Stargate graduation party! \o/ (gen version)

[sholio]

I took my last final today - only fifteen years after I started, I have a bachelor's degree! \o/

So I'm celebrating with an SGA/Stargateverse commentfic party!

I wanted to take advantage of Dreamwidth's longer comment counts, but most of my SGA flist is mainly on LJ. What to dooooo. So I'm doing this: I'm making two posts, one on LJ and one on Dreamwidth. This is the gen party. The DW one is going to be "anything goes" - any pairing (including gen too), any rating. I think my DW reading list leans a lot more heavily in the non-gen direction than the LJ one, so it should work out fine. You are perfectly welcome to participate in both places; if you don't have a DW account, I have invite codes and will hand them out happily, and you can also use your LJ username to log in via Open ID. (I'll link to that other post as soon as I make it.) The DW "anything goes" party is here!

How to play: Post prompts! Answer other prompts!

Your prompt should be a character(s) (including "any") and any kind of prompt: a situation, song lyric, word, picture, sketch, etc. You don't have to answer prompts to leave them, but please leave one prompt per comment; responses to a prompt should be done by replying to the comment.

I want non-writers to be able to play too, so it's fine to answer a prompt with fanart (or a vid, cross-stitch, whatever) rather than a commentfic. You can also post a conversation starter instead (Top five favorite episodes? What does John's black wristband mean?) or a picspam, although to keep the comments from getting bogged down, if you're going to post more than one picture per comment, please post it at your journal and link to it! Also, if your fic gets long, it's fine to post it at your journal and link (though you don't have to).

Any Gateverse prompt is welcome, though since it's mostly SGA people around here, those are probably the ones with the greatest chance of being answered! Please don't attack characters or ships in discussions - tell us how much you love X, not why Y is teh suck. Questions are also welcome if you're totally confused, which is a definite possibility.

Commentfic! Art! Discussion! PARTY!

.... aaaand GO!

Comments

[sholio]

And I'll begin:

Any female SGA/SG1 character - http://www.flickr.com/photos/karaokeefe/4592148059/

Memory

[ticiathethief.livejournal.com]

It was one of Teyla's clearest memories, replayed so often that the colors of the day stand out in vivid clarity.

He had come to her, in their tent, and had asked if she wanted to see the most amazing and beautiful creature that ever was to be. He placed his hand in hers as they moved, silently, through the woods to the stream, a delighted smile on her face, that she gets to steal this moment with him. The sunlight streams through the trees and there's a smell in the air that forever after always sends stabs of homesickness through her.

Her father places his hand gently on her lips, and gestures forward.

"Look, little one. Do you see?"

She does see. She sees a beautiful woman, poised gracefully at the edge of the water, her hands dipping gently into the stream as she gazes thoughtfully and wistfully into it's depths. Her red hair shines in the sunlight, and Teyla claps excitedly, forgetting that she was to be still.

The woman's head comes up, and her eyes light up with joy as Teyla comes running forward, her father trailing behind, laughing. She is scooped into the woman's arms and then twirled around and then clasped close, kisses smothering her cheeks, her eyelids, her hair.

When Teyla dreams this memory, her Mother is bright and shining and alive.

She wakes, and mourns that is is only a memory.

[sholio]

Woolsey - Going offworld for the first time

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

The first time Woolsey sees the Stargate, he feels an irrational urge to jump up and down and squeal like a thirteen year old. He represses himself, naturally. But that night when he's lying awake in bed and the moon has washed the edges of his furniture with silver, he remembers watching Neil Armstrong take his first step on the lunar surface on the Parkinson's television. He remembers the way his chest hurt from holding his breath. He remembers nicking his father's telescope and staring at the moon that night for hours, hoping to catch a glimpse of something that didn't belong. He remembers carefully folding the legs of his glasses under the lenses and clutching them in his hand before putting them in their case. Such an inconsequential thing, his vision--it had never stood in Woolsey's way before, never kept him from anything he'd ever wanted. Until then.

