rodlox

Gaeta's a shipper, it seems

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:00:38 GMT

SG-1 fans may recall the old saw about pseudo-Kawalski being a Jack/Sam shipper (Gamekeeper)...

...but on Battlestar Galactica last night, Felix Gaeta's song convinced me of the Master/Jenny as a pairing. (also got me started on a vid for them - its not going too well)

How do you do podfic?

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:47:55 GMT

...because I'd like to try my hand (voice?) at podfic.

Torchwood/Who icons

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:58:05 GMT

The first two icons here, would not be at all possible, if I hadn't had the kind assistance of this wise one to spark my imagination with one of her icons. (go look! there's hundreds!). I only added text in these two:

and one I made a long while ago...

Iron Man fics?

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:15:43 GMT

Is there an Iron Man community yet? (for fanfic from the movie)

if not, should there be?

and do you have any movie-fic recs?

thank you.

Doctor Who - "Paving the way for toclafane" (mild Master/Susan)

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:56:08 GMT

. Title: Paving the way for toclafane.

Summary: Susan and the Master plan for the future of time.

Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Susan Foreman, The Master
Author: Keenir.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: An Unearthly Child {1st}; Logopolis {4th}; The Sound Of Drums, Last of the Time Lords {10th}
Word Count: 1,306

Author’s note: doreyg asked me to write a Susan/Master fic, wherein Lucy Saxon is Susan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She waited.

Fire raced through, coursing into and between each and every tissue and organ in her body.

Nothing changed – internally.

A little changed in her appearance. Not as much as Grandfather changed, but even so, there was change. Susan gained two inches in height and a paler skin, more taut. Opening those eyes whose colour hadn’t changed, she saw how her hair’d grown out and was now, “Blonde.” Dirty blonde, and closed her eyes; she remembered how she used to shriek in fear and frustration – but that sort of thing didn’t seem to be in the cards for this time around.

In time she stood up again, setting instructions for her Makeshift. The Makeshift, a Piecemeal, built from the cannibalized ships left littering a battlefield which she alone had survived. Time Lord, Dalek, and knobs from a few assisting species. “Earth,” Susan said, stating her destination.

As time folded, Susan missed the whirr of a TARDIS. Time-tunneling technology was all she’d been able to come by, both during the Time War and in the now.

She waited.

``````````````````

Susan arrived in Wales just as soon as a TARDIS materialized- there was enough Dalek in the Makeshift to do that, and she didn’t object.

She stepped outside at the exact moment a man exited the TARDIS, her door facing his. Not Grandfather. “Hello,” she said, blonde hair dangling over her shoulder, draping what she felt had to be the most insipid choice of outfits in her life thus far.

He looked at her. Gauging her. Measuring her. Calculating… everything. Then he smiled. A disarming smile. “Oh hello. So good to see you – and another friendly face at that,” and Susan glanced at her doorwayaround herself, and saw that the chameleon circuits were making it look as though she was half-through a brick wall. “Care to go for a cuppa?” proffering his arm, even though neither of them had as yet left the comfort and security of their own ships.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’m Susan.”

“I am the Master.”

She knew of him. Reputation preceeded him, as her own may have in reaching his ears. He was, in all but a few accounts, a friendly enemy of her Grandfather.

Still… tea!

Susan walked to a halfway point, the door closing behind her. Together, out for a spot of tea.

``````````````

“You’re the linchpin of peace for three hundred galaxies. So what brings the backbone of the Shadow Proclamation to this corner of this planet?”

Susan listened to the Master’s question, not to the crude humour of the teens – likely graduates, based on the words they were using in their hushed innuendo – at the bar behind her. “I am working on a new means of ensuring peace. Universe-wide, time-wide peace.”

“You don’t think small,” the Master said approvingly.

“I never do.”

“Hm,” as he took another draught of tea. “And this peace, what does it involve?”

“Toclafane,” Susan said.

“Fascinating,” the Master said as a plan formed in his mind. One of an even finer revenge than he’d already devised en route from a trillion years from now. “And may I assist you in this plan of yours?”

She smiled. While not a disarming smile, it was one which engendered trust in others. “But of course. I’d be happy to work with you, Master. In return, may I be of any assistance?”

“I think you may,” and let his fingers drum against the table.

```````````

“Yes, Master?” one of the Toclafane asked, appearing in the library of the Saxon residence, followed by three other Toclafane.

“This is my wife,” said the Master, gesturing to Susan beside him.

“The Master needs none,” said a second Toclafane.”

“She’s good company,” the Master said. “I can survive alone – I don’t like to.”

“Like us,” said the first Toclafane.

“Very much like you,” he agreed.

“We like the Master.”

“If the Master likes her,” said another Toclafane, “so do we.”

“I would like for you,” the Master said, “to do what this woman tells you. You are not to harm her, or anyone under her protection.”

“Yes, Master,” said one Toclafane.

“You’re nice, Master,” said another.

“We listen to the Mister Master,” said another.

“She is helping me,” the Master said, “just as I am helping you.”

“We will help her,” said one.

“Yes we shall,” said another.

“Helping helpers,” piped in another.

“Yay!” said another.

“We like helping,” the group of Toclafane said.

“Now go,” the Master asked of them, “go and tell all your friends.”

“Yes,” the Toclafane said, vanishing back to the future.

Susan gripped the Master’s hand for security. He didn’t tell her that her body temperature had risen to what was average for a Time Lord. He just squeezed back.

The next day, the Toclafane would claim their first human victim: a reporter woman who asked too many questions of Lucy Saxon.

``````````

Susan was walking through Kew Gardens one fine day, admiring the tree ferns. The Master had guesses – guesses galore – as to why she’d chosen ‘Lucy’ as her name for this regeneration…in the end, she’d relented and told him: not for the song, not for any living reason. As a reminder of what to do, as a clue to the plan being laid out.

She was Lucy. Like the fossil. And now she heard –

“Gallifrey burned,” the Master said in his gentlest voice.

