Round Three Reviews - Part 13
Today's Featured Stories Include:
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Home is an Old Brown Coat by sensiblecat
Categories: 10.5, AU, Ficlet
Fandom: New Who
Characters: 10.5, Rose
Rating: G
Details: Set shortly after the original Doctor leaves Rose on the parallel world for a second time. Except this time she is with someone rather familiar - or is he? A story of Rose learning to trust again. One-shot; just over 3,500 words.
Why it Rocks:
I was previously unfamiliar with sensiblecat’s writing, but what a joy it was to discover her work. I have read many a Doctor Who fic set on the parallel world, but this stands out as one of the strongest in my eyes. The main reason for this is that it delves into the mind of both parties, whilst other fics choose to focus on how Rose may be feeling at the time. It is easy to forget that the Doctor is feeling just as confused, lost and alone. Together they must try and work through the problems, and this is what this fic is about. However, the writing is subtle and feels genuine, and, to its credit, never becomes an overwhelming amount of heart-ridden angst.
Unusually, the focal point of ‘Home is an Old Brown Coat’ is, as the title suggests, the Doctor’s long brown coat. The Doctor, in his tenth form, has several things as his trademark; the suit and trainers, the glasses and of course, the long brown coat. Without these things, the Doctor feels somewhat at a loss. One might view this as rather silly, but when all you have is the travel and nothing to ground you, little things like that become small pieces of home.
“What did you have in mind?” he snapped. “A pinstripe suit?”
That hurt her. He saw the sting of recollection in her eyes and he wanted to shout, “But it’s still me - I’m stuck in here!” That risked being rejected as second-best, so he resisted.
“If that’s what you want…” she said, uneasily.
“Of course it’s what I want!” he retorted. “I’m him!”
This is why the Doctor and Rose, three days into their time together, decide to go shopping, to try and allow the Doctor to move on from the man he was, and start a-fresh. During this time the relationship between the pair appears anxious and awkward, and there are clearly still a large amount of issues yet to be resolved. This fic portrays the character’s thoughts primarily, as opposed to their interactions, as their thoughts demonstrate much more what they are thinking, and what their anxieties and hopes are for the future.
Shopping, though it had to be done, did not seem to unite them as a couple. He’d never had to bother much with buying clothes before. Without the TARDIS, he was starting to realise, there would be a lot of chores like this. He didn’t say this to Rose, fearing a barbed “Welcome to the real world,” type remark. Instead, they discussed the merits of the bus, parking at the local shopping mall, or getting Pete’s driver to drop them off somewhere, and he felt more alien than he’d ever been in his life.
The Doctor experiences an emotional turmoil, desperate to convince Rose that he was the same man he always was, despite him even being unsure himself.
He didn’t know how to explain any of it to Rose. Already he was afraid of driving her away and losing the one point of reference he had in this world. With time, they would work something out. He believed that because he had to believe it. There was nothing else. When she looked at him he knew she was trying to understand, but the closer she came to accepting him the more her memories fought back, determined never to leave the other half of him alone. She spoke his name carefully - “Doctor” - and he thought he detected a certain lack of belief. He concentrated on the challenge of embracing his new identity as a human. For a few days he just about managed it.
Rose realises the heartache she is causing The Doctor, and yet she is unable to do anything about it until she works out her own issues. Their emotions are very conflicted and it absolutely rings true.
And she wasn’t helping. He must realise, no matter how hard she tried, that she still didn’t think of him as the real deal. No, that wasn’t quite right. Of course he was the Doctor, but so was the other one. He was out there on his own, his hearts aching for her. You didn’t just stop loving a person because they duplicated themselves and said, “Here, you have that one.”
Then suddenly whilst they are shopping, Rose has an amazing find. A coat, almost identical in every way to the Doctor’s! It even smells the same, somehow. Rose feels as if this is a sign from the other world, a challenge of some sort. As soon as the Doctor tries on this coat, a large amount of tension leaves him and it is as if a piece of him has returned. It is just the bond that the Doctor and Rose need to begin to come together and start a-fresh.
In short, vote for ‘Home is an Old Brown Coat’. It takes a very unique look at the relationship between the clone Doctor and Rose beginning their life together. It is emotional, awkward, beautiful and so very true.
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How the West Was Lost by vvj5 Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Short Story
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Third Doctor, the Brigadier, Other characters
Rating: All ages
Details: Crossover with Carry on Cowboy, Drama, Humour. Nine chapters.
Why It Rocks:
It's a funny and clever crossover with the movie (which is itself a parody of the genre) that starred Jon Pertwee (who played the Third Doctor), Angela Douglas (who played Doris Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield) and Peter Butterworth (who played a Time Lord in two First Doctor serials - it'd be a spoiler if I told you which one, so don't go and look him up if you don't already know!) As vvj5 says, someone had to this.
First of all, let me assure you that you don't need to have seen Carry on Cowboy to enjoy this story: if I've ever seen it (I've not watched any Carry On films for many years), I don't remember it, but that didn't matter in the slightest. (And if you want some info on the Carry On films before you begin, vvj5 has provided a note about them at the end of chapter 9 of the story.)
This tale opens with the Doctor and the Brigadier unexpectedly arriving in the American West, both of them clinging to the TARDIS console for dear life. At this point the Doctor is without an 'official' companion - Liz has already left UNIT and Jo hasn't yet arrived - and thus the Brigadier is having to keep a closer than usual eye on the Time Lord. He reflects:
No one had issued an army handbook on how to keep bored and petulant Time Lords from trying risky experiments on the premises. It seemed, at this precise moment, an appalling oversight.
This is entirely typical of the Brigadier's dry sense of humour. He scolds the Doctor, who immediately blames the Brigadier (situation normal!) for their predicament, and then they establish where they have arrived. The Doctor suggests that being in the American West will be fun - which the Brigadier doubts - and when the Time Lord queries this, the Brigadier explains:
"That doesn’t mean I believe there ever was a Merrie England or any of those other mythical eras. I should imagine that most people have spent their lives trying to get by, no matter what period they lived in. And most of them would have a harder time of it than nowadays.”
“Dear me,” said the Doctor. “I suppose there’s truth in that, but what a dull way to think. I might have known.”
“Memorable events aren’t necessarily pleasant to live through.”
This is a very practical attitude on the part of the Brigadier, who is a sensible, military man, and an entirely characteristic response from the Doctor, who is not.
The story explores, through a series of misunderstandings and mistaken identities, the sometimes strained friendship between the Doctor and the Brigadier. As the two begin to explore, the Doctor is immediately mistaken for the father of Ms Annie Oakley, whom the Brigadier is astounded to discover looks just like a young woman he once met (and who later becomes the second Mrs Lethbridge-Stewart). Throughout this story the author plays with the fact that the Doctor looks like the dead Sheriff, and Annie Oakley looks like the future Doris Lethbridge-Stewart, without ever wearing the joke thin - something which requires a very deft touch indeed.
