Fic: Torchwood 1913: Jack be Nimble

[jjpor]

Fic: Torchwood 1913: Jack be Nimble, Chapter 8

Retro-Torchwood is back! I hadn't really forgotten about this one, really... Introductions as Harriet meets the rest of Team Torchwood, and immediately sticks her foot in her mouth. I don't know whether Charles's resigned acceptance of 1910s-era racism is a good thing, exactly, but feels right for the era. And if you're wondering what the deuce Gerald is going on about at the end of this part, check out my earlier story "Torchwood 1908: Scareship". Now, how's that for shameless self-advertising? ;D

The link:

www.whofic.com/viewstory.php

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

I'm catching up with this one slowly, now. I was sort of hanging around in the hope that you'd finish it and I could print the whole thing off like Scareship, but I gave in when I saw there was a new chapter.

I'm on chapter 3 and enjoying it v v much so far.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much indeed! It's probably as well that you relented, because you know me and my lacksadaisical WIP-finishing. Having said that, though, there's another bit up tonight!

[thisbluespirit]

I discovered this has smaller chapters, so I can cope. (It's just my doomed-to-fail attemot not to send myself blind staring at computer screens for any no. of different reasons). And I suspected as much - that's usually what happens when you go that quiet. ;-)

This one is great fun so

(Sorry am simultaneously having a chat on Facebook with an old uni friend. He's just told me he's singlehandedly fixing the largest network on the internet tonight. This is the crazy-surfer-dude-doomed-to-die-an-unlikely-death... And used to leave his curry out overnight for the rice to go crunchy. Who did this?!! What were they thinking???!! 8-o Yes, sorry. Where was I? That was distracting).

Anyway, this one is really enjoyable so far (the other one was, but this harks back to the 1907 one a bit more and I loved that, while Scareship was wonderful, but very Torchwood, too.

I've read a bit more, too, as you'll see, but I don't want to go too fast.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

So, basically if my internet stops working, I know who to blame? XD

Crunchy rice? Yikes!

Yes, when I drop out of sight for a day or two, you know what I'm doing; I am that predictable! I like these short chapters; I can dash them off relatively quickly compared to those 6000-word behemoths in the Spartans fic (and they're easier on the eyes, as you say!)

Glad you're liking this one so far; yes, it is a bit closer to the original one, isn't it, with all of the TW head office shenanigans and the origin-story aspect to it. The Scareship one was more plotty, and as you say, Torchwoody, really.

I like your idea of bringing Torchwood down from the inside, even if it does fly in the face of the continuity (I mean, they were still going in 2006, or whenever it was, and they were still barstewards - and moreover, if you ever bring yourself to watch the episode they were in, you'll know Gerald and Harriet's future may not be the brightest). I guess the best they can do is run Cardiff as their own little empire, but even then they have to be careful not to do anything that'd draw London's attention to them...

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, yes. Although, see, it didn't, he's doing great! (They give him plenty of time off, so that keeps him happy. He can go off to Africa and try and achieve his aim of being eaten by a lion). And, oh, yes! But then we were all students at the time. I was kidnapping penguins, he was leaving his rice to go crunchy - and his wetsuit in the shower, the rest were having alcoholic jelly fights, my next door neighbour had declared herself our dictator - there were 9 of us in a small space with much craziness and a Meatloaf soundtrack. Little Matt's rice was just one of those things... that usually ended up in the cupboard under the sink. I'm sure you know what I mean. (Although I did gather at the time that few flats were quite as crazy).

No, you're not predictable (erm?? I don't know at all really) but you posted one chapter and then went v v quiet, so I did wonder.

Oh, I liked Scareship very much, don't get me wrong. And it being Torchwood-y is hardly a criticism when it's a Torchwood story. But this also has a real sort of joy in the period detail and a sense of fun so far - and I like that!

Well, they could manage a temporary set back - it wasn't so active in the 20s because of XXX.

And, wait, what??? 8-o

Okay, that does it. You are the Master. You're truly evil. I've never watched this episode; I got thoroughly fed up with TW - and now you've gone and make me like Gerald and co unreasonably and NOW you tell me...?

That is evil. *glares* Like I'd have even known they existed if you hadn't gone and done this. Is there any law against AU happy bunnies and bluebirds?

(:lol: Sorry, yes, like that would work in Cardiff. In fact, it'd be v amusing and probably due to the interference of the Rift. They'd have to be killed at once or eaten by Weevils.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yes, evil; that's me! Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-etc.

