squash writes things

So I’ve been intrigued by the death of Le Cabuc for a while now. Back in 2013 Murf and I had a brief meta conversation about him that was mostly about his identity as Claquesous and the metaphor of his death paralleling his existence as a member of Patron-Minette. But in my most recent re-read I’ve become really interested in the tense change during Le Cabuc’s actions at the barricade. Nowhere else in the novel is there a switch to the present tense that describes a current action (there are a few passages which switch to the present tense in which the viewer is presented with a past scene to imagine rather than a scene currently happening).

In doing some googling (since my knowledge of French consists of one semester in uni before I switched to German), I get the impression that French tense usage is different from English tense usage, and that present tense is often used in historical or journalistic writing rather than the past tense that’s usually used in English. Historical present tense is used in English historical/journalist writing sometimes too, usually as a combination of present and past tense in order to emphasize certain moments. But also, as far as I can tell (with the help of google translate and various conjugation grids), most of the book is in past tense and this small section is actually in present tense.

So, anyway, I think it’s very interesting that Hugo chose to make this tiny moment specifically present tense. Like I said above, the only other times we get present tense, Hugo is describing to the reader a scene to imagine or painting a picture of a specific moment in history (specifically Waterloo).

Hugo switches to present tense for a total of 9 sentences before switching back to past tense. The tense change occurs as Le Cabuc exclaims “Bash the door in!” and runs to the door, and switches back to past tense once he begins to hit the door with the butt of his rifle.

“Knock!” “They won’t open.” “Bash the door in!” Le Cabuc runs to the door, which had a very massive knocker, and raps. The door does not open. He raps a second time. Nobody answers. A third rap. The same silence. “Is there anybody there?” cries Le Cabuc Nothing stirs. Then he seizes a musket and begins to beat the door with the butt. It was an old alley door, arched, low, narrow, solid, entirely of oak, lined on the inside with sheet-iron and with iron braces, a genuine fortress postern. The blows made the house tremble, but did not shake the door. Nevertheless, it is likely that the inhabitants were alarmed, for they finally saw a little square window on the fourth floor light up and open, and at this window appeared a candle, and the pious and frightened face of a gray-haired man, the doorkeeper. The man who was knocking stopped.

(FMA translation)

What fascinates me is that the major action, the murder of the doorkeeper and subsequent execution of Le Cabuc, are not what is emphasized by present tense. Instead, it is the moment just preceding.

So it’s general knowledge that Le Cabuc is actually Claquesous, and also that he is probably a police plant in order to incite chaos. Hugo mentions during his introduction of Patron-Minette that they have contacts with the police who pay them to do dirty work or who they pay off to look the other way, depending on the circumstances. So we know Le Cabuc is both Claquesous and a plant. This explains his actions but not the tense change and its location in the scene.

If Hugo wanted to emphasize the senseless anarchy of Le Cabuc’s actions or the judgement of Enjolras, he’d have put the tense change there. Instead, he focuses on the moment just before. This moment also occurs before any combat at the barricade itself, which means it’s not necessarily focusing in on a moment of desperation, the kind of which Hugo describes later.

In the paragraphs before, Hugo sets up the weirdness of Le Cabuc’s actions by describing Le Cabuc himself and his relation to the barricade: he tells us that no one actually knows him, even those who “claimed to recognize him,” that he either is drunk or is acting drunk, that he’s encouraging others to drink, and that his clothes are “worn out at the shoulders”. (As an aside, the description of his dockhand’s jacket reminds me of Hugo’s description of Thenardier’s costume from The Changer; perhaps this is a disguise rented from The Changer as well.) Hugo tells us that Le Cabuc was unfamiliar, erratic, and odd, and then immediately launches into the scene at the door of the house.

I think the change in tense is meant to emphasize Le Cabuc’s actions by bringing to attention the weirdness of them before the main event. He’s initially described as being out of place, but the moment the tense changes, you realize he’s really, really out of place. Something is wrong here, these actions are not actions of someone who believes in the future of the rebellion; they are reckless and thoughtless even before the moment of killing.

At no point during the assault on the barricade do the insurgents break into any purely residential home; they do use the bistro and its subsequent residential floors, but they do not break down any doors to people’s houses alone. A random citizen insurgent’s sudden decision/desire to shoot from upper floors and to bash down the doors of someone’s home to do so is weird. Le Cabuc’s desire is met by a calm rejection: “Yes, but the house is shut up” and “They won’t open.” The insurgents who respond to Le Cabuc know that it’s not an option and they aren’t trying to force it to be one. The people must decide for themselves, Le Cabuc cannot decide for them.