It's revealed that the town leaders of Stodge City have sent for a Peace Marshal to clean up the town by running out the 'Rumpo Kid', but instead they get Marshall P Knutt, Sanitation Engineer (First Class), who's come to sort out the drains (which will also clean up the town, but not in the manner they had in mind). Since a Marshal is still needed the Doctor volunteers the Brigadier for the job - to his complete disbelief - but as the Time Lord points out, young Mr Knutt wouldn't stand a chance against an outlaw, whereas the Brigadier's a trained military man, and since the Doctor will be trying to fix the TARDIS to get them back home again, he can't do it himself. The Time Lord assumes that the Brigadier will be quite happy playing the role of Peace Marshal since he always seems to be shooting things - in fact, the Brigadier's tendency to shoot first and ask questions later has led to disagreements between the two men in the past and will do so again in the future.
As the series of misunderstandings over people's identities continue, the Doctor and the Brigadier do their best to work out not only how to deal with it, but how to survive to get themselves home again. The Doctor soon realises that he needs to do some investigating since the town's doctor bears more than a passing resemblance to another Time Lord of his acquaintance, and the Brigadier has complained more than once that the whole situation in which they've found themselves is nothing but a giant cliché of the Wild West. Initially the Doctor's dismissive of the Brigadier's complaints, but the fact that Stodge City's doctor looks so much like a certain Time Lord whom he knows to be a troublemaker suggests that the Brigadier may have a valid point.
While the Doctor's searching the town for his fellow Time Lord's TARDIS, the Brigadier arrests an 'Indian' chief for being drunk and disorderly, and locks him up in the cells at the Sheriff's office. Then Belle (the Rumpo Kid's lady friend) turns up, intending to tell the Brigadier everything in order to get her revenge on Rumpo for showing an interest in Annie Oakley, but the Brigadier locks her up too. Shortly after that Annie herself arrives, wanting to turn herself in for killing Charlie the barman - of course Marshall then turns up, and when he finds the Brigadier has locked up Annie, pulls his gun on him, so the Brigadier (whose patience is wearing ever thinner) arrests him as well.
Meanwhile, Rumpo has found the 'Indian' chief's son and has persuaded him to help Rumpo to deal with the 'interfering' Marshal (aka the Brigadier). Rumpo sends one of the dancing girls from Belle's bar into the Sheriff's office to distract the Brigadier:
“Now what do you want?” he demanded.
She fluttered her eyelashes. “My, that’s no way to treat a girl who’s only come to save you feelin’ lonesome.”
He had to bite back considerable amusement. “Much obliged, but you needn’t have troubled yourself. As you can see, I have plenty of company. I suggest you leave - or I shall arrest you as well!”
She fled, sobbing.
“Well,” commented Belle, “you sure got a way with women, Marshal, I’ll give you that.”
The poor Brigadier - harassed by three women in one night. Dealing with aliens and soldiers is so much easier!
A gun fight at high noon (this is a city plagued by clichés after all!) leaves only the Rumpo Kid standing, and the Brigadier immediately shoots his gun out of his hand and is about arrest him when the Doctor turns up and indulges in some fancy shooting of his own. Before the Brigadier can arrest the Rumpo Kid, though, Belle turns up and the pair ride out of town together, leaving the Doctor and the Brigadier to make their way back to the TARDIS console, and safely back to UNIT HQ again.
This story is an entertaining look at the friendship between the eminently sensible and practical Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (a no-nonsense military man), and the sometimes very alien and frustrating Doctor. There's an amusing bit when the second Time Lord complains to the Doctor that no one had discovered what he was up to until the Brigadier arrived, and he asks the Doctor if the Brigadier's always so sensible. The Doctor says he is, and comments that it's very infuriating - but at the same time, there's a feeling of warmth on the part of the Doctor for the Brigadier: they might not see eye to eye all the time (they disagreed bitterly over the resolution of the business with the Silurians), but they are friends in spite of that.
Vote for this fic because it's a clever, funny and imaginative crossover between two great institutions of British television. (And if you're at all curious about seeing a sample of the film referenced, there's a short clip of Jon Pertwee here on You Tube!)
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Wired by cyus
Categories: Het Pairings, Dark
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Lisa, Jack
Rating: R
Details: One-shot set before Torchwood starts, but after Ianto has joined the team.
Why It Rocks:
Jack Harkness is a seriously kinky bastard.
(Well, he is.)
But this fic isn't about Jack - it's about Ianto, and more, it's about Ianto before he and Jack were together. Which is why Jack is something more of a kinkier bastard than you'd usually expect.
I'm not entirely convinced that Ianto realized that he was ever attracted to men, before he knew Jack Harkness. (There's another fanfic I read once where Ianto is described as "Jacksexual", instead of bisexual. I think this about hits the nail on the head.)
The thing is - Ianto isn't exactly lily-white either, and we have to know this, from the clues we get in canon. First and foremost - Ianto, when we first meet him, is keeping his cyber-girlfriend in the basement. He has single-handedly managed to capture a pteranodon and bring it to Cardiff. And somewhere buried inside him - as we discovered in Adam - he's got some kind of fantasy or experience with rape.
Now, you'll have to forgive me, because it's been a few months since I saw Cyberwoman, and I'll be honest and say I didn't much care for it. But I will admit that I found this fic, which examines Ianto's relationship with Lisa as the Cyberwoman, absolutely fascinating. Think about it - for months, Ianto was living a completely double life: that in the Hub, working quietly and making coffee, and that in the Archives, where his girlfriend struggled to survive.
He would watch her at night when she was asleep...He'd walk in, and she'd already have her eyes closed, painkillers dripping into her and shutting down her system.
He missed her.
Reading those words struck me as particularly painful. Lisa is alive, but not. She's there, but not. It makes me think of what it must be like to have a loved one in intensive care, or in a coma. The sort of loneliness that Ianto feels, when he is with Lisa, is being with someone who isn't really present. As the fic's summary says: Lisa is still Ianto's girlfriend.
Except...in a very real way, she isn't. Ianto is going it alone.
And here's where the dual nature of the fic comes into play: because just as Ianto is leading a double life, the fic is giving us a double story. We have Ianto again, living his life in the Hub with Suzie and Owen and Jack, calmly discussing who will be going to Snowdon to deal with some very strange sheep.
But all the while, there is something happening quite literally below the surface.
Owen got up, metal springs screamed with the bounce, and Ianto pressed his crotch against the edge of the table, hidden from view by the sheets of paper in his hand. Arousal caught in his stomach, muscles in his thighs tense, and the edge of the desk didn't yield.
