Round Two Reviews - Part 15
Today's Featured Stories Include:
*
Life In Technicolor by Kaydeefalls Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Rose Tyler
Characters: Rose, alt!Jack, Ten
Rating: Teen
Details: One-shot, post-JE, some elements of Rose/Jack.
Why It Rocks:
Have you ever read a story that grabs you by the throat and never lets you go? Yeah. This is that story. It's poignant language that draws you into Rose's world and shows you how life has changed since she's been 'stranded' in this universe. This is how it begins. With a simple goal.
All night, she lies awake, staring out into the gray darkness. And the next morning, she gets out of bed. That's important, she decides. Getting out of bed.
She'll work the next step out from there.
And she does. This is Rose learning to live this life, slightly out of place with the rest of the universe. This is a Rose who can imagine her future, any future, intertwined with her past and both fear and long for them at the same time. This is a Rose who's worried that her presence in this universe isn't meant to be.
She hugs herself tightly, trying to stop trembling, trying to shake off a bone-deep sense of utter wrongness. The idea that there's a woman alive in this world who wasn't alive before, and that woman is her, and this entire universe is different because she's here now. That she's not meant to be here at all.
But she carries on. She works at Torchwood, first under the moniker of the Boss's Daughter, then as something else entirely. Her knowledge is enough that she manages to save the day, perhaps in times where no-one is meant to. Then she encounters Jack. Not her Jack, but close enough to make her heart ache. The inevitable happens. And now she knows. What it's like to touch him, to hold him.
And she can imagine a new future. One where she stays with this Jack. One where she never sees the Doctor again. But it doesn't happen like that.
She goes on. And she learns more about life and grows until she reveals one poignant truth.
Jake scratches the back of his neck, looking exquisitely uncomfortable. "Do I - yeah, I guess. I dunno. What is love, really, anyway?"
She doesn't even have to think about it. "It's having someone's hand to hold. It's knowing that the universe is vast and cold and uncaring, and you're hardly a speck, but still not feeling alone. It's wanting to be a better person just because he's there. Love is..." She swallows hard, blinking away tears. "It's seeing the world in
Technicolor."
This is a story about Rose Tyler growing up. She learns there are no such things as forever. And she applies that knowledge, everything she learned with him, to this planet, and she has more days where everyone lives.
This is a story about finding doors that were once closed might very well be opened again. Or can they? It starts with a chance encounter with a certain object owned by one Van Statten. It ends with a hopeful note as Bad Wolf emerges once more and a new future is revealed to her.
On the whole, the fic draws you in and won't let you go until you draw to final few sentences. You'll want to re-read it again and again because this is a story about growing up, about things lost and regained, about finding hope in a cruel universe.
In short, vote for Life in Technicolor. It's short, it's brilliant, it's draw-you-in excitement, and it's incredibly poignant. It's a wonderful look at growing up and the truth of just what love is all about. It teaches you how some doors, once closed, might somehow be opened again and it absolutely deserves your vote.
*
Emotional Baggage by Catsfiction/Sensiblecat also on Teaspoon
Categories: Three nominated stories in the following categories: Donna Noble, Ten/Donna, Episode Tag, Novel
Characters: Donna, Ten
Rating: G
Details: Series. Ten and Donna friendship. Elements of Ten/Donna. Set during Series 4
Why It Rocks:
Have you ever read an author's work and realise that they just get a character? That they have the capability of digging deep into that character's psyche - both the good bits and the bad bits - and display them for the whole world to see? That is sensiblecat/catsfiction when it comes to the Tenth Doctor. And just who's the perfect foil for this particular exploration? Well, it's Donna, of course.
The Emotional Baggage series follows the Doctor and Donna through the course of Series 4. You've got your expected aftermath of the things they've seen and done, as well as conversations that explore the Doctor's psyche so well that you wonder if sensiblecat has a direct line to RTD.
The first story in this series is called 'Position Filled' and follows the Doctor's thoughts during those last few minutes where Donna presents him with her luggage and informs him that she's coming with him. Does he want someone to come with him again? After Martha? After Rose? He's made some mistakes and he knows it.
She means business, this girl. She has a plan. Not his sort of plan, made up minute-by-minute on the hoof, but a serious strategy for getting where she wants to be. All because of him. It's terrifying, in a way.
Here we go again.
But he realises that Donna isn't after that sort of 'mate'. Not like Rose or Martha. Just a mate. And that's something he needs and knows it. This leads into their initial forays into learning about each other. After Pompeii, she wants to know more. Where is he from? Why are his morals so different from her own? It turns into a discussion about Gallifrey, even though he doesn't want it to be. There are elements of humour and angst, even as it explores the Doctor's psychological reasons for being the way he is. One of my favourite lines of the series is:
And there she is, standing right in front of him and holding out his coat. "Put this away on the way to the library," she says. "If you think I'm gonna start clearing up after you, you've got another think coming, sunshine. You lose any more planets, you clean up the mess yourself."
In the fic that follows after Planet of the Ood, Donna is blaming herself for not being strong enough to withstand the Ood's song and that leads to the Doctor asking a question he has to ask, yet hates to.
"Do you really want to stay?" he asks. His mouth's gone dry and his scalp is prickling and he hates himself for caring about her answer as much as he does. "People don't always," he goes on. "You wouldn't be the first one to decide it's not for you. This life - it's not for most people. No shame in admitting it."
