Three Years - part 3: Descent

[deinonychus_1]

Series: Three Years, part 3

Title: Descent

Author: Athene

Fandom: Primeval

Characters/pairing: Ryan/Connor, Claudia

Rating: 18

Warnings: A.U., violence, scenes of torture, occasional language.

Spoilers: Anything through to episode 5.

Disclaimer: Not mine. ITV and Impossible Pictures own them.

Word count: approx 5000

Summary: Out of the Jurassic frying pan

Comments

[reggietate]

Oh. My. God. Awesome! Torture scene definitely not gratuitous, and extremely authentic. This is a brilliant series so far :-)

[deinonychus_1]

Poor Connor, I did do some horrible things to the poor boy in this series. At least in 5D all he had to worry about was being eaten by dinosaurs - in many ways what's happening here is far worse than that.

[sunsets_dinos]

*whimpers* *cuddles Connor* Oh that was terrible, and absolutely amazingly written, and I shouldn't love it but I do. And I have to admit, the fact that Connor is not the kind of hero he wants to be makes me love him even more, I hope he learns that he's a very brave man even without cliché heroics. :)

[deinonychus_1]

I was saying to someone a week or so ago in the ARC chat (you may even have been there!) that these days after Fred and Munchkin's S&S series and other such things, this torture scene seems actually quite tame in comparison. When I first wrote it, though, there hadn't been much like it in the fandom, and a lot of the gen fic that was out at the time stayed relatively close to the feel of the series itself, so I was quite worried about straying too far into a dark and nasty torture scenario in case it ended up going too AU for readers. With hindsight I could have gone much further and people would still have stayed with the story. Although having said that, in many ways I'm glad I kept it more about the psychological effects rather than just being out and out violence, I suspect it creates more tension and impact that way.

Poor Connor, he's being pushed to his limits and has no idea how to handle anything like this.

[sunsets_dinos]

True, compared to what happens to Lyle in S&S this is pretty tame but of course there's one big difference, Connor is not a well trained soldier who knows how to handle these situations and get through them with the least damage. So I think it's much better like this and you definitely wrote it brilliantly.

[reggietate]

I was saying to someone a week or so ago in the ARC chat (you may even have been there!) that these days after Fred and Munchkin's S&S series and other such things, this torture scene seems actually quite tame in comparison.

Quite honestly, I don't think this is tame at all, it's still really hard-hitting. There's an element of torture-as-kink in S&S which isn't in this fic - it's very real, and there's a chance Connor won't get through it.

[knitekat]

Eek.. Connor whompage! But yay for Claudia to the rescue.. though she must now be in trouble! Double-eek for the last line.
But good to see both she and Lester have lines they won't cross.

[deinonychus_1]

yep, whole lot of Connor!whumping in this chapter. Lester and Claudia are doing the best they can from within a very different situation to what they had in S1, and both taking big risks helping the boys.

[knitekat]

Sounds like a very dangerous time for them all... great fic!

[bella_farfalla]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, holy freaking crap! You are the master of making my tummy knott up in emotion.

Yay Claudia! I always knew she was a heroine. Hope she's going to be okay though. *wibbles*

[deinonychus_1]

heehee, thanks. I iz evil. Claudia and Lester are both far more invested in the team than they're willing to admit, and Claudia is brave enough to do what she thinks is right.

[reggietate]

Bloody hell, I'd forgotten just how powerful this part was! Connor's torture scene is spot on, he's really trying to be brave, but no one could blame him for failing in the circumstances. In a way he did the smart thing and just endured it, but he was lucky that Claudia turned up when she did.

Of course, Ryan wasn't going to leave dead on time. The scene with Claudia, Ryan and Connor maybe saying goodbye for the last time was great too. I think I might just have to skip ahead to the next part or two :-)

[deinonychus_1]

I'm glad this chapter worked, because, like chapter 3 in 5D, it was kind of pivotal to what happens in the rest of the series, and in pushing Connor further towards breaking point. He really wants to be brave, to be a hero, but he is way out of his deapth and has no idea how to deal with a situation like this. The fact that he doesn't know who is doing this to him or why just makes it even harder to understand for him. At least a soldier usually knows who the 'bad guys' are if they are captured in a hostile situation.

[reggietate]

Yes; no one, especially Ryan, is going to blame him for breaking, but of course he won't see it that way, he thinks he's let the side down.

[deinonychus_1]

Connor would no doubt compare himself to Ryan, and find himself wanting. It doesn't matter that Connor did his best, he'll think that it wasn't good enough because he didn't manage to get himself out of it without needing to be rescued.