“Say who?” Susan asked, not turning around.

“Says your grandfather.” He’d just told me a few minutes ago. “He said he was there, watched it burn.”

She turned around, pivoting on the ball of her foot. “No...Gallifrey?"

"Afraid not. This plan of mine,” the Master said, close to her. “Do you want to back out, maybe go for a holiday elsewhere while I carry it out?”

“No,” she said. “In the final days of the War… A Dalek contingent… Heading right for Earth.”

“And instead, they burned with the rest of their kind. Our world died, and this one survived. Should we leave it be, advance to the next step without it?”

“No.” And, in his ear, all Lucy soft and pleasing, “More.”

The Master smiled.

``````````````````

While the Doctor was an aged guest of the Saxons on board the Valiant, Lucy Saxon came to visit him. “Hello,” she said, crossing her legs and sitting in a handy padded chair.

“Lucy Saxon,” Grandfather said. “Did your dear Master send you?”

“No.” She looked him in the eyes, deeply so. Humans would say she was peering into his soul.

He probably thought she was staring. Or challenging.

“We can let you out. If you’ll help.”

“Help what?” the Doctor asked. “Help you fight the Toclafane?”

“We need toclafane.” Not my husband’s Toclafane – not even the legends of we Time Lords. The Daleks appropriated our word, made it mean ‘we shall return and triumph!’ That is the word I use.

“Then what do you need me for?”

“You’re the Doctor.” You’re my grandfather.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. Not now.”

“Okay,” Lucy said, straightened up, walked away.

She’d wait.

```````````````

Susan uncovered the Master, removing the stones one by one, each rock by itself.

He had been buried by falling rocks before – Logopolis came to mind – and it hadn’t been regeneration-worthy then or now. It just wasn’t a circumstance he cared to recall, or repeat.

“You rescued me,” he said.

“Of course I did,” Susan said. “You said you would help.”

“And so I shall.” Right now, he was just bruised. And sore.

“But no revenge.”

“Of course,” grimacing – which he hid as a grimace of pain, not of the thwarted plans he had for getting back at Martha Jones. And Jack Harkness. And, naturally, the Doctor.

“Just a while longer,” Susan told him. What good is reviving the Time Lord’s hallowed geniuses from the vaults of time, if we make undue haste? “We wait.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End

Doctor Who - "On the mountainside" (Lucy, 4th Doctor)

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:00:59 GMT

Title: On the mountainside.

Summary: Lucy Saxon thought she was free of the Doctor, rid of him at last…no such luck.
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Lucy Saxon, The Doctor (4th)
Author: Keenir.

Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Keeper of Traken, Logopolis; The Sound Of Drums.
Word Count: 370
Author’s note: This was in response to the Random Pairing Generator for this fandom, though I admit I couldn’t get it to be shippy. Takes place after the finale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh dear,” Lucy said, finding herself alone on the mountainside. Didn’t lose the other climbers, so much as I lost track of them – focused too much. Oh but He’d loved her dedication, how deeply she could focus on any task she set her mind to. Found it endearing. Promising.

But that was then. No, no, it was still now…it wasn’t yet a year since His – since my husband’s – becoming Prime Minister. I remember, even if none other do. Still clinging. Looked down to the reason her concentration’d broken, examined her knee.

Scraped, enough for a thin trickle of blood to peter through. If the leg were a faucet, there’d be a drip drip plip plip plip. Can’t blame Him… she’d always thought like this.

“Allo there,” someone said to Lucy – right beside her, he’d scrambled along the slop to this close, and she’d not even noticed it. “You need any help there?” he asked Lucy, his eyes wild and his scarf well-wrapped yet still managing to trail around him.

“No, no thank you; no, it’s just a scratch. Are you on one of the tours?” on the hike-to-the-summit tour, most likely, she figured.

“What? Oh no, I much prefer wandering about. Much more -”

“Doctor!” a woman hollered from above.

“Minute,” he replied right back. To Lucy, “Who’s got more entropy, eh?” as her blood ran cold and she fought to keep her eyes from getting as big as saucers. “Though mine’s a better grade than what yours is at the moment,” as Lucy wondered what she could do to escape. There’s always letting go, plummeting to the rocks all those empty fathoms below. But, then she considered, this is the Doctor, the alien thing that had killed Him and had turned back time itself! “You sure?” and Lucy knew, just knew, that she’d missed part of what he’d said.

“Please, go. Please just go,” she begged of the Doctor.

“Eh?”

Think, think fast! She’d always been good at it; He’d loved her talent for it. “I can’t climb if anyone’s watching. There’s a name for my condition.” A lie. A lie to a god.

“Okay,” he said cheerfully, taking his scarf with him to… Lucy didn’t care where.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End

Toshiko fic rec

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:28:35 GMT

I'd like to rec a fic by Doreyg - it may be untitled, but that is its only fault. For those of you who thought Tosh deserved a different ending - or something more - at the end of the Torchwood finale, this is fitting. And it offers a view of Toshiko that I (and probably most others) never considered.

Please, read it. You'll like it.

ps: "trainers" = "sneakers", right?

Robin Hood plot bunny

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:17:33 GMT

back in series 1, there was a baby in the woods...
What if, instead of having the child left there, Guy had kept it?

That way, there's less pressure on Marian to produce an heir when they marry. (do you think that that was a factor making her reluctant to marry either Guy or Robin?)

Bastards could be made legitimate without negating the marriage, right?

Robin Hood, 1st two eps, series 2

Sat, 10 May 2008 04:30:49 GMT

My brief review of the first two eps:

Ep 2.01 -

*Ah yes, and Marian's little impulsiveness comes back to bite her in the house. ;)
(it would've been bad to leave him standing at the altar - but to meet him at the alter & then bolt? pft)

* when the box opened a little, I had two throughts:
- when the box opened, I asked "can a Chameleon Circuit make a TARDIS seem horizontal?"
- when there was that hissing sound, I thought "Dragon?"

