Round Three Reviews - Part 17
Today's Featured Stories Include:
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Escape by Ziggychaos Link goes to Teaspoon
Categories: First Doctor, Genfic, Ficlet
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: TARDIS, First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Other characters
Rating: All Ages
Details: Character Study, Introspection, Standalone
Why It Rocks:
It tells the story, from the point of view of the TARDIS, of how the Doctor and Susan ended up travelling in that particular Time and Space machine, and it's rare that a story is told from the TARDIS' point of view, even when she is written as an active character in a fic.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the Doctor came to be travelling through Time and Space in the first place - and in what looks like a 1960s Police Public Call Box - a little backstory. During the first decade of the TV show viewers were given very little information about this mysterious old man known as the Doctor who travelled in Time and Space: Gallifrey itself wasn't even named until the Third Doctor story The Time Warrior, although it had been shown on-screen in the Second Doctor story The War Games.
Before a TARDIS can become fully functional it has to be primed with the biological imprint of a Time Lord, which is normally achieved by the simple expedient of the Time Lord operating the TARDIS for the first time. This imprint comes from the Rassilon Imprimatur, part of the biological makeup of Time Lords, which gives them both a symbiotic link to their TARDISes and the ability to withstand the physical stresses of time travel (see The Two Doctors). Rassilon founded Time Lord society on Gallifrey and he was the one who developed time travel technology for his people, hence his Imprimatur is needed to fly a TARDIS.
In the TV show, viewers are told that the Doctor's TARDIS is an obsolete Type 40 TT capsule (where TT presumably stands for "time travel") and that he unofficially "borrowed" it when he departed his home planet of Gallifrey (as revealed in The War Games). The older model TARDISes were forcibly withdrawn from service by Gallifrey's government and by the time of the Doctor's fourth incarnation all Type 40 capsules had been retired from use (see The Deadly Assassin).
This is where Ziggychaos' story comes in: Escape reveals why the Doctor picked an already out-of-date TARDIS in which to leave his home planet - or rather, the TARDIS picked the Doctor to leave with. The story opens with the Doctor's TARDIS (although she's not yet his) having a telepathic conversation with three other TARDISes: the Ancient One, the Wise One, and the Scholarly One (she herself is known as the Odd One). She is drawn to the Doctor, who's known on Gallifrey as the Radical One because of his rebellious nature and his frequent arguments with his fellow Time Lords, but she is chided for her interest in him because she's already been retired from service. The TARDIS objects to this, feeling there is still much to see and do in the Universe, but the other TARDISes call her impetuous and ungrateful because she's not happy with her retirement.
Rather than continue the argument, she chooses to reach out to the Doctor:
Subtly, she caressed his mind, so tenderly he wasn't even aware of the intrusion.
[...]
For several weeks, she sent out gentle tendrils, feeling his vexation grow against the established ways. She felt indignation that the others would refute her Time Lord... for she'd come to think of the Radical One as her own.
Finally, the day comes when the Doctor loses all patience with his fellow Time Lords after a hateful argument, and he storms down to the TARDIS bays, to where the retired ships are waiting to be decommissioned. The TARDISes are surprised to see him there, except the Odd One, of course since she's been telepathically drawing him to her for weeks. Susan turns up and guesses that he's planning to run away, and begs him to take her with him, to which he agrees after a little reluctance. Susan points out a TARDIS and suggests he take it, and the Odd One feels very sad when he considers Susan's suggestion, but the TARDIS' efforts have not been in vain, as she feared, because the Doctor disagrees, takes the key from her door handle, and the pair slip inside.
She felt his excitement build at the thought of the freedom he could now have. She was proud to sense his happiness at being at her controls. His elation and joy matched her own. With him so close, touching her controls, she could ascertain his name. His real name, not the nickname the others had given him and used often in conversation.
There was also another name, a title by which he preferred to be known.
No longer would he be identified as the Radical One. He was the Doctor.
The Doctor. A healer, one who helps others feel better. How fitting. He'd already made her feel more complete than she had in a long time!
And so the TARDIS, the Doctor and Susan head out into the unknown to have adventures together.
Vote for this fic because it's thought-provoking, intriguing, and fits beautifully into canon with no effort required.
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Nine Out of Ten by used_songs
Category: Gwen Cooper
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Gwen
Rating: Teen
Details: Ten snapshots of Gwen and Tosh together (Spoilers for “Exit Wounds”). 2000 words.
Why it Rocks:
It is stated in the author’s notes that this fic was written for another user based on a post she’d made about the Bechdel Test as applied to Doctor Who. For those unfamiliar, the Bechdel Test is an analysis of the development of female characters based on how many conversations between those women are about things other than men. As someone who writes pretty much exclusively about the Doctor and the people who orbit him, I’m at peace with the fact that my fic is made of Bechdel fail. This one, however, passes with flying colours. The title, “Nine out of Ten,” presumably refers to the fact that only one of the ten vignettes includes a discussion of the men in the characters’ lives.
The story opens with an early interaction between Gwen and Tosh, as Gwen is still getting to know the members of the Torchwood team. Gwen is someone who is used to being able to connect with people easily, perhaps women in particular, and it is a rude awakening for her when she can’t make that kind of connection with Tosh. Tosh, who is a bit distant, a bit odd, with no evidence on her workstation of a life outside Torchwood.
She’d just assumed that she and Tosh would get on, two women together in the work place and all, but she couldn’t figure out what she had to offer the self-contained and obviously intelligent woman. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that Tosh was much better at holding people at arm’s length than she was at bringing them close to hand.
As things progress, Gwen and Tosh begin to connect, but in very subtle ways. There’s no big event, no huge turning point, just a lot of little moments that draw them together. An argument about bucking authority, a conversation about what brought them to Torchwood (in which Tosh doesn’t actually reveal anything) when Gwen is injured, Gwen’s admission to Tosh that she worries about Suzie’s revelation that the afterlife is nothingness, Tosh saving Gwen’s life in the field with a bit of alien tech, a shared cup of coffee on a cold morning, the pleasure of good take-away curry. The beauty of this fic is in the simplicity of these snapshots. In the idea that what brings us together as people are not the grand, sweeping gestures as much as the thousand banal moments that we share with those in our daily lives.
