beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

I have decided the way I want Ianto brought back
is Jack (looking like JB does now, therefor everso Older) arrives with Ianto (looking like GDL, so he has also been Doing Things for years)
and Gwen (aged linear here) is all !!!
"How???"
"He cheats. He always cheats." Ianto grins.



Nothing else needed, very efficient, get on with reintroducing the characters.

Maybe setting up a new Torchwood London with a welshman in charge, maybe sending Jack into the field, maybe Gwen gets London and Ianto takes Cardiff for a while.

Don't know, don't care.


Can also get Owen back (time travel plus radiation absorption) and Toshiko (cryo preservation plus future nanogenes) and just... stop killing everyone, that was no fun.



But I think it'll be fine as an explanation to say
he cheats.

I have been stuck reading Jack/Ianto, mosly post CoE fixit fic, lately.
(stuck as in I did not decide to focus on this particular variety but I cannot steer my attention for toffee)

It's good because there's a Lot of over ten thousand words not an out of universe crossover finished fic to read
but
a lot of it had the same ideas.

And they're great ideas! Yes, obviously Ianto should travel to the 51st century and meet both younger and older Jack, acting like a sort of reverse three ghosts, that's an excellent idea. And starting at the most bookmarked fics, it is also an idea I have read repeatedly already. I can also see the appeal of making Ianto immortal, by any means necessary, and making him a Time Lord, possibly with a stopwatch for a fob watch, works grand too.

But I am at that point in reading fic where I'm all
yes, like this!
... but not this.

I can't figure out exactly what differences I want either.

I mean the fic where Jack raises Ianto's baby in the far future is an excellent one, but, do I want to read another one?

I know I *don't* like the ones where the two of them leave Earth together after CoE. God knows they need a holiday, but it just doesn't feel plausible to me, knowing how they choose duty over and over. And of course having seen them choose duty, and on one memorable occasion vote screw it, we want them to get their freedom and their happily ever afters... but I just feel strongly that they'd manage a holiday for... maybe whole numbers of weeks, if it were a busmans holiday like the Doctor always manages. And after that they'd need to know Cardiff was okay roughly like you'd need to know if you left the cooker on.

I love the ones where everything gets declassified and everything changes.
It's perpetually frustrating that, in order to stay relatable and one step around the corner for new and young viewers, DW is just not going to do that.
Everthing resets instead.



I get tired of the tragic endings. Yes, the story can lead us through satisfyingly cathartic dark places, but, anyone can set it up and then leave it in the bad bit. Stories should figure it out and fix it too.



I've seen recent pictures of GDL and quite a large part of what I want is for Ianto to also have the chance to keep up. Live as long and look as good. It feels important more people get a turn at that.



Happily ever after isnt a childish ending. Leaving it in the dark seems teenage. Like you get scared and hide in a dark corner, but the good bit is figuring how to get out.

And it isn't really immortality angst when you get upset about having to watch everyone die
if they die like, every year. Every couple of years, tops.
That's just regular horrible trauma.



... give Jack the highly specific trauma he deserves, after spending the rest of the century watching Ianto grow old with him!

Ianto is such a classic character though. He's got that whole well organised butler sinks into the background thing going on, and then suddenly everyone has to *see* him and notice there's been wells of desperate passion driving him all along. And then he goes back to quiet competence? As you do? And getting underestimated, over and over. And that time he had to shoot Owen because both of them were absolutely certain they were doing their duty, that is good stuff. And just in general, the way Ianto will make a straight line plan starting where he is and going where he needs to go, and just do it, and you think he is therefor Fine, but he is having all the feelings, loudly, actually, and just getting everything done Anyway.

That's a kind of guy who could age in such interesting ways. Because maybe he continues to find someone to Follow, and Serve, and Look After. And they continue to wonder what they did to earn that. Or maybe he sort of grows into himself, and becomes the kind of highly competent leader who also knows how to get his people whatever they need. He could keep on trying to keep his feelings on the inside, or he could have his feelings out loud where actual other people can see them on a more frequent basis. And if he does, either way, it could be about growing out of insecurity into confidence, or he could keep that flaw of thinking he has to hide his needs in order to get a sliver of what is needed. Plenty of good story!

I do kind of want to see him as a parent, but not so much in the ways kidfic mostly covers, where there is A Cute Accessory that lets us see how much they Care. More like... for those of us who are not Immortal and unaging, there comes a day where someone else has to look after us, because they are more capable than we are today. Or than we will be anymore.

I think Ianto would have some Adjustments to make, to be the recipient of care.

And then his kids grow up a bit and want to work, want to *serve*, and how is he going to adjust to that? Send them elsewhere or set them up in Torchwood? Keep them where he can keep an eye on them, but everyone will know that's what he's doing?

(Not to mention the teenage years where the kids go all Sarah Jane Adventures but Ianto is very aware that the stakes are always Torchwood and his reality has no plot armour.)

They wouldnt have to be his biological kids for a lot of this to apply, obvs. Just, there keep being people who are Younger. Now what?

