Hmm. I haven't recced in a long time, mostly due to sheer laziness and so forth.

But my gen kink is showing.

Long Road Home by friendshipper, gen, John, Rodney, Teyla

If my OTP is John/Rodney, my OT3 is John/Rodney/Teyla. Gen, slash, or threesome, I love them, and they make me happy. AU, set in Texas, with retired vet John Sheppard, undocumented alien Teyla Emmagen, and border guard Rodney McKay. Bittersweet and dry and beautiful and as hot and dusty and uncertain as west Texas itself. It's very, very good.

Take Care of Your Feet by filenotch

Heh. Men in love. Sort of. And denying it. Mostly. This is *fun*. Read now.

Off the mensa_au:

Sweeten My Imagination by hotspur_18

*thinking* For those certain ljers with a taste for the more sociopathic side. Rod/Mensa!John, Rod/Weir, other. I really really liked the speed; just enough time to get the image, sharp, a little staccato, and a little jarring.

And that last full paragraph. Yeah. I like this.

As the Stars Fade Out by cottontail73

SG1/SGA crossover goodness of plot and action, a vivid Rodney pov, a spare style, and some very nice McKay/Sheppard. I really enjoyed.

First and most interesting thing: rec!

See the Possible by thepouncer - John Sheppard, gen, in five senses. I cannot recommend this highly enough; each piece is self-contained, beautiful, and *sharp*. God, I love gen in this fandom.

Second and less interesting: dental appointment.

I'm lazy, so I'll just paste what I wrote to svmadelyn when I got home.

Besides the fact i was so tense I was preetty much touching the chair only with my shoulders and my heels? Pretty good. I was fond of the part with the warnings involved of all the things that could go wrong, including breaching my nasal passage.

No, really. I wanted to hear that. I did.

Actually, it was just weird. I was numbed down--and I tested the area with my fingernails a lot prior to him coming in--but he kept trying to *explain* and I'm like, no, please do not. So he settled on warnings--you will feel pressure, an epic understatement that cannot be enough debunked--and the drill was an experience I do not ever wish to repeat, but sadly, it was repeated twice, and he's like, presure, which is layman's term for, this will feel liek we are trying to dip into your brain and pull out things. It did not hurt? But it was also far less pleasant than sleeping, eating,or biting my fingernails. Lessee--there were unnatural grating sounds, and scraping sounds, and you know, terror, but got out fairly fast. Am now gauzed and thinking I wish he hadnt' told me he had to *cut it out*. Because I really could have lived without that.

So, no talking while I bite down. So far? Big fun.

Adding to that: everything tastes like blood. No, really. I mean, serious copper taste. At this point, it's got to be my imagination, but well. Let me just say--this proves I'd starve to death as a vampire, cause this shit gets old awful fast. Also, I really can't get over hte stitches. The ends are just long enough to be *just short* of my gag reflex, so I don't gag, but I keep getting the strange feeling I should. I--yeah. It's weird.

Third and least intersting of all: wrote fic. After a month long dry spell or so, last night I had a--thought. The thought grew into an idea. For the three hours before my appointment--and you'll note if you read here a while, blind panic and me writing are kind of close--I pretty much did not get up from my bed and for about two hours after. So now I am staring at it after sending it off for pre-reading to wonder if it makes sense.

I am having One of Those Days. I'm not sure how I feel yet. I kind of miss my tooth. In that way you miss horrifying things that cause you pain but you get used to. Like, I don't know, sisters. Or July in Texas during a drought.

I'm looking at my John icon for comfort.

WHEE!

After much begging and promising things there is no way I will be able to do, miss_porcupine said she would do a story from the military side in the Teacher's Pet universe. Then! It got *better*! As she decided to do two!

Anyway.

Teacher's Pet: Lorne. Set after Teacher's Pet Nine, The One Where Rodney Made John Fly a Jumper, and it's *totally *cool*. And so Lorne.

And my favorite bit didn't paste. Hmm to lj too.