Also, the English translation doesn’t do this, but as far as I can tell, there are actually 3 different words used for the knocks on the door. The first “cognons” (knock), then “frappe” (strike), then “coup” (blow). His knocks get progressively more aggressive and angry the longer there is no response.

So the present tense immediately brings us to attention. There’s something weird going on, something wrong, this person is not supposed to be acting this way. Hugo almost seems to use this moment of present tense in the same way he uses it during the Waterloo section: the reader is suddenly meant to be in the moment, imagining it as vividly as possible. The reader is no longer passively reading, suddenly they, like Enjolras and the other insurgents at the barricade, are watching this man run to a door and try and beat it down, and they’re confused by his actions and don’t quite know what to make of it.

As soon as the story changes back to past tense, it’s obvious that something bad is going to happen. We all know there’s no way the residents are going to open the door, and Le Cabuc has only just been introduced as weird and unfamiliar. Hugo doesn’t need to keep that intense hold on the reader anymore; he’s got us.

Le Cabuc briefly becomes “the man who was knocking” before again being referred to as Le Cabuc. Another moment of weirdness used to emphasize the uncertainty of Le Cabuc’s actions and identity. The switch into present tense is bracketed by descriptions of Le Cabuc’s unfamiliarity and unknown-ness.

So this switch to present tense is Hugo suddenly jumping from telling a story to telling a moment; he’s now in journalism mode, giving us a play-by-play of something that ocurred, because it’s important and a lead-up to something even more important. So why change back? Why isn’t all of Le Cabuc’s scene in present tense?

Because at this point, we know all of the subsequent action is going to be important. Le Cabuc’s actions are the first actions of an insurgent (or “insurgent”) on the barricade. The only other events preceding were the actual raising of the barricade and the capture of Javert, both of which do not involve anyone outside of the rebellion itself, citizen or soldier. (I say this because Javert is disguised as an insurgent, so he’s already behind the barricade and part of the action within.) This is the first moment after the building of the barricade that any outsider is involved. The change is there to make us realize that something weird is going on, but the return to past tense happens because remaining in present tense isn’t necessary. We all know shit is going to go down, and we’re paying attention now.

This is also the moment that forces the hand of a “Good” character to commit violence; it is the only moment when a Good character actively kills another in a way that is not directly related to battle. This moment is important, but it doesn’t need the distraction of a tense change to emphasize it. The jarring change wakes us up, jolts us out of our reading stupor, so we are ready for this terrible and “savage” moment, a moment where Enjolras judges and condemns not only Le Cabuc, but himself as well.

if you've made replies on posts there is now a tab on your blog showing every post youve replied to and your reply.

if this is not what you want, either go to your blog and click comments and disable it from there or just go to your individual blogs setting pages. just change it from blue to grey if you dont want everyone to see your replies AND the post you're replying to

PLEASE BE ADVISED that it is set to disabled for blogs that have not made any replies but it will turn ON if you reply with that blog in the future.! i just tested it with my main, which was greyed out but it turned on the moment i left a test reply

so couple of clarifications. comments are disabled as default for primary blogs that have their likes disabled. they are seemingly enabled for all other blogs that have replied to posts

me: yeah whatever. i don’t feel shit.

5 minutes later: dude i swear i just saw cassandra clare post an incest fic

(screenshot from the linked RNZ article)

it took me less than three minutes, and that's only because I wrote a whole paragraphs on why this is a stupid idea. all you really need to put is "don't pass this bill" if you want. it'll only take 30 seconds.

Justice For Jordan Shaw

On the subject of AI, I have a confession to make: I use it. Not to write for me, but to help me check for inconsistencies, to brainstorm ideas, to write outlines, to give me a couple of lines when I've been stuck for hours, to be my beta reader, if you will. Generative AI is bad? Yes, but it also a useful tool if one isn't lazy. I don't ask: write me a story. I go with my story and ask: help me with continuity. Look, this paragraph is clunky, how do I make it better? The demonization of generative AI is fair, but to be honest, I also understand people who use it. Maybe they're afraid of writing themselves, maybe they're insecure and don't trust their prose. Maybe they have brilliannt ideas but they need help to make them become fics.

To me, this is very much connected to my last ask where I was talking about how we don't have enough mentors in fandom to support the influx of people entering it.

All of the things that you're asking AI to do used to be done by a beta reader (or more than one!). A fandom friend (or even a random stranger who volunteered) would read through your work and help you with those issues.

