Torchwood!

( spoilers for Children of Earth: Day Five, except not really )

Torchwood!

( Spoilers for Children of Earth: Day Three. )

Torchwood!

( Spoilers for Children of Earth: Day Two. )

Torchwood! Man, I haven't written an episode reaction since - uh, the last Doctor Who special.

( Children of Earth: Day One )

As I'm sure many of you have done, I have lost multiple chunks of my life to TV Tropes. The most recent chunk was at the Wild Mass Guessing page, which is a gathering of pages on different fandoms discussing fanon theories from the sensible to the insane. Many of them have an "X is a Time Lord" guess, and since Dollhouse, there are a lot of "X is a Doll" guesses popping up, too.

So! In my idleness, I have decided to pose this - I don't know, meme I just made up to you guys.

Name me a fandom I'm familiar with, and I'll tell you who's a Time Lord, who's a Doll, or both (probably both) and why.

Feel free to swipe and use this yourself, if you could stand to kill some time.

My first non-Owencentric Torchwood fic is finally complete! Just in time to be completely contradicted in a few weeks.



TITLE: "Full Circle"
AUTHOR: Cathryn (catslash)
RATING: PG
WORD COUNT: Approximately 1600
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: Rhys, Gwen, Jack. Gwen/Rhys, offscreen Jack/Ianto.
SUMMARY: Rhys had come to understand, after Tosh and Owen, that he had married into that family; now, while Gwen and Jack tried to keep each other from falling apart, he had to keep them from drowning. Near-future AU.
WARNING: Offscreen character death.
NOTES: I started writing this not long after "Exit Wounds" aired, so any resemblance to spoilers or speculation for series three is pure coincidence.
NOTES THE SECOND: Also, if you can spot the reference to one of the novels, you get an internet cookie of your choice.
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood was created by Russell T Davies and belongs to the BBC. I take no credit and make no money.



( Rhys Williams came home that day to find his wife on the floor, sobbing in her employer's arms. )

Wow, I have been with the fail at posting lately. I'm getting back into the swing of working after the semester, and it's been tiring. Also my manager sucks at life, but I don't want to get pissed off all over again talking about it, so I'm not going any further into that.

Instead, I want to talk about the upcoming new series of Torchwood. (. . . Yeah, I know I quit the show after "Exit Wounds." I am continuing to watch it because SHUT UP, that's why.)

( Spoilers, complete with speculation based on the fact that I have watched television before. )

OMG. You guys. YOU GUYS. The Owen in the recent past 'verse. I THINK I FINISHED IT. I figured out where to end it (!!!!!), so then I wrote it. And now it's done.

So, uh. HERE IT IS.



TITLE: "Second Look"
AUTHOR: Cathryn (catslash)
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: Owen, Ianto; Ianto/Lisa, past Owen/Katie
RATING: PG-13 for language. Genfic.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 6000.
SUMMARY: Sometimes, you get a chance to see the past through a different pair of eyes: your own. Set between "From Out of the Rain" and "Adrift," and during/after "Cyberwoman."
NOTES: Thanks to gileonnen, who first inspired the idea during some random conversation; to nightanddaze, for looking over the finished result to make sure it made sense; and to those two again and other folks on the flist for staying interested and thus helping to keep me interested. This fic has been a nightmare to complete (over a year from start to finish! It even got a tag of its own on my journal, the name of which I got from supervillainess, so thanks to her, too) and I never could have gotten it done without you guys.
NOTES PART THE SECOND: Take the timeline here with a grain of salt. Since the Whoniverse timeline is so notoriously fuzzy, and I needed solid dates, I ended up just pulling a timeframe out of thin air and hoping that it would make sense.
SPOILERS: Up through 2x12, "Fragments."
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood was created by Russell T Davies and belongs to the BBC. I take no credit and make no money.



( Owen always sort of thought that something like this might happen to one of them eventually. He just thought it would be more - dramatic. )

A few random items, because I would like to get into the habit of, like, posting again. Or at least to not have entries on the front page that are from October.

* My Western Civ professor is about as stereotypical as a history professor can get. It's amazing. His terminology is grounded firmly in the seventies at the latest - he refers to "examinations," which I of course am aware of as a term for tests, but I have never once had a teacher who used it before now. He also explained to us about Louis XVI being in "the hoosegow" during part of the French Revolution. The hoosegow, you guys. And he said it twice. I kind of love him a lot.

