[fic] art for Red and Fourth

[rm]

laurab1 made me this awesome art for Red and Fourth.

Click on image for full-size.

And since we're here, I actually want to talk about it, because I went through a couple of thoughts about it, and I'm still sorta in a place with that story. In the first draft of the story I had this long scene at a party where Jack and Martin first meet. And Jack's an asshole and Martin's all "whatever" and disinterested. And I think this really speaks to that. Of course, the other thing it speaks to, which I didn't include in the story is Jack's public life with Martin. While always a D/s relationship, at a given point Jack is also very much the boyfriend and also very much a part of the business (probably in a few ways, their deal is not about monogamy), so I realized looking at this there's actually this whole circle of identity for Jack there, as Martin shoots him down for acting like an asshole playboy (which is Jack covering for how fucked up he is anyway) but at a given point Jack's also playing that character in public as part of adding to the image of Martin's business. Anyway, yeah. The story may be sparse, but I know tons and tons about the space of it.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

Basically I know I can find the older ones for you for about USD$8, and then it's just a matter of shipping, but I know that's way ass cheaper than anything Amazon will tell you.

And yeah, Ianto has an absolutely vicious streak, which is one reason why I think Jack is comfortable being with him. He knows Ianto has it in him to be terrible yet, he's not John Hart. But it means Jack has to feel less bad about who he is in relation, as opposed to say Gwen, who I think makes Jack feel guilty about his shit.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Sounds very promising. Thank you so very much!

I wrote about this right after CoE, but knowing about Alice changed my whole perspective about Gwen (and Suzie to a certain extent); as much as Jack loves Gwen (in various ways) other than the guilt thing and the whole her trying to change him, because she would try, I really view their relationship as this very weird, incestuous Father-Daughter thing. Making Jack not competition to Rhys, but a father figure trying to make sure his little girl has the man that will be good for her (which he utterly failed with Alice).

Do you think Jack knew that Ianto lied about his dad, his whole family in fact? (I'm in the camp that thinks he Ianto spilled his beans after Cyber!Lisa)

[rm.livejournal.com]

I think Jack knew by the time Ianto died and Ianto knew Jack knew. I'm willing to buy the argument that it was something they never talked about and it was just a polite fiction... but:

1. Jack would have to know Ianto was lying about the Electro, if he thought about it, because Jack was in Cardiff when Ianto was a child and the Electro was closed then.

2. The thing about the inseam measuring? Never ever sounded right to my ear, and I put it down to a no one knew how to get those lines out to make them work, but I can certainly read it now as Ianto has already told Jack the truth, but they are very happy to play this game (which is more interesting in light of this, because it really does imply that Ianto and the suits and related fussiness isn't just performance but fetish).

While writers write the show and now actors, I really do take a lot of cues on the answers to Torchwood's weird plot holes and inconsistencies from what the actos ahve said, because those are the choices they decided to work with in lieu of other information. So to that end, JB and GDL both say Ianto told Jack the truth and that maybe Jack was the only person he ever told (i.e., Ianto lied to Lisa out of shame, and then shit happened before he could confess)., and even if this is after-the-fact stuff to make fans happy con shit, it makes sense to me, it makes sense with the writing and the performances, and so that's pretty much when I'm running with, although I don't have an idea of what that confession was like, although it's something I want to explore in a fic at some point. I do think that once he told Jack, and realized no one else knew other than his family of course, I think he probably made the choice not to tell anyone else the truth -- not because the secret mattered anymore (Gwen certainly wouldn't have cared), but what other symbollic thing was ever going to exist as a near object between him and Jack other than this information? I think it was, to a given extent, not just Ianto engaging in narrative in a manner Jack might not have been fully consciously aware of, but of engaging in ritual that Jack was similarly maybe not thinking about (or happy to abide with not mention if it makes the kid happy -- lord knows).

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

All I can do it *nod* and promise a proper reply a little later.
I must sleep for a bit, it's been a hell of a day.

Thanks for the info on the novels and fantastic discussion... I really needed this.

Toddles, talk to you later!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup, feel better. I owe you an email.