FIC: Torchwood: Rogue's Gallery

[fajrdrako]

Prompt #240: Discuss an individual who scared you


Title: Rogue's Gallery
Author: fajrdrako
Fandom: Torchwood
Character: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Captain Jack Harkness
Challenge: theatrical_muse: Prompt #240: - Discuss an individual who scared you
Rating: G
Words: 308
Disclaimer: Not mine, no claims, all property of the BBC.
Notes: Cross-posted to torchwoodgwen and theatrical_muse.


Rogue's Gallery

Gwen sat on Jack's desk, as she liked to do after a long day. "Of all the people you've ever met, who frightens you most?"

He thought. "The Master."

"Master of what?"

"Nothing, any more." He grinned. "Not since his cremation."

"So why'd he scare you?"

"Because... he made someone I admire love him. I couldn't stop him. Couldn't do anything about it." He shrugged. "It's history now, but it gives me cold sweats to remember. What about you? Who do you fear most?"

"Ianto. If I annoy him, he might withhold coffee."

"Point."

"Did I hear my name?" Ianto came in with the striped mug, and put it on Jack's desk.

"We were just saying how terrifying you are."

Ianto smiled modestly. "I do my best."

Jack sipped. "Of everyone we've come across, who has scared you most?"

"Grey, because he came closest to hurting you."

"Mmm. Who else?"

"Bilis, because he disappeared. And we never understood why he did what he did."

"And?"

"Beth, because she proved that anyone can be a Sleeper. Anyone - however innocent they seem. Man, woman, child... alien. Anyone."

"Even you," murmured Gwen.

"Even me," agreed Ianto, with a smile. "Then there was the Ghostmaker, because I never understood how he could take souls and use them. And Carys - using sex to kill."

"What about Death?" asked Jack.

Ianto shrugged. "Not so much, any more. Owen defeated him. He seems a little sad, really. Gwen?"

"I can give Death a run for his money," said Gwen. "I've escaped Death often enough. What I'm afraid of? The Rift. It's so big, so impersonal, some sort of angry god who can disrupt our lives on a whim and won't listen to reason."

"Just like the man who reads the evening weather report," agreed Ianto.

Comments

[elebridith]

Wonderful! How they try to lighten up when the discussion gets too intense - like the Ianto/coffee remark - yeah, I could totally hear/see them having a conversation like this! And Ianto's last line cracked me up!
So - Ianto's not as scared of Adam as he is of the ones he mentioned? Interesting. He's more afraid of someone who hurts others than someone who gave him terrifying false memories... yup, I've seen "Adam" in the meantime... comments to follow!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So glad you enjoyed it.

Re Adam: He was my first thought, for Ianto. But just as I was writing that I remembered that Ianto doesn't remember a thing about that, doesn't even recall that Adam existed. So - though "Adam" might be his answer if he remembered, he can't even know that. An interesting catch-22.

[elebridith]

Duh! I forgot that he forgot... *headsdesk* Right... *lol* Scary thought, actually - to forget something so completely that you don't even know that something's missing...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I forgot that he forgot... *headsdesk* Right...

Interesting paradox, isn't it? Like with Jack saying "the Master" - he remembers - but it all never happened. Sort of. Makes my head spin.

Scary thought, actually - to forget something so completely that you don't even know that something's missing...

I probably should have had one of them point out that "Retcon" is the scariest thing around.

[raissad.livejournal.com]

Great job. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Big grin - thank you!

[beccaelizabeth]

punchline :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Heh: yes.

It always amazes me that Tosh has such great weather-tracking equipment, but prediction? Not so easy.

[(Anonymous)]

OWEN? HAVE I MET HIM???

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Owen: an old and familiar friend, surely. Thin chin, snarky attitude. Ring any bells?

(Aaah, how soon they forget.)

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

What a great last line. So Ianto. Well done!

All of it... well done. Delightful.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the wonderful comment!

The best thing about Ianto is what you can do with his dialogue.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

Hm. Would Ianto ever lie? Tell a lie, outright, to someone's face?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think Ianto would lie, and be good at it. I'm trying to think of an example.... He never did actually say "I don't have my cyberwoman girlfriend hidden in the basement" but her presence was a deception. He confessed very quickly, though.

I think he lied to Jack in "Fragments" but I'd be hard put to say which parts of what he said were lies and what was truth. He was doing a con job and did it better than he'd expected - with emotional repercussions to himself. Becuase he is essentially honest. Unlike Jack, who is essentially well-meaning and essentially verbally forthcoming, but not usually honest nor open. For someone who likes to talk so much, he's a very private man.

I'm still trying to figure whether Ianto's comment in "Day One" that he didn't care about Jack's sexual orientation was a lie or simply prevarication. Or perhaps his way of saying (as Jack does in other words at other times), "Sexual orientation is no way to judge anyone; it doesn't matter."

In "Adrift" he betrayed Jack's secret to Gwen, but that wasn't a lie - rather the opposite, he was revealing a truth.

Seems to me Ianto lied like a trooper in "Meat" but I can't remember what he said. Must watch again! He was pretending to have a legitimate reason to be in the meat factory. And then - the villains asked if if there was anyone else there besides him and Rhys, and he said "no, just us", knowing Jack, Gwen and Owen were nearby. There! Lies!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

It's fascinating how far you had to reach to find examples. Hm! Lisa: lying by omission is definitely a lie; and look how it stressed him out to do all of that. Getting caught by bad guys and telling them other than the truth is not technically a lie as I'd define it -- it's a lie if you tell it to someone you respect, but it's not if you tell it to save yourself from evil. (That didn't come out very clearly, but it's late and I'm sleepy!)

Interesting one: "that wasn't a lie - rather the opposite, he was revealing a truth." Is it as harmful as lying to do such a thing? I'd say yes. But... interesting.

Just as an episoded with the title of "Meat" is ... um, interesting.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

lying by omission is definitely a lie; and look how it stressed him out to do all of that.

Definitely! This is clear, I think, in "Fragments", where his more or less successful seduction of Jack gives him as much pain as a failure might have. (At what point he manages to sexually seduce Jack is unclear, but he at least gets the Torchwood job.)

I'd say that Ianto giving Gwen the information she needed to learn Jack's secret in "Adrift" - however indirectly - wasn't a lie, but it was a betrayal of Jack's confidence. I imagine Jack forgave him - his anger is mostly before the fact, when he's trying to prevent Gwen from finding out certain things.

"Meat" is one of my favourite episodes of series 2. I like it for a lot of reasons: good theme, Ianto is at his best, Rhys is at his best...

[laurab1.livejournal.com]

I like that, especially Gwen's dismissal of Death.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So glad you enjoyed.