multiversal Application
Out of Character Information
Name: Zee
Username: fire
Are you over the age of eighteen? yes'm
Current characters in Baedal: none
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Ianto Jones
Username: suitedforcoffee
Fandom: Torchwood
Played By: Gareth David-Lloyd
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/110178133/29029717
Physical Description: Ianto is tall and lean, in his mid-20s with a fair complexion and is fairly handsome. He has dark brown hair and blue eyes, no facial hair and a cute button nose. In general, he wears well-tailored suits, though on occasion he'll wear jeans and casual shirts. He manages to look distinctly younger when dressed casually.
Sexuality: For most of his life, Ianto identified primarily as straight. That said, it's plain he must have always had at least some small inclination toward men, otherwise his relationship with Captain Jack Harkness would not have manifested. It's possible, even likely, he did some experimenting as a kid, but he never did much to acknowledge his attraction to other men, possibly because he liked women just as much and by dating women only, it was easier for him to conform to a heteronormative society. It was a plan that worked out well until Ianto eventually fell hard for Jack. He justifies this to his sister by telling her it isn't that he's attracted to men, only to Jack. It's debatable just how true this is, but it's safe to say that Ianto is ambiguous about his sexuality. For purposes of labeling it without going into details, bisexual is probably the best bet.
History: Blatantly copied from Wikipedia:
The character of Ianto Jones is introduced in the first episode of Torchwood, in 2006. Introduced as a mild-mannered and quiet administrator working for Torchwood Three, his first centric appearance was the episode "Cyberwoman" which dealt with both his backstory and motivations. In the episode, Ianto is revealed as a former employee of Torchwood One in London (first seen in parent series Doctor Who), whose girlfriend, Lisa, has been partially converted into a Cyberman, a cyborg species first seen in Doctor Who in 1966. Ianto has been keeping her alive, concealed in the basement of the Hub, but she eventually breaks loose, and kills two civilians. Ianto is forced into confrontation with team leader Captain Jack Harkness, who is later able to revive Ianto with a kiss when Lisa knocks him unconscious. Ultimately, the rest of Ianto's team is forced to kill Lisa. Although Ianto's thoughts continue to be concerned with Lisa, mid-series he begins to develop a sexual relationship with Jack. By the series' penultimate episode, Ianto is willing to shoot colleague Owen Harper to protect Jack, and refutes claims he is merely his "part time shag." In the series finale, an image of what appears to be Lisa's ghost is used to bring Ianto to mutiny against Jack, but still later when an immortal Jack rises from the dead, he and Ianto immediately kiss one another.
Torchwood's second series (2008) begins with the team working without Jack, who departed the Hub at the end of series one to reunite with the mysterious "Doctor" from his past. Ianto's role within the team now more frequently includes field missions, to accommodate Jack's absence. When Jack returns in the series two premiere, having seen the end of the world, he attempts to formalise his romantic relationship with Ianto, successfully asking him on a date. Jack and Ianto's relationship becomes more overt, and Ianto's character becomes less burdened by secrets and happier, beginning to express a newfound confidence and dour sense of humour. The series' penultimate episode, "Fragments" explores Ianto's backstory, specifically how he was recruited into Torchwood Three two years prior; Ianto is persistent that Jack hire him after the destruction of Torchwood One, but only succeeds once he is able to aid Jack in capturing a stray pterodactyl. In the second series finale, Ianto and the team face Jack's 51st-century ex Captain John Hart and younger brother Gray, who has vengefully sought to destroy Jack's world. After Gray kills his teammates Toshiko and Owen, the Torchwood team is left with a membership of only three.
I'll be bringing in Ianto from just a few weeks after this point, before his crossover appearance on Doctor Who and before season 3.
Powers: Coffee power None.
Talents/Abilities:: Ianto makes the best coffee in the galaxy world. No, seriously. He also has extremely precise attention to detail and an eye for organization, making him an excellent archivist. He's trained in basic hand-to-hand combat and is proficient with a variety of firearms.
Personality: On first impression, Ianto seems like a very upright, straight-laced and mature individual, especially for his age. While this is true to some extent, it's only his surface personality, the one he faces the world with like a defensive shield. Beneath the three-piece suits and polite turns of phrase, Ianto is a complicated and surprising individual.
