Silver'verse: 01 | Starting Over
Aug. 6th, 2009 02:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_silver_storyTitle: Silver'verse
Chapter: 01 | Starting Over
Characters: Jack Harkness, OFC, OMC, Ianto Jones
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
a_silver_story
Genre Fluff, a bit domestic.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know.
Summary: Can't summarise without spoiling, really. It's post-COE, so go figure.
FIRST PART of 'VERSE | The Ballad of Ianto Jones: Keeping Promises
PREVIOUS | Torchwood Index/Masterlist
01 |
Okay ... this is an idea I want to try out: interactive!fic. As in ... the reader gets a say in how the story goes (like those books you get with a "for option a got to page 7" etc). At the end of each chapter, I'll offer you some options in a poll and you just choose the one you want to go in the direction of - to quote a popular Televisual Advertising Meerkat: "Simples!"
I have decided to call everything that happens in the Cyborg!Ianto series my "silver'verse", because I am very modest and honestly couldn't think of anything else to call it.
Anyhoo, here's a short(ish) chapter to get you all on the same mind-track-train thing as me and 'interactive' fic :)
“This one?”
“Too small.”
“This one?”
“Too big.”
“This one?”
“Ummm ... too boaty.”
“Well ... there’s that cottage we were looking at.” sighed Jack, folding up the newspaper and hiding the endless lists of houses for sale.
“Too girly.”
“Ianto ... we can’t afford to be picky just now. We’ll get the best we can get, then think about waiting for the perfect house.”
“What about this one, then?” Ianto slid a printout across the Torchwood cafeteria table. “Three bedrooms, two en-suite, bath and shower room, separate toilet room, sizeable kitchen, dining room, conservatory and parking dock.”
“Ianto ... that’s basically a posh outer-space caravan.”
“I know.”
Jack sighed heavily. “We can’t go travelling just yet.”
“I know. We have to wait for my last check up ... but we don’t have to set off the minute we get it.”
A plastic tray banged itself down on the table next to Ianto seemingly of its own accord. “Stupid BLOODY Lennie!” Button’s voice snarled, as the chair yanked itself back and a heavy weight dropped onto it.
Jack stared at the space where he assumed Button’s head would be.
“What?” asked Button’s voice.
“You’re ... invisible?”
Ianto frowned, and turned to look at the space where Button should be. “No he’s not. Well ... I can see him.”
“That’s because your eyes function on different wavelengths.” Lennie joined in, sitting down next to Jack. She smirked at the spot where Button was sitting. “I told you not to piss me off, didn’t I?”
“Whatever.”
“Stop giving me the finger, Button.”
“I’m not!”
“You are.”
“He is.” grassed Ianto. “Owww!! Jack he hit me!”
“I can see that.” smirked Jack. “Well ... sort of.”
Lennie sniggered, fiddled with her PDA, and a Button snapped into existence in the chair next to Ianto, middle finger proudly on display to his girlfriend. He obviously still hadn’t realised he was visible. They decided to leave him thinking like that for a bit.
“So ... Lennie,” said Ianto, inhaling the scent of the hot coffee Jack had pushed towards him. “They’ve burnt it again, Jack – anyway, Lennie: what’s it like being Head of Torchwood and Director of Operations for Torchwood Three?”
“Stressful. And he doesn’t help. I don’t know what you did to his libido, Jack, but he’s fucking insatiable!”
Jack shrugged, munching on his salad. “I tend to have that effect.” he modestly replied.
“Sex is good for stress.” smiled Button, his middle finger still directed at Lennie. She reached out and grabbed hold of it, bending it back painfully. “Ow ow ow ow!” yelped Button.
“Say you’re sorry ... say you’re sorry!”
“Sorrysorrysorrysorry!”
Lennie let go. “Now please, Button: do your own work!”
“Awwwwwww.” said Jack and Ianto in unison.
“Aren’t they cute?” crooned Jack.
“Adorable!”
“I wanna take them home!”
“Put them on a shelf.”