* your threat would be scarier, lady, if you didn't say the Prince was going to burn down all of Nottingham (by Dalek? or hire Nine?) and then say you'd hang all the children. *sighs* amateurs. ;)

* and Djaq sees right through Alan's deception. (even before seeing the bright red velvet(?) moneybag)

Ep 2.02 -
to make room for Numb3rs, I cleared fifteen minutes of empty space from after this ep - which meant I had to leap through the ep in 5-minute jumps...and I thought I saw, for a fraction of a second, Djaq walking through the Castle hallway, in a shiny yellow dress.
(yes, Firefly definition)

* yes! I was right, it was Djaq!

* question - why didn't they make sure the master architect stayed living in the castle? (rather than let him live out in the middle of nowhere, where Robin could get him?)

* I can't help but wonder...is it a coincidence of names, or is he related to the Holy Roman Emperor who rented Jerusalem from his buddy the lord of Egypt?

* if I had a ha'penny for every time Guy wanted to break that Count's neck...it'd recompense the Sheriff's losses.

NUMB3RS?

Sat, 10 May 2008 03:09:22 GMT

I liked tonight's ep, but one question remains -

Alan: "Of course you realize that this means that now you have to marry her."
Charlie: "I think I'll have one of those cookies now."

what the heck did Charlie mean?

and do you think we'll get to see any of Colby's peeps?

ps:

YES!, not only do we finally get to meet Amita's parents, but we also find out what happened to the guy she was originally (1.01) supposed to marry.
*is happy*

NCIS ficathon - sign up, please?

Fri, 09 May 2008 02:08:04 GMT

Please, sign up for the NCIS ficathon! Please, because if less than 14 people sign up, the ficathon is going to be axed. :(

and no, its not my ficathon...but I know the person running it, and am taking part in it.

so...please?

Music Meme

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:54:22 GMT

Tagged by [info]fififolle:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your LJ along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to.

1. You're the One
2. Yanarim by Sertab Erener.
3. The theme music to Doctor Who, (at least the 7th and 1st Doctors)...very fun to whistle to.
4. Us against the world
5. I am Superman (is it wrong that a Jekyll vid/song is fitting for Life
6. Istanbul was Constantinople, by They Might Be Giants (always a fun song)
7. Whatever happened to my part?

If you can see this, you are hereby tagged, and asked to repeat the process with your favorite songs. Please? Entirely optional, I assure you.

a realization about Sir Guy

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:23:03 GMT

Robin of Locksley, even when banned from his family estate, has one thing that Guy of Gisbourne does not have:
Robin has a net that can catch him if anything happens -- he has a network of people (friends of his, of his parents, of his extended family) whom he can call upon.

Guy doesn't have that. He only has the Sheriff and Marian -- and thus far, Guy is little* more than a tool to both of them.

* = I say "little" rather than "nothing" because there's a glimmer of hope where Marian is concerned.

Long story short, Robin can do things that Guy can't, in no small part owing to the fact that Robin has people as the saying goes.

agree? disagree?

Robin Hood meta (revised)

Thu, 08 May 2008 04:08:53 GMT

Four things...

I realize I'm a touch late, but I'm making up for it by holding a marathon today - the final two eps of series 1 & the first two eps of series 2.

1. So far, I'm just on the talks with the actors and crew...which are interesting and quite surprising.

Ie, in an interview, one of the guys behind the series said that they made their [version of] Guy of Gisbourne to be like Robin - to be that close to have become Robin.

Has anyone ever ficced that? A realm where Guy is the People's Hero and Robin is in league with the Sheriff?

2. Maybe it's just because I came here from the Highlander fandom, wherein one episode ("a glass darkly"?) made us realize that the entire series has been shown from the perspective of the Hero of the series.

As a result of that, I can't help but wonder what things in the series are less black-and-white than Robin is seeing them as.

(at odd moments, I wonder how many of the plots to kill the King are real, and how many are just in Robin's head)
ahhh, now that would be entertaining -- we learn that the series has been a set of recollections by an aged and bitter Robin many many years down the line. Certainly, it would answer/explain some of the things in the show.

3. One must admit, though, that Robin's explanations can be a bit threadbare at times -- he realizes that Guy tried to kill the King because Robin saw it in a dream makes sense as a chain of logic back then...but Guy can turn around and say, "Yes, I admit, I was in the Holy Land briefly, and in the company of my King -- but that was because I had a dream warning me that you, Robin, would attempt to kill the King."

3. I just hope that the second series of Robin Hood has more than just The Redemption Of Sir Guy as a plot or subplot (not that that's a bad plot).

I mean...maybe I misunderstand the theme of Robin Hood, but isn't one of the themes that of fighting injustices in the social order?

If I recall series 1 correctly, Robin's been assuming that, just because they grew up together, he will be the one to marry Marian (and she calls him on that assumption, I think). Him and Marian are both part of the same class - wouldn't a greater impact come from the show giving us Much/Marian or Will/Marian? (if they're going to insist on having a rival to Guy)

As for what I think (hope?) may happen in series 2 and 3...

* Robin starts to realize that even King Richard has shortcomings.

* a Middle Easterner, tired of being interrupted while he's doing complex maths, says "one day, you'll have to do this too"
(yes, bad Algebra joke)

* Marian realizes that she's been stringing Robin along just like she's been stringing Guy along.

* Djaq gets her own episode. (or two or eight)

* Prince John gave us the Magna Carta; King Richard gave us involvement in France and the Holy Land. (I've heard it suggested that Richard didn't really like England all that much)

* we see a heresy.

* Chess arrives in England.

4. Somebody needs to realize that outlaw already means that anybody can kill Robin without fear of legal action (heck, Martin Luther himself was declared outlaw)...there's no need for the Sheriff or Prince John to say "from now on, anyone can kill an outlaw," because that was already understood.

sorry, had to add that bit.

