(no subject)
Almost forgot I had a couple of commentaries stashed away on my flash drive. This one's for handysparehand.
I really wasn't sure about the characterisation of this fic while I was writing it. Even now, it seems a little unlike Martha to spend all her time comparing herself to Rose. And I'm generally leery of approaching the subject in fic, anyway, lest my OOC bias show through.
No matter where Martha goes, she can't escape the shadow of her predecessor. It's not something she's used to, and it certainly isn't something she likes. Being compared to someone else all the time rankles; why can't she be judged on her own merits? The one line in The Shakespeare Code that really pisses me off: 'That friend I was talking about, Rose. She would've known.' Fuck you, Doctor, she wouldn't have. Ten is really kind of an ass to Martha most of the time sometimes. And now she's starting to compare herself to Rose. Would Rose have come up with a rhyme for Shakespeare? Would she have gotten snatched by travellers on New Earth? Would she have been able to electrocute the pig-slaves? Not an accomplishment she was especially proud of, though. Would she have thought to get a DNA sample from the newly rejuvenated Lazarus? Okay, I'm not sure about this list. It haunts her whenever she's with the Doctor.
There's evidence of her time in the TARDIS, too. Martha keeps finding little things in places - a jacket here, a hair tie there, a bit of notepaper with what looks like a grocery list in definitely feminine handwriting. Also condom wrappers. Signs of an interrupted domesticity that Martha knows she can never have. I like the phrase 'interrupted domesticity'. He won't let himself get close to anybody like that - won't let himself get close to her. She wonders what makes her so different - so apparently undeserving of the Doctor's regard. He's said that she's an equal partner, but is she really? Or is she just someone to fill the empty space that's left behind? HALP INCAPABLE OF WRITING NON-EMO FIC
She watches over him while he's human, wondering if Rose would've been content to be his maid, or if she would have posed as his wife - if he would have been happy to have her do so. I haven't seen any fic variants on Human Nature that have this plot, but they've got to be out there. The calluses form on her hands as she works day in and day out, keeping an eye on him, making sure he's safe. She sneaks a few peeks at his journal, running a fingertip over the picture of a girl. Is it Rose? she wonders. The attention lavished upon it certainly makes her think it is, though she can't decipher his handwriting. She's looked through the journal, but she isn't in there anywhere. Actually, I think Martha's mentioned as being in his dreams in Human Nature? *cry* My S3 DVDs are several thousand miles away.
When she forces him to become the Doctor again, tears glittering in her eyes, she tells him how much she loves him, whispers it under her breath as she watches him open the watch, her heart breaking once again. She loves the Doctor, but she's more real to John Smith than Rose is. It's true! But she knew that the world needed the Doctor, much in the same way that Joan did.
Whoops, I skipped Blink. This is possibly because Blink is the time in my head where Ten/Martha sex occurs. Come on, all that sexual tension from living together in a tiny little flat? Mmmm. Sorry, spaced out there for a moment.
She stops thinking of Rose entirely when she travels around the world - she's too exhausted to focus on anything other than survival, other than spreading her tale to as many people as possible. There's got to be a better way to word that last sentence, especially the beginning. But when she stands in the console room for the last time, looking at the Doctor, wishing he would finally just understand, she remembers Rose again - and she thinks that what he needed this time was a Martha. Proof that Martha can sometimes be just as dense as Ten in her own way.
"D'you know what?" she says to him, grinning. "I am good." Okay, so the quote doesn't quite jive with the rest of the fic, but I wanted to tie it back into canon.
I really wasn't sure about the characterisation of this fic while I was writing it. Even now, it seems a little unlike Martha to spend all her time comparing herself to Rose. And I'm generally leery of approaching the subject in fic, anyway, lest my OOC bias show through.
No matter where Martha goes, she can't escape the shadow of her predecessor. It's not something she's used to, and it certainly isn't something she likes. Being compared to someone else all the time rankles; why can't she be judged on her own merits? The one line in The Shakespeare Code that really pisses me off: 'That friend I was talking about, Rose. She would've known.' Fuck you, Doctor, she wouldn't have. Ten is really kind of an ass to Martha most of the time sometimes. And now she's starting to compare herself to Rose. Would Rose have come up with a rhyme for Shakespeare? Would she have gotten snatched by travellers on New Earth? Would she have been able to electrocute the pig-slaves? Not an accomplishment she was especially proud of, though. Would she have thought to get a DNA sample from the newly rejuvenated Lazarus? Okay, I'm not sure about this list. It haunts her whenever she's with the Doctor.
There's evidence of her time in the TARDIS, too. Martha keeps finding little things in places - a jacket here, a hair tie there, a bit of notepaper with what looks like a grocery list in definitely feminine handwriting. Also condom wrappers. Signs of an interrupted domesticity that Martha knows she can never have. I like the phrase 'interrupted domesticity'. He won't let himself get close to anybody like that - won't let himself get close to her. She wonders what makes her so different - so apparently undeserving of the Doctor's regard. He's said that she's an equal partner, but is she really? Or is she just someone to fill the empty space that's left behind? HALP INCAPABLE OF WRITING NON-EMO FIC
She watches over him while he's human, wondering if Rose would've been content to be his maid, or if she would have posed as his wife - if he would have been happy to have her do so. I haven't seen any fic variants on Human Nature that have this plot, but they've got to be out there. The calluses form on her hands as she works day in and day out, keeping an eye on him, making sure he's safe. She sneaks a few peeks at his journal, running a fingertip over the picture of a girl. Is it Rose? she wonders. The attention lavished upon it certainly makes her think it is, though she can't decipher his handwriting. She's looked through the journal, but she isn't in there anywhere. Actually, I think Martha's mentioned as being in his dreams in Human Nature? *cry* My S3 DVDs are several thousand miles away.
When she forces him to become the Doctor again, tears glittering in her eyes, she tells him how much she loves him, whispers it under her breath as she watches him open the watch, her heart breaking once again. She loves the Doctor, but she's more real to John Smith than Rose is. It's true! But she knew that the world needed the Doctor, much in the same way that Joan did.
Whoops, I skipped Blink. This is possibly because Blink is the time in my head where Ten/Martha sex occurs. Come on, all that sexual tension from living together in a tiny little flat? Mmmm. Sorry, spaced out there for a moment.
She stops thinking of Rose entirely when she travels around the world - she's too exhausted to focus on anything other than survival, other than spreading her tale to as many people as possible. There's got to be a better way to word that last sentence, especially the beginning. But when she stands in the console room for the last time, looking at the Doctor, wishing he would finally just understand, she remembers Rose again - and she thinks that what he needed this time was a Martha. Proof that Martha can sometimes be just as dense as Ten in her own way.
"D'you know what?" she says to him, grinning. "I am good." Okay, so the quote doesn't quite jive with the rest of the fic, but I wanted to tie it back into canon.