Lennie scowled. “At least we don’t finish each others’ sentences.” she retorted.
“... yet.” Button finished for her.
“What were you two bickering about, anyways?” asked Lennie, ignoring him.
“Homes.” said Ianto. “I wanna get out of here. Get a proper ship and go travelling.” Ianto jabbed his thumb at Jack. “He wants a fairytale cottage in the middle of the woods.”
“I just liked the cottage with the roses – the fact it was in the woods was a coincidence!”
“Even though you were looking specifically at properties in woods?”
“And you ‘accidentally’ came across the caravan looking at detached houses?”
“Oh dear ...” tutted Lennie. “Trouble in Paradise?”
“Why don’t we try the house first, then see if we want to travel?”
“You said you’d take me to see the stars, Jack! I’ve waited over a thousand years to go up there. You promised!”
Jack sighed. “I’ll take you when the war’s over.”
The table fell silent, and sadly so. The war being fought between the human race and the Kikonians had begun six months previous, when a greedy human baron had evicted an entire colony from the planet he’d just bought. Outrage spread on both sides, but the diplomatic proceedings had ended up with an very “us and them” feeling towards the Kiko race, and mobs and protests and marches of a non-too-peaceful nature had killed many humans - and twice as many Kikonians. Less than a month afterwards, war had broken out in a bid to destroy the growing Human Empire. Young and able men and women were called to train for the front line. None of them had been heard from since they left. Torchwood Operatives had not been exempt, and all sat around the small cafeteria table were thinking sadly of Tanya and Josh. Two months ago they had left – not so much as an email since. Even to their parents.
They finished their lunches in silence, and began to make their way back to their respective offices and workstations. Ianto still worked in the Archive, and was now getting far more pleasure from the job than he had for centuries. Several people still referred to him as ‘The Archiver’ – but that was because it was his job title. Pretty much all of them thought the old, rusting, hunk of metal that had previously haunted the tunnels below Torchwood Three had been replaced by a good-looking young man who was equally good at the job.
Ianto had insisted that Jack had an office as far away from the Archives as possible. In the end, they’d decided he would have the office next to Lennie’s, looking down into the main area. Jack had been promoted to Head of Security, and was loving telling people what to do and seeing it get done properly. Jack also went out on field missions, and quickly gained the respect of the staff he’d been given for a team. They still didn’t know he couldn’t die, so his blundering in all-guns-blazing technique shocked them into fearing him, too. No one crossed Captain Jack Harkness at Torchwood Three, 3010. Well, except Ianto. But that was different.
Ianto had his own minions in the Archives – a set of timid teenagers who didn’t even seem to know their alphabet. He was training them up to be Assistants – fetching and carrying for the Torchwood Operatives and making sure when things were taken out or put back they were checked, scanned and put in their proper place. At first they hadn’t really listened to him, not really thinking someone only a couple of years older than themselves really had any authority over them. Then one of the idiots got his command codes wrong and set the entire High-Security Prisoner Cell Block A free to run around the tunnels. Ianto had simply taken out his gun and single-handedly accosted the criminals, sedated them and piled them back into their correct cells. One of them had badly injured one of his team, and he was in so much pain Ianto had shot him. There was nothing anyone could have done, but make his passing easier.
The new Assistant Archivers decided to listen to Ianto after that.
~*~*~*~
Outside the window to the estate agent’s, Jack and Ianto were casting their eyes over the displays of houses and flats for sale.
“Oh my god ... Jack! That one!” cried Ianto suddenly, grabbing Jack’s sleeve and tugging. “Sea front! SEA FRONT! Three bedrooms, en-suite in the master bedroom, bath, shower, kitchen with a dishwasher! A dishwasher, Jack! Study, living room, dining room, no front garden but a double-parking dock and the back garden sounds spacious. And it’s a bungalow, so no traipsing up and down stairs for your old, decrepit legs!”
“I still like my cottage in the woods, though.” sighed Jack. It was still for sale, and still advertised in the window.