Woolsey finally falls asleep. He dreams of stars and tight spaces and cold blackness, and the next morning, before he steps into a ring of light that will transport him across the galaxy, he straightens his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He's ready.

[sholio]

And a discussion topic:

Do you think Rodney's actually allergic to citrus? Just a little bit, or a lot? How about his (possibly alleged) hypoglycemia?

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

My figuring is yes to both ... sort of. I might answer these questions differently depending on the fic I'm writing at any given moment, but speaking generally, I'd say:
- He has reacted to some form of lemon product in his past. I suspect it was not an anaphylactic reaction; but being intelligent, and canonically having studied just enough biology to give himself first-year-med-student syndrome, he knows that second-exposure allergic reactions can be far more severe, even deadly. So he has a huge flag in his brain because it could kill him. If the first reaction occurred when he was young, he would have to have been educated about the risks, but the restriction would also have served as something else to make him stand out and be noticed. He craves attention; I don't think he's consciously ever used it for that, but I think it has served.

- He does have symptoms when his blood sugar is low. He's the right age to have been told he was hypoglycemic when he was a child — it was the "it" diagnosis (especially for adult women) there for a while, at least in the US and probably in Canada. Knowing what to look for, and treasuring his mental faculties above all else, he would tend to notice trouble concentrating as a result of hunger/food lack very quickly ... even if only as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Basically, in both cases, I figure one of his parents (probably but not certainly his mother) was ... not Muchausen's-by-Proxy with him, but very focused on medical factors, and she "trained" him to be very aware of his health (or lack thereof) at all times. That kind of training, combined with enough intelligence to know the worst-case scenarios and with a pessimistic nature, probably combine to make him overestimate the threat of what are likely relatively mild conditions. (The placebo effect can be fantastic but can be pernicious. The brain is a wondrous and terrible organ.)

In my fanon, his parents married because his mother became unexpectedly pregnant, diverting her from dreams of nursing or medical school and his father from dreams of becoming a famous researcher or inventor. (I'm going off his comments in SG-1 pre-SGA and then interpreting enormously, though I'm not sure how well that and the medical stuff I speculated above fit with other elements like his being left to cry out his colicky phase ....) In that model, then, thwarted from becoming a medical professional herself, his mother is still very focused on those concepts and conveys a preoccupation with them to her son.

[dreamingoctober.livejournal.com]

<3 I am always so happy to see your name pop up at the top of my LJ friend list because it usually means interesting and fun fan discussions and activities. :D

I just set up my Dreamwidth account and will be post on your DW entry under the name ElegantPi. I think that's going to be my permanent fandom pseudonym.

[sholio]

Awwww, thanks! :D

I waffle back and forth between this pseud and Sholio, my old anime fandom pseud. It's usually one or the other ...

[sholio]

bwahaha, okay, could not resist this one (in fact, I may have to answer it myself!)

Sheppard's team - http://www.flickr.com/photos/alpiximages/4595819719/

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It's the first thing they see after stepping from the gate, rising like a serrated pillar narrow and mountainous; prismatic and blue; beautiful and terrible - a beacon of anti-welcome that would make Lewis Carrol gibber with glee. The pillar parts to become jaws, and through the gaps between the snow white teeth they see the town, village, former city – whatever – hunched halfway out of the water but mostly in. Sheppard pulls out his binoculars.

There are people in the houses not submerged, more people leaning on balconies, watching the jaws like it's a regular enough occurrence to be a passing fancy of some interest (but mostly boring). A robust woman steps out onto her front porch, hands on her hips, as though for her it's a nuisance and if she could chase the thing off with a broom, she would.

Sheppard lowers his binoculars, squinting at the sunlight dancing over the geode scales.

It's beautiful, it's terrible, but mostly beautiful and makes Sheppard damn glad he flipped that coin more than once.

“So... call it a day?” Sheppard asks.

Ronon says, “Sure.”

Teyla says, her smile rigidly amused, “That... might be wise.”

Rodney says, “Oh hell yes, let's go.” And leads the way by dialing the DHD.

Sheppard follows, but pauses long enough to take a few pictures. One of these pictures will replace his current desk-top image of the three-headed rabbit-lizard of P3X-114.