But she doesn't want to leave. Even after everything that's happened, she wants to stay, and while that shouldn't please him as much as it does he can't help himself and it's beautiful to read. There are some elements of Doctor/Rose in this fic, especially after the revelation that Donna's seen Rose before and that gives the Doctor some hope that he might see her again after everything.
My favourite story in the series is the fic set after Poison Sky. What's not to love about Donna going after the Doctor with this?
"Don't you ever do that again!" she yells.
"Do what?" he says, rubbing his cheek, not looking at her, knowing exactly what kind of thing she's going to say.
"Go off and get yourself killed without even asking! You didn't give us a choice! Don't we matter - the people who care if you live or die? Don't we matter more than some honour thing you've got going with a chavvy bunch of baked-potato-head aliens?"
You're torn between cheering Donna on and wanting to hug the Doctor because he's so very broken. And Donna gets that, she really does, and tries to make him see it too. Because Donna understands the Doctor, more than anyone else has, because she's looking at him in a way where she's not blinded by love or anything else. She just sees him. And knows him far too well.
"You know what I love about you?" she says.
"Shooting things with a water pistol?" he asks, desperately trying to laugh.
...
"Go on then, cheer me up," he says.
"You give your heart, even when you know it'll get broken," she tells him.
It's true. That's who the Doctor is, and Donna knows it. Later, after they meet River and she finds out just what he's done to 'save her' she asks for one thing, just one thing, and it just breaks your heart when you know what's to come.
"Promise me something," she insists. "Promise you won't choose for me. If I haven't said I want to be saved, don't save me. Don't go on to whoever comes next and tell them I'm having a great time when I'm just trapped somewhere that isn't real."
He can't do that. And Donna knows it, too, when she said prior to that request:
"You can't bear to be alone, so you let people in, but every time you do that they end up loving you and getting hurt and thinking it’s worthwhile. So you feel you have to save them."
We don't get to see what happens during Journey's End for the Doctor and Donna, but we do get to see the aftermath, some years into the future. We get to learn what's happened to Donna (and she's still brilliant, no matter what she's doing). We get to find that the Doctor has started seeing his former companions, at least once a year. He's grown up since he was with Donna and it's wonderful. The story ends with a hopeful note and it's one that will stay with you forever.
This is a series about the Doctor as seen through the eyes of Donna. This is a story about who the Doctor is, who he really is. It doesn't spare any blows. And its a pure joy to see.
In short, vote for Emotional Baggage. It's angst and it's humour and it's insight into a broken Time Lord's mind. It's a wonderful series and absolutely deserves your vote.
*
Held at a Distance by Rallalon Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Jack/Doctor, Short Story
Characters: Rose, Jack, Ten, Torchwood cast
Rating: Ranges from Teen to Adult
Details: A series of three one-shots, OT3, vaguely AU post-Doomsday.
Why It Rocks:
There are dozens upon dozens of stories that cover Jack's "wrongness". There are a few fix-it fics and a few others where the Doctor learns how to "deal with it". But what strikes a chord with this reviewer are those stories that are unique. Taking a different look at Jack's "wrongness" and how the Doctor (and Rose) might have to deal with it. Rallalon's Held at a Distance series is a gem amongst those unique few stories.
This is a series about three people who love each other. Three people who were intimate before the regeneration. And then it's a story about how they overcome a seemingly un-breachable barrier.
In the first story, At Thirty Paces, we learn the Doctor can't approach Jack.
The man who wasn’t the Doctor - and yet had to be - pushed off of the TARDIS with his shoulder, took a few paces forward before wincing perceptibly.
"I think that’s the limit," he said in a London accent and tossed something for him to catch, lobbing the object some thirty feet.
Jack caught it, the action hurting his hand. He looked at the object incredulously, incomprehension flooding his mind. A tape measurer?
"Rose," the man continued, something sad and terrifyingly resigned in his voice, "figure out how far this is."
Thirty paces. With two men who thrive on touch, how can this be overcome? They come to a decision. Jack can't travel with them, much as they wish they could. Nor could the Doctor and Rose spend all their time with Jack. Because there's another problem besides the barrier of thirty paces. Jack's immortal. The Doctor is as good as. Rose isn't.
So they measure out their visits like the treats they are.
The Doctor met his gaze squarely, silently reminding Jack of just how much more time he’d had to adjust to this than the Time Lord. Maybe they were too far apart for it to be clearly seen, but Jack knew that look. Resigned, wanting. That was two of them.
He looked at Rose and Rose made it three.
But for people who crave touch, there's something they could try. Maybe. Possibly. But how could it work?
"Fancy a shag at thirty paces?" Jack called back, cocky as only a man who knows he’ll be turned down can be.
"Sounds complicated," the Doctor replied before turning this game on its head. "’Course, brain the size of mine, we’re sure to work something out."
Rose grinned. "I’m game."
It seems simple. There's one of the three that can touch and be touched by them both.
Threesome at thirty feet. It was a good thing he was Jack Harkness, because there was no other being in the known universe who could make this work.
The Doctor was up first, for health reasons, and Jack couldn’t complain in the slightest. Stretched out on his stomach, Jack leaned over the edge of the barn loft, wetting his lips at the glorious sight laid out below him.
