various and sundry (but mostly ianto jones and shawn spencer)
fannish;
Guys, the Gwen Cooper who lives in my head is so fucking badass, you don't even know.
Um, but that's not what I started this entry to talk about. It was just something that I thought of while reading fic a few minutes ago. I felt the need to share it with the world.
Anyway.
I was writing some hairdressers AU today and I had a thought. The section I was writing involved Gwen talking to Will and... well, okay, it's easier to post than to explain in words, mostly because I am lazy:
The jingle bells on the door handle rang cheerfully when Will entered the salon. Gwen glanced up from the reception desk with a smile that dimmed a little when she saw it was him.
"Sorry, love," she said. "I thought you'd be Ianto. We're going out before dinner as soon as he gets back."
"He's still next door," Will said, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb. "He sent me over to tell you he'll be a bit longer. He fixed the espresso machine, but something happened to Sam's laptop and he's taking a look at that, too." Will leaned against the counter on his forearms, watching as Gwen went back to sorting through receipts. "I mean absolutely no offense by what I'm about to say, but I have to admit that I'm a little surprised at the breadth of Ianto's knowledge of... well, everything."
Gwen smiled fondly and stopped sorting through receipts, lost in thought. She shook her head clear and grinned at Will. "That's our Ianto," she said. "Ianto..." She bit her lower lip. "Well, let's just say that Ianto's childhood wasn't exactly idyllic. He's brilliant and he's got a nearly eidetic memory, but at some point he realized he could either know a little bit about everything or everything about one thing. I think knowing a little bit about everything seemed more exciting."
So, here was my revelation:
Ianto Jones ALMOST = Shawn Spencer.
Which is so fucked up and shouldn't be true, but I can definitely see it. I don't think Ianto has a truly photographic memory (although I'll buy it in fic and I can see why so many people DO write him that way), I think he has a good enough memory and a strong enough drive to learn bits and pieces of the world around him to make up for it.
But the little bit we get about Ianto's past in "Fragments" sounds a lot like Shawn's--moving around, lots of different jobs, picking up all sorts of bizarre and seemingly useless information. Ianto's a bit more intense and a bit more broken, moving about in an effort to run away from his past, whereas Shawn's movement has more to do with boredom and longing, I think. But they both think there's something more out there waiting for them, that they could be a part of something bigger, and they both eventually find that.
I think Lisa and Canary Wharf went a long way to driving Ianto away from the sort of deceptive, vaguely illegal parlor tricks that Shawn focuses on* and left him embracing his quirks and knowledge without bothering to make up an explanation for them. He was, after all, on a team of people who were much weirder than he was, or at least than he appeared to be. Ianto was more intense than Shawn to begin with, but all of the tragedy in his life compounded that. It's still a game to Shawn, something he draws amusement out of, something that he does for fun as much as he does out of duty. It's not amusing to Ianto because Ianto's job isn't amusing. The fate of the world rests on it and he doesn't have time to play those sort of games, nor does he have as much inclination. He still lies, but out of self-preservation, and not in the showy, braggy what that Shawn does it.
But in a world without Torchwood or Canary Wharf, I could definitely see Ianto becoming Shawn Spencer, the sort of delightful con-man with a good heart who's doing the right thing, if not entirely for the right reason.
That's all to say that I want an AU where Ianto is Shawn and Gwen is Gus and Jack, Tosh, and Owen are Chief Vick, Jules, and Lassiter. (Those are character matches not indicative of my shipping preferences, bee tee dubs. I really can't bring myself to ship Ianto/Gwen and I'd gouge my eyes out before I read Vick/Shawn.)
***
real life;
I had things that I was going to put under here and I forgot what they were in the THREE HOURS it took me to write this post. (I get distracted easily, okay?)
I know one of them was another thank you to the people who came to FDP. I'm pretty socially awkward and most of my socialization and friendships are through fandom. They are not always successful (see: the Rent fandom as a whole), but to be sitting with five people whom I met in five totally different ways but all because of fandom**? It was really great and I felt more relaxed than I had in a long time. So, thanks, guys.
In other RL news that happened while I was typing this entry, THE HAIRDRESSERS AU FILE IS CORRUPT D: D: D: D:
I don't know what happened! It was perfectly functional a few days ago when I last opened it, but I went to open it again to move around some scenes and check something for the Hairdressers Christmas Story and my computer refuses to recognize it! I tried to upload it to GoogleDocs and it came out as garbage! I'm so upset!
I don't think I lost much because I have a habit of e-mailing bits of it to neurotictealeaf and suchthefangirl, but there's at least once scene that's gone and I'm freaking out a little. I need to find a way to fix it.
And I was going to go to bed early, too :(
eta: NEVERMIND, DUDES! GoogleDesktop totally saved my ass and I was able to recover a cached version of the file! :D :D :D
***
Anyway, that is all. This is going to be a busy week and I am nervous for many reasons, but I am trying to be positive.
***
* That's not to say that he's not deceptive and doesn't do anything illegal -- I think his role in Torchwood 3 actually cashes in on this. They use him to make up believable lies and hide bodies. You'd have thought that Jack would have realized how good he is at deception long before "Cyberwoman." Of course, Jack is pretty much a crap boss, so there's that.
** Okay, not ALL because of fandom. Nicole is my cousin, after all. But fandom brought me closer to everyone sitting at my table on Saturday night, Nicole included, and that means something, doesn't it? In all the wank and angst and ridiculousness of fandom, that definitely means something.