Iron Man question

Sun, 04 May 2008 23:52:01 GMT

Just saw the movie, but have one question:

Why did Obadiah call her "Deborah"? Is her name actually Deborah Pepper Potts? (or Pepper Deborah Potts?)

ficathon entry: "Susan and Jack's connection to Tosh" 1/1

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:02:09 GMT

this was written for the Susan ficathon. I hope you read the other entries, even if you opt not to read mine (I don't blame you)

Title: Susan and Jack’s connection to Tosh.

Summary: The Doctor may be the only one who’s met Tosh – but Susan knows Toshiko’s family.

Fandom: Doctor Who / Torchwood.

Canon Characters: Toshiko Sato, Jack Harkness, Susan Foreman, The Doctor (10th).

Author: Keenir.

Rating: PG-13

Written for: atraphoenix
Requested: Time Agency, Torchwood, Earth; 8th Doctor or later.

Spoilers: (1st Doctor) An Unearthly Child, The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction;
reference to ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’;
coda to ‘Rememberance of the Daleks’ (7th Doctor);
reference to (‘Rose’?) (9th Doctor);
coda to ‘The Ood Planet’ (10th Doctor);
series 1 episode 1 & series 2’s final two episodes of Torchwood.

Word Count: 2,892.

Author’s note: Unfortunately, in all the Susan eps I’ve seen thus far, when she wasn’t panicking or crying, she was very coldly dispassionate and analytical. That’s the Susan I’ve tried to capture here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside London, England,
1963:

The hallway was longer than Jack would’ve liked, particularly as he still hadn’t found where the meeting is taking place. “Torchwood calling UNIT, Torchwood calling UNIT, helllooo UNIT.” There was nobody to be found in and of the rooms he’d thus far checked, and only a skeleton crew outside posing as gardeners.

Three doors down, “There you are,” Jack said playfully; “and you thought you could hide from me,” and stepped into the playroom. “So, what’d I miss?”

“A great many things, time agent,” Susan said, standing to one side of the door. She wasn’t entirely the way she’d looked back when she’d traveled with her Grandfather, but her regenerations had not been as all-encompassing as his own had been – normal variation, for Time Lords, that is.

“I was under the impression,” the General said, standing opposite her, against the door, “we’d allowed Torchwood to send a witness.”

“That’d be me,” Jack said. “Name’s Jack Harkness,” offering his hand to shake; neither took it. “I’m with Torchwood now.”

“Lovely,” Susan remarked. “Now have a seat and be a good little witness.”

“Okay,” Jack said. “I’ll just pipe up if I think of anything.”

“Good, silence, always pleasant.”

To the man she’d been conferring with before Harkness’ arrival, “Give her to me,” Susan said, having stepped up into the General’s personal space, her hooked nose nearly kissing his Roman nose. “I will look after her.”

The Doctor was not human. That was an axiom here at UNIT, a kernel of knowledge hammered into every man and woman under its flag: ‘do not assume the Doctor shares customs or a nature with humankind.’ Looking full-bore into her eyes, General Winthorpe saw that it was also true of the woman alleged to be the Doctor’s granddaughter. “I can’t do that, I’m afraid.” The eyes was the only constant, it seemed. Hyperactive, shining eyes. Otherwise this Susan Foreman looked only *mostly* like either of the ‘Foreman, Susan’s in that special UNIT folder. “She’s our ward.”

They were having this conversation at a UNIT safehouse playroom; on the other side of the room, under armed guard, was the still-dazed girl they were discussing, staring at more than playing with the wooden blocks. Blank face and uncaring eyes met every attempt by anyone who tried to play or talk to her.

Jack turned and waved to the girl, estimating her age at somewhere between six and ten years of age. “Hey,” he said. “I’m Jack. What’s your name?” He knew from the file he’d gotten just before being sent out to this classified cottage, that her name was Eunice. Eunice Wedgewood.

Who said absolutely nothing back. Didn’t even smile or blink.

“More accurately,” Susan pointed out, “she’s in abeyance. Her parents are dead, the – her masters are gone,” as the *D* word was the only word to which the girl reacted at all to. “The only reason UNIT has her is because my grandfather’s away.”

Not about to let an alien ruffle him, “There’s always Torchwood, if you’d prefer that.”

“Incompetents, not candidates, there.”

“Aw,” Jack said, “you’re just saying that. Betcha if you got to know us -”

Susan turned her head to glare at him. “Your organization is one I know all too well: they were the ones who handed Earth over to its invaders in the twenty-second century. The year 2157, to be precise.”

Never been there, Jack thought honestly. There were only a small handful of points in time-space that were completely off-limits to agents of the Time Agency; there were plenty of grey areas and points you were discouraged from venturing to…but 2157 Earth was completely unvisitable.

“Miss Foreman,” the General said, and Susan did not correct him: marriage ties to dead spouses did not extend into later regenerations – otherwise it would get messy, linguistically and socially. “While I’m relieved to know that there’s one thing we can agree upon, I’m afraid I really must insist that you acknowledge that UNIT is the best home possible for this little girl. As I understand it, you lack even a TARDIS.”

“*That* is easily corrected.” One corner of her lips quirked in a smile. “Or is *that* what you really want, General? A TARDIS in exchange for her?”

“*You* have neither.”

If Susan had been human, she would’ve snorted. “I can *build* a TARDIS.”

Jack fell on his back, so startled was he. Nobody can build a TARDIS. Nobody except…

“And,” Winthorpe asked, “you’d be willing to do that? Build one for UNIT?”

Susan nodded. “In exchange, yes.”

“I’ll get a contract drawn up forthwith – or would you prefer a treaty?” Time Lords were so few and far between, was there any difference between those two words for when you were dealing with this type of alien? “You can come and go as you please, but Eunice Wedgewood stays here until the TARDIS is completed and in UNIT control.”

“Done,” Susan agreed. And took a step back, out of his personal space.

~~~~~~~~~~~
MANY YEARS LATER:

Susan ran one hand down her sleeve, despite there not being any creases left to it.

Eunice stood in the room’s doorway, feeling a small amount of guilt – small because she’d been regrowing her emotions these past years following her time as a computer. “I’m sorry, Susan,” Eunice said. “But Mark…”

“You love him,” Susan said, an observation, not a question.

Even so, “I think. I -”

“You do,” dryly, interrupting. “Trust me, I’ve seen it enough.”