While Ianto is no genius and doesn't pretend to be, he's quite sharp and highly efficient. He prides himself on his dearth of knowledge, especially his knowledge about Torchwood. His attention to detail is described as "unrivaled," and he's almost always able to anticipate the needs of the rest of the team before they have to ask.
When Ianto is open and unguarded, his personality quirks come to the forefront. The most obvious of these is his penchant for snark and sarcasm. He's well-prepared with witty comebacks to any bit of teasing, and can be quite scathingly sarcastic in times of stress. This can also manifest in inappropriate jokes, and it's plain that Ianto can have a dark sense of humor. During Sleeper, Jack decides to use a mind probe on a woman he's convinced is an alien. The probe has a bad history of causing heads to explode, and while testing the straps, Ianto shakes and jolts and makes sound effects as if he's being electrocuted, teasing Jack about what Ianto sees as a move that's doomed to end in brains on the floor.
It's times like these that serve as a reminder just how young Ianto still is. There are other instances throughout the series, and most notably in some of the novels that highlight Ianto's bouts of immaturity. During The Sin Eaters, Ianto engages in a little game of one-upmanship with Jack, who's teasing him about being afraid of Jack's crazy driving. He insists on trying out two vehicle modifications that Jack warns haven't been tested; one dramatically increases the speed, the other makes the vehicle amphibious. The second doesn't work out so well and the car promptly floods with water, ending in a sunken SUV, an annoyed Gwen, and an embarrassed Jack and Ianto.
Though much of his past is still shrouded in mystery, we do know that Ianto grew up in a lower-class family consisting of his father and his sister Rhiannon. When he mentions his father to Jack and Gwen, he tells them he was a master tailor. However, Rhiannon reveals later that Ianto's father worked at Debenhams, a department store. It may seem odd that Ianto would lie to the people he's closest to about his family, but the reasons behind it are complicated.
While nothing is ever stated in canon about Ianto's mother, fandom speculates that she was committed when Ianto was young and eventually died. For RP purposes, I like to stick with this theory. It's mentioned during Children of Earth that Ianto's father broke Ianto's leg during his childhood by pushing him too hard on a swing, but Rhiannon insists that it wasn't intentional. Ianto sees it as just one more example of how his father was always pushing him. He died when Ianto was in his late teens, and Ianto left home immediately afterwards.
Clearly, Ianto's childhood isn't what he would have liked it to have been, so by lying about it, Ianto creates a fantasy childhood of his own. It makes him feel better about what he lacked, and makes him feel like a more sophisticated person if he pretends his father was half as good as he pushed Ianto to be. He reinforces the fantasy (and keeps Jack or Gwen from discovering his lies) by having little contact with Rhiannon, who chides him about it in Children of Earth. While these are the traits of a compulsive liar, Ianto's compulsion is restricted only to lies about his childhood and his father. However, the practice does make him very good at lying under other circumstances when he has to, as well as keeping secrets and even manipulating others if he feels he has no other choice, as was revealed in the beginning of the series.
This is just scratching the surface of his dark side, which is something that rarely rears its ugly head, but does seep through when he's pressed. In the episode Meat, Ianto is hit, tied up, shot at, and forced to run after the bad guys on his own because the rest of the team are trapped and in danger. He's ruthless as he takes out the people responsible, and just before he tases the last man -- in the head -- he utters, "Pray they survive." There's little doubt that if the rest of the team had died, Ianto might have returned the favor.
There are other hints throughout the series that Ianto is capable of doing horrible things, most notably in Adam. Though the memories Adam gives Ianto are fabricated, they don't fundamentally change who Ianto is as a person. For the most part, the false memories only bring out another side to each member of the team, making them the people they might have become had their lives gone in different directions. Adam gives Ianto memories of stalking and killing innocent women, which implies that being a killer is something Ianto is innately capable of. He immediately confesses everything to Jack, telling him "something in me wants to kill." This may be completely true, and Adam just brings it to the surface. However, the fact that Ianto confesses to Jack without prompting, demanding to be locked in the vaults before he turns on the team, demonstrates that he's horrified by his inner monster. Without the aid of false memory, whatever demons or urges he may possess deep inside are completely overwhelmed by his genuine goodness. Jack knows it, and that proves to be Adam's downfall.
