Fic: The Spectacular Catastrophe of Your Endless Childhood [Part 2]

[kalichan]

Title: The Spectacular Catastrophe of Your Endless Childhood
Pairing/Characters: Ianto [Ianto/OFCs, Ianto/Lisa]
Authors: rm & kalichan
Rating/Warning: NC-17, het, pre-slash
Summary: The early education and adventures of Ianto Jones.
Wordcount: ~11,000 [posted in 2 parts]
Authors' Note: This is a prequel to our Jack/Ianto series, I Had No Idea I Had Been

Comments

[demotu]

*sighs*

Very nicely done. This half was especially sad, but at the same time it felt like Ianto was still waiting, even with Lisa, which makes me think of the line in... To Learn This Holding... which went something like ''Do you think of me?'' ''Before I even knew you.'' Even as a prequel this still fits so well into the bizarre but wonderful romance you're telling. I loved the touching on Ianto's sexuality in an understated and not-too-fraught way, and Lisa's easiness with it, and Ianto's half-realized regrets about Jans. I love him spilling to the professor who hooks him up with Torchwood, and the ridiculous hiring procedures. (And I hope he went and told the prof he was still alive post the battle, because damn, he must be feeling guilty about that!)

Overall, it really conveys the theme of waiting, from the first sentence through to the last, there's this hint of potential for something else in Ianto, that he knows about but doesn't understand, and that's what makes it for me.

[rm]

which makes me think of the line in... To Learn This Holding... which went something like ''Do you think of me?'' ''Before I even knew you.''

Yes yes yes. Thank you!

I sort of hate calling this a prequel, even though yes, that's what it is. Because we've placed it here in the arc so people can go... wait.... We have a lot of little dangling pieces in this story that seem like random thoughts and throwaway romantic remarks, but they're all sort of part of a whole, that's hopefully at least marginally readable in any order, but will certain fit together (tightly, we pray) once the concluding two stories are posted.

[demotu]

I was wrong! It was in Dear Captain. And there was an ever in there. But otherwise, clearly I have been rereading these too much. :P

I love the nonlinearity of it, it's far more relevant here and now than in another place.

[kalichan]

Also, we had to (hopefully successfully) seduce Jack/Ianto shippers into reading a Ianto/others story with the build up. *g*

[electro_club]

I totally agree with that.

[kalichan]

Thank you so much! And yes, even though Ianto thinks (at numerous points throughout this installment) that he is all grown up, and done - fully baked, as it were, he's very much mistaken. This is childhood, still, and he's not fully formed, no matter how much he thinks he is.

[fmanalyst]

It's interesting that you talk about him not yet fully formed because it's something I often think about in relation to young men. I'm a college professor so I'm around 18-25 year-olds all day. There's a stage during those college years in which they've achieved their height, but their bodies are still relatively slender and their faces are softer, less angular, and as one watches over time, their bodies and faces become more defined, more solid and so do their selves

[electro_club]

And when you think there is nothing else you two could possibly do to be even more delightfully impressive...

I'm tempted to say this has been my favorite part up until now. I've loved all the others, and I think the sort of behind the scenes story you have been creating for Jack and Ianto is absolutely brilliant. But even brighter than giving their relationship all those meanings and reasons and happenings, is building up two characters so that they can meet and just seem right. The last few parts have been about what makes them who they are, why is it that they stand as they stand and for what. They had lives before all this, and it takes a lot of imagination and insight to build the road that has taken them to the place they are now

[kalichan]

Thanks for the note on the link! I've corrected it. ;-)

This is such a lovely compliment. It is great to know that we did your favorite character justice. Rach and I were just noting to each other that Jack's story is too big to ever be compassed by a single narrative; even with our shifting points-of-view, Ianto is very much our entry into this story, so it's fabulous to know that it worked for you.

I think he's a bit crazy. But frankly, so am I, and also is everyone I know and care about. So that's not a bad thing, per se.

We're excited about getting back to the regular timeline too! Eeep! Thank you again; your comments always make us smile.

[electro_club]

If my comments can make you smile 1/3 of how much your stories make me smile, I can consider myself satisfied.

Btw, have I ever told you how much I like your titles? Because I adore your titles. How do you come up with them? The Spectacular Catastrophe of Your Endless Childhood. It's creative and curious and made a lot of sense, at least to me. But my favorite one is by far Up, Down, Strange, Charm, Truth, Beauty: or, A Child's Guide to Modern Physics. Just brilliant.

[rm]

They're mostly stolen from things, but Kali knows the full list.

The first three were from poems by Lucie Brock-Broido in a book called The Master Letters which you should buy immediately. It is the best book of poetry EVER.

[tsarina]

This is so lovely. It has this sprightly sort of cadence that makes it feel youthful and fresh and alive, and it makes all kinds of sense. You two write so well together.

[kalichan]

Thank you! Writing this has definitely been a learning experience for us, in lots of ways, and we are having the most amazing time with it, so that means a lot. It was a new tonal quality for this 'verse, and I'm really glad it felt alive!

[rm]

Thank you! I am glad and surprised to here it is "spritely" as this came out of a style that I use so often to sort of dark fairytale effect. But that's the thing about Ianto, no matter how dark his life and his world is, he pulls light to him, and it's not that different from Jack.

[tsarina]

Well, could be some evil sprites. Haha. But he does have this little light, a buoyancy of youth to everything he does.

[kaimu]

Can this be submitted to RTD as canon Ianto's backstory? Because this has everything I love about Ianto, and the past I desperately want him to have (slept with several people before Lisa and Jack, bored and never really applying himself, and a fleshed out, non-vanilla relationship with Lisa

[rm]

Thank you! I'm so glad this worked. I know a lot of people view Ianto as a more innocent figure, and there's also the jossing we know we're in for as more leaks come out about Series 3, but this was teh truth for Ianto we entered this project with, and I'm so glad it transltes outside of our own heads.

[kalichan]

It's so great that this fic resonated forwards/backwards (it's getting hard to keep track!) into the rest of our story for you; that is precisely what we were hoping for. And we wanted to stay true to the bits of Ianto we're given in canon (shoplifting? drifter?), as well as this universe - so it's fabulous to know it worked for you.

And again, so delighted you enjoyed Ianto/Lisa.

Thank you so much!