~~~
That Night:

Eunice began coughing before she woke up, but opening her eyes didn’t stop it – if anything, they grew worse, a hacking cough. She covered her mouth, hoping the bout would pass and she could get back to dreaming. Dreaming about talking with Mark. Such a good conversationalist, Lt. Mark Sato was…and he had such a remarkable mind. Such nice dreams, interrupted by the cough.

One that wouldn’t go away. One that’s getting worse. No dry heaves, there was that mercy at least. No vomit, phlem, or blood rose up either. Just pain wracking the back of her throat and the underbelly of her ribcage. Owoh so many coughs.

Flipping her bedspread aside, she ducked over to the next room, flicking the tap on – hot, cold, neither was anything to this. Cupped her hands under the current, brought that bit of water to her lips. Drink, swish it in both cheeks, spit; repeat.

No good. Still hurt, back in the back.

Still cupping. Drink, raise your head back, let the water reach the top of your throat, then drop your head back down and spit. Or dribble. And repeat. Doing this, Eunice tried not to think about how red her eyes were, how inflamed – not swollen – were the skin around both eyes, how… and it took her a while to notice it, the bare slits that were all her eyelids could open.

She only stopped once the pain was gone, having taken the cough with it. Looking at her reflection, she saw her eyes were still red, if less so – same for around them. But something else was happening as a single round light blazed over her shoulder from where it stood behind her; the same light she’d seen in her dreams; the same light she’d conversed with back when she was no longer a child, when she was a computer. Echoing in her head was a message she hadn’t heard before, even in her dreams: ”We a-prove of you and he” Dalek-voiced. Painlessly, her cheekbones were shifting, sliding, angling.

Trained to be honest, Eunice pressed the Emergency button instead of the light switch next to it. And I, she felt, curious at this development, wonder if they’re back.

Susan arrived a minute later, by which time Eunice’s skin had already begun to marble, to mottle. “It’s okay,” Susan said, calling upon what she remembered of Barbara’s words and tone to calm her when she’d begun to worry. Susan used that tone now, trying to settle the sobbing Eunice, staying with her all the rest of the night. We’re a bit beyond warm milk and cookies this time.

The Daleks hadn’t created Eunice, or engineered her fetus, or arranged her birth. But the Black Dalek had done *something* to her when she had served as a War Computer.

And now Susan saw just what it was. The former computer was an attempt to duplicate – or to mock – the Time Lords.

~~~~
Morning:

Just down the corridor from Florence’s suite was the office of Rear Admiral Jacob Farmers, who was sitting at his desk watching Susan attentively for an answer.

“I can only speculate at this point in time,” Susan said.

“I doubt that, young lady,” Farmers said. “Your kind are rife with ideas, theories, plans, and plots. Now try again.”

Susan didn’t like reminders of the reason why Farmers had succeeded General Gilroy as commanding officer on-site: Farmers and his unit had survived an encounter with the Rani. “Ideas need more than I have. I know what Eunice was being used for, I know all about her mental breakdown. But this transformation… it’s a novelty to me.”

“And how can regeneration be a novelty to a Time Lord?”

She had spent enough time among humans to know that this is the perfect time to roll her eyes – so she did. “Hear me now, boy, when I regenerate, I replace *every* cell in my body simultaneously. In contrast, Eunice’s changes are entirely cosmetic.”

“Now why would your enemy do that?”

“I don’t know: I’m not one of them. Perhaps to grow their own Time Lord. Perhaps to mock us.”

“They would do that?”

“I’ll reiterate: I’m not one of them.”

“Any thoughts as to why they’d program their tool to become Japanese?” Farmers asked.

“I haven’t a glimmering of a guess,” Susan said.

~~~
Two Decades Later:

In the end, Eunice had been allowed to marry Lt. Mark Sato, provided they remained under the aegis of UNIT (Mark’s employer when they’d met). They produced a daughter, Toshiko, home-schooling her under UNIT supervision.

Captain Jack Harkness, of Torchwood, looked over the contracts and other things that Tosh had signed her name to over the course of her life. “Here we go, darlin’,” he drawled, having found the document where Tosh had finally obtained permission to work for UNIT, rather than simply working within UNIT. “Oh no,” as his eyes came across a blunt paragraph that hadn’t shown up in any document he’d come across before:

I, the undersigned, do understand that my rights and safeties may be removed if I prove myself to be a danger to UNIT and to Earth. Should I work to undermine the efforts of UNIT, in any way, shape, or form, I agree to surrender myself for incarceration.

I likewise agree that, should the above paragraph come to pass, I may only be transferred into the custody of The Doctor, and no other party or body politic.

At his age, there were exceedingly few times that Jack felt sick. But this was one of those times, and he now rather wished he hadn’t mentioned Tosh to his superiors in Torchwood…superiors who’d captured Eunice Sato, holding her hostage to Tosh getting what they wanted. Two weeks after that snowless week in Cardiff, Jack had found himself the only Torchwood agent left.

“I owe her,” Harkness said. “That and I’d like to get her out anyway.” Susan had asked him to get Gwen Cooper, Suzie Costello, Owen Harper, and Ianto Jones working for Torchwood – said their descendants would be quislings, and Torchwood was rather like the TARDIS – good at preventing progeny from arising. Probably best not to have a passel of half-Dalek kids running around the planet between now and 2157. Nothing personal, Tosh, but I need your brains, and the Time Agency – and the rest of the universe – don’t need super-Daleks taking over.

