Fic: Where It Begins
Title: Where It Begins
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, mentions Nosy.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set after CoE, but the team are all still alive.
Summary: Progress happens slowly and takes an awful lot of work.
Word Count: 1049
Written For: Prompt 170 - Progress at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Progress takes time,” Jack reminded Ianto when his lover returned from the round of press interviews he’d just carried out in London, it having been decided he was the best person to disseminate any necessary information in the wake of the 456 attack on earth. “It doesn’t happen overnight, never has and never will; there are always going to be hurdles to overcome. At least we've accomplished something, taken a few steps in the right direction. You should be pleased about that.”
“Right.” Ianto rolled his eyes with an eloquence unmatched by anyone else Jack had ever met. “The whole world knows about aliens now.”
“That wasn’t our fault, blame the 456 and the cowards who wanted to give in to their demands instead of fighting back.”
“Believe me, I am. I never voted for that idiot Green in the first place. But there are an awful lot of people out there who aren’t taking the revelation too well. They don’t like the idea of intelligent non-terrestrial beings just showing up willy-nilly, without even asking permission first.”
Jack snorted at Ianto’s choice of words. “Willy-nilly!”
“Shut up.” Ianto silenced his lover with a glare.
Jack contrived to look suitably chastened, although inside he was still doing a gleeful little dance.
“They’re thankful enough that Torchwood stepped in and dealt with the latest incursion,” Ianto continued. “Relieved their families are safe, but there’ve been riots in some places, even outright rebellion against certain governments. The only reason that hasn’t happened in Britain is because the former prime minister, and everyone else involved in the plan to hand over thousands of British children to drug-addicted aliens, were arrested right away and an interim, multi-party government put in place pending a general election once things settle down.”
“See?” Jack beamed. “That’s progress! Only a tiny bit, I know, but to have all the British pollical parties working together for the good of the country is quite impressive.”
“Let’s see how long that lasts before we start predicting a new golden age,” Ianto cautioned. “There’s still a lot of fallout we need to deal with. People have started giving their neighbours and colleagues funny looks, wondering whether or not they might be aliens in disguise. In some places, demand is growing for a public register of every alien currently on earth, giving their names, addresses, and where they work.”
“The only alien register in existence is in Torchwood’s possession, and we’re not making it public,” Jack assured him.
“And what if UNIT have their own list, or somehow got hold of a copy of ours? What’s to prevent them from releasing it?”
“They wouldn’t do that; it would be counterproductive.”
“We can’t be certain that everyone complicit in the PM’s plan has been weeded out of UNIT’s ranks. I wouldn’t put it past a disgruntled employee to leak sensitive information to the press.”
“If that happens, we’ll deal with it, but it seems to me you’re focusing on the negatives.”
“Of course I am! The positives are far less likely to blow up in our faces; it’s the negatives you have to watch out for.”
Jack folded his arms over his chest and gave Ianto a stern look. “I never realised you were such a pessimist.”
“I’m not, but I work for Torchwood; I’ve seen how quickly situations can spiral out of control. I’ve been caught in the middle often enough to have learned to be wary.”
“So you’ve got all the negatives figured out, itemised, and you no doubt have plans in place to deal with them if it should become necessary. I know you, Ianto Jones; you’re never anything less than efficient. That being the case, we can set the negatives aside for now and focus on the positives!” Jack’s grin was back. “For instance, there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response to both Torchwood and earth’s most important, not to mention courageous, alien resident. Nosy’s been embraced as a citizen of earth, welcome everywhere. Fan mail is still flooding in from every corner of the planet, governments are sending invitations for it to visit their countries and receive their thanks for its heroism…”
“They just want to get their photos taken with Nosy to use as proof that it acknowledges their status as a world leader; they’ll claim to be personal friends of the saviour of the world’s children and use the publicity to infer that they should remain in power.”
Jack made a rude noise.
“You know I’m right, Jack.”
“Nosy can easily refute any such claim. The point I was trying to make is that the human race has taken Nosy, an alien, to their hearts. If they can accept one alien, as they obviously have, whatever ulterior motives some of them might have, then they can do the same with other aliens, accept them despite their differences and learn to live peacefully alongside them.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It won’t be, we both know that; we’re facing a long and difficult road, and this is only the first small step, but progress has to start somewhere, and it’s starting here and now. In a few hundred years we’ll look back on this moment and say this was where it began. This was the moment humanity first accepted they weren’t the only intelligent, civilised race in the universe, this was the moment they began to look beyond their world, the moment they started to set aside their own differences and work together to become worthy of taking their place in the wider universe.”
“A very stirring speech, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Just because the people of earth are willing to accept a lovable, furry giant alien snake as a friend doesn’t mean they’ll be just as willing to embrace a seven-foot-tall, six-armed, demonic-looking Astragarian as a next-door neighbour, or that they’d let their kids have playdates with the squidlets from down the road.”
“Maybe not right now, but one day they will.”
“And on that day, you’ll be insufferably smug, saying ‘I told you so’. I know what you’re like too.”
“Will it matter? Think about all that progress, somewhere down the line. Progress Torchwood will have worked their asses off for.”
Ianto sighed. “Well, when you put it that way… Progress sounds exhausting.”