Betas are amazing. They can help with grammar and spelling. They can regionalize language. They can provide sensitivity reading if they're from a marginalized community that you're writing about and aren't a member of. They can track canon, help with research, even just be a sounding board to discuss ideas with.

And sometimes, they're just a cheer reader - someone reading your story and telling you how awesome it is because they love it just as much as you do.

I understand turning to AI if you 1) don't know beta readers exist or 2) don't know how to obtain one. The need for that kind of support doesn't go away just because you can't access it.

But for anyone out there who needs this kind of help and wants to avoid Gen AI, you can write a post on your blog, add it to an author's note, check out resources like @needabeta or - if the time of year is right and you have the funds - place a bid on beta reading services during @fandomtrumpshate

Beta readers are often involved in fandom events like big bangs and exchanges, and if anyone is looking to host such an event, it's a great way to get people involved who aren't writers or artists but would love to help out.

And I get how frustrating those moments are, some of my fics didn't survive the initial outline process and some have been WIPs for a decade because I just don't quite have the right idea or energy to wrap them up.

But if you have a brilliant idea and ask AI to turn it into a story for you, you didn't write it! The robot did! Your personal grasp of prose doesn't improve, and the chance to process and learn from your own frustration is sacrificed. Moreover, the potential human connections you might gain from that fic and from the process of creating are diluted.

One of the coolest parts about fandom for me is getting to talk out ideas with other folks! To be inspired or solve a problem with a friend!

Seriously - our skills as writers improve through the effort, by buckling up for the hard parts where we feel stuck or insecure and choosing to be brave - by continuing to write and experiment anyway. We learn by doing!!!

I don't like the word lazy, but avoiding the harder, riskier parts of the writing process is actually a surefire way to increase anxiety and insecurity in the long term. I'm sympathetic to perfectionism, to the fear of rejection, but I beg you not to turn to AI to soothe that!

If you feel unable to write or share anything without AI helping you create it, that's a sign AI has taken a predatory role in your life.

Learning new things is frustrating! Not being able to get something to work or look or read the way you want it to is frustrating!

But you're robbing yourself of a lot of learning and growth by turning to gen AI to solve it rather than sitting with that frustration.

Being able to keep going at it through frustration is a very valuable skill that is genuinely transferable to a lot of different types of tasks.

I always worry that we, as gen AI haters, end up sounding like Socrates complaining about the youth writing things down instead of just remembering them, but I do genuinely worry that we'll end up with a lot of young people with a very low tolerance for frustration, the way use of generative AI in school is going.

Socrates wasn't wrong about the impact on memory, but he was wrong about the broader impact on society, so this is where I'd argue that off loading the task of remembering is different from off loading the task of problem solving. It's okay that we don't remember information as well when looking it up is trivial, but if we can't problem solve on our own, we also can't examine the solutions generative AI provides for us and evaluate whether that solution is suitable for the given task.

They're preying on insecurities to do it. Yes, you can write an essay - but can you write a good essay, they ask you. Do you not want to improve your output? Do you not want people to think of you as competent and very clever? Why go through the mortifying process of failing and failing and failing until you succeed if you can just skip the "learning" part of doing, and simply generate a ready-made product?

So may I present my own casting choice for Odysseus:

Absolutely not

You know who would try that shit?

Is this the face of a man who would defy the very gods to get home to his wife?

You know who would defy the gods just to show he could get away with it?

the most dogshit useless decimated search engine in the entire world:

[Part 2 L-R here]

This list is made up entirely of older Torchwood fanfiction whose authors never transferred the stories to AO3 (therefore the majority of fics are pre-2011). These fics span a wide range of lengths, fanfic genres, and writing styles, although most are longer than 1k. However, I am fairly picky when it comes to fic quality, so these are only the ones out of everything I read that I thought were very good. Any warnings, pairings, or clarifying notes I might want to write are in brackets. All fics are either gen or Jack/Ianto unless otherwise specified. This list is alphabetical by title.

Sanctuary by tanarian - Jack is looking for something and with the help of the TARDIS, he finds it.

Sand And Shards by roundstonewoods - They couldn’t make him talk to Jack, they certainly couldn’t make him sleep with Jack, and they sure as fuck couldn’t make him forgive Jack.

Save Me by fabluelous - Ianto must save a younger Jack from himself. Complications follow, as they tend to do when it comes to Torchwood.