The one scene which does involve conversation about men isn’t really about those men as much as it is about the women having the conversation. It starts with Gwen doing a bit of gossiping about Jack and Ianto’s relationship, but reveals something telling about both women in the end:
Tosh watched as the first raindrops began to streak down the window pane and the shadow of the clouds darkened the glass. “We have to learn to be happy with what we have,” she said.
“I don’t agree,” replied Gwen. “I don’t agree at all.”
In the tenth scene, which is set after the end of Series 2, Gwen confronts Tosh’s drawer in the morgue.
Gwen reached up and touched the dark gray drawer lightly. “I miss you. I know we were never close. We hardly ever talked about anything but work, but … I miss you.” Gwen stopped awkwardly, unsure what to say next but feeling it imperative that she say something.
“Tosh, I hope Suzie was wrong. Because you don’t deserve that.”
I adored this fic for its characterization of Gwen and of Tosh, and for its subtlety. It shows instead of tells, and I found myself unexpectedly moved by it.
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More than True by DameRuth
Categories: Threesomes
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Jack, Rose
Rating: Teen
Details: Three-part story that takes place sometime in the first season, probably shortly after The Doctor Dances. It's part of DameRuth's Flowers Verse, but can be easily read as a stand-alone.
Why It Rocks:
Once upon a time, there was a Captain named Jack. Well, he wasn't really a Captain - and his name wasn't really Jack - but that's not important. What is important is that he lived a fairy-tale existence, or at least the existence a hero lives in the time before the fairy tale begins, before he realizes that he's in a fairy tale at all, and moreover, that in that fairy tale, he's the hero.
More Than True isn't the story of how Captain Jack realized he was in a fairy tale. But this is the story of how he came to believe it.
Jack, newly aboard the TARDIS, has yet to find his place. You have to admit, it would be difficult to join the ship, when Rose and the Doctor are so obviously attuned to each other. Jack has already figured out that he doesn't have much of a shot with either of them - but that's not what bothers him the most, really.
The two of them were a painful reminder of everything [Jack had] lost: Rose, with her youthful, civilian innocence, and the Doctor with his fierce, uncompromising honor. Two virtues Jack would never see again, that was for damn sure. But he’d have to be made of stone not to find them appealing all the same.
Fairy tales tend to follow a pattern. I think most of us are familiar with the idea of the Hero's Journey, also called a monomyth, which is basically a story structure within mythology. If you've seen the original Star Wars movies, you're familiar with the basic outline, because George Lucas drew heavily on the theory when telling his story of Luke Skywalker. But what we don't realize is that Jack Harkness's story follows the same structure. In classic monomyths, there are seventeen key stages for the hero (although there are some shortened versions with only eight).
If we look at the entirety of Jack Harkness's life, we'll see all seventeen.
1. Call to Adventure - Jack joining the Time Agency
2. Refusal of the Call - Jack spurning the Agency and turning into a con-man.
3. Supernatural Aid - The Doctor & Rose rescuing Jack at the end of The Doctor Dances.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold - Jack becoming part of the TARDIS crew - finding his place with Rose and the Doctor, essentially. This is essentially the story that DameRuth is telling us - but because I’m having fun, I’ll keep going.
5. Belly of the Whale - Basically, dying and being reborn. Can anyone say Bad Wolf?
The Next Stages are Part of the Initiation
6. The Road of Trials - Starting fresh in Cardiff with Torchwood
7. Mother as Goddess - Typically a marriage scenario - might be a reference to Estelle. It could also be Jack's protective instinct toward Rose (his mother, in the sense that she led to his rebirth), as he did watch over her growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.
8. Woman as Temptress - Not necessarily rejecting a woman - more like rejecting a way of life. While Jack doesn't actually reject a woman, he does reject his previous work with Torchwood, remaking it "for the Doctor".
9. Atonement with the Father - Jack making up with the Doctor in Utopia.
10. Apotheosis - A breakdown of reality, or expansion of consciousness. Can we say, The Year that Wasn't on the Valiant?
11. The Ultimate Boon - Jack realizing his place is not with the Doctor, but with Torchwood.
Now, here's where it gets a little tricky - The next five stages don't quite fit in Jack's story yet. Well, they do - but not neatly. I have to wonder if we'll see these pop up as the new seasons of Torchwood are aired. But as I see it now:
The Next Stages are Part of the Return
12. Refusal of the Return - This is where the hero doesn't want to actually return to the ordinary world - but we know this isn't the case. Maybe it's that Jack tries to fit in with Torchwood again, finds that the Team has done fine without him. Sort of.
13. The Magic Flight - This would be the pursuit of whatever is stopping the hero from fitting in - I'm wondering if it's maybe the John Hart/Grey story arc.
14. Rescue from Without - The hero would need to be rescued or torn from the Ordinary world - the best example I can give for Jack is when he's buried under Cardiff for 2,000 years. One of the ideas behind this stage is that the hero loses his ego - that certainly applies to Jack here.
15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold - The hero returns to the Ordinary World. Assuming we go with the Jack-under-Cardiff theory, this is pretty self-explanatory.
16. Master of Two Worlds - Literally, Jack being able to understand life and death. I'm not sure we've seen this yet.
17. Freedom to Live - The hero explaining his understanding to those around him. Again, not sure we've seen this.
As you can see - for the most part, Jack’s story absolutely follows the Hero’s Journey. He is, undoubtedly, a hero. The only problem is that Jack doesn't see himself as the hero. He's a con-man, con-mans don't get to be heroes. Jack probably doesn't even believe heroes exist.
Of course, Jack doesn't believe the Doctor is a Time Lord, either. He says so, yes, but that's just fairy tales, isn't it? And Jack, despite being in one, doesn't believe in fairy tales. Which is why it's ironic that he takes the Hero's Journey - and while the Doctor and Rose are bargaining for a bit of machinery for the TARDIS, he slips off into the marketplace on a strange planet, half intending to lose himself in the stalls and find his own way in the world. While the greater story of Jack is undoubtedly a Hero’s Journey, DameRuth sends him on a small journey within her fic. And we start, as most journeys do, with Jack trying to find his place, and not finding it very comfortable.
