Defender Of The Faith

[cblj_backup]

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

http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/145814.html

Thank you for your patience!

Comments

[libbyalice.livejournal.com]

Oh that's lovely.

Just one small point, you refer to the Queen once as Her Royal Highness, whereas she is always Her Majesty:

"It wasn't Ianto who was asked to walk out with Her Royal Highness the next morning, however."

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Gah, well caught. I always mess that up -- I always think it's HRH when it's HM, and vice versa.

[rm.livejournal.com]

THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD.

Also "It was parked with flagrant illegality on the Plass" is about eight billion time funnier if you've been to the Plass. It's just... this huge, ridiculous expanse. It would be the most glaring thing for... just... oh god. Seriously ridiculous.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it! :)

I like to think Ianto has a keen sense of how much completely illegal stuff he can get away with as a Torchwood agent, and enjoys doing pointlessly illegal and absurd shit just for grins. :D

[seneska.livejournal.com]

I always love your work but this made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe I'm a royalist at heart but I was there going he can't say that about the queen!. It is good and it did make me laugh. I love reading about that area of Glasgow, where my boyfriend's family lives. I think it's just the informality made it quite difficult for me to suspend disbelief.

Also, I agree with libbyalice about the 'Highness' thing.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

LOL, the funny thing is, I totally didn't even think about the fact that the Queen is a Real Person until the story was done. And then I looked at it and went "Oh, shit."

She's on money! How can she be real? :D

[martyfan.livejournal.com]

Gwen frowned. "Orchids?"

Ianto just nodded, his figure-it-out-for-yourself poker face on.

"Ostentatious but delicate," she guessed. "And almost more trouble than they're worth."

Ianto tapped his nose.

Aww. And here I was thinking that was definitely Owen because orchids are named after testicles. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchids#Etymology)

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

Damn, you beat me to it. :)

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

I adore this. Oh, Jack. Well, he always did have a good notion of who's worth charming.

Love Archie, love the corgis fawning on Jack, the alien text in the library, the midnight shoot-out, all of it. And this:
"Only through e-mail. Congenitally incapable of attaching a file to an e-mail on the first try. He seems otherwise reasonable."

And this nicely clears up the canon question of exactly how TW answers to the crown.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I wanted to do more with the corgis, but frankly couldn't figure out how. Apparently they're an ill-tempered gang of hoodlums IRL. :D

I rather like the idea that the Queen considers herself an agent of Torchwood, I have to say...

[azn-jack-fiend.livejournal.com]

I think the French had the right idea executing all their royalty, but I still loved this story. It made me smile like crazy all the way through. The sleepover in the middle was awesome.

[idamus.livejournal.com]

I have no words, it's brilliant :)

[eustacia-vye28.livejournal.com]

I like this. It's that it feels real, it's full of those touches of grief and memory and the need to connect as much as the history of each of these people.

Jack and Lizzie? Somehow didn't surprise me at all. Oh, Jack. :)

The ending I think is the best part. They are a family, even if it's odd and tangly and broken in places. They're Torchwood, and that's why we like them.

(And OMG, I miss Tosh so much!)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Hey, QEII was superfly when she was younger. I'd have hit it too. :D

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

I love the way you write Torchwood!

Thanks for writing and sharing a great story.

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

This was note perfect. Jack's POV is lovely and true and I enjoyed Ianto's recognition that he and Gwen were being evaluated when Gwen, despite her vim, had not caught on.

[wordfear.livejournal.com]

Weirdly, I have recently been watching a show about the Queen's day to day life, and I could really picture her in this. I think she and Jack would definitely understand each other. Growing up during WWII really left it's mark on her I think and her concept of duty and commitment.

Plus I feel she would absolutely approve of good marksmanship at short notice, in PJs no less!

I love the way you write these characters. What a sad, hopeful, beautiful, funny story.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad it hits the mark :)

[mcparrot.livejournal.com]

I don't know why but your Queen's voice sounded like a royal impersonator not the real thing. Really weird. Lovely premise. Loved the back door to Balmoral.
Shooting the wildlife - priceless.

[merucha.livejournal.com]

I want to say something like "this was wonderful", which is my usual comments. Instead, I will tell you that the conversation between Jack and the Queen during the nature walk made me tear up. So much history and so much memory and so much loss between them.

And the alien/hare made me crow...

[gestalt1.livejournal.com]

Mm, I do love this. You write Torchwood very well, and I particularly like the idea of Jack knowing all the successive generations of royalty, and being something of a constant for them.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

My heart aches for the three of them. But they cope as best they can—and Ianto still gets most of the best lines.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I just flat out adore this. My favourite thing of yours in a while, and all your stories are favourites of mine. I loved the characterisations and the nostalgic, elegiac, autumnal tone. Once again it strikes me that, whether you mean it that way or not, this story harks to the eventual, inevitable and possibly-already-happened end of Torchwood our series.* Also I have no trouble with the portrayal of the queeen - not be cause I'm a small-r republican but because I've read Sue Townsend's The Queen and I. Oh, and the title is perfect.

*I'm positive there's an adjective that means 'already-happened' but I'm having a senior moment. Fuck, I hate getting old. Words and names are the first things to go.

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I didn't intentionally foresee CoE with this -- it wasn't airing then -- but it does have a certain note of all things passing, and Jack the single constant. :)

[drgaellon]

*chinhands*

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I hope that's a good thing...:D

[starletfallen.livejournal.com]

"Oh. I remember this. It's family."

^ that has to be the most poignant thing ever said about the TW kids. Whether or not they're having silly suppers with Rhys. Also it made me tear up.

God, so much awesome, Sam. How do you do it? *bows*

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Lots and lots of practice! :D

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Hee, Jack is such a troublemaker.

[valancy-joy.livejournal.com]

dammit Sam... how do you make me laugh and cry all at the same time?

so much to love, but especially "Owen punched me in the head. A lot."

:D

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

Well, you can't deny Jack's recruitment tends to involve him getting unpleasant bruises. :D

[pocky_slash.livejournal.com]

set after Exit Wounds and before Children of Earth
(Or, if you're me and your head is still buried in the sand, in the magical world where CoE never existed and unicorns roam freely and MST3k was never canceled.)

Okay, now I will give you an appropriate use of "OMG IANTO AND GWEN!" XD Because how much do I love their little faces here? Sitting and laughing together in Jack's room, bonding in the library, and sharing a bed! (I have a huge thing about Gwen and Ianto platonically sharing a bed.)

Um, but the rest of the story was also awesome. I love the idea of Cardiff being loyal to the crown even when London wasn't, of Jack being close with the royal family. Ianto and Gwen's reactions to everything were precious and spot on, and Jack's reactions to them warmed my heart. I like that Jack realizes that this is his family, because it's something that I've long held to be true after "Exit Wounds." All three of them are loyal to Torchwood, yes, but their loyalty to each other goes beyond that.

Excellent all around. Thank you for sharing it :)

[sam-storyteller.livejournal.com]

I do kind of love Ianto and Gwen's platonic-but-close relationship. Took a while for me to warm up to Gwen, but I am there now!

[robling-t.livejournal.com]

I find the idea of Ianto quietly having Banana Boat killed disturbingly intriguing. :)

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I LOLd. I have a soft spot for Banana Boat.

[nancybrown.livejournal.com]

I loved this. Sweet and thoughtful. :)

[srevans.livejournal.com]

I am definitely in the mood to be moved, and this touches achingly on some current preoccupations I have about the impermanence of things. Thanks, as always, for a story which draws truth from mysterious depths.

[air-ocean.livejournal.com]

Lots of great little moments in this, love it to pieces! Thanks, Sam!