the TARDIS' POV and her perceptions of everything, the Doctor and his dreams, his strays' wide, deep love and clumsy support, and time, of course. Their connection through the telepathic circuits, those blinding moments of symbiosis were stunningly portrayed, maybe the highlight of the fic—especially in contrast with the soft sadness and gentleness of the ending. Wonderful work! :) You just never disappoint!

[templeremus.livejournal.com]

<3 Thank you. The TARDIS's depths and contrasts as a sentient entity are one of the most interesting developments in the revived show, I think; there's the godlike, savage love that embodies itself in Rose in series 1, and something a little gentler but equally strange in 'The Doctor's Wife'. It's not a remotely human kind of connection between her and the Doctor, because it doesn't exist within any of the parameters of a human relationship. Yet there are moments, particularly in those two episodes, where the viewer can get a tiny glimpse of what it must be like for them both.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Indeed! ♥ It is just wonderfully complex and fascinating to explore, so peculiar and layered. TARDIS-related moments and insight are the BEST THING.