Someone's just caught up on the S7E5 trailer his Mun's already seen...

[justthedoctor]

YOU! YOU, MUN, YOU! You can change the course of history! You can change fixed points, you've already done it! You've created a parallel dimension for me and my predecessor to exist in here in your headspace so that you could take him into a game before he regenerated! You want to have him regenerate into me in that game! You've given me Miss Evie and even that pleasant idiot, George!  That completely alters the course of my history in monumental ways!

So you have to do it again! Please tell me you won't let the Ponds die! You know how much it hurts me when my companions die! Please don't force me to go down the path of that next episode, do not force me to watch the Ponds die!

No...no, you can't!

Please

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[cosmo_gyral]

Doctor, I, well, don't think it works that way...

[Of course, it's hard to have any real say when she's so small in a universe so big, well-travelled, and beyond her understanding. Not to mention when he was the one who taught her that, to begin with, she feels proper silly saying it. Still, she has to do something.]

If there was any one way it could be avoided, you know it would be, dear... [So she just settles for a good old fashioned hug. Because oh, her heart.]

[justthedoctor]

Nonononononono no! They have to change it, they can! Didn't they already decide the cube-invasion happened while I thought you were dead???

They can't lay that on me at the same time! They just-!!! [The hug at least makes his panicked words cut off short, and he buries his head in her shoulder and clings to her like she's the only thing keeping him from going insane.

Sometimes, that's the way it feels to him. With every companion, but even more-so with those he's become intimate with. He's trying to hold his sobbing at bay, but Evie's used to his emotions. She'll recognize the signs whether he wants to admit to it or not, for sure.]

[cosmo_gyral]

[Oh, there it is. It starts with a crack in his voice, and the frantic tone that follows it as he tries to reason away an ugly truth; an unhappy place in both of their timelines, now with the end of the Ponds casting shade further over it.

Her heart breaks, for him, for whatever fate waited for his fondly spoken of friends. All she can do is take him into her arms tightly, and hush wordlessly when he pushes his face into her shoulder, petting his hair. She's sure the tears will come soon enough.]

Things never work out just as we plan them, but all we can do is wait and see. [It's hollow comfort, what with that hanging over his head, but what else can she say.]

[justthedoctor]

[The small, whimpering sounds he makes when she initially pulls him into the hug become actual, muffled sobs at the gentle hush and the way she pets his hair. So strange, the way such love and reassurance can take away all ability to hold it back, no matter how much he wants to.

He clings to her tightly and shakes his head in as much of a response as he can make in that moment.]

[ofdrumsthesound]

Oh Doctor. This is why it's a bad idea to befriend such short-lived creatures.

[somanycrystals]

Two non-reptilian mammal lives hardly matter when I usher in the re-age of dinosaurs. Behold, hopelessness! Tremble in it's crushing weight!

[embodimentofmercy]

Doctor...

[Oh, hey, it's another dead guy.]

Y'know people never really die, right? I mean, look at me. As long as someone remembers 'em...

[justthedoctor]

[Oh. Oh, this just digs the knife in a little bit deeper.]

That doesn't change the fact that if I stopped throwing myself into other people's lives, they wouldn't keep having such horrible things happen to them!

Everywhere I go, every time I go, everyone has some terrible end that they could have avoided if I hadn't shown up! Just like what happened with you.

My hearts can't take much more of it. It all hurts so much.

[embodimentofmercy]

Doc...

[Yep, just walking on over and sliding an arm over your shoulder. Screw personal space, a man is hurting here...]

I ain't sayin' I would've lived longer if y'all hadn't showed up, 'cause I likely wouldn't have, but...

[What does he say at a time like this?]

...Some things are just meant to happen. And there ain't nothin' no-one can do to stop it, okay?

[packing_again]

Oh, Doctor. Have you forgotten that things in those trailers are not what they seem?

TTuTT <3 Just pretending in this thread that I HAVEN'T been awol from tags for a few days...

[justthedoctor]

Oh, she assures me this could only go any number of horrible ways. Apparently she's heard their deaths are a given.