Much of Ianto's development throughout the series has to do with his relationship with Captain Jack Harkness. There's a clear spark of attraction between them when they first meet, but Ianto doesn't act on it due to his secret reasons for wanting Jack to hire him at Torchwood Three in the first place. His girlfriend, Lisa, is still alive, but half-converted into a cyberman since the attack at Canary Wharf, which Ianto survived. Ianto feels guilty for his attraction to Jack, since his driving goal is to use Torchwood resources to keep Lisa alive until he can fix her. Not only would acting on his physical feelings for Jack be a betrayal against Lisa, but he's betraying Jack every moment he hides Lisa away in the basement of the hub.
Needless to say, this is a dark time in Ianto's life, and his guilt and fear and secrecy take a toll on him emotionally that's only compounded by his unresolved trauma from Canary Wharf. He's quiet and withdrawn, doing his job and fading into the background save for the occasional quip or comment. When Lisa is discovered, a whole new side of Ianto is revealed.
Finally able to breathe without assistance from the conversion unit that's been keeping her alive, the cyber components in Lisa completely take over and she escapes into the hub, intent on completing her own conversion before beginning the conversion of the human race. But Ianto loves deeply and is loyal to a fault, and consequently remains in denial about Lisa. He's still convinced that she can be saved, and is desperate to keep Jack from killing her. He fights Jack every step of the way. Though he has every disadvantage, he doesn't give in, and it becomes clear that there's much more to the quiet, unassuming Ianto than meets the eye. It takes the death of an innocent girl for Ianto to finally accept that the Lisa he knew and loved is gone.
Despite Ianto's betrayal, Jack doesn't kill him or wipe his memory. Though Ianto is severely emotionally damaged at this point and Jack is not a happy camper, Jack makes the effort to help Ianto pull through and find a new purpose in life. After Ianto has time to heal and forgive Jack for doing what he had to do, Torchwood -- and Jack -- become that purpose. A fledgeling physical relationship forms between them that gradually grows into love on Ianto's part, and eventually Jack's as well. It's this relationship that helps improve Ianto's confidence and sense of self-worth. He emerges more and more from his self-imposed shell and goes from being withdrawn and depressed to being happy and outspoken.
By the third season, Ianto's relationship with Jack is steeped in genuine, mutual love, but it's by no means completely stable or fully developed. Ianto is unsure how to define his relationship with Jack and he's insecure about his place in Jack's heart. At one point, it's remarked upon by multiple characters in short succession that Jack and Ianto are a "couple," prompting Ianto to somewhat hopefully (and awkwardly) try to broach the subject with Jack, pushing for Jack to say implicitly whether they are or are not a proper couple. Jack replies by snappishly stating that he hates the word "couple" and distancing himself from the subject. Jack doesn't like labels or admitting just how close he's become to Ianto, but Ianto needs that kind of categorization in all aspects of his life, especially when it comes to relationships. Without any explicit declarations of devotion, Ianto feels that he may be nothing more than a passing fancy whom Jack will inevitably forget.
Object: Ianto's diary. Never leave home without it. He'll also be carrying his stopwatch, his wallet, and his gun upon arrival.
Reason for playing: Ianto is a really intriguing character, with a lot of unexpected facets to his personality you might not expect upon first meeting him. He had an untimely death in canon, but in RP, I'm free to further explore and develop his character. I like to keep him involved in plots fairly regularly to help facilitate that, and especially because IC-ly he'd otherwise be bored. Character or action-driven plots are both great, and I plan to develop plenty of well-rounded CR, which is also an important part of keeping a happy, healthy Ianto Jones.
Gods: The god most likely to take an interest in Ianto is probably Kavan, God of Technology, Order and Progress. For...obvious reasons. Ianto is an archivist, and therefore quite invested in order and efficiency. Ianto also has a great aptitude for the technological (though not as great as some). Shada might also take at least a passing interest in Ianto, solely for his relationship with Jack.
