Fic: To See The Universe
Title: To See The Universe
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, mentions Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1109
Spoilers: Post-CoE, and Ianto is alive again.
Summary: When Ianto had been dying in Thames House, he’d had no idea his life was just beginning.
Written For: Weekend Challenge Prompt: Iconic Book Quotes at 1_million_words. I got “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, “Oh, the places you’ll go! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” - Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, and “All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom.” - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and space ‘Verse.
Suddenly finding himself in possession of, and to some extent in a symbiotic relationship with a TARDIS had come as a bit of a shock to Ianto, although at the time it had been somewhat overshadowed by the fact that he was still alive when he clearly remembered dying. Okay, maybe ‘still alive’ was way off base, and ‘alive again’ would have been more accurate, but considering the circumstances… He wasn’t in any mood to quibble over phraseology.
Anyway, once he’d recovered from the initial shock of being Not Dead, and it had begun to sink in that he was, in fact, a Very Long Way from earth and all that was familiar to him, he’d had some major adjustments to make. His brain had stalled at that point as it had tried to wrap itself around the reality of his situation.
It was a lot to take in. Jack had, once upon a time, expressed a desire to show him the wonders of the universe, but in the end the opportunity to do so had never presented itself. Now it looked like Ianto was going to be out there, or out HERE in space, seeing it all by himself, something he never would have expected. Then again, he hadn’t expected to be doing much of anything after dying of a fast-acting alien virus in Thames House. Nevertheless, taking a solo trip to the stars hadn’t been on his To Do list.
Well, okay, he wouldn’t be entirely alone; he had his TARDIS, who was better, not to mention less obtrusive, company than most humans, and a whole lot smarter, but he didn’t have his Jack, which was disappointing. It would have been good to have someone experienced in space travel showing him around, but clearly that wasn’t to be. His initial attempts at intercepting his lover, or catching up to him, had failed, for various reasons, so he’d been forced to accept that he and his TARDIS would be going it alone, at least for now.
And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Jack would have been a distraction, and most likely would have had definite ideas of where they should go, and what they should do when they got there. Ianto needed time to adjust. He had a new life, literally, a new spaceship, and a great deal to learn. He wasn’t the only one; the TARDIS herself was only just getting to grips with her own abilities. That seemed fair enough; they could learn together, taking things at their own pace, with nobody rushing them, or expecting more of them than they could manage.
Admittedly, it was more than a little daunting, being out in the universe without Jack’s knowledge as a safety net, but Ianto wasn’t afraid. After all, what was the worst that could happen to someone who’d already died? Twice, if he was remembering correctly. Whatever they had to face, Ianto felt sure he and his TARDIS would figure out how to deal with it. Two heads were better than one, right?
Since he was a complete novice when it came to space travel, never having left the planet of his birth until now, he planned on going into this new adventure with his eyes wide open and hopefully with very few preconceptions getting in the way.
In theory, the TARDIS had at her disposal all the knowledge of her forbears, handed down in the form of genetic memory, but at present, she was still learning how to access it. Knowing everything could be a mixed blessing. Ianto, on the other hand, knew next to nothing except for a smattering of information collected during his time with Torchwood, and much of that was probably incomplete, if not totally wrong. It would be best for him to ignore anything he thought he knew and accept that in reality, he knew nothing.
Well, he knew how to make seriously good coffee, and he was a genius when it came to getting stains, especially blood, out of fabrics, but that was earth-based know-how, and very little of it would be applicable out among the stars. He saw himself as a blank slate, or an empty hard drive, just waiting to be filled up with all the things he’d need to know in order to survive out here in space. It would be a steep learning curve, and the only way to go about discovering what he needed to know was to just pick a destination and dive right in.
That thought sent a tingle of excitement through him, right down to his toes, and left him breathless with anticipation. The things he and his TARDIS were going to see, the new experiences that were waiting for them both… They had a whole universe to explore! They were going to see things few people from earth would ever get to see, unimaginable sights, both wonderful and terrible. They would meet all kinds of alien beings, make new friends, learn new languages, and listen to strange, unearthly music. Ianto would get to sample food and drink on countless worlds, explore alien landscapes, and investigate ecosystems populated by whatever plant and animal life evolved to thrive in them.
He'd thought visiting an alien world or two with Jack would be a thrilling, once in a lifetime adventure, but this would be something far greater, because it wasn’t going to be one brief trip. He couldn’t go home, not to his own time, but there was nothing for him to go home to anyway. Everyone he knew believed he was dead, and he was mostly okay with that. He had to be. This was his home now, aboard his TARDIS, and they could go anywhere, or anywhen they chose, or they would be able to, once they mastered the art of time travel. In the meantime, Ianto was sure they’d find more than enough to keep them busy in the present.
He still wanted to find Jack; that remained high on his list of priorities, but as he’d already discovered, it wasn’t going to be as easy to do as he’d first thought. It would take time and patience, but it seemed he had plenty of both, so he wasn’t going to worry about it. Instead, Ianto planned to travel from world to world, learning as much as he could along the way, so that when he and Jack were finally reunited, he might have a few wonders of his own to share with his lover. This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life, and he was determined to live it to the fullest extent possible.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, mentions Jack.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1109
Spoilers: Post-CoE, and Ianto is alive again.
