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promethia_tenkHey, look at me trying to write things \o/ I still have no idea of what to do with AGMGTW, really, but as I finally found myself getting excited for the show again with the prospect of MOAR AMY + RIVER GOODNESS, I figured as good a place to start as any would be to stick them in a room and see what happens. Really very thoroughly unpolished, all dialogue, not sure if I even like and/or agree with all of this, and I wasn't terribly comfortable writing Amy even before Moffat decided to change everything we knew, so . . . /nervous rambling
Anyway, I think transparency in the writing process is a good thing, so here's me practicing what I preach!
Spoiler/Spec Warning: Spoilers through AGMGTW. Some speculation based on a close study of some shots from the trailer for the second half of the season, developed from a conversation that I don't think contained any specific spoilers about what was going on, but you know how these things go in fandom . . .
Background: I'm picturing some kind of late-night scene here. Amy can't sleep and wanders down to the TARDIS kitchen in her PJ's to find River at the table with tea, working on something. I basically just let them talk. Not sure if these would be all together in one scene, so I put big breaks in between different sections. Ummm, let me know if it's too hard to follow. I'll write in names if it'll help, but it's a lot of work.
“What are you doing up, then?”
“The Doctor hogs the covers.”
“And you let him? I’d have thought you’d hog them right back!”
“It gives me an excuse to be grumpy tomorrow.”
“You were planning on being grumpy?”
“Not particularly. But won’t it be fun to complain about?”
“You’re planning your complaints?”
“If you stick around, you can help me practice my delivery.”
“You are a menace!”
“Did I mention he snores?”
-----------------
“River, what is that?”
(holds up the metal eyepatch she’s working on) “I stole it off a dead friar back at the site.”
(wary) “There’s technology in there? What does it do?”
“This is a visual cortex transducer. It taps into your optic nerve and feeds images directly into your brain: maps, battle plans, communications . . . things like that.”
“Right into your brain?” (frowns) “What do you want with that?”
“None of those friars yesterday were showing signs of disorientation . . . memory loss . . . nothing. The whole place was crawling with Silents, and it was like they were totally unaffected. So what is it they’ve done to make themselves immune?”
“You think it has something to do with those things? . . . Oh! You only remember them while you see th-- They’re feeding an image of a Silent into their brains?”
“So they always remember them, yes. Or, that’s the theory, anyway.”
“ . . .”
“Amy?”
“ . . . Are you trying to fix it?”
“If I can. We may need it, eventually . . . . What’s wrong?”
(shakes head) “Looking at a Silent . . . they can do things to you. Post-hypnotic suggestion: they say them and you just do it. And the image of a Silent . . . if you can see them, if you can remember them, then you can be influenced! The Doctor did it to-- to someone.”
(narrows eyes) “That is a concern, yes.”
“I had something like that, once . . . A picture in my head. I couldn’t control it . . .”
“No one’s saying you’ll have to do this, Amy.”
“Would you?”
(short) “Yes.”
“River, I don’t understand. How are you not worried about this? You’ve got one of those things, and you’re talking abou--”
“Who says I’m not?”
“Huh? What?”
“Worried. Who says I’m not worried?”
(pause) “What do you want me to do?”
------------------
More blather: I feel like these next two sections need further explanation. Amy, surely, at some point, in trying to process the turn her life has taken, will depart on one of those delightful, rambling, slightly manic rants like she does in the post-Eleventh Hour "Meanwhile in the TARDIS" scene. I'm not quite sure why she might take River's state of undress as a point of departure, given her generally exceptionally open attitude towards sex. I think I'm tickled by the irony that even Amy "you're worse than my aunt!" Pond might find herself tripping up when faced with the idea of her grown, older-than-her daughter sleeping with her own childhood imaginary friend. Some things are just a lot to get used to. Also, of all the many, many things Amy might struggle to accept and want to rant over give recent events, most of the rest of it is really quite tragic and not at all funny to rant about.
“Young lady, are you wearing anything under that dressing gown?”
“Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?”
“Yes! . . . No. . . . I . . . Yes! I mean . . .” (hangs head) “I was going to be such a cool mum. Well, I didn’t know that I was going to be a mum--but if I was I was definitely going to be a cool one! One of those mums who can handle things . . . who doesn’t get weird just because her grown daughter is . . . . Ok, no, I can deal with this. I’ll have you know that a few months ago I was literally flirting with myself! So what happened? Cause there’s my cool--gone! Pwift! Gone! River, what is my life?!??!”
“So that’s a ‘no’ then?”
“I think I’m going to try denial for a little longer. Unless your father shows up, in which case I was totally cool with it.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“Good, that makes one of us.”
(awkward pause)
“So, are you wearing anything under that dressing gown?”
“If I said Chanel No. 5, would that make things better or worse?”
---------------
“I want you to know that if this situation was entirely different, I could be so cool with it.”
“I think you’re handling it remarkably well, considering.”
“Like, if I’d had longer to adjust to all this.”
“Mmmm.”
“Or if you weren’t older than me.”
“Admittedly very strange.”
“Or if I hadn’t met you before you were even born!”
“Spoilers?”
“Oh god, what if that . . . influenced things? What if you’re only here because you were . . . there? How do you even exist?!?!?”
“I ask myself that on a daily basis.”
“Or if you weren’t married to my imaginary friend! Couldn’t you have chosen somebody real?”
“I . . .”
“Might as well go ahead and marry the Tooth Fairy or something!”
“Hmmm. And you think the Doctor snores!”
