Fic Commentary: Quarantine
I've never done a commentary on my own work before, but really enjoyed reading what Jadesfire had come up with, so I thought I'd have a go at it. If there's a story of mine you'd like to see, feel free to request it!
The original story is here, if you want to skim that first. Like many of my drabbles and ficlets this was not beta-ed, sometimes I go through stages where I won't post anything unless it's been preread and other times (especially for short snippets) I say screw it and put it up for the world to see despite any punctuation problems or other issues that might emerge. (And something did, as always my f-list was nice enough to spot it so I could correct it.)
Title: Quarantine
Pairing/Warning/Rating: No pairings or warnings, rated G I know, I know, rated G from donutsweeper, you are all *so* shocked
Word Count: 373
Summary: When the team is confined to the Hub, Jack has the perfect solution on how to spend the time. This was one of the few times the summary was actually easy to come up with. More often than not it's coming up with the title or summary that takes the longest time for me.
Author's Note: Written for joonscribble's prompt for my recent writing meme. The prompt had been "Torchwood + boardgames" which my weird little brain jumped on with unadulterated glee the second I read it.
No one was willing to admit who broke the vial. In the end it didn’t matter since all Torchwood employees, as a rule, were inoculated against the toxin’s effects. The only problem was that once exposed, they themselves were at risk for spreading it and therefore they were stuck in the Hub until all their tests came back clear.
This is a common tactic for me- I never specify exactly what was in the vial or what the toxin is or does. I like to leave things open for the reader to interpret on their own because I think it leads to a more interesting reading experience. And... I'm lazy as a writer. This way you do the hard work for me.
“Can’t let it be introduced into the general population,” Jack explained, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair. “Don’t want a repeat of the influenza epidemic of-” he broke off when he saw the looks the others were giving him. “Let’s just say the consequences of getting it out would be bad.”
Okay, so Torchwood probably wasn't responsible for the great flu epidemic of the early 20th century, but you never know...
“What exactly does that mean for us?” Ianto asked as he distributed the afternoon coffee.
The world could be ending, but Ianto would still make sure there was coffee. Gotta appreciate that in a man.
“Let’s see, with the rate this’ll metabolize?” Owen skimmed through the files he’d brought into the conference room. “Three to fours days of quarantine is the norm.”
“So, we’re stuck here?” Gwen interrupted, utterly horrified. “For three days?”
“Actually, as I about to say, since we’re not one hundred percent sure of the amount that we’ve absorbed, in this case it should be closer to five days.”
“Five days?” Gwen’s head sank down onto the table. “Five days.”
Gwen, actually having a life outside the Hub, would be the one most affected by the quarantine. She's also (in my mind) a little bit of a drama queen.
“It’s not so bad.” Tosh put an arm around Gwen’s shoulders. “Think of all the work we’ll be able to get done! You’d said you wanted time to get to know our policies and procedures better!”
I'm not sure when this is set in the Torchwood timeline (during S1? S2?) but it doesn't really matter, no matter what, there is ALWAYS paperwork and rules and regulations to read, right?
“Five whole days?” Gwen mumbled, not looking up.
“It will be an excellent opportunity for me to catch up on the filing.” Ianto looked at Owen over his coffee cup. “Certain people have gotten in the habit of not refiling the documents they’ve taken out for research.”
“Five days. Five whole days.”
“Yeah, you said that already, sweetheart,” Owen said to Gwen before turning to Jack, “We’re getting paid for this, right?”
Owen+snark= fun!
“Owen, Owen, Owen. You people are unbelievable. Money? Filing? Policies and procedures?” Jack shook his head. “You people aught to be ashamed of yourselves. Rules about how to spend time while in quarantine are very specific.”
“They are?” Tosh asked.
“Yes,” Jack responded. “Now, who’s up for some naked twister?” Jack rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
And here we are at the crux of the story. As I'd admitted in an email to _medley_ the second I read "boardgames" my mind went immediately to naked twister. It's just *so* perfect for Jack. Whether or not they actually played, and who won, I left up to the reader.
