Round Three Reviews - Part 12
Today's Featured Stories Include:
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Naughty or Nice by AND Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Classic Fic
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Third Doctor, Liz Shaw, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Rating: All Ages
Details: Standalone Vignette, Humour
Why It Rocks:
The Doctor, Liz, and the Brigadier meet the alien who enacts the role of Santa Claus. It's sweet without being cloying and says a great deal about Liz (in particular), the Doctor, and the Brigadier in just over 2000 words.
I think the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and the Brigadier are probably my favourite ever TARDIS team in Classic Who TV canon, even if they never get to travel in the TARDIS, what with it being out of commission, thanks to the Time Lords' punishment of the Doctor (see The War Games and Spearhead from Space). The dynamics between the three characters are interesting and entertaining; all three of them suffer from a degree of frustration: the Doctor, because he's tied to Earth, and has to rely on the Brigadier for much of what he wants; the Brigadier, because the Doctor, whichever incarnation he's in, can seem flighty and inattentive when the Brigadier most needs him to concentrate and help; and Liz, because she's a brilliant young woman stuck in a very male-oriented world, and too often the men (especially the Doctor) just don't take her seriously enough.
This story reflects some of those frustrations in a subtle manner. It begins with the Doctor rattling around inside the TARDIS while Liz is checking out the alcoholic content of the supposedly alcohol-free punch that has been made for the UNIT Christmas party, when suddenly the ship starts making a noise:
The thing shimmered. Had he fixed it? Was he leaving?
If he was, how did she feel about that? The Doctor was the most frustrating person Liz had ever known - he and UNIT had introduced her to a world she couldn't have imagined, and yet at the same time he'd reduced her brilliant career into fetching, carrying, and telling him he was the brilliant one.
Here is the crux of Liz's story: as a scientist, the world of aliens - to which her association with UNIT has introduced her - is endlessly fascinating; but as a brilliant scientist, to be reduced to little better than lackey, is galling in the extreme. You can understand why she didn't stay with UNIT for very long, preferring to get back to her own career instead.
The Doctor reveals he's temporarily got the chameleon circuit working on the TARDIS again, turning it into a fireplace, which he then proceeds to decorate in a Christmas-y fashion, intending to use it to trap the alien which humans know as Santa Claus. The alien crashed on Earth centuries earlier and has adapted itself to survive here: the Doctor tells them that it lives on 'psychic emanations' (what we term 'belief') and in return for the belief of humans feeding it, the alien grants wishes.
When the alien arrives, the Doctor tells the Brigadier and Liz to think soothing thoughts (it doesn't really communicate with speech, except broken phrases that it's picked up from humans relating to its role in the Santa Claus myth):
She did so, […] thinking gentle, gentle, no hurt, slow and gentle. There was another impression of pine-and-snow in her mind, bringing with it a sense of relief and peace. Startled, she looked right into its eyes, and was rewarded with a surge of emotion. There was confidence there, and pride, hope and belief. It trusted her. It believed in her. It thought she could do anything, that she was right to fight for what she truly wanted and strong enough to get it.
While the Doctor and the alien have a telepathic argument about whether or not the alien will grant the Doctor's wish by giving him back the ability to travel in time, Liz thinks about what she most wants: to be a scientist, in her own facility, instead of being at the beck and call of UNIT and the Doctor, and the surge of emotion she felt from the Claus creature gives her strength and hope for her future, prompting her to decide that she will hand in her resignation in the New Year.
In short, vote for this fic because it's clever (the alien 'playing' Santa Claus is a terrific idea), subtle, thoughtful, and thought-provoking (seriously, it's given me wholly unexpected meta-type thoughts), and the characters are very well drawn.
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Anytime You Think You're in Danger by Cathica Link goes to Teaspoon
Category:
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack in the background
Rating: PG
Details: One-shot, takes place towards the end of S1.
Why it Rocks:
Life is a series of traps, really. We vault from one to the other, either managing to figure out how to escape, or discovering another level that we hadn't realized was there in the first place. Every day of our lives, we wake up ensnared by something: be it the schoolwork we left unfinished, the jobs we can't stand, the children/animals/spouses who need to be fed breakfast.
Traveling with the Doctor, of course, one is apt to find actual physical traps. Locked rooms on Platform One with the sun-shield peeling away; Victorian basements filled with gas and ghosts ready to take over your body; and let's not forget the Game Station, where your only choices are to kill or be killed.
So when Rose Tyler thinks, "It's a trap" - well, we're more than ready to believe she's right. The dance club where Jack has dragged her looks less like a room of gyrating people and more like a box without windows or doors.
She wishes the Doctor was here. He'd complain about the noise and say he had better things to do, but he'd keep her close.
Now, I'll admit it took me a couple of reads to get what Cathica is telling us. The trap Rose is sensing isn't something physical. Really, all around her, everything is fine. The music is bright, the people are dancing, there's drinks to be had, and Jack has even presented Rose with a suitable partner for the night - a real estate agent, of all things, named Liam.
The complete opposite of the Doctor, come to that. On one hand, you have the Doctor, whose sole existance is based on the fact that he belongs to no one, belongs to no where, has no roots or claims to the universe save for himself and his TARDIS. And then you have Liam, whose entire existence is summed up in the theory that one can own a plot of land, put down roots and stay indefinitely. The Doctor is freedom; Liam is...not a trap, but stability.