Writing Samples
First-Person Journal Post:
Shopping List:
Coffee
Toothpaste
Milk
Biscuits
God, I wish they had a Tescos here. Jack likes the biscuits I got last time, but I can tell he'd rather have the ones I got for him back home. Time traveler from the 51st century and his tastes only extend as far as Sainsbury's generic brand tea biscuits. Speaking of, the lack of proper takeout here is more than a bit frightening. We can't afford to eat out at sit-down places all the time, and I refuse to cook three square meals a day for the duration of our stay here. Jack offered to cook some, but his recipes are not Earth recipes. Literally. Then again, this isn't Earth, is it?
Fuck, listen to me. This is too bloody domestic for words. Where are the alien invaders when you need them? No, nevermind. I'm knocking on wood now. See? This is me, knocking on wood.
Third-Person Arrival Post: Ianto was disappointed, but he wasn't ready to give up all hope for the night. His "weevil hunt" with Jack had actually turned into a weevil hunt, and instead of being naked and sweaty in the back of the SUV, he was currently fully-clothed and alone in the back of the SUV. Ianto figured they might have cursed the euphemism by overusing it. Still, at least Ianto wasn't the one down in the sewer. Hopefully they could wrap this up quickly and move on to more pleasurable pursuits.
Jack contacted him over his earpiece, informing Ianto he was heading in. Checking the monitoring equipment, Ianto acknowledged, keeping an eye on the moving dots that told him his Captain's position in relation to their target. Everything was going smoothly. Soon, Jack would have the weevil in hand and they could finally get out of here. Then Ianto blinked, and the world changed.
No longer in the SUV, he found himself in a tiny, windowless room. Startled, he immediately reached for his gun, spinning around, but found no immediate threat. It was just a room, and he was alone. Aside from himself, there was only a low table. On the table, there was an unfamiliar device, a pamphlet titled Finding Baedal, and a very familiar book. His breath caught. That was his diary. He'd left that back in the hub, safe behind lock and key. He always kept it in the hub, because it contained more than a little extremely personal information, not to mention information about the daily tasks of their top-secret organization. Fuck. Anyone could have read this, if they'd put it here. Heart racing, he reached up to tap his earpiece.
"Jack?" Silence. Not even static. "Fuck." He immediately moved to try the door and found it locked. "Fuck!" he exclaimed with more panic, kicking the wood. For a moment, he just stood there and tried to calm himself. It would be alright. He wasn't taken by the rift, not with his diary here with him. This was deliberate. He'd just been kidnapped, that's all. Jack would find him. He just had to believe that, and everything would be fine. Cautiously, Ianto moved back to the table to inspect the items more closely. Picking up the pamphlet, he began to read.
Third-Person Action Post: Ianto blamed himself. He should have been paying closer attention, but he hadn't seen the gun until it was drawn and aimed, and by then there was no more room for dodging or retaliating. He was going to die. Time moved slowly as he thought regretfully, heart in his throat, of how much he wanted to live. Of how fucking unfair it was that this was how it was going to end. Of how much he didn't want Jack to witness this. The sound of the gun firing reverberated in his ears, and he had only a split second to hope he wouldn't have time to feel the pain before he realized the bullet had missed.
It had missed because Jack had stepped into its path, and taken it for him. Ianto watched Jack fall, glassy-eyed before he'd even hit the ground, a neat hole between his eyes. Abstractly, Ianto realized he was screaming.
Time restarted, rage replaced shock, and he didn't think twice before he aimed his own gun and fired twice in quick succession. Once to the shoulder to disarm, once in the leg to disable. Perfectly done. Jack had taught him well. It was the other guy's turn to scream as he fell, bleeding, his gun skittering away down the alley. Ianto took a dark satisfaction in the sound as he closed the distance between them, replacing his firearm with his stun gun. With efficient mercilessness, he subdued Jack's killer, flipped him over and cuffed him harshly. Bitter anger churned inside him, and for a moment, he wished he'd simply gone for a fatal shot. This wasn't at all satisfying. But a saner side of him cautioned that he would have regretted it. It was done now, the bastard was down for the count, and Jack needed him.
All other thoughts pushed aside, Ianto rushed to his lover's body and carefully gathered him into his arms. The familiar fear rushed over him, that Jack wouldn't come back after all. He'd used up all his lives and Ianto would be left alone and grieving in this godforsaken alley. But he couldn't think like that. Jack would come back. He had to.
After a few long minutes, he did. And Ianto's world began turning again.
