Drabble: Terrible Pun

[bk_forever]

Title: Terrible Pun

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Gwen, Ianto, Team implied

Rating: G

Written For: Challenge 317 – Mammoth at tw100

Spoilers: Nada.

Summary: Gwen doesn’t get puns.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

A/N: My seventh (and final) drabble for this challenge. This one’s a bit of a stretch. Apologies!

Over lunch, Gwen regaled the team with the tale of the moth that had got into her flat last night.

“It was horrible, fluttering around the lights, bumping into walls. I was scared it would get caught in my hair! It took Rhys nearly half an hour to catch it and put it outside. I really hate moths, especially the big ones, and that was the biggest one I’d ever seen. I’m not joking; it was huge!

“Maybe it was a mam-moth,” Ianto teased.

Gwen just looked at him, frowning.

“What?”

Ianto rolled his eyes.

“Never mind, bad pun, sorry.”

The End

Comments

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

*chokes* Oh Ianto, that really was bad, but funny at the same time. I love that Gwen doesn't get it.

At least Gwen didn't call Jack over to kill it, since we all know how he feels about bugs. LOL!

[bk_forever]

*giggles* If she'd called Jack, he would have told her to deal with it herself. "You're a Torchwood agent, Gwen. Surely you can deal with a moth without needing to be rescued?"

It really was a terrible pun, Ianto is ashamed, he can do much better thsn that but it was just a spur-of-the-moment response.

Thank you!

[bluelilacs.livejournal.com]

Well I thought it was funny. Can't say I'm real surprised Gwen didn't get it. And I can so see her trying to use it as an excuse to get Jack over to her place, especially if Rhys hadn't been there, and you totally nailed what Jack's response would have been. He would, of course, find a way to ensure Ianto's secrecy on that "other" matter.

[bk_forever]

Well, Gwen's not Jack's responsibility when she's not at work. Why should he rescue her from a moth?

Thank you! I suspect Gwen'r reaction is funnier than the pun!

[awieatti.livejournal.com]

Lol! I would have at least giggled :D

[bk_forever]

Ianto's dry delivery would have been funny at least!

Thank you!

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

LOL! Neither you nor Ianto need to apologize. I often have a hard time thinking of puns (too literal-minded, I guess) and I admire anyone that can come up with them. Especially on the fly, like Ianto did here!

[bk_forever]

Ianto is very quick witted - me, not so much. It took me a couple of days to come up with this idea, lol!

Thank you!

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! she is sooooo sloooooowwwww!
Amazing Ianto!

[bk_forever]

She's easily confused, I guess.

Thank you!

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

LOL Man-moth *snort* love the pun Ianto.

great drabble.

[bk_forever]

Ianto's very witty!

Thank you!

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

Are we Gwen-bashing? Looking through the comments, I'm tempted to say yes. (then again, she's trying to steal Jack from Ianto... *growls*)

Ianto is my kind of guy; I'm the one who says those corny puns usually.

[bk_forever]

I'd classify it as poking fun rather than bashing, it's too mild to class as proper bashing. I have no sympathy for Gwen, I don't like the character and I enjoy reading bashing fics, but I've not really gone in for writing outright bashing yet. Maybe one day if it fits the story I'm writing. For now, the team are just having a laugh at her expense because she's so slow at getting the joke.

I'm kinda corny too, but it took me a while to come up with this, lol!

Thank you!

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

Ahh, okay. Personally, I prefer to present her character in a more positive light than outright hate on her, but I can see why many people do. She's kind of a bitch sometimes. -.-'

But! Not a worry here! XD It's always funny when a joke goes over one person's head but not everybody else's. (even if you're the person whose head it regularly goes over...)

[bk_forever]

Well, I've been struggling in my fics to make her at least tolerable, but it's hard to keep her in character while still making her a less dislikeable person. She's written so badly on the the show - as a shallow, selfish, self-involved, incompetent hypocrite - it's hard to believe she's supposed to be the character the audience identifies with and roots for. We're supposed to believe she's all caring and compassionate, but they never show that. She's so unpleasant to her team mates and her boyfriend I don't know how they put up with her. They wouldn't in real life, and she wouldn't have survived five minutes with all her stupid mistakes.

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

*nods* I remember being okay with her in the beginning, because--as I'd never seen DW before, and this was my first introduction to the universe--we were both learning about aliens and Torchwood together. And then she started doing stupid things, and laid a lot of blame on Jack during the Jasmine/Mara incident, and started sleeping with Owen--I think that was the point I gave up on trying to like her, when she was hitting on Jack, shagging Owen, and lying to poor, unsuspecting Rhys. Bad enough she has to lie to him about her job, but the rest?