Good job you haven't read any further in the retro-Torchwood series, then, because I reference that episode a couple of times I think in one or two of the later stories...

I guess weirdo alternate-timelineishness isn't out of the question where the Rift is concerned...

And I also suppose that the continued existence of the Institute later on doesn't mean temporary victories against them aren't worth winning (as your Colonel Crichton demonstrates!).

I'm reminded of a comment I got in response to Ground Rules where someone said that in light of TW's failure to do anything nasty to Three, they'd always thought that something like my Brig scenario had happened...either that or Jack spent an awful lot of time during the 20th century sabotaging the organisation from within... That leads me to think interesting thoughts - and you know, didn't have to be Jack doing that kind of thing, did it?

Ah, when I think back on the alcohol-soaked squalor and degradation of my student days... Like Withnail and I without the funny bits. Well, no not bad... ;D Happiest days of your life... Well, maybe that's not true either, but wallowing in nostalgia can be very satisfying sometimes.

[thisbluespirit]

I know. However, I realised that I can have my revenge - I haven't finished Stardust yet. So prepare yourself for nasty turns, angst and gloating. (From the Master, obviously). It would be very, very easy to kill off Sgt Kennedy as well. (They so should not have left him guarding the Master at the end when it was all over and he made his inevitable escape. :lol:)

And as for TW sabotage - well, I don't know the details (don't want to much :-( ), but who's to say they didn't take a piece of Evil Torchwood down with them when they went? They should leave their mark. (And Ground Rules is so brilliant. It cheers me up just thinking about the Brig in that.)

Hmm... Withnail & I? 8-o Mind you, I've no excuse. I was sober the entire time. I was the comparatively tidy one who didn't go out much - well, not after the first few times. I just got used to the whole, "Hmm, why is there jelly outside my door (down the corridor, in the kitchen and up the walls)?" sort of thing. (Or Marmite on the loo roll/ everyone else is jumping off the pier / roller blading down the Hill / surf's up / fun with the hole in the shower door etc etc). Surreal definitely described my 1st year.

(I went to Aberystwyth, you see, - c8,000 students trapped in a small town between the mountains and the sea. With one cinema with one showing per day. It's definitely one of the maddest and most beautiful places in existence. It's a bit hard to stop missing it. As they say, we Had To Make Our Own Fun. :lol: Students, these days, eh? They have ensuite box-thingies for bathrooms and their own fridges and laptops and would probably be horrified if they shared a shower with a hole in the door with 9 people. Going to conferences and finding this out is quite scary.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Sgt Kennedy??!! O.o Well, I have my own (probably completely wrong) suspicions about how that one's going to end. It wou;dn't surprise me, is all I'm saying. XD

The actual episode is a bit vague on the detais (Gerald and Harriet being the TWood equivalent, in terms of airtime, of Colonel Crichton and whoever that soldier is who seems to be Colonel Crichton's secretary), and it was all just part of an exercise in cynical angst-building throughout that season of the "nobody lasts long in this organisation" variety, in some hamfisted attempt at foreshadowing the Ten-level angst to come in the season finale. So very Twood, really...

I think any scenario that resulted in Enderby getting the top job as chairman, director, chief conspirator etc would probably count as a win. XD

"c8,000 students trapped in a small town between the mountains and the sea."

Like the 300 Spartans! ;D

Withnail and I is probably an exaggeration (I hope! O.o). And youngsters today, don't know they're born. I remember when all this were fields...

[thisbluespirit]

I can't believe anyone would have a theory about it, or even suspicions. :lol: I won't make any promises, but I won't really do anything I wasn't going to do anyway.

Oh, dear, Torchwood. Putting Enderby in charge would be very funny. Not so much Torchwood, really. ;-) Yes, that sounds like why I was getting very fed up with it at that point. Well, I enjoy the your fic, anyway. I hadn't read the later ones, because, y'know, angst n Torchwood and so on. I'll have to get round to it, because you'll only still have me liking them in the end.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Oh, I always have theories and suspicions... And whatever ending you have in mind, I'm sure it will be very fitting. ;D

Yes, Enderby as chairman of the board ("T", in James Bond terms?? I got "Control" as the moniker for the current head out of the George Smiley books); "Well, old chap, that invasion business certainly sounds like a bit of a rum do... Yes, I agree, we ought to do something sharpish, but let's have a drink first, old boy, while we consider our strategy..."

