I expect crickets

[filenotch]

Name any story I've written, and any character in it, canon or OC. I'll tell you three things about that character that I didn't put in the story. One request per person

From yin_again, who stole it from someone else.

Comments

[synecdochic]

JD in "The Might of Thy Breath". ;)

[filenotch]

1. When JD freaks out about Robert binding his wrists, and then Robert does exactly the right thing to handle it, it pisses JD off.
   
2. The pictures in Robert's apartment reminded him of how much he misses flying.
   
3. He's annoyed at himself that he misread Robert, also that the experience with Robert reminded him that he has an impact on people, even when he's trying not to.
   

[synecdochic]

Ha. Yes, that's JD, pretty much beginning to end.

(The poor bastard.)

[filenotch]

I think the first one is the most interesting. I don't mean it just annoys him that Robert gets it right, it pisses him off right down to Cammie telling him, "I don't know what put a knot in your shorts, sugar, but if you don't stop lying there and snorting and go on and use actual words to tell me what's wrong, I'm going to bring in Torquemada." She usually never asks, but the fact that he's actually, you know, lying there and snorting instead of making sure not to bother her with it is kind of a clue that he wants to talk. He just has no idea why it pisses him off or what to say.

I've tasked ivorygates with writing JD's side of that story, what with all her copious free time. Speaking of which, how did you like Diamond Dogs?

[synecdochic]

JD is so prickly in Mezzanine, isn't he? He and Cammie have loads and loads of happiness, but man, it took a while for JD to reach the point of 'civilized'. (Wait until you see the AU we're working on; it will put some fascinating points of triangulation into perspective.)

And no, I totally got that. JD is made seriously annoyed by Other People crawling behind his walls when he hasn't consciously decided to allow them to do so, and he'd take knowing what to do in a situation like that as evidence that they had Figured Him Out without him having given explicit permission!

And I love it! I've listened through twice while doing other things, and have to carve out time to give it a real listen to see what it'll spark....

[filenotch]

evidence that they had Figured Him Out without him having given explicit permission!

And that lead to the mis-read of Robert and that final bedroom scene where JD thinks Robert can give him what he needs. Robert had in no way figured JD out; he just knew what to do in that situation. And then, what's that line of ivorygates? Flaming cocktails of doom, handed 'round like Alice's comfits.

Eurydiceverse, mission-based team fic. C'mon, you know it needs one of those. We see the fallout, but you've never shown them in action.

[synecdochic]

Oh yes -- and I even know some of the framing incident -- but it will take me time to figure out what it's going to be!

And yes -- for all that JD's so committed to understanding himself, it's odd to see how badly he misreads others sometimes, isn't it? (He learned how to read others from Cammie; it still doesn't sit comfortably all the time.) I'm so glad he eventually found Daniel, because man it would have been painful for him to keep limping along with three-quarters of everything he ever wanted ...

[filenotch]

See, I think Jack read people in certain ways very well, in terms of power displays, motivations that are not purely interpersonal. One example of this is the episode where they bring the academy student to a planet that's supposed to be a babysit the scientist cakewalk and it turns out the sparkly energy creatures can get mean. There's a scene where the scientists are going off against military advice/orders, and Jack is waiting where they can't see him (not hiding, just strategically positioned), and casually answers one of their comments. he knew what they would do. Give him a bad guy, and he can generally sus out the motivation and direction

[synecdochic]

I think, actually, that Jack is incredibly gifted, when it comes to empathy-for-others, and has had to force himself to tamp that down -- empathy being an active hindrance, in his line of work, for the most part. Jack does display a stunning grasp of people from time to time. He also displays a stunning level of insensitivity. I think he had to make himself learn to forget that other people are people, for the most part, because a well-developed sense of empathy is an active detriment to a career soldier (at least one whose role involves killing people as much as Jack's clearly has).

For all that he's totally unwilling to do anything in the way of self-examination or talking about his feelings, he seems to understand others' pretty well, and it's clear that he's a very well-respected leader; that kind of cult-of-personality leadership often comes from others feeling like the leader understands them, and can provide them the right reassurance at the right time, after all

[filenotch]

Yep. You're right.

[synecdochic]

I've always thought it was one of his truest tragedies, really. And so much of JD -- in whatever incarnation -- is my way of trying to show all the ways in which he might have learned how to get past it ...

(And it's so interesting to see which of the ways he succeeds, and which ways he fails, in each universe, because they're all different. Not that one's better than the other. Just different.)