It can never be said enough: this galaxy is damn cool.

[neonhummingbird.livejournal.com]

I have nothing to request, but congrats on the degree!!!

[sholio]

Thank you! I'm all squeeful!

It doesn't have to be a request per se - you can leave a prompt for pretty much anything. It's not so much a fic exchange as just a whatever-catches-people's-fancy free-for-all.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Oh dear lord, don't delete. :) That is the best. prompt. ever.

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

I chickened out on my prompt (I am a complete and total wuss). But I don't withdraw the congrats for the degree. *cheers for you* :)

[sholio]

Thanks! :) And I'm glad you reposted it! That *is* awesome, and I don't have comment notifications turned on for this post at the moment, so I would've missed it!

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Whoot, congrats on your degree! That was fast!

Prompts... can I do more than one in one comment?

1. Todd and Ronon, saving the day.

2. Rodney and Hermiod, fixing stuff. While working together. Not quite the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

3. Teyla and Rodney, and this scene (http://pics.livejournal.com/astridv/pic/000xpq8r) (recycling an old prompt...:)

[sholio]

As far as the prompts go, I'd kinda like to keep them separated in future comments for ease of response, but you don't have to bother deleting/reposting; I don't think it matters once or twice ...

And thank you! :) (I actually only had a year to go when I dropped out, so I would've had to smack myself around a bit if I *hadn't* finished in a year...)

I still keep meaning to write something for that prompt! Maybe today I'll actually manage to do it!

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! You have done an awesome thing.

*squeeeeeeee*

[sholio]

Thank you! :D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Congrats! :D That is totally awesome.

Sheppard as a bad a** body guard, either with magic or he's part demon a la Black Butler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Butler).

[sholio]

Thank you for the congrats!

I like your prompt; I must think on this. *thinks*

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Today you are the most AWESOME person ever! Congratulations!

Prompt: Teal'c and Teyla - the Taur'i always think their way is the right one

[sholio]

Thank you very much! *bounces*

*ponders your prompt*

[less-star.livejournal.com]

Tons of congratulations! Well done!

1. team = family, a day off, perhaps with a (more or less successful) pic-nic and Torren playing with his uncles

2. A day in the life of Atlantis, told by the "secondary" characters (gate-tech Chuck, nurse Marie, Zelenka, Amelia, marines, anyone)

3. Anything Radek, actually!

Also, totally seconding the prompts above with Todd and Hermiod!

I really have to sleep now, so I might not be able to contribute for a while.

[sholio]

For #1. Mid to late season five.


"Ham," Torren said, quite distinctly, waving his chubby arms in the air.

There was a pause.

"You know," John said at last, drawling his words in that way he did when he was very amused and trying not to show it, "some kids say 'Mama'."

Teyla gave Ronon a pointed look, as he was the only one close enough. Ronon slapped John in the back of the head.

"Yeah," John said, "that's some team-leader respect, right there. I bet General O'Neill never had to deal with this sort of thing."

"Torren has been speaking for some time now," Teyla said. "It is not my fault if none of you can understand him."

"Ham," Torren said again, louder.

"Yes, yes." Rodney tore some scraps off his sandwich and poked them -- gently, Teyla noticed -- into the small mouth. Torren masticated cheerfully with his limited complement of teeth.

"Gimme," Rodney said, stretching out a hand towards the picnic basket. Teyla, amused, cut a small slice of ham and handed it to him, watched him uncurl Torren's little fist and let the toddler grab it.

"Ham," Torren remarked, very satisfied, and stuck one end of the rolled-up ham slice in his mouth.

John's grin finally broke free. "I wonder which of his role models he's taking after."

"Ronon," Rodney said, waving a hand.

Ronon obliged.

"Ow!" John rubbed his shoulder. "Okay, guys. Not funny anymore."

"Ham," Torren said loudly. They all looked, startled. The ham slice was gone.

"Teyla?" Rodney held out a hand.

Teyla sat up. "I do not believe this is a good idea."

