FIC: "Echo Across the Void" (Ten/Romana, Ten/Rose, others, PG-13)

[lizbee]

I was going to sit on this for a bit longer, but if I don't post it soon, it will start to look like I cobbled it together from the fic peeves/favourites lists going around. So.

Title: Echo Across the Void
Summary: Romana brings complications and danger to Pete Tyler's Torchwood.
Rated: PG-13
Ships 'n' characters: Ten/Romana, Ten/Rose, assorted Tylers, Jake, Mickey and at least one random alt-verse counterpart.
Notes: I started this expecting it to be 2,000 words and a couple of days' work. Instead it took several months, a full rewrite and about 15,000 words. That's about 60 pages, fyi. *collapse* Full beta credits at the end, because they're long.


( Fake cut to my site, because it's Too Long For LJ. )

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Yes! Coolness! Duplicity! Good stuff.

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely story. Thank you for posting this!

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

I love this. I lov the details of the world you put together of Rose moving on and changed and this time making the decision to close the rift on her own. I love that she's brittle and still has her faults but she's worked through them and she's using everything she's learned from the Doctor defending the Earth.

I love Mickey (of course!) and most importantly I love Romana. I've always suspected I'd love Romana if I ever see the classic Who episodes.

Thank you.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Thanks! *dances*

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Thank you for the feedback.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'm particularly glad that Rose worked for you, because it was difficult, at first, placing her in the universe and giving her an arc. *relieved*

I've always suspected I'd love Romana if I ever see the classic Who episodes.

She is very lovable. *nod*

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

I'm particularly glad that Rose worked for you, because it was difficult, at first, placing her in the universe and giving her an arc

You've actually done a much better job than the story I've been attempting to do! I think I'm far too enamoured with the idea of a brittle, slightly jaded Rose and for a Rose/Doctor shipper I'm one of those people who's okay if they don't get together again, in fact I want Rose to fall in love with another man who isn't the Doctor!

Oh, and I love that Jake's so obviously in love with Mickey and Mickey doesn't seem to know what to do with it. Mickey/Jake OTP!

[lizvogel.livejournal.com]

Nicely chilling (except for the end, which is downright cuddly). I particularly liked your Pete; not a bad guy at heart, but yeah, he's been hanging around hard people for a little too long.

And this got me thinking about the Void, and that got me to write a little something (http://lizvogel.livejournal.com/8024.html) myself. So, thank you for the inspiration, as well as a good read.

[fyrdrakken]

Magnificent. Quite right about TW viewing Romana as another alien resource to be exploited, and good point about one little Gallifreyan embryo being a sought-after pawn. Good ending, with everyone in the universe they belonged in. Pity Rose was still with Neville, though.

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

I clicked, planning just read a little bit of this story, and couldn't stop til I'd finished it all. Can't think when the last time that happened with a fic was! So thank you for a fabulous read. :)

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I just got around to reading this story yesterday. Very enjoyable.

I think I've mentioned before how I appreciate these Dr. Who stories of yours because they make the Who-verse more 'real' for me, something I can respect more. I've watched the new seasons as they've aired on the ABC and, while they got 10/10 on the 'nostalgia' meter I couldn't get into them thoroughly/properly because the plots didn't make sense to me, were too far-fetched. I think I've become entirely too straight-laced when it comes to my science fiction, too inflexible maybe.

But this sort of story really works for me. It's an interesting style, where you zap across a span of time, stopping here and there for little scenes or snippets from Romana's or Rose's point of view. And in each such fragment you attach a little bit of 'real world' information, something that grounds the tale, a factoid which makes the story - and thus the whole Who-verse - more 'real', something I can accept. Well, for me, anyway.

Particularly observations like this:

It's the reason he's a grunt – albeit a senior grunt – instead of working in tech or with her in operations. He knows what Torchwood is.

I'd always thought of Mickey as mainly comic relief, but that sentence leapt out at me and hit me on the head, forcing me to give him a lot more respect. It's good to have stories like this that force me to think a bit, glean more out of what I thought was cut-and-dried. I guess if my own imagination isn't up to snuff I can hitch a ride with the author ... but I guess that's the whole idea of fiction in the first place?!

Anyway, in particular, I really enjoyed that new - for me - interpretation of Mickey. And Pete, too ... the idea that he'd view Romana as just another alien accessory, whilst still being a warm-hearted human being with his own family.

"I'll get a rocket launcher," says Rose.

Heh. Why did that line make me grin so much - perfect placement? - and why do I suddenly desire an LJ icon with Rose's face and that line?

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*facepalm*

So I read your comment and your fic when they came in, but I was in a hurry to get to work and never replied. So.

Thank you for the feedback, and for writing your fic, which is subtle and a touch creepy and quite lovely.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*dances*

*is late but dances anyway*

Thanks. I always look forward to seeing your username in comments and my flist, so I'm pleased and relieved you liked it.

Pity Rose was still with Neville, though.

True. Not for long, though. For the next little while she'll be too busy to return his calls or even think of him, and by the time they see each other again, even he'll have figured out it's over. She was out of his league.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love doing that! Aside from the lost time, it's wonderful to lose yourself in a story. I'm quite thrilled that you did it with mine!

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*replying late, as usual*

I'm glad you enjoyed the fic, and that the fragmentary style worked for you -- I had a lot of trouble writing this one, more than I usually do.

I'd always thought of Mickey as mainly comic relief, but that sentence leapt out at me and hit me on the head, forcing me to give him a lot more respect.

*nods* I had that reaction when I saw him in "Army of Ghosts" -- he seemed so much more sober than when we'd left him.

Heh. Why did that line make me grin so much - perfect placement?

I'm just glad someone noticed it!

[lizvogel.livejournal.com]

It's not a late reply, it's just well-aged, like a fine cheese. ;-) Thank you as well!

[fyrdrakken]

I have this weird thing going where I'd like Rose to end up with the Doctor, but not as she was in s2 -- she'd need to grow up a lot and figure out exactly what she would be getting into, and eventually I have to acknowledge to myself that what I'm trying to do is turn Rose into Romana, who was actually smart enough to realize she needed to leave the Doctor because he wasn't ever going to give back what she wanted. And turning Rose into Romana Jr. just doesn't work in a story with Romana unless it winds up being about how Romana takes Rose under her wing and then they run off together leaving the Doctor behind looking appalled.

So I have that faint sense of dissatisfaction that the story ended with Rose where she "belongs" and the Doctor off with Romana and the baby -- but it's the ending that works for these characters as you've shown them and in the situation they find themselves in. It would have been a cheat to do it any other way.