Guys, the Gwen Cooper who lives in my head is so fucking badass, you don't even know.
Um, but that's not what I started this entry to talk about. It was just something that I thought of while reading fic a few minutes ago. I felt the need to share it with the world.
Anyway.
I was writing some hairdressers AU today and I had a thought. The section I was writing involved Gwen talking to Will and... well, okay, it's easier to post than to explain in words, mostly because I am lazy:
The jingle bells on the door handle rang cheerfully when Will entered the salon. Gwen glanced up from the reception desk with a smile that dimmed a little when she saw it was him.
"Sorry, love," she said. "I thought you'd be Ianto. We're going out before dinner as soon as he gets back."
"He's still next door," Will said, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb. "He sent me over to tell you he'll be a bit longer. He fixed the espresso machine, but something happened to Sam's laptop and he's taking a look at that, too." Will leaned against the counter on his forearms, watching as Gwen went back to sorting through receipts. "I mean absolutely no offense by what I'm about to say, but I have to admit that I'm a little surprised at the breadth of Ianto's knowledge of... well, everything."
Gwen smiled fondly and stopped sorting through receipts, lost in thought. She shook her head clear and grinned at Will. "That's our Ianto," she said. "Ianto..." She bit her lower lip. "Well, let's just say that Ianto's childhood wasn't exactly idyllic. He's brilliant and he's got a nearly eidetic memory, but at some point he realized he could either know a little bit about everything or everything about one thing. I think knowing a little bit about everything seemed more exciting."
So, here was my revelation:
Ianto Jones ALMOST = Shawn Spencer.
Which is so fucked up and shouldn't be true, but I can definitely see it. I don't think Ianto has a truly photographic memory (although I'll buy it in fic and I can see why so many people DO write him that way), I think he has a good enough memory and a strong enough drive to learn bits and pieces of the world around him to make up for it.
But the little bit we get about Ianto's past in "Fragments" sounds a lot like Shawn's--moving around, lots of different jobs, picking up all sorts of bizarre and seemingly useless information. Ianto's a bit more intense and a bit more broken, moving about in an effort to run away from his past, whereas Shawn's movement has more to do with boredom and longing, I think. But they both think there's something more out there waiting for them, that they could be a part of something bigger, and they both eventually find that.
I think Lisa and Canary Wharf went a long way to driving Ianto away from the sort of deceptive, vaguely illegal parlor tricks that Shawn focuses on* and left him embracing his quirks and knowledge without bothering to make up an explanation for them. He was, after all, on a team of people who were much weirder than he was, or at least than he appeared to be. Ianto was more intense than Shawn to begin with, but all of the tragedy in his life compounded that. It's still a game to Shawn, something he draws amusement out of, something that he does for fun as much as he does out of duty. It's not amusing to Ianto because Ianto's job isn't amusing. The fate of the world rests on it and he doesn't have time to play those sort of games, nor does he have as much inclination. He still lies, but out of self-preservation, and not in the showy, braggy what that Shawn does it.
But in a world without Torchwood or Canary Wharf, I could definitely see Ianto becoming Shawn Spencer, the sort of delightful con-man with a good heart who's doing the right thing, if not entirely for the right reason.
That's all to say that I want an AU where Ianto is Shawn and Gwen is Gus and Jack, Tosh, and Owen are Chief Vick, Jules, and Lassiter. (Those are character matches not indicative of my shipping preferences, bee tee dubs. I really can't bring myself to ship Ianto/Gwen and I'd gouge my eyes out before I read Vick/Shawn.)
***
real life;
I had things that I was going to put under here and I forgot what they were in the THREE HOURS it took me to write this post. (I get distracted easily, okay?)
I know one of them was another thank you to the people who came to FDP. I'm pretty socially awkward and most of my socialization and friendships are through fandom. They are not always successful (see: the Rent fandom as a whole), but to be sitting with five people whom I met in five totally different ways but all because of fandom**? It was really great and I felt more relaxed than I had in a long time. So, thanks, guys.
In other RL news that happened while I was typing this entry, THE HAIRDRESSERS AU FILE IS CORRUPT D: D: D: D:
I don't know what happened! It was perfectly functional a few days ago when I last opened it, but I went to open it again to move around some scenes and check something for the Hairdressers Christmas Story and my computer refuses to recognize it! I tried to upload it to GoogleDocs and it came out as garbage! I'm so upset!
I don't think I lost much because I have a habit of e-mailing bits of it to neurotictealeaf and suchthefangirl, but there's at least once scene that's gone and I'm freaking out a little. I need to find a way to fix it.
And I was going to go to bed early, too :(
eta: NEVERMIND, DUDES! GoogleDesktop totally saved my ass and I was able to recover a cached version of the file! :D :D :D
***
Anyway, that is all. This is going to be a busy week and I am nervous for many reasons, but I am trying to be positive.
***
* That's not to say that he's not deceptive and doesn't do anything illegal -- I think his role in Torchwood 3 actually cashes in on this. They use him to make up believable lies and hide bodies. You'd have thought that Jack would have realized how good he is at deception long before "Cyberwoman." Of course, Jack is pretty much a crap boss, so there's that.
** Okay, not ALL because of fandom. Nicole is my cousin, after all. But fandom brought me closer to everyone sitting at my table on Saturday night, Nicole included, and that means something, doesn't it? In all the wank and angst and ridiculousness of fandom, that definitely means something.