“It’s got a walk-in wardrobe.” Ianto tried to persuade him.
“Would we really need all that space?” asked Jack, running his hand through his hair.
“At least we’ll have neighbours.” huffed Ianto. “Please ... can we just look at it? We can book a viewing at your cottage, too.”
“Okay. But you promise to be fair in your judgement of it?”
“Totally unbiased. Scout’s honour.”
Jack ruffled his hair, put an arm around his shoulders and dragged him into the estate agent’s waiting area. Ten minutes later they had their viewings booked for later that day and the next morning.
~*~*~*~
“So ... basically, what it comes down to ... is the view.” said Ianto, showing Jack his neatly divided columns of “pros” and “cons” of each of the two properties. They’d looked over each one thoroughly, and had now changed their minds entirely. Ianto wanted the cottage; Jack wanted the sea view.
“Imagine it, Ianto!” pleaded Jack. “The sun setting over the waves; gulls silhouetted against the red and purple and gold skies, the gentle lap of waves against the shore ...”
“What about the redwood trees? The squirrels and the rabbits? The wildflowers on the trail and the roses in the garden?”
“When was the last time you could lounge in bed and watch a thousand perfect sunrises? Stayed in bed all day afterwards just to see it dip behind the ocean in the passion of orange, red and purple, slowly fading into the deep, midnight blue. And the stars! That stars above the ocean are beautiful, Ianto!”
Ianto heaved a heavy sigh, pushing the list of ‘Pros and Cons’ away from him. “Maybe we should get someone to look over it for us.”
FIN
Pick an option! PICK PICK PICK!
Next Part | Previous Part | Torchwood Index | Request a Convo/Prose Fic
Chapter: 01 | Starting Over
Characters: Jack Harkness, OFC, OMC, Ianto Jones
Author:
a_silver_storyGenre Fluff, a bit domestic.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:
SPOILERS FOR COE! DON'T READ!
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know.
Summary: Can't summarise without spoiling, really. It's post-COE, so go figure.
FIRST PART of 'VERSE | The Ballad of Ianto Jones: Keeping Promises
PREVIOUS | Torchwood Index/Masterlist
01 |
Okay ... this is an idea I want to try out: interactive!fic. As in ... the reader gets a say in how the story goes (like those books you get with a "for option a got to page 7" etc). At the end of each chapter, I'll offer you some options in a poll and you just choose the one you want to go in the direction of - to quote a popular Televisual Advertising Meerkat: "Simples!"
I have decided to call everything that happens in the Cyborg!Ianto series my "silver'verse", because I am very modest and honestly couldn't think of anything else to call it.
Anyhoo, here's a short(ish) chapter to get you all on the same mind-track-train thing as me and 'interactive' fic :)
“This one?”
“Too small.”
“This one?”
“Too big.”
“This one?”
“Ummm ... too boaty.”
“Well ... there’s that cottage we were looking at.” sighed Jack, folding up the newspaper and hiding the endless lists of houses for sale.
“Too girly.”
“Ianto ... we can’t afford to be picky just now. We’ll get the best we can get, then think about waiting for the perfect house.”
“What about this one, then?” Ianto slid a printout across the Torchwood cafeteria table. “Three bedrooms, two en-suite, bath and shower room, separate toilet room, sizeable kitchen, dining room, conservatory and parking dock.”
“Ianto ... that’s basically a posh outer-space caravan.”
“I know.”
Jack sighed heavily. “We can’t go travelling just yet.”
“I know. We have to wait for my last check up ... but we don’t have to set off the minute we get it.”
A plastic tray banged itself down on the table next to Ianto seemingly of its own accord. “Stupid BLOODY Lennie!” Button’s voice snarled, as the chair yanked itself back and a heavy weight dropped onto it.
Jack stared at the space where he assumed Button’s head would be.
“What?” asked Button’s voice.
“You’re ... invisible?”
Ianto frowned, and turned to look at the space where Button should be. “No he’s not. Well ... I can see him.”