Scourge The Flesh (And Set The Soul Free) by beesandbrews - A failed case brings up sins of Jack's past. Unable to deal with his guilt any longer, Jack makes a difficult request that changes Ianto's worldview in a profound way. [TW: bdsm that skirts the edge of dubcon]

Sea Change by sanginmychains - Jack delivers breakfast and some honesty to Ianto’s hotel room, on the morning after the night they lived twice.

Second Look by remindmeofthe - Sometimes, you get a chance to see the past through a different pair of eyes: your own.

Sharing The Warmth by beesandbrews - Gwen presses a button. It isn’t as harmless as she expected.

Sharp by whereupon - There are things Ianto thinks he maybe remembers, things he will not talk about.

A Shattered Mirror Still Reflects by tanarian - Jack, Ianto, and the complexities of loyalty. An alternate take to the aftermath of Cyberwoman.

Shooting The Messenger by salmon-pink - Jack gives the orders, Ianto obeys, and Owen thinks that maybe everyone has lost their minds, himself included. [Owen/Ianto/(Jack-ish)]

Singularity by aeshna_uk - The universe folds. He plays on.

Sixteen Miles To The Promised Land by black_eyedgirl - He walks forward, quick steps, and gets so close Jack can only see his feet in their white shoes. “What did you do?” Jack coughs, and sees the blood in his hand. “Nice to see you too.”

Skin Deep by Danse Macabre - Two weeks after Lisa's death, Ianto finds himself faced with another betrayal.

Slice Of Discovery by theohsocurlyone - With great gratitude for making this so, we send you this in return; a glimpse, a slice of discovery. A key.

Snapshots by bjewelled - Not everyone was as good at living through the end of the world as Martha. Tish Jones certainly wasn't.

Snapshots by tearoseandhoney - Mica Davies knew she was special because of The Man.

Something Beautiful by cyus - After Torchwood, after Jack, Gwen lives her life, even as Jack comes back.

Somewhere In The Blue Hills 1 2 by lower_case_me - Jack comes back. He hasn't brought with him what Ianto wanted back most.

A Song Incomplete by solsticezero - An alien device shows Jack and Ianto parts of each other's past they wish they had not seen.

The Space Between by antelope_writes - After the events of Cyberwoman, Jack attempts to fix his working relationship with Ianto.

The Spirit Of Torchwood by soera - In which Ianto can see ghosts. In which those ghosts are surprisingly helpful.

Stone Tape by solsticezero - The team investigates the ruins of an ancient Welsh castle - with disastrous consequences.

Strange Monsters by aeshna_uk - "'Turn twice' you said. Well, that was number two and, god knows, I'm ready to just get the hell out of here."

Subject: (no subject) by solsticezero - When the Mainframe was restored and the connection to the Hub computers reestablished after the wreckage had been cleared away, Jack had one new message waiting in his inbox.

Sunflower Sutra by heddychaa - Poetry in bed. [Goes with Holy, Holy, Holy, recc’ed above.]

Sun In The Sky by giddygeek - Ianto, Jack, and the echoes of Lisa. 

Sunshine On Skin by snowwhiteliar - He gasps in a breath, eyes fluttering open, mentally reeling from sensations he can’t comprehend. There’s a similar gasp nearby.

The Support Group For Intergalactic Superheroes by antelope_writes - About a year after Exit Wounds, the Doctor comes to Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS and to visit Jack and Martha. [Link goes to final chapter, where all other chapters are linked]

Suppressing Sorrow by erin_giles - Her priority at the moment is Ianto. Post-Exit Wounds.

Symphony Eroica, Accompanied by the Shipwrecked by antelope_writes - After the events of Adrift, Ianto tells Gwen a story.

Tell My Father by crystalfic - Passchendaele was like walking into hell, and Jack was there. But first, he needed to learn how to feel again.

That One Talent Which Is Death To Hide by kalichan - Ianto picks up the pieces.

That Secret Place by cyus - Ianto was watching, like he was watching everything in the Hub. She knew because she was watching him. [Ianto/Suzie]

There Is Nothing Here Worth Saving by heddychaa - The nicest thing she ever did for him.

There Will Always Be A Torchwood by pokerkitten - The search for Jack, and for themselves. Ianto seems to be at the heart of it all, willing or not.

They Are Gone Into The World Of Light by shane_mayhem - Jack finds an article in the paper, triggering a chain of events that force him to confront grief, memory, and remembrance, and what to do when you know you’ll be confronting them forever.

Things Rank And Gross Possess It Merely 1 2 by garnettrees -  "I can't hope!" Tish hissed, desperate for him to stop, afraid he wouldn't go on. "It hurts." [TW: mentions of torture. Note: This fic is an abandoned WIP, but it’s so well written I’m including it anyway.]

