The Doll's House

[ninjasnano]

Title: The Doll's House
Author: lookninjas
Character/Pairing(s): The Master (Harold Saxon), Luxy Saxon, Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones
Rating: NC-17

Summary: The Year That Wasn't, through the eyes of a prisoner on the Valiant.

Disclaimer: I do not own copyright to Torchwood or Dr. Who, and make no claim to them. This story is for

Comments

[kausingkayn]

Wow - this was absolutely amazing.
I'm guessing that Ianto can't die like Jack, either?

[ninjasnano]

Mostly like Jack. Slightly different. (I had to figure out a way to bring him back after Children of Earth, and it turned, somehow, into this.)

[xtricks]

I hate to say this but ... please, torture is torture. Waterboarding fits you're 'white' definition just fine, as well as many other very destructive methods. It might be best to just say 'torture' and leave it at that. Not leaving bruises is not some kinder, gentler method.

[lookninjas]

No, no, no, I'm not trying to imply that it's kinder or gentler at all. I specified the different types primarily because I think for some readers the psychological/sensory-deprivation torture might be more upsetting than just straight-up violence, so I didn't want to just warn for "torture" and have people assume I just meant the gory and violent kind. Obviously, that didn't quite work the way that I wanted to. I will rethink this.

[xtricks]

maybe something like 'psychological and physical torture' or similar.

[ninjasnano]

And edited. (Sorry for changing usernames on you, but I had a minor freakout when I realized I fucked up, and didn't think to change over.) Thanks for being patient with me.

[51stcenturyfox]

I *loved* the Morse Code. My favorite bit of this is when Lucy comes to comfort Ianto and he just goes with it. I could never bring myself to be angry with her; she's just so vulnerable and had Stockholm Syndrome herself.

Even character death is sort of... less hard to deal with when we know it's Year That Never Was and they'll be back at the end of it, immortals or no.

And yay for the Survivor Type reference. That story sticks in your HEAD.

[ninjasnano]

I could never bring myself to be angry with her; she's just so vulnerable and had Stockholm Syndrome herself. Exactly. She really is absolutely a prisoner on the Valiant -- she might not admit it for a long time, but she is. The actress who played her did such a wonderful job with that transition.

Oh, God, Survivor Type. I was going to re-read that one to get into a certain headspace for writing, and I just couldn't. Nightmare-inducing, that one is.

[ravenja1170]

Ianto's immortal, too? How did this happen? Or did you explain that in an older story that I hven't found yet? ;-)

I liked this chapter and I even liked Lucy. She was a victim too in some weird way, charmed by The Master ...

[ninjasnano]

Ianto's immortality is expanded upon in a different story (Season of Mists, which I linked up in the author's notes), but that story doesn't explain how or why he wound up the way he is, although it hints at it a bit. Or at least, I think it hints at it -- it's possible that I didn't make it clear enough in that story.

But Ianto himself doesn't really know how it happened, so it's hard to work that one into the narrative. I've got ideas on how to explain it later on, but this is warping into such a huge freaking AU that I'm still trying to wrap my head around subsequent stories.

[ravenja1170]

ah, thanks! I've started with Seasons of Mist just now (John Hart, yay! *g*), so I'll have to read it especially careful now ;-)

[nancybrown]

This was really well done.