Stargate Fic Recommendations

Rec Category: John Sheppard
Pairing: None
Category: John Sheppard, Gen, Angst, Episode related, Rodney McKay, Character Study, Comedy, Kavanaugh
Warning: an inability to fly in a straight line?
Author on LJ: http://minnow1212.livejournal.com/ and http://bluflamingo.livejournal.com/
Author's Website: http://minnow1212.livejournal.com/193993.html and http://bluflamingo.zonezine.net/index.html
Link: http://minnow1212.livejournal.com/204661.html and http://community.livejournal.com/gateverse_remix/19589.html

Why This Must Be Read: In Necessary Things, set in the months after the siege ends and before they return to Earth for debrief, Rodney distracts himself from his emotions by embarking on a quest for music, specifically access to Kavanaugh's ipod. Their face-offs are every bit as hilarious as you'd expect. Rodney works on creating an Atlantis music library from everyone's collections, getting his hands on Kavanaugh's music, and debating just what the Ancients' music might have been like (I laughed out loud when he and John come up with lyrics for Ancient country songs). However, he and the reader slowly begin to notice subtle signs that all is not well with John. The story is cleverly structured and Sheppard is so busy with Caldwell, the (remaining) new military personnel and the clean-up that more than half the story goes by before the real A-plot becomes clear. Sheppard is a master of concealing his emotions and skillfully uses distractions to avoid discussing emotions (one such misdirection tactic, a previously unknown system that he reveals to Rodney is a quite elegant concept). Rodney is easily forgiven for how long it takes him to catch on. Eventually though, Rodney does realize what Teyla already recognized and tried to tell him; unlike the rest of them, Sheppard has not moved on from the grief and pain for those they lost and is still struggling for closure.

The thought and care that must have gone into this is obvious and I can only marvel at how easy the author makes it look to balance the pacing and emotions in this witty, melancholy and bittersweet character study. It's a gorgeous and deceptively light piece that haunted me long after I finished reading.

You also must read the note-perfect remix, more a missing scene, of the story. Rodney barters a flying lesson on the jumpers from Sheppard to Kavanaugh in Necessary Things. That lesson is the the subject of bluflamingo's sad and subtle remix, Necessary Things (settling the balance). The flying lesson is both every bit as awful as John expected and not awful at all. It takes a very talented author to make Kavanaugh sympathetic and she captures John's wit, sarcasm, anguish and loyalty wonderfully. The moment he simultaneously relishes the experience of flying a jumper and pines for the sound of rotors overhead made my chest hurt. I appreciate how insightfully she conveys John's turmoil and deepens my enjoyment of what was already a favorite story. I love both these authors and would recommend everything they've written; their styles are quite different and bluflamingo must be commended for how the remix feels true to both her own work and that of the original's author.

( A snippet of Necessary Things... )