Torchwood Lift Question!

[tarotgal]

Help! I'm writing my penalty drabble (sorry hatched plot bunnies. I have neglected you so long) and I'm doing Barrie's Torchwood bunny this time. But I need help!

Question: what makes the invisible lift go up and down? Does it just KNOW because it's an awesome, mind-reading thing? Is there a hidden button I've missed? How does it know when Jack has finished kissing his Ianto so then it can rise before the hub explodes? How does it know to not go down when they're standing on it during the Suzie standoff? etc.
Also, does the platform look like the sidewalk/plass above? I can picture it looking like the sidewalk when it rises up to meet the rest of the ground... but I can't picture it looking like that when it's down in the hub.

This is important information to my plot... and because Jack and Ianto will be having sex there. LOL Please help if you can! Merci!


PS- I'm really digging the fact that so many Wizard Rockers have Formsping accounts now. I have spent WAY too much time asking them questions and reading all their answers. It's kind of amazing how much of a person's personality comes through just from answering questions.

Comments

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I can put some of the fannish knowledge cluttering my brain to good use again! Yay! ;-)

The quick, never fails answer is: Jack's wriststrap. It's almost as magical as the sonic screwdriver. *G* He used it to go in with John in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', and to go out in 'Everything Changes', 'Cyberwoman', and to send Ianto out in CoE Day One.

It's much less clear how the others use it, especially from outside the Hub. I think 'Meat' is the only time someone other than Jack has used it to come inside. I'm guessing that the team watched Gwen and Rhys approach on CCTV and then someone inside triggered it to open when they were in place on the stone.

The most detail available on the lift is actually from a less-canon source-the audiobook 'The Sin Eaters', read by Gareth David-Lloyd. In that story, Ianto has all the controls to the lift tied into his own computer workstation. (In addition, his workstation can control the rate of flow of the water down the fountain, which was news to Jack. 'I didn't know you could control that.' "Oh yes. Nice little man in the Council linked us up.") In the story, Jack has asked Ianto to retrieve a cat (named Pusska, no less) sunning itself on the sidewalk, and bring it into the Hub. Ianto decides to be clever and cheeky and increases the water flow on the fountain to chase the cat into position, then opens the lift when the cat is in place. The cat falls into the Hub and lands on its feet...on Ianto's face. LOL!

So anyway, that's my answer. Jack's wriststrap if it's Jack or if you're with Jack. Computer terminal controls if you're not Jack. Not entirely happy with this answer, since it makes that entrance kinda useless if everyone is out on missions at once, but it's Torchwood, so if you just invent a remote control device and have someone carry that, I'd buy it too.

[tarotgal]

Thank you thank you thank you! You made my plot bunny very happy with your answer, even if there isn't a whole lot of detail available, it's exactly what I need for this to work. Yes yes yes.

Thank you Lady K! I will never doubt your awesome fangirl powers!

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. Always happy to help! This stuff's gotta be good for something, why not feeding plot bunnies and encouraging Jack/Ianto invisible lift sex? Hehe. ;-)

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

Forgot to answer the other half of your question, regarding what the stone looks like.

Yes, the platform looks exactly like the stone above. Like a big slab of concrete. You can see it in a whole bunch of episodes, on the floor of the main hub near the fountain and the armory, with the back stairs up to Jack's office behind it.

The best close-up is definitely 'Everything Changes' when Jack and Gwen get on.
For a good look at it when no one's standing on it, try 'Greeks Bearing Gifts'. Right when Mary is being beamed up, the bright light of her transport is directly above the lift slab. Jack is on the left of the screen by the fountain, Owen in the right foreground by the armory, and Ianto and Tosh are on the stairs behind and to the right of the lift.