"HAM," Torren said, at the top of his lungs. "HAM!"

All three men looked at her.

"The first person who gives my son another slice of salted, processed meat," Teyla said above Torren's increasingly loud cries of "HAM!", "will clean up what will inevitably result."

Ronon stretched up to the low-hanging branches of the tree over his head and snapped off a feather-edged leaf. "Hey, Torren," he said, and dangled the frond over the toddler's nose. Torren left off his wails of "HAM!" and stared cross-eyed at the leaf, then tried to grab it.

"Leaf," Ronon said, waving it above Torren's face.

"Leaf," Torren echoed, following the progress of the leaf and swinging his hands through the space it had just occupied.

"Smart kid," John said, folding his hands under his chin and watching the proceedings.

"Well, obviously," Rodney said smugly, and smiled at Teyla. "You played those womb recordings I made, didn't you?"

This got her two equally baffled and horrified stares from John and Ronon.

"Ronon," Teyla said darkly. Ronon swatted McKay.

"Hey!"

"Leaf!" Torren said.

All four of the adults looked at the toddler. The leaf had vanished.

******

"No, they're not poisonous," Keller said, looking up from the scanner with the handful of leaves lying in it. "Do I want to know why you decided to feed unfamiliar alien vegetation to a ten-month-old child?"

All four of the culprits relaxed, Teyla most of all, repositioning Torren against her shoulder. He twisted around, waving his hands towards the scanner and the pile of leaves.

"LEAF!"

[sholio]

John and Rodney - down time

[fitzwiggity.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how this works, really, but I've read the others, and it seems to go with how I think it works. If I'm wrong, sorry! *Shrugs*

"You know," Sheppard said, as he and Rodney were setting up golf on their pier. "I figured you wouldn't have said yes."

Rodney turned towards him with an annoyed look.

"Why?" He demanded, grabbing the nearest ball, and setting it up on the 'grass'.

"Because usually you just...how to put it...chicken out?" Sheppard asked, smirking.

"I do not 'chicken out' on anything!" Rodney protested, and stood off to the side. "Okay. You want to go first? I even set it up for you."

"How sweet." Sheppard's smirk grew. "Nah, I'll stand back and watch. That way I can mock you properly." He added.

Rodney glowered at him.

"Have I mentioned lately how much I hate you?" He muttered, and went to swing at the ball-almost knocking the club towards Sheppards head, who quickly dodged to the side. Rodney missed the ball completely of course, making Sheppard sigh.

"More than enough. Here, let me-"

"I've got it!" Rodney snapped, and went to swing again. Just as he swung towards the ball, the doors to their pier opened and Teyla (carrying Torren) and Ronon came into the area. Both raised an eyebrow at seeing Rodney playing golf.

Rodney actually hit the ball this time, however, and smirked. He turned towards Sheppard, not noticing the ball going towards a window sideways of them.

"And you said I couldn't play?" He asked.

Teyla was just going to open her mouth, Sheppard was watching the ball, and Ronon just appeared bored. (Torren was snoozing quietly in Teylas' arms for a change.)

A split second later the resounding noise of glass shattering came to their ears, and a shriek that sounded suspiciously like Colonel Carter came to their ears.

"I think we'd best escape while we can." Sheppard said hastily. "There's surfing with Lorne at the mainland later...maybe we should go and see if he needs some added people with him?"

"I agree." Rodney said quickly. "Here, Teyla, let me help you with Torren..."

And, as they left the area, Sheppard grinned. Nothing like a good bit of down time to cheer up the team.
-

Hope that's what you were after! :D

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Yay, you!! Congratulations!!!

I would love to play in your party posts, but not tonight, alas! (come check my LJ, though, if you like--I did write something!) but as it is...now the profs gotta GRADE it all!

[sholio]

Hee, yeah, I'm married to a prof and he's currently in frantic head-spinning territory. *sends tea*

And thanks!

[ticiathethief.livejournal.com]

Photo prompt: Rodney - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/3257612132_aba72c299b.jpg

[hollow-echos.livejournal.com]

Alright, here's my go at this one. Hope it fits the bill!