Name: Zee
Username: fire
Are you over the age of eighteen? yes'm
Current characters in Baedal: none
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Ianto Jones
Username: suitedforcoffee
Fandom: Torchwood
Played By: Gareth David-Lloyd
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/110178133/29029717
Physical Description: Ianto is tall and lean, in his mid-20s with a fair complexion and is fairly handsome. He has dark brown hair and blue eyes, no facial hair and a cute button nose. In general, he wears well-tailored suits, though on occasion he'll wear jeans and casual shirts. He manages to look distinctly younger when dressed casually.
Sexuality: For most of his life, Ianto identified primarily as straight. That said, it's plain he must have always had at least some small inclination toward men, otherwise his relationship with Captain Jack Harkness would not have manifested. It's possible, even likely, he did some experimenting as a kid, but he never did much to acknowledge his attraction to other men, possibly because he liked women just as much and by dating women only, it was easier for him to conform to a heteronormative society. It was a plan that worked out well until Ianto eventually fell hard for Jack. He justifies this to his sister by telling her it isn't that he's attracted to men, only to Jack. It's debatable just how true this is, but it's safe to say that Ianto is ambiguous about his sexuality. For purposes of labeling it without going into details, bisexual is probably the best bet.
History: Blatantly copied from Wikipedia:
The character of Ianto Jones is introduced in the first episode of Torchwood, in 2006. Introduced as a mild-mannered and quiet administrator working for Torchwood Three, his first centric appearance was the episode "Cyberwoman" which dealt with both his backstory and motivations. In the episode, Ianto is revealed as a former employee of Torchwood One in London (first seen in parent series Doctor Who), whose girlfriend, Lisa, has been partially converted into a Cyberman, a cyborg species first seen in Doctor Who in 1966. Ianto has been keeping her alive, concealed in the basement of the Hub, but she eventually breaks loose, and kills two civilians. Ianto is forced into confrontation with team leader Captain Jack Harkness, who is later able to revive Ianto with a kiss when Lisa knocks him unconscious. Ultimately, the rest of Ianto's team is forced to kill Lisa. Although Ianto's thoughts continue to be concerned with Lisa, mid-series he begins to develop a sexual relationship with Jack. By the series' penultimate episode, Ianto is willing to shoot colleague Owen Harper to protect Jack, and refutes claims he is merely his "part time shag." In the series finale, an image of what appears to be Lisa's ghost is used to bring Ianto to mutiny against Jack, but still later when an immortal Jack rises from the dead, he and Ianto immediately kiss one another.
Torchwood's second series (2008) begins with the team working without Jack, who departed the Hub at the end of series one to reunite with the mysterious "Doctor" from his past. Ianto's role within the team now more frequently includes field missions, to accommodate Jack's absence. When Jack returns in the series two premiere, having seen the end of the world, he attempts to formalise his romantic relationship with Ianto, successfully asking him on a date. Jack and Ianto's relationship becomes more overt, and Ianto's character becomes less burdened by secrets and happier, beginning to express a newfound confidence and dour sense of humour. The series' penultimate episode, "Fragments" explores Ianto's backstory, specifically how he was recruited into Torchwood Three two years prior; Ianto is persistent that Jack hire him after the destruction of Torchwood One, but only succeeds once he is able to aid Jack in capturing a stray pterodactyl. In the second series finale, Ianto and the team face Jack's 51st-century ex Captain John Hart and younger brother Gray, who has vengefully sought to destroy Jack's world. After Gray kills his teammates Toshiko and Owen, the Torchwood team is left with a membership of only three.
I'll be bringing in Ianto from just a few weeks after this point, before his crossover appearance on Doctor Who and before season 3.
Powers: Coffee power None.
Talents/Abilities:: Ianto makes the best coffee in the galaxy world. No, seriously. He also has extremely precise attention to detail and an eye for organization, making him an excellent archivist. He's trained in basic hand-to-hand combat and is proficient with a variety of firearms.
Personality: On first impression, Ianto seems like a very upright, straight-laced and mature individual, especially for his age. While this is true to some extent, it's only his surface personality, the one he faces the world with like a defensive shield. Beneath the three-piece suits and polite turns of phrase, Ianto is a complicated and surprising individual.
