(Hello, story readers, followers and newbies... all of whom have been suspiciously quiet in the last week... You guys okay? I hope you are. I really do. Anyway, Gil and I will be on hiatus for the rest of July, meaning we will not be writing any new stories until August 2nd—but lucky you, we do have this mess of an AU to feed you instead! So, if you don't like Doctor Who, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... Please wait until the end of the month for new material on our other stories. And if you do like Doctor Who? Fantastic! You'll be getting one "long" oneshot and a few short ones. Thank you for being patient with us!)

An introduction:

So let me explain... No, there is to much. Let me sum up.

Mattie is from a upper-middle class family on Gallifrey. He is not an only child; he has an older sibling who also went to the Academy [where the Doctor went to school. Gallifreyans who go there become Time Lords, or Time Ladies, or Time Persons of Mysterious and Indistinct Gender]. His family could afford to send both of them but did not plan for extra expenses. Mattie's sibling gets slightly better grades and is more highly praised by the family. They take and pass their TARDIS test on the first try, gather a crew and go out to do research with no problems or hitches.

Mattie, on the other hand, gets caught in the crowd of Gallifreyans trying to get their TARDIS licences after the Doctor steals his TARDIS. Not only is there more security on Gallifrey, but there are also more requirements for drivers and a large fee to own and fly a TARDIS. Mattie passes his test but does not have the money to pay the fee—his parents cannot help him—so he has to wait, get a job until he can collect the money he needs [this time is about 30-50 Gallifreyan years, which respectively, given their lifespans and all, really isn't that long.]. By the end of those years, he still doesn't have the fee and is tired of waiting, especially because everyone else his age and younger does have money and already have their ships. He goes to whatever the Gallifreyan equivalent of the DMV/DVLA/wherever you go to get your driver's licence is and tries to work out a deal…

The TARDIS that the Doctor stole was a Type 40. Mattie's generation was supposed to get Type 50s, though by the time Mattie actually gets his licence, the Type 55 is already out. However—this is where things get interesting.

There's one Type 50 left; it's a stubborn thing that nobody so far can manage, but it hasn't been enough years for the Gallifreyan-DMV to throw it out. Besides, since the ships are alive, throwing one away would essentially be killing it... [that's a hot topic on Gallifrey. Almost equivalent to abortion, or... no-kill shelters]. The Gallifreyan-DMV isn't sure what to do. So when, Mattie shows up, trying to make a compromise, they make a deal with him. If he can fly this TARDIS, he can have it. He's already taken his test, so he's obviously qualified, and if he succeeds, they won't have to deal with this damn ship anymore. If he fails, they'll just tell him to go make the money to pay the fee and eventually throw the ship out if they can.

And if Mattie manages to control the ship enough to dematerialise it, but loses control and dies soon after that? At least the DMV no longer have to handle the delinquent Type 50.

It's true that this Type 50 is particularly obnoxious and difficult, but also, every pilot that has tried to fly it so far hasn't treated it like a person… TARDISes aren't built, they're grown. They're alive, and they have personalities just like people do. This is emphasised in the Type 50s especially, since those are more advanced than the Type 40s—50s have the option of creating a hologram to represent the TARDIS itself. Nobody has seen this TARDIS' hologram though, and it seems to make trouble for everyone who tries to control it.

But by this time Mattie is lonely; all his friends are travelling and learning without him, and he doesn't really have anyone to talk to. He also tends to talk to himself when he's nervous, so when he tries to fly the Type 50 he speaks aloud, both to himself and to the ship, who appreciates this. A lot. Mattie manages to land on a nearby moon, he celebrates and thanks the ship, and proceeds to explore the rooms a little and "get to know" the layout of his new ship.

He hasn't seen the hologram, and in the next few months of experimentation he'll begin to doubt that that function works. Soon…

So he spends the next month or two just travelling; materialising and dematerialising, testing the limits of his ship and finding out what he can and can't, should and shouldn't do. He still talks to the ship, but it's a one-sided conversation. He doesn't have a name for the ship, like how the Doctor calls his the TARDIS. Right now, it's just "his ship", or, as the Gallifreyan-DMV called it, "that one Type 50".

There's this one lever that affects radiation in the lower levels of the ship. Mattie either misread or misremembered something in the manual about it [though he can quote parts of that thing] because whenever he takes off he sets it wrong. He's actually allowing small amounts of radiation to collect in the mechanics inside the console, which is both irritating and will be eventually harmful to the ship itself. When the ship eventually gets fed up…

(Stay with us to learn more about this AU as we show you the oneshots! They're kinda old and not perfect, but I'm glad to share them with you. And we're always open to feedback, of course! We don't own Hetalia or the Whoniverse, even if Gil wishes we did. Thanks!)