DW Fic: Tributary, Confluence, Distributary, Fork

[nancybrown]

Title: Tributary, Confluence, Distributary, Fork
Author: nancybrown
Characters: Jack, River, Eleven
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: up through TATM and all seasons of TW
Words: 4000
Beta: With deepest thanks to tymewyse
Summary: Four hellos and one goodbye.
AN: Written for EleventyFest, for ljgeoff. Also fills Trope Bingo square: telepathy/mindmeld

Comments

[stars_inthe_sky]

I've never seen this variation on a Jack/River relationship--I really liked it!

[nancybrown]

:D Thanks! I think they'd make very interesting friends.

[stars_inthe_sky]

Agreed! But I liked that they were never totally on even footing here--in the (rare-ish) cases where they're depicted as totally platonic friends, they're usually more like colleagues and less like deus ex machinas in each other's lives. So yours was a new and different take!

[nancybrown]

Cool! I do like novelty. :) (I've had them interfere with each other's early lives before, though, in the one where he was her professor back in school. Possibly I am not as novel as I'd thought.)

[tymewyse]

This was an enjoyable read the first time and I loved every minute, but the little touches you've added in the meantime are magical. The title is perfect; very apt.

[nancybrown]

*glee* Thanks so much for your help on it! I know the turnaround was superfast, but I'm really pleased with how the fic turned out. Also, the title is your doing. You'd suggested something like Tributary, and I just went with it. ;)

[elainasaunt]

I've been stealing a few hours to read through some of these. I won't have time (or perhaps it's a question of energy) to leave comments on every one, but I can't let this one pass without saying something, because I love it to bits.

This is the Jack who should have continued being in Doctor Who, and the River who the original River we met on the show should have turned out to be. This, not the way Moffat does it, is how the show should be timey-wimey. It all makes me ache with nostalgia for something I'll never have.

[nancybrown]

I loved River's arc on the show. I thought she had fantastic character growth from the scared, bitter child Jack saved, to the woman who was just a little ahead of the curve on the timelines who saved him, to the woman who's seen it all, collected her scars, and still wants one more adventure (the end, shortly before she's off to the Library). It's a complicated arc that's pretty clear when put into order. But out of order is so much more fun to write. :D

This was originally intended to be Jack post-COE (because that's my thing) but I wanted to give him a little more distance from that this time around, even if the damage he's carrying is still the same. And since everything I write is a fix-it, obviously there had to be a HotD reference. :)

Glad you liked it!

[narnia06]

Loves it!!! I even got some fix it fic!

I can't quite sort out all this silence business, but when I read your River fics sometimes it seems close to clicking.

[nancybrown]

:D I'm so glad you liked it. (I can't resist fix-its. They're like M&Ms.) The Silence are a really weird plot thing, but I think I have a handle on how they fit into the storyline.

[jo02]

This was fantastic! If it wasn't for my endless love for Ianto, I think Jack and River might just make the most awesome pairing in the Whoniverse - especially the way you write them.

[nancybrown]

Thank you! I figure, Jack has time to spare and love to share. River can play with him later. :)