Rose really was a good kid, and an honest one - Jack believed she was fond of him, and no doubt she'd miss him if he took off, but she'd get over it. The Doctor . . . well, he'd probably be glad to be rid of his extra passenger. He'd never showed any signs of trusting or accepting Jack, to the point of witholding any real information about himself. Instead, he'd stuck stubbornly to his ridiculous claim of being a Time Lord. Sure, he had a double pulse and a time machine, but body mods and temporal travel weren't exactly unknown in the greater Universe. The bigger-on-the-inside track was pretty impressive, and calling the ship a "TARDIS" was a cute touch, but Jack would have appreciated a little more respect for his intelligence all the same. Fairy tales didn't pop out of the Vortex at random.
What's interesting about Jack's journey-within-a-journey isn't how terribly short it is - because of course, he learns quickly that he doesn't want to be alone in the universe at all. It's that the journey brings out the inner hero in Jack. His first thoughts aren't necessarily for himself or the predicament he's gotten himself into: it's relief that Rose, being with the Doctor and not with him, will be safe. It's confidence that should they look for him, the pair will find him fairly quickly.
And the confidence is quickly dispelled, because just as he doesn't truly believe that the Doctor is a Time Lord - he doesn't believe he's worth saving either.
Even when Jack's journey is over, he doesn't believe that he's the hero.
The Doctor lowered his chin, and his gaze chilled even further. Jack's stomach dropped. Time Lords, the old stories had said, were long on justice and short on mercy. The sense of being weighed and judged was acute. He remembered how it had felt when the Doctor ripped into him back in World War II London, made him into a fool, kicked the last fragile supports out from under Jack's broken, battered pride, leaving him with nothing.
Maybe this is why Jack doesn't want to believe that the Doctor is really a Time Lord - you see, if the Doctor is a Time Lord, that impossible being straight from the fairy tales - why, then, it must mean that he's the hero of the story, not Jack. It's the Doctor who will slay the dragons, get the girl, and ride off into the sunset (or Horsehead Nebula, take your pick). And if the Doctor is the hero - where does that leave Jack?
"Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” G. K. Chesterton
Fairy tales, in which the hero takes a journey, always end the same way. The hero, having returned home (in Jack's case, the TARDIS), now knows himself and his own strengths better. And it is no different here. Jack's journey was short but no less influential for it. He didn't slay the dragons, no, but he did make an important sacrifice. Just about heroic, really. More important, though - Jack learned to believe in Time Lords. And dragons. And maidens in distress.
And fairy tales. Which is good - considering he's the hero after all. And he’s got a hell of a journey ahead of him.
In short, vote for More than True. It's a fairy tale wrapped up in a Time Lord wrapped up in a leather coat. It's got a red cloak, a poisoned apple, and a set of nefarious characters. It's a journey and a discovery and there's even a Bad Wolf. It absolutely deserves your vote.
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We Don't Ask by adina_atl
Category: Ianto Jones
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Nikki Bevan, Jack off-stage
Rating: Teen
Details: Takes place at the end of Adrift; one-shot, but there's also a sequel (linked at the story).
Why It Rocks:
There is, on the BBC website, an area for the Captain's Blog. As in Captain Jack, of course. There, you'll find random little bits of background to the episodes, which for any fanfic author worth her salt are gold. Chunks of stories untold, possibilities to unfold, a thousand and one tales to spin.
Adina, happily, has more than her share of salt. But she's also got an extremely clear head, and there was one entry from our Captain that just didn't...ring...right:
...We offered Nikki, Jonah’s mother, amnesia pills, but she refused them. She said she didn’t want to go back to constantly hoping in vain....
Now, let's look at Captain Jack for a minute. He's driven, he's honest, he's fair when it suits him and harsh when it's necessary. He doesn't make compromises, but he'll bend the rules when it suits him. And above all: he protects his own. To the death, often enough, but we're talking about a man who will happily and nonchalantly retcon you just as soon as look at you. How many times did Gwen get retconned in the first episode?
Nikki Bevan, quite frankly, should have been retconned. Her son had been taken up and spewed out by the Rift; she had too much knowledge of not only him but others who were in the same situation. She had faces, places, and enough information to bring a whole lot of trouble onto Torchwood's head - and worse, she had absolutely nothing to lose.
And yet - Jack doesn't retcon her. He lets her remember. Whether it's his projecting his own loss of two-years' memory, or the issues he's facing with the threat of Gray's return, who knows. But here's the thing - Jack isn't the con-man or the rogue Time Agent anymore. He's the head of Torchwood Three, and Torchwood has other interests.
One hour, forty-three minutes. Ms. Bevan would be waking up on her own in ten minutes, plus or minus two.
He stood up and crossed to crouch before her chair, taking her hand and rubbing it between his own, shaking her shoulder lightly. "Ma'am? Ma'am? Are you all right?"
I've spent half the review talking about Jack - but the story, in the end, isn't about Jack. Jack is only the beginning; Jack is only the reason the story exists. Really, the story is about Ianto - but so much of what we know of Ianto is seen through Jack's eyes. Ianto exists, in a way, not just to serve Jack coffee, but to reflect him. Ianto humanizes Jack in a way that the rest of Torchwood can't.
It's odd, actually. I tend to see Jack as the leader of the team, the one who knows the path and carries the torch. (No pun intended.) He's strong and solid and he can't die. Ianto is the opposite in many ways; he's fallible and emotional and he's very mortal.
This is the thing about We Don't Ask - the guys switch roles. It's not Jack who leads when it comes to cleaning up the mess of the Bevan family, because he's found the nearest bench and has decided to sit this one out. He won't retcon Nikki Bevan - maybe the loss of memory, the loss of loved ones, hits too close to home.
But Ianto will.
"We've arranged to transfer the body to James Summers and Son, in Roath Court, if that meets with your approval."
"No! He was--he was--" Her persistence was admirable, but he had calculated the dosage very carefully; she would have memories, but dreamlike, easily overridden. "He was--alive." She shook her head in confusion. "He's alive. Isn't he?"
Ianto isn't typically a mercenary in fanfic. (Well, unless it's crackfic, but that's beside the point.) And despite the fact that he's essentially killing this woman's son by shutting off belief that he is alive, Ianto still isn't a mercenary. He's simply doing his job - or rather, Jack's job.
I don't think Ianto took the role of team leader when Jack disappeared - no, I'm pretty sure that was Gwen. But here, he's doing what neither would be able to do: he's taking the steps to ensure that Torchwood remains safe, protected, unknown and untouchable.
