#deliberately didn't use community terms outside of aroace for this one

[variousqueerthings]

the way i read the doctor's and the tardis' relationship is that it's impossible to describe outside of the tenets of queer theory obviously, but specifically functions to me (shockingly) within a paradigm of aroace concepts that shift slightly -- but not as much as other relationships the doctor has -- with each regeneration, and considering the tardis is a space-and-time-ship and the doctor is a being that changes their face upon near-death, yes it's alien, but it's also in highly familiar/human as a symbolic structure and as a deconstruction of what relationships are traditionally deemed worthwhile, by being incredibly difficult to describe, other than that it's the most long-lasting and important relationship in either of their existences

to try and begin to describe perhaps, the tardis is home and freedom and escape and travel companion and co-driver and machine and history and change and mystery and exploration and curiosity/joy at the universe and safe haven and nigh-unknowable godlike being that has chosen the doctor

the doctor is likewise these things, except for the last -- the doctor is knowable, the tardis knows this person (they know each other, but i think the tardis has the edge because the doctor acts in ways when alone in the tardis that nobody else would see, not to the same extent), and for all that the doctor is that long-lived and grapples with whatever is close to immortality but not quite, they're not so godlike in the end

where would the tardis go without the doctor, where would the doctor go without the tardis? whatever they are, is the story for me

#the tardis #dw #doctor who #deliberately didn't use community terms outside of aroace for this one #and very deliberately didnt use the word love either because i dont think it applies -- it's just not it for this #i really do want to find some better words to describe this i really struggle to and i want to write something from the tardis' pov #i think for all that the doctor's wife is called the doctor's wife -- reductive stupid heteroamatocisnormative monogamous nonsense #and that the tardis is represented through attractive woman and it starts with the kissing -- see above description #the conversation they have at the end of the episode #and the tardis pulling on a lever just to make the doctor smile #that was ooooh that was good #i just wanted to say hello #ofc this was a very important moment but also the doctor and the tardis have this beautiful way of communicating that is #on the tardis' part non-verbal (non-traditionally-verbal?) and that is interesting too #(that is the tardis hums and has alarms and the like but it's a very overall complex language of cues and travel destinations and systems) #anyway sooo relieved that the tardis in the doctor's wife didn't say i love you or the doctor to the tardis #so much bigger on the inside and hello were very very good