Also, his scorn for the aforementioned Louis XVI knows no bounds. He kept cracking on the guy for not being able to make a damn decision, and he would do it in this polite-history-teacher way that just made it more awesome. He sounds like he's editing himself for the classroom, but if there was some kind of French History Bitching Session, he would just let it rip and really tear Louis XVI a new one.

* Victoria's Secret sells lollipops. I do not know if this is a new thing, since I only started shopping for proper bras (as opposed to sports bras for Wal-Mart) like six months ago, but it is new to me. And hilarious. And of course I bought one.

. . . and, since it was of a particular brand, it qualified me for a free small stuffed dog. It is flashy and ridiculous and I cannot determine a reason for it to exist, and I have a history of naming stuffed animals after characters in whatever fandom I'm in at the time. So, obviously, Bewildering Scribble Dog's name is Jack.

* The series three Doctor Who finale arc makes less sense every time I watch it. It also makes me want to write more year that never was fic. And that just brings me back to the stagnating recent-past-paradigm, because even though I STILL have no idea where to end it and have more or less decided that including the YTNW is not entirely workable, I just still can't shake the idea. Maybe it needs to be another fic, or something. Maybe there's a reason I can't get any farther with what I've got. Maybe I need to suck it up and start writing the damn thing again already. It might help to start doing drabbles again or something.

* The finale does, however, contain one of my favorite lines, after Saxon greets the President right before the broadcast: "Can I make you some tea? Or is that not American enough? *pause* Can I make you some grits? What are grits, anyway?" Because he doesn't go for the obvious coffee joke! Also: GRITS. Ha. I wonder if RTD was aware of that joke being extra-funny because grits are a specifically Southern food, and a lot of our Presidents have been Southern. If it was just because grits are inherently funny, that's okay too.

* Seriously. Does anyone know of a good drabble challenge community that I can use to get myself posting again? I spent about a month last year posting drabbles every day and it was fun! For me, at least.

The Sarah Jane Adventures!

I LOVE THIS SHOW SO HARD YOU GUYS.



( 2x06, The Secrets of the Stars. )

Also, I love this show. This series might possibly be slightly better than the first. MORE PEOPLE NEED TO WATCH IT.

Swiped from sotto_voice

Pick a pairing from my fandoms, and come up with a location and/or situation, and I will write you between 50 and 250 words about the kiss that happened in that context.

You can even throw some crossovers at me if you want. You guys pretty much know my fandoms; check my tags and interests if you're not sure. No baseball, plz. I'm too out of touch this year to do any new pairings and I feel like I've done the old ones to death.

So! Way the hell back in July, when I was innocently seeking distraction from the agonizing wait for the Doctor Who finale and blissfully unaware that said agonizing wait would be the best part of the entire episode (oh yeah, I'm still mad), I asked for crossover challenge requests to keep myself occupied.

. . . no, this is not a second round. Not right now. Maybe some other time. I was going to put the results all up in one post, but, uh, I forgot. Until now. I got almost all of them done, excepting the ones that were requests for something I was already trying to write at the time, and also I never want to write a Dogma crossover again, GAIL. ;) But there are still twelve random snippets right here, presented in no particular order. Spoiler warnings or whathaveyou in the cuts, though the spoilers that were new then are kinda old now.



( House/Dead and Breakfast - See, this is why Thirteen never talks about herself. The simplest questions are landmines. )

**********

( House/Torchwood - Chase looked up, and it was only then that he became aware of the stymied silence. No one was throwing out diagnoses, or even arguing. They were just looking at him. )

**********

( Iron Man/Dogma - It was in Illinois, somewhere, doing . . . oh, something about PR, or something. Hell if Tony knows, it was a decade ago and he was drunk the whole time anyway. But he'd snuck out to some little dive strip joint. )

**********

( Dexter/Doctor Who - The first clue that this situation isn't quite right is the sedative failing to take effect. )

**********

( House/Supernatural, spoilers for House season four finale - Jo's been working in bars since she was sixteen, and of course she spent time in Harvelle's even before that, and she knows all the signs of a man who wants a drink. )

**********

( Dogma/Pirates of the Carribean, AU on account of me kind of forgetting about Dead Man's Chest, oops - Jack Sparrow has met God. )