Edited by I. Jones: We're Torchwood. We don't ask.
It's a little frightening, really - that Ianto could be heartless, and kind, all in one fell swoop. And yet utterly, completely appropriate to him. Because of course, Ianto would be the one to pick up the pieces when Jack cannot. And perhaps it's his own way of penance; after all, the entire reason Nikki Bevan found her son again was through his intervention in Gwen's investigation. Maybe he knew it would end this way - that once Nikki knew, he'd be able to at last close to the door for her. Maybe this is what Ianto was hoping for all along.
To do what Jack could not - to give someone peace.
Leaving a brochure and business card for the funeral home on her table, he let himself out. It was better this way.
In short, vote for We Don't Ask. In allowing a moment for Jack to become human, and Ianto to become more so, we're given a peek at the sort of men they really are. They aren't a characature of Leader and Helpmeet - they're the flip sides of a coin that balances on edge. We Don't Ask is both the cruel and kind images of Torchwood, in a story shorter than this review, and for straddling the line so deftly, entirely deserves your vote.
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A Little Game by Radiantbaby Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: PWP
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Ten, River
Rating: Adult
Details: A smutty one-shot about Ten and River that makes the pairing a lot more interesting than you would think.
Why it Rocks:
If you nominate a fic in the Porn Without Plot category, then it should be just that - and this gem of erotica is certainly plotless. It's certainly hot. It's certainly kinky. Which is good, because it was written for the kink meme, with a very specific plot.
Ten and River have a specific kind of relationship, which the author twists. It's made clear in the show that while River may have traveled with the Doctor, when she dies, they've had an arrangement where they visit each other. Maybe they're in love. Maybe she's his wife.
Or maybe they're just having really kinky sex.
The “plot”, as it were, is this. River likes to play a game with the Doctor. She likes to make him come in public. They walk through a market and she torments him. The descriptions of her body, of the sights and the sounds, are extremely effective. When you're writing smut, you want to the reader to be hyper-aware. To provide more description than usual so that the reader gets to the right state of mind, but not to exaggerate so they get taken out of the story. This strikes a balance between concise, precise writing and gorgeous turns of the phrase that will suck you in, regardless of whether or not you're a fan of River.
It's clear that she's the one in control of the relationship - and that's what turns the Doctor on. This is one area of his life that he surrenders control in. He can't save her life. He already knows. Just like he couldn't save Rose or he couldn't protect Donna. He just has to relax and enjoy the ride.
Oh, she knows how much it shames him, of course, but he supposes that is a big part of what turns her on about the whole thing in the first place (and, admittedly, something that ultimately turns him on as well). She knows how much he hates to lose control in things -- laughs at his internal struggling, even - especially when it comes to something she knows that he thinks he should ‘so easily’ be able to stay in control of.
The other thing about this fic that really drew me in is the artistic choices the author made. Rather than going too far in the kink so that readers without that particular trigger will be squicked, she made it accessible and hawt. Not graphic, but not vague, the scene where River torments the Doctor to climax is shudder-inducing.
For evocative descriptions, language that is precise and yet not graphic, and a Doctor and a River that are themselves in an erotic situation - this fic well-deserved its nomination. It well deserves the time it would take you to read it, and it might deserve your vote. Whether or not you're a River fan.
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After the Storm by catsfiction
Category: Donna Noble
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, Sylvia, Wilf, Tenth Doctor (original), Jack, Martha
Rating: G
Details: Seven chapters. This is the story of the family the Doctor left behind, how they tried to deal with the impossible and the unsayable - and how, rather to his own surprise, the Doctor found himself dealing with them.
Why it Rocks:
It's a character-study masquerading as a Donna fix-it. Or perhaps it's a Donna fix-it masquerading as a character-study. Either way, catsfiction isn't so much concerned with the skience behind how Donna Noble lost her memories in the first place or gets them back in the end, but why the Doctor did what he did initially, and why he makes the effort to go back and figure out a way to undo it. In the Whoniverse , where science is so advanced that it might as well be magic, the technical specs are never as important as the emotional journeys that bring the characters to life.
And all of the characters in After the Storm have emotional work to do. Of course the Doctor and Donna are at the forefront, but Jack, Martha, Sylvia and Wilf all reveal their innermost thoughts to us, all of them at one point or another get time to be our POV in to the immediate aftermath of Journey's End. I think that's what makes this fic so compelling, the multiple perspectives. And the fact that catsfiction makes sure that each perspective is three-dimensional, neither completely right, nor completely wrong. No one's without negative emotions that blind them a bit to the truth of the matter. The Doctor and Donna were alone when he removed her memories, but you have to think that someone who knew them both at some point would figure out what had happened. What had happened, not why.
“Know what I think?” Jack strode into his office, Martha following him.
“I think he took Rose back home and left her with the other him. And when Donna called him out on it, he wiped her mind.”
Martha shuddered. “That’s horrible. He thought the world of Donna. And he may be an emotional cripple, but he’s not a psychopath. You really think he’d retcon a woman against her wishes? I can’t imagine Donna letting him do that.”
Jack was awkwardly silent. You didn’t have to be a psychopath to have a dangerously warped perception of reality. Particularly if you were powerful.
Of course Jack is wrong about the specifics, but neither he nor Martha are entirely off-base in their further musings. The real world is never that simple. And the world that catsfiction paints for Donna, the temp from Chiswick and the most important woman in the universe, is achingly real. Sylvia is written with surprising sensitivity, while remaining very true to the character, and Wilf is just glorious and dead-on. Through all of them, we get to see the Doctor from all possible angles, and explore all the possible motives and reasons he had for returning Donna to her old life. And perhaps it's a wee bit cathartic to see the Doctor being held very, very accountable by his friends for what he's done.
Also, there's some merry japery with William Shakespeare, a wee bit of Doctor/Donna, and, most importantly, hope. For all of them. Not the hope that comes necessarily from skiency things happening, but the kind that comes from emotional growth, moving forward, letting go, and embracing change. It's a tenderly written exploration of choices, mistakes and reconciliation.