Heartfelt and Steadfast, Pt. 1/2

“Really Rodney, do you fear all animals? Sheppard and many of the other expedition members do not seem to share the same phobia so I do not believe it is something common to all people from Earth,” Teyla addressed him curiously.

If it wasn’t some flying monstrosity chasing them back toward the gate it was an alien leech attaching itself to the necks of teammate. Sheppard had narrowly survived that one, and they’d had to kill him to achieve that feat. So to Rodney, it made perfect sense that he would be wary when it came to the wildlife the Pegasus galaxy. Step on the wrong tail, stretch a hand out to pet what looked fuzzy and harmless, and you might be the next one headed through the gate on the shoulders of your friends in a coffin.

Rodney looked up from the cup of coffee he’d busied himself stirring in one hand, “No, just the ones that could potentially kill me. I do have a strong sense of self-preservation if you hadn’t noticed it already.”

From his side of the table in the mess Sheppard let out a good chuckle, “Yeah, nothing like a parrot to really get you freaked out. I mean, they could peck you to death or something.”

McKay’s expression soured. Of all of them, Sheppard should be the most cautious. It was his refusal to wait and consider the consequences of his actions that often landed him in the calamities he seemed to attract like moth to flame, “Oh har, har, har. I was perfectly fine until that thing flew at me. Something comes charging at me, I get away from it. Save the questions for later.”

“You ducked behind Ronon. And besides, the bird just wanted the nuts you were eating. Apparently they’re addicted to the stuff. Kinda like coffee and another man I happen to know…” the colonel trailed off at the end as he looked at McKay’s mug.

“I could say the same thing about you and your guns, Sheppard,” he snapped back in retort before turning to Teyla to get back to the question she had asked, softening his tone as he did so, “As for animals, no. I do happen to get along quite well with many of them. Back on earth I even had a few of my own…” he trailed off again.

As much as he loved the Pegasus galaxy and all of the technological wonders he experienced each and every day, giving his pets up had been one of the hardest parts. He’d lobbied long and hard with the command about letting him bring just one at least. He was going to a different galaxy; the least they could let him do was take one companion to keep him company in a totally unfamiliar world. But they’d said no regardless of how many appeals he made, regardless of whether he wrote letters to the general or made a plea in person to Elizabeth.

Teyla looked at him quizzically, “There are animals that you enjoy the company of?”

“Of course! I’m not that cold-hearted…Yeah; I had a pair of cats back on earth.”

“What is a cat?”

[ticiathethief.livejournal.com]

And one for John - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andy.lochrie/blogimages/pic0154.jpg

[saphirablue]

Congratulations for your degree! :)

[sholio]

Thank you! :D

[ianthe-echo.livejournal.com]

Congrats!
Prompt - Have someone learn this in the SGC and take it with them to Atlantis: "If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it." -Mary Engelbreit

[leesa_perrie]

Congrats!!! Yay!!!!

My 1st prompt: An AU with Rodney plus any other character(s) you wish!

Fly Me to the Moon- Part 1

[liketheriverrun.livejournal.com]

I suck at comment fic so this one is going to be 2 comments long… and congrats on graduating!

John guns the engine and the whirring sound only grows louder. The distinctly metal on metal grate sets his teeth on edge, and he knows if they keep this up, they will definitely blow a piston, or at the very least, snap a belt.

McKay obviously agrees as he leans forward, his mouth practically at Sheppard’s ear, and yells to be heard above the wind noise. “Set her down!”

John nods, surveying the land below them for a safe place to land. A task made all the more difficult by the smear of a wayward bug on the lens of his goggles. He catches sight of an alfalfa field less than a mile ahead.

Apparently, Rodney sees it as well as his arm appears over John’s shoulder to point. “There!”

