From the Archives
And here we have our last look back at previously nominated fics. We'd also like to introduce another one of our new reviewers: rachelbeann. Welcome, Rachel!
We know we've left quite a few fics from both Rounds One and Two unreviewed, and we hope to be able to review them in our next downtime, if they aren't nominated in the next round.
Because yes - Round Four's nominations are officially open. We can't wait to see what you've all got in mind to nominate, and we really can't wait to get started! We'll start posting our reviews as soon as the nominations close on April 25, but in the meantime - happy reading!
Today's Featured Stories Include:
*
Gone Fishing by Stormyskies Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Fluff in Classic Who
Characters: Four, Romana I
Rating: All Ages
Details: This fic is a good introduction to the era. All that's needed is 1) a basic knowledge of Romana - that she's a Time Lord, one a bit more hidebound with Gallifrey culture , and 2) they're involved in a mission to assemble the Key of Time - a piece of canon that garners only a slight mention.
Why It Rocks:
The magic of well-written fluff is that, while usually not aspiring to any complex plot or character study, it can turn a simple scene into something both touching and memorable. It's all about those quiet interludes in between episodes, the moments shaping a character behind the scenes. With so much adrenaline charging the average episode of Doctor Who, they're the perfect tool to examine a character in a new light. Stormyskies captures this definition perfectly in "Gone Fishing", a cute, unassuming fic following the Doctor and Romana's attempts at the fine art of - you guessed it - fishing.
As someone who's grown up with several older brothers, I'm well-acquainted with the dynamics of your average fishing trip. One of the impressions Stormyskies left me with was that she understood the mood of one of these excursions perfectly. The atmosphere, then, would have to be what made this fic stick out in my mind. It's unassuming and reflective, while not taking itself too seriously. This bit of imagery stuck out in particular:
They didn't say anything. Just watched the sun set on the lake, the golds and reds and purples reflecting off the water, rippling in the breeze. It slipped into the lake, leaving behind a dark, starry sky.
Once again, it's nothing ground-breaking. This fic doesn't attempt to answer all the questions the series poses, delve into any moral dilemmas, or examine any relationships in depth. It's memorable because it captures what's already in the show and puts it to words, with true characterizations and sharp dialogue.
The style itself is tight and cohesive, which adds both to the before-mentioned tone and the abrupt, amusing exchanges that tend to pass between the Doctor and Romana (and K-9, who - done right - is a amusing addition to any fic written in this era). Stormyskies' Romana is fully realized, not reduced to an arrogant, standoffish character, but presented as awkward, curious, and perhaps just a bit indulgent towards the Doctor's excessive whims. I think this passage exemplifies it perfectly:
"So what do we do in the meantime?"
"Chat."
"Chat," Romana repeated. "About?"
"Anything."
"Well, I was scanning one of the segments to the Key to Time--"
"Not about work!" cut in the Doctor. "That's the cardinal rule of fishing: never, ever discuss work."
With this fic, Stormyskies not only manages to capture the delicate art of fishing, but the even more precise Doctor/Romana dynamic. The fic features a marvelously in-character Romana I, and an accessible Classic Who plot that is not only delightfully entertaining for older fans, but also a fantastic introduction for fans not acquainted with the wealth of Classic Who fic available.
*
Belonging by never_more_cat
Category: WIP in both Torchwood & New Who - Winner in the New Who categories
Characters: Jack Harkness, the Tenth Doctor, Ianto Jones
Rating: Adult, NC-17, swearing, graphic sex
Details: Now complete with 28 chapters, set after JE.
Why It Rocks:
Anyone attempting to write Jack Harkness for the first time should first take a good long look at never_more_cat’s portrayal of the Torchwood agent and then, if you feel like you can even halfway measure up to the characterization there, go ahead and take a stab at it. And if you can’t, well, there’s plenty from this author to read that will make it worth the fact that it’ll take you some time to be able to write him like this. The fic with Jack still coursing through my mind at the moment is the winner of the Torchwood WIP Children of Time Award for Round Two. It’s called Belonging and if any fic belongs at the top of its category, this one does.
I generally don’t, as a Doctor/Rose shipper, read slash. But…but, if the fic is good enough, well, I find myself reading a lot of things I never used to read before starting to review for the awards. Belonging is that good, and fortunately, now finished. Set immediately after the events of The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End we find Jack back at the hub after such a long day, picking up the pieces with what is left of his team, sending Gwen home to her husband and taking Ianto to bed. Shortly thereafter, the Doctor shows up.
He comes to Jack after leaving Rose and his counterpart behind in the alternate universe, after wiping Donna’s memories and leaving her with her family. He is exhausted, full of guilt, utterly broken, and feeling more alone than he can handle. He feels desperately out of place in his own life after giving up everything he ever wanted and he needs even more desperately to find a place where he belongs. Of course he seeks out Jack, possibly the only man who can understand. He collapses in his friend’s arms and gives himself over to grief, for once not hiding the emotions he can no longer control. Jack simply holds on and lets the Doctor cry himself out. Jack is the one safe person the Doctor can let his guard down with and reveal all of his pain to. Jack, who will experience much of life the way he does, who has and will continue to lose people like he has, who will understand in a way no one else can.
Convinced he can no longer inflict himself on the universe at large, the Doctor seeks and is granted permission to move into the hub. He parks the TARDIS in a storage room and determines to stop travelling through space and time altogether. He doesn’t want to hurt any more people, but he wants desperately not to be alone. And Jack has no intention of letting him:
I wasn't going to let that happen. He wasn't alone and he never would be, not while I was a fixed point in time and space. I'd move the Earth again, and Heaven too, to make the Doctor see that eventually. I didn't believe in this notion he had of never travelling again, but I intended to humour him for the time being.
So the Doctor takes up residence in the hub, hidden from the rest of the team save Ianto, and life returns to normal as Mickey and Martha begin working with Jack and the others. Ianto begins to experience quite a bit of jealousy as Jack spends more and more time with the isolated Time Lord, but when Jack seeks to remedy the situation by spending more time with Ianto, and the Doctor invades their privacy Jack does not respond well and the Doctor takes off, disappearing for several days, only to return shattered from an experience where he could not save the population of a planet from destruction.
Battered physically and once more an emotional wreck, Jack cares for the Time Lord and nurses him back to health. And slowly they build their way up into a new relationship, this time one that includes Ianto as well. What really works for me here is that there is no rush to the bedroom, no flinging of the characters immediately into an intimate relationship that hasn’t been worked for. The author takes the time to sift through all the various emotions of jealousy, longing, fear of betrayal, desire for openness, need, want, more grief, and hope. There is an exploration, especially on Jack’s part, of how it is possible to love and be in love with, two people at the same time. It is not just a fallback position of Jack lusting after both the Doctor and Ianto. It truly is him loving them both.
There is also no dismissal of the way that the Doctor had felt for Rose. Too often in fics where the Doctor has a lover that is not Rose, I see his feelings for her swept under the rug, ignored, or canon is fully contradicted as the Doctor makes an out of character statement that those emotions never had been that strong on his part or even existed at all. This story does not try to say the Doctor never loved Rose, it accepts that he did. And Jack also accepts that he did. Which makes it believable for me to accept that he could move on. He loved, he lost, and Jack has helped him heal and seek out a new type of relationship.