This Is Not For You by solsticezero - Let’s play hallways. [Note: This fic is based on House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Knowledge of the novel is probably handy.]

This Jack, That Jack by cookielaura - Ianto can’t be sure. He has his suspicions, but they’re as vague as they are persistent. Even after they solidify into something resembling a theory, there’s no safe way to test it, no way to check without risking everything. Still, he wonders.

Those Left Behind by entangled_now - How things unfold after Jack disappears. [Owen/Ianto]

Three Portraits Of Divinity by antelope_writes - A beautiful child of the gods, the agony of loving an angel, an ancient weather god.

Thumos by frostfire_17 - Discussing Gwen’s potential after her first day at Torchwood, Jack is lacking in the moral compass department, Ianto is blandly stoic, and a simple question complicates the night.

Till Human Voices Wake Us by solsticezero - An argument about mortality.

Time Doesn’t Stop For The World’s End by black_eyedgirl - They were all indoors when it happened. Working late, in the lower levels, and Jack dreaded to think what might have been had the world ended on an afternoon instead of during overtime.

Time Has Set Its Maggot by cyus - London doesn't give a fuck about Cardiff, but it's the visits home that bring back the things you can never quite leave behind. Loosely connected to Prince Of The Apple Towns, recc’ed above.

To All The People That You Became by analineblue - Gwen and Rhiannon share a chance meeting in a coffee shop, post-CoE.

Tomorrow Will Be Better by erin_giles - She wished she could just say the words ‘Don’t fall in love with him.’ and make it that simple.

To The Waters And The Wild by shadowbyrd - Fairies never forget.

Trial By Torchwood by laligin - There's danger in the archives and a problem to solve, but no easy solution.

Triptych by fodian - the calm the love the hate the calm the calm.

Trust Issues by JolinarJackson - After Torchwood One falls, Ianto Jones escapes with a half-converted cyberwoman, but UNIT catches them. Months later, Jack Harkness lets himself talk into taking over custody of Jones, not knowing that he's inviting trouble into his base.

The Truth Is Rarely Pure by mercury_phoenix - "You really think that anyone is only skin deep, Ianto Jones? You scratch hard enough, there's always more to find." It is the night of blood and metal, and Jack is left alone in the Hub with a broken young Welshman. What happened in those hours we never see?

The Truth Is…Somewhere by shadowbyrd - Five lies Rhys tells Gwen.

Tuning Zero by zephyrocity - Jack and the Doctor try to finish a conversation they won’t have for another several trillion years, and amidst fleeting visions of what’s to come, Jack’s sanity isn’t the only thing that’s unravelling.

Two Solitudes by veronicaluv - Jack has returned but all is not well between him and Ianto - and it may be too late to make it right.

Unearthed by missdeanna, rm, xtricks - As Cardiff rebuilds, some of the city’s maintenance crew begin to behave strangely and modern citizens begin to worship ancient gods. Torchwood is drawn into an investigation centering on the shut down nuclear reactor at Turnmill, where Owen Harper died.

Unfixed Wishes by christine_twfan - Ianto discovers an alien artifact in the archives, which sets him on an unexpected path.

Unwelcome Answers by donutsweeper - Owen and Gwen interrogate Jack, but no one is prepared for the answers they receive.

Vicarious, or Ianto is an Asshole by snglesrvngfrend - It was late in the morning and Owen was still missing from the Hub. The team was unsettled, of course, but no one wanted to get too worked up, What could happen to him anyway, he’s already dead, until they really needed to. He couldn’t be sleeping off a bender, or waking up in someone else’s flat. [Owen/Ianto]

Waiting For Jack 1 2 by pinkamethyst - He kisses you four days, twelve hours and fifty-eight minutes after Jack disappears. Your first thought is that he doesn’t kiss anything like Jack. Your second thought is that he’s a very good kisser. Your third thought is that perhaps you shouldn’t be doing this with him. // You and Tosh sit in a bar, both drinking. Too much. You lost count an hour ago. You stopped caring two hours ago. Her eyes look more than a little unfocused. Neither of you say much. [Owen/Ianto, Gwen/Toshiko]

The Walk by becky_h - The Doctor abandoned Jack. Jack does what he can, while he can, to try to make it right- or at least better. [Jack/Himself]

Warmth by louiex - As Jack tries his best to fit back into Torchwood life (in more ways than one), an attack on one of his team makes him reconsider the lengths he would go to those he once left behind.

We Walk by electro-club - Jack is tired of running away from his ghosts.