John banks the craft gently to the left, the large insect-inspired wings handling the turn remarkably well. For a giant dragonfly, she’s a real peach of a ride. Much better than the one Rodney had designed a few months ago that looked like a parasol with a chronic case of hiccups. McKay seems to think a bee would have been the optimal model after which to design a flying machine, but his allergies precluded the capture and study of the insect that was so vital to the engineering necessary to build such a craft. Besides, dragon flies had led to some rather pleasant days by the pond fishing while McKay trudged through the cattails in hip waders, armed with a butterfly net, cursing the gnats and mosquitoes while hunting their more elusive and elegant cousins.

The alfalfa is well over waist high, close to harvest, so that it slaps at his legs and arms when he sets the flying machine down. A closed cockpit would be ideal, especially as the air is growing colder as they approach autumn, but McKay worries over the extra weight, especially in a prototype.

Rodney is already unhooking his safety harnesses as they roll to a stop, and scrambles out of his seat with orders to keep the engine running while he looks it over. He falls almost instantly, tripping over the high grass then falling again when he attempts to stand again.

John snickers, but McKay either can’t hear him over the engine or ignores it in favor of cursing at the alfalfa. Finally gaining his feet and keeping them, he reaches the engine at the back of the flying machine. John twists in the seat to watch him work.

After several attempts to find the problem while revving the engine, Rodney finally tells him to turn it off. “It must be something in the boiler,” he grumbles, already opening it up.

John lifts his goggles to his forehead as he climbs out of his seat, knowing they could be in for a long wait while Rodney tinkers with the mechanism. He walks around to the back and leans over McKay’s shoulder.

“Need some help?”

Rodney, his own goggles planted on top of his head, gives him the look, the look that says, ‘you’re the moron pilot, I’m the genius inventor, what do you think?’

The space where Rodney’s goggles have been is outlines by dark soot from the engine, giving him a distinctly raccoon appearance. Sheppard thinks of offering him a handkerchief, but after the look, he’s more inclined to say nothing, maybe even invite him down to the pub once they’re back in the warehouse and continue to say nothing of the soiled face even then.

With a roguish grin, John hitches a thumb behind him. “I’ll just wait over there then.”

He sits then lies back in the sweet smelling hay to stare up at the fluff of clouds floating over head, marveling yet again that he gets to float along with them on a regular basis. He loves flying, was made for it. As much of a pain in the ass as Rodney can be, the arrogant son of a bitch is the reason why he gets to do it.

“Should I start hiking out?” John asks. “The Genii farmhouse is a good five miles back. If I leave now, I should be able to convince them to bring their buckboard out to pick us up before nightfall.”

“We won’t need the buckboard,” Rodney answers, hands deep in the workings of the boiler. “I’ll have this fixed in no time.”

[dreamingoctober.livejournal.com]

Teyla. Paris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncohen/57340428/

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Prompt: Zelenka and his still ;-)

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Radek did, in fact, build a still. It was practically an old family tradition, and having something to trade with on the black market was always very useful. He asked a few Athosians about their alcohol, bribed one of the supply people and conducted controlled experiments whenever McKay told him to go work on the desalination tanks. (Kavanagh was much better suited for that task.)

However, Radek was not the person responsible for the pink vodka. He could honestly deny having anything to do with the pink vodka; or the purple, or orange, or even blue. (He privately admitted that he was curious as to how, exactly, blue vodka was made without artificial colouring. But then, they did bring the best and brightest to Atlantis.) The next week he got twice as much chocolate for one clear bottle.

It only took him two hours to find the still the marines had built in one of labs they´d decided not to use. The door was remarkably well locked and whoever of the scientists had done this obviously didn´t have enough work to do; he´d have to send McKay a note. The still itself was impressive work. But of course there was always room for improvement.

The next week the black market vodka was oliv green and smelled like distilled mozzarella. Radek got three times as much chocolate for his own bottles.

[leesa_perrie]

Another prompt: Rodney (plus whoever), Spain - where orange, lemon and lime trees grow in unexpected places!

[leesa_perrie]

One more prompt: Any character.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/countries/canada-photos/#eastern-canada-snow_9144_600x450.jpg

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! :D

prompt: a snippet from this verse: Curiouser and Curiouser (http://gaiaanarchy.livejournal.com/43737.html)