So if Liam isn't the trap - and Liam is not - and the club itself is not the trap - and the club is not ---- then what is?
She hasn't known Jack very long. She doesn't know what he's thinking, though it's obvious what he's thinking about. She does know he fancies the Doctor every bit as much as he fancies her. Maybe more, in fact. Maybe he thinks that if he wants the Doctor he has to take her out of the picture.
Liam isn't the trap. Liam is the bait. Nor is the club the trap - it's just a handy location. Rose is absolutely correct when she senses a trap - only it's not to keep her in a location - it's to keep her away from a location - or more specifically, from a person.
But more importantly, who set the trap, anyway? Rose thinks it's Jack, but I'm not quite so convinced. Jack, remember, has a very different sense of sexual morality. Even if he had set Rose up, I don't think he would have seen that as a particular stumbling block towards a Doctor/Rose relationship, or his ace-in-the-hole for a Jack/Doctor relationship.
Which leaves us the Doctor himself...or Rose. And it's very possible that either of them could have set up the trap, knowingly or unknowingly. The Doctor can't keep pushing Rose away forever, and so giving himself a plausible reason that Rose would understand is almost logical. Rose, on the other hand, needs to believe the same thing.
[The Doctor] didn't say anything, in fact, except that she looked lovely. His dark gaze swept her up and down slowly, taking in the high heels, the glitter in her hair, and the scrap of black silk Jack called a cocktail dress and her mum would call indecent--and all the git said was lovely.
They both hold themselves apart from each other - never saying quite what they mean, covering up how they feel with insults ("git", "lovely for a human"), turning their faces away. So is the trap simply another drop in a long arsenal of excuses for why they won't be together?
And if so...who's to say that Jack had anything to do with setting it?
Some traps you recognize--and enter willingly.
In short, vote for Anytime You Think You're in Danger. It has a twisty way of looking at what was a definite twisty relationship; it paints Jack in a thoroughly ambiguous light (which is awfully hard to do, so hats off to that!), and it has traps both seen and unseen. It's a very clever fic that I'm very glad I gave a second read, and I can heartily say that it very much deserves your vote.
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In The Morning by katestamps
Category: Owen Harper
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen Harper, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, mentions of Toshiko Sato
Rating: PG
Details: Ficlet, 648 words, complete
Why It Rocks:
Fic in Owen’s perspective, for some reason, is fairly rare in Torchwood fandom. First-person Owen POV is rarer still, and when it’s as well-written and in character as this one it’s a real treat. In The Morning is set after Gwen’s wedding, and it’s at first sight Owen’s reaction to a moment of intimacy between Jack and Ianto. But it’s actually about much more than that.
Owen, by this time, is dead-but-alive, walking around zombie-like, unable to die, unable to heal, unable to eat or feel or experience any kind of sensation, erotic or otherwise. Unable even to sleep - so, for someone like Owen, who never really did much outside work apart from drink, have the occasional casual relationship and sleep, there’s not much left for him, is there?
Yeah, so Jack had said not to bother coming in before noon the day after Gwen's wedding disaster, but I had autopsies to finish and none of the corpses involved were getting fresher for me sitting around watching the clock. Whatever. There's just not much to do when you're dead.
And there, right from the very first paragraph, I’m nodding. Yes. What is there for Owen to do? Surf porn pointlessly? Watch reality TV for hours on end?
So he’s walking across the Hub and sees Jack raising his head and apparently about to wish him a good morning, when he realises what’s really happening:
the smile on his face made the greeting stick in my throat, and I watched him turn toward Ianto as he emerged from ladder in the floor.
It’s not jealousy that has Owen freezing as he watches Jack and Ianto - and the intimacy referred to above is the closeness and lack of personal space between two people who have been together a long time; there’s actually very little that’s sexual about it, which makes it even more intimate - it’s something more fundamental, I think, and that’s what makes this story so very poignant even as it’s humour-laden.
Owen can’t feel. He can’t have sex. Even kissing does nothing for him any more. He’s so on the outside here that it’s not possible to be any further excluded. This isn’t Tosh watching Owen with Gwen and feeling jealous and alone. Tosh at least had the comfort of knowing that she could have a relationship - and, of course, she later does. Owen can never have that kind of relationship ever again.
And he’s standing watching his boss and his colleague in a moment that suddenly felt more private than any of the compromising positions we'd managed to walk in on.
That hurts, from where I’m standing. We take so much for granted in life: our health, eyesight, ability to walk or speak or hear or taste. And yet every day people are robbed of one or more of these faculties, and they have to learn to rebuild their lives and learn to live without something they took completely for granted up until that point. How must it feel every single day seeing, being with other people who still have that faculty and take it for granted?
Not that Owen waxes angstily for six paragraphs at this point; that’s not his style, and katestamps doesn’t make the mistake of pretending that it is. His reaction is short, to the point, and very Owen. This story is very in character, and the first-person narration had me hearing Owen’s voice in my head throughout.
Which brings me to the humour, which is so very Owen; from the names he calls Ianto in his head (read them for yourself) and this:
there were plenty of those [compromising moments], not counting Tosh's secret stash of un-deleted CCTV footage. Right pervert, that girl, and I'm so very proud of her.
Classic Owen. I’m going to miss him so much.
