rec: together, on this same earth

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Story: Together, On This Same Earth
Author: Biichan (biichan)
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 3891
Author's Summary: Once you've started traveling in time and space, things are never quite the same when you stop. Luckily, Victoria's new friend Martha understands this.
Characters/Pairings: Victoria Waterfield/Martha Jones, Tenth Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Jamie McCrimmon, Barbara Wright, Polly Wright
Warnings: None

Recced because: This story, set during Ten and Martha's 1969 sojourn in "Blink," is a powerful look at how travelling with the Doctor changes people's lives. I love stories about the afterlives of companions, and Victoria is an especially good subject for one, since she's chosen to stay in a time not her own. Biichan writes Victoria extremely well, keeping her of her time while showing her growth as she explores the new possibilities of the twentieth century.

Victoria/Martha is not a pairing I would ever have expected to work, but it absolutely does. Biichan develops the emotional connection between them slowly and plausibly. (By the way, although adult-rated, the story's one sex scene is not at all graphic. You should be able to enjoy this story even if explicit f/f slash isn't your thing.)

Another delightful aspect of the story is its reunion of several companions from the First and Second Doctor's eras. They reminisce, naturally, and it's all great fun for the reader. "Together, On This Same Earth" has its sober side, however. 1969 isn't paradise, and neither, as Victoria and Martha both know, is the future. One of the things I really like about this story is its attentiveness to to the darker side of Doctor Who, and especially the emotional toll that all those monsters and near-apocalypses might take on a companion. Which isn't to say it's depressing--the story really captures the enthusiasm for life which has always been an important part of Doctor Who.

Here's a snippet from the beginning:

The problem with living for a year in a box that travels through time and space is that it's quite easy to quickly become accustomed to books that have not been written, songs that have not been sung. After Victoria left the TARDIS she tried to find the ones that she particularly missed. The results, sadly to say, were mixed.

She found the ballet books by Miss Estoril, but not the ones by Miss Ariyoshi; the fantastic tales of Mr Lewis, Miss Nesbit and Mr Eager, but not Miss Cooper or Miss Duane–there were albums by Miss Baez and Miss King on the shelf of the record shop she worked in after moving to London, but not ones by Miss Bush or Miss Hawkins. Victoria was uncertain of the future of Los Angeles: Miss Block had described it in such magical detail, but Mr Pinkwater had been quite adamant about its nonexistence (and neither writer was around yet to question.) She bit the inside of her cheek when John married Yoko and tried not to think of how a man with a cat's head had told her that he was going be shot.

Victoria took very little with her from the TARDIS: a few dresses appropriate for the time period, a pair of Edwardian suits in case she ever needed to run around in trousers, her sewing basket, and three photographs. The first was of Jamie and the Doctor, arms around each other as they looked up into each other's beaming faces. The second had been taken on the same day by Anne Travers and was the Doctor and Jamie again, only this time with Victoria in the shelter of their arms. The third, which she felt vaguely guilty about, was of a pretty girl her own age, with a dark brown cap of hair and a mysterious smile. She didn't know who the girl was, though she suspected that it might be the Doctor's mysterious granddaughter, whose room she'd once slept in. She took the pictures out whenever she felt particularly sad or lonely.

I hope you like this story as much as I do; please don't forget to leave feedback for the author.

Comments

[biichan.livejournal.com]

Eeek. Ohmygod. Wow. I'm terribly flattered that you think it's rec-worthy. I am rather proud of that one even if I'm not completely satisfied with the title.

(Really, though, I don't think I could have made the sex scene graphic. I kept tightly to Victoria's point of view for the whole of the fic and she doesn't have the mental vocabulary for four letter words.)

Anyhow, thank you so much for this rec!

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, good point about Victoria's POV in the sex scene. I wouldn't have mentioned the explicitness issue at all, except that many people do shy away from girlslash if they think there's going to be a graphic sex scene. Unfair, but true, and so I wanted to reassure nervous readers.

When I was re-reading the story just now, prior to writing up the rec, the ending made me get all teary-eyed again. Just so you know. :-)

[biichan.livejournal.com]

*nods, nods* Makes sense. I don't always think about it that way, because I will read nearly everything, but it's sort of true that lots of people get skittish about these things.

I get this melancholy feeling at the end, too, because I don't know if Martha will find Victoria in the future. I mean, I hope she will, but there's a lot that can happen in forty years.

[daisyrainwater.livejournal.com]

This was an amazing story. Thanks for the rec.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

This is an awesome and lovely story - and once again one of my planned recs has been stolen ! (Is it the end of March yet?!)

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I know exactly how you feel, as other people beat me to a couple of my planned recs, too. I'm glad I was relatively early in the reccing queue--with three people reccing seven stories each week, a lot of the really best stories (especially in small niches of the fandom) may soon be taken.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

It's true ! I will have to go and wander through Teaspoon again when I'm not trying to write 3 fics at once (don't ask !) and bookmark a bunch more - and hope not too many people find them first ! :D

[eve11]

I don't think I would have seen this one without the rec, and it was absolutely wonderful! Thanks for pointing me to it :)