earlgreytea68 | The Chaosverse Book Club: Week Four

Chapter Two of Chaos Theory

This chapter is mainly about Jackie. I don't think I ever intended to spend as much time on Jackie as I've ended up doing in this 'verse, but I'm absolutely fascinated by her relationship with her daughter and the strange family her daughter chose.

You know, I forgot that there's an implication in this chapter that Rose's ability to have Time Lord children might be unusual. I have never reached the point, in my thinking about Brem, where he wants to have children, but I wonder if that's ever an issue for these future generations. Hmm.

Questions for Discussion:

I make lots of references to the Doctor and Jackie sharing terrible taste in television. What do you like to imagine they watch together?

Chapter Three of Chaos Theory

The TARDIS is nurturing. What's interesting about this is that, in "College," we learn that the around this time the Doctor must have taken some coral from the TARDIS to start growing Brem's TARDIS. I wonder if he's already done it here, and that the TARDIS is actually nurturing the baby TARDIS and it's manifesting this way. I like to think that's why.

It's always bothered me a little bit that the Doctor doesn't realize immediately that he can sense the baby. One has to imagine his head is pretty cavernous with all the Time Lords gone, and he feels a tickle in the back of his mind, and, by his own words, he doesn't pay attention to it. I find that stretches credulity a bit.

You know, I always write the TARDIS as being very fond of Rose, but I think in my head that's not because of Rose's Bad-Wolf-ness but because the TARDIS loves the Doctor and Rose makes the Doctor happy. I guess either explanation could work, though.

Rose worries that the baby will replace her, which clearly doesn't happen. But I find it interesting that the opposite almost comes to pass: The Doctor and Brem turn out to be so much alike that, rather than being able to read each other's thoughts, they are amazingly obtuse about each other.

Questions for Discussion:

2nd2ndalto, in a recent comment, said that there's always one line in a fic that sticks with her. What's your one line from this chapter?

Chapter Four of Chaos Theory

You know, I think the Doctor never fully gets the hang of living with a non-telepathic creature like Rose. In this chapter, Rose is determined to have it out, to discuss their feelings, and the Doctor is irritated. I think at least part of the Doctor's irritation stems from the fact that, as a telepathic being, he thinks she should just be able to sense how he feels, and he'll sense how she feels, and then they never have to have a messy discussion about it. I think Time Lords, on the whole, dislike messy emotional confrontation, for this reason.

Rose's doubt in this chapter about her utility as a mother to Gallifreyans rings true to me. But it's especially heartbreaking in light of the fact that we eventually get to see her children trying to make a life without their mother, and we know what a complete disaster it is without her.

Ah, the pendant. Sometimes I remember Rose's pendant, most of the time I forget about it completely. I'm the worst at continuity.

This is a sex scene I actually really like, because I think it's fun.

Questions for Discussion:

Ah, there's been much speculation. What are those thoughts the Doctor leaves out? What did you always imagine them to be?

Next Week: Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Chaos Theory in Vortex Orbits in Relative Dimensions in Time and Space

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I love this chapter. I especially love Jackie’s reaction to Rose telling her that she’s pregnant. The line about, “she didn’t have the heart to point out any of the millions of problems she saw with this situation, but returned the smile and said, “good.” It is the epitome sentence of what makes Jackie a fantastic mom. Because the right thing to do is simply hold your pregnant daughter and decide to do what you can to help her, instead of berating and arguing and getting mad - because in a situation like this, especially one in which Rose isn’t crying and unhappy about being pregnant, Jackie could have handled the situation completely inappropriately. But she didn’t, and I love her for it.

I think my favorite line of this chapter has to be the Doctor’s line of, “I’m going to learn.” I adore that the Doctor admits to not knowing anything about birthing babies, except that it’s happened in the past. I’m not sure what it is about how he explains his DNA to Jackie, comparing Rose’s DNA to his own triple helix DNA - I just love how you explained it. I could see it, picture it in my mind, and it makes perfect sense. I’m not sure how your creative mind comes up with some of this stuff, but it’s brilliant and I’m completely sucked in.

To balance that, I can’t believe the amount of scientific explanation vs. emotional feeling that comes out of this chapter. You balance them perfectly, and there isn’t one moment when I was reading that I wanted to skim because it was too “scientific explained” or too “melodramatic.” I really loved every single line to the fullest.

