#iris wildthyme

Over time, the Doctor realises, through the companions they have, they don't need to find their original family (not even fully revealed, to preserve the mystery), just as they don't need the Time Lords. And fun becomes the goal of their travels again, with a much more expanded scope.

“You can tell yer Auntie Iris all about it,” said the woman who’d sat down opposite Joan in the tearoom. Joan knew she still looked red-eyed and tearful, but she drew herself up and gave the strange woman her best Matron look.

“Everything nobody’d believe. I know just how it is,” she said. “Same thing happened to me once. Only it was me that turned into a human and there was a handsome young fella called John. I know about the scarecrows too, and—”

Paul Magrs, 1998

Injury Tally:

Chapter two

The Doctor twists his ankle sliding down a sheer wall. Like a dumbass <3

Chapter five

While dodging a massive dog running at him, the Doctor drops to the ground — aaaand whacks his head on a stone, leaving him stunned and bleeding at the temple.

Chapter six

The Doctor, in the process of making breakfast, burns his finger on the grill pan.

Chapter seven

Trying to lighten the mood by making a quip, the Doctor gets punched in the mouth and knocked to the ground, and then tosses himself into a scrap (from which no further injuries are mentioned, but he probably gets a bit bashed up).

Chapter nine

Trying to speed up their journey by taking Iris’ TARDIS to skip to the other side of a mountain ridge results in the entire bus shuddering and shaking so badly they’re all pelted by various small objects and thrown around into the walls

Shortly after, just as they’ve landed, they accidentally roll off a steep sixty foot drop in the bus and land in a tumble

Aaand then they spend the next hour or so being accosted by “over-large mosquitoes with violet wings”, sent by a Kabikaj, whose “stings are not fatal, but stay with you til your dying day,” and leave them with painful bumps and swellings (though they’re healed from this soon after)

Chapter thirteen

The Doctor gets gassed unconscious by a rather uncooperative librarian, who objects to his reading materials

Chapter fourteen

Attempting to establish whether or not a gryphon is real, the Doctor gets snatched up by the creature, which digs its claws into his sides and squeezes once

It then subsequently drops him to go have a scrap with a hydra the Doctor made, and he falls to the ground and gets the wind knocked out of him

He’s then also briefly deafened by an explosion, generously provided by Iris, and then passes out as soon as they get to relative safety.

Chapter seventeen

Proving to be allergic to the (apparently sentient) birds who’ve stumbled upon and subsequently captured them, the Doctor has a sneezing fit, which isn’t exactly an injury, but allergies probably aren’t good for you anyway so I’m counting it.

Chapter nineteen

As the Scarlet Guard tries to smoke him out by burning down the trees the birds reside in, the Doctor suffers smoke inhalation while hanging from a branch of a tall tree and has a few coughing fits after he’s removed from the perilous situation

While rubbing his eyes he gets soot in both of them

Chapter twenty four

Yet again in a fight against a massive Creature, the Doctor gets knocked aside by both Sam and Iris after trying to prevent them from grabbing some armaments

Chapter twenty five

The Doctor gets a “hefty shove” from a pirate for, predictably, nattering on a tad too loudly

They proceed to get into a scrap with said pirates, but no actual injury is mentioned for the Doctor, so one can only guess. Of course, he then promptly gets swallowed by one massive fish

Chapter twenty six

At some point while being swallowed, the Doctor passed out and wakes up rather battered and bruised, though alive

Chapter twenty eight

Trying to repair Iris’ TARDIS, the Doctor once more burns his fingers; this time on some bits of wiring that refuse to remain soldered down