And it works. This is a love story unlike any other. Of three people who learn to overcome obstacles as best they can. But it's not without its heartache.
Jack pulled back immediately, raising his hands up. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see anything more than the revulsion on the other man’s face. "Doc, what-"
"Don’t touch me!" the Time Lord bellowed, the words warped by pain. "Get back!"
Rose was at the Doctor’s side, stumbled over her dress and nearly fell in her hurry to hold him. He clutched at her for support, crying out, shaking, every line of his body traced in agony.
Jack ran.
But this isn't all you see. This story isn't just about how the Doctor, Rose and Jack overcome his 'wrongness'. It's a story about Jack's life. About him living the slow path. It's about him dealing with heartache in Estelle:
"I love you," he told her instead of good-bye, knowing that nothing he said could stop her from waiting for him.
"I love you more," she answered and, for the sake of her poor little heart, he hoped she was wrong.
The Doctor and Jack learn there are other ways to love. Other ways to make do.
It was good and bad at once, not needing Rose to form that bridge between them. Good to know it could happen, bad to know it would. As time passed, as they adjusted to one another, the Doctor would visit him alone, leaving Rose with her mother and coming back with her a day later. A day later for the Doctor, of course. For Jack, it could often be longer than a year. Worth it, though, not to waste Rose’s life away. It was a selfish gamble he played, trying to save Rose’s days for later, for her to grow and live and grow too old for the TARDIS and one day stay with him for good. Almost for good, with the Doctor always popping in. It was their plan, the most long-term plan any of them
had ever had.
But inevitably, there comes heartbreak. Because their plan doesn't come to fruition.
Stepping into the dimness of the streetlamp, the Doctor looks the way that Jack expects him to look: like a widower. Like a man who has lost his world all over again. Like a man filled with shame.
Rose is gone. And they have to go on alone.
But that's not where this story ends. There are other stories in this series. In And Always, we see a point before the heartbreak. A point where Rose serves as a bridge between the Doctor and Jack. A point where they can show their love for each other through role play and the handy use of some technology.
”Hello,” he says, slowly starting to grin. He sets down the lamp on his desk, desperately needing to have his hands free.
“Hello,” Rose replies, tugging the Doctor’s overcoat tighter around her, brown-dyed hair brushing softly against the lapels. It moulds to her in the best way possible and, amazingly, Jack’s knees start to give way. He can’t remember the last time that happened.
It's sensuous, it's beautiful, and it's absolutely heart-lifting. Because they've found a way to bridge that distance. Using Rose dressed as the Doctor and the Doctor speaking to Jack through a microphone.
Rallalon has a real talent for writing characters making love. This isn't sex. It isn't even smut. It's love.
In the latest (and hopefully not last) fic of this series, Rallalon takes the events of 'End of Days' and turns it on its ear. What if the Doctor felt the moment that Jack died? What if he comes running the instant he knows? And how will he react when he finds that the one thing he thought was a constant isn't any more?
In all his time with this body, he’s never been so close to Jack, never touched him with these hands.
Rassilon.
But this isn't a Jack who comes back to life on his own as in the episode. This is a Jack who has to be brought back by someone who loves him. This is the Doctor, touching his lover for the first and last time with his own hands.
"Ten seconds," he adds, because he can’t hold out much longer than
that, not even for their second kiss.
Jack’s hands are everywhere, clutching and desperate, roaming and frantic. Shoulders, stomach, neck and face; it’s a rushed exploration, the first and last of its kind. Fingers in his hair once more and the last instants are torn away from them in the meeting of their lips.
No-one writes hurt/comfort like Rallalon. It's one of my favourite aspects of her writing. This is a series about comfort and love above all else. No matter what wrenches life throws at them, these characters persevere. I love how Rallalon carries on the love story between all three characters in spite of all the odds against it. It's
angst and it's hurt/comfort and it's a smile and it's heartbreak.
In short, vote for Held at a Distance. It's angst and it's hurt/comfort and it's you reaching for a tissue or two because it hurts even as much as it cheers you. It's a wonderful series and absolutely deserves your vote.
*
85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human by ladychi
Category: Listfic
Characters: TenII, Rose, others
Rating: Teen
Details: List-fic, post-JE.
Why It Rocks:
Disclaimer: This fic was nominated by the reviewer.
Soooo....list fic. Not something I generally find myself reading, to be quite honest. I like to really crawl in to a good yarn and hang out in it for a bit, and for that reason I generally give a pass to drabbles, listfics, and the like. However, because Chi is my homegirl and I trust her to write worthwhile fic, I did click on her 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human. Also, I'm a junkie for human!Doctor, who clearly is the star of our show here.
What I love about 85 Things... is how ladychi continually walks the line between the sublime and the mundane--very much like being a human being. Sex is beautiful but it's also very silly and a little messy. Our loved ones are gorgeous, but maybe not first thing in the morning. Children are little bits of immortality, but they also require a change of nappy frequently.
What Chi has given us hear is a lot less of a listfic and a lot more of a poem. Take away the numerals, and that's what is left: A meditation on what it means to be human, to live, to screw, to love, to procreate and fight with our lovers and celebrate life, and to finally die at the end of it all. And beyond the themes, there is an economy of language and use of refrain that is much less prose and much more poetry:
47.One tiny fist around a finger holds the meaning of the universe.
