Condition of Release, 3/5

[cblj_backup]

Sam's fanfiction archive has moved. The story formerly found here may now be found at:

http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/143565.html

Thank you for your patience!

Comments

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

...I knew there was a reason I'd stayed up all night. ;)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[aella_irene]

Okay, I haven't read the rest yet, but there is just one tiny problem. Jack cannot be a Captain in the RAF. There's no such rank. There is the rank of "Group Captain", but I think he'd probably call himself 'Group Captain'. (Group Captain is equivalent to Colonel, Captain is equivalent to Flight Lieutenant.)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Group Captain is, however, usually shortened to Captain; at least that was my understanding. Canonically as a con man he was posing as an American volunteer in the RAF, and he's accorded the rank of Captain in that (or at least self-declares it). My assumption is that he volunteered as a Group Captain in WWII, which is where he gets his captain's stripes on his RAF coat.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're posting the chapters quickly - I don't think I could take waiting a week (or more) to find out what's going to happen next.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

*grins* I used to post as I wrote, but I have wised up in my old age...

[jazmin-firewing.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is great and at least five degrees darker than anything else of yours I've read. I really love the way that Ianto's fight with the programming seems very real, the way he doesn't always know who's controlling him.

My only big problem with this chapter, possibly stemming from the fact that I haven't seen very much of season one, is who the hell is Estelle and what are these fairies Jack does battle with?

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Ooh, reeeelly? Because wow, your user name ...

http://bit.ly/bmujqR

[wordfear.livejournal.com]

This is so quietly gut-wrenching. Ianto's loss of self on top of everything else that happened at Canary Wharf makes me want to either cry or punch something. But I love this Jack, and the way he takes care of people in his own way, with empathy but no pity; and the way you weave together so many little loose threads left in canon and produce this marvelous fabric.

CoE left Torchwood feeling like a big patch of scorched ground for me, but this and "Your Face" have reminded me that I love these characters and universe and I can come back to them again. Thank-you so much for that. Really. It feels luxurious to have had a chapter of wonderful reading to look forward to, and then savour each day, for so many days. I suspect I'm in for a big bout of re-reading your stories when this one is finished.

To conclude: Sam, you totally rock. :)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of fun writing it, though I think perhaps because I knew what the conceit of the story was it hit me less than it has the people who read it.

CoE is always lurking in the back of my mind when I write Torchwood fic these days, but I try to focus on what I'm writing and the pleasure to be found there :)

[samisaurus.livejournal.com]

So, I wasn't really planning to comment until I'd read the whole thing, but I just wanted to say that when Ianto couldn't move the sofa it broke my heart. It made me so glad he had Jack.

I mean, I don't know anything about deprogramming people, but I know about depression, and I know just what it's like when there's something you just can't do until you manage to call someone or someone comes home who can help you.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about deprogramming either, but yeah -- it's very much a similar process to depression at that point. I think it's also a sign of how much Ianto implicitly trusts Jack that he's willing to call him, because it's a hard call to make.

[(Anonymous)]

Well just caught up with this one. Marvelous.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I guess I haven't actually reacted directly yet to this tale, just noodled around between other people's comments. Cyberwoman is far from my favourite TW ep. It makes me distinctly uncomfortable, and maybe someday I should force myself to look at why. (Not today, though!) But I do love me a good post-Cyberwoman fic.

I like the portrayal of Owen here and, especially, that of Jack. Whatever Jack's initial reaction to Ianto's betrayal, concern for the damaged team member would naturally come to the fore eventually - even in canon, where Ianto bears much more personal responsibility for what transpired. Here you seem to have Jack finding a kind of solace in doing what he can to help repair the damage.

The Classic Who elements and the creepy, old Who atmosphere are wonderful. In a lot of ways this is a perfect follow-up to the introduction of Eleven.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Cyberwoman's a very uncomfortable episode. There's a lot of raw aggression and manipulation and none of the decisions Jack has to make are easy. I can see why it would be unsettling.

[guestyperson.livejournal.com]

Awesome chapter. I agree with the above. I was ready to leave TW fandom after CoE. It seemed like Davies had done his best to leave it burned to the ground and the Earth salted underneath his feet. What with Gwen raising a child; Ianto, Owen, and Tosh dead; and Jack simply broken I really thought the fandom was done with. The past two stories you've written are like new life into the series...
Off topic:
Was it you wrote the original fic about an alternate history Australia and some people who go there by balloon, and it was all in a LJ comm of its own? I lost my links when my computer died recently.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

It was indeed me who wrote that story :) You can find it at theoriginalsam :)

[sigmaforsale.livejournal.com]

He took Ianto's wrist and dragged him back, dug in his coat for a pair of handcuffs and cuffed him to the arm of a chair. Ianto looked at him, perplexed, and tugged; the chair rolled.
Oh god, I laughed so hard I scared the cats.

On a more serious note, the dysfunctional symmetry of Ianto's flat definitely creeped me out, and his call for Jack's help with the sofa broke my heart a little.

Can it be tomorrow now pls?

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Jack: means well, metaphorically tends to handcuff people to movable objects. :D

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like Professor Quinn. Can I have one?

I thought the bit with the sofa was painful, but then we hit "Small Worlds" (best touch: "[Ianto] said he was sorry about Estelle, which no-one had, not even Gwen") and you capped it with, "That kid was going to be the death of him." OW, Sam!

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

LOL, Quinn seems like a cool guy. He never appears again, but I had a lot of fun coming up with him.

