Comments | shane_mayhem: Fic: "Let Us To The Battle" [Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness, PG-13]

shane_mayhem

Fic: "Let Us To The Battle" [Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness, PG-13]

Feb 19, 2010 14:07

Title: Let Us To The Battle
Author: Shane Mayhem
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing and drug use.
Notes: Beta'ed by the crazy-awesome neifile7. Gee-whiz info: title is the motto of the 133 Eagle Squadron.
Summary: One month before he will meet James Harper at the Ritz, this is where Jack's life has led him.

( He fought his way through a nightmare of white and black, thunder in his skull, narrowing tunnels of light before his eyes, and couldn't remember what day it was. )

jack/jack, fanfic, torchwood

Comments 28

splix February 19 2010, 22:32:55 UTC

That was absolutely gorgeous. I could see and taste it all, the bleak chill of the bathroom against the sounds of merrymaking, Jack's loneliness and despair against MacNulty's bluff practicality. I loved the metaphor of Jack as shepherd and savior, brimming with dread and duty - wonderful. Thank you.

shane_mayhem February 19 2010, 22:51:08 UTC

Thank you so much...
I love your icon--I think I had something incredibly similar in mind when I wrote the last paragraph!

neifile7 February 20 2010, 01:03:53 UTC

You know how much I love this. There are so many phrases that cut both ways, and then probe the wound deeper.

A pale groan slips out of his chalky, chapped lips, and his head bows before his toilet confessional, soft clink of the crucifix falling out of his undone shirt and tapping against the porcelain, tiny little voice of his shame.

As you know, I especially like the way that Jack's religious thinking informs this, and that he finds no solace in conventional spiritual remedies. The way that dovetails with the real, physical ordeal (calvary?) you describe -- that's what brings the battle home, viscerally.

shane_mayhem February 20 2010, 03:33:26 UTC

Thank you for helping. I really like the lines you made me tweak. :)

Ah, yes...I always envisioned him as Catholic boy for some reason...at any rate, I liked working with the idea of the internalized guilt, even without strict adherence to religious dogma.

Calvary...never thought of that. But it is a rather crucifixion-like scene, at the end!

elainasaunt February 20 2010, 01:41:07 UTC

This is just wrenching to read - but I welcome it as a too-rare offering from one of the best writers in this fandom.

The end made me think of Barrowman's cover of Sarah McLachlan's Angel - which, bizarrely, seems to've been adopted as a syrupy comfort hymn but is in fact about escape through drugs from an unendurable situation.

shane_mayhem February 20 2010, 03:34:35 UTC

Thank you for your kind words!

And YES, I feel just the way you do about that song! God, it's been the soundtrack to so many mushy vids...yet to me, it will always be about drugs. Because...it is.

nancybrown February 20 2010, 03:34:29 UTC

This is gorgeously written. Stark but lyrical, if that makes sense. (I have to say, I've been digging the spate of real!Jack 'fics lately. This is a lovely addition to the surge. :) )

shane_mayhem February 20 2010, 03:36:49 UTC

There's been a surge? Sweet! Linkies??

And thank you; I'm glad you liked it and the stark subject worked for you. I was inspired by the oft-ignored but famous quote that "Methamphetamine won the Battle of Britain." :)

nancybrown February 20 2010, 04:30:37 UTC

http://10leaguesbeyond.livejournal.com/32734.html and http://community.livejournal.com/at_the_ritz/130451.html have been posted in the last few days.

Yours is my favorite so far. :)

shane_mayhem February 20 2010, 04:46:57 UTC

Oh <3 to that first one! (and I love the second, too...it inspired me. :)

I hadn't read that first one, though, and I love it. I've been toying with a similar idea myself...and of course, I'm stalled in the middle of a series that has real!Jack coming to work for Torchwood...but that was a bite-sized bit of loveliness.

curriejean February 20 2010, 21:35:09 UTC

First word to come to mind was 'gorgeous,' but then everyone else is saying 'gorgeous' and I wanted to leave something original in response to this -- but that's what this is, completely gorgeous, and I hurt in a good way now, and I probably will for a while.

I love learning about the wars through Jack, and you're a fantastic teacher. (And shit, have I even read any stories about this Jack, other than yours? I think not. I don't think I'd need to)

shane_mayhem February 21 2010, 00:20:31 UTC

Wow, I'm blushing....
I don't know if I'm adequate as a teacher...I fudge so many historical details to keep up with the timeline that Torchwood's given us...XD

But thank you.
And you should read other stories about this Jack! There are some fantastic ones out there, and he's just luscious. ;)

curriejean February 21 2010, 01:11:25 UTC

Hah, well. I learned about the feelings, then. Or just, about writing. Or something big and intense. :P

Though, the character on the show, not attractive to me, but then his wider context -- yes. I should look for more, you're right.

shane_mayhem February 21 2010, 01:28:14 UTC

Thank you. :)

It is perhaps the fact that I already had extensive experience with the wider context of WWII and the Eagle Squadrons that I found him so absolutely riveting...but even bar that, I find him quite pretty in a way that surprises me. ;)

But yes. Context can lend so much to it, when you know the intricacies and drama of the setting. :D