**********

( Red Dwarf/Torchwood - Owen couldn't wait until Jack moved on from this overprotective crap. )

**********

( Iron Man/Torchwood/Jeeves and Wooster - The Junior Ganymede is, as I have told Mr Wooster and previous employers, a club for gentlemens' personal gentlemen. I have never mentioned, however, that it extends further than one might think, and that said personal gentlemen are not always gentlemen. )

**********

( Boondock Saints/Torchwood, part one of a duplicate request - He sent cards and gifts for Christmas and Owen's birthdays. He never heard back, but it didn't surprise him. He highly doubted that Marianne had ever taught Owen about writing thank you notes. )

**********

( Boondock Saints/Torchwood part the second, which is actually an AU of the first, just for fun - Smecker is not shocked by this. There isn't a cop in the city who wouldn't buy the Saints a round of beer if given half a chance; after this, they'll probably settle for buying drinks for whoever helped.  )

**********

( House/Dogma - But this kid - there was just something about her that drew the eye. Cuddy couldn't even begin to explain what; she just kept glancing back up to watch the girl play. )

**********

( Iron Man/Dead and Breakfast - Tony Stark blinked several times, dazed and vaguely aware that he was probably concussed. He'd have to do something about the helmet's design. It was supposed to prevent concussions, not cause them. )


**********

( Dogma/Supernatural - Plus it gets Bartleby out of his face for an evening, seriously, the two of them are more closely and irrevocably entwined than any other beings on the planet, but that doesn't mean they don't wanna just find a way to kill each other sometimes. )



I may have to do another round of this, I think, with a new list. I had a lot of fun with it before, and a couple of these might even have enough weight to turn them into proper fics.

MY BRAIN. Is a muddle. Here is what my day has contained.

* The Torchwood audio play. Yes, yes, I know I have very loudly quit Torchwood, but I have a weakness for audio stuff. And I knew it would be hilarious. And I was not wrong. I'm going to have to listen to it again soon. CANDYFLOSS.

* As per a deal I made with maggiesox, I am listening to Les Miserables in its entirety, start to finish, for the first time. Ever. I know quite a few of the songs, because we sang a medley in chorus when I was in eighth grade (mmm, uplifting) and I was still young enough then so that I now, eleven years later, still know every word. I even bought the Broadway soundtrack at that time, but being young and free of any sort of taste in music, I didn't really care much about any of the songs I didn't already know.

So. I mentioned that in Maggie's presence, and a deal was brokered: I would listen to Les Miz if she would finally listen to The Fix. I am holding up my end of the bargain, which is not exactly a chore, because I am of course enjoying it immensely.

And I just HAPPEN to have the recording with Philip Quast as Javert. Quast also plays my favorite character in The Fix, one Grahame Chandler. Total coincidence, really!

* And then there is the paper on Hamlet. We're reading Hamlet in my literary-analysis-or-whatever-the-hell-it's-called class, and had to do a "close reading" of a selection, which basically means "write at least three pages on ten to fifteen lines." I picked one of Claudius's, because I have a weakness for sympathetic villains. (See above in re: Grahame Chandler. Also, I bet we can all guess who is going to be my favorite Les Miz character.) (Incidentally, I believe Philip Quast could play an excellent Claudius. Grahame practically IS Claudius, just with polio and being in love with his nephew instead of his sister-in-law.) (See what I mean about my brain being a muddle?) Plus, it happens to contain one of my favorite selections in the play: "Do it, England/For like the Hectic in my Blood he rages/And thou must cure me." Grahame is so not the only one with a thing for his nephew.

(And yes, I managed three pages out of eleven lines effortlessly. I talk too much. If you had not noticed this, then hi, I'm Cathryn, nice to meet you.)

Also, somewhere in all that, during my play analysis class, was some brief discussion of Augustus Wilson's The Piano Lesson, which I saw last year for my Intro to Theatre class and you should totally go see it if there is a production in your area, because it's pretty awesome.

But anyway. Torchwood and Les Miz and Hamlet and too many parallels with The Fix in both casting and theme and if I DON'T have seriously strange dreams tonight, I will be very disappointed in my brain.

Part two of "Lucky Streak." Part one is here.