You see, Lisa is still Ianto's girlfriend. He loves her, we know this. And when you love someone - you start to want them, not despite how they present themselves, but because of it. The "screech of metal and metal", as Cyus terms it, isn't just a sound to make Ianto cringe anymore - to Ianto, it's the sound of Lisa, waiting for him deep below the Hub.
And then, you see, there is Jack:
"Bit of excitement, hunting dead alien sheep, that kind of thing," Harkness went on....Harkness looked pointedly from the cup to Ianto's hips. "Not that exciting," he said after a pause, light tone.
Ah, Jack. Damn kinky bastard. But did you notice something? Cyus is way clever with his portrayal of Jack. He's not meant to be sympathetic here. In fact, he's anything but. He notices Ianto's strange reaction, and makes light of it. He doesn't point it out, but it's clear that he's highly amused at Ianto's discomfort. He sees the random kinkiness of a man being turned on by metal - and instead of condemning it, he acts as if it's something of a joke.
He isn't Jack. He's Harkness. He's a strange, unknowable figure, one Ianto doesn't understand and might, on some level, find frightening. By calling him Harkness, Cyus is stripping away the man we know as Jack. She's elevating him to some other plane, where he seems as strange and untouchable as surely Ianto sees him.
If that man known as Harkness can think Ianto's plight is humorous....how can it be right?
In short, vote for Wired. It's short and complicated and has very odd references to sheep. It will hit you in the gut and possibly render you speechless, and you won't be able to hear metal on metal again in quite the same light for quite a few days. It's entirely enjoyable in a massively kinky way, and it absolutely deserves your vote.
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A Dangerous Creature? Not So Much by amberfocus
Category: Humor
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, Rose, Ten
Rating: PG
Details: One-shot very fluffy crack. AU post-JE where Donna travels with Rose and the Doctor.
Why It Rocks:
First, and let me get this out of the way: Well, duh.
Now that we've established that, let's continue. One of the absolutely fantastic things I love about Doctor Who fanfic is that it marries up two ways of writing. There's a saying that you should write what you know - but there's also the theory that you should write what interests you.
Let's face it - what we know isn't always the most interesting. So writing in a sci-fi world can be incredibly liberating, because we can write about aliens and time travel and blue police call boxes that are bigger on the inside. None of us really know these things, and yet we write about them anyway.
All the same - sci fi has never been so much about science as it is about fiction - namely, characters and how they interact with each other and the world around them. First and foremost, it's the relationships that are most important. I suspect this is why there is so much discussion and arguing over the various 'ships within fandoms - and so little genfic.
And possibly why smut gets more hits than anything else.
Amber is primarily known as an author of smut. And yet she's far more than that, as she proves with "A Dangerous Creature". Amber has an extremely keen eye for both the world we live in and the world we'd like to live in, and in this story, she's done a remarkable job of pulling them both together.
The Doctor, Rose, and Donna are on a new planet, when they encounter a new, most frightening creature. Well, frightening to the Doctor anyway - Rose and Donna, however, have seen it before.
He backed away in horror and if he happened to be positioning himself behind Donna Noble, well, it wasn’t that he was hiding or seeking protection from the hideous creature. Oh, no. He was simply regrouping, getting his bearings, and figuring out a plan. In relative safety. Because that thing, whatever it was, would have to come through Donna first and she was already gearing up to take it down. And really, it seemed to cower before her. Like most things did.
The creature feeds off the fear that the Doctor feels for it - and consequently, grows stronger and more fearsome. It's absolutely the personification of "the only thing you have to fear". And just as the creature feeds off fear...
The Doctor stepped out from behind Donna and studied the creature with fascination. “I said to ignore it, Doctor!” Rose huffed.
“But look at it,” said the Doctor almost in awe. “It’s growing spikes now. And floating off the ground.”
The creature can't stand up to the close inspection. It fluctuates, changes shapes and colors, and eventually is destroyed. It might come back again - sometimes, they do - but it's no longer something to be seen as imposing.
Such is the case with most fears, in real life. The creature that our threesome face is undoubtedly real to them at first. And yet - it's a caricature of what they're most frightened of facing.
Think for a minute, those of you who also know Harry Potter, of the boggart in the third book (Prisoner of Azkaban). The boggart took on the shape of a person's fears. For Neville, it became Professor Snape. And though Neville knew perfectly well that it was not actually the feared Potions Master who came out of the closet (so to speak), still Neville trembled.
Think of yourselves at a movie. You know perfectly well that the creature on the screen isn't real, is not going to jump out and eat you, and is very likely not going to eat the main character, because hello, it's his movie and there's scenes from the previews you haven't seen yet. And still, you cower, cover your eyes, and your heart begins to race. Fear.
What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of Professor Snape? Are we afraid of the lights on the screen? Or are we afraid of the possibility that these fears could one day become real, meet us face to face, and demand that we confront not only them, but our own opinions and beliefs?
Says the Doctor: “...Recognizing it is a good thing.”
The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and advanced on the hideous monster.
“If I name it-.”
The creature screamed in sudden fear and began to back away from the Doctor. It knew. “Words have power and I name you."
Names have power - the Doctor know this, and so do we. Whether what you face is a Carrionite, Voldemort, or the faceless entity on the other side of the screen, knowing your fears is half the battle in not simply standing up to them --- but simply standing up.
Neville stood up, and gave Snape a funny hat.
The hero stood up, and chased down the monster on the screen.
We stand up, and our fears might not go away entirely, but we are stronger for the standing.
In short, vote for A Dangerous Creature? Not So Much. It's life with a sci-fi twist; it's a commentary on something we all face every day; it's funny and sweet and ends with a shower. Like our fears, it is much, much more than what you see at first glance. And named, I can tell you this: it is absolutely worth your vote.
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Resolve by notevery
Category: Toshiko Sato
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Jack, the Master
Rating: Adult (violence, torture, character death)
Details: One shot, 2900 words, spoilers for TW 2x12, 'Fragments'; DW series three (set during the Year That Never Was)
Why It Rocks:
This is an intense story set during the Year That Never Was that provides a lot of insight into the character of Tosh. We learned her back story in the episode “Fragments,” but here we see an even more nightmarish version of those events, and the true strength of her character.
In “Fragments” we learned that Tosh made a deal with Jack, five years ago, in exchange for getting out of the UNIT prison. Jack provided an escape for her, not without some cost, but still a way out of an indefinite prison sentence. In this story, Tosh is offered another deal, another possible escape, and her response to it shows not only who she is, but what role Jack played in her discovery of who she is.
The story opens with Torchwood Three attempting an escape from the Toclafane. We don’t know what happens to Gwen and Ianto after Tosh and Owen leave them, but we know Tosh and Owen are ambushed almost immediately and captured.