If you haven’t already read In The Morning, scroll up again. Click on the link. Really. You’d have read it in the time it’s taken you to read this review. Read it and you’ll see why it absolutely deserves your vote.
*
Led into Temptation by k_haldane
Category: Classic Fic
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Jack's Coat/the Doctor's Coat (no, really) and historical Jack/Jack's coat
Rating: None given (sex is mentioned but coat!sex, as it turns out, is rather tender and non-graphic)
Details: Even coats need love. Takes place at the end of S3.
Why it rocks:
This is not only my new canon, this is my new OTP. Sod Doctor/Rose or Jack/Ianto: Jack's coat and the Doctor's coat have the most tragic, bittersweet, lovely romance in the Whoniverse.
You all think I'm joking, playing along with the crackfic, but I only partially am. It must be some strange astrological alignment of the stars but this little ficlet nearly made me cry. And it's about coats having sex. I'm not sure if that fact makes this the most successful fic ever written or me the most hopeless case ever.
Meanwhile, the theory posited by k_haldane, that Jack's coat is shot through with nanogenes and is therefor self-repairing and semi-sentient makes a disturbing amount of canon sense. I mean, does it ever look less than fantastic? Now we know why.
The author places her fic right at the perfect moment to mirror the Doctor/Jack subtextfest that is Utopia, except that the coats are able to cut the posturing bullshit and get straight to the snuggling. Jack's coat recognises in the Doctor's coat a kindred spirit, but a wounded one in need of some TLC. Jack's coat then gives the Doctor's coat some of its own nanogenes, which gives the Doctor's coat its own limited degree of sentience.
And then they snuggle. It's oddly erotic (again: successful fic or hopeless case reviewer-you decide):
But the coat had never been touched for itself before, not by another being aware of its nature. It responded to the overtures almost shyly, touching lining to lining and running cuff along cuff. The motions were on a microscopic scale, unobservable by the humans moving about the laboratory, but perfectly detectable at the nanogene level.
But alas, like the Doctor and Jack themselves, outside forces are always there to drive them apart, bigger events are always afoot, and there's never enough time. That was the part that made me want to cry. The coats are snatched up unceremoniously and returned to their original owners, and they're left to just snatch little touches as the Doctor and Jack run up and down corridors.
Also: yeah, it's hilarious. Not in a guffawing I-can't-breathe sort of way, but the entire conceit is hysterically funny, and the little tossed-away mentions of Jack's own relationship to his coat are wonderful (because, well, it is Jack).
So, you want a short, funny, strangely moving little crackfic? Look no further. And if you're bored with the current popular pairings and OTPs, I think I have the solution for your ennui. And yeah, there may be something wrong with me.
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Verlona Series by simons-flower
Category: Threesomes
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating: Adult
Warnings: The author warns for “dub-con, het, slash, threesome, minor bloodplay, restraint, biting, minor dom/sub, frottage, wall sex, oral sex. Please note that rape triggers might be contained within, so if have a sensitivity to such triggers you are warned.”
Details: Two part-fic, “Hunger” and “Slow Burn”
Why It Rocks:
First of all, I shouldn't sugarcoat this review, and I won't. I want to be perfectly clear what kind of reader will enjoy this fic and what kind of reader will be off-put, because while this fic is absolutely brilliant for its genre, its genre might be too much for some readers. The author is not lying about dub-con - this is a “shag or die” fic (although the die is more implied than actually stated) and it might deter some readers based on the explicitness of the sex, the length of the dubious consent scenes, and the lack of choice of any of the parties involved in the sex.
That being said. I loved it.
And the reason I love it (in spite of not being a fan of dub-con stories, in general) is that it handles all of these issues, that might put some readers off reading, full stop, exceedingly well. The Doctor, Rose and Jack don't wake up after the sex scenes with everything being okay. simons_flower makes sure it's clear: This is an experience that damaged the characters.
The fic opens up with Rose lying naked in bed with Jack. She can't remember how she got there, and neither can Jack. They both assume they've had sex. Enter the Doctor.
He explains that they've been drugged - and that in order for them to understand what happened, they can revisit their memories with him. So they all get naked on the bed and the Doctor accesses the memory of Jack, Rose and Nine eating Chinese at a seedy restaurant in New York City.
They're comparing fortunes when something begins to happen to Jack and Rose:
Rose whimpered, eyes widening and shooting upward to lock onto the Doctor’s at their touch. Though she usually had some sort of physical reaction to touching him, it didn’t normally feel as if she’s stuck her finger to an exposed live wire. Shifting in her seat, she discovered her knickers were soaked through. Her reaction was not usually so dramatic or so . . . prolific. It was confusing and disturbing.
Cheeks bright with a blush, she ducked her head and broke open her cookie. The hiss of the paper as she pulled it free sounded overly loud in her ears. Popping a bit of the cookie into her mouth, she pulled the paper taut and read: You have a winning way. Keep it.
What follows is a series of explicit scenes featuring Jack and Rose trying alleviate the ache brought on by this powerful aphrodisiac, Verlona, under the Doctor's watchful eye, who is there to try and stop them from hurting each other or themselves.
Then they “wake up” from the memory, and the Doctor lets them know: Jack still has three hours left of the drug influencing him and Rose has four. Insert scorchingly hot sex scenes, part deux.
I'm not going to quote any of the intimate scenes - keeping it PG for our underaged readers is one reason, and the other is that while the sex is fantastic and well-written, evocative and arousing, I don't think it's the strongest part of the story. I think the strongest part of the story is what happens the morning after.