Weevil All Laugh At Gilded Butterflies by aviv_b - A fine autumn day, a walk in a park, what could possibly go wrong?

Whatever Pays The Wages by paperclipbitch - “Tell me who I have to bribe, fuck, or kill to get out of here.” A case study in types of manipulation.

What Happens In 100 Lifetimes by jbs-teeth - Ianto reminds Jack of someone else he knew, a long time ago.

What Lies Within by xtricks - Ianto becomes contaminated with an alien. Jack will do whatever he can to hold onto him, even as he changes. [Link goes to the last chapter, which has all the others linked. [TW: tentacle sex, which is partly metaphorical and partly literal.]

Wherein by curiouslyfic - Ianto Jones is not the hero for whom this spectacle has been arranged. [TW: romantic Face Of Boe tentacle sex]

Wild Wood by stray_heart - Jack Harkness has many ghosts. Most of them are himself.

Wish You Were Here (And I Wasn’t) by paperclipbitch - The team are forced on another countryside camping trip. [Owen/Ianto]

With Apples by Marguerite1 - Comfort me with apples, stay me with flagons. Jack comforts Owen after he revives in End Of Days.

With The Birds I’ll Share This Lonely View by dani_the_girl - Jack takes Ianto to see Flat Holm.

With Your Crooked Heart by solsticezero - From the Captain's Blog for Exit Wounds: "Ianto, I know you're reading this over my shoulder, pretending to fix that damn shelf. So get over here and take me out somewhere."

Writing The Truth In Blue by pecos - The glimpse of a pink dress shirt in the rubbish skip was enough to tweak Jack’s curiosity. What he eventually found led him to realize what he was about to lose forever.

Yesterday Night, Tomorrow Morning by dani_the_girl - After Lisa has been shot, Jack considers what to do with Ianto.

[Part 1 A-K here]

This list is made up entirely of older Torchwood fanfiction whose authors never transferred the stories to AO3 (therefore the majority of fics are pre-2011). These fics span a wide range of lengths, fanfic genres, and writing styles, although most are longer than 1k. However, I am fairly picky when it comes to fic quality, so these are only the ones out of everything I read that I thought were very good. Any warnings, pairings, or clarifying notes I might want to write are in brackets. All fics are either gen or Jack/Ianto unless otherwise specified. This list is alphabetical by title.

Last Man Standing by jjpor - It isn’t his war – it isn’t even his planet – so why does he feel compelled to fight? A glimpse of what Captain Jack did in the Great War.

Last Round Before Closing by supacat - Jack could make the decisions Ianto couldn't, and maybe Ianto could live with that.  [Link goes to the wayback machine.]

Leaves Of Grass by lyryk_fics - Ianto helps Jack make a memory.

Left Unsaid by dune_drd - The stories Jack and Martha never told the Torchwood team, but Ianto found out about anyway. [Links to the last part, where all other chapters are linked]

Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics 1 2 by alex51324 - A week into Ianto’s suspension, Jack goes to his place, unsure what he’ll find.

Light Shining Through Water by etharei - Ianto hates not knowing what to do, being uncertain of his place, and thus quite loathes his life these days. But he has enough dignity left to want to do his job, as best as he can, if that is all he can have. 

Like There’s A Part Of Me That I Want To Get Back Again by paperclipbitch - “Ianto still believes he’s been in a coma the last couple of years and has been re-recruited to Torchwood One following his awakening.” [Post-End Of Days AU, Owen/Ianto]

Like The Wind by clarrisani - Sometimes all you can do is run.

Little Separate Incidents by heddychaa - He says he just got out of a messed-up relationship and he’s still figuring himself out.

Limitation Of Harm by weaselett, invisible_lift, & lawsontl - Weevils are turning up dead in unprecedented numbers, and a hungry young reporter is itching to write an expose on Cardiff's not-so-secret alien hunters. Will an understaffed Torchwood be able to resolve both problems?

Live For Me, Die For Me by EstelWolfe - Keep them safe, hold the room that's always his job, then and now. Even if it means showing them the demon in his blood.

Loneliness by notevery - Ianto cooks Tosh dinner. They have more than enough in common. [Tosh/Ianto]

The Long Game by adina_atl - Ianto had known Torchwood's retirement policy since the first day he started in London: twenty years and a gold watch, or...less...and a little white pill. And he wanted out. [Series 1 AU]

Lorem Ipsum by solsticezero - Ianto was going to go home. Ianto was going to take an evening and think about this rationally.