She could remember the last thing she'd said to each of them. “Don't hurry yourself,” to Gwen. “See you later,” to Ianto. And, finally, “Owen!” shouted out amid the snow and the rock, making the Toclafane giggle maniacally.
She awakens sometime later in a prison cell, not unlike the one she was kept in by UNIT, and we feel her pain and misery. The first duty of a prisoner is to escape, and she tries that first: attempting to undo her handcuffs, checking whether they left anything useful behind when they searched her, to no avail.
Tosh swore even though she knew that it wouldn't help before curling back up into a ball, wrapping her arms about her legs and pressing her face hard against her knees. Her nose throbbed, and she felt as if she'd been dropped on her face. Maybe she had.
They take away more than her freedom, they also take away any reference to time. I like this detail, because The Year That Never Was is caught out of time itself, in a way. That’s what makes stories set during that time appealing - there’s a certain freedom in knowing whatever happens will be re-set at the end of the year. Having that sense of being caught out of time conveyed within the story is a nice touch.
Time moved, yes, and occasionally tugged at her with its tide, but she had no way of judging it. The gloomy half-light of the cell remained grindingly constant. They had taken her watch.
It’s not an accident that she has been captured, of course. The Master has plans for her, but she doesn’t learn what they are at first, nor do we. This suspense creates very effective tension for the reader as well. We don’t know how long she’ll be held, or what awaits her at the end of her sentence, and we are left to endure with her.
First she is left in the cell, completely out of touch, until finally the screen in the room comes to life and shows her what’s going on in the world. It also shows her Jack, and what the Master is doing to him, and she resolves to help him.
She clenched her hands to try and stop their trembling, closing her eyes and biting her lip till she tasted copper. Jack needed her, now, and she would get him. She'd be there for him just like he was there for her, no matter what.
The Master comes for her eventually, as we expect, forcing her to do work for him. At first she almost enjoys this - it’s almost like regular life, working with computers and programs. It’s familiar, and she’s good at it.
Something old, lain dormant deep inside of her for this nothing-time in the cell, bubbled to the surface again: she explored and investigated and marvelled, her movements more assured, the work-frown any member of Torchwood Three would have recognized back again.
She knows better than to relax and forget who and what the work is for. When the Master finally makes his offer to her, she briefly considers it, thinking of how she might ultimately do good, or subvert his plans, or find a way around it. In the end, she knows it’s impossible, and she makes the most difficult decision of her life. She knows she’s right, and she doesn’t back down once she’s made her choice, even when her untenable position becomes impossibly worse. Her thought process as she weighs her options is conveyed clearly, and we understand how impossible her situation is.
And then she thought about Jack, and she knew instantly what he would say: that no man with a stare or a laugh like the Master's would ever dispense favours or bargain with a prisoner. That she probably didn't want to know what had happened with the others, or where they were now. That she would die even when she finished this task....
She’s finally allowed to see Jack, but only so that her pain can be shared with him at the end. And despite everything, she knows one thing: Jack sees her. He saw her potential back when he first brought her into Torchwood, and she knows that he still does. That knowledge, of being known and understood, of being seen for who she is, gives her the strength to stick to her principles, even at the point of death.
The author has captured Tosh’s character and thought processes well, and we never doubt that this is how she would react in this situation. The author’s style is simple but powerful, conveying strong emotion and unimaginable violence without being melodramatic.
There’s no happy ending here, but in the end we understand what she did and why. We admire her for her strength of character, and know that her fate under these circumstances could not be otherwise. We see Tosh as the strong, loyal, principled person she is. And that makes all the difference.
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Sew it Up, But You Still See the Tear by thedeadparrot Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Martha Jones
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Martha Jones and the various people in her life post-LotTL
Rating: All Ages
Details: Martha Jones creates a new life for herself in the aftermath of the Year That Never Was.
Why it Rocks:
In between The Last of the Time Lords and The Sontaran Stratagem Martha Jones has a lot of work to do. The sort of personal work that I would have wanted to see on-camera, but alas we only get to see her joining up with Torchwood for some Cardiff hi-jinks, and then she's gone again. We have to fill in the blanks ourselves regarding how she and her family cope with what they saw and experienced during that year.
Thedeadparrot offers a quiet, gorgeous character study, the soundtrack to which seems to be the beating of Martha's own heart-strong, slowly steadying again, coming to grips with both her triumphs and mistakes. The rhythm of the language carries the reader along with Martha as she steps out of the eddy created by a year that never happened and back in to the stream of life.
She wakes up one morning, and the sky outside her window is dark, and the world isn't ending. It takes her body a moment to realize this. Her heart beats too rapidly, her breath coming too fast. She breathes and breathes and breathes, reminding herself that it never happened. Her family is right here with her, and not on the Valiant, held hostage by a madman.
One thing I really liked about this story was the way that Martha and Tom encounter one another, and what their relationship is like. I've read several fics where Martha continues to be the one to go find Tom, after that initial phone call that we see at the end of Last of the Time Lords. In this fic, however, it's a chance encounter on the Tube. They flirt a little over physiology textbooks, and their relationship grows organically as they begin to regularly bump in to one another.
This struck me as more true-to-form for someone going through what Martha is going through. She's got a lot to process in the way of trauma and experience, but also her fateful decision to stick around a man who was treating her poorly, and then finally to leave that same man with her head held high. I would think that an intelligent woman like Martha would then be hesitant to dip her toe in to that same water again so soon.
But she also remembers the way it felt to build her whole life around him [the Doctor] and how it made her world so much smaller, because most of the time, it felt like he was the only thing in it.
She's realized that she wants to build herself a new life, a bigger one, one that can fit people who aren't the last of the Time Lords.
This fic also takes us through her work for UNIT, and her decision to undertake that. How did she decide, even after all she's been through, she wants to sign up for that sort of life again? Here, she doesn't take it on lightly but in the end accepts the offer from a UNIT officer who'd also been imprisoned on the Valiant and thus also understands who she is and why she does what she does.
The presence of the Doctor flits in and out of Sew It Up, But You Still See the Tear like a phantom. She's got his phone number, but she doesn't call. Not until he's needed by UNIT, and not until she's fully rebuilt her life and it is strong enough to survive the gale-force onslaught of him.
This was a beautifully written fic, a sensitive character study and replete with missing scenes that I wish weren't missing. Every time she comes back I always want her to have an opportunity to explore a few more details of her life in the interim, but she never seems to really get it. So, we rely on authors like thedeadparrot to supply us with a truly believable story of a brilliant student who learns all of the hardest lessons on her own.
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Today's Reviews were written by:
rosie_not_rose: Home is an Old Brown Coat
persiflage_1: How The West Was Lost
azriona: Wired; A Dangerous Creature?
time_converges: Resolve
papilio_luna: Sew It Up...