They're all broken. Jack has issues with losing memories, Rose feels violated and the Doctor isn't acting himself, especially once he finds out that the Intash, a slave-owner race, had drugged Jack and Rose so that they could take them to be part of their “zoo”, to breed more human slaves. The Doctor's fury burns hot and he takes them to the Intash's home planet: Cielace.
While the final part of the first story might be a little weak on the characterization front, as a transition to the next part, “Slow Burn”, it is an absolutely vital clue into what is happening with the Doctor, with Rose and with Jack.
“Slow Burn” opens with Rose coming out of a self-imposed exile from the boys. Jack comes to find her because the Doctor hasn't been acting like himself: harsh, cold - sexually violent. This Doctor isn't like the man he signed up to travel with and he's wondering if the drug affected the Doctor.
Rose confronts him and the Doctor eventually consents to be tested - on the planet where he's just destroyed the research facility that produced the drug that basically forced Jack, Rose and himself to have sex with each other.
The Doctor is immediately separated from Rose and Jack, who make a series of startling discoveries. I won't ruin the plot for you, I don't think it's necessary.
I will say this. This fic is incredibly interesting: its way of dealing with sex and aphrodisiacs and a basically impossible situation is masterful. The characterizations are honest and real and the dialogue is fantastic.
Her emotions had undergone a crack-the-whip from panic to arousal and she was left light-headed from the change. She smiled. Jack slid his right hand from her thigh to her hair, holding her head still, as he coaxed her mouth open with his tongue.
It had been several days since they’d kissed, really kissed, and she found she missed it. She missed the taste of him, the feel of him. The only thing she might have wanted more would be to kiss the Doctor. Her hand tightened on the back of his neck, scratching him inadvertently with her fingernails and eliciting a moan.
simons-flower will run you on an emotional gambit, from one end to the other: aroused to terrified, squeeing over cute to horrified at the visceral description.
This fic deserves your vote because so rarely is this situation dealt with so realistically, the writing is fantastic and the premise is given an original twist. Go read and enjoy it. I think you'll find it well worth your time.
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Not What You’re Thinking by sam_storyteller
Category: Humor
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Tosh
Rating: PG-13
Details: One-shot, 1230 words
Why It Rocks:
One of the things I love about Torchwood, and for that matter, Doctor Who, is that while the stories are often quite serious, there is ample room for humor both within the show and in the associated fanfiction. This story showcases that well, and lets us see the lighter side of the Jack/Ianto relationship.
The story begins with Gwen asking a question many of us have asked ourselves after she walked in on Jack and Ianto in the greenhouse in “Adrift” - how do you play Naked Hide-and-Seek? Ianto isn’t sure he wants to answer the question, at least not directly.
"It's less aerobic than you think," he said, turning back to the newspaper he'd been reading before.
Tosh happens by in time to overhear part of the conversation, and she’s drawn in as her curiosity gets the better of her. Because of course it’s not so much the rules of the game that are interesting as are the...mechanics. Take a moment, and picture how you play hide-and-seek. Lots of running, right? Now picture the participants naked. You see why they are curious about the appeal of such a game for two men?
"All you can picture is Jack running naked through the Hub?" he asked. She nodded.
"And it's really, um." She brushed hair out of her eyes. "Compelling, on one level, but mostly -- "
"Absurd. Because if you've ever seen a naked man run -- "
" -- they look really stupid," she finished. Ianto nodded. And went back to the newspaper again.
Ianto is coy at first, trying to dodge the question. This is Ianto and we wouldn’t expect him to be very forthcoming about his sex life. He’s not Jack, after all, although he decides the best approach would be to pretend to be Jack, to get through this conversation. And of course, the game involves the infamous stopwatch.
"One person hides, the other seeks," he continued. In situations like this it was best to pretend to be Jack. Although to be fair Jack would already have at least one of them topless by now if he was really putting his mind to it. "The hider holds the stopwatch."
He explains the game as vaguely as he can, although the description is still quite compelling. I won’t spoil you by giving the description here, especially because Sam has Ianto describe it so well.
"There's no particular limit on how long one can play the game, but I suppose the point is moot. Eventually, both parties win," he finished. "Unless of course there are stakes involved. Particular requests depending on who wins, et cetera. Then it's rather more competitive."
The natural follow-up question is asked - given the description of the game, how does one cheat? Jack arrives at this point, and suggest Gwen and Tosh imagine how that might work, and Ianto offers a clue:
"Some people refuse to abide by the hands-only rule," Ianto pointed out, turning back to his newspaper.
The playfulness between Jack and Ianto is wonderful, a nice contrast to the seriousness of their work, as is Ianto’s teasing and indirect seduction of Gwen and Tosh. I am firmly convinced this is exactly how the game is played.
I love this sort of humor - dry and understated, and depending heavily on knowledge of the characters involved. The comedic timing and pacing is perfect, and the characters ring true. The punchline at the end is the icing on the cake. “Not What You’re Thinking” is an outstanding entry in the category, and certainly deserves your vote.