Together Jack and the Doctor move forward, and because Jack is fully in love with Ianto, he cannot leave him behind. The three of them enter into an interesting relationship full of a few false starts and stops that eventually leads to the trio bonding on an emotional, telepathic level. No part of the relationship is ignored. It isn’t just Jack and the Doctor with a little Ianto on the side. Nor is it just Jack and Ianto, with a brief moment or two with the Doctor. The Doctor and Ianto spend time forming their side of the relationship as well. And of course, the three of them spend time together, three parts of a whole.
It is what the Doctor needs to heal, to find his place to belong, and to never feel alone in his own mind again. And in many ways, it is what Jack needs, too, because although he has made a commitment to Ianto, he knows that he will live on long past the other man’s short lifespan. And the Doctor will always be there for him now, there to comfort him when his lover does die. Ianto is caught up in the thrall of two amazing men who are pure and simple forces of nature. No one is neglected and because of the careful balance the writer uses, it all falls together in a completely natural way.
When the Doctor is finally able to face the universe out on his own again he cajoles Jack and Ianto until they come along with him for two weeks holiday and during this time the Doctor’s healing completes itself, he has the strength to make it on his own again, knowing that at least in his head he will never be alone again. He belongs. But he’s not the only one. In his time trying to help the Doctor heal, a hole inside of Jack has been mended and he has healed, too. He has found a place where he belongs. He has:
...finally found my place in this strange era of this extraordinary planet; not as leader of a team, not as a hero, but as a person.
It’s ironic, I suppose, that it’s because of an alien that I have learnt what is important about being human.
Ironic, yes, but oh, so right, and a rather perfect ending to a fic woven with subtle humor, confusion, jealousy, passion, heartbreaking angst, acceptance, love, and joy. Never_more_cat is a master at emotions and it is well worth allowing this author to run yours through the wringer as the reader accompanies Jack, the Doctor, and Ianto on their journey. I very much encourage you to take this important journey with them.
*
Peace Attend (Our Weak Light Together) by thirstyrobot
Category: Gwen Cooper in Torchwood
Rating: PG or PG-13
Characters: Gwen Cooper-Williams, Rhys Williams, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Details: One-shot that deals with the immediate aftermath of Exit Wounds.
Why it Rocks:
The second season of Torchwood ended with two profound “bangs”: the death of Owen and Tosh. For a show that relied so heavily on the dynamic between the five main characters, it was a ballsy move by the writers. This story examines how Gwen, the “heart” of Torchwood, deals with their deaths.
One of the overarching themes of the show, that is carried over fantastically well by Thirstyrobot, is that the pressure of Torchwood is something that weighs heavily on each of its members. And Gwen is supposed to be the one who maintains an outside life, provides some everyday perspective, but a side-effect of that is that although Rhys has been on a few adventures, he doesn't really understand what Gwen goes through everyday.
Cardiff has been mostly destroyed, and Rhys deals with it the way that good, solid, upstanding Welshmen deal with things: he picks up and moves on. But Gwen, who has lost two dear, dear friends, finds that she isn't able to, and she isn't able to lean on Rhys.
In the middle of the night, she lives their flat and heads to Torchwood:
Gwen chokes out something between a sob and a sigh when she finds the Hub dark and empty. She doesn't have to search around to know it, because Jack's coat is gone from his office. The computers show no alerts, which means they're probably both at Ianto's. The last time this happened, she just went back home in defeat, but she can't be alone right now. They might not exactly be glad to see her, but they've both made it clear- anytime, if you need anything at all. Still, she's a little nervous when she arrives on Ianto's doorstep and rings the bell. She's only been here once before and didn't go inside; this is a new boundary she's crossing.
The fic really sinks into the meat of the story at this point - she comes to Jack and Ianto for help, and they wordlessly, without thought, help soothe her heart. It's a story that's profound in its message about friendship and the families that we make for ourselves in our hearts. Another favorite moment, just because I can't get away from how beautiful the language is:
Ianto strokes her hair as her tears wet the warm skin of his shoulder. He smells like sweat and sex and Jack, and that makes it both better and worse. He somehow senses the moment when she's let out all she's going to and kisses the top of her head, then nudges her away a little and dabs gently at her eyes and cheeks with a handkerchief he's produced out of nowhere. That's Ianto, always prepared, and she can't help but smile a little. He hands it to her and lets her blow her nose, one hand still firm on her back as though she might fall.
Ianto and Jack are flawlessly characterized. The moments are quiet, and there are beats that squeezed my heart in its chest.
I loved the voice, too. The style was concise and poignant - an effortless piece of fiction. It deserved its nomination, and it deserves a read and review. If you don't like Gwen - this fic will give you a new view into her heart and her mind. I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading it, and I can't think of a higher compliment to give a fic.
*
The Calm Before The Storm, and The Voyages of Discovery by kalleah
Category: Series in New Who (Winner, Round One)
Characters: The Doctor (10), Rose Tyler, Original Character (Jacob)
Rating: Adult
Details: Multi-chapter series, set between Fear Her and Army of Ghosts, and post Doomsday, respectively.
Why It Rocks:
It's a very popular setting for many Doctor/Rose stories, that period of time between Fear Her and Army of Ghosts. We all want to know, with so many warnings, did the duo go marching straight into the war, or did the Doctor try avoid the doom he sense, try to stave off the inevitable.
In The Calm Before the Storm, Kalleah answers the question by having the Doctor take Rose to the one place he knows she will be safe, if only for a little while. He has decided he wants to share Rose's life with her, and he is very much aware of how fleeting it may be, so he brings her to a monastery to meet the other most important human in his life.
It's extremely hard to create an original character. Even if you can avoid the mortifying trap of a Mary Sue, there is the task of creating someone not only believable to the world, but a person the audience will be invested in. A person the main characters will also be invested in, and who, hopefully, will have a resonating impact on the narrative, without stealing the show.
Kalleah has established just such a character in the steady Brother Jacob. She quickly establishes that the Doctor has known Jacob since the monk was a young man. While hundreds of years and several regenerations have passed for the Doctor, Jacob is living his human life on the slow path, his monastery a place of refuge. Immediately, Kalleah has me. It's such an attractive idea; a person and place, away from his chaotic adventures, that the Doctor can return to when he needs a friend. When he needs a home. And he chooses to share this home with Rose.
Rose immediately notes the apparently odd choice of a monk for a best friend, but that is part of Kalleah's brilliance. The two men are diametrically opposed; one a man of faith, the other a devout believer in science, yet they are intellectual equals. It's a relationship of debate, and despite their discomfort with the others' point of view, they share a deep respect. And affection. The Doctor fears for Jacob's mortal life, just as strongly as Jacob worries for the Doctor's spirit.
The oppositional relationship does more than simply reflect two world views however; Kalleah uses it to examine one of the greater tragedies of the Doctor's character. The Doctor has often taken the position that he is the final authority, but there is one horrific problem with that concept. There is no one left to offer him forgiveness when he needs it. The Doctor doesn't believe in God, so who can absolve him of his sins? It's a painful revelation, and it's beautiful to see how Kalleah resolves the issue. Both men realize, for their own good, and the health of the other, they must compromise.
The Calm Before the Storm is a lovely character driven story, that does exactly as it says on the tin. This is the moment of rest, before everything changes. It's only a brief respite, and in the end, the Doctor and Rose decide it's time to move on, though he is tempted to keep her safe there, for her forever. He makes the offer, but they both realize, while adventures have risks, the quiet life is not what will truly make them happy. They both want a fantastic life, together, for as long as they can. Of course, we know what happens next.