The very last one in the series, which is the angstiest won't make any sense unless you've seen the TW episode in question, and I don't really think it's worth watching Torchwood just to "get" a fic. It's strange, my love/hate thing with that show, because I maybe only really liked a couple of episodes per season, but, I dunno, I ended up writing fic about it, didn't I?

Children of Earth was much, much better, if not exactly flawless. It was _very_ angsty though. At least, unlike in Ten's case, the characters in question actually had something to cry about... That was harsh on Ten, wasn't it? ;D

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. I'm most amused that you do and will expect to hear what they were once we get to the end! (Which should be within the next year at least... *rolls eyes*)

So I have a note to be excused, then? ;-) (I still haven't even read your other Seven and Ace because they looked angsty and that's Seven + Ace + Angst = NAs! No, no, no more, I can't take it any more, give me back the TV versions... :lol: It's a bit of a problem.) Yes, but I always find I want to write things that need 'fixing' rather than things that don't. I ended up watching about every other ep of TW S2, so missed that one. The lighthouse episode finished me off, but I will try and catch CoE sometime, although, yikes? But, hey, I watch Spooks... :lol: (But that's fast and snarky and brilliant and TW... isn't. Actually, thinking about it TW would be much better if it had a Harry figure - Jack can't do that, even if he tries)

Heh, maybe after WWI Enderby does wind up being one of the few left hanging around. Heh, maybe better not for the sake of the nation? (On the other hand, leave fighting the aliens to the Doctor and plucky kids everywhere).

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yes, here's your permission slip excusing you from reading any of my stuff that looks too angsty. The other Seven thing is a prequel to Remembrance of the Daleks, believe it or not, with added Time War angstiness. I realise this isn't selling it to you! XD. And yeah, I think the NAs have influenced me more than I might like to admit...

Jack has his limitations, that's for sure. Well, you probably heard some of the vague murmurings as Torchwood fandom dissolved into bloody civil strife over CoE. I didn't know what the fuss was; surely whether it's a good story or not comes before shipping considerations? Well, not for some fans, evidently.

Back when I was writing the original retro-TW fic, and thinking it might be a longer series of relatively short fics, I had some inkling that there would be some very embarrassing fiasco (maybe caused by internal sabotage by some right-thinking TWood agents?!) that would result in much of the hierarchy ending up dead/"retired" and Enderby getting the job sort of by default. That was back when I had this big story-arc planned, much of which I ended up using in other fics when the envisaged retro-TW series never really happened (some of it ended up in Alien Abduction, for instance).

The Institute did their patriotic best to help Britain win WW1, mainly heading off the ill-advised alien-tech schemes of their German counterpart organisation, and the attrition they suffered was fairly atrocious. Coming out of it, the Institute was fatally weakened, but like the nation they allegedly served, took another thirty years or so actually to notice it. In WW2, however, they expended most of their effort in winning the peace. They saw early on that the real threat to the British Empire's prestige, and indeed existence, was not Nazi Germany (they could take care of that by leaking some war-winning alien tech like radar and computer cryptography to the public sector), but rather the growing power of the USSR and, particularly, America. The struggle to deny the weird-science tech of the crumbling Third Reich to their supposed allies was a hard-fought one, but, as it turned out, futile. History was just not on the Institute's side...

Er...

[thisbluespirit]

You know, I've spent all the time I might have used reading your fic this week talking to you about it instead... I hope that's okay? :lol: And one day, I'll read it all. ;-)

I did like the NAs, very much, some of them... I just would have liked some happy bunny NAs here and there. Just every once in a while. Oh, if only everyone would realise that sad/angst does not necessarily equal clever/well-written/deep, the world would be a better place. And probably more appreciative of Terry Pratchett. Heh. (Not of course that YOUR angsty stories aren't clever/well-written/deep - having sat through Portect and Survive I'm sure they qualify on at least 2 out of 3 at a time. :lol:)

I am very very happy to know that Enderby does so well for himself in the end, then. You'll have to issue your own supplementary TW files on your LJ with all this stuff to get it out of your system, you know. And entertain the rest of us.

As to ships and fandom, well, again, there must be a fair few teenagers among us, don't you think? And it's a very teenage girl to latch onto a relationship as an ideal (in a rapidly changing world). That's why Twilight is such a shameless bit of wish-fulfilment and is so popular. (It's obvious with ships like that, and Ten or Nine/Rose and Buffy/Angel, but it can be any ship). Also I find that my habit of watching things because they look interesting is not shared by an awful lot of people I know, who watch things because someone they fancy is in it. Well, that can be a reason from time to time, obviously, :lol: But people watch things differently - that's audience theory for you - and the smashing of a fictional ship can really hurt and leave the 'fan' lashing out. And in this world of internet boards and fic, you don't just write bad fic somewhere in your school rough book any more.