( If there's one thing Martha knows better than almost anyone else on the planet, it's how easily a nightmare can be hidden inside an appealing human package. )

TITLE: "Lucky Streak"
AUTHOR: Cathryn (catslash)
SUMMARY: Owen finds himself in the middle of something a little outside his usual frame of reference. AU starting shortly after "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and continuing through "Dead Man Walking."
RATING: R for violence.
WORD COUNT: Approximately 5200.
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS: Owen, Martha, Jack, Michael. Owen/Michael, a touch of Jack/Ianto, and a vague bit of Owen/Martha.
WARNING: Character death. Also, slash.
SPOILERS: From 2x01 through 2x07.
NOTES THE FIRST: Thanks to americanleaguer for the beta, and to gileonnen and apiphile for other helpful input. Oh yeah, and huge thanks to nightanddaze, who inspired the idea and threatened to cry cheerleaded hard when the fic stalled and I started to lose hope of ever finishing it. This never, ever would have been written without her.
NOTES THE SECOND: This fic is sort of experimental. Very spoilery notes about what the experiment was can be found at the end.
DISCLAIMER: Torchwood was created by Russell T Davies and belongs to the BBC. I make neither claim nor money.



( It's really just a one-night stand. )

So I guess this was inevitable. All I could do in the end was try to go the slightly less predictable route.

Torchwood/The Fix. It was GOING to be a drabble, but Jack wouldn't shut up, so it ended up being two and a half drabbles instead.



( 'Eerie, isn't it? Captain Jack Harkness.' )

So americanleaguer and I spent the evening tormenting each other with awesome AU ideas, until finally we settled on a snippet exchange. (Pay attention, apiphile; this is gonna look familiar.) So I guess we're gonna be writing snippets at each other until we get bored? I don't know.

Anyway. Mine is a Torchwood AU where it was Jack, not Gray, who was abducted. (Oh, and Jack's name is still Jack because Gray calls him Jack in "Exit Wounds," which allows one to assume that there were coincidental matching first names and so Jack really only changed his last name and also to avoid the headache of trying to rename him. And resist the urge to name him something like Orange or Puce.)



( Gray is eighteen years old when Jack comes home. )

And the other meme, as promised. This one ganked from fiareynne, and probably the last one that will catch my interest for like the next five years.


Name a series and I'll tell you the character(s) I would:

1. Bake cupcakes for:
2. Trust with the keys to my car:
3. Put thumbtacks on the chair thereof:
4. Have a crush on:
5. Pack up and leave if they moved next door:
6. Vote for President:
7. Pick as my partner in a buddy movie:
8. Pair up:
9. Vote off the island and into the volcano:
10. Wheedle into fixing my MP3 player:


ETA: Fictitious fandoms, please. Characters with actual personalities instead of fan-projected ones are a lot easier to deal with.

notatracer convinced me to post this around a little. (Uh, not that she had to work all that hard.) So, here's the polished final draft for communities.



TITLE: "Errands"
AUTHOR: catslash (Cathryn)
FANDOM: ABOFAL (Control and Tony)/Torchwood crossover
PAIRING: None; genfic.
RATING: A harmless G.
WORD COUNT: 540
WARNINGS: Crack!
SUMMARY: Captain Jack Harkness is dispatched to London for a meeting with the Head of British Intelligence. He's in for a bit of a surprise.
DISCLAIMER: Boffle and Torchwood are definitely not mine. I take no credit and make no money.
NOTES: I've been writing a lot of crossovers. Something was bound to go haywire in my brain eventually. This takes place post-"telescupe" for Boffle and at some point prior to Jack's taking over Torchwood Three for Torchwood.



( So *that* was how it was going to be. )

So. I require a bit of a distraction from the fact that Doctor Who airs on Saturday and it's only WEDNESDAY. And I figure, while I'm all ridiculous-crossover-y lately, it might be a good time for a sort of informal challenge request.

Below the cut, you will find a list of fandoms. Ask for crossovers. I will do my best to provide at least a scenario, if not a snippet into the bargain. These are fandoms I'm comfortable with dabbling in at the moment, so I'd appreciate it if you stuck to the list, though of course if I've forgotten something you know I can do, ask for it. And if there's something you really want to see but you're not sure, ask me about it. I might be able to do it anyway. (But no baseball RPS, ALEX. I'd prefer fictional crossovers.) Feel free to ask for more than one; I will do my best to accommodate. Though if you nail me with a huge list I reserve the right to pick and choose. ALEX.

( crossover tiems! )