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Home is an Old Brown Coat by sensiblecat
Categories: 10.5, AU, Ficlet
Fandom: New Who
Characters: 10.5, Rose
Rating: G
Details: Set shortly after the original Doctor leaves Rose on the parallel world for a second time. Except this time she is with someone rather familiar - or is he? A story of Rose learning to trust again. One-shot; just over 3,500 words.
Why it Rocks:
I was previously unfamiliar with sensiblecat’s writing, but what a joy it was to discover her work. I have read many a Doctor Who fic set on the parallel world, but this stands out as one of the strongest in my eyes. The main reason for this is that it delves into the mind of both parties, whilst other fics choose to focus on how Rose may be feeling at the time. It is easy to forget that the Doctor is feeling just as confused, lost and alone. Together they must try and work through the problems, and this is what this fic is about. However, the writing is subtle and feels genuine, and, to its credit, never becomes an overwhelming amount of heart-ridden angst.
Unusually, the focal point of ‘Home is an Old Brown Coat’ is, as the title suggests, the Doctor’s long brown coat. The Doctor, in his tenth form, has several things as his trademark; the suit and trainers, the glasses and of course, the long brown coat. Without these things, the Doctor feels somewhat at a loss. One might view this as rather silly, but when all you have is the travel and nothing to ground you, little things like that become small pieces of home.
“What did you have in mind?” he snapped. “A pinstripe suit?”
That hurt her. He saw the sting of recollection in her eyes and he wanted to shout, “But it’s still me - I’m stuck in here!” That risked being rejected as second-best, so he resisted.
“If that’s what you want…” she said, uneasily.
“Of course it’s what I want!” he retorted. “I’m him!”
This is why the Doctor and Rose, three days into their time together, decide to go shopping, to try and allow the Doctor to move on from the man he was, and start a-fresh. During this time the relationship between the pair appears anxious and awkward, and there are clearly still a large amount of issues yet to be resolved. This fic portrays the character’s thoughts primarily, as opposed to their interactions, as their thoughts demonstrate much more what they are thinking, and what their anxieties and hopes are for the future.
Shopping, though it had to be done, did not seem to unite them as a couple. He’d never had to bother much with buying clothes before. Without the TARDIS, he was starting to realise, there would be a lot of chores like this. He didn’t say this to Rose, fearing a barbed “Welcome to the real world,” type remark. Instead, they discussed the merits of the bus, parking at the local shopping mall, or getting Pete’s driver to drop them off somewhere, and he felt more alien than he’d ever been in his life.
The Doctor experiences an emotional turmoil, desperate to convince Rose that he was the same man he always was, despite him even being unsure himself.
He didn’t know how to explain any of it to Rose. Already he was afraid of driving her away and losing the one point of reference he had in this world. With time, they would work something out. He believed that because he had to believe it. There was nothing else. When she looked at him he knew she was trying to understand, but the closer she came to accepting him the more her memories fought back, determined never to leave the other half of him alone. She spoke his name carefully - “Doctor” - and he thought he detected a certain lack of belief. He concentrated on the challenge of embracing his new identity as a human. For a few days he just about managed it.
Rose realises the heartache she is causing The Doctor, and yet she is unable to do anything about it until she works out her own issues. Their emotions are very conflicted and it absolutely rings true.
And she wasn’t helping. He must realise, no matter how hard she tried, that she still didn’t think of him as the real deal. No, that wasn’t quite right. Of course he was the Doctor, but so was the other one. He was out there on his own, his hearts aching for her. You didn’t just stop loving a person because they duplicated themselves and said, “Here, you have that one.”
Then suddenly whilst they are shopping, Rose has an amazing find. A coat, almost identical in every way to the Doctor’s! It even smells the same, somehow. Rose feels as if this is a sign from the other world, a challenge of some sort. As soon as the Doctor tries on this coat, a large amount of tension leaves him and it is as if a piece of him has returned. It is just the bond that the Doctor and Rose need to begin to come together and start a-fresh.
In short, vote for ‘Home is an Old Brown Coat’. It takes a very unique look at the relationship between the clone Doctor and Rose beginning their life together. It is emotional, awkward, beautiful and so very true.
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How the West Was Lost by vvj5 Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Short Story
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: Third Doctor, the Brigadier, Other characters
Rating: All ages
Details: Crossover with Carry on Cowboy, Drama, Humour. Nine chapters.
Why It Rocks:
It's a funny and clever crossover with the movie (which is itself a parody of the genre) that starred Jon Pertwee (who played the Third Doctor), Angela Douglas (who played Doris Lethbridge-Stewart in Battlefield) and Peter Butterworth (who played a Time Lord in two First Doctor serials - it'd be a spoiler if I told you which one, so don't go and look him up if you don't already know!) As vvj5 says, someone had to this.
First of all, let me assure you that you don't need to have seen Carry on Cowboy to enjoy this story: if I've ever seen it (I've not watched any Carry On films for many years), I don't remember it, but that didn't matter in the slightest. (And if you want some info on the Carry On films before you begin, vvj5 has provided a note about them at the end of chapter 9 of the story.)
This tale opens with the Doctor and the Brigadier unexpectedly arriving in the American West, both of them clinging to the TARDIS console for dear life. At this point the Doctor is without an 'official' companion - Liz has already left UNIT and Jo hasn't yet arrived - and thus the Brigadier is having to keep a closer than usual eye on the Time Lord. He reflects:
No one had issued an army handbook on how to keep bored and petulant Time Lords from trying risky experiments on the premises. It seemed, at this precise moment, an appalling oversight.
This is entirely typical of the Brigadier's dry sense of humour. He scolds the Doctor, who immediately blames the Brigadier (situation normal!) for their predicament, and then they establish where they have arrived. The Doctor suggests that being in the American West will be fun - which the Brigadier doubts - and when the Time Lord queries this, the Brigadier explains:
"That doesn’t mean I believe there ever was a Merrie England or any of those other mythical eras. I should imagine that most people have spent their lives trying to get by, no matter what period they lived in. And most of them would have a harder time of it than nowadays.”
“Dear me,” said the Doctor. “I suppose there’s truth in that, but what a dull way to think. I might have known.”
“Memorable events aren’t necessarily pleasant to live through.”
This is a very practical attitude on the part of the Brigadier, who is a sensible, military man, and an entirely characteristic response from the Doctor, who is not.
The story explores, through a series of misunderstandings and mistaken identities, the sometimes strained friendship between the Doctor and the Brigadier. As the two begin to explore, the Doctor is immediately mistaken for the father of Ms Annie Oakley, whom the Brigadier is astounded to discover looks just like a young woman he once met (and who later becomes the second Mrs Lethbridge-Stewart). Throughout this story the author plays with the fact that the Doctor looks like the dead Sheriff, and Annie Oakley looks like the future Doris Lethbridge-Stewart, without ever wearing the joke thin - something which requires a very deft touch indeed.