Fortunately for us, Kalleah's story doesn't end there. The Voyages of Discovery picks up after Doomsday, as Rose is establishing her new life on Pete's World. If The Calm Before the Storm is about making choices, Voyages is about experiencing the cost - knowing it precisely - and deciding the risks are still worth it.
Once again, the themes in Voyages are tight and strong. Rose is reading the Chronicles of Narnia, and finds her own magical doorway home. While the Doctor, typically, is obsessed with the how, to Rose's immense frustration, she and Jacob realize not everything can, or needs to be, explained.
The moment when Rose finds her doorway back to Jacob's home is both wonderfully descriptive and bittersweet.
This was the place of her dreams, the place where she had been happier than she ever remembered being, and it was squarely impossible that she was seeing it again. Impossible, he had said to her on the beach in Norway. But yet, here she stood, on the threshold between the worlds. She could step forward, or close the door and return. She would never see her mum again; never meet the baby to be born. There was no guarantee, even, that she would be able to find the Doctor on the other side.
Rose Tyler made her choice.
Rose takes a leap of faith, and so it should be no surprise at all that it leads her back to Kalleah's man of cloth, Brother Jacob.
Voyages is necessarily a little more plot driven, as it focuses on a reunion, and then tying up all the loose ends, but the focus is still character. Now that the Doctor and Rose have made their choices, they come up with a way to find their own absolution, so they can live with the sacrifices they have made.
Kalleah's series won the first round at Children in Time, and it deserves the accolade. The characters are and their relationships are delightfully interwoven and reflective. And while Kalleah gives us a wonderful glimpse of the rewards of risk, she never loses sight of the cost. The important part is, yes, it is always worth it.
*
Eternity in an Hour by Ebbyzone Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Alternative Universe/Reality in New Who
Characters: Human!Ten/Alt!Martha
Rating: All Ages
Details: AU Character Study & Romance set in Pete's World (Note. There's no Rose because this is an AU story).
Why It Rocks:
The fact that it starts with an epigraph from Blake, and that I'm a poetry fan, immediately grabbed my attention. The story is about the first proper winter in Pete's World since the temperatures started rising (as mentioned by Pete in "Doomsday"), and how both the Human-Doctor and Alt-Martha deal with the snow. Of course John, being part-Doctor and having many of his characteristics, absolutely revels in the snow, and despite her reservations, Martha finds herself drawn into his enthusiasm, which is both child-like and infectious.
There are some lovely moments throughout this story, such as when John places his hand against a window and leaves it there until it's numb with cold: he seems to experience everything very intensely. He gets nervous and excitable, and babbles and fidgets (just like the Doctor), and the manic energy that the Doctor has doesn't seem to be distilled by being in a human body.
There are some lines that made me grin the moment I read them - such as John watching Martha getting ready to go back to work after a brief break with him in the hospital cafeteria:
he watched her reassemble herself, much like a superhero donning their costume before heading into the fray.
I feel that John is seeing Martha clearly and that he can find heroism in ordinary human life, as well as in the extraordinary life of battling alien invasions, because he's human now, and he knows that ordinary humans can be heroic even in their every day lives.
And this description of John enjoying the first of the snow - while Martha stands and shivers in her pyjamas and bare feet:
John was hopping around from foot to foot even more than Martha. He turned around in a circle, arms extended like wings. For all the world, he looked like a gangly pigeon ready to take flight from pure joy alone.
Given how gangly David Tennant's Doctor can appear at times, the image seems very apt, and at the same time, it amuses me: I can easily picture John hopping about and turning around like a child enjoying his first experience of snow.
And especially these lines, when Martha and John are lying hand in hand in the snow amidst the snow figures they've built:
Martha thought that sometimes when he spoke, it felt as if time itself would stand still and wait on him, not as if it obeyed his command, but as if it was bowed in respect and would only resume when he thought it fitting for the moment to pass.
Even though he's human, there's enough of the Time Lord about him still for Martha - who doesn’t know that John's part Time Lord - to feel that Time waits on him, rather than that he's fettered by Time, like everyone else.
There's so much to love about this story: the developing relationship between John and Martha; the way that the quotation from Blake is subtly weaved into the story, so that you know the epigraph's not just there to be clever; the hints at Martha's backstory - no less tragic for her than for the Martha we know in this universe; John's energy and enthusiasm which are threaded through with little moments of self-doubt and insecurity where the Donna side of his nature makes itself felt.
In short, this story is beautifully written and makes me believe in the characters and their relationship with one another.
*
The Chinese Remainder Theorem, by eve11 Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Fluff in Classic Who (Winner in Round Two)
Characters: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe
Rating: All Ages
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete, 1540 words. It isn’t necessary to have listened to the referenced audio before reading this.
Why It Rocks:
From a human perspective, the Doctor can sometimes be extremely frustrating. I can’t think of a better example of this phenomenon than in this story: Evelyn asks him for an explanation of regeneration and what she gets in response is a lecture on Chinese generals and the art of counting armies - all of which, the Doctor insists, is completely relevant to the question.
Evelyn Smythe, for anyone unfamiliar with the Big Finish audios, is a fifty-something professor of history in a British university who travelled with the Doctor through a number of audio episodes and also two novels. These two have a fascinating relationship; Evelyn’s greater maturity (compared to the majority of the Doctor’s companions) makes her more than a match for the Doctor’s pomposity and occasional self-aggrandisement, and they become firm friends. Like all of the Doctor’s companions, she loves him, of course, and she’s one of the few who tells him so, much later, after she’s already left him. In a very sweet scene, he blusters for a moment about how he can't imagine what he could possibly have done to deserve that... then stops himself, and says in a small voice, "Thank you. I still... miss you, you know."
But back to the fic. It’s very much in character that, early in the story, Evelyn muses that, if she were younger, she'd be down on the beach blanket, shooting the Doctor coy glances. I love this, because it ties into the reason why, for me at least, Evelyn is the quintessential Sixth Doctor companion - she has the age and experience to understand that the Doctor (at least in this era) has no interest in buxom bikinis and coy glances, and, in this story, the self-knowledge to admit that she probably would have tried them anyway, back in the day.
This story is distinctly Six because of the long-winded, wandering metaphor which eventually comes back around to the topic at hand - regeneration. Six practically leaps off the page with the bluster and the name dropping which conceals a thoughtful, surprisingly introspective man. And, of course, because I can't go three sentences without praising Evelyn, there's the fact that most companions would have become frustrated and derailed the aforementioned metaphor long before it got back around to the topic at hand, whereas Evelyn was willing to stick with it, albeit with some teasing, and got out of it everything about regeneration that the Doctor was willing to offer at that time.
"Doctor, you're changing the subject."
"I never change the subject."
Her smile is still there, emerging from under a floppy hat and a large pair of sunglasses. "Of course you don't. But we were talking about regeneration, whatever that is."
Of course the Doctor changes the subject, and he does it all the time, even when he pretends he isn’t. It would be easy to think of Evelyn as placid and accepting of his meanderings, when in fact she’s demonstrating one of the great skills of an experienced educator: gently steering her student back onto the topic.
"I taught Sun Tzu how to count his armies." The Doctor's coattails flap in the breeze as Evelyn ties down her hat. She lets out a grumpy sigh, more for effect than a sign of actual annoyance.