And so while their hour is still mostly a story hour, now instead of tales of far-away Jaffa and funny-voiced Goa'uld, Lorne talks of Pegasus. Forgetting what it says about the adult Sheppard, John needs to be convinced that he won't grow up to become a monster. He doesn't get to spend enough time with the marines to know that just because you know how to use a gun doesn't mean that all you want to do -- all you can do -- is kill with it.

Happy place. Happy place. Very happy place.

Also, watched the ep. Still thinking. Hmm.

This is fairly random. I'm kind of stoned and my jaw is *killing* me, so I turned to my comfort fic.

Retrograde (and sequels) by ltlj

I can see the blinking of, what, comfort? Yes. Yes this is.

( fic spoilers under cut )

Geeks and Goons series by likethekoschka (cowriters Koschka and liketheriver), likethekoschka

Okay, there is no way I can do a number one here; a.) it's too long and b.) my concentation right now sucks. I loved koschka's gen series, Geeks and Goons and I adore the slash Guides group that's set after that. It's--God, it's plot and adventure and romance and it hits my OTP button hard and never lets up. It makes me happy just to know it's there. I love that it's a complete and utter romance as well, mixed with action/adventure and mortal peril and a lot of snark. I love their shared quarters and their shared lives and their weird idiosyncracies and their happiness together. I feel *good* after reading it, happy and at peace with the universe and wanting to see what whacky hijinks they have next.

And link to that one: likethekoschka

And finally.

The Roads Never Lead Where They're Suppose to Go by eleveninches

A lot of this one is the fact that the very premise should not work. But it totally does.

( fic spoilers under cut )

Warm and fuzzy feelings everywhere. Mmm. Fuzzy.

Cause I am in the rec zone....

Enlightenment by luthien - SGA, Elizabeth pov, also McKay/Sheppard. A very odd mission on a very differnet planet. Very--introspective. I enjoyed both the mystery and the look into Elizabeth's head. Just lovely. And also? Nicely long.

Them Other Boys Don't Know How to Act by eleveninches - spoilers for Irresistible. Roofies, Rodney, and um. You know. I want to have its *babies*. Tiny, evil roofie-giving babies.

Dear God. Thank you just_like_rogue for the rec.

It's Not Citrus by nudaydreamer, Sheppard/McKay - this can best be expressed by the concept of Most Significant Donut Ever. Written for the What's Your Filling challenge.

I--God. This was *hysterical*. Run, do not walk.

P6X-930 had seemed like a nice enough world. Courteous natives, insentient flora with medicinal properties, and nary an eccentric sex ritual in sight. The inhabitants had shared a simple but hearty meal, asked curious but not intrusive questions about their customs, and offered to trade herbs for medical knowledge and textiles. They had even gone so far as to offer their guests the gift of a ceremonial pastry, which they claimed would have a flavor with great significance to the recipient.

And hey, while I'm here.

As Lost As You Get by lilysaid - absolutely *stunning* Ephiphany extension and alteration, making a lot of the original ep made sense. I liked the ep before--I like it even more now. Beautiful writing, very much lilysaid. And an interesting look at Ascension from Rodney's pov.

The Dark Side by astolat - you know, I *still* don't know what to say about this one. It's just so--terrible, terribly appropriate. No spoilers even for concept. Just you know, thinking, huh. Yeah. *Excellent*.

Okay, this has been a good day for fandom. Just saying. *Six stories I loved*. That is just pure happiness.

If you haven't read this, you really, really should.

Sojourn by ltlj - pre Siege II, roughly set somewhere within Retrograde universe or an AU thereof, but really, it stands alone *just fine*, John/Teyla, hugely funny, insightful, and wonderful Post-gift fic when Teyla goes to the mainland to tell the Athosians what she is. It has fabulous lines, really hot sex, and pitch-perfect characterizations. I can totally see this.

Liberty by yin_again and ladycat777 - go get your mind blown now.

Me? I'll be taking a long shower.

ETA: That's not quite as enthusiastic as it should be.

When I say, mind blown, I mean, oh. God. Yes. Not just sex. It's--it's *romantic*, the good kind, with sandcastles and poi and surfing and *happiness*, and I can taste salt when I breathe and feel the ocean against my skin and I didn't ever want it to end. Wow. Seriously. I owe them feedback like you would *not* believe, but I just can't get past how perfect this is to get the words out. This hum I can feel and I just feel so *good* after reading it, *happy*. Just happy. Yes. It's *that* kind of story.

