Here's my entry for somein30 round 8: Relationships. Ok so I'm a HUGE shipper and a huge romantic. Shipping is literally my entire love life and the surest way to piss me off is to judge people for shipping something. So this round was definitely one I had to enter. I was tempted to do a Top 20 for Hard mode, but then I realized it would have a lot of overlap with this entry where I showcased my fandom history (because my ships change very slowly, I watch so few shows). So I chose Extra hard instead, I loved the idea of taking a closer look at just one ship in all its glory, but it wasn't easy to pick which one! My criteria was: 1. they need to have a lot of shared screentime/a lot of shippy interactions, and to maximize screencap choices they'd preferably both be main characters; 2. despite the fact that none of my ships are ever canon, I wanted some cuddling/physical tenderness here; 3. I wanted to do one of my less controversial ships, because most of my ships are considered gross/wrong/problematic etc etc (because I'm a fan of angsty starcrossed lovers and that usually means some sort of a taboo/unhealthy element), and I really don't want to get into any fights with this set, I'm just seriously NOT in the mood. So, the only ship that seems to fill all these criteria is the only Doctor/companion ship I love: 12/Clara from Doctor Who!

I thought it would be difficult to fill 20 icons with different aspects of a relationship but I was wrong, their story is so deep and complex that I could easily have done another 20 despite the fact that they only spend two short seasons together. More explanations for icons under the spoiler cut, which will obviously spoil everything about DW S8-9. As do the icons. But I assume anyone who wants to watch, which should be everyone, has already.

Stylistically, I wanted this set to be very shiny, since this last one was completely matte. And this was bound to have tons of text, since shippy quotes are great. So shiny, textful and vibrant it is!

SOMEIN30 ROUND 8
					[01-05]
					[06-10]
					[11-15]
					[16-20]

1. The 12/Clara relationship has a rough start. When this young-looking crush suddenly regenerates into this older-looking guy, and is a dinstinctly different person too, Clara finds this change very hard to accept. She doesn't really know who the Doctor is anymore, but at the end of the 8x01 she's finally willing to see the new Doctor, and accept him into her life ♥
2. The simple part of their relastionship that even those who don't watch DW probably know: the entire show is just Doctor and a companion traveling through space and time together. This was the last icon I made, but I realized that the basics were needed as well.
3. This icon represents the thing that actually initially made me ship them; all the fun jabs and banter and teasing and playful insults. It never feels malicious, its just how they flirt.
4. ...Ok, that's not ALWAYS how they flirt, since they also have these extremely blatantly flirty lines, like this little blink or you miss it line ("mood lighting? The accent's enough").
5. Time to talk about Danny, Clara's canon love interest. So the first time I watched s8 I just couldn't stand this romance cause I found it boring, but now I really like that s8 plays like a love triangle where she's stuck between these two guys and these two lives.
6. The 12/Clara relationship gets very rocky in 8x07 when the Doctor leaves Clara alone with a huge decision, seemingly abandoning her. Clara is deeply shaken by this, and wants to break it up with the Doctor :(
7. She does however go on what is supposed to be their last adventure together. 8x08 is a lovely, sad, shippy episode. It has this interesting symbolism of trying to break an addiction.
8. ...It's not their last adventure, of course. At the end of the episode she chooses to stay, yay!
9. But then Danny dies, and Clara goes DARK. She threatens the Doctor and would have gone through with it too. This is a huge betrayal of the Doctor's trust, but that never stopped me from shipping something, in fact the more angst and drama the more fuel for the fire!
10. And in this very chills-inducing moment the Doctor immediately forgives her, with this gorgeous line of "do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?". I also love the exchange of "I don't deserve you"/"I'm afraid I'm exactly what you deserve", because it's both dark and self-deprecating from the Doctor.
11. The ending of s8 is so goddamn tragically romantic, they're both leaving each other and lying to each other because they think they're the setting the other one free to be more happy without them. ;__; Their goodbye scene with this untrustworthy hug is absolutely amazing.
(then there's a silly-ish Christmas episode where they briefly meet again, kind of, and I wanted to icon the very small, but still cute kiss, but the cap is literally just darkness.)
12. At the start of s9 they meet again for real, and it starts with this super cute reunion and this extra flirty line.
13. Having lost each other once they're NOT letting go again. Seriously, they have a whole new level of interdependency and clinginess in s9, so that is what I tried to portray with this icon (also I just wanted to use this adorable hug from 9x06).
14. ...;_; BUT THEN, it has to come to an end. Clara dies. Their goodbyes are again just so lovely and emotional that I couldn't pick one cap, I had to icon 4 and then include this actual death scene too to sort of try to tie the composition together, idk. And it had to be the only B&W icon here because it is the saddest moment.
15. The grieving Doctor is COMPLETELY INSANE now. 9x11 is my favorite episode, it gives me chills every time, just the sheer epic scale of it is... just... wow. In short, the Doctor will die again and again just to get the chance to maybe get to save her. The repetition in this icon is supposed to represent that.
16. IT WORKS! He finally gets to extract her just the moment before she dies, but she can never truly escape that moment, the raven is waiting, but at least they're together for now.
17. The whole mystery of S9 is about this Hybrid we hear about, it's supposed to be this epic, dangerous thing. The final theory we get for that is that the hybrid was the combination of the Doctor and Clara, and they are dangerous because of how far they go for each other (and also, they are both equally reckless at this point; the way Clara grows to be more like the Doctor all the time is another really interesting theme that spans both seasons).
18. Anyway, they realize that they must separate before things get even more out of control. And THIS is why they're different from other Doctor/companion ships: they love each other SO much, too much, that it ultimately makes them bad for each other and maybe for the world. This is why the TARDIS has been opposed to her presence, and why Missy as a lover of chaos ships them so much. All the other Doctor/companion couples have been presented as this perfect friendship where opposites complement each other; but Doctor and Clara aren't different enough, and they're too intensely into each other, so it's a very fascinating twist on that dynamic!
19. ...So he intends to wipe Clara's memory of him ;__; but Clara won't let him, and he ends up with erased memories instead. In this tragic series of scenes the Doctor knows he's lost someone and doesn't know she's right in front of him the whole time. When he plays the Clara theme on his guitar I just can't, it's too beautiful.
20. I had to end the set with the Doctor finally getting his memories back right when 12's story is coming to an end. This is the least perfect part of their relationship, this reunion(?) is very short and not as emotional as I'd like (Clara is sort of just joking around), but it's better than nothing, at least he remembers now.

So that's it, that's my love letter to this glorious ship that is closer to canon than almost any other ship I have. It's a deep, funny, angsty, romantic, EPIC rollercoaster ride, super recommended.
Also, some misc icons for other challenges:

MISC
					[21-25]
					[26-30]
					[31-33]

Take any you want, no need to credit but a comment would honestly make my day!