(it also didn't help that she badmouthed Ianto, as the reason I got into TW in the first place was a CoE fix-it fic that was amazing. suffice to say the actual series made me sad when it turned out the fic was better than the canon in most places.)

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

You know, I should probably clarify my assessment of Gwen in the third comment down. I don't like to present her in a positive light. I like it when her character is rewritten and she does the things she's supposed to be smart enough, mature enough, and kind enough to do.

[bk_forever]

The character has to be completely rewritten to make her the person she should have been, lol! She's painfully immature in canon, not at all believable as a police constable.

[bk_forever]

Trouble is, she NEVER needed to lie to Rhys about her job. All she ever needed to say was that her job was top secret and she wasn't allowed to talk about it. That's the truth. She must have been used to not being able to tell him about all her work when she was with the police, cops can't talk about active cases they're involved in, or details of any ongoing investigations. Why is it so different when she starts working for Torchwood? So Gwen lies to Rhys, something she was already doing anyway, and blames Torchwood! She lies out of habit.

Fanfic is head and shoulders above canon in terms of creativity, continuity and character development. It makes watching the actual show a bit of an anticlimax. It's worth watching for Gareth, Naoko, Burn and JB himself, they all shine in their roles.

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

Yep. Pretty disappointing for a show that was supposed to be mature and make more sense than its parent. And yes, it's worth watching for JB or Gareth alone, but great for the lot of them.

[bk_forever]

It frustrates me because the show had such tremendous potential but was hamstrung by its slavish devotion to one character in what was supposed to be an ensemble. All the other characters had far more interesting backgrounds and stories, but they were largely ignored until they were about to die. Torchwood could have been great, but it ended up being the Gwen Show.

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

Wasn't the idea to present the DW universe in a new way, with no worries about adult/mature content? Presumably that should have included more attention to other characters rather than a central, near-immortal character and his various companions. Maybe they found multitasking too difficult, when the writers were used to paying attention to only one or two characters?

[bk_forever]

Well the writers on torchwood were different to the writers on Doctor Who, so they should have picked writers who could cope with an ensemble cast. I think RTD was the problem though. He wanted to make a show called Excaliber with Eve Miles in the lead. The BBC wanted a Doctor Who spinoff with JB in the lead, so RTD set it up and then worked on twisting it into the show he'd wanted to make. He was so obsessed with Gwen that everything had to revolve around her and he had final say on scripts. I can see him giving Gwen dialogue and tasks that had been assigned to other characters by the writers, and adding extra Gwen scenes. I don't know if he did, but there are so many scenes where Gwen does something or says something that would have made more sense coming from one of the other characters,

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

*sigh* It's just too bad, because they had so much potential to work with... And if they'd kept on going, they'd gain a bigger audience, especially if they'd upped the plots a little.

So many ifs... Obviously fanfiction is the only way to go here! XD

[bk_forever]

Yep! Fanfiction rules, we can write anything, all the plots that are too ambitious for TV! We don't have to worry about special effects budgets =)

[lilyrose225.livejournal.com]

We don't have to worry about pleasing the showrunner, either! XD

[bk_forever]

Oooh! Good point! We each get to be showrunner for own own versions of Torchwood!

[love-jackianto.livejournal.com]

Oh Ianto and his puns! I love a good pun, they're very punny

[bk_forever]

Aren't they just? This one was pretty bad though, lol!

Thank you!

[jsks.livejournal.com]

Snort, giggle

[bk_forever]

It's quite painful as puns go, lol!

Thank you!

[asia27.livejournal.com]

Ianto's response reminds me of a Canadian friend whom I've learned over the years can pun anything; Andre can be scary as Jack's bugs when he's in pun-mode! Gwen, will she ever catch the clue bus? I can see Tosh trying to cover a laugh and Jack and Owen just shaking their heads. Good one, Ianto!

[bk_forever]

Tosh would definitely be giggling behind her hand, Jack would be shaking his head, Owen would be groaning and telling Ianto his puns are painful. Gwen's still trying to work out what was funny about a mother moth. (Mam is another way of saying mum or mom in some regions).

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

Yikes, a rare bomb from Ianto! *giggles*

[bk_forever]

Yeah, poor Ianto, it was spur of the moment and far from his best work, lol!

Thank you!

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Oh dear Ianto, that was poor! *grins*

[bk_forever]

Well, it was the best he could do on the spur of the moment. Poor boy was cringing even as he said it!

Thank you!