The New Frontier by harriet_spy, SGA, John, gen. Highly recommended. In that way that I don't have time to type right now, but usually, I'd include a OMG SO GOOD YES and Christ, why do I call myself a slasher when all my loves are gen, and *thank you*.

It's John. It's so John it hurts me, and it broke my heart a little bit and made me love it.

One spoiler beneath the cut, though....

( so.... )

Sometimes, I need *Romance*. Note the capitalization. I need *fuzzy* Romance. Again? Capitalized. I need falling in love in exotic locales and shipboard romance, reluctant separation, broken hearts, and OMG HURT and OMG COMFORT!

You get the end part, right? OMG COMFORT. Yes. I think we have it.

This, ladies and gentlemen--do I have any gentlemen?--is how h/c is *done*.

You've seen the movie. Now read the fanfic.

An Affair to Remember, McShep Style by Tira Nog.

Long. Long long long. Over ninety-one thousand words of unadulterated deep romance and love forever and OTPness and yes yes yes, I am so in that warm and fuzzy place. Run, do not walk, do not pause.

Your Cowboy Days Are Over by samdonne, sga, John, gen.

Read it *now*. Blew my mind.

We had this whole--*waves hands*--thing with requisitions and chairs and you know, hell at work. It's not often in my life that I am suddenly tempted to join the a convent, but if they can swear to me that requisitions aren't involved? I may be listening.

The first story of the Rabbit Fortress is complete. It took about a hundred of the cordy things for the base floor, which I'm thinking after The Great Snip Snip of 2006 (yes, I will refer to it as that; it still amuses me), I'll fill with pipes of various sizes hooked together to create a miniwarren for the Warren to crawl through. Thank you to the person who responded in my last post for the idea--I am inspired.

So what we have right now is twenty panels in a rough open box shape, opening down, one panel high, two panels wide, two panels deep. The entire open-one-side thing will epically not work, so open on short side off atrium that I went ahead and added. This will not be easy to remodel once it's done, so I want it to be easy to get inside to do the changes after all my boys have moved beyond the physical. They'll be like Ancients, in a way.

Okay, and suddenly, I have really scary thoughts about how the Ancients avoided worrying about bodily--things. Yeah. Let's not go there.

Anyway. The bottom layer is set and really quite large. Later, I'll add in a yard type to it for them to play in. It's goinng to take, at an estimate, probably about a thouand tie-things for this to work. But it looks like there will be plenty of running space, and I'll add in rabbit size lounging areas. This project is actually going to end up kind of scary, since I'm also planning for ways for them to climb upward and practice jumping more.

Fandom

Okay, because of the horror of requisitions failing again, I needed comfort fic. And lookie here, found some.

The Slow Braille of Touch by beadtific - this one just melted me into goo puddles. Like, good goo-puddles of happiness. Sweet without being at all syrupy, warm and hot and--well, wholesome, which sounds just weird of me, but I read it with this warm glow of happiness and hope and strategically placed yellow light feeling. It's a wonderful John, and God, I love this Rodney, and pretty much the glow place can be found here. Oh yes, comfort fic.

Less in the way of comfort fic, but equally good--wait. Did I ever tell you this story? Okay, when I was a kid, first grade, my school made me take an IQ test. Now I went to a normal public elementary school, nothign weird here, except possibly they put me in remedial reading. I'm not sure. This was twenty something years ago. This was remedial *something*. But anyway, there was some thought I was stupid, not merely completely unable to listen to more than three words of directions, since back then, they didn't diagnose ADHD at the drop of a hat.

Okay, this a long-winded way to start a rec for a story, but bear with me. In third grade, we had competitive timed math quizzes in addition and subtraction (yours truly kicked ass), and we had something called greater than/less than, with the > and <.

Okay, it looks easy, but it's totally not, because it took me three years to learn how to use those.

In fifth grade, long division kicked my ass. Kicked ass to teh point of almost failing math.