It's revealed that the town leaders of Stodge City have sent for a Peace Marshal to clean up the town by running out the 'Rumpo Kid', but instead they get Marshall P Knutt, Sanitation Engineer (First Class), who's come to sort out the drains (which will also clean up the town, but not in the manner they had in mind). Since a Marshal is still needed the Doctor volunteers the Brigadier for the job - to his complete disbelief - but as the Time Lord points out, young Mr Knutt wouldn't stand a chance against an outlaw, whereas the Brigadier's a trained military man, and since the Doctor will be trying to fix the TARDIS to get them back home again, he can't do it himself. The Time Lord assumes that the Brigadier will be quite happy playing the role of Peace Marshal since he always seems to be shooting things - in fact, the Brigadier's tendency to shoot first and ask questions later has led to disagreements between the two men in the past and will do so again in the future.
As the series of misunderstandings over people's identities continue, the Doctor and the Brigadier do their best to work out not only how to deal with it, but how to survive to get themselves home again. The Doctor soon realises that he needs to do some investigating since the town's doctor bears more than a passing resemblance to another Time Lord of his acquaintance, and the Brigadier has complained more than once that the whole situation in which they've found themselves is nothing but a giant cliché of the Wild West. Initially the Doctor's dismissive of the Brigadier's complaints, but the fact that Stodge City's doctor looks so much like a certain Time Lord whom he knows to be a troublemaker suggests that the Brigadier may have a valid point.
While the Doctor's searching the town for his fellow Time Lord's TARDIS, the Brigadier arrests an 'Indian' chief for being drunk and disorderly, and locks him up in the cells at the Sheriff's office. Then Belle (the Rumpo Kid's lady friend) turns up, intending to tell the Brigadier everything in order to get her revenge on Rumpo for showing an interest in Annie Oakley, but the Brigadier locks her up too. Shortly after that Annie herself arrives, wanting to turn herself in for killing Charlie the barman - of course Marshall then turns up, and when he finds the Brigadier has locked up Annie, pulls his gun on him, so the Brigadier (whose patience is wearing ever thinner) arrests him as well.
Meanwhile, Rumpo has found the 'Indian' chief's son and has persuaded him to help Rumpo to deal with the 'interfering' Marshal (aka the Brigadier). Rumpo sends one of the dancing girls from Belle's bar into the Sheriff's office to distract the Brigadier:
“Now what do you want?” he demanded.
She fluttered her eyelashes. “My, that’s no way to treat a girl who’s only come to save you feelin’ lonesome.”
He had to bite back considerable amusement. “Much obliged, but you needn’t have troubled yourself. As you can see, I have plenty of company. I suggest you leave - or I shall arrest you as well!”
She fled, sobbing.
“Well,” commented Belle, “you sure got a way with women, Marshal, I’ll give you that.”
The poor Brigadier - harassed by three women in one night. Dealing with aliens and soldiers is so much easier!
A gun fight at high noon (this is a city plagued by clichés after all!) leaves only the Rumpo Kid standing, and the Brigadier immediately shoots his gun out of his hand and is about arrest him when the Doctor turns up and indulges in some fancy shooting of his own. Before the Brigadier can arrest the Rumpo Kid, though, Belle turns up and the pair ride out of town together, leaving the Doctor and the Brigadier to make their way back to the TARDIS console, and safely back to UNIT HQ again.
This story is an entertaining look at the friendship between the eminently sensible and practical Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (a no-nonsense military man), and the sometimes very alien and frustrating Doctor. There's an amusing bit when the second Time Lord complains to the Doctor that no one had discovered what he was up to until the Brigadier arrived, and he asks the Doctor if the Brigadier's always so sensible. The Doctor says he is, and comments that it's very infuriating - but at the same time, there's a feeling of warmth on the part of the Doctor for the Brigadier: they might not see eye to eye all the time (they disagreed bitterly over the resolution of the business with the Silurians), but they are friends in spite of that.
Vote for this fic because it's a clever, funny and imaginative crossover between two great institutions of British television. (And if you're at all curious about seeing a sample of the film referenced, there's a short clip of Jon Pertwee here on You Tube!)
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Wired by cyus
Categories: Het Pairings, Dark
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Lisa, Jack
Rating: R
Details: One-shot set before Torchwood starts, but after Ianto has joined the team.
Why It Rocks:
Jack Harkness is a seriously kinky bastard.
(Well, he is.)
But this fic isn't about Jack - it's about Ianto, and more, it's about Ianto before he and Jack were together. Which is why Jack is something more of a kinkier bastard than you'd usually expect.
I'm not entirely convinced that Ianto realized that he was ever attracted to men, before he knew Jack Harkness. (There's another fanfic I read once where Ianto is described as "Jacksexual", instead of bisexual. I think this about hits the nail on the head.)
The thing is - Ianto isn't exactly lily-white either, and we have to know this, from the clues we get in canon. First and foremost - Ianto, when we first meet him, is keeping his cyber-girlfriend in the basement. He has single-handedly managed to capture a pteranodon and bring it to Cardiff. And somewhere buried inside him - as we discovered in Adam - he's got some kind of fantasy or experience with rape.
Now, you'll have to forgive me, because it's been a few months since I saw Cyberwoman, and I'll be honest and say I didn't much care for it. But I will admit that I found this fic, which examines Ianto's relationship with Lisa as the Cyberwoman, absolutely fascinating. Think about it - for months, Ianto was living a completely double life: that in the Hub, working quietly and making coffee, and that in the Archives, where his girlfriend struggled to survive.
He would watch her at night when she was asleep...He'd walk in, and she'd already have her eyes closed, painkillers dripping into her and shutting down her system.
He missed her.
Reading those words struck me as particularly painful. Lisa is alive, but not. She's there, but not. It makes me think of what it must be like to have a loved one in intensive care, or in a coma. The sort of loneliness that Ianto feels, when he is with Lisa, is being with someone who isn't really present. As the fic's summary says: Lisa is still Ianto's girlfriend.
Except...in a very real way, she isn't. Ianto is going it alone.
And here's where the dual nature of the fic comes into play: because just as Ianto is leading a double life, the fic is giving us a double story. We have Ianto again, living his life in the Hub with Suzie and Owen and Jack, calmly discussing who will be going to Snowdon to deal with some very strange sheep.
But all the while, there is something happening quite literally below the surface.
Owen got up, metal springs screamed with the bounce, and Ianto pressed his crotch against the edge of the table, hidden from view by the sheets of paper in his hand. Arousal caught in his stomach, muscles in his thighs tense, and the edge of the desk didn't yield.