While Ianto is no genius and doesn't pretend to be, he's quite sharp and highly efficient. He prides himself on his dearth of knowledge, especially his knowledge about Torchwood. His attention to detail is described as "unrivaled," and he's almost always able to anticipate the needs of the rest of the team before they have to ask.
When Ianto is open and unguarded, his personality quirks come to the forefront. The most obvious of these is his penchant for snark and sarcasm. He's well-prepared with witty comebacks to any bit of teasing, and can be quite scathingly sarcastic in times of stress. This can also manifest in inappropriate jokes, and it's plain that Ianto can have a dark sense of humor. During Sleeper, Jack decides to use a mind probe on a woman he's convinced is an alien. The probe has a bad history of causing heads to explode, and while testing the straps, Ianto shakes and jolts and makes sound effects as if he's being electrocuted, teasing Jack about what Ianto sees as a move that's doomed to end in brains on the floor.
It's times like these that serve as a reminder just how young Ianto still is. There are other instances throughout the series, and most notably in some of the novels that highlight Ianto's bouts of immaturity. During The Sin Eaters, Ianto engages in a little game of one-upmanship with Jack, who's teasing him about being afraid of Jack's crazy driving. He insists on trying out two vehicle modifications that Jack warns haven't been tested; one dramatically increases the speed, the other makes the vehicle amphibious. The second doesn't work out so well and the car promptly floods with water, ending in a sunken SUV, an annoyed Gwen, and an embarrassed Jack and Ianto.
Though much of his past is still shrouded in mystery, we do know that Ianto grew up in a lower-class family consisting of his father and his sister Rhiannon. When he mentions his father to Jack and Gwen, he tells them he was a master tailor. However, Rhiannon reveals later that Ianto's father worked at Debenhams, a department store. It may seem odd that Ianto would lie to the people he's closest to about his family, but the reasons behind it are complicated.
While nothing is ever stated in canon about Ianto's mother, fandom speculates that she was committed when Ianto was young and eventually died. For RP purposes, I like to stick with this theory. It's mentioned during Children of Earth that Ianto's father broke Ianto's leg during his childhood by pushing him too hard on a swing, but Rhiannon insists that it wasn't intentional. Ianto sees it as just one more example of how his father was always pushing him. He died when Ianto was in his late teens, and Ianto left home immediately afterwards.
Clearly, Ianto's childhood isn't what he would have liked it to have been, so by lying about it, Ianto creates a fantasy childhood of his own. It makes him feel better about what he lacked, and makes him feel like a more sophisticated person if he pretends his father was half as good as he pushed Ianto to be. He reinforces the fantasy (and keeps Jack or Gwen from discovering his lies) by having little contact with Rhiannon, who chides him about it in Children of Earth. While these are the traits of a compulsive liar, Ianto's compulsion is restricted only to lies about his childhood and his father. However, the practice does make him very good at lying under other circumstances when he has to, as well as keeping secrets and even manipulating others if he feels he has no other choice, as was revealed in the beginning of the series.
This is just scratching the surface of his dark side, which is something that rarely rears its ugly head, but does seep through when he's pressed. In the episode Meat, Ianto is hit, tied up, shot at, and forced to run after the bad guys on his own because the rest of the team are trapped and in danger. He's ruthless as he takes out the people responsible, and just before he tases the last man -- in the head -- he utters, "Pray they survive." There's little doubt that if the rest of the team had died, Ianto might have returned the favor.
There are other hints throughout the series that Ianto is capable of doing horrible things, most notably in Adam. Though the memories Adam gives Ianto are fabricated, they don't fundamentally change who Ianto is as a person. For the most part, the false memories only bring out another side to each member of the team, making them the people they might have become had their lives gone in different directions. Adam gives Ianto memories of stalking and killing innocent women, which implies that being a killer is something Ianto is innately capable of. He immediately confesses everything to Jack, telling him "something in me wants to kill." This may be completely true, and Adam just brings it to the surface. However, the fact that Ianto confesses to Jack without prompting, demanding to be locked in the vaults before he turns on the team, demonstrates that he's horrified by his inner monster. Without the aid of false memory, whatever demons or urges he may possess deep inside are completely overwhelmed by his genuine goodness. Jack knows it, and that proves to be Adam's downfall.