So the interesting bits about getting older when your partner doesn't, those would include watching him keep doing the same things the same ways, and you can't anymore... but maybe your kids can. And that is going to feel a whole heap of ways.

And Ianto admires James Bond so being a field agent seems like the height of glamor, but what if you hit the height of skill, and yet the rest of you doesn't keep up?

Kind of like Owen and Andy are doing in the audios, where Owen just can't risk getting any more broken, so then Andy gets hurt, and nobody is happy about that.

But instead like, an older Ianto has Jack as a model, someone to look up to and admire, and that includes a tendency to be the one throwing himself into danger. Yvonne didnt flinch from throwing other people in harm's way, and I feel Not Being Yvonne is going to be a legit priority in Torchwood future. But at some point you just arent the best option for the mission. It's time to send someone else.

I want to see someone adjust to those sort of long term changes.

TV isn't the format for that, unless you set up parallel stories, or giant flashbacks.

Fic can have it covered though.




Anyways, food delivery arriving, these are just some thoughts.

I listened to both parts of Double today.

It was dark in a grimy politics way, the classic Torchwood bit where sure aliens are bad, but at least they have a reason for inhuman behaviour.

I liked the plot, twists and all.

But I did not like the central character. Writer said something in the chatty bits about wanting to explore neurodivergence, and women never getting to play characters like Sherlock, or something like that. So I can see what they were doing but I find the type insufferable. The acting did a lot, there's layered feelings, its got plenty going on, I see how it's skillfully done, I just... do not like it.

So.

Lots of good plot and setting and characters, plenty of interesting thinky things, but.

Not for me.

Today I watched two episodes of actual Torchwood on the TV
and I discover the audios consistently make me feel more.

And okay, I am developing a headache and suspect I need new glasses, that's getting in the way of enjoyment some, but, the audios focus in so much tighter they give you more about less, and it turns out I've been liking that a lot.

Yet the characters I want to hear about are the ones from the TV. It is these episodes that made me care about them, built the initial connection. These are the baseline originals that I got so passionate about.

... it's odd seeing PC Andy getting ignored. He's done so much on audio now it seems like he should be in episodes more. Even though it's quite important to the audios that he feels left out.

So it's still a joy to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it's also weird, because there's so much more to the characters since then, the actual adventure feels like... skim reading.

On the plus side I am getting a lot out of my audio investment.

But it feels weird going back to the distance and pacing of the TV.

I started to read the players guide to Return of the Runelords
and because it is a sequel
you need to know who the Sihedron Heroes are, the ones who won Rise of the Runelords and Shattered Star.

Specifically you need one each for however many players are in Return of the Runelords. The others can be in the Great Beyond, one way or another, somehow.

I can't remember what characters I had in mind when I read Rise, and I've only got two heroes left in mind from Shattered Star, and one of them retired early. I mean I know I started out with Andrew and Jonathan from Buffy, but I only have story in mind for Andrew, based on the theory he's a twin, so that's... not exactly helping.

So now I'm distracted
because I thought
what if Torchwood do Rise of the Runelords?

I was thinking Owen could be an Oracle with the Lich curse and the Life mystery, so an undeadish healer (can heal everyone but himself). Or possibly the Bones mystery, because angry. Trait can be monster hunter, because if he's stuck looking like a monster he's going to make it the monster's problem.

Toshiko is obviously there as a scholar, and she can start with the Snapdragon Fireworks spell intended for festivals, and just end up having to deal with all this dark side stuff.

Ianto is a Rogue that everyone thinks is catering staff. Don't know if I want to give him the criminal connections backstory traits or the one where his village got killed by giants. Learning to backstab giants seems ambitious, but gives him that core of horrible trauma.

Gwen can be a paladin. A very new one, obviously. Erastilian, for that small town feeling, so Divine Hunter, for the bow. Her trait can be the one where everyone in Sandpoint knows her because of her connection to the sheriff. It'll get less useful later, but by then the archery and spells will be helping. And being Lawful Good in a party that is mostly not, she'll have several things to say about how they usually do, especially in a sin focused campaign. But she's got sins of her own, and can lose a Lot by falling to them.

Jack is pretty difficult to stat, in a Pathfinder game that assumes everyone starts at first level. His distinctive feature, Epic Not Dying, is tricky to do. Achievable, but like, at 20th level. And the ones I can think of are all Reincarnation based, so he'd regenerate every time, with many options for species.

I dont know, I dont see Jack as a Druid. Urban druid? But still, very polymorphy, not very social...

Obviously could also just make it a bit, so he keeps dying and getting dragged back to the healers for resurrection, but that gets expensive.

If I knew anything about Gunslinger as a class it might suit, but despite owning the rules I haven't got a feel for them at all.

Kind of want to make him a Bard, for the con artist phase of his life, and the thing where he knows more than the others more often. Also the charisma focused roll to seduce side is tempting. But he'd have to be heavily arhcetyped or very i vested in skills that are more Barrowman than Harkness. Archaeologist maybe. Detective? One version of Ringleader?

I don't know, it's maybe not a great fit.

Jack is tricky.