“That’s because your eyes function on different wavelengths.” Lennie joined in, sitting down next to Jack. She smirked at the spot where Button was sitting. “I told you not to piss me off, didn’t I?”
“Whatever.”
“Stop giving me the finger, Button.”
“I’m not!”
“You are.”
“He is.” grassed Ianto. “Owww!! Jack he hit me!”
“I can see that.” smirked Jack. “Well ... sort of.”
Lennie sniggered, fiddled with her PDA, and a Button snapped into existence in the chair next to Ianto, middle finger proudly on display to his girlfriend. He obviously still hadn’t realised he was visible. They decided to leave him thinking like that for a bit.
“So ... Lennie,” said Ianto, inhaling the scent of the hot coffee Jack had pushed towards him. “They’ve burnt it again, Jack – anyway, Lennie: what’s it like being Head of Torchwood and Director of Operations for Torchwood Three?”
“Stressful. And he doesn’t help. I don’t know what you did to his libido, Jack, but he’s fucking insatiable!”
Jack shrugged, munching on his salad. “I tend to have that effect.” he modestly replied.
“Sex is good for stress.” smiled Button, his middle finger still directed at Lennie. She reached out and grabbed hold of it, bending it back painfully. “Ow ow ow ow!” yelped Button.
“Say you’re sorry ... say you’re sorry!”
“Sorrysorrysorrysorry!”
Lennie let go. “Now please, Button: do your own work!”
“Awwwwwww.” said Jack and Ianto in unison.
“Aren’t they cute?” crooned Jack.
“Adorable!”
“I wanna take them home!”
“Put them on a shelf.”
Lennie scowled. “At least we don’t finish each others’ sentences.” she retorted.
“... yet.” Button finished for her.
“What were you two bickering about, anyways?” asked Lennie, ignoring him.
“Homes.” said Ianto. “I wanna get out of here. Get a proper ship and go travelling.” Ianto jabbed his thumb at Jack. “He wants a fairytale cottage in the middle of the woods.”
“I just liked the cottage with the roses – the fact it was in the woods was a coincidence!”
“Even though you were looking specifically at properties in woods?”
“And you ‘accidentally’ came across the caravan looking at detached houses?”
“Oh dear ...” tutted Lennie. “Trouble in Paradise?”
“Why don’t we try the house first, then see if we want to travel?”
“You said you’d take me to see the stars, Jack! I’ve waited over a thousand years to go up there. You promised!”
Jack sighed. “I’ll take you when the war’s over.”
The table fell silent, and sadly so. The war being fought between the human race and the Kikonians had begun six months previous, when a greedy human baron had evicted an entire colony from the planet he’d just bought. Outrage spread on both sides, but the diplomatic proceedings had ended up with an very “us and them” feeling towards the Kiko race, and mobs and protests and marches of a non-too-peaceful nature had killed many humans - and twice as many Kikonians. Less than a month afterwards, war had broken out in a bid to destroy the growing Human Empire. Young and able men and women were called to train for the front line. None of them had been heard from since they left. Torchwood Operatives had not been exempt, and all sat around the small cafeteria table were thinking sadly of Tanya and Josh. Two months ago they had left – not so much as an email since. Even to their parents.
They finished their lunches in silence, and began to make their way back to their respective offices and workstations. Ianto still worked in the Archive, and was now getting far more pleasure from the job than he had for centuries. Several people still referred to him as ‘The Archiver’ – but that was because it was his job title. Pretty much all of them thought the old, rusting, hunk of metal that had previously haunted the tunnels below Torchwood Three had been replaced by a good-looking young man who was equally good at the job.
Ianto had insisted that Jack had an office as far away from the Archives as possible. In the end, they’d decided he would have the office next to Lennie’s, looking down into the main area. Jack had been promoted to Head of Security, and was loving telling people what to do and seeing it get done properly. Jack also went out on field missions, and quickly gained the respect of the staff he’d been given for a team. They still didn’t know he couldn’t die, so his blundering in all-guns-blazing technique shocked them into fearing him, too. No one crossed Captain Jack Harkness at Torchwood Three, 3010. Well, except Ianto. But that was different.