"We were talking about learning experiences. I asked what taught you the most in life, and with no hesitation you said, 'regeneration.' I asked you what that was, and suddenly we're talking about kites and Chinese generals--"
"Evelyn, for heaven's sake, it's a metaphor!" the Doctor blusters.
The story is metaphor from beginning to end, from the Doctor and the kite both as multicoloured splashes, the kite soaring and dipping in the sky, and the concept of counting Sun Tzu’s armies as the closest thing to understanding regeneration. The ultimate metaphor is simply inspired: you don't usually see this level of depth and complexity in fanfiction. It's a brilliant commentary on the Doctor's character, made even more brilliant by the fact that the reader doesn't see the payoff coming until the author spells it out - modular arithmetic is like regeneration. You won’t understand regeneration based on this story, and neither did Evelyn, but you will understand that the Doctor isn’t human and doesn’t think in any way the same as we do - and we shouldn’t expect him to.
This is quite simply one of the best Six and Evelyn fics around. Even if you’ve never listened to a Big Finish audio, or seen Six on-screen, you’ll get something out of it, even if it’s just a wry smile at the Doctor’s story-telling - "Did I ever tell you about the time Sun Tzu told me to go fly a kite?" - and to marvel at Eve11’s writing. This is such an original idea, beautifully executed; if you’re a maths geek the concept will have you nodding in agreement, but even if you’re not, you’ll love the language and the imagery in this charming vignette.
*
The Boy Who Killed Time (The Last Love Song Remix) by rosa_acicularis Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Dark in New Who (Winner in Round Two)
Rating: All ages
Characters: Ten, Martha, Jamie, Susan, Eight, Leela, Rose, Romana
Details: 8800 words. Remix of netgirl_y2k's The Boy Who Killed Time
Why it Rocks:
I've started this review over and over throughout the past few days, and I still don't know where to begin answering that question. Does "rocks" even apply to a story that so captivates and then so carefully, exquisitely, gently devastates? Even thinking about re-reading this story makes me cry-- on the highway, apparently, every day this week as I was driving in to work, watching the sun rise and trying to construct this review in the back of my mind.
I can sum up the gist of my review in five words: everyone should read this story. Old School, New School, die-hard shippers of any stripe, militant asexualists, dark fic fans, or even those who usually steer clear of character death-- Rosa's writing, her story construction, her eye for detail and characterization, all transcend genre. The story itself is beautiful, terrible, poignant and achingly sad. It moves you, and it stays with you long after you've read it. But for all that it is a tale about endings, it is also a story about life-- hope, family, regret, mistakes, love, and the ultimate inevitability of death. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the author sums it up best in her title. It's a last love song, and it's brilliant.
Personally, I think the remix works even better as a companion piece to netgirl_y2k's original story, read with foreknowledge of the events in the original in mind. I was lucky enough to get an early spot reccing in calufrax, and so I got a chance to rec the original version. It starts with Martha seeing apparitions of former Doctors and Companions throughout the TARDIS, that grow more substantial as time passes. A curiosity at first, it quickly becomes apparent that these "ghosts" are symptoms of a much more sweeping and terrible problem. Rosa takes this short story and switches point of view from Martha-- who doesn't know who the shades are, and who doesn't understand why they are appearing-- to the Doctor, who most certainly does.
If you don't need to know anything more than that, go read it now, because I am going to go into a bit more detail in the rest of this review. If the thought of darkfic with character death scares you away, I'd definitely encourage reading the original version first. Short, mysterious and chilling, it's kind of like diving into a pool headfirst to get over the shock, that then lets the remix focus on the emotions and characters under the surface.
So, shoo if you don't want any more spoilers, otherwise, onward we go.
It's rare that the universe of Doctor Who tackles death with this kind of permanence. The Doctor can die, but he can also regenerate. We've had plenty of death in the ranks, even some companions, but always, we move on. There is no slow inevitability; there is always hope, tenacity and the chance that the Doctor can save everyone. Everyone rarely lives. But everyone never dies. Part of why I think that the piece works so well as a companion to the original is that you know the end is inescapable.
I love how the story crystallizes and focuses, starting with the almost imperceptible appearance of the void (in a wickedly funny exchange between the Doctor and Martha), the ghosts wandering the hallways, and culminating in a realization so immense the Doctor can only face it with a cosmic shrug:
Outside the TARDIS there is void, and though his ship protects them (and buckles and bends with the strain) he can feel its pull. It is the sound that is not a sound, the sound that eats sound - a hungry, consuming emptiness without colour or light or time.
It is the end.
"Oh," he says, blinking into the darkness, and closes the door.
This isn't a story about endings, it's a story about the end of everything. Because of course, if we cannot ever imagine a universe without the Doctor, then the only way to make his death truly and utterly permanent is to destroy the universe. But this death, as over the top as it is, as all-encompassing as it must be to escape the trappings of fiction, is a stark reflection of life. As Rosa describes it, The void (the silence) in him is like an infection, a cancer, and he can feel it searing through veins and neurons and alveoli, seeping out through his pores.
Life, that gives us loved ones and then gives them incurable diseases. Life, that for those who truly live, always seems too short.
When there is nothing left to be done, as the world fades, it's memories, family, love and sadly, regret, that come calling. The companions that emerge from the past-- Jamie McCrimmon, Susan Foreman, Leela, Rose Tyler, Romana-- are all lost loves, for all the different stripes of love that there are. Rarely does an author come along who can take that large of a swath from the Whovian universe and bring everyone alive so vividly and in character, but Rosa does it so fluidly I had to go back and re-read it again before I even noticed the mechanics of the piece.
It's the small details of each era-- writing and characterization choices I wish I knew how to make-- described in spare but visual prose, that bring this story to life. Jamie mending socks, Ten transforming by voice and manner alone into the elder "grandfather" as he speaks with the ghost of Susan, a war-weary Eighth Doctor sharing tea and consequences with Leela:
Leela nods slowly, the lines of her face sharp and shadowed. "The weapon they spoke of. It will require incredible power, will it not?"
The other Doctor waves a dismissive hand. "Well, technically, it's not a weapon so much as--"
She stands, suddenly looming over him. "Doctor."
"Oh yes," he says quickly. "Lots of power. Oodles."
A spot-on fantastic Rose Tyler voice:
"Unbelievable," she groans, her consonants heavy with sleep. "You are un-bloody-believable. Five hours out of every twenty-four, that's all I ask. Five hours. For you, that's nothing. That's one good ramble, a quick stop at the shop for milk. I've seen you spend more time on your hair and you still weren’t happy with your fringe, you complete and utter lunatic."
I love how Rose's ghost is neither overshadowed nor overshadows the Doctor's companions throughout his lives, but takes on the role she did when she traveled with him-- enduring his guilt, and doing her best to absolve him of it, although it's something she will never be able to truly fix. She is the only one of the ghosts to whom the Doctor explains what's going on: But he needed this, needed her grief - just as he needed her to watch her planet burn. Just as he needed to hear her say forever.
This love song has a refrain: everything will be all right, in the end. Some may see it as hollow, but somehow, I don't. For the Doctor, it's a refrain of a life well-lived, of forgiveness in the face of the unforgivable, and an ending in which the only thing that matters-- the only thing that can matter, is that he's not alone.
*
Today's reviews were written by:
rachelbeann: Gone Fishing
amberfocus: Belonging
ladychi: Peace Attend...
gowdie: The Calm Before...
persiflage_1: Eternity in an Hour
wendymr, with assistance from ponygirl72: The Chinese Remainder Theorem
eve11: The Boy Who...