Rise of the Runelords keeps track of your sins, so it's fun deciding whose is what.
But also really likely to start old arguments.


Reckon when they reach level 7 Jack at the minimum takes Leadership. That would mean they're up to six at least as a group.
Gwen could as well. Then they're 7. ... one sin each...


... bring Suzie and John in?



I know basically no one else is interested in this xover, but I'm interested enough I kind of want to skim through Rise and see how it would work now, so I took the thought for a walk.

This was a very thrifty audio, with one voice and a bunch of spooky noises, but that voice was Gareth David-Lloyd and as usual he makes it a winner.

I enjoyed this one very much, and I might relisten to it again right away.
It's Ianto talking to a dictaphone in the restricted archives, describing items he's been asked to file away. His little asides about who did what to themselves with them (mostly Owen, who claims he was fine), are pretty hilarious. And the bits about how he's alone in the archive because everyone else went bowling are :( So you get some feels threaded through all the items.

But then they start to click together into a bigger story, and I loved it.

Spoilers under cut:
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I liked it very well and did not think it needed any extra voices or anything. Complete and satisfying story of itself.



I really might just go sit down and listen again from the beginning...

Turns out my Torchwood subscription had run out and I hadn't seen where I could order the next set
until today
so, new Torchwood, arriving monthly again

:-D


I am so far behind on Doctor Who audios in general I haven't finished the monthly range or kept up with the 8th Doctor, who I love, but I do keep up with Torchwood.

Don't know what that says about my tastes...



This one is with Toshiko, and I don't have much to say about it, except it's really satisfying when the bad guys underestimate the tiny quiet lady.

Also, Torchwood is still dark, and made of doing bad things.

Which is awkward to enjoy, but, *shrugs*

achieved my move and exercise goals for the day despite long naps
by putting Gallifrey on and walking on the spot.

I still like Gallifrey, but I was thinking why Torchwood is the only range I kept up with, and I think because Torchwood focuses on one or two characters at a time and jumps all over time it can stomp you in the feels with character based story almost every time. You kind of know with Owen you'll be exploring big ticket mortality stuff and there's a strong chance Ianto will be about love, or the kind of moral dilemmas only Torchwood expects of a new PA. Andy will be... shiny in a non shiny situation, and Norton will be dark but in that very listenable way. Whereas Gallifrey is a complicated political plot that sets up some feelsy stuff but ... honestly I kept going back 30 seconds at more than one point of the story cause I wasn't sure I got all the words. And that matters on these ones.

Torchwood audios feel more like fanfic, because boom, this characters deepest darkest emotions, new history, and also some plot that will make them feel things.



That said, I stalled on listening to Ace and Hex because they don't half put Hex through it. If I'd been listening to the other stories in between it would have felt different, but as it was, I just... kind of want to rescue Hex? Often? A lot? And then I found myself not clicking the next episode. So, feels, not always wanting them stomped on.

But with Torchwood, however many times it reminds you how it ends for these people, you get to hear new and interesting middle or occasionally beginning, and then it pops over to someone else completely for the next one.

... I think listening to any one character in a row would feel like hearing Hex though.

... listening order matters a bunch.

Robot in a care home. Rhys gets his mum to stay in a care home to investigate AI carers.

I liked this one a lot. It was scared of the correct things.
and I like the ending.

Today I had actually caught up with Big Finish Torchwood so I listened to
Fall to Earth
again.

I remembered it was really very good.

Ianto is in the middle of an emergency but cant get through to anyone for help but then someone phones him and
tries to sell him insurance

so to stay on the line he has to keep buying insurance
or the computer will hang up.

But Ianto isnt the only good character, the other voice, Zayna, is an excellent character and gets to do many excellent things.

So I remembered right, very excellent adventure, with lots to say around the edges of the funny bits.

This audio is about Ace and Mr Colchester being stuck in a quarantine hotel in the middle of an alien invasion. On the back of the CD it says that, and asks
"Can they save the world without leaving their rooms?"

Which would be a good trick and I was looking forwards to how they managed it. Two important well connected people with two important well connected organisations, Torchwood and A Charitable Earth, maybe they'd do remote working or something, have drama because they're at cross purposes.

But no.

It's another story about breaking out of quarantine.

*big sigh*

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So I liked the story, except for that one thing, but I wanted to hear the story on the back of the box.

This audio is not at all subtle, but I found it cathartic.

There's a spaceship crash in Middlesbrough, and Yvonne Hartman, and Torchwood, have a Plan to sort everything out quickly and peacefully.

This audio is not about that plan.

This audio is about systematically eliminating people who responded to a national emergency by dithering, covering their past mistakes, making whole new ones while refusing to admit it, spending huge amounts of money on things that dont work, spreading misinformation, and getting themselves out of town in defiance of a national lockdown.

I like it rather a lot.

Dark but fun, like a particularly twisted cartoon.

Unless you start really thinking about it, then it's back to Torchwood being terrifying.

:-)

I did not like this one very much. Owen, but not being very Owen-y. Not doing medical help when stuff happens to people, for instance.
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Dont think I'll relisten to this one.