I think with TW, part of my problem is that it started off by leaving with me with my jaw hanging open. (Like didn't RTD think that Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt might sue him over the blatant - er - homage (!) to Angel? And followed it up with ep 2 being a rip-off of the episode Lonely Heart. So badly done that a not-so-great ep of Angel looked like living poetry in comparison. I went back and rewatched the first 3 series of Angel instead when I got really fed up.

Plus, I have a phobia thing about stuff like retcon and memory loss (there's a Spooks episode which has something similar in S4 and its effects are horrible and I can't watch), so that makes me see them as Evil and forget they're supposed to be my Heroes. S2 at least got its own identity, but I think I missed the best episodes. The highlight was in the last episode when James Marsters used his real accent for one line. I was left to muse: was this a mistake? Was it deliberate to suggest that his character was 'acting' the rest of them time... So, with typical timing, I couldn't be bothered to watch it five days in a row when it came back and missed all the good stuff. *sigh* They'll repeat it, I'm sure. ;-)

Sorry, I am, I find, actually awake for the first time in about three weeks and I type fast. *coughs*

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Type away! Just as long as you know that I too have used the time I should have spent _writing_ the next bits of the TW fic talking to you about it! Ah well, it's not as if I'm getting paid to do it... ;D

Speaking of which, I have jotted some of this TWood backstory stuff down, but I think I'm going to save it (with serial numbers filed off and names changed to protect the guilty) for my "original" version of the retro-TW fic, which I have at least been _thinking hard_ about. I had a title for it, but Google told me someone else had already used it for their novel. Ah well. And the original version wants to be more fantasy/occulty/magicky-oriented than science-fiction; Unspeakable Lovecraftian Whatsitsnames from The Pit instead of aliens. Or maybe they are aliens really? You know, that any-sufficiently-advanced-technology-looks-like-magic stuff?

I did actually write something that I can't really stick on the 'Spoon, because it's sort of fictional non-fiction in style. It's about Osterhagen of Osterhagen Key fame, and is kind of based on dispiriting true life stories of how Nazi scientists made good in the postwar world. Basically, Prof. Karl-Heinz Osterhagen was a member of the thoroughly horrendous Nazi equivalent of Torchwood (there was a pre-existing German equivalent of TW, but the Nazis created their own, basically because they seemed to love duplication of effort and because it was another pie for Heinrich Himmler to stick his fingers in), who by a combination of good luck, back-covering and Cold War politics, managed to survive the war and eventually ended up heading the West German branch of UNIT (SgVN, or Sicherheitsgruppe der Vereinten Nationen - I have no idea if the German branch has ever been named in the spinoff media - I know that the Russian branch was amusingly acronymed OGRON and the French contingent were NUIT in the NAs), his war crimes record expunged courtesy of the CIA, MI6 etc. The Brig, you'll be glad to hear, refused to have anything to do with the blackguard. I might tidy it up and post it on LJ for people's perusal.

Yeah, I think you're right on the shipping front. I keep forgetting I'm not representative of the demographic! XD

And yeah, I mean, it is commonly said that TW is practically fanfic already, and it definitely shows in places. A lot of places. And while I was never a huge fan of Buffy and Angel, I can see the ripped-off bits. Guy in long coat standing on building brooding being just the most obvious one. ;D And Capt John Hart was just Spike, wasn't he? CoE is worth a watch, though; I'd say it reminded me a bit of Spooks, but I know you know Spooks a lot better than I do!

Interesting thing on the acting front. As far as my fanon's concerned, all Time Agents spend their lives playing a part; all of that fake retro-military clothing etc, the false names (I like to think that all Time Agents pretend they're Captains and they all use the initials "J.H."; when "Jack" met that guy in WW2, I bet he couldn't believe his luck!)

[thisbluespirit]

Er, Okay, well, I'll stop, then. Besides, I've now read up to date, finished off Stardust (save for tweaking) and so am feeling a bit smug now. Well, going back to work tomorrow will put paid to that.