Jack picked up the phone, and called in some favours.

~~~~~~~~~~
PRESENT DAY:

“Ah,” the Doctor said, opening the door and stepping out of the TARDIS. “Gavurkale. Haven’t been here since…actually, I’ve never been here. Been to visit the Sublime Porte, 1812; Acre and Jaffa, back in King Richard’s day; but never here.”

“Where are we?” Donna asked. The ice fields of the Ood world had looked suspiciously like it could’ve been in north Scotland or Norway – Greenland perhaps. And Rome before that…okay, that was just Pompeii. But even so…Where did your TARDIS land us now? “And when?”

“Gavurkale, Turkey, two thousand and eight – we’re just a short skip from Ankara, actually.”

“And what’s here?”

“I don’t know,” his sneakers pressing down on one ridge of this plowed field. “But I see a trail.”

“A goatpath? Or…?” not seeing any handrails or signposts. This was rural farmland, out here.

“Don’t know,” with that silly happy smile of his, the one that said let’s go see, let’s find out without opening his mouth.

The TARDIS had materialized at the edge of the tilled field, so they followed the faint trail up the hillside to the fallen-together of boulders. And there, while Donna and the Doctor were marveling that the Hittites had taken the time to carve a mural into the rock – not just their usual procession of kings and gods, but also a large representation of a King being given something by a god and – a goddess? Donna wasn’t sure, given how faint it was after all this time.

The Doctor started to say that they could go back and watch it get carved, find out firsthand what it was…but then he stopped, frowning, and wincing just a little as he walked around to the side of the right-hand-side boulder, where the hill was more of a steep hill or mild cliff. And sitting crouched against the side of the rock, seeming to hold it up – which was just silly, one had to admit – was a young woman.

…Who looked over as the Doctor walked into view with Donna. Though the Doctor didn’t get close; couldn’t get close.

Heavily-freckled hands, ember-red hair, and eyes that seemed to be no one colour. Yet he recognized her.

He had to – if she’d been anyone else, any other Time Lord, she wouldn’t have gotten that reaction.

“Grandfather,” she said.

“’Grandfather’?” Donna mouthed, looking at the Doctor.

“Hello there, child,” the Doctor said to Susan.

“You’re a grandfather?” Donna asked him.

“Yep. That a problem?”

“Well no, but you could have told me.”

Susan chuckled.

“For a long time,” the Doctor said, “I thought I was alone. The last one.”

“You still are, effectively. As am I.”

In case Donna was about to ask a question the likes of which only Rose had asked (in sheer rediculousness and idiocy – the bird had been brilliant, but thick as a stone some times), the Doctor said, “We’re like magnets. A Time Lord can detect,” tapping his skull, “the existence of any other Time Lord – doesn’t matter how much time or space separates them. That’s biological, something we had before we were Time Lords. The only time it doesn’t work, though, sensibly, is with family. We can’t detect our relatives.”

“Naturally,” Susan said.

“Preferable,” Donna said. “Human history would’ve been a lot better if we’d been like that.”

“Oh absolutely,” the Doctor said. Mankind had had its bright spots, but never in conjunction with a violation of that.

“So family members…like north and north, or south and south.”

“Just so,” Susan said. “I parted company with my grandfather here before I underwent my first regeneration…it was after that that the repulsion kicked in.”

‘Regeneration’? “Before that, he had to take care of you?”

“Exactly so.”

Donna mouthed ‘regeneration,’ and was about to ask about that, but then Donna noticed that Susan was only half paying attention to the conversation. “Something wrong?”

“Long-term,” Susan replied dryly.

“What seems to be the problem?” the Doctor asked.

“All my hard work,” Susan said, “all the time and effort I placed into it…and you spoiled everything, Grandfather.”

“Me? What’d I do?” in that high indignant tone of his.

“Because of you, Torchwood exists. Because of Torchwood, the Dalek invasion hasn’t been aborted.”

“What’s a Daylek?” Donna asked.

“Dahlek,” the Doctor said, remembering how Ace had had the same pronounciation assumption. “One of my better enemies.”

“So are we going to go?”

“Go where?” curious. We just got here.

“To stop their invasion.”

“They invade Earth,” Susan said, “in the 22nd century. We were already part of the lot fighting them off.”

“Oh,” Donna said.

“Not your fault, either of you. Just the fault of that Time Agency staffer who calls himself -”

“Jack Harkness?” the Doctor asked.

“That’s the one,” Susan confirmed. “I’d gotten ahold of the Dalek’s attempt to make a Dalek equivalent of a Time Lord, took time to school her in everything she needed to know so she could undermine the Dalek forces from within…and that staffer goes and kerpuddles the whole thing.”

“We’ll go have a word with him. In the meantime, would you like to accompany me and Donna?”

“Another time, perhaps, Grandfather,” muttering soft soothings in her head, easing the disquiet. “Continued good fortune to you and to you, Donna.”

“Thank you,” Donna said. “Lovely to meet you, Susan. We really should do this again sometime.”

“I’ll bring the peril,” and hiked down the hillside, alone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End

Author’s note: Of course, if Tosh is the end product of trying to make a Time Lord…is it really the end?

Dr Who - about that Sontaran...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:10:17 GMT

Is it just me, or does he sound suspiciously like the Dalek supercomputer?
(err, if said supercomputer (from Rememberance of the Daleks) had a snuffy nose)

:D just a thought.

New Amsterdam Ficathon

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:52:59 GMT

don't worry, I'm not running it.

but I am helping to spread the word, so lots of people can take part.

sign-ups are at the Blue Whale Pub and the Amsterdam_Eva lj comm

and no, this ficathon's not just for John/Eva fans.

News: Cricket, now with cheerleaders

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:04:12 GMT

link here

...and in other news, the number of Americans viewing and attending cricket games has skyrocketted!

(article below the cut)

India warns cricket cheerleaders

Indian police say the organisers of the new tournament transforming world cricket could be fined if cheerleaders are deemed to be dressed indecently.

The cheerleaders have been introduced into the Indian Premier League as part of moves to add glamour and entertainment to the game.

Some politicians say the cheerleaders are "vulgar and obscene".

Mumbai police say they will be checking that the cheerleaders' performances do not violate entertainment licences.