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Today's reviews were written by:
persiflage_1: Naughty or Nice
azriona: Anytime You Think You're In Danger
wendymr: In the Morning
papilio_luna: Led into Temptation
ladychi: Verlona Series
time_converges: Not What You're Thinking
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Naughty or Nice by AND Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Classic Fic
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Third Doctor, Liz Shaw, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Rating: All Ages
Details: Standalone Vignette, Humour
Why It Rocks:
The Doctor, Liz, and the Brigadier meet the alien who enacts the role of Santa Claus. It's sweet without being cloying and says a great deal about Liz (in particular), the Doctor, and the Brigadier in just over 2000 words.
I think the Third Doctor, Liz Shaw and the Brigadier are probably my favourite ever TARDIS team in Classic Who TV canon, even if they never get to travel in the TARDIS, what with it being out of commission, thanks to the Time Lords' punishment of the Doctor (see The War Games and Spearhead from Space). The dynamics between the three characters are interesting and entertaining; all three of them suffer from a degree of frustration: the Doctor, because he's tied to Earth, and has to rely on the Brigadier for much of what he wants; the Brigadier, because the Doctor, whichever incarnation he's in, can seem flighty and inattentive when the Brigadier most needs him to concentrate and help; and Liz, because she's a brilliant young woman stuck in a very male-oriented world, and too often the men (especially the Doctor) just don't take her seriously enough.
This story reflects some of those frustrations in a subtle manner. It begins with the Doctor rattling around inside the TARDIS while Liz is checking out the alcoholic content of the supposedly alcohol-free punch that has been made for the UNIT Christmas party, when suddenly the ship starts making a noise:
The thing shimmered. Had he fixed it? Was he leaving?
If he was, how did she feel about that? The Doctor was the most frustrating person Liz had ever known - he and UNIT had introduced her to a world she couldn't have imagined, and yet at the same time he'd reduced her brilliant career into fetching, carrying, and telling him he was the brilliant one.
Here is the crux of Liz's story: as a scientist, the world of aliens - to which her association with UNIT has introduced her - is endlessly fascinating; but as a brilliant scientist, to be reduced to little better than lackey, is galling in the extreme. You can understand why she didn't stay with UNIT for very long, preferring to get back to her own career instead.
The Doctor reveals he's temporarily got the chameleon circuit working on the TARDIS again, turning it into a fireplace, which he then proceeds to decorate in a Christmas-y fashion, intending to use it to trap the alien which humans know as Santa Claus. The alien crashed on Earth centuries earlier and has adapted itself to survive here: the Doctor tells them that it lives on 'psychic emanations' (what we term 'belief') and in return for the belief of humans feeding it, the alien grants wishes.
When the alien arrives, the Doctor tells the Brigadier and Liz to think soothing thoughts (it doesn't really communicate with speech, except broken phrases that it's picked up from humans relating to its role in the Santa Claus myth):
She did so, […] thinking gentle, gentle, no hurt, slow and gentle. There was another impression of pine-and-snow in her mind, bringing with it a sense of relief and peace. Startled, she looked right into its eyes, and was rewarded with a surge of emotion. There was confidence there, and pride, hope and belief. It trusted her. It believed in her. It thought she could do anything, that she was right to fight for what she truly wanted and strong enough to get it.
While the Doctor and the alien have a telepathic argument about whether or not the alien will grant the Doctor's wish by giving him back the ability to travel in time, Liz thinks about what she most wants: to be a scientist, in her own facility, instead of being at the beck and call of UNIT and the Doctor, and the surge of emotion she felt from the Claus creature gives her strength and hope for her future, prompting her to decide that she will hand in her resignation in the New Year.
In short, vote for this fic because it's clever (the alien 'playing' Santa Claus is a terrific idea), subtle, thoughtful, and thought-provoking (seriously, it's given me wholly unexpected meta-type thoughts), and the characters are very well drawn.
*
Anytime You Think You're in Danger by Cathica Link goes to Teaspoon
Category:
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack in the background
Rating: PG
Details: One-shot, takes place towards the end of S1.
Why it Rocks:
Life is a series of traps, really. We vault from one to the other, either managing to figure out how to escape, or discovering another level that we hadn't realized was there in the first place. Every day of our lives, we wake up ensnared by something: be it the schoolwork we left unfinished, the jobs we can't stand, the children/animals/spouses who need to be fed breakfast.
Traveling with the Doctor, of course, one is apt to find actual physical traps. Locked rooms on Platform One with the sun-shield peeling away; Victorian basements filled with gas and ghosts ready to take over your body; and let's not forget the Game Station, where your only choices are to kill or be killed.
So when Rose Tyler thinks, "It's a trap" - well, we're more than ready to believe she's right. The dance club where Jack has dragged her looks less like a room of gyrating people and more like a box without windows or doors.
She wishes the Doctor was here. He'd complain about the noise and say he had better things to do, but he'd keep her close.
Now, I'll admit it took me a couple of reads to get what Cathica is telling us. The trap Rose is sensing isn't something physical. Really, all around her, everything is fine. The music is bright, the people are dancing, there's drinks to be had, and Jack has even presented Rose with a suitable partner for the night - a real estate agent, of all things, named Liam.
The complete opposite of the Doctor, come to that. On one hand, you have the Doctor, whose sole existance is based on the fact that he belongs to no one, belongs to no where, has no roots or claims to the universe save for himself and his TARDIS. And then you have Liam, whose entire existence is summed up in the theory that one can own a plot of land, put down roots and stay indefinitely. The Doctor is freedom; Liam is...not a trap, but stability.