48.It's easier to talk about the daughter he lost with the daughter he gained in his arms.
49.Babies smell like powder and sunshine and newness.
50.Except for when they stink.
But 85 Things also is extremely funny in the way it juxtaposes such lofty meaning-of-life issues with the much more mundane foibles of the Doctor:
20.The toaster will explode if you increase the current too much.
21.There are three fire extinguishers in Rose Tyler's apartment.
22.Three-year-olds can't keep secrets.
23.Blowing stuff up is a good way to get out of babysitting.
24.Rose starts to get suspicious after the third blender.
Vote for 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human in the listfic category because it's so much more than a listfic. It's a poem that happens to have some numbers attached.
*
A Few Days In the Life by unfolded73
Category: Tenth Doctor
Characters: Ten, various companions
Rating: All Ages
Details: One-shot, post-JE, almost angsty, but not.
Why It Rocks:
Disclaimer: This fic was nominated by the reviewer.
Let me preface this review by saying that I am a massive, massive fan of unfolded73. Spot-on characterization is very important to me, but what she does is combine perfect individual characterization with believable relationship characterization. Not everyone can do that. I’ve read plenty of fics where two characters as individuals are drawn very well, but as soon as they start interacting with one another in the context of a relationship, it doesn’t seem like that’s the sort of relationship they’d have at all. Ships are really a third character with their own voice and their own way of acting. What unfolded73 has done in her other works is give the Doctor and Rose a truthful, real, warts-and-all relationship without losing either of their characterizations in the process.
And now forget I ever said that because in this fic, A Few Days in the Life, unfolded73 has written the Doctor in-canon post-Journeys End and alone. Well, I say “alone”. He’s not really alone and that’s the beauty of this fic. It explores the Doctor’s state of mind through his dealings with other people. No navely-gazey interior-monologue this. The Doctor engages with strangers, with old friends, and new ones and through those conversations we get a portrait of a very lonely, very angry man searching for something, anything to take the edge off of his pain, and ultimately searching for meaning.
But it’s not a depressing angst-fic. Not really. That’s the beauty of unfolded73’s style. She shows, she doesn’t tell-the mark of a skilled writer.
"I don't suppose you want to..." He gestured at the blue box behind him.
Her eyebrows went up. "Wanna what?"
"Travel with me. Anywhere you want to go in the whole universe."
She seemed to think about it, but shook her head. "No. I mean ... no."
"Okay." He shrugged, then forced himself to smile. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Julia Franklin."
Her handshake was firm. "You too, Doctor."
He stepped into the TARDIS and went over to the console, starting the dematerialization. He didn't go back to remind her that it also travelled in time.
The Doctor’s actions speak so much louder than words ever could here, and unfolded73 has the artistry to let them.
And even though this is billed as a series of vignettes, the Doctor does go through a journey from start to finish. This is also something that’s terribly important to me in fic that unfolded73 always delivers on. When she writes our beloved main characters, they are in-character but we always learn something new about them. They live for the moment on the page, and grow, change, learn, or sometimes steadfastly refuse to learn. The reader gains insight, and yet, it’s always insight in to the character that we already know and love, not some made-up person that she’s just calling the Doctor. I never fail to feel like I’m reading about the same man who I watch on the telly, and in this story in particular, because she sticks very close to show canon, it feels like I am seeing some of what the Doctor was up to in between Journeys End and The Next Doctor.
And that in and of itself is rather amazing, considering it was written long before The Next Doctor aired. In fact it was written before we knew about Tennant leaving as well. It seems so incredibly prescient, re-reading it now. The Doctor that unfolded73 is writing about here is the very same Doctor who says “They break my heart” in the Christmas special, but then goes off and has dinner with Jackson Lake anyway. And that is a testament to how strongly she grasps the character of the Doctor: she and the character’s original creator are of a mind about where he is emotionally.
Each vignette crystallizes a moment of learning, a stage in the grieving process. It’s not overt, this is not a “five times the Doctor learned something about grieving” sort of fic, but it’s all there, percolating below the surface. How he first doesn’t really cope, he just exists, perhaps living a bit dangerously, foretelling the implication in The Next Doctor that he doesn’t have anything to live for. Jack and Martha are both written beautifully as devoted friends banging their head against the Doctor’s wall, and we get to see a bit of “no second chances,” the type of man that the Doctor is when there’s no one around to stop him:
The Doctor's jaw was clenched. He turned to one of the soldiers behind him. "You can take him."
"No, you can't! You don't know what they'll do to me. They said you were merciful!"
The Doctor turned to leave. "Yeah, well, consider me officially out of mercy."
But then the end….oh the end is sweet. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read the fic. But, the Doctor learns the most valuable lesson of all without anyone actually saying a word to him.
A Few Days in the Life is a short-ish one-shot that in just 2600 words tenderly, sensitively and believably moves the Doctor from the depths of nihilistic grief to acceptance and joy once again. That’s why you should vote for it in the Tenth Doctor category.
*
Today's reviews were written by:
dark_aegis: Life in Technicolor; Emotional Baggage; and Held at a Distance.
papilio_luna: 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human; and A Few Days In the Life.
