Rec: Home Is Where the Journey Begins

[nonelvis]

Hello, calufrax! I'm a bit late in getting today's rec up -- stupid work getting in the way of what's really important -- but I hope you enjoy it. And if you'd like to rec something yourself (we really do need more reccers!), please drop by the sign-up post.

Story: Home Is Where the Journey Begins
Author: Inkfire
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 662
Author's Summary: Home becomes an adventure of its own, their destination most unhoped for. Home is the place where they pause and look into each other’s eyes, knowing what they have lived, and what still lies ahead. Home is the most thrilling thing of all. A little Ian/Barbara character exploration, set post their departure in "The Chase."
Characters/Pairings: Barbara/Ian, River
Warnings: None

Recced because: One of the benefits of moderating the Teaspoon queue is getting to see great fic before anyone else on the site does, and I was especially pleased this one came my way; it's a story with rare sensitivity to language, and equal sensitivity to the relationship between the characters. Ian and Barbara's time on the TARDIS changed them, not just in how they perceive history and the world around them now that they're no longer traveling in time and space, but also in how they perceive each other. Adjustment to normal life is hard, but sharing it with someone you care about, and who knows what you've been through, makes it that much easier, and that much more wonderful.

Excerpt:

That is another once constant, normal thing in their lives that is certainly no longer the same, and the best of all, as far as he’s concerned. Of course, in the quietness of Coal Hill, after many a cup of tea, a pleasant discussion, or a stolen glance, one teacher might have loved their colleague and seen the affection returned. But Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright have seen it all. They walked the streets of Rome and Paris, the way no one alive ever could anymore, although there was nothing romantic whatsoever to what they went through there. They have known fear and relief, stood under the light of other suns and, eventually, found their way home. And yet, the journey never ended.

Comments

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, brilliant rec! This is a perfect, perfect fiction and it just brought All the Feelings!!

*HUGS*

[nonelvis]

Glad you liked it!

[minerva-fan.livejournal.com]

This was extraordinary! Thanks for the recommendation.

[nonelvis]

You're welcome!

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Goodness, thank you so much for recc'ing! I'm just glowing and utterly honoured :D

P.S.: This delighted writer has been utterly unclear, though. I… did worry my character reference would not be clear enough, and for some reason it didn't even occur to me it would obviously be interpreted as Amy. How stupid is that? I meant to insert River using her father's name as an alias (River+Rory is always a thing, even in tiny allusions), which is why it was "Miss Williams" and not "Mrs. Williams". Because in my world, small details like that win over big details like a name. Um… in my mind it could only be River, because history and archaeology, the professor and the teacher, her doing her own time-travel, and well, River would be the one to ask slightly awkward, if not downright kinky questions about reincarnation being cool with gender-switching. I was just so wrapped in my own image and fangasm that I missed the obvious, aka there was a Mrs. Williams and hello, this is too close. So that's my rambly clarification and add a big apology in a pretty wrapping! It was just very unclear.

…I'll go and edit it as "Miss Melody Williams", Christ, how did I not think about this before. *laughs hysterically*

Anyway. Thank you for reccing! SO MUCH. ♥

[nonelvis]

You're welcome! But whoops, what an error on my part about River! Sorry about that; I've fixed the tags and the rec.

I admit, the "Miss" didn't make me think River, partially because I never think of her as a "Williams," and partially because if Amy were in a classroom, she'd probably be addressed as "Miss" unless the teacher knew she was married. (I also assumed Amy had just time-traveled and was undercover for some reason in Barbara's classroom … which I suppose would make for an entirely different but perhaps equally interesting story ;) Regardless, I apologize for getting this wrong in the rec.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

It was really my mistake! And that's a very good point about Amy's appearance screaming "Miss" much more than River's! I pictured a rather young River, in which her demeanour/way of carrying herself might look less classy and femme-fatale, more wild/youthful, but it's still a good point. Anyhow, you fixed the rec, I fixed the fic, let us headdesk no more!

(Melody Williams is a geography teacher… ;))

[nonelvis]

(Melody Williams is a geography teacher… ;))

Ha! Well, who am I to argue with Moffat on that point? ;)

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

The Moff spoke and we bow… ;)