Losing Ianto by otrame - Ianto is desperately ill, but not even Owen can figure out what is wrong or how to save Ianto.

Lost Inside by ex_corus - Jack, Gwen, and Ianto travel to Jersey to investigate potential smugglers of alien tech somewhere between the island and the coast of France. [Link goes to the wayback machine]

Love Like A Bullet by nixa_jane - He half expects them to raise their guns again, aimed at him, for what he's done, but the rest of him still doesn't think he's done anything wrong, because he did it for the sake of love. All of it for love, and what purer motivation was there than that?

Major Dilemma by beesandbrews - When the Earth is threatened by alien extortionists, UNIT turns to Toshiko and Torchwood to save the day.

Memories Of The Future by qaffangyrl - Martha offers Ianto some unexpected words of comfort.

The Memory Of Trees by tanarian - Jack shows Ianto how he mourns for the people he loses.

Mistletoe Is Poisonous by tanarian - Jack has to face the consequences of his actions when he next sees Ianto.

A Moment Of Doubt by erin_giles - There is that moment of doubt in all our minds about whether we’re playing the hero or the villain of the piece. Ianto struggles with this dichotomy after Adrift.

A Moment Of Peace by lilithangel - During WWI, soldiers with shellshock were shot by their own side for cowardice. In Utopia, Jack mentioned to the doctor that he had once died by firing squad.

More Richer Than My Tongue by sanginmychains - Ianto needs to get some space after the events of Cyberwoman. Jack comes along. They get rained on, and discuss their relationship.

The Moth Women by Ember Keelty - "You aren't getting rid of me that easily, sweetheart. You can't; I'm inside of you." [Gwen/Suzie]

Moving On by frock - Ianto and Tosh talk about lost loves, unrequited loves, and start to move on. [Tosh/Ianto, vaguely]

Moving On by szm - Owen had absorbed death, and he had to admit that was pretty damn cool, Martha had told him that the energy could keep him going for thirty years. Owen had reckoned on a much more pessimistic thirty minutes. But here he is nearly two hundred years later still going strong.

The Natural Order Of Things by amazonqueenkate - He spends an hour during his afternoon sitting in the window of a coffee shop, drinking out of a paper cup and watching the bay. You’ve done all your research before you discover this, because you’ve been trying to stay out of sight. [Note: Link goes to wayback machine]

Nightmares Of Immortality by McParrot - Not being able to die could drive you mad. Being mad for all eternity is not an option.

The Noiseless Tune to Which We Tread by valancy_joy - For Ianto Jones, reality is what you make of it.

Notebird by cyus - A note points to nowhere and a bird comes from nowhere, and Torchwood, in the wake of their teammates’ deaths, finds that some experiences shatter things into pieces too small to be fit back together.

Not Enough Hours In The Day by kohlrimmedeye - 26 Owen and Ianto moments. [Owen/Ianto]

The Old Man by donutsweeper - After years apart the Doctor finds Jack broken in both body and in spirit, can he help his old friend?  Will Jack let him? [TW: addiction and withdrawal]

On Being God by bjewelled - You're either insane, or you're a God. When it comes to Torchwood, who can tell?

One Is Silver by lawsontl - Who can Jack go to after Alex Hopkins makes a radical change to  the Torchwood Three organizational chart? His oldest friend, of course. [Jack/Estelle]

The Only Constant by aeshna_uk - Gwen found the file she needed, pushing others aside to let her extract the folder – And heard the faint clunk of something dropping to the bottom of the drawer as the movement dislodged it.

Oubliette by entangled_now - While house sitting Tosh is disturbed by noises from upstairs.

Our New Repetition by paralinguistic - Jack is immortal, and what has been done cannot be undone. While sometimes things are bright and glorious, everything must eventually come to tiredness and dust. But no one can live forever.

Paramagnetic by fahye_fic - Three is not an important number, but five feels right.

Parts Of The Process by asrai - And although Ianto goes hurtling through the universe, crossing time and space seems to teach him one thing in particular — that all roads lead to Rome.

Passing Through Gethsemane by wojelah - “Why?” Jack says. He’s done pulling punches. He’s done waiting for the next monologue. It’s not the Doctor’s turn this time.

Past And Forever by veronicaluv - All he had left was the secret he'd sworn to himself he'd keep, because even if Jack couldn't die, he could hurt. And Ianto knew all about how much hurt could be inflicted by one man. [TW: torture]

Pavlov’s Bell by smirnoffmule - Google wasn’t turning up much in the way of help on caring for your first pterodactyl, and Myfanwy wasn’t eating very well. And then there was Jack, who was blessedly uncurious about Ianto’s personal life, but none the less demanding in his own way.