You see, Lisa is still Ianto's girlfriend. He loves her, we know this. And when you love someone - you start to want them, not despite how they present themselves, but because of it. The "screech of metal and metal", as Cyus terms it, isn't just a sound to make Ianto cringe anymore - to Ianto, it's the sound of Lisa, waiting for him deep below the Hub.
And then, you see, there is Jack:
"Bit of excitement, hunting dead alien sheep, that kind of thing," Harkness went on....Harkness looked pointedly from the cup to Ianto's hips. "Not that exciting," he said after a pause, light tone.
Ah, Jack. Damn kinky bastard. But did you notice something? Cyus is way clever with his portrayal of Jack. He's not meant to be sympathetic here. In fact, he's anything but. He notices Ianto's strange reaction, and makes light of it. He doesn't point it out, but it's clear that he's highly amused at Ianto's discomfort. He sees the random kinkiness of a man being turned on by metal - and instead of condemning it, he acts as if it's something of a joke.
He isn't Jack. He's Harkness. He's a strange, unknowable figure, one Ianto doesn't understand and might, on some level, find frightening. By calling him Harkness, Cyus is stripping away the man we know as Jack. She's elevating him to some other plane, where he seems as strange and untouchable as surely Ianto sees him.
If that man known as Harkness can think Ianto's plight is humorous....how can it be right?
In short, vote for Wired. It's short and complicated and has very odd references to sheep. It will hit you in the gut and possibly render you speechless, and you won't be able to hear metal on metal again in quite the same light for quite a few days. It's entirely enjoyable in a massively kinky way, and it absolutely deserves your vote.
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A Dangerous Creature? Not So Much by amberfocus
Category: Humor
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, Rose, Ten
Rating: PG
Details: One-shot very fluffy crack. AU post-JE where Donna travels with Rose and the Doctor.
Why It Rocks:
First, and let me get this out of the way: Well, duh.
Now that we've established that, let's continue. One of the absolutely fantastic things I love about Doctor Who fanfic is that it marries up two ways of writing. There's a saying that you should write what you know - but there's also the theory that you should write what interests you.
Let's face it - what we know isn't always the most interesting. So writing in a sci-fi world can be incredibly liberating, because we can write about aliens and time travel and blue police call boxes that are bigger on the inside. None of us really know these things, and yet we write about them anyway.
All the same - sci fi has never been so much about science as it is about fiction - namely, characters and how they interact with each other and the world around them. First and foremost, it's the relationships that are most important. I suspect this is why there is so much discussion and arguing over the various 'ships within fandoms - and so little genfic.
And possibly why smut gets more hits than anything else.
Amber is primarily known as an author of smut. And yet she's far more than that, as she proves with "A Dangerous Creature". Amber has an extremely keen eye for both the world we live in and the world we'd like to live in, and in this story, she's done a remarkable job of pulling them both together.
The Doctor, Rose, and Donna are on a new planet, when they encounter a new, most frightening creature. Well, frightening to the Doctor anyway - Rose and Donna, however, have seen it before.
He backed away in horror and if he happened to be positioning himself behind Donna Noble, well, it wasn’t that he was hiding or seeking protection from the hideous creature. Oh, no. He was simply regrouping, getting his bearings, and figuring out a plan. In relative safety. Because that thing, whatever it was, would have to come through Donna first and she was already gearing up to take it down. And really, it seemed to cower before her. Like most things did.
The creature feeds off the fear that the Doctor feels for it - and consequently, grows stronger and more fearsome. It's absolutely the personification of "the only thing you have to fear". And just as the creature feeds off fear...
The Doctor stepped out from behind Donna and studied the creature with fascination. “I said to ignore it, Doctor!” Rose huffed.
“But look at it,” said the Doctor almost in awe. “It’s growing spikes now. And floating off the ground.”
The creature can't stand up to the close inspection. It fluctuates, changes shapes and colors, and eventually is destroyed. It might come back again - sometimes, they do - but it's no longer something to be seen as imposing.
Such is the case with most fears, in real life. The creature that our threesome face is undoubtedly real to them at first. And yet - it's a caricature of what they're most frightened of facing.
Think for a minute, those of you who also know Harry Potter, of the boggart in the third book (Prisoner of Azkaban). The boggart took on the shape of a person's fears. For Neville, it became Professor Snape. And though Neville knew perfectly well that it was not actually the feared Potions Master who came out of the closet (so to speak), still Neville trembled.
Think of yourselves at a movie. You know perfectly well that the creature on the screen isn't real, is not going to jump out and eat you, and is very likely not going to eat the main character, because hello, it's his movie and there's scenes from the previews you haven't seen yet. And still, you cower, cover your eyes, and your heart begins to race. Fear.
What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of Professor Snape? Are we afraid of the lights on the screen? Or are we afraid of the possibility that these fears could one day become real, meet us face to face, and demand that we confront not only them, but our own opinions and beliefs?
Says the Doctor: “...Recognizing it is a good thing.”
The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and advanced on the hideous monster.
“If I name it-.”
The creature screamed in sudden fear and began to back away from the Doctor. It knew. “Words have power and I name you."
Names have power - the Doctor know this, and so do we. Whether what you face is a Carrionite, Voldemort, or the faceless entity on the other side of the screen, knowing your fears is half the battle in not simply standing up to them --- but simply standing up.
Neville stood up, and gave Snape a funny hat.
The hero stood up, and chased down the monster on the screen.
We stand up, and our fears might not go away entirely, but we are stronger for the standing.
In short, vote for A Dangerous Creature? Not So Much. It's life with a sci-fi twist; it's a commentary on something we all face every day; it's funny and sweet and ends with a shower. Like our fears, it is much, much more than what you see at first glance. And named, I can tell you this: it is absolutely worth your vote.
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Resolve by notevery
Category: Toshiko Sato
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Jack, the Master
Rating: Adult (violence, torture, character death)
Details: One shot, 2900 words, spoilers for TW 2x12, 'Fragments'; DW series three (set during the Year That Never Was)
Why It Rocks:
This is an intense story set during the Year That Never Was that provides a lot of insight into the character of Tosh. We learned her back story in the episode “Fragments,” but here we see an even more nightmarish version of those events, and the true strength of her character.
In “Fragments” we learned that Tosh made a deal with Jack, five years ago, in exchange for getting out of the UNIT prison. Jack provided an escape for her, not without some cost, but still a way out of an indefinite prison sentence. In this story, Tosh is offered another deal, another possible escape, and her response to it shows not only who she is, but what role Jack played in her discovery of who she is.
The story opens with Torchwood Three attempting an escape from the Toclafane. We don’t know what happens to Gwen and Ianto after Tosh and Owen leave them, but we know Tosh and Owen are ambushed almost immediately and captured.