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Today's Reviews were written by:
persiflage_1: Escape
unfolded73: Nine Out of Ten
azriona: More Than True; We Don't Ask
ladychi: A Little Game
papilio_luna: After the Storm
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Escape by Ziggychaos Link goes to Teaspoon
Categories: First Doctor, Genfic, Ficlet
Fandom: Classic Who
Characters: TARDIS, First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Other characters
Rating: All Ages
Details: Character Study, Introspection, Standalone
Why It Rocks:
It tells the story, from the point of view of the TARDIS, of how the Doctor and Susan ended up travelling in that particular Time and Space machine, and it's rare that a story is told from the TARDIS' point of view, even when she is written as an active character in a fic.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the Doctor came to be travelling through Time and Space in the first place - and in what looks like a 1960s Police Public Call Box - a little backstory. During the first decade of the TV show viewers were given very little information about this mysterious old man known as the Doctor who travelled in Time and Space: Gallifrey itself wasn't even named until the Third Doctor story The Time Warrior, although it had been shown on-screen in the Second Doctor story The War Games.
Before a TARDIS can become fully functional it has to be primed with the biological imprint of a Time Lord, which is normally achieved by the simple expedient of the Time Lord operating the TARDIS for the first time. This imprint comes from the Rassilon Imprimatur, part of the biological makeup of Time Lords, which gives them both a symbiotic link to their TARDISes and the ability to withstand the physical stresses of time travel (see The Two Doctors). Rassilon founded Time Lord society on Gallifrey and he was the one who developed time travel technology for his people, hence his Imprimatur is needed to fly a TARDIS.
In the TV show, viewers are told that the Doctor's TARDIS is an obsolete Type 40 TT capsule (where TT presumably stands for "time travel") and that he unofficially "borrowed" it when he departed his home planet of Gallifrey (as revealed in The War Games). The older model TARDISes were forcibly withdrawn from service by Gallifrey's government and by the time of the Doctor's fourth incarnation all Type 40 capsules had been retired from use (see The Deadly Assassin).
This is where Ziggychaos' story comes in: Escape reveals why the Doctor picked an already out-of-date TARDIS in which to leave his home planet - or rather, the TARDIS picked the Doctor to leave with. The story opens with the Doctor's TARDIS (although she's not yet his) having a telepathic conversation with three other TARDISes: the Ancient One, the Wise One, and the Scholarly One (she herself is known as the Odd One). She is drawn to the Doctor, who's known on Gallifrey as the Radical One because of his rebellious nature and his frequent arguments with his fellow Time Lords, but she is chided for her interest in him because she's already been retired from service. The TARDIS objects to this, feeling there is still much to see and do in the Universe, but the other TARDISes call her impetuous and ungrateful because she's not happy with her retirement.
Rather than continue the argument, she chooses to reach out to the Doctor:
Subtly, she caressed his mind, so tenderly he wasn't even aware of the intrusion.
[...]
For several weeks, she sent out gentle tendrils, feeling his vexation grow against the established ways. She felt indignation that the others would refute her Time Lord... for she'd come to think of the Radical One as her own.
Finally, the day comes when the Doctor loses all patience with his fellow Time Lords after a hateful argument, and he storms down to the TARDIS bays, to where the retired ships are waiting to be decommissioned. The TARDISes are surprised to see him there, except the Odd One, of course since she's been telepathically drawing him to her for weeks. Susan turns up and guesses that he's planning to run away, and begs him to take her with him, to which he agrees after a little reluctance. Susan points out a TARDIS and suggests he take it, and the Odd One feels very sad when he considers Susan's suggestion, but the TARDIS' efforts have not been in vain, as she feared, because the Doctor disagrees, takes the key from her door handle, and the pair slip inside.
She felt his excitement build at the thought of the freedom he could now have. She was proud to sense his happiness at being at her controls. His elation and joy matched her own. With him so close, touching her controls, she could ascertain his name. His real name, not the nickname the others had given him and used often in conversation.
There was also another name, a title by which he preferred to be known.
No longer would he be identified as the Radical One. He was the Doctor.
The Doctor. A healer, one who helps others feel better. How fitting. He'd already made her feel more complete than she had in a long time!
And so the TARDIS, the Doctor and Susan head out into the unknown to have adventures together.
Vote for this fic because it's thought-provoking, intriguing, and fits beautifully into canon with no effort required.
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Nine Out of Ten by used_songs
Category: Gwen Cooper
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Tosh, Gwen
Rating: Teen
Details: Ten snapshots of Gwen and Tosh together (Spoilers for “Exit Wounds”). 2000 words.
Why it Rocks:
It is stated in the author’s notes that this fic was written for another user based on a post she’d made about the Bechdel Test as applied to Doctor Who. For those unfamiliar, the Bechdel Test is an analysis of the development of female characters based on how many conversations between those women are about things other than men. As someone who writes pretty much exclusively about the Doctor and the people who orbit him, I’m at peace with the fact that my fic is made of Bechdel fail. This one, however, passes with flying colours. The title, “Nine out of Ten,” presumably refers to the fact that only one of the ten vignettes includes a discussion of the men in the characters’ lives.
The story opens with an early interaction between Gwen and Tosh, as Gwen is still getting to know the members of the Torchwood team. Gwen is someone who is used to being able to connect with people easily, perhaps women in particular, and it is a rude awakening for her when she can’t make that kind of connection with Tosh. Tosh, who is a bit distant, a bit odd, with no evidence on her workstation of a life outside Torchwood.
She’d just assumed that she and Tosh would get on, two women together in the work place and all, but she couldn’t figure out what she had to offer the self-contained and obviously intelligent woman. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that Tosh was much better at holding people at arm’s length than she was at bringing them close to hand.
As things progress, Gwen and Tosh begin to connect, but in very subtle ways. There’s no big event, no huge turning point, just a lot of little moments that draw them together. An argument about bucking authority, a conversation about what brought them to Torchwood (in which Tosh doesn’t actually reveal anything) when Gwen is injured, Gwen’s admission to Tosh that she worries about Suzie’s revelation that the afterlife is nothingness, Tosh saving Gwen’s life in the field with a bit of alien tech, a shared cup of coffee on a cold morning, the pleasure of good take-away curry. The beauty of this fic is in the simplicity of these snapshots. In the idea that what brings us together as people are not the grand, sweeping gestures as much as the thousand banal moments that we share with those in our daily lives.