Peace Attend (Our Weak Light Together) by thirstyrobot - They're what she needs right now.

The Penultimate Line by skellerbvvt - He’s not used to “for” and he’s not used to things having meaning, especially not death. Or life. Or all that mucky nonsense that fills in the spaces of that like gum in a keyhole.

A Perfect Pleasure by sariagray - Jack had spent the better part of an hour absently tapping the corner of the rectangular box against the top of his desk before slipping the parcel into Ianto’s coat pocket. It was a perfect fit.

Persistence Of Memory by pogrebin - Martha Jones doesn't die for their sins, she lives with them. Four months after the Year That Never Was, Martha Jones meets Torchwood-- again.

Phalaenopsis by antelope_writes - "Toshiko, at least twenty other brilliant minds thought what you did was impossible."

Players by beesandbrews - Work gets in the way of play, and Ianto grapples with jealousy.

Point Of Impact by thaddeusfavour & xtricks - When a ship crashes outside of Cardiff, UNIT and Torchwood join forces again, but they're facing more then they realize. Two alien races with differing agendas -- which one can they trust? With the fate of the Earth in the balance, that's one question they'll need to answer before it's too late.

Pomegranate Seeds by laligin - A strange appearance leads to an abrupt disappearance, and the team discover that there's always at least a grain of truth in legends.

Posterity by iambickilometer - Jack has a long memory.

Prince Of The Apple Towns by cyus - Ianto's drifting years take him to London where he can be anyone he wants to be. The sun is shining, and Cardiff is so far away it doesn't quite exist anymore.

Pro Patria Mori by solsticezero - The one sound Jack never wanted to hear again was a chorus of voices calling out for 'mummy'.

Push And Pull by shadowbyrd - Nobody likes to keep a secret.

Qalabani by cyus - "Quiet night." Harkness pulls the reins, pushing in closer, their formation lengthening as the path narrows. Their boots touch, there's the clang of metal on metal of their spurs among the slow rise of similar noises among their group.

Questions by kinkerbelle13 - “You left all of that behind for him. So, why?” Owen and Jack have a conversation.

Ratio by solsticezero - The orders were to deposit her safely to her flat, and Ianto would carry them out to the letter, despite her ranting that it was unnecessary. [Suzie/Ianto, sort of]

Rear-View Mirror by heddychaa - For six long months after Jack Harkness saved the Earth, he wandered the planet trying to find a place that didn't feel like a graveyard. Driving in the middle of the night through a wilderness where the highway stretches out for miles, he realizes he can't look anywhere but behind him.

Recruitment Policy by whingymcgregor - Torchwood try to move on after the events of Exit Wounds, but will they live long enough to pick new recruits?

Redemption by unmikely - Ianto’s heart swells and aches because he’s been so withdrawn and cold and outside for so long that it hurts.

Red Handed by wykling - The stench is not real, the dried blood on his knuckles is not real, this indistinct feeling that something went terribly wrong at some point during the night... Not real. [TW: violence/gore]

Repairs In Route by Otrame - So, it was all over and they had won. The year of hell had never happened. The Master was dead. The Doctor and his companions could go on, have more adventures, saving the Universe, or maybe just the Earth, a few more times. Everything was as it should be. Well, not quite. In fact, not at all.

Resolve by notevery - These are the last few days that never were, and Tosh learns about bravery.

Rest Assured by themacunleashed - Sleep deprivation has its consequences on Owen. Jack isn't pleased to not have known about them.

Restless by bjewelled - Gwen was used to seeing a lot of strange things since she'd started working at Torchwood, but even so, seeing an apparently dead woman across the table from her was a bit unusual.

Retcon, Death… or Nanogenes? by amythest_lupin - In the end, we all have a choice to make.

Riflemen Of War by paperclipbitch - “She’s made you like her,” he says, tone a mixture of surprise and bitterness. [Rhys/Andy]

Riptide by aeshna_uk - He was the rock in the stream, the boulder in the flow, the obstacle that could not be washed away.

The Road To Hell by tanarian - The immediate aftermath of Lisa's death.

Rugby Night by cyus - Rhys is out drinking when Wales loses against Ireland, and a few Irish lads get a little over-confident.

Rules Are Made For This by nomorewords - He really has to admire the bastard's dexterity even as his future unfolds like a bloodstained map. "I won't promise that you'll save all of them. That's not how it works, Owen, Suzie. We do what we can for who we can." [Jack/Owen/Suzie]