Much of Ianto's development throughout the series has to do with his relationship with Captain Jack Harkness. There's a clear spark of attraction between them when they first meet, but Ianto doesn't act on it due to his secret reasons for wanting Jack to hire him at Torchwood Three in the first place. His girlfriend, Lisa, is still alive, but half-converted into a cyberman since the attack at Canary Wharf, which Ianto survived. Ianto feels guilty for his attraction to Jack, since his driving goal is to use Torchwood resources to keep Lisa alive until he can fix her. Not only would acting on his physical feelings for Jack be a betrayal against Lisa, but he's betraying Jack every moment he hides Lisa away in the basement of the hub.
Needless to say, this is a dark time in Ianto's life, and his guilt and fear and secrecy take a toll on him emotionally that's only compounded by his unresolved trauma from Canary Wharf. He's quiet and withdrawn, doing his job and fading into the background save for the occasional quip or comment. When Lisa is discovered, a whole new side of Ianto is revealed.
Finally able to breathe without assistance from the conversion unit that's been keeping her alive, the cyber components in Lisa completely take over and she escapes into the hub, intent on completing her own conversion before beginning the conversion of the human race. But Ianto loves deeply and is loyal to a fault, and consequently remains in denial about Lisa. He's still convinced that she can be saved, and is desperate to keep Jack from killing her. He fights Jack every step of the way. Though he has every disadvantage, he doesn't give in, and it becomes clear that there's much more to the quiet, unassuming Ianto than meets the eye. It takes the death of an innocent girl for Ianto to finally accept that the Lisa he knew and loved is gone.
Despite Ianto's betrayal, Jack doesn't kill him or wipe his memory. Though Ianto is severely emotionally damaged at this point and Jack is not a happy camper, Jack makes the effort to help Ianto pull through and find a new purpose in life. After Ianto has time to heal and forgive Jack for doing what he had to do, Torchwood -- and Jack -- become that purpose. A fledgeling physical relationship forms between them that gradually grows into love on Ianto's part, and eventually Jack's as well. It's this relationship that helps improve Ianto's confidence and sense of self-worth. He emerges more and more from his self-imposed shell and goes from being withdrawn and depressed to being happy and outspoken.
By the third season, Ianto's relationship with Jack is steeped in genuine, mutual love, but it's by no means completely stable or fully developed. Ianto is unsure how to define his relationship with Jack and he's insecure about his place in Jack's heart. At one point, it's remarked upon by multiple characters in short succession that Jack and Ianto are a "couple," prompting Ianto to somewhat hopefully (and awkwardly) try to broach the subject with Jack, pushing for Jack to say implicitly whether they are or are not a proper couple. Jack replies by snappishly stating that he hates the word "couple" and distancing himself from the subject. Jack doesn't like labels or admitting just how close he's become to Ianto, but Ianto needs that kind of categorization in all aspects of his life, especially when it comes to relationships. Without any explicit declarations of devotion, Ianto feels that he may be nothing more than a passing fancy whom Jack will inevitably forget.
Object: Ianto's diary. Never leave home without it. He'll also be carrying his stopwatch, his wallet, and his gun upon arrival.
Reason for playing: Ianto is a really intriguing character, with a lot of unexpected facets to his personality you might not expect upon first meeting him. He had an untimely death in canon, but in RP, I'm free to further explore and develop his character. I like to keep him involved in plots fairly regularly to help facilitate that, and especially because IC-ly he'd otherwise be bored. Character or action-driven plots are both great, and I plan to develop plenty of well-rounded CR, which is also an important part of keeping a happy, healthy Ianto Jones.
Gods: The god most likely to take an interest in Ianto is probably Kavan, God of Technology, Order and Progress. For...obvious reasons. Ianto is an archivist, and therefore quite invested in order and efficiency. Ianto also has a great aptitude for the technological (though not as great as some). Shada might also take at least a passing interest in Ianto, solely for his relationship with Jack.