We know we've left quite a few fics from both Rounds One and Two unreviewed, and we hope to be able to review them in our next downtime, if they aren't nominated in the next round.
Because yes - Round Four's nominations are officially open. We can't wait to see what you've all got in mind to nominate, and we really can't wait to get started! We'll start posting our reviews as soon as the nominations close on April 25, but in the meantime - happy reading!
Today's Featured Stories Include:
*
Gone Fishing by Stormyskies Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Fluff in Classic Who
Characters: Four, Romana I
Rating: All Ages
Details: This fic is a good introduction to the era. All that's needed is 1) a basic knowledge of Romana - that she's a Time Lord, one a bit more hidebound with Gallifrey culture , and 2) they're involved in a mission to assemble the Key of Time - a piece of canon that garners only a slight mention.
Why It Rocks:
The magic of well-written fluff is that, while usually not aspiring to any complex plot or character study, it can turn a simple scene into something both touching and memorable. It's all about those quiet interludes in between episodes, the moments shaping a character behind the scenes. With so much adrenaline charging the average episode of Doctor Who, they're the perfect tool to examine a character in a new light. Stormyskies captures this definition perfectly in "Gone Fishing", a cute, unassuming fic following the Doctor and Romana's attempts at the fine art of - you guessed it - fishing.
As someone who's grown up with several older brothers, I'm well-acquainted with the dynamics of your average fishing trip. One of the impressions Stormyskies left me with was that she understood the mood of one of these excursions perfectly. The atmosphere, then, would have to be what made this fic stick out in my mind. It's unassuming and reflective, while not taking itself too seriously. This bit of imagery stuck out in particular:
They didn't say anything. Just watched the sun set on the lake, the golds and reds and purples reflecting off the water, rippling in the breeze. It slipped into the lake, leaving behind a dark, starry sky.
Once again, it's nothing ground-breaking. This fic doesn't attempt to answer all the questions the series poses, delve into any moral dilemmas, or examine any relationships in depth. It's memorable because it captures what's already in the show and puts it to words, with true characterizations and sharp dialogue.
The style itself is tight and cohesive, which adds both to the before-mentioned tone and the abrupt, amusing exchanges that tend to pass between the Doctor and Romana (and K-9, who - done right - is a amusing addition to any fic written in this era). Stormyskies' Romana is fully realized, not reduced to an arrogant, standoffish character, but presented as awkward, curious, and perhaps just a bit indulgent towards the Doctor's excessive whims. I think this passage exemplifies it perfectly:
"So what do we do in the meantime?"
"Chat."
"Chat," Romana repeated. "About?"
"Anything."
"Well, I was scanning one of the segments to the Key to Time--"
"Not about work!" cut in the Doctor. "That's the cardinal rule of fishing: never, ever discuss work."
With this fic, Stormyskies not only manages to capture the delicate art of fishing, but the even more precise Doctor/Romana dynamic. The fic features a marvelously in-character Romana I, and an accessible Classic Who plot that is not only delightfully entertaining for older fans, but also a fantastic introduction for fans not acquainted with the wealth of Classic Who fic available.
*
Belonging by never_more_cat
Category: WIP in both Torchwood & New Who - Winner in the New Who categories
Characters: Jack Harkness, the Tenth Doctor, Ianto Jones
Rating: Adult, NC-17, swearing, graphic sex
Details: Now complete with 28 chapters, set after JE.
Why It Rocks:
Anyone attempting to write Jack Harkness for the first time should first take a good long look at never_more_cat’s portrayal of the Torchwood agent and then, if you feel like you can even halfway measure up to the characterization there, go ahead and take a stab at it. And if you can’t, well, there’s plenty from this author to read that will make it worth the fact that it’ll take you some time to be able to write him like this. The fic with Jack still coursing through my mind at the moment is the winner of the Torchwood WIP Children of Time Award for Round Two. It’s called Belonging and if any fic belongs at the top of its category, this one does.
I generally don’t, as a Doctor/Rose shipper, read slash. But…but, if the fic is good enough, well, I find myself reading a lot of things I never used to read before starting to review for the awards. Belonging is that good, and fortunately, now finished. Set immediately after the events of The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End we find Jack back at the hub after such a long day, picking up the pieces with what is left of his team, sending Gwen home to her husband and taking Ianto to bed. Shortly thereafter, the Doctor shows up.
He comes to Jack after leaving Rose and his counterpart behind in the alternate universe, after wiping Donna’s memories and leaving her with her family. He is exhausted, full of guilt, utterly broken, and feeling more alone than he can handle. He feels desperately out of place in his own life after giving up everything he ever wanted and he needs even more desperately to find a place where he belongs. Of course he seeks out Jack, possibly the only man who can understand. He collapses in his friend’s arms and gives himself over to grief, for once not hiding the emotions he can no longer control. Jack simply holds on and lets the Doctor cry himself out. Jack is the one safe person the Doctor can let his guard down with and reveal all of his pain to. Jack, who will experience much of life the way he does, who has and will continue to lose people like he has, who will understand in a way no one else can.
Convinced he can no longer inflict himself on the universe at large, the Doctor seeks and is granted permission to move into the hub. He parks the TARDIS in a storage room and determines to stop travelling through space and time altogether. He doesn’t want to hurt any more people, but he wants desperately not to be alone. And Jack has no intention of letting him:
I wasn't going to let that happen. He wasn't alone and he never would be, not while I was a fixed point in time and space. I'd move the Earth again, and Heaven too, to make the Doctor see that eventually. I didn't believe in this notion he had of never travelling again, but I intended to humour him for the time being.
So the Doctor takes up residence in the hub, hidden from the rest of the team save Ianto, and life returns to normal as Mickey and Martha begin working with Jack and the others. Ianto begins to experience quite a bit of jealousy as Jack spends more and more time with the isolated Time Lord, but when Jack seeks to remedy the situation by spending more time with Ianto, and the Doctor invades their privacy Jack does not respond well and the Doctor takes off, disappearing for several days, only to return shattered from an experience where he could not save the population of a planet from destruction.
Battered physically and once more an emotional wreck, Jack cares for the Time Lord and nurses him back to health. And slowly they build their way up into a new relationship, this time one that includes Ianto as well. What really works for me here is that there is no rush to the bedroom, no flinging of the characters immediately into an intimate relationship that hasn’t been worked for. The author takes the time to sift through all the various emotions of jealousy, longing, fear of betrayal, desire for openness, need, want, more grief, and hope. There is an exploration, especially on Jack’s part, of how it is possible to love and be in love with, two people at the same time. It is not just a fallback position of Jack lusting after both the Doctor and Ianto. It truly is him loving them both.
There is also no dismissal of the way that the Doctor had felt for Rose. Too often in fics where the Doctor has a lover that is not Rose, I see his feelings for her swept under the rug, ignored, or canon is fully contradicted as the Doctor makes an out of character statement that those emotions never had been that strong on his part or even existed at all. This story does not try to say the Doctor never loved Rose, it accepts that he did. And Jack also accepts that he did. Which makes it believable for me to accept that he could move on. He loved, he lost, and Jack has helped him heal and seek out a new type of relationship.
Together Jack and the Doctor move forward, and because Jack is fully in love with Ianto, he cannot leave him behind. The three of them enter into an interesting relationship full of a few false starts and stops that eventually leads to the trio bonding on an emotional, telepathic level. No part of the relationship is ignored. It isn’t just Jack and the Doctor with a little Ianto on the side. Nor is it just Jack and Ianto, with a brief moment or two with the Doctor. The Doctor and Ianto spend time forming their side of the relationship as well. And of course, the three of them spend time together, three parts of a whole.