I walked around the large paragraph about the Osterhagen key, examined it closely, but having gone back to being Not Awake, I couldn't quite penetrate its depths, but, yes, post it. I'm sure people will be interested. :lol:

Buffy is the only TV show I know with that rare thing, a positive depiction of a librarian. (Giles librarian-snark is awesome - on pupils borrowing books: "I thought that was a myth." and the difference between retail and libraries?: "It's exactly the same, except in this case people pay for the things they don't bring back." :lol:) I have to be supportive. (I can only think of four others and 2 of them are from children's books. Librarianism is, believe me, alive and well. As in "She looked like a librarian." "Despite being a librarian, he was actually quite interesting..." *bangs head on desk very hard*). And Angel, aside from going to hell after a bit, had demon karaoke. (There are not many tragic, brooding vampires who keep having to confess to liking Barry Manilow... :lol:) Plus, I liked the 'battling the evil inherent in yourself and in society' thing that lay behind it. Before they decided just to go to hell, it really had something there, but there you go. Buffy gets bogged down with the teen angst and both fall to the curse of the Story Arc. But, yeah. the ripping off was scarily blatant in the first eps. I've never seen quite such a shameless example. (And now that I think of it, even in S2, the Owen being not quite dead, especially when death comes to get him, is almost exactly what happens to Spike, too.)

Oh, I was going to shut up. Sorry. I got sidetracked onto librarians. (I wonder how thin this comment will be? How thin can it get before it's a letter at a time?)

[thisbluespirit]

Hmm. That is quite thin.

BTW, never ever write librarian cliches in your work, okay? :lol: (Jokes involving the Dewey Decimal System are, however, perfectly acceptable.)

[thisbluespirit]

Sorry, I should make it plain that I was teasing about the Osterhagen bit. About the size of paragraph and the info involved, I mean, not the posting it. Posting it is a good idea.

You can tell I should probably be doing something else, can't you?

Just throw something and I'll go.

[thisbluespirit]

Drat. I meant to say, about the shippy stuff - sorry, it's only that I do sometimes (I am strange) muse on audience theory and the different ways people read things, so you got my thoughts and then some... (And I've had weird conversations more than once that go like this:
Me: You should watch X - it's really interesting.
Colleague: Well, I don't really fancy Y.
Me: ???
Then I think: aha, audience theory.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

"And one more thing..." LOL! I think you really are just trying to get the thread down to one word per line, aren't you? Your last post was two per line! XD

Giles was great; I used to really like Giles (remember when he was in those Gold Blend coffee adverts?). I watched about the first three or four series of Buffy before becoming fed up; I don't know, it was when everybody in the gang seemed to have their own superpower and Spike got that chip put in his head.

Does your list of positive portrayals of librarians include the Librarian from Discworld? Ook ook? I'll try to avoid the cliches, if I'm ever writing about libraries. Dewey Decimal jokes might be harder...

Yeah, Osterhagen; bad guy. ;D

Well, I guess I'll go and read the rest of Stardust before I go to bed then... ;D

(frozen)

[thisbluespirit]

Curses, you've found me out! ;-) Yes, Giles is awesome. I came in with Buffy about when you walked out, then. I watched via videos from the library. Much better way to watch it - I don't think I'd have survived the teen angst of S3 if I'd watched it week by week. :-) Giles remained awesome to the end. (Best moment of the last season? Giles: "I take a group of teenage girls on a camping trip and you think I'm evil because I DON'T touch them?")

The Librarian is No. 5 on my list (he's last because, while being mostly Positive he does insist on chaining the books to the shelf. I know, given the nature of the UU library, but still...) There are a serious lack of Dewey Decimal jokes. It's sad, but true.

:-D

(frozen)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Heheh - well, I might have to watch some of the Buffy I haven't seen one of these days, just for the Gilesisms. Now, Mr Head has some Who form, doesn't he? Not just School Reunion, but I believe he's been in some audios as well. I did catch the musical episode of Buffy, which was kind of wonderful. And I don't even like musicals.

I guess the Librarian is a bit cruel to the books. Tell me, are there any strange anomalies in time and space tucked away in the recesses of your library? XD

And I'd actually quite like to hear a Dewey Decimal joke, if you've got one... LOL ;D

[thisbluespirit]

Well, that answers the 'how thin can the comments get' question, because that thread is now frozen. Heh, well, Giles never ceases to be awesome, indeed. And I know no Dewey jokes, but I can (or could once) glue my own Dewey Decimal number together, an endlessly useful skill, as I'm sure you'll agree. :lol:

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Well, see; I hope your curiosity is satisfied now; you've broken the thread! Or I did, but, well...

Well, that does sound useful. You never know when you could be called upon to do that in a lifesaving situation...