Summary: When Ianto had been dying in Thames House, he’d had no idea his life was just beginning.
Written For: Weekend Challenge Prompt: Iconic Book Quotes at 1_million_words. I got “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, “Oh, the places you’ll go! You’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” - Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, and “All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom.” - Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
A/N: Set in my Through Time and space ‘Verse.
Suddenly finding himself in possession of, and to some extent in a symbiotic relationship with a TARDIS had come as a bit of a shock to Ianto, although at the time it had been somewhat overshadowed by the fact that he was still alive when he clearly remembered dying. Okay, maybe ‘still alive’ was way off base, and ‘alive again’ would have been more accurate, but considering the circumstances… He wasn’t in any mood to quibble over phraseology.
Anyway, once he’d recovered from the initial shock of being Not Dead, and it had begun to sink in that he was, in fact, a Very Long Way from earth and all that was familiar to him, he’d had some major adjustments to make. His brain had stalled at that point as it had tried to wrap itself around the reality of his situation.
It was a lot to take in. Jack had, once upon a time, expressed a desire to show him the wonders of the universe, but in the end the opportunity to do so had never presented itself. Now it looked like Ianto was going to be out there, or out HERE in space, seeing it all by himself, something he never would have expected. Then again, he hadn’t expected to be doing much of anything after dying of a fast-acting alien virus in Thames House. Nevertheless, taking a solo trip to the stars hadn’t been on his To Do list.
Well, okay, he wouldn’t be entirely alone; he had his TARDIS, who was better, not to mention less obtrusive, company than most humans, and a whole lot smarter, but he didn’t have his Jack, which was disappointing. It would have been good to have someone experienced in space travel showing him around, but clearly that wasn’t to be. His initial attempts at intercepting his lover, or catching up to him, had failed, for various reasons, so he’d been forced to accept that he and his TARDIS would be going it alone, at least for now.
And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Jack would have been a distraction, and most likely would have had definite ideas of where they should go, and what they should do when they got there. Ianto needed time to adjust. He had a new life, literally, a new spaceship, and a great deal to learn. He wasn’t the only one; the TARDIS herself was only just getting to grips with her own abilities. That seemed fair enough; they could learn together, taking things at their own pace, with nobody rushing them, or expecting more of them than they could manage.
Admittedly, it was more than a little daunting, being out in the universe without Jack’s knowledge as a safety net, but Ianto wasn’t afraid. After all, what was the worst that could happen to someone who’d already died? Twice, if he was remembering correctly. Whatever they had to face, Ianto felt sure he and his TARDIS would figure out how to deal with it. Two heads were better than one, right?
Since he was a complete novice when it came to space travel, never having left the planet of his birth until now, he planned on going into this new adventure with his eyes wide open and hopefully with very few preconceptions getting in the way.
In theory, the TARDIS had at her disposal all the knowledge of her forbears, handed down in the form of genetic memory, but at present, she was still learning how to access it. Knowing everything could be a mixed blessing. Ianto, on the other hand, knew next to nothing except for a smattering of information collected during his time with Torchwood, and much of that was probably incomplete, if not totally wrong. It would be best for him to ignore anything he thought he knew and accept that in reality, he knew nothing.
Well, he knew how to make seriously good coffee, and he was a genius when it came to getting stains, especially blood, out of fabrics, but that was earth-based know-how, and very little of it would be applicable out among the stars. He saw himself as a blank slate, or an empty hard drive, just waiting to be filled up with all the things he’d need to know in order to survive out here in space. It would be a steep learning curve, and the only way to go about discovering what he needed to know was to just pick a destination and dive right in.
That thought sent a tingle of excitement through him, right down to his toes, and left him breathless with anticipation. The things he and his TARDIS were going to see, the new experiences that were waiting for them both… They had a whole universe to explore! They were going to see things few people from earth would ever get to see, unimaginable sights, both wonderful and terrible. They would meet all kinds of alien beings, make new friends, learn new languages, and listen to strange, unearthly music. Ianto would get to sample food and drink on countless worlds, explore alien landscapes, and investigate ecosystems populated by whatever plant and animal life evolved to thrive in them.
He'd thought visiting an alien world or two with Jack would be a thrilling, once in a lifetime adventure, but this would be something far greater, because it wasn’t going to be one brief trip. He couldn’t go home, not to his own time, but there was nothing for him to go home to anyway. Everyone he knew believed he was dead, and he was mostly okay with that. He had to be. This was his home now, aboard his TARDIS, and they could go anywhere, or anywhen they chose, or they would be able to, once they mastered the art of time travel. In the meantime, Ianto was sure they’d find more than enough to keep them busy in the present.
He still wanted to find Jack; that remained high on his list of priorities, but as he’d already discovered, it wasn’t going to be as easy to do as he’d first thought. It would take time and patience, but it seemed he had plenty of both, so he wasn’t going to worry about it. Instead, Ianto planned to travel from world to world, learning as much as he could along the way, so that when he and Jack were finally reunited, he might have a few wonders of his own to share with his lover. This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life, and he was determined to live it to the fullest extent possible.
The End