She could remember the last thing she'd said to each of them. “Don't hurry yourself,” to Gwen. “See you later,” to Ianto. And, finally, “Owen!” shouted out amid the snow and the rock, making the Toclafane giggle maniacally.
She awakens sometime later in a prison cell, not unlike the one she was kept in by UNIT, and we feel her pain and misery. The first duty of a prisoner is to escape, and she tries that first: attempting to undo her handcuffs, checking whether they left anything useful behind when they searched her, to no avail.
Tosh swore even though she knew that it wouldn't help before curling back up into a ball, wrapping her arms about her legs and pressing her face hard against her knees. Her nose throbbed, and she felt as if she'd been dropped on her face. Maybe she had.
They take away more than her freedom, they also take away any reference to time. I like this detail, because The Year That Never Was is caught out of time itself, in a way. That’s what makes stories set during that time appealing - there’s a certain freedom in knowing whatever happens will be re-set at the end of the year. Having that sense of being caught out of time conveyed within the story is a nice touch.
Time moved, yes, and occasionally tugged at her with its tide, but she had no way of judging it. The gloomy half-light of the cell remained grindingly constant. They had taken her watch.
It’s not an accident that she has been captured, of course. The Master has plans for her, but she doesn’t learn what they are at first, nor do we. This suspense creates very effective tension for the reader as well. We don’t know how long she’ll be held, or what awaits her at the end of her sentence, and we are left to endure with her.
First she is left in the cell, completely out of touch, until finally the screen in the room comes to life and shows her what’s going on in the world. It also shows her Jack, and what the Master is doing to him, and she resolves to help him.
She clenched her hands to try and stop their trembling, closing her eyes and biting her lip till she tasted copper. Jack needed her, now, and she would get him. She'd be there for him just like he was there for her, no matter what.
The Master comes for her eventually, as we expect, forcing her to do work for him. At first she almost enjoys this - it’s almost like regular life, working with computers and programs. It’s familiar, and she’s good at it.
Something old, lain dormant deep inside of her for this nothing-time in the cell, bubbled to the surface again: she explored and investigated and marvelled, her movements more assured, the work-frown any member of Torchwood Three would have recognized back again.
She knows better than to relax and forget who and what the work is for. When the Master finally makes his offer to her, she briefly considers it, thinking of how she might ultimately do good, or subvert his plans, or find a way around it. In the end, she knows it’s impossible, and she makes the most difficult decision of her life. She knows she’s right, and she doesn’t back down once she’s made her choice, even when her untenable position becomes impossibly worse. Her thought process as she weighs her options is conveyed clearly, and we understand how impossible her situation is.
And then she thought about Jack, and she knew instantly what he would say: that no man with a stare or a laugh like the Master's would ever dispense favours or bargain with a prisoner. That she probably didn't want to know what had happened with the others, or where they were now. That she would die even when she finished this task....
She’s finally allowed to see Jack, but only so that her pain can be shared with him at the end. And despite everything, she knows one thing: Jack sees her. He saw her potential back when he first brought her into Torchwood, and she knows that he still does. That knowledge, of being known and understood, of being seen for who she is, gives her the strength to stick to her principles, even at the point of death.
The author has captured Tosh’s character and thought processes well, and we never doubt that this is how she would react in this situation. The author’s style is simple but powerful, conveying strong emotion and unimaginable violence without being melodramatic.
There’s no happy ending here, but in the end we understand what she did and why. We admire her for her strength of character, and know that her fate under these circumstances could not be otherwise. We see Tosh as the strong, loyal, principled person she is. And that makes all the difference.
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Sew it Up, But You Still See the Tear by thedeadparrot Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Martha Jones
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Martha Jones and the various people in her life post-LotTL
Rating: All Ages
Details: Martha Jones creates a new life for herself in the aftermath of the Year That Never Was.
Why it Rocks:
In between The Last of the Time Lords and The Sontaran Stratagem Martha Jones has a lot of work to do. The sort of personal work that I would have wanted to see on-camera, but alas we only get to see her joining up with Torchwood for some Cardiff hi-jinks, and then she's gone again. We have to fill in the blanks ourselves regarding how she and her family cope with what they saw and experienced during that year.
Thedeadparrot offers a quiet, gorgeous character study, the soundtrack to which seems to be the beating of Martha's own heart-strong, slowly steadying again, coming to grips with both her triumphs and mistakes. The rhythm of the language carries the reader along with Martha as she steps out of the eddy created by a year that never happened and back in to the stream of life.
She wakes up one morning, and the sky outside her window is dark, and the world isn't ending. It takes her body a moment to realize this. Her heart beats too rapidly, her breath coming too fast. She breathes and breathes and breathes, reminding herself that it never happened. Her family is right here with her, and not on the Valiant, held hostage by a madman.
One thing I really liked about this story was the way that Martha and Tom encounter one another, and what their relationship is like. I've read several fics where Martha continues to be the one to go find Tom, after that initial phone call that we see at the end of Last of the Time Lords. In this fic, however, it's a chance encounter on the Tube. They flirt a little over physiology textbooks, and their relationship grows organically as they begin to regularly bump in to one another.
This struck me as more true-to-form for someone going through what Martha is going through. She's got a lot to process in the way of trauma and experience, but also her fateful decision to stick around a man who was treating her poorly, and then finally to leave that same man with her head held high. I would think that an intelligent woman like Martha would then be hesitant to dip her toe in to that same water again so soon.
But she also remembers the way it felt to build her whole life around him [the Doctor] and how it made her world so much smaller, because most of the time, it felt like he was the only thing in it.
She's realized that she wants to build herself a new life, a bigger one, one that can fit people who aren't the last of the Time Lords.
This fic also takes us through her work for UNIT, and her decision to undertake that. How did she decide, even after all she's been through, she wants to sign up for that sort of life again? Here, she doesn't take it on lightly but in the end accepts the offer from a UNIT officer who'd also been imprisoned on the Valiant and thus also understands who she is and why she does what she does.
The presence of the Doctor flits in and out of Sew It Up, But You Still See the Tear like a phantom. She's got his phone number, but she doesn't call. Not until he's needed by UNIT, and not until she's fully rebuilt her life and it is strong enough to survive the gale-force onslaught of him.
This was a beautifully written fic, a sensitive character study and replete with missing scenes that I wish weren't missing. Every time she comes back I always want her to have an opportunity to explore a few more details of her life in the interim, but she never seems to really get it. So, we rely on authors like thedeadparrot to supply us with a truly believable story of a brilliant student who learns all of the hardest lessons on her own.
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Today's Reviews were written by:
rosie_not_rose: Home is an Old Brown Coat
persiflage_1: How The West Was Lost
azriona: Wired; A Dangerous Creature?
time_converges: Resolve
papilio_luna: Sew It Up...