“But I guess if you shouldn’t exist and he’s imaginary, that’s . . . did you just say the Tooth Fairy is real?”
“I don’t recall saying that.”
“I-- You’re really being very mean to your mother while she’s trying to freak out.”
Anyway, I think transparency in the writing process is a good thing, so here's me practicing what I preach!
Spoiler/Spec Warning: Spoilers through AGMGTW. Some speculation based on a close study of some shots from the trailer for the second half of the season, developed from a conversation that I don't think contained any specific spoilers about what was going on, but you know how these things go in fandom . . .
Background: I'm picturing some kind of late-night scene here. Amy can't sleep and wanders down to the TARDIS kitchen in her PJ's to find River at the table with tea, working on something. I basically just let them talk. Not sure if these would be all together in one scene, so I put big breaks in between different sections. Ummm, let me know if it's too hard to follow. I'll write in names if it'll help, but it's a lot of work.
“What are you doing up, then?”
“The Doctor hogs the covers.”
“And you let him? I’d have thought you’d hog them right back!”
“It gives me an excuse to be grumpy tomorrow.”
“You were planning on being grumpy?”
“Not particularly. But won’t it be fun to complain about?”
“You’re planning your complaints?”
“If you stick around, you can help me practice my delivery.”
“You are a menace!”
“Did I mention he snores?”
-----------------
“River, what is that?”
(holds up the metal eyepatch she’s working on) “I stole it off a dead friar back at the site.”
(wary) “There’s technology in there? What does it do?”
“This is a visual cortex transducer. It taps into your optic nerve and feeds images directly into your brain: maps, battle plans, communications . . . things like that.”
“Right into your brain?” (frowns) “What do you want with that?”
“None of those friars yesterday were showing signs of disorientation . . . memory loss . . . nothing. The whole place was crawling with Silents, and it was like they were totally unaffected. So what is it they’ve done to make themselves immune?”
“You think it has something to do with those things? . . . Oh! You only remember them while you see th-- They’re feeding an image of a Silent into their brains?”
“So they always remember them, yes. Or, that’s the theory, anyway.”
“ . . .”
“Amy?”
“ . . . Are you trying to fix it?”
“If I can. We may need it, eventually . . . . What’s wrong?”
(shakes head) “Looking at a Silent . . . they can do things to you. Post-hypnotic suggestion: they say them and you just do it. And the image of a Silent . . . if you can see them, if you can remember them, then you can be influenced! The Doctor did it to-- to someone.”
(narrows eyes) “That is a concern, yes.”
“I had something like that, once . . . A picture in my head. I couldn’t control it . . .”
“No one’s saying you’ll have to do this, Amy.”
“Would you?”
(short) “Yes.”
“River, I don’t understand. How are you not worried about this? You’ve got one of those things, and you’re talking abou--”
“Who says I’m not?”
“Huh? What?”
“Worried. Who says I’m not worried?”
(pause) “What do you want me to do?”
------------------
More blather: I feel like these next two sections need further explanation. Amy, surely, at some point, in trying to process the turn her life has taken, will depart on one of those delightful, rambling, slightly manic rants like she does in the post-Eleventh Hour "Meanwhile in the TARDIS" scene. I'm not quite sure why she might take River's state of undress as a point of departure, given her generally exceptionally open attitude towards sex. I think I'm tickled by the irony that even Amy "you're worse than my aunt!" Pond might find herself tripping up when faced with the idea of her grown, older-than-her daughter sleeping with her own childhood imaginary friend. Some things are just a lot to get used to. Also, of all the many, many things Amy might struggle to accept and want to rant over give recent events, most of the rest of it is really quite tragic and not at all funny to rant about.
“Young lady, are you wearing anything under that dressing gown?”
“Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?”
“Yes! . . . No. . . . I . . . Yes! I mean . . .” (hangs head) “I was going to be such a cool mum. Well, I didn’t know that I was going to be a mum--but if I was I was definitely going to be a cool one! One of those mums who can handle things . . . who doesn’t get weird just because her grown daughter is . . . . Ok, no, I can deal with this. I’ll have you know that a few months ago I was literally flirting with myself! So what happened? Cause there’s my cool--gone! Pwift! Gone! River, what is my life?!??!”
“So that’s a ‘no’ then?”
“I think I’m going to try denial for a little longer. Unless your father shows up, in which case I was totally cool with it.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“Good, that makes one of us.”
(awkward pause)
“So, are you wearing anything under that dressing gown?”
“If I said Chanel No. 5, would that make things better or worse?”
---------------
“I want you to know that if this situation was entirely different, I could be so cool with it.”
“I think you’re handling it remarkably well, considering.”
“Like, if I’d had longer to adjust to all this.”
“Mmmm.”
“Or if you weren’t older than me.”
“Admittedly very strange.”
“Or if I hadn’t met you before you were even born!”
“Spoilers?”
“Oh god, what if that . . . influenced things? What if you’re only here because you were . . . there? How do you even exist?!?!?”
“I ask myself that on a daily basis.”
“Or if you weren’t married to my imaginary friend! Couldn’t you have chosen somebody real?”
“I . . .”
“Might as well go ahead and marry the Tooth Fairy or something!”
“Hmmm. And you think the Doctor snores!”
“But I guess if you shouldn’t exist and he’s imaginary, that’s . . . did you just say the Tooth Fairy is real?”
“I don’t recall saying that.”
“I-- You’re really being very mean to your mother while she’s trying to freak out.”