And in eleventh, I cried through my first three six weeks of geometry. I mean, my teacher curved my grade until we got to sin/cos/tan where I was happy, and part of it was the fact I was AP and Honors, and part of it was utter bewilderment because I was taking trig concurrently and I was getting As.

I won't even go into the horror of taking Precal in college, because me and my professor could not, for the life of us, figure out why I varied randomly on what I could understand instantly and what would never, ever click without an intervention and a grade curve for sheer effort.

There's a pattern with all of these things--they are things that no one has problems with when they listen to the directions. If you sit in class and not phase out, you'll probably get it right off the bat. Or in the case of fucking proving a fucking triangle--honestly, that was just unnatural and I don't care what anyone says. I copied the stuff blindly and believed what I was told with no understanding of what I was being told. And I have notebooks of this crap that I still can't understand at all and it kind of blows my mind, because this was the stuff that anyone could learn and I simply could not.

Almost there.

In geometry, I had to take a lot on faith. I couldn't understand it, so my teacher taught me to memorize it. And by memorize, I mean, go through teh book and learn *every variation* that might show up on a test so I could write down the answer. With no possible way for me to know I was right. I had to trust the book was right, my teacher was right, and my memory was that good.

Academic by miss_porcupine - it could be just me with flashbacks to geometry, but that hit me *hard* in the best possible way. He fucked with their understanding of the universe when he fucked up their math. That's so damn *cool*. I mean, that is totally me, sitting there in class, and my teacher just taught me that a triangle's sides do not equal 180. Well, okay, not quite? But damned close.

Sweet. I didn't even know I was waiting for this until it was here. Though I did amuse myself sometimes with thinking of an AU where teh Genii get away with Elizabeth and Rodney after The Eye/The Storm, and Rodney builds them all the nukes they want then sets them off while dashing madly for the gate while the Genii try to figure out how this entire nuclear thing works.

Also, it has this line.

"Torch this place," Sheppard ordered. "Nothing intact."

If God is kind, that line will appear in canon. And be followed by obedience and things blowing up. I'm hoping for a.) large things and b.) many of them.

I'll be having a quiet moment imagining it now. 'Scuse me.

Ooh. Ficness.

Nothing at All to Do With Henry VII by pentapus - Ancient rave! Except not really. But whoa. Okay, huge points for interesting things done with structure--basically, she and cesperanza get my love for the month for stories that made me sit down and *read* to get it--and wow, once gotten, it got good. For those interested--definite pre-hetishness, *definite* pre-slashiness, but honestly, *cuddly John*.

Really. *Cuddly John*. Oh yeah. Happiness. There should be a whole genre of cuddly John. Just John, being cuddled and/or cuddling. It's--a sickness. Yet one I do not want to be cured of.

Also...mmmpretty.

Coookie icon for happy place.

Second Skin by toft_froggy -- I--well, that was hot. I--yeah. It's possibly the best fic that involves crossdressing and lipstick ever written. I admit prejudice--the concept of John in lipstick pretty much shorts out all higher brain function--but this one has everything. Fantastic characterization, a wonderful progression of how events fall out, Rodney being himself so much I could *see this*, and both of them freaked out beyond words.

I mean, it's hot, yes, but it's also incredible. Cookie icon for convincing me I could see this on-screen. I literally have read it five times already.

How To Reduce Negativity by lemonbella - oh. Oh my God. It's...

it's just...

"We don't even get cake?"

Elizabeth thought she'd seen the height of Rodney's anger until that moment. "I'm not sure this is about you getting more cake, Rodney."

And.

In retrospect, contracting a business management consultant to review the personnel interaction on Atlantis wasn't the best idea Elizabeth Weir had ever had.

And.

"I think it's important that we touch base with each other in order to synergise our team dynamics," John drawled

Keywords are:

Incentivise, synergise, faciliate, positive reinforcement, incentivise positive reaction.

I cannot do justice to this. I don't think anyone can. And now I owe serious porn. *starts thinking*

Well. Who knew? One Twix, one fantastic story, and my life-destroying mood has eased, replaced with harmony with the universe and a strong desire to purr.

