Comments | ninamusing: Relict (13/16?, DW, 9/J/R, Adult - note that I said adult, right? I'm not kidding)

ninamusing

Comments 12

wendymr October 19 2009, 02:49:34 UTC

I know I've read this already, and given you feedback in email, but I wanted to say this here too:

What an incredibly powerful bond you've just created between Jack and Nine here! The Doctor's told Jack so much here, things he probably never thought he'd tell anyone, and he's allowed Jack a huge degree of intimacy, far beyond the mere physical. Jack said, in chapter 12, that he thought the Doctor probably loved him a bit. I think Nine's shown that he loves Jack far more than a bit, or this would never have happened in the way it did.

I can't wait for chapter 14 now, and for Rose to get a share of this gorgeous loving :) (Just not quite the way Jack got it!)

ninamusing October 19 2009, 03:09:45 UTC

Ooh, perfect icon! I was just trying to find a Nine/Jack icon, and I couldn't find one I liked. (Even though I think the Last of the Time Lords one works, too.)

I'm glad the changes worked for you. I always feel like Jack and Nine just get each other after a while. Like Rose, Jack doesn't let him get away with his bs, but he also understands to a much greater degree why he's the way he is.

Rose isn't going to be happy for a while yet. The story would be faster if everything worked out easily, but it needs a bit more time to unwind…

dark_aegis October 19 2009, 02:56:51 UTC

But...but...you left it there? How could you leave it there?

I love the bond you created between Jack and Nine here. It's so very realistic (and a bit broken, but they are). I also really liked the idea of Nine allowing someone to punish him, and then keeping the reminders. It's very much him. Especially as he would've been after the War. Poor bloke.

And the TARDIS seems to be falling a bit apart, given the "softness" and "warmness" of the floor. Not to mention how Rose is reacting right now. Gah. I want more!

So...more? Soon? I hope? Please?

ninamusing October 19 2009, 03:13:46 UTC

But...but...you left it there? How could you leave it there?

Have you seen how slow I am as a writer? Of all people, you should know that just writing this has been agonizing ;-) That said, I've always felt this was going to be the hardest chapter to write, and it was. I've gone round and round on the details and trying to keep it in character.

I love the bond you created between Jack and Nine here. It's so very realistic (and a bit broken, but they are).

See, that makes all the work worth it. I really did want it to seem real. One of the reasons I hesitated to make the scars literal was that it seemed so clichéd, but yeah, I think Nine is a penitent at hearts.

The TARDIS is doing okay; in fact, it's doing important work, but she was a little distracted by what was going on between Jack and Nine and didn't catch on about Rose until toward the end there.

I am hoping to be quicker next time. Notice how I say that every time and hardly ever succeed?

joking October 19 2009, 04:03:40 UTC

The juxtaposition of Jack and Nine's release with Rose's frustration was so intense, it almost made me feel "seasick" too. That telepathic link between the three of them is palpable. There's this feeling that the scene is incomplete without her. As a scientist, I can't help but think of them as three particles heading toward the bottom of the potential energy well, none of them quite stable in their orbits until they reach that ideal configuration and fall into their proper ground state. Can't wait to see the conclusion.

ninamusing October 19 2009, 18:39:24 UTC

I can't help but think of them as three particles heading toward the bottom of the potential energy well, none of them quite stable in their orbits until they reach that ideal configuration and fall into their proper ground state.

I think that's exactly true. They're still trying to find that configuration, and making it too easy would be unsatisfying for me - even though I appreciate I'm about the world's slowest updater, it is all planned (as is a sequel, which I may finish sometime before the Mayan calendar expires).

joking October 19 2009, 20:41:15 UTC

A sequel? How exciting! Good luck with it. (I'm hardly one to complain; I have a 20k story planned that I've been working on for a month and it's only a quarter done...)

nina_ds October 19 2009, 21:28:57 UTC

You're doing so much better than I am! This story was for a Christmas 2007 ficathon. Now, granted, it's way longer than it needed to be for that, but it keeps getting longer. The original outline was 12 chapters.

honorh October 19 2009, 06:12:01 UTC

Wow, that was . . . intense. The way you interweaved (interwove?) Jack and the Doctor's sexual activity with Rose's arousal and frustration made them both more vivid for me. Jack's understanding may make things easier for the Doctor, but they both *need* her to make this complete. And I can't help but worry about her reaction if she finds out what they've got up to without her . . .

ninamusing October 19 2009, 18:47:58 UTC

Thank you - I think! I was going for intense, but it's tricky to make it feel at all realistic and in character, at least as I see the characters. The Doctor and Jack both do need and want Rose involved, but it would be too dangerous for her just yet, even if she thinks she can handle it. Jack has more experience in every way and thought he knew what he was doing, and he still discovered pretty quickly that he didn't.

That said, she's going to be happy eventually, I promise… just not yet.

phdelicious October 20 2009, 00:58:32 UTC

Oh boy. That was ... painful, hot but painful because I kept thinking, "Rose is NOT going to take this well." You did an amazing job with creating/strengthening the bond between Jack and Nine.

nina_ds October 21 2009, 02:02:12 UTC

That was ... painful, hot but painful

Kind of what I was going for, but yeah, it's an awkward chapter in a lot of ways.

"Rose is NOT going to take this well."

Probably not. For all her good qualities, she's nineteen and this is the first time she's fallen in love with a man and not a boy. It's a rocky transition, but she's strong (and has actually considered that she might lose out to Jack, earlier in the story, so she's not clueless). I wanted to explore something a little more… I don't know if it's realistic, but not an immediate falling into place. (That got long!)

You did an amazing job with creating/strengthening the bond between Jack and Nine.

Thank you! It's a relationship that I feel we never got a chance to see develop properly, even though Barrowman and Eccleston did a fantastic job of playing the leap between The Doctor Dances and Boom Town. But how did they get there?