*
Life In Technicolor by Kaydeefalls Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Rose Tyler
Characters: Rose, alt!Jack, Ten
Rating: Teen
Details: One-shot, post-JE, some elements of Rose/Jack.
Why It Rocks:
Have you ever read a story that grabs you by the throat and never lets you go? Yeah. This is that story. It's poignant language that draws you into Rose's world and shows you how life has changed since she's been 'stranded' in this universe. This is how it begins. With a simple goal.
All night, she lies awake, staring out into the gray darkness. And the next morning, she gets out of bed. That's important, she decides. Getting out of bed.
She'll work the next step out from there.
And she does. This is Rose learning to live this life, slightly out of place with the rest of the universe. This is a Rose who can imagine her future, any future, intertwined with her past and both fear and long for them at the same time. This is a Rose who's worried that her presence in this universe isn't meant to be.
She hugs herself tightly, trying to stop trembling, trying to shake off a bone-deep sense of utter wrongness. The idea that there's a woman alive in this world who wasn't alive before, and that woman is her, and this entire universe is different because she's here now. That she's not meant to be here at all.
But she carries on. She works at Torchwood, first under the moniker of the Boss's Daughter, then as something else entirely. Her knowledge is enough that she manages to save the day, perhaps in times where no-one is meant to. Then she encounters Jack. Not her Jack, but close enough to make her heart ache. The inevitable happens. And now she knows. What it's like to touch him, to hold him.
And she can imagine a new future. One where she stays with this Jack. One where she never sees the Doctor again. But it doesn't happen like that.
She goes on. And she learns more about life and grows until she reveals one poignant truth.
Jake scratches the back of his neck, looking exquisitely uncomfortable. "Do I - yeah, I guess. I dunno. What is love, really, anyway?"
She doesn't even have to think about it. "It's having someone's hand to hold. It's knowing that the universe is vast and cold and uncaring, and you're hardly a speck, but still not feeling alone. It's wanting to be a better person just because he's there. Love is..." She swallows hard, blinking away tears. "It's seeing the world in
Technicolor."
This is a story about Rose Tyler growing up. She learns there are no such things as forever. And she applies that knowledge, everything she learned with him, to this planet, and she has more days where everyone lives.
This is a story about finding doors that were once closed might very well be opened again. Or can they? It starts with a chance encounter with a certain object owned by one Van Statten. It ends with a hopeful note as Bad Wolf emerges once more and a new future is revealed to her.
On the whole, the fic draws you in and won't let you go until you draw to final few sentences. You'll want to re-read it again and again because this is a story about growing up, about things lost and regained, about finding hope in a cruel universe.
In short, vote for Life in Technicolor. It's short, it's brilliant, it's draw-you-in excitement, and it's incredibly poignant. It's a wonderful look at growing up and the truth of just what love is all about. It teaches you how some doors, once closed, might somehow be opened again and it absolutely deserves your vote.
*
Emotional Baggage by Catsfiction/Sensiblecat also on Teaspoon
Categories: Three nominated stories in the following categories: Donna Noble, Ten/Donna, Episode Tag, Novel
Characters: Donna, Ten
Rating: G
Details: Series. Ten and Donna friendship. Elements of Ten/Donna. Set during Series 4
Why It Rocks:
Have you ever read an author's work and realise that they just get a character? That they have the capability of digging deep into that character's psyche - both the good bits and the bad bits - and display them for the whole world to see? That is sensiblecat/catsfiction when it comes to the Tenth Doctor. And just who's the perfect foil for this particular exploration? Well, it's Donna, of course.
The Emotional Baggage series follows the Doctor and Donna through the course of Series 4. You've got your expected aftermath of the things they've seen and done, as well as conversations that explore the Doctor's psyche so well that you wonder if sensiblecat has a direct line to RTD.
The first story in this series is called 'Position Filled' and follows the Doctor's thoughts during those last few minutes where Donna presents him with her luggage and informs him that she's coming with him. Does he want someone to come with him again? After Martha? After Rose? He's made some mistakes and he knows it.
She means business, this girl. She has a plan. Not his sort of plan, made up minute-by-minute on the hoof, but a serious strategy for getting where she wants to be. All because of him. It's terrifying, in a way.
Here we go again.
But he realises that Donna isn't after that sort of 'mate'. Not like Rose or Martha. Just a mate. And that's something he needs and knows it. This leads into their initial forays into learning about each other. After Pompeii, she wants to know more. Where is he from? Why are his morals so different from her own? It turns into a discussion about Gallifrey, even though he doesn't want it to be. There are elements of humour and angst, even as it explores the Doctor's psychological reasons for being the way he is. One of my favourite lines of the series is:
And there she is, standing right in front of him and holding out his coat. "Put this away on the way to the library," she says. "If you think I'm gonna start clearing up after you, you've got another think coming, sunshine. You lose any more planets, you clean up the mess yourself."
In the fic that follows after Planet of the Ood, Donna is blaming herself for not being strong enough to withstand the Ood's song and that leads to the Doctor asking a question he has to ask, yet hates to.
"Do you really want to stay?" he asks. His mouth's gone dry and his scalp is prickling and he hates himself for caring about her answer as much as he does. "People don't always," he goes on. "You wouldn't be the first one to decide it's not for you. This life - it's not for most people. No shame in admitting it."