Movie Night by ltlj - continuing my slavish devotion to all things ltlj, I rec to you this, following Retrograde and Recovery. It's warm and sweet and fuzzy in that way that Atlantis so deserves, and it's just--it makes me all happy. Like Twix and coffee do. Better than coffee. Go read now. Feedback. Promise bribes.

Okay, so happiness can continue for *days*, apparently.

Next up on Jenn's Favoritest People Ever In the Universe Forever (like eleveninches) comes pentapus, who is just the coolest person *ever*.

Oh *wow*.

Planet Megalodon Wraith Defense Force by pentapus, which also wins for coolest title in history, gen-ish teamfic, with sharks and magical squares and God, Rodney the healthiest of the bunch, and it's like being at Schlitterbaun--or a waterpark, for those of you who have never experienced the wonder of Schlitterbaun--but the funnest Schlitterbaun ever. And you will totally understand the comparison when you read. Second season, pre-Runner, post Siege III (roughly) and so so so so cool I can't even stand it.

Read and love and give her puppies. Really. Or fish. I think she likes fish.

Cookie icon for sheer coolness.

Okay, it turns out I am not as OTP as I thought I was, or I'm way more OTC than I expected. Or at least, for this one story.

Behind You All the Way by janedavitt - Sheppard/Ford. It should not work as well as it does, but it's lovely and wistful and hurt a little, subtle and sweet.

Sheppard knew all the places. Had to. Part of his job. Knew which empty rooms still showed signs of being used, knew not to look too closely when the control room screen showed life signs, two usually, but sometimes more, and sometimes, quite often, one, in those unused, deserted rooms.

People never went there on duty -- they did and he'd haul their asses out, bare or not -- and people didn't talk about it. That was fine with Sheppard. This wasn't any normal posting; this was home, where most of them would live and some of them would die and part of home was a little R and R.

Just not for him, or Elizabeth.

*sighs*

Yeah, it--pretty. I can see this. Just like this.

It feels really tacky to meta on your own fic when you're still in-progress and oh my God the *remixes rock*, but let me just state for the record, I have never, ever, in my entire fanfic career, enjoyed writing anything as much as I'm enjoying Crimes Against Humanity.

Also, for the record, quick rec on another remix, of auburnnothenna's You Must Remember This, titled You Must Remember This (The Same Old Story Remix). The sheer desperation and the feeling of time running out--wow. Serious wow. It is definitely a worthy remix to an amazing story.

( because it is kind of like getting a little high on paint fumes--you know it is not good for you, and better drugs are available, but still, the *rush* )

I'm taking a short nap, my head is killing me. Final note: read the remixes! I'm about halfway through SGA and seriously, they rock. Smallville next. *bounces*

*sighs*

Okay, apparently, I have vacation ADHD, in which I have realized that oh dear God, there are reasons I am all over fangirly and conventiony type things and far less with doing this myself--there are far, far, far too many choices.

Child, like me, goes *Shiny!* every time we see something new, so we managed to actually expand our options from "something involving dinosaurs" to "something involving climbing Mayan temple (Aztec, Egyptian, prehistoric people) ruins", something involving "beaches", something involving "sea animals", something involving "zoo", something involving "bridges" and something involving "snow". For the hell of it, we narrowed our worldwide search to "places where Mommy will not be arrested for not wearing a burka", "places we will not be killed for being American", "places we are pretty sure sanitation is a premium", and "places we can be relatively sure we will not be taken hostage for the revolution/money/Americanness/universal peace/saving the rainforest. Just to see what would happen, we also removed "places likely to be shot while asking directions". And everyone who has ever attended Slumberparty knows--I will have to ask directions. If we're lucky, I won't be doing it in really really distubingly bad Spanish.

That still leaves a surprising number of places. It also cuts out places I'm pretty sure would require me to engage in activities only legal in Nevada to go to. But still.

I really, really like Cancun and Cozumel. On the scale of bankruptcy, it might keep me at relative solvency, it's relatively close to home, so wiring money when I'm arrested for something would be nice, and I figure if all else fails, Child's resourceful and could eventually find his way to the border, probablly adopting dangerous reptiles along the way and righting wrongs in the various cities and/or villages he encounters. A tiny Starman or Pretender, if you will, just not supergenius and vaguely grumpy during the hottest part of the day. It could become a made for tv survival movie. I'd like to think my tragic death on the beaches of Cozumel, Cancun, or Puerta Vallarta (and you can probably guess why this one made my list) will lead to good fortune for Child.