Ianto had his own minions in the Archives – a set of timid teenagers who didn’t even seem to know their alphabet. He was training them up to be Assistants – fetching and carrying for the Torchwood Operatives and making sure when things were taken out or put back they were checked, scanned and put in their proper place. At first they hadn’t really listened to him, not really thinking someone only a couple of years older than themselves really had any authority over them. Then one of the idiots got his command codes wrong and set the entire High-Security Prisoner Cell Block A free to run around the tunnels. Ianto had simply taken out his gun and single-handedly accosted the criminals, sedated them and piled them back into their correct cells. One of them had badly injured one of his team, and he was in so much pain Ianto had shot him. There was nothing anyone could have done, but make his passing easier.
The new Assistant Archivers decided to listen to Ianto after that.
Outside the window to the estate agent’s, Jack and Ianto were casting their eyes over the displays of houses and flats for sale.
“Oh my god ... Jack! That one!” cried Ianto suddenly, grabbing Jack’s sleeve and tugging. “Sea front! SEA FRONT! Three bedrooms, en-suite in the master bedroom, bath, shower, kitchen with a dishwasher! A dishwasher, Jack! Study, living room, dining room, no front garden but a double-parking dock and the back garden sounds spacious. And it’s a bungalow, so no traipsing up and down stairs for your old, decrepit legs!”
“I still like my cottage in the woods, though.” sighed Jack. It was still for sale, and still advertised in the window.
“It’s got a walk-in wardrobe.” Ianto tried to persuade him.
“Would we really need all that space?” asked Jack, running his hand through his hair.
“At least we’ll have neighbours.” huffed Ianto. “Please ... can we just look at it? We can book a viewing at your cottage, too.”
“Okay. But you promise to be fair in your judgement of it?”
“Totally unbiased. Scout’s honour.”
Jack ruffled his hair, put an arm around his shoulders and dragged him into the estate agent’s waiting area. Ten minutes later they had their viewings booked for later that day and the next morning.
“So ... basically, what it comes down to ... is the view.” said Ianto, showing Jack his neatly divided columns of “pros” and “cons” of each of the two properties. They’d looked over each one thoroughly, and had now changed their minds entirely. Ianto wanted the cottage; Jack wanted the sea view.
“Imagine it, Ianto!” pleaded Jack. “The sun setting over the waves; gulls silhouetted against the red and purple and gold skies, the gentle lap of waves against the shore ...”
“What about the redwood trees? The squirrels and the rabbits? The wildflowers on the trail and the roses in the garden?”
“When was the last time you could lounge in bed and watch a thousand perfect sunrises? Stayed in bed all day afterwards just to see it dip behind the ocean in the passion of orange, red and purple, slowly fading into the deep, midnight blue. And the stars! That stars above the ocean are beautiful, Ianto!”
Ianto heaved a heavy sigh, pushing the list of ‘Pros and Cons’ away from him. “Maybe we should get someone to look over it for us.”
FIN
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 02:51 am (UTC)Also, kick-ass Ianto is awesome. 'Nuff said.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 04:01 am (UTC)Sorry. Tangent. I really love this so far! And badass!Ianto is badass. Obviously. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 11:57 am (UTC)*strokes imaginary beard*
no subject
Date: 2009-08-07 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 04:12 am (UTC)hehe I had a feeling it was going to end up that both Jack and Ianto would change their minds about the houses. lol
*giggles* Oh, I do adore Lennie! Poor Button. lol
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 05:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 07:50 am (UTC)(by the way, lennie and button sound a bit like tosh an owen, don't they?)
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 02:25 pm (UTC)This should be fun!
no subject
Date: 2009-08-06 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-07 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-07 04:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-07 10:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-08 01:42 am (UTC). . . Keep up the good work, yeah?
no subject
Date: 2009-08-08 01:52 am (UTC)I'll do my best :)