But she doesn't want to leave. Even after everything that's happened, she wants to stay, and while that shouldn't please him as much as it does he can't help himself and it's beautiful to read. There are some elements of Doctor/Rose in this fic, especially after the revelation that Donna's seen Rose before and that gives the Doctor some hope that he might see her again after everything.
My favourite story in the series is the fic set after Poison Sky. What's not to love about Donna going after the Doctor with this?
"Don't you ever do that again!" she yells.
"Do what?" he says, rubbing his cheek, not looking at her, knowing exactly what kind of thing she's going to say.
"Go off and get yourself killed without even asking! You didn't give us a choice! Don't we matter - the people who care if you live or die? Don't we matter more than some honour thing you've got going with a chavvy bunch of baked-potato-head aliens?"
You're torn between cheering Donna on and wanting to hug the Doctor because he's so very broken. And Donna gets that, she really does, and tries to make him see it too. Because Donna understands the Doctor, more than anyone else has, because she's looking at him in a way where she's not blinded by love or anything else. She just sees him. And knows him far too well.
"You know what I love about you?" she says.
"Shooting things with a water pistol?" he asks, desperately trying to laugh.
...
"Go on then, cheer me up," he says.
"You give your heart, even when you know it'll get broken," she tells him.
It's true. That's who the Doctor is, and Donna knows it. Later, after they meet River and she finds out just what he's done to 'save her' she asks for one thing, just one thing, and it just breaks your heart when you know what's to come.
"Promise me something," she insists. "Promise you won't choose for me. If I haven't said I want to be saved, don't save me. Don't go on to whoever comes next and tell them I'm having a great time when I'm just trapped somewhere that isn't real."
He can't do that. And Donna knows it, too, when she said prior to that request:
"You can't bear to be alone, so you let people in, but every time you do that they end up loving you and getting hurt and thinking it’s worthwhile. So you feel you have to save them."
We don't get to see what happens during Journey's End for the Doctor and Donna, but we do get to see the aftermath, some years into the future. We get to learn what's happened to Donna (and she's still brilliant, no matter what she's doing). We get to find that the Doctor has started seeing his former companions, at least once a year. He's grown up since he was with Donna and it's wonderful. The story ends with a hopeful note and it's one that will stay with you forever.
This is a series about the Doctor as seen through the eyes of Donna. This is a story about who the Doctor is, who he really is. It doesn't spare any blows. And its a pure joy to see.
In short, vote for Emotional Baggage. It's angst and it's humour and it's insight into a broken Time Lord's mind. It's a wonderful series and absolutely deserves your vote.
*
Held at a Distance by Rallalon Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Jack/Doctor, Short Story
Characters: Rose, Jack, Ten, Torchwood cast
Rating: Ranges from Teen to Adult
Details: A series of three one-shots, OT3, vaguely AU post-Doomsday.
Why It Rocks:
There are dozens upon dozens of stories that cover Jack's "wrongness". There are a few fix-it fics and a few others where the Doctor learns how to "deal with it". But what strikes a chord with this reviewer are those stories that are unique. Taking a different look at Jack's "wrongness" and how the Doctor (and Rose) might have to deal with it. Rallalon's Held at a Distance series is a gem amongst those unique few stories.
This is a series about three people who love each other. Three people who were intimate before the regeneration. And then it's a story about how they overcome a seemingly un-breachable barrier.
In the first story, At Thirty Paces, we learn the Doctor can't approach Jack.
The man who wasn’t the Doctor - and yet had to be - pushed off of the TARDIS with his shoulder, took a few paces forward before wincing perceptibly.
"I think that’s the limit," he said in a London accent and tossed something for him to catch, lobbing the object some thirty feet.
Jack caught it, the action hurting his hand. He looked at the object incredulously, incomprehension flooding his mind. A tape measurer?
"Rose," the man continued, something sad and terrifyingly resigned in his voice, "figure out how far this is."
Thirty paces. With two men who thrive on touch, how can this be overcome? They come to a decision. Jack can't travel with them, much as they wish they could. Nor could the Doctor and Rose spend all their time with Jack. Because there's another problem besides the barrier of thirty paces. Jack's immortal. The Doctor is as good as. Rose isn't.
So they measure out their visits like the treats they are.
The Doctor met his gaze squarely, silently reminding Jack of just how much more time he’d had to adjust to this than the Time Lord. Maybe they were too far apart for it to be clearly seen, but Jack knew that look. Resigned, wanting. That was two of them.
He looked at Rose and Rose made it three.
But for people who crave touch, there's something they could try. Maybe. Possibly. But how could it work?
"Fancy a shag at thirty paces?" Jack called back, cocky as only a man who knows he’ll be turned down can be.
"Sounds complicated," the Doctor replied before turning this game on its head. "’Course, brain the size of mine, we’re sure to work something out."
Rose grinned. "I’m game."
It seems simple. There's one of the three that can touch and be touched by them both.
Threesome at thirty feet. It was a good thing he was Jack Harkness, because there was no other being in the known universe who could make this work.
The Doctor was up first, for health reasons, and Jack couldn’t complain in the slightest. Stretched out on his stomach, Jack leaned over the edge of the barn loft, wetting his lips at the glorious sight laid out below him.