So if Liam isn't the trap - and Liam is not - and the club itself is not the trap - and the club is not ---- then what is?
She hasn't known Jack very long. She doesn't know what he's thinking, though it's obvious what he's thinking about. She does know he fancies the Doctor every bit as much as he fancies her. Maybe more, in fact. Maybe he thinks that if he wants the Doctor he has to take her out of the picture.
Liam isn't the trap. Liam is the bait. Nor is the club the trap - it's just a handy location. Rose is absolutely correct when she senses a trap - only it's not to keep her in a location - it's to keep her away from a location - or more specifically, from a person.
But more importantly, who set the trap, anyway? Rose thinks it's Jack, but I'm not quite so convinced. Jack, remember, has a very different sense of sexual morality. Even if he had set Rose up, I don't think he would have seen that as a particular stumbling block towards a Doctor/Rose relationship, or his ace-in-the-hole for a Jack/Doctor relationship.
Which leaves us the Doctor himself...or Rose. And it's very possible that either of them could have set up the trap, knowingly or unknowingly. The Doctor can't keep pushing Rose away forever, and so giving himself a plausible reason that Rose would understand is almost logical. Rose, on the other hand, needs to believe the same thing.
[The Doctor] didn't say anything, in fact, except that she looked lovely. His dark gaze swept her up and down slowly, taking in the high heels, the glitter in her hair, and the scrap of black silk Jack called a cocktail dress and her mum would call indecent--and all the git said was lovely.
They both hold themselves apart from each other - never saying quite what they mean, covering up how they feel with insults ("git", "lovely for a human"), turning their faces away. So is the trap simply another drop in a long arsenal of excuses for why they won't be together?
And if so...who's to say that Jack had anything to do with setting it?
Some traps you recognize--and enter willingly.
In short, vote for Anytime You Think You're in Danger. It has a twisty way of looking at what was a definite twisty relationship; it paints Jack in a thoroughly ambiguous light (which is awfully hard to do, so hats off to that!), and it has traps both seen and unseen. It's a very clever fic that I'm very glad I gave a second read, and I can heartily say that it very much deserves your vote.
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In The Morning by katestamps
Category: Owen Harper
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen Harper, Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, mentions of Toshiko Sato
Rating: PG
Details: Ficlet, 648 words, complete
Why It Rocks:
Fic in Owen’s perspective, for some reason, is fairly rare in Torchwood fandom. First-person Owen POV is rarer still, and when it’s as well-written and in character as this one it’s a real treat. In The Morning is set after Gwen’s wedding, and it’s at first sight Owen’s reaction to a moment of intimacy between Jack and Ianto. But it’s actually about much more than that.
Owen, by this time, is dead-but-alive, walking around zombie-like, unable to die, unable to heal, unable to eat or feel or experience any kind of sensation, erotic or otherwise. Unable even to sleep - so, for someone like Owen, who never really did much outside work apart from drink, have the occasional casual relationship and sleep, there’s not much left for him, is there?
Yeah, so Jack had said not to bother coming in before noon the day after Gwen's wedding disaster, but I had autopsies to finish and none of the corpses involved were getting fresher for me sitting around watching the clock. Whatever. There's just not much to do when you're dead.
And there, right from the very first paragraph, I’m nodding. Yes. What is there for Owen to do? Surf porn pointlessly? Watch reality TV for hours on end?
So he’s walking across the Hub and sees Jack raising his head and apparently about to wish him a good morning, when he realises what’s really happening:
the smile on his face made the greeting stick in my throat, and I watched him turn toward Ianto as he emerged from ladder in the floor.
It’s not jealousy that has Owen freezing as he watches Jack and Ianto - and the intimacy referred to above is the closeness and lack of personal space between two people who have been together a long time; there’s actually very little that’s sexual about it, which makes it even more intimate - it’s something more fundamental, I think, and that’s what makes this story so very poignant even as it’s humour-laden.
Owen can’t feel. He can’t have sex. Even kissing does nothing for him any more. He’s so on the outside here that it’s not possible to be any further excluded. This isn’t Tosh watching Owen with Gwen and feeling jealous and alone. Tosh at least had the comfort of knowing that she could have a relationship - and, of course, she later does. Owen can never have that kind of relationship ever again.
And he’s standing watching his boss and his colleague in a moment that suddenly felt more private than any of the compromising positions we'd managed to walk in on.
That hurts, from where I’m standing. We take so much for granted in life: our health, eyesight, ability to walk or speak or hear or taste. And yet every day people are robbed of one or more of these faculties, and they have to learn to rebuild their lives and learn to live without something they took completely for granted up until that point. How must it feel every single day seeing, being with other people who still have that faculty and take it for granted?
Not that Owen waxes angstily for six paragraphs at this point; that’s not his style, and katestamps doesn’t make the mistake of pretending that it is. His reaction is short, to the point, and very Owen. This story is very in character, and the first-person narration had me hearing Owen’s voice in my head throughout.
Which brings me to the humour, which is so very Owen; from the names he calls Ianto in his head (read them for yourself) and this:
there were plenty of those [compromising moments], not counting Tosh's secret stash of un-deleted CCTV footage. Right pervert, that girl, and I'm so very proud of her.
Classic Owen. I’m going to miss him so much.
If you haven’t already read In The Morning, scroll up again. Click on the link. Really. You’d have read it in the time it’s taken you to read this review. Read it and you’ll see why it absolutely deserves your vote.