It is what the Doctor needs to heal, to find his place to belong, and to never feel alone in his own mind again. And in many ways, it is what Jack needs, too, because although he has made a commitment to Ianto, he knows that he will live on long past the other man’s short lifespan. And the Doctor will always be there for him now, there to comfort him when his lover does die. Ianto is caught up in the thrall of two amazing men who are pure and simple forces of nature. No one is neglected and because of the careful balance the writer uses, it all falls together in a completely natural way.
When the Doctor is finally able to face the universe out on his own again he cajoles Jack and Ianto until they come along with him for two weeks holiday and during this time the Doctor’s healing completes itself, he has the strength to make it on his own again, knowing that at least in his head he will never be alone again. He belongs. But he’s not the only one. In his time trying to help the Doctor heal, a hole inside of Jack has been mended and he has healed, too. He has found a place where he belongs. He has:
...finally found my place in this strange era of this extraordinary planet; not as leader of a team, not as a hero, but as a person.
It’s ironic, I suppose, that it’s because of an alien that I have learnt what is important about being human.
Ironic, yes, but oh, so right, and a rather perfect ending to a fic woven with subtle humor, confusion, jealousy, passion, heartbreaking angst, acceptance, love, and joy. Never_more_cat is a master at emotions and it is well worth allowing this author to run yours through the wringer as the reader accompanies Jack, the Doctor, and Ianto on their journey. I very much encourage you to take this important journey with them.
*
Peace Attend (Our Weak Light Together) by thirstyrobot
Category: Gwen Cooper in Torchwood
Rating: PG or PG-13
Characters: Gwen Cooper-Williams, Rhys Williams, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness
Details: One-shot that deals with the immediate aftermath of Exit Wounds.
Why it Rocks:
The second season of Torchwood ended with two profound “bangs”: the death of Owen and Tosh. For a show that relied so heavily on the dynamic between the five main characters, it was a ballsy move by the writers. This story examines how Gwen, the “heart” of Torchwood, deals with their deaths.
One of the overarching themes of the show, that is carried over fantastically well by Thirstyrobot, is that the pressure of Torchwood is something that weighs heavily on each of its members. And Gwen is supposed to be the one who maintains an outside life, provides some everyday perspective, but a side-effect of that is that although Rhys has been on a few adventures, he doesn't really understand what Gwen goes through everyday.
Cardiff has been mostly destroyed, and Rhys deals with it the way that good, solid, upstanding Welshmen deal with things: he picks up and moves on. But Gwen, who has lost two dear, dear friends, finds that she isn't able to, and she isn't able to lean on Rhys.
In the middle of the night, she lives their flat and heads to Torchwood:
Gwen chokes out something between a sob and a sigh when she finds the Hub dark and empty. She doesn't have to search around to know it, because Jack's coat is gone from his office. The computers show no alerts, which means they're probably both at Ianto's. The last time this happened, she just went back home in defeat, but she can't be alone right now. They might not exactly be glad to see her, but they've both made it clear- anytime, if you need anything at all. Still, she's a little nervous when she arrives on Ianto's doorstep and rings the bell. She's only been here once before and didn't go inside; this is a new boundary she's crossing.
The fic really sinks into the meat of the story at this point - she comes to Jack and Ianto for help, and they wordlessly, without thought, help soothe her heart. It's a story that's profound in its message about friendship and the families that we make for ourselves in our hearts. Another favorite moment, just because I can't get away from how beautiful the language is:
Ianto strokes her hair as her tears wet the warm skin of his shoulder. He smells like sweat and sex and Jack, and that makes it both better and worse. He somehow senses the moment when she's let out all she's going to and kisses the top of her head, then nudges her away a little and dabs gently at her eyes and cheeks with a handkerchief he's produced out of nowhere. That's Ianto, always prepared, and she can't help but smile a little. He hands it to her and lets her blow her nose, one hand still firm on her back as though she might fall.
Ianto and Jack are flawlessly characterized. The moments are quiet, and there are beats that squeezed my heart in its chest.
I loved the voice, too. The style was concise and poignant - an effortless piece of fiction. It deserved its nomination, and it deserves a read and review. If you don't like Gwen - this fic will give you a new view into her heart and her mind. I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading it, and I can't think of a higher compliment to give a fic.
*
The Calm Before The Storm, and The Voyages of Discovery by kalleah
Category: Series in New Who (Winner, Round One)
Characters: The Doctor (10), Rose Tyler, Original Character (Jacob)
Rating: Adult
Details: Multi-chapter series, set between Fear Her and Army of Ghosts, and post Doomsday, respectively.
Why It Rocks:
It's a very popular setting for many Doctor/Rose stories, that period of time between Fear Her and Army of Ghosts. We all want to know, with so many warnings, did the duo go marching straight into the war, or did the Doctor try avoid the doom he sense, try to stave off the inevitable.
In The Calm Before the Storm, Kalleah answers the question by having the Doctor take Rose to the one place he knows she will be safe, if only for a little while. He has decided he wants to share Rose's life with her, and he is very much aware of how fleeting it may be, so he brings her to a monastery to meet the other most important human in his life.
It's extremely hard to create an original character. Even if you can avoid the mortifying trap of a Mary Sue, there is the task of creating someone not only believable to the world, but a person the audience will be invested in. A person the main characters will also be invested in, and who, hopefully, will have a resonating impact on the narrative, without stealing the show.
Kalleah has established just such a character in the steady Brother Jacob. She quickly establishes that the Doctor has known Jacob since the monk was a young man. While hundreds of years and several regenerations have passed for the Doctor, Jacob is living his human life on the slow path, his monastery a place of refuge. Immediately, Kalleah has me. It's such an attractive idea; a person and place, away from his chaotic adventures, that the Doctor can return to when he needs a friend. When he needs a home. And he chooses to share this home with Rose.
Rose immediately notes the apparently odd choice of a monk for a best friend, but that is part of Kalleah's brilliance. The two men are diametrically opposed; one a man of faith, the other a devout believer in science, yet they are intellectual equals. It's a relationship of debate, and despite their discomfort with the others' point of view, they share a deep respect. And affection. The Doctor fears for Jacob's mortal life, just as strongly as Jacob worries for the Doctor's spirit.
The oppositional relationship does more than simply reflect two world views however; Kalleah uses it to examine one of the greater tragedies of the Doctor's character. The Doctor has often taken the position that he is the final authority, but there is one horrific problem with that concept. There is no one left to offer him forgiveness when he needs it. The Doctor doesn't believe in God, so who can absolve him of his sins? It's a painful revelation, and it's beautiful to see how Kalleah resolves the issue. Both men realize, for their own good, and the health of the other, they must compromise.
The Calm Before the Storm is a lovely character driven story, that does exactly as it says on the tin. This is the moment of rest, before everything changes. It's only a brief respite, and in the end, the Doctor and Rose decide it's time to move on, though he is tempted to keep her safe there, for her forever. He makes the offer, but they both realize, while adventures have risks, the quiet life is not what will truly make them happy. They both want a fantastic life, together, for as long as they can. Of course, we know what happens next.
