Fic: The Plas

[crabby_lioness]

Title:  The Plas  
Author: CrabbyLioness
Characters: Jack
Summary:  Jack's thoughts as he left the Doctor
Disclaimer: I'm not making a penny.
Rating:  PG for subtle adult content
Word Count:  99  Look Ma, a drabble!

He turned from the Doctor towards the Plas.  After all these decades he had finally learned the limit of a Time Lord's power.  He could inspire a monster to change (sometimes).  But he could not love a monster (not a non-Gallifreyan monster anyway).

Now Jack needed someone who knew him for what he was ("You're the worst monster here!") and understood.

("Do you still think I'm a monster?" he asked late one night after they had gone to bed.  Ianto was silent for a long time, then touched his face.

"Yes.  But I can live with it.")

Jack ran.

Comments

[love-jackianto.livejournal.com]

I love how you used the monster line :D

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that when Ianto shouted that line at Jack, he might as well have sent out engraved wedding invitations on the spot. After all, who had just proved he was the only one there who could love a monster?

[aphroditesky.livejournal.com]

doesn't the saying go.. "better the devil you know, than the devil you don't" :-)

I think you've summed up Jack and Ianto's 'understanding' of each other really well!

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

one monster + one lover of monsters = a match made in Goth Heaven

[temporal-witch.livejournal.com]

LOVE your icon! As a recovered pentecostal ("But I'm all better now!"), I totally adore the double entendre! Carry on!

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwww...

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[fatchickengirl.livejournal.com]

so bittersweet and somehow rings true....

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

I feared it would be too sappy!

[eumenidis.livejournal.com]

Very interesting, & more than slightly sad, take on how Jack views himself--& how Ianto views him. In the TW context, very realistic; sometimes there really aren't any good choices, only bad & worse, & there's a cost to the psyche of the person having to make those choices. & the people who love them.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Really? To me, it's liberating and not sad. Jack knows he can be a monster. Ianto knows he can love a monster. Strip away the false illusion that the Doctor can help, and they are free to make the lives they want to have with each other. No more waiting for Godot.

[eumenidis.livejournal.com]

Take into consideration that I think all human beings have the capacity to be monstrous, both in the aggregate & individually, & that I also think there are a lot of monsters walking around who neither view themselves nor are viewed by others as monsters. That intrinsicaly human condition is sad, though I'll also say, not tragic.

What I find sad is Jack's conscious awareness that he can be--has been--a monster at times, & almost certainly will be again, since he has chosen to assume a role in which he'll have to make monstrous choices. As for Ianto: his eagerness to excuse & forget CyberLisa had killed Dr. Tanizaki & up until she clearly demonstrated that she had no understanding of human love was pretty *damn* monstrous to me. So, pot, kettle, when it comes to Jack & Ianto & labels of monster.

However, I do think that the realization that if he does monstrous things it isn't because he's become an inhuman monster, he's still just a human one, would be liberating.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

I infer from Captain Jack Harkness that Jack is aware that humans can be "the worst monsters of all."

[eumenidis.livejournal.com]

Not forgetting "Countrycide". Remember the "Is she for real?" look the cannibal patriarch gave Jack during the interrogation scene? Jack knew how low people can go, & the cannibal *knew* that he knew. I also suspect Jack has a very healthy fear of slipping to that level himself, & that's one reason he recruited Gwen. Though I think the writers made her entirely too naive & innocent after the first ep. Several years ago, my next-door neighbor was a policewoman, & she was horrified by some of the stuff she saw in her job, but she wasn't freaked by it. The writers' fluffy-bunny approach to Gwen really got on my nerves at time, & was a pity, she started out so well.

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was wonderful. The realization of Jack's that the monster can be loved and accepted for what he is.

BTW, I added you as a friend. I like to tell people when I do that. Want to read your other fics, and this way I can find you easier.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hope you enjoy reading my other fics as much as I enjoy writing them.

[likestowrite.livejournal.com]

stunning peice with a lot of heart. Love it.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack, but not.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Lucky, lucky Jack.

[collada.livejournal.com]

awww
angsty, but totally believable. It's not often those two threads coincide.
I love how you ended it :P
Reminds me of a certain time lord ^^
Lovely fic as allways!

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

Jack, sometimes, can be a very smart man. Better to run to the man who can love a monster, than the Time Lord who won't.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

It took a while, but even he learned better.

[offbeat-lover.livejournal.com]

Awww, I love it.