And it works. This is a love story unlike any other. Of three people who learn to overcome obstacles as best they can. But it's not without its heartache.
Jack pulled back immediately, raising his hands up. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see anything more than the revulsion on the other man’s face. "Doc, what-"
"Don’t touch me!" the Time Lord bellowed, the words warped by pain. "Get back!"
Rose was at the Doctor’s side, stumbled over her dress and nearly fell in her hurry to hold him. He clutched at her for support, crying out, shaking, every line of his body traced in agony.
Jack ran.
But this isn't all you see. This story isn't just about how the Doctor, Rose and Jack overcome his 'wrongness'. It's a story about Jack's life. About him living the slow path. It's about him dealing with heartache in Estelle:
"I love you," he told her instead of good-bye, knowing that nothing he said could stop her from waiting for him.
"I love you more," she answered and, for the sake of her poor little heart, he hoped she was wrong.
The Doctor and Jack learn there are other ways to love. Other ways to make do.
It was good and bad at once, not needing Rose to form that bridge between them. Good to know it could happen, bad to know it would. As time passed, as they adjusted to one another, the Doctor would visit him alone, leaving Rose with her mother and coming back with her a day later. A day later for the Doctor, of course. For Jack, it could often be longer than a year. Worth it, though, not to waste Rose’s life away. It was a selfish gamble he played, trying to save Rose’s days for later, for her to grow and live and grow too old for the TARDIS and one day stay with him for good. Almost for good, with the Doctor always popping in. It was their plan, the most long-term plan any of them
had ever had.
But inevitably, there comes heartbreak. Because their plan doesn't come to fruition.
Stepping into the dimness of the streetlamp, the Doctor looks the way that Jack expects him to look: like a widower. Like a man who has lost his world all over again. Like a man filled with shame.
Rose is gone. And they have to go on alone.
But that's not where this story ends. There are other stories in this series. In And Always, we see a point before the heartbreak. A point where Rose serves as a bridge between the Doctor and Jack. A point where they can show their love for each other through role play and the handy use of some technology.
”Hello,” he says, slowly starting to grin. He sets down the lamp on his desk, desperately needing to have his hands free.
“Hello,” Rose replies, tugging the Doctor’s overcoat tighter around her, brown-dyed hair brushing softly against the lapels. It moulds to her in the best way possible and, amazingly, Jack’s knees start to give way. He can’t remember the last time that happened.
It's sensuous, it's beautiful, and it's absolutely heart-lifting. Because they've found a way to bridge that distance. Using Rose dressed as the Doctor and the Doctor speaking to Jack through a microphone.
Rallalon has a real talent for writing characters making love. This isn't sex. It isn't even smut. It's love.
In the latest (and hopefully not last) fic of this series, Rallalon takes the events of 'End of Days' and turns it on its ear. What if the Doctor felt the moment that Jack died? What if he comes running the instant he knows? And how will he react when he finds that the one thing he thought was a constant isn't any more?
In all his time with this body, he’s never been so close to Jack, never touched him with these hands.
Rassilon.
But this isn't a Jack who comes back to life on his own as in the episode. This is a Jack who has to be brought back by someone who loves him. This is the Doctor, touching his lover for the first and last time with his own hands.
"Ten seconds," he adds, because he can’t hold out much longer than
that, not even for their second kiss.
Jack’s hands are everywhere, clutching and desperate, roaming and frantic. Shoulders, stomach, neck and face; it’s a rushed exploration, the first and last of its kind. Fingers in his hair once more and the last instants are torn away from them in the meeting of their lips.
No-one writes hurt/comfort like Rallalon. It's one of my favourite aspects of her writing. This is a series about comfort and love above all else. No matter what wrenches life throws at them, these characters persevere. I love how Rallalon carries on the love story between all three characters in spite of all the odds against it. It's
angst and it's hurt/comfort and it's a smile and it's heartbreak.
In short, vote for Held at a Distance. It's angst and it's hurt/comfort and it's you reaching for a tissue or two because it hurts even as much as it cheers you. It's a wonderful series and absolutely deserves your vote.
*
85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human by ladychi
Category: Listfic
Characters: TenII, Rose, others
Rating: Teen
Details: List-fic, post-JE.
Why It Rocks:
Disclaimer: This fic was nominated by the reviewer.
Soooo....list fic. Not something I generally find myself reading, to be quite honest. I like to really crawl in to a good yarn and hang out in it for a bit, and for that reason I generally give a pass to drabbles, listfics, and the like. However, because Chi is my homegirl and I trust her to write worthwhile fic, I did click on her 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human. Also, I'm a junkie for human!Doctor, who clearly is the star of our show here.
What I love about 85 Things... is how ladychi continually walks the line between the sublime and the mundane--very much like being a human being. Sex is beautiful but it's also very silly and a little messy. Our loved ones are gorgeous, but maybe not first thing in the morning. Children are little bits of immortality, but they also require a change of nappy frequently.
What Chi has given us hear is a lot less of a listfic and a lot more of a poem. Take away the numerals, and that's what is left: A meditation on what it means to be human, to live, to screw, to love, to procreate and fight with our lovers and celebrate life, and to finally die at the end of it all. And beyond the themes, there is an economy of language and use of refrain that is much less prose and much more poetry:
47.One tiny fist around a finger holds the meaning of the universe.