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Led into Temptation by k_haldane
Category: Classic Fic
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Jack's Coat/the Doctor's Coat (no, really) and historical Jack/Jack's coat
Rating: None given (sex is mentioned but coat!sex, as it turns out, is rather tender and non-graphic)
Details: Even coats need love. Takes place at the end of S3.
Why it rocks:
This is not only my new canon, this is my new OTP. Sod Doctor/Rose or Jack/Ianto: Jack's coat and the Doctor's coat have the most tragic, bittersweet, lovely romance in the Whoniverse.
You all think I'm joking, playing along with the crackfic, but I only partially am. It must be some strange astrological alignment of the stars but this little ficlet nearly made me cry. And it's about coats having sex. I'm not sure if that fact makes this the most successful fic ever written or me the most hopeless case ever.
Meanwhile, the theory posited by k_haldane, that Jack's coat is shot through with nanogenes and is therefor self-repairing and semi-sentient makes a disturbing amount of canon sense. I mean, does it ever look less than fantastic? Now we know why.
The author places her fic right at the perfect moment to mirror the Doctor/Jack subtextfest that is Utopia, except that the coats are able to cut the posturing bullshit and get straight to the snuggling. Jack's coat recognises in the Doctor's coat a kindred spirit, but a wounded one in need of some TLC. Jack's coat then gives the Doctor's coat some of its own nanogenes, which gives the Doctor's coat its own limited degree of sentience.
And then they snuggle. It's oddly erotic (again: successful fic or hopeless case reviewer-you decide):
But the coat had never been touched for itself before, not by another being aware of its nature. It responded to the overtures almost shyly, touching lining to lining and running cuff along cuff. The motions were on a microscopic scale, unobservable by the humans moving about the laboratory, but perfectly detectable at the nanogene level.
But alas, like the Doctor and Jack themselves, outside forces are always there to drive them apart, bigger events are always afoot, and there's never enough time. That was the part that made me want to cry. The coats are snatched up unceremoniously and returned to their original owners, and they're left to just snatch little touches as the Doctor and Jack run up and down corridors.
Also: yeah, it's hilarious. Not in a guffawing I-can't-breathe sort of way, but the entire conceit is hysterically funny, and the little tossed-away mentions of Jack's own relationship to his coat are wonderful (because, well, it is Jack).
So, you want a short, funny, strangely moving little crackfic? Look no further. And if you're bored with the current popular pairings and OTPs, I think I have the solution for your ennui. And yeah, there may be something wrong with me.
*
Verlona Series by simons-flower
Category: Threesomes
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Rose, Jack
Rating: Adult
Warnings: The author warns for “dub-con, het, slash, threesome, minor bloodplay, restraint, biting, minor dom/sub, frottage, wall sex, oral sex. Please note that rape triggers might be contained within, so if have a sensitivity to such triggers you are warned.”
Details: Two part-fic, “Hunger” and “Slow Burn”
Why It Rocks:
First of all, I shouldn't sugarcoat this review, and I won't. I want to be perfectly clear what kind of reader will enjoy this fic and what kind of reader will be off-put, because while this fic is absolutely brilliant for its genre, its genre might be too much for some readers. The author is not lying about dub-con - this is a “shag or die” fic (although the die is more implied than actually stated) and it might deter some readers based on the explicitness of the sex, the length of the dubious consent scenes, and the lack of choice of any of the parties involved in the sex.
That being said. I loved it.
And the reason I love it (in spite of not being a fan of dub-con stories, in general) is that it handles all of these issues, that might put some readers off reading, full stop, exceedingly well. The Doctor, Rose and Jack don't wake up after the sex scenes with everything being okay. simons_flower makes sure it's clear: This is an experience that damaged the characters.
The fic opens up with Rose lying naked in bed with Jack. She can't remember how she got there, and neither can Jack. They both assume they've had sex. Enter the Doctor.
He explains that they've been drugged - and that in order for them to understand what happened, they can revisit their memories with him. So they all get naked on the bed and the Doctor accesses the memory of Jack, Rose and Nine eating Chinese at a seedy restaurant in New York City.
They're comparing fortunes when something begins to happen to Jack and Rose:
Rose whimpered, eyes widening and shooting upward to lock onto the Doctor’s at their touch. Though she usually had some sort of physical reaction to touching him, it didn’t normally feel as if she’s stuck her finger to an exposed live wire. Shifting in her seat, she discovered her knickers were soaked through. Her reaction was not usually so dramatic or so . . . prolific. It was confusing and disturbing.
Cheeks bright with a blush, she ducked her head and broke open her cookie. The hiss of the paper as she pulled it free sounded overly loud in her ears. Popping a bit of the cookie into her mouth, she pulled the paper taut and read: You have a winning way. Keep it.
What follows is a series of explicit scenes featuring Jack and Rose trying alleviate the ache brought on by this powerful aphrodisiac, Verlona, under the Doctor's watchful eye, who is there to try and stop them from hurting each other or themselves.
Then they “wake up” from the memory, and the Doctor lets them know: Jack still has three hours left of the drug influencing him and Rose has four. Insert scorchingly hot sex scenes, part deux.
I'm not going to quote any of the intimate scenes - keeping it PG for our underaged readers is one reason, and the other is that while the sex is fantastic and well-written, evocative and arousing, I don't think it's the strongest part of the story. I think the strongest part of the story is what happens the morning after.