The one scene which does involve conversation about men isn’t really about those men as much as it is about the women having the conversation. It starts with Gwen doing a bit of gossiping about Jack and Ianto’s relationship, but reveals something telling about both women in the end:
Tosh watched as the first raindrops began to streak down the window pane and the shadow of the clouds darkened the glass. “We have to learn to be happy with what we have,” she said.
“I don’t agree,” replied Gwen. “I don’t agree at all.”
In the tenth scene, which is set after the end of Series 2, Gwen confronts Tosh’s drawer in the morgue.
Gwen reached up and touched the dark gray drawer lightly. “I miss you. I know we were never close. We hardly ever talked about anything but work, but … I miss you.” Gwen stopped awkwardly, unsure what to say next but feeling it imperative that she say something.
“Tosh, I hope Suzie was wrong. Because you don’t deserve that.”
I adored this fic for its characterization of Gwen and of Tosh, and for its subtlety. It shows instead of tells, and I found myself unexpectedly moved by it.
*
More than True by DameRuth
Categories: Threesomes
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Nine, Jack, Rose
Rating: Teen
Details: Three-part story that takes place sometime in the first season, probably shortly after The Doctor Dances. It's part of DameRuth's Flowers Verse, but can be easily read as a stand-alone.
Why It Rocks:
Once upon a time, there was a Captain named Jack. Well, he wasn't really a Captain - and his name wasn't really Jack - but that's not important. What is important is that he lived a fairy-tale existence, or at least the existence a hero lives in the time before the fairy tale begins, before he realizes that he's in a fairy tale at all, and moreover, that in that fairy tale, he's the hero.
More Than True isn't the story of how Captain Jack realized he was in a fairy tale. But this is the story of how he came to believe it.
Jack, newly aboard the TARDIS, has yet to find his place. You have to admit, it would be difficult to join the ship, when Rose and the Doctor are so obviously attuned to each other. Jack has already figured out that he doesn't have much of a shot with either of them - but that's not what bothers him the most, really.
The two of them were a painful reminder of everything [Jack had] lost: Rose, with her youthful, civilian innocence, and the Doctor with his fierce, uncompromising honor. Two virtues Jack would never see again, that was for damn sure. But he’d have to be made of stone not to find them appealing all the same.
Fairy tales tend to follow a pattern. I think most of us are familiar with the idea of the Hero's Journey, also called a monomyth, which is basically a story structure within mythology. If you've seen the original Star Wars movies, you're familiar with the basic outline, because George Lucas drew heavily on the theory when telling his story of Luke Skywalker. But what we don't realize is that Jack Harkness's story follows the same structure. In classic monomyths, there are seventeen key stages for the hero (although there are some shortened versions with only eight).
If we look at the entirety of Jack Harkness's life, we'll see all seventeen.
1. Call to Adventure - Jack joining the Time Agency
2. Refusal of the Call - Jack spurning the Agency and turning into a con-man.
3. Supernatural Aid - The Doctor & Rose rescuing Jack at the end of The Doctor Dances.
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold - Jack becoming part of the TARDIS crew - finding his place with Rose and the Doctor, essentially. This is essentially the story that DameRuth is telling us - but because I’m having fun, I’ll keep going.
5. Belly of the Whale - Basically, dying and being reborn. Can anyone say Bad Wolf?
The Next Stages are Part of the Initiation
6. The Road of Trials - Starting fresh in Cardiff with Torchwood
7. Mother as Goddess - Typically a marriage scenario - might be a reference to Estelle. It could also be Jack's protective instinct toward Rose (his mother, in the sense that she led to his rebirth), as he did watch over her growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.
8. Woman as Temptress - Not necessarily rejecting a woman - more like rejecting a way of life. While Jack doesn't actually reject a woman, he does reject his previous work with Torchwood, remaking it "for the Doctor".
9. Atonement with the Father - Jack making up with the Doctor in Utopia.
10. Apotheosis - A breakdown of reality, or expansion of consciousness. Can we say, The Year that Wasn't on the Valiant?
11. The Ultimate Boon - Jack realizing his place is not with the Doctor, but with Torchwood.
Now, here's where it gets a little tricky - The next five stages don't quite fit in Jack's story yet. Well, they do - but not neatly. I have to wonder if we'll see these pop up as the new seasons of Torchwood are aired. But as I see it now:
The Next Stages are Part of the Return
12. Refusal of the Return - This is where the hero doesn't want to actually return to the ordinary world - but we know this isn't the case. Maybe it's that Jack tries to fit in with Torchwood again, finds that the Team has done fine without him. Sort of.
13. The Magic Flight - This would be the pursuit of whatever is stopping the hero from fitting in - I'm wondering if it's maybe the John Hart/Grey story arc.
14. Rescue from Without - The hero would need to be rescued or torn from the Ordinary world - the best example I can give for Jack is when he's buried under Cardiff for 2,000 years. One of the ideas behind this stage is that the hero loses his ego - that certainly applies to Jack here.
15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold - The hero returns to the Ordinary World. Assuming we go with the Jack-under-Cardiff theory, this is pretty self-explanatory.
16. Master of Two Worlds - Literally, Jack being able to understand life and death. I'm not sure we've seen this yet.
17. Freedom to Live - The hero explaining his understanding to those around him. Again, not sure we've seen this.
As you can see - for the most part, Jack’s story absolutely follows the Hero’s Journey. He is, undoubtedly, a hero. The only problem is that Jack doesn't see himself as the hero. He's a con-man, con-mans don't get to be heroes. Jack probably doesn't even believe heroes exist.
Of course, Jack doesn't believe the Doctor is a Time Lord, either. He says so, yes, but that's just fairy tales, isn't it? And Jack, despite being in one, doesn't believe in fairy tales. Which is why it's ironic that he takes the Hero's Journey - and while the Doctor and Rose are bargaining for a bit of machinery for the TARDIS, he slips off into the marketplace on a strange planet, half intending to lose himself in the stalls and find his own way in the world. While the greater story of Jack is undoubtedly a Hero’s Journey, DameRuth sends him on a small journey within her fic. And we start, as most journeys do, with Jack trying to find his place, and not finding it very comfortable.
