14valentines Day One: Body Image
Hello, folks! It's February 1, which means today is the start of 14valentines! The first day is Body Image, so you should head on over and check out the awesome essay by druidspell.
This year, instead of writing fic every day (because that's only worked out for me once in the past), I am stealing a page from such_heights' book and highlighting a character I love and encouraging, you know, love and recs and commentfic and such. A CELEBRATION, IF YOU WILL.
I'm starting off with someone who definitely deserves celebration and very rarely gets it. Guys, let's talk about one of my favorite ladies, Gwen Cooper.
Gwen fucking Cooper, guys. I can and have talked about Gwen at length. I didn't immediately fall in love with Gwen the way I did with many of the characters I'll talk about, but rather came to appreciate her over time. To be honest, on my first go at Torchwood, Ianto was the only one who caught my attention. It wasn't until CoE that I realized how awesome she was, and it wasn't until I rewatched S1 and S2 after CoE that I fell in love with her. Writing "Club Wales" gave me so many feelings about Gwen, guys. Feelings that I was bummed to see that very few others shared.
And feelings are what Gwen's all about, aren't they? Gwen wears her heart on her sleeve. She's the least emotionally stunted of those dorks at Torchwood Three and she's not ashamed of it. She empathizes with people, sometimes too much. She tries to understand her colleagues, tries to bond with them in a way they'd never thought to bond before. As much as bashers give RTD flack for his "heart of Torchwood" comments, there's truth to them. She encourages them to socialize with each other, to get to know each other. She's nosy, yes, but she's also there for them. She just wants to help, wants everyone to get along, wants them to bring down their defenses.
She has this ridiculously hard task of juggling her love for and relationship with Rhys and a job that's vital to the safty of the planet, but doesn't exactly allow for a regular schedule. She struggles and doesn't always do the right thing, but that's what makes her interesting. Still, she somehow manages it, manages to keep Rhys and Torchwood despite the struggle, even though there are certain sacrifices she has to make.
And she's fucking kickass, too! She can hold her own in a fight and does what it takes to protect the people around her. Remember when she beat up those paramedics in "Day Two?" I may have repressed most of CoE, but that was AWESOME.
I love her friendship with Ianto in season two (um, obviously.), I love her relationship with Rhys, I love how she tries to bring some fun into Torchwood. On a more shallow note, I love that little black dress she wears in "Out of Time" and also that we wear the same color Converse (although I got mine first). I love the gap between her teeth and her freckles and her laugh. I may not be planning to continue following the adventures of canon Torchwood, but I'm looking forward to continuing my own Torchwood adventures where Gwen will continue to be fun and funny and kickass and wonderful.
Something I've Done:
I've written a lot of fic about Gwen. I am particularly fond of The Joy of Cooking (or Gwen and the Big Huge Cooking Fiasco), in which Gwen defeats a weevil while on crutches and also nearly burns down her own kitchen.
Something Someone Else Has Done:
I Loved a Woman with a Heart of Amber by blue_fjords
A post-"Cyberwoman" fic from Gwen's point of view that's more about Gwen coming to terms with both the joys and sorrows of Torchwood than about Ianto or Jack. Which is nice to see :) Gwen is conflicted and emotionally tied in knots over what she is feeling and what she thinks she should be feeling and how to fit the two facets of her life together. It's a heart-squeezing read.
Now it's on you folks! What are your favorite Gwen stories? What are your favorite Gwen moments? Feel free to squee and write and rec all over the comments of this post :)
This year, instead of writing fic every day (because that's only worked out for me once in the past), I am stealing a page from such_heights' book and highlighting a character I love and encouraging, you know, love and recs and commentfic and such. A CELEBRATION, IF YOU WILL.
I'm starting off with someone who definitely deserves celebration and very rarely gets it. Guys, let's talk about one of my favorite ladies, Gwen Cooper.
Gwen fucking Cooper, guys. I can and have talked about Gwen at length. I didn't immediately fall in love with Gwen the way I did with many of the characters I'll talk about, but rather came to appreciate her over time. To be honest, on my first go at Torchwood, Ianto was the only one who caught my attention. It wasn't until CoE that I realized how awesome she was, and it wasn't until I rewatched S1 and S2 after CoE that I fell in love with her. Writing "Club Wales" gave me so many feelings about Gwen, guys. Feelings that I was bummed to see that very few others shared.
And feelings are what Gwen's all about, aren't they? Gwen wears her heart on her sleeve. She's the least emotionally stunted of those dorks at Torchwood Three and she's not ashamed of it. She empathizes with people, sometimes too much. She tries to understand her colleagues, tries to bond with them in a way they'd never thought to bond before. As much as bashers give RTD flack for his "heart of Torchwood" comments, there's truth to them. She encourages them to socialize with each other, to get to know each other. She's nosy, yes, but she's also there for them. She just wants to help, wants everyone to get along, wants them to bring down their defenses.
She has this ridiculously hard task of juggling her love for and relationship with Rhys and a job that's vital to the safty of the planet, but doesn't exactly allow for a regular schedule. She struggles and doesn't always do the right thing, but that's what makes her interesting. Still, she somehow manages it, manages to keep Rhys and Torchwood despite the struggle, even though there are certain sacrifices she has to make.
And she's fucking kickass, too! She can hold her own in a fight and does what it takes to protect the people around her. Remember when she beat up those paramedics in "Day Two?" I may have repressed most of CoE, but that was AWESOME.
I love her friendship with Ianto in season two (um, obviously.), I love her relationship with Rhys, I love how she tries to bring some fun into Torchwood. On a more shallow note, I love that little black dress she wears in "Out of Time" and also that we wear the same color Converse (although I got mine first). I love the gap between her teeth and her freckles and her laugh. I may not be planning to continue following the adventures of canon Torchwood, but I'm looking forward to continuing my own Torchwood adventures where Gwen will continue to be fun and funny and kickass and wonderful.
Something I've Done:
I've written a lot of fic about Gwen. I am particularly fond of The Joy of Cooking (or Gwen and the Big Huge Cooking Fiasco), in which Gwen defeats a weevil while on crutches and also nearly burns down her own kitchen.
Something Someone Else Has Done:
I Loved a Woman with a Heart of Amber by blue_fjords
A post-"Cyberwoman" fic from Gwen's point of view that's more about Gwen coming to terms with both the joys and sorrows of Torchwood than about Ianto or Jack. Which is nice to see :) Gwen is conflicted and emotionally tied in knots over what she is feeling and what she thinks she should be feeling and how to fit the two facets of her life together. It's a heart-squeezing read.
Now it's on you folks! What are your favorite Gwen stories? What are your favorite Gwen moments? Feel free to squee and write and rec all over the comments of this post :)