Comments | _ares: These Palms Are Cupped Like Shovels

_ares

These Palms Are Cupped Like Shovels

Apr 16, 2008 22:47

Title: These Palms Are Cupped Like Shovels
Author: nieded
Fandom; Pairing(s): Torchwood; Ianto-centric, colors of Jack/Ianto, Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: Am in no way affiliated with RTD and BBC
Spoilers: Mostly Cyberwoman and Exit Wound. The story isn’t directly related to the episodes, however.
Word Count: 8,800
Author’s Notes: AU ( Read more... )

Comments 57

witheredsong April 17 2008, 17:21:33 UTC

This was devastating, poignant, haunting. You are wonderful.

nieded April 17 2008, 21:07:28 UTC

Thank you very much!

norinoricat April 18 2008, 02:48:52 UTC

Heartbreaking but so GOOD!

nieded April 18 2008, 04:49:53 UTC

Thank you!

kituralb April 18 2008, 11:45:03 UTC

Guh. Christ. I have no words. I'm completely shattered. Love this.

nieded April 18 2008, 13:55:50 UTC

Thank you!

Btw, I don't know if you remember, but we both were on idolslash. It's been awhile! :D

kituralb April 18 2008, 17:19:53 UTC

I do remember! *hugs* It has been quite awhile, hasn't it? :-P

nieded April 18 2008, 21:23:29 UTC

*hugs*

I love when I find old friends in new fandoms. It's absolutely wonderful. Gosh, it's been... five years since Clyan started, right? So, so crazy.

Thread 5

yellowvalley April 19 2008, 05:06:24 UTC

OOOhhhh OW. Beautiful, the imagery was amazing in this. And Ianto's family history is perfect.

nieded April 19 2008, 16:12:03 UTC

Thank you!

And Ianto's family history is perfect.

I've never been convinced that Ianto knew so much about Torchwood just from being part of it. I know, I know, archiving and all that, but there has to be a reason why he's a walking database, and why he continued to stay after Lisa. SO.

Thanks again for reading/commenting!

fireskies April 19 2008, 10:44:50 UTC

oh, wow. Ianto's backstory is just perfect, and the way everything ties together at the end - just brilliant. The coda killed me, as did the first section... poor, tragic Ianto *pets*

*memories*

nieded April 19 2008, 16:14:50 UTC

The coda killed me, as did the first section... poor, tragic Ianto *pets*

As I wrote this, for a week I tossed around several different endings. One of them was supposed to be Ianto meeting himself as a child in the tunnel. He realizes he has an option to either take the boy into the dark and prevent from witnessing all these horrific things, or let him live his life regardless, knowing it will be painful but rewarding.

Then I really, really wanted to know what happens to Jack when he's kind of dead, SO. I had no idea what I was doing when I began writing the Coda. It's really the only part that I hadn't planned out.

I'm glad it worked for you! Thanks for reading/commenting!

fireskies April 20 2008, 13:08:01 UTC

it's interesting, because I think some of the two-forks-in-life dilemma comes across in the final version anyway, the implication being that the 17 year old Ianto could well have chosen to stay out of Torchwood, but somewhere in his psyche he was always going to choose the life he did, the tunnel incident being a kind of premonition.

The thing I like best is the coda explaining - to Ianto as well as the audience - why Jack kills himself, and the bittersweetness of that encounter, especially when in the first section Ianto was so violently sickened and angered by Jack's suicide.

it's really always about acceptance and forgiveness with Torchwood, isn't it? and I love subtle acceptance fics. :) you're very welcome!

nieded April 20 2008, 16:47:08 UTC

The thing I like best is the coda explaining - to Ianto as well as the audience - why Jack kills himself...

I actually intended that to be a plot device to get Ianto and Gwen alone on a mission where Ianto has to risk himself to die, but I really couldn't just let that sit there. As I wrote the Coda -- when I actually understood what to write -- that moment where Jack says, "Kiss of life, remember?" just happened. Unplanned. And after I wrote it, I had to sit back and think about the consequences of that and the implications, and it really, really broke my heart.

People in the Whoniverse who know Jack, I think, want to know why he wants to die. Beyond putting himself on the line in order to save others, he just puts himself in some really dumb situations (electrocuting himself in Utopia? I mean, really). But we also learned from that episode that he doesn't necessarily want to die. So this kind of went to answer my own questions, and I know it probably doesn't work like that, but anything in the TW/DW universe has the potential to ( ... )