The cheerleading girls, wearing short skirts and low-cut tops, have been hired from around the world to perform during the matches which are also being heavily endorsed by leading Bollywood stars.

They include cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins.

Ram Rao Vagh, the police commissioner for New Mumbai, a suburb of Mumbai, where the home team is hosting five matches starting on Sunday, told the BBC that they were not considering any action against the cheerleaders themselves.

"It is difficult to enforce moral policing, we cannot define vulgarity always. It is difficult to ascertain what is vulgar and obscene," Mr Vagh said.

But he said the organisers could be fined for violating the norms of the entertainment licence they had secured for allowing performances in the stadium.

Senior officers would decide whether the cheerleaders had crossed the "lines of decency".

A spokesman for the local team, the Mumbai Indians, said they were not worried.

"Our cheerleaders are properly dressed. They are within limits of what our culture permits. So we have no problems," Javed Akhtar told the BBC.

However, the junior interior minister of western Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, said the performances of cheerleading girls at the Indian Premier League matches were "absolutely obscene".

"We live in India where womanhood is worshipped. How can anything obscene like this be allowed?," Siddharam Mehetre told the Press Trust of India news agency.

"This thing is meant for foreigners and not for us. Mothers and daughters watch these matches on television. It does not look nice."

Many others find the indignation misplaced, coming from a city, which is home to a thriving industry of Bollywood films where dance sequences featuring women in skimpy dresses are routine.

Bollywood actor, Shah Rukh Khan, who also owns one of the teams in the competition, is one of them.

"What's wrong with cheerleaders? I am also a family person, I do not see anything negative in it," he said.

The head of India's National Commission for Women said there was nothing wrong with the cheerleaders if it "just for adding entertainment to the game".

"It has to be presented in the right manner keeping Indian values intact," said Girija Vyas.

A former Bollywood actor and a politician belonging to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shatrughan Sinha said the cheerleaders were making a "mockery" of the game.

There have been reports in the Indian newspapers of cheerleaders complaining of sections of the crowd jeering at them and making lewd comments.

War of the Worlds - with the Highlander folks

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:49:31 GMT

gakked from Highlander_lj comm:

From Adrian Paul.net:

We will follow their adventures and Mankind’s war with the Martian invaders in a sweeping story arc beginning with their “graduation” ceremony at A.R.E.S. Base, continuing through the beginning of the Martian Invasion, battling the Invaders across the length and breadth of the country, and ultimately ending with the Martian’s defeat. Throughout this epic story the crew of the Goliath will face their darkest fears, meet their greatest challenges, lose their closest friends, and crush their monstrous enemy. In the end, they will have become true warriors. All told in the red-hot crucible of Total Interplanetary War.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, produced by Tripod entertainment, Featuring Adrian Paul, Peter Wingfield, James Arnold Taylor, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes and Adam Baldwin is a sequel to the classic novel by H.G. Wells.

It is an action packed Science Fiction saga detailing the adventures of a squadron of young warriors assigned the task of piloting a giant battle machine, the Goliath, into combat against rapacious Martian invaders.

Pulled from different countries, the young warriors are the best of the best, part of Earth’s International Army—A.R.E.S. (Allied Resistance Earth Squadrons)—Mankind’s front line defense against the superior technology of the Martians.

is back....and I cannot breathe

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:48:15 GMT

I'm back from my vacation...dear Lord, my Friend's Page is full. several pages full.

three things...
And if it weren't for the fact that there's occasionally some good Tosh fic, I'd unsub from those Torchwood comms - 97% Jack/Ianto, 3% Tosh and-or Owen.

i HATE allergies. particularly when one's nose is dripping, but the gunk refuses to actually leave the nose.

Helen, dear, if you're going to change history (which everyone accuses you of doing), couldn't you have kept pollen from evolving? (and the proto-pollen of conifers too)

SCC question

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:38:37 GMT

In the series, Cameron removed one chip from Vick, and Vick deactivated - and did not re-activate. Vick is said to be a T-888, a T-triple-eight.

Yet...

The day before the series pilot aired, there was an interview with the people behind the series (interviewed to fill space between commercials and an airing of the third Terminator movie)...and they said that the T-triple-eight has three chips...that way, if one or even two get damaged or destroyed, the Terminator can still carry out its mission.

Was this a feature that got scrapped between script and filming? Is Cameron going to crush the other two chips in the Missing Scenes on the DVD?

Thoughts?

NEWS: Peter Coyote's in town!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:24:09 GMT

ATTENTION, fans of Peter Coyote!

Peter Coyote (portrayed Dennis Ryland on The 4400) will be presenting and taking part in a production of The Gift Of The Magi at Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.

Further Information.

"Stargate Atlantis on a Steampunk Earth" (for the Team_SGA au)

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 04:07:06 GMT

Title: Stargate Atlantis on a Steampunk Earth.

Author: Keenir.

Characters: John, Sora, Catherine.

Rating: PG. (implied PG-17 in one lone sentence)

Summary: Two scenes from a reality wherein the stargate program is based on a steampunk Earth.

Spoilers: SG1, SG:Atlantis…mostly ‘Underground’ and Earth-political eps.

Disclaimer: None of them are mine. Not even Dorothy. (Who fans may guess who she is)

Link to your piece on your LJ/site: http://rodlox.livejournal.com/109024.html

Pairing: John Sheppard/Sora.

Author’s note: I figured that, even if Earth is steampunk, that doesn’t mean the ‘gate and other worlds necessarily would be so.

Author’s note: in our history, Henry 9th is known as Henry Fitzroy. Yes, the real one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part one –

On Atlantis:

She had just told John that he had one more present, told him that just as they entered their quarters together after the birthday party down in the Atlantis Mess Hall.