48.It's easier to talk about the daughter he lost with the daughter he gained in his arms.
49.Babies smell like powder and sunshine and newness.
50.Except for when they stink.
But 85 Things also is extremely funny in the way it juxtaposes such lofty meaning-of-life issues with the much more mundane foibles of the Doctor:
20.The toaster will explode if you increase the current too much.
21.There are three fire extinguishers in Rose Tyler's apartment.
22.Three-year-olds can't keep secrets.
23.Blowing stuff up is a good way to get out of babysitting.
24.Rose starts to get suspicious after the third blender.
Vote for 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human in the listfic category because it's so much more than a listfic. It's a poem that happens to have some numbers attached.
*
A Few Days In the Life by unfolded73
Category: Tenth Doctor
Characters: Ten, various companions
Rating: All Ages
Details: One-shot, post-JE, almost angsty, but not.
Why It Rocks:
Disclaimer: This fic was nominated by the reviewer.
Let me preface this review by saying that I am a massive, massive fan of unfolded73. Spot-on characterization is very important to me, but what she does is combine perfect individual characterization with believable relationship characterization. Not everyone can do that. I’ve read plenty of fics where two characters as individuals are drawn very well, but as soon as they start interacting with one another in the context of a relationship, it doesn’t seem like that’s the sort of relationship they’d have at all. Ships are really a third character with their own voice and their own way of acting. What unfolded73 has done in her other works is give the Doctor and Rose a truthful, real, warts-and-all relationship without losing either of their characterizations in the process.
And now forget I ever said that because in this fic, A Few Days in the Life, unfolded73 has written the Doctor in-canon post-Journeys End and alone. Well, I say “alone”. He’s not really alone and that’s the beauty of this fic. It explores the Doctor’s state of mind through his dealings with other people. No navely-gazey interior-monologue this. The Doctor engages with strangers, with old friends, and new ones and through those conversations we get a portrait of a very lonely, very angry man searching for something, anything to take the edge off of his pain, and ultimately searching for meaning.
But it’s not a depressing angst-fic. Not really. That’s the beauty of unfolded73’s style. She shows, she doesn’t tell-the mark of a skilled writer.
"I don't suppose you want to..." He gestured at the blue box behind him.
Her eyebrows went up. "Wanna what?"
"Travel with me. Anywhere you want to go in the whole universe."
She seemed to think about it, but shook her head. "No. I mean ... no."
"Okay." He shrugged, then forced himself to smile. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Julia Franklin."
Her handshake was firm. "You too, Doctor."
He stepped into the TARDIS and went over to the console, starting the dematerialization. He didn't go back to remind her that it also travelled in time.
The Doctor’s actions speak so much louder than words ever could here, and unfolded73 has the artistry to let them.
And even though this is billed as a series of vignettes, the Doctor does go through a journey from start to finish. This is also something that’s terribly important to me in fic that unfolded73 always delivers on. When she writes our beloved main characters, they are in-character but we always learn something new about them. They live for the moment on the page, and grow, change, learn, or sometimes steadfastly refuse to learn. The reader gains insight, and yet, it’s always insight in to the character that we already know and love, not some made-up person that she’s just calling the Doctor. I never fail to feel like I’m reading about the same man who I watch on the telly, and in this story in particular, because she sticks very close to show canon, it feels like I am seeing some of what the Doctor was up to in between Journeys End and The Next Doctor.
And that in and of itself is rather amazing, considering it was written long before The Next Doctor aired. In fact it was written before we knew about Tennant leaving as well. It seems so incredibly prescient, re-reading it now. The Doctor that unfolded73 is writing about here is the very same Doctor who says “They break my heart” in the Christmas special, but then goes off and has dinner with Jackson Lake anyway. And that is a testament to how strongly she grasps the character of the Doctor: she and the character’s original creator are of a mind about where he is emotionally.
Each vignette crystallizes a moment of learning, a stage in the grieving process. It’s not overt, this is not a “five times the Doctor learned something about grieving” sort of fic, but it’s all there, percolating below the surface. How he first doesn’t really cope, he just exists, perhaps living a bit dangerously, foretelling the implication in The Next Doctor that he doesn’t have anything to live for. Jack and Martha are both written beautifully as devoted friends banging their head against the Doctor’s wall, and we get to see a bit of “no second chances,” the type of man that the Doctor is when there’s no one around to stop him:
The Doctor's jaw was clenched. He turned to one of the soldiers behind him. "You can take him."
"No, you can't! You don't know what they'll do to me. They said you were merciful!"
The Doctor turned to leave. "Yeah, well, consider me officially out of mercy."
But then the end….oh the end is sweet. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read the fic. But, the Doctor learns the most valuable lesson of all without anyone actually saying a word to him.
A Few Days in the Life is a short-ish one-shot that in just 2600 words tenderly, sensitively and believably moves the Doctor from the depths of nihilistic grief to acceptance and joy once again. That’s why you should vote for it in the Tenth Doctor category.
*
Today's reviews were written by:
dark_aegis: Life in Technicolor; Emotional Baggage; and Held at a Distance.
papilio_luna: 85 Things the Doctor Learned About Being Human; and A Few Days In the Life.