I think my only complaint about this chapter was how quick and easy Rose seemed to accept having a complicated Gallifreyan baby, in how that wouldn’t be easy for her. I know that when I first found out I was pregnant - 9 months seemed FOREVER away, and I can only imagine her dismay at having to wait a year or so - and the Doctor never quite says how long. Heck, it could have been 14 or 15 months! Or 22, like elephants. Which would have just been cruel. LOL.

I think Rose very much wants this baby and is obviously willing to do anything for the baby, and she’s the perfect first-time pregnant mom-to-be, but I think it would have been more realistic for us if we’d gotten to see her moan and groan just a little bit about having to change everything for the eternity that she’s pregnant. I mean, she obviously can’t do the dangerous running anymore (thank you TARDIS), and there were a lot of stressful moments in saving the world a lot. I just think both she and the Doctor would miss it some, and voice it every so often. I mean - don’t these people ever get in a tiff? LOL.

The Doctor does go off to save the world leaving her in the TARDIS in future chapters, but I can imagine some unhappiness on her end during those long months that she had to stay and wait inside, and worry for him. You know?

But she handles everything with grace and does so in a way that puts everyone else to shame. LOL. She’s kind of perfect in how she handles the pregnancies, and I do love that about her.

I do love how Jackie perceives how the Doctor and Rose’s relationship came to be. I guess there never was a sit-down meal where they informed her that they were an official couple. LOL. But over time, she had simply come to accept that he was her son-in-law. I simply adore that. Your line of, “it became natural for a spaceship to park in her parlour and for her daughter to tumble out hand-in-hand with a man who claimed to be 9-- years old and yet looked like he’d barely seen 35 and acted like he’d just reached puberty.” I LOVE that. It’s hilariously accurate. I can even imagine Brem having similar lines in his journal in describing his father.

I personally adore the Jackie/Doctor relationship as much as I love the Jackie/Rose relationship, but in completely different ways.

I love that the Doctor has terrible taste in television, like Jackie, and that they probably have a lot of favorite shows in common. I can imagine both of them watching infomercials, and calling in at ridiculous times to buy ridiculous items. The Doctor probably loving those items that can do 12 different things and still just be a hairdryer, or whatnot - so he can take them apart and make them sonic or something ridiculous. Or him encouraging Jackie to buy things she doesn’t need, by convincing her that she does need it, only to steal the object once it arrives and take it apart much to her dismay. LOL.

Heh. They do fight sometimes, although I tend to write it less. But they fight a bit. They just also tend to make up fairly quickly. :-)

And yeah, it totally makes sense that it would be difficult for Rose to accept some aspects of the pregnancy. I think I just thought she was so focused on the happier things that she just coped with the unhappier things a bit more. And I think she was also busy fretting about other things, that precipitate her minor breakdown a bit later.

Ha! Brem and Jackie have alarmingly similar views toward the Doctor. ;-)

I adore the Jackie/Doctor relationship, too. It's why I end up writing so much of it!

Ha! Yes, the Doctor totally loves tearing infomercial products apart. I really think he thinks humans are just so delightful, with their funny little inventions!

I wanted Jackie to be a great mum here. Because Rose turns out to be a great mum, and she got that from her mum. And Rose is happy. Rose is beaming with happiness. I couldn't imagine Jackie looking at her delighted daughter and having the ability to poke holes in that happiness, you know?

I'm so glad that the DNA thing makes sense to you! I'm terrible at science, and I'm so very happy that this works! And also that you felt the balance was right, because that can be difficult to do, especially in a chapter that needs to have a lot of exposition, like this chapter.

I think, for Rose, she wants the baby not only for herself but because she thinks it's the ultimate gift she can give the Doctor. So there's a way in which I think she literally hasn't thought about the inconvenience of it. I don't think she'd ever thought she'd be able to do this at all, so it's just amazing to her. It doesn't get annoying until later. ;-)

The Chaosverse Book Club: Week Four

Chaos Theory Chapter 2

Re: Chaos Theory Chapter 2

Re: Chaos Theory Chapter 2

Re: Chaos Theory Chapter 2