It might not be so bad if her world didn't have those blasted "mediums" [For lack of a better word. He's not sure he understands how it all translates into science.] channeling our world into their tellie programs for their entertainment! Spoilers are one thing, but this is just...

[notthedoctor]

Doctor.

[And what does one say to the likes of that, to know that little can be done? He's heard the story of the Time Lord Victorious and how that ended.]

Time will have its way.

[justthedoctor]

[For a moment, he almost seems to pull his emotions back in in front of the "other him." Metacrisis copy or not, he's close enough to himself where it counts. And for some reason that makes him even more unwilling to let the pain show.

But then the wisdom of those words hits hard, and he knows it's true. He remembers the pain and guilt over what happened on Mars, and he knows how foolish it is to change events set in stone. Were it not for the intense amount of control the Muns have shown themselves of having on his dimension and life and events, he would never have allowed the thought to cross his mind.]

That's not the problem. I know they will die, I know there will be a time when the Ponds will cease to exist and will be nothing more then a memory, an entry in the TARDIS' databanks, a simple line in some record kept somewhere on some planet in some time. [His voice is starting to crack, and he tries to catch it, pausing and biting his lip before continuing. It did little good.] I know it will happen. The problem is the fact that yet again, I'll have been the cause of two more lives being destroyed and ended before their time, instead of being left alone to grow and flourish and thrive, happy, and married, and having lots of little children to tell their stories and keep their memories alive for decades to come! A normal, happy, human life. Just the way it should be.

[You'll have to excuse him if he can't look at you when he talks, and finally settles into another silence, and is crying again. Actually outright crying. He hasn't had a proper ability to really hold his emotions in since the regeneration, not like he did during his previous incarnation.]

How many more lives have to be destroyed before I stop letting my pride pull them along with me?

[notthedoctor]

[Same mind, same memories. Of course Theta knows, but he's also well aware of where stumbling blocks are... of how easy it is to get caught up in all that the Doctor is and to blaze instead of cold thinking.]

Doctor, there is no such thing as the way it should be. Ever. Maybe that's what being part of you and Donna taught me. Everything in me says I should be jumping about Time in my magic box, but here I am, alone and trapped on the slow path. My point is that there's no standard of life, only quality.

[He watches the Doctor's pain and sadness without an outer reaction. Eyes that once watched all of Time and now only see small bits remain placid and thoughtful.]

They lived more with you than they ever would have if they died of old age. Perhaps you should remember that. Human life isn't as wonderful as you're making it out to be.

[waitedlongenough]

It won't. It'll be fine. It has to.

[justthedoctor]

[He puts a great effort into pulling his emotions back under control, but this seems to be too much for him to hold back right now.]

What if it isn't, Amy??? I don't know what I'll do if something happens to you and Rory!

[Because no matter what he tries to say about traveling with him, he's seen how dangerous it is too many times to count. And he's seen too many of those he loves to come to a horrible fate to be even the least bit optimistic when evidence indicates it's going to happen again.]

[waitedlongenough]

I won't let it happen. [Pond stubbornness. You should know it well.]

[justthedoctor]

But Amy, it's never that easy! Nothing is ever just that easy! [Stubbornness, meet uncontrollable pessimism.

He always did have a hard time looking for the best-case-scenario when he was upset.]

[waitedlongenough]

You worry too much. It will be fine. [She doesn't like him like this. But she believes too hard that nothing truly horrific will happen. Everything always straightened itself out. Why would this be any different? It wasn't. It couldn't be.]

[justthedoctor]

I have to worry, it's my job. Take people on amazing adventures, watch them put themselves in danger at every turn, worry that my own stupidity is going to get them killed. Job description of the Doctor, right there. [And that, Amy, is why he needs people to keep him company. Someone's got to be the voice of reason.]

[waitedlongenough]

And you need to realize that I could have said no every time. But I didn't. I wanted to be with you. It was my choice. I could have stayed with you, gone back home, but I couldn't bare a life without Rory.

And I was happy in the end. So don't you forget it. [She pokes him.] So go out-- find a new person to take along. Let them have the time of their life.