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, mentions Nosy.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set after CoE, but the team are all still alive.
Summary: Progress happens slowly and takes an awful lot of work.
Word Count: 1049
Written For: Prompt 170 - Progress at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
“Progress takes time,” Jack reminded Ianto when his lover returned from the round of press interviews he’d just carried out in London, it having been decided he was the best person to disseminate any necessary information in the wake of the 456 attack on earth. “It doesn’t happen overnight, never has and never will; there are always going to be hurdles to overcome. At least we've accomplished something, taken a few steps in the right direction. You should be pleased about that.”
“Right.” Ianto rolled his eyes with an eloquence unmatched by anyone else Jack had ever met. “The whole world knows about aliens now.”
“That wasn’t our fault, blame the 456 and the cowards who wanted to give in to their demands instead of fighting back.”
“Believe me, I am. I never voted for that idiot Green in the first place. But there are an awful lot of people out there who aren’t taking the revelation too well. They don’t like the idea of intelligent non-terrestrial beings just showing up willy-nilly, without even asking permission first.”
Jack snorted at Ianto’s choice of words. “Willy-nilly!”
“Shut up.” Ianto silenced his lover with a glare.
Jack contrived to look suitably chastened, although inside he was still doing a gleeful little dance.
“They’re thankful enough that Torchwood stepped in and dealt with the latest incursion,” Ianto continued. “Relieved their families are safe, but there’ve been riots in some places, even outright rebellion against certain governments. The only reason that hasn’t happened in Britain is because the former prime minister, and everyone else involved in the plan to hand over thousands of British children to drug-addicted aliens, were arrested right away and an interim, multi-party government put in place pending a general election once things settle down.”
“See?” Jack beamed. “That’s progress! Only a tiny bit, I know, but to have all the British pollical parties working together for the good of the country is quite impressive.”
“Let’s see how long that lasts before we start predicting a new golden age,” Ianto cautioned. “There’s still a lot of fallout we need to deal with. People have started giving their neighbours and colleagues funny looks, wondering whether or not they might be aliens in disguise. In some places, demand is growing for a public register of every alien currently on earth, giving their names, addresses, and where they work.”
“The only alien register in existence is in Torchwood’s possession, and we’re not making it public,” Jack assured him.
“And what if UNIT have their own list, or somehow got hold of a copy of ours? What’s to prevent them from releasing it?”
“They wouldn’t do that; it would be counterproductive.”
“We can’t be certain that everyone complicit in the PM’s plan has been weeded out of UNIT’s ranks. I wouldn’t put it past a disgruntled employee to leak sensitive information to the press.”
“If that happens, we’ll deal with it, but it seems to me you’re focusing on the negatives.”
“Of course I am! The positives are far less likely to blow up in our faces; it’s the negatives you have to watch out for.”
Jack folded his arms over his chest and gave Ianto a stern look. “I never realised you were such a pessimist.”
“I’m not, but I work for Torchwood; I’ve seen how quickly situations can spiral out of control. I’ve been caught in the middle often enough to have learned to be wary.”
“So you’ve got all the negatives figured out, itemised, and you no doubt have plans in place to deal with them if it should become necessary. I know you, Ianto Jones; you’re never anything less than efficient. That being the case, we can set the negatives aside for now and focus on the positives!” Jack’s grin was back. “For instance, there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response to both Torchwood and earth’s most important, not to mention courageous, alien resident. Nosy’s been embraced as a citizen of earth, welcome everywhere. Fan mail is still flooding in from every corner of the planet, governments are sending invitations for it to visit their countries and receive their thanks for its heroism…”
“They just want to get their photos taken with Nosy to use as proof that it acknowledges their status as a world leader; they’ll claim to be personal friends of the saviour of the world’s children and use the publicity to infer that they should remain in power.”
Jack made a rude noise.
“You know I’m right, Jack.”
“Nosy can easily refute any such claim. The point I was trying to make is that the human race has taken Nosy, an alien, to their hearts. If they can accept one alien, as they obviously have, whatever ulterior motives some of them might have, then they can do the same with other aliens, accept them despite their differences and learn to live peacefully alongside them.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It won’t be, we both know that; we’re facing a long and difficult road, and this is only the first small step, but progress has to start somewhere, and it’s starting here and now. In a few hundred years we’ll look back on this moment and say this was where it began. This was the moment humanity first accepted they weren’t the only intelligent, civilised race in the universe, this was the moment they began to look beyond their world, the moment they started to set aside their own differences and work together to become worthy of taking their place in the wider universe.”
“A very stirring speech, but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. Just because the people of earth are willing to accept a lovable, furry giant alien snake as a friend doesn’t mean they’ll be just as willing to embrace a seven-foot-tall, six-armed, demonic-looking Astragarian as a next-door neighbour, or that they’d let their kids have playdates with the squidlets from down the road.”
“Maybe not right now, but one day they will.”
“And on that day, you’ll be insufferably smug, saying ‘I told you so’. I know what you’re like too.”
“Will it matter? Think about all that progress, somewhere down the line. Progress Torchwood will have worked their asses off for.”
Ianto sighed. “Well, when you put it that way… Progress sounds exhausting.”
The End