Sora Sheppard nee Ptsaeris pa-Iktrice pa Olon-Meht had watched from the back of the room while John had opened his presents from all his attending friends. Gifts such as books (a gag?), games, coupons (three complimentary lessons in explosives, from Com.Cadman), a joke – no, two – and on it went. As the hour grew late, Sora’d imperceptibly shifted her weight; their people were allies, but a lifetime of training (to be cautious and ever-ready) does not dissipate in a whiff when new gears are added.

She had already by then procured a gift for John. She’d requisitioned it, been docked in pay for it, and been re-given the Sharing lecture.

And she knew he’d like it. Or at least would appreciate it.

“Sora?” John asked, “where’s the bedspread?” You’re not making a parachute, are you? John wondered, thinking maybe the book full of Leonardo DaVinci’s inventions hadn’t been as inspired a gift as he’d thought at the time.

“Here,” she answered, entering the bedroom, holding out a bedspread sheet that’d been neatly folded around a - What was that? “Unwrap it.

“Thanks,” accepting the gift from his wife. Unfolding, unwrapping, he at last attained – “Thank you,” setting the gift gun down gingerly and hugging Sora.

He knew the proper name for it, even if most in Atlantis still called it simply ‘the Geni gun.’ He’d admired Sora’s for a long while now, and she’d shown him how to fire it (but not how it worked – she didn’t want to completely break trust with her people).

Completely powderless, John had deduced of the gun. Like back on Earth, Geni guns were the product of centuries of perfecting and miniaturizing steam technology. Only even now, a small amount of powder was still required in order to incite the firing process. Geni guns didn’t even need that; once daily, suck the air out of a small chamber, and the gun didn’t need anything else – it generated its own energy blasts. Rodney had more than once complained about ‘Geni practically-perpetual motion machines.’

John had told her about his great-grandfather, who – with Ernst Watt – had tried making something very like the Geni guns…but it had been too unwieldy, too expensive, and not as battlefield-durable as even pistonguns.

“By the way,” John whispered in her ear, “there’s one more birthday tradition you should know about…”

By the time midnight struck, Sora was giggling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part two –

London, County Derry, Ireland

seat of the British Empire:

Catherine McFord boarded the decrepid ’17 Landbarge train, knowing it would take her out to the Facility in the farthest reach of the Orkney Isles. Graphologist Dorothy McShane-Ng was already seated and ready to go.

Derry had been the royal seat since the Civil War so soon after King Henry 9th’s reign had come to a close. Home to many of the greats in the sciences and mathematics; astronomy was still considered so English a pastime.

Anywhere else, and a vehicle as old as this specimen would’ve been retired as an outdated and only faintly safe anymore. But that was what made it so damnably attractive to the Inward Organizing Committee: that very hazard spelled out that nobody unauthorized would even want to get on … aside from hardcore thrillseekers – but more of them had already been recruited by the I.O.C.

On so many other worlds, humanity’s high technology were crystal-gutted machines copied, appropriated, and based upon what the goa’uld and asgard had built their own empires upon. On every other planet (minus one), mankind hadn’t advanced beyond using men and oxen as their source of horsepower.

That lone exception was Širrhu genii, the home of the Geni people.

Everywhere the stargate teams had gone, no matter who they talked to, they always had to be careful, to couch how they spoke of Earth – what technologies they had, most of all. (poor Dr. Jackson, traitor to Earth, indicted for the crime of causing the near-extermination of the Tauri).

And that brought them back to the Geni.

The geni, the only world to have achieved successful and sustainable steampower…aside from Earth. And, like Earth, Širrhu genii had used their steam to attain nuclear power, which – if it was like the reactors here – fed back and powered yet more turbines.

And there was where the problem arose. Well, a problem to some. The geni didn’t appear to have divided their society into even the loosest of tiers, much less into any sort of castes. Granted, said a few on the Privy Council and I.O.C., they’ve been living underground with inadequately-shielded reactors, so we can dismiss their shortcoming as damaged wiring.

Catherine snorted. She’d figured – and hoped the geni could confirm – that geni society had avoided or grown beyond the need for tiers. Irish > English > Scottish > Cymru-Walloon in government posts. Reform > Catholic > other > Knightling in the military and daily life.

Further thoughts were decoupled from her mind by the noisy-loud of the train’s gears ending their forwards propulsion and beginning the hair-raisingly-slow braking.

Time for the Orkney Ferry. Once the train stopped. Thankfully the bridge’d given way decades ago – she knew her nerves weren’t as strong as they’d used to be.

The facility holding the stargate, had been bought out at the start of the century, part of a royal scion’s attempt to domesticate – or at least mass-raise – heath hens and passenger pigeons. The attempt had failed, but the island was still completely encased in the facility. Plenty of room for everything that had happened there to date.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The End

fic list

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:47:33 GMT

All the fandom fanfics listed at once: right here…or…by fandom -

Multi-fandom:
3 dangers with slash featuring Helen Cutter, Rodney McKay, Titus Pullo.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA –
Seeing family

BIONIC WOMAN –
Chatter

BONES –
Out to dinner Bones/Booth

ENTERPRISE –
The land pen cometh Malcolm/Hoshi
Hoshi’s haiku Malcolm/Hoshi
Smiley Malcolm/Hoshi (warning: evidence of traumatic first contact for an alien)

FIREFLY –
That Dance Kaylee/Mal

FLASH GORDON –
The fairest
The egg talk

LIFE –
Shreds of Genius - part 1…part 4…parts 5 & 6

NUMB3RS –
Honeymoon Considerations Amita/Charlie
The Lewis trilogy -first third
Cold Numbers (SCC crossover) series

PRIMEVAL –
The Fid - part 1…part 2…part 3…part 4

SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES –
98% Cameron/John (rated R)
Meet the Reeses (LIFE crossover)
Passing notes in class Derek/Cameron
That awful familiar dream
Prepping (sg1 crossover drabble)
Lesser Hurt Sarah/Dixon

STARGATE:ATLANTIS –
A Kind Talk Weir/Sheppard
Going out on a not-date Radek/Sam
Found, in the rain Carson/Lam

TORCHWOOD –
To Remember ‘adam’ spoiler
‘Being the water on which you skip a stone’…or ‘How to juggle a mayfly and a cicada’

sorry.