Of course, first choice will be survival.

I'm trying to blackmail and/or convince my best friend to come along--she's levelheaded, smart, and works for lawyers. That is always a good combination. So far, this isn't working. *bitter* I'd hate to have to sneak a camera into her boyfriend's apartment, but I'm not seeing a lot of other options.

Me

Also, my apparent epically bitter and unhappy mood finally gets a montly contextual reason. For the life of me, I could not figue out *why* I was on the verge of hysterical tears for three days and hating everyone so much that I was restraining myself from posting for fear I'd start with paranoid accusations of everyone hating me combined with a plea for chocolate. Ah, but now, totally am there. I'd like to say that this mood has't passed and wont' for another, oh, five or so days, but on the other hand, I may stop shutting down my chat programs without saying goodbye, convinced the universe is plotting against me.

Also, there was this thing with a rock.

Okay this is very--you know, I don't know what this is, but I want you to see where my head was as of Thursday.

I am about to cross the street between my building and Walgreens with it's convenient Easter chocolate aisle, and I see a small, roundish piece of broken asphalt in the middle of the right lane. My first thought is, someone is going to run over that, and it will hit me in the leg. I will collapse and have to use my new and confusing cellphone to call to get someone to come get me and take me to the hospital, where they will pronounce amputation followed by blood poisoning, and I will die slowly and dramatically with a morphine drip, wishing I'd actually tried that skydiving thing, despite the fact I have similar reactions to heights that I do to anacondas and other snake-like reptiles. Which is to say, not pretty.

It occurred to me, as I was crossing, that I could kick the rock to the sidewalk and did so, using herculean effort to restrain myself from the scenario of me running to escape traffic when a car accidentaly doesn't stop for the red light, falling, and dying slowly of a head wound surrounded by mourning family and my son clutching my life insurance policy and wondering if he can get a ball python now. That also reminded me to get my living will in order, which I made a note to do once the craziness wore off.

Short Pet Update

Added Broccoli tops and three-lettuce combination to meal plan. Cilantro starts today, giving them a rest from the All Parsley, All the Time.

Recs

Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose by synecdochic, and Christ, everyone's recced this, but why should I be any different? I'd like to blame the story for the fact that yes, hysterial near-tears and the fact I really, really need some Janis Joplin right now. Seriously, if you haven't read it by now, you must have skipped LJ all weekend, I counted more than twenty recs in under twenty minutes. It totally earns them, too.

I just--total embarrassment of riches in fic tonight for SGA. Happy place. I mean, seriously, almost as good as bunny therapy here.

Scenes From a Lesser War by amireal - okay, I know I'm prejudiced. I love her, I love her fic, and I beta'ed the damn thing, all fifty freaking three pages of it. Or so. But I loved every word. Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and how the ending of it can be as complex as having it around. It's thoughtful and hot and interesting, and I love how all the characters deal with the ramifications of it.

Resonance by harriet_spy - season one, pre-Siege II fic, with a fascinatingly complex John. Don't get me wrong, I like all Johns, but this one *resonates*. Rodney's desperate need to be more than he is, even when he doesnt' need to be, and John's understanding and not at all, and that *connection* that he's reaching for and fumbles in weird ways. I just--can't get over it, how she nailed what I saw in The Storm/The Eye--hell, several second season eps as well. It's beautifully, painfully done, and you NEED TO READ THIS, 'KAY?

Letters of Credance by of_evangeline - a post-disaster Rodney is a thing of just amazing complexitiy, and of course John goes after him. It's wonderfully, sweetly done, and three words for you--chocolate ferris wheel. Yes. It's *that* kind of a story. Happy place.

Try to Turn the Tide by minervacat - wonderful post Siege III fic. Rodney and John are both *great* in this, and it's--well. It's *good*. I mean, there you have it. Read.

Pretty. Yes. Zen like the bunny here. Cookie icon for so much goodness all in one place.