[deadcat-vagrant.livejournal.com]

So this is a little delayed so far, but I just wanted to say how much I LOVE the phrase 'bluesceen' for Ianto's out moments. It is so perfect, so 21st century, that I just sort of squee a little inside every time I see it. :-D

And the back-and-forth between Jack and Ianto as Ianto slowly recovers himself is so well-written, so very believable, that I too have ire with the show for not thinking of something this ruddy awesome.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I was really happy to stumble on "bluescreen" because it was EXACTLY what I wanted -- descriptive and scary but also just a little bit funny.

[anyjen.livejournal.com]

I don't have the time to think of something smart to say to this chapter, so I'll just leave my "still reading it, still loving it" here and run off to uni.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Aww, glad to hear!

[rosy5000.livejournal.com]

Nice to see Ianto making progress, even if it is in small steps and very slowly.

That kid was going to be the death of him.

I love that even with as screwed up as Ianto is, he's still boggling Jack's mind. lol

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack. So turned on, so inappropriately turned on... :D

[marynyu.livejournal.com]

*wipes silly grin off face*

IANTO IS DOING BETTER!!!!

*huggles him*

Oh, I am so invested in this storyline, you have no idea. Poor boys.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, I'm glad you're happy! :D

[sqyd.livejournal.com]

This is a slower chapter, not that I'm complaining. I have a suspicion there will be some action soon. I like the tentative exchanges between Jack and Ianto.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Hmmm, not sure if Four is slow, but Five will definitely be fast!

[kehlana-miyu.livejournal.com]

I really love the way you are writing Jack in this fic - he just seems so in character, or at least he seems to be how I see him in canon. He is often hard and ruthless, but many authors who write him like that, and not as a clown or mushy romantic, don't notice that he is also genuinely nice and compassionate and fun-loving - he just controls it ruthlessly when he thinks his Earth-saving job demands it, which is unfotunatley much too often. But it is there, and I love your fic just for noticing it.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Jack is pretty multifaceted, and hard to capture sometimes because he can be an immature clown or a cruel bastard, so it's hard to blend the two. Glad I seem to be accomplishing it!

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

catching up on this as I was wrapped up in my own post CW Ianto thing and didn't want to short circuit myself :)

I'm finding it a really interesting read ... and had not a little snicker at "not pretentious enough to teach film" LOL.

the whole question of Ianto's suspension really needed to be looked at, if we're to fix the floppy confusing canon into something that makes more sense. and I like the idea that this is how he found out about Flat Holm. I always thought there was more to that which needs to be explored.

so looking forward to more!

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I do wish we'd had at least SOMETHING from canon about how Ianto worked past his girlfriend getting shot by EVERYONE HE WORKS WITH :D

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

Aww, Ianto is bein' cute. I love that he still calls Jack, still goes back to the hub, etc. :P

Continuing to be intrigued! I liked the creepy side-documents especially. (Saw in leg = *cringe*)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that report is a bit gruesome. Fitting, but yergggh.

[bare-bear.livejournal.com]

I'm super disturbed by the Torchwood 1 Civilian survivor report, and maybe a little confused. I haven't watched many the Doctor Who episodes, and I'm not sure if this is referring to something that happened during some of the Doctor Who Cybermen episodes, or to the more recent Torchwood 1 destruction. The title of the report seems to imply the latter, but I didn't know that civilians were involved.

Otherwise, amazing chapter, as usual! I'm thoroughly enjoying the tale. :)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

The report is a reference to the Torchwood One destruction, which...happened in a Doctor Who episode but causes fallout in Torchwood. The report is taken from the Torchwood extras, anyhow.

When London fell, about 90% of the casualties were civilian, in that they were Torchwood employees and not proper military. There were some UNIT soldiers on the scene but the Torchwood employees were the ones who bore the brunt of the attack.

[penny-sieve.livejournal.com]

This fic is making me unbearably sad even though I managed to read this entire chapter without choking even once.

OTOH, I really need Harkness Exterminators :P Think he'll make housecalls?

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

HE COMES WHEN YOU CALL.

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

Can I just say, as someone who falls back on 'scripting' in social situations, I'm really identifying with Ianto's struggle for original speech and reactions. It can be a real pain to have to generate original speech/reaction at home. I know it was especially difficult after a long shift in retail. I'm a fabulous cashier, but I'd have trouble shifting 'modes' for at least an hour after work ended.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Yeah, downshifting is hard -- I do it too a bit, for my job, and find myself fighting not to answer "[business name], good morning, this is Sam" when my home phone rings :D

[cruentum.livejournal.com]

Okay, it's weird but this story is awesome. It's not creepy or anything, but it gives me the kind of pleasant stomach tickle, yknow, the kind you get when you're enjoying something, and there are sequences and lines in this that make that happen. Huh. Surprising. I would say it's darker than your usual stuff, but not really, I think you're taking your time showing relationships, your pace is slower these days in your storytelling and that works.

Anyway, enjoying it.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Aww, Nick, I'm glad you like it after all. I'm interested that you say my pace is slower -- this felt breakneck to me while writing it, I'll have to mull that over :)

[durayan.livejournal.com]

It so makes my day when you post an update early, and I can snag it and email it to myself to read during the day--because you know the work internet has a "fun & interesting" filter on it. Anyway. Yeah. Still reading, still loving the way this is unfolding. Really like how Ianto gets introduced to Flat Holm. And I love how you weave this so seamlessly in and out of canon. Loving Jack. He's marvelously controlled, because he has to be, and so marvelously drawn to people. Especially his people. Still mad at UNIT for the last chapter. Bastards.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Work internet filters are no fun! Glad you're enjoying the fic regardless :)

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this chapter.

Small Words is an episode I enjoyed especially since it was about evil fairies and Estelle, who I really liked.

So yeah enjoyed this chapter very much.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I wasn't all that into Small Worlds, but it does give us some fantastic Jack stuff to work with :)