Writing Samples
First-Person Journal Post:
Shopping List:
Coffee
Toothpaste
Milk
Biscuits
God, I wish they had a Tescos here. Jack likes the biscuits I got last time, but I can tell he'd rather have the ones I got for him back home. Time traveler from the 51st century and his tastes only extend as far as Sainsbury's generic brand tea biscuits. Speaking of, the lack of proper takeout here is more than a bit frightening. We can't afford to eat out at sit-down places all the time, and I refuse to cook three square meals a day for the duration of our stay here. Jack offered to cook some, but his recipes are not Earth recipes. Literally. Then again, this isn't Earth, is it?
Fuck, listen to me. This is too bloody domestic for words. Where are the alien invaders when you need them? No, nevermind. I'm knocking on wood now. See? This is me, knocking on wood.
Third-Person Arrival Post: Ianto was disappointed, but he wasn't ready to give up all hope for the night. His "weevil hunt" with Jack had actually turned into a weevil hunt, and instead of being naked and sweaty in the back of the SUV, he was currently fully-clothed and alone in the back of the SUV. Ianto figured they might have cursed the euphemism by overusing it. Still, at least Ianto wasn't the one down in the sewer. Hopefully they could wrap this up quickly and move on to more pleasurable pursuits.
Jack contacted him over his earpiece, informing Ianto he was heading in. Checking the monitoring equipment, Ianto acknowledged, keeping an eye on the moving dots that told him his Captain's position in relation to their target. Everything was going smoothly. Soon, Jack would have the weevil in hand and they could finally get out of here. Then Ianto blinked, and the world changed.
No longer in the SUV, he found himself in a tiny, windowless room. Startled, he immediately reached for his gun, spinning around, but found no immediate threat. It was just a room, and he was alone. Aside from himself, there was only a low table. On the table, there was an unfamiliar device, a pamphlet titled Finding Baedal, and a very familiar book. His breath caught. That was his diary. He'd left that back in the hub, safe behind lock and key. He always kept it in the hub, because it contained more than a little extremely personal information, not to mention information about the daily tasks of their top-secret organization. Fuck. Anyone could have read this, if they'd put it here. Heart racing, he reached up to tap his earpiece.
"Jack?" Silence. Not even static. "Fuck." He immediately moved to try the door and found it locked. "Fuck!" he exclaimed with more panic, kicking the wood. For a moment, he just stood there and tried to calm himself. It would be alright. He wasn't taken by the rift, not with his diary here with him. This was deliberate. He'd just been kidnapped, that's all. Jack would find him. He just had to believe that, and everything would be fine. Cautiously, Ianto moved back to the table to inspect the items more closely. Picking up the pamphlet, he began to read.
Third-Person Action Post: Ianto blamed himself. He should have been paying closer attention, but he hadn't seen the gun until it was drawn and aimed, and by then there was no more room for dodging or retaliating. He was going to die. Time moved slowly as he thought regretfully, heart in his throat, of how much he wanted to live. Of how fucking unfair it was that this was how it was going to end. Of how much he didn't want Jack to witness this. The sound of the gun firing reverberated in his ears, and he had only a split second to hope he wouldn't have time to feel the pain before he realized the bullet had missed.
It had missed because Jack had stepped into its path, and taken it for him. Ianto watched Jack fall, glassy-eyed before he'd even hit the ground, a neat hole between his eyes. Abstractly, Ianto realized he was screaming.
Time restarted, rage replaced shock, and he didn't think twice before he aimed his own gun and fired twice in quick succession. Once to the shoulder to disarm, once in the leg to disable. Perfectly done. Jack had taught him well. It was the other guy's turn to scream as he fell, bleeding, his gun skittering away down the alley. Ianto took a dark satisfaction in the sound as he closed the distance between them, replacing his firearm with his stun gun. With efficient mercilessness, he subdued Jack's killer, flipped him over and cuffed him harshly. Bitter anger churned inside him, and for a moment, he wished he'd simply gone for a fatal shot. This wasn't at all satisfying. But a saner side of him cautioned that he would have regretted it. It was done now, the bastard was down for the count, and Jack needed him.
All other thoughts pushed aside, Ianto rushed to his lover's body and carefully gathered him into his arms. The familiar fear rushed over him, that Jack wouldn't come back after all. He'd used up all his lives and Ianto would be left alone and grieving in this godforsaken alley. But he couldn't think like that. Jack would come back. He had to.
After a few long minutes, he did. And Ianto's world began turning again.