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stargateficrec2016-03-19 01:29 am
morena-evensong.livejournal.com) wrote in stargateficrec2016-03-19 01:29 am
Entry tags:
The Bird Watcher by kariye (PG-13)
Show: SGA
Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay(sort of), John Sheppard, Radek Zelenka, Atlantis
Pairings: implied Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Categories: Slash, Episode Tag
Warnings: Non-linear narrative, Angst
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author's Website: AO3 Profile
Link: on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: There are a lot of episode tags to "Last Man Standing" out there, but this one tells the story from the point of view of the hologram Rodney left behind in Atlantis' systems in order to help John get back to where he's supposed to be. The story is beautifully written and the non-linear narrative style kariye uses just works so perfectly here. In fact, the disjointedness actually adds depth to the story as well as a sort of dream-like quality. There are a lot of things I love about this story, but my favourite is Rodney's relationship with Atlantis. Kariye never lets the reader forget that the Rodney we're seeing is a computer program, but at the same time he's also not just a computer program.
By the time Rodney rolls his nonexistent eyes in exasperation and thinks, “No, no, that was a metaphor. I didn’t mean I had actually exploded in a jumper. That was what my head feels like,” and “What do you mean there are no puddle jumpers anymore? Who took them?” and the city flashes back:
data: word: metaphor: meaning: a figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the object it ordinarily designates to an object it may designate only by implicit comparison or analogy
image: John Sheppard: flashing thumbs up
and Rodney thinks, “You would pick him,” the him in question is opening the door to the outer world.
image: eastern view of city
image: subset: mostly submerged
data: subset: material of submersion: sand
image: desert
Through the city’s audio, because he is everywhere and nowhere, Rodney listens to John say, “ All right. This is either the most elaborate practical joke of all time or I’m in serious trouble here,” before he speaks into his radio, identifying himself.
Rodney finds his voice, rusty, his vocal chords disintegrated: “Sheppard, is that really you?”
“McKay,” John replies. He sounds relieved and slightly pissed off, although that may be fear showing. At forty, Rodney wouldn’t have admitted such a thing – except for the times when he did, loudly and to the world – but at sixty-five, he’d learned that he was manly enough to show a little fear.
“Oh, god,” he says. “It worked. I can’t believe it really worked. You’re here.” And maybe it’s because he’s still thinking like a human that he feels a happy little bite of joy inside.
“Where are you? What the hell’s going on here?” John demands.
The problem is that Rodney doesn’t know himself. Well, he knows the answers to the questions that John’s probably asking because they’re the ones he programmed himself in response to and he probably knows a whole lot more than that, but he hasn’t processed it yet. He’s a computer program, turned himself into a goddamned computer program, and he’s still thinking like a human.
Rec Category: Rodney McKay
Characters: Rodney McKay(sort of), John Sheppard, Radek Zelenka, Atlantis
Pairings: implied Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Categories: Slash, Episode Tag
Warnings: Non-linear narrative, Angst
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author's Website: AO3 Profile
Link: on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: There are a lot of episode tags to "Last Man Standing" out there, but this one tells the story from the point of view of the hologram Rodney left behind in Atlantis' systems in order to help John get back to where he's supposed to be. The story is beautifully written and the non-linear narrative style kariye uses just works so perfectly here. In fact, the disjointedness actually adds depth to the story as well as a sort of dream-like quality. There are a lot of things I love about this story, but my favourite is Rodney's relationship with Atlantis. Kariye never lets the reader forget that the Rodney we're seeing is a computer program, but at the same time he's also not just a computer program.
By the time Rodney rolls his nonexistent eyes in exasperation and thinks, “No, no, that was a metaphor. I didn’t mean I had actually exploded in a jumper. That was what my head feels like,” and “What do you mean there are no puddle jumpers anymore? Who took them?” and the city flashes back:
data: word: metaphor: meaning: a figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the object it ordinarily designates to an object it may designate only by implicit comparison or analogy
image: John Sheppard: flashing thumbs up
and Rodney thinks, “You would pick him,” the him in question is opening the door to the outer world.
image: eastern view of city
image: subset: mostly submerged
data: subset: material of submersion: sand
image: desert
Through the city’s audio, because he is everywhere and nowhere, Rodney listens to John say, “ All right. This is either the most elaborate practical joke of all time or I’m in serious trouble here,” before he speaks into his radio, identifying himself.
Rodney finds his voice, rusty, his vocal chords disintegrated: “Sheppard, is that really you?”
“McKay,” John replies. He sounds relieved and slightly pissed off, although that may be fear showing. At forty, Rodney wouldn’t have admitted such a thing – except for the times when he did, loudly and to the world – but at sixty-five, he’d learned that he was manly enough to show a little fear.
“Oh, god,” he says. “It worked. I can’t believe it really worked. You’re here.” And maybe it’s because he’s still thinking like a human that he feels a happy little bite of joy inside.
“Where are you? What the hell’s going on here?” John demands.
The problem is that Rodney doesn’t know himself. Well, he knows the answers to the questions that John’s probably asking because they’re the ones he programmed himself in response to and he probably knows a whole lot more than that, but he hasn’t processed it yet. He’s a computer program, turned himself into a goddamned computer program, and he’s still thinking like a human.