Rose really was a good kid, and an honest one - Jack believed she was fond of him, and no doubt she'd miss him if he took off, but she'd get over it. The Doctor . . . well, he'd probably be glad to be rid of his extra passenger. He'd never showed any signs of trusting or accepting Jack, to the point of witholding any real information about himself. Instead, he'd stuck stubbornly to his ridiculous claim of being a Time Lord. Sure, he had a double pulse and a time machine, but body mods and temporal travel weren't exactly unknown in the greater Universe. The bigger-on-the-inside track was pretty impressive, and calling the ship a "TARDIS" was a cute touch, but Jack would have appreciated a little more respect for his intelligence all the same. Fairy tales didn't pop out of the Vortex at random.
What's interesting about Jack's journey-within-a-journey isn't how terribly short it is - because of course, he learns quickly that he doesn't want to be alone in the universe at all. It's that the journey brings out the inner hero in Jack. His first thoughts aren't necessarily for himself or the predicament he's gotten himself into: it's relief that Rose, being with the Doctor and not with him, will be safe. It's confidence that should they look for him, the pair will find him fairly quickly.
And the confidence is quickly dispelled, because just as he doesn't truly believe that the Doctor is a Time Lord - he doesn't believe he's worth saving either.
Even when Jack's journey is over, he doesn't believe that he's the hero.
The Doctor lowered his chin, and his gaze chilled even further. Jack's stomach dropped. Time Lords, the old stories had said, were long on justice and short on mercy. The sense of being weighed and judged was acute. He remembered how it had felt when the Doctor ripped into him back in World War II London, made him into a fool, kicked the last fragile supports out from under Jack's broken, battered pride, leaving him with nothing.
Maybe this is why Jack doesn't want to believe that the Doctor is really a Time Lord - you see, if the Doctor is a Time Lord, that impossible being straight from the fairy tales - why, then, it must mean that he's the hero of the story, not Jack. It's the Doctor who will slay the dragons, get the girl, and ride off into the sunset (or Horsehead Nebula, take your pick). And if the Doctor is the hero - where does that leave Jack?
"Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” G. K. Chesterton
Fairy tales, in which the hero takes a journey, always end the same way. The hero, having returned home (in Jack's case, the TARDIS), now knows himself and his own strengths better. And it is no different here. Jack's journey was short but no less influential for it. He didn't slay the dragons, no, but he did make an important sacrifice. Just about heroic, really. More important, though - Jack learned to believe in Time Lords. And dragons. And maidens in distress.
And fairy tales. Which is good - considering he's the hero after all. And he’s got a hell of a journey ahead of him.
In short, vote for More than True. It's a fairy tale wrapped up in a Time Lord wrapped up in a leather coat. It's got a red cloak, a poisoned apple, and a set of nefarious characters. It's a journey and a discovery and there's even a Bad Wolf. It absolutely deserves your vote.
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We Don't Ask by adina_atl
Category: Ianto Jones
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Nikki Bevan, Jack off-stage
Rating: Teen
Details: Takes place at the end of Adrift; one-shot, but there's also a sequel (linked at the story).
Why It Rocks:
There is, on the BBC website, an area for the Captain's Blog. As in Captain Jack, of course. There, you'll find random little bits of background to the episodes, which for any fanfic author worth her salt are gold. Chunks of stories untold, possibilities to unfold, a thousand and one tales to spin.
Adina, happily, has more than her share of salt. But she's also got an extremely clear head, and there was one entry from our Captain that just didn't...ring...right:
...We offered Nikki, Jonah’s mother, amnesia pills, but she refused them. She said she didn’t want to go back to constantly hoping in vain....
Now, let's look at Captain Jack for a minute. He's driven, he's honest, he's fair when it suits him and harsh when it's necessary. He doesn't make compromises, but he'll bend the rules when it suits him. And above all: he protects his own. To the death, often enough, but we're talking about a man who will happily and nonchalantly retcon you just as soon as look at you. How many times did Gwen get retconned in the first episode?
Nikki Bevan, quite frankly, should have been retconned. Her son had been taken up and spewed out by the Rift; she had too much knowledge of not only him but others who were in the same situation. She had faces, places, and enough information to bring a whole lot of trouble onto Torchwood's head - and worse, she had absolutely nothing to lose.
And yet - Jack doesn't retcon her. He lets her remember. Whether it's his projecting his own loss of two-years' memory, or the issues he's facing with the threat of Gray's return, who knows. But here's the thing - Jack isn't the con-man or the rogue Time Agent anymore. He's the head of Torchwood Three, and Torchwood has other interests.
One hour, forty-three minutes. Ms. Bevan would be waking up on her own in ten minutes, plus or minus two.
He stood up and crossed to crouch before her chair, taking her hand and rubbing it between his own, shaking her shoulder lightly. "Ma'am? Ma'am? Are you all right?"
I've spent half the review talking about Jack - but the story, in the end, isn't about Jack. Jack is only the beginning; Jack is only the reason the story exists. Really, the story is about Ianto - but so much of what we know of Ianto is seen through Jack's eyes. Ianto exists, in a way, not just to serve Jack coffee, but to reflect him. Ianto humanizes Jack in a way that the rest of Torchwood can't.
It's odd, actually. I tend to see Jack as the leader of the team, the one who knows the path and carries the torch. (No pun intended.) He's strong and solid and he can't die. Ianto is the opposite in many ways; he's fallible and emotional and he's very mortal.
This is the thing about We Don't Ask - the guys switch roles. It's not Jack who leads when it comes to cleaning up the mess of the Bevan family, because he's found the nearest bench and has decided to sit this one out. He won't retcon Nikki Bevan - maybe the loss of memory, the loss of loved ones, hits too close to home.
But Ianto will.
"We've arranged to transfer the body to James Summers and Son, in Roath Court, if that meets with your approval."
"No! He was--he was--" Her persistence was admirable, but he had calculated the dosage very carefully; she would have memories, but dreamlike, easily overridden. "He was--alive." She shook her head in confusion. "He's alive. Isn't he?"
Ianto isn't typically a mercenary in fanfic. (Well, unless it's crackfic, but that's beside the point.) And despite the fact that he's essentially killing this woman's son by shutting off belief that he is alive, Ianto still isn't a mercenary. He's simply doing his job - or rather, Jack's job.
I don't think Ianto took the role of team leader when Jack disappeared - no, I'm pretty sure that was Gwen. But here, he's doing what neither would be able to do: he's taking the steps to ensure that Torchwood remains safe, protected, unknown and untouchable.