Fortunately for us, Kalleah's story doesn't end there. The Voyages of Discovery picks up after Doomsday, as Rose is establishing her new life on Pete's World. If The Calm Before the Storm is about making choices, Voyages is about experiencing the cost - knowing it precisely - and deciding the risks are still worth it.
Once again, the themes in Voyages are tight and strong. Rose is reading the Chronicles of Narnia, and finds her own magical doorway home. While the Doctor, typically, is obsessed with the how, to Rose's immense frustration, she and Jacob realize not everything can, or needs to be, explained.
The moment when Rose finds her doorway back to Jacob's home is both wonderfully descriptive and bittersweet.
This was the place of her dreams, the place where she had been happier than she ever remembered being, and it was squarely impossible that she was seeing it again. Impossible, he had said to her on the beach in Norway. But yet, here she stood, on the threshold between the worlds. She could step forward, or close the door and return. She would never see her mum again; never meet the baby to be born. There was no guarantee, even, that she would be able to find the Doctor on the other side.
Rose Tyler made her choice.
Rose takes a leap of faith, and so it should be no surprise at all that it leads her back to Kalleah's man of cloth, Brother Jacob.
Voyages is necessarily a little more plot driven, as it focuses on a reunion, and then tying up all the loose ends, but the focus is still character. Now that the Doctor and Rose have made their choices, they come up with a way to find their own absolution, so they can live with the sacrifices they have made.
Kalleah's series won the first round at Children in Time, and it deserves the accolade. The characters are and their relationships are delightfully interwoven and reflective. And while Kalleah gives us a wonderful glimpse of the rewards of risk, she never loses sight of the cost. The important part is, yes, it is always worth it.
*
Eternity in an Hour by Ebbyzone Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Alternative Universe/Reality in New Who
Characters: Human!Ten/Alt!Martha
Rating: All Ages
Details: AU Character Study & Romance set in Pete's World (Note. There's no Rose because this is an AU story).
Why It Rocks:
The fact that it starts with an epigraph from Blake, and that I'm a poetry fan, immediately grabbed my attention. The story is about the first proper winter in Pete's World since the temperatures started rising (as mentioned by Pete in "Doomsday"), and how both the Human-Doctor and Alt-Martha deal with the snow. Of course John, being part-Doctor and having many of his characteristics, absolutely revels in the snow, and despite her reservations, Martha finds herself drawn into his enthusiasm, which is both child-like and infectious.
There are some lovely moments throughout this story, such as when John places his hand against a window and leaves it there until it's numb with cold: he seems to experience everything very intensely. He gets nervous and excitable, and babbles and fidgets (just like the Doctor), and the manic energy that the Doctor has doesn't seem to be distilled by being in a human body.
There are some lines that made me grin the moment I read them - such as John watching Martha getting ready to go back to work after a brief break with him in the hospital cafeteria:
he watched her reassemble herself, much like a superhero donning their costume before heading into the fray.
I feel that John is seeing Martha clearly and that he can find heroism in ordinary human life, as well as in the extraordinary life of battling alien invasions, because he's human now, and he knows that ordinary humans can be heroic even in their every day lives.
And this description of John enjoying the first of the snow - while Martha stands and shivers in her pyjamas and bare feet:
John was hopping around from foot to foot even more than Martha. He turned around in a circle, arms extended like wings. For all the world, he looked like a gangly pigeon ready to take flight from pure joy alone.
Given how gangly David Tennant's Doctor can appear at times, the image seems very apt, and at the same time, it amuses me: I can easily picture John hopping about and turning around like a child enjoying his first experience of snow.
And especially these lines, when Martha and John are lying hand in hand in the snow amidst the snow figures they've built:
Martha thought that sometimes when he spoke, it felt as if time itself would stand still and wait on him, not as if it obeyed his command, but as if it was bowed in respect and would only resume when he thought it fitting for the moment to pass.
Even though he's human, there's enough of the Time Lord about him still for Martha - who doesn’t know that John's part Time Lord - to feel that Time waits on him, rather than that he's fettered by Time, like everyone else.
There's so much to love about this story: the developing relationship between John and Martha; the way that the quotation from Blake is subtly weaved into the story, so that you know the epigraph's not just there to be clever; the hints at Martha's backstory - no less tragic for her than for the Martha we know in this universe; John's energy and enthusiasm which are threaded through with little moments of self-doubt and insecurity where the Donna side of his nature makes itself felt.
In short, this story is beautifully written and makes me believe in the characters and their relationship with one another.
*
The Chinese Remainder Theorem, by eve11 Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Fluff in Classic Who (Winner in Round Two)
Characters: Sixth Doctor, Evelyn Smythe
Rating: All Ages
Details: Single-part ficlet, complete, 1540 words. It isn’t necessary to have listened to the referenced audio before reading this.
Why It Rocks:
From a human perspective, the Doctor can sometimes be extremely frustrating. I can’t think of a better example of this phenomenon than in this story: Evelyn asks him for an explanation of regeneration and what she gets in response is a lecture on Chinese generals and the art of counting armies - all of which, the Doctor insists, is completely relevant to the question.
Evelyn Smythe, for anyone unfamiliar with the Big Finish audios, is a fifty-something professor of history in a British university who travelled with the Doctor through a number of audio episodes and also two novels. These two have a fascinating relationship; Evelyn’s greater maturity (compared to the majority of the Doctor’s companions) makes her more than a match for the Doctor’s pomposity and occasional self-aggrandisement, and they become firm friends. Like all of the Doctor’s companions, she loves him, of course, and she’s one of the few who tells him so, much later, after she’s already left him. In a very sweet scene, he blusters for a moment about how he can't imagine what he could possibly have done to deserve that... then stops himself, and says in a small voice, "Thank you. I still... miss you, you know."
But back to the fic. It’s very much in character that, early in the story, Evelyn muses that, if she were younger, she'd be down on the beach blanket, shooting the Doctor coy glances. I love this, because it ties into the reason why, for me at least, Evelyn is the quintessential Sixth Doctor companion - she has the age and experience to understand that the Doctor (at least in this era) has no interest in buxom bikinis and coy glances, and, in this story, the self-knowledge to admit that she probably would have tried them anyway, back in the day.
This story is distinctly Six because of the long-winded, wandering metaphor which eventually comes back around to the topic at hand - regeneration. Six practically leaps off the page with the bluster and the name dropping which conceals a thoughtful, surprisingly introspective man. And, of course, because I can't go three sentences without praising Evelyn, there's the fact that most companions would have become frustrated and derailed the aforementioned metaphor long before it got back around to the topic at hand, whereas Evelyn was willing to stick with it, albeit with some teasing, and got out of it everything about regeneration that the Doctor was willing to offer at that time.
"Doctor, you're changing the subject."
"I never change the subject."
Her smile is still there, emerging from under a floppy hat and a large pair of sunglasses. "Of course you don't. But we were talking about regeneration, whatever that is."
Of course the Doctor changes the subject, and he does it all the time, even when he pretends he isn’t. It would be easy to think of Evelyn as placid and accepting of his meanderings, when in fact she’s demonstrating one of the great skills of an experienced educator: gently steering her student back onto the topic.
"I taught Sun Tzu how to count his armies." The Doctor's coattails flap in the breeze as Evelyn ties down her hat. She lets out a grumpy sigh, more for effect than a sign of actual annoyance.
"We were talking about learning experiences. I asked what taught you the most in life, and with no hesitation you said, 'regeneration.' I asked you what that was, and suddenly we're talking about kites and Chinese generals--"
"Evelyn, for heaven's sake, it's a metaphor!" the Doctor blusters.