The original story is here, if you want to skim that first. Like many of my drabbles and ficlets this was not beta-ed, sometimes I go through stages where I won't post anything unless it's been preread and other times (especially for short snippets) I say screw it and put it up for the world to see despite any punctuation problems or other issues that might emerge. (And something did, as always my f-list was nice enough to spot it so I could correct it.)
Title: Quarantine
Pairing/Warning/Rating: No pairings or warnings, rated G I know, I know, rated G from donutsweeper, you are all *so* shocked
Word Count: 373
Summary: When the team is confined to the Hub, Jack has the perfect solution on how to spend the time. This was one of the few times the summary was actually easy to come up with. More often than not it's coming up with the title or summary that takes the longest time for me.
Author's Note: Written for joonscribble's prompt for my recent writing meme. The prompt had been "Torchwood + boardgames" which my weird little brain jumped on with unadulterated glee the second I read it.
No one was willing to admit who broke the vial. In the end it didn’t matter since all Torchwood employees, as a rule, were inoculated against the toxin’s effects. The only problem was that once exposed, they themselves were at risk for spreading it and therefore they were stuck in the Hub until all their tests came back clear.
This is a common tactic for me- I never specify exactly what was in the vial or what the toxin is or does. I like to leave things open for the reader to interpret on their own because I think it leads to a more interesting reading experience. And... I'm lazy as a writer. This way you do the hard work for me.
“Can’t let it be introduced into the general population,” Jack explained, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair. “Don’t want a repeat of the influenza epidemic of-” he broke off when he saw the looks the others were giving him. “Let’s just say the consequences of getting it out would be bad.”
Okay, so Torchwood probably wasn't responsible for the great flu epidemic of the early 20th century, but you never know...
“What exactly does that mean for us?” Ianto asked as he distributed the afternoon coffee.
The world could be ending, but Ianto would still make sure there was coffee. Gotta appreciate that in a man.
“Let’s see, with the rate this’ll metabolize?” Owen skimmed through the files he’d brought into the conference room. “Three to fours days of quarantine is the norm.”
“So, we’re stuck here?” Gwen interrupted, utterly horrified. “For three days?”
“Actually, as I about to say, since we’re not one hundred percent sure of the amount that we’ve absorbed, in this case it should be closer to five days.”
“Five days?” Gwen’s head sank down onto the table. “Five days.”
Gwen, actually having a life outside the Hub, would be the one most affected by the quarantine. She's also (in my mind) a little bit of a drama queen.
“It’s not so bad.” Tosh put an arm around Gwen’s shoulders. “Think of all the work we’ll be able to get done! You’d said you wanted time to get to know our policies and procedures better!”
I'm not sure when this is set in the Torchwood timeline (during S1? S2?) but it doesn't really matter, no matter what, there is ALWAYS paperwork and rules and regulations to read, right?
“Five whole days?” Gwen mumbled, not looking up.
“It will be an excellent opportunity for me to catch up on the filing.” Ianto looked at Owen over his coffee cup. “Certain people have gotten in the habit of not refiling the documents they’ve taken out for research.”
“Five days. Five whole days.”
“Yeah, you said that already, sweetheart,” Owen said to Gwen before turning to Jack, “We’re getting paid for this, right?”
Owen+snark= fun!
“Owen, Owen, Owen. You people are unbelievable. Money? Filing? Policies and procedures?” Jack shook his head. “You people aught to be ashamed of yourselves. Rules about how to spend time while in quarantine are very specific.”
“They are?” Tosh asked.
“Yes,” Jack responded. “Now, who’s up for some naked twister?” Jack rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
And here we are at the crux of the story. As I'd admitted in an email to _medley_ the second I read "boardgames" my mind went immediately to naked twister. It's just *so* perfect for Jack. Whether or not they actually played, and who won, I left up to the reader.