They're all broken. Jack has issues with losing memories, Rose feels violated and the Doctor isn't acting himself, especially once he finds out that the Intash, a slave-owner race, had drugged Jack and Rose so that they could take them to be part of their “zoo”, to breed more human slaves. The Doctor's fury burns hot and he takes them to the Intash's home planet: Cielace.
While the final part of the first story might be a little weak on the characterization front, as a transition to the next part, “Slow Burn”, it is an absolutely vital clue into what is happening with the Doctor, with Rose and with Jack.
“Slow Burn” opens with Rose coming out of a self-imposed exile from the boys. Jack comes to find her because the Doctor hasn't been acting like himself: harsh, cold - sexually violent. This Doctor isn't like the man he signed up to travel with and he's wondering if the drug affected the Doctor.
Rose confronts him and the Doctor eventually consents to be tested - on the planet where he's just destroyed the research facility that produced the drug that basically forced Jack, Rose and himself to have sex with each other.
The Doctor is immediately separated from Rose and Jack, who make a series of startling discoveries. I won't ruin the plot for you, I don't think it's necessary.
I will say this. This fic is incredibly interesting: its way of dealing with sex and aphrodisiacs and a basically impossible situation is masterful. The characterizations are honest and real and the dialogue is fantastic.
Her emotions had undergone a crack-the-whip from panic to arousal and she was left light-headed from the change. She smiled. Jack slid his right hand from her thigh to her hair, holding her head still, as he coaxed her mouth open with his tongue.
It had been several days since they’d kissed, really kissed, and she found she missed it. She missed the taste of him, the feel of him. The only thing she might have wanted more would be to kiss the Doctor. Her hand tightened on the back of his neck, scratching him inadvertently with her fingernails and eliciting a moan.
simons-flower will run you on an emotional gambit, from one end to the other: aroused to terrified, squeeing over cute to horrified at the visceral description.
This fic deserves your vote because so rarely is this situation dealt with so realistically, the writing is fantastic and the premise is given an original twist. Go read and enjoy it. I think you'll find it well worth your time.
*
Not What You’re Thinking by sam_storyteller
Category: Humor
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Tosh
Rating: PG-13
Details: One-shot, 1230 words
Why It Rocks:
One of the things I love about Torchwood, and for that matter, Doctor Who, is that while the stories are often quite serious, there is ample room for humor both within the show and in the associated fanfiction. This story showcases that well, and lets us see the lighter side of the Jack/Ianto relationship.
The story begins with Gwen asking a question many of us have asked ourselves after she walked in on Jack and Ianto in the greenhouse in “Adrift” - how do you play Naked Hide-and-Seek? Ianto isn’t sure he wants to answer the question, at least not directly.
"It's less aerobic than you think," he said, turning back to the newspaper he'd been reading before.
Tosh happens by in time to overhear part of the conversation, and she’s drawn in as her curiosity gets the better of her. Because of course it’s not so much the rules of the game that are interesting as are the...mechanics. Take a moment, and picture how you play hide-and-seek. Lots of running, right? Now picture the participants naked. You see why they are curious about the appeal of such a game for two men?
"All you can picture is Jack running naked through the Hub?" he asked. She nodded.
"And it's really, um." She brushed hair out of her eyes. "Compelling, on one level, but mostly -- "
"Absurd. Because if you've ever seen a naked man run -- "
" -- they look really stupid," she finished. Ianto nodded. And went back to the newspaper again.
Ianto is coy at first, trying to dodge the question. This is Ianto and we wouldn’t expect him to be very forthcoming about his sex life. He’s not Jack, after all, although he decides the best approach would be to pretend to be Jack, to get through this conversation. And of course, the game involves the infamous stopwatch.
"One person hides, the other seeks," he continued. In situations like this it was best to pretend to be Jack. Although to be fair Jack would already have at least one of them topless by now if he was really putting his mind to it. "The hider holds the stopwatch."
He explains the game as vaguely as he can, although the description is still quite compelling. I won’t spoil you by giving the description here, especially because Sam has Ianto describe it so well.
"There's no particular limit on how long one can play the game, but I suppose the point is moot. Eventually, both parties win," he finished. "Unless of course there are stakes involved. Particular requests depending on who wins, et cetera. Then it's rather more competitive."
The natural follow-up question is asked - given the description of the game, how does one cheat? Jack arrives at this point, and suggest Gwen and Tosh imagine how that might work, and Ianto offers a clue:
"Some people refuse to abide by the hands-only rule," Ianto pointed out, turning back to his newspaper.
The playfulness between Jack and Ianto is wonderful, a nice contrast to the seriousness of their work, as is Ianto’s teasing and indirect seduction of Gwen and Tosh. I am firmly convinced this is exactly how the game is played.
I love this sort of humor - dry and understated, and depending heavily on knowledge of the characters involved. The comedic timing and pacing is perfect, and the characters ring true. The punchline at the end is the icing on the cake. “Not What You’re Thinking” is an outstanding entry in the category, and certainly deserves your vote.
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Today's reviews were written by:
persiflage_1: Naughty or Nice
azriona: Anytime You Think You're In Danger
wendymr: In the Morning
papilio_luna: Led into Temptation
ladychi: Verlona Series
time_converges: Not What You're Thinking