The story is metaphor from beginning to end, from the Doctor and the kite both as multicoloured splashes, the kite soaring and dipping in the sky, and the concept of counting Sun Tzu’s armies as the closest thing to understanding regeneration. The ultimate metaphor is simply inspired: you don't usually see this level of depth and complexity in fanfiction. It's a brilliant commentary on the Doctor's character, made even more brilliant by the fact that the reader doesn't see the payoff coming until the author spells it out - modular arithmetic is like regeneration. You won’t understand regeneration based on this story, and neither did Evelyn, but you will understand that the Doctor isn’t human and doesn’t think in any way the same as we do - and we shouldn’t expect him to.
This is quite simply one of the best Six and Evelyn fics around. Even if you’ve never listened to a Big Finish audio, or seen Six on-screen, you’ll get something out of it, even if it’s just a wry smile at the Doctor’s story-telling - "Did I ever tell you about the time Sun Tzu told me to go fly a kite?" - and to marvel at Eve11’s writing. This is such an original idea, beautifully executed; if you’re a maths geek the concept will have you nodding in agreement, but even if you’re not, you’ll love the language and the imagery in this charming vignette.
*
The Boy Who Killed Time (The Last Love Song Remix) by rosa_acicularis Link goes to Teaspoon
Category: Dark in New Who (Winner in Round Two)
Rating: All ages
Characters: Ten, Martha, Jamie, Susan, Eight, Leela, Rose, Romana
Details: 8800 words. Remix of netgirl_y2k's The Boy Who Killed Time
Why it Rocks:
I've started this review over and over throughout the past few days, and I still don't know where to begin answering that question. Does "rocks" even apply to a story that so captivates and then so carefully, exquisitely, gently devastates? Even thinking about re-reading this story makes me cry-- on the highway, apparently, every day this week as I was driving in to work, watching the sun rise and trying to construct this review in the back of my mind.
I can sum up the gist of my review in five words: everyone should read this story. Old School, New School, die-hard shippers of any stripe, militant asexualists, dark fic fans, or even those who usually steer clear of character death-- Rosa's writing, her story construction, her eye for detail and characterization, all transcend genre. The story itself is beautiful, terrible, poignant and achingly sad. It moves you, and it stays with you long after you've read it. But for all that it is a tale about endings, it is also a story about life-- hope, family, regret, mistakes, love, and the ultimate inevitability of death. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the author sums it up best in her title. It's a last love song, and it's brilliant.
Personally, I think the remix works even better as a companion piece to netgirl_y2k's original story, read with foreknowledge of the events in the original in mind. I was lucky enough to get an early spot reccing in calufrax, and so I got a chance to rec the original version. It starts with Martha seeing apparitions of former Doctors and Companions throughout the TARDIS, that grow more substantial as time passes. A curiosity at first, it quickly becomes apparent that these "ghosts" are symptoms of a much more sweeping and terrible problem. Rosa takes this short story and switches point of view from Martha-- who doesn't know who the shades are, and who doesn't understand why they are appearing-- to the Doctor, who most certainly does.
If you don't need to know anything more than that, go read it now, because I am going to go into a bit more detail in the rest of this review. If the thought of darkfic with character death scares you away, I'd definitely encourage reading the original version first. Short, mysterious and chilling, it's kind of like diving into a pool headfirst to get over the shock, that then lets the remix focus on the emotions and characters under the surface.
So, shoo if you don't want any more spoilers, otherwise, onward we go.
It's rare that the universe of Doctor Who tackles death with this kind of permanence. The Doctor can die, but he can also regenerate. We've had plenty of death in the ranks, even some companions, but always, we move on. There is no slow inevitability; there is always hope, tenacity and the chance that the Doctor can save everyone. Everyone rarely lives. But everyone never dies. Part of why I think that the piece works so well as a companion to the original is that you know the end is inescapable.
I love how the story crystallizes and focuses, starting with the almost imperceptible appearance of the void (in a wickedly funny exchange between the Doctor and Martha), the ghosts wandering the hallways, and culminating in a realization so immense the Doctor can only face it with a cosmic shrug:
Outside the TARDIS there is void, and though his ship protects them (and buckles and bends with the strain) he can feel its pull. It is the sound that is not a sound, the sound that eats sound - a hungry, consuming emptiness without colour or light or time.
It is the end.
"Oh," he says, blinking into the darkness, and closes the door.
This isn't a story about endings, it's a story about the end of everything. Because of course, if we cannot ever imagine a universe without the Doctor, then the only way to make his death truly and utterly permanent is to destroy the universe. But this death, as over the top as it is, as all-encompassing as it must be to escape the trappings of fiction, is a stark reflection of life. As Rosa describes it, The void (the silence) in him is like an infection, a cancer, and he can feel it searing through veins and neurons and alveoli, seeping out through his pores.
Life, that gives us loved ones and then gives them incurable diseases. Life, that for those who truly live, always seems too short.
When there is nothing left to be done, as the world fades, it's memories, family, love and sadly, regret, that come calling. The companions that emerge from the past-- Jamie McCrimmon, Susan Foreman, Leela, Rose Tyler, Romana-- are all lost loves, for all the different stripes of love that there are. Rarely does an author come along who can take that large of a swath from the Whovian universe and bring everyone alive so vividly and in character, but Rosa does it so fluidly I had to go back and re-read it again before I even noticed the mechanics of the piece.
It's the small details of each era-- writing and characterization choices I wish I knew how to make-- described in spare but visual prose, that bring this story to life. Jamie mending socks, Ten transforming by voice and manner alone into the elder "grandfather" as he speaks with the ghost of Susan, a war-weary Eighth Doctor sharing tea and consequences with Leela:
Leela nods slowly, the lines of her face sharp and shadowed. "The weapon they spoke of. It will require incredible power, will it not?"
The other Doctor waves a dismissive hand. "Well, technically, it's not a weapon so much as--"
She stands, suddenly looming over him. "Doctor."
"Oh yes," he says quickly. "Lots of power. Oodles."
A spot-on fantastic Rose Tyler voice:
"Unbelievable," she groans, her consonants heavy with sleep. "You are un-bloody-believable. Five hours out of every twenty-four, that's all I ask. Five hours. For you, that's nothing. That's one good ramble, a quick stop at the shop for milk. I've seen you spend more time on your hair and you still weren’t happy with your fringe, you complete and utter lunatic."
I love how Rose's ghost is neither overshadowed nor overshadows the Doctor's companions throughout his lives, but takes on the role she did when she traveled with him-- enduring his guilt, and doing her best to absolve him of it, although it's something she will never be able to truly fix. She is the only one of the ghosts to whom the Doctor explains what's going on: But he needed this, needed her grief - just as he needed her to watch her planet burn. Just as he needed to hear her say forever.
This love song has a refrain: everything will be all right, in the end. Some may see it as hollow, but somehow, I don't. For the Doctor, it's a refrain of a life well-lived, of forgiveness in the face of the unforgivable, and an ending in which the only thing that matters-- the only thing that can matter, is that he's not alone.
*
Today's reviews were written by:
rachelbeann: Gone Fishing
amberfocus: Belonging
ladychi: Peace Attend...
gowdie: The Calm Before...
persiflage_1: Eternity in an Hour
wendymr, with assistance from ponygirl72: The Chinese Remainder Theorem
eve11: The Boy Who...