Edited by I. Jones: We're Torchwood. We don't ask.
It's a little frightening, really - that Ianto could be heartless, and kind, all in one fell swoop. And yet utterly, completely appropriate to him. Because of course, Ianto would be the one to pick up the pieces when Jack cannot. And perhaps it's his own way of penance; after all, the entire reason Nikki Bevan found her son again was through his intervention in Gwen's investigation. Maybe he knew it would end this way - that once Nikki knew, he'd be able to at last close to the door for her. Maybe this is what Ianto was hoping for all along.
To do what Jack could not - to give someone peace.
Leaving a brochure and business card for the funeral home on her table, he let himself out. It was better this way.
In short, vote for We Don't Ask. In allowing a moment for Jack to become human, and Ianto to become more so, we're given a peek at the sort of men they really are. They aren't a characature of Leader and Helpmeet - they're the flip sides of a coin that balances on edge. We Don't Ask is both the cruel and kind images of Torchwood, in a story shorter than this review, and for straddling the line so deftly, entirely deserves your vote.
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A Little Game by Radiantbaby Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: PWP
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Ten, River
Rating: Adult
Details: A smutty one-shot about Ten and River that makes the pairing a lot more interesting than you would think.
Why it Rocks:
If you nominate a fic in the Porn Without Plot category, then it should be just that - and this gem of erotica is certainly plotless. It's certainly hot. It's certainly kinky. Which is good, because it was written for the kink meme, with a very specific plot.
Ten and River have a specific kind of relationship, which the author twists. It's made clear in the show that while River may have traveled with the Doctor, when she dies, they've had an arrangement where they visit each other. Maybe they're in love. Maybe she's his wife.
Or maybe they're just having really kinky sex.
The “plot”, as it were, is this. River likes to play a game with the Doctor. She likes to make him come in public. They walk through a market and she torments him. The descriptions of her body, of the sights and the sounds, are extremely effective. When you're writing smut, you want to the reader to be hyper-aware. To provide more description than usual so that the reader gets to the right state of mind, but not to exaggerate so they get taken out of the story. This strikes a balance between concise, precise writing and gorgeous turns of the phrase that will suck you in, regardless of whether or not you're a fan of River.
It's clear that she's the one in control of the relationship - and that's what turns the Doctor on. This is one area of his life that he surrenders control in. He can't save her life. He already knows. Just like he couldn't save Rose or he couldn't protect Donna. He just has to relax and enjoy the ride.
Oh, she knows how much it shames him, of course, but he supposes that is a big part of what turns her on about the whole thing in the first place (and, admittedly, something that ultimately turns him on as well). She knows how much he hates to lose control in things -- laughs at his internal struggling, even - especially when it comes to something she knows that he thinks he should ‘so easily’ be able to stay in control of.
The other thing about this fic that really drew me in is the artistic choices the author made. Rather than going too far in the kink so that readers without that particular trigger will be squicked, she made it accessible and hawt. Not graphic, but not vague, the scene where River torments the Doctor to climax is shudder-inducing.
For evocative descriptions, language that is precise and yet not graphic, and a Doctor and a River that are themselves in an erotic situation - this fic well-deserved its nomination. It well deserves the time it would take you to read it, and it might deserve your vote. Whether or not you're a River fan.
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After the Storm by catsfiction
Category: Donna Noble
Fandom: New Who
Characters: Donna, Sylvia, Wilf, Tenth Doctor (original), Jack, Martha
Rating: G
Details: Seven chapters. This is the story of the family the Doctor left behind, how they tried to deal with the impossible and the unsayable - and how, rather to his own surprise, the Doctor found himself dealing with them.
Why it Rocks:
It's a character-study masquerading as a Donna fix-it. Or perhaps it's a Donna fix-it masquerading as a character-study. Either way, catsfiction isn't so much concerned with the skience behind how Donna Noble lost her memories in the first place or gets them back in the end, but why the Doctor did what he did initially, and why he makes the effort to go back and figure out a way to undo it. In the Whoniverse , where science is so advanced that it might as well be magic, the technical specs are never as important as the emotional journeys that bring the characters to life.
And all of the characters in After the Storm have emotional work to do. Of course the Doctor and Donna are at the forefront, but Jack, Martha, Sylvia and Wilf all reveal their innermost thoughts to us, all of them at one point or another get time to be our POV in to the immediate aftermath of Journey's End. I think that's what makes this fic so compelling, the multiple perspectives. And the fact that catsfiction makes sure that each perspective is three-dimensional, neither completely right, nor completely wrong. No one's without negative emotions that blind them a bit to the truth of the matter. The Doctor and Donna were alone when he removed her memories, but you have to think that someone who knew them both at some point would figure out what had happened. What had happened, not why.
“Know what I think?” Jack strode into his office, Martha following him.
“I think he took Rose back home and left her with the other him. And when Donna called him out on it, he wiped her mind.”
Martha shuddered. “That’s horrible. He thought the world of Donna. And he may be an emotional cripple, but he’s not a psychopath. You really think he’d retcon a woman against her wishes? I can’t imagine Donna letting him do that.”
Jack was awkwardly silent. You didn’t have to be a psychopath to have a dangerously warped perception of reality. Particularly if you were powerful.
Of course Jack is wrong about the specifics, but neither he nor Martha are entirely off-base in their further musings. The real world is never that simple. And the world that catsfiction paints for Donna, the temp from Chiswick and the most important woman in the universe, is achingly real. Sylvia is written with surprising sensitivity, while remaining very true to the character, and Wilf is just glorious and dead-on. Through all of them, we get to see the Doctor from all possible angles, and explore all the possible motives and reasons he had for returning Donna to her old life. And perhaps it's a wee bit cathartic to see the Doctor being held very, very accountable by his friends for what he's done.
Also, there's some merry japery with William Shakespeare, a wee bit of Doctor/Donna, and, most importantly, hope. For all of them. Not the hope that comes necessarily from skiency things happening, but the kind that comes from emotional growth, moving forward, letting go, and embracing change. It's a tenderly written exploration of choices, mistakes and reconciliation.
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Today's Reviews were written by:
persiflage_1: Escape
unfolded73: Nine Out of Ten
azriona: